I recall hearing years ago about
an older preacher. As a matter of fact, the preacher
was Dr. Magruder. Got it at Louisville.
Said when he would prepare to preach, you'd look at what he
was going to preach. He normally carried a legal pad
with him and just had one thing written down. Just one thing. And he'd keep driving it home,
driving it home, driving it home, come at it from every angle he
could come at it from. And when he got done, he had
just one thing he wanted you to take home with you. Well,
tonight I want you to consider one thing, just one astonishing
thing. Turn with me, if you will, to
Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 6. God is great, man is nothing,
less than nothing in vanity. God is holy, man is sin. God is our rightful creator,
king, and judge. Man is a treasonous rebel against
him. God is light, we are darkness. God is purity, we are corruption. God is love, we are enmity. Yet, though we are ever unmindful
of him, God Almighty is mindful of us. does that not astonish
you? It astonished David and it astonished
the inspired writer of the book of Hebrews. Tonight I want us
to consider just this one question that's found right in the middle
of our text. Hebrews 2 verse 6. What is made that thou art
mindful of him? Oh, let every heart be humbled
and every mind attentive as we seek to know something of God's
mindfulness of man. When Elizabeth, the mother of
John the Baptist, stood before Mary, she said, Who am I that
the mother of my Lord should come to me? When Mephibosheth
bowed before David, he cried, What is thy servant, that thou
shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? How much more shall
God's elect prostrate before his throne, astonished by his
grace, overwhelmed by his love, be overwhelmed with this question,
what is man? That thou art mindful of him.
Now the subject's too big for my puny brain to fathom, or for
my tongue to declare properly. So I want simply to skim the
surface and show you from the scriptures something of God's
mindfulness of us. If you leave here knowing that
the Lord hath been mindful of us, I will have accomplished
by the Spirit of God what I want to accomplish this evening. I
want you to leave here with this on your heart, with this ruling
your heart, with this giving your heart peace. Children of
God, the Lord is mindful of us. The word mindful is a bit stronger,
the word that's translated mindful, is a bit stronger than our English
word, or the English equivalent to it. It is not just that he
remembers us, not just that he thinks upon us, but it is the
declaration that the Lord God has, from eternity, fixed his
mind on us. He has fixed us as the object
of his care and the objects of his love and the objects of his
grace. The God of glory is ever mindful
of us. He has fixed us in his heart
from eternity. God's mindfulness of his people
to do them good is not something that began yesterday. Turn back
to Psalm 113, or Psalm 103. Let me show you this. There never was a time when he
did not have our interest at heart. There never was a time
when God Almighty did not have his heart set upon us. There
never was a time when he began to think of us. Now, when the
scriptures use terms like that, remember the scriptures are simply
accommodating our feeble understanding. The scriptures describe God and
describe his actions in anthropomorphic terms. That is, they describe
God and his actions in terms that are human terms. Because
that's the only way we can understand anything. But when the scripture
speaks of God having a hand, it doesn't mean he has a hand.
When it speaks of God's heart, it doesn't mean he has an organ
that pumps blood through his body because he doesn't have
a body. When the scripture speaks of God repeating, it doesn't
mean that God changed in any way. It simply accommodates our
understanding of things in his action. When the scripture speaks
of God beginning to think, or God beginning to do, then except
insofar as creation and time is concerned, those things are
not exactly accurate. With regard to eternal matters,
God never began anything. He never learned anything. He
never started anything. He never forgot anything. He
always is. And God's mindfulness of us is
eternal with his own great being. Now you stop and think about
that. Look here in Psalm 103 verse 17. The mercy of the Lord
is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his
righteousness unto children's children. God's mercy, his grace,
his loving kindness, his mindfulness of us is from everlasting to
everlasting. Now, that expression is itself
a contradiction in terms. Eternity has neither beginning
nor end. Eternity just is. And when it speaks of God's mercy
being from everlasting to everlasting, it is stretching human language
to describe for us the infinity of God's mercy toward us. God's
mercy, his grace, his mindfulness of us did not begin yesterday
then, and it will not end tomorrow. God's mindfulness of us to do
us good is eternal, immutable, unconditional, indestructible. God has been mindful of us, he
is mindful of us, and he shall forever be mindful of us to do
us good. Listen to what he says by the
prophet Jeremiah, I will not turn away from them to do them
good. Well, what does that mean? That
means he has been, he is now, and he shall forever in all things
do us good. Let me show you just four or
five things with regard to this thing of God's mindfulness of
us. First, God's mindfulness of us
is seen in the everlasting decree of his sovereign electing love.
There's so many places I could turn, but let's just turn to
1 Peter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. You and I who now believe, believe
because we were chosen of God in eternity to be the heirs of
his grace and salvation, to be the heirs of his everlasting
glory in Christ, chosen as the objects of his love before the
world began. Our Lord Jesus declares to his
disciples, you have not chosen me but I have chosen you. Oh
how I rejoice in God's electing love. Look here in 1 Peter 1
verse 2. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. Elect according to God's foreordination,
according to God's predestination, according to God's everlasting
love. That's what the word means. Elect
according to God's eternal love for you. elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the
spirit, unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. This act of God's
sovereign love is the source and the fountain of every other
blessing of grace. Redemption justification, regeneration,
faith, perseverance, and everlasting glorification, all are the fruits
of election. We do not have anything to do
with God having chosen us. It's simply a matter of his absolute
sovereign prerogative that he loved us with an everlasting
love. Augustus Toplater wrote this statement concerning election.
that same man who wrote Rock of Ages, he wrote this, election
is the tree of life, whose leaves and fruit are for the healing
of the nations. And he refers us to Ephesians
1 and Romans chapter 8. Ephesians 1 tells us that God
blessed us with all spiritual blessings according as, and not
otherwise, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. So that every blessing of grace,
every benefit coming down from the throne of God to sinners
upon the earth comes to us through the mediation of Jesus Christ
according to God's electing love. Oh wonder of wonders, he loved
me and chose me. as the object of his love from
eternity. All right, here's the second
thing. God's mindfulness of us is revealed in the everlasting
covenant of redemption and grace made with Christ Jesus our surety
before the world began. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Let's
begin back in chapter 8, Hebrews chapter 8. Now here, this passage
is the Apostle Paul, if he wrote the book of Hebrew, Brother Nybert
was asking about that the other day, I don't know, but I'm so
much in the habit of saying he wrote it, we'll just accept that.
But the Apostle who wrote here is referring to Jeremiah chapter
31, where God made promise of an everlasting covenant, a new
covenant. And he uses the very words of Jeremiah. But he's telling
us that this covenant of grace, which was promised to the children
of Israel, which was promised to Judah, is the promise of God
to his elect, who are the true Israel of God, his true Judah,
his church, his kingdom, and his people. Hebrews chapter 8,
verse 8. For finding fault with them,
that is with Abraham's physical seed, with the physical nation
of Israel, He says, Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when
I will make a new covenant. A new covenant. Now, the covenant
was made from eternity. But it says here he's going to
make it and make it new. That only means that it is new
insofar as our apprehension is concerned. It is new only insofar
as the revelation of it is concerned. But the covenant was made from
eternity as the scriptures were referred to in Hebrew or Ephesians
1 plainly declared. So he says, I'll make this new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of
the land of Egypt." Remember the covenant God made? He said,
do this and live. Don't do it and you die. He said,
be ye holy for I am holy. If you're not, I'll kill you.
He gave them the commandments and the laws of Sinai and they
could not and would not keep them. Because they continued
not in my covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. Look
at verse 10. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. After the days of the old covenant
were expired. After the days of the old testament
were fulfilled. After the days of the gospel
of grace has begun. After the days when Christ has
come. I will put my laws in their mind
and write them on their hearts. And I will be to them a God and
they shall be to me a people. Now that refers to regeneration,
that refers to the new birth. When God says he'll put his laws
in our hearts and write them on our minds, he's not talking
merely about teaching us right from wrong. That, Ron, was taught
to every man by creation. The law of God has been inscribed
in all men's hearts and consciences by nature. What's he talking
about here then? Means he makes us willing to have his will.
Makes us delight in that which delights him. He makes us new
creatures in Christ Jesus. And I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people, delighted to be his people. Verse
11, And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every
man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all
know me, from the least to the greatest. That is, every member
of his kingdom, being born of his spirit, is taught of God,
coming to Christ, and knows him. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness. and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now look at chapter 10. In Hebrews
chapter 10, the apostle has been writing to us about the coming
of Christ, putting away the sacrifices of the Old Testament by fulfilling
them. He comes now to make a sacrifice for himself, by himself rather,
for the glory of God, to do the will of God, by the which we
were sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ,
one time as I Now look at verse 15. Whereof, whereof, in light
of these things, the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. For
after that he had said before, this is the covenant that I will
make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I'll put my laws
in their hearts and in their minds will I write them. Look
at it now. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no
more. What a covenant. What a covenant. having determined
to have a people for the glory of his own great name. God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit entered into
a solemn compact of grace, each pledging to the other all things
necessary for the recovery of chosen sinners from the fall
of our father Adam. Now, folks argue and say well
this is a sovereign disposition of God. It is. I understand that. And folks say, well, you can't
talk about God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit
agreeing to things. I know that. I told you before, these are
anthropomorphic terms. But thank God they're terms we
can understand. God the Father said, I'll be
their God. God the Son says, what will it take? It'll take
righteousness and satisfaction by a man. And the Son of God
says, I'll do it. Give them to me. And the Father
trusted the Son as our surety from eternity, and gave us grace
and eternal life in him before the world began. Second Timothy
1 verse 9, And God the Spirit said, I'll call I'll quicken
them, I'll give them life, I'll bring them to faith, I'll give
them faith, I'll preserve them, I'll bring them and seal them
at last unto everlasting glory." And so the three persons of the
Godhead entered into a covenant agreement, pledging themselves
to one another for the glory of God, for the salvation of
his people. Now let me talk to you a little
bit about this covenant. It's important that we understand
it. understanding the teachings of scripture with regard to it,
because everything God does, he does because of the covenant. This is not a family covenant.
This is where Plato, Baptists, folks who baptized babies, Presbyterians
and others, they But they talk about covenant, so it's a family
covenant. And therefore they bring their children like Abraham
brought his sons to be circumcised. They bring their children on
the eighth day to be baptized. And they say, let's talk about
that's a representative of the New Testament of circumcision
in the old. Nothing could be further from the truth. The covenant
of God, his grace, his mercy, Larry, does not run in bloodlines.
It does not. Our sons and daughters have no
claim. No claim upon God because of their relationship with us.
None whatsoever. I recall years ago when I was
still in college, a fellow I was in school with, we worked together,
we talked a bit about these things, and he said, you know, I really
believe it's quite possible since my wife and I both believe God
and we're chosen of God and redeemed by Christ, called by his spirit,
it may be our son saved already. I said, oh no. No, that's called
works redemption, and works salvation, and works grace. It doesn't matter
who says it. No, no. The grace of God does
not run in bloodlines. Our children are sons and daughters
of Adam, and they will not be the sons and daughters of God
Almighty, except God himself make them his sons and daughters
by almighty grace. This is not a church covenant.
It is not a covenant for one denomination or another. It is
not a national political covenant for one nation. Folks talk about
Christian America. Let me tell you something. There's not anything in the world
more unchristian than America. Nothing. There's no such thing
as a Christian nation. No, there's not. There's just
no such thing. Never has been such a thing and never will be
such a thing. Christianity doesn't fly under a flag. Christianity
is a matter of grace. This is not a works covenant.
This everlasting covenant of grace is a covenant of pure,
free, sovereign grace, and all the stipulations of the covenant
are met and satisfied by blood, because it's a blood covenant.
Turn to Hebrews 13. Lindsay read this just a little
bit ago in the office. Hebrews 13. The apostle writing here gives
this benediction, and it's a rather strange benediction if you look
at it carefully. unless you understand covenant
blood. It says, now the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
What a statement! Other places tell us he was raised
by the power of God. Other places tell us he was quickened
by the Spirit. Other places tell us he resuscitated, he raised
himself from the dead. But here we're told, and told
by inspiration, that Jesus Christ came out of the grave, raised
from the dead, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
What on earth does the Spirit of God mean for us to understand?
The covenant was ratified. All the stipulations fulfilled
when Jesus Christ gave his blood and poured out his life's blood
unto death at Calvary, and now everything being satisfied, sin
put away, justice satisfied, Christ is raised from the dead
through the merit and virtue of his shed blood, covenant blood. This covenant of grace was made
in anticipation of the sin and fall of our father Adam. Now
listen carefully. The sin and fall of our father
Adam did not take God Almighty by surprise, as most people seem
to think. For reasons known only to himself,
God decreed to permit the fall. And yet God's decree to permit
the fall in no way suggests or implies that he caused it, or
that he's the author of sin. I want you to see this clearly
in the scriptures. Turn to James chapter 1. James
chapter 1. Well, it just stands for reason.
Throw your reason out the door when your reason contradicts
this book. It's just logical. Remember, your logic's perverted,
mine too. We're sinners. Our brains are
addled by sin. And we must submit even that
which appears to us to be most reasonable to the test of Holy
Scripture. But if God purposed everything,
God predestined everything, God controls everything, then God
must be the cause of sin. God must be the author of evil.
Listen to what the book says. James chapter 1 verse 13. Let
no man say when he's tempted, I'm tempted of God. I've heard
folks say this must be God's will when they're involved in
horrible evil. Say this must be God's will,
he wouldn't let it happen. And thus attempt to blame God for
their wickedness. For God cannot be tempted of
evil or with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is
tempted, how? When he's drawn away of his own
lust and enticed. Folks say, if you believe that
God predestined everything that comes to pass and works all things
after the counsel of his own will, then you're saying that
God's the author of sin. Now listen carefully. Does the book of God say God
predestined everything that comes to pass? Does it say it's plain
as nose on your face? Indeed it does. Does the book
of God declare that God has ordained all things whatsoever come to
pass in time? Indeed it does, Ephesians 1 verse
11. Does the book of God declare
that God always has his will, always does all his pleasure?
Yes it does. Well then God's the author of
sin, folks. The book of God says right here he's not. He's not. The only people who talk so foolishly
The only people who suggest or imply such a thing are ranting
free will Arminians who would rather charge God himself with
sin than surrender the dignity and autonomy of their imaginary
sovereign will. I believe exactly what's written
in the scriptures, no more and no less. We must not and we will not second
guess our God. We simply bow before him in reverent
adoration of his wisdom, justice, sovereignty, and goodness, and
worship him as God. God didn't make Pharaoh pursue
Israel. Pharaoh pursued Israel because he was a godless wretch.
He was a proud, arrogant, self-serving king sitting on the throne, and
God raised him up to show his power in him, but Pharaoh had
no regard for God. But God used Pharaoh's pursuit
of Israel, and he ordained to use it. The book says so. God didn't make Satan torment
Job. No, no. He didn't. Satan tormented
Job because he hated Job. Satan brought all the difficulties
on Job by God's permission and God's decree, but he did it because
he wanted to. But God used it, and God ordained
to use it. God didn't make the Jews crucify
his son, no sir, no sir. There was no force from heaven
compelling the Jews to despise his son, no force from heaven
compelling wicked men to crucify the Lord of Glory, but he sure
used it, and he ordained the use of it. God did not make Adam
sin, God did not force Adam to fall, but he ordained it, he
used it, and he ordained the use of it for the accomplishment
of his purposes. We will not second-guess God,
and we will not alter his word to please men and women who despise
his glorious sovereignty. What do we do? We just bow to
his word. This blessed covenant of grace
was ordered in all things and sure from eternity. This is what
David said on his dying bed. You don't need to turn there.
He said, although my house be not so with God, yet he hath
made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure. This is all my salvation and
all my desire, although we make it not to grow. It was in anticipation
of the fall that grace was given to us in Christ our surety. before
the world began. Now, are you sure you understand
that? God anticipated the fall before ever the world was made,
and made this covenant of grace, Rex, and gave the grace to us
in Christ from eternity. The fall was not something that
somehow sneaked up on God. The fall was assured and as certain
as the recovery of God's elect from the fall. The crucifixion
of Christ was ordained from eternity, sure and certain, as sure and
certain was his crucifixion by the hands of wicked men, as was
the result of his crucifixion and the redemption accomplished
by it. The eternal ruin of unbelievers was as sure and certain as the
salvation of believers. The book says so many, many times. But this is key. The cause of
the fall was in Adam. The cause of the recovery is
in God. The cause of crucifixion by the Jews, the crucifixion
of Christ, was in the hands and hearts of wicked men. The cause
of redemption, which it accomplished, is God. The cause of unbelief
is in the unbeliever. The cause of faith is in God.
People sometimes look for an excuse to justify their unbelief.
The cause of unbelief is in the man. Our Lord said, you will
not come to me. He said, well, if only the elect
can be saved, that's a bad way to put it, isn't it? Only the
elect get to be saved. And all of them get to be. Well,
if only the elect are going to be saved, then I can't believe
unless I'm elect. No, you can't. But if you are,
you can. And if you don't, it's your fault.
It's your fault. The cause of eternal ruin is
sin, and sin is in man, and it's the corruption of man that's
his own condemnation. The cause of eternal salvation
is the grace of God. Now, you can argue with that
and fuss with that all you want to. The fact still stands. The
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin, that's my fault. Salvation's
his fault. Guilt is my fault. Grace is his
fault. Misery is my fault. Mercy is
his fault. Death is my fault. Eternal life
is his fault. That's the way this book speaks.
All right? Thirdly, God's mindfulness of his elect is even seen in
actually permitting the sin and fall of our father Adam. God
was mindful of us even when we fell in Adam. We could never
have known the grace and glory of God as we now know it in Jesus
Christ in redemption, if we hadn't known what it was to be fallen
guilty, depraved sinners in Adam. In the garden, in the first creation
in Adam, God made us a little lower than the angels But in
the new creation and regeneration in Christ, he's crowned man with
glory and honor that can never be known by the angels. I might
envy the angels of heaven because they've never known sin. And
in that I envy them. But Bobby Estes, the angels of
heaven might envy us in that they've never known redemption.
They've never known forgiveness. Oh, how mindful God was of us
in the days of our rebellion. Turn to Jude, verse 1. His mindfulness of us was proved
by his patience and providential care of us throughout the days
of our sin, rebellion, and unbelief. Jude the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father, oh how I love this, and preserved in Jesus Christ and
called. The fact is chosen redeemed sinners
are absolutely immortal until they've been called by God's
absolutely immortal. What does that mean? That means
God's going to get them everyone. The lion of the tribe of Judah
is going to prevail over everyone he's chosen, everyone he's redeemed.
We see it over and over and over again in the book. God by special
providence preserves and keeps and provides for his own throughout
the days of their rebellion. Let me show you one more thing. Oh, how God has been mindful
of us since the time of our calling. You don't need to turn it up,
you can look at it when you get home. In Isaiah 49, 15, this
is what he says, I will not forget thee. And he never has. He preserves us amidst the corruption
of our hearts, the temptations of Satan and the allurements
of this world. He remembers that we're dust and gives us grace
sufficient for every need. He's ever mindful of us, even
when we fall. It is written, he shall deliver
thee in six troubles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch
thee. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him. out of them, although he
falls, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth
him with his hand." We have a saying, we say, you can't keep a good
man down. Well, in this book, the language
of this book is, you can't keep a chosen man down. All hell can't
keep one of God's elect down. There's only one thing God Almighty
is not mindful of. Bless his name. He's not mindful
of our sins. He says they're sins and they're
iniquities. I will remember no more. The Lord hath been mindful of
us. He will bless us. Let us now
bless you. Amen.