Before I begin the message this
morning, I'll make an announcement of our up-and-coming Glory of
Christ Bible Conference. The theme of the conference is
the glory of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. You can go
to the campdelhaven.org website and find out all the information. on that conference. We're going
to have Brother Don Fortner and Brother Darwin Pruitt and Steve
Carpenter as key speakers of the conference and it will prove
to be a blessing that you won't want to miss. It's always better
to attend these events than just get the CDs of them because you
can't sense the presence of the Spirit over a CD like you can
in the fellowship of the saints. So if you can be there, then
make those arrangements. Praise to the Lord for the great
things He hath done is the title of my message this morning. It
is written in the Word of God from 1 Samuel 12, 24, this exhortation. Only fear the Lord and serve
Him in truth with all your heart. For consider how great things
He hath done for you." And also it says in Psalm 71, verse 19,
Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high. Who has done great
things. O God, who is like unto thee? Now it is written in the word
of God and well known to be in all three of the synoptic gospel
records, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he said that
heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall never, shall
not pass away. And this statement is made intending
to emphasize who is saying what is being said. That the source
of what is spoken is what gives credible evidence enough as to
the veracity, the truthfulness and certainty of the statement.
It is the Lord that is speaking. And He says, heaven and earth,
all of creation in its entirety shall pass away. But what He, as being the Savior
Son of Man from the realms of eternity, has to say, shall never,
never pass away. His words carry with them the
weight of being truth, which always has and always will be
truth. And when we understand the magnitude of Him being the
Lord, then we see that all of the integrity of all of Scripture
as a whole is to be included, for all of God's Word is truth. 1 Timothy 6, 3-5 says, If any man
teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, that
is healthy, sound words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the doctrine which is according to godliness. Or to what is said
in Titus 1.1, to the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. If any man teach otherwise, the
Scripture says, he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about
questions and strifes of words, or that is, harping about things
that are trivial. Whereof come envy and strife,
or literally quarrels, railings, that word means blasphemies,
evil surmisings, that is evil suspicions, perverse disputings
of men of corrupt minds, it says, and destitute of the truth. This is literally misemployments
of thinking and reasoning by men of fallen minds who are deprived
of truth concerning Christ. Supposing that gain, that is
something of this world which is passing away, is godliness,
that is something totally other than this world. From such, withdraw
thyself. It is to a much greater end that
the elect have been called by God. This calling of God to you
makes you to be a man or a woman of God. And it is to another
aim that you've been called. Verses 11 and 12 of this same
chapter say, without reservation, but thou, O man of God, flee these things. and follow
after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life where
unto thou art called. Here we have it. Here it is elucidated
for us. It says literally, Anthropos
of God. It's without gender or human
being of God, son or daughter of God. Flee these things of
pride and perversity. Be mindful of the things of God
as they are listed here. These are the things of value
to you. These are the invisible things
of righteousness apart from the law. These are the things and aspirations
and motivations that come from godliness, faith, love, patience,
meekness. And right next to meekness, strange
as it may seem, there's the heat of fighting. It says, fight the
good fight of faith, the good fight of the faith. We're to
fight for the integrity of, the defense of, the faith of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And in so doing, we will lay hold on, literally
seize and keep eternal life. That's what it says. Where unto
thou art also called. Ah, but this is the rub, isn't
it? How exactly do we lay hold? How do we seize and keep eternal
life? Since we know that it's a gift.
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6.23. We'd like to think that just
because we want it, the gift of God is always being offered
to us. But it is not. We imagine that
we make God out to be some sort of ogre if eternal life And His
Son is not offered to everyone at all times. But that is just not true. Psalm 145, 17 and 18. Go ahead and turn in your Bibles
to Psalm 145. Verses 17 and 18 plainly clarifies
this. The Lord is righteous in all
His ways, it says. and holy in all His works. The Lord is nigh unto all that
call upon Him." Ah, but it says, to all that call upon Him in
truth. It's the things of the truth
concerning Him that we're talking about. The truth is the gift
of God. And the truth is received but
one way. by the grace of God. Earlier
in Psalm 145, verse 8, we read, the Lord is gracious and full
of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. It is of the Lord's great mercy
that we receive the truth. But it is also a known truth
that He does not have mercy on everybody. For He says to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Therefore hath He mercy, the
Word says, on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He harden."
That's Romans 9, verses 15 and 18. But just exactly what does His
mercy cause us to receive the truth about? God is merciful to us to reveal
the truth about Him and His eternal kingdom. This is clarified in
this psalm. Listen to the word from Psalm
145, verse 10. It says, All thy works shall
praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee." We're
called to be saints. That is literally from the Hebrew,
holy ones of God. And it is to all of them that
His goodness and His tender mercies are displayed. The Word says
in Ephesians, for we are His workmanship created in Christ
Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them. good works like those of Psalm
145, verses 11 through 13, which says, They, His saints, shall speak of the glory
of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power, to make known to the general
populace of the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious
majesty of His kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, it says. Thy dominion endure throughout
all generations. That's all the generations of
fallen humanity. So we shall speak of things which
we cannot come to know or find out about apart from direct divine
intervention. Romans 11, 33-36 tells us, Oh,
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge
of God. How unsearchable are thy judgments
and His ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor? For with first given
to Him, and it shall be recompensed to Him again. For of Him, through
Him, and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. But why are His judgments so
unsearchable in His ways past finding out? Even because He
is holy, holy, holy God. And the things of Him are way
beyond us fallen sinners, even the wisest of us all. Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah
40. You'll read in verses 13 and 15 where the Word asks of
us, who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord? Or being His counselor,
hath taught Him? with whom took he counsel, and
who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment,
and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding. Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance."
The nations are as a drop of a bucket. Nations of the world
and every generation. Isaiah 40, 17 tells us, all nations
before Him are as nothing. And they are counted to Him as
less than nothing and vanity. And in the face of these eternal
truths, it is further asked of us, Isaiah 40, verse 18, to whom
then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will you compare
unto Him? And then in verses 21 and 22
it continues, Have you not known? Have you not heard? Hath it not
been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth? It is He that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers,
that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them
out as a tent to dwell in." These things here are written
in Isaiah to those that are of the people of God, that are familiar
with His Word and the things that are written
in it. fellow Israelites. They had the oracles of the prophets. This is written therefore to
them as a rebuke. Because even when these things
were given to them, declared to them, they went ahead. And people today even go ahead
when they know these things and they propagate and promote that
God is something less than He really is. And speaking of the
pride of the best of men and the smartest of them, he says
from verses 24 through 26, and then verse 28, and he shall also
blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall
take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me,
or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on
high and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out
their host by number. He calleth them all by names,
by the greatness of His might. For that He is strong in power,
not one faileth. Verse 28 asks, Hast thou not
known? Hast thou not heard? that the
everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth,
fainteth not, neither is worry. It's no wonder, therefore, that
the apostle is inspired of the Holy Spirit to write, for of
him and through him and to him are all things, to whom be glory
forever. Amen. But as it is written, the Bible
says, human eye, fallen human eye,
hath not seen, nor fallen human ear has heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man the things which
God hath prepared for them that love and wait for Him." How then
are we to see these things? To hear of these things and to
receive these things into our hearts, the answer is clear from
the same text, 2 Corinthians 2. That was verse nine, this
is verse 10. But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, it says, yea, the deep things of God. These things are the things of
God and Christ Jesus and His eternal kingdom. They are eternal
things that except we be truly regenerated, genuinely born by
the Spirit from above with the word of truth, we would neither
see them, know them, believe them, love them, nor receive
them. Jesus said of these things, Matthew
11, 25, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight. Then He went on to say, All things
are delivered unto me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
my Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal Him." John wrote of these things in
1 John 5, verse 13, when he said, These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that is, that
believe on the name of the eternal Son of God, that ye may know
that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name
of the eternal Son of God. But there are so many who don't
want to speak of the things concerning the eternal Son of God. They think that these are the
things that are of no real consideration, that we're just harping about
the obvious things, things that are of little or no importance. The Apostle Jude, however, tells
us of those who speak evil of those things which they know
not, he says. But what they know naturally
as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. And
then he goes on to inspiringly say, Woe unto them, for they
have gone in the way of Cain. and ran greedily after the error
of Balaam for reward, and perished," or literally, are destined to
perish, the word connotes, in the gainsaying of Korah. Now, Cain and Balaam and Korah
were all men intimately familiar with the things of the Lord,
but were never really converted to it, or by it, or because of
it. Not unlike so many in our day
that take so much liberty with the Word of God, and in so doing,
they make it their own word. They presume to be in control
of the gospel presentation accordingly. For example, by their making
it to be a free offer, they presume to be in control of to whom it
may be made available. to whomsoever that they may or
may not make available the proposition of it." The gospel is no longer
a good news announcement. It is a proposition. Now think
about it. A person comes to quote-unquote
accept Christ under this supposition and then from then on They have
received Him even because they have accepted Him. And that's along with the presumption
that they have received eternal life. From that time forward,
with that perspective opinion, their inclusion in the family
of God is not by His accepting them, His adopting them, but
it is by their acceptance of Him. They have, in essence, as being
lost and lonely children, presumptively adopted Him and His family as
being their own. This is deception, not reception. The pure things that pertain
unto the sound and healthy words of our Lord Jesus Christ in regards
to His absolute sovereignty over them, in His electing them in
eternity, in His redeeming them in eternity, in His making them
acceptable in Him, justifying them in eternity, in His adopting
them into the family of holy and just God the Father, reconciling
them in eternity, these things they're going to rebel at and
scorn because they go against what they have been taught to
believe and accept to make true. It's time we pinpointed what
exactly is being meant in the Word of God as inspired by the
Spirit of God when it says, as it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. Or the gospel
of Christ who is our peace. And bring glad tidings of good
things. Romans 10, 15. Glad tidings about good things? What good things are being referred
to here? Why it's the good things of Romans
8, 29, that in that epistle have already
been stated, which says, for whom He foreknew, He also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. This
is precisely why eternally loving God gave us His Son. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
Him might be saved." John 3, 16 and 17. When it says world, It means that all nationalities
of the world might be included among the eternally elect of
God. When Isaiah prophesied originally
the words of Romans 10-15, the effectiveness of the coming of
the evangelists, according to him, as it is originally put, in Isaiah 52.7, how beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth glad tidings,
good tidings, that publishes peace, or literally that causes
to be heard and received the news of eternal peace. That bringeth good tidings of good, it says. that publisheth salvation, that
causes to be heard and received eternal salvation. Then the verse
says, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. Obvious point of sovereignty. And then it goes on to say uncategorically,
verse 9, for the Lord hath comforted His people. He hath redeemed
Jerusalem. Verse 10, the Lord hath made
bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations. This is written
in the Old Testament. And all the ends of the earth,
he says, shall see the salvation of our God. Yes, for God so loved
the world. Hence, Romans 8 tells us, for
whom He foreknew, He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son. And then it goes on to say that
He might be the firstborn, among many brethren." Then verse 30,
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called, that is,
eternally called. And whom He called, them He also
justified. The same tense is used, so therefore,
the same eternal weight of meaning is applied as well. Them He also
eternally justified. And whom He eternally justified,
them He also eternally glorified. Do you suppose that because something
is done in time, that that means it is separate from eternity?
From where our God reigneth? How foolish. You do not understand or you
don't truly believe in predestination. All of time is predestinated from eternity. Even right now, what we're living
out in this day, in this place, all the details, God has made
time to be the very staging arena of His eternal purpose, His eternal
truth. It's a part of the eternality
of truth concerning time that the world passes away, John says
in 1 John 2, 17, and the lust thereof, praise God, But he that
doeth the will of God, it says, abideth forever. Why anyone would want to confine
any of the eternal things of our eternal salvation to time
is beyond me. It leaks into the equation of
the things that pertain unto our salvation something for man
to do as either a work or a willingness as either some action on our
part or at least some decision of our reasoning. And no such thing exists. To
think this way is to be dead wrong. Let's give the glory entirely
to our Lord Jesus Christ for having totally completed it from
all eternity and leave it there at His feet. The next two verses from Romans
8, from the Romans 8 passage referred to says, verse 31, what
shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, if eternal,
almighty, just and holy, loving and merciful God be for us, who
can be against us? Verse 32 says, he that spared
not his own son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? What things? The things that
He just said about being predestined. Predestined to be called, justified,
and glorified. Predestined to be conformed to
the image of His Son. and the all things that He's
about to declare to us. Verse 33, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect, it says. It is God that justifieth. Verse 34, who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God. He came from eternity and went back to eternity from where
He came. And everything He touched here
in the process of it all had a timeless, eternal quality about
it because there is no time in eternity. And He has made a complete circuit
of it all. Only God could do this. Hence
it says, "...who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us." This has to include even our justification
in Him. He does not intercede on our
behalf before the Father for the things that we have done.
No. But for the things that He has done. That's the point of His intercession. What He has done on our behalf. These are the only things that
we dare to even desire before God to have been done. Those
things that Christ and only Christ could do for us and will do for
us, has He, as the Son of God, eternally done for us. This includes even our faith,
our belief and our trust in Him. Our Savior. Old men will have
Jesus Christ to be a great man in history. There's no question
about that. He's often lauded for the example
He set for suffering and dying. But they don't praise Him for
being God, a very God. They make Him less than God by
making His suffering and His death to be potentially saving
acts of His grace. If man will in turn see this
to be true and accept it as such. They pervert the offering that
He made of Himself unto God on behalf of those He came to save
and make Him to be the offer unto us, for us to accept, if
we will, in order to become saved in time. This whole scenario is thereby
iniquitized and perverted from its purity. Wherever the term offer enters
into the equation of things, that leaven corrupts the whole
lump. May the Lord be gracious and
give us the grace to hold fast to the sound doctrine of Christ,
that God did send His only begotten Son to be our Savior without
any ifs, ands, or buts. He made His choice of Him in
the eternal covenant and counsel of peace to be the eternal Redeemer
of His church, His chosen, His body, His bride. He, as the Son of God, fulfilled
completely the eternal purpose of the Almighty. When in the
fullness of time, He became the Son of Man. Made of a woman. Made under the law, it says.
He redeemed them that were under the law. This truth is the eternal
and sure foundation of all that we believe and proclaim about
Him. 1 Peter 2, 6-9 teaches of Isaiah
28, 16 when it says, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, Precious. This is our foundation, he makes
it a point to say. And we are complete in Him. And
it says, he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded. Or literally, shall not be put
to shame. Or shall not be disgraced. Or
shall not be confused about who the Savior truly is. And how
it is that we have been saved. That's why it says in verse 7
of 1 Peter 2, unto you therefore which believe, He is precious. But unto them, it goes on to
say, which be disobedient. Even verse 8 goes on, to them
which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they
are appointed. or predestinated. They that do not hold fast to
these things, they do not give proper credit
to what these things mean. They are said to be stumblers
at the Word and disobedient to it. This, dear ones, brings us to
foundation principles. This brings us to when God in
eternity, in the great triumvirate of His being, did take counsel
and did determine that the church, that the elect, which consists
of a number that no man can number of every nationality, should
be saved by this very person, Jesus Christ. and the great things
He has done. Salvation in a man does not begin
when that man begins to know it, as we have supposed. They come to know it because
it was in God's heart and purpose in eternity for them to do so. They were predestined to come
to know it. It is the eternal decree of God
that brings forth the things that are the end time circumstances
of our coming to Christ. That in reality, no man, not
drawn by the Father, can do. Jesus said, No man can come unto
me, except the Father that sent me draw him. He says, everyone that has heard
and learned from the Father comes to me. The decree is in God's
heart. The purpose and plan is formed
and performed there. The Savior is given. The elect
church is chosen. The eternal surety is established. The sins of sinners are taken
and imputed to the sinless One, Jesus Christ. The righteousness
of Christ Jesus is imputed to the elect church. And the Savior
is sent into this fallen world to consummate this as being eternal
truth. These are the gracious things
that God has done for us in eternity and graciously revealed to us
in time. But this is the work, the complete
work of Christ that men won't have to be true. This is what they reject. And they reject the whole counsel
of God against themselves. These are the things that certain
chosen sinners, chosen to be saved, do come in the power of
the Spirit to receive. The revelation and application
of these great things of salvation being made to them by the Holy
Spirit. He becomes to them, among many
other things, a true spirit of faith. Oh, yes. Listen to and receive the things
that the Word of God speaks up so much of the time. 2 Corinthians
4, 13 through 18. It says, we having the same spirit
of faith, according as it is written, I believed and therefore
have I spoken. We also believe and therefore
speak, the apostle says. Knowing that he which raised
up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also. Knowing this. shall raise up us also by Jesus. No man can come unto Me except
the Father that sent Me. Draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day," Jesus said. And then the Apostle says, "...and
shall present us." Jesus raises us up and presents us with you. Verse 15, "...for all things
are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through
the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. Verse 16, for which cause? We faint not, but though our
outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Growing old can't stop this renewal,
this daily renewal. can only enhance its presence. Because the weaker we become,
the stronger it becomes. For our light affliction, it
says, that is made up with the temporal things of this fallen
world. That's our light affliction. Doesn't seem light when we're
having to bear it. But God's perspective, it's a
light affliction. Why? which is but for a moment. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but My Word shall not pass away. The world shall pass away in
the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth
forever. This light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us. That is, completely works
out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. We don't understand it completely,
but this is what God reveals to us is happening. This temporary, afflictive, fallen
condition in world provides for us the platform from where the
grace of God alone in our feeble, miserable lives will resound
to the glory of Christ our Savior and our Lord. And verse 18 says, while we look
not at the things which are seen. What? That's what it says. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal. but the things which are not
seen are eternal. It's so important that we grasp
this. All true spiritual experience
issues from this. All, all true spiritual experience
issues from here. But experience does not lay the
foundation of our salvation. Experience is the fruit of salvation
through Christ's person and work. As the river of the pure water
of life proceeds from the reigning throne of God, Revelation says,
and of the Lamb, even so does the pure eternal truth proceed
from the eternal sovereignty of God, and His eternal purpose,
and His eternal Christ, and all those chose and saved by Him. Isaiah 42.1 says, Behold My servant
whom I uphold, Mine elect in whom My soul delights. I have
put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
unto the Gentiles." Or literally, unto the nations. It's a great thing to see Jesus
Christ, is it not? To see God's servant, God's elected
one. To be the mediator, the substitute,
the surety. and all the things concerning
Him in this life. This is the very solid foundation
of all that God will reveal to His people, all that God has
done in this world and all that He has done in His work of sovereign
grace in eternity. Herein are all the mysteries
of providence revealed. of all the overthrowing of worldly
kingdoms, of all the setting up of new regimes of worldly
rule, of all the things that particularly concern His church
in this fallen world. And for all of these things,
the God of this world orchestrates to the trial and affliction and
persecution of the chosen sinner's true faith. while they are yet
in time. But God says of His Christ that
He gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which
is His body. The fullness of Him that filleth
all in all. And the work of government has
been since before time placed upon His shoulders. He who has taken away all our
sins. He who has carried off into nothingness
all our guilt and eternally saved all our souls. It indeed is a mighty a grand,
a good, and a great thing. It fills heaven with men who
are sinners while here. And you can only dwell there
having been transformed into saints to give eternal glory
and praise for a work that is genuinely well done. Praise and
glory to the person and work the Lord Jesus Christ for the
great things He hath done. Amen.