Okay, if you wish to follow along
turn to Deuteronomy chapter 16 Deuteronomy chapter 16 again
just to remind those who may be with us live stream that Once
this gospel message is over, we will close out because the
other two preachers were not able to be here this morning,
so I don't want somebody to think that their live stream is messed
up, so this is the only message this morning. Deuteronomy chapter
16. My subject is actually taken,
as most of you probably already know, is taken from Deuteronomy
16, verse one, all the way through Deuteronomy 18 and verse eight. And in the context of this text,
that is 16.1 through 18.8, we read of these things. We read
of the three feasts. We read of the Feast of Passover. We read of the Feast of Weeks
and the Feast of Tabernacles. We also hear commands concerning
judges, commands concerning sacrifice, commands concerning idolatry,
commands concerning hard matters, commands concerning kings and
priests, and just As a side note to that last one, God, if you
read it, you see God gave them, Mason, God gave them the law
as to what kind of king they were to have. And yet, when Israel
first chose a king, what kind of king did they want? One like
the other nations had, and not like one that God would ordain. That was the problem. Their problem
was not seeking a king, It was not seeking the king after God's
ordained way. But be that as it may, 10 times
in these verses, in chapter 16, verse one, through chapter 18,
verse eight, 10 times we read, not this exact phrase, but I'll
sum it up, and this is my title and my subject, as most of you
already know, God does the choosing. God does the choosing. Now let
me first say this. I am just going to talk about
seven things that God clearly chose as we see in our context. And I hope to look at their New
Testament equivalent as these things here in Deuteronomy picture
the Lord Jesus Christ. But think about it. Now this
is just a fact. This is not about some kind of
doctrine I'm trying to lay down. This is just a fact. I counted
up the verses. There are of course 50 verses. in chapter 16 verse
1 through 18 verse 8. And while we have reason to believe,
Jack, that the verse divisions were not inspired of God. Now
try to listen to what I'm saying. The verse divisions were not
inspired by God. That is, as Moses wrote, he didn't
say, all right, chapter one, verse one. He just started writing. But somewhere along the line,
someone came up and put these things in chapters and verses.
But I must say this. I am fully persuaded, knowing
that our God is the absolute sovereign, that these things
are as absolutely, they're put down absolutely, even in their
chapter and verse divisions, as God ordained before the world
began. But the point I'm trying to make
in that is think about it. There are 50 verses in our text,
and 10 times God choosing is mentioned. That's 20% of the
time. And people say, well, that doctrine
of election, it's not in the Bible much. It's in these 50
verses, 20% of the time. And here is the doctrine, I might
add, that in all of these, in our context, and that's just
in these, there are a lot more commands and there's a lot more
scripture than what I've just used as a text. In all of these,
God does the choosing. And what man chooses doesn't
matter, because when God chooses, what He chooses for man to do
is a command, not a choice. Now, did you get that? I think
you got that, didn't you? You see, God did the choosing.
God decided what was what. And he doesn't leave it up to
us to choose, especially in his law. He commands men and women
to do what he chose for them to do in the commands. But as
we know, the scripture's also clear. These things, the law,
let me quote it from the scripture, the law having a shadow of good
things to come. So we will look at these seven
things that God chose or did choose and see their New Testament,
God willing, their New Testament application. Now first of all,
You know this is true, and I want to put it this way. I want to
put it in a positive light this morning. God's choosing is rejoiced
in by God's people. God's people rejoice in the election
of God. God's people rejoice in the fact
that God does the choosing. As a matter of fact, I mentioned
it a little bit earlier, when our Lord Jesus Christ taught
the disciples to pray, and of course that Prayer is valid for
us as well, Sandy. It's valid for us as well. In
that prayer is this one phrase. Us crying out to God, thy will
be done on earth just like it is in heaven. And yet, do not
we hear most of who claim to be Christians crying up what
man wills. And yet we're told, thy will
be done. God's people are not ashamed
of the election. What did Paul say to the Thessalonians? And
you'll read it, I'm not gonna turn to it, 2 Thessalonians 2,
13 through 14, but we are bound. That's a pretty strong word.
That's like this, you know. It's not like this. Now this
is me. I don't think he's talking about
it like this. He's talking about it like this. You see the difference?
You see, there are a lot of people raised up maybe in reform circles
or whatever, and I'm not just picking on reform folk, but for
them, the election of grace is this. You know, they're indoctrinated
into it and they believe it, or I'm sorry, it's like this.
They're bound by it. It's some kind of law or rule,
but for God's people, those that have been given life by his spirit
and called by his gospel, they are bound this way. But bound
what? We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because, because
why? And what's the first thing he
says? Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you, that is the belief of the truth, by
the gospel. God's people love the fact that
God does the choosing. I remember, I think it was Rolf
Barnard, and of course I've been listening to quite a bit of Rolf
lately, but I heard one preacher speak of Rolf Barnard, and a
man had preached a message on the hated doctrine of election. And of course, the man preached
the message, and actually preached the truth of the message. But
it was something along the line afterwards over with that Rolf
was asked, what did you think about my message? And my message,
he said, well, the first thing, your title's wrong. Election's
not the most hated doctrine in the Bible, it's the most loved
doctrine in the Bible. by those who are God's people.
And he was just making a point. Yes, election is hated by the
religious hordes out here. That's true, but beloved, this
doctrine, this doctrine is beloved by God's people because it expresses
a perfection of our God. But listen to me, to think of
the election of grace, God's choosing, God chose a people.
I'm not here to debate that this morning. I'm not even really
here to preach that doctrine this morning. But if all you
see about God's election is the election of a people, the election
of grace, you've missed a lot. Because here we see seven things
God chose. And if we consider this thing
not rationally, but through scriptural logic, since God predestinated
all things according to his own will, then that means God chose
to do this predestinating, then Jack, we could say God chose
everything. There is a sense in which God
chose everything, not to salvation, but God chose everything. God
chose that his son die on that tree just exactly like he died
on that tree. God chose that Joseph's brothers
sell him into slavery. Hmm? Did he not? So what I'm
trying to say is this thing of God choosing is not just a couple
little isolated verses about some kind of way back yonder
choosing God did, and it's really kind of one of those secret things.
No, it ain't a secret thing. It's revealed 20% of the time
in our text. And that's just like two and a half chapters.
So let's look at these seven things. In our context, we'll
see seven more facets that are typified in God's holy law. First
of all, God chooses the place where his name is. Do you see
that? Chapter 16, verse two. I'm not
gonna read a lot of the text, but I do wanna read these verses
for the context. Look at it. Thou shalt therefore
sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God of the flock and
of the herd, but look, in the place which the Lord shall choose
to place his name there. You did not sacrifice the Passover
just anywhere you wanted to sacrifice the Passover. It's in the place
where God chose to put his name. And what is a new, I won't just
say thee, but a New Testament equivalent of that. Well, let
me read it to you. Don't even turn to it, let me read it to
you. Here's what it says. and she shall bring forth a son. Thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sins. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled which is spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying,
behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a
son and they shall call his name, what? Jesus is one of them, right? But what the hell is it? Emmanuel,
being the interpreter is what? Here's where God's name is. Jesus
of Nazareth. Emmanuel, because that is God
with us. In this Old Testament type, they
were to sacrifice the Passover where God was, right? Not God was just up there, Ellen,
and then they were to do something down here, but he would put his
name in this place. So it says, then Joseph, being
raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden
him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had
brought forth her firstborn son, and called his name Jesus. So
I ask the question, what is God's name? Now, we preachers, And
those who like to think we are of the theologically-minded ilk
love to start talking about El Shaddai, Elohim, and rightfully
so. But those names are names given
to describe certain perfections and characteristics in God. We
may also think we're getting really deep and say, well, what
is God's name? Well, it's I Am. And is that
not true? Amen, that's right. But let me
tell you something. There was many a Jew who knew
God as I Am. That's by that title, by that
phrase, by that word. But when I am, when Emmanuel
came down to this earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth,
they rejected him. What is God's name? Jesus Christ
the Lord. And until you know that name,
you don't know God. Not in spirit and in truth. Number two, God chooses the place
of his Passover. Chapter 16, verse six and seven. But at the place which the Lord
thy God shall choose to place his name in, there shalt thou
sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun,
at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt, and thou
shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God
shall choose, and thou shalt turn in the morning and go into
thy tents. What is the New Testament equivalent
of this? I'm not gonna turn to it, read
it. First Corinthians five, six, seven, eight. for even Christ
our Passover is sacrificed for us. Now it's sad for me to have
to say this, but I fear that most people who profess to be
Christians thinking Paul was just using cute religious language. Don't you think so? That's what
they think. He's just using Bible language. No, Jesus Christ is
the Passover. He is the Passover. And as Joe ably pointed out in
a message several weeks or months ago, there was, even in the types,
even in those animal sacrifices, there was one Passover, and that
was the Passover that was offered in Egypt. And there God passed
over them where the blood was on the doorpost and the lentils.
Everything after that that they offered once a year was a memorial
back toward that one. And as types, It was looking
forward to Jesus Christ. And I don't have time to go into
all the nuances of the Passover, but there's one that stands out.
I don't know if I should say above all others, but the one
that does stand out prominently is what God said, and when I
see the blood, I will pass over you. Let me tell you something. Everyone who was covered by that
blood was passed over, and passed over in mercy and grace and compassion. Our Lord, our Passover, was sacrificed
for us, and if you're one of those us, God said, when I saw,
and I have, Jack, I think I have the right to say that because
of the preponderant testimony of scripture, when God saw Christ's
blood, he passed over us. He passed over us. Let me move
on. Here is number three. God chooses the place where all
who worship must worship. Did you hear what I said? Get
that in your head here now. God chooses the place where all
who worship must worship. Chapter 16, verse 11. Thou shalt
rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou and thy son and thy daughter. Well, that's probably enough,
ain't it? Everybody else can do what they want. No, look,
and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within
thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow
that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen
to place his name there. What is the New Testament equivalent
to that? Turn to John chapter four. As
soon as I say that, some of you probably already know kind of
where I'm going. John chapter four, and let me
read this one. John chapter four, let's begin
kind of in the middle of a conversation between our Lord Jesus Christ
and an individual. In verse 19, he's talking to
this woman. The woman saith unto him, sir,
I perceive thou art a prophet. She is bragging about herself. Why did she not say, you are
a prophet? She had to put herself at the
front of it. She didn't even say, you're a
prophet. And I perceived that. She said, I perceive. What's
she saying? I got eyes to see. That's what
she say, and more than just physical, because Jack, he looked no different
than any other man or any other Jew of that day. But look, the
woman said to him, sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our
fathers worshiped in this mountain, and that was that mountain in
Samaria. And ye say, that is the Jews, ye say that in Jerusalem
is the place where men ought to worship. Now can you imagine
this? Here's this woman. Unbeknownst
to her but nonetheless here is this woman trying to debate the
Lord of Glory as to where the place of worship is Now here
is a Samaritan woman what we would call today a half-breed
partly Jew and partly something else And you know she expected
the Messiah to come And she was still lost So let none of us
think just because we got a little messianic hope that we're okay. That we're okay. But look, you
say worship in Jerusalem. We say worship in this mountain.
Now look, Jesus saith unto her woman, believe me, the hour cometh
when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem
worship the Father. Ye, oh, tough. Ye worship, ye
know not what. That's saying something, ain't
it? Now was he being mean to her? Or is he calling the chickens
home to roost? Is he trying to shoot her down
because she's a woman? No, this is God Almighty manifest
in the flesh dealing with one of his chosen ones. But he must
take us head on and show to us what we really are in our corruption
and our rebellion. He wasn't being mean to her.
Now, hard, hard in language, yes. But loving, loving. What does the book say? The rebuke
of a friend is better than the kisses of an enemy. Yeah. Yeah, look at it. Ye worship
ye know not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. Now, what Jews you think he's
really talking about right there? Huh? But look, but the hour cometh. and now is, when the true worshipers
shall worship the Father, now he's not talking here necessarily
about place, but where in spirit and in truth. For the Father
seeketh such to worship him, God is a spirit, and they that
worship him, what's that? Anybody that does worship, what's
it say? Must worship him in spirit and
in truth. So it doesn't matter, that list,
what was it, we read it. or I read it, you kind of listened
along. You, your son, your daughter,
your manservant, your maidservant, a Levite, a stranger, a fatherless,
a widow, that's just about everybody, eh? If you're going to worship
God, you're going to worship God in the place that God chooses. So since Christ said it's not
gonna be in that mountain, in Samaria, and not in Jerusalem,
where is it now that men worship? Some are prone to say, well,
in a great cathedral. Others may be prone to say, well,
but we worship God in a church now. No! We worship God at the
feet of Jesus Christ. That's where you must worship
God. He that honoreth not the son,
what did the son say? Honoreth not the father that
said him, and as a matter of fact, the psalmist said, kiss
the son. lest he be angry, and ye perish
in the way. But there's two kinds of kisses. There is the kiss of that second
Psalm, which some tell me, and I'm not a Hebrew scholar, but
some tell me that that means to bow down and kiss the feet. Because you remember there was
one who was with him for about three and a half years, and he
gave him a kiss, didn't he? and he came up and gave him a
kiss, where? As an equal, right up here on the cheek. There's
a lot of people wanting to kiss Jesus on the cheek, but not too
many want to bow down at his feet and kiss at his feet, to
worship God at the feet of Jesus Christ. And our Lord basically
started off by telling her this truth, and she didn't get it
right at first. Look at verse 10. Jesus answered
and, that's before he said any of this other stuff. Jesus answered
and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God, and look at
this next phrase, and who it is that saith unto thee, give
me to drink, thou wouldst ask of him, and he would have given
thee living water. As soon as he said, give me some
water, what does he do? He puts himself in the forefront
of it all, does he not? I'm reminded of Tim James talking
about a preacher. He went to a conference and said
there was some good preaching there. But one fella got up and
preached and said, now what we got to do is we got to get beyond
Jesus Christ. Yeah, think of that. Now, I looked
at some of your faces when I said that, and I could see the abhorrence
in your heart and mind. Yet there are people who profess
to believe in free, sovereign grace that don't see that Jesus
Christ is preeminent. He is preeminent. Let's go on. Number four, number four. God
chooses the place of all increase. Chapter 16, verse 15. of Deuteronomy,
chapter 16, verse 15. Seven days shalt thou keep a
solemn feast unto the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord
shall choose, because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all
thine increase, and in all the works of thy hands, therefore
thou shalt surely rejoice. My grandfather, my term of endearment
to him was my papa, He was a Baptist and a deacon, deacon, you know,
he was a Baptist and a deacon. He was a deacon in a Baptist
church for years, and he used to, I remember him saying this
on many different occasions. I go out and plant the seed,
and I go out and tow the weeds, and I go out and do all this
and do all that, and it's God then that gives the increase.
That is not what this is talking about. God's got to give you
the strength and the breath to go out and even plant the seed.
God's got to give you the stamina and the weather to go out and
do the weeding and put down your manure or your 10-10-10 or whatever
it is. God gives the increase. If there is any increase, God
gets the credit for it because God is the one that deserves
the honor for it because He does the work. Even the work we do,
He enables us to do. do, for it is God that worketh
in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. But let
me show you the New Testament equivalent of that. And when
I say it, some of you know it. First Corinthians chapter three.
And you remember what Paul wrote? These Corinthians were basically
bragging on who they liked best as a preacher. Or maybe who was
preaching when God converted them. And look at what Paul says.
Verse five, first Corinthians three. Who then is Paul? And
who is Apollos? But ministers by whom he believed.
But then immediately adds, even as the Lord gave to every man. I planted, yeah. Apollos watered,
yeah. But God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. In other words, if anybody's ever saved, God
gets the glory because God did the saving. If anybody's ever
preserved, they stay saved, Mason, if they do. Who gets the credit
for it? God gets the credit for it. If
you've got any sanity in this world, if you've got any wisdom
in this world, if you have anything in this world, God Almighty gave
it to you as a free gift because none of us have earned it. We've
all sinned and come short of the glory of God. And even our
Lord told his disciples. I'm talking about those who were
later known and ordained as apostles. He said, when you've done everything
you're commanded to do, you're still to say, we are but unprofitable
service. Not only that, number five, God
chose the place where none are empty. Chapter 16 and verse six,
no, where am I at? I'm sorry, yeah, God chose the
place where none are empty. Chapter 16, verse 16. Three times
in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God
in the place which he shall choose, in the feast of unleavened bread,
and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles,
and they shall not appear before the Lord empty. What is the New
Testament equivalent of that? Let me read it to you. I'm not
going to have you turn to it. I just want to start reading
it and see if this starts to dawn on us by the grace of God.
Verse 10 of a particular chapter. We'll tell you then. What's it? He was in the world. It's speaking
of Christ. He was in the world and the world
was made by him. And the world knew him not. The world was empty. Weren't
they? The world was empty. He came
unto his own, and his own received him not. They remained empty,
but as many as received him. You see that? Somebody received
him. I want to be one of those. What
about you? I want to be one of those, but look at what it says.
But as many as received him, To them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which
were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will
of man, but of God. And does that not go back and
say that if there's any increase, who gets the credit? God gets
the credit because God did the work. But look at what else it
says. And the word was made flesh. dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth." In other words, Mason, there wasn't
even a little speck of emptiness in him, right? Not even a speck
of emptiness in him, full of grace and In truth, there's no
more grace to put in him because he's got it all. And Mac, there's
no more truth because he is all truth. But it don't stop there. Look, John bear witness of him. Now here's two witnesses. John
bear witness of him and cried saying, this was he of whom I
spake. He that cometh after me is preferred
before me for he was before me. Oh, here it is. And of his fullness. have all we received, grace for
grace. In other words, you look at yourself
and you're going to see emptiness. If you or I, you out there, if
you look at yourself and see anything but emptiness, you are
blind and seeing something wrong. He is all fullness, and what? And of His fullness have all
we received. That is, the receivers have received. And thus Paul cries out unequivocally
concerning Jesus Christ and His people, and ye are complete in
Him. Number six, God chooses the place
to answer hard matters. Chapter 17. Now, I could spend
a lot of time here, but let's just look at it. Let me read
the verse and give you the New Testament equivalent. John 17,
eight, nine, and 10. If there arise a matter too hard
for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea
and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of
controversy within thy gates. Then shall, now, let me just
stop here and say, well, he's talking about those secret things
that belong to the Lord that Moses later mentions in chapter
29, verse 29. Oh no, the secret things are
not hard things, the secret things are secret things. As Henry Mahan
again once said, a fella come up to him and said, well preacher,
we need to start dealing with some of those secret things.
He said, well if they're secret, how can you deal with them? He didn't
say the hard things belong to the Lord. He said the secret
things belong to the Lord. If it's not dealt with in this
book, leave it alone. Leave it alone. Even if you got
opinion about it, it don't mean no more than a warm bucket of
spit. Leave it alone. The secret things belong to the
Lord. The things that are revealed,
they belong unto us and our children. But look, there are hard matters.
There are difficult things, right? And I'm not gonna read anymore.
You deal with this, what? In the place which the Lord thy
God shall choose. Now, turn with me to John chapter
six. There is at least one place.
where when Jesus Christ was teaching, there were people who cried out,
this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? Now, if you
look at the context, it doesn't, anyway, they had no right to
think it was impossible to understand. It just cut them the wrong way. That's what they didn't like
and look at what it says. John chapter six, let me find
my spot. And verse 60. Many therefore of his disciples
when they heard this said, this is a hard saying, who can hear
it? They're not saying you just spoke
something impossible for us to get a hold of. No, they were
saying you just told us something we don't like. You just told
us something we don't agree with. Because look, when Jesus knew
in himself that they understood not, is that what it said? Uh-uh. When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, does that
offend you? Now think about this. Does that offend you? I can only
imagine. They were murmuring, what? They
murmured at it, and usually murmuring is what? And you don't really
hear, you know somebody's upset, and they're grumbling, and they're
griping, and you know they're saying words, but they usually
don't say it loud enough so that everybody can hear it, but it's
a little bit over here, a little bit over there, but Jesus didn't
turn around and say, does that offend you? You think that's
a hard saying? Let me give you one more. Let
me give you one more. There's a point to be made here.
Look, does this offend you? What and if ye shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And then he reiterates
the first hard saying again. But there are some of you that
believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that
believed not and who should betray him. And he said, therefore said
I, unto you. Now here's the one thing that
really got their crawl. No man can come unto me except
it were given unto him of my father. And from that time many
who had made great profession and had followed him went back
and walked no more with him. Now here's the point. Those who
murmur at Christ's name answer to hard matters may well have
Christ add even more hard matters to their murmuring consternation. God owes us nothing. If we murmur against him, now
he's God, he has the right to do with his own as he pleases,
but Mac, if we're murmuring against him on top of that, Mason, he's
got the right to add to my condemnation. He's got the right to pour even
more hard matters upon me. And oh, God help me not to be
one of those that Paul says are fitted to destruction. I want to be one of those vessels
that God afore prepares for glory. Number seven, God chooses the
priest to minister. Chapter 18. of Deuteronomy, we've
come to the last one where this word, God choosing, is used. Chapter 18, look at what it says,
verse five. For the Lord thy God hath chosen
him, that is the Levite, hath chosen him out of all thy tribes
to stand and minister in the name of the Lord him and his
sons forever. And if a Levite come from any
of thy gates out of all Israel where he sojourned and come with
all the desire of his mind unto the place which the Lord shall
choose. Do you know the New Testament
equivalent to that? I'm sure you do. You may just
not know the verse or chapter. Hebrews chapter eight and verse
one, of the things that we have spoken, this is the sum. We have
a great high priest. I don't say this to be critical,
but I heard even a grace preacher say one time about his grandpa,
that his grandpa was the priest in their home. That ain't so.
Unless his grandpa was the only saved person in that home. because
all believers, male and female, are made kings and priests unto
God. But Jesus Christ is our great
high priest. Now let me sum this up and get
ready to close this down. You've often heard that Jesus
Christ, and this is three of his great offices, his prophet,
Priest and King, but do you know what that means? Do you know
why that's given? First of all, he is prophet because
he is the only one that speaks to us for God in absolute truth. I am not a prophet after that
sort. The only time I ever speak absolute
truth is when I read this word. When I start adding in my words
to try to explain it, there's always something wrong somewhere,
even if it's a wrong attitude or a wrong word. He is our prophet. He speaks to us for God in absolute
truth. He's also our king. Now you know what that means,
don't you? Kiss the sun. bow down to Him, but He's also
our what? Our priest. Now you know what
the priest does, don't you? He goes to God for us, because
we dare not approach God in ourselves. You must have Jesus Christ to
even dare to approach God. But if you have, by a work of
grace, if you have Jesus Christ, you can come boldly to God because
you can come to God at the throne of grace. And who rules over
that one? The king. The king. You see,
in religion, religion gets their jammies all up in a twist because
of the election of grace. Well, I have but scratched the
surface, Mac. As I said prior to this, God Almighty being the
sovereign predestinator of all things, He chose. If it happened,
He chose for it to happen. He chose for it to happen. Our
God is in absolute control. Let me sum it up this way. God
is the chooser, period. God chooses according to His
will and His pleasure, not our will and our pleasure, period. God's choice always stands, period. And God's gospel called chosen
ones rejoice in the fact that God does the choosing. If you
can't rejoice in that, you don't know God. Here's the question
as I close it down. When I do, Mason, when I'm done
with this question, you'll close us in prayer, please. The question
I have to ask me, myself, is where am I? Am I in that place
that God chose? or am I somewhere else? And it's
that simple, but it's that complex. Mason, would you close us, please?