God Bless you all.

These are the days when only the very elect will be saved on this earth. We were told to make that calling to be one of the elect and to be sure of it – How do we do that? First to be informed by the witness of the Holy Spirit that we have been called and then in the tribulation that we endure rest that we have been counted worthy of the Kingdom.

2Th 1:5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

God Bless Write soon respond in Jesus name,

Brother Stair

Write me brotherstair@overcomerministry.org

"Ballade of Good Counsel"



Flee from the crowd and dwell with truthfulness:

Suffice thee with thy goods though they be small:

To hoard brings hate, to climb brings giddiness;

The crowd has envy, and Success blinds all;

Desire no more than to thy lot may fall;

Work well thyself to counsel others clear,

And truth shall make thee free, there is no fear!



Torment thee not all crooked to redress,

Nor put thy trust in fortune's turning ball;

Great peace is found in little busyness;

And war but kicks against a sharpened awl;

Strive not, thou earthen pot, to break the wall;

Subdue thyself; and others thee shall hear;

And truth shall make thee free, there is no fear!



What God doth send, receive in gladsomeness;

To wrestle for this world foretells a fall.

Here is no home, here is but wilderness:

Forth, pilgrim forth; up, beast, and leave thy stall!

Know thy country, look up, thank God for all:

Hold the high way, thy soul the pioneer,

And truth shall make thee free, there is no fear!



Therefore, poor beast, forsake thy wretchedness;

No longer let the vain world be thy stall.

His mercy seek who in his mightiness

Made thee of naught, but not to be a thrall.

Pray freely for thyself and pray for all

Who long for larger life and heavenly cheer;

And truth shall make thee free, there is no fear!



(Modem version by Henry Van Dyke)



"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent (Revelation 3:18,19)."

Here are the riches the church so desperately needs in this hour. But she cannot have them without repentance and where is the church that is willing to repent, or even sees any need to repent? It takes zeal to repent. It takes courage to repent. It takes fear to repent. it takes need to repent. It takes the Holy Spirit to repent. But alas! The church only has "goods" and among all those goods there is not one thing that leads to repentance. She has gold but not the kind she sorely needs. We do not need the gold of earth, we have found and shalt find that such "gold and silver is can­kered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire (James 5:3)." "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth cor­rupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal (Mat­thew 6:19-21)." What we need is not earth's treasures but the gold of the sanctuary, the gold tried in the fire of God's holiness, the gold of the just weight and the true balance.

What is God's complaint against us? God says lie has nour­ished and brought up children and they have rebelled against Him (Isaiah 1:2). He says, "How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now mur­derers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:

Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followed after rewards: they judge not the father­less, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them (Isaiah 1:21-23)." Is this true? Can it be that God is mistaken about this?

Poor church! She offers her multitude of sacrifices, burns her incense, meticulously observes her new moons and Sabbaths, calls her assemblies on the slightest whim, spreads forth her hands and makes many prayers. With what result? God says that even her most solemn assemblies are iniquity! He hides His eyes from her spreading forth of hands and will not hear her prayers. And the church wonders why. With her hands full of blood, she wonders why. She says, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need

~f nothing; and wonders why her prayers are unanswered! She judges not the fatherless, pleads not the cause of the widow, ne­glects and despises the poor, and idly wonders why her many prayers are unanswered; forgetting all the while that this is no ac­cidental world, that a sovereign God rules the universe on strictly just and moral principles, and that it is irrevocably written, "Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard (Proverbs 21:13)."

"None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies (Isaiah 59:4)." "And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter (Isaiah 59:14)."

"There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man (Luke 18:2)." This is the whole truth about every judge of every court in the world. There is no justice among men because there is not a just man upon earth. Why did the judge not regard man? Why was he unjust? He feared not God. This is the unbroken testimony of both Scripture and experience. But, alas, who in this hour will listen to either?

The times grow worse. Evil runs rampant. Dark clouds gather. Perilous times are upon us. "The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the or­dinance, broken the everlasting covenant (Isaiah 24:4,5)." "Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, 0 inhabitant of the earth (Isaiah 24:17)."

The grim specter of war hovers constantly. Nations rise against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms. The earth is torn by earthquakes and devoured with pestilence. Injustice and evil are the order of the day. Why?

"Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed atone in the midst of the earth (Isaiah 5:8)!" "Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope (Isaiah 5:18)." "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.... Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink (Isaiah 5:20-22)."

"Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion." "Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches." "That drink wine in bowls." "For ye have turned judg­ment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock." "Ye, which rejoice in a thing of naught." "Ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, Saying, when will the new moon be gone, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit." (Selections from Amos, chapters 6-8.)

"They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us (Micah 3:10,11)."

"For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory. The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul (Isaiah 3:8,9)."

This is a vivid and accurate picture of our society today. Ex­perience confirms the fact that these Scriptures are applicable to us. Comment is unnecessary. The world is more thoroughly cor­rupt today than at any time in its history. Society is dissolute in all its segments. Nothing has escaped corruption; individuals, homes, churches, schools, business, government; all is corrupt. The rea­son? We do not fear God. This is the sorry state to which the preaching and doctrine of the modem pulpit has brought us. The philosophy of the modems that we live in an accidental world, that God is subject to man's whims, choice and will, is completely atheistic and can only make infidels of its believers. In the neces­sity of the case, such a philosophy is bound to lead any society embracing it down the path of dissolution, corruption, injustice, immorality, and finally to the pit of hell. Where else can it lead? How else can it end? If God is subject to man's choice and will, we do live in an accidental world, and verily man has no god but himself; if any man is saved, it will be an accident. Eventually, under such a philosophy, man "casteth off fear, and restrainest prayer before God (Job 15:4)." Prayer is the breathing of the soul. When men cease praying, they stop breathing, and when they stop breathing they die.

Predestination is the only basis and hope for society. If pre­destination were believed, if the doctrine that all human ties, bonds and relationships are divinely appointed and formed, were univer­sally received, it would revolutionize the world. And unless we shall receive it, civilization as we know it is doomed. It must be evident to any man who thinks, that unless any human tie or rela­tionship he may have is divinely appointed and formed, there is no possible reason to regard any such tie or relationship as sacred, nor can he conceive that he has any duty in maintaining such a rela­tionship. Predestination is the only ground of duty as well as the only ground of faith. The accidental world is the world of the atheist, not the world of the Christian. No man is a Christian who believes in an accidental world. Predestination is the heart and soul of all Christian teaching, all Divine providence. It is the one reason for all things and the bedrock of Christian hope.

All human ties, bonds and relationships are divinely appointed and formed. The doctrine is true whether anyone believes it or not. But what a difference it would make if it were believed. It would solve the world's problems and resolve every difficulty of human relationship. It would create an ideal world where all men would dwell together in peace and harmony.

There would be no broken homes. Divorce courts would be unknown. Children would obey their parents in the Lord because it is right. They would realize that God has given them their par­ticular parents and placed them in their particular home, and so would honor their father and mother, and it would be well with them, and their days would be prolonged (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16). "That thy days may be prolonged ..." an expression meaning not simply to live to a ripe old age, but that each day is prolonged, each day is filled with wonder and bright with the glory of God, each day is "as the days of heaven upon the earth (Deuteronomy 11:21)."

Parents would love their children. Fathers would "provoke not their children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:1-4)." Parents would realize that their "children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward (Psalm 127:3)." "Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt see the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Be­hold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord (Psalm 128:1-4)."

The doctrine of predestination, if the church believed it, would revitalize the church they would realize that church mem­bership, like all other human relationship, is divinely appointed and formed. There would be no envy, jealousy or strife in such a church. They would recognize that they "are the body of Christ, and members in particular (I Corinthians 12:27)." Individuality would again prevail in the church and the sickly socialism and Godless communism of the modem church would disappear. Churches would again realize that "the body is not one member, but many" and would cease trying to make all their members alike in every detail, and forget their unscriptural and unrealistic con­cept that the church is some kind of a mass man in which all indi­viduals must lose their freedom and identity. There is no room in the modem church for individuality. That man today who dares assert his individuality and contend for religious freedom is cer­tain to incur the displeasure, if not the wrath, of the church, and he will be censured, or excommunicated, or made to feel the displea­sure of the church in a thousand other ways.

Individuality has been lost in the church as well as elsewhere. The autonomy of the local church is gone even from those who profess to have it. We now have, in our churches, a system of super eccliasticism where conventions, associations, boards, heirarchies, or individuals rule the local church and consequently the individual members of the church. The right of private judg­ment is denied to all. This is a system of tyranny, wholly unscriptural, under which the individual is ruled, not by his own conscience or the laws of God, but by the arbitrary laws of sinful men who seek only their own aggrandizement. Under this system, the individual must do as he is told or else. He must conform in both opinion and conduct. He cannot think for himself. He is denied the right to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience. It is thus that the modem church has brainwashed its members. Woe be unto that individual today in any church that opposes the official line and dares to be what God made him, an individual. Individual liberty and religious freedom is nowhere more lost than in the modern church where today it is practically unknown. "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it bath pleased him (I Corinthians 12:18)." Church membership is a relationship divinely appointed and formed. God has set the members every one of them in the body and appointed each his function and endowed each one for that particular function. There is no elite, no ruling class in the church. "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren (Matthew 23:8)." Like everything else, church membership and position in the church is predestinated. "And he saith unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am bap­tized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father (Matthew 20:23)." Prepared-made ready before, thus fore­ordained, predestinated.

Is everything predestinated? Yes. "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9)." No new thing-no accident. Here we are plainly told that what is to be, will be; and what is not to be, will not happen. This is the doctrine of predestination and this is the tie that binds.

Opponents of this doctrine tell us that if predestination is true, man has no responsibility. The opposite is true. If predestination is not true, man has no responsibility. It is because predestination is true that man is responsible for his actions, which is why men reject the doctrine. The man who does not believe in predestina­tion can always find an excuse for his sin. He blames it on acci­dent, circumstance, or whatever. But we are warned about this. "Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error (Ecclesiastes 5:6)." Error-wandering, hence chance, accident; this is the meaning of the He­brew word.

Predestination is the only basis for the responsibility of man for it is the only reason why things happen as they do, why causes have effects, why actions produce consequences, why men reap what they sow. In fact, predestination is the law of the universe. "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit (Matthew 7:16-18)."

Why is this true? Why do we not gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Because thorns do not produce grapes, thistles do not produce figs. Why not? You say, that is the law of nature. If you were religious enough, you would say it is the law of God. But call it what you will, there is a fixed and inexorable law that determines that thorns produce thorns, thistles produce thistles, grapes produce grapes, figs produce figs; and from this law noth­ing deviates. That is predestination. Trees produce after their kind because God has so fixed it and for no other reason. What is true in the natural realm is true spiritually. Predestination is the only reason for anything, and if predestination is not true, there is no reason for anything.

What a price we pay for the rejection of this doctrine! Be­cause the church today rejects the doctrine of predestinati6n, so­cialism prevails in the church with its countless attendant evils; not the least of which are men aspiring to the preeminence to offices and functions to which they are not divinely called and for which they are not divinely endowed. Consequently, men lord it over God's heritage, the people are tyrannized and oppressed, made to subscribe to a creed, which they neither understand nor believe, they are thoroughly subjected to the programs of men, under which their only privilege is to pay. Under this system of dictatorial com­munism, taxes are levied upon the members in the form of tithes and this is called giving. Tithing is thought to be the greatest thing any man can do; whereas the truth is that no one has given anything who has only tithed; the only ones who have ever given anything are the poor widows who have given their two mites. Those two mites are infinitely more than all the tithes combined, more than all the riches of all the wealthy. But where is the church today that is content with two mites? And where is the man who sees he has given nothing until he has given all?

Churches today oppose the divine order. They are not content with their lot. They are not content with such things as they have. They are not content to perform their divinely appointed function. They are not content. They fight and war for the preference of men, the honor and praise of men. They love the praise of men more than the praise of God. They are not honorable. They have forgotten that honor comes from God alone; that the one function of the Christian church is to glorify her Lord. They are interested in what they call making progress and this means acquiring mate­rial possessions. This, they think, is progress. So materialistic is the concept of the modem churches, and so enamored are they with the love of money, that many of them made surveys to deter­mine the financial standing of each individual in their community before soliciting them for membership and unless they come up to a certain economic standard they are not invited to join. Other churches wait until the individual has joined before making their survey; but once the financial standing is known, certain quotas

are levied against the individual and he is expected to contribute a certain amount. If he does not give as much as the powers that be think he should, woe be unto him.

"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that wor­thy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy­self ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors (James 2:1-9)."

"And have need of nothing." But Christ was outside that church! Blind they were indeed. "Without me ye can do nothing (John 15:5)." The Laodician Church is the church of today. Rich, increased with goods, thoroughly materialistic: yet, with all their wealth, all their goods, all their numbers, all their prestige, all their respectability, all their influence, the church without Christ can do nothing. Nothing? Nothing! Let the church acknowledge that Christ is indispensable, that He is sovereign, that He is head over all things to the church. It is written, "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy (Psalm 147:11)." It is also written, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm (Jeremiah 17:5)."

Specifically, men cannot choose apart from Christ. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you (John 15:16)." Yet, as a matter of fact they had chosen Him! The record is clear. Jesus Christ had called each one of them and each elected to follow Him. What then is the meaning of our Lord's emphatic statement? Whose choice was first? Why does any man come to love God? "We love him because he first loved us (I John 4:19)." We chose Christ because He first chose us. Again, whose choice was determina­tive? Man's choice rests in God's choice. Man's choice depends upon God's choice. Man's will is subject to God's will. Man wills because God wills him to will. "There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand (Proverbs 19:21)." It seems that we cannot learn this. Devices are purposes, plans, thoughts, choices. The counsel of the Lord is His purpose, plan, thought, choice; in a word, His will. God's will, that, and that only, shall stand.

God does no violence to man's will. He leaves men free to choose. As a matter of fact, men cannot help choosing. He chooses every day. He chooses in every realm. He chooses in salvation. Nevertheless, God controls man's will as surely as He controls the stars. It is here that men stumble and faIl. Because God leaves men free to choose, they delude themselves and imagine that it is their will and choice that brings things to pass; when, as a matter of fact, man's will has never determined one single event in the world's history and never will. God's will alone determines events and brings them to pass. It is true that men do act according to their choice, will, intellect, and reason, but this is not the whole truth. The whole truth is that every event, circumstance, opportu­nity, happening, thought, good or bad, that influences and moti­vates man's choice is foreordained of God.

Sovereignty is the prerogative of God alone. Man is God's creature. There is no such thing as an independent creature. There is no such thing as a free creature. Of necessity, all created things are totally dependent upon, and absolutely subject to, their creator's will. If God is the creator of this universe, He is sovereign over it; and if He is not sovereign of the universe, He is not its creator. This truth is self evident to all honest minds. To deny God as sovereign is to deny Him as creator. To deny Him as creator is to deny Him as Father. To deny Him as Father is to deny Him as Savior. The denial of God's sovereignty is, in essence and fact, the complete denial of God. To deny God is to proclaim the ut­terly unbelievable and absolutely impossible absurdity that man made himself that he came from nowhere and goes nowhere, that he' lives and dies without purpose or reason, that his thoughts and actions have no meaning whatever. To deny God is to propound the thesis that the universe is without cause, reason, purpose, mean­ing, destiny, or hope.

The sovereignty of God is absolute. To acknowledge this truth is at once to acknowledge that God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass, that nothing else can come to pass, that predestina­tion is a fact, that God does rule in the kingdoms of men, that all human ties, bonds and relationships are divinely appointed and formed; and that our salvation rests solely, fully, and only in God's election, that salvation is by God's grace and His grace alone, that no part of man's salvation is of himself either in origin or execu­tion.

Where men got the idea that man's will is the all determining factor or moving cause of his salvation is hard to see. Certainly they did not get it from the Bible. To those who accept the Scriptures as final, the question is forever settled. There is not one Scripture in all the Bible that even implies, let alone declares, that man's will is in any way, to any degree, the cause of his salvation. On the contrary, the Bible declares that God's will, not man's, is the cause of his salvation. "Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13). "Men are not saved by the exercise of their will. They are not saved by their decision or choice. The opposite is true. Men are saved by renouncing their will and resigning their choice. In a word, they are saved by denying themselves, their will, choice, way, thoughts, lives, motives, nature, all. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts (Isaiah 55:7)." "And he said unto them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny him sell, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoso­ever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it (Luke 9:23,24)."

But, some object, man repents, man believes. Certainly so. Then whosoever will may come. Absolutely. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16)." The question is, who believes? Who are the whosoever? There are two whosoevers. There is the whosoever will save his life and whosoever will lose his Life. Which are you? "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God (1 John 5:1)." Men are born of God before they believe, which is why they believe. Repentance and faith are not causes of salvation but fruits of it, evidences of it. They are inseparable graces wrought in our hearts by the regenerating power of the Spirit of God. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law (Galatians 5:22,23)." Not one of these things does the alien sinner have. Though it be extremely distasteful to men, nevertheless let the truth be stated. "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy (Romans 9:16)."

As long as any man retains the least vestige of his own will, choice, and way, he is not Christ's for "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts (Galatians 5:24)." "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his (Romans 8:9)."

What is the Spirit of Christ? Was He self-willed? "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work (John 4:34)." "Because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me (John 5:30)." "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me (John 6:38)." Rear Him in Gethsemane, in the hour of greatest extremity, when He was sore amazed and troubled, when His soul was sorrowful even unto death and His agony such that His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground; how does He then pray? "Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done (Luke 22:42)."

"Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, 0 God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offerings and burnt-offerings and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, 0 God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sancti­fied through the offering of the body of Christ once for all (He­brews 10:5-10)."

"In the volume of the book it is written of me." The quotation is from Psalm 40:7. The Hebrew word there translated volume means roll, the entire roll, hence volume. The Greek word here translated volume means head or front, a scroll rolled up, bound and sealed. The word means the head of a pillar, the superscrip­tion on the top of a pillar that tells the meaning of that pillar; the heading or title of a book or scroll that tells the subject of that writing; the key to the whole matter or the why of it all. "In the volume"-at the front-in the middle-at the back-in the beginning, throughout the continuing, at the ending.

What is written in the volume of the book? "Lo, I come to do thy will, 0 God." "By the which will we be sanctified." Is this the whole writing? Absolutely. Nothing else is written anywhere and this is written everywhere. This is the writing, the whole writing of both the Bible and nature. This is the one subject of both, the one reason for, the whole meaning of the entire universe together with every event, good and bad. This is the seal, the tie that binds. Compare Revelation 5 and Isaiah 29:11-24. Christ denied Himself. "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps (I Peter 2:21)." How marvelously simple and plain! What example? "Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed him-self to him that judgeth righteously (I Peter 2:23)." He committed Himself His will, choice, all. His will was the Father's, He did not seek His own. He chose to forgo His choice, He deliberately chose not to choose. "Not my will, but thine, be done." Christ's will was against the suffering! Can He then choose not to suffer? No! Such a thing could not possibly be. Why not? Because in the volume of the book, in the front, on the back, sealed with the sevenfold seal of God's perfect will, throughout all of time and eternity, it is writ­ten of him, and therefore foreordained and predestinated, "Lo, I come to do thy will, 0 G6d." We state it reverently; Christ suf­fered against His will with His full consent! This is the perfect example of how the sinner is saved, the perfect illustration of what the old Puritan and other divines were ever wont to say, namely, the sinner is saved against his will with his full consent!

The sinner's will, far from saving him, is the thing that damns him. It is his will that keeps him from Christ. "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life (John 5:40)." You will not come. I call you to Christ now, but you will not come. Every voice in the universe, including your own conscience, calls you to Christ, but you will not come. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17)." But you will not come.

Why will you not come? Because "No man can come to me, except the Father which sent me draw him (John 6:44)." You cannot come. It is not in the power of man to come to Christ of himself No man can make himself willing. You will not come. You are unwilling and unless God shall make you willing, you must remain forever unwilling. Sinner, you are in the hands of the omnipotent God. You are lost. You are undone. You are in hell now. You are in torment. You are on the brink of a larger hell of everlasting torment from which there is no release, none, never! You are without Christ, an alien to the commonwealth of God's Israel, a stranger to the covenants of promise without hope and without God in the world. (Ephesians 2:12.) You are Christ less, Godless, homeless and hopeless. And you will not come! You cannot come. You are lost. You are lost without remedy. You have no choice. Friend, you are lost!

What can you do? A great many things. You can join the church. You can be baptized. You can quit your meanness. You can turn over a new leaf. You can go softly. You can make a profession of Christ. You can attend church regularly. You can bestow your goods upon the poor. You can live what men call a good moral life. You can tithe and pay the preacher. You can act pious and say prayers. You can read the Bible. You can be honest with your fellow man. There is plenty you can do. When you have done all that you can do; what will all your doing avail? Nothing. In all your doing there is one thing you will not and cannot do. You will not come to Christ. You cannot come to Christ. You cannot save yourself. Your friends cannot save you. No power on earth can save you. Nothing can save you. You will not come to Christ. You are lost. There is no hope for you. What you do, anything you do, only makes your case worse. Ev­erything you do will only serve to salve your conscience and lull you into a sense of false security. No mailer what you do, it will only serve to harden your heart. You cannot come to Christ. You are lost.

You must be drawn and that of the Father. There must be a puffing forth of the divine will before any man becomes willing. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power (Psalm 110:3)." "In the day of thy power"-the puffing forth of the divine will. The rest of the verse reads, "In the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth." It is not that men come part of the way and God meets them. it is not that men are willing to some degree. The willingness is altogether of God. "From the womb"-the birth-the eyelids-the dawn of the morning, from the earliest stirring, from the first faint ray of light, yea, before the light-from the dew-the dew that falls while all is still dark-all, all is of God and nothing is of man. Salvation, my friend, is of the Lord.

"And the king said, Is there not yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel in Lodebar. Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant! And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely show thee kind­ness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table con­tinually. And he bowed himself and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?-So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king's table; and he was lame on both his feet (II Samuel 9:3-8; 13)."

"Is there yet any left of the house of Saul?" Only one. What is his name? Mephibosheth. What is the meaning of that name? A shameful thing. Where dwelleth this man? In Lo-debar. What place is that? A place of no pasture. What is his condition? Lame on both his feet. How did he come to be lame? He was lame from a fall. "And Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son that was lame on his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled; and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth (II Samuel 4:4)."

Sweet, sweet gospel! Do you hear the glorious strains? This is the everlasting gospel for it is the everlasting truth of every man. Our name is Mephibosheth-a shameful thing. 0 my soul! This is you! Lame on both feet-no wonder you will not come to Christ-you cannot walk-you do not have a leg to stand on! You have no excuse. You are dead. You are a dead dog! "A living dog is better than a dead lion (Ecclesiastes 9:4)." "For to him that is joined to the living there is hope." If you were a living dog, there would be hope. But you are a dead dog! You are "Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom God rememberest no more (Psalm 88:5)." An untimely birth is better than you. You came into the world with vanity. You shall depart in darkness and your name shall be covered with darkness. (Ecclesiastes 6:3,4.) You are a shameful thing. You dwell in a barren wilderness, void of life, and life-giving sustenance. Time is against you. You can only grow worse. You are dead and still dying! There is no hope.

But wait! There was a covenant made. it was made before you, Mephibosheth, was born! it was a covenant of souls, not a covenant of words. it was an everlasting covenant. Souls were knit together. It was a divine covenant. Souls were knit together. It was sealed with an everlasting seal. Souls were knit together. it was bound with an unbreakable tie. Souls were knit together. It was a covenant of life. Souls were knit together.

Ah, Mephibosheth, shameful thing though you are, lame though you are, dead dog though you he; you are included in this cov­enant! You see, shameful one, this was a covenant of love. Souls were knit together. This was a covenant of election. Souls were knit together. Are you not kindred of Jonathan? Are you not Jonathan's son? Then you are included.

"And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he Loved him as he loved his own soul (I Samuel 20:17)." Caused him to swear again by his love to him. Swear what? "And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not: But also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth (I Samuel 20:14,15)." Mephibosheth's destiny was settled before he was born. He was included in the covenant before he had any being. He was brought into the bond of the covenant when David sent and fetched him from Lo-debar. Men looked at Mephibosheth when he dwelt in the wilderness and said, poor Mephibosheth! He has nothing. He should be king. All the lands and wealth of Saul should have accrued to him. Instead, David is king. It is thus that men ques­tion God's choice. It is thus that men charge God with unrighteousness. It is thus that men become atheistic and believe in an accidental universe. Ask men why Mephibosheth is not king, why he is lame and penniless, and they say, Oh, poor fellow, he is a victim of circumstances, he had bad luck, he was very unfortu­nate, he had an accident, he fell and became lame! It is thus that men bow to their gods of circumstance, fortune, luck, chance and accident. But take another view. Mephibosheth is brought into the pal­ace and caused to eat at the king's table continually. All is re­stored to him. He is cared for. Why? Because a covenant was made before he was born! Then his fall and resulting lameness and helplessness was no accident at all! His trouble was his salva­tion. He saved his life by losing it. His curse was his blessing. "As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come (Proverbs 26:2)."