When the Gospel goes forth truthfully,
that's what the Gospel is. The Gospel is the declaration
that God has declared the former things from the beginning. It's
the declaration that they went forth out of His mouth, that
He shows them, that He did them suddenly, and that He brought
them to pass. That's the Gospel. He said in
Isaiah 48.3, I've declared the former things from the beginning
in eternity. You'll look at Ephesians 1.3.
Ephesians 1, 3, in eternity. He declared it from the beginning
in eternity. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. Now that's all of them. That's
all that a believer is going to get. All spiritual blessings.
He blessed us with them in heavenly places in Christ. According as
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. That's
the beginning. That we should be holy without blame before
Him in love. In eternity, God chose by whom
He would save His elect. He hath chosen us in Him. That's
what the Word just said. He chose us in Christ His Son
before the world began. Isaiah 42, 1. If you look back
there, He says this, Behold My servant whom I uphold, Mine elect
in whom My soul delighteth. He's talking about Christ His
Son. I put My Spirit upon Him. He'll bring forth judgment to
the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice
to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break,
and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth
judgment unto truth. He shall not fail, he shall not
be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth, and
the owl shall wait for his gospel. The gospel is declaring, this
is what the true gospel is, it's declaring that he has accomplished
the salvation of his people, in His Son just as He said He
would do from eternity. Look back at verse 3. He says,
they went forth out of my mouth and I showed them, I did them,
and they came to pass. Everything He said He would do,
He brought it to pass. Even so, Paul said, when we were
children in bondage under the elements of the world, when the
fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son. He said He
would. Made of a woman, He said He would.
Made under the law, He said He would. To redeem them that are
under the law, He said He would. And he did that, and that's what
he accomplished. He accomplished that because
he said it from the beginning that he would. The Church of
God is called the Church of God, which he hath purchased with
his own blood. See, he has done it. He's done
what he said he would do. It's not by the blood of bulls
and goats, it's by His own blood. He entered into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. That's what He did. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. He hath done it.
Hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us, for it's written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree. That's what He said He would do in eternity, and He's
shown it all through the scriptures, and He brought it to pass. The
gospel is God revealing these hidden things to His child in
the heart through His Spirit. These things He said all along
that He would do. Look at verse 6. Thou hast heard, see all this,
and will not you declare it? I have showed thee new things
from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
I have shown you hidden things and you didn't know them, He
said. Why did God choose to save His
people this way? Why did He choose to save His
people this way? Surely there was a reason behind it. Surely
there was a reason that God chose this manner in which to save
His people. Verse 5, Because I knew. What did God know? What did God foreknow from the
very beginning? What did He know? Because I knew
that thou art obstinate, And thy neck is an iron sinew, and
thy brow brass." Look down at verse 5. He said, I have even
from the beginning declared it to thee before it came to pass,
I showed it thee, lest, here's why, lest thou should say, mine
idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image hath
commanded them. Here's why He did it. Verse 7. They're created now and not from
the beginning. He said, I've brought these things.
God didn't just create the earth and send Christ into the earth
and do it all at the beginning and say, here it is, I've done
it all, now look at it. Why didn't He do it? Why has
He brought these things to pass little by little? Why has He
brought you where He's brought you so far in your life and showed
you little by little what He's doing? Why has He done it that
way? This is why. Verse 7. They're created now,
not from the beginning, even before the day when thou heardest
them not. lest, here's why He did it this
way, lest thou should say, behold, I knew them. I knew this. I knew all this already. Well,
verse 8, He says, this is why He did it. Yea, thou heardest
not, thou knewest not. Yea, from that time thine ear
was not opened. This is why He did it. He saves
the way He does. For I knew, for I knew, that
thou wouldest deal very treacherously and was called a transgressor
from the womb. I've titled the message, Because God Knew. Because God Knew. Why did God
save the way He saves? Because God knew. He had foreknowledge
of something. What did God foreknow? From eternity,
God chose whom He would save. From eternity, God chose to redeem
them by His Son. From eternity, He chose to create
them anew by His Spirit. Verse 4 says, Because I knew,
that thou art obstinate and thy neck is an iron sinew and thy
brow brass." That's what he knew. God foreknew our sin. God foreknew what we would be
and what we would become and all that we would ever be. That's
why God saves the way He saves. He knew whenever Adam sinned
in the garden and death entered in and death passed upon all
men for every man has sinned and comes short of the glory
of God, that was no surprise to God, God knew it. But God
did it the way He did it because He knew the cause of what we
would be in this world, we would be obstinate, Our neck would
be, you know what sinew is, it's that silver strand of stuff your
mom cuts out of, or your dad cuts out of the meat because
you can't eat it. It's just old silver tendon, it's not any good.
And he said, I knew yours would be made out of iron. And he said,
I knew your brow would be brass. It'd be brass. Melinda told me
yesterday that my brain was getting bigger and I was getting smarter.
That's not exactly how she said it. She was putting sunscreen
on me and she told me there's a whole lot more of my forehead
showing than there used to be. But he knows when we hear something,
we're gonna, our brows gonna wrinkle up and we're gonna say
that don't, that don't accord with my knowledge and my wisdom.
He knew that. So he didn't do anything according
to our wisdom and our knowledge. He did it. This describes an
unregenerate sinner. Every sinner here that's been
coming here for any length of time, you've heard the gospel
preached. You've heard God speak. You've
heard the gospel preached. Not only here, though, you've
heard God speak in the light of creation. And I know that's
so because in Romans 1, he says, the invisible things of God are
clearly seen by the things that are made, declaring His Godhead,
His power, so that men are without excuse. You've seen that. I know
you've seen it. You've heard God talk and speak
in His providence. We've heard God speak in these
scriptures. We've heard God speak through these godly brethren
that have talked to you and through loved ones, family, mothers and
fathers that believe the Lord. You've even heard God speak in
your conscience. You've heard God speak in your
conscience and you keep trying to ignore it because you're obstinate
and your neck is an iron sinew and your brow is brass and you've
dealt treacherously and been a transgressor from the womb.
But that's not only a description of a sinner, an unregenerate,
unconverted sinner. That's a description of me and
you sitting right here who believe God. Can we say what Paul said? Oh,
wretched man that I am. That's a description of us, brethren.
When I look at this, I see me. I see me. Obstinate, hard. Do you see yourself as being
self-willed? Do you? I hear God's Word. I hear the voice of God speak
and I hear through His Gospel, through His Word. I don't obey
Him like I ought to. I know everything He says and
His Word is right. I know it's good. I know it's
holy. I know it's just. But when it goes against my fleshly
desire, I act like He wasn't even talking. I act like what
I think is better and I know what's better than what God knows.
What about our self-righteousness? We get so frustrated. Believers,
I know this. We get frustrated with our family
members. We get frustrated with our children
because they're obstinate, they're hard. And we say to ourselves,
why won't you just believe God? Why don't you just trust God?
And then we get a scowl on our face just as soon as something
God's doing in his house don't accord with how we think it ought
to be done. We ought to say, why don't I just believe Him?
Why don't I just believe God? Or we know somebody that's done
some horrible act of sin, and we keep repeating to ourselves,
how dare they? And why don't we say to ourselves,
how dare I? Paul said in Romans 2, 1, Therefore
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judges,
for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for
thou that judges doest the same things. Well, I've never done them outwardly.
God looks on the heart. We've done them inwardly. Done
them inwardly. May God teach us not to speak
down to a child, not speak down to sinners, not to speak down
to a fellow believer, but as a chief of sinners before our
Heavenly Father, to speak to them as one that's beneath them.
Beneath them. If we know ourselves, we know
that's where we are. What about our service? What
about our service? How self-serving are we? How
often is it that we want to spend our time for ourselves and doing
what we want to do? Spend our time for ourselves
and do what we want to do. We call ourselves by the right
name. We make mention of the name of God. But how often is
our heart far from the Lord? How often is it that we turn
to our idols? How often is it that we seek
warmth in just cold death? How often is it we seek peace
anywhere else but in the Prince of Peace? Is there anybody here
yet that wants to come to God based on your service to God?
I don't want to come to God that way, do you? But we're self-justifiers
and invariably somebody will hear this and they'll say, well,
that don't describe me. I'm faithful. God knew that. God knew you'd say that. He said
there in verse eight, I knew that you would deal very treacherously.
Somebody say, well, I've never, I'm never like that. I'm, I'm
zealous for God all the time. Well, God knew that you'd deal
very treacherously. Somebody say, well, I'm always
fervent in prayer. I pray all the time. I can pray
to God anytime I get ready. God knew you'd deal treacherously
with him. He knew that. He knew you'd say that. I'm so
holy, I don't even hardly sin anymore. I've just come so far
and got so perfect, sin don't bother me too much anymore. God
knew you'd deal treacherously like that. Lie no more before
God, don't lie to ourselves. Can we say this? Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. I am chief. If the Lord should mark iniquities,
oh Lord, who shall stand? If he just marked our nuclear,
if he just kept a record of it, is there anybody that could stand? Man at his very best state is
altogether vanity. He's altogether vanity. God chose
to save his elect by his sovereign free grace in Christ because
God knew. God knew. Thou art obstinate,
thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass. I think I've
told you this before, but I dug a pipe, a ditch for a pipe one
time down at a place in and down south where I used to live, and
the ground was so hard. I mean, it was just... I've never
seen ground that hard. I mean, you could take a pickaxe
and rear back as hard as you could, and you'd just get a little
chip out of it. That's all you'd get. I mean,
you just couldn't. We took a nice tiller and put
a weight on it and sat there and tried to till it up, and
we couldn't break it up. Just hard. That's what he's talking
about. Just hard. I knew you'd be hard. I knew
you'd be a... made of iron, and a brow made
of brass. I knew that. Well, look at this
secondly. From eternity, God chose whom
He would save. He chose to redeem them by His
Son, and He chose to create them anew by His Spirit for this reason,
verse 5. He says, lest you should say, mine idol
hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image hath
commanded them. You see, God didn't choose a
people. to save them because he foreknew
that they would choose him. He didn't choose to save a people
because he foresaw that they'd repent and believe on him. He
didn't choose a people because of any foreseen merit in us whatsoever. You know what that is? You know
what that is? That's man, a sinful rat saying,
my idol hath done them. What idol? Shaved his face this
morning. put a shirt on his back, some
pants on him, and some shoes on his feet, and looked in the
mirror and said, man, my idol looks good. Lest my idol should say, I did
it by my will. Lest my idol should say, God
foresaw there'd be some good in me. Lest my idol should say,
God saw this is what I would do, that's why he acted subservient
to what I would do. That's an idol. Let me be as
clear as I know how to be. Such false doctrine as that is
utter blasphemy against the God of all grace. It is blasphemy. It's not error. It's blasphemy
against the God of all grace. That is a man, a little sinful
man saying, I knew. That's a little sinful man dealing
very treacherously with God. That's the doctrine of works,
not grace. That's the doctrine of man, not
the doctrine of God. Well, how did God save? Well,
it couldn't have been based upon any foreknown goodness in me,
or any foreknown goodness in you, or any foreknown goodness
or work in any man, because there's absolutely no goodness in fallen
man. There's absolutely nothing for
God to have foreseen that would be good in us. If it would have
been possible to foresee some good in us, there'd have been
enough evil in us to make him reject us. If he's foreseeing
things, you think he'd just see the good, he wouldn't see the
evil too? He'd foresaw it all if that's what he was looking
at. There wasn't any good there to foresee. Look back over at
Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah 41. Look at verse 28. For I beheld and there was no
man. Even among them there was no counselor that when I asked
of them could answer a word. Behold, they're all vanity, their
works are nothing, their molten images are wind and confusion.
Psalm 14, 2 says, The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children
of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek
God. They are all gone aside, they
are all together become filthy, there's none that doeth good,
no not one. Look over at Romans 9. God's
election of grace was based on His grace. That's what grace
is. If it was based on something in us, it wouldn't even be grace. If it was based on us choosing
Him, why would He even bother to choose anybody? They don't
even compute. Look, Romans 9.11. He says, for
the children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand. Not of works, but of him that
calleth. But of him that calleth. It was
said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. There was not any
difference between the two. None. Jacob was worse than Esau. Esau was a pretty good boy. Jacob
was He was worthless. He was sorry, no good, good for
nothing. And Jacob said, I loved him,
but he saw I have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he said to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that show mercy. God
chose to save sinners by his free grace because he knew we
would say, I did this. He knew it. Well, we go back
to our text. Let's see. From eternity, God
purposed that He would save His elect through the works accomplished
by His Son and reveal them to us through the Holy Spirit, through
His Gospel. Why did He do it that way? Down
at verse 7. He said, They are created now
and not from the beginning, even before the day when thou heardest
them not. He said, Lest thou should say,
Behold, I knew them. You know, we like, if we think
we know something's going to happen, we like it when it happens
because then we get to say, told you, I told you it was going
to happen. We like that. And if God would have showed
us, it's all to us from the beginning, we'd have said, When it came
to pass, we said, I knew it was going to happen. God slowly,
little by little, He brought His servant into the world. He
brought Israel into bondage. He brought them out of bondage.
He carried them across the wilderness. He carried them into the land
of Canaan. He gave His prophets, saying what all of it meant,
showing a picture of redemption in Christ. He slowly gave us
the Scriptures. He did, and in the fullness of
time, Christ came forth, and He called us, and He started,
He redeemed us. And then when we come forth,
He doesn't just come and reveal everything to us at once. He
comes and reveals it to us little by little by little. He makes
us see it's all in Christ. But He keeps showing us over
and over and over what He's doing and how He saves His people so
that we can't get our little puny minds around it at any time
and say, Ah! I know. I know everything. I
don't need God anymore. I know everything. He said, I
did it this way because I knew that's what you'd say. I knew
that's what you, God knows us pretty good, doesn't he? He knows
us pretty good, doesn't he? He said, I've showed you these
things. Look at verse six. Thou hast heard, see all this,
and will not you declare it? I've showed thee new things from
this time, even hidden things, and you didn't know them. You
see, the gospel's hidden to us by nature. Look at 1 Corinthians
2. 1 Corinthians 2.7. It's hidden. Our Lord prayed
on one occasion and He said, I'm thankful, Father, that you've
hidden these things from the wise and prudent. They're called
hidden mysteries. Because a man can't know these
things until God gives him a heart to know them and makes him understand
and see and believe. Look at 1 Corinthians 2.7. We
speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. You see that? We speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom, which
God, see that word ordained? That means God purposed it to
be this way from the beginning. That means because He foreknew,
we'd say, I knew it, God hid it. Look, look back at chapter
1. Where's verse 20? Where's the
wise? Where's the scribe? Where's the disputer of this
world? Had not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? How
so? For after that, in the wisdom
of God. That's what he's telling us,
because I knew. He said, because I knew. You didn't know, we didn't
know. He said, you weren't wise. He
said, because I'm wise, God said. The world by wisdom knew not
God. He said, I wasn't gonna have
you find out who I am by your wisdom. It ain't coming by your
intellect, by your seeking. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And as he preaches that
word, Paul says over in verse 7, chapter 2, verse 7, he said,
we're speaking wisdom of God in a mystery. Something that's
hidden. Even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the world in our glory. Which none of the
princes of this world knew. They were mighty men. They didn't
know it. They didn't know what God was doing. He said, for had
they known it, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I hath
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Well, see there, that means he prepared them for them he foresaw
that would love him. No, it means those he's called
and put love in and made them love him, he prepared all these
things before they ever knew anything about them. That's what
he's telling us in our text. I did all this and brought it
to you and declared it to you, and you didn't even know. That's
the wisdom of God. I did it this way because I wouldn't
allow you to know until I revealed what I would have you to know.
But verse 10, but God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit. You see that? God has done it.
For the Spirit searches in all things, yea, the deep things
of God, the hidden things of God. Look at verse 14. But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. You see the wisdom of God in
this? Look back now in our text. God says, I performed all my
works, little by little, as I did them. and brought them to pass
as I did them, so that you wouldn't say, behold, I knew them." Now
listen to this. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world. How so? They were finished in
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Anybody ever stop
the wind? You ever stopped the wind? You
ever stopped it from running its course? Well, do you think
there's anybody in this world that was going to stop God from
fulfilling what He purposed before He ever made the world? When
Christ struck hands with God in the everlasting covenant of
grace, He became the surety for His people. Not in case they
wouldn't pay, to pay what they would not pay. And He became
that surety, and right there when He struck hands with the
Lord, He became, in the purpose of God in eternity, the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. And he brought these
things to pass little by little, and he finished the work, and
then he came and he begins to show it to his child. Look at
Ephesians 2.1. Ephesians 2.1. He says, And you, hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and in sin? He brought it to you
and he started, he made you alive. In time past, you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince, the
power, the air, the spirit that now work within the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, just like everybody else, but God. who's rich in
his mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when
we were dead in sins, quicken us together with Christ by grace
you say." Why'd he do it that way? He said, because I foreknew
your sin. He's talking to you, who he's
called, believer. The elect, I foreknew what you'd
be. And he said, I finished this work and I've revealed it to
you little by little lest you'd say, I knew this. I knew all
this. My wisdom found this out. Alright,
back at our text. God saves by grace, in Christ, through His Spirit, because He
knew we'd deal treacherously with Him. Look at verse 8. Yea,
thou heardest not. You knew not. Yea, from that
time that thine ear was not opened. He said, before I opened your
ear, you didn't have a clue what I was doing. And I did it for
this reason, for I knew that thou would deal very treacherously
and was called a transgressor from the womb. Sinners will go
around and they'll say, well, I came to God. One day I decided
I needed to come to God and I came to him by my will. And it was
my decision that made the final choice in the matter. I'm the
ultimate end of my salvation. I'm the one who ultimately made
Christ's blood effects for myself. And God said, unless I save my
people by my power and by my grace, they'll deal just that
treacherously with me. And until I save them by my grace,
that's how treacherously they'll deal with me. They'll go around
patting themselves on the back and talking about what they've
done for God, what they've given for God, how they've contributed
to God, how they've done something to help Christ out, how they've
done something to make Christ's blood affects them, how they've
done something to build a house for God, how they've done something
to build up many people. And you know something about
the stones in a temple? The stones in a building. Bricks
in a building don't stand up to build the building. They lay
down. You ever notice that? You don't go around and find
bricks in a building standing on end. They got no strength
when they're standing on end. They lay down. And they lay down
on top of one another. And they lay down and they stacked
up like that. That's where the strength comes
from. God's people aren't standing up like little bricks and proud
of what they're doing, what they're building. God's people are made
to lay down. Because by God's grace, he makes us to know that's
the treacherous dealer I am. And that's the treacherous dealer
he keeps me from. How did he make you to know that? He made you to know. No man can
come to me except the Father which is in heaven draw him.
That's how He makes us to know it. He makes us honest with ourselves.
He makes us to know that faith, that very faith by which we believed
Him, we didn't muster that up. We didn't just conjure that up
one day. We didn't reach in way down in there somewhere and fan
the little flame that was in our heart because there was still
a little bit of light in the ember down in there. So all we
had to do was exercise our faith to get it glowing and then we
came to Christ. Oh, we were just slapped, put out. That's all.
We were just dark, dead, cold sinners. And He made life there
where there was no life. And He gave us faith. And He
made us to know, by grace you're saved through faith. And that
faith's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. lest any
man not of works, lest you would boast in it. For where his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God, there's
that word again, foreordained that we should walk in them.
What kind of good work? Do you walk by faith? That's
one of them. You mean he foreordained that
I would believe? I thought he foresaw I would believe. No,
he didn't foresee his children would believe. He foreordained
them to believe the good work that he before ordained that
we should walk in them. And then he did everything necessary
to bring us to walk by faith and quit boasting in what we've
done. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causes to approach unto thy, unto thee. that he may dwell in thy courts.
We'll be satisfied with the goodness of thy house. even of thy holy
temple. But we won't be till then. We
won't be till then. It's foolishness to us until
then. Until God grabs us and He draws us and causes us to
approach unto His throne of grace. Until then, we won't be satisfied
with the goodness of God and what He's done. The goodness
of God by which He saves sinners. The goodness of God by which
He leads sinners to repentance. The goodness of God and not just
executing sentence upon us in the wrath and fury of God that
we deserve. We'll find that everything God's
done, He's done it right and He's done it the way that's necessary
to keep us from boasting in ourselves and to keep us ever trusting
Him. God is wise. Well, what does elect according
to the foreknowledge of God mean? I read that and I've heard people
say all my life that that meant God looked down through the ages
and he determined who he'd save. So what does that mean, elect
according to the foreknowledge of God? It means foreordination. It means the predestinating grace
of God, elect according to God's own choosing. It means this,
God foreordained His elect unto salvation. God foreordained that
His Son, Christ Jesus, would be the righteousness and holiness
of His people. God foreordained that salvation
would not be of man that willeth nor runneth, but of God that
shows mercy. God foreordained that He would draw His elect
child to Christ. He foreordained it. He foreordained it. Elect
according to the foreordination of God. That's what it means.
You see, God's the first. He's the preeminent. He's the
everlasting God who knows the end from the beginning. He didn't
leave anything in our hands. He said, my people will be willing.
We come willing. We come delighting to come to
Him. but not until the day of His power, not until He creates
that new man, not until He gives us a new nature that's not going
around scoffing and laughing at God, saying, that's just a
bunch of foolishness. When He gives that new nature,
we come willingly, absolutely willingly, desiring to be saved
by Him because it's a willingness He's given. He's given us His
nature. He's given us, made us partakers
of the divine nature to want what God wants. Well, why'd he
do all that? Verse 4 said, because I knew
that you were obstinate. I knew your neck was iron. I
knew your brow was brass. Verse 7, he said, I did it lest
you say, behold, I knew all this. I did this. I found this out
by my wisdom, by my searching. Verse 8, I knew that you would
deal very treacherously and you were a transgressor from the
world. That's why God did it. Now let's bring this down, down
to where we live. If you're not anything, God don't
know. He knows the end from the beginning.
He knows the everything. He's deity. That's what God knows.
Deity means He knows everything. He knows all our evil thoughts.
He knows all that unseen malice of our hearts that nobody else
says. You know when you're saying something as sweet as you can
say it, but what you really are doing is kicking somebody right
square in the rear end? He knows that. That's malice.
He knows it. You know when you Deeds are vile
and nobody else knows about them and your imagination is all cursed.
He knows it. He knows the whole thing. He
knew what you'd be from the beginning. He knew it. And yet he chose
us for knowing what we would become. He chose us knowing our judgment,
our conscience, our affections, our will would all be polluted
and perverted. He knew we'd be transgressors
from the womb. He knew what our neck would be. He knew what our
brow would be. And yet he chose us even though he knew we were
going to be transgressors from the womb. That's the gospel of
God's grace. You know what that gospel does?
It melts that brow of brass. It melts that neck of iron. It
disintegrates that hard heart. It makes us to see we were infants
cast out into a field. and just left there in a puddle
of blood. And nobody wanted to do anything
with us. Nobody want to have anything to do with us. They
just passed us right by like an aborted child and said, I
don't. He's just a dumpster baby. Nobody
wants him. You know what God did? Ezekiel
16, 8 says, Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee,
behold, thy time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt
over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. Not only his electing grace,
his redeeming grace. Christ, knowing we would deal
very treacherously, He redeemed us. Not with the silver and gold,
but with His precious blood, the precious blood of Christ.
You'd think He'd foresaw us, and knowing what we'd be, knowing
all that we would be in His sight, you would have thought He would
have said, they're vile in my sight, I don't have anything
to do with them. He said, since thou was precious in my sight,
That's what made you honorable to me, because what I saw was
precious. What I saw was honorable. And
he said, and I loved you. Therefore, I'll give men for
you and people for your life. Were there something in us that
commended that? No, nothing. God commendeth his love toward
us. God commendeth his love toward us. And that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. You think about adopting love.
I got several friends that have adopted some children. We stayed
with Tony and Rita Moody down in Kingsport. They have two beautiful
little adopted girls. We adopt children. We got a limited
amount of foreknowledge. And we adopt them and we hope,
well, maybe they'll turn out to be good. Maybe they'll be
decent kids. But that's, we don't know, and
then they grow up. We find out what they are, you
know. God foreknew what we'd be, and he didn't back away. He didn't say, knowing what we'd
be from the beginning. 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 wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved. That's
how He made us accept. That's how we became precious
in His sight, because He put us in the one in whose, to whom,
the one He views as precious, Christ our Lord. And because
your sons, when you were still polluted in your blood and nobody
wanted you, nobody wanted to have anything to do with you,
because your sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Made us cry, Father, Father. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God." He knew what we'd be, and He did that anyway. Christ took us to be His bride.
How many times have you heard married folks part ways and say
something like this, well, I just didn't know that about them when
I met them and married them. If I'd have known how they were
going to turn out, I wouldn't have done it. You might have said that
about your own spouse. I doubt my wife's ever said anything
like that about me. You want some security? You want
some assurance? Here's where it's found. God
knowing from the beginning that we'd be just like Gomer. We'd
just be a trifling harlot and adulteress. God knowing that
about us, toward him, Christ took us to himself and made himself
one with us, like a husband and a wife are one. Paul said, we're
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. He said, like
a man leaves his father and his mother and is joined to his wife
and they too become one flesh. He said, this is a great mystery.
This is one of those hidden mysteries. But he reveals this to us. He
said, I speak concerning Christ and the church. He married us
anyway. Let me ask you. You start dating somebody, you're
young, you start dating somebody and try to find out everything
you know about them. And you start finding out, I
don't want to be tied down with this one. I don't like anything
about them. You find that out early, don't you? What if you
saw everything about them and you saw how just horrid they
would be, and yet you said, I'm going to marry him. I love him.
That's what Christ did for his people. That's grace. Not anything
in us that's great. All our love is based on condition. All our love is based on what
have you done for me lately. All our love is based on what's
in this for me. God doesn't love conditionally. He loves unconditionally. We
get to writing hearts on letters and X's and O's and all those
things. I love you unconditionally. No you don't. We don't. We don't either. You let them
start spitting in your face, see how long you love them. It never has changed God's love
for his bride, never, ever. Believer, when the evil of sin
weighs heaviest, you remember this, God hates putting away. What God has joined together,
no man can put asunder. You know why? Because everything
necessary Christ is and Christ has provided to present us to
himself a chaste virgin, not having spot or wrinkle or any
such thing, but holy and without blemish. You know who that's
good news to, Eric? A whore. That's good news to a harlot. When he makes you see that's
what you are, it'll be good news to you. Well, let's go home with
this. Every believer here, you can
rest assured, we've dealt treacherously with our God. Our sins, we don't
mourn over them like we ought to. We look away from him to
this flesh, to our idol. We spend so little time in his
word. We boast about what we know, like we don't need to be
taught by him. Spend so little time thanking
him for his benefits to us. But grace is not an excuse to
sin. You know what grace is? It's the cure. It's the cure. This is what makes us say, oh, I want to just, Lord, thank you. I want to serve you. This is
what makes that inner man ever more joined to Him in faith,
ever more look to Him, ever more depend upon Him, ever more long
to be with Him, ever more long to walk after Him. This is the
message that does it. The message of justice, the message
of law, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, live by the sword,
die by the sword. That's like a bunch of dogs put
into a pit together just to fight till they fight to the death,
biting and devouring one another. Dogs, Paul said, that's what
that is. This is the message that makes sinners obedient.
My little children, these things write unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He's faithful
and just to forgive us our sin because He beholds us in Him
constantly. But you don't know my problem.
What's your problem? What is it? Christ is the cure. What's your disease? Christ is
the healing balm. What's the problem? Christ is
the cure. He is the cure. God has foreknown
all and He provided all in His Son. I don't have provisions enough.
Israel ran out in the wilderness and they, man, they went out
with a lot. They left Egypt and God in His wisdom, He had them
go up and knock on the doors of the Egyptian women, and they
were so ready to get rid of them by the time that it was time
to go. They said, here, you keep it.
You just take it and keep it. Go here. You want here. You want
this. Here's some more jewelry, whatever you want. Take it. All
that gold and stuff they built everything with out there in
the wilderness, that came from the Egyptians. They gave it to
them and said, just take it and go. Get it out of our presence,
please. And they went out of there. They had food. Cattle
they had gold silver everything and it wasn't very long. They
started running out of stuff You know why God did that To show
them nothing we put in our hand nothing we get and nothing we
can depend on this earth's gonna last It's gonna fade and vanish
because God's gonna make it finish it for his child That's right. He's gonna make it so that we
can't hold on to it if we're His child. And He's going to
do that for this purpose, to teach us, My grace is sufficient
for you. All that you need, I have provided
in my Son. And He is our full provision.
He says this to us, As thy days, so shall thy strength be. How so? Because Christ is our
strength. As your days are, some days you're
on the mountain, Christ will be your strength when you're
there. Some days I'm in the valley, Christ will be my strength when
I'm there. If I make my bed in hell, he'll be my strength when
I'm there. If I'm poor and destitute and needy and have nothing, he'll
be my strength when I'm there. If he prospers me and makes me
wealthy and healthy and fat and wise, he'll be my strength when
I'm there. As thy days are, so shall thy strength be. And to
you who are without Christ, let me ask you this. Are you beginning
to see something of your sin? There's somebody here that don't
know Christ, never believed on Him. Are you beginning to see
something about that it's your own heart that is deceitful and
desperately wicked? Are you beginning to see that
it's your own heart that's been causing you to fuss and fight
and argue and cuss God and toss and turn at night? Do you see
that It's your own sin that's making the bed too short and
making the covers too narrow so you can't wrap yourself up
in them and find any warmth in that bed anymore? Well, if you
are, I hope so. I hope so. That's the beginning
of grace. It's not comfortable. It's not fun when God called.
He got to strip us of all that junk. He got to strip us of all
our vain refuge and our refuge of lies. He's got to strip us
of that. And it's not fun when He starts stripping. But He waits
until He stripped us to where we become like a beacon, like
a tree with all its branches broke off, that He might be gracious
to us, that He might show us salvations of the Lord. But you
know this, sinner, listen to me now. If you're beginning to
see that about yourself and understand that about yourself, you realize
this. You're just now knowing what
you are, just a little bit of it. God's known it all along. He's known it all along. But
the very wretch you find yourself to be is the exact kind of wretch
God delights to show mercy to. In fact, that's the only kind.
You know what the good news is? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. I'll give you two scriptures
and we'll be done. Why don't you look back at Isaiah
118. Isaiah 118. Any believer here too, any believer
here that's been turned You hearing the Lord speak, convicting us
of our sin? Listen to what He said. Isaiah
118. Are you a sinner? Listen to this.
This is God speaking. Come now. Let us reason together. Sayeth the Lord. Though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Do you hear what
God's saying? You didn't think God would do
that for a sinner, did you? Look at Isaiah 55. Look at verse
7. Let's look at verse 6. Seek ye
the Lord while he may be found. That's what Robert was just saying.
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while
he is near. Now look at this. Let the wicked
forsake his way. Let the wicked forsake his way.
See that? Let the wicked forsake his way. And the righteous man his thoughts. or the unrighteous man, his thoughts.
And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on him.
And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. God says, For my thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith
the Lord. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts higher than your thoughts. You see that? That's the God
of grace, brethren. That's the God that has called
you who believe, and that's the God who has saved us, is saving
us, and shall save us. That grace is unchangeable. That love is indestructible. That love is love that loved
us freely without any cause in us, and delights in the Son who's
accomplished everything necessary to bring us home with Him. Come
to Him. He said, I'll abundantly pardon.
abundantly show you mercy. Amen.