MANY CALLED!!! FEW CHOSEN!!!

In an earlier article, I wrote about the few men in the Old Testament that God called good, and why He considered them good. For those who missed that article, God showed me two important things # I. that "good", in God's lexicon, is not perfect conduct, but perfect love as in the great commandment, (luke 10:27) and # 2, that we must walk with God, as told in Amos 3:3, "Can two walk together except they be agreed?" Anyway, I was about to start an article about the good men of the New Testament, when a thought came to me with considerable force, as well as consternation Could it be that the few men singled out in the Bible as being good, were the only good ones of all the people who lived back then? At first, this seemed preposterous, like Elijah saying he was the only good man left. (I Kings 19:14& 18) But, as I thought about it, verses came to mind: "The gate is tight, the way is narrow and few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14) "Many are called, few are chosen." (Matthew 20:16) I had to pursue this thought! Going back to the Patriarchs, we know some of them lived for as long as nine centuries and they filled the earth with people. But, how many were chosen? We read) "Enoch walked with God," (Genesis 5:24) "Noah walked with God " (Genesis 6:9) Apparently only these two pleased God. We know this is so because the next big event was the flood, which destroyed all the rest of them. (Genesis 6:13) Two is definitely few in my book. Actually eight people were saved. Some say his family must have been good, but nowhere does it say so, and three times God calls Noah good. (Genesis 6:8,9 & 7:1) God just needed Noah's family to start all over again. After the flood, the population multiplied again and unbelievably, the new ones were just as bad as the earlier ones. They began to build a tower to show how great they were, which highly offended God. He showed His displeasure by confounding their language and scattering them abroad. (Genesis 11:7 & 8) Many years later, God found a family that responded to Him. the family of Abraham. God told them to leave their city, Ur of the Chaldees, and go to Canaan Land. (Genesis 11:31) They were very slow about it and in the end only Abraham and hia nephew, Lot, reached Canaan. Soon, they bad a disagreement and Lot moved to Sodom.' So, of all the people God called so far three were chosen: Enoch, Noah and Abraham God now really concentrated on Abraham, promising him the whole land of Canaan and a family that would bless the entire world if he would stay faithful. He said, "I am your shield and exceeding great reward " (Genesis 15:1) It was like God had found a little rill coming out of a very polluted river and was determined to keep it pure. Abraham was by no means perfect, but he knew how to believe and obey God. As a result, God blessed him in his old age with a miracle son. Isaac (Genesis 21:1-3) later Isaac had two sons. Esau, who was bad, and Jacob, who started out bad, but became good. After an encounter with God, Jacob's name was changed to Israel, meaning Prince of God. Israel had twelve sons Ten of them were bad, even plotting to kill their brother, Joseph, but instead, they sold him as a slave Joseph was a very good man and God rewarded him by arranging for him to be the ruler of Egypt. During a famine, Joseph showed his goodness by inviting his father and brothers to live with him in Fgypt. The "children of Israel", as they were now called, remained in E:gypt for 400 years, during which time they became two million strong However, a new ruler of Egypt saw them as a threat and made them slaves. We pause now for a count of God's chosen men: Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph; six in all. God's purpose now was to take the children of Israel out of Fgypt by a miraculous deliverance and bring them into Canaan, the land of promise. Hopefully, this great deliverance would cause them to be a godly nation He needed an extraordinarily good leader, and found him in Moses. Briefly, through many miracles, Moses led two million people out of Egypt. But again, unbelievably, they all turned out bad. While Moses was up on the mountain with God, they decided to worship a golden calf and have a party. (Exodus 32: I & 25) The Lord was so furious, He wanted to destroy them all, but Moses interceded and God agreed to keep working with them. When they reached the Promised land, there was another failure. Only two men, Joshua and Caleb, were willing to go in. So God said, you can wander in the wilderness until you all die, and the next generation will go in. Forty years later, they went in, led by Joshua. We pause for another count of chosen men. We had six before, now, add Moses, Joshua and Caleb, and we have nine. Israel now begins the conquest of Canaan, taking over one nation after the other. They Were very successful, being led by God's all-time favorite man, David. In a short while, they became the most powerful nation on earth. But, the good times didn't last. They failed to conquer all the land and then began to intermarry with the heathen and to worship their idols. David's own son, Solomon, turned away from God. It wasn't long before their nation split in two, and actually fought against each other. They went deeper and deeper into idolatry until God gave up on them and let them be conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. Seventy years later, about 50,000 were allowed to go back to Jerusalem, led by Ezra and Nehemiah, to resettle and rebuild. Almost immediately, they began, again, to intermarry with the heathen. (Ezra 9: I & 2) You'd have to say by now, they were incorrigible. During this time, there were, no doubt, some good judges, like Samuel; some good kings, like David and Hezekiah, some good prophets, like Isaiah, and some good individuals, like Amos, (Amos 7:14-13), Naomi, Ruth and Boaz, (Ruth 1:16 & 2:4), Esther and Mordecai (Esther 4:16), Ezra, (Ezra 7:6,10), Nehermah (Nehemiah I :4) and some others hidden away, but they were not enough to stem the tide. It should be noted here that there are people saved by the skin of their teeth - "as by fire", (I Corinthians 3 :15), like the thief on the cross. However, Jesus said in Revelations 3:16, that He would cast out the lukewarm. Why take a chance and miss the best? ~ God finally had enough. Israel was allowed to be conquered and scattered again, with nothing left to bind them together, but the hope of a messiah. We read in Malachi 3:1, the last prophet of the Old Testament, "I will send my messenger before me" (John the Baptist) "The Lord, whom ye seek shall suddenly come" (Jesus) (3:2) "He shall be like a refiner's fire " (verse 5) "I will come for judgment — " (4:1) "The day shall burn as an oven — " (4:6) Turn your hearts lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (4:6) These last words of God to Israel were a warning and a promise, but they went unheeded. When Jesus came, only a handful were ready, or even knew about it. Only Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, a few shepherds and wise men, and Anna and Simeon were in touch with the Lord, after all those centuries of training. Thirty years later, when Jesus began His ministry, the leaders despised and rejected Him. Finally, to top off their wickedness, they killed Him. Soon after this, Rome destroyed their city and scattered them everywhere. An accurate head count of the chosen, by this time, would be impossible, but it is clear that there were very few in the Old Testament who walked with God. The scariest part of this story is the words of Jesus in Luke 17:26-30, "As it was in the days of Noah and in the days of Sodom, so shall it be when the Son of Man is revealed. They bought, they sold, they married, until the flood came." It is clear that people, throughout history, are too busy to think about God. Consider what Jesus told us in Matthew 22:2-5, about a king (God) who planned a wedding for his son and sent out invitations. They made light of it and refused to come. Can you believe it? Also consider what Jesus says in Luke 18:8, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" The implication is He won't. How unbelievable it is that even the disciples failed the Lord. When He was arrested, they all fled except John and Peter, and Peter denied the Lord when he felt threatened. (Matthew 26:56 & 72) After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to them and commanded them to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts I 8) Only 120 obeyed, a very low percentage of all the people that saw and heard Jesus. The record of subsequent years is a sorry one. The church, in a very short time, was practically dead. It held on to the form of godliness, but denied the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3 5) It was soon captured by the Romans, under Constantine and became, for them, a money machine (2 Peter 2:3) It bardy survived the dark ages In general, it was dead until the early 1900s. When the Holy Spint was poured out in los Angeles. But, believe it or not, the visible, established churches said loud and clear "We don't want any of that," and this is still true today. Many Christians believe that the Lord is about to return. There should be a great revival, but instead, there is a falling away, modernism, etc (2 Thessalonians 2:3) There is more violence and more wickedness today than ever, idolatry is rampant (TV especially) all moral standards have been cast out and the greed for money is like an epidemic. In other words, it's just like it was in the days of Noah. • So, what's in store for the world? We only have the Bible to go by and this is what it says: ' 1. Judgment will come unexpectedly (2 Peter 3 10) 2. Judgment will begin at the house of God (the church) (I Peter 4:17 3. The earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up (2 Peter 3 10 A 12) 4. Jesus will appear suddenly in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that do not wish to know God. (2 Thessalonians 1:7) 5. The wicked (anti God) shall drink of the wine of the wrath of (God — forever (Revelation 14:10) 6. The Sun shall be darkened. the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. (Matthew 24:29) 7. Except the days be shortened, there should be no flesh saved. (Matthew 24:22) 8. He shall gather His elect. (Matthew 24 3) 9. A new heaven and a new earth will come (2 Peter 3:13) Friend, if you think this assessment might be right and you want to escape what is coming and make your calling and election sure, (2 Peter 1:10), here's what to do: 1. Watch and pray always (Luke 21:36) 2. Continue in the Word (John 831) 3. Keep listening to Flis voice (John 10 27) 4. Be filled with the Spirit (Fphesians 5 18 & Matthew 25 8) 5. Abide in Mim (I John 2 28) 6. Don't go to sleep (Mark 13:36) 7. Buy gold tried in the fire (Revdation 3:18) 8. Keep your wedding garment on (Matthew 22:12) 9. Remove any spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27 10. Keep looking for Him (Hebrews 9 28) 11. Love His appearing (2 Timothy 4:1) 12. Endure to the end (Matthew 24:13)