and turn to Isaiah 42. Now I
desperately, I desperately want to preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ to you today. I woke up very early this morning
and I couldn't think of anything but preaching the gospel, preaching
Christ, And I wasn't too much settled upon a message. I brought
about 40 or 50 messages with me, and I kept rolling over in
my mind. I hadn't really settled on a
message for this morning. And this passage came to my mind,
and I found an outline this morning that I had preached from before,
Isaiah 42. And I looked it over and it warmed
my heart and I pray that it will warm your heart as well. You
remember when the Lord spoke to those two men on the road
to Emmaus, when He opened to them the Word of God, you remember
they said, didn't our heart burn within us when He opened to us
the Word of God? Oh, may the Lord be pleased to
have that happen in our hearts today, that we might worship
Him in spirit and in truth. Isaiah 42, verse 1, behold my
servant. Behold. Whenever I see that word
in Holy Scripture, I see it as a stop sign. A stop sign. Stop, look, and listen. Behold about what God is about
to say. And He says, Behold My servant. Now this just didn't any particular
servant, this is the servant of the Lord. In Isaiah 53, he's
called the righteous servant. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
servant of God, and he's the same one who is our Savior. Behold
my servant, whom I uphold. He's laid help upon one that
is mighty, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one that's anointed of God and blessed of God. He's the servant
of the Lord that come to do the redeeming work of the Lord. He's
the one that is upheld by the Lord. And then he says here,
and I love this statement, mine elect. Did you know that's the
first time that word elect is found in scripture? By elect. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
the elect. We are chosen in Him. He is the elect of God. In whom my soul, God says, He
delights in the servant of God, the elect of God. And we can
say those found in Christ, God delights with them. This is my
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. God is well pleased
with every son in Christ Jesus. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. Think of it, that we should be
called sons of God, sons of God. Mine elect, who my soul delighteth,
I put my spirit upon him. John says that the Lord Jesus
Christ speaketh the words of God and has the spirit of the
Lord upon him without measure. I put my spirit upon him. He
shall bring, he shall bring judgment to the Gentiles. And I like to look at this verse
in this light. He shall bring forth judgment,
which brings forth salvation, our sin being judged in Christ,
that He might be a just God and Savior. Here we see the tenderhearted,
compassionate Savior. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street, not in a menacing
way, but in a compassionate way. He calls sinners unto himself. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Verse three,
a bruised reed. A bruised reed he shall not break. Loving kindness, long suffering
toward his elect. A smoking flax will he not quench. He saves us by his sovereign
mercy. He shall bring forth judgment
to truth. Mercy and truth are met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now verse four. And here is my
text. And here's what I want us to
think about today. The Lord Jesus Christ knows nothing
of defeat, frustration, and failure. It says here, He shall not fail. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till he has accomplished all of God's purpose, judgment in
the earth and the isles, the far off places, shall wait for
his word, shall wait for his gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ
shall not fail. fail in any and every aspect
of justification, of righteousness, of reconciliation, and in salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ cannot
fail because God cannot fail. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He is God, our Savior. In everything that God undertakes
for us, And He has undertaken everything for us, not some things,
not most things. He has undertaken everything
for us to accomplish our salvation. And everything that our God undertakes
for us, write these words in bold letters over it. Think of describing the work
of redemption and the work of salvation. What adjective would
you use to describe that work? I can think of many, can't you?
But how about successful? How about victorious? How about
finished? How about complete? In all aspects
of His eternal purpose, His decrees, His determination, His declarations,
it shall be done. Is failure an option? No, sir. Our God knows nothing of failure. He knows everything of victory
because He said, I've spoken it, I'll bring it to pass, I've
purposed it, I will do it. He does according to His will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth,
and none can stay His hand. None can say unto Him, Lord God
Almighty, what doest thou? That sounds like somebody is
God, and God is God. He is the eternal, almighty,
sovereign Lord. You cannot give him too much
honor. You cannot give him too much
glory. I'd like to be guilty of that.
Charge me with giving too much honor and glory unto the Lord
Jesus Christ. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. Whatsoever the Lord please, That's
what he did. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Psalm 115. Wherefore the heathen
would say unto David, David, where is your God? I love the
answer, don't you? Our God is in the heavens, and
he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. I pray the Lord will
resonate that in your mind and your heart over and over and
over and over again. If anybody ever asks you about
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, tell them immediately,
He's a successful Redeemer. He is a Redeemer who really redeems
His people from all their sin. He is the Savior that indeed
saves all of His people from all of their sin. He cannot fail. He is God. our Savior, the blessed
Lord Jesus Christ, the successful one that gladdens our heart when
we consider what we are, when we consider in what shape and
condition we are by nature, sinners before God, born in sin, in Adam
all died, the wages of sin, What do we deserve? Do we deserve
mercy? Do we deserve grace? The wages
of sin is death. Thank God it doesn't end there.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Doesn't it gladden your heart
that God has provided, as it says in Isaiah 63, the one who
is mighty to save, the one who speaks in righteousness, that
is able to save to the uttermost, who is mighty to save all that
come unto God by and through the Lord Jesus Christ That gladdens
and rejoices our heart that we have a perfect Savior, a complete
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's camp a little bit here
on verse 4. Isaiah 42, he shall not fail. The elect of God, the Christ
of God, the Savior of God, the one who was sent of God, He shall
not fail in what he has done, what he is doing, and what he
will yet do. He shall not fail in what he
has done, and what he is doing, and what he will do in the days
to come. Now, what has he done? Isaiah
here is looking future, 700 years to the future about the coming
of the Messiah, the coming of the Christ of God. And he says
of him, that is God speaks to Isaiah concerning his servant,
his elect. And he is the one that's going
to be successful. Never think of the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ as a defeat. It's not a defeat, it's victory. Victory over sin, death, hell,
and the grave. Victory, he shall not fail. Isaiah
looking future and he says he shall not fail. We looking back
to the past and we say that as well, don't we? Looking at Calvary,
looking at what he accomplished at Calvary, we say he did not
fail. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again because He justified us with His blood. The Lord Jesus
Christ did not fail to fulfill all scripture in every type,
every picture found in the Old Testament. If you'll find Luke
chapter 24. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
fail to fulfill all Scripture. Every type, picture, and pattern
we find in the Old Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ came to
fulfill all Scripture for us and to honor God's Word and to
honor God's truth. Luke 24, 44. These are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you. that all things must be
fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses, and in the
Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them,
Thus it is written, and thus it behoove Christ to suffer.
To rise from the dead the third day, that repentant and remission
of sin should be preached in his name among all nations beginning
at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. All things must be fulfilled. Moses wrote about who? Moses
wrote about the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham rejoiced in who? Abraham rejoiced in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our blessed Savior has fulfilled
all scripture in type, picture, and pattern. He is the fulfillment
of that Passover lamb, is he not? God said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. And the apostle Paul said, Christ,
our sacrifice, Christ, our Passover is sacrifice for us. Thank God when he says, when
I see the blood, I will be satisfied. I will pass over you. God will
not demand any more of us than what he has already provided
in Christ and him crucified. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
fulfillment of that Passover lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the fulfillment of that brazen serpent lifted up. You remember
from the book of Numbers chapter 21? When that brazen serpent
was lifted up, those who were smitten and bitten with the fiery
serpents, when they looked, they lived. And the Lord said in John
3, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him
shall not perish, but have everlasting life. The Lord Jesus Christ is
the fulfillment of that being lifted up upon the cross. He
said, I will draw all unto me, all his elect. And that smitten
rock that was smitten in the wilderness, that is also a picture
of Christ that was smitten for our sin, smitten and afflicted
of God. He bare our sin in his own body
on the tree. When that rock in the wilderness
was smitten, what came out? Life-giving water. And when the
Lord Jesus Christ was smitten for our sin, the hand of God's
holy justice, what came of that? Life-giving salvation through
Christ. Every prophecy concerning His
death, the time, the manner, the circumstances were all written
in the Old Testament. In His coming, His living, His
dying, in His resurrection, in His ascension, He did not fail
to accomplish all things for us according to the Lord's eternal
purpose. The apostle put it this way,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture
exactly so as God had written it came to pass. You see, he
cannot fail to fulfill all the word of God for us. Secondly,
the Lord Jesus Christ did not fail to satisfy God's holy law
for us. There is a law of God that had
to be honored. Right here in Isaiah 42, look
at verse 21. The Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness sake. because of the perfect obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ in word, deed, thought, and motive. The
Lord is well pleased. Jehovah is well pleased. For
His righteousness sake, He will magnify the law. Who are we talking
about? The elect of God, the servant
of God. He will magnify the law of God
and make it honorable for us. He said, I didn't come to destroy
the law and the prophets. He said, I came to honor the
law of God, and he did. God demanded that the law be
honored, that justice be magnified, and the Lord Jesus Christ did
that for us in his life. and in his death. In his life,
obedience unto death, every precept of that law was honored. He had
no sin, knew no sin, and did no sin. We read in Hebrews chapter
7 last night, you remember verse 26? Such a high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin. You can't
find one sin on him. had no sin, he knew no sin, and
he did no sin, and in his death he satisfied the very penalty
of that law. Turn over here to Isaiah 53.
Isaiah 53. It says in verse 10, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper, I love that word, prosper in his hand. He shall see the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. He satisfied the penalty of that
law. Thirdly, the Lord Jesus Christ
did not fail to make complete, perfect, definite atonement for
the sin of His people. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and He
did not make salvation just a mere possibility. The Lord Jesus Christ
accomplished salvation for His covenant people. He is the surety
and the mediator of that everlasting covenant, the God of peace. Excuse me, the God of peace hath
brought in an everlasting covenant in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let
me turn and read that to you. I want to quote it just right
and I can't get it straight in my mind, you'll forgive me, but
I can turn and read it. Now the God of peace, yet brought
again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every way. the blood of that everlasting
covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ cannot fail to make atonement
for our sin. Call his name Jesus, he shall
save his people from their sin. Fourthly, the Lord Jesus Christ
did not fail and cannot fail to bring in an everlasting, justifying
righteousness for his people that he freely imputes unto them. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. So by the obedience of another,
shall many be made righteous in Christ. God made him to be
sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is called the Lord our righteousness. How righteous do you have to
be to stand before God accepted? Perfectly so. That is impossible
in your flesh. You cannot, I cannot, no man
can produce a righteousness. God said it's smoke in my nose.
But because of the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ unto
death, and because of that everlasting righteousness that He has obtained
for us, that He freely imputes to us, the Lord Jesus Christ
has made unto us wisdom, Righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
No wonder David said, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness without work, saying, blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not charge sin. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
fail to bring in everlasting righteousness for his people.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not fail to crush, defeat the head
and dominion and power of the enemy, the Lord Satan himself,
rather. He spoiled principalities and
powers. He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them himself. He is the triumphant one. I love
that scripture over in Revelation 6, verse 2, and I believe that's
the key to that whole book. He went forth conquering and
to conquer. He's conquered all our enemies.
You see, my friend, the point I'm trying to make, He did not
fail, did He? In every aspect of all the redeeming
work the Father had given Him to do, He said, I've glorified
Thee on the earth. I've finished the work You gave
Me to do. Now here's the second thing.
Christ shall not fail in what he's doing right now. What is
he doing right now? He's seated on the throne of
glory ever living to intercede for us right now. Right now He's
making our worship acceptable in the Father's sight, washed
in His blood. He makes our prayers acceptable
in the Father's sight through His intercession. We need a mediator. We need an intercessor to intercede
for us. And thank God we have that in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall not fail in what He's
doing right now. Christ shall not fail to irresistibly
and powerfully call out His elect from the four corners of the
earth. If you look right across the page, Isaiah 43, Isaiah 43,
look at verse 5. He's going to call out His elect.
How does He call them out? He calls them out with the gospel,
doesn't He? He calls them out through the preaching of the
truth. You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Isaiah 43, verse 5. Fear not, for I am with thee. I'll bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I'll say to the north,
Give up and to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from
far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Bring them.
You see, Christ suffered once for our sin, the just for the
unjust, that he might, that he might do what? Bring us. No man can come unto me except
the Father which sent me. Draw him. everyone that is called
by my name, for I have created him for my glory, I have formed
him, yea, I have made him. God has an elect that he chose
out of Adam's fallen race, and in time he will cross their path
with the gospel and irresistibly call them out to himself, grant
them life in Christ. Give them faith in Christ. Grant
them repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He will make them new creatures
in Christ. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me and those that come to me. I love, now listen
to this verse here. John 6, 37. I believe that's
the right verse. All that the Father giveth me. I love that word all. All that
the Father giveth to me, they shall come to me. And those that
come to me, I will never cast them out. Saving faith is always
coming to Christ. Did you know that? Saving faith
is always looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Saving faith is
always coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we are told
to go and preach the gospel to every creature. I'm not afraid. And this dear pastor, for these
many years, 39 years, he's been here faithfully preaching the
Word of God. We preach the Word of God, we
send out the Word of God, and he blesses it to the hearts of
his people. Isn't that amazing? We don't
buttonhole, badger, and put pressure on people. We preach the gospel
and leave them alone. And God will call them. God will
draw them. God will quicken them. I can't
convict you of your sin. I can't make you a new creature
in Christ. I can tell you who can and who
does and lift up Christ. And He does the work. I love
that part. You see, salvation is His doing.
I'm just a messenger. I'm just a postman. I'm bringing
the message. God blesses his word and it will
not return unto him void. He will not fail to call out
his people. That's what he's doing right
now. Thy people shall be willing in a day of his power. Secondly,
he shall not fail to meet the need and fully supply the need
of every sinner redeemed by his grace. in Philippians chapter
4, one of my favorite verses in that book of Philippians.
My God shall supply all of his need, my God shall supply all
your need, singular, according to his riches in glory through
the Lord Jesus Christ. All my need is summed up in the
Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. All of it. My God shall not fail
to supply all our need. I need life. He that hath the
Son hath life. I need righteousness. He is the
Lord, our righteousness. I need all spiritual blessings
to bless me. And in the Lord Jesus Christ,
God has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. In
the heavenlies, where at? Ephesians 1, over and over and
over again it says, in him, in him, in him, salvation in a person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall not fail to meet all
our need and to supply all our need. Of his fullness have we
all received grace for grace. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and in Christ you stand complete. The
Lord Jesus Christ shall not fail to sustain our soul and keep
us by his grace. Does God call out and save his
people one day, and then they mess up, and then they're unsaved
the next day? Boy, that would be a miserable
thing, wouldn't it? But thank God he saves us. It
says here in Isaiah 45, 17. Let's see if that's right. Isaiah
45, 17. He said, But Israel shall be saved in
the Lord with an everlasting salvation. What part of that
word everlasting do you have difficulty with? Huh? When He obtained for us eternal
redemption? Well, what's difficult about
that? When He says that My sheep hear
My voice, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish? What part of that don't you understand?
You see, He saves us with an everlasting, with an everlasting
Christ shall not fail to sustain us and to keep us by His grace
and to take us home to glory. Now, I thought of this verse
this morning as I was looking this message over, over back
a few pages. Look at Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. I believe it's verse 11. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom,
he shall gently lead those that are with the young." You see,
God's elect, His sheep are vitally united to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are one in Him. There is
that blessed union. that cannot be severed. Nothing
can separate us from the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. What's true of the Son is true
of His people. I in them and thou in me that
they may be perfect in one. He shall not fail to keep us
and to save us and to call us. He shall not fail to comfort
us. You need comfort. Well, I do. Turn to Isaiah 40. You know, the Holy Spirit is
called, our Lord said, when He, the Comforter, has come, He'll
take the things of mine and show them unto you. What does God,
the Holy Spirit, who's called the Comforter, what does He comfort
us with? A lot of people would have us
believe, well, it just makes you feel good. My friend, you
remember what Luther said, feelings come and feelings go, and feelings
are deceiving. My warrant is a word of God and
nothing else is worth believing. My friend, the Holy Spirit who's
called the Comforter, you know what He comforts us with? Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He takes the things of Christ
and reveals them unto us, and oh, how precious and sweet they
are. Isaiah 40, verse 1, comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned. Now what would comfort you? Your
warfare, it's over, it's accomplished. Her iniquity is pardoned. How is it pardoned? Thou art
a God, you remember the prayer of Nehemiah, thou art a God ready
to pardon. Upon what basis? Upon justice
being satisfied, by the law being honored, that her iniquity is
pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double. for all of our sins. You see,
He's plenteous in redemption, isn't He? He shall redeem Israel
from all His people. That's our comfort. Yes, I'm
a sinner, but I take great solace, great comfort in the fact that
the Lord Jesus Christ made full atonement for our sin. You see,
He shall not fail to comfort His people. He is our comfort. He is our peace. We have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord shall not fail
to give us grace for every trial. Grace for every trial. I thought
of this verse here right in Isaiah, right in the neighborhood that
we're in. Isaiah 41, look, verse 10. Isaiah 41, verse 10. This is such a precious promise.
He shall not fail to give us grace for every trial, every
day. Fear not, he says, verse 10,
Isaiah 41. I am with thee. I am with thee. We say, well, I don't feel his
presence. He didn't ask you to feel his presence. He said, Lord,
I'm with you. He said, believe my word. In
Matthew 28, when he said, going back to the Father, all power
is given to me in heaven and earth. Go and preach the gospel.
And remember this, lo, I'm with you always. Always. Fear not. I am with thee. Be not dismayed. I am thy God. Don't be dismayed. I am thy God.
I will strengthen thee. He's the Lord our strength. I
will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness. Isn't that so precious? Oh, that's
one of those exceeding great and precious promises. The Apostle
Paul put it this way. When he prayed that the Lord
would take away that thorn in the flesh and the Lord come back,
comes back and says to him, My grace, is sufficient. It is enough. And it truly is. Lastly, in closing, the Lord
Jesus Christ shall not fail in what He will yet do for His church. And what He has done, and what
He is doing, oh, by the way, and what He will yet do for us. He shall not fail to come again
and to receive us unto himself, and there shall we ever be with
the Lord." He said, I'll go away and I'll come again and receive you
to myself that where I am, there you may be also. Let me ask you this, a lot of
people talk about when the Lord is coming back, when the Lord
is coming back. You hear a lot of people speculate
about that, don't you? I don't speculate, because I
know He says He's coming back. Matter of fact, I'm not looking
to a time, a place, and a date. I'm looking to Him who is coming. Turn, if you will, for just a
moment in Revelation chapter 1. Someone made a comment last
night, I believe it was, or the night before, about the coming
of the Lord, and I turned and read this verse here. In Revelation
1, verse 7, we sing unto Him that loved us
and washed us from our sin in His own blood, and made us kings
and priests, and to our God, to Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Then look at verse 7. Behold,
He cometh. He cometh. What does that mean? That means He's on His way. He
shall not fail to come again. He is on His way. to come and to receive us unto
himself. It says over here in another
scripture, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of an archangel, and the trump of God, and the
dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the cloud to meet the
Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words, the
Lord shall not fail to come back and to receive us unto himself. Something else the Lord shall
not fail to do, he shall not fail to make a new heaven and
a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Right here in
the book of Isaiah, if you'll find Isaiah 65, turn over there. There are 66 chapters, but look
in Isaiah 65, verse 17. The Lord shall not fail to make
a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Now you find Isaiah 65, 17, and let me read this to you, found
in 2 Peter 3. The day of the Lord will come.
And the thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, the elements shall melt with a fervent
heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall
be burned up." A lot of people are concerned this day, you know,
about global warming. And they have totally forgot
about it. Some people ask me, well, preacher,
do you believe in global warming? And I say, no. No, I don't. I believe in global burning. He's going to make a new heaven
and a new earth. Wherein, he said, the elements shall melt
with a fervent heat. The earth also and the works
therein shall be burned, seeing then that all these things shall
be dissolved. What manner of persons you ought to be in all
holy conversation, looking for and hastening in the coming of
the day of our God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be
dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless,
we according to his promise, Look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Now, Isaiah 65, 17, you see that
reference is given there in 2 Peter. For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered, nor
even come into our mind. He shall not fail to make a new
heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." Oh,
my soul. Can you imagine an existence? I can't even wrap my puny mind
around an existence without sin. being delivered from the power
of sin and the presence of sin completely, to love the Lord
Jesus Christ as He ought to be loved, to worship Him as He ought
to be loved with no distraction and no hindrance of the flesh
and sin, to honor Him and to glorify Him forever, That's what's
going to happen in this new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. He shall not fail to make us
just like the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, the scripture
said we're predestinated to be conformed to the image of the
Lord Jesus Christ, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children. Predestination is not an ugly
doctrine. It's not an ugly word. Just before,
or just after you had called me, and invited me to come up
here and be with you these days. I got a summons from a circuit
court of Pike County, Kentucky. Jury duty. Jury duty. Three months. September, October,
November. And I thought, uh-oh. I'm supposed
to be in Texas. So I filled out that form and
put exempt or excused and sent it in. And I thought, well, that's
done. Well, I called the judge's office and they said, You be
here Monday morning. We're gonna swear out a warrant
for your arrest. Well, you know who showed up
in court? I did. I stood and they swore
in that jury and I raised my hand and I was waiting for an
opportunity to get an audience with the judge. And finally,
they took a break and I asked the clerk. I said, I need to
talk to the judge. And she said, well, just wait
a minute. And he went back in his chambers,
and everybody that wanted to see the judge, they sat down
in those chairs. One by one, they got up, went
into the judge's chambers. Well, when it came my turn, I
went in to ask to be excused because I had the Lord's business
to take care of. And I told him, I said, I pastor
a church here, and I work every day. go to work every day studying
the word of the Lord and preaching the gospel. And he sat back in
his chair for a moment. He said, well, he said, what kind of church is that over
there? I said, well, it's Zebulun Baptist Church. And he said,
oh, he said, is that one of those free will churches? And I said,
no, sir. No, your honor. I raised my hand
and you swore me in to tell the truth. And I'm going to tell
you the truth. It's not a free will church. It's a sovereign
grace church. The free grace of God church.
The next word out of his mouth was, oh, you believe in predestination. And I told him, I said, well,
it's a Bible word. It's found in the word of God
four times. It's a Bible truth. He said, you know, he said, my
parents were primitive Baptists and they believed in that predestination. I said, well, if you're a believer
and you believe the word of God, You have to believe in biblical
predestination. God has determined to populate
heaven with a people just like Christ. That's what predestination's
about. To be conformed to the image
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What believer doesn't want to
be just like Christ? That's what predestination's
all about. And that's what I tried to tell
the judge. And you know what? He said, I
gave him that letter that you'd written to me about, I wanted
to, I'm showing him the evidence. See, I've got this trip, this
preaching trip planned to Texas. And he said, you're excused to
go to Texas. But when you come back from Texas,
you're still on jury duty. So when I get back, I'll have
to call in every day. And I guess I'll do my civic
duty. And that's the system we have,
and I think it's the best system. But predestination, people get
so upset and scared about that. We are predestinated, God's people
are, to be conformed to the image of Christ. He shall not fail.
Getting back to my, he shall not fail to conform us to the
blessed image of Christ. Predestinated at that end. Now in closing, how do we know
that Christ shall not fail? His word has promised it. His
resurrection and ascension has declared it. Known unto God are all of His
works from the beginning. Of all the exceeding great and
precious promises of the gospel, not one word shall fail. But all shall be fulfilled, accomplished
successfully and eternally to the praise of the glory of His
grace. Ephesians chapter 1, three times,
to the praise of the glory of His grace. I'm persuaded as Abraham
of old that of all that God has promised, He's able to perform.
Now, is this the one to whom you trust? Is this the one to
whom you look? To the Christ of God that cannot
fail, who's fulfilled all things for us? You see, saving faith
always looks to the Christ of God. Saving faith always loves,
believes, and acknowledges the truth. This is a Savior that
we must trust in His unfailing purpose. for it shall be done
in His unfailing love. The love of Christ never fails. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is of the
Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. His mercies are unfailing. Unfailing in His redemptive purpose. Thanks be unto God for the unspeakable
gift of our Lord Jesus Christ. Being confident of this very
thing, that God who has begun a good work in you, he will finish
it. And I like to put it this way,
what begins in grace will end in glory. because the Lord Jesus
Christ shall not, cannot, will not fail. Past, present, future. Amen. Thank you. God bless Lincoln-Wood
Baptist Church and this dear pastor and his dear wife. Thank
you for your hospitality. Thank you. It's a delight and
joy to be with the Lord's people here in the great state of Texas.
Now, I tell you this, up there in Kentucky, we preach this same
gospel up there in Kentucky. And this is an open invitation
for you if you're in that, as they say, in that neck of the
woods, stop in and say hi. Come and
worship with us. Thank you. God bless you.