Again, it's really good to see you all. I was just having a conversation with some folks a little while back, and somebody brought up a concern about safety, about not being with someone and not being able to help them when they go through a struggle or when they get into danger, just not being there for them. And that causes us anxiety. I'm sure that many of you in here in this room have family and friends right now that you're thinking about, that you're worrying about. And it can be a tough thing. It can be a tough thing to be still and know that He is God. It can be a tough thing to put all of your cares on Him, cast all of your cares on Him, for He cares for you. That can be a tough thing. It can be a very tough thing for me to not be anxious, but to cast all of my cares upon Him. It can be very tough for me to trust in the fact, and this is something none of us love to hear, is that we are not in control. Matter of fact all of our fall in this all of our struggles are caused by our trying to control things To be in control and so before I get into our topic tonight the topic of God's decrees I want you to realize a couple of things number one God is good. Can we say that again? God is good and number two God is in control God Let's try again. God is good and And God is in control. And my prayer for you as you get into His Word and dig into His Word and study His Word and grow in that truth that you will more and more be conformed to the image of His Son. And by doing that, remember Jesus put all of His trust in His Father's will. He never doubted it. He never questioned it. He simply trusted in His Father. And so I pray that as you grow in your knowledge of God's truth, that you will grow in your realization that God is good and God is in control. Those are two things that we have to do. And so in the world that we live in today, many people are being taught in many churches all around this world that God is being controlled by our will and our desires. You'll hear people saying they're gonna decree this into your life or claim this in your life. Speak this and if you ever hear somebody say that run you speak something into listen the only person that can say let there be light and there be light is God and You are not him And so we need to learn to put our trust in a God who is Good and we need to learn to put our trust in a God who is in control And we need to understand that we are not good What did Jesus say? No man is good except God. Why do you call me good? No man is good except God. And so we need to understand that God is good, and we need to understand that He is in control. And if that is the case, I am not good, therefore I am not in control. But you see, your salvation, your eternal destiny, the next breath in your nose is a gift from God. You have no way of controlling it yourself none and so to have a God who His having a God whose will can be overridden by the will of men is no God at all. It's an idol God's will be done. That's what we're commanded to pray God's will be done and what you're going to find is the more you try to get your will done and The less you are walking in his will. So tonight we're going to talk about the topic of God's decrees and it's going to be a struggle and it's going to make you mad and it's going to make you say, who is this guy and why is he saying this? But I'm going to point you to scripture and show you why God is good and God is in control. So let's pray and then we'll get into our text. Most gracious heavenly father, we recognize now that you are a good God and you are a God who is in control and we know that you have promised us in your word that all things work together for good to those who love you and to those who are called according to your purpose. So give us the strength Lord to see your truth, to receive your truth, to believe your truth. Give us the strength to hear what we so desperately need to hear and that is that you are God and we are not. Help us to lean solely on your word and your truth. Help us to trust simply in you alone Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So we thank you, Father. We thank you for your love of sending your son to die for us. We thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to claim us. And we thank you for your truth, the foundation of our eternity. And so be with us now as we open this discussion up. Cause us to question. Cause us to look into our own hearts and see what we think of you. Cause us to get our eyes off of you and the temporal things of this world and look to you, our God and our creator. The God who is in control of every breath and every molecule and every atom in all of the universe that you have created. Put us in our place. Help us to remember that you are the potter and we are the clay. And so come now and speak to us through your word, in Christ Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, so let's read our text first. We're gonna start with the Bible, Ephesians chapter one, verses one through 14. Ephesians chapter one, verses one through 14. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints, who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him in love by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace which he graciously bestowed upon us in the beloved in him We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our transgressions according to the riches of His grace, which He calls to abound in us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Him for an administration of the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ. things in the heavens and the things on the earth in him in him we also have been made an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will to the end that we who first have hoped in Christ would be to the praise of his glory in him You also, after listening to the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance unto the redemption of God's own purpose, or God's own possession to the praise of his glory. Now that's a lot to say, and what I hope to do is I want to quickly go through this and break down a couple of things that we need to see in it. First thing I want you to see in this passage is Paul's use of pronouns. Paul is constantly saying us and we. Did you notice that? Did you hear that? Us and we, us and we, us and we. Blessed us with spiritual blessings. He chose us by predestining us according to the good player's will, to the prayer of his glory. He graciously bestowed upon us, us, us, we, us, we. Well, who is he talking to? Is he talking to the whole world at large? He's talking to believers. This is a letter to the church at Ephesus. That's why it's called the book of a letter of Ephesians. Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus to remind them that they were a chosen people. holy nation a royal piece of it actually Peter's the one that there reminds us of that but Paul is writing to a group of people in Ephesus and who is the group of people that he's writing to believing ones the believing ones so we need to understand that this message does not apply to those outside of the faith The second thing that I want you to notice as we talk about this is the use of the terms in Christ If you want a good little spiritual Exercise to do the next time you've got a little bit of free time on your hands Go just just the book of Ephesus alone is enough to prove it But you can read all of Paul's letters, and I just want you to go through I did this with one of my Bible I still have it at home and go through every time he says in Christ in Christ Jesus in the anointed one in in in in in in Christ in in and I want you to remember that you are either in Christ or You are still in Adam You are in Christ or you are still in the world there's no middle ground you don't have one foot in Christ and one foot in Adam the new creation the new creature is in Christ alone and Well, why do I bring that up? Well, because the Old Testament gives us plenty of pictures and illustrations of what it means to be in and out. And I want to point you to the story of Noah's ark. And in that ark, there was safety from the wrath and the judgment of God. Outside of that ark, you were destroyed. And there was no question once that rain started, to where you were. You are either in the ark or you are in God's hands of wrath. And the same thing applies to every single one of you in this room and the one speaking to you. We are either in Christ or we are in Adam. And outside of Christ there is no salvation. Okay? Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. That word apostle means a sent one. He was sent by Christ to give us this message by the will of God. It was God's will that Paul go around and preach the gospel. To the saints, you see who he's addressing that to? That word saints in Greek is hagios, the holy ones, the anointed ones, just separated ones. So a saint is someone who is in Christ. So next time you're in New Orleans and they play When the Saints Go Marching In, recognize that most of the people singing it and playing it aren't marching in. They're marching right down to hell. So, to those who are faithful in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way that you can have the grace and the peace of God is if you are in Christ. Blessed be the God of our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Grace, mercy, truth, peace, salvation, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness. Those are all blessings to come to the ones who are in Christ. And outside of Christ, there is no grace, there is no peace, there is no mercy. There's only you and the wrath of God. And he says, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love. It says that before God ever said, let there be light, the very people that Paul is addressing in this letter were on God's mind and in his heart. He knew you before the foundation of the world. Before he ever said, let there be light, he knew who you were. And what's amazing is he knew who you were, and yet his love was still towards you. That promise of your salvation was founded before he ever said, let there be light. And all of history, and all of providence, and all of the things that have ever happened in this world, all happened for our good and his glory. Now that Bible verse, it says, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. What was his purpose? To bless us with all spiritual things, to make sure that we found salvation in Christ. That was his will and his purpose for us. And it is so very important to remember that, that it's God's will that save you, it's not your will. It's God's will that keeps you and sanctifies you. It's God's will that ensures that one day you will have a glorified body. It's all of God. And it does not say this, and unfortunately we have some very wicked people out there proclaiming from pulpits that the way they interpret that verse is we know that all things will be good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Jesus never said that. Jesus said you're going to suffer. What they did to my physical body on this earth, they're gonna do to my spiritual body too. So God did not appoint you just to be walking on sunshine every day of your life and be living in the clouds and everything. Your lottery tickets always being a winner, right? And all of your hopes and dreams and all of your aspirations being fulfilled because a lot of times our dreams and our aspirations are our problem, not the solution. And so what we need to learn is that God has been in control from eternity past. God is in control today. God is in control into eternity. And every single breath that pours through your nose is a gift from Him. And He controls each and every one of them. And when I begin to see a God who is good and a God who is in control and I put my trust in Him instead of myself and my surroundings, Then I am on the right path. Then I am seeing the God who is God. And there is nothing that you can do. He's not a little wimpy God that's up there crying and pulling his hair going, oh, I'm so sorry that there's all these lost people in the world. He's God. Nothing catches him by surprise. No wickedness of any man does God go, oh my God, I never saw that coming. I cannot believe that. Can't believe she did I can't believe he did that you see on the last day when he separates the sheep from the goats Every single goat is going to glorify his holy righteous Law Every single person that is destroyed and cast into hell is going to magnify the glory and the righteousness of God and there's not a single one of them that will be able to say I don't deserve this and But every single sheep that goes into the eternal kingdom is not there because they earned it. They're there because God's mercy is on full display. They in themselves are no more deserving of salvation than those who are in hell are deserving of forgiveness. There's not a single person that's going to be in the eternal kingdom, not a single person that's going to be in heaven that's going to say I deserve to be here. They are all, every one of us will be an example of a good God who is a merciful God and who knew me before he ever built the world. And his love for me, his love for you has been on display since the beginning of time. and will be on display throughout eternity. God is not some wimpy little soft guy with a bleeding heart up there that feels sorry for people. He's God, He's the creator. Right? Why are you struggling with addiction? Why are you struggling with all your financial problems? Why are you struggling with your legal problems? Why are you struggling and separated from your family right now? Because you are a sinner. And because you chose your will and your life over God. And you chose to turn away from the God who created you and you turn to trusting in something in the creation to give you what only the Creator can give. And you know what? But for the grace of God, you'll fall right back into it. But we have a God who can save us. We have a God that can set us free from sin itself. We have a God that can break the chains of bondage, separate us from the power of this world, the flesh, and the devil, and set us free to serve Him instead of to serve ourselves and others. He's a holy, holy, holy God, and He is all-powerful. And He is not depending upon your will to save you. You are not saved because you choose Him. You were saved because He chose you. And you always make sure to give Him the praise and the glory for your salvation. And the moment I go back and lean in on myself for it, is the moment that I'm leaning on a broken stick. So, we're getting off on a rabbit trail. I don't even know if we can get the paperwork tonight, but let's keep looking here. It says, to be predestined unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. Why did He save you? Because His good pleasure willed it. Who deserves His mercy and salvation? Who deserves it? No one. Not a single person deserves. What do we deserve? Hell. But a God who created you, a God who molded you and formed you in your mother's womb, a God who has known you since the beginning of the foundation, before the foundation world already knew you, reached down into a world that is full of people that deserve hell and eternal damnation, and he said, nope, not you. And in his mercy, mercy is not something we deserve. Mercy is a gift. And in His mercy, He blessed you according to the riches of His grace. You will never be able to brag about it. You will never be able to boast about it. You'll never run around telling people, I'm chosen by God, in a bragging way. Because the truth of the matter, He didn't choose you because you deserve it. He did not choose you because you deserve it. He chose you because it was His will. And you know, so often we struggle with the will of God. The problem with the will of God is it most often conflicts with our will. That's why we struggle with it. Because it's telling me, no, you can't do that. And the problem we have with His will is that He don't care what you say. He cares about our goodness and His glory. And He's never going to shed either of the two, His good or His glory, to satisfy a fallen piece of clay that deserves nothing but hell and damnation. And that will not make you proud. That will not make you run around with your chest boasting about what we've done. If nothing else, it should cause you to do the very same thing that it did in Jesus' illustration with the tax collector. You should be beating your chest and saying, have mercy on me, O God, the sinner. When God's repentance and God's godly sorrow begins to work in a man's heart, he doesn't compare himself to other people around him. He can't even lift his eyes. because the glory and the righteousness of God is breaking him. And when God breaks you, once God breaks you, you will never look around or in again. You will look up because your redemption draws near. I can't brag and boast about who I am, but for the grace of God, I would probably, I should be dead today. Yet a God who is rich in mercy made me alive in Christ. I'm in the ark. And I never have to fear the wrath of God again. And I should never have the desire to jump off the boat and swim. Because I know what's out there. Amen? So it says in verse 6, or in 7, in Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our transgressions. In Him. Does anyone that is outside of Christ have this promise? No, you have to beware in Christ in Christ we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of our transgression according to the riches of his grace now we were talking about this this week in my church's Sunday school class and in our sermon Paul is very Uses three words very commonly in his letters three of them And we we kind of have an idea of what they mean, but we really don't grasp the depth of it He uses the word justification often he uses the word imputation often and he What is the other word that we use? Redemption Redemption Imputation and justification He uses those words a lot, and if we're honest with ourselves, especially when we're not mature in the faith and our understanding of the word, well, I can kinda tell you what those mean, but I really don't understand it a whole lot. Well, let's start, so what Paul does is he takes these three words, and he draws from earthly illustrations to help us to understand spiritual concept. Justification is a word that has come from the courts of law, and it means that the judge looks at you and finds nothing wrong. not guilty, and you walk out of the court. Me and Jeremy were talking about it before class tonight. He said it's nice to go to the sheriff's office and go pick up some paperwork knowing they're not looking for you, right? When you're riding down the road and you're doing the speed limit and you pass by a cop that's sitting on the side of the road, you can wave at him. You can look right over at him, right? But when you go by there 20 miles over the speed limit, what do you do? You tuck your head down and let your foot off the gas really quick and say, oh, I hope he didn't see me. And so to be justified means to be seen as righteous in God's eyes. And if you're in this room today and you are in Christ, that means you have been justified. And here's the beautiful thing about justification. The righteousness that you have is not of you. When the Father looks at you, He sees His only begotten Son, you are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. When the Father looks at you, he sees the Son Jesus. That's called justification. There's now, what does Romans 5 say? Is that the verse I'm looking for? It just come to my head real quick, let's see. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. One of the desires of every person in this room is looking for to be satisfied is this. I just want everything to be okay. Just let everything be okay. And what this teaches us is that without the justification, it doesn't matter what the whole world thinks of you. It don't matter what I think of you as a preacher. It doesn't matter what you think of yourself when you look in the mirror. On that last day, what you better be concerned about is what God sees when he sees you. And for the person who is not justified, it's not going to be okay. And to the person who is not justified, you already know if it's you or not, it's not okay. And nothing you do, nothing in this world is going to overcome that dread and that conviction and that fear and that doubt and that anxiety. Yet if I'm laying my trust in God alone, If I'm trusting simply in Him for my salvation, and if I'm trusting in the God who is good, and the God who is in control, then I already have a peace that passes all understanding. Because even if this root collapses on my head right now, and I draw my last breath tonight at 8.35, to be absent from the body, be present with the Lord. I catch myself nowadays, there's something that, it's an old cliche saying I always say when I meet somebody, I say, and they say, good to see you. Or I'll say, good to see you. And a little thing I'll say sometimes is, well, it's better to be seen than to be viewed. Right? I'd much rather see you now than say, hey, while you're alive, than go view you laying flat down in a box. But I don't use that as often anymore, because I have a conviction in me that I know that if that person died in Christ, they are in way better shape than I am. We all worry about our family and loved ones when we're gone. But I can promise you this, if they died in Christ, they're way better off than you are and they're not even thinking about you. They're beyond all of that. They're beyond fear and doubt. They're beyond anxiety. They're beyond any worrying about anything because they are simply now resting in a God who is good and a God who is in control. Amen? It says, let me get back to my text. He calls to abound to us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mysteries of his will. He makes known to us his mysteries. Now that word in the Bible is not, we've talked about this before, that word mystery is not the word like Scooby-Doo and the gang's gotta come and solve. A mystery in the New Testament is something that before was not known or understood but has now been clearly revealed. So what he's saying is that the saved person, the one who is in Christ, knows the mysteries of God. The things that have been revealed. The problem with that is sometimes we take it for granted and think that we know more than we actually know. See, God has not revealed to you everything. And there's some people that will get upset with the first part of that passage where it says He chose us in Him before the world, that He predestined us, that He did these things without our involvement. People are bothered by that. But the truth of the matter is, those who He knew before the foundation of the world, there's still so many of His sheep out in this world that are completely lost And he's gathering them together right now. They don't know it. I don't know it. You don't know it. But he does. And he won't lose a single sheep. He's not gonna lose a single one. On that last day, he's not gonna pull his hair and go, oh, there's old Johnny. And I meant to save him, but he slipped through the cracks. That means that God's will was able to be overridden by man's will. Because it said that he knew Johnny before the foundation of the world. And he's not going to let him get away. Now there's a lot of times that that will bother us. And if I'm lost, that may bother me. I can't believe you would say that God knew me and was going to choose me before he ever could. But the thing is, part of that is a mystery that has not been revealed. There's an old preacher named Charles Spurgeon and he said this, He said, if God went around and put a yellow streak on the back of every chosen one, of every one of the elect, then as a preacher, I'd run around pulling up people's skirts at the church to know who they are. That's not for us to know. It's not for me to know who God's chosen ones are. You know why? Because if I knew who they were, I would be more favored to them than to others. The command for me as a child of God, the command for me as a pastor, is to go and to proclaim the truth to who? Everyone. The call goes to all. The general call. But the effectual call goes to those who are chosen in Christ. And so what happens is that word, that promise is proclaimed, and the Holy Spirit of God takes those words, that promise, hooks them and pulls them in and brings them to Him. So it's not up to me to know who the chosen are. Shame on me if I even thought that I could. Because I can tell you in my own life, there was a time when I thought that I was saved and I wasn't. I talked the talk and I really didn't walk the walk, but I knew all the words. And I knew what to say when I was at church and I knew how to sing the songs and to hold my hand. I knew that I had the knowledge, I had knowledge, but it wasn't in my heart. And so there was a time in my whole life where I was deceived into thinking that I was in Christ, and I wasn't. And there are some people out there in this world right now that are lost, but who the Holy Spirit has got his eye on. And it may be 10 seconds from now, or two years from now, or right before they take their dying breath, you can be bet, you can bet with your eternal life that God will save his people. He's gonna get to them with the message. And if you're in this room today and you are a born-again, blood-bought child of God, it is because there's a God who knew you before the foundation of the world. He sent His Son and He died on a cross to save you despite your ungodliness and your undeserved. And He said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. Now, who are those people? They're His elect. They're His chosen ones. They're the ones that are in Christ. Not in Christ yet because they're lost in the world, but the Good Shepherd is sending His under-shepherds out to bring them in, bring them in, bring the wandering ones to Jesus. That's what we're commanded to do. That's the hymn. So what do we do? We go out and we share the promise with who? Everyone! And we trust in the Holy Spirit to make that call effectual. If I can convince you to believe and be saved, then I can convince you to not believe and be damned. It's not my convincing that you need. It's not your convincing that you need. Because if you're an unbeliever, no amount of proof is going to ever change your mind. For every question that you, for every answer that a preacher gives you, you'll find three questions to override that. If you're in unbelief. Because the natural man cannot receive the things of God. Cannot! For they're foolish as him. And neither can he know them. But when that Holy Spirit and that Word begin to work in a person's life, all of a sudden, something happens. And God said He takes a piece of clay, just like He took Adam, and He breathes life into it. He becomes a living being. And so we preach the gospel. We share the truth with everyone, and we let God choose who He will choose. And again, it's not your persuasion that's needed. And it's not my persuasion as a preacher that's needed. It's the Holy Spirit breaking your heart and creating in you a new heart and filling you with his spirit that saves you. And that's all of God. Every bit of it's all of God. So that is That is just some background. I want you to take that Ephesian passage when you get some time and read it on your own. But I do want to share with you our catechism question for tonight because this is something each month that we've been working on. This is catechism question number 10. Next week on Friday we'll do 11. But this is the question. What are the decrees of God? The answer is that the decrees of God are His eternal purpose according to the counsel of His will whereby for His own glory He has foreordained whatever comes to pass. Y'all read that with me. What are the decrees of God? The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby for His own glory, He has foreordained whatever comes to pass. Now, can anybody tell me what's missing in that statement? Let me see if I can hint to you what I'm pointing at. His purpose, His will, His glory. Well, they are, but what's missing in that? Yeah, that's right. My eternal purposes, my will, my glory. I'm going to let all of you in on a little secret. It's not about you. Jesus says you are to love the Lord your God with all of your heart all of your mind and all of your strength and love your neighbor as yourself and Unfortunately as fallen rebellious men and women we have flipped that on his head It's about me first then about anybody around me that can help me me be me and Then if there's any room after that well God can have a little credit to if he wants I Our religion, our relationship with God. Religion is not a bad word, guys. When you have people tell you that, I have a relationship, not a religion, then you need to point to the scripture and ask them this. Well, why did Jesus say this? True religion and undefiled before the Father is to take care of the widows and the orphans and to keep oneself spotless from the world. You see, we do have a relationship with God, but that relationship with God manifested in our religion. Our salvation is completely and solely based upon what God has done to get to us. But the Bible doesn't teach a God that gets to us and then leads us to ourselves. God got you and his promise to you is that he's going to conform you to the image of his son. Well I got news for you. His son came to this earth and laid aside his own will and did exactly what his father commanded him to do, which is to come and claim a bride for himself through his shed blood. And he said, Father, not my will, but yours be done. And that same Jesus that looked at that crowd and said, you are commanded to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength. And you are to love your neighbor as your love yourself. Put it in the shoe leather and showed every one of us in this room what he meant. He hung on that cross and he didn't say, oh God, why me? What'd he say? Father forgive him. They don't know what they're doing. See, it wasn't about him, it was about his father's will and it was about the ones he loved. So, to know that you have a God, who knew you before the foundation of the world and loved you so much that he sent his only begotten son to pour out his blood on the cross and to live a life that you could not and die a death that you deserved so that you could have a life that you could not earn and be spared and saved from a wrath that you could not save yourself from. It should be a humbling thing. And that plan was in place before, not just before you were in your mommy's womb, but before God ever said, let there be light. And when I can put my trust in a God who is that good and a God who is in that much control, then I have that peace and that assurance of pastoral understanding. I stopped looking to the world to satisfy me. I stopped looking to my relationships with other people. I stopped looking to anything else in this world that takes glory away from the one who saved me. And so, uh, It's all for His glory. It was all foreordained. Whatever is to come to pass. So what that means is that everything that happens in life, nothing catches God by surprise. It's all clearly decreed by Him before the world ever began. So let's look at a couple of passages to back that up. We're starting to run a little bit low on time. But let's look at Ephesians 1.11. We've already read that one time. Ephesians 1.11. And it says this. In Him, we also have been made an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him, who works all things according to the counsel of His will. We have been made an inheritance. The children of God are a part of the inheritance that Jesus gets. We are heirs and joint heirs with Christ and we benefit because of what He done Romans 9 22 and 23 what does that tell us Romans 9 22 and 23 says this And What if God? Wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known endured with much patience vessels of wrath having been prepared for destruction and in order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand in glory." Now, I want you to notice that. Let's read that one more time. What if God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath? having been prepared for destruction and in order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand for glory. What that's saying is that God is the potter and we are the clay and he made some vessels for mercy and he made some vessels for wrath. He's the creator. He's the one that created us. And what it says is that he prepared He prepared destruction for the vessels of wrath and he prepared mercy for his people. And it said he endured with much patience those vessels of wrath. When did they deserve to be destroyed? Immediately, when they drew their first breath, when they come out of the womb. If you are of the seed of Adam, then God has imputed to you the sins of Adam. You come out acting just like your daddy. It's the reason why there has to be regeneration. It's the reason why Jesus said you must be born again. There has to be new life breathed into you because you have no life. You're dead and trespassed sin, walking the course of this world, Walking according to the presence of power that's working in this world around us And so we need to understand that that we come out of the womb With the imputed sin of our father Adam on us we come out of the womb with the wrath of God hanging over our head and God is very patient even with the vessels of wrath With Pharaoh how many chances did he give Pharaoh before he destroyed him? Yeah, and you know what it says about Pharaoh? It says, before Moses ever went and talked to him, he said, I've hardened his heart. He's not going to believe anything that you say. Yeah. So it says God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Pharaoh hardened Pharaoh's heart. God simply turned Pharaoh over to his own desires. And so one of the ways that God shows his wrath towards evil men is he turns him over to what they want. He turns you over to your greatest desires. So what does that mean? He lets you have what you want. He's angry with you and he will destroy you unless you repent and yet he is patient. He lets you go through the destructive process yourself. One of the greatest expressions, probably the greatest expression of God's wrath on this world is turning this world over to its own desires. He's letting you be you. But God, who is rich in mercy, right? And what does it say? That passage there in Romans, it said, verse 23, in order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand. On the last day, again, when he separates the sheep from the goats, every single sheep is gonna be an expression of his mercy. There's not a single sheep that deserves salvation. And every single goat that is cast into hell is gonna be an expression of his righteousness and his justice. And there's not a single one of them that will be able to say that's not fair. Matter of fact, God can reply to them and say, I was very patient with you all of your life. And you continued to turn for me and trust yourself instead of me. So now you're gonna spend eternity without me. And there's not a single one of the sheep that's gonna be able to brag and say, I'm here because I chose you. We're gonna turn and look to a savior who chose us before the foundation of the world. We can't brag, we can't boast, we can't claim any kind of credit for our salvation because we deserve what? Wrath and justice. And yet in his mercy, he sent his son and had him die on a cross and pay for the hell that we deserve. So I want to finish with just a couple more thoughts. You can take these other questions, these kind of all Apply to what we're learning matter of fact probably on next Friday. We'll probably get back to this same passage again So you got I'm not gonna make any more copies so hold on to them put in your Bible next Friday when I come We're gonna use the same thing to get through these other questions if you want to go ahead and read ahead of time You're more than welcome to do that, but I want you to think about that I want you to think about the fact that you're sitting in that chair right now and all of the counseling that you're going through and all of the struggles that you're going through your life they're important like you're going through them and they're tough and But on that last day, there's gonna be no more counseling. There's gonna be no more second chances. There's not gonna be any patting you on the back and saying everything's gonna be okay. You are gonna stand before a holy, holy, holy God and he's either gonna see you in Christ or he's gonna see you in hell. Trust Him. Turn from trusting in yourself. Turn from trusting what I think and what I feel and what I need to know. Prove it to me, God. Show me who you are. He already is. He's convicting you of your sin. He's convicting you of giving you sorrow for the things that you have done in your past. And He's trying to show you. Well, not trying. God doesn't try. God doesn't try anything. To say that God tries means that there's a chance he could fail. God doesn't try anything. But he will convince you in your heart if you're in Christ or not. And if you truly belong to him, if you're truly of him, you're going to turn away from trusting yourself and you're going to turn to trust his promise alone. His son Jesus Christ poured his blood out on the cross to save a people for himself. And he has never said no to a single man or woman who turns away from sin and self and turns to Christ. He's never turned anyone away. But on that last day, all of those who rejected him, he'll say, depart from me. I never knew you. And that should be a horror to each of us. Thankfully, we have a God who is good, and we have a God who is in control. Even my lostness or even the lostness of my family and my loved ones and my friends That's all in his hands. I Need to let him control that And trust him to do what's good and what is right Trust him for your salvation trust him for your sanctification trust him in Christ alone My hope is found He is my light my strength my song this cornerstone, the solid ground. Christ alone is my salvation. Amen. And so I hope you're trusting him today. If you're in this room today, you're either in him or in Christ. There's no other place. Father, thank you for this time we've had together. And I do pray that you will give us all something to think about tonight. If we are in you, if we're here tonight and we are in you, then we should be, bowing our heads before you and thanking you for a mercy that we could not earn, for thanking you for a salvation that we could not attain on our own. And Lord, I do pray that if there be a man or woman here or within the sound of my voice that has never turned and trusted you alone, I pray that tonight would be the night that you would break their heart open and show them your salvation. Show them your forgiveness, your mercy, your justification. Show them your love. Show him that you are a God who is good and a God who is in control. In Christ Jesus name I pray. Amen.