Again, Acts chapter 13. Let's look at these few verses together this morning. Look back at verse 44. Again, it says, the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city. What a sight that must have been to see the whole city, a whole community come together to hear the word of God.

But when the Jews saw that, when they saw the multitudes, they weren't filled with joy, were they? They were filled with envy. And they spoke against those things which were spoken by Paul. much the same as it is in our day, contradicting and blaspheming the true word of God. Verse 46, then Paul and Barnabas, apparently they weren't discouraged by that. It says they waxed bold. They waxed bold and they said it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, but seeing you put it from you, and you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. That the word of God should have first been spoken to you, spoken first to that Jewish nation. But scripture says this, to the Jew first, but also to the Gentile. In Acts 9, let me just read this to you.

When the Lord was pleased to save Saul, God sent Ananias to him. And Ananias, you know, humanly speaking, he didn't want to go. And I don't know that I could blame him. I mean, this man had went about locking folks up and putting them in prison. But Ananias answered the Lord, and he said, I've heard many people speak about this man, how much evil he hath done to the saints at Jerusalem.

And here he has authority from the chief priest to bind all that call on his name. You think rolling through his head was, are you sure? Are you sure this is the right person? And the Lord said to him, he said, Go thy way. Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me. He's one of mine. And he's going to bear my name before the Gentiles and before kings and before the children of Israel, and I'm going to show him what great things he must suffer for my namesake.

Isn't that a testimony to the power, the power of the gospel, the truth of the gospel? Here we see Almighty God calling whom he will. This isn't one that this world would have called, is it? But the Lord calls whom he will, and he calls him by his sovereign power. Can a man go from hating and disputing the gospel and locking men up? He can by the power of God, if the Lord's pleased to show mercy. God's gonna call this man by his sovereign power. And Paul, by his own mission, he said he called the chief. He called the chief of sinners. And Paul in Barnabas, it says here, they spoke. What did they speak? They spoke the word of the Lord. Not the words of man. They spoke the words of the Lord.

You know, man's words, just like, you know, on a cold morning. our breath, and you see that fog rise up, and then what does it do? It just disappears. It's gone. It goes up into the air and it just vanishes, and so are our words. But the Word of God, listen, it's eternal. God's Word is eternal. It's greater than all things, greater than heaven and earth. It's greater than life or death.

Paul wrote this, he said, we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, that's a stumbling block. To the Greeks, it's foolishness. But to them that are called, to those that are called of God, both Jews and Greeks, this gospel, the word of God, it's the power of God. Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

And it's with this truth, the truth of this Word, that He begets us. Is that so? Of His own will begat He us, how? By the Word of Truth. Through sanctification of the Spirit and belief, of the truth. God's chosen his people to salvation. It's by the hearing of the word that faith comes. Is that so? Romans 10, 17, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

It's through this word that we have comfort. God uses his word to comfort his sheep, even in the most difficult of times. He said, comfort one another. How? With these words. The word of God. And I pray this morning that the Lord would cause us to hear, that he would give us a hearing ear. a desire to hear his word and to receive that word with all readiness of mind and that we might search the scriptures daily to see if these things are so, to see if these things are true.

His word is to be honored. We're to honor his word by trusting him, by trusting him. You know, we preach and we teach, but only God can enlighten the hearts of man. Only God can open the ear. Only God can open the heart, can give a new heart to receive his word, that loves his word, that rejoices in his word. Paul and Barnabas, what did they do? They spoke the word of God.

Well, still in Acts 13, verse 47, for so the Lord commanded us, saying, I've set thee to be a light of the Gentiles that thou shouldest be for salvation until the ends of the earth. The gospel. that which publishes the salvation of Christ, that which declares salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, to all. Scripture says to all that believe.

It's the light. That's how we see things, isn't it? We live in darkness, we dwell in darkness, but when he's pleased to send forth his light, he enables his people to see. It's the light of the gospel. Scripture says this, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted, not in ourselves, not in this world, but who first trusted in Christ. After, when did that happen? After you heard the word of truth. It's the gospel of your salvation. And whom also after that you believed.

And you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of the inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory." A light, a light to the Gentiles. That thou should be for salvation unto the end, the ends of the earth.

In the Hebrew text it just, it means this, my salvation, my salvation. A salvation provided a salvation promised, a salvation sent by God to His people. Verse 48, and when the Gentiles, when they heard this, when they heard that it was the will of God, when they heard that it was the command of Christ that the gospel should be preached to them, How did they respond? What was it? Read on. They were glad. They were glad. Are we glad that we have this treasure in an earthen vessel? Turn to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter.

Chapter 1, verse 12, unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves But unto us they did minister these things, which are now reported unto you by them which preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." What a precious gift this is that we have. Scripture says this, these things that the angels, the angels desire to look into. Well, back to Acts 13, still in verse 48, it says they glorified the word of the Lord.

That means they received it. They received it with all joy and gladness. They received the word, and then look what it says next, and as many, As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. Believed. I want us to spend just a little bit of time on this portion of scripture this morning. As many as were ordained. Ordained to eternal life. Now that word ordained, you can look it up in your concordance, but it has a number of meanings, but here's just a few of them. And the first one is this, ordered. That word ordained means ordered. Turn with me to Luke chapter seven. Turn back to Luke chapter seven. Let's begin it with verse one, Luke seven, verse one.

Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum, and a certain centurion's servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. And when he heard of Jesus, He sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come. With this desire, would you come and heal my servant? And when they came to Jesus, they besought him, saying that he was worthy for whom he should do this. He was a man that loved his nation, built a synagogue, and Jesus went with him. And when he was not far from the house, The centurion sent his friends to him.

And he said, Lord, trouble not yourself. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy that you should enter into my house, that you should enter under my roof. Neither thought I myself worthy. This man said, I'm not even worthy to come before you. But just say the word. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. He said, I'm a man. I'm a man set under authority. And I have under me soldiers. And I say to one, go. And he goes. And to another one, I tell him, I say, you come to me. And he comes. And I tell another servant, you do this, and he does it. What's he saying here? Again, that centurion says, I'm a man of authority. Now, we don't know much about this in our day. Nobody's in charge in our day. We question everything. We debate and dispute everything. This man was a man of authority. Our Lord has all authority.

The centurion says, he said, if I tell a soldier to go, he doesn't question me. He doesn't say, why are you asking me to do this? He just doesn't. If I order him to do it, he doesn't. If I tell a servant to come. What's he do? He comes. If I say do it, if I order him to do something, he does it. There's no dispute. There's no debate. He just does it.

And he says, Lord, if you just speak the word, if you say it, if you order it, it's going to happen. And when the Lord Jesus, when he heard these things, he marveled at him and he turned him about and he said to the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not seen such great faith. No, not in Israel. Now, why do we look at that portion of scripture? Because he said, Lord, if you order it, if you order it, it's going to happen. What did we just read about there?

Those ordained to eternal life believed. Those ordered to eternal life believed. Well, it can also mean this. Ordained also means appointed. Appointed. Appointed to eternal life. First Thessalonians chapter five. First Thessalonians five, look at verse nine.

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. God's elect weren't chosen in Christ to be destroyed by his wrath and judgment. But they were appointed to salvation, appointed to obtain salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

Appointed. Now just let that word soak in for a minute. If something's appointed, there's some certainty with that, isn't there? Paul says, I'm appointed an apostle. I'm appointed a preacher. I'm appointed a teacher. Now, there were those who would probably have argued that. God's people wouldn't. He was appointed by God. Scripture says this, it's appointed unto man wants to die, and after that, the judgment. That certain isn't. Death is certain. It comes to all men. The Lord hath appointed the Lord Jesus Christ to be heir of all things. You see that appointed, that's certain, that's sure. Ordained. What does it mean? It means appointed unto eternal life. And then here's another meaning. Here's another. The word ordained, it also means chosen. Chosen. Turn to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse 13.

We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning Chosen you. Chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. I thank God for you, brethren. You are beloved of the Lord. His people are beloved of the Lord. Now, it's only because of His grace that we don't perish, but are we thankful that he loved us first? We would have never loved him otherwise. The word declares that God chose you from the beginning. Elected to salvation through Christ, before the foundation of the world through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the gospel. Chosen, chosen.

Back in 1 Samuel 16, the Lord spoke to Samuel and he said, how long will you mourn for Saul? seeing I've rejected him from being king, from reigning over Israel. He says, you go fill your horn with oil and go, and I'm gonna send you to a man named Jesse, a Bethlehemite. I've provided, who's provided? not Jesse, not Samuel, the Lord says, I have provided me a king.

And it's one of his sons. You remember that story? And Samuel went to Jesse's house, and Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. I wonder, In my mind, would you go from oldest to youngest? Would you say, well, boy, this is the tallest and best looking one. This is the smartest one. That's how we would rank him, isn't it? And he made all of his sons pass before him. And Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord hath not chosen these. Are all your children here? Is this all of them? And he said, well, there's one. There's one that remaineth.

He's the youngest. He's keeping the sheep. It must not have even entered into his mind that the Lord could have chosen David. And Samuel said to Jesse, he said, Fetch him. We're not gonna sit down until he gets here, until he comes thither. And he sent and he brought him in and scripture says this, that he was ruddy and he was with all of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look on. And the Lord said, arise and anoint him For this is he. This is him. Samuel took that horn of oil, and he anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. What happened there? What happened there? Turn to Samuel 78, or I'm sorry, Psalm 78. Psalm 78, I was just gonna read one verse, but go back to verse 65. Psalm 78, verse 65. It says, the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine, and he smote his enemies in the hinder parts, and he put them to a perpetual reproach.

Moreover, he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion, which he loved, and he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth, which he hath established forever." Verse 70, the Lord, He chose David. That's what's going on. God chose David, also His servant, and he took him from the sheepfolds.

As many as were ordained to eternal life believed, ordained. Those ordered unto eternal life believed. Those appointed unto eternal life believed." Those chosen unto eternal life believed. What was the result? They believed. Who ordained them? The Lord did. Now, if you look back again, back to our text, Acts 13. Look at verse 44. One more time.

Next Sabbath day came almost all the whole city together to hear the word of God. When the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy. They spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. And again, that's our day, isn't it? That hasn't changed one bit. Men continue to do the same today. They argue, they dispute, they blaspheme, they want to debate.

They opposed the gospel. But those ordained to eternal life, they didn't oppose it, did they? What's it say? They believed. They believed. Well, in closing, let me just give you four questions, four quick questions here. The first is this, when did this happen? When did all this happen?

Scripture says this, known unto God are all his works from the beginning. Scripture says that Christ is the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. Turn to Isaiah 46, verse 9. Isaiah 46 verse 9, remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me, the former things.

Second, why did he do this? Here's another scripture, even so father, it seemed good in thy sight. Why? Well, I tell you what, it's not. It's not by works of righteousness, which we've done, but according to his mercy. Aren't we thankful for the mercy of God? His mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Why?

Because he quickens whom he will. He gives life to whom he will. Our Lord spoke in John 17. He said, it says, these words spake Jesus and he lifted up his eyes into heaven and he said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son may glorify thee as thou hast given him power over all flesh. to give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Here's third question. How certain is this? Can we, can these words be spoken with certainty? Can we believe these words with certainty?

John 6.37 says, our Lord said this, he said, all that the Father hath given me shall come to me.

And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. In John 10, our Lord spoke again. He said, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them is greater than all. and no man can pluck them out of his hand." And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.

Here's the fourth question. Who gets the glory? Who gets the glory? To God be the glory. Christ, it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. that one day, one day his people will be conformed to the image of his son to be made just like Christ? Who gets the glory? God gets the glory.

Well, quickly, back to Acts 13. Let me just read the rest of this chapter. Acts 13, verse It says, when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad. They were glad. And they glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And that word was published throughout all the region. Now the Jews, they stirred up devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city, and they raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas.

And they expelled them out of their coast. And they went. What a sad day for the rest of the people in that town. They shook off the dust of their feet, and they went to Iconium. and the disciples. How did they respond to that? They were filled with joy. Filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. All right. Isaac, come lead us in a closing hymn.