I can get right into the message,
try to make it short. I've been saying that for a long
time now, but I fully intend to do it tonight, according to
the notes on paper. But then again, Barnard used
to say, I've got me some notes here, I hope I don't have to
use them. Well, let's turn to Romans chapter
8. Romans chapter 8. Now, I'm going
to do a two-part message, tonight being the first part, and I don't
know when the next part will be. Maybe Sunday morning, Sunday
night, maybe Wednesday night. I don't know. It depends on how
I feel. So, Lord blesses me in studying
of it, the study of it. But the subject is predestination. Predestination is the subject. the doctrine. And let's just
read a few verses here from Romans chapter 8. This word is used
four times, twice here in Romans chapter 8. Look at verse 28. Paul writing says, We know that
all things work together for good to them that love God. And he qualifies those people
by saying, to them who are the called, according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, that
is, forelove or foreordain, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son. that he, that Christ, might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we then say of these
things? Well, the believer says, if God
be for us, who can be against us. And let me just read you
over here in Ephesians where it's used over here. He says
that we have been chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of his will. And he
says over in verse 11, He says, it's in Christ that
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, like we read over there in Isaiah 46. Now,
if you want to cause a stir, just mention the word predestination
where you work. Even among people who claim to
be Bible believers, even people who claim to believe the Bible,
just the mere mention of this word causes anger and contention,
doesn't it? Yes, it does. Why? The word is
used four times. I read all four uses. Now, if
it was used just one time, I can understand why people might want
to fight it. They might say, well, it's just
an error in the translation or something. And they might try
to explain it away. Just one time, you know. But
it's used four times. There's no getting around it,
is there? There's no getting around it. And there's really
no reason why a child of God would want to. Really? Right? I even have told you this before.
Well, I even had a man one time at work that I worked with. We
were talking about these things. And he said it out loud in front
of everybody. He said, no, Paul, he said, I'll
believe anything but that predestination. And this man was a so-called
fundamentalist preacher. A man that did a little preaching.
That's what you want to call it. He said, I'll believe anything
but that predestination. I thought, anything? Anything? Well, that is probably the consensus
opinion of most people, and consequently they do believe just about anything. Right? Yeah, they do believe
just about anything they want to, about God and the Bible.
Anything but that. So they've made up all sorts
of things. Just like we read over in Isaiah 46. Refused to
bow to this sovereign God, so they make him a little god. Right?
He's a little God, all right. Can't move, can't save, can't
do anything. He's just like man. Dead. A dead God. Predestinate. Now, the word is taken from the
Greek word proorizo. Proorizo. And it means this. To determine beforehand. To limit in advance. Or to ordain. That's what the
word means. Every single usage of it, the
four usages of it, mean to determine before, to limit in advance,
to ordain. The word means exactly how it
sounds. Pre, that is, determine before. Destinate, the destination or
the end. To determine beforehand the destination
or the end. Predestination. It means just like it sounds.
And we all have trouble talking about this and dealing with this
because we don't understand it. We don't much understand it.
Well, perhaps that's a reason we've got to do a two-part message
here, and then I'm still not sure we're going to understand
it after this is over with. Now, I know that the four times that
this word is used in the New Testament, four times, it is
in direct reference to people. being predestinated to be conformed
to the image of Christ. A couple of the usages, though,
seem to indicate where they're going, what God has done, but
it's directly referring to people, predestination. Now, that's the
end of all salvation. The end, the purpose, the goal,
the ultimate reason for the world's existence The reason God created
a people is that he might make a people just like his son, his
well beloved only begotten son. Like Barnard, I say this all
the time too, Barnard loved his son so much that he was, God
loved his son so much that he was determined to have a whole
bunch of people just like him. That makes sense. I've said it
before, if I could have a slew of children I'd make them all
just like this one. perfect, well-beloved. There's
no change in him. He can't get any better. So he's
determined for his glory. And that's the reason for the
existence of all things, is to create a people just like Christ. A whole bunch of people for God's
glory and for his enjoyment. There is a sense in which he
enjoys his people. He enjoys his son, doesn't he?
Well-pleased, he said. Well-pleased. Smiled on his son,
just like you smile on your children. Well-pleased, but enjoyment out
of it. Yeah, you do. I know that's the
end of salvation, to make a people just like Christ. We'll turn
back over to Isaiah 46, back over there. But our tendency,
now listen to me, I'm going to say some hard things. Peter said,
Paul wrote some hard things, hard to be understood, which
some do rest to their own destruction. I'm talking about me, but I'm
talking about another Paul, and they were hard things, and he
set them there in Romans 9 to the point where men were arguing
and bickering and so forth, and finally he just said, oh man,
you just better quit replying against God. That's finally the
conclusion he came to. He said, what if? What if? God can do what he wants to.
Because they kept arguing and bickering and bringing up this
and that and the other, he said, No way, man. No way. You shouldn't
even be opening your big mouth. God's God. Well, there's some
hard things are you able to receive here in the study tonight. Our
tendency is to skirt this issue of predestination by only explaining
it in the way that I just talked about. predestinated people to
be conformed to the image of Christ. Our tendency is to skirt
the issue and deal with it only in that way when, in fact, the
whole of Scripture deals with the foreordained destiny of every
single ant, insect, particle of dust, and the ray of sunshine.
God has foreordained the end the destination of every single
thing in his universe. We don't skirt the issue. We
don't apologize for that. God's a God. He's sovereign. He has sovereignly predestinated
all things, what they're going to do and where they're going
to go. We're going to look into this. Look at Isaiah 46 verse
9 again. Now, he said, Now remember, the
former things of old If you can recall things that God did in
the past, how he was working all along, everything he did,
he was working it. He was working it, even in pagan
kings, the king's hearts in the hands of the Lord, even everything
that took place, everything. Remember when the devil came
to God? And even Satan said, I can't
do anything with what you let me do or direct me somehow, right? Right? He said, I remember that.
I'm God. There is none else. Satan's not
God. Nobody's in control but God. Nobody. Nothing takes place
outside of his direct control. Now, how he does things to accomplish
those ends is still a mystery. But he says, I'm God. There is
none else. Mark it down. Now, look at verse
10. He said, I declare the end from
the beginning. Now, if that ain't predestination,
what is? I declare the end from the beginning. For ordained,
predestined, I've determined the end from the beginning. He
said, my pencil stand, I'll do it. He said, I've purposed it,
I'll do it. It's as good as done. Right? Is that what that says? If that's
not predestination, I don't know what is. I've declared it. Listen to these scriptures. Known
unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. It
doesn't say known unto God are all things that are going to
happen. All his works. That means they've already taken
place in his eyes. He's already done it. Right?
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." That sounds like
a predestination to a place to me, doesn't it? Acts 13.48, if
you want to remember that. Acts 13.48. Now, the cry is always
this. You know what the cry is, the
objection always is? That's not fair. Right? That's always the cry. That's not fair. And under the
pretense of fairness and charity or love, people say in the name
of charity and love, they say this, everyone deserves a chance,
don't they? That's not fair. Everyone deserves
a chance, right? That's always the argument, always
the argument. So consequently, men have made
up a religion that takes salvation out of the will and the power
of God and put it in the will and decision and power of man,
right? It's not fair to God for God
to save whom he will, to do what he will with his own, although
he said it. He might dab in the face of the
scripture where God says, cannot I do with mine own what I will?
They said, that's not fair. You cannot do with your own what
you will. You can only do what we will. Right? That's man's theology,
isn't it? So, consequently, men have made
up a salvation by chance. They say everybody deserves a
chance, so it's salvation by chance. So we ought to start
flipping coins. Right? Salvation per chance somebody
believes. And that's the reason. This explains
all the gimmicks. and the trickery, and the psychological
means and methods. If you can trick them into coming
down, you got them. Repeat after me. Get it out and
you're saved. No, I'm not. Yeah, you are. I
don't care what you say. Got you. Write it down. That's about
the way it is. I'm making fun of it because
it deserves to be made fun of. Salvation by chance, per chance. I sure hope somebody by chance
believes in it. But if you believe salvation's
in the hands of men, and I'm going to get to this argument
here in a little bit, talking about preaching the gospel and
so forth, but if you believe that God's Word is all-powerful
and effectual, you don't have to resort to these means, do
you? You know somebody's going to
be saved by it, so you just preach it. You don't hide ten-dollar
bills under the pews. Don't have to. You preach the
unsearchable riches of Christ. If the Holy Spirit's pleased
to show mercy, to reveal that wonderful wealth that's in Christ,
He'll save them. Right? You don't have to resort. But if it's by chance, what are
we going to do then? You get all your deacons together. What
can we do? What can we do? Henry and Stanley better get
together, maybe. We don't have a crowd in here. We better figure
out something, maybe. Let's have a bake sale. Let's get a bus
ministry started. Let's do something. God's not
on the throne. We're in charge. Right? He can't do anything without
us. Isn't that today's salvation? Isn't it? That's today's religion.
But you've still got a problem. You've got a problem with this
word salvation. Everybody uses the term salvation. We want people
to be saved. Just stop and think about the
word. Saved. What does it mean? Saved. When
somebody's saved, it means that they were lost, right? Now, if
you're lost, and in fact, let's get this straight. If I'm out
in the woods, and I'm lost, what does that mean? Does it mean
I'm just temporarily misplaced, and if I look long enough, I'll
find my way? I mean, if I look around long
enough, I'd eventually If I'm speaking to find a way, I'll
find it. Is that what that means? Lost? Is that what that means?
No. It means lost, doesn't it? Without
help. Without hope. Can't find a way. Gone. And the Scriptures calls
us dead. What does that mean then? It
means somebody's going to have to come save us. Right? Somebody's going to have to reach
down and pull us out. Come to us. That's what he said
in Romans 10. He said, don't say in your heart,
well, who shall I send, or who shall I be sending? No, God had
to send Christ down here. Not in the hopes that somebody
will receive him. No, he had to come make them receive him. Make them believe him. Why? They're
lost, right? The shepherd has to go out in
the wilderness and find the sheep. He's lost. Right? and pick him up and take him
home. And if he doesn't take him all the way home and keep
him on his shoulders the whole way, the minute he lets him down,
he'll be lost again. But that's modern-day theology,
and it's absurd. It's foolishness. It doesn't even make good sense,
does it? You've got a problem with the word salvation. If salvation
If you talk about everybody deserving a chance, then do away with the
word salvation. Call it something else. It ain't
being saved, is it? You see what I'm trying to get
at? You see what I'm saying there? To be saved means to be rescued
from destruction, pure destruction. That's what Webster's Dictionary,
that's how it defines it, by an outside source. That means the one who's lost
cannot save himself. That's it, bottom line. Now,
we've still got a problem with this word, predestination. If
men will grant that, well, they say, okay, we'll grant it. The man's lost. Okay, we've got
a problem with this word, predestination. Now, what are we going to do
with this word? Four times. What are we going to do with
it? Well, three things. Here's three reactions, men.
want to make to this predestination thing, three things, two really,
but three. Number one, men either refuse
it, they just refuse it, like that man said, no. You read it to them from Ephesians
1, Romans 8, and you read it to them and they say, I don't
believe that. Well, okay. Right? You either refuse it and
don't believe it. Or two, you ignore it. Don't
ever read it. Don't ever deal with it. That's
what preachers are doing. Don't ever do an exposition of
Ephesians 1 or go through Romans 8 and 9. Don't do it. Just don't
do it. You'll keep yourself out of trouble
that way. If you do, go over it real fast.
Romans 4 and over, predestinate. Get down real fast for who shall
separate you from the love of God. Get down there real fast.
Get by that predestinate real fast. Say it under your breath. That's what they're doing. Or
three, submit to it. Believe it. Bow to it. Whether
you understand it or not. Right? That's what it says. I
don't understand it. I don't understand it, really.
I'm going to try to explain it. Goodness, Greg, I'm a fool for
doing so. But we have problems with it, no. Well, like I said,
really there's only two ways that we can react to this. One
is unbelief. Don't believe it. I don't believe it. If you don't
believe that, it's written, it's four times in the Scripture,
in the New Testament, the Word, and we saw over there in Isaiah
46 where that's clearly predestination. If you go over to Romans 9, you
just keep going all through the Scripture, and you'll see the
inference there of predestination. Now, if you don't believe that,
you better toss this thing away, right? Do away with it. You can't
just believe what you want to believe. You can't just believe, well,
I believe Romans, you know, I like Romans. What part of Romans would
they like? I like Romans 11 and 12, but
I don't like the rest of it. You can't do that, can you? If
you just, you know, say, well, I believe that, I won't believe
that, I believe that, I won't believe that. No, you can't do that. It means
everything is suspect. Now, it's either all true or
it's all a lie, right? Right. It's either all true or
it's all a lie. And if it all, if every bit of
it isn't true, throw this book away. We are, we are doing some
foolish things here, aren't we? Old pagan ritualistic religions
is what we're into, if it isn't all solved. So that's the first
thing. That's really the only one of
two reactions. Refuse it, if you refuse it,
if you don't believe it, then throw the Bible away. Why in
the world are you using this book? if you don't believe all
of it. Isn't that absurd? You see what I'm saying? Or secondly, the only reaction
to have is believe it. Acknowledge it. Submit to it.
To this truth and everything written in it as being the Word
of God. It's God's Word. And God's true. And every man's
liar. God's right. I'm wrong. Well,
I think, but it's wrong. God's right. Right? Only two
reactions. Really, that's the way we ought
to deal with people. Like Paul said there in Romans 8, an old
man. Now let me say this before I go any further. We don't have
to try and prove God anyway, folks. I'm not trying to prove God tonight. We're not called to go out and
try to prove God to anybody. This is demeaning. This is blasphemous. It's not glorifying the God to
try to prove Him anyway. We don't go out to declare Him,
right? Thus saith the Lord, man, believe.
We're not trying to prove God. Besides, true faith believes
in spite of human reasoning and logic, and faith is not by sight
or proof. Faith becomes the proof. That's what Hebrews 11-1 says. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence. of things you don't see, the
evidence. Faith becomes the proof. It becomes
the proof. But I don't want anybody, and
I say this, we're not out to try to prove God. But I don't
want anybody to think that we're without reason for believing
what we believe. You don't want people to think
that, do you? You're scared to face the issue, face the question.
You don't want to think that. I don't want people to think
that we're without reason, that we're afraid to put our beliefs up
to careful scrutiny. I don't want them to think that
at all. Christ reasoned with some. Paul, it says, Paul disputed
and argued. Yeah, he did. He did, a long
time, all day long, in various different places, disputed and
so forth. But when all is said and done, the bottom line is
this, you either believe this book to be God's infallible,
inspired Word, you either believe this is God's Word, or you don't. Right? Or you don't. And you
have to come to your own conclusions then, don't you? If you don't
believe that this is God's Word, infallible, inspired, actually
the God-breathed Word, every word of it, without mistake,
without question, without debate, without argument, God's Word
to be believed and vouched. If you don't believe that, then
you have to come up with your own conclusions, don't you? Right?
Your own reasons. So really, when you're out there
talking to people, if people don't believe this is God's Word,
you've got no point. You've got nothing to argue about. You've got no basis to argue
on. So that's the time we should
leave them alone. You see what I'm saying? If you
don't start on the same premise here, those who really have no
point of argument with someone out there who doesn't believe
the Bible to be God's Word. I mean, this is our foundation.
This is the foundation for everything we think and believe. It's not
what I think. It's not what old so-and-so said. It's not what
Darwin said. The historians, it is what God's
Word says, right? And we refer to this. But the
world says, well, I think. Well, no, this is what God's
Word says, but I think. Well, let's just quit arguing.
See what I'm saying? Now, if we want to argue, if
we want to get on the basis of God's Word, we'll do that. A
man really wants to get into it and look at God's Word. Does
that make sense? But if they don't, then close it. Close it.
Quit. Stop. Catching the pearls before swine.
They don't esteem this as God's Word. But for those who profess to
believe it, we boldly declare that this is the only way there
is, that this is what God's Word says, and it's not to be argued
but believed. Now listen to these three things. God Almighty has
determined the eternal destiny of all things from before the
foundation of the world. You believe that? That's what
this book says. We just read it. We'll get a
little stronger here. God Almighty is in control of
all things, and there is absolutely nothing and no one who is outside
of his control and direction, including the devil. Do you believe that? That's what
this book says. Now, we don't understand it,
but I'm not calling on us to understand it. God sure isn't. Would you please? The book says,
thus saith the Lord. Now, like I said, two reactions.
You can say, I don't believe that, I won't have that. We will
not have this God reign over us. Or you can say, so be it,
Lord. Third, listen to this, God uses
all things and all people for his sovereign purpose which cannot
be changed. has been indelibly printed with
a pin of iron and a rock. He uses people and things according
to his divine eternal purpose that's already been set. Do you
believe that, Henry Sowell? Well, the outcry comes—listen
to this. This is going to be a blessing to you. What do people
always say? Well, if I believed that, if
I believed that, I wouldn't—well, I pray. Why go to church? Why do anything? If out comes
already, if you're going to be saved, you're going to be saved. Why do it?
Wait a minute now. Hold on. I'll answer that. I believe this. I pray every
day. I believe this. We go three hours
on a Saturday night to hear a fellow priest of ten people. I believe this. We've got missionaries. all over the world. Now, why do I believe this and
he doesn't? Predestination. That's the reason. We send out
missionaries, we pray for people's salvation, we witness to others
in hopes that they might believe, and God will save them. In fact,
the greatest missionaries this world has ever known have been
the strongest predestinarians ever to stand behind a pulpit.
Bleed it with all their heart. Believe this and many died for
it. Died for it. That's far from
being fatalism. Far from it. Why? What makes
that man hate this and reject it and may believe it and love
it? It's not what, it's who. And
the proof is in the pudding. Proved destination. The fact
that I believe in Henry Sword and he doesn't proves the point,
doesn't it? It proves the point. Faith is
the gift of God. Listen to this over 1 Timothy.
Turn over to 1 Timothy 3.16. 1 Timothy 3.16. Look at this scripture in a whole
different light here, in light of what we're talking about here.
1 Timothy 3.16. Faith is the gift of God. Faith is proof you've been predestinated. If you haven't, you're not. I
mean, if you don't believe, you're not. You're not elect. You say, somebody says, well,
how can I know if I'm elect? Do you believe? I don't believe
that. Well, you're not elect. It's proof. I mean, look at this. 1 Timothy 3.16. Now, without
controversy, That means it's without dispute or argument,
nothing can be said about it. This is great mystery. Great
is the mystery of God-likeness, Godliness. God making a child
of God, that's what Godliness means. God making somebody like
Christ, or in his own image, that's what Godliness means.
This is the mystery. God was manifest in the flesh.
What a mystery, the Incarnation. justified in the Spirit, that
is, he grew and matured in wisdom and stature and so forth, and
was made perfect through his sufferings, like Hebrews said,
and was declared to be holy, even though he already was from
the beginning, but he had proved himself justified in the Spirit,
seen of angels, different men, prophets, and so forth, back
in the Old Testament, preached unto the Gentiles. Look at that,
this right here. on in the world. Great mystery. How can you believe
such a thing? I said, I don't know. You see
what I'm getting at? Oh, if I believed that, I'd—no,
you wouldn't. You'd do just what I'm doing
if you believed that. If you believed it, you'd pray too.
Yeah, you would. Great is this mystery. The fact
that anybody believes something that's so contrary to human logic
and reasoning, something they can't really understand or explain,
proves that God made them believe it. You see what I'm saying?
Do you believe, Terry Kinsley? You're a predestinated child
of God. You see what I'm getting at? The fact that, I'll read
it again if it didn't hit you the first time, The fact that
anybody believes something that's so contrary to human logic and
reasoning, something they can't understand or explain, proves
that God made them believe it, and that they are predestinated,
elect unto salvation. That proves the power of God
and His sovereign choice and direction, giving it to whomsoever
He will. No, somebody says it's sort of
wise and prudent to say that. No, it doesn't prove that. It
just proves you're naive or you're ignorant. Believing something
you can't prove, that just proves you're a fool. Well, granted,
we're fools for Christ's sake. We're counted all the day long
fools for Christ's sake. We do appear to be fools, and
yes, it is true. that these things are not understood
by human reason or logic, nor can they be proved by human wisdom.
But that's just what the Word says. It says in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 21, "...whereby wisdom do not go." It already said that
a long time before anybody argued it. And yes, it is believed mostly
by fools and weak and base and things that are nothing and despised. But that's what the scripture
says. God has chosen those people. Doesn't it? Now you have to take
your place there with those people now if you choose to believe
this, don't you? That's the reason people don't receive it. I'm
too smart. That doesn't make sense. I refuse
to believe it. I'm not going to believe anything
I don't understand. Not elect. Not predestinate. But it's also true. that many,
if not most of us, hated it when we heard it, too. Didn't we? How many of you, if not everybody,
hated this when you first heard it? Didn't you? Huh? Henry? He's an Armenian to the
core, isn't he? He's like everybody else. More
like thrift. Why the flip-flop? Why the flip-flop? Predestination. predestination. God had determined before the
foundation of the world that Henry Sowers was going to believe
this. Yes, he did. That's the only way he can explain
it. How on earth is he going to do a flip-flop to something
he so despised, and then turn right around and love it, and
argue it, fight for it, have enemies because of it? It doesn't
make good sense, does it? It's not according to sense.
It's according to God's will and purpose, you see. predestination. It proves the point. It proves
the point. Because God has predestinated
us under the adoption of children. Now there's the word. Children. Has predestinated us under the
adoption of children. Now listen, everybody has children
in here. Everybody that has children in here. This is the bottom line
of a child, isn't it? The bottom line, the characteristic. believe their parents. Yes, they
do. They believe their parents, even
though they can't explain or understand the things they do.
They are capable. For one thing, Hannah can't begin
to commence to get started to understand the things I do. Why
I do, right? If I sat down and tried my dead
level best to get her to understand the things I do, she couldn't.
Could she? She's not capable. She's a child. She's a child. And that's what
God calls every one of us, children. And that's the attitude that
we're all to have in reference to these things. If God tried,
didn't Christ say, if I told you earthly things you don't
understand, how are you going to understand if I start speaking
to you in heavenly, celestial language about the cosmos of
the universe, traveling here and there? Point A to point Z
to B-wise, W. So what does he call on us to
do? Believe it. Right? Then he starts opening
the understanding. You know, here's the characteristic
of children, too, when they start getting older and supposedly
smarter. We are experiencing this in this five-year-old brat,
I mean, girl. The older they get, the smarter
they get. And they start questioning Mommy
and Dad, don't they, Mommy? They begin to question their
parents' ways and wisdom, but almost always mark her down,
especially when they grow up and have children of their own.
Mom and Dad got real smart all of a sudden, didn't they? Didn't
they, Rick? Dad knew a whole lot more than you ever gave him
credit for, didn't he? Right? They revert right back
to, you know, Mom and Dad were right, weren't they? And that's
us. That's us. When we first believe,
we say, I don't understand that, but God's true. I'm a liar. I'm just too out of this story.
Praise be to God, you know. And then we start reading. Well,
wait a minute, man. Let's go over there. And people start
feeding us. What about this? What about that?
Did you hear what old so-and-so said? No, I didn't. I don't know. Maybe that's not, you know. But
when you mature and grow and finally become a mature saint,
you come right back to this. God's right. I can't explain
it, but He's right. Right? See, you revert back to
childhood, just like human beings. This is what God does first to
all His predestinated children. He makes them willing in the
day of His power. This is predestination, John. He makes them willing in the
day of his power to do what? To believe. To just believe. Hardest thing in the world for
a human being to do. Impossible for a human being
to just do it. Why? Because it's contrary to
human wisdom and logic. Dad, this is not what I think.
It's not what you think. That's right. God's thoughts
are so high above your thoughts as the heavens are above the
earth. He makes them willing, submissive
to him as God our Father, even though they don't understand.
And that's what he said. He said, accept you to be converted
and become as little children. You're all likewise. None of
you are going to get there, isn't it? He had all those children
huddled around him, you know, and the disciples had been with
him three years now. A long time, you know. They knew
a lot. After all, they were fishermen.
I mean, there was nobody, and Christ transformed them into
just a little above nobody, but in the children of God, gave
them some understanding and so forth, and in the end, they finally
got to thinking, they thought, who's going to be greatest in
the kingdom? And in the end, they all left him, like cowards
that they were, proving what they were. But he gathered all
his children around him, you know, and they said, oh, shh,
shh, shh, get out of the way, leave the Lord alone. It's adults,
got better things to talk about. He said, well, wait a minute
now. He said, except you be converted
and become as little children, you ain't going to heaven, didn't
you? Except you sit around and be
able to listen like a little child with your mouth gaping
open. Uh-huh. Wow. Enamored in all of everything. Except you be like that, you're
not getting in. God's going to bring down the
wise and the mighty, isn't He? He's going to exalt them and
to abase themselves. And it takes abasing on our part. Now, we think we're something,
don't we? Get a little bit of knowledge,
quote a few scriptures, know a little bit of doctrine, able
to articulate just a little bit, we think we are something else. Goodness gracious. Then to exalt
themselves in pride, he's able to abase, and he'll do it. If
they're a child of his, boy, that he'll do it in such a way
like old David to bring him down in the eyes of the people. Boy,
doesn't that scare the daylights out of you? Listen to this illustration.
This will prove my whole point. I told Hannah that I was going
to take her to Florida. Weeks, two or three weeks before
we went, I told her. I promised her. Now, you know,
we can't make promises, but I did. Are we really? Yes. Daddy's going
to take you to Florida." And she kept questioning, when are
we going to go? When are we leaving? Up until the time we finally
left. And we finally left. Well, on
the way, you parents were taking long trips. There used to be
four of us in one car. And man, I'd sleep in the back
window. I'd be up in that back window.
Or down in the floor. We'd be all over each other.
Pulled my sister's hair, you know. Oh, it was madness. They
used to drive two days to get to Florida back then. I don't
see how my parents possibly did it. We had one child. That was
hard enough, wasn't it? But the whole way, the whole
way down there, she kept asking, when are we going to get there,
Daddy? I mean, we hadn't left, we hadn't been gone an hour.
Are we almost there yet? No, honey, it's going to be a
long time. We tell her in terms of Sesame Street, it's going
to be 14 Sesame Streets. That's how she knows time, you
know, Sesame Street. She gauges it by That's an hour
to her. You know what 60 minutes is. 14 Sesame Street. We'll get down
the road. It'll be 13 Sesame Street. Well, on the way, she
kept asking, when are we going to get there? Finally, it was
driving me crazy. I said, Hannah, do not ask me
that one more time. Daddy told you we were going
to Florida, and we're going. Don't ask me. When we get there,
I'll tell you. Don't ask it again. Well, in
spite of it, we had car trouble on the way down. We had car trouble,
and it was fourteen hours, a long and difficult journey, but I
overcame it all. Daddy got us there, just like
he promised he would. As far as she was concerned,
I had predestinated that whole trip, Henry. When she looked back on that,
she thought, what did I need to worry about? That's it, we're
going. In spite of all her troubles,
in spite of all the troubles and trials and the car troubles,
I took care of it. She didn't have to get out and
help me fix the radiator. She sat right there and played
with her dolls. You know, and she was, the reason
she got there, because she was in that car. Now, I had promised,
I made an agreement, I said, I'm going to take you to Florida.
And when we left the house, I stuck her in the car. How else was
he going to get to Florida? But in that car, with me. You see what I'm getting at?
God, from the beginning, made a covenant, an agreement. He said, I'm going to take a
people to heaven. I'm going to make a people like
Christ. And he stuck them in the car. In Christ, the vessel, the vehicle,
the way, the only way. Now, I don't care who was outside
the car. who was sitting around Rocky Mountain, they made a claim
to all kinds of things. I'm Paul Mahan's son. They didn't
go to Florida. Why? I didn't put them in the
car. Right? The only one that got to Florida
was Hannah Mahan, my daughter, because I put her in the car.
And I promised her we were going. The whole journey to heaven is
predestinated by our Heavenly Father. And we start out. one hour into the journey. When
are we going to get there? Sure we're going to make it, right?
And we have troubles and trials. But, but, Lord, but look at this
problem. I'll take care of it, he says. Didn't I promise you? Huh? Isn't this the way it is?
A simplified thing, but we will remember it easily. With worry,
unbelief, obstacles, but God has preordained a people in Christ
that are going to get there. Emma Lyman. Christ in the end
is going to present them to the apostles. They're all here. When
we got to Florida, they said, is everybody in your party here?
They're all here. I didn't turn around and say,
oh, what about Dorothy? I lost her. No. She was in the car. That's about as simple as I can
explain it. But that explains it, doesn't it? Let others believe. In the end, she finally believed
that Daddy was able to perform what he said he was able to do.
Right? If she'd have kept him hauling around saying, we ain't
going to make it, we ain't going to make it. No way. I don't believe
it. I might have turned around. This is faith. This is all faith
said. God's able. He's able to perform
what he promised. Isn't that what Abraham, that
reason God said Abraham was justified? Justified, declared. So for the
sake of, for believers' sake, this is reason, praise God. And this is proof of this despised
doctrine of election and predestination. It's proof, the fact that you
believe such a despised thing and such a thing that you can't
understand. And we're going to go into depth into it a little bit
more. Next time, I hope, talking about how God actually does use,
you know, how the devil can do his bidding. And all these things
are difficult to understand. I'm not sure we're going to understand
them when we get through. But I read a book. I read a book,
and it helped me out. And there's an awful lot of scriptures
in there that deal with it. And we're going to get into it.
a great source of comfort and encouragement and proof, proof of the predestination of the
truth of this, is that you believe it. And the reason I brought
this one with me tonight, because most everybody here pretty much
professes to be a believer anyway, and this is proof Stanley, how
in the world do you believe such a thing? Well, it's stupid. You
can't understand it, can you? You believe it, though, don't
you? Predestinated to be a child of
God. Does that make sense to you? I don't know. That much makes
sense anyway, doesn't it? Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. It's the evidence. Great is this
mystery. Believe this. Believe that's
the evidence. of things you don't, whom having
not seen, yet you love." How? Faith, gift of God, predestinated
by God. All right, let's sing, where
are you? I forgot who my pianist was. Jeanette, let's sing, what a
wonderful Savior. That's 454. Let's sing a couple of verses
of this. Let's just sing the first two
verses of this. Christ has forced in atonement,
made what a wonderful Savior. We are redeemed, our price is
paid, what a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus,
my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus,
my Lord. Let's sing the second verse,
it's the last. I praise Him for the cleansing
blood, what a wonderful Savior, that reckons of my soul to God. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus,
my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus,
my Lord. You're dismissed.