you Oh! I invite your attention back
to 1 Peter chapter 2. This passage of scripture sets
the distinction of absolute salvation by God Almighty and absolute
reprobation. These things are set forth here
in this passage of scripture. It says, to those who are disobedient,
who don't love Christ, to them He is not precious. They are
disobedient, they stumble at the Word of God. And it says, whereunto also they
were appointed. They were appointed. But you, the ones who believe
and think Christ and believe Christ is precious to you. You're
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation,
a purchased people or peculiar people that you should show forth
the praises of him that called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. Now, it says here the reason
that the Lord chose you and made you a royal generation and made
you a holy people was so you could praise Him and glorify
His name. A lot of people think salvation
has to do with religious duties and works for righteousness,
but salvation is accomplished for the singular purpose that
you would exist in this world to praise and honor the Lord
Jesus Christ. In Ephesians chapter 1, I think
it's verse 11, it says, God has done all of this for you that
you would be for the praise of his glory. This word appointed
here is one of the times, one of the words that is used in
scripture for the doctrine or the teaching of predestination. They were appointed to this.
And I chose this passage because the word appointed is one of
the words that we use in place of the word predestinated in
scripture. Now this word here means to place. or to sit in place. It refers to the fact that these
who stumble, these who are disobedient, these who are offended by Jesus
Christ are appointed to be that way because Christ's work on
Calvary is an offense to them. And if it is an offense to them,
it's not by accident. but they were appointed to it. Now though this may not sit well
with some, it is nonetheless the word of God declaring his
absolute sovereignty in all things. Now it's been eight years since
I've preached on this particular subject, though I expect every
sermon I preach is peppered with the fact and the doctrine of
predestination. But of late it seems my mind
has been running on this, has been much involved with the concept
of the sovereignty of God. Perhaps it's because my brother
is deathly ill. Perhaps it's because I'm getting
older. Perhaps it's because I need an
explanation for all the goofiness and chaos that seems in the world.
And I'm comforted greatly by the fact that there are no accidents,
there are no occurrences, all these things are within the plan
and purpose of Almighty God. Now the concept or principle
of predestination is found in the Word of God and it travels
under several names. For example, predestination,
predestined, foreordained, foreknown, ordained, And sometimes as it
is written, or it is written, the word there is prografo. We have a couple examples of
that in scripture. Over in Acts chapter 13, after
Paul had preached the gospel to the Jews and they rejected
it, he turned to the Gentiles and the Gentiles were very glad
to hear the gospel. And it says in verse 48, and
when the Gentiles heard this in Acts 13, when the Gentiles
heard that they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord,
and as many as were ordained, that's the word written to Prograppo,
and many as were ordained to eternal life, they believed. We find it also in the epistle
of Jude on the other side of that coin, for it says of those
who despise the Lord Jesus Christ, in verse four of Jude, it says,
for there were certain men crept in unawares, they snuck in, in
other words, who were before of old, ordained, to this condemnation. The word there is prografo, written. It was written. Now, if God has
written it down in the annals of his eternal logs, then it's
going to come to pass. It is written. They were ordained
to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our
God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, he said, this didn't happen
by accident. This is the way God has set up
things. in his great purpose and his great plan. You say,
what does that have to do, what about man's will? What about
it? You got a will, you choose what
you want. You never choose what you don't
want. And if you don't want Christ, you ain't gonna choose Christ.
That's just a simple math and you can do it. God does as he
pleases. These words all mean the same
thing and it simply means this, determined beforehand. You determine something beforehand
to be done. Now, since God always has done
whatsoever He has pleased, what He has determined beforehand
has been and will surely be done. It will be done. Now, we determine
many things. We determine beforehand just
about everything we do, if you think about it. We determine
beforehand what's going to be done. We determine the means
that's going to be employed to get it done. For example, this
morning, you had determined beforehand to come to this assembly house
and gather to worship the Lord. But it didn't stop there. You
just didn't say, well, I'm gonna go. And then you closed your
eyes and you showed up, did you? You said, I'm gonna go. But also
within that, you said, I have to get up at a certain time.
So planning beforehand, you set your clock for a certain time
to get you up. time for you to eat breakfast
and maybe take a shower and clean up and put on your Sunday best,
we don't know. But you planned these things
and you said, well, how am I gonna get from here to there? Since
I don't have a teleporter in my living room, how am I going
to get from where I am in my house to the house of prayer? So you said, well, I'll take
my car. Okay, you determined beforehand to take your car.
So you go out and get in your car Do you sit there and suddenly
appear here in church? No, you've determined beforehand
that you have to turn the switch on a thing and cut it on, and
you've determined a road in your mind that will bring you to this
place. Every one of you are predestinarians. Every last one of us are predestinarians. We talk about being free and
doing stuff, you know, but the minute we realize that what we
do is what we want to do, We realize that our will simply
is following what we want to do. That's it. But what we want
to do is always determined beforehand. We're just not flopping around
willy-nilly here, are we? We are predestinarians all, and
for some reason, men who live this way and act this way and
govern their lives this way have difficulty with God doing that.
But God, is sovereign, and he has predestinated these things,
and they will come to pass. He has set this world in an order
that will honor him, that will glorify him, and will be good
for his people. For all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them that are called according
to his purpose. All things work together for good. Why? Because
it's God who's in charge. It's God who's running the show.
Now we can make a plan and determine beforehand to do something and
something can get in our way. It don't take much to stop us.
We get in our car and turn on the switch and start to roll
and we hear something funny, we got a flat tire. All of a
sudden we can't make our predetermined. Such is not the case with God.
In Isaiah 14, 24, our Lord said, the Lord of hosts that's sworn
saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and
as I have purposed, so shall it stand. That's how it's going
to be, whatever God has purposed. In the word of God, it is declared
that every aspect of the salvation of a sinner, from Alpha to Omega,
is the predestinated work of God Almighty. Every aspect of
it. One word in the original that
is repeated six times in the New Testament, that word is proorizo. We get our idea of the horizon,
we get our word for horizon, and simply that's a marked out
place. That's it. That's a marked out place. It's
not going to change. at all, it's the horizon, it's
the horizon. Our Lord used this word, and
it's translated predestinated or ordained, but it's only used
six times, that particular word. There are other words, prografo
and so forth, but this word, proorizo, is only used six times
in the scriptures. It's a six-pointed star, if you
will. a six-pointed star, and it's
singularly used one place, one way and one way only. It's used
in the doctrine and the teaching of the salvation of poor, wretched
sinners by the mercy and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, six
times. Six times it's used. And the beauty of it is, this
word in the New Testament starts and ends salvation, but it also
forms a chronology a chronology of salvation from its beginning
to its end. Six times, this word only. And
you'll find it interpreted or translated, ordained or predestinated. That's the two words that it's
used. But it's used six times and only in the context of salvation.
That word, no other words are used to say predestination. This
word is only used in this context. No other context whatsoever.
The fact is, if a person hates predestination, and I've had
people stand in my face and say, I hate predestination, I remember
when I first came here. You remember when, well, you
remember when I first came here. Peggy, you remember when I first
came here. I didn't know nothing about nothing. I come in here in a three-piece
suit. Well, I'm wearing a three-piece suit today, but I was wearing
a three-piece suit, because that's what I always wore. I thought
I knew something. I stepped in this place. I stepped
into Cherokee and didn't know nothing about nothing. I've learned
since then, thankfully, some things. But before I got here,
before I even met Max Swimmer, who I stayed the first night
with, before I even met him and his boys in Juanita, the chief
at that time had told a tailor girl not to come hear me. I'd never met him. He'd never
met me, but he told her not to come hear me. And she said, why?
He says, because he preaches predestination. Don't go hear
him because he preaches predestination. Here's the fact. If you hate
predestination, you hate salvation. It's that
simple. If you discount predestination,
you discount salvation. If you are here this hour and
have been saved by the grace of God, your salvation, according
to Scripture, not according to my opinion, but according to
the Word of God, your salvation from inception to culmination
is the predestinated work of God Almighty by His Son through
His Spirit Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the Word of God
teaches. Redemption, salvation, and all its attendant gifts and
graces are according to the purpose and will of God Almighty in predestination. The first time, and we'll look
at these six times. I've preached from these six
passages, I don't know how many times, probably once a year at
least since I've been here 40 years, but I'm gonna do it again,
because we need to be refreshed and reminded continually that
this is how it is. Because the onslaught of the
message of false religion is everywhere. It's on the airwaves,
it's on the computer, it's on Facebook. I get some things that
people I thought believed the gospel, they put things on the
computer. I'm going, what in the world? They put some religious
mess on there, pictures of Y. Bill Hecox saying it's Jesus
and angels and all kinds of stuff like that and say the stupidest
things in the world. And you think, I thought these
people knew the gospel. Be careful what you put on that
machine. Especially if you're a member of this assembly. Don't
put no junk on that, because you're just gonna make me feel
bad about you, and I don't wanna feel bad about you. It's gonna
be that simple. First time this word is used,
proorizo, predestination, is in the event that every believer
would agree is the salvation of God's people. It is the crucifixion
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a predestinated event. That's how it's declared in the
Word of God. The first use of this, and you
might just take your pen and mark down beside this verse,
number one. And anytime you want to know
about predestination, I'll give you to mark the next five verses
too. But in Acts chapter four, Peter's
got out of prison. He was in prison for preaching
the gospel. They told him not to mention the name of Christ
anymore, but that didn't work. And he goes and the church is
waiting for him. He got out of prison, they're glad. And the church together says
something about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter
four. beginning with the word, beginning
with the 21st, 25th verse quoting from Psalm 2. Why, or who, by
the mouth of the servant David has said, why do the heathen
rage? And talking about raging against
Christ. And the people imagine a vain thing. What is the vain
thing? Think they're gonna get rid of God. The kings of the
earth. stood up and the rulers are gathered
together against the Lord and against his Christ, his chosen
and anointed one. For a truth against thy holy
child, Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius
Pilate, that's the king of the Jews and the ruler, the potentate
from Rome, along with the Gentiles, that's us, and the Jews, that's
the nation Israel, were gathered together. Were gathered together. So, the first thing this tells
us is this wasn't a hapistance. This wasn't an anomaly. These people are gathered. And
they are gathered by the Lord of glory. They are gathered in
like a cowboy punches doggies into the corral. They're gathered.
Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Jews and the Gentiles. Why were they
gathered? Now, how were they gathered?
They were gathered because they hated God. They were gathered
because they had poured out all their venom against Jesus Christ
who mourned to get rid of Him. They stood in the courtyard and
cried, crucify Him, crucify Him, let His blood be upon our head,
turn Him over to our will. We'll take care of Him. Their mind is full of hatred,
hatred against God. Does that change anything? No,
God uses that hatred. Because before the world began,
Jesus Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Before the world began, this cross was His destiny. He didn't come to make the world
a better place. The world ain't become a better
place. He didn't come to set himself up as an example. He
didn't come as a martyr for a lost cause. He came to die on the
cross of Calvary. He set his face like a flint
toward Jerusalem. And these full of hate and anger.
How did that anger, what did it accomplish? It accomplished
God's will. In Psalms it says, It says the
wrath of God or the wrath of man praises God and the rest
of it, he will restrain. Look what verse 48 says. They
were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy
counsel, thy purpose determined before to be done. That's why
they were there. God had determined beforehand
that this is where they would be at this time, and this is
what they would do. In fact, we see it all the way
through the Old Testament, Psalm 22. My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? I am a worm and no man. That's
the language our Lord used on the cross. This is the first
use of this word, proerizo, predestination, and it has to do with the fact
that Jesus Christ's work on Calvary was a predestinated, predestinated. Second time it's used, we find
in Romans chapter eight, another familiar portion of scripture.
In Romans chapter eight, it says this in verse 29. for whom he did
foreknow, know beforehand, love beforehand, he also did predestinate,
pro reso, to be conformed to the image of his son that Christ
might be the firstborn among many brethren. So his death was
predestinated, and it was predestinated for a reason. Because those for
whom he died were predestinated to be conformed to the image
of his Son, or made like the Lord Jesus Christ. And they finally
will be in glory. But before God, they are made
like him now. But this is God's predestinated
work. He's predestinated some to be
like his Son, and they're gonna be like his Son. for whom he
did, who did he predestinate, not what. A lot of people say,
well he predestinated all things, he predestinated this, but they're
talking about what? All of these verses are talking
about who's. They're talking about people. They're talking
about people out of humanity. 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. So, the second
use of predestination follows why Christ died. He died to save
his people and these people are those whom God foreknew and predestinated
to be like his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The third time,
this word is used, reveals the manner and the means which the
predestinated death of Christ and the predestinated conforming
of his people to the image of God's sons was accomplished.
How was it accomplished? How are they conformed to Christ? How are they made like Jesus
Christ? Verse 30, moreover, which means
not only that, Moreover, whom he did predestinate, there's
that word again, same word, proorizo, them he also called, and whom
he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he
also glorified. That's how he did it. That's
the means by which he's gonna make us wretched sinners like
his son. How's he gonna do it? First of
all, he's gonna call us. Whom he did predestinate, them he
also called. How does he call us? He calls
us only one way. It ain't a bluebird landing on
your shoulder. It ain't written in the clouds. It ain't a billboard
on the highway. He'll only call you one way, and that's through
the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall
they call on Him whom they've not believed? And how shall they
believe on Him whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear
without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sinned?
This is how it works. Of His own will begat He us with
the word of truth. These are preaching that's to
be called by the gospel. This word preached, you hear
my voice. My voice ain't gonna do you no
good. I can't do you any good. All I can do is point you to
the one who can do you some good. Can tell you about the one who
can do you some good. And that one is the Lord Jesus
Christ. But this word somehow in the
miracle of God, He takes this word and it finds purchase in
the hearts of His people. And they hear His voice, not
audibly. This word is His voice to them.
It's His speaking to them, His divine communication to them. And that's how He calls them.
Paul said it this way, brethren, beloved of the Lord, we are always
thankful to God for you, because God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the
truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. How's he gonna make you
like Jesus Christ? He's gonna call you by his gospel
to start with. Then he says, whom he called, he also justified.
What does that mean? That means you gotta stand before
God without any sin. You gotta stand before God and
God's got to see you without sin. How can that be? We all
know what we are. We know the darkness of our heart.
We know the darkness of our minds. We know our evil thoughts. We
know these things about ourselves. We know that we're just a corrupt
mess. That's all we are. How can God see me? has to justify
without sin. Only one way. If somebody else
stands in my place and takes my punishment that's due me for
my sin. That's what happened on the cross
of Calvary. Jesus Christ was the substitute for sinners. And
that's how Romans 3, 24 through 26 says that's how God can be
just to justify us because Christ was made to be our propitiation
or that which satisfies God's justice. Justify. It's how you're gonna
make us like Christ. How is Christ? He without sin,
never knew sin. How are God's people? They're without sin before
God. He said, I will remember those sins no more. As far as
the East is from the West, that's how far I've separated them from
their sins. This is the work of God. How's
it gonna make us like Christ? He's gonna call us. Gonna justify
us. He says, whom he justified them,
he also glorified. He glorified us. I don't feel
so glorified. I see myself corrupting every
day. I look in the mirror. I'm thinking, I used to be 19
years old. I used to have red hair, red
beard. I ain't got none of that no more. None of it. I used to
have muscles. They're draining away like crazy.
I still lift wood. I still do things physically,
but I look at my arms and this thing's sagging in place. And
I'm going, what happened to my muscles? What happened to that
strong young man who used to throw hind quarters and front
quarters of beef 250 pounds around like they was toys? Work on a
meat block 14 hours a day and hardly break a sweat. What happened
to that boy? He gone. He gone. But I stand before you
this hour a glorified saint. Because of what Christ has done.
Think of that. Glorified. Like his son. Was Christ's holy
garments on, I'm as holy as God's own son. That's what the old
poet said. Not because of something I did,
but because of glorious predestination. Glorious predestination. The
fourth time this word is used is in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians
chapter two, Paul is talking about the gospel. about the gospel. He says in verse seven, but we
speak the wisdom of God, a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained. Now there you go, predestinated. So what's this about? Those first three things we talked
about, Christ's death, accomplishing salvation, being made like Jesus Christ,
being conformed to Jesus Christ, being called, justified, glorified. All those things, except for
calling, maybe could have been done, let's say, without us knowing
about it. God could have chosen us in Christ
before the world began. Christ could have come into this
world and died for us. In that death, we were justified and
glorified. In that death, we were conformed
to the image of His Son, and we might have spit the whole
world not knowing a thing about it. Because that's all God's
work. All His work. All of that spoken
of in Romans 8, 29 and 30 is past tense. Already done. Long
before we got here. So how are we going to find out
about this? How are God's people, whom He's chosen, Would He have
us know it? He would have His people know
it. Here's what it says, this mystery, this gospel was ordained
before the world unto our glory. This gospel, the good news of
salvation was ordained for our glory, predestinated. He's gonna
see for sure that if you are one of those whom Christ died
for, one of those whom he foreknew and predestinated to be like
his son, one of those for whom he justified, called, and glorified,
if you're one of those, he gonna make sure you find out about
it. How's he gonna do it? He ordained
the good news, the gospel, the good news of good things to be
published, to be preached, so his people would hear about what
God had done for them. And that's what the Spirit teaches
us. The Spirit of God ain't gonna make you run to the back of the
pew and act like a fool and speak in tongues. He's not gonna do
that. I can have you do that. If you want to do that, do it
somewhere else. But if you want to do that, go
ahead and do it. You know, I see people all the time raising their
hands doing this and, you know, stuff like this. They say, praise God,
and they've got to raise their hand. I say, do you need to go
to the bathroom? Do you need to be excused? What does the
Spirit do? The Spirit takes the things of
Christ. According to John chapter 16 in verse 8, Christ said, I'll
send you the Spirit. When I come to you, He will take
the things of Christ and reveal them unto you. He will not glorify
Himself. He will not bring attention to
Himself. He will bring attention to me.
Take the things of Christ and show them unto me. And here in
this very same text, Quoting from Isaiah, in chapter two of
first Corinthians, it says, this is ordained for our glory, but
as it's written, I have not seen nor heard or entered the heart
of man the things that God has prepared for them that love him.
Nobody knows, but wait. But God has revealed it. revealed
them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches the things
of God. For what man knoweth the things
of man, save the spirit of man. We understand each other because
we're like each other. I know we're from different tribes,
nations, tongues, and peoples, but there's no difference between
you and me. Cut them, they all bleed the same color. And inside,
they're all depraved by nature, carnal by nature, and desire
the things of man rather than the things of God. All humanity
does. All humanity does. For what man
knoweth the things of man, but, say, the spirit of man, which
is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God. Now we have not received the Spirit of the world,
but the Spirit which is of God, that we might, what, know the
things that are freely given to us of God. And we'll know
that. That's why we have the Spirit,
so we know what God's done for us. That's why you have it. And if you find out what He's
done for you, you ain't gonna bring attention to yourself. you're
gonna bring attention to Jesus Christ. This is God predestinate
his gospel so we would know. The fifth time this word used
is found in Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. Verse four and five it says this,
according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy without blame before him
in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ unto Himself according to the good pleasure
of His will. Heaven predestinated us to the
adoption of children. Those who were blessed to be partakers,
not partakers, but recipients of the work that Christ did on
Calvary to be conformed to Christ, to be justified, glorified, and
called. Those who have heard the gospel
because it was ordained for them are part of the family of God.
God makes us His family. Adoption of children by Jesus
Christ unto Himself. Think about that. This has really
gone a long way, hasn't it? You think about it, he started
out with the cross of Christ. And then the fact that his people
are going to be made like his son and his people he's going
to glorify, call, sanctify. He's going to give them the gospel
so they hear the good news that that's what he's done for them.
But he goes further. He takes wretched, vile, writhing
worms of the dust, maggots on a dove hill, and puts them in
his family, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, puts them in
his temple, and makes them wear the clothes of princes. Why? Because that's what he predestinated
to be done. He predestinated them to be in
his family. We're a child of the King. A
child of God. Think about that. Roll that over
in your head. I'm real fond and proud of my
parents. My dad's been dead six years
now. He died on my son's birthday
six years ago. But yesterday was my dad's birthday.
My dad didn't care about his birthday. He's in glory worshiping
Christ, so why bother? He ain't never gonna die, so
why keep record of how old you are? He ain't never gonna die. He's part of God's family. But
my dad was a rascal. And his children were rascals.
We had way too much mischief. We put all the gray hairs in
my mom and dad's head, we put them there. Because we would
not be held back. This is before TV. We used to
watch radio. We actually watched radio. We
sat in front of it. They'd watch radio. We watched. And they'd
talk about the Lone Ranger and Gangbusters. My grandmother used
to sit down in a chair right in front of me and watch. What
was that show? It was one of those soap operas.
It was 15 minutes long and I mean she was wrapped. Watch that old
radio. As the World Turns or something like that. We watched
radio. Most of the time we was outside.
We didn't have a telephone until I was eight or nine years old,
like we had a telephone. But it was a two-party system.
If we picked it up, somebody else was always talking on the
other line. Outside, though, this great big
world, we set it on fire, literally. We set it on fire. We burned down our ball field
one day and it got out of hand. It was sagebrush and it went
up the hill and fried Van Edwards chickens in the chicken house.
Forty of them. We cut down pine shrubs that
was beating on that fire. We got it beat out before the
fire department got there, but none of us had any eyebrows or
eyelashes. All singed on. We was full of mischief. You
know what we were? Every evening about five o'clock,
mom would say supper's ready. We'd come here and we'd sit around
that table. Why? We're family. That's what we're
doing right now. Sunday mornings and Wednesday
nights, we're called to worship. We'd come and sit around the
table together. Why? We are God's family. We are God's family. That's the
fifth time this word predestinated. Do you still have any qualms
about this word? Does anybody have any qualms?
Isn't this sweet? All this is taken care of. And
the final thing is this. The sixth time it's used, this
word predestination, is found in the 11th verse of Ephesians
chapter one. This is the last time it's used. To prove that you as a believer
or indeed God's child. To prove it, He's put you in
the will. It says, in whom we also have
obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the
purpose of Him who worketh all things after the purpose of His
will. He predestinated us to an inheritance. What is it? Everything. All things
are yours. This new heaven and new earth,
whatever it's going to be like, it's yours. It's yours. Our Father owns the cattle on
a thousand hills. All the gold and silver there
is, it's all His and it's yours. We are heirs of God and join
heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. He predestinated. us to be in
His will and testament. Heirs according to promise. Predestination. Predestination. I love the doctrine and teaching
of predestination. I love it. And if you love me,
you're going to have to love it too. It's as simple as that.
Like a great author said about his umbrella, he said, love me,
love my umbrella. Love me, love my doctrine. It's that simple. Predestination is the doctrine
of salvation. Christ's substitutionary death
was predestinated for those who were predestinated to be conformed
to his image. And those who were predestinated
to be conformed to his image were by predestination conformed
by calling, justification, and glorification. These were informed
of what God had accomplished for them through Christ by the
gospel being predestinated for their glory. They were predestinated
to be in God's family and were to prove that familial relationship
predestinated to an inheritance. That pretty well covers it all,
doesn't it? Those who have no use for this doctrine have no
use for God's salvation. This is the Word of God. We bow
in thanksgiving and praise for He who is magnificent in His
doings. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.