Isaiah chapter 14. The title of the message this evening
is God's Purpose Shall Stand. Now the fact that God's purpose
cannot fail, that His purpose can't be changed, that it can't
be stopped, that's a whole lot more than doctrine. That's sound
doctrine. But that's a whole lot more than
doctrine to the children of God. It's our confidence. and our
comfort and our assurance. And that's what I want us to
look at tonight. God's purpose shall stand. Verse 24 says, The
Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so
shall it come to pass. As I have purposed, so shall
it stand. As I have thought, so shall it
come to pass. Now, this is how powerful God
is. The thought of God. is the same as the action of
God. The thought of God is just as done as the action of God. Now, what are the thoughts of
God? His thoughts are done. What pure, perfect, wonderful
thoughts God has of His people. I want you to look at a few Scriptures.
First is Psalm 33. Let's see what some of these
thoughts of God towards His people are. Psalm 33, verse 8. Let all the earth fear the Lord.
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For
he spake, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord bringeth the counsel
of the heathen to naught. He maketh the devices of the
people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth
forever. The thoughts of his heart to
all generations. The thought of his heart to all
generations is salvation. That's what he says in verse
12. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people
whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. That's his thoughts. Brethren, it's done. Just as
much as his actions. Aren't you glad his thoughts
shall come to pass? Now look at Psalm 40. Psalm 40, verse 5. Many, O Lord my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to usward." What an amazing statement. God thinks on us.
His thoughts are to usward. They can't be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they more
than can be numbered. Now here are the thoughts of
God. His thought of sending His Son to be the sacrifice for His
people. Verse 6. Sacrifice and offering thou does
not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said
I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O God. Yea, thy
law is within my heart." God had the thought of the sacrifice
for sin of His people, and He had the thought of sending His
people, His Son, the Preacher. Look at verse 9. I preach righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips.
O Lord, Thou knowest. I have not hid Thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared Thy faithfulness
and Thy salvation. I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness
and Thy truth from the great congregation." We never would
have known anything about righteousness and faithfulness and salvation
and lovingkindness and truth if it wasn't for God sending
His Son to be the preacher and declare those things in Himself.
Aren't you thankful the thoughts of God shall come to pass? Now
look at Jeremiah 29. Jeremiah 29. In verse 11. This is the Lord speaking, he
says, I know the thoughts I think towards you, saith the Lord.
thoughts of peace, not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me,
and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me and find
me, and ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will
be found of you, saith the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity,
and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the
places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord. And I'll
bring you again into the place which I caused you to be carried
away captive. You're going to seek for me and
find me because that's my thought. For you to find you, aren't you
glad God's thoughts always come to pass? And he says back in
our text, what I have purposed, so shall it stand. That word
purpose literally means counseled together. Well, that's God's
eternal covenant of grace. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit, they counseled together in eternity. And they agreed
on God's purpose of grace to His elect. The Father chose them. The Son will come and redeem
them with His blood. And the Holy Spirit will apply
that blood and give life. And brethren, that counsel shall
stand. That purpose for every last one
of those elect to have eternal life shall stand. And you know
why I'm so sure? There's not any doubt in my mind
whatsoever God's purpose of the salvation of His elect, His counsel,
shall stand. I'm so confident because it's
God who's performing His purpose and His will. Look in Isaiah
chapter 46. You know, if this were up to
you and me, there'd be doubt about this purpose being accomplished.
I can't even accomplish my purpose half the time. But this is not
up to you and me. God is the one performing his
purpose. Isaiah 46, verse 9. Remember
the former things of old. For I am God, and there is none
else. I am God, and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times
of things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand.
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 do it. Now look over in Hebrews chapter
6. God's purpose is going to be accomplished because he's
the one doing it. Back in our text you'll see this
when we turn back over there. This is what God swore that he
would do. His purpose shall stand, his
thought shall come to pass. In Hebrews chapter 6. 16 I am confident God's purpose
shall come to pass, for God swore he would do what he said. 17
For men barely swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation
is to them an end of all strife. 18 Wherein God, willing more
abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability,
the unchangeableness of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. that
by two immutable things, God's word and God's oath, in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us. Aren't you glad those thoughts
will come to pass? God's purpose shall stand because
He's the one accomplishing it. And believers can take comfort
and confidence in the purpose of God. This world seems to us to be
very uncertain, doesn't it? It seems like a dangerous, uncertain
place that could just spin off its axis at any moment. But now
you remember this. I don't care how powerful a man
gets. I don't care how large and powerful
an army a man can gather together. They cannot, cannot, stop God's
purpose. They can't affect God's purpose.
Matter of fact, they're not accomplishing their purpose at all. God's using
them to accomplish His purpose. Satan and his army of demons,
now they're mighty, but I'm telling you, they cannot stop God's purpose
for His elect. They can't make His purpose void.
Look at verse 27 back in our text of Isaiah 14. For the Lord
of hosts hath purposed Now who's going to disannul that? Who's
going to disannul His purpose? And it's His hand that's stretched
out. Who's going to turn back His hand? God Almighty stretched
out His hand to do His thoughts. The Almighty stretched out His
hand to accomplish His purpose. Now who's going to stop that
mighty hand? Who? Our Lord Jesus said, My Father
which gave them Me is greater than all. And no man is able
to pluck them out of my Father's hand." God's purpose for His
elect shall stand because of who God is. Now in this chapter,
there are some things that God tells us about His thoughts,
what His thoughts are and what shall come to pass. And He tells
us some things that He has purposed that we know shall stand. And the first one is this, God's
purpose of election. Look at verse 1. We looked at
this last week with verse 1 of Isaiah 14. For the Lord will
have mercy on Jacob. That's his purpose. He will have
mercy on Jacob and will yet choose Israel and set them in their
own land. And the strangers shall be joined
with them and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. Now God
has elected a people unto salvation. Every one of them are strangers
and foreigners from God by their natural birth. But they will
because this is God's purpose. They're all going to be joined
together in Christ. They're going to come to Christ
and they're going to cleave to Him because they're going to
be born again. Now this is God's purpose. The
salvation of His elect. He's going to bring them out.
He's going to bring them to Christ. He's going to give them freedom.
Everything God's doing. Everything. Watch the news. It seems pretty scary. But I'm
telling you, everything on the evening news, whatever it is
they report, God's doing it, and He's doing it for His purpose
of the salvation of His elect. I don't have any idea how He
can work all that out and how that's affecting something else,
but I just know this is so. Whatever it is God's doing, He's
doing to accomplish His purpose of the salvation of His elect.
And they're going to be saved. They're going to be joined to
Christ. Sunday morning we talked in a lot of detail about God's
election, so we won't go into a great deal of detail about
that tonight. But I want to give you a few
promises. Look over in Mark chapter 13. I want to give you a few
promises of God to His elect. God's purpose according to His
elect shall stand. None of them will be deceived
into falling away from Christ. It's not possible. Mark 13, verse
21. And then if any man shall say
to you, lo, here's Christ, or lo, he's there, believe him not. For false Christ and false prophets
shall arise, and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it
were possible." I'm so glad for that phrase, if it were possible,
even the elect. It's not possible for them to
deceive the elect into falling away from Christ because God's
purpose for them shall stand. They're going to be joined to
Christ. And all God's elect will be gathered to Christ eternally.
Look at verse 26 of Mark 13. And then shall they see the Son
of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then
shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect
from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to
the uttermost part of heaven. They're all going to be gathered
to Christ. Because that's His purpose. That's His purpose for
His elect. Now, they're born sinners, but
it's God's purpose that they be made just like Christ. That
they be made without sin. You'll not be able to lay anything. No sin can be charged at God's
elect. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies it. It's
God who accomplished His purpose. God's purpose is to make His
elect without sin, and that's exactly what He's made them in
Christ. Now look at 1 Peter chapter 1. In 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter tells
us this is God's purpose for His elect. 1 Peter 1 verse 2. according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you,
and peace be multiplied." That's God's purpose for His elect.
They're foreknown and foreloved of the Father. The Holy Spirit's
going to come and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice of Christ
on their hearts, and they're going to be made holy. They're
going to be made obedient, and they're going to enjoy, have
multiplied to them grace and peace. Aren't we glad? God's purpose shall stand. His purpose according to election
shall stand. Now second, back in our text,
verse 25, here's the second thing God tells us. His purpose for
His elect is that they be set free from every oppressor. He says in verse 25, that I will
break the Assyrian in my land, And upon my mountains tread him
underfoot. And then shall his yoke depart
from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders."
This is God's purpose. He's going to break every yoke
of everyone oppressing His people. God's going to take every heavy
burden that's been placed on the backs of His people, and
He's going to take it away. Now, in the rest of this chapter,
He gives us four oppressors. four specific oppressors God's
going to put away. He's going to take them away
from his people. And the first one is the grave.
Verse 9 of chapter 14. Hell, that's the grave, from
beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming. It stirs
up the dead for thee, even all the cheap ones of the earth.
It hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the
nations. Now, human beings Live under bondage of the fear of
death. We live in fear of the grave
from beneath being moved to meet us at our coming to the grave.
We speak of the grave as kind of a scary, dark, cold place,
you know. And it's big business. I mean,
selling caskets is Big business. You don't want your loved one
to be cold and get wet. They paint this awful scary place
you don't want them to be, so you buy a more expensive casket.
The reason they can do that is this is what's in our nature.
The fear of the grave. But now there is no reason for
the believer to fear the grave. None. No reason for the believer
to fear death at all. Christ died for His elect. So death can never harm his people.
There can't be any eternal death for anyone for whom Christ died.
He already died that death for them. There's nothing to fear. In Matthew 27, verse 52, we read
that when the Lord Jesus gave up the ghost, he cried, it's
finished, and he gave up the ghost. And everybody knows this.
When he did that, that veil in the temple was torn in two from
top to bottom, wasn't it? showing that the way to God is
now wide open in Christ. But you know what else happened
that moment that he cried it's finished and gave up the ghost?
The graves were opened and the saints arose from the grave and
they appeared in Jerusalem resurrected. They weren't ghosts. They were
resurrected at the very moment our Lord gave up the ghost. And
it fulfilled this prophecy right here, the grave that stirreth
up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth.
When Christ went into the grave, his people came out of the grave.
They were resurrected. And this is giving us a picture
of what God's done for his elect spiritually. Now, they're born
spiritually dead, but they're going to have eternal life. This
is God's purpose for them. And they're going to have eternal
life because Christ died for them. and went into the grave
for them, so they come out of the grave. Now, in every message,
we talk about the death of Christ. In every message, this is something
we talk about every week. Don't let familiarity with the
knowledge that Christ died rob you of how amazing his death
is. And don't let familiarity rob you of how glorious the death
of Christ is. Look at verse 11. Thy pomp is
brought down to the grave and the noise of thy vials. The prince
of life. I mean, the kings, they want
to have all this pomp and glory and things. They're nothing. They're pompers compared to the
prince of life. The bright glory of heaven. We
read in Revelations in heaven, there's no sun. Christ is the
light thereof. The bright glory of heaven died
and lay silent in the tomb. Now brethren, that's amazing.
Amazing that Christ could even die. And it is amazing the power
He showed in His death. The death of Christ set His people
free from death. Because He died, we'll never
die. Now that's power. There's nothing
more sure to us than death. You know, we say death and taxes. If you've got a good account,
you can get out of taxes. You can't get out of death. There's
nothing more sure to us than death. And the power of Christ's
death set His people free from that. So you'll never die. That's
amazing. The death of Christ is amazing
in who He died for. Christ didn't die for good people.
Christ died for sinners. Christ died for His enemies. Christ died so that sinners could
live. Now that's amazing in His death.
And here's the amazing power of Christ's death. He died. By
His own power rose again. Christ rose again. Because the
sin that was charged to him is gone. God doesn't see it anymore. It's under the blood. And God's
elect can never die eternally. Because their sin's gone. Under
the blood of Christ. What causes death? Think about
it. What causes death? Sin. Well, if Christ has removed your
sin, there's no reason for you to die. You can't die. God's
elect will never die eternally. Because they've been given eternal
life. God's elect will never face condemnation and judgment.
Because Christ already stood condemned for his people. Justice
is satisfying. You have no fear coming before
the bar of God's justice. Because Christ already died. Now these bodies are still going
to die. No believer will ever die eternally, but these bodies
are going to die. I was talking to Fr. Fred Evans, pastor in
Louisville, just yesterday. Just in the past couple weeks,
two of his longtime members there, they died. They had a funeral. Our bodies are going to die.
And they're going to put these bodies in a grave and seal it
up. And that can seem like a scary
place to us. It's the unknown and it disturbs
the flesh. But now listen. All the grave
is, is a place for a believer's body to lay and rest until Christ
returns and raises us from the grave. Christ has already conquered
the grave, so the grave can never hold you if Christ died for you. When Christ arose victorious
over the grave, He broke that yoke of fear. He removed the
heavy burden of fear of the grave because He conquered it. and
removed all fear. Think about the tomb of Christ.
It's an open tomb. He rolled the stone away and
it's open. He's made the grave the same
thing for all of His people. It's not permanent. It's open. He's going to bring your body
out of that grave. One writer said, I always think
of this when I think about the grave. I read this years ago.
He said, made even the grave a pleasant place to wait because
he went there and came out and conquered it. It's just a place
of rest for the body of the believer. Aren't you glad God's purpose
shall stand? He sets us free from the oppressing
fear of the grave. Then it's God's purpose to set
his people free from sin which oppresses us. Now in wisdom that
can only be found in God, God set his people free from sin
by making his son to become a man, making his son to be sin for
his people, making his son to give himself as a sacrifice for
their sin and putting that sin away. Now, that's wisdom you
can only find with God. You know, if this was up to us,
we'd bomb it. You know, we'd have airstrikes
and stuff. That's not what God did. He sent his Son to put it
away through the sacrifice of himself. This is what we see
a picture of in verse 10 of Isaiah 14. All they shall speak and
say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become
like unto us? The Son of God became one of
his people. He became a real man. The shepherd
became a sheep. He had all the weaknesses and
frailties of human flesh. He got tired. He got thirsty.
He got hungry. Yet without sin. And He came
to save His people from their sin. And our Lord told the people
that were there and during His earthly ministry, He told them,
I'm God. I and the Father are one. They
didn't believe Him. They didn't believe Him. All
they saw was a man. And they ask the same question
they ask here in this verse, verse 10. Are you become weak
as we? You look just like me. You're
a man, just like me. You're saying you're God? I don't
believe it. You're saying that you're God,
but there you stand, just like me. You become like unto us? You become like unto your brethren?
They should have known he would. The Old Testament said he would.
He's going to become like unto his brethren. But they didn't
believe him. As impossible as it may seem,
this is what they said. That's impossible. I don't believe
it. We're going to stone you because you being a man made
yourself to be God. Not only is it not impossible
for God to become a man, there can't be any salvation unless
God becomes a man. You know, a common phrase we
hear on the news. I bet this is on every newscast. This is just the catchy saying
of the day. Boots on the ground. Boots on
the ground. It is the purpose of God to set
His people free from sin. And it took God putting boots
on the ground to do it. And He did. The Son of God became
a man so He could be the representative of His people. He came to walk
in our boots. He had to become a man. God can't
bear the burden of sin away. He can't bear the burden of man's
sin away. So God became a man. And the God-man had the strength
to take that sin away, to bear that burden away, the burden
nobody else could bear. He was made sin for his people,
and he bore all that burden of sin away. And he could do that
because he became one of them. He became just like his people. Now, I know this is a prophecy
of judgment that's coming to Babylon. We looked at this last
week. Israel's not even in bondage to Babylon yet, but here God's
already giving them a prophecy of them being delivered from
Babylon. So I know this is judgment that's coming against Babylon,
but it's also a picture of judgment that's coming against sin. And
if God's elect are going to be delivered from this judgment,
by nature they're guilty. They're sinners. So if they're
going to be delivered from this judgment, Christ must come. And
as a man, suffer all the judgment that they deserve. And that's
exactly what he did. To fulfill God's purpose that
his people be set free from sin. Christ died for the sins of his
people. But you know, he arose because
that sin was gone. Now I'll ask you a question.
When was the sin gone? Did it slowly dissipate after
he lay in the tomb three days? And then he rose? When was the
sin gone? The sin laid on our Savior was
gone when He gave up the ghost. They put His body in the tomb.
He saw no decay because it's a holy body. The sin's already
gone. It didn't see corruption because
His blood had already put that sin away. So a believer doesn't
fear death. Doesn't have to fear the grave
because Christ has already removed the sin. that causes death and
sends us to corruption and hell. Now, aren't you glad God's purpose
shall stand for His elect? He's going to set them free from
sin. But we need to point this out. His purpose doesn't apply
to everyone. His purpose of being set free
from sin doesn't apply to everyone. It applies only to God's elect,
only to spiritual Israel. Look at verse 11 again. thy pomp
is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy vials, the
worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee." Those
worms are maggots. Well, that didn't apply to our
Lord. His body saw no corruption. There was no sin. This can only
apply to someone who has sinned, to the unbeliever. Those maggots
are only there because of the corruption of the body. This
is what they're feeding on. And corruption and hell weigh
everyone. who's outside of Christ. But
sin and the effects of sin, the punishment of sin, the condemnation
of sin cannot harm anyone who's in Christ because it was God's
purpose. He take that sin away. And he
did. Now, here's our third enemy. God has purposed to set his people
free from Satan. Look at verse 12. How are thou
fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou
cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations? For thou
settest in mine heart, I will ascend into heaven, and I will
exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon
the mount of the congregation and the sides of the north. I
will ascend above the heights of the cloud. I will be like
the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down
to hell, to the sides of the They that see thee shall narrowly
look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man
that made the earth tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that
made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof,
that opened not the house of the prisoners? Is this this one
we once feared?" Look at home, fear him now. Why not? Because
God destroyed him. Now here's Satan's problem. He
said, I will. That's his problem. I will. I will ascend into the heaven.
I will exalt my throne. I will sit upon the mount of
the congregation. I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds. I will be like the Most High."
He didn't say, I will worship. He didn't say, I will praise
God. He saw God and he didn't say, I'll praise Him. He saw
God. He didn't say, I'll worship Him.
He said, I'll be God. I will be ruler. I will put God
off the throne so I can sit there. And we all know what happened,
don't we? His will did not stand. God cast him loose at burn. From
what we read, a third of the heavenly host who followed him
in this rebellion went with him. God just cast him out. He's gone. It's done. He's destroyed. Satan
is cast out of glory never to go back. But where is he cast
to? To this earth. And on earth,
Satan has weakened the nations by deceiving Eve. And then Adam
followed Eve into her rebellion by eating that fruit that God
commanded him not to eat. And when Adam rebelled, Adam
fell and all the nations of the earth, every son of Adam was
so weakened that we died in Adam. Now that didn't catch God by
surprise. His purpose in saving his elect, it always stood So
at that time, God came to Adam and promised Adam a Savior. He
promised him the seed of woman will come and set you free. And
God also promised Satan that he's going to be destroyed by
that Savior. That seed of woman is going to come and destroy
you. And when Christ came, that's exactly what he did. He saved
his people from their sins. And at the very same time, he
crushed Satan's head. And you know how he did that?
By being the opposite of Satan. Now, from what we gather, Lucifer
was pretty glorious. He's the son of mourning. But
it wasn't enough. He wanted more glory. He wanted
more honor. He wanted more prestige. So he
said, I will. Well, then Christ came. He told them, I and my Father
are one. He is God. So it was not robbery for him
to say, I'm equal with God. And there was nothing wrong with
him saying, I will. And if he said, I will, it'll
be. That's what he said in John 17. He prayed, Father, I will.
That all those that you've given me be with me where I am. That
they may behold my glory. It'll happen. He could do that. He could pray, I will, and it'd
be done. But instead of always insisting
on his will, you and our Savior said, not as I will, but as thy will. Not my will, but thy will be
done. Isn't that a blessing? And he
gave himself for the sacrifice that would pay for the sin of
his people and set him free. And with that same sacrifice,
he crushed Satan's head. Because sin's removed. Satan
has nothing to work with because sin has been removed. And Satan's
cast out. I mean, he's reserved in chains
until God destroys him. And I don't want to take Satan
on by any stretch of the imagination, but there's no reason to fear
him. We just read that and people say, is that the one we feared
so much? It's like seeing the bully after
a bigger bully came and beat him up. After the law came and
beat him up. Just not so afraid of him anymore.
I see his weakness. Aren't you glad God's purpose
shall stand? His people are set free from
the fear of Satan, the oppression of Satan. Then last, God's purpose
to set his people free from self. Now, you know, everything I said
about Satan could be said about our nature. By nature, we are
the children of Satan. Satan is the father of every
natural man. That's why our Lord told the
Pharisees, all this made a man. You're of your father, the devil.
But it's so. And Satan has weakened the nations
by leading us into sin and rebellion. We all died in Adam. That's true.
But when we were born, you know, we were born saying, I will. I will. The same as Satan. Look back in Genesis chapter
three. This is our problem. We're born saying, I will. Genesis 3 verse 5. This is Satan speaking to Eve.
He says, For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then
your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and A tree to be desired to make one wise. She wanted to be wise
like that. She wanted to be like God. She took of the fruit thereof
and did eat. Gave also unto her husband with
her, and he did eat. You know why they ate? They wanted
to be as gods. They wanted to know good and
evil. The rebellion in their heart
was saying, I will. God said don't eat that, but
I will. So I'll be wise and I'll gain,
you know, and I'll be as God. I'm not going to have to answer
to him anymore. Sure enough, their eyes were
open, weren't they? Their eyes weren't open to good
and evil. Their eyes were only open to
evil. Look at verse 7. And the eyes of them both were
opened. They didn't know good. They knew they were naked. They
knew sin. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves
aprons. They immediately started saying, I will. I will take care
of this problem. I'll do something to take care
of this problem and cover it up and make everything all right.
I will. And after over 6,000 years of human history, you'd
think things would change, but they haven't changed one bit.
Human nature has not changed one bit. We're still saying in
our heart, I will. I will establish my own righteousness.
I will please God on my own. I will come to God on my own
without a mediator. Our nature says I will not bow
to Christ. God says bow. We say I will not.
I will not beg for mercy. That's too far below me. I'll
earn enough on my own. Thank you very much. I will not
admit I'm a sinner. There was a man, Marvin Stonker,
talking about this story. Marvin read to him. from the
scripture. He didn't make a comment on it,
he just read it. And that man got angry, so I
know what that says, but I will not believe it. I will not. This is our problem. I will not
submit to the righteousness of Christ. I will not surrender. This is our battle cry, isn't
it? Never surrender. That might be a good battle cry
for armies, but that's an awful poor cry for sinners to say,
I will not. Well, that's our nature. And
it will not. You can't change it. You can't
convince it to do otherwise. You cannot convince that nature
or make that nature come to Christ. How are we going to be set free? By the Lord Jesus Christ being
the opposite of everything we are. By the Savior coming and
for His people saying, not as I will, but as thou will. It was the purpose of God to
set his elect free from sin and from Satan and from self through
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Savior says,
not as I will, but as thou will. And he willingly gave himself
to be the sacrifice for the sin of his people. So the purpose
of God would be fulfilled. And when the blood of Christ
is applied to the hearts of his people, they're born again. They're given a new nature. That
old nature is not reformed. It's not propped up. It's not
made any better. It's the same as it ever was
when the blood of Christ, by the Holy Spirit supplied to our
hearts, we're given a new nature. A nature that not only cannot
sin, a nature that will not rebel. That loves God. That loves to
bow to Him. That comes to Him. And we're
set free from the controlling power of that old nature. And
one day, we're going to lay that nature down. We depart and be
with the Lord. Forever free from that old nature. Aren't you thankful? God's purpose
shall stand. We're going to be set free from
this nature. You know, God never changes.
He said, I change not. You sons of Jacob, you're not
consumed because I don't change. And since I don't change, my
purpose to save you My purpose to have mercy on you, my purpose
to set you free from all of your oppressors never changes. In closing, I want you to look
at Ephesians chapter 3. My purpose never changes. In Ephesians chapter 3, let's
begin reading in verse 6. The Gentiles, that's you and
me, should be fellow-heirs of the same body and partakers of
His promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a
minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto
me by the effectual working of His power unto me, whom less
than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should
preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the which
from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created
all things in Christ Jesus, to the intent that now, under the
principalities and powers and heavenly places, might be known
by the church the manifold wisdom of God." Now, you want boldness
to preach that gospel? Look at verse 11. What's your
boldness to believe that gospel? Verse 11, it's according to the
eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in
whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith
of Him." Our confidence, our assurance is by the faith of
Christ that He accomplished all of God's purpose. And we're set
free. Set free from sin. Set free from
the fear of death. Set free from the fear of the
grave. Set free from Satan. And thank God, set free from
self. Set free. Alright, let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for the precious promise and precious revelation of your purpose
in Christ Jesus to your people. Father, we're thankful. How can
sinners such as we are who deserve nothing but wrath and judgment
ever thank you enough for your purpose of mercy and grace. How
can we ever thank you enough for your electing love? You could
not have loved us. You could not have chosen us
because of anything in us. There's nothing good in us. The
reason can only be found in you. Your purpose. Your purpose of
salvation in Christ Jesus. Father, we're thankful. And we
do pray for a heart that bows. Deliver us, Father, from saying,
I will. But that we bow. Bow to your
will, to your providence, to your purpose that we know is
going to be worked out for good. Thank you, Father. And we pray
that you'd bless your Word to the hearts of your people. Cause
your Word to give us confidence and comfort and rest in our Lord
Jesus Christ. That we look to Him knowing He'd
do us all things well. He never has made a mistake,
and He's not begun now. Father, we're thankful. We pray
that You'd bless Your Word in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and for His sake we pray.