I've entitled the message I would
like to bring this morning, Why I Love Sovereign Grace. I guess, before I go to the text
in Jeremiah 32 that I just read, I have to ask this question,
what is meant by sovereign grace? When I entitled the message,
Why I Love Sovereign Grace. What is meant by sovereign grace? You know the word sovereign is
not found in the Bible. So why would we use a word like that? Well, the word Trinity is not
found in the Bible either. But it's a word we quickly use
to describe who God is. And I love sovereign grace. First, what does sovereign mean
when we speak of sovereign grace? Sovereign means, by definition,
uninfluenced by outside forces. Nations claim to be sovereign
nations, uninfluenced by outside forces. Now, that is actually
impossible. To be, you'd have to have no
trade with anybody, you'd have to have no It's impossible to
be a sovereign nation. See, the fact of the matter is,
there can't be two sovereigns. There can't be two sovereign
nations. There's only one sovereign, God Himself. He is uninfluenced
by outside forces. He never responds. He never reacts. He never puts out fires. He is
absolutely, utterly sovereign in absolute control. You know when people speak of
man having a free will, If your will is free, that means it's
outside of God's sovereignty, doesn't it? All free will is,
is a denial that God is sovereign. That's all that means. If someone
wants to claim that man has a free will, that's the same thing as
saying we do not believe that God is absolutely sovereign. That God is sovereign. He's the eternal, supreme being,
omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, immutable, and sovereign. That's just who he is. You see,
he has a will. And he has the power to make
his will come to pass. And he always makes his will
come to pass. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
And there's none that can stay his hand or say unto him, what
doest thou? When we speak of God being sovereign,
we speak of God being God. This is just who he is. This
isn't a doctrine back and forth. This is who he is. Sovereign means uninfluenced. by outside forces. You know, the leper understood
the supremacy of God's will. He understood something about
God's sovereignty when he came into God's presence and he worshipped,
the scripture says. He fell down on his face before
the Lord and worshipped. And I love saying this. I love
thinking about it. You know, you'll only worship
a sovereign. You will worship a being that
you can manipulate. or that you can control or that
you can cause to react some certain way. You won't worship that being.
You'll only worship an absolute sovereign. And when the leper
came into the Lord's presence, he said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. Can you pray that? Do you know
that? Lord, if you will, there's nothing
I can do to change my situation. There's nothing I can do to get
you to respond to me. You're an absolute sovereign,
but if you will, you can make me clean. That's what I need
to be made clean. What is meant by the word grace?
Sovereign is uninfluenced by outside forces. Grace is God's favor. God's unmerited favor. Grace is God's action. Listen real carefully. Grace
is not God's intention. Grace is not an offer from God. It's his action. Turn with me
for a moment to Romans 9. Let me show you how it works.
It's not God offering anything. It's God doing. Once again, God's
grace is who he is. Verse 11. For the children. talking about
Jacob and Esau, twins out of the same womb, having the same
mommy and daddy, being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election,
God's choice, all election means is choosing. When it says God
chose us, means he elected us, same word. Not of works, but
of him that calleth it was said unto her, the elder shall serve
the younger. As it's written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. Who, what shall we say then?
Is there unrighteousness with God? Is God unfair? Is God showing
respect to persons? Is God showing favoritism in
loving Jacob and hating Esau? Is God unfair in this? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I'll have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. Oh, aren't you thankful for his
mercy and his compassion? He gives it to whom he will. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy
for the scriptures, saith unto Pharaoh. Now it was God who said
this to Pharaoh, but I love when the scripture says it, God says
it. It's a God speaking. Yet he says the scripture, saith
the Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up
that I might show my power in thee and that my name might be
declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy and whom he will, he heartens. Now, sovereign grace is the only
kind of grace there is. If it's not sovereign grace,
it's not grace at all. Sovereign grace is not God will
give you grace if you and then fill in the blank and you do
whatever it is you need to do in order to make it work for
you. That is salvation by works. If any aspect of salvation is
ultimately dependent upon you, that is salvation by works. That is a denial of grace. Sovereign grace is God acting. Sovereign grace is God electing. Sovereign grace is God redeeming. Sovereign grace is God saying,
they're justified. Sovereign grace is God calling. Sovereign grace is God giving
life. Sovereign grace is God preserving. Sovereign grace is God glorifying. Sovereign grace is God doing
everything. Do you love sovereign grace? Do you love sovereign grace? Let me give you four reasons
why I love Sovereign Grace before we go to our text. Number one,
because this is the truth. This is what the Bible teaches. And that's enough of a reason
for us to love Sovereign Grace, isn't it? This is the truth.
This is what God's Word actually teaches. And once again, I always
want to ask you, is what I'm preaching what the Bible actually
says? That's all I ask. I'm not asking
if you agree or disagree, whether you like what I'm saying or not.
But can you see that this is what the Bible actually teaches? This is the truth. And here's
the second reason why I love sovereign grace, because it glorifies
God as God. This is who God is. This is not a doctrine to be
batted back and forth and argued over. This is who God is. And
this glorifies God. It gives Him all the glory and
salvation. And we love it that way. We want
Him to have all the glory because He has all glory. We know none
goes to us. We love sovereign grace because it glorifies God
as God. Now here's the third reason I
love sovereign grace. And this might be my favorite
reason. Because this is the only kind
of grace that'll save me. This is the only kind of grace
that'll save me. Therefore, I love sovereign grace. And here's the fourth reason
I love sovereign grace, because that gives me hope that God will
save you. You see, grace saves. God's grace saves. By grace,
ye are saved. Now, what inspired this message
was I was reading in Jeremiah 32, if you'll turn back there.
Jeremiah is writing from prison. He'd been in prison for preaching
the gospel. And what really caught my attention,
first of all, was what was said in verse 23. And they came in, speaking of
the Jews, Jeremiah chapter 32 verse 33, and they came in and
possessed it, but they obeyed not thy voice, neither walked
they in thy law. They have done nothing of all
that thou commandest them to do. Therefore, thou has caused
all this evil to come upon them. Now, did you hear that? They
have done nothing, not one thing of all that you've commanded
them to do. Would that describe you? Would that describe me? They have done nothing of all
that thou has commanded them to do. Look down at verse 26.
Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah saying, Behold,
I am the Lord God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for
me? I love, don't you love that?
Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is his hand shortened that
it cannot save? There's nothing too hard for
him. He's God. Therefore, thus saith the Lord,
behold, I will give this city into the hands of the Chaldeans
and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall
take it. And the Chaldeans that fight against this city shall
come and set fire on this city and burn it with the houses upon
whose roofs they've offered incense unto Baal and poured out drink
offerings unto other gods to provoke me to anger. So the children
of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before
me from their youth. There we have the word again.
They have only, only done evil from the very first day. And
God saw, Genesis 6, 5, you hear this so often, hear it again.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, and
my marginal reading says in that imagination, that's including
the purposes and the desires. Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. Now would that describe you? Would that describe me? Verse 30, For the children of Israel have
only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith
the Lord. That's all they've done. Verse 31. For this city
hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury
from the day that they built it, even unto this day, that
I should remove it before my face because of all the evil
of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which
they have done to provoke me to anger they, their kings, their
princes, their priests, their prophets, and the men of Judah
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they have turned unto me
the back, not the face, though I taught them, rising up early
and teaching them. Yet they've not hearkened to
receive instruction, but they've set their abominations in the
house, which is called by my name to defile it. And they built
the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the sons
of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through
the fire unto Molech, which I commanded them not. Neither came it to
my mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to
sin. And now, Because now therefore, thus saith the Lord, the God
of Israel, concerning this city, wherever you say it should be
delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon by the sword
and by the famine and by the pestilence, behold, I will gather
them out of all countries, whether I've driven them in mine anger
and my fury and in my great wrath, and I will bring them again into
this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. Now, when we read of these people
he just described, there was no reason found in them as to
why he would do this. Is that good news? What if God
had to find a reason in you to do something for you? Would he
find any reason? He sure didn't in these people.
But the good news is God says, I will. You see, God is gracious. God delights in mercy. And God says, I will. This is why I love sovereign
grace, because nothing is too hard for the Lord. He says, I
will. And when he says, I will, you
shall. Verse 38, here's why I love Sovereign
Grace. He says regarding this people
who never did anything that he told them, he says, and they
shall be my people and I will be their God. These very people that I have
been describing shall be my people, the people of God. I will be
their God. Turn back to Jeremiah 31 for
just a moment. Look in verse 31. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I'll make a 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 bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break. Although I was a husband unto
them, saith the Lord, but this is the covenant that I'll make
with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I'll
put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts
and will be their God and they shall be my people. And they
shall teach no man, every man his neighbor. and every man his
brother saying the know the Lord for they shall all know me from
the least of them to the greatest of them sayeth the Lord for I
will forgive their iniquity and I'll remember their sins no more
you know that's quoted in Hebrews chapter 10. Now God says regarding
these people he says I'll be their God and that's not just
talking about in a general way, He's God, whether you're His
people or not, but He say, I'll be their God. That means they'll
be my special people. If God be for us, who can be
against us? I'll be their God and they shall
be my people. I'll make a difference for them. I love sovereign grace because
the only way I can be his people is if he makes me his people. That is why we love sovereign
grace. And look what it says next in
verse 39. And I will give them one heart. Jeremiah 32, 39. And I will give them one heart
and one way. that they may fear me forever
for the good of them and of their children after them, I will give
them one heart. Not I will offer them one, but
I will give them one. This is talking about that new
heart that He gives in regeneration. A new heart also will I give
you. Do you know that all of God's
people are in complete agreement for this one reason? God gives
them the same heart. A new heart. A heart given in
regeneration. See, this is the heart that believes
the gospel. If we're believers, we all believe the same thing.
There's no differences, there's no disagreement, there's no conflict
regarding how God saves sinners. We all believe the same thing. He says, I will give them one
heart and they will believe because of that one heart given. I love thinking about that. There's
no conflict with the people of God and how God saves sinners.
We all believe the same thing because we're given the same
heart. And look what he says next. He says in verse 39, I will give
them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for
the good of them and of their children after them. I'll give
them one way. Don't you love the fact that
the gospel is not multiple choice? Don't have to pick out something
as to what to believe. Well, this, no. One way. There's nothing even to be confused
about. There's nothing to choose. I
will give them one way. I think of Thomas' words to the
Lord when he said, Lord, we don't know the way. How can we know
the way? Jesus saith unto them, or to Thomas, I am the way. No man comes to the Father. but
by me. I am the way. He didn't say, I'll show you
the way. He said, I am the way. Let me
give you these scriptural descriptions of Christ being the way. He's
called, first of all, in Matthew 7, 13, the narrow way, the narrow
way, as opposed to the broad You know, broad is the way, the
Lord said, that leads to destruction. You know, there's all kinds of
routes to hell. You can go the route of licentious, wicked living. You can go the way of self-righteous,
strict Phariseeism. You can get there so many different
ways, but there's only one way to heaven, the narrow way. Christ is so narrow that he excludes
all other ways. And I've had people kind of imply
to me before, you make the gospel too narrow. I don't make it as
narrow as the Lord did. Do you believe that? The Lord called himself the narrow
way that excludes all other ways. Now I'd rather have a narrow
way that gets me all the way to heaven than a wide way that
everybody can get on that doesn't get me there. Narrow is the way that leads
to life and few there be that find it. But he's also called
in Matthew 21, 32, and several other times in scriptures, the
way of righteousness. There's only one way that you
or I can actually be righteous. And I mean righteous where God
sees me as righteous. And that's if the very righteousness
of Christ becomes my personal righteousness. And that's what
happens in the gospel. The reason he died, my sin became
his sin. That's why he died. And his perfect
righteousness becomes my righteousness. Thus he is the way of righteousness. If you and I are ever going to
be righteous before God, it will be because his righteousness
is given to us. And then he is called in Acts
16, 17, the way of salvation. Do you want to be saved? Well, if you do, you're going
to have to submit to this. He himself is salvation. He is the way of salvation. If you're brought into heaven,
if you're saved, it'll be simply by being in Him. He is salvation. And then in
Luke 179, he's called the way of peace. Now the only peace that you'll
ever have, or that I'll ever have, is the peace that He worked
out and achieved. The only way you'll have peace
with God is if He takes away your sin, and gives you His righteousness,
and makes it to where God is at peace with you, and He can
see nothing about you that would cause Him angst, or anger, or
fury. He's pleased with you through
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the way of peace. And then in 2 Peter chapter 2
verse 21, He's called the way of truth. Everything else is a lie. He is the truth. I love the way
he said, I am the way, I am the truth. I am the truth. Not I'll show you the truth,
not I'll teach you the truth. I myself am the truth. And he's called in Hebrews chapter
10, verse 20, the new and the living way. The word new means freshly slaughtered. You know it's so sad when you
see people no longer moved by the gospel. It's one of the saddest
things there is to look at people who are no longer moved by the
gospel. It's become old to them. It's
become boring. It's not what it was. They hear
it, and it's doctrine. It's doctrine to be argued over.
Old. But you know, the blood of Christ
is always new to the Father. It's always powerful. It's always
poignant. It's all, oh, it's fresh. The
blood of Christ is just as though it was slain just this moment. I can't even begin to think about
what the father must have felt as his son was slain. Yes, it
was his justice, but what about the pain? This is his son. We
can't understand this, but you think of how powerful and fresh
and always new that is. He's the new, always new, That's
why we always come in His presence. That's why we're always completing
Him. He's always new and He's always living. He's the living
way as opposed to the dead way of our works. He's the new and
He's the living way. And then in 1 Corinthians 12,
31, He's called the more excellent way. Oh, He is. indeed, the more excellent way. And in 1 Corinthians 10, 13,
he's called the way of escape. He's my only way of escape. And
then in Acts chapter 24, verse 14, Paul said, after the way
which they call heresy, he's the way they call heresy, isn't
he? People hear what we believe, well that's heretical. You don't
believe God loves everybody in Christ, well that's heresy after
the way which they call heresy. So worship I. Not just that's
what I believe, so worship I, the God of my fathers, believing
all things which are written in the law and the prophets concerning
him. Now this is the way of sovereign grace and how I love that way. You know, I love the fact that
we're not even given a choice. He said, I'll give them one heart.
They all believe the same thing. I'll give them one way, the way
of grace. And here's what will happen.
Let's look back in Jeremiah 32 verse 39. And I'll give them
one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for the good
of them and of their children after them. They'll fear me forever. The fear of God. The awe of God. The awe of everything concerning
him. The awe of God that makes me afraid of myself, that makes
me afraid of sin, that makes me afraid to look anywhere but
Christ. And you know someone who fears
God, their children benefit from that. Oh, how their children
benefit from the fear. He said, I'll put my fear in
their hearts that they shall not depart from me, and that
their children are after them, to do them good, and of their
children after them. Look in verse 40. He says, and I, now
this is why I love Sovereign Grace. He said, I will make an
everlasting covenant with them. Now this is what you could call
a unilateral covenant. Now we do covenants all the time.
I go into a store, they say, I'll give you this item if you
give me this much money. That's a covenant, that's a transaction.
I give $5, this is mine. But this is not a covenant of
I'll give you this if you do that. This is a covenant saying,
I will. I will make an everlasting covenant
with him. Now, of course, the first thing
I thought about was David's dying words. You can read about this
in 2 Samuel chapter 23. These be the dying words of David. He said, although my house be
not so with God, yet hath the Lord made an everlasting covenant
with me. Let's say you were going to die
today. You may. You may. You might go
out the road and a car plows you over and kills you this very
day. Let's say you were going to die today. What would be on
your mind? Now, these were David's dying
words. And there's a lot of things David could have been thinking
about. I'm sure that it wouldn't escape my mind. I'd be thinking
about that thing, the horrible things I've done. And David did
some really bad things. I mean, committed murder, adultery. He caused 70,000 people to be
killed because of his wicked numbering of the people without
the atonement money. I mean, we could go on and on with all
the bad things that David had done. But he doesn't mention
any of those things on his dying bed. There were a lot of good
things David did. David is the son of David. I mean, he's the one through
whom the Christ came. He's the one who killed Goliath. He became the greatest, most
powerful man in the world where the scripture says the fear of
David fell on every nation. Now when David's dying, he doesn't
mention any of those things either. He says, although my house be
not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant,
an eternal covenant. This covenant was made with me
before the foundation of the world. That's a glorious thing
to think about, isn't it? You know, the Lord said to Jeremiah,
before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. He didn't say, I
knew you would be born. He said, I knew you. The Lord's
always known me. It's a covenant that will never
end. He's made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things. He ordered my election. He said,
choose him. He ordered my redemption. He
said, redeem him. He ordered my justification.
He said, justify him. He ordered my regeneration. He said, give him life. Every
aspect of my salvation was ordered. Ordered by God himself. Ordered
in all things. Everything. And that's why it's
sure. Ordered in all things and sure. And you know what David, the
man after Rome, God's own heart said about that? He said, this
is how much of my salvation? Anybody know the rest of the
verse? All. This is all my salvation. And
this is all my desire. This is all I even desire. I
don't desire anything else. And I don't either. I love having
him being all my salvation and all my desire. though he makes
it not to grow. Ordered in all things and sure. Now let's go on reading verse
40. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do
them good. What would happen to you if the
Lord turned away from you? What would happen to me if the
Lord turned away from me? It'd be all over for me. If the
Lord left me to myself, if He simply removed His hand from
me and turned away from me, there would be no hope for me. But
He has promised, I will not turn away from them. to do them good. That's why I love Sovereign Grace.
He promised, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. He said concerning his sheep,
I give unto them eternal life. But what if they fill in the
blank? It doesn't matter. He said, I've given them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my Father's hand. My Father which gave them these
greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of my Father's
hand." Eternal life. He said, I won't turn away from
them to do them good. That's why I love sovereign grace. He says in verse 40, but I will
put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me. You know something that the Lord
does in this covenant of grace? He makes it to where you're afraid
of him and you're afraid to depart. That's a good fear. You're afraid
to depart. You don't have anywhere to go.
I love it when the Lord looked at his disciples after he watched
the 5,000 leaving. He said, you fellows also want
to go away? Peter said, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words
of eternal life. It's not like we have anywhere
else to go. We're not going to depart. By His grace, I'm not
departing. And it's only because He's put
His fear in my heart that I will not depart from Him. I love sovereign
grace, the things He does. He puts His fear in my heart
so He won't turn away from me and I won't turn away from Him.
You love sovereign grace? Look in verse 41. Yea, God says, I will rejoice
over them, to do them good. And I will plant in this land
assuredly with my whole heart, with my whole soul. I will rejoice
over them. Now if you can find Zephaniah,
I'd like to read this verse to you. The book of Zephaniah, it's
right before Haggai. It is right after Habakkuk, Zephaniah
chapter 3. I will rejoice over them. Can
you imagine the Lord looking at you and rejoicing over you?
Look at verse 14. Seeing, O daughter of Zion, shadow
Israel. Be glad and rejoice with all
the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy,
the King of Israel. Even the Lord is in the midst
of thee. Thou shalt not see evil anymore. In that day it shall
be said to Jerusalem, fear thou not. Then to Zion, let not thine
hand be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He
will joy over thee with singing. Child of God. Every child of
God. You give God pleasure. Looking at you, he rejoices. He sings. He's happy. Now the only way that can be
understood is in light of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Does
the Lord look at His Son and does it make Him sing? Does it
fill Him with joy? Does He rejoice over Him? Same
way He rejoices over you. And you know what the Lord does?
He does with His whole heart. Look back in our text in Jeremiah
32 verse 41, yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and
I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart
and with my whole soul. I love that language. Your Lord
doesn't do anything half-heartedly. He can't love more. He can't
love less. He can't give more. He can't
give less. Everything He does, He does with
the whole heart. That's why I love sovereign grace.
Now look in verse 42. For thus saith the Lord, like
as I've brought all this great evil upon this people, so will
I bring upon them all the good that I promised them. Now, here
is why I love sovereign grace. Every trouble I've had, I deserve
it just like they did. But I know it came from his hand.
He said, I brought this evil on him, I'll bring this good
on him. But he promises, I will bring this good on him. And I
couldn't help but think, when I was thinking about the title,
Why I Love Sovereign Grace, hail sovereign love that first began
the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place. Against the God who ruled
the sky, I fought with hands uplifted high, despised the mention
of His grace, secure without a hiding place. Enwrapped in
thick Egyptian night, fond of darkness more than light, madly
I ran the sinful race, secure without a hiding place. But thus the eternal counsel
ran. Almighty love, arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress
and found I had no hiding place. Indignant, justice stood in view. To Sinai's fiery mount I flew. But justice cried with frowning
face, this mountain is no hiding place. Ere long, a heavenly voice I
heard, and mercy's angel form appeared, and led me on with
gentle pace to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. On Him, eternal vengeance fell
that must have sunk a world to hell. He bore it for a chosen
race, and thus became their hiding place. Should storms of sevenfold
thunder roll and shake the earth from pole to pole, no flaming
bolt can daunt my face, for Jesus is my hiding place. A few more
rolling storms at most will land me safe. on heaven's ghost, there
I shall sing of sovereign grace. I love to sing of sovereign grace. To Jesus Christ, what a hiding
place. I love sovereign Let's pray.