Well, we looked a few weeks ago,
we had four sermons on the book of Ecclesiastes, and we saw that
life is futile. That was Solomon's conclusion.
Life is futile without Christ, without the gospel. Without the
gospel of God's grace, life is a futile thing, absolutely pointless,
absolutely without any purpose whatsoever. And so we need to
know God, and we can only know God through the Gospel. But there's
so much around that claims to be the Gospel. And so last week
we started to look at how do we discern the authentic Gospel
from the many fake ones that are peddled by what Jesus calls
the wolves in sheep's clothing that are all around. You see,
It's only, only, only the authentic gospel that effectually saves
those who are its objects. Only that one. There's no salvation,
they'll talk of salvation, but there is no salvation anywhere
else. What do I mean? Salvation. What
do I mean? Saves. What are we talking about? You know, if you interview people
in the street, I imagine people would say, well, I don't know
what you're talking about. What do you mean? Saved. Saved. What do you
mean? Saves means rescues from peril. Rescues from deadly peril. What
peril are we talking of? What peril are we in from which
we need to be saved? What is the peril that we are
all in from which we need to be saved? As we live this life
and we march through this life towards its end and death and
eternity, what is the peril that we are in from which we need
to be saved? The peril is this. that of dying,
and standing before the God of the universe who is holy, who
is unspeakably holy, who is higher than anything we can imagine,
and He is our judge. And He has said He will judge
us, everyone. for what we are and for what
we have been and how we have lived in this life we will be
judged and the result will be because all of us have fallen
short all of us have sinned and fallen short of the standard
of God of the righteousness of the holiness of the law of God
all of us will stand condemned before that and condemned there
will be a penalty there will be a price to be paid for that
transgression of the law and justice and holiness of God.
There will be a price to pay, an eternal price to pay. Except
a ransom be found, except there be a ransom that will pay the
price, we will be condemned. To be saved, remember that's
what we're talking about, to be saved, I must find that which
satisfies God's law and His justice. What does God's law? and what
does God's justice demand? We're all the creatures of God,
we're made by him, he's put us in this situation, what does
his law and his justice demand? It demands two things, one of
two things, it demands perfection, perfection, perfection, continue
in all things written in the book of the law to do them and
if we don't, and none of us do, Perfection or death? The soul
that sins, it shall die. And that doesn't mean extermination,
that doesn't mean annihilation, that means a spiritual death,
an ongoing death, a death of separation from all that is God
and all that is good. Now as I've said, all have sinned
without exception. The penalty must be paid for
all. for all. The penalty for, I don't
care who you are listening to this, the penalty for your sin
before the law of God must be paid. There is no way out of
that, it must be paid. It's either paid by you yourself,
bearing responsibility for your own sins before the judgment
seat of Christ, or it's paid by a fitting substitute, so that
those for whom he stood as substitute go free. And that's what it is
to be saved. And going free and being saved,
we enter into the blessings of eternity with God. Come ye blessed
of my Father, enter into the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world. That is the biblical gospel.
Now then, Many, many religious folks, calling themselves Christians,
claim to preach it, but they actually preach what is, as Paul
called it, another gospel, which is no gospel at all, for there
is only one. And he said, if anyone comes
to you and preaches any other gospel than that you've heard
me preach, let him be accursed. Oh, let's love him and tell him
that God loves him and has a wonderful plan. No, let him be accursed,
is what Paul said. To all those religious, those
lovely religious folks out there, peddling such a nice, lovely,
lovely gospel of their own invention, but not the gospel of scripture,
Paul says, let them be accursed. Because it's so serious. So how
do we discern? This is the thing. How do we
discern? that which is genuine from that which is fake. You
remember I said it's like the antiques thing, you know where
you've got antiques that look so plausible and yet the expert
comes and by detailed scrutiny is able to say that one's fake
and that one therefore has no value. Whatever it superficially
looks like it has no value but this one is the genuine article.
Ah, this one, this one, the experts have examined it. There's no
question about it. This one is worth hundreds of
thousands, millions of pounds. That's what it's like with the
gospel. You can go peddling your false gospel, but when it comes
to that day of judgment, you will find it has no currency
of any value in the counsels of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
said, I will say to them, depart from me, I never knew you. So
last week, we looked at, does my gospel, the gospel I believe,
accord with the Old Testament scripture? Because there's a
test. This week, I want to move on
and say, does my gospel give all the glory to God? Does my
gospel give all the glory to God? So my first point is about
God's glory and the gospel. God's glory and the gospel. Now,
I'm going to have you dashing around the scriptures quite a
bit. If you can keep up, that's fine. And those of you that have
got Bibles on phones, it's very, very quick to get there. But
if you can't keep up, don't worry. But first of all I want to turn
you to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. You see
we're talking about God's glory and the gospel. The glory of
God and the gospel. Now look at verse six. To the
praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved. Look at verse 12, that we should
be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ.
Verse 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the
redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. Verse 17, that the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation. Verse 18, the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his
calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints. The glory of God is so important
and so central to the gospel, the true gospel. The glory of
God is absolutely bound up with the gospel, the true gospel.
Why is it so much like that? God is the God of creation, of
creation. He upholds all. Why do things
carry on as they are? Why do the laws of physics continue
to keep the planets and the galaxies in their places and everything
working as we know and can predict it will work? It's because he
is upholding it. It says in Hebrews, by the word
of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is omnipotent God. He's glorious, He's omnipotent. All powerful is what that means.
Omniscient, He knows everything, nothing He doesn't know. Omnipresent,
there isn't, where can I flee from His presence? Can I go to
the depths of, no I can't, I can't go anywhere. I cannot flee from
the presence of God. He's glorious, He's holy, He's
glorious in holiness. He's supreme, of course, He's
glorious. Revelation 4 verse 11. Revelation
4 verse 11 extols the glory of God. Thou art worthy, O Lord. The gathered multitudes there
in the vision that John saw of heaven. Thou art worthy, they
cry, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. Why? Why? For thou hast created all
things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. God
is glorious because he's a God of creation, all-powerful. But
in what attribute is God's glory most vividly displayed? In which,
you know, the attributes are characteristics. How would you
describe God? And you can describe God according
to his word in all sorts of ways, but in which attribute is God's
glory most vividly, most clearly displayed? Because in that attribute
in which he is most vividly His glory is most vividly displayed.
That's the one that leads to praise. Is that not the one that
in the pictures of revelation in eternal glory, what leads
to praise is, ah, the people see the glory of God and it leads
to praise. Is it the omnipotence of God? Is it the creative power of God?
Is it the awesome holiness and purity? He is of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity. He dwells in unapproachable light. He is the unknowable God, unknowable
by fallen sinful man. Is it that which is his supreme? power and glory. Elijah, when
he'd had the triumph, and then he fled from Jezebel and he goes
to the cave, and he thinks he's going to see the power of God
in all sorts of natural phenomena. And you remember, God causes
an earthquake, and then a wind, and then a fire, awesome natural
phenomena, all at the hand of God go before him. But God was
not in the earthquake, and not in the fire, and not in the wind. But what was God in? The still
small voice that spoke. God was in that. What is that
alluding to? I'll tell you. It's his grace. It's the grace of God. The grace
of God, that it is his supreme glory. Now I know I've referred
you to this many times before, but turn with me to Exodus, and
chapter 33. Exodus chapter 33. And Moses is receiving the tables
of the law from God. The tables of the law that were
broken when the people made a golden calf and worshipped it, those
tables of the law are being renewed. And Moses is there, communing
with God. God says about Moses, I will
speak to him face to face as a man speaks with his friend.
And Moses is bold and he asks the living God, he asks the living
God for a favor. Verse 18, he, Moses, said, I
beseech you, please, please, God, show me thy glory. Show me that which is the awesome
demonstration of your Godhood and your power. And he said,
this is what God said, I will make all my goodness pass before
thee. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee. And what is it? I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. What is the supreme glory of
God? It is his grace. It is His mercy. It is His sovereign grace and
mercy that a holy God who must condemn sin, who must punish
sin, who must, His law must exact the price, the penalty, the ransom
for sin, that this God should be gracious and merciful. How
does He do it? How does He do it? This is the
thing. How do we, how do we know that God, how do I know God has
been gracious to me? How do I know that he has particularly
redeemed me? This is it. It's his grace. It's his sovereign grace that
is his great glory. It is his particular redemption
that is his great glory. It is his, what the L in tulip
of the five points of Calvinism. I don't like giving them a name,
but just so that you know, total depravity, unconditional election,
limited atonement, meaning Christ atoned for a limited number of
people, not for everyone without exception. That is the message
of scripture. So, here are two gospels. There's the one, you know, imagine,
like the antiques, the fake one and the real one. There's the
one that we seek to preach, and many of our friends, all of our
friends on Free Grace Radio seek to preach this gospel, and others
as well. But there's another gospel, preached
and proclaimed and possessed by various so-called churches,
many near here. They're just down the road. They
use similar terminology. But one gospel is genuine, and
the other is fake. How can we tell? Let's see which
gives all the glory to God. Well, this gospel that we see
being preached down the road is a gospel of universal redemption. That's what it is. It's a so-called
gospel, and Paul uses the term, but then he says it's no gospel
at all, of universal redemption. They use terminology like this.
Let's go and examine it. This is what they say. They talk
about sin. That's not bad, is it? They don't
hide it, they talk about sin. They talk about judgment. They
talk about a penalty for sin. But Christ They talk of him too,
Christ. They call him the son of God.
They say he came to this earth as God in human flesh. Oh, you
say, oh, that's good. That's all looking very genuine
so far. They even say that he is God. They talk about the deity of
Christ. But they say he paid the laws penalty for everyone
without exception. Not everyone without exception.
But, they say, not everyone is saved from the consequences of
their sin. So who, sorry, if Christ, if
their Christ paid the penalty for everybody's sin and yet they
say not everybody's saved from sin, what are they saying? Well,
they say things like this. only those who humble themselves
to accept God's salvation. Only those who exercise their
own free will to choose to believe Christ, thereby make the death
of Christ effectual for them. So Christ died for everybody
according to them, without exception, and paid the law's price for
everybody's sins without exception, but what makes the difference?
the person who chooses to believe Christ. That's who makes the
difference. Who gets all the glory? Why is
one saved and not another? Because God did something? No,
no, God did the same for everyone. Why is one saved and not another?
Because the one who is saved did God a favor and chose to
believe what he has said and made Christ's death effectual
for them. Let's take it apart a bit more.
The one I'm thinking of particularly down the road, straight down
the street from us, pedals the Alpha Course. This is one of
their main things. And its great proponent is Nicky
Gambon in London, and you can look him up and you can see his
talks online. And the Alpha Course, pedals
this idea of universal redemption. That Christ died for everybody
without exception. And the only thing that makes
it yours is that you exercise faith. They talk about others,
talk about the four steps to peace with God. Four steps to
peace? God loves you and has a plan
for you. God loves you and has a plan for you. There's a problem. you've done wrong things, we've
all done wrong things and God doesn't like us doing wrong things.
Ah, but there's a solution. God sent his son to die that
it will put right all those wrong things that we've done. And here's
the fourth step to peace with God. But it's now all down to
you. All you have to do is accept
Jesus into your life and then you'll be saved. And I'm telling
you it is the gospel of virtually all charismatics and Pentecostals. It is the gospel of evangelical
Anglicans, as they call themselves. It is the gospel of evangelical
churches all over. It is even the gospel of so-called
Calvinistic churches. When you dig down into it, it's
the gospel of so-called, don't they believe in election? They
say they do, but they don't. They say they do, They make such
a thing of the personal responsibility of individuals and they plead
so much to the fallen flesh of those individuals and they do
things and they adopt the methods of Arminianism to try and get
them to believe. They all agree on that one same
foundation of universal redemption. God has made salvation from sin
by the substitution of Christ available for everyone without
exception. But the only way anyone is saved
is by them exercising their will to believe Christ. Listen to
what Jerry Falwell said. Jerry Falwell was one of the
big US Armenian evangelicals, you know, the Billy Graham type.
Jerry Falwell said this, if you go to hell, you will go to that
awful place in spite of the fact that God himself has done everything
he possibly could to save you. That God's a failure. That God
is an abject failure. If you were to listen to Nicky
Gambon teaching his Alpha course, he uses the language of scripture,
he uses terminology like redemption and sin and forgiveness and eternal
life. But is his gospel genuine or
is it fake? Let's come to our next point
and ask the question. The true gospel is the gospel
of this book, the Bible's gospel. Does the Bible's gospel say that
Christ died for all without exception to the law and to the testimony?
If they speak not according to this word there is no truth,
there is no light in them. Does the Bible It's gospel say
that Christ died for all. Well let me put this point to
you. When Christ died at Calvary, 2000 years ago approximately,
there were already multitudes in hell. Was the blood of Christ
shed for the multitudes that were already in hell? Was the
blood of Christ shed to pay the law's price for the sins of Judas? who had just betrayed him and
hanged himself? Was the blood of Christ shed
to pay for the sins of the peoples that God commanded ancient Israel
to destroy? You read your Old Testament histories.
How God told Saul, King Saul, when Israel had a king, go out
and utterly destroy them, every last one of them. Did Christ
shed his blood for all those that God commanded his people
to go and destroy? Did Christ shed his blood for
the sons of Korah, who rebelled against the gospel as it was
portrayed in the types that Moses gave them? Did Christ shed his
blood for Esau, of whom God said of his brother, Jacob have I
loved, and Esau have I hated, or left to himself? Did Jesus
shed his blood for him, Did Jesus shed his blood for Pharaoh in
Egypt, whom God said, I have hardened his heart that my purposes
might be displayed? Did God in Christ shed his blood
for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, on whom he rained
fire and brimstone in judgment for their sin? Did he shed his
blood for them? What about all the people apart
from Noah? and the other seven with him,
eight souls. What about the whole world who
perished in the flood? Did Christ shed his blood for
them? We read earlier in John 17, Jesus
saying, I pray for them. And who's he talking about? The
people that the father had given him. I pray not for the world. Stark, isn't it? I pray not for
the world, but for them, which thou hast given me, for they
are thine. Would Christ die for those for
whom he refused to pray? Did his death pay the law's price
for Hitler's sins? Did it? Did it? Think of the,
we read this morning in Matthew 13, the parable of the sower.
This language of the Alpha Course, this language of the four steps
to salvation, It's completely contrary to what Jesus taught
in Matthew 13, the parable of the sower and the parable of
the field. You read it, you read it for yourself. You read it.
The disciples said, why do you teach the people in parables?
And Jesus said, because it is given to you, you, you to hear. Let him that has ears hear and
understand. It's specific, it's particular. It's of sovereign grace. It's
a particular redemption. That's what Jesus said. He said,
I speak to the rest that they don't understand. So it's fulfilled
what Isaiah said. Harden the heart of this people
that they don't understand. No. The Bible doesn't say that
Christ died for all. It doesn't say it anywhere, any
place. Oh, they'll say, oh, I can find
you half a dozen verses which show it. You're taking them out
of context and I'll take those verses up with you any day you
like. Those verses, think of several now, we'll come to some
of them in a moment. They don't say that at all. For whom then
does the Bible's gospel say that Christ died? Now this is where
I want you to be nimble with your looking up of texts in the
scripture. John 10. John 10. Remember, we're asking the question.
The Bible's gospel, who does it say that Christ died for? John 10, verse 11. John 10 verse
11, Jesus said, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth
his life for everyone without exception. Does it say that?
No. For the sheep. Who did you die
for, Lord Jesus Christ? I died for my sheep. Aren't everybody,
isn't everybody that's ever lived your sheep? No, they're most
definitely not. Or else why would he talk about
sheep and goats and separating the sheep from the goats? I died
for my sheep, he says. And you could carry on right
the way down to verse 16, but we want for the sake of time.
He says, I've got other sheep that I must bring, the ones that
would come. I believe that we're amongst those other sheep that
must be brought, that weren't of that Jewish fold in Jerusalem
at the time when he was speaking. Look at verse 26. Look at verse
26. Does this verse line up with
what the Alpha Course teaches and with what the Four Steps
teach? No. He's talking to the Pharisees
and he tells them plainly. He says, you believe not because
you are not of my sheep. Not the other way around. He
didn't say, you're not of my sheep because you haven't decided
to believe. He said, you don't believe because
you're not of my sheep. Oh, I don't like this saying.
I don't like this doctrine. Yeah, many said that. Jesus said,
my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I
give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Ephesians 5, 25,
let's go there. Ephesians 5 and verse 25. Remember, who does the Bible
say that Jesus died for? Ephesians 5, 25. Christ also
loved the church and gave himself for it. He died for his church. Does it say there he died for
everyone? No. He says he died for his church. Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. You know, the great chapter of redemption
in Isaiah's prophecy. Isaiah 53. Hang on, when I eventually
get to it. Isaiah 53 and verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him, Christ. He hath put him to grief, When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Who did
he die for? He died for his seed. And you
probably won't get there quick enough, but I'm there already.
Romans 9 verse 8. Romans 9 and verse 8. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God, But the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. The children of the
promise. That's who's counted for the
seed. Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter
2. And verse 10. Ah, ah, this is
where the people that will say that we've got it wrong, they'll
go to verse nine and they'll say, no, no, you've got it wrong.
You've got it wrong. Look at the end of verse nine.
That he, Christ, by the grace of God, should taste death for
every man. There they'll say, there the
scripture says that Jesus died for every man. No, it doesn't.
Read on. For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom
are all things, in bringing many sons to glory." Many sons. Further down he talks about the
children, as opposed to the others. Further down he talks about him
giving aid to the seed of Abraham. Not to the seed of Adam, to the
seed of Abraham. That every man there is every
one of his elect. The all that is his elect. The
us that the gospel again and again talks about. The us is
not everybody. The us is the people for whom
he died. The children whom the father
gave him. Those who fear him. Psalm 25. Psalm 25. Don't worry if you can't keep
up. It doesn't matter. Psalm 25, verse 14. Do you want to know the secret
of the Lord? Do you want to know the mystery of the gospel? That most people don't know,
but his elect do know. Verse 14. The secret of the Lord
is with them that fear him. Them that fear him. Most people
do not fear God. But we read in Proverbs, didn't
we? Just a couple of weeks ago. The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The secret of the Lord is with
them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. He will
show them His covenant. He will show them His gospel.
He will show them His sovereign grace. It's the Israel of God. The Israel of God. Galatians
chapter 6, 16. There is an Israel of God which is of Jews and Gentiles
from every race, from every nation. Revelation chapter 14. Revelation
chapter 14 and verse 3. So in amongst all of the terrible
things that John sees in this world under the reign of Satan,
he then in chapter 14 sees the people of God. The 144,000 that
are with God. The 144,000 that are his redeemed people. They sung as it were a new song
before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders.
And no man could learn that song, not every man in general, just
140 and 4,000, which were redeemed from the earth. Do you see? The
biblical gospel is a gospel of sovereign grace and particular
redemption. Turn to John chapter six. John
chapter six. John chapter 6 and verse 37.
Remember, does the Alpha Course, do the Four Steps, do the Gospels
that are preached in all these popular, thriving, successful
churches, do they conform to this? This is Jesus speaking. all that the father gives me.
This is the Jesus speaking to a crowd that was enthusiastically
following him. Why was the crowd enthusiastically
following him? He'd fed 5,000 the day before.
They'd all had a free meal and thought, hey, what a fabulous
way to go on. We don't have to go to work.
We get fed. We get bread and fish for free.
And we don't have to go to work. Oh, that sounds like a good deal
to me. Hey, let's follow this guy around. We'll get our dinner
tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. And he says to
them, you're only here, verse 26, he says, you seek me not
because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat the loaves
and were filled. You're more concerned about the
bread that goes into your belly than the bread that comes down
from heaven. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that comes down from heaven, from God. Verse 37, he says this,
all that the Father giveth me, all the people that the Father
gives me, there's a people that the Father gives to the Son,
they all shall come to me. Oh, will that rule me out? No,
if you come, you're amongst those people. Him that cometh to me,
I will in no wise cast out. Look on verse 39, this is the
Father's will which hath sent me. that of all which he hath
given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. Who did Christ die for? Everyone without exception? No, the people that the Father,
in sovereign grace, gave to the Son. And this is the will of
him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day. Verse 44. No man can come to me. Oh, you've just
got to exercise your own will. No man can come to me, except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day." And you know what? This goes on. This
goes on. And Verse 60, many, therefore,
of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, this isn't
hard saying. Who can hear it? And he says,
does this offend you? And there were many that from
that day walked no longer with him. They went away. And further
down, that's verse 66, many of his disciples went back. Why
did they go back? Because of this truth of sovereign
grace and particular redemption. Election. Read the articles in
the bulletin. Excellent articles. I plagiarized
them from Paul Mahan's bulletin, but I make no apology for that.
There were such good articles, you needed to see them. You must
read those articles. But it was because of what those
articles say that these disciples proved to be false, and they
went away. And Jesus said to the twelve,
will you also go away? And Peter said, to whom shall
we go? you have the words of eternal
life. We don't get that anywhere else.
Those that were given to Christ is whom he died for. Who did
he die for? Acts 13, 48. Those that were
ordained to eternal life believed. They preached the gospel. And
those that were ordained, because it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. And those that were ordained
to eternal life believed. Oh, what about John 3.16? Yeah,
okay, let's go to John 3.16. Let's go there. Ah, we've got
you now. We've got you now. God so loved
the world! The world! There it is, there
it is. So the alpha course is okay. No, it's not. No, it's
not. No, it's not. No, it's not. Who did he die
for? every believing sinner. There
is nothing in God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have everlasting life. There is nothing in that that
in any way gives credibility to the idea that Christ died
for everyone that ever lived. What's he saying? He died for
a world of sinners. A multitude that no man can number
from every tribe and tongue and kindred. What is it in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 and verse 13? Paul says to them, we are bound
to give thanks to God for you, brethren. Beloved of God, for
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. How does Paul
know that God has chosen them? In his electing grace. Through
sanctification of the Spirit and the fact that you believed
the truth. That's it. Every believing sinner. Let me tell you one more thing.
Remember, we're testing, right? Where does true faith come from?
Ephesians 2, verse 8. By grace are you saved. By the grace of God. By the gracious
actions of God, who doesn't need to, but in love and mercy is
gracious to a people. By grace are you saved. How? Through what means? Through faith.
Ah, right, that's where I do my bit, is it? No, and that not
of yourselves. Even that is the gift of God. So then, I know we're running
out of time, but let me just finish this. How did the death
of Christ leave things regarding salvation? How did it leave things? John 19, verse 30. In John 19, and verse, you don't
need to turn to it, because it's very short. When Jesus had taken
the vinegar when he's on the cross, he cried, it is finished. The work of salvation is not
left open, it is finished. I'll do these quickly, but I
hope you still get them. Galatians 3.13, right? We're under a curse because of
our sin, but Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us, for cursed is everyone that hangs
on a tree. Note the tense of that. Christ has redeemed us. It's accomplished. It's redemption
that is accomplished. Hebrews 9 and verse 12. Flip over there if you can. Hebrews
9 and verse 12. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place having obtained eternal redemption for us. He's done
it. He's accomplished it for his
people. Justice is satisfied. You don't need to come back there,
but just let me go back there for you. Isaiah 53, again, and
verse 11. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. When God looks upon what Christ
has done for the people the Father gave to him, God is satisfied. His law is satisfied. It has
no more charge to bring. It brings comfort. Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, Isaiah 41 and 2. Tell them that their
sins are dealt with. It's an accomplished thing. Who
shall bring anything to the charge of God's elect? Christ has died. in the place of his people, in
the place of, what does the scripture say there? Romans 8, 33 and 34,
Christ has done, who shall bring any charge against God's elect? The scripture isn't embarrassed
to talk about it, but these peddlers of false gospels are embarrassed
to talk about it. I am persuaded, said Paul to
Timothy, I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him against that day of judgment, because
he has accomplished my salvation. So, which gospel glorifies God? Which gospel glorifies God? Psalm
115 verse 1. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Is it not the gospel of the Bible,
of Scripture, of eternal redemption, the gospel of electing grace?
John 17. The hour has come, said Jesus.
Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all
flesh, that he, Christ, should give eternal life. to as many
as thou hast given him. Is that a text of universal redemption? That's a text of sovereign grace.
That Christ should give eternal life to as many people as the
Father has given to the Son. That's the truth. Revelation,
we'll get there, don't worry, it's soon going to be finished.
But I can't just leave it hanging open and unfinished. Revelation
chapter 5 and verses 9 and 10. The people in heaven, the redeemed
in heaven, sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and
priests, and we shall reign on the earth. Salvation accomplished,
glorifying God, all praise to Him in heaven. The genuine gospel
that saves to the uttermost is the gospel that gives all glory
to God for His sovereign grace and His particular redemption
of the people of His choice, of His elect. Is that unfair? Is that unfair? People say, oh
that's so unjust, that's such an unfair thing, that cannot
be right. Well, let me put it bluntly to you. And I'll put
it in the words of scripture, I'll put it in the words of Romans
chapter 9. Well you then, who think that's
unfair, you lump of clay on the potter's wheel, you lump of clay,
because that's what you are, as we all are, you lump of clay,
you go and argue it out with the potter of the universe. And
you go and tell him that he's unjust. But as for me, I'm content
to believe that God is too powerful to fail, he's too good to do
wrong, he's too wise to get it wrong, and that surely, as Abraham
said to God, the judge of all the earth shall do right.