Thank you for that. I think several
of us could, we start to join in singing the chorus with you.
Let's go to the book of Romans tonight, chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, does the Bible
teach predestination? That is my subject this evening. Does the Bible teach predestination? I want to make this statement
at the very outset. I'm not trying to convince you
of anything. Because if I convince you of
something, Another preacher can say something different and maybe
say it in a more convincing fashion and convince you otherwise. I'm
just giving the message and I hope and pray that God will convince
you that what I'm setting before you is the truth, God's truth. It doesn't matter
what my opinion is. It doesn't matter what your opinion
is. You know, I have, God has blessed
me with a few books. And I've read some Confessions
of Faith, Philadelphia Baptist Confession of Faith, other Confessions
of Faith, Presbyterian. which is the Westminster Confession
of Faith, and there are several others. And they all have statements
about predestination in them, but that's not the authority.
Those are the writings of men. As we know very well, that only
matters that which God has said. That's all that matters. So,
I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I'm going to show
you what I believe the Bible teaches about predestination
and I'm going to have you go to some references and you can
read with me exactly what God says about predestination. I give you word of caution here. If somebody asks you, do you
believe in predestination? Don't immediately answer yes. And it's that way with any number
of Bible words. Let's arrive at a definition
first. And if we agree on the definition
of the word predestination, then I'll answer your question. But
your idea of predestination and the Bible statements about predestination
might be altogether different. So be careful how you answer
people when they ask you that. Years ago, a lady asked me, she
said, do you believe that babies are predestinated to go to hell
or to heaven. And I'm very careful in answering
that one too. I told my Sunday school class
this morning, this is an issue that we have to be very careful
about. You cannot give a definitive
answer from the scripture to that question. There are some other questions
also that you just, you can't go to the Bible and find a statement
that absolutely takes in every baby that dies in infancy and
it says, well, they all go to heaven. I'm not prepared to say
that and you better not be prepared to say that either. If you want
to go by the Bible, So, be careful when somebody
asks you about something, you got to be, you know, what the
Lord said, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. And that's
the way I want to be regarding any subject that arises if somebody
asks me. You see, on this matter of predestination,
some people define predestination as this, well, it means whatever
will be, will be. Well, that sort of fatalistic
answer, it kind of seems to me to remove from man all responsibility
for his actions and all accountability to God. And I have news for you, whatever
God's decrees are, they are going to come to pass. There's no question
about that. And I also know that you are
responsible to answer to this God. And you will. You will. Some people, you know,
they say, well, if God is sovereign, can man be responsible? Both
are true. God is sovereign and we are responsible
to God. We answer for what we do. We
are responsible. You are responsible for your
actions. You are responsible to believe the gospel. If you
don't believe the gospel, it's your fault. I'm declaring to
you that Christ Jesus is the only Savior. He's the only Redeemer. There is no other mediator between
man and God. And the means whereby the Lord
Jesus satisfied God's great justice, strict justice, was by suffering,
bleeding, and dying in the stead of lost, helpless sinners. God
saves people who believe Christ. Who believe Christ Jesus as is
set forth in this book. Who believe God's way of salvation. All of grace and all of Jesus
Christ. And I'm telling you, if you don't
believe the gospel, you're going to perish in your sin. And it
will be your fault. You can't blame me for not telling
you the truth if you perish. But you can't even blame God.
He gave you His Word. He's directed your steps into
a place where you can hear the truth. We don't cut any corners
here. We tell it as it is. We lay it
out there. We tell people who God is. We
tell people what we are, all of us, needy, wretched, sinful
creatures. And we tell people the only hope
of salvation is Christ Jesus the Lord. And we say, come to
the Savior now. And I say, come on. If you're
thirsty, come on and drink of the water of life. Drink freely.
Drink fully. Drink to your soul's contentment. I said before you the wine of
the gospel. Put it to the lips of your soul
and drink. It'll make you happy. It'll make
you merry. That's what this gospel does
because the gospel declares full and free forgiveness through
the Lord Jesus and the work that He has already finished. That's
good news. And if you don't believe that
message, God's going to damn you. That's absolute truth. He will do that if you don't
believe this gospel. So this idea of the fatalistic
approach to predestination, well, whatever will be, will be. No,
that's not a right approach. I visited one time years ago
with a man. He was a member of the Primitive
Baptist Church, a Primitive Baptist Church. He was a nice fellow. Once in a while, he'd come in
and visit with us in Rocky Mount where I pastored. and he got
sick with cancer. And he was in the hospital, and
I found out about it, and I went to visit him. And I said, well,
how is it with your soul? He said, well, I just hope when
the smoke clears and the dust settles, I'm on the right side.
I said, that's not a good hope. That's not a good hope. We have
a good hope through grace. Our Lord Jesus, He's our hope
of glory. I do have some assurance of my
relationship with God because of the doing and the dying of
the glorious person of Jesus Christ, who is all of my hope
and all of my confidence, and that's what I told Him. He said,
I just hope I'm alright when I die. That's a fatalistic approach. What will be, will be. Other
people They'll tell you their idea about predestination is,
well, that means that God chose some people to go to heaven,
God chose some people to go to hell. The book of God says that
we're chosen unto salvation. That's what it says. We're chosen
unto salvation. God has ordained some people
to everlasting life. Those who are ordained to everlasting
life believe the gospel. That's what it says in Acts chapter
13. As many as were ordained to eternal life, that's the one
who believe. They believe the gospel. They
lay hold to the gospel in desperation. They need the Savior. They want
forgiveness. They see God demands perfection
and righteousness and it's only to be found in the Lord Jesus
and they flee to the Savior. for everything that God demands
and everything that their soul needs. God chose men unto salvation. We do read that God has ordained
some to eternal life and others are reprobate and left to perish
in their sins. There are vessels of mercy aforeprepared
to glory and vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. I know this, whatever may be
the everlasting decrees of God, I know what I must do. I must run to the Savior. Somebody
said you better flee to Christ Jesus. I don't know that he'll
show you mercy or not, but you better get to it, because nobody
else can help you. The church can't help you. Your
works can't help you. Baptism can't help you. Observing
the Lord's Supper, they can't help you. Keeping the Ten Commandments,
that can't help you. The only hope for your soul is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Flee to Him! Bow down at His
feet like that old leper who said, Lord, if You will, You
can make me whole. I don't have any hope anywhere
else except in You. Some people, their idea of predestination,
they say, well, it means that there's some people who are going
to be saved whether or not they believe the gospel. Well, that's
not true either. Because you see, God's determination
to save sinners also includes all the means involved. Every
detail, God's already taken care of all of it. That's a wonderful
thing. It gives great peace to the heart
to know that every detail of salvation, God has already dotted
every I and crossed every T. It's not in our hands. It never
has been and it never will be. It's always been the work of
God. at one who ordained us unto salvation. He ordained the way whereby those
of us who are lost and sinful and rightfully condemned by God's
law that finds us guilty, charges us with sin, God has found the
way to honor His law in the death of His darling son. And the innocent
died for the guilty that the guilty go free. All of the sins
of God's elect, they were all imputed to Christ Jesus and His
righteousness that He established by His obedience unto death,
even the death of the cross. That glorious righteousness has
been imputed to us. Ain't that wonderful? That's
such good news for us poor sinners. God's ordained a people to be
saved and He's ordained that they hear the gospel. They're going to have to find
out the truth. Because God don't save sinners through error. No,
He doesn't use false preaching. He don't use false prophets to
save His people. I don't believe He does. Because
the scripture said, the Lord Jesus said, a corrupt tree can't
bring forth good fruit. God's not so desperate that He
has to use the devil's messengers in order to bring His people
unto Himself. He uses the truth. He doesn't
use falsehood. He doesn't use error. He uses
the very Word of God. He uses the truth that pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Then other people, their idea
of predestination is this. Well, I tell you, predestination
means that people can't be saved even if they want to be saved. Well, first of all, I've never
met anybody who wanted to be saved that wasn't saved. Don't
tell me you want to be saved, but God won't save you. I've
heard that kind of talk before. That you seek the Lord and seek
the Lord. It's like He dangles salvation
before you like dangling a carrot in front of you. And you reach
out to get it and He just pulls it a little bit further away
from you and you keep on going. No, the Lord said, when you search
for Me, you seek for Me with all your heart, you'll find Me. He's not far from any of us.
If you need Him, run to Him. Flee to Him for refuge for your
soul. He's the ark of our salvation. The door is wide open. It's wide
open. Come on in! Tell you what, the flood of God's
wrath is coming. One day, the black clouds of
His justice and His wrath, they're rolling around in the sky and
almost hear the thunder and see the lightning, can't you? The
storms are coming! Noah preached. Noah, preacher
of righteousness. Come into the ark. Come into
the ark. And we know the fact of the matter
is nobody's going to come in unless God draws them. And God shuts the door. No, the
fact of the matter is that none are willing to be saved God's
way unless He makes them willing in the day of His power. That's
a fact. The Savior said, ye will not
come to me that ye might have life. And we read, so then it's
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. And then others say this, well,
predestination is based upon what God foreknew would happen. God ordained based upon what
He foreknew. He looked down through the years
of time. He saw what men would do and
based upon what men would do, then He predestinated and He
chose. Well, a couple of things wrong
with that. That would render predestination
useless. And secondly, the Bible doesn't
speak about what God foreknew, but whom He foreknew. God foreknows
a people. He foreknows a people. Foreknowledge
is the loving foreordination of God. That's what foreknowledge
is. It's the loving foreordination
of God. God knows about everything. God
knows about everybody. He knows every thought before
we ever think it. He knows what we're going to
do. He knows what everybody's doing throughout the entire world.
He knows everything, but He doesn't know everybody in the biblical
sense of the word. At the judgment, the Lord will
say, depart from Me. I never knew you. Well, Lord,
didn't you know about me? I live nationally in Kentucky.
Oh, I knew about you. I knew about you. But I didn't
know you. I didn't love you. I didn't have
an affection for you. Actually, it means you were nothing
to me. You were nobody to me. There
are some people in this world who are somebody to God. Because
He set them apart in love. You see, predestination. It is forever tied to the love
of God. In love having predestinated
us. That's what it says in Ephesians
chapter 1. In love. Well, I tell you, such
a cold, hard doctrine. It may be to you, but it's not
to me. It's not set forth in the Bible
as a cold, hard, heartless doctrine. This is a predestination that
flows out of the very heart of God who loves His people with
an everlasting love. That's what the Lord said to
Jeremiah, I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore
in loving kindness I've drawn you. This matter of predestination,
it's not cold and heartless. It isn't God doing things without
any feelings. Some people, their ideas of predestination
is, well, God said, Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, and He said, well,
I'll say this and I'll damn that, and I'll say this and I'll damn
that. If that's your idea of predestination, you got it all
wrong too. Because it's in love that He
predestinated us. Listen, love is behind it all. The love of God's heart, that
everlasting, effectual, irresistible love that's to be found only
in the heart of the great I Am. Love! Love led to the election
of a people in Christ Jesus. Love led to the adoption of these
people, the predestination of adoption of these people in Christ
Jesus. Love led Christ Jesus to die
on the cross. Love led the Spirit of God to
cause the truth to cross our path. Love led the Spirit of
Grace to quicken us and regenerate us and give us the twin gifts
of repentance and faith. Love keeps us and love will glorify
us. God loved His people with an
everlasting love. That's the truth. There's nothing
cold and heartless about it. So I say now, if you want to
ask me if I believe in predestination, and I don't want you to think
I'm a smart aleck, but I believe what the Bible has to say about
predestination. Is that alright? I believe what
the Bible has to say about predestination. Can't go wrong with that, can
you, Brother Allen? I believe what God has to say. And if you're
one of the people of God, you'll believe what God has to say as
well. right here in Romans chapter 8. I know the Bible's got some
things to say about predestination. Romans chapter 8, look at verses
29 and 30. For whom He did foreknow, not
what He did foreknow, but whom He did foreknow. Whom He did
forelove in everlasting grace. For whom He did foreknow. He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
His Son might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom He did predestinate, them He also called." Them He also
called. And the word C-A-L-L-E-D, called,
means named. He named us. What does that mean? It means
He wrote our names down in the Lamb's Book of Life and He said,
I call you my son. I call you mine. How long have
we been His? You know, I've been in the Lord's
ever since 1982. Oh, if you belong to the Lord, you've been belonging
to Him a whole lot longer than that. You have belonged to Him
as long as He's been God. Because election unto salvation
is an everlasting decree, even as predestination is. Our minds
are so shallow. We think so little about the
things of God, and we have such a little ability to discern the
things of God. The fact of the matter is, we've
always been His. We've always been His people.
Our Lord Jesus has always been our surety. We've always been
united to Him. God's always been our Father. I heard somebody just recently
make this statement as somebody who ought to know better. I heard
it on the CD. And don't ask me who said it
because I'm not going to tell you. You pull my fingernails
out and I'm not going to tell you. But he said that, you know,
God used to hate us, but then we heard the Gospel and believed
Him, and now God loves us. Do you believe that? Let me tell
you something, that's contrary to the Scriptures. Because now
you've got a changeable God. God can't change. If He loves
you today, if He loves you this moment, He has always loved you. And I'll tell you this, if He
hates you this moment, He's always hated you. That's true too. He says, verse 30, Moreover whom
He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called,
them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. Well, I'm not glorified yet.
You call this glorified? I am in the purpose of God already
glorified. Because all of God's decrees
are like Himself, they are eternal. They can't be changed. Go over
to Ephesians chapter 1. Let's just visit a few verses. Ephesians chapter 1, look at
verse 3. And don't you love it? All of
God's people, people who love the gospel of God's sovereign
grace. You say, somebody announces,
go to Ephesians 1, you hold your Bible up, it almost just opens
right up to Ephesians chapter 1. Because this is such rich,
this is a rich passage of Scripture. It all is, but this especially
speaks to us. Because in the first chapter
of Ephesians, we have the work of the Father to the praise of
the glory of His grace, and the work of the Son to the praise
and the glory of His grace, and the work of the Spirit to the
praise of His glory. Look at verse 3, Ephesians chapter
1. Blessed be the God and Father by our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
eulogize God. We're not going to eulogize men.
You know, you go to a funeral and, you know, well, who's going
to say the eulogy? And maybe a family member, and
they get up and say all these good things about the deceased.
I'll give the eulogy. That's the identical word that's
blessed. It's eulogized. Eulogized to
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what
I wish preachers would do. I wish they'd brag on God. Wouldn't
that be refreshing? I'd turn the television on this
morning, you know, Sunday morning. It's full of preachers, you know. It'd be so refreshing if somebody
would get on there and brag on God. Talk about what God's done. You can't find it. You can't
find it. They're wanting you to sow seed. I'm not talking about corn seed
or any kind of seed like that. I'm talking about, you know,
send me $77. It'll turn into $77,000 for you
if you'll just sow it in my garden, you know. Oh, blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, God, give us preachers
that brag on God. Tell what God's already done.
Tell people who God is because this generation does not know. They don't know who God is. Therefore,
they don't know what they are because it's in the light of
His purity and His holiness that we see our corruption and our
awfulness. And then, in that light of God's
holiness, in the light of His Word, by the light of His Spirit,
we see Christ Jesus the Lord. He's the Savior we need. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us at past tense. who have blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Every blessing
that God could give to a sinner, He's already given to you, and
to you, and to you, and to me in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. They're already ours. All the
blessings, all the blessings. Somebody says, well, God has
really blessed me. God's mercies are over all of
His creation. His mercies are. But these spiritual
blessings, they're only in Christ Jesus. And God has blessed all
of His people with all spiritual blessings. You don't have more
than I do. And I don't have more than you
do. If you've got all spiritual blessings,
And you won't lack anything. There's nothing else. So I think
I'll get more in heaven than you will. Well, I've got them
all already. I've got all spiritual blessings
already. There's no more that God can
give me. He gave me His Son and God's put all... Forgive me for
putting it this way. Certainly don't mean to blaspheme
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ or speak lightly of Him, but
God's put all of His eggs in one basket. Every blessing He's
got for sinners is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you've got
the Lord Jesus Christ, you've got the blessings now. We're
blessed with all of them in Christ. According as He hath chosen us
in Him. The Lord Jesus was the first
one chosen. God chose Him to be our Savior.
God chose Him to be our surety. God chose Him to be our substitute. God chose Him to be our representative. He chose us in Him. Christ Jesus be my first and
let God say it. Then He chose us in Him. Well,
when did he do this? Before the foundation of the
world. Well, but I thought God had a
vote and the devil had a vote and we have to cast the deciding
vote. You're wrong again. Because when
this election was held, you wasn't around. And I wasn't around. And the devil wasn't around.
Only the thrice holy God was there. And God said, this is
the way it's going to be. Don't you argue with God. He'll
roll over you like a juggernaut. There won't be anything left
of you, even a memory. You better give Him the glory,
and you better give Him the praise. He chose a people unto salvation. He did it before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame. How in this world can we be holy
and without blame? In the Savior, in Christ Jesus,
before Him. And I'll tell you, those last
two words in verse 4, in love, they really go with verse 5.
Because you know chapter divisions and verse divisions, they weren't
inspired. And we're thankful that some
men did this a long time ago. Makes it easier for us to find
these particular words in Scripture. But it's rather unfortunate they
divided it right here because it's, Before Him in love having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will. He predestinated
us under the adoption of children. God had one only begotten son
now. But He's got a bunch of other
sons by eternal adoption. Eternal adoption. Predestinated
to be adopted into His family. It's all according to the good
pleasure of His will. Not about your will. Stop talking
about your will. Your will's got nothing to do
with it. This is about God's will. I'm telling you the truth. If it's left up to your will,
if God leaves you to your will, you will perish. You will. God's will reigns over all. Oh
God, make me willing. Make me willing. If you've got
any sense at all in your head, you'll say, Lord, make me willing.
Make me willing. Willing to be saved your way.
Saved by grace alone, through Christ Jesus alone. Make me willing
to give you all the glory. He'll have to do that too because
we're full of pride. We're full of arrogance. We think
the world revolves around us. It's me, the three favorite people
in your life, the same three people, favorite people in my
life, me, mine, and what's another one? Maybe it's just two, I,
thank you, I. It's not about us, it's about
God. That's what I wish would, somebody told me Up in Albany,
they said, you know, I stopped going to church because I just
didn't get anything out of it. First of all, this is not about
you. This is about honoring God. It's
not about entertaining you. It's not about making you happy.
It's not about you feeling good. Now, I want to feel good. And
I want to be happy. I want to be rejoicing when I
leave the building. But this is not about me, it's
about God. It's about honoring God, glorifying
God. That's what this is about. And
there's not one church out of a thousand, I bet you, that had
that goal today. And I want that to always be
our goal. Whatever happens to me, whatever
happens to you, and I do care about us, but first and foremost,
I care about the glory of God Almighty. Let God be glorified. Whatever happens to us, because
He is going to be glorified if He saves us or if He damns us,
He's going to be glorified. One way or the other now. He's
God of predestination. And if you don't worship Him
as a God of predestination, you really haven't worshipped God. And then he talks about the work
of Christ Jesus. But I want to go down and visit
verse 11. In whom in Christ we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated. according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel, after the intent
of his own will. You know, the works of God, the
mighty works of God, we just behold with amazement God's work
of creation, God's work of providence, and
God's work of salvation. When it comes to important work
for us, say you've got a big project.
Well, that will involve some intent, some design. You've got to have a purpose,
got to have a plan. It's the way we operate. Well, I think I'll build a house.
I'll just go down to Lowe's order a bunch of stuff. They'd just
bring it out, we'd just put up something. Is that the way you're
going to build a house? No, it takes, you have a purpose, you
have an intention, you have a design, you have a goal. The bigger the
project, the more important the project, the more fine-tuned
is the plan. For 40 years I watched my wife
prepare lesson plan during the school year. Forty years. I don't know, all them lesson
plan books. Forty of them. All filled out. She had, this time of day we'll
have spelling, we'll have, she always liked to have math in
the morning. I do remember that. math in the morning and recess. I'd look at her lesson plans
because one time a substitute for six weeks when she had surgery. And I'll tell you, that was nice
because I went to school and did the teaching. She drew up
the lesson plans. They did the papers. I took the
papers home, and she had to grade them. I tell you, it was pretty
good bringing another paycheck, too, like that. But anyway, she
did the lesson plans. Everything's all planned out.
This is my goal. This is my intent. This is my
design. But you know, sometimes things
happen to interfere with that. And things didn't go according
to her design. Students were sick. Some have
a fire drill during this time. Didn't know that was going to
happen. Principal said, well, I'll go watch a movie at this
time. So you know you have to change your plans. Now listen. God has never changed what he
intends to do. See, nothing unforeseen ever
happens with God. Because he has all power, all
authority, He takes care of everything. And from the very beginning,
God has predestinated everything that's ever going to happen.
And you see, this brings us back to the book and the hands, and
the hand of Him who sat upon the throne. And in that book
is written all that's going to happen, sealed with seven seals.
And you know what our Lord Jesus Christ is doing today? He's loosened
the seals. That's what he's doing. He's
just bringing to pass what God has already predestinated to
happen. He's loosened the seals. All things are working out for
the good of His people. Everything's fulfilling God's
design. Don't tell me God's not a God
of predestination. You predestinate like Nancy predestinated
in her lesson plans. This is what I plan for the class
to do. And other teachers here as well.
If you build a house somewhere, you've got your plan. God's got
His plans. Now, the world says, the religious
world says this, they'll say, God's got a wonderful plan for
your life. I hope you'll let Him fulfill
it. That's not so. You can't let
God do anything. I don't know what God's got planned
for your life, but I'll guarantee you this, whatever it is, it's
going to come to pass. It's just exactly the way He
planned it, the way He purposed it. Because all things fulfill
His purpose. And we look back on history,
whenever the end of time comes, look back on history. It's just
the fulfillment of what God predestinated to happen. And really, that's
what divine providence is. It's just the working out of
God's predestinated purpose. That's what it is. Even the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the most horrific event
that has ever happened as far as the guilt of men is concerned. But even that, God purposed it.
God drew that up. Everything happened. The one
who betrayed Him, The one who denied Him three times, the way
it all came about, the Sanhedrin, their decision, and what Pontius
Pilate did, what Herod did, sending Him back to Pilate, what the
soldiers did to Him. That's all purpose by God. And we can rest in this God.
See, this is a comfort for our souls. and the things that's
going on right now. It's just the fulfillment of
what God determined to do. And it's all going to work out
for His glory and for the good of His people. I know that because
that's what the Bible says. The Bible does teach predestination. It sure does. Well, let's sing
a closing song.