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Voddie Baucham - Election and Predestination · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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