God Almighty, the one true and
living God, the God revealed in this book, is a God of purpose,
sovereign, eternal, unalterable purpose. That means everything
that comes to pass, everything, from the great to the minute,
everything that comes to pass, is brought to pass in time by
the hand of our according to the eternal purpose which he
purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Now, this eternal purpose
of God is what we call, in Bible terms, predestination. It is divine predestination,
and that's my subject this evening. Charles Buck defines predestination
very simply and very succinctly, very briefly, this way. I think
the definition he gives is just outstanding. He says, "...predestination
is the decree of God, whereby he hath for his own glory foreordained
whatever comes to pass." It is God's decree from everlasting,
whereby for his glory he has ordained whatever comes to pass
in time. Now, there's absolutely no question
that the Bible teaches the doctrine of predestination. It is taught
literally throughout the scriptures. I have jotted down for my own
uses here many, many, many scripture references. You can get them
if you want to later on. But the passages of scripture
are just incalculable, where the Word of God clearly, distinctly
teaches God's sovereign predestination. The basis of our faith in all
things is the fact of what the Word of God teaches. We don't
believe anything simply because it is logical, though certainly
anyone who recognizes anything of the character of God must
logically assume that predestination is so. But the basis of our faith
is not our logic. We do not believe something because
it is historically accurate, though certainly throughout the
history of the Christian Church, all true believers have maintained
the teaching of divine predestination. We believe what we do because
it is plainly written in the Word of God. With that in mind,
I want to show you five passages of scripture, actually just two
passages, but five verses of scripture, where this doctrine
of predestination is plainly, crystal-clearly taught in the
Word of God. Turn with me to Romans 8, a very,
very familiar passage of scripture to you. Romans 8, verse 28. There is absolutely no way to
understand, to really grasp verse 28 when it is read isolated from
verses 29 and 30. Romans 8.28 teaches us the assurance
of God's good providence. But God's good providence is
but the reflection of God's predestination and the outworking of God's predestination. Look at Romans 8.28. We know
that all things work together for good, to them that love God,
to them who are the called, according to his purpose. And here is his
purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he, his Son, 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."
So predestination, Bible language, that's not language we just pull
out of the air and make it fit in the Bible, that's Bible language.
Those whom he called, he foreknew he predestinated, and those whom
he predestinated, he called. Look in Ephesians 1, the first
chapter of Ephesians. The Apostle Paul is telling us
how that the Lord God has blessed us according as he chose us in
Christ before the foundation of the world, in love, he says
in verse 5, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will.
So there's the word again. Look in verse 11, "...in whom
also we have obtained an inheritance." being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will." So there's no question, the Word of God
teaches the doctrine of predestination. The only thing for us to ascertain
is to look into the Word of God and find out what does the Bible
teach about predestination. This is one of those doctrines
that is often misrepresented deliberately by those who oppose
it, and regrettably it is often misrepresented, ignorantly, by
those who would like to defeat me. I recall hearing Brother
Mahan say once at a conference when we were meeting over in
the old school building, it had been a long, long time ago, he
was preaching on the subject of predestination. We were here
at a conference and he said, it's hard to say whether this
doctrine has suffered more in the camp of its enemies or in
the camp of its friends. And he was exactly right. That's
the reason I want us this evening to carefully search the scriptures,
and I want you to see for yourselves. I don't want you to take my word
for it. I want you to see for yourselves what the Word of God
teaches and what it does not teach with regard to divine predestination. First, let me begin by showing
you that there are four things commonly taught by men about
predestination. are reflecting their doctrine
of predestination which are not taught in the scriptures. Four
things that men just sort of naturally assume by logic or
by their theological system that necessitates it, but they just
assume that certain things must be so if predestination is so.
And these four things are quite common, the reason I've chosen
these four to deal with. First, the Bible does not teach
that impersonal, stoic philosophy that says, whatever will be,
will be. Some of you all may remember
Diana Shore singing Carolina in the Morning, and she used
to sing, Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be. That's an impersonal,
stoic philosophy. That is not predestination. In
philosophy, there are those who teach fatalism and those who
teach free will, those who teach absolute predestination and those
who teach free will. But that has nothing to do with
the scriptures. When one says, whatever will
be, will be, it is an attempt to remove from man all responsibility
for his actions and for his condition in life. Now, we do not for a
moment believe that man is the master of his destiny. We know
better than that. But we do believe, and the Word
of God clearly teaches, that every man is responsible for
his own soul and every man responsible for his own destiny. So that
though God Almighty has arranged from eternity all that comes
to pass, man's responsibility is altogether unaffected by it. You read in the word of God,
and God clearly sets it upon man's shoulders, what his condition
is, what his responsibility is, both in time and in eternity. So that those who suffer the
wrath of God in hell suffer the wrath of God justly, according
to their own deserts, by their own responsibility, and there
is no one to blame but themselves. Secondly, the word of God does
not teach that religious fatalism. which says God's elect will be
saved no matter what. When William Carey first expressed
desire to go preach the gospel to the heathen, there was one,
somebody has attributed it to John Gill, it was not John Gill
who said it, I've forgotten the gentleman's name, I can look
it up later, but there was another fellow who said, young man, if
God wants the heathen saved, he can save them without you
or me going to preach to them. And the teaching was, that fatalistic
religious notion, that somehow the elect will be saved no matter
what. We do not believe that to any
degree. We recognize the Bible doctrine
of election. God has from eternity chosen
a people unto salvation by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will. Yet it is impossible for anyone
to fairly and honestly read the scriptures and conclude that
if God chose someone, they're going to be saved no matter what.
That's adding to the Word of God. We don't dare do it. We
don't dare assume to add to what scripture says. God has not only
ordained the salvation of his elect, he has ordained the means
and method by which he will save his elect, and he will never
bypass the means to accomplish the end. There's no need. There's
just no need. Now, sometimes I make plans,
and I plan to do this by means of doing this, or I plan to go
to one place by route of another place, and I want to just stop
by this place or the other. But my plans have to be changed.
I may be wanting to get to a specific place or to a specific goal or
a specific end, and because of my weakness, my failure, my inability
to foresee difficulties, my inability to overcome difficulties, I have
to bypass this part of the plan or that in order to reach the
final end, not God. He has ordained the salvation
of his elect through the foolishness of preaching, by the hearing
of the word, by faith in Jesus Christ, by belief of the truth,
and he will never, never, never bypass the means to accomplish
the end, because there is not any means. I recognize somebody
says, well, you folks would, y'all would tie God's hands and
force God to act in a certain way. Not only would we not do
that, we could not do that. We've got better sense than that.
But we recognize God's revelation. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. People raise questions. They say, well, what if there's
somebody in this place or that who's chosen of God to salvation
and no preacher there? God takes care of that. That's
no problem to God, that's no difficulty to him. At the appointed
time when God would call the Ethiopian unit, he sees to it
that Philip and the unit are brought together, so that no
one will ever be saved, election notwithstanding, who does not
hear the gospel, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledge
and confess his sins, repent of his sins, and persevere in
the faith. God predestined the use of specific
means for the accomplishment of his purposes. And those means
he will never bypass. They are as necessary as the
end themselves. You mean, Pastor, it's as necessary
that a man preach the gospel in order for sinners to be saved
as it is that God choose them? Absolutely so, because God has
so ordained it. You see what I'm saying? Because
God has so ordained it. The word of God nowhere teaches
and nowhere implies that God has arbitrarily predestinated
some folks to go to heaven and some to go to hell. I want you
to look at a few passages of scripture with me. Turn to 1
Peter 2. The all-wise God never does anything
arbitrarily. You might say, God does arbitrarily.
You forget that. God didn't arbitrarily do anything.
He has a wise and good purpose for everything he does or allows
anyone else to do. Everything he has purposed from
eternity, he has purposed with infinite wisdom for a good reason. Without question, the everlasting
condemnation of the reprobate was as much a part of God's decree
as the salvation of his elect. People ask me, do you believe
God has as anything to do with predestination with regard to
men's eternal damnation? Well, of course we do. He has
predestined all things that come to pass. The Lord has made all
things for himself, yea, even the wicked, for the day of judgment.
Look here in 1 Peter 2, verse 8. Our Lord speaks here through
the Apostle Peter of Christ as being a stone of stumbling and
a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, look
at it, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." That's
the very same word translated, appointed, there, Rex, that's
translated, appointed, in 1 Thessalonians 5, where it says, God has not
appointed us to wrath. These fellows were appointed
to wrath. Look at verse 4 of Jude, the epistle of Jude, verse
4. Jude says, "...there were certain
men crept in unawares." who were before of old ordained to this
condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness
and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ." Now,
the Bible speaks plainly about these vessels of wrath fitted
to destruction. It speaks as plainly about those
vessels of wrath fitted to destruction as it does about the vessels
of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory. We read it in Romans
chapter 9. However, we must never fail to
recognize that God's predestination, while securing the salvation
of the elect, and by securing that they shall be saved, leaves
the responsibility for every sinner's damnation upon his own
shoulders. The elect, the vessels of mercy,
Paul tells us, are aforeprepared, that is, prepared by God's grace,
prepared by God's operations unto glory, whereas the reprobate,
the vessels of wrath, are fitted fitted by their own hands, fitted
by their own unbelief, fitted by their own sin unto destruction. So the salvation is always set
before us as that which God alone does, and God alone shall be
praised for. It is altogether God's fault
and altogether God's work. And damnation is set before us,
always set before us in Scripture, as being the result of man's
work and altogether man's fault. so that those who perish will
never lift their faces before God and say to God, I'm in hell
because of you. I'm in hell because you predestinated
me to be there. I'm suffering your wrath because
you would not be gracious. That shall never be said. Every
man will acknowledge God's sovereignty and his own guilt and his own
desperate, desperate wickedness under the wrath of God. Fourthly,
divine predestination. is not based upon God's foreknowledge. Many people, when they are confronted
with what the scriptures clearly say concerning predestination,
say, all right, we will believe in divine predestination, but
predestination is like this. knows everything. And since he
knew what men would do and knew what choices they would make
and knew what decisions they would make, then he predestinated
those who would believe to everlasting life in Christ. That would be
God taking credit for something he didn't do. Predestination
is not based upon God's foreknowledge of what men would do or of what
would come to pass in time. but rather his purpose and determination
of what he would do is predestination. Predestination is what God determined
he would do, not what God saw you would do. The fact is, nothing
would be absolutely foreknown, nothing could be absolutely pre-known
or observed with a pre-science, with a foreknowledge, absolutely
so, unless it had been predetermined to come to pass. You can't foreknow
that except that which is absolutely predestinated, so that that which
is foreknown must have been foreordained. God knew the end of all things
from the beginning because he predestined the end from the
beginning. That's exactly what he says in
Isaiah 14. This is the purpose that is purposed
upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched
out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed,
and who shall disavow it? His hand is stretched out, and
who shall turn it back? He says in Isaiah 46, verse 9,
remember the former things of old. For I am God, and there
is none else. I am God, and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure." What do you mean? He has declared
the end of the thing before the thing ever started, saying, I
will do my pleasure. so that when the whole of all
things is done, God's pleasure shall have been done in all things."
Now, those are just a few of the many erroneous things taught
about predestination. The Bible does not teach whatever
will be, will be. The Bible does not teach that
the elect will be saved no matter what. The Bible does not teach
that God has arbitrarily predestinated some to heaven and some to hell.
And the Bible does not teach that predestination is based
upon God's foreknowledge. Well, what does it teach? Let
me give you three or four statements, and I'll move through the scriptures
as quickly as I can in this regard. The second thing is this, eternal
predestination is God's sovereign work. We read in Romans 8 that
he also did predestinate. He, the Lord God Almighty, is
the cause of all things. The Apostle says, "...all things
are of God. For of him, through him, and
to him are all things, to whom be glory forever and ever." Specifically,
predestination is God's eternal purpose of grace toward his elect. It is God's determination to
save his people. It is his determination of the
everlasting destiny of chosen sinners before the world began.
I know that God's sovereign purpose and absolute decree includes
everything. I'm fully aware of that. God's
purpose included all people. all events, all circumstances,
all things that come to pass from the beginning of time to
the end of time. There's nothing that escapes
God's purpose in predestination. He's absolutely sovereign over
everything. Yet the object of predestination
is the salvation of chosen sinners. Now, I hope you can distinguish
between the two. We recognize that God predestinated
everything that comes to pass. But his object in predestinating
all that comes to pass is the salvation of his people. Divine
predestination is absolutely free, sovereign, and unconditional. This work of God was finished
before the world began. It was an immutable, unalterable
work of God's grace in Christ. And divine predestination is
his gracious purpose to save specific sinners, his purpose
of grace founded upon and arising from his everlasting love." Look
again at Romans 8. For whom he did foreknow, whom
he did love beforehand. I've told you many times, the
word foreknow arises from that word which is used in the scriptures
to speak of knowing with intimacy, with delight and complacency
by experience. It comes from that word that
is used in the Septuagint translation of Genesis 4-1, where Adam knew
his wife Eve. It's the very same word in its
root that's used when our Lord says to those on his left hand,
the wicked, depart from me, you cursed, I never knew you. It
doesn't mean I don't know anything about you. It means I didn't
know you like I know my sheep. Whom he did from eternity foreknow,
whom he loved with an everlasting love. He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son. In 2 Timothy 1, the
Lord God is described as that one who has saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Salvation, then, is accomplished
by the irresistible power of God's grace. according to his
sovereign purpose in his eternal decree through the merits of
Christ's shed blood and perfect righteousness as our substitute. It's not my will that saves me,
but God's will. It's not your will that saves
you, but God's will. It's not our decision in time
that makes the difference, but God's determination from eternity
that distinguishes us from all those who perish under the wrath
of God. So then it is not of him that
will it. nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
He has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and he has compassion
on whom he will have compassion, and whom he will, he hardeneth."
The Scriptures speak that with absolute clarity. Salvation is
accomplished by God's purpose. No one ever gets saved by chance
or by accident. Salvation is God's work. It is
God's deliberate work. It is a work accomplished by
God from eternity. The means or the method by which
he would accomplish this glorious work was devised and resolved
upon from eternity. In the everlasting covenant of
grace, he fixed the way of salvation in the sacrifice of his son and
by the call of his spirit, so that that song that Brother Moose
Park sings so well, that first began the scheme to rescue fallen
man, hail, matchless, free, eternal grace that gave my soul a hiding
place," is a song every believer ought to be able to sing. Indeed,
every believer can sing. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan. or the grace that brought it
down to man, or the mighty golf that God did span at Calvary. This is God's method of grace.
This is his plan. In eternal mercy, he determined
to save a people for the glory of his own great name through
the merits and sacrifice of his own dear son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. Why? Because God was determined
to set forth Jesus Christ to be a propitiation for sins through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past through the forbearance of God. And the
death of our Lord Jesus at Calvary certainly was no accident, it
was no afterthought with God. You folks who have been raised
under the gospel of God's grace and have for so long sat and
listened to it, may be altogether ignorant of
the teachings of many. When we were in college, our
professors taught us, both colleges I attended, regrettably, they
taught us that the Lord Jesus came into this world and he wanted
to be a king over in Palestine, and that was plan A. But God
had plan B. Just in case that didn't work
out, plan B was that God would allow the Jews to have his son
crucified and we would go through this thing called the Church
Age, which really wasn't counted on, but it was just sort of a
backup alternative plan. Listen carefully. God from eternity. ordained the sacrifice of his
son for the saving of his people, that his son might be king, not
on a peanut throne in Palestine, but on the throne of God himself
in human flesh, ruling over all the universe for the saving of
his people and the glory of his name. The death of our Lord Jesus
Christ was accomplished according to the Father's own purpose and
determinate counsel. The Lord Jesus Christ said in
Luke 22, "...truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined."
He goes to Jerusalem as it was determined. He goes to the cross
of shame as it was determined. He goes under the wrath of God
as it was determined. He goes down to the tomb dead
as a man as it was determined. He goes by the kiss of a betrayer's
lips as it was determined. But woe unto that man by whom
he is betrayed." So that Judas' betrayal of Christ was every
bit as much a part of God's purpose as was his own son's dying for
us, and yet Judas was totally responsible for his betrayal
of Christ. Our Lord Jesus Peter told the
Jews, was delivered by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of
God, and you have taken by wicked hands and crucified and slain
him. Herod and Pontius Pilate were
determined to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. So that Herod and Pontius Pilate,
pagan men, men who had no interest in God, no interest in his glory,
self-serving politicians. They did exactly what God from
eternity ordained must be done, and yet they did it with willing
hands, exactly according to the wickedness of their own hearts.
It was God Almighty who determined the time, place, and circumstances
of Christ's birth. It was God alone who determined
the time, the instrument by which His Son would be betrayed. It
was the Lord God the Father who determined the time, the place,
and the circumstances of His Son's execution by the hands
of wicked men. And it was God who determined
what the results of His Son's death would be. It pleased the
Lord to bruise Him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his sin,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. All of this the Lord God resolved
upon, and predestinated for the glory of his own great name in
the saving of his elect. Nevertheless, we are told, he
saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty
power to be known." Why has he done it? For his name's sake.
For the glory of his name. He chose to save sinners through
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, his own Son, by the power of
his free grace, for the glory of his name. And give us no credit
for it, give us no hand in it, give us no part in it, except
that which he himself has accomplished for us. Thirdly, whatever predestination
affords and brings to pass, Whatever it accomplishes, whatever predestination
does, it is for God's elect. So that Bobby asked us, whatever
God in eternity purposed to bring to pass, he purposed to bring
to pass not just for your salvation, but for mine, too. Everything
for the whole of God's elect. Read your Bibles again. Predestination
concerns the chosen. It secures their salvation. their preservation and their
glory. Predestination is much, much more than merely an abstract
theory of theology. I can think of nothing more practical,
more blessed and more glorious revealed in scripture than the
doctrine of divine predestination. Predestination doesn't keep anyone
out of heaven. Folks say, well, you look on
predestination and you declare this thing, it's a horrible thing
because it shuts heaven against men. Folks think of predestination
as some kind of a monster that stands before the gates of heaven
and says to multitudes of sinners, you can't come in, you can't
enter in, no matter how much you want to be safe, because
the door has been shut against you in predestination. Why, nothing
could be further from the truth. Any sinner who is lost at last,
any sinner who goes to hell, will do so as a result of deliberate
action on his part. If you go to hell, it will be
your fault. and you'll acknowledge it. That's
true of every sinner who perishes under the wrath of God. If you
refuse to walk in the light God's given you, that's your fault.
And when you're cast into hell, you'll acknowledge the justice
of God in casting you into hell. is always spoken of as being
a judicial act on the part of God Almighty responding to man's
sin in justice. It is always presented as a judicial
act. It is presented as God's act
in response to man's own depravity, guilt and sin. You say, well,
but wasn't it predestined from eternity? I've already shown
you that. But the responsibility is on the shoulders of the man
himself. So the judgment is an act of justice. It's not an arbitrary
thing. It's something God does in justice,
responding to man's sin. God sends blindness because men
and women choose not to see. God sends hardness of heart because
men and women harden their hearts against him. He sends people
to hell because they will not bow to his Son. Never does he
just arbitrarily say, I'm going to throw this fellow into hell.
Never does he just arbitrarily say, I'm going to send this fellow
to eternal damnation. Well, that's ridiculous. It's
never presented in Scripture that way. Our Lord Jesus speaks
to Jerusalem and says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest
the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how
often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a
hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not. And here is the result. Behold,
your house is left unto you desolate. The Apostle Paul writes to the
Thessalonians and says that the time will come when God will
cause men to believe a lie, he will send false prophets with
all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because
they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved." How come folks perish? Because they receive not the
love of the truth, that they might be saved. They hear it
and say, no. They hear it and say, I'll go this way. They hear
the truth of God and say, no, I'll take this instead. The apostle
says, for this cause, God shall send them a strong delusion that
they should believe a lie. That's exactly what you were
talking about back in the office back there. That's exactly it. Folks hear the gospel and say,
no. For them that knows of God, God says, all right, I'll give
you something you'll believe. And you'll go to hell believing
it. You'll go to hell believing it. Do you understand what I'm
telling you? If you go to hell, it'll be your
fault. You'll have no one to blame but yourself. But if anyone
is saved, it'll be God's fault, and God's fault alone. The result
of deliberate effort on God's part, we will have no one to
thank and no one to praise but God. And God's salvation, which
began in eternal predestination, is that which God will accomplish
in everlasting glory. Without predestination, we would
all be damned forever. Predestination is the guarantee
of the salvation of God's elect. God Almighty predestinated all
things for the everlasting salvation of his chosen and for the glory
of his name. In other words, all that comes
to pass in time was purposed by God in eternity, purposed
for our soul's everlasting good and for God's everlasting praise.
Look in Ephesians 1, verse 11 again. Ephesians 1, verse 11, "...in whom we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him,"
get it now, "...who worketh all things unto the counsel of his
own will." What will? That we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted in Christ. What will? that we should be accepted in
the will of what will? That we should be sons of God
forever in the everlasting glory of heaven. Fourthly, the object
of our God in predestination, the ultimate end, the thing he
has in mind, is our conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. The one thing God Almighty has
determined to accomplish in us by his purpose, his providence,
his power and his grace, is in exact likeness to his dear Son. That's what Romans 8.29 teaches
us. God predestined us to be conformed to the image of his
Son. Through the sin and fall of our
father Adam, we lost the image of God in which we were originally
created. We lost God's image and we lost
all claim to fellowship and communion and acceptance with God. But
God's purpose was not overthrown. God's purpose was not defeated.
Rather, Adam's sin was but God executing his purpose to make
us like his son, the last Adam, a second representative man in
whom we should stand accepted forever. God Almighty was determined
from the beginning to glorify himself in his creation by rescuing
a multitude of sinners which no man can number from Adam's
fall, restoring them to the image of Christ Jesus the Lord perfectly,
forever. And he did so through the work
of Christ alone. God looked on his Son from eternity,
and he said, I'm delighted with him. I'm pleased with him. My soul delights in him. I will
have a multitude of sons and daughters just like him. And
he predestinated us to the image of his Son, that we should be
holy and without blame before him. How does he conform us to
Christ's image? In regeneration. He causes us
to be begotten of God, just as Christ is the only begotten of
the Father, full of grace and truth. We are begotten of God
by his Spirit in regeneration. We are brought into the same
relationship with Jesus Christ, so that though he is the Son
of God by nature, we are the sons of God by adoption. We are
made to experience that which our Lord experienced. The Lord
Jesus learned obedience through the things which he suffered,
and so must we. He endured abuse from men, and
so must we. Our Master suffered the attacks
and temptations and assaults of Satan, and so must we. He
struggled against sin, resisting to the striving of blood against
sin, so must we. And we must be conformed to Christ
in his character, so that those who are born of God, being conformed
to Christ in nature, being regenerated, are consecrated to God. There
are men and women who love one another, are kind and gracious
and tender to one another. They live by God's word and they
seek the Father's will in all things. And at last we must be
conformed to the image of Christ in his glory. That's what salvation
is. That's what it is. We talk about
salvation. Salvation is not just getting
out of hell. It's that. Thank God it's that.
But it's indescribably more than that. Salvation is not just living
forever. It's that, but it's indescribably
more than that. Salvation is at last being exactly
as Christ is. Exactly as Christ is, holy and
without blame. holy and without blame before
God. That's what we want. That's what
we want. Far too often I fear that even
well-meaning men in preaching appeal to a man's carnal, fleshly
fears seeking to scare men into the arms of Christ rather than
appealing as we ought. If you would be
like Christ, if you would be without sin before God, if you
would be freed from guilt and freed from the consequence of
sin, come unto Christ. That's what salvation is. It's
to be conformed to him. Listen to me now. Salvation from
start to finish is accomplished by God according to his sovereign
purpose of grace in predestination. God predestinated from eternity
who will be saved, the means by which he would save them,
the time of their salvation. And he predestinated from eternity
all the events and circumstances necessary, all the events and
circumstances leading to it, all the events and circumstances
which inevitably must result in their salvation. It is beautifully
illustrated for us in many places in Scripture. Gomer could never have known She could
never have known Hosea's love. She could never have experienced
Hosea's love had she not gone where she went, walked in the
path she walked in, and experienced the hell she experienced by her
own hands. Couldn't have happened. And we
would never have known Jehovah's love had we been kept in innocence
in the Garden of Eden as the angels of heaven were kept from
sin. They can never know the love of God in Christ as we know
it. That's the reason they look and listen, want to hear what
St. Senator's got to say about redeeming
grace. Onesimus would never have turned
in repentance and faith to the Lord Jesus Christ had he not
been brought down to the prison house in Rome and near to execution. God predestined from eternity,
not only the time and the circumstances, he predestined the very place
where he would be gracious to his chosen. And he predestined
our place in everlasting glory round his throne. He predestinated
from eternity everything required to bring us safely home. Everything. I don't know what I'll meet tomorrow. I don't know what Satan will
throw in my path tomorrow. And I don't know what he'll throw
in your path. But I know this, if you're his, and if I'm his,
Whatever obstacle comes up, God has arranged from eternity everything
necessary to bring us safely into heavenly glory, and he'll
not fail. Finally, the ultimate end of
God and predestination, as in all other things, is the exaltation
and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has determined to glorify
himself in glorifying his all-glorious Son. He has predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will, that Jesus Christ, his Son, might
be the firstborn among many brethren, that Christ might get all the
praise and all the glory. Predestination gives Christ the
preeminence. It sets him forth as the head
of all things, and predestination gives the Lord Jesus pleasure.
His delights were with the sons of men from everlasting, and
now he has a race of men in whom he delights and shall forever
delight. And predestination gives Christ
the praise. God has arranged things so that
all the population of heaven will owe everything to Jesus
Christ. And everyone in glory land will
chant Emmanuel's praise, and Emmanuel's praise alone forever. For whom he did foreknow, then
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn, the firstborn among And those many brethren he will
have with him, because God's purpose of grace and predestination
shall not fail." Let's stand together, and we'll be dismissed
in prayer. Father, you pray for us, please.