for those just joining us on
the broadcast, live broadcast. I think we're gonna make it there.
I had a faulty camera or something going on. For those that just
joined us, we just finished our, singing our hymns and thought
I would read one. The first song that we sang this
morning. Thought I'd just read that for those who are watching.
We don't record our hymns anymore for time's sake Also makes it
easier for me to edit and everything for putting things on Sermon
Audio and YouTube and copyright things on YouTube and stuff like
that. We just cut that out in our recording. But anyway, I want to read the
hymn that we sung this morning. It was 530 in the Gadsby hymn
book, written by William Gadsby. I'm just going to go along with
what we're going to be talking about this morning, if the Lord wills.
The song says, election is a truth divine, as absolute, as free. Works ne'er can make the blessing
mine, to his God's own wise decree. Before Jehovah built the skies
or earth or seas or sun, he chose a people for his praise and gave
them to his son. Eternal was the choice of God,
a sovereign act indeed. And Jesus, the incarnate word,
although I don't agree with that word incarnate, and Jesus, the
incarnate word, secures the chosen seed. Not that I don't believe
that Jesus came in the flesh. He did, but that word is not
a good word to use. He loved and chose because he
would, nor did his choice depend on sinners' work or bad or good,
but on His sovereign mind. Nor law, nor death, nor hell,
nor sin can alter His decree. The elect eternal life shall
win in all God's glory see. His counsel stands forever sure,
immortal and divine. His justice, mercy, truth, and
power unite to make it mine. A lot of times we don't realize
how rich some of these hymns really are in the truth. This speaks very clearly of God's
sovereign choice, not only in election, but it also speaks
of His divine sovereignty in the fact that whatever God decrees
is going to take place and nothing changes that. Nothing can make
it happen. And so we're going to maybe look
at that today. If everyone would turn to Ecclesiastes chapter
3. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. I'm going to start reading in
verse 1 and then I'm going to read down to verse 14 and some
thoughts that I had, especially on verse 14. It says, To everything there is
a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time
to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to
pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to
heal, a time to break down and a time to build up. A time to
weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together.
A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A
time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to
cast away. A time to rend and a time to
sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak, a time to love
and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace. What
prophet hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?
I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of
men to be exercised in." Now notice he says there that he
has noticed the travail which God hath given for us to be exercised in. You
notice we just read all those things, all those different things.
There's a time for everything. To be born, to die, to plant,
to pluck, time to kill, time to heal, time to break down,
time to build up. What is that in summary, whatever
we're talking about? Everything that goes on. Everything
that's happened. Everything that has taken place
from the beginning of time until now, all the goings on. Seasons
come in, seasons go out. Daylight, darkness, good, evil,
everything that happens, every person, everything that's been
created on Earth, whether it be with the breath of life in
it, or whether it be a plant, whether it be an inanimate object
like a rock or a stone. Everything that has been that
is, that ever will be. God has purposed it. God has decreed it. And God has
set the travail of life upon it. And He exercises His creation
in that travail. There is a time to be born. There
is a time to die. We experience our birth. We experience
our life. We will experience our death.
And all of that is by God's hand and God's time. Nobody speeds
it up. Most of you kids, whenever you
were born, your mom had to be induced because she can't go
in, wasn't able to go into labor, so she had to be induced. Sometimes
you didn't come at the right day on the right time that the
doctors thought you was gonna come, all that stuff. Listen,
you came exactly when God determined that you would come. You were
born on the day that you were born. Instead of you being an
April Fool's, you were a day after April Fool's, right? life, everything is summed up
here and the writer here says that he knows that God has given
this to the sons of men to be exercised in. Why do we have
to go through the things that we go through? Why do we have
to experience the things that we experience? Why do we have
everything that happens to us happen to us the way that it
happens to us? Because God has designed it all that way. Not
one molecule, not one atom, not one cell, not one thought ever
takes place that God has not ordained for that to take place.
He goes on to say, He hath made everything beautiful in His time. See, we hate to talk about death.
We hate to talk about harvest time, plucking things up. We
hate to talk about killings, things being Broken down. Just go through the list here.
All the negative things. Mourning. Having to cast away. Refrain. It says time to embrace,
hug. Time to not hug. Stay away. There's
going to be times where we love each other. There's going to
be times that we don't like each other. We don't fight often. Kids probably say that's not
true. But me and my wife, we do have arguments once in a while.
Those are ordained of God. He has chosen those things and
given those things and exercises us in those things for His purpose.
He says, He has made everything beautiful in His time. Also,
He has set the world in their heart so that no man can find out the
work that God make it from the beginning to the end. Now, that's
a huge statement and one that Really a whole sermon can be
preached about that. The fact that God has put the
world in the hearts of Adam and that in Adam we cannot find or
know or understand the things that God has set up from the
beginning. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians
2.14, it says that the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God, nor can he because they are spiritually
discerned. So we cannot understand those things and God has made
it that way. God has made man unable to do
spiritual things so that his people, the elect of God who
are in also Adam, who came in Adam, born of Adam, born natural
of the earth, earthy, was born without the ability to do spiritual
things so that we would be dependent upon, so that we in God's time
of giving faith would look to Christ and believe upon Christ
and give all glory and honor to Christ for saving us from
who we are. For saving us from our sin and
from the nature that is Adam who cannot keep God's law, Christ
came and was the keeper of the law for us. And God did that. He planned that. He purposed
that. And He has made us in this fashion to experience these things
for God's glory. He says, I know that there is
no good in them but for a man to rejoice and to do good in
his life. There is no good in any of us. He says, verse 13, and also that
every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of his labor,
it is the gift of God. I particularly like that verse. It's a wonderful comforting verse.
A lot of people are so legalistic that they say, boy, you can't
enjoy nothing. If you're not, you need to wake
up, and if you have a job, you need to go to your job, do your
responsibility, provide for your family, and whenever you come
home, you need to spend every waking hour On your knees praying,
on your face before the Bible and studying the Word of God.
And you need to be out doing something productive for the
Kingdom of God. Building the Kingdom of God.
And how dare you enjoy a football game, enjoy a baseball game,
enjoy fishing, enjoy hunting. That's just wasted time. They
were just frivolous things of life. But here we see Solomon
who was the wisest man the Bible says. He says that every man
should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor. It
is the gift of God. I can enjoy the gifts that God
has given us through the ability to labor for those things. Why
do we have vehicles? We like to have vehicles. I'd
like to have a nice hot rod. I love hot rods. I'd like to
have a nice hot rod. And if I labor for that, and
the Lord wills, I'd like to enjoy that. Okay? Fishing. We love to fish. Don't get to
do it very often, but we like to fish. We can enjoy the things
that God has given us. That is a gift of God. Those
things are gifts of God. Now, can anything that is a gift
of God, be turned and be abused? Absolutely. Everything in moderation. Everything that God has given
for us to enjoy, we can turn around and abuse that. But brethren, even that is a
time and a season that God has declared. That's not to say go
out and do it. Okay, I'm not encouraging you
to go sin or do anything like that, but I'm just saying that
even the times whenever we do those type of things. It doesn't
escape God. And then here we are in verse
14, and this is really what I'd like to look at this morning.
It says, I know that whatsoever God doeth. Now, it's great to
see that right there because we've just seen from verse 1
down to verse 13 that everything that is happening in this world
in all of its aspects, in all of its activity that's going
on, we see here the Bible is giving clear, I mean, perfect description that
all these things are the work of God. I know that whatsoever
God doeth, what does God do? bringing forth the time to be
born, the time to die, the time to plant, the time to pick up.
What is God doing? He is causing the travail and
exercising the minute. What is God doing? He has made
everything beautiful in its time. What is God doing? He has set
the world in the hearts of man so that they cannot know what
God has done, the beginning from the end, or the end from the
beginning. What is God doing? God is doing
giving gifts to His people to enjoy. He says, I know that whatsoever,
whatsoever God doeth, whether it be positive in our viewpoint
or negative in our viewpoint, whether it look like it's good
or whether it looks like it's evil, which God can't do anything
evil, although some of the things that God can do for us is evil. God can kill whoever he wants,
because there is a time to be born, a time to die, a time to
kill, and a time to heal, and he is the one who doeth it. God
can kill, but we can't. Why? Because he is the lawgiver,
and he told us, thou shalt not kill. But God is not under that
law. God is not under law. No one
controls God. I don't want to talk about that.
I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. He says, I know that whatsoever
God doeth, everything that God does is because He has purposed it.
He has planned it. He has declared it. He says,
I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it. Nothing
can be taken away from it. nor anything taken from it. And
God doeth it that men should fear before him. Now, as I look
at this verse, I think that of a couple of things actually,
whenever I was looking at this. Number one, I definitely see
God's sovereign purpose here. God's sovereign purpose. I know
that whatsoever God doeth, His sovereign purpose is in everything
that He has done, is doing, will do. Everything that God has purposed
before the foundation of the world are His works. His works
are His will and purpose being brought out by providence, being
brought to life in this time, everything that God purposed
before time. And those are His works. and
all the works that God has purposed before time, everything that
God foreknew, and He foreknew because He purposed it, He didn't
foreknow it because He seen it in the future, He foreknew it
because it was His plan to begin with. He foreknew these things, He
predestinated these things, and decreed that they would be so,
and then it says here that He doeth it. He's the one that's bringing
it about. We call that providence. By the providence of God, these
things are coming about. And I would say by the providence
of God, everything comes about, whether it be to the positive
in our viewpoint or to the negative in our viewpoint, whether it
be righteous works or whether it be evil works, everything,
there is a time and a season for both. in God's purpose, and
if there is a time and a season for all things, positive and
negative, in God's purpose, then both positive and negative was
purposed by God, therefore it is a work of God, and if it is
a work of God, He is the one that doeth it. He brings it about. Is He the one who sins? No, God
cannot sin. Who's the sinners? We are. How
does God bring about the acts of sin to be done for His purpose? Through people. And how does He do that? Well,
He withholds grace. Some people say, well, I don't
believe the Bible teaches that. Well, I hope that you stay around for
a little bit because I hope to show that God has revealed that
He does that. You say, well, I don't believe
that. How can God How can God desire, want, will, predestine,
do all that without God being the author of sin? I don't see
any problem within any of that. The Bible never says that God
is not the author of sin, and the Bible never says that God
cannot actively predestinate, decree, declare, and withhold
grace from people so that they, from their own lust and sin,
brings that sin about for God's purpose. And I will always go
back to Acts where the Bible says that God in His determinate
counsel predestinated that wicked man with their wicked hands and
their wicked activity will take and crucify Christ. I mean, the
very act was predestinated. How He was crucified was predestinated. The floggings on His back, the
pulling of His beard, the spitting on Him, the ridicule, the blasphemy,
the mocking, the scorning, all the shame revolved around the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ. All those actions was predetermined
before the foundation of the world. They were prophesied in
the Old Testament to a T and then they were brought about
in Acts by those men. Why? Because God predestinated
that to happen exactly the way that it happened. That's not really my point. My
point is that it's God's sovereign purpose and His sovereign purpose,
nothing can be put to it and nothing can be taken away with
it. That was the thing that really struck to my mind whenever I
was looking at this is the fact that God's purpose, nothing can
be put to it and nothing can be taken away. We so often think
that if we do this, this will help with God's plan. Or if we
don't do this, then we're hindering God's plan. I heard somebody
just this last week or maybe it was the week before last or
something like that on on the radio, scanning through radio
stations while I was driving for work. And of course, down
on the one end of the dial is where all the quote-unquote Christian
radio stations are, and all the crazy preachers that preach on
it. And they were talking about getting busy and building the
Kingdom of God. We've got to get out there and
build the Kingdom of God. If we don't get out there and start
doing this and doing that, The kingdom of God is not going to
be built. Well, brethren, that's false. Number one, we are not
building the kingdom of God. Christ is. Jesus said, I will
build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against
it. Jesus is the one who is building the kingdom. It's his kingdom
and he's the king of the kingdom. And the king in the kingdom rules
and reigns over all those who are in the kingdom. And his kingdom
reaches as far as the king wants it to reach. The kingdom is being
built by the king, not by us. And so I see here that there
is nothing that can be put to it and nothing that can be taken
away with it. Now look, if you would, with me at Acts chapter
15. Acts chapter 15. Look at verse 18. It says, known unto God are all
His works from the beginning of the world. So God knows everything
that He is going to do from the beginning of the world. So there
is where His purpose, His predestination, His foreknowledge, His decrees,
that is where all that comes from, is God knowing what He
is going to do, His works from the beginning. I know that this
is what I want to do. And if God says that's what I
want to do, nothing can be put to it and nothing can be taken
away with it. God's plan is to get messed up whenever God said,
hey, I'm going to create man, and I'm going to create man in
my image, just like me. And that man is going to have
spiritual life, and that man is going to be perfect and holy
and righteous and just, and that man is going to be just like
me, but because I want him to love me for real, I'm going to
give him free will. And so I put this tree over here,
and I'm going to give him a choice. You can either eat of that tree
or don't eat of that tree. But if you eat of that tree,
you will surely die. And whenever I say die, I mean
you're going to spiritually die. And you're going to lose that
spirit life. And then you're just going to
become nothing spiritual. The Bible doesn't teach that
at all. Did Adam eat of the tree? Yes. Did God put the tree there?
Yes. Did God intend for the tree to
be there and for Adam to eat of the tree? Yes, He did. Did
God give him a choice? No, He didn't. He never did give
Adam a choice. He told Adam exactly what he
was going to do. He said, eat of any tree in this
garden, but don't eat of that tree. The day that thou eatest
thereof, in the day that thou eatest thereof, not if you eat.
He said, in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.
Why did God say in the day instead of if you eat? Because God had
already purposed that the reason for the tree was to give Adam
a law which Adam could not keep so that Adam would sin, or excuse
me, would transgress the law and therefore sin and death would
enter into the world Romans chapter 5 tells us the law entered that
the offense might abound. God give that law, give that
tree, and put man in that garden for the purpose of sin coming
into the world and death by sin because through Christ Jesus
sin and death would be conquered, his people would be redeemed,
Christ would get glory, in all of redemption, His grace, His
mercy, His justice, His righteousness would be on full display, but
so would His wrath, His hatred, His condemnation. All the attributes
of God are fully in display in the work of Christ on the cross
and sin and death had to enter into it. And so nobody put to
it Adam didn't change God's plan. Nothing was put to it and nothing
was taken away from it. God didn't have to drop back
and scramble. God didn't have to go to plan
B. He didn't have to make an audible, the line of scrimmage.
He declared that's what was going to take place. Why? Because none
other than God are all His words. Nothing comes in time that takes
God by surprise, and then all of a sudden God has to change
anything. Because God knows it all. And
even if God did look down the corridor of time, as we've talked
about many times before, if God did just look down and see what
would happen, and then declare everything according to what
He happened, then God didn't make the purpose and plan. He
just saw the future. What the faith what fate happened
in the future and then said, okay, well, I'm good with that.
See, that's fatalism. The people that claim that we
are fatalists are actually the ones who are believing in fate.
They believe that just out of sheer men's will, chaotic will,
who can choose or choose otherwise, they might be determined to do
this and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, go over this way
and do this. And then all of a sudden now,
God has to alter his plan to make it fit. That is fatalism. Fatalism is just chaotic. Whatever is going to happen is
going to happen and there is no purpose in it. There is no
order to it. Everything that God has purposed
is in order. It's happening exactly the way
that God is ordering it to happen. That's the difference between
what we believe, God's predestination, and fatalism. Fatalism, if you
hear people If people say that you're a fatalist because you
believe in predestination, you need to just say right back,
no, actually you're the fatalist. You're the fatalist. You're the
one who believes that everything happens according to their own
will and all that stuff all of a sudden is going to end at some
point and however it ends, it's going to end that way. That's
fatalism. Just let fate decide. Just let
the course of humanity run out and that's what's going to happen.
See, everything's coming down to a purpose. God purposes all
things. Everything is done orderly. The
Bible does say, it doesn't say God is not the author of sin,
but it does say God is not the author of confusion. You say,
well, what about all this confusion? What about our country? This
country is in a lot of confusion right now. Everything's in an
uproar. Everybody's hating both sides
of the aisle. got everybody stirred up, whether
it's with racism, whether it's with transgenderism, lesbianism,
gayism, whatever the ism, right-wing, left-wing, middle-wing, whatever
it is, this country is in a chaotic mess, it seems like. But guess
what? To everything, there's a season. And God has a purpose
for it. And although it's chaotic in
our mind, it is not chaotic in the mind of God, because God
has everything in order. Nothing can be put to it and
nothing can be taken away. The chaos in the United States
is not taken away from God's purpose. We think it is because
we think that we are a nation of God. We think so because we
think that this country has always been a godly nation, a Christian
nation. Brethren, it is not. If they
would, they would be believing the gospel. They'd be following
the gospel, but they don't. They never have. Now it's definitely
been more moralistic. It's definitely been more focused
on God things, biblical things. But God knows all of His words.
Look at Psalms 33 11. The Bible says, I'm sorry, verse 10. The Lord bringeth
the counsel of the heathen to nought. The counsel of the heathen, what
is that? The suggestions? The advice? It says, bringeth the counsel of
the heathen to nought. He maketh the devices of the
people of none effect." What is this saying? Let me summarize
what it means. It means everything that men
think they're trying to tell God on the way He ought to do
things, He brings to nought. He says, you don't change my
mind. You don't put to it and you don't
take away from it. It's my purpose. My purpose is
going to stand, whether you like it or whether you don't like
it. My purpose is going to stand. It's going to be completed. It's going to be brought out.
It's going to be fulfilled. And He says here, He maketh the devices
of the people in that effect. People think they're going to
rule out God? No. Every device that man thinks
that they're going to do to either become God, be like God, or to
destroy God are all going to be taken down and destroyed.
The Bible says that no weapon formed against him and therefore
against us shall prosper. There is nothing that can take
down God. We've seen it all throughout
history. The Tower of Babel, they tried to build the Tower
of Babel so they could get up and become like God. God destroyed
it. Scrambled everybody's speech.
Nobody could communicate with each other. They just had to
abandon the efforts couldn't do nothing because nobody could
understand each other. People became wicked upon the
earth. What did God do? Sent a flood, killed everybody
except for the ones that he elected to save. Killed them all. Whenever Sodom and Gomorrah,
the whole city began filled with sexual deviation. What did God
do? Rained down fire and brimstone,
killed everybody in there except for the elect that he had chosen I mean, you just go through and
you see through the Bible over and over and over and over these
things. Every time that Israel began to worship other idols,
what did he do? He put them into captivity. You look in the New Testament,
you see how Israel had abandoned God. How the Jews, the Jewish
religion had become something completely different than what
God had originally set up for them in the Old Covenant. But yet, what did God do? God
destroyed them in 87. Completely destroyed it. Destroyed
them, the temple, except for who? The ones that God had elected. The righteous of God, He had
already warned and told them to flee to other countries, to
other places, Because that destruction was that he was going to come
back and destroy Jerusalem. And he did. Completely destroyed
it. And guess what? It hasn't been back together
ever since. Now, what's here today, that's not what, that's
not what it was. They don't have their temple.
Everybody's worried about the Israel temple getting rebuilt.
Man, we can't wait to do that because if that temple gets rebuilt
and they start doing those sacrifices again, then Jesus is coming back
soon, brethren. It's not going to happen. I'm
telling you. It's not going to happen because
God has said, I have left this desolate. Jesus proclaimed, I'm
going to tear it down, I'm going to destroy it, and I'm going
to leave it desolate, and nobody is going to change, nobody's
going to put to it, and nobody's going to take away from it. He's
destroyed the whole mess. The only thing that's left is
unbelieving Jews trying to be something that they really aren't. It says, The Lord bringeth the
counsel of the heathen to nought. He maketh the devices of the
people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord, though,
on the other hand, See the counsel of the heathen are brought to
naught. It doesn't mean anything. It has no weight. It has no bearing.
It is of no value. It can't accomplish anything.
But it says, but the counsel of the Lord it standeth forever. The thoughts of his heart to
all generations. I've preached on this before.
Preached a couple of messages on God's predestination. And well, I won't get off on all
that. I don't have time for that. He says here, the counsel of
the Lord standeth forever. That means what God has decided. God's determinant counsel. That's
the only thing that stands forever. So if it stands forever, then
nothing can be put to it or taken away from it. Look if you would at Isaiah 46.
These ought to be fairly familiar verses
to you. Isaiah 46 and look with me at
verse 9. It says, 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. He's already
declared all things, the end, from the beginning. So from the
beginning to the end and everything in the middle, the things that
have not been yet done, is declared. And he says, my counsel shall
stand. Why? Because his counsel standeth
forever. His counsel cannot be broken.
My counsel shall stand, and 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 have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have
purposed it, I will also do it. There, brethren, is exactly what
I was saying a minute ago. God has purposed it and by providence
brings it about. I have spoken it, I will bring
it to pass. Does He say, I have purposed
it, but I'm just going to let the world go and let fate go
and see where it takes us? Does He say, I have purposed
it and I'm going to set it on its path and I'm going to put
it on its way, direct it in the direction it should go, And then
by their free will, if they happen to go get out of bounds, I'm
going to knock them back into play. Oh, I've got to make some
correction there. No, that's not how he does it.
He says, my counsel shall stand, right? He says, I have spoken
and I will bring it to pass. God is sovereignly controlling
all things to bring all things to pass exactly as he has determined
it. as he has purposed it. Look if you would at Numbers
23. Numbers 23. Verse 19. It says, God is not a man that he
should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath
he said and shall he not do it? And hath he spoken, and shall
he not make it good? What does omnipotent mean? Take the two words. Omni means
all. Potent. Potent means powerful,
right? We get our word potent. Man,
that's potent. What does that mean? Strong. When we speak in scientific terms,
it has potential. It means it has energy. It has
power. Potential is power. He has all
power. So if God has all power, we also
know that God is all wisdom. He knows all things. He's the
most wise. God is wise. If He has all power
and He has all wisdom, and the Bible says He's omniscient, He
knows all things. So He's not just wise, He knows
everything. that if He's all-powerful, all-wise,
nothing can stop Him, and He knows everything, then who not
be the best person to take counsel from? See, His counsel is going
to stand because His counsel is the best counsel. He's the best person to carry
it out because He's the one that has all power. If He leaves it
in the hands of man to build His kingdom, guess what? They
don't have all power. They don't have all wisdom. They
don't have all knowledge. Therefore, it cannot be guaranteed
that it will get to its proper end because man cannot be perfect. Man fails. Man is fallible. But God, He will make sure it
happens. He says He's going to make sure
it happens because He does not lie. Everything He has spoken
He's going to make sure that it's done. Brethren, listen,
He is the I Am. The Bible says that His name
is I Am. I am self-existent. I am the
one who is influenced by me and me alone. Nothing outside of me influences
me or causes me to do anything. I can do what I want. Nothing
can stay in my hands. Look at Isaiah 40. Look at verse
13. It says, Who hath directed the
Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor, hath taught him?
There we go, another sermon A whole day of serving could be preached
on that. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord? Men think
they can direct the Spirit of the Lord, bring the Spirit down.
They can call the Spirit down. They can pray the Spirit down.
They can sing the Spirit in. We're going to lead you into
worship. Hogwash. Nobody can lead anybody into
worship except the Holy Spirit. We're going to prepare everybody
for worship. The worship leaders are here
to bring everybody into the presence of God. The only one that can
bring anybody into the presence of God is the mediator between
God and man, and that's the man, Jesus Christ. Whenever men stand
in the place of Christ and say, we're the ones who have to preach
so that someone can be saved, they're putting themselves in
the place of Christ. Whenever someone says, we're the ones
who have to sing and get everybody into the Spirit and bring them
into the worship of God, they put themselves in the place of
God Himself, who is the only one who can bring man's heart
to worship Him. Whenever someone says that we
are the ones bringing you into worship, that's the job of the
Holy Spirit. You're denying the work of the Holy Spirit in your
whole entire effort to worship the Holy Spirit, who the Holy
Spirit only gives credence to Christ. See what a crazy religious
world we live in? We live in a religious world
who is antithetical to all the gospel. People think that they can take
the place of Christ They think that they can be as God. They
think that they can do the things. Who hath directed the Spirit
of the Lord? Nobody. The only one that directs
the Spirit of the Lord is the one from whom the Spirit comes
from, and that's Christ. It's Christ's Spirit. He does
everything that God tells Him to do. Why? Because He is the
Spirit of God. He only does what God does. The
only reason Jesus did what Jesus did is because he's God. He does
what God does. God does his thing. God is counseled
by no one, but does what he has counseled himself to do. And
God has counseled the Son of God, the Spirit of God, to do
what he is determined to do. Nothing can be put to it. Nothing
can be taken away from it. He says, Who hath directed the
Spirit of the Lord, or being His counsel, or have taught Him?
Everybody thinks that they can teach God something, that they
can enlighten God on something. With whom took He counsel, and
who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment,
and taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding? Now brethren, all of this is
rhetorical questions. It's all sarcasm. It's written to be sarcastic. It's written to be Answered by
the plain and simple, nobody. Nobody has ever done that. God
has not even entertained the thought to listen to somebody
else's counsel. So how in the world could anything
be put to God or taken away from God's plan? How in the world
can a preacher or a church or a society or a nation or a world
or a government or a principality and power like Satan
do anything to take away your food too. None of them can. They all are subservient. When
you are God, the fact that you are God means that you can do
anything. And everybody else who you created
was created by you. for you and is controlled by
you and is accountable to you. And whenever I say accountable,
that doesn't mean responsible. Whenever I say accountable, that
means that God is going to hold them accountable however God
deems to hold them accountable. The reprobate who God never intended
to save whenever they stand before God will stand accountable before
God in God's justice. not in our weak-minded justice,
as the carnal mind wants to proclaim it, but in God's justice, they're
going to be held accountable, not that they had responsibility,
they're going to be held accountable for what they are and what they
were created for. The reason that they're there
as the reprobate is because God, before the foundations of the
world, had chosen them to be vessels of dishonor, vessels
of wrath, fit for destruction. That's all they were. And God has the right to do that. He takes counsel from nobody.
He doesn't listen to the poor, weeping Armenian who supposedly
loves God more than loves people more than God loves people. The
Bible never does say that God loves everybody. He clearly says
that He loves those who He has loved from everlasting, which
is His elect. And that He hated all workers
of iniquity. He hates the wicked. who are
not the elect. All right. So men cannot charge
God with anything and they can't change God's purposes. But brethren,
there is a complete other thing that I see back in our verse
in Ecclesiastes. I may have to wait for another
day to do it. I didn't intend to get off on,
but the Lord just led me that way. That too, there's a time
and a season. There's a time and a season to
follow your thoughts, and there's a time and a season when God
changes your thoughts. Chase Rabbits. Second Ecclesiastes,
if I can ever find it. There's some reason I can't get
past Psalm and Proverbs. In Exodus 3.14, I know that whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
nothing taken away from it. And God doeth, and men shall
fear beforehand. So we see that God's sovereign
purposes is found in this verse. My brother and I find something
else that's of utmost importance that we find out of these verses.
and the comfort that we have that nothing can be put to it
and nothing can be taken away. And that is that our salvation
is found in this verse. That, too, is the work of God.
And, in fact, the Bible says it's the work of God that you
believe. The work of Christ that he obeyed, that he died and resurrected,
that was the work of Christ. Those are God's works. Nothing
can be put to it. Nothing can be taken away from
it. Brethren, our salvation is eternal. It's forever. Nothing
can be put to it. Nothing can be taken away with
it. Why? Because it's God that doeth it. That's the reason why
we're so dogmatic about sovereign grace. Not cheap grace like all
these other churches out there preach that Jesus loves everybody,
for God so loved the world that He died for everybody. wants
to give everybody a chance. All you have to do is choose
Him, believe on Him, repent, believe, shake the preacher's
hand, whatever. Cheap grace, that's cheap grace.
That's actually not grace at all. It's no grace. There's no
gospel in that. But it's not God's grace. It's not saving grace. It's not
sovereign grace. If it's not sovereign grace,
it's not the gospel. Because any other gospel besides
sovereign grace gospel is a works gospel. No matter how minute
or how big. We look at the Catholics and
we say, whoa, big works gospel there. They even claim salvation
is by works. They believe that. But let's
just look at the other people around town, around the country,
around the world. The Southern Baptists. Churches
of God. the Methodists, the Presbyterians.
Look at all these other churches that are out there. Look at all
these other religions and nationalities, religions that's out there. At the root of every one of those,
whether they be under the Christian umbrella or whether they be under
some other umbrella, whether they be likened to Christianity,
whether it be the Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses or whatever,
Every one of them, at the root of every one of them, salvation
is dependent upon you being preached the gospel, you receiving that
gospel, repenting of your sins, believing in Christ Jesus and
accepting Him into your heart, accepting Him as your Lord and
say whatever, some action that you have to do in faith, then
God gives you that gift. Listen, there are even sovereign
grace preachers that believe that justification before God
does not happen until someone believes. Therefore, their belief,
while they claim it's not meritorious, we don't believe that faith is
meritorious. Well, you sure do talk like it
is because you say that God cannot justify or declare anybody not
guilty based upon Christ's work alone at the cross, but only
whenever those persons exercise the gift of faith that has been
given to them by God. Then God can look and say, therefore,
now they're not guilty. So before they are guilty, brethren,
that smacks in the face of the rest of God's work. I don't care
how many Greek words you can articulate, Grammar you can articulate
in the Greek or the Hebrew, I don't care what you say, it doesn't
work with the rest of the tenor of scripture. Justification,
the salvation of the elect of God is by Christ alone. What he did on the cross actually
did the saving, not the preaching. of the Word of God, not the preaching
of the Gospel, not the receiving or the hearing of the Gospel.
That's not what saved anybody in the respects of they are now
not guilty before God. They are now justified before
God. What did that was the blood of
Jesus Christ. Whether you want to argue on
whether or not God declared that at the cross or whether he declared
it before the foundation based upon what was done at the cross
whenever it took place, that's fine. But if you go to the point
to say that it's in time when we believe, then you've missed
all of what the Bible has taught, that justification is by the
faith of Christ, not by the faith of us that has been given by
Christ. It's by the faith of Christ,
his actual, when he did it, faith. That's what saved us. And whenever
it saved us, it saved us. That is the ground on which God
declares men not guilty. Whether it's before the cross
or after the cross, everyone who is elect of God are the justified
ones because of His Word. Therefore, nothing can be taken
away from it or put to it. You can't put your works, you
can't put your faith, you can't put your repentance, you can't
put your preaching of the gospel or your good works or anything
else. You can't put nothing to it because
it's finished. It was a finished work. It was a complete work.
It was totally done and declared. In fact, the Bible says the works
were done before the foundation of the world and that's where
I stand. I stand that God made that declaration before the foundation
of the world because He chose us in Christ in love. He chose
us in Christ so that we might be before Him in love, holy and
blameless. He chose us in Christ. Christ
was the one who stood. What Christ did 2,000 something
years ago on the cross, God looked at that before the foundation
of the world and we were in Christ and the merits of Christ and
what He had accomplished in time at that time were already finished
from the foundation of the world and God declared them as such
even though they not yet were. Also Scripture. Can God declare
something to be so even though it not yet is? Absolutely. The
Bible says that we are seated with God right now in the heavenlies.
Any of y'all been in the heavenlies yet? Nobody has. The Bible says that we are already
glorified. Do we still have these old fleshly bodies? Absolutely. But what's it talking about?
It's talking about who we really are. It's talking about who we
really are. See this flesh, this flesh tent,
the elect, this is not who we are. We are just a pilgrim in
this world. But that creation that's inside,
that life that came from Him, that life that was in Him, that
life that is the seed of Him, the child of God, me being a
child of God, if I am His, I am a child of God. And if I am a
child of God, then that means that I am a child of God in a
spiritual way, not in a fleshy way, because I am Adam's child
in the flesh. Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the Kingdom of God, but those in the Spirit, they come from
God. Their life was hid with Him.
We are His seed. And if we were His seed when
we were inheritors, we were inheritors before we ever was made manifest. See, that's why nothing can be
put to it and taken away is because God does it. If God takes salvation
out of the hands of every man, whether it be from the preaching
aspect, whether it be from the listening aspect, whether it
be from the propagating aspect of anything, if God takes it
out of the hands of everybody and says, that's not how salvation
is going to take place, why? Because I will share my glory
with no one. So that every man will know that
salvation is of the Lord. It wasn't of the Lord and you. Some may say, well, what about all the conditions
that we have to keep? What about all the works, law
keeping, religious activity? Aren't we supposed to be zealous? Nothing can be put to it. That
doesn't mean we can't be zealous. We are. The Bible says that we
are zealous for good works, but that doesn't put anything to
it. We desire to do the right thing. That doesn't put anything
to it. And, whenever we fail to do those
things, that doesn't mean it takes anything away from what
God's done. See, some think that the lack
of met conditions and works and law-keeping and religious activities
is going to take away from God's work, and it doesn't. Salvation was accomplished by
the Lord with perfect love. It was accomplished with perfect
obedience. It was accomplished with a perfect salvation. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. I want to pick up on the rest
of this a little bit next week. Because there's some objections. Whenever you preach stuff like
this, there's always objections. You're just saying that there's
no need to preach the gospel. You ever heard anybody say that
whenever you proclaim salvation by the work of God alone? You
mean to tell me that you can just you and the Holy Spirit
without a preacher? You ever heard people say that?
You must be a mystic. Oh, you're one of those mystics.
You believe that the Holy Spirit can just out of nothing teach
you something. Well, the Bible says he can,
so I don't know why you can't say he can. Are you in unbelief
of the Bible? But look with Hebrews 10, look
at verse 14. The preacher and the gospel and
your repentance and faith He hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified. Is that what that reads? Now,
are you sure? Because that's what I hear on
TV all the time. That's what I hear on the radio. I think
if I went down the street, down to the church down the road,
I think that's what I'd probably hear. You who began in the Spirit are
now made perfect by keeping the law, by keeping good works, by
doing your responsibility. Is that what that says? No, what
does it say? What was the thing? Four by what? One offering, two offerings,
three offerings, four offerings, five offerings. How many offerings? One. By one offering, he. Who is he? Was it Paul? He's
the one who wrote Hebrews, right? No, it wasn't Paul. Paul was
right by the Spirit of God. Who is the he there? For by one
offering He, Christ, right? For by one offering He hath perfected
forever. Just until you sin the next time?
Just until you read your Bible more? He's perfected you until
you quit reading your Bible too much? Or not enough? Or pray
enough? Or not enough? He is perfected how? Well, forever. Now, maybe I'm getting this wrong.
What does the word perfected mean? He is perfected. What does the word perfect mean? Help me out here. Anybody know
what perfect means? Spotless. Spotless. Anybody else? Without blemish.
Without blemish. Flawless. Flawless. without error, without sin, not
lacking, complete. For by one offering he hath,
past tense, not is, but hath, past tense, perfected forever. Who? Them that are Sanctified. Who
are the ones sanctified? What does the word sanctify?
Maybe we should talk about that. What does the word sanctified
mean? Well, some people, the word sanctified means growing
in holiness. But that's not what the word
means in the Bible. In the Bible, the word sanctified
means to be set apart. To be set apart. To be called
apart. To be called separate. Away separate. to be called out. It means to
be separated from somebody else. The word sanctified means to
be set apart for the use of God. Now is that not the very definition
of what the elect is? The elect were called according
to the purpose of God before the foundation of the world for
a purpose. They were called to be vessels
of honor for one, not for dishonor. They were called to be vessels
of mercy, not vessels of destruction. They were called out from among
everybody else in Adam. So they were separated by election. Remember in 2 Timothy, who had
called us who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling."
He's called us to be holy. But how are we holy? Well, it
says right here, isn't perfect another name for holy? He's called us to be holy before
God. Ephesians chapter 1, verse, a few verses. By one offering he hath made
holy, perfected, completed, made sinless, made spotless, made
errorless. For by one sacrifice, one offering,
He has perfected forever them that are set apart, elected,
called out, separated from everybody else, the elected God. Who is
it? The elected God are the ones
who have been perfected forever. Can anything be put to it? No,
it's perfect. Can anything be taken away? No,
because it's forever. Plus it's perfect. If you take away, it's not perfect.
That's why in Colossians it says, Ye are complete in Him. Brethren, our hope is in Christ.
Our hope is Christ. If the Gospel is not Christ alone,
grace alone, then it's a lie. because that means that something
has to be put to it or something has been taken away. And God
says that what He does, His works, that nothing can be put to it,
nothing can be taken away from it. And salvation is of the Lord. So take from this what you will,
but I pray that you'll see the greatness and the goodness and
the solidarity and the encouragement, the comfort that comes because
our God cannot change. Our God does what he wants to
do and cannot lie. And that he has the power to
do everything that he says he's going to do. And he knows what
everything's going to happen and has it all in control. All
right. Anybody got any questions? No,
it's probably went over. I don't know, really. Anybody got any questions or
comments? All right. Lord willing, if he doesn't direct
me in another direction next week, we'll pick up from this,
but we'll look at some objections to whatever people say, you know,
things like, you know, so there's no need to preach the gospel,
or are you just saying it's just me and Jesus and we don't have
to have anybody else, or, you know, what's the purpose of all
that, so. All right, anybody? All right,
that's fine. Lord, we once again come to you and we thank you
so much. You are sovereign. You are glorious, you are mighty,
you are all wise. Father, we bow before you this
morning and we just are so grateful and thankful for the comfort
that you give us in this word. We're so thankful that salvation
does not hinge upon the works of man or the conditions that
you have set at any point upon man, but that it is all of God
and that nothing can be put to it and nothing can be taken away.
For surely there would be no hope if it was left into the
hands sinful man. Father, Lord, I thank you that
you have a preacher that is successful to preach without fail the truth,
not mixed with any error, and that is the Holy Spirit of God
by Christ Jesus. We thank you, Father, that we
have the Word of God before us that has been preserved to show
us what you have revealed about yourself and about salvation
and about ourselves. We thank you, Father, for the
opportunity that we have together today. We pray, Lord, that what
has been said has been of the truth and not of error. And if it is of error, Father,
I pray, as always, that you would bring correction to me by your
word. And Lord, I thank you again that
you've given us opportunity to meet. And I thank you, Father,
for the salvation that comes through Christ and Him alone.
What a privilege it is that we have been given undeserving,
we know what a privilege it has been given to meet with the people
of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord, we do
pray for our world. It is chaotic. We pray for our
country. It is chaotic. We ask, Lord, that you once again restore this country, at least
to its former way, where people did desire to seek after you
We know that no country can be perfect, no place is Christian
as far as the government is concerned. But Father, we know that when
men's hearts are quickened by you, whenever they are given
to seek you, the things of God, that those morality things, society
is better for that. not in any aspect of righteousness
before you to merit anything, but Father, just for our own
good, it's good to dwell with peace with other people. And
so Lord, we pray that you would restore that. Lord, that you
would remove the evil leaders that you have put before us for
a time, I'm sure to judge this country for the way that it is
blaspheming to you in turn. in its wickedness, Lord. So I just ask that you just be
with us, help us.