Let's go back to that passage
of scripture that he read to us. The last word of verse 28
is the word purpose. Now, if we would understand the
scriptures, about our God, we need to see this, that he is
the God of purpose. In fact, contrary to popular
opinion, the God of the Bible is the God of purpose. Isaiah
chapter 14, we read these words, you don't have to turn to it,
I've got them written down here. Isaiah 14, 24 through 27, The Lord of hosts hath sworn,
saying, Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass. As
I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will break the
Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him underfoot. Then shall his yoke depart from
off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This
is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this
is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For
the Lord of hosts, for the Lord of hosts hath purposed
Listen to this. And who shall disannul it? Who's
going to cancel it out? Who's going to frustrate him?
And his hand is turned out, and who shall turn it back? We know
from the word of God that everything in this world comes to pass and
is ruled by the everlasting, unalterable, all-inclusive, and
certain purpose of our God for the salvation of His elect. And everything, either directly
or indirectly, has that as its end, the salvation of God's elect. and everything is working toward
that end. Jeremiah 51, 29 says, every purpose
of the Lord shall be performed. Every purpose of the Lord shall
be performed. In Romans 9, 11, it says that
the purpose of God, according to election, might stand not
of works, but of him that calleth. Therefore, the purpose of God,
whatever it is, whatever it is, is absolute, it is certain, and
it is unconditional. What you do, what I do, what
the devil does, what all of the enemies of God do, have no bearing
on God fulfilling His purpose. In fact, those evil things, and
you and I as well, we will all fulfill God's purpose for us. God has a course that He has
laid out for you, for me, for everybody else, for everything
else, for every angel, for every elect angel, for every fallen
angel, for Lucifer, for the Son of God, for all of the elect
of God. God has a course that's already
been laid out for us. And listen, the Word of God teaches
us, we shall not deviate, we shall not vary from that course. We have a race that is laid out
for us. Hebrews chapter 12 says that. And we run that race. And though
your course will be different from my course, nevertheless,
whatever the course is that God has ordained that we must follow,
we will follow it because the God of glory has purposed and
who shall disembowel it? So really, when things happen
to us, to any child of God, that is painful or we don't understand,
maybe it's sickness, maybe it's a death, maybe it's something
else, some difficulty in life, whatever it is, that is part
of the course that we must run. And if God would ever convince
us of the truthfulness of this, that all things are fulfilling
His purpose, we would be a much more contented people. We would
be happy. And whatever happens to us, we
would then be able to say with joy in our souls, this is the
course that God has laid out for me. This is what He's purposed
for me. It's no accident that I'm in
the situation I'm in. It's not by bad luck that I'm
where I am. It's according to the purpose
of God. And my God, in his infinite wisdom,
has ordained all things for me, and he's therefore working all
of these things together in connection with one another for my good,
and it's all according to his purpose. I ask God to take that truth
and embrace my heart with it. That's what's necessary. I know
we make our plans, which may or may not come to pass, but
God doesn't make plans. He has His eternal purpose. And
nothing can ever frustrate his purpose, ruin his purpose, interrupt
his purpose, or change his purpose. Because he's the God who is changeless. He said in Malachi, I am the
Lord, I change not. And if he doesn't change himself,
that which he has decreed and determined and purposed, that
can't change either. He's the changeless God. And he said, that's the only
reason why you're not consumed. We deserve to be consumed, but
we're not going to be consumed because God, in everlasting covenant
love, gave us to Christ, the Son of God, in eternity past,
in the covenant of grace, and He stood as our surety and our
head, and God gave us to Him. He wedded us to the Son of God,
and all things are being fulfilled that He purposed for Christ,
who is the head, and for all of His people, who constitute
His body. Purpose. It'll open up the whole
Bible to you. There in verse 28, he says, we
know this. We know that all things work
together. Now, when he says they work together
for good, that doesn't necessarily mean your temporal good. It means your spiritual good.
There's something more important than your temporal good, and
it's your spiritual good. Everything's gonna work out for
your spiritual good to them who love God. Do you love God? That's
a valid question. Do you love the God who reveals
himself in the scriptures? The God of holiness? The God
of strict justice? The God who demands righteousness? The God who is too good to make
a mistake? The God who is sovereign, who
does His will among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What
doest thou? Do you love that God? Do you love the God who loves
some and hates others? Do you love the God who chose
some, appointed some unto salvation and others to wrath? Do you love
that God? My heart says I do. That's the
God I love. His ways are past finding out. There's no question about that. But I love God as He's revealed
in the Scriptures, and I love Him as He's revealed Himself
to me in His Son. In His Son, He has revealed Himself
to me as Savior, as that one who's the friend of sinners. Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, do
you love me? That's what he asked. Three times. Well, he denied him three times.
He gonna get three-fold questioning here. Lord, thou knowest all
things. And he surely does. He knows all things. He knows
the attitude of your heart toward Christ Jesus. Lord, you know
all things. You know my blunders, you know
my mess ups, you know my doubts, you know my fears, but you know
that deep within my heart, you created love for you. Love for Christ. Because I'll
tell you what, you wouldn't love Christ as he's revealed in the
scriptures. You wouldn't love the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit as he's revealed in the word
of God, unless God created that love. He put it in your soul. And I'll tell you what, if He
ever burns that into your heart, if He ever brands you with His
brand of grace, you'll love Him. You'll love
Him. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to those who are called according
to his purpose. Has the Lord ever said to you,
come here? Come here, come to my son. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Lord, what did you say to me?
Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give
you rest. Here I come, Lord. Here I come. The preacher called me, I didn't
come. Providence, things in life called
me to come to Christ, I didn't come. But when the Master said,
come. When He said, come unto me, all
ye that thirst. Come unto me, all ye who are
hungry. Come unto me all you who want
righteousness. Come unto me all you who long
for me. Come unto me when you said that
to me. Lord, I came and I'm still coming
to you. Because faith is not an isolated
act. That's one thing wrong with this
decisional regeneration. You make your decision for Jesus
and then get on with your life. Peter said, to whom coming? We're always coming to him. To them who are the called. Ever
been called by the Lord? Well, if you've ever been called,
it was because he purposed to call you. For, verse 29, because. Whom he did foreknow. I know what a lot of preachers,
Bible teachers say, well, you know, God foreknew what you was
gonna do. He foreknew that you'd believe
and therefore he chose you. It doesn't say what God foreknew. It says, for whom He foreknew,
whom He did foreknow. He foreknew some people. That means He foreordained in
love a people for Himself. The Lord said of Israel who stood
as a type, as a picture of all of the elect of God of all of
the ages, you only have I known. of all the nations of the earth.
You're the only nation I've known." What do you mean? God didn't
know about the other nations? Didn't know about the Egyptians?
Didn't know about the Assyrians? Didn't know about the Perizzites
and the Hittites and all the rest of them ites? He didn't
know about them? Oh, he knew about everybody.
But he only knew Israel. You see, our Lord is saying here
that all that he foreknew in loving kindness, those he predestinated. Did you know it says in Matthew
chapter 7 concerning those false prophets and false professors? who boasted they dared to go
to the judgment and boast of all their works that they had
done in the Savior's name. The Savior will say to them,
depart from me, I never knew you. Never knew him. Didn't he know
about him? Oh, he knew about him. But he didn't love him. I know what preachers today say,
God loves everybody. Christ died for everybody, the
Holy Spirit's trying to save everybody. Well, that's just
three lies. They're hatched in hell. They
came forth from him who is the father of lies. I tell you something,
everybody God loves, God saves. Everybody Christ died for, their
sins had been remitted. For them, everlasting righteousness
has already been brought in. And the Spirit of God's going
to effectually call them and bring them to the Savior. For
whom he did, he knows some people. He knows some people in everlasting
love. and He places His love upon them
and in their hearts. When it says in the book of Genesis
chapter 4 and verse 1, And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived
and bare a son, and she called his name Cain. When it says Adam
knew Eve his wife, do you think that means he knew about her?
It means he was intimate with her. He placed His love on her. And the result was a life was
formed in her. And I'm telling you, God loved
us from old eternity, and when He comes upon us by the power
of the Spirit through the preaching of the gospel, He lays His everlasting
love upon us and in us, and the result is life. Life. He loved us. He foreknew us. Now watch it now. 29, for whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son. Predestinate. Now what in the
world does that mean? And I've had people ask me, do
you believe in predestination? I say, well, is it in the Bible? Well, yeah. I said, well, I believe
it then. Well, if the Bible says it, it's
got to be right, got to be true. The root word here is destiny. You understand destiny. It's
to mark out ahead of time what your end is going to be. Well, this is predestination. In other words, before you was
ever born. Before God ever made the world,
back in what I call eternity past, God marked out your destiny. That's predestination. You don't
have to be a Greek scholar or a Hebrew scholar. You don't have
to be a theologian to comprehend that, at least the face value
of it. whom God loved, he marked out
from eternity their destiny. Well, what is the destiny of
his people? To be conformed to the image
of his son that Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren,
the firstborn in the Old Testament families, the firstborn was the
priest of the family. There's Christ. The firstborn have the authority
over the family. There's Christ. Because we constitute
his family. Well, read on, verse 30. Moreover,
in other words, I'm not through yet. Got some more things to
say. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called or named. In fact, he wrote our names down
in the Lamb's Book of Life. And there are no erasures from
that book. And there are no new names being
written down in that book. My beloved father, he loved to
sing. He had a really good tenor voice. and he was in a quartet in Bassett,
Virginia. That's where I'm from. Headquarters
of Bassett Furniture Company. I'm from Bassett, Virginia, and
there's a Baptist, independent, fundamental, air-conditioned
Baptist church in Bassett, Virginia. That's where we went to church.
My daddy sang in a quartet. Those fellas, they can make such
good harmony. I love a good men's quartet. Don't you, Joe? And it's really
pretty singing. Sang all the parts, you know.
And my favorite song that they sang back then, back then, was
There's a New Name Written Down in Glory. And it's mine. Yes, it's mine. Oh, yes, it's
mine. Yes, it's mine. I can still remember. I can probably remember all the
words. I bet you do, too. The only problem with it, there
ain't no truth in that song, but it sure was pretty. It sure
was pretty. Because there are no new names
written down in glory. You hear preachers preach and
say, you know, when you're saved, then the Lord takes out his pen
and he writes your name down in the Lamb's book of life. Where
do these men get that stuff from? The scripture says that our names
were written down in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation
of the world. When the Lord sent the 70 out
and they came back in, Rejoicing that they had power to cast demons
out? The Savior said, I saw Satan
fall from the sky. Yeah, you was doing that. But
in this, rejoice not. Take something to rejoice in.
Rejoice that your names are written down in heaven. That's something
to rejoice about. Rejoice that you're loved with
an everlasting love. Rejoice that God gave you to
Christ, your surety, your surety, who stood for you in the covenant
of grace. Rejoice that your names are written
down in heaven, that God has everlastingly acknowledged you
to be one of His own. You're one of His children. He says, predestinated to be conformed
to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. And you read Hebrews 2, he's
not ashamed to call us brethren. Verse 30, moreover, whom He did
predestinate, them He also called, He named. And whom He called,
them He also justified, that is, He declared them to be righteous. And whom He declared to be righteous,
whom He justified, them He also glorified. Notice this, two things. Everything that's done here is
done by God. And everything that's done by
God is said to be for us, three things. Everything's done by
God, everything He did was for us. And number three, everything
that He did for us, He did before the world began. This is all
in the past tense. Now who can change the purpose
of God? God's already marked out the
course for all of us. So therefore, he says in verse
31, what should we then say to these things? I know what some people say.
Some people say, I don't believe that. Well, you got a real problem
then. Your problem is not with me.
Your problem is with God, because this is God's word. What shall we, what shall we
then say? I know what others say, but what
shall then we say to these things? Here's what we say. If God be
for us, since God is for us, who in the world can be against
us? And he says in verse 32, he that
spared not his own son, but delivered Him up for us all, for, in the
stead of. See, there's substitution. God did not spare His own Son. What's He going to take to save
these rebels? Yes, they're beloved of God,
they're chosen of God, they're predestinated to be conformed
by the image of Christ. What's He going to take to save
them? to redeem them, to pay their debt, to make them righteous.
What's it going to take? God must send his son and he
didn't spare him. In fact, he did not spare him
anything. He had to drink the cup of damnation
down to its last bitter dregs and he had to drink it all and
the father would not dilute it. He wouldn't weaken it for him. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for in the stead of. Mr. Spurgeon said there are two
words to summarize the gospel, substitution and satisfaction. That's two words you ought to
learn. When Christ died, he died for somebody. He died for us
all. Who's the us? Those who are foreloved,
and predestinated, and called, and justified, and glorified. That's us. He delivered him up for us all. Substitution and satisfaction. He satisfied God's justice. Most
preachers, and consequently most people in the pew, don't know
anything about the necessity of God's justice being satisfied. They don't know, and furthermore,
they don't care. They don't care. Job's question, how can man be
clean in the sight of God? He that's born of woman. How
can God justify an unjust person? How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? People are not interested in
that. Just tell us about the love of God. That's all we want
to hear. Well, I want to know how God,
who's holy, righteous, and just in all of His ways, how can He,
in a just way that honors His law, how can He save me without
compromising His own law and justice? And the answer is He
sent His Son. Don't hear many preachers talking
about that. Now, you hear grace preachers.
You hear Brother Allen preach this, and other preachers, and
these men who speak for me, and other preachers across this country,
and some throughout the world, but not too many. He delivered him up, God delivered
him up. Delivered him up to die the death
of the cross. Well, how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things? It's all things we need. Now look at verse 33. This brings
me to my title. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? God's elect. That's another name
for the people of God. You know, Studying that you've
studied in some school those of you who are in the morning
summer school or Bible class The disciples were called Christians
first where Antioch So that's that's a Bible word called Christians. I I'm I'm not ashamed to use
that today, but don't use it very often because it's so misused
We're Christians Well, who are Christians? They're God's elect. And you sure enough don't hear
that kind of language. Well, who are those that go to
church? They're God's elect. God's elect. It's God that justifies. What
is elect? What does election mean? Everybody here knows what election
means. I mean, unless you've been hiding
under a rock or something. Years ago, we went to, Nancy
and I, she's not feeling well tonight, the reason she's not
here, but we went away to Bible College, 1969. And since how we just celebrated our anniversary,
it was 54 years ago. Don't even have to do the math
too much, because we got married August 2nd of 69, then proceeded
to move to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and went to a Bible
college there. And I was, back in those days,
in the eyes of some people, I was somebody. And I got elected to be vice
president of our freshman class. Pretty large freshman class.
In fact, that's where I met Brother Fortner. He had attended the
first semester in 1969, fall semester. He attended Baptist
Bible College, Springfield, Illinois. He transferred in in January
of 1970. That's where I first met him. I had some connections, knew
some of the men on the board of trustees. This was before
I fell from grace, you understand. It's before I came to knowledge
of the truth of God's sovereign grace and salvation, but I knew
a lot of people there, and so they elected me vice president
of the freshman class in college. I didn't have anything to do
with it. They chose me. And then whenever we met, it
was my job to have the devotions and that sort of thing. And the
first time I met Brother Fortner, he was in a chapel, and I had
the devotion. But I was chosen. I learned the truth, and they
didn't choose me anymore, but that's another story. But they elected me. And, you
know, we're gearing up here in Kentucky for the governor's race
in November. It's going to be an election. And then in 2024, be a presidential
election. Everybody knows what an election
is. And I don't know why they have such a hard time with God's
election. God's elect. This is a biblical
name for God's elect. These were people that God chose
to be his own before the foundation of the world, before we had done
anything either good or bad. And throughout the Bible, the
Bible talks about elected people, elect angels. You know why Lucifer
and one-third of the angels fell? They weren't elect. Right? That's right. They weren't elect.
That means they're non-elect. Could God have chosen them all?
Sure. Whatever the Lord wanted to do.
But He didn't choose them all. He chose two-thirds of them.
And they're called elect angels. When Israel, Israel was just
a small nation. In fact, just one man, Abram.
There are a lot of other nations in the world. God said, you're my elect nation. I know what that means. He didn't
choose the other nations. You don't have to be a scholar
to make that determination. He just chose one nation. I don't
hear you by standing up saying, that wasn't fair to the Egyptians. That wasn't fair to some other
group. Nobody says that. Israel was
the nation God chose that He would use them to preserve the
truth of the gospel of substitution and satisfaction. He chose them
to keep the Word of God going. He chose them that through them
Messiah would come into this old world. And then God, having
finished with them, set them aside, called the Gentiles, Us? Us dogs? And He joins Jews and
Gentiles, those who are chosen unto salvation, into one group
to the praise of the glory of His grace. God's elect. It wasn't that we decided. This
is God's everlasting determination. This is a fact. God's elect. And I know this, the Bible says
lots about this. Matthew chapter 20 verse 16,
so the last shall be first and the first last for many, for
many be called, but few are chosen. Romans chapter 9 look at chapter
9 verse 11 For the children being not yet
born Neither having done any good or evil that the purpose
of God according to election might stand Not of works, but
of him that calleth it was said unto her the elder shall serve
the younger As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. It's what the word of God says. God favored Jacob. He showed
no favor to Esau. God loved Jacob with an everlasting
love. God hated Esau. You say, well,
that's because of what Esau did. As we view people, Esau is a
better fellow than Jacob was. Jacob was crooked, but God loved him. Who made the
difference there? See, when you talk about God's
elect, you're talking about God who made a difference in people.
We've been preaching through the book of Exodus. We're up
to chapter eight now. We talked about God made a difference
between Israel and Egypt. And God makes a difference. And
in this world, there are just two groups of people. That's
all there are. There's two kinds of people.
God's people and the rest. Elect, non-elect. Preacher, that's too much for
me to swallow. Well, I guess you just have to
choke on it then. I don't know what else to tell
you. Because it's here in the word
of God. And I'll tell you this, God's gonna save his elected
one. He's gonna save his elect. saving with an everlasting salvation
in Christ. And I'm gonna go quickly. God's
elect were chosen unto salvation in Jesus Christ. That's the way
God did it. Christ is his first elect, Isaiah
42, one. I tell you, I don't have a problem
with God calling Christ my elect. Anybody have a problem with that?
I don't have a problem with that. I don't have a problem saying
Christ is God's elect. And I don't have a problem saying
God's got an elect people. They're his elect, chosen in
Christ before the world began. and this election is under salvation. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 2, and
I'm gonna quit with this. I'll probably pick it back up
again next Sunday night. But look at 2 Thessalonians 2.
2 Thessalonians 2. You know, in the first few verses
of chapter two, it talks about the mystery of iniquity at work. And then he talks about the wicked
one, capital W, the wicked. And this is Antichrist, and you're
welcome to your opinion. I don't believe Antichrist is
just one person. Antichrist is the consensus of
all of those who oppose our Lord Jesus Christ. They're all anti-Christ. And anti-Christ, it appears to
me, is gonna become more prevalent toward the end of the age. Because
people, and you know yourself, they don't want to hear the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace. No interest. They don't wanna
hear it. If they happen to hear it, it
makes them mad. They get really hot under the
collar. And they become your enemy. And if you read 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 11, for this cause, because
they don't want to hear about who God is, They don't want to
know, do they Alan? They don't want to know. They have no interest in what
Christ did upon the cross of Calvary. They want to talk about
him being a babe in a manger. And talk about how he's sad because
he can't have his way. People feel sorry for him. They don't want to hear about
a sovereign Savior who rules the world, who saved His people
by His redeeming grace. They don't want to hear about
that. They want to hear about their all-powerful free will. That's what they want to hear
about. How God needs me and He can't get along without me. In
fact, we can't even spell church without you. You see that on the signs sometimes. They want to bring man into it. They don't want to hear the truth.
So verse 12, verse 11, for this cause God shall send them strong
delusion that they should believe a lie. They're not interested
in hearing about the grace of Christ, the blood of Christ,
the righteousness of Christ, the glory of Christ, the work
of Christ. They're not interested in hearing
of Him who paid the indebtedness of His people. They don't want
to hear that. And so God says, all right, I'll
send you something you will believe. I'm going to send you error.
And you're going to believe it. Then I'm going to damn you for
believing it. You say, boy, that's tough, isn't it? God helped you
to receive the truth. He'll send you a strong delusion.
You'll believe a lie, and then God will damn you for believing
it. If that wasn't in there, it'd
be hard to believe, wouldn't it? It sure is in there. Verse
12, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but
had pleasure in unrighteousness, in man's righteousness. We're all good people, we're
all working our way to heaven. You take pleasure in your own
unrighteousness and God said it's just filthy. Verse 13, but. We're bound to give thanks all
the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit. The Spirit of God set you apart. And you believe the truth. Verse
14, and here's the reason you believe the truth, whereunto
he called you by our gospel. He called you effectually. to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're God's elect. And what do we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? We say, thank you, Lord. I don't know why he chose me,
because it's just your sovereign will and pleasure. I'm no different from anybody
else. But God showed grace. If you're
a believer, God showed you grace in Christ Jesus before the world
began. And don't you dare ever try to
take the credit for it. A man will get himself or a woman
will get herself in a heap of trouble if they ever try to steal
any of God's glory. You're in trouble then. We owe it all to the Lord, don't
we? Get those folders out again,
page 22. Thy works, not mine, O Christ. Page 22.