We're continuing chapter of the 1689 confession and the third paragraph in that chapter concerning this wonderful and often neglected concept of God's eternal purpose in our salvation. You realize that your salvation didn't begin with you. It surely began with God, surely began with God in Christ. And what we discover from the Word of God, now, none of us would ever know this, because we can't sense this, we can't experience this, but none of us would ever really know that our salvation is part of this eternal purpose of God. It has been said by greater preachers than I am The greatest thing that you can learn about God is that He has a purpose. And I could say the most enduring thing or the thing that touches us, that affects us so much, that causes us to love our God is to know that this eternal purpose includes us, that God would have us because He loves us. magnificent thing, for God so loved the world. Well, He did give His Son, but way before He gave His Son, He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be His child, and that we should be the fruit of the labors of Christ, who is the firstborn among all of us. That doesn't mean that he didn't exist and he had to be born, but the firstborn among us, that biblical concept is that he's at the head of what we are. This covenant of grace, this covenant of grace is in Christ. And this is the first covenant. There are people that teach on covenants and they usually go and try to teach, you know, pick up the first covenant that's, that basically in chronological order that is mentioned in the Bible, you know, the, uh, uh, the, uh, Adamic covenant or the noadic covenant. But when we come to the new Testament, we learned that there surely was a covenant before this. that all of these other covenants flow out of, and that's the covenant of grace that God had within himself that the Father made with the Son and included the Spirit, you see. So as they organized themselves in what we call the economic trinity, there is a hierarchy in the economic trinity. Now in the ontological, that is in the trinity of being, They're all equal. They're equal in essence and in power and in glory. But in the organization of themselves, and that organization was about us. It was about those that were given to Christ before the world began. The Bible teaches us that for the joy set before him, for the joy set before Christ, He endured the cross, despising the shame. Well, when we look at the cross, I've told you this many times, when you look at the cross, how can you find joy in that? It was brutal. It was bloody. Our Lord was bludgeoned, beaten to such a degree would never have survived. And then they nailed him to a cross. But we learned it wasn't really the nails that held him to the cross. What held him to the cross was his love for us. You want to see some love of God? You want to see the love of God? Look to the cross. how He loves you and me. Man of sorrows, what a name for the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. What can you say about that? Hallelujah! What a Savior. And then we learn how much greater it is than we could have ever imagined at the beginning. Someone preached to us Christ. The Spirit wounded our conscience with conviction. And we saw our need for Christ. And so the preacher told us, receive Christ. Many of us probably were in a context where he said, Come down and receive Christ. Well, obviously, Christ is not at the front of the church. Christ is not dispensed by the preacher. It is the Spirit that awakens you to your need of Christ. It is the Spirit that convicts you of your sin. It is the Spirit that shows you in faith, the giver of faith, For the gospel was preached to them as surely it was to us, but it did not profit them not being mixed with faith. But that morning, or that afternoon, or that night, when you came to Christ, faith was mixed with this gospel, with this preaching, with this Word of God, and you were birthed into the kingdom of heaven. and you became a child of God. You were adopted. You see, being birthed into the kingdom of heaven is about your person. To be adopted by God is about your inheritance. For we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, you see. Because he loved us. So therein is the beauty of the cross. This joy set before Him on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. How I loved that old cross for the dearest and best. for a world of lost sinners, slain. Up Calvary's mountain, one dreadful morn, walked Christ my Savior, weary and worn, facing for sinners, death on a cross. that He might save them from endless loss. Blessed Redeemer. Precious Redeemer. Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree, wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading, blind and unheeding, dying for me. And then we find before that, before his incarnation, before one word was uttered as revelation, before his creation, He loved us before the world began and knew you. And so Jesus says, all that the Father gives me shall come to me, John 6, 37. And if any men come to me, I will in no wise cast them out. So then we read in 2nd Timothy 1 verse 8. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the affliction of the gospel, according to the power of God who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, not anything we did, not anything we said, not anything we believed, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace. Now there is a purpose, and it is grace, but listen to the next phrase. To His own purpose and grace, which was given us, given to us, person, in Christ Jesus. before the world began. So our forefathers taking verses just like this, putting them together in a theological presentation. This is what the Bible teaches. We don't put the 1689 Confession of Faith above the Bible, but we love the 1689 Confession of Faith because it explains magnificently the Bible. We have to be taught. The scripture teaches us that it's faith to faith to faith, that those with faith must speak this message faithfully in order to give rise to those of faith as the Spirit of God attends it. So what was that love or that joy set before Christ? when he was there hanging between heaven and earth, naked, despising the shame. Well, it was you, his people, that he loves with an everlasting, eternal love. Oh, the depths of love divine. None of us will be able to sound that depth. In fact, in heaven for eternity, we will be immersed and we will learn more and more, not only mentally, but experientially the love of God in Christ. So here's what our forefathers said. Now, I know that there are people that kind of take, you know, kind of, an arrogant stance, you know, that, well, I don't read confessions, I read the Bible. Well, that's probably why you misunderstand a lot of it. You better go find someone that knew this, someone that studied this, someone that understands what the Bible is teaching us. Lest you make yourself a fool, speaking the words that you don't understand, and claiming to have something that you never possessed. So it is this faithful men, right? Faithful men gave it to faithful men, who in turn can give it to faithful men, and yet it wasn't of men. This was men being used by God. Their voices became the voice of God. that wakens the dead. Jesus says the day is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of God and live. So here's what they said, those of mankind that are predestinated to life, God before the foundation of the world was laid according to his eternal and immutable purpose, and according to the secret counsel and good pleasure of his will, have chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of his mere free grace and love, without any other thing in the creature as a condition or cause moving him thereunto. Well, what is this paragraph saying? Well, this paragraph is basically saying it's not of you. This is of God. But it's also saying it is not apart from, but in Christ. So we see this wonderful statement. It's out of mere grace and love. God wasn't looking into the creature to find some reason to save him. Some condition that he might draw him to himself. Or some cause. So why should I save such a person? Look, if God was looking for a condition, what would he find? Sin. Degradation. Filth. He would find selfishness. Arrogance and ignorance. I can tell you a dangerous combination. It's ignorance and audacity. Arrogance and ignorance. What a dangerous combination that is. And so many of us walk around in their ignorance and in their arrogance. And when you speak to them the gospel, they huff and contend that they know it. though their lives do not give any evidence of it. You know them. I know them. They have filled our churches. They're in our neighborhoods. They're members of our own family who reject the truth and yet claim to be a child of God. It cannot happen. The Bible itself says that it cannot happen, that such people are liars and they do not the truth. So, but we, we know the Lord. Now, because there's some condition in us. I've heard, you know, predestination explained in the sense that God looked through history, looked through time and he saw, I remember a certain preacher saying this and he called his name. I won't call his name, but let's just say his name was Jim or Joe, common names, right? So he saw that Joe would believe, so he sent the gospel to him. No, that would be a condition he would see in Joe that would cause him to come, you see. Nor this one has done so well. This one has lived a life so magnificent that God says, well, I'll send the gospel to him. No. It's out of His mere grace. So I'll read it. You see, there's some declarative sentences here, some adjectival phrases that I'll leave out. And let me just read you straight what it says. Those of mankind that are predestined to life God before the foundation of the world was laid according to His eternal and immutable purpose. hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory. When were you saved? I mean, we use the word saved in kind of a narrow sense. It's a broad word. But usually we say, when were you saved? What we're really asking someone is when they were converted When did your life change? See, that's what we're asking. When was your conversion? When did you acknowledge Christ? When were you baptized? When did you say to the world, I am a Christian, and I'm not ashamed to bear his name? When did you say that, see? But when we start talking about salvation in a broad sense, then here's what we would have to say. I was saved before the foundation of the world when God chose me in Christ. And yet, we could also say that I was saved when I heard this gospel. And when I responded to that, or maybe even before that, we'd say I was saved when one Friday afternoon One Friday afternoon, outside the walls and the gates of Jerusalem, on a hill called Golgotha, or on a hill that we call Calvary, when Jesus Christ bled and died for my sin, did He make a full atonement? Full atonement, we just sang it, right? Can it be full atonement? Not something that needs something added to it, but full atonement, you see. That Christ himself died for us, bearing our sin, you see. He was delivered for our sin, raised for our justification. So there, dying and bleeding on the cross, one Friday afternoon, you were saved. When God chose you from the foundation of the world You were saved as you ever were going to be saved. But yet Christ had to come. And when Christ bore your sin in his body on that tree, then you were saved as ever you would be saved. But you were born, you were a sinner, you were depraved. You didn't know any of this, even as we've seen. You didn't know that it was for me he died. On Calvary, years I spend in vanity and pride. Is that you? Is that your testimony? Years you spend in vanity and pride. Caring not your Lord was crucified. Knowing not it was for you he died. On Calvary. Well, surely that's my testimony. But one day, the Spirit came, and we were converted. We heard the gospel. The first time you ever truly hear the gospel, you will be converted by the Spirit. The rest of it is not hearing the gospel. You're hearing words. It's kind of like the Peanuts cartoon. I've watched these Charlie Brown things. I guess we call it Peanuts. But the Peanuts cartoon, And when adults begin to talk to these children, you know what they do in the little show. They just have this wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. Kids can't hear adults. That's what it sounds like. According to Schultz, that's what it sounds like when adults try to talk to children. Well, what a beautiful illustration of what it is when a preacher tries to preach the gospel. If you don't have ears to hear it, if it's not mixed with faith, he might as well be saying, wah, wah, wah, wah. But one day, you heard the words differently. One day you saw Christ in a different light. It became personal. even as I heard a testimony. And I trust that it was a true testimony. But here's what the young girl said. I knew he died. I just didn't know he died for me. When you learned he died for you, you said. When this gospel rings true in your heart and mind, then you're saved. And you're as saved as you ever will be saved. But guess what? We still live in a fallen world. And you know what we need? You know what our desperate need is this morning? It's for the Savior to come back and rescue us from this place. And He's coming back. Now, He's coming back either at the end of time to end it all, and I believe that's what the Bible teaches, that one day the last trump of God shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise, and we who are alive, that we shall be caught up with Him. Thus shall we ever be with the Lord. As a young man, I thought the rapture would happen before I died. As a middle-aged man, I still believe that there was hope the rapture would come before I died. Now I'm an old man. I was on the radio Friday with Ted Tibbett advertising what we're doing, or what we were doing here at the garage sale, and Ted Tibbett says, our old friend, Dr. Carey Kimbrell, and he said, well, I don't mean he was old, just a long time. I said, well, you know, if I'm not old, They ain't nobody old. I was telling Sidney and Patricia this morning, I've not made any plans for my burial yet, but I have seen the lights to the cemetery. That's where I'm going. And you know what? I've kind of changed my attitude a little bit. There's a great possibility that I'm going to face death before I face the rapture. I'm beginning to, I mean, I'm like Spurgeon now. You know, Spurgeon says we really have no, nothing in the scripture that teaches us that we should believe that we're the last generation. So, but when I die, He will come. And He will take me from this world. He will not send angels to do His deed. In John chapter 14, and I never really saw this till one time, and I don't even remember whose funeral I was preaching. But you know, it's a common, John 14's a common text at funerals. Let not your heart be troubled. What an interesting commandment. How can you help it? Can you control your heart? Why do I wake up at night concerned about things? I'd rather be sleeping. How can I tell my heart? Heart, be still. But here's the command, it's a passive command, which is interesting. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. King James translates this mansions, others translate it dwelling places. I kind of like mansion. I have a mansion. Liz is saying this. Liz sung this song many times, just over the hill. Have you sung that song, Liz? I like mansion. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also. So I used to think that I was talking about, you know, the final coming of Christ at the end of time. But as I was preaching this verse to that hurting family, it dawned on me that you may be where I am? Look, great mystery. There are bodies out in that cemetery. There are bodies out there that we love. The people that we love. That's all we knew about them is a body. We couldn't see their life. And we couldn't even see when their life left them. Though we were standing by their bedside. Our hearts being broken because the Lord has taken from us someone that we love. They're his, they're believers, and he surely has a right to them. He just lent them to us. But though there are bodies at that cemetery, in that cemetery, our Christian loved ones, our brothers and sisters in Christ, they're not in that cemetery. I know it's a great mystery. And one day those bodies will come up. Behold, I show you a mystery, Paul says. But they're not there. Now, maybe it's all we know of them. And so there's a man, Mr. Landrum, that comes here almost every day. You might see his car out there almost every day. And he goes out there to the tombstone of his wife. because he feels close to her. And I would never, look, I would never make a theological point, yeah, I know. And I'll probably be the same way if I'm in such a place. But she's not there. Where is she? Well, you know where she is, where we will be, with Christ. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again unto you, and I will receive you unto myself, that where I am, where is he? He's at the right hand of God. He's at the right hand of God, ever living, to pray us into heaven, to make intercession for us. Where I am, there you will be also. We don't believe in soul sleep. Les Garrett was a great friend of mine and a wonderful preacher and a defender of the received text, of which I am. But Les had a little bit of a problem. He believed in soul sleep, that you're dying, you stay in some unconscious position until the resurrection. I don't believe the Bible teaches that. I believe that the Bible teaches that Christ is coming. He's not sending angels. He's coming to get you. So he's coming back, whether it be at the end of time, at the last trump, or whether it be That moment when you die, Christ will come. He's owned you before the foundation of the world. He's known you before you were. He knew you by name. Before He knitted you together in your mother's womb, He knew you. And He came to the cross. And Isaiah chapter 53 gives us a detail that even the New Testament doesn't give us. It says, when He made His soul a sacrifice for sin, He saw His seed. He saw you. When He was on the cross, you were on His mind. Not in a mass, because He's infinite. He has infinite knowledge. He knew you fully. He gave all His attention to you dying on that cross. Knowing your name. Your name. Your name. Why? Because you're a part of this purpose. Why should this offend anyone? Why should this be a hateful doctrine? Why should this be something that people disdain? Why? I don't understand it. Unless it's this, they're making some allowance for a loved one who really had no evidence that they were Christians, but yet made some profession and hoping beyond hope that they are in Christ. Or it's because they know that they're not. I had a man to tell me one time in a bookstore, he says, Every preacher I've ever known said if I would just confess Christ, I'd be saved. And now you're telling me that God has to do something for me before I do that? That God had to do something for me? I said, yes, sir, that's right. And he said, well, God's never done anything for me. I said, sir, you need to fall on your knees even now and beg God to do something for you in Christ. That's why they hate it. But I can tell you this. If you know the Lord and He's real to you, this idea of predestination and election can only increase your love and security. can only increase your love and assurance that you are His. What a beautiful doctrine. What a magnificent truth. Oh Lord, thank You that You saved me, not because of any condition in me, not any condition I'm in, or not any cause I've done, but out of your mere grace to the glory of Christ. Let's pray.