I loved Linda's song there. It
ties in very much with what I was talking about, the seasons. Spring
has finally arrived here in Michigan. Just two weeks ago we were having
snow at every place, and now everything's starting to turn
green. I've mowed my grass for the first time here this week. It's all of God's creation. You
look around and everything's starting to bloom, the seasons.
The reason we have the seasons is it's all part of God's plan. God placed the earth just the
exact distance from the sun so that we are neither too close
or too far away. If we were too far away, we'd
freeze to death. If we're too close, we'd burn up. So God planned
in his creation to put the earth in this exact position so that
all this creation that he gave us, you know, that we can survive
here. But he also created the sun,
which continually burns, you know, never gets too hot, never
gets too cold. You build a campfire or anything
like that, you have to put wood on there, but after a little
while, that wood starts burning away, and then you have to add
more wood to it. But the sun just continually
burns. It doesn't burn up. You'd think that it would, but
it's all of God's creation. He has that perfect balance there
for us. So it's just pretty amazing. And as far as the seasons, the
Earth goes around the sun, but it also doesn't circulate around the sun in a
perfectly up and down position, at a slight angle, so that we
do get that seasons. So it's tilted away from the
sun a little bit, we have the winters. When it's tilted towards
the sun, the upper part of the world, the upper hemisphere,
we have the summer. So it's all part of God's creation,
just like Linda was saying. It's just pretty amazing when
you think about it. But the very first line of the
Bible tells us, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the
earth. And he created everything perfectly right there. So it's
all God's sovereign power. I've already gone through part
of my notes here, so. OK. In Genesis 114, it says,
let there be light in the firmament of the heavens to divide the
day from the night and let He let it be sight and for seasons
and for days and years. And that's God's creation that
I was just talking about, that He created the seasons for all
of us. He also created time. He's outside of time, but we
are very much in time. But once we go to heaven, I don't
think, like I said earlier, we will have clocks or calendars
or anything like that to even think about. Time will be totally
irrelevant at that point. I'm trying to catch up with my
notes here. I've already covered part of
that there. Something I was looking at here
this winter too, I got to looking at the trees and all, you know,
without the leaves and everything on them. And when you go to look
at them, there is such a wide variety of trees and some of
them have great big branches, just a few branches. Others seem
to have hundreds of branches. such a wide variety, same way
with animals and stuff like that. There are so many animals, birds,
fish, and all that throughout the world that it's all God's
creation. It's not just something that
happened by accident, like some of the evolution that people
want you to think that all this was just one big accident. And
it's not. It was God's creation. When you
go to look at this, it's just mind-boggling how much variety
there is. There's a movie, Robin Hood,
that they had a quote there. God loves wondrous variety. And
that's very much true. There is such wide variety, even
in people. There's virtually no two of us
that look the same. God truly does love wide variety.
And it's just one of those things that is just mind boggling. to think that this has all come
together as an accident. Last time I talked about the
Big Bang Theory, what scientists think, that this whole thing
was just one big explosion. Well, one thing they can't tell
you is where that initial material come from. Is that how God created
the universe? That material had to come from
someplace. This isn't in the Bible, so don't think that I'm
quoting something from the Bible. But that material had to come
from someplace. So is that how God created the
universe, that he created the Big Bang himself? We don't know. And we'll probably never know
until we get to heaven, if God reveals it to us even then. this
is God's creation, you know, it's not just something that
just happened to be, you know, all this stuff, you know, you
look at the stars and all the galaxies and everything, and
it just, you know, just kind of blows my mind. You know, he
created all this in six days, and he just spoke it into existence. So, you know, it just doesn't
happen, you know, by accident by any means, and on the sixth
day, He created God in his own image. And I consider that to
be one of his greatest creations, that he created us, that we are
here for a purpose, and that man is to have dominion over
every living thing that moveth upon the earth. That's in Genesis
128. And today, mankind, I think they've
learned a lot. We think we're pretty smart and
we build skyscrapers and bridges and we've even been able to fly
to the moon, but that all pales in comparison to what God has
created here. Man has never been able to create
life. Life as we know it, just like the babies that are born
for the mothers and all, we've never been able to create that.
Man tries, but we can't create life. Only God can create life. I don't see anything walking
around that man has ever created. But again, God created life in
just a few words in a period of only six days. And we were
part of that plan right from the beginning. God created man
and said to them in Genesis 128, be fruitful and multiply. But
that does not mean that God loves everybody. I see billboards on
the interstate and stuff that said, God loves you. And they
want you to believe that God loves everybody. But that's not
the case. In fact, that's one of the most
quoted verses in the Bible. John 3.16, for God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son. But that's where they stop. They say, well, he loved the
whole world. But if you read the whole context,
let's turn to John 3.16 there. Let's start at verse 15. John chapter 3 starting at verse
15, that whatsoever believeth in him shall not perish but have
eternal life. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because
he hath not believed in the name only begotten Son of God. If God loved everybody, he would
not condemn them. You don't condemn somebody that
you love. So that shows us that there's a particular people that
Jesus was here to save. God chose a people to love. The
book of Ephesians explains so many things. Ephesians is one
of my favorite books in the Bible. And Ephesians, it talks about
in chapter 1, verse 4, he hath chosen us in him, and him being
Christ, before the foundation of the world. That is, before
we were even born, we were chosen. Before we'd done any sin or good
or anything else, we were chosen ahead of time. It was his choice, not our choice.
But it also tells us that God does not necessarily love everybody
because he didn't choose everybody. And it says that in verse 5,
it talks about predestination. He predestinated us onto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
his good pleasure of his will. People talk about free will.
Man has free will. We don't have free will. God
has free will, very much so. He predestinated us. He chose
us before the foundation of the world. But we can't decide, well,
I think I'm going to be saved and go to heaven, as if it's
our choice. And it's not our choice. The
Holy Spirit reveals that to us, that we're the chosen one. But
we just can't randomly say, well, I think I'm going to go to heaven.
Or I do good things, and because I've done so many good things,
I'm going to go to heaven. That's part of works, and that's
part of man's ego, and it just doesn't work that way. Only God has free will, and it's
his good pleasure, not ours. In Ephesians, second chapter
of Ephesians, verses eight and nine, for by grace are ye saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God.
not of works, lest any man should boast." We cannot work our way
to heaven. There's nothing that we can do
to impress God, to make him say, that person's a good guy, I think
we'll take him to heaven. It just doesn't work that way. He also did not look through
time to see, well, this guy was doing good. You know, I think
I'll take him. Like I say, we were picked before we were even
born. So anything that we look on,
you know, the world thinks may be good or, you know, this is
a good guy. You know, he goes to church or
he loves his family and stuff like that. That's not what, how
we're saved. We're saved through Christ and
Christ alone at his choice, not our choice. Only Christ can make us acceptable
to God. In Ephesians, again, chapter
one, verse six, it says, he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Verse seven says, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of his grace. Redemption's
a very important word. Those of us that are 60 plus, will remember a thing called
S&H Green Stamps that was given out at grocery stores and gas
stations and stuff and you collected those things, I see a couple
people grinning there, they remember. You'd put them in a book and
You'd collect 10 or 12 of these books, and then you'd go to a
redemption center and trade those books in for some product, a
toaster, whatever it was. But you'd take those things.
Well, God has, or Jesus has redeemed us. And what he exchanged was
his blood for our sins. And that's something that is
the ultimate redemption as such. You know, we can't redeem ourselves. There's no way that we can do
anything that we can be justified, but Christ done it all for us. went to the cross on purpose.
It was the plan from the beginning to redeem his people, not the
world, but his people and his people only. And we'll continue
to be in this world until every last one of his children are
saved. And then at that point, I don't
know what will happen with the rest of the world, but his people
will all be saved and they will go to heaven at that point. Even though we are saved through
his blood and stuff and our sins are washed away, that does not
mean that we will not commit sin again in the future. You
know, we are a sinful people. But we don't go out and purposely
try to sin. You know, we don't go out and
commit murder or anything like that because we're being refrained
by the Holy Spirit, you know, to keep us from trying to do
that. Now we'll still sin, you know, we are a sinful people,
but, you know, we are restrained and we are not perfect by any
means. There was only one perfect and
that was Christ himself. No matter how much we try to,
there's still sin in us. It's part of our nature and has
been ever since Adam. And verse 7 in Ephesians it talks
about says, our sins are forgiven according to the riches of His
grace. And what is grace? In the Hebrew it means to pardon
or to show mercy. It also means to show undeserved
favor. And that's what Christ has done
to us. He has given us undeserved favor
because we do not deserve anything. We deserve to go to hell, as
far as that goes. But the grace that Christ gave
to us is totally undeserved. It's a gift. And it's one of
those things that is given to us freely by him. And there's
no way that we can earn it on our own. We can do nothing to gain God's
favor. That's what Christ does, or done
on the cross for us, and he also said it is finished. Let's go
to Ephesians, the second book of Ephesians, chapter two, and
go to verses eight and nine. For by grace are ye saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. And that's, grace is a gift of
God, not something that we can earn or ever deserve or can work
for it. It says that, not of works, lest
any man should boast. But I've heard people talk about,
you know, while I do this, it'll make me look better in God's
eyes. And it's just such a blasphemy
thing. It just, you know, it goes totally
against everything that's in the Bible. I could not find it in the Bible
anyplace. I couldn't find my concordance or it's not in the
Bible. At least I didn't see it anyplace. But, you know, it's a place where someone who dies to get in God's
grace, you make satisfaction for your past sins so that you
become fit for heaven. And that just totally is backwards
from everything that the Bible teaches. If that's the case,
what did Christ do on the cross? He went to the cross and said,
it is finished. It doesn't say, well, you have
to go do this, go to purgatory and make yourself fit for heaven. Christ done that for us already.
It is finished, and you can't go to purgatory and make yourself
acceptable or fit for heaven. It's taught to millions of people,
and it's just mind-boggling. And something else that you can't
do is you can't go into a confessional booth and sit there and confess
your sins. man on the other side of the
curtain there, he can't forgive your sins. You can't get your
sins forgiven by saying Hail Mary's or anything like that.
I know that may upset a lot of people, but that's the way it
is. I mean, Christ done it. He done
it all. And we can't do anything at all
to even begin to think about making ourselves acceptable to
or fit for Christ or for heaven. If that was the case, what Christ
done on the cross is just totally, he just didn't finish the job
according to that then. Let's turn to John 6, verses 37 to 40. I tend to ramble around a lot,
so excuse me. Like I say, I'm not a preacher.
Okay, John 6, 37 to 40, says, all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and he that cometh to me I will in no way
cast out. For I come down from heaven not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And that
is the Father's will. which hath sent me, that of all
which he hath given me, I should not lose nothing, but should
raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the sun and believeth on him
may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last
day." So that means that he's already got the plan, and nothing
that we can do is going to accept that or change that. There was
a song that I used to sing in church when I was a little kid,
he's got the whole world in his hand and that is very much true. I don't hear that very often
anymore but God created this whole thing and we are in his
hand. And when you're in his hand,
you cannot lose, you know, nobody can take you from his hand. You
know, it's all part of God's plan and there's nothing that
is going to change that. You know, people talk about,
you know, well this person lost their religion or lost their
salvation. If you're in God's hand, you're
not going to get lost. God is not going to lose a single
one of his children, because we are the adopted children of
God. And it just isn't possible. He is going to save every one
of us. And he is not going to quit until that is accomplished. He will not leave one believer
behind. And I got to thinking about that we were chosen for
the foundation of the world. That means that he also planned
for, like, our parents to come together so that we were born,
or any of you mothers, it has planned that you have that child
from the foundation of the world. But for me, if I'm saved, Lord
willing, I am saved. But through the generations,
he brought my grandparents together, great grandparents together,
all so that I would be born at this particular time because
I'm a child of God. And you think about, you know,
All these generations have been brought together just so we're
here at this time, you know, to be here in this church to
hear this word. You know, it's all part of God's
plan. We're destined to be here, or
predestined to be here. So that's, you know, just... It's kind of mind-boggling when
you think about it, you know, that everything is in His control. You know, everything from, they
talk about the birds falling to earth and Him not knowing
about it, but He knows everything, you know. He's in total control. He is God. You know, we are part of His complete
plan. Something else I see is people
talking about on TV, saying, thank you, Jesus. And I sometimes
wonder about, you know, their salvation, whether that's true
or not, but that is something that we should really be thinking
about ourselves. We should be thanking Jesus for
everything that he has done for us. He gives us everything that
we need, you know, provides, he created us, he provides everything
for us, he provides his church for us, you know, has given us
a pastor with through Wayne that brings us the word every week,
and we need to thank Jesus on a regular basis. You know, that's
just something that we probably don't do enough. I don't do it
enough myself, but it's something that we need to really think
about, you know, that he has done everything for us. And,
you know, just not for ourselves, but for everything, the whole
creation. You know, just everything that
we see here on this planet is through our salvation, which
is the greatest thing they've done for us, but you know, just where
we live here. So I think that's about all I
have. So I don't preach near as long
as what Wayne does, but hopefully you got something out of it.
So let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father,