so so so ? ? We welcome you to the service
this morning. We invite you to take your hymnal. Turn to hymn
number 41. Blessed be the name. Let's stand
as we sing. Blessed be the name. Blessed be the name. Blessed
be the name. Blessed be the name. Blessed be the name. Blessed
be the name. Blessed be the name. Blessed
be the name. Blessed be the name. Blessed
be the name. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name,
blessed be the name the name of the Lord. Thou hast the wise redemption's
power to save us by thy grace. Blessed be thy name, blessed
be thy name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be thy name,
blessed be thy name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Bless the name, bless the name,
bless the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you. May we be seated as
we turn back to hymn number 17. Praise the Savior. There's a Savior, we know Him,
who can tell how much we owe Him. When He heard our sin, He
knew to me what we are and have. Jesus is our Savior, We trust in Him. Trust in Him, we sing forever. He is faithful, changing never. Be your first, O God, and seventh
in love from Him. Keep us forever. Keep us clinging to Thyself. And we are all now receiving
Father's voice with thee And we shall be where we will be
And we shall be what we should be Things that our Lord never
could be And we are all now receiving Father's voice with thee Good morning. We welcome each one of you this
morning in this service. We pray for those of our number
that are sick and feeling poorly. Those of the
Lord that he has raised up, we thank him for it and give glory
to his name. I want you to turn this morning
to Isaiah chapter 46. Isaiah 46. I was going to read a portion of
this, but I believe I'll read the whole chapter. Bel and Nebo, of course, were some of the false gods of the people other than Israel in the
Old Testament. Isaiah says, Bel boweth down,
and Nebo stoopeth. Their idols were upon the beast,
and upon the cattle. Your carriages were heavy loaded. They are a burden to the weary
beast." They had so many idols, statues, had to be carried around
on carts, and they wearied the beast, he says. They stoop, they
bow down together, they could not deliver the burden, but themselves
are gone into captivity. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob,
and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are born by
me from the belly, which are carried from the womb. And even to your old age I am
he, and even to whoreheads will I carry you. I have made and
I will bear, even I will carry and deliver you. To whom will
ye liken me and make me equal and compare me that we may be
alike? They lavish gold out of the bag
and weigh silver in the balance and hire a goldsmith, and he
maketh it a god, and they fall down, yea, they worship. They bear him upon the shoulder,
they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth, and
from his place he shall he not remove, yea, one shall cry unto
him, Yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble. Remember this, and show yourselves
men. Bring it again to mind, O ye
transgressors. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God. and there is none like me, declaring
the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted
that are far from righteousness. I bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off, and
my salvation shall not tarry. and I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel, my glory. May we pray. Our Father, this morning, we
thank you for the great privilege and blessing, liberty, together
in this place that we might read your word, wonderful passage
of scripture, such a declaration of who you are and what you will
do. And we praise you as the God
that you have declared yourself to be. And we hate every false
God and every false way and everything that seeks to steal away from
the glory of your name. Lord, we are come this morning
as always with great sinfulness, with great weakness, with great
ignorance. And we pray that you might help
us, that you might have mercy upon us, that you might bless
us according to your great power and that you might bless us in
the only way that sinners can be blessed, which is in your
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we ask this morning for
these that we have mentioned who are sick and weak, those
who are recovering from illnesses, from every, those who have cares
of life and family problems issues that plague every single one
of us that are upon the face of the earth. We ask you, Lord,
because of your promises and your pledges that you have made
all together and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. We praise
his worthy name. We plead his precious blood and
righteousness. We have hope only in him. We seek that salvation which
is in Christ alone. And we pray that you would keep
us by your own power and strength and manifest yourself to us. Teach us by your word. deliver
us, and rescue us, and save us every day from not only our sins,
but from Satan and from our own selves. We pray, Lord, this morning
that you would meet with us, that in this special time that
you've appointed, in this special way of worship where two or three
have been gathered together in your name, that you might bless
us corporately. Help us to sing your praises
and hear your gospel. May we, Lord, look in this hour
to that which you would do by your grace and power in our hearts
and in our minds. Make your word a comfort to us. Make it instruction to us. reproof and correction to us
by your spirit, without which we can do absolutely nothing. And Lord, receive our thanks
this morning for everything that you have blessed us to have for
life, for breath, for sustenance, for protection, for your keeping
and blessing us all our days and watching over us. Lord, as
we come to this occasion, how we ought to be reminded of our
past, the many obstacles, the many dangers, the many places
of danger that we have entered into, the many situations, Lord,
so many that we knew nothing about. and yet you preserved
us and you brought us through. We look to you, Lord, now, according
to your promises, to keep us as we cast all our care upon
you in the knowledge that you care for your people. May we
be counted among them. May we believe your word. May
we rest in Christ and find all sufficiency and all of your purpose
of grace in him alone. We pray for our brethren who
are all on this earth, all persecuted for what they believe, all taunted
and tempted and tried, all yet kept by your marvelous power. We thank you for those that labor
to preach your gospel, to state your glory before men, to preach
Christ and him crucified, that we've sung about this prince
of peace and king of kings, mighty counselor, the mighty God. Lord,
we thank you for him. And we ask all things in the
great name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Turn your hymnals once again
to 352, Like a River Glorious. And then, Brother Tim, if you'll
wait on the congregation. O glorious God's perfect peace,
O Lord of all the glories, Let its pride increase. For being God and Father, O Lord
of peace, Stayed up on Jehovah, born so
fully blest. Hiding as He promised, uttered
peace and rest. In the midnight hall of God's
blessed house, never dread or strife. Thou hast heard of Mary, mother
she doth care. Thou hast blessed all glory,
and said, still I pray, still I long for thee. with all our hope, is raised
upon our higher by our song of love. We make joy still glowing,
all for us below. May you trust and know we find
him wholly true. Lord, so fully blessed, by Thee
has He promised earth, and peace, and rest. ? ? I desire your prayers this morning,
I tell you. This allergy season is wearing
me out. So I covered your prayers. I got into singing this song
this week. I had to change a few of the words to it, but it's
a lovely song. I've always loved the lyrics
to it, except for a few. And it's entitled Lily of the
Valley. What a friend I have in Jesus. He's everything to me. He's the fairest of ten thousand
to my soul. The lily of the valley, in him
alone I see. All I need to cleanse and make
me fully whole. In sorrow he's my comfort, in
trouble he's my stay. He tells me every Care on him
to trust. He's the lily of the valley,
the brighting morning star. He's the greatest of ten thousand
to my soul. On the cross Christ was forsaken,
and all my sins redeemed. He all my grief has taken, and
all my sorrows borne. In temptation he's my strong
and mighty tower, And now he keeps me by his saving power. Though all the world forsake
me, Satan kept me sore, Through Jesus I shall safely reach my
home. He's the lily of the valley,
the bright and morning star, He's the fairest of ten thousand
to my soul. He will never, never leave me,
nor yet forsake me here. I'll live by faith, trust his
saving power. I'll wallow far around me, I've
nothing now to fear. With his manner he my hungry
soul shall fill. Then sweeping up to glory, I'll
see His blessed face Where rivers of delight shall ever flow He's
the lily of the valley, the brighting morning star He's the fairest
of ten thousand to my soul Turn in your Bibles this morning
to the book of Ephesians, chapter
1, and to the book of Romans, chapter
8. Ephesians 1 and Romans 8. I'll read beginning in verse
3 of Ephesians 1, where the Apostle Paul blesses God. There are a lot of things in
the following verses that the majority of men and women in
this world would not consider a blessing of God at all. But Paul writes in Ephesians
1 and verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him. In love having predestinated
us 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 has made us accepted in the beloved, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace. wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure,
which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. then in Romans chapter 8 beginning
in verse 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we
say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spareth not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? This morning I want to talk to
you about that which we have read about
in these passages. And that is the doctrine of God's
predestination. I've kind of subtitled my message
this morning, Predestination. the pleasure, the purpose, and
the power of God. Not only in the verses that we
have read, but the whole of scripture speaks
of and shows God's predestination. Who in this world would dare
deny that it is a biblical word, that it is a doctrine of God,
that it is the truth as it is in Christ Jesus? And I know of nothing, no other
doctrine maybe, that causes men and women to confront God as
He is any more than this doctrine. We must confront God as He says
He is. And we must deal with the matter
of Him doing what He says he has done. We can't dismiss it as something
of a hard-shelled doctrine. We can't dismiss it as Calvinism,
Presbyterianism, fatalism, or any other ism. It's not an ism. It's the word Almighty God. And these passages, as others,
speak of what God has done. He speaks here of what he has
done. In other words, predestination
has to do with something that God Almighty did. It's in the past tense, so no
man can stop it, and no man can deny it, and his will cannot
be stopped or frustrated by man's imaginary free will. I liken the will of man to a
fish in a fishbowl. He can move, he has a will, he
can go back and forth, he can go up and down, all the while
being carried in that bowl by the owner of the fish. So we cannot imagine that just
because we have a will or just because we have a decision or
something like that, that our will and our decision ultimately
decides, number one, what will glorify God, or what is the purpose
of God, or what is the will of God, especially as to whom he'll
save. Look back in Ephesians 1 and
verse 11. He says, being predestinated,
according to the purpose of Him, the purpose of God, who works
all things after the counsel of His own will. All things after the counsel
of His own will. There can only be one free will
in this universe. And the Bible teaches us of a
God who does all things that He wills. And that's true even
when one so powerful as Satan determined to come up against
the will of God. In Isaiah chapter 14, In verse 11, speaking to Satan,
this is what God says. Thy pomp is brought down to the
grave, and the noise of thy vows, the worm is spread under the
tree, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground, which disweakened the nations? For thou hast said in
thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne
above the stars. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the cloud, I will be like the Most High. That's the root of free will. I will be as the Most High. I will decide my destiny. I'm the master of my fate. I'm the captain of my soul. That's all satanic. Yet, God
says, thou will be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly
look upon thee and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that
made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that made
the world as a wilderness? and destroyed the cities thereof
that opened not the house of his prisoners? Is this the one
that the kings of all the earth bowed down to?" God says, I will that you shall
be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit, regardless
of what you have willed. Turn over with me and look in
the book of Daniel. In Daniel chapter 4. And this is after mighty king
Nebuchadnezzar. There's not a king probably ever
ruled on this earth like him in the kingdom that he ruled
over. The kingdom of mighty Babylon,
who stood up on the balcony of his palace, said, O great Babylon
that I've made by my hands and for my glory, the man who determined
this and that and the other, but he's brought down to God,
by God, to confess something. Verse 34 says, at the end of
the day, That is the days of God's dealing with him and bringing
him down off his high horse and bringing down that purpose that
he purposed. And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding
returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High. Do you see this? He is the Most High. And I praised and honored him
that liveth forever, whose dominion, or sovereignty, is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation,
and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
in his sight as nothing. Their power in His sight is as
nothing. Their wills in His sight are
as nothing. Their righteousness in His sight
are as nothing, less than nothing. And He doeth according to His
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth And none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? In heaven and earth it is not
the will of men or angels, it is the will of Almighty God that
is done. He is the Most High. Then look with me also in the
book of Job. People are always talking about
what God wants to do and what God's trying to do, and such
terminology as that that reduces them to one as weak as we are. But look here in Job chapter
23, beginning in verse 13. Verse 12, rather. Neither have
I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed
the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. But he is
in one mind. God never changes his mind. He's immutable. He is in one
mind. And who can turn him, and notice
this, and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth." Whatever
he wants to do, he does. And whatever is being done, it's
because he wants to. Whatever he desires, that's what
he does. He doesn't want to do something
and is unable to do it. For he performeth the thing that
is appointed for me, and many such things are with him. He works all things after the
counsel of his will, some of which we in our blindness and
our ignorance consider bad. And some of the things which
we in that same ignorance and blindness consider good. But
the thing that makes it good is this, God does it. This wise and almighty and gracious
God absolutely does it. He works all things after the
counsel of His will. Amen. And the Apostle Paul, not
only the Apostle Paul, But all true believers in all the ages
have found this to be true and found it to be a great comfort. But I tell you this, predestination
exposes us for the proud rebels that we are. That's why men and women don't
want to hear about it. They don't want to acknowledge
it, because it rubs right to the grain of our self-will and
self-righteousness. It exposes that carnal mind that
is enmity against God, that hatred of God, not only for who He is,
but for what He's done. Whatever He's done is this. whatever
he willed. And we have no control over him. He's not a piece of silly putty
in our hands. He's not the clay. He's the potter,
and we're the clay. And he makes one vessel under
honor and another under dishonor. Predestination exposes not only
our rebellion, but our self-righteousness. We don't need any help. It exposes
us for the riches that we are and for the grace that we need. You see, if it wasn't for God's
predestination, there would not be anybody saved. We have no
ability. We have no desire. And when he
speaks here in Romans chapter 8, he lets us know just exactly
how it is. Look at verse 29. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate. Now there are those who are willing
to acknowledge that God determines all things, but they are hesitant,
they are unwilling to acknowledge that at the heart of God's predestination
is this. It's who he has predestinated. He can do this, he can do that,
but they require that man be left with this free will. No,
it says here for whom he did predestinate. Oh, he predestinates
all that comes to pass. He has determined all that will
ever be, the acts of angels and devils and men. But it is whom,
the whom that he emphasizes here, not just events, but people. And then if you'll notice here,
it says, for whom he did for now. That is, this is God himself. God has done it. We are powerless
to protest it, though men do. And it's too late, because he's
already done it, done it according to his wisdom and his knowledge
and his authority and his power, for whom he did foreknow. Now, if we look, like most do,
at that word for knowledge, or for know, we will immediately
be in defiance of everything he says here. They say God's
foreknowledge is this, God seeing beforehand who would do what. But the word here does not simply
have to do with God having prior knowledge, but it has to do with
God acting and foreordaining. That word is foreordained, which
is equal to and the same as predestination, for whom he did foreordain. This is the ordination of God. And it really means for love. You see, this is a part of the
gospel. This shows the good news of the
gospel. It lies in something that God
has done. He hasn't done it against men. He's done it for his people. And it says here, for whom he
did for know, he did predestinate, you see that he did predestinate
that, them, and rather than deny this or fight against this, we
need to find out what it means in the light of all the scriptures. What does the word mean? What does the word predestinate
here, like in the Greek mean. It is the word pro-horizo. And strangely enough, that's
the word that we find connected to the word we translate as horizon. Pro-horizo. Before, who established
that line? before we were ever born, that
line between the sky and the earth that we call the horizon. It was there when I was born.
It was there when you were born. It was there when everybody else
was born because God ordained and established divided the heavens
and the earth. So this has to do with something
that God did ahead of time and before time. The word means to
determine beforehand. You can just go and look at your
Greek dictionary if you want to, if you don't believe me.
It means to determine beforehand It means to mark out, and it
means to foreordain or appoint beforehand. And I'll tell you the most important
instance where that's referred to in all the scripture. Turn over to the book of Acts. The book of Acts chapter four. This is the message, one of the
first messages that were preached or declared after the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle in it making reference
to David, that all these Jews knew about. They all claimed
a kindredship to this man, King David, but he says this, in Acts
4, verse 25. He says, who by the mouth of
thy servant David, David said this, said, why did the heathen
rage and the people imagine vain things? They're going to do this, they're
going to do that. The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. For of a truth against the holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together. They were all in agreement. They
were all in unison, all in harmony, all in one accord to do one thing. They hated each other, despised
them. The scribes hated the Pharisees. The Pharisees hated the publicans. The Jews hated the Romans. The
Romans hated the Jews. But they all agreed on one thing.
Crucify. Jesus of Nazareth. And so they all gathered together,
they were all in agreement, in harmony, to do what? Verse 28,
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined or
predestinated before to be done. Did they do what they wanted
to do? Yes. Did they do it with malice? Yes. Will they be responsible for
their actions? Will their sins face the judgment
of God? Yes. But in doing so, they did
exactly what God had purposed and predestinated and ordained
from before the foundation of the world. I don't know how many times I've
heard this week about people saying the world is out of control. The world is being controlled
by the devil. The world is being controlled
by all these evil spirits and this wickedness and these wars
and these body The world is being controlled by one, and he's controlling
it according to the way he purposed before time ever was. And I'm telling you something,
you'll never have any peace about it until you know that, in your
heart, until you know that. We always, they say one group
has their finger on the trigger. No, their finger's not on the
trigger. The finger of Almighty, the sovereign
God of the universe, he has determined all things and they go to pass
just like they did when they took and crucified the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, that was a time out of control. No. They did just what God, in
His wisdom, in His determined purpose, to save a people in
Christ, just exactly what He determined. There's another time that this
word is used, which is used about seven times in the New Testament,
and that's when Paul speaks about the gospel. And he says, but we speak the
wisdom of God. This is a strange message to
men, but it's the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden
wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. God ordained this message of
the gospel to be to his people for glory and for his glory. And when you look at the scriptures. You have to notice this. If you
really study the scriptures and seek to know what they mean instead
of forming your own opinion before you ever study the scriptures. But when you look at the scriptures
and you study them you find that this is his act of love. Look back here in Ephesians chapter
one and verse four. I read it to you the way it is. I don't know if you caught that
or not. But in verse four, it says, according as he had chosen
us in him, chosen a people in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him. And most Greek scholars believe
that ended right there, that sentence ends right there, and
that the next two words belong with the next verse, which would
make it. In love, having predestinated. So there can be no love of God,
without his predestinating love. He did this as an act of love,
a love for his people. In love, he did predestinate. And what did he do in predestinating
love? And who was it toward? It says here, his people, he
predestinated us unto the adoption of children. That's a good thing, isn't it? We're by nature the children
of wrath. We do everything that every other
sinner in this world does, but for the grace of God. But God,
in predestinating love, purposed and chose us to be his children. That's why John says, behold,
now are we the sons of God. We're the sons of God by God's
election, and we're the sons of God, the adoption of children
by His in love predestination. Amen. Others say, I don't want anything
to do with predestination, people say. Well, you don't want anything
to do with the love of God. Let's say, oh, cutting off your
nose to smite your face. spite your face. You don't want
anything to do with God's predestination. You don't want anything with
the love of God. They say that their God is a
God of love, but he wouldn't do that. The Bible says that
he did it in love. And I tell you, predestination
has to do with Christ. predestinated to the adoption
of children by Christ Jesus to himself. You say, well, I don't know about
all that predestination. You better find out about it.
Because it has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. God's people
were predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. Predestination excluded from
Christ is just fatalistic nothing, deadly doctrine. It's always
associated with Christ. Has to do with Christ. Has to do with God, with what
God foreordained in Christ Jesus. He not only chose us in Christ,
He blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ, and he purposed
us to adoption and predestinated us into that sonship in Christ
Jesus. And here is God's grace. Amen. This is the grace of God. Because look at verse 11. He talks about redemption here. He talks about acceptance in the beloved here. He talks about the forgiveness
of sins here. He talks about making known unto
his people the mystery of his will according to the good pleasure
which he hath purposed in himself. But look at what it says in verse
11. In whom we have also obtained
an inheritance. He doesn't say in whom we can
work for an inheritance. He doesn't say in whom we might
receive an inheritance. He says in whom we have obtained
an inheritance. How? Being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. predestination is inseparably
joined to that eternal inheritance, the inheritance of grace. When the Apostle writes in Hebrews
9, he says, for this cause, he is the mediator of the New Testament,
that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions
that were under the First Testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of an eternal inheritance. Peter calling it the inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled and that faileth not away reserved
in heaven for you. All the inheritance. And we have not even begun to
measure or to examine or to understand all that inheritance involves. If you inherited every bit of
gold and every bit of silver and every precious stone and
every acre of land on this earth, If you inherited good health
to enjoy it all, if you inherited a good family and all your children
prospered, everything that you could heap and pile up for an
inheritance, it would be nothing compared to this eternal inheritance. I don't know why we clamor after
the things of the world so much. We've already got the best. It's reserved in heaven. It is
incorruptible. It is undefiled. It won't ever
fade away because of God's predetermining it to give us it in the Lord
Jesus Christ. All right, look back at Romans
8. Romans 8, verse 29. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate. Notice those next two words.
If you have the King James, if you have the ESV or maybe some
other translation, it's different. But those two words mean, since
they're in italics, that the translators of the King James,
they added these words for what they suppose would be clarification. But what it says is this. He
also did predestinate, conformed to the image of his son. Not to be. But he predestined,
predetermined them in old eternity, conformed to the image of his
son. And he blessed them accordingly.
He called them sons before they were born. He conformed them to Christ in
that he put them in Christ before the world began. And he counted
them righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. He conformed them to the image
of His Son in all that pertains us before God. And those that
He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn of many brethren." Somebody says, oh, that's such
a narrow doctrine. It doesn't sound like it to me.
He's the firstborn. of many brethren, God's many,
not ours, but God's many. And those he did, moreover whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. Now there are a
lot of people, a lot of preachers, theologians, who think they have
got to have this golden chain, so to speak, all linked up like
they think it ought to be. But that word called has various
meanings, and one of the meanings is named. Whom He did predestinate
them, He also named in that covenant of grace, gave them that new
name. And they are the called before
that, it says in verse 28, And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. They're the called or the named
in His purpose, purpose of grace. And then they're called to Christ
by the Spirit and called by His gospel. Paul says, but we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then he also justifies That
is, he counted or declared us righteous in Christ. God counts
his elect in Christ before coming into the world in the same way
that he does after he came and died. He views them as standing
righteous in Christ, conformed to Christ because the righteousness
of Christ is imputed to them. He views as he is and for what He's done. And they are considered only
in Him. And they are justified. And then
they are glorified. Whom He did predestinate, then
He also glorified. He manifests them. That is, one
day is coming when they will be no doubt by anybody who they
are, His people. He's predestinated them to be
glorified in that sense that they'll be likened to the Lord
Jesus Christ. But He manifests them already
in time. How does He manifest them in
time? Christ said, Father, sanctify
those that you've given me out of the world. Sanctify them or
set them apart, manifest them by your word. They're going to
hear the shepherd's voice. They're going to believe the
true gospel. They're going to believe that
God saves entirely by his grace, plus nothing. And they're going
to believe that Christ is salvation, all of it. It's by his death
on the cross that they are afforded salvation. And just like it said in Ephesians
1, all for the glory of his grace. That's what predestination does. It assures that God gets all
the glory. When he talks of what he's done
in predestination, it does two important things. Number one,
it assures that he gets all the glory. And number two, it assures
that all his people will be safe. He predetermined their salvation
in and by Christ to the praise of the glory of his grace. So why preach it? Well, because it's God's word. It just is. It's God's Word. And because it's necessary for
a proper view of God. And because it's necessary to
really know what grace is. Because it's necessary to humble
the pride of sinners. because it's necessary to assure
and strengthen true believers in the certainty of their salvation. And in order that we might be
stirred to love and praise God for his special grace and mercy. He said, I'll have mercy on whom
I will have mercy. You know what I say to that? I'm
like the woman who said it's not meat to give the children's
bread to dogs. She said, truth, Lord, but can
this dog eat the crumbs that fall from your table? It's necessary that his people
might be excited and motivated to good works. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus under good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. It's necessary that we might
have patience and dependence on God, and all temporal and
all spiritual afflictions. All spiritual afflictions, when
we're trying, tempted, see nothing but failure in ourselves. all temporal afflictions. What
is going on in this world? The predestinated purpose of
God. Don't you try to figure it out. We don't have glasses on to see
what's right, what's wrong, what's good, what's bad. But if God does it, it's right. Because he works all things after
the counsel of his wise and gracious will. Amen. My message is, in
love, predestine. Yeah. God bless you.