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[0:00] Take your precious copy of the scriptures and turn to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2.

[0:19] We'll read together the first 10 verses as I lead. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

[0:47] All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.

[1:01] Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.

[1:25] It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

[1:50] For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith. And this, not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.

[2:07] For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

[2:20] Amen. Amen. I'd ask you to open your Bibles to Romans chapter 8, the text that we have been returning to for several weeks now, Romans 8, 28 to 30.

[2:42] And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

[3:03] And those he predestined, he also called. Those he called, he also justified. Those he justified, he also glorified.

[3:14] So here in this text, and here in this illustration, we have God's master plan of salvation, broken down into five different acts of God, five links in the golden chain of salvation, five things God always does in all that he saves.

[3:37] Now last week, we began to examine each link individually. And we started with calling. And we noted that this call that's found in Romans 8, is not the general call that goes out in the invitation of the gospel.

[3:56] That is a real call in which the sinner, whatever his distinction, whatever and wherever he's found, and whatever he's done, every sinner is invited by Jesus Christ to come to him for salvation.

[4:11] That's a general call. And we noted that that's not the call here. It cannot be, because the call referred to here in our text says that those who were called were also justified.

[4:28] And not everyone who is invited to come to Christ is justified, because not all of them trust in Jesus Christ. Rather, this call is the special call, an effectual call that actually brings people to Jesus Christ.

[4:46] It's a call that comes in more than bare words, words that are easily turned away at the ear gate. We just read it in Ephesians 2.

[4:57] Think of the general call as it meets people. It meets them dead in transgressions and sins. It meets them as slaves of the devil, who's the spirit working in those who are disobedient.

[5:10] It meets them as those enslaved to their own sinful passions, doing what they want to do. So no wonder the gospel, the general call is rejected, is pushed away and denied.

[5:22] But there is a call where God brings to life the dead sinner, and by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit, brings them to Jesus, draws them to Jesus, enables them to come to Jesus, bringing them to spiritual life, giving them an understanding of the gospel and of their need for the Savior, giving them a desire to have him, and so moving in their will as well to come and to take him for their Savior and Lord.

[6:00] That's the effectual call, and we know that this is what Paul means here, because all those who are called are also justified. Of course they are, because this call brought them to faith and repentance.

[6:15] Indeed, those were the gifts that God gave them, even as we saw in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. So that's the call that is being referred to here, and that's where we began last week.

[6:28] Now this morning, we're going to examine what God does before he calls sinners effectually to Jesus Christ. Now, consider this.

[6:40] God saves sinners. I trust no one here would have any disagreement with that statement. Indeed, that is the message of the whole Bible, isn't it?

[6:55] God saves sinners, and he does it through his Son. But consider this question then. Does God save sinners on purpose?

[7:08] Does he save sinners on purpose? And again, the Bible's clear answer is yes. No one's salvation is an accident. No one's salvation is something that just happened out of nowhere, just on the spur of the moment.

[7:24] We just decided to trust in Jesus, and that was it. We've seen that in all God does, he first purposes, and then he fulfills what he purposed.

[7:38] He first plans, and then he accomplishes his plan. And that is no less true, and is most important of all works, the work of salvation.

[7:49] It was true of your salvation. He first planned it, and then he fulfilled it in your lifetime. All those sinners that God has ever saved, he first purposed to save.

[8:03] All those sinners God has affectionately called, and brought to faith in Jesus Christ, he previously predestined to save. Those he predestined, he also called.

[8:16] We have it there, don't we? And just as those God affectionately called unto Jesus, were specific individuals, not just some lump of humanity that needed to be filled in.

[8:28] No, God called you as an individual to come to himself. Even so, God predestined you to be saved as an individual.

[8:41] And that predestining purpose to save particular fallen sinners goes way back before we were ever born, before there was a sun or moon in the sky, before there was even a sky, before creation, before there was anything other than God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the blessed three in one.

[9:03] In Ephesians 1, Paul is writing to sinners, redeemed by the blood of Jesus. He begins his book, to the saints in Ephesus.

[9:14] The saints, those set apart unto God. The faithful in Christ Jesus. These are the saved people in the church there, in Ephesus. And it's to them that he says in verse 4, as he begins to enumerate the spiritual blessings that are theirs in Jesus Christ, he says, he, that is God, chose us in him, in Christ.

[9:37] And when did he choose us in Christ? It was before the creation of the world he chose us to be holy and blameless in his sight. Not because we were holy or blameless, but he chose us to be holy and blameless in his sight.

[9:51] In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace.

[10:05] So out of the whole hell-bound human race, sinful human race, the Father chose to save us from our sins and make us holy and blameless.

[10:19] In love he predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ and his choosing us was not due to anything found in us, but rather it was according to his pleasure, his will, his glorious grace.

[10:36] Grace. We were chosen by unmerited love, undeserved favor. Now, Paul could write the same to the believers over in Thessalonica.

[10:47] He says, We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved.

[10:59] 2 Thessalonians 2.13 So that gracious choice by God before creation of certain particular sinners to be saved, that did not save anyone.

[11:13] No one was saved back there before the creation of the world. It was only his purpose, his plan to save them. It was his predestined, predetermined plan.

[11:25] No, they would need to be saved by the perfect life and atoning death and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ who would come to do that saving work.

[11:37] They would only be saved by God's effectual call, regenerating them, enabling them to actually come to Jesus and repent of their sins and trust in him alone for eternal life.

[11:51] And so being savingly brought to Christ by faith, they were justified and will be glorified. That's how the chosen and predestined were saved.

[12:03] That was the plan. This, from calling on out, is how God fulfilled his plan. So, this morning, we're going back to eternity past where we see our salvation planned and purposed by God.

[12:21] Ephesians 1 refers to God's purpose as choosing us and predestining us. Our text in Romans 8, 29 refers to God's purpose to save us as his foreknowing and predestining us.

[12:37] Verse 29 of Romans 8, For those God foreknew, he also predestined. So, we begin today where our salvation was first purposed by God.

[12:50] His foreknowing us. Now, some people look at the word foreknowledge. God foreknew us and they say, well, this is a no-brainer. To foreknow means that God knew beforehand.

[13:06] It just means knowing beforehand. Now, of course, God knows everything beforehand that ever will happen because he planned for it to happen.

[13:17] He purposed for it to happen. He knows everyone and everything about everyone. He perceives our thoughts from afar before a word is on my tongue. He knows it completely, Psalm 139 teaches.

[13:30] So, yes, he's omniscient. He knows the end from the beginning. Everything about everyone.

[13:41] But that's not the meaning of this word here. It cannot be that. Why not? Because clearly, not all those that he has known something about, that he's known everything about, not all of them are predestined to be saved.

[13:56] Not all of them are called to Christ or justified or glorified. God knows everything about everyone. But not everyone is saved.

[14:08] No, God foreknowing is said to be true only of some. It's those God foreknew that he then predestined, called, justified, and glorified.

[14:21] It's a certain people that he foreknew. Those he foreknew he predestined, called, justified, and glorified.

[14:32] So to get to the idea of this word, foreknow, as Paul is using it here, we need to know how this word, know, that's part of that word, it's two words, it's foreknow, two words into one.

[14:46] Let's look at, how does the Bible use the word know? Old Testament and New Testament alike, one of the ways it uses it is just being aware of something, to have knowledge about something.

[14:59] I know most of your names. I know where most, mostly, I know most of, I know where most of you live. That's what I'm trying to say.

[15:10] Not all of you, but I know that. I know where you live, your name. You see, that's knowledge about you. I know where you go to church. That's the way the word's used, to know.

[15:23] But not always. In many scriptures, the meaning of know is far deeper than just knowing about. It rather carries the idea of knowing with love, to regard some with special love and affection.

[15:40] For instance, you get no further in your Bible than Genesis chapter 4 and verse 1. And it says, Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bare came.

[15:56] He knew his wife and she conceived and gave birth. It points to an intimacy of knowing, a personal relationship of love and delight.

[16:10] You have the same thing in Jeremiah 1.5 where God says, before I formed you in the womb, Jeremiah, I knew you. Not just knew. He knows everyone in the womb in that sense.

[16:24] But there's something special about this knowing. Before I formed you, Jeremiah, in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart.

[16:35] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. You see, to know many times means to make someone the object of special, loving care, to set your love upon them.

[16:48] We have the same in Amos chapter 3 and verse 2 where God has a word to speak to the nation of Israel. And he says to them, you only have I known of all the families of the earth.

[17:03] Now, is God saying, I suddenly have forgotten about all the other people groups in the world? You only have I known? I only know about you? No, that definition of no doesn't fit there at all.

[17:18] This is speaking about a special knowing, isn't it? You only, Israel, have I known out of all the other nations of the earth, I chose you to be my special people, a people of my love.

[17:32] And so, you only have I known. Some of our versions even translate that, you only have I chosen. That's the way the NIV translates it because there is this idea of choosing to love this nation in a way he's not chosen to love the other nations.

[17:50] We have it in the New Testament in 2 Timothy 2, 19, the Lord knows those that are his. Why would he say that? He knows those that aren't his too, right? He knows about them.

[18:01] Oh, but this knowledge is he possesses them as his people. He knows them in a special way. 1 Corinthians 8, 3, the man who loves God is known by God.

[18:16] Well, isn't the man who hates God known by God in the sense of known about? Yes, but not in the sense of knowing with love and affection as his special people.

[18:27] the man who loves God is known by God. And most telling are Jesus' words on the day of judgment to the many who will claim to be saved and not be saved.

[18:42] In Matthew 7, 23, then Jesus says, I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.

[18:54] You see, the word know here obviously means more than to know about. He knew everything about these people. He knew their evil deeds. He knew their false profession.

[19:05] He knew they claimed to be Christians, but were not. He knew everything about everyone. But he says, I never knew you. What does he mean? I never had this special relationship of love with you.

[19:20] Know is a word that has this special meaning of one to be his own beloved people. And it's this meaning of know that is referred to in our text.

[19:35] And it simply adds to it the prefix for. For known. To foreknow. That's more than God just having foresight, looking down and seeing everything.

[19:48] No. He knows everything because he planned everything. But this is to foreknow is to forelove. It is to love before time.

[19:59] It's to set his love upon beforehand. It's a choice that is involved in God on whom he will set his love and make them the objects of that special love that he has for his own peculiar people.

[20:16] So it's very closely related to election. Indeed, we see that when we compare Romans 8 with Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 when it starts out praising God for the blessings of our salvation says he chose us in him.

[20:33] He predestined us. He chose and predestined. Romans says he foreknew and predestined. Talking about the same thing. You see how closely related foreknowing is with choosing.

[20:45] to know beforehand is to choose to love beforehand. And so later after Romans 8 we come to Romans 11 in verse 2 and we read God did not reject his people whom he foreknew.

[21:01] He did not reject his people whom he foreknew. And three verses later they're referred to as the remnant chosen by grace. To know them meant that he had chosen them by grace to be his own people.

[21:19] 1 Peter 1 2 writing to God's elect his chosen ones who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Chosen according to God having placed his love upon these people.

[21:37] It's very close to the meaning of forward ordination that God ordained beforehand. we see the same word that we find in our text here in Romans 8 found in Acts 2 23.

[21:50] Peter's preaching to Jerusalem Jews who had killed the Savior seven weeks earlier and he says this man Jesus was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge and you with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

[22:11] the fact that Jesus would be handed over and nailed to the cross wasn't left up to chance. No it was it was done yes it had human instruments Judas handed him over Pilate handed him over to be crucified but he says behind it all it was fulfilling God's set purpose and foreknowledge that which he ordained to be true the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ for the salvation of a multitude that no man can number.

[22:47] So last week we began with calling the effectual call have you been powerfully called to Jesus Christ such that you've come to him in faith and repentance and taken him as your Lord and Savior.

[23:01] if so then this is where you trace back your salvation to its origin.

[23:12] Where did where did that come from? Why why did I come to him when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come? Why did I come and partake of the gospel feast?

[23:24] Well we go back back to the beginning and back before time where there is nothing but God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and this distinguishing love of God you were known before time you were loved before time so Jeremiah 30 31 3 the Lord appeared to us in the past saying I have loved you with an everlasting love and with cords of love have I drawn you everlasting love he said his love upon you before time eternity past and in so doing he marked you out he marked you out as one of his own people to be saved by the work of Jesus to be called by the Holy Spirit justified by the work of Christ he chose to love you as his own that's the same idea we find in God choosing the nation of Israel back in Deuteronomy 7 6 and 7 the Lord says you are a people holy to the

[24:30] Lord your God set apart from all the other nations set apart to the Lord your God the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people his treasured possession his loved possession the Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples for you were the fewest of the people but it was because the Lord loved you you say that's circular reasoning that's circular speech why did the Lord choose to set his love upon that people because he loved them it's a reason that's found in God alone has nothing to do with us that's the idea of God setting his love beforehand upon a people so what does this foreknowledge the fact that God foreknew us what does that do for us well it anchors our salvation in the everlasting love of

[25:37] God your salvation was not just something you decided one day and pop you trusted in Christ and you became a child of God that it just came out of nowhere no it has its roots in the everlasting love of God for you and that spells assurance that's why this is in Romans 8 this is a chapter on assurance God's wanting you to know that if you've been called to Jesus Christ you know you're going to make it why because this salvation is not just something you came up with one day this is something God planned and that plan was laid in infinite eternal everlasting love what a what an assuring thing to know there's never been a time when God has not loved me from before time reaching to the future time indeed that's the climactic ending of

[26:39] Romans 8 this is where this chapter is going this is the climax at the end why what is the climax that nothing in all creation will be able to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord a love that began in eternity past that never began it was always there that God set that love before the creation that love will continue through the everlasting ages what an assuring thing for the called of Jesus Christ David celebrates the same in the Old Testament in Psalm 103 17 from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him the Lord's love it's not a general love for all man we heard about that in Sunday school God has a common grace a common love for all men making the sun shine on the good and the evil and the rain fall on the good and evil but this is a special love a special love and it's it was yours from everlasting so you don't need a daisy like the insecure girlfriend who sits and stews and pulls off the petals he loves me he loves me not you know some people think about

[27:59] God that way well I sinned today he doesn't love me he loves me not well then I repented and I got right with him three days afterwards and now he loves me and I'll go for a while and then I sin oh he loves me not what a way to live there are Christians who live this way that's why Paul wrote Romans 8 to correct that thinking God doesn't want you wondering does he love me or doesn't so what does he tell you he loved you beforehand he knew everything about you everything he set his love on you with an everlasting love that's greatly assuring because when we read our Bibles we see what God won't do for those that he loves oh he did not even spare his own son for those he loves foreknowledge then to love beforehand to set his love upon you now that leads to the next link predestination and we'll be shorter here for those

[29:10] God foreknew he also predestined so none in the circle of foreknowledge dropped out going to the next link those he foreknew every last one of them he also predestined that's verse 29 now what is this particular work of God in salvation what does predestination mean let me illustrate it for you first and then we'll seek to explain it from the scripture let's say you're driving to a vacation site and you want to use map quest or another such app for directions the first thing they ask you is where are you you need to know that then they ask you where are you going what is your destination and so you need to enter in your destination it's simply where you want to end up predestination is just that it's simply the work of

[30:15] God in determining your destination and he did it before time as we'll see predestination before you leave on the trip you got to enter the destination before you were ever born God entered your destination now these first two works of God in salvation are very closely related they both happened before the creation of the world they're both set upon a particular people the same people as we're seeing but here's a helpful distinction between the two that's been helpful for me whereas foreknowledge is choosing and setting his special love upon a particular people predestination is the end to which he's chosen them the end for which they are chosen the destiny to which they are going so it brings up the question where is

[31:19] God taking you in this journey of salvation to what were we predestined well the Bible answers that question in different ways but notice the way he answers it in Romans 8 verse 29 for those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers we've already spent time with this haven't we we were predestined to have to have the image of God in Christ perfectly restored in us it was fallen and besmirched by the fall into sin it remains but it's it's fallen and God's predestination of these people he foreknew is to have that image of Christ perfectly restored in us what a destiny for hell bound sinners in love with our sin this is going to take no little work to have us bear the perfect likeness the moral likeness of

[32:29] Jesus Christ to clean us up to shape us into the very likeness of God's own son now turn over to the parallel passage in Ephesians chapter 1 I want you to notice something Ephesians 1 and verse 4 we see that he chose that is he God chose us in him Christ before the creation of the world to be holy you see his purpose in choosing us was to make us holy which again is to be without sin to be like Christ in love he predestined us verse 5 did you see that in love he predestined us what is it to foreknow it's to forelove and what comes out of foreknowledge those he foreknew he also predestined in love he predestined Ephesians 1 says and what did he predestine us to to be adopted as his sons through

[33:35] Jesus Christ we were predestined to be brought into the family of God to have God as our father to have Jesus his son as our elder brother into whose image we are being made so that he might be the most honored brother the first born among all the brethren the many brothers so Ephesians 1 is talking about the same thing that Romans 8 is talking about we have been predestined to to be adopted to be God God God God and we have been predestined to be conformed to the image of God's perfect son Jesus that he might be the firstborn among many brothers that's our destiny according to Romans 8 23 this predestined adoption includes the final redemption of our body when our lowly bodies will be transformed into the likeness of his glorified resurrection body to never sin again to enjoy pure fellowship with

[34:43] God and with each other the glorious destiny to which God predestined us to be raised in glory we go into the grave in weakness we come up in power we go in shame we come up in glory the glory the likeness of our savior to spend eternity in his presence being made like him as he is so brothers and sisters in Christ we've been predestined to glory and by the way that's that's the last stop on the chain isn't it where are we headed what is the destination God entered when he predestined us what did he predestined us to he predestined us to be glorified and what is to be glorified it's to be made like Jesus to see and share in his glory and

[35:44] God is simply telling us all that was fixed all that was determined long before you were ever born now I want to close by applying this in three ways knowing that God has foreknown and predestined us should give us three things the first thing it should give us is assurance that's the aim of the apostle running right through this whole chapter what can give you more assurance Christian than knowing that God has predestined you to glory go back to the Matt quest illustration enter your destination and you type in your vacation destination there are a thousand things that could keep you from coming to that destination you don't control those variables so you may not end up in your destination for your vacation for any number of reasons but when

[36:48] God predestined you for glory when he set your destination for eternity what is determined to be always comes to be what he determines what he predestined is precisely what happens your destiny cannot fail because your God sovereignly rules over all things that's why you can go about your day by day life confident assured why that he's working everything all things together for your good it's the same God who's predestined you to make it to glory now you might fall along your journey you might get lost in your journey that's not a problem for him he knows how to see strange sheep and to bring them back but he's going to see that everyone he predestined for glory makes it to glory and that spells assurance are you are you enjoying knowing you're bound for the promised land knowing that nothing can keep you from it indeed

[37:56] Ephesians 1 11 if you're still in Ephesians it's in him in Christ that we were chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will his predestined purpose always is worked out and that's why this is in Romans 8 a chapter on assurance God doesn't want you limping your way to heaven full of doubts will I make it I might I might not I might I might not I might no he wants you he wants you confidently moving on to his promised land running the race with confident assurance in him who is our salvation so that's the first thing this doctrine is meant to give you let me just say by way of of of interjection it's not to give you an argue a point to argue and sword fight with people that's not why

[39:02] Paul wrote it no he wrote it that you might be assured of making it the second thing that this ought to give you is humility people who know and believe what the Bible says about foreknowledge and predestination ought to be the humblest people on the planet not the proud guys sword fighting every Arminian they can find over this doctrine no they ought to be humble they they ought to be surprised that they are among those that God chose when they never would have chosen him not in a thousand lifetimes had he not first chosen them it humbles man it puts man down where he belongs it elevates God to where he belongs did he choose to set his love on unlovely me did his choice to love me set the course of my eternal destiny did he predestine me to be like Christ though I was more like the devil than like his son then what room is there left for boasting the

[40:10] Bible says it is excluded it's not allowed in it's like every door is locked in the room of salvation there's no boasting to get in here why not because salvation is of the Lord all these are things that God does salvation is his work what do you have that you've not received and if you have received it why do you boast as though you did not God's salvation is planned and accomplished in a way that cuts the legs of pride right out from under all who are saved and we're left to boast only in our saving God to whom is all the glory so Paul writes in Colossians chapter 3 verses 12 through 15 therefore as God's chosen people all right this word is coming to you and you're to receive it realizing I'm one of God's chosen people therefore as God's chosen people holy and dearly loved yes loved beforehand that's your identity and that's to affect the way you now receive this command therefore as

[41:21] God's chosen people holy and dearly loved clothe yourselves with compassion kindness humility humility it's the first thing it's the second thing it's the third thing humility gentleness patience bear with each other forgive whatever grievances you may have against one forgive as the Lord forgave you and over all these virtues put on love that binds them all together in perfect unity you see how knowing that we are chosen by God for love by God for known by God is to affect our relationships with each other in humility and that leads us to the last thing knowing that God foreknew and predestined us should give us assurance humility and love it surely ought to make us love him who loved us first who loved us before we were ever born when we were just a thought in his mind does this sovereign prior love not melt you to love him and so here we sit again today at a gospel feast with Christ within the doors we haven't shut him out oh we did

[42:40] I did hundreds of times before I received him but we sit here today with a gospel feast being spread again and we're on the inside Christ is on the inside with us and we ask why was I made a guest why am I here not out there away from Christ separated from him why was I made to hear his voice calling and enter while there's room while thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come it was the same love that spread the feast that sweetly drew us in else we had still refused to come and perished in our sins that's it Isaac Watts hits it on the head and that's the assured humble love that runs out to God for having foreknown us and predestined us to such a glorious salvation may he increase it in our hearts then today through the hearing of his word again and how do we know that we were foreknown and predestined to be like

[43:53] Christ we know it through calling that's the way God broke into your life and drew you to Christ you know that's happened you can't know this until you know this but once you know that you've been brought to Christ by faith and repentance you can know this you can know this you can know the whole thing you see because you've got one link in the chain and it's attached to every other link if you if you've not come to Christ then you can't know that you're included in any of these parts of God's work of salvation you're separate from Christ you're cut off from him and his salvation and the question to you in scripture is how will you escape if you neglect so great a salvation just neglect it just ignore it how will you ever escape you'll remain lost and the wrath of

[44:56] God will remain on you for your sin against him you say but I don't know if I've been chosen or predestined to be saved can I say it lovingly again that is none of your business yet your business is to know that Jesus is calling you this morning and he's dead serious he's so serious that one day he will hold you accountable for July 10th 2022 I called you did you answer the call that day on the basis of that your eternal destiny will be pronounced upon you your business is to know that you're lost and deserve eternal punishment and cannot save yourself and your business is to know from the scripture that Jesus is a great savior and receives all that come to him and if you come to him this morning as he says come to me all you who are weary and laden and I will give you rest if you come he will receive you that's your business to know that he means what he says that whoever comes to me

[46:11] I will never shut out never you know sometimes I think we give to people greater honor than we give to the son of God as far as honesty if I invited you before this when the service is out and I said come over to my house tomorrow night at six for supper and you wouldn't go home and say you know he's probably not going to let me in when I go there he's probably going to turn me away no you you take me for face value you you say yeah I know John he's pretty faithful I'll I'll be there at six and I'm expecting him to open the door and invite me in to have supper with him Jesus the eternal son of God is before you this morning and he's saying if you come to me for salvation turn and renounce your sinful life your sinful way and come and throw yourself upon the mercy of God because of what

[47:11] I've done for sinners I'll receive you and some of you put greater trust in me than you would the son of God can you see why unbelief is such a heinous sin in God's sight to be invited by the son of God and to not believe it to not receive it to not receive him oh if you reject his call do you not deserve the hottest place in hell oh come why why would you not come why will you die why will you not turn and live that's his call to you this day come and receive Christ and eternal life in him well let's worship as we sing our response to his word take your hymnal it's 171 and we sing how sweet and awful that word simply means full of awe it's come to mean something else as words change but it meant full of awe how sweet and full of awe is the place with Christ within the doors let's stand and sing and sing how sweet you

[48:36] Amen. Father, that is our desire.

[49:19] Lord Jesus, we want to see your churches full of congregations that are lost in wonder, love and praise at this so great salvation. A salvation of unmerited love, undeserved favor set on us before the creation of the world, worked out for us 2,000 years ago, applied to us in our very lifetimes and certain to see us marching into glory.

[49:48] We bless you. We worship you. Make it to make us assured, humble and more loving. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen.