in Christ. But I think one is
going to lead into the other. Luke chapter 10. Let's read verses 17 through
20. Luke 10, 17 through 20. You remember
the Lord sent 70 disciples. Called and sent 70 other disciples
out to preach. And they returned. again with
joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy
name. And he said unto them, I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you
power to tread on serpents and scorpions over all the power
of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you, notwithstanding
In this, rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you,
but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."
That's the title and what I want to dwell on more than anything
is, your names are written in heaven. Is my name written in
heaven? There's some names written in heaven. Now, there's so much
very mysterious here that the Lord is speaking of. And no one
knows these things perfectly. None of us. Paul even said, we
preach in part. We know in part. The Lord said,
I have beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven. Isaiah 14 is the
story of that. And then in Revelation 12, it
talks about Satan being cast into this earth at a certain
time. John 12 is when the Lord said,
now is the God of this world, Satan, cast out, right before
we went to the cross. I know this much, that the Lord
Jesus Christ is the one who cast him out of heaven before the
worlds began. Something happened. We really
don't know. It's just conjecture. But I know it was the Lord who
says that there was war in heaven, and a revelation of war in heaven,
and Michael the archangel fought with a dragon. No, our Lord is
the one that cast him out. And on the cross, somehow, some
way, our Lord crushed the serpent's head. That was prophesied in
Genesis 3, remember. Satan is a real person, the devil. called by many names in scripture. The dragon, the roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour. He's a powerful being. Very powerful. He's not all-powerful. Scripture says a spiritual wickedness
in high places, but not the highest. He's called a ruler of the darkness
of this world, but He's not sovereign. He's a ruler, but He's not sovereign. God is. He's called the God of
this world, small g, meaning a ruler over this world according
to the purpose and authority of God. Romans 13 says He's all
power. or of God. There's no power but
of God. And Colossians 1 talks about
Christ being the head of all principalities and powers. And you know in the oldest book
in the Bible, Job, how that Satan had to come to the Lord to get
permission to do anything he wanted to do. Now isn't that
comforting? He's the God of all comfort.
Why? God over all. God over all. Now, he said here
to these men, verses 17 through 19, they said, the devils are
subject unto us through thy name. And he said, I do give you power
to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the
intimate. He did. But here's the thing that you
and I need to understand. In verse 19, the last line, nothing, nothing shall by any means hurt
you. It amazes me, it has amazed me
and still amazes me how relevant, how current, how necessary, how
needful, how timely God's Word is. We did not plan these studies
and it seemed like everything I read, confirms to me at this
particular time, when there's so much fear, there's so much
worry, so much death, so much chaos, so much confusion, it
just confirms who God is, and our hope, our help, our comfort,
our peace, our safety. David said, and I may quote this
five times today, Thou, Lord, only, makest me to dwell in safety. Only. Nothing shall by any means hurt
you. Is that needful right now? Nothing. Now do you understand
what these men were facing? Devils! Satan, the arch enemy, sent all
his power, The main purpose in this world is to blind men's
minds and stop their ears from hearing the truth and keep people
captive to Him. And here are these just men,
just me and Stephen and Philip, we believe, are some of these
men, just sent out, just working class, like us, being sent out. Kelly and Mike and John and me
are just going out. We're nobodies from nowhere.
And the devil is subject to us? Why? Well, it ain't us. It wasn't them. They knew that
through thy name. They were amazed. They marveled.
Now, Mark 16, and I was going to have you turn, but not now,
not for the sake of time, but is the divine, they call it the
Great Commission, where the Lord sent the apostles out and he
said to them, let me just read it to you. Go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe. In
my name shall they cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues,
languages. They shall take up serpents.
And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.
They shall lay hands on the sick. They shall recover. There are
so many fools. who have taken these scriptures
and corrupted them and perverted them, especially in Kentucky.
That's where most of the snake handlers are. Right? That's my kinfolk. Fools that
take up snakes. Why are they doing that? To honor
and glorify the Lord? No. To try to show off to people,
okay? That's not what the Lord was
saying there. There's no example in the scripture,
not one, of one apostle handling snakes. Look at here, see? We
have power. That's what false prophets did.
And why don't they get bit? God sends strong delusions. Because people won't believe
the truth. Okay, I'll leave you in your false refuge, in your
strong delusion. That's a fact. I drank deadly
things. I drank poison and all that.
See, it didn't hurt me. No apostle ever did that. Not
once. Not once. One time, in Acts 28,
Paul was shipwrecked on the Isle of Melita. And there were a bunch
of heathens all around. I mean, natives from the jungle.
That they were going to kill Paul and all that. And eat him,
I guess. And Paul built a fire and reached
to get some firewood. And a snake, one of the most
deadly snakes on that island, a black mamba or something, grabbed
hold of his hand and hung there. And they all thought, yeah, this
man, Lord, God's getting him. And he just shook it off in the
fire. Nobody went on baking the fire and cooking his bacon. And
then they all thought, no, God's not after him. He is a God. And
they started working. No. And the Lord did that so
that they'd sit up and pay attention to him. And he started preaching
the gospel, and the Lord saved some of those heathens. The Lord
saved some of them. Look, there's some Kentuckians
sitting right here, clothed in their right mind. We ain't handling
snakes. Fools corrupt God's Word all
over them. That's not what the Lord is saying.
The theme is and the comfort is for His disciples, them and
us, is that nothing shall by any means hurt you. You're walking
on danger all the time. We used to live on a little farm
going to woods, you know. One time Mindy saw a snake, a
copperhead, all coiled up down the woods. She was walking by
herself. She came running back and said,
go get that snake. Where was it? The woods is full
of them. The woods is full of them. She'd
been walking all over them all the time not knowing it. You
know that? Sure they are. Aren't you glad the Lord put
the fear of man and wild beasts and all that? Aren't you glad?
That's the Lord. There's danger. Here's the point.
Danger all around us. We're walking over it. Like the
story of Elisha's young servant, you know? Elisha's young servant,
he went out there, and the mountains were full of the enemy, and he
came running back in. We're goners. And Lord Elisha
prayed, Lord, open the young man's eyes. And he did. And he opened his eyes, and it
says there were chariots of fire and angels all around one man. Nobody could touch him. And that's
what Elisha said, show the young man that they that be with us
are more than they that be against us. So this is what the Lord
is teaching now. And we don't need to delve into
these things too much. Psalm 91. Read it. Keep reading
it. I urge you to just get in Psalm
90 and Psalm 91. Just stay there for about two
months until this whole thing passes, this calamity passes.
And you'll see that underneath us are the everlasting arms,
that we're in His hand and nothing moves and nothing harms us unless He says so. And if He
says so, then nothing's going to stop it. And it's going to
be for our good and His glory. Let that sink down deep in our
ears, into the recesses of our heart, so that we'll go to sleep
at night. And that's Psalm 4 again. I'll
go to sleep, he said, because thou only makest me to dwell
in safety. I'm going to sleep. Because he
that keepeth Israel doesn't sleep. The adversary doesn't sleep.
But there's a stronger than us, stronger than he, that keeps
it. Okay. Now that's that. Enough of that. Snakes. And that's what he said. Don't rejoice in that. Don't
rejoice in that. Don't be caught up in that. Hear
me? Here's what you need to rejoice
in. Your names are written in heaven. Alright, let's look at
this. Your names are written in heaven.
Rejoice in this. Your names are written in heaven. several times in the Scriptures. Let me just turn, I've got it
marked for you. In Daniel 12, you can turn to
Revelation 13. Daniel 12, I think it's the first
time. No, not the first time. Exodus
talks about the book. People written in the book. But
here, the Lord said to Daniel, The people of God shall be delivered.
Every one of them shall be found written in the book. The book. It's the Lamb's book of life. Revelation 13 verse 8, it says,
it talks about all those that dwell upon the earth shall worship
the beast whose names are not written in the book of life of
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Revelation 17,
go over there. It's spoken of again. Revelation
17 verse 8. Revelation 17. And this whole
book is a great mystery to most, and much of it is still a mystery
to us. But the whole book is about the
conquest of Jesus Christ on behalf of His people. He's the captain
of our salvation. And Revelation 17 verse 8 says,
that thou sawest, was, and is not, shall ascend out of the
bottomless pit, go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth
shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life
from the foundation of the world." So there it is. Now hold that
place in Revelation 17. Now it's certain that anyone
who denies such a book and denies that the people's names are written
in a book before the world began. It's certain that those people's
names are not there. Some of us men went down and
preached to a little group in Tennessee and preached this,
what we're preaching now. God over all, God's sovereign
electing, mercy and grace in Christ, putting their names,
putting them in Christ and their names in a book before the world
began. Well, that little Baptist group there just rose up in arms
about that. And one fellow actually said
this in a meeting with all the men. And Marvin was the last
to preach there, and after he preached, they quit inviting
anybody. But one man stood up and said
to all his fellows, he said, it's not a matter if this name
written in a book before the world, he said, it doesn't matter
if it's in the Bible or not. We just don't believe in it.
He flat said it. He flat out said that. We just
don't believe that here. That man, unless the Lord turns
him, his name's not in that book. And we just read that. They worship
the beast. They're captive to the God of
His Word. And anyone who denies any of God's truth, any of God's truth, their names
are not there. Well, whose names are there? Look at Revelation
17 verse 14. It said, These shall make war
with the Lamb. That is the world and the devil
and so forth. Make war with the Lamb. See who
they're fighting? And the Lamb, see who overcomes
them? The Lamb shall overcome them. He is Lord of lords and
King of kings. And they that are with Him are
called Chosen and faithful. That's who's in this book. Those
in the book, he says, are called, chosen by God, by Christ, and
faithful. You see, it's God's book. Billy
Graham, that false prophet, and Jimmy Swigert, all those men
used to say when somebody accepted Jesus, a new name is written
in heaven. He always said that. A new name
is written in heaven. There are no new names written
in heaven. Did we not read that that book
was written before the world began? Christ is the Lamb slain
before the world began. Those books were written in God's
purpose, in God's covenant, in God's mind. He put those names
of every one of His people in a book, gave them to Christ before
they were ever born, the purpose of God, According to election,
my stand. And Christ was the surety of the everlasting covenant,
the Lamb slain before it ever happened. It's done. I mean,
right then when God said, I've spoken it, I'll bring it to pass.
I've purposed it, I'll do it. There was no doubt whatsoever.
And He sealed that book. He sealed it up. And you know, those same fellas,
those same false prophets, they say things like this, well, he
fell away, he fell away, he left, and all that. So you've got to
take his name out of the book now. Well, John saw in Revelation
5, nobody could open the book. It's sealed. They couldn't open
the book. According to those fellas, that book's full of erasures
and scribbling and whiteout. Well, he's in. No, he's out.
He's in. He's out. When's he going to make up his
mind? Isn't that foolish? Aren't you glad? Salvation's
at the door. Now, you see, if you believe
that, you'd do what we do. You'd thank him. Gabe's article
in the short article in it. Aren't you thankful for a sovereign
election? If he hadn't chosen us, we'd never believe. We'd never come. We'd never repent.
We wouldn't be here right now. It can be anywhere but here.
Right? Those that are with Him are called,
chosen. John 12, I believe, the Lord
said to His disciples, John 15, You did not choose Me, I chose
you. Remember that? He kept saying
that. You have not chosen Me, I have chosen you. Aren't you glad? What's that
old poem that says, "'Tis not that I did choose thee, for,
Lord, that could not be. For hadst thou not chosen me,
I would never have chosen thee.' Spurgeon said, I know the Lord,
I believe, I know the Lord chose me before I was born, because
if He had waited till afterward, He sure would have chosen me
then. And that's me, isn't it? Jacob. Before he had done any
good or evil. How much good did Jacob do in
his life? Not much. A lot of evil. He sure was thankful
for sovereign electing me. I am too. And I'm just like him.
Happy as he that hath the God of Jacob received. I am the Lord. I change not. And I don't take
names out of that book. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consigned. I put a smile on your face for
a minute. Well, that makes a man sin. No, we sin more than we
want to as it is. It will make you praise Him.
It will make you thank Him. It will make you call on Him
to quit sinning. Those with Him, those are in
the book, they are called, chosen by God, by Christ, given to Christ
before the world began, and faithful. I love this verse in Mark 3 verse
13. It says, The Lord went up into a mountain, and He called
unto Him whom He would, Whom he would. He said, I'm the great
shepherd. I know my sheep. I call them.
And they come. He went up into a mountain, called
unto him whom he would, and they came. Every one of them. And then he said, I will in no
wise cast you out. It must be gospel to be, because
it's still just as fresh as it was in the beginning. Ephesians
1, you know these verses. I started to have you turn, but
you know them by heart. Blessed be God and the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, we're
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren and beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
unto salvation. through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by our
gospel to the attaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ."
Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? It's not
a doctrine. Barney used to say, it's not
a doctrine, it's a person choosing persons. And all of God's people know
that. They all know that. That He chose them, and they
love the truth. And he called them. My sheep
hear my voice, Christ said. I know them. I call them. And
they come. He said, I call them by name.
What are their names? Is my name written in heaven?
What are the names of the sheep? We'll get to that in a minute.
But the gospel call, he said, they're called, chosen, and faithful.
Chosen, given to Christ, and in time, they must hear the gospel. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. He that heareth, Is that plain? How the Lord saves,
the means He uses to save, the preaching of the gospel. He that
believe it and is baptized shall be saved. Cannot be saved without
it. Without the truth. Without hearing
the gospel. And without confessing Christ.
If you've been saved, you'll want to. Well, here's our gospel. The gospel. Paul says, it's our
gospel. It's the gospel. There's another
gospel, it's not the gospel. It's perversion, Galatians 1.
It's a perversion of God. Our gospel is how God chose a
people before the world. The gospel of God, the good news
of God's sovereign electing mercy and grace and love in Christ.
The good news, the glorious blessed news of redemption that's in
Jesus Christ. That he came, made of a woman,
made under the law to redeem them that were under the curse
of the law. Here's the curse. Here's the curse. Everything's
cursed because of sin. The law is a curse. Nothing wrong
with the law, but it's us. We break it. Christ came. Made a curse. Made under the
law. Made a curse. Curses is either
hanging from a tree. Christ hung on a cross. Why?
To remove the curse. To remove the punishment. To
blot out the handwriting of ordinances against us. This is the gospel.
Anything less is not the gospel. Anything more is not the gospel.
But you and Christ, is Christ keeping the law or is you keeping
the law? That's another gospel. That means you get some of the
glory too. He won't share His glory. No. Christ by Himself
purged our sins. He's the One made unto us righteousness. He don't make Himself righteous.
He don't sanctify Yourself. We're not saved by keeping the
law. We're saved by Him keeping the law. Alright? The Redeemer. Election by the
Father, redemption by the Son. This is the gospel. And regeneration
by the Holy Spirit. You must be born again. You don't
decide to be saved. That's another gospel. You don't
by your free will be saved. No, we're born again by the will
of God, by the Word of God, by the power of God. Because it's
to the glory of God. All of God's people know this.
No exceptions. No exception. The three R's.
Ruined. What happened in the garden?
Man died. Redeemed. How's he going to get
life? Jesus Christ. One way. His choice. His work. His person. Regeneration. How's a man going to go through
this life without the Spirit of God? Kept by the fire of God. The three R's. Did you learn
the three R's in school? I'd have to ask somebody at least
over 60. You know what the three R's are,
don't you? Read and write and rip and tick. You've heard this story, I love
it. One of the young girls that grew up in the church where my
father pastored was in school in the first grade. And the teacher
asked the kids, does anybody know what the three R's are?
And Catherine, she held up her hand. She said, OK, honey, what
are they? She said, ruined, redeemed, and
regenerated. And that teacher, I mean, this
is a person who probably had a master's degree, maybe a doctorate,
been teaching all her life. Professor said to me, why? She
said, what are you talking about? Six-year-old girl knew more of
the truth than she did. What do you mean, ruined, redeemed? They'll all be taught of God,
our Lord said, John 6, 45. All taught of God. And great
shall be the peace of His children. Yes, we were ruined, but Christ
came to redeem us. Are we still centered? Yes, we
are. But the Spirit of God keeps us. That's salvations of the
Lord. God's people are taught this.
They know this. For His glory and their peace. Their comfort and their joy.
That's the reason all of them that are called, chosen... Now,
I've got to get to that. Revelation... They're faithful. Called, chosen and faithful.
Go to Revelation 17 again. Revelation 17. Read it with me
again. Revelation 17. Called by the gospel, chosen
by God, given to Christ. They're faithful. What do you
mean faithful? They're faithful to His glory.
They're faithful to His name. They're faithful to His worship.
Those that have been saved by grace, buddy, they're going to
come and worship Him for it. It ain't a part-time thing. It's
their life. It's their marriage now. They're
married to Him. They're faithful to His service,
His people, His worship, His glory, His honor. Look at Revelation 17. It says,
"...called, chosen, and faithful." Revelation 7 is what it was.
Revelation 7. Go back there. Now here's what
all of them are doing in heaven. Do you know there are only, I
think, three names. No, a few more angels. But earthly names in the Revelation. John, of course. Moses. They sing the song of Moses.
And Jesus Christ. There are no names like Elijah
or Abraham, they're not in the Revelation, okay? There are no
names. It's my name there. Well, here's
what the people are doing. Revelation 7, verse 9. No, I'm sorry, Joseph is up there,
the son, but not all. Verse 9 says, I beheld, lo, a
great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations,
kindreds, people, and tongues, stood before the throne, before
the Lamb, clothed with white robes, palms in their hands. Well, what are they doing? They're
worshiping the Lord, rejoicing in Christ Jesus. They have no
confidence in the plan. They cried with a loud voice,
every one of them. Here's what every one of them is saying,
then and now, salvation to our God. Well, where is it? Sitting on the throne and the
Lamb. And all the angels stood round
about, fell on their faces, that's the fear of the Lord, and worshipped
God. Verse 12, say, Amen. You see, they all agree. They're
all in perfect agreement and say Amen to truth. Blessing. Glory, wisdom, thanksgiving,
honor, power, and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. One of the elders answered and
said, Who are they? Do you know who these are? The
raid in his white robe, where they came from? I said, I don't
know. Well, you know. Verse 14. He
said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation. The trial of your faith. Work
of patience. Patience, experience. Experience,
hope. Hope in who? in God, in Christ. They've washed
their robe, made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They're
before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in the
temple. And He that sits on the throne shall dwell among them."
And on and on it goes. Look at chapter 19. Chapter 19. And this will lead into the next
message on the Lord our Righteousness. Revelation 19, verse 6, I heard,
as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many
waters. See, one voice. They all have
one, they believe one Lord, one faith, one hope, one. The voice of many waters, the
voice of mighty thundering, saying hallelujah. That's praise the
Lord. For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. They don't just believe that,
they love and worship. Sovereign God. Read on. Let us be glad and rejoice
and give honor to Him. Who's up there? Whose names are
written in this book? Right there. You say amen to
all this? Amen and amen. Read on, verse
7, The marriage of the Lamb is come, his wife hath made herself
ready, and to her was granted that she should be arrayed. Who
put this garment on her? She was arrayed in it, robed
in it. Fine linen, clean and white.
The fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Where did this
robe come from? Where did these garments come
from? Who made these garments? Well, do you remember Psalm 45?
The king's daughters are glorious. They're all arrayed in glorious
apparel. Who made it? Jesus Christ did.
They're wearing His garment. Read on. Write, verse 9, Blessed
are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He saith unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. Amen. But what about my name? You said you were going to tell
me whose name. I'll give you a few names that are definitely
there, okay? Whosoever. He's there. Mr. Whosoever. Whosoever what? Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's me. I know that's me. What does it mean to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? Not in. On. What does that mean? It means to cast all your person,
your soul, your sins, everything, your future, your head, your
knowledge, everything, just cast it all on Him. Just cast it all
on Him. Like they laid their hands on
the head of the scapegoat. They took the sins away. Do you believe that Christ is
your only hope? Do you cast all of your hope
of salvation upon Him? That's your name. There's old
Mr. Whosoever and his wife. Sinner. He's there. Oh, it's a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus, here he is, his name's
there. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. What kind of sinners? Romans
7 sinners. The good I would, I do not. The
good I would not, that's what I do. Wretched man that I am. Wretched, miserable, poor, blind,
naked, hopeless, helpless, weak, failing, fallible, falling, fickle,
finite, foolish. Is that you? Sinner? A sinner? That's me, preacher. Your name
is written in heaven. Sheep. My sheep. Hear my voice. The Lord never
said, they said their name. I call them by name. Sheep. What
about sheep? Well, they're a dumb, stupid,
dirty creature. Totally helpless. They're prone
to wander. If you leave a sheep alone, you
know, he's going to keep his head down and he's going to fall
over a cliff. He's a prey to every predator
around. He can't defend himself for nothing. He's easy pickin'. And boy, do
the wolves love sheep meat. Now what's the hope of a sheep? Shepherd. Is the Lord Jesus Christ
your shepherd? All your hope? All your salvation? Huh? Really? Sheep. Your name is written in heaven. Now don't worry about anything
else. Rejoice in that. Okay. you.