Turn with me to John 17, where
our brother just read. Let's read the first 11 verses
again. John 17. Verse one says, these words spake
Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, father, the
hour is come, glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify
thee. As thou has given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
has given him. and this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do, and
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received
them and have known surely that I came out from thee. and they
have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, and all
mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I'm no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that
they may be one as we are. We're gonna dive right into our
subject matter this morning. I'm not gonna set anything up
or build up to anything. We're not gonna look at a story.
We're not gonna go line upon line. We're just gonna hit the
ground running with what we're gonna look at, and it's this.
I've titled this message Questions and Answers. That's what we're
gonna look at, some questions, and then we're gonna answer those
questions from John 17. So I don't know if this is a
little bit of a different outline or not. I kind of thought it
felt like a Bible study, but nonetheless, here we go. All
right, questions and answers. We're gonna start with this one.
Is God sovereign or not? All right, that's our first question.
And I believe it's a good one. I believe we need to get to the
bottom of it because the name of this church is Kingsport Sovereign
Grace Church. Do we need to change our name
or not? Is God sovereign or not? Is God absolutely sovereign? What that means is, is He the
supreme ruler and controller or not? It's one of the two. Look at verse one with me. These
words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,
Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all
flesh. Is God Almighty sovereign or
not? Well, He has power over all flesh. He holds the power over every
man. And somebody will say, surely
you don't mean every man. Think about some Famous or infamous
men in the world. Surely you don't mean every man.
He holds the power. I don't understand much about
God. But I believe based on his word,
he holds the power over every man, every woman, every boy,
every girl in this world. He holds the power over animals,
birds, fish, that's flesh too. Anything that has flesh, if it
has flesh, He has the power over it. Turn with me over to Matthew
28. Matthew 28 verse 18, and Jesus
came and spake unto them saying, all power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. In my Bible, I have a center
margin and next to all power, I have a bunch of scriptures
listed. Four or five scriptures right
there listed. Just listen to these, okay? Matthew 11 verse
27 says, all things are delivered unto me of my father. All things,
everything. First Corinthians 15 verse 27
says, all things have been put under Christ's feet. Everything. Ephesians 1 says, Christ is far
above all principality and power and might and dominion and every
name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that
which is to come. All things are under his feet
because he is the head over all things, everything. It says there,
he worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Philippians 2 says everything
bows to him. Every knee's gonna bow. Every
tongue's gonna confess. To add a few more, Proverbs 21
says that the earthly king's heart, and that does mean ruler
of a land, but we're our own little kings and our own little
dominions right here. And it says the king's heart
is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water, he turneth
it whithersoever he will. Deuteronomy 32 says he kills. No car accidents kill. There
are no accidents with God. It's only purposes. Disease kills, this kills, that
kills. He kills. He makes alive. He wounds. He heals. Colossians 1 says He is before
everything. Everything in heaven, everything
in earth, everything visible, everything invisible, every throne,
every dominion, every principality, every power. Everything was created
by Him and for Him. In all things He has the preeminence.
That means He has the reign over it. He has the reign over it. So, in answer to our question,
yes, absolutely, most definitely, God Almighty is sovereign. God
Almighty is sovereign. He is in absolute sovereign control
over all things, period. All right, go with me back to
John 17. Here's our second question. Is man in his flesh really dead
to God? I believe everyone could agree
that man is sinful. I believe everyone knows man
has sinned. Boy, we would really have to be deceiving ourselves
to think that we've never sinned. All right, but here's our question. Is man really dead before God? Spiritually dead? I know physically
alive for a moment, But is man really so lost and so ruined
it's to the point that in our flesh we are actually dead to
God, dead before God? Well, look right here at John
17, verse 2. It says, as thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life. He said, that's the power that
has been placed in my hands by my father. I have the power to
give life. Life where there is no life. Life to dead sinners. That is our natural condition
before God. We're not just ruined. There's
an old saying, wrong on the fall, wrong on it all. People think
in the fall, Adam and Eve shouldn't have done that, and God smacked
them on the hand and said, now get out, you know, you're gonna
have to be punished now. That's not what happened. Wrong
on the fall, wrong on it all. Our Lord said, Adam, in the day
you eat that fruit, you're going to die. And that's what happened. That's what happened. First Corinthians
15 says, in Adam, all died. All died. Romans 5 says, By one
man sin entered the world, that was Adam, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned. Now what does it take for a dead
man to have life? God has to give it to him. That's
the only way. That is the only way. God has
to give it to him. Can a dead man earn life? How
did we receive life the first time? People talk about being
born again, okay? How were you born the first time?
God had to do it. God has to give life. Ephesians
2 says, and you hath he quickened, given life to who were dead. That's what it says, who were
dead. Even when you were dead in sin, the Father quickened
you together with Christ. By grace, you are saved. You know, recognizing man's deadness
gives all the glory to God. Recognizing man's deadness gives
all the credit to Jesus Christ. When you're dead, there's no
cooperation. When you're dead, me and Jesus
don't have a good thing going. So is God Almighty really sovereign? Absolutely. Is man in his natural
condition truly dead, truly spiritually dead before God? Absolutely.
All right, here's our third question. Did God really elect a people
to save or not? Did He really do that or not? Did God choose? Did God literally hand select
a particular people to save? Did He really know who they would
be before the foundation of the world? Did He really love those
particular names and those people with an everlasting love? Before
He formed them in the belly, did He really know them? Look at John 17 verse 2. As thou
hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given Him. Who did Christ sovereignly
come to give eternal life to? Here's the answer. Every single
soul that the Father particularly placed in his hands. He said,
as many as thou hast given me. As many, the exact number. that
thou hast given me. Look at verse six. He said, I
have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me
out of the world. Did Christ die for the world?
No. Look at verse nine. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world. He didn't even pray for the world,
much less die for the world. I pray for them, I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine, all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I'm glorified
in them. Christ is not glorified in this
world. He's glorified in his elect,
which his father gave to him out of this world. Verse 12,
he said, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in
thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept. And none of them is lost but
the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Those that thou gavest me. Ephesians 1 says God's people
were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
2 Thessalonians 2.13 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. 1 Peter 1 says
that God's people were elected according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. Romans 9 says, that there was
only one reason for the life of Jacob and Esau being made
known. You realize how many stories could have been told from the
Old Testament? Thousands of years and thousands
of families and thousands of boys and girls and Jacob and
Esau. Jacob and Esau. Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob. I'm the God of Jacob. Jacob have
I loved. Romans 9 says, the only reason
Jacob and Esau's story was made known was so the purpose of God
according to his election might stand. That's the whole reason. Is God sovereign? Absolutely. Is man dead? Absolutely. Did God elect the people to save?
Thank God. Absolutely. Election, you know,
people think, man, it sounds so hard. Well, hard would have
been God not electing a people and let every soul on this earth
run straight into hell. That would have been hard. Love
put his hand down, said, not you. I love John 5, it says, the son quickeneth whom he will. Is God sovereign? Son. Man dead? He quickens. Did he
elect a people? Whom he will. All right, here's
our fourth question. Did Christ save his people or
not? Is God sovereign? Is man dead?
And did God elect a people? Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.
All right, now, did Christ save his people or not? Did he save them or not? You know, so many people will
stand up in pulpits and say, now, don't you want to be saved? Yeah, you want to be saved, don't
you? All right, here's the question. Did God save his people or not? If the answer is not, then let's
talk about that. Look back at, I don't know if
I moved this or not. Go to here, John 17. Is that where you are? Verse
four. Did he save him or not? That's
our question. Verse four, I have glorified thee on the earth.
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. God the
Father laid on Christ a work. All right. What was that work? God laid a work on him. What
was that work? Turn with me over to Luke chapter
nine. Luke chapter 9 verse 28, And it came to pass, about an
eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James
and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion
of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and
glycerine. And behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elijah, now watch this, who
appeared in glory and spake of his decease, which he should
accomplish at Jerusalem. What was the work that the father
gave to Christ? He gave him the work of his own
decease. How can God die? You want to
talk about something that's impossible. How can a sinner die? Well, that's
easy. Sinner's already dead, and then if he wants to end his
physical life, that's easy. How can God die? You have to
have sin to die. The wages of sin is death. By
sin, man came into the world. God is holy and spotless. and righteous and perfect. The
reason nothing dies in heaven is because there's no sin there.
That's the reason why. In order to die, you have to
have sin. How can God die? God the Father laid on God the
Son a work that only God could accomplish. He came to accomplish His own
death. How did he do that? By taking the sin of his people
and not only laying it on him, not only pressing it into him, but taking complete and total
ownership of all of that sin. He took complete and total ownership. I'm telling you, he removed sin
from his people as far as the east is from the west. He was made sin. He was made sin. He came here to pay the wages
of sin for his people. Did he do that? Did he pay it? Turn over to John 19. John 19, verse 28. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon
Hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. I don't know if I've ever personally
entered into the accomplishment of his death like this before. Not just that he was willing
to do it, but that he was able to do it. That he was able to
obtain that victory. He gave up his own ghost. Romans 8 says, What shall we
then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Isaiah 40 says, you comfort
my people by crying to them that their warfare is accomplished. Their sin is pardoned, for they
have received of the Lord's hand double for all their sin. Double
love, double mercy, double grace. Is God sovereign? Absolutely
he is. Is man dead? Absolutely he is. Did God elect a people to save?
Absolutely He did. Did Christ save them? Absolutely
He did. Salvation's finished. The preaching
of the gospel is a notification of what is already finished.
It's not a call to action. The action has been done. Now
this is a notification of the action that's already been done.
And that's why it's good news. I like work okay, but I like
rest a lot better. And that's what the gospel says.
Rest, the work is done. It's already done. All right,
now here's our fifth question. Will the Spirit really notify
God's people of this? This is a good question. Will
the Spirit really call God's people to a knowledge? Will the
Spirit really take God's people out of religion? And when I say
religion, I mean false religion. That's what most of it is. And
will He really call them to a knowledge of who Jesus Christ really is? He's not just a good man who
lived a good life and showed us the good way and is trying.
Will the Spirit really notify all of God's people who Christ
really is, the sovereign Savior, and notify them of what He really
actually accomplished in full for them? Will every one of them
come to a knowledge of the true and living God? Well, look back
at John 17. Verse 3 says, and this is life eternal, this is eternal life, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, not the one that everybody's
made up in their mind, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. Verse six says, I've manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world, thine
they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. That word kept means believed,
held fast to thy word. Verse seven, now they have known
that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For
I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they
have received them, and have known surely that I came out
from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me." They
believed on me. They believed on me. Look at
John 6. I'm almost finished. John 6. Verse 37, John 6, verse 37, it says, All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Often people wonder,
people wonder this a lot. I've had conversations with many
people about this. Will God save a soul? Did God
choose a soul, die for a soul? you know, redeem the soul and
will God save a soul and never reveal Christ or the truth to
that soul? Will God, is it possible for
God to have people on this earth that he's chosen to save who
he intends to just leave them in the dark forever and never
reveal God? and salvation in Christ to them? Here's the answer. No. No. Every soul that the Father gave
to Christ will come to Jesus Christ. That soul will leave
himself or herself. That soul will turn from himself
or herself, his religion, his thoughts, his ways, and every
one of them will bow the knee to Jesus Christ. Everyone will
bow the knee to the Word of Jesus Christ. Everyone will confess
with the tongue, He is Lord. That means sovereign. The definition
of the word Lord is sovereign. And to the glory of God the Father,
He's sovereign. Look right here at verse 45.
It says, It is written in the prophets. and they shall be all
taught of God." All of them. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Every
man. The sovereign God will seek and
save every one of his people. That means will call to himself
every one of his people. He will lead every one of them
to repentance. And repentance is a changed mind
from works to grace. That's what repentance is. Repentance
does not turn us to works. You know, people think repent.
That means I got to feel guilty and feel sorry and go make it
right. That's not what it means. You
will feel guilty. You will feel sorry and you'll
have a desire to make it right. But that's not what repentance
means. Repentance doesn't turn us to works. Repentance turns
us to Christ. The goodness of God leads us
to repentance. Everybody enters this world thinking
good works will save us. Repentance changes our mind on
that and says it's the blood of Jesus Christ alone. All of God's elect will receive
that repentance. All of his elect will receive
his faith to believe God's word and to believe what it says about
Christ. All right, last question. Go
back to John 17. Romans 8 says, Whom the Lord
foreknew, he predestinated. Whom he predestinated, he called.
Whom he called, he justified. Whom he justified, he glorified. Okay? Here's our last question. Will all believers, every dead
sinner that God elected, saved, and called, Will all believers
persevere to the end? Will every redeemed believer
make it to glory or not? Will all of them make it to glory
or not? Because there are some who say
that there are people in hell who Christ died for. There are
some who say that there are people in hell who Christ died for.
If Christ died for them, that means the father chose them and
gave them to Christ. Is that a possibility? Can some
of God's people be lost in the end? Are all of them going to
make it to glory or not? Here's the answer. Verse 11. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that
they may be one, even as we are. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept, and none of them is lost. but the son of perdition,
that the scripture might be fulfilled. Look at verse 22. He said, and
the glory which thou gavest me, I've given them. Does that not overwhelm you?
That's an amazing statement. The glory which thou gavest me,
I've given them, that they may be one even as we are one. How one are the Father and the
Son? They're so one, he said, if you've
seen me, you've seen the Father. He said, I want them to be one
with us as we are one. That's one. Verse 23, I in them,
thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. and that
the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them
as thou hast loved me." How much does the Father love Christ? He said, I want the world to
know that you've loved them just as much as you love me. Verse
24, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me
be with me where I am that they may behold my glory. Can't wait. Can't wait. What are we going to do in heaven?
I wonder what we're going to do in heaven. We're going to
behold his glory. Which thou hast given me for
thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. O righteous father,
the world hath not known thee, but I've known thee and these
have known that thou didst send me. And I've declared unto them
thy name. and will declare it, that the
love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."
That's good, isn't it? 1 Peter 1 says, all of God's
elect are being kept by the power of God through faith, through
Christ, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I
will raise every single one of them up. at the last day. To Him be the glory for that.
Amen.