As far as this conference goes,
the short straw seems to fall upon someone sooner or later.
And I've got, as Chris at the back there calls, the warm-up
act for the Don. So I trust I will lay a good
foundation beforehand. But I want to say at the outset,
Isn't it interesting to notice when you look around churches
that say they believe in sovereign grace, so many, so many glum
faces. I'm not saying I see any this
morning, but so many glum faces. And God forbid that we should
show some joy. We are the only ones us who believe
this message and proclaim this message and believe this God
and Savior we are the only the only churches that have joy true
joy from above so let's not be frightened not in a put-on sense
not in a stirred-up sense by man but as led by the Lord we
should not be frightened to crack a smile and to indeed yes rejoice
in the Lord and And if I offended anyone in clapping my hands there
at the end of that hymn, well, that's your problem. But I rejoice
that the Lord now liveth. That's why I chose that hymn
to begin with. Because that is why we're meeting. We're meeting
here because we are proclaiming a risen saviour. Are we not? He's the only risen saviour. And so he is the only saviour.
I wonder if you would turn with me, please. in your Bibles to the second epistle to Timothy,
to Timothy and reading from chapter one. As you know, the title of
this conference, we thought it was wise to come up with a title
in the interests of outreaching to those who have a problem with
new focus. You know, there are loads of
people who have biased opinions about things before they've even
set foot in the door. And they label us with all kinds
of things. And so we thought, let's not
give them an excuse. And so those people who do not
link in with the New Focus website, such people have received an
invitation to come to a conference entitled, What is Sovereign Grace? And you'd be amazed. You'd be
amazed by the lack of interest. You'd be amazed by the rudeness,
lack of response. And yet, I think Peter's the
only one here present amongst the preachers who hasn't heard
this story, but to my amazement last week, I received, and this
summed it up I suppose, I received a declining email from Andrew
Fuller. So those of you who know of Andrew
Fuller from a previous century, whose doctrine we don't agree
with, Andrew Fuller has spoken, I don't think from the grave,
but he declared, I hope you're not here Andrew, I don't mean
to offend you particularly. But anyway, we are seeking to
proclaim this message, not just to proclaim it again and go over
the same old things that we know, but perhaps with the freedom
of what is sovereign grace, Each preacher is to look from how
we see this message is being received by others and not being
received by others, how people don't proclaim the message, who
say they believe it, because there are many people who say
they believe in sovereign grace, but they do not preach it, do
they, Chris? This dear brother here is the
only man I know of going into prisons in this country. Pray
for him regularly. who goes into Portland prison
in Dorset and he's the only one who proclaims sovereign grace.
Is that not right? And he's been in trouble. He's
been hauled over the coals for it by the bosses. But those of
you who know Chris will know that that's not a wise thing
to do because he knows what he believes and he's going to proclaim
it. But these are serious things, you see. People say they believe
these things, but they don't proclaim it. They hide these
things. They're ashamed of it. Turn with
me to 2 Timothy chapter 1. Just a brief verse from 2 Timothy
chapter 1. I'm kind of laying a foundation
at the outset. We'll read from verse 3. I thank
God whom I serve with a pure conscience as my forefathers
did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day. greatly desiring to see you,
being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy,
when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you. That's an interesting statement,
isn't it? The genuine faith that is in you. Which dwelt first in your grandmother
Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you
also. therefore i remind you to stir
up the gift of god which is in you through the laying on of
my hands for god has not given us a spirit of fear but of power
and of love and of a sound mind therefore do not be ashamed of
the testimony of our lord what does paul say in romans 1 16
i'm not ashamed of the true gospel the one gospel
i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ because it is the power
of god unto salvation to everyone who believes but unto them not
not from them it's the power of god i'm not ashamed of the
testimony of our lord nor of me his prisoner But share with
me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power
of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time
began. but has been revealed by the
appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who has abolished death
and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. The Word of God says the entrance
of thy word brings light. Light. And that's what the gospel
is. The gospel is light, isn't it?
Shining in the darkness. What is sovereign grace then? I was led to these thoughts,
these brief thoughts, a couple of weeks ago and tore them up
and then rewrote them again and have seen with much prayer that
this, I believe, is what God wants me to open up this conference
with. Because if we're going to ask
the question, what is sovereign grace, we better at the beginning
ask, what is sovereign grace? And I don't know what these other
men are going to be preaching specifically. But as we open
up with the question, I believe we've got to ask at least four
questions. First of all, what is sovereignty?
How long have you got? how long have you got well i
haven't got enough time have i to go into that but briefly put
here is the crux of the matter this is the beginning of this
question and the answering of this question we ask we pose
in this conference what is sovereignty for you must ask yourself the
question What sovereign will you have? What sovereign do you believe?
What sovereign do you proclaim? What sovereign do you recognize? What sovereign do you proclaim? These are pointed questions and
they're meant to be. It is a mere terminology. Sovereignty, to the most part,
across many, many perspectives in the evangelical world, sovereignty
is mere terminology to most. And there are people who use
it almost as if it's some kind of a trinket at times. That's their answer to everything. Rather than engaging in a proper
discussion, it almost abdicates their responsibility to even
live for Christ. Oh, the Lord is sovereign. Oh,
the Lord is sovereign. And then you get those who don't
even know what sovereignty is. And yet they say, well, we have
it here in our basis of faith. We have it here in our confessional
faith. But they're a stranger to the
subject. Especially within most, if not
the majority of reformed churches. If you looked at their statements
of faith, they are spot on, spot on. You wouldn't find anything
wrong with most of them, but the proclamation, it's not there. It's not there in the preaching
of the word. It means different things to different people. And you know, here is a statement,
I'm going to ruffle some feathers, hopefully I will. We live in
a democracy obsessed world. And I meant to say that. We live
in a democracy-obsessed world. And I'm not going to get political,
but we hear this all the time about exporting democracy. Have you seen democracy? Have
you seen democracy in this world? Everything, every invention of
man is tainted with the total depravity
of sin. And yet we see, not just in politics,
everyone wants their democracy, you see, in the family life.
Everyone's got out their say. There's no discipline in the
home that, well, you've got to discuss the matter with your
child, and then you've got to come to an agreement. There's
democracy in the marriage, it seems. There's democracy in the
school. School councils voting, yeah,
having a say, voting on who should be the new head teacher in a
primary school. How crazy things are. From top to bottom, people think
they've got their say. Everyone wants their say. Everyone
wants their say. Just go to a church meeting that's
not about doctrine, that's about choosing the carpet or the church
wallpaper. But God Almighty, get this right,
God Almighty is not, He's not like us. He is not like us. He exists outside of time. To whom will you liken Him? To
whom will you liken me? He says, He's not like us. And God Almighty is no Democrat. He's no Democrat. in any way. He is the only absolute ruler. Totally. Totally. Totally. Now, if that is not
your sovereignty, you don't believe in sovereignty. If that is not
your sovereign ruler, God, if that is not your saviour, you're
not saved you can't be because you haven't been bent over to
the will of the sovereign ruler to live you have not been turned
in repentance to god to believe him and not your own way he is
the only potentate of time daniel 4 verse 3 says his kingdom is
an everlasting kingdom everlasting kingdom think about
that and his dominion is from generation to generation when
the Lord Jesus came into this world do you remember those wise
men that came those truly wise men that came and they prostrated
themselves before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords what
did they say did they say where is he who's been born who's going
to have a kingdom Where is he who is going to be crowned ruler? Where is he who is going to be
invested with the title saviour? They didn't say that, did they?
They said, where is he who is born King of the Jews? Who are the Jews they spoke of?
They are those, as Paul says in Romans 2, out of every nation,
kindred, tribe and tongue, those who are Jews inwardly, not outwardly.
Those who are the believing. And he is the king of all such. He's the absolute ruler. If he's
not your absolute ruler, you can't be a believer. It surely
is the case. Daniel 4 goes on to say, if you
remember this account here is of this grand ruler Nebuchadnezzar. He thought he had such great
rule. He thought he was the superpower and no one could stand in his
way. No one could withstand his power. And God revealed through
his through the dream that perplexed him and indeed the vision that
he could not understand. There was a man called Daniel
who was taken there in the sovereignty of God into captivity with the
people of Judah, the disobedient people of Judah. And this man
Daniel was brought forth to interpret. And he told him, he told him
what would happen to him. And this man was brought low.
Nebuchadnezzar was brought low. He was driven to insanity, living
in the fields, eating like an ox in the field. And we see a little later on
in verse 34 of Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar has been brought to acknowledge
the sovereign ruler. when he was brought back to his
right mind, when God restored him to his kingdom. He says,
at the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven and
my understanding returned to me and I blessed. I blessed that I was the great
ruler of Babylon and all the lands around. No. I blessed, I blessed, I blessed
the true ruler, I blessed the most high, the most high, and
praised and honoured him who lives forever. For His dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation
to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. He does according to His will,
His will, His will, in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth. And guess what? This will, this sovereign, this
ruler, like none other, no one can stand in the way of. Thine
be the glory, risen, conquering Son. This message, Jesus Christ,
the Son of the Living God, this proclamation of this risen saviour,
this crucified and risen saviour who has saved his people from
their sin already. They don't all know it yet. But
this message, he advances forth into this world and the gates
of hell shall not prevail, cannot even stand up. He tears down
every stronghold and he sets the captives free. He's setting
the captives free in the most obscure places where you wouldn't
think he is today. But he is still. And he, he indeed
is the one who rules. Because what does Nebuchadnezzar
say? He does his will. No one can
restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done? What doest
thou? You see, the gospel of partly
sovereign grace has a little caveat which says, what doest
thou? Has a little caveat which says, well, hang on a minute,
we've got to have our say. Andrew Fuller, as we mentioned,
the real Andrew Fuller, the man so mixed up, he should be a milkshake. If you read his writings, they
don't make any sense whatsoever. They're not for bedtime reading,
that's for sure. Well, they are actually, they'll send you to
sleep. But, he's all over the place! He's all over the place,
he's neither one nor the other. At least the Armenians, who believe
in universal atonement, at least they are honest in their deceit,
in that sense, at least they're honest in their error, you know
exactly what they're saying. But these, these fools, these
idiots, who proclaim a hypothetical salvation. What does that even
mean? God has done it, yet he hasn't
done it. That's Islam, isn't it? He might
do it, and then again, he may not do it on the Day of Judgment. It's a crazy message, it's a
crazy message. But this God that, if you are
worshipping this God, You've got every confidence, every confidence
that he is ruling, he continues to rule, he always has ruled
and he will rule. But is this your God? Is this
your God? Is this your sovereign? Is this
your king today? Is he your king? Is he ruling
your life? Is he ruling your life? And you
know it's not a slavish rule. Are you one of those he's called
to gladly follow him? As surely as Levi, the tax collector,
and Jesus walked by, and it's some matter of fact, isn't it,
the words, it seems. He said, follow me. He got up
and he followed Jesus. Are you following Jesus? Because
if the Lord Jesus comes and makes his rule in your heart, if he
comes and reveals in sovereign grace to you that that you are
one that he has chosen from eternity to save and that he has redeemed
at the cross if you're one of those those sheep that he says
that he lays down his life for those other sheep that he has
that he must call if you're one of those you gladly follow him
you gladly follow him you preach sovereign grace it doesn't turn
the people away It doesn't turn the elect away. It warms their
hearts. When they hear their love from
eternity, they truly are drawn irresistibly by that grace. Because
it's the work of God in them. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. But is He your God? We see the
word here dominion in Daniel 4 is an interesting word. It literally means sovereignty.
And so these people who say they are sovereign grace, but they
don't proclaim sovereign grace, they really should do the honest
thing and take a marker pen and cross out that word from Daniel
4. Do the honest thing. You don't believe it. but they
won't, will they? They'll say, they'll waffle,
as we say, John, don't we? That's it. Ream upon ream of
waffle. Large volume it would be, Peter,
not small volume, as you know. They see these people, they write
their works, but it's nothing but waffle. Nothing of the scripture. You see what the prophet tells
us of the extent of this rule of this God. This sovereignty
of God Almighty. See what the proud earthly ruler
Nebuchadnezzar was brought to see. He was brought to see there
is none other. There is no other ruler. There is no limit to his rule. He's absolute ruler. That's sovereignty. And I haven't even got to the
opening of what sovereignty is there. So what is grace? What is grace? Another mine that
I cannot mine today. What is grace? But I believe
we should be to the point when we talk about these things. Timothy
is told, is he not, by the apostle about this grace. It was given
indeed from before the world began. It was upon these objects
of this grace from before the world began. The salvation that
comes from this grace was given in Christ before the world began. It's a sealed deal. I think that's
what they say in America, isn't it? It's a sealed deal. It can't
be, it cannot be turned back. It cannot be turned back. As
immutable as God is immutable, unchanging as God is unchanging,
salvation is unchanging. It cannot be stopped. As soon
as it came forth from the decree of God, none could stop it. None could stop this from coming
to pass. But you know, people talk of
grace and they have not got a clue. We say in this country they have
not got a scooby-doo, as a paraphrase. But they really have not got
a clue, have they? And that's why we've got to be careful when
we align ourselves with people who say they're grace. They go,
oh, we believe in grace. It's all of grace. It's all of
justification by faith. It's, yes, God is sovereign in
salvation. It doesn't hurt to occasionally
ask someone the question, what do you mean by the word? How do you understand the word?
Then you get to the point. Then you get to the point, then
you realize, most people, they have not got a clue. They talk
a good game, but they have not got a clue. Clearly, God tells
us, In the overall, in the whole teaching of the Word of God,
He tells us it is Him giving those good things unto those
who do not deserve it, as opposed to the punishment of the wrath,
the just reward of their sin. It is indeed Not according to
our works, says Paul tells Timothy. This call, this call has always
been according to God's grace. Nothing according to your works.
Not according to your faith even. Because it's not your faith.
It's a gift given from God. And it was given from eternity
past. It's not according to what you did. It's not according to
what you can do. But you know, you who do not
know Christ this morning, Whoever you may be, if this is
for you, if this was given for you in Christ before the world
began, if God has ordained, has purposed, has indeed declared,
decreed, today you must hear the word of life, you will hear
it, and he will grant you faith to believe it. That's the wonder
of sovereign grace. everything everything is taken
care of of God there is nothing hypothetical in it there is nothing
dependent upon man which is fallible at best not according to our
works grace is God Almighty bestowing unto upon sinners mercy where
wrath is only deserved Now, if anyone wants to skate around
the park about grace and come up with all kinds of other explanations,
fine, but they will not get a clearer declaration than that. I will
be merciful upon whom I will be merciful. That's grace. For indeed, are we not told in
Romans 6, 23, that sin has its wage. The reward of sin is earned,
if I can use the term earned, well, we've earned it. We've earned it. We deserve that
wage. The wages of sin is death. Not just physical death, but
the second death in hell. And indeed, when Adam fell into
sin in the garden, we all died in Adam. We died spiritually
in Adam. There is no one born into this
world, physically into this world, who has a spiritual life. We're
dead. That's what the Bible tells us.
Dead in trespasses and sins. We've got to be raised from the
dead, as surely as Him who thine be the glory belongs to. who
rose up, we must be raised together with Christ. And if we were not
raised with him in his great resurrection, if that was not
for you, you will never know spiritual life. And yet, you
must know that raising of the Spirit of God, who raises you
to new life, so that you do believe we're once You could not believe,
you do not believe because indeed you're dead to God. There is
the wage of sin, it's death, but the gift of God. Don't you
like, don't you just love the word but in the scriptures? But,
but, oh but. When we use the word but in our
daily life it's a negative isn't it? It's to get out of something
isn't it? But, oh, in God's anger, he remembered
mercy. He's slow to anger. He's plenteous
in mercy. Great is thy faithfulness, O
God my Father. Pardon for sin and appease the
endureth, not earn't. For the death is earned. But
the gift of God is something different. Life eternal. Eternal life through Christ Jesus
our Lord. Now note the term our. Not each
and every. Those he gives it to. Those he gives this grace to.
Those he gives this life to. Those he gives this faith unto
eternal life to. And indeed that faith itself,
the Lord Jesus reminds us, tells us clearly. Believing Him, trusting Him and
His Father, you already have passed from death to life. That's
why you believe. You've passed from death to life.
It's the evidence that you're alive. As surely as you who,
well all of us, When we were born, if we did not let out that
cry, there was something wrong. But we let out that cry, calling
upon the name of the Lord to be saved, calling by faith upon
the Son of God, it's evidence we're alive, that we've been
given life. And so let's answer this question. We've said, what is sovereignty?
What is grace? So what does grace depend upon?
Well, we've looked a little bit at this already. What does grace
depend upon? The answer is, grace depends
upon sovereignty. Grace depends upon the giver
of the grace. Grace depends upon the sovereign
ruler, who is God Almighty alone. the decree of him who rules not
asking to be ruler in your life he's not asking for you to let
him come into your life he's the ruler he's the ruler
now he rules over this whole creation he rules over everyone
whether we like it or not whether we acknowledge it or not but
he comes specifically to a people and he makes his rule in their
heart. And as we've already seen, it then becomes a rule that we
lovingly receive, we lovingly want, we lovingly acknowledge. As the church says in that wonderful
book, The Song of Solomon, thou has ravished my heart. If Christ come and ravish your
heart. I mean, it's quite racy language in Song of Solomon at
times, isn't it? Thou hast ravished my heart. If Christ come and ravish your
heart. Yes. Oh, yes. You're my ruler now. You're my ruler now. You see
this one. You see how much this one who
ravaged your heart has loved you to indeed, indeed lay down
his life for you. As Paul says, does he not? We
love him because he first loved us. He gave himself for us. When you see that. Oh, yeah. No one else is going to rule
me now, not even me. I willingly bow in humble adoration
at your feet. By definition, grace which flows
from God's good pleasure, purposed in nothing, nothing at all, but
the will of God Almighty. That's what it is. People won't have that. They're
not going to have that. They don't want that. We want to do something
or we want to give people the opportunity to get beyond that. It's an obstacle to them. So
we're going to say, well, if you do this, if you do that,
well, yes, you can tell people to do this and do that, but you'll
fill your congregation. with tares, you'll fill your
congregation with goats, not the wheat, not the sheep. And they will be deluded, deluded,
deluded, even to an extent, believing themselves to belong to Christ. And they will hear the voice
of the master say on that day, sadly, depart from me, I never
knew you. Have you thought about those
words there, when the Lord Jesus says about when he comes again,
and there are many who say, we did this, we did that in your
name. Do you note the words, he says, I never knew you. Not from when you thought you
asked Jesus into your heart, not even, not even those of us
who know the Saviour, when we know when we were drawn to call
upon him. I never knew you. I never knew
you from eternity. You're not one of the ones who
I gave this salvation that I agreed to come and redeem with my blood
and said, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it's
written of me. I delight to do thy will. A body
that was prepared for me. And that body, that body, he
laid down. He laid down at such great cost
at that cross, where he was made propitiation
for sin. The sin-bearing substitute saviour,
the mercy seat, covering the guilt of the law which condemns
the sinner. Ephesians 1 verses 4 to 9, particularly
verse 9, tells us that grace depends on this only. According
to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself. It's already purposed. We don't
pray and ask God to bring about a purpose, to change a purpose,
to alter a purpose. He hath purposed in Himself,
in Himself, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, the one true God, the
one God. In Him it was purposed before
time began. And therefore the distributing,
the bestowing, the granting of sovereign grace is God's business
then. It's not yours. It's not mine. yes if we are honest those of
us we we have we have loved ones who are strangers to grace we
weep over it we try not to think too much about it because we
will weep some more won't we we see the deadness of their
souls we see we were talking about this last night weren't
we and We see how it just seems like there is a wall in the way,
isn't there? It's just like a wall in the way. I'm not interested.
They're dead. And we weep and we wish we could
do something. We wish it were in our power,
but it's not, is it? It's not ours to bestow. Hear the word in Romans 9, it
says indeed, if God come though, if God come, if God come and
reveal this grace to you, if God come and reveal this grace
to those even we'd be praying for. We don't know if they'd
be found amongst those for whom Christ gave himself. And you
who know the Lord, you know this is true. For who have resisted
his will? God come. If God come in that
wondrous saving power, I know it's true anyway. I just know
it's true. I just know it's true. When that
faithful man there at the back there, when he laid, speaking
of laying foundations, this is why we exist today. Under God's
sovereignty, a foundation was laid here at Mern. We would have,
we would have closed years ago. Closed years ago. He was talking
the other day about how we've gone on. I said, yeah, we've
got a foundation to build on. When I heard Sovereign Grace
proclaimed, praise God I had no baggage, I had no spiritual
baggage, I had no religious baggage. And when I heard Sovereign Grace
proclaimed, that's exactly what happened to me. I tried to run
away from God, I tried to ignore the message, but I could not
resist His call. Because if God's gonna get you,
He will get you. Has he got you today? I'll pray
God gets someone today. Don't you? Wouldn't it be a great
testimony at this conference that the angels were rejoicing
over one sinner that repented? We could close the conference
then, couldn't we? And just rejoice over them and
baptize them. Well, we'll take a few. Maybe
we'll go to the River Wondal. It's clean. But this is grace,
is it not? Grace depends not upon how good
you think you are, or how bad you know yourself to be. Salvation is a high, it is high,
as our text says, it is a holy calling. It's a calling from
God Almighty. It's God's work, it's God's calling
alone. It's the calling of God Almighty
unto chosen objects of His mercy and grace, the elect they're
called. The people of God they know themselves
to be now, who were not a people in time, who were not a people.
But then they come to see that from eternity they ever were
the people of God. It's a mystery, graces, isn't
it? It's a mystery, sovereignty. But we know it's true. His own special people are people
whom he have saved, Paul tells Timothy. He have saved. It's a done work from Eternity. It's a revealed work throughout
the Old Testament in picture and type and figure and prophecy
And it was fulfilled when the Son of God came into the world
to destroy all the works of evil, to set at liberty the captives.
And when he yielded up himself at the cross, yes, as a man,
he prayed, if it be thy will, take this cup of suffering from
me. But yet the Son of Man knew, as he said, thy will be done,
not mine. he knew from eternity. He would
see of the travail of his soul and be what? Satisfied. Satisfied. So much so that he
endured the cross despising its shame because indeed he knew
who he laid down his life for from eternity. Aren't you happy
about that? Aren't you rejoicing over that?
That it was never in doubt, your salvation? Never in doubt. All that were given to the Son
to redeem at the cross by his precious blood, all of them are
saved at the cross. Each one of them. Not one is
lost, he says. No one else, though. No one else. This is the Dividing
line, isn't it? With so many who say they believe
in sovereign grace, but don't proclaim it. Yet, salvation must
be received through the gift that grace gives. Faith. We can't just say, I've been
born in a sovereign grace church, I even believe the doctrines
of grace. That's not good. Doctrine does
not save. Doctrine points you to the one
you must trust. Faith. Faith on the Son of God
is imperative. Do you have faith? Do you have
this faith? Has God given you this faith?
Have you called out in faith unto Christ? If you have, you
know, you know that this is, this is you that is saved from
eternity. true sovereign grace churches
and i choose my words deliberately again true sovereign grace churches
and if you're not doing this you must you must take a hard
look True Sovereign Grace churches are not afraid in any way, people
label us as this, but let's get this straight. True Sovereign
Grace churches are not afraid in any way to herald forth the
Gospel. We are not ashamed to herald
forth the call of God to repent and believe on the Son of God.
That's our, that is our command given to us by our Risen Saviour. It's amazing, if you go in some
of these places, they say their Sovereign Grace, they say they're
so happy as we said at the beginning, they don't believe in proclaiming
the Gospel. They certainly don't believe
in going out and proclaiming the Gospel. I ask again, have they not got
Matthew 28? Have they not got Mark 16 in
their Bible? Take it out if you don't believe
it then. We're not ashamed to proclaim
this message. Yet God's grace is only known
by those who He causes to be born again. This comes before faith. This
is the invisible work of the invisible God. This is the work
of God Almighty, the Holy Spirit. And this is evidenced by faith
on Christ. The Lord making you willing in
the day of His power. Your will must be turned to His. And so we see, is sovereign grace
common to all? There's another chestnut, as
we say over here. Another chestnut we have in the
religious world today, do we not? Common grace. For a start, where do you see
the term in the Bible? Do you ever find, I searched
for it the other week to try and find the term. It's not there,
is it? We have our like common faith, Jude says. But it's not
common to all man. Unlike common faith. Unlike common
faith. There's no common grace. There's
no common grace. Is this saving grace common to
all man? Of course it's not. For it ever was, as Paul tells
Timothy here, it ever was a distinguishing grace. a definite grace, a certain
work, a certain call. Here is what so many falsely
believe in our day. Now listen carefully. Maybe even
you, I don't know. God calls sinners to himself
and knows who will be saved. You could make that an agreement
to align yourself with many churches and all sign that with so many
groups, so many churches, so many types of churches. They
will never have a problem with that. They won't have a problem
with that. But is that sovereign grace? Is this true? Well, yes, but
it is only half of the truth. It's only half of the truth.
Sovereignty does not just look on seeing what will happen. You
can do that in certain areas of your life. God's sovereignty
in salvation is Him actively, from start to finish, working
all things according to the counsel of His own will. And do you know what? As believers,
He continues to work that grace in you. You cannot perform those
works He has beforehand prepared that you should walk in them
in your own strength. But we're told, as we're told,
we're commanded to work out our own salvation as believers. But we're told it's Him who works
in you, both to will and to do all His good pleasure. Grace
is God's business, from start to finish. If God is sovereign
in electing, He is sovereign then, listen carefully. If God is sovereign in electing,
God most certainly is sovereign in rejecting. We've got another barrier now,
haven't we, with those who say they believe in sovereign grace. Double predestination. Oh dear. Mentioned it. I'm going to mention another
word in a minute. I'm going to mention another word in a minute,
which people do not want to hear. God is sovereign in rejecting. As God is sovereign in calling,
He is sovereign in condemning. Sovereign grace teaching must
also, if it be honest, must also believe that as surely as God
has his elect, who are given this grace according to his everlasting
love, there are also those who are the R-Word. The R-Word. You never hear this R-Word very
often today. They're called the reprobate. Paul says in, I think
it's in 2nd Corinthians, he says, make your calling and election
sure that you be found not reprobate. What does reprobate mean? It
means rejected of God, passed over by God. It means Jacob I
have loved, Esau I have hated. Do you have a problem with this? You better get on your knees
and take this up with God. God's sovereign. He's either
sovereign or he's not sovereign. He's overruling or he's not ruling.
My God rules. Our God reigns. Not an easy subject, yet it must
be proclaimed. Sovereign grace is God's possession
and purpose. It is His to give and His to
withhold. I will be gracious upon whom
I will be gracious. And don't forget the next bit.
And whom I will, I hardeneth. Finally, how is sovereign grace
made known? How is sovereign grace made known?
Here is an interesting thought. There be those who separate the
preaching of the gospel, as they see it, the preaching of the
gospel, from the preaching of doctrine. We'll have a gospel service in
the morning, and we'll have a doctrine service, teaching service in
the evening, or vice versa. Once again, they've not read
The Apostle Peter's words in 1 Peter 1, have they? That the
preaching of the word by the gospel. It's one and the same thing.
Christ is the incarnate word. To preach Christ is to preach
the word. You don't preach Christ, you're not preaching the word. You don't preach the word, you're
not preaching the gospel. They like to separate. To proclaim Sovereign Grace is
to proclaim the Gospel and likewise to proclaim the Gospel is to
proclaim Sovereign Grace. You cannot separate them. You
cannot separate them. They're joined. They're joined
together. They're one and the same thing. This grace that gives life eternal
is made known, is made known, brought to light, Paul says,
in the gospel. The preaching, the publishing
abroad, near and far, we have to get, we have to get, we have
to get back. to see beyond our noses, beyond
our little fellowships, that there God has his elect across
the nations. God has his elect everywhere,
wherever he's scattered them, he has his elect and we are to
proclaim and to support and to publish that word abroad, far
and wide. not just amongst those who choose
to join us. We are to obey the command of
God in this. Paying heed to the command of
the Lord Jesus, preaching the gospel unto every creature. You
see, people who are the Armenians, the free will people, they say
this all the time and they've got nothing to say. We've got
everything to say. So let's say it. Let's proclaim
it. Let's get off our hands. I had another word there, but
I thought I'd be a bit polite. I said, let's get off our bottoms,
get up and work for God. There's a work for Jesus. Pastor
John always used to say, whoever you are, whatever that work is,
whatever that support of the church and the gospel is, there's
a work for Jesus only you could do because you've been called
to the kingdom for such time as this, such as Esther was. The Sovereign Grace Church doesn't
stay. The Sovereign Grace Church doesn't
stay, but rather hears the Word of God commanding to go. As you go, it means also. And that
I know there, yes, there are churches who claim to believe
Sovereign Grace, whose attitude is one of near fatalism. This is wrong. This is wrong. It should not be so. Yet as we proclaim this message,
we make no offer, we proclaim what God has told us to proclaim.
It's His business to call. But listen, we are not sovereign
over who this message is to be taken to. We don't pick and choose
who we like to send it to, who we take it to. just read the
book of Acts just read how the men of God had to be had to be
warned on this we do not decide who we are to
take it to and withhold it from we just proclaim it so let's
preach the gospel of sovereign grace far and wide leaving the
distinguishing of that grace to him who already has distinguished
to God Almighty Himself. And if I can put it in this way,
let us get off our seats, get out of the barracks. We've enlisted. God's called
us into His army as good soldiers of Christ. Get out of the barracks
and march on with this one message for our all victorious Lord Jesus. Who's risen, indeed, has chosen
this mince.