Ephesians chapter 1. Very familiar
chapter to everyone here, I'm sure. Ephesians 1 says, Paul
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints
which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace
be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having
predestinated us until the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ
to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the
praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, wherein
He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. having
made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his
good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in
the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him,
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted
in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after
that ye believed, were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession, and to the praise of his glory. Wherefore, I also,
after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love to all
the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention
of you in my prayers. That the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him. The eyes
of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness
of His power to usward who believe according to the working of His
mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him
from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly
places. Far above all principality and
power and might and dominion and every name that is named
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all." After Dirk's reading and all
the singing and great prayers, I almost say we just go home.
Had such a good night already. But perhaps the Lord will enable
me to say something beneficial tonight, and perhaps you'll be
enabled to hear it. If you would, turn over to the
Book of Romans. Our text tonight is going to be one verse out
of Romans 8. And it's a very familiar passage
of scripture to everybody in this room. I'm almost positive
of it. It's verse 28. And to begin, I just want to
read the verse, and I want to read it slowly. Romans 8, 28.
And we know. that all things work together
for good, to them that love God, to them who are the cold according
to his purpose. Proverbs 8, 28. That's a blessing
just to read, isn't it? I took an interest in this pastor's
scripture. This is the first one I ever attempted to commit to
memory. And I'm not going to say I did commit it to memory,
because I might try to recite it tonight and fall over the
place. But I attempted to, and it was for this reason. I heard
Henry Mahan preach out of this pastor's scripture, and he told
a story. And I'm going to retell it to you, and most of you probably
know this story. Brother Mahan was young. He was a young man,
and he was sitting in a church. And Brother Ralph Barnard was
preaching that day. If you don't know Ralph Barnard, he was a
very powerful, very outspoken man, powerful preacher of the
gospel. Mr. Barnard saw Mr. Mahan sitting
there. He said, young man, stand up. Mr. Mahan says he stood up.
He says, you recite for me Romans 828. Mr. Mahan starts. He said, and we know all things
work together for good. Mr. Mahan says he sat back down.
Mr. Barnard says, you don't know the rest of it? Henry gets back
up, and we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. And as soon as Mr. Mahan got
that word purpose out, Brother Barnard, as loud as he was, shouted
out, purpose! Just everybody jumped up, just
as loud as he possibly could. People were asleep on the back
row, they woke up. Everybody's kind of in a fit. And he said,
young man, if you over understand that word purpose, you'll understand
the gospel. And I wholeheartedly believe
that. And I tried to memorize this in case Todd Nyberg ever
got some corner of a wild inkling and he called on me, maybe I'd
get it right. He hadn't done it yet. So here's what I want
to do. I want to look at this verse
of scripture. I want to break it into four parts, and I want to start on
the back end of the scripture. And I want to start with this word,
purpose. And I'm going to ask this question, what is the purpose
of the Lord? What is his ultimate purpose?
Now, he has many purposes. Everything that happens is according
to the Lord's purpose. Every interaction, every incident,
it is all according to the Lord's purpose. But it's all leading
up. All these incidents, all these
interactions are all leading up together, leading up to one
final and ultimate purpose. What is that? Well, it turns
out Dirk read it, and I want you to go back, if you will,
to Ephesians chapter 1, and I want to look at it. I want to pick
up in verse 9. Dirk, that reading was such a blessing to me to
hear it all over again. What's the ultimate purpose of
the Lord? Ephesians 1, and pick up in verse
9. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, and
his will is a mystery, according to his good pleasure which he
hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him,
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will." Now here's where it is. This
is the ultimate purpose of God right here. that we should be
to the praise of his, what's that word? Glory, who first trusted
in Christ. People say, what's this life
about? What's this all about? The good times, the bad times,
the pain, the suffering, what is all this about? What's the
meaning of life? This is it right here. It is about God getting
glory for himself and specifically for his son, Jesus Christ. That's
ultimately what this is all about, God getting glory for himself.
What's your reaction to that? Can you say amen to that? Is
he worthy of that glory? He absolutely is. But what's
involved here? What's involved in the Lord getting glory for
himself? We are. It says that we should
be to the praise of His glory. See, these two concepts, the
Lord glorifying Himself and the salvation of His people, they
are intricately linked. They can't be separated. And
I don't understand this. Don't ask me to break it down
for you. I don't understand this, but I just believe it. Through
the salvation of His people, the Lord gets for Himself a greater
glory than he would have otherwise had. Somebody says, how could
God possibly get greater glory for himself? I don't know, but
he does. And it's through the salvation of his people. Through
the salvation of his people, all the Lord's wonderful attributes
are magnified, and they are showcased, and they're revealed. Everybody
can see. Now, how is that purpose accomplished? The Lord glorifying
himself through the salvation of a people. Look back at verse
11 of Ephesians 1. The Holy Spirit actually gives
us the starting point. Ephesians 1 verse 11, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance being, what, what is that word? Predestinated,
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. This thing of the Lord's purpose
in glorifying himself through the salvation of his people,
do you know where it begins? It begins with the very love
of the Father, which is seen through predestination and election. Now, somebody says, that's great.
Prove that to me. Show me from the scripture. Go
back to your text and look at verse 29. How is the purpose
accomplished? Well, in verses 29 through 30,
we have the great chain of salvation. Romans 8, 29, for whom he did
foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. 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." A great chain of salvation. Five points. I
want to talk about them briefly. Foreknown. What does that mean?
What is the foreknowledge of God? Let me ask, is it this?
Is this the foreknowledge of God that Before time began, the
Lord looked through the glass of time, and he saw who would
believe of their own free will. And then he retroactively elected
them because he saw that they would believe. Is that the foreknowledge
of God? Go ahead, shake a no, because you'll know better. No,
it's not the foreknowledge of God. First thing's this. The
Lord never reacts. He only takes action. He's never
uncomfortable. He's never uneasy. He's never
worried. He's always easy. He's always
comfortable. He's always ruling and reigning
because whatever he wills just comes to pass. He never reacts
to men. He only takes action. Second
thing, if the Lord did wait around for a man to believe on him by
nature before he'd save that man, how many people are going
to be saved? None. Not one man. I'll give you two
scriptures. John 6, 44. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. Then John 5, 40. And
you will not come to me that you might have life. We are unable
to come, unable to believe by nature, or unwilling, which is
even worse. This thing of being known speaks
of love. Adam knew his wife Eve. Adam
didn't just know who Eve was, Adam loved Eve. Adam shared an
intimate relationship with Eve. And this is the foreknowledge
of God before the foundations of the world were ever built.
God loved some people in Christ. Now, let's ask this question. And forgive me if this is rudimentary
and juvenile, but that's the way I understand things. Does
God love every man? Did he foreknow every man? Let's
answer that question. Turn if you go to Matthew 7,
verse 22. Matthew 7, pick up in verse 22.
Does God love every man? Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name
have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful
works. Look at their declaration of
their works, many and wonderful. Does that sound like a sinner
to you? It sounds like one to me. Look at how he answers. And
then while I profess unto them, I never, what's that word? Knew
you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew you.
I never loved you. The Lord doesn't love every man.
One of the biggest lies that's ever been told is that God loves
every man for two reasons. Number one, if it's true, and
men go to hell anyways, that means that the love of God is
absolutely useless. Or he loves all men, and all
men are going to heaven, and the Bible's a lie, one of the
two. But both of those are false. He does not love every man. He
loves a particular people in Christ Jesus who he elected before
the foundations of the world. That's who he loves, and he does
not love every man. And yes, every man whom he loves,
his salvation has been accomplished, past tense, no chance he's not
going to be saved because he's already saved. Now what accompanies
the love of God? It's the next link in the chain,
it's predestination. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now what does
it mean to predestinate? It means to predetermine to an
exact end. And before the foundations of
the world were ever built, the Father predetermined the fate
of the elect, that they would be conformed to the image of
Jesus Christ, the very mirror image, so much so that they are
a part of him. Why is it so important? Number one, because God is holy.
He is absolutely, unfathomably holy, and he cannot have fellowship,
respect, or relationship with anyone who is not just like himself. That's why we must be conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ, because that's the only person,
the only man, the Lord can have fellowship with himself. But
what a blessing for us as well. We know our end. We talked about
patience this morning. Knowing our end makes me patient,
makes me willing to patiently wait, because I know at the end
of all this, I will be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
I'm going to meet my Savior face to face, and there's not going
to be any shame, and there's not going to be any guilt. It's
all going to be going away, and we're going to be conformed to
His image. That's a solid hope. next chain in the link, or the
next link in the chain, called. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Now remember our text. All things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose. This is the call of irresistible
and invincible grace. Those that the Father loved before
the foundations of the world, those that the Lord Jesus Christ
came for and died for and put away their sins, the Holy Spirit
in time calls. It's a call from death unto life.
Now, I could tell you a lot about this call, and I could point
you to some scriptures. What I'd like to do, though, is just
give you a story, a story that I'm sure everybody in this room
knows. Lazarus. Everybody knows the story of
Lazarus, don't you? Lazarus is one of my favorite
biblical characters because I can identify with him. There's about
two biblical characters I can identify with real well. There's
Lot, and then there's Lazarus. Lazarus, because his problem
and my problem were the same, Lazarus was dead, dead. And that explains me. It fits
my description to a T, how I'm born in this world dead in trespasses
and sins. We're going to talk about it
real quick. What can a dead man do? What physical abilities does a dead
man have? Can a dead man work? Can he provide
for himself? Can he provide anything pleasing
to himself or anyone else? Nope. He's dead. He's dead. Can
he believe? Can he believe anything? And
can he believe anyone and believe on anyone? Stone cold dead. Can
he love? Can he love anything or anyone?
Nope. Can he understand? Do you have any understanding
of anything or understanding of anyone? Absolutely not. Can
he desire anything? No, he's dead. Can he comprehend
anything? Can he even comprehend that he
is dead? No, he sure can't. Badger's problem
wasn't that he was in a coma or he was close to death or he
was on the verge of death. Lazarus' problem that he was dead, he
was so dead that his body had already started to rot and stink.
That's how dead he was. And that's how we're born in
this world, dead in trespasses and sins, and all our spiritual
abilities are just the same as Lazarus'. We can't. Not by nature. I want to pose a few hypotheticals
to you. What if the Lord approached Lazarus'
tomb and said, Lazarus, if you're willing, come forth. What's going
to happen? Lazarus is going to stay dead.
What desire, what will could a dead man muster? It's just
an old covenant. It's based on Lazarus holding
up his end of the bargain, and he can't because he's dead. What
if the Lord approached the tomb and said, Lazarus, if you can
believe that I'm capable of raising you from the dead, I'll raise
you from the dead. What's Lazarus' fate? He's going
to remain dead. It's still up to Lazarus to hold
up his end of the bargain. The Lord says, listen, Lazarus, if
you'll just cry out for mercy, if you'll just cry out for mercy,
I'll raise you from the dead. That's preposterous, isn't it?
Because if Lazarus can cry out for mercy, he's alive. And he
has no need of the Lord in the first place. Understand this.
If any man ever does actually cry out for mercy from the bottom
of his heart, it is for one reason. It's because he has already freely
and graciously been shown mercy. That's the truth. But that is
not the command. This is the command, Lazarus,
come forth. And he who was dead came forth.
No prerequisite, no conditions, just an almighty, sovereign,
and powerful God purposing to raise a dead man and doing exactly
what he purposed to do. And it had nothing to do with
Lazarus. And it wasn't conditioned on Lazarus in any way. That's
the call of irresistible, invincible grace. It's a call from death
unto life. Last link in the chain. Well,
not the last, second last. Justified. Justified. What does
that mean? It means not guilty. How can
that be possible? I've sinned. Haven't you? In
fact, my entire experience is that of a sinner and nothing
more. Everything I do, every breath I take, it's sin. It's
transgression against God's holy law. How can I be not guilty?
Turn for scripture, if you would. Galatians 2, look at verse 16. How can a sinner be not guilty
before God? How can he be justified? Galatians
2, pick up in verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. And not
by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. How can we be justified? How
can we be not guilty in the eyes of the Father? The faithfulness
of Jesus Christ. His faithfulness unto death.
We talked about it this morning. We were dealing with the waters
of Marl. There's one reason those waters were made sweet. Lord
showed Moses a tree, and he cast that tree into the bitterness,
and that tree made the bitter waters sweet. And this is all
our hope, that there was a tree and a man hanging on a tree.
And he was made bitter, the bitterness of our sins. And he suffered
the wrath that was reserved for our sins, and he put them away,
and our waters are now sweet. We are justified, we are not
guilty, because there's nothing to hold us accountable for. It
has truly been put away. It's not a document. It's not
a legal standing. Sin has been put away in the person of Jesus
Christ. That means there's no shame.
There's no guilt. There's no reason for it because
sin is no more. Holy, unblameable, and unapprovable. That's how
we stand in Jesus Christ inside of the Father right now. Absolutely
justified. And here's the end state, glorified.
I would ask this question, is Jesus Christ right now in the
eyes of his Father glorified? Is he altogether lovely, 100%
righteous, absolutely holy, and completely and utterly pleasing
to his Father right now? Well, we're in Christ. And that
means we are the exact same way. And we know that right now by
faith. But that's not our experience, is it? My experience right now
is not of a righteous man, not of a holy man. My experience
right now is of a dead dog sinner. That's my experience. All the
imaginations of the thoughts of my heart are only evil, and
that continually. That's my experience right now
in this life. I'm a sinner, a sinner. But one
day, I'm not gonna know this by faith anymore. You're not
gonna know it by faith anymore. We're gonna know it by experience.
We're gonna be glorified, we are right now, in the person
of Jesus Christ. And that's gonna be our experience
one day, when we awake in the likeness of our Savior. Like
I said before, that's a good hope. All right, let's go back
to our text. You don't have to turn back there.
I'm going to read it to you. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
cold according to his purpose. Now notice this promise is not
made for every man. This promise is not made to every
man without exception. It's made to a particular people
and they're described those who love God and those who are the
cold. Now we've talked about the calling,
the calling from death unto life, but what accompanies that life?
Love. What accompanies the new nature?
Love. Love for God and love for His
people. Now, I'm going to attempt to talk
about something here for a few minutes that I'm never comfortable talking
about. I'm going to talk about the believer's love for Christ.
Any message I've ever heard where the focal point, at least in
my mind, was the believer's love for Christ has not left me feeling
anything but shame and guilt because I think of His love for
me. That a man was willing to lay
down his life for somebody like me. I think of his father's love
for me. That a man was willing to give
his son to die in my stead as the sin-bearing substitute. I
think of that and I shrink. I absolutely shrink. Not proud
of my love for God. But it took me years of fighting
and thinking about this. I do love God. I do. I love him
as he is revealed in these scriptures. And that cannot be said of every
man. Romans 8, 7 says, the carnal mind is enmity against God. You know what that means? It
means the natural man doesn't just dislike God. He hates God. He has made himself the enemy
of God. That's the natural man. He hates
God. Here's the interesting part, is that most men do not know
that they hate God. If you were to go in Crossville,
Tennessee and knock on the door and say, hey, do you all love
God? What are they going to say? Oh, yeah, sure. We love God.
The issue is they don't know who he is. They are comfortable
with the God of their imagination. They're comfortable with the
lame. bitter, resentful God of their imagination. But this God
of the Bible, if they ever knew who He was, what they'd find
is they hate Him. Until a man is given a new nature,
a holy nature, the very nature of God Himself, he will hate
God. That's the truth. Now how can I know, how can you
and I know if we love God? Because if we love God, This
is all for us. That means there's nothing to
worry about. Never has been, never will be, no matter what's
going on. How can I know if I love God? I'm going to give you three
of his attributes, three attributes, and let's find out. What do you
say? the sovereign God, the one who is in absolute control of
everything and everyone. He is the first cause behind
everything. He holds you and me in the palms of his hand,
and he can do with us whatever he sees fit. He can save us or
he can damn us, and it is right, just, and fair whatever he does
simply because of who he is. So he says that's one of his
attributes, Daniel 4.35, and all the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. and he doeth according to his
will in the armies of heaven and amongst the inhabitants of
the earth and none can stay his hand or saying to him, what doest
thou? He's the sovereign. Do you love
that God? Natural man does not. He is comfortable
and he loves the God of his own imagination. The God who is frustrated
in his purposes. He paces the halls of heaven.
He wrings his hand and he says, man, I just, I just wish a man
would let me have my way. I wish he'd just allow me to
have my way. They're comfortable with that God because in that
relationship, they are the God. and he is the creature. But this
God who is worthy of worship, I hate him. How do you feel about
him? What about the holy God? What
about the God who is absolutely and utterly unfathomably perfect,
cannot and will not accept anything or anyone that is not unfathomably
perfect? How do you feel about him? Natural
man says he's too strict. The bar's too high. I can't reach
it. And the natural man hates the
holiness of God because the natural man seeks to be justified by
his works. And when you trust man's works in the light of the
holiness of God, they're exposed for what they are. They're dead
works, they're filthy rags, and they cannot produce life. And
I'll tell you what, though, for every believer, for you and me,
everyone looking to Christ alone, you know, we have no reason to
fear that standard. There's absolutely no reason
to fear that standard of wholeness. You want to know why? Because
everything that is required of us is completely freely provided. Everything. Somebody says make
good on that. Give me that hope. Tell me that. I'll give it to
you right here. Colossians 1, 21, 22. And you,
you, that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your own mind by wicked works, yet now hath
he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present
you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight." We
have no fear of that holy standard. We've met it. We've met it in
Christ. Third attribute I'll give you. What about the God
of election? What about the God who sovereignly chooses to save
some and to pass by others? What about him? Natural man says,
how could a loving God be like that? How could he choose to
save someone, choose just to pass by others? Why, that's not
fair. Fair for us, for the natural
man, because of our depraved state, because of what we've
earned for ourselves. Fair as damnation. We need to
understand that, first and foremost. If that's our reaction, that's
not fair. We have no understanding of our total depravity. Election
shows us something. It exposes a dirty little secret
about man that the natural man never wants exposed, is that
election is necessary because if before the foundations of
the world God did not choose a people in Christ and predestinate
their salvation, we never would have chose him. Man by nature
will not choose God. There's nothing lovable about
him. There's no reason in us by nature that God should choose
us. We are completely unlovable in and of ourselves. Do you love
that God? That sovereign, that absolutely holy one, the one
who chooses, he's the decision maker, he sits on the throne,
he says, that way, that way, and that way, and that's the
way it is. How does he sit with you? I love that God. I wouldn't
change him if I could. He's my hero. I'll tell you what,
if you do, it's for one reason. It's because he first loved you.
No other reason. You have the very love of God.
Remember the text, and we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. Now, what is the promise? The promise is for
the believer that everything that happens, everything, is
for our good. And it's all working together
in harmony for our good, just like a car. What good's an engine
without a transmission? What good's a transmission without
a fuel pump? What good are all those things without a steering
wheel? All things are working together for good, for your good. Somebody says, what about the
painful things? What about the things that hurt so bad? All
things. Now I'm going to reference something we looked at this morning.
The children of Israel at Morah. The Lord emancipated them from
Egypt. The Lord poured out the Red Sea for them. He wiped out
all their enemies. And then he led them into the
wilderness of Shur. And he led them three days without
water into great desperation, into great trial. And they murmured.
They murmured against the Lord. But no doubt, after the Lord
made those waters sweet, and they drank their fill, and all
two million of them got all the water they needed, and they're
sitting around that water, imagine what they were thinking. Why
did we ever murmur? He is always taking care of us.
When will we ever learn? And their faith was strengthened.
Their faith needed to be strengthened because they had a very long
road ahead of them. The Lord was dealing with them.
He was instilling in them those things they needed for that journey
they were taking. If there is anyone here who is
suffering, and no doubt somebody is, I want to leave you with
a passage of scripture that may be of some comfort to you, and
I'm probably not going to comment too much on it, but turn to 1 Thessalonians,
verse 5. 1 Thessalonians, verse 5, and just
pick up in verse 14. Now we exhort you, brethren,
Warn them that are unruly. Comfort the feeble-minded. Support
the weak. Be patient toward all men. See
that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow
that which is good, both among yourselves and all men. Rejoice
evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything
give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. I don't know what I really need.
I have no idea. But he does. And this Lord, this
God, who's too wise to err, and he's too kind to be cruel, is
he not worthy of our trust? He absolutely is. I'm going to
leave you with this. The beginning of Romans 8.28
says, and we know. Let's talk about that word we
for a moment. The Lord only deals with two
groups of people. There's the we. There's the them,
the we, those of us who are eternally united to the Lord Jesus Christ,
only viewed in Him. There's the them, those who hate
God. That's it. How can I know if I'm a we? Because
if I'm a we, this tells me there is absolutely nothing to worry
about. The work of salvation is finished. The work of redemption
is finished. My righteousness has already been worked out.
I stand wholly before God right now. One day I'm going to have
an experience of it. And everything that happens between
then and now is just working together for my good. Not a thing
to worry about if I'm a we. But how can I know if I'm a we?
It says, and we know. That means that everything after
that is collective knowledge. It's everything that every believer
knows. But it's also what he loves.
Do you love his purpose, ultimately, of glorifying himself? Do you
love the fact that he gets all the glory in salvation? Now,
in the halls of heaven, there's going to be one name that's going
to be sang. There's one voice that's going
to be lifted up. They're going to say, hail to the king, that
one right there, Jesus Christ the righteous. And we will just
be trophies of his power and his grace. Do you love that purpose?
I love that purpose. He's worthy of that glory. Do
you love the way he saves sinners, completely and utterly by grace?
It has nothing to do with works at all. You know who loves that?
People who need grace. Sinners. People who need a mercy.
They love salvation by grace. Do you love him as he's revealed?
Absolutely sovereign, absolutely holy. King of kings and the Lord
of lords. Do you love him as he is revealed
in this book? Not feeble, not compromising,
but the king. I'll tell you what, if you do,
There is nothing to worry about. You can take this promise home. And you know that all things
work together for good, you who love God, you who are the cold,
according to his purpose.