I'm going to share with you a
text from a Bible study this morning. It goes right in hand
with what I want to talk to you about this morning. The subject
matter is, When It Pleased God. We'll look at the scripture that
that is from in 1 Corinthians. Or actually it would be Galatians,
but we're going to read from 1 Corinthians 1 first before
we go to that. But this goes right along with
it. Listen to these words from Hebrews 13, verses 15-16. It says, By Him, by Christ, by
the Lord Jesus, the very One who shed His blood, who sanctified
His people with His own blood, By Him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit
of our lips, giving thanks to His name, but to do good and
to communicate, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well
pleased. Let me ask you, if God loved us first, and therefore
we love Him, we truly love Him, don't we want to please Him? I was talking about being antinomian. That means lawless. Some preach
that the law is, and it is, it's fulfilled in our Savior. Don't
get me wrong about this. We can't fulfill the law at all,
but God's law is always good to His people. If I could do
just one thing of God's law, I would be happy about it. Now,
the Lord Jesus, God Almighty, He requires perfection. So even
if I could do that one thing that I just talked about, it
would not be good enough for Him. The only thing good enough
for God Almighty is His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute,
our Redeemer, our Messiah, our Deliverer. He's the one who has
fulfilled the law perfectly, satisfying God Almighty, His
Father. But that doesn't stop me from
wanting to please God by doing the best I can. I'm not lawless
at all. I admit to you, I fail miserably. I fail miserably. in my own eyes,
in this flesh that stands before you, but in my Savior, I'm perfected
forever by His one offering. That's what we read in Hebrews.
Perfected forever by His one offering. Are you interested
in what pleases God? Does that give you an interest?
An interest at all? We know that by His Word, He
is well pleased in His Son. That's what he says. He says
in Matthew 3 verse 17, And lo, a voice from heaven sang, This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. In Luke chapter
3 verse 22 regarding this same incident, it's only recorded
by Luke, our Lord inspired him to say this, and the Holy Ghost
descended into a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice
came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son, and
Thee I am well pleased. Open your Bibles
if you would to 1 Corinthians. We're going to be looking at
several verses this morning. I encourage you to just try to
stay up with me if you can. I'll try not to be too quick
about switching books. But if you would turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. When it pleased God is the title
for my message this morning. And we're talking about our interest. and what pleases God. Now we
know that the only true thing to please God is His Son, the
Lord Jesus. It's in Him that God, and I just
read it for you, it's in Him that God is well pleased. But
you're going to see where the Lord is pleased also, just like
I read there in Hebrews. He's pleased, He's pleased, let
me read that again. But to do good and to communicate,
forget not, for with such sacrifice Sacrifices of what? Remember
what it said in verse 15. Sacrifices of praise. Continually. Praise for what? Praise for our Lord, that's what.
That's the new song that we just sang about. The new song in our
hearts. The song that sings out, He is
my Lord. The song that sings out that
He is my salvation. The song that sings out He is
my priest, my high priest, the one who goes between, the mediator
between me and God. He's the one I take my sacrifices
to, as we looked in our Bible study. I bring my sacrifices
of praise to Him, and that He presents it to the Father, perfect
in what He has done. Here in 1 Corinthians, we're
talking about when it pleased God. And I want you to see, let's
start at verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the
cross of Christ should be made of none effect, but for the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto
us which are saved it is the power of God." For it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. Now look at this last thing.
It pleased God. by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. Are you interested? Are you interested
in what pleases God? Right here, our Lord tells us
that it pleased God in the foolishness of preaching. Preaching what?
It tells us right back there, for it is written, for the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us
which are saved, it is the power of God." The preaching of Christ
and Him crucified. Our Lord, God Almighty, is pleased
with the preaching of the cross. It pleases Him because it's the
preaching of His Son. It's the bringing to those that
He saves through the preaching of His Son, the blood of Christ. the blood of God Almighty, the
blood of the very One who is perfect in everything that He
has done, who is sinless in everything that He has done, the very One
who laid down His life and shed His blood for His people. Turn
over to Galatians chapter 1. Go to the right, just a few pages
to the right. It's just before Ephesians. Galatians
chapter 1. And look with me, if you would,
at one verse. And we're going to come back
to this verse often. Notice what it says in verse
15. But when it pleased God. What is it that pleases God?
Notice what the words are next. What are the next words? We know
that the preaching of the gospel pleased Him, but this is who
the preaching of the gospel affects. It pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb. and called me by His grace. Isn't that wonderful news? Well, that sure takes everything
out of our hands, doesn't it? That just pulls it away from
us. It's not you, John. It's my son. It's the blood of my Son, gentlemen,
and it's always the blood of my Son. That's our text, when
it pleased God. Paul's conversion to many His
experience of grace might seem extraordinary to a lot of folks,
but he tells us that the method of God's grace with him was a
pattern for all of God's people. Revealing the method of God's
grace to all of his elect. You can read that for yourselves
in 1 Timothy 1 verse 16. The apostle also tells us plainly
that the order and the method of God's grace is this. He says,
when it pleased God. So that's the first part of the
order, isn't it? When it pleased Him. Well, isn't
God eternal? So when did it please God? In
eternity past. That's when. When it pleased
Him. Before anything was ever made.
When it pleased God, and then it says next, who separated me? See the sequence of events here? It's funny how the last two Bible
studies have all been about that very thing for some reason. I
don't know if that's something the Lord just lays on my heart,
and it comes out in the studies and in the messages, or if it's
just the way He's got things going in His Scriptures. Either
way, it still blesses my heart. The sequence of the matter is
this. First it pleased Him. Then He called me. It's still
not John Reeves getting up and saying, I follow the Lord. I
exercise my will. I made a decision. I went down
to the front. I got in the baptism. It wasn't
down at all. It's when it pleased Him. He called me. That's the sequence of events.
And then how did He call me? What does it say next? He called
me what? By His grace. Is that not the way it worked
with you? We're talking about when it pleased God. Are we interested?
Oh, I want to tell you how you can please God and it's not the
way the world tells you. The world tells you if you'll
just make a decision, God will be pleased and save you. That's
not the way it works at all. According to what we just read
here is when it pleased God, which began first, Then He called. Then He separated us from our
mother's womb. And then He called us by His
grace. And what did He do when He called
us? Look at the next words in that very verse. He revealed.
I'm getting excited. This excites me. Folks, for the
last five, six days, whatever it was since the last time I
stood in this pulpit, I've had to be in the world where it's
all about us and it's all about me. And I've come before you
this morning, a sinner saved by grace, wanting to sing the
new song, the wondrous song of my Savior. I hope it's as wondrous to you
as it is to me. Would it please God, who separated
me from my mother's womb, He called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me. And here's that new song, that
wondrous song, that I might preach to Him among the heathen. This is the way God saves all
of His sinners. All of them. And I hope to show
you that in the rest of this, in the time we have left in this
message. The method of grace, it never
varies. Salvation begins with the will
and the pleasure of God, as it said, when it pleased God. The
source of the saving grace is the will of God. The cause of
salvation is not the will of man, but the will of God. Look
over at Romans. Turn over to Romans. Go to the
left if you would. Turn over to Romans chapter 9.
Romans 9. I want to show you where the
Scripture tells us. that it begins with God, and
not with us. It's not your free will that
brought you to Christ, it's the will of God. It is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy. I like that. I happen to know
that if it wasn't for the will of God, that John Reeves would
still be on that path to destruction that he was on when he was 40
years old, some 25 years ago. Folks, this is that new song
that God has put in our hearts. The desire to please Him. I know
I can't, but I also know I have. Not in anything of this flesh.
Not in anything I have done. I know that He looked upon me
before I was ever born. Before the world was ever made,
He predestinated His people to be conformed to the image of
His Son. Look here at Romans 9 at verse
11. For the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, Stop there, turn
back one page to chapter 8, verse 29. For whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
verse 30, whom he did predestinate Did you get the sequence here? Does that sequence not match
exactly what we were reading over there in Galatians? Them
He also called. See? There it goes. Here we go. And whom He called, them He also
justified. That's the revealing of the Lord
Jesus, just like we read in that last scripture. And whom He justified,
them He also glorified. Is this not good stuff? This is good stuff! Especially
to a sinner. To one who knows that we deserve
the wrath of God. We've earned the wrath of God. We deserve to be right where
the whole world is. Dying. Eternally. Yet God has loved a people for
Himself. And those that who He loves He
did predestinate. and called and justified and
glorified. That's some good stuff right
there. Back in what we were just reading over in Romans chapter
9 verse 11. Go on now if you would. That
the purpose for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil. Before they were even born, we're
talking about the twins, Jacob and Esau. That the purpose Of
God, according to election, mine stand not of works, but of him
that calleth." It was said of her, it was said under her, verse
12, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. Folks, there is no
unrighteousness with God. He is the epitome of what the
word righteous means. He is perfect. He's God. If it wasn't for Him, there'd
be no such word as righteous. For he saith unto Moses, verse
15, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will
have compassion upon whom I will have compassion, so that it is
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that shall have mercy. Having willed, having willed
his will, not ours, but his, he will have mercy upon whom
he will have mercy, It is God who will have the mercy, having
willed to save some of Adam's fallen race, God separated his
own elect from the rest of mankind. Our text states this, who separated
me from my mother's womb. This act of separation is God's
unconditional election. It's His unconditional election
of His people in Christ Jesus, His Son. And it's from before
the foundation of the world. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians.
Look at chapter 2, verse 13. When did this separation from
my mother's womb happen? Look what Paul says here to the
Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. But we are bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. And notice how and what it's
through. Through sanctification. That means being made holy. setting
apart for holy things of the Spirit and then it tells us this
belief of the truth. That's how salvation is true
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Here, let's look at another one
if you would. Turn again to the left just before Galatians you
come to Ephesians chapter 1. In Ephesians chapter 1, beginning
at verse 3, we read, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ according. So he's blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in His Son. Not in anything we have done,
but in His Son. You can't earn it. There's nothing
you can do to get it, but if you're in His Son, you have it
all. It pleased Him to bless us in His Son, according as He
had chosen us in His Son, in Him, before the foundation of
the world, That we should be holy. There's that word holy. Set apart. Set apart to be made,
to be used as holy ordinances, as holy things. Holy and without
blame before Him. Remember now, I read it this
way because the original language never had any periods or commas
or exclamation marks or anything like that. Those were all added
by those who translated the scriptures into English. I stop right there. Because it makes more sense to
me to read it this way, in love. In love is what God did for His
people. Everything about Christ being
made in the flesh, God in the flesh, Christ coming to this
world, satisfying the law, Christ laying down His life, shedding
His blood, everything about Christ was out of the love for His people
before the foundation of the world. We were all loved before
our mother's womb. In Him, having predestinated
us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will. To the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In whom, speaking of His Son
again, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of what? Of His grace. Wherein He hath abouted towards
us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He
hath purposed in Himself. The phrase, from my mother's
womb, implies the fact that this election took place before he
had done anything good or bad. As we read in Romans 9, verse
11, and from the foundation of the world as we read in Ephesians
1, 4. It's teaching God's sovereignty. in choosing His people. Look
with me over at Jeremiah 1. I want to read verses 4 and 5. Then the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee."
That's an intimate no. That's just not knowing of somebody. We all know of a man called Jesus
Christ. But do you know? Do you know him intimately as
your Savior? He knew us. What does it say
there? Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. And before thou camest out of
the womb, I what? Sanctified. Set you apart. Determined. Predestinated. Elected. Chosen. Chosen before you ever
even walked this earth. Folks, I'm setting it up for
this. If God loves you, who's gonna take you away from Him?
Nobody. Not even me. I can't even take
myself away from Him. I wouldn't want to. When you
know the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and His mercy towards
you, why would you go anywhere else? Where else is there in
the words of life? Where are we going to go, Lord?
There's no other place to go. You know, it blesses my heart
mostly about those folks at San Diego. Not just San Diego. Everywhere
there's a church of people, a group of people that are meeting without
a pastor. Danville, where Don Fortner used
to be the pastor, they're still praying. I shared this with one
of the men that called me. I said, do you realize the whole
world is watching you guys? What? What are they watching
us for? I said, Don preached everywhere,
all over the world. People all over the world know
who he was, and they know he's God. And they know that Danville
still doesn't have a pastor, and they know that the men in
the church are still gathering in the name of the Lord to worship
their Savior. Same thing with San Diego. They
don't have a pastor. That's okay. They're still meeting. They're
still drawn. There's no other place for them
to go. You think, well, okay, we haven't got a pastor. We'll
just pack up and go somewhere else. No, there's nowhere else to go. I ordained thee a prophet unto
the nations. Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb,
I sanctified thee. Then, after all of what we just
read, after considering all that we just read there, It says, at the time appointed,
God calls, and He calls all of His elect by an effectual, irresistible
calling of grace. It says, and He called me by
His grace. Turn back to Romans chapter 8.
Verse 28 reads, and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God. But don't stop there. Don't stop
there, because there are some very, very important words behind
that. There are many folks who call,
who say that they love Christ. They'll deny His Word. They'll
deny the power of His Word. They'll deny the power of His
calling. Oh, He doesn't call His people
like that. We're not puppets. Neither am I. But this man knows that he would
have kept right on going if it hadn't been for the call of God.
And you know it as well if you belong to Him. To them who are
called according to what is purpose. Isn't that good? What pleases
God? To call His people Those for
whom His Son died? What's the will of God the Father?
That God the Son shall lose none. He shall lose none. Isn't that
the peace we have for our loved ones who don't walk with the
Lord? Isn't that the only peace we
can have for our loved ones who still walk in darkness, the same
darkness you and I once walked in? For whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son. Those who were sanctified, set apart in the womb of election,
are given life by the call of the Spirit. We are all coming
to this world dead in trespasses and sin, and Christ Jesus through
the Spirit. You ever heard of people who
say, oh, I'm filled with the Spirit, and then they'll start
doing strange things like talking, babbling, and they'll do this.
I had a guy one time, I said, what is this guy doing? I was
at a church, and this guy comes crawling down the aisle, and
he's like this on his hands and knees, and he's doing all this
stuff. And I asked the guy that invited me, I said, what is this
guy doing? He said, he's filled with the
Spirit. Baloney. Balonialism. To be filled with
the Spirit. The Spirit never speaks of Himself. He only speaks of Christ, the
Son of God. He never speaks of himself. He always speaks of the Son of
God. Those who are dead and trespassed
into sin, who have been touched by the Holy Spirit, have been
given life to see the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. This call of the Spirit is always
effectual because it's a calling, His elect to life and to faith. God graciously reveals, He graciously
reveals His Son, the Lord Jesus, to His elect, and that's what
we read in our scripture, in our text. To reveal His Son where? Not just sitting on His throne,
but in me. Christ in me, the hope of glory.
Salvation comes when Christ is revealed. Remember the story
of Peter. Who do you say that I am? Said
the Lord to Peter. He said, Thou art the Son of
the living God. Blessed are you, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed His Son to thee, but My Father which is in heaven.
Who is it that reveals His Son in us? It's God the Father. As a result of this revelation
of Christ in our hearts, God makes His elect, His people,
willing, obedient servants to His Son. He says, Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of
holiness from the womb of the morning, thou hast the due of
thy youth. Psalms 110 verse 3. God's purpose
was that Paul should willingly serve Him. and serve Him He did. Do you realize God's purpose
is for us to serve Him? And serving Him we will. Good
works will never cause God to be gracious to His people, but
God's grace always causes His people to walk willingly in good
works. Let me bring this to a close. Turn over to 1 Peter chapter
2 if you would. We had brought a few messages
to bring us through 1 Peter 1, and I sat down this morning to
read chapter 2 to consider what I might bring for a message. And I've got to be honest with
you, I came up empty handed at first. And then as I went through
some commentaries of these other verses that we've already been
looking at and stuff, I thought to myself, this fits that exactly. What can I do to please God?
Read with me, if you would, verses 1-10. Where are you? Laying aside all malice, and
all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may
grow thereby. If so be ye have tasted that
the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto a living stone
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious, yea,
also his lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy
priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the Scriptures, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner, a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense,
even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto
also they were appointed. But ye, ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, and holy nation of peculiar people that
ye should show forth the praises of him who has called you out
of darkness into his marvelous light. Which in time past were
not a people, but are now the people of God. Which had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy. Unto you who have seen your guilt,
who have seen your inability, who have seen your need of a
Savior, who have seen His grace and power to save, and who have
received Him as Prophet, Priest, and King, what pleases Him is
precious. He is precious in His person.
He is precious in His sacrifice. He is precious in His office.
He is precious in every way when it pleased God. When did it please
God? From before the foundation of
the world. Isn't that what we read in Ephesians
chapter 1? How did it please God? Isn't that what we read
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1? It pleased God by the preaching
of the gospel? What are the fruits that please
God? Look over at Jeremiah chapter
17. Turn back to Jeremiah, if you would, one more time. Chapter
17. And in Jeremiah chapter 17, I
want to read one verse. Look at verse 26. Jeremiah 17,
verse 26. And they shall come from the
cities of Judah, and from the places of Jerusalem, and from
the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains,
and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices,
and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise
unto the house of the Lord. What pleased God, sending His
Son, to be our propitiation, to be our payment. Brother Don
Fortner wrote this. I was reading this morning's
scripture reading from his book that's called Grace for Today. We do not need to search for
an answer to this question of how can I please and honor God. How can I plead and honor God? We need not be confused by the
confused opinions of men. The Lord has not left us in darkness. We please God and honor God by
faith. Did you get that? I believe God. Lord, help thou my unbelief. How do I please God? How do I
earn Him? I believe His Son. That's how. That's what everything we have
just read for the last 35 minutes has pointed us to. Believing
in the Son of God. for who He is, for what He's
done. After our noon meal, we're going
to come to the table over next door. And we're going to enter
into communion with our Lord and Savior, declaring our belief
that we are saved in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ and
washed clean by His blood. How do we honor? How do we give
honor to our Lord and Savior? How do we please God to leave
His Son our Savior? Amen.