I'd like for you to open your
Bibles first to Isaiah 46. I have three statements that I wish to make
by way of introducing the heart of the message. The first one is this. I have long understood and believed
most strongly that God's purpose in redeeming a people out of
Adam's race, a people who shall be conformed to the image of
his blessed son. For John said, we'll see him
and be like him. Paul said, we're predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his son. David said, I'll
be satisfied when I wake with His likeness. And that purpose,
to have a kingdom inhabited by a people, populated by a people
who are like Christ and who will with Him reign eternally in a
new heaven and new earth, is an eternal work. It's an eternal work. It was
purposed and planned before the work before the world began.
That's what he tells us here in Isaiah 46, verse 9. Isaiah 46, 9. Remember the former
things of old. I'm God. I'm God and there's
none else. In the preceding chapter he said
that six times. I'm God. There's none else. There's none other. I'm God. Declaring the end from the beginning. and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, I will
do all my pleasure, my purpose, calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country,
I have spoken it, I will bring it to pass, I have purposed it,
I will also do it." Paul said, known unto God are
all his works from the beginning. And over here in John chapter
6, verse 63, the Lord Jesus Christ said this, John 6, verse 63,
he said, It is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh, prophet,
as nothing The words that I speak to you, their spirit, their life. But there be some of you that
believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that
believed not and who should betray him. Therefore he said, I unto
you, that no man can come to me except it be given him of
my Father." And the reason that we are so
confident that The work of redemption and the kingdom of God as an
eternal work is because the covenant is called an everlasting covenant.
Paul wrote in Hebrews 13, you are most familiar with this,
we use this verse as our benediction often on Sunday morning. Paul
wrote in Hebrews 13, Now the God of peace that brought again
from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood
of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work.
This covenant of mercy is everlasting. And David, when he lay dying
at 75 years of age, he said, although it be not so with my
house, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things ensured. His covenant, like his priesthood,
is an everlasting covenant. And then not only is the covenant
an everlasting covenant, but the Redeemer of the covenant
was set forth and slain in the purpose of God before the world
began. Let me show you three scriptures.
Now, the first one is found in Psalm 2. I read part of that
this morning, Psalm chapter 2. This is the first one. What I'm
saying here is the covenant is an everlasting covenant, and
the Redeemer of the covenant is set forth before the world
began. In Psalm chapter 2, he says here, in Psalm chapter 2,
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves, the rulers, take counsel to gather
against the Lord, against his anointed, saying, Let's break
their bands asunder, cast away their cords from us. He that
sitteth in the heavens shall lie. The Lord shall have them
in derision, contempt. Then shall he speak to them in
his wrath, vex them in his sordid pleasure. Yet have I set my kingdom,
my King, upon my holy hill of Zion." He is already there. set
my King on the holy hill of Zion. Now another scripture I read
this morning from Proverbs 8, turn over there. This is our
Lord speaking now. This covenant is an everlasting
covenant and the Redeemer of the covenant was set forth before
the world began. Proverbs 8 verse 20, 22. The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of his way Before his works of old, I was set up from
everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth was. I set
my King on my holy hill as I went. Before, from the beginning, wherever
the earth was, Christ sat on that throne. And then the third scripture
is Romans 3, Romans chapter 3. Listen, Romans 3, verse 24, being
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth. I've set him on the
throne. Before the world had a beginning,
I set him forth. And here he says, I've set him
forth to be a propitiation. That's what he set him forth
for, to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare
his righteousness for the redemption of sins of the past through the
forbearance of God. Revelation 13 says this about
him. And all that dwell on the earth
shall worship the beast, whose names are not written. in the book of life of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. God's purpose in redeeming a
people is an eternal work. The covenant is everlasting.
The Redeemer is the Lamb slain before the world. Now, the people,
the redeemed people, they're out of every nation, kindred,
tongue, and people. were chosen, just like their
Redeemer was chosen before the world began. They were chosen
in him before the world began. That's what Paul said in Ephesians
1, is it not? Turn to Ephesians 1. Ephesians
1, beginning with verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us. with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, according as he chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. He chose Christ
to be the Lamb, to be the perpetuation, and he chose the people to be
perpetuated, to be holy and without blame. Having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, not
according to our works, but according to the good pleasure of his own
will, to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he made
us accepted in the beloved. Let me read you another passage
from our Lord's own lips in John chapter 6. John chapter 6. This time I'm going to begin
reading with verse 35. And Jesus said to them, I'm the
bread of life. He that comes to me will never
hunger. He that believes on me will never thirst. But I said
to you that you also have seen me and believe not. Now all that
my Father giveth me They'll come to me, and him that cometh to
me I'll in no wise cast out, because I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will as the mediator and as the advocate
and representative, but the will of him that sent me, the will
of him that purposed it and ordained it. And this is my Father's will
which has sent me that of all which he hath given me I'll not
lose one, I'll lose nothing. But I'll raise him up at the
last day." And then Paul said in Thessalonians, "'Brethren,
beloved of God, I'm bound to give thanks to God for you, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth.'" God's purpose to redeem a people
is an eternal work. Because that covenant is an everlasting
covenant. That Lamb was chosen, anointed,
set up, set on his throne, set forth as a propitiation before
the world began. And the people who shall participate
in that glory were chosen in him before the world began. There's no denying that. That's
a fact. And the day when that will all
come to pass is already set. Our Lord Jesus said that. No
man knows the day or the hour when I'll come back to this earth,
not even the angels of heaven. But there's one. My Father knows
the day. And if you'll turn to 2 Peter
3, we'll read about it. In 2 Peter 3, verse 10 through
13, Peter calls it the day of the Lord. the day of the Lord. In 2 Peter 3, verse 10, But the
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the
which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with a fervent heat. The earth also, and the works
of the therein, shall be burned up, seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought
ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? looking far and
hastening or longing far with expectancy the coming of the
day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we,
chosen of God, ordained of God, called of God, justified by God
according to his promise, We look for a new heavens and a
new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. I want you to move on over to
Revelation chapter 10. Revelation chapter 10. The day
has been determined, the day has been set. And here in Revelation
chapter 10 verse 5, and John saw it in Revelation 10 verse
5, and the angel which I saw, Revelation 10, verse 5, "...stand
upon the sea and upon the earth, and lifted up his hand to heaven.
And he sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created
the heavens and the things that are therein, who created the
earth and the things that are therein, who created the sea
and the things that are therein, that there shall be time no longer." Time no longer. On over to Revelation
21, but that doesn't mean there's not going to be glory any longer. That's when glory really begins.
In Revelation 21, verse 1, And I saw a new heaven and a new
earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away. We read about that, didn't we? No more sea. Now John saw the
holy city. New Jerusalem coming down from
God out of heaven, all prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them,
and they shall be his people. And God himself shall be with
them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there will be no more death, no more sorrow,
no more crying. Neither shall there be any more
pain, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat
on the throne, that's been his throne from all eternity. He
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, You write
that. These words are true and faithful. I know that. The purpose of God
in all of this redemptive work was ordained and decreed and
purposed before the world began, wherein he established an everlasting
covenant, set forth an everlasting Lamb, priest, sacrifice, redemption,
chose a people in that Redeemer, and set the day when he would
bring it to pass. The second thing I have long
understood, and I try to convey it to you. that this work of
redemption among these people whom he chose, redeeming them,
bringing them from the pit to the throne, from the dunghill
to the throne, from the depths of sin and darkness and depravity
to holiness, glory, and light, that's a lifetime work. That's a lifetime work. That's
not something that's done and decided and accomplished by walking
down an aisle and shaking a preacher's hand. That's not something that's
done and decided and perfected when I make my profession. I
got saved, they tell me. But this is what I'm telling
you. Those people given to Christ in that covenant chosen before
the world, the hand of God, the hand of God is upon His elect
from the time they lay in the womb to the time they lie in
the tomb. There's never a moment of their
existence that the hand of God is not on them. He said, Jeremiah,
the word of the Lord came to me, Jeremiah said, the word of
the Lord came to me saying, Jeremiah, before I formed you in the belly,
I knew you. And I, before you came out of
your mother's womb, I set you apart. I sanctified you, set
you apart. He's mine." Paul said in Galatians,
but when it pleased God, he was 40 years old before he ever met
Christ, before he ever knew Christ. He said, I didn't know him. Yeah,
but Christ knew him. Every step that rebel took, the
Lord ordained. Every word he spoke in derision
against Christ, God permitted it. That's right. The sheep of
Christ are his sheep even when they're lost. The shepherd said,
My sheep is lost. He didn't say, My neighbor's
sheep or sheep I'm going to try to convince to come to my fold.
My sheep's lost. My coin's lost. My son's lost. Somebody else's boy that came
home, that's his boy. Okay, how old are you? How old are you? Oh, when God,
he says, when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's
womb, and he called me by his grace and revealed his Son in
me, but I was 45 years old when he did it. That's right. And David, over here in the book
of Psalms, David talked about In Psalm 139, he said, I'll praise
thee, O Lord. I'll just read it to you. I'm
fearfully, wonderfully made, marvelous at my works. My soul
knows that right well. My substance, my body, my strength
was not hid from you when I was made in secret, curiously wrought
in the lowest parts of the earth. That little baby in that womb,
dark, cramped, can't hear, can't see. They tell me that they can
hear. Maybe so. But God numbers every member. And listen, and
listen. Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect, undeveloped. And in your book all my members
were written with incontinence, which incontinence were fashioned
when yet there was none. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying
that the redemption of one of God's elect is of the Lord and
it's a lifetime work. And the hand of God is upon that
son of God, that sheep of Christ, that brother, when he lays in
the womb until he lies in the tomb. Lydia, how old was she? She was a widow, a businesswoman. She met the Lord. God opened
her eyes, came to Christ. Zacchaeus, how old do you reckon
that old buzzard was? Climbed up a tree so he could
see the Lord. Came on and said, Zacchaeus,
how do you know his name? He said, I call him by name.
Come on down now. I'm going to your house. And
everybody just got all upset. Why, that's the meanest man in
town. He's going to his house. What's he going to the house
of a sinner for? Doesn't he know that fella? He said, he's the
son of Abraham. I know all the sons of Abraham.
That woman, the harlot. Everybody in town knew her. She
came in there and washed the feet of the Lord, and that Pharisee
said, now, if he knew that woman, if he was a prophet, he'd know
she was a sinner, and he wouldn't let her touch him. Yet he knew
her. He knew her when she was in her
mama's womb. He knew her when she took that
downward path. He knew her when she was down
among the dregs and all the rest of them. He knew her, and he
chose this time to call her. Old Abraham was my age when he
met the Lord. I hear these people say, if you
don't get saved before you're 10 years old, you've had it.
That's a bunch of malarkey. That's a bunch of foolishness.
Abraham was 75 years old when God called him and he met the
Lord. You see, this business of redemption,
It's not something we do down here at the church and we persuade
somebody to do. It's God's Word. And he'll do
it when he pleases. He'll do it when he pleases. Nathanael, old Philip, went over
there and found Nathanael and said, We found him of whom Moses
spake, the Messiah. Nathanael said, Who is he? He
said, He's Jesus of Nazareth. Nathanael said, Nothing good
can come out of that place. But he said, You come see. So
he came walking up, and the Lord Jesus looked at him and said,
Now there's an Israelite in whom there's no God. And Nathanael
said, How do you know me? He said, Nathanael, before Philip
found you, I saw you. And the Greek lexicon says, To
see him is to know him. I knew you. And do you know what
Nathanael said? Thou art the Son of God. That
convinced him. He said, I saw you. Now, when
he was under that tree, I don't know. It might have been when
he was a boy. It might have been something
happened under the tree. I don't know when. But it convinced Nathaniel. He said, I saw you under the
tree. Nobody in this world knew about
that but me, Nathaniel said. He knew. Of all the elect, it can be said
what the Holy Ghost said to Simeon. The Holy Ghost said to that old
man in the temple, you'll never see death until you see the Lord's
Christ. And I promise you this, if the
Lord God gave you to Christ before the foundation of the world,
I don't care where you go or how you go or how long you're
out there, if you're His, you're coming home. He'll find you. He's going to bring you. He's
going to put you on His shoulders and bring you home. I know that. It's a lifetime work. It's a
lifetime work. Scripture says, by grace, have
you been saved? The Scripture says, to you who
are being saved, Christ is the power and wisdom of God. The
Scripture says in Romans 13, our salvation now is nearer than
when we believed. But it's still his workmanship.
The Lord doesn't save a fellow and then scoot him along the
way until a beach in glory That's what you preached on, you're
never alone. Well, who's with you? He is. No, you're with him. He's not with you, you're with
him. You're with him. He's not your
co-pilot, he's the pilot. In fact, he's the plane, too. That's right. All right, here's
the third thing I've long understood. Number one, everything God does,
his own purpose, purpose before the world began. Number two,
every one of God's elect were chosen in Christ before the world
began, and they'll be brought to the Savior. My sheep, other
sheep I have which are not of this foe, them I must bring.
They shall hear my voice and shall be one foe. The third thing
now, listen carefully to me. I also long have understood that
though the salvation of God's elect is an eternal guilt, And this salvation second is
a lifetime work. Number three, there is a day.
There is a day in time when the sovereign Lord will find that
sheep and cross his path and confront him with the gospel
and reveal Christ in his heart. There's a time. And I'm not talking
about a 24-hour day. I'm talking about a day in time,
not 24-hour day, especially by speaking of a time, when the
one who's foreknown and predestinated to be like Christ is called by
the gospel, by the Spirit of God. There's a day when the sovereign
Lord, like He crossed the path of that Samaritan woman, like
Philip met the eunuchs, like Paul came to Lydia and got open
to her. Cornelius heard Peter. You heard
somebody preach the gospel, and that gospel came to your heart
like an arrow. That's right, the real Christ. Let's look at some scripture.
In 1 Thessalonians, I've given you these scriptures through
the years. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 1,
Paul says in verse 4, I know, brethren, your election of God,
because our gospel came to you not in word only, but in power,
in the Holy Ghost, in much assurance. That's how our gospel came to
you. And you heard it. Look at 2 Thessalonians 2. Talking
about the elect now. 2 Thessalonians 2. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He called you, whom he foreknew,
he predestinated, and he called you. Who so shall call on the
name of the Lord shall be saved, but how shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him with whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?"
Ephesians 1. Now, this is that blessed chapter
that I read a few moments ago. But here is the latter part of
the chapter. The first part of the chapter talks about how God
chose us and how God predestinated us and elected us. and how God
gave Christ to be our Redeemer. Now look at verse 13. In whom
you trusted, in whom you believed, when after you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom after you
believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. You
heard, you believed, you received Christ you were sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise. Of his own will, for his own
glory, begat he us with the word of truth. Now, all that being so, I want
to show you something from Isaiah chapter 12. is what happens on that day of
visitation, that day of divine visitation, when God who purposed
it and Christ who purchased it and the elect whom he chose are
brought together. Here it is in Isaiah chapter
12, that day of divine visitation. It's a time of conviction. Listen. And in that day, you shall say,
you're going to say this, in your heart before God and before
men. You'll say, Lord, O Lord, I praise
Thee, though you were angry with me, God was angry with me, and
justly so. People talk about there's no
wrath with God, He loves everybody. But listen to me, nobody, no
person's going to understand God's grace who doesn't know
something of God's wrath. That's just so. is going to appreciate
and understand and lay hold of God's grace to learn something
about God's wrath. God is angry with the wicked. And he says, Here, Lord, this
is what you are going to say. You were angry with me, and I
deserved it. I was a rebel. I deserved it. You were angry with me for a
just cause. But your anger is turned away
in Christ. Now you comfort me. You discover
that. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. It's time when God visits you.
You have no alibi. Like David said, Lord, when you
condemn me, you're just. You're just. All right, here's
the second thing. It's a time of conviction. Secondly,
it's a time of revelation. He reveals some things to you.
Behold, you discover this. God's my salvation. I'm not my
Savior. The church is not my Savior.
The preacher's not my Savior. The law's not my Savior. God's
my salvation. Salvation's of the Lord. Salvation's
of the Lord in its planning. It's of the Lord in its execution.
It pleased God to bruise him. It's of the Lord in its application.
God called me. Saul of Tarsus said, he met me
on the road. Call my name. It's of the Lord in his sustaining
power. We care, Peter said, for the power of God. It's of the
Lord in his ultimate perfection. God's my salvation. Not anything
I did before I saved or after I saved contributed anything
to my salvation. God's my salvation. So I'm going
to trust him. And I'm not going to be afraid.
Here's another thing you learn. by the Lord Jehovah. You see,
Elohim, I don't know a whole lot about these names, I don't
know how to handle all of them, but I just know this, that Jehovah
is God my Savior, God in Christ. And that's who he says is my
Savior. The Lord Jehovah is my strength and my solace. I trust him. And then he says
this, and he, God, Jehovah, He has become my salvation. He came
down here into this world as a man. I see that. It's the time
of revelation. He came down here in the fulness
of time. God sent his Son, made of a woman,
made in human flesh, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. And
as a man, as the second Adam from heaven, he obeyed the law
and gave me righteousness. and went to the cross and there
he died and put away my sins. He became my Savior, my salvation. You learn
those things. The day of divine visitation
is a day of conviction when you're just stripped and broken. God's
been angry. He's got a right to be. And it's
a day of revelation when you realize who He is and what He
did. And then thirdly, It's a day
of the experience of joy and the fullness. Therefore, with
joy shall you draw waters from the well of salvation. When I
read that, I thought about our Lord Jesus Christ on the last
day of the feast. Those people had been to the
religious feast and had been there three days, I think. They
were packing up and going home. They were as empty as when they
came and frustrated as when they came. They hadn't heard anything
or been taught anything or received anything. They were going home
and our Lord stood and cried with a loud voice to all that
crowd of people. If any man thirsts, let him come
to me. Come to me. And out of his belly,
not something he gets from the outside, It's not all of these
pouring the feast and pouring the water and going through the
motion. Out of him shall flow rivers of living water. It's the spake of the Spirit
of God. That's what we discover. If this salvation is not receiving
a creed or a denomination or a law or confession of faith,
it's a person, Christ Jesus, who comes within. He said to
the woman at the well, you drink of this water, you're thirst
again, but you drink of the water I'll give you, you'll never thirst. With joy, we draw water from
the well of salvation within, peace within, joy within, assurance
within. All right, it's a time of conviction,
this day of divine visitation, it's a time of revelation. the
personal work of Christ, it's a time of actually experiencing
for the first time peace and rest and joy in him. Salvation is not by doing, it's
done. And fourthly, it's a time of confession. And in that day,
shall you say, well, praise the Lord, call upon his name, declared
his doings among the people. That's the reason, I tell you,
we had such a good time this morning. Why? Because I talked
about his doings, not yours. And everybody was so happy. I
wish we could stay that way. Cloud nine, let's build a tabernacle,
just stay here. Declared his, make mention that
his name's exalted. This time when you meet Christ,
it's a time of conviction, a time of revelation of his person,
a time of joy. But it's a time of confession
to one another about the glory of the Lord. We have to talk
about what He's done. That's what it is. And that's
what fellowship in the church is. We say, you say praise the
Lord, call on His name, declare His doing, make mention that
His name is exalted. And then last of all, it's a
time of worship and identification. I'll tell you how I get that.
Sing unto the Lord. For he hath done excellent things,
this is known in all the earth, cried and shout, and he calls
us something. He calls us an inhabitant of
Zion. An inhabitant is somebody who
lives there, somebody who has moved in, somebody who dwells
there, and Zion is a church, it's a family of God. And so
these people doing the talking here, this is us, it's a time
of identification. into the church and in desire. We worship with the Lord's church. We fellowship with the Lord's
family. We care for one another. We help one another. We encourage
one another. We comfort one another. We console
one another. We pray for one another. We are
one in Christ, a family. I can tell you this. I've been
here a long time and I used to study over here at the church
a lot. Now I have my study at home, but Martha's here and she
takes care of people that come around wanting help. And I've
said this to many of them through the years when they come wanting
help. I said, do you have a church where you attend? Well, I kind
of go to all of them. You know, that means none of
them. And I said, well, you know something? If you were a member
of the Lord's church, you had a pastor. brothers and sisters
of the Church, you wouldn't be begging. No, you wouldn't. And I quote this verse to them,
I'd say, Old David said, I've been young, I'm old now, I've
never, never, ever seen God's seed begging bread. Because that bread is supplied
by the Father through the Church. We take care of one another.
That's right, we take care of one another. If anybody in this
church has a need, this congregation of brothers and sisters will
see that need is met. You're an inhabitant of Zion.
You know, I see sometimes a certain person's house will burn, and
they're left out on the street. And I think, well, that wouldn't
be true here. If anybody in this place's house burned tonight,
he'd have a dozen homes to go to. Huh? Isn't that right? Maybe
two dozen. Maybe he could take his pick.
That's right. I see a flood come to town, a
whole bunch of people sleeping in the gymnasium down at school.
What in the world are they doing down there? They don't have a
family. They don't have a church family.
That's exactly right. When God meets you, boy, he strips
you. He reveals Christ in all his
glory. He fills your insides with joy
and waters out of the well of salvation. And you praise his
name, you confess, he did it, it's the Lord's doing, it's not
mine. And then you identify with a congregation of believers.
And let me tell you something, no matter whether the hill's
high or the valley's low, or the water's deep, or the road's
rocky, you walk it together. You inhabit to the design. That's
right. And what a glorious blessing.
Let me close with this. This sums up what I'm talking
about. In Ruth, in the book of Ruth, chapter 1, this is what
she said to Naomi. This is the church fellowship.
This is Zion. Ruth 1, verse 16. Ruth said,
And treat me not to leave you, or to return from following after
you. Where you go, I go. Where you lodge, I lodge. Your
people are my people and your God's my God. And where you die,
there will I die and be buried. She left out one thing. And when
you die and I die, we're going home together. But she hadn't
learned that yet. She did later when she met old
Boaz and came to know the Lord. She put that last thing on there.
You and I will never be separated. Because we're joined together
before the world began in Christ. And I'm glad.