Thank you for that. I've listened
to that song for... I probably first heard that about
57, 58 years ago, and I liked it except for a few of the words. And so I just decided to change
them. And so we made some what I thought
were necessary corrections to that, and it is a lovely song. I appreciate the presentation
of it. I'm thankful to God for the Lord
Jesus, our great Savior. If you would, go back to Romans
chapter 9. This evening we'll go directly
back into Revelation chapter 6. So if you're wondering when
we're going to get back to Revelation 6, it will be this evening. However,
I would like for us to look at Romans chapter 9 this morning. As this great chapter begins,
we find the apostle with great grief in his soul, a great heaviness
on his heart, concerning his brethren according to the flesh.
One thing about this man, when he was in works religion, he
was fully dedicated to that, fully committed to the cause
of Judaism. He believed that salvation was
to be gained by works, by deeds of the law. And he sought to
live a life of purity before God, thinking that that was the
basis by which God would accept him. Not only did he believe
this way, he wanted everybody else to believe this way. He
was fully committed. Whatever he was involved in,
he really jumped in, feet first, wholeheartedly into it. So therefore
we read when Stephen was stoned and there was Saul of Tarsus,
believing in a work salvation, Stephen held their coats, the
coats of those who stoned him so that they could get a better
shot at him, a better throw at him. We find also that he was
on his way to Damascus. He had papers from the high priest
giving him the authority when he got to Damascus to arrest
anybody who believed in that way, that way of grace, that
way of salvation by Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And it didn't
matter to him who they were, men, women, or children. He was
going to arrest them and take them back and see to it that
they were put in a dungeon somewhere. That's how committed he was.
But then But God met him. And God broke his heart. That is, the Son of God did.
Met him on the road to Damascus. He spoke words to him that just
knocked this man off his high horse, literally and spiritually. God did a work of grace for him.
God brought him to see that this matter of salvation is not something
the sinner does for God or with God. It's what God does for the
sinner. God made him to see that everything
was dependent upon the blood and the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That one He so despised, that
one whose name He was not afraid to curse, has now become by the
grace of God the most precious one to the soul of Paul the apostle. He would later become an apostle. And being one who wanted everybody
to believe as he did, now he believes the way of grace, he
believes the way of salvation, and he wants all of his countrymen,
all of his kinfolk to believe the gospel. Just like you do. You who believe Christ Jesus,
you understand God saved you by His grace. The Lord did something
for you. He chose you in grace, didn't
He? Sure He did. Before the world
began, He redeemed you by the blood of the Lord Jesus. He sent
the gospel to you through a gospel preacher. He sent the Spirit
of grace to you who gave you a new heart to believe this Gospel. He gave you life. The Spirit
of God is the life within you. He abides with you. Look at all
God's done for you and you say, this is such a glorious Gospel.
It's such a message of good news. I want all my family to believe
this. I want all my family to see the
beauties and the glories of Christ Jesus. I want them to enter into
the rest that I've got in my soul, to the peace that I've
got, that all of my salvation is fully dependent upon God alone. I want all my family to believe
it. Don't you want that? Sure you do. You want that for
your family and I want that for all of my family. Well, here's
this great apostle, and he writes, he says, I'm not lying when I
say to you, he said, the Spirit of God knows my heart. He knows
in my conscience how I feel. He said, I have such great heaviness.
I have such a great sorrow in my heart for my kinsmen, according
to the flesh. In fact, he says, I love them
so much And I so want them to believe this Gospel. I'd be willing
to be separated from Christ Jesus if they'd come to know the Gospel
of God's grace. There's a grief in his heart.
You know, those of us who believe the Gospel, who've entered into
the grace of God, or rather the grace of God has entered into
us, We have a heaviness in our hearts
for those that we love because we want them to believe the truth.
And we know we can't talk them into anything because nobody
could talk us into the gospel. But the Lord's got to do the
work. And so like the Apostle Paul,
we pray for our kinfolk. We pray for our brethren according
to the flesh. Lord, do something for them like
you did for us. What did you do for yourself?
You didn't do anything for yourself concerning your salvation. It
was the work of God, wasn't it? Well, that's what we ask God
to do for those who are so dear to us and so precious to us.
Here's the Apostle Paul. He had a heaviness in his heart.
I'll tell you, you get to thinking about your family. Your family
members, oh, so many of them, they're wrapped up in the world's
religions. They think salvation is determined
by their will. They think that God's made an
effort to save us. He's done all He can do. And
now God's waiting on us. And that's how our brethren,
many of our brethren, according to the flesh, feel. And we say,
oh God, it just breaks my heart. It breaks my heart. Because they're
in rebellion against God's Word that teaches salvations of the
Lord. And so we have a great grief.
We have a great heaviness in our hearts. That did not keep the apostle
from preaching the truth of God's sovereign grace. In fact, as
you read a little further down, and there are so many verses
here that I must skip over for now, but this is the way it appears
to me. In the midst of this great heaviness
and sadness, over his loved ones who were wrapped up in the same
kind of religion he was wrapped up in, works religion. In the
midst of all that, this is where he found his consolation, in
God's purpose. The purpose of God, that's where
he found his joy. That's where he found his consolation. There's a statement found in
verse 11, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that's the purpose of God. There's where
he found his consolation. There's where he found his joy.
As he thought about his brethren according to the flesh who are
living in defiance against the gospel, living just like he did,
rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ in this way of grace, this way
of salvation by the doing and the dying of the Savior. In the
midst of all that, this is where he found his joy. God's purpose. God's purpose. I don't know what's going to
happen to my family. I see members of my own family,
people who are near and dear to me. I see them kind of just
consumed, consumed, wrapped up in, totally they've dived into
Free will works religion. And that is heartbreaking. But
I rejoice in this. The purpose of God shall be fulfilled. God will do what's right. He will. Old Abraham said that
back in the book of Genesis. He said, shall not the God of
the earth do right? Yes, He will. He always will,
and He will bring to fruition His eternal purpose. And in that,
I have great consolation. I have great peace in knowing
that. I do care what the world does,
however, whatever the world may do, the secular world or the
religious world, And whatever my family members and people
who are dear to me, whatever they may or may not do or may
or may not believe, I know this and I rejoice in this, the purpose
of God shall not be frustrated, it shall be fulfilled. And that
is a very soft pillow upon which I lay my head. And this is what
it seems to me in this passage, this is where Paul found his
consolation. You think about others around
you, it brings you heaviness. You think about God's eternal
purpose that shall always go forward successfully, there's
my joy. There's my hope. There's my peace. Let me talk to you this morning
about the purpose of God. I'll ask six questions. Does
the God of the Bible have a purpose? I'll tell you the basis of our
Faith is the Word of God, isn't it? That's the basis of our faith
and also of our practice. I'm not much interested in the
theories of man or the teachings of the so-called great theologians
of our day or days of the past. I'm interested in one thing.
What does the Word of God have to say? Let me show you a verse. Hold your place there in Romans
9. Look at Isaiah, if you would.
The book of Isaiah chapter 8. Look at Isaiah chapter 8. You
see, there is a standard by which we are to judge every word spoken
by every man who says he is a preacher. There is a standard. Here it
is. Look at Isaiah chapter 8 and
verse 20. Isaiah 8, verse 20, "...to the
law and to the testimony." In other words, to the Word of God.
Go to the Word of God. In its context, go to the Word
of God. If they speak not according to
this Word, here's the reason they don't speak according to
this Word. It's because there's no light. There is no light in
them. By this standard, every preacher,
every doctrine, every message, and every statement on spiritual
issues must be examined. Let me say that again. By this
standard, the Word of God, by this standard, every preacher,
every doctrine, every message, Every statement, yes, even every
single word on spiritual matters must be examined. It's the only
standard there is. It's the only authority we've
got. It's the only rule for our faith and our conduct. The Word
of God. So, as you go back to Romans
chapter 9, does the Word of God speak about the purpose of God?
Well, indeed it does. Indeed it does. Does it address
the subject of the will and what God is determined to do? Absolutely. Right here in Romans chapter
9, in the immediate context of this verse, which is verse 11
that I take from my text, that which is being set forth is the
divine choice or preference, the choice or preference of Jacob
over Esau. We know that to Isaac and Rebekah,
two sons were born. Esau and Jacob. And the Lord, without any consideration
of what they would do or who they were, what they would grow
up to be, without any consideration of those things, the Lord ordained,
He chose, He set apart Jacob to be His own. And he rejected
Esau. Let me read this again, verse
11. For the children being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil... This is before they did anything
now. It wasn't that God looked down the roads of their lives.
He saw what they would do and what they wouldn't do. How they
would behave or how they would misbehave. And then He made a
determination to favor Jacob and not Esau. It wasn't that
at all. Just read the Word of God for what it says. Take it for what it says. For
the children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works. So God looked down through the
halls of the life of Jacob and He saw what He would do. And
then God said, well, I'm going to love him and I'm going to
choose him. No! No, that wasn't the way it was.
Well, He said, well, God looked down through the halls of the
life of the time of Esau's life. He saw how he would misbehave,
how he would rebel against God. And upon that basis, God rejected
him and God hated him. No! That is not accurate. The Scripture says, before these
boys did anything, either good or evil, either wise or unwise,
either for God or the devil, just keep on going. Before they
did anything, God made a determination. He said, Jacob, I'll save and
Esau is going to be damned. I love Jacob. I hate Esau. You say, but why would God hate Esau? Well,
that's not an amazing thing that God would hate Esau. I tell you
what's the amazing thing here is that God would love Jacob.
You see, I wish people wouldn't look at things so negatively. The fact of the matter is, there
wasn't any reason for God to either save Jacob or Esau. There
wasn't any reason for Him to love Jacob or Esau. In fact,
both of them ought to have been hated, deserving, based upon
what they would do. But God, according to the purpose
of God, the purpose of grace, He chose, He selected Jacob. And He didn't choose Esau. Therefore,
verse 12, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger.
As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And I will not dilute the word
of God. And I will not in any way apologize
for God. He has His purpose. And I'm going
to worship Him by His grace. Those whom He loves, He loves
with an everlasting love. Those whom He hates, He has no
regard for them whatsoever. That's God's business. In fact,
as you go further down in the chapter, the Lord talks about
how He's the potter, we're the clay. He can make out of the
clay anything He wants to make. You take a man who is an expert
on making pottery, He can make a beautiful vase, a beautiful
vessel fit to adorn a king's palace. And he can also make a spit tube
or a bed pan. It's up to him. And I'll tell
you, by the grace of God, we've got to face this fact that God's
going to do exactly what He wants to do with everybody. And if
He wants to make you a bedpan, that's His business. If He wants to make you a spittoon,
that's His business. And if He wants to make you into
a trophy of His grace that adorns the gospel, One who is blameless in the Lord
Jesus, without spot and without blemish, robed in His righteousness,
all the sins washed away, that's his business too. That's what
the Scripture says. This is the purpose of God. Jot
this down. we won't take the time to look
at it, Ephesians 1.11, in whom we also have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose, that is the intention
of God, who worked with all things after the counsel of His own
will. The God of the Bible, the God that we trust, the God that
we worship, the one true and living God, is absolutely, ultimately,
totally, The God of purpose. The God of purpose. I think most people believe that
God somehow or another created the world. At least they believe
He got it started. If they don't believe in creation.
And then they think that God then left His creation to the
uncontrolled direction of luck, or fate, or man's free will. The fact of the matter is, God
made all things. He made all things for Himself.
And He is governing all things, directing all things to the end
that He has already ordained. God has unchangeably fixed all
the circumstances and all the events in the lives of every
individual who will ever live. That is what our God has done. He is determined. He has decreed
everything which makes up what we call history, the history
of the universe. He determined it all from the
very beginning of time to the very end of time. And He did
it from old eternity. You see, if God is not the God
of purpose, how could it ever be accurately recorded? Look
back in chapter 8 and verse 28. How could this ever be said if
God doesn't have His purpose which He fulfills? Romans 8.28,
And we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to His If God's
not the God of purpose, how do we know things are working together
for our good? You can't have any peace in your
heart. You can't have any joy. You can't have any rest. If in
your mind you think all of these things are left up to the decisions
of men, and what Satan's going to do. I believe God has kind
of let these things go. You can't have any kind of rest
if that's your concept of the world and the things that are
happening in the world. But when you understand that
God is the God of purpose, there's the purpose of God over all things. It does pertain to the big things,
but it pertains to the little things. It pertains to those
times when you're feeling good, and the sun's shining bright,
and you've got money in the bank, and all the kids are well, it
applies to that, and it applies to the time when all the thunderclouds
are over your head, and the lightning is flashing, and you don't have
any money, and you've got health problems, you've got children
problems, you've got job problems. God's purpose is still there
too. And if God will ever teach us
this, we can have some joy even on
the days when the thunderstorms roll. Because we were sitting
on the back porch the other evening, and the thunder started rolling
and the lightning flashing. I said, Nancy, that's the Lord's
storm. the thunder, that sound of His voice, the lightning,
the flashing of His eyes. I could sit there in that thunderstorm
until the wind got blowing so hard that it was getting wet.
We had to go in, but I could sit there and I can rejoice in
what my Heavenly Father is doing. And this is the way it is with
all the people of God. Listen, we can rejoice knowing
that God is the God of everlasting purpose. His purpose is coming
to pass. Now, here's the second question.
I said, first question, does the God of the Bible have a purpose?
Obviously He does. This is the purpose of God. That's
stated right here in the text in Romans 9 and 11. Second question
is, did God purpose all things? When did He do this? Well, the
Bible says before He made the world. You know, the works of
God are broken down basically in three categories. Works of
creation, the work of providence, and the work of grace. Well,
God's greatest work, obviously, is the work of grace, the work
of salvation. We know that. Well, when was
that work purposed? Well, I've got a bunch of references
we could go to that say, it's before the foundation of the
world. Before God ever made the world. We're going to speak again
this evening to the subject of the opening of the seals of the
book. In Revelation chapter 5, it's where John first saw the
book. Revelation chapter 6, the seals are being opened. What
is that? It is simply the executing of
that which God willed to do before He ever made the world. That's
all it is. And I read commentaries about
the opening of the book sealed with seven seals, and I scratch
my head and say, I don't know what these guys are saying, but
I know what God is saying. God is saying everything I purpose
to do, my Son has been exalted to the highest throne upon the
basis of finishing the work of redemption and He is fulfilling
my eternal purpose. That's what the opening of the
book is all about. You read some books on these
sayings and listen to some of the preachers and you say, man,
that's so complicated. Why admit that the wisdom of
God exceeds the depths of the ocean? The wisdom and the knowledge
of God is higher than the heavens. But God reveals His secrets,
His mysteries to His people. And when He does, like the mystery
of salvation, how can God be just and justify the ungodly? You can't figure that out. You
can't fathom that out. And yet, when God the Spirit
teaches you, it's through the doing and the dying of the Lord
Jesus, you say, man, that's pretty simple. And so we have nothing
to do with it, right? Yeah, that's right. Well, I can
understand that. You mean it's all based upon
God's grace to us in Christ Jesus? Yes, sir, it's all based on that.
You say, well, I can handle that. I can't handle all the fine-tuning
points of it, all the minute things about it. I may not understand
those, but I understand this. Salvation is by grace alone to
sinners who deserve only the wrath of God alone. It's through
the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus alone. And God the
Spirit brings us to flee to Christ. of salvation. Man, I can get
a hold of that. And here's this book with everything
God intends to do. It's the purpose of God. It's
the purpose of God. That's what the book is. It's
the purpose of God. And who is fulfilling the purpose
of God? King Jesus is! We're going to
sing in just a little bit what a friend we have in Jesus. And our friend, our friend, He's
the friend who sticks closer than a brother. Our friend, the
friend of publicans and sinners, our friend sits upon His throne
and He's bringing to pass the purpose of God. And I say hallelujah. Oh, that helps my poor soul.
On the cloudy days when I'm laying up in the hospital and eyes are
hurting like crazy, That's where my consolation came
from. Lord, this is according to your purpose. I don't know
what your will is. I'll lay here and suffer. Give
me another bag of morphine, please. And thankfully they did. But that'll get you through them
stormy trials of life, won't it? You know, there's several
of you in here, you know understanding and believing the
purpose of God. It is solved before the world
began. 1 Peter chapter 1 says Christ was the Lamb slain, ordained
to be murdered and killed and sacrificed before the world began.
Ephesians 1, 3 and 4, before God made the world, He chose
a people to be holy and without blame before Him. My friends, if the Lord determined,
if He purposed that which is His greatest work, which is salvation,
His most glorious work, then obviously He purposed all things.
He who purposed the big things, the greatest, the thing that
gives Him the most glory, He purposed all the other things
as well. Here's the third question. How can we determine what the
purpose of God is? How can we determine what the
purpose of God is? It's a very simple answer. We
may learn of the divine decrees through the dispensation of what
we call providence. In other words, When you get
up tomorrow, and you get the local paper, the Huntington paper,
or whatever paper you get, or you turn on the television, you
watch the local news, and you find out, you see what happened,
at least the big events throughout the world that happened today,
you know what you can say? There's the purpose of God. There's
the purpose of God. You see the care of providence
reaches to all things. even insignificant things and
insignificant creatures. In fact, our Lord Jesus said,
not a sparrow can fall to the ground without your heavenly
Father, apart from His eternal purpose. You mean God's even
purposed that? Yep. Purposed that as well. I was teaching a Bible class many
years ago It was a young people's class and there was a kid in
the class just out of the blue raised his hand and said, can
I ask you a question? I said, sure. He said, you said God made
all things and made all things on purpose. I said, yeah. He
said, why did God make a fly? Why did God make a fly? Because
what it was, I had a fly just buzz. And I was just trying to
teach. You school teachers, you know,
you just do this. Or if you preach, you know, you're
just trying to shoo it away. I said, well, I can't answer
exactly why God made a fly. For spiders to eat, they got
to eat. For birds, birds that, you know,
live off insects and so forth and so on. But I said, I will
tell you this. Whatever the purpose is in God
having that fly in this room, it's being fulfilled. It's being
fulfilled. Big things and little things.
Well then, fourthly, what is the purpose of God? There's no
question of what the purpose of God includes all things. But I'll give you the kind of
three basic answers to this. What is the purpose of God? Well,
the purpose of God, first and foremost, is to exalt His glorious
name. That's God's purpose. What's
God doing today? What's God always been doing?
He's exalting His name. He's bringing glory unto Himself.
All things in creation, all things in providence, and all things
in grace are for God, for His glory. You read in Ephesians
1, verses 6, verse 12, and verse 14. In this matter of divine election,
it's to the praise of the glory of His grace. In the matter of
the work of the Lord Jesus in redemption, that redemption that
we have through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins is to
the praise of the glory of His grace. And the Spirit of God
who comes to us, He raises us from spiritual death. He is Himself
the seal of our salvation. praise of His glory. Everything
God does is for His glory, first and foremost. Secondly, the great
purpose of God in all things is to exalt His Son. God has determined that the Savior
of sinners, the one appointed in the covenant of grace, to
be our substitute, our surety, our sacrifice, our sin offering. God has determined He be exalted
over all things and receive universal acknowledgement and universal
worship that He is the Lord. The day is coming, according
to Philippians chapter 2, every knee is going to bow. You may
not bow your knee in this life. You may remain obstinate against
the Lord, but the day is going to come when you will bow the
knee to King Jesus, and you will say, He is Lord to the glory
of God the Father, and then God is going to toss you aside into
an everlasting torment. But everybody is going to bow. Like one old preacher said, salvation
is bowing ahead of time. It's bowing in His life to King
Jesus. God's ordained that He have all
the preeminence. All the preeminence. Peter in
his sermon on the day of Pentecost, he said, let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God has made this same Jesus to be
both Lord and Christ. Colossians chapter 1 says He
has the preeminence over all things. Thirdly, the great purpose of
God is the salvation of His people. Before the world began, God set
apart a people without any consideration of what we would do or what we
would think or any of those things. And Jacob and Esau, this is an
illustration of that. God, purely for the glory of
His grace to fulfill His own purpose, He set apart a people
in Jesus Christ for salvation. Thank God He didn't pass us by.
Thank God He determined to show mercy to a multitude that no
man could know. Oh, I've had people come to me
and say, oh, you're one of those who believe it's just going to
be a few people saved. I said, well, no. You must be
talking about somebody else. Because I tell you, the God I
worship, He is going to save a people. He has set apart a
people more numerous than the stars of the sky. God said to
Abraham, what about all them kernels of sand, grains of sand,
grains of sand on the seashore? You count them all? No. So shall thy seed be, your spiritual
seed. Oh, it's a bunch of people. I
know at any given time it may appear to be a small number.
I'll tell you what, there are little groups of people and sometimes
big groups of people all over this world worshiping God this
morning. So I think we're about the only ones anywhere around
here that preaches the gospel. Maybe, but you don't know everything.
There might be a little pocket of believers somewhere, maybe
a husband and wife somewhere, never even heard of us. And they're
meeting this morning, reading the scriptures, and worshiping
God through the Lord Jesus Christ. God taught them the gospel years
ago, and maybe they don't know there's a church close by. There
are churches who preach the gospel, most of them we don't even know
about. There are even churches and preachers who, maybe they
don't even choose to have any fellowship with us, but if they're
preaching the gospel, I'm for them too. I'm for anybody who preaches
the gospel. You read there in the book of Philippians chapter
2, chapter 1, Paul said, he talked about the reasons people preach
the gospel. He said, I just rejoice in Christ's preach. And here's
my prayer, Lord, all over this world today, bless Your Word. And there are preachers out there,
many of them we don't know, some of them we do know, some of them
may not even want to have anything to do with me, That's okay. I
don't much want to have anything to do with me either. Knowing
what I am. That's okay. That's okay. I pray
that as the Word of God goes forth, God will bless His Word.
And that's the attitude I think we all ought to have. Because
God's going to do His work. His purpose is the salvation
of His people. While He might use a He might use a donkey to tell
people the truth. Balaam's ass. If he can use Balaam's ass, maybe
he can use me. He can use anybody he wants to
preach the gospel, tell the truth. And then fourthly, will the purpose
of God be fulfilled? Absolutely. Here's some references. Go back to Isaiah chapter 14. Look in Isaiah chapter 14. Let's see if you don't get this the
same way I do. See if this doesn't come across
to you the same way it comes across to me. Isaiah 14.24. The Lord of hosts hath sworn,
saying, Surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. And
as I have purposed, so it shall stand. Now in the context, he's
speaking specifically in verse 25 that he will break the Assyrian
in my land, and upon my mountains tread him underfoot. Then shall
his yoke depart off them, his people, and his burden depart
from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed
upon the whole earth. And this is the hand that is
stretched out upon all the nations. This is God's purpose. Look at
the next verse, verse 27. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed,
and who shall disannul it? Who's going to frustrate it?
Who's going to cancel it out? And His hand is stretched out.
Who's going to turn it back? You going to turn God's hand
back? We're just puny little creatures, all of us together.
If we try to gang up on God, we're just a drop in the bucket
anyway, according to Isaiah chapter 40, right? We're just so many
grasshoppers. It doesn't matter who opposes
God's purpose. God's purpose is going to stand.
And let me give you one more verse on this. Jeremiah 51. Book of Jeremiah chapter 51 and 29. Boy, there's a statement here. It's
all settled for everybody. And it does for God's people.
Jeremiah 51 verse 29. The land shall tremble in sorrow. For every purpose of the Lord
shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a
desolation without an inhabitant. Every purpose of the Lord shall
be performed." Now, who's going to argue with that? You're not
going to argue with that, are you? Don't you bow to the Word
of God? I'm sure you do. Every purpose
of the Lord. Every purpose of the Lord shall
be performed. Well, and let me ask this in
closing. Is it necessary? Stay with me. You've been good so far. Nobody
seems to have left me yet. So hang with me a couple more
minutes. Is it necessary to believe the purpose of God? that God
is the God of purpose. Is it necessary to believe? Is
it a requirement to believe that God is the God of purpose? The answer is yes. The answer
is yes. Because to believe anything else
is to believe a wrong God. It's to worship a wrong God.
It's to embrace and follow a God of your imagination. Think about
this. What would the world be like
if not for the purpose of God? Well, it would be a world governed
by Satan. A world dependent upon the free
will of men. It would be a world where nothing
is absolutely certain or sure. If God is not the God of purpose,
then we have no foundation for our faith. We have no confidence that we
will ever come to a good end. How can you have any confidence
that you'll land safely on Canaan's happy shore if God is not the
God of purpose? If God is not the God of purpose,
how could you ever entertain the thought that all things are
working together for your good? You who love God, who are the
called according to your purpose, according to God's purpose. We
couldn't have any peace. We couldn't have any assurance.
We couldn't have any confidence that we would ever wind up in
glory and that things are working out for our good. Ah, let the people of God rest
securely. Let us have peace and confidence
for the purpose of God cannot be defeated.