Address—Tim Roach
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While everybody's while, everybody's coming in, let's sing #44 in the appendix.
Together for us, I'm saying by sea.
My subject tonight is grace and sovereignty, the goodness of God.
God is so big.
That we can only just scratch the surface of the sovereignty of God. But we're going to talk a little bit about the sovereignty of God tonight. Let's ask the Lord's help.
Our God and Father we give thanks for this time. We can come together to consider the words of God and the sovereignty of God and the grace of God and the goodness of God. And we just ask for help this evening that we might be able to get our message from you and not from our own hearts because your heart thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We just ask that we might understand your ways just a little bit. We just commit this meeting to you, Father. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Hey, this meeting is for believers.
Unbelievers won't be able to understand this at all because they do not have the Spirit of God.
They do not have eternal life. If you are not saved, you can listen in. But really, I'm talking to believers tonight.
To help us understand the secret of God that he calls the mystery. And so let's look in Ephesians 3.
Verse 9 to 11 and read about the mystery.
Mystery is a secret, The secret of God. Ephesians 3, verse nine. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hidden. God who created all things by Jesus Christ.
To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Well, what is the eternal purpose of God? God would take Jews, He would take Gentiles, and He would put them together into one body, into the Church.
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The Bride of Christ and the angels are watching. They're watching. They're watching and learning about God's plan. That's what our verse is going to tell us.
It does tell us.
To the intent now that the principalities and powers in heavenly places. And so the angels are watching and they're learning about God's plan as they see all the subjection of the church to Christ. They see men who take their hats off and women wearing head coverings where the Lord Jesus is being honored as head of the church. God had this plan of his manifold witness.
From eternity past, let's look at Romans chapter 8.
Romans chapter 8 and verse 29.
Down to 30.
For whom he did foreknow.
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate them he also called, and whom he called them he also justified, and whom he justified them he also glorified.
If if God had not chosen us in His eternal purpose to salvation, we would have refused the love of God.
Just like the world around us, I'm speaking to the believers now because our verse in Romans 8 means that God knew who you were in eternity past because he had already selected you.
To be saved. That selection is sometimes called election.
And other times God says you are chosen, You are chosen for His eternal purpose, that we would be conformed to the image of His Son.
You are chosen to be holy and without blame before him in love.
So that you could be included into the church and to be part of the Bride of Christ. And this plan is called The Mystery of God.
In these verses that we have read in Ephesians.
Have you ever thought about these other verses words in the verses in Ephesians that says according as he has chosen us in him before the foundations of the world?
How far back was that? How far do these words of election take us back in time? Are we chosen in Christ because of something we did in our own history and circumstances? No. It was the choosing.
It was bad, was it? We are chosen in Christ.
Long before that the choosing was we wondered, was it at the introduction of the sin of Adam, when we were chosen in him?
No, we go back even further that than that in the plan of God. Were we chosen before the world was reformed into its present state? No, it was further back than that when the found when were the foundations of the world laid? We read in Genesis one in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Well, when was the beginning in the beginning refers to the eons of eternity past. We were chosen in the incalculable, immeasurable infinitude which God calls.
The beginning before time began, but before the mystery of the Church was revealed.
God chose Abraham and he chosen nation of Israel to be his special people.
He did not choose Russia. He did not choose China or Africa or America. He did not choose Brazil. God chose Israel to be his special people, and God gave special treatment.
To Israel better than to all the other nations. He wanted to have fellowship with Israel, and so God gave Israel 10 commandments, plus about 600 other rules that they could keep so that they would know exactly how to be good.
And righteous.
They had simple instructions to obey.
So God would be able to have fellowship with them. And God treated them so nicely. He treated the way a man should treat his wife.
He was kind, he was just and he was thoughtful. And in the middle of Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 13, God said to the nation of Israel, I have loved you with an everlasting love.
Everlasting means from eternity past to eternity future, everlasting. The nation of Israel had all the promises and the privileges and the guidance that God could give them. They had so much incentive to be good and righteous, and this was God's plan, so that he could have fellowship with them. But Israel failed. Nobody would follow God.
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Nobody could follow God, But why? Why could nobody follow God? Why could nobody obey the commandments? Is because everybody had sin inside of them. Sin is like a seed that grows like a stalk of corn that produces more seeds of corn and more corn. The seed of sin produces more sin. We are all born with that seed of sin inside of us.
And we inherited that seed of sin from Adam, and that seed of sin is the reason you are.
Condemned already.
Sin is a part of every person.
We are born with that sin inside of us, and this sin destroys any possibility.
For man to be good or righteous and that is why people are unable to have fellowship.
With God. Look in Romans chapter 3 and look what it says here about the condition.
Of every person.
Romans chapter 3.
And we'll go to verse 10.
Verse 10 says there is none. Righteous. No, not one.
Verse 11 Says there is none that understand it. There is none that seeketh after God. Verse 12 There is none that doeth good. No, not one. These verses say that in our present condition of sin there is none righteous. There is none good. Fellowship with God was impossible because fellowship with God requires righteousness and no one was righteous. And since no one was righteous.
How is God going to have intimate fellowship with anybody on the earth? Nobody was good or righteous, and nobody wanted God. God knew that nobody would want him. And so God, before he created the world, God decided to choose certain people that would be special to him.
The Bible teaches that God did not choose anyone to go to hell. That's what the Bible teaches. The Bible says it teaches the opposite. It says God is not willing, that any should perish.
The Bible says that God so loved the world. He loved everybody in the world.
So he sent his Son to be the savior of the world.
So that whosoever could be saved, so that they should not perish, we read about a Christ rejecter.
That Jesus loved.
God loves everybody in the world. Let's look at Mark chapter 10. We'll look at this Christ rejecter that Jesus loved.
He did not predestinate him to go to hell. He loved the man. He wanted the man to be saved. And in Mark chapter 10 and verse 17. And when he was gone forth into way there, the way there came one running and kneeled to him, and asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, that is God.
You know the commandments, Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud, not honor thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him.
Jesus loved him, and said unto him, One thing you lack go your way, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, And come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about and said unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God. See, God loved this rich young man.
Who chose riches instead of Jesus? The man did not want God.
Jesus knew the man was rich, and Jesus knew that he himself would be rejected by this man.
But Jesus loved him and Jesus made himself available to that man. Jesus does not want to send anyone to hell. It is a strange act for God to put someone in hell.
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He doesn't want to do it. His love and compassion goes out to everybody.
And that is why the grace of God is so amazing.
It is amazing to think that Jesus would come specifically into this world to offer salvation.
From the punishment of hell to everybody.
Let's look in Matthew chapter.
22.
Matthew Chapter 22, verse 11.
And when the king came in to see the guests.
He saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment, and he said unto him, Friend, how did you come in here not having on a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen. Jesus gave this man opportunity to repent and to get right with God before it was too late.
Jesus loved this man. Jesus called him friend, but the man was speechless.
He liked the social aspect of Christianity.
But he did not want Jesus.
For a friend, he did not want Jesus for his gods.
He knowingly rejected Jesus and he accepted outer darkness.
In hell.
The rich man.
And the speechless man? They remind me of people.
That we will call Mrs. Pearl because she is a very nice person. Missus Pearl brings food to the neighbors and she visits the sick. She is kind to the beggars on the streets. She pays her taxes. But Mrs. Pearl is not into this God stuff.
Does Missus Pearl deserve to go to hell?
God had shown himself to Pearl every night at sunset.
Meeting It's over a little too late, but there's beautiful sunsets out here over the lake every night.
That's gone. It's proof that God exists but misses. Pearl didn't want that. She has heard the stories of Jesus at Christmas time and at Easter time, and she even went to see the Passion play once, but each time, she said.
No, I will not allow God in my life. I don't want to give him control of my life.
She does not want God and in a sense she has committed Deocide, that is the murder of God.
She just wants God to go away and leave her alone. And that is what hell is, alone without God.
An unwilling with with an unwilling heart, God will give missus Pearl exactly what she wants. God will leave her alone for eternity.
Without God.
Mrs. Pearl will perish in everlasting punish.
Punishment because she did not receive the love of the truth that she might be saved.
Oh, she believed in Jesus, but she rejected God.
Many are called to come to Jesus, but many refuse.
But Jesus chose a few, including you, to be his bride.
To be his wife. You know, I chose Elaine to be my wife.
It would not be fair to Elaine if I picked every other woman.
And if I chose even one other woman instead of Elaine, we would not be having this camp right now.
It would be a different life.
It was the will of God that I chose Elaine.
But really, it was God who chose Elaine for me.
We might say she was predestinated to be my wife.
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I am thankful that God selected me to salvation.
And to be holy and without blame before him in love. I know he loves me. Not only did God love me, but He chose me.
And not only did he choose me, but he prays for me.
Let's look at John 17.
John 17 verse 20.
And he's talking about the disciples in his prayer to God the Father.
And Jesus prayed in verse 20.
Is neither pray I for these? That is, the 12 disciples, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word.
That's you.
He prayed for you that you would be saved and you were saved.
Some people believe that you are not chosen until you believe, but this verse indicates that Jesus knows who to pray for before they are saved.
That includes you and me. Jesus was praying for us since 2000 years ago. God knows who these chosen people are. Not all of them are saved yet, but God knows who they are.
God chose them to believe, and they will believe.
It's very nice that God has included us in this plan so we can share the gospel with them.
Because how can they believe? If they don't have a preacher, how will they hear?
And so Jesus knows.
That those he chose to be saved, he knows who they are and he is praying for them.
I have chosen myself. I have chosen certain brothers to speak at the meetings each evening, and at the hymn Saints I chose them and I pray for them. Let the Spirit of God would give them exactly the message that is needed for the souls that are in the audience each night. And I pray that they will be able to deliver the message in a clear way, so that you will be so that you, the audience, you might understand the message and to be able to apply the message.
To yourself and into your lives. I didn't just choose these brothers and forget about them, Say my job is done.
No, I prayed for them.
Revelation 13.
And verse 8.
All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life.
Of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
This verse indicates that God wrote your name down in the book of life of the Lamb from before the foundation of the world.
And by writing your name down in his book, God shows the knowledge that he has of his elect.
You're valuable to God, He remembers you. He prays for you.
How often do we tell someone that we will pray for them and then we forget?
Jesus has not forgotten you. He loves you. He cares about you. He knew what your name would be a zillion years ago. You will always be one of God's elect. Even if you backslide like the prodigal Son, you will never lose your election. Your election does not depend on you. You are the sovereign choice of God. You're his child. You are part of the Bride of Christ, and you will never perish.
Let's go to 2nd Thessalonians.
2nd Thessalonians, Chapter 2.
And verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord.
Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief.
Of the truth. What a great verse. God chose you to be saved.
One of the commentators, that of those who do not believe.
In God's sovereign choosing to be saved, as this verse teaches.
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He wrote this statement.
And it confounds me, he says.
Everyone who is called is elected from the first moment of his faith. What?
How can you be chosen after you're saved? That doesn't agree with the verse we just read, and so long as he continues in his calling and faith, he continues to be elected.
If at any time he loses calling and faith, he ceases to be elected.
That doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe it does to you. Why not just believe what God clearly says in his word? God has chosen you to salvation. Look at verse 14, Second Thessalonians 214. Where unto he hath called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ?
So we see the ultimate purpose of God was that these chosen ones should obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been chosen to a great salvation for a wonderful purpose by an Amazing Grace by a sovereign God.
Remember in Ephesians chapter one we learned that Jesus chose you before the foundation of the earth.
John says that Jesus is praying for you, for those who shall believe.
Jesus already knows who they are, who shall believe. And Jesus has been praying, had been praying for you to be saved.
Since 2000 years ago and it is encouraging for you to know how special you are to God.
You've been special to God for a very long time.
Jesus knew that he chose you before the world was created.
And so, because you were chosen, Jesus was praying for you before.
You were saved. He was praying for you as you went through many experiences in your life and God uses experiences in your life to guide you to the point where you need to accept your responsibility to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior in John 6 verse 37.
It's another good verse for this subject, John 6, verse 37.
Verse 37 All that the Father gives me shall come to me.
And him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. Those whom God has chosen shall come.
To Jesus to be saved. God the Father has given you to Jesus.
Jesus prays for you, and when you came to Jesus, he did not chase you away.
He received you. And for those of you who are saved, I want you to know how much you mean to God.
The Spirit of God.
Gives the people that he has chosen.
A life that wants to know God, he chose you.
He prays for you. He protected you so that you would be saved.
At some point the Spirit of God starts at work in His chosen people in order to make them realize that they are sinners and they need to be saved. In John chapter 3 and verse eight it says the wind blows where it lists and now he and you hear the sound thereof, but you cannot tell when it is coming, where it's coming from, and where it is going. And so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. We don't know how the Spirit of God works.
But he does. And these chosen people who have been born by the Spirit of God.
They know they deserve to be punished in the lake of fire because of their sin.
The Spirit of God, I believe, will give these chosen people a desire to have their sin removed.
Because their sin separates them from God, from the fellowship with God. And the Spirit of God gives them a desire to have a personal relationship with the Lord of glory.
Jesus is the only one who can fill the emptiness.
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In a person's soul, Deep down in a person's soul, they want peace with God.
And they desire fellowship with God.
But if you if you are one of the chosen.
How do we, the chosen, have our sin removed?
Let's look at one John Chapter 4.
First John Chapter 4, verse 9.
And this was manifested the love of God toward us.
Because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him here in His love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, Propitiation.
That means that Jesus, the Son of God, is the remover of sins and that Jesus is the just one who justly turns away the wrath of God.
By His sacrifice on the cross to take away our punishment for our sins.
He is the propitiation for our sins.
Just for an example.
Here, a few years ago, one of the boys found some berries.
And he took the berries, and he was able to write on the side of the newly painted white buildings. And he put signs on several of the buildings.
And.
When we found out who the boy was, the boy and his father, they went with soap and water and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. And they had some chemical and they scrubbed and it couldn't come off. The red Berry stain would not come off.
And that is how is how it is with our sin. We can work hard to be good, but there was nothing we could do to remove our sins. We can scrub and scrub and work and work and try to get rid of our sins, but we cannot remove our sin. And that is why God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ into this world to be the substitute to die for us sinners.
And this allowed God to remove the sin that made it possible, that made it impossible for us to have fellowship with God.
When that boy could not remove the berries, the red stain off the white walls, we tried using a spray bottle of bleach cleaner and we sprayed it on and immediately the red dye disappeared. The stain was gone.
You might say the bleach cleaner was the propitiation for that boy's sin. It took away the sin that damaged the building, and it turned away my disappointment.
Well, that is like the blood of Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses us from all sin. The blood makes the sin disappear. God will never punish us for any of our sins.
Because Jesus took all our punishment after Jesus took God's punishment against sin, the veil of the temple.
Was renting 2 The door that covered the veil that covered the door that went into the presence of God. That veil was removed. The door was opened right into God's presence. After we have been born by the Spirit of God, the next step for us was to be given the faith to believe by the Spirit of God. Ephesians 28 and nine we all know that verse, for by grace are you saved through faith.
And then not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Saved through faith. It is the gift of God. And because there is nothing good in us, God does not allow any of us to get any credit for our salvation.
Even salvation by grace through faith is a gift from God in John chapter 6.
John chapter 6, verse 28 and 29.
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent.
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Is the spirit of God who has been working on our souls to bring us to the point of decision to believe the door was opened for us.
To come in to fellowship with God the Father through Jesus Christ.
Jesus said in John chapter 10 and verse nine he says I am the door by me if any man enter in.
He shall be saved. So Jesus is the open door we entered into salvation.
Through Jesus and Jesus did all the work of salvation for us on the cross.
He said that he finished the work that God had given him to do.
Jesus prepared everything for us to be saved and Jesus endured the judgment of God as He was punished for our sins.
Jesus died and shed his blood to wash away our sin. Jesus did all the work that was necessary.
To save us from our sins.
There is nothing more.
That he could do. And so then it became our responsibility to come to Jesus in faith alone. By the very faith that he gave us. We come to him. We entered in through the door of Jesus. We believed on the Lord Jesus. We were saved by Jesus. The same grace and goodness of God that saved us is also the grace.
And goodness of God that keeps us safe.
I want to read some verses in John 10.
John, 10/28/29 and 30.
And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which gave them me, is greater than all.
And no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one.
Jesus gave you eternal life immediately. When you believe he doesn't wait until you get to heaven to see if you have been good enough. If you trust Jesus now, you have eternal life now.
I want to list some of the things that God has done to make certain that you would be in heaven.
With him.
First of all.
There's the fact that God knew about you in eternity past.
After that, God chose you before He created the earth.
He chose you to be a child of God. He chose you to be part of the bride of Christ.
The church. And then God was thinking about you until he wrote your name down.
In the book of life from the foundations of the earth.
Then Christ died as your substitute to take the wrath of God as punishment for your sins. He was buried and he rose again the third day.
And then Jesus prayed for you. He prayed for you before you were saved, and he's still praying for you.
And then the Spirit of God, he started working in your soul so you could understand the gospel.
The Spirit of God then gave you faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
After you believe the Lord Jesus gave you eternal life, he gave you the gift of the Spirit of God.
And after you received eternal life, you were indwelt by that, and sealed by the Spirit of God.
So you can never lose your eternal life.
The seal of the Spirit of God is God's guarantee that you will never lose.
Your salvation.
God did all of this so that you might know that you have.
Eternal life. Then God raised us up to a position above this sinful world.
And he has seated us in heavenly places. He has sanctified us.
He has justified us, he's redeemed us, and we have all been brought near to God.
All through the blood of Jesus Christ.
It is certain.
That from what we have learned tonight, that God did everything and we did nothing to be saved and we can do nothing to keep our salvation. We are kept by the power of God. God, He planned this for so long. God specifically chose you to belong to him. He loved you so much He paid. Excuse me, He paid such a big price.
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To reconcile you back to God, Southern, that you could be the child of God.
And so that you could be the bride of Christ.
John 14.
We read that Lord Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you.
And I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
If God did all that work for you, and He's prepared a place for you to be in heaven, he is not going to let you get away from him. Nothing will be able to separate you from the love of God, neither sin, nor Satan, nor self.
Nothing can get you out of the hands of Jesus or the hands of God the Father. You are safe forever.
If you have been chosen by God to be saved.
And to be holy and without blame.
If you have been selected, and you have been foreknown by God, and you have been predestinated, and you have been called, and you have been given the gift of salvation by grace through faith, and you have heard the gospel, and you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you've done all that. How can you be sure? If all of this is true about you? What evidence is there that you are one of those elected?
Granted, some of us are a little bit shaken in our faith when Satan plants doubts.
In our minds, life gets busy and some temptations get too strong for us. And some of you will be going very soon back to school, to high school and to university in a few days. And you need to understand that many of the teachers and the professors are professional tools of Satan and they will make you question your faith.
You will think that they will make you think that your simple faith is too simple.
And you might seriously consider the professor's arguments.
But why?
To the professor's arguments confuse you to have muddy thinking. If I can use that word muddy, muddy thinking, it is because the professor's arguments are built on sand, and the foolish man built his house upon the sand. And when the rains come, the professor's arguments are all wet.
Sand and water makes mud, and so the professor's arguments muddy up your thinking to confuse you so you don't know how to answer.
That professor is paid to make you doubt.
To make you doubt God in his attempt to destroy your faith.
You need to stand on the rock. Christ is the rock. We have the word of God. We can stand on the word of God and if the professor says anything that disagrees with the word of God.
Just disregard it. Dismiss it in your mind. His arguments reject God and he will spend eternity with Missus Pearl.
Let's go to 1St Thessalonians chapter one.
Paul tells us in these verses first Thessalonians, one starting at verse 5.
Verse five and six Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God for our gospel came not unto you in Word only, but also in power.
And in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. And you became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. How did Paul know that the Thessalonians were elected of God? If you look at these points, it might help you to know about your own election.
The points of evidence that Paul had was that they followed the teachings of Paul.
And they followed the Lord. Even though their university professors and their friends in society caused much affliction for them and persecution, they had the joy of the Holy Spirit. Further evidence of your election might be.
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The word of God was spread abroad by them. Look at verse 8.
Or from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Anachias, but also in every place your faith to God word.
Is spread abroad.
Another evidence is that they turned away.
From the life of the world. And they turn to God. Verse nine. They turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. So we can also know that we have been elected because we have an appreciation for the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And because we have accepted the forgiveness of our sins and we believe that we are justified from all things. And we have received the word of God with joy in the Holy Ghost.
We spend our time with the Lord's people, following the Lord together with them do these points.
Define you.
Do you have a joy in understanding the special place you have in Christ?
Who are you whispering to your friends and making jokes and having fun and ignoring this? Are you one of the elect?
Are you going to spend eternity with Missus Pearl?
We don't forsake. Another point is that we don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
That gives us assurance, and the word of God is precious to us.
And we want to share it with others. And so these are a few points of evidence that might help us to know that we have been elected.
That verse, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundations of the world. Have you ever thought of those words?
How far back in time that has taken us.
We spoke about that a little earlier.
We were chosen before the foundations of this world.
The Father from eternity chose us, O Jesus Christ, in thee. Let's sing #31.