The Invitation of Assurance

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I'd like to speak to you this morning on the invitation of assurance, of assurance.
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And I was studying this, and we're going to go back some and look at some ground we've already tracked.
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I'll do my best not to repeat myself, but we're going to look at some same verses that we've already looked at, but there's a lot here in this text.
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And I want to specifically draw your attention this morning as we look at the text from chapter 6 of John to verse 37, which says, "...all
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that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out."
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Now we're going to look at this, but I'm going to break it up in two sermons. We're going to look at the first half of that this morning, and God willing, next
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Lord's Day, I'd like to look at the second half of that. That much is packed into that one verse.
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It's incredible. So as we return to our study through the gospel of John, which has really, really been beneficial to our souls,
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John's gospel chapter 6, this particular chapter, by the way, has 71 verses to it.
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71 verses that are jam -packed with divine truth about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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Many lessons in this great chapter. It begins with an account of the only miracle,
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Jesus, that is reported in all four gospels.
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It is the miracle of the feeding of the 5 ,000, 5 ,000 men specifically, and if you add the women and the children, it could be estimated up to 20 ,000 people in total.
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Ironically, to bring this out, if you look at the very end of this chapter, the chapter concludes with the verse 71.
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Jesus says in verse 71, Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil.
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And he spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray him, being one of the twelve.
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Isn't that ironic, the way this chapter closes in conclusion with Judas Iscariot, who would betray the
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Lord? Now with that being said, there is a great deal of divine truth, like I said, in this chapter.
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I'm going to pick up with verse 33 and read to verse 40, and even though we've looked, like I said, we've already looked into these awesome verses,
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I believe there is much more for us to learn. Now, keep this in mind. Information of the truth is important, but we're not here just for information, are we?
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We're here for divine transformation. The truth of God coming out from a channel, which is myself, and we trust in the
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Spirit of God. Take it from the Word of God that is revealed, and the
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Spirit of God within me, within you, to transform us and make us more into the image of Jesus Christ, that's sanctification.
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And that's what we desire, is to be more and more like our Savior, Jesus Christ.
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Now, let me begin by starting with verse 32, and we'll begin there.
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Hear the word of the living God, and I'd like to take it to verse 40. Then Jesus said to them,
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Moses, surely I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my
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Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
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Then they said to him, Lord, give us this bread always. Then Jesus said to them,
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I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.
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But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe. And here's the text we would like to really focus in on this morning.
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All that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me
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I will in no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
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This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all he has given me
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I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
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And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
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May God bless the reading of his holy word from our ears to our hearts this morning.
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Please bow with me in prayer as we continue to worship our Lord within this time.
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Our Father in heaven, merciful, compassionate, gracious. Lord, I beseech you this morning through your one and only beloved
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Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, our prayer and our heart's desire is that,
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Lord, you glorify yourself. You glorify yourself through your
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Son, by your Spirit, through your word. They all agree together. And we pray that,
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Lord, that your word, which goes forth and does not return void, would do its purpose and work within our hearts to sanctify us,
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Lord, and change our lives forever for your glory. And, Lord, I say the prayer of David from Psalm 119, how he concluded,
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Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
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We pray this in Jesus' name and for your honor and glory. Amen. Now, we've just read one of the most profound passages,
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I believe, in the Bible. All the passages are profound, of course.
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But here is a very rich nugget, a gem, especially verse 37.
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And that's why I like to take two sermons on this, because there's so much here. It's an awesome verse, and awesome verses that surround it, that contains the truths that will never be fully comprehended in this life, and it will not be until we stand fully complete in the image and glory.
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Let me begin as asking this question.
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And it is probably, it's a simple question, but it's probably one of the most deepest and most profound of questions
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I'd like to give to you. Did you ever think, why did
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God ever save you? Why did God ever save you? Why did
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God set His love and show you His salvation, and save you by His grace,
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His unmerited favor? Why did He ever mark you out and predestine you to be a child of God?
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Not that He looked in the future, but that He wrote your name in the Lamb's book of life, and time, eternity passed before the foundation of the world.
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Well, R .C. Sproul, I was reading his commentary on this, and he says this concerning his students at this time, as he was teaching on this text, on his commentary, he speaks about his students, and he said, they would come to me with all kinds of questions about theology, but rarely, rarely ask me, why did
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God save me? He says, yes, we have little aphorisms, such as, there but for the grace of God go
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I. And he asked the question, do we really believe that?
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And are we really amazed by the measure of grace, of the grace of God that He has poured out on us?
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Can we really say with John the Apostle, behold what manner of love the
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Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God? In 1
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John 3 .1, R .C. goes on to say this, and continued in that conversation where he's speaking about, why would
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God ever save us in the first place? And then he says this, and I love this, and he's so, so right, in the final analysis, the only reason
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I am a Christian today is that the Father wants to honor the Son.
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From all eternity, He determined that the Son's work would not be in vain, and that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.
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Therefore, He determined not to just make salvation possible, and then step back and cross
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His fingers, so to speak, hoping that somebody would take advantage of the ministry of Jesus.
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No. God the Father, from all eternity, determined to make salvation certain for those whom
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He had determined to give to His Son. End quote. And that makes me just want to shout glory, hallelujah, because salvation does not rely upon you or me.
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And it does not really rely on our hold and our grasp on Christ, even though we are to lay hold of eternal life.
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But it's God Himself that has laid hold of us in Jesus Christ.
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Now that's certainty. That's assurance. And I want to encourage you this morning, to this
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Lord's Day morning, God willing, next Lord's Day, just to stir your heart in the love of God, that it is
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God's grace that is poured and lavished upon you this morning, and God has demonstrated this in you, and has done this through Jesus Christ, and it is
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His work. Yes, we must believe by faith. Yes, there is the human responsibility that we are to come to Him.
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But even in that, God takes the initiative, beloved. Now we're going to look at that, because there is a dual doctrine here of man's responsibility that we must come to Him, and believing, and it is all of the
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Spirit of God, but we must come. We must believe. But in that, the Spirit of God is already there doing
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His work. And we will see that from scriptures I'd like to draw our attention to. Now look at beginning with verse 37, and this is speaking of the invitation of assurance that our
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Lord and Savior gives us. In verse, well, let me back up.
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I said verse 37, let's look at verse 34 to get the context. Then they said to Him, Lord, give us this bread always.
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Now what are they speaking of? Are they really thinking that Jesus is the bread of life, even though He has said it and He's revealed
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Himself? No. Their hearts are hardened. Their hearts are full of unbelief.
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Their eyes are blind. They're in darkness. They're selfish, and all they care about there is their own selfish needs.
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This statement actually demonstrates once again their blindness, their unbelief, that they were thinking of some kind of physical miracle of bread, and failed to understand that with their hearts, the truth that Jesus Himself is that very true bread from heaven, in which
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Jesus says of Himself, He comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Verse 35,
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And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. I am the bread of life.
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And he who comes to me shall never hunger. And he who believes in me shall never thirst.
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Don't you love that verse? In this wonderful verse, we see the first of His seven
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I Am's sayings in the Gospel of John. Jesus made clear that the bread of heaven was not the physical bread.
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Rather, He speaks of Himself. I am the bread of life.
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I am the very substance of which all you need for your soul's needs.
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Those who would cease to hunger and thirst needed to come to Him and believe in Him.
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Notice Jesus invites. This is the patience of Jesus.
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This is the grace of Jesus. This is the love of Jesus. Jesus invites these hard -hearted
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Jews, unbelieving Jews, demanding a sign of Him who requested a sign, and He invites them to come to Him and believe on Him.
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How gracious is our Lord! How patient is God! And He's so patient with all of us, isn't
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He? If He wasn't, we would all perish. In verse 30, the unbelieving
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Jews, if you back up a little bit, the unbelieving Jews here in which He speaks to, which is this is the crowd, this is the mass crowd, had asked the
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Lord, Give us a sign! Show us a sign that we might see and believe it! Verse 30,
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Therefore they said to Him, What sign will You perform then that we may see it and believe
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You? What work will You do? Show us, and then we'll believe.
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Show us! And here Jesus said that He already told them that they had seen
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Him. How this must have grieved the Savior. The greatest sign of all was in front of them, speaking
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His Word to them, inviting them to come to Him and believe.
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He had already said this. He made a profound statement about salvation, and He expands on it.
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And then we're going to work our way to verse 37.
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But first of all, today, on the general setting, I'd just like to speak about the
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Savior's gift to the world. The Savior's gift. The Savior's gift.
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Now He is the gift, but there's another gift. You know who that gift is?
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Those who believe. The elect. It's a gift.
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If you're a believer here in Jesus Christ today, and part of the family of God, adopted into the family of God, born of the
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Spirit of God, you are a love gift to the Father. You are a love gift.
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I want you to really think about this. Jesus was just declared.
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He just declared His identity to these Jews, these hard -hearted Jews. He just declared Himself to be the bread of life, in verse 35.
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He tells them clearly and with clarity that anyone who comes to Me and believes in Me shall never hunger or thirst.
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And then verse 36 is a statement from Jesus concerning their unbelief of the Jews. Yet our
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Lord was not discouraged by their unbelief. Jesus did not allow their unbelief.
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So many times people's unbelief, we see this, would discourage us because we're so bent on our feelings.
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But it did not discourage our Lord. You know, Jesus did not commit Himself to people because He knew what was in man.
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He knows what's in you. But it still doesn't discourage Him. Many times we think, you know, our sins discourage our
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Lord. They really don't discourage Him, beloved. They may grieve Him. They may cause
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Him to, in love toward His children, take the rod.
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And even in that, David says, that rod and staff, what? Comfort me.
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So the discipline of the Lord shows that you're not outside of the kingdom of God. If you have the discipline of God upon you, it's because God loves you.
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But it did not discourage the Lord by their unbelief. Even though the apostle
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John says in John 1 .11, He came unto His own, His own received
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Him not. They rejected Him. They disbelieved Him. They were hard -hearted
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Jews that said, no, this is not our Messiah. But don't forget verse 12 in chapter 1 there.
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But, don't you love those, but. As we looked before, that's like the door hinge of Revelation that opens up.
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But, as many as received Him, to them He gave the right or the power, the privilege to become the children of God to those who believe in His name.
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Verse 13, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
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But of God. Makes me think about James in context to that James chapter 1 says this, every good gift, in verse 17, and every perfect gift is from where Jesus come from?
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From above. From above. Comes down. He's condescended.
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Comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
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And then He says this, of His own will. Does it say anything about man's will here?
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No, God's will. Of God's will. Of His own will. He brought us forth by the word of truth.
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By the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.
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Let us not forget Romans chapter 9 verse 16. Don't you love this verse? That was the
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Apostle James. Now we have the Apostle Paul. We'll let Scripture speak with Scripture.
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So then it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs but there is the revelation of God who shows mercy.
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Don't you love that? It is of God that shows compassion.
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It is God that has showed mercy. David says, God's mercy and goodness will follow me all the days of my life.
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Even though David later on sinned against the Lord. And God brought out the rod and said the sword will not depart from your household.
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I will take the rod to you. And before he even revealed that to the Nathan prophet after he sinned against the
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Lord by taking Bathsheba to himself and committed murder and adultery and all those horrible sins that grieve
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God. But then when David confessed he says I have sinned against the
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Lord. And if you read in that context in Samuel there the Lord says I have already forgiven you.
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That fast God has forgiven him. But the rod, the consequences of that sin would not depart from your household.
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Salvation is all of God and God alone. Salvation is God's gracious choice to the elect and to them
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He gives eternal life. Salvation does not depend on our own free will to get us in heaven.
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It depends on God's will. Because really if you look at it in its context the free, really it says free will but so many people say my free will, my free will.
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Actually our will is not free. Only God has free will. Only God has total freedom.
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If you really want to look more into the study of this
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Jonathan Edwards has a tremendous study on the freedom of the will. And what it is and what it isn't.
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It's like a tremendous I would suggest to you be careful when you read it and ask
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God to help you because Edwards could be pretty deep. But there's another one
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Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther the reformer. You have the freedom of the will and the bondage of the will and both of those men of God really break down what it means what it means to be free.
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Do we have a free will? And what kind of freedoms and choices that we do? We can, we do make choices every day.
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But God is behind all of it and He's sovereign and He works out
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His purposes and His will. Now nothing's not going to change
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His decreed will. I believe Brother Ben brought this out in Sunday school this morning where His decreed will is set.
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But there's the perfect revealed will of God there's the perfect will there's the revealed will and we can know the revealed will through the word of God.
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So our choices do come into play but it's really God that is really the one that takes the initiative above all.
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Salvation is of the Lord. That's what Jonah said. Salvation depends solely upon God's free will not our free will.
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Again R .C. says this quote, anytime man's free will bumps up against God's free will who wins?
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It's no contest R .C. said. It is God's good pleasure to save His elect that He may show forth
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His grace and salvation. End quote. I love that. Our free will bumps up against God's free will no contest, no contest.
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Oh I'm so glad that salvation does not rest on my free will. Don't you agree with that beloved because if it did rely upon our free will we would lose it.
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We would lose our salvation in a breath. But we have the almighty
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God beloved the Father and the Son and the Spirit of God that works in unison that gets behind the salvation that comes from Him because He is our salvation.
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His personhood, His who He is and all of His attributes and His greatness and His glory and His holiness and in His works
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He's demonstrated through Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit has applied it to our lives.
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Well let's look at verse 37 let's get to this text and I want to focus our attention on this.
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All that the Father gives me Jesus said will come to me.
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Oh I desire don't you wish you could just speak this to all your
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Armenians and you would think that this verse would just clarify and just save all the debates that would take place but it doesn't unfortunately because the debate many times if you know if you speak to our
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Armenian friends many things we will agree when it comes to the sovereignty of God but if you notice the debate lies within the will of man.
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This is where the debate becomes very sensitive. But scripture points out again it's not our will it's
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God's will but we must believe but don't we have a will?
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Yes we have a will but does God come and break our will? No He makes us willing.
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He comes along and when He gives us a new heart and regeneration and when the
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Spirit of God does the work He makes us willing and actually if you look in Ezekiel to the new covenant and when he speaks up God says
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I will put a new heart in you I will take out that heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh and I will write my laws on you it's
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God that causes it to happen. It's God.
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Salvation is of the Lord. Let's first of all under the heading of the gift the
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Savior's gift which is God's people to the Father. We will first of all see the character of this gift the character of this gift all that the
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Father gives the character is in the word all the character of this gift is seen in the word all that word encompasses within it the elect those whom
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God has chosen before the foundation of the world and isn't that staggering?
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Before you and I were ever born God had already set His love upon you
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He knew you and He knows you from the point of the time that you were conceived in your mother's womb and He knows us in detail all the way until we take our last breath all from eternity past see a lot of these
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Armenians will say God saves you according to His foreknowledge you know what they're saying when they say that the foreknowledge of God and the way they interpret that is that God looks ahead of time not past but if you look very carefully in scripture
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God has done this in eternity past and I got some scriptures
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I want us to go to in closing on that and you know where I'm going Ephesians chapter 1, yes but right here this verse emphasizes the sovereign will of God and selection of those who come to Him for salvation verse 44, notice this look at very carefully these verses verse 44 in John 6
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Jesus says again no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him it's almost, that drawing is magnetic it's powerful, it's not a wooing it's a strong draw
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I will raise him up at the last day He's talking about the day of the resurrection when
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He comes back at His second coming there will be a great resurrection of all the bodies that are alive and dead notice verse 65 and He said therefore
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I have said to you that no one once again Jesus says no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my
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Father it must be granted by the Father if you look with me in a few chapters ahead
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John 17 and the great high priestly prayer that our Lord prays to the Father this is such an incredibly in depth prayer of Jesus He prays for His own first of all
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He prays to the Father of Himself and then He prays of His own
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His apostles, His disciples then He prays for us those who will believe but in verse 6
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Jesus says I have manifested or that means I have revealed your name to the men speaking of the apostles here whom you have given me notice
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He says you have given me the Father has given them to Jesus out of the world they're sanctified in other words they're separated they came out of the world the
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Father chose them out of the world that they were yours you gave them to me and they have kept your word there's obedience there too they were the ones they have kept your word but first of all they belong to you
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Jesus is acknowledging they belong to the Father and now you have given them to me and they have kept your word
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John 17 verse 12 look at verse 12 if you're in chapter 17
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Jesus continues to pray while I was with them in the world I kept them now
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He says I kept them in your name those whom you gave me
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I have kept Father, He's saying Father you gave them to me and I have kept them you know what that word kept means in the original
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I have guarded them the good shepherd guards his own sheep beloved let me tell you today if you're in fiery ways and hard times and crosses and losses the
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Lord Jesus Christ is keeping you He's guarding you why?
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because you belong to Him you're not your own you have been bought with a price and that price is the precious blood of the
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Lord Jesus Christ and He says I've kept and notice what
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He says and none of them is lost none of them that word lost means destroyed then
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He says except there is one the son of perdition the son of destruction that the scripture might be fulfilled and we know who that is that was
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Judas Iscariot so the word kept in the original means guarded Christ guards you
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Christ guards His own look at John 17 look at verse 24
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Father He continues to pray I desire now this verse here will put all of it is holy ground beloved this gives us such meditation of worship to praise
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Him but listen to what He says I desire God, Jesus desires this
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He desires this that they also whom you gave me may be with me listen to what
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He's saying He desires every one of those that He that has been given from the
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Father those who believe those that have been chosen those that are the elect I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me beloved think about that listen to how unselfish that prayer is
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He's praying Lord Father I desire to share for them to share in the glory that I have that they may be where I am in heaven to behold
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His glory and His grace do you see how unselfish this is that our
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Lord desires for you to see and behold His face that they may behold my glory which you have given me for you loved me before the foundation of the world folks if that doesn't soften your heart this morning may
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God stir you He desires for you to behold His glory in heaven He just doesn't desire you to be in heaven
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He desires you to behold His glory can we really know the magnitude and the greatness of His glory
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I don't think we can we can know a foretaste of it here but beloved
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I'm telling you when we get there His glory it makes me think of Revelation when the
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Apostle John fell like a dead man and he saw the Lord in His glory that glorified Christ and then he said he fell like a dead man and he was speechless folks
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I heard a sermon of Ravenhill and he says it's not going to be coming up shaking hands with Jesus and this man upstairs and all this blasphemous stuff and put your hand in the hand of the man of Galilee no sir it's going to be falling forward and kissing the sun and saying oh
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Lord I'm unworthy to even be here but Lord I'm here because the Father chose me and you brought me in folks
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I'm telling you that is glorious can you imagine in that moment in heaven where God's own elect and His people those whom
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He chosen and He died for the full glory that belongs to Christ and then you will behold
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His face to face we will see His face and share in it with the glory notice what
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Jesus is praying there He desires to share His glory with those whom the Father has given
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Him the love gift I don't know about you but this is absolutely staggering to me it's beyond my comprehension that He would even lay
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His love and His greatness and His grace upon me knowing
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I am a vile creature I deserve hell and yet He comes to me and He desires for us to be with Him beyond our comprehension just worship
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Him and we will participate and by the way like I say a small way we participate in that spiritually now by faith don't we all that the
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Father gives not some not some all of them every one of them
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He will not lose not a one of them is that assurance beloved all that the
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Father gives Christ here is the security of salvation and it's resting in the hand of Almighty God and our
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Savior Jesus Christ for God is that guarantee the Holy Spirit is that guarantee and all that He has chosen before the foundation of the world
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He secures He saves and He will glorify and by the way
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He will sanctify before we get there so that's the character of the gift next we see the contributor of the gift all that the
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Father gives me God the Father chooses for His Son the elect that's those
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He has chosen before the foundation of the world that those that come to Him believes in Christ all that the
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Father gives me Jesus says and the idea here is that all the elect the chosen the
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Father the Father draws are seen as a love gift from the
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Father you and I are a love gift to the Son Jesus Christ receives each love gift and like I said earlier
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He holds us He keeps us He secures us to the very end it says it in John 13 those whom
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He loves He loves what to the end to the end Jesus just does it it's not a fly by night thing while you're here and saved and out and in and out and in and out no sir it's eternal life right it's everlasting life blessed assurance
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Jesus is mine look at John chapter 10 we talk about security
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I love this chapter don't you and you're talking about limited atonement here it is look at what is said let me begin with verse 22 now it was the feast of the dedication in Jerusalem and it was winter
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Jesus walked in the temple on Solomon's porch and then the Jews surrounded Him, Jews once again these unbelieving
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Jews and said to Him how long do you keep us in doubt listen the way they're speaking to Christ not addressing
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Him reverently as their Messiah if you are the
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Christ the anointed one tell us plainly listen what Jesus said
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Jesus answered them I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my father's name they bear witness of me but you do not believe because you are not of my sheep as I said to you he's speaking to goats really and then he says about the real sheep the true sheep my sheep hear my voice and know them and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand verse 29 my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand did you see that there's two hands that hold you the hand of the father and the hand of the
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Savior and the spirit of God the Holy Spirit the
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Trinity all working together holding you and the spirit of God keeps you as the guarantee no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand and he says
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I and my father are one you know what the results of that after he said that look at what verse 31 says then the
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Jews took up stones again to stone him they thought he was a lunatic and a liar but he's
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Lord he's Lord much could be said there but we got to move on verses teach here the unmistakable terms that no true sheep of Jesus Christ will ever perish the eternal security is a glorious truth beloved and those who are true sheep of Christ hear his voice and they hear it when the gospel is preached and they respond by believing on him in other words
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Christ is sheep his elect whom the father has chosen before the foundation of the world come to Christ they believe in Christ therefore they hear his voice day by day they obey his voice and they continue in his word there's much said about John on that look at John chapter 16 notice what he says
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I'm sorry chapter 15 chapter 15 verse 16 and 17
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Jesus speaks to his disciples apostles you did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain and that whatever you ask the father in my name he may give it you these things
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I command you that you love one another there's the command love one another agape love and he says you didn't choose me
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I chose you I appointed you and you are to go forth bear fruit and that your fruit should remain what's that fruit well first of all here's a quote by MacArthur I really love he says this one purpose of God's sovereign election is that the disciples who have been blessed with such revelation and understanding should produce spiritual fruit the new testament he says describes fruit as godly attitudes what are those godly attitudes and he had a verse here and I love it
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Galatians 5 21 I'm sorry 22 22 25 but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long suffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self control this hey folks
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I'm telling you this should be before our eyes every day this should be branded on our minds and our hearts and when we fail when we fail to be like this and these are
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Christ like characteristics this is the fruit of the spirit like a cluster and you look at the love and the joy and the peace long suffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self control all that's
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Christ likeness and when we fail in these regards and our sanctification we repent don't we we confess we repent we ask for forgiveness we go on we say lord sanctify me purify me he shall purify the sons of Levi he shall sanctify us and sanctification is our daily habit of living holy before god but this is the fruit of not of our works this is the fruit of what the spirit so keep in mind it's the spirit of god that dwells within us because in verse 24 he says this those who are
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Christ have crucified the flesh with it's passions and it's lust desires basically verse 25 if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit that is our daily walk in the home on the job among each other but especially out in a dark cruel world that they need to see
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Jesus and by the way you know this as well as I do these unbelievers do not like we once were do not read the bible you are the only bible and me are the only ones that they will ever read you are a walk in sermon your life speaks far more than the sermon
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I'm preaching right now godly attitudes that characterize the lives of only those who belong to Jesus Christ by faith in Christ possessed by the spirit of god these are those who come to Christ, believe in Christ they love
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Christ, they obey Christ so we see the security of believers is all in Christ and Christ alone the characteristics of the gift being like Jesus Christ and all that the father gives the contributor, the character the father who gives and last and final the consequences of this gift the consequences of this gift all that the father gives gives, god's a giving god
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Jesus his son he has given this love, you are the love gift, will come to me, no question about it, they will come to Christ they will believe in Christ no one chosen of god will be lost, the believer's security in Jesus Christ is guaranteed, go with me to Romans 8 chapter 8 let's look at this, isn't this wonderful this was a hymn of believers security for the believers and it is said that the early church sung this look at verse 31 in chapter 8, don't you love
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Romans 8, what then shall we say to these things question notice the questions, the questions and then the answers, if god is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things, who shall bring a charge against god's elect see the context who shall bring a charge against god's elect, it is god who justifies judicial justification, god has declared us righteous in Jesus Christ and he's given us his righteousness the great exchange who is he who condemns, it is
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Christ who died, furthermore it is also risen, furthermore is risen who is even at the right hand of god who also makes intercession for him he's at the right hand of god now pleading our case, he is our great intercessor, our great high priest verse 35 who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword and then he quotes the verse as it is written for your sake we are killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter yet in all these things we are more than conquerors, we're just not a conqueror, we're more than a conqueror through him who loved us even in the great magnitude of sufferings that come upon us for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor death nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in Christ Jesus our lord had once a couple years ago back in the 90's when my children were real small someone was coming out the door, they were knocking went to the door, there were two young men and they started talking and they started sharing about Jesus Christ and they didn't talk about, promote their church and so forth, they just talked about Christ.
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Now come to find out they were Church of Christ hmm, very interesting very interesting and this actually at I still remember their name,
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Dennis and Travis maybe I shouldn't have said that maybe you might listen to this, okay that's okay, I love you
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Dennis and Travis if you're hearing me but I still remember that day when they came and they started talking about Jesus Christ I thought they were
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Jehovah's Witnesses at first you rarely seldom get Church of Christ coming to your door and one of them brought up that was
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Travis and he said you know nothing shall separate us from the love of god which is in Christ Jesus our lord, I said that's exactly right, amen and then he said but yourself
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I said oh no me it's not amen amen I said that's not what the text says, the text does not say that I am to take myself out of the love of god, you see how they believe in that work salvation and I said look the text says nothing who he says nor height nor debt nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in Christ Jesus our lord, in other words absolutely nothing can separate us isn't that great to know well so much could be said praise his name the concerns the security
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Jesus Christ questions, answers the concerns of his readers here, Paul basically answers their questions all to the praise of the glory of god's grace and bringing salvation to all that would come and believe.
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There's much more to say about this wonderful doctrine of predestination, the doctrine of election and we have next lord's day
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I need to wind this down once when Spurgeon um commented on god's eternal election, human responsibility he described them as a pair of railroad tracks this is where MacArthur gets this,
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I know he read it from him, he just paraphrased it in his own words they run parallel to one another and never meet, but if you look far enough into the distance they appear to come together,
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Spurgeon said beloved these doctrines are mind boggling, they could cause us just to worship because god is absolutely in control, there's no contradiction even though it may seem like a contradiction but there is no contradiction with god no confusion with god, people may say there's a contradiction, there's confusion well, it's on their part it's not god's part in eternity we will look back and it will make perfect sense one day another occasion
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Spurgeon someone came to Spurgeon and asked how do you reconcile the doctrine of election?
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pastor Spurgeon with their human responsibility, Spurgeon actually simply in his wisdom answered this,
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I never reconcile friends amen amen while we may not understand eternal election he says, predestination and human responsibility they are still biblical doctrines that must be believed we may not fully understand it all but we worship and know that god knows exactly what he's doing because he's an all wise god and he's an all loving god and he's a most holy god, as Spurgeon said again got a cluster of Spurgeon quotes here if you try to explain election you will lose your mind but if you try to explain it away you will lose your soul salvation is 100 % of god let me give an application,
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I believe our application would be Ephesians chapter 1 let me just begin by verse 3, blessed be the god and father of our lord
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Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ in Christ in Christ notice what he says in verse 4 just as he chose us in him, when?
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before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestined us, that means to mark out, chose us to the adoption as sons by Christ Jesus to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of grace, this is like one long huge paragraph by which he made us accepted in the beloved notice what he says, in him in Christ, we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins notice all the benefits here according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself that at the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, which are on earth in him, in him in him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory in him notice how many times he says in him in him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise who is the guarantee there it is who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory, folks if you're struggling with your assurance
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God wants you assured this morning that you're in him you know what wounds our assurance more than anything else is our sins when we act in against God's will in accordance to our own flesh and we do what we want to do it's it wounds our assurance when we when we do things that is not
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Christ like and we've all been there no one's exempt here right, but the
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Lord desires you to say like what Paul the apostle says I know whom
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I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
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I've committed unto him against that day, he's talking about the day he would see Christ face to face, but here and now he wants you to say
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I know whom I have believed Romans 8 28 we know we know that all things work together for the good to them that love
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God and them that is called according to his purpose amen? He desires you to have the eternal bliss to know your security now look at look at that text right there in Ephesians look at verse 13 and 14 you trusted we put our trust in Christ, not man we put our trust not in a preacher but in Christ but we heard the word of truth, he's just a channel he's just a spokesman but we put our trust in the word of God, the gospel of your salvation
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Paul said in whom also Haman believed you believed, you were sealed don't you love that, listen to that you are sealed with the holy spirit of promise now what's he talking about you know, he's talking about the indwelling of God's own spirit comes to indwell and reside, he has taken up residence within us,
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God the spirit of God has taken up residence he dwells within us by faith within the believer and he secures his eternal salvation and the sealing of which
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Paul is referring to is like an official mark of identification, placed on a letter, so to speak a contract or covenant or a document that that officially under the authority of that person whose stamp was with a seal a lot of times they would have a ring and put a seal on it four truths given here in MacArthur's study bible, you can see this is where I got it from, number one there's security number two there's authenticity three there's ownership and four there's authority and the holy spirit of God is given by God as the pledge of his believers that is the down payment folks, is the spirit of the living
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God for our future inheritance and glory wonderful, wonderful, let me close with the the latter half of this and we're going to look more into this next
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Lord's Day the latter part of John 6 and he that cometh to me,
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I will no wise cast out I got out my old checkbook of the bank of faith daily readings and devotions by C .H.
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Spurgeon picked this up in an old bookstore Dogwood in Rome actually, bless her soul she's probably with the
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Lord now, it's an old book little pocket book, it says
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Mary Maxwell well, I don't know who Mary Maxwell is but I'd like to meet her one day in heaven if she's there
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Spurgeon said this and I close with this may this encourage your soul this morning if you're struggling with your assurance is there any instance of our
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Lord's casting out a coming one if there be so we would like to know it but there has been none and there never will be among the lost souls in hell there is not one that can say
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I went to Jesus and he refused me it's not possible that you or I should be the first to whom
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Jesus shall break his word let us not entertain so dark of a suspicion suppose we go to Jesus now about evils of today of this we may be sure he will not refuse us audience or cast us out those of us who have often been those who have never gone before let us go together and we shall see that he will not shut the door of his grace in the face of anyone of us in closing he says this this man receives sinners and he repulses none we come to him in weakness and sin in trembling faith in small knowledge in slender hope but he does not cast us out we come by prayer and that prayer broken with confession and that confession faulty with praise and that praise far short of his merits but yet he receives us we come diseased polluted worn out and worthless but he doeth in no wise cast us out let us come again today to him who would never cast us out let's pray our father and our god how good you are to us how gracious your loving kindness endures forever all the attributes that you have displayed is all we have to do is look unto
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Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith the one that started us out the one that will finish us all the way to the end everything in between lord is for you may we count the cost as your disciples lord and walk worthy of our calling that it may be pleasing in your sight to your glory to the praise of the glory of your grace in Jesus name