All right, if you will, open
your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 9. And we're very grateful
to see Bill and Dorothy out. Had a couple of rough weeks,
and Sister Ruby's in the hospital. She started spitting up blood,
coughing up blood, and they took her to Vanderbilt. She's down
in Vanderbilt, and they gave her two units of blood. Not had
any more issues about it, not been spitting up blood or anything,
but they're going to keep her a few more days just to make
sure everything's okay. She doesn't do that anymore.
You know, I told the family this morning, when they told, James
called and told me they was taking her down there, spitting up blood,
an ambulance come and got her. I started praying for them, for
them, the Lord, to do something to keep them strong. My goodness,
Ruby just, she looked so forward to going home. You know, I couldn't,
I just, so I prayed for them. The Lord helped them to be strong,
Grace, because, oh my, the Lord will most likely let her come
worship with us again. I tell you what, it's, It's a
wonderful thing to know what a blessed hope we have. Oh, what
a blessed hope. You know, it's like living in
a tent and moving into a mansion. It's like having an old leaky
house, the roof leaks, the wind blows through it, and then all
of a sudden, you get the best house that God himself can give. Who wouldn't want to leave a
tent and move into a mansion? Who wouldn't want to leave an
old, windy, cold, miserable house and go into a blessed place where
Christ is. Who wouldn't want that? But we've
got to wait until His time. When His time comes, that will
be just right. But we're very thankful for Ruby
and the Lord's people. And we'll continue to pray for
them and Bill and Dorotha. All right, I'm going to start
reading here in verse 9. Read down through verse 24. For
this is the word of promise. God made a promise to Abraham.
At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. And not
only was that promise made, but another promise. But when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, who was
the son of promise. And here it is in parenthesis
to show us. For the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, and this is my
subject, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto
her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness of God? God forbid, for he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardness. Thou wilt
say then unto me, why doeth he yet find fault? For who hath
resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replies against God? Argue with God, dispute with
God. Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honor and another unto dishonor? And what, if God willing, to
show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much
longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to this creature,
and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy? which he hath aforeprepared unto,
one before fitted to destruction, other made not, aforeprepared
unto glory, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only,
but also of the Gentiles." Alright, if you will look back with you
here in Romans chapter 9, you see up there in verse 11, it
said for the children, talking about Isaac, Jacob and Esau,
Jacob and Esau, the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God might stand, not
of works, but of him that called. The purpose of election, the
purpose of election, that's my subject, the purpose of election.
You know, folks, a lot of objections to election. The Bible's full
of it. And why in the world would we preach such a doctrine, especially
on a Sunday morning? We ought to just keep that a
family secret and just, you know, just teach just a saint statue
here on Wednesday night or something. But why preach it? Well, because
it's in the Bible. It's in the Word of God. And
we're told to preach the Word of God. Paul said, I have not
shunned to declare unto you The Word of God. I've not held back
nothing that's profitable under you. And I tell you, and some
people you know, they misuse the doctrine of election. They
do. They say, oh, if I'm one of God's elect, that's what they
said, why does God yet find fault? If I'm one of God's elect, he'll
let me know, and I may not know till I get to heaven. That's
fatalism. That's hardshellism. God saves his people by the gospel.
If you fall into that, you know, hardshellism, you know, that
you just, you know, I'm going to, if I'm one of God's elect,
I may not even know it until I get to heaven. But that's not
right. That's not right at all. But no matter what, a carnal
religion thinks about the doctrine of election, the truth of election.
Carnal religious always finds a way, finds a way to make a
God out of something, destroy themselves with something. The
Jews made a God out of the Levitical law, made a God out of Moses.
They worshiped the feast and the Sabbath. You know, they bowed
down to angels and men, made a God of Mary, the Lord's mother,
and the apostles. Even took the Lord's table and
baptism and said that grace comes through those things when they
do not at all. But I tell you what, beloved,
the Bible is so wonderful and this precious that God had a
purpose. And this purpose was according to election. He had
a purpose of election. God purposed to do that. And
that's what He talks about. You know, twice it talks about
what His purpose. He said, For this purpose I've
raised thee up, Pharaoh. I raised you up. God does things
on purpose. And I'm grateful He does. It'd
be awful to have an accident or God have to, you know, you
have to wait on a chance. You know, you can go up here
to the store and buy a chance on the lottery. But ain't you
glad that God don't deal with people by chance? Draws a lottery,
you know, and says, well, I'm gonna give this fella a chance,
and if he takes advantage of that chance, then I'll save him.
I'll say he's one of my elect. If that man decides to believe
and repent, then I'll say he's one of my elect. But it says
here the children, not yet being born, they hadn't done anything
good, still yet in the womb. Hadn't done anything evil, they're
still in the womb. That the purpose, God's purpose
was made manifest while them boys were still in their womb.
The court and election might stand. And I tell you, the natural
man You know, some take the doctrine of election and become indifferent
and careless about how they live in this world. They say, well,
I'm one of God's elect, it doesn't make out any difference how I
live. But that's not true. The natural man is always going
to find a reason an excuse for his sin. It's like when our Lord
came to Adam, he said, what have you done, Adam? He said, it's
the woman you gave me. If you hadn't given me that woman,
we'd still be in good shape. And then that woman turned around
and said, it's the serpent that you let in here. This wouldn't
have happened if you hadn't. So everybody's got an excuse
for the reason they done what they did. But oh, beloved, Believing
in evangelism, believing in missionaries. They say it'll destroy that.
But our Lord Jesus Christ preached election. Do you know that? He
said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him
that cometh to me, I'll no wise cast out. He said, Father, I
thank thee that thou hast hid these things from the rising
prudent and has revealed them unto babes, for even so It seemed
good in thy sight." Nobody would say our Lord Jesus Christ had
a lack of concern for sinners, but they say we do because we
preach election. But you find election all the
way through the scriptures. Paul says in Ephesians 1, 3,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ. And here's
the first blessing he talked about. According as he has chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's the first
blessing. His brethren were bound always to give thanks to God
for you. Why? Because He, God, had chosen
you unto salvation. What? Chosen you unto salvation? Through sanctification of the
Spirit, belief of the truth? And you're talking about a missionary.
He went all over the known world at that time preaching that gospel.
Now, beloved, I've got a four-year-old point outline this morning, just
very simple, very plain. Fourth point outline, what is
the doctrine of election? Some warnings about the doctrine
of election and people that's immature, and the evidences of
election, and the effects of election. And so let's see, what
is the doctrine of election? Well, go back here in Romans
9 and look at this again with me. Verse 9, Romans 9 verse 9,
For this is the word of promise. God does things by promise and
on purpose. And God told Abraham 25 years
before it ever happened, and then one day he came to him and
said, Now this time next year I'm going to come by and Sarah's
going to have a son. We're going to wait until she
gets so old she can't have a child to show you that I'm the one
that's got the power and this child's going to be on account
of promise. And then he says not only this,
but Rebekah, Isaac's wife, also had conceived by one, even by
Isaac, and the children, still yet in the womb, not having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election,
might stand. And shows us this, that it's
not of works, but of him that calleth. What is the doctrine
of election? There it is. There it is. Let's
look over here at 1 Thessalonians 2. I tell you what, this is such
a blessed truth to me, and I love it. People say, well, you know,
I think we ought to kind of keep that to ourselves. I love the
doctrine of election. I absolutely love the precious, blessed doctrine
of election. I do. And I've talked to people
about this over the years, and most people believe. that you
have to repent and believe, and then God will manifest your election
to you. But there's something that you
do that causes God to choose you. God looked down through
the telescope of time, and he saw who would believe and who
wouldn't believe. And so since he's seen those
who would believe, I believe I'll choose that person. He's
going to believe anyway. You reckon that would work? Does
he get all the glory out of that? No, no. Well, if that person
will repent and believe, then I'll make him one of my elect.
That's not the way it works. That's not the way it works.
Look what he said here in verse 13, 2 Thessalonians 2. And look what it says. But we
are bound to give thanks always to God for you. Brethren, look
what he says here. BELOVED OF THE LORD, and listen
to this, because GOD HATH FROM WHEN, WHEN DID HE DO THIS? FROM
THE BEGINNING CHOSE YOU TO SALVATION. WHEN WAS THE BEGINNING? WHEN
GOD SAID, IN THE BEGINNING, GOD. THAT'S WHAT BEGINNING IS. THROUGH
SANCTIFICATION OF THE SPIRIT AND truth. Now see, beloved,
the cause of election is found in God, in God alone. There is
no other reason, no other reason why there is any reason of election.
Why there is election? Because it is God, found in God
alone. If there is an elect, God has
to, if you figure out there is an elect, it has to be of God.
Now back over here again in Romans 9, look what he says here. And
what we are saying is the salvation is of the Lord. For he saith
to Moses, verse 15, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
Anybody complain about that? And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. This is what God says I'll do.
And so then it's not of him that willeth. A man said, oh, I will,
I will, I will. Nor of him that runneth. I'm
going to run and do something for the Lord Jesus. Oh, no. Man's will, man's power, man's
ability, man's resolutions, all the things that man says he's
going to do. But he said, it's God that shows mercy. For the
Scripture saith unto Pharaoh. And that Paul always goes to
the Scriptures. He's done used I don't know how
many Scriptures. This whole chapter is taken up
with the Scriptures. what was said in Genesis. For
this purpose, again, I've raised thee up that I might show my
power, my might, my authority, my rights in you. And therefore
hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy. And if he wills,
he'll harden a man. That's what I preached on last
Wednesday night. God hardening a man, giving up on a man. So,
salvations of the Lord is what this proves. The salvations of
the Lord in His planning. God planned this business. He
planned it. And if one person makes a plan
for something and makes a purpose to do something, then he has
this plan, then that plan has to be carried out. Well, who
can carry out that plan? You and I can't carry it out.
So if it's going to be executed, God has to execute that plan.
Well, how did He execute it? He sent His blessed Son into
this world. He sent Him into this world to
take the place of sinners, to be a substitute for sinners.
So He executed this salvation, and He executed this salvation
in His Son. And then, beloved, He has to
apply this salvation. If Christ came and Christ died,
and He shed His blood for sinners, And He shed His blood for His
people, for His sheep. Well, then that has to be applied
to them. They can't apply it by their
own will. They can't apply it by their own ability. They can't
apply it by a decision that they make. Well, how's it going to
be applied? Well, He sends the Holy Spirit by the preaching
of the gospel, and He teaches them that God does things on
purpose. And that God sent His Son into this world to die, to
put away sins by the sacrifice of Himself. And then the Holy
Spirit comes and He takes the things of Christ and shows them
unto you and shows you your sinfulness. And the next thing you know,
you're a believer. Huh? And then He's got to sustain,
not only save you, but He's got to sustain that salvation. And
not only will he sustain it, I'll no wise ever cast him out,
but he's also got to ultimately perfect it. That means one of
these days we're going to be made just like Christ. And I'm
going to give you the necessity of the election starts with God.
Salvation's of the Lord. And the necessity of election
is found in men. Found in men. Wives is found
in men. Our Lord Jesus Christ said it
this way, you will not come to me that you might have life.
You will not. That's why I said it's not of
him that will it. And our Lord Jesus Christ told the Jews, how
often would I have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks?
But he said, but you would not. But you would not. He came unto
his own and his own received. Men love darkness rather than
light. The natural mind is immaterial.
And so, beloved, man is a fallen creature. He has no spiritual
life. He don't know God, he doesn't
desire to know God, and he don't have any interest in God. You
know what our Lord said? Look over here in John 5, verse
43. Look what our Master said over here. And this is, this
is, this is so. This is so. We see it all the
time. Bragging about preachers, bragging
about, you know, Moses come and they honored him, and Christ
come, they wouldn't honor him. Look what he says here, John
5.43, I'm come in my Father's name and you receive me not.
You don't believe him. You all receive me as the Son
of God. I've come as God's Son. I've
come in the Father's name. I've come to do the Father's
will. I've come to glorify the Father and you receive me not.
But if another shall come in his own name, you know what you'll
do? Oh, I tell you what, he's a fine
fella. He's a good preacher. He does, oh, it's wonderful the
things that he does. Oh, you ought to see the crowds
that he gets. You ought to see all of his converts. Oh, he does
a wonderful work. And you'll receive a man and
hear that man's name and you reject the Lord. Yes, that's
what our Lord said. They come, they says, you know,
you'd rather have Abraham than have me. You'd rather have Moses
than have me. You'd rather have the law than
have me. You'd rather have your works than have me. You'd rather
have your free will than have me. You'd rather have your goodness
and your morality rather than have me. And oh, beloved, without
election, I'm gonna tell you this, without election, there'd
be no salvation. Why? Because man is the way he
will. Man won't come to God, so what
does God do? He comes to man, and he comes
to man in mercy, and he comes to him. And I tell you, that's
a fact. That's a fact. That man left
to himself, there's no way under God's heaven that he'll ever
come to Christ. How many family members have
you got that shows no interest in Christ whatsoever? How many
family members you got? How many sons? How many daughters? How many brothers? How many sisters?
How many mothers? How many fathers? How many children? How many grandchildren that absolutely
have no interest in God? They know you tend services.
three times a week. They know you love the gospel.
They know you believe in election. They know you that you confess
to be a sinner. But does that give them any interest?
Do they pay any attention to what you got to say? I'm going
to tell you something, I hope I can explain this right. Man
is a free agent, but he doesn't have a free will. What do I mean
by that? I mean his will is bound by his
nature and to his nature. Now let me give you an illustration
if I can. If we had somebody in this congregation
to stand up, call on somebody to stand up, any one of you men
stand up in this service. Now, you can do whatever you
want to. You can sit, walk, you can continue to stand, you can
do what you want to while you're up. He's free to act, walk, talk,
stand up, sit down, do whatever he wants to do. That's the free
age. But wait, we'll tell him, say, now, Listen, here in this
congregation, take off your clothes. Take off your clothes. There's
your wife sitting behind beside you. Why don't you kill her?
He's got the power to do it. He's got the strength to do it.
He's got the ability to do it, if he will. But that's the key
to it. Would he do it? No. It's against
his nature. He loves his wife. He loves his
wife. He ain't going to take off his
clothes. And that's what we say. We say, sinner, receive Christ. Love Christ. Crown Christ King
of kings and Lord of lords. Bow down to Christ. Embrace Christ. Can you? Yes, if he has the will
to do it. But he doesn't have that. How
many people are sitting in this service today that's never, ever
come to Christ? And you've been encouraged to,
you've been told to, you've been prayed to, you've been pleaded
with, but you still won't come. Why won't you come? You don't
have to. Oh, my. See, you're here. You're a free
agent. You come in here and you sit down. But do you have the
will? I say, come to Christ. Receive
Christ. Love Christ. Bow to Christ. Why don't you? He won't. You
know why? Because it's, so how in the world
are we going to do this? In the day of His power, His
people are made well. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Can the leper change his spots? How then can you that
are accustomed to do evil do good? And to as many as received
Him, to them gave He the power to become sons of God, which
were born, not of the will of flesh, not of man, nor of blood,
but born of God. And that's why I said it's not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth." And let me tell
you, a man's response to election reveals two things about him.
Reveals two things about him. What he thinks about God and
what he thinks about himself. What he thinks about God and
what he thinks about himself. Our Lord says you will not. So
election starts with man's nature necessitates an election. That's
why it has to be unconditional. Because the way man is, if there
hadn't been an election, who in the world would have ever
been? If God had not chosen some and left the whole human race
in Adam, who would we all be right now? Now, let me give you
some warnings. And let me just explain a few
things here. Now, when we first believe, when
God does something for us, Election is not a doctrine usually understood
at the beginning of our spiritual life. When we first believe,
and we begin as babies, and we begin as infants in the gospel,
at the beginning of our spiritual life, election is not one of
those things that we generally understand. And we always run
around making our call in an election, sure. You see, the
Bible doesn't say this, whoever one that is elect, come. It doesn't
say, come unto me all you that are elected. It doesn't say,
he that is elect has eternal life. It doesn't say, whosoever
is elect and calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's
not what it says, does it? Huh? That's not what it said.
So our business, our business is not with the decrees of God.
Mr. Spurgeon said one time, said,
since you believe that only the elect are going to be saved and
God's got to elect people, why don't you just preach to the
elect? And he said, I would if they had a mark on their head,
if there was some evidence that they were. But you know, the
only evidence of you being one of God's elect is you believe. is that you believe. How in the
world do you believe? Do you trust Christ? Or are you
going back into God's decree and saying, well, did God do
this for me? Or maybe He didn't do that. Or maybe He's not going
to do this. Maybe He's not. Listen, we don't have things
to do with that. But our gospel has to do with
the Son of God. Our Lord said, hold he that's
thirsty. Let Him come unto me, huh? Come
unto me, all you that are heavy laden. He that believeth on me
hath eternal life. Whosoever calleth on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. So we're talking about the Son
of God. We come to Christ. We go to the cross, and then
by God's grace, we learn something about the covenant of grace.
We're brought to faith, and then God begins to teach us something
about election. And here's the thing, the decrees
and counsel of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. So that's
who we got to know. We got to know Christ. Now, what's
some of the evidences of election? Look over here in 1 Thessalonians.
I'll show you. 1 Thessalonians. Chapter 1. See
if I can show you some evidence. What's the evidences of it? What's
some of the evidence? Boy, I sure would like to be
one of God's elect. Well, if you believe, you are.
And if you don't believe, you have no reason whatsoever to
believe in. Your business is to come to the
Son of God. But here's the first thing that
he says in verse 4. Knowing brethren, beloved your
election of God. The margin says, beloved of God,
your election, knowing your election of God. Now how in the world
did he know these people were elected? He's writing to a body
of believers in Thessalonica. He said, there's a church down
there. And he wrote a letter to them. He says, oh brethren,
God loves you, and he loved you, and he chose you, and he elected
you, and I know you're God's elect. How did he know? Well,
the first reason is this. You heard the gospel, look in
verse 5. For our gospel came unto you not just in words, though
it came in words, but God brought it in power, and he brought it
with the Holy Ghost, and he brought assurance to your heart that
this gospel was the gospel of God, this gospel was for sinners,
and you know what manner of men we were. First thing you done,
you heard the gospel in power, you heard the gospel. grace of
God. And then look what else he says
in verse 6. Here's another thing, you became
followers of us and the Lord. You became followers of Christ.
You became followers of Christ. That's how he knows they were
elect. They followed Christ. They come to Christ. They believe
Christ. They trusted in Christ. And not
only that but they received the Word in much affliction. And
they received it with joy of the Holy Ghost. And I tell you,
here's another reason why he know they were elect. Look what
he said in verse 7. So you were examples, ensembles. You were examples. To who? All
that believe. Whether in Macedonia or Achaia,
you all were examples to them. Examples in what way? By your
faith and your hope and your love. Oh my. So you know, you
became examples. I tell you what, not only that,
here's the fourth reason of election, the first, fourth evidence of
it. Listen to what he said in verse eight. You became missionaries. For from you sounded out the
word of the Lord. You sent preacher. You sent the
gospel out. You wanted the gospel to be heard. You wanted the gospel to be believed.
You wanted the word of God to be believed. And you sounded
out the word of God. You became missionaries. Not
only in Macedonia and Achaia, but you took it every place.
And your faith to God is spread abroad. Everybody knows about
you. Knows your faith in Christ. Knows
your faith in God. And look at another one. down
in verse 9. He said, For they themselves show of us what manner
of ending end we had unto you. And here's another evidence.
And how you turn to God from idols to serve the Lord. You
turn from idols. You turn from the God of your imagination.
You turn from all your idols. You turn from your free will.
You turn from your false perfection. You turn from your works. You
turn from your false hope. You turn from it. And oh my,
I tell you what, you're talking about a turn. When I first come
down here, I've told you all this before, I was a legalist
of the worst. I was one of the most self-righteous,
legalistic human beings you ever met. I preached against women
wearing earrings, preached against televisions, preached against
hollering and shouting at a football game and sitting like a dummy
in a church. You name it, I was against it. Some of the things I said, and
this is awful. I'm ashamed of it. I'm ashamed of it. I'm not
glorying in it. I'm not glorying in it. But I'd
make some of the awfulest statements. Oh my, just some of the awfulest
statements. I said, you know, preach against
women wearing pants. I say, well, I won't say it.
I won't say it. If I thought it was wrong, I
preached against it, whether I found it in the Bible or not.
I preach works, is what I preach. Works. That if you give And if
you're a Christian, you're this way a certain way. And that way
that I made was a list of things. And if you met that list, you're
a Christian. But the problem was that I never had any peace
and the people that I preached to never had any peace until
one day God crossed my path with the gospel. The word came, the
gospel come to me in word. It come to me in power. It come
to me in the Holy Ghost. And the message that got me,
once and for all, I was learning the gospel, but the message that
changed me dramatically was recovering the gospel by Henry Mahan. And
I knew right then and there that I didn't know the gospel and
wasn't preaching. And I went as straight as a martin
to his gorge. I could not have said I was one
of God's elect until God taught me the gospel, until God brought
me to faith in Christ. I'm not talking about faith in
religion, I'm talking about faith in Jesus. He brought me to where
I, and it was, you're talking about turning from an idol. I
turned from my idol of legalism and fundamentalism and self-righteousness. I hope, and I've still got plenty
of that in me, but I turned from all my hopes Turned from all
my works, all my legalism, all my fundamentalism, and I turned
to Christ. And I don't know if y'all remember
the first message that I preached when I came back. I said, this
is the first thing I said, we don't know nothing about worshiping
God or worshiping Christ. I said, we've been playing church
for years. And now, by God's grace, we're
going to quit that. And I preached, I said, the first
thing that God, the only way God can be approached is through
a sacrifice. What is that sacrifice? Who is
that sacrifice? The Lord Jesus Christ. Well how
can God be just and justify an awful, God-hating, Christ-rejected,
Holy Ghost-denied preacher like me? Because I needed saving.
He said, you've been here as a preacher. I needed saving.
How can God be just and save somebody like me? He sent His
Son, spared not His Son, but gave up His Son. And Christ himself,
by himself, purged my sins without my help. And then God gave me
a verse of scripture. I'm talking about the evidences.
God gave me a verse of scripture. 2 Timothy 1.9, I've told it probably
a thousand times. God who hath saved us. That's
the first thing. God saved. Second thing is, not
according to our words. Third thing is, but according
to his own purpose. Fourth thing is, in grace. When
was this grace given? Fifth thing. In Christ. How long
ago? So, listen. And they sounded
out the gospel. Turned from idols. I said that.
And then we turn to serve who? The living, true God. Not an
idol. And then the last one is, look down in verse 10. The last
evidence is of election. And to wait for his son from
heaven. Even the Lord Jesus Christ who
delivered us from the wrath. You see, we're waiting on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Waiting on him to come to get
us. Waiting on him coming. We're
waiting on Christ. Now, let me hurriedly say this.
What are the effects of election? That's evidence of the necessity.
God's the beginning of it. Man's sin is the election. What are the evidences? Now,
what are the effects of it? It brings joy. Oh my. To say our Lord Jesus Christ
says, no you're not. You've not chosen me. What? But
I've chosen you. I've chosen you. Who in the world
are you? Nothing. What have you ever done?
Nothing. What have you ever accomplished?
Nothing. What have you ever done for God? Nothing. Just a big,
big zero. And the only thing that gives
value to zeros is putting a one in front of it. And Christ is
the only thing that gives value. Value to our faith, value to
our repentance, value to anything we've ever said, done, or thought.
That's the only one that gives any value to our existence. And it brings joy to the heart.
Blessed, happy is the man whom thou choosest. And listen to
this. and causes to approach others,
that we may dwell in thy courts and worship you." And here's
the second thing, not only does it promote joy. But it promotes humility. It
promotes humility. What in the world? What did we
bring to the table? Sin. And that's why Paul said
this, he said, who maketh? Who makes us to? Why didn't God
just leave me in my religion? Why didn't he leave me in my
legalism and free willism and works religion? Why didn't he
leave me there? Why didn't he? Why didn't he do that to you?
You didn't do anything, you know? He says the children having not
been born, having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stay. So what can Jacob say?
Who made the pebble? And oh, who maketh it? Who changed
your heart? Who gave you grace? Who gave
you life? Who saved you? Who keeps you
safe? And oh my, what comfort. Back
over here in Romans 8. Oh, it gives such comfort. Such
comfort. Oh, it gives such comfort. Oh
my. Look what it says here about this. And this gives us comfort.
And it gives, it gives, it gives me comfort concerning other people
and what they go. And what they go. Verse 28. And
we know that all things work together for good. To who? To
them that love God. Why do we love Him? Because He
first loved. And to them who are the call
according. What is that purpose? Purpose
of love. Oh, what comfort gives us. You say, well, you don't
know what I'm going through. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. We all
go through. But has God ever failed us ever? Does He not give us strength
for the day, grace for the day, comfort for the day? And I tell
you, it gives assurance. Look here at what it says about
giving assurance. Look what he says there in verse
29. For whom he did foreknow. He foreknew Jacob before he was
ever born. He foreknew Isaac before he was
ever born. He was born of promise. He told
Abraham, said, Abraham, I called you by name. He told Jeremiah
before he was ever born. I formed you in the belly. I
formed you in the belly. And I called you to be a prophet
before you was ever born. For whom he foreknew, listen
to this, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son. You reckon that's going to happen? That Christ
might be the firstborn among all the children that God hath
given me. Now listen to this. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, what happened to him? He called them.
And then whom he called, what did he do for them? He also justified
them. And all this is in the past tense.
And whom he justified, them he also glorified. Well, what in
the world are we going to say about that? If God be for us,
who could be against us? Oh, and this is the reason. Here's
the reason God's for. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, to them that called a call, for
whom he nor foreknew, them he predestined. He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him? Also, freely, freely give us
all things, huh? And that's why it goes on to
say, then, well, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? Who? It's God that justify them, so
nobody can say it. And who is he that condemneth?
Who can condemn us? Who can judge us? It's Christ
that dies. Yea rather, he's even risen.
And where's he at? He's at the right hand of God.
What's he doing? He's calling out our name, making
intercession. And then here's the fifth reason,
evidence, effects of election. It gives God all the glory. God
gives all the glory. Ain't that right? Four times
in Ephesians 1, it talks about the glory of God, to the praise
of His grace, to the praise of the glory of His grace. And I
can't think of the other right now, but it's four times he talks
about the praise and glory. To God be the glory, great things. It is written that no flesh should
go in his sight. And then here's the sixth reason,
the effects of it. It'll drive man to pray. It'll
drive a man to pray. Oh, he'll pray. And you know
what he prays? The Lord says, every day goes. I won't, because
I in myself, I am helpless. I have no ability to do anything.
I can't make myself any better. I can't do it. I can't make myself
any stronger than I am. Can my faith any better than
this? And all we can do is plead our helpless, and we do. I woke
up, I wake up in the night often, and I woke up last night, and
I went back from the time I was, and I remembered every wicked,
miserable thing I'd done all my life. It was just a dark,
dark, dark, dark, dark. And I began to pray, oh Lord,
thank you for your grace. Thank you that you put all them
sins. Thank you that you saved me in spite of myself with all
the awful, awful, horrible things I'd done from the time I was
just a little boy. So I'm helpless to save myself. And I'll tell you what, and here's
the seventh thing it does, it makes a man endeavor and try
and want to like Christ. Oh God, forgive one another,
even as God, for Christ's sake. Now every once in a while, I
don't know about you, but my spirit, I get depressed. I get
depressed with myself, I get depressed. My spirit gets down
and my soul gets down. You know the only thing that'll
lift it up, lift up my spirit. Or encourage me, good old fashioned,
sovereign, free grace. Oh my, that's what it, oh my.
Man may be content with that old weak, miserable, wretched,
Armenian food that's not even got any meat on them, just gnaw
on the bone. But oh my, when the clouds get heavy and the
fair weather's gone, And sin seems to assail you. Oh, sin
seems to just come and just assail, assail, assail. God sends these
great trials and sends these tribulations. And we have warring
without, and we have warrings with. And we become conscious. Oh, we become conscious. Oh,
what a need we have, what a need we have. And nothing will do
you but hearing from heaven, from here and from, huh? Oh my,
and then you come and you hear about the, covenant mercies of
God in Christ, and how blessed it is to fall upon the eternal
purpose of God in Christ, and to know then that he loved me,
even as dead as passing. And what a comfort it is that
when we hear that he spared not his own son, but delivered him,
that he chose us in Christ before the foundation, and that all
things work together for good. And then when we come time to
leave this old, you'd say, an everlasting order. Oh my, it's
not of him that will. God said, I am and I change.