Let's begin our second service
by standing and singing, Great is Thy Faithfulness, number 40.
Great is Thy Faithfulness. It is Thy faithfulness, O God
my Father. There is no shadow of turning
with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions
they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever
wilt be. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I see. All I have needed thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above. Joined with all nature in manifold
witness To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love Great is thy faithfulness,
great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath
provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. ? Mourned for sin and a peace that
endureth ? ? Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide ? ? Strength
for today and bright hope for tomorrow ? ? Blessings all mine
with 10,000 beside ? Great is Thy faithfulness, Great
is Thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see. I have needed, Thy hand hath
provided, Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. The wood turned to 126. 126.
Rock of Ages. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flow, be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These for sin could not atone. Thou must save, and Thou alone. In my hand, O Christ, I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath,
when my eyes shall close in death, when I rise to worlds unknown,
and behold thee on thy throne, rock of ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Thank you. I'm going to read 2 John, just
one chapter, 2 John. 2 John, one chapter, verse one. The elder unto the elect lady
and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not I only,
but also all the that have known the truth, for the truth's sake,
which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever. Grace be
with you, mercy and peace, from God the Father, and from the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth,
as we have received a commandment from the Father. And I beseech
thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee,
but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk
after his commandments. This is the commandment, that
as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. For many
deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose
not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God, He that abideth
in the doctrines of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine,
receive him not in your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth him Godspeed
is partaker in his evil deeds. Having many things to write upon
you, I would not write with paper and ink, but I trust to come
unto you and to speak face to face that our joy may be full.
The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen. Father, thank you for giving
us our time together for fellowship and to hear the gospel. Father,
we're thankful that although we're a small group, we're so
thankful that you've brought us together. And Father, we're
thankful for the pastor that you've sent us. And father, we
ask that you give him the message that you would have us to hear
this morning, open up our hearts to hear the message, open up
our eyes and minds. And father, again, we just ask
that you watch over us and care for us in Christ's name. Our text this morning is Psalm
18 verse 46. I'm going to read it with you. The Lord liveth. and blessed be my rock, and let
the God of my salvation be exalted. The psalmist here is lifting
up a voice of praise to God. He praises him for what God is
in himself. And then he praises him for what
God is to him. and he praises him for what God
has done for him. And like the psalmist, this is
our voice, the voice of every believer, every child of God. Our Lord gives us life and understanding
in Christ by delivering us from nature's ignorance of God. That one who knows not Christ,
who does not believe Christ, though he claims to believe in
God and seek after God and worship God, the one who does not believe
Christ is ignorant of God. Ignorant of God. But the Lord
fills his children with his Spirit. and gives them understanding
and light and the knowledge of their God through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we praise him. We praise
him because he is the Lord. because of the Lord that he is
to us and what he's done for us. I've titled this, The Lord
is My Lord. The Lord is My Lord. And the three points that we'll
be looking at are laid out for us in this verse. We'll see that he is the Lord,
will see that he is my Lord and will declare in glory in what
he's done to save his people. So the first thing the psalmist
declares there in verse 46, the Lord liveth. The Lord liveth. We're to understand
that God himself is the Lord. There's only one Lord, and it's
our God. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
Lord, and he liveth, meaning that in him alone is life. If we're to have life, spiritual
life, in the knowledge of God, we must go to him. We receive
that life of him. And what our Lord does is He
reveals to His people that He is the Sovereign Lord. He is the Sovereign Lord, meaning
that He's fulfilling and executing His sovereign will in the earth. He's doing exactly as He pleases. Our God is doing exactly as He
pleases. That means that He's active in
the affairs of men. He's active in our lives. He's
actively fulfilling that which He has purposed to do in the
earth, in our lives, and in all the lives of everyone that He
might bring to pass exactly what He's purposed to do from before
the foundation of the world. that which he is purposed to
do in himself. He is ruling and reigning heaven
and earth. Our Lord speaks of this activity
of our Father, saying in John 5, 17, My Father worketh hitherto,
and I work, and I work. I'm the Lord of my people. He
sent me to accomplish their salvation. I'm working just as my father
works, he says. So nothing, nothing happens outside
of the will and the control of our God. He's doing all things
according exactly as it pleases him. Now first, in the most general
sense, he tells us in Ephesians 1, verse 9. Ephesians 1, 9. He tells us that all things are
working according to His good pleasure. What comes to pass is according
to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself. Our God is Lord over all things
and He is doing exactly what pleases Him according to His
purpose, and he brings to pass the things that we see and experience
in Providence, those things which unfold in our lives and come
to pass. Our God is in control of that
as well. He says in Isaiah 14, Isaiah
14, verse 24 and 27, we read that the Lord of hosts hath sworn
saying, surely as I have thought. As I have thought, so shall it
come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand. Our God is bringing to pass that
which he's thought and purposed to bring to pass. Verse 27, for
the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And
his hand is stretched out still, or stretched out, and who shall
turn it back? This is saying to us that our
God is the first cause of all things. What He determines to
bring to pass, that's exactly what's brought to pass. He's
the first cause of all things. Nothing happens outside of His
control. will and purpose. If there was
any other will and any other purpose that could rival his
will and purpose, then he wouldn't be able to swear. He wouldn't
be able to give his word saying, this shall surely come to pass
because his word might not come to pass. If there was any will
or purpose that could rival His, then that will or purpose might
be brought to pass. Our God then might not be able
to do as He pleases or purposes to do because someone else's
will and purpose could disannul it. And someone else's will and
purpose could turn back his will and purpose. Instead, he tells
us in his word. In Ephesians 3.11, for example,
he tells us that everything is working exactly as he's purposed
it in his Son, Jesus Christ. that it's according to the eternal
purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. So not only is it coming to pass
as He thought and purposed it, but He purposed it long ago in
eternity past. That's excellent news to our
ears. That's good to hear. That's comforting
to know that nothing can happen outside of the will of God. Nothing. Even events that are
difficult and hard for us to accept are all brought to pass
by our God. I remember long ago, quite a
while ago, I was talking to a woman, a Jewish woman, and she had a
dear son. She had one son and one daughter,
and it was a dear son to her, and he died at the age of, I
think, 17 years old he was. And she found comfort in listening
to her rabbi who told her, well, God doesn't have everything in
control. It was outside of his control. And that's where she
found comfort. That gives me no comfort to know
that anything can just happen randomly outside of the will
and power and control of my God. What if the Lord had taken her
daughter too? How is that any comfort? to the
child of God, we're comforted to know that anything that's
brought to pass, it's according to the will and purpose of our
God. and especially in the things
of salvation. What a comfort, what a peace
to know that it's all in His hand, that you that are looking
to the Son right now, you that have no comfort in yourselves
by your works, but find everything in Christ, what a peace, what
a joy to know that it's your God who brought that to pass
in your heart, and it's your God that keeps and sustains you
ever looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all unfolding exactly
as he's purposed it in Christ. It's by our Lord Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior, who verily, Peter tells us, was foreordained,
chosen and ordained of God before the foundation of the world,
but has now been manifest in these last times for you. for you, that you should know
your God, that you should know He's in control of all things,
that He's bringing to pass everything that He wills and has purpose
to bring to pass for His people. He's got a will for you, child
of God. He has a will and a purpose for you in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's fixed in Him and nothing
can derail it. nothing can stop it, nothing
can turn back His will and purpose for you. Christ is all your salvation
and the Lord has surely brought it to pass in His Son for you. So that, you know, even the rejection
by the Jews that heard Christ, even their rejection of Christ
and crucifying him, turning him over to the Romans to crucify
him, that was all according to the will and purpose of God. It was his counsel that determined
that he should be put to death for his people and how he should
lay down his life on the cross, that he should give his life
for his people. It says in Acts 2.23, Him being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, not man, but of God,
and the people they have taken him and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain him. But it was all according to the
counsel and foreknowledge of God the Father. Even that horrible
murderous act in taking the Son of God, the Prince of Life, and
putting him to death on the tree was all according to the will
and purpose of God. And that's because it Please
the Father that in Him should all fullness, all the life of
His people dwell, that we would find everything we need, everything
necessary in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're told in John 1.4, in Him
was life, in Christ is life. John 5.26, as the Father hath
life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself. And 1st John, the Apostle John
tells us again in 1st John 5, 11 and 12, this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life. And so the psalmist declares,
the Lord liveth. The Lord liveth. Let all men
everywhere know the Lord liveth. And that which we are to know
concerning the only true and living God is that He is the
Lord, and in Him is life. He's the Lord and in him is life. Paul was speaking to the Athenians
who ignorantly were worshiping God, because that's what man
does in his nature. He ignorantly worships things. He worships false gods and idol
gods and himself, but he's ignorant of the true and living God. Paul
said, God made the world and all things therein, seeing that
he Lord of heaven and earth, and he dwelleth not in temples
made with men's hands." It's that we would know that he's
God, he's the Lord. We can't build something for
God. not a house for him to live in,
and we can't build any life for ourselves by the things that
we do. He's not worshiped with men's
hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life
and breath and all things. He's the Lord. We need him to
give us life. We're to go to him to receive
life and to obtain that which we need. All this life is in
His Son. All this life, this spiritual,
eternal life with the Father is in the Son, Jesus Christ. Now this brings us to the joy
of the psalmist in the second point, that this Lord in whom
is life, He's my Lord. He's my Lord. Look at Psalm 1846,
says the Lord liveth and blessed be my rock. Blessed be my rock. Christ is the rock upon whom
the Church of God is founded and built. It's upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3.11 says, Other
foundation can no man lay, then that is laid, which is Jesus
Christ. Men try to lay other foundations.
Men try to build and start works founded upon them and upon their
charisma and upon their doctrine and their thoughts. But no other
foundation can any man lay than that which God has laid, the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. He is the foundation so that
the church which is built upon Christ cannot be shaken. can't be shaken, can't be brought
down, because it's founded upon Jesus Christ. You whose hope,
whom the Lord has given hope in your hearts, looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ, that's founded upon Him. It cannot be shaken. The Lord has given that to you.
And though all your other works be shaken, though everything
else we do crumble and fall, one thing is true, that which
God has fixed in us, fixing us in the Lord Jesus Christ, that
can never be removed. It can never be shaken or taken
away. You are the Lord's. No matter
what happens, you are the Lord's. You're founded in Christ. All
the hopes and confidences of man, that which is made by man's
hands, that which is founded upon man's will, man's decision,
man's work, man's steadfast walk, man's confessions, creeds, doctrines,
catechisms, things that he looks to, those things shall all be
shaken. The Lord shakes those things
and when God shakes a thing that's made, meaning made by men's hands,
they fall apart. They fall apart. But that which
can never be shaken is that which the Lord has established for
his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't look on the
things that are outward. We look to our Lord and Savior. We believe Him. We trust Him.
We have nothing else but Him. Nothing else to look to. We're
not trusting in our feeble, fickle, weak hands. We're trusting in
the all-sufficient Savior, Jesus Christ. The true church is founded
upon Christ alone, not upon man doing something for God. not
upon what man is doing and motivated to do. The church does not have
life and fellowship with God based upon her merits. It's not
based on our goodness or how diligent we are to keep it. It's
based upon our Lord. Paul said to the Corinthians,
was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name
of Paul? Oh, and no man does anything
for the Lord. No church can save you following
what that church does. No priest can absolve you of
your sins. No pastor can tell you what to
do to get yourself saved. No altar call coming up to the
front to give your heart to Jesus. That can't save us. Our Lord
works salvation in the hearts of His people. We declare Jesus
Christ and what He's done for His people in putting away their
sins. And those that hear Him and believe
have nothing to fear, they have eternal life. Those who look
to Christ have eternal life. We're told that by one offering,
the offering of Jesus Christ, He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. He's perfected already them forever
that are sanctified. And just so we know that our
sanctification is not, it's not talking about some sanctifying
work that we do first that the Lord saves. It's all his work. He says in first Peter one, verse
two, elect. elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit, through the setting
apart by the Spirit of God unto obedience and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ. That's not our obedience in believing
Christ. We're brought unto the obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who gave his life,
shed his blood, and that's what the Spirit sprinkles our hearts
and consciences with, because Christ has put away our sin. the Spirit. It's a spiritual
work. It's the Spirit of God that gives us life, regeneration,
and to know the true and living God in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's His Word. So Christ was
crucified for His church, His beloved bride. He died His people's
death. He paid with His own life for
the sins that his people committed themselves. Christ gave his life
to redeem his people, to purchase them, to deliver us from eternal
death. He sacrificed himself to make
atonement for us with God. Our Savior's blood appeased the
wrath of God against us for those sins and wicked deeds that we
have done. Christ put it all away by the
death of himself, so that when he died, we being in him, died
with him. When he was buried, we were buried
in the tomb. And when he rose again by the
power of God, we too were raised again by the power of God, never
to die no more. never to die that eternal death. We now have in Christ eternal
life. He is our Savior. He is all our
salvation. He convinces his children of
that in the heart. He gives his people faith looking
to Him and believing Him and resting right there. All who
believe Christ manifest the gift that God has given to them, which
was given to them by grace. As the Apostle Peter said in
Acts 15 11, we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we shall be saved. It's not our faith that saves
us. Faith is the gift of God, whereby we manifest that the
life and work of God is in us, that his spirit is in us, looking
to Christ so that we believe like the apostle Peter, that
by the grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, that
God has provided everything in his son. He sacrificed himself
to make atonement. He gave himself to give us life
in him so that Christ is all my sufficiency. Not only is he
the Lord, he's my Lord. And you that believe he's your
Lord so that you stand perfect before your God, holy, righteous,
accepted of him. all the days of your life, He's
established that eternal covenant of grace for us. It's not coming
down to you and I doing something or holding on. He's established
it in His own blood. That New Testament is written
in His own blood. He gave His life to bring it
to pass. Hebrews 10, 16 through 18 says,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
sayeth the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more." No more. Now listen,
where remission of these is, there is no more offering for
sin. There's nothing more the Father
is looking to you or I for to finish this off, to tie it up,
to put a bow on it. No, it's all accomplished. The work is finished in the Lord
Jesus Christ so that the faith by which we look to Him, even
that is His workmanship in us. Even that work is His work, His
spiritual work. in us so that we look to and
believe the Lord Jesus Christ in life, believing Him. This
is the hope of glory that our God works in all His chosen people
so that we, with the psalmist, celebrate His greatness and joy
and rejoicing in Him all by His salvation of grace. Now this
brings us to our final point. final point to behold that he
has saved me what our God has provided for us in grace we sing
praise unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in
his own blood that's from Revelation 1 5 that's what we sing of we're
singing of him that loved us him that washed us in his own
blood and made us clean he did everything, brethren. So we've
seen the praise of God for what he is in himself, the Lord liveth. We've looked at the praise that
we have for what he is to us, that he's my God, blessed be
my rock. And now we declare and we sing
his grace. We declare his grace in salvation. Psalm 1846 says the Lord liveth
and blessed be my rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted. Let me declare and speak of what
he's done for me and all his people so that brethren now we
don't build up man, we don't boast of what man can do for
the Lord. and motivate man with strong
motivational speakers to get you to do something more for
the Lord, we're not building up man and building up his pride,
and we're not comforting him in his idolatry in which he thinks
that he can do something for the Lord. Rather, our boast and
rejoicing is to the glory, praise, and honor of his name. I want
to give you six glorious truths concerning the salvation of all
God's saints. This is true of all his saints
because it's all in the hands of the Lord. And this is true
of all his people. First, we rejoice and give God
all the glory for our salvation because he's sovereign in salvation. Nothing's left to chance. Nothing's
left to us, nothing's left undone. Our God is sovereign in salvation. That means that he's personally
responsible for your salvation, personally responsible for your
salvation. We've seen that our God is the
Lord and he does whatsoever he pleases in the earth. Well, that's
true in salvation. He's the Lord of our salvation. He's sovereign even in our hearts. We don't impose our will on God. He graciously, wonderfully imposes
his will sweetly upon his children. He's God, He's the Lord, and
what He wills, that shall be done, especially witnessed in
the salvation of all His people. Our salvation is according to
His good pleasure and His good, gracious will for us. Turn over
to Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1, verse 5. And then stay there, because
we're going to flip over to Romans 8 for a bit. Romans for a bit. Ephesians 1 verse 5, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, listen,
not man's will, not according to his will, but according to
the good pleasure of his will. It's not about what you or I
think. It's not about he that wants to be saved. It's about
the Lord's will and His purpose. Verse 11, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated. That means your
God ordered everything that should come to pass in your life to
bring you to that point where you are His, you know Him, and
you're saved by His blood according to the purpose of Him who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. meaning he's
not responding to your will and my will. It's according to his
will and purpose. Second, what we see is that all
men are totally depraved. All men are totally depraved,
meaning that none of us can save ourselves. None of us can work
up a good enough goodness to save ourselves. But God can and does. He's able
to save us. We can't save ourselves, but
he's able. Man who is flesh can and will never believe upon Christ. That is unless and until he's
given spiritual life by the Lord himself. We're totally depraved.
We're dead in trespasses and sins. Now in Romans 8, 7 and
8, There's many places we could go to, but here in Romans 8,
7, and 8, we find man without the Spirit of God left to himself. So that we read the carnal mind
is enmity against God. That's what all of us are. in
this flesh without the Spirit of God. We're just a carnal mind
that is enmity against the true and living God. It's not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so that they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. They that are in the flesh cannot
believe the Lord Jesus Christ. At best, he can get himself to
be at the level of a Pharisee, looking wonderful on the outside,
but being full of dead men's bones on the inside, having no
life, no light, nothing of God. He just has the appearance of
being godly, and as a Pharisee, one left like that, they will
not believe the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation. They may
include him a little bit, they may like some of the things he
does or says, but they don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
for all their life. Over in John 3, verses 5 through
7, we read that except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. unless he's given life
by the Spirit, because that which is born of the flesh is flesh. We can't appeal to men's conscience,
their wisdom, their sense of right and wrong to believe on
Christ, because that which is born of flesh can only rise to
the level of fleshly things. But that which is born of the
Spirit is Spirit. That which is spiritual that
is of the Lord, that which is his spirit, that gives life,
that brings life and light and liberty to the child of God because
he gives us his spirit and he makes us born again. Marvel not,
Christ said, that ye must be born again. So that as all things
in nature are according to the act of God, God doing something,
so it is with salvation. We're born of the act of God.
We're born of his spirit giving us life. Third, we see and declare
and rejoice in the fact that God has an elect people, a people
he chose for himself, a people he chose to save in Christ. Turn over to Romans 9. Romans
9 verse 10 is where we'll pick up. There we're given a picture
of the election in two twin boys, Jacob and Esau." Romans 9 verse
10. Paul says not only this, but
when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac,
for the children, being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, God didn't look on whether they were good or
bad boys, but that the purpose of God according to election
might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
to Rebekah, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. In other words,
God chooses whom he will. God chooses to save whom he will
apart from our works, apart from our goodness. It's according
to his election. Now, when it comes to God's will
and salvation, we read in places like Acts 13, 48, where it says
that as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Those that God ordained, chose,
and predestinated to order all things to bring them to the knowledge
of Jesus Christ, to believe on him, that's all ordained. by
the Lord, and just as he ordained it, they believed. So what of
those that weren't ordained? They rejected him, they denied
him, they refused to hear the word, they walked away, they
said maybe we'll hear you again at some other time, maybe a convenient
time we'll come back and hear more on this, but they rejected
Christ, they did not believe him, they contradicted and fought
against the revelation of Jesus Christ made to them through the
apostles witness and by the church. So men claiming to believe Christ,
they deny him when they speak of their free will and boast
of what they've done for the Lord. They may speak of him,
but they deny him when they cling tenaciously. not letting go of
their free will and what they've done to save themselves. That's
not salvation. You can say that you believe
in Christ all you want, but the children of God know that God
elected a people. He chose a people. And we that
believe give him all the praise, glory, and honor, because it
wasn't of us. He overcame us in grace and mercy to bring us
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Fourth, our Lord made
an atonement. an atonement that was particular
for those chosen elect people of God. Sometimes it's called
a limited atonement, meaning that it was made for the people
of God only. In Romans 8, verse 32, Romans
8, 32, it says that, well, I'm gonna read these verses, but
notice the pronouns, because throughout the word of God, It
speaks of us, our, we. It's written to the church. And
when you see that this is speaking to you that believe, we see what
our God has done for us, that it's a particular people that
he's done this for. It says in Romans 8.32, for example,
he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? He's not speaking to the world
that has no interest in Christ. He's speaking to the church of
God that believes him, that looks to him, that hears and believes. He asks in verse 33, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Verse 34, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. You that believe, your Savior
has made and continues to make intercession for you. So that's
why you believe and hope in Him. And once you see that, throughout
the scriptures, He's always speaking to church and once you see it
you can't unsee how he's done this it's it's a particular atonement
there's a particular people whom Christ shed his blood for and
for whom that blood is made effectual for their sins to put away their
sins the writers of scripture are writing to the church to
comfort and their hearts to give you who believe assurance that
your God has done everything for you. God spared not his own
son for you to make you his own. He says in John 10 11, I and
the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep,
the sheep. who are known by their faith
that God has given to them. He didn't give his life for the
goats. He gave his life for the sheep. And so his pastors are
sent to preach to feed the church of God, the church of God, which
he hath purchased with his own blood. Your savior shed his blood
for a particular chosen elect people And they are all brought
into the church. And those not yet brought into
the church shall be. And that testifies that Christ
shed his blood for them that believe. Fifth, all for whom
Christ died shall be effectually called by the Holy Spirit. They shall be given life in Christ
whereby they shall believe him. They shall believe him. No man
for whom God has purposed to save shall ever be eternally
lost. They shall not be lost. They
shall not remain lost. They shall be found and they
shall be saved. They shall be given life in Him.
They're not gonna want to resist God's will. They're gonna be
glad that God overcame them and had mercy upon them. John 3.8
says, the wind bloweth where it listeth. The wind goes where
it wants to go. No man can say, hey, don't blow
over here. I need it to be calm here in my yard. We have no power
and control over that. Same thing with the spirit of
God. He goes where he wants. And he gives life to those whom
God has marked out for himself, whom God has chose for himself.
John 6.37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. And then verse 44, no man can
come to me except the father which hath sent me draw him and
I will raise him up at the last day. It's not that man is seeking
after God and trying to get to God but being refused. Man is
very happy and content with his false idols. He's very happy
in his darkness and in his foolishness, his ignorance until God troubles
until God comes and gives him life and shakes those works of
his, bringing it to nothing, making him to know he isn't saved,
he has no salvation, that he hasn't believed Christ. Only
God can do that for a sinner, and he does that for them. Philippians
2.13, it's God which worketh in you, both to will and to do
of his good pleasure. And that's true not only after
salvation of God working in your hearts, It's even what leads
you to salvation, God working in you both to will and to do
of his good pleasure. And sixth, none for whom Christ
died shall ever be lost, but are all preserved, faithful unto
the end, by God for himself, and they shall be raised to eternal
glory by Christ. John 10 27 through 29 says, my
sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My father which gave them me
is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand. We're not going to be removed
from the Lord. He did this work. We shall be
preserved unto the end. So there's the six things. Our
God is sovereign and his will shall be worked in his people.
All of us are totally depraved in ourselves until the Lord in
grace and mercy delivers us from that eternal death, from that
spiritual death. Every one of us who believes
on Christ is elected, chosen by God to this salvation in Christ. Christ came and shed his blood,
gave his precious blood to put away our sins. And therefore,
by the Spirit of God, we shall be effectually called unto the
Father. And we being called are ever
preserved in him. by Him, so that none shall be
eternally lost." So our God is greater than all. He is the Lord. He is my Lord. And we declare and rejoice of
His glorious, wonderful salvation that cannot be stopped or overcome
or prevented by any, but He shall work His salvation in the hearts
of all His people. You are eternally his, and we
rejoice with him. The Lord liveth, and blessed
be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. Amen. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your mercy, your grace, your almighty grace to
us in your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, flood our hearts with joy
and gladness of what you've done for us. Lord, thank you for helping
us to hear and to know that you are the Lord, you are God, doing
that which pleases you in the earth. But not only that, Lord. It's personal. You are my Lord. You are my rock upon which I
am built and all my brethren. And Lord, we rejoice in and are
glad for your salvation, which you've revealed to us through
your scriptures, by your spirit, shedding light to us on these
things that we should know what our God has done for us, that
we may exalt you in our hearts and speak of you to others. not
of what man has done or can do, but what our God does. And it's,
Lord, we give you all the thanks, praise, honor, and glory. It's
in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that we pray these
things. Amen. Okay, brother, close us in the
hymn. Let's stand and sing a closing
hymn, 300. More secure is no one ever, 300. More secure is no one ever than
the loved ones of the Savior, not yon star on high abiding,
nor the burdened homeless hiding. God is omnipotent and nourish. In his holy courts they flourish. Like a father kind he spares
them. In his loving arms he bears them. Their life nor death can ever
From the Lord his children sever For his love and deep compassion
Comforts them in tribulation Will flock to join and yield
thee, Jacob's God will ever shield thee. Rest secure with his defender,
At his will all foes surrender. What he takes or what he gives
us shows the Father's love so precious. We may trust his purpose
wholly, tis his children's welfare solely. Thank you.