Turn with me to Romans chapter
8. Our subject this morning is predestination. Very controversial subject, I
realize that. And there's three references
to predestination in the New Testament. You can find one in
Romans chapter 8, and the other two are in Ephesians chapter
1. Now, it's taught throughout the
Scriptures, but these are three references to this subject directly
in the New Testament. And these will be the basis of
my comments, and I'd like for you to read with me all three
references. First of all, here in Romans
chapter 8, the Apostle Paul sets before the church the sovereign,
eternal purpose of grace in the redemption of God's elect through
the person and work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in
particular, here in Romans chapter 8, he calls our attention to
our adoption as sons and heirs of God. To be an heir of someone
who's laid up something for his children is very special. Just hold your place there in
Romans 8. Let me make a few comments. Someone lays up an inheritance
for his children. And they set aside a house, land,
stocks, bonds, something that his children can use to help
them in this life. He lays these things aside. And
it's a help, too. It's something. It's something
special. And then, to be an heir of nobility, wow, that's something
else. That's something else. To be
an heir of nobility, royalty, vast holdings, reputation, station. That'd be something, wouldn't
it? Find out you was an heir to King Henry or somebody. And all of a sudden, step into
that big palace. Step into all those servants
waiting on your hand and foot. Everybody recognize who you are,
your name and all of them. That'd be something, wouldn't
it? But what must it be to be an Arab God? Huh? An Arab God. Your mind can't possibly wrap
around all that that means. An heir of God. And yet, isn't
that exactly what this predestination is all about? Being an heir of
God. What must that be? Romans 8,
verse 14, he said, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God. How does the Spirit of God lead
people? How do you know if you're being
led of God or led by man? How do you know if you're being
led by God or just being deceived by the devil? Who is this that's
being led? Because these are the sons. These
are the true sons and these are the heirs. Now who's being led? What's that mean? Where does
He lead them? How does He lead them? Well,
He leads men and women to the truth. You go through the Scriptures
and that's what you find out. When He's come, the Spirit of
truth, when He's come, He'll convince you of these things
because He brings with Him the truth. He leads you into all
truth. He's not going to deceive you
and He's not going to leave you in your deceit. He's going to
leave you out of those deceits to the truth. Where does He lead you? He leads
you to the Word of God. To the Word of God. All of a sudden, you lose interest
in men. You lose interest in their opinions. And you lose
interest in traditions. And you lose interest in all
those things. And you want to know what God says. You can believe
what God says. Now, what I say about God, you
might question. But you're going to believe God.
You're going to believe Him. And the Spirit of God leads you
into His Word. And He leads you to Christ. He
leads you to His Gospel. And when the Spirit of God opens
your heart, you recognize the Gospel. Nobody will have to stand
and say, now, this is not the Gospel, and this is not the Gospel,
and this is not the Gospel, and on and on and on and on and on.
You'll know the Gospel when God gives you ears to hear it. And
it will suit you to a T. It will fit you like a new suit,
like a tailor-made suit. It will fit every need you have. He leads us to Christ. He leads
us to faith. He leads us to true repentance. He leads us to see what we are
and who we are and leads us to see God for who He is in all
of His glory. He leads us to despair before
God. And then He reveals Christ in
all of His glory to us. He leads us to faith. And He
lovingly makes us willing in the day of His power. And then
He leads us to submission. You know what that means? He
makes you teachable. That's what that means. Until
then, you say, well, who does He think He is? I never even heard of Him before.
Who does He think He is? When He leads you to submission,
you won't be saying that anymore. You'll just be hoping God speak
to you through somebody. Through somebody. He leads us
to submission. And all those He leads are sons. Ain't that what that says? He
that's led by the Spirit. These are the sons of God. These
are the true heirs. There are a lot of pretenders.
There's a lot of deceived men and women. And there's a lot
out there who just don't care. But His sons are led. They're led. And they're led
by the Spirit of God. Verse 15, "...for you have not
received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received
the spirit of adoption whereby..." We don't pray in general anymore. We say, Our Father. Only sons
have fathers. They have fathers. They call
on their father, on their father. They call God our father. The Spirit itself, verse 16,
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
How does He do that? Through this leading, through
this repentance, through this faith, through this shutting
up, through this convincing us of who we are. The first one you find identification
with, I was just telling a young man about this a few minutes
ago, the first thing you find identification with is the sinner. You're not going to find identification
with God. He's all perfection, He's all
glory, and you're all sin. You're not going to find anything
in common with Him. What you find first is your commonality
with that sinner, with that leper. with that paralyzed man, with
that demoniac. That's where you find the common
ground right there. Finding that ground, then you
look up at Him who has all you need. That's what it means to
be led. Led of the Spirit. And this is
how the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that
we are the children of God. And if children, we're heirs. We're heirs. Now listen to what
he says. We're heirs. That's the first
thing. That's something just to be an heir. An heir of anybody.
I'm an heir. That means I'm going to freely
receive something that somebody that loved me and acknowledged
me left for me. I'm an heir. But now watch this. He don't stop there. He said
we're heirs of God. And listen, joint heirs with
Christ. What's that mean? That means
we're heirs, John, of His righteousness. We're heirs of His offering,
His sin offering. We're heirs with His acceptance
into glory. We're seated with Him at the
right hand of God. We're heirs, and we're joint
heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with
Him, that we may be also glorified together. That is, if we find
those things in common with being led of the Spirit of God. And
then the Apostle goes on to tell us that all of creation and providence
is connected and actively engaged in this adoption and inheritance. Everything that is, is engaged
in this. It's not just It's not the word I'm hunting
for. It's not just the isolated purpose of God alone in these
things, but He's also, when you get asked to see, you begin to
look around, you find out that Providence is engaged in this
thing. That creation is engaged in this
thing. Creation is a part of the fall.
Creation is groaning and travailing, just like the believer. Creation
is involved in this purpose of God in this adoption of His sons. All things are engaged in it,
made subject to the fall and corruption, groaning and travailing
in pain and waiting for God's crowning work to be finished.
And then he goes on to tell us that even the sovereign spirit
of God has been sent to help the infirmities of his children,
because they don't know how to pray. And we're pitiful. We don't even know how to pray.
All the things that I want and need, and I don't know how to
pray. Huh? We're pitiful. We're pitiful. But God doesn't leave us. in
our pitiful state. He sends the Holy Spirit of God
who makes intercession for us with groanings that can't be
uttered. I wouldn't take all the words,
I want you to hear me, that I ever prayed for one desire that the
Spirit of God has laid in my heart. Not one. I wouldn't take
all of the words that I ever said when I bowed my head. tried
to lead a congregation in prayer or private prayer in my house,
I wouldn't take it off for one desire, one true, sincere desire
that the Holy Spirit caused my heart to groan toward God. What I'm trying to say to you
is this. This thing of predestination.
It's not something way out there that you can't see and it's not
vitally connected with you. It's not that big controversial
thing that who cares? I just assumed he wouldn't even
preach on that. Well, I tell you, that purpose of predestination
encompasses everything that God's ever done from eternity. This
predestinating purpose of God. It has to do with your calling.
It has to do with your election. It has to do with Christ's appointment.
It has to do with His incarnation. It has to do with His obedience
and His death and all things. Your calling, your conversion,
your regeneration, all of these things, all inside this purpose
of God and predestination. Hope and desire and longings
of the soul and all of these things according, He said, to
the will of God. Romans 8.28. Now the man who
knows this, here's where Paul's going with this, the man who
knows this, and he uses the word we, he's talking to believers
here. And we know, because of all these
things, we know that not just one thing here and there, but
all things, John. Ain't that what that says? We
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, that word is foreordained. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we say to this? What
shall we say to this thing of predestination? What shall we
say to this eternal purpose of God? Well, I'll tell you what
the believer says. He said, if God be for me, who
can be against me? Now, that's how he views predestination. Predestination is God saying,
this is what you are going to be. Just like my son. Just like my son. And everything
in between is engaged to that end. It is all working. All of
creation, all of the fall, all of the preaching, all of the
resistance, all of these things. All the death of Christ and all
of these vast things that are so hard to get our minds. All
of these things are working to one end. But in that day, you
are going to be presented exactly like His Son. Exactly like Him. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1. In Ephesians 1 verse 3, He said,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places
in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. Now listen. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will. And then if you'll skip down
just a few verses, down to verse 9. In those verses between, He tells
us how we're accepted in the blood. He tells us how we're
redeemed. He tells us all those things.
And then in verse 9, He says, having made known unto us the
mystery of His will. That's the mystery right there.
The mystery of God's will. According to His good pleasure
which He hath purposed in Himself, 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," now watch this,
"...who worketh all things," everything, huh? "...worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. Why would He do that? That we
should be to the praise of His glory, God's glory, who first
trusted in Christ. Why did the Heavenly Father trust
Christ? What did He trust Him with? What
did the Heavenly Father trust His Son with? Everything that
He purposed to do. Everything that He predestinated
to be, He trusted to His Son. Everything He predestinated to
its final end, creation, providence, salvation. These are just a few
of the things that's included in this thing of predestination.
Just a few of them. Now, before I get into what predestination
is, let me give you several things that predestination's not. There's
four common misrepresentations of the doctrine of predestination.
The first is a kind of cold, impersonal idea that said, well,
whatever will be, will be, no matter what. No matter what. And that's the kind of fatalistic
thinking that bypasses all that God has made man to be, as a
responsible creature who is fully accountable to God. Paul had
encountered that. Men had said that to him. All
these preachers, it's nothing new for men to say that to me.
They said it to the apostles. They said it to the prophets
before the apostles even. These things are not new. And
he said over in Romans 9 when he preached these things, he
was talking over there about God's eternal election of a people. That's also included in this
doctrine of predestination. And he said down in verse 19,
he said, here's what you're going to say to me after I've said
what I've said to you. He already knew what he was going
to say. He said, thou wilt say unto me then, why doth he yet
find fault for who hath resisted his will? That's that cold, hard,
fatalistic view of predestination. And the answer is always the
same as his. Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replies against God? I'll tell you why we can't understand
predestination, because we're not God. Actually, we don't understand
a whole lot of anything that God tells us. We're to receive
it by faith. A fellow was telling me, he said,
well, I just don't understand how God was made sin. I don't
either. How Christ was made sin. But
I said, I'm still working on how God condescended to become
a man. I ain't got there yet. Maybe
then I could move on and try to understand some of these other
things. I ain't got past that. Have you? Can you explain that
to me? How all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily in Him. Can you explain that? I just
have to receive it and wonder and thank God for it. I can't
explain it. And I can't explain God's absolute
predestination either. But I can tell you this, He can't
foretell the end unless He has full control on everything in
the middle. You understand that, you got
a handle on predestination. Who art thou, old man, that replies
against God? He said, he's the potter. We're
the clay. He's the Lord. We're the servants.
He's the judge. We're the accused. And that's
exactly what it sounds like, an old convict standing up before
the judge saying, this ain't fair. Guilty as sin, but nothing's
fair. That's the way we are, standing
up there. That's exactly what Paul said. The second error I
get thrown back in my face all the time is this, that the elect
will be saved no matter what. Well, brethren, nothing in God's
universe comes to pass no matter what. You think about it. Nothing comes to, it don't rain
unless certain things are in place. You be out here on a sunshiny
day and in a half a second a big black cloud comes and dumps four
inches. That don't happen. It don't happen. God who created
things, he uses means. It pleased him to use means.
Certain things are going to take place before it rains. Certain
things are going take place, that temperature's going to come
up and different things. The light's going to shine a
little longer and all those things. And then that garden's going
to grow. It ain't going to grow in January. You can't go out
there and put tomatoes in the ground in January. They won't
grow. And that's the same thing with
this thing of predestination when it comes to God's people.
Have God been pleased to use means to accomplish His ends?
And you can go on and on and on. There's gravity, the environment,
light and darkness, cold and heat, seeds and eggs and food
and water, and on and on and on with God's means. And no man
will ever be saved who does not hear, repent, believe, and persevere
in faith until he dies. He's not going to be saved. God
ain't going to save men no matter what. He's going to save men
exactly as He's purposed to save them. And they're going to do
exactly what He's purposed for that believer to do. Isn't that
what He says in Ephesians chapter 2? Concerning the good works
of men that God had before ordained that they walk in them. That's
why they're going to walk in them. They're going to do what
they want to do. They're going to do what God
purposed for them to do. And then He's going to use the
means to bring it to pass. And the third error, and I'm
telling you, predestination includes all the means as well as the
person. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. And then the third error, I hear
a lot thrown back at me, is that God chose a people and then forbid
all the rest of mankind the opportunity to repent. That just ain't so. Predestination is not a closed
door. It's an open door. If it wasn't
for predestination, nobody would believe it. Nobody would believe
it. You know, you've got a thousand
guilty men sitting down there in prison and they're all waiting
on electric chair. Every one of them, sitting there
on death row. And the judge comes along and
for reasons known only to himself, he pardons one of them. Is he
unjust because he didn't pardon the whole outfit? No, he didn't
have to pardon any of them. He was under no obligation to
pardon any of them. But for reasons known only to
him, he pardons one. You know what the rest of them
are going to say? They're going to say just what I just got through
reading to you. That ain't fair. Why? Is there something worthy
in those men for them to be spared? No. They're all guilty. They're
all guilty. And that's really our problem.
That's why we don't want to believe these things, and that's why
we don't want to bow to these things, because we think we're
worthy of these things that God bestows on unworthy men. God did choose the people and
predestinated them to the adoptions of sons. But every man or woman
who winds up in hell will have no one to blame but themselves. He said, here's condemnation.
You want to talk about condemnation? He said, we'll talk about that.
Light has come into the world and men love darkness rather
than light. You can't lay that at the feet
of God. You lay it at your own choice. Predestination is not
a closed door. It doesn't lock men out. It allows
men in. And it's not predestination that
sends men to hell. It's their sin and unbelief.
And then the last error I hear all the time is that God's predestination
is based on His foreknowledge. That is, God looking down, this
is how they always tell me, God looking down through the telescope
of time, seeing what man will and will not do down in that
day. Huh? You know what the Lord told those
men that He preached to? He said, no man has to tell me
what's in man. That's what He told them. Nobody
has to tell me what your thoughts are. I know what your thoughts
are. I know what they are today, and I know what they're going
to be 50 years from now. And the heart of the king is in the
hand of the Lord like the rivers of waters, and He turneth them
whithersoever He will. God don't have to foresee anything. God foresees what He foreordains. That's what God foresees. No
matter what takes place in time, it comes to pass to achieve this
one great end. It's God's sovereign purpose
of grace to conform all His elect to the image of His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And you look at all these means,
all the eternal appointments of Christ, including His incarnation,
life, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension into glory, and His
present reign, and His future return, all engaged in this great
end. all the irresistible work of
the Holy Spirit, and all the ministry of God's earthly church,
all geared to this end. All of creation, all of God's
providence, all working together to accomplish what God has predestinated
to be done. All right, now let me just for
a moment say that you buy into this biblical explanation. Why
would any man want to preach such a controversial doctrine.
Why preach predestination? That's what Phil asked me one
time. He said, I kind of see what you're saying, but he said,
why you want to preach this? You know people are going to
be upset about it. Why preach it? Why preach it? Well, I'll
give you three reasons. First of all, because God the
Holy Spirit saw fit to record it in his divine book. Now what
God wants you to know, He puts in this book. What He don't want
you to know, He tells those apostles just like He did John, put his
pen up. There come a time, John was writing everything God was
showing him and revealing to him, He's writing it down. Writing
it down, preserved for us to read and to learn and to know.
But there come a time when He told John, He said, now put your
pen up. And he couldn't write what he saw anymore. Why? Because those things belong to
God. The secret things, that's what the scripture said, belong
unto God. But those revealed things belong unto us. And everything
God wants us to know, he preserved for us in this book. He tells
it. If it's in this book, it's good
for you. It's profitable for you. He tells
us whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures,
might have hope. Paul told Timothy, he said, all
Scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable. Huh? It's profitable for doctrine,
reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. I just, you can't make me believe
that the Holy Spirit did not, I know this is so, He did not
inspire men to write things down that He don't want men to believe.
If he didn't want you to know it, he wouldn't have put it in
the book. Predestination is revealed and
taught in the Word of God. That's why I preach it. Secondly,
I preach predestination because it's a great source of comfort
and peace. You say, well, I just don't get that. Well, you need
one time to look at a little tiny baby, four-month-old baby.
How big was that casket, Russell, about that long? You try to find
something to comfort your heart that's not in the absolute purpose
of God in that death. I defy you to find a reason.
You can't find a reason. Not anything that will comfort
your heart except God's absolute predestination for that baby
to be in His arms. You won't find no soul that's
nowhere else. I'm telling you. If you ever want to see the hypocrisy
in men, go to the funeral home. At the death of a loved one,
they stand around and they talk about what an unfortunate accident,
what a needless tragedy was this untimely death. But you go down
to the funeral home and they say, well, God took him home. Huh? Now wait a minute. Which
is it? Was his death an untimely accident
or did God take him off? Both things ain't true. One or
the other is true. Go down to ICU at the hospital. Their whole life they've contended
for free will, saying that God could not violate man's free
will. He couldn't do anything to intervene
in their decisions or anything. And then that doctor comes in
and he diagnoses them with some dread disease, and now all of
a sudden their God's able to transcend all nature and everything
and make them well. They don't call on that crippled
God, that God who can't do anything, that God who can't intervene.
Now they're calling on a God asking Him to intervene. Romans 8, 28 through 39 is called
the golden chain of assurance. And it begins with God's eternal
predestination. And if God hadn't sovereignly
predestinated all things for the perfecting of His elect,
they couldn't work together for your good. No way. No way. If God does not fix everything
unchangeably to the full salvation of our souls, we could never
enter into his rest. You know, I've used that example
four or five times since I've been preaching here about God
resting on the seventh day. God rested. Well, how could he
rest? Because he knew the fall of man
was coming. He knew what man was. He knew
that corruption was going to come into this world. He knew
how could he rest. Where was the rest? How could
he look at these things and be pleased with these things and
sit back? Because he's the first to trust
in Christ, that's why. All these things were trusted
in him who cannot fail. We rest in Christ because we
heard how God trusted him with the predestination of all things
to accomplish the salvation of our souls. And if this universe
is out of control and providence is running amok without direction,
then we ought to worry about everything. Yes, you better. You better just worry about it.
You better worry about the environment and everything. You better worry
about everything. You ought to just be pacing the
floor. But if the hand of God's omnipotent Son is at the helm,
then let my soul take confidence in that. Let me rest in that. Predestination, I'm telling you,
is not this hateful, hated, cold doctrine controversial to God's
elect. It's a source of comfort. It's
comforting to know that God's in control of all things. I told
those folks over yesterday, death has something to say if you won't
hear it. God gives you ears to hear it.
It's got something to say. And the first thing it tells
you is this, you ain't in control. You ain't in control. He is.
He is. Why we want to wait till we're
standing there looking at a corpse to think about that? God's in
control. He's in control. Oh, my relatives are in a place
where there's no gospel preaching, no church, no hope of ever hearing
the truth. They go worship with the rest
of this idolatrous world in their pagan ritualism and ceremonialism
and traditionalism and spiritualism. My children have gone out into
the world, and I see nothing out there but wickedness and
ignorance and lies. My family, my kinsmen, according
to the flesh, like Paul, have no interest, no appetite, no
willingness to hear. Well, hear this. Hear this. In Christ, we have obtained. Ain't that how we got it? How'd
we get it? Was we just lucky? How'd we get
it? Paul said, we have obtained also
an inheritance being predestinated. Ain't that what it said? Huh? My soul. God not trusted the
end of his work to you. He trusted it to Christ. When
you see that, guess who you gonna trust? Christ. Huh? Ain't that what predestination's
all about? It's all about Christ. Providence,
preaching, preachers are all predestinated of God, called
at a certain time with a certain message for a certain people.
They're all sent of God. How shall they preach except
they be sent? Old John saw a door opened in
heaven, and that is the open door of God's predestinating
grace in Christ. It's an open door. It's an open
door. And so his preachers count every
opportunity to enter the pulpit as an open door of God's predestinating
purpose. Man's condemned and Adam. He's
born in sin. He's surrounded by evil men and
evil spirits. He's described in the scriptures
dead, blind, lame, haught, diseased, demon-possessed, and unclean,
even to his righteousness. All of his righteousnesses are
filthy rags. Nothing less than the eternal,
unchangeable, irresistible predestination of God can give us any hope concerning
our final end. God's at the helm. Paul wrote
to the Philippian church and said, I'm confident of this very
thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it. He didn't have no confidence
in them. He had confidence in the God
who began the work to finish it. He'll finish it. Predestination
is revealed and taught in the Word of God. And because it's
the only thing that can give me rest in this unstable world
of sin and deceit. And then thirdly, I preach predestination
because it's the only explanation for all the events of time and
eternity that's consistent with the character of God. Huh? It's consistent. There's no way
you can make an accident consistent with the character of God. Huh? You can't explain chance. Talking
about chance and luck and all these things. You can't make
those things consistent with the character of God. God is
God. And He's either God or He ain't.
And if He's God, then there are no accidents. You see what I'm
saying? Listen to this, Isaiah 46, 9.
He said, remember the former things of old. What are the former
things of old? Creation, the fall, Abel's altar,
the flood, the Tower of Babel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Israel
of God, the promises of the coming Redeemer. He said, you remember
those things. Go back and take account of those
things. Go back and study those things and look at them. Remember
the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else.
I am God, and there's none like me. I declared the end from the
beginning. Don't you remember? Which thing
did I declare that didn't come to pass? Huh? You can't find a single thing
that God ever foresaid that didn't come to pass. If one thing he
said about the coming Redeemer didn't come to pass, then Christ
wasn't the Redeemer. If you can find one thing, but
you can't find one thing, it all comes to pass. And if God's
not sovereign and omnipotent and doing all His will, then
He's not God. Nowhere is this demonstrated
as clearly and plainly as it is in the suffering and death
of Christ. And all those with spiritual eyes see Him as Isaiah
saw Him, saying, we did esteem Him, stricken, smitten of God,
and afflicted. Those unbelieving Jews and those
heathenistic Romans, they saw him stricken and smitten of God.
The Jews saw his demise as proof that he could not be the Christ.
Pilate, in the end, saw his death as proof that he could not be
the Christ. And so they saw him stricken and smitten of God and
afflicted. But God's people see that in
a little different light. They see him wounded for their
transgressions. Ain't that what the prophet went
on to say? wounded for their transgressions, bruised for their
iniquities, and the chastisement of their peace upon him. They
see the Lord, the sovereign, predestinating Lord, laying on
him the iniquity of his soul. They say it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. He had put him to grief. He made
his soul an offering for sin. He saw his seed. He prolonged
his days. And the pleasure of the Lord
prospered in his hands. They see things as they were
predestinated to be. The travail of His soul was satisfied. When God turned this world loose
to do their will with His Son, they did exactly what God's counsel
and God's hand determined before to be done. Exactly what they
did. After His foreordained death,
His resurrection, in His ascension into glory, the gospel was preached
to Gentile heathen idolaters and to Jews at the same time.
And the Jews rejected Him. They wouldn't have any part of
it. We don't believe it. We don't believe it. We ain't
buying into this thing. But the Gentiles did. Those Gentile
believers, they believed what they heard. And you know what
the Scripture said about those old Gentile dogs? They didn't
have any past to look to, no connection, no Abraham, they
didn't have any of that stuff. All they had was the gospel they
heard. Gentile heathen. But they were predestinated of
God. And God gave them ears to hear.
He sent them a preacher, he preached to them, and they heard what
he said. And you know what it says? As many as were foreordained
believe. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed of those Gentiles. That's God's absolute predestination. That's what that is. I'll tell
you this. If I didn't believe in God's
predestination, I wouldn't preach. Why would you preach? Man can't
hear. He don't have ears. God has to
give him ears. But if God's not in control,
why preach? You're not going to make any
difference. You can't argue folks into the kingdom of God. You
can't reason with people. They're dead. I'll tell you why I preach. Because
God predestinated these things to be, and they're going to be.
They're going to be. And so what? So what if 8 or
10 or 12 or 20 go out the back door? So what? That's not going
to change a thing with God. Not going to change a thing.
He's still going to do all that He predestinated to be done.
I find confidence in that. I find comfort in that. I find
knowledge and wisdom in that. And it's consistent with the
God that I believe this Scripture sets forth. So I'm going to lay
hold on that. And I'm going to believe it.
I hope God will give you ears and a heart to do the same. Father,
thank You. Thank You for a time. We look around and we see so
much heartache, deception, sin, deceit. And yet in your wisdom and in
your purpose and by your power, you set apart a little space and give us by your absolute
sovereign grace a heart to believe, wisdom to understand, and a mind
to grasp these things and hold on to these things and believe
and rejoice in these things. We thank you. We thank you. I
pray that you'll bless the Word this morning to the hearts of
chosen sinners for Christ's sake. Amen.