Lesson's from the Blessings

Amen. Well, let's take our Bible. Let's go back to Ephesians chapter 1. We read our verses earlier, verses 3 to 14, and I will get us to look at a couple of places a little later on in the message. Just have your Bible turn there. I think I shared earlier in our Scripture reading that the title of the message this morning is Lessons from the Blessings. These are just some thoughts and some instructions and some, I think, much needed instruction from what we have been studying. So if you're taking notes, you can write the title of the message down, Lessons from the Blessings. Now this morning I'm taking a very different approach.

This is unusual for me, and what I mean by that is I'm not going to divide any of the verses like I normally do. I'm not moving on to the next verses. It was everything I could do to keep myself from getting into verse 15 and the following verses. But we're not going to do that. This morning I'm going to make two observations out of the verses, and I'm going to give some instructions in that, and I believe this will be beneficial for us as individuals and as a church. Now I believe that most of us know that there are certain verses, there are certain subjects, there are certain doctrines that naturally stir up questions.

Sometimes these questions can be very deep questions. Sometimes we can have very difficult questions. There are certain verses and doctrines that could even lead to debates in the life of the church among Christians. Their views about certain verses and certain doctrines that can even produce divisions and fights within a church. All of those things that I mentioned can come from verses 3 to 14. Now we have had some good questions. We've had some good discussions about all that we've studied, but we haven't had any disagreements. We haven't, and I'm very thankful. This has all been healthy, and I think it's all been good for all of us.

Also I think that most of us know that there are some verses and doctrines that naturally lead to theological categories. There are some verses and certain interpretations of those verses that naturally lead to theological categories, labels, and titles. Theological categories and labels and titles can come from these verses. And listen folks, this isn't always bad. It's really not. This isn't always bad. As a matter of fact, it can be a very, very good thing. So let's not be afraid of that.

And we must also see that there are some verses and doctrines that when they fall into the wrong hands at the wrong time, it can be very destructive even in the life of a church. When certain teaching and doctrines are handled wrong by the wrong people in the wrong way, at any time it could get really bad in a local church. That's the case with these verses. The wrong people at the wrong time with the wrong intentions can take teaching here and be very disruptive. Now think about it like this. A big chainsaw in the hands of a grown man is a great thing. If you've got a tree down in your yard, you know we've had all kinds of storms.

If you've got a tree down in your yard, a big chainsaw in the hands of a grown man that knows how to use it is a good thing. I've got a pretty big chainsaw. I use it from time to time. It comes in handy. But you know if I were to take my big chainsaw and I would have handed it to an overgrown, blindfolded, over enthusiastic young man and I handed it to him and he ran up into a crowded room, that would be a very bad thing. Well I've seen that happen before with these verses.

I think back to years ago in my home church there were some people that came into the life of the church and they took teaching like this and they had their theological positions and their titles and their beliefs and they just ran up into the church, you know, like a big chainsaw. And it hurt people. In our church a few years ago we had some people that were always wanting to debate these things. They always wanted to share their position and they wanted to quiz you on your position and how you articulated your position. That was confusing for some folks. It could be hurtful and it was for some. I know of a church in this community.

There were some people and a very young and very inexperienced minister who took teaching from verses like this and he loaded up a group of people who felt the same way into a bus and he just rammed up into the church and it caused a big blow up. It ended up being a vote and people left and people were hurt and people are still hurt. Why? Because they took verses and teaching like this and they used it in the wrong way and we don't have that here and I'm very, very thankful. But what I'm trying to show you is this from questions, deep questions all the way to debates and difficulties and divisions in the church.

That kind of stuff can come out of these verses. Now as your pastor here I need you to allow me to pastor you through. Pastor you through all of this by answering some questions and helping you deal properly with some of the difficulties that can come up. And as the pastor of this church, Christ Life Church of Brookhaven, I want to show you how we and the church leaders approach these verses and I want to show you how we deal with the doctrines that are found here, even the categories, even the titles that naturally come out of these verses. And you know honestly none of this teaching is foreign to you.

It shouldn't be foreign to you because all that we have studied here I have taught you this all throughout the years here together. Now right away before we get started I want to call you to do two things. This is very practical, easy for you to follow. I want to call you to do two things. First of all I want us to all have what I call the John Piper approach. Some of you know who John Piper is. I'm just borrowing something from John Piper. I want us to have the John Piper approach. I want us to make sure that we have a particular attitude as we get into what we're going to look at. I want us to make sure we have patience.

I want you to have patience with everything that I have been teaching and what I am teaching. I don't want you to have patience with each other and with yourself. I want you to make sure you have patience with others. Sometimes we have more patience with ourselves than we do with others. Now let me explain why I call this the John Piper approach. Years ago I was listening to John Piper and it was a pastors conference. I didn't write the information down. I just remembered that it was a pastors conference. And he was talking about this doctrine of election and he was teaching pastors and he scolded them from top to bottom left and right.

And he said, "Who do you think you are? It took you 30 years to get to your place of understanding election and you think that your people will understand it with three of your sermons?" That really resonated with me. What was he saying? Be patient. We have to be patient with ourselves and with each other. And so that's my point. I want to patiently pastor you through a few things. This will help all of us. But I want you to take your time with yourself if you're struggling here and then also with others. Someone to your right might be really struggling to grasp these things.

But the second thing I want you to do, the second practical instruction I want to give you, I want to make sure you keep your eye on the ball. I want to make sure, I want to ask you, make sure that you keep your eye on the ball. See if we're not careful with all that we have here, we can whiff the ball. And listen, if we're not careful with what we have here, if we don't keep our eye on the ball here, we can get really bad. Some of you know that I grew up playing golf. Matter of fact, I played golf almost every day until I was about 20.

And you know, if you know much about golf when you're trying to hit the ball, if you don't keep your eye on the ball, you'll whiff the ball. You'll whiff the ball. You can downright miss it. Or you might just fluff it on down the fairway. I played baseball like most kids do. I played baseball up to Little League, but I remember one time when I was in Little League, I was playing third base. And I was there at third base and the runner came around second. And as he was coming towards third base, he was sliding. And all I could see was feet and cleats.

But the throw was coming to me and I had the responsibility to catch the ball and tag him out. Well, I didn't keep my eye on the ball. And the ball went over my glove and hit me in the face. I got hurt. Now what's my point here? We must keep our eyes on the scripture and all that we're studying here. And if we take our eyes off the scripture, we're going to whiff things. And if we take our eyes off the scripture, listen, we could really get hurt and we can hurt other people. So let's be patient and let's keep our eyes on the scripture.

Let's have the John Piper approach and let's keep our eyes on the ball like we would in golf and like we would in baseball. Now let me share with you how I'm going to approach things this morning. I want to make two observations that come out of the verses and I'm going to give some lessons scattered in here. And I think you really need to pay attention here. And look, let me just say this before we get going. If you have any questions here, don't run for the hills. Don't run for the hills. This is not a briar patch. This is not haunted forest and this definitely is an account pasture. I will sit down with you. I'll counsel with you.

I'll take you through the scriptures and I will help you here. Okay. So our first observation, our first observation is number one, the obvious contradiction. We have the obvious contradiction. Now if we pay attention and if we have been paying attention to the verses, we see an obvious contradiction. That is from our perspective. In verses four and five, Paul says that God chose, He predestined some to be saved. The verses say that before the foundation of the world were laid, before time as we know it, God chose us in Christ and He predestined us for what? For adoption.

But in verse 12 and 13, Paul says that we as Christians, we heard the word of truth. This is the gospel of our salvation and in response, we hoped in Christ. The King James says we trusted in Christ and it says we believed in Him. So a question has to be asked here. How can this be true? Is it this a contradiction? If you are one who understands these things, sit back. But you know, if you are one of those who is struggling here, just follow me. I think I can help you here. Now this question of a contradiction leads us to examine two realities. First, the reality of a paradox and the reality of a mystery.

I want us to look at the reality of a paradox and the reality of a mystery. First, the reality of the paradox. Now the word paradox is not in the verses. I know that. But it is here. Now some of you may not know what a paradox is. A paradox is defined as a seeming contradiction. A paradox is something that seems to be a contradiction when it is observed by common sense. It can sometimes be called an antinomy. But just remember that a paradox is a seeming contradiction. It is a seeming contradiction. Well here, if we take a look at what we have here, it looks like we have a contradiction. It is a paradox.

And whether we know it or not, the Bible is full of seeming contradictions. Let me just list a few. Jesus was fully God and He was also fully man. Is that a contradiction in our understanding? That is a paradox. How in the world can Jesus be fully God and fully man? We understand that that is a seeming contradiction but yet we accept it. Another one that you are familiar with, the Bible was written by God and it was also written by man. I mean that seems like a contradiction. How can the Bible be inspired by God and written by God but yet it was written by man? That is a seeming contradiction. Here is one you might not have thought about.

Mary was a virgin but yet she conceived and gave birth. Try that one out in your biology class. That is a seeming contradiction. And we can go on and on with these seeming contradictions. These things are what is called a paradox. Now what is my point? In our understanding it seems contradictory to say that in eternity past God chose and He predestined us in Christ. But in time, our human history, we heard the gospel and then we trusted and we believed in Christ for our salvation. And this can cause very big problems for some. As a matter of fact sometimes there are folks here that will just put on breaks.

They will slam on breaks and everybody in the car gets disturbed. Now I want to drive all of this home and show you how all this fits together. I want to deal with man's salvation, this paradox. I want to deal with man's salvation from God's side and then from man's side. You could view this as a two sided coin. First, we must see that the Bible teaches that God chooses men to salvation. It's thoroughly biblical. This is a clear biblical teaching and a spiritual reality. A few verses here. In 2 Thessalonians 2.13 Paul says that we should have a thankful heart to God because He chose us as the first fruits to be saved.

In 1 Peter 1 verse 2, Peter addresses believers as the elect according to the foreknowledge of God. In 2 Thessalonians 1.4 Paul says that we as believers are loved by God and that He has chosen us. That's just a few. But we need to see something that many of you have asked about. The reality that God does not choose men to be lost. When you begin to teach these verses and talk about God electing and choosing men for salvation, people will naturally begin to say does that mean that God chooses certain men to be lost? Does that mean that God just randomly chooses some to be damned? Is that what God does?

Well, let me go a little further with this and this will help you. God choosing certain men to be saved does not tell us that God randomly damns the rest. God never damns people who deserve to be saved because there are none who deserve to be saved. Make sure you remember that. Remember that. God never condemns people who deserve to be saved because no person deserves to be saved. God does in fact choose some to be saved that most definitely deserve to be damned in hell. Remember that folks. God does choose some to be saved who certainly deserve to be condemned to hell. And let's be honest here folks.

Whether we are in Christ, whether we've been born again or not, we all deserve to be damned. We all do. It doesn't matter who you are. Not one person here or anywhere is deserving of Christ. Do you see that? Now listen, I've said this before and I'm going to say it again. This is where we allow God to be God. This is right where we just allow God to be God. This is where we allow a completely sovereign God to be who he is and what he has said he would do. He definitely chooses certain people to be saved and he passes over others.

God does this out of his perfect love, his perfect grace, his perfect mercy, as well as out of his perfect righteousness and justice. Folks, if he passes over some, it is right and just. And if mankind were left to themselves, then all men would be lost and without Christ, period. God being God certainly has the right to show saving grace and mercy to some. God has the right to do that. Let God be God here. But then second, we must see that the Bible teaches, this is the other side of the coin, that mankind has a will. God creates and created all mankind as volitional creatures. They are volitional creatures, meaning they have a will.

They have freedom and man has responsibility. All of this denotes a will and mankind can never use the doctrines of election and predestination as an excuse for not exercising their proper responsibility to God. Men and mankind can never use the doctrines of election and predestination as an excuse for not obeying the commandments of God. And God commands men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel. That's in Acts 17 verse 30. We need to see that this same electing God makes the offer of His salvation to people everywhere. A few verses that will help you here.

In John 3 verse 16, we know that verse, Jesus says that God the Father loved the world of sinful men so much that He gave His only Son for the salvation of men and that whoever believed in Him should not perish but have eternal life. And then John chapter 3 verse 36, the Apostle John says that whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever. But whoever does not believe, God's wrath remains on them. And then in Romans 10 verse 9 and then verse 13, Paul says that if a man will confess Christ and believe in their heart, they will most definitely be saved. Paul goes on to say that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Do you hear that? Paul says, John says, and more importantly, Jesus says they all say that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Paul clearly says that everyone, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And just from those verses, we see that anyone can be saved from their sin by repenting of their sin and believing in Christ for their salvation. So if a man is lost and in his sin, it is because they choose to be. This is not because of God's choosing, but it is because of man's choosing. And let's be honest here, folks, we all deserve hell. None of us here deserve Christ.

None of us deserve God's grace and mercy. All men deserve damnation. And listen, folks, earlier we saw that we let God be God. Now we see that we just let man be man. Man and mankind, they all have a will. God created man to be volitional creatures. And since the time of Adam and Eve, men and mankind have been making a choice. And this is the choice. All men have either turned to the revelation of God that they know, or they turn to sin and rebellion and rebellious living. You see that? All men and all mankind either turn to the revelation of God that they know, or they turn to their sin, they turn to rebellion and rebellious living.

It's one or the other. Now before I move on, I want to show you what I have sought to establish in your mind. I've tried to establish in your mind from the scriptures. That is the fact that the Bible clearly teaches God's election and the salvation of man. And the Bible clearly teaches man's responsibility in the salvation of man. This is all we see right here in these verses, or a lot of what we see. Go back to Ephesians 1. Look at verse 4 and 5. "Even as He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will." That's one side of the coin. And then on down with verse 12 and 13. "So that we who are the first to hope or trust in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of the truth and the gospel of your salvation, you believed in Him and you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit." That's the other side of the coin. Now I'll summarize all of this in one verse. All that I've tried to teach you can be encapsulated.

Both of these doctrines, this great paradox, can be encapsulated in one verse. John 6, 37. Notice what Jesus says. "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out." That's all you need to know, folks. You might say, "Pastor, why don't you just give us a short version to begin with?" But notice what Jesus is saying. "I know that the Father gives Him." Right there, that is election and predestination in God's gracious and wonderful plan for the salvation of man.

And then Jesus says, "Whoever, whoever comes to Him will never be cast out." Right there is man exercising His will and His responsibility in God's gracious plan for the salvation of man. Now there's a bonus lesson here. Jesus says they will never be cast out. That means they're secure. We're secure folks. If we're in Christ Jesus, we can't lose it. We can't. Now listen, if you've been paying attention, you will see that I have taught you these spiritual truths for ten years. I have. But this is the first time we've dealt with election and predestination head on like this.

The closest time that we did deal with it head on was back in John chapter 17. Now with this obvious seeming contradiction and all that I've shared, I want to give you a few lessons here. Just apply some things that have just been on my mind the past few weeks. First of all, we just need to make sure we accept and believe these doctrines. We just accept them. Now I know that this takes time. It has to assimilate for some of us. So, so if you're struggling, go study the verses. If you need some counsel, I'll help you. I'll walk you through it. Remember though, that John Piper principle, we're going to be patient with each other.

I'm going to be patient with you. You're going to be patient with me. We will be patient with ourselves. And remember, we keep our eyes on the ball. We keep our eyes on the scriptures and look, if we study the scriptures, if we pray over these things, listen, it will become more and more clear. You'll gain understanding. It'll become more clear. You'll be able to grasp it. And before long you'll be able to say, you know, pastor, I see it. I see it more. The second thing I want to encourage you to do, do not try to alter either of these doctrines. Listen, do not try to alter either of the two.

Now the one that most people try to alter is the doctrine of election and predestination. That's the most common. This is the one you'll hear. And we don't have time to get into this too deep. I could be starting up some questions here. A lot of times people will define election and predestination by saying something like this. Oh, that means that God looked down the tunnel of time and he saw that who would choose him, who would get saved. And that's the ones that he predestined. That's not true. First of all, that view severely undermines the omniscience of God or that God knows all things. God did not have to look down the tunnel of time.

Also, this view has some other problems. First, the scriptures never speak of man's faith as a reason for God's election and predestination. If that was the case, it would be of works, not of grace. And second, this view is based on something good within a man. This view says that man has some kind of a goodness within him whereby he can choose God by himself in and of himself. And look folks, the biblical doctrine of the sinfulness of man, refused that idea that man has some kind of a goodness in him whereby he can choose God. Third, don't try to fix the seeming contradictions. Don't try to fix them.

Don't try to build a bridge over what seems to be troubled waters. In your mind and in your understanding, we may have a seeming contradiction, but it is not. And we must accept the mysteries here. Fourth, learn to answer the question with one word. Yes. This is real simple. Yes. Now sometimes it's hard to answer this way because we've got to work through it. When someone says which is it, you know what you answer? Yes. I had a good conversation last Sunday with a gentleman who's been visiting our church and we were talking about all of this. And I looked at him and I said, which is it?

And he looked at me with kind of a pulse of look and I said, yes, it's both. It's both. Fifth, do not come to these doctrines with our preconceived ideas. Many of us have faulty preconceived ideas here. And the biggest one is this. Many of us were taught years ago that God looked down the tunnel of time and he saw who would walk down that aisle and receive Christ. Then he predestined those. That's not true. The scriptures do not allow for that. So folks, church, listen, if we accept the seeming contradictions that are here, we'll be okay. Listen, just let it be, let it be as it is. I know I used this illustration a few months ago.

I use this illustration on a Wednesday night. I don't listen to the Beatles. Some of you know who the Beatles are. Didn't they have a famous song called let it be? Well, listen, these seeming contradictions, just let it be, let it be. Don't try to rectify it all and by faith and with God's help and understanding, you can get to that place. Now notice the second reality here. Now we're still dealing with this seeming contradiction. We looked at the reality of the paradox. Now I want us to see the reality of this particular mystery.

We have examined what I call the obvious contradiction and now I want us to look at the reality of this particular mystery. We have touched on this song, but I want to go a little further here. When we study these doctrines, it can be hard for some. More specifically, when we begin to look at election and predestination head on like this, it can really get hard for some, but on the other side of things, if we are studying man's responsibility in the salvation of man, we really normally don't have problems. That's because that's where we are comfortable. Now why is that the case? There's several reasons and I want us to look at two.

First, mankind naturally thinks of himself as free. Mankind naturally thinks of himself as free. We naturally think of ourselves as being completely free, possessing a free will. You will hear people talk about their free will when we begin to discuss these things. And when someone is converted to Christ, we speak of these things in a familiar way. We will say things like this that we trusted in Christ, we repented of our sins, we decided to turn from our old life and turn to Christ. We may even say something like this that we committed our lives to Christ. We speak of exercising our will in choosing Christ. But there is a problem here.

Can that happen? One man exercises will in choosing Christ. Yes and no. The doctrine of election and predestination tell us that we can never do these things solely on our own. If we are left to ourselves, we can never repent, we can never trust Christ, we can never believe and turn to Christ. It is only because God first works in us that we can come to Christ, folks. So when we ask the question, can someone come to Christ for their salvation? The answer is most definitely yes and the answer is most definitely no. Because left to himself, he never can.

But in God, in the work of the Holy Spirit, he can and most certainly will if the Spirit is doing that work. And this leads us to a second thing I want us to see. This great mystery. This great mystery of it all. How can God elect some and pass over some yet offer the free gift of salvation to all men? The answer is yes. This is a mystery and our minds it is a great mystery. But we must say that the mystery is not on God's side of things, it is on ours. It is because God is God and we are not. And with our finite minds, we are limited. We just can't understand the great mysteries of God so we accept them by faith.

And if you have been paying attention here, you will recognize that I have taught you these things for years. I have taught you the mysterious work of man coming to Christ for years. It is just we have never dealt with it head on here like this. Now right here I want to give us a few lessons. How do we handle this mystery? I have given you this. The answer is yes. We simply state it and we accept it. We explain these things up to a point and then we just leave these things as they are as a mystery. These things are a great mystery to us but not to God. But I want to show you a big mistake that some make here.

Some try to get somewhere in the middle. Some just try to, they try to rectify all this and they try to get in the middle. And listen, if we do that, we ultimately end up altering what the Bible teaches. And that is what most people have been taught to do. So our job is to stay on both ends. On one end God chooses in predestines, period. But on the other end man is responsible. He possesses a will and he is to believe and believe in Christ and he is to believe the revelation that God has been given him, period. Remember how I said that we don't try to build a bridge over these seeming troubled waters?

Listen, we do not get into the troubled waters by staying on either side. We get into the troubled waters if we try to bridge the gap between the two. We always will. And look, you are reading your Bible, you are studying and you come across these verses and doctrines like this, you just take them as they come. You just take them as they come. And listen, that is what we do in the teaching ministry of this church. We just teach the verses as they come and whatever comes is what we deal with. And if we come across verses that talk about God's sovereign will, we accept what the scriptures say.

And if we come across the verses that deal with the responsibility of man, we just take them as they come. And listen folks, listen church, it is okay to simply accept the mysteries without being able to fully explain them. I can't, you never will be able to. And we do this by faith. And remember, remember, we just let it be. We just let the mysteries be. So we dealt with this first observation and I know we covered a lot of ground, this seeming contradiction that is in these verses. Now the second observation, the obvious labels, I want us to look at the obvious labels. Some of you know where I'm about to go and some of you may not.

And that's okay. But when you take passages like verses 3 to 14 and you simply explain what they actually mean, well, there are some here who will automatically put a label on you and they will label you as a Calvinist. Listen, all that I have taught you from verses 3 to 14 is biblical. It doesn't matter what label it falls under, whether it's labeled Calvinism or Calvinistic doctrine or reformed or reformed doctrine. Now right here I want to deal with a common, very common misconception. That is the common misconception that the great reformer of the 1600s, John Calvin invented the doctrine of predestination and election. He did not.

Election and predestination or biblical doctrines. It's just that Calvin was a prolific writer and he did write on these doctrines, wrote on a whole host of theological issues. Many of the reformers of that time wrote on these doctrines as well as theologians before. As a matter of fact, scholars will tell you that the great reformers of the great reformation, they just plagiarized men like Augustine. They didn't invent these things. Now when you bring up John Calvin and Calvinism, many of you think of what is commonly called the five points of Calvinism.

It's summarized in an acrostic, the tulip, the T being the total depravity of man, the U being unconditional election, the L being limited atonement, the I being irresistible grace, the P being the perseverance of the saints. And notice what we've studied in these verses, election and predestination. Those doctrines are only a part of that teaching. Actually, that leads to another misconception. The misconception that John Calvin authored the five points. John Calvin never put his theology into the famous five points of Calvinism.

It was a group called the Ramonstrants who developed the five points to refute the teaching of John Calvin and many of the other reformers. And that teaching, the teaching of the Ramonstrants was thoroughly condemned by the Senate of Dort in 1618 and 1619. But listen to your pastor here. It really doesn't matter what you label it. What we have thoroughly studied in three messages in verses three to 14 has been thoroughly biblical. It's been thoroughly biblical. This teaching is only a small part of what we'd be called Calvinistic doctrine or Reformed doctrine, but this is thoroughly biblical. It doesn't matter the label.

So don't let labels bother you. Just make sure that you understand the biblical teaching. And look, it could be that I need to walk some of you through these things carefully. It could be that you need some counsel and it could be that I need to come back here and deal with some of these things a little more in depth. But listen to your pastor. Work hard to understand the scriptures. There are many in Reformed circles that are more interested in the titles and the labels than being scriptural. Remember that. Don't get caught up on the labels. Get caught up on the scripture.

There are many who are more interested in the labels and the titles and how you articulate that. And many times those are the ones who can't make it in the life of the local church. And let me tell you something. If you're chapter in verse here, you'll make it just fine. You'll make it just fine. Now right here, I want to give us a few lessons. Just like the tension between God's electing work and the salvation of man and man's responsibilities in his own salvation or a paradox, a seeming contradiction, it is the same with many of the deep things that are found under the umbrella of Reformed doctrine. Let me give you an example.

Let me mention the T, the total depravity of man. That simply teaches that man is totally sinful. I really don't flip over that word, that phrase. I don't. That implies that man is totally as sinful as he can be. And man never is as totally sinful as he can be. Now let me explain what I mean. Yes, man is totally sinful when compared to the righteous standard of God. But he can do many good things in life. And in many ways, man can be good in the world and do many good things, even though he is utterly sinful, totally depraved. I'll give you an example. I'm sure Adolf Hitler loved his mother.

Joseph Stalin could have done good things for his own people. He murdered a few. I'm sure maybe he loved his children. Kim Jong Un, we don't know much about him, the dictator in North Korea. I'm sure there's some family that he loves. What am I trying to show you? There are great mysteries there. There are great mysteries. We believe in the utter, total sinfulness of man, but yet that utterly, totally sinful person who deserves damnation and hell can do good things in the world. See the mystery there? What I'm trying to show you is within the umbrella of Reformed doctrine, there's all types of mysteries. And listen, be prepared.

If you believe what we've studied in verse 3 to 14, you'll be labeled a Calvinist by many. Don't let that bother you. I don't know if we have time, but I'm going to share it anyway. I remember when I first was labeled a Calvinist and you're going to laugh when I tell you why. I've shared with you, I've been honest with you, that I came from a background of revivalism and decisionism. Man, I've seen so many people walk down the aisle and pray to receive Christ. I mean, you couldn't put them in a bus. And I was a part of that.

And as I begin to be grieved and I begin to examine the scriptures and I begin to examine our methods and what I came from, that decisionism and revivalism that's so prevalent in Baptist work today, I begin to get into the scriptures. And I finally understood that I did not have to get somebody to walk down that aisle. Jesus said, if he'll be lifted up, he'll draw all men unto himself. I discovered who in a fresh way, the work of the Holy Spirit, who he is, he's God, the third person of the Trinity and the work of the Spirit.

And I remember coming to a place where I said, wait a minute, if the Spirit draws a man to a place where he sees his sin, God's righteous standard and the judgment to come, it's the Spirit of God that regenerates that man where they can trust and believe and come the faith in Christ. When I understood that, I quit doing all the gimmicks and immediately I was called a Calvinist. I didn't understand half this stuff and it was just because I altered my methods.

But what I'm trying to share with you is this, if you simply believe what these texts say, many people, sometimes they're not necessarily being evil, many people will label you a Calvinist. Now for me, I consider myself a Reformed Baptist. I think most of you know that. This teaching on election and predestination, it just comes from the Reformed tradition and it's correct. And what I have taught you for years about the sinfulness of man, the sovereignty of God and the fact that man must be regenerated with God so as to repent and believe in Christ, that comes from the Reformed tradition as well. But listen, let me give you a warning here.

Two warnings. Number one, if this scares you, don't run. This is biblical. And second, don't be overzealous. Don't try to convert people to articulate it the way you do and see it just like the way you do. I've had plenty of folks in my life do that to me. And remember, we're going to be patient with people. We're going to keep our eyes on the ball. We're going to keep our eyes on the scripture. Now let me just share with you a summary of where you need to be.

If you are like this, if all you can say is this, "Pastor, I just know it is only because God works in us first that we can come to Him in salvation." If that's where you are, you're all right. You're just fine. You are. And you're on your way to understanding these things in a greater way. You see what I'm saying? If you're at a place where you say, "Pastor, all of that stuff overwhelms me," I only know that only because of God, God first worked in me. I was able to come to Him in salvation. You've got all this stuff in a nutshell more than you know.

And I believe God will help you see things more clearly as He wants you to see them more clearly. So church folks, the labels and titles are okay. Sometimes we might need a little help understanding them. Now I want to begin to conclude and I want to ask the question why. Why the extra time? Why taking three messages to cover the verses and then even this kind of information to go back into the verses? Why do I offer to counsel you and help you through this? One purpose. I have a job and that's just to pastor you through these things. I was telling Brother Keith this this morning.

If there are only four of you here and you're struggling and I take the time to move you along patiently, I'm doing my job. We don't want to leave anybody behind. I just want to pastor you through. Pastor you through this teaching, understanding what these mysteries, these seeming contradictions and yes even the labels. I just want to pastor you through these things. And what we've been studying here, I've called them bountiful blessings. Bountiful blessings for His people. Now why is this teaching so important? Why? This shows us just how loving, how merciful and how gracious our God is.

This teaching is a part of what is commonly called the doctrines of grace. This is important in that it shows us that through God's grace and because of God's grace He chose to redeem us through the precious blood of His Son. Do you see? Do you see it folks? This was God's idea all along when we were all headed to hell, when we were all damned and cursed by our own sin. This was God's idea all along. He designed this plan for the salvation of man forever ago and if we are in Christ we are recipients of God's undeserving favor and saving grace. This just causes us to see Him as a loving Heavenly Father all the more.

Now what should be our response? What should this produce in us? First it should cause us to worship Christ all the more. Yesterday I was doing a little work on our family property and I was on a tractor most of the day. It's good therapy. But you know while I was on the tractor by myself and I had my earplugs in to try to save my ears I was meditating on all of this. I just couldn't help but think about His grace, His mercy. He designed all this. This all originated from Him. I just worshiped. I just thanked Him. But you know if you are not in Christ the second thing that you need to see is this should produce conviction in you.

If you are not in, Paul says we you, we you, personal pronouns all through these verses. And what I'm showing you is this. If you are not in Christ you are not a part of it. You are outside of this grace. So this morning we have examined what I call lessons from the blessings. And there are many more I could give you. And I pray that this additional teaching has helped us all better understand this teaching. And my desire is just to pastor us through to a greater understanding of these great graces from God. This is a part of the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. So let's pray and we'll commit this to the Lord.