The Penningtons, they've gone
back north for a few weeks, so Lord willing we'll see them in
about three weeks, but they're going to be out for a while, so no piano
for a while. Let's open tonight's service with hymn number 50.
We use this tune, but I don't know if we've ever sung this
hymn before, so let's all stand together. Number 50 from your
hardbacked hymn, No Fairest Lord Jesus. Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of
all nature, O Thou of God and man the Son. Thee will I cherish, Thee will
I honor, Thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown. Fair are the meadows, fairer
still the woodland, grown in blooming garb of spring. Jesus is fairer Jesus is purer,
who makes the woeful heart to sing. Fair is the sunshine, fairer
still the moonlight, and all the twinkling starry holes. Jesus shines brighter, Jesus
shines purer than all the angels heaven can boast. Beautiful Savior, Lord of the
nations, Son of God and Son of Man. Please be seated. Let's open our Bibles to Psalm
16 for our scripture reading tonight. Psalm 16. There's a word here I want to
draw your attention to. It's in verse 8. The last word
in verse 8. It's translated moved in our
text, but it's the word shaken. Shaken. Verse 1. Preserve me, O God,
for in Thee Do I put my trust? Now you need to know that Peter
quoted from Psalm 16 when he preached in Acts chapter 2 on
the day of Pentecost and referred back to the Lord Jesus Christ
in this Psalm. So this is all about him. It's
all about him. Preserve me, O God, for in thee
do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord, thou art my Lord. My goodness extendeth not to
thee. Now what that means is that,
and the next verse really interprets that verse, what that means is
that the father was not dependent upon what the Lord did for anything
for himself. What the Lord did was for his
people. He did. His righteousness didn't
add to the righteousness of the father. And so he says, my goodness
extended not to thee, but to the saints that are in the earth
and to the excellent in whom is all my delight. Their sorrows
shall be multiplied that hasten after another God, their drink
offerings of blood will I not offer nor take up their names
into my lips. The Lord is my portion, of mine
inheritance, and of my cup, thou maintainest my lot. The lines
are fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly
heritage. Now he's talking about his church,
those, his bride, the ones that he's laying down his life for.
I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel, my reigns also
instruct me in the night season. I have set the Lord always before
me. Because He is at my right hand,
I shall not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad,
and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.
Thou wilt show me the path of life, and in Thy presence is
fullness of joy, and at Thy right hand there are pleasures for
evermore." Pray the Lord will bless that
reading to our hearts and help us to see Tonight, those things
which cannot be shaken, those things which are eternal, that's
what we're going to be looking at and thinking about tonight.
Mary's husband Virgil had a heart attack today and over in Sarasota,
most of you have met him at some time. They put a stent in and
he's recovering in the hospital. So I assured her that we would
pray for him and for her and Jean also. So let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we're comforted and thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ cannot
be moved. He cannot be shaken. We pray
that you would enable us tonight to set our feet on him as our
rock. Lord, we know that in this temporal
world, Everything else moves. Everything else changes. Everything
is shaken. Lord, that you would settle our
souls even as the Lord Jesus Christ's soul was settled in
putting our hope in thee. We pray for Virgil. We ask, Lord,
that you would speak to him. We pray that you would place
your hand of healing on him. We ask especially Lord that you'd
be pleased to save his soul. Pray for Jean, for Mary, for
our brethren over in Sarasota, Lord, that you would, you would
continue to bless them with our presence for we ask it in Christ's
name. Amen. Let's all stand together again
and we'll sing hymn number one in the Hymns of Grace handout,
the little blue handout that's in your pews. Number one. Lord, we come before Thee now
At Thy feet we humbly bow O do not our suit disdain Shall we
seek Thee, Lord, in vain? Lord, on Thee our souls depend,
In compassion now descend. Fill our hearts with Thy rich
grace, Tune our lips to sing Thy praise. in thine own appointed way. Now we seek thee, here we stay. Lord, we know not how to go till
a blessing thou bestow. Send the message from thy word
that may joy and peace afford. Let thy spirit now impart Christ's
salvation to each heart. Please be seated. A couple of passages of Scripture
I want us to look at by way of introduction tonight in thinking
about eternal life. Eternal life. If you'll turn
with me in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter
4. We just read in Psalm 16 that
there are things that cannot be moved. things that cannot
be shaken. Everything else in this world,
every created thing at one time or another is going to be shaken. It's going to be tore down. Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my word shall never pass away. I hope that the Holy Spirit will
enable you and enable me tonight to set our affections on things
above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, and
that we will find our hope and our comfort in that which is
eternal. I understand how distracted we
are by the temporal. But here's what God says. Look
at 2 Corinthians 4, verse 17, for our light affliction. Now that's what God calls the
troubles that you and I face in this world. He calls it light
affliction. You say, well, it doesn't seem
light. It doesn't seem light. Well, that's what God says it
is. He says it's light affliction, which is but for a moment. worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." So
these experiences that the Lord has ordained for us to go through
in this life are for the purpose of causing us to set our affections
on those things which are eternal. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal." The natural man can only see the things that
are temporal. And he's so controlled by the
temporal things of life. And what the Lord's saying to
us here is that faith looks beyond the temporal and hangs its hope
on that which cannot be shaken, that which cannot be changed,
that which is eternal. Now turn with me, if you will,
to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Verse 25, see that you refuse
not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused
him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. He's talking about
those Old Testament Israelites that heard the voice of God.
and they didn't believe it. And now the Lord has spoken by
His Spirit through His Word to the hearts of His people, and
He's admonishing us to hear what He has said. For His Word is
life. Look at verse 26. Whose voice
then shook the earth? But now He hath promised, saying,
Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those
things that are shaken as of things that are made, that those
things which cannot be shaken may remain." So, the Lord's going to, in His
mercy, in His love for His children, He's going to shake those things
in their lives which are temporal. He's going to show them the instability
of them. He's going to show them the insignificance
of them. He said that these light afflictions,
which are but for a season, have been given to you in order that
you might understand the greater eternal weight of glory. Oh Lord,
would you do that for me? Would you cause me to set my
affections on things above? Would you enable me to distinguish
the difference between that which is eternal and that which is
temporal? If he does, we'll have some liberty
in the things that would otherwise cause us great conflict. He'll give us some liberty. Now,
we just read in Hebrews chapter 12 that everything that is made
will be shaken. In other words, it's going to
be tore down. Heaven and earth will pass away.
Everything that God has made, these bodies that we live in,
are going to die and decay. This world that we live on is
one day going to be destroyed. It's going to be burned up. And
when the scripture says heaven and earth will pass away, he's
not talking about the third heaven. That's the eternal heaven. That's
where we're going to be with the Lord. He's talking about
the heaven that we observe with our eyes when we look out into
space. That's the heaven he's talking
about. And he says that's going to pass away. It's all going
to pass away. Everything's going to change.
Everything's going to be consumed. But there is one thing that can
never pass away, as we just read about it in Psalm 16. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. He cannot be moved. and all that
he has secured for his people is eternal. Now we're going to
be looking tonight at the subject of eternal life, but I'm thinking
about trying to bring a series of messages on what God calls
eternal. You just get out your concordance
and look up the word eternal and see what God calls eternal.
Not only does He call the life that we have in Christ eternal,
He calls the judgment of the fire of hell eternal. He calls
it eternal fire. He calls His glory eternal glory. He speaks of the inheritance
that we have as an eternal inheritance. He talks about the Spirit of
God being eternal. In Hebrews chapter 9, the scripture
refers to our redemption. Our redemption. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the
world. He's always seen his people redeemed in the person of Christ,
and God calls our redemption eternal. Let's make sure that
we're not confused about this word eternal. Eternal doesn't
mean that it starts at a certain point and lasts forever. Eternal
means that it never had a beginning. Now we can't enter into that,
not experientially. We can only, we can only receive
it by faith because everything that we experience in our life
has something to do with time and space, doesn't it? But God
speaks of these things as being eternal. They're completely outside
of time. They're completely outside of
this created order of things which is going to be shaken.
That which is created will be shaken. So that that which is
eternal will stand sure. Now where do you want your hope?
Do you want your hope in that which is temporal or that which
is eternal? Do you want your hope in that
which is going to be destroyed or that which cannot be destroyed
because it never had a beginning? It never had a beginning. It
cannot change. Just as our God is the same yesterday,
today, and forever, those things that He calls eternal are just
as immutable as He is. That's where I want to hang my
soul. Oh, I pray the Lord would enable
me to meditate on those things which are good and lovely and
holy and truthful and all those things which are eternal. The
temporal things of this life consume so much of our time and
energy. They consume so much of our thoughts. And what we're doing right now
is just saying, you know, let's see if the Lord will enable us
by His Word and by His Spirit to look away from those things
which are eternal, to believe what God says about them. They're
all going to be destroyed. and to set our affections on
those things which are eternal." The temporal things of this world
are passing away. Hebrews chapter 6, God calls
judgment eternal. Eternal judgment. In Hebrews
chapter 5, the Lord says that salvation is eternal. That means it never had a beginning.
That's why we don't, we don't talk about salvation like the
religious person talks about salvation. We don't say, well,
you know, I got saved and now I have eternal life. No, I, I
have eternal life in Christ. That life has never changed.
And the Lord has revealed himself to me and given me hope in Christ,
in my experience. First Timothy chapter one, verse
17, the King eternal, immortal, incorruptible. In the Ephesians
chapter three, the scripture speaks of the purpose of God
being eternal. His purpose doesn't change. He
has an eternal purpose. It's like we said Sunday. It's
not that we're thankful because things could be worse. It's not
that we're thankful because somebody else has got it worse. We're
thankful because we believe that things could not be any better
than they are. Why? Because God's eternal purpose
is right on track. I mean, it's just right on schedule.
It's eternal. These are the eternal things.
We have, according to 1 Corinthians chapter 5, an eternal home. Let's look at that for just a
moment. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We were just there in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. There's a couple of verses I
wanted you to see. Look at chapter 5 verse 1. For
we know. Do we know this? Do you know this? I mean, you
really know it. You believe this. With all of
your heart, you know it's true. This is what God says. For we
know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,
we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. That house you live in is not
eternal. all the problems you have with your home and with
the tabernacle of your own flesh. It's not eternal. It's all temporal.
But we know that this house is going to be dissolved. And we
have an eternal home, not made with hands. It's a home that
never had a beginning. It's a home that's never changed. I don't know how to explain this
any better, this is just the way I think about it. Believing
that we've always been in Christ. This thing, and I want to share
this thought with you just to kind of help us to get a grasp
of what God means when he talks about eternal. When we die, We're going to escape
time as we know it, and we're going to enter into eternity.
And you know what we're going to discover? We're not going
to walk into glory and be, and be goggle-eyed about it. We're
not going to be walking into eternity and be running around
asking people, you know, what it's been like. We're not going
to be looking for Moses. You know what's going to happen
when we enter into eternity? We're going to discover that
we've always been there. We've always been there. You can't receive that if you
try to think about the eternal in the same way that you think
about time. But if we do that, all we're
proving is that we're bound in our thoughts and in our intentions
with the temporal. Lord, deliver me from the temporal
and give me grace to believe what you have said about that
which is eternal. We have an eternal home and we've
always been there. And we're there right now. We're
there right now. Yep. All the blessings of God
in the heavenlies in Christ. You say, well, it's as if we
were there. No, we're there. We're there right now. We're
just experiencing in our flesh a temporal life that's just for
a season. It's just for a season. Romans chapter one, God speaks
of his power being eternal. These are the things that cannot
be shaken. Why cannot that be shaken? Because they have never
changed. They've never changed. They're
exactly the same now as they were in eons past before time
ever began. And they're never going to change
for eternity future. This is the eternal. Oh, Lord,
I get so disquieted by those things which are shaken, those
things which are temporal. Lord, would you enable me, would
you enable me to believe that which is eternal? It can't change. It never has changed. In Mark
chapter 3, God speaks of eternal damnation. Oh, I don't want to
be a part of that. I don't want to be a part of
that, but those who are reprobate, those who leave this world without
Christ, have always been vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. God calls it eternal. Eternal
damnation. And in Deuteronomy chapter 33,
the scripture speaks of God himself being eternal. Now what is eternal
life? What is it? Well, we've tried
to describe it a little bit, but here's what the Lord says
in John chapter 17, verse 3. This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou
hast sent. So to know God, to know God is
to have eternal life. Not to know about God, but to
know Him. I hope you're doing what I'm
doing right now. Lord, would you reveal yourself to me? Pass
me not, O gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry while on others
thou art calling. Do not pass me by, Lord. Make
yourself known to me. I want to know something about
eternal life." Paul, at the end of his life, he said, Oh, that
I might know him. I've not yet apprehended that
which has apprehended me, but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, I press towards the mark for
the prize. What's the prize? The prize of
the high calling in Christ Jesus that I might know Him and the
power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering. That I might be found in Him.
Lord, here's eternal life. everything else, all the things,
all the light afflictions. And I can say that because God
says it. And I know your afflictions are. We bear one another's burdens
and we, and we hurt for one another and, and we ought to. But God
says, compared to that, which is eternal, they are light afflictions. for the purpose of getting you
to set your affections on things which are above, where Christ
is seated at the right hand of God. That's the only thing that's
going to last. The only thing that's going to
last. Has God made the pursuit of Christ
the desire of your heart? I love it when you say to me,
you know, I've just got to be here. I've got to be here. I've got to hear the gospel.
You know, this world beats me up and I get so caught up in
it, I've got to be reminded again and again and again of who the
Lord Jesus Christ is and what He's done for me to deliver me
from these things that are temporal. John put it like this in 1 John
chapter 5 verse 11. He says, and this is the record. This is the record. This is God's
record. That God has given unto us eternal
life. And this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life.
And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Now that's
pretty simple, isn't it? That's pretty clear. This thing
of eternal life is bound up in the One who is life eternal. In Him was life and the life
was the light of men. He goes on to say, these things
I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God that you might know that you have eternal life. and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God. How do I know I have eternal
life? How do you know you have eternal life? Because you believe
on Christ. You believe Him. All your hope is in Him. is the evidence of things hoped
for. Faith is the substance of things not seen. It's faith. Listen to what John says. Turn
with me there. This is so encouraging. First
John chapter five. First John chapter five. Notice
verse 13. These things I have written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God. Do you believe
on the name of the Son of God? Can you say with the Ethiopian
eunuch, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe
that he accomplished everything necessary for my salvation. He's
God incarnate, and I'm resting all my hopes on Him. That you may know that you have
eternal life. And the next phrase almost seems
out of place, doesn't it? But what the Lord is doing is
reinforcing what it is to know that you have eternal life. He's
repeating Himself. And that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God. You can't separate those two
things. Believing on the name of the Son of God and having
eternal life is one and the same thing. It's the same. It's believing on Christ. Now I want you to turn with me
to John chapter 3. The proof text used by people
who do not believe on the name of the Son of God. No, they don't. They believe that they are God. They have set themselves up on
the throne of God. The people who quote John 3.16
are the very people who will say God loves everybody, Christ
died for everybody, God wants everybody to be saved, and they
get it all from John 3.16. But you have to do your part. You have to exercise your faith
in order to make what Christ did work for you. And you get
the final vote. There's no hope in that. What I want you to see from John
3.16 is I want you to see the original cause of eternal life. I want you to see the effectual
cause of eternal life. And I want you to see the instrumental
cause of eternal life. This thing of eternal life. For
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that
whosoever believeth on him should not perish. Now there's the opposite
of eternal life. There's only two options here. Should not perish, but have eternal
life. I want you to have eternal life.
I want to have eternal life. I don't want to perish. And if
it's to be, then we'll believe what the Lord has declared about
what the original cause of our eternal life is, what the instrumental
cause of our eternal life, what the effectual cause of our eternal
life, and what the instrumental cause is of our eternal life. What is the original cause? For
God so loved. There's the original cause of
our salvation. In Him is life, and the life
is the light of men. God is the cause. He's the original
cause. And His love for His people is
the original cause. In Him we live and move and have
our being. Of Him and through Him and to
Him are all things. There's the summary of everything,
isn't it? in the beginning God, the original cause. and take
it all the way back to its beginning, before time ever started, we
find that the cause of our salvation is found in God. Here's what
Timothy said, now unto the king, eternal, immortal, invisible,
the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. It's his name. It's His name. I am. I am. That name encompasses everything
about the eternality of God. What He's saying is, I'm self-existent. I'm not like you. I'm not created. I'm not derived from something
else. I'm not dependent upon anything. I'm self-existent. I possess
life within myself. I am. I'm the creator and sustainer
of all of life. I'm omnipotent. I'm uncreated. And because of that, I have the
sovereign right to demonstrate my particular love to whomsoever
I will. That's the original cause of
eternal life. For God so loved the world. Now, you know that word world. is never used in the scriptures
to describe each and every individual person of the world. The Lord
Jesus Christ is talking to Nicodemus, and he's telling Nicodemus that
he came in order to save his people, and many of them are
going to be outside of Israel. They're going to be part of the
world out there in the Gentile world. You mean even the Gentiles? Nicodemus couldn't understand
it, could he? But that's what the Lord was talking about. But
here we have the original cause of our salvation. Jeremiah put
it like this, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Never was there a time, before
time, when God did not love his people. He placed them in Christ,
he loved them in Christ, and he has the sovereign right to
love who he wants. He said, Jacob, I've loved. He
saw I've hated. You can't determine the love
of God or force the love. What did God's people say to
this? What did they say? Oh, behold, look at this. Look, look, behold, what manner
of love that the Father has showed upon us that we of all people
should be called the children of God. He would love me with
an everlasting love? See, the love of God has to be
eternal. It has to be everlasting. It's not that God... God doesn't
change. He said, I'm the same yesterday,
today, and forever. I'm the Lord. I am Jehovah. I am the self-existent God who
never changes. And it's the only reason you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. This is our hope. This is life
eternal. And his love cannot be spurned. He's not a frustrated lover.
No, he makes his people willing in the day of his power. We do
love him because he first loved us. And just like Hosea, just
like Hosea, wooed Gomer back to himself in all of her harlotry. So the Lord does that for us. We're so prone to wander. We're so prone to turn away from
the God that we love. And yet, He's always faithful
to bring us back to Himself. Why? Because He loves us. He's
committed in the covenant of grace to love His people. John
3.16 gives us the original cause of eternal life. And His love
is irresistible. It's irresistible. When he's
ready to make us willing, we're gonna be willing. We're gonna
come. And we're gonna, what did he
say in Jeremiah? I mean, Ezekiel chapter 16, he
said, I saw you polluted in your own blood. I passed by you and
saw you polluted in your own blood. And I said, live. I said,
live. And when He spoke those words,
we come to life. For God so loved the world. That's the original cause. The
effectual cause of eternal life is that He gave His only begotten
Son. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. God gave. We're not saved by the law. The
law, the law, the scripture says, was given by Moses, but grace
and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is our this is our
hope of eternal life that that the Lord Jesus Christ himself
came to make eternal life. Our experience. To make it our
experience. Of his fullness, have we all
received of his fullness? Have we all received and grace
for grace? He's the source of all life.
The Lord Jesus Christ himself is the one who spoke when he
said, let there be light, and there was. And he's the one now
who has come and speaks effectually to the hearts of his people by
his Holy Spirit and says, live. And just like that light shined
in the darkness, so the light of the gospel in the face of
the Lord Jesus Christ shines in the hearts of God's people
when God makes them alive. through the miracle of the new
birth. A man can receive nothing, the Lord said, except it be given
to him from heaven. You got that? A man can receive
nothing. You know, when people look at
John 3, 16, they say, well, you got to receive the gift. A man
can receive nothing unless it be given unto him from heaven. And when God gives, man receives. He gives our next breath. He
gives our next heartbeat. And God gave, right here in John
3.16, His only begotten Son. Holy justice had to be satisfied. And God offered up his son on
Calvary's cross as that sacrifice. Made his soul an offering for
sin. He's the only one that could
do it. If there was any other way, if there was any other way
that God could have given us eternal life, he would have done
it. He would have. But there was no other way. How
do we know that? What did the Lord Jesus Christ
pray to the Father? Is it possible that the Lord
Jesus Christ could offer a prayer to God that wasn't heard? Was
it possible for Him to offer a vain prayer? No. What did He
say from the garden? He said, O Father, if there be
any way that this cup can pass from Me, The Lord Jesus Christ
knew that he was going to drink damnation dry. He was going to
have to drink the bitter dregs of God's holy wrath on Calvary's
cross. And he was going to be forsaken
of God. He was going to be separated
from the Father when he became our sin bearer on Calvary's cross. And he said, if there be any
other way, was there any other way? No. And he knew there was
no other way. Nevertheless, let it be that
I will be done and not mine. The Lord prayed that prayer in
order to say to us, there was no other way. This is the effectual
cause of our salvation. The original cause of our salvation
is that God loved you with an everlasting love. The effectual
cause of our salvation that is that he gave his only begotten
son to be a sacrifice for sin. His sinless blood had to be shed. So that the Father says, when
I see the blood, not the blood of bulls and goats, but the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ sprinkled on the mercy seat,
not a mercy seat made with hands, that's gonna be shaken. Well,
that's already been shaken. That mercy seat doesn't even
exist anymore, does it? But there's a mercy seat in heaven
that cannot be shaken. And that blood was placed on
that mercy seat. And God met there with his people. the spotless Lamb of God, nothing
else would do to satisfy the demands of God's righteousness
other than the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the
effectual cause of our salvation, of our eternal life. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. Did he succeed in what he came
to do? Did he make an offer of salvation or did he actually
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself once and for all? Oh, you know the answer to that
question. For he cried from the cross, it is finished. It's finished. Eternal life is
secure for all my people. I have done everything that the
father required of me. And now, I commend my spirit. I allow death to take me. And he was placed into that tomb
that we just read in Psalm 16. The father could not allow his
holy one to see corruption. God Almighty was pleased with
what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished and raised him successfully from
the dead as the firstborn among many brethren. It's not Christ plus our will. It's not Christ plus our work.
It's not Christ plus our decision. It's not Christ plus anything.
Eternal life is bound up wholly in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Psalm 53 says that God saw the
travail of his soul and was satisfied. He's satisfied. God's satisfied. You know what faith does? Here's
how do I know I have eternal life? I'm satisfied with what
God's satisfied with. I am. If God's satisfied with
it, how can I not be satisfied with what the Father is satisfied
with? Oh, we can't add our works to
it. You remember what the rich young ruler said in Mark chapter
10 when he came to the Lord and he said, he fell on his face
before the Lord and said, oh good master, what must I do to
inherit eternal life? You just think about that question.
When you inherit something, that inheritance becomes yours, not
because you willed it, but because the person who was leaving you
the inheritance willed it. That's why we call it a will.
Last will and testimony. This is their desire. And the only reason that you
benefit from that inheritance is because they willed it, not
because you willed it. What can I do to inherit eternal
life? What was he doing? He was mixing
law and grace. He knew that eternal life was
by the grace of God, but he thought there was something he had to
do. And so what did the Lord say? Why callest thou me good? For there's none good but God.
Do you understand who it is you're talking to? That's what the Lord
was saying to the rich young ruler. I'm God. I don't need
you to do anything to secure eternal life for yourself. I'm
the one who gives eternal life. But if you want to do something,
here's what you have to do. And he named off the commandments.
What did the rich young ruler say? Oh, I've done those things
since my youth. Done those things since my...
He hadn't done any of them. Hadn't done any of them. He went away sad, didn't he?
Why? Because he was trying to mix
law and grace. You try to mix law and grace,
it's not gonna work. Not gonna work. For God so loved
the wicked Gentile world, that's the original cause, that he gave
his only begotten son. That's the effectual cause. And then there's an instrumental
cause. An instrumental cause. It's called faith. Faith. Faith is a gift of God. For by
grace are you saved through faith, not of yourselves. It's a gift
of God. Everything God requires, God must provide. So even in
our faith, Lord, you've got to give me faith. Increase my faith.
Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Give me this is the
instrumental cause that there's no salvation apart from faith
Without faith, it's impossible to please God for they that cometh
to him must believe that he is he's the glorious I am and He's
the rewarder of them that diligently seek them seek him. This is this
is the means of Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved. I God has to give us faith to
trust Christ. And contrary to what most people
believe, faith is not some sort of stalwart character trait that
enables you to stand head and shoulders above everybody else.
That's just the opposite. The Lord said, lest you become
as a little child, you should not enter the kingdom of heaven,
for such is. the kingdom of God. Lest you
have the faith of a little child is what he said. What can a little
child do? What can a child do? A baby. You know what it can
do. It can mess itself up and it
can cry. And that's about all it's capable
of doing. And that's what the Lord said faith was. Faith is
trusting the Lord Jesus Christ like a little child. Lord, all
I can do is mess myself up and cry to you for mercy. Faith is God's work, not yours. It's God's work. God hath from the beginning chosen
you unto salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the
truth. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
comes by the Lord. This is the instrumental cause
of salvation. There's no salvation apart from
faith. You know, we're not fatalist about this thing. We're not saying,
we're not, we call on men to believe. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that Ethiopian, when that
Philippian jailer asked the Apostle Paul, what can I do to be saved?
Paul didn't say, no, there's nothing you can do. You know,
God's the original cause of salvation. Christ is the effectual cause
of salvation. You just go home and hope the
Lord will do something for you. No, he didn't say that at all.
He said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved in that household. God calls on his people to believe.
And the self-righteous will say, okay, I can do that. I can do
that. And the child of God says, oh
Lord, give me faith. Give me faith. I want to believe
on you. I want to have my hope in your
shed blood. Ezekiel chapter 16, I mentioned
this a moment ago, and when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted
in thine own blood, I said unto thee, while thou wast polluted
in thine own blood, live, live. Oh Lord, would you say that to
me? Would you bid me to come unto thee? Would you speak effectually
to my heart and cause me to live? Eternal life cannot be shaken. It cannot be shaken. Everything
else, everything else in this world, why do we get so shaken
by things that are gonna be destroyed? Oh, Lord. Wisdom is seeing things like God sees
them. How does God see? Well, he's just told us. That
which is created is going to be shaken in order that that
which is eternal cannot be shaken. May God give us grace to stand
on the other side of death and believe that that which is eternal
is the only thing we have. It's all we've got. Everything else, everything else
will be shaken by God. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we confess to you, Lord, that we
are so easily taken away from thee. We're so quickly caught
up in the things of this world. We're so we're so prone Lord
to to be more concerned about the temporal than the eternal.
We thank you, Lord, that you've provided us another opportunity
to open thy word. We thank you for the promise
that where two or three are gathered together in thy name, you are
there in the midst of them. And we thank you, Lord, for giving
us ears to hear and causing us to say to the declaration that
you've made about that which is eternal, amen, amen. Lord, give us, give us hearts,
give us spirits, give us minds that would Think upon those things
and hope in those things which can never be shaken. We ask it
in Christ's name. Amen. Number 28 in the Sopach
Thymno. Let's stand together. Behold, the Lamb of God was slain
by God's own wise decree. The blood of Christ has stood
for me from all eternity. God's wrath could not destroy
the world, though Adam fell in sin, because the Lamb was slain
for man before the world began. Then at the time ordained by
God, the Lamb poured out His blood for all the world of His
elect, and paid the debt we owe. Dear Lamb of God, your precious
blood has ransomed me from death. And I will praise you for that
blood as long as I have breath. Though Satan rage against my
soul, though I am full of sin, I trust Christ's sin-atoning
blood. It gives me peace within. That blood is my security, Christ
must be satisfied. Not one can ever be condemned
for whom the Lamb has died. And I have dropped this robe
of flesh and enter heaven's bliss. The Lamb who has been slain for
me I shall forever bless. Eternal blood, eternal lamb,
eternal God, my King. A worthless sinner saved by grace,
I owe you everything. Thanks so much.