Such a pleasure to be with you.
I highly esteem your pastor and
thank the Lord for him. Would you turn to Acts chapter
4? You know the kind of preaching I love to hear is preaching that
makes me know that I am saved. That's the kind of preaching
I love to hear. The kind of preaching I hate
to hear is the preaching that makes me wonder whether or not
I'm saved. Could I be saved if what that
guy's saying is so? I hate that kind of preaching.
So I hope that this is going to be a message that makes those
who are saved know they're saved. And I'm going to speak upon the
subject, the issue of predestination. the issue of predestination. Now, the passage I'm reading
from is Acts chapter four, and what makes this passage particularly
interesting is that this is the prayer of the early church only
two or three days after they had first heard the gospel. That's
interesting, isn't it? What will people like this pray? What is it they believe? This
happened just two or three days after Peter's sermon on Pentecost. And right after that, Peter and John in the temple. You can read about this in Acts
chapter three. Most say it was the next day after Pentecost. There was a man who was lame
from his birth. He'd never walked. And Peter
and John said, rise and walk. And immediately the scripture
says his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he got
up leaping, walking, praising God in the temple. And people
got upset about this. And they got upset because he
did it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they were actually
thrown in prison for this act. They were incarcerated. They
were thrown in jail. And then the next day, they saw that the
people would be upset because they were so amazed by this miracle
that had taken place. And they let them go. Now let's
begin reading in verse 22 of Acts chapter four. For the man
was above 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing was showed. And being let go, they went to
their own company and reported all that the chief priests and
the elders had said unto them. And when they, the early church,
heard that, They lifted up their voice to God with one accord. You know, they all believe the
same thing. Let me tell you this about believers. They all believe
the same thing. They are of one accord. And said, Lord. Now that word, Lord is not the
word that's usually generally used to translate Lord. This
is the word where we get the word despot from. Absolute dictator. He's the absolute dictator. They all knew this. They were
one accord concerning this. Lord, thou art God, which has
made heaven and earth. and the sea and all that in them
is. They understood that God created
the heavens and the earth. Verse 25, who by the mouth of
thy servant David hath said, why did he do that enrage? And
the people imagined vain things. They understood that when David
spoke in any Old Testament prophet spoke, it was the Word of God
speaking through that man. They believed in the inspiration
of Holy Scripture and they knew this is their only ground of
doctrine and practice, the Word of God. Verse 26, the kings of the earth
stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the
Lord and against his Christ. They understood that man was
against Christ. That's just the truth. It's always
been that way. Verse 27, for of a truth, now remember these
people had only been saved in their own experience for a few
days. I think this is so interesting,
just a few days. And look what they had to say.
For of a truth, against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel. Now that covers everybody. Everybody. Nobody excluded from this group.
What were they doing? They were gathered together for
to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. Everything they did was determined
before by God to be done. When they drove the nails in
his hands and his feet, it was determined before to be done. Now this is the word that is
usually translated predestinated. They did what God predestinated
to be done. Now, the Bible teaches predestination. The word is found six times in
the New Testament. So that's beyond contradiction. This is the teaching of scripture.
Let me show you the other scriptures. Turn to Romans chapter eight, verse 28. And we know I love the way Paul
says that, don't you? He's speaking as the spokesman
of every believer. We know. We know. Somebody says,
well, I don't. We do. We do. We know that all
things worked together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose, 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, Whom he
called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he
also glorified. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
2, verse 7. But we speak, everybody who preaches
the gospel, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, something
that could never been known had God not made it known. This is
something we couldn't figure out. This is the revelation of
the mystery. Don't you love the mystery of
the scripture? It's mysterious. It's glorious. We speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the
world. That's the same word in the original,
which God predestinated unto our glory. Now turn to Ephesians
chapter one. I know this is a familiar passage
of scripture to you. Ephesians chapter one, verse four, according as he has
chosen us in him, for the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him." What a thing to be chosen
to, to be holy, to be without blame, nothing to blame me for.
I stand without guilt before God. Verse Four, in love having
predestinated. Now that's the way that should
read, in love having predestinated. You see, whom he foreknew, that
means foreloved. Whom he loved beforehand. in
love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. Look in verse 11 of the same
chapter. 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. Predestination. That the Bible
teaches this is, I read it. I mean, there's no argument about
this. What I want to ask is what is the issue of predestination? Now you see the Bible teaches
it. I bet no one in here, hope no one in here questions that.
The Bible teaches predestination. Now what are the issues involved? If I do not believe in the God
of absolute predestination, The God that I believe in is a God
that does not exist. I might as well be worshiping
in totem pole if I don't believe the God of absolute predestination. That's the only God there is,
the God of absolute predestination. The issue of predestination is
that of worship. You'll only worship an absolute
sovereign, a God who is not in your hands, you're in his. And he can do with you whatever
he's pleased to do. You can't manipulate him. You
can't get him to respond to you. You're in his hands and he rules. And what happens to you is up
to him. It's not up to you. Now you'll
only worship. I mean worship. You'll only worship
a God like that. You know, I put in my notes the
only option to predestination or God
of absolute predestination. Remember, predestination is who
God is. It's who God is. It's not just a doctrine. It's
who God is. He's the God of absolute predestination. But I put in
my notes If you're not going to believe in predestination,
the only other option is atheism. But atheism is not an option. It's irrational. It's illogical. It's not defensible. Everybody
knows that somebody had to cause all this. We all know this. And
so atheism is no option. The God of absolute predestination
is the only option. Thirdly, talking about the God
of predestination, what is the issue? If you do not believe
in predestination, you cannot understand the cross. What an important point that
is. Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Revelation chapter 13 verse 8. And God made the universe for
the cross. Predestination tells us of the
primacy and the glory of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is God's purpose. Let me tell you something, the
fall of man was not, the cross wasn't God's response to the
fall of man. Well, I'm going to fix what's
been messed up. No, the fall of man was ordained
by God for the purpose of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
No understanding of predestination. There's really no seeing of the
purpose of God in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if
I don't believe in predestination, the God of predestination and
what all this means, I don't really believe in salvation by
grace. You can't believe in grace. and not believe in predestination.
If you don't believe in predestination, that means you're saved because
God somehow responded to something you did. And salvation is ultimately
what you do and not what he does. But when you believe predestination,
you believe salvation is of the Lord. Now, here's one of my favorite
things to say about this issue. If predestination is not true,
I don't have any hope of being saved. Now that's how important
this is. If predestination is not true,
I do not have any hope of being saved. Now, like I said earlier,
predestination is neither more nor less than God being God. Amen? Turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 45. Verse seven, this is God speaking. Let's start
in verse five. I am the Lord and there's none
else. There's no God beside me. You know, nobody can be compared
with the Lord. If you tried to say who's most
like the Lord, an angel or a grasshopper, both would be equally wrong.
You can't compare him to anything. He's utterly you. He's God. Let's
go on reading verse five. I go to thee though thou has
not known me. He said that to Cyrus, that they
may know from the rising of the sun and from the West that there's
none else beside me. I am the Lord and there's none
else. I formed the light and create
darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things." What am I going to say about
that? I'm going to say, I believe it. I don't understand it. Somebody
says, well, you're saying God controls everything and you're
making men nothing more than puppets on God's string by saying
something like that. Well, the alternative is if you
don't believe this, you make God a puppet on man strings.
And God's will is thwarted by the will of man. Now, who would
you rather have in control, God or man? Predestination says God
controls. He's in charge. A denial of it
says man's in charge. His will is sovereign over God's
will. We're not going to have that,
are we? Look in Isaiah 46, verse 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there
is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. calling a
ravenous bird from the East, the man that executes my counsel
from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it." Now that is the God of predestination. Acts 5.18 says,
known to God are all his works from the beginning. Hebrews 4.3
says, all the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Now all the works were finished in eternity. I know you and I
can't grasp that intellectually, but it's so. God is the eternal
God and everything he does is eternal. We read of eternal salvation. These are scriptural terms, eternal
judgment, eternal redemption. eternal inheritance. We read
of the blood of the everlasting or the eternal covenant. This
is who God is. He's almighty and his will must
come to pass. That's who he is. And that's
all predestination says is God is God. God reigns. God is in
control. God is the cause of all things. Whatever it might be, he's the
cause of it. Now, to understand this, we're
going to have to have some understanding, and I don't know if it's so much
understood as believed, but we have to have some understanding
of the decrees of God. Now, God is almighty. He's omnipotent. That means whatever he wants,
he gets. There's nothing that can restrain
him from getting what he wants. He demonstrated that in creation
when he willed the universe into existence. He demonstrated, demonstrates
that in Providence where he controls everything. You know, everything
that's happened to you today, he ordained before the time began
and it's not difficult for him. He controls everything. There's
not a sparrow that falls to the ground without your heavenly
father. You think of something that seems so insignificant,
the sparrow on the other side of the world falling down. It
happened because of the heavenly father. The lot is cast into
the lap. But the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord. He controls everything in providence.
Aren't you thankful? There's nothing outside of his
control, outside of his purpose and outside of his will. Nothing.
Oh, how especially his omnipotence is seen in salvation. Now, here's
how much his omnipotence is seen in salvation. He made my sin to not be. Now that's powerful. And He made me to be what I was
not, holy. That is all powerful, isn't it? Now when we talk about the decrees
of God, let me give you a definition. I read this and I couldn't bring
it out any more clearly. The decrees of God are His eternal
purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby for his
own glory he has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. That's
good, isn't it? Let me read it again. The decrees
of God are his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his
will, whereby for his own glory he has foreordained whatsoever
comes to pass. Now the decrees of God, and we
read about it in Isaiah 46 verse 11. I purposed it. There's this
decree. I also will do it. That's the
decrees of God. First of all, his decrees have
one purpose. His glory. Now, most preaching
starts with man and man's need. and God's desire to fix it. Wrong. God does what he does for this
one purpose, his own glory. And it would be beneath the dignity
of the glorious God to have a motive under that. His decrees are eternal. What they are now, they've always
been. Everything God does is eternal. He never had a new thought. Did
you know that? He never had a new thought. Everything he does is
eternal. His decrees are immutable. That means he never changes.
Whatever his decrees were, they are, and whatever they are, they
will be. And if they were not eternal,
it would mean a lack of wisdom or lack of power on his part.
He had, he messed up and he had to respond to something. No,
God doesn't respond. He doesn't respond to anything.
His decrees are immutable. His decrees are absolutely sovereign. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven. and among the inhabitants of
the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? His decrees are efficacious. That means they always come to
pass. There's an absolute certain occurrence
of all that he has decreed. And the decrees of God relate
to all events. Do you hear that? The decrees
of God relate to all events. From the cross, to the dust flying
through the air in this room, to the thoughts that are going
through your mind right now, the decrees of God relate to
all events and the free and uncoerced actions
of men. Now you do what you want to do.
You can't blame God. You're responsible for what you
do. You do exactly what you want to do. The decrees of God, the free and uncoerced actions
of men are all foreordained by God. Him being delivered by the
determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. I love the decrees of
God because they're God's decrees. When we talk about predestination,
I love the doctrine of predestination. Well, I guess I do, but I love
the God of predestination. It tells us who God is. Before time began, there were
some people, a great multitude of people, a whole lot that he
foreknew. Now, I don't understand exactly
how to explain this, but his love becomes before anything
else. in love He predestinated. Now, I know there's not a sequence
of events in eternity. We can't grasp that, but there's
not a sequence of events. Everything happens at the same
time in the gigantic mind of God. But logically, what comes
first is His love. Whom He foreknew, whom He foreloved,
them He also did predestinate. And when it says He foreknew
these people, He doesn't know everybody. Now he knows all about
everybody. He knows everybody's name. He
knows exactly what everybody's done. He knows everybody in that
sense. But he said to this one group,
depart from me ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. He doesn't
know everybody in the sense that those whom he foreknew. Now those that he foreknew, He
also did predestinate. He predetermined everything to
this, that they might be perfectly conformed to the image of His
Son. And that's what predestination
is. It's God predestinating me to be just exactly like His Son,
perfectly conformed to His image, and everything that happens is
going to that end. Predestination's good, isn't
it? It's glorious. I'm so thankful for God's predestination. Behold, I've loved you with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee, Jeremiah 31.3. And the elect, and here's again,
I wish I could, I believe this. I believe it with all my heart.
The elect have always been in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's never been a time when
the elect were not in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said to Jeremiah,
before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Just as Christ is eternal, the
elect have been eternally united to him. Now, remember I said
God's never had a new thought. He's never had a new thought. If he knows me now, he's always
known me. If I'm in Christ now, I've always
been in Christ. There's never been a time when
I was not in Christ. And God has never viewed me or
any of his people independently of being in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an eternal union. Now, do
I intellectually grasp that? No, not at all. But I tell you
this, when I get to heaven, I'll find that I've always been there
in the beloved. There's never been a time when I'm not there
in the beloved. Are you saying that faith is unnecessary? You're just going to wake up
in heaven? No, I'm not saying that. You got to believe what you got
to believe this. this. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's all included in this. But God's people have always
been in Christ. I love that scripture. Both he
that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all of one. Not two real close together.
Not even glued together. But like the vine and the branches,
I love that analogy the Lord gives, where's the connecting
point between the vine and the branches? There isn't one. There isn't one. It's eternal. Second Timothy 1.9 says he saved
us and he called us. Which came first? He saved us and He called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which were given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Now, I don't understand the Trinity. Do you? Of course you don't.
John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with
God. That means it's a separate person.
But then it says the Word was God. Anybody understand that? No. Do you believe it with all
your heart? God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. And we believe in this eternal
union with the Lord Jesus Christ, according as he has chosen us.
How? In him. before the foundation
of the world. We read in Ephesians 3 verse
11 of the eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Now I've been talking about predestination and I love predestination
because I love the God of predestination. I've been talking about the end
of predestination to be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. So I'm just like him. I'm going to wake up one morning
and I'm not even, this is when I die, I'm not even going to
remember what it's like to be a sinner. I'm not going to remember what
it's like to have an evil thought. You know, this stuff here, I'm
not going to remember any of it. I won't even remember it because I'll
be perfectly conformed to his image. I know this. I know the
only reason I'm there is because of the scars in his hands and
his feet. I know that. But I won't even remember. I'll
be perfectly conformed to his image. Now, here's the big question. How can I reach that point? Because the plain fact of the
matter is, right now, I am a sinful man. Present tense. I'm not talking about what I
used to be. I'm talking about what I am right now. Paul said, O wretched man that
I used to be? No, O wretched man that I am. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I am, present tense, right now, the chief. I'm a sinner. You know what that
means? That means I cannot not sin. That means all I do is sin. That means I can't look down
my nose in moral superiority over any son of Adam. I can't
look down in judgment on anybody. I love that scripture in Romans
2, 1, when Paul said, therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man,
whosoever thou art the judgest, for thou the judgest, doest the
same things. Whatever you're judging anybody
about, whatever I judge anybody about, I'm playing the hypocrite
because the scripture says I do the same things. What are you
doing? Don't think that way. Just think about yourself. Don't
think, well, what's he doing? Well, what are you doing? Let's
just forget that kind of stuff. It's what the scripture says. I've got no claims on God. I've
got no entitlement in and of myself. I've got no claims on
God. I told you the truth about myself.
And if you're a believer, you know it's the truth about yourself,
too. You really believe that. Now, how am I going to get to
that point, perfectly conformed to his image? Well, I can tell
you how. Revelation 13.8 says that he
is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And before there
was ever a sinner, there was a savior. And my salvation was
accomplished before the foundation of the world. That's what predestination
is. Your work sure didn't have anything
to do For the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil. You didn't have any good works
to recommend you. You didn't have any evil works to disqualify
you. For the children being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil that the purpose of God, according to election
might stand. Not of works. Not of works. That's God's purpose. So. How
am I to get that way? Well, it's written by my works.
Aren't you thankful for that? Not of works, but of him that
calleth. Now, before there was ever a
sinner, there was a savior and God created the universe. He created man for the purpose
of his own glory as he was going to manifest it in the cross.
That's what the cross is about. God created the universe for
the cross. So he created man. He created
man upright and man fell. This was all a part of God's
purpose. Could God have prevented the fall? Of course he could.
He's God. It was all a part of his purpose. He said, in the
day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Somebody says, are
you making God the author of evil? I'm not going to try to
answer it. I'm saying in the day. He said, in the day you
eat thereof, you shall surely die. Now you can take that any
way you want. That's what it says. He allowed the fall. And when Adam fell, you know
who else fell? Me. And you. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered the world, and death by sin, so that death passed
upon all men, ended all sin. You know what that means? When
Adam sinned, I sinned. I'm not condemned because of
somebody else's sin. I'm condemned because of my own
sin, because I was united to Adam, and whatever he did, I
did. When he sinned, I sinned. It's all my fault. I can't blame
Adam. It's all my fault. Somebody says, I don't want to
be condemned for what somebody else did. You're not. You're
not. But let's say you had no connection
with Adam. Let's forget Adam for just a
moment. What if you're on your own? Have you done? We've done
just as bad. It doesn't make any difference,
does it? But by one man, sin entered the world and death by
sin, so that death passed upon all men in that all sinned. Now, the fall. was for the cross. I want you to think about that. The fall was for the cross. The
cross was not for the fall. It was not God trying to fix
things. This is about the manifestation of the glory of Jesus Christ.
This is what it's all about. Now, in time, Christ Jesus came. He first stood as my surety.
When we talk about predestination, here it is. He stood as my surety
before time began. I'll think of what Judah said
to his father Jacob concerning Benjamin, I will be surety for
him. What's a surety? He says, I'm
taking full responsibility for his salvation. Now that's how
I'm going to be perfectly conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He took complete responsibility
for my salvation. Listen to these words. I will
be surety for him of my hand. Shalt thou require him? If I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. And that's what Christ said regarding
all of his people. I'll be surety. I'll bear complete
responsibility for their salvation. And listen to this. The moment
Christ Jesus agreed to be my surety, God didn't look for a
thing out of me. He looked wholly to his son to
save me. That's what predestination is. In time, He came as my Savior. You see, what was purposed in
eternity had to be accomplished in time. In time, He came as
my Savior. Matthew 1, 21, thou shalt call
His name Jesus, for He shall save you. his people from their
sins. And that's exactly what Christ
Jesus did on the cross. Now, Christ in his person never
sinned. He knew no sin. And when he was made sin, he
never sinned. He's the spotless lamb of God. Something worse took place. He
was made sin and he bore the sins of God's elect in his own
body on the tree. That's what the scripture says.
He bare our sins in his own body on the tree. He never sinned,
but what's worse, he bore the guilt, the shame of that sin. And God's wrath fell upon him.
And when he died, it wasn't the innocent being condemned. It was the guilty being condemned
because he actually became guilty of our sins, the sins of everybody
he died for. And that perfect righteousness
that he worked out, that perfect obedience, that sinlessness,
is given to every believer so that they're perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ, the just for the unjust that he might
bring us to God. Now, that's how I'll be perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ. Christ saving me, saving me from
my sins, bearing my sins and and bearing the punishment and
putting it away, satisfying God's justice, saving me from the power
of my sin in the sense that I can do something I couldn't do before
God saved me. I can believe. I can repent. I can love him. I can walk with him. There's
a time when I couldn't do that. Somebody says, well, I don't think sin
has power over me. Well, that's because you're under
its complete control, if you think that. When you find out
about your sin, you know your only hope is what he does for
you. And one day save me from the very presence of sin. It's
called glorification. He, the predestinator, came to
save all who were predestinated to be saved, those in him. He
kept the law for them. He lived a perfect life for them.
He bore their sins in his own body on the tree and put them
away so that there are no more. Listen to me. Every believer
is holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in the very sight of God. He
put those sins away. And he gave us his perfect righteousness
because of his life, death and resurrection. God gives them
life from the dead, justifies them, calls them, keeps them,
preserves them. Now you can't understand the
gospel without this. I know this. Somebody that knows
the Lord may have never heard the word predestination. That's
possible. But as soon as they hear it,
they know it's so, because they know it's God. This is who God
is. He's the God who's God, the God
of absolute predestination. Now, what did he determine before
to be done? This was the early church. They'd
only been converted for a few days, and yet look at their understanding. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles with
the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel predestinated, determined before to be done. Well, what did he determine before
to be done? That Christ would come and cause
me to be perfectly conformed to his image. That's predestination. And everything that takes place is subservient to that end. That's
what predestination means. Everything that takes place is
subservient to me by His grace, being perfectly conformed to
the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a glorious, and I don't
want to call it future because it's present right now. whom
he justified, them he also glorified." And that is historical. That's
not talking about we'll be glorified. I'm glorified in the person of
Christ right now. Somebody says, you don't look
glorified. Well, I know that, but I am. And everything that
I need for heaven, I have right now. I have right now. What I'm going to get rid of
is this sinful flesh. And I'm going to be perfectly conformed
to his image. Now there's a lot of, objections made to predestination,
and they're all frivolous, and they're all foolish, and they're
all false. Somebody says, and I've already
touched on this, if you believe in predestination, you just make
men puppets on God's string. You just make men robots, programmed
to do His will. I'm not so sure that's a bad
thing. What about you? Would you like to simply be caused
to do his will? I would. That's what I want.
But if you deny predestination, you make God a puppet on man
strings. He can't do what he wants without
your willing it to happen. That's not going to be. That's
not going to be. That's just a denial of the truth. Other people say, well, people
who believe in predestination, they don't care anything about
missions and witnessing and evangelism. That's just a lie. That's all
you can call it. That's just a lie. And all the
great missionaries, every single one of them, had believed in
predestination. They wouldn't have bothered to
go and preach if they didn't believe in predestination. But
the reason we do what we do is because we know God's got to
elect people that he's predestinated to be saved. We're going to preach
the gospel to every creature, and we're going to call on every
man. If you come to Christ, you'll be saved. We call on all men. for that. How can you do that?
Easy. Easy. It's not hard at all. If
you come to Christ, you'll be saved. If you believe, there's
never been anybody that asked for mercy that he said no to.
If you ask God for mercy, for Christ's sake, you're going to
have it. This doesn't destroy witnessing. That's just, it's
just stupid. It's not true. That's something
people make that just is not true. somebody else's objected,
this destroys motive for obedience. If everything's just predestinated,
what motive is there for obedience? Now, the only reason someone
would make that as objection is because they're looking for
a reason to disobey. had never made one believer think, oh boy,
I can be disobedient because everything is predestined. No
believer reacts that way. That's just what men who, men
hear the gospel and they think, well, that means I can live any
way I want to. Well, I'll tell you what, I want
to be like Christ. I want to honor him. And this
did not take away Any motive for obedience? Not at all. Not
at all. As a matter of fact, it gives
you a motive for obedience. It's him that worketh in you
both the will and to do his good pleasure. Lord, work in me both
the will and to do your good pleasure. Cause me to do your
will. Somebody says, well, if God predestinated everybody,
how can he hold anybody responsible? If he predestinates everything,
how can he hold somebody responsible? Well, Paul dealt with that and
I love the way he dealt with it. Why does he yet find fault? Who
has resisted his will if he's always, if his will's always
done? How can he find fault with anybody
for that? Because he predestinated what
they're going to do. I love the way Paul answers. Who are you
to reply against God? Since when do you have the moral
authority to sit in judgment on what God does and what God
says and says, I don't agree with that. Whatever he does is
right. We believe that and we rejoice
in it. This doesn't take away from human
responsibility in any way. Somebody says, well, it's blind
fate. Well, if you're a fatalist, it
is, but it's not blind fate to a believer. We know that it's
God who orders all things, that he's in control of everything.
Now, let me tell you what predestination is. I love this definition. Joseph looked at his brethren
after they had done so many wicked things to him. And now all of
a sudden they see they're in his hands and he can do with
them whatever he wants to do. He looks at his brethren and
he says, you meant it for evil. And you know that's true of everything,
isn't it, with regard to us? You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. And he's the only one who can
do that. God brings good out of evil. That is predestination. So in
conclusion, The issue of predestination is ultimately God being God. The issue of predestination is
the glory and the primacy of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that one who is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The issue of predestination is salvation really is all of grace
and not of works. And the issue of predestination
is this. My hope of salvation is in God's
predestinating, saving, electing, sovereign, keeping, preserving,
God-honoring grace. Thank God for predestination. And anytime anybody says anything
negative about it, you know, I hope the Lord gives you grace
to answer, but you know, here's a person who is completely ignorant
of the living God. Amen. Pastor. Amen.