Let me read from the book of
Ephesians, chapter 1, beginning with verse 3. Ephesians
1, beginning with verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, in the heavenly places, in Christ,
according as he hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame in
his sight or before him." perfectly righteous, in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace." Now, there are
some people who are content to talk to spend their hours talking
and thinking and conversing about other people. Their thoughts
and their conversation revolve around people. They like to talk
about who's doing what, who said what, who has what. But most of their conversation
and their thinking and their talk revolves around people,
politics, sports, important people, television personalities, and
the Church's preachers, the old writers that talk about people,
people, people, people. And then there are others who
are content to talk about places They like to talk about places
where they've been, places where they've lived, places that they've
seen, places that they've heard about, places that they'd like
to visit, places here and places there and places yonder, famous
places, well-known places. They like to talk about countries
and other states, other They like to talk about old times
and good times and bad times and different times, but we've
got voices everywhere. People are preaching and teaching
and talking and conversing and communicating and all of these
things about people and places, and then others like to talk
about things. They spend their time thinking
about things, automobiles, houses, farms, land. businesses, on games,
all of these things, but we've got a lot of voices, and we're
saying a lot of things, and a lot of words, and a lot of communication
going on, a lot of conversation going on. And I'm not being critical
now, believe me, because people and places and things are part
of our lives. And like I believe, Ron, somebody
said the man that doesn't study history or consider it is going
to repeat it. And it's good to learn from people
and places and things. That's good. I don't expect you
to go around all the time with a Bible in your hand. I don't
expect you to go around all the time trying to look morose and
depressed and troubled. I know that you ladies have babies
to care for. to bring into the world. You've
got classes to go to, children to bear, houses to keep, responsibilities
that are yours day in and day out. You've got school work,
PTAs, teachers' meetings. You've got your children's little
leagues and ball games and all these things. It's part of your
lives. I know that, and you men have jobs. I'm blessed that I
can stay in the study. It's where I ought to be. The
Apostle said, we'll give ourselves to study and prayer, to the ministry
of the Word of God. You folks have got to go out
here amongst them, and you men have got to study your work,
you've got to go to school, you've got to get your degrees, you've
got to get your education, you've got families to support. I know
those things. And I love sports, and I don't
intend to quit loving sports. I enjoy my Wildcats. my Cincinnati Reds, and you do
too. That's just a fact. I'm a human
being, and we're going to go on being human beings until some
preacher stands over us and commits our bodies to the ground. These
are places and people. You're concerned about your children,
your neighbors, your families off in other states. You're concerned
about your health. You've got to eat right, you've
got to serve your children right. We are people who are involved
in a world. We're in the world, but there's
a sense in which we're not of it. And I don't expect you to
live in the church building. I don't expect that at all. But
I'm saying this. If we can get these things in
their proper places, if we can use this world without
abusing if we can use these things as means and not the end, and
if in the midst of people, places, and things, and times, and trials,
and troubles, and tribulations, and burdens, and sicknesses,
and problems, if in the midst of all these responsibilities
and opportunities and privileges, or whatever you want to call
them, if we can somehow focus our hearts and minds with a strong
interest upon the great themes of life. Now, that's what we
need to talk about more. We need to talk about more. We
need to spend our time, more of our times, in discussion and
contemplating and considering and thinking upon eternal matters,
and I mean the great themes of life. I'm not talking about who's
preaching where. That's not what I mean by the
great themes. Somebody rode by a church one time and they saw
a sign there and said, Well, who preaches here? He said, Well,
it's not important who preaches there, it's important what's
preached there. And what I'm saying is we're
not spending our time discussing some rare old book, but it would
be a good idea to discuss the content of it, not so much names
as the name of God. We're not going to get anywhere,
we're just not going to get anywhere in this business of knowing God. And that's the important thing
to me, is to know God. Our Lord said, "...this is life
eternal, that they might know thee." He said, as David said,
as the heart panteth for the waterbrook, so my soul panteth
for thee in a dry and thirsty land, for thee the living God.
I want to know God, but we're not going to get anywhere in
this business of knowing God. Now, we know some doctrine, we
know some preachers, we know our denominational creeds, and
we can know these things, but to know God. and to lay hold
upon eternal life. And we're told by Paul two or
three times, lay hold on eternal life, lay hold on eternal life,
not religion, not just a profession of religion, but let's lay hold
with heart and soul upon eternal life. We're not going to lay
hold of it, nor are we going to enjoy a hope of eternal glory
until we come to grips until we personally, individually come
to grips in our minds and hearts and thoughts and come to grips
with these real issues. And the real issues are not whether
we should have closed or open communion. That's not the issue.
The real issues are not whether we accept alien immersion. Those aren't the real issues.
The real issues are not where did you get your authority to
baptize. Those aren't the real issues.
The real issues are not whether or not a woman ought to wear
a hat in a church building. The real issues are not whether
or not I'm pre-post or amillennial. Those are not the real issues.
You can argue with those things and split hairs over them and
divide over them and perish in your sins. The real issues are not whether
this Church is properly organized or not. I've had people say,
Well, it wasn't properly organized. Well, so what? There are a lot
of them properly organized that don't preach anything. And the real issue is not when
were you saved. The real issues to me are who
is the Lord God? Now that's a real issue. Who
is God? What does God say about himself? What does God say about himself? He's either sovereign, eternally,
omnipotently, infinitely, unchangeably sovereign in everything, or he's
not. Now we're going to have to come
to grips with that, Jim. Now he's not just sovereign in
creation. and sovereign in providence,
he is immutably sovereign in who he saves and when he saves. He either is or isn't that, and
we're going to have to come to grips with that, going to have
to find out who God is. You can't worship Him till you
know Him. You can't believe Him. You can't believe in a God you
do not know. You can't believe in an unrevealed
God. Now, believe me, you can't. You
can make your God according to your specifications. But when
you've got Him, you've got a God that can't hear, see, smell,
or touch, or handle, or say. We're going to have to find out
who God is. And the only source of information
that I can determine is the book God wrote. Now, the heavens declare
the glory of God, I know that. The firmament shows His handiwork,
I know that. God is seen in everything about
us and around us. But God in his redemptive glory,
God in his saving mercy, God in his righteous redemption is
revealed only in the Scriptures. And it's sad to me that preachers
aren't making more of the Scriptures, and people aren't showing more
interest in the Scriptures. And we're going to have to find
out what happened in the Garden. This is a vital issue of what
happened in the Garden, what happened to Adam. When Adam sinned,
when Adam took the forbidden fruit, when Adam sinned against
God, what really happened? How does it affect me? What are
the consequences of the fall? What are the results of the fall?
The Bible says in Adam all died. The Bible says, by one man, sin
entered this world, and death by sin, so death, spiritual death,
passed upon all men. I'm not dead physically, but
I'm dead without Christ spiritually. By one man's disobedience, we
became sinners. You see, God only deals with
two men, actually, factually, the first Adam and the second
Adam. He said, I won't have it. Well, don't have it, but it's
still so. In Adam all die, in Christ they're made alive. By man came death, by man came
the resurrection. By one man's disobedience we
were made sinners, by another man's obedience we were made
righteous. That's what the Word said. There's the federal headship
of Adam, and there is the federal covenant headship of Christ.
The first man is of the earth earthy, the second man is the
Lord from heaven. You said, I never heard such
things. That's our problem. We've been hearing too many voices
that aren't telling us the truth. We got to find out what happened
in the garden. Is man dead or is there a little
spark of life in every son of Adam? Is he helpless? Is he without help, without hope? Without God, without Christ in
this world, that's what the Bible says. We've got to find out what
happened on Calvary's hill. Now, here are all kind of theories.
I read all the theories of the so-called atonement. An atonement
atones. There's not but one theory. An
atonement atones. And if it doesn't atone, Tom,
it's no atonement. Somebody said he made atonement,
then the battle's over. He said he made atonement, then
there's reconciliation. And if the two parties are still
at war, Bob, he didn't make atonement. A redemption, what does it do?
It redeems. If it doesn't redeem, it's not
redemption. So if Christ didn't effectually
redeem, he's not the redeemer. A ransom ransoms. He said, deliver
him from going down into the pit. Why? I found a ransom, not
worth anything. Oh, yes, it is worth something.
It's the ransom of the Son of God. It's the ransom of Christ's
blood. Now, I tell you, I will not take,
I will not have anything to do with a general redemption because
that leaves redemption up to me. I will not preach, I will
not listen to, I will not permit in this pulpit, I will not cooperate
with a general atonement, because it does not atone. B. Frazier will remember this.
It happened years ago. She might have been there, but
she knows about it. I preached a meeting here in
this town at another church back in 1952. something like that,
1953. And I preached on Friday night
or Saturday night, closed the meeting out, and I preached on
the effectual work of Christ on Calvary's cross. And I showed how that Christ
died for our sins. I don't know who the elect are. I just know that there are some
elect. I'm going to show you in a minute. I don't know who
every believer is, but I do know that a believer believes, and
believers are saved by Christ alone. And I told how that the
blood of Christ was effectual. The pastor got up the next service,
an old gentleman, been in the pulpit, I guess, 40 years, snow-white
hair, tall, handsome gentleman. He got up in the pulpit and he
said, Well, I'll tell you If Jesus Christ died only for
the elect, He is no Savior of mine. Didn't that happen? Well, let me tell you something. I've got to have a successful
Savior, not a failure. I've got to have an effectual
Savior. I've got to have a sufficient
Savior. I've got to have a Savior whose
work is complete and finished because I can't add anything
to I've got nothing to bring, I've got nothing to offer, I've
got nothing to present. Like Mike's saying, it's either
Christ is all or we're all finished. Now, we've got to face these
are the issues. You say, I just don't like conflict.
Well, I tell you, I tell you, you might as well engage in conflict
if your soul's at stake. If it takes conflict, then engage
in the conflict. But find out who God is. Find
out what happened in the Garden. Find out the condition of men
by birth, by nature, by choice, by practice. Find out what happened
on Calvary. Something happened. God's involved
in what happened on Calvary. In fact, what happened on Calvary
was decreed from the foundation of the world. And what happened
on Calvary is the conversation in eternal glory. Worth is the lamb who died. What
happened on Calvary is what God demonstrated when He slew that
animal and clothed Adam and Eve. What happened at Calvary is what
God demonstrated when Abel brought a blood sacrifice. What happened
at Calvary is what God demonstrated in the Passover. What happened
at Calvary was demonstrated every year when the great high priest
brought the blood atonement into the Holy of Holies. What happened
at Calvary is the whole conversation of this book I've got before
me. And I've got to find out how a man can be just with God.
How can a man be just with God? How can God be just and justifier? Do you know? I want you to turn
with me to the book of Daniel a minute. These are critical
issues. The book of Daniel. Now go over
there just a minute. Let me show you something. I don't know whether
I've preached on this in years. I don't know whether I've even
mentioned it. But in the book of Daniel, there's a story in
chapter 6. Now listen to me. Let me tell you the story, and
then I'm going to read some Scripture. Daniel 6, just hold it there
open. There was a king called Darius, a great and mighty king. Darius had a great kingdom, and
over that great kingdom he had three presidents. One of them was called Daniel,
author of this book, Daniel. Under the three presidents were
120 princes, leaders, rulers. The king loved Daniel. He held him in highest regard.
Daniel was a man of integrity. Daniel was a man of God. Daniel
was a man of truth, and King Darius, a pagan king, knew it,
and he respected him, admired him, and planned to put him over
the whole kingdom. That's what he planned to do.
Well, these other two presidents and these 120 princes were jealous
of Daniel, and so they all got together. Daniel prayed. Every
day he prayed, prayed to God, the God of Israel. Well, these
fellows got together, and they knew how vain the King was, they
knew how his vanity ruled over him, so they got together and
they said, Now, I'll tell you how we can get Daniel. Let's
go to the King, let's write out a decree, and take it to the
King. We'll tell him we're going to
honor him, and we'll write out on the paper this, for 30 no
person in all the kingdom can offer any prayer, make any petition,
or any request of any God or person except King Darius for
30 days. So they took it to him, and it
tickled him to death. He never thought. They hand him
that thing, and he looked and said, We want to honor you, O
King Darius, and we have written this decree. According to the
laws of the Medes and Persians that can't be altered or changed
once you sign it, once you put your seal on it, it is law. It is law. So the King read it
for the period of 30 days. No one in all the Kingdom can
offer a prayer or a petition or a request or make a request
of anyone except King Darius. He took the king's seal and stamped
it, ran the wax over it and signed his name, and sat back on his
mighty throne, and these fellows took off for Daniel's house because
they knew Daniel was going to pray. And they did, they found
him praying, and they brought him before the king. And they
said to the king, oh, the punishment for praying or asking a request
was to be thrown in the lion's den. That was the punishment.
They said, if any man is caught praying or making any request,
put him in the lion's den. The king said, that's fine, that's
the law. So they brought this Daniel before the king. They
said, O king, long live King Darius, did you not just sign
a decree And it's been announced throughout the kingdom that no
man was to pray for 30 days or ask the request of anyone but
you. He said, I surely did. They said, we caught Daniel praying
to his God. He's got to go in the lion's
den. Now look at verse 14. Then the king, when he heard
these words, Daniel 6, 14, was sore displeased with himself,
and he set his heart on Daniel to deliver him. and he labored
to the going down of the sun to deliver him. This man walked
the floor. You see, this man was facing
a law that he had signed, a law that he had put in effect, a
law according to the Medes and the Persians which could not
be changed, and yet here was a friend of his that had broken
that law, and he loved But the law said he had to go in the
lion's den, and that king labored till the going down of the sun,
seeking some way to deliver Daniel. Darius faced a terrible dilemma. And then these men assembled
to the king, verse 15, said, O king, know, O king, that the
laws of the Medes and the Persians is no decree nor statute which
the king establisheth may be changed. Can't do it. So the
king commanded, they brought Daniel and cast him into the
den of lions. You say, what's all that mean?
What's God got that in a word? Let me tell you something, and
I want to speak carefully, prayerfully, and honoring to God. But the living God in His holiness
and justice has established a kingdom of righteousness and holiness
over which he has given, or to which he has given, an unchangeable
law. That law demands perfection. That law demands the absolute
holiness, holiness like God's holiness, perfection like God's
perfection. And anyone who violates that
law in any jot or tittle is guilty of the whole law. And regardless
if God has set his love upon him or God has set his affections
upon him, God cannot let him go free unless that law is satisfied. And that's what you have right
there in Daniel 6. But God's not walking the floor. God's
not laboring to the going down of the sun seeking how he can
deliver sinners like you and me. He's already provided a ransom. He's already provided a substitute. He's already provided a Savior,
and that's what took place at Calvary. Christ came down here
in the flesh and met that unchangeable law of God. Christ came down
here to Calvary and went to the lion's den in my place instead,
and there he took my punishment. You see what I'm saying? Darius'
dilemma was he couldn't deliver Daniel and honor his law. God
doesn't have such a dilemma because he can both honor his law and
deliver the object of his love. He can both honor his justice
and set free the sinner because Christ enabled him. Christ released
the hands of God to save. That's what Scripture says. And
we got to come to grips with that. How can God be just and
justify? You can walk down an aisle and
say you believe the Bible, but that doesn't justify God. You
can join the church and turn over a new leaf and start doing
the best you can, but that won't honor God's law. You can go out
and try to win souls and give your tithe and keep a Sabbath
day and all those things, but that won't enable God to be just
and justifier. Something's got to take place.
Something so great and so magnificent and so spiritual and so holy
and heavenly. Something's got to take place
beyond this human flesh between God and God. That make sense? Between God the Father and God
the Son. And those are critical issues, critical issues. Now
then, we can go on being nice folks. and compromised with religion,
but somebody's wrong. When one man says God's sovereign,
another says He isn't. One man says man's fell in sin
and is dead in trespass in sin, somebody else says there's a
spark of good in all of us. When somebody said God loves
everybody and somebody said God's love is only in Christ, and somebody
says over here that Christ died for the whole world, somebody
over here says He died for His elect. Somebody over here says
the Holy Spirit awakens and quickens and regenerates whom He will,
and whom He regenerates, He invincibly, irresistibly brings to faith.
Somebody else says He stands at the door and knocks. It's
up to you to let Him in. Somebody's wrong. Somebody's lying on God. Paul
said that. He said if there be no resurrection,
we are false witnesses of God. That's serious. And we can hide our heads in
the sand and hope these things will go away, but they won't
go away. They just won't go away. And these fellas can get their
big crowds and shout and holler and build straw men and beat
the daylights out of them with emotion and logic, but after
everybody's gone home, and after the crowd has departed
and the building's empty, and everybody's gone to his own fireside,
a holy, immutable, almighty, righteous God still right there,
still to be dealt with. And we can say, well, I believe
in emotional religion. Somebody else says, I believe
in formal religion. Somebody else says, I believe in dancing
now. Somebody else says, I believe in singing the song. We can go
on. But after all these arguments over, God's still there. a sovereign,
awesome, holy, righteous, just God that I've got to deal with,
Him with whom I have to do. And I tell you, we can make all,
we can cry and sob and weep and make professions and dedicate
and rededicate and shake hands and hug one another and do all
that, and we can go through all the commotions, we can claim,
but sin's still there. Sin. Awesome ugly scene Transgression
sins of the thought sins of the mind sins of the heart sins of
the hand sins of the body sins of the heart sins sins there
and God's law still unchanged and justice still awaits And
someday men and women boys and girls are gonna wish They're
gonna wish that they had had some fun time to consider these
awesome issues, come to grips with them, not just dismiss them
and say, ìWell, Brother Mann believes this, that, and the
other, and I donít believe, but weíre still friends. We wonít
be long. One of us is going to heaven
and one of us is going to hell. It isnít going to be a great separation. Well, I know I know that teach
this over here and that over there let's live and let live
we can't live too much longer Somebody's gonna live forever And I tell you this according
to this book That living forever is not gonna be based on what
your idea is gonna be based on what God did That's what I read
here And that living forever is not going to be based on who
was right and who was wrong. It's who's God. Who God is. Now that's where the issue is.
And you look back at our text, and let me show you something
here in our text in Ephesians 1. The apostle Paul, and I said
this morning, this is no novice. This man knew God. This man knew
God. He was one of the twelve apostles. He was a man whom God spoke to
personally, revealed Christ to him openly. A man whom God said,
I chose to bear my name to the Gentile. A man who wrote most
of the New Testament books. So this is no novice, this man
speaking here. And this man in our doxology
traces his blessings. He traces this knowledge of God,
this life, this salvation, this redemption, how it came to be
his. And he says in verse 1, now listen,
verse 3, I'm sorry, verse 3. He says, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. Now what does Paul
do there? He starts where he is, Mike.
He said, God has blessed me. I'm no longer in darkness, I
now am in light. I'm no longer in the gall of
bitterness, I'm now in the arms of Christ. God has blessed me. God in his infinite sovereignty
and mercy and grace and love has blessed me. He's blessed
me with a knowledge of myself and a knowledge of him. He's
blessed me with a knowledge of Christ. He's blessed me with
a knowledge of the gospel. He's blessed me with wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption. God has blessed
me. And these blessings are not physical
healing, financial prosperity. These are heavenly blessings,
spiritual blessings within the veil. the heaven now he starts
with what he has and he goes back a step in verse 4 and he
says God bless me because or according as he chose me I have
these blessings because God chose to give them to me God chose
me. He chose me. God chose us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. He chose to make
us holy. He chose to make us spotless,
unblameable before Him in the righteousness of Christ. That's
why I have this blessing because you gave it to me. That's what
Paul said. I have this blessing because
God gave it to me and you know why God gave it to me He didn't
give it to me because I was better than the next man. I was a blasphemer.
I was injurious. I was a murderer He gave it to
me because he chose to gave it give it to me That's why he gave
it to me because he chose to give it to me And He chose to
give it to me before the world ever started, before He ever
spun it out into space. He chose to give me this blessing.
Christ said to His disciples, He said, you didn't choose me,
I chose you. I don't like election. I love it. I flat-dab love it. I'd love to hear it preached,
I'd love to preach it, I'd love to read about it, because if
God hadn't chosen me, I'd have never chosen Him. I'd have stayed
in my... I loved death. I loved darkness. Did you? Sure you did. And I'd have stayed there, too,
if He hadn't chosen me. That's what the Word says. Old
Paul writing to the church at Thessalonica, he said, I thank
God for you, brethren. And I can say the same thing
to you. I thank God for you because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. I'll tell you, there's a remnant today according to
the election of grace. And there was a mama one day
called Rebecca who had twins in her womb. And before the children
were born, neither having the bad had neither done any bad
nor the good any good. Before this ever born, God said
to her, the elders gonna serve the younger. Jacob have a love,
but Esau have a hated. You say, I won't have it. That's
the God of the Bible, whether you have it or not. Well, that's
not right. It's right if God does it. I
don't care what God does, it's right. It's right because God
is righteous. I'll have mercy on whom I will
have mercy." You see your calling, brethren. Not many mighty, not
many noble, not many wise are called, but God hath what? Chosen. God hath chosen. Well, let's
go on a little further. Paul says, I have these blessings,
these spiritual blessings, because God chose me. And he said in
verse 5, having predestinated us. In other words, I have these
blessings according as He chose me, and He chose me having already,
having already predestinated or predetermined what the chosen
would be. I read so many ignorant things. I hear so many
ignorant people talking. Somebody said, well, I don't
believe people are predestinated to heaven or hell. That's bad
language. When you talk about a man being
predestinated to heaven or hell, you're showing your ignorance
of God's Word. People are elected. God chooses
people. And God predestinates or predetermines
what those people will be. You see what I'm saying? That's
what he's saying here. He elected some people to life in Christ
Because he predetermined that everybody whom he saved would
be like his son That's God's predestination Paul starts with
what he has. He said I have this blessing
God has revealed his son in me and God revealed his son in me
having chosen me because he chose me and God chose a people and
Having predetermined or predestinated that those people are all gonna
be like Christ That's God's predetermined plan if you want to talk about
the plan of salvation Okay, salvation is a plan But it's not a plan
for something you to do. It's a plan God plan to do The
plan of salvation is something God planned. He planned the whole
thing every working of salvation the creation of the world the
creation of Adam, the making of a wife, the fall of Adam,
the sin of Adam, the human race coming from Adam in its depravity,
the giving of the law, the choosing of Israel, the working of the
types and patterns, the coming of Christ, the death, burial,
and resurrection of Christ, You're hearing the gospel, God quickening,
giving you faith, bringing you to faith, putting you in a grave,
raising you, one of these days standing in the likeness of Christ. And all of this, God Almighty
predestinated everything that happened to bring you to that
place. That's what he's saying. I often give this illustration. I'm standing down here at the
bus station and a bus comes driving in. Got written up on the top,
that's Chicago. Turned to the fellow next to
me, he said, where's that going? I said, Chicago, that's what's
there. Well, he said, who decided that? I said, I don't know, but
somebody somewhere in an office decided it. The driver didn't. The passengers didn't. The ticket
agent didn't. It came in there with that already
written on it. And I'm telling you, when God chose his people,
they already had written on them to be like Christ in everything
that happened. It's going to happen to make
them like Christ. Well, Paul takes one step back. He said
in verse 5, he predestinated us to the adoption of children,
and that's in Romans 8 also, by Jesus Christ Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His own will. You know where all this
started? It started with the will of God.
Now, brethren, I believe we're saved by free will. Not our free will, but His free
will. I believe we're saved by our will, God's will. He doeth all things according
to his own will. And we're made willing in the
day of his power. That leper came and fell at the
feet of Christ, and he said, Lord, you can make me whole,
if you will. If you will. Turn to Daniel chapter
4. Daniel chapter 4. Look here,
if you will, at verse 34, Daniel 4, verse 34. Listen to this. Nebuchadnezzar, God put him through
a terrible trial, and at the end of those days he lifted up
his eyes to heaven. Daniel 4, verse 34. And he said,
My understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High
God, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever. whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, his kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of this 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 none can stay
his hand or say unto him, What are you doing?" Turn to Isaiah,
Isaiah chapter 46. My friends, I'm talking about
great themes. I'm talking about themes that
divide folks. I'm talking about heavenly themes.
I'm talking about spiritual themes. I'm talking about the character
of God, character of salvation. This is not just a whoop-de-doo
religious meeting. But I tell you, here's some place
you can plant your feet. Here's some place that faith
can rest. Here's some genuine hope. If
God wills it, it'll be done. In Isaiah 46, verse 9, he says,
Remember the former things of old, I'm God. There's none else. Isaiah 46, 9. I'm God. There's
none else. I'm God. There's none like me.
I declare the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, I will
do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that
executed my counsel from a far country, yea, I've spoken it,
I'll bring it to pass, I've purposed it, I'll do it, God says. I tell you, that's good news.
I can stand on that. I can't stand on this wishy-washy,
what if, what if, maybe. My people, my sheep shall hear
my voice, and they shall be one fold. Look back at the text now. So Paul takes these heavenly
blessings, and he said, God gave them to me. God gave them to
me. I start where I am. According
as he chose me. having predetermined, predestinated
in his glorious plan to have a new heaven and a new earth
populated by a holy people made just like Christ. And that's
going to be done. We're his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. And that was because he willed
it according to the good pleasure of his own will. The will of
God started this whole thing, and the will of God will finish
it. Now then, if you begin to trace your spiritual blessings
from their origin, You'll have it like this, five things. What? You'll have a time before the
foundation of the world. Go back to the farthest point
of your imagination, in the beginning, before the foundations of the
world, back onto somewhere, somewhere, millions of years back, light
years, unimaginable years back. You have a time. You have a will,
God's will. God's will. He worketh all things
according to the good pleasure of His will. He said, I declare
the end from beginning. Then you have a purpose. God
says, I'm going to have a people like Christ. There's going to
be a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
It's going to be populated out of people by people out of every
tongue, kindred, tribe, and nation under heaven. It'll be populated
by a people redeemed from their sins by the blood of my dear
son. And he'll be the firstborn among
many brethren. And they shall all praise his
name throughout endless ages. And sin, and Satan, and all evil
powers will be put where they'll do no more harm. They'll be cast
in an eternal fire. But God is going to, Jesus Christ
is going to reign with a kingdom of people like himself. Then
you have next a choice. He chose them. It was not left, it was not left
to the fickle fallen will of man to make God's purpose work.
I know that that's the popular preaching today, but it's not
the Word of God. There was a choice made. God
chose us. You say, well, why me? That's
what David said, why me? Who am I that you should show
such mercy? But I'll tell you, David's comforting
that which brought him comfort in his dying hours, the fact
God made with him an everlasting covenant. And then you have the
results, the fifth thing. God in time, by the preaching
of the Word, by the effectual work of His Spirit, called us
to faith in Christ. Now, I want you to notice one
thing before I close. And here's the heart of the matter,
the essence of it, the lifeblood of the whole thing. Go back to
our text, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. That's where it is, it's
in Christ. My blessings right now are in
Christ. Everything I have is because of Christ, through Christ,
by Christ, for the glory of Christ. I'm accepted in the Beloved.
I stand not on my own. If one sheep of Christ should
fall away, I'd fall a thousand times a day, wouldn't you? I
stand in Him. God doesn't look upon me and
investigate and see if I'm holy enough. I never have been, never
will be in myself. He looks at Christ. He's holy
enough. He's my righteousness. But not only am I accepted in
Him right now and blessed in Him, back when God made that
choice, I was chosen in Christ. Now let me show you something.
I know I'm preaching too long, but you know something? I don't
know where we're in such a hurry to go, though. I keep thinking
about that. Well, we got to get up and go.
Where? Run home, turn on the TV or something,
I guess, or run and get a hamburger or something. These are more
important things. Somebody may perish tonight. But look at Isaiah
42. Now, here's the first time the word elect is used in the
Bible. The first time the word elect
or election or elected is used in the Bible is Isaiah 42, 1.
And do you know who it's talking about? The Lord Jesus Christ. There's a law of first mention.
You get a hold of this. Old Barnard used to work on this
all the time. The law of first mention. Find out how something's
first mentioned in the Word, and you got a key all the way
through. And here in Isaiah 42, verse 1, it says, Behold, my
servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth,
I put my spirit upon him. And he'll bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and a smoking flask shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till he hath set judgment in the earth. And the hours shall
wait for his law." Who is that? That's Christ. And He's God's
elect. And those who are God's elect
are elect in Christ. You know who the seed is? Everybody
said Abraham's seed was Isaac. Abraham's seed is Christ. Isaac
was a tool, an instrument. But the promise was made to the
seed, not seeds, to the seed, which is Christ. You know who
God's elect is? It's Jesus Christ. That's exactly
right. I'm telling you the truth. You
say, why don't we hear other preachers preach this? They don't
know it. Most of them don't. They're trying
to get people to do something for God, when in reality we need
God to do something for us. I can't do anything for God.
Can't make a contribution of any sort to God, but boy, He
can do something for me. This old maggot sitting on the
dunghill needs to be washed and cleansed and lifted and raised
to the throne. And God's the only one who can
do that. So God's blessed us in Christ. He chose us in Christ. Now look at verse 5. He predestinated
us to be like Christ. He predestinated us to be like
Christ. And look at verse, if you will,
verse 6. To the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He accepted us in Christ. Brethren, how am
I in Christ? I'm in His love. Having loved
his own, he loved them to the end. I'm in his hand, he said,
no man can pluck them out of my hand. I'm in his book. Did
you know the book of life is the Lamb's book? It's his book. You say, well, a lot of people
go into heaven and don't believe in Jesus. Oh, no, that's his book. That's
his book. And you're not in his book. You
won't be there. That's the Lamb's book of life. Yes, sir. We're not only in his
love, in his hand, in his book, we're in his person. He's the
head, we're the body. That's right. Christ is the head
and the church is the body. And where the head is, the body.
That's where it is. See, we're already in glory because
he's the head and we're the body. I'm already seated with him.
You can't sit the head down. And you know the head gets all
the glory. If you go in somebody's house
and they got pictures on the wall, what do they got pictures
of? Feet? Maybe you got a picture of a
big hand. Well, whose hand is that? That's Henry's hand. Maybe you got an ear. No, they're
heads. The glory is the head. Isn't
that right? You know who the glory is in
this whole thing? It's Christ. And I hear a lot
of preachers say, well, when I get to glory, I'm going to
gather all the people around me. I'm one with Jesus. And they're
going to thank me, and we're going to. Oh, no. There's one
picture there that's of the head. Ain't no pictures of feet in
heaven, and ears, and noses. It's the head. And on that head
is the crown. That's where the crown belongs,
on the head. You don't wear a crown out here on your head. You don't
put a crown on a knee. You put a crown on the head.
Brethren, I've got to hold something here. I know what I'm talking
about. Jesus Christ is all and in all. He's God's elect. He's God's
King. He's the Church's head. He hath
all preeminence. We were blessed in Him, chosen
in Him, predestinated to be like Him, and accepted in Him. And
look at verse 7. And we're redeemed through His
blood. We're not redeemed through praying through or the water. It's through His blood. His blood
cleanses. His blood atones. His blood purifies
us. His blood makes us accepted.
His blood blocks out our sins. His blood redeems us, even the
forgiveness of our sins. And here's the last thing in
verse 10. And in that dispensation, of the fullness of times, when
the fullness of time is all done, it's all over, God is going to
gather together in one all things in Christ, in Christ, both which
are in heaven, elect angels and elect men, and which are upon
the earth, even in him. Now, why did God do all this?
Why did God do all this? I've talked tonight about a complicated,
incomprehensible, eternal scheme and plan of a sovereign God.
Why did He do all this? Well, there are three verses
in this first chapter. Every one of them say the same
thing. Verse 6, He did it to the praise of the glory of His
grace. Verse 12, that we should be to
the praise of His glory. Verse 14, the last line, unto
the praise of His glory. Now I tell you, I want to learn
to praise God, because that's what we're going to do in glory.
That's why we're who we are, and why we're where we are, and
why we know what we know, and why we have the blessings we
have, is all of it to the praise of his glory. Now, let's be about
some serious thinking on these things. It's not a point for
argument. It's not a point for debate.
It's the Word of God. And because of the greatness
of God and the inability of the sinner, Then if there's any saving
blessings, they've got to come. They've got to originate with
God. They've got to be accomplished by God. They've got to come from
God. And they've got to supernaturally
be given to that man. And he's even got to be made
and brought to the place where he can even receive them and
understand them. That's right. So salvation is
of the Lord. And that's what I'm preaching.
The sum and substance of the whole thing is the salvation
of a sinner. The salvation whereby a man is
lifted from the dunghill, washed and cleansed and made holy and
righteous and seated with Christ on the throne of God is of God
and of Him only. That's what I'm preaching.