God's determination to save His people (Quality: Average)

[0:00] For his help, I ask your attention to the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, verses 23 and 24.

[0:15] The second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, verses 23 and 24. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.

[0:41] Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

[0:55] Him being delivered by the determinate counsel, foreknowledge of God ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.

[1:06] Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

[1:18] The commencement of the preaching of the gospel in the days of the apostles was the preaching of Jesus Christ.

[1:34] It was but a few days, weeks, since the Lord Jesus Christ ascended back to glory.

[1:48] These dear apostles, full of the Holy Ghost, and under the divine commission of Jesus Christ, went forth and preached everywhere.

[2:03] And this was one such occasion. They were there by appointment. For they were to stay in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high.

[2:21] The power of the Holy Spirit came upon them as we could have read in the first 13 verses. But that blessed power of the Holy Spirit was for the proclamation of the gospel.

[2:37] And the gospel is Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now, the effect of the Spirit was that they all spoke in a language that every one of these that were at Jerusalem at that time understood.

[3:01] When they were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews devout men out of every nation under heaven. And they heard the truth in their own language.

[3:13] Not in some peculiar utterance that some people think the Pentecostal blessing was, but though they were foreigners one to another, and therefore spoke in a foreign language, the preaching of the word was to them in their own language, and so they could understand it.

[3:35] It wasn't some strange, gibberish word, which some people seem to think is the apostolic blessing. It was that everyone understood the word of God.

[3:48] Now, the word of God had as the center and the substance of it, as it surely must be, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you.

[4:03] And this word is the word of God as respecting the purposes of God in salvation.

[4:13] Some would have him to be a good man. Some would say that never man spake as this man. Some would wonder at his utterances, but sinners called by grace and blessed are taken up with Jesus Christ.

[4:32] Not taking up with him, but are taken up with Jesus Christ. And it is the truth of these words which shall be the strength and comfort of their soul here, and shall be that which will bring them into the eternal glories of heaven.

[4:52] I was thinking about these words. My mind went to two hymns, one of them you just sung. The word determined.

[5:03] Determined. Determined to save. He watched all my path. When Satan's blind slave I sported with death. Can he have taught me to trust in his name, and thus far have brought me, to put me to shame?

[5:22] And then the other hymn was this. Determined was the man of hell. Eternal favours he had bestowed. Yea, yes, yea, he decreed the very place where he would show triumphant grace.

[5:42] We have those words in scripture then to consider this morning at least. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.

[6:04] And there is something else in this text that we shall look at also this day. And that is this word, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.

[6:18] And again, I have to lean, I trust upon the Spirit for his divine direction. And in so doing, I was led to look at a hymn that we sometimes sing at our ordinance table.

[6:33] And the hymn is by John Newton. And it is based on the words, They shall look on him whom they have pierced. Now these were the words, I saw one hanging on a tree, in agonies and blood, who fixed his languid eyes on me, as near his cross I stood.

[6:55] Sure, never till my latest breath can I forget that look. It seemed to charge me with his death, though not a word he spoke.

[7:06] We shall see today, I hope we shall see today, what it means by these words, Ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.

[7:21] But for the moment, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God. What a wonderful decree it was.

[7:32] in the counsels of eternity, that this blessed person, the son of the highest, Jesus Christ the righteous, should take human flesh, should be born of a woman and born under the law, should come into this world assuming humanity, and as the poet says, to die for crimes that I have done.

[8:04] Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God. And when you read of the determinate counsel and for knowledge, dear friends, there's nothing can overthrow it, and nothing can bring it to naught.

[8:20] If in the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God, there is deliverances from sin, and from the condemnation that is due to sin for his people, therefore by the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God, he will see you safely through this veil of tears.

[8:41] The entrance of sin into the world brought death. The entrance of sin into this world brought the judgments of God against sin. And the entrance of sin into this world brought evil of all sorts and every sort.

[8:57] But the entrance of Jesus Christ into this world, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God, was for the salvation of his people.

[9:10] Oh, how determined is this work. And the fore knowledge of God? What is it of the fore knowledge of God? He saw me ruined in the fall, yet loved me, notwithstanding all.

[9:28] My friends, that's the fore knowledge of God. Before all worlds, the glorious plan. This was the fore knowledge of God. Before there was a world to no sin or salvation, before there was a dust formed on the face of the earth and man from the dust of the earth should be formed.

[9:47] Before all that, in the councils of eternity, there was a determination by God, by the Trinity, that when creation's work was accomplished and we read, he spake and it was done, he commanded and it stood fast.

[10:06] When he created man from the dust of the earth and brought them into this world to enter into life and all its benefits and mercies and blessings, that in the fullness of time, sin shall be brought into the world.

[10:24] But in the fullness of time, so also shall the Son of God be brought into this world and to deliver his fallen people from the condemnation and the justice, condemnation of sin and the justice of God against sin.

[10:43] Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God. My friends, for the most part, I would suppose, the Jews are still waiting for the Messiah to be born.

[10:57] And why is it so? Because their hearts were hard and their eyes were shut. The eyes of faith are shut. Because they're dead in trespasses and sins. But the day will come when that, their eyes shall be open and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only Son.

[11:21] Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God. Dear friends, religion is not to be played with.

[11:35] Salvation is not to be lightly thought about. the workings of divine mercy and grace in this world of sin and woe is this determination.

[11:49] That there shall be such a day and every one of the blood bought family of God shall see that day when they shall see it is by the determinate counsel of all knowledge of God that salvation comes into, that has come into the world.

[12:05] And they shall see also that that same determinate counsel is in their soul or sow unto salvation. No, there's nothing haphazard.

[12:17] Chance doesn't come into it. Upbringing doesn't come into it. Parents, native place and time all appointed were by him.

[12:29] My friends, because you have grace, it wasn't because your father and mother had grace. because you may have grace in your soul and a desire after Christ, you haven't inherited it like you have the sins of old nature.

[12:46] Neither is it because of your will and purposes unto religion or unto salvation that you are under divine grace. It's because determination of God is in it.

[13:00] Him, Jesus Christ the righteous, the Son of God, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. And so, my friends, is the determination, determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God in salvation by the work of the Holy Ghost.

[13:19] What a wonderful work he does. Equal to Christ, equal to the Father in his office, but as sure and as certain, my friends, as the work of Christ is.

[13:34] That not one whose names are recorded in the book of life, not one whose eternal love was placed upon them shall ever perish in their sins.

[13:45] So that the church of Christ who fell in Adam shall be delivered from the condemnation and the justice of God against sin, Christ, Jesus, came into the world.

[13:58] delivered by the determinate counsel. Well, I've often said you can trace the early days, in fact, all the pathway of the Lord Jesus Christ, both from his wondrous birth in Bethlehem until the day that he was crucified on the cross.

[14:19] Every part of his life was under this determinate counsel and for knowledge of God. Every part of it.

[14:31] In his childhood, his life was threatened, we may say, as we read the word of God. When the wise men went to Bethlehem to bring their gifts unto the child Jesus, Herod said, bring me word again and I shall come and worship him also, which of course was a downright lie.

[14:54] he was to, or he would, if he could, would have brought the child Jesus to his death. To his death. As it was, he took the children of two years old and under and murdered them so that he would overthrow Christ and overthrow the determinate counsel.

[15:16] But that's impossible. Can you raise your hand against the determinate counsel of God and win? Can you in your trials and troubles, as it were, because there is no submission to the mind and will of God in your troubles, can you raise a hand or a finger against the will and purposes of God?

[15:41] My friends, not so, and more definitely not so as far as salvation is concerned, and as far as the work of this blessed person, Jesus Christ the righteous, is concerned.

[15:53] him being delivered by the determinate counsel. The will of God is unto salvation to a people whom God will love and whom God will choose.

[16:07] My friends, that is the truth in a few words, but the determinate counsel. counsel. And is it not so concerning everyone of the people of God in their walk and pathway?

[16:23] Because you know there's not a soul that's in the church of Christ that is not the subjects of this determinate counsel. There's not one that's been born into this world that will escape salvation.

[16:37] There are many that are born into this world shall not know salvation, because it is of the determinate counsel of God that it shall be so. Jacob of I loved, Esau of I hated, and nothing can change that.

[16:53] Nothing. My friends, nothing. But on the other hand either, how deep in the world you may go, how far in the broad way to destruction you may go, how anti-Christ you may be, an anti-religion you may be, how far off from God you may be left to walk, or, my friends, how opposed to the truth as it is in Jesus you may be.

[17:27] My friends, it will alter the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Look at the laws of our land, you know, and there's one word that stands supreme today when it comes to dealing with the various factions of wickedness in our land, and that word is compromise.

[17:50] That word is compromised, and the truth is compromised as far as the laws of the land are concerned. You cannot compromise, this is determinate counsel, and it doesn't behove you or I to say who is or who isn't in the Lamb's Book of Life.

[18:12] And neither could the enemies of the truth in the days of Christ ever think that they shall gain victory over the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.

[18:25] My friends, they took him and by wicked hands crucified him. And as I've read to you so many times, and it may be worth reading again to you those words which the Lord Jesus Christ spoke in his, the latter days of his earthly ministry.

[18:46] And when you lay these words against the determinate counsel, you will see the reason or the purpose I have in reading them. And you now go back a word or two.

[18:59] Verily, verily, I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament but the world shall rejoice. Now of course that means in this that the Lord Jesus Christ shall be crucified to a tree and shall die.

[19:13] The world shall rejoice and ye shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. Now what makes the sorrow of a child of God turn into joy?

[19:27] You now therefore have sorrow but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice and your joy no man taketh from you. And in that day you shall ask me nothing.

[19:38] What makes the sorrow of a child of God turn to joy? The determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God? The Holy Spirit will bring you into sorrow over sin.

[19:52] That's his first work. When the people of God speak of the first work, it's the work of grace begun. And the work of grace begun is to convince us sin and in convincing us sin will bring sorrow and distress.

[20:09] Go back to the expression that we often use or the instant that is there in the word of God to use. Go back and look at the man whose name we do not, whose place in life was that he was a publican.

[20:26] Look at his life, look at his place, and the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven and smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

[20:45] The work of grace is convincing of sin and it brings sorrow. The world shall rejoice and the world will continually rejoice because they are left to sin and left to the judgments of God.

[21:01] They shall rejoice till the judgment day. But then, my friends, in the determinate counsel of God, according to the workings of grace within, according to the blessed operation of the Holy Ghost, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy, and it is because of the determinate counsel of God.

[21:27] If this wasn't written, there would be no joy in the hearts of the people of God. There would be nothing to rejoice over. There's no rejoicing in conviction. There's no rejoicing in the knowledge that you're a sinner and before a holy and just God your sins condemn you.

[21:46] But your sorrow shall be turned into joy and it will be when this blessed person, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of God.

[21:57] When you'll have a sight of this blessed one, when you'll see out of his hands and his feet and his side there flowed blood, when you'll see this, when they struck the side of Christ, when he was hung on a tree, there flowed from his side both blood and water, water to wash, blood to atone.

[22:21] My friends, when you see that, when you see that and blessed be God when it's applied to your spirit, you will find joy and gladness where there was once sorrow, him being determined, delivered by the determinate counsel of full knowledge of God.

[22:39] This is the way of salvation, my friends. Throw away all other sorts, dispense with all other products of the religious mind.

[22:50] This giving of one's heart, this turning of one's feet, this acknowledging of Christ as the Saviour, my friends, you'll only acknowledge him as the Saviour when he's revealed to you as the Saviour, and you'll only acknowledge him as the Saviour when his blood is applied to you as a sinner.

[23:12] Works cannot work thee remission, all thy goodness do thee good, deaths within thee, all about thee. I don't know how many times that's been quoted lately. I don't know how many times.

[23:25] Deaths within thee, all about thee, but the remedies without thee, see it in the Saviour's blood, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of God.

[23:39] And dear friends, my hope is that we all love. And prayer is also that in all of our hearts we shall know that for the salvation of our soul, God was determined to save.

[23:56] And in this way of salvation, he sent his only begotten son into the world, that we should live through him. That is salvation.

[24:09] Him, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, his works approved him. He said himself, if you do not believe on me, believe on the works that I do.

[24:21] A man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you all as ye yourselves also know. How is it that this man, Peter, could preach such things?

[24:35] because he experienced such things. That's why. How can you, a sinner, wretched in your own nature, ruined in your old nature, lost in your old nature, hopelessly lost by the way, there's not a glimmer of hope in old nature, you know.

[24:56] How is it that they shall rejoice? This people who are sinners by birth and practice, they're sinners sinners, these sinners who have a catalog of iniquity to mourn over.

[25:10] How shall they rejoice? They will rejoice, my friends, when this blessed person is revealed to them, and indeed will be their comfort when they see that they have an interest in him.

[25:28] This man, Peter, was one such soul who could preach Christ, Christ, and he could preach Christ because not only was he with Christ, and that is an essential blessing of the commission that they had, that they had been with Christ, but also that they were the witness of what Christ could do, in that they noted his miracles and wonders and signs, peace.

[25:59] But it was more than that. It was what was personal, you know. Collective religion will not save you. Being amongst a gathering of people in the house of God, however deep the truths are, however right the truths are, will never save a person.

[26:19] It's to be personal. This was spoken to the men of Israel. this was spoken to those who were mocking. We read in the verses previous, and they were amazed and were in doubt by reason of this hearing and how we hear every man in our own tongue and wherein we were born.

[26:42] And they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, what meaneth this? Others mocking, said these men are full of new wine, too early to be drunk, too early to be drunk.

[26:56] But then, my friends, this was spoken to ye men of Israel, individually, not collectively, not as a gathering of people, because there was an effect made, and that effect was made by the blessed Holy Spirit.

[27:15] And when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Well, Peter could preach these truths because he had experienced them.

[27:30] And there should be a preacher in a pulpit, my friends, who, if they haven't experienced the blessings of salvation in their own soul, should try to preach what they don't know.

[27:46] But Peter did. He knew what it was to sorrow because he knew what it was to sin. Oh, he was bold when before the time came.

[27:58] Bold as he could be, I suppose. What was his own words concerning the sorrowing pathway of Christ yet to be walked?

[28:10] Was it not this, let us go with him, let us go with him, though all men forsake thee, yet will not I. and he fell most sadly and distressingly in the judgment hall.

[28:27] Oh, some curses thrown from his lips. This was the apostle of Jesus Christ. This was a preacher of righteousness. Don't throw a stone at him.

[28:38] Because you know, when you are left to your own old nature, my friends, you can say all sorts of things and have to repent and are distressed over it afterwards.

[28:50] But he knew this truth. He knew this truth, my friends, because we read when the cock crew, we read his tears of repentance fell from his eyes.

[29:04] But we read also Jesus turned and looked upon him, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of God.

[29:18] Well, he was delivered for a sinful people. He came into the world to save sinners, as Paul said, of whom I am chief.

[29:31] That's something you know that grace will bring you to admit and to submit under. There's never a soul that's not under grace that will speak of their sins as being light.

[29:44] you'll find many a sinner that isn't such a bad sinner as other sinners are. But you will find under those taught of God and under grace will confess that even the very first sin was sufficient to send them where hope and mercy could never come.

[30:05] But this is the blessed gift of God and this is in the giving of that gift the way of salvation. salvation. This is the determinate way, the counsel of all knowledge of God, the determinate counsel, it was established, as I said, in eternity past, that Christ Jesus should come into the world to save sinners.

[30:27] There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.

[30:52] Amen. The notices this week are as follows.

[31:06] God willing, there will be a prayer meeting on Wednesday evening and our pastor will preach next Lord's Day. Let us close with hymn 331.

[31:24] them for be set with snares on every hand in life's uncertain path I stand Saviour divine, diffuse thy light to guide my doubtful footsteps right engage this groving, treacherous heart to fix on Christ my better path to scorn the trifles of a day for joys that none can take away

[32:24] Hymn 331 Hymn 3312 Shwyr divine,iving master and annual莣 a dam jenny nen the Sometime All I boug Ashley Say Do May Dimaney Your Head Do Pay At dawn on the bombshell tongues

[33:37] And then it will turn It will turn too far Hey, there's a grace- Élite Let's shout the trojols of the day, But I shall not contain your name

[34:39] I shall not contain your name I shall not contain your name I shall not contain your name

[36:09] I shall not contain your name I shall not contain your name I shall not contain your name I shall not contain your name

[37:35] I shall not contain your name I shall not contain your name May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ And the love of God the Father And the communion and fellowship of the Holy Spirit Remain with us each, both now and forever Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen