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Voddie Baucham - Isaac Prays For a Child · Voddie Baucham Sermons

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: There's an overlap here.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: In this series, we're looking at the life of Isaac
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: and the life of Jacob. There's an overlap in this
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: moment between Isaac's life and Jacob's life because we.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Are introduced to Jacob.
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  Speaker 2: And it's very important, just like it's important for us
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  Speaker 2: to understand Jacob. Abraham in order to understand Isaac, it's
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: important for us to understand Isaac in order to understand
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  Speaker 2: Jacob and vice versa. Because much of who Jacob is,
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: is really caught up in the identity of his father
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  Speaker 2: and the identity of his grandfather. Also, we don't have
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: much information about Isaac, unfortunately. We know very few things
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: about Isaac. And most of them are not very positive.
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  Speaker 2: You ever thought about that? You look at the information
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  Speaker 2: that we have about Abraham. Tons of information about Abraham.
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  Speaker 2: A whole lot of Genesis is devoted to the life
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  Speaker 2: of Abraham. When it comes to the life of Isaac,
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  Speaker 2: there's just this small sliver as though he's a kind
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  Speaker 2: of speed bump to get us from Abraham to Jacob,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: if you will. And most of what we see in
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  Speaker 2: Isaac's life is an unfortunate repetition of many of the
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  Speaker 2: failures of the life of Abraham.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, one of the only positive.
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  Speaker 2: Moments in the life of Isaac is a moment that
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  Speaker 2: we'll examine here in Genesis chapter 25. Other than this
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  Speaker 2: moment here, most of the moments in Isaac's life are
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  Speaker 2: not very positive. Look here, beginning at verse 19. These
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  Speaker 2: are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham fathered Isaac.
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  Speaker 2: And Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah
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  Speaker 2: to be his wife. The daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean
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  Speaker 2: from Paddan Aram. The sister of Laban, the Aramean. By
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  Speaker 2: the way, that name Laban is going to occur again.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to see Laban again. not only involved in
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  Speaker 2: this process of Isaac finding a wife, but we're also
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  Speaker 2: going to see Laban involved in the process of Jacob
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  Speaker 2: finding a wife. And Laban is an absolute scoundrel.
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  Speaker 1: In the process.
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  Speaker 2: So there's a little foreshadowing here of what is yet
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  Speaker 2: to come for Isaac's son. And Isaac prayed to the
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Lord for his wife, Because she was barren. Here's what's interesting.
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  Speaker 2: We already see a parallel and a distinction between the
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  Speaker 2: life of Abraham and the life of Isaac. Both of
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  Speaker 2: them are dealing with barrenness in their wives in light
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  Speaker 2: of a promise from God. God has made a promise
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  Speaker 2: to Abraham. He's going to make Abraham a great nation,
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  Speaker 2: the father of many nations, and yet he has no son.
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  Speaker 2: His wife is barren. Now we see Isaac, who has
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  Speaker 2: the same promise. He is the fruit of the promise
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  Speaker 2: and the next step in the promise. So he's got
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  Speaker 2: to have some kids, right? Well, not for the first
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  Speaker 2: 20 years of his marriage.
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  Speaker 1: There's nothing. Wait a minute.
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  Speaker 2: My father dealt with this. And God, you miraculously intervened.
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  Speaker 2: And so here I am. And now you mean to
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  Speaker 2: tell me at the next step in the juncture? I
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  Speaker 2: can't have kids either. But there's also a distinction in
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  Speaker 2: the midst of the parallel. Here's the distinction. The distinction is, Abraham,
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  Speaker 2: you're going to have a son.
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  Speaker 1: What? For real? And his wife, Sarah, she laughs. That's
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: funny to her. They don't trust God.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, eventually they go off and there's Hagar and
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  Speaker 2: Ishmael and there's not trust in God. Right here, immediately,
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  Speaker 2: there's a distinction between Abraham and Isaac. Isaac, they're not
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  Speaker 2: able to conceive. What is his response? To get on
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  Speaker 2: his face before God. Not to try another route. but
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  Speaker 2: to get on his face before Almighty God and beg
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  Speaker 2: that God would bring forth a child through his wife.
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  Speaker 2: Not to find another woman like his father did, but
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  Speaker 2: to trust that.
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  Speaker 1: God would provide the way God said he would provide.
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  Speaker 2: Now it's interesting, the Bible doesn't tell us this, But
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  Speaker 2: it's hard not to believe that Isaac's experience with Ishmael,
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  Speaker 2: the older brother who despised him, may have.
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  Speaker 1: Had a little bit to do with this. Amen? He
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  Speaker 1: saw that friction between Hagar and his mother. He did
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  Speaker 1: not want to do that to his wife.
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  Speaker 2: He saw the friction between Ishmael and him, the seed
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  Speaker 2: of promise.
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  Speaker 1: Who came not from Hagar, but from Sarah. He did
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  Speaker 1: not repeat this. No, no, no, no, no. I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to God. We're not going to mess this up like that.
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  Speaker 1: God's got to fix this. It's got to happen.
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  Speaker 2: Here's the other thing that you need to recognize.
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  Speaker 1: Well, let's read here a little further.
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  Speaker 2: And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
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  Speaker 1: Isn't that just good?
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  Speaker 2: The Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. Now,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of people will read that and will say, well, amen. So,
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  Speaker 2: God had already said that there was going to be,
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  Speaker 2: you know, there's multiple nations, and so there had to
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  Speaker 2: be an heir.
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  Speaker 1: So, God's really just doing what God was going to do.
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  Speaker 2: What the text says that God answered his prayer. So,
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  Speaker 2: was God not going to do what God promised to
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  Speaker 2: do unless he prayed? Or was he, you know what,
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  Speaker 2: not your department. God answered his prayer. God answered his prayer.
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  Speaker 2: By the way, when we pray in accordance with God's will,
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  Speaker 2: God answers our prayer. Amen?
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  Speaker 1: God answers our prayer.
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  Speaker 2: Do I know all the inner workings of how God
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  Speaker 2: answers my prayers when they're in accordance with His will?
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  Speaker 1: Nope. Don't know that. Not my department. My department? Pray.
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  Speaker 1: That's my department. That's Isaac's department.
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  Speaker 2: The children, verse 23, struggled together within her. And she said,
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  Speaker 2: If it is thus, why is this happening to me?
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  Speaker 2: So she went to inquire of the Lord, and the
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  Speaker 2: Lord said to her, now stop there. 20 years she
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  Speaker 2: couldn't get pregnant.
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  Speaker 1: 20 years.
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  Speaker 2: In time Isaac's 40, in time Isaac's 60. 20 years.
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  Speaker 2: Now she gets pregnant, and it's rough. God, thank you
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  Speaker 2: for answering prayers and all, but this is not good.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I want a child. I really do. But
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  Speaker 2: there's something going on in here that's just not right.
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  Speaker 2: I'd almost rather not. You've got to explain this to me, please, Lord.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if there's any of you in here
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  Speaker 2: who've ever had pregnancy like that before. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Sick all the time. Baby just acting.
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  Speaker 2: Like an Olympic gymnast.
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  Speaker 1: It was not good.
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  Speaker 2: And it wasn't just normal not good. This was so
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  Speaker 2: bad that she went and inquired of the Lord. Something
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  Speaker 2: is wrong here, God. Something is not normal here. Something
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  Speaker 2: is beyond unusual here. Please explain to me why I'm
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  Speaker 2: having this kind of experience in this pregnancy. The Lord
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  Speaker 2: said to her, two nations are in your womb. Two
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  Speaker 2: peoples from within you shall be divided. By the way,
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  Speaker 2: I want to pause here. We alluded to this on
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  Speaker 2: last week. We need to pause here and address.
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  Speaker 1: This issue again.
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  Speaker 2: Because some would like to make God the author of
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  Speaker 2: sin by saying, well... God said to Abraham he was
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  Speaker 2: going to be the father of many nations, and so
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  Speaker 2: you have Ishmael, who's a separate nation, so actually what
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  Speaker 2: Abraham did was really what needed to be done anyway,
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  Speaker 2: because otherwise, how are you going to get multiple nations?
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  Speaker 2: Here's the answer. One wife, one pregnancy, two nations. No
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  Speaker 2: adultery necessary.
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  Speaker 1: Amen?
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  Speaker 2: There is no excuse for what Abraham did. It was sin,
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  Speaker 2: plain and simple. The end doesn't justify the means. You
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  Speaker 2: don't go and help God out by sinning in order
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  Speaker 2: to bring about the promises that God has made. And
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't matter how it turns out in the end.
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  Speaker 1: Sin is sin. And we see here.
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  Speaker 2: That God is more than capable of bringing about multiple
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  Speaker 2: nations without the help of adultery.
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  Speaker 1: Two nations are in your womb and two people.
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  Speaker 2: From within you shall be divided. The one shall be
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  Speaker 2: stronger than the other. And then here's a twist. The older,
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  Speaker 2: contrary to tradition, shall serve the.
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  Speaker 1: younger.
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  Speaker 2: The oldest son is supposed to be the primary heir
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  Speaker 2: and in line for a.
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  Speaker 1: Double portion blessing.
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  Speaker 2: He is supposed to be the primary means through which
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  Speaker 2: the family name is carried on.
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  Speaker 1: God says, I got some news for you.
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  Speaker 2: Number one, there's two nations in your womb, not one.
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  Speaker 1: That's highly unusual.
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  Speaker 2: Jacob, there's going to be 12 sons from two wives
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  Speaker 2: and two concubines, and they're still all going to be
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  Speaker 2: one nation.
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  Speaker 1: Israel. Here, we've got twins. Same mother. And God says...
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  Speaker 1: Two nations.
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  Speaker 2: Not only the unusual twist of two nations, but let
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  Speaker 2: me throw this monkey wrench in there. It's not going
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  Speaker 2: to be the normal order. The younger son, contrary to tradition,
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  Speaker 2: the younger son will be the stronger. The older son
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  Speaker 2: will be the servant of the younger son. In other words,
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  Speaker 2: the promise is not contingent upon birth order or man's tradition.
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  Speaker 2: The promise is contingent upon predestination and election. Verse 24.
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  Speaker 2: When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there
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  Speaker 2: were twins in her womb. The first came out red,
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  Speaker 2: all his body like a hairy cloak. So they called
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  Speaker 2: his name Esau. Now his descendants are called Edom, which
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  Speaker 2: refers to redness. This thing Esau refers to the hairiness.
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  Speaker 2: So you got this baby who comes out and he's
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  Speaker 2: red and hairy.
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  Speaker 1: Afterward, his brother came out with his.
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  Speaker 2: Hand holding Esau's heels. His hand was clutching to his
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  Speaker 2: older brother's a cave. That's the word in the Hebrew,
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  Speaker 2: a cave. His hand came out clutching to his brother's
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  Speaker 2: a cave, to his brother's heel. So his name was
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  Speaker 2: called Yaakov, which is a derivation of a cave, which
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  Speaker 2: means heel grabber. or deceiver, or conniver, swindler. Isaac was
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  Speaker 2: 60 years old when she bore them. When the boys
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  Speaker 2: grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of
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  Speaker 2: the field. While Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in tents,
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  Speaker 2: Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but
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  Speaker 2: Rebekah loved Jacob.
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  Speaker 1: Read between the lines, this family has problems.
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  Speaker 2: Amen? Not only is there contention between the brothers, but
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  Speaker 2: between mom and dad as well.
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  Speaker 1: And here's what we know.
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  Speaker 2: We know that this contention between the brothers is going
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  Speaker 2: to grow. We know that this contention between the brothers
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  Speaker 2: will define the two of them, will define their relationship,
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  Speaker 2: and it will also, at times, define the relationship between
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  Speaker 2: the two nations that they become. We'll hear about Edom
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  Speaker 2: again throughout the Bible. We also know that this conflict
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  Speaker 2: is going to come to a head between the mother
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  Speaker 2: and the father, and there's going to be conflict as
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  Speaker 2: to whether or not they obey what God has spoken
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  Speaker 2: clearly about these two sons. All of this foreshadowed right
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  Speaker 2: here in these few verses about the birth of Jacob
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  Speaker 2: and Esau.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what else is foreshadowed.
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  Speaker 2: One commentator has written, there's not much about Isaac's life
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  Speaker 2: that we know. And perhaps that's because beyond the fact
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  Speaker 2: that he was a man of faith and prayer when
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  Speaker 2: it came to his wife conceiving, ultimately his life degenerated
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  Speaker 2: into a thirst and hunger for wild game And being
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  Speaker 2: a horrible parent whose favoritism and inequity caused ripples for
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  Speaker 2: generations to come. And yet, predestination and election tagged him.
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  Speaker 2: And not the son of Hagar. Not the sons of Keturah.
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  Speaker 2: And yet, when it comes to Jacob, when he starts out,
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  Speaker 2: of course his name has been redeemed. But when he
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  Speaker 2: starts out, even his name... Even his name is a
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  Speaker 2: reference to the kind of character that we're going to
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  Speaker 2: see in the life of this young man who grows
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  Speaker 2: up into an older man, who is a schemer and
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  Speaker 2: a conniver, so much so that when he gets schemed
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  Speaker 2: and connived by Laban, the response when you know his
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  Speaker 2: character is, good for you. It's what you get. And yet,
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  Speaker 2: and yet, this was God's plan. Well, we'll have much
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  Speaker 2: to say about this issue of Isaac and Jacob and
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  Speaker 2: Esau and the relationship between Jacob and Esau.
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  Speaker 1: However, before we go.
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  Speaker 2: Beyond this paragraph here, there's a doctrinal issue that we
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  Speaker 2: must deal with. You guys know I don't bring out
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  Speaker 2: the computer and the slides all that often, but there's
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: some work that we need to do here in order
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: to lay some theological groundwork.
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  Speaker 1: Otherwise, there will be.
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  Speaker 2: Confusion and questions and misunderstanding and a bunch of other
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  Speaker 2: things as it relates to this issue of predestination and election.
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  Speaker 1: Because this is the.
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  Speaker 2: Seminal portrait, the seminal portrayal of the doctrine of predestination
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  Speaker 2: in the Scriptures. And I'm not suggesting that. The New
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  Speaker 2: Testament suggests that. Romans chapter 9 is an exposition of
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  Speaker 2: this passage of Scripture. Romans chapter 9, the seminal section
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  Speaker 2: in the New Testament on the doctrine of predestination and election,
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  Speaker 2: is an exposition, a doctrinal theological exposition of the Jacob
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  Speaker 2: and Esau birth narrative.
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  Speaker 1: So before we go beyond.
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  Speaker 2: And continue to look at the life of Isaac, and
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  Speaker 2: go beyond and continue to look even more closely at
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  Speaker 2: the life of Jacob, Rounding out our understanding of the patriarchs.
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  Speaker 2: There is an issue that has been bubbling beneath the
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  Speaker 2: surface all along that now comes to fruition. It was
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: a little bit easier to see as it related to
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  Speaker 2: Isaac and Ishmael. I mean, of course, you know, God
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  Speaker 2: made a promise to Abraham and Sarah. Hagar is not
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  Speaker 2: part of that promise. Hagar is outside.
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  Speaker 1: Of course.
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  Speaker 2: But again, the doctrine of predestination and election.
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  Speaker 1: under.
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  Speaker 2: The surface even there now it is full blown and
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  Speaker 2: it is in our faces and it must be dealt
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  Speaker 2: with so what we'll do is we'll explain the doctrine
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  Speaker 2: we'll see the source of the doctrine we'll defend the
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  Speaker 2: doctrine and we'll apply the doctrine of predestination this is
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  Speaker 2: a discussion that most churches would rather not have amen
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  Speaker 2: I mean it really is It's a discussion that most
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  Speaker 2: Christians would rather not have.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, what we'd much rather do is something like this.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, we really can't understand predestination and election,
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  Speaker 2: so it's really of no benefit to sort of delve
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  Speaker 2: into those things at all. Folks, if you don't delve
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  Speaker 2: into predestination and election, you don't delve into the gospel.
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  Speaker 2: You must delve into this issue. And we will do
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  Speaker 2: just that. The explanation of the doctrine. That's where we'll start.
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  Speaker 2: Let me explain this doctrine of predestination and election. And
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  Speaker 2: we'll explain it from our confession of faith. The London
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Baptist Confession. We've read this issue of the doctrine of
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  Speaker 2: predestination and election.
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  Speaker 1: But I want to.
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  Speaker 2: Go through this and take a few moments to explain
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  Speaker 2: this for you.
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  Speaker 1: Okay?
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  Speaker 2: And let me say this already as we start. Because
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  Speaker 2: here's the position that some people will take. Well, you know,
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  Speaker 2: of course, you know, you go to the confession of faith.
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  Speaker 1: That's man's words. That's not the Scriptures. Absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to get to the Scriptural explanation. But we
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  Speaker 2: need to have these synthesizations.
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  Speaker 1: For us.
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  Speaker 2: And that's the only reason that we have a confession
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  Speaker 2: of faith in the first place. This is the position
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  Speaker 2: to which we hold as a church.
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  Speaker 1: Okay? Number one. This is chapter three in the London
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Baptist Confession.
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  Speaker 2: God hath decreed in himself from all eternity by the
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  Speaker 2: most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely
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  Speaker 2: and unchangeably, all things whatsoever come to pass.
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  Speaker 1: All things whatsoever come to pass. Yet. Yet.
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  Speaker 2: So as thereby is God neither the author of sin,
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  Speaker 2: nor hath fellowship with any therein, nor is violence offered
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  Speaker 2: to the will of the creature, nor yet is the
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  Speaker 2: liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established,
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  Speaker 2: in which appears His wisdom in disposing all things, and
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  Speaker 2: power and faithfulness in accomplishing His decrees. In other words,
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  Speaker 2: there is no contradiction whatsoever between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.
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  Speaker 2: Man is responsible. Man is accountable. Make no mistake about that.
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  Speaker 2: This is one of the greatest problems that people have
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  Speaker 2: when it comes to the doctrine of predestination. And that is,
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  Speaker 2: we believe that somehow it removes accountability and it removes
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  Speaker 2: some issue of man being responsible for the sin that
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  Speaker 2: he commits.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing could be further from the truth.
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  Speaker 2: That is not the doctrine of predestination. We'll make this
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  Speaker 2: clearer as we go along. But for now, we're just
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  Speaker 2: stating the doctrine.
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  Speaker 1: Number two.
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  Speaker 2: Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass
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  Speaker 2: upon all supposed conditions, yet has he not decreed anything
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  Speaker 2: because he foresaw it as future or as that which
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: would come to pass upon such conditions. In other words,
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: God did not choose Jacob over Esau because he looked
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  Speaker 2: down the corridor of time and saw that Esau would
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  Speaker 2: be the one to respond favorably.
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  Speaker 1: That's the prescient view of election.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, God chose people to be saved, but only because
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  Speaker 2: He foresaw that they would choose Him. That's not sovereignty.
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  Speaker 2: That's God being a time traveler. That's God having a
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  Speaker 2: special trick that He can do. That's God having no
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  Speaker 2: power whatsoever, no control whatsoever.
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  Speaker 1: He is absolutely helpless.
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  Speaker 2: And just happened to saw something and then made a
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  Speaker 2: decision in order to lie to us and make us
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  Speaker 2: think that He was sovereign. That's not predestination. There is
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  Speaker 2: no predestination when you see something and then make a
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  Speaker 2: decision based upon knowing the outcome. That's like believing that
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  Speaker 2: a newscaster has some special powers because the newscaster is
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: showing you a video clip that they saw before you
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: saw so they know exactly what's happening and they say,
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: now watch this, in a second you're going to see
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: this on the right side of your screen. Wow, they're sovereign. No,
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: they just saw it before you did. And by the way,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: that's the prescient view of election. God's not sovereign. He
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: just saw it before you did. And then after he
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: saw it, he came back and he said, here is
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: what I have declared is going to happen because I'm God. No,
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: you just saw the video clip before everybody else. You
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: have no power. You have no authority. That is not
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: the doctrine of predestination. Three, by the decree of God
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: are predestinated or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: to the praise of His glorious grace. Others being left
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: to act in their sin, that phrase is important.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Well, God just chose some people to go to hell? No.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Being left to act in their sin, to their just condemnation,
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: to the praise of His glorious justice.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Every human being who has.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Lived or will live deserves to die and go to hell.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: Predestination is not about God saying, well, I'm going to
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: make you good and I'm going to make you bad
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: so that I can make you go to heaven and
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: you go to hell.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: No, here it is. All of us fell in Adam.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: And from Adam on, every man is born in sin
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: and shaped in iniquity and deserves death, hell, and the grave.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: Here's the glorious grace of God in predestination. God says,
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to allow them.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: All to go. I'm going to save some. Why? Just
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: to show off my grace. That's why. That's why. What
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: about the others?
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: They will get what their sin deserves and what they desire.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: It's not God's injustice that sends men to hell. It's
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: man's sin that sends him to hell. And the fact
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: that God in His grace and mercy has elected to
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: save some shows His grace and mercy, not His guilt
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: for punishing sin. God makes no man sin. Every man
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: sins because he wants to sin. He's bent towards sin. Well,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: what about, we'll get to those questions.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Number four.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: These angels and men, thus predestinated and foreordained, are particularly
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: and unchangeably designated. And their number so certain and definite
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: that it cannot be either increased or diminished. How many
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: people are going to heaven? The exact number that God
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: chose before the foundation of the world. Not one more,
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: not one less.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Number five.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: Those of mankind that are predestinated to life, God before
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: the foundation of the world was laid according to his
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: eternal and immutable purpose and the secret counsel and good
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: pleasure of his will.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: His purpose, His will. This is why.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: Hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory out of His
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: mere free grace and love. That's the other problem with
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: the prescient view. There's no grace in the prescient view.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: There's no love in the prescient view. I love you
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: and I saved you. No, you didn't. You just saw
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: that I was going to be smarter than other people
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: or more pious than other people and choose you. And
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: because you saw that I was going to choose you,
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: then you decided to love me. Then you decided to
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: save me. That's not your glory. That's my glory. hath
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory out of His mere
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: free grace and love without any other thing in the
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: creature as a condition or cause moving Him thereunto. Nothing
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: in the creature made God choose Him.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: There is none who does good. There is none righteous.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: There is none who seeks after God. By the way,
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: that destroys this whole concept of the prescient view of election.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: There's none who seek after God. Really?
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: Well then, if there's none who seek after God, how
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: did God look down the corridor of history and see
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: some who would seek Him and then predestinate them based
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: on the fact that He knew that they would seek
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Him if none seek God?
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Answer? No. He couldn't. He couldn't.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: We're dead in our trespasses and sins. Dead men seek nothing.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: Not almost dead, not close to dead, not kind of dead.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Dead. Dead in trespasses, dead in sin.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: And it is the power of God that makes us
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: alive together with Christ to the praise of His.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Glory and not our own.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: Six, as God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: he hath by the eternal and most free purpose of
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: his will foreordained all the means thereunto. Don't miss this one,
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: because this answers the question that people ask. People say, well,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: if that's the case, if God has already elected people,
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: why should we preach the gospel? First of all, because
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: he told us to is a good enough answer for me.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Amen? But listen to this.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: Wherefore, they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: redeemed by Christ, are effectually called unto faith in Christ
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: by His Spirit, working.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: In due season.
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: Where does that come from? The preaching of the gospel.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: God has decreed that it's the gospel that He will
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: use to call.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: Forth His elect.
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: Are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by His power through
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: faith unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: or affectionately called, justified, adopted, sanctified, or saved.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: But the elect only.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: This doctrine, far from teaching that we shouldn't share the gospel,
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: gives us the only reason to ever expect any success
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: in doing so. Amen? Amen?
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: It is the means that God has decreed.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: It's the process that God uses to call His elect
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: unto Himself. So yes, repentance and faith, we call for it. Well,
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: why would you call people to repentance and faith if
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: it's only God.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: That would allow them? Because that's the way they're saved.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Repent, believe, cry out to God. Yeah, well, if He
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: hasn't chosen me, then I can't. That's not your business.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Repent. Believe.
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: Stop trying to do other people's business in their department
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: and just worry about yours.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: Well, I want to cry out and ask God to
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: save me, but what if He hasn't chosen me? Really? Really?
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: First of all, how will you ever know that unless
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: you repent and believe? Believe.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: Secondly, why would a non-elect person even care? That's evidence
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: of your election, not reason to question it. And there
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: are people who weep and wail, I just, I want
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: so desperately to be saved and I love Jesus and
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: I want him to save me. Okay, it seems like
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: God has brought regeneration into your soul.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but I just, what if he just doesn't, I mean,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: what if he, what if he, what if he, what
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: if he what? He's calling you to himself. He's giving
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: you a yearning for him.
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: So wait a minute. This is what you believe about God?
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: You believe God goes around going, watch this. I'm going
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: to make this one want me and I'm not going
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: to save him. That's what you say when you act
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: like that. That's what you're accusing God of when you
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: act like that. You're asking a question that you're not
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: capable of answering, and that you've got no business asking
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: in the first place, and you're accusing God.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Of being like a kid who uses a magnifying glass
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: to burn ants. Watch this. Stop already. Repent. Believe. Cry
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: out to God. Seven.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: This doctrine, or the doctrine of this high mystery of predestination,
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: is to be handled with special prudence and care that
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: men attending the will of God revealed in His Word
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: and yielding obedience thereunto may from the certainty of their
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: effectual vocation be assured of their eternal election.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: There it is. Be assured of their eternal election.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: So shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: admiration of God, and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: to all that sincerely obey the gospel. An arrogant Calvinist
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: ought to be a contradiction in terms. The attitude is not, well,
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: I'm one of the elect.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: No.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: No.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: The attitude is, I'm one of the elect. God be praised.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: There is nothing in me. There is nothing about me
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: that God should have been interested in saving.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: But to the praise of His glory, according to the
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: counsel of His own will, not because of anything that
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: He saw in me, but in spite of everything that
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: He saw in me, God called me out of.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: Darkness into His marvelous light. I'm humbled. I'm overwhelmed.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: That ought to be the response to the doctrine of predestination.
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: Not a source of the doctrine. We've seen the source
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: of the doctrine here in the texts that we've already examined.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: But let's look here at some other passages of Scripture. First,
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: in Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. You want to
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: see intellectual gymnastics? Watch an Armenian teach through Romans chapter 9.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: There's so much that has to be explained away in
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Romans chapter 9 if you don't believe in the doctrine
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: of predestination and election.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: And we'll just see it. Let's just look here, okay?
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: But it is not as though the Word of God
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: has failed us For not all who are descended from
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: Israel belong to Israel. And not all are children of
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: Abraham because they are his offspring. But through Isaac shall
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: your offspring be named. Okay, he's going right back to Genesis.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: This means that it is not the children of the
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: flesh who are the children of God. But the children
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: what the promise said. About this time next year, I
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: will return and you shall have children. a son or
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: Sarah shall have a son and not only so but
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man our
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: forefather Isaac though they were not yet born and look
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: at this it explodes the prescient view and had done
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: nothing either.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: Good or bad in order why did.
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: This happen before anything was done in order to show
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: that God was really good at seeing the future no
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: that's not what the Bible teaches in order that God's
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: purpose of election might continue, not because of words, but
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: because of him who calls. Where do you get the
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: prescient view from in that? Well, no, he just saw
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: who would choose him. You've got to rip this out
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: of the Bible in order to believe that. The New
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: Testament goes out of its way to destroy that myth.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: It had absolutely nothing to do with who Jacob was
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: or who Esau was. They were both dirty, rotten scoundrels.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: She was told, the older will serve the younger, as
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: What had they done? Nothing. Nothing.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: Completely a matter of election and predestination. In fact, Jacob
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: doesn't get his act together until God meets him and
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: breaks his hip. God takes him by force. So much
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: for all those folks who, you know, the Holy Spirit
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: is a gentleman. He would never force himself on anyone.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: Help you. He broke Isaac's hip. That's forcing yourself on someone. Amen? Amen?
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit's a gentleman. He would never force himself on anyone. Really?
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: How about that John the Baptist fella in the womb? Yeah,
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: he was begging for the Spirit in there.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: How about Mary? Overshadowed by the Most High.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: The Holy Spirit is the Second, third person of the Trinity.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: Holy Spirit's the third person of the Trinity.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: He's God. He's not running for God. He's God. He
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: needs permission for nothing. He's God. Again, in Romans 9.
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: I love the way Paul handles this in Romans 9
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: because he answers the questions that people always ask about predestination.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: In other words.
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: Our culture is not the first in which people ask
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: these very same questions.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: And he answers them. What shall we say then?
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: Is there injustice on God's part? Isn't that the question
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: people ask? Election and predestination? Somehow God, he's unjust.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: By no means.
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: on whom I will have compassion.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: So then it depends.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: Not on human will or exertion, but on God who
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: has mercy.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Again, does not depend on human will.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: For the scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: I have raised you up, that I might show my
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: in all the earth. So then he has mercy on
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. he's
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: God folks how about this one you will say to
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: me then why does God find fault aren't men just
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: sinning because God made them sinful didn't he just decree
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: all of that Who can resist his will? How's God
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: going to find fault? Nobody can resist his will. But
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: who are you, old man, to answer back to God?
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: Will what is molded say to its molder, why have
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: you made me like this? Has the potter no right
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: over the clay to make out of the same lump
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: What if God... desiring to show.
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: His wrath and to make known his power, has endured
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: order to make known the riches of his glory for
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only,
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: but also from the Gentiles. As indeed, he says in Hosea,
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: those who were not my people, I will call my people.
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: And her who was not believed, who was not believed,
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: I will call, not beloved, excuse me, I will call beloved.
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: And in the very place where it was said to them,
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: you are not my people, there they will be called
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: sons of the living God. And again, he continues. Isaiah
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: cries out concerning Israel. Though the number of the sons
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: a remnant of them will be saved. For the Lord
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: will carry out His sentence upon the earth fully and
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: without delay. And as Isaiah predicted, if the Lord of
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: like Sodom and become like Gomorrah. if it wasn't for
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: what God did in His plan of election and predestination,
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: all of us would have been like Sodom. All of
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: us would have been like Gomorrah. There is not one
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: person who deserves the mercy of God. And the only
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: way anyone gets saved is by the grace and mercy
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: of God. In Ephesians chapter 1, Verses 11 through 14.
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: Another amazing section of Scripture as it relates to the
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: doctrine of election.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Look here.
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: in the heavenly places. Even as He chose us in
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: be holy.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: And blameless before Him.
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: In love, He predestined us for adoption as sons through
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, according to His ability to see who would
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: choose Him. No, according to the purpose of His will,
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: of Him who works all things according to the counsel
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: of His will.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: That's the God we serve.
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: The God who works all things according to the counsel
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: of His will. So that we who were the first
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: to hope in Christ might be to the praise of
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: in Him. There are those means again. Why preach the gospel?
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: Because that's what God uses. We're sealed with the promised
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory.
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: That's very important.
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: If we don't believe in a God who's powerful enough
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: to predestine people, then we probably won't believe in a
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: God who's powerful enough to keep those whom He saves.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: Here's some other verses. Psalm 115, 3. Our God is
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: in the heavens. He does all that He pleases. That
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: goes for those who, you know, God's somehow out there
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: and He's just hoping.
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: He's just pining. He just really, you know, oh, He
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: doesn't really need you.
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: He desperately went to just please. I hope you will please.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: Would you please just believe in me?
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: Please, please, please. No.
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: That is not my God. Our God is in the heavens.
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: He does everything. Whatever pleases Him. John 5, 21. John 6, 65.
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: And he said, this is why I told you that
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: no one can come to me unless it is granted
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: him by the Father. Jesus said, no one can come
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: to him. Not no one will. No one can. No
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: one is able to come to Jesus apart from the
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: Father working in them, bringing them. Predestination and election are
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: absolutely necessary or there is no salvation.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: So again, this completely refutes the prescient view.
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: God just looked down the corridor of history and He
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: saw the ones who would be good enough. He saw
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: the ones who would be smart enough. He saw the ones,
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: you know, who would hear preachers that were persuasive enough.
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: And He made His choice based on that.
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: No. Not at all.
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: Again in John 6, 35-40. Jesus said to him, I
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: But I said to you that you have seen me
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: me will come to me. A lot of people think,
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: for example, that John 3.16 is a problem for those
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: who believe in the doctrines of grace. No, it says,
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: whosoever will. Absolutely right. Whoever believes. But who's going to believe?
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: The elect. Jesus says it here. Listen to him again.
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: He says, I'm the bread of life. Whoever comes to
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: me shall not hunger. Amen.
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: I believe in the doctrines of grace and I believe
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: that wholeheartedly. Whoever comes to Jesus will not hunger. Whoever
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: believes in me shall never thirst.
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: I believe in that.
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: Whoever comes to Christ, whoever believes in Christ, whoever repents
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: of their sins will be saved.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: You get no.
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: Argument from me whatsoever. However, I also know that all
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: men are born in sin, shaped in iniquity, and that
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: they're dead in their sins. And unless a supernatural act
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: of God occurs first, they cannot believe, they cannot have faith,
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: they cannot repent of their sin.
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: They're incapable. So do I believe the whosoever's? Yes.
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: But it's predicated upon predestination and election. Otherwise, there are
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: some people who are smarter than others, more righteous than others,
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: more godly than others, and are somehow able to figure
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: this thing out unlike other people. And they are to
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: be praised for their salvation, not God. All that the
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: Father gives me will come to me. Whoever comes to me,
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: I will never cast out. For I've come down from
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: heaven not to do my own will, but the will
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: of Him who sent me. And this is the will
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: of all that He has given me. By the way,
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: you want an eternal security passage? There it is right there.
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: But raise it up on the last day. For this
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life.
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: And I will raise Him up on the last day.
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: There's whoever's all over that passage of Scripture. And there's
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: election and predestination all over that passage of Scripture. There
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: is no contradiction between the two. Whoever believes will be saved.
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: But you cannot believe. You cannot believe in and of
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: yourself apart from the grace of God making you alive
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: unto Christ. John 15. You did not choose me, but
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: I chose you. Amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord. We can
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: just stop right there, okay? And appointed you that you
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: abide so that whoever, so that whatever you ask the
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: Father in my name, he may give it to you.
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: By the way, this flies in the face of those
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: who say, oh no, when you believe in the doctrines
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: of grace, you know that whole once saved, always saved,
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: and people can live any way they want to. No,
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: part of election and predestination is that you will bear
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: fruit in keeping with your salvation. If you're not bearing fruit,
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: that's evidence that you're not elect. Or at least you're
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: not saved. But to all who did receive him, who
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: believed in his name, he gave the right to become
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: children of God, who were born not of blood, Isaac
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: not Ishmael, Jacob not Esau, not of blood, nor of
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man.
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: being born again is not a work of man being
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: born again is not a work of the flesh.
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: And being born again by the way precedes.
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: Our faith it's not a byproduct of our faith Here's
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: what modern American evangelicalism has said. You need to walk
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: this aisle and pray this prayer, and if you walk
• 49:45
  Speaker 2: this aisle and pray this prayer, then you will be
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: born again.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: In other words, you will born yourself again.
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: It's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches you
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: have to be born again in order to come to
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: faith and repentance. And being born again is not something
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: you do. It is a supernatural act of God. Your
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: hands are not on it. That's why in John 3,
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: Jesus compares it to the wind that blows wherever it wills.
• 50:21
  Speaker 2: John 17, 1 and 2. When Jesus had spoken these words,
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father,
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that the
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: Son may glorify You, since You have given Him authority
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: You have given Him. To whom does Jesus give eternal life?
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: All that the Father has given Him. Here's the other beauty.
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: Salvation is not just about the love that the Father
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: has for the elect. But the elect are in fact
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: a love gift from the Father to the Son.
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: 2 Timothy 1, 8 and 9.
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord,
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: nor of me, His prisoner, but share in suffering for
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: the gospel by the power of God, who saved us
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: and called us to a holy calling, not because of
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: our works, but because of His own purpose and grace,
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the age began.
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: And here again, in John 17. I have manifested Your
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: name to the people whom You gave Me out of
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: the world. Yours they were, and You gave them to Me.
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: And they have kept Your word. Now they know that
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: everything that You have given Me is from You. For
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: I have given them the words that You gave Me,
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: and they have received them and have come to know
• 51:49
  Speaker 2: in truth that I came from You. In other words,
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: there are those means again. He gave them the Word.
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: Because God uses that to save and call His elect.
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: They have believed that You sent Me. I am praying
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: for them. I am not praying for the world. I
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: am praying for them. I am not praying for the world.
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: Jesus is praying to His Father, thanking His Father for
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: the ones that have been given to Him. Jesus is
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: not saying, Oh Father, I just hope, I just hope
• 52:18
  Speaker 2: that there's more. I just hope that there's more.
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: No.
• 52:23
  Speaker 2: He knows who He came for. Not praying for the world,
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: but for those whom you have given me. For they
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine,
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: and I'm glorified in them, and I'm no longer in
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: the world, but they are in the world, and I'm
• 52:41
  Speaker 2: coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name,
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: which you have given me, that they may be one,
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: even as we are one. Finally, Romans 8. We're so
• 52:55
  Speaker 2: familiar with this. We know that for those who love God,
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: all things work together for good. For those who are
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: called according to His purpose.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: For those whom He foreknew.
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: Notice that the text does not say, for those who
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: He foreknew would choose Him. Those whom He foreknew. Not
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: those whose actions He foreknew, not those whose faith He foreknew,
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: but those individuals whom He foreknew, or whom He foreloved.
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: Those whom He foreknew.
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He also called.
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: Those whom He called, He also justified. Those whom He justified,
• 53:54
  Speaker 2: He also glorified. Cannot separate salvation from predestination and election.
• 54:07
  Speaker 2: Defense of the doctrine. Let me share this with you.
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: This is from Lorraine Bettner in his book, The Reformed
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: Doctrine of Predestination.
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: Listen to this.
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: Now, if future events are foreknown to God, they cannot
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: by any possibility take a turn contrary to His knowledge.
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: Follow this, a line at a time.
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: If future events are foreknown to God, then they can't
• 54:35
  Speaker 2: take a turn contrary to what God knows. If things
• 54:39
  Speaker 2: take a turn contrary to what God knows, then God
• 54:41
  Speaker 2: didn't know.
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: Okay?
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: If the course of future events is foreknown... History will
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: follow that course as definitely as a locomotive follows the
• 54:52
  Speaker 2: rails from New York to Chicago. The Armenian doctrine in
• 54:57
  Speaker 2: rejecting foreordination rejects the theistic basic for foreknowledge.
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: Common sense tells us that.
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: No event can be foreknown unless by some means, either
• 55:09
  Speaker 2: physical or mental, it has been predetermined.
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: You can't foreknow it unless it's been predetermined.
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: If it's unfolding and there are multiple possibilities, you can't
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: foreknow the outcome. You can only foreknow the outcome if
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: the outcome has been predetermined.
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: Okay? That's the only way.
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: If the outcome hasn't been predetermined, you do not have foreknowledge.
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: Our choice as to what determines the certainty of future
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: events narrows down to two alternatives.
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: Boettner says there's only two possibilities.
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: The foreordination of the wise and merciful Heavenly Father, or the.
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: Working of blind physical fate. That's it.
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: Here's my problem with the prescient view. God doesn't determine
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: the future. He can merely see into it. And as
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: he sees into it, things work themselves out according to what?
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: Fate.
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: Blind physical fate. It's either fate or the foreordination of
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: our loving Heavenly Father.
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: In which do we believe? If it's the former.
• 56:42
  Speaker 2: and God just looks and watches things sort of work
• 56:45
  Speaker 2: themselves out, and then makes His decisions based upon what
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: He sees, how on earth do we argue against the evolutionists?
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: Because that's a form of moral and ethical evolution, is
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: it not?
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: It just sort of works itself out. And God makes
• 57:07
  Speaker 2: a decision based upon the outcome... so that he ends
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: up on the winning team. That doesn't work, folks. That
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: doesn't work. There is predestination and foreordination. What about the
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: application of the doctrine? What do we do with this?
• 57:37
  Speaker 2: Number one, Turn your adoration toward God as you celebrate
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: His grace and not your ability. That's the first application
• 57:50
  Speaker 2: of this doctrine. The beauty of the doctrines of grace
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: is that it gives us cause to praise God.
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: And not man.
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: If we believe that our salvation is merely a byproduct
• 58:08
  Speaker 2: of God having seen something in us, that pleased Him,
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: then we have a reason to boast. God saw something
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: in me. God saw that I was going to choose Him.
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: And He said, good job, Vody. You softened your heart
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: more than other people. You were smarter than other people.
• 58:36
  Speaker 2: You figured out the Gospel. And because you did it,
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: I'm going to apply the blood of Jesus.
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: To your life. And you will come to heaven. And
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: you and I will share glory together. Jesus paid a lot.
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: Some to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: we washed it white as snow. No.
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: The only thing I brought to the party was the
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: sin that needed to be forgiven. Secondly, share the gospel
• 59:40
  Speaker 2: with confidence, knowing that God has guaranteed the salvation of
• 59:43
  Speaker 2: His elect and success does.
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: Not depend on us. Amen? This is freedom, folks. People
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: are going to be saved. We know it. Why?
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: Because of the predetermined, predestinating work of God. The foreknowledge
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: of God. The foreordination of God. The election of God.
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 2: God's got a people out there. And when we preach
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 2: the gospel, the gospel is what God uses to call
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: His elect to Himself. So we go when we preach,
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 2: and we preach with confidence. Knowing that the Spirit of
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 2: God will do His work. Now here's what's interesting. Some
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 2: will argue... That believing in the doctrine of predestination will
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: kill evangelism. Because why should we evangelize? Because we already
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 2: know what's going to happen. Because God has already made
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 2: this determination. So why should you go evangelize? Let me
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 2: ask you this. If you take the prescient view, people
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: are chosen or elected based on what? That God already
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: saw in the future that they were going to choose in.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: Which means you end up at the same place just
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 2: for a different reason. So we could ask the same question.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: Why preach the gospel if you hold to the prescient
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 2: view if God has already seen something in that person?
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 2: Do you see what I'm saying? What's the difference there?
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 2: The only difference there is where the glory belongs. And
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: what the scriptures teach. Because in the prescient view, we
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: believe that men are saved... And they're foreknown and predestined
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: and called and justified and sanctified and glorified because of
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 2: what God looked down the corridors of time and already saw.
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: How is that not an issue for our motivation for
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: preaching the gospel?
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: And the idea that God, from the foundation of the earth....
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 2: Has elected and predestined the people for himself to the
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: praise of his glory. As far as motivation for the gospel,
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 2: do you see the point? Don't fall for the why
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: we should share the gospel lie. Another way we need
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 2: to apply this, doctor, avoid introspective navel-gazing as a means
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 2: of discovering whether or not you are elect. Just repent
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 2: and believe the gospel. All this pining over whether or
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 2: not God has chosen you. What is that?
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: Let that go.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 2: God has not called you to determine whether or not,
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 2: before the foundation of the earth, He has decreed your salvation.
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: You don't get to see that. Deal with what you know.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: What do you know?
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 2: You know that whoever believes shall be saved. You know
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: that whoever comes to repentance and faith will be saved.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: So what do you do? Repent. Believe. Cry out to God.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 2: Beg Him to wash you with the blood of His
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 2: beloved Son and save you from your sin. That's what
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 2: you do. Forget the what ifs. That does nothing for me.
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 2: That ties me up in knots. It accomplishes absolutely nothing.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 2: Except taking my eyes off of responding to the gospel.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: Don't do that. Also, and related to it, avoid.
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 2: Spending more time worrying about whether or not your children
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 2: are elect than you do sharing the gospel with them.
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 2: You got parents who pine over, what if one of
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 2: my babies is not elect?
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: What? What if God hasn't chosen one of them? Well,
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: what if God hasn't? Well, what if God hasn't? Well,
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: what if God hasn't? Well, what if God hasn't? I
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: know nothing of that. Here's what I know.
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 2: I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 2: it is the power of God unto salvation to all
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 2: those who believe. Therefore, all I know is I'm sharing
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 2: the gospel regularly, continuously with all of my children because
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 2: that's the means that God uses to call forth His elect.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 2: That's what I'm doing. It is of absolutely no benefit
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 2: for me to twiddle my thumbs and worry about whether
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 2: or not my children are elect.
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: That is of absolutely no benefit. And that is not
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: what I'm called to. Not at all. Because here's what
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: I'm seeing. Here's what I'm seeing.
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 2: We read about these unreached people groups who don't have
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 2: the Bible in their language, who don't have a single
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 2: church or a single Christian in their land.
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: And then here I am, a Christian, with more Bibles
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: in my house than I can shake a stick at.
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 2: Know the gospel, been saved by the gospel, committed to
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: sharing the gospel in my home, and God sent that
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 2: baby to my house.
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: How about I work with that? Amen?
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 2: God's called me unto himself, given me the gospel, a
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 2: passion for this young person, and every day to preach
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 2: to him. How about I work with that? Instead of
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 2: twiddling my thumbs and pining over whether or not... And again,
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 2: that's not the question. Don't ask the question that you
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 2: can't answer. Because you can't answer that question. What if
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: this person is elect? What if this person is not elect?
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 2: And we all do it. We all do it. I
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 2: can't answer that question. You can't answer that question. So
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 2: what do we deal with? We deal with what we know.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: Preach the gospel. That's what we know. These people have
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 2: an opportunity to hear the gospel. That's what we know.
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 2: That's what we work with. That's what we spend our
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 2: time on. That's what we spend our energy on. Not
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 2: asking questions that I can't answer.
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: I can't figure that out. I don't know that.
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 2: I'm too busy working out my own salvation with fear
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 2: and trembling.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: Amen? Working on my own assurance of my salvation. Amen?
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: Don't tie yourself up in knots about that.
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 2: And certainly, don't let it hinder you from preaching the gospel.
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 2: From sharing the gospel. Again and again and again and
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 2: again and again. We're not in the department of seeing.
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 2: That's not the question. The question is not, is this
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 2: person one of the elect? The question is, is this person.
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: Hearing the gospel, believing the gospel, resting on the gospel,
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: Bearing fruit as a result?
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 2: Those are the questions. And those are the only questions.
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, the fact of the matter is, it could
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 2: be a long time from now. Your children could be
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 2: long gone out of your house. And you, dead and gone,
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 2: before they come to faith in Christ. So what do
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 2: you gain by pining over whether or not they're elect?
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: Nothing. Nothing. Just give them the gospel. Trust God to
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: save them. This is something that adoptive parents often struggle
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: with too. You know? His children coming into our home
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: from other places and, you know, other families and this
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: and that and the other. And what if we just,
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: what if we go out and we grab one who's
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: not elect? Really? How about we just go, our home
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: is a gospel outpost.
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 2: God's going to send us kids that He believes need
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 2: to be raised in a gospel outpost.
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: I'm liking those odds. Amen? I know that all of
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: this is easier said than done I get that.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 2: It is much easier to say we need to turn
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 2: our praise and adoration toward God and not ourselves it's
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 2: much easier to say that than it is to do
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 2: Because the fact of the matter is, all of us,
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 2: when we share our testimony, it's I, I, I, I, I.
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 2: I grew up here. I used to live like this.
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 2: Then I trusted Christ. Then I got saved. Then I
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 2: started living like this.
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: Then I, I, I, I, I.
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 2: That's the way most people share their testimony. You'd never
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 2: know that Jesus saved them. Again, it's easier said than done.
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 2: It's easier said than done, you know. Share the gospel
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 2: with people. Knowing that God has his elect out there
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 2: and the gospel is a means that will call them forth.
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: Do it.
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 2: That's easier said than done because we don't like the
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 2: whole rejection thing. We're scared we're going to say the
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 2: wrong thing. We're scared we're going to mess it up.
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 2: We're scared we're going to lose friends. We're scared, we're scared,
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 2: we're scared. I realize that. It's easier said than done. Now,
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 2: I realize that avoiding this sort of introspective navel-gazing is
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 2: easier said than done. Because every one of us does
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: things from time to time and thinks things from time
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 2: to time that make us go, no way I'm saved.
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: If you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch.
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 2: Every last one of us, we have those days where
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 2: we just go, you know what, I may just be deceived.
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: This stuff that.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 2: I'm wrestling with, stuff that's gone, that comes back, stuff
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 2: that you even say, praise God, He delivered me from A, B, C,
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 2: and X, Y, and Z. And then all of a sudden,
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 2: one day, it could be years later, and there it is.
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 2: Trust me, I realize this is easier said than done.
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 2: And the last one, of course, is easier said than done.
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 2: Which parent among us who believes in the doctrine of
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 2: election and predestination, can say that we've never had that
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 2: moment where we've questioned.
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: That little baby's there and, you know, kind of cooing
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: and aahing and everything else.
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 2: And then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 2: just comes across your mind. What if this little precious
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 2: thing is not one of the elect? That happens to us, folks.
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 2: I realize that happens to us. It happens to us all.
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 2: That's why we have sermons.
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: Amen?
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 2: Because you need to be reminded of this stuff.
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: And I need to be reminded more.
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 2: Which is why I get to live with this for
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 2: weeks before I share it with you for whatever time
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 2: we have.
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much.
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 2: So whatever you're thinking right now about how much you
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 2: needed this, just remember, I've been living with it ten
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 2: times longer than you've had to live with it here today.
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: Amen? That's why we have sermons.
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 2: Because we need to be reminded again and again and
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 2: again and again and again of all of these things.
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 2: Because they're all much easier said than done.
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: Nevertheless, by the power of the gospel, and according to
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: His grace. We're going to get there. For His praise,
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: His glory, and His namesake. Does everybody at this church
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: understand all of this? No. I understand it better today
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: than I did two weeks ago. Does everybody at this
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: church fully agree with all of this? No. No. Is
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: everybody at this church finished wrestling with all of this? No. No.
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: Absolutely not.
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 2: But this is the doctrine upon which we stand. This
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 2: is who we are. And here's what unites us. Remember
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 2: this as we go. Here's what unites us. Even folks
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 2: here at this church, some members of this church who
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 2: are not here, who are not here, have said, you
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 2: know what?
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: We're not there.
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 2: But that's the doctrine of this church. So I'm going
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 2: to keep searching. I'm going to keep learning. I'm going
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 2: to keep reading. And I'm going to keep walking with
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 2: my brothers and sisters, praying that God will reveal His
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 2: truth to me. What more can we ask for? So
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 2: we don't have classes of members here. Those who are special,
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 2: full-fledged members because they embrace the doctrines of grace and
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 2: others who are not quite there yet, who have to
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 2: be endured with patience until they finally walk into the
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 2: second blessing. Help you if you believe that, okay?
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: Trust me. Trust me. We know that there are people
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: who wrestle with this and who struggle with this. But
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: here's the good news.
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 2: Nobody has to wrestle or struggle with, I wonder where
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 2: the church stands on this.
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: Amen?
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 2: Because I don't know about you, but I'm a whole
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 2: lot better when I can say, you know what? We're
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 2: in a little bit of disagreement on this little thing
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 2: over here. And that's okay, because we know where it
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 2: is and we can work through it. I'm much better
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 2: there than I am, you know, I really hope we're unified,
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 2: but I have no idea whatsoever what the stance is on.
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: Fill in the blank. Boy, it's hard to have unity there.
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 2: So we don't present this in order to say with arrogance,
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 2: this is us.
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: Take it all the way or leave it.
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 2: But we communicate it with confidence saying, this is where
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 2: we stand. And we want you to know with clarity
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 2: and assurance that this is what you're going to get
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 2: from us. And I hope today, because there may be
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 2: some of you who have been here for a while
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 2: and you know that this is where we are, but
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 2: I hope today that you understand that it's not only
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 2: where we are, but there's a reason that it's where
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 2: we are. Because we believe that it's what the Scriptures
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 2: teach rather clearly. I hope you also understand this relationship
• 1:16:36
  Speaker 2: between our confession of faith that unites us and our
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 2: belief that the Scriptures are completely sufficient. And they are
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 2: our standard for faith and practice. Because some will ask
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 2: questions like this. And we deal with this in our
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 2: 1689 class. Well, why have a confession at all? No
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 2: creed but Christ.
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: Really? What do you mean when you say Christ? Well,
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 1: we just believe the Bible. Really?
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 2: Apocrypha in or out? See, it's real easy to be flippant.
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 2: You know, and to knock the idea of having a confession.
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 2: We just need to center around Jesus. Well, he has
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 2: to be defined. We just need to center around the Bible. Well,
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 2: that has to be defined. So our confession of faith
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 2: doesn't supersede the Scriptures. It just basically boils down. our
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 2: stream of thought and tradition and position on the key
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 2: scriptural doctrines so that you know what this church means
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 2: when it says, we believe the Bible and we believe
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 2: in Jesus. Now, I hope you've seen that today. I
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 2: hope you've also seen that the reason we love the
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 2: London Baptist Confession of 1689, which is not the confession
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 2: of faith for most Southern Baptist churches at all, is
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 2: because of how thorough and how biblical. I hope you
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 2: see that as we read the Confession, we came back
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 2: and we read all those passages, and if you looked carefully,
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 2: you saw where every phrase in the Confession came from
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 2: as we examined those passages of Scripture.
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: That's why it's our Confessions. Let's pray.