This morning for our Bible study,
I would invite you and encourage you to turn to the book of Ecclesiastes
chapter 3 at verse 14. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse
14. Now here's the text this morning. Solomon says, I know that whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taking from it, God doeth it, that men should fear
before him. Now this is to be understood
of all the decrees of God, which are eternal. They are the eternal
thoughts of his heart. None can hinder his purpose,
nor change his counsel, the counsel of his will. He works all things
after the counsel of his own will. His pleasure is always
executed. His purpose and appointments
are always accomplished, never frustrated, nor made void. Nothing unexpected can turn up
to delay the execution of God's decrees. Our great God sees the
end from the beginning and works all things to the exact delight
of His eternal purpose and pleasure. This is true of all of His works
of providence and grace. All things are working together
for good in God's kingdom. God's eternal, unconditional
election of grace is certain and sure, can never be altered
nor reversed. The blessings of grace and the
blessings of God's election are called the sure mercies of David,
ordered in all things and sure. God's eternal election of grace
is certain and sure, can never be altered or reversed. Something
else, God's redemption by Jesus Christ, His precious blood, is
also certain and sure. You see, it shall be forever.
All the blessings of grace bestowed on the sinner, such as pardon,
justification, adoption, regeneration, continue forever and are eternal
at God Himself. He said, I am the Lord, I do
not change. There is nothing lacking in the
covenant of grace. All things are freely provided
and sovereignly bestowed. Nothing needs to be put to it.
Certainly nothing will be taken away from it. Believers in the
Lord Jesus Christ are accepted in the Beloved, and they stand
complete in Him. Solomon says, I know that whatsoever
God does, it shall be forever. My friends, you believe that
this morning. And then he says, nothing can be put to it. Nothing
needs to be added or brought to the decrees of God, the purposes
of God, nor anything can be put to it, nor anything taken from
it. God doeth it that men should fear, worship, and reverence
God. It shall be forever. That's the
title of the message today. It shall be forever. When God
redeems and justifies and saves a sinner in the Lord Jesus Christ,
It's not a temporary condition. God saves his people with an
everlasting salvation. It shall be forever. Of this
you may be sure, if salvation is the work of God, and the work
of God alone, and it most certainly and surely is, then it is an
everlasting, it is an everlasting, eternal salvation that God saves
us with. It can never be lost, never be
destroyed, never be changed. because God does not change. Now listen to this scripture
found in John chapter 10. He said, My sheep hear my voice,
I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal
life. They shall never perish, because God never changes. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. It shall be forever. Salvation
that God sovereignly gives to His chosen people is an everlasting
salvation. It is an eternal justification
and an eternal redemption. Salvation is a real and vital
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is called. We are
members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. Ephesians 5.30,
we who believe are members of that mystical, spiritual body,
the church of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the head. Eternal
life is a life of real oneness with the Son of God, who is life. He says in the book of John,
chapter 14, because I live, you shall also live. Can you imagine
Christ with a body that's not complete? Perish the thought. His body must be perfect, must
be complete. And if so much as one member
of His body be lost, His body cannot be complete. Now here's
what we're saying. His church, believers in Christ,
the elect of God, are so really and truly one with Christ that
not so much as one member of His body can perish unless He
perishes. So long as the head is safe,
The body is safe. That which is through the head
is through the body. Our Lord says so in John 6, 37. All that the Father giveth to
me shall come to me, and those that come to me I will in no
wise, no way cast out. Something else we know about
this salvation that is eternal. Our salvation must be eternal
and secure because it is both accomplished and preserved by
the grace and power of God the Holy Spirit. Salvation is not
in any way to be attributed to man. God saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
God's own purpose and grace, which was given sinners in Christ
before the foundation of the world. We were dead in sin, but
the Holy Spirit graciously regenerated us giving us life in Christ,
giving us faith in Christ. He quickened who were dead, and
He preserves us in life by His holy, mighty influences. That's one part of His office
in the work of the Holy Spirit. He regenerates us and He keeps
us preserved by the power of God. He keeps God's elect persevering
and preserving us in faith, in grace, in life. We're kept by
the power of God through faith, by the power of God's Holy Spirit. You see, salvation, my friend,
it shall be forever. It's not temporary. Man is not
saved one day and lost the next. Salvation is not based upon the
sinner's performance, but salvation is based upon the decree of God
and the certainty of salvation through the accomplishment and
the performance of our substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. Something
else we know, we know that every true believer's salvation is
safe and secure in Christ because the work of grace which God has
begun, he will carry on to perfection. The Apostle Paul put it this
way in Philippians 1, 6, being confident of this very thing.
that God who has begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. It will never be said of our
God that he began a work in which he was not able to complete.
Now, often we have those problems. Every man considers it a shame
to undertake a work and be compelled to give it up before it's completed
because he lacks the ability, the skill, the wisdom, the power,
or the dedication necessary to get the job done, but it's not
so of God. It's not possible for the Lord
God to be confronted with failure and shame and incompletion. He has never known failure and
He never shall. Whatsoever God doeth, it shall
be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken away from it. God does it that man should honor
and worship God. He began with us in eternal election. We read this all through the
Scripture, but here's one particular verse. God choosing a people,
we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, the
loved of the Lord, because God has, from the beginning, chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. That's 2 Thessalonians 2 verse
13. Thousands of years have rolled
along. His purpose has never changed. God chose a people in eternity,
and in time he will redeem them and justify according to his
wise and holy will in the fullness of time. He redeemed his people
by the substitutionary death and blood atonement of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We read in the book of Galatians,
when the fullness of time has come, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law to receive them, to redeem
them, rather, that were under the law that we might receive
the adoption of sons. And though we went astray as
soon as we were born, speaking lies, born in sin, shaping in
iniquity, spent our days and nights in rebellion and sin against
God, yet He stood by His purpose of grace toward His elect. God chose a people. And by His
decree, He is determined to have them, determined to redeem them,
and determined to glorify them. He graciously preserved us until
the time appointed when He would justify us in Christ Jesus, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus at the appointed time. In the time of His love,
He gave to His people life in Christ. granted them faith to
receive Him as everything in salvation, and gave them a new
heart to love Him supremely. To you who believe, the Lord
Jesus Christ is precious. He is precious. Since that day
of salvation, since that day of justification, our sins have
been many. John says, my little children,
these things I write unto you that you sin not, but when you
do, We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. Since that day of salvation,
justification in Christ, our sins have been many. Our faithfulness
at best has been feeble. Our service to God has been insignificant. But He who called us has been
faithful. He kept us by the power of His
grace. He has never failed us, and He
never shall. He will not give up that work
which He has begun so earnestly and faithfully through the blood
atonement of Christ. Our God will perform that which
He has begun until He brings us safe into His presence in
eternal glory. He is willing to complete His
work in us. He is wise enough to complete
His work in us. He is powerful enough to complete
His work in us. And He will. You might ask this
question, can a man be justified in Christ, be saved, and ever
be lost? I reply to you, not until God
ceases to be God. I know that if God has saved
me and if God has saved you by His matchless, eternal, sovereign
grace, it shall be forever. Now, that's what this text is
teaching us. Whatever God does, In a way of
election, in a way of redemption, in a way of justification and
salvation, He saves us with an eternal salvation. I know that
whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put
to it, nor anything taken from it. God doeth it that men should
fear, honor, worship, and extol Him.