Although we're Reformed Baptists, we don't preach on Romans 9 every Sunday, we don't preach on predestination every single Sunday, but because we do hold these truths dear, there are times we will point these things out. So I just want our guests to know you've shown up on one of those mornings where we will speak of these things and we'll speak of them plainly, but also to let you know we're not Only talking about predestination every single Sunday But quite frankly you can't get away from the decree of God no matter what you do, and you'll probably see that this morning Isaiah chapter 46 Just want to read beginning in verse 8. I'm not going to really comment I just want you to see the authority and power of God in decreeing in in Calling and ordering his purpose, okay? Remember this and be assured. Recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past, for I am God. This is him speaking through his prophet. Prophet to the people is speaking, and God is saying, I am God, and there is no one like me. There is no other. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my purpose from a far country, truly I have spoken, truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, and surely I will do it. Now remember, you've heard Ephesians 1 and Romans 9 already read in your hearing. 1st Corinthians chapter 2 beginning in verse 1. And when I came to you brethren I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, Paul says to the church at Corinth, and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, speaking about the man's wisdom, the wisdom of the world in the sense of what goes on in the world's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet, we, those followers of Christ, those apostles, those who are doing the preaching along with him, yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature. A wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery. The hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory. The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood, for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." God's decree balances for us our understanding of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. It also undergirds for us the practical application of the Confessions Declaration that the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God and our comfortable dependence on Him. The seven paragraphs in chapter three of our Confession biblically consider the background of the decree. It also considers the decree's revealed elements in details and the salvific purpose of God's decree. Now you may ask, what is a decree? It is an order or command that a matter must occur. Particularly, what is God's decree? Well, God's decree, according to one author, is His eternal plan, whereby according to His decorative will and for His glory, He foreordained everything that comes to pass. So when we look at the confession in the seven paragraphs, I'm gonna give you seven succinct statements to sum up these seven paragraphs and then we'll focus on paragraph six and seven. Number one, God's decree is his plan in and of himself. You won't be able to write all this fast enough. Those of you who are note takers, you'll have to get this from me later and I'll send it to you. I hate that, but there's just no way. God's decree is his plan in and of himself. That's number one. Number two, God's decree is the revelation of God's complete sovereignty over all things, including sin and evil, yet without God sinning or being the author of sin. Number three, God's decree is defined from the being of God according to his omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. And it's not limited to that. And if you want to study that more, you can look at the confession on chapter two, especially paragraph one. Everything we're gonna say about God's order and purpose comes from his being. You gotta get that in your head. We're not talking about some little President of the United States ordering things. We're talking about God Almighty ordering things. There is none like Him. He said it, not me. There's none like Him. He is God and there is no other. And He will accomplish His purpose. It's from His being. His omniscience. He is all-knowing. His omnipotence. He's all-powerful. His omnipresence, He is everywhere at once. He is most holy, most wise, most just. He alone is good and right and just. And all that He has ordered according to His will is from His very being. Number four, God's decree is the revealed eternal purpose and work of God. to save some angels and men from their slavery in the deathly work of the created being, Satan. You can read 2 Timothy 2.25 to get a context of that, that they are held captive by the serpent, the devil, in his snare. Number five, God's decree is strictly formed from the secret counsel and good pleasure God Himself without any advice or aid from any other being or thing. Remember, I'm summing up the confession for you in those seven paragraphs. Number six, God's decree is revealed with all means to accomplish His eternal purpose and will as eternally sanctioned and set in motion. God sanctions it and sets it in motion. God's decree number seven, God's decree is reverently appreciated only by the elect for their comfort and dependence upon the one God in three persons who alone save sinners. Unrepentant sinners don't love the decree of God. Why? Because they think it puts them in bondage and they are always trying to kick against God's authority. The repentant sinner has bowed the knee and said there is one God and I bow to him through his son the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore the decree, God's sovereign decree, his will and purpose in all things is to those who are repentant in Christ becomes a comfort. That God alone is in charge, no matter what it is. I don't care the nation's ruler, whatever nation you want to bring up. Bad, good, indifferent, kind of good, decent, we don't know. Whatever nation you want to bring up, that ruler is under the complete sovereignty of God. Along with every single individual on the whole of this planet. The very heart of that person, the very context and the providence of their life is under the sovereignty of God by His decree. He willed it and purposed it. Now we will spend the bulk of our time in the last two paragraphs of chapter three under these two headings. God's decree, number one, God's decree is complete. with all the means necessary to accomplish his purpose. God's decree, if you wanna take notes, you can do that now, it'll be easier. God's decree is complete with all the means necessary to accomplish his purpose. Number two, God's decree is comfort for the believer in the assurance of the gospel alone. God's decree is comfort for the believer in the assurance of the gospel alone. Well, let's begin by considering God's decree is complete with all the means necessary to accomplish his purpose. Now, why do I use that language? Well, I'm using it from the confession. Now, just take a moment to read a few things to you here. Paragraph six, chapter three, 1689, London Baptist Confession. Remember, this is just a summary of Scripture. This is not Scripture. We're not holding it higher than Scripture or even equal with Scripture. We're just saying these writers did the best job we know of taking the whole of the Bible and putting it together in kind of a coalesced form that we could get the big ideas of the scripture and with some detail and put it into something where we could say you know what I believe the scripture teaches this. So we're confessing that we believe the scripture teaches this from paragraph 6. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, that's paragraph three, four, and five. Okay, he's already stated that, I summed it up for you. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so he has, by the eternal and most free purpose of his will, foreordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ. Bad news, good news. Fallen in Adam, redeemed in Christ, are effectually called unto faith in Christ. Interesting that effectual calling is under the decree. We want to talk about effectual calling all the time. God calling people to salvation. We love that language. Dead sinners brought to life. It's under the decree. effectually called unto faith in Christ by His Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept. That's preservation. Four major doctrines of salvation there summed up in the decree. They could have said more. Why are they not going to say more? Because the Confession is going to outline those with chapters of their own. So they're mentioning here these great doctrines of salvation. They're going to unload and unpack those for you later in the confession, but they're saying, whatever you read about these great doctrines of salvation, it's under the decree of God. Never do they say, you know what? Man's in charge, even when it comes to salvation. No, God's in charge. Justification, adoption, sanctification, preservation. and kept by His power through faith unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, or effectually called, justified, adopted, or sanctified, and saved, but the elect only. It's the decree that matters. Without the decree of God, there's no hope. If God doesn't decree the salvation of many, none will be saved. He is the one living God, we have to bow before Him. We need to stop worshiping a God that we've created in our own minds, a God that panders to what we think, that panders to our momentary lapses of emotional strife and struggle. No, He is God and worthy of our worship no matter what we think in the moment. I may be having the worst day known to man and my emotions might be a roller coaster all over the place. Yet God is the one true living God who is in control of all things. Even whatever is happening to me in that moment. The decree is our comfort. The important portion of this section though is to remember that God's decree is complete. with all the means necessary to accomplish his purpose. So what do we do? Letter A, remember, God has a plan to save sinners. Sinners are in dire need. They cannot save themselves. They are in such great bondage in their sin, they are so sucked in, as the old hymn writer says, in the miry clay, they cannot liberate themselves from that miry clay. They are in need of God to reach down and grab them out of that miry clay. He doesn't woo them. He doesn't say, come here little sinner, sinner, sinner, come on. Oh, come on little sinner, sinner, sinner. No, he reaches down and he grabs them out of the miry clay. God's mercy is great to us as sinners. So remember, God has a plan to save sinners. The scripture teaches that the elect are appointed unto salvation. Number one, the scripture teaches the elect are appointed unto salvation. Now we read that in Ephesians 1. We read that in Romans 9 already. I'm like, Scott, let's read that stuff and preach on it. Let's just get together every day this week and preach Ephesians 1 and Romans 8 and 9. I'm just ready, let's go. We'll tag team it, Rob and Scott, we'll get it together. That stuff is so good. It ought to comfort us from the inside of our core. And if you can't find comfort in God's decree, you're going to struggle. The Scripture teaches the elect are appointed to salvation. It's a purpose by God. It's in His will to save sinners, and He has a plan to do so. What is that plan? Scripture speaks to the mysterious wisdom that was revealed through the crucifixion of Christ. We read there in 1 Corinthians 2, 6, this was the wisdom that was a mystery, the hidden wisdom, verse 7, which God predestined before the ages to our glory. And what was that hidden wisdom? That his son would be sent to die on the cross. He says, you know what? If all the rulers had understood what was happening, they wouldn't have crucified him. If they had known Jesus for who He is from all eternity, there's no way they would have crucified Him. Nobody in their right mind would crucify the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the one who is perfect in every single way. But this is the problem for the sinner. They can only see themselves as the ones in charge. They can only see themselves controlling all things. And God says, you know what, I had to plan to do this to liberate the sinner from himself and herself. And I did it before the world began. I predestined this, that the son would die on the cross, that they would crucify the Lord of glory, Paul says. So the revelation was that God predestined his son to die before the beginning of the world. That's amazing, isn't it? God didn't just show up on the scene and say, oh, I see chaos, let me fix this. No, God purposed and planned all of these things and had the plan worked out before the beginning of time, even the crucifixion of his son to save sinners. God's not a Johnny-come-lately. He doesn't just show up and say, oh, I'll fix it now. No, God has an order and purpose for everything he does, and it will not fail. Letter B, Scripture speaks that the crucifixion had revealed a plan from eternity past. 2 Thessalonians 2.13, God had chosen you, Thessalonians, you believers in Thessalonia. You believers have been chosen from the beginning for salvation, he says. So the plan was the saving of God's people, which included the choosing of those people. Multiple scriptures talk about we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Letter C. Scripture speaks to God's election, accounting for the sinner's fallenness in Adam. Remember the confession had bad news? Although they were in Adam, they could be called out in Christ. Scripture speaks to God's election according or accounting for the sinner's fallenness in Adam. God knew according to his being and the eternal decree reveals that knowledge of what the first Adam would do in sin. When Adam sinned, that was not new news to God. He didn't go, oh man, I didn't see that coming. I had no idea that joker, I tell you what, that Adam, I had no idea he'd be so silly and foolish. Well, what am I going to do now? I guess I gotta go back to the drawing board and figure this thing out. No. Scripture says God from his very eternal being knows all things. God knew according to his being and the eternal decree reveals what effect the first Adam would have on all of mankind. God was not thinking to himself, maybe this sin is not as bad as I thought, maybe the effects won't be as bad as I thought. No, God knew. He knew how bad it was. He knew how terrible the plight was. You know, sometimes we're kind of waiting to see what happens with a circumstance to see, is it going to be as bad as it could be? People will wait out a storm. Well, we'll see what happens after. Maybe it won't be that bad. And then after the storm, it turns out to be catastrophic. And what do we do? Oh, I've got to follow what I do now. When Adam sinned, the catastrophe was greater than anything we could imagine, and yet God knew it. He already knew in all of his being. It's not something he was revealed to him in the moment. Romans 5, 12 enumerates this idea. You can spend some time there in the context of the first Adam being the one that set these things into motion and yet God knew the purpose of sending the second Adam in Christ. Well, for the sake of time, I'll continue to move forward. Number two, big number two here. The scripture teaches that the elect are chosen before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1.4. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. We weren't chosen at the moment of the foundation. We weren't chosen sometime just right after the foundation. We weren't chosen right after the fall. Anybody that teaches, well, God chose his people after the fall of Adam. No, that's not what the scripture says. Paul wrote it. Right there, he says, he chose us in him. The father chose us in the son, as Scott noted, before the foundation of the world. To what? That we would be holy and blameless before him. 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 8 or at the end of verse 8 into 9 God who saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity some of your versions say before the foundation of the world so the scripture confession is not giving us any identification here some scriptures not teaching It's not only that God has a plan to save sinners, but the confession says God has means, he's planned the means. Letter B, under number one, letter B under number one. Remember, God has planned the means to save sinners. Now under this letter B, firstly, recognize the plan and the means are eternally foreordained. The purpose means being by and of God himself will not fail. If God, if he ordains something, if it's foreordained eternally, that means it won't fail. When we think about means, we're thinking about the context of something being worked out. We used means to get here today. I'm not aware that anybody walked today, so your means was not your feet, but your means was your car. There was a day it might have been a horse, or a buggy, or a mule, I don't know. But today, you used a car, there was a means. You wanted to get here, you needed the means to do it, right? And so that means was a part of you achieving the task of coming to this building and worshiping with this body of Christ. The Confession is going along with Scripture quite plainly and saying, God, His sovereignty is not just in ordering and purposing something, but He's even ordered and purposed the very means. Now those means are worked out among the three persons of the Trinity. pointed out as Scott read very carefully, Ephesians chapter 1, God the Father elected a set number to salvation in Christ Jesus. This is under that number one. God the Father elected a set number to salvation in Christ Jesus. That number is not changing. It is what it is. God will not lose one of them. All of those that he has ordered, all of those that he has willed and purposed to be his people, he will not lose one of them. And his son will not return a second time until every one of them has been redeemed. God the son procured the salvation of the elect. He procured it. He came in time. He lived perfectly. He lived the God's law perfectly in every way, in deed, act, and thought. He's the one who willingly went to the cross. We went through John 17. He was saying, I'm here to do the will of the Father. There's one will in God, and the Son willingly walked on this earth among people like you and I, and He went to the cross and died a sinner's death. And through the shedding of his blood, he procured the salvation of his people, that not one of them would be lost. Thirdly, God the Spirit applies the work of the Son to the elect. God the Father did the electing. God the Son procured the salvation according to the will of God and his election of a people. And then the Spirit applies that work. This is the identification that the confession is teaching. And this is what Ephesians 1 plainly teaches. Section it out from verse 3 down to verse 14, and I've got it in little brackets in my Bible. You can do it in yours, and you'll see. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. It's all right there, and you can bracket it off, and you can write it out beside there, and every time you see the doctrine of election expounded to you when you're reading Ephesians chapter 1, you can see it as a Trinitarian work, as Scott said. Therefore, this means that the means being purposed according to the essence of the one God and being worked out among the persons of the one God will neither fail nor be overturned. We start talking about justification and adoption and sanctification. How's that going to happen? How do we know for sure that sinners will be effectually called and sinners will be justified if God hasn't taken care of all the means? He didn't order something and then leave it open and say, okay, well, I've ordered it, but y'all figure out how to get it done. How would that work? Wouldn't work too well, would it? Wouldn't work too well. So number two, recognize the means are just as secure as the plan itself. Now when the confession teaches that in paragraph six, you need to grab hold of it because it's putting you right back into a scriptural mentality. When you talk about the sovereignty of God, you're talking about God's ordering of all things and even the means to accomplish them. We think about it in big terms. When God wanted to deal with the people of Israel, what would he do with the heart of the king of another nation? He would move the heart of that king. And that nation would become a judgment on Israel, right? You remember that in the Old Testament? We saw it in Daniel, prophesied some of it in Daniel. We saw it happening in the life of Daniel. We read it in Isaiah and Jeremiah. So we have to recognize that the means that God has chosen to use, those means are just as secure as the plan itself. And the scripture said that God is both the just and the justifier. When God is going to justify a sinner, declare them right before Him, we need to be declared right before God. Because otherwise, if we're not declared right before him and we go before him and enter his courts, what will happen? We will be condemned. Well, justification is just as secure as a means that God uses, as is the very plan itself. Note a few things here in this idea of the security of the plan itself and its means. Christ proved himself as the surety of the elect's salvation. This is really the point of the book of Hebrews. We're going through Hebrews, have been for a little while. As we move through it, even in chapter four, which we've already gone through, Christ is the anchor for our soul. He's the surety. What's the anchor for the ship? When they set the anchor down, what are they saying? We're putting this anchor down and we're sure it's going to hold us right here and keep us from being washed into the reef and the ship blown apart and us all over the ocean just... Well, Christ proved himself as the surety of the elect's salvation. Christ came and did something none of us would do, what did he do? He lived the law of God perfectly, in every single way. He never failed at God's law, never. He never failed as the sacrifice, and that's why we can say Christ procured graces and gifts for the elect's salvation. These graces and gifts the confession mentions as justification, adoption, sanctification. Justification that one would be declared right before God. Adoption, one would be taken out of the family of Satan and brought into the family of God. Sanctification, that one would be enabled to walk in light of God's truth and word and love it instead of hate it. Not only are they enabled to do it, but they desire to do it now when they didn't before. They want to do it. They want to follow Him. They want to love His Word. Not only did Christ procure these graces and gifts, but Christ paved the way for the Spirit to appropriately apply these means in time. You realize if Christ had not done his work, the Spirit could not do his work. And the confession is saying, here I'm showing you how among the persons of the Trinity, we worked out your salvation and we continue to work out applying those things to your heart and your life. The Christian can't say, oh, I repent and believe, I name the Lord Jesus as my Savior and Lord, and then walk away and say, I'll never pay attention to the word of God again. I don't need that Holy Spirit." No, that's not what happens. If you're really a believer, the Holy Spirit has come into your very soul and changed you in such a way that now the Spirit indwells the soul of the believer and you can't go anywhere without the Spirit. That means you also will have a genuine desire to grow in the truth of God's Word. So we need to recognize the means are just as secure as the plan itself. Justification will not fail. No one who is in Christ before the foundation world will show up one day on the second coming and be brought before Christ and Christ will say, I'm sorry, adoption didn't work for you. You weren't brought out of Satan's family into God's family. I'm sorry, it just didn't work for you. It's just as secure as the plan itself. Thirdly, recognize that all graces and its means are applied to the elect alone. That's paragraph six. That's the very end of it. It's only to the elect. All of this is only applied to the elect. Now, people can get upset about the idea of the elect all they want to. I've been there. I spent several years in it in the mid-90s, very upset. I was upset for a little while that this was God's purpose and plan. Then I was upset for a little while that nobody had ever taught it to me before and I'd been in church all my life. Then I was upset trying to figure out am I really converted and saved or not. I don't know what's going on. I get it. But there's just certain facts about the scripture you can't get away from. God is sovereign even over the salvation of his people. And there's no other way around it. It's just what the scripture teaches. I hate to be, I'm not being flippant, I'm just trying to be plain and honest. And the only other thing I can say to you, if it makes you angry, spend some time in the word and ask the Lord to deal with your heart. That you would not be angry. but that you would submit yourself to these truths for the good of your own soul. All right, number two. God's decree is comfort for the believer in the accomplished gospel of Christ. Now, for the sake of time, I'm gonna ask you this afternoon to sit down and read paragraph seven of the confession, okay? If I had a little more time, I would read it, because it's worth reading. But I'm going to point these things out to you as we go along and then I want you to go back and read paragraph 7 of the Confession. God's decree is comfort for the believer in the accomplished gospel of Christ. That's an overarching thought of paragraph 7. Firstly, we need to recognize, as we deal with these ideas of predestination and election, we have God's decree over all things whatsoever may come to pass. That also includes the election of God's people unto salvation and some angels. Okay, the Confession has said that, Scripture teaches that. And this predestination that we've just talked about, and all the means of securing God's people, comes to a place that it is to be to our comfort. And yet at the same time, the confession recognizes letter A, predestination is a lofty doctrinal mystery. It's a lofty doctrinal mystery. We shouldn't just sit around and act like everybody, I don't understand it. There's just things about it you won't understand. It's lofty and high. but where the scripture speaks plainly to it. Don't spend time trying to twist it. Man, it doesn't say that. It says God looked down through time and he kind of saw them people down through time and kind of saw that they would do this and they would do that. That's just not even the plain reading of those scriptures. That puts God in a complete reactionary position to man and it also puts God in a position to where he doesn't know the future. That's called open theism. really quite frankly that's just heresy. You cannot believe that God has no idea of what the future is and actually believe the Bible's teachings. So we get it, it's a very lofty mystery yet at the same time there's some plainness there that we need to grab hold of. So it's so lofty it brings us to a question. What Adamic human can completely know the mind of God? When you read the last paragraph of the Confession, it declares the revelational purpose of God's decree. The revelational portion of the decree is ultimately for the comfort of the believer. Now I want you to see this rightly. You see what the Confession is doing here? It's giving you this high and lofty doctrinal mystery, something that just boggles our minds. First of all, sinners want to kick against the truth of a completely sovereign God. Secondly, even believers, we struggle to understand how God has ordered all things, including evil and sin, and yet He Himself is not the author of sin. We tussle with all those kinds of things. These are high and lofty things. But the decree is not meant for you to wrestle with all those things in a way to try to lessen God and bring him down to our level or somehow to try to work your own mental wisdom through it. No, ultimately it's for you to bow to it. Why? For your comfort. Whatever it is you're going through right now today, any emotional issues, any medical issues, any great financial concerns, whatever depressions it may be, whatever, whatever it is. I mean, you name, whatever, you name it in your mind, not out loud, but you name it in your mind, and whatever it is, it's under the decree of God. And therefore, you ought to be comforted because God has a purpose and a will for whatever it is. Secondly, he's saying now you ought to be even more comforted because not only does he have a purpose for all of that, he had a purpose in saving you and keeping you. Many fear the decree of God. Others faint in the hearing of its declaration. But the confession says it is our comfortable dependence upon the triune God, most revealed for our encouragement and strength in him alone, and especially not in ourselves. So we must declare with Paul. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who became his counselor or who is first given him that it might be paid back to him again. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever, amen. So it is a high and lofty mystery, and it might cause us to faint, but we ought to faint at the very being of the knowledge and wisdom of our one true living God. We shouldn't faint at the existence of his complete sovereignty. That ought to give us comfort. We'll let her be under this second heading. Predestination is a lofty doctrinal mystery handled with utmost care. Why? Why does it need to be handled with utmost care, as the Confession says? Every believer needs the doctrine for their assurance and comfort. Now look, I can't guarantee anything, okay, because I'm just Brandon. But I can give you some assurance, if you will spend some time thinking through biblically the sovereignty of God, it will help you put all of your difficulties in perspective. Now that doesn't mean we always do that. It doesn't mean I've always done that. I'm not preaching at you saying, look at me, I'm perfect, I've always done it and I'm fine, I've never had a problem and I've never had a concern. And I've never even overreacted to a problem. I don't know what all y'all's issues are. No, I'm not saying that. But I'm saying to you, when we as believers take some time to submit ourselves to the sovereignty of God, it will bring comfort to our souls biblically. We are in need of the decree of God. We are in need of it even in the context of our salvation for our assurance of salvation, but also for our assurance that God rules and reigns. It's a comfort to us. Letter C, predestination is a lofty doctrinal mystery for the purpose of worship. The confession outlines some things here that I think are important to us. This doctrine is a basis for our praise of God. It's a lofty doctrinal mystery for the purpose of worship. Number one, the doctrine is a basis for our praise of God. Praise means to proclaim or commend the excellence or merits of God. We must proclaim the excellence of God's purpose due to his decree. It's one thing to praise him and say, praise you, oh God, you're great and wonderful, la la la, la la la. But when you specifically praise Him and praise Him due to His decree, you say, did God say that in His word? Paul wrote it in Ephesians 1. He predestined us to adoption as sons. There's the doctrine of adoption. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind of intention of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace. which he freely bestowed on us and the beloved. The doctrine is a basis for our praise of God. Do you praise him for the decree? Whatever my God ordains is right. Did you sing more than just the tune this morning? Did you pay attention to those lyrics? Number two, the doctrine is a basis for our reverence of God, deep respect of a person or thing regarded as holy or sacred. We must deeply respect our sovereign God due to his decree. It's a way to revere God is to understand how vast and immense he is in his being and yet how vast and immense his purpose and will is. That you and I would revere him, that we would deeply respect him, that we would bow before him. There are times even I sit in my little study. Should I sit there? I probably shouldn't put that. That's on the internet. I just thought about that. No, I live somewhere else. I sit there in my study and I'm right there and it's just me and my books and I'm reading and I'm picking things apart, I'm working on things, I'm seeing the scripture, I've got all my computer stuff up there and then some email or some phone call or something happens and I'm thinking, what are we going to do? But if I have a real understanding of God's decree, there ought to be a moment of reverence to say, God, I don't know what I'm going to do, but I know that you have a purpose in all these things. And I revere you and respect you for your decree. Number three, the doctrine is a basis for our admiration of God. We highly esteem God. But let me ask you a question, do we highly esteem him due to his decree? I'm all for, let's highly esteem him for his work and his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's do that and recognize that all of that work is a part of his decree. Number four, the doctrine is a basis for our humility before God. We must meekly worship God due to his decree. Romans 11 and 5, in the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. Let's worship Him rightly for who He is and what He's done in His decree. Number five, the doctrine is a basis for our diligence toward God. We must steadily strive to mature in God due to his decree. This is what Peter was saying to us in 2 Peter 1, verse 10, therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you. He's talking about perseverance in the faith there, and he's linking it to the decree. Now I want to make this statement as a point of application this morning. You need to understand perseverance is a marker of faith, not a maker of faith. Perseverance is a marker of faith, not a maker of faith. If your desire to persevere in the Word of God and the means that God has granted in His grace, if that perseverance continues on and on, that is a marker of faith in you. It's not a maker of faith. But that marker of faith is that God by the power of His Spirit is continuing to work in you even when you don't see it and understand it and even when you don't feel like it. You ever had one of those days where you thought, the Spirit can't be working in me? I just said this, I acted this way, I thought this. Why did I think that way? Why was my first thought about that particular situation not based in the Scripture? My first thought was something else. Well, if your first thought was the something else, but the Spirit of God brings you to conviction of your first thought, then be thankful because that's a marker of faith that you were put under conviction of what you thought or what you said or what you did. Your desire to repent of that sin or to confess it and to seek to strive against it, that's a work that's being done in your calling and choosing that God chose you first. God's decree must inform our growth and sanctification. Apart from a proper valuing of it in our sanctification, speaking of the decree, we will learn, excuse me, we will lean towards self-adequacy in our striving. Sanctification is not something to where you need to lean towards self-adequacy. You need to look at the decree and be thankful that God is the one who is at work in you. If we're not careful and we think of self-adequacy first, we will not be working out our salvation with fear and trembling as Paul commanded us to do. Why did he command them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling? Because their salvation was based in the decree of God. The word fear there, the idea of being reverence before God's sovereignty. In those same verses, Philippians 2, 12 through 13, in verse 13, he follows up that idea with, for it is God who is at work in you, both to work, to will and work for his good pleasure. The doctrine is a basis for our diligence toward God. Don't get sanctification mixed up with some idea of your own personal humanity. Sanctification is based in the decree of God. God working first. Sixthly and lastly, it's not really a proper way to say that, but you understand, number six. doctrine is a basis for our comfort in God we must found our comfort and surety in God due to his decree you want to know where your comfort and assurance comes if you say yeah it's in Christ Jesus I say amen brother and you want to know where that comes from and God's decree God decreed his son would come God decreed his spirit would work God decreed that you or one who was chosen before the foundation of the world. All your comfortable dependence on him is based in his decree. It ought to be a comfort to us to know that God is sovereignly in control of all things, including our salvation. Just as the doctrine of the Trinity founds all our communion and comfortable dependence on God, the decree is the first foundational act God to secure the comfort of his people in and of himself. You see what the Confession is doing in chapter 2? It says, this is what the Bible says about God, what God declares about himself. Now we've seen God as declared in and of himself through his Word, the question is, what does he do? They start with the decree. The decree is the first act. And it's what the Bible declares is our comfort in God is to know he is the first cause of all things, even our salvation. Even more the reason for us to praise and worship and bow and submit to him. So when the disciples came to Jesus and were all happy about being able to perform miracles and that the spirits were subject to them, Jesus said, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. because not one of those names will ever be removed, for they are part of God's decree. That's why the Lamb's book of life is so important in the book of Revelation. Our comfort ultimately, and there may be a lot of things in between, but ultimately it's in the decree. And whatever God has decreed, it will not be stopped, and all the means will not fail. Amen? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you're merciful to us in your word to proclaim these truths, and you are merciful by the power of your Holy Spirit to illumine these truths to the minds and hearts of the elect. Lord, will you deal with us according to these truths, according to your will and your purpose, that you would gain all the glory. All glory and honor be unto you through your son, the Lord Jesus. It's in his name we pray, amen.