I invite your attention back
to Psalm 66, the 66th Psalm, and we will go to the second
part of this series of four messages from this text on the spiritual
history of Jehovah's Saints, or if you will, the spiritual
autobiography of Jehovah's Saints. They declare in Psalm 66 and
in verse number 10, come and I will tell you, actually verse
number 16, I will declare what God hath done for my soul. In our introduction this morning,
in the first part of this message, we considered that we have done
nothing for God. We are incapable of doing so,
and we have done nothing for our salvation. Nothing. We're incapable of doing
so. It's one of those situations
where the more you try, the worse off you become. But I will declare what God has
done for my soul. I will declare what God the Father
has done for my soul, and I will declare what God the Son has
done for my soul, and I will declare what God the Spirit has
done for my soul, because all three persons of this holy trinity
are involved in the salvation of God's people, all three of
them. Our salvation is of God the Father
with regard to its origination. and of God the Son with regard
to its acquisition, and of God the Spirit with regard to its
application. Now, in this second message on
the subject, we will consider what God the Father has done
for my soul. I will declare what God the Father
has done for my soul. And most everything he did for
my soul was before time began, before
the creation was. Scriptures have a number of terms
to describe it. Ephesians 1.4, before the foundation
of the world. 2 Timothy 1.9, before time began. Acts 15.18, from eternity. 2 Thessalonians 2.13, we read of
from the beginning, or more precisely in Proverb 8.23, from everlasting,
from the beginning, before there ever was an earth. Before there
was an earth, before there was a world, before there was a creation,
before there was any of this, God the Father did his work in
the salvation of the souls of his people. God the Father did
it in old eternity. Now, they are from eternity. Since they are from eternity,
they are eternal. Since they are eternal, they
are not to be considered chronologically in order. Now, I realize there
are some, and they claim that they are able to chronologize
everything God has ever done. He did this, then he did this,
then he did this, then he did this. I'm sorry, folks, I just
am not that smart. In fact, I'm not convinced anyone
is. There perhaps is an order to
this. I doubt it. Not. God knows. But I'm not concerned about the
order of what God did. Because in actuality, it is not
so much that there were decrees that God performed, but there
was one decree. One decree with regard to the
salvation of his people. And everything that God did is
included in that decree. But I will enumerate what God
the Father has done for me. First, God the Father foreknew
me. Foreknew me. Now, when I say
He foreknew me, I do not mean He had prescience or prior knowledge
or previous knowledge of me. God has that of everyone. God
is omniscient. He knows all things. He knew before the foundation
or everything that would happen. He knew everyone who would ever
be born and knew when they would be born and when they would die.
He had that knowledge. He's omniscient. He knows all
things. But there are some people whom
he foreknew and some people whom he never knew. There are some
at the final judgment to whom Jesus will say, I never knew
you. Depart. I never knew you. But
in contrast to those who were never known by God are those
who were foreknown by God. Everyone is in one of those two
sorts. You are either never known by
God or you are foreknown by God. And all believers in Jesus Christ
can say, He foreknew me. I was foreknown of God. I was
known of God from old eternity. We read of His people whom He
foreknew from before the foundation of the world. He foreknew them
in the sense of saying, You are mine. You are mine. He knew them in the sense of
entering into an intimate relationship with them. If you want to know
the meaning of a word that you come across in the New Testament,
there is what we commonly call the Law of First Occurrence. And it is surprising how often
this rule of grammar works. If you want to know what a word
means, look at the first time it appears. All right, let's
do that. God knew his people before time
began. What does that word mean? We find this word for the first
time in the New Testament in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 1,
where we read that Joseph knew not his wife until her child
was born." What was that? Joseph knew not
his wife until after her child was born. Joseph, do you know her? Yeah,
that's Mary, my wife. But I have never known her. What, Joseph? Let's marry my
wife, but I have never known her. He did after she gave birth.
He entered into a most intimate relationship with her, which
God has reserved only for marriage. And God knew his people in the
very same way He says, you are mine, and I'm going to have a
relationship with you that I will have with no one else. He foreknew
them in Christ before the foundation of the world. They are said to
be elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, 1 Peter chapter
1 verse 2. Furthermore, Whom he foreknew,
he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren." Whom he foreknew,
he also predestined. God knew his people, and he said, that's my only begotten
Son. These are my predestined sons. And I think so highly of my only
begotten Son that I have ascertained that
these are going to be just like Him. And I will know them like
I know my Son, whom He foreknew. Furthermore, God loved me. Not
only did He foreknow me, He loved me. I'll give you two texts,
Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 3 and John 17 verse 24. Jeremiah 31
verse 3, here is what Jehovah says, He appeared to me of old
and said, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Notice,
when God saves His people, He says, He assures them, I have
loved you with an Everlasting love. Now, when we think of that
which is everlasting, we think of, you know, it's, yeah, all
the way into the future. Everlasting all the way into
the future. And that's only half of it. He
says, I have loved you past tense. I have loved you with an everlasting
love, meaning that it is not only all the way into the future,
but all the way into the past. Before the foundation of the
world, God set His love on His people. He loved me before time began. He loves me when time is done. And He loves me at every moment
in time. Now, the second verse is John
chapter 17, verse 24. Jesus said, Father, you loved
me before the foundation of the world. You loved me before the
foundation of the world. Before time began, before there
was a world, Jesus says, the Father loved me. In the book
of the Proverbs, he says, I was daily his delight. rejoicing
in Him, and He rejoicing in me." Before the foundation of the
world, God loved Jesus Christ. Now, in the message earlier this
morning, we observed that before the foundation of the world,
I was in Christ, accepted in the blood by God's eternal decree. If God loved Christ before the
foundation of the world, then He loved me because I was in
Him before time began. God's love
to me is not only eternal, but it is in Christ. If you are in Christ, be assured
of this, God loves you. Since God's love to me is eternal,
there has never been and never will be a moment, not a
nanosecond, when God hated me. Never. Think about that, folks.
There are sinners whom God says, I hate, but he says to his people,
You have never been the object of my hatred. Never! Never! He loved me before the foundation
of the world. He loves me when this world is
no more. He loves me in every moment through
this world and never hates me. I would declare God's love to
me. This is a glorious thought, folks.
He loved me before time began. God the Father purposed my salvation. All those who love God are called
according to His purpose, Romans 8, 28. God's purpose. God's purpose. The preacher Rolf Barnard, the
evangelist, many years ago was asked, Do you believe God gives
everybody a chance to be saved? And Ralph Barnard replied, God
does nothing by chance. Nothing by chance. Everything
God does is on purpose. Everything. And here we are called
according to His purpose. His purpose is eternal and immutable
decree. It is called the purpose of God
according to election, Romans 9, verse 11. It is the eternal
purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, Ephesians
3, verse 11. Accordingly, He has saved us
and called us with the holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose given to us in Christ before
time began, II Timothy, verse 1-9. His purpose. Old eternity. God purposed to
do something. We don't even read that He thought
about it. He purposed it before time began. Purpose that His people would
be saved. Purpose that their salvation
would be brought to them. God in old eternity purposed
to save His people, and He saved them on purpose. He leaves nothing
to chance. He leaves nothing up to them.
All whom God purposed to save from eternity are, listen to
this, from eternity, considered by Him to be foreknown, predestined,
called justified and glorified, Romans 8, 28. For whom he foreknew,
he also predestined. Whom he predestined, he also
called. Whom he called, he also justified. Whom he justified, he also glorified. And he did it when he purposed
their salvation, so that in God's decree, the glorification of
His people was purposed before time began, it can never be altered. It can never be altered. It was
considered as already done. Think about it, folks. From eternity,
God purposed that I be justified, and in God's decree, I was justified. God purposed that I be sanctified. In God's decree, I was sanctified
and accepted in Christ as justified and sanctified, highly blessed
of God. God's purpose. I will declare
what He has done for me. And since I love God, I am assured
that all things work together for my good. They will in the
end. That's God's purpose. When He gives us a job, that's
good. When He takes it from us, that's
good. When He gives us children, that's
good. When He takes them, that's good. When we have Happiness, that's
good. When we have sorrow, that's good. But you have to realize that's
God's purpose. He does all things according
to His purpose. And His people say, that was
good. All things work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose. And then God predestined me.
Predestined me. That is his foreordination and
predetermination. Whatever your hand and your purpose
determined before to be done, Acts 4.28. Now, God's predestination
is directly related to his foreknowledge in Romans 8.29. Whom he foreknew,
he also predestined. We are elect according to the
foreknowledge of God and predestined according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. God the Father foreknew his people,
chose them to salvation, and predestined blessings he would
bestow to them. Predestined them. had a lady in the church, sister
in the church, that I pastored in Louisville, Kentucky back
in the 1990s. And she worked with a bunch of
men in a cement plant. And they would gather around
the lunch table every day for their lunch break. And there
were quite a few religious men that worked there, church members
and such, and they considered themselves theologians. And this
lady that was in the church I pastored happened to mention the word
predestination, and someone said, that word's not in the Bible.
Oh, but it is. And he bet her a certain amount
of money, goodly sum of money, that's not in the Bible, she.
Well, she's no fool. She'd been brought up under the
gospel, so she had a Bible with her. She just pulled it out and
started showing him the word predestination in the Bible.
Now, she did not take his money, but yeah, it's there. And I'm so glad. Predestination
means that God is in control. I'm going to tell you what, folks,
you better be glad I'm not in control. And I'm glad you're not in control.
But I delight in knowing that God is in control and everything
that's going is according to His predestination and His purpose. And it's going to work out for
our good. He predestined. All right. Predestined what? Predestined me to be His adopted
child. Ephesians 1 verse 5, having predestined
us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself. I am by nature
a child of the devil. You are of your father the devil.
But God predestined that I be adopted, and therefore I am adopted
into his family, given the spirit of adoption by which I cry, I
the Father, I the Father. It's the same word in two different
languages. I'm a father. God predestined
me to be Christ-like. Romans 8, 29. Who he foreknew,
he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now Christ is
perfect. God predestined His people to
be just like Him. And He's working on us right
now. Your trials, your tribulations, the things you go through in
this life, it's somewhat like a master sculptor who's chipping
away at that block of stone. And trials and tribulations knock
off parts of us that should not be there. God's working on us. He's going to make every one
of us to be just like Jesus Christ, so that when we reach heaven's
glory, we do not know what we shall
be, but we do know this, we shall be like Him. Think about that. Heaven is going to be a place
where we are Christians, not only in name, but in person. Heaven is going to be a place
where everyone is just like Christ. Just like Him. God predestined
it. God furthermore predestined me
to be called justified and glorified. Romans 8 verse 30. Moreover,
whom he predestined, these he also called in salvation. Whom
he called, these he justified, or declared righteous. And whom
he justified, these he also glorified, transformed to be just like Jesus
Christ. And God predestined me to an
eternal inheritance in heaven, Ephesians 111. In Christ also
we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to
the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel
of his will. Now that's what God has done
for me. I tell you what, I love this doctrine of predestination. It tells me that God is my father
and I'm his son. It tells me I will be like Christ. It tells me I will be called
justified and glorified. It tells me I have an eternal
inheritance. Notice, I have it. It's already
mine. It's already mine. I have not
yet entered into it, but it's mine. It's mine. All right. Then, fifth, God chose me. all whom God foreknew, before the foundation of the
world, were then by him singled out from the rest of humanity
and declared to be sanctified and justified and saved. Two texts. Let me read this one. Divine election to holiness and
righteousness set forth In Ephesians 1, verses 1-4, the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ chose us in Him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame. Holy and blameless before Him
in love. Now, what is holy? We observed
earlier this morning, separated from the world and consecrated
unto God. That's what God chose us to be. What is it to be without blame?
Righteous, justified. God chose us that we might be
sanctified and justified, that we might be holy and righteous.
Then, in 2 Thessalonians 2.13, we read He chose us to salvation. So He chose us to be holy, or
sanctified, righteous, or justified, and to be saved. You know what? I've been chosen
to everything I need, my salvation, my holiness, and my righteousness. God the Father has done this
for me. The psalmist says, blessed is
the man whom you choose and calls to approach you. That's me. He chose me and then caused me
to approach him. I have loved you with an everlasting
love and therefore with love and kindness I have drawn you. He's like the old cowboy that's
finding a wayward steer, brings out his lasso, throws his lasso,
the lariat goes around the head of the cow, and He can draw him
right on in. Something like that, except that
God's lasso is love. And once I was lassoed, I wanted
to come. He drew me with love. He drew
me with love. He chose me, then He drew me. Sixth, God the Father highly
favored me to be eternally joined to Christ. Ephesians 1, verses
4 through 7, God's predestined and chosen people are taught
that He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Accepted in the Beloved. Now that's another glorious thought. If you look at that word accepted
in the Greek text, it means highly favored. Highly favored in the
beloved. Now, you cannot be highly favored
in the beloved unless you are accepted in the beloved. But
God gave us the Christ and Christ said, they're mine, I'll take
them before the foundation of the world. We were highly favored
to be accepted in Jesus Christ before time began. In Christ, are all who are blessed of God. In Christ, there is no one who
is unredeemed, no one who is unforgiven, no one who is unholy,
no one who is unrighteous, no one who otherwise is in danger
of damnation. There is none. Think about this,
folks. Before the foundation of the world, I was accepted in Christ as saved,
justified and righteous, sanctified and holy. Before the foundation
of the world, I would declare what God the Father has done
for my soul and it was glorious. And this is true because all
such blessings are through Christ's blood, and He is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, Revelation 13. Huh. Are you telling me, preacher,
that when Jesus Christ was crucified
on Calvary, when He shed His blood on Calvary, Are you saying
that that was not the only time he shed his blood? Well, what I'm saying is that
what men saw on Calvary was what God had decreed before
the foundation of the world. He was foreordained before the
foundation of the world and made manifest to us in this time. the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. In God's decree, Jesus Christ
on the altar of heaven was sacrificed for sinners. In God's decree,
before the foundation of the world, His blood was shed. And that's why that I can be
said to have been sanctified by the blood of Christ, justified
by the blood of Christ, and saved by the blood of Christ, even
before time began, and accepted in the Beloved in such a state. In Christ, not only am I accepted
in the Beloved, but I am approved in Christ, Revelation 16.10,
and I am complete in Christ, Colossians 2, verse 10. Now think
about that, complete, complete. I've had people tell me, you need the baptism of the Holy
Ghost and speak in tongues because you are incomplete until you
have that. Well, I have a two-fold response
to that. Myself, I do. I got baptized in the Holy Ghost
and spoke in tongues before the Lord saved me. In my Pentecostalism, before
the Lord saved me. Second, in Christ dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you are complete in Him. Think about
it. Everything I need is in Christ. I'm in Christ. He is the fullness
of God's deity and I am complete in Him. Now, that's what God
the Father has done for my soul. I will declare what God the Father
has done for my soul. I'm going to say to you, you're
going to find people and they're going to say, I don't care for
that doctrine of election and I don't care for that doctrine
of predestination. Well, I can tell you this. all
God's children do, every one of them, every one of them, blessed
is the man whom you choose and calls to approach unto you. And
we come saying, I will declare what God the Father has done
for my soul, and that includes choosing me in sovereign election,
predestining me according to His purpose and His counsel.
What has God the Father done for my soul? He foreknew me,
loved me, purposed my salvation, chose me to salvation, predestined
me to be His adopted child, to be Christlike and to be called
and justified and glorified, and He highly favored me to be
eternally joined to Christ. Now, that's what God the Father
has done for my soul. Oh, come ye. Come ye that fear
the God and listen to what I have to say, I will declare what God
has done for my soul. And that's what God the Father
has done for me. How blessed are they who look
at God's word and see what is found in God's decree and say,
that's for me, that's for me. I would hope that that would
be the testimony of every one of us here this day. I might assume that would be
the case, but I assume nothing, respectfully. But I would hope
that at the end of this service we could say, you know what?
That preacher declared what God the Father did before the foundation
of the world, and he had scripture to back up everything he said.
And I believe it. And we can all say, I will declare
what God the Father has done for my soul. Our Father, bless,
we pray. Continue to bless, we pray this
Word. to the glory of your Son. In
Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through
Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done.