Salvation By God's Purpose

Isaiah 14, Isaiah 14 at verse 24, Isaiah 14 at verse 24, and let's read these verses again. And I can't emphasize too much and make too much of God's eternal purpose. When He could swear by no greater, He swore by Himself. The Lord of hosts hath sworn, He took an oath, saying, Surely, certainly, certainly and surely as I have thought.

As I have thought. His thoughts are eternal. His decrees are eternal. I'm thinking of a Psalm over there in Psalm 33 where it says, He spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. Saying surely as I have thought. So shall it come to pass. And as I have purposed, so shall it stand. Stand fast.

That I will break the Assyrians in my land upon my mountains and tread him underfoot. Then shall his yoke depart from off them, that is God's people, and his burden depart off their shoulders. God's removed the burden of our sin and our iniquity. because of the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth.

And this is the hand, the hand of God. How big is the hand of God? He's not in our hands. Where is? This is the hand that is stretched out, stretched out hand. upon all nations. And think about this, He stretched out His hand to sacrifice Himself for us, didn't He?

For the Lord of hosts, the Lord of hosts, He's the Lord of the people. Remember Psalm 24, the Lord of hosts, who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, never lifted up his soul into vanity. Who is His King and Glory? Remember, He's the Lord of hosts. He's the Lord of the people. The Lord of hosts have purposed. Now who's going to change His purpose? Who's going to disannul His covenant? His eternal covenant? And His hand is stretched out. Who's going to turn it back? Who's going to stay in the hand of the Lord? And the year the king Ahab died was this burden the burden of the word of the Lord.

Now I'm going to use for title, Salvation by God's Eternal Purpose. Several times he says in these few verses, God had purposed, God had purposed. Now this chapter contains a prophecy of the restoration of the Jews after 70 years of captivity in Babylon. It describes the fall of the King of Babylon and the destruction of the Assyrian Empire and the ruin of Palestine. And this was given 200 years before it came to pass. Just as the Lord said in Isaiah 53, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ wounded for our sin, our transgression, that was spoken 700 years before the Lord Jesus Christ came. He purposed it and it came to pass, didn't it?

The moving cause of the restoration of the Jews back to their own land after that 70 years of captivity. They couldn't deliver themselves, but God raised up a king who defeated the Assyrians. His name was Cyrus. The moving cause of the restoration of the Jews back to their own land. is a distinguishing, sovereign purpose and mercy of God toward them. God will have mercy because He delights to show mercy on whom He will.

That is His eternal purpose, which He has purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now don't turn back, but let me read this to you again. In Ephesians chapter 3, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers and heavenly places might be known by the church to manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now God has an eternal purpose and it will be done. In Ephesians chapter one, let me read this verse to you again. Have been made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he had purposed in himself, and whom also we have obtained in inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. God has an eternal purpose, covenant mercies in Christ Jesus.

Those rebellious Jews were not deserving of God's favor, not one bit. But it pleased the Lord to do so for His glory. As it says in verse 1, Isaiah 14, for the Lord will have mercy on Jacob. Did Jacob deserve to be loved of God? Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated? The Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will yet choose Israel and set them in their own land and strangers shall be joined with them and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob or to the God of Jacob.

God, think about, I thought about this. God carried the nation of Israel into that Babylonian captivity for 70 years. If we go back and look further, God eternally purposed Adam's sin and rebellion against him for his own glory. That was all part of God's purpose, wasn't it? For Adam to sin. And Adam all died, and Christ shall all be made alive. That was God's eternal purpose. that the Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified.

He's the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. We couldn't sing, and as it says in Revelation 1, we couldn't sing unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sin in His own blood. We couldn't sing that had not Adam sinned and plunged us into ruin that we might be redeemed by the blood of Christ. You see, that wasn't an accident, was it? It was all as God had thought, purposed, and he brought it to pass. He stretched out his hand and none can stay him. And then I thought about this.

How many times do we read in the book of God about Israel being delivered from 430 years of Egyptian bondage? Remember, we're gonna see in the book of Genesis how Jacob and the whole Israel ended up in Egypt, how he put Joseph on the throne. Joseph's brethren sold him out, didn't they? They sold him out. Later on, when his brethren came back and Joseph confronted them, he said to them, you meant it for evil.

God meant it for good to save much people's lives. But here God put Jacob and the whole house for 430 years in bondage in Egypt, according to his purpose. He purposed it. Why? That he might show his redeeming power in delivering them through... How did he deliver them? Through the blood of the Lamb. The blood, the Passover Lamb, you remember? The blood on the door? Exodus 12, he said, when I see the blood, When I see the blood, I'll pass over you.

And he delivered them. He opened up the Red Sea, and they went through on dry ground. And then Pharaoh and his army, they charged in after them, and God destroyed all of them. And they sang on the other side. You remember Moses and the children? They sang on the other side. The Lord is a man of war. We've won the victory. God won the victory for us. The Lord is my strength, my song. He's become my salvation.

Do you see how all that was purpose? Adam's sin? That 70 years of Babylonian captivity? I don't know how many times, someday I'm going to try to find the number, how many times it mentioned through the Word of God, how many times it mentioned about deliverance from Egyptian bondage. He brings it up over and over and over again, but that was all, it wasn't an accident was it?

They just didn't have bad luck. No, God's purpose was done in sending them 430 years. And God sent a deliverer by Moses. God delivered them to the blood of the Lamb. Now, it's not my desire to explain to you all all the details of the events, the historical events of 430 years of Egyptian bondage. We're going to see some of that in our study in Genesis, how they ended up down that way. Rather, it's to see those things, what we call providential types, instituted types, personal types, providential types of God's deliverance, and in those things, see the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How he does everything, how he does everything to bring glory to himself, which he had purposed in eternity, he brings to pass in time, doesn't he? according to his own purpose.

God gave Isaiah a sure word of prophecy concerning the certain deliverance, and it came to pass just as the Lord had said it would. The Lord of hosts has sworn, verse 24, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. As I have purposed, I will do it. I will do it. Now, think about this.

How many promises has God made to His people written throughout the Word of God? How many promises has He made? I mean, there's thousands of promises God has made. How many of the promises that God has made that He's purposed, how many of those promises will come to pass? All of them. None will fail. I'm thinking of three scriptures Paul said in Romans chapter 4, all that God had promised, He's able to perform. All that God had promised, He's able to perform.

And then Joshua. Joshua led the people across the river Jordan into the land of promise after the 40 years Delivered from Egyptian bondage, 40 years they wandered in the wilderness. God provided manna for them. God provided shelter, the cloud, the fire. And then eventually they crossed into Jordan, led by Joshua, a picture of the Savior. Moses couldn't lead them in because he represented the law. God took him up on that mountain and took him home. Joshua led them in. But Joshua made this statement.

Some of his last words recorded, we study to the book of Joshua, in Joshua 23, where he said to the people, his dying words, he said, of all that God had promised, not one word had failed. That's still true today. Everything God has promised. Peter talks about the exceeding great and precious promises we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. They'll all come to pass because God has purposed it. He says, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass.

And then Solomon in 1 Kings 8, and we've studied through 1 and 2 Kings. 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings. But when David wanted so desperately to build that temple, God said, nope, you can't do it. I'm going to raise up Solomon. Solomon and David both are personal types of Christ, but after everything was all done, and the temple was built, and they were having a dedication ceremony, and Solomon prayed and told the people all that God had promised, guess what?

Not one word has failed. We can believe everything, covenant promise God has given unto us, written and recorded in the Word of God, we can believe every promise will come to pass. He's purposed it. He'll bring it to pass. We need not despair. Just as God promised temporary deliverance to natural Israel by the power and purpose of the Lord, the Lord's mighty hand, even more so has He promised eternal salvation to His spiritual Israel The Spirit of Israel, God, by His eternal, sovereign, unchanging purpose, through Christ in Him crucified, all the elect of God, shall be saved with an everlasting salvation by His sovereign purpose and grace given to us in Christ before the foundation of the world.

Isn't that what, when Paul writes to Timothy, Paul sitting in 2 Timothy, when he writes back to young Timothy to encourage him. Paul's sitting on death row. He's on death row waiting to be executed. And he writes back to Timothy and said, don't be ashamed of me, the prisoner of the Lord.

For it's God who saved us, God who called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to God's own purpose and grace. I love those two words. God's married them together, purpose and grace, given us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We can believe Him, purpose, purpose. Everything God does, He does on purpose, by His sovereign purpose given and grace given us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We bless God who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children according to His..." Guess what? according to His eternal purpose." You cannot get away from that word, purpose.

We all know how to quote Romans 8.28.

Romans 8.28. We all know, we all know that, right? And we know, all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are called according to His Now I'm going to tell you a story, and it's a true story. I think I've told you this before, but I think it's a story worth repeating because it bears a very stark reality about salvation and the purpose of God.

Brother Henry Mahan told me this story personally more than one time, more than one time, when Ralph Barnard, that old sovereign grace preacher, came to Ashland in 1950, April of 1950, to hold a meeting there, a gospel meeting, in a Southern Baptist Armenian church. There's a 24-year-old young man sitting down there on the front row who was recently called to be the youth director and song leader of that 1500 member congregation. Big church. Biggest church in Ashland. You know what? You know where it is today? They shut the doors. Closed it up. Walked away. God put Ichabod on that door. Because, for the most part, that church would not bow to the gospel according to God's purpose.

But in April 1950, when Rob Barnard came to hold that meeting, you know who else came to town from Alabama? All the way to Ashland, Kentucky. The same week, Henry T. Mahan. And there he was sitting on that front row. And there's old Rob Barnard up there preaching. Preaching the sovereignty of God. God's elective love, elective grace, and salvation and all of grace. Pastor Mahan never heard those things before. He's raised in an Armenian church. He's never heard God's on the throne. Man's totally depraved. He's never heard those things. Well, Rob Barnard preached and preached.

And one particular day, I don't know how many nights he preached there, but one particular morning, I believe it was, he was preaching from Romans, the book of Romans, showing that justification by Christ alone, through the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.

And he got on that verse there, Romans 8.28.

He looked down at the 24-year-old Henry Mahan and he said, Can you stand up and quote Romans 8.28?

And he said, well, I think so. And he stood up and he said, well, all things work together for good to them that love God. And he sat back down. Rob Barnard said, you know the rest of it? Can you quote the rest of it? And he stood up again and he said, will all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

When he said purpose, old Rob Barnard, the brother Henry told me this. He said he screamed to the top of his lung, purpose! He said, if you ever learn God's purpose, you learn what salvation is. Purpose, purpose, purpose, purpose. That one word turned that whole man's life completely around. And he preached the gospel of the grace of God for the next 50 years.

Purpose, purpose, purpose. Isn't that amazing? It's an amazing story. We have benefited This ministry, the ministry in Kingsport, we have benefited from that old West Texas preacher, Roth Barnard, from West Texas, in Ashland, Kentucky, preaching the gospel purpose. Purpose. God saved sinners. And he would say this often. You can actually listen.

If you go to Sermon Audio and look up Roth Barnard, There's about six or seven hundred of his sermons on Sermon Audio. People over the years. He was a traveling evangelist. He called himself the hitchhiking evangelist. And he would preach and preach and preach. A lot of folks hated him. Hated him. He died in 1969. Brother Henry preached his funeral. But he preached the Lordship of Christ.

The sovereignty of God in salvation. Purpose. Purpose. And he would often say, God never saved sinners by accident. It's on purpose. The purpose, what God had purposed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Have I told you that story before? Okay, well, I'll probably tell it one more time. But it makes a point, doesn't it? It makes a point. It makes a strong point to me. Purpose. Purpose.

You can't get away from that. In salvation, it's purposed. God, who is the eternal God, is the eternal God of purpose. Everything He has decreed in eternity will come to pass in time. Everything. In creation, everything in providence, everything in salvation.

Purpose, purpose, purpose, purpose. Now hold your place there, and here's another scripture that tells us about that. Purpose. Isaiah 46, verse 9. Remember the former things of old. Isaiah 46 and 9. We've looked at this several times. Remember the former things of old.

I am God, there's none else. I am God, there's none like me. What's He like? He declares the end from the beginning. Now who can do that? None but God. He declared the end from the beginning, from ancient times to things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel, my purpose shall stand. I will do all my pleasure. Even calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that would execute my counsel from a far country, yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. Uh-oh. I have, what's that word? I have purposed it. I will also do it. God hadn't changed. He said, I'm the Lord, I do not change. I do not change.

And here's what the Scriptures reveal unto us about the salvation of the Lord. Before the world was made from all eternity, God purposed, planned, promised, predestinated the salvation of His people. God planned it. God predestinated it. He purposed and planned and predestinated who would be justified. There's a remnant according to the election of grace. He determined who would be justified. All his elect, all the Father had given to the Lord Jesus Christ in that covenant. So he chose who would be justified. We call that the election of grace. He chose the grounds by which he would justify them. In Isaiah 45, he said, I am God, beside me there is no other. I'm the only just God and Savior. Now he said, look unto me and be ye saved.

The ground by which he would save them through the blood atonement of Christ. You think it's just an accident that the Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of time was made of a woman, born of a woman, made under the law? And there he came from Nazareth and Galilee to Jerusalem to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. You think that was just accidental that he ended up on a cross? Him being delivered by the determinate counsel on foreknowledge of God.

Remember? Acts chapter two, you've taken with wicked hands, you've crucified and slain the Lord of glory. God raised him from the dead. You see, That was all by purpose, wasn't it? God purposed all that. In Acts chapter 4, he said, Parad and Pontius Pilate and Jews and Gentiles were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand, thy counsel determined before to be done. Oh, they did what their wicked heart wanted to do, didn't they? They said, away with that man. We hate that man. You put him on a cross, crucify him. We have no king but Caesar. All that they did unto the Lord Jesus Christ was purpose of God from all eternity. He's the Lamb slain, as I said, from the foundation of the world.

The Lord chose the means whereby they would receive the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Savior. And the means that God has given is through the preaching of the gospel. And through the preaching of the gospel, God gives us faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of the Lord. Faith doesn't accomplish salvation, but faith is a gift of God received the Lord Jesus Christ, who did accomplish our salvation. Paul writes about it this way in Romans 4, it is of faith that it might be by grace that the promise might be sure to all the seed. We have a sure word of prophecy, don't we, in Christ Jesus.

The certainty of their salvation is based upon the eternal covenant of grace, according to God's eternal purpose. The God of peace that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. That's all on God's purpose. His terms, purpose alone.

Now, there's something else revealed in this chapter that's relative to the gospel of Christ. The will of God is expressed as an absolute, sovereign, sure, free will that will be done. He said, as I've spoken, so will it come to pass. So will it come to pass. Notice in Isaiah 14 verse...

22. He said, I will raise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, the remnant, and the son, and the nephew, saith the Lord. I will also make it a possession for the bitter end, and pools of water I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, saith the Lord. God said, I will, I will, I will.

It's not I will, it's His will, isn't it? The frail, sinful, fallen will of man that's in bondage to his wicked nature, may be boastful, but unable to accomplish his purpose. The will of man, no man can say, as I thought, so it shall come to pass. As I purpose, it shall be done. We can't talk, we're taught to say the Lord willing. We'll do this, or we'll do that. But we can't say, OK, we can make plans. That's OK. But we always have to add, Lord willing, Lord willing, we'll do this, or we'll do that.

Now, there's just two religions in this world, one of Abel, one of Cain, one of works, and the other of God's sovereign grace, one of free grace and one of man's supposed will. The way of free grace, sovereign grace, is taught throughout this Bible. It's salvation by God's purpose, not man's purpose. God's purpose, God's purpose. The other way is man's invention that boasts of sinful creature ability and will to save himself and give himself all the credit and glory for doing so, which is impossible by the deeds of the law, shall no flesh be justified.

I sat down earlier this morning and wrote to the man that I've known for more than 30 years that wrote that newspaper article. And he said that Christ came that we might achieve salvation. I wrote him this morning. He's not written me back. I don't know that he will. Not that it makes any difference, but I felt compelled to expose what he said. Christ didn't come to enable us to achieve salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ achieved salvation for us. He said, It's finished. He didn't say, I started a work and then you achieve it. No, he said it's finished. It's done.

Well done. Salvation is by His grace. If I know anything at all what this book teaches, and I've been looking at it for a few years, more than 40 years. Salvation is by grace. Grace. Grace. Electing grace. Fetching grace. calling grace, regenerating grace, all of the grace of God.

All of the grace of God. All of the grace of God. All free well works religion makes salvation dependent in some way upon the, to some degree upon the creature's will and not the grace of God alone. conditioned on a sinner rather than a sinner substitute, Jesus Christ. The religion of the Bible is a free, sovereign grace of God. There's no part in salvation determined, dependent upon the will of man, but by the will of God. By the will of God.

I could give you scripture after scripture after scripture. Scripture after scripture after scripture. The Bible does not teach that salvation is by man's choice, but rather by God's choice. He said, you didn't choose me, I chose you. The Bible does not teach that salvation is by man's will, but God's will. It's not him that willeth nor him that runneth, but God that shows mercy. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.

We've often heard people say, well, I've had this said to me over the years. They always come up with this statement, I don't know where it started, but they say man is a free moral agent. You ever heard that? A free moral agent. Well, I got a problem with that. Wrong on all three counts. Man is not free, he's fallen. He's dead in sin and in bondage to his sinful nature. Man is not moral, he's a monster. He's born in sin, shape, and iniquity. Man is not an agent either. He's an alien. He's not free. He's fallen. He's not moral. He's a monster. He's not an agent. He's an alien without God, without hope, and without Christ.

Someone say, well, why do you make this an issue? And that preacher who wrote the newspaper article It was in Bridie's paper. He was talking about why is there so much division among religious circles. I wrote him back and I said, I wrote to him and said, I quoted that scripture, John, there was a division because of him.

And I said, God's people are not divided over the personal work of Christ. God's people are not divided on how God saves sinners. It's the lost religious people that want to have divisions. Salvation has always been by the grace of God, the will of God, the purpose of God.

Why make this an issue? Can't we just compromise and get along? Can't we just take the offense of the cross out? and pat everybody on the back and say, you're okay, I'm okay. No, we can't. If you remove the offense of the cross, it's offensive to tell men they're sinners. It's offensive to tell them and shut them up to the sovereign mercy of God alone. But if we remove the offense, we remove the power of the gospel. That's the power of the gospel. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. It's the power of God and salvation to everyone that believes, Jew or Gentile.

Jew or Gentile. Isn't this just theological hair-splitting? No. No, it's not. No, it's not. Salvation has to be as it's taught in the Word of God. Grace. Grace. Of His fullness have we all received grace for grace. Grace upon grace. Purpose. You got it? Salvation is by God's purpose, given in Christ before the foundation of the world. If you're a lover and a believer of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's because God purposed from all eternity to make you an object of his love and to make you a new creature in Christ Jesus.

Salvation By God's Purpose

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Salvation By God's Purpose

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