Okay, right. Turn with me then
to Psalm 12. I want to look at this with you
this morning. Because we're living in days
which are very rare in terms of the turmoil that there is
in the world. There's tremendous turmoil. We hear about it every
day in the news, every minute, throughout the day. The state
of things is a state of complete turmoil. On top of that, all around us,
as the people of God, as those who believe the Gospel, we see
godlessness everywhere. Absolutely. You look around.
Why are there so few that are interested in the truth of the
Gospel of Grace? Why are there so few? There's
such a spirit of Antichrist everywhere, and we all feel it to some extent. We all go through times, in the
flesh. Anybody that says they don't,
anybody that says they're living constantly on this higher plane
of spiritual awareness, I think is deceiving themselves. As long
as we live in this flesh, we have ups and downs. We have days
when faith seems so weak. We have days when there's an
evil heart of unbelief abroad in us. I'm re-reading again the
life story of John Warburton, his autobiography, The Mercies
of a Covenant God. And as I've said before, there
are some things that to our 21st century thinking sound really
odd, but nevertheless one thing is true. He knew so much of the
grace of God and he felt, he really felt the salvation of
God. But his constant experience was
tremendous blessing and then periods of tremendous despair.
And those periods of tremendous despair always ended with periods
of tremendous blessing. And such is the experience that
we have. We often attempted to give up.
You look around us this morning, we're so few in number, with
about half our normal congregation away, and it is so tempting to
give up and say, what's it all for? Why are we bothering? There
are such tiny numbers of people who are interested in the truth
of God. Well, my purpose this morning is to take God's Word
and to encourage you, and not only that, to encourage myself,
because believe me, I need encouragement too. And you see, God has given
us, God has given us such encouragements. 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 4
says that He has given us exceeding great and precious promises. These are promises to us as his
people. He's given us exceeding great
and precious promises. Of all the things that you could
be promised, you could be promised an exotic holiday in the depths
of winter and you think, oh, that would be really, really
nice. But listen, these are exceeding great and precious promises because
these are promises for eternity. These are not fleeting promises
that are here one day and gone. These are the promises of eternity
and of eternal life. And not least in this psalm,
Psalm 12, we see those promises laid before us in the situation
that is common to all of us. So I want to look at the situation
that the psalmist found himself in, the situation, then I want
to look at the cry of the psalmist in that situation, and then I
want to look at the answer. And it doesn't come in sequence
through these eight verses, it's all intermingled. but the situation
we see very clearly in the first two verses look here what we
read, help Lord for the godly man ceaseth for the faithful
fail from among the children of men they speak vanity everyone
with his neighbor with flattering lips and with a double heart
do they speak the godly man ceaseth the faithful fail from among
the children of men the godly man ceaseth what is a godly man? A godly man is not this image
that you have of this unreal, pious person. The godly man is
a man or a woman whose heart is inclined toward God. That's
a godly man. inclined towards the things of
God. And what he's saying is it seems as though they're ceasing.
And those who have faith seem to be failing from among the
children. Where are they? Look all around us. Where are
they? There's plenty of religion still in our day. You can go
to the mega churches in London and you'll see thousands there,
skipping and jumping and hooping and hollering and all those things.
You'll see all that without any trouble at all. But where are
those who have a heart truly set upon the things of God, the
godly man, the faithful. Who are they, these godly people,
these faithful people? Well, let me give you some descriptions.
They're those who trust in the Lord. That's where their trust
is. You know, we are the true circumcision. We are the true
circumcision, who rejoice in Christ Jesus, who have no confidence
in the flesh, who worship God in the Spirit. They trust in
the Lord and They don't just trust in the God of Heaven, because
lots of people say they do that, but they believe the Messiah.
They believe the Christ. They believe the One who came
as a substitute and stood in the place of men. And they say,
He is all my hope. It is Him that is their comfort.
It is the fact that He came and lived in their place, and died
in their place, and shed His precious blood in their place,
that gives peace to the soul and to the conscience. That's
who the godly are. They trust in Him. They believe
Him. They abide in the truth of His Word. They don't deviate
from it. Even when men and women of religion
all around are saying that it's unreasonable. Oh, aren't you
going a bit too far? Aren't you being a bit extreme
with your doctrine here? No, we stay true to the Word
of God. This is the godly man. Abides
in the truth of the Word. Who walks in the Spirit. You
see again and again in the New Testament, Paul writes about
those who walk in the Spirit and are not conformed to the
flesh. Walking in the Spirit. Oh yes, we still live in the
flesh. Oh yes, we're still weak in the flesh. Oh yes, we still
fail and sin in the flesh every day. And if we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves. But we walk in the Spirit. And
the bent and the direction of the life of the godly and the
faithful is to bear that fruit of the Spirit of God who abides
within, without whom we can do nothing. The godly live godly
lives. The faithful live godly lives.
And what does that mean? It means that the desires of
these people are not conformed to the desires of the world.
You think of the things that occupy the minds of men and women
in the world all around us. It's all the time the material
things that they can grasp at, the experiences that they can
have, the health and longevity that they can buy themselves
and provide for themselves. This is what is all of their
heart's affection and desire, all of these things that they
can do. But no, the heart and mind of the godly person is not
conformed to the desires of this world. His heart and mind is
set upon things above. His heart and mind is set on
spiritual treasure in heaven. Minds and hearts set on eternity.
The godly man, the faithful, views the life that he has, that
she has, just as a loan from God. It's a loan, something been
loaned from God. And how do you spend it? How
do you spend this currency of life? You spend it for Him and
for His glory. and you hold it in an open palm
so that it can be given back at his bidding because as Jesus
said whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it
eternally whosoever will lose it and not cling on to it as
if it's his own private personal possession whosoever will lose
his life for my sake shall find it that's the godly and the plea
here of the psalmist is that the godly man ceaseth and the
faithful fail from among the children of men." And oh how
it seems that that is true in our day. It's true in so many
days. You read the commentators and ones that were writing 200,
300 years ago and they say, it has never been more true than
it is today well I'll tell you it's never been more true than
it is in this day in which we live look around us where we
are look around the society in which we live look at what people
are looking for and seeking after and you would say oh how true
it is that godly man ceaseth for the faithful fail from among
the children of men this speaks of David's times, the times in
which he wrote this, Saul no doubt was speaking vanity, no
doubt Saul had been speaking with flattering lips and his
servants, it speaks of those times, it speaks of the times
that Christ walked this earth in when he just had that little
number around him of the disciples and yet everywhere There was
godlessness and there was wickedness and there was faithlessness in
all the people around him in Jerusalem and throughout the
land of Israel as he walked this earth. And even the one he called
his friend, Judas, his friend, rose up to betray him. And how
could our Lord and Master, our Lord Jesus Christ, say the godly
man seeth? He could see it all around, the
faithful fail from among the children of men. When the Son
of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Yes, it applied
then as well. It's a theme that runs throughout
the Scriptures. Isaiah 57 verse 1 says this,
The righteous perish and no man lays it to heart. The righteous
are those who are made righteous by God, by his salvation. And
it appears as if they perish. There's none of them left. And
he says, No man layeth it to heart. What would we say today?
It seems as if nobody could care less. Nobody's bothered. nobody
could care less about eternal things the righteous perishes
Micah the prophet Micah chapter 7 verse 2 says the good man again
the good man who's not good in himself but good because he's
made good by God he died to make us good the good man is perished
out of the earth and there is none upright among men and so
it seems it's all around us and verse 2 they speak vanity everyone
with his neighbor with flattering lips and with a double heart
do they speak. All around, flattering lips,
lying lips, falsehood. It's falsehood in everything.
Falsehood in everything. We know that so much of the crisis
in financial markets, people are saying, they're pointing
the finger at falsehood, false dealing, immoral dealing, corrupt
dealing, falsehood all around. But you know, I think this is
speaking far more about falsehood regarding eternal truth. Falsehood
regarding the truth of salvation. Duplicity of heart. They speak
with a double heart, do they speak. That's duplicity of heart.
It's regarded as the most corrupt and untrue to speak with a double
heart. You know, it's what the Indians
in the cowboy films talk about speaking with a forked tongue.
A double heart. Deceitful things. They speak
duplicity of heart, as Cain did. to Abel regarding finding favor
with God. Cain spoke with duplicity of
heart. He spoke with falsehood. He spoke
with vanity. And so it is, people will always
come with a message of falsehood regarding eternal truth. Has
God really said? As Satan, the father of lies,
said in the Garden of Eden, has God really said such and such
a thing? And this is what they say, has
God really said? that he has a people whom he's
chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world? Has God really
said that it is those that Christ has saved to the uttermost? Has
God really said those things? And they cast doubts. And so
we have a compromised church. A church which appears to be
the visible church of God, which appears to be the visible external
church, which appears to be those who believe the truths of the
Reformation. And yet they speak with flattering
lips. They speak with vanity. They
speak with a double heart. They distort the gospel of grace. They bend the word of God. They
make it acceptable to human reasoning. Because, believe me, it's so
easy to look at this and say, Oh, men and women are not going
to believe that. They're going to find it so hard. We better
not talk about those things. We better hide those things concerning
God's sovereignty and His eternal purposes and His saving of a
people. We better hide those things because
it will be unacceptable to the people of this town and other
places. We better not do that and we bend the Word of God and
we corrupt it and we speak falsely with a doubled heart. And the
godly man ceaseth and the faithful fail from among men. There's
ecumenical, evangelical compromise on all fronts. What we might
call, you'll read about it again, pictured again and again throughout
the Scriptures, spiritual adultery on every side. The heart of man,
as Jeremiah said, Jeremiah 17, verse 9, the heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And
as Romans, Paul quotes the Scriptures in Romans 3, verse 10, there
is none righteous. No, not one. We live in a godless
society. Look at verse 4. Just skip over
verse 3 for a moment. Look at verse 4. Who have said,
with our tongue will we prevail? Our lips are our own. Who is
Lord over us? Is this not the society in which
we live? Is this not the godless society? You see it in the media, you
see it in the universities, you see it in the politicians, in
the laws that they make, you see it in everything that goes
on, godlessness, godless laws. They speak proud things like
the little horn, the little power of Daniel chapter 7 and verse
20. A little horn was speaking proud
things, shaking his fist, this little this little worldly power
shaking his fist in the face of God and so we see it all around
we see it in our universities we see it in our politicians
we see falsehood and godlessness all around look at 2nd Thessalonians
and chapter 2 2nd Thessalonians and chapter 2 and verse 4 where
we see here we see the words of Antichrist the spirit of Antichrist
He's talking about in verse 3, the man of sin being revealed,
the son of perdition, the son of lostness, who opposeth and
exalteth himself above all that is called God. You see, who is
God? Who is God to tell me what to
do? Or all that is worshipped, he exalts himself above it, so
that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God. Arrogance, the spirit of Antichrist
opposing everything to do with the things of God. This is the
society in which we live. It's like Pharaoh said to Moses. When Moses went to Pharaoh, Exodus
chapter 5 and verse 2 and said, let my people go. The Lord has
sent me to say to you, let my people go. And Pharaoh said to
him, who is the Lord? Who is this Lord? I know of no
such Lord. I'm not going to do what you
say. I pay no attention to that. And isn't that what we see in
these days all around us? Never more so. The society in
which we live, the culture in which we live, there is such
little interest in eternity and the things of God. And it's so
easy to despair. I do. I get downcast. And the Psalms come to me, Psalm
42 and again in Psalm 43, and they say, Why are you cast down,
O my soul? Why are you disquieted within
me? Hope in God. Trust in Him. Don't stay there. You see, the situation goes on.
You'll notice that this psalm doesn't finish on a positive
note. It finishes still in the situation.
Verse 8. The wicked are still walking
on every side when the vilest men are exalted. We'll find that
as we get to the end of this, as we know what the answer is,
we still live in a situation and we will continue as long
as this earth goes on to live in a situation where the wicked
walk on every side. So it will be. So it will be.
So what is the cry then? That's the situation, but what
is the cry? It's there in verse 1. Those
first two words, help Lord, help! It's a cry of help to God. Help, save is another word for
that word help. Save, Lord, for the godly man
ceaseth. It's a prayer. It's a cry to
God from the heart, a prayer. Why to God? Because to whom else
shall we pray? Psalm 73 and verse 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee? There's nobody else that I can
go to. There isn't anybody on earth that I can go to who can
give comfort in the face of this situation there's nobody on earth
there's none who has any power to turn the hearts of people
round to seek after God as Peter said to Christ when he asked
when all of them had gone away at his doctrine and the twelve
were left then he said will you also go away and he said it's
implicit that well yes obviously there's The heart is inclined to think
that maybe we ought to go away. But then you think about it.
To whom shall we go? Only God has the words of eternal
life. Only Christ has salvation. It's only in Him. So, to whom
else shall we go but to the Lord? Help, Lord, for the godly man
ceaseth. We pray to Him, prayer to God,
help Lord, a cry to the one who is sovereign and omnipotent over
all things. He is indeed, as Psalm 46 verse
1 says, He's a very present help in trouble. In the troubles that
we face, in the troubles that we see all around us, in the
cause for despair that we see all around us, it's our God who
is that very present help in trouble. And we come to Him and
we pray and we cry out to Him Help, Lord, in this situation.
We can do nothing about it. Be we ever so eloquent, be we
ever so persuasive in our witness, we can do nothing about it. If
the Lord doesn't rise to save, we can do nothing about it. The
Godly will continue to cease from the earth. It's Him that
we need to do these things. And we need Him to move us to
prayer. How slow and how lax we are in
prayer. Is God putting it in our hearts
to pray? This is what I pray, that God
would put it in our hearts to pray. You know, we read in 2
Samuel chapter 7 and verse 27, David says this, that he found
it in his heart to pray. Why did he find it in his heart
to pray? I'll tell you why. The God of
heaven put it there. That's why he found it in his
heart to pray. God put it there. And so we pray Him. Lord, teach
us to pray. Lord, put it in our hearts to
pray. You know those times when we're
just dealing with temporal things, with the things of this world,
with the things of every day. To live in a spirit of prayer,
to live in a spirit pleading to God, God be honored, God do
your work of salvation. Save your people. We need to
pray. Help, Lord. You see, our words
and all of our efforts in the face of the situation that we
see all around us, they're impotent. They're powerless without God's
Spirit working. Oh, that He would come down.
Oh, that He would anoint and sprinkle His Spirit upon His
Word as we witness it, as we preach it, as we make it known.
that without it we're dead, aren't we? We're like that valley of
dry bones. We may be clothed with flesh but there'd be no
life in us. There'd be no life to bring His
Word. There'd be no life to speak truth. Oh, that He would come.
Help, Lord. Without Your help, we can do
nothing. So, this is what we must pray.
We must pray that He would come and help in this situation. And
of course, He answers. He gives us an answer. Look at
verse 3. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue
that speaketh proud things and verse 5 for the oppression of
the poor for the sighing of the needy now will I arise saith
the Lord I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him
God does give an answer to that cry for help God promises first
of all in verse 3 to end all opposition to his rule what we
see around us today is not how it's going to finish is not how
it's going to end up. You see, all who deny his truth,
all who oppose the things of God, all who speak proud things
like that little horn, they all will bow. They'll all bow the
knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the prophet Habakkuk,
if you've read that prophecy, you'll see that he's in despair
because it seems so unjust because God is using that wicked nation
the Chaldeans to bring judgment on his people and he's saying
how unfair this is and how unreasonable this is and God says I'll give
you an answer wait for it I'll show you the answer and he brings
the answer at the right time he shows that He's not going
to go without judgment. The Chaldeans are not going to
go without judgment. And so it is. Those who speak
falsely, those who speak vanity, they will be cut off. They will
be cut short. Their tongue that speaks proud
things will be silenced. And every knee shall bow. This
is what Isaiah 45, 23 says. That God our Savior, who is Christ
our Savior, every knee shall bow to Him. And what does Philippians
2, verse 10 say about the Lord Jesus Christ? who being in the
form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God and laid
aside his glory and became a man that he might redeem men that
he might live for men that he might die on the cross in the
place of men and it says at the end of that in verse 10 of Philippians
2 that every knee shall bow the same the same words as Isaiah
used of God our Savior every knee shall bow to Him our Lord
Jesus Christ God will not allow this to continue indefinitely
a time times and half a time in the middle of it when you
think it could get no more desperate no worse than it already is God
will cut it short and he will bring an end to these things
and he will silence all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh
proud things But in the midst of it, verse 5, look, for the
oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will
I arise, saith the Lord. I will set him in safety from
him that puffeth at him. For the poor and needy. Who are
the poor and needy? Because God says He will arise
and set them in safety or in salvation is the word that's
used there. The poor and needy are those
whom God has made poor and needy. whom God has shown their state
so that they know that they're poor and needy. You know what
it says in the Acts of the Apostles that convinced the early church,
the church in Jerusalem, that God had given the gospel to the
Gentiles. The sign was God had granted
to them repentance. He'd shown them what they were.
He'd put that in their hearts to see what they were. They were
a poor and needy people. Do you know what we see all around
us? There may be some financial difficulties and that sort of
poverty and need, but oh how little spiritual poverty and
need there is all around. People do not know they're lost.
They do not see themselves as lost. They do not see themselves
in need. They see themselves as self-sufficient.
They're not poor and needy. God, first of all, when God intends
to save a man or a woman, He brings them to an end of themselves.
He brings them to see what they're really like. that they're poor
and needy. And he says, Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for they shall inherit the kingdom of God. Blessed
are the needy. Blessed are those ones who have
that emptiness, that hunger and thirsting for the righteousness
of God. Oh, what a blessed thing it is. You know, the little boy
that wanders off and he's lost and He doesn't know where mummy
is and for a while he's not lost, is he? Even though he's lost,
he's not lost because he doesn't realise he's lost. He's wandering
off and he's having a really good time and then all of a sudden
he stops. Where have they gone? Where's
mummy? He's lost. Then he knows he's
lost and oh, the cry goes up. Mummy, where are you? I'm lost.
You know, and the public address comes over. Will the parents
of a little boy called whatever his name is, come to such and
such a place because he's lost. There was a time he didn't know
he was lost and then he knew he was lost and oh how it is
with the godless all around us and the faithlessness all around
us that God would bring them to know their true state that
they're lost. that they're lost in sin, that
they're dead in trespasses and sins, that they're in a state
which would condemn them for all eternity. Oh, what a blessed
thing it is to be brought to know that. Oh, what a glorious
thing it is to be brought to see what you are, to see what
God is in His holiness and His majesty, and to see what you
are as a sinner who fully, absolutely deserves the judgment and condemnation
of God because He says, I will arise. for them. God will arise,
says the Lord, and I will set him in safety from him that puffeth
at him." Who's this that puffs at him? It's the devil, it's
Satan, the father of lies, the one who beguiled Eve in the Garden
of Eden, the one who is the prince of the powers of the air, the
one who is the prince of darkness, the one who speaks lies to millions
and billions of men and women in these days. That's who it
is, the one that puffeth at him. But God, who is all-powerful,
will arise, says the Lord, and set him in safety. He will arise. He comes and he speaks words
of salvation. Because look at verse 6. The
words of the Lord, you see, he arises and he comes with his
word. The words of the Lord are pure words. As silver tried in
a furnace of earth, purified seven times. the Word of the
Lord, the Scriptures, the truth of God, as it is revealed in
our Lord Jesus Christ, for He is the Word. This silver tried
in a furnace of earth, does it not speak of Him coming to earth
as a man and being tried in that furnace of humanity when the
justice of God was poured out upon Him when He took the sins
of His people? Because He arose and came for
His people. The pure Word speaks everywhere.
of salvation this pure Word of God this is its message from
start to finish Israel his people he says Israel his people shall
be saved with an everlasting salvation you put the word salvation
into your online Bible and you see how many times it comes up
hundreds and hundreds of times this is what this book is about
he arises He arises for the needy, for the poor and sets them in
safety and sets them in salvation. At the right time, God arose
and sent forth His Son. When the fullness of the time
was come, says Galatians 4 and verse 4, God sent forth His Son,
born of a woman. born under the law, that He might
redeem those, that He might buy back those who were under the
law, that He might give them the adoption as sons, that those
who were enemies and fearing nothing other than their judgment,
fearing nothing other than their condemnation, are taken from
that prison cell of conviction and are brought into the household
of faith, into the citizenship of Israel, the Israel of God,
who are made His children, who are given the spirit of gladness
for the spirit of heaviness, who are clothed with the robes
of righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose filthy rags
of their own righteousness, whose filthy rags of their own sin
are covered completely and taken away as far as the East is from
the West. Look at Romans chapter 8. This
is how He's arisen. This is how our God in our Lord
Jesus Christ has arisen for us. Look in verse 3. I'm going to
go through this in a different order. Verse 3, For what the
law could not do, the law of us being right with God in our
own works, in that it was weak through the flesh because our
flesh is weak and sinful and can never ever, however much
the heart might desire to do the things of God, the flesh
is weak. God did, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh. He clothed Him with flesh. He
was born of a virgin, but nevertheless, He was born a human being. He
became a man. The Son of God, the eternal Son
of God, who had always been God and shared that glory with His
Father from all eternity, in time became a man. God sent His
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Why? For sin. He condemned
sin in the flesh. He came in that sinful flesh
that He might bear sin in the flesh and bear the wrath of God
for it. That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us because He perfectly kept it.
He obeyed it. It might be fulfilled in us who
walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. And then go
back to verse 1, there is therefore Because He's done this, there's
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And if there's no
condemnation, look at verse 33. For who then, who then shall
bring any charge, lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
For it is God that is justified. If God has declared you just
in the Lord Jesus Christ, because of what He has done, no man can
bring any accusation against you. Who is He that condemns?
It is Christ that has died. The penalty's paid. There's nothing
more to pay. Yea, rather He's risen again.
He's vindicated. It's proven that it's accepted.
He's even at the right hand of God making intercession for us.
And look at verse 37. In all these things, we His people
who are the people of faith, who are the people who seek to
follow Him, nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us. Jim Byrd wrote this, I saw it
just this morning, it was in Don's bulletin. There was only
one way a holy God and his sinful enemies could be reconciled.
One equal with the offended one, that is God, and yet brother
of the offenders, that is us, must lay down his life in their
stead. Bless the name of Jesus Christ.
He is both the Son of God He is the one who is equal with
the offended one and yet he's the Son of Man and so he's the
brother of all of us who have offended God. He's both the Son
of God and the Son of Man. Our Lord Jesus Christ has lived
for his people. He's poured out his lifeblood
in payment for our sins. You know we talk so glibly about
the precious blood of Christ. Oh, that he would burn that into
our affections the precious blood of Christ the price that it costs
the eternal God to save his people from their sins when for the
oppression of the poor and for the sighing of the needy God
arose and came as a man in Christ and set us in safety set us in
salvation saved us from him that puffeth at us saved us from the
one who would drag us down to hell from the devil Christ has
lived for us. He's poured out His life for
us. There's nothing more to pay. And however bad it seems, on
all sides, however bad it seems to become, the arm of God, as
Isaiah wrote, 59 verse 1, the arm of God is not shortened.
We feel, oh, the arm of God is shortened. It cannot save the
people of Nebworth, or of this place, or of that place in these
days, for they'll never believe. They're just too dead in trespasses
and sins. This valley of dry bones is just
too dry. They'll never ever believe the
arm of God is not shortened, that it cannot save. He will
arise. He will save His people. He is
able. He's able to save His people
from their sins. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, is
able to save His people from their sins. Why? Because He who
knew no sin was made sin for us and bore it and paid for it. to bring many sons to glory he
says in Hebrews chapter 2 he came to bring many sons to glory
which sons all the sons that the father gave to him from before
the foundation of the world and of course you know sons means
daughters as well all his children All chosen in Christ from before
the foundation of the world. He came to save every single
one of them. Of all that the Father gave to
me, I shall lose nothing. This is the will of Him who sent
me. That of all He gave to me, I shall lose nothing. And if
that's the will of God, it will be accomplished, for He's omnipotent,
He's sovereign, He knows everything, He's in every place, nothing
can thwart it. All those chosen in Christ, as
Paul writes to the Ephesians, before the foundation of the
world, All of those, as was written in Acts chapter 13 verse 48,
all of those in various places where they went to preach, in
the face of godlessness, in the face of faithlessness, in the
face of exactly the situation we see today, everywhere they
went to preach, those who were ordained to eternal life believed. And so it is. And I believe we
have this encouragement as as God said to Paul as he was looking
at Corinth and he was nervous and he was scared and he was
a man of the flesh and his knees were trembling at the prospect
don't be afraid of them he'd suffered beatings in different
places don't be afraid of them go there for this is what God
said in amongst those who are godless and faithless and with
no interest in these things I have much people in this city so don't
be despairing he will save them irrespective of the unbelief
all around. This is the thing, however bad
it looks, not one of those whom God has given to Christ in eternity,
not one of those for whom Christ lived and died as a man on this
earth, the Son of God, not one of them will be lost. Every single
one will be saved. It pleased God, though, by the
foolishness of preaching, and we pray to Him, help Lord, help
Lord, anoint our words, anoint the preaching, anoint our witness
as we witness here and as we seek to reach out to these people
that they might see and hear and believe and have granted
to them that spirit of repentance and knowledge of the Eternal
God. Okay, we'll sing our closing hymn. It's number 778 So nice.