Let's turn back to the scripture
that Brother Frank read a moment ago, Acts 10. I want to follow
up a little bit some of the things that I said this morning. While
you're turning, a comment or two. Religion is everywhere. Religion is everywhere. In most places, religion is a
part of the people's culture. I was thinking about the old,
and I guess the new, western movies about the West, about Mexico
and Texas. Rarely did you ever see one of
those old western movies in which they didn't have a Catholic church
building, a mission station out in the desert with a bell and
a cross and all the people going to that little mission station,
the priest, bald-headed fellow with a long robe on. They just
couldn't have one of those movies without that setting because
it's part of the culture. Over in Japan, a part of the
culture is the way they carry on their religious worship, Buddha.
There are different buildings that are devoted to this type
of religion. You think about the Arabs, you
think about the people over in that part of the world, and you
see them all at certain times of the day bowing in a certain
direction, offering so many prayers a day. It's part of their culture.
And here in America, unfortunately, religion is just a part of the
culture. We have church buildings all
over every town. denominations and organizations. We have pastors. You can't even
have a funeral without a pastor. Now that they've done away with
the justice of the peace, you can't have a wedding without
a pastor. It's part of the culture. Sermons are preached, churches
meeting together, promoting good works, giving of alms, Everybody
talks about life after death, heaven, or avoiding the judgment. But here in our text is a different
setting. When I read this, I just saw
something different from culture, from emotion, from the way we
ordinarily do things. This is something special. Let's
look at a couple of verses here in Acts 10. It says in verse
27, Peter talking to Cornelius. As
he talked with him, he went in and found many people that were
come together. These people had come together. They'd been brought together
by the Spirit of God, by the providence of God, by the mercies
of God. They'd been brought together.
Why were they brought together? It wasn't any special religious
holiday. It wasn't any special cultural
thing. It wasn't something they had
done regularly. It was a special time It was a special people. God had brought them together.
And listen to what it says over here in verse 33, and this is
what I've selected as my text. Cornelius speaking to Peter,
and he says in verse 33, Immediately, therefore, I sent to you, and
you've done well that you're come. Now, therefore, are we
all here. We're all here. We're present
before God Almighty. For what purpose? Listen, to
hear all things that are commanded thee of God. We're here to hear. You think about the burden that
that put on the Apostle Peter. God has brought these people
together. God, supernaturally, providentially, on purpose, has
brought these people together. I believe that's true of this
congregation and I. We're not here by accident. We're
here by the will of God. We're here according to the purpose
of God. And he said, we're here. Now, what a burden that puts
on the preacher. But it's a burden on you too.
Listen, we're here to hear. We're here to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.
Not what you think, but what God commands you to preach. We're
here to hear a distinctive message. God's message. We're here to
hear a scriptural message, what God commands. We're here to hear
a God-honoring message, and a plain message. And that's the kind
of message that I'm going to preach right now, with seven
points, seven distinctive statements. If you want to, you can jot them
down. We're here, present before God, to hear. And how contrary
is this message to what is being preached in most places. But
listen to it. Here are seven distinctive statements. I preach
to you, my friends, who are here to hear, hear by the purpose
and will of God, to hear what God commands me to preach. Here's
the first thing. I preach to you the true character
of God. The true character of God. There's
one God. And that God has a character. And the character of God may
be summed up in one word, the word holy. God is holy. Holy and reverend is his name.
The scripture said God is in his holy temple, surrounded by
his holy angels. This is his holy word. When Isaiah
saw the Lord, he said the seraphims were about the throne crying,
Holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. He's holy. But our God is not
only holy, but He's just. Our God is a just God and a Savior. He will by no means clear the
guilty. The Scripture says the judge
of the earth shall do that which is right. He's a just and holy
God. But He's not only holy and just,
but He's merciful. Listen to David. over here in
the Psalms, Psalm 130. He says, Out of the depths have
I cried unto thee, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears
be attended to the voice of my supplication. If thou, Lord,
shouldst mark iniquities, who should stand? But there's forgiveness
with thee. Our God is merciful. Our God
will forgive. That there's forgiveness with
thee, that thou mayest be feared. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is plenteous redemption, plenteous in mercy."
Our God is merciful. He's holy, He's just, and He's
merciful. And our God is love. God is love. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, because God is love. The hymn writer put it this way,
the love of God, how rich and pure. how merciless and strong. It shall forevermore endure the
saints' and angels' song, and could we with ink the ocean fill,
and were the skies of parchment made, and every stalk on earth
a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of
God above would drain that ocean dry. The whole contained the
whole, though stretched from sky to sky. Our God is holy. Our God is just. Our God is merciful. Thank God. Our God is love. But listen, our God is suffering. Absolutely, immutably suffering. Turn with me to Psalm 115. Psalm
115. David says here in Psalm 115 verse 1, Not unto us, O Lord, Not unto us, but unto thy name
give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore
should the heathen say, Where is now your God? Where's your
God? Tell me about your God. That's
what the heathen says. Here's our God. Our God is made
of marble, or stone, or wood. Our God is one carved out by
our own Imagination, our God does what we let Him to do. Where's
your God? Where's your God, David? Where's your God? Listen to the
reply. Our God's in the heavens. Our God is in the heavens. He
rules and reigns over all. And listen, He does whatsoever
He hath pleased. Our God's sovereign. He works
all things after the counsel of His own will. Our God's sovereign
in creation. That's what Peter said. He said,
the worlds were created by the Word of God. And our Lord said,
consider the lilies. Who clothed the lilies? God clothed
the lilies. Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these. If God so clothed the lily, God
is so particular and meticulous in His creation, He even made
and clothed each lily. Sometimes when you pick a flower,
Look at how the petals are symmetrically formed, and somebody told me
the grains of corn are numbered a certain way, and then the vines
grow up a post a certain way, and down below the equator another
way, and our God, in His sovereignty, has particularly created all
things, especially Names all the planets and the stars. There
are billions of them, but He calls them all by name. He's
sovereign in creation. He made... The earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof. He founded it upon the seas.
He made it. It's His. The earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof. We keep taking fish out of the
sea, but there's plenty more. We keep taking water out of the
rivers, but there's plenty more. We keep breathing air out of
the... Out of the atmosphere, but there's more oxygen put in.
Everything is replenished by the hand of God. All things,
by Him all things were made, by Him all things consist. He's
sovereign. He did it exactly as it pleased
Him to do it. Where's your God? He's in the
heaven, and He's sovereign in creation. And our God's sovereign
in providence. Nothing happens, good or bad.
that God didn't either direct or permit. Turn to Isaiah 46. God overrules, God rules and
overrules. Our Lord said this, not a sparrow
falls to the ground. I went out on my porch this morning
and there lay a dead bird. He'd flown like they do sometimes
right into the storm and into the patio door. Bang! And he's dead. I picked him up
and threw him in the trash. But let me tell you something,
even that simple occurrence of that worthless, what's a sparrow
worth? A fathering. What's a fathering?
A token, a pence, a penny. And yet that bird didn't sail
through that air, God's air, without the hand of God, and
didn't fall without the hand of God. And when you brush your
hair, and the hair falls on the sink, and you put it down the
drain, the hairs of your head are numb, but God's subtracted
one. That's my God. That's what my Master said. And
here in Isaiah 46, listen to it, and I rejoice to preach it.
Verse 9, remember the former things of old. I'm God, there's
none else. I'm God, there's none beside me. I'm God. I declare the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times of things that are not yet done, and I
say my counsel will stand, and I will do all my good pleasure,
my pleasure. I even call a ravenous bird from
the east. He had the birds feed Elijah,
didn't he? From the east, a man that executes
my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it, I will
also bring it to pass. I purposed it. Where is your God? In the heavens. The heaven of heavens cannot
contain him, the earth is his footstool, and the Lord thy God
reigneth in creation, in providence, and let me tell you, he reigns
in salvation. Many of you have read the book,
Sovereignty of God. The man that published that book
back in the 20s, 1920 or somewhere in there, Brother I.C. Herringdean was
a very, very close friend of mine. He's been to Ashland many
times. He's been to this church many
times. He published Pink's Studies in the Scripture, Gospel of John,
Writings on David, and His Sovereignty of God, back many years ago,
many, many years ago. Arthur Pink was in South Carolina
pastoring a church, as I understand, but I believe that's correct.
Brother Herringden and I were very close friends. And he told
me how he came to publish that book, The Sovereignty of God.
He said he was a publisher living in Cleveland, Ohio at that time,
an Arminian. His interest was in prophecy. Gaby Lyons, Scofield, this sort
of thing, all of prophecy. Well, Pink wrote to him. Bible
Truth Depot in Cleveland, Ohio. He wrote to him and asked Mr. Herringdean if he would publish
a book that he was writing on the subject of the sovereignty
of God. And Mr. Herringdean told me personally,
out of his own mouth, I wrote back to him and asked him what
the subject of the book meant, sovereignty of God. And he said,
Pete wrote to me, dear brother Herringdean, And he wrote, he
quoted John chapter 6, verse 44, and underscored one word. John 6, 44. He wrote Mr. Herringdean and quoted this scripture. He said, this is what I mean
by the sovereignty of God. No man can, and he underscored
it three times, no man, no man, Except the Father, which hath
sent me, draw him." That, he said, is the sovereignty of God. Salvations of the Lord. He'll
save whom He will. He'll quicken whom He will. The
Scripture over in Psalm, I believe it's 135. Turn over there just
a moment. Psalm 135. Salvations of the Lord. In Psalm 135, look at this a
moment, verse 5 and 6. I'm just talking to you a little
bit tonight, not doing much preaching. But you're here to hear, and
I'm here to tell you what God commanded me to preach. In Psalm
135, verse 5, I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord
is above all gods, all idols, And whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He in heaven, in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.
What God pleased, that's what God does. And you know, the day
I first read that, many years ago, that said something to me
powerfully. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
what He was pleased to do, that's what He did. What He was pleased
to do. And I thought, well, what has
it pleased Him to do? He's sovereign, He does what
He will, when He will, with whom He will, that which pleases Him. Well, what does it please Him
to do? And I looked it up in the Concordance, the word pleased.
What did it please the Lord to do? And one of the first scriptures
I saw there was found in 1 Samuel, it pleased God to make you His
people. That's what He said to Israel.
Why are you God's people? It pleased Him to make you His
people. It pleased Him to choose you. It pleased Him to elect
you. It pleased Him to call you. It
pleased God to make you His people. And then I read this. It pleased
God that in Christ should all fullness dwell. All fullness,
all grace, mercy, truth, life, hope, salvation is in Christ. Not in the church, not in the
law, not in anything. It's in Christ. Was in Christ. It pleased God. that in Christ
should all fullness dwell. The Father loves the Son, he'd
give everything to the Son. And then I found this scripture,
it pleased God to bruise him. There, the Christ is hanging
on a tree. Who nailed him to the tree? Say,
the Roman soldiers. It pleased God to crucify him.
It pleased God to bruise him. It pleased God to make his soul
an offering for sin. It pleased God to send him into
this world. It pleased God. to bruise him. And his bruising pleased God.
The sacrifices of the high priest in the Old Testament never pleased
God. In these sacrifices Christ said, Thou hast no pleasure,
but in the death of his Son, in the redemption of his people,
in the putting away of their sins, that pleased God. This is my Son in whom I am well
pleased. Why is it that way? It pleased
God. And then you know what Saul of
Tarsus, I read about him this morning, the fellow that killed
Christians and put them in jail. Proud, arrogant, religious Pharisee. Working his way to heaven. God
stopped him on the road to Damascus. Unhorsed him. Blinded him. Put
him in the dust. Crippled him. Smote him. Sent him a preacher. Revealed
the gospel to him. Caught him to Christ. Saved his
soul. Why'd he do that? He said, it
pleased God to reveal His Son in me. Not just to me. He already heard about Jesus
Christ. He didn't like what he heard.
But it pleased God to reveal His Son in me. Made me a new
Christian. Pleased God. Why doesn't God
just save them by angels? Well, it pleased God. I found
this out by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
The preaching of the gospel. It's the gospel that's the power
of God and the salvation. It's the Word of God that the
Holy Spirit uses to quicken the seed of life, to bring men to
repentance and faith in Christ. Why? It pleased God. And we're here to hear what I've
heard." It pleased God. And I'm happy with the arrangement.
I'm not going to try to change it. It pleased God. Salvation is His work, from Alpha
to Omega, from the beginning to the end. Somebody asked Spurgeon
one time, what's your Calvinism? He said, my Calvinism is this,
that the whole of the work in its entirety, from eternity past
to eternity future, from A to Z, from Alpha to Omega, from
beginning to end, the whole of the work, whereby a lost, depraved,
dead son of Adam is lifted from the grave of sin, the depths
of depravity, and washed and given a new nature and a new
heart and a new name, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear
Son. and perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
The whole of that work from beginning to end is of God and of Him only. And nobody makes any contribution
to it that he might have all the glory. Well, I must move quickly, but
that's the most important part, isn't it? Who he is. The second thing I preach is
who we are. I preach to you the true character
of man. God made man upright. He made
him holy. Made him holy. But he sought
out many inventions. All men were made in that one
man. God created one man, Adam. We stood in him, we sinned in
him, and we fell in him. And that fall was a total fall,
a complete fall. It says in Romans 5, 12, by one
man sin entered this world. And what? Death. Death. Spiritual death. And we're not
dead physically. We feel pain. We feel heat and
cold. We walk about. We're not dead
physically. We're not dead mentally. We think.
We don't think on God. We love. We love ourselves. We
don't love God. We've got emotions. We're not
dead physically. We're not dead mentally. We're
not dead emotionally. We're dead spiritually. There's
several kinds of life. There's mineral life, oil taken
from the ground or burned. There's life and energy and oil.
There's mineral life. There's plant life. There's animal
life, human life, spiritual life. When Adam was created, he had
physical life and spiritual life. He walked with God. He knew God.
He didn't know sin. He didn't know he was naked.
He didn't know what a lie was. He didn't know what jealousy
was. He didn't know what hatred was. He didn't know any of those
things. He didn't know what fear was. He was wholly spiritual
life, the life of God. But God told him, in the day
you eat of the forbidden tree, you'll die. And he willingly,
his wife was deceived. He wasn't. He took it. And he
died. Then he knew what fear is. He
ran from God. He knew what fear was, he hid
from God. He knew what shame was, he covered
his nakedness. He knew what hatred was, he said
the woman did it. He's a changed man. He's a physical,
living, human being. That's all he is. Dust, from
dust you came and dust you'll go, took the dust you'll go back.
He lost his life, he lost the life of God. He didn't know God. He thought, but not of God. He
loved, but didn't love God. He talked, but didn't talk about
God. He's dead! And that's what happened. By
one man's sin into this world, and death by sin, though death
passed upon all men, spiritual death. Now listen. I read you
in John 6, no man can come to me except my Father who has sent
me draw him. No man can. But not only no man can, no man
will. Look at John 5. No man will. Our wills are in bondage to sin. We'll do what we will do. We'll
do what we can do. But unfortunately, it's nothing
but physical, it's not spiritual. Our Lord said in John 5, verse
39, you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life, and they which testify of me, you will not come
to me that you might have life. Oh, men will come to the front,
they're doing it every service in churches. Men will come to
a preacher, men will come to a law, men will come to a pool,
men will come to communion, men will come to this, come to that,
they'll go to the Holy Land, they'll run all over creation
trying to find a way of salvation, but they won't come to Christ.
And Christ alone. And Christ sufficient, and Christ
effectual, and Christ our hope, and Christ our life, and Christ
everything. They won't come to Christ. You'll
come to me, sir. Look at verse 43, I've come in
my Father's name, I've come in the name of the Father, and you
won't receive me. Let another come in his own name,
and him you will receive. What's wrong with that man? He's
insane. Yet Christ came from the Father,
and they knew him not, and his own received him not. But let
a wild person come in his own name, preaching his own brand
of religion, and people follow him like a Pied Piper. The dead! No man can come, no man will
come. Listen to John 1.18, no man has
seen God at any time. The only begotten Son in the
bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. No man's ever seen
God. And not only there, our Lord
said, no man knows the Father, but the Son. He to whom the Son
will reveal. And Paul said in 1 Timothy, God
dwells in a light to which no man can approach. No man can
come, will come, sees God, knows God, or can approach God. That's
in bad shape. That's spiritual death. Look
at Ephesians chapter 2. That's the true character of
man. True character of man in Ephesians
2. Paul summed it up in verse 12.
Listen to this. At that time you were without
Christ, aliens even from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers
from the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God
in this world. Dead in sin. Cast out. Back in verse 4. He makes a difference. He saves
whom He will. But God, listen, who is rich
in mercy, rich in love for His great love, wherewith He loved
us even when we were dead, dead, dead in sin. We didn't know Him. He knew us. We didn't love Him. He loved us. We weren't interested
in true God. He was interested in us. Even
when we were dead in sin, He quickened us together with Christ
by grace, grace, sovereign grace. particular grace, discriminating
grace, pervenient grace, effectual grace. By grace are you saved. He raised us up together. He
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ, that in the
ages to come, He's going to show us all. Listen. He's going to
show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward
us. He's not going to give me a trophy.
I'm the trophy. That's right. He's not going
to give me a reward. He's my reward. It's Christ and
you, for by grace are you saved through faith. My, my. But God. I preach the true character
of God, the true character of man. Thirdly, I preach to you
the true covenant of grace. Covenant. You'll find this Bible,
the word of God uses the word covenant. over 300 times. Over 300 times. Covenant. But
the one I'm talking about here, this covenant, is an everlasting
covenant. Everlasting both ways. From before
the foundation of the world to the consummation of this world.
It's everlasting. Turn to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. I'll give you this briefly now.
This is the true covenant of God. In Hebrews 13 verse 20,
Now the God of peace hath brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. It's an everlasting covenant.
Secondly, this covenant, this everlasting covenant, was made
on our behalf with Christ. With Christ. He's our surety. He's our mediator. He's the high
priest of this covenant. Let me show you that. Turn to
Hebrews 7. This covenant was made with Christ.
Hebrews 7, verse 19. Now the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did by the which we'd drawn
out of God. And inasmuch as not without an
oath, He was made a priest, those priests, back in the Old Testament. The old covenant were made without
an oath, but this, this man, this high priest, with an oath
by him that said unto him, the Lord sware and will not repent,
thou art a priest forever, forever, after the order of Melchizedek.
By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant. This is
an everlasting covenant, everlasting, made by God. with Christ. Back
before the world, he said, Thou art a surety, Thou art a priest
after the order of Melchizedek, no beginning or end of days,
no pedigree, whose goings forth are from everlasting. This covenant
was made with Christ, in Christ, this kingdom given to Christ,
and he became the surety and high priest of this people. Now
watch, thirdly, This covenant included us, His elect, from
eternity. Turn to Ephesians 1. Ephesians
1, verse 3. Ephesians 1, verse 3. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. This is covenant blessing. This
is mercies of a covenant God. in heavenly places in Christ
according as He chose us. He not only chose Christ to be
the surety, but He chose us to be His people. He gave us to Christ. Christ
be my first elect, God said, and chose us in our head. He
chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before Him. in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of his own will. Turn to 2 Timothy in just a moment,
chapter 1. It's an everlasting covenant.
It's made with Christ on our behalf. It was made with Christ,
our surety and our priest, our atonement. We were included by
God's elective grace and given to Christ, and this covenant
marked the end of all the other covenants, the fulfillment of
them. 2 Timothy 1, verse 8. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God who saved us, and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
but is now made manifest." You see, all these other covenants
were pictures and types and patterns of what is to come. Not the very
image of those things, but a figure. Not the substance of those things.
Christ is the substance. Christ is the fulfillment. And
now, that which is promised is manifested. That which is pictured
is manifested. That which is promised is manifested.
It manifested by the appearing of our Savior. Behold, I bring
you good tidings, angels said, of great joy unto you, is born
this day a Savior. Christ the Lord. The appearing
of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who abolished death, and hath
brought life and immortality to the light through the gospel.
Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, an apostle, a teacher, and for
the which cause I suffer these things, and I am not ashamed.
I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded he is able
to keep that which I have committed to him." Old Charles Spurgeon
preached a sermon one time. I think one of his greatest sermons
on this subject, salvation is of the Lord. It's a sermon from
Jonah 2.9. Jonah was in the belly of the
whale, encased in darkness, the iron bars about his head, seaweed
hanging on his ears, helpless, hopeless, without any strength. And he said one more time, I
look toward thy holy temple. He didn't know which direction
to look. Not in a whale's belly under the water. But what he
was looking was not with these eyes, but this. I look to the
mercy seat. That's what was in that temple.
Why the temple is a mercy seat is the blood on the altar on
the broken law. And then he said salvation is
of the Lord. That's when he was thrown out
on the shore. And Spurgeon, using that as his text, says, salvation
is of the Lord in its planning. He's the Lamb of God, slain from
the foundation of the world. In its execution, in the fullness
of time, God sent His Son. In its application, He made His
soul an offering for sin. In its sustaining power, we're
kept by the power of God through faith. In its ultimate perfection,
He's able to raise our bow bodies and make them like His glorious
body. I preach the character of God, the true character of
man, and the true covenant. And fourthly, I preach to you
a Savior who saves. I'll try to be brief. But the
salvation I'm preaching is a salvation that saves. It puts away sin.
It doesn't try to. It doesn't make an effort to.
It puts away sin. The scripture says this, He was
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised in the stead of
for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on Him by His stripes. We are what? Healed. Saved. Forgiven. Healed. I preach an
atonement that atones. I preach a redemption that redeems. I ask you three questions. The
first is this, what happened in the garden? Man died. What happened on the cross? Christ
restored our souls. What happens in the heart of
a sinner when God saves him? He gives him a new life. Redeems
him completely. Jesus paid it all. All the debt
I owe. Sin left a crimson stain. He
washed it white as snow. He died for his sheep. He said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. His blood is not shed in vain.
He paid the price and it's paid. Fifthly, I preach the Holy Spirit
who regenerates, quickens, and calls God's elect. Turn with
me to Psalm 110. Psalm 110, verse 3. My friends, salvation is not
an offer, it's a gift. It's a gift. Salvation is not
a proposition. If you do this, God will do that.
Salvation is a proclamation. Jesus paid it all. The debt is
paid. Salvation is not a plan. A recipe that you fulfill by putting
in the ingredients. Salvation is a person. And the redemption is in what
he did, not what you did. And I tell you this, salvation
is not a bare invitation. It's a command. Zacchaeus, come down. And he came. Matthew, follow
me. James, John, follow me. I'll make you fishers of men.
Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who art thy Lord? Whom He foreknew, He predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son, and whom He predestinated,
He called. He called effectually, He called
deliberately, He called powerfully, He called. And whom He called,
He justified, and whom He justified, He glorified. That's exactly
right. Psalm 110 verse 3, Thy people,
thy people, not all people, thy people shall be willing I said
a while ago, no man can, no man will. A man can and will if God
makes him willing, if God gives him the desire and the will to
come to Christ. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. When the Spirit of God arrests
a man and conquers a man and effectually deals with his heart,
he'll come to Christ. Our people shall be willing in
the day of our power in the beauty of holiness from the womb of
the morning now has to do of our youth Talk about Christ. The Lord has sworn will not repent
your priest forever after the order of Melchizedek That's the
one we're talking about He calls and they come and they come In
first Thessalonians Paul wrote to the church down there in Thessalonica,
and he said brethren. I know I know your election of
God. I Know your God's elect How do you know they're God's
elect? Well, our gospel came to you, not in word only, but
in power. You became followers of us and the Lord. You turned
from your idols to serve the living God. You became an example
to those where you live and in other places. And from you sounded
out the word of the Lord. And you're waiting for Christ
to come. Those are marks of God's elect. God makes them with it.
All right, here's the sixth thing. I've got to give you the other
two here. I preach a preserved people, but a persevering people. They've been arguing for years
about once saved, always saved. Once in grace, always in grace. I do not preach the security
of a believer. I preach the security of the
elect, of the saved. of people who believe on Christ.
Most everybody believes something. But people who are elected of
God and called of God and who come to Christ and who know and
love Christ, they're kept, but they also persevere. They are
a preserved people, kept by the hand and the power of God. But
there are people who also persevere in grace. They continue in the
faith. He will not let them go and they will not leave. You
see what I'm saying? He will not let them go and they
will not leave. He said to Peter, when all that
crowd left him, these so-called believers all left, the disciples
left, he turned to his twelve. He said, will you go away? Will
you go away? You have permission to go away if you want to. It's
like over in Hebrews it talked about those people, Abraham and
those other people, they were looking for a city who came out
of the far country. They could have gone back it
said, if they'd been mindful to. But they weren't mindful
to. Lot's wife did. Her heart never left Sodom. He
turned to Peter and said, will you go away? Peter said, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of life.
There's a kept man and a staying man. There's a
kept man, kept by God's love for him and staying because of
His love for God. Do you get what I'm trying to
say? You turn to Jeremiah and Jeremiah says it real plainly.
Jeremiah 32. This is the truth. Jeremiah 32 verse 40, what I'm
trying to say, We are a preserved people, kept by the power of
God, a persevering people through faith. It says in Colossians that we
are, he made peace for us through
the blood of his cross. And in Christ we're holy, unblameable,
unapprovable, if you continue in the faith. So we are a converted people
and a continuing people. And listen to this, Jeremiah
32, 40. I'll make an everlasting covenant
with them. That's that covenant I've been talking about. I'll
not turn away from them to do them good. But I'll put my fear,
reverence, love, respect, all in their hearts, and they will
not depart from me. And that explains where we are.
I'm not leaving by His grace. I'm not leaving. by His power. I'll continue in the faith, because
He'll keep me in the faith. That's right. And that explains
it. Somebody says, you believe in
once saved, always saved? Depending entirely on who saved
you. If God saved you, yes, sir. And here's the last thing, and
my heart goes out to you for preaching over an hour tonight.
Or almost that long, but oh, what important things we've been
able to deal with. I preach eternal glory, eternal
joy, eternal love, and eternal happiness for all whom he hath
redeemed, whom he foreknew, he predestinated to be conformed
to the image of Christ, and whom he predestinated, he called,
and whom he called, he justified, and whom he justified, he's going
to glorify. Our Lord Jesus Christ said in
John 17, and this will be a good scripture with which to close,
John 17. Verse 24, Father, oh, I love this. Father, I will,
this is my will, that those also whom Thou hast given me be with
me where I am. What do you say? I'll come again,
receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also. That they may behold my glory
which Thou hast given me, for you love me. And you love them
in me before the foundation of the world. They're sure for glory. I read a story about an old preacher
in England named William J Kirkpatrick. Up in years, been preaching a
long time. And one evening, September the
29th, He went into his study and sat down at his desk to prepare
a message. His wife retired for the night,
and about 4 a.m. she awakened. She was awakened
for some reason and realized that he had never come to bed. So going into the study, she
found him sound asleep with his head buried in his arms, and
she called, but he didn't answer. He was not there. He had left
his body and gone to be with Christ. But on a piece of paper
dated September 29, 2 a.m., she found this message. Just as thou
wilt, Lord, this is my cry. Just as thou wilt, Lord, to live
or to die, I'm your servant. You know what's best. Just as
thy will, Lord, I'll labor or I'll rest. That's a certain promise
to these people. And they die happily. They die
happily. They die in peace. Because everything's been fulfilled
by Christ.