There is a statement made in
the 115th Psalm that I want to read to you in just a little
bit. Psalm 115. While you're finding your place, listen
carefully. God is great. God is great. Great beyond your highest thought
of him. Great beyond our greatest imagination
of him. God is great. Neither of the
men had any idea what I had planned to preach tonight. But back in
the office, Brother Cody read to us Isaiah chapter 45. Brother
David out here read to us Psalm 96, both texts of scripture,
setting before us the marvelous greatness of God. The marvelous
greatness of God. Oh, how great is our God. Man is nothing. God's great. Man is less than
nothing and vanity. God is great. Ever entertain
great thoughts of God. Whenever we think of him, let
us think of him with reverence and think of him as the great
God, our savior. God is holy. Man is sin. God is our rightful king. Man
is a treasonous rebel. God is light. Man is darkness. God is purity. We are corruption. God is holiness. We are sin. God is love. We are enmity. Now, have you found your place
in Psalm 115? Listen to this astounding, astounding,
astounding statement in verse 12. The Lord hath been mindful of
us. This great God. The triune Jehovah
hath been mindful of us. This thought was overwhelming
to David. Turn over to Psalm eight, Psalm
eight, verse one. Hear how David speaks of God's
greatness. He says, he says, Oh Lord, our
Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who has set
thy glory above the heavens. And then down in verse four,
he says, what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son
of man that thou visitest him. In Hebrews chapter two, you don't
need to turn there. The inspired writer quotes David's
statement here, and he raises the same question with the same
astonishment. What is man that thou art mindful
of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him? Let our hearts
be humbled and our minds attentive as I seek to declare to you something
of the wonder of this fact. The Lord hath been mindful of
us. When Elizabeth, the mother of
John the Baptist, stood before Mary, she said, Who am I that
the mother of my Lord should come to me? When Mephibosheth
was brought to Jerusalem to sit with David at his table as one
of his sons, he bowed before David and cried, What is thy
servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? How much more should God's elect
prostrate themselves before his throne? How much more should
you and I prostrate ourselves before the throne of grace, bow
in the dust before him, and ask, what is man that thou art mindful
of him? Astonished with this fact, the
Lord hath been mindful of us. This is a subject indescribably
too big for my puny brain. I can't begin to comprehend it.
I can't begin to describe it. I simply want to show you something
about God's mindfulness of us. We want to show you something
about God's mindfulness of us. I hope that will stir your heart
to worship, praise and adore him. The Lord of glory has ever
been mindful. That means his heart has been
fixed upon us, deliberately fixed upon us, immutably fixed upon
us from everlasting. The Lord has been mindful of
us. It's not something that began
in time. This is from everlasting. The mercy of the Lord is from
everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness
unto children's children. He says, I will not turn away
from them to do them good. Isn't that a marvelous thing? God in covenant mercy chose to
make us his own. And having chosen us as the object
of his grace, he makes a covenant with us. And he says, I will
not turn away from them to do them good. And he never has. I will not turn away from them
to do them good. First, obviously, God's mindfulness
of us is seen in his eternal decree of election. We were chosen
of God in Christ to be the heirs of grace, salvation and eternal
life in Christ before the world began. We're bound to give thanks
all way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification
and belief of the truth were unto he called you by our gospel. Oh, how we ought to delight and
rejoice in every memory of God's electing love. God chose us. And he ordained us to eternal
life and called us in time to life eternal by the preaching
of the gospel through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. But
all this that we experience in time, we experience in time because
God chose us in everlasting love. God's election is the source
and cause of every benefit, every blessing, Every mercy every grace
every gift we have of God in time and to eternity Augustus
top lady put it this way Election is the tree of life Whose leaves
and fruit are for the healing of the nations? Redemption justification
Regeneration, faith in Christ, perseverance, and everlasting
glory, all are fruits of election. We have another token of God's
mindfulness of us as it's revealed to us in the everlasting covenant
of redemption and grace. Turn to Hebrews chapter 8. I
want you to see this. Hebrews chapter 8. God made a covenant with himself. Within himself with us in Christ
our Redeemer God made a covenant with himself within himself with
us in Christ our Redeemer before the world began in which all
things required for our salvation were fixed from eternity I Repeat
what I've said to you many many times, but it needs always be
bored in mind. I God speaks to us in such a
way that he condescends to use human terms to describe both
himself and his works so that we can get a handle on things
that otherwise we could not get a handle on. What can you and
I possibly know of God's eternal purpose? How can we think? You ever try to think about eternity?
Something done from eternity Something done in eternity something
done to eternity. That's just that's just beyond
our grasp so when the Lord speaks of a covenant don't imagine that
God sat down and made a proposition and God the Son made an agreement
God the Holy Spirit made an agreement Though that's exactly how it's
presented to us This is God's eternal decree But it's presented
to us as a covenant of grace ordered in all things and sure
Now when you read the New Testament when you go to Hebrews chapter
9 this very same word translated covenant in Hebrews chapter 8
in chapter 9 is translated testament there's a reason a Testament
is that which a man leaves and when he's dead to have fulfilled,
or leaves while he's alive to have fulfilled after he has died
and have it established so that certain things of his possession
go to other people. It is that man's will. And the
very same word is translated testament and covenant because
it's presented to us in exactly these two ways, a covenant and
a will. So that when you come to the
house of God, You hear the man of God preach
the gospel of God's grace. And for the first time, God opens
your ears to the word of grace. You have heard God, the Holy
Spirit, reading the will of God to you. We come to hear the reading
of our God's will. We come to hear the preaching
of his will the preaching of his covenant. All right, look
at Hebrews chapter 8 verse 8 For finding fault with them he saith
Behold the days come saith the Lord when I will make a new covenant
With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This
is referring to Jeremiah chapter 31 Not according to the covenant
that I've made with their fathers in the day when I took them by
the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt Because they
continue not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith
the Lord. What was that covenant? God said, do this and live. Don't
do it and die. Do this and you'll possess this.
Don't do it and I'll take you off the land. Read on. For this
is the covenant, verse 10, that I will make with the house of
Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws
into their minds and write them in their hearts. And I will be
to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall
not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the
greatest. When I come to my people, he
says, in grace and mercy, I will give them a new nature, a new
heart. I'll write my law on their hearts,
and all shall know me being taught of God. For I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Turn over just one page to chapter
10, verse 15. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
witness to us. For after that he said before,
this is the covenant. that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts and in their minds will I write them and their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more. Having determined to save
his people for the glory of his own great name, God, the Father,
God, the Son and God, the Holy Ghost are presented here in scripture
as having come together and make a solemn compact of grace in
which each pledged everything necessary to be done for the
saving of his elect. Now let me talk to you about
this covenant just a little bit. It's a matter of great importance
and we ought to understand what we can of it. Most people can't
grasp what I'm talking about. When they come to deal with the
covenant, those who who even think about dealing with it,
say this is a family covenant and it's a church covenant. Nothing
could be further from the truth. It's not a family covenant. It's
not a church covenant. It's not a national political
covenant. It's not a works covenant. This
covenant is not something that is manipulated by me and what
me and do, but rather this everlasting covenant is a covenant of grace. pure, free, sovereign grace. And this covenant is a covenant
of blood. Turn over one more page in Hebrews
chapter 13, verse 20. Now, the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make
you perfect in every good work to do his will. Working in you
that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ
to whom be glory forever and ever amen The covenant of grace
Was made in anticipation of the fall Now hear me carefully The
sin and fall of our father Adam did not take God by surprise
God was not caught off guard when Adam transgressed. And yet
God's decree, God's order, God's determination with regard to
the fall does not in any way imply or suggest that God is
the author and cause of sin. I know folks say, well, if you
believe in absolute predestination, If you believe that God predestinated
everything that comes to pass and works all things after the
counsel of his own will, then you have to believe that God's
the author of sin. No, I don't. No, I don't. You see, we bow not to man's
reason. We don't even bow to our own
reason. We bow to God's revelation. We
bow to God's revelation. And James tells us that God cannot
be tempted with evil and he doesn't tempt any man. We don't even
think about charging God with sin, blaming God for sin, or
making an excuse for sin. In fact, the only people who
talk so foolishly are ranting will-worship Armenians who would
rather charge God with sin than bow to His sovereignty. Now,
some of you have been around a while, and a lot of you listen
to lots of sermons preached by lots of men. Have any of you
ever heard Ever heard, have you ever read where any gospel preacher
made this declaration that God's the author of sin? Have you ever
heard? Nowhere except from some will
worship Arminian who would rather have God charged with sin than
bow to God's revelation because he worships not God, but rather
himself and the work of his own hands. Let's see what the scriptures
say. We believe exactly what's written
in the book. No more and no less. Do the scriptures
declare that all things are predestinated by God? Do the scriptures say
that? I'm not asking, is this a logical
point of doctrine? I'm not asking, is this a part
of your system of theology? Do the scriptures declare that
all things are predestinated by God? Without question, the
scriptures declare that. Listen to the book. All things
are of God. That's the language of the book.
Listen to the book. For of him and through him and
to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Of him. That's the origin. And through
him, that's the medium. And to him, that's the end, are
all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. Turn back to Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians 1. I want you to see
this. Ephesians 1. In verse 11, Paul's been talking
about God's wisdom and prudence and providence. Look at verse
11, in whom we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
his will. Did God predestinate all things?
The book says so. The book says so. Is God the
cause and the author of man's sin and unbelief? and eternal
condemnation? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. He that believeth not is condemned
because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. Did God predestinate man's everlasting
destiny? Of course he did. Are there vessels
of wrath and vessels of mercy? Of course there are. The scriptures
could not be more clear. But the cause of judgment is
never the arbitrary will of God. The cause of judgment is God's
justice responding righteously to man's iniquity. God does everything
justly. God does everything righteously. The righteous Lord does righteousness,
nothing else. He who is truth does truth, nothing
else. That means that if God saves
you, he will not save you at the sacrifice of his justice. And if God sends you to hell,
he'll send you to hell because you fully deserve everlasting
damnation. whoever you are, no matter who
your nearest of kin is. Those who enter glory fully deserve
God's smile and God's reward because in Christ we have fully
obeyed and satisfied our God. And those who perish fully deserve
all the fury of God's wrath. because they refuse to bow to
God's Son. He that believeth not is condemned
because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. Turn to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew
11. Listen to our Lord Jesus speak.
Verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Well, brother Don, how on earth
can you explain that? I can't, but our master did.
Read the next line. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Amazing You've hid these things
from the wise and prudent you've revealed them to babes You've
hid these things from smart Alex and you revealed them to folks
who don't know anything Even so father for so it seemed good
in thy sight All things are delivered unto me of my father and no man
knoweth the son but the father Neither knoweth any man the father
saved the son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Who knows God? Who hath believed
our report? Those to whom the arm of the
Lord is revealed. How come you know God? It pleased
God to reveal Himself to you in His Son. Now listen to what
the Son of God says. Come unto me. All ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you and learn of me, bow down to me. For I am meek and lowly
in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls. Turn over just
a couple of pages to Matthew 23. Here again, the word of our God.
The Lord Jesus speaks in verse 37. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent
unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, and you would
not. And here's the result. Behold,
your house is left unto you desolate. Is this according to God's purpose?
You can't read this book and fail to see that. Is this the
responsibility of man? You can't read this book and
fail to see that. The Jews to this day have a veil
over their face so that when Moses is read, they can't understand
the very law they're reading. They just can't see. They just
can't see. I was in a one of the Delta Sky
Rooms recently, and one of the places we can go and sit down
and have coffee and have some snacks and so forth. And there was a
fellow there in this crowded room over in one corner, a Jewish
fellow on a Saturday, going through all kinds of rituals. I'm talking
about all the, I don't even know what to call all the stuff, the
scarf and hat and robes and All that putting this on, taking
that off and going over and chanting scripture. And I wanted so much
to go over there and speak to the man. And if it'd been private,
I would have certainly done so. What are you doing and why? I
know the reason why. Because there's a veil over his
face. And he's reading Moses and chanting Moses and doesn't
have any idea what he's talking about. Because you would not,
your house is left unto you desolate. And because you will not believe,
you shall perish forever under the wrath of God. And that exactly
according to the purpose of God. Nothing out of order. Nothing,
nothing disturbs God. Nothing going to thwart God's
plan and God's purpose. Does God use and overrule the
sin and unbelief of men? Does God use and overrule the
hellish work of demons for the good of his elect and the glory
of his name? He most certainly does. He most
certainly does. I try to keep up a little bit
with the news like you do. I correspond with my friend,
Brother Peter Barnes down in Australia. about once a month,
have for the last, oh, I guess 30 years or so. But he said,
we're having elections just like you folks are, and we're in the
same mess you folks are. Keep pressing on. Keep pressing
on. And every day I watch the news,
and I read what's going on around us, and I say, thank you, my
God, to know the heavens do rule. What a blessed privilege it is
to know that God rules and overrules all things. And all evil that
has been, is, or shall hereafter be, is used of God for the benefit
of his people, the glory of his name, the glory of his son. Everything. Everything. The heavens
do rule. The sooner Nebuchadnezzar learns
that, the quicker he'll quit acting like a beast. Surely the
wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt
thou restrain. How many illustrations do we
have in Scripture? God didn't make Pharaoh pursue Israel. Pharaoh
pursued Israel because he hardened his heart against God. He hated God. But God used Pharaoh's
pursuit of Israel and he ordained to use it for the glory of his
name. God didn't make Satan torment
Job, but he used Satan's torment and he ordained Satan's torment
of Job for Job's good. God didn't make the Jews Crucify
his son, but he used what they did For the saving of our souls and
the glory of his name and he ordained so to use it God didn't
make Adam sin in the garden. No, sir. He ordained it He said
in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. It wasn't
a supposition God ordained everything that came to pass But Adam willfully,
deliberately stepped in and said, God, you have no right to be
God. But God graciously used it exactly
as he had ordained to use it to accomplish far greater good
than could possibly have been had there been no fall. Pastor,
how can you say that? It would have been far better
if sin had never entered into this world. Well, you can argue
and fuss about that all you want to. But the fact is. The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. This came to pass according
to God's purpose, exactly according to God's purpose. As I said in
the beginning of my message, Satan didn't sneak into the garden
Unnoticed he didn't overpower omnipotence and snatch Adam out
of the hands of God He tricked our mother Eve and caught our
father Adam in a snare and he polluted our race But it didn't
trick God and it didn't catch God in a snare This was done
according to God's purpose Because even then God was mindful of
us He had something in store for his elect We could never
have known. Had we not fallen in our father,
Adam. We would never have known what it was. To know the love
of God and making us his sons. We would never have known the
love of God revealed in the sacrifice of his darling son. We would
never have known the excuse me, the grace of God in the restoration
of our souls. We could never have known the
glory we soon shall know. We could never have known grace
and glory in Christ as we now know it and shall know it in
heaven had we not fallen in our father Adam. You and I might
well envy the angels of heaven. They've never seen it. They've never seen it. Would
it be wonderful? But we have something better. And the angels of heaven might
well envy us because they've never known redemption, grace,
salvation, and forgiveness. Blessed, blessed fall, ordered
by God for our good, for his glory, for our knowledge of him
in such a way as we could never have possessed apart from it.
God's mindfulness of his elect certainly is to be seen in the
blood atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, If you will
read it at your leisure, I won't take time to try to read it tonight.
In Hebrews chapter two, where Paul quotes from David, this
is the very thing that he's talking about. He's talking about Christ
coming. We see Jesus made a little lower
than the angels, that he, by the grace of God, should taste
death for all his elect. And I meant to read it exactly
that way. I know our English translation reads that he should
taste death for every man. If you can, if you care to look
it up in any Greek text, in any Greek text, those words are not
found at the end of Hebrews chapter two, verse nine, that he should,
by the grace of God, taste death for every, for every. And if you're going
to put punctuation in, I'd put it in three little periods right
after that for these folks, these folks, for every son. For everyone, he's not ashamed
to call brother. For every child of Abraham, for
everyone that he brings to glory, he tasted death for us, so that
God showed his mindfulness of us, giving his son for us, that
he, by the sacrifice of himself, should obtain eternal redemption
for us. Look in Jude, verse one. God's mindfulness of us is proved
by his patience and his special providence or special providence,
special providence, his special providential care for us in all
the days of our rebellion and sin and unbelief. Jude, the servant
of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified
by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. The David Byrd sitting over here made a long way about the United
States to get here by God's arrangement. I first met him down in Florida,
down in Tampa, Florida. I think I first heard from him
when he was out in California and then went to Tampa and then
went back to California. And then one Sunday morning,
there he sat. And if you cared to talk to him
about his previous days, you'll find out that not much about
your life before God saved you, you'd have chosen for anybody
to go through, was it? God, what are you doing? What
are you doing? This is a man you've chosen?
This is a man you've chosen to save? This is one to whom you've
been gracious forever in Christ? Sure would be interesting to
see how you explain that. Hang on, it sure enough will be interesting.
I promise you it will. God's special. providence. Everything transpired in your
life, my dear brother. Everything. Everything. Everything ever transpired in
the lives of anybody in your whole family history all the
way back to Adam was by God's special providence just for you. Oh, how great What is man that thou art mindful
of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him? Not only that,
how mindful God has been of us since the time of our calling. Mindful of us in old eternity,
mindful of us when we fell in our father Adam. mindful of us
in redeeming us by the precious blood of Christ, mindful of us
throughout the days of our rebellion. And he declares, I will not forget
thee. And he never has. God's mindfulness
of us is seen in maintaining his work of grace in us. And
carrying it all infallibly unto the perfection of everlasting
glory. He preserves us amidst all our
corruptions, all Satan's temptations, all the allurements of this world.
He remembers that we are dust and he gives us grace sufficient
for every need. He's even mindful of us when
we fall. and restores us. Let me read
some scripture, and I'll wrap this up. He shall deliver thee in six
troubles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Though he
fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth
him with his hand. A just man falleth seven times. He'll deliver you out of six
troubles. Yea, in seven there will no evil touch you. The just
man falleth seven times. He's talking about the whole
of our lives in this world. I sometimes speak jokingly, sort
of jokingly. If you were to read my yearbook,
1968 Parkland High School yearbook and find somebody write something
under my name, they'll go back one year to 60,
two years to 66 before God saved me. They'd write down, I'm most
likely to go to jail, most likely to fail, most likely to be put
to death. But things haven't changed much
since then. In reality, as Don Fortner goes,
for I just continue to fail. Every day. Fail. I seek God's glory. Oh, how I
fail. I seek to honor him. Oh, how
I fail. I seek to believe him. to believe,
to trust Him, to trust Him. Oh, how miserably I fail. A just man falleth all the days
of his life, and the Lord raiseth him up again. The Lord hath been mindful of
us. mindful of everything concerning
us. But of what I had just spoken
of in wrapping this message up, I've got to tell you, there's
one thing of which he is never mindful. God, God, our father. God, who knows all things, God,
our savior, God, the Holy Spirit, the triune Jehovah, is never
mindful of our sin. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. The Lord hath been mindful of
us. God give us grace ever to be
mindful of Him. Amen.