Chosen Out of the World
'1 have chosen you!' John 15:16.
These words have a special and wonderful meaning for God's children, and the daily prayer of each one of us should be: 'O Lord, I want these words to became real in my life, not only for today, but also for every day.'
If indeed we have been chosen of God, then, whatever our difficulty or problem, God will surely provide a solution. All of us have problems, whether we are saved or unsaved, young or old in the faith, growing spiritually or not, spiritually mature or not, all of us will continue to have some problem or other until our last day on earth. Wc have no promise that if we trust in the Lord we shall be freed from all our problems and difficulties. Rather we may have increasing difficulties and greater problems. However, I do believe that these words have God's answer for each one of us. '/ have chosen you.' What comfort and assurance are ours when we realize that we have been chosen by our Lord. Even though He knows more about us than do our neighbours, knows all our inward corruption, rottenness, failures and shortcomings, how we have failed and grieved Him, yet He is saying these words to us who have been bought, purchased and cleansed by His blood.
' I have chosen you out of the world.' John 15:19.
These words are addressed to those who have been definitely chosen by the Lord. In the epistle to the Ephesians Paul uses seven names to describe God's people. They are called the Church, His Body, the New Man, God's family or the household of God, God's workmanship, an holy temple, and the bride of Christ. Why does he call God's people by the name 'church'! Eph. 1: 22. The word 'church' in the Greek is Ecclesia, which has a special meaning. When the Lord said those words in John 15:16, 19: 'I have chosen you out of the world', the real thought is; 'I have gathered you out of the world.' The word used is a very strong one. It does not mean simply: 'I have chosen you as I would choose a friend.' The word the Lord uses here means: '1 have drawn or pulled you out by much power.' In other words our Lord has had to exercise His mighty strength in order to pull us out of the world. That is the meaning of the word Ecclesia.
Suppose yourself to be walking in a marshy place which outwardly may look like a grassy plot, but underneath is miry clay. When you begin to walk upon it, with every step you will sink deeper and deeper into the clay) and the more you try to get out the deeper you will go. Imagine a very large elephant sinking into such soil, and struggling hard to get out! The more it struggled, the deeper it would go, and should other elephants come and try to pull it out, they would also be sucked down in the quagmire. Even if all the men from the neighbourhood, feeling sorry for the poor elephant, were to come and try to pull it out, they would also sink in the same way. Such is the nature of 'miry clay', the very word that is used by the psalmist in Psalm 40. 2, and thus Scripture describes the condition of a sinner, who, according to God's Word, is walking and sinking in miry clay.
There is a time in the life of every man when he feels sorry for his sinful life,—it may be in youth, in middle age, or in old age. He decides: 'From tomorrow I will try very hard to change. I have determined to lead a better life.' But, C H O S E N OUT OF T H E W O R L D alas! he only becomes worse, and the more he tries, the worse he becomes, because human nature is such. Even if he goes to others and asks them to help him to become belter he will find that they also will fail, and together they will sink deeper and deeper into the miry clay, out of which no human effort will succeed in pulling them.
The Lord Jesus Christ alone has the power to pull men out of the miry clay of sin, and He came to this earth in order to do so. In that sense He uses the word 'church' to describe those who arc drawn out, pulled out, or chosen. Before there can be the evidence of His choice in our lives, there must be the exercise of His drawing power. Has the Lord chosen you? Have you got that inward assurance which enables you to say: 'The Lord Jesus has chosen me'?Can you say that evid
Before you can understand what it is to be chosen by Him you must know the meaning of the word 'world'. Whatever you see now upon this earth will soon pass away. 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.' Matt. 24. 35. Things which cannot be shaken shall remain. That which will pass away is called the 'world' in the Bible, liven the sun, moon, and stars may pass away, hut there are things which will not pass away. Our Lord has chosen us in order to bring us into 'a kingdom which cannot be shaken.' Heb. 12. 28. If you have been chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ, how much do you possess of that which will not pass away, and how much of that which will pass away? We do not want to know how much money you have in the bank, or how much property you have, and so on, or even how much of the Bible you know. Bible knowledge, however good it may be, will soon be forgotten. Our good deeds will not last for ever, nor can we remain good for ever, for our nature changes as life goes on, and all of us are full of weaknesses, wasting our time and energies on the things which will pass away.
When we realize that the Lord has chosen us, we realize also how transient is the world in which we live, and that nothing in it can give true happiness. The things of the world will appear to us as miry clay in which we can only sink deeper and deeper. The Lord Jesus Christ says: 'I have chosen you out of the world.' He has come to rescue us from the attraction of earthly things, to pull us out of those things which would drag us down, and to give us everlasting riches. Do not refuse Him, nor cling to the things that will pass away.
The Lord says further: *I have chosen you out of the world, that I may make you my friends.' John 15:15.
These words are not meant only for the apostles to whom He was speaking. They are meant also for you and me. 'I have chosen you, to make you my friend,' He says. Only those who have divine life can understand these words, for how can a sinner living in sin and darkness be God's friend? 'All things which 1 have heard from the Father I have made known to you,' He said, and we can prove to the whole world that we are the friends of the Lord Jesus Christ because day by day those truths and mysteries which have been hidden even from the heavenly angels are being revealed to us.
The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us those things as we begin to walk with God and learn the secret of talking with Him, and receiving daily something fresh from Him. Such things cannot be taught to us by any school-teacher, professor, or other man. In Matt. 11. 25-27, and 16.,17, we read of a man who had been with the Lord Jesus Christ for three years, who had seen many miracles done by Him and had also heard Him preaching, and who could therefore honestly say to the Lord Jesus Christ: 'I know everything about you, because I have been with you, talked with you, ate with you, slept with you.' But the Lord Jesus Christ CHOSEN OUT OF THE WORLD told him: 'Simon, you do not know me by flesh and blood, but my heavenly Father has revealed this to you.'
When the very life of God comes into you, you will be able to say: 'Now I know the Lord, because His very life is flowing into mc, constantly and abundantly, and that life brings to me the revelation of His will and purpose. Now He may punish me and chastise me, yet I know He has chosen me. Nor has He chosen me for only a few days, as the world chooses its favoured ones.' For. example, a young man may marry a girl because he thinks that he loves her so much that he cannot live without her, yet after a few months he regrets his marriage. Man changes his mind from year to year, but this is not God's way. When God chooses, He chooses for eternity, and even though we may fail and grieve Him, yet His choice will never change.
God has chosen us. He has chosen us for a purpose, and He knows how to make us fit for that purpose. Isa. 49. 3. God had to rebuke Jacob many times, yet He had chosen him, and His choice never changed. It took many years and much patience for God to shape Jacob as a chosen vessel. God could have said: 'Now Jacob, you arc no good. 1 have made a mistake, and there is no hope for you. You are so weak and hopeless.' But God never said anything like that. He went on rebuking Jacob and chastising him, till he became Israel. God had chosen him before he was born, and His choice would never change. Whoever you may be, and though you may bear a hopeless testimony before your neighbours; yes, even though your father and mother may have cause to say before your friends that there is no hope for you, and that they think you are worthless and entirely useless, yet God will never cast you off. If you are a true believer He still says to you: 'My child, I have chosen you; even though you are grieving me and failing me, yet I have chosen you.'
God told Jacob in Gen. 28:15: 'I will never leave thee.' You may leave Him. You may say: 'I have no time for God. I want to earn more money. I want to provide for my wife and children. I want to get a name in the world. I have a business to run, and a very important business too, then how can I find the time to read my Bible and pray ?' It is through such things that many have become cold towards God. Yet the Lord is still saying to you: 'You may leave me, but I will never leave you. I have chosen you for eternity.' Oh, what love! what grace! what a salvation!