I want to attempt to preach upon
this subject, God's absolute sovereignty and the responsibility
of men. Now, this subject must be understood. Well, really, we don't understand
it, but it must be believed. I need to, if I don't understand
responsibility, man's responsibility, in reality, I don't understand
sovereignty either. And if I don't understand God's sovereignty,
in reality, I don't understand man's responsibility. Both of
these things go together, and they're both taught in this passage
in Isaiah 65 that I just read. But do you know that the Apostle
Paul quotes this in Romans chapter 10? Would you turn with me there
for a moment? Romans chapter 10. He says in verse 20, and he's
quoting this passage we just read, and I think it's interesting
his comment upon this passage of scripture. He says, but Isaiah
is very bold. He found this statement that
Isaiah made in this passage we just read in Isaiah 65 is a very
bold, a very clear, a very pointed statement. Isaiah is very bold
and saith, I was found of them. that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them
that weren't even asking for me. They weren't seeking me.
They didn't care. They were happy for things to be as they were.
They didn't care whether they knew me or not. They certainly
were not seeking me. And yet, I was found by them
who didn't even care. Now, that's what the Lord is
saying. I was found in them that could care less. Verse 21, To
Israel he saith, All day long have I stretched forth my hands
unto a disobedient and a gainsaying people. Now the people described
in verse 20 are the Gentiles that God saved. The people that
are described in verse 21 are the Jews who had rejected the
gospel. I've got to say that I love this.
He saved people who weren't seeking Him. He saved people who would have
been totally happy if He would have never sought them. They
didn't even ask for Him, and He saved them anyway. Now this
is what is called sovereign grace. He doesn't have to find a reason
in me or you to save us. Sovereign grace. I love it. Sovereign grace. God saves whoever
he is pleased to save, and he does not need our approval on
anything he does. He saves who he's pleased to
save. Now, while we're there in Romans 10, go back to a very
familiar passage of Scripture in Romans chapter 9. Verse 10. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by her father Isaac, for the
children, talking about Jacob and Esau, being not yet born. Now notice the strength of this
language. God choosing one, passing by
the other for the children, being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil. They didn't have any good works
to commend them. They didn't have any bad works to negate
them. That the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand. 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. And that's God's word. What should
we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is God unfair for loving Jacob and hating Esau? Saving
Jacob and passing by Esau? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Now here's sovereign
grace. And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto
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 have he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardens." Now you
remember Pharaoh. Scripture says God hardened his
heart. He raised him up to harden his heart to show his power and
his glory in this man. And that man was damned. Now, whatever God does is right.
I'm not going to apologize for what God does. He says, I raised
this man up for my own glory. Now, let's go on reading verse
18. Therefore, have mercy on whom
he will have mercy and whom he will. He hardens without saying
to me, well, why does he yet find fault for who has resisted
his will? Now, what Paul is saying is, is how can he hold me responsible
if everything's already determined and ordained? If he's determined
whether or not he's going to harden my heart or whether or
not he's going to save me, how can he hold me responsible if
he's already determined that? And I tell you what, I've asked
myself that question a lot too. I understand these questions
so well because they're my objections. How could it be fair for him
to do that? And I love Paul's answer. Nay, but O man, who are
you to reply against God since when do you have the moral authority
to set judgment on God? You're going to sit there and
judge what he does is whether you think it's fair or whether
you think it's not fair. He says you're totally unable to do that. Who are you, old man, to sit
in judgment on God and say, well, I agree with this and I don't
agree with that. He's going to do according to his will, whether
you like it or not, and whatever he does is right. That's what
he's saying. Shall the thing form, say to him that formed
it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power authority
over the clay of the same lump? To make one vessel unto honor,
and another unto dishonor. What if God willing to show his
wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering,
the vessels of wrath, fitting to destruction? When he's saying
what if, he's saying, what are you going to do about it? What
are you going to do about it? Are you going to object? Well,
what good's that going to do? That he might make known, verse,
here's what he does, verse 23, the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy, which he had afforded, prepared unto glory.
Now, there is no doubt that the Bible teaches what is called
sovereign grace. God saves whoever he's pleased
to save. And you know what came to my
mind while I was thinking about this? I thought about Pilate
and Paul. Pilate and Paul. Ask Paul what he thinks of Christ
before God saved him. You know what he'd say? I hate
him. He's an imposter. He's a deceiver. And Paul felt it to be his moral
obligation to God to kill people, to imprison people who believed
on Christ. That's how much he despised the
Lord Jesus Christ. If you would have said, Paul,
do you think you'll ever believe on Christ? He would have said,
never. There's no way I'll ever believe on that imposter. He
hated. the Lord Jesus Christ with an
uncalling hatred. Now, you know that of his experience
before his conversion. He wasn't looking for the Lord. He was on his way to kill some
believers and to have him in prison when the Lord arrested
him on the road to Damascus. He had no desire for the Lord
Jesus Christ. He hated him. Now, let's talk about Pilate
for a little bit. I don't know whether you all
have ever felt this way, but you know, I've read about Pilate
and I've almost felt sorry for him. He had a certain fear of
Christ. He had a certain respect for
him. He tried to talk him into not
crucifying him. He wanted him released. The Scripture
says he actually marveled at the Lord Jesus Christ. He was
impressed with the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's things in
Pilate that you almost find are hopeful. You know, his attitude
toward the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know about you, but when
I read about Pilate, I've almost felt sorry for him. He's such
a weak man, and I can identify with that. A weak man controlled
by the fear of men and controlled by what other people think, so
he just gives in. Which of you have not done that
before? I look at Pilate, and I see in him more interest in
Christ than I see in Paul. Paul hated him. Now, which made
the God save? He saved Paul. That wicked man,
that evil man, the worst man to ever live, by his own confession,
the chief of sinners, he saved Paul, and he passed by Pilate. Now, if I was doing the saving,
I probably would have saved Pilate, and I said, Paul, send him to
hell. That's the way I would have thought. You know, we read
the passage of Scripture in the back when Rich was reading. You
see your calling, brethren. This is God's way, His sovereign
way, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things
of the world to confound the things that are mighty and the
base things of the world, yea, and the things which are not,
the things which are despised to bring to naught the things
that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. God is
absolutely sovereign. He saves whom He is pleased to
save. And that's just the truth. It's
just the truth. I saved people who didn't have
a desire for me. You couldn't squeeze it out of
their heart. I was made known to people who had no desire to
know me. I manifested myself to them. And don't you know that
the reason you're saved right now is because of that? Don't
you know that's the case? What would happen to you if the
Lord would have left you to yourself? Would you have ever believed? Would
you have ever come to know you would have been perfectly happy
to remain where you were at without ever calling upon his name without
ever seeing any beauty in his person. And that is the fact
of the matter. And yet God says concerning these
Jews. He said, I have. Stretched forth my hands all
day long to these people. What patience he shows all day
long have I stretched out my hands to these people. He's saying
I will save them. Now this sovereign God who elected
some and passed by others also said I will save them if they
come to me. I've stretched forth my hands
to them. Whosoever will. Whosoever will. Let him come
and take the water of life freely. Now, that's God's Word. And somebody
says, well, if He never intended to save them, how can He do that?
Is He sincere in doing it? Yes. Do I understand that? No.
No. You know, regarding the truth,
just believe what the Bible says. You don't have to have it all
together and figure it out. Logical. We don't have the ability
to do that. Yes, God sincerely calls upon
these people. You come to me and you'll be
saved. Now, how all that's true, how
they're both true, I really don't understand. But you know, that
doesn't even bother me. It doesn't bother me if I could under if
I could grasp everything. It wouldn't be much to it when
it comes. This is all inspiring. This is
glorious and we just believe what the word of God says. Now,
what is taught here is human responsibility. If a man is not
saved, if anybody in this room. You people who are listening,
I'm talking to myself, I'm talking to you. If a man or woman is
not saved. They can't blame God. The Lord
is willing to save anybody who will come to Him for mercy. And
if you or I are not saved, it is not we can't blame God. Well,
God didn't elect me and Christ didn't die for me. That's the
reason I'm not saved. We can't blame God. Anybody who comes for mercy.
He'll give them mercy. Now, that ought to encourage
everybody in here rather than thinking, well, how are they
both true? I don't know how they're both true, but they are. But
this is an encouragement. If you call on the name of the
Lord, if you ask for mercy, if you come to the feet of Christ,
he'll receive you. This man receives sinners. I don't care who you are. I don't
care what your background is. I don't care what you think of
yourself. If you come to the Lord Jesus Christ as a sinner
needing his mercy, he will receive you. completely. That's a promise. Him that cometh to me, he said,
I will in no wise for no reason cast out. And if I'm not saved,
it's because I willfully rejected the only remedy. If I here come
to Christ, you'll be saved and I don't come. Whose fault is
it? Whose fault is it? Now, what I want us to do first
is look at this description of the people that God stretched
out his hands to say, come to me. Look back in our text in
Isaiah 65. In verse two, he said, I spread
out my hands and the illusion is come to me holding holding
his hands out, if you come to me, you'll be embraced, you'll
be received. Come to me. He said, I spread out my hands
all the day unto a rebellious people. Here's this description
of these people he so patiently holds his hands out to. I've
spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which
walketh in a way that was not good after their own thoughts.
Now, would this describe anybody here? Have you walked in a way
that was not good, walking after your own thoughts rather than
what God reveals in his word? He says in verse three, a people
that provoketh me to anger continually to my face, nonstop because of
their sin. And yet I hold my hands out and
say, if you come, you'll be saved. Now, all of us have a limit,
don't we? All of us do. We have a limit where we'll we'll
go so far and then it's over. Yet the Lord says, not me. All the day long have I stretched
out my hands to this disobedient and gainsafe people, people that
provoke me to anger continually to my face. that sacrificeth
in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick. Now the
Lord had commanded the children of Israel. No tool is to touch
your altar. It was just to be stoned if you
put a tool to it, which represents man's works and man's modifications.
It's no good. It's wrong. God told them this,
but they didn't pay any attention to what God said. They still
continued just that, to put their tools to the altars, to burn
incense upon altars of bricks and sacrifices in gardens where
God didn't command them to. Look in verse four. He goes on
to describe these people. He says, which remain among the
graves. Now, these people and lodging
in the monuments or the tombstones, these people were actually having,
is it called seances? Where you try to, there's a neo-chromatography,
I can't remember the word. I read it somewhere, but they
were trying to have communion with dead spirits and trying
to get information from dead people rather than praying to
the Lord. They were actually practicing
witchcraft and so on, seances with the dead. How wicked. And
yet, God says, even after they've done that all day long, have
I held out my hands toward these people? What mercy, what long
suffering there is in God's part. He says, if you come, I don't
care if you're guilty of these things, you'll be saved. Look
what he he says. They eat swine's flesh and broth
of abominable things is in their vessel. Every unclean thing that
God forbid them to eat, they ate anyway. It's just the word
of God was not important to these people. And look at the self-righteousness
of these people. Verse five. We'd stand, we'd
say, stand by thyself and come not near to me, for I am holier
than thou. You know, that's the only time
the word holier is ever found. Holier, you know, there's people
that I'm holier. This is where holier than thou
came from. I'm holier than thou. Now, listen, you're either holy
or you're not. They're not degrees of holiness. These people obviously
thought they were. Oh, I'm holier than you. Don't come near me.
You'll defile me. I'm holier than thou. And this
is what is so offensive about these people. As wicked as they
were, they were still self-righteous. You know, self-righteousness
is so self-deceptive. These people had no righteousness
at all, yet look what they say. Stand by, stand away from me.
I'm holier than thou. What an offensive way to be.
And look what God says concerning these people. He says, these
are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day. That's
how I respond to this holier-than-thou attitude. I find it utterly offensive.
He says in verse six, Behold, it's written before me, I'll
not keep silence, but recompense, even recompense unto their bosom.
Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith
the Lord, with their burned incense upon the mountains and blasphemy
upon the hills, and therefore will I measure their former work
in their bosom. Now, we have this horrible description
of these people, and yet the Lord spreads out his hands all
the day. I don't care how far you've gone.
I don't care how far away you are right now, how far away you
perceive yourself to be. If you call on the name of the
Lord. You'll be saved. He will receive you if you come
pleading nothing but Christ. You'll be received. Now, if you
don't plead Christ, whose fault is it? He's telling you, I'm
holding my hands out. If you come, you will be received. If you come, you'll be saved.
If you seek, you'll find. If you knock, it will be open
to you. If you ask, you'll receive. Now,
we have these promises from the word of God. What this is a reference
to is human responsibility. human responsibility. Now, I
want to tell you three very important things regarding human responsibility. First. You and I have never confessed
our sin before God, not even once. Unless we confess that
our sin is all our fault. As long as I can blame God's
sovereignty, it's not really God's fault. It's not really
my fault, it's God's fault. As long as I can blame the way
I was raised and all the things that have happened to me, and
I'm not saying those things don't have a bearing on people, they
do. But as long as I'm blaming somebody else, I've never really
confessed my sin. I confess my sin before God when
it's all my fault. No excuses, no extenuating circumstances,
it's all my fault. Next thing I'd like to say regarding
this, unless your sin's all your fault,
you've never once asked for mercy. You might have used the word
mercy, but you never really asked for mercy unless it was all your
fault. You see, if it's not all your
fault, you're saying God owes you something. He needs to respond
to this because this happened or that happened, therefore,
he should. But only when I confess that my sin, my personal sin
is all my fault, Only then, when I'm in that place where it is
all my fault, then I'm going to ask for mercy. I don't have
anything else to ask for if it's all my fault. Have mercy on me. And that only comes when it's
all my fault. It's only, thirdly, it's only
as you and I see our responsibility that we will see sovereign grace
as our only hope. You see, responsibility and sovereignty
do not contradict each other. They go together. They are friends. They're not contradictory. They're
not enemies. They're not at odds. They are
friends. And this thing of responsibility,
I tell you what, there's something almost relieving when you when
you let go of all the things that you're blaming your sin
for and you confess your sin before God, you stand as a guilty
sinner before him, then you cry for mercy. Oh, there's something
sweet about that. There's something wonderful when
it's all your fault. Quit holding on to things. Let go and confess
your sin before God. It's all my fault. I need your
mercy. I need you to do something for
me. I need your grace. Well, let's look at these people
he did save in Isaiah, verse 1, chapter 65. He says, I'm sort of them that
weren't even asking for me. I am found of them. That we're
not seeking me, I said, behold me. Behold me unto a nation that
was not even called by my name. Now, these people didn't even
ask to know me. These are the people God saved.
And you can testify to this as being true concerning you. These
people didn't even ask to know me, no desire for me. They didn't
seek me. They didn't see me. They could see no glory in me.
They knew nothing of being called by my name. They had no understanding
and they were satisfied with things just the way they are.
And I saved them. Aren't you thankful that the
Lord didn't have to find a reason in you to save you? He didn't have to look for one
thing in you to save you. He says, I cause them to seek
Me. I cause them to ask after Me. I cause them to find Me.
I cause them to behold Me. I cause them to see that My name
is salvation. I love Psalm 65 where it says,
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest. And anybody know the
next word? Causest. To approach unto thee. Don't you want to be caused by
God to do things? I do. I want the Lord to cause
me to come to His side, to cause me to believe on Him, to cause
me to seek Him, to cause me to find Him. That's what He does.
He causes. Thank God He causes His people
to do this. When the Lord saves somebody,
He causes them to seek Him. I think of what David said in
Psalm 27, verse 8. When the Lord said, Seek ye my
face, my heart said, Thy face, O Lord, will I seek. He causes us to seek His face.
Let me say this. When you seek the Lord's face,
that means you seek Him above everything else. There's nothing
that can be compared with the importance of knowing Him and
being found in Him and having His presence. I seek His face
when that takes precedence over everything. I mean, whatever
it is, it can wait. It can wait. It can be put on
the back burner. It's not that important. This is what is important
to know Him, to seek Him. Now, He causes some people to
seek Him. That's what He does when He saves
them. And when the Lord saves somebody, He causes them to find
Him. Notice He says, I was found of
them. I was found of them that sought
Me not. That means they come to actually
believe the Gospel. When the Gospel is believed,
When you really believe that Christ is your salvation, when
you really believe that His righteousness is your righteousness before
God, when you really believe that His shed blood is a sufficient
sin payment, it pays for all your sins and you don't need
anything else, when you really believe that, when that message
comes home to you, you know what? You don't look for anything else.
You found a gospel that will save you. and you're satisfied. I am satisfied to be saved wholly
by Christ. I am satisfied to be brought
into heaven on the coattails of King Jesus. I'm satisfied.
I'm not looking for anything else. Well, I don't understand that,
somebody may think. Well, then you haven't found yet. If you
ever find, you'll know. You'll understand this. You'll
be satisfied. You know those wise men that
came looking for the Lord, following that star? They looked for it.
They were seeking him. But that wasn't a lifelong search,
was it? There was a time when that star stopped right over
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when they found him,
that search was over. I am found of them that sought
me. You know what happens when somebody
finds the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, the idea of seeking It seems
like there's a movement, but when you find him, you stop. You rest. You rest. What do you do when
you rest? Nothing. You rest in the Lord
Jesus Christ, they would you believe the writer to the Hebrews
tells us have entered into rest for he that's. I'm not going
to turn Hebrews four, we need to read that. I usually quote
that when it's not coming to me, Hebrews four. Verse nine, there remain, therefore,
a rest. A Sabbath of rest, what do you
do on the Sabbath day? Nothing, no works. There remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered
into his rest, he also hath ceased. Write it down. He ceased from
his own works. See, he's found something that
he's satisfied with. It's caused him to stop working. He ceased from his own works
as God did from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. When you believe that Jesus Christ
the Lord is all in salvation. And I mean all. When you can sing like we sang
a few minutes ago, all that thrills my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me. and the fairest of ten thousand
in my blessed Lord, I see. He is all. Everything that God
requires of me, everything, let me say this as strongly as I
know how to say it, everything that God requires of me, He looks
to His Son for. And when you believe that, you
don't look for anything else, do you? You find satisfaction,
you find joy, you find peace in that message. You've found
him. Yes, we continue to seek him
all of our life, but there's something to finding him. And look at our text. He says
in verse one of Isaiah 65, I'm sought of them that ask not for
me. I'm found of them that sought me not. I said. Behold me, and
this is what God says. When somebody finds him, here
is how they find him. God says to this person, behold
me. Behold. Me. And to a nation that was
not called by my name. Here's how somebody actually
finds him, they find him by beholding him, the Lord is saying right
now. Behold. Wouldn't it be something
if the Lord would enable us right now to actually behold Him? Now,
we can't see Him physically. There's no way I can behold Him
physically. He's spirit. I can't behold the
Lord Jesus Christ physically because He's in heaven, seated
at the right hand of the Father. But that doesn't mean I can't
behold Him by faith. I behold Him in all of His most excellent
attributes. We behold Him. Well, on the very
surface of this text, We behold him in a saving purpose. Now,
obviously, if the Lord didn't do something for these people
described in verse one, would they have ever been saved? No
way. I mean, they were satisfied with
things the way they are, but he purposed to save them. He
said to these people, behold me, behold me. And when he says
to you, behold, you'll behold. But if he would have left these
people to themselves, what would have happened to them? They would
have never been saved. Behold Him in a saving purpose.
Do you know the Lord delights in mercy? Judgment is a strange work. God
delights in mercy. He has a saving purpose. And
a lot of times when people hear about the sovereignty of God
and salvation, they think, well, what if I'm not one of them? Well,
that's not the way to look at it. What if you are? What if you are? I mean, why look at it that way? You know, what if you are? He delights in mercy. Are you
a candidate for mercy? Are you somebody that needs mercy?
He delights in bestowing mercy upon sinners. The scripture actually
says he delights in mercy. We never read anywhere where
he delights to send somebody to hell. He does. But it doesn't
say delights in it. But he delights in showing mercy
to sinners for Christ's sake. He said, behold me. You behold
him on the cross. Behold. When he's saying behold
me, I mean, you think the principal thing he's talking about is the
cross. You behold him on the cross. I behold Him in His holiness
and in His justice. Is He really going to punish
sin? Does God really hate sin? Is He going to not have anything
to do with sin? Well, you find that out on the cross, don't you? Behold
Me. I'm glad He's that way. Are you?
I'm glad He's absolutely just. You can count on this. He is
just. Behold me in my justice, he says. Behold me in my wisdom. And here's
something that just absolutely rejoices my heart when I see
the wisdom of God and how He has made a way to remain consistent
with His justice and honor His law and punish all sin and yet
take somebody as sinful and helpless as me and embrace me and make
me His own dear child. What wisdom that God has found
a way to be just and yet justify him that believeth in Jesus.
Oh, that's wonderful. Behold him in his wisdom. Behold
him in his sovereignty. You know what he says to you
and I? If I will, I can. You know, nothing
can be impossible with God. And suddenly, if God isn't something
to discourage us, it's something to encourage us. He can do anything
for you. There's nothing that restrains
Him. He can save you. He can pick you up out of the
dung. He'll make you just like the Lord Jesus Christ, if He's
pleased to do it. I'm glad God's sovereign. He
can say to me, Live! And I live. Behold Him in His
sovereignty. Behold Him in His love and grace. Does God really love sinners? Does He? You behold that form
of that One on the Cross and that answers that question. God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever
believeth on Him should not perish but have eternal life. Behold Him in His power. He has
power to Give life to dead sinners. He has power to give them a new
heart to believe. And here's where this encourages
me. Is faith out of your reach? Ask Him to give it to you. He will. Is repentance out of
your reach? Come to Him for repentance. He'll
give it to you. Is a heart that loves Him out
of your reach? It's not something you can work
out. Ask Him to give you a new heart.
Cry out with David of old, create in me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a right spirit within me. You come to Christ for these
things. You don't come to Christ with
them. You can't come up with them. You come to Christ for these
things. Behold Him in His power. He has
the power to make you just like Christ. He has the power to make
you believe. He has the power to make you
repent. He has the power to make you persevere. You come to Him
for these things. This is what His Word to us is.
Behold Me. Behold Me. Oh, would to God that
we would behold Him as He reveals Himself in His Word. Behold Me. Look unto Me and be ye saved
all the ends of the earth. For I am God and beside Me there
is none else. Behold the Lord. You know, that's
the saving look. Just beholding it. That's all
he tells us to do. Behold, when you look at me,
you look, you'll be lightened without any question about it.
Now, in this passage of Scripture, we have both of these glorious,
rock solid truths. God's absolute sovereignty in
salvation. If you or I are saved, it's because
He saved us. He did it all. He did it all
as an act of his own will. If he would have left us to ourselves,
we would have wound up in hell. God's absolute sovereignty and
salvation. And I love this. I don't apologize
for it. It kills me when preachers start
kind of trying to hymn haul around with the sovereignty of God and
salvation. I love it. I love him who is sovereign. I love
his way of saving. And I find that if he's not like
this, I won't be saved. This is good news to me. Thank
God for his sovereign salvation. We see the absolute sovereignty
of God in salvation. We find hope there, but we also
see the responsibility of men in this passage of Scripture.
He says, I've held out my hands all day long to a disobedient
and gamesaying people. If you come to him for mercy, you will be saved. The Scripture
says in 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 10, Make your calling and election
sure. You can't make your election
sure first. You can't figure out whether or not you're one
of the elect, it won't work, he says, make your calling. And
election sure. Your calling has to do with faith,
have you called upon the name of the Lord? Well, he's called
you. If you've called upon the name
of the Lord, you have every reason to believe you're elect. Now,
I've never seen the Lamb's Book of Life. With the names that were recorded
in it before the foundation of the world, I've never seen the
Lamb's Book of Life. I can't climb up into heaven
and look at it and see whose name's there. You know, if I
could, I'd look up every one of your names. You know whose
name I'd look up first? Mine. I would. And then I'd look
for yours, too. I'll assure you I would. But
that can't be done. But do you know, even though
I've never seen that book, I know my name's written there. How
do you know? Because I'm somebody that Jesus
Christ died for. How do you know that? Because I'm a sinner. And He
died for sinners. Can you believe that? Then you can rejoice that you're
one of those people that He has found by His sovereign grace. And be encouraged. Everybody
in here, be encouraged. Don't think, well, I'm afraid
I'm not elect. I'm afraid God won't save me.
If you call upon His name and ask for mercy, He will save you. You can just write that down.
It's the truth. May God give us all grace, even
now, to call upon His name.