Jesus Saves the Elect

In 1 Corinthians 1:26–31, we read that God chooses to save people who, in general, are not wise nor influential nor of noble birth nor Nobel-Prize winners nor rich nor famous, but foolish people, weak people, lowly people, despised people—people who are nothings, zeros, sinners.

God saves sinners who are elect. I do not understand election, but I rejoice in it. God chose me to be saved in infancy. The Bible says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6). That is my story.

In the Azusa Street revival in Southern California in 1906, God poured out the Holy Spirit upon poor blacks and poor whites. God makes no external distinctions. So in 1 Corinthians 1:26–31, Paul says, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called,” meaning effectually called to be saved. “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose [in eternity past] the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not [zeros]—to nullify the things that are.” In other words, God has an ability to choose those who are nothings in the eyes of the world for eternal salvation and to make zeros the things that are something in the eyes of the world.

What is God’s final purpose, according to this passage? Paul answers, “So that no one may boast before him.” All worship belongs to God triune. Paul continues, “It is because of him [that is, God the Father] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” We who trusted in Christ alone for our eternal salvation are saved forever. We are going to live in a new heaven and a new earth, as we read about in 2 Peter 3:13. We are going to live with God and with all God’s people forever in perfect happiness. Then Paul concludes, “Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.’” We are not to boast in our money, in our degrees, in our physical appearance or in anything else. The Lord does not look at the outside. He looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7).

First Corinthians 1:26–31 describes what happened to us. Let us, then, look at some of God’s elect people.

1. Rahab the Prostitute

God foreloved the prostitute Rahab. He predestinated her and, in time, he called her effectually, she was regenerated, she repented and believed, and she was justified, adopted, sanctified, and glorified.

I am surprised at God’s love for prostitutes. They are nothing in the estimation of the world. But God loved this Rahab, so in Joshua 2:1 we read, “Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. ‘Go, look over the land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’ So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.” God guided the steps of the spies to a house of a prostitute. Why? Because from eternity God loved this person. The Bible tells us that Rahab later married Salmon and her name is found in Matthew 1:5 in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Their son was Boaz, who married Ruth, a Moabite.

This prostitute believed. She was elect. Before she was born, God chose this person Rahab. In Joshua 2:12–13 she told the spies, “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death,” meaning eternal death. This is household salvation.

We read about Rahab three times in the New Testament. First, as we said, she is mentioned in Matthew 1:5. Then, in Hebrews 11, we read, “By faith [in God] the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient” (Heb. 11:31). Because Rahab believed and obeyed God, she experienced household salvation. And in James 2:25–26 we read, “In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without [obedience] is dead.”

In modern evangelical circles, many believe that no repentance is necessary and no obedience is necessary. Such people are going to hell. Both repentance and obedience are necessary to go to heaven.

2. The Samaritan Woman

God saved the Samaritan woman of John 4 because she was an elect from eternity past. Jesus met her and told her in John 4:16–18, “Go, call your husband and come back.” She answered, “I have no husband.” Jesus said, “You are right when you say you have no husband.” Jesus knows everything about us. He is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, infinite, and eternal. So then he told her, “The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.” This woman’s entire life is characterized by the statement: five plus one. In other words, she was a prostitute.

Jesus knows all about us. He knows every sin we ever did. The woman said, “I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming.” And Jesus said, “I am the Messiah” (see John 4:25–26). This woman believed and was saved. Why was she saved? She was an elect. All are sinners, but only a few are elect to be saved. Thank God if you are saved. There is no greater blessing than this.

3. The Woman Caught in Adultery

We read about another prostitute in John 8. God saved the “woman caught in adultery” because she was his elect. This woman was a TULIP Christian. TULIP stands for total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement (limited to the elect), irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. Elect people will persevere to the end.

In John 8:7–11 we read, “When they kept on questioning [Jesus], he straightened up and said to them, ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’” There is only one person without sin. The eternal Son became sinless man, and he has the right to save us and judge us. “Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir,’ she said.” And thank God for what Jesus said next: “Then neither do I condemn you.” Jesus loves sinners.

We all were sinners, and God saved us. Only a few people are saved. To them the One without sin says, “Neither do I condemn you. Yes, you sinned, but I will die for your sin.”

Then Jesus told the woman, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” This is total transformation. This is regeneration. God gave this woman a new mind, a new will, and a new set of affections.

Most people never preach on regeneration. But without regeneration, we can do nothing. So Jesus was telling her, “I forgive you. Now go and leave your life of sin.” This Jesus, who was without sin, died for our sins. (PGM) We sinned and Jesus died.

Thank God, Jesus forgives our sins! When we look back in our lives, we see our sins. But he forgives and forgets. In Isaiah 43:25 the Lord says, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” Thank God, he forgets all our sins and he clothes us with righteousness of Jesus Christ.

4. Another Prostitute

God saves the elect, and in Luke 7 we read that he saved another elect prostitute. In Luke 7:36–38 we read, “Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of [expensive] perfume, and as she stood behind him” and was weeping, repenting of her every sin, “she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.” This woman was an elect. She repented, she believed, and she was saved.

Thank God, he gives us repentance and saving faith. We did not have it, but God gives us what we need. And in Luke 7:48 Jesus told this woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” Now there is no condemnation. She was justified forever. Paul writes, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). He also said, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). As I said before, I do not understand election to salvation, but I enjoy it.

Jesus told the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” This salvation is not cheap. Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

5. Legion-Demon Man

The fifth person we want to look at is the legion-demon man, from whom two thousand demons were driven out, as we read in Luke 8:26–39. Why did Jesus go to the Gerasenes? Because this man was an elect.

In Luke 8:29 we read, “Many times [the demons] had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by [the demons] into solitary places.” I believe that demons exist.

Jesus went to the land of the Gerasenes and cast two thousand demons out from this man. The man had been restless, naked, and living in tombs. But now he was sitting down, clothed and in his right mind.

After Jesus drove the two thousand demons out of the man, the men of the town came to Jesus, saying, “Please go away. We are pig worshipers. We love pigs. We love money. You destroyed two thousand pigs. We love our pigs.” You cannot serve both God and money. I do not serve money. I serve God, and he gives me enough money.

This man from whom the demons were cast out wanted to follow Jesus Christ wherever he went. But Jesus said, “No. You go to your country and tell them what God has done for you,” and he did (Luke 8:39).

6. Saul of Tarsus

There is another man who was one of God’s elect. His name was Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:1–19a). He was a graduate of the university of Tarsus. He had authority to go to Damascus and arrest men and women who were Christians, to bring them to Jerusalem and kill them.

But God arrested him because he also was an elect. In Acts 9:4–5 we read, “[Saul] fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’” This is an illustration of God’s irresistible grace. We can resist all we want. God may even have to kill us to save us. But we must never underestimate the infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent triune God. We must heed Paul’s words: “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12).

The Lord also spoke to Ananias in Damascus about Saul. Ananias said, “Lord, you don’t know. The report says that this man Saul has received authority to arrest Christians.” The Lord said, “I know. But I have arrested him. Even now, he is blind and is fasting in Judas’ house on Straight Street. He is seeing a vision that you have come to heal him and help him be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Then the Lord told Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument”—chosen in eternity. “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” And Ananias came to Saul and healed him. All of a sudden the scales fell from his eyes, and he saw God. In 2 Corinthians 11 we find out how much he suffered for Christ until, as an old man, he was beheaded by Rome.

Thank God for election. Thank God, we are saved. God will not change his mind. Therefore, let us praise him. And if you are not saved, he will save you. The Philippian jailer asked the question, “What must I do to be saved?” Our money cannot save us. Our education cannot save us. We all must die. But before we die, know that only one thing is needful. What, then, must we do to be saved? The answer is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” I believe this is the truth. So you do not have to know if you are elect or not. But if you are elect, you will believe in Jesus Christ and be saved. Cry out to God and he will save you because that is what we read.