If you would open your Bibles
with me to Psalm 98. Before Brother Roland read for
us to open the service, I thought, oh, he's going to read the same
psalm that I picked out to read, because he was talking about
it's not our habit to clap and give the Lord a standing ovation,
although it's occurred to me a time or two after hearing the
gospel preachers. We read this psalm. I want you
to notice this. God's creation is going to give him a standing
ovation when he returns. Look here at Psalm 98. O sing
unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvelous things.
His right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory.
The Lord hath made known his salvation. His righteousness
hath he showed openly in the sight of the heathen. He hath
remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth. Make a loud
noise and rejoice and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound
of a cornet, make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King. Let
the sea roar in the fullness thereof, the world and all they
that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands.
Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord. For he cometh
to judge the earth with righteousness. So he judged the world and the
people with equity. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together. Our father again, we thank you
how we thank you that you've allowed us to be here this weekend
to hear the messages that you've given your servants to preach
and for us to hear the good news of the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Father, we don't have the words
that can express the proper amount of thanksgiving,
worship and praise that you have seen fit to redeem sinful men
and women such as we are. Father, we're thankful. Father,
I pray as Our brother Todd comes to preach to us that you'd uphold
him with thy spirit, that you'd fill his heart, that you'd open
his mouth and let him one more time declare the glorious riches
of Christ our Savior. And Father, enable us to hear. Oh, don't let us, let this glorious
privilege pass us by. Father, let us hear and grant
us faith to believe the Lord Jesus Christ as we hear him preached.
Father, it's in Christ's name, for his sake and his glory, we
pray. Amen. If you would, turn in your hymnals
to song number 176, and we'll sing, Break Thou the Bread of
Life. Break thou the bread of life,
dear Lord, to me, as thou didst break the loaves beside the sea. Be on the sacred page, I seek
Thee, Lord. My spirit pants for Thee, O living
Word. Blest Thou the truth, dear Lord,
to me, to me! As Thou didst bless the bread
by Galilee, Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall, and
I shall find my peace, my all in all. Thou art the bread of
life, O Lord, to me. Give me to eat and live with
thee above. Teach me to love thy truth, for
thou art love. O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now
unto me, that He may touch my eyes and make me see. And in thy book revealed, I see
the Lord. Our next speaker, Pastor Todd
Nyberg, Todd's Road Grace Church. I don't think it's really possible
to overstate my love and abiding respect for Todd. I thank God
for you. Maybe the best way to kind of
tell you how me and Janet feel about him, he's the pastor of
our children. And we have a grandson who's
not yet two. And Janet said, I know who I want preaching to
him, to our grandson. That's who I want preaching to
him, telling him about Christ. And that'll be a while, Todd.
But right now, I hope you can tell me about Christ. You come
preach to us. Would you turn with me to Ephesians
chapter 1? Such a blessing to be with you. When Chris asked the question,
do you really believe yourself to be the chief of sinners? And
I would say, yes. And if you say, I agree, you
are, I'll get mad. Verse 11. In whom? And we know that that is speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of God's salvation. Is in. Him. Nowhere else. in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance. So glorious that we can't even
speak of it. It's way above our comprehension,
our ability to perceive. But we have it. We've obtained
it. That means we got it. Being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things. After the council the will of
His own will. I've entitled this message, Biblical
Predestination. I have two reasons for entitling
it that, Biblical Predestination. Number one is because predestination
is biblical. I just read it. And number two,
there is a belief in predestination that is not biblical. You can preach predestination. And not preach the gospel. And it's equally true. You cannot
preach the gospel. and not preach predestination. Biblical predestination. Now my reason for bringing this
message is not to convince anyone that predestination is true. It is, but this is not my goal
in preaching, to try to convince someone that the Bible teaches
predestination, nor is my goal to correct the error of a non-biblical
view of predestination. That's really not my goal. My
goal is to preach the gospel. That's what I want to do. And
you pray for me, and you pray for yourselves, that that is
what will take place in this message. The Declaration of the
Gospel. Now before we go on, what does
the term mean? Predestination. What does the
term mean? The word is used six times in
the New Testament. Four times it is translated what
it is in our text. Predestinated. One time the word
is translated determined before to be done. And the other time
it is translated ordained before the world. It means to determine beforehand. Very simple. I predestinated this morning
to be here. I determined before that this
is where I would be. We make these predeterminations
every single day. It's a very simple concept. God predetermines everything
he does. There's an infinite difference
between him predetermining something and me predetermining something.
If I predetermine something, I have no power to make it come
to pass. It comes to pass if he wills
it, but I have no power to make it come to pass. I might have
gotten my card and ran into somebody and I'm dead and wouldn't be
able to do it. determined about being here this
morning. I could have become very ill. Circumstances can change
everything. And I have no power to do what
I have predetermined to do. None. You know, control freaks, they
want to control everything, and you don't have any control. None.
Zero. Nada. Nothing. When God determines something
because of his character, because of who he is, it is absolutely
necessary that it take place. Nothing can prevent God's determination
from being done. I want you to turn for a moment
to Isaiah 46. And while you're turning there,
I wanna quote Daniel chapter four, verse 35. It says, with
regard to God, he doeth according to his will in the armies of
heaven and down here among the inhabitants of the earth. Everything
that takes place is his will being done. He doeth. according to his will in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and
none can stay his hand or say to him, what doest thou? Give
an account for yourself. He gives no account of his matters.
He doesn't owe me and you an explanation. He's God, and whatever
he does is right. We trust his character. I mean,
it's right. I might think, why did he let
that happen? I don't know, but it's right.
because he is God. Look in Isaiah chapter 46 verse
9. Remember the former things of
old for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there's
none like me. You know in the word godly and godliness. The word God is not actually
in the word. It means well-devout. When we say he's a godly man,
no he's not. Nobody's like God. Nobody's like God. He says there's
none like me. Now, godly in the sense of devout
men by the grace of God? Yeah, there's, every believer
is. But as far as comparing someone to the living God, he's like
God. No, he's not. He's very Christ-like. No, he's
not. No, he's not. No, there's none like him. Declaring, verse 10, the end
from the beginning. And from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand. and I will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country,
yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it. I will also do it. Predestination is biblical. I just read the word. It's in
the Bible. Do you say, well, I don't believe
in predestination? Well, to be consistent with that, you must
also say, I do not believe the Bible. To be consistent. Predestination, I like the word. You can choose to ignore it,
but you can't deny it's in the Bible. I just read it. Predestination. Do you believe in predestination?
Yes, I do. A God that is not the God who predestinates is
a non-existent God. Predestination is God being God. If I don't believe, In the God
of predestination, I believe in a God that does not exist. There's not much, if any, difference
between believing in a God that does not exist and believing
God does not exist, is there? I believe that God doesn't exist
or I believe in a God that does not exist. What's the difference? Atheism, any way you look at
it. And atheism, that's the only, that's the only option between
God of predestination, you don't believe in God of predestination,
you believe in a non-existent God, or you don't believe God
exists. Atheism is illogical, it's irrational,
it's unreasonable. The only logical explanation
for the fact that there's something and not nothing is God. There
is no other reason. Any objection to that is illogical,
unreasonable, and irrational. And I know atheistic theories
abound about the origins of things, but they all begin with a leap
into the dark. Blind faith. Make-believe. If God is, and
He is, predestination is just who He is. It's who He is. Stephen Hawking, I read that
book on a brief history of time, I wasn't expecting this, and
this doesn't prove anything, but most of Stephen Hawking is that
physicist or whatever it was, the British guy, they had a TV
show about him, but I remember when I was reading that book,
A Brief History of Time, he made this statement, and I loved this,
I wasn't expecting it. He said, if there's a God, and
he went back and forth during his career, sometimes he, he
said, if there's a God, free will's impossible. There's no
such thing. Now, I don't believe predestination
because it's logical or makes sense. I believe predestination
because the Bible teaches it. The only true source of truth
is this book. God inspired this book. And all we know of the character
of God is from this book. Somebody says, do you expect
me to believe that God inspired every word and doesn't have any
error in it? Yeah, I do. I do. Do you expect me to believe God
created the universe from nothing? Yeah, I do. I do. And he who
created the universe from nothing has the power to inspire men
to write a book and keep it preserved throughout the centuries. Biblical predestination. Yes, predestination is logical,
but first of all, it is biblical. Now there is a belief in predestination
that's not biblical. I want to spend just a couple
of moans on that. It is sometimes being called
double predestination. Have you ever heard that term?
Some have not. Let me tell you what it means. If God has predestinated some
to heaven, it's only logical that he predestinated everybody
else to hell. That is double predestination. I heard one man describe double
predestination as the two sides of the same coin. Does the Bible
teach this? That God predestinated some to
heaven? Yes. Does the Bible teach that
God predestinated some to hell? No. Now someone says, Why are
you saying that? Turn with me for a moment to
1 Corinthians chapter 4. Look at verse 6. If you have a King
James Bible, Verse six, and these things, brethren, have I in a
figure transferred to myself and to Paulus for your sakes,
that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which
is written. Now notice, of men is in italics. That means it was placed there
by the translator. And this is one of those times
where I think it probably shouldn't have been placed there. That
you might think, of men above that which is written know that
you might not think above that which is written. That's the
meaning. Don't even think beyond what
is written. Don't try to carry something
out to its logical conclusion. Don't even think beyond that
which is written. Now predestination is mentioned
six times in the New Testament and all six times it has with
regard to salvation. Well, it only seems logical that
if God predestined some to be saved, then he predestined everybody
else to be lost. That only seems logical. It might
seem that way, but the Bible doesn't say it. That's why this
is so important. The Bible does not say it. If
I am damned, if I am condemned, I'm not condemned because God
predestinated me to be condemned. I'm condemned because of my works.
I'm condemned because of my sin. Now let me show you this in scripture.
I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 20. This is talking about judgment. Revelation chapter 20. This is
an awesome passage of scripture. Verse 11. And I saw a great white throne. And him that sat on it from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found
no place for them. And I saw the dead. Small and
great. Stand before God And the books,
plural, were opened. And another book, singular, was
opened, which is the Book of Life, called in Revelation 13,
8, the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Now, in this Book of Life, we
have the names of all of God's represented by the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's also spoken of in Daniel
chapter 12 and in Revelation chapter 17. This one book opened
the book of life. The only people that have life
are the people in this book. Now look what it states. And
the dead, verse 12, the dead, those who are dead in sins, the
living were in this one book, The dead and sins were judged
out of those things which were written in the books according
to the fact that they were predestinated to be condemned. It doesn't say
that at all, does it? It says they were judged according to
their works. If I'm condemned, it's because
of my sin against God. If I'm saved, it has absolutely
nothing to do with my works. It's because I was in the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. I love that scripture,
Romans 9, 11 for the children. Being not yet born. Neither having
done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it's written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now, why did he
love Jacob? Like you said, because. Because he is love. Why did he
hate Esau? Well, the scripture says, thou
hatest all workers of iniquity. This was not some kind of arbitrary
choice. Well, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna
save this one, I'm gonna damn this one. No damnation is of man. If I am condemned, and if you're
condemned, it'll be because God is giving us exactly what we
deserve. And if I'm cast into hell, the
whole created universe will applaud God for doing it, for ridding
the universe of somebody like me. Now, damnation. You know, I've heard this, if
I'm damned, God damns me. I don't want to be dismissive
of that, but I've heard people say, with regard to say, If you
get fired, you fired yourself. That's why you're fired. And
I know that's not always the case, but it is a lot of times.
But in this thing of saying God predestinated some to hell, does
it say, For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God, according to election, might stand, that salvation might
not be of works, but of him that calleth. But it's also true that
damnation is not of works, but of him that calleth." No. No. No. What about that scripture in
Romans 9, 21 that speaks of those vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? What's wrath for? See? Vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction. And what about that scripture
in 1 Peter 2, verse 8, when he talks about those who stumbled
at the word, being disobedient, whereunto they also were appointed. And that's the language. Well,
they stumbled at the word. Being disobedient. Wherein to
also they were appointed. I love that. I don't have trouble
with that. God's God. I would like you to
look at this one with me, Jude chapter four. Right before the book of Revelation. Jude verse four. Four. There are certain men crept in,
unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness
and denying the only Lord and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it
says they were before of old ordained to this condemnation. Yeah. Ungodly men. And that word, you'll notice
in verse four, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.
Does this mean these are men who who use the grace of God
as an excuse for sin. Salvation by grace, I can live
any way I want. I can live in wickedness and
rebellion, and it doesn't matter. Is that what that's saying? No,
that's not what it's saying. When's the last time you ran
across somebody who said, I believe in salvation by grace, therefore
I can go out and, I'm sure there are people like that, but there
are not many of them. That word turned is translated. They translate
grace like this. If you believe that, that'll
lead to sin. You ever heard that? These are these ungodly men who
turned the grace of God into lasciviousness, and they were
before of old ordained to this condemnation. Now, that's in
the Bible. I love it. It's not predestination,
though. Every time the word predestination
in the New Testament is used, it's always with regard to Now,
those who hold this thing of double predestination do not
believe biblical predestination. If I hold to something that's
wrong, I've got a bad motive for holding it. Any error I have,
there's a bad motive behind it. This distorts the character of
God. It distorts both salvation and condemnation, and it takes
the emphasis off of Christ onto some kind of purpose that, it's just wrong. I don't know how else to say
it, it's just wrong. It's just wrong. Now to go back to our text in
Ephesians chapter one, In whom? Verse 11. There's where
predestination is. In whom? John chapter 14, verse 6, the
Lord said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man cometh
to the Father but by me. Amen. But you know that word
by is also sometimes translated in. No man cometh to the Father
but in me. All of God's purpose of grace
and salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't separate
predestination and the purpose of Jesus Christ. God in him. Another word for predestination
is in Christ. In Christ, in whom? in whom we
have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. Predestination is God being God. Such language is worthy of the
God of glory, having predestinated us according to the purpose of
him that worketh all things, that covers everything, after
the counsel of his own will. That is worthy of God. That's who God is, the God of
predestination. I love the God of predestination. You know the only response is,
there is no other response. Worship. You'll only worship
an absolute sovereign. If you can manipulate him, if
you can control him, if you can get him to do stuff, you won't
worship. But you worship one. You're in
his hand. For him to do with you whatsoever
he is pleased to do. There's only one response to
that. Oh, you can get mad if you want. That's a bad place
to be. The only proper response is worship. This is who he is. Biblical predestination is the
God of the Bible being God. Anything less is a non-existent
God. Might as well be an atheist.
Same difference. Look in Ephesians chapter 1. Once again, Chris already dealt
with this this morning. According, verse four, as he
has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestinated us. Why? He loved us. That is the reason. behind predestination. Now, I realize that God is eternal
and there are no sequence of events with him. There's not
a chronological order. He sees everything at once because
he's God. But if we're gonna try to, what's the reason for
predestination? Is there something before it?
Well, there's nothing before anything with God. I realize
that, but love's before predestination. For no, for love. Then he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Predestinating love. Behold, I have loved you with
an everlasting love, a love that had no beginning. The reason for God's predestinating
grace is in Christ, his love. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans chapter eight. You're familiar with this passage
of scripture. Verse 28, and we know that all
things, and we know. I love it when Paul says that. We know. We know. And he's speaking
as a spokesman for all of God's elect. Every believer can say
we know. This fits the character of our
God. We know. This is who he is. This is who
he is. And we know. that all things work together
for good. To them that love God, to them
who are thee called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that
he might be. the firstborn among many brethren. Now I want to say this with the,
I hope with the proper reverence and fear. God took a look at his only begotten
and well beloved son and said, I'm going to have a bunch more
just like him. Predestinated to be conformed
to the image of his son. Now, is this something you want?
Do you want to be delivered from being who you are and being made
perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, where when God
sees you, all he sees is his son perfectly conformed to his
image? Oh, don't you love predestination?
There's no hope of salvation. There's no hope of being conformed
to his image without his predestinating love. And let's go on reading
verse 30. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom
he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, Then he
also glorified, what shall we say to these things? If God be
for us, who can be against us? Now, we have what has been called
the five golden links of salvation here. His foreknowledge, predestination,
calling, justification, glorification. Which of those can you leave
out and be saved? Listen, if he's predestinated
you, he's called you. Well, how do I know if he's called
me? You'll be calling. If he's called you, you're calling
on him right now, Lord save me. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. If He's calling you, here's the
evidence. You're calling on Him. Lord, save me. Save me by Your
name. Save me by Your attributes. Save me by Your justice. Save
me by Your sovereignty. Will my salvation. Save me by
Your grace. Save me by Your love. Save me
by Your independence because You don't need anything from
me in order to save me. You're calling on all the attributes
of God to save you. If you're doing that, here's
why. He called you. He called. He called. He justified you. This is not something you accepted.
This is something he did. The judge doesn't say, well,
do you want to be justified or condemned? Well, no, it doesn't
work that way. No, he justified you. He made
it to where you've never sinned. You're not just as if you never
sinned, you've never sinned in Christ. That sin put away, he
justified. Whom he justified, he glorified. A predestination is a part of
that great golden chain of salvation. If
one of those links is broken, none of them work, do they? Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 for a moment. This is one of the times the
word is used. Verse seven. But we speak the
wisdom of God. In a mystery. I love that word
mystery. A mystery is something we could
have never known had not God made it known in his word. Couldn't
have known it. The gospel is mysterious, isn't
it? You know, you don't so much understand the mystery as believe
it. The mystery of scripture. The mystery of God being one
God and three distinct persons. That's not something, I'm going
to do a study on God and here's what I've come up with. It doesn't
work that way. Mystery. Mystery. And look what he says about the
mystery. even the hidden wisdom. Remember when Christ said, I
thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you've
hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them
unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy
sight. That's the only reason it's needed.
It seemed good in his sight. But we speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God predestinated. for our glory. Same work. Which God ordained before the
world and to our glory. Now, what's that all about? Our
glory. I remember every time the word
predestination is used, it has something to do with salvation.
The Lord said the glory thou has given me, I have given them. That's the glory speaking up.
Once again, Predestination always has something to do with salvation. Turn with me for a moment to
Acts chapter four. Now, at this time, these people
had been saved, born again for just a few weeks at the most.
These people we're talking about. This is the early church. This
is right after Pentecost. This is new believers. These
are not old, mature believers. These are believers that had
just been saved. They'd heard Peter preach on
Pentecost. This is just some short time
after that, here in Acts chapter four. This is at the beginning
of the early church. Now look what these people had
to say in Acts chapter four, beginning in verse 25, they are quoting the Psalms,
Acts 4.25, who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said,
why did the heathen rage? And the people imagined vain
things. The kings of the earth stood up. The rulers were gathered
together against the Lord and against his Christ, for of a
truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people
of Israel were gathered together. Now that covers everybody. Herod,
Pilate, Gentiles, people of Israel. Gathered together, what? For
to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel predestinated. Determined before to be done. When they were lifting up the
hammer to drive the nails in his hands and feet, God determined
before for this to be done. Now, one thing, everything is included
in predestination. Everything, including this, including
everything else. And it's not difficult for God.
He's God. I mean, me and you. It's not hard for Him. But this
is the determination of His salvation. Christ is the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. The creation of the universe
was for this event. Christ, the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And these men were doing whatsoever
God's hand and God's counsel determined before to be done. Salvation. Biblical predestination is nothing
less than God being God And if you don't worship the God of
absolute predestination, you might as well be worshiping a
token pole. There's no difference. All of God's predestinating purpose
is in Christ Jesus. Predestination, apart from Christ,
is just fatalism. Nothing more than that. But oh,
according as if chosen us in him before the foundation of
the world that we should be holy, and without blame before him
in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in If you take away predestination,
there's no hope of us being saved. No hope. You see, if I'm dead in sins,
the way the scripture says, born dead, evil, sinful, if there's
no predestination, there's no salvation. Thank God for predestination. Predestination, there's no understanding
of the cross. Here's predestination. Thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's predestination. That's
God's predestining purpose. When he said he is finished,
his people were saved from their sins. Most people look at, and I'm
not exaggerating, most people look at the death of Jesus Christ
as being for everybody, making salvation possible for everybody,
and it's up to you to make it work for you, to activate it.
No. Predestination is those names
written in the book of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. And the Bible cannot be understood
apart from that verse. Christ being the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. That's God's purpose. That's
God's predestinating purpose. Now, any objection somebody makes
to predestination is just false. Well, that'll lead people to
sin. No, it doesn't. That'll destroy missions. No, it doesn't. All the objections to predestination
are false, frivolous, and quite frankly, stupid. That's all they
can be called. Now I want to leave you with
this thought. Predestination opens the door
wide to heaven. This isn't keeping people out. And somebody's saying, am I predestinated? Am I one of the predestinated? Are you a sinner? Let's forget the predestination
part right now. Are you a sinner? And I mean that by what the Bible
means. If you're a sinner, that means
you break God's law every second you live your life. You've not
kept one commandment one time ever in all your life. And Chris, like you said, you
can't look down your nose at anybody for anything if you're
a sinner. So here's my first question.
Someone said, am I predestinated? Are you a sinner? Okay, yes to that. Here's the
second question. Are you a whosoever? Are you a whosoever? Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. Are you in that demographic?
Are you whosoever? Well, I'm a sinner. I am. I'm not talking about how
I used to be before I was saved. When Paul said, Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, I used to be the chief. Man,
I was a rascal. of whom I am right now, present
tense, the chief. Am I a whosoever? Whosoever. Don't care who you
are. Whosoever. Shall call. You can do that. Or you can say, now I can have
the spiritual. No, I'm just saying, do it. Call. What a blessed command. Whosoever shall call, Lord, save
me, help me. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, I love biblical predestination
because I love the God of biblical predestination. And I love what
biblical predestination does. It glorifies God. And it's the
God's purpose to save. And if I'm not saved, it's not
because God predestinated me to not be saved. If I'm not saved
because it's I refuse to ask for mercy. If my sin is all my fault. What I need is mercy. And if I'm not saved, it's because
I never asked for mercy. There's never been anybody in
the history of the universe that asked for mercy for Christ's
sake that God turned down. Nope, you're not predestinated.
Doesn't work that way. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
for no reason whatsoever. I understand. Thank you so much, Todd. If the Lord gives us faith to
really believe God had predestinated his people, to be conformed to
the image of his son. It gives us such peace. God didn't
predestinate me to be conformed to the image of his son before
time began. I haven't done one thing after I was born to deserve
it. God had to do it for the foundation of the world. And
he did it by his mercy, by his grace, by his power. I fall down
and worship that God. How about you? All right, Sean's
going to lead us in a closing song. Our ladies have prepared
a meal. Give them a few minutes to get
ready. The man will set up some tables and we'll go through that
door and around. But before Sean comes and leads
us in a song, let's bow in prayer. Our father, how we thank you
for the gospel of your dear son, our Lord Jesus Christ. How we
thank you that you in love that no human being can
understand would choose to save sinful men and women such as
us by the sacrifice of your son made flesh. That you'd call us
by your gospel that you would send another sinful man to tell
us the glory of redemption in Christ our Savior. And that you'd
give us the faith to believe it. Father, how we thank you.
Father, we continually beg your mercy and your grace. We thank
you, Father, for all things. Human language is just not sufficient
to say thank you properly, but Father, we thank you. We thank
you for this time. We thank you for this food that
we're about to eat and ask you to bless our time of fellowship.
For those who have to travel back home today, we ask you to
give them traveling mercies We beg of you that you meet with
us one more time tomorrow and let us hear another word from
thee. Father, it's in Christ's name for his sake and his glory,
we pray. Amen. Now you'll notice for those
of you who are staying over and our folks who live here, uh,
we're having a time of fellowship together this evening at Fred's
restaurant in Wheelersburg. The address is in the bulletin.
They've given us a room that will be just for us. And then
after that, we're going to go over to Tim and Heather's house
and have some desserts and a good time together. So hope y'all
will come for that. All right. Okay, Sean. Okay, if you would turn in your
handles to song number 283, 283 and stand as we sing yesterday,
today forever. Oh, how sweet the glorious message
simple faith may claim. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. Still He loves to save the sinful,
heal the sick and lame. Cheer the mourner, calm the tempest,
glory to his name. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. He who pardoned erring Peter,
never needs thou fear. He who came to faithless Thomas,
all thy doubt will clear. He who left the love disciple
on his bosom rest. Bids thee still with love as
tender lean upon his breast. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. He who, mid the raging billows,
walked upon the sea, still can hush our wildest tempers as on
Galilee. He who wept and prayed in anguish
in Gethsemane Drinks with us each cup of trembling in our
agony Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. All may change, but Jesus never,
glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. As of old He walked to obey us,
with them to abide. So through all life's way He
walketh ever near our side. Soon again shall we behold Him,
hasten, Lord, the day. One who'll still be this same
Jesus as He went away. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name.