I tell you Kathy, that Mike Glover, he sure zipped around on that thing. We had to talk to him about slowing that thing down a little bit. He was running somebody over. He did it all the time. He was going too slow. Remember Lamar Garner? Remember when he would show up, and he'd forget his walker? And he'd just be moving really, really slow, and he'd come the next Sunday with his walker, and he'd go right...

That was pretty funny. What a blessing. I've chosen page 358 for our opening hymn. Welcome back, Edward. Good to have Edward back from Texas. He's been out playing with his granddaughter for a couple weeks. And, uh, he says to come home to get some rest. Come home to get some rest. I am thine, O Lord, 358. I am thine, O Lord, I have heard thy voice, and it told thy love to me.

But I long to rise in the arms of faith, and be closer drawn to thee. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to thy precious pleading side. God's a great need now to thy service, Lord, by the power of grace divine.

Lift my soul, look up with a steadfast hope, and my will be lost in thine. Draw me near, near, near, blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me near, near, near, blessed Lord, to Thy precious leading side. Oh, the pure delight of a single hour that before the throng I spent. When I kneel in prayer and with Thee, my God, I come soon as friend with friend. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died.

Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to Thy precious clean side. There are depths of love that I cannot know till I cross the narrow sea. There are heights of joy that I may not reach till I rest in peace with Thee. Oh Lord, we thank you so much. As your word tells us in Hebrews 10, 22, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith.

Lord, we know that even in times when we think our faith is weak, that faith, if it's true faith, the faith that is given us through your Son, the Lord Jesus. It is a gift of God. All blessings, as it says in Ephesians chapter one, flow through Him, through our Savior, the Lord Jesus. All that you see and bless your people with is because of the works of your Son, our Savior, our Son. Grant us eyes illuminated to see your word for its truth. Grant us hearts to believe what we see in your word. We ask in our Savior's name, Christ Jesus, amen. I am thine, O Lord. What a wonderful song.

We've been looking at this word called, that scripture uses in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 5 and 11. It also uses this word in Romans 8, 29 and 30. The word is predestination. And we've been looking at this chapter 12 written by our brother Don on the studies of the basic Bible doctrine, basic Bible teachings, and this study on predestination is an absolute doctrine of the Bible. Listen to this, according to the eternal purpose which he God Almighty purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now that's in Ephesians chapter 311, and Brother Don writes this, he says, the eternal purpose of God is what we call in the Bible terms predestination. Predestination, according to Charles Buck, is the decree of God whereby he hath for his own glory foreordained whatever comes to pass.

We spent a little bit of time considering those words. We spent a little time in our first study of this, of the basis of our faith is the Word of God and the Word of God alone. We considered in that second study the misrepresentations of predestination, of which I don't want to go into again. You can go back and look at that in our first study.

And then we talked last week about the doctrine of scriptures, the teaching of predestination. Essentially, Don writes that the doctrine or the teaching of divine predestination is this, before the world began, God sovereignly predestinated all his elect. all those for whom he is loved with an eternal love to be conformed to the image of his dear son. That's what we read there in Romans chapter eight, right? We're predestinated to be conformed to the image of his dear son.

Today, Judy is completely, 100% conformed to her Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The absence from the flesh is to be in the presence of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. I knew I could figure out some way to put Judy into this investment today. We're going out there Monday. We're leaving tomorrow morning for Kentucky. The services will be on Wednesday.

If you would like to have an address of the funeral home where the services will be held, But that's what predestination is, and I'm in total agreement with that. It's to be conformed to the image of His Son, which He accomplished in time by His sovereign, irresistible, immutable grace, and foreordained all things necessary to accomplish that great goal in the way which is most honoring to Himself.

Eternal predestination is God's sovereign work. Carefully observe the language of Scripture. It says, He also did predestinate. He is the original cause of all things. He is the source of salvation. Everything springs from Him. It is written that all things are of God in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18. This morning, I wanna pick up, well, let me just review this one more time, too, as well.

Predestination, let me remind you, because this is the big flag that everybody hates predestination, all the world hates that word predestination for this reason. They think that it eliminates. that God has predestinated some to spend their time in hell. Folks, that's not correct at all. Predestination does not keep anyone out of heaven. People often look upon predestination, writes Don, as a frightful monster which stands at the gate of heaven and arbitrarily shuts multitudes out, saying, no, you cannot come in, you cannot be saved, no matter how much you want to be, because you were not chosen, you were not predestinated to salvation. Nothing, writes Don, could be further from the truth. God's work of predestination is what opens the gates of heaven. Any sinner who is lost at last and goes to hell will do so as the result of their deliberate action. If anyone goes to hell, it will be by his own fault.

If man refused to walk in the light of God, which he has given them, and that's exactly what God has given us, has he not? Has he not given us his word? This is why we can look as to how God, and when He opened our eyes, the first time we heard His words, and we can see that if He had not been in His grace, opened our eyes, we would have continued in that darkness, saying, I'll not have this one in Scripture rule over me. Would have been our fault.

Any sinner who is lost goes to hell. It's a result of their own deliberate action. When they are cast into hell, they will acknowledge the justice of God in casting them there. They'll be in hell and they'll know at that point, not just thinking, but they'll know that God gave them, that God warned them, that God told them over and over and over again, if you would just believe, but they wouldn't.

Folks, you see what Don is telling us here about predestination? If it wasn't for predestination, we wouldn't believe. We'd still be on that path to death in unbelief. God, He sends blindness because men and women choose not to see him. He sends hardness to the hearts, to those who harden their hearts against him. He sends men to hell because they will not bow to his son. Be sure you understand this.

If anyone goes to hell, it's their own fault. He has no one to blame but himself, but if anyone is saved, It is God's fault alone. It is the result and deliberate effort on God's part. We will have no one to thank or praise for it, but God Himself, and God's salvation began in the eternal predestination of His people.

So, this morning we want to look at the object of His predestination. And we'll wrap it up with that. The object of our God and predestination is that we should be conformed to the image of the Son, as we mentioned a moment ago. The one thing God Almighty is determined to accomplish in us by His purpose, His providence, His power, His grace, is in exact likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Look over Romans chapter 8 verse 29, and then we'll look at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4. So Romans chapter 8. And we're familiar with these words. These are not new words to us here. Romans in chapter 8, we read this over in verse 29. This can't be any clearer than this.

For whom he did foreknow, Now, I want to stop there because that word foreknow means something. People have taken that word and said because he looked down through time and he saw who would make a decision for him, he foreknew him. That's not what that means at all. That word foreknow is a very personal knowledge of the people that he knows. It's an intimate knowledge. He foreknew them. He knew them. He knew them before time. He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of the son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Turn over to Ephesians chapter 1. See, there's almost the exact same thing over there in Ephesians chapter 1. Verse four, according as he hath chosen us in Christ, that's who the hymn is, in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him. God predestinated, writes God, us to be conformed to the image of history.

He says, I cannot imagine anyone being upset with that fact, except those who yet hate our God and his Son. Through the sin and fall of our father Abraham, we all became sinners. We lost God's image in which we were created and forfeited life, communion, fellowship, and acceptance with Him.

Listen to this from Romans 5 verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, that's Adam, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sin. Yet God's purpose was not overthrown when Adam sinned. It was executed exactly according to His sovereign will and infinite wisdom. Look over at the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. In verses 21 and 22, we read this, for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all died, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

God Almighty was determined from the beginning, and remember what we just read there a moment ago in Ephesians 1, in Christ we were predestined to become from before the foundation of the world. So here it says, he says, God Almighty was determined from the beginning to glorify himself in his creation by rescuing a multitude which no man can number from Adam's fall and restoring them. This is what predestination is. We're predestined to be conformed to the image of God's son. He's rescuing a multitude, which no man can number, from Adam's fall and restoring them to His image perfectly, forever, through another representative man, the God-man, Christ Jesus. God looked upon His Son from eternity with such joy and delight that He said, I will have an innumerable multitude of sons and daughters just like Him. And when predestination has done its work, every chosen sinner will be exactly conformed to the image of God's dear Son, holy and without blame, as we read in Ephesians chapter 1, before God Himself.

Believers are conformed to Christ and His nature. He's begotten of God, so are we. We are conformed to Christ in His relationship. He's the Son of God and so are we. Listen to these words from 1 John 3 verse 1. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. I know, folks, I know this is hard to read and see ourselves in this, isn't it?

But God sees us that way. He has always looked at you and I in His sight. That blesses me more than I can put in words. Because I get up every morning and see something different in the mirror. But because God's Word has told me so, I look forward. I have that hope, that hope of faith, looking forward to what God has made our sister Judy already.

And Carol, Caroline down there in San Diego, who we took a couple of months ago. And all the other ones, Don Fortner, all of our brothers and sisters who have gone on before us. They're all in the presence exactly as our Savior is, holy and without blame.

We must also be conformed to Christ and His experience. Like Christ, we must learn obedience to the things that we suffer. I read that and I break, because I want that to sink in. Like Him, writes Don, we must endure abuse from men. Like our Master, we must suffer the attacks of Satan. Like Christ, we must struggle against temptation and sin. We must be conformed to Christ in His character as well. Like Him, we must be consecrated to God. Like Him, we must live by God's Word. Like Him, we must seek our Father's will. Like Him, we must be loving, kind, and tender towards one another. We must, because God purposed it, at last be conformed to the image of Christ in His glory.

Salvation, when it is finished, will be perfect, complete, communion with, consecrated to, and conformed to the Lord Jesus Christ forever. This salvation must from start to finish be accomplished by God alone according to His own sovereign purpose and grace. God predestinated from the eternity who will be saved, and that means by which He would save them, and the means by which He will save them, the time of their salvation, and all the events and circumstances necessary for and leading to their salvation. The place where He would save is chosen, their place in glory, and everything required to bring us safely home for Christ's sake.

The ultimate end of God and predestination, as in all other things, is the exaltation and the glory of His Son, the Lord Jesus. God has determined to glorify Himself in glorifying His glorious Son. He has predestinated His elect unto the adoption of sons, that Jesus Christ, His eternal, only begotten Son, might be the firstborn among many brethren, as we just read there in Romans.

Turn over to Colossians chapter 1. It says something to that effect over there as well. Colossians, just the other side of Philippians. Colossians chapter 1, verses 16 through 18. Speaking about the glorifying of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. In verse 16, for by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him.

And He is before all things. And by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, and in all things he, the Lord Jesus, God's only begotten Son, the preeminence. So we see very, very clearly that predestination gives Christ the preeminence because Christ is the center of God's decree. He is the head of the new elect, as we just read there, the elect race. He is the center of the glory of heaven.

Predestination gives Christ pleasure because He delights with the sons of men before time began. Now he has a race of men with whom he delights. He loves them, and they all love him. This was the joy that was set before him for which he endured the cross, for which he despised, despising the shame. This is the reward of his labor.

Predestination gives Christ all the praise. God has arranged things so that all the population of heaven will owe everything to His Son, so that everyone in glory will chant this for eternity, Emmanuel's praise, and Emmanuel's praise alone forever. Judy's singing a perfect song today. She's singing the perfect song of praise my Savior in His presence.

And every one of us will be there because Christ said so, predetermined that we would be there. Listen to this, and I'll close with these words. This is the glorious doctrine teaching of predestination in which we rejoice. It is a most profitable doctrine. It destroys every basis of human pride. It exalts the glory of Christ in the grace of God. It gives us purpose in evangelism. It gives us a sure hope before God. Listen to how David expressed that sure hope over in 2 Samuel 23 5. David wrote these, the last words before he died.

He says, Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. There's predestination. There's predestined to become a child of God, right there. An everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. For this is all my salvation, writes David. All of his hope, all of his trust is in the promises of God. And then he says this in closing, in all my desire, although he make it not grow, being in his house.

Predestination puts us at peace with God's providence. It opens the doors of heaven to sinners and guarantees that some shall enter therein. It shuts up to God for everything. Look over at Jeremiah chapter 9 and we'll close with that. Turn over to Jeremiah chapter 9. Jeremiah 9, verse 23, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches. But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in those things I delight, saith the Lord." Can it get any more clear than that? I love those words. That's wonderful words to me. God predestinated, predetermined that there was a spot where he would put John Reeves in heaven. He says, I go to prepare a place for you.

How did I go right? My father makes many mansions. How does that go again? You can't remember either? Well, don't feel bad, brother. When you get to be as old as I am, you'll understand. I go to prepare a place for you. Now I gotta look that up now. Huh? In his house there are many mansions. Okay, close enough. He still goes to prepare a place for you. That's the part I was remembering. Brother, huh? Amen. That's how he prepared a place. That's how he prepared a place for you and I. Brother Mike, would you lead us in closing prayer?