Well, let me ask you a few questions
beginning this message. Is this world ruled by blind
fate? Is it ruled by uncontrolled luck? Is it ruled by the twists of
an evolutionary process? Do men rule? Is this world governed by the
powers of darkness? Or are the things that happen
every day just a mixture of coincidences, without purpose, without arrangement? are all things governed by our
God. We as the children of God adopted
into his family, chosen in everlasting grace to be his children, we
find great consolation and peace and joy in knowing that our God
rules over all. And if you agree with me that
God rules, then I would ask you this, are all things subject
to the purpose of God? To the will of God? To the design
of God? Are all things subject to God
and dependent upon God? Or does the will of man and the
cooperation of humanity enter in to the picture of the purpose
of God? At Christmas, lots of people
sing joy to the world. And one verse in that song says,
He rules the world with truth and grace. And I would ask you, does He
rule the world? And does He rule in all things
in the world? Is there anything that's outside
of the purpose of God, in the rule of God, in the government
of God? I'll tell you this, all things
fulfill the eternal purpose of God. I'm not asking you, do you
understand how God rules the world? You can't possibly understand
the workings and the full design and purpose of the eternal God. But does this glorious truth
bring you comfort. It does to me. That things are not moving haphazardly
throughout the world. I know that Satan, the prince
of the power of the air, I know he is a tremendous influence
for evil. especially in false religion,
and mainly in false religion. But I'm thankful he doesn't rule. I'm thankful that he's being
ruled over. Our Lord Jesus, who laid down
his life for the Father's elect people, the good shepherd who
gave his life for the sheep, By his faithfulness to do the
redemptive will of God, he has been rewarded with universal
sovereignty and kingship. He rules all things according
to his will and nothing, nothing and nobody and nothing that exists
is exempt from his rule. Does the God of the Bible have
his purpose? Yes. I was talking to one of the ladies
in the group over in Honolulu, and she said, God has a wonderful,
he has a wonderful plan. And I said, well, I would use
the word with reference to God, not a plan, but his purpose. Because I said, we have our plans. We make our plans. Which may
or may not come to fulfillment. But God doesn't merely make plans. His purpose is eternal. From everlasting to everlasting,
He is God. And back in old eternity, before
He made anything, when the only existence was the triune Jehovah,
Father, Son, and Spirit, back then He purposed all things
that would ever exist within the creation that He purposed
to make. God has no new decrees. He makes no new purposes. All things that happen, happen
according to His will, and they happen because He, before He
made the world and all of the existence of things that do exist,
He ordained all things that would ever come to pass. He's a God
of purpose and His purpose cannot be frustrated, cannot be defeated,
and cannot be changed. He Himself cannot be changed
and His purpose is like our Lord Himself, beyond change. Whatever happened to you today, whatever you went through with
today, ever how you feel as far as sickness
or health, all the things that you're enduring or going through,
the joys, the hardships, the persecution, the difficulties,
whatever it may be, those things were ordained for you before
time ever began. Our Lord does not react to us,
we react to his purpose. He governs all things. See, the only issue that matters
when we talk about eternal purpose, and I'll throw in the word predestination
and providence, and the only thing that matters is this. What
does God say about Himself in His Word? That's all that matters. Doesn't matter what the Baptist
confession of faith is, or the Presbyterian confession of faith,
or any other confession of faith. All that matters is what our
God says. And Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter
eight, to the law and the testimony. If they speak not according to
his word, it is because there is no light in them. Notice again what it says in
Romans 8 and 28. And we know that all things work
together. Let me say this, no event in
all of human history, here's a history teacher and Teachers in the congregation
here and you've taught history, some maybe still be teaching
history. But no event in all of human history is to be considered
on its own. You see, all things are working
to fulfill the eternal purpose of God. And they're all connected. Because God in his infinite wisdom
and with his infinite knowledge, has determined all things and
everything is fulfilling His eternal purpose. For the children
of God, all things are working together for our good. It may
not be working together for our physical good, but they are working
together for our spiritual good. And they're all working together
for our good according to God's purpose. God Himself has determined
all things. He's determined the path of everything
and of everybody. So I'll say it in this way, no
event in all of history is isolated from any other event. And all things are working together
for the good of God's people who love. Do you love the Lord
as being God over all, blessed forever? Not the God who needs
you, that's a false God. Not the God who wants to, but
you can checkmate him or frustrate his purpose by your will or by
your way. Not that God, that's a wrong
God. You're worshiping a wrong God
if he can be changed. He said in Malachi, I am the
Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob, and
that's all of us. ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Our Lord doesn't change. And
we mustn't even think that when we pray, that our prayers have
the ability to move God around or to change his purpose or change
his will. That is an impossibility. We're instructed to pray, and
I encourage you to pray, but don't pray with this idea, if
I don't pray, then God's will won't be changed. God's will
cannot be changed. That's wrong thinking. We pray
because God commands us to. We pray really to bring us into
conformity with the revealed will of God. We pray because
we're admitting to the Lord we need Him. We're just saying,
guide me, O thou great Jehovah. I need guidance, don't you? We
all do. Guide me, direct me to the rock
that is higher than I. Direct me to Christ. The longer I live, the more I
see my own sinfulness in my heart, and the more I realize how desperately
I need the perfect Savior, how much I need His work of redemption,
how much I need that righteousness that He established for all of
His chosen people. We need the Lord. The whole universe and all the
events of time are completely subject to, absolutely ruled
by, and ultimately disposed of according to God's purpose. I
love God being the God of purpose. No accidents. We may in our conversations say,
you know, I had an accident today. And to us, it was a fall. But really all things are ordained
of God. Look at Ephesians chapter one.
Let me just camp here for a few minutes. Look at Ephesians chapter
one. When we begin to talk about the
purpose of God, we must address two twin doctrines. And I say they're twins, but
you can't separate these twins. And the one is predestination
and the other one is providence. They cannot be separated. You
can't have one without the other. And you cannot reasonably believe
one without believing the other. There are people who believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, many people who believe the Lord Jesus
Christ, who are delighted when they read Romans 8.28, right?
A lot of people who say they're Christian, They say, I love Romans
8.28, what peace it gives to my heart. Well, how can it give
you any peace if the God you worship doesn't rule and reign
over every single thing? How can Romans 8.28 give you
any peace? If He doesn't control all things
according to His purpose, how can that give you comfort? Because if God doesn't control
all things, then pray tell me who does. And if he doesn't control all
things, if God is not the God of purpose over everything, how
can we possibly expect all things to work together for good? The
only way that all things can work together for the good of
God's people is if God's purpose, His eternal purpose is being
fulfilled in all things. That's the only way we can have
any confidence that they're working together. Here in Ephesians 1 11. in whom
we have obtained an inheritance, that is in Christ. And you know
that in this first chapter, we're always looking for the expression
in Christ, in Him, in whom. So in Him, in Christ, we have
obtained an inheritance. We have obtained? Well, yeah,
we obtained the inheritance in Him. Well, when were we given
to Him? Before the world began. We were
chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. And being eternally the children
of God, we eternally have had an inheritance. For we were predestinated unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself. And it says
here in verse 11, in whom we have obtained, we've already
got an inheritance. Peter says incorruptible, undefiled
that fadeth not away. It's ours. It's ours. Being predestinated according
to the purpose according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. You remember there
in John chapter five, when our Lord Jesus healed the band who
had been lame for 38 years. And then he instructed him to
take up his bed and walk. And he did that on the Sabbath
day. And the Jews got angry with our master. And the savior said
this, my father worketh, my father worketh hitherto and I work. Well, what work is God doing? He's working all things after
the counsel of his own will. That's what he's doing. I know a lot of people believe
that God, they grant Him creation. Oh, how generous they are. Okay,
I'll say that, yeah, God created all things, but then He just
left everybody to their own will and creation to run its own path. Is that correct? That's not correct. but they think that God got it
going and we keep it going. God got everything going and
he keeps everything going. And in the end, it will be found
that all things fulfill the eternal design of God, all things. What is the purpose of God? Well,
without question, God's purpose includes everything. But if you
want to know what His purpose is in all things, you need to
look at the picture of Himself that He has given to us. God's
great and glorious purpose in all things, His purpose according
to that which He rules, He rules everything in the universe is
threefold. And I'll give you these. First,
the purpose of God in all things is the glory of his own great
name. That's God's purpose. He's gonna
glorify himself. And that's all things in creation.
and all things in providence, and providence, if I may define
it for you, is God directing all things to the end that He
Himself predestinated before the world began. Everything has
an end. God has given a goal to everything
and everybody. He's designed His universe in
that way. And all things in creation will
fulfill his purpose. Yeah, I, there are a lot of people
who are fear mongers. They wanna scare us. The sun's
gonna burn out. We're gonna destroy the earth. I'm not saying paying no attention
to the things that God has made. I'm thankful for the things that
God has made. We need to be good stewards of
the things that He has loaned to us. But it's His creation,
and I assure you, He will take care of His own creation. You
have other things that you need to mind yourself with. You need
to be concerned about the glory of God, the salvation that is
in the Lord Jesus Christ, living a life in accordance with that
which He's revealed to you by worshiping Him and thanking Him
and honoring Him and seeking His pleasure. He's fulfilling His purpose in
creation. I just don't worry about Well,
is the sun gonna burn out? Not till God puts it out. Is
the earth gonna be, is men gonna destroy the earth? God will destroy
this earth one of these days. He will renovate this earth,
the heaven and the earth with fire. He'll do that. You seek the Lord while he may
be found, and call upon him while he's near. The purpose of God is the glory
of his own name in creation, in providence. What happened in your life today?
Now you can think, this, that, something else, whatever it was. But according to the Bible, The
steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Whatever you went
through today, whatever happened to you today, I don't know. I wasn't walking in your shoes. I don't know what happened to
you. But I can tell you this, God's eternal purpose for you
was fulfilled today. That's true. You may be happy with his purpose.
You may be dissatisfied with his purpose. I don't know the
attitude of your heart, but the attitude of our hearts ought
to be, oh Lord, I know that you're my God. You chose me unto salvation. I'm one of your children. You
redeemed me by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, my eternal
surety, my redeemer, my savior. Your Spirit has taken up residence
in my heart. He brought me to believe the
Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God works within me, showing
me continually my defilement and showing me and reminding
me that my righteousness is seated at the right hand of God. Christ
is the Lord my righteousness. So really, All things are just
fine. And it's absolutely wrong when this man or any of you worry
or have needless concern about the things that God brings to
pass in our lives. Isn't that correct? Lord, cause us to be thankful.
Cause us to bow to the will of our Lord, to what God has ordained. You see, you look back on this
day, this chapter in your life, and as you do, you go home tonight
and you lay down and no doubt praying, Remember this, as you
reflect upon your day, and that's what I do. At the end of the
day, I reflect on what's happened in my life. And then I thank God that I'm
not in a maze. I'm not just wandering around
aimlessly. My Lord, who loved me, who governs
all things for my good, He's guiding me in the direction that
He would have me to go. It may be a day full of health
and I feel good, or it may be a day when I ache. I've had a
neck ache for several days and along with that a headache. Am
I happy about that? Honestly, no. It hurts when I raise my right
arm up very much. But isn't that under the purpose
of God too? We're all pretty stubborn, aren't
we? Yep, we are. And yet we bow to the God who
rules over all things. His purpose is being fulfilled
in creation, in providence, in all things that happen to us.
They may be painful, they may be joyful. I read yesterday in a message
and this old writer likened our Lord to being as a chemist. Back in the days when chemists
mixed various herbs and whatever together to come up with medicine.
Our Lord knows exactly the medicine that you need. He knows how much of this you
need, how much trouble. but he will only give you the
amount of trouble that in his infinite wisdom he's ordained
to give you. He will give you joy, but he
won't give you so much joy, this writer said, that you become
giddy and forgetful of your responsibilities. He mixes all things and works them for our good and
for his glory, providence. And then the purpose of God in
all things is the glory of his grace. All the works of his grace going
back into eternity to the covenant of grace. when He chose us in
Christ Jesus. You know, God's choice of a people
unto salvation was not just like a, okay, I choose this massive,
massive group of people. It was an individual choice.
Hear me now. It's one thing to say God loved
a multitude which no man can number, and that's true. But
it's another thing to say, He loved me. He marked me out for His own. And in infinite grace and mercy,
He gave me. He gave me as a gift to His Son. And His Son received me as a
gift of the Father's grace. And my Lord Jesus, the Son of
God, He received me and He pledged to the Father, in time I'll go
to the earth, I'll take into union with myself humanity. And for James Ferguson Byrd,
I will live and my life will be the life that he ought to
have lived. and then I will lay down my life
for him so that he will never face the wrath of God. He will
never know anything about the fierceness of the vengeance of
God against his sins because I will bear his sins and I will
bear the vengeance of God for his sins. God chose me. He chose me. He predestinated me, said, you
gonna be my child. I adopt James Ferguson Byrd into
my family, and I write his name down in the Lamb's Book of Life. Oh, God doesn't need a literal
book, but he loves me. personally. And He doesn't love any one of
you any more than He loves me. The fullness of the love of God
in Christ Jesus belongs to every one of His children. You go to bed and think about
that tonight. He loves you so much and to such
a degree that it's as though He doesn't love anybody else
but you. And I know we think about the
Lord sometimes, but we're always in His thoughts. There's never one moment, child
of God, weary pilgrim, suffering saint, there's not one moment
but what you aren't fully in the mind and heart of your God. Can you rejoice in that? And Christ redeemed us. He bought
us from divine justice that said the soul that sinneth shall die
and Christ said take me in his stead. And the gift of the Father, the
Holy Spirit, he quickened me, he preserves me. It's all for
the glory of God. That's the purpose of God. It's
all for his glory. And I'll go quickly and give
you these other two. The great purpose of God in all
things, you know what it is? The salvation of his elect. That's
his great purpose. All that the Father giveth me,
Christ said, shall come to me. Here I come, Lord. Here I come
all over again. I'm continually coming to the
Lord. Why? What's the reason for that? Because
He's called me. He's called me. He's drawing
me. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me. Draw him. I raise him up at the
last day. The great purpose of God in all
things all things the salvation of his elect. And not a one of
the chosen ones can ever perish. That's impossible. It's impossible that the purpose
of God in salvation should ever prove to be a failure. Our God
can't fail. Failure is an impossibility.
An altering of his purpose is an impossibility. I know some
people believe, well, you know, God wanted to do it this way,
that didn't work, so he put into effect plan B. There is no plan
B. When I set out to do something,
I've got to have a plan B and C and D too, but not the Lord. And thirdly and lastly, the third purpose of God is this,
that the Son of God be exalted and honored by every rational
creature. God made this same Jesus, Peter
said, whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. God has purpose that He received. He must have the preeminence. The purpose of God is that the
Son of God, the God-man, the mediator, our great high priest,
the purpose of God is this, that He have the preeminence, over
all things and all people, and that every knee bow to Him, and
every tongue confess, He's the Lord, to the glory of God. That's the way it's going to
wind up. I tell you what, this matter
of honoring the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm on board, aren't you? I'm
on board with that purpose of God. Yes, everything in creation's
gonna bring glory to God. Everything in salvation's gonna
bring glory to God. In fact, in Ephesians chapter
one, everything's to the praise of the glory of the Father's
grace who chose us and predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ. Our Savior is the one who shed
his blood. He redeemed us with the result
of redemption being the forgiveness of sins to the praise of the
glory of his grace. And the Spirit of God who quickens
us, who teaches us, who manifests to us the person and work of
Jesus Christ, that's to the praise of the glory of his grace. I
tell you what, I'm all for the Lord having all the glory, aren't
you? That's the way it ought to be. That's the way it's going
to be. And I'm on board with that. And I'm going to seek to
honor Him all the days that God gives me on this earth. I'll continue this, the Lord
willing, next Wednesday night, maybe Sunday, I don't know. I hope we've worshiped the Lord
tonight, and I hope that you'll continue to worship him as you
go home. 298. Joe's going to come and
lead us.