Would you turn back to Luke chapter
22? If you were sitting there at
the table, how would you feel if the Lord made this statement? Verse 21, But behold, the hand
of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. Now here the 12 are sitting there,
and he tells them, one of you will betray me. What all went
through their minds at this time? I'm sure they were shocked. Lord
willing, next Sunday I would like to deal with the question,
is it I? But what were they thinking? And then the Lord said in verse
22, and truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined. Now he is speaking of the events
that led to him being nailed to a cross, the means of Roman
execution. He said, I'm going. This is what's
going to happen to me. It's all according to the purpose
of God. And notice the language he uses.
He says in verse 22, and truly the Son of Man goeth as it was
determined. Now the question is, who determined
this? You know the answer to that.
God determined this. God determined that he would
go and be executed on a Roman God determined that Judas was
going to be the means of betrayal. Judas is called the child of
perdition. Just like he said with regard
to Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up,
that I might show my power in thee. and that my name might
be declared throughout all the earth. You see, he is called
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And this all happened
because God determined for it to happen. Now here's something
I like to think about. Do you know God determines everything
that happens? What part are you going to say
he's not in control of? We have a beautiful illustration
of this in this chapter. Look in verse 7. 7 Then came the day of unleavened
bread, when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter
and John, saying, Go and prepare us the Passover, that we may
eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare?
And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the
city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water. Look at the details he's giving.
There shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him
into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the
good man of the house, The master saith unto thee, Where is the
guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples?
And he shall show you a large upper room furnished. There make
ready. And they went and found, as he
had said unto them. Exactly what he said would take
place, took place. Now everything that happens,
he is an absolute controller. Do you believe in absolute predestination? Absolutely. Absolutely. What's more, I like it that way.
I would be afraid if that were not the case. What's going to
happen? But God is in absolute control of all things. Now, in Revelation chapter 1,
let me read you a verse from Revelation chapter 1, verse 1.
The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show
unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. Now, why must they come to pass? Because He ordained them. He
predestinated them. Everything is under the predestinating
sovereign control of God. Did God know that you would be
here tonight? You say, what? If God knew, do
you think He would have known it? Yes. The reason he knows
it is because he determined for you to be here. Now, is there
any way, any scenario where you wouldn't have been here if God
foresaw that you would be here? No. This is all a part of God's
absolute foreknowledge and determinate counsel controlling everything
and everybody. I love how he works all things
after the counsel of his own will. Now this is not blind fate.
This is a, I don't know how else to say this, but this is a personal
God. He's a person and he's controlling
everything. This is not just fate. Well,
it was meant to be. Yeah, it was meant to be, but
the reason it was meant to be is because he meant it to be. He's in absolute control of everything
in your life and mine. His will is always done. Every time we read in the scripture
and we read it hundreds of times and it came to pass. Why did
it come to pass? Because he purposed it. And it
came to pass. Whenever we read Something must
take place in the scripture. These things must shortly come
to pass. We know it because God determined
for them to come to pass. In Luke chapter 2 verse 49, the
Lord said, as a 12-year-old boy, wist ye not that I must? be about my father's business.
And that word must means it's absolutely necessary. There's
no condition under which this could not take place. I must be about my father's business. Why? Because I'm the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world and I must accomplish what he
sent me to do. When he said it is finished,
mission accomplished. Whatever his father's business
was, he did. He said in Luke 4, verse 43,
I must preach to other cities. But therefore, I must send. Every
place he went to was under the predestinating hand of God. It's
where God purposed for him to be, and that's where he went.
We read in John 4, verse 4, and he must needs go through Samaria. Now, he was out of his way to
go through Samaria to get where he was going, but the scripture
still says he must needs go through Samaria. Why must need he do
anything? He must need to do the Father's
will. The Father purposed for him to go because one of his
elect was there, that poor woman at the well that he was going
to make himself known to. In Luke chapter 19 verse 5, Zacchaeus,
make haste, come down, for today I must. abide in thy house. This is the day it was purposed,
and this is the day it's going to take place. If God has purposed
to have you to know him, it's going to happen. In John chapter
3 verse 7, I never really thought about this, but it's when he
said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. Now you know what? Nicodemus must be born again. And he was born again. I have
no doubt that this man ended up being saved. He was one of
the ones at the end who took the Lord's body down and put
it in a sepulcher. John chapter 3 verse 14, as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. You see, this was his purpose
and it was absolutely necessary. In Matthew chapter 16 verse 21,
we have one of three times where the Lord told his disciples that
he must suffer and die. And he must be raised from the
dead. Now, why must he? Because he's
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He came to die.
This is the Father's purpose. He must die because he was guilty. The sins of God's elect became
his sins and he actually deserve to be forsaken of God. He who
was with God completely lost his presence on the cross and
was left to himself because that's exactly what he deserved. Why
must he be raised from the dead? Because he completely paid the
debt. He made complete satisfaction
to God and the very justice of God demanded him to be raised
from the dead. There was a divine must in everything
he did. After His resurrection, they
said, why seek ye the living among the dead? He's not here.
He's risen. Remember how He spoke to you
when He was yet in Galilee, saying, the Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of men and be crucified, and the third day
rise again? He said to those two on the road
to Emmaus, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the
prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ? That's the
same word must. Was it not necessary for Christ
to suffer these things and enter into a glory? And it was necessary
because it was determined. He said in Luke chapter 24 verse
46, thus it's written, and thus it behooves Christ. And that's
the same Greek word. Thus it was absolutely necessary
for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead. Acts 4.12 says
there's none other name given under heaven among men whereby
we must be saved. And I love that he didn't say
whereby we may be saved. He said, whereby we must be saved. If Christ died for you, you must
be saved. It's a divine necessity. It can't be anything but that. Acts chapter 17, verse 3, Paul
was preaching in Thessalonica, opening and alleging that Christ
must needs of suffered and rise from the dead. I love what our
Lord said in John chapter 10 verse 16 when he said, other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I, what? Must bring in. And they shall
hear my voice. And there will be one fold and
one shepherd. First Corinthians 15, 25 says
he must reign. He must reign. Don't you love it? He must reign.
He's reigning right now. He's in absolute control of everybody
and everything right now. He must reign. There's a divine
necessity in it because of who He is. Turn with me to Acts chapter
2 for a moment. I'm sure most of you are familiar
with the scripture. I'm getting ready to read, but look what
it says in verse 23. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. Now, he was delivered by the
determined counsel and foreknowledge of God. That's the only reason
he died. That's the only reason he was delivered. He wasn't a
victim in this thing. He was going to the cross according
to his will, according to the purpose of his heavenly father,
according to his determinate counsel and foreknowledge. But
that doesn't put anybody off the hook. He said, you have taken.
and with wicked hands have crucified and slain. Look at Acts chapter
4, verse 27. For the truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. Now isn't it wonderful that the
Lord determined this for His Son? You know why it's wonderful? Because that means He determined
the salvation of everybody His Son represented. He did this
in mercy, and in grace, and in love. Oh how thankful we are
for the divine determination. And this is not only true with
regard to the death of Christ, but everything else. None unto
God are all. his works from the beginning. I think of that passage of scripture
where the Lord says, there's not a sparrow that falls to the
ground without your heavenly father. Now he didn't say without
your heavenly father knowing it. Obviously he did know it,
but he said without your heavenly father. Something is insignificant
and would seem like it has no bearing on us. a sparrow over
in Eastern Europe, or somewhere farther away than that, falling
down to the ground and dying, it happened according to the
will of God. There's not a hair on your head
that is not numbered. Everything about you, God knows. Thou, Lord, hast searched me
and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting
and uprising, and are acquainted with all my ways, and everything
that happens to you is all according to God's will. Now somebody says,
there's a lot of implications about that. Well, we won't say. Still so. God reigns. And God rules. He is in control
of everything, and everything about our life has already been
determined and appointed by God. Somebody says this will lead
people to fatalism, and no it won't. No it won't. I mean, if
you want to do that, you're going to do it. You can take the truth
and hang yourself if you want to, but it won't make a child
of God lead to just an indifferent attitude about obedience, a fatalistic
attitude about life. But look in Acts chapter 17,
verse 26. And he hath made of one blood
all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth,
and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds
of their habitation." Now you are exactly where God determined
for you to be right now. The day of your death has already
been determined. No matter how much you practice
healthy habits, that day is not going to be changed. You're going
to die the day that God has determined for you to die. Everything about
you. Everything about me. It's all
in God's sovereign control. Turn with me to the book of Proverbs. Verse 1. The preparations of the heart
in man. the disposings or the inclinations. And the answer of the tongue,
the way you respond to something, is from the Lord. Proverbs 16,
9. A man's heart divides his way. And tomorrow you're going to
get up and you're going to be planning on what you're going to do and
how you're going to get through the day and what you're going
to get done. A man's heart diviseth his way, but the Lord directeth
his steps. Verse 33, the lot is cast into
the lap. And that's what people think
of as luck. The lot is cast into the lap. We don't have any power
over that, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Look in chapter 19, verse 21. There are many devices in a man's
heart. You know, I got all kinds of
plans and things that I would like to see done. There are many
devices in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord, that shall stand. Chapter 20, verse 24. Man's goings are of the Lord. How can he know his own way. The fact of the matter is we
don't. Look in chapter 21 verse 1. The king's heart is in the
hand of the Lord as the rivers of water he turneth it whether
so ever he will. Now God controls everything. Everything that happens happens
according to God's determinate counsel. Now here's the glorious
part of this. It's all glorious because it's
God doing it. He's so wise, so glorious, so powerful, so it's
all good. But here's what I find the most
glorious part of it. God has determined for his son
to save sinners. God has determined for His Son
to save sinners. What amazing love that God demonstrates
in purposing the cross. Christ is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. And this I know. There's no saving
knowledge of God apart from what took place on the cross. Through the cross, He says to
all who believe, behold, I have loved you with an everlasting love. God's always loved me. He's never
not loved me. He's always seen me in the Beloved. He's never seen me apart from
the Beloved. In Christ, He's never seen me
as guilty. In Christ, He's never seen me
as sinful. And in Christ is the way things
really are. I'm eternally justified. I'm eternally sanctified. I'm
eternally glorified. God said, I will by no means
clear the guilty. If he ever sees you as guilty,
he won't clear you. But all of God's people have
always been in the Lamb's flame from the foundation of the world.
Now, that gives me some confidence. It gives me some security. God
never began to love me. As a matter of fact, if He would
have had to begin to love me at some point, He could have
never loved me in the first place. The only way He could love me
and still be God is if He always loved me. Now, what you're saying will
lead people to not do anything. It will not! Is this going to
cause you to keep from calling on God for mercy, to keep from
looking to Christ? Of course it won't. Not if you
really believe. You're going to come to Christ
the same way you came every single day as a sinner needing his mercy.
This doesn't cause anybody to be indifferent and to be fatalistic. It really doesn't. And somebody
that says it does, they're not telling the truth. It doesn't
do me that way. It doesn't do any believer that way. God has
known all of his people eternally. And because of this, we can say
with David, my times, Psalm 31, my times are in thy hand. My times, everything about my
times are in thy hand. And beloved, this covers everything
in our lives. I think the greatest example
of this is Joseph. Joseph, 17 years old, his brothers
sold him as a slave, unbeknownst to his father. They hated his
guts. They sold him as a slave. And then they butchered a lamb,
put the blood on his coat of many colors. And you think about
how cruel this is. They come to their dad and say,
is this your boy's coat? We think it is. And how vicious
and cruel they were to do that to Jacob. Jacob said, I'm going
to go in sorrow to the grave. No doubt some evil beast has
torn Joseph to pieces. He's sold into slavery. While
he's there, the Lord prospers him. And then he's unjustly accused
by that woman who he stayed away from, but she said, the Hebrew
has come and mocked me, and he's thrown into prison through something
he didn't do. There he is, rotting in prison.
God brings him out again. He tells the dream that the Pharaoh
had, and he becomes the head of Israel to keep all the food
together and to make it to where they wouldn't starve over this
time. And during that time, his brothers
show up. What all would have went through
his mind? How wrong they had done him. But here's what he
says to them. Be not grieved nor angry with
yourselves that you sent me hither. It was not you. And that's strong
language, isn't it? It was not you, but it was God. God is the one who did this. As for you, you meant it for
evil. He didn't try to Patch it up. You meant it for evil. But God
meant it for good. And with regard to everything,
God meant it for good. You see, the Lord is the only
one who can do this. He can bring good out of evil.
And He does bring good out of evil. You and I can't do that.
But He can bring good out of evil. And that's what He always
does. And that's why we can say, and we know that all things work
together for good. Them that love God, to them who
are the call according to His purpose. Now I believe that,
don't you? I believe that. I can look at everything I've
done that I'm ashamed of and I've made a mess of and I've
just messed up everything. And I can say, really believing,
I meant it for evil, it's all my fault. But God meant it for
good. He had holy and wise purposes
in all He has done. And we believe that. Now go back
to our text in Luke 22. It was determined. Verse 22, And truly the son of
Man goeth. As it was determined, there's
no way it could be anything but that. It was determined but woe
unto the man by whom he is betrayed. Although it was determined that
Judas was going to do this, and there wasn't any way it wasn't
going to happen, woe unto him, the one who betrayed the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, Even if it was determined,
that did not take away his responsibility in this monstrous act. Woe unto
that man by whom it was determined that Judas was doing exactly
what he wanted to do. He wasn't forced. He was not
under compulsion. He was not acting against his
will. He was doing precisely what He wanted to do. And any
sin you or I commit, we can't say, well, God caused me to do
that. We're doing what we want to do. People do what they want
to do, don't they? Judas did what he wanted to do. He was acting freely. When Peter said, him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, he didn't
say, therefore, you all are off the hook. He said, him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you with wicked hands of crucified and slain. While it's
true that God's sovereignty rules over the free actions of men,
you do what you want to, and God is in absolute control of
it, and we don't need to understand that. I don't understand it.
I just believe it. I just believe it. I believe
it with all my heart. Don't feel any need to understand it. I
believe it. But though that is true, that
does not mean men are not completely responsible for their actions. God's sovereignty does not negate
man's responsibility. It was determined for the Son
of Man to go, but woe be unto that man by whom he goeth. And Judas is in hell. He's been there a long time and
he's going to spend eternity there for doing what he wanted
to do. Now somebody may think if God
has predestinated everything and we lack the ability to do
anything but what he determined for us to do, Well, how can he
hold us responsible for what he has actually determined for
us to do? How can we be held responsible
when we lack the ability to keep from doing what he has determined
for us to do? Well, what if a man drank until
he was drunken and got in a car and he was unable to drive straight,
and he ran over a child and killed that child. That's happened so
many times. Oh, what a horrible thing. And that man is brought before
the judge. What would the judge say if that man says to him,
God determined for me to do this? Furthermore, I lacked the ability
to drive right. I was drunk. I was totally intoxicated. There's no way I could drive
right. Therefore, I should not be held responsible for the death
of this child. What's the judge going to say?
Lock him up and throw away the key. That's what the judge would
say. Now, we can never look at God's
sovereignty and say, I should not be held responsible. What
we're doing when we do that is we're sitting as God's judge. And we're saying, I don't believe
that's fair. And since when do you or I have
the moral authority or ability to sit in judgment of what God
does and say, I believe that's fair or I don't believe that's
fair? We don't have the right to do that. Shall not the judge
of the earth do right? We believe that, don't we? Whatever
He does is right. And there's another thing, I
don't understand how to bring it all together, but I don't
need to. He does, and I can rest in that. God is God, and He's
absolutely in control of everybody. And you know, it's only when
I take full responsibility for my sin that I is for mercy. As long as your sin is not your
fault in some way. As long as you're sinning, it's
because God sovereignly lets you do that. Well, it's His fault. It's His fault. It's only when
your sin is all your fault. You can't blame anyone but yourself. Only when your personal sin is
all your fault will you cry for mercy. If it's all your fault, you'll
ask God for mercy. And you know what else? He'll
give you mercy. There's never been anyone who
asked for mercy that God turned down. Somebody thinks, well,
I asked for mercy. He didn't give it to me. You
didn't ask for mercy then. You were trying to bargain with God.
You were trying to say, if you do this, I'll do that. Well,
yeah, he'll turn you down on that. But there's never been
anyone who truly asked for mercy. My sin is all my fault. Have mercy on me for Christ's
sake. There's never been anyone who
did that. But he turned away. If you ask God for mercy, if
you come into his presence and say, all my sin is all my fault,
would you please have mercy on me? Would you forgive me of my
sins and blot them out for Christ's sake? You know what? He'll forgive
them. and he'll blot them out for Christ's
sake. Now, Psalm 110.3. Would you turn
with me there? Psalm 110.3. You know something I love about
preaching? I love just saying what God's Word says and not
feeling the need to explain it away not feeling a need to apologize
for it. Here it is! You don't like it? That's your problem. That's your
problem. I'm not trying to talk anybody
into anything. I'm telling the truth. God is
absolutely sovereign and men are completely responsible. And
God is absolutely sovereign over the completely free, unforced
actions of men. I'm so thankful to the Lord this
way. Psalm 110. Verse three, thy people, thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. I can't make anybody willing. I can't make myself willing.
You know that I can't make myself willing. If I had complete control
over my will, I'd never sin again. I don't even have control over
anything. But thy people, here's what God can do that no human
being can do. God can make and does make his
people willing. Willing. In the day of his power. It's a mighty act of his power,
but he makes his people willing. You know what? I am willing. to be saved on his terms in a
way where he gives all the glory and none goes to me. And I want
it that way. That's my will. That's my will. You know, we sing that song,
take my life and let it be one of the lines in a different version. It's the same. It says, take
my will and make it thine. It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is thine own.
It shall be thy royal throne. Now God makes his people willing. Willing. That's something only
God can do. He's able to make us willing.
You know the scripture says work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling for it's God that worketh in you. both to will
and to do His good pleasure. Now, I don't look at myself as
a helpless pawn in God's hand, although I am. You are too. But I don't look at it in such
an impersonal way. I say, Lord, work in me both
to will and to do. thy good pleasure. And Lord,
if you don't do it, it won't happen. So I'm asking for you
to work in me both the will and to do thy good pleasure. Now
I'm thankful for divine determination. It was determined by God to send
Christ and everything else is determined by God. Everything,
everything, everything that you do tonight before you go to bed,
it'll be determined by God. The dreams you have, you won't
even remember when you wake up. It's all determined by God according
to His purpose. When you get up in the morning
and do whatever it is you're going to do, it's all determined
by God. Anything short of that, anything
less than that, would not be God. But here's what I so like
about this. That means my salvation is completely
dependent upon the Lord. It's not on me. I sure am thankful it's not,
aren't you? Lord, work in me both the will
and to do thy good pleasure. Make me willing in the day of
thy power and how thankful I am that my salvation, my complete
salvation was accomplished before the foundation of the world.
Hebrews 43 says the works were finished. They were finished
from the foundation of the world. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that it
was determined that you would go and be the sinner savior.
How we thank you that your father determined that he would send
you to do it. How we thank you that you did
it. How we thank you that our salvation is utterly and completely
in what you do. Lord, how amazed we are that
we're eternally united to Thy blessed Son. How thankful we
are for the gift of faith that causes us to rest only in Him. And Lord, bless Your Word. Lord,
we're so thankful we can go into this coming week fearful of our
sin, asking to be kept from evil, asking to not be led into temptation,
But Lord, we also go with the joyous confidence that your will
is always done and that all things work together for good to them
that love you, to them who are called according to your purpose.
Lord, bless this word for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. What do you got, Dwayne?