Once again, it is with great
joy that we meet together. I need this. I just need this. I look forward to the times we
can gather together and look into God's word and fellowship
around God's word and the blessings of grace. So thank you so much. Thank you so much. Coming from
near and far together. We're going to continue in our
study here of the great doctrines of grace. Now, we finished up
for a while at least. We ended up with the last chapter
of the book of Numbers, and we could probably start over and
glean again a great deal, but we're not going to do it. We're
kind of in between a book, so we're just going to look at what
the Bible has to say about the great doctrines of grace. And
if you'd turn with me this morning to the book of Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians chapter 2. In Ephesians chapter 2, I'd like
to begin reading with verse 1. And we have so much mentioned
here about grace because it tells us of so much problem that we
have by nature. We are born into a situation
that we can't get out of. There is no means in ourselves
to get out of the problem that we're in. Even though religion
makes that great attempt, It cleans up the outward, but it
doesn't take care of where the dead men's bones are. It takes
care of the outside. It reforms us. It makes us do
better. And yet, we find even as that
great, that man that was in the tombs, they attempted to chain
him with chains. And I'm sure that those were
great chains. And he burst them asunder. Now, when I was in religion,
religion tried to chain me up. But you know what? My heart was
not in it. I couldn't be chained. I was
always desperately wicked. And here we find that the great
grace of God solves the issue. Solves the issue. We find as
we study the great doctrines of grace that the first thing
that those wise fathers brought up was where did sin come from? How did it get started among
the human race? And they took us right back in
the Bible. They didn't go to philosophy.
They didn't go to this thing or that study. They took us right
back to the Bible, and in the very beginning of the Bible,
we find that God created man upright, and that man, Adam,
our first father, And our first mother, he was the accountable
one. He was the one that was charged
against. And that's why we find in Adam all died, but he took
of that forbidden fruit and he ate of it willingly, knowingly
of what the consequences would be of his sin. And so the fathers
of the faith take us right back there and says, here is where
sin began among the human race. And we've been dealing with it
ever since. Every child that's ever born has been bringing that
forward down to this very time. Well here in the book of Ephesians
chapter 2 it says, and you hath he quickened who were dead in
trespasses and sins. And let me say one more time,
religion is the only place we ever discuss the meaning of the
word dead. Oh, how religion wants to doctor
up that word and make it not quite dead, want to make it just
a little better than dead, or there's just a spark of life,
there's this. You know, the Bible tells us
so clearly, we're dead in trespasses and sin. And I like what Scott
Richardson used to say about that, graveyard dead. Spiritually
speaking, we are unable, unable, to come to Christ. We're unable
to raise ourselves from this to spiritual life. So it tells
us here, we're in and time pass. And my friends, if you can't
agree with these words, then you've never seen grace. If you
cannot agree with God's word about ourselves, about what God
wrote about us, about God's commentary on our nature, then we just have
not seen grace yet. Because it says wherein in time
past you walked according to the course of this world and
someone will raise you up. I've never been there. You've not
seen grace. When you see grace, you'll say,
it's worse than that. It's worse than I thought. Walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
and the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our
manner of life, the way we lived, the conversation of times past,
in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh of the
mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. If we can't agree with God's
word on this subject, then we won't agree with God on any other
subject. it must be a revelation. This
is a revelation, to know that how depraved we are, how unable,
how incapable we are, is a revelation that God gives to us. We'll see
that in just a moment again. Even when we were dead in sins,
now God does something for us. We're unable to do it for ourselves. We can't reach out You know,
we've all seen those movies where the guy has been buried and he
reaches out and comes out of the coffin and gets out. That
may work in Hollywood, but it will not work with God. Not one
net's breath of our fingernail can work its way towards Almighty
God. We must be raised from the dead. And he says, And when ye were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. I've
mentioned this. I've been visiting with a young
man, and I asked him what that word quickened meant. And he
said, Being very quick. Well, you know, in our vernacular,
that may be. But in the vernacular of the Bible, it was to be raised
from the dead, to be made alive. That's what that means. So God
hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved,
and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. that in the ages to come might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his knowledge towards
us through Christ Jesus. It's no wonder the Bible declares
so much about grace because that is exactly where our hope is
foundation upon is the grace of God. Verse 8, for by grace
are you saved through faith, and don't get to boasting about
your faith. Don't tell him, it was my faith
that got me up, No, Paul was used by the Holy Spirit to go
on and say, and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God. Now salvation
is a gift of God, but faith is a gift of God too. Not of works,
lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. As we continue on in our study
of this great subject of grace, We have an acronym that we use. And last week, we looked a little
bit about the T, the total depravity. Well, as with Brother Mike this
morning, time ran out. And I said, we got to go back. We got to look some more at this
subject of the total inability that we have as it's recorded
in the word of God. Because of the total fall of
our first father, God before creation in old eternity, That's
where our salvation begins. In old eternity, in before the
foundation of the world, before God created heaven and earth,
before He created man, in old eternity, He had a purpose to
deliver a people from the sin that would come as a result of
the fall of Adam. We find that the subject of the
privacy, and it doesn't mean that we've done everything that
Hitler did. It doesn't mean we've done everything
that Pharaoh did. It doesn't mean that we've done
everything that our neighbor did. It just simply means that
we're totally incapable of coming to Christ on our own. All the
preachers rattling, come forward, sign the card. You know, every
day that I go east of town, I go by a building, on the front of
it it says, Child Evangelism Fellowship. You know what they
do? They try to win the young because
they're the winnable ones. And you know what? All they do
is add confusion. They have no interest in anything
but numbers. God does not save anybody like
that. He saves people by grace. He
doesn't save anybody by talking them into something. It is not
educated into something. We are saved by the grace of
God through the new birth. All right, as we look at this,
we find that the problem of total depravity or total inability,
as we looked at it last week, there is so much to be said about
this. Turn with me to the book of Jeremiah
chapter 22. Jeremiah chapter 22. Have you
ever been washed up with lye soap? My grandmother used to
make batches of lye soap, and when I was at her house, that's
the soap we got to use. Well, that's kind of what we're
going to read about here in the book of Jeremiah chapter 22.
Excuse me, chapter 2, verse 22. The book of Jeremiah chapter
2, verse 22. This passage of scripture is
left to us by a servant of God. The Holy Spirit came upon him
in a miraculous way, and he spoke by inspiration and gave us this
word. It says, for though thou wash
thee with niter, with strong soap, with lye soap. Now this
is a metaphor for what people attempt to do by taking care
of their own problem. And take thee much soap, take
thee much soap, take thee much religion, take thee much bowing
down, take thee much reformation, take all kinds of things. Yet
thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God. You know,
we go through all of these things that have been instructed to
us or we come up with or we read about the Reader's Digest system
of theology. Read it, take care of it. No.
It must be of God. It must be. He must be the salvation. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 1, we see here
that the natural man is just dead spiritually. There's no
thing that God looks upon and says, I can do anything with.
I must give a new creation. And that's what it says. We are
a new creation, a new creature in Christ Jesus. In the book
of Isaiah, back up one book there, chapter 1, verses 5 and 6. Chapter 1, verses 5 and 6. Why
should you stricken anymore? Ye will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick. Now, where does the free will
take place in a man? I'm using that word free will.
I've had people say, well, election and elected and chosen and chosen
and stuff is not used very much in the Bible. Well, elect is
used 23 times in the New Testament. Elected is used once, election
is used six times, and chosen is 29 times, and chose is seven
times. And if it's about 70 times that
this subject is mentioned in the New Testament, I better pay
attention to it. There's something about this
that God wanted me to know when it talks about this subject.
Now, when it comes to free will, we have a couple of verses that
people may use. But when it comes to God's will,
we have hundreds of verses in the Old and New Testament. Here
it says that God said, the whole head is sick. There's nothing
that we have in our imagination to come up with a conclusion
that we can get out of the mess that we're in. It says there,
and the whole heart faint. Everything about us is in terrible
condition. The fall brought on a terrible
condition. We may be physically fit, but
you know what? The conclusion of the whole matter
is brought out in the book of Genesis time and time again,
and they died. If we were in perfect condition,
we would not meet that. There would be no cemeteries. There would be no pallbearers. There would be no officials that
take care of the funerals if we were in a good condition.
But the condition is so bad that God said, the soul that sinneth
it shall die. We're going to pass through this
life and end up Nancy's mother lived to almost be 96. Mike's
mother is 98. But you know what? The end is, and they died. And it's God's
testimony about the fall. From the sole of the foot, verse
six, even unto the head there is no soundness in it. These
are God's words. We have the good physician sharing
with us the condition. Please, we tell our doctor, please
be honest with me. Just tell me the truth. And when
it comes to the truth of the gospel, don't tell me that. I
don't want to hear that. It's too serious. I don't want
to hear that. You know, there was a king in
the Old Testament. Someone says, you know, he'll
tell you the truth. He says, that's what I'm afraid
of. He's always telling me the truth. And I don't like what
he has to say. Well, they brought him anyway
and then slapped his face when he told the truth. Well, here
it goes on to say, from the sole of the foot, even under the head,
there's no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores that they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither
mollified with ointment. And you know, I have had people
tell me with their own mouth, I'm the exception. You know, we can delude ourselves
a great deal, can't we? We can talk ourselves into a
great deal, but God's Word is plain on this subject. We are,
as He describes it. In the book of Ezekiel chapter
37, Ezekiel chapter 37 shares us a great picture here about
our spiritual condition by nature. And it shows the answer to the
problem. The hand of the Lord was upon
me, it shares with Ezekiel. He carried me out. I don't know
how many times in the book of Ezekiel and the word of the Lord
came and the word of the Lord came and the word of the Lord.
You know, if we have any sense about us at all given to us by
the Holy Spirit, I want to pay attention to that. What does
the Lord have to say about it? Well, here's it says the hand
of the Lord is upon me and carried me out into the spirit of the
Lord and set me down in the midst of a valley of full of bones. Now, this is a picture about
our condition. and caused me to pass by them
round about. And behold, there were very many
in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry." We can't express
how dry they are. God said they're very dry. I
liked that this morning about the very early in the morning. Hebrew and Greek language is
quite specific, very pointed. And here it says, the bones were
very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, preacher, can these bones live? And you know his answer? He didn't
say, you know, give me a little time, I think I can make it work.
I've had preachers tell me if I can get them lost, I can get
them saved. Lies, lies, and more lies. Number one, we can't get them
lost. And number two, we can't do a thing about their salvation
except plant the seed. Preach the gospel. He said, and
there's some men, can these bones live? And I answered, Lord, oh
Lord God, thou knowest. Boy, that's the best answer a
person that loves the gospel could ever give to the Lord about,
okay, Norm, I'm gonna have you meet with a young preacher. Norm,
I'm gonna have you meet with a young man you knew as a student.
Norm, I'm gonna have you visit with a young man over the phone.
Is he gonna live? And all I can say, Lord, thou
knowest. All I can do is plant seed, but thou knowest. You're
the only one. He goes on to say here, and again,
he said unto me, prophesy unto these bones. Well, you know,
to most people, prophesying unto bones would just be out and out
foolishness, but God said it and he did it. That's the difference. He wasn't looking for a crop.
He was looking to fulfill his commission to preach the gospel.
And he said unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones. Behold, I will cause
breath to enter into you and you shall live. And I will lay
sin upon you and bring upon flesh upon you. This is such a beautiful
picture of God's salvation. You know, people want to take
this, oh, this is going to happen in the last days. I'm praying
it's happened in every generation. I hope it happens today that
God would work this great miracle upon somebody that hears the
gospel, that he would take this dead bones and all the situation
about it and put life. He goes on and says, so I prophesied
as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was
a noise and all the shaking and the bones came together and bone
to his bone. Who? was doing the putting together. Almighty God. God put them together. God put
sinew on them. God put flesh on them. Verse
9, And then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind. Prophesy,
said the man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God,
Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that
they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded
me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood
upon Feet their feet and exceeding great army. You know what the
Lord said about this There's a number that no man can number
out of every kindred people tribe and nation that God will raise
up in this manner and it's God that does the work although Ezekiel
did was do what God asked him to do and you know what in that
God was glorified and God's main interest in all things is that
He will be glorified. That's His interest. He saves
us for His glory. All right? We read over there
in the book of Ephesians how dead we are. And you know, this
situation is not reversible by us. I've been explaining to a
granddaughter and a grandson what the R is for on my transmission. I have a stick shift in my pickup.
What's the R for, Granddad? Well, that's for reverse, going
backwards. Oh, well, you know in religion,
we've got people declaring that there's an R. There's a reverse
on how to get out of this. You know, in us, there is no
reverse. There is no way out. There's
no way reversible by us. Turn with me to the book of Jeremiah
again. Jeremiah chapter 13. In Jeremiah
chapter 13, we have these words. that God gave to us to help us
to understand the plight, the position, and it makes us to
understand unthankful to grace so much more when we find out
the terrible condition that we are in by our very birth and
that God would save a people for his glory and his honor and
his praise, that God would do that. We delight in his grace. It makes grace so rich. It makes
grace so great. It makes grace so gracious to
find out that God would do all that on our behalf, even though
we are dead in trespasses and sin, and we could not prompt
anything, and we could not promote anything, that God would save
us. And here it says in Jeremiah chapter 13 and verse 23, can
the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Can that happen? Can we change? You know, Jesus brought that
out. He says, you can't even add a measure to your heights. By willing, you can't, I've asked
people, when you have a toothache, do you just will it gone? Do
you just, toothache be gone? No, I have to go to the dentist.
I said, point well taken. We have to go to somebody that's
a professional on this. We can't do it ourselves. Pimple,
do we get rid of that? No, we can't even do that. I
have wished and wished and wished I had my dark hair back. And
all the wishing I could do doesn't do a thing about it. All I did
is waste my time wishing I had it. You know, here, my grandmother
said if wishes were horses, we'd all take a ride. Can an Ethiopian change his skin
or a leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. He said it's irreversible. You
can't get out of it. The boat has sunk. Backing up to chapter 5 of verse
Jeremiah. Would you read that with me?
Chapter 5 and verse 3. We read these words. Oh Lord. Chapter 5 of Jeremiah and verse
3. Oh Lord, are not thine eyes upon
the truth? Thou hast stricken them, they
have not grieved. Thou hast consumed them, but
they have refused to receive correction. They have made their
faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return. And you know, this is God in
a call, a general call. Aren't you glad He gets more
serious than that? That He comes down to us in a
personal manner and attends to us in our lost and undone condition? Because left to ourselves, we
would continue to refuse to return. That's just how Bad the situation
is. You know, Jesus himself taught
total depravity, total inability. There's a total inability in
your character to ever come to me. You know, we read about the
Lord Jesus Christ and it says His brethren did not believe. You know, that's an interesting
thing. Here we have God Almighty and
has some half-brothers that did not believe. And I've asked some
of these guys, why in the world didn't he get them down on their
knees, if that's so simple? Here we got the God of heaven.
Why didn't he get them down on their knees and get them to believe
on Jesus, to ask Jesus into their heart? Because that's not how
he saves people, not if he's his own half-brothers. You know,
it looks like God worked with them, a couple of them at least,
a little bit later. But it wasn't... He didn't ask
them to sign a card. He didn't ask them to come forward.
He didn't ask them to bow down. He didn't ask them to pray a
prayer. He didn't ask them to be baptized. He didn't ask them
to join a church. He didn't ask them to do anything.
He left them with the gospel, and that was it. That's the Son
of God dealing with His own family. And I've had preachers tell me
that if I don't have all my children saved by age six, that I'm just
a very poor parent. You know, Jesus had his own brothers
in their thirties saying they don't believe him. In the book of Mark chapter seven,
Mark chapter seven, We could simply say with regard
to his brothers too, it's not by the family they're in. It's
not by their will. It's not by the will of others.
It's of God. Mark chapter 7, verse 14, we
read these words. And when he had called all the
people unto him, he said unto them, hearken unto me, every
one of you, and understand, there is nothing from without a man
that entering into him can defile him. He's talking about what
we eat. Oh, don't eat this, don't eat
that. Well, please, use some common sense on that. But he
said, that's not the issue, that's not the problem. There is nothing
from without a man that entering in him can defile him, but the
things which come out of him, those are they that defile him. If any man have ears to hear,
let him hear. And when he had entered into the house from the
people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. And he
said unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? You know
what? We ask that, say that every time we look into God's word. Everything about God's word is
undiscoverable unless it is revealed to us. And thank God for the
tiny little bit he may have revealed to us, because it is astronomically
more than we knew by nature. Ye do not perceive that whatsoever
thing from without entereth into him can defile him, because it
entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth
out the drop, purging all meats. And he said, that which cometh
out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out
of the heart. Now notice this, he's talking
about every capacity we have. He's saying, you are totally
incapable doing anything on your own because of this problem from
within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts adulteries
out of the heart it's not necessary to commit them with the hands
Lord help us from doing that it's not Lord, keep us from going
to places that we shouldn't go. Lord, keep us from doing things
with our hands that we shouldn't do. Lord, keep me from seeing
things I shouldn't see. And on and on it goes. But he
said the real issue is not that. The real issue is in the heart.
This is where the problem lies. It is in the heart which is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Out
of the heart. From within out of the heart
of man proceedeth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within
and defile the man. The whole man is defiled by this.
I was asked the other day, do you know how to make an 80-year-old
woman curse? I said, no, it's just sitting
by another 80-year-old woman that yells bingo. Boy, I should have won that one. You know, out of the heart, oh,
the heart. And that's where the problem
is. We got it all cleaned up. I was just reading a day in the
life of President Reagan when he was nearly assassinated. And
those doctors took a brand new suit and cut it off of him without
respect. It was an expensive, handmade
suit that he'd ordered before he was inaugurated. And you know
what? After that happened, he went
and bought another one. You know, that's just the way we are. We're
going to cover up. We're going to look good. Well, it's out
of the heart, out of the heart. In the book of Ezekiel, there
is chapter 36. I just want to read verse 31,
but you read the entire section here of the I wills of God. In
the book of Ezekiel, it tells us so much about our state, our
nature, what we are by nature. and the problem, inability of
getting out of the problem. And yet, when God takes care
of the problem, this is the constant, no, I shouldn't say that. This
is the revelation that we get as a result of knowing that he's
taking care of the problem. In the book of Ezekiel chapter
36, Ezekiel chapter 36, and there in verse 31, notice this with
me, read this with me. After he has done all he has
going to do, he's taken us down the gospel road. He's taken us
down the grace road. We've been permitted to hear
the gospel. And God has worked his great work of grace. The
Holy Spirit has given us the new birth. We're able to breathe
the first time, a spiritual breath. And you know what God reveals
to us? Verse 31. Then shall ye remember, this
is the first time in our life that we're ever able to understand
an inkling about the problem that we were in. After he has
given us the new birth, we're able to understand. You know,
people got it backwards. If I can get him to be sinners,
then we can get him saved. No, no, no, no. Preach the gospel,
let God take care of that, and then he'll reveal what we are.
And then we'll say everything God said in his word about my
condition is absolutely true. In fact, I don't want to I don't
want to put down any of the scripture, but I just think of that Queen
of the South coming up and talking about Solomon's wisdom. I just look at this and say,
and half's not been told. It's worse than we thought. Well,
it says here, Now that's a mouthful. I like Brother Mike saying, that's
a mouthful. We just said a mouthful. That's a mouthful. Look at what he reveals to us.
And the half has not been told. It's an ongoing revelation. The
older I go, the more I know that that's the absolute truth about
the thing. That there is nothing in us that
would ever cause God to look at us for any purpose at all. We have nothing good to offer.
You know, what a blessing it is to come to the point when
we find out that God has a plan. O-T-U. U. U. What does that mean?
Unconditional. Now that's on our part. There's not one condition that
God ever looks at us, in us, to say, now, I'm going to take
that one. I have people telling me, and
they tell it as the truth, that God, before time, looked down
through time to see who would raise their hand for him, and
those are the ones he elected. You know what? There's nothing
farther from the truth in the world. God did not choose anybody
because of foreseen faith. He chose people because of foreseen
unbelief. They would not, could not believe
on Him. So He's going to take care of
the matter. Now the issue is not over who or how many. The issue over is who is in charge
of salvation. You know, when we get to this,
we find out that God is the initiator of salvation from beginning to
end. We're the recipient. We're never the participant.
We are the vessel that is broken, dead in trespasses and sin, and
God, by his mercy and his grace, comes to us with a gospel and
raises us to new life. It's not a decision. It's not
a membership. It's not a something else. It's
only of God. Election is the most hated truth. And you know why? Because it
places God in charge. And as natural man, we are enmity
with Him and we don't want God in charge. We'll let Him have
a little bit. You know, I'm just, I just get
fed up to here with para-church organizations. We're going to
help God be successful. Help God be successful. You know,
the God that created the heavens and the earth from absolute nothing
has no problem with success. He is successful every day. His
success is demonstrated every day. As Brother Mike brought
up, that sun comes up. Now we may have some clouds over
it, but it's still there. He is demonstrating absolute
success. And he said, don't get too carried
away with the situation that they say the earth is getting
so that there's not going to be more life on it, because God
promised from the very beginning, He will give Harvest, he will
give planting time, he will take care of the earth, it belongs
to him. And you know what? When it's over anyway, he's gonna
consume it with fire and make it livable again and get rid
of all sin. The doctrine of unconditional election is the foundation of
our understanding of grace. And it is also the very guarantee
that the preaching will be successful. I don't have to agitate success. Success is granted by the preaching
of the gospel. By the foolishness of preaching,
he shall save those that believe. And we find out that belief is
a gift of God. The scriptures tell us that there
must be something to take care of the problem because there
is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. And the controversy between the
corrupt nature and almighty God is not whether any or all of
the human race shall be saved, but who shall have the glory
and the salvation. Will it be me, or shall it be
God? And you know what? It will be
God. God will get the glory and salvation.
We may hang on to an experience. We may hang on to a profession.
We may hang on to a situation. We may hang on to something Grandma
said, or Granddad said, or some preacher said. But I'll tell
you this, when God saves us, all of those things go down the
drain. Because we come to the conclusion salvation is of the
Lord in every capacity. Unconditional election or God's
elect sovereignly without the input of any person. And this
was done before the creation of Adam or Eve. I would like
to spend a little time on this subject, and I have a little
time, so guess what's going to happen next Sunday? We're going
to have to continue this. You know, before we examine the
Scripture with regards to the election of the descendants of
Adam, we find out that the Bible has a lot to say about the election
of Jesus Christ, the election of God, the Son. I don't like
the election." Well, you don't like God then. You don't like
the Son. Turn with me to the book of Isaiah
chapter 42. There is so much to be said here
in the scriptures about this great subject. Let's just look
at the Son. You know, in the covenant of
grace, the covenant of grace, before the world began, God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit entered into
a covenant, an agreement. And this agreement or this covenant
was far different than the agreement or the covenant that God made
with Israel there in the wilderness. In that agreement, in that covenant,
God made an agreement with man. He made that agreement with Adam.
He said, the day you eat, you shall surely die. But he made
an agreement with Israel out there in the backside of the
desert. And they raised their hands and said, we will keep
it. Yes, everything you write, we
will do. Well, he kept up with that agreement
for 40 years in the wilderness, 450 years of judges, what, 500
or 600 years of kings. And finally, we read, I regarded
it not. That agreement is null and void. I have no responsibility. They've
broken it, broken it, broken it, broken it, broken it, broken
it, broken it. They've come to me and cried,
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll never do that again. And he said, continued
on, it is great. Oh, long-suffering, and finally
he said, I regarded it not, but this is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days. I'll put away
their sins, I'll put my love in their heart, I will call them,
I will raise them, I'll make them mine, and they shall love
me, and I'll be their God, and they shall be my people. Now
that's the covenant we want to talk about. And in that covenant
of grace, before the foundation of the world, it tells us here
in the book of Isaiah chapter 42 and verse one, behold, my
servant, whom I behold, mine elect. Oh, to set the precedent, set
the precedent. The savior is the elect and all
those in him are the elected. Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth,
I have put my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. Hallelujah, he's going to go
to Jews and Gentiles. He's gonna go, as it is written,
out of every kindred, nation, people, and tongue. You know,
a lot of people make a lot of noise about John 3, 16, but I
have to go back to find out who Jesus, those words go to. You know, they're written. In
the book of John chapter three, and a man is there, and he's
a Pharisee, and you know what that man believes? Only children
of Abraham will be saved. Only Jews will be saved. And
the Lord Jesus came to him and said, you must be born again,
never gave him the how. He never gives the how, he performs
it. How much did you have to do with
your first birth? That just settles it with the
second birth too. And we find out that he gets
down there, for God so loved the world. He's not saying he
loved everybody in the world. He's saying there are people
out of all nations, kindreds, peoples, and tongues that I love.
Not just Jews, but Gentiles. Peoples of the Isles, is what
Isaiah writes about. And here it says, he shall bring
forth judgment to the Jews. Turn with me, if you would, back
to the Psalm. Psalm 89. In Psalm 89, we read
these words. Psalm 89, and there in verse
3. Psalm 89, verse 3, we read these
words. I have a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn unto David my servant. In the book of Luke, book of
Luke chapter 23, the book of Luke chapter 23, as we come to
the New Testament, as it begins to share with us what that is
talking about, in the book of Luke chapter 23 and verse 35,
verse 35, we read these words. And the people stood beholding,
and the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved
others, let him save himself. Now notice this, if he be Christ. Now we know since he be Christ,
but they say if he be Christ, the chosen of God. Now since
he's been revealed, he is the Christ, he is the chosen of God. They're saying, if He be Christ,
let Him come down from the cross. Let's do this. And also in the
book of 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2, we read these words about our
Savior, the Lord Jesus, and His great work of grace as He came
to do what we couldn't do, how He chose a people in Christ before
the foundation of the world. To whom calling, 1 Peter chapter
2 and verse 4, to whom calling as unto a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious, this one, this
Jesus, chosen of God. This one is chosen of God. He was in the covenant of grace
before the world began and in that covenant of grace God determined
to save some people and in so doing He wrote some names down
in the Lamb's Book of Life. Election, there was also a great
number that no man can number. You know, and then the Bible
begins on us. And just let's look at a couple
verses. Our time is about up, but turn with me, if you would,
to the book of Ephesians. Again, Ephesians chapter 1, as
we find that the subject of the election of the Lord, phases
and we come to this point about, well, who does it apply to then?
Who is the recipients of this great election of the Christ?
Who is the blessings to in this great election of Christ in Ephesians
chapter one? And you know, you have to know,
you have to believe. You have to believe Ephesians
chapter one or you have no right whatsoever to Ephesians chapter
two. You just can't get there from here. It must be here and
then here. And it tells us here, according
as he has chosen us in the chosen in him before the foundation
of the world, not based on us, not based on merit, not based
on reformation, not based on religion, not based on hands
raised. It's based upon Christ chosen in him before the foundation
of the world. that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. You know, someone comes to me
and says, I don't believe in election at all. I can just say, well,
you don't believe in being holy then. You don't believe in being unblameable.
Do you want to keep your unholiness and your blamableness then? Because
the only way we can get rid of that is being in Him and that
makes sure that we're holy and without blame. Having predestinated
us, and I've mentioned this before, how many of us would go down
to the Portland airport and get into line on an airplane that
doesn't know where it's going? Now, it hasn't been that long
ago that we had a lot of our planes that were diverted to
Cuba. You know? And they'd take over
the plane. Well, that's why we have the
metal detectors. That's why you and I can't go down to the plane
anymore. We have to drop people off. They were diverting the
plane down there. They didn't want to go to Cuba.
They wanted to go to New York or Palm Beach or some other place.
But somebody on the plane took over and directed them down to
Cuba. Well, how many of us would get
on an airplane that did not have a predestinated route? Sorry. Sorry. I'm not paying
for that. I want to go to Orlando. Well,
we don't know where the plane's going. We'll go to a fly out
of, burn up the fuel, okay? Well, here we find that there
is a predestination, having predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. It's his will, not our will,
because our will is faulty. In the book of 2 Timothy chapter
one, 2 Timothy chapter one, Verse 9. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9. Who hath saved us? I like that. Past tense. Saved us. Didn't
make us savable. but saved us, who has saved us
and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. And you know, the church,
every time we read those words, we say, hallelujah, my goodness. After the revelation of Jesus
Christ, we find out that we were in a predicament that we could
never get out of. I would have done anything. I
would have committed anything. On the day of my grandfather's
funeral, if I could have had someone go up there and raise
him up, because I was not finished with him. I loved him. He was a hole in my life now. But you know what? Nobody could. It's out of their league. And
so it is when it comes to our spiritual birth. Nobody can. It's out of our league. But we're
thankful that someone got involved with us, and this is truly where
our salvation began before the foundation of the world. And
we're going to close with this, Acts 13, 48, and we'll pick up
here, Lord willing, next time. And when the Gentiles heard this,
They were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as
many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. I've had people say, well, in
the Greek, that should have been turned around. Go to any Greek
text you want, and it's this way. This is right. Ordained
to eternal life, believe. Our salvation is salvation. It's not hope-soul salvation.
It's not trial salvation. It's not if you keep it good
enough, if you keep the law good enough, it's salvation. No, it's
salvation. And He will not bring a charge
against who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect.
It is God that justify us. So we'll leave that with you
today. It is the beginning of salvation
is His unconditional or sovereign election. And we'll pick this
up, Lord willing, next time. Brother Mike, if you'll come.