Would you join me in the book
of the Proverbs? It's so good to be here with
you tonight. We've enjoyed many, many times here at Rescue. We bring greetings from the saints
at the dows. I love them. I brag on them. Just like your pastor brags on
you. And I love the Dalles. I love
the scenery there. I love the people there, but
there's only one reason in this world I'm in the Dalles. And
that's an assembly of saints. And if it wasn't there, I wouldn't
be there. I'd have to go somewhere where I could assemble with saints. I've shared a number of times
that this world is a stage. And God is the absolute sovereign
director of this entire world. The dog catcher in Wasco County
is appointed by God. And the fleas on the dogs are
there by divine appointment. The elect, the elect of God, are the only true actors in this
entire world. And everything else and everybody
else are God's props. They give us milk and furnish
gasoline. They furnish people who are educated
to fly airplanes. But they're nothing but props. Would you join me in the book
of the Proverbs? Proverbs chapter 8. I want to
read verse 1 of Proverbs chapter 8 and then drop down to the verse
25 and read a few verses here. For we find in verse 1 of Proverbs
chapter 8, Doth not wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her
voice? Now lest I err on this point,
I must be reminded of a passage of Scripture in 1 Corinthians
1 and verse 30, for it tells us in that, but of him are ye
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom. Now I don't
have any wisdom on my own, but God in Christ is my wisdom. And my righteousness, I have
no righteousness. The righteousness of the law
is a fallacy. There's nothing to it, and it
will accomplish nothing. But the Christ of God is my righteousness
and sanctification and my redemption. Lest I forget what is written
over here in the book of Proverbs chapter 8 and verse 1 about wisdom,
let me go over there and find out who my true wisdom is, and
His name is Jesus, the Christ of God, the Son of the living
God. Now drop down with me if you
would here in the book of Proverbs chapter 8 and verse 25, and the
scriptures share this. Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills was I brought forth, wisdom was evidenced,
Christ was evidenced, before the mountains were created by
Almighty God. In the beginning, God. And that
sums up almost the entire Word of God when it comes to us or
anything else that goes on. In the beginning was God. While
as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest
parts of the dust of the world, when He prepared the heavens,
I was there when He set a compass upon the face of the depths.
when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the
fountains of the deep, when He gave the sea His decree that
the water should not pass His commandment, when He appointed
the foundations of the earth, then I was with Him. as one brought
up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always
before Him. Oh, what unity we have between
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! What true unity. There has never been a disagreement
between the Godhead. They have always been in absolute
agreement. And their agreement has been
evidenced throughout the entire history of this world. And everybody
that has ever been born, we find their unity has been evidenced
in the birth of that child and every event that has taken place
on this earth. And then it goes on to tell us
here, In verse 30, then I was with him as one brought up with
him. And then verse 31, rejoicing in the habitable part of his
earth and my delights were with the sons of men. My message tonight is The object
of His delights. The object of His delights. And
we'll want to look at a few verses of Scripture. I will ask you
to turn there and let's read them together. But as brought
up through this meeting here, there's been a number of verses
of Scripture that I'm going to use. Nobody looked at my notes
and I didn't look at anybody else's notes. But we're going
to use many of the same verses of Scripture. I was at a conference
one time when I was in religion, and a man got up and preached
on Naaman the leper. And there was a preacher sitting
right beside me and he said, I was going to preach on Naaman
the leper. That means I've got to change my message. You know
what? If we don't preach the same thing,
we're out. That's right. We're out. It must
be Christ and Him crucified. And we must look, as we look
into the Scriptures, we find the great benefits from eternity
to eternity of Christ and Him crucified. You know, the question
comes to my mind as I think about these things is have You ever
wondered why the Lord would have Romans chapter 8, verses 33,
34, and 35? The whole chapter, or the whole
book. Sometimes we ask, why would He have this written? Well, He's
very plain in the Scriptures of why He would leave us the
Scriptures, and particularly those passages of Scripture.
Turn over with me to the book of Romans chapter 8, if you would.
Romans chapter 8, verse 33. We find here in this wonderful
book This book of such completeness, covering all subjects. There
is so much in here about the fall of man, and the effects
of the fall of man, and the absolute need that we have of a Redeemer. And that Redeemer is Jesus Christ
the righteous. And He saves His people from
their sin on purpose. And here in the book of Romans
chapter 8, beginning with verse 33, The scripture says, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Have you ever wondered why that's
written there? Or jump down two verses of the scripture. Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation
or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril
or sword? Why was that passage of Scripture
left for us to observe even here tonight? There is an answer to
it as we're going to look into the Scriptures. And then, look
with me back to John chapter 10. Ask this question there as
we read about what the Lord has done. John chapter 10 verse 27
and verse 28 wonderful passage of scripture I find as I've been
listening to some of the old messages so I can get them on
sermon audio I don't know how many times I've said oh this
is a wonderful passage of scripture and then you go to another this
is a wonderful passage of scripture you know what it's all wonderful
It's for our benefit and for our glory. It is for the very
fact that the church can find great solace in God Almighty
and His Savior Jesus Christ. We find solace in Him and satisfaction
in Him and rest and peace in Him. And that's why we have it.
John 10, verse 27. The Scriptures share this with
us. 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." How can He write
that? How can He say that? By what
authority does He write those things and leave those things
for us? Well, let's just look at another passage of Scripture
over here. If you back up to the book of Matthew, we heard
this mentioned in the message just prior to this in the book
of Matthew chapter 25. This is eschatology. Matthew chapter 25 is my eschatology,
your eschatology if you're a believer. And that is when the last child
of God, the last one that He has ever determined to save,
whatever kingdom, whatever place, whatever nation, whatever island
they are on at this moment, when the last one is saved, we're
going to have this happen. And that is, they're going to
be lined up right hand and left hand. That's going to happen. Just like this. Turn with me
here to the book of Matthew chapter 25, and there it tells us in
verse 34, and I'll be speaking to those on the right hand side,
and it says, Matthew chapter 25 verse 34, The Scripture says,
"...then shall the King say unto them..." Underline that King. He's King Eternal. King Absolute. King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He is the Absolute One. He is going to do something after
the last one is saved by God's grace. When the last message
is preached, and the last one hears that message, and the Holy
Spirit brings regeneration to that last one, We're going to
have this happen. There's going to be a judgment
happen. And here it says, Then shall the king say unto them
on the right hand. Now he's already divided the
sheep as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. And on
the left hand side are the goats and on the right hand side are
his sheep. Here it says, then shall the
king say unto them on the right hand, come ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. How can he say that? Why did
he say that? As he records it here in the
book of Matthew. We also heard a passage over
in the book of Isaiah chapter 49. And so would you turn over
there with me to Isaiah chapter 49. In Isaiah chapter 49 verse
13, we have these words left for us to enjoy. Isaiah chapter
49, and there in verse 13, Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth,
and break forth into singing. O mountains, for the Lord hath
comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted.
But Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath
forgotten me. And then we read verse 15. Can
a woman forget her sucking child? Now let me just say this for
a moment. I didn't think that could be possible with my mother.
But it became very possible when she got a disease that took her
mind away from her, and she didn't know who I was. So a mother can
do this. from a literal standpoint. And
then it says, can a woman forget her sucking child that she should
have no compassion on the son of her womb? God answers, yes. How hard that is, but God answers,
yes. And then he says, They may forget,
yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me. I
have graven thee thy names, every name. pictorially, symbolically,
typically, however you want to read it. But they are there,
and when Jesus Christ went to the cross, He knew exactly every
one of His elect that He was going to lay down His life, a
ransom for. Nobody would be left out. And
there wouldn't be one extra one there, because He had them graven
on the palms of His hands, and those palms of His hands were
the names written in the Lamb's Book of Life, written there before
the foundation of the world. God can say what He has to say
about His people because He had an interest in them before the
foundation of the world. Now in religion, and I've been
dealing with a young religious man. I love him. I just love him. I love being
with him. I love that he has allowed me to share with him
the gospel even though repeatedly he has told me I don't believe
it. But every Wednesday we get back around and we get to visit
Him again. We have coffee together. And He has shared with me this
premise, whether He has declared it out loud or not, eternity
from this point forward is okay. Everybody that makes a decision
for Jesus, Everybody that does whatever the preacher asks them
to do, are given eternal life, and that eternal life begins
right now, here, in time, and goes forward. You know what God
has to say about that? That's poppycock. Because there's
a whole bunch of eternity backwards. I can't get my head around eternity. I don't know. I just can't. I'm
so confined to time. I'm confined to 24 hours a day. And you know what? Two-thirds
of that, or one-third of that, I'm asleep. I am confined to
time. I don't know anything else. But the God that gave us this
Word is not confined by time and He has eternity backwards
to eternity. And there is why we can read
verses just like we've read here concerning God having security
for His children because in eternity past, or as the old church father
said, old eternity, He took care of a serious problem before the
problem was ever even identified. Adam hadn't even been created
yet. Adam hadn't sinned yet. And God took care of the problem
because He had purposed what was going to happen in the future
from that eternal point. So this One, this One of God,
this God, has taken care of the issue before there was ever an
issue. He has taken care of our security
before we ever knew that we needed security. He has taken care of
our name and put it in a book before we ever knew that there
was a writing of a name. So this one, the Lord Jesus,
has taken care of all the problems. You know what? God has loved
His elect as long as He has loved His Son. Did you know that? Now
that's eternity, that's old eternity. Turn with me, if you would, over
to the book of John chapter 15. In John chapter 15, we find that
the Father has loved his people, the elect ones, those that were
given to the Son. That's why we can find in the
New Testament, we can find in the Old Testament, we can find
from cover to cover that all of God's people are absolutely
secure in His grace, that He will find all of them. He will
hunt every one of them down. I love what the old writers used
to say about the Holy Spirit. The hound of heaven. The hound
of heaven. He goes and finds all the lost
sheep, even down there in Java. Talking to this brother, where
he was born, he told me one time, and I couldn't remember, even
down there, in New Guinea, in the farthest places this planet
has, all of God's elect, the Hound of Heaven. Now, he can
only do what he does upon the preaching of the gospel of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Nobody is ever saved without
the gospel. Nobody is ever saved without
hearing the gospel. It is an essential, and that's
why people are sinned. Preachers are sinned. Missionaries
are sinned. And when they go under the leadership
of the Holy Spirit, they will go exactly where God wants them
to be to declare the truth of the gospel and share with God's
people there is security because God had an interest in you before
the world began. John chapter 15, turn there with
me if you would. John chapter 15 and there in
verse 9, the scriptures share this. John 15 verse 9, it says,
As the Father hath loved me. Now I can't wrap myself around
that kind of love, can you? as the Father hath loved me."
That's what Jesus Christ is saying about how much the Father loves
Him. You know, it's an eternal love. It's a great, strong love. It's a love without rise or fall. It is an unconditional love.
It just can go on in the description of how the father loved the son. But it goes on and says there,
as the father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. How long has the Father loved
the elect? As long as He has loved His Son. That's how long it is. So we
have eternal security in this. John chapter 13. Back up just
two chapters in John chapter 13. And there in verse 1. John
chapter 13 and verse 1. Well, I hoped it was a verse
that I wanted. Having loved his own which were
in the world, he loved them unto the end. We'll just leave it at that.
Having loved His own which were in the
world. He loved them until the end. To truly enjoy this generous,
gracious, loving security, the Lord shows us though shows those
he has loved with that important all eternity love the great love
that he has for his people there is a security in it and he has
established the fact that when we are in our sin it is God that
came to the horrible pit And it is God that lifted us out
of the horrible pit, and it is God that put us on the solid
rock, and it is God that established the singing in our soul, and
established our goings. Now there is a solid rock there
that the Lord places upon, and that's not just some big rock
of Gibraltar, that's Christ Himself. We are placed in Him, in His
redemptive work. We've always been there, but
in the time that He came and found us floundering in our sin,
as the Gospel was preached, and we said, I don't want anything
to do with that. You know what God knew better?
He said, I will have something to do with you so that you will
appreciate Me. And that's what he does. If he
hadn't done that, nobody would be there in the right hand side. called sheep and invited into
the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. If he
hadn't got involved so seriously that he would overcome the thought
that we have a free will. He has to overcome that. And
he will overcome that. In fact, we'll find out, you
know, I really didn't have a free will. My will was so contaminated
in the fall that I couldn't reach out to choose God. But I find
out that I'm thankful that He rest out and found me because
He laid my name in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation
of the world. Now in this very thing we find
a wonderful stone and his name is Christ, a solid rock that
he establishes upon and yet there are facets about this great solid
rock that I just want to share four facets about, four sides
about this, about the security that we have in this one Jesus
Christ. And that's why he could write
all of those verses about what he's going to do with his people
and how he's going to save them and deliver them and place them
in the kingdom prepared for them before the foundation of the
world. We know election is number one. There is a union established
by God in election that we would never establish ourself in. Election, as turn with me to
the book of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and
verse 13, and we read these words, so bound up in the elective grace
of God, An election took place in eternity past. Old eternity. It is not when we do something
for God and then He writes our name down. You know that song,
there's a new name written in heaven? That's going to be part
of the material used to keep the flame going in eternity hell. That is so wrong. There is no
new name written down in glory. There's always been a bunch of
names that no man can number. But notice here in 1 Thessalonians,
2 Thessalonians chapter 1, chapter 2 and verse 13, but we are bound
to give you thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth." It isn't until we're born again that we ever, ever
can even think about appreciating that verse of Scripture. Most
people don't even read it. They just leave it out. But by
the grace of God, we get to read the whole Bible. And the whole
Bible is filled with verses of Scripture just like this. That
God had an interest in us before the beginning of the world. Before
we would even think of Him, He had an interest in us. And He
chose a people in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Chosen in Him, it tells us in the book of Ephesians chapter
1 and verse 4. This gracious grace that Jesus
Christ is the head of election and the elect of God. He is the
head of this whole wonderful promise of God to elect a people
for salvation. He's the first that was elect.
The saints are given a very special place in the election. Oh, the
security, the safety, the preservation, all in Christ, the head of the
body, because of what he has done for us. We can read those
wonderful verses of scripture, my sheep hear my voice and they
follow me, and so forth. Another facet about this great
love that God has for his church, bound up in Jesus Christ, is
found in a very wonderful espousal that God made with the Son before
the foundation of the world, that the church would be the
Son's bride. You know, 51 years ago in June,
I met that lady right there on a Tuesday morning. And Thursday
of the same week, I walked up to her and said, would you be
my wife? Now before I told her that I
wanted her to be my wife, I had already said in my heart, there
she is. Now God does the same for His
church. before He ever lets us know. He has already done the work. It's an espousal. Husbands, love
your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for
it. In the Apostle Paul, in that
very passage of Scripture, he says, this is a picture. This
is a picture of Christ and His church. A marriage between a
man and a woman is a picture of Christ and His church. An
espousal. There is a relationship that
God has established for us in this marriage union between Christ
and the elect. This marriage is based upon the
act of betrothal before the foundation of the world. The church was
betrothed to Christ to be the bride. And that bride would be
that bride that He would present spotless before the throne of
God. God knew what was going to happen.
He purposed what was going to happen. He purposed what was
going to happen in the garden. And then He purposed also that
He would take the people that were the children of Adam that
would be born through time. All through time element. He purposed that there would
be some of those out of every kindred, nation, people, and
tongue that would be a spouse to the Son, and that the Holy
Spirit, through the preaching of the gospel, would give to
them regeneration, and they would make up His bride. Welcome to the marriage supper
of the Lamb. You know, there is that wonderful
passage of scripture, a picture about the marriage supper. And
there's a guy in there that doesn't have the right clothing on. And the king, the one in charge,
spotted it immediately. You know, we can't do that. The
rest of the folks there didn't notice that. But the man in charge
noticed that. He said, how come you're in here? You know, in Eastern custom,
all of the clothes were furnished. You went into a marriage supper,
you were furnished the correct clothes. You didn't take your
own in. And that's so true about the glorious wonderful robe of
righteousness that God gives every one of His children. This
robe is Christ, the righteousness of Christ, and we are espoused. We are espoused. There is a marriage
that will take place, and it's been promised by God Almighty
to the church. Another facet of this wonderful
truth of all those promises that God made throughout all time
to his people is that Jesus Christ is the federal head of his people. We find over there in the New
Testament it says, in Adam all died. Can you get your head around
that? in Adam all died. Death passed upon all men. I
mention this here probably almost every time I speak here. There's only one place we ever
discuss how dead is dead, and that's in religion. That young
man I've been talking to, he just can't come to grips, and
no one will unless the Holy Spirit reveals unto him that we're graveyard
dead spiritually. That we're like that valley of
dry bones, very dry. that it takes the breath of God
to come upon us, just as he did with Adam when he created him. He put there on the ground the
form of Adam, but there was nothing there at all until he breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and then Adam became
a living soul. And until the Holy Spirit breathes
upon us the spiritual life that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ,
death upon the cross, His burial and His resurrection on our behalf,
we will not see how dead we are. And then we find out, it's worse
than I thought. It's really dead. I had no ability,
whatever. And we compare ourselves with
a man that's been in a tomb for four days. And say, I'm just
like that man, only spiritually. And it takes the same power that
that one came out to that tomb and had that stone rolled away,
it takes the same power, the same voice, the same authority,
the same grace of God, come forth. And you know what? We're raised
from the dead. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. His going forth has been from
old, from everlasting. There's a union, a representation
that He has made. I represent. all of these that
will eventually end up on the right-hand side. I represent
them. Now, we heard about a court case
last night. You know, it's wonderful to be
taken before the judge and our lawyer's there, and he's the
judge's son. The Lord is our lawyer, our advocate. He's mine. You know, I just got
so when people say, well, how can you expect to go to heaven
when you did that? Take it up with my lawyer. I can't defend myself. It's foolishness
to defend ourselves because we're sinners. By nature, sinners by
practice and sinners by choice. So take it up with my lawyer.
He said he took care of it. I'm just going to believe that.
And then we find that there is a legal union between Christ
and his elect. Christ and the elect are one
in the eye of the law. If a bondsman pays the debt of
the debtor, in the eyes of the law, the debtor's debt is paid. If the bondsman, Christ, pays
the debt of the debtor, in the eyes of the law, the debt of
the debtor is paid. It's finished. Payment is made
in full. I have taken care of all the
sins of all my people for time and for eternity. They shall
not stand before God in judgment. I stood before God in judgment. We're so thankful that He is
the Good Shepherd and the Good Shepherd giveth His life for
the sheep. even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. The issue is
sin, and God shares with us throughout the Scriptures that all the sin
of the elect were taken care of by Christ on the cross. and
no charge shall ever be brought against them." Now, we stand
amazed in that kind of grace. Naturally, we say, you know,
we're kind of like those disciples. Who did sin? When this man can't see, who
did sin? Him or his parents? You know
what Jesus said? Neither him nor his parents.
That's right. but that the glory of God might
be seen. Now sin has been taken care of. We can't do a thing
about taking care of it ourselves because it's been taken care
of. Taken care of by the Lord Jesus Christ. We do try to do
anything for it or about it. We're just simply expecting our
righteousness by the law. Would you turn with me to the
book of Hebrews chapter 9? Hebrews chapter 9. How can all those verses be put
in there about the security of God's people? Because he took
care of the problem before the world began. And he shares it
with us as he has taken care, he elected a people. He elected
a people. He's going to marry those people
and those people are going to be presented spotless, not one
spot or wrinkle. That he stood in their place,
he represented them. Before a great God, they are
mine. I represent them. When I was
condemned to the cross, I represented them. When I was hung on the
cross, I represented them. When I said, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? I represented them. When He said
it's finished, I represented them. I represented them completely
and totally. They were unable to represent
themselves. I became their surety. I became
their representative. I became their legal advice.
I took all upon me. And then we find that he is the
federal, the legal union established in Christ. Hebrews chapter 9
verse 26. And with this we'll close. As
we think about the glorious salvation that is in Christ Jesus the Lord,
Hebrews chapter 9 verse 26. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the
world, now that's happened there, People really run amok about
saying this is the end of the world. This is the last days.
Don't get caught up in that. The last day will come when the
last sheep is saved. That day. But here, in the end
of the world, hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. Now he did that for the elect,
he did that for his church, his espoused church, he did that
for all he represented, he did that for this legal union, federal
union, whatever, he did it for them and no one else. They are the props. And they'll stand before God
at that day and say, when didn't we do all of that because we
worked our fool heads off? And his comment will be, Depart. Sure. You know what they'll do? Depart.