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021 - Conclusion · Sovereignty of God

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  Speaker 1: Conclusion of Sovereignty of God. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by k Hand Sovereignty of God by Arthur Pink conclusion
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  Speaker 1: All Alujah for the Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth Revelation nineteen six.
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  Speaker 1: In our forward to the second edition, we acknowledge the
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  Speaker 1: need for preserving the balance of truth. Two things are
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  Speaker 1: beyond dispute. God is sovereign, Man is responsible. In this
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  Speaker 1: book we have sought to expound the former. In our
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  Speaker 1: other works we have frequently pressed the latter. That there
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  Speaker 1: is real danger of over emphasizing the one at ignoring
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  Speaker 1: the other. We readily admit YEA history furnishes numerous examples
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  Speaker 1: of cases of each. To emphasize the sovereignty of God
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  Speaker 1: without also maintaining the accountability of the creature tends to fatalism.
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  Speaker 1: To be so concerned in maintaining the responsibility of man
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  Speaker 1: as to lose sight of the sovereignty of God is
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  Speaker 1: to exalt the creature and dishonor the Creator. Almost all
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  Speaker 1: doctrinal error is really truth. Perverted truth, wrongfully divided truth,
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  Speaker 1: disproportionately held and taught. The fairest face on earth, with
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  Speaker 1: the most comely features would soon become ugly and unsightly
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  Speaker 1: if one member continued growing while the others remained undeveloped.
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  Speaker 1: Beauty is primarily a matter of proportion. Thus it is
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  Speaker 1: with the Word of God. Its beauty and blessedness are
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  Speaker 1: best perceived when its manifold wisdom is exhibited in its
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  Speaker 1: true proportions. Here is where so many have failed in
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  Speaker 1: the past. A single phase of God's truth has so
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  Speaker 1: impressed this man or that he has concentrated his attention
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  Speaker 1: upon it, almost to the exclusion of everything else. Some
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  Speaker 1: portion of God's word has been made a pet doctrine,
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  Speaker 1: and often this has become the distinctive badge of some party.
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  Speaker 1: But it is the duty of each servant of God
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  Speaker 1: to declare all the counsel of God Acts twenty twenty seven.
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  Speaker 1: It is true that the degenerate days in which our
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  Speaker 1: lot is cast, when on every side man is exalted
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  Speaker 1: in superman, has become a common expression. There is real
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  Speaker 1: need for a special emphasis upon the glorious fact of
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  Speaker 1: God's supremacy. The more so where this is expressly denied.
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  Speaker 1: Yet even here much wisdom is required, lest our zeal
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  Speaker 1: should not be according to knowledge. The words meet in
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  Speaker 1: due season should ever be before the servant of God.
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  Speaker 1: What is needed primarily by one congregation may not be
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  Speaker 1: specifically needed by another. If called to labor where Armenian
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  Speaker 1: preachers have proceeded, then the neglected truth of God's sovereignty
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  Speaker 1: should be expounded, though with caution and care, lest too
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  Speaker 1: much strong meat be given to babes. The example of
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  Speaker 1: Christ in John sixteen twelve. I have yet many things
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  Speaker 1: to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them. Now
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  Speaker 1: must be borne in mind. On the other hand, if
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  Speaker 1: I am called to take charge of a distinctly calvinistic pulpit,
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  Speaker 1: then the truth of human responsibility, in its many aspects
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  Speaker 1: may be profitably set forth. What the preacher needs to
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  Speaker 1: give out is not what his people most like to hear,
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  Speaker 1: but what they most need, i e. Those aspects of
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  Speaker 1: truth they are least familiar with or least exhibiting in
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  Speaker 1: their walk to carry into actual practice. What we have
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  Speaker 1: inculcated above will most probably lay the preacher open to
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  Speaker 1: the charge of being a turncoat. But what matters that
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  Speaker 1: if he has his master's approval, he is not called
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  Speaker 1: upon to be consistent with himself nor with any rules
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  Speaker 1: drawn up by man. His business is to be consistent
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  Speaker 1: with Buly writ and in scripture, each part or aspect
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  Speaker 1: of truth is balanced by another aspect of truth. There
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  Speaker 1: are two sides to everything, even to the character of God,
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  Speaker 1: for he is light first John one five, as well
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  Speaker 1: as love one John four eight. And therefore we are
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  Speaker 1: called upon to behold therefore the goodness and severity of
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  Speaker 1: God Romans eleven twenty two, to be all the time
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  Speaker 1: preaching on the one, to the exclusion of the other
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  Speaker 1: caricatures the divine character. When the Son of God became incarnate,
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  Speaker 1: he came here in the form of a servant Phileman
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  Speaker 1: two seven. Nevertheless, in the manger he was Christ, the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Luke two eleven. All things are possible with God
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  Speaker 1: Matthew nineteen twenty six. Yet God cannot lie Titus one two.
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  Speaker 1: Scripture says bear ye one another's burdens Galatians six two.
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  Speaker 1: Yet the same chapter insists every man shall bear his
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  Speaker 1: own burden Galatians six five. We are enjoined to take
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  Speaker 1: no thought for the morrow Matthew six thirty four. Yet
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  Speaker 1: if any provide not for his own and specially for
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  Speaker 1: those of his own house, he hath denied the faith
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  Speaker 1: and is worse than an infidel one Timothy five eight.
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  Speaker 1: No sheep of Christ's can perish John ten twenty eight,
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  Speaker 1: twenty nine. Yet the Christian is bidden to make his
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  Speaker 1: calling an election, sure tewod Peter one ten. And so
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  Speaker 1: we might go on multiplying illustrations. These things are not contradictions,
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  Speaker 1: but complimentaries. The one balances the other. Thus the scriptures
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  Speaker 1: set forth both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility
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  Speaker 1: of man. So too should every servant of God, and
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  Speaker 1: that in their proper proportion. But we return now to
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  Speaker 1: a few closing reflections upon our present theme. And Jehosephet
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  Speaker 1: stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the
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  Speaker 1: house of the Lord before the new Court, and said, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven
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  Speaker 1: and rulest not thou over all the kingdom of the heathen,
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  Speaker 1: And in Thine hand is there not power and might,
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  Speaker 1: so that none is able to withstand thee Second Chronicles
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  Speaker 1: twenty five six. Yes, the Lord is God, ruling in
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  Speaker 1: supreme majesty and might. Yet in our day, a day
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  Speaker 1: of boasted enlightenment and progress, this is denied on every hand.
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  Speaker 1: A materialistic science and atheistic philosophy have bowed God out
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  Speaker 1: of his own world, and everything is regulated forsooth by
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  Speaker 1: impersonal laws of nature. So in human affairs at best,
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  Speaker 1: God is a far distant spectator, and a helpless one
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  Speaker 1: at that. God could not help the launching of the
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  Speaker 1: dreadful war, and though he longed to put a stop
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  Speaker 1: to it, he was unable to do so. And this
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  Speaker 1: in the face of First Chronicles five twenty two, Second
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  Speaker 1: Chronicles twenty four twenty four. Having endowed man with free agency,
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  Speaker 1: God is obliged to let man make his own choice
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  Speaker 1: and go his own way, and he cannot interfere with him,
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  Speaker 1: or otherwise his moral responsibility would be destroyed. Such are
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  Speaker 1: the popular beliefs of the day. One is not surprised
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  Speaker 1: to find these sentiments emanating from German theologians, but how
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  Speaker 1: sad that they should be taught and many of our
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  Speaker 1: seminaries echoed from many of our pulpits, and accepted by
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  Speaker 1: many of the rank and file of professing Christians. One
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  Speaker 1: of the most flagrant sins of our age is that
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  Speaker 1: of irreverence, the failure to ascribe the glory which is
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  Speaker 1: due to the august majesty of God. Men limit the
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  Speaker 1: power and activities of the Lord in their degrading concepts
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  Speaker 1: of his being and character. Originally man was made in
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  Speaker 1: the image and likeness of God, but today we are
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  Speaker 1: asked to believe in a God made in the image
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  Speaker 1: and likeness of man. The Creator is reduced to the
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  Speaker 1: level of the creature. His omniscience is called into question,
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  Speaker 1: his omnipotency is no longer believed in, and his absolute
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  Speaker 1: sovereignty is flatly denied. Men claim to be the architects
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  Speaker 1: of their own fortunes and the determiners of their own destiny.
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  Speaker 1: They know not that their lives are at the disposal
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  Speaker 1: of the divine despot. They know not they have no
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  Speaker 1: more power to thwart his secret decrees than a worm
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  Speaker 1: has to resist the tread of an elephant. They know
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  Speaker 1: not that the Lord hath prepared his throne in the
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  Speaker 1: heavens and his kingdom ruleth over all Psalm one three nineteen.
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  Speaker 1: In the foregoing pages, we have sought to repudiate such
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  Speaker 1: paganistic views as the above mentioned and have endeavored to
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  Speaker 1: show from scripture that God is God on the throne,
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  Speaker 1: and that so far from the recent war being in
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  Speaker 1: evidence that the helm had slipped out of his hand,
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  Speaker 1: it was a sure proof that He still lives in
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  Speaker 1: rains and is now bringing to pass that which he
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  Speaker 1: had four determined and four announced Matthew twenty four, six
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  Speaker 1: through eight, et cetera. That the carnal mind is enmity
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  Speaker 1: against God, that the unregenerate man is a rebel against
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  Speaker 1: the divine government. That the sinner has no concern for
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  Speaker 1: the glory of his maker, and little or no respect
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  Speaker 1: for his revealed will is freely granted. But nevertheless, behind
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  Speaker 1: the scenes, God is ruling and overruling, fulfilling his eternal purpose,
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  Speaker 1: not only in spite of, but also by means of,
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  Speaker 1: those who are his enemies. How earnestly are the claims
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  Speaker 1: of man contended, for against the claims of God. Has
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  Speaker 1: not man power and knowledge? But what of it has
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  Speaker 1: God no will or power or knowledge. Suppose a man's
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  Speaker 1: will conflicts with God's, then what turn to the scripture
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  Speaker 1: of truth for answer? Men had a will on the
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  Speaker 1: plains of Shinar and determined to build a tower whose
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  Speaker 1: top should reach unto heaven, but what came of their purpose.
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  Speaker 1: Pharaoh had a will when he hardened his heart, and
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  Speaker 1: Pharaoh refused to allow Jehovah's people to go and worship
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  Speaker 1: him in the wilderness, but what came of his rebellion.
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  Speaker 1: Baalik had a will when he hired Balam to come
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  Speaker 1: and curse the Hebrews, but of what avail was it.
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  Speaker 1: The Canaanites had a will when they determined to prevent
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  Speaker 1: Israel occupying the land of Canaan, but how far did
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  Speaker 1: they succeed. Saul had a will when he hurled his
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  Speaker 1: javelin at David, but it entered the wall instead. Jonah
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  Speaker 1: had a will when he refused to go and preach
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  Speaker 1: to the Ninevites, but what became of it. Nebekinezar had
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  Speaker 1: a will when he thought to destroy the three hebrew children,
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  Speaker 1: but God had a will too, and the fire did
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  Speaker 1: not harm them. Herod had a will when he sought
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  Speaker 1: to slay the child Jesus, and had there been no living,
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  Speaker 1: reigning God, his evil desire would have been a f
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  Speaker 1: But in daring to pit his puny will against the
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  Speaker 1: irresistible will of the Almighty, his efforts came to naught. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: my reader, and you too had a will when you
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  Speaker 1: formed your plans without first seeking the counsel of the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore did he overturn them. There are many devices in
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  Speaker 1: a man's heart, Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord that
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  Speaker 1: shall stand Proverbs nineteen twenty one. What a demonstration of
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  Speaker 1: the irresistible sovereignty of God is furnished by that wonderful
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  Speaker 1: statement found in Revelation seventeen seventeen. For God hath put
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  Speaker 1: in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree
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  Speaker 1: and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words
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  Speaker 1: of God shall be fulfilled. The fulfillment of any single
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  Speaker 1: prophecy is but the sovereignty of God in operation. It
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  Speaker 1: is the demonstration that what He has decreed, he is
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  Speaker 1: also able to perform. It is proof that none can
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  Speaker 1: withstand the execution of his counsel or prevent the accomplishment
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  Speaker 1: of his pleasure. It is evidence that God inclines men
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  Speaker 1: to fill that which He has ordained and perform that
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  Speaker 1: which He has four determined. If God were not absolute sovereign,
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  Speaker 1: then divine prophecy would be valueless, for in such case
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  Speaker 1: no guarantee would be left that what he had predicted
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  Speaker 1: would surely come to pass. For God hath put in
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  Speaker 1: their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree and
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  Speaker 1: give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of
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  Speaker 1: God shall be fulfilled. Revelation seventeen seventeen. We cannot do
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  Speaker 1: better than to quote here the excellent comments of our
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  Speaker 1: esteemed friend, mister Walter Scott upon this verse. God works unseen,
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  Speaker 1: but not the less truly in all the political changes
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  Speaker 1: of the day. The astute statesman, the clever diplomatist is
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  Speaker 1: simply an agent in a lord's hands. He knows it
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  Speaker 1: not self. Will and motives of policy may influence to action,
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  Speaker 1: but God is steadily working toward an end to exhibit
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  Speaker 1: the heavenly and earthly glories of his son. Thus, instead
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  Speaker 1: of kings and statement thwarting God's purpose, they unconsciously forward it.
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  Speaker 1: God is not indifferent, but is behind the scenes of
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  Speaker 1: human action. The doings of the future ten kings in
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  Speaker 1: relation to Babylon and the Beast, the ecclesiastical and secular
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  Speaker 1: powers are not only under the direct control of God,
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  Speaker 1: but all is done in fulfillment of his words closely
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  Speaker 1: connected with Revelations seventeen seventeen is that which is brought
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  Speaker 1: before us in Mic of four eleven and twelve. Now,
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  Speaker 1: also many nations are gathered against thee that say, let
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  Speaker 1: her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.
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  Speaker 1: But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither
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  Speaker 1: understand they his counsel, for he shall gather them as
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  Speaker 1: sheaves into the floor. This is another remarkable statement inspired
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  Speaker 1: of God, and three things in it deserve special notice. First,
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  Speaker 1: a day is coming when many nations shall gather against
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  Speaker 1: Israel with the express purpose of humiliating her. Second, quite
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  Speaker 1: unconsciously to themselves, for they understand not his counsel. They
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  Speaker 1: are gathered together by God, for he shall gather them. Third,
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  Speaker 1: God gathers these many nations against Israel in order that
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  Speaker 1: the daughter of Zion may beat them in pieces verse thirteen. Here, then,
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  Speaker 1: is another instance which demonstrates God's absolute control of the nations,
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  Speaker 1: of his power to fulfill his secret counsel or decrease
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  Speaker 1: through and by them, and of his inclining men to
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  Speaker 1: perform his pleasure, though it be performed blindly and unwittingly,
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  Speaker 1: by them once more, What a word was that of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus as he stood before Pilot, who can
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  Speaker 1: depict the scene? There was the Roman official, and there
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  Speaker 1: was also the servant of Jehovah standing before him, said Pilot,
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  Speaker 1: whence art thou and we read Jesus gave him no answer, then,
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  Speaker 1: said Pilot, unto him, speakest thou not? Unto me? Knowest
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  Speaker 1: thou not that I have power to crucify THEE and
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  Speaker 1: have power to release THEE? John nineteen ten. Ah, that
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  Speaker 1: is what Pilot thought. That is what many another has thought.
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  Speaker 1: He was merely voicing the common conviction of the human heart,
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  Speaker 1: the heart which leaves God out of its reckoning. But
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  Speaker 1: here the Lord Jesus, as he corrects Pilot and at
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  Speaker 1: the same time repudiates the proud boasting of men in general,
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  Speaker 1: thou couldst have no power against me except it were
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  Speaker 1: given THEE from above John nineteen eleven. How sweeping is
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  Speaker 1: this assertion? Man, even though he be a prominent official
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  Speaker 1: in the most influential empire of his day, has no
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  Speaker 1: power except that which is given him from above, No
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  Speaker 1: power even to do that which is evil, i e.
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  Speaker 1: Carry out his own evil designs. Unless God empowers him
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  Speaker 1: so that his purpose may be forwarded. It was God
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  Speaker 1: who gave Pilot the power to sentence to death his
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  Speaker 1: well beloved son. And how this rebukes the sophistries and
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  Speaker 1: the reasonings of men who argue that God does nothing
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  Speaker 1: more than permit evil. Why go right back to the
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  Speaker 1: very first word spoken by the Lord God to man
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  Speaker 1: after the Fall, and hear him saying, I will put
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  Speaker 1: enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and
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  Speaker 1: her seed Genesis three fifteen. Bear permission of sin does
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  Speaker 1: not cover all the facts which are revealed in scripture.
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  Speaker 1: Touching this mystery as Calvin's thecincly remarked, but what reasons
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  Speaker 1: shall we assign for his permitting it? But because it
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  Speaker 1: is his will. At the close of chapter eleven, we
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  Speaker 1: promise to give attention to one or two other difficulties
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  Speaker 1: which were not examined at the time. To them we
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  Speaker 1: now turn. If God has not only predetermined the salvation
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  Speaker 1: of his own but has also fore ordained the good
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  Speaker 1: works which they are to walk in Ephesians two ten,
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  Speaker 1: then what incentive remains for us to strive after practical godliness?
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  Speaker 1: If God has fixed the number of those who are
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  Speaker 1: to be saved, and the others are vessels of wrath
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  Speaker 1: fitted to destruction. Then what encouragement have we to preach
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  Speaker 1: the gospel to the lost. Let us take up these
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  Speaker 1: questions in the order of mention one, God's sovereignty and
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  Speaker 1: the believer's growth and grace. If God has foreordained everything
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  Speaker 1: that comes to pass, of what avail is it for
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  Speaker 1: us to exercise ourselves unto godliness? For Timothy four, verse seven.
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  Speaker 1: If God has before ordained the good works in which
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  Speaker 1: we are to walk Ephesians two ten, then why should
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  Speaker 1: we be careful to maintain good works? Titus three eight.
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  Speaker 1: This only raises once more the problem of human responsibility. Really,
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  Speaker 1: it should be enough for us to reply God has
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  Speaker 1: bidden us do so. Nowhere does scripture inculcate or encourage
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  Speaker 1: a spirit of fatalistic indifference. Contentment with our present attainments
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  Speaker 1: is expressly disallowed. The word to every believer is press
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  Speaker 1: toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
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  Speaker 1: of God in Christ Jesus Philippians three fourteen. This was
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  Speaker 1: the apostle's aim, and it should be ours. Instead of
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  Speaker 1: hindering the development of Christian character, a proper apprehension and
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  Speaker 1: appreciation of God's sovereignty will forward it. Just as the
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  Speaker 1: sinner's despair of any help from himself is the first
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  Speaker 1: prerequisite of a sound conversion, so the loss of all
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  Speaker 1: confidence in himself is the first essential in the believer's
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  Speaker 1: growth and grace. And just as the sinner despairing of
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  Speaker 1: help from himself will cast him into the arms of
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  Speaker 1: sovereign mercy, so the Christian, conscious of his own frailty,
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  Speaker 1: will turn to the Lord for power. It is when
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  Speaker 1: we are weak we are strong Tewod Corinthians twelve ten.
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  Speaker 1: That is to say, there must be consciousness of our
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  Speaker 1: weakness before we shall turn to the Lord for help.
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  Speaker 1: While the Christian allows the thought that he is sufficient
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  Speaker 1: in himself, while he imagines that by mere force of
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  Speaker 1: will he shall resist temptation, while he has any confidence
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  Speaker 1: in the flesh, then, like Peter who boasted that though
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  Speaker 1: all forsook the Lord, yet should not he, so we
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  Speaker 1: shall certainly fail and fall. Apart from Christ we can
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  Speaker 1: do nothing John fifteen five. The promise of God is
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  Speaker 1: he giveth power to the feint, and to them that
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  Speaker 1: have no might of their own. He increases the strength
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah forty twenty nine. The question now before us is
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  Speaker 1: of great practical importance, and we are deeply anxious to
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  Speaker 1: express ourselves clearly and simply. The secret of development of
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  Speaker 1: Christian character is the realization of our own powerlessness, acknowledged powerlessness,
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  Speaker 1: and the consequent turning unto the Lord for help. The
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  Speaker 1: plain fact is that of ourselves we cannot do this
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  Speaker 1: or make ourselves do it, and nothing be anxious? But
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  Speaker 1: who can avoid and prevent anxiety when things go wrong?
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  Speaker 1: Awake to righteousness and sin not? But who can help sinning?
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  Speaker 1: These are merely examples selected at random from scores of others.
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  Speaker 1: Does then God mock us by bidding us do what
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  Speaker 1: He knows we are unable to do? The answer of
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  Speaker 1: Augustine to this question is the best we have met with.
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  Speaker 1: God gives commands we cannot perform, that we may know
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  Speaker 1: what we ought to request from him. A consciousness of
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  Speaker 1: our powerlessness should cast us upon him who has all power. Here, then,
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  Speaker 1: is where a vision and view of God's sovereignty helps,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: for it reveals his sufficiency and shows our insufficiency. Two,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: God's sovereignty and Christian service. If God is determined before
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: the foundation of the world the precise number of those
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: who shall be saved. Then why should we concern ourselves
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: about the eternal destiny of those with whom we coming
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: to contact? What place is left for zeal and? The
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Christian service will not the doctrine of God's sovereignty and
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: its corollary of predestination discourage the Lord's servants from faithfulness
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: and evangelism. No, instead of discouraging his servants, a recognition
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: of God's sovereignty is most encouraging to them. Here is
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: one in for example, who is called upon to do
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: the work of an evangelist, and he goes forth believing
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: in the freedom of the will and in the sinner's
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: own ability to come to Christ. He preaches the Gospel
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: as faithfully and zealously as he knows how, But he
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: finds a vast majority of his hearers are utterly indifferent
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: and have no heart at all for Christ. He discovers
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: that men are for the most part thoroughly wrapped up
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: in the things of the world, and that few have
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: any concern about the world to come. He beseeches men
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: to be reconciled to God and pleads with them over
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: their soul's salvation, but it is of no avail. He
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: becomes thoroughly disheartened and asks himself, what is the use
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: of it all? Shall he quit? Or? Had he better
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: changed his mission and message? If men will not respond
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: to the gospel, had he not better engaged in that
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: which is more popular and acceptable to the world, why
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: not occupy himself with humanitarian efforts, with social uplift work,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: with the purity campaign. Alas that so many men who
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: once preach the gospel are now engaged in these activities instead,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: What then is God's corrective for his discouraged servant? First,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: he needs to learn from scripture that God is not
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: now seeking to convert the world, but that in this
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: age he is taking out of the gentiles a people
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: for his name, Acts fifteen fourteen. What then is God's
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: corrective for his discouraged servant? This a proper apprehension of
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: God's plan for this dispensation. Again, what is God's remedy
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: for dejection at apparent failure in our labors? This the
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: assurance that God's purpose cannot fail, that God's plans cannot miscarry,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: that God's will must be done. Our labors are not
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: intended to bring about that which God has no decreed.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Once more, what is God's word of cheer for the
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: one who is thoroughly disheartened at the lack of response
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: to his appeals and the absence of fruit for his labors.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: This that we are not responsible for results. That is
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: God's side and God's business. Paul may plant and Apollos
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: may water, but it is God who gave the increase
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: First Corinthians three six. Our business is to obey Christ
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: and preach the gospel to every creature, to emphasize the
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: whosoever believeth and then to leave the sovereign operations of
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit to apply the word in quickening power
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: to whom he wills, resting on the sure promise of Jehovah.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: For as the rain cometh down and the snow from
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: heaven and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: It shall not return unto me void, but it shall
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: accomplish that which I please. It may not be that
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: which we please, and it shall prosper in the thing
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: whereunto I sent it Isaiah fifty five, ten and eleven.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Was it not this assurance that sustained the beloved Apostle
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: when he declared, therefore see context, I endure all things
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: for the Elect's sake two Timothy two ten YEA. Is
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: this not the same lesson to be learned from the
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: blessed example of the Lord Jesus? When we read that
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: he said to the people, ye have also seen me,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: and believe not. He fell back upon the sovereign pleasure
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: of the one who sends him, saying, all that the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Father giveth me shall come to me. And hint that
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: John six thirty seven. He knew that his labor would
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: not be in vain. He knew God's word would not
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: return unto him void. He knew that God's elect would
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: come to him and believe on him. And this same
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: assurance fills the soul of every servant who intelligently rests
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: upon the blessed truth of God's sovereignty. Ah, fellow Christian world,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: God has not sent us forth to draw a beau
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: at a venture. The success of the ministry which He
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: has committed into our hands, is not left contingent on
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: the fickleness of the wills in those to whom we preach,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: how gloriously encouraging, how souls sustaining the assurance are those
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: words of our lords, if we rest on them in
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: simple faith. And other sheep I have have mark you
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: not will have have because given to him by the
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Father before the foundation of the world, which are not
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: of this fold i e. The Jewish fold, Then existing
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: them also I must bring and they shall hear my
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: voice John ten sixteen. Not simply they ought to hear
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: my voice. Not simply they may hear my voice. Not
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: they will if they are willing. There is no if
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: no uncertainty about it. They shall hear my voice is
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: his own, positive, unqualified, absolute promise. Here, then, is where
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: faith is to rest. Continue your quest, dear friend, after
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: the other sheep of Christ's. Be not discouraged because the
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: goats heed not his voice. As you preach the gospel,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: be faithful, be scriptural, be persevering, and Christ may even
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: use you to be his mouthpiece in calling some of
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: his lost sheep unto himself. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Forasmuch as ye knew that your labor is not in
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: vain in the Lord First Corinthians, fifteen fifty eight. It
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: now remains for us to offer a few closing reflections,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: and our happy task is finished. God's sovereign election of
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: certain ones to salvation is a merciful provision. The sufficient
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: answer to all the wicked accusations that the doctrine of
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: predestination is cruel, horrible, and unjust, is that unless God
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: had chosen certain ones to salvation, none would have been saved,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: for there is none that seeketh after God Romans three eleven.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: This is no mere inference of ours, but the definite
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: teaching of the Holy Scripture. Attend closely to the words
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: of the apostle in Romans nine, where this theme is
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: fully discussed. Though the number of the children of Israel
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: be saved, and as isaias Isaiah said before, except the
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Lord of Sabaote had left us a seed, we had
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: been as Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah Romans nine,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: twenty seven twenty nine. The teaching of this passage is unmistakable.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: But for divine interference, Israel would have become as Sodom
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: and Gomorrah. Had God left Israel alone, human depravity would
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: have run its course to its own tragic end. But
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: God left Israel a remnant or seed of old. The
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: cities of the plain had been obliterated for their sin,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: and none was left to survive them, And so it
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: would have been in Israel's case had God not left
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: or spared a remnant. Thus it is with the human race.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: But for God's sovereign grace in sparing a remnant, all
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: of Adam's descendants had perished in their sins. Therefore we
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: say that God's sovereign election of certain ones to salvation
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: is a merciful provision. And be it noted, in choosing
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: the ones he did, God did no injustice to the
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: others who were passed by, for none had any right
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: to salvation. Salvation is by grace, and the exercise of
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: grace is a matter of pure sovereignty. God might save
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: all or none, many or few, one or ten thousand,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: just as he saw best, should it be replied, but
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: surely it were best to save all the answer would be,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: we are not capable of judging. We might have thought
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: it best to never have created Satan, never to have
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: allowed sin to enter the world, or having entered, to
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: have brought the conflict between good and evil to an
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: end long before now. Ah, God's ways are not ours,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: and his ways are past finding out. God fore ordains
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: everything which comes to pass. His sovereign rule extends throughout
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: the entire universe, and is over every creature. For of
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: him and through him and to him are all things
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Romans eleven thirty six. God initiates all things, regulates all things,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: and all things are working unto His eternal glory. There
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: and we in Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: whom are all things, and we by him first Corinthians
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: eight six, and again according to the purpose of Him
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: who worketh all things after the counsel of his own
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: will Ephesians one eleven. Surely, if anything could be ascribed
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: to chance, it is the drawing of lots. And yet
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: the word of God expressly declares the lot is cast
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: the Lord. Proverbs sixteen thirty three. God's wisdom in the
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: government of our world shall yet be completely vindicated before
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: all created intelligences. God is no idle spectator looking on
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: from a distant world at the happenings on our earth,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: but is himself shaping everything to the ultimate promotion of
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: his own glory. Even now He is working out his
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: eternal purpose, not only in spite of human and satanic opposition,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: but by means of them. How wicked and feudal have
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: been all efforts to resist his will, shall one day
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: be as fully evident as when of old he overthrew
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: the rebellious Pharaoh and his hosts at the Red Sea.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: It has been well said the end and object of
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: all is the glory of God. It is perfectly divinely
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: true that God hath ordained for his own glory whatsoever
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: comes to pass. In order to guard this from all
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: possibility of mistake, we have only to remember who is
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: this God, and what the glory that he seeks. It
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: is he who is the God and Father of our Lord,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, of him in whom divine love came, seeking
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: not her own among us as one that serveth. It
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: is he who sufficient in himself, can receive no real
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: accession of glory from his creature, but from whom love,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: as he is light, cometh down every good and every
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: perfect gift, in whom there is no variableness nor shadow
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: of turning. Of his alone can his creature give to him.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: The glory of such a one is found in the
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: distay of his own goodness, righteousness, holiness, truth, in manifesting
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: himself as in Christ, he has manifested himself and will forever.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: The glory of this God is what of necessity. All
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: things must serve adversaries and evil as well as all else.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: He has ordained it. His power will insure it. And
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: when all apparent clouds and obstructions are removed, then shall
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: he rest rest in his love forever. Although eternity will
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: only suffice for the apprehension of the revelation, God shall
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: be all in all italics hours throughout. The paragraph gives
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: in six words the ineffable result f W grant on atonement,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: that what we have written gives but an incomplete and
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: imperfect presentation of this most important subject. We must sorrowfully confess. Nevertheless,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: if it results in a clearer apprehension of the majesty
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: of God, in his sovereign mercy, we shall be amply
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: repaid for our labors. If the reader has received blessing
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: from the perusal of these pages, let him not fail
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: to return thanks to the giver of every good and
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: every perfect gift, ascribing all praise to His inimitable and
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: sovereign grace. The Lord, our God, is clothed with might.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: The winds and waves obey his will. He speaks, and
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: in the shining height the sun and rolling worlds stands still.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Rebel you, waves and o'er the land with threatening aspect,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: foe and roar. The Lord hath spoken his command that
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: breaks your rage. Upon the shore, Ye winds of night,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: your force combined without His Holy High behest, you shall
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: not in a mountain pine disturb the little swallow's nest.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: His voice sublime is heard afar in disant peals, it
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: fades and dies. He binds the cyclone to his car
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: and sweeps the howling murky skies. Great God, how infinite
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: art thou? What weak and worthless worms are we? Let
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: all the race of creatures bow and seek salvation. Now
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: from thee eternity, with all its years, stands ever present
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: to thy view to thee there's nothing old appears, Great God,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: there can be nothing new. Our lives through varied scenes,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: or and vexed with mean and trifling cares, while Thine
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: eternal thought moves on thy fixed and undisturbed affairs. All
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: lujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth Revelation nineteen six,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: end of the Conclusion,