Well, I didn't realize that I would be able to get one message out of this paragraph in the fourth paragraph in the third article about God's decrees. And so the paragraph reads, not only did I get one out of it, it looks like I might get one and a half. I don't know how long this will take us, but we'll be finished when I'm finished. But the article says, these angels and men thus predestinated and foreordained are particularly and unchangeably designed. And so we look at the words here. Now, when you read these paragraphs, they're so packed with theological information, with biblical information, that you need not read over these words without considering exactly what they are. And so here we have the word predestined, we've explained that. It's angels and men, we've explained that. And foreordained, that means before God has declared and ordained it. They are particularly and unchangeably designed. So there's the word. There is design in this. This is not willy-nilly. This is not capriciousness that God just, you know, in some act of emotion or, you know, some random desire to do something, No, it's all designed. It is perfectly designed. So it is a plan. I remember it was, I think Henry Mahan, if I'm not mistaken, and Henry Mahan said that the greatest thing that you can learn about God is that he has a purpose. It's amazing how, Few people really understand that, that God indeed is a God of purpose, that these things are not just randomly happening to us, but God is bringing these things about for His declared and purposed end, that is informed by His omniscience, by His wisdom and knowledge. God is bringing about this plan that flows from him. And many don't understand that. It's kind of like they wake up in a different world every morning, and they don't have any true understanding. Because Arminianism is really You know, I remember Martin Lloyd-Jones talking about, you know, in that great Welch accent, he said, oh, the ignorant Armenian, that he doesn't know God. Now, the Calvinist knows God more fully. We have a great high view of God, but the Armenian has a diminished view of God because they have a God who's waiting to see what will happen. A God who's waiting on men to see if he might be able to get men to do what men really don't want to do, but he encourages them to do it. And it's a mere persuasion, a mere persuasion from the Armenian. That's his understanding. But we know that it is not just a mere persuasion, though indeed God does persuade, but this is purpose, this is design. The Lord is bringing about, work out your salvation, as Paul writes to the Philippian church, work out your salvation in fear and trembling, for it's God in you, God in you, both willing and doing of his good pleasure, you see. So there is a design in this. And their number, so certain and definite. And these things are not just multiplying adjectives here. But each one of these have an understanding, so certain and definite. So it cannot be increased or diminished. I remember listening one day to, uh, uh, well, come up with his name, uh, who was in, in Virginia, uh, the, uh, the Armenian preacher. Anyway, uh, he claimed that he was a Calvinist. Uh, he said he was a Calvinist. and that he did believe in Calvinism, but he said that it was, that he came to the conclusion that the more doors you knock on to give a witness, Jerry Falwell, that the more doors he knocked on to give a witness, the more God elected people Well, it's kind of humorous in some degree. I mean, I really do understand this point, right? I mean, this shouldn't, these concepts should not bring you to inactivity. If these concepts, if you understand the doctrine of predestination, the doctrine of election, if you understand it in such a degree or such a way, I should say, that you think, well, God will get it done no matter what I do, then you have surely misunderstood it. No, this is to, this is not to diminish us to inactivity, but to spur us to great activity. And the illustration that I use often, in fact, I used it last June, not this past June, but the June of 24, when I was in Zambia. And the illustration was, if God promised you, and since I was in Zambia, I used soccer, as what they call football, but I used soccer. And I said, look, if God told you that you would never, ever lose a soccer game, would that make you want to play soccer less or more? Well, one guy in the crowd said less. But, yeah, I don't know what kind of guy was that. But I know he surely must not have a competitive spirit, but I guarantee you this, if God said to me that you, you know, that you would never lose this game, I mean, so I would say real football, but, I mean, you would never lose a football game or a baseball game or a basketball game, it seems like to me it would that the normal active person that would want to do it more and more and would never be discouraged no matter at what part of the game you were down. You would never be discouraged in it because God has made you a promise that you will not lose. Well that's exactly what predestination and ordination does for us who preach the gospel. We can not fail, because there are people out there who are the people of God, who are the elect, who have been foreordained to eternal life, and all we have to do is to preach this gospel. Now we don't preach the gospel with any kind of disinterest. Surely we're not uninterested, but we are interested in the outcome. We do want men saved. And if you don't, something's wrong with your heart. Something's wrong with your thinking. We want men saved for two reasons. The lesser reason is, is because we have a heart for them. We don't want them to struggle. We don't want them to die without Christ and spend eternity in hell. We have some compassion for these sinners. But that's the lesser reason. The greater reason is that we want the glory of Christ. He is worthy to be believed upon. And we want his glory manifest in the earth, you see. So it should, it should spur us, or spur us on, I should say. Encourage us to do more active things, you see, instead of less active. And seeing that's really the knock on Calvinism is that people misunderstand it, you see. They say, well, if God's gonna do it no matter what we do, then why do we need to do anything? Because God has also determined that he calls his elect by his elect who are preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If the gospel is not preached, no one will be saved. But the gospel will be preached. Because not only has God saved you, but God is in you both willing and doing. He is spurring you on. He is pushing you on through this life that He has given to you. Not pushing you on in the sense that you don't want to, but but giving you that anticipation and excitement of souls or the excitement in your soul that souls will be one to Christ. Is there anything greater in this world? How sweet and awful is the place with Christ within the doors while everlasting love displays the choices of her stores. I long to see thy churches filled with all the chosen race, that with one voice, or one mind, one heart, one voice, singing thy amazing grace. What a wonderful thing to sit in an auditorium or a stadium and everyone is singing the wonder of these things. Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There's no shadow of turning in Thee. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness unto me. Or when peace like a river a tender way, or when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot thou hast taught me, do say. It is well, it is well with my soul. Oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. It's well, it's well with my soul. Wouldn't it be wonderful if this auditorium tonight was filled with the bodies and the voices of those who would sing of a truth such grace. We desire it. Not because of, and it does bring us pleasure, but that's not the reason. The reason is it brings Him pleasure. Seeing His amazing grace. Well, they miss it, you see. And I feel for them because that they really knew the power of God. They would know that the one who has been called to Christ, not by some kind of synergistic, you know, working with God, God's done all he can, now you got to do the rest, no, but knowing that one work, that monergistic, mono one, ergod work, that one work of God in the souls of men, in the soul of a man, moves him to please his God. And there is nothing that is more pleasing to our God than for one of these little ones to find his way home in Christ. Yesterday I was, we were sitting on the little breezeway in Baton Rouge, and we looked out, and there was this mama raccoon. And we looked up, and the little baby's fallen, and the little baby's with her. I'm talking about no matter where she went, the baby was right there. And then she decided to walk across the yard, and the little baby jumped. See, that's the attitude. We won't. to be in Christ, to be with Christ, to be about what Christ is doing for his goal. Because you see, the difference between a believer and an unbeliever, the difference between an immature believer and a mature believer is that we have come to love our Christ. He's everything. He's all to us. And again, we sing these things. I'd rather have Jesus than be the king of a vast domain and be held in sin's great sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything this old world affords today. And we've seen examples of that. I mean, again, we have an example of that in Saddam. He could be at peace. He could have all, anything this world could offer. He could have it. And he could have it now. And he could have it for many, many years. And then he could give it to his children. But compared to Christ, it was no enticement at all. Now, those that would like to become rich in the things of this world would sell him out in a second. But none of that has any grip on him. Now it's easy for us to say we've never had it. Look, it's one thing never to have had it, but it's another thing to have had it and lost it or to have it and give it up for the glory of Christ. And again, I mean, I do love him, I think, I do love him and her, those children. I love them. But that's not the motivation that keeps me going. The motivation that keeps me going is my love for this Christ. That's what will happen when the elect are called So it is, as I said this morning, it is particular, peculiar. The Lord knows them that are his. Christ saw them. It's unchangeable. God doesn't change. There's no shadow of turning in him. He's not a man that he should lie. I remember one time we were going to Mexico and sometime on the, on Before we really had cell phones, we would use these CBs to keep us awake at night because we were driving really late hours. And so we would get in from one van to the other. That'd be Bible trivia. Well, one particular person thought she was clever and said, does God ever change his mind or does God repent? Well, there are times in the Bible which says God repented. For example, there in, right before the building of the Ark there, the Lord says in Genesis that it repented to him that he had made man. Okay, so it does make these declarations in the scripture, you see. And God repented and didn't do what he said he would do. For example, you know, Hezekiah, You know, you've just got a few, and he turned his face to the wall, and he wept and begged God, and God repented. He didn't kill him. Okay, so there are these things. Well, when she did that, I knew she was baiting, and I was begging. I didn't get on the microphone, but in my own vein, say, don't take that bait. Well, sure enough, someone took it. The Bible does say God repents. But he doesn't repent as a man. Men repent because they come up with some idea that what they were doing is wrong, or they get more knowledge. None of that can be applied to God. It is just simply God's way of condescending to us to say, God didn't do what he said he would do. But all of that was factored in, as we would say. That was baked into the cake already, you see. But it's unchangeable. Numbers 23, 19. God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken and shall not be made, and he shall not make it good? Or again, Malachi 3.6, for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. And then Hebrews, wherein God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel. He confirmed it by an oath, meaning he swore. And so here's two immutable things, you see, God's word and God's oath It's impossible for God to lie. And so we have strong consolation because God does not change. If God did change, could anybody ever have any confidence that they were saved? No, none at all. But God does not change. And every good gift and every perfect gift, James 1 17 says, it's from above. and cometh down from the Father of lights, and then he says this, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. There's no darkness in him, not even a little bit of a shadow in him. That's why it's unchanging. Well, the next two points, first of all, it is certain and it's definite. Now, Again, I've read this to you. I read it before I began the sermon this morning. John 13, 18, I speak not of you all. So he's there with all his disciples and Judas. I know whom I have chosen. So it's certain. He knows us. I mean, we've already talked about it being particular or peculiar, but it is certain. God knows it, therefore it will happen. And so, and he knows each one of us. He, he knows us by name. I know whom I have chosen." Now, you could say, well, then does this mean he knows about them? Well, he does. He knows about you. I mean, he knows you exist because he created you. He was there that moment when you were conceived. He gave you life. It was a creative act. That's why when we get to creation, the Baptist are very careful to say that, you know, they don't use the language of the Westminster out of nothing because sometime he creates you using something that would surely be your, your conception, using your mother and your father and, and, and using, uh, the things that he's already created. And so, He knows about you because he was there. But this is more. I know whom I have chosen. The word no is he knows you intimately. And the word no in the Bible is used both the Hebrew word for no and the Greek word for no. Has this element of. Of intimacy. He loves you. So again, not only is he aware of you, obviously so, but it's more than that. He loves you when he says, I know whom I have chosen. Means we could substitute, I love whom I've chose. He knows us in that sense, you see. So it's certain. It's not some hope, it's not some wish. Now, biblical hope is different than the way we use hope. Hope. I really don't have any expectation that it's going to happen, but man, I'm sure pulling for it. No hope in the Bible is different than that. It is evidence. Um, it is, um, you know, it is substance. And when you said we have the hope of heaven, it doesn't mean, well, we don't really know if we'll get there, but, but then no, when we said we have the hope of heaven, then what that means is that heaven awaits us. It is certain and then definite that certainly will happen, but certainly will happen. to you, definite. All that the father giveth me shall come to me. I remember when we were a child in Sunday school, that we would always quote John 6 37 B. Well, of course, you know, the Bible doesn't have a and B or C or D. It just has the verse and the verses are given so we can look at these things so we can see them And we don't have to talk about, well, count four lines down and three lines over, you know. Verses, chapters and verses are given so you can reference. Well, we always memorized, and to him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. So that was encouraging people to come to Christ. If you come to Christ, he won't cast you out. Again, it was kind of a manipulation. It was kind of an Arminian kind of manipulation, kind of a, you know, a walking the aisle, trying, it's your choice, it's your decision. And see, and I think, you know, that, I think really that Charlie Kirk was beginning to move to our position. He still talked about decision. He had decisionalistic language. It's the best decision I ever made. OK, it was a decision. You did make that decision. But it wasn't a mere decision. You didn't sit there and weigh all the facts and then decide to become a Christian because if it were just a mere decision, if it were just simply a decision, a human decision, you would have never come. Because as a human being in your depravity, you are not reasonable. You're not objective. I mean, the Armenian misunderstands the nature of man. Because when we talk about the nature of man, then you'll see it has to be God moving on our behalf because of the nature of man. But they misunderstand the nature of man. They do think that man has some ability, has some spark in him, some desire in him to be a Christian. And all you have to do is that the point of contact is to Give it to the will. Here's the decision. Will you come or will you not? But we know that the gospel cannot be preached to the will. It cannot be preached to the heart. It cannot be preached to the emotion. You can work people up emotionally. And one of the greatest instruments of working people up emotionally is music. And that's why we must be careful with our music. Music was never given to us by God to be a manipulation device in a worship service, but often that's what it becomes. Robert Murray McShane said, music does make the heart of the feminine. I've said at funerals and everybody was composed and the weeping had been done and everybody had gotten a grip on themselves. And then the music starts, and then they break down again. Indeed, music makes a man act like a woman in emotion. It's powerful, manipulative, and those of us with wisdom must understand that and never use it. So we're not preaching the gospel to the emotion or to the will or to the heart or to the affection. You preach the gospel to the mind. It's that which has to be gripped in the mind. Let this mind be in you that is in Christ Jesus. So, they just wanted to increase someone's interest and desire to come. But how many people have we seen? Oh, how many people. They would stand before us and give testimony and they would sing. But where are they tonight? An adulterous relationship. And you know, even look people, hateful people are not above using religion to be hateful. Where are they tonight? Pursuing sin. Forsaking God. Look, I know someone that was baptized multiple times, multiple times. Well, we're gonna keep doing it until we get it right multiple times in this very hours living in adultery without shame. Is that a Christian? made lots of decisions, but nothing changed them. So that's why this verse is important to quote it all. All that the father giveth me shall come to me. and to him that cometh to me, I will no wise cast out." It is definite. Well, surely the last part of this verse says, if you come to Christ, you will be accepted. But it is attached to the first part of this verse. If you come to Christ, you will be expected. No one comes to Christ surprising him. It is definite. So it is particular, it is unchangeable, it is certain, and it is definite. And that's why the number will neither be increased nor diminished. The old Negro spiritual. when the Saints come marching in, and of course, you know, New Orleans and the football team, where you can see how they take that which is a very good thing, it is surely a very good song in and of itself, but then it's taken and used pervertedly, which men are not above doing. But here's what it says, when the Saints come marching in, I will be in that number because God has chosen you. It's definite, certain. Let's pray.