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Berean Community Church Sunday Service 7.2.2023


Whisper Transcript | Transcript Only Page

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00:14:52.000 | All right, good morning church family.
00:15:04.000 | It's been a busy week in the Lord.
00:15:06.000 | We're going to go ahead and get started with our service this morning.
00:15:09.000 | As we get started, let's just take a moment to pray,
00:15:16.000 | to prepare our hearts for worship.
00:15:18.000 | Ask the Spirit to guide us,
00:15:22.000 | to fix our gaze and our attention on Christ.
00:15:25.000 | That even in the midst of distractions,
00:15:28.000 | in the midst of the worries and the cares of this world,
00:15:31.000 | whatever it is that you are going through,
00:15:34.000 | that we would still be able to come and to give God the worship that He truly deserves.
00:15:39.000 | So let's take a moment to do that.
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00:19:45.000 | Hello, good morning.
00:19:57.000 | If you're brand new to Berean Community Church,
00:20:00.000 | we want to extend a warm, warm welcome to you.
00:20:02.000 | When the service is done, please do visit our welcome booth.
00:20:05.000 | As you enter, you saw the blue canopy and our team members there.
00:20:10.000 | Please swing by, we'd love to get to know you.
00:20:12.000 | And if you have any questions about the church,
00:20:14.000 | we'd gladly answer the questions there.
00:20:17.000 | For a couple announcements, for those of you who are newer,
00:20:20.000 | we do have a membership class that's going to be taking place starting next Sunday.
00:20:25.000 | And that is a class that takes place from 9 a.m.
00:20:29.000 | And it goes over the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith,
00:20:33.000 | laying the foundations for what we believe,
00:20:35.000 | but also will explain how that translates into the church life and the Christian life,
00:20:40.000 | showing forth what is the ministry philosophy
00:20:43.000 | so that you can make a decision about becoming a member.
00:20:46.000 | So please sign up for that.
00:20:48.000 | It's going to be on both the website,
00:20:51.000 | and you can even visit our welcome booth to register for that.
00:20:54.000 | For the members of the church,
00:20:56.000 | there is going to be a members' meeting on Sunday the 23rd.
00:21:00.000 | Please mark your calendar.
00:21:02.000 | And if you know that you're going to be absent,
00:21:04.000 | we sent an email where you can just quickly fill out a form letting us know.
00:21:08.000 | And then that way you can also update any information, etc., etc.
00:21:13.000 | The last announcement is going to be about our inductive Bible study.
00:21:17.000 | The next session of the Bible study will begin August 31st, so end of August.
00:21:23.000 | And this sign-up is for those of you who will be participating in our main Wednesday study here at church,
00:21:30.000 | or anybody new who wants to--
00:21:33.000 | again, the small--sorry, the home groups are reserved for those in process of being a member or a member.
00:21:39.000 | But if you're new and wanted to jump into that,
00:21:42.000 | either transitioning from the Wednesday group to a home group,
00:21:45.000 | you use that form to sign up,
00:21:47.000 | meaning anybody who's already involved in a home group.
00:21:50.000 | This sign-up is not for you because you will just confirm with your home group leader,
00:21:55.000 | and that way we'll just renew the roster and you'll be set up for that, okay?
00:21:59.000 | So again, please do sign up for the Bible study.
00:22:02.000 | We hope to make the groups early on and get that squared away.
00:22:05.000 | So we will enter into time of offering.
00:22:08.000 | And as a reminder, for those of you who has a physical check,
00:22:12.000 | there is an offering box right by the entry.
00:22:15.000 | Otherwise, we can give our offering through the digital form.
00:22:17.000 | Let's pray.
00:22:22.000 | Heavenly Father, we thank you, God, for your grace and your mercies.
00:22:26.000 | We thank you, Lord, for your abounding love.
00:22:30.000 | And God, it's a unique privilege for us to be able to gather,
00:22:34.000 | to join so that we can unite our hearts and our voices to worship you.
00:22:38.000 | And collectively, God, we are so thankful for the salvation you give to us.
00:22:43.000 | And God, through your son, Jesus Christ, you make all these things possible.
00:22:48.000 | We do pray, Lord, that our hearts of faith would ever grow in appreciation for you
00:22:54.000 | and your very presence in our lives.
00:22:57.000 | And God, as we gather, the content of our faith, the meditation of our heart,
00:23:01.000 | may it be pleasing unto you.
00:23:03.000 | And likewise, we pray for the offering,
00:23:05.000 | that that too would be something honoring and pleasing in your sight,
00:23:09.000 | as we desire, Lord, to render to you our works of service, our hearts, and more.
00:23:15.000 | And we pray that the offering will be used, God, for the furthering of your gospel,
00:23:19.000 | the furthering of your kingdom.
00:23:21.000 | We thank you, Lord, it is in Christ's name. Amen.
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00:24:13.000 | All right, let us all stand together as we continue our worship.
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00:24:26.000 | In the name of the Father,
00:24:34.000 | in the name of the Son,
00:24:37.000 | in the name of the Spirit,
00:24:40.000 | Lord, be in Christ.
00:24:42.000 | We gather together
00:24:45.000 | to lift up your name,
00:24:47.000 | to call on your Savior,
00:24:50.000 | to call on your grace.
00:24:52.000 | In the name of the Father,
00:25:00.000 | in the name of the Son,
00:25:02.000 | in the name of the Spirit,
00:25:05.000 | Lord, be in Christ.
00:25:07.000 | We gather together
00:25:10.000 | to lift up your name,
00:25:12.000 | to call on your Savior,
00:25:15.000 | to call on your grace.
00:25:17.000 | Hear the joyful sound of our offering,
00:25:22.000 | as your sins bow down,
00:25:25.000 | as your people sing.
00:25:27.000 | We will rise with you,
00:25:30.000 | lifting our glory,
00:25:32.000 | and our proudness in the air.
00:25:36.000 | Our God's name,
00:25:41.000 | our God's name,
00:25:46.000 | in His blood,
00:25:51.000 | in Your name.
00:25:56.000 | In the name of the Father,
00:25:59.000 | in the name of the Son,
00:26:02.000 | in the name of the Spirit,
00:26:05.000 | Lord, be in Christ.
00:26:07.000 | We gather together
00:26:09.000 | to lift up your name,
00:26:12.000 | to call on your Savior,
00:26:14.000 | to call on your grace.
00:26:17.000 | Hear the joyful sound of our offering,
00:26:22.000 | as your sins bow down,
00:26:25.000 | as your people sing.
00:26:27.000 | We will rise with you,
00:26:30.000 | lifting our glory,
00:26:32.000 | and our proudness in the air.
00:26:36.000 | Our God's name,
00:26:41.000 | our God's name,
00:26:46.000 | in His blood,
00:26:51.000 | in Your name.
00:26:56.000 | For the time
00:27:00.000 | to come again,
00:27:05.000 | our God's name,
00:27:10.000 | our God's name.
00:27:16.000 | [instrumental]
00:27:37.000 | Hear the joyful sound of our offering,
00:27:42.000 | as your sins bow down,
00:27:45.000 | as your people sing.
00:27:47.000 | We will rise with you,
00:27:50.000 | lifted on your wings,
00:27:52.000 | and the world will see that.
00:27:56.000 | Yes, the world will see that.
00:28:01.000 | Our God's name,
00:28:06.000 | our God's name,
00:28:12.000 | in His blood,
00:28:16.000 | in Your name.
00:28:21.000 | For the time
00:28:26.000 | to come again,
00:28:31.000 | our God's name,
00:28:37.000 | our God's name.
00:28:45.000 | Amen.
00:28:47.000 | [instrumental]
00:29:00.000 | Oh, I love the voice of Jesus
00:29:04.000 | on the cross of Calvary.
00:29:08.000 | He declares His work is finished.
00:29:13.000 | He has spoken this all to me.
00:29:17.000 | Though the sun had ceased its shining,
00:29:22.000 | though the war appeared as lost,
00:29:27.000 | Christ, a triumphant believer,
00:29:32.000 | here was finished upon that cross.
00:29:37.000 | [instrumental]
00:29:54.000 | Though the cursive has been broken,
00:29:58.000 | Jesus paid the price for me.
00:30:02.000 | All the pardon He has ever given,
00:30:07.000 | the welcome that I've received.
00:30:12.000 | Hopefully I approach my final,
00:30:17.000 | called in Jesus' righteousness.
00:30:21.000 | There is no one guilty here.
00:30:26.000 | Here was finished upon that cross.
00:30:31.000 | [instrumental]
00:30:48.000 | Death was once my great opponent.
00:30:53.000 | Fear once had a hold on me.
00:30:57.000 | But the Son who died to save us
00:31:02.000 | rose that we would be free indeed.
00:31:06.000 | [instrumental]
00:31:15.000 | Death was once my great opponent.
00:31:19.000 | Fear once had a hold on me.
00:31:23.000 | But the Son who died to save us
00:31:28.000 | rose that we would be free indeed.
00:31:32.000 | Yes, He rose that we would be free indeed.
00:31:37.000 | Free from every plan of darkness,
00:31:42.000 | free to live and free to love.
00:31:47.000 | Death is dead in Christ's name.
00:31:51.000 | Here was finished upon that cross.
00:31:56.000 | Onward to eternal glory,
00:32:01.000 | to my Savior and my God.
00:32:05.000 | I rejoice in Jesus' name.
00:32:10.000 | Here was finished upon that cross.
00:32:14.000 | Here was finished upon that cross.
00:32:19.000 | Here was finished upon that cross.
00:32:24.000 | [instrumental]
00:32:34.000 | Amen. You may be seated.
00:32:42.000 | Okay, amen.
00:32:44.000 | Please turn your Bible over to Romans chapter 9.
00:32:48.000 | Take a moment to read a verse from verse 22
00:32:54.000 | down to verse 24.
00:32:57.000 | Romans chapter 9.
00:33:03.000 | In this passage it says, "What if God,
00:33:08.000 | although willing to demonstrate His wrath
00:33:11.000 | and to make His power known,
00:33:13.000 | endured with much patience vessels of wrath
00:33:16.000 | prepared for destruction,
00:33:18.000 | and He did so to make known the riches of His glory
00:33:22.000 | upon the vessels of mercy
00:33:24.000 | which He prepared beforehand for glory,
00:33:27.000 | even us whom He also called,
00:33:29.000 | not from among Jews only,
00:33:31.000 | but also from among the Gentiles."
00:33:33.000 | Let's bow our heads in prayer.
00:33:35.000 | Our Heavenly Father, we thank You, God,
00:33:38.000 | for Your loving kindness,
00:33:41.000 | which also includes, Lord,
00:33:43.000 | Your holy revelation given to us,
00:33:46.000 | that God, in Your grace,
00:33:48.000 | You would show to us the things
00:33:50.000 | that are truly unattainable by man,
00:33:53.000 | the things we cannot perceive with our human eyes,
00:33:56.000 | but are things that belong to You.
00:33:58.000 | We thank You, God, for this text in Romans 9.
00:34:01.000 | We pray You grant to us conviction of faith.
00:34:04.000 | We pray You grant to us receptive hearts
00:34:07.000 | and spirits moved,
00:34:09.000 | God, that we would be so warmed,
00:34:11.000 | so amazed by the salvation You give.
00:34:14.000 | We thank You in Christ's name. Amen.
00:34:17.000 | I apologize. As you can tell,
00:34:21.000 | my voice is already kind of going away.
00:34:24.000 | You'll have to excuse me.
00:34:27.000 | I end up taking a good amount of chugs of water.
00:34:30.000 | I got sick at the beginning of the week.
00:34:32.000 | And so I'm recovering.
00:34:34.000 | So after the service, if I don't give my normal hugs
00:34:37.000 | or handshakes, please know it's because I'm ceremonially unclean.
00:34:41.000 | But I will give you the head nod,
00:34:44.000 | and you know I love you, okay?
00:34:46.000 | We're in Romans 9 because I had the privilege
00:34:51.000 | of joining our youth group Sunday services,
00:34:54.000 | and they were studying through the book of Romans.
00:34:57.000 | And when I walked in, I got to preach
00:34:59.000 | from the end of Romans 8, as you guys know.
00:35:02.000 | It's a beautiful passage on the securities of salvation.
00:35:05.000 | If God is for us, who can be against us, right?
00:35:08.000 | And then I preached through Romans 9,
00:35:10.000 | which is an incredibly difficult passage
00:35:12.000 | to preach through for youth group students
00:35:14.000 | because there's a lot of questions.
00:35:16.000 | Wait a minute. Is God's Word, like, failing?
00:35:20.000 | Is He just, you know?
00:35:22.000 | And simply state, obviously, God's Word is so powerful.
00:35:25.000 | God is 100% just,
00:35:27.000 | and the topic at hand is
00:35:29.000 | God predestines to save.
00:35:32.000 | So that reminded me about my salvation
00:35:36.000 | and youth group era.
00:35:38.000 | I got saved at a, you know, later in high school.
00:35:40.000 | I think it was my junior or senior year.
00:35:42.000 | I thanked the Lord I was saved
00:35:44.000 | at a really sweet United Methodist church
00:35:46.000 | down in San Diego.
00:35:48.000 | And if you guys know a little bit
00:35:50.000 | about the United Methodist church,
00:35:52.000 | they have a Wesleyan background,
00:35:54.000 | which they deny predestination,
00:35:56.000 | as Calvin would put it,
00:35:58.000 | because there is a, you can say, tension
00:36:01.000 | between is it all God,
00:36:04.000 | where He chooses and predetermines everything?
00:36:08.000 | Or is there an element in which we retain
00:36:10.000 | our agency, our free will,
00:36:12.000 | and God graciously gives that to us?
00:36:15.000 | Okay. Interestingly enough,
00:36:17.000 | in a youth group discussion,
00:36:18.000 | one of the young girls in youth group asked me,
00:36:20.000 | "Hey, Mark, do you believe in election?"
00:36:23.000 | And so I started looking around to see
00:36:25.000 | what should I say, because I was a baby believer,
00:36:27.000 | you know?
00:36:28.000 | But in my head, I was like,
00:36:30.000 | "Well, if we're talking about
00:36:31.000 | does God sovereignly choose,
00:36:34.000 | I just assumed, 'Oh, yeah, 100 percent.
00:36:36.000 | I believe,' you know?"
00:36:38.000 | And she gave me this like, "But why?"
00:36:41.000 | And I realized, number one,
00:36:43.000 | "Oh, man, I guess I answered that wrong."
00:36:46.000 | And then number two,
00:36:47.000 | I obviously as a young believer,
00:36:49.000 | I didn't know.
00:36:50.000 | All I could say was,
00:36:52.000 | "Ah, I guess you kind of have your choice,
00:36:56.000 | but do we really?"
00:36:57.000 | You know?
00:36:58.000 | And then two,
00:36:59.000 | "Because it just makes sense that if God's God,
00:37:02.000 | then He's sovereign."
00:37:04.000 | Right?
00:37:05.000 | And I didn't know what else to say about that.
00:37:07.000 | Well, as you guys know,
00:37:09.000 | part of the reason why
00:37:10.000 | the doctrine of election
00:37:11.000 | is difficult for a lot of people is
00:37:13.000 | the doctrine of election,
00:37:15.000 | does God predestine,
00:37:17.000 | simply says it is 100 percent God's choice to save.
00:37:21.000 | And this specifically, apart from you.
00:37:25.000 | There is no consideration of what you would do.
00:37:28.000 | There is no consideration about your own capacity
00:37:31.000 | to choose right from wrong.
00:37:32.000 | And no, there is no consideration
00:37:34.000 | even of the faith that you will be
00:37:38.000 | preveniently, or I guess graciously,
00:37:40.000 | allowed to exercise.
00:37:43.000 | Let me repeat that.
00:37:44.000 | The doctrine of election is in some sense
00:37:46.000 | very, very simple
00:37:47.000 | because what it says is
00:37:48.000 | God is 100 percent sovereign
00:37:51.000 | to choose whom He will save.
00:37:54.000 | And that is specifically, apart from you.
00:37:58.000 | There are those who have very, very,
00:38:00.000 | I guess, difficult time accepting that
00:38:03.000 | because yes, although the verbiage sounds right,
00:38:07.000 | that doesn't make sense
00:38:09.000 | because in our day, we have to surrender.
00:38:13.000 | I have to come to the altar.
00:38:15.000 | I have to repent.
00:38:17.000 | And what's more, Scripture does say,
00:38:19.000 | John chapter 1, verse 12,
00:38:21.000 | "To all who receive Him,
00:38:23.000 | to those who believe on His name,
00:38:25.000 | He gave the right to become children of God."
00:38:29.000 | But here's another reason why sometimes
00:38:31.000 | the problem of election
00:38:33.000 | is difficult to accept or swallow
00:38:35.000 | is because if we imagine it,
00:38:38.000 | election seems so cold.
00:38:42.000 | It seems too mechanical.
00:38:45.000 | We could only imagine
00:38:47.000 | some arbitrary fashion
00:38:49.000 | in which God looks at
00:38:51.000 | a host of mankind
00:38:54.000 | and maybe blindly goes,
00:38:55.000 | "You, you, you, you, you, you, you."
00:38:58.000 | And that can't be because that seems unloving.
00:39:04.000 | And so people wonder,
00:39:06.000 | not only is it unloving,
00:39:08.000 | but does it even uphold our humanity?
00:39:11.000 | Does it uphold our own volition,
00:39:14.000 | our own agency?
00:39:16.000 | And so they say,
00:39:17.000 | "It can't be that God elects in that way."
00:39:20.000 | And so there are people who have said,
00:39:22.000 | "God, He has foreknowledge,
00:39:26.000 | not predestination,
00:39:28.000 | but just foreknowledge.
00:39:30.000 | He knows that you will exercise faith.
00:39:33.000 | And He knows who will be His,
00:39:36.000 | but He does not predetermine
00:39:39.000 | the fate of our lives."
00:39:41.000 | Well, the passage in Romans chapter 8 through 9,
00:39:47.000 | and then all of chapter 10,
00:39:49.000 | all of chapter 11,
00:39:51.000 | it emphatically tells us,
00:39:53.000 | "No, stop trying to rationalize election.
00:39:57.000 | Stop trying to rationalize how God saves
00:40:02.000 | according to what you think
00:40:04.000 | should be, ought to be,
00:40:06.000 | or make sense to you."
00:40:08.000 | God is revealing something to us
00:40:11.000 | that we cannot attain to
00:40:13.000 | by our human observation.
00:40:16.000 | This is something God says,
00:40:18.000 | "Here is something that's mine."
00:40:20.000 | Right? The secret thing belongs to the Lord.
00:40:22.000 | "Here is something that I did."
00:40:24.000 | And He graciously reveals it to us and says,
00:40:27.000 | "I choose sovereignly."
00:40:30.000 | All of salvation is so, so God's,
00:40:34.000 | it belongs to Him,
00:40:36.000 | that yes, as you, as in this specific passage,
00:40:39.000 | worry about even the people of Israel,
00:40:43.000 | their salvation is so secure.
00:40:46.000 | I guarantee it.
00:40:48.000 | It's as though it's done.
00:40:50.000 | So what I'd like to do
00:40:52.000 | is walk through this kind of lengthy passages
00:40:55.000 | of Romans 8 through 9
00:40:57.000 | to think about how God has revealed to us
00:41:00.000 | this idea of the sovereign choice of God.
00:41:03.000 | And what I want to communicate to you,
00:41:05.000 | that the prevailing theme
00:41:07.000 | in the way that He communicated it
00:41:11.000 | is not, "This is a theological doctrine
00:41:13.000 | that you must sign off on."
00:41:15.000 | The prevailing way and theme
00:41:17.000 | that He has communicated to us
00:41:19.000 | is, "You don't understand
00:41:21.000 | the glory of my mercy in election."
00:41:25.000 | I want to show you just
00:41:27.000 | the kindness of my intention,
00:41:29.000 | the compassion of my heart
00:41:31.000 | goes long before you ever existed.
00:41:36.000 | And in that way, I want us to appreciate our salvation.
00:41:39.000 | In that way, I want us to be warmed in our heart,
00:41:42.000 | glorify God, and just be amazed
00:41:45.000 | at the salvation that God has accomplished.
00:41:48.000 | Point number one, then as we look,
00:41:51.000 | point number one is just a simple statement
00:41:54.000 | that God has given to us
00:41:56.000 | this election that is all-inclusive,
00:42:00.000 | and we have to appreciate this all-inclusive nature
00:42:03.000 | of the election that He gives.
00:42:06.000 | I wish there was a better word than "all-inclusive,"
00:42:09.000 | because then you start thinking, like,
00:42:11.000 | your trip to Cancun is all-inclusive, right?
00:42:14.000 | You have meals, you have entertainment,
00:42:16.000 | you have drinks, and then you also have your lodging, right?
00:42:19.000 | But what I mean by the all-conclusive is,
00:42:21.000 | actually, yes, you have everything.
00:42:24.000 | In election, it is an election of what?
00:42:30.000 | And our human minds have a hard time
00:42:34.000 | comprehending the all-inclusive nature of it
00:42:37.000 | because we are limited.
00:42:40.000 | To us, we are limited by time.
00:42:42.000 | To us, we are limited by sequence.
00:42:45.000 | Things to us have to be given in step one,
00:42:47.000 | step two, step three.
00:42:49.000 | We can't guarantee step one through 100
00:42:52.000 | because we are limited.
00:42:54.000 | And it's hard for me to imagine things out of sequence
00:42:56.000 | because we are limited.
00:42:58.000 | Remember, yesterday is like today for God.
00:43:01.000 | A thousand years is like one moment to God.
00:43:04.000 | There is such a difference between us and God.
00:43:07.000 | His election is all-inclusive.
00:43:11.000 | What do I mean by that?
00:43:13.000 | Well, number one, is there a time feature to election?
00:43:16.000 | Yes.
00:43:17.000 | Ephesians 1, verse 3-4 tells us
00:43:20.000 | that the election is a part of the incredible blessings
00:43:23.000 | all in Christ.
00:43:25.000 | But take a look.
00:43:26.000 | "Blessed be the God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
00:43:30.000 | who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing."
00:43:34.000 | It's an all-inclusive blessing, and no part can actually
00:43:38.000 | be separated from one another.
00:43:41.000 | We have been given all the blessings in the heavenly places
00:43:44.000 | in Christ, just as He chose us in Him
00:43:48.000 | before the foundation of the world.
00:43:51.000 | When?
00:43:52.000 | The time feature is before He laid the foundation
00:43:56.000 | of this created universe.
00:43:59.000 | Poof! Right?
00:44:01.000 | Explain that one.
00:44:03.000 | We can't.
00:44:05.000 | Our limited, finite human minds cannot explain
00:44:09.000 | God choosing in Christ His Son
00:44:13.000 | before the foundation of the world.
00:44:15.000 | But that is what's given to us.
00:44:17.000 | Okay?
00:44:19.000 | And therefore, we cannot deny that election,
00:44:24.000 | predestination, is a part of the whole of salvation.
00:44:29.000 | And maybe it's better for us to stop using things
00:44:32.000 | just simply like "election," but it's a biblical term,
00:44:34.000 | so we keep it.
00:44:36.000 | But the idea is God chooses.
00:44:38.000 | And then He says, "That we would be holy,
00:44:41.000 | blame this before Him."
00:44:43.000 | Okay?
00:44:49.000 | Just going to keep it right there.
00:44:51.000 | But I may knock it over because--
00:44:53.000 | Okay.
00:44:55.000 | So then, let's think about this.
00:44:57.000 | What am I trying to say to you?
00:44:59.000 | I find that one of the subtle flaws of my thinking
00:45:04.000 | is because I try to imagine how election plays out,
00:45:09.000 | which is a dangerous thing to do as a human,
00:45:12.000 | trying to see how did God work this out.
00:45:15.000 | I find that I fall into this trap of thinking of election
00:45:19.000 | only sequentially as just the beginning portion.
00:45:22.000 | But what's more, here is my flaw.
00:45:25.000 | I think about it as an ancient edict.
00:45:30.000 | I think about it as a decree that this sovereign creator,
00:45:35.000 | right, He foreordained and predestined each one of you,
00:45:41.000 | and therefore you have a specific destiny,
00:45:45.000 | an allotment in your life.
00:45:48.000 | You know what that is?
00:45:50.000 | That's fatalism.
00:45:52.000 | There is this ancient--as far as you can think about it,
00:45:54.000 | there is this decree, and you can do no none of that.
00:45:58.000 | You have no say.
00:46:00.000 | It doesn't even matter what you do.
00:46:02.000 | Why?
00:46:04.000 | Because there is an edict from long ago,
00:46:06.000 | and you're but this piece moving along.
00:46:08.000 | You know what that is?
00:46:10.000 | It's the false religion of deism.
00:46:12.000 | If you look up deism during the time of enlightenment,
00:46:14.000 | they said there is this sovereign maker
00:46:17.000 | who, like a game master, winds up the top,
00:46:20.000 | and he spins it, and it goes.
00:46:23.000 | Right?
00:46:25.000 | But the false feature of deism
00:46:28.000 | is that this sovereign creator
00:46:30.000 | is actually uninvolved in your daily life.
00:46:34.000 | That's false.
00:46:36.000 | The way God describes His choice
00:46:40.000 | is not simply a choice to free you
00:46:44.000 | and then now go make your way.
00:46:46.000 | And even more, it's not just simply--
00:46:48.000 | it's choice to set you on a route.
00:46:51.000 | It's not just simply He elects you,
00:46:54.000 | and then now you're going to play out--
00:46:56.000 | He is the script maker.
00:46:58.000 | He is the play maker.
00:47:00.000 | And now you just play out the script as some robot.
00:47:03.000 | See, that's the falsehood, subtle falsehood.
00:47:06.000 | It's not like that at all.
00:47:08.000 | What does He say?
00:47:10.000 | Turn your eyes to Romans 8 and reflect on this matter,
00:47:13.000 | like Apostle Paul does.
00:47:15.000 | He says in Romans 8, again,
00:47:18.000 | this passage is so beautiful.
00:47:21.000 | It's so choc--we can camp out here forever.
00:47:24.000 | But he says in Romans 8,
00:47:26.000 | "We know that God causes all things
00:47:30.000 | by His sovereign choice
00:47:32.000 | to work together for the good of those who love God.
00:47:36.000 | And to those who are called by His choice,
00:47:39.000 | according to His purpose,
00:47:41.000 | for those whom He foreknew,
00:47:43.000 | He also predestined."
00:47:45.000 | It's there.
00:47:46.000 | "To become conformed to the image of His Son,
00:47:49.000 | all by His choice,
00:47:51.000 | so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.
00:47:54.000 | And these whom He predestined,
00:47:56.000 | He also called.
00:47:58.000 | And these whom He called,
00:47:59.000 | He also justified.
00:48:01.000 | And these whom He justified,
00:48:03.000 | He also glorified."
00:48:05.000 | The choice was to call you,
00:48:09.000 | to love upon you that you would be a child
00:48:11.000 | and therefore called a brethren?
00:48:13.000 | I mean, talk about mind-blowing.
00:48:16.000 | To consider ourselves elevated to the stature
00:48:19.000 | of a brother of Christ?
00:48:21.000 | Incredible.
00:48:22.000 | To be sanctified in Christ, His choice.
00:48:25.000 | To then be glorified, His choice.
00:48:28.000 | And all of these things are all-inclusive,
00:48:31.000 | and we cannot separate it
00:48:33.000 | just because we don't know how to keep it all together
00:48:36.000 | in our minds.
00:48:38.000 | Any accusation that says,
00:48:40.000 | "You know, election just seems so arbitrary.
00:48:43.000 | It seems so fatalistic."
00:48:46.000 | No.
00:48:49.000 | This is the kind of choice that God gives
00:48:51.000 | in which He is choosing
00:48:54.000 | to do all and every piece of salvation
00:48:58.000 | to such a degree that Apostle Paul's complaint isn't,
00:49:02.000 | "Well, wait a minute. What about my own agency?"
00:49:04.000 | Or, "Wait a minute. What about my own input?"
00:49:06.000 | Or, "Wait a minute. What about..."
00:49:07.000 | No, Paul's response is like this.
00:49:09.000 | We turn our eyes to verse 38,
00:49:11.000 | and what he says is,
00:49:13.000 | For Apostle Paul, thinking about election
00:49:37.000 | gives him incredible security,
00:49:39.000 | knowing the very presence of God is with him now,
00:49:43.000 | was with him before,
00:49:45.000 | and will be with him forevermore.
00:49:48.000 | That's eternal security, amen?
00:49:51.000 | That's comfort for the soul, amen?
00:49:53.000 | To know in our hearts
00:49:55.000 | that no earthly created thing,
00:49:57.000 | no experience or circumstance,
00:49:59.000 | not even time itself,
00:50:04.000 | will separate us from the love of God. Why?
00:50:07.000 | Every single piece of that was by God's choice.
00:50:10.000 | Every single piece of that chain is all-inclusive.
00:50:14.000 | None of that is going to break.
00:50:17.000 | And so I want to encourage you guys.
00:50:20.000 | There are some of us in the room
00:50:21.000 | who do struggle with a sense of assurance.
00:50:24.000 | Why?
00:50:25.000 | You have your fair share of failures.
00:50:28.000 | Look upon yourself,
00:50:30.000 | and you have tons of deficiencies.
00:50:32.000 | You lack so much.
00:50:35.000 | The doctrine of election,
00:50:37.000 | when was the last time you said to yourself,
00:50:40.000 | "Whoa, wait a minute.
00:50:43.000 | Because of salvation that God gives,
00:50:46.000 | the person that I am is not,
00:50:48.000 | 'I am a Christian, and therefore,
00:50:50.000 | I'm just going to be a struggling Christian.
00:50:51.000 | I should be a striving Christian.
00:50:53.000 | I should be a working Christian.'"
00:50:55.000 | The scriptures call you elect.
00:50:58.000 | That's your title.
00:51:00.000 | And that gives us so much confidence,
00:51:04.000 | joy, assurance.
00:51:08.000 | Yes, does the scripture talk about
00:51:10.000 | you need to examine yourself
00:51:11.000 | to see if you're of the faith? Yes.
00:51:14.000 | But when was the last time
00:51:15.000 | you verbally expressed to God,
00:51:17.000 | "Aside from all the things I see happening in life,
00:51:20.000 | aside also from seeing my track record,
00:51:23.000 | I am convinced
00:51:26.000 | nothing will separate me from the love of Christ."
00:51:29.000 | Why?
00:51:30.000 | Because those he foreknew,
00:51:32.000 | he has predestined.
00:51:34.000 | Those he predestined, he has justified.
00:51:36.000 | And those he justifies, he will glorify.
00:51:40.000 | The glorification is as good as done for a Christian
00:51:43.000 | because every bit of salvation
00:51:45.000 | has been by God's choice. Amen?
00:51:49.000 | As an example,
00:51:51.000 | the greatest example and story,
00:51:54.000 | one of the questions I posted on Facebook was,
00:51:56.000 | "What's a good story of election?
00:51:58.000 | What's the good analogy?
00:51:59.000 | What's the picture of election
00:52:01.000 | that God has given to us from the scriptures?"
00:52:04.000 | And that picture is none other than
00:52:07.000 | His choice nation, the nation of Israel.
00:52:10.000 | Another way to highlight this idea
00:52:12.000 | of the all-inclusive nature of God's election
00:52:14.000 | is the all-inclusive blessings He gives
00:52:17.000 | when He promises. Right?
00:52:20.000 | When He gives promises,
00:52:22.000 | another way to think about election.
00:52:24.000 | And that's what I mean by
00:52:25.000 | the all-inclusive nature of a promise.
00:52:28.000 | Why? Because when He thinks about
00:52:30.000 | the nation of Israel, this is what He says.
00:52:32.000 | Turn your eyes now to Romans 4.
00:52:34.000 | Okay? Romans 4.
00:52:36.000 | Oh, my bad, my bad.
00:52:38.000 | I made a mistake.
00:52:39.000 | Romans 9, verse 4. Okay?
00:52:41.000 | Romans 9, verse 4.
00:52:43.000 | In Romans 9, verse 4,
00:52:45.000 | Apostle Paul is grieving over the fact
00:52:47.000 | that he is praying for his own people,
00:52:50.000 | his own kinsmen,
00:52:51.000 | but he recounts the incredible blessing
00:52:53.000 | that includes just about everything.
00:52:56.000 | And this is what he says.
00:52:58.000 | "The Israelites, who, to whom belongs
00:53:01.000 | the adoption as sons,
00:53:04.000 | and the glory, and the covenants,
00:53:07.000 | and the giving of the law,
00:53:09.000 | and the temple service,
00:53:10.000 | and the promises,
00:53:11.000 | whose are the fathers,
00:53:13.000 | and from whom is Christ
00:53:15.000 | according to the flesh."
00:53:17.000 | When did the nation of Israel
00:53:18.000 | ask for any of that?
00:53:21.000 | If you have ever heard the picture
00:53:24.000 | of some idea that your salvation
00:53:26.000 | is kind of like you're drowning in the ocean,
00:53:29.000 | and then because you're drowning in the ocean,
00:53:30.000 | you can't make it to the sea,
00:53:32.000 | God comes in a helicopter,
00:53:33.000 | and He comes on a ladder,
00:53:34.000 | and you have to grab it.
00:53:35.000 | Let me ask you a question.
00:53:37.000 | When was any of this stuff
00:53:40.000 | something that the nation of Israel said,
00:53:42.000 | "Help me, come, give me the ladder.
00:53:44.000 | Come, give me the covenants.
00:53:45.000 | Give me the law."
00:53:47.000 | None of this stuff
00:53:49.000 | are things that humankind
00:53:51.000 | could even imagine asking for.
00:53:54.000 | Every one of these blessings
00:53:55.000 | were given by God by His choice
00:53:57.000 | and His purpose.
00:53:59.000 | And that's what I'm saying.
00:54:00.000 | Appreciate about the all-inclusive
00:54:03.000 | purpose of God,
00:54:04.000 | that His choice was not just simply
00:54:07.000 | a moment of time,
00:54:09.000 | a decree from old,
00:54:11.000 | but it was all-inclusive
00:54:12.000 | of every nature of salvation.
00:54:14.000 | Amen?
00:54:15.000 | But the part of it is,
00:54:17.000 | point two,
00:54:19.000 | the hard part actually is that
00:54:21.000 | this blessing was very exclusive.
00:54:24.000 | But it's on us now
00:54:25.000 | to receive this teaching
00:54:27.000 | that this blessing is very exclusive,
00:54:31.000 | and appreciate the fact
00:54:32.000 | that it was intentionally so.
00:54:34.000 | So I highlight this element of election
00:54:36.000 | revealed to us in Romans 9,
00:54:39.000 | that the election of God
00:54:41.000 | is intentionally exclusive.
00:54:44.000 | We must appreciate
00:54:45.000 | the intentionally exclusive nature
00:54:48.000 | of God's choice.
00:54:50.000 | So what I'm making the point about it is,
00:54:52.000 | there is obviously an exclusive nature to it.
00:54:55.000 | God said this is the way it was.
00:54:58.000 | And there may be a complaint like,
00:54:59.000 | "Wait a minute.
00:55:01.000 | You're saying all these promises
00:55:02.000 | God planned and He decreed,
00:55:04.000 | and He chose the nation of Israel,
00:55:06.000 | and one of the accusations is,
00:55:07.000 | 'Look, the nation of Israel,
00:55:08.000 | the vast majority of them
00:55:10.000 | rejected Christ.
00:55:11.000 | The vast majority of them
00:55:12.000 | constantly fell to their sin.
00:55:14.000 | And look at them.
00:55:15.000 | They're experiencing the consequences
00:55:17.000 | of their rejection.
00:55:19.000 | What gives?
00:55:21.000 | Why is the blessing not secure?"
00:55:24.000 | And the apostle Paul says,
00:55:25.000 | "Wait a minute.
00:55:26.000 | You have this weird presumption.
00:55:29.000 | Not everybody in Israel
00:55:31.000 | was a child of promise."
00:55:35.000 | Let me read you the passage.
00:55:37.000 | It says here in Romans 9,
00:55:39.000 | verse 6-13,
00:55:40.000 | which is the center crux
00:55:41.000 | of our sermon today,
00:55:43.000 | he says, starting from verse 6,
00:55:45.000 | "It is not as though
00:55:46.000 | the word of God has failed,
00:55:48.000 | for they are not all Israel
00:55:50.000 | who are descendants from Israel,
00:55:53.000 | nor are they all children
00:55:54.000 | because they are not
00:55:55.000 | Abraham's descendants.
00:55:57.000 | But through Isaac,
00:55:58.000 | your descendants will be named."
00:56:00.000 | God said, "Remember,
00:56:02.000 | you have this weird presumption
00:56:05.000 | that every single person
00:56:06.000 | who has a drop of Abraham's blood
00:56:08.000 | is going to be saved.
00:56:09.000 | But I always told you
00:56:11.000 | that it was going to be
00:56:12.000 | through a specific person
00:56:13.000 | of my choice, namely Isaac."
00:56:17.000 | And he says, "That is,
00:56:18.000 | it is not the children of the flesh."
00:56:20.000 | Again, it's not flesh,
00:56:21.000 | it's not blood,
00:56:22.000 | but it's the children of promise.
00:56:25.000 | You can insert the idea
00:56:26.000 | of sovereign choice there.
00:56:28.000 | "Who are regarded as descendants,
00:56:30.000 | for this is the word of promise.
00:56:33.000 | At this time I will come
00:56:35.000 | and Sarah shall have a son."
00:56:38.000 | Again, even after Isaac,
00:56:40.000 | God chose a specific son.
00:56:43.000 | Verse 10, "Not only this,
00:56:45.000 | but there was Rebekah also
00:56:47.000 | when she had conceived twins
00:56:49.000 | by one man, father Isaac,
00:56:51.000 | for though the twins
00:56:52.000 | were not yet born
00:56:53.000 | and had not done anything good or bad,
00:56:57.000 | so that God's purpose
00:56:59.000 | according to His choice would stand.
00:57:04.000 | Not because of works,
00:57:06.000 | but because of Him who calls."
00:57:08.000 | That verse right there
00:57:09.000 | disproves this idea
00:57:11.000 | that God looked through
00:57:12.000 | the corridors of time,
00:57:14.000 | saw who would exercise faith.
00:57:17.000 | He says, "No, before you even exist
00:57:20.000 | or have any opportunity
00:57:21.000 | to exercise anything,
00:57:23.000 | I've already chosen."
00:57:26.000 | And then he says, verse 12,
00:57:28.000 | "It was said to her,
00:57:30.000 | 'The older will serve the younger,'
00:57:33.000 | just as it is written,
00:57:34.000 | 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'"
00:57:38.000 | This is a very, very interesting
00:57:42.000 | portion of scripture,
00:57:44.000 | and you could already tell
00:57:45.000 | why many people
00:57:46.000 | would have trouble with that.
00:57:48.000 | How can God say,
00:57:50.000 | "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated"?
00:57:54.000 | It's a very difficult thing to overcome.
00:57:57.000 | And just to emphatically, I guess,
00:57:59.000 | highlight that a little more,
00:58:00.000 | I would like you to turn to Malachi 1,
00:58:04.000 | and I want you to understand
00:58:06.000 | that's not even just one person.
00:58:09.000 | Meaning, when he says,
00:58:11.000 | "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated,"
00:58:13.000 | is he just talking about Jacob and Esau?
00:58:16.000 | No, he's talking about
00:58:18.000 | their entire lineage.
00:58:20.000 | Take a look in Malachi 1,
00:58:22.000 | verse 1 through 5, he says,
00:58:24.000 | "The oracle of the word of the Lord
00:58:26.000 | to Israel through Malachi,
00:58:28.000 | 'I have loved you,' says the Lord.
00:58:31.000 | But you say, 'How?
00:58:33.000 | How have you loved us?
00:58:35.000 | Was not Esau Jacob's brother?'
00:58:37.000 | declares the Lord.
00:58:38.000 | Yet I have loved Jacob,
00:58:40.000 | but I have hated Esau,
00:58:42.000 | and I have made his mountains a desolation,
00:58:45.000 | appointed his inheritance
00:58:46.000 | for the jackals of the wilderness.
00:58:48.000 | And though Edom says,
00:58:50.000 | 'We have been beaten down,
00:58:52.000 | but we will return and build up the ruins.'"
00:58:54.000 | So the Edomites are all the lineage of Esau,
00:58:57.000 | and they keep saying,
00:58:59.000 | "Oh my gosh, we're going to,
00:59:00.000 | you know, we've suffered,
00:59:01.000 | and yes, we've lost battles,
00:59:03.000 | and we've been conquered,
00:59:04.000 | but don't worry,
00:59:05.000 | we'll rebuild ourselves."
00:59:06.000 | And God says, "No."
00:59:08.000 | "Thus says the Lord of hosts,
00:59:10.000 | 'They may build, but I will tear down.'
00:59:13.000 | And men will call them
00:59:15.000 | the wicked territory,
00:59:17.000 | and the people toward whom
00:59:18.000 | the Lord is indignant forever.
00:59:20.000 | Your eyes will see this,
00:59:22.000 | and you will say,
00:59:23.000 | 'The Lord be magnified
00:59:25.000 | beyond the border of Israel.'"
00:59:28.000 | This is pretty hard for us to take,
00:59:31.000 | but I want you to remember
00:59:33.000 | that what God is saying here
00:59:35.000 | is number one,
00:59:37.000 | the choice that I give,
00:59:39.000 | it's mine to give,
00:59:41.000 | and intentionally so.
00:59:44.000 | And though, yes, you might complain,
00:59:47.000 | "Wait, that doesn't make sense."
00:59:49.000 | It does not make sense
00:59:52.000 | that God would take an entire nation,
00:59:55.000 | and then he would hate them
00:59:57.000 | to such a degree
00:59:59.000 | that he keeps pushing them
01:00:01.000 | to experience ruin.
01:00:05.000 | Charles Spurgeon,
01:00:06.000 | he was describing this,
01:00:08.000 | and he talked about how
01:00:10.000 | one of his students,
01:00:11.000 | this comes from one of his sermons
01:00:12.000 | and the lectures to my students,
01:00:13.000 | students said,
01:00:14.000 | "I have great, great trouble
01:00:15.000 | with this verse.
01:00:17.000 | How can God just say, 'Esau, I hated'?"
01:00:20.000 | And Spurgeon responded,
01:00:22.000 | "Rather than asking,
01:00:23.000 | 'How can God say, 'Esau, I hated,'
01:00:26.000 | I asked the question,
01:00:27.000 | 'How can he say, 'Jacob, I loved'?"
01:00:32.000 | That pretty much starts to dig at
01:00:35.000 | what are the presumptions,
01:00:37.000 | the false assumptions
01:00:39.000 | that we have in our mind.
01:00:42.000 | Question,
01:00:43.000 | do we see God as the government?
01:00:47.000 | Does God run programs
01:00:49.000 | by which everybody should be able to apply?
01:00:53.000 | Do we see God as an institution?
01:00:56.000 | He is the great, great school
01:00:58.000 | by which everybody should have
01:00:59.000 | the opportunity to apply.
01:01:02.000 | Do we see him as some kind of program?
01:01:06.000 | Do we see him essentially as
01:01:08.000 | maybe like a policy
01:01:09.000 | that we should hold at church?
01:01:10.000 | We have this policy.
01:01:12.000 | We reject nobody.
01:01:15.000 | Those are false assumptions
01:01:17.000 | we have embedded into our mind
01:01:20.000 | in the way that we see God.
01:01:22.000 | But a better picture of this
01:01:24.000 | is to say no individual
01:01:27.000 | can go to God and apply to him
01:01:29.000 | and say, "Yes, I know I'm a wretched sinner.
01:01:32.000 | Yes, I know I'm living in filth,
01:01:34.000 | but make me your wife."
01:01:40.000 | There is no right we have
01:01:42.000 | to go to God and say,
01:01:44.000 | "That's not fair.
01:01:46.000 | Why don't you make me your child?"
01:01:49.000 | We're thinking about it the wrong way
01:01:51.000 | when we all of a sudden think
01:01:53.000 | that it's wrong for God to choose.
01:01:56.000 | There's a lot of false assumptions,
01:01:59.000 | but I want to also highlight to us
01:02:02.000 | God highlights to challenge our assumptions,
01:02:05.000 | to go against cultural norms.
01:02:07.000 | It's cultural to pick the firstborn,
01:02:09.000 | and God says, "I'm not going to do that."
01:02:12.000 | It's cultural to make sure
01:02:13.000 | we pick these individuals who have this
01:02:15.000 | because for us, we always somehow
01:02:18.000 | work by merit.
01:02:21.000 | God says, "No, not my choice."
01:02:24.000 | My choice is mercy.
01:02:27.000 | That's what we move to in number three.
01:02:30.000 | The third point of it is what we need
01:02:32.000 | to appreciate is God says,
01:02:34.000 | "Yes, it's my choice.
01:02:35.000 | Yes, it's my prerogative."
01:02:37.000 | That's what the passage says.
01:02:39.000 | You have any idea how little
01:02:42.000 | you have in your salvation.
01:02:45.000 | Again, not to take away from the fact
01:02:47.000 | that we have to repent,
01:02:48.000 | we have to receive,
01:02:49.000 | we have to submit ourselves to the Word of God.
01:02:51.000 | All of that is true,
01:02:54.000 | but God says, "Not by man who runs,
01:02:57.000 | but my choice will stand."
01:02:59.000 | It's so emphatic.
01:03:01.000 | What he says, though, is,
01:03:02.000 | "But I want you to understand
01:03:04.000 | this choice is not arbitrary.
01:03:06.000 | It's not cold. It's not mechanical,
01:03:08.000 | and I don't operate by policy."
01:03:11.000 | Praise the Lord.
01:03:12.000 | God does not operate by policy.
01:03:15.000 | God operates by personal mercy.
01:03:19.000 | Take a look at verse 14 of chapter 9,
01:03:21.000 | Romans 9.14.
01:03:24.000 | Romans 9.14, it says this,
01:03:26.000 | "What shall we say then?
01:03:28.000 | There is no injustice with God, is there?
01:03:30.000 | May it never be," strongest negative.
01:03:34.000 | "May it never be that God is unjust
01:03:36.000 | for being exclusive,
01:03:38.000 | for being intentionally exclusive.
01:03:40.000 | For he says to Moses,
01:03:42.000 | 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
01:03:45.000 | and I will have compassion
01:03:47.000 | on whom I have compassion.'"
01:03:49.000 | So then, it does not depend on man who wills
01:03:52.000 | or man who runs,
01:03:53.000 | but on God who has mercy.
01:03:57.000 | Skipping down to verse 19,
01:04:01.000 | or actually I'll pause there
01:04:02.000 | and then meditate on this for a little bit.
01:04:06.000 | God says that His sovereign election
01:04:11.000 | is not by anybody who runs, who toils.
01:04:16.000 | Obviously, I'm going to do this side
01:04:19.000 | versus that side.
01:04:20.000 | Okay?
01:04:21.000 | Excuse me.
01:04:24.000 | On this side,
01:04:26.000 | I want you to imagine
01:04:27.000 | one way of thinking about salvation,
01:04:30.000 | survivor island.
01:04:32.000 | Okay?
01:04:33.000 | Deprivation of resources.
01:04:35.000 | You know you're lost.
01:04:37.000 | Okay?
01:04:38.000 | I.e., you're depraved and all of that.
01:04:40.000 | But nevertheless,
01:04:41.000 | there's a survival that we must.
01:04:43.000 | We must go seek out.
01:04:44.000 | Right?
01:04:45.000 | We must go seek out resources.
01:04:46.000 | We must go seek out rescue.
01:04:47.000 | We must go da-da-da-da-da.
01:04:49.000 | Or another way to picture it.
01:04:50.000 | Earlier, I described
01:04:51.000 | one of the famous pictures of salvation.
01:04:54.000 | Because people would say,
01:04:55.000 | you're in a vast, vast ocean, so big,
01:04:57.000 | you could not possibly swim to shore.
01:05:00.000 | You're drowning there.
01:05:02.000 | And so, upon calling for help,
01:05:03.000 | God comes with this rescue boat
01:05:05.000 | and is now up to you
01:05:07.000 | to grab on to his life,
01:05:10.000 | you know, little circle thingy, buoy.
01:05:12.000 | Cling to it.
01:05:14.000 | Right?
01:05:15.000 | That is not the way
01:05:17.000 | that God has envisioned His mercy.
01:05:22.000 | Throwing to us the lifeline
01:05:24.000 | is not God's mercy.
01:05:27.000 | That's a gross injustice
01:05:29.000 | to the level of mercy
01:05:30.000 | He chose to give.
01:05:32.000 | Amen?
01:05:34.000 | What's the right picture?
01:05:36.000 | I mentioned to you the nation of Israel
01:05:38.000 | is the analogy, is the picture
01:05:40.000 | that God wants us to think about.
01:05:42.000 | And He actually describes it
01:05:44.000 | from His perspective
01:05:45.000 | in Ezekiel chapter 16.
01:05:47.000 | It's a longer passage,
01:05:48.000 | so walk through with me.
01:05:50.000 | Ezekiel 16, verses 1 through 15.
01:06:03.000 | And we're trying to appreciate the fact
01:06:04.000 | that when God says, "I have chosen you,"
01:06:08.000 | if we think of it
01:06:10.000 | as any kind of picture
01:06:12.000 | we can think of on earth,
01:06:14.000 | where we throw lifelines,
01:06:16.000 | we give people a break,
01:06:18.000 | we give second chances.
01:06:19.000 | I've heard so many times,
01:06:21.000 | like, "God is a God of second chances."
01:06:23.000 | And I realize, yeah,
01:06:24.000 | that what we're doing
01:06:25.000 | is we're trying to envision
01:06:27.000 | the level and depth of His mercy.
01:06:30.000 | And that's good.
01:06:32.000 | But oftentimes it's still too little.
01:06:36.000 | Take a look at this in verse 1.
01:06:38.000 | It says, "Then the word of the Lord
01:06:40.000 | came to me, saying,
01:06:42.000 | 'Son of man, make known to Jerusalem
01:06:44.000 | her abominations,
01:06:46.000 | and say,
01:06:48.000 | 'Thus says the Lord of Jerusalem,
01:06:51.000 | "Your origin and your birth
01:06:52.000 | are from the land of the Canaanites.
01:06:54.000 | Your father was an Amorite,
01:06:55.000 | and your mother a Hittite.
01:06:57.000 | As for your birth,
01:06:59.000 | on the day you were born,
01:07:00.000 | your navel cord was not cut,
01:07:02.000 | nor were you washed with water for cleansing.
01:07:05.000 | You were not rubbed with salt
01:07:07.000 | or even wrapped in cloth.
01:07:09.000 | No eye looked with pity on you
01:07:12.000 | to do any of the things for you,
01:07:14.000 | to have compassion on you.
01:07:17.000 | Rather, you were thrown out
01:07:18.000 | into the open field,
01:07:20.000 | for you were abhorred
01:07:21.000 | on the day you were born.
01:07:23.000 | When I passed by you
01:07:24.000 | and saw you squirming in your blood,
01:07:26.000 | I said to you,
01:07:28.000 | 'While you were in your blood,
01:07:30.000 | live.'"
01:07:32.000 | Yes, I said to you,
01:07:33.000 | "While you were in your blood,
01:07:35.000 | live."
01:07:37.000 | You have to picture
01:07:38.000 | the incredible devastation.
01:07:42.000 | To think we are even in the ocean,
01:07:46.000 | trying to float,
01:07:48.000 | is not enough
01:07:50.000 | to look at our demise,
01:07:52.000 | to look at the sad state of man.
01:07:55.000 | We are as good as dead.
01:07:56.000 | Verse 7,
01:07:57.000 | "I made you numerous
01:07:58.000 | like the plants of the field.
01:08:00.000 | Then you grew up,
01:08:01.000 | became tall,
01:08:02.000 | and reached the age
01:08:03.000 | for fine ornaments.
01:08:04.000 | Your breasts were formed
01:08:05.000 | and your hair had grown,
01:08:06.000 | yet you were naked and bare,
01:08:08.000 | still full of shame."
01:08:11.000 | Verse 8,
01:08:12.000 | "Then I passed by you
01:08:13.000 | and saw you,
01:08:14.000 | and behold,
01:08:15.000 | you were at that time for love.
01:08:16.000 | So I spread my Spirit over you,
01:08:17.000 | covered your nakedness.
01:08:18.000 | I also swore to you,
01:08:20.000 | entered into a covenant with you,
01:08:21.000 | so that you became mine,
01:08:24.000 | declares the Lord God.
01:08:27.000 | Then I bathed you with water,
01:08:28.000 | washed off your blood from you,
01:08:30.000 | anointed you with oil.
01:08:31.000 | I also clothed you
01:08:32.000 | with embroidered cloth.
01:08:34.000 | I put sandals
01:08:35.000 | of porpoise skin on your feet,
01:08:37.000 | and I wrapped you with fine linen,
01:08:38.000 | covered you with silk.
01:08:41.000 | I adorned you with ornaments,
01:08:43.000 | put bracelets on your hands,
01:08:45.000 | a necklace around your neck.
01:08:46.000 | I put a ring in your nostril,
01:08:48.000 | earrings in your ears,
01:08:49.000 | beautiful crown on your head.
01:08:51.000 | Thus you were adorned
01:08:53.000 | with gold and silver,
01:08:55.000 | and your dress was of fine linen,
01:08:56.000 | silk and embroidered cloth.
01:08:58.000 | You ate fine flour, honey and oil,
01:09:00.000 | so you were exceedingly beautiful,
01:09:02.000 | advanced in royalty."
01:09:04.000 | Listen to this,
01:09:05.000 | "Then your fame went forth
01:09:07.000 | among the nations
01:09:08.000 | on account of your beauty,
01:09:09.000 | for it was perfect
01:09:11.000 | because of my splendor,"
01:09:13.000 | insert,
01:09:14.000 | "which I chose
01:09:16.000 | to bestow on you."
01:09:19.000 | The election is incredible mercy of God
01:09:23.000 | to bestow Himself
01:09:26.000 | and His own glories
01:09:27.000 | upon His simple created beings.
01:09:31.000 | However, the story, as you know,
01:09:33.000 | is one of tragedy
01:09:35.000 | because in verse 15, He says,
01:09:36.000 | "But you,
01:09:37.000 | you trusted in your beauty,
01:09:39.000 | played the harlot
01:09:40.000 | because of your fame,
01:09:42.000 | and you poured out your holler trees
01:09:44.000 | on every pastor by
01:09:46.000 | who might be willing."
01:09:49.000 | Did God not know
01:09:51.000 | that those individuals
01:09:54.000 | upon which He lavished Himself,
01:09:57.000 | His love, His care,
01:10:00.000 | incredibly precise,
01:10:02.000 | incredibly intimate mercies upon
01:10:05.000 | would then play the harlot?
01:10:08.000 | Did He not know that the people
01:10:10.000 | to which whom He has given
01:10:11.000 | His mercy and grace to reveal,
01:10:13.000 | "I have chosen you from long ago
01:10:15.000 | before the foundations of the world,
01:10:17.000 | I thought of you,"
01:10:18.000 | would look at Him and say,
01:10:19.000 | "That doesn't seem fair."
01:10:23.000 | God in His willing, kind heart
01:10:27.000 | was so willing to endure all things.
01:10:31.000 | That's His choice of us.
01:10:34.000 | That is not something we can say
01:10:37.000 | we have a part in.
01:10:39.000 | And what I realize is
01:10:41.000 | the definitions of mercy
01:10:42.000 | that I used to think about.
01:10:44.000 | If you guys have heard probably
01:10:45.000 | in sermons before,
01:10:47.000 | I have probably said it multiple times.
01:10:49.000 | You know what mercy is?
01:10:50.000 | It's when God says,
01:10:52.000 | "You deserve my wrath.
01:10:54.000 | I'm not going to give it to you."
01:10:55.000 | Because mercy means
01:10:56.000 | you don't get what you deserve.
01:10:58.000 | Grace means you receive
01:10:59.000 | far more than you deserve.
01:11:01.000 | I'm going to lavish you with love.
01:11:03.000 | But I read a passage like this,
01:11:06.000 | mercy means so much more,
01:11:08.000 | doesn't it?
01:11:11.000 | In God's election,
01:11:12.000 | it's full of His heart.
01:11:14.000 | In His perfect, all-sovereign sight
01:11:17.000 | of each and every one of you,
01:11:19.000 | He looks upon with pity.
01:11:22.000 | He's moved in His soul.
01:11:25.000 | And no, it is not an arbitrary,
01:11:28.000 | heartless, mechanical way of saying,
01:11:30.000 | "You, you, you, you, you."
01:11:33.000 | It is an incredibly personal
01:11:35.000 | display of mercy.
01:11:37.000 | That's what I'm trying to say.
01:11:39.000 | And every other picture
01:11:40.000 | by which we think,
01:11:41.000 | "Oh yeah, our election
01:11:42.000 | must be like this,"
01:11:44.000 | is probably going to fall short.
01:11:46.000 | So stop it.
01:11:48.000 | But rather, relish in the fact
01:11:51.000 | that we have been given this mercy
01:11:54.000 | to see this election of God
01:11:56.000 | and to receive it not as a theological point,
01:11:58.000 | but a show of His love,
01:12:02.000 | a show of His care,
01:12:04.000 | a show of the kindness
01:12:05.000 | He wants to show you.
01:12:08.000 | God has given you something
01:12:11.000 | completely unimaginable.
01:12:14.000 | We could not have devised it.
01:12:16.000 | We could not have brainstormed it.
01:12:19.000 | He has given us
01:12:20.000 | His sovereign election of mercy.
01:12:22.000 | Amen?
01:12:23.000 | And that's why God says,
01:12:25.000 | "What I'm trying to reveal to you
01:12:27.000 | is to my glory.
01:12:28.000 | My election is to show you
01:12:30.000 | the riches of my mercy."
01:12:32.000 | Point four, we must give glory to God
01:12:35.000 | for choosing to show us His mercy.
01:12:38.000 | The election, the doctrine of predestination
01:12:40.000 | is to us a great, great glory of God.
01:12:46.000 | An incredible display of His glory to us.
01:12:49.000 | Romans 9, starting from verse 19,
01:12:52.000 | He says, "You will say to me then,
01:12:55.000 | 'Why does he still find fault
01:12:57.000 | for who resists his will?'"
01:12:59.000 | There's still a little bit of a,
01:13:01.000 | "Wait a minute."
01:13:02.000 | Right?
01:13:03.000 | If you're so sovereign and you choose,
01:13:05.000 | and you're so sovereign
01:13:07.000 | that you affect the mind of man,
01:13:09.000 | you affect the heart of man,
01:13:10.000 | and there's no recess,
01:13:12.000 | there's no little bit of my heart
01:13:13.000 | by which my freedom to choose
01:13:15.000 | is untouched by the hand of God,
01:13:17.000 | false.
01:13:19.000 | God can harden the mind,
01:13:21.000 | the heart hardens itself,
01:13:22.000 | but God can completely encrust it.
01:13:25.000 | God can give us over
01:13:26.000 | to the depraved desires of our heart.
01:13:28.000 | God can do all things,
01:13:29.000 | both in the physical world,
01:13:30.000 | both in the metaphysical world,
01:13:32.000 | all things spiritual,
01:13:33.000 | whatever it may be,
01:13:34.000 | we think we have a realm in,
01:13:36.000 | God says, "No, I have sovereignty."
01:13:39.000 | The mind says, "Well, wait a minute.
01:13:41.000 | That doesn't make sense."
01:13:43.000 | Verse 20, "Rather than answering our questions
01:13:45.000 | based on our questions," He says,
01:13:47.000 | "but on the contrary, who are you?
01:13:51.000 | Who are you, O man,
01:13:52.000 | who answers back to God,
01:13:54.000 | 'The thing molded will not say to the molder,
01:13:56.000 | 'Why did you make me like this?'
01:13:58.000 | Will it?
01:14:00.000 | Or does not the potter have the right over the clay
01:14:04.000 | to make from the same lump one vessel
01:14:06.000 | for honorable use and another for common use?
01:14:09.000 | What if God,
01:14:11.000 | although willing to demonstrate His wrath,
01:14:13.000 | to make His power known,
01:14:15.000 | endured with much patience
01:14:17.000 | vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
01:14:21.000 | And He did so to make known,
01:14:23.000 | look at this,
01:14:24.000 | the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy,
01:14:28.000 | which He prepared beforehand for glory."
01:14:32.000 | Verse 24, "Yes, even us,
01:14:34.000 | whom He also called,
01:14:36.000 | not from among Jews only,
01:14:38.000 | but also from among the Gentiles,
01:14:40.000 | as He says also in Hosea,
01:14:42.000 | 'I will call those who are not My people,
01:14:44.000 | My people,
01:14:45.000 | and her who was not beloved, beloved.'
01:14:48.000 | And it shall be that in the place
01:14:49.000 | where it was said to them,
01:14:51.000 | 'You are not My people,'
01:14:52.000 | there they shall be called
01:14:54.000 | sons of the living God."
01:14:56.000 | So she called the incredible mercy of God
01:14:58.000 | to the prophet Hosea.
01:14:59.000 | He told Hosea,
01:15:00.000 | "Go find yourself a woman of harlotry."
01:15:02.000 | Her name was Gomer,
01:15:04.000 | and she was unfaithful,
01:15:06.000 | repeatedly unfaithful.
01:15:09.000 | Hosea was called to love her,
01:15:12.000 | and yet she would continue
01:15:14.000 | to give herself away.
01:15:16.000 | And they had children,
01:15:17.000 | and amongst the children,
01:15:18.000 | one of the names of the children
01:15:19.000 | was Lo-Ramah,
01:15:20.000 | which means,
01:15:21.000 | "You are not My people."
01:15:24.000 | But by the incredible mercy of God,
01:15:25.000 | He displayed,
01:15:27.000 | "I have the choice
01:15:30.000 | to be so counterintuitive,
01:15:33.000 | counter logic, you could say,
01:15:36.000 | counter to what makes sense to you.
01:15:38.000 | Why would I ever show faithfulness
01:15:42.000 | to a bride who's so unfaithful?
01:15:44.000 | Because it's My choice."
01:15:48.000 | Does that not move us?
01:15:51.000 | Does this passage not scream, like,
01:15:53.000 | "Whoa!
01:15:55.000 | Our salvation is beyond comprehension."
01:15:59.000 | And He says,
01:16:00.000 | "According to His will,
01:16:02.000 | He has desired that, yes,
01:16:04.000 | although I could make you
01:16:05.000 | an object of wrath,"
01:16:07.000 | I want you to think about this,
01:16:09.000 | "we may complain,
01:16:10.000 | 'Wait a minute,
01:16:11.000 | it seems so twisted.
01:16:12.000 | If you knew that I was going to suffer,
01:16:15.000 | are you trying to tell me
01:16:16.000 | that before I was even born,
01:16:18.000 | you were going to inflict me with harm,
01:16:20.000 | that I was going to experience
01:16:21.000 | suffering in this life?
01:16:22.000 | Maybe I'd even have a deformity,
01:16:24.000 | a deficiency?
01:16:25.000 | I was going to have hardships in my life?
01:16:27.000 | I would endure pains
01:16:30.000 | just so that I could be
01:16:32.000 | an object of your mercy?'
01:16:34.000 | The answer is, 'Yes!'
01:16:38.000 | That's to God's glory,
01:16:41.000 | and it's to your love and grace."
01:16:44.000 | God could have made
01:16:45.000 | every single one of us clay,
01:16:47.000 | clay targets for destruction.
01:16:49.000 | If God was a shooting man,
01:16:50.000 | He could say,
01:16:51.000 | "I'm going to shoot you into the sky,
01:16:53.000 | and I will show you glory
01:16:54.000 | of how good my aim is
01:16:55.000 | by killing all of you.
01:16:58.000 | Why do I have to choose any of you?"
01:17:02.000 | Because He says,
01:17:03.000 | "I could have vessels of destruction
01:17:07.000 | to show you the power of my wrath,
01:17:10.000 | and in an instant,
01:17:12.000 | every single clay target in the sky,
01:17:15.000 | every single clay on earth,
01:17:18.000 | will be destroyed by my precise wrath."
01:17:22.000 | And He says, "No,
01:17:24.000 | but that's not my heart.
01:17:26.000 | That's the point."
01:17:28.000 | He says, "I look upon you with pity.
01:17:31.000 | I move with compassion.
01:17:33.000 | I love you from the beginning to the end.
01:17:36.000 | I am your author
01:17:37.000 | and the perfecter of your faith.
01:17:41.000 | Some of you wrestle
01:17:43.000 | with the assurance of salvation.
01:17:45.000 | No, with full certainty,
01:17:49.000 | God's love is so great,
01:17:51.000 | grand, and beyond comprehension,
01:17:54.000 | that when He places His mercy upon you,
01:17:57.000 | He places everything upon you,
01:18:00.000 | and you will not lose it.
01:18:01.000 | Why?
01:18:03.000 | Because it wasn't your choice to begin with.
01:18:06.000 | It was for His glory.
01:18:11.000 | The mercy He's shown you
01:18:12.000 | was for His glory.
01:18:14.000 | You will not lose it,
01:18:16.000 | because God will never lose His glory,
01:18:19.000 | and you have been to your privilege
01:18:21.000 | now the object of the glory of God.
01:18:25.000 | You're a vessel of His mercy."
01:18:28.000 | I wanted us today just to experience
01:18:31.000 | a fresh appreciation for our salvation,
01:18:36.000 | that from the beginning portions
01:18:38.000 | to the middle portions
01:18:39.000 | and the end portions,
01:18:40.000 | God has ordained all of it.
01:18:43.000 | And yes, you will suffer,
01:18:44.000 | and it will make you,
01:18:45.000 | with your human eyes, be like,
01:18:46.000 | "I don't see it. I don't get it.
01:18:48.000 | What is He doing?"
01:18:50.000 | But I want you to remember,
01:18:51.000 | with our human eyes,
01:18:52.000 | we look on Jesus, He's just a man.
01:18:55.000 | He grew up. He matured.
01:18:56.000 | He was a teen, then He was an adult,
01:18:57.000 | then He was a rabbi,
01:18:58.000 | and everybody said,
01:18:59.000 | "Come see the rabbi."
01:19:01.000 | But God, through His mercy, told you,
01:19:04.000 | "That's my Son.
01:19:06.000 | There's glory in Him."
01:19:08.000 | And by mercy, we said,
01:19:10.000 | "Praise the Lord, the Son of God."
01:19:13.000 | The disciples of Christ--
01:19:14.000 | Pastor Peter has been talking
01:19:15.000 | about the disciples,
01:19:17.000 | and again, intentionally so,
01:19:19.000 | Christ chose the lowly,
01:19:21.000 | the unsuspecting, for His glory.
01:19:26.000 | And the disciples said,
01:19:27.000 | "Come see the miracle worker."
01:19:29.000 | And Jesus, by His mercy,
01:19:30.000 | revealed to them,
01:19:31.000 | "Poof! You think you chose me?
01:19:33.000 | I chose you."
01:19:36.000 | And then to us,
01:19:38.000 | it looks like, "I have to strive.
01:19:40.000 | I have to work.
01:19:41.000 | I have to choose this day.
01:19:43.000 | I have to labor.
01:19:44.000 | I have to repent,
01:19:45.000 | and I have to exercise my faith."
01:19:48.000 | True.
01:19:51.000 | God says, "Your faith is secure
01:19:54.000 | because I am the perfecter
01:19:56.000 | of your faith."
01:20:00.000 | Don't try for your own sense
01:20:03.000 | of nobility or any sense of identity
01:20:06.000 | or any sense of your value
01:20:09.000 | to hang on to your own agency
01:20:13.000 | because the beginning place
01:20:14.000 | for every Christian is,
01:20:17.000 | "I am just an abject death
01:20:19.000 | before you.
01:20:21.000 | You have told me,
01:20:22.000 | if any part of this is up to me,
01:20:25.000 | no man seeks God, not even one."
01:20:28.000 | Romans 3.
01:20:30.000 | "You have told me,
01:20:31.000 | we're dead in our transgressions.
01:20:33.000 | We're objects of wrath.
01:20:34.000 | Thanks be to God."
01:20:36.000 | When you rescue,
01:20:38.000 | you rescue fully.
01:20:41.000 | When you heal,
01:20:42.000 | you feel fully.
01:20:45.000 | And when you save,
01:20:46.000 | you save to perfection.
01:20:48.000 | And in this way,
01:20:49.000 | what we have is a unique,
01:20:50.000 | exclusive privilege
01:20:53.000 | that has been given to us
01:20:54.000 | by the mercies and compassions of God,
01:20:57.000 | and it includes every part of salvation.
01:20:59.000 | Amen?
01:21:01.000 | Let's glorify God by remembering,
01:21:03.000 | as it says in Ephesians 1,
01:21:05.000 | verse 4 through 9,
01:21:07.000 | "Just as he chose us in him
01:21:09.000 | before the foundation of the world,
01:21:11.000 | that we would be holy and blameless
01:21:13.000 | before him,
01:21:15.000 | in love he predestined us
01:21:16.000 | to adoption as sons
01:21:17.000 | through Jesus Christ to himself,
01:21:19.000 | according to the kind intention of his will,
01:21:23.000 | to the praise of the glory of his grace."
01:21:28.000 | You and I are vessels.
01:21:31.000 | God created us to be recipients,
01:21:34.000 | and we can do none other than to say,
01:21:36.000 | "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
01:21:40.000 | We want to be filled with the mercies of God
01:21:44.000 | so that when we understand
01:21:45.000 | his grand election,
01:21:46.000 | we're not thinking,
01:21:47.000 | "Oh yeah, do you believe in election?
01:21:49.000 | What? How dare you?"
01:21:51.000 | Or, "What? How dare you not?"
01:21:53.000 | And then it becomes a theological point
01:21:54.000 | of argumentation.
01:21:55.000 | No.
01:21:58.000 | It becomes for us
01:21:59.000 | this great, great joyous occasion to say,
01:22:02.000 | "Praise the Lord.
01:22:03.000 | I'm not bragging about,
01:22:04.000 | 'I got into college.
01:22:06.000 | I got into Harvard.
01:22:07.000 | I got into X, Y, and Z
01:22:09.000 | profession, school, institution.'"
01:22:11.000 | No.
01:22:13.000 | I got mercied.
01:22:16.000 | And this is the balance
01:22:17.000 | that Apostle Paul knew.
01:22:19.000 | In 1 Timothy chapter 1,
01:22:21.000 | verse 15 through 16,
01:22:23.000 | Apostle Paul resoundingly says,
01:22:25.000 | "You have no idea
01:22:27.000 | how much I got mercied."
01:22:31.000 | He says in 1 Timothy 1, 15,
01:22:33.000 | it is a trustworthy statement,
01:22:35.000 | deserving full acceptance
01:22:37.000 | and appreciation
01:22:39.000 | that Christ Jesus came into the world
01:22:41.000 | to save sinners,
01:22:44.000 | among whom I am the foremost of all.
01:22:47.000 | Yet for this reason,
01:22:48.000 | I found mercy
01:22:50.000 | so that in me,
01:22:51.000 | as the foremost Jesus Christ,
01:22:52.000 | might demonstrate
01:22:53.000 | his perfect patience
01:22:55.000 | as an example for those
01:22:56.000 | who would believe in him
01:22:58.000 | for eternal life.
01:22:59.000 | Let's pray.
01:23:05.000 | Heavenly Father,
01:23:07.000 | our gracious Lord,
01:23:09.000 | we thank you.
01:23:12.000 | We thank you so much, God,
01:23:15.000 | that you do not leave us in the dark
01:23:18.000 | and we're left to wonder,
01:23:20.000 | truly are we secure
01:23:21.000 | when the world rages,
01:23:23.000 | when the reprobate and pagans,
01:23:25.000 | the wicked generation is thriving,
01:23:28.000 | when we feel like the minority?
01:23:31.000 | Is our salvation truly secure
01:23:33.000 | when I feel so weak?
01:23:36.000 | I make mistakes all the time
01:23:38.000 | and I don't find in myself
01:23:40.000 | the confidence
01:23:42.000 | to keep faithful every day.
01:23:46.000 | Thank you, God,
01:23:49.000 | that you reveal to us by your mercy
01:23:52.000 | our salvation is yours to give.
01:23:56.000 | And you gave it with kindness in your heart,
01:23:59.000 | compassion in your eyes
01:24:01.000 | as you look upon us.
01:24:03.000 | So Lord, we can do none other
01:24:05.000 | than to thank you this day.
01:24:08.000 | We thank you, Lord,
01:24:09.000 | from the bottom of our hearts.
01:24:11.000 | In Christ's name, amen.
01:24:14.000 | Let us stand together
01:24:15.000 | for the closing praise.
01:24:18.000 | [piano music]
01:24:29.000 | ♪ When I can remember ♪
01:24:31.000 | ♪ no wrongs we did do ♪
01:24:34.000 | ♪ on this shallow low ♪
01:24:37.000 | ♪ because not there's some ♪
01:24:40.000 | ♪ thrown into a sea ♪
01:24:42.000 | ♪ with a bottom or shore ♪
01:24:47.000 | ♪ who says they are many ♪
01:24:50.000 | ♪ His mercy is bound to me ♪
01:24:54.000 | [piano music]
01:25:01.000 | ♪ What patience ♪
01:25:03.000 | ♪ and patience would wait ♪
01:25:05.000 | ♪ as we prostrate thee ♪
01:25:08.000 | ♪ What Father so tender ♪
01:25:11.000 | ♪ is calling us o'er ♪
01:25:14.000 | ♪ He welcomes the weakest ♪
01:25:17.000 | ♪ the vilest of poor ♪
01:25:21.000 | ♪ who says they are many ♪
01:25:24.000 | ♪ His mercy is bound ♪
01:25:28.000 | [piano music]
01:25:31.000 | ♪ Praise the Lord ♪
01:25:35.000 | ♪ His mercy is bound ♪
01:25:42.000 | ♪ Shunner the time ♪
01:25:44.000 | ♪ we see Him every more ♪
01:25:47.000 | ♪ who says they are many ♪
01:25:50.000 | ♪ His mercy is bound ♪
01:25:54.000 | [piano music]
01:26:15.000 | ♪ What riches ♪
01:26:20.000 | ♪ of kindness He lavished on us ♪
01:26:25.000 | ♪ His blood was the payment ♪
01:26:28.000 | ♪ His life was the cost ♪
01:26:31.000 | ♪ We stand in the dead ♪
01:26:33.000 | ♪ we could never afford ♪
01:26:38.000 | ♪ Our sins they are many ♪
01:26:41.000 | ♪ His mercy is bound ♪
01:26:46.000 | ♪ Praise the Lord ♪
01:26:47.000 | ♪ His mercy is bound ♪
01:26:58.000 | ♪ Shunner the time ♪
01:27:00.000 | ♪ we see Him every more ♪
01:27:03.000 | ♪ who says they are many ♪
01:27:06.000 | ♪ His mercy is bound ♪
01:27:09.000 | ♪ Praise the Lord ♪
01:27:14.000 | ♪ His mercy is bound ♪
01:27:20.000 | ♪ Shunner the time ♪
01:27:24.000 | ♪ we see Him every more ♪
01:27:27.000 | ♪ who says they are many ♪
01:27:30.000 | ♪ His mercy is bound ♪
01:27:33.000 | ♪ Our sins they are many ♪
01:27:36.000 | ♪ His mercy is bound ♪
01:27:41.000 | [music ends]
01:27:43.000 | Amen. Let us pray together.
01:27:45.000 | Our God, we are refreshed today to remember
01:27:49.000 | that you are sovereign in salvation,
01:27:51.000 | and we again thank you
01:27:53.000 | that then you freely gave it to us.
01:27:55.000 | Lord, we know that to us it costs us nothing,
01:27:59.000 | but to you it costs everything, including your Son.
01:28:02.000 | So we thank you.
01:28:04.000 | We also know that as we're reminded of your sovereignty,
01:28:07.000 | Lord, when we go forth to preach the gospel
01:28:11.000 | and to speak of the mercy you receive,
01:28:14.000 | we know, God, that it will bear its fruit.
01:28:17.000 | And so, God, as we know that even here and abroad
01:28:19.000 | there are those who are yours,
01:28:21.000 | we pray that we could see
01:28:23.000 | your wondrous and sovereign work be done.
01:28:26.000 | For the team that is out in Korea,
01:28:28.000 | we pray that you would divinely appoint them
01:28:30.000 | to be able to speak and proclaim
01:28:32.000 | of the mercies and the grace of Christ,
01:28:35.000 | and, God, that you would bring the lost to yourself.
01:28:38.000 | And even here, Lord, would you use us
01:28:40.000 | as a mighty beacon of light,
01:28:42.000 | that, God, we would share in the love of Christ.
01:28:45.000 | We thank you this day. It's in Christ's name we pray.
01:28:47.000 | Amen.
01:28:49.000 | ♪ God sent his Son ♪
01:28:53.000 | ♪ They called him Jesus ♪
01:28:58.000 | ♪ He came to the world ♪
01:29:03.000 | ♪ Heal and forgive ♪
01:29:08.000 | ♪ He lived and died ♪
01:29:13.000 | ♪ To my, my pardon ♪
01:29:18.000 | ♪ An empty grave is there to put ♪
01:29:23.000 | ♪ My Savior there ♪
01:29:28.000 | ♪ Because he lives ♪
01:29:33.000 | ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪
01:29:38.000 | ♪ Because he lives ♪
01:29:43.000 | ♪ All fear is gone ♪
01:29:48.000 | ♪ Because I know ♪
01:29:53.000 | ♪ He holds the future ♪
01:29:58.000 | ♪ And life is worth the living ♪
01:30:03.000 | ♪ Just because he lives ♪
01:30:08.000 | Amen.
01:30:11.000 | [indistinct chatter]
01:30:14.000 | ♪ Who has held the oceans in his hand? ♪
01:30:34.000 | ♪ Who has numbered every grain of sand? ♪
01:30:40.000 | ♪ Kings and nations tremble at his voice ♪
01:30:47.000 | ♪ All creation rises to rejoin ♪
01:30:55.000 | ♪ He who died ♪
01:31:00.000 | ♪ Seated on his throne ♪
01:31:04.000 | ♪ Come, let us adore him ♪
01:31:08.000 | ♪ He ruled and king ♪
01:31:13.000 | ♪ Nothing can compare ♪
01:31:17.000 | ♪ Come, let us adore him ♪
01:31:23.000 | [indistinct chatter]
01:31:26.000 | ♪ Who has given counsel to the weak and questioned? ♪