August 20th, 1942

In our last issue we promised to try to write some more on this subject for this issue. We will try to fulfill that promise. In this article we will call attention, first, to ((9:15) (Psalms 139:15-16): My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes
did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. In this language David was representing the Saviour speaking; he was impersonating the Lord Jesus. His substance is the same as His members; that is,
the members of His body. These members of His body, His substance, are those He gave Himself for. They go to make up the number for whom He gave Himself. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27). The washing of water by the word is the washing, or cleansing, by the power of His speech. “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing:
the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” - (John 6:63). The Father saw every member of Christ's mystical body, though the number is beyond the power of man to enumerate. It is an innumerable company, which no man can number. He saw them before any of them existed. They were not hid from  Him. The father saw them when they were yet unperfect, when they were not completed, or when they did not yet exist. All these members of His body, the finally saved, those who shall finally live with Him in glory, were written in God's book “when as yet there was none of them.” This was before they had existence.
As it was before they had existence, it was too soon for them to do something in order to be written in that book. And as it was before they had existence, then they did not always exist-that is, they did not always have being. As they were written in that book before they had existence, or “when as yet there was none of them,” it follows, as a necessary conclusion, that God made choice of them before they existed, even before time, and wrote them in His book. That is, it is necessarily true that God made choice of them whom He did write in His book. They were fashioned in His mind and in His choice before they were brought into existence,
before the foundations of the earth were laid. This text being true, it follows that the doctrine of salvation wholly by the grace and mercy of God, without any works of any creature, is true. They being written in God's book before there were any of them in existence, God making choice of them and writing them in that book, it follows that even this was of His mercy and grace; and they are finally brought home to glory by His grace. This is all of grace, from first to last. It is grace upon grace. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance.” ~(Psalms 33:12). That nation whose God is the Lord is that people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance. If a person is embraced in the inheritance of the Lord it is because God has chosen that person.

If God has not chosen a people for His own inheritance, then the Lord has no inheritance. All those people who go to make up the inheritance of the Lord are those people He hath chosen for His inheritance. Does the Lord want all His  inheritance? If not, why not? And will not the Lord get all His inheritance? If not, why not? And if the Lord does not get His inheritance, who will get it? If Satan is able to get a part of the Lord's inheritance, could he not get all of it if he wanted to? If not, why not? If Satan gets a part of the Lord's inheritance, and does not get all of that inheritance, and the Lord gets only a part of His inheritance, does it not follow that the Lord gets only that part which Satan would not have? Would it not be true, then, that those who are finally saved are saved by the grace of Satan, and not by the grace of God? If not, why not? The Lord has chosen a people for His own inheritance; and Jesus redeemed them by His blood, and sends His Holy Spirit into their hearts and thereby regenerates them, brings them into divine relationship with Himself; and they are preserved in Jesus Christ, and kept by the power of God unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Hence, they will all be finally landed on the shores of eternal bliss, and will be glorified and will live with Him in all the ceaseless ages of eternity. “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.” -((4) (Psalms 65:4). The reason why any poor sinner has ever approached the Lord, or ever will approach Him, is because God had made choice of that sinner, and caused him to approach unto Him. No one is perfectly satisfied in this world of sorrow and turmoil. We may have a moment of satisfaction here, but it is only for a moment, and even then it is not perfect satisfaction. But the glorious day is coming when some will be perfectly satisfied. Who will be finally perfectly satisfied? Those whom the Lord has chosen and caused to approach unto Him. If we object to the doctrine of God's choice, we object to the very principle upon which a poor sinner ever approaches the Lord, and upon which any poor sinner will ever reach heaven and be satisfied. Those who approach the Lord, and who will finally reach heaven and be satisfied, are those whom the Lord has chosen and caused to approach unto Him. If you have ever approached the Lord, at the footstool of His mercy, realizing your need of His mercy and grace, and have implored His mercy from a feeling sense of your need, it is because God had made choice of you and caused you to approach unto Him. And all such persons shall be satisfied with the goodness of His house, the house
not made with hands, and which is eternal in the heavens. You will be satisfied, after this poor wearisome life is over, with His holy temple. You will be prepared and qualified and capacitated to live with Him in glory, and you shall be satisfied.
Surely, that will be enough. Well, we are not through with this subject, and will try,  the Lord willing, to write more for the next issue. May the Lord's richest blessings rest upon you. Remember us in prayer. C. H. C.