A Testimony

For forty (40) years I was content to believe what I was hearing preached in most of the churches I attended. I did not read or study the BIBLE much those years. I could not back up my beliefs with any Scripture. Then in 1990 a friend of mine died from cancer. Because of his death I started to asked myself, If I died today WHERE WOULD I GO? HEAVEN or HELL? WHY would God let me in Heaven. I didn't have a good answer for that. It surely wouldn't be because of how good or faithful I was, because I'm NOT GOOD or FAITHFUL. So I started to listen more intently at Church and to Sermons on the Radio and TV. But...The preaching that I was hearing made me ASK:

IF ALL THE CHURCHES THAT CALL THEMSELVES 'CHRISTIAN' ARE ALL TEACHING 'SOMETHING DIFFERENT' THEN WHICH ONE IS TEACHING THE TRUTH ????
ALL OF THEM CAN NOT BE TEACHING TRUTH !!!!

About the same time, GOD started to draw me to His WORD, the BIBLE. What GOD was reveling through his WORD was something totally different than what I had ever heard before. Something that the pastors, I had heard, were not preaching about.

Matthew 1:21

"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS; FOR HE SHALL 'SAVE' HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS.

Notice that it says SHALL SAVE, it DOES NOT say SHALL MAKE IT POSSIBLE to be saved. So... he SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE. Who are these people?

John 6:37

"All that the FATHER GIVETH me (Jesus) shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

It says here that those that the FATHER GIVETH to JESUS WILL COME TO JESUS and He will not cast them out. But what happens to the ones God doesn't give to Jesus? Well this term, GIVETH, sounds like some other terms I have heard and read about before;

ELECTION, PREDESTINATION, CHOSEN.
Ephesians 1:4

"According as he hath CHOSEN US in him before the foundation of the world, THAT WE SHOULD BE HOLY and without blame before him in love."

Well I thought that He CHOSE US because of something GOOD he foresaw in us. BUT here it says HE CHOSE US 'THAT' we should be holy. This verse says, that if there is anything good in man it was because GOD DID IT, not us.

John 1:13

"Which were born ,not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, NOR OF THE WILL OF MAN, BUT OF GOD."

So it is by GOD's WILL that we are SAVED, NOT OUR WILL. But most sermons that I have heard have stated that; 'I MUST accept God', I MUST pray the sinners prayer, I MUST receive the Holy Spirit, I MUST Decide to believe, MY FREE WILL MUST choose Him.' That IS NOT what the BIBLE is saying in the above versus, is it?

That brings me to the reason for this note. I BELIEVE the GOSPEL of the BIBLE teaches this;

MAN, SINCE THE FALL OF ADAM, IS BORN INTO A STATE OF SPIRITUAL DEATH, TOTALLY DEPRAVED, DEAD IN SIN, AND CAN NOT AND WILL NOT DO ANYTHING TO TURN TO GOD.
GOD CHOSE SOME TO BE SAVED, BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN, AND PREDESTINATED THEM TO BE HIS ELECTED SONS BY ADOPTION.
JESUS CHRIST SHED HIS BLOOD AND DIED AS A SUBSTITUTE TO REDEEM AND SAVE HIS PEOPLE, THE ELECT. IT WAS NEVER HIS INTENTION TO REDEEM AND SAVE 'ALL' MEN.
THE HOLY SPIRIT DOES NOT 'JUST TRY' TO GET MEN TO BELIEVE, BUT, WITH HIS POWER, HE EFFECTUALLY 'BRINGS' SINNERS TO CHRIST.
GOD KEEPS ALL TRUE BELIEVERS IN THE GRACE OF GOD AND THEY WILL NEVER LOOSE THEIR SALVATION NOR WILL THEY EVER PERISH.

Salvation DOES NOT come from the WILL OF MAN, the WORK OF MAN, or the WORTH OF MAN. "BY GRACE are ye SAVED THROUGH FAITH: and that (FAITH) not of yourselves: it (FAITH) is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph.2:8-9

This note explains the VERY FOUNDATION OF MY FAITH and MY BELIEFS. I am commanded by Gods Word to both, REJOICE and to DECLARE TO ALL MEN that I believe these BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINES.

If after reading this NOTE you have any QUESTIONS or would like to hear more, I would be glad to discuss it with you.

TO GOD GOES ALL THE GLORY

Gregory Ickes

Greg has a Website at: www.norwich.net/surety/index.htm

Sovereign Grace Doctrine