Let's turn back to Romans chapter
4. Tonight, Lord willing, I'm going to be speaking on the Good
Samaritan from Luke chapter 10. But I have entitled the message
for this morning, Why Faith? Why faith? You can't read the
Bible without reading quite a bit about this thing of faith. Well,
why does salvation come through faith? And that question is answered
in verse 16 of our text. Therefore, it is a faith. Salvation
blessedness is a faith that it might be by grace. There's the answer. It's a faith
that it might be by grace to the end for this purpose, that
the promise might be sure. to all the seed. If it's not
through faith, the promise will not be sure. If it's not by grace,
the promise will not be sure. It will not work. Why faith? Now, let's see what brought Paul
to this statement in verse 16. Therefore, it is a faith. Oh
Lord, give me faith. whatever that means, give me
faith because salvation comes through faith. It is a faith
that it might be by grace. Now in verse nine, he says, cometh
this blessedness. What blessedness? That's one
of three times this word is used in the old, in the, in the scripture
blessedness. I love the way it sounds cometh
this blessedness. upon the circumcision only or
upon the uncircumcision also. Now, what is the blessedness
he's speaking of? Now, look back to verse five. We've looked at
this last several weeks. One of the most magnificent verses
in all of Holy Scripture. It certainly is to me. Verse
five, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, His faith is counted for righteousness. Now let's pause for a moment.
What's that mean? To him that worketh not. Works
are what you do. Anything you do, that's a work. And this person has been made
to see that in his case, there's no possibility whatsoever of
salvation by works. In his case, if there is any
condition at all that he must meet before he can be saved,
it's over for him. He will not be saved. He's learned what it means to
work not. That doesn't mean that he has
some kind of indifferent attitude about good works or seeking to
serve the Lord. What it means is this man knows
that in his case, If salvation is in any way conditioned upon,
contingent upon, predicated upon Him doing anything, fill in the
blank, whatever it may be. If salvation is dependent, ultimately
dependent upon Him doing anything, it's over for Him. He works not. To him that worketh not, but
believeth, On him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. He believes on him that actually
justifies the ungodly. That's something only God could
do, something only God would do, and something God did do. He justified. Look down in verse
25 of Romans chapter four, who was delivered for our offenses. That's a strong word to describe
our sin, our offenses, offenses, offenses, that which causes offense,
offense to God. He was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. Look in verse six. Now he goes
on to describe how this is, how God justifies the ungodly Romans
chapter four, verse six, even as David also described the blessedness
of the man under whom God imputed righteousness without works saying,
blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now, would you not agree that
this is the highest state of blessedness anybody could have?
For God to impute righteousness to you without you doing anything
to get it. Would you consider this the highest
state of blessedness? The word impute is found in Romans
chapter four, 11 times. It is also translated counted
or reckoned and imputed. And this is a biblical word found
in the old Testament and the new Testament. Here's what most people think
of when they think of God imputing righteousness in Just about every
church where the Bible is esteemed to be the word of God, they'll
look at this word. And here is the way men interpret
this word of imputing. God looks at you as righteous,
even though you're really not. God looks at you that way. I want to ask you a question.
Can God really do that? Can he look at you as righteous
when you're not? Well, if he can, there's not
a drop of justice in him. And such a God is not even worthy
of worship, but there is no God like that. That's a false concept
of God to think that he can look at you as righteous. Even when
you're not, if God imputes righteousness to you, It's because you are
in fact righteous. How can that be? That is the great mystery of
the gospel. How can that be? How can God be just and declare
me to be just because I really am just, even though in my personal
experience, I'm unjust. Look back in Romans chapter three. Here's how. Now we know that what things
so ever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty. subject to the judgment of God. Would to God there be some people
here just like that this morning, that stand, beginning right here,
with their mouth shut before God, guilty as charged. Therefore, verse 20, by the deeds
of the law, by works, there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. All God's law does is expose
sin, but I'm so thankful for the buts in scripture. This is
one of the most blessed words there is, but, but now. the righteousness of God without
the law, without me doing anything, without my personal obedience,
without my law keeping. Now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. This is what the scripture is
always taught. Even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ, his faithfulness, his law keeping unto all and
upon all them that believe. For there's no difference, for
we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified
freely. I love that word too. That means
without a cause in me. I didn't do anything to get it.
I didn't do anything to achieve it or to earn it. Something He
did. Being justified freely. by His grace, through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation,
a way for Him to be placated toward our sins. They're no more. Through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness. Not just His forgiveness or His
mercy, but His righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Now that's how God
justifies the ungodly. The Lord Jesus Christ bore my
ungodliness on the cross. He bore my sin in his own body
on the tree and his righteousness is mine so that I am every believer
is the very righteousness of God in him. That's the gospel. That's how God can be just and
justify the ungodly and what a state of blessedness this is.
Look in verse 7 of Romans chapter 4 chapter four saying, blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now is that blessedness or what?
To have God's righteousness counted to you. To have none of your
sins counted to you. To have all your sins forgiven
and covered in the very blood of the Lord Jesus Christ so that
the spotlight of God's holiness looks you over and says there's
no sin in him. Is that blessedness? My. There's no sin there. There's
no iniquity to impute. Listen to this scripture from
Numbers 22. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is
with him, and the shout of the king is among them. And that
shout of the king is, it is finished. That's what that shout is. It's
finished. That's the shout of the king.
And this is justificational. Aaron, you may remember this
from last week. We were talking about justification and forgiveness,
and Aaron Greenlee made this statement, and I love this. I
thought, I wish I would have said that. When you all say things to me
that are good like that, I wish I said it. He said this, listen
to this. Justification is better than
forgiveness. Forgiveness can be taken away.
Justification can't. guilt. Now that's blessedness
isn't it? That's blessedness to the nth degree. Now he says
in verse 9 of Romans chapter 4, cometh this blessedness then
upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also?
Is this just for the Jews or is it for the Gentiles as well?
For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. Now is this blessedness Is it
just for the Jews or is it for the Jews and the Gentiles? Now,
what is circumcision? Well, you know what it is. I'm
not going to try to give a description of it. Um, you know, it was the
physical mark that distinguished the Israelite from the rest of
the world. God told Abraham in Genesis 17, that it was a token
of the covenant. It was something physical that
represents something spiritual. You remember in Philippians chapter
three, verse three, when Paul said, we are the circumcision.
He's not talking about physical circumcision. We are the circumcision,
which worship God in the spirit. The only worship there is, is
in the spirit of God. And rejoice, glory in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is my salvation. He is my righteousness and we
have no confidence, absolutely no confidence in the flesh, not
my flesh, not your flesh. That's the truth. That's what
circumcision represents. It's a physical thing, the cutting
away and the new heart, a circumcised heart. It represents something
spiritual. Now he asked the question, how
was it then reckoned when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision. How was it reckoned and when
was it reckoned? Well, here's how it was reckoned.
It was reckoned to him when he hadn't been circumcised yet.
Righteousness was given to him before he knew anything about
circumcision. Hadn't even heard of it when
God had reckoned righteousness to him. You can read about that
in Genesis chapter 15. Circumcision had not yet been established. Now, the Jews had turned circumcision
into a work to be saved. They didn't understand what circumcision
meant. They thought, I need to go through this physical thing,
and if I do this, painful as it may be, yet that puts me into
the covenant, and that makes me a special child of God, and
I get all the benefits. They looked at it as a work,
and they didn't understand it as a seal of something that God
had done for them. How was it then reckoned, verse
10, when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision, not in
circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he, verse 11, received the
sign of circumcision, a seal. Something that shows the authenticity
of something, the realness, a seal of the righteousness of the faith,
which he had yet being uncircumcision, uncircumcised, that he might
be the father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised.
That righteousness might be imputed unto them also. Now this is the
great desire. I want his righteousness to be
imputed to me so that it is mine. And understand, I want to repeat. Righteousness imputed doesn't
mean God counts me as righteousness, even though I'm not. God imputes
righteous to me and it makes me righteous. righteous before
God. This is the great blessedness.
And he became verse 14, the father of circumcision to verse 12.
I mean, he became the father of circumcision to them who are
not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps
of that faith of our father, Abraham, which he had being yet
uncircumcised. Verse 13 for the promise that
he should be heir of the world. That's a big promise. Isn't it?
And that promises to you, too, if you're a believer. You are
an heir of the world. That's a glorious thought, isn't
it? You're an heir of the world. You're a joint heir with the
Lord Jesus Christ if you're a believer. Now, the promise that he should
be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through
the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Now, let me speak for
a few moments about the promise of God to Abraham. God promised
Abraham a son through Sarah. Do you remember that? He promised
him a son through Sarah. Now, Sarah had already gone through
menopause. How could a 100-year-old man
joining with a woman who had already gone through menopause
have children? It would have to be a miracle,
wouldn't It would be the miraculous work of God, but God made this
promise. And look in verse 17 of Romans
chapter four, as it is written, I have made thee a father of
many nations. He didn't say, I will make you
a father of many nations. Now, when he said this, Isaac
had not yet been born. And yet he says, I have made
thee a father of many nations. Now, turn with me for a moment
to Galatians chapter 4. This passage of scripture is
crucial for us to understand the difference between law and
grace. Therefore, it's of grace, a faith that it might be by grace.
Now, remember this promise that God made to Abraham. You're going
to have a child through Sarah. Paul says in verse 21 of Galatians
chapter 4, Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, Do you not
hear the law? Now this is so significant. He
doesn't start naming the same commandments at this time. The
thou shalt and the thou shalt not. Now that's the law, no doubt
about it. But that's not what he refers
to. What does he refer to? Tell me you that desire to be
under the law. Do you not hear the law? For it is written that
Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid and the other by
a free woman. Now you know the story. God made
promise to Abraham, you're gonna have a son through Sarah. Remember in Genesis chapter 18,
Sarah laughed about it, shall that be? And about me being old,
my Lord being old, shall that happen to me? The Lord said,
why did you laugh? And then right before the Lord, she said, I
didn't laugh. He said, you did, I saw you. That's amazing. But here, the promises made to
her, well, years later, it hadn't taken place. So she says to Abraham,
see this woman, Hagar, a young Egyptian woman, obviously the
Lord's promise is not happening with me. Obviously we need to
do our part or God's promise won't come to pass. So you go
into Hagar and you have a child. Now they had a child, Israel. There was nothing miraculous
about this birth. All you could call it was sinful.
If it would have been wrong now, it would have been wrong then.
It was wrong for him to go into Hagar the way he did. It was
adultery, but they did it. Somebody says, how did they do
stuff like that in the Old Testament? I don't know. But they did. And
it was wrong. And it was an act of unbelief.
It was a failure to believe God. It was a failure to wait on God.
It was an act of unbelief. And they had this child named
Ishmael. 14 years later, Sarah has Isaac,
a miraculous birth. Verse 23, but he who was of the
bond woman was born after the flesh. There wasn't anything
miraculous about it, but he of the free woman was by promise. There's one reason Sarah had
Isaac. God promised she would. That's all that's needed. That's
the supremacy of God's Word and His promise. If He promises something,
it becomes past tense before it takes place. Now, look what
Paul says about all this. Verse 24, which things are an
allegory. Now, everything in the Old Testament,
all these stories, every one of them are allegories. Would
you have known that this was an allegory if Paul didn't tell
you that? I wouldn't, I mean, I would just thought that's just
one of those kind of weird Old Testament stories, but everything
in the Old Testament is an allegory to teach us something of the
gospel. And what does he say? He says,
which things are an allegory for these are the two covenants. Now, two covenants. Here's one
covenant. God's promise will come to pass
if you, fill in the blank. It's a promise that's conditioned
upon you doing something. It'll fall to the ground if you
don't do your part. Now that is the first covenant. God will bless you if you It
doesn't matter what it is. And you know, that represents
the great majority of the preaching of our day. I mean, listen to
me. Here's what is preached by most
pulpits, maybe all pulpits, but most pulpits at any rate in Lexington,
Kentucky. God loves you. Christ died for you. God wants
to save you. God's made salvation available,
but you need to accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior.
What he did won't work for you. Now that is the first covenant. That's salvation by works. That's
all it is. There's no truth in that. There's
no gospel in that. That's a message of salvation
by works. Now, the second covenant is salvation
by God's promise. God promised it and it is. God promised Sarah would have
a boy and that's exactly what took place. covenant of works
and the covenant of grace. Now let me show you how this
second covenant is better. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
8. Hebrews chapter 8. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
but now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry By all, by
how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was
established upon better promises. What's better? God's unconditional
covenant. I'm going to do this for you,
period. Or I will do this if you do that. Which one's better?
I know which one's better for me. Verse 7, for if that first covenant,
salvation by works, had been thoughtless, then should no place
have been sought for the second. For finding thought with them,
he saith, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when 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 when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of the land of Egypt. Now, that was good, wasn't it?
He took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. But if all God has is your hand,
It won't do you any good. If God takes you by the hand
and yanks you here and yanks you there and yanks you there,
it's not doing you a bit of good. You might have got out from Egypt,
but you're in the wilderness. And here's why it was no good.
He says, they continued not in my covenant. They had to continue
and they didn't do it. And I regarded them not, saith
the Lord. For this is the covenant that I'll make with the house
of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws
in their mind and write them in their hearts. And beloved,
that's not talking about the 10 commandments. Everybody's
born with the 10 commandments written on their heart. That's
why people feel guilty. They know it's wrong. He's talking
about new heart. He's talking about faith. He's
talking about repentance. He's talking about the confession
of sin. He's talking about all the blessings
of grace that he puts in the heart. Not, I'll do this if you
do that. I'll do this and you will do
that. That's the best. I will, and you shall. Now let's
go on reading. For this is the covenant that
I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I
put my laws in their mind and write them in their hearts, and
I'll be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And
they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his
brother, saying, no, the Lord, you're... Here I need to teach
you who the Lord is. For all shall know me from the
least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness. I'll be propitious. I'll put
it away. And their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. I think this is, I don't know
how many times Rich Bird has asked me, how can that be so?
I know, you know, now I'm so I'm not good, but how in the
world could that be so? I mean, how can God forget something?
The only way he can forget it is if there's nothing there to
remember. And that's exactly what the Lord
did on the cross. I'll be propitious to their unrighteousness. Their sins, their iniquities.
I'll remember no more. It's not because he, he forgot. It's because there's nothing
there to remember. And that he saith the new covenant,
he's made the first old. Now that which is old and decays
and waxes old. is ready to vanish away. Now
back to Romans chapter four. For the promise that he should
be heir of the world, verse 13, was not to Abraham or to his
seed through the law, through some condition they had to meet,
but through the righteousness of faith. That's a mighty big
promise. You're going to be heir of the
world. It's not contingent upon you doing something. It's through
the righteousness of faith. Verse 14, for they which are
of the law be heirs. Faith is made void and the promise
made of none effect. If anything you do secures your
salvation, then faith is voided out and God's promise is meaningless
because verse 15, the law works wrath. That's all it does. For
where no law is, there's no transgression. The strength of sin is the law.
All God's law can do is pronounce wrath against us. Now, if there
were no law, there'd be no law or break. But where there's law,
all it can do is pronounce sentence against the lawbreaker. Now,
here's Paul's conclusion to all this. Therefore, it, this blessedness,
is a faith. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness." Now here's why it's a faith. That it might
be by grace. That's God's purpose. That it
might be by grace. To him that worketh not. This is a very sad thing to think. But all over this town this morning,
eternity bound sinners are hearing, here's what you need to do. Here's
what you need to do. Do this, do that. Here's what
you need to do. I pray that God will enable us
to preach the gospel more clearly than ever. not giving somebody
something to do, causing them to hear it's done. It's done. Now, salvation comes through
faith for this purpose, that it might be by grace. The Lord has made salvation entirely
by grace, the unmerited favor of God. Turn to Genesis chapter 6. Verse 5. Would to God that by His Spirit
He would bring this home to our hearts, to where we don't agree
with it as a point of doctrine, but see it as a description of
our own selves. And God saw, and listen, he's
the only one who can see. You and I can't see anything.
He sees very clearly. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil nonstop. Would that be you? I want us all to ask ourselves
that question. Would that be you? Only the grace of God can teach
somebody that that's them. You won't see it. You might even
agree with it as a point of doctrine. So I believe in total depravity.
I'm a five point Calvinist. I believe that. But do you see
this is true of you? The stuff going on in your heart,
the imaginations, he's not even talking about the works. It might
be you do some good works. You may give, you may help people,
you may be a friend, and that's all fine and dandy. I'm glad
you do. But I'm talking about what goes on in the heart. What
God sees when he sees what passes through your heart. Every imagination
of the thoughts of the heart is only evil continually. Now that's God's estimation of
the natural man. Verse eight of the same chapter. I've already alluded to this
word once, but... There's grace right there. But... Noah was in that group we just
read about in verse 5. Noah had that heart that was
only evil continually. Every imagination that passed
through his heart. Noah, God saw that the wickedness
of Noah was great. Noah was a sinful man. See, it's
just sinful as mere you. But here's the difference. But
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now, I'm only interested
in what takes place in the eyes of the Lord. You know, what men see doesn't
really matter much, does it? But what he sees. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord, but is a good word for grace,
but God. Let me show you that. Turn to
Ephesians 2. Paul says in verse one, and you
have he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. wherein
in times past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, just like everybody
else, but God. There's the difference. But God. who is rich in mercy for his
great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. Here's what all
this means. By grace are you saved. Now, every aspect of salvation
is by grace. And remember, God's grace is free. God's grace acts from itself
to itself. It doesn't respond to human merit
or human ability and human goodness. There's no response to grace
to that. And it doesn't stop because of human sinfulness,
inability and unworthiness. Salvation is by grace. Altogether
by grace. Now, the Bible teaches that God
elected who would be saved before time began. And it's called the
election of grace. And beloved election doesn't
shut anybody out of the kingdom of heaven. It really doesn't. It brings people in who would
have been damned. It does that, but it doesn't shut anybody out
of the kingdom of heaven. The only hope you have is that election
is free. That he chose you simply because
he is gracious and no other reason. Because if there's anything else,
all hope is gone. Elections of grace. The atonement of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You reckon He had to find something worthy in you
to cause Him to do that for you? No, it's of grace. It's because
He is gracious. His grace is irresistible. It
won't take no for an answer. You could resist it all you want,
but if He's going to have grace on you, He's going to give you
life. That's His grace. Grace actually, it works. It's
not an offer. Grace isn't something God offers
to you. You don't use grace. Grace uses
you. Grace does something for you.
If you persevere, there's only one reason. If you continue in
the faith, there's only one reason. It's because He, by His grace,
caused you to. You see, salvation's by grace.
Aren't you glad? It's a faith. Why? That it might
be by grace. I love the grace of God. I love
sovereign saving grace. It's the only kind of grace there
is. Somebody doesn't preach this
grace, doesn't preach grace at all. They preach works. This is saving
grace. It's a faith that it might be
by grace. Back to Romans 4. Therefore, it's a faith, verse
16, that it might be by grace to this end that the promise
might be sure. Now, if any part of salvation
is dependent upon you, is salvation sure? You know better than that. Nothing sure about anything with
us. But it's a faith that it might be by grace to the end
that the promise might be sure to all the seed Not to that only
which is of the law, but that which is the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of all. Only by salvation being by grace
is the promise sure to all the seed, the seed of Abraham, the
elect of God. You see, works do not work. Works do not work. No one can
be saved under the work system, but under grace, salvation is
a blessed sure. Here it is. Here it is, listen
to this scripture. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. John chapter six, verse 37. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Nothing unsure about that, is
there? Every one of them shall come to me. And he said, and
him that cometh to me, I will in no wise, for no reason whatsoever,
cast away. Not going to do it. Now I want
something that's sure. Don't you? Grace doesn't keep
anybody out. And you hear that. Sovereign
grace doesn't keep anybody away. If you come, you will be received. The Lord promises that. Him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Grace opens the door
of mercy wide for any sinner who needs it. Let not conscience
make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream. The only fitness
he requireth is to have a need of him. I got that! This, this
need he gives you. Tis the Spirit's rising beam. Now I want to close with this
scripture. Would you turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 23. That
the promise might be sure. It's a faith that it might be
by grace that the promise might be sure to all the seed. I'm interested in something that
is sure. Chapter 23, verse 1, now these
be the last words of David. David's on his dying bed. This
is the last thing he had to say. I love David. I love the Psalms. I love to read the Psalms. David
describes what goes on in my heart better than I can. I can
read a psalm and it just perfectly describes my emotions, my thoughts,
my feelings. And I could never express them
myself. Somebody said, how do you feel? Well, I don't know.
I don't even know how to express it. But David knows how to express
it for me. He's the sweet psalmist of Israel. Very special man,
a man after God's own heart. And he's dying. And he knows
he's died. Now, if you knew that you were
going to die tonight, you knew 6 p.m. you're going to die. What would you be thinking about?
What would be on your mind if you knew you were dying? David was dying. And I suppose
he could have thought about Bathsheba and Uriah and millions of other
sins he committed. He committed a lot of sins. Read
the Psalms, read his Psalms of penitence and confession. And
you know, he believed himself to be a very sinful man. He could have been thinking about
his sins. Or perhaps he could have been thinking about the
way the Lord used him to defeat Goliath. Who is this uncircumcised
Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?
And he came running at that giant with no fear, knowing God would
help him. And he slung that stone and it
went right through his forehead into his brain and killed him.
He could have remembered that. He could have remembered that
he was the one God called a man after my own heart. The Lord
seeth not as man seeth. Man sees the outward appearance,
but the Lord looketh upon the heart. He could have thought
of all the great victories the Lord had done through him. But
what does he say as he dies? Look down in verse five. Although my house Be not so with God. Now, I don't have any doubt that
he said this with grief. He was talking about his children.
His house was a mess. And the Lord told him after that
issue with Bathsheba and Uriah, the sword is never going to depart
from your house because of what you've done. And he had a lot
of trouble because of that. And I think he's also talking
about this house, my body. Although he's talking about his
own sin, although my house be not so with God, yet has he made
with me an everlasting covenant. one that had no beginning and
one that will never end an everlasting covenant look what he says next
he says it's ordered in all things and sure you see if god determined
my salvation my salvation already is it's Past tense. It's sure. It's ordered in all
things. You know, everything that's taken place in my life,
God ordered it. And it's sure. That's why the
promise is sure to all the seed, because God ordered it in all
things and made it sure. And look what David says. And
this is the man after God's own heart speaking. He says for this,
this everlasting covenant ordered in all things ensure is how much
of my salvation? It's all of it. Can you say that
with David? Are these your words? Would these
be your last words? Your only hope. If you knew you're
going to die tonight, is this where you'd be? Would you be
there with David? This is all my salvation. But not only is it all my salvation,
it's all my desire. It's the only thing I want. I do not want anything else.
I want all of my salvation to be in that everlasting covenant
He made with me, ordered in all things and sure. I do not want
anything else, though He make it not to grow. Salvation is not by works, it's
through faith. It's believing on Him that justifies
the ungodly. And the reason it's that way
is that it might be by grace. The only way salvation could
be by grace is if it's through faith. And that is what makes
the promise sure to all the seed. Let's pray.