Embark on a transformative journey through the depths of predestination and election. Discover the profound revelations of Brother William Marion Branham, whose insights into the end-time message offer us a guide to understanding God's sovereign design for our lives. From the assurance of salvation to the intricate workings of grace and calling, each chapter of this podcast peels back the layers of these often-misunderstood doctrines, providing clarity and strengthening your faith.
As we traverse the scriptures, we uncover the bedrock of God's preordained plan, where the lines of destiny and free will intriguingly intersect. The role of the Holy Spirit as the seal of our salvation emerges as a beacon of hope, promising security amidst life's tumultuous seas. By examining the lives of biblical elects and their sanctification journey, we find solace in the truth that our ultimate standing with God is not rooted in our merit, but in His unmerited favor.
Concluding this episodic voyage, we wrestle with the scope of Christ's atonement and its implications for all of humanity. Holding fast to the promise of eternal security, we leave equipped with renewed confidence in the path laid out for us since the world's foundation. Join me, Jason DeMars, in this scriptural odyssey as we seek to comprehend the mysteries of God's will and emerge with a fortified understanding of our place in His eternal narrative.
Embark on a transformative journey through the depths of predestination and election. Discover the profound revelations of Brother William Marion Branham, whose insights into the end-time message offer us a guide to understanding God's sovereign design for our lives. From the assurance of salvation to the intricate workings of grace and calling, each chapter of this podcast peels back the layers of these often-misunderstood doctrines, providing clarity and strengthening your faith.
As we traverse the scriptures, we uncover the bedrock of God's preordained plan, where the lines of destiny and free will intriguingly intersect. The role of the Holy Spirit as the seal of our salvation emerges as a beacon of hope, promising security amidst life's tumultuous seas. By examining the lives of biblical elects and their sanctification journey, we find solace in the truth that our ultimate standing with God is not rooted in our merit, but in His unmerited favor.
Concluding this episodic voyage, we wrestle with the scope of Christ's atonement and its implications for all of humanity. Holding fast to the promise of eternal security, we leave equipped with renewed confidence in the path laid out for us since the world's foundation. Join me, Jason DeMars, in this scriptural odyssey as we seek to comprehend the mysteries of God's will and emerge with a fortified understanding of our place in His eternal narrative.
Predestination and election are two of the most difficult subjects to get a consensus on. So many people have so many different views when it comes to this topic. Unfortunately, much of it is based on logic. Much of it is based on people's feelings and thinking, and feminism has colored much of our understanding of this. I can remember being in college sitting in the library quietly debating, or sitting at the lunch table debating with people about predestination, and a lot of people saying it wouldn't be fair, or God gives us free will and he puts our free will above everything. These are wonderful sentiments, but sentiments are different than truth, and the word of God is where we have to find our source, not from logic, not from our own ideas, our emotions, our sensitivities, but we go directly to the Word of God and we let God define what the truth is, and that's what we're going to do as we look at election and predestination.
Speaker 1:Greetings Bible believers and followers of the End Time Message. Welcome to another episode of the Jason DeMars Podcast, the place where we explore the incredible mysteries hidden within the pages of the Bible. I'm your host, jason DeMars. It's time to get started on another journey into the heart of God's Word If it's your desire to grow in revelation and see the message in the light of the Bible, you're in the right place. Today, brothers and sisters, we delve into the Scripture guided by the extraordinary revelations that God chose to unveil through Brother William Marion Branham, a messenger with a unique calling to fulfill Malachi 4 and Revelation 10-7 and unlock the secrets of the end time message. Our purpose isn't to have another basic Bible study. We're going to dig deep and peel back the layers of prophecy, decoding the signs and perhaps discovering how the Bible resonates within the very fabric of our present day and time. In this podcast, my purpose is to help you grow in your faith through solid Bible teaching through the lens of the message of Malachi 4. So grab your Bible, a cup of coffee and let's get started. And remember that your feedback, testimonies, questions and prayer requests are always welcome. Please send them on social media or at jasondemarscom.
Speaker 1:Before we go into today's episode, I want to share something with you. Head over to jasondemarscom, where I'm giving away free books. These books have been ordered by believers around the world and many testimonies have been given about the great blessing they have been. I also want you to know that, by God's grace and provision. We are also covering the shipping costs Free books and free shipping. My purpose is not to sell books, but to proclaim the message of the hour, grace and provision. We are also covering the shipping costs free books and free shipping. My purpose is not to sell books, but to proclaim the message of the hour free of charge. I've written these books to build your faith, increase your spiritual revelation and be a witness for god's message in the end time. Here's a list of a few of them a summary of the Revelation of the Seven Seals, the End Time Message Handbook, the Mystery of the Malachi for Elijah, holiness to the Lord and Foundations. Head over to jasondemarscom right now and claim your free books. With that said, let's get into today's podcast. That said, let's get into today's podcast. Thanks for tuning in to the podcast. Sure, appreciate that. May God bless you.
Speaker 1:Looking at the subject of election and predestination, the biblical doctrine of election rightly understands the gospel, the grace of God and the application of the original sin. It's the truth that gives confidence to gospel preaching. It is the reality that gives us confidence to move forward in and it shows us our only hope of ever making it to the new heaven and the new earth. Without this as a foundation, you actually do not have the gospel being preached, but rather man-centered, man-focused religion. The place we have to start is the sovereignty of God. Who is in charge of the universe? God, satan, man, who is the ultimate authority whose will and purpose cannot be thwarted by anyone? My first statement is that God has sovereignly decreed everything that has happened and that will happen. Nothing is outside of his control, nothing catches him off guard. He planned it that way. When did he plan it that way?
Speaker 1:Let's look at what Brother Branham says in Things that Are To Be. Your birth here was pre -planned. I guess you believe that Every one of you knows that our birth was pre-planned. Did you know that your being here never originated just at a myth or a thought? Everything was all pre-planned by God before the foundation of the world that you would be here. Everything was all pre-planned by God before the foundation of the world, down to the very details that led you to be there listening to him preach, that led you to be here listening to this podcast.
Speaker 1:Psalms, chapter 115, verse 3,. But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever. He hath pleased. And what does he do? What he pleases. Everything he does whatever he pleases. No one thwarts his purpose, no one changes his counsel. He doesn't set someone else's will above his own will. He puts his will first and he does whatever he pleases. Whatever makes him happy is another way to say that Whatever he desires to do, that is what he does.
Speaker 1:Psalms 33, verse 11, the counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generation, all generations. Counsel means advice and implies within it the word plan. So his plan will stand throughout all generations. Isaiah, chapter 46, verse 10, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done. Saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Declaring it doesn't mean just he knows what will happen. It speaks of its counsel. It means advice and by implication, it means plan. So he's declaring what his counsel is, what his plan is, and he will do his pleasure. There's that word again. God does what pleases him, what makes him joyful.
Speaker 1:Daniel, chapter 5, verse 21. And he was driven from the sons of men and his heart was made like the beasts and his dwelling was with the wild asses. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till he knew that the Most High God ruled in the kingdom of men and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. God appoints who he wants in power to accomplish the purpose that he wants to accomplish. Nothing we can do will stop that or will change that. He's going to do it. He took Nebuchadnezzar, raised him up in power when he refused to acknowledge him, sent him to the wilderness so that he had the mind of a goat.
Speaker 1:Isaiah, chapter 45, verse 7. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Satan doesn't create anything. God created all things for his purpose. Satan takes what God has created and he perverts it. Now, this isn't going to be about good and evil and the problem of good and evil. This is philosophy, this is atheism. We believe the word of God above all else. God created what he wanted to create for the purpose that he wanted to create it.
Speaker 1:Romans, chapter 9, verses 18 through 21. Therefore, hath he mercy. On whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth? That will say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault For who has resisted his will Nay. But, o man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing form say to him that formed it. Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? You say, what about the problem of evil, paul? There's evil, and you're saying, god sovereignly decrees everything. How can he, god, find fault and hold us accountable? What's Paul's answer? How can you reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him that formed it why have you made me thus? God created all of us. So he has power to make from that same lump of creation one vessel to honor, one to dishonor. In the sermon, why it had to be? Shepherds 1964.
Speaker 1:But the word of God has no beginning, and when you are born of God, you're born of the word. Then you become a son of God and your name was put on the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. And you, the color of your hair, the color eyes, you have the stature that you're in. God's seen you before the foundation of the world and he's seen you a human being like you are. And though there come a million years, yet there's nothing can keep you from coming back to that perfect image that God ordained for you in the beginning. My sheep hear my voice a stranger. They will not follow. Every detail about you was pre-planned by God. If you're going to have blue eyes, blonde eyes, black eyes God. If you're going to have blue eyes, blonde eyes, black eyes, brown eyes, whatever you're going to have, black hair, blonde hair, brown hair, whatever it was, red hair God pre-planned that from the very beginning, right? So it's not as though God simply chose some people to make the choice for salvation. He ordained the actual person and everything that goes along with their life. All that is about you he has ordained.
Speaker 1:So what about free will? Doesn't God say that we have free will? Yes, he does. Those who reject God do so voluntarily. They're not forced to come to him to have life. 1965, things that are to be. Brother Branham says you're on free moral agency. You can act the way you wish to.
Speaker 1:John, chapter 5, verse 40,. And you will not come to me that you might have life. It was their will. It was their free will that caused them to not come to Christ that they might have life. Revelation, chapter 22, verse 17,. And the spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth say come and let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. All are welcome to come for salvation. Now there's not with man as there is with God. With man, as there is with God, a past he is bound by. Everything is now with God. The past is never past and the future is ever present.
Speaker 1:The unchangeableness of God's sovereign decrees is not in disunity with his ability to answer our prayers and for us to make choices. Looking at it from another direction, our personal choices are not forced upon us. We choose what we desire. But even our choices are dictated by the nature in us which we've received based upon our genetics. Even our life experiences will limit what we choose. John 3.16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. So it's whosoever will that believes in him. He won't perish.
Speaker 1:But I don't want you to forget Acts 13.48,. When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. So who is the whosoever will that believes, the ones who are ordained to eternal life. They're the ones that believe. Now, is it as simple as you choose what you want to believe? In some ways it is, but in the reality it isn't. Let's look at the will. Is the will truly free, or is the will in bondage? And then when God touches your life, he actually sets you free? Let's look at that.
Speaker 1:Romans, chapter 3, verses 9 through 23. What then? Are we better than they? No, and no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they're all under sin. As it is written. There is none righteous no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeks after God.
Speaker 1:They're all gone out of the way. They're, together become unprofitable. There is none that do after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are, together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good? No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongue, they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. And the way of peace have they not known there? Destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace. Have they not known there is no fear of God before their eyes? Now we know that, what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God, without the law, is manifested.
Speaker 1:So we see some major points that come across here. There's one means and one way into salvation. Paul is telling us the reason why God is just in condemning sinners and making the gospel the only means of salvation. He's proving first that if man could indeed recognize God in creation we're thinking about, we're looking at Romans 1, 2, and 3. If man could indeed recognize God in creation and follow his conscience, which shows the work of the lawgiver creator in it, then he could receive glory and honor and ultimate salvation, because he would be just. But in fact he is showing the complete and total impossibility of that fact.
Speaker 1:Our will is in bondage to sin. We're unable to choose Christ. No man can come to me except the Father draws him. It's not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. There's no one that seeks after God. There's no one that does good. No, not one. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The gospel is the only way. It's the power of God to salvation for all who believe. No other way, no other means. God does not force men to sin. Men sin because of their own desire, their own choice. Men choose sin because that is their nature. They're literally in bondage to sin. God has placed within man a conscience that gives him the knowledge between good and evil, but men still choose evil.
Speaker 1:Brother Branham says in you Must Be Born Again, 1961, first, we reckon ourselves sinners and worthy of condemnation, and we are all born in sin and shaped in iniquity. There's not a sound parcel of us. Our minds are bad, our soul is corruptible, our constant thinking is evil, every imaginary thought of a man's mind is evil, a sinner, and also that our body is weak. Our spirit is no good, we're just full of corruption. And how could one corruptible thing bring another good thing out of a corruptible? Let me say this that in Job 14, he said Seeing that man is born of a woman is full of sorrow and trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, he fadeth away and on as the prophet goes on speaking. He said who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.
Speaker 1:You stick your bucket down into the well and pull out a bucket of water and it's stagnant. It stinks. You look at it, it's muddy. Little worms is in that water. There's no way at all to put your bucket back in and get a clean bucket. The whole well is contaminated and the whole soul, mind and body of man is contaminated with sin and born in sin, physically shaped in iniquity, and come to the world speaking lies so that his own soul is contaminated. Nothing good. One cannot redeem the other because it's all wrong. And you can't take a bucket full of water here that's contaminated and another bucket full that's contaminated and mix them together. You've got more contamination. There's no purification to it In Jehovah.
Speaker 1:Jireh, brother Branham says in 1964, they probably he was a farmer lived in the Valley of Shinar speaking of Abraham and lived an ordinary life. He probably went out in the daytime and Shinar speaking of Abraham and lived an ordinary life. He probably went out in the daytime and got his meat from the bush and picked berries and lived that sort of life Just an ordinary man. There was nothing special about him. But one day God called him. That's what made the difference when God called the man. And that's the way it is to any life. It takes God. It isn't what you do, it's what God does.
Speaker 1:So you say I sought God, I sought God. You're mistaken. No man seeks God, god seeks man. See, it's not you seeking God, it's God seeking you. Jesus said you haven't chose me, but I chose you. See. So you're chose before the foundation of the world, or you wasn't chose at all. He just come to redeem that name, and all whose names names are not on that Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world is the only ones going to be there. Anyhow, see, you were chosen him before the foundation of the world, when the Lamb was chosen. Then you were chosen with him before the foundation and you are, as I said last night, an attribute of God's thinking. See, that's the only way you can be eternal, an only form of eternal life. There's only one form of eternal life, and that's God. So that's all. He's the one that's eternal. All right, see. So we don't seek God, god seeks us. We can't seek God because we're totally contaminated. We're not saved by our choice. We're saved by the grace of God, and God is the one that does the calling. God is the one that does the transformation. God is the one that applies the blood of Christ to us.
Speaker 1:1 Corinthians 15, verse 22,. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. So Adam fell, and this brought sin into the world. Romans 5, verse 22,. Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Skip forward to Romans 5, same chapter, verses 16 through 19.
Speaker 1:And not, as it was, by one that sinned. So is the gift, for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of one of many offenses unto justification. For if by one man's offense death reigned, by one much more, they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the head of the human race, and all the elect were in him and were to come forth from him. When Adam sinned and was judged and was condemned, we sinned and were judged and condemned.
Speaker 1:So what if we recognize God in creation? What if we follow our own conscience? We still have original sin upon us. We still need to be washed by the blood. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission. So we're guilty from the start because of Adam's sin. It's not a mere. Our nature is bad, but we actually are guilty from the beginning. That's what the Bible says. The judgment was by one to condemnation One man's offense, death reigned. We are all guilty and sentenced to death by the sin of Adam.
Speaker 1:When their eyes were opened, they knew him. Sermon by Brother Branham in 1964. That's what he come for to clean out them, kind that the Father had give him before the foundation of the world. Amen. I feel religious when I know that to be the truth. Not he that willeth or he that runneth, but it's God. Amen. Not how much you done or how much you didn't do. No man sought God, God sought you.
Speaker 1:Acts, chapter 16, verse 14. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira which worshiped God, heard us whose heart the Lord opened that she attended under the things which were spoken of Paul. It takes God to open your heart so that you would believe. Your heart isn't open because you made a choice. You make a choice because your heart was opened by God. He drew you.
Speaker 1:As John 6, 44 and 65 say, no man can come unto me except the Father which has sent me draw him and I will raise him up. At the last day. And he said Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my Father. So it is in our free will that brings us to Christ. Our free will brings us to condemnation. Amen. It is God himself that draws us to Christ. If you look closely at verse 44, there the word draw literally means to drag. It's not our own free will. God chose us and literally dragged us to Christ.
Speaker 1:So let's look at election. God chose us before the foundation of the world, before we did anything and before we made a choice. It was according to his own sovereign will Romans 8, verses 28 through 30. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. So who does it work together for good for Everyone? No To them. Who are the called according to his purpose, his plan, what he has chosen For? Who are the ones that love God? The ones who are called according to his purpose? You will never love God unless you're called according to his purpose. As we read, no one seeks after God, there's no one that understands. All have gone out of the way.
Speaker 1:For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren, moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. So we see this purpose is being conformed to the image of his son, both on the inner man and then, ultimately, the outer man. We're predestinated to something. So the word election is different than the word predestinate, and the word foreknow is different from each of those. So let's look at all of them is different from each of those. So let's look at all of them. Number one is election. Speaks of choice, choosing right. So predestinate means to affix a destiny beforehand. So your destiny is fixed by God. That's what it's saying.
Speaker 1:Those whom he did foreknow. This word foreknow is prognosco and it means to know beforehand. And we know that, as we read before, it's not that God merely knows beforehand, it means to ordain, so he is foreordaining. Another way this word prognosco is translated is to foreordain. So, god, whom god foreordained? Foreordained is speaking of election. Predestination is speaking of your ultimate destiny is fixed. What is the destiny? Being conformed to the image of his son, all right.
Speaker 1:So then he goes into greater detail. Moreover, whom he did predestinate? So these ones that we're talking about, the ones that have their destiny fixed beforehand, he called them. So why do you believe, why you accept christ? Because he called you and those who he called, he did what, he justified them, he rendered them. Just why? Because he wiped out their sins, poured his wrath out upon his son so that their sins are properly punished. See, god properly punishes your sins, but he put them on the Lord, jesus Christ, and he literally was killed for you and sent to hell for you and those who he justified. Them he also glorified. You see, the whole process is there that God is doing in our lives, and it's by his plan, his counsel, his purpose.
Speaker 1:Acts 2, verses 22 and 23,. You, men of Israel, hear these words Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. So, god, through his foreknowledge and his determinate counsel, he predetermined and he foreordained the fact that by wicked hands Christ would be taken, crucified and slain. That was God's plan, god's purpose. He did that by that plan before the foundation of the world. The Bible says he's the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
Speaker 1:Romans, chapter 9, verses 10 through 23,. My favorite chapter in the Bible. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father, isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him, that calleth, it was said unto her the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. So it's not so that the purpose of free will can stand, it's not so that the purpose of God's foreknowledge of our choices can stand, but it's that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of him that chooses, not by your choosing, but of him that calleth. So this goes before they did good or evil, before they made a choice, before they were good people or bad people, but God chose that's what's being said here that God's choosing would stand. It was said unto her the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. It is not a wonder that God hated Esau. It is a wonder that God hated Esau. It is a wonder that God loved Jacob. They both deserved to be hated by God. They both deserved to be rejected by God, but God, through his grace, chose to love Jacob even though he was unworthy of it.
Speaker 1:What shall we say then? Verse 14, is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid, for he saith to Moses I will have mercy. On whom I will have mercy? And I will have compassion. On whom I will have compassion? Salvation is based on the I will of God. I will have mercy. On whom I will have mercy.
Speaker 1:People say that's not fair. Mercy by nature isn't fair. If we have fairness, it would be. Esau have I hated. That is fair. Mercy is undeserved. It's based on God's will. I have chosen to have mercy on people that do not deserve it. I've chosen to have compassion on people that don't deserve it.
Speaker 1:Verse 16,. So then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of will speaks of choosing choices. It's not of him that willeth, nor of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. You don't deserve mercy. Even so, god offers mercy and people choose to reject it. They will not come to him that they might have life, so that he goes out by his grace and draws some people to himself and has mercy upon them. Verse 17,. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, hath he mercy. On whom he will have mercy and whom he will? He hardeneth. So it's God's choosing. God chooses. They're already hardened, right. It says not as though God is choosing to further harden. God has mercy on some and he leaves some in their hardness, and in Pharaoh's case, he further hardened his heart more and more.
Speaker 1:Verse 19, thou wilt say unto me, why does he yet find fault for who has resisted his will. In other words, why does God hold us responsible for our sin if we have not resisted his will? Nay, but, o men, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it. Why hast thou made me thus? Against God? Shall the thing form say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Has not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory? All right, so God chooses of the lump.
Speaker 1:So you have a few things going on here, and I want you to understand this clearly. God sovereignly decrees who will and who will not be saved before the foundation of the world. Now, as God's plan works itself out, none of us are worthy of salvation. None of us deserve God's mercy. By de facto, it is mercy. So therefore we do not deserve it. What we deserve is God's hatred.
Speaker 1:Jacob didn't receive what he deserved. Jacob got what he didn't deserve. Esau got what he deserved God's hatred. He was offered mercy and he rejected mercy. He had the birthright. He rejected the birthright. Why did he reject the birthright? Because God chose Jacob before the foundation of the world. So the fact that Esau rejected the birthright, this is what he deserved. He got what he deserved. But why did he reject the birthright? It was his own choosing. But why did he choose that? Because God sovereignly decreed before the foundation of the world that this is a vessel of wrath. Even such, he offers to the vessel of wrath the opportunity and the space to repent. The vessel of wrath says no, thank you, I don't want that. So just manifesting that he is indeed a vessel of wrath. So you have a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction and you have a vessel of mercy. So you have a vessel of wrath fitted for destruction and you have a vessel of mercy. The vessel of wrath is fitted for destruction so that the vessel of mercy would understand what it means to receive mercy.
Speaker 1:In the Harvest Time, 1964, brother Branham says the potter, as in Roman 8, tells us who can tell the potter? Can the clay say make me thus and thus See, no, god has to display all of his attributes, and so he has to make one vessel of dishonor and the other one to honor. To show that one up, of course, now. But he is sovereign, you see, nobody can tell him what to do. So the vessels of honor and dishonor are there because of God's sovereignty, not because of their own personal choice. And who is this? Bill Kesedek, 1965.
Speaker 1:And remember you, your eyes, your stature, whatever you was, you were in his thinking at the beginning. The only thing you are is the expression word. And after he thought, he spoke it. And here you are. If it isn't, if he wasn't in his thinking, there is no way at all for you to ever be there. For he is the one that gives eternal life. You remember how we read the scriptures? Not him that willeth or him that runneth, but God, and that his predestination might stand true. He could choose before any time who. God is sovereign in his choosing. Did you know that God is sovereign? Who is back there to tell him a better way to make the world? Who would dare to tell him he was running his business wrong? Even the very word itself very sovereign. Even the revelation is sovereign. He reveals to whom he will. The very revelation itself is sovereign in God. That's how people pound at things and jump at things and hit at things, not knowing what they're doing. God is sovereign in his works, amen. He choose whom he desires to reveal it to, and through Romans, chapter 11, verse 34 through 36. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever, amen. See, it isn't as though we make our choice and then God recompenses our choice back to us. God doesn't counsel with us about our salvation. He counsels with his own self to accomplish his purpose Continuing. And who is this? Melchizedek? And remember you, your eyes, your stature, whatever you was. You were in his thinking at the beginning, and then only thing you are is the expression word. After he thought it, he spoke it, and here you are. If it isn't, if he wasn't in his thinking, there's no way at all for you ever to be there, for he is the one that gives eternal life. Every detail about you was pre-planned and chosen by God before the foundation of the world, not merely your choice unto salvation, but every detail about you and getting to salvation and getting to your ultimate destiny.
Speaker 1:Titus, chapter 1, verse 1, paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. So it is called the faith of God's chosen, God's elect. 1. Peter 1, verses 1 and 2. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, galatia, cappadocia, asia and Bithynia Elect. They're elect, they're chosen by God, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. So we're chosen by the foreordained purpose of God the Father. And it is rising of the Son, 1965. Now the Holy Spirit comes.
Speaker 1:Now, of course, it wasn't sent. Why won't all people receive it? It wasn't sent to them. A guy told me I don't believe it. I don't care what you'd say. If you could raise up the dead or anything and heal the sick and prove it anyway, I still don't believe it. I said certainly not. You're an unbeliever, I don't mean anything to you. It wasn't even sent to you, sent to those who will believe. The message is to the believer. To them that perish, it's foolishness, but to them that are in Christ and part of that seed, it's life. God is sovereign in his plan and in his choosing.
Speaker 1:Let's look at Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 4 through 11. According, as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. So when did he choose us? Did he choose us because we chose him? No, he says you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. When did he choose us? Before the foundation of the world, before we did any good or bad. He chose us. And he chose us for what purpose? So that we would be holy and without blame before him in love. If he hadn't have chosen us, we would not be holy and without blame. But he chose us to be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. So his choosing is predestine us us. So we're destined to come to something. So what are we destined to? Come to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. So we're chosen to get a new body. We're chosen to receive the spirit of adoption at the new birth and get a new immortal body, likened to the body of Jesus Christ. So that's our destiny. But he chose us to that destiny before the foundation of the world. Why did he choose us? Because we were good, we were better than others? No, why did he choose us?
Speaker 1:The Bible says according to the good pleasure of his will. So his choosing is his own good pleasure. It isn't any value in us, but it's his own choosing and his own desire To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. So the good pleasure of his will was for what? The praise of the glory of his grace? So the good pleasure of his will in choosing us is not because of our value, not because of how good we are, not because we made the right choices, but it's to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. So we're accepted in Christ. He made us accepted in Christ Verse 7, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. The means of our salvation is redemption through his blood. It's his blood, excuse me, it is his blood that brings redemption. So that's the means of his pouring out his grace.
Speaker 1:As the scripture says, in another place God could be just to pass over our sins, to forgive our sins, to obliterate our sins, because he poured his wrath out on Jesus Christ, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. So here is where his abounding comes to in us, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he had purposed in himself. Again, according to the good pleasure of his will, according to good pleasure which he has purposed in himself. Again, paul's trying to point out it isn't because you are better than others, it isn't because you're more valuable than others. No, it's because of the good pleasure that he purposed in himself. It's because of his own purpose, his plan. You were chosen in him before the foundation of the world. You're a part of, you were in his mind, you're a part of his life. So that was his purpose and he made known to us the mystery of his will. So his abounding towards us is in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of his will. And in some ways you can say, the revealing of the mystery of his will is the outworking of redemption. The outworking of us receiving his grace is knowing the mystery of his will.
Speaker 1:Verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. So this is speaking ultimately of the new heavens and the new earth. It begins at the rapture, but ultimately it is fulfilled at the new earth when God shall be all in all. So the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. This could be none other than the new heavens and the new earth. It's when heaven and earth become one again, together. Now they're separated because of sin. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God's perfect will will be done on earth. When the new heavens and new earth, when the new Jerusalem descends down to this earth Verse 11, in whom we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, we are destined to be gathered together in one in all things, in Christ.
Speaker 1:That is our inheritance and we're predestinated to that inheritance Again three times. Paul says in this the reason. It's not because you chose him, it's not because of what you did, it's not because of what you deserve. It's what does he say? According to the good pleasure of his will, in verse 5. Verse 7, according to the riches of his grace. Verse 9, according to the to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself. Verse 11 according to the purpose of him, who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will one singular personal pronoun god works all things after the counsel of his own will. He doesn't just set the plan in motion, he works in it. He puts his power into it to work in it.
Speaker 1:Exodus, chapter 33, verse 19. And he said I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious. To whom I will be gracious and will show mercy. On whom I will show mercy? Again, it is God who will be gracious to the one he wants to be gracious to and he will have mercy. On whom he will have mercy? That's his choosing, that's his choice, that's his purpose.
Speaker 1:John 17, verse 6, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. So who did he manifest his name? To Anybody that would choose? No, to the men you gave me out of the world. They belong to you. You gave them to me and they have kept your word. Ephesians 2.10,. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Even our good works are ordained by God before the foundation of the world for us to walk in. Amen.
Speaker 1:Genesis 18, verse 19,. For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep know what he's going to do. Amen. So he knows before the foundation of the world. I know him, I've chosen him first. Corinthians 1, verse 26. For ye see your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called verse 27. But god hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And god has chosen, chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world and things which are despised, hath God chosen yea and things which are not to bring to naught, things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence, but of him are. You, in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. God did not choose us because of our standing in society. In fact, he chose the weakest amongst us, the chiefest of sinners. He chose in order that the riches of the glory of his grace would be manifested.
Speaker 1:Deuteronomy, chapter 7, verse 7 and 8. The Lord did not set his hand upon you because you're more in number. Why did he set his hand upon you? Because the Lord loved you. The Lord set his love upon you because the Lord loved you. In other words, the same thing that Paul said according to the good pleasure of his will. Why did he? God loved us because he loved us. Why did he love us? Because he loved us? Not because we're worthy, but because he chose us. Why did he choose us. Because he chose us. It was the good pleasure of his will.
Speaker 1:Deuteronomy, chapter 9, verses 4 through 6. Speak not thou and thine ear. After that, the Lord, thy God, hath cast them out before thee, saying For my righteousness, the Lord hath hath cast them out before thee, saying For my righteousness, the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land. But for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord doth drive them out before thee. Not for thy righteousness or for the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord, thy God, doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, abraham Isaac. In other words, I didn't choose you because you were worthy, because you were righteous. I chose you because it was my purpose to make a difference between you and the wicked. You are wicked too and you're stiff-necked, but I chose you to show the difference between you and these wicked nations.
Speaker 1:James, chapter 2, verse 5, hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that loved him? He chose the weaker ones. He chose the poor ones to show the greatness of his power and his love and his mercy. Matthew, chapter 1, verse 21,. 1 verse 21,. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. So, as we make a little transition, here we're looking at who does he save. He doesn't choose everyone and he doesn't choose them because of their righteousness. But here it says Jesus will save his people from their sins. Who are his people? The chosen ones? Who are the chosen ones? His sheep? Who are his sheep? The ones that the Father have given, the ones that are chosen before the foundation of the world? Jesus dies, not for everyone, but he dies to save those who are in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Speaker 1:Matthew 22, verse 14,. For many are called but few are chosen. The word goes out to call everyone. The word the gospel is preached should be preached to everyone. The word the gospel is preached should be preached to everyone. Everyone should have a chance to hear it, but not only the ones that come are the chosen ones.
Speaker 1:John, chapter 10, verse 27 through 30,. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which gave them me, is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them. He lays his life down for the sheep, and the sheep hear his voice. They follow him and he gives them eternal life, and no one will pluck them out of his hands. So you can't be. If you're a sheep, you can't be lost, because it's the father and the son's joint will to make sure that you'll never perish and you'll never be lost.
Speaker 1:John 17, verse 2,. As thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. Who gets eternal life? The ones that are given to the Lord Jesus, the ones that are given to the Lord Jesus, only those ones that are given to him. See, it's a limited amount. It's not everyone. It's a limited amount. He gives eternal life only to the ones that you have given him. Who are those ones that you've given him? The one that were chosen before the foundation of the world? Him? Who are those ones that you've given him, the one that were chosen before the foundation of the world.
Speaker 1:Philippians 2, verses 12 and 13,. Wherefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So we're to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Why? Because for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. So we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, because God is working in us both to will to choose and to do of his good pleasure. 2 Timothy 2, verse 10,. Therefore, I endure all things for the elect's sake that they may needs to preach the word, because the elect sheep will hear the voice of the Lord Jesus and respond to him so he can endure all things for them. Now we look at Jesus, the new birth Acts 16, 14, and the sovereignty of God in the new birth.
Speaker 1:And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. She would never listen to the word unless her heart was opened by the Lord. Everybody, everyone, heard what Paul said, but they didn't attend unto the things that Paul said you can hear without attending. She heard and attended to them. Because why? The Lord opened her heart. Acts 10, verse 44,. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
Speaker 1:Galatians 3.2. This only, would I learn of you, received either spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. We receive the spirit by the hearing of faith. How do we have faith? The Lord opens our heart. If you hear with faith, the Lord has revealed himself to you and the revelation of Jesus Christ is the new birth to you personally.
Speaker 1:James 1.18,. Of his own will, begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his own, with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his own, of his creatures. How are we born again? By the word of truth? By hearing, hearing of faith, first, he draws us to Christ by opening our hearts to receive the word, and then, by his own sovereign will, he causes us to be born again. Of his own will, begat he us with the word of truth. Not by our own will, but by his sovereign will he causes us to be born again. We're born in this earth and the body of flesh. It wasn't by our own will. And when we're born again it is also not by our own will but by the sovereignty of God. All right, the Old Testament elect versus the New Testament elect. The new birth isn't in the Old Testament. The new birth isn't in the Old Testament. The new birth is a new covenant thing.
Speaker 1:Psalm 32, verse 2,. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile. Just because they're born again doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit doesn't deal with the Old Testament saints. They had an anointing. They had the Spirit of God working amongst them, but it wasn't through the blood of Jesus Christ that they could receive the new birth. Psalm 65, verse 4,. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house. So God would choose and cause people to approach unto him, but not by the new birth. The new birth is a different thing and that again, that's connected to the new covenant and it only could come after the blood of Jesus Christ was sent, but they still had the Holy Spirit working from the outside in. As we remember the song, which is based on the Psalm of David Create in me a clean heart, o God, and renew a right spirit within me. We're sealed until the day of redemption In the Old Testament, they could have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit could leave. Because why? It wasn't the new birth? But if God chose them and caused them approach unto him, the Holy Spirit would deal with them In taking sides with Jesus.
Speaker 1:Brother Branham says, walked up there and Jesus said behold, in Israel, in whom there's no guile. He said Rabbi, when did you know me? He said before. Philip called you when he was under the tree. I saw you. What did? The water struck that predestinated seed. Oh my, when it did? He said Rabbi, thou art the son of God, you're the king of Israel. What was it? The seed was laying there ready. God sowed it back yonder, before the foundation of the world, that it should bring forth the light right at that time. Hallelujah, that's my stand. Right there, brother, that's where I believe. Right there I preach it. And it falls here and there and they go this way and that way. Don't make any difference. Somewhere it's going to strike a seed and when it did, brother Branham snaps his finger. It'll fly up to life like that, just as sure as the world.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, under the Old Testament they didn't have the new birth. They had an anointing, but not the new birth. The predestinated seed were those that God chose and called and brought to himself. They heard the word and since there was a seed in their soul, they could recognize the word of God. That was God drawing them to himself.
Speaker 1:Now let's look next at foreknowledge. Did God merely know what our choice would be and based upon that he chose us? John 6, 44, no man could come to me except the Father, which has sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. This shows us that in order for us to come to Christ, he has to drag us to himself. John 15, 16 says that we did not choose Christ, but that he chose us and ordained us to bring forth fruit and that our fruit would remain. So it's his choosing, not our choosing. He didn't choose us based on our choice. He chose us based on his choice. Ephesians 1.11 says he's the God that works all things after the plan or counsel of his own will. He didn't merely know beforehand what your choice would be, but he ordained that your choice would be. But he ordained that your choice would be that and then dragged us to Christ. Romans 9.11 says he chose Jacob so that his purpose according to election would stand, not because of works and not because of anything good or bad they had done.
Speaker 1:Modern events made clear by prophecy. Brother Branham says it's got to come according to the word if it comes from God, because it's to vindicate or to prove God's presence. And he foreknew all these things by his foreknowledge. He ordained, fore-ordained it's called in the Bible, predestinated every age to its place and every man to its place and every messenger to its place. He is God. The devil ain't pulling nothing over on him and he's God and he has ordained everything to take place and falls just exactly in line with his word Eternal security. Let's look at that. So let's finish there. It's not. Let's finish there. It's not. God's foreknowledge is not knowing your choices, but it's rooted in foreordaining, as Brother Branham says, in Things that Are To Be. Everything was all preplanned by God before the foundation of the world. It's not preplanned based on your choosing. It's preplanned, based upon the counsel of his own will.
Speaker 1:Now, eternal security is one way of putting it. I personally don't love stating it that way, because what many times happens is that it becomes disgrace. Instead of being rooted in the grace of God, the powerful grace of God to preserve us, it's rooted in we feel well, I got it, there's nothing else needed, and we become a disgrace. No, it's not that. It's God's preserving of the saints so that they persevere unto the end. One of the ways it's called is perseverance of the saints. Brother Branham speaks about it that way and that's taken from Calvinism. Perseverance of the saints it's because God, by his sovereign purpose, works in their lives to preserve them. Not merely that you believe and you're eternally secure. No, it's God working in you to produce something In the future home. Brother Branham says it's into the kingdom of God, with eternal life, with the predestinated.
Speaker 1:That never did start. That's never started on any day. He wasn't saved on any day. He was always saved. Amen. Jesus just come to redeem them. But you redeem that, but you was saved from the beginning because you had eternal life to begin with. A trout fish can never be a gar or a tadpole. He might be in the same water with him. But he was from the beginning a trout. The net only caught him, see, but he was from the beginning, from the beginning, a trout. The net only caught him, see, but he was from the beginning.
Speaker 1:Matthew 10, verse 22,. And he shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Now, that's the side that I want to look at. Is that God has ordained that we endure to the end, that we will persevere to the end? 1 John 5, verse 13,. These things have I written unto you, that you believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Speaker 1:In Catholicism and in many Arminian doctrines, you have this idea that we can never really know if we're saved only if we make it to the end. But here, at the time of believing, we can know that we have eternal life. Why do I know I have eternal life? Because I have faith in the name of the Son of God. John 3.16-18,.
Speaker 1:For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through him, might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. The world is already under condemnation. They don't have to reject Christ to be condemned. They're under condemnation. Christ was sent to bring a means of deliverance from this condemnation that they're already under See.
Speaker 1:So it is through faith that we're saved. It's through believing that we're saved. But remember believing faith is given to us as a gift of God Romans 5.1,. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. See again the means of salvation we're speaking about. There's a means of salvation. You're not just eternally secure based on God's choice, there's a means, there's an outworking of his choosing Romans 8.31 39. Again, if you believe, you're saved and you have eternal life. He that hears my words and believes on him that sent me has passed from death unto life. It's not a question, it is a reality. It's not well if you continue in belief until all the way to the end it's you believe you have eternal life.
Speaker 1:And what can separate us from the love of God? If God be for us, who can be against us? Romans 8.31,. He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not, with him, also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elects? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died yea, rather than is risen Again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword, as it is written, for thy sake, we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, and all these things. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present or things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Our perseverance is rooted in God's love. God's love. God loves us. Nothing can separate us from that love, not even our own choosing.
Speaker 1:Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 13 and 14, in whom you also trusted. After that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom, also after that, you believed. You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. So we're sealed until the redemption of the purchased possession. We're not sealed until we choose not to be. When God chose us, draws us to himself, he seals us until we have that new body. Nothing will separate us from the love of God. He will be sure that we persevere to the end.
Speaker 1:Hebrews 13.5,. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have, for he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. This is what your perseverance is rooted in the promise of God to never leave you and never forsake you. 1 Peter 1, verse 5. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. So we're not kept by our own ability, by our own righteousness. We are literally preserved by the power of God. Who can overcome the power of God. No one can take us out of his hand. No one can pluck us out of his hand, out of his hand. No one can pluck us out of his hand. He's able to save us.
Speaker 1:Hebrews 7.25 says that, wherefore he's able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him seeing, he ever liveth to make intercession for us. He is living now. He is seated at the throne of God making intercession for us. Therefore, he is able to save us to the very end. Psalm 97, verse 10, he that loved the Lord hate evil. He preserveth the soul of his saints. He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. He preserves us unto the end. That's what our perseverance is based on.
Speaker 1:Psalm 34, 22,. The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. Desolate means to be left alone and fruitless. If you trust in him, he is not going to leave you. He will redeem your soul to the very end.
Speaker 1:Ephesians 4.30,. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed into the day of redemption Again, we're sealed until the time we have an immortal body. God seals us to the very end. So God says endure to the end, don't walk away. Believe and you're saved. But God provides the means. He seals us with the holy spirit until the day that we have a new immortal body. Philippians 3, 20 and 21 for our conversation is heaven is in heaven. From whence also, we look for the savior, the lord jesus christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself, so he is able to subdue us to himself and therefore he will bring us to that place where we will have that new body that's like his body.
Speaker 1:John, chapter 6, verses 39 and 40. And this is the father's will which has sent me. So this is God's sovereign will, that of all which he has given me. I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. So is Jesus going to fail in this? No, he's not going to lose anyone. He's going to bring them to that place where they have raised it up or change that vile body to be likened to his glorious body, verse 40,. And this is the will of him that sent me that everyone which seeth the son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Look and live, see the sun. Believe and you have eternal life, and there is no. What is the in between? Believe and you'll be raised up at the last day. Why? Because it's the Father's will that Jesus will lose nothing.
Speaker 1:Romans, chapter 11, verse 29,. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God doesn't change his mind from choosing you. John, chapter Jude, chapter 1, verse 24,. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. So God is able to keep you without falling, in other words falling away from the faith. Because the fact is, people fall away from the faith, but that means that they never had the Holy Spirit to begin with. If you're sealed with the Holy Spirit, god keeps you to the very end and presents you faultless before his throne. 1 John, 3 9,. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he's born of God. You cannot disbelieve God's word if you're a seed of God. When that word strikes the seed, faith comes.
Speaker 1:Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 14, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are being sanctified. So it's by one offering we're perfected forever. So if you are being sanctified by the Lord God, you're already perfect forever. Can anything reverse that? No, now let's look at a few verses. People, you bring this to jump right to them In Hebrews, hebrews chapter 6, verse 4 through 9.
Speaker 1:Again now, as we read the whole entirety of this series of verses, it becomes clear. But if you just isolate a few verses, you'll misunderstand. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing that they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame For the earth, which drinketh in the rain. So right there, we see, someone can fall away from the faith. So right there, we see, someone can fall away from the faith. Now again, they were in church, they were partaking of the word, they were partaking of the ordinances, they were baptized, so on and so forth, and if they fall away, they cannot be renewed to repentance.
Speaker 1:Again, there's a few things going on here. Can a person who's a backslider come back? Absolutely, the scripture is full of that. So it's not saying that a backslider can't return. What is it saying? It's going to tell you here for the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs, meat for them, by whom it is dressed, receives blessing from God, but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned.
Speaker 1:So we see right there what the Lord, what. What is being said is the earth drinks in the water and there's seeds in the earth. So people who are once enlightened and made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and so on and so forth, if they fall away, it's impossible to renew them to repentance. Why? Because they're bearing thorns and briars. So it shows they weren't wheat to begin with, they were weeds. So the Holy Ghost falls on wheat seed and weeds seed, and they both grow up in the same field. That's a parable that the Lord Jesus brought. So this is what we're seeing, is the people that fall away. What is it? They're not predestinated wheat to begin with, they're predestinated weeds, and the Holy Ghost, rain falls, but what does it produce at the end? What does it bear at the end? Thorns and briars. So of course those people fall away and they can never be renewed to repentance. Because why they didn't repent in the first place? Because they are weeds, verse nine.
Speaker 1:But beloved, we are persuaded. Better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak so, things that accompany salvation, which is the good seed, the good wheat, Hebrews 10, verses 26 through 29. For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth. There remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversary. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment suppose he shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was? Sanctified? An unholy thing, and hath done despot unto the Spirit of grace. Sanctified, an unholy thing and hath done despot unto the spirit of grace. So here he was. He was, by all observances, a believer and set apart. But what was it? He turned away from God, proving that he never had the Holy Ghost to begin with.
Speaker 1:Again, this is not to say a backslider can't repent and come back. That's not what the verse is saying. It's not trying to contradict the rest of scripture. It's not trying to say God can't preserve somebody. We can't take this scripture and isolate it against everything else.
Speaker 1:Judas was a believer. Judas was anointed with the Holy Ghost. Judas did miracles, but in the end Judas declared what seed he was from. He wasn't the seed of God, he was the seed of the serpent. He did all outwardly things and it was impossible to renew him unto repentance because he wasn't the seed of God. He never truly repented in the first place. He wasn't the seed of God, he never truly repented in the first place. All right, god's grace is sovereign grace. You cannot resist the eternal purpose of God. Nothing will prevent the elect from coming to the Lord Jesus and being preserved all the way to the end.
Speaker 1:John, chapter 6, verse 37 through 45. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me, and this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is a will of him that sent me that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day. The Jews then murmured at him because he said I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith I came down from heaven. Jesus therefore answered and said unto them Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me except the Father, which has sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Speaker 1:It is written in the prophets and they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore hath heard and hath learned of the father comes unto me. So what do we have in this verse? All the father giveth. So that means that they belong to the father in the first place. So he chose them before the foundation of the world. Those ones that he chose before the foundation of the world will come to him. Why will they come to him? Because the Father will draw them to Christ. So next part we have is that he won't lose them. So he will preserve them all the way to the end and raise them up on the last day. So you have God's choosing, god's drawing, god's preserving right there, all in that verse, all based on his sovereign will.
Speaker 1:Now this leads itself to the next thing, which is that Christ did not die for every sin of all time. He died only for the sin of the elect. Now you say, well, what about little babies that die? Doesn't that mean the whole world is covered by his blood until they reach to the age of atonement? No, god knew that, which babies would be aborted and which babies would die and children would die before the age of accountability, and therefore he chose them. So those ones, they'll have eternal life and the blood is applied to them because they're chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Speaker 1:Revelation 13, verse 8,. Anyone that has their sins covered is covered because Christ died for them. Let's read a few verses and look at this. Revelation 13, verse 8,. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and chapter 17, verse 8 of Revelation. The beast that thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is so.
Speaker 1:The lamb is slain before the foundation of the world only for those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. The death of Christ on the cross was for a specific and definite purpose. Let's read a few quotes and then we'll go back to the scriptures. Now, that's a big word, predestinate, but we all know it's the truth. We absolutely know that the infinite God predestinated all things by foreknowledge before the foundation of the world. Even the lamb that was slain and every name that would ever be on the book was put on the book before the book was ever written. Now, how many knows? That's true? And Jesus came to redeem those that were in the book. In the Bible, the lamb came from behind the curtain and taken the book and opened the seals that it was sealed with, for he came to claim all that he, all he, had redeemed. He's the intercessor now, an intercessor making intercession for those that he has redeemed. All whose names was written on the Lamb's book of life is redeemed.
Speaker 1:Hebrews, chapter one, 1957. He wasn't willing that you should be perished, you would perish, but him being infinite, he had to know the end from the beginning, or he isn't God. So Jesus never came to earth to just say well, I'll see if somebody be mercy, if I act and die in a hard way, they'll probably think well, it'll persuade their hearts. And God don't run his business like that. Jesus came for one specific purpose, that's to save those who God, before the foundation of the world, knew. For one specific purpose, that's to save those who God, before the foundation of the world, knew would be saved. He said so that's right. It's not him that willeth or him that runneth, it's God that showeth mercy.
Speaker 1:Paul said that same man here, john 3, 16,. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. So he did not die for the sins of the world. He was offered to the whole world, but he only died for those that believe, for it's only those that believe that will not perish, and those that believe cannot and will not perish.
Speaker 1:See 2 Peter 3, verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Who is he not willing should perish? Usward? So who is usward? The elect? He's not willing that any of the elect should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And he is patient and long suffering to make sure that all the elect repent and receive the Lord Jesus and are filled with the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1:Isaiah, chapter 53, verse 8. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken? So who? Whose people was he stricken? For my people? Verse 11. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall my righteous servant justify many? For he shall bear the iniquities. He bears all the iniquities of the many, but it doesn't say he shall justify all. He bears the iniquities of the ones that he justifies. John, chapter 10, verse 15, as the father knoweth me. Even so, know I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. So who does he lay his life down for the sheep? Not for everyone, but for the sheep.
Speaker 1:You cannot be a Christian and not have a love for righteousness and holiness. Justification is evidenced by the ongoing work of sanctification. That's what we were speaking about before eternal security. But eternal security is rooted in perseverance Philippians 1.6,. Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So if you have saving faith, you'll make it to the end, because this is God's work. He started the work, he'll finish the work. He doesn't just leave you to error and sin and wickedness and evil, but he works in your life.
Speaker 1:1 John 2, verse 19,. They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. So there are people that come and they respond and they're a part of the church, but they don't really have faith and they leave. And they leave, because it's manifested that they're not part of the elect.
Speaker 1:Matthew 15, verse 8, this people draw nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. So that's the people that don't persevere. They speak with their lips, but their heart is not transformed by the power of God. Matthew 7, 21 through 23,. Not everyone that saith unto me, lord, lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven, many will say unto me in that day, lord Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works. And then will I profess unto them I never knew you, depart from me. That were iniquity. He never knew them. Not, he knew them for a little while, but things turned bad and then I forgot you. No, he never knew them.
Speaker 1:They looked like Christians, acted like Christians, seemed like Christians, but they were not Christians, they were not preserved, they were not real believers. Why? Because they had not done the will of the Father which is in heaven. They had the anointing and benefited from the anointing, but they weren't following the word with their life. True, elect Christians can backslide, fall into moral decay, but God will renew them under repentance.
Speaker 1:1 Corinthians 10, 12,. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Luke 22, 31,. And the Lord said Simon. Simon, behold, satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. But Peter then repented and was converted. Hebrews 12, 14,.
Speaker 1:Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. So here's the means If you're going to see the Lord, you're going to follow peace and holiness. If you're not going to see the Lord, you won't follow peace and holiness. Galatians 6, 8,. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. God's means of bringing life everlasting is sowing to the Spirit. So do you do that by your own works? No, it's God that works in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. So God working in you will cause you to sow to the Spirit. James 2.17,.
Speaker 1:Even so, faith, if it has not works, is dead being alone. 1 John 1.7,. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us all from sin. There's a but there. But if we walk in the light, so we have to walk in the light to be cleansed by the blood Again. These are the means that God uses to preserve us. It's not eternal security and you just don't have to do anything and live any kind of life. No, a true person that has the Holy Ghost. It's evidenced by a transformed life. Verse John 2, 4,.
Speaker 1:He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. If you know Christ, him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. If you know Christ, it leads you to keep his commandments. 1 John 3.14,. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. It is an outward expression of having the life of God in you is that you love others. You love the brethren.
Speaker 1:2 Thessalonians 2.13,. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. So if you're saved before the foundation of the world, chosen before the foundation of the world to be saved, what are the outward evidences? Sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Matthew 6, 15,. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. Outward identification of possessing the forgiveness of God is that you forgive others. If you're not a forgiving person, you don't have the forgiveness of God.
Speaker 1:Romans 8, 13,. For if you live after the flesh, you shall die, but if you, through the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live Again. We're not saved by our obedience, we're saved by grace through faith. But that grace through faith is outward evidenced by his workmanship in us. We're ordained to good works, so we'll put to death the deeds of the flesh if we have the spirit dwelling in us. Isaiah 66.2, 66, 2,. For all those things that my handmaid and all those things have been, saith the Lord. But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word. Outward evidence of a true and genuine experience with God is that you have a poor and contrite spirit and that you tremble at the word of God. Do you tremble at the holiness of God in your lack of holiness? Does this drive you to your knees and cause you to seek the face of God? That's evidence that God is in you.
Speaker 1:1 John, 3, 3, 4, and 9. And every man that hath this hope in himself purifies himself, as he is pure. Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. He that says that he's without sin is a liar. The truth is not in him. So what does this verse mean? Everyone who's a believer is purifying himself and he's seeking after purity. That's the desire of his heart. He that's born of God, he's not living a continual lifestyle of sin, because the seed of God is in him. He cannot remain continuously processing and living in sin. He lives a life of repentance. 1 John, 2, 29,.
Speaker 1:If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that does righteousness is born of him. So if you're born of God, you'll do righteousness Again. These are connected together. Beloved, let us love one another. This is 1 John 4, 7. For love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. So if you're born of God, you love God and you love your neighbor. This is what the new birth produces.
Speaker 1:1 John 5, 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loveth him, that begat, loveth him. That is begotten of him. We love him because he first loved us, so he first loved us. Therefore we love him. So if you're born of God, you love God. Right, this follows, it automatically follows. When you're born of God, you love all the brothers. You love your neighbor as yourself.
Speaker 1:1 John 5.18,. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not, amen. So again, pursuing purity is not the grounds of your justification. Faith is the grounds of your justification, but pursuing purity is the fruit of justification. God started the work in you and he'll finish the work in you, but the work involves our wholehearted desire and pursuit of purity. The Spirit of God within us will push us forward in that. That's God's means of preserving us on all the way, unto the end. That's important to understand.
Speaker 1:Now there's a few scriptures that I want to mention regarding the limited atonement that Christ only died for the elect. Now people will say Christ died for the whole world. Christ died for in 1 Timothy he's the savior of all men, but especially of those who believe. Now what does that mean? Number one we know he's only the savior of the ones that repent, but ultimately he's the savior of the whole world. Why is he the savior of the whole world? Why is he the savior of the whole world? Because otherwise, without him, everything would be destroyed. So he saves the whole world.
Speaker 1:John says he didn't die just for our sins, but for the sins of the children of God scattered throughout the whole world. So a number of spots you see that he died for the sins of the world. So a number of spots you see that he died for the sins of the world. But then we can't use that to contradict that he died for his sheep, he died for his people. So those things go together. So who is the world?
Speaker 1:It means that he died for Jews and Gentiles, the children of God scattered abroad throughout the nations. So he died specifically for the sins that are forgiven. What sins are forgiven? The sins that are repented of. So God ordained those sins to be put on Christ in Gethsemane and he carried them to the cross and God's wrath was poured out upon those sins Everyone that makes it to heaven, because without the shedding of blood there's no remission of sins and it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Speaker 1:So, from Adam all the way to the very end of the millennium, every sin that's forgiven is covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. That means the bride, foolish virgin, jewish saints, tribulation saints, etc. All of them must be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, etc. All of them must be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. And so therefore, we understand that clearly that every sin that was committed, god knew that sin and placed that sin upon Jesus Christ at Calvary and he was slain and every sin there was put away in the sea of his forgetfulness. So it's a finished work.
Speaker 1:The work that God has done is totally finished in Christ Jesus. It's just a matter of working it out in your life. He's already seen us there, on the other side. He's already seen us with a new body. It's God's sovereign will working out in the process of salvation and I can have confidence that I will make it to the end, not because of my own works, but because of the promises of God. Thank you everyone. If you have any questions for me, let me know. You can go to jasondemarsorg and you can contact me there. Sure, appreciate you. May the Lord richly bless you.