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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.
The Number of Those Predestined Part 2
| Sermon ID | 9292503405546 |
| Duration | 33:44 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | 2 Timothy 2:19 |
| Language | English |
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