Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number two in the hardback teminal, number
two. And let's all stand together. Excelling joy of heaven to earth
compound Fix in us thy humble dwelling All thy faithful mercies
crown Visit us with thy salvation Enter
every trembling heart O free Thy loving Spirit into
every troubled breast. Let us all in Thee inherit, let
us find that second rest. Take away our bent to sitting,
Alpha and Omega be, End of faith as its beginning, Set our hearts
at liberty. Come, Almighty, Let us all thy
life receive. Suddenly return, and never, nevermore
thy temples leave. Pray and praise thee without
ceasing, your being thy perfect love. Finish then Thy new creation,
pure and spotless let us be. Let us see Thy great salvation,
perfectly restored in Thee. Changed from glory Please be seated. Good evening. We're going to read from the
book of Revelation for our called to worship tonight, Revelation
chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12. Jeff's mom and dad are moving
here from Seattle and Jeff's dad is here with us tonight.
Peter, we're glad to have you here and glad you guys are coming
to Florida. As you know, The Lord has written the book
of Revelation in a lot of symbolic language. And so we'll begin
reading in verse 12. And I heard a loud voice saying
in heaven, now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom
of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of the
brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day
and night. If you look back at the previous
verses, you see that the accuser of the brethren is Satan himself. In verse 11, and they overcame
him by the blood of the lamb. Not by their strength, not by
their, commitment or determination or will by the blood of the Lamb. That's how we overcome the accuser
of the brethren and by the word of their testimony. And they
love not their lives unto the death. Therefore, rejoice, ye
heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitors of
the earth and of the sea. For the devil has come down unto
you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a
short time. The Lord Jesus Christ destroyed
the works of the devil on Calvary's cross, and his days are numbered. He'll be chained and cast into
a lake of fire. In the meantime, we have to contend
with him as our accuser. Look at this next verse. And when the dragon saw that
he was cast onto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought
forth the man-child. Now that's the church. And Satan's
hatred for Christ is being taken out now against the bride of
Christ, the woman that brought Christ into the world. And to
the woman were given two great wings of a great eagle that she
might fly into the wilderness into her place where she is nourished
for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent. These two great wings is the
Spirit of God and the Word of God. The Spirit of God and the
Word of God. It's also referred to as the
two witnesses in in the book of Revelation and these are the
means that the Lord has given his bride to defeat the accuser
of the brethren. You'll see that the time, times
and half a times, that's three and a half years. And if you
look back with me to verse six in the same chapter, and the
woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared
of God that they should feed her there 1,203 score days. So 1,302 score days is the same
as three and a half years. And this is symbolic language
that's being used to define the entire period of time between
the first and second coming of Christ. So the church, the bride
of Christ, the woman that brought Christ into the world is now in the world contending
with this accuser who has already been defeated. And the serpent cast out of his
mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause
her to be carried away of the flood. These are the accusations
and the lies of the devil. And the earth helped the woman,
and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which
the dragon cast out of his mouth. And here's the providence of
God defeating these accusations that come against us. And the dragon was wroth with
the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,
which keep the commandments of God. What is the commandment
of God? To believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, who he is and
what he's accomplished. He is our strength and, uh, and
our defender. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we thank you for the hope that you give us by
the revelation made of Christ in your word. We thank you for
the promise of your Holy Spirit that gives power and understanding
and faith to see Christ and to. To rest in him and to believe
upon him. We ask, Lord, that in our struggles
with sin and with Satan and with this world, that tonight you
would open your word, that you would open our hearts, that you
would bless the message of your gospel by the power of your spirit. and that you would give us victory
in Christ. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Let's stand together again, number
226 from the hardback temple, 226. I am not skilled to understand
what God hath willed, what God hath planned. I take him at his word indeed. Christ died for sinners, this
I read. For in my heart I find a need
of him too. That he should leave his place
on high, And come for sin and all men to die. You counted strange,
so what's did I, Before I knew thy name? And all that he fulfilled may
see, the travail of his soul in me, and with his word contented
me, as I with mine. Please be seated. This world
in which we live truly is a wilderness. It's likened to the wilderness of Sinai that
the children of Israel were in for 40 years. 40 in the Bible
is a generation. And so here we are. But I love
that passage we read in Revelation chapter 12. The Lord has prepared
a place in the wilderness where, like the children of Israel,
we can feed on the bread of life, that manna that comes down from
heaven, and we can drink from the water that comes from the
rock. This is the place that he's prepared for us to be able
to see him and to read of him and
to believe on him and to rejoice in him and to worship him. I
pray that'll be our experience tonight. Will you open your Bibles
back with me again to 1 Peter chapter 2? I was talking to a man yesterday
and he comes from a religious tradition where they have series
of sermons that they preach and so you know, they'll have a series
on, you know, how to be a good husband and how to be a wife
and how to be successful or something like that. And so he asked me,
he said, would you preach series? And I said, well, yeah, I sort
of do. I said, I started a series about 27 years ago and
we're stuck on the same series." And he said, really? I said, yeah, I preach verse by
verse through the Bible and we preach Christ and Him crucified.
And that's the message. I hope the Lord will be pleased
tonight by his word and by his spirit, these two wings that
he's given to his bride who is in the wilderness to reveal himself
to us again. We'll back up just a few verses
to where we were last Wednesday night in 1 Peter chapter 2 to
verse 7, unto you therefore which believe He is precious. Now the Holy Spirit is contrasting
the value that Christ has in the hearts of God's people to
the devalue that he has in the world. And so he says to you,
which believe he's precious." That word precious, as we saw,
means that he's the pearl of great price, he's everything
to the child of God, he's of such great value that the very
salvation of their immortal soul is dependent on him and by him. How much more precious, what
more, what end do we have that's more valuable than him? Nothing. And to you which believe,
he's precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
and you know that word means to be indifferent, the stone
which the builders disallow, the same has become the head
of the corner. This word disallowed means that
they put him to the test and he didn't pass their test. What test would men put Christ
to that would cause them to disallow him, to reject him? Well, if
I believe on him, is he going to allow me to remain my to keep
my power, my will, my works, my pride, my dignity? Is he going to allow me to keep
those things? And if Christ is preached, then
the answer to those questions is clearly no. No, he's God. And so, The stone which the builders
disallowed is the same stone that the Pharisees said, we will
not have that man reign over us. We're not interested in him. We listened to what he had to
say, we put him to the test, and we're not interested. So you see the contrast here.
Those to whom he is precious, versus those to whom they are
indifferent and though they've heard of him and put him to the
test, they've disallowed him, they've rejected him. The same
God has made to be the head of the corner. This stone which
the builders said, we're not interested in him, God made him
to be the head of the corner. And that's what the Lord Jesus
meant when he said, upon this rock, I will build my church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I mentioned
already that rock that followed the children of Israel through
the wilderness, from which came life-sustaining water, the rock
that Moses smote. Moses being a picture of the
law and smiting that rock, which is what happened on Calvary's
cross when the law of God smote Christ and out of his side came
blood and water. And this sanctifying, cleansing
water and this justifying blood that covers our sin is all pictured
in Christ. God has made this stone, which
the world is not interested in, He's made him to be the head
of the corner. The entire church and all of
God's people rest their hope on him. Verse 8, and a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word
being disobedient. And that word disobedient means
they don't believe. They just don't believe God's
word. And when God speaks with clarity
and truth, they will find a way to make it mean something that
it doesn't mean. The Bible's very simple. The
Bible's very clear. God's Word is not complicated. It's not convoluted. It's not
confusing. But a man who will not bow to
God's Word will rest it to their own destruction, they'll twist
it and make it to mean something that it doesn't mean. And so
that's what our Lord's saying, he's contrasting the believer
to the unbeliever. And notice the last phrase in
verse 8, where unto also they were appointed. They were appointed to this end,
to this destruction. I was talking to another man this
past week who belonged to a free will Baptist church, and he's
from India. And we had a wonderful conversation. I'm so hopeful that he's going
to come as a friend of Gilbert's. that we spent several hours with
last Saturday. And he wanted to know, he said,
well, if what you're saying is true, India has over a billion
people who've never heard the gospel. Why did God create them? And here, God says they were appointed. They were ordained, they were
purposed of God to this destruction. Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight. This is one of those passages
of scripture that men will rest to their own destruction. They
will not believe it. This is one of those hard sayings
when the Lord When the Lord declared himself
to be sovereign in salvation, the men who were listening to
him said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it? And they went
away from him. He made it clear. that he was sovereign in salvation,
and that to believe on him was to lose their power, lose their
will, lose their ability, gift him all the glory for salvation,
and it was so simple and clear, but they wouldn't have it. And
so, my friend from India, I took him to this passage of scripture.
In Romans chapter 9, verse 21, hath not the potter, and you
know that's God, power over the clay, and that's humanity, of
the same lump, that's all of man, to make one vessel unto
honor and another unto dishonor? Does not the potter have the
sovereign right over the clay to fashion it however he wills? And then he tells us this. What
if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known,
endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for
destruction? These billions of people, God
is telling us. Now I know this is a hard say
for the unbeliever. This goes against everything
they think is right and everything they think is true, but here's
what God says, and it means what it says. It's very clear, isn't
it? These are vessels that God has made, that's what the word
fitted means, to destroy. These are fashioned from the
same lump of clay. This is exactly what we're reading
in 1 Peter chapter 2. They twisted the word of God. They would not bow to it. And
to this end, they were appointed. They were appointed by God to
this end. What would be the purpose of
that? Well, the next verse tells us that he might make known the
riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared
unto glory." Oh, believer, you know that a
man can receive nothing except it be given to him from heaven.
You know who made you to differ, that what you have was given
to you by God. You know it wasn't of your doing
or of your work or of your will. It was of God's mercy. And when
you look at the masses of humanity who have never heard or never
believed the gospel, what does that do to your heart? What does
that do? Does that make you proud? Does
that make you boastful? No, no, not at all. It makes you say, oh, but for
the grace of God, there go I. Lord, why me? Why would you choose
me? Why would you have mercy upon
me? You see, the world looks at this truth and at what God
has said, and they accuse God of wrongdoing. They say, well,
that's not fair. And the child of God bows to what God has said. And we say, I don't want fair. I need mercy. I need grace. And if God doesn't choose me,
and if he doesn't show mercy upon me according to his own
sovereign will and purpose, I'll perish just like the rest of
the world. I have no hope outside of the
mercy of God. And so these vessels fitted for
destruction. Let's read this verse again.
that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels
of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory even us whom he hath
called not of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles." God has a people in every land,
in every tribe, in every nation and we met some brethren from
India this past week, and talked to somebody in Africa recently,
and you know, this is the way God works. He has mercy upon
whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. And
contrary to what those who would accuse God think, Contrary to
the thought that this is a doctrine of self-righteousness and pride,
no, no, no, it's just the opposite. It's just the opposite. Lord,
I'm just as sinful as the next man and I've got nothing to be
proud of and nothing to take glory in. Lord, my salvation
is completely dependent upon you. Go back with me to our text. I want us to concentrate the
rest of our time on verse nine tonight. And when I first started preparing
this message, I thought I would preach the whole verse in one
message. And each one of these four points
became so big and so broad and so glorious that I've decided,
if the Lord's pleased, to try to make this the next four messages
on Wednesday night. So tonight we're just going to
look at the very first thing. This is what God says about his
church, whom he has sent into the wilderness to be tried by
Satan, to whom he has given the two great wings as of an eagle,
the spirit of God and the word of God, to lead them to Christ
and to help them to find their comfort and their hope in Christ
and in Christ alone. And so again, he shows us the
contrast. Look what he says, but you, but
you, but you, are a chosen generation. We didn't have anything to do
with that. But you are a royal priesthood. We didn't have anything
to do with that. But you are a holy nation. We didn't have anything to do
with that. But you are a peculiar, and that word means purchased,
people. We didn't have anything to do
with that. that you should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. He gets all the praise, he gets
all the glory. So tonight we're going to look
for the next few minutes on what the Lord says here about his
church being A chosen generation. A chosen generation. And I so
hope that this isn't just a doctrinal dissertation on election. We don't hang the hopes of our
salvation on election. Predestination, we don't hang
the hopes of our salvation on that. We hang the hopes of our
salvation on a God who is sovereign to choose whomsoever he wills. A God who is sovereign to predestinate
and to elect a people according to his own will and purpose. There's no gospel apart from
election and predestination. One of the questions, I mentioned
two men that I talked to, one yesterday, one last Saturday,
and they both came from a religious background and after we talked
for a while, they both had the same conclusion. They said, well,
if what you're saying is true, how do I present the gospel?
How do we invite people to come to Christ? You know, they're
used to getting someone to pray a prayer, make a decision, walk
an aisle, you know, show some outward evident. They give men
something to do in order to give them an experience that they
can hang their hopes on. And they said, and they both
said the same thing. They both said, well, how do
you present the gospel? How do you tell someone? What do you do after you? I said,
you just tell them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, well, how do you know if they have? I said, well, two problems with
that question. Number one, I have to struggle enough with whether
or not I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ enough to know whether
anybody else has. Number two, you'll know. Just tell them to believe on
Christ. And if God gives them the faith to believe on Christ,
They won't be able to leave. They'll want to hear more about
their Savior. And they'll have a desire given to them by the
Spirit of God to worship God. You don't have to give them an
experience. You don't have to give them a prayer to pray. You
don't have to give them an aisle to walk. You don't have to, you
know, we go out of our way not to give men something to do. Salvation is a work of grace
in the heart done by the Spirit of God through faith in Christ.
And the evidence of that, we'll leave that up to the Lord. We're
not interested in trying to justify ourselves. One of them was a minister in
a megachurch. Well, they both went to very, very large churches.
One of them, thousands of people. Another one, I think he said
he had about 1,500 people. So, you know, they're counting
nickels and noses in order to figure out whether or not, you
know, they've had success. And they would look at what we're
doing here tonight and say, well, God can't be in what you're doing. Look at the sparse number of
people that you have. The Lord's not a part of that.
Oh, the Lord tells us, don't despise the day of small things. God does a work of grace. He
doesn't have to do it in a flamboyant way that appeals to the flesh
of man. He does it by His Spirit, doesn't
He? In the heart. This matter of election, there's
no gospel without it. If you remove God being the one
who does the choosing, which I've already showed you in several
places in scripture, that God is sovereign and he has mercy
upon whom he will have mercy. He's the potter. He has the sovereign
right to make from the lump of clay one vessel of honor, one
of dishonor. No man can stay his hand. No
man can say unto him, what doest thou? He's God. And faith bows
to him as God, doesn't it? And so this matter of election
is not for the purpose of educating us in a doctrine, it's a matter
of exalting Christ. The doctrine of election gives
all the glory of salvation to God. The second thing that this
matter of election does, this truth of election does, is it
humbles man. It puts us in our place so that
we become dependent upon Him and we have nothing to boast
in, nothing to be proud of, nothing we've done. It shows that salvation
is all of grace. It's all of grace. You know, it's been said, you
can't preach Christ high enough. And you can't preach man low
enough and you can't preach grace free enough. And that is so true. And that's what election does.
Otherwise you end up with, you know, with man making the choice.
And that's the message of salvation that's in the world. The message
of salvation that's in the world is God's voting for you. He wants
you to be saved. He loves you, and he's provided
you an opportunity to be saved. And I know that the devil's voting
against you, but you get to break the tie. Your will and your,
you know, it's your decision. That's the only other option
you have if you don't have a sovereign God who has elected a people. You are a chosen generation. And fourthly, this glorious truth
of who our God is in sovereignly electing a people tells us, tells
us what God thinks about us. You know, I've said this recently
and I know it's true. Each one of us are three different
people. We are the person we believe
ourselves to be and think ourselves to be. We are the person that
other people see us to be. And I thought a little bit more
about that. I think the truth is that we might
have more detailed information about our lives, but it almost
appears to me that other people know me better than I know myself.
You ever had that experience? I mean, you're talking to somebody
and you think, boy, you don't know yourself very well. If that's
what you believe about yourself, you don't know yourself very
well. And you had that experience enough times and then you finally
come to the conclusion, well, if that's true of everybody else,
I suppose it's true of me too. Other people know me better than
I know myself. Truth is, it's irrelevant what
you think about yourself or what other people think about you.
The only thing that matters is what God thinks because that's
who we are. That's who we really are. Turn
with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Now Paul was being held in contempt
by some of the people at Corinth who were discounting him as a,
you know, as a, at best, a podunk preacher, but probably just a
false prophet, and they'd come in with their Judaizer works
gospel, and they had influenced some of the people to have a
low opinion of the Apostle Paul. And so here's what Paul says
in response to that in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, look at verse 3. But with me, it is a very small
thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yea, I judge not my own self. You know, we spend all our lives
worrying about, you know, who we are, trying to figure ourselves
out. and worried about what other people think about us, and the
Lord's saying right here, it ought to be a very small thing,
what other people think about us, and it ought to be a very
small thing about what you think about yourself. It doesn't matter. For I know nothing by myself,
verse four, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judges
me is the Lord. The only thing I'm concerned
about is what his judgment of me is. That's the only thing
that matters. What does God think? What does
God say? Because when everything is, you
know, all the smoke clears and all the dust settles, that's
the only thing that's gonna matter. What does God say about me? And here's what he says, brethren.
You that believe the gospel, you've been chosen. You've been
chosen to believe the gospel. When did God choose us? Well, the scripture says in Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 4, he hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, before time ever began, before there were angels,
before there were planets, before there was the earth, before there
was a devil, before there was anything. And this must be so. If God is God, then he must be
immutable. He didn't just, he didn't decide
one day that he was gonna choose a people. God's never learned
anything. God's never had a new thought.
God's never had a question about anything. He is the self-existent,
eternal, glorious I am and everything he is has always been. It hasn't
changed. It can't change, he's God. So
when did he choose a people? Well, he's always had a chosen
people. And here the Lord tells us before
the foundations of the world, in eternity past, God has always
had a people in his heart. Second Thessalonians chapter
two, verse 13 says, God hath from the beginning chosen you
unto salvation. From the beginning. It's his language that the Lord
uses to condescend to our understanding. Before the foundation, as soon
as you use the word before, you're talking about time. As soon as
you use the word beginning, you're talking about time. God knows
that we're incapable of comprehending the existence of something that
has no beginning, has no time. It's eternal. self-existent,
it was no beginning. How can you get your, you can't
get your mind around that. We believe it, we believe it
because God's declared it and that's who our God is. It's like
everything else we believe, we don't understand it but we believe
it and so the Lord is condescending with language here that He had
chosen from the beginning you unto salvation. Romans 9, verse
11, the children being not yet born, Jacob and Esau, neither
having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according
to election might stand. So God didn't wait to find out
how you were gonna live your life before he chose you. before
they were born, before they had done anything good or evil. God
had a purpose in election and that purpose will stand. It will
stand. A chosen generation. Oh, this
exalts our God. It humbles us. It tells us that
our salvation is all of grace and it's all of the Lord. We
didn't make any contribution to it. And it began in eternity
past. It's the only way that salvation
can be. Second question I want to answer
is, who exactly in the Godhead did the electing? We worship a triune God. Three persons, one God. God the
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. All three distinct
persons and yet all three possess the eternal attributes of deity. They're all three immutable,
they're all three sovereign, they're all three holy, they're
all three eternal. Everything that's true
about one is true about the other two. But the scriptures make
it clear that it was God the Father who did the choosing. It was God the Father that elected
a people. It was God the Father that decided
to provide for his son, a bride. 1 Peter 1, verse 2, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God. Talking with our friends from
India, it's quite educational to hear about arranged marriages. And it was so foreign to us and
our customs, but the marriages in India are arranged by the
parents and the grandparents. And in talking to these men,
by the way, they have over 90 percent success rate in marriage
in India. And Gilbert was telling me that
arranged marriages are becoming less and less, but as they go
down, the divorce rate goes up. And I thought, well, you know,
I'm not advocating or suggesting that we have arranged marriages,
but here we have an arranged marriage that will never end
in divorce. Excuse me. I have something right there
in my throat. A marriage made in heaven that
will never end in divorce. God chose a bride for his son. God did the electing. Listen
to what our Lord said in John chapter 17. He said, Father,
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou hast given
me. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them to me. Turn with me to that. Turn with
me to that passage, John chapter 17. Look at, I just quoted verse
two in John chapter 17. Look down with me at verse six.
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me
out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. Go back with me to verse
two. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he, the son, should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. It was the father. Look at verse, look at verse
nine. I pray for them. I pray not for the world. Well,
that's a hard one for, for men to, to believe. We believe it. The Lord Jesus Christ is saying,
I'm not praying for the masses of humanity. If he prayed for
them, they'd all be saved. He says clearly right here, I'm
not praying for the world, but I am praying for them which thou
gavest me out of the world. God the Father did the choosing.
Look at verse 11, the latter part of verse 11. Father, keep
through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that
they may be one. as we are one. Look at verse
24. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold
my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world. Our Lord's so clear here, isn't
he? It's the father that did the electing. He chose a bride. He gave them to his son. And
the Lord Jesus Christ, in his high priestly prayer, is praying
for those whom the Father had given him. 1 John 3, verse 1,
behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us
that we should be called the sons of God. My next question, so when were
we chosen? in eternity past, who did the
choosing? God the father. By whom? I'm sorry, how did the
father choose his people? Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
one. Ephesians chapter one. How did the father choose his
people? Verse 3 of Ephesians chapter
1. 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 as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ, to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. How did he choose us? He chose
us in Christ. God the Father could have nothing
to do with any of us unless he put us in Christ. We've always
been in him. We're chosen, elected, predestinated
in Christ, justified in Christ. Our righteousness is in Christ.
It's all in Christ. Our holiness is in Christ. This is the this is the the the
one in whom the father had to place us in order to in order
to love us and justify us and redeem us. There is no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. We are made perfect in Christ.
We are to be we must be found in Christ. So how did God choose
a people? He put them in Christ, in Christ. All our salvation is dependent
upon Him. Why? Two reasons to that question. Number one, Because in putting
us in Christ, the scripture makes it clear that he loved his chosen
generation, his elect people, in the same way in which he loves
his son. No difference. No difference. I've loved you, Jeremiah said
in Jeremiah 31, with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn thee. God has a perfect love and his
love is for his son and for all those who are in his son. So
God took these chosen people and he put them in Christ and
he loved them in Christ. Jacob I have loved, Esau I have
hated. Romans chapter eight, all that
he did for no. And that word for no means loved. It doesn't mean that he had cognitive
knowledge of who he chose, he loved them. Adam knew his wife
and she conceived. This word know is a picture of
God's intimate love for his church. and whom that he did foreknow,
he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, and
all that he did predestinate, he called, and all that he called,
he justified, and all that he justified, he glorified. What
a glorious God. Salvation's of the Lord. It's
of the Lord. He's done it all from beginning
to end. You still have your Bibles open
to Ephesians 1. I want to try to... The second reason why he did
it was to fulfill his purpose. As you know, no place in the
Bible is the word plan used. You hear people talk about God's
plan of salvation. as if he's got this roadmap and
he's, you know, he's got a plan and if it doesn't work out, he'll
go to plan B, but he's got a plan. No, the word plan is nowhere
to be found in the word of God. Our God is a God of purpose.
He hath done whatsoever he wills with the armies of heaven and
all the inhabitants of the earth. No man can stay his hand. No
man can say unto him, what doest thou? Look here in Ephesians
chapter one. Verse six, to the praise of the
glory of his grace. Look at the end of verse five,
having predestinated us unto 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, according to the good
pleasure of his will. That's why he did it. Look at verse nine, having made
known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good
pleasure, which he had purposed in himself. He's purposed in
himself. You know, when you and I make
decisions, we have to, we have to evaluate what the best options
are, you know, which is the best way to go to get something done,
or we have to evaluate whether it's right or wrong. And so we
make our choices based on the process of evaluating these things. God doesn't do that. When God acts, it's right because
he acted on it. It's the only purpose and the
only choice because he did it. He doesn't have to decide what's
the best option or the best plan or the best choice or what's
right and what's wrong. He just acts according to his
will. And the fact that he acts that
way makes it right and it makes it perfect. Oh, what a God. What a God. You are a chosen
generation. And go back with me in closing
to our text. In 1 Peter chapter two, the last part of verse nine,
you are chosen generation. That you should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. And we end where we began. Who
maketh thee to differ? What do you have that you did
not receive? Who gets all the credit and all
the glory and all the praise for your salvation? You? Do you have anything to do with
it? No. He did it all. He did it all
by himself. He did it perfect. It starts
with a chosen generation. And Lord willing, we'll look
at those other things that the Lord says about us, what we are
in his sight, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people. That's how God sees us. And so
that's how we are. Amen? Tom? Number nine in the spiral hymnal.
Let's stand together, number nine. It is not that I did choose thee,
O Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee, hast thou not chosen me? A vow from the Sith that stained
me has cleansed and set me free. A whole vow has ordained me that
I should live to thee. Your love had no beginning. No cause in me was bound. ? That you should choose to save
me ? ? A sinner strongly bound ? ? But grace not earned nor
sought for ? ? Was purpose for my soul ? ? For me salvation
brought ? ? For Christ paid the price ? The Sovereign Mercy called me
and taught my opening rhyme. The World Panel sent from me
to heavenly glories mine. My heart holds not before Thee,
nor Thy rich grace I thirst. This knowing if I love thee,
thou must have love for me.