Electing Love

Robert Murray M'Cheyne

John 15.16. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain."

This is a very humbling, and at the same time, a very blessed word to the true disciple. It was very humbling to the disciples to be told that they had not chosen Christ. Your wants were so many, your hearts were so hard, that ye have not chosen me. And yet it was exceedingly comforting to the disciples to be told that he had chosen them: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." This showed them that his love was first with them — that he had a love for them when they were dead. And then he showed them that it was love that would make them holy: "Ye have; not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain."

Let us take up the truths in this verse as they occur:

 I. Men naturally do not choose Christ, "Ye have not chosen me." This was true of the apostles; this is true of all that will ever believe to the end of the world. "Ye have not chosen me." The natural ear is so deaf that it cannot hear; the natural eye is so blind that it cannot see Christ. It is true in one sense that every disciple chooses Christ; but it is when God opens the eye to see him — it is when God gives strength to the withered arm to embrace him. But Christ's meaning is, You would never have chosen me, if I had not chosen you. It is quite true that when God opens a sinner 5 heart, he chooses Christ and none but Christ. It is quite true that a heart that is quickened by the Spirit, ever chooses Christ and none but Christ, and will forego all the world for Christ. But, brethren, the truth here taught us is this that every awakened sinner is willing to embrace Christ, but not till made willing. Those of you who have been awakened, you did not choose Christ. If a physician were to come into your house, and say he had come to cure you of your disease, if you felt that you were not diseased, you would say, I have no need of you, go to my neighbour. This is the way you do with Christ; he offers to cure you, but you say you are not diseased; he offers to cover your naked soul with his obedience, you say I have no need of that covering.

     Another reason why you do not choose Christ is, you see no beauty in him. He is a root out of a dry ground, in which there is no beauty nor comeliness. You see no beauty in his person, no beauty in his obedience, no glory in his cross. You see him not, and, therefore, you do not choose him.

     Another reason why you do not choose Christ is, you do not want to be made holy by him: "He shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." But you love your sin, you love your pleasure, therefore when the Son of God comes and says, he will save you from your sin, you say, I love my sin, I love my pleasure. So you can never come to terms with Christ: "ye have not chosen me"; although I died, yet you have not chosen me. I have spoken to you many years, and yet you have not chosen me. I have sent you my Bible to instruct you, and yet you have not chosen me. Brethren, this accusation will meet you in the judgment — I would have covered you with my obedience, but ye would not have me.

Read more -->HERE.

Pastor, Don’t Crack My Egg-Shell

In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Monday, August 10, 2009 at 11:59 am

Many people measure the quality of their church and pastor on the basis of whether or not he makes them feel “good” about themselves.  “If I leave feeling affirmed and encouraged about myself, the ministry is great.  But if I leave feeling convicted of my sin and the need to implement important changes to my life, the ministry is lousy.  I mean, with all the stress I have to endure throughout the week, why would I want to go to a church where my emotional egg-shell gets cracked?”

About five years ago, a twenty nine year old professional man in our church had a wife and three small children, resulting in a high intensity lifestyle.  Due to some pain he was experiencing, he went to a doctor for a check-up.  The last thing in the world he needed was the bad news that he had Lymphoma Cancer and would need to run the grueling gauntlet of chemotherapy for five months.  Sure, the doctor would have initially received a favorable evaluation if he’d have flattered the man about his handsome physique, and affirmed the man with a clean bill of health.  But the doctor was a truly “good” physician who loved the man enough to dispense with myths and tell him the painful truth, even though it cracked the man’s egg-shell.

The chemotherapy was painful and grueling.  But the cancer retreated.  The man is now a survivor, and has a chance to raise his children into adulthood.  His wife just gave birth to their fourth!

A faithful pastor is a good physician who rejects myths and tells his congregation of patients the truth.  He’s not called to massage egos, but to doctor souls.   He’s to be faithful to this solemn charge he’s received from his Great Physician Master:

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; butwanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.  But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5).

“Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel ; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me.  When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die’; and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand” (Ezekiel 3:17-18).

Mark Chanski, Pastor

Reformed Baptist Church of Holland