It is very obvious from this
portion of scripture that I have read to you that all who are
saved, all who are delivered, all who are rescued from sin,
from self, from Satan, and from the world, they're saved by our
God. If the Word of God teaches anything,
it is salvation is of the Lord. That's Jonah's doctrine, and
it is absolutely true doctrine. Bound, as it were, in the belly
of the great fish, with no ability to get himself out of that unusual
but deadly condition, his only hope was that God would do something
for him. His condition is typical of our
spiritual condition, dead in trespasses and sins, bound by
the great enemy of our souls, dead to everything good, dead
to everything holy, dead to everything spiritual, dead to God. Our only hope is that he'll do
something for us. The Lord Jesus, when he was in
this world, he told his disciples, I did not come to be ministered
to, but to minister and to give my life a ransom for many. The man of this world, Man of
modern day religion is wanting to know what he can do for Jesus. The issue is not what can you
do for him because really that's a dead issue. You can't do anything
for him. The issue is, is he able to do
anything for the sinner? Yes. The issue is, is he willing
to do anything for you? Thank God our Savior is both
able and willing to save folks like you and me. That one thing
that I never take for granted, and I always try to put myself
with everybody else, we're all debtors to God's mercy, and we
all are always in need of the grace of God. I don't say you
need the grace of God only. I say we do. We do. I mentioned to someone not too
long ago the words of Brother Newton, who in one of his lengthy
songs, a very honest song, where he said, do I love the Lord or
no, Am I his or am I not? Very honest song. In fact, so
honest that Spurgeon wouldn't put it in his song book. Too honest. But he says at the end of that
song, Lord, if I haven't loved you before, maybe I've been mistaken
all these years. Maybe I've been deceived. Maybe I've been wrong. The first time that I heard the
gospel with any degree of understanding was in Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
early 70s. But maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe I'm wrong about that's
when my conversion took place. It doesn't matter when it happened. All that matters and all you've
got, all I've got is right now. That's all we got. Lord, if I haven't loved you
before, if I could borrow Brother Newton's words, if I haven't
loved you before, if I haven't believed you before, oh God,
help me to start believing now. Don't you feel that way? That's
just being absolutely honest. I don't have any confidence in
myself. The only confidence I've got
is in the Lord. Better to trust in the Lord than
to put confidence in men, it's what the wise man said. It's
better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes,
men of authority, men of means, men of power. You can't trust
men. The only one you can lay hold
of and feel confident and know without a doubt that He will
keep you safe is the Lord. He's our confidence. Yes, salvation
is of the Lord. David said in Psalm 37, transgressors,
they shall be destroyed together. The end of the wicked shall be
cut off. Salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength in time
of trouble. When the Word of God speaks as
it does here of the election of grace, it is referring back
to that covenant of grace in old eternity And the reason that
covenant cannot be nullified, the reason it cannot be broken,
the reason the purpose of God is going to be fulfilled is because
of whose covenant it is. It's God's covenant. The covenant
of works was made with Adam initially there in Genesis chapter 2 and
then later enlarged to Israel. The covenant of works, as we've
studied, basically amounted to, if you'll do this, God will do
that. If you'll be obedient, God will
bless you. It's a system God made with man,
a system of a covenant of works. That is, blessings that were
ultimately dependent upon man being obedient to God. but here's the problem. There's
none that doeth good, no not one. And so in this matter of
the blessings of God, the mercies of God, the salvation of God,
man can do nothing to merit anything from God. It's got to be a covenant
of grace, which I think we could probably, we could also say it's
a covenant of promise. Because you see, in the covenant
of grace, the covenant of promise, there's this election of a people
unto salvation, given to Christ Jesus, their surety and their
Savior. And all of the stipulations of
the salvation of those elect people, all the stipulations
are dependent upon and must be relied upon Jesus Christ himself. He's the only one. It's a covenant,
a promise. In fact, I would say, and I was
thinking about this afternoon as I was looking this message
over again, The covenant of grace is really the last will and testament
of our Lord. You see, we've always been the
children of God. Isn't that right? We have always
been the children of God. That means we've always been
heirs, heirs of the promise of God. that which God has purposed and
promised to do for us are matters of certainty because they are
not dependent in any way upon us. That's the reason salvation
is so sure. That's the reason David in 2
Samuel chapter 23, he found such hope, such confidence in the
covenant of grace, the covenant that God made with him, where
all the conditions of salvation were upon God, dependent upon
God being faithful. The covenant of works, yes, God
would be faithful to reward perfection, but nobody could render that.
But Israel, in their foolishness, as it were, they entered into
a contract with God. Said, yes, we promise to do everything
you say in the law. And no sooner had they made the
promise, they broke the promise. There's no salvation in works. Works of any kind. Not religious
works. Not spiritual works. The only
hope that we've got is the grace of God. That's all the hope we've
got, the covenant of grace, the covenant of promise. The Lord
chose a people unto salvation, and He did it to the praise of
the glory of His grace. And this gracious act of God,
and I say act of God, it's an eternal act of God, is referred
to here as the election of grace. You know, when we talk about
certainties in life, the average person will say, well, only two
things certain in life. Taxes. I'm looking at my tax
man over here, tax preparer. and death. Well, those really
aren't certainties. You say, oh, yeah. Yeah, they
are. Well, first of all, not everybody pays taxes. There are
some people who use laws. We call them loopholes. And some
people just don't report income. They don't pay taxes. And there's
going to be a generation of people who will be living when our Lord
Jesus comes back, and they're not going to die. They're not
going to die. Enoch, death is certain for you. Really? You don't know everything. I'm going to be with the Lord. I'm going to walk with God, and
I'm going to walk on home with Him. Well, Enoch, you're going
to die because everybody else died. No. I'm going up in a chariot
of fire. So those things aren't certain. Those aren't certainties. The
only certainties are those things that God has to do with in salvation. Now those are certainties. I'll
give them to you quickly. Here's a certainty, number one.
The purpose of God will be fulfilled. Isaiah 46 verse 10, the Lord
says, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.
Now that's a certainty. You can't say that. Isaiah 14,
27, for the Lord of a host has purposed, and who shall disannul
it? And his hand is stretched out,
who shall turn it back? God's eternal purpose can't be
nullified. It cannot become invalid. His purpose cannot become ineffective. Man can't ruin God's purpose. He can't interfere with God's
purpose. It isn't that God has set out
to do something and then man will do something else and then
that's going to foul up God's purpose. No, that's an impossibility. The purpose of God will be fulfilled. Well, what does God's purpose
involve? Everything. No exception. God has ordained everything that
will ever come to pass. You see, we make our plans. I'm going to do this, and James
tells us it's better to say if the Lord wills. That's what he
says. If the Lord wills, we'll do this and that or something
else. A lot of times I'll say I'm going
to do something, but hey, foresee the circumstances when time comes
to fulfill that obligation. But when God says he's going
to do something, now that will be fulfilled. There are no unseen
circumstances with the Lord. There's nothing that's going
to all of a sudden kind of pop up and the Lord say, well, I
didn't figure all that. That's with us. That happens
with us. It doesn't happen with God. The God of modern religion
is much too little. Their ideas of God are too pitiful. Our God, He's so great, He's
so glorious, He's so majestic that whatever He sets out to
do and He set out to do all things, His purpose will be fulfilled. That's the God we worship. And if you worship any other
kind of God, you've got a false God. You don't have the right
God. That means He can't save. That's what the Lord speaks about
those people over there in the book of Isaiah. He says, they
pray to a God that can't save. Why in the world would people
pour out their hearts and souls and labor for a God who can't
save. I'll tell you why. Because they
want some of the glory of salvation. And they don't want to give all
the glory to God. See, no adverse circumstances
and not all the opposition of devils and rebellious men could
ever hinder God from fulfilling His purpose. We rejoice in that
kind of God. Neither his word nor his will
shall ever be broken. His word can't be broken. Even
Balaam said this in Numbers 23, 19, God is not a man that he
should die, neither the son of man that he should repent. Here's
what Balaam said, hath he said, shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken and shall he
not make it good? Micah said in Micah 7 in verse
20, thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham
which thou has promised unto our fathers from the days of
old. His word can't be broken. His word can't fall to the ground
as being unfulfilled. And then secondly, His will can't
be broken. Psalm 33, 11, the counsel of
the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all
generations. Psalm 135, verse 6, whatsoever
the Lord please, that did He in heaven, in earth, in the seas,
and in all deep places. Proverbs 19, 21, there are many
devices in a man's heart. Nevertheless, nevertheless the
counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. Proverbs 21, verse 30, there's
no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord. What
he's purposed to do, he's gonna do. And then here's the second
thing. There is always in this world
a remnant of people chosen unto salvation who must be, who shall
be, and who will be saved. They cannot wind up in any other
condition than saved because really they've been saved in
the mind and purpose of God from eternity. God said, I've reserved a people
for Myself. I've kept them for Myself. That's
what reserved means. I've kept them for Myself. If
God keeps a people, don't you think they're well kept? Oh, how safe are those whom God
keeps. Are you the Lord's? I'm kept
by the power of God. You're well kept. Let the gates
of hell shake against you. Let the lion that goes about
roaring, trying to destroy you, let him roar all he wants. He
can't hurt you. He can't destroy you. Let all
of His demonic hosts attack you together. Let all the enemies
of God in this world go after the people of God. They can't
hurt us. They can't. Why not? God says, I've kept
them for Myself. You know what He says about you?
You're the apple of God's eye. The Lord said, he that touches
you, touches me. Oh my, we're safe alright. Here's the determination of God.
Isaiah 43 verse 13, I will work and who will let it? Who will
hinder me? Who's going to hinder me from
exercising my will? Let all the Billions of people
exercise their free wills together. All of them together, nothing. That's nothing. The will of God
shall stand. There in Acts chapter 13, the Apostle Paul preached. The
Jews wasn't interested in hearing what he had to say. Gentiles
said, would you come preach to us? We'd like to hear that same
grace message. And he did. And the scripture
says, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Because there is a people in
this world a remnant according to the election
of grace that God keeps. He says, I've reserved them for
myself. And I'll tell you this, thirdly,
not one sinner redeemed by Christ's death can ever perish. It's an
impossibility. Isaiah 43, 1, But now thus saith
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, He that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not. Don't be afraid. Lord, why not? The enemy's great. Don't be afraid. Why not? Because I've redeemed
you. That's why. I've redeemed you. I've called you by your name.
You're mine. That's what he says. You're mine. Don't be afraid. But the enemy's too great. Lord,
too great for me. The Lord says, yeah, but they're
not too great for me. Against him no enemy shall stand. Not one sinner redeemed by Christ's
death shall ever perish. You know, there were lots of
attempts upon the life of our Lord Jesus when he was in this
world. All of them failed except crucifixion. When he was born, Herod sought
to kill him as a baby. Impossible. God had ordained
that he would die the death of the cross. He must die hanging
on a tree. When our Lord grew older and
he entered into his public ministry, and I alluded to this this morning
in Luke chapter four, He preached and the people would cast him
off the hill and bash his brains out. But they failed. Why not? That's not the way God
ordained for him to die. He's going to die a death of
redemption, which means he's going to die as a sacrifice.
And he's not going to be stoned to death. John chapter 10, he
said, I am the father of one. They picked up stones to stone
him. Well, how come they didn't stone
him? Because God wouldn't let him. God had ordained he would
die as the lamb of God, a sacrificial death. He must be hanged on a tree as
a convicted felon. He made his grave, the scripture
says, Isaiah 53, with the wicked. He's got to die with the wicked
because he himself is wicked by imputation. He bears the wickedness
of his people. I know in Himself He's the purity. I understand that. But all the
sins of all the people of all ages that God gave Him were laid
on Him. And therefore by imputation He's
guilty. Guilty as charged. Where are
the transgressions of the people of God? Well, we don't bear them.
Well, who bears them? That one hanging on the middle
cross. He bears them. He's guilty. He's guilty. What must happen to men who are
guilty? They must die. And therefore
he dies upon the cross of Calvary. He buys us from divine justice. He redeemed us by his own precious
blood. I say not one sinner that Christ
died for can ever perish. Fourthly, not one sinner quickened
and called by God the Holy Spirit can perish. Christ said to the multitudes,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. If a sinner has been
chosen by God in the election of grace and redeemed by the
bloody death of the Son of God from the curse of the law, If
he's been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, there's no possibility
that sinner can perish. You see that same law that our
Lord Jesus satisfied when he died? It's been satisfied and now it
demands the soul redeemed by Jesus must go free. It must go free. I'll tell you something else.
Not one sinner who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ shall perish.
He that believeth, he that believeth, he's got everlasting life. Can't perish. Can't perish. And I'll go another
step. Not one sinner saved by grace
can ever perish. Grace won't ever lose one of
the objects of his own favors. Turn with me to Titus chapter
2. Look at Titus chapter 2. Not one sinner saved by grace
can ever perish. You see, grace is always successful. Grace can't be defeated. Grace
can't be frustrated. Look at Titus 2.11, for the grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath
appeared to all men, that is to all ranks of men, to all kinds
of men, to all classifications of men. This is not universal
grace, because grace is not universal. Grace is given to specific individuals,
and it was given to specific individuals in the covenant of
grace. In Christ Jesus, grace was given
to us. And the grace of God is not an
inactive attribute of God. God is gracious. God is gracious. And therefore, God being gracious,
it must be that His grace is invincible. His grace is omnipotent. His grace can't be defeated.
Grace is active in the salvation of sinners. Grace doesn't offer
salvation. Do you understand? Grace doesn't offer salvation. Grace doesn't invite you to be
saved. Grace doesn't wait for sinners
to be receptive of the good things that grace has to offer. Grace
is not an offer. What does grace do? It brings
salvation. It brings it with it. Grace invades
the heart. And when grace invades the heart,
guess what it brings with it? Salvation. That's what it says
here. The grace of God that bringeth
salvation. It's always bringing salvation
to the people of God. And it's appeared to all kinds
of men. It's revealed to all kinds of
men. It's manifested to all kinds of men. Grace manifests the salvation
of God. Grace reveals the Savior. Grace
reveals your need of this gracious Savior. Grace marked out the
sinners for salvation. Grace sent the Savior to settle
the debt that all of those sinners owed to divine justice. Grace
raised Him. Grace has exalted Him. Grace
accompanies the gospel preached to sinners. Grace is not dependent upon the
sinner. People have got it all wrong.
They have grace as being something puny. Here's how the grace of
God is presented. As a wish from God. It's just
a wish. God wants to do good things for
you. God wants to be gracious to you.
No, that's not true. Grace is active. And grace sent
forth from the God of all grace is always successful. Not one sinner saved by grace
can ever perish. Here's something else. Not one
sinner loved by the Lord can ever perish because love, the
love of God, can't be defeated. God said to Jeremiah, I've loved
thee with an everlasting love. I have loved thee. I, the great
I am, the eternal God, the Alpha and the Omega, I have
loved thee. I love you now. I loved you back
yonder in the eternity past. I loved you throughout all your
life. I loved you in your days of rebellion. I loved you when
you were spitting, as it were, in the face of God. I loved you
when I convicted you of your ungodliness. I loved you when
I raised you up from the spiritual death that you were in. I loved
you when I brought you to Christ Jesus. Grace says, I love you
now. Grace says, I'll always love
you. That's what grace says. Grace says, I'll take you all
the way home. Grace says, if I've begun a good
work in you, I'll finish it to the day of Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you something else,
the power of God to save cannot be successfully resisted. I know when Stephen preached
in Acts chapter 7, he spoke to those Pharisees. He had a very
angry congregation, not like you folks at all. They just hated
the message that they were hearing. And he said, you're just like
your forefathers, you do always resist the Holy Ghost. You mean
the Holy Ghost can be resisted? Yeah. The general call of the
gospel, the general work of the Holy Ghost as the word of God
is preached. But when God issues a specific
very specific call to a chosen sinner. That call cannot be resisted. Because here's what the Lord
will do. He'll melt the hardest heart. He'll overcome the most stubborn
will. He will do his work. Is anything too hard for the
Lord That's the question. Anything too hard for the Lord?
Anybody too far gone so the Lord can't save them? Romans 11, 26 says, all Israel
shall be saved. And I'll tell you this, the God-given
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will never be disappointed. Faith,
first of all, is a gift, and we know that. And the second thing we're confident
of is that true faith embraces the Christ of God. We embrace Him as He's revealed
to us in the Holy Scriptures. And we rest in Him. Who will believe this gospel
of grace? The election will. Those chosen
of God will. And I don't know whether it's
still on the internet or not, but I guess the CD will go out
anyhow. But if you say, well, I'm not
going to believe that, well, maybe you're not one of his.
Maybe you're not one of his elect. Who's going to believe the gospel? Needy sinners will. the chosen of God will, the redeemed
by the blood of Christ Jesus will, and those whom the Holy
Spirit gets a hold of, and raises them from the dead, and reveals to them the holiness
of God, and their own richness, and then shows them, manifests
to them, there's a savior. And you know what his business
is? Saving sinners. And then that becomes good news.
This faithful saying that's worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom Paul said,
I'm chief. Well, there's an election of
grace. We bow to the Word of God and
say, yes, Lord, there is. How do I know I was in that election
of grace? That passage that Brandon read
to us in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul says, I know your election
of God because you believe the Word. The Word was effectual
in you. The Word of God came to you in
assurance. The Word of God had changed you
by the power of the Holy Ghost. That which happened was that
you were made willing to believe in the day of His power. Saved by grace. Hallelujah. Lord, we bless you and we thank
you for enabling us to have our service tonight, for turning
the lights back on, and we thank you for the spiritual light that
you've turned on in our hearts. Oh God, thank you for quickening
us, for revealing the Son of God to us, for translating us
out of darkness into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of your
dear Son. We're totally dependent upon
your grace, and your grace is not weak, it's not feeble. Your
grace isn't a beggar. Your grace saves. It's mighty
to save, because it's the grace of our mighty God. And we rejoice
in you, Father, and in the Son of God and in the Spirit of grace. Thank you for opening up our
hearts, as you did for Lydia, so that we attend to this glorious
Word of God. Bless these who've listened,
give a safety going home, be with those of our congregation
who are suffering, Those who are in need, those who still
have no electricity, we ask that you would grant it, that they
would have power restored to them. And Lord, we're thankful
that our God, our God can, well, you can do your will and you
will do all of your purpose. Your purpose can't be frustrating.
This is the God we worship. We thank you for who you are
and thank you for the revelation of your grace to our souls. These
things we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus and for his sake,
amen.