This is God’s preserving work among the human race to save a vast, uncountable number of people from every tongue, tribe, and nation. Without His grace and sovereignty, every single human being would have been lost (Romans 3:10-18).
1) Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
2) Those who belong to Christ are chosen before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) to be known, given, and have a relationship with Him (Romans 8:29; John 10:14-16).
3) They were chosen to be obedient to Christ and saved by His work (1 Peter 1:2).
4) Those given to Jesus by the Father will come to Him (John 6:37).
5) They did not choose Him, He chose them first (John 15:16).
6) They were appointed to everlasting life (Acts 13:48).
7) They were set free from the power of Satan (John 8:32; Romans 6:18; Acts 26:18).
8 ) They are predestined, called, justified, being conformed, and
will be glorified (Romans 8:29-30).
9) They are sanctified [set apart] (Romans 15:16; 1 Corinthians
6:11).
10) They are made alive while dead in transgressions (Ephesians 2:4-5).
11) They are led to and granted repentance (Romans 2:4; Acts 11:18; 2 Corinthians 7:8-10; 2 Timothy 2:25).
12) God made His light shine into their hearts to give them the knowledge of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6) because the Gospel is veiled to those who are perishing (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
13) Their hearts are opened by God to respond to the message (Acts 16:14).
14) They are drawn to Christ (John 6:44).
15) They are enabled by the Holy Spirit to trust in Him (John 6:65;
Ephesians 2:8-9).
16) They are given eyes to see and ears to listen (Proverbs 20:12, John 3:3).
17) They are reborn out of death to life, so they can see Christ for who He is and enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5-6).
18) They are circumcised in heart so they will love Him (Deuteronomy 30:6).
19) They are given a new heart by God instead of a heart of stone (Ezekiel
36:26).
20) It is because of God that they are in Christ Jesus. (1 Corinthians 1:30).
21) They are the partakers of the New Covenant based on God’s faithfulness alone, not on men choosing God as the Old Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-33).
22) When they are reborn they see Him and want to follow Him because they perceive Him as life, not death (2 Corinthians 2:15-16).
“And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be saved.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance,
As the Lord has said,
Among the remnant whom the Lord calls” (Joel 2:32).
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The Cross – Billy Graham’s Message to America
Jesus is the answer, no doubt.
Sadly, Dr. Graham said something very wrong based on Matthew 27:46. He said that God the Father and Jesus were separated at the cross. Absolutely not.
Jesus was quoting Psalm 22 and the answer to its meaning is in the verse.
Psalm 22:1
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?”
It isn’t that Jesus and the Father were separated (never let it be said they were as they are one!), it was that God poured out His wrath on Jesus in our place, He would not save Jesus from the brutal death He suffered. It was God’s will for Jesus to be crushed (Isaiah 53:5). It pleased God to satisfy His justice (Isaiah 53:10) at the cross of Christ so that we might be saved.
The night before the crucifixion Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).
The quote is at 16:11.