In verse 9, Isaiah 46, 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there
is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My
counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. I want to
talk tonight about the God of purpose and the purpose of God. That's a fact. It's a fact that
everything God does he does on purpose. That's how he taught
me the gospel. Let me John 2 Timothy 1.9 God
who has saved us and called us with the holy calling not according
to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. When
I found out that God does everything on purpose it turned me upside
down. And I tell you the fact of it
is, I mean the scriptures is full of it. He decreed, we talk
about the decrees of God, God just decreed, it's one decree.
He declared the end from the beginning. He just decreed, this is what,
this is going to be the beginning, that's going to be the end. And
everything between the two, He purposed everything to happen
between the two. For everything and rising wriggles
on topside of God's earth. And I tell you beloved, what
it means is this, that God doing what He does on purpose, it means
the will of God is being accomplished. He's not trying to do anything.
He accomplishes what He will. And I want you to look over here
in Isaiah 14 with me just a minute. Isaiah 14. I'll tell you something. God has never thought. God has
never planned. God had never had to figure out
the best way to do something. And you know why things are going
to come out the way they do? Because God willed for them to,
purposed for them to. And He did that before anything
ever happened. If He numbers the hairs of your
head, and counts the sparrows that fall, and puts the flowers
on the field, How much more then is he the God of purpose than
what he's going to do in this world? And that's what I love
about knowing about God. All things come out a certain
way because God purposed it. And here in Isaiah 14, look in
verse 24. The Lord of hosts has sworn,
saying, Surely as I have fought, so shall it come to pass. As
I have purposed, so shall it stand. Now when it says there,
as I have thought, that God just used his language to accommodate
us. Because God never thought. He asked one time, who's ever
been my counselor? Who ever come and told me to
do anything? He declared, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. And no man, no man can stay his hand or say unto
him, what are you doing? When Paul told him, he says,
God, according to his purpose of election, he says, is there
unrighteousness with God? He said, God forbid, perish the
thought. Will the thing formed say to
him that formed it? Why did you make me the way you
did? And he said here now in verse 20, look what it says in
verse 25. This is the purpose that is purposed
upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched
out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed
it, and who shall disavow it? And his hand is stretched out,
and who shall turn it back? You see there's two things about
the will of God and that's why he said he works all things,
all things after the counsel of his own will. And known unto
God are all his works from the beginning of the creation. And
I know this, there's the will of decree, for God decreed everything
that happens in this world. Nothing has He decreed. The angels
when they come into being, He decreed when the angels would
fall. He decreed the salvation of every soul and He decreed
the reprobation of every soul. God decrees. And then not only
but He has a will of command and His will of command is this
right here. This is the will of command.
This is it right here. This is the will of command.
And let me show you what I mean by that. Look in Deuteronomy
29.29. Oh, I love to talk about God
and His power, God and His glory. A fellow told me years ago when
I began to learn the gospel and began to preach the gospel. He
said, what bothers me about your preaching and these other fellows
preaching is that you don't leave any power to man. You don't leave
any power in man's hands. God has all the power. You understand
what we're talking about? That's what he said. He said
you don't leave any power in man. There's no power left in
his will. There never was any power in
his will. Never has been. You know what man's will does?
The only thing it can do is sin. And God in His will is the only
man and only person in this universe that can put that sin away and
regard it as gone forever. But look what He said in Deuteronomy
29, 29. The secret things belong unto
the Lord our God. Do you hear that? The secret things. Everything
is decreed. The secret things belong unto
the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto
us and to our children forever, that we may do all the works
of this law. Now we don't know the decorative
will until it's turned to past. I don't know what God's will
for me tomorrow is until I get to the end of that day. Now is
that not right? But I know what His will is for
me as far as how I'm to live in this world, and how I'm to
regard Him, and how I'm to pray to Him, and how I'm to treat
Him, and how I'm to treat everybody else, because this blessing will
of command tells me. But now what His decretive will
is, I don't know. His decretive will may be for
me to take my last breath tomorrow. It may be for me to Windfall
for some, who knows? But I don't care, it definitely
makes no difference to me because God's will is going to be done. And that's why we talk about
the God of purpose. The fact of it, He does according
to His will. He said, as I have thought, so
shall it come to pass. Ain't that what He said? Now
let me give you another one here. Oh, ain't you glad you know that
He had to never think or plan or never had to figure out the
best way to go? Me and you have to get out of math. We're going
to go someplace. Now they got GPS's. And new things
don't work so well down in my next woods. They'll run you around
and you'll say where in the world am I at now? They don't. Some
places you know they can't. Recalibrate and recalibrate.
God don't recalibrate. He don't make the wrong turn.
He don't have to have directions to get here to there. And the
directions He gave me is in this blessed book. And I don't have
to be looking for directions. I know the way. Christ is the
way. I know the way to God. I know the way that salvation
is accomplished. I know where sin is dealt with. I know how God saves sinners. I know God that He does everything
according to His will in the armies of heaven and among men,
heavens and earth. I know that. I know that. And let me show you where his
purpose is manifested. Look in Ephesians 3 with me,
just a moment. Where does he manifest his purpose?
I'm talking about the God of purpose. It's a fact that he's
the God of purpose. Look in Ephesians 3 with me. Where does he manifest
his purpose at? Ephesians 3.11 Look what it says here. According
to the eternal purpose which you purposed in Jesus Christ
our Lord. You know where God's purpose
is all centered at? Where it all revolves around?
It revolves around His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why
He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That's
why there were no people given to Him in a covenant of grace.
That's why our Lord Jesus Christ came in time to redeem those
and put the sin away of those that were given to Him before
time ever began. The grace that was given us in
Christ before the world began. The purpose of God given us in
Christ before the world began. I'll tell you this, there never
was a time, never was a time that God's people was not in
Jesus Christ according to God's purpose. I didn't find that out
when I first began to read the scriptures. And that's why God
called preachers to tell you that. There never was a time
That I wasn't, or you wasn't, if you're one of God's elect,
and you've heard the gospel and believe it, that you were not
in Christ according to God's purpose from the beginning of
the world. Ain't that right? It says we're chosen in Him,
when? Before the foundation of the
world. Why? To the praise of the glory of
His grace. And I tell you, His purpose is manifested here according
to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Jesus Christ.
And this is where everything else about God. You know if you're
going to see God, you've got to see Christ. If you want to
know God, you've got to know Christ. If you want to speak
to God, you've got to come through Christ. If you want to come to
God, you've got to come through His Son. Anything God has for
a man in this world, He has it in His blessed Son. And that's
what I love about the gospel. We're not shooting in the dark.
We're not begging men to do anything. We're not pleading with people.
God's already said what the gospel is. It's a done deal. It's finished. It's accomplished. And it was
finished in time because it was purposed from eternity. And that's
why he says, you know, in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, it says, God commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, To
give the light. Turn on the light. And He turned
on that light in that darkened heart. Just like He commanded
the light in that darkness in the world. He commanded that
light to shine in our hearts. And what do we see when He shines
that light in our hearts? The glory of God. Where do we
see that glory of God at? In the person, in the face of
our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Philip said, show
us the Father and we'll be satisfied. He said, Philip, have I been
with you such a long time and you haven't seen me? He said,
he that has seen me has seen the Father. Oh, look at John chapter 1 verse
18. I quote this scripture all the
time, but you need to see this. And that's why he says, it pleased
the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell. Oh, I tell you what, Christmas
time is coming up here and they're going to put him in a manger
and boy somebody remind us years and years ago, oh my goodness.
Oh, we put on a Christmas play, I tell you what, it was awful,
absolutely awful. I said, why did you remember that? Why didn't
you bring that up? Let's don't mention those things
where it was done in darkness and we're ashamed of it. But
oh, you know, when you're ignorant, you're ignorant. Thank God, that's
why Paul said, you know, God said, I would not that you should
be ignorant. God won't leave his people in ignorance. And
I thank God that he saved me from that ignorance and that
deadness and that deafness and blindness. But look what he said
here in John 1 18. No man has seen God at any time. People say, boy, I had a vision,
I seen God. God told me to do this. God told
me to do that. God told me to go here. God told
me to go there. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Come out from His Father. He
come into this world when you saw Him. And I tell you, when
we get to glory, when we get to glory, the only God you and
I will ever see is the Lord Jesus Christ. God dwells in a life that no
man can approach unto. And when our Lord in John 17,
when He lifted His eyes to pray, lifted His eyes to heaven to
pray for us, do you know that He actually saw His Father there
and saw the will of God there, saw the decrees of God there?
Me and you know we see people look up to heaven, you know,
and I do about it once in a while, lift up and do like that. I don't
see nothing but the ceiling. But when our Lord Jesus Christ
lifted His eyes up to heaven, when He began to pray for us,
He was looking right into the council rooms of God, the throne
of God, right into the holiest of holies, right into the very
presence of God. And He said, Father! And He was
looking at His Father. He said, no man has seen Him.
God, do you see God? And nobody ever seen God at any
time. But over the Son, where was He
at? He was in that bosom, in the
heart of His Father. And He come out here and said,
I'm going to tell you about Him. And He declared Him every day
He was in this world. And, O beloved I, Lord Jesus
Christ, just said here, the Father loveth the Son, has given all
things into His hands. And back there in Ephesians 3.11,
you'll have to turn back there, but it says, it's eternal, the
eternal purpose which is in Christ Jesus. That means nothing new.
There's nothing new. No new will, no new purpose,
nothing new comes from God. Nothing takes Him by surprise.
He doesn't purpose what's going to happen today and then change
His mind tomorrow. There was a preacher over in
England, Henry Mahan, used to know him, used to attend Henry's
church, years and years and years ago. Well, he's a real educated
fellow and he moved to England and he took over a pretty good
size pretty well-named church over there. Well, it just started
dwindling away and dwindling away and so he got in and started
getting in these charismatic preachers to preach. Pentecostals. And this Pentecostal preacher
got up and he says, and this is what he says, I heard it,
seen it. He says, God told me if we could
get 300 people praying that He had changed His will
in heaven for us. If this only takes 300 people
to change God's mind, He ain't much, is He? Now you change my
mind pretty quick about something. But not Him. Oh, no new will. If it's new, it's not true. And
if it's true, it's not new. Now ain't that right? We take ourselves by surprise,
but we don't even take God by surprise by what we do. So where is purpose manifested
in Christ? His will is being accomplished.
Why is He a God of purpose? And I'll tell you why. Could
He possibly be anything other than a God of purpose? Could
He be anything else? Could He be any other way? than
his will being accomplished, his purpose being carried out.
Can he be any other than a God of purpose to do carry out his
will and his counsel in this world? Could it be anything else? And I tell you why he's the God
of purpose. To show his power and glory in the salvation of
his elect. And also in the damnation of
the reprobate. He gonna bring glory to himself
and show His power and His glory and the salvation of all His
elect and the damnation of the reprobate. Look in Ephesians
1 with me, just a minute. Oh, I remember years ago, a fellow
came to our house and he's a preacher I used to run around with an
awful lot. And he was telling us, you know,
about the gospel we was preaching and we was learning. And he said,
you guys, you all got men too dead and God too soft. And Mary,
being just as she was out of the mouth of babes, and I couldn't
have thought of this in a million years, but she said, can you
give God too much glory? And he shut his mouth. He couldn't
say anything else. Got his wife, I guess we ought
to go now. But how can you make man too dead and God too soft? How does that happen? If a fella's
dead, how much is dead? If a fella dies and he's dead
for 5 seconds, is he any more dead than that 5 seconds he's
going to be for 50 years? Huh? And if God's sovereign,
is there going to be any more sovereign at one time than He
is at another? And like Larry said, and I'll tell
you some men are so dangerous with what they call truth. But
all this, and look what He said here in Ephesians 1a. Talking
about why He's going to show power and salvation and glory
of His elect and damnation to the reprobate. In Christ he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. He abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence. Listen to this now. Having made
known unto us the mystery of his own will, according to the
good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. He made that known
to us. That in this, the mystery of
that will, He's made known unto us in this salvation that He
purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times, He's going to gather together in one all things in
Christ, things that are in heaven and which are on earth, and He's
going to gather them up in Him, in whom in Christ and in the
purpose of God we also have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
According to the purpose of him who works all things after the
counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of
his glory who first trusted in Christ. Ain't that what he says? I just got through telling you
what it is. He wants to give God a purpose to show his power
and glory in the salvation of his elect. Now looking at Romans
9. I tell you this, people don't
like this, but now this is the truth. This is the truth. If
there's an election, there's a reprobation. If there's a salvation,
there's a damnation. How many people do you reckon
you know that's reprobate? How many people do you reckon
you know that's reprobate? How many people do you reckon,
how many preachers do you reckon are reprobate? Reformation, absolutely
ain't worth nothing. Paul, the scripture says they
were before ordained to this condemnation. False prophets
sent out to deceive people. God sent him a strong delusion
that they might believe a lie. Why would they believe a lie? He said he might damn them. And that's just the way it is.
And I'm just going to throw up my hands. He's God. He can do
what he wants to. I know I read about a man. He had a little
boy and he named him Charles. And a fella told him one time,
said, I see you named your son Charles.
He said, yes. He said, you know there's two
Charles's and I hope he's the right one. He said he could be
a Charles Furchin or a Charles Manson. And you know who's gonna be the one that purposes
that? I hope he grows up to be a Charles
Spurgeon. But somebody had a man named
Charles Manson. Somebody had a daughter. Some
woman had a son and named him a dog. And he was a dog hitler. You see what I'm saying? I rejoice in election. I praise
God for His glory. But also, we've got to praise
Him just as much for His reprobation. I mean, He ain't making no mistakes.
He does what He does on purpose. And look what He said here in
Romans 9. He has a purpose of election. Look in verse 9. Chapter
9, verse 11. He has a purpose of election.
For the children not being yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose, there's that word purpose again,
according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that
calleth. It was said unto the elder, the elder shall serve
the younger, as it written, Jacob hath a loved, but he shall have
a hated. What shall we say then? Oh, I
know what I'm going to say. Everybody says, that's not fair. That's not fair. My God loves everybody. Oh, I'm
sure He does. My God wouldn't send nobody to
hell. I'm sure He won't. My God wants everybody to be
saved and He leaves it up to them. I'm sure He does. But the
God of the purpose, the God of the Bible, He's not that God. And look what He goes on to say.
Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. And oh, not
only does he have a purpose of election, not only does he mean
to save his elect people, he told Paul, he said, I've chosen
you as a vessel of honor unto me. I've chosen you to preach
the gospel and to take my name before kings and the Gentiles. And he says, would it please
God to separate me from my mother's womb and call me by His grace? Not only does he have a purpose
of salvation, but he has a purpose of reprobation. Look down at
verse 17 here. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this purpose, there's that word purpose again,
even for this purpose have I raised thee up. You know the only reason
I let you sit on a throne, Pharaoh? The only reason I let you have
all the power? The only reason I let you rule Egypt. The only
reason you exist. The only reason your mother had
you. The only reason that you was raised and you was made a
Pharaoh. You know why I was? I raised
you up for one reason. That I might show my power and
then my name might be declared throughout all the earth. That's
the only reason I even had an existence. And that's a lot of
folks. The only reason they have an
existence. is for God to show forth His and you know have you
ever read over in Proverbs 16 verse 4 where it says yea the
Lord hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for
the day of evil even the wicked for the day of evil even the
wicked now let me give you this Oh, the blessing and assurance
and comfort it gives to believers. Back over in Romans 8, what comfort
it gives to believers, to God's people. This being a God of purpose. And oh, listen, I've been wanting
to preach on this for a long time, and I'm just having a hard
time getting it together about it. But he said in Romans 8,
28, and we know No ifs about it, no guesses about
it, there's some things we know. We don't hope it's this way,
we don't like for it to be this way, we'd like for it to be,
no, no, we know. That, what's that next word say?
A-L-L. All. Things. How many things happen in our
life? How many things go on in our lives? From the day we're
born to the day we die, how many things? Me and Mary talk often
about the lifetimes that we've had. We've had lifetimes. Not just one lifetime, so many
different lifetimes. When I was in Vietnam, that was
a lifetime. Got home, we got married. Before
we was unconverted, that was a lifetime. Then we raised our
children, that was a lifetime. God saved us by His grace and
taught us His gospel. That was a lifetime. And then the things that we've
done together, going here and yonder about, that's a lifetime.
So many lifetimes in our life. And now we're on another lifetime
with this situation. All these things. When I took a .45 pistol and
put it upside my head and said, I can't live in this world any
longer like this and scared to death that if I pulled the trigger
I'd end up in hell and I didn't know what was laying on me when
I got there. I put it back in my holster. And I got out and
I raised my fist to God in my custody. Ray said the awfulest
things about God. That was one of them awful things. Now he's going to make me like
Pharaoh and say I raised you up for just one reason, to damn
you. Instead, he crossed my path with the gospel. Was I any different
than Paul when he rose and said, Oh God, I'm going to kill every
Christian I can get my hands on. Everybody that believes in
Jesus, I'm going to put them in jail and I'm going to see
as many of them dead as I possibly can. Was that any different for
him than it was for me? And if you hadn't said it, you'd
fall. And yet, That was one of them
things. All things work, work, work,
work, work. Just keep on working. Work, work,
work, work. That wills a turning. That wills
a turning. And it's working out our lives
for us. And let me tell you something.
He hasn't done nothing but wondrous, wondrous things for us all the
days of our life. Because He put all my life behind
me. All my sin away. All the shame
and guilt and despicable crimes that I've done against the God
of Heaven. He put them all away. And let me know that I was chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. And he said this
to me, he said, before you was ever formed in your mother's
belly, I called you to be a prophet, to be a preacher. I didn't know
it. Now that's the God we worship. Oh, that's the God we worship.
And then he goes on to say this, all things work together for
good. Good. Good. Oh my, that don't seem like that's
good. It's good. Mary's sitting over
there in agony and in pain. That's a good thing. Because
it ain't one of you. It's happening to us instead
of you. It's happening to us. That's a good thing. And it's a good thing. God's
going to take her away from that pain one of these days real soon.
That's a good thing. It's a good thing that I have
to take care of her, protect her, provide for her, pray for
her, keep her up. That's a good thing. Getting
my mind off of being so selfish and so proud and teach me things
that I never learned of before. It's a good thing. It's a good
thing to learn how to be a servant, learn how to wait on somebody. It's easy to say you love somebody,
but oh boy, to take care of them day and night. And you do it
because you do. And that's the way the Lord takes
care of us that way. He takes care of us the same
way. And then look here. And this qualifies it. Not to
just everybody, but to them that love God. Now that's the only thing that
people that work together for good. They don't work together
for Everybody only to them who love God and then it goes on
here and to qualify a little more To them who are the call
according to his purpose Don't make no mistakes No accidents. No luck. No chance. No rolling
of the dice. No I've told this congregation
many times over the years, there's three women ain't never coming
in this building. Three women never coming in here. Let me
tell you who they are. Lady Love, Miss Fortune, and
Mother Nature. They ain't never coming in here. We don't want them here. Not
going to happen. The believer, and I'm going to tell you this.
This is true. Learn this. The believer has never had a
loss over what happens. Why? Because we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God and are
the called according to Jesus. We are never at a loss to what
happens. Because he knows And our Heavenly
Father not only sees, but has purposed all things. That's why
Job said, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. And I tell you this, it's foolish
to fight against Him. Absolutely foolish to fight against
Him. How much time do I have? Let me show you one other thing.
Let me show you this in Acts chapter 5. You know, it's foolish
to fight Him. It's foolish to resist Him. Pharaoh
tried, Judas tried, Paul tried, God put him down
and said it's hard for you to kick the prince. The Jews tried
and he reprobated almost the whole nation. But look what happens
here and you know when they brought Peter and James, Peter and John
before the for these men after he had healed that lame man.
And they brought him in when he was preaching and said in
verse 28, he was a Sanhedrin now, they said, Did not we straightly
command you, Acts 5, 28, that you should not teach in this
name? And behold, you filled Jerusalem with your doctrine
and intend to bring this man's blood upon us? What did they
say? They said, His blood be on us
and on our children. Didn't they always say that?
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to
obey God rather than men. Now listen, the God of our fathers
raised up Jesus whom he slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath
God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior,
for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And
we are his witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy
Ghost whom God has given to them that obey him. Now listen, when
they heard that, they were cut to the heart and took counsel. We got to kill these fellows.
Then stood there appointing the counsel, a Pharisee named Gamaliel. Gamal. And that's who Paul said
he was a student of. He said unto Gamal, a doctor
of the law had in reputation among all the people and commanded
to put the apostles forth a little space. And he said unto them,
ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to
do is touching these men. For before those days rose up
Thudios, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number
of men, about four hundred, joined themselves, and he was slain,
and all as many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to
nothing. And after this man rose up, Judas of Galilee, in the
days of the taxing, grew a lot of people after him. He also
perished, and all as many as obeyed him were dispersed. And
now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone.
For if this counsel of work be of men, it'll come to nothing.
Now ain't that true? But now listen, this is what
I said, I said all I have to say this right here, it's foolish
to fight against the God of purpose. He says, now refrain from these
men, if this work be of men, it'll come to nothing. But, if
it be of God, You cannot overthrow it, lest haply you be found even
to fight against God. Oh boy. I stacked my arms years ago.
Didn't you Glenn? Stacked my arms years ago. Surrender. Give me that hand of Providence,
we'll kiss it. Get up in the morning and say,
thank you, Lord, for another day. Get down at the end of the
day. Lord, if it be you, we'll give us another night. And in
between, it's fine. It's one night. Our Father, oh, gracious, gracious
God in heaven. Oh, how blessed we are to know
you, to understand something from your word. Brother Larry
read tonight to have that wisdom that comes from above. To have
that wisdom of God and we see it in our Lord Jesus Christ.
To have an understanding of God Almighty and His Word. To have
an understanding of ourselves. To have some wisdom and understanding
about the salvation that was accomplished by our Savior. Father,
thank you for allowing us to meet today. Oh, I'm so thankful
to be able to meet with the children of God. Oh, how blessed, how
blessed I am to be able to meet, to be able to speak, to be able,
Lord, to sit with the saints and open the scriptures. Oh, blessed be your name. Father,
we do pray for those who are traveling, Pray for Darren and Kim. God
bless them. One more treatment. Lord, get
them through it. Thank you for what you've done
for them. Thank you for our home. Thank you for the strength you
give Mary day to day. Thank you for all the kindness
and love and generosity shown toward us by these dear saints
of God. Keep them, preserve them until we can gather together
and worship again, if not here, around the throne of our Lord
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory. both now and forever. Amen and
Amen. days, and the things of earth
will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Well, I'll see you next time.