Transcript

030 - Election · True Vine

0:01
Speaker 1: Chapter twenty nine. Election from the True Vine by Andrew Murray.
0:06
Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by
0:10
Speaker 1: Phil Snyder Election, Ye did not choose me, but I
0:16
Speaker 1: chose you and appointed you that ye should go and
0:20
Speaker 1: bear fruit John fifteen sixteen. The branch does not choose
0:26
Speaker 1: the vine or decide on which vine it will grow.
0:30
Speaker 1: The vine brings forth the branch as and where it will.
0:35
Speaker 1: Even so Christ says, ye did not choose me, but
0:38
Speaker 1: I chose you. But some will say, is not just
0:42
Speaker 1: this the difference between the branch in the natural and
0:45
Speaker 1: in the spiritual world. That man has a will and
0:49
Speaker 1: a power of choosing, and that it is in virtue
0:52
Speaker 1: of his having decided to accept Christ, his having chosen
0:56
Speaker 1: him as Lord, that he is now a branch. This
0:59
Speaker 1: is undoubtedly true, and yet it is only half a truth.
1:04
Speaker 1: The lesson of the vine and the teaching of our
1:07
Speaker 1: Lord points to the other half, the deeper, the divine
1:11
Speaker 1: side of our being in Christ. If he had not
1:14
Speaker 1: chosen us, we had never chosen him. Our choosing him
1:19
Speaker 1: was the result of His choosing us and taking hold
1:22
Speaker 1: of us. In the very nature of things, it is
1:26
Speaker 1: his prerogative as vine to choose and create his own branch.
1:30
Speaker 1: We owe all we are to the election of Grace.
1:35
Speaker 1: If we want to know Christ as the true vine,
1:38
Speaker 1: the sole origin and strength of the branch life, and
1:42
Speaker 1: ourselves as branches in our absolute, most blessed and most
1:45
Speaker 1: secure dependence upon Him, Let us drink deep of this
1:50
Speaker 1: blessed truth. Ye did not choose me, but I chose you.
1:56
Speaker 1: And with what view does Christ say this? That they
2:00
Speaker 1: may know what the object is for which He chose them,
2:03
Speaker 1: and find in their faith in His election the certainty
2:07
Speaker 1: of fulfilling their destiny. Throughout scripture, this is the great
2:12
Speaker 1: object of the teaching of election, predestinated to be conformed
2:16
Speaker 1: to the image of his Son, to be branches in
2:19
Speaker 1: the image and likeness of the Vine, chosen, that we
2:23
Speaker 1: should be holy, chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit,
2:28
Speaker 1: elect in sanctification of the spirit unto obedience. Some have
2:33
Speaker 1: abused the doctrine of election, and others, for fear of
2:36
Speaker 1: its abuse, have rejected it. Because they have overlooked this teaching,
2:41
Speaker 1: they have occupied themselves with its hidden origin in eternity,
2:45
Speaker 1: with the inscrutable mysteries of the Councils of God instead
2:49
Speaker 1: of accepting the revelation of its purpose in time and
2:53
Speaker 1: the blessings it brings into our Christian life. Just think
2:58
Speaker 1: what these blessings are. In our verse. Christ reveals his
3:02
Speaker 1: twofold purpose in choosing us to be his branches, that
3:05
Speaker 1: we may bear fruit on earth and have power in
3:09
Speaker 1: prayer in heaven. What confidence the thought that He has
3:12
Speaker 1: chosen us for this gives that He will not fail
3:16
Speaker 1: to fit us for carrying out his purpose. What assurance
3:21
Speaker 1: that we can bear fruit that will abide and can
3:24
Speaker 1: pray so as to obtain What a continual call to
3:28
Speaker 1: the deepest humility and praise to the most entire dependence
3:33
Speaker 1: and expectancy. He would not choose us for what we
3:37
Speaker 1: are not fit for, or what he could not fit us,
3:40
Speaker 1: For he has chosen us. This is the pledge he
3:45
Speaker 1: will do all in us. Let us listen in silence
3:49
Speaker 1: of soul to our Holy Vine speaking to each of us.
3:53
Speaker 1: You did not choose me, and let us say, yea Lord,
3:57
Speaker 1: but I chose you a men. Lord. Ask him to
4:01
Speaker 1: show what this means in him the true Vine. Your
4:05
Speaker 1: life as a branch has its divine origin, its eternal
4:09
Speaker 1: security and the power to fulfill his purpose. From him
4:14
Speaker 1: to whose will of love you owe all you may expect,
4:17
Speaker 1: all in him, his purpose, and his power, and his faithfulness.
4:23
Speaker 1: In his love, let me abide. I chose you, Lord.
4:29
Speaker 1: Teach me what this means. That thou hast set thy
4:32
Speaker 1: heart on me and chosen me to bear fruit that
4:36
Speaker 1: will abide, and to pray prayer that will prevail in
4:40
Speaker 1: this thine eternal purpose. My soul would rest itself and say,
4:46
Speaker 1: what he chose me for, I will be, I can be,
4:50
Speaker 1: I shall be. End of Chapter twenty nine.