FOR THE ELECT’S SAKE
Pastor Charles Holmes
04-10-2013
MATTHEW 24:22-25
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25Behold, I have told you before.
I JOHN 4:4-6
4 ¶ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
THE.INVISIBLE.UNION.OF.THE.BRIDE.OF.CHRIST_ SHP.LA V-2 N-15 THURSDAY_ 65-1125
40 May I add to this Woman, Grace. May I place Her in the Bible, also, is called the elect Lady, this Miss Grace I'm going to talk about. Know, the Bible declares, said, "To the elect Lady." That, if you notice, "elect" come from the word "elected Lady." One Lady, amongst all the other ladies, was elected.
41 Like, the virgin was to bring forth the body of God, on the earth. She was an elected woman. God chose Mary.
42 And, also, God has chose an elected Lady, which is His Bride. She's elected. I hope we're members of that, tonight, across the world, across the nation, rather.
43 The illustration here, showing the relationship of Bride to Christ, the elect Lady: and how She was to be brought to Him; where She would come from; and how that She would be brought to Him. The Church here, in illustration that we got in view, is illustrated by a woman. Which, a woman is always a type of the Church, because the Church is considered a Bride. A Bride, She is the Bride of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God.
THE.GOD.OF.THIS.EVIL.AGE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-9 SUNDAY_ 65-0801M
31 Now, notice closely now as we study the Word. The God Of This Evil Age, that we're now living. May seem strange, a very strange thing, in this age of grace, when, "God is taking a people for His Name's sake," that is His Bride, in this evil age that should be called the age of evil. The very age that "God is calling a people for His Name's sake," by grace, out, and is called an evil age. Now, we'll prove by the Bible that this is the age that He was speaking of. Very strange thing to think that, that in a evil age like this, that God then would be calling His Bride.
32 You notice, He said, "a people," not "a church." Why? Yet, It's called the Church, but He would call "a people." Now, a church is a gathering of many people of all different makeups. But God is calling one here... He didn't say, "I'll call the Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal." He said He would call a people. What for? His Name. See, a people; one from the Methodist, one from the Baptist, one from the Lutheran, one from the Catholic. See?
But He is calling, not a church group, but "a people for His Name," that receives His Name, engaged in His Name, going to a wedding to be married to Him, to become part of Him, see, by a predestination. Just as a man that chooses a right wife in life, was ordained to be part of his body. So, that is, the Bride of Christ will be, and is now, from old, ordained by God to be a part of that Body. See? Oh, the Scriptures are so rich, full of honey!
33 Notice, not what someone has said, what someone called; but what God chose before the foundation of the world, and is calling these people in the last days; not an organization. "A people for His Name." And this evil age is when He's doing it, this very age of deception.
only the elect comes into that, that God has chosen you. I believe that in Revelations 2 said, "He that overcometh." So it's promised to overcomers.
You said, "I overcome smoking." That ain't what He's talking about. There's a whole lot more goes to Christianity besides not smoking cigarettes or drinking whiskey. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and he will be My son; I will be His God, and (listen) I will give him of the hidden manna. (Amen.) I will hide him away, and I will give him the hidden things the world on the outside of the curtain don't know nothing about it." Hallelujah! Though they eat manna, but they don't know about this. "I will give to him the hidden manna. I will give him a stone with his name in it." You get what I mean: entering into the adoption or the hidden place with God.
A.HIDDEN.LIFE_ CHICAGO.IL THURSDAY_ 55-1006A
E-39 Ministers of the gospel don't care about your denominations and what the world thinks, but seek to enter in to the hidden manna where the full revelation of God is make love perfect in your heart, and you and God and everything else is at rest. Let anything come, what may, you're hidden away. What a place to live. Oh, just let me abide there. As the song said, "Let me rest 'neath the tree where the wa--so freely flows, where the Lamb is the light, and the soul of the saved never die." Amen.
HOW.CAN.I.OVERCOME_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-12 SUNDAY_ 63-0825M
46 This is the--the age of Life, personal Life of Christ, where, the--the chemical of His Body, what was in Him.
First, under justification, the water baptism. Second, under the new Birth, of Wesley, sanctification, which cleanses. And thirdly, under the baptism of the Holy Spirit, putting that sanctified vessel into service. See? The word sanctify means, it's a compound Greek word which means "cleaned and set aside for service," set aside for service. Now the Holy Spirit puts it in service. See?
47And we'll notice, "When the unclean spirit is gone from a man, he walks in dry places." That's exactly what the church has done, Baptists, Methodists, those who believed in sanctification. "Then," Jesus said, "the unclean spirit that went out, returns back to this church body and finds the house garnished, swept clean, living pure, clean lives." All right. "But then if that house isn't filled, occupied, then he comes in with seven other evil demons worse than he was, and the last stage of this place is seven times worse than it was at the first place." They had been better to stay Lutheran, than it would to be to receive that Light and fail to follow It. So will the Pentecostals, see, you know what I mean, the house is garnished.
A.GUIDE_ JEFF.IN V-12 N-7 SUNDAY_ 62-1014E
96 All right, now, the Scripture. Always, when God provides, He provides the best. When God provided a way to fortify His church, He provided the best. When He give Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden, what He give them was His Word. "You stay behind this Word, and you're safe. But if you get from out of It, the day you eat thereof that day you die." God has never changed His strategy. And Satan has never changed his; how he got into Adam and Eve, he gets into them today. Why? By trying to reason It out. "Now, it's reasonable that God would not. Oh, God has said," said Satan, "but surely a holy God won't do this." Surely He will, because He said He would.
HOW.CAN.I.OVERCOME_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-12 SUNDAY_ 63-0825M
82 Well, Lot's wife did the same thing, you know. She set out, to go with Lot, follow her husband, her children, her loved ones, but It wasn't in her heart. She still loved the world. So it's possible you can make a start, and still be the world in you. See? She never overcome. And even though she was well on the road, it finally overthrowed her. She had to take that one big, long, last look. There's where she got caught. Don't even look back. Don't have no desires. Keep going. Put your mind on Calvary and keep moving towards Christ. See?
83 She started out, as an overcomer, but she never did overcome. Oh, she left the denomination. She did. She walked out of Sodom, with Lot. But she wanted to go back and have her hair cut. You know what I mean. See? She had to go back. She just couldn't stand the--the test. She had to look back again, to see what the rest of them was doing. "Oh, you know, I had some good friends down there, after all. And, after all, this might be just a little--a little move. I don't know whether it could be right or not. I--I've only got this man's word for it, though he's my husband. But yet..." Your pastor is your husband, spiritually speaking, you see. "Now, whether it could be right or not, I don't know. Maybe his revelation wasn't right."
Then, if you're not perfectly satisfied, you're not perfectly know that It's the Word of God, then--then you can't go. See? You got to be really sold out. You've got to know. Not just say, "Well, I see others doing it. I see a sign."
112 Remember, Jesus showed Her how it's done. Forty days of temptation, He was tempted above any man that ever could be tempted, in the temptation of Jesus Christ. Watch. He showed us how it's done.
Now I will close, just in a few minutes.
113 Look. He showed us how it's done. How did He do it? By the Word. That's how He done it, for He was the Word. And Jesus said, "If ye abide in Me, and My Words in you," you're back to Word again, the Word of promise. What is the Word of promise to every Christian? "Greater is He that's in you than he that's in the world." Then how do I overcome? Not me, but the Word that's in me. The Word is God. Then I overcome the things of the world, because it's the Word in me. "If ye abide in Me, My Words in you, then just ask what you will." Just keep pressing up. You're coming to the top, as sure as anything. See? You got to come to the top.
190 We--we are consecrating ourselves, Father, for what time of life we have ahead of us, knowing this, that we've got to come to the end of it, and that right away. So, this morning, we take this opportunity, after this Message. We take the opportunity, Lord, to come, because we are bidden to come. "Cast your cares upon Him, for He careth for you." I know You care, Lord. You cared enough to die for us. And we surely can care enough to come and accept what You died for.
191 Sanctify us, Lord. Fill us anew with the Holy Spirit. May the Holy Ghost just reign in our hearts, supremely, that we'll walk, forgetting the things that are in the past, the muck and mire that we once lived in. We'll press towards the mark of the high calling, where our Lights can so shine in sweetness and humility, till every passer-by can say, "There's a Christian lives there on that hill. That person, that woman, that man, is a real consecrated flower of God. They're so sweet and so kind, always loving and sweet, and understanding." Grant it, Father. Let us be salty, that the earth might thirst; grant it, Father; and overcome the things of this world, and the cares of this life. In the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.