Ye Have Not Chosen Me

"Ye Have Not Chosen Me" – John 15:16 If there is one thing we fail to understand, it is that God is the One who chose us; it was not our own idea to come to a church. The calling begins with Him and not with us. This message walks through John 15:16, Ephesians 1:4, Jeremiah 1:5, Isaiah 43:1, 1 Peter 2:9, Acts 9:15 and Psalm 139:16 to show that God's election precedes our birth, that it does not depend on our past, and that it is not only a privilege: it is a mission to be fulfilled by bearing fruit that remains.

I. It was not by our own will (John 15:16).

A. No one came seeking God on his own initiative.

1. Someone invited you, someone pushed you; there is no other explanation.

2. We mortals are far too stubborn with ourselves.

3. This is not a matter of religion or of a building: it is a matter of lives.

B. Before any of this, Jesus had to come, go to the cross and pay the price.

1. No one is saved by works, but because the blood of Christ covers him.

2. Under the law there was a price to pay; salvation was very hard.

3. It is God who has shown mercy.

C. God personally chooses someone for a purpose.

1. When God calls, He calls by name; He does not choose by chance.

2. He did not choose Paul by chance: Paul says He called him by His grace.

II. Do not ignore your calling.

A. What is before our eyes we do; the calling must also be seen.

1. When the conviction is complete, you know what you will be called to do in life.

2. What it means is simple: I am useful in the work of God.

B. Many have ignored their calling.

1. They say: I am no good anymore, what could I serve in, what for?

2. The enemy will fight to stop you by telling you that you are of no use.

3. Press your heart to the heart of God and take off every chain.

C. When one walks in his purpose, prayer aligns him.

1. Your prayer reaches the Father, and the Father decides when to answer; you grow as you pray.

2. Without prayer you cannot align with God's will nor know His purposes.

3. Prayer is not four words: it is praying until you are torn open.

III. That ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.

A. The calling is not only to feel something lovely, but to produce.

1. What must be produced is character, and character is formed in the Lord.

2. It is formed by praying and reading the Scriptures, even in seasons of storm.

3. Character, service and obedience are developed; and blessing upon blessing follows.

B. What God does with you is not temporary.

1. There is no reason to walk under a load or to live as a victim.

2. Whatever you ask the Father in His name, He will give it to you.

IV. Chosen before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).

A. It is not only that God knows you: if you are here, He chose you.

1. The initiative comes from Him, not from our efforts.

2. God did not choose you for what you did or for your conduct: He chose you because He willed it.

3. Your calling does not depend on your past, on your successes or on your great failures.

B. He calls us that we should be holy and without blame.

1. God's election always has a purpose: to transform, to lift up, to cleanse.

2. It is not human perfection, it is divine direction.

3. It is not religion: it is intimacy, giving Him the whole of oneself.

V. “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee” (Jeremiah 1:5).

A. God chooses before birth.

1. He knew Jeremiah's conduct and walk, not merely the day he was born.

2. To know, in the Bible, means intimacy, intention and love.

3. Nothing about you took God by surprise.

B. “Before thou camest forth I sanctified thee”: to sanctify is to set apart.

1. It does not mean being already perfectly sanctified: that comes through time.

2. Sanctified means set apart, selected, marked for a purpose.

C. “I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations”: a specific calling.

1. You need not be a prophet, but you do reveal the truth.

2. Many purposes go unfulfilled because one feels worthless and unable.

VI. “Thou art mine” (Isaiah 43:1).

A. Your Creator and your Former: He formed you with intention.

1. You are not a piece of furniture nor just one more: you are on this earth for an end.

2. When the heart fills with love, it floods everything around it.

B. “Fear not”: before reminding you that He chose you, God takes away the fear.

1. When He calls, He also gives security; the calling produces peace, not confusion.

C. “I have redeemed thee”: He bought you, rescued you, made you His.

1. He did not choose you when you were strong, but when you were lost.

2. “Thou art mine”: present, absolute, certain; not “you will be mine if you earn it.”

VII. A chosen generation, a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9).

A. You are part of a people God Himself chose.

1. Royal priesthood: direct access to God, without an intermediary.

2. Holy nation: set apart, to walk nearer to Him, not to be just one more.

3. A purchased people: He paid the price; your life has an Owner, and that Owner loves you.

B. “That ye should shew forth his praises”: not only a privilege, a mission.

1. What goes unfulfilled goes unfulfilled because dealing with people is hard.

2. He called you out of darkness into His marvellous light: your story is a rescue story.

VIII. “He is a chosen vessel unto me” (Acts 9:15).

A. Paul was far off, confused and mistaken; but God saw beyond his past.

1. A chosen vessel means personally selected, set apart with intention.

2. When God chooses, He does it with a name and with a purpose.

B. “To bear my name”: to reflect Christ wherever one walks.

1. Each believer bears it in his own way: in word, in testimony, in service, in love.

2. God determines whom He will use and where; the places were not chance.

IX. “In thy book all my members were written” (Psalm 139:16).

A. Before your body existed, God already saw you.

1. He predestined us for salvation, for eternal life and for the forgiveness of sins.

2. He did not merely see you: He beheld you with love.

B. Every stage, every experience and every process was within the plan.

1. God does not improvise with you: He writes, forms and fulfills, and none of them fails.

2. There are no accidents, no errors, no lost chapters; even the days of doubt were under His care.

3. Today you only fulfilled a chapter that was already written.

X. Closing: thou hast been faithful over a few things.

A. I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

1. One day I shall see Him, and He will say: I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.

2. There will be no more sorrow and no more burden: we shall be entirely free.

3. But in this life, you either fight or you fight.