Contention to Peace

Q: What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

The Bible teaches that God sovereignly orchestrates all events, demonstrating His purpose in everything. The Bible affirms the sovereignty of God throughout both the Old and New Testaments. In Acts 11, we see how the early church recognized that nothing happens outside God's purposeful plan. As Norm Wells emphasized, God's control extends even to who receives the Gospel, as illustrated in Acts 13:48, where it states, 'as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.' This illustrates how God’s sovereign grace operates in our salvation and confirms His authority over all creation.

Q: How do we know predestination is true?

Predestination is affirmed in Scripture, showing that God has chosen certain individuals for salvation before the foundation of the world. The concept of predestination is deeply rooted in Scripture, particularly in Ephesians 1:4-5, which states, 'According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.' This passage illustrates that God does not make random choices, but rather, He predestines certain individuals based on His sovereign will. This doctrine emphasizes that our salvation is not based on our works or foreseen faith, but solely on God's grace and purpose. As Wells pointed out, this means when we accept the Gospel, it is not by our merit, but due to God's prior choice of us.

Q: Why is grace important for Christians?

Grace is essential for Christians as it is the means by which we are saved and sustained in our faith. Grace is the unmerited favor of God bestowed upon us, enabling our salvation and empowering us to live as faithful followers of Christ. Acts 11 illustrates how the early church recognized that salvation is a work of God's grace, stating that even Gentiles are brought into the faith by God's initiative. Norm Wells emphasized that it's not our actions or righteousness that save us; instead, it is entirely dependent on God’s grace through Christ's sacrifice. This grace not only redeems us but also transforms our lives, leading to a response of gratitude and holiness in our walk with God.

Q: What does the Bible say about the new birth?

The Bible teaches that a new birth is essential for salvation, bringing spiritual life and faith. According to Scripture, the new birth is a crucial element of salvation, highlighted in passages like John 3, where Jesus speaks of being 'born again' to Nicodemus. Norm Wells emphasizes that this new birth, bestowed by the Holy Spirit, is necessary for us to have faith and truly comprehend the Gospel. In Acts 11, we see how God grants repentance and faith through the work of the Spirit. Without this transformation, we remain spiritually dead in our sins, but through the new birth, we are made alive in Christ and can respond to the Gospel with faith. This radical change is central to understanding how salvation works within sovereign grace theology.

Q: Why should Christians trust God's word?

Christians should trust God's word because it is divinely inspired and represents the truth of God's character and promises. Trusting God’s word is foundational to the Christian faith as it reveals God's character, His promises, and His actions throughout history. Norm Wells stresses that God's word must be accepted at face value; it is true and must not be altered to fit human standards. Acts 11 serves as an example where Peter, despite opposition, remains faithful to God’s revelation and recounts His acts as evidence of God’s sovereignty in saving even the Gentiles. By adhering to Scripture, believers find stability, confidence, and assurance of God's unchanging truth and faithfulness.

Well, good morning. I'm glad to be in the house of the Lord. It's better to be here than it is anywhere else. Brother Loren read a verse of scripture that at one time I'd have taken and said, Brother, I think you read that verse wrong. And then he prayed, Lord, there's not one thing that goes on in this world that you did not purpose. ought to take an exception to that. But you know, when God reveals His Son to us, We take the word of God at face value. We do not try to change it to meet our standards. It is true. It is full of the greatness of our almighty God, and we want to spend a little bit of time on that subject today as we go to the book of Acts chapter, we've moved to chapter, chapter 11. Would you join me in the book of Acts chapter 11 this morning?

I am so surprised when the word gets back to the church at Jerusalem that there would be people in that church that would find fault with the Apostle Peter going to Caesarea and preaching the gospel to a Gentile man. Can you imagine that for a moment? that Peter would be found fault with? Well, just turn with me here to the book of Acts chapter 11 and there it tells us these words in verse Just starting with verse one, it says, the apostles and brethren that were in Judea, which heard that the Gentiles had received the word of God.

What a great blessing of God's eternal, purposeful, free, and sovereign grace had been demonstrated there with that great host of people there in Caesarea. We find that the number of people that were saved is exactly mentioned in the scriptures Acts 13 48 You remember that verse of scripture Well, keep your finger right there and just turn over to Acts 13 48 and it tells us exactly how many people were saved there when Peter went and preached Acts 13, verse 48, �And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the LORD.� Now, I�ve had pastors and preachers bring me up to that place and that verse of Scripture and not read the rest of it. Let�s read the rest of it together. and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed." That's how many were saved there in that household of that great Roman soldier there in Caesarea that the Apostle Peter preached to.

Now, going back to the book of Acts chapter 11, let s look here and we read these words that when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him. They continued, they criticized Peter for what he had done. It goes on to say, saying, Thou wentest into men uncircumcised, and did eat with them. Now, we're going to stop there for just a moment, and we find that there's two things that appear here, how improper the attitude of some of the church at Jerusalem was, but you know the thing I appreciate so much about Peter? His response. cool, calm, respectful, and he just went over what had happened over there.

Now, these folks here are such a type and a shadow and a picture of us by nature. We always, in our natural state, challenge God over almost everything. And here we have this whole account mentioned throughout the scriptures that there is a constant challenge against an unchallengeable God, a God that is not going to change. We go over to the Old Testament and we find there that Adam challenged God.

God said, the day you eat, you shall surely die. He went and ate it anyway. He challenged God on that. And then we find out that we just follow Abel, I'm sure. Because he's a natural man, born of Adam and Eve, he was just like the rest of us in the fall, that he challenged God before the faith that God gives was given to him. And then we find out that when he was requested to go offer a sacrifice that was pictorial of the Lord Jesus Christ and his salvation of his people, he went and did it. Who challenged God after that?

His own brother Cain did. My sacrifice should be just as acceptable as his sacrifice, and we find out how much he challenged God over it. He killed his own brother over that very thing. Thousands challenged God before the flood. You know what? We can find out that Noah challenged God before the flood. He was just like you and I are in the fall. He was without help, without hope, and without God in this world until God came along and demonstrated His glorious grace to him. And then we read about him having faith. By faith, he built the ark. God worked the work of grace. Up to that point, he was a challenger of the Most High God.

We go through, we find out that the Tower of Babel, they challenged God. My goodness, we're going to build a tower up to the heavens. Well, when I was in Sunday school, it was going to reach out there as far and far and far. They went as far as they had intended to go, and they turned it into an astrological reading cemetery. they challenge God on every side, and there we find out why all the languages come around in this world.

We also, as we move ahead, we find out That Abraham challenged God when he lived down in Ur of the Chaldees. He just was a worshipper of dumb idols, just like everyone else is. Now we may not have had an idol of stone, or an idol of gold, or we may not have had an idol of silver, but we had our own idols that we depended upon for our own righteousness.

We're doing a good job. We're okay. We don't need what the preacher, well, the preachers I had never said, this is what you need. They said, this is what you need to do. there's a big difference. Sin is such a thing. It is so permeates us. And the farther we go along in our life, we find out how much bigger sin is and how much greater the fall is than we ever considered it to be. We just have to follow just the ways through the scriptures and find this out. The folks in Sodom and Gomorrah, They challenge God. They challenge God on... I don't know why it's still going on, but it's just part of the challenge, isn't it? They challenge God on marriage. They challenge God on gender.

And God has already said in the scriptures, a man shall marry a woman. Do we need anything else besides that? The challenge continues to go on today in our own culture, in our own society, in the world around. And then we have, there's two genders. He made them male, female.

And if you don't believe it, you don't have God. God's Word declares that so clearly. There is no need to go any further than that. But I understand why people do, because people just challenge God on everything. God can't be right on that. God can't be right on that. He is right on that. God gave distinct instructions about His view of how many genders there are, and what makes up a marriage. The challenge of God's very makeup was being brought to every generation. God is not to be trusted. You know, science.

When I was in high school, science was taught, first time I ever heard in my life about evolution. They didn't bring that out in grammar school. I went to a one-room schoolhouse, all eight grades, one teacher, and not once did they ever bring that up. I went to high school, and the first teacher I have is bringing up stuff about, we evolved from monkeys. Well, some of my teachers, as I had, I'm sure they did. How you can believe that stuff? Well, it's just normal for people to believe that stuff, and it's by grace that we can take God at His word. By faith, we believe that God created the heavens and the earth, and you know what?

This earth is in it for the long haul. It's gonna be here until Jesus Christ comes back to this earth, and then it's gonna be cleansed. by fire. That's His promise. It will be here. It is changed over time. It will change over time, but it's going to be here right where it is right now in the same orbit, getting the same rain that Noah got fallen on there in the great flood. God's judgment at Noah's time, God's judgment at Sodom and Gomorrah's time is the same judgment that will be meted out in the end for everyone that leaves this world without Christ. And you know what? He has appointed that. He's appointed judgment. When you look at that Sodom and Gomorrah, you know, Abraham, he pled for Sodom and Gomorrah. Just turn over to the book of Genesis. He pled for Sodom and Gomorrah. Why? He's got a nephew down there. His nephew Lot lives down there. Nephew Lot's family lives down there.

But he did not plead for one because there's children there, or there's women there, or there's old there. He pled on this one cause, if there be any righteous there. Will you destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there be any righteous there? And he got down to such a level, and finally, God said, did, performed, he snatched out Lot. Go to the book of 1 Peter, 2 Peter, and read about Lot. He was vexed every day with that stuff that was going on there in Sodom and Gomorrah. Vexed! And that's a serious word. He felt really bad, and he was imposed upon.

Why didn't he move? Why didn't he go somewhere else? Well, in God's purpose, he wanted to show us that he's not going to destroy the righteous with the wicked. He brought him out, brought his daughters, brought his wife out, but she never left, did she? She turned around and looked and was turned to a pillar of salt.

People have made religious professions of faith, but they never left their comments about God. They never left the challenge about God. They never quit challenging God on his word. I have some good friends. Some of them are supposed preachers, and every time I visit with them, they are bringing a challenge against God by saying, God really didn't mean that when he said it. I would quote Acts 13, 48 to them, well, God really didn't mean that. He means every word of it. Every word.

Now, when we get back over here to the book of Acts chapter 11, we find out that those brought an accusation against Peter because he had went and preached to the Gentiles and had eaten with them. You know what they had to say is a challenge about the very reason that Jesus Christ would come to this earth. He did not come to call the righteous to salvation. He came to save sinners. That's what He said, and that was His purpose in coming. There was no reason for Him to come if there was no sinners.

But God knows a whole lot more about sin than we do. He sees it every day from His clearest standpoint. He sees us in the very heart and soul of the matter. He sees what we really are and what it took to save us from our sins, and that is the blood of His dear Son, sacrificed on the cross of Calvary, and God the Father is the one that was there and punished Him for our sins. He brought judgment upon the Son of God for our sins. He's the one that demonstrated how great our sin is.

Here, as we read about the Lord Jesus Christ, that he was brought up during his own public ministry. People would come to his disciples. They wouldn't go to him. This is why does your master eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Several times in the scriptures that subject is brought up. Jesus Christ comes to the clear understanding for us, those who know the gospel, why did he come and have fellowship with publicans and sinners? Because that's the folks he's going to save from their sins. That's why he came. The scribes and the Pharisees murmured against the disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners?

A man at one time, there was a lady came in, and it doesn't take us very long to understand what kind of woman she was. And one of those guys said, if he was a prophet, he would know what kind of woman she is. If he was the prophet, he would know what kind of woman she is. And Jesus Christ just brought this back and said, okay, let's talk about a real interesting project.

Suppose you owed some money to a man. You owed $50. And to another man, you owed $5,000. Or someone else did that, okay. And the question was asked, if they were forgiven, who would love the most? Well, the man who was forgiven $5,000, that's quite well taken.

Sinners appreciate what the sin bearer did on their behalf. Sinners quit challenging God on what He had to say about who He s going to save. He s going to save sinners, not righteous. Hell is full of good people. Heaven is filled with sinners saved by grace. S.S. Saved sinners.

These folks that brought this challenge against the Lord Jesus Christ is also mentioned there in the book of Luke chapter 10, where there's a good Samaritan. You know, we have good Samaritan laws. Someone has a wreck and you go and help them and something goes apart. You know, the law protects you. You took enough interest to stop and help the person. Well, the Good Samaritan, as he's mentioned in the Bible, and a lot of people say that's a parable. I believe it's a fact. I believe this actually happened. Jesus Christ used it as an illustration of His great grace.

There were two people that went down there and would not touch that man that was left for half dead. He was beaten and robbed and left half dead, Luke chapter 10. There was a Levite that went there and there was a priest that went there. Now there's a good reason that they didn't go touch that man because their religion would not let them do that. Their religion prevented them from touching a man like that.

Jesus Christ, the great high priest, had no problem touching lepers, touching people with issues, healing them, touching them, because He is the Savior of His people. Well, in that illustration that we read about in the book of Luke there, the Good Samaritan, they went away, left the man, and behold, a Samaritan came along.

Now, you know what a Samaritan is. That's a person that was half-Jew and half-Gentile. The woman at the well explains a great deal about what she understood about a Samaritan. What are you doing talking to me? Because the Jews have no hope, counsel, for the Gentiles, for Samaritans.

Well, this Samaritan went down there, and it says he poured in oil and wine, wrapped him up, put that man that was broken, on his donkey, took him to an inn, and left him there, and said, here is $500 to pay for his expenses, and when I come back, if he owes more, I'll pay it then.

What a statement he makes about the salvation that we have in Christ Jesus, that every debt that God's people owe, he pays in full. sin past, sin present, and sin future. Every debt is paid. He will fulfill his promised word to the church. I will pay all their debt, their sin debt. I am their surety. I will take care of their sin debt and forgive them of all their sin.

We read that Peter was involved in this type of conversation that we read about these folks coming up against him. You know, one time the Lord Jesus makes a statement to his disciples and says, you know, it's getting close to the time that I'm going to go down to Jerusalem and I'm going to be arrested. I'm going to be tried and I'm going to be crucified and I'm going to be put in a tomb and three days later I'll come out of that tomb. You know what Peter said at that point? Here is a believer in Christ Jesus and challenging the purpose of almighty God.

He says, not so Lord. I'll prevent that from happening. And the words that Jesus said, I think it should be a small letter S. At this moment, Peter is an adversary. He is not capital Satan. He's an adversary. He's going to have things corrected for him. God's going to correct those things. He's going to work it out in him. He's going to be able to see that he was wrong in that case. He made a statement that he shouldn't have made.

How often does that happen with us? How often do we do things that we wish we hadn't? Thank God Almighty that He forgives us of those things at the cross. It's not because we bowed our knees and asked God to forgive us, it's because they were taken care of at the cross. That's why we bow our knees and ask for forgiveness.

It's been taken care of. Well, we read there that Peter rebuked the Lord for speaking of fulfilling the covenant of grace, and Jesus says, get you behind me, adversary. I must go. You know, he must go. He must go to the cross. That was his eternal purpose, to go to the cross. Why? Because he had some eternal names written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. There was a gift given before the foundation of the world from the Father to the Son. The Son's only requirement is you're going to have to pay for their sins. They're wicked people. They're sinful people. They're people that are on the outs with God. They could not sit down in my presence for one second.

I would consume them. But the Son said, I will do the request that's been made upon me in this covenant of grace. I will go down to that earth at the appointed time. I will spend my 33 and a half years at the appointed time. I will preach the gospel. I will heal people. But that day, when it's the appointed day, I will be taken and crucified. And then I will cry on my people's behalf, my God, my God, why hast thou Why have you done this? Why have you forsaken me?

And the answer is, from God Almighty, it's in the covenant of grace. This is our agreement. The Father gave a gift, the Son died for that gift, and the Holy Spirit is about finding those folks, those lost sheep, and bringing them the Gospel, just like we read about Peter doing when he was called to go over there and preach the Gospel in a Gentile's home. Well, going back to the book of Acts chapter 11, we find that the apostle Peter just repeats what happened in the previous chapter. He just goes over what God did there in the previous chapter. And it's so interesting to notice here what happened. In the book of Acts chapter 11, there in verse 4, we read these words.

He didn't get upset. He didn't get mad. He didn't walk out. I remember a man making a statement and I had to say, I'm sorry, that statement's not correct. And he stood up and walked out with his wife and says, we need to leave this place because it's for sure there's no safe people here. Because we didn't listen to a lie. Well, anyway, Peter didn't do that. He didn't say, I've had enough of this. I'm going to go find another church.

Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning and expounded it by order unto them, saying, verse 4, chapter 11, I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain vessel descended, as it had been great sheet let down from heaven by four corners, and it came even to me. Upon the witch, when I had fastened my eyes, I considered and saw four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fowls of the air. Every creature that was on that ark was in that sheet represented. And there were a whole bunch of those animals that God had put an imposition, he had imposed upon them, the Jews shall not eat. I like beef, don't you? But pork is right out. Chickens are right out. A lot of the meat that we eat, right out.

And I got straightened up at the Council of Jerusalem. This law is finished. Christ fulfilled it all. Just don't eat stuff that would offend someone until you have time to talk about the grace of God. All right? So here we have all this stuff, and the Lord says, Peter, slay and eat. And one more time, he says, Lord, I challenge you on this point. I've just never eaten any of this stuff in my life. I like lamb. I like beef. But I just can't eat the rest of it, because you've told me not to. But he said, Lord, for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered my mouth.

But the voice answered me again from heaven, what God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. And this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven. And behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was sent from Caesarea unto me, and the Spirit made me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house, and he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, that stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shalt be saved.

I read commentaries when we were dealing with chapter 10 that said he was already saved. He just needed a confirmation in that. My foot. He wasn't saved. He was a proselyte of the Jewish religion. He was carrying out his Jewish religion, and there wasn't a saved part of the Jewish religion. Nobody, depending upon the Jewish religion, shall ever be saved. It is depending upon Christ, the picture or the fulfillment of all the sacrifices of the Old Testament. And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, and this is in Acts chapter one, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

Now, there's much to do about that, but that is just a statement about God's absolute necessity of working the new birth in every one of his children in order for them to have a new heart and believe God. For as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I should withstand God? God ordered this, God did this, God's in charge of this. What would I do if I said no? When they heard these things, now there's a miracle taking place. It's just the same miracle that takes place in every one of God's people. We are a contentious sort by nature.

But when God allows us to hear the Word, and He gives us the faith to believe in Jesus Christ the Lord, He calms us down, just as we find these people. For as much then as God gave these folks a life's gift, then in verse 18, when they heard these things. You know, there's a wonderful statement made over in the book of Proverbs about a hearing ear and a seeing eye. God is the one that gives a hearing ear and a seeing eye when it comes to spiritual things.

We can hear and hear and hear and hear and hear and walk away and say, it didn't mean a thing to me until God gives us a hearing ear. He must give us an ear to hear. And where does that ear come from? It comes from the new birth. Where does that eye come from? It comes from the new birth.

God gives us the Holy Spirit. And in that, he lets us hear his word. and see Christ in the word just as these folks did when they heard these things, what happened? They held their peace. Oh my goodness. What a glorious thing is to have the peace that passeth all understanding. to have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. To be at peace with God, knowing that all our offenses, all our sin, everything that we inherited from Adam, and everything we performed in the life that we have, was laid on Jesus, and He became the sacrifice for our sin that was well-pleasing to God. Now that's why we can't do it. Another person cannot do it.

Even Aaron, who was the high priest of Israel, he could not do it. What did he have to do before he could offer a sacrifice on the behalf of Israel? He had to offer a sacrifice for himself. He was a human being and He offered the sacrifice, the blood of animals. And the blood of animals cannot and will not take away sin. It doesn't matter how many sacrifices were given throughout the Old Testament, they put away not one sin, not one. It was the blood of Christ that He promised before the foundation of the world. He is as a lamb slain from before creation. He's a lamb slain for all those that God was going to save throughout all time.

God would come and move upon them in a very special way. He'd bring them the gospel. He had heard them. He would hedge them. He would bring them to a position where they could hear the gospel. And once they heard it, God saved them by his grace. He delivered them from their sin.

He gave them the new birth and new birth is first. Forgive me. New birth is first. Then the rest comes. Then we have repentance and faith. As a result, it's the gift of the new birth. And so here we have, when they heard these things, they held their peace. And the next thing they did, they glorified God. They said, you know, when he said he created the heavens and the earth, that's right. When he said he created man upright and he fell, that's right.

How far did he fall? All the way. There was not one itty bitty amount of him that did not fall in the fall. People will say, well, my will didn't fall. Your will fell all the way. We have no will that's positive towards God. All you have to do is read a little bit in Romans chapter 3, and you'll find out the apostle Paul was called on by the Holy Spirit to go to the Old Testament, gather up a whole bunch of scriptures, lay them down in the book of Romans chapter 3, and say, this is the problem. mouth, throat, feet, hands, eyes, everything is contaminated in the fall. There's not one good part of natural man. There's nothing that would attract God to natural man.

There's only one thing that God does for their behalf, and that is send his only begotten son with their names on his breastplate and hands. That's who he was going to die for. God gives a hearing ear, God gives a seeing eye, and the result of that is, I'm at peace. And there is no longer any reason that I should ever argue with God about His Word.

If it says it in the Word, it has to be true. When people say, well, I don't believe that part, I understand that. But that's not the only part you don't believe. If you don't believe that God created the heavens and the earth, that God did all those things, that God's the only Savior, I understand. I just pray that God will give you seeing eyes and hearing ears, because then you will believe God.

And then, as we read there in the book of Acts chapter 11, glorified God's saying, Now what did they say? They said God saves his people just exactly like he wants to save his people. What's they say? Then hath God also to the Gentiles. Now there's a word granted there. Did you notice that word granted? God also to the Gentiles granted. God had to be involved In our repentance. In the church I grew up, repentance was something you did. And then you believed, and then God saved you. Backwards. Cart before the horse. There is no salvation in that. None whatsoever.

Salvation is in God granting to us repentance. And that repentance is a change of mind about God, and that's why we can have peace and glorify God. He grants repentance, and He also gives us faith. Hebrews chapter 12, He is the author and finisher of our faith. Our faith and our repentance is so flawed in the fall.

There is nothing in that that would accomplish one thing. Oh, I may say that I'm going to go, as soon as the service is over, I'm going to go down and sit on that chair and I have faith that it will stand there. Well, that's human faith. Faith to believe God is divine faith. There will never be a time when we say God's not right. They glorified God, saying, God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto faith.

That's why we can say, as we read over in the book of Ephesians, turn with me, if you would, to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1. God hath granted repentance. And when he grants repentance, Ephesians chapter one is one of those hallowed passages of scripture we say, hallelujah.

Oh, God took care of the business end of this all before the world began. I was born in sin, I lived in sin, but by God's grace, he saved me from my sin because he had an interest in me before the foundation of the world. It was not because I raised my hand, walked forward, signed a card, or went to talk to the preacher. It was because he had an interest in me before the foundation of the world. He had an interest in Israel, if you please, spiritual Israel. before the foundation of the world. He came to speak to Israel, the church, before the foundation of the world. He purposed that.

Here we read in 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. Hallelujah! Don't stop there. Religion will stop there. God says move on. 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. This is God's gift to the church. Be holy.

You know, he said without holiness, you'll never see God. And then we have this holiness movement being holier than thou. There was a verse of scripture in the book of Isaiah. They were those who are holier than thou. But this holiness is a holiness that is imputed to us, given to us by Almighty God. Holy and without blame. Don't you want to be without blame before God? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Oh my goodness, to stand before God and be blamed for a sin? You know what that's going to cost? Eternal hell. If there is one sin that Jesus Christ did not pay for, it's eternal punishment in hell. That's it. There is no other, no alternative.

Accordingly has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. That's when it took place. We were not involved I think I shared with you. I know I shared with you I just don't know how much I forgot or you forgot whether Gary was Shepherd was Someone brought to his attention. I don't believe in election. He says I'm sorry.

It's already taken care of Before the foundation of the world you didn't have a vote in it We may vote against it, but you don't have a vote in it, all right? Foundation of the world that you should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself.

I've often asked this question. If you got on an airplane and you asked the stewardess, oh, I guess it's steward now, isn't it? You ask whoever is on there, where's this plane going? And they said, you know, we don't have a predestination yet. We're working on that. We're going to try to see how much fuel we have, and how long we have, and how many passengers we have, and then we'll tell you where we're going. You know what you'd do? You know what I'd do? Get off that plane. You'd get off that plane.

Now, don't fuss over predestination. It's God's way of dealing with salvation. It is all right. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children. There's one thing about adopted children. Someone made a choice. Now I have four children. They came. Adopted children, someone chooses. And that's what God's telling us right here. I chose you. I adopted you. Out of all the mass of humanity, I chose you. Not because of your goodness. You know, God does not save on foreseen faith. He saves on foreseen unbelief. We would not believe.

Therefore, anyway, it goes on to say, by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, we can have peace. We can be at peace with God. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Grace hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood. 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 the good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself." God's purpose. He purposed in Himself. He's carried out that purpose even today. That's why this world is still here. And it's the only reason it's still here.

Bible teaches us that when the last lost sheep is found, this will be wrapped up like a tent. There will no longer be any more. We'll be with the Lord. Judgment will take place. The right hand will be those that God has the good, the shepherd dividing his sheep from the goats, has divided all the sheep to the right hand and says, welcome. Blessed are you. Enter the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And to those on the left-hand side, he says, you're not entering. Well, look at all the good things we did. No, nobody does any good thing. Well, all the works we perform, there's no good works. Well, we prayed a lot. It doesn't matter. We did a lot. Doesn't matter. Depart from me ye workers of iniquity and we think well all those good things that would be good But that's not that doesn't count with God.

You know, the only thing that counts with God is the blood of Jesus Christ Only the households that had blood over the doorpost Did he deliver? everyone else He punished. I had a man tell me just recently, God sends people to hell because they reject Jesus. And I told that man, I said, I rejected Jesus in Adam. People go to hell because of sin, unpaid for sin.

That's why. All right. Well, as a result of that, those guys that were so hard on Peter said, oh my goodness, we made a mistake. And that's just the way we are. By nature, we'll fuss with God about what He does. And by the spiritual birth, the new birth, we say, I'm at peace. Whatsoever God does is right. Whatsoever God saves is right. I will just stay with that. As we find there, they were at peace and they glorified God. Brother Mike.

Contention to Peace

What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

How do we know predestination is true?

Why is grace important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about the new birth?

Why should Christians trust God's word?

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Contention to Peace

What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

How do we know predestination is true?

Why is grace important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about the new birth?

Why should Christians trust God's word?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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