All right, Leviticus chapter
7. Leviticus chapter 7. I want to actually read the text
for this morning. Most of you should already be
aware of the actual text. It's Leviticus 7, verses 11 through
21. So let me read those verses.
And this is the law of the sacrifice of the peace offering. Remember,
all the offerings are defined, but then each offering God gives
to Moses to give to the people of Israel the law concerning
that offering. This is the law of the sacrifice
of the peace offering, which he shall offer unto the Lord.
If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer, with the
sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened
wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, and fine
flour fried. Beside the cakes he shall offer
for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving
of his peace offering. And of it he shall offer one
out of the whole oblation for an heave offering, that's one
of the rumps as we might say, the shoulders we might say. He
shall offer of the whole oblation for an heave offering unto the
Lord. And it shall be the priest that sprinkleth the blood of
the peace offering, that is this shoulder of this beast, and the
flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering for Thanksgiving
shall be eaten the same day that it is offered. He shall not leave
any of it until the morning. But if the sacrifice of his offering
be a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day
that he offereth his sacrifice, and on the morrow also the remainder
of it shall be eaten. The remainder of the flesh of
the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire. Now that's one thing to hear.
But hear what else God goes on to say. And if any of the flesh
of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on
the third day, it shall not be accepted. Neither shall it be
imputed unto him that offereth it. And remember now, the priest
is the one eating of the shoulder, not the offerer. And I'm not
even gonna deal with that itself. So in other words, this person's
hope hinges on somebody else's obedience. Does it not? Now that's a message in itself.
Preach on that sometime, Joe. But it's more than that. It shall
not be imputed unto him that offereth it. It shall be an abomination. That's a strong word. It shall be an abomination, and
the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity. And the flesh that toucheth any
unclean things shall not be eaten. It shall be burnt with fire.
And as for the flesh, all that be clean shall eat thereof. But, the soul that eateth of
the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace offering that pertain
unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall
be cut off from his people. Moreover, the soul that shall
touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of a man, or any
unclean beast, or any abominable unclean thing, and eat of the
flesh of the sacrifice of peace offering, which pertain unto
the Lord, even that soul shall be cut off from his people. As I read this Earlier on, I
thought, there just seems to be so much woe, so much danger
here. Is there not? There's a lot of
danger here, and yet this is the peace offering. One thing, never take the peace
of God for granted. Never, never. Here's how self-righteous
we are. Ever had somebody call out a
scripture? and say, please turn to this scripture, you turn right
to it and find it, and you can hear everybody else fumble around
in their pages to find it, and you think, boy, I did good. Now maybe you ain't never done
that. I found my stupid, evil mind thinking abomination like
that. And folks, we're not talking
about when you're at work, we're talking about in the assembly.
The mind will just pop up with some self-righteous thought. And people wonder why we're hard
on us. Because that's how bad we really
are. Now with that said, here is my title. I gave it to everyone
earlier. The Abomination of Universal
Redemption. Now, immediately, if I give that,
maybe it goes out on the air sometime later, someone's gonna
say, but preacher, universal redemption's not even mentioned
in the text. You're right. You caught me. But universal redemption's not
even mentioned in the Bible. That phrase, universal redemption's
not ever mentioned in the Bible. And yet, the majority of men
and women who claim to be Christians hold to what they call universal
redemption. Now, let me try to be honest. What does universal redemption
teach? This will be brief. And I will
try to give no misrepresentation here. I don't want to build a
straw man and beat the daylights out of him so I look good. What
does universalism teach? It teaches this. Jesus died for
the sins of every individual ever conceived. Have I misrepresented
universal redemption? Now, I'm not talking about universal
salvation. There are a few groups that believe everybody's going
to be saved. They still like to hold to the
moniker Christian. Well, they're not Christian at
all. But there is another group of Christianity, put that in
quotes, that holds to universal redemption. That is, at least
Jesus died for the sins of every individual ever conceived. But
it's deeper than that. Universal redemption rejects
that Christ's death actually secured the following for anyone. They reject this. Therein is
the real danger. They reject this, that Jesus
actually secured for none, he secured for none redemption,
justification, reconciliation, sanctification, and perfection.
Now have I misrepresented them in any way? No. No, I have not. And yet this book actually says
that when Jesus died on the cross, he actually secured these very
things that I've just mentioned to you. And he did it when he
died. But now I'm gonna go even further.
Universal redemption denies Christ's deity. You hear what I said? It denies Christ's deity. Now
turn to Isaiah chapter 46 for a moment. I'll let you get there. Then I'm gonna define clearly
what I mean by that. Universal redemption denies Christ's
deity. They do not deny it in word. Universal redemptionists will
say Jesus Christ is God. Sadly, most of them say Jesus
is God. And this is something I wouldn't
invite you to listen to every religious preacher on TV, but
if you did, you'll find most of the time, they don't even
mention his name as Christ. It's usually Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. They love his humanity. They
do not love his deity. And the word Christ is synonymous
with God Almighty. Because the Christ was prophesied
to be Emmanuel. which being interpreted is who? God with us. Not just a special person sent
from God, but God with us. The question is, who is God? Now Jesus is that God. Jesus
Christ is that God. Now here's who God says he is. Isaiah 46 verse nine. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God. And there is none else. I am
God, and there is none like me. That's why we got to be careful
when we compare God, try to use something in this world to try
to define God, explain God, it's dangerous. Yet religionists,
universal redemptionists especially, do this all the time. There is
none like me, declaring the end from the beginning. It's more than this, but God
knows exactly what the end's going to be. And he knows exactly
what the end's going to be because he declared what it would be
even from the beginning. That's what that says, doesn't
it? Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done, so he's including things in the
middle, right? Saying, now here's God. Here
is who God says God is. My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure. And even if it's a rebellious,
unclean thing, it'll do my bidding. Look what, calling a ravenous
bird. Let's talk about unclean, like a crow. A raven, they were
considered unclean animals. A ravenous bird from the east,
the man that does what? Oh, he does what he wants to
do. Yeah, he does what he wants, that man'll do what he wants
to do. But look, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that
executeth my counsel from a far country. Yea, here is God now. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. And the universal redemptionist
says, that's true except in salvation. Ever heard him say that? God's
absolutely God, he's absolutely sovereign except in salvation.
Hearken unto me, you stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness,
I bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off if he's
pleased to bring it near. It shall not be far off, and
my salvation shall not tarry. And I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel my glory. That's God. And that's who Jesus
Christ is. And if any group of people, I
don't care how moral they are, how religious they are. They
could say Jesus Christ is God, but if they don't teach he's
that God, they are an abomination. An abomination. Now having said
that, let everyone here this morning, and I want to look at
you. I'm talking about me too. Let
us beware here this morning. There are two camps of people
that exist in this world. Now I know where you maybe think
I'm going, but listen to me. There are two camps of people
that exist in this world, and two camps only. There are those
that's never really heard the true deity of Jesus Christ. I
was in that camp at one time. I was under the auspices of universal
redemption. That's where I was, I could say,
born and raised. I was steeped in it, I was indoctrinated in
it. They taught it to me in Sunday school. I heard it preached from
the pulpit all the time. God loves you and Jesus died
for you. That's what I was taught. But
there's another camp. There are those who were born
and raised under the sound of the gospel of free reigning grace.
But you know what? By nature, you rebelled against
it just as much as I did. Oh, you might have accepted the
doctrinal theory of it, but you rebelled against God just like
I did. Both camps, both camps when confronted
by God's grace. Both camps, when confronted by
God's grace, and I'm not just talking in preaching, I'm talking
about when God Almighty moves to show this kind of righteousness
he's talking about here, will be crushed with the spirit of
conviction. You see, God's gotta convict
of sin, a Calvinist, a born and bred Calvinist, just like he's
gotta convict a born and bred Arminian. God's gotta convict
a limited atonement person just as much as he has to convict
a universal redemption person. Because we've all sinned and
come short of the glory of God. There ought not be no pride in
this place this morning, but there is. We've heard of the
phrase pride of race, pride of face, and pride of, there's another
one that rhymes with it, somebody help me. No, that was what I
was gonna get to, and you knew that, Joe. Pride of grace. I'm proud to be a grace person. I have seen it. And I have felt it. Ever look down on somebody else
because they don't believe the gospel that you believe? Well,
at one time, bless God, you was there. I don't care which camp
you're in. Now hear me now. We all best thank God. We all
had best thank God that Jesus Christ is both the offering for
the sins of ignorance and the offering for the sins of trespass.
Some of us didn't know any better. Some of us did and still rebelled
against God anyway. Isn't that the truth? Now I know
most people, sadly, in so-called Christian religion today, are
so taught all of these sacrifices just confound them. That's the
way the Jews are supposed to live. And guess what? One of
these days, Jesus will come back and they'll worship him perfectly
in this system. That's not so. I was taught under that error
as well. I had all of this baggage. But
one day, God Almighty, by His Spirit, crushed me. I say He
crushed me. And God never heals any man or
woman spiritually till he first crushes everything you hold dear. Even if it's the doctrine you
were born and raised under. When God saves us, he teaches
us his doctrine. But we're not saved by just holding
to doctrine. You can hold to the right doctrine
and still miss Jesus Christ himself. And I can't make men see that.
I can't. Whether they're in a free will
congregation or in a free grace congregation. I can try to preach
it. I can try to say it as clearly.
I'm not trying to, as Earl used to say, one fellow said, you
can't slip the truth in the back door. You might as well come
in the front door and just speak it like it is. Well somebody,
I won't like what somebody might say about me. They're already
saying bad about you anyway. You best go ahead and just speak
the truth of God in Christ and let them hate you for a real
reason. Let them hate you for a real reason. I understand why
men hate me. I'm despicable, Joe. I'm despicable
by nature. But men ought not hate their
maker. They ought not hate their maker. But aren't you glad there's
forgiveness? We're told, even before this
law pops up, the law with these scary warnings, There's a sin
offering for the sin of ignorance. And there's a trespass offering
for those who know better and still do it anyway. And it's
all found, not over here is one, over there, it's all found in
one person. Isn't that glorious? Now if that's not glorious to
you, God's not done anything for you yet. He just really hasn't. Now our text. Here's why I got
my title, The Abomination of Universal Redemption. Our text
clearly sets limits, does it not? Now I started once to use
the word limit, but I thought now I want to use that abomination
word. You know why? Because that's how God sees this
peace offering that's been partaken of on a third day. Isn't that
what he calls it? Our text clearly sets limits
and woes for an overextension of partaking of the sacrifice.
Yes or no? It does. It does. Well preacher,
I don't believe what you're saying, then you don't believe what God's
saying, because I'm giving you what God said. And we know these
things are a shadow. A shadow. Now let's first consider
spiritual precedent. Two main points. Spiritual precedent,
then we're gonna look at our text. Here's spiritual precedent. the first time the Gospels ever
publicly announced. It was the first time the Gospels
ever publicly announced, it was announced by God who came and
walked in the cool of the day. Adam and Eve had fallen, and
God says, there is the seed of the woman, and there is the seed
of the serpent. Two different kinds of people
will be in this world. The offspring of the seed of
the woman, the offspring of the seed of the devil. Our Lord told
some men in particular, you're not the children of God. He said,
you, your father, you are of your father, the devil. The devil. Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel. They both had sacrifices. There
were two sacrifices. And there were two different
messages. But God accepted one, and God rejected the other. Now God told the one who was
rejected, if you do well, if you'll do what's right, shalt
thou not be accepted? And I can say that to any man
or woman on the face of this earth. If you'll bow to the authority
of Jesus Christ, you'll be accepted. But Cain's cannot. And I know, I love what Joe said
a while back, maybe he got it from somebody else, maybe he
didn't, maybe God just gave him that. You know why Cain couldn't?
Because he wasn't able. He wasn't able. He wasn't his
brother, and he wasn't in himself able to do it either. He said,
my punishment's more than I could, why didn't he just fall in and
say, oh God, teach me, forgive me, have mercy on me. Can I have
one of Abel's lambs? Hmm? Give me some fat to offer
to you. Now he said, my punishment's
more than I can bear. And then went on about his own merry way. Now folks, that's already two
limits. What about Noah's ark, the ark of Noah? Did he build
an ark big enough for everybody and every animal in the world?
No. No. God never intended on saving
every individual man and woman. And God never intended on even
saving every individual animal. And he built that ark with specific
dimensions. We really now today don't know
what those dimensions really were. We have the English translation
of the Hebrew, but we don't know what makes them the exact measurements
are. But that boat wasn't massive enough to hold the whole human
race. You know why? Because God had already told
him, you and your family, seven others, I'm gonna bring into
the ark. and that I'm gonna have you bring in seven of ever clean
animal and two of ever unclean animal into the ark. And God
brought them in the ark and God shut the door and closed them
in. That's a limit. Yes or no? Anybody who goes to
Noah's Ark and preaches God was wanting to save the whole world
is like the one preacher said, can't you see Noah now? Standing
up on the top of the Ark with a big bumper sticker to all of
those people out there in the rain, smile, God loves you. Smile, God's got a wonderful
plan for your life. His wonderful plan for your life
is to show his wrath and judgment upon you. If you're outside of
the Ark, it's never been ordained for you to be saved. How does
man get in the ark? You don't get in the ark, God's
gotta put you in the ark. He's gotta put you in the ark. I'm
not done yet, what about the Passover? There's a limit. You don't waste any of it. The
Passover, that lamb. Young little bitty lamb. And
they slaughtered that thing and slid its throat, caught the blood
in a basin and applied the blood on the two side posts in the
top. Then they went inside and ate of that roasted lamb with
bitter herbs, right? Now what is one of the specific
commandments of the Passover? If your house be too small for
the lamb, you go get another house. Why? Because there's going
to be no waste. And even more, the Egyptians
were not even warned. Were they? Now let me tell you,
somebody said, well we need missionary, we need to send missionaries.
God sends men and women. God sends men, now I'm not saying
we shouldn't support those whom God is sending, we shouldn't
try to encourage men and women to go and speak of the things
of Christ, but men and women speak as they are sent by God. And I'm not talking about women
pastors either, but you women can, give testimony, you could
proclaim the gospel of Christ just like anybody else if you
know the gospel of Christ. There was no waste in the Passover.
You remember the law of the unclean ass? And I say this about every
time I think of that, I think of Scott Richardson. He said,
now there's a law of the unclean ass, and you're an unclean ass,
and you can take that any way you want. Now it's not some asses run clean.
All asses run clean. And if you don't redeem each
individual unclean ass with an individual lamb, then you take
the unclean ass and break its neck. That's a limit, ain't it? That's a limit, ain't it? There's
no universalism in this book. Now men and women may run to
certain passages and try to twist those passages. There is no universalism
in this book from start to finish. Read the book of the Revelation.
Read the last few chapters. Secondly, let's consider our
context, our text. Six points. I'll be brief on
the first few. The law of the peace, Alfred,
has clear limits. Does it not? It has clear limits,
at least even how long you can partake of the sacrifice. And
it's God-ordained limits. This is not limits that men say,
you limit the atonement of Christ. I don't limit nothing. But God
did. And I'm not afraid of that word.
I'm not afraid of it. I like the word particular redemption.
I think it's just as equally true. But I'm not ashamed to
use the word limit because it's limited in its purpose. It is
not limited in its power, but it's limited in its purpose.
The law of the peace offering has clear limits, and God ordained
those limits. That's point one. Here's point
two. The Thanksgiving peace offering
had a one-day limit, did it not? Right? A one-day limit. You don't leave anything until
the morning. You eat it all. Now we're not even giving a woe.
Mason, I don't know what happened if you tried. It don't tell us.
So I'm not extend this any further, but it had what? A L-I-M-I-T. The vow or the voluntary peace
offering had a two day limit, did it not? Now don't get caught
up with the days themselves. As I said, there's some things
I'm not going in to try to detail these. But let me tell you this,
here's the fourth point. Remember, the law of the peace
offering has clear limits. God-ordained limits. The Thanksgiving peace
offering had a limit. The vow of voluntary peace offering
had a limit. Here's the fourth point, to reject
the limit. Oh yeah, you still got an offering.
Yeah, you still got an offering, but what is it called? And if
the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering be eaten at
all on the third day, it shall not be accepted. You see it? Neither shall it be imputed unto
him that offereth it, it shall be an abomination. And I am telling
you that this message, this offering men are proclaiming to other
men and women, that God loves you and Jesus Christ died for
your sins, universally it is an abomination in God's sight. Well, you believe a little different
than some other folks. No, I believe a whole lot different
than other folks. The more I find out what other
folks believe, and the more I find out what this says, and the more
by God's grace I'm able to believe what this says, the more I find
out I disagree with the majority of professed Christianity in
our day. And if that makes me the pariah,
so be it. So be it. It's abomination. Think of it. Gospel-wrought faith
believes, not for facts sake, but it believes specific things.
Let me try to explain that. I'm gonna give you five specific
things, at least, that gospel-wrought faith believes. There's more,
but I wanna give you these five things. But what do I mean that
gospel royal faith believes not for fact's sake? This is not,
well I'm saved because I believe Jesus died for the elect only.
That is not the faith that is connected with salvation. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. Well I believe Jesus died
for some, he didn't die for all. I'm one of God's. That is the
height of human pride. because this book never says
that. That does it. Does this say that's what faith
is? Does it? Faith believes this. Faith believes
the record God gave of his son. Now yeah, the facts are Jesus
Christ did not die for the sins of everyone. But just believing
that fact is not salvation. You're gonna believe the record,
and it's singular, but it includes this whole book. We don't get
to pick and choose what we want to believe about Jesus Christ.
We don't get to pick and choose how we walk in honor of Jesus
Christ. We don't get to pick and choose
anything. We don't even really get to choose to go to hell,
because any sane person ain't gonna choose to go to hell. but
go to hell some will. Go to hell some will. Faith believes
the record God gave of his son. Here's number two. Faith believes
in Christ's full efficiency, his full effectiveness. I'm gonna
give you a passage, and you know the passage, but I'm gonna give
you a passage. Let me preface it by saying this.
In this passage, we're not taught that Jesus is a savior. Jesus
is never presented in this book as a Savior. But in this passage, we're not
even taught that Jesus is the Savior. But he is the Savior. But in the passage I will give
you, we're not just taught he's a Savior, or even the Savior.
What we're taught is this, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
Why? I'm putting that question, why?
Why is his name gonna be Jesus? For he shall save his people
from their sins. Do you believe he did or not? The New Testament's clear, he
did. And it calls it, what I told you, redemption, justification,
reconciliation, sanctification, perfection, completion, all these
words. It believes in Christ's efficiency. it believes in Christ's cross
work. I'm not gonna read this. But I would challenge you to
go to Psalm 69 and read the whole chapter because the whole chapter
are the words, or at least the thoughts, the mind of our Lord
Jesus Christ when he hung on the tree. Psalm 69. Now there are others, but I want
you to go to read Psalm 69. These are the very words of Jesus
Christ himself. And in that, Chapter. Jesus Christ,
when he was made sin for a people, prayed for some people and against
others. Not just like John 17, when he
said, I pray not for the world, but I pray for those you give
me out of the world. In Psalm 69, he specifically prays against
some people. Now maybe you were taught like
I was. I was brought up in dispensationalism, and I thought, well, that verse
means Jesus, but this one don't. And that verse means this dispensation,
and that one don't. Be careful, because in the beginning
of the chapter, there's an exact quote on this. The New Testament
quotes that and it's talking of Jesus Christ. At the end of
the chapter, it gives us something that's quoted by the New Testament
and the New Testament makes it clear that's Jesus Christ. Paul
Pendleton and I got a reason to believe that verse one all
the way to the end is the heart and mind of Jesus Christ when
he hung on that tree. You see, Jesus Christ when he
hung on that tree was hanging there to actually accomplish
something for somebody. And God's word says he did it.
He did it. According to the prophet Isaiah,
Isaiah 53 verse 10 and 11, faith believes this, that God is fully
satisfied with Christ's cross work. He's fully satisfied with
it. God is saying that's enough.
Now there are a lot of other things that will flow out of
that enough. A lot of other things that will flow out of that enough.
But that was enough. That was the debt paid in full.
And he comes along and lets you know, well look, I paid it off
for you. And look, hey, I got you a new house over here. Now
I'm using some natural, I got you a new car over here. You
didn't earn a dime of it. But I got all of it because I
paid the debt in full. You got faith. You've got repentance.
You have a desire to follow the Lord in baptism. You have a desire
to be here with God's people. You love God's people because
Jesus Christ died for you at Calvary. And if he didn't die
for you at Calvary, you'll never experience any of those things
because it was never for you. I'm saying that salvation is
a work of God. God's gotta do it. And when God
Almighty moves on you, bless God, there'll be some things
you'll do too. You'll do them. And also this, here's the fifth
thing. Faith believes in God's reign in Christ. Now we know
Romans 10, it's very familiar. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well what is his name?
Jesus. And the name Jesus means he shall save his people from
their sins. But the verse before verse 10,
the most popular. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. The verses preceding basically
tell us this. Israel had not submitted unto
the God's righteousness. They were ignorant of God's righteousness.
And they hadn't submitted to God's righteousness. And then
he tells us Christ is God's righteousness. And he says that those who are
saved are those who confess that Jesus Christ is what? Lord. I was brought, the universalism
I was brought up under, you accept Jesus Christ as your personal
Savior. Now they never taught it this way. They just hammered
it, do that, do that, do that. Give your heart to the Lord,
come forward, pray the sinner's prayer, accept Jesus as your
personal Savior. Then you put them in a Sunday
school and try to get them to let Jesus be their Lord. It don't
work like that. That is not salvation. When God
bows you down, By His mercy and grace and compassion, one of
the first things you'll begin to see is Christ's Lordship.
Now hear me now, that's the five things. To reject the limit,
yeah it's still an offering, but it's an abomination. But
hear me now, there's even more limits. Only the clean can partake. Didn't you read that with me
in chapter seven, verse 19? Only the clean can partake. Now
how you gonna be clean? Who can say I've made my own
heart clean? Nobody. But our Lord said this, except
a man be born from above, born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. But what's the opposite of that?
Those who are born from above can see the kingdom of God. Those who are born of the water
and spirit will not only see it, or those born from above
will not only see it, but they'll be born of water and spirit,
and they gonna do what? Enter. enter the kingdom of God. And that which is born of the
flesh always remains flesh. It's been determined by God that
it'll always stay flesh. That means whether it's my flesh
or the flesh of the reprobate. The flesh of the reprobate. Let
me throw something in for free. Do you understand that right
now you have the very nature in you that you're gonna have
when you awaken Christ's likeness and glory? I've never really heard anybody
preach on that, and I'm a little skeptical about me doing it,
because I don't, Mason, understand much about that. But he's already
given us the new nature that cannot sin. It's already there. I just have
trouble distinguishing between the two natures, because the
old nature can imitate the new. Be very religious. Be very righteous. Be very submissive. but in here
hide it all and say, I will not. But there are more limits still.
Ain't done yet. Look at chapter seven, verse
20. But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice
of the peace offering that pertain to the Lord, having his uncleanness
on him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people. Moreover,
the soul that shall touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness
of a man, or an unclean beast, or an abominable unclean thing,
and eat that flesh it pertains, that soul shall be what? Cut
off. In other words, there's nothing
in the Adamic nature that could partake of that sacrifice. Right? There's nothing in me As I was conceived and born of
my parents, who likewise was conceived and born of their parents,
all the way back to Adam, there's nothing in me that is allowed
to partake of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, because it's all
unclean. Well, I'll go outside a man,
nothing. Nothing that's unclean is allowed to partake of this
sacrifice. God gotta clean you up first. God's gotta clean you
up first. He gotta give you a good and
honest heart before the good word of God will ever fall on
you and bring forth fruit unto perfection. Preacher, you leave it all in
God's hand, you don't leave us any possibilities. You could
have possibilities. I don't have a message of possibilities.
My message is a message of certainty. And let me read it to you as
a summary, Romans chapter eight. Isn't it amazing how everybody,
well you always go to Romans 8, well no, I thought I always
went to Romans 9. Romans chapter 8, and we know,
verse 28, and we know that all things work together for good.
And that's true. But that is not indiscriminate.
You've heard them. Preachers will stand up, they'll
put it over the radio, they'll stand up on TV, and they'll say,
indiscriminate to everybody, God loves you, Jesus died for
you, and God's got a wonderful plan for your life. That's not
so. We know that all things work
together for good, but it is qualified to them that love God. Now love him. Love him. If you love him, you know what
you're gonna do? You're gonna reach in your pocket and give some money for the ministry
of the gospel. You're gonna pick up this book and you're gonna
read this book. You're gonna pray because God's gonna force
you to pray. He's gonna shut you up and on. You're gonna love
God's people. You ain't gonna be able to help
yourself. And we're not lovable people,
we are loved people. I'm not lovable. My wife finds
that out more and more. And still, because of Christ,
says I love you. I understand that. And yet at
the same time has the right to be so aggravated with me. Why? Because we're not lovable, we
are loved. But those that all things work
together for good, they love God. But even that's qualified,
because almost everybody loves God, don't you know? Right? I mean, those folks, I'm around
five days a week, and there's very few that I've found that
I think would say, I don't love God. I love God my own way. Or I love God like I see God.
No, to them who are the called, according to his what? Wait a
minute, I thought that was supposed to be possibility. No, it's purpose. For, now he's gonna explain it,
for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son, that he, that is Christ, might be
the firstborn among all the sons of Adam. No, sir. Among many
brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Whom he called, them he also
justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? I wanna be
one of those us. Don't you? I wanna be one of
those us because there's a them out there. And I deserve to be
a them. I have merited being a them.
Even today, I don't merit being a us. I just don't. But I want God to make me a us,
Joe. Why should we then say these
things? If God be for us, who could be against us? He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, every one
of us. Every one of us. How shall he
not with him also do what? Give you everything else you
need. Right? Also freely give us all, that
don't mean he gonna give you a Cadillac if he's meant for
you to drive a Pinto. He didn't give the folks in the
1800s a Cadillac. He gave them a real Pinto. Trying
to level this up. I'm talking about certainty.
This, these verses are God's word of certainty to the us. Certainty to those that love
God. And you'll go through hell because
of that. Read the rest of it. But you'll never be separated
from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. Because that's
the precedent. We love him. Why? And how? Because he first loved
us. Roy Jr., before we sing our closing
prayer, Would you lead us in prayer and ask the blessing on
the food, please? I know that the God of heaven
above, we thank you, Lord, for the privilege that we have to
be here and hear your truth proclaim, Lord. We ask you to guide and
direct each and every one that you hear through your word. Make them believe your truth
in the vehicle of your will and purpose. We ask the Lord that
you would bless us this food which we're about to take up
to nourish our bodies. We bless you in your favor as
I ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.