A Careful Look at Predestination

This message tonight, the Lord
willing, will be more in the form of a Bible study than it
will a sermon. And if some of you would like
to jot down some notes and some scriptures, it might be worth
your while. It may be that you'd like to
write some things down and then later on go back and study them. I am not trying to convince anyone
of anything. I cannot do that. That's the
work of the Holy Spirit. I'm simply declaring what I believe
God's word to teach. I'm declaring what the Holy Spirit
has written. If God is pleased to reveal his
word to you, I'm grateful. If God is not pleased to open
your eyes to see and your ears to hear and your hearts to understand,
then there's nothing that I can do or anyone else can do. But
I believe this, where there's a willingness to know God's will,
it'll be revealed. Where there's a willingness to
receive the word of God, it will be given. where there's an open
heart, where prejudice and tradition and religious customs is laid
aside, and men face the Word of God with empty hands and a
willing heart, God of teaching. Now, predestination is the most
maligned and misunderstood doctrine of the scriptures. I'm just convinced
of that. And not only those who hate the
doctrine misunderstand it, but some who claim to love it misunderstand
it. Not only those who hate the doctrine,
malign and misrepresent it, but those who claim to be its friends,
on many occasions, are its chief enemy. I hear men say this, well,
I believe in predestination. What do you mean? Well, I believe
what will be, will be. You don't understand predestination. You know, years ago they used
to have the can-help-its and the can't-help-its. The can't-help-its
were predestinarians and the can-help-its were free-willers,
but neither one of them understood the doctrine of predestination.
Other people say, well, predestination is this, God, before men were
born. God, before men were born, predestinated
some to heaven and some to hell. You don't understand predestination
either. That is rank heresy. That is
untruth. That is not taught anywhere in
the word of God. Other people say, well, if a
person is predestinated to be saved, he will be saved no matter
whether he hears the gospel and believes the gospel or not. That's
not true. And if a person is not predestinated
to be saved, he can't be saved even if he wants to. That is
not true. There's not a word of truth in
it anywhere. None of these statements are
true. They're all filled with error, and they're all the work
of Satan to deceive simple-minded people. The word predestinate
is used four times in the New Testament. First of all, in Romans
8, if you'll turn with me to the 8th chapter of Romans, the
word predestinate is used twice in the 8th chapter of Romans.
We're going to read it. In verse 29 and verse 30, we
have the word predestinate. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
The man who says that the Bible does not teach predestination
is a fool. There it is right there, twice.
Twice, right there. The Bible does teach predestination. It may not teach what you believe
about it. It may not teach what your preacher
believes about it. But it teaches what God believes
about it. Ephesians 1, if you'll turn over
there with me. Ephesians, the 1st chapter. We
have it used twice here, beginning with verse 3, if you will, Ephesians
1. and the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love." Many people believe that those two
words, in love, go with the next verse. It may be. Read it this
way. in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will."
Now, verse 11, Ephesians 1, verse 11, "...in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will." Now, just reading those verses, in which predestination
is used four times, give me enough encouragement and incentive to
know what predestination is. It gives me enough encouragement
and incentive to ask the Holy Spirit to be my teacher and reveal
to me what the Bible teaches about predestination. Now, I'm
going to read these passages as they are translated in the
amplified version. I want you to listen. This is
the amplified version, Romans 8, 29 and 30. For whom he foreknew,
of whom he was aware and loved beforehand, he also destined
from the beginning for ordaining them to be molded into the image
of his Son and share inwardly his Son's likeness that his son
might be the firstborn among many brethren, and those whom
he thus foreordained he called. And those whom he called he justified,
acquitted, made righteous, putting them in right standing with himself. And those whom he justified he
also glorified, raising them to a heavenly dignity and a condition
or state of being." Now, Ephesians 1.5. For he foreordained us,
destined us, planned in love for us, to be adopted, revealed
as his own children through Jesus Christ in accordance with the
purpose of his will, because it pleased him and was his kind
intent. Verse 11, Ephesians 1, In whom
we also were made God's heritage, God's portion. And we obtained
an inheritance, for we had been foreordained, chosen, and appointed
beforehand in accordance with his purpose, who works all things
in agreement with the counsel and design of his own will."
Now, in all these scriptures about predestination, there are
four prominent things. There are four things that will
help you understand predestination. There are four things, I believe,
that will give us the key to understanding the Bible doctrine
of predestination, that will help us in our careful observation
or look at predestination. Now, here they are, the four
things. Number one, he. He. It says whom he did foreknow,
he did predestinate. So this is the work of the Father,
whom he foreknew, he predestinated and he justified and he called
and he glorified. And it says, whom he predestinated,
whom he chose, he predestinated. The poet says it this way, "'Tis
not that I did choose thee, for, Lord, that could not be. If thou
hast not chosen me, I never would have chosen thee. We were chosen
according to the good pleasure of his own will. We were chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Christ said to
his disciples, you have not chosen me, I have chosen you. So predestination, like election,
is God's counsel and God's purpose and God's will and God's design. It has to do with the will of
God. And it has to do also with the
fallen will of man. Someone said one time, it's not
so much what natural men can't do, but what they won't do. Christ
said, you will not come to me that you might have life. Why
is predestination something God must do? Because man does not
have the will to do it. Man does not have the desire
to do it. Man does not have the concern to do it. There is none
that seeketh after God. There is none that understands
it. They are all gone out of the way. They all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. This is the condemnation. Men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
Christ said, O Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered you
unto myself as a hen doth gather her brood, but you would not. Look at Ephesians 2, verse 1. The Apostle Paul says, And you
have bequeathed who were dead in trespasses and sins. You have
to be quick in who were dead, in trespassers. You see, when
in times past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, but
God. It's not of the will of the flesh, it's not of the will
of man, it's not of him that run it, it is of God that showeth
mercy. He predestinated. That's where
you start with the doctrine of predestination, it starts with
God. He predestinated us. He chose us. He purposed to save
us. Turn to 1 Corinthians 2.14. Listen
to this scripture. 1 Corinthians 2.14. That is the unbeliever, the unregenerate. The natural man will see that
not the things of God, the things of the Spirit of God, they are
foolishness to him. They are foolishness. They are
foolishness now, they will be foolishness tomorrow, they will
remain foolishness to him. Neither can he know them, understand
them. They are spiritually understood.
So this thing of predestination, where we start studying predestination,
we start with him who predestinated. It has to do with the will of
God. And it has to do with the will of God because of the fallen
will of man. Over here in our text it says,
I told you while I go in Ephesians 1, in love, having predestinated
us. We didn't love God. I know people
like to talk about, I love the Lord, but they don't love God.
God says that. He says this, marvel not, my
brethren, if the world hate you, it hates me. Paul said the natural
mind is enmity against God. Now, men don't hate their gods. They don't hate their conception
of God. They hate the true God. They
hate the living God. They hate the God of sovereignty
and the God of creation and the God of glory, yes, they hate
God. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation of
our sins. We love him because he first
loved us. He knew us, he loved us. In love he predestinated. Now,
this is where predestination starts, it starts with God. He
chose us, he predestinated us, he did it, it's his gift, it
has to do with his will. And we didn't love him, he loved
us. Now then, turn to Romans 8.28.
Predestination has to do with God's purpose. It's God's purpose. that this thing of predestination
touches and this thing of predestination fulfills. Look at Romans 8.28,
and we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. It's
his purpose and his glory that we're seeking, not ours, not
man's purpose, not man's plan, but God's purpose. That's what
this is all about, God's purpose. Then look, if you will, at Ephesians. We've got to go back there again,
Ephesians 1, verse 5. Predestination, as I said, has
to do with his will. Look at Ephesians 1, 5. Having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Now, here's what I'm saying,
and here's the groundwork I'm laying. If you're going to study
predestination, You're going to have to start where it begins,
and that's with God. You're not going to understand
predestination if you in pity and concern start with man. God
has set out to accomplish not man's purpose, but his purpose. And God has set out to perform
his will. He worked his whole thing, got
to the Council of his own will. Look at verse 11. in whom we
have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will." Now, if I'm going to have anything to do
with the kingdom of God, I've got to be in the will of God.
I've got to be in the purpose of God. I've got to be in the
counsel of God. It is his counsel of grace and
glory. Now, get this. Predestination
has to do with his purpose, not his wrath. It has to do with
his will, his counsel, not his condemnation. It has to do with his glory and
his grace, not his judgment. Secondly, that's the first thing,
and that's where we have to start. If you're going to understand
anything about predestination, you've got to start with this.
He whom he foreknew, he predestinated. It all starts with God. It has
to do with his counsel, his purpose, his will, and his glory. That's
what it has to do with. Because of our inability, we
didn't choose God, he chose us. We didn't seek God, he sought
us. We didn't call God, he called us. We didn't love God, he loved
us. and left to ourselves, we never
would have sought God. We never would have loved God.
We've gone right on in our sin and rebellion and in our natural
darkness. We love darkness. We don't love
light. Nobody does by nature. We don't
understand the mysteries of God. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
or not. lest the glorious light of the
gospel of Christ should shine unto them, and they should be
saved. So predestination has to do with God. It has to do
with his purpose, his will, his counsel, and his glory. The second
word is us. Us. Having predestinated us. Paul starts and says, Blessed
be that God and Father who chose us. And he predestinated us. In whom, look at verse 11, in
whom we have obtained an inheritance that we should be to the praise
of his glory. Now listen to this. Predestination
hasn't got one earthly thing to do with an unbeliever. Not
one earthly thing. Now you listen to me. It says
in Romans 8, 29, whom he foreknew, he predestinated. The same people
he foreknew, he predestinated. The same people whom he predestinated,
he called, and the same people whom he called, he justified,
and the same people he justified, he glorified. And everybody that
will be glorified was predestinated, and nobody else. Predestination
has got one earthly thing to do with an unbeliever. There
isn't an unbeliever mentioned connected with predestination
anywhere in these chapters, not one time. I can't find in any of these
verses one mention of an unbeliever connected in any way with the
doctrine of predestination. And you look at them carefully,
look at Romans 8 again now, and I don't want you taking my word
for these things, I want you to look at God's word. It plainly
says, we know that all things work together for good to them
who love God. Not to them who don't love God,
to them who love God. are the call according to the
purpose for whom he did foreknow, he predestinated, whom he knew
before, whom he loved before." That word, knew, is loved. That
knew that K-N-E-W is there, whom he did foreknow, K-N-O-W, is
not information. God knows everything as far as
information is concerned. God knows every man. There is
no man walking topside of God's green earth that he doesn't know
as far as his birth date and death date, as far as his age
and his height and his weight and his image. God knows his
thoughts. Christ, when he looked at those Pharisees, he knew their
thoughts. So when men stand before him
at the judgment and he says, He's not saying, I never did
have any information about you fellows, I knew your thoughts.
I know all about you. He's saying, I never loved you.
I never loved you. I was never in any way united
with you. Adam knew his wife. Well, he
knew her before. He knew her when God brought
us to this disease, as the formal introduction, but they became
one. Isaac knew Rebekah. You see what I'm saying? The
intimate, personal, vital union. God said to those people, you
were never part of me, you were never in my heart, you were never
in my counsel, I never loved you before. Whatever predestination
affords, whatever predestination accomplishes, Whatever predestination
brings, it only has to do with those whom God loves. That's
all. It only has to do with those
whom God chose. It only has to do with those
whom God justified, and it only has to do with those whom God
called and glorified, and no one else. Now then, grab hold
of your seat a minute. If you want to discuss reprobation,
that's another subject. And we could discuss reprobation,
and there are reprobates. Judas, son of perdition, written
about him over here in the Old Testament. You want to discuss
reprobation, you can turn to Romans 1, the homosexuals in
Romans 1 are reprobates. That's right. In Romans 1, verse
28, it talks about in 27, their perversion, and in verse 28 it
says they didn't like to retain God in their knowledge, they
threw God out of their knowledge and their minds, so God gave
them over to a what? A reprobate mind. You know what reprobate
is? Dead while you live. You're as good as in hell right
now. You say, everybody still can breathe, can be saved. That
ain't true. No, sir. There are some people who are
reprobate. No way they'll ever be saved. They may as well die
and go to hell right now, because they've already got the fire
singed in their clothes. That's what it says here. God
has given them over. You'll find that three times
in the 1st chapter of Romans. Verse 24, God gave them up. Verse
26, God gave them up. Verse 28, God gave them over. Reprobate. If you want to talk
about reprobacy, there it is. Also, if you want to talk about
spiritual blindness, turn to Romans 9. I'll show you spiritual
blindness, where God has actually, according to his own good pleasure,
has blinded living people. In Romans 9, verse 8. I mean spiritually blinded them.
Romans 9. In talking about the Gentiles,
let's see, I've missed my verse there, it's down in verse 28.
Let's look at this. Romans 11, verse 8, talking about
the Jews here, according as it is written, God hath given them
the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see and ears
that they should not hear till this day. Israel is spiritually
blinded, judicially blinded. They said his blood be on us
and our children, and they got their wish. God blinded them. Paul said, I turn to the Gentiles.
And from then on, Israel has been wandering around in blindness.
Now, blindness in part, he said, has happened to Israel until
the time of the Gentiles become here. One of these days, I believe
that there's going to be a restoration of Israel. I don't know, but
right now they're blinded. They're under judgment. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 2. You
want to talk about gospel heightening? We'll talk about that. Gospel
heightening. And you know the story. Usually,
where there's reprobacy, there's a warning first. It's dangerous to have God give
you some light and not walk in it. It's dangerous to hear the
gospel and not believe it. It's dangerous to hear some truth
and not perceive it. Listen to this, 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 10. Second Thessalonians 2.10. Now
listen, "...and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness." Oh, deceit
is a horrible, horrible thing. Men can be deceived by religion
as badly as anything. That's where most deception is.
It's self-deception. "...and they are deceived with
all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because
they receive not the love of the truth." that they might be
saved. And for this cause, listen, God
shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but
have pleasure in unrighteousness, but were bound to give thanks
always to you, to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
the sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. But
there are men who won't receive the truth. And I'm telling you the truth
now. When men continue to walk in their own life and in their
own ways, in the light of their own human wisdom and in the light
of their own religious interpretation, God will bring them to a place
where they'll believe that joke. See, sir? They'll believe it.
You say, are these people sincere? Yes, sir, they're sincere. They
certainly are. They believe a lie. That's what
it says here. They would not receive the truth.
So God will send them strong delusions from God himself, saying,
well, harden his heart. And then what does it say? God
hardened his heart. God kept sending him these things,
and he kept walking in the light of his own understanding until
finally he actually believed himself. And if any religionist
today who actually believed their error, steeped in error, and
they're helped along by their error. There's reprobation, there's
spiritual blindness, there's gospel hardening, heart hardening. And that's another subject that's
got nothing to do with predestination. Predestination has only to do
with the believer. Whom he foreknew, he predestinated. Whom he chose, he predestinated. In Romans 8, and here we come
into the heart of this thing, he predestinated us, verse 29,
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. He predestinated us to the adoption
of sons. Beloved, now are we sons of God. Now listen to me. Man was originally
created, or made, in the image of God. God said, let us make
man. In his own image created he them,
male and female, in God's image. But by sin we have lost that
image. By sin we are born into this
world not in the image of God, but in the earthly image of a
fallen father named Adam. We are born in sin, we are born
in darkness, We're shaping an iniquity. We're brought forth
speaking lies. We're born into this world without
God, without Christ, without hope, and without strength. We're
born enemies of God. We're born aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. We're born strangers and foreigners. We're born outside children of
wrath, following the leadership of the prince of the pirates
or the spirit that worketh right now in every rebel in this world,
the devil. Christ said to those Pharisees,
they said, God's our father. He said, you have your father
the devil. If God were your father, you
would love me. All right, that's the condition.
So the Lord in his sovereign purpose and counsel and will,
has purpose that accompanies which no man can number. He says,
out of every tribe, nation, kindred and tongue under heaven, called
many brethren, that's what he calls them, many brethren, God
in his sovereign purpose has decreed that many brethren shall
be restored to that lost image. He restored my soul. This is
the object of predestination. This is the object of God's eternal
purpose, that heaven will be inhabited with a people, restored
by the grace of God to the image of God. And the image of God
is Christ. He's the brightness of the Father's
image, the express image of his person. And everybody whom God
saves is going to be just like his Son. So the Lord has ordained
two things. He's ordained the means to accomplish
that purpose, and he's ordained the time in which he'll accomplish
that purpose. This mess we're in, there's not
a flickering flame of faith in every man. That flame was put
out. Men are dead. There's not a glimmer
of glory and grace in every sinner, there's not any glory. The glory
of the flesh is the flower of the field that withered and faded
away. There's nothing from the sole
of our feet to the top of our heads but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. But God has purposed that he's
going to, out of that fallen race, call unto himself a people,
and he's going to restore that image. that has fallen and ruined,
and he's going to make them all just like his Son. And he has
predestinated and purposed and foreordained that they will be
like Christ. Now, he's chosen two things,
he's chosen the means. Back before the foundation of
the world, knowing they wouldn't choose him, he chose them. Knowing that they would not select
him, he elected them. according to his own wisdom,
and he made Christ the surety. And it pleased him to put all
fulness and all glory in Christ and send him into this world
as our representative, to enable God to be just and justified,
to enable God to deal with us not as enemies but as sons, not
as rebels but as not guilty. And his son bled and died on
the cross and was and rose again and went back to heaven where
he intercedes for us. And God chose this means, if
you'll turn to 1 Corinthians 1, to bring us to faith in Christ. He chose by the foolishness of
preaching. That's his means. That's part
of predestination. Everything that has to do from
God electing till the day I'll stand in the image of Christ,
all of these are predestinated to accomplish that purpose. God's
choosing, Christ's charityship, Christ's incarnation, Christ's
obedience, Christ's death, burial and resurrection, Christ's intercession,
the Holy Spirit's quickening, the gospel coming to my ear and
to my heart, and repentance being worked by God and faith in Christ
and my daily growth and my burial and resurrection that I stand
in his presence. All of those means were predestinated
It's got nothing to do with unbelievers. It's got to do with us, us. He predestinated us to be like
Christ. And these are the names. Look
at 1 Corinthians 1, verse 4, Paul said, It didn't come to you in word
only. That's the way it comes to most folks. The gospel is
something to argue about. The doctrines are something to
quibble over. Most Church of Christ and Baptist preachers,
the gospel is something to debate over. The gospel is something
to hold to and look down on others because they don't. No, sir.
The gospel came to you in power. In power. Life-giving power. heart-changing power, life-changing
power, came to you in the Holy Ghost, came to you in much assurance. You know what manner of men we
were among you, and he says down here in verse 9, and they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you
turned from your idols to serve the living and true God. Does
that sound like God yanked them up by the hair of their head
and took them to glory? No, sir, they turned from their idols,
they turned to the living God. They repented of their sins,
they believed on Christ. They felt miserable in their
wretched state and they cried for mercy. They felt their need
of Christ and they sought the Lord. They felt their inability
and they cried for help. Yes, sir. Whosoever will, let
him take the water of life. God has no unwilling people.
He uses means to bring his people to faith in Christ and to love
Christ. And if he doesn't bring a man to repent, he'll never
save him. If he doesn't bring a man to faith, he'll never save
him. If he doesn't bring a man to persevere, he'll never save
him. The Holy Spirit enables us to repent, but he doesn't
repent for us. He enables us to believe, but
he doesn't believe for us. He enables us to call on Christ,
but he doesn't call, we call. We believe, we trust him, we're
saved by faith. Galatians 1.15. Now watch this. And God predestinated the time. I like that scripture in Galatians
4, it says, When it pleased God, he sent his Son into the world.
When it pleased him. And then Paul said in Galatians
1.15, When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me. He did
it when it pleased him. And that's right, that's predestination.
And you might rock along in your religious persuasion for a long
time, like Paul did, until you're forty-some-odd years of age,
and then God, in his good pleasure, in his wisdom, according to his
good will, in his own time, he'll stop you right there, and shut
your mouth, and whittle you down, and strip you, and bring you
to Christ. That's when he'll do it. in his own good time. That's all in his predestinating
purpose. All right, the last comment now,
the fourth word. You want to understand something
about predestination? It starts with God. It has nothing
to do with unbelievers. It has to do with the believer.
The sacred object and purpose of predestination is to make
me like Christ and every believer like Christ, every one of us. And here's the fourth thing.
Here's the ultimate end of it all. Verse 29, Romans 8, For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he, that he, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Everything God does in this world
and the world to come is that he might be the firstborn. That he, that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow. that in all things he might have
preeminence. God's doing it not to show the
world he can save you. He's doing it to show the riches
of his grace. God's not saving you in order
to give you a place in glory that you'll enjoy forever and
enjoy the comfort for your flesh and bone. He's saving you to
the praise of his glory. to exalt and magnify his Son.
That's what it's all about, that he might be the firstborn among
men of grace, that Christ might have companions in glory that
have his nature, his nature. And that starts here. We're being
conformed to his nature now and his relationship to the Father.
Beloved, now are we sons of God. And we are conformed to him in
character. Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ
Jesus. He said they are not of the world, even as I am not of
the world. We are like him in his inheritance, heirs of God
and joint heirs with Christ. We will be like him in his glory,
for he said he shall raise our vile bodies and make them like
unto his glorious body. This is the glorious doctrine
of predestination. God has ordained that all whom
he chose shall be just like Christ, and God has ordained the means
that are necessary in order that his justice and righteousness
and love and mercy might be satisfied, and in order that our persons
might be rendered meek. rendered meek or sufficient or
capable to inherit the life and glory of all the saints. This
is what we need to see. Most people have, as far as their
conception of salvation, it's sort of a selfish thing. I don't
want to go to hell, and I don't. And I don't want to stand in
judgment and be cast out, and I don't. And I would like always
to live in glory, and I would. But what I've got to realize
is the ultimate end of God's entire design in redemption,
his program of redemption, doesn't have that much to do with me,
not nearly so much as it has to do with Christ. I wish I could
make that point. It has to do with his whom he
foreknew he predestinated to be conformed to the image of
his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren,
that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace." One other scripture to turn to, Colossians. You need
to look at this, chapter 1, Colossians 1. Look at verse 16. I quit with
this. Verse 16, Colossians 1, "...for by him were all things
created." that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were created by him and for him, and he's
before all things, and by him all things consist. And he's
the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminent.
And looking at that, that tells us our whole program of soul
and We're not doing what we're doing
for the glory of Christ. Our whole program of prayer,
I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about the world in general, is the wrong motive. It's a selfish
motive. We don't even have Christ in
mind, his glory. And God's not going to do anything
except for the glory of his son. And if he can send you to hell
for the glory of his son. I think He can save you for the
glory of His Son. That's what we want. You see
what I'm trying to say? But Christ's going to be glorified.
If He can't be glorified in you, if He can't be glorified in you,
if He can't have all the glory, He won't share it. And He'll
put you aside. I don't care if you, and He'll
let you, oh, you won't fail. Now according to the standards
of this world, you've got any get-up-and-go, any initiative,
any mind at all, you can succeed. You can quit this thing. We're
in the land of plenty. You can buy your new suit and
a new automobile and get you a group of people and have a
whooped-up time, but God won't be in it. God won't be in it. I'm talking about the ultimate
end of everything God's doing is for the glory of Christ. If
we don't learn to glorify him here, if we don't learn to think
his glory and seek his glory and pray for his glory and be
concerned about his glory and desire his glory, you think we're
going to share it there? It'd all be strange, it'd be
strange territory, wouldn't it? We wouldn't know what those people
were talking about up there. But those who know it here don't
know it there. Our Father, we're grateful for
the Word. How grateful we are that you've spoken, not left
us to ourselves. And we can see these things. We understand we're nothing.
We pass by the angels, left them in darkness. You were pleased
in your own sovereign will to have mercy on the seed of Abraham.
And you not left us in our darkness, but you called us into thy light.
You called us, we didn't call thee. You loved us, we didn't
love thee. It's thy will and thy purpose
that brought us into the fold of Christ. We wouldn't be here
if it wasn't for your grace and your mercy. O Lord, that we might
understand that more fully. and that we might convey it by
thy spirit's power to others, that they might enjoy the blessed
hope and confidence and assurance that we have in the gifts and
calling of our God, which are without change. Now teach us,
be our teacher, and break us and humble us, and use us for
his greater glory. In his name we pray, amen.

A Careful Look at Predestination

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

A Careful Look at Predestination

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book