Let's all stand and sing hymn
number 272. 272, The Solid Rock. It's the first time we're using
this music to sing this, but I think it'll be really nice.
We've switched some of our hymn music from the phone, so I think
it's going to be really good. The Solid Rock 272. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness fails his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ a solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath is covenant, his blood
support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, Eden is all my hope and stay. On Christ a solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. Thank you. You may be seated. Everybody Sweet Psalm 23 One of the most
Recognizable Chapters in the Bible very soothing
and comforting to a believer Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely,
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and
I will dwell on the house of the Lord forever. Let's pray. Father, we come to you this morning,
thankful for this chapter of scripture. And Father, we know
that you walk with us at all times. And Father, we know that
death is just the beginning. There is no sting of death for
a believer. It's just moving from This world
to the next, where there'll be no sorrow and no pain. Father,
where we will spend eternity with you, worshiping you. Father,
we ask that you. Bring as many people to the truth
as you see fit. And if it be your will, Father,
as we pray every week, increase our numbers here. And Father,
if it be your will to leave it just like it is, then leave it
just like it is. Lord, we just ask that whatever
your will is, we ask that it be done. And Father, we just
ask that you watch over this congregation. Father, we ask
that you watch over the pastor that you've sent to us. Lord,
we're very blessed to have him. And Lord, we're thankful that
you sent him here. And Lord, we just ask that you continue
to watch over and care for us in Christ's name. As you remain sitting, let's
sing 332, my Jesus, I love Thee. 332. My Jesus, I love Thee, I know
Thou art mine. For Thee all the follies of sin
I resign. My gracious Redeemer, my Saviour,
art Thou. If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus,
tis now. I love thee because thou hast
first loved me. and purchase my pardon on Calvary's
tree. I love thee for wearing the thorns
on the If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, tis now. I'll love thee in life I will
love. thee in death, and praise thee
as long as thou lendest me breath. And say when the death do lies
cold on my brow, If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, tis now. In mansions of glory and endless
delight, I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright. I'll sing with a glittering crown
on my brow. If ever I love thee, my Jesus,
tis now. Thank you. Good morning. Let's go to Isaiah
62. Isaiah 62 verse 12 is our text. Now the scriptures in declaring
the salvation of God for sinners, well, we We see it as the doctrine
of grace. We see it as one doctrine, one
whole made up of several parts, several doctrines or teachings
about salvation. And in looking at these truths,
at these teachings, what the Lord shows us in the scriptures
about salvation, it gives us an understanding of how our Lord
saves sinners. what he does for his people. And what the scriptures show
us is that salvation is of the Lord. David wrote that in Psalm
3 verse 8 when he said, salvation belongeth unto the Lord and the
prophet Jonah being taught by experience of how the Lord showed
him and kept him and put him in the way that he should go,
Jonah said, salvation is of the Lord, of the Lord. All of God's
people are brought to know that salvation, truly my salvation
is of the Lord. It's not of my works, it's not
of my hand, it's not of my doing, it's of the grace of my God in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, What we see here in the
scriptures is that if I'm to be saved, if I'm to be delivered
from darkness and death and this condemnation that I have, that
I am in Adam, it's gonna be by the grace of God. It's gonna
be by his doing. Now to help us remember this
grace, to help us remember this doctrine of grace, men have identified
or come up with a word that is used as an acronym. meaning that
each letter in that word signifies or speaks to a particular doctrine. And that acronym that I'm talking
about is called, or the word is TULIP, TULIP, so that each
letter in that word signifies some doctrine, some teaching
of this doctrine of grace as a whole. And so the letter T,
which we looked at last week, the letter T stands for total
depravity. The letter U stands for unconditional
election, meaning that I didn't do anything to earn this election
from God, this choosing by God. God chose me unconditionally,
without any input from me. L stands for limited atonement,
I for irresistible grace, and P for perseverance of the saints. And as we'll see on certain letters,
there are some other choices of words, some better at times,
and we'll look at those, but it's fit into those letters,
because it just reminds us of tulip, and then we can think
of, oh, this is the doctrine of grace, this is how God saves
sinners, and it calls to mind a framework or an outline to
help us remember what God has done for us. So I said that last
week we looked at total depravity, but I'll give us a brief overview
of what that means. If we're saying that God must
save sinners, if salvation is of the Lord, we ask the question,
what's wrong with us? What's wrong with the people
of God that we need God to save us? What's so messed up about
me that I can't save myself, that I can't straighten up and
do things better and turn things around so that God will have
mercy on me and forgive me for my sins? And to answer that question,
the scriptures speak of the total depravity of man, the depravity
of man. Now that word depravity or depraved
means evil, wicked. It means corruption. We're corrupt. It means perversion. And what that means is what I
was created, how I was created, upright. When God created man,
he created him upright, but man hath sought out many inventions. Man is perverted from how God
made him. Man fell into sin. Man rebelled
against God. Man ate that fruit which God
forbade him to eat. And man became corrupt and defiled,
perverted from that image which God made us at first in Adam. And we see that manifested in
us when Christ, the Son of God, manifest in the flesh, came to
his own people, to the Jews. When he came there and he preached
the truth to them, he declared the gospel to them, and he did
many wonderful works in healing their sick, raising people from
the dead, showing that no man could do this except God sent
him. Showing that he is the Christ, preaching the truth to them,
he said to those Jews, he said, and ye will not come to me, that
ye might have life. Because that's the natural disposition
of man. He will not come. He will not
believe, he will not come to Christ. Sure, he will come to
a false God. Sure, he'll come to a God that
he must give permission to to save him. Sure, he comes to a
God that is dependent on his works and his choice and his
will and what he does. Sure, man loves that God because
that puts God in his pocket. And he's the determining factor
of whether or not he'll be saved. Man likes that power and control
because that makes him God. But man never comes to the true
and living God except God draw him. Except no man comes to Christ
except the Father which sent me draws him, he said in John
6. And so we see that our God must
draw us and call us by his grace. And so the Lord sends his gospel. And this gospel is heard by his
people, by his grace. And last time we saw it was in
Isaiah 62 verse 11, where he said, say ye to the daughter
of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh. Behold, his reward is
with him and his work before him. And so the Lord is announcing,
you tell my people, the daughter of Zion, And that's the people
of God. That's who the daughter of Zion
is. You tell my people that I'm bringing salvation. And to you
that are sinners, to you who know, I don't have a righteousness
of my own to stand before God and boast of what I've done and
be judged on my works. I can't do that. I don't have
righteousness. I'm a sinner. That's good news to sinners that
God's bringing salvation. And that's what he's saying.
You tell the daughter of Zion, my people, that my salvation,
I'm bringing my salvation to you. I'm saving you. I'm doing
for you what you need to be done. And once you understand that,
that you're totally depraved, once you know I'm dead in trespasses
and sins and I can't do this, To hear what God has done for
sinners becomes glorious, wonderful, peaceful, happy good news, because
He's done everything necessary to ensure my salvation. It's
good news to the sinner. To the one who's got some righteousness
of their own, to the one who's good in themselves, it ain't
good news. They don't want to hear that. They want to hear
what they need to do and what they can do. We declare what
God has done in his son Jesus Christ. And so, if it's by grace,
then the Lord has a people. And he said, say ye to the daughter
of Zion, you say to my people, you go and declare this word
to the daughter of Zion, those people for whom this grace shall
come, and they're not gonna come short of it. They're not gonna
come short of it, they're gonna obtain that promise. All right,
now that brings us to the rest of the word, tulip there. So T for total depravity, man
is totally defiled and ruined in sin, so God must bring the
salvation. Now here are the points there,
U-L-I-N-P. According to God's word and the
spirit testifying to us what we are, we are made to know I'm
a sinner, I'm depraved, I'm defiled, I need God's grace. And this
is declared, these points, the reason why I'm talking about
Tulip, these four points here today is that's what is outlined
for us in verse 12. Let's read verse 12. And they
shall call them. Who's the them? The daughter
of Zion. They shall call them the holy people. They shall call
them the redeemed of the Lord. And thou shalt be called sought
out. and thou shalt be called a city
not forsaken. Each one of those phrases there,
the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, sought out and a
city not forsaken, each one of those lines up perfectly with
each letter in TULIP there. So let's take the letter U, that's
the first one, which stands for unconditional election. The Lord in this verse says they
shall call them the holy people. They shall be called the holy
people. There's a people who are, who
the Lord says are the holy people. That means there's a people who
are not the holy people. There's a people who are the
holy people, who are called the holy people, and a people who
are not called the holy people. How do we know? God manifests
in his people faith, which looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
how we know who they are. We don't know by looking at anybody.
There's some people that are sweeter and nicer and more lovely
than other people. But that doesn't tell us who
the people of God are. Some people are just nicer than
other people. But just because you're mean and grumpy most of
the time doesn't mean you're not a child of God. And just
because, any more than the fact that you're sweet or nice to
people, that doesn't mean that you're a child of God. God manifests
in his people faith, which has no confidence in this flesh,
but has every confidence in the God who sent his son and sent
him to lay down his life for us. That's our confidence. And
that's only revealed and manifested in God's elect chosen people. He does the manifesting. He's
the one who reveals faith in his people. And oftentimes, it's
in the most unlikeliest sorts of people, people you would never
think would believe. Yet God loved them and chose
them and revealed, manifests this faith in them, which looks
to the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts 13, 48, you could turn
there, explain, I'm just going to read one verse from Acts 13,
48, but just to set it up, Paul and Barnabas were called by the
Lord to go out and preach this gospel to sinners, and so they
began to go out into the Gentile cities. And they left the city
they were in called Antioch, and they went to another city
called Antioch of Pisidia. So that's where they are now.
They're in a city called Antioch of Pisidia. And there, they went
to the synagogue to preach to the Jews. The Jews actually asked
them. They said, if you brethren have something to say, go ahead
and say it. Stand up and say it. So they
began to preach the gospel. to these Jews that were there.
And there was a few Gentiles there as well, a few Gentile
proselytes that were hearing what Paul and Barnabas were saying. And the Jews were somewhat cool
to hearing what they were saying, but they weren't totally rejecting
it yet. So they said, well, come back
next week and let's talk some more about this. We got to roast
on and we got to get home and eat some food. So we'll come
back next week. Well, next week, not only did the Jews come, but
the Gentiles, a lot of Gentiles from the city came out to hear
what Paul and Barnabas were preaching, this gospel they were preaching.
And the Jews looked around and said, we don't like this. This
isn't for them, this is for us. This word is just for us, not
for these Gentiles. And so they began to fight against,
to push back against, and to challenge the things that Paul
and Barnabas were saying, to contradict those things, which
they were saying from the scriptures. And so Paul said, well, it was
necessary that we came and preach this gospel to you. to you who
you would think would hear it. It was necessary for us to preach
it to you, but seeing as you guys put it from yourselves low,
we turn to the Gentiles. We'll preach it to them. Now,
Acts 13, 48 says, and when the Gentiles heard this, heard what? This good news that they were
to hear this good news in the Lord Jesus Christ. They were
glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And note, and as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. As many as God chose
out of those Gentiles who were chosen, who were ordained of
God, those people believed. That means there was also some
Gentiles there that were gathered that didn't believe. But those
that were there that believed, that were chosen of God, they
did believe. And so, just as the Lord says,
they shall call them the holy people, the holy people. That
was Acts 13, verse 48. They are the holy people, as
opposed to those who are not the holy people. Turn over now
to Romans 9. Let's see another example here.
Romans 9, verse 21 through 23. This whole chapter deals with
election. We'll just look at a few verses. But Paul deals entirely with
the choosing, the election of God, the unconditional election
of God. Romans 9, verse 21 through 23,
he asks this question, hath not the potter power over the clay? The potter, and this would be
our Lord, God Almighty, and we are the clay, all the people.
born from Adam, all the people descended from Adam, does he
not have power over the clay of the same lump to make one
vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing
to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory." And
so we see how that God makes sovereign choice. And that's
humbling to us who are sinners. That's humbling to us to know
that God has manifested this faith and hope in me for Christ. He's done that for me, a sinner,
an unworthy sinner, even a Gentile. who doesn't deserve any mercy
or grace from God, but God would give me faith, which looks to
His Son and rests in His Son. That's mercy. That's compassion
and grace. In fact, he says there in Romans
9, verse 15 and 16, He says there, for he saith to
Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it's
not of him that willeth, it's not my free will that saves me,
it's not of him that runneth, it's not my good works that save
me, but of God that showeth mercy, mercy. And so we see that God
chooses whom he will, and he does this apart from our works,
apart from the things we do. In fact, if you look at Romans
9-11 while you're there, for the children, this is Jacob and
Esau, the twins in Rachel's womb, 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. And so we
see that God's not looking to what we do or even what we will
do. He looks at his own sovereign
choice and will in himself. Go over to Ephesians chapter
1 and we'll wrap this point up. There's many scriptures, I'm
just showing a few here. Ephesians chapter 1, God is revealing
And he reveals in his people whom he will. The reason why
one sinner hears and believes, as opposed to another sinner
right next to them, doesn't hear and doesn't believe. The difference
is God. The Lord is the one who reveals
his will and purpose. And that's what we see in Ephesians
1 verses 4 and 5. It's according as God hath chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. So that God made sovereign choice
entirely within the good pleasure of his own will. Not any external
input that He take into account. He just determines what He will
do. And He's Sovereign God. That's why He does it and why
He's able to do it. And we fall before Him crying out, You are
God, you are worthy of all honor, praise, and glory because it's
your will and you do as it pleases you. Now, so we see there, total
depravity, unconditional election. Now we come to limited atonement. That's the part of the acronym.
Now a better description, what I would like is definite atonement,
definite atonement, because it puts the emphasis on what Christ
has successfully accomplished, that all for whom he shed his
blood, For the atonement that he made it is successful and
has accomplished that purpose for which he has come to lay
down his life. He saves his people. He does
not fail. None for whom he shed his blood
come short of this salvation. It's definite atonement. They
shall never come short of the glory of God who called them.
who chose them and who sent his son to lay down his life for
their sins. So that brings us to that second one in Isaiah,
stay and don't lose your place in Ephesians if you wanna see
another verse, but back in Isaiah 62, 12, the next phrase was,
they shall call them the redeemed of the Lord. And that's what
we're talking about, redemption, the purchase of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the purchase of his people with his blood as the payment.
He redeemed his people. And so Christ's death on the
cross was a redemption, it was a purchase. It leaves no possibility
of failure because it is the purchase of Christ's precious
blood. It's the purchase of his people
with his own precious blood. Just like you walk into a store
And in that store, you pick out the things you want to buy, and
you go up to the counter, and they tell you it's $15.18, and
you break out $16 or whatever, and whatever it is, or $15.18,
or you get your change back, but you pay that exact amount,
and then you walk out with those goods. And no one can stop you
and say, what are you doing walking out of here with that $15 candy
bar? I paid for it. All right. No problem there. You don't walk out with the whole
store, you walk out with what you purchased. You take what
you purchased. And so Christ came and laid down
his life for a people, the daughter of Zion, who he speaks of throughout
this word, declaring to them, I'm bringing my salvation. You
tell my people, I'm bringing my salvation. You tell them and
they shall hear. They're gonna know my salvation
and God will never The father who is well pleased with the
son will never dishonor the son. He'll never turn away one for
whom Christ shed his blood. It shall not fail. He has all
whom he purchased. And so this emphasis in definite
atonement is placed on the successful Savior. The successful Savior. Not man, not the creature dead
in sins. All whom the Father chose unto
salvation, they were redeemed by the blood of Christ. All of
them. I'll give you some examples.
I know this can be the hardest one to hear oftentimes, but here's
some examples that show us that God has a specific people that
he speaks of in the scriptures for whom Christ shed his blood.
Ephesians 5.25 is one such example. And don't neglect these and say,
ah, that's not a major thing. No, it's major. It's very significant.
It's telling us exactly whom Christ died for. When Ephesians
525, he said, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also
loved the church and gave himself for it. He gave himself for the
church. We see the love of Christ accomplished
the redemption of his people. You love your wives the same
way Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Again, when
Paul was on his way to Jerusalem to ultimately go to Rome, he
was telling the pastors at Ephesus, he said, you men, you feed the
church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Christ purchased the church.
He laid down his life for the church, his bride, whom he loves,
resulting in their salvation, which he purchased with his own
blood. Acts 20, verse 28. And then again, I'll read another
one in Isaiah 53. That chapter of Isaiah 53, that
speaks of, that describes what Christ, the Lamb of God, did
in sacrificing himself for his people. And pay attention to
the pronouns that are in Isaiah 53, because they describe all
for whom the Lord did this work. And so Isaiah 53 verse five,
I'll just read that one, but you can read any one of them.
But he, our Savior, the Lamb of God was wounded for our transgressions. He's talking about a people and
I'll show you because at the end of that verse it shows you exactly
whom he's talking about. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes, we are
healed. All who are healed. It's a testimony
of God manifesting those whom He chose and those for whom Christ
laid down His life. It shows us that we are healed. You that believe on Christ are
healed. You believe because you've been healed. You've been raised
from the dead. You've been born again by the power of the Spirit
and believe and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You've been
healed. Christ gave His life for you.
Christ did that. His blood accomplished that life
in you, that salvation in you. That's why we rejoice in Him,
because Christ accomplished this salvation. He gave His life,
and life is accomplished. It's worked in you, it's given
to you. You shall not fall short of it, because God has purposed
it. Again, Matthew 121, thou shalt call His name Jesus, for
He shall save His people. His people from their sins. Not one falls short for whom
Christ gave His life. We rejoice in Him. He shall save
His people from their sins. They are healed. All whom He
purchased, they are healed. And so we see there the sovereign
election of God, that love that God has for His people, He made
sure that Christ purchased them. and gave his life for them and
they shall not come short of it. They are healed, they will
be saved. They will hear the good news
and they shall believe. Next is the letter I in TULIP. I, I stands for irresistible
grace, irresistible grace. And so back in Isaiah 62, 12,
the phrase that goes with that is, and thou shalt be called
sought out. you shall be called sought out. And so that's exactly what the
Lord does. The Holy Spirit is sent of the
Father and the Son who seeks out the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. He seeks out all those who are
lost. And in death, in darkness, in
bondage, in the prison of sin, he seeks them out. And He brings
this life, this healing to them. He brings the light to them in
their darkness and calls them out of that darkness. He gives
them a new birth. When you're looking at John 3,
16, or not, well, we'll go there in a minute, but when you're
looking at John 3, there's Nicodemus, a religious man, and he's talking
all fancy, saying, we know you're of God, we see the things you're
doing, and he's trying to make it sound like he's one of them
in the dark and in the secret. And Christ said to him, you must
be born again. Nicodemus, yes, you're religious,
but you must be born again. And man doesn't get himself born
again any more than he got himself born the first time. It's according
to the will, the sovereign will and purpose of God that we're
born in the flesh the first time. And it's exactly according to
the sovereign will and purpose of God that we are born again. So that he said, you can't even
see the kingdom of God except you're born again. How are you
going to believe on Christ whom you've not seen? You must be
given life from the dead, a new birth by the spirit, then you
see, oh, he's salvation. All men have not faith, but I
see Christ and I hear his voice and I believe him. Lord save
me. We cry out, we begin to cry out
just like a newborn babe begins to express signs of life. They cry and they need to be
swaddled and comforted and have heat. and protected, the Lord
does that for his people. We begin to cry out, Lord, save
me, keep me, Lord, don't let me go. And he shows us, I've
done it. You're calling out because I brought this salvation to you. He seeks you out. And so in John
3, 6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. This flesh doesn't
do spiritual things. You need the spirit of God to
do spiritual things. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. So your flesh isn't getting you
saved, the spirit of God whom I've sent. He's the one who brings
us healing. He's the one who gives you life
from the dead. And then he said, verse seven,
marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. Because
no man will believe it, except I give them life from the dead.
Except I give them life and light, no one will hear. You will not
come to me that you might have life, except I give you that
life and draw you to myself. And then you hear and believe
and see your need of him. I'll just read to you, and we'll
come back to John. I'll just read. that very thing about manifesting
faith. Romans 117, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it's
written, the just shall live by faith. God's gonna manifest
faith in his people, whereby they walk in faith, trusting
him, because he's revealed it in them. That's why we walk by
faith, he's revealed it in us. And so, Christ tells us that
this birth wasn't initiated by us, God did this. He initiated it. He started it.
He did this work and revealed it in his people. John 3, 8,
the wind bloweth where it listeth. And thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.
So is everyone that's born of the Spirit. When you're born
again, You're born of the spirit, not of the flesh, and God sovereignly
chooses whom he will, which he made choice of before the foundation
of the world, before we did any good or evil. And so, since we're
there in John 3.16, oftentimes people say, well, wait a minute,
doesn't God love everybody? He said in John 3.16, for God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Doesn't
that mean everybody? Well, when he was talking to
Nicodemus, who's a Jew, the Jews believe this salvation is only
for the Jews. God came to save the Jews, not
the Gentiles. We're gonna step on their necks.
They're not gonna hear, they're gonna be our servants. And Christ
is saying to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, I have my sheep scattered throughout
the world, some from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation, and
I'm calling them. I've come to save all my people,
Jew and Gentile, because there's one Savior, there's one salvation. Not many, not one for the Jews
and one for the Gentiles, there's one Savior. So God so loved the
world that he sent me to save my people, scattered throughout
the world, Jew and Gentile. And so we see that, and then
one more for this effectual, irresistible call, this grace. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13 and
14. That's on your way to Hebrews
there as you're getting back in one of the last letters of
Paul there. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, Paul says,
I'll give you a minute. If you get to Timothy, you've
gone too far. So after Colossians. We'll get to 1 and 2 Thessalonians
there. In 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13,
Paul says, we're bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. How? Through sanctification of
the spirit and belief of the truth. In other words, the spirit
was sent to you. and he sanctified you by setting
you apart for this word, to hear this word, to believe this, and
to give you faith in the truth of what we're saying in Christ.
Where unto, verse 14, he called you by our gospel. Many are called, but few are
chosen, and He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of
the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Meaning, He purposed for you
not only to be called, but to hear it and to believe it. So
that you've obtained this salvation. You've been healed by the blood
of Christ. You hear and believe Him and trust Him. and he's all
your hope. So it's worked effectually in
us. So that's the irresistible call. You will not come short
of it. God will not be denied by his
people. He shall save them. All right,
the last letter is P in TULIP. P normally stands for perseverance
of the saints in the acronym, but some people prefer to emphasize
the preservation. So it says the preservation of
the saints. We persevere according to the preservation of our God.
He preserves us, and so we do persevere to the end. And that's
the last phrase there in Isaiah 62, 12. Thou shalt be called
a city not forsaken. You shall not be forsaken. God's
not gonna leave you on your own. He's not gonna turn you back
to your flesh to figure things out and to keep yourself saved.
He shall preserve you unto the end. You shall not be forsaken. And so what God is showing us
here is that man, in his case, is desperate. When he says you're
dead in trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2.1, he means you are
spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. And a dead man can't
do anything to help himself. He's not gonna be moved to the
casket, except someone move him there. He's not gonna be put
in the grave, except someone move him there to that grave.
A dead man can do nothing, and that's what we are spiritually.
We cannot save ourselves. We need a new birth by the Spirit
of God who gives us life from the dead. makes us to hear what
our Savior has done, to believe it. And he makes us to rejoice
in it. Peter said in 1 Peter 2, 9, but
ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation of
peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. We shall show forth the praise,
the handiwork of our God who has delivered us from death and
turned us from dead works and vain hopes to the living God
to trust his son. If God chose them, then Christ
came and redeemed them. That's what we're saying. God
chose them. Well, if he chose them, Christ came and redeemed
them. He purchased them with his own blood. And if Christ
purchased them with his own blood, then the spirit is sent of God
to seek you out to separate you unto this, to call you by his
gospel, to the obtaining of that healing, to the obtaining of
salvation for which Christ laid his life down for you. And if
the Spirit effectually calls you or irresistibly calls you,
then you shall never be lost. You shall never be lost. And
see, that's why it comes together as a whole. That's why they all
stand together. If you're totally depraved, then
you can't save yourself. God has to do it. And he does
it through election, through sending his son to lay down his
life for you, and then irresistibly calling you, and then he preserves
you unto the end. Philippians 1.6, being confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you,
God began a work in you. You didn't begin the work, he
began the work. And he shall, he will perform it until the
day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1.6. Then again in
1 Thessalonians 5.24, faithful is he that calleth you who also
will do it. God will do it, you shall not
fall short of the glory of God in your salvation. Again, John 6.39, our Lord said,
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that all which
he hath given me. that means he didn't give me
all but everyone that he did give me I should lose nothing
but shall raise it up at the last day all whom the father
gave to Christ as his bride as his people he loses none not
a one that's comforting that's peace that's joy we're thankful
for that in John 10 verse 27 Our Lord said, My sheep hear
My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. Why? Because you are preserved
by the Son. And He says, My Father which
gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of My Father's hand. Why? Because they are preserved
of the Father. I and my Father are one, Christ
said. We are kept and preserved by our God. And so these titles
which are given to us who believe the holy people, the redeemed
of the Lord, sought out, a city not forsaken, they declare the
strength of God's will and purpose to save his people. He designed
it. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
belongeth unto the Lord. The Lord has established by His
own will and purpose that His people shall be saved and there
is nothing that's gonna come and derail that. Nothing that's
gonna stop that. He cannot be thwarted. He has
His people whom He loves and He saves them. How do I know
He loves me? Because you look to Christ. He's
revealed, He's manifested that faith in you. and giving you
no confidence in this flesh, no hope in any other salvation,
but he's called you out of darkness and made you to hear what Christ
has done. And to your ears, that's good
news. Thank you, Lord. You brought
salvation. You brought salvation to me, an unworthy sinner who
had no strength or power to save myself, but you did this. You
did this, Lord. And so I'll close with Ezekiel
20, verse 44. which shows that it's in his
hands. He said, ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have
wrought with you for my name's sake. Then you'll know. And when
I've wrought this in you for my name's sake, not according
to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye
house of Israel, saith the Lord God. And so our God shows us
these things, declares these things to draw from us all praise,
honor, glory, and power given to him. We cast our crowns before
him because this salvation that he's wrought in us is all to
the praise and glory His name and that's what he shows us brethren.
That's what he shows us. So I pray the Lord bless that
word to your hearts and Certainly, we'll see everywhere you read
in the scriptures. You see the salvation of God.
Amen Let's pray and then we'll we'll take the Lord's Supper
together Our gracious Lord. We thank you father for this
mercy. We thank you Lord for this grace, which surpasses all
our understanding, which shows us, Lord, that we didn't save
ourselves in any part. We didn't initiate this. We didn't
cry out to you first. We love you because you first
loved us. And Lord, we thank you for that,
for your grace and your mercy in your son. Lord, help us to
see our savior, to rejoice in him, to rest in him alone. Lord,
we thank you for this. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks. And Lord, we ask for our brethren
that you continue to heal us, help us in our sicknesses, in
our weaknesses, in all our failings, Lord, forgive us. Turn us again
and again to you, to rest in you, to look to you alone. It's
in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right. Brother Joe's gonna Hand out
the bread and the wine. You that believe Christ, who
hope in him, this is for you. Take of the bread, take of the
wine, and remember, remember your Lord. Go ahead, brother.
Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna read this time from
Mark. From Mark. Mark 14. You know, this morning we were
looking at how the Lord saves us from the bondage of fleshly
things. And here we take the bread and
the wine. We partake of this bread and
wine. And so my mind was always like,
well, why do we do that? Like, why do we get baptized? And why do we take the bread
and the wine? And it's because we remember. We're brought to remembrance
what we are in ourselves, what sinners we are. and how that
the Son of God came in the flesh and laid down His life for us
and did this for us. We're remembering Him. We see
Him in this, and we're thankful. We're reminded of our Savior,
even in these humble things of the bread and the wine. So we do it in remembrance. It's not for grace. It's not
to receive anything special. It's because our Savior has,
in obedience to the Father, came
and laid down His life for the sheep, and did that work which
the Father sent Him to do faithfully, completely, entirely. And we're
thankful for that. So I'll read this, and then I'll
sit down, and then we'll take the bread and the wine together.
Joe will come up and close us in a hymn. So I usually like
to, when I'm here in Mark 14, I like to read verse 27 first,
where our Lord said unto his disciples, all ye shall be offended
because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite
the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that
I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. So we see that
we are sinners. We had no part in this and yet
our savior, went and laid down his life, even for us being offended
in him and being enmity against him when he did it. Now back
in verse 22, it says, and as they did eat, Jesus took bread
and blessed and break it and gave to them and said, take eat,
this is my body. And he took the cup and when
he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank
of it. And he said unto them, this is my blood of the new Testament,
which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will
drink no more of the fruit of the vine until that day that
I drink it new in the kingdom of my God. And when they had
sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Let's all stand and sing one
of our favorite hymns, Amazing Grace. 236, Amazing Grace. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
am found. Was blind, but now I see. Was grace that taught my heart
to fear And grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come. Tis grace hath brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. When we've been there ten thousand
years Bright shining as the sun We've no less days to sing God's
grace Than when we first begun Thank you.