It is so very, very good to be
back with you again. Shelba and I always look forward
to coming to San Diego and getting to visit with you. I hope you
know how very, very dear this congregation is to me, to our
folks in Danville, and I know you know how dear your pastor
and his wife are to us. I believe God's given me a message
for you. I pray you'll give me grace to
preach it and give you the ability to hear it. We have just begun
a new administration in this country. President Trump is now
President of the United States. And I often think, I wouldn't
want that job for anything in the world. Not for anything in
the world. What a weight of responsibility.
He may or may not know it. I doubt he does. He's responsible
to God. for the governing of this nation,
for our good. But the decisions he makes, whether
you like them or don't, whatever the results are, are only temporary
things, meaningless in the long run. Meaningless in the long run.
It won't matter tomorrow. It just won't matter. What I'm
doing here tonight, if God will speak by me, will matter forever. He only has the responsibility
on his shoulders of governing a nation in temporal matters. I have the responsibility of
speaking to eternity bound immortal souls who will either be saved are
forever damned as a consequence of what you do with what I have
to say tonight. Now that's a weight of responsibility. I hope never, never, never to
stand in this place without a sense of that tremendous weight of
responsibility. I stand here either as the servant
of God or the servant of the devil. There's no in between
ground. Our master said, he that is not
with me is against me. It is written, woe is unto me
if I preach not the gospel. Paul says in another place, though
we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel than
that which we have preached unto you. Let him be accursed. If I do not preach the gospel
that Paul preached, the gospel that our Lord Jesus preached,
the gospel that the prophets and the apostles all preached,
if I do not preach the same message, a curse hangs over my head. That puts me in a position of
awful responsibility. No wonder the prophets of old
spoke of the message they carried and the message they declared
as the burden of the word of the Lord. God's servants are
set by him as watchmen over the souls of men. God in his wise
providence and in his great goodness sent Brother Richards here several
years ago to be your pastor. To most churches that really
doesn't mean anything. I hope it means a great deal
to you and more every day. He sent him here to be a watchman
over your souls. One responsible to God for faithfully
instructing eternity bound sinners in the way of life and salvation
by Christ. I've got to the place I just
dislike the phrase Bible study. I just dislike it. Because what
that commonly means, and I know, I'm talking to folks in California
who've been influenced by campings nonsense for many years, many
of you have. You get together and we're going to study Bible.
Study facts and theories and you get together and you sit
down and you read this text. Well, Brother Cass, what do you
think that means? Well, Brother Mike, what do you think that
means? And you say, well, that's a good idea. And it's to treat
the word of God with utter contempt. It doesn't matter what you think
it means. And it doesn't matter what I think it means. What matters
is what God says. That's all that matters. It is
my responsibility, your pastor's responsibility, the responsibility
of every faithful man to show sinners the way of life and salvation
by Christ. As we hear the word in his mouth,
so we must speak his word. Not offer an opinion, but speak
his word. Your pastor will tell you I instructed
him as a young man. I tell preachers all the time
now, just a week or so ago I was the youngest preacher everywhere
I went. I was the youngest preacher everywhere I went for almost
50 years. And suddenly I'm the oldest fellow everywhere I go.
So I can talk different now. I tell preachers all the time,
if you don't know what a text means, don't get up and give
an idea what it means. If you don't know what God says in the
passage, don't pretend that you do. Just skip over it. You can
come back to it 20 years. Just leave it alone. But don't
speculate about it. I'm not here to give you a speculative
opinion about religious matters. I'm here to declare to you God's
word as He inscribed it on my heart, as I've experienced it
by His grace, as He's written it in this book. That's our responsibility
to the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, there's only one reason. It is because there is no light
in them. Don't care where you go to hear
a man preach. I don't care who you're listening to on radio
or television or the internet or on your telephone or across
the street or down the road. I don't care who he is. To the
law and to the testimony. If they don't speak according
to this word, it's because they don't have any light. It's because
they don't know God. Is that plain enough? It's because
they don't know God. We must add nothing to the book
and take nothing from it. He that hath my word, God says,
let him speak it faithfully. He who dares stand in this place
and speak to eternity bound sinners as God's ambassador, as one who
is the mouthpiece for God to men, Oh, what a responsibility. He must be faithful to the word
of God, to the gospel of God, to the glory of God, and to the
souls of men, regardless of cost or consequence. I've been your
pastor's wife's pastor all her life. All her life. It has been my privilege and
responsibility to instruct her soul faithfully in the word of
God. And one of these days she and
I will find out whether I have. That's a weight of responsibility. I call upon you who hear me to
compare every word I speak with what God says in this book. Every
word. Get your Bible and open the scriptures
with me and follow with me as I take you through the scriptures.
Compare every word I speak with what's written in this book if
what I have to say is written in this book You better bow to
it Believe it and obey it if it is not written in this book
If what I speak is contrary to God's Word if it is not directly
from the Word of God Don't ever hear me again. Go find somebody
who speaks for God. That's how serious this is I
make you this promise What I have to preach to you has been inscribed
upon my heart by the finger of God's almighty grace in the blessed
experience of life in Jesus Christ. It is that which I've experienced
in my soul. and proved by faith in Christ
Jesus the Lord. I'm not here to give you an opinion
or to offer you some theological system or some Catholic doctrine
or Baptist doctrine or Pentecostal doctrine or Arminian doctrine
or Mormon doctrine. It doesn't matter to me what
kind of doctrine it is. I want to know what God says. What does
God say? I'm here to tell you what God
has taught me in this book. Before I do, I ask you who know
my Redeemer to lift your hearts in prayer to God and ask his
blessing upon his word. Oh God, speak through your servant
to my heart and ask that he will speak to those here who do not
know God and give them life and faith by the power of his spirit.
There are certain things about the character of God that all
men and women, all boys and girls who have been taught anything
about God in what's called the Christian world, all of them
believe certain things about God. All who profess to be Christians
believe certain things. I don't know of anyone who calls
himself Christian who does not believe certain things about
God. Things with regard to his being, we call them attributes.
Attributes are those characters of God, characteristics of God's
nature, without which he would not be God. It's hard for us
to think of an attribute like that. I have certain attributes. My wife has certain attributes.
Pretty is not one of mine. Pretty is one of hers. Now, something
could happen to mar her beauty. She would still be Shelby Fortner.
Her prettiness has got nothing to do with her character and
her being. You understand that? God's attributes
are absolutely essential to his being. Take one of them away
and you no longer have God. You may as well Set that book
up there and say there's Jesus Christ my God. He died for me.
I love him I give my life to him and bow down and worship
the book. It's just a book doesn't matter what you call it Take
one attribute away, and God ceases to be God. The scriptures declare
plainly God is spirit. He's eternal, immutable, independent
spirit. That means he has no parts, no
passions. He has no members about him. The scriptures speak of the mind
of the Lord, and the eye of the Lord, and the arm of the Lord.
But he uses, God in his greatness just uses anthropomorphic, I
had to say that so you'd be impressed how smart I am, human terms.
He uses terms associated with men to describe himself so that
we can get some hold on who he is. But when he speaks of the
arm of the Lord, he's just talking about his might. When he speaks
of the eye of the Lord, he's just talking about his knowledge.
When he speaks of the mind of the Lord, he's just talking about
his infinite wisdom. It's not to limit him in any
way. God is infinite eternal spirit. God is holy. He's wise. He's good. holy in all that he
is, wise in all that he is, good in all that he is. How often
do you hear folks who have no idea who God is say the good
Lord. He is. Matter of fact, the very
name God, the very word God is but an abbreviation of the word
good. God is good. He's always good. Good in everything. Good in everything He does. God
is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. He has all power, all knowledge,
and He's everywhere present. When we speak of God's omniscience,
we're not just talking about God looking out in the future
and seeing things that are. God sees everything right now,
at once, presently. He knows it all. He knows it
all. He doesn't learn anything and
he doesn't forget anything. God is omnipotent. He has all
power. Now let me tell you what that
means. Nobody else has got any. Nobody else has got any. Nobody
in Moscow. Nobody in Washington. Nobody
in Sacramento. Nobody in Frankfort. Nobody else
has got any. Nobody in heaven and nobody in
hell except God. He is omnipotent. He has all
power. He's omnipresent. You can't hide
from God. He goes everywhere. He's already
there. God is just. He's true and He's
faithful. Whatever God does is good, it's
just, it's true, it's right, it's faithful because God did
it. If God does it, it's right. It's
not right because God does it. If God does it, it's right. Him
having done it makes it right. God is love. God is love. Everybody knows that verse of
scripture. God's merciful, gracious, long-suffering, and forgiving. All of those things are essential
attributes of God's being. These characteristics of God's
nature All religious people, to one degree or another, recognize
and applaud. I could say what I've said thus
far in this message. Anywhere in the world, in any
church, in any denomination that calls itself Christians, folks
say, well, that was good. That was good. That was good.
Everybody I know, Catholic or Pentecostal, Baptist or Methodist,
Presbyterian or Episcopalian, it doesn't matter, even Mormons
and Campbellites, all of them acknowledge those things to be
so. I've never met or read after anyone who professes to be a
Christian who does not agree that these attributes are essential
to the character of God. But there's something else. There's
another attribute of God's character. An attribute, something absolutely
vital to his being God that most people in the religious world
are totally ignorant of and when they hear it, they refuse to
accept it. In fact, as they hear it, they
despise it. They may come to church and sing,
oh how I love Jesus. But by the time the preacher
gets done preaching what I'm going to preach to you tonight,
they want to crucify Jesus again. They despise him. They despise
him. This character, this attribute
of God is at the very essence of God's being, God. And when
men are told this, they become enraged. I mean mad. Mad enough to shoot you between
the eyes if they can get by with it. I've been there a few times.
I know what I'm talking about. This one attribute of God's being
is that which distinguishes him altogether from that which men
call God. Men make gods. Have you ever
noticed in the scriptures how the scriptures describe the idols
of men? They're called the works of your
hands. The works of your hands. I made
that. Look at that. Isn't that a good God? I made
that. My God's bigger than your God.
My God's better than your God. My God sees more than your God.
Look what I made. The works of your hands. There's a reason
for that. What men and women love to worship
is themselves. What many women love to worship
is themselves, their goodness, their choices, their experiences,
their knowledge, the work of your hands. And so they conjure
up ideas concerning God that make God kind of look like they
are. make God sort of appear to be
what they are. But the Lord God, when he describes
himself, uses one specific attribute of his being by which he sets
himself apart from all of the idols that men have carved from
one of the trees of the dark forest of their depraved hearts. And God says, I am God. Now which one of you is like
me? Which one of you is like me? I declare the end from the
beginning. From ancient times the things
that are not. Saying my counsel shall stand. I will do all my
pleasure. Now which God did you say was
like that? Which God did you say was like that? I make peace
and I bring evil. I'm the Lord God. I'm the Lord
God. Which God did you say was like
that? The heathens said their rock is not as our rock. Hannah,
in that prayer your pastor just read in first Samuel, said, I
rock! I rock! He's not like their rock. Oh no, our God really is God. God everywhere, over everything,
and everybody, all the time. He's God. Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He in heaven, in earth, in the seas, and in all deep
places. Now I want you to write this
one statement down, and I'm going to come at it from every way
I can. This is what I'm telling you. He who is God is absolutely
sovereign. He absolutely controls everything,
everywhere, all the time. He rules in heaven, in earth,
and in hell. The devil doesn't wiggle without
getting God's permission. That's exactly right. Read the
book of Job. It wasn't Satan who came up and
said, let me tell you about your servant Job. The Lord God called
Satan up to give a report of his going to and fro in the earth
with the angels of God. And he said, Satan, have you
considered my servant Job? it was the Lord God who instigated
the thing God rules everywhere this is what the book says of
him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory
forever that's a simple statement isn't it that's as simple as
it can be stated and as profound as any book ever written about
the wonder of God's sovereignty of him That's the source. Where'd that come from? Off him.
Where'd that come from? Off him. Off him. And through
him. How'd it get here? Through him.
That's the medium. Through him. And where's it going? To him. Of him, through him,
and to him are all things that either make your blood boil or
make your heart beat with joy. One of the two. He is God. I'm talking to you about God.
Turn to Psalm 115. I want you to read two psalms
with me. A portion of two psalms. Psalm
115 and 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. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? I recall years ago, not long
after God saved me, I was attending church and the pastor didn't
have the gumption or the good sense to take it down after he
came there, but they'd had on the wall of the church building
for years one of those silly pictures, supposed to be Jesus
being baptized by John the Baptist. I don't know why all those pictures,
they always make him who's supposed to be Jesus look kind of like
the loafers, you know. They always do. But there was a fellow, a
Hindu fellow, who came to church that morning with a friend of
mine, Brother Charles Sawyer, who's with God in glory now.
And he's sitting back, almost in the back of the building,
and he pointed at a picture and he said, is that your God? Where
is now their God? Show him to us. Our God is in
the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. That's my God. That's my God. Look at Psalm 135. Psalm 135,
verse what? Praise ye the Lord, Jehovah,
Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise ye the name of
the Lord. Praise him, O ye servants of
the Lord. Ye that stand in the house of
the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, praise the
Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing praises unto his name, for
it is pleasant. For the Lord hath chosen Jacob
unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure. The Lord
has chosen the fallen sons of Jacob, whom he made to be Israel,
princes with God. The Lord has chosen you, who
are his, for his peculiar treasure. Verse 5. For I know that the
Lord is great, and that our God is above all gods. And here David
says the same thing again. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he, where? In heaven and in earth, in the
seas, and in all deep places. Anything less than an absolute
sovereign is not God. Anything less than an absolute
sovereign is only the idolatrous notion of man made from his own
depraved mind to make a God like himself. When I assert that God
is sovereign, I'm simply saying God is God. That's all. God is God. Now, I know folks
say, well, that's your idea of God. I'm not interested in my
idea of God. And I'm not interested in your idea of God. I'm interested
in knowing who God is. When I first went to Danville,
Kentucky, we had to have a fellow come in and tune our piano. And
I had been living on this earth at that time for 29 years. And
I have a rather unusual name. I had never met another Fortner
in my life that wasn't Bloodkin. And there was a fellow who came
to tune our piano named Don Fortner. Don Fortner. As a matter of fact,
he was an Armenian Methodist preacher. And he had a, he was a little
bitty fella. And back in those days when it was, I guess, stylish
for crazy folks to get a When him curly hair dudes looked like
he stuck his finger in a light socket, just frizzed hair everywhere.
And he was red-headed, top that off. Now if somebody come along
and tried to pass him off as Shelby's husband Don Fortner,
she'd say, no, that's not him. No, I'm sorry, there's been some
mistake, that's not him. She would recognize immediately
that's not the same man. Wearing the name God and being
God's two different things. Being called God and being God
is two different things. When I assert that God is sovereign,
I'm telling you that any imaginary thing called God that is not
absolutely sovereign is no God at all. The God of this apostate
religious age, this generation of anti-Christ Christianity is
anything but sovereign. This religious generation is
well described by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 45 and verse
20. They pray unto a God that cannot
save. They pray unto a God that cannot
save. God's done everything he can,
now the rest is up to you. Oh, won't it be a shame when
we get to heaven that Jesus died for so many who wind up in hell? The Holy Spirit's calling you!
Now you have to make the decision. They pray unto a God who cannot
save. They tell us that men have God
in a hammerlock by their almighty will and they give to man the
power of God and take from God the power that it is and tell
us God can't do what he wants to because you won't let him If that wasn't so sad and blasphemous,
you'd put it on a comedy skit. You won't let God do what? Let
the Lord have his way. Doesn't that sound good? Let
the Lord have his way. If you can let him do anything,
he's not God. And if you can stop him from
doing anything, he's not God. The fact is, the God of this
enlightened 21st century church is a weak, helpless, frustrated,
effeminate idol which commands the respect of no one. The God of this age, the God
of the modern pulpit, is an object of pity rather than reverence,
and people speak of him with contempt, yet Men everywhere
defend their notions of weakness and inability in God and call
it defending God. A weak, helpless, frustrated
God is no more God than a totem pole or a good luck charm, a
rabbit's foot. Matter of fact, that's a pretty
good way to describe the God of this age. I call him a rabbit's
foot God. Any of y'all have rabbit foots
when you were boys? I used to have me a rabbit foot.
He didn't really believe in it. Well, sorta you did. Sorta you
did. Things get going pretty tough. You wouldn't let anybody see
it, but you'd take that rabbit's foot and rub it a little bit. And then you'd
go face that fella bigger than you. Sort of you did. That's about like man's faith. They've got a rabbit's foot God.
They don't really believe in him, but sort of they do. Man,
if he can't do anything else, I couldn't do nothing but pray.
I couldn't, with Shelby and I, I like to watch old westerns,
the modern ones, you know, I just, I have a tough time with, but
we like to watch some of the old ones, and most of the time in the late
40s and early 50s, somewhere during the time somebody would
pray. I mean, some of the most ridiculous prayers you ever thought
about anybody praying, but somebody prays and goes, I can't do nothing
else, Lord, I got to pray. So they rubbed their rabbit's
foot. They rubbed their rabbit's foot. And that's how most folks
handle God these days. You can take these words just
as far as your mind's imagination will allow you to carry them.
Now listen, just Expand your mind just as far as you can just
as far as you can when you go home night lay down turn the
lights off and You're just thinking by yourself. Just take these
words just as far as you can take them all Things are of God Stretch them as far as you can
stretch them and you haven't begun to commence to get started
understanding them all things are of God Some of you going
through difficulties are made tomorrow That I wouldn't bring
upon you for anything in this world. I And I've written these words
to hundreds of people around the world over the years. He who loves you infinitely more
than I can imagine loving you brought this to pass for you. He did it for you. There's no
accident. He may have used the devil to
bring it. He may have used a neighbor to bring it. He may have used
a son or a daughter to bring it. He may have used a husband
or wife to bring it. Whatever it is, God brought it to you,
for you, if you're His. All things are of God. You've been preaching God's sovereign
everywhere, in creation. The Lord hath made all things
for Himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. You may die in rebellion against
God. You may go to hell. But I'm going to tell you something,
you're going to honor God. You're going to honor God. You'll either
bow to him now in grace and seek his mercy through Christ Jesus
the Lord or in the last day as he says depart ye cursed into
everlasting darkness I never knew you reap now the reward
of your own way you'll say man he's right he's God and as you
hate him and scream his blasphemy forever you'll be cast into hell
God made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day
of evil in providence our God is an absolute sovereign Brother
Eric and I were talking for a little while this afternoon, got this
baby coming, things fixing to change. Make plans. How you gonna do this? How you
gonna do that? He may or may not have told you,
I probably did, whether he did or not. When he talked to me
about the possibility of coming out here and what you're going
to have to do, I said, well, you asked me what I'd do. If
I was convinced this is what God had for me, I'd throw caution
to the wind and I'd be there. I just, well, how are you going
to take care of things? I don't have a clue. I haven't
taken care of anything yet. And the reality is everything
Bob and I ever tried to take care of, I messed up. I've never been
able to handle anything. I've never been able to handle
anything. Nothing. Nothing. But God rules providence. And I can take you to... I can
take you to numerous events that have taken place in my life,
and as far as I can determine, with all that I can find out
about them, things by which God changed things radically. I mean, He just turned the world
upside down, and nobody benefited from it but me. Nobody I can
show you Facts from which nobody benefited but me and I'd have
any control over it. God did it. God did it Sometimes
folks wonder well, how can your grandfather went to Mexico? Well,
he let good-paying job went down there with nobody supporting
him Nobody they had a lot of tortillas, but they never went
hungry Been down there for nearly 50
years How's that? God takes care of things. He
made a commandment to the children of Israel. In Exodus 34, you
don't need to turn there. He said three times every year,
I want every man in Israel over 20 years old to come to Jerusalem
and spend a week. That's just not smart. They didn't
have security alarms in those days. Who could watch the house? Who's going to take care of the
kids? Who's going to take care of the crops? Who's going to
keep those felicities from coming in here and destroying everything
I've got? That just doesn't make any sense. All they've got to
do is watch the calendar two or three years, and that's every
man in Israel going to Jerusalem. Let's go take that place. God
said, I'll fix it so that while you're up here worshiping me,
nobody will want what you've got. Read it for yourself in
Exodus 34. They won't even want what you've
got. Our God works all things after the counsel of His own
will. We know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.
But what about man's wicked devices? Surely, the psalmist said in
Psalm 76, 10, the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder
of wrath wilt thou restrain. Well, Mother of God, now, we're
talking practical now. Most practical thing I ever learned
in my life is to trust God. The most practical thing I've
ever done in my life in any circumstance is to trust God. The most foolish
thing I've ever done is not trust Him. The most foolish thing I've ever
done is not trust Him. Our God works all things after
the counsel of His own will for the good of His people. Now I
want you to turn to Romans 9, I want you to see this. Most everybody will say, alright,
God's sovereign in creation, if you don't take it too far.
And they'll say, all right, we know that all things are going
to turn out good. That's not what it says, but it's going
to turn out that way. Always don't take that too far. You've
got to recognize man's got a free will and there's a devil and
all that stuff. But Romans 9 tells us something else. God, who is
sovereign in creation and sovereign in providence, is sovereign in
salvation. And let me tell you what that
means. God can save you or damn you. It's up to Him. God can
give you faith or leave you alone. It's up to Him. God can speak
to you by His word or harden your heart as He did Pharaoh.
It's up to Him. God can give you life or leave
you in death. It's up to Him. All it takes
for you to go to hell is for God to leave you alone. We have two grandchildren. That
little girl, she's growing up, buddy. Oh, she's growing up in
a hurry. Our granddaughter now is soon to be 19 years old. Our grandson is soon to be 16.
Since before they were born, I've been praying for them. every day of their lives when
I had mind enough to pray when I wasn't so out of my mind with
medication or sickness I couldn't and throughout the day I doubt
an hour goes by when I'm awake and I don't pray for them and
I pray like this oh God please don't leave them alone please don't leave them alone
oh God don't leave these folks to themselves Don't set the world
in their hearts All it takes for you to go to hell is for
God to leave you alone Look in Romans chapter 9 in verse 13
the Lord said Jacob have I loved Esau have I hated And here's
the conclusion of the matter verse 16 so then It is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. I was preaching, this had been
a long time ago in Louisville, Kentucky, back before Moose Parks
came back from the Highlands. Dr. M.B. Magruder, who started
the Church there, Redeemer Baptist Church, he was at that time an
old man, sharp, sharp, sharp fellow, brilliant man. I got
done preaching. He said, isn't it strange that
the Arminian, will worshipper, takes the weakest aspect of man's
character and makes it his God? Isn't that amazing? Men take the weakest aspect of
a man's character and make it his God. Some of you are old
enough to remember Lay's potato chip commercials. I remember
good commercials. I remember this one well. Hard
to tell how much money they made on it. Bet you can't eat one. Did you ever try to eat one good
fresh potato chip? Just one. Did you ever try? Man hasn't got any power in his
will. His will is as weak as his nature. His will reflects everything
about him. of the Scott Richardsons, they used to say, well alright,
well Grinch, you got a free will, just as free as a frog in a snake's
belly. You can jump around all you want to, you just can't get
out. You can't get out of what you are. You can't get out of
it. It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. How do you know? Verse 17. For
the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, that my
name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth. Now turn over a few pages to
Ephesians chapter 1. I'll wrap this up. Ephesians
1 verse 3 God is sovereign, absolutely
sovereign, and He displays His sovereignty more brilliantly,
more constantly, every day, every hour, all over the world, throughout
the ages, more than anything else in the saving of sinners. Blessed, verse 3, Ephesians 1,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us, past tense, already done, with all spiritual
blessings, that is to say, everything that God Almighty can or will
give to mortals on this earth He gave to his elect in Christ
before the world began. All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. How'd he do that? Well, if you'll
read your Bible enough, the Lord bless you. If you'll pray enough,
the Lord bless you. If you go to church three times a week
and tithe and double tithe, the Lord bless you. No! No! According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, He chose us to
make us holy, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. Now the commentaries you read
on that, they'll tell you that God chose us so we'd live a holy
life. Well that's a pretty good trick. If you can do it, let
me know. I'm talking about wholly and
without blame before God. That's what text says it'd be
like. Wholly and without blame before Him. You can't do that. I can't do that. I can't make
you holy and blameless. You can't make yourself holy
and blameless. But Christ can. And Christ did. And He did it before the world
was. And having finished it from the foundation of the world,
secured it for everlasting, holy and without blame before Him,
in love. When I read this fourth verse,
I always have a tough time trying to decide whether it ought to
begin verse five or end verse four. Hold it without blame before
him. I am right now in love. We love Him because He first
loved us. In love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. How
did He do that? According to the good pleasure
of His will. Now watch this. To the praise
of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted. God Almighty embraced me in his
heart in the person of his dear son before ever he spoke the
world into being and smiled on me with delight with delight
smiled on me and he's always been smiling and he will keep
on smiling and there's nothing I can do to make him wipe the
smile off his face I'm one of those he describes when he speaks
of his son and says this is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased sometimes he shows me a frowning face But behind the
apparent frown is the beam of goodness. Because Christ's righteousness
is my righteousness. Christ's perfection is my perfection. Accepted in the beloved. Now read on. In whom, verse 7,
how is it that we, sinners like us, Somebody with a heart like
mine somebody with a heart like yours. How can we be accepted
in the blood in whom? We have redemption through his
blood the forgiveness of sins the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace We can't begin to imagine how
God forgives sin. I've been preaching about it
for nearly 50 years, 49 years I've been preaching this message.
We can't begin to imagine how God forgives sin because all
we can compare it to is what we can see. You may owe me some
money, and I say forget it. The debt's forgiven. I'll not
bring it up anymore. It's over with. Forget it. Leave
it alone. But somehow or another, I can't get it out of here. It
may be that you've done something to offend me, and you might catch
me one of my more magnanimous moments, and I'll say, oh, that's
all right, don't worry about it, rather than strike him back
like it's my nature. And just forget it, I have. But
that's not really true. Somewhere back there, Bob, it's
still in there. Hang on, it'll pop out, I promise
you. It's still there. When God forgives sin, He says,
I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions and will
not remember thy sins. How can God forget it? I told you before, God knows
everything. One thing He doesn't know, one thing He doesn't know,
He doesn't know what He is not. Did you get it? He doesn't know
what he is not. And Christ took our sins away
when he had by himself purged our sins and sat down at the
right hand of the majesty on high. Read on. According to the
riches of his grace, verse 8, wherein he hath abounded. I love
that. He hath abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence. That is, with all knowledge and
skill hath he made known to us the mystery of his will, according
to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. And
this is what his purpose, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ.
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him,
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Now watch this, that we should
be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Who first trusted in Christ?
Who first trusted in Christ? Paul is talking to us about things
that transpired in eternity. Things that transpired before
the world began. The triune Jehovah trusted Christ
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world with all his will
and all his glory and all his people. And the Son said, I'll
bring them and I'll present them to you, Father. Not one is missing. And the father said, go do your
work. Go do your work. And they struck hands. The father
struck hands with our surety, who trusted in Christ. Oh, listen
to me now. The triune Jehovah has trusted
to the God-man, our mediator, everything. All his will, all
his glory, all his people, all his purpose, all his possessions,
everything. He put them in the hands of the
Son. Now, what is it you can't trust him for? What a reason to trust Christ.
Watch this now, verse 13. In whom ye also trusted. That's
the issue. Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? After Peter had denied the Lord
Jesus, and he said, fellas, I'm going fishing. Now I'm just suspicious. I'm not positive. I can't say
it for certain, but I think probably. If you'd have walked up to Peter
and said, Peter, tell us about your assurance now. He'd say,
I don't have any. I must be reprobate. No way a
man can know God and do what I've done. And then somebody
else walked up right behind me and said, Peter, is Jesus of
Nazareth the Christ of God? Yes, sir, he is. It's not a matter of how you
feel about him. Do you believe on the Son of God? Do you? I do. Andrea, trust him. Not like I want to, not like
I ought to, but trust him I do. In whom ye also trusted. Watch
this. After that you heard the word of truth. There ought to
be a definite article in front of that. After that you heard
the word of the truth. The truth. You heard the gospel
preached. Get Andre to tell you about how
he first heard the word of the truth. I don't know what he'd
heard before, but one day somebody gave him one of our tapes or
audio, video, something about what it was, and suddenly he
found himself believing God. Is that pretty close? What happened? He heard the word of the truth,
the good news of your salvation. How do you know it's mine? God
came, gave me faith in his son. That means it's mine. It's right
here. I heard Eric say a minute ago, Bob, that was for Don. But
I walked in before you got a drink of that water. And I just presumed
it was for me. I just presumed it was, and you
know what I did? I didn't even ask if it was for me. I was thirsty
and I saw the water sitting there, I went like this. I know it was for me, I got it.
I know it's me. I got it. Trust the Son of God. Trust the Son of God. Believe
Him. And God tells you your name was
written in heaven before the world began. Christ died for
you. You've been called by His grace.
Read on. in whom you also believed after that you heard the word
of deep truth the gospel of salvation of your salvation in whom also
having believed after that you believed having believed you
were sealed with that holy spirit of promise that is God sealed
to your heart by the gift of his spirit giving you faith in
Christ all that we've been reading about all these blessings of
grace in Christ Jesus which is the earnest of our inheritance. The damn payment, the pledge,
the earnest money of our inheritance until the complete deliverance
by blood and by power, by omnipotent grace, the redemption of the
purchased possession. He is the seal in us of grace
given us before the world was and the pledge of glory given
us in Christ before the world was yet to be revealed in us. Oh God give you grace to trust
him for Christ's sake. Amen.