If you'd like to turn with me
please to John's Gospel, chapter 14. We're just going to read a few verses,
commencing at verse 23. John's Gospel 14, commencing
at verse 23. And this is indeed God's Word.
Jesus answers and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep
my word, and my father will love him, and will come to him and
make our home with him. He who does not love me does
not keep my words, and the word which you hear is not mine, but
the father's who sent me. These things I have spoken to
you while being present with you. But the helper, the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach
you all things and bring you to remembrance of all things
that I've said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace
I give to you. None as the world gives do I
give to you. So let not your heart be troubled, neither let
it be afraid. Let's just ask God to bless our
time together. Gracious and loving Holy Father,
We thank you for the blessings we've enjoyed this week, this
weekend, and for those who have brought thy word. And Father,
as even this man stands here, my prayer is, Lord, I believe
you've given this word on my heart, and I pray that it will
be you who will proclaim it. For thy name's sake, amen. Well, the title of the conference
is, What is Sovereign Grace? And if you're attentive this
morning, you will catch the continuity of what I'm going to say into
much of what's been said already, which is good. It shows we've
all obeyed what Harry's told us to do. We need to have this
question answered. What is sovereign grace? And my text, and as Wickham will
confirm, and folk from CBC, my text is always when I minister
is Acts 17.11. If it was good enough for them
to check the Apostle Paul, then certainly you must check me. In fact, you should check everything
that comes from the pulpit. We're not six foot above correction. But I have got a text and I will
give it to you in a moment. But first the title of the conference,
what is sovereign grace? Well, I'm going to spend just
a few moments to explain how I see it and how I understand
it. You see, sovereign grace to me
is the very heart, it's the very soul, it's the very foundational
truth of the Christian faith. In fact, it's the Christian gospel
being the very message and ingredient of the Godhead which God's elect
must relay by their proclamation in accordance, as we heard yesterday
morning, with the Great Commission. and it's only sovereign grace
teaching that can claim to hold into the truth in its entirety
of the salvational gospel as laid out by the holy scriptures. Sovereign grace is truth because
it is Christ who is truth. Any variation to sovereign grace,
truth, in relation to salvation, especially, any weakness, any
accommodating whatsoever, then it is not the gospel. Rather
it is another gospel which is accursed. to straightforward as that. Dogmatic,
they say. Yes, it is dogmatic. It's militant
as well. Sovereign grace is dogmatic.
It's militant because it is sovereign grace that we're talking about.
And I'm not denying there are some who wobble in confusion
over certain areas such as duty, faith, and children, but these
issues too can be overcome with Berean attitude and spirit of
mind. So where do we begin to address
this question? And I believe we can easily base
our proclamation from the standpoint of the doctrines of grace. In
full, not skirting around the edges, not in a superficial way,
thereby exposing the many myths, as we heard already, of common
grace. and to proclaim the reality of
double predestination. For predestination is the fundamental
to the Christian truth. For fundamentally, predestination
is an eternal decree appointing some to salvation in sovereign
grace, and appointing others to damnation in sovereign justice,
as we shall see. And of course, this is where
we part company with so many, with so many dear brethren in
the Lord, we part company. In other words, we're talking
about limited atonement, aren't we? For surely to expound the doctrines
of grace, you are proclaiming the whole gospel, the Christian
truth. Christ and all of the scriptures,
and for all that will flow from this sure foundation, be in Christ,
in the brightness of his glory. Christ's gospel, it's the power
of God unto salvation. For surely the true gospel is
what the elect are waiting to hear. For it's for them, it has been
designed. It was for them, it was designed
in the first place. So, who are we to get in the
way of God's irresistible purpose? And all those who do, be it Fullerites,
Wesleyan, Arminian, Ameraldians, Liberals, Pentecostals, Papists
and their free will, whoever it is, will pay a heavy price
for deliberately doing so. will pay a heavy price. And some
of these false teachers, as we would refer to them, are dear
friends of mine, who are praying for this concert. What a contradiction
in terms. And so naturally, affirmative
results from such a firm foundation of sovereign grace come countless
blessings, all to the glory of God in his preeminence. Joy for
once, as we heard yesterday. But I'm going to draw your attention
to a sovereign grace teaching that is as glorious as it is
a mystery. That's why we can sing, Why,
O Lord, Such Love for Me. It's a blessing, I believe, is
often overshadowed by its bigger brother, justification by faith. This, too, being a work of God
to restore that which was lost at the fall, being peace with
God. Peace with God. And it's Romans 5.1. And you
can put your finger into Romans 5.1, because I shall mention
it in a moment. Now this peace, in its nature,
in its depth, in its endurance, transcends our finite minds. Now hear me clearly, this peace
can only be known by personal experience, by God's elect. because as we heard last evening,
it's a restored peace, it's a relational peace, it was once a peace that
was enjoyed but broken by sin. But yet as we shall see, it's
been restored by the Savior's sacrifice at Golgotha, so allowing
this reconciliation between God's appointed and God's himself. who now enjoy peace, have access
to peace, to him who is peace, all fear is gone and I can face
tomorrow. Access. Have you ever stopped
to try to work out the blessing of access? But I suggest to you we take
many of our blessings far too lightly. When we pray as God's elect,
we enter into the throne of grace. We enter into the presence of
God. Can we get our minds around that?
In fact, sometimes I feel even our robes of righteousness are
vulnerable to the holiness of God. Oh, let us pray. We'll have a
prayer. We're going into the presence of God. I wrestle with
this every day. You see, to experience this peace
with God is to know the very heart of God. And to see this
more clearly, we have to tread that familiar path as a way of
a reminder, and we have to return to Garden of Eden, Eden's Garden.
Here as we know, man broke his relationship with God. The result
amongst this tragedy and sadness, man lost that which he once enjoyed,
peace with God, peace with his neighbor, and peace with himself. My next statement, I suggest
to you, is conspicuous by its absence in much of today's gospel. and this being far more serious,
the result of the full being, God was no more at peace with
those for whom he made in his own image. Man is now at a fellowship and
at war with God, an enemy of God, we hate God. Hell beckoned,
yet this too is dismissed by the world and even within sections
of the church. True it is, God intervenes, but
it's too late to restore that which Adam has lost. Therefore
the results of the fall must run their course. The scriptures
are clear, the wages of sin is death. And all have sinned. Some preachers forget all. All
have sinned. And some preachers forget all
in the gospel. There is no dignity in the outworking
of sin. And again, Peter was very clear
on this last evening. There is no dignity in sin, in
the outworkings of sin. And the world wonders why it
is it's in such a deteriorating mess. Well, it's simply due to
the fact it doesn't believe in sin. It laughs at the concept of sin. It's an insipid word. We read
what we're reading in the papers these last, well, almost every
day, every week. And you sit there and you say,
well, the cause is the fall, sin, but it sounds so insipid,
doesn't it? The world, and again, sections
of the church over here, do not see sin as the Holy Scriptures
do, and they don't even see sin as God sees sin. The world would rather listen
to the atheistic tripe of the likes of Stephen Hawkins. The wages of sin is death. The
wages of sin is the result of the fall. It is death and judgment.
For so many, death and judgment. I don't know out in the States,
but over here, it's become the habit now when someone dies,
they applaud. They clap. And I sit there and I think to
myself, they're clapping that man through the gates of hell. There's no dignity in death. Child of God, if this doesn't
excite you, I'm going to go back to being a charismatic and an
Arminian. Never tire of the truth that
the fall did not take God by surprise. Take note and grasp,
long before the universe was formed, God had an intervention,
a plan, and a purpose. That's the universe that just
covers the UK. Before that was formed, God had
a plan. And that plan was to fulfill
the calling in of his elect. We take these statements so lightly,
don't we? Let's examine them and see the
magnitude of God. Our finite minds, we struggle
with it, I know. and Rome is 828, it would endorse
that, wouldn't it? But God had in place, had planned
this initiative to remedy this broken relationship. Oh, how
the grace of God amazes me! Oh, how the love of God amazes
me! So revealing His love in this
plan, revealing His grace, revealing His mercy, and at the same time
restoring His peace on a people who would become His. For God knew, did he not, if
left to man, even those whom he had chosen
would never of themselves seek the initiative first. Not in
our nature. We prefer darkness to spiritual
light. Yes, man searches for peace according
to his concept and his circumstances, yet his objective will never
be reached. There's no peace to be found
at the end of their yellow brick road. Man's peace is pie in the
sky, it's unstable, it's unreliable, it's non-lasting, it's untrustworthy,
it's unattainable. Because he seeks it in the wrong
direction, doesn't he? The world has no concept or understanding
of true peace. Peace, peace, when there is no
peace. And however hard he tries, his
peace is an illusion. His peace is clutching at straws,
and it will forever elude him, for his peace is illusory as
foreordained. We're not going to have peace
in this world. And even if man was given an
inclination regarding true peace, and this reconciling peace was
a gift of God, he still wouldn't seek it. Therefore he wouldn't experience
it. The simple reason being, this peace is not available,
or is it obtainable, to those who will forever be predestined
outside of Christ. For there is no peace for the
wicked. There is no peace for the reprobate. Peace with God is only gifted
to those chosen in Christ, not to any nation or state, rather,
as again we heard yesterday, to his spiritual Israel, the
body of Christ, the church for whom he is the head. My peace
I leave with you. The Saviour's fulfilled promise,
peace being this salvational peace, a peace and experience
resulting in a prepared place in heaven. I remind you again, the fool did
not take God by surprise. He knew, that's why he intervened
the way he had to, because he had already planned this preordained
contingency plan. Oh, the depths of salvation's
plan. You see, God's purpose was his foreknowledge, wasn't
it? Before the universe was formed, grassless if you can, before
the universe was formed, for whom he foreknew, a chosen people,
he also predestined, why? To be conformed into the image
of his son, who too was very much part of God's purpose. For Jesus, too, having been foreordained
and predestined before the foundation of the universe to achieve that
that only he could achieve, he might be the firstborn among
many brethren, begotten of the Father, to satisfy his Father's
will, to redeem his beloved from their sins, whom his Father had
chosen for him, and so restore this peace with God. This peace, it's an individual,
it's personal, it's divine as God's bestowed free gift, experienced
emotionally and confidently by faith for all for whom the Savior
died. Peace, a direct result of the
Savior's accomplished work. No other way. Blood had to be
spilt to restore that which Adam had lost. not only our relationship,
but our peace once more within the Godhead. So achieved by the
Savior's sacrifice, assured by his resurrection, and guaranteed
by his ascension. Romans 5, 19. You see, the jewel
in the crown, the jewel in the crown, grasp it, hear me, the
jewel in the crown, God had reconciled his peace with those for whom
his son died. God reconciled his peace, his
work, his initiative, his the praise, his the glory. We wouldn't
have done it. So Christian, can you believe
that when you examine your lives? that God is now looking on you
as he looks on his son with the same peace and with
the same love. So then why are we so adamant
regarding the exclusiveness of this peace, this unique peace?
And why are others so hesitant? or simply because this divine
reconciling peace is dependent on justification. Romans 5.1, if you've got your
fingers in there, will tell you to have peace with God, you must
be justified. Peter touched on this last evening. For peace with God is rooted
in and it flows from the consciousness of being justified before God.
Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through
His Son. You see, only God's elect are
justified. So hear me clearly, justification
is limited too. It's limited too. For when the right time came,
those whom he had already predestined for new chose he also called
which means named he also justified and he also glorified and as
we heard again yesterday it's already happened all in romans
8 people not only to set his love upon as being Beneficiaries
of his justice and of his grace and of his mercy but having made
his peace with them once more all of God truly amazing Ephesians
2 14 18 You see justification affirms that legal standing of
the redeemed, who through the gift of faith in Christ, have
been justified, and have been declared this righteousness before
God. It is final, it is complete.
The redeemed no longer live under the fear of judgment, they live
no longer under the fear of God's wrath, for now he is at peace
with God, because God has made his peace with them. A peace
with God. Primarily that is, in God there
is peace towards his own. Deliverance from the guilt and
the punishment of sin, it is the experience certainty that
one is right with God, and that on God's part he has
nothing against his sons, his beloved, his chosen, Deliverance from the guilt and
the punishment of sin. It is the experience certainty
that one is right with God and that God on his part has nothing
against his beloved. Peace with God is the blessing
of imputation. It's the work of the cross. God's righteousness is peace.
We are imputed with this divine righteousness, which means peace.
Here is God, pardon of the guilty sinner, the forgiveness of sins,
deliverance from the eternal damnation. It is also the gift
of his elect, a righteousness that makes us worthy of eternal
life, and of glory, and of peace with God. All in harmony with the Godhead. If you corrupt the truth of justification
is to pervert the gospel. Therefore the loss of justification,
the corruption of justification, variations on justification truth
is another gospel. To err concerning justification
is to deny the cross. For the basis of justification
is the cross. For we're either justified or
we're condemned. We're either justified or we're
condemned. Any who are not justified, they
are under the divine curse. You see, if you look at Romans
5.1, you will notice there that it comes in the first person.
It doesn't say that the people of God have peace. Rather, we,
having been justified by faith, enjoy peace with God. It's a
personal confession. We have it now, no doubts. For
it is but a reflection of the peace that is in God towards
his elect. My peace I leave with you. You see, justification is sure
and a certain peace with God. It is unchangeable, it is eternal. All of God, nothing on the part
of the recipient. A complete work of God, by God,
towards his named sons. a Trinitarian agreement, a harmonious
relationship with God as Father, as he shows his goodwill towards
his elect. Why are we frightened to say,
elect sinners? Why are we frightened to say
that? When we're preaching to the gospel,
we're preaching to the elect! Otherwise we're Amaraldians!
Don't get worried about that word. this harmonious relationship
with God as Father, as he shows his good will towards his home,
their peace, their experience through the ministry of the Holy
Spirit, the work of the blessed Godhead here, this peace that
we enjoy, this experience of our peace and faith through this
working of the Holy Spirit, who brings this shared peace as seen
by his indwelling presence in the child of God. Now there are many blessings
as a result of justification, yet surely the outstanding benefit
of justification that it gives is peace with God. Life, fully enjoying this peace
because it's in life, as well as in glory, And you know, we
say, oh glory be, to enter glory, and to experience this full and
permanent peace at last, as fully revealed and experienced in all
its splendor, and therefore so enjoyed. What is sovereign grace? Well
it's peace with God. 1 Peter 1.4. Now it's true it
is, our peace can be often marred in this world of sin. It can
be disturbed by trials, temptations, anxiety, all guaranteed of course. It can be marred too by one's
disobedience to the Word of God. For we can easily grieve the
Holy Spirit. And I'll tell you straight, We
are not, and I'm not a prophet, I'm not professing to be a prophet
in that context, but I'll stand by this and you're all witnesses
to it. I'm going to tell you this, in this country, in this
town, we are not going to see blessing in the church until
we love one another. I'll tell you that straight. I'm passionate on that. We break
that commandment almost every day. How do we know, and I think it
was Alan yesterday who was mentioning this point, we've got to put
our right hand out of fellowship and not leave ourselves open.
We must love the brethren, not judge them. Christ told us that. And how can we enjoy peace with
God when we know we're at loggerheads with the brethren. Now if they
don't come back to our offer as it were and appreciate what
we're trying to achieve then the Lord will deal with it. But it is marred by the world,
problems of the world, anxieties of the world, all guaranteed
of course, and it can be marred, because we do grieve the Holy
Spirit. Yet through all these dark periods, the Holy Spirit
continues to bring assured peace to our souls. Peace in spite
of all the devil continues to throw at us, for this peace is
a guarantee. Why is it a guarantee? Because
we are joined to the vine. We're joined to the vine. The very reason for the hope
that is in the child of God is because God has made his peace
with them. For the Savior loves those for
whom he died. Loves them. And this restoration of peace
with God is the supreme remedy, is it not, for all our fears?
a personal, confident, enjoyed relationship on the strength
of knowing that God has made his peace with us. Therefore never leave us or forsake
us. Because our names are written
in the palms of his hands. So if you belong to Jesus, then
blessed are you for having his eternal peace, knowing your heavenly
father is at peace with you. No more need to hide behind the
bushes. Oh Christian, never cease to
thank God, your heavenly father for your election. Otherwise
you would not be in his kingdom. You'd have no hope. you'd have
no future, you'd be men most pitiful, and you'd be hell bound. Under God's wrath, and with no
peace. Oh Christian, never neglect the
glorious aspect of the gospel of free grace. That being that
God did something. He restored a broken relationship.
He restored a relationship broken that we didn't know was broken. Nor did we seek to repair it. But he provided the Saviour as
a way and means of reconciliation. So allowing you to enjoy once
more what Adam lost. Peace with God. No more under
condemnation. For now as sons we are fully
at peace with God through Christ. This is what R.I.P. means, rest
in peace. And this true and lasting peace
will only ever be seen in the child of God. Because it comes
from the Prince of Peace. And it's a knowledge that passes
all understanding. This peace, someone once said
many years ago, is the smile of God reflected on your soul. The consequence of reconciliation,
our aching void of emptiness, is filled with the Prince of
Peace. My peace, I leave with you, with
you. What is sovereign grace? It's
peace with God. And I based my thoughts this
morning on the doctrines of grace. And we know, we use the acronym
TULIP. And that tulip is beautiful,
isn't it? And we say, the depravity of
the human heart. No, there's some good in man. And then we say the election
is unconditional, it's all of God. Oh no, we have a part to
play. And then we say the atonement
is limited. No, no, there's those preaching
today, who are praying for us today, this is the contradiction
in terms, who will say openly, yes, we believe in limited atonement,
But those outside of grace, if they decide to repent, God will
save them. No, he won't. And then they say, grace is irresistible. No, we can wait and decide when
we want to come to the Lord. No, we'll make our own mind up.
We can stop that. No, you can't. And then we say,
once saved, always saved. Oh no, we can lose our salvation
if we don't do this or the other, no you can't. And so what are
you left with? You're left with something ugly,
aren't you? The beauty of the gospel is gone. My peace I leave with you. What is sovereign God? Sovereign
grace? that God has made his peace with
those for whom his son died, enabling them to rejoice and
sing, it is well, it is well with my soul.