In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of recognizing the eternal purpose of God. He compares the word of God to a diamond that glows with incredible power when the love of God is turned upon it. The preacher also highlights the devastating plague of sin that is sweeping the earth and urges listeners to prioritize the eternal purpose of God in their lives. The sermon references the book of Revelation, specifically chapter 5, where God is depicted as seated on his throne with a book that represents the title deed to the earth.

Join us now for the chapel hour, coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Our speaker today is Dr. Darrell Champlin, president of Independent Faith Mission. Following the introduction by Mr. Mark Vowles, he'll bring a message titled, The Eternal Purpose of God. The text is from Revelation chapter 5. Our speaker today will be Dr. Darrell Champlin, the president of Independent Faith Mission. Dr. Champlin and his wife Louise May arrived in the Belgian Congo in 1954. The Belgian Congo, by the way, is now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo, after having been Zaire for a number of years as well. Dr. Champlin and his family served for ten years in Congo. In that period of time, they established ten churches, seven Christian schools, and they were instrumental in training thirty-six national pastors. In 1964, they were forced to leave the country due to internal conflicts, and they relocated to Suriname, South America, and began a ministry there, where they were involved in church planning, Bible Institute work, medical clinics, and God greatly blessed over those years while they were serving in that country with a similar testimony to how he used them in the Congo. Dr. Champlin now divides his year between the mission field, about half of the year, in various countries in the world, including Suriname and Congo, and the other half of the year he spends in the U.S. preaching in churches, doing the work of his missionary organization, and teaching in various Christian schools. We're happy to have him with us today. I know you'll give him your attention. He's a veteran of this pulpit, and he will have a message, to be sure, from the Word of God that will bless our hearts. Hello from your Bibles to the fifth chapter of the Book of Revelation. I want to speak to you for a few moments on the eternal purpose of the God of Heaven. When we first arrived in the land of Suriname, South America, missionaries in that particular area had been driven out. Three missionaries, none lasting longer than two years, the last five months. The people of that land, former slaves brought from Africa as early as 1674, had been in slavery for 200 years until the time of our own civil war in the United States, fought a bloody 50-year-long guerrilla warfare in the jungle against their captors, and won, became a nation within a nation, and swore an oath that they would have nothing to do with the white man's God, or the white man. Any God who either allowed or told his people to do to us what they did to us will have nothing to do with him or his people. We went in there in 1965. Met a young man named Bakiti. He helped us learn the language. He was the first one saved. While he was dying, sad to say, caught a kind of paralysis, left him dying in a hospital room in the capital city. His brother, Amboko, went into the room, placed his fingers through Bakiti's fingers, and swore an oath, Bakiti, I cannot live without you. When you're dead, come back and get me. Eight days later, an uproar in the back of the village called me. A nurse was with us. We ran through the darkness of that village. Oh, come quickly, come quickly. Amboko is dying. Amboko is dying. Great crowd around that little hut, maybe 10 or 12, like 12 feet, stepped in the door. Here were the witch doctors, the elders, the chieftain, and there in the hammock lay Amboko. We went to him. We took his blood pressure zero over zero. He had no heartbeat. He was not breathing. Oh, missionary, please pray to Bakiti. Tell Bakiti not to take his brother. I said, I cannot pray to Bakiti. God teaches us to pray only to himself. All right, then you pray to God, and we'll pray to Bakiti. I said, if you're doing that, I'm leaving. Please, missionary, pray. All right, get down on your knees, and here are the witch doctors, the elders, the chieftain of the village on their knees before the God of heaven for the first time, certainly in all their lifetime, went to that hammock, cried out, Oh, God, oh, God, have mercy on this man, that he might live and might come to you. And when I closed that prayer, beloved, he sat up. Then the chieftain turned to the witch doctors and said, Now you pray, and they're trembling like a leaf, but you can't pray. Please, missionary, as long as you're here, we can't pray to Bakiti. Please leave. So I stepped out, and the head witch doctor behind me crumpled over, his head facing the ground, went off to the crowd, and the people were saying, That's all the power our things have, we'd better turn to Jesus. I don't have time to tell you the whole story of the ministry, but I'd like to send you out of this chapel this morning saying, Wow, what a God. Why did God raise that man? Because, beloved, it is consistent with his eternal purpose. I'd like to send you out saying, Wow, what a God. What a wonderful story, what a glorious vision, what a challenging call, so compelling that you will abandon yourselves without reservation to the eternal purpose of God. If you've ever purchased a diamond, and I was working to purchase diamonds for my wife's engagement ring, went to a jeweler, he said, Let me show you some diamonds. He took a piece of blue cloth, velvet, and laid out a number of diamonds. At that point, all you have to do is light a match, and those diamonds glow with a glorious kaleidoscope of marvelous color. And we have, beloved, in this word of God, just such a diamond. If you hold that diamond up against the black velvet backdrop of the hollow cost of sin, and you turn the love of God upon that diamond, it glows with such an incredible power that if we ever see it, we will not be able to resist it. A plague is sweeping this earth, a plague that makes age look like a Sunday school picnic. Of this plague, 143 die every minute, 8,580 an hour, 205,920 a day, 1,440,400 a week, 6,380,520 a month, 74,920,000 a year. That plague, beloved, is sin. And against that black velvet backdrop of that disaster, I would like to show you the eternal glorious diamond of the eternal purpose of God. Turn in your Bibles, if you will, to Revelation 5. Revelation 5. We find the God of heaven seated upon his throne in verse 1. We find in his hand a book written within and on the backside, evidently sealed with heaven's seals. This, indeed, as you study through, is the title deed to the earth. That one who can open this title deed will rule. Suddenly there is someone found. Word has been sent out. Angels have panned across the universe, and they have been unable to find anyone who is worthy to open the book. And then suddenly the word is, weep not. Behold the Lion of the Tribe of Universe 5. The Root of David hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And John says, I beheld him low in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the eldest of the land, as it had been slain. And the glorious dual character of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, who will reign over a multitude called from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation of this globe, washed in the blood of the Lamb of God, slain on Calvary's cross. We read in verse 9, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. God's eternal purpose. May I spell it out to you? The eternal purpose of God is to call out from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation a multitude redeemed by the blood of his Lamb slain on Calvary's cross, over whom he will crown his Son, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords forever. This is the passion of the heart of God that cannot be quenched, the obsession of his mind that cannot be denied, the vision of his eyes from eternity past into eternity future that will not dim, and the destination to which he is committed, his omnipotent, eternal, immutable being, a destination he will not abandon. We have in Psalm 2 some of the explanation of this great cause of God. We have, first in Psalm 2, the rage of the rebels. Why do the heathen rage, verse 1, and the people imagine a vain thing? The things are there set themselves in the room, they count together against the Lord, against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands of thunder, and cast away the cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision. Did we have time, we would turn to Romans and read there the declaration of the sinful nature of mankind. We would go to Acts 4, and maybe we need to do that. We're reading of the apostles, the first kind who went out and preached on the streets. They were chastised, they were taken to stand before the Sanhedrin. They were warned that if they were to preach this name anymore, they certainly would suffer for it. And verse 23, being let go, Acts 4, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. When they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that is in them. Now listen to this. Who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, Why do the heathen rage? And the people imagined a vain thing. The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ, for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the Gentiles and the people of Israel, gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy counsel and thy hand determined before to be done." And what was that? The crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me ask you this question. What is the greatest enemy of the eternal purpose of God to call out from every kindred, tongue, people and nation that multitude washed in the blood of his Lamb, over whom he will crown his Son, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, King of kings and Lord of lords forever? Some might have guessed Communism a few years ago. We don't say that anymore. Is it Humanism? Is it Hedonism? Is it Materialism? Is it the American Dream? No, beloved, it's much closer than that. We have met the enemy. It is the vile, depraved, sinful nature that lives within each of us, which will ever rise up against the passion of the heart of God, against the obsession of the mind of God for the salvation of the lost, against the destination to which he has committed his eternal, infinite, omnipotent being, against the vision of God's eyes that will not dim. If we go back to Psalm 2, we find in verses 4 and 5 these words, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, and the Lord shall have them in division. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy, hot hill of Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. There are two covenants in the Old Testament that deal with this glorious, eternal purpose of God. The first is the Abrahamic covenant. That's Genesis 12, if you run there for just a moment. Genesis 12, and we're reading verses 1 to 3. Now, the Lord hath said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee. And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Here is the promise of the coming Savior, the Abrahamic covenant, the promise of the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, in whose blood a multitude from every kindred, people, tongue, and nation will be washed. Go with me very quickly to 2 Samuel 7. And here is where we will close and come to the crux of this issue. 2 Samuel 7. We find here the Davidic covenant. Let's read just two verses together. If you will read them aloud with me, please. Chapter 7 of 2 Samuel, verse 8 and verse 16. We read, Now therefore, so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Best sayeth the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheep's coat, from following over the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel. Verse 16. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever. This is the Davidic covenant, the promise of God that he will indeed crown the Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, over that multitude washed in the blood of the Lamb, slain on Calvary's cross. Now, if you will go, please, to Psalm 89, and we'll bring a close to the message. Psalm 89. Let us read together verse 34 down through verse 37. Psalm 89, verse 34 down through verse 37. Are you there? My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever, and is thrown as the sun before me. It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven, the Davidic covenant. And now, the promise of God, sworn upon and owed, backed by his holiness. Verse 37 is the verse from which the great missionary hymn, Jesus shall reign, where the sun doth his excessive journeys run. His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more. Incredible, beloved, that the God of heaven would swear an oath upon his holiness that he will indeed accomplish this glorious eternal purpose to call out from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation that multitude washed in the blood of his Lamb, slain on Calvary's cross, over whom he will crown his Son, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, King of kings and Lord of lords forever. Is it possible that our God would swear an oath upon his holiness concerning the carrying out of this glorious eternal purpose? Is it possible a child of God can be less serious about carrying out that glorious eternal purpose? Let me ask you this question. When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ and it is discovered that we have given our heart to something less than that which demanded the passion of the omnipotent creator God of the universe, can we have allowed our eyes to gaze upon something more captivating to us than the vision of the eyes of God from eternity of that multitude redeemed from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation of this globe, washed in the blood of his Lamb, slain on Calvary's cross, over whom he will crown his Son, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, King of kings and Lord of lords forever? How in the world, beloved, can we give our eyes to something lesser that demands the very vision from eternity of the eyes of the omnipotent creator God of the universe? And woe, woe, that we should give our heart and our body to something lesser than the glorious task of calling out from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation those redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to be born into the very family of God. When we stand before the judgment seat of Christ and, sad to say, it is discovered in my life for yours that we gave ourselves to something lesser than the eternal purpose of the God of heaven, what, beloved, will our answer be? Afraid of what? Afraid to feel the scarce glad release, to pass from pain to perfect peace, to strife and strain of life to cease? Afraid of that? Afraid of what? Afraid to see the Savior's face, to hear His welcome, and to taste the glory gleam from wounds of grace? Afraid of that? Afraid of what? A flash or crash appears to our darkness like old heaven's art, a wound of His counterpart. Afraid of that? Afraid of what? Afraid to do by death what life could not? Baptized with blood a stony plot, till souls shall blossom from that spot. Afraid of that? O beloved, when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, may we be able to say unto Him, Lord, not afraid. Not afraid. Father, bless this portion of Thy Word to our hearts, we pray. You've been listening to the Chapel Hour, coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Our speaker was Dr. Darrell Champlin, President of Independent Faith Mission. For a cassette copy of today's message, send a check for $6 to Campus Store, Bob Jones University, Greenville, SC 29614. Be sure to mention the name of the speaker and today's date. The Chapel Hour has been sponsored by Bob Jones University.