well it's uh... as i said right
at the start this morning it's very good to be back together
again it's a great privilege a privilege of which we all who
seek to preach feel totally unworthy very much earthen vessels with
the treasure of god in those earthen vessels but we're considering
in this conference together what is sovereign grace that's what
we preach why else would you want to preach anything else
this is this is the message of god what is suffering grace and
of course there are a divider diverse number of opinions ranging
from an open denial of those in religion openly will admit
that they do not believe in sovereign grace they they subject everything
to the will of man uh... there are those who say oh yes
yeah we believe that let's talk about it in secret let's not
let's not Proclaim it openly and publicly let's keep it to
ourselves because this is this is the higher level of doctrine
that we don't really want To put people will frighten them
away if we if we preach this no let's let's keep it secret
There are others who claim it, but they say ah, but you know
we have to interpret it through human wisdom through human reason
we have to apply human reason to it to get a right because
otherwise you know You can go a bit too far, you can get a
bit too much off to one side if you're not careful. You can
become a bit hyper if you're not careful. And then there are
those which we trust that we are here, seeking to hold to
exactly what God's word has revealed. What saith the scripture? That's
our motto. What saith the scripture? Isaiah
820, to the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, there is no light, there is no truth in them. This
is the standard with which we test everything. The noble Bereans,
they searched the scriptures daily to see whether what Paul
had preached to them was the truth. They tested it against
the yardstick of the scripture. You see, the primary purpose
of the Bible is to declare God's salvation of his elect. That's
what it's for. It isn't, as most people think,
God setting down his requirements for how he really wants man to
live. But, oh, if only man would live like that and then everything,
oh, what a wonderful world this would be. If only man would live
the way that God has specified he would like them to live. No,
it's God. Yes, you can find out. God's
prescription for how people can live, but that's not the primary
purpose. The primary purpose is God declaring his salvation
of his elect people. It's his good pleasure. It's
his sovereign good pleasure. His sovereign good pleasure in
saving his people, his Israel, his elect from their sins. Psalm
51 verse 18, do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Zion, the
people of God, the Israel of God, the multitude that no man
can number, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. In thy good pleasure do good unto Zion. And multitude
which no man can number and you say well it doesn't seem like
that to us I mean look at us here this is what of all the
invitations that have gone out this is this is who we've gathered
but our Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples fear not little
flock fear not little flock for it is your father's here it is
again good pleasure to give you the kingdom This is all about
His sovereign electing grace. And it is all, as Ephesians 1.5
says, it is all according to the good pleasure of His will.
and the unbelieving world hates this concept utterly hates it
and when they hate this concept what they hate and the religious
world for that matter what they hate is God being God for if
you have a God who is sat on the sidelines wringing his hands
in frustration and weeping over the fact that he can't get man
to do this for him or that for him that's not the God of this
book That's not the God of Scripture. No. They really hate God being
God. You see, the religious world
as well says, if you think that, then it can't be right, because
it's just plain not fair. It stands to reason, it stands
to human reason, that it's just not fair. But the book says,
this is our God. and this is the way he works
and this is what he has declared and the reason he's let us know
these deep things is because they're important that we know
them he wants his believing people to know these things that's why
he's put them here it's not that they're academic points that
really don't matter and we can sweep onto the sidelines and
talk about it in private if we want to. This is the heart and
core of how God effectually saves his people from their sins. The
book says it. This book says it. He reveals
his eternal purpose of grace. Some people say, oh, well, it's
just academic. It doesn't really matter. All
that matters is that whether they come by Arminianism or whether
they come by some mixture or whether they come by pure sovereign
grace, and in the end, sinners are saved. I'm telling you, if
you think that, that's idolatry. Because that's making God to
be that which he has revealed he is not. You've got a God who
is a God of your own imagination, making God to be other than he
is. In fact, I contend that certainly in this country the vast majority
of what we see calling itself christianity and more and more
not just nominal but that which until quite recently was orthodox
christianity it's actually bail worship it's modern bail worship
and it's as ineffectual to save sinners from hell as the ranting
of the prophets of bail on mount carmel were So, thinking of sovereign
grace, I want to look at what the scripture says briefly with
you concerning Israel. God's people, that's it. Israel,
God's people, the whole house of Israel. And I'm not going
to take long, but I want to take you first of all to Ezekiel chapter
37. Ezekiel chapter 37 and the first
eleven verses. Ezekiel's dry bones, that's where
we see Ezekiel the prophet having his vision of the dry bones in
the valley of the dry bones Now in the previous chapter Ezekiel
36 we read about the vital necessity of the life of God Within those
he calls his people in verse 22. He calls them his people
therefore say unto the house of Israel thus saith the Lord
your God the vital necessity of The life of God the new life
of God of the Spirit of God within his people because further on
down there He says in verse 26 a new heart also will I give
you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of
flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk
in my statutes and And in the next verse, 28, you shall be
my people and I will be your God. You shall be my people and
I will be your God. In verse 33, he says, when I
shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, my people,
when I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities, I will
cause you to dwell in your cities and your waste shall be builded.
And he doesn't just do it with the people passive don't don't
misunderstand me in this but look down at this thirty seven
because God says this, thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for
this be inquired of by the house of Israel. He'll have them pray
for it. He'll have them implore him to
do it. He'll have them look at his word and implore him to do
his word. He will have his people pray
for this. And then he goes on into chapter 37 and he gives
the vision of the dry bones. The hand of the Lord was upon
me. and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me
down in the midst of the valley, which was full of bones, a valley
full of bones, and caused me to pass by them, round and round.
Have a good look at them, Ezekiel. Wander through them, have a good
look. Here's a valley and it's full of bones. You know we normally
think of valleys as being verdant places with trees and greenery
and a lovely river through it. No, this was a barren valley
full of dry bones and there were very many in the open valley
and lo, they were very dry. What does that say to us? These
were long dead. These bones were long dead. We
used to live Not far in Liverpool, when we were just married, and
there was the abattoir where they slaughtered the animals,
and often you used to see trucks loaded up with fresh bones from
the abattoir. And there was a bit of a smell
that went with it, of this fresh bones going down the road. These
bones were the sort of bones that you say, well, a good vet
might have a good chance at reviving one or two of them. These bones
weren't. These bones were very dry. Very dry. These were very
dead. This is a picture of the people
of God. This is a picture of the Israel
of God. This is those he calls my people,
in their natural state, dead. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. You know in Romans when it says
it's actually in the context referring to the people that
God by his grace saves. All by nature have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God. These are dry bones and they're
very dry bones. They're dead in trespasses and
sins as Ephesians 2 verse 1. You hath he quickened who are
dead in trespasses and sins. Now He says in verses four to
eight, well first of all in verse three, can these bones live?
Would you look at them? Can these bones live? Imagine,
imagine that you go down to the mortuary. No worse than that. We've gone beyond the funeral.
Go down to the graveyard. Go down there. Look at those
bodies. Speak to them. Call somebody
out of the grave. Shout to them. Tell them to come out of the
grave. Tell them to wake up and start walking and eating and
breathing. Tell them to do that. Are you going to have much success?
Of course you know you're not, but spiritually it's exactly
the same. These are very dry. These are
very dead. So what are you going to do with
these bones? He said to me, verse four, prophesy unto these bones
and say unto them, oh ye dry bones, who cannot possibly naturally
hear, you're dead! You're bone dry, how can you
possibly hear? Say to them, preach! Preach to
these bones. Say to them, hear the word of
the Lord. Hear the word of the Lord. Is
that not foolishness? The foolishness of preaching?
The foolishness of the message preached? The foolishness of
the situation? Proclaiming a message which dead
sinners cannot hear to those who are dead sinners because
God says preach to them, preach to them. Foolishness, it pleases
God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. And
often the gospel stirs a reaction, look what happens. Then said
the Lord God unto these bones, thus saith the Lord God unto
these bones, behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and
ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you
and I will bring flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put
breath in you and ye shall live. And you shall know that I am
the Lord. So I did what I was told, says Ezekiel, I prophesied.
as I was commanded and as I prophesied there was a noise and behold
a shaking and the bones came together bone to his bone and
when I beheld low the sinews and the flesh came up upon them
and the skin covered them but there was no breath in them you
see they looked like they were coming together and being clothed
in flesh and were living but there was no breath in them and
you know that's often the case that the gospel stirs a reaction
amongst dead sinners It stirs a reaction of remorse. Remorse
for what we've been and what we are and an acknowledgement
of how short we fall. It brings about a resolution
to change our ways and to do better and to try and be those
who we might find some way to God. It produces a superficial
commitment, but without the life of God's spirit. Without the
life of God's spirit. There was no breath in them.
They just looked like it. We see so much of this in these
days, but I'm sure in all days. Those who are reformed in nature
and in behavior and in character, but not regenerated by the spirit
of God. there's a difference between
being outwardly reformed in what we do and being regenerated from
within by the spirit of the living god there are so many churches
which have this mechanical view of doctrine and its effects you
go through the motions of preaching strict doctrine and uh... as don was saying before you
know that that place where that guy came down from new york and
he felt every time he had his skin whipped off his back and
uh... That sort of thing, it produces an effect of sorts,
but no. Then he said to me, verse 9,
prophesy unto the wind, prophesy son of man and say to the wind,
thus saith the Lord God, come from the four winds of breath
and breathe upon these slain that they may live. Implore the
spirit of God to come and to enliven these dead bones. They
look like they're They've come back together, they're clothed
with their flesh, but there's no breath in them. Call on the
Spirit of God to come and enliven them. And so Paul writes to the
Ephesians in chapter 2 and verse 5, when he said, you were dead
in trespasses and sins and you has he quickened. He's quickened
us. He's made us alive together with Christ. He's given life
when there was no life before. Verse 10, so I prophesied as
he commanded me. And the breath came into them
and they lived. and stood up now they stand up
the life's in them the life of god is within them they stand
up on their feet an exceeding great army you know when you
see an army in its ranks I've used this illustration a lot
but in about a month's time not very far from here right in the
center of london on horse guards parade there'll be the ceremony
of what's called the trooping of the colour and whichever the
regiment is of the british army that's chosen that year they
if you know anybody that's been in the British Army, they're
extremely honoured when it's the year that their regiment
is chosen to troop the Queen's Colour on Horse Guards Parade.
And especially if it's a beautiful, if it's weather like this, it
really is quite a spectacle to behold, and you see them all
there in their finery, all their regimental finery, and you see
them all in their ranks, and do you know something? Do you
know the most obvious glaring thing that there ever is in such
a thing as if one of them is not there. You can see they're
all there in their ranks. The number is fully made up.
It's a fixed number. This is speaking about this exceeding
great army. It's the number that is known
to God. And in verse 11 he tells us what
these bones are. Then he said to me, son of man,
these bones are the whole house of Israel. The whole house of
Israel. That's what they are. That's
what that's a picture of. God breathing life into his people,
the whole house of Israel. Now, where do we first come across
Israel? Where do we first come across
the name? In scripture we first come across it in Genesis chapter
32 when Jacob is wrestling with the pre-incarnate Christ. He's
meeting with God and he's in that place and he wrestles all
night long and his hip ends up out of joint and God says to
him, the one with whom he's wrestling says, you will no longer be called
Jacob, the cheat, the deceiver, the swindler. You will be called
Israel, which is a prince with God or a prince of God. Israel,
that will be your name. A prince, you, it's like we were
hearing about Jeshurun this morning from Don. It's that which is
by its very nature in the flesh, fallen and dead and dry. being
called by God a prince with God. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
49. I just want to show you four
verses at the start of this chapter. Isaiah 49. Listen, O Isles, unto me. It is evident from the context
as you read these verses who is it speaking? It is Christ
who is speaking. Listen, O Isles, unto me, and
hearken ye people from far. The Lord hath called me from
the womb, from the bowels of my mother. The church is his
mother. Revelation 12. the woman that
gives birth to the child Christ came from the church the Old
Testament church the line the line all the way down from from
Abel and Cain killed Abel and then from Seth that line all
the way down From the bowels of my mother hath he made mention
of my name, and he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword.
In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished
shaft, and in his quiver hath he hid me, and said unto me,
Thou art my servant. Now look what God his Father
calls Christ, O Israel. He calls him Israel, in whom
I will be glorified. Oh Israel in whom I will be glorified
and then there's reference to his earthly ministry and being
rejected and the frustration of that earthly ministry in aspects
of his contact with those that were supposed to be the people
of God. But he calls him Oh Israel, Israel. It's like in Jeremiah. You know in Jeremiah chapter
23 speaking there of Christ And in verse six it talks about the
one whom God would send to save his people. He says, this is
the name by which he shall be called. The Lord our righteousness. Yes, Christ is the Lord, the
righteousness of his people. That is his name, the Lord our
righteousness. And then you go on, just 10 chapters to Jeremiah
33. And it's speaking about the church,
the people of God, the people that he has saved. And in verse
16, it says about those people, this is the name by which she
shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. I've used this
with our own folks and some of you might have heard it before,
but it's as if, you know, it's like Mr. Faulkner and Mrs. Faulkner. It's the Lord our righteousness
and Mrs. the Lord our righteousness. Israel
and Mrs. Israel, if you like. In this
respect, by virtue of the eternal union between Christ who is God
and his elect people, Israel, his people. That's it, sharing
the same marriage bond name from all eternity. It's not just about
physical Jacob, the Jews descended from Jacob, but about a people
that's from Jews and Gentiles, Gentiles too, Galatians 6, 16,
peace and mercy be upon the Israel of God, the Israel of God. You know, there's so much confusion
in these days, so much confusion politically, that when the scriptures
in the Old Testament talk about Israel, they're talking about
that patch of land in the Middle East, not in the slightest. This
is about the people that God has chosen from all eternity
to save from his sins. Who are they? Who is this Israel? Who are these whom he calls my
people? Clearly, if God says there's
a people that are my people, there must be people who are
not his people. He doesn't call everybody his
people. He doesn't. Yes, he's father
of all in the sense that he's created all, but he's particularly
the God of his people. They shall be my people. I will
be their God. We read again and again. These
are the ones in Revelation 21 and 27. which are written in
the Lamb's Book of Life. That's it. They're the ones written
there. They're those pictured in Revelation
chapter 7 and verse 4 where we read of the 144,000. And I believe
that that's God speaking there of the people sealed of God because
it's particularly talking about withholding of judgments until
the 144,000 on earth are sealed. I believe it's talking about
the people of God sealed on earth at any one time and then you
go on two verses into, sorry, five verses into verse 9 of Revelation
7 And then he says, after this I saw in heaven a great multitude
which no man could number in heaven. As he says in Revelation
19 and the first verse, I saw much people in heaven. This is
the people when they've arrived there in heaven, in glory. they're
those who when the gospel is preached to all without distinction
as we do you know we're accused generally speaking if you preach
these uh... this this this doctrine of sovereign
grace the the doctrine of limited atonement and particular redemption
and and and these doctrines of effectual salvation then you're
accused of being a hyper calvinist and you're accused of not being
evangelically minded and Oh, I'd sooner go out and do a little
bit to try to save somebody for God than do what you do, which
is just leave it all to the sovereignty of God. But no, we preach. We
follow that commission. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. And we preach to all who will give us a hearing.
And what great opportunity there is in these days, especially
via the Internet, for a hearing. we we just cannot believe yes
we can believe because we hear it but uh... we're staggered
whenever we discover the numbers of people diversely located who
are either tuning into our sunday morning services or listening
to the recordings online it's just it's just staggering to
me absolutely staggering to me but we preach to all without
distinction Acts 13 verse 48 when the Gentiles heard this
heard what the gospel preached which gospel the true gospel
the gospel of this book when they heard this they were glad
and they glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed why because God the Holy Spirit
quickened them because he made them willing in the day of his
power They are the us. You know whenever you read in
the New Testament epistles about us, then most religious folks
thinks, oh well that means everybody. No, no, no. Look at it carefully.
The us. What does the us mean? The us of Ephesians chapter one
verses four to six. The us he has chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. How do you know that you
can make such an arrogant statement, as it were, as the religious
world thinks, to think that you are among the elect of God, I'll
tell you why. As Paul says to the Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians
2.13, he says, beloved, we thank God for you, because we know
that you are chosen of God by sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth that you believe this gospel if you
believe this gospel it is witness of the fact that you were chosen
of God from before the beginning of time there is no other evidence
that I know of chosen in Christ predestinated to the adoption
of children says Paul in Ephesians chapter 1 according to the good
pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory who gets the glory
who gets the glory to the praise of the glory of God's grace it's
the those as Harry was pointing us to in 2 Timothy 1 and verse
9, who are saved and called with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us, us again, same thing, given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. These people, this Israel of
God, the ones that God calls my people, they are Jacob, whom
God chose to love from everlasting, as against Esau, whom in sovereign
divine choice, God passed by. God left to themselves. God indeed
hated, is what it says. And who are we to judge God for
this? For if our God is truly God, he is sovereign over all
things. Is he not, as Romans 9 says,
is he not the potter and humanity the clay? And is it not in the
gift of the potter to make of one lump of clay vessels for
honor and of another lump of clay vessels for dishonor? He
is God. It is God's prerogative. So then,
Israel. We've seen it there in Ezekiel
chapter 37. And then those God calls my people. Those called by God, my people,
were typified in the Old Testament by the physical descendants of
Abraham, the Jews, they typified, they pictured those that God
calls my people, they contained those that God calls my people,
though they were not all. They were set apart from the
rest of the world. Very much. Such a small nation
compared with the rest of the world. They were set apart from
the rest of the world. But they were blessed. They were
blessed. Why were they blessed? Paul asks
the question in Romans chapter 3 verse 2. He says, what advantage
is there then in being a Jew? Much every way. Why? For to them
Unlike the rest of the world, to them, to this people, who
were typical of the true people of God, the oracles of God were
given. The truth of God. All men can
see God in creation all around us if we will only look. It's
only the blindness of man that looks at creation around and
will not have God in any of it. They do not like to retain God
in their knowledge. But this people, these Jews,
they were given the oracles of God and we have it here in our
Old Testaments. It was committed to them. But most of them did
not believe. Most of them did not believe.
Turn with me to Romans and if you keep your finger around chapters
9 and 10 for a little while. Romans chapter 10 and verses
2 and 3. Jews that were typical of the
people of God. They were indeed zealous for
God first to I bear them record says Paul. They have a zeal for
God. He knows he was one of them who had a zeal for God a vehement
zeal for what he considered to be the right Jewish way of doing
things and to stamp out this new church that had started up
these followers of this Jesus. He had a zeal for God. He knew
what these people were like. I bear them record. They have
a zeal for God. But it's an ignorant zeal, not
according to knowledge. Why? Because they're ignorant
about God's righteousness. There's a righteousness that
God requires. There's a righteousness that
God only can accept. He cannot accept any other. He
cannot accept righteousnesses which are but filthy rags in
his sight. The righteousness that we must
have in order to enter his presence. Pursue holiness, without which
no man shall see the Lord. Where do we get this righteousness?
We must get it from God alone, for it's his righteousness. He
is the one who must make us righteous, if we're to be counted righteous
in his sight. But these went about trying to
establish their own righteousness. and not submitting to God's righteousness,
it says there in verse three. They hadn't submitted to God's
righteousness. Most of them, look down at Verse
five, Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the
man which doeth those things shall live by them. Most had
only heard Moses' description of the righteousness of the law.
And what was Moses' description of the righteousness of the law?
Do this and you shall live. How shall we live? Do this and
live. The rich young ruler comes to Jesus and he says, what must
I do to inherit eternity? You know the commandments. do
this and live. Oh, all these I've done from
my youth and upwards, what more do I lack? They thought that
they could establish their own righteousness but it also says
cursed. is everyone who does not continue
in all things that are written in the book of the law to do
them and I remember when that first struck me many thirty odd
years ago I think when I was reading John Warburton's account
of his own testimony and he said how that cut into his heart and
gave him no peace. Hearing this, however hard he
tried, cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law to do them. And he knew he was
cursed. He knew that the righteousness
of the law, he couldn't achieve the righteousness of God through
the righteousness of the law. He failed through the weakness
of the flesh. But, look on. verse six the righteousness
which is of faith speaketh on this wise and then he goes on
to say it's it's it's obvious to you so you don't have to go
far to find it the righteousness of faith what does it speak it
speaks Clearly, verse four, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. He's the end of it. What does
it mean that he's the end of it? It means literally he's the
termination of it. He's the finishing of it. As
anybody that says, how am I going to be right with God? How should
a man be just with God, as Job said? What must I do to be saved? He is the end of it. as well
if you go and do all these things you'll be alright with God because
there's no way that you can and yet you listen if you ever do
if you ever as I sometimes do because I just happen to be making
the breakfast on a Sunday morning when I come down and I put the
radio on and the news has been on and there's the BBC radio
service on and you will never ever hear anything other than
Law Works preaching that's all you will ever hear so he's the
termination of it, he's the end of it but he is the end goal
of it he is the He is the object of what the law was given for.
He is the object of the law's prescription for the righteousness
of God because you see the law pointed to him. The law pictured
him. The law in all of the temple
rites and sacrifices and all the priesthood and everything
about that tabernacle, that temple worship that was given to Moses
on Mount Sinai, all of that pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ and
what he would accomplish. It provided a gospel blueprint
of that true faith, that true faith speaking to the elect remnant. It was speaking to them about
how acceptance with God could be found and it was in Christ.
Those in the Old Testament going through all of those prescribed
sacrifices of the temple. By true faith they saw Christ
and they believed in him and they were justified by him in
what they saw. But the majority were cast off
as typical of God's people. The majority were. Now look back
in Romans 9 verse 26. And it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people,
not my people. It was said to them. They're
not my people. Where was it said to them? You are not my people.
It was said to them in Hosea. Now for the sake of time, I'm
not going to get you to turn there now, but I'll just remind
you of it. But the book of the prophet Hosea is given to by
god to to say this is the people whom i had set apart for my own
purposes but they have been so adulterous spiritually. They
have been so unfaithful spiritually that I want you, Hosea the prophet,
to go and marry a harlot. So he went and married Gomer,
a harlot. And of that union came children.
And I can't remember the name of the first one but then there
was Lo-Ami and what was the other one called? Lo-Ro... I've got
it here somewhere. Lo-Ruhama. Lo-Ruhama. not my
people and not found mercy. And why? Because of their infidelity.
Because of their infidelity to God. Because of their unfaithfulness.
Because of their spiritual adultery. That they fell into again and
again. And this was pictured with Hosea marrying Goma and
the children of them. You're not my people. This is
typical of it. It says in Hosea 1 verse 7, but
Judah was typical of the remnant as Romans 11 verse 5 says according
to the election of grace. It was typical of the election
of grace. Physical Israel was cast off. It was. They finished being a
nation. The ten northern tribes became mongrel Samaria intermingled
with the Assyrians and the others who invaded them around 650 BC. But back to Romans 9. Remember,
we're thinking about this Israel of God, this true people of God,
the people that God calls my people. Romans 9, there are people
on whom he has mercy. Verse 18, he hath mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Don't
forget that. Whom he will, he hardeneth. Because
it's all in the prerogative of God. He is God over all. If he does something, who are
we, again and again we read in the scriptures, who are we to
say anything against God? Who are we to ask him, what do
you think you're doing? This is not, he is God. What
is right and wrong? It is what God has defined as
right and wrong. The very nature and being of
God is the standard. No, verse 16, it's not of him
that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God, his prerogative,
that showeth mercy. They're those who are born, as
John says, John 1 verse 13, they're born not of blood, not of the
will of the flesh. It doesn't come by descent, or
by human will, not by the will of man, but of God. Born of God. The wind blows where it lists,
said Jesus to Nicodemus. You don't know where it comes
from, you don't know where it's going. So is everyone that is born of the
Spirit of God. born not of blood, not of the
will of man, not of the flesh, but of God. And God is glorified,
not only, we often, you know, we often skip over this. Come
on, let's be honest. God is glorified not only in
the salvation of his elect, but also in the damnation of the
reprobate. And let me tell you, if this
is not your God, then you worship an idol, because the God of Scripture
does all these things. But verse 23, Verse 22, what if God willing
to show his wrath, then verse 23, but also the same, what if
God willing to make known the riches of his glory on the vessels
of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory? When did
he do that? In eternity, before the beginning
of time, as we've seen from other scriptures, he's willing to make
known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, predestinated
for glory. Who are they? Even us, verse
24, even us, even us. How do you know you're amongst
the us? Whom he hath called. How does he call? Through the
preaching of the gospel. You go on reading chapter 10
of Romans about calling on the name of the Lord shall be saved,
but how shall they call on those that they haven't heard of or
believed in and how shall they hear without a preacher and the
sending of a preacher. even us whom he has called by
gospel preaching and not only jews but gentiles and all of
them comprise the israel of god again and again in the old testament
that the books that the jews had again and again they must
have seen and read but not seen with the eye of faith that god
said he would take his people from gentiles as well as from
jews the whole house of israel that's what it said Army of invigorated
dry bones standing upon their feet, a great army. These bones
are the whole house of Israel. Verse 25, as he says in Hosea,
I will call them my people. which were not my people, and
her beloved which was not beloved. Not my people by nature, not
my people by type in the case of Gentiles, never set apart
as a type of the people of God, but I will call them my people
and I will call them beloved, who naturally were not. And so,
salvation is accomplished. God's salvation is not a possibility,
it's not an if, it's not a perhaps, it's accomplished Romans 11 verse
26, so all Israel shall be saved from just condemnation. That's
what we mean. When we talk about salvation,
what do we mean? We mean saved from something
that you need to be saved from. Saved from drowning in the sea
when you fall off a ship. Saved from whatever peril it
might be. Saved eternally from condemnation. From just condemnation. How?
How? By the just penalty for sin being
paid. for that just penalty being cleared,
for that just penalty for a satisfaction being made for the sin debt.
that God might be just, because he is strictly just and he never
changes, and yet the justifier of those who are in Christ Jesus,
just and just. That he might be a just God,
as Isaiah 45 says, and a saviour. You say, can't he just save?
No, not without violating his justice, unless someone comes
to satisfy that justice. And who did it? By whom? Jesus. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus,
call his name Jesus. Why? For he shall save his people
from their sins. He'll come as their substitute,
as their surety, as the husband of his bride. Israel, the Lord
our righteousness. And for whom shall he come and
accomplish this? You know, did Christ die for
all or did he die just for his elect? You know, oh just an academic
point, it doesn't matter so long as they believe in him in the
end. So long as they believe that his blood has saved them
from this. Isaiah 53 verse 8, for the transgression of my people
was he stricken. With what result? When Christ
was stricken for the transgression of, as he says, my people, for
his Israel, the Israel of God, this is the result, Jeremiah
50 verse 20. In those days, and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none. We'll pretend that there's no,
there shall be none because he's taken it away and the sins of
Judah and they shall not be found. They shall not be found. They're
taken away. He's taken them away for I will
pardon them whom I reserve. This is effectual salvation. You can turn back a page in Romans
to chapter eight and verse 33 who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect. to the Israel of God, the people
of God, chosen in Christ before the family, who shall lay anything
to the church? There's nothing to accuse them.
In the court of divine justice, in the court of divine justice,
there is nothing that Satan can bring to accuse God's elect of. Why? Because God has justified
them. Christ has been raised from the dead, the penalty's
been paid, it's been accepted. Who is he that condemns? Who
is he that tries to condemn? Christ has died. It's finished. Yea, rather, he's risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. And so, you know, we could sing
in that hymn, ball shall I stand in that great day, and who ought
to my charge shall lay. I can't remember the rest of
the words, you must be able to. This is not an open offer. This isn't an offer, free offer,
to the free will of man, but an eternal accomplishment of
grace, which we declare in preaching the gospel to any and to all
who will listen. And we trust the Holy Spirit
of God to make those who are ordained to eternal life willing
to believe it in the day of his power. And as they believe it,
they rejoice in Christ Jesus. Amen.