Welcome to SuccessfulSavior.org, the ministry of Harmony Primitive Baptist Church in Donaldson, Arkansas. This is Elder Dan Salmons preaching in our regular Sunday morning service. One of the things that was such a blessing in yesterday's service was to see a gathering of people who affirm what man really is in his fallen state. And kind of looking around, we had several elders there that were part of the Presbytery, and I'm looking at these men, and I've known several of them. Brother Sonny was my father in the ministry, continues to be, and I've come to know several of these men. And there's a kind of gravity that comes upon us when we recognize what we are, I think elders have maybe a unique purview on this idea. I think all of God's people have it to some extent, but elders may see it to a slightly different angle that maybe some others don't. And that is, when you're called upon to try to represent the Word of God from the pulpit, and you've taken on this role of elder, I know I personally became more keenly aware of what I am as a man. and how unworthy I am, and the miraculous nature of how God calls men to do this work. He calls these filthy rags of men to get up and say something good about His Son and His work of salvation. And that is a remarkable thing. It makes me mindful of the mercy of God towards His people. We're not deserving of any of these things. And I was particularly aware of that during yesterday's service. And in my conversations leading up to the service with Brother Luke, I feel confident he's aware of that, too. And he's beginning to see the gravity of the matter. He's beginning to see in his own natural surroundings some things that might be regarded as temporal blessings in another setting. And now he's kind of like, this might be a temptation. This might be a snare or a lure. This might be something I don't need to get entangled with. where in a natural sense you might think it's a perfectly good thing to do. I think elders get an opportunity to see that matter from a different angle maybe than the rest of God's people. I don't know that that means we have any greater understanding of it, but we just have a different perspective on viewing that truth. And it kind of becomes very personal to us, and it should be a humbling thought that we have in our minds. During the question and answer session yesterday, Brother Sonny asked some questions related to the everlasting covenant. And we have often spoken with one another about the everlasting covenant. And I've told him, I just soon preach on the everlasting covenant every Sunday. It's such a delightful topic. And it's really one of those things that if you can get a handle on the legal agreement, if you will, that God entered into to save His people, It will spare you from the ill effects and bad thoughts and addled thinking of a thousand bad doctrines out there. If God enters into a contract, do you have any sense that God's not going to fulfill His end of the bargain? So God's going to do what He promises to do, right? We often speak about the promises of God and the surety of it, and that's what we ought to rely on. And so if you've got God entering into a covenant, you can't possibly believe that God is not going to fulfill His end of the bargain. That kind of comes with the territory of God being a God that cannot lie, as Paul said to Titus. So He's going to hold up His end of the bargain. Well, what if the only end of the bargain involved in the contract is stuff God does? That's where many people kind of get astray on this idea of the everlasting covenant. They think, well, God's got his part, and he's certainly going to do that. But then there's man's part that he's got to do, and that's the part that casts the whole thing into question, casts doubt upon it. That is the majority teaching in Christendom. God did his part. You do your part. I've often called it Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of Salvation. And, you know, you've got to have chocolate and peanut butter, and everybody's got to bring their part. I kind of wonder if that example makes any sense anymore. Do you all remember the old TV commercial where, you know, the person with the chocolate runs into the person with the peanut butter? You know, there was each, they each had their own component. And then they tried it together and it was wonderful. So let's make Reese's peanut butter cup. That's the idea. And that's really the popular idea in religion today and in Christianity today. You've got to bring the peanut butter. But the everlasting covenant, if chocolate and peanut butter is what's required to make eternal salvation, God's bringing all of the components. It's God's recipe, and He's bringing all of the ingredients. And He's putting it together and doing every bit of it on His own. That is really what comes out of a proper understanding of the everlasting covenant. And as we start our journey in 2 Timothy today, I want to look at how this text kind of speaks on that matter a little bit. I'm going to start, however, in 2 Samuel 23, where David makes reference to this everlasting covenant. And I want you to see something about how David speaks of this. This was mentioned in the ordination service yesterday. And it's kind of my happy place in preaching when I'm listening to preaching. I like to hear people talk about this matter. Because I think if you can get the nature of the everlasting covenant straight, it'll really clarify a lot of aspects of salvation. Now David is talking, these are kind of his last words, and in verse 5, He makes this statement, although my house be not so with God. In other words, I got problems in my family. I've got issues. Not everything is so ordered and sure in the way my family has played out. And if you remember David's life, as a result of his sin and rebellion against God, he introduced all manner of confusion and trouble into his own family. And I think this is what he's making reference to. He's like, look, if my salvation was based on my works and how I followed God and, boy, was I diligent and I can be sure of it because I was so faithful all the time, he'd be in real trouble because he's admitting This is not so with my house. My house is not ordered and sure. It has been affected by the feeble and faithless acts of a mutable creature such as David himself. He recognizes that. Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. You see how he's drawing a contrast between how I've lived my life and the consequences in sin and instability that has been visited into my family as a result of those things? That's one thing. But look here, God has made with me an everlasting covenant. And what's the nature of that covenant? It is ordered in all things and sure. It's ordered and sure. Many are preaching a doctrine of salvation that would say, well, the matter of salvation is very unsure. We don't really know. You've got to do something, and those who do will be in, and those who don't will be out. It's freewheeling out there, right? We've set it up, and if you'll come and do some things, you'll get that salvation. But this covenant is ordered in all things insure, right? That all things includes the people who are going to be involved in this salvation. They're part of that all things. It's sure and it's certain. For this is all my salvation. What God has done here, this is all of His salvation. It's not part of His salvation. It's all of it. You see why He can be confident in it? If he's looking back at his own life, he'd have a track record that's evidently produced all kinds of bad fruit in his own family. He would have to think, well, I don't know. Doesn't look very good to me. Doesn't look ordered in all things, and sure, look at what I've done and all the trouble that's visited into my family. This is all my salvation and all my desire, although we make it not to grow. Now look, this is how David viewed the matter of salvation. Jonah referred to it as salvation is of the Lord. That's a common phrase that we use in reference to this, in reference to the matter of this is God's doing. And when you're talking about the everlasting covenant, you're talking about a covenant wherein there are conditions that must be met and there are provisions. The conditions of the covenant are all met by God. God chose a people. He sent His Son to be their intercessor. The Son had to live a perfect life. There are a number of prophecies that He must fulfill to be the evident Messiah that was spoken of in the Old Testament. Christ had to live a sinless life. He had to die on the cross for your sins. He had to give up the ghost. He had to declare it was finished. It is finished. And He still has promises yet to fulfill that are out in the future for God's people. We're going to have the redemption of our bodies someday that's part of that. We haven't recognized that yet, but those things are out there. But all those things are ordered and sure. They're ordered in all things and sure. They're certain. Nothing anybody's going to do in the here and now is going to overturn any of that, because it's ordered and all things ensure. And this is the nature of that covenant. So when you think about the conditions that must be met, yes, there are conditions that must be met. Years ago, when I first started preaching in here, I preached a sermon that was entitled, Salvation is Conditional. And that was intended to kind of make your ears stand up a little bit. Because most primitive Baptists would kind of have a jerk knee reaction and say, oh my goodness, what do we got here? Well, salvation is conditional. The question is, upon whom were these conditions laid? Right? That's really where we differ from the popular view in Christianity. Many say the conditions are placed upon man. The condition is that he must exercise faith. And it is by this exercise of faith that you are then united with Christ and receive eternal salvation. Well, the problem is, man in his natural state doesn't have faith at all. So he doesn't have any ability to believe on God. So that arrangement, if you understand what man was coming out of the fall, would be an arrangement of universal damnation for all of humanity, right? What's more, I think I mentioned to you that there were conditions and provisions in the covenant. Now God met all the conditions. One of those conditions is that you will be born again at some point between your conception and death. That's a covenant promise. It happens for all of God's people. God meets that condition. But what is faith? There are many in Christianity who say, now faith is man's condition. That's the condition man must meet. He just must believe. That's His condition. But faith is not a condition of the covenant. Faith is a provision of the covenant. You see that? Faith is something God gives you. And the Bible describes it as evidence of things not seen. The fact that one of God's children has faith and can believe the things, accept the Word of God as truth and believe these things and enter into the joy of it, All of that is an evidence of things not seen. And one of the things that's not seen is your regeneration. Now, much in Christianity makes it, well, this was the moment I was born again. The new birth is a thing not seen. You don't see the wind, but you hear the effects of it. See that? The Lord Jesus Christ said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. The moment of anyone's new birth is a mystery. However, you may quickly begin to see effects of it. I know that many people speak of when they were born again, and I think they're using that term incorrectly in terms of the way the Bible speaks of it. They're really referring to their conversion rather than, or some manner of conversion, where they heard some measure of truth and said, that sounds right to me. It's usually something along the lines of Jesus Christ is a Savior who died for the sins of His people. And they hear that and they say, that sounds good to me. I believe that. And they'll say, that's when I was born again. Well, if you didn't have the ears to hear it, you would have never received it in the first place. So the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. You don't know when you were born again. There's a whole lot made in Christianity about the moment someone was born again. I find that Paul said, I know whom I have believed, not I know when I was regenerated. And yet Christianity tends to make a lot of that latter thing, the broader world of Christianity, And I would suggest it would be better to focus our attention on knowing whom we have believed and understanding what he has said about the matter, more so than doing a lot of navel-gazing about what was the very instant in time that we were born again. I don't think that's a knowable thing, by the way. I do not believe it. It cometh not with observation. How can you say, well, I see when I was born again when it came without observation? See what I'm saying? It's like saying, I hear the wind blowing out there. I heard the wind blow at 10 o'clock this morning. That must have been when the wind started blowing. No? That wind may have started blowing over in Oklahoma somewhere some time ago. All you ever heard was the downstream effects of a wind that was already blowing. You see that? These natural examples that are given to us in the Bible have a lot of instructive power in them, provided we'll actually think about them a little bit. But this everlasting covenant is something where God fulfills all the conditions. That's why we say salvation is utterly God's Word. And all you ever see in the life of a child of God is some evidence of that. I call them lagging indicators of grace. I think about lagging indicators a lot because in my work we're constantly doing business metrics of different sorts and there's a distinction in different metrics that you can have and you can kind of group them into two categories. They're called leading indicators and lagging indicators. I'll give you an example. When you weigh yourself, if you say, I'm going to lose 20 pounds, and you weigh yourself, ask yourself this question, is that a leading indicator of your weight loss or is it a lagging indicator? It is a lagging indicator. The fact that you weigh 190 pounds this morning doesn't really make any statement about what you're going to weigh in a week. It makes a statement based on what you weigh right now, based on how you ate and exercised over the previous years of your life, right? In other words, it is a lagging indication. It is after the fact of the things that caused you to be that weight. See what I'm saying? So it looks back. Faith is a lagging indicator of saving grace. Because by the time someone has faith, they are looking back at things that happened before. It's the evidence of things not seen, right? That's what that means. Faith is a lagging indicator. Well, what's a leading indicator? A leading indicator would be things like, how many calories did I take in today? Because that may have some bearing on what you're going to weigh tomorrow. How much exercise did I do today might affect your weight tomorrow. See that? So there's leading and lagging indicators. I deal with these, I have over the course of my professional life. And I think it's interesting that God's people take note of the fact that faith is a lagging indicator of saving grace. It's not a leading indicator. It's not something that means you're going to get eternal salvation in the future. It's an indication you've already got it. See that? It's an evidence of things not seen. Well, this everlasting covenant is very important, and it plays into some of the things that are said in 2 Timothy. So let's turn over there and look at the first few verses there. We'll spend the rest of our time Looking at those. And this is just, I was so encouraged by yesterday's service, just being reminded of the very basic gospel principles that we believe and affirm, that it kind of made me want to have this sort of sermon and this kind of service today. I call this meat and potatoes grace. If you believe in salvation by grace, this is kind of the main serving here that you need to get a grasp of. And there's a few things that are brought up here, and I would refer to them as saved, called, and not of works. If you can get a handle on these three things, it will take you a long way down the path of understanding this salvation that is a result of an everlasting covenant that is ordered in all things and sure, wherein all the conditions were laid upon Christ, And the provisions of things like faith are merely ex post facto evidences of a work of grace already done upon you. By the way, if you think of lagging indicators, like the check you get at the end of a meal, the receipt you get, That's a lagging indicator of the meal having taken place and the bill being paid, right? Someone gives you the final bill after you've signed it and put the tip on there and they bring it to you. That check is a lagging indicator that the meal has been completed. It's paid for, it's a done deal, right? Well, that's the beauty of these lagging indicators. That's the beauty of your faith. When you see that faith, you say, I've got the receipt. for the redeeming transaction on my behalf. You see that? It's already happened. I have the receipt. I have the proof of it already. It's not I have this receipt and now I've got to do something with it to get that eternal salvation. I've already got the receipt. So this idea of a lagging indicator is important. comes into play in this saved and called and not of works. But let's look at 2 Timothy 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day. Paul was, from the testimony of the New Testament, I think Paul was a pretty diligent prayer warrior. I'm pretty sure my prayer life would fall short of where Paul seems to be in all this. And one of the things that I've been convicted of in recent months is that that's not a condition that I should allow to linger, right? I think we can become very satisfied with a sense of malaise over our prayer lives. It's like, I don't pray as much as I should. I guess that's just how I am. We can take that poor, weak, and worthless idea and kind of turn it in the wrong direction. You can say, well, I'm so poor, weak, and worthless that I am now going to try to squeeze out of things that I should be doing because I'm not worth doing them. I'm not good enough to do them. I'm not a good enough Christian to do that sort of thing. But I don't think that's the appropriate way to do it. We recognize we're poor, weak, and worthless, but we also need to recognize that God calls upon us to pray for certain things. And I suspect we could all do much better in the matter of praying for things. How many things are going on in your life that you're concerned about and you've prayed either not about it at all or very little about it? I ask you that question because I know I've been in a state where I've been very concerned about things and I haven't prayed about it very much. So I think there's a lot more that can be done here and Paul thought it was important enough that he pray for Timothy. We ought to be praying for one another. That's one of the reasons I'm trying to encourage us to speak more about the things we want to pray about and actually put some topics on your prayer list and encourage you all to pray. I don't want the prayer list to just be a simple social mechanism for us staying informed about what's going on in one another's lives. Although, I would not deny that that's one of the benefits. I like trying to stay on top of that list because it does help me remember what's going on with everybody. But it is a prayer list. It's not just a social list. So we need to be thinking about those things and setting aside time to pray for one another in them. And I think Paul set a good example here. He says, He's greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy. When I call to remember, it's the unfeigned faith that is in thee which first dwelt in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also. Timothy was part of a family of faith. His grandmother and mother both exhibited faith. And it seems evident that they taught Timothy along the way. And there's kind of an implication here that maybe Timothy's father was a Gentile. He was perhaps not interested in spiritual things at all. I wouldn't speculate on his state of grace, but it seems as though he was asleep at the switch where the matter of teaching his children was concerned. Mothers have a teaching role. Now, we do not believe that women should be ordained as elders in the church. This concept has split churches left and right, and it's probably going to split the Southern Baptist Convention for too much longer. The Bible is not unclear on this matter. Women are not to be ordained as elders. They're not to have the role of pastor-teacher. That's just how it is in the Bible. It may be contrary to the modern conventions of feminism and egalitarianism that are commonly promoted in our society, but it's the biblical truth. You can have one or the other. And that's really how it is. If anyone has any questions about that, I'd be glad to point you to the scriptures that are very plain on this matter. I understand that it may upset the carnal mind. I find things in the Word of God that upset my carnal mind from time to time, so I get that notion. But if we're going to be the pillar and ground of truth, we have to not shy away from that matter, even if it is unpopular in common society today. Nevertheless, Lois and Eunice—by the way, I have a pronunciation Bible. I have always referred to her as Eunice. Now, that may be an evidence of how much Mama's Family I watched over the years and not how much time I spent with a pronunciation Bible. But as I was reading this today, I actually noticed that that's how it's pronounced in my Bible anyway. Nevertheless, these women evidently had a spiritual impact on Timothy's life. And women should not think anything along the lines of, well, I'm not called to be an elder, therefore I have no role in teaching whatsoever. You've got a tremendous capacity to teach your own children and you should be involved in it. I heard a sermon one time where Sonny Piles was confronting a woman who was offended by this notion and she was a mother and she thought she was called to preach and whatever. And he said something along the lines of, well, yeah, you're called to preach and you've got an assembly already. These two little ones right here. You've already got a congregation. Well, he's trying to make the point that women do have a teaching role, but it has a very particular place. And in some respects, It may have way more of an impact than what the pastor is saying from the pulpit, particularly in those early days. Those kids are looking at you like a hawk. There's a time in a child's life where they have a unique level of respect for their parents that kind of tends to fade as they get a little older. Maybe they see some of the warts on us and they recognize we're not perfect and we don't understand everything. But I'm telling you, you can make a huge impression And you should be thinking in terms of when you're handing out lessons to those little children, am I just teaching them right and wrong based on my authority? Am I teaching them based on the Dan Salmon's book of authority and the Dan Salmon's book of morality? Or am I actually tying this back to what the Word of God says, right? Children, obey your parents, right, for this is right. These are the sort of things, you can say that, Instead of just saying, obey me. See what I'm saying? It takes on another step when you say, you're modeling this step. This is the Word of God. This is how godly people orient their lives. It's not just do as I say. It's the Lord says you should obey your parents. This is pleasing to God. This is one of the ways that children can worship God. Their obedience to their parents is an act of worship to God, and it's honoring And that's what they're instructed to do. Verse 6, Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. God gives us gifts. He gave Timothy a gift. It was affirmed by Paul in the laying on of hands. And we should not neglect the gifts that we're given. Now, we're not all given the same gift, but whatever gift you have, you are not to neglect it. It's probably good for you to think sometimes in terms of what do I contribute? What are the gifts I bring to the table? What are my talents? What are ways that I can help out? And to the extent that our view of self is always a little bit distorted, I would suggest this to one another. As you see a particular gift in another brother or sister in Christ here in the Lord's kingdom, tell them that you see it in them. You know what I'm saying? We can be kind of distorted in our image of self. But if you come up to someone and you say, I saw you do this. I think you have a particular gift for this sort of thing. You have the gift of encouragement. I saw how you spoke to that brother or sister who was having trouble. And while you may not be called formally to the ministry, I can see that you have the gift of helps. You have the gift of encouragement. You have the gift of exhortation. By pointing that out in others, you might make them more aware of it, and it might help them think in terms of, this is something I need to be cultivating, because those gifts are important in the kingdom of God. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. See, the things we believe are reasonable. The Scriptures can be reasoned from, and it is a matter of sound-mindedness. It is not a matter of ethereal mysticism. The Christian religion is one of a sound mind, and the Scriptures can be reasoned from. You can actually come to the proper conclusion. With the Holy Spirit's help, and you're reading the Word of God, and you're pressing into it, you can improve the soundness of your mind. by thinking about these things in a spiritual sense and applying them in your life. We're not to be fearful in the matter, pursue the things we discover through the sound mind and through the scriptures. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but be thou partakers of the afflictions of the gospel. Now look, the testimony of our Lord is the testimony of that everlasting covenant. And when you consider the fact that so many, even professing Christians, are kind of hostile to the construction of the everlasting covenant, you may bear some afflictions from declaring that thing, even though these people are God's people, right? There's some afflictions in standing up for the position that God did it all. And man has nothing to do with it. Man is inherently wanting to take some measure of credit for his eternal salvation. It may be a teeny tiny one. All I had to do was this one little thing. Ivory soap Christianity, right? God did 99 and 44 one hundredths of it. I just did that last little bit. What? That's kind of the inclination of the carnal heart. And even if the part that people believe they did was teeny-tiny, 56 one-hundredths, they're pretty upset if you try to take that 56 one-hundredths away from them, because they've got to have something they held on to. There's a lot of God's people in this world who are in ivory-soaked Christianity whose eyes would be tremendously open. if you could show them the reality that even that 56 hundredths was something that Christ did. But there'll be some afflictions in presenting that message, and we're to know that. It's good to know it up front. But he gives an indication of what that message is. And this is really the meat and potatoes portion of this sermon, right? This is all part of that everlasting covenant. And if you can get the idea of saved, called, and not of works in your head and straight. You will understand a lot about the everlasting covenant. And you can enter into the joy and rest of knowing it's a finished work. Christ got it done. I'm going to have all kinds of problems and issues and inconsistencies in my life. The Bible tells us that over and over again. Yet I'm not relying on that for eternity, I'm relying on Christ for eternity. And I'm relying on His provision for me to help me get through the things of this life. But look what he says here. According to the power of God, verse 9, who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works. That half of a verse right there, you could spend a little time with me on that. That's really right in the heart of it. That's the meat and potatoes, core meal of grace. Saved, called, and not of works. Let's look at who hath saved us. Well, I'm not going to belabor this point, but I'll give you a couple of verses that you can write down that are related to this. We've made mention of these in recent weeks. John 19, 30 is, it is finished. Very simple statement there, right? It is finished. Matthew 121 is another one of the favorites. I know everybody knows that. He shall save his people from their sins. These are the affirmations that we see. And you see that in the time of Timothy here, with Paul talking to Timothy, he's saying, he hath saved us, right? This is something he's already done. So I don't belabor that one. I don't think that one's controversial among us. Actually, I don't think any of these are that controversial. They shouldn't be among us. But they're controversial in a broader world, and some of your friends and neighbors may take issue with them. And called us with unholy calling. I made mention yesterday, I tried to preach on calling, and I was really trying to focus on the idea that God calls everyone in this sense, all of his elect family, he calls in this sense. This is talking about regeneration. This is the effectual calling is what is referred to by theologians. It's a calling unto life. It's the impartation of eternal life. And God does this for all of his people. And it's a holy calling. Now, where many in Christianity go astray in this is that they say, well, that's calling. That must be the gospel. This calling is the gospel. That's where they jump the rails on it. But not every call—there is a gospel call, by the way. Not all of God's children hear the gospel call. People in the Old Testament never heard the explicit New Testament gospel. They're all eternally saved. Right? So that is an enormous testimony to the fact that not all of God's people hear the gospel. I hear people in our time say, well, you guys, you primitive Baptists believe people saved, they never even heard the gospel. Yeah, like the Bible says. Like the entire Old Testament. Oh, really? Well, that was different back then. Now everybody hears the gospel. I don't see anything that says that's the case now. Consider this, I generally try to avoid Romans 8 because we go there a lot. So it comes up from time to time and to prove a point. And I usually try to go somewhere else, but today I'm just going to go to Romans 8. By the way, going there is a good thing to do. It proves a lot of points that need to be emphasized. So I'm not mad at anybody who's going to Romans 8 a lot, but that's just my practice. I try to challenge myself to find other places, because there's other places where these ideas are confirmed. But look at this, verse 28, 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. Now, there's a call here. He goes on to say, "...for whom He did foreknow, He did also 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. And whom He called, them He also justified. And whom He justified, them He also glorified." That has been referred to by theologians over the years as the golden chain of redemption. foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, glorification. There have been great volumes written by theologians on this chain. And as with any chain that's worth its weight, the links must all connect together. If you've got a chain with one bad link in it, it's not going to pull your tractor out of the ditch, right? It's going to break. So the idea of this chain is that they all are connected and you can't have one without the other. It's got to all go together, right? Now, I don't know any theologian who has written on this matter. I've never read a single one, let's put it that way. It's kind of dangerous when you say, I don't know, no theologian has ever said this, because every crazy notion in the world has been written under the auspices of theology at some point or another. I'll put it this way. Those whom I have read, which is largely a bunch of Calvinists and some primitive Baptists, none of them, even Southern Baptists and others, would say that this chain is ever broken. In other words, the foreknown and are predestinated, and then they're called, and they're all justified, they're all glorified. It's all or nothing is really the way it works out. But that observation brings with it some unavoidable logical conclusions. And the one I'm going to draw out for your attention today is that that calling therefore cannot be the gospel. The Old Testament saints never heard the explicit New Testament gospel, right? So you've got to do something with that. They never heard the explicit New Testament gospel. Therefore, they were never called in the explicit New Testament gospel sense. So you either have to say, well, I was wrong, and that chain can be broken, and some of them have four elements, but they never were called. because they'd never heard the gospel. So some people are saved with four links in their chain, but now in the New Testament era, we have the gospel call, and that adds a fifth link to the chain, and that's how we have it going forward. All of God's people are saved in the same way, and they all have five links in that chain. And that teaches that the gospel is not the call that's in reference here. It's talking about immediate Holy Spirit regeneration, the immediate calling of God. that imparts eternal life to all of God's children as part of a covenant promise. That's also John 5.25, which I won't read for you, but that's another one of those that points out this immediate calling. And all of God's people receive that. I'm talking about infants dying in the womb, God's children, they receive that call. They're not affirming anything about the particulars or the mechanics of Jesus Christ's ministry and His work on the cross. But they've been born again. They've been given the capacity of faith, though they've never been given an opportunity or the mental capacity to ever be able to exercise it in any meaningful or cognitive way. Nevertheless, they were called. God's able to do that, and it's done for every single one of God's people. So that's saved and called, and I'm giving you some verses there that we use to undergird that, and not of works. Not of works. He says, who hath saved us and called us within holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. It's not according to our works. If you'll just enter into that statement for a minute, you'll find that it eliminates all those things that many in Christianity say, these are the requirements or conditions placed upon man. It eliminates those things as well, right? Many people will say, well, the condition placed upon man is that he must repent. Well, man should repent. If you have faith, you believe these things, there are any number of things that you should repent of. If you haven't been baptized, you ought to repent of that and join the church. If you're living in sin in some other way, you ought to repent of that and start following the Lord. If you haven't been coming to church, you ought to repent of that and start following the Lord. There's any number of things that we should do and we should repent for, and that's a good thing to do, but repentance is an act of faith. It's a righteous act. And we're not saved by works of righteousness, which we have done. So that tells you that's not the thing that saves you. You know why it is? It's a lagging indicator of grace. Your repentance is a lagging indicator that you've already been given the grace of God. But not of works. Well, I made mention of this verse here. One of my favorite verses, Titus 3, 5, and it speaks of this very plainly. Well, let me start in the earlier part of this verse. I've got a little bit of time here. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work. This is talking about how God's people should be. To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that, after this life of wickedness and sinfulness, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, It didn't happen because we did something good. We repented and then this happened, which is what many in Christendom say. Repent and you'll be born again. No, it wasn't by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, it's because God is merciful that this happened, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. It's not of works. By the way, that passage affirms that Paul was not regenerate from the womb. That's been taught from time to time. He includes himself in this group. He lists a bunch of things, and he said, after that, we were born again. He includes himself in that number, right? That means Paul had an attitude of himself that there was a time earlier in his life where he was in unregeneracy and committing these sorts of acts, and after that, just like with these people that he's preaching to, and Titus, after that, he was born again, right? That's been a point of debate among our elders from time to time, but I don't see any way around that observation right there. Nevertheless, it is not of works which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. It's what God did based on His mercy. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. That's what He said, and that's an offensive notion to man. He says this again in Romans 9, verse 6, not as though the word of God hath taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel. There are many who would say all Israelites are saved. No. Paul says, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel. Some of those people are not spiritual Israelites. Those people are mishandling the typology. The nation of Israel is a type of God's elect. It's a picture or an image. That's a metaphor, if you will. It doesn't mean that all of them are eternally saved. It means that the way God dealt with them under the Old Covenant is in many ways a depiction of how God deals with us. They were a chosen people in a national sense. We're a chosen people in a spiritual sense. And there's many lessons that can be drawn out of that. But he plainly states, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel. That statement means they are not all spiritual Israel who are of national Israel. Stated more plainly, they are not all eternally saved simply because they are Hebrews or national Israelites. See that? That, by the way, in this time among Jewish people is a pretty shocking doctrine. Now if you've been raised in the Judaism of that day, it's pretty much Jews are in, everybody else is out. They're a bunch of filthy dogs and we have the covenants of God. We have the oracles of God. God has been our God. So this is an extremely controversial doctrine in its day, remains controversial to some degree in our day. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they children. That's pretty plain, isn't it? I mean, how you can come away with the idea that they're all eternally saved? Paul is very plainly saying this. Just being born an Israelite does not make you a child of God, if you're talking about national Israel. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called." That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of promise are counted for the seed. That promise is the everlasting covenant. You see that? These are the promises of God that the Lord entered into to save a people from their sins. For this is the word of promise, At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son. 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. See that? He just completely obliterates the idea that something you do, whether good or evil, had any bearing on your eternal destiny. Because this was done based on God's purpose and not based on your personal performance in righteousness, this is why salvation is by grace and why we say it's based on the sovereign decision of God. It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. That's God's prerogative to do that. And he makes reference to this. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Well, that's the common thing. Well, if God doesn't give everyone a chance based on their own performance to get into heaven, then God is not fair and He's unrighteous. That is the common objection. If you ever try to present this truth, I guarantee you, you're going to hear that objection. But it's literally written in the Bible here because Paul, I'm sure, encountered it so many times, he's like, I've got to put this in Romans because people are going to hear this a lot. I better just put it in there. Is there unrighteousness with God? His answer is, God forbid. God's not unrighteous to do this. 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. God unapologetically says, I have mercy, and I've chosen to give it to some people I chose to give it to. And that's how it is. You might think, that just doesn't sound fair to me. It doesn't matter. That is literally how it is. Do you want to worship the God of the Bible or the God of your own invention? Well, the God I worship wouldn't do it that way. Yeah, He's also not God. He's an idol of your own heart. You have exalted how you think you would do it if you were God, to the position of God, and you have said, I'm going to worship that. This is how God does it. There's no apologies made for this. By the way, people say, God's not good if He does it that way. He literally tells Moses back in Exodus 33, 18 and 19 that this is a manifestation of His goodness when He tells him this. When people say that, they're literally saying the exact opposite of what the Scripture says. God says, this is the proof that I'm good. And people say, if he does it that way, he's not good. Which one are you going to choose? Choose you this day whom you're going to serve. Are you going to serve that idol that you've invented or that you heard from some family member a long time ago and some sentimental yarn about religion? Are you going to believe what God has declared clearly about himself here? There's a reason these passages are not often read in many assemblies because they completely obliterate the doctrine that's commonly taught in Christianity. So how do you conclude this? So then, the result of everything Paul just said there on this not of works treaties is it is not of him that willeth. Well, if you just get willing to serve the Lord, then you'll be born again. No, it's not of him that willeth. You got to take that one off the table. Nor of him that runneth. Well, here's a bunch of stuff you need to do. Running is doing stuff, right? Your actions. If you'll just do this, this, and this, get baptized by our people, or take communion here, or if you'll go through these ordinances and then outrun the devil till you die, whatever it is, no, it's not of him that runneth. So whatever your list is, the lists are all thrown away, because it's not of him that runneth. What is it of? But of God that showeth mercy. It's God's decision who he's gonna show mercy on. That's his sovereign prerogative. That's just how it works. Now, I think many people are offended by this at times because they say, well, I've misunderstood the notion of grace. I've misunderstood salvation. Maybe that means I'm not eternally saved. And I don't think anything could be further from the truth. Lots of people hear a declaration about Jesus Christ, and they hear that He is the Savior of sinners. And they recognize, I'm a sinner. And that sounds very appealing to them. And I don't deny that that is a sincere notion. But it doesn't mean they understand the everlasting covenant. It also doesn't mean that they've entered into all the comfort that could be visited upon them by the understanding of the everlasting covenant. When you begin to realize, these things that I see in myself, my desire to serve the Lord, the things I believe, my faith, that's a lagging indicator. That means the thing's already been done for me. You can enter into the peace of not wondering, have I done enough? You see what I'm saying? It's not of him that willeth or of him that runneth. It's of God that showeth mercy. And if you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, You've got the evidence that God's already been merciful to you. It's not a cause for you to think, well, maybe I'm not eternally saved. It's a cause for you to praise God for realizing just how you were eternally saved and to lay down the 56 100th's idol of thinking, I did a little bit of something to get me there. Thank you for listening to SuccessfulSavior.org, the ministry of Harmony Primitive Baptist Church. This has been Elder Dan Salmons, preaching in one of our regular meetings. Come and join us as we worship God in the simplicity of Christ every Sunday morning at 416 North Hall Street in Donaldson, Arkansas. At Harmony, we don't have many things you'll find in the popular churches of our day, but we do have a successful Savior. We invite you to come and see.