If you take your Bibles and turn
back with me to Psalm 135. Psalm 135. A text we found in
verse 6. The scripture says, Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven and in
earth, in the seas and all deep places."
I've entitled this message, The Pleasure of the Sovereign God. The Pleasure of the Sovereign
God. Now, the psalmist begins this
psalm and ends this psalm in the same way. With what? Praise ye The Lord. You get the sense of His purpose. The purpose is that His servants,
He says, you servants of the Lord, you that stand in the courts
of our God, here is your benefit, your obligation, your purpose. Praise the Lord. That is our purpose. He tells
us to praise the Lord, and then He gives us multiple reasons
as to why we should praise the Lord. Look at that in verse 3. Praise the Lord, for He is what?
Good. You realize that God does good
things, but that's not why God is good. You and I determine
people to be good based on what they do. You do something good
and they say what? You're good. That person, he's
a good husband, he's a good father, he's a good worker, he's good
at this, therefore he must be what? Good. Listen, God does
good, listen, because he is good. That's what the psalmist is saying.
God essentially is good. Now that's why you should praise
him, because he is essentially good. Think about what God made this
earth. This is what God said. Every
time He created something, He said, Behold, it is good. In
other words, it's perfect. It's good. Why? I made it. I'm
good. I'm perfect. Therefore, what
I have made is perfect. Now you look at this earth now,
and you see it is not perfect. And that's not God, that is sin. Sin has brought in all of the
misery that we face in this world. But the psalmist has an intention
here to consider God's goodness specifically toward his people. He says he chose Jacob. He chose
Israel. He said, I've destroyed Pharaoh
and all of his host wives to give an inheritance to Israel. God is good in the salvation
of His people, so we consider the goodness of God. The greatest
display of goodness is God's salvation of sinners. What Paul
said, he said, you know, scarcely for a good man some would dare
to die. For a righteous man, peradventure, you might find
somebody But here's the goodness of God, that God came not to
save the righteous, but sinners. That's against everything we
think. You've got some guy that's wanting
to hurt you, hurt your family. Do you want to do good to him?
Is that natural? You want to hurt him. You want
him to stop. What does God do to the evil?
God saves the wicked. How good is that? His grace overabounds
to save them. The psalmist would not have us
ignorant of this goodness, of his salvation. And this salvation
of God, we are going to learn, is not random goodness. People do random acts of goodness. You give money to a charity,
you don't know where it's going, you don't know what it's doing.
You just give it out of the goodness of your heart and hope that it
does good. Now we find out that that's usually
not the case. Somebody takes your money, gives
three cents of every dollar to some poor guy and keeps the rest.
But you have a good intent. See, God's goodness is very specific. When God intends to do good to
a sinner, all 100% of the goodness goes to the sinner. It's on purpose. Everything God does is good and
it is on purpose. Not some random universal type
of goodness. But it is directed by His sovereign
will and pleasures, so the psalmist says, whatsoever the Lord pleases.
Now what does God do? What does God do? You listen. David's telling you God is going
to do exactly what He pleases to do. In heaven, in earth, in
the sea, in the places you don't even know about. You know what
God does? Whatever He pleases. Now these are precious truths
and promises. There are many precious truths
and promises in the scripture, aren't there? That's why men
read the scripture. They're looking for some precious promise to
hang on to. They're looking for something
that they can trust in. How do you know that the promises
of scripture are going to be sure? How can you know when God
promises something, it's going to happen? This is how you know. Because of the sovereignty of
God. the sovereignty of God. It is the sovereignty of God
that supports and affirms that all His promises shall be without
failure. If God were not sovereign, you
would have no hope that any of these promises would happen.
Listen to what Arthur Pink said about this. He said, is based
upon recognized greatness. You're not going to worship somebody
unless they're greater than you. Any God that's not greater than
you is not worthy of worship. What are you saying? And greatness
is superlatively seen in sovereignty. It's exceptionally viewed. It
is magnified in this matter of sovereignty. And no other footstool
will men really actually worship. In the presence of the divine
king upon his throne, even the seraphims veil their faces."
Divine sovereignty, what do you think of when I tell you that
God is sovereign? Well, this sovereignty is not
what comes to the natural mind. The natural mind, when he hears
about a sovereign, he hears tyrannical despot. That's what men think about God
when you tell him he's sovereign. But the exercise pleasure of
one who is infinitely wise and good, that's what you should
Your attitude toward God's sovereignty, you should recognize this. God
is good. He is sovereign, but He is good. He is sovereign, but He is also
all wise. He is all wise. Because God is
infinitely wise, He cannot err. You understand? Because God is
infinitely wise, He can't make a mistake. And because He is infinitely
righteous, He can do no wrong. Here then is the preciousness
of the truth, the mere fact itself that God's will is irresistible
and irreversible may fill with fear. It really should. It should cause the sinner to
feel fear that God is sovereign. But once you realize that God's
will is only good, that everything God does is good and right. Now listen, that don't always
mean that you're going to feel good about what God does. You're
not going to think that everything God does is right. Why? Because you're not good. You're
not wise. You don't see everything, do
you? So here is the final answer concerning
this. What kind of attitude should
we have towards sovereignty? Well, the becoming attitude is
for us to take us and make us to fear God, to reverence God.
That's a proper attitude to understand God's sovereignty. You should
reverence God. It should lead to implicit obedience and unreserved
resignation. That's what it should lead you
to. God is sovereign and you are not. What does this lead us to? It
should lead us to the earth. It should lead us to the dust. But not only this, if by God's
grace we see that this sovereign God is not just our God, but
He is also our Father. Doesn't that change the attitude?
Doesn't that change everything? God is sovereign. But you see
it in a different light when you see that God who is sovereign
is also my Father. He's my Father. And we ought to be overwhelmed
in our hearts and cause us to do exactly what the psalmist
said. Praise the Lord. The sovereignty of God should
cause every servant of the Lord to praise Him. To praise Him. To bless Him. It should cause us to say this,
even so. Even so, Father. for it seemeth
good in thy sight." In every instance, in every struggle,
in every difficulty, this should be the heart of every believer,
even so. I don't understand it. I don't
know what you're doing. I don't know why I hurt so much.
I don't know why this is going on. I don't know why this pain
has come to me. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in your sight. Why? Because I'm not all wise.
He is. And I'm certainly not all good.
He is. And so when I hear of sovereignty,
it moves me to praise God. And in our text, in verses 15 through verse 18, the apostle
is going to mention other gods. He mentions other gods. He says
they've got eyes, but they can't see. They've got ears, but they
can't hear. They got legs, but they can't
move. They got arms, but they can't hold you. They can't reach
you. They can't save you. Go over to Isaiah and look at
this. Isaiah 46. This is the same thing
that David is saying here, but I like this way of looking at
it. Isaiah 46. Look at verse 6. Isaiah chapter 46 and verse 6. He's talking about false gods.
He says they lavish gold out of a bag. They waste silver in
the balance. They hire a goldsmith. And what do they do? They make
a god. Isn't that something? They take a bag of gold, a bag
of silver, put it together, melt it in, fashion it, and they make
a god. And then what do they do? They
fall down and they worship it. They lift Him up on their shoulders.
They carry Him. And they set Him in a place.
And what is He going to do? He just stands there. And from that place He shall
not be removed. Why? He can't walk away. They made Him. They bowed to
Him. They pick Him up. They carry
Him. They put Him over in a corner. And He's going to stay there
until someone decides to move Him. Yea, one shall cry unto him,
yet what? He cannot answer, nor can he
save them out of trouble. Remember this and show yourselves,
men, bring it again to mind, you transgressors. Now listen,
what he's going to do now is he's going to show you the difference.
The difference between the God that deserves worship and praise,
and the God that deserves contempt. The God that deserves contempt,
He's made. He has to be carried. He has
all of the features of a God, but He can't do anything. And
then what does God say about Himself? He says, remember the
former things of old, for I am God. I wasn't made. No man made
me. I'm God. And listen, there's
none else. I am God and there's none like
me. And here's the difference. Declaring the end of all things
from when? From the beginning. From ancient times of things
that were not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure. You see the difference? See the
difference between a false God and a real, the real God? The
real God and the false God are distinguished by this one thing,
sovereignty, power, and will. You can give a false God all
of those attributes, but if he can't do anything, Then what good is He? Matter
of fact, David said those that worship that God are just as
dead as that God. If your God's not sovereign,
listen, He's not God. It just don't matter. You name
Him whatever you want to. You can call Him Jehovah. You
can call Him Jesus. I'll tell you this, if He's not
sovereign, He's not God. This is what separates the true
God from the false God. Now the God of this world, the
God of this modern age, is a God that desires to save. He wants
to save. But His will is somehow subjected
to the will of man. that he wants to do something,
but man will not allow him to do it. Listen, that God is not
God. That's a made-up God. Why? Our God is in the heavens, and
what has he done? He's done whatsoever he pleased. I heard a message this week and
somebody drove by a church and they had a sign and said, Jesus, God's Plan B. I'm serious. God had a plan with
Adam, but when that plan failed, he had to rely on another plan. Listen to me, that God's not
God. That God's not God. God's somebody made up. The God
of this generation is trying to save. The Christ of this generation
tried to make salvation possible for the whole race of man, but
is unable to redeem them and is powerless to save them because
they won't let him. That is not the God of this book. That's not our God. Our God has
done whatsoever He pleased. That's just so. Whatever He pleased.
That's what He does. In heaven, and listen, in earth,
in the sea, and every other place you don't know about. Our God
does whatsoever He pleases. So what did Nebuchadnezzar find
out? Nebuchadnezzar, his heart lifted up to heaven. He said,
look at me. Look what I've done. Look at
this kingdom I've made. And God made him to eat grass
like a cow for seven years. And yet, didn't let anybody take
His kingdom. Isn't that something? Nobody
took His kingdom from Him. God made Him eat grass like a
cow for seven years, and when He come to Himself, He said this,
Who shall say unto him, or hinder him, and say, What doest thou?
Isn't that what man does? I don't like this, what you're
doing. Who cares what you like? It doesn't matter what men say.
None can stay his hand. Can you stay his hand? Can you
tell him he's not doing right and make him do something different?
Now if you can change God, listen, if you can change God, your God's
not God. So whatsoever happens in time
is exactly what God determined to do. Don't you know that everything
that has happened And everything that has happened,
you listen to me, it pleased the Lord to do it. Whatever is
happening right now, the Lord is pleased to do it. And whatever
is going to happen, it is because the Lord is pleased to do it.
Now I've got five things in this. I'm going to move on. I've got
to move on. I've got five things regarding the sovereign God that
are plainly revealed to us in Scripture concerning His pleasure. Now this is the question I want
to answer. as determined to do whatsoever He pleases. Now, I
think it's a valid question. What is He pleased to do? What
has God revealed to us? There's a lot about providence
and a lot of things that God is not pleased to reveal to us
as to what He's going to do. Or how this works together for
our good. A lot of that He does not reveal. But there's a lot
in Scripture that He reveals concerning His pleasure. His
pleasure. First of all, It pleased the
Lord to choose Israel. Look at your text. Go back there.
Psalm 135. Now, whatsoever God did, He pleased
to do it. Now, look at verse 4. For the
Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar people. The election of grace is the
pleasure of God. God's electing grace is the pleasure
of God. Consider the sovereignty of God,
that before the foundation of the world, God loved a people. That's just so. God, before the
world, loved a people. They're called the elect. That's
what God calls them. Here they are called Israel or
they are called Jacob. Now why does He do this? Because
God would use the nation of Israel as a picture and a type of His
elect people. You know this from Romans chapter
9, the apostle Ask that question. He says, is the Word of God of
none effect? God promised to save Israel.
God says He loves Israel. God said He was going to deliver
Israel, redeem Israel. And yet, here's Israel and they
crucified the Lord. Is God's Word of none effect?
No, Paul says, because not all that are Israel, nationally,
are of Israel, spiritually. And you remember he gives the
illustration of Jacob and Esau. Listen what the scripture says,
for the children not yet being born, neither having any done
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
to her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now God could have
done that without revealing it, right? He could have loved Jacob
and hated Esau and nobody had to know. Why did God tell Rebecca? Why did he prophesy about this? Because he would have you know
that election is his pleasure. According to the sovereign will
of God, he said, I loved Jacob and I hated Esau before they
were born. Before they were born. Why? As what he says in verse 11 of
Romans 9. according to that election might stand, that you might understand
this. God is revealing His pleasure,
and His pleasure was this, to save a people. To save an elect
people. And so just as God loved and
chose Jacob before he was born, this is true of all the elect. God passed by all those other
nations you remember Israel Israel was a small nation how many other
nations were there and yet God never revealed himself to any
one of those nations just Israel I want to do that because he's
showing you that he is going to reveal himself only to his
elect Now pay no mind to the God of
this world who claims to love everyone. His love is nothing more than
a sentimental emotion, isn't it? What good is His love if
it has no power? Isn't that so? If He loves you
but He can't save you, does that remind you of the... it reminds
me of the God made. The God who's put over in the
corner, who can't do anything unless you let Him. Pay no mind to the God of this
world who has a sentimental love, the God who wants and designs
salvation for all men, but has no power to do it. One preacher
asked this question, I thought it was a good one. If God loved
Judas and Peter the same, What does the love of God have
to do with salvation? If God loved Jacob and Esau the
same, what does the love of God have to do with salvation? Nothing! It would have nothing to do with
salvation. Nothing. But listen, here's the difference.
Our God is in the heavens and hath done whatsoever He pleased.
And this is His pleasure. I have chosen Jacob." That's
His pleasure. That's His pleasure. So this
evening, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, we know that
it was only because God has chosen us. That's it. The only reason I
believe The only reason I am saved is because God made a sovereign
choice, not based on anything I had done or ever would do for
Him. He chose me out of sovereignty. Sovereign love. And again, you could read Ephesians
1, I've read it to you a thousand times. Blessed be the God, see
what Paul's doing? He's blessing the Father just
like David said to bless the Lord. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places. How? According as he
had chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. And you read in Romans 9, you
know it's not according to works. He didn't look down the portals
of time and see what I would do, and then make His choice
based... That's not sovereignty. In other words, His sovereignty
would have been yielded to my work. No. It wasn't any different than
anyone else, and neither were you. The only difference that
was made was God choosing. Doesn't that humble you? Doesn't
that bring you down to where you can only give praise? You
can only give thanks? We could have never merited such
love by our works. We could have never pleased God.
I could have never pleased God. And yet it was the pleasure of
the Lord to choose us This is what the scriptures call
the New Covenant. That God made for His elect people
this covenant of grace. And notice what Paul says in
Ephesians. He says, He had chosen us in
Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him. Isn't that a wonderful standing
to be holy and without blame? That's what God purposed that
you be. in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children.
Listen, He even determined the means, right? By Jesus Christ. That's how you're going to be
made holy. By Jesus Christ. Now listen, according to the
good pleasure of His will. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. That's what believers do, we
praise the glory of His grace. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2
and verse 13, it says, We are bound to give thanks always to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because, here's
the reason we give thanks, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. When were you chosen to salvation?
Isn't that easy language to understand, from the beginning? You were
chosen from the beginning. It pleased the Lord to save you
by Jesus Christ. This is His pleasure. His sovereign
pleasure. God not only determined to save
you, but He determined how to do it. By Jesus Christ. Look at Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah
chapter 53, verse 6. The apostle says, All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. But here's the hope. That's our condition, isn't it?
This is the condition of the people of God. We all, like sheep,
what do we do? Go in our own way. There we were, going our own
way, and yet God determined to do something for us anyway. But the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. This is the condition of God's
elect in the world. We've gone astray. We were born
dead in sins. We were by nature sinners without
hope of ever pleasing God. Yet God before our sin gave the
remedy. God gave the remedy before there
was ever sin. that Jesus, His Son, should be
made our substitute. That same message I was listening
to, this one guy, one preacher was talking about a man that
had passed, and his grandson was looking through his Bible,
and he noticed on his, I think it was his grandfather, but he
noticed on every page, every page his grandfather had written
the word substitute. What a good term for the gospel,
substitution. That's what Christ did, didn't
He? He was substituted. He was our representative. He
was made to be our surety. He was made to be our high priest.
He was made to be our offering. He was made to be our Savior. The Savior of the elect, what
God purposed Him to do. And so by the offerings of the
law, the obedience of the law, we could never put away sin.
I like this. This is what the apostle said
in Romans chapter 10. I'm going to read it in chapter
9. Hebrews, sorry, Hebrews chapter
9. Listen to what he says in verse 24. He said, for Christ has not entered
into the holy places made with hands, which are only figures
of the truth, types, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. Nor yet should he offer himself
often as the high priest entered into the holy place every year
with the blood of others. For then he must have often have
suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die and after this to judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him
he shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation. This is what the Lord is telling
us. The Lord is pleased that Jesus Christ should accomplish
salvation by entering into the presence of God, not with the
blood of others, but with His own blood, His own blood. In that next chapter in Romans,
in Hebrews 10, He says that the high priest, move my place, He
says in verse, chapter 10, in verse 11, He says, for every
high priest, standard daily ministering, oftentimes the same sacrifice
that can never take away sin. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, what did he do? He sat down. He's finished. From henceforth,
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by his
one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Listen, this is the will of God
that Jesus Christ should come into the world and save his people. That was God's will from the
beginning. No plan B here. This was always the plan. This
was always the way that Jesus Christ should offer himself.
Go back to your text. Look in Hebrew in Psalm 135. David mentions this in verse
9. In verse 9, verse 8, he said, who smote the firstborn of Egypt,
both man and beast, who sent tokens and wonders in the midst
of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants." What
is that pointing to? Isn't that pointing to Passover? Remember that night the Lord
says, I'm going to come through Egypt, and I'm going to judge
Egypt, and I'm going to kill the firstborn of every house. But He tells His people, He says
this, Take a lamb without spot and kill him in the midst of
the congregation so everybody can see it. In other words, you're
going to take this lamb and you're going to put him in the middle
so everybody can see you kill him. Then you're going to take
the blood and you're going to put it on your doors. Then you're
going to go inside. Shut the door. When I pass by,
and I see the blood, what do you say? I will pass over you. What is this but a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ? That's exactly what it is. Our
Lord Jesus Christ is the Passover lamb. He is always the pleasure
of the Lord. Why is it that they were passed
over? Because God was pleased with
His offering. That's why God passed over them.
Why is it that God's going to pass over you? How is it that
God's justice is going to pass over you? Because God is pleased
with His offering. What pleases the Lord? What's
the word, please the Lord? It's what He did. This pleased
the Lord. Even the death of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the only thing that's ever
pleased Him. It's the only act that has ever pleased His justice.
In Isaiah 53 it says, it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. What
pleased God? The death of His Son. It pleased
the Lord to bruise Him, to put Him to grief. Thou shalt make
His soul an offering for sin. He shall see His seed. When He
died, who did God see? God saw us. See, I didn't escape punishment. I was punished in Him. He was my substitute. He was
my federal head. He was my representative. And
when God punished my sin, He punished it in Christ. And God was pleased. He shall
see, listen to this, He shall see of the travail of His soul
and be satisfied. Therefore, praise ye the Lord,
His servants, Praise Him for God is satisfied
in this, that Christ has removed all our sins. Is that not worthy to be praised?
That Christ has removed all our sins. Thirdly, it pleased the
Lord to effectually call everyone that Christ saved. Everyone that
Christ saved. Go to John chapter 3. Our Lord here talking to Nicodemus
in verse 3. He says, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. The necessity of the new birth
cannot be overstated. We are all born dead. And the
only hope is that God would give the sinner life. And that's what
the Lord Jesus Christ is talking about. And then he says this,
this is the job of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Father was our
election. The work of the Son was our redemption. But the work
of the Holy Spirit is this, even the new birth. He said, the wind
bloweth where you enlisted. You can hear the sound, but you
can't tell where it's coming and where it's going. Listen,
even so. is everyone that is born of the
Spirit. The Spirit of God is the means of the new birth.
The Father having chose a people, Christ having redeemed that people,
the Spirit of God then is, it is His work to call them. To call them. In that text in 2 Thessalonians
2, He says that God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation,
listen to these words, through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. Now this is comforting to know, that everyone the Father chose
and everyone the Son redeemed, every one of them is going to
be called. Why? Because whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He. In heaven, in earth, in all places. It pleased the Lord to choose
us to salvation. It pleased the Lord to redeem
us by Christ. But listen, it also pleases the
Lord to call us. You that are called, you know
this to be true. That God called you. God called you. And if God had not called you,
you never would have come to Him. Now that's just what Jesus
said. Now, our Lord said this, no man
can come to me. Now is that not simple language?
That included me. I could have never come to him. Why? That's what he said. But how is it that we have come?
Except. I like that divine exception.
There's an exception there. Except the father which has sent
me draw him that's the only reason we came to Christ is because
he drew us Paul said this it pleased God Galatians 1 verse
15 it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
Called me by his grace And why you that you there alive today?
That's only the pleasure of the Lord in it and that separated
you from your mom's womb? Why are you breathing? Well,
that just is the pleasure of the Lord. You know it is because
you're alive. But Paul says there's something even greater than my
physical birth, my spiritual birth. My spiritual birth is
a result of the pleasure of the sovereign God. It's a result
of his pleasure. I think one of the greatest pictures
of spiritual calling is Lazarus. It's a very simplistic picture,
isn't it? Lazarus was what? Dead. What
could Lazarus do? He was dead. And to put an exclamation
point on it, they wrapped him up, bound his hands and feet. Now, he's in grave clothes, he's
a mummy. put a napkin over his head. Then
they put him inside of a cave and closed the door. Now what
could he do? What a picture of what I, that
was me. I was dead, bound in my sin and
I could do nothing else. Remember what the Lord did? He came to Lazarus and he told
him, move the stone out of the way. And then he cried with a
loud voice and he said, Lazarus, Very specific in it. Lazarus
come forth. Was it an invitation? Was he inviting Lazarus to come
out? Was he surrendering his sovereign power to the sovereign
will of Lazarus? He said, Lazarus, Come here. What else could Lazarus do? Matter
of fact, the scripture says he came forth, and I think this
is amazing in itself, bound. I don't know if he floated or
waddled. I don't know. But he was bound. He was tied
up. And yet he still came out. A miracle in itself. What a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ calling his people with power. See, this is God. That's God. When God says, come,
what do you do? What can you do? When he said,
believe on me, what else could you do? You didn't believe. What
could you do? Could you do anything else? No. That's sovereignty. I know this, I never would have come to Him
had He not called me, had He not given me power and ability
and faith. I like 2 Timothy 1.9, He said,
Who saved us and called us with a holy calling. It's a holy calling. It's a perfect
calling. There's a general call that goes
out, because I don't know who the elect are. I don't have any
clue. See, there's no power in me. I can call you. My call don't have any power. And you don't have any power
to respond until he says come. And when he says come, you ain't
got no other place to go. And I'll tell you this, you don't
want to go any other place. And so we are chosen by the pleasure
of God, we are saved by the pleasure of God, and we are called by
the pleasure of God. And listen, we are also saved
according to grace and not works. This is the pleasure of God,
that salvation is not by works, is not by works. Now the only people who are going
to be thankful for this are sinners. The only people who will praise
the Lord for grace are those who cannot help themselves. I know this, if Christ came to
call the righteous, I would not be called. But that's
not what the Lord says. He said, they that are whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not
to call the righteous. Now every sinner should smile,
because that's just great. I'm glad he didn't come to call
the righteous. But what? Sinners to repentance. Repentance from what? Repentance
from your works. Because that's the natural inclination,
is to think we work our way into glory. You must repent from that. And what do you repent to when
you repent? It's to turn from one thing to
the other, isn't it? What do I turn from? I turn from
my works to His. I turn from my offerings to His. Do I go back? No. I don't go
back. I don't turn to Him and then
turn back to my works. Now we repent from our works
and we return to Him. And then what do we find? We
find this, that salvation is absolutely by the free grace
of God. Listen to what Paul says in Romans
3, being justified freely. You that are justified. This
is what God pleased to do. He justified you freely by His grace. Now this is freeing because of
this. That means that I contributed nothing to this. You know what
I'm going to contribute to this? Nothing. It is 100% free. Why? Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He. And if He justified me, He justified
me because He pleased, He was pleased to justify me. And because
I am justified, because I am kept by His grace, because I'm
justified by His grace, listen, I'm also kept. That's what Peter
said. He said, we who are kept by the
power of God. Our Lord said this, Fear not,
little flock. You that believe, I know you're
afraid. It don't take much to cause you
to fear, does it? I know it doesn't mean. The slightest
wave, the slightest wind, and I'm afraid. Then He says to me,
don't be afraid. And here's why. It is your father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Why am I going to receive such
an inheritance? Because God was pleased to choose
me. Christ was pleased to redeem
me. The Spirit was pleased to call
me. All of this was done by the sovereign
grace and pleasure of the Lord, and because grace, it is by grace. It'll never fail. It'll never
fail. Why? Because whatsoever the Lord
pleased to do, that did He. God is pleased to save you and
call you. Listen to this. It is His good
pleasure to give you the kingdom. no matter what happens here.
There's a lot of stuff happening here. A lot of things happen
in our life. A lot of different providences
come our way. Dark providences, good providences. What does that have to do with
it? It only shows me His grace. His
providence only reveals more His grace and mercy. But I know
this, we shall endure to the end because it is His good pleasure
to keep us. Man, if it was based on works,
would you have any assurance at all? If salvation were based
on works? Would you have any assurance
of heaven at all? The only reason I have hope of heaven is because
God is pleased to give it to me. That's it. Sovereignty. Well, who's going to stop it?
If God's pleased to save you, who's going to stop Him? Who
will hinder Him? Who will say unto Him, what doest
thou? Nobody. Our God has done whatsoever
He has pleased. Where? In heaven, in earth, in
all the deep places you don't even know about. God does His
sovereign will. Is that the God you worship?
Isn't that a reason to praise? Isn't all of that a good reason
to praise the Lord, to bless the Lord? It is. I pray God give us the grace
to continually bless His name by believing in His Son. Let's
stand and be dismissed in prayer. Parents dismissed and prayer
please. Keep us in Your Word. Keep us
in Your Word. Thank You for Your Word. We'll
promise to love You God. We'll implore You. We'll pray
to You. We'll pray to You. We thank You for this day that
You've made. We bless You through the five
and three powers. How worthy You are to be praised
in the name of Jesus Christ. or we pray to those churches
that are gathered in my eyes and feel what the same things
are going to happen to me again in Christ's name, amen.