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Tonight I'd like to again pick
up the Cadence of Dorth and redirect your attention to Article 13
and 14 of the First Chapter or the First Head, page 99 in the
back of your Psalter. I'll read those first. It's been a while In article
12, it was clearly taught biblically that we are able to know whether
we are elect. Wasn't that a beautiful statement
on the tidbits from Kernel this week? When we may read the grace
of God in our life, it is as if we stood by the elbow of God
when he wrote his name in the book. That was beautiful, how
he put it like that. That's what Article 12 is teaching
us. So, having heard that it is possible, then Article 13,
the sense and the certainty or the assurance of this election,
add forth to the children of God additional matter, for daily
humiliation before him, for adoring the depth of his mercies, for
cleansing themselves in sanctification and rendering grateful returns
of ardent love to Him who first manifested so great love towards
them. The consideration of this doctrine
of election is so far from encouraging remissness, slackness in the
observance of the divine commands, or from seeking men in carnal
security that these in the judgment of God are the usual effects
of rash presumption, or of idle and wanton trifling with the
grace of election in those who refuse to walk in the ways of
the elect. And as the doctrine of divine
election by the most wise counsel of God was declared by the prophets,
by Christ himself, by the apostles and is clearly revealed in the
Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testaments, so it is still
to be published or preached in due time and place in the Church
of God, for which it was peculiarly designed, provided it be done
with reverence, in the spirit of discretion and piety. for
the glory of God's most holy name, and for the enlivening,
reviving and comforting his people, without vainly attempting to
investigate the secret ways of the Most High. Orpah writes, I have not shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. And O the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are
his judgments and his ways past finding out! For who has known
the mind of the Lord, who has been his counselor?" Romans 11. For I say, through the grace
given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly,
according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Romans 12. And lastly, wherein God willing
more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability
of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable,
unchangeable things, in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have in strong consolation, comfort, encouragement,
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us. We have already looked at this
Lord's Canons, 13 and 14, in the beginning, but I'd like today
to finish it with you. One of Satan's main devices is
distortion. Children, that's how it started
in paradise. He cast just a tiny little different
light on the truth. He distorted, he twisted what
God said. God said you can eat of all the
trees except one. Satan says, you cannot eat of
all the trees, can you? That's true, both of them are
true. But he distorted it, and that's his master device, of
distorting the truths of God. Now he has never quit that since
Genesis 3, because of course after the Gospel is published
and after the Lord has revealed to us more of what took place
in eternity, he's been ever busy distorting that. And one of the
great doctrines of the scripture, that Satan likes to distort,
is predestination. Misinformation about it helps
him tremendously. Our quote is from Braco, this
paragraph. Due to the repeated slander by
individuals with evil motives, predestination gives some offense,
triggers prejudice, and is repulsive, hateful, to people who are both
ignorant and filled with resentment against this doctrine. Now, you
meet people like that, who do not understand the message that
is in the scripture about the destination. They are prejudiced
or misinformed, and they don't see the beauty of it. And just
as Brackel says, that is done often by individuals with evil
motives. But that's done. We're talking
to us tonight. Let's test your own thinking. When we read the Articles, and
when we contemplate the Great Doctrine of Predestination, God
has elected from all eternity a certain number of people whom
He has chosen to be with Him in all eternity, and without
holiness and in blame we form in love for Christ's sake. How do you respond? What is your
first reaction when you think about predestination? I would love to share those answers
with you and with each other, what our responses are, but I
have to generalize a little bit. Does that wing to you a sense
of comfort? Predestination, that gives me
hope. That's going to encourage me
to get on my knees, to pray? God's predestination is going
to help me search Him more diligently than ever before? Is it an encouraging
truth to your mind? Does it ever function in your
prayer life as an encouragement to seek God? Now, if that's the
case, then you are beginning to see the light. of predestination. That's exactly why the Lord has
revealed it, obviously to honor His own glory. He has done that,
to show forth His own sovereign glory. But He has made this part
of His secret will and hidden will known to us for that purpose,
so you would feel drawn to Him, you would feel encouraged to
come. you would be more diligent to use the means of grace, rather
than less diligent. You would indeed seek Him with
freedom to save you, even though you could think maybe of two
reasons why you shouldn't, or maybe ten reasons why you shouldn't,
or maybe a million reasons why you shouldn't. Now even though
when you feel that you are the worst one, if you feel that,
you have all the freedom to boldly come before this God and say,
Lord, though I am the worst one in the whole world, I am asking
Thee, Lord, Thou save me. Not because you are worthy, but
because He is a sovereign, electing God, and why indeed you may have
that liberty is because He didn't look at anyone or anything else. And it is revealed to us that
God moved having no desire in the death or pleasure in the
death of the wicked. You know what predestination
is all about? I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. That's predestination. You see that? Because here we
are laying in the valley of destruction. We're all indeed destroying ourselves.
We have destroyed ourselves in our deep fall. We're like this
valley of dead bones. He could leave us all there.
I have no desire in the death of the wicked. Read through these
texts of scripture, friends, this very comfort of the doctrine.
Now, if on the opposite, you feel when you read about predestination,
you're troubled, you're discouraged, you feel unmotivated and slothful,
You feel like there is no hope for me, there is no sense in
praying, then you do not understand at all the doctrine of predestination. Wisdom is justified by its children,
Jesus says, and so your wisdom is justified by the children,
your feelings, your reactions, your responses to what God's
doctrines are all about. And if your responses are, I
am discouraged, I don't feel like seeking the Lord, I'm unmotivated,
I'm slothful, this is a hindrance, you're not in the book, you're
not in the book, there's no hope, you don't have wisdom. Because
the children of your thinking tell you that you don't have
wisdom. You don't have insight, you don't have a light. It's a wonderful scripture in
this prayer of Jonah congregation, I've referred to it before and
I'll read it again to you. Jonah's in the fish, right? This is what he says, they that
observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. Now imagine
the storm in Jonah's heart. Imagine what must have gone on
in that man's heart when he's sitting in that fish. The man
says, it's done for you. That's done. You've gone too
far, man. There's no hope for you anymore.
You're going to be in this fish sin. That's where you're going
to end your life. Now, you've sinned against knowing
the Lord. You knew how merciful and good
He was. And you went and ran the other
opposite way. You're done for. Now, if Jonah
would have listened to that, he would have observed lying
vanities. He would have observed something which was opposed by
the facts. Think about it. If you would
have thought that, you finished Jonah, God has cast you off,
you are gone beyond, there is no more hope for you, there will
be lying vanities. Why? He will forsake his own
mercy. Why? Why was there a fish? Why didn't he sink like a piece
of lead in the Mediterranean Sea? Why the fish gobble him
up? Why is he still alive in that
fish? Those are the evidences that
there is still hope. Right? There is still mercy.
And Jonah prays in the bottom of that fish, Lord, my eyes are
towards thy temple. In New Testament language, my
eyes are to Christ. have mercy on me. No congregation
can think about it this way. Is there mercy, is there hope
for you? Why would I be here? Why am I preaching to you the
gospel tonight again? Why am I unfolding to you, week
after week, the message of God on this book? Why are you still
alive? Why have you been brought into this church since your birth
or throughout your life? Why? Now listen to what God is saying
to that. Because He speaks about mercy to you. He's opening the
door. He's calling us. Now if we want
to forsake these lying mercies and these lying vanities and
begin to stop thinking the way we by nature think and begin
to think on God's level of thinking. and you see that all these evidences
that are surrounding your life speak one word, that is hope
for you. No matter where you are, if you
are in the fishes belly of Jonah, there is hope for you. Forsake the lying vanities, because
if you don't, you forsake your own mercy. And so again, the
quote with Braco, and then we'll go through our outline. Braco
says in scripture, however, bears abundant testimony to this doctrine,
and since it is a matter of supreme importance, giving us a proper
understanding of the entire way of salvation, and since it is
a fountain of comfort and of genuine sanctification, nothing
must be held back of the entire counsel of God. That's exactly
what he's saying in article 14. We need to preach. and teach
and meditate and search out this doctrine. Now, let us together
look this evening at the biblical use of election. I have already
covered the first point in my first sermon, which dealt with
this to advance the life of godliness. I've seen something of that congregation
the last week in China. We studied gospel destination,
Ephesians 1. I started to demand, what were
you? before God stopped you. No, we were dead trespassers
of sin. We're out in the world. We're living for the world as
drunks and as life beaters and all these other things. That's
what you were. What are you now? Well, we have been spiritually
quickened. We have been changed. The Lord has changed our heart.
Why has the Lord changed your heart? Ephesians 1 tells you we have been predestinated
from all eternity, chosen before the world began. You know, I've
seen something so beautiful that day, and that opened up to their
understanding. These men were in the dust that
evening. Saturday morning, some of them
with tears shouted out as they shared with the group what the
doctrine of predestination did to them that day. As they wiped
it out, I have never understood the greatness of God's grace. Humility is the first fruit that
our canon speaks of. See that again. It makes a man
humble as he adores and adores the goodness of God in the grace
that he has given. The second one is praise and
adoration. Who is a king likened to Him
who would save me at such a cost? If you are saved by God, and
if you may know that, you will indeed be filled with praise.
Thirdly, you will be devoted to Him. Devoted in what shall
I render to this God? What can I do? What can I speak? What can I share? What can I
reflect? Show my gratitude. Fourthly,
it is to the encouragement. Daily defeated in our struggles
against sin. That's the struggle we have,
daily. Daily fell. What an encouragement to know
that my salvation is not based on me and my doings and my performance,
but based on the finished work of a triumphant God in Jesus
Christ. I cannot imagine a greater comfort
than to know that my salvation is secure in a sovereign God. That's another of the four biblical
uses of the election as we looked at. And therefore, the more holiness
and the more growing in grace, the more we desire that, the
more we want to make our calling and election sure, which is the
call and the command of 1 Peter 2 or 2 Peter 1, We have to learn that that testimony
the Holy Spirit doesn't give to sloppy Christians. You read
2 Peter 1, you add to your faith virtue and brotherly kindness
and charity and you read the rest. And the Holy Spirit will also
honor such a life with that testimony. also that he testifies to the
children of God that they are the children of God. Now let's
look at the second part of this sermon. The biblical use of the
election is to stop ungodliness and unbelief. So the rest of
the sermon this evening, friends, is to those of you who are unsaved.
What do you do with the doctrine of election? And how ought you
to use this doctrine Now, there are many who are using the doctrine
of predestination and election as a comfortable pillow, but to their destruction. It
is a pillow. It is a very great comfort. But
there are some people who are using the doctrine of predestination
and election to excuse themselves from what they are and how they
live. Now that's very smart. That is very clever, but very
ungodly. The Bible speaks about those
type of individuals. The canons of the Lord do speak
about them. Let's look at two or three of them. There's the
light-hearted. The light-hearted, they use the
doctrine of election to somehow justify their disobedience. The
end of chapter 13 speaks about those who are using the doctrine
of election in such a way that they are wantingly trifling with
the grace of election and so continue to walk in the ways
of disobedience. How does that work? I hope tonight
that God will do something in your mind, dear friends. all
reasoned out of the scriptures that Christ was the Messiah.
Tonight I will reason with you as I preach to you about how
you think and how crooked our thinking is about election and
about predestination. And when I share this with you,
I don't condemn you. I used to think exactly like this when
I was a teenager. There was one doctrine of the
scriptures that your pastor has fought with and argued my dear
old father into tears with, it is this doctrine. I still remember
on the way to Rotterdam and he went off to the theological school
to teach and I went on the train to my university. He left me
always with a little note of encouragement. I never understood
it. I slammed the door sometimes. It says, son, the only hope I
have for you, God's sovereign predestination. So the last thing
I wanted to hear, because that was my hindrance to be saved. And I hope you understand tonight,
because some of you may think the same way this evening. Well, if I'm elect, all will be well at last. No matter what I'm going to do,
no matter what I'm not going to do, if I'm elect, it will
be all well. I don't have to worry. I don't
have to busy myself. I will do whatever I want to.
To stay happy, to make everybody happy, myself happy, my parents
happy, my church happy, and God a little happy. But if I'm in
that book, well, at God's time, it will happen. He will turn
me for my way. If it's a bad way, He'll turn
me. If it's a half-bad way, He will
turn me. If it's a half-half-bad way, He'll turn me. If it's a
good way, He'll still have to turn me. If I'm a righteous young
ruler, I still have to be turned, and He will turn me. And if I'm
a wicked old murderer who hangs nearly on the cross ready to
die, he'll still turn me. But I'm in the book. And no matter what, I can just
live. And all my seeking and all my
knocking and all my being serious will never help me. I still hear
myself say to my dad, I can pray myself blue in the face. And
you know. My name is not in the book, it's
never going to get in there. Yep, I know that son. So then
what's the use? Why do you tell me to be so diligent
in the means of Christ? Why do I have to listen to it?
Yes, I'll come to church, I'll say, that's good, I will do that,
but I know in my heart nothing of what I do is going to make
a difference about that book. Does that sound familiar? I know it
does. There may be some of you who
think that way, even though you've never said it out loud. Now, what is so strange about
this thinking, it's so inconsistent. If God determined you to be rich,
assume that God determined you to be a millionaire. You don't know that. But if God
said in his book, Providence or Victory, so and so is going
to be married at the age of 40. Does that mean I'm not going
to work? Does that mean that I'm not going
to worry about saving anything? If God determined I'm going to
be rich, I'm going to be rich. And if God determined I'm not going
to be rich, I'm not going to be rich. I'm just going to not wisely invest my
money, I'm not going to work hard, I'm just going to do whatever
I want, I'm going to buy whatever I want. None of us think that
way. Because we know if we do that, will never be rich. We
waste our resources. And yet, dear friends, spiritually,
we often do think that way in our fallen condition, in our
fallen, darkened, foolish thinking. If I'm in the book, and if I'm
not in the book, then we decide what we're going to You don't
know if you're in the book. And you don't know and you will
not know. And God will not make it known until it is his time
to make it known by the fruits of grace. But you know what is
the heart behind this reasoning? It's exactly what it says in
our canons here in article 13. We do not want to walk in the
ways of the elect. Let us get to the bottom of the
issue. We hate God's law. We hate holiness. We hate being
imprisoned in our self-love. We hate having to crucify the
things that we like. We hate to give up our pleasures.
And a nice justification of it is, if I am not predestinated, then
it doesn't really matter. And if I am, then it doesn't
really change either. I'll get there anyway. So, I can obviously not violate
my conscience without finding some smokescreen, and I find
it in the justification by taking my refuge to election. My friends,
that is lying vanity. When we come to stand before
the Lord Jesus, then you have one answer for us. He says, you
would not have me, your King. Bottom line issue, you did not
want me as your king. That's what it is. And I want
you to ask yourself this evening, you do not recognize that that's
not the core of all our issues. We want our own way, not God's
way. In our fallen condition hostile enemies, hardened objectors,
we want our way, not God's way, a narrow way that leads to life. Not because we walk on it, but
because it is in Christ. So that's the first light-hearted
abuse of the doctrine of election. And friends, biblical election
is never to encourage ungodliness, it is to stop ungodliness. It
is also this evening to do that. Let us consider together the
second thought after we sing. We'll sing from Psalm 233, verse
2, 3, 5 and 6. Bow down thine ear, O Lord, and
hear, for I am poor and great my need. And that's verse 1,
and we don't sing that. We're going to sing verse 2.
O Lord, be merciful to me, for all the day to thee I cry. 2,
3, 5, and 6 of 233. O come, O come, all ye faithful
joyful and free! O come, O come, all ye faithful
joyful and free! O come, O come, all ye faithful
joyful and free! ♪ May joys of heaven come to thee
♪ ♪ Dive in my soul, love of Christ ♪ ♪ Dive in my soul, love of Christ ♪ So honor, honor this night, And
may each day forget the night. that in their dreams they shall
find good company in all their lives, great company. ♪ With open arms ♪ ♪ Raised above
the clear skies ♪ ♪ From the rifts wide and the northern skies ♪ God is the shelter of thy throne.
Heaven and earth create and glorify. Heaven and earth give and glorify. Dear heart, it shall break apart,
Thou unto God a-giv'n Queen. Bring me, return me, I desire, Now the second misapplication. It's the one in Romans 6 verse
1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin? That
grace may abound. These errors and these patterns
of thinking are not new, congregation. There are some people who are
falsely spiritually minded. They say, come, we'll only bring
greater glory to God when he will save me from the way of
far more glorious to God to save me from the barstool than from
the church chair. That's the thinking behind it.
See? We continue in sin, and we go real deep in sin, and if
God will take us out, I will serve to enhance the glory of
God's grace. That sounds very spiritual. That
sounds very soulful. That's all it is. It sounds that
way. It isn't. But yet there are people like
that, and I hope none of those are sitting in front of me, who
in their mind think, oh well, God will glorify himself more
when he saves us or others from the way of sin. He saves me or
my children from a deep way of sin. It will only enhance his
glory. So I'm not going to say too much to my kids. I'm not
going to forbid him, because it doesn't change, he only makes
hypocrites, and I don't want to make him a hypocrite. Besides,
it is the grace of God that needs to save them, and give my children space so God
can convert them, and if God would convert them from wherever
they have gone, all that glory that would give to God. That sounds very biblical. But
it's not biblical. Our canons speak of that in a
very uncertain, I mean, a very certain terminology. I'll read it for you. There are
those who, from a rash presumption, are idle or wanton, trifling
with the grace of election. That's what they call it. That's
an attitude of rash presumption. That is wickedly using the doctrine
of God's grace to excuse yourself in sin. God forbid congregation that
any of us would ever have that type of thinking living in their
hearts or minds or adopting that as your life way of thinking
about predestination. It's a carnal and a chilling
unconcern about God's glory to think that way, that God will
Will there be sin more, and by grace of bounds, God's grace
will be so much more glorified if he saves us from the way of
sin? You think that Paul's conversion
was more glorious than Timothy? You're wrong. They're both glorious. Timothy
was as bad as Paul was. Don't think that way. We need
to think biblically about what God calls us to do and His will
is revealed to us. Never does God's secret will
or decree determine our present action. Nowhere does the scriptures
encourage you to say, well just take it easy, don't be too diligent,
Don't take your responsibility too far, also not in how you
lead your own life or how you try to lead other people's lives,
because you know if it's Father's will, you'll get there anyway.
Where in the world do you find it in the Bible? God hammers in the Scriptures
on what our duties are. He hammers on what our calling
is. And He encourages us by bringing
out this marvelous revelation of His sovereign grace. not to lull us to sleep, not
to excuse us as it were to keep going because we can't save ourselves
anyway, but to encourage us to seek Him, because His grace is
free, His grace is sovereign. You know what advice would you
follow when you are sick with a dangerous illness? Oh, don't worry about the doctor's
advice. Eat what you want, do what you
want, live like you like, don't worry. God set the time of your
departure. Don't bother listening to the
doctor. You ever think like that? Of
course we don't. We diet, we exercise, we cut
out this, we add this, we add this and that, all for our body's
sake. Well, we know from the scripture
that the day of your death is eternal and the way you are going
to die is eternal. But then suddenly people don't think the way they
think about their own salvation. It's a contradiction. Because
the way I think about God's election would excuse me for living a
lifestyle of sin and unbelief and being of the world and going
in the world and doing whatever I need to do and want to do. And why is that? Because we ultimately
love our bodies more than we love our souls. And we ultimately
love ourselves more than we love the glory of God. That is a rash
and an idle, wanting, trifling, with the grace of God's election. Dear friends, instead heed God's
call. The verse we read tonight. See,
the people in Isaiah and Ezekiel's days are arguing, the ways of
the Lord are not equal. It is not equal the way the Lord does
things. The Lord is not equal, O you house of Israel. He also
says, I will judge you, everyone, after his race. And this is what
I call you to do. Turn ye, because I don't have
any pleasure in the death of your wicked. Turn for what? Turn
from your own thinking. Begin there. Do not think that
I push you into Babylon because I have no pleasure in you. I
could have buried you out there in Jerusalem, dead, under the
ruins of the city. Why do you think you're in Babylon?
Because I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. I am
giving you some more space and time to repent. That's why. Why are you today alive in the
church here? Why? Because God has no pleasure
in your death. But he could certainly have made
that happen already a long time ago, because he's angry with
the wicked every day. And who are wicked? Those are
unbelievers. People who refuse to bow to the authority of Jesus
and confess Jesus as the glory of God the Father. They're wicked.
They're being church. Why are you still here? Because
I have no pleasure in the death of you. I'm giving you tonight
another call. I am giving you another dunging,
around a tree, O my friend, come to repentance, acknowledge your
wrong ways, and turn to me, come to me, neglect not so great salvation. That's why we're here this evening,
to hear about the biblical doctrine of election to those of you who
are unsaved this evening. It's the encouragement to seek
Him tonight, on the basis of this wonderful
truth that He did not look at any of you and me in order to
open the door to the merits of His Son Jesus Christ, the Sovereign
and Free. Now I can imagine that some of
you may be sitting here tonight saying, you know, that is something
I cannot believe, that it would be for me. Well, friend, I wish
where you sit, that I could sit next to you. Because I cannot
believe it either, unless the Lord gives that. And from the
Scripture it is clear, the message that the Word of God speaks is
a message that hinges right into your and my needs. God has no
pleasure in the death of the wicked, but he turns from his
way. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why would you
die, O house of Israel?" That's what God is calling us to do.
Now let's close with two more areas in thinking that I'd like
to tie into this. And this evening, like I said,
I'm trying to be like Paul as he reasons with Sergius Paulus. And I know Elimas the sorcerer
is here tonight too. The Prince of Darkness is trying
to poison your mind as I preach. That battle is taking place every
time I preach. There's always one who's whistling
in your other ear other truths. And what are some of those truths
that keep us from believing the gospel message? Well, here's
one. Some people think that God is willing to give you everything
but you've got to do something for it. How common that thinking is.
God is willing to give you everything but you've got to do something
for it. Like what? Well, you have to go to church.
pray, to read, to repent, to believe. If you're a very good
man, always be nice. If you do all these things, God
will save you. As I have said it last week,
Friday on Good Friday, that's no gospel. That's sending you
back to the workhouse. That is climbing your way to
heaven. The Bible does not say that anywhere. that God is willing
to do something for you, but you've got to do something for
Him first. You know, God is not in trade me, as many of us are. Trade me doesn't
exist in the Gospel. It is a free and a sovereign
gift. Indeed, as I said this evening,
the Father is seeking. Seeking. Is He really? Well,
that's what our Lord Jesus said, and He always spoke the truth.
As he is speaking to the woman in the Samaritan vow, he says
to her these words, words that never fail to really, in a certain
way, astound me. The hour is coming when a true
worshipper shall worship the Father in the Spirit and truth,
for the Father's seeker eats such to worship Him. Just think
of it, dear friends. He is a sovereign Father. the
creator of heaven and earth, and he is revealed in this scripture
as seeking. God is seeking, he can command
everything, he knows everything, but he is seeking tonight, telling
us indeed, I am willing and able to save you for my own sake. But must I not first pray? Must
I not first read? Must I not first repent? Must
I not first have more conviction? Must I not have first more sorrow
of sin? Must I not must for be humbled?
Must I not first be more holy? No. No. That is not what he's asking. That is nowhere in the Bible
such a thing, that he's asked to do that. That would be teaching
you, that would be teaching that somehow you need to save yourself
a little bit in order for you to believe that you are indeed
willing, welcome to come at the feet of this great sovereign
God. It's again mixing the words,
works with grace, and what a poor message. I know there are people
here who have tried to be better. You've gone home from this place,
and you've found your place to pray, and you come on your knees,
it's home, and there's no more prayer left. Right? You say, Lord, I was so desirous
in church to pray to Thee, and I come at home, and there's not
a prayer left. And you've tried indeed to become
better, and to trust in the Lord. You've tried to come to the Lord
and to believe in Him. And you can't believe. You've tried to trust in His
Word, and you come home, and you can't. trust in it. You fail,
and you discover that it's not just this sin and that sin you
need to cut out, you need to cut out your heart, and that's
impossible. That's impossible, isn't it? And so we keep on struggling
and we keep on struggling and we keep on struggling to make
ourselves just a little tiny bit better in order to be saved. Wrong. That is not gospel thinking. Is Jesus a Savior, or is He not? Yes, friends, He is. And what
does He say? Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. Or can I say it differently?
Come all to me, you who are trying hard and are failing. I want you to come to me, because
I am the Savior, not you. It's not a deal, it's not a trade
meet. It's free, sovereign grace. And so the Lord stands before
us in His Word. No, not only the Lord, the Father is seeking
tonight such who will worship Him. In what way? In truth and
spirit. Lord, I believe, thou help my
unbelief. Oh, you may say that. Please,
be honest in your prayers. Don't pretend to have faith when
you don't have faith. Don't pretend to be holy when
you're not holy. Don't pretend to be humble when
you're not humble. Don't pretend to be sincere when you're not
sincere. Be honest. Rutherford says, bring to Jesus
Christ your sins, your sinnership, not your saints and your saintship. That's what Jesus came for. He
says, I know God is merciful, another one of these crooked
thinkings that we so often have, but I need to convince Him to
have mercy on me, and so I'm going to pray real hard that
God will have mercy on me. I've prayed for a long time already.
I'll pray more. Who of you think that way? I
have to convince heaven to have mercy on me. How are you going to convince
him? Well, I'm trying best, and I'm being humble, and I show
my sorrow, and I improve my lifestyle, and I pray harder. Now, none
of these things are bad. None of these things are disapproved. But don't think that any of those
things move the heart of God to mercy. Why? Because if you
have sorrow over sin, and if you have an humbled spirit, and
if you have a broken heart, and if you are indeed walking in
tenderness before the Lord, that is His mercy already. That's His grace already. That's Him inclining your heart,
instead of you trying to incline His. Dear friends, that's the
beauty of the message of the Gospel, of God's sovereign grace. It is not anything of us. We
come to Him in order to be what we need to be and cannot be.
God is convincing you in the Scriptures, He is already gracious
to you and He has more grace to give. More grace to give? Yes, even the supremest grace
of pardon. We don't earn His faith. We don't think of his love as
conditional. One of the things, again, that
came out so beautifully in discussions in these Chinese cultures is
so different than ours, but not altogether. Most of these men,
if not all of them, shared with me that they grew up thinking,
the only way that my dad will love me, if I meet his standards. If I meet his standards, he'll
love me. So I'll keep fighting and doing
my best to meet my dad's standards, so he'll love me. That's their thinking, right?
And now they're thinking biblically, I'll do my best. I'll do my best,
God will love me. How many of you think that way?
Maybe you grew up that way too, I have to do my best in order
to get my dad's love. Do my best, be good, work hard,
show respect, do all these things, so dad will love me. That's conditional
love. But please, though you may have a debt like that, God
the Father is not like that. Don't think that way about God
the Father. Don't think that way about the God of the Scripture.
His love is unconditional. We never earn His favor. It is
free. But you know what the prodigal
son was thinking is exactly right. We'll go back home. I can be
His servant. Maybe I can earn my way back
into His favor. Wrong. he discovered his father
has unconditional love. Even though he made himself the
most disfavored kid on the street, he was received home in love. That's the God, friends, that
the scriptures speak about, and especially reveals himself in
this act of his predestinating grace. So I close tonight with
quoting a well-known poem that I always think about when I preach
Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal know respite? No. This, for sin, could not
atone. Thou must save, and Thou alone.
In my hand no price I bring. Simply to Thy cross I cling. Not what these hands have done
can save this guilty soul. Not what I feel or do can give
me peace with God. not all my prayers and sighs
and tears can bear my awful load. Thy work alone, O Christ, can
ease this weight of sin. Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
can give me peace." and Father of the Lord Jesus
Christ, O will Thou send Thy light and Thy truth to lead us
into these marvelous revelations of the Holy Scriptures so far
beyond our human thinking, beyond our comprehension and understanding. Thou wilt lead us into these
mysteries of the kingdom of Jesus. O wilt Thou cure our thinking,
Lord? Wilt Thou indeed silence the
limest of sorcerer who in each one of our lives, and especially
in those, Lord, who are unsaved, will continue to harass? with the wrong teaching and the
wrong thinking about thy message. And thou, O great God, alone
can silence them and eliminate it and bring in us the healthy
thinking that every thought of us may be brought into the captivity
through Jesus Christ and his wonderful gospel. Lord, make
room for thyself in our lives. make us to hunger and to thirst,
make us humble, make us need Thee, make us, O Lord, to feel
our sin as sin. O, we cannot give it ourselves,
Lord, but Thou art a God of sovereign grace. Make us sincere, make
us indeed diligent, make us believers, repenters, Thou hast come to
be the Savior, Lord. Thou hast sent Thy Son into this
world to save sinners. And we are presenting ourselves
and all those among us this evening at Thy holy throne that Thou
hast opened even this day. And so lay Thy hands upon us,
Lord. Save us from that pit of destruction
that we dug ourselves. Come and be mindful of us all
in this week. Help us in our work. give us
the blessings of joy and strength and ability in all that we need
to do. And Lord, will Thou graciously
protect us in our work also, in all these dangers. Will Thou
guide us in our journeys. We command Ari and Michelle,
give them a wonderful time overseas in safety, meeting their friends,
their relatives and also their children and grandchildren. And
so, Lord, may we see them again in due time. in good health and
well-being. We of others are travelling this
way, we of Daniel and Julia, we of Julissa, Stephan and his
wife and children. For child, Lord, be so mindful
of them all and give them safety that we may see each other again
next week Sunday when thou wilt again open the doors. Thank thee
for this wonderful day, Lord, for thy presence and thy word
among us. O Thou art in wonder doing, gracious
God, hear us and receive our praise and thanksgiving and petitions
in Jesus' name. Amen.
The Biblical Use of the Doctrine of Election (2)
Series Canons of Dort Series
BIBLICAL USE OF THE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION (2)
II. The Biblical use of election is to stop ungodliness in unbeliever
| Sermon ID | 41110442370 |
| Duration | 54:50 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | Ezekiel 33:10-20 |
| Language | English |
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