Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 26. Proverbs 26. I would like to look at one verse
of scripture, verse 12. And I will tell you now that You won't hear anything today,
Lord willing, that you have not heard before. But in light of
this scripture, there's some things that we need to hear again.
I bring up that scripture that Apostle Paul said, he said, for
me to say the same things to you is not grievous. For you,
it's safe. For all of us, it's safe, safe,
safe. I've entitled this message, The
Ignorance of Conceited Wisdom. And it's from this verse, verse
12, Proverbs 26, 12. Seest thou a man wise in his
own conceit, and more hope of a fool, than of him. Now, the Spirit of God has been
pleased to relate to us the state of a man who is wise in his own
eyes, wise in his own eyes, his own conceit, He's found to be standing on
very perilous ground because the scripture declares there's
more hope for a fool. Same word we've looked at for
many, many weeks now, a stupid fellow. There's more hope for
a stupid fellow, that's the definition, than for someone who is wise
in his own eyes. Now, let me just make a couple
of comments about someone who's wise in their own eyes. That
is, who sees himself as skillful, intelligent, artful in every
area of life, whether it's natural, political, but especially when
it comes to the things of God. Thinks himself to be wise. but he's wise in his own eyes. He's like the one that the Lord
described in Luke 18, 9. He spake this parable unto certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous. They trusted
in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. This is the attitude that flows
from a man's ignorance of himself, ignorance of the plague of his
heart, ignorance of God, God's holiness, God's righteousness,
and the surety of standing before God when he leaves this world.
Now listen, listen to me. We are all very, very soon, very
soon. And I say this in light of eternity. This is a blip. We're just kind
of in a twinkling of an eye moment. Think of the thousands and thousands
and thousands of years that have gone before us. I read of some
historical figures. They're gone. We're just here
for a moment and there's people dying all around us. We're going
to stand before God. And I know something about this
Word right here. Brother Neil got up and read
the Word of God. The Word of God is according
to the will of God, purpose of God, is the only thing, it's
the only thing that God uses to regenerate a sinner. His Word. You know, you can think that
you could come up to a mountain of granite, hard stone, and I'm
going to take a feather, and I'm going to knock this mountain
down with a feather. Someone's going to say, you're a fool.
You're a fool if you think you're going to knock that granite mountain
down with a feather. I can knock that mountain down
quicker. and I could convince a cold dead heart to hear what's
being said right here. I can't do it. I can't do it.
Man by nature, wise in his own conceit, he sees himself as able,
but there's only two standards of wisdom. There's only two.
Now listen, it's either God's or man's, one of the two. That's
the only two though. God's or man's. Hold your place right here. Turn
to 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3. This is what the
Spirit of God says concerning wisdom. Wisdom. Wisdom of God. Wisdom of salvation. 2 Timothy. Chapter 3, verses
14, 15. The Apostle Paul, writing under
the inspiration of God's Spirit, says to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3,
14, but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned
and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them,
and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures. which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus." Now, here's the facts. This is the fact.
The only thing that God's pleased to use to make one wise unto
salvation is this book. The proclamation of the truth
of this book. The truth of it. So it's either
this book or it's us. That's it. It's either wise unto
salvation from what God has to say or what man has to say. Now, with that foundation set
forth, and here's where I'm gonna tell you, I'm not gonna say anything
you hadn't heard before, but may the Lord be pleased to bless
it. I pray, I pray God bless it. Blessed to the salvation
of his people. There's three critical areas
of wisdom that is given by the Lord to every vessel of his mercy. Now listen, listen. I need to
hear this again. You need to hear it again. There's
three critical areas that God's elect are taught And it's either
God's way or man's way. All right, here's my first question
on these critical areas. Now listen, listen. What happened in the garden? What happened in the garden? My question, when man fell in
the garden, Everybody knows that. They know something about Adam
and Eve and there was a garden and they weren't supposed to
eat of this fruit and he did and... What happened? What happened? How far did man
fall? Alright, now. I'm going to speak
from experience. From these scriptures and from
experience. A man wise in his own conceit
will say that man fell, but he didn't fall so far that
his good works or his free will can't bring him back into fellowship
with God. Now, I'm telling you something
from the scriptures, and I'm telling you something from experience.
Man in his own wisdom says, man fell. Yes, he fell. When man
fell, was he dead in trespasses and sins? Yes, that's what a
man wise in his own conceit will say, because of how I'm getting
ready to qualify it. Man, wise in his own conceit,
in his own eyes, will say, yes. Men are sinners. Are they dead
in trespasses and sin? Yes, they will say. But, says
the man wise in his own conceit, it doesn't mean that man is so
dead that he can't make a decision for the Lord. And thereby, by that decision,
be found back in fellowship with God. He's dead, he's dead, yes,
but he's not so dead that he can't do that. And on the other
hand, man wise in his own conceit says, being saved by grace means
that God graciously offers salvation to every man without exception. And the only thing that you have
to do, those that are dead in trespasses and sins, the only
thing that you have to do is that you must accept it to make
it effectual. I'm telling you this from experience. According to the scriptures,
that's what a man wise in his own conceit says, Because according
to the scriptures, when Adam rebelled against God, ate of
the fruit, the scripture says that the Lord told him, in the
day you eat thereof, you're going to die. Now, die means die. What does it mean to die spiritually? Now here's what it means. It
means now man is a mortal creature. He's a mortal creature. What
does that mean? What do you mean he's a mortal
creature? I mean he's going to die. He's either mortal or immortal.
One of the two. And he's going to die. Explain to me what you're saying
is because I've always heard that man could exercise his free will. Where did you get that? Well
a preacher told me. Where did he get it? Show that to me in this Bible.
That a man has a free will. Show me. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter what a man says. What did God say? What does God
have to say? I've read this to you before.
I'm going to read it just one more time. I want to hear it
too. Listen, here's what God has to say about free will. If
you want to look at it, it's John 1 verse 13. Talking about people
that are born from above. It means which were born, John
1, 13, which were born not of blood. That means that because
my daddy was a believer, that doesn't mean I'm gonna be a believer. Were born not of blood, nor of
the will of this flesh. What does that mean? It means
that this flesh, this carnal nature, does not have a will
that will reconcile itself back to God. That's what it means.
Nor of the will of man. What is it? I want my kids to
be saved, but I cannot impart salvation. Paul says my desire
for Israel is that they might be saved. Paul couldn't save
anybody, but how are they born again? They're born again of
God. So whenever somebody tells you that man has a free will,
all I want you to do is say, show me in the Bible. Show me. If man has a free will, show
me. What happened in the garden?
Here's what happened. Man rebelled against God. God
told Adam, in the day you eat, you're going to die. And what
happened was sin, now being found in man, immediately brought man
before the bar of God's justice, found him guilty, condemned him
to death, and immediately man began to exhibit the fruit of
spiritual death, when a body dies. What's happening to it? Well,
it's decomposing and it's breaking down. When man died spiritually,
immediately, he had no heart that beats for God. He had no
heart after God. There was no breathing after
his presence and after his fellowship and righteousness. And the stench
of death was immediately found on man from the sole of his foot
to the crown of his head. He died. He died. Just get it
in your mind what happens to someone when they physically
die. They die. And they've got to
be buried. Why? Because they're going back
to the dust. The scripture says, and the eyes
of Adam and Eve were opened. They now were observant, but
observant to something that they couldn't do anything about. Now
they realize, I'm afraid, I'm shamed, and by experience they
knew that they were naked and they couldn't do anything about
it. They couldn't. So what did they
do? They decided that they'd take
some fig leaves and I'm going to cover myself before God and
that has not changed. It hasn't changed. It's the same
thing. Men are trying to cover themselves
with fig leaves right now. They just call it baptism, and
speaking in tongues, and joining a church, and praying through,
and being good, and giving to the children's home. Fig leaves! Fig leaves! That's what it is.
It's fig leaves. That's all it is. What happened in the garden? Man died to any ability to reconcile
himself back to God and he doesn't care. He doesn't care. He doesn't
care. He'll argue with God. Doesn't
matter. And he's going to stand before
God. What happened in the garden? Man died. Man died. Here's my second question, what
happened at Calvary? What happened at Calvary? Now let me tell you what a man
wise in his own conceit, again I'm speaking from experience,
God's word. A man wise in his own eyes will
say that the Lord Jesus Christ, that God might be fair, went
to the cross and he died He died on the cross
for the sins of all mankind to make salvation possible. I'm
telling you, I'm speaking from experience, that He died on the
cross but Again, in the eyes of a man conceited in his own
eyes, nothing concerning salvation, he says, was completely finished
at Calvary. He died, but salvation is not
secured until the sinner does his part. Nothing was secured,
that's what they say. He died. He just died. He just
died. And I've told you that illustration. If my mama committed murder,
you've heard me say this before, my mama committed murder and
she's going to be executed. And I say, well, look, since
somebody's got to die, I'll die in her place so she won't have
to die. And everybody will, you know, pat me on the back as I'm
taking through the door. And they'll, you know, be saying,
you know, boy, I tell you, he loved his mama, didn't he? Yeah,
but the only problem is here's his mama right here and she's
the guilty one. That's not substitution. What happened at Calvary? What happened at Calvary was
that the Lord Jesus Christ, and the only way I know how to
say it is how the scripture says it. It says that He, the Father,
has made Him sin. He made him sin for us. Who is the us? I'm gonna read
a scripture in just a second. Who knew no sin, not personally,
he didn't, but he was made sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. What does that mean? I'm going
to read a couple more scriptures to let you know what it means.
That's 2 Corinthians 5, 21. He hath made him sin. Now, I want to make sure that
everybody hears what I'm about to say. Was Christ made a sinner? The answer is no. No. No. He was not made a sinner. What is a sinner? A sinner is
one disobedient. By one man's disobedience many
were made sinners. Christ obediently was made what his people are. Now, again, what do I mean when
I say he was made sin? Now listen to this. It means that what he was made
to be is what we are by nature. Were those sins made to be his
sins? Yes, they were made to be his
sins. Psalm 40 verse 12, for innumerable
evils have compassed me about. Now listen, it's either man's
wisdom or God's wisdom. Mine iniquities. I thought he
knew no sin. He didn't, not personally, but
he was made sin. He said, Psalm 40 verse 12, mine
iniquities have taken hold upon me, so I'm not able to look up. They are more than the hairs
of mine head, therefore my heart faileth me. Why? Because those sins were made
his, his sins. For whom was he dying? The Lord
Jesus Christ said in Matthew 26, 28. You may want to write
this down. Matthew 26, 28. For this is my
blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many, many. And the man wise in his own conceit
say, there it is right there. He died for many, many, many,
many. Everybody look up the word many. Look it up. I can tell you where
I got it. Thayer's exhaustive concordance,
Blue Letter Bible. Let me tell you what the definition
of many is. A large part of mankind. That's what it means. A large
part of mankind. This is my blood of the New Testament,
which is shed for many, a large part of mankind. And then the
Lord qualified the many. When he said in John 10, 15,
as the father knoweth me, even so know I the father, and I lay
down my life for, for, F-O-R, here it is, to procure salvation
for his own. the sheep. I laid down my life
for the sheep. So here's my question. Whenever
the Lord was made sin, not a sinner, but was made sin, were those
sins that he was buried, what he made, were they his sins? Now, though he never personally
committed any of them, he bore them all. They were His. They were His. Mine iniquity. I'm going to tell you this, if
I didn't read that in that scripture right there, I wouldn't say that.
But when God says it, I'm going to agree with God. To what extent
were they His sins? Isaiah 53 11, and I'll define
this word. In particular, as I have before,
I'll do it again. I'll define this word so we understand.
He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. A godly father shall see the
travail of the soul of his son and be satisfied. For by his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, many large
parts. mankind. For he shall bear, B-E-A-R,
this is Isaiah 53 11, he shall bear their iniquities. I always thought, I was heard
that when he, maybe I just assumed this, I don't know, I can't remember.
But anyway, I remember thinking that whenever the Lord
died, somehow, I don't know if the sins were on his head, I
couldn't figure out if they were on his shoulders, I couldn't
quite, I knew he was dying, you know, obviously I thought to
make salvation possible, but of course, point one, what happened
in the garden kind of nullified that point, and I knew he was
dying, but where were the sins? What, I mean, I know it had to
do with him dying for sins, but how personal was this? He shall
bear their iniquities, Isaiah 53, 11. He shall carry, shall
be burdensome, and listen to this word, gravid, gravid. You know what that word means? I've said before, would you say
that a woman who is bearing a child and that bearing of that child,
would you say she's got a personal involvement with it? Now is that
child kind of like, you know, just virtual, you know, as if
it were? She's bearing that child and
she's bearing that child. He shall bear their sins. He
shall bear their iniquities. First Peter 2.24 says, who his
own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. Now what happened at Calvary? I'll tell you this, at Calvary,
the Lord Jesus Christ, according to his word, he said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. Here's what the scripture says.
The scripture says that when the Lord Jesus Christ went to
the cross, The scripture says he was not
dying for everybody's sin. He was not dying for everybody's
sin. That's what the scripture says.
I lay down my life for the sheep. When He went to the cross, how
personal was it? He bore our sins in His own body. He made them His own. He made Himself answerable. He made Himself answerable for
God, God's law. He bore the iniquity, made sin
for us. And God Almighty, in absolute
justice, killed Him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. To bruise him, it pleased the
Lord to crush him. To crush him, that's what it
means. And the scripture says concerning him bearing the sins
of his people. God said, Hebrews 10, 17, their
sins will I remember no more. First John, let me read this,
First John 1-7. First John 1-7. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sins, purges us,
purges us. There's no debt. There's no debt. to cleanse, cast as far as the
east is from the west, Psalm 103.12. God right now has compassion
upon the people of his choosing because he has cast their sins,
the scripture says, into the depth of the sea, Micah 7.19.
On Calvary's tree, the Lord Jesus Christ finished the work. He finished it. I'm telling you,
he bore the sins of his people, bore them in his own body, is
that word as a woman pregnant with child, mine iniquities,
mine iniquities. He made them to be his own. When
somebody tells you Christ died for the sins of the whole world,
he died for everybody to make salvation possible, show me. Show me in this book where it
says that. Last point, number three. What
happens when God regenerates a sinner? What happens? Well, the man wise in his own
conceit will say that regeneration is the result now of a sinner
accepting the Lord into his heart. Would you make Jesus Lord? I
heard Brother Henry said, you're too late. God made him that. God made him Lord. He's the Lord. He's the Lord. You don't make
him anything. One of two things is going to happen. Either you're
going to bow to him now or you're going to bow to him then. But
every knee is going to bow. Every knee is going to bow. You
can sit here and argue with God all you want to. And in that
day, you've done all your arguing. You're going to stand before
God and Almighty God is going to open the books. And every
man is going to be judged. apart from Christ, out of the
books of his own works. And we're gonna come up wanting,
believe me. We're gonna be cast out, bound
hand and foot into outer darkness. But for those written in the
Lamb's book of life, when was that book written? Before the
foundation of the world. I used to believe it, I told
you this too. I told you you wouldn't hear anything new. Every
time somebody accepted Jesus, An angel wrote their name in
the book of life. I've got a new entry right here, y'all. I'm
not trying to be funny. This is how I thought. This is
how I thought. They write their names. No, the
scripture said the foundation, the Lamb's book of life written
from the foundation of the world. All the names were written. God
Almighty, God of people, always had them, chose them in Christ. So what happens when God regenerates
a sinner? Well, the man wise in his own
conceit says, well, here's what happens. God made a choice for,
the devil made a choice against, and man's going to cast, decide
and vote. It's got to be a majority. There's
already been two votes cast, and God's not going to infringe
on a man's free will. Well, I've already established
man doesn't have a free will, so there's nothing there to infringe
on. What happens? A man wise in his own conceit
said, I'm going to have to make the final vote. And when he does
that, you know what it's going to do? I don't know about y'all, but I
can tell you what. I know I didn't do much. But
at least I believed. Man's not going to glory before
God. He is not going to stand before God and tell God what
he did. Almighty God saved people by
grace. And they know it through faith
in Him. They believe God. When it comes
to salvation, Salvation was purposed, established
before the foundation of the world. That's what 2 Thessalonians
2.13, we are bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved
of the Lord, because God has chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. When
it comes to salvation, regeneration is the result. Regeneration is
the result, the manifestation of that which God Almighty everlastingly
ordained. You've read, I've read this,
I'm gonna wrap this up, 2 Timothy 1.8, 2 Timothy 1.8. Listen to what I'm saying, here's
what I just said. I said that God Almighty established before
the foundation of the world that he was going to save a people. And in the mind and will and
purpose of Almighty God, they were saved. They were saved. Saved. 2 Timothy 1, 8 to 10, be not thou
therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. nor me his prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God who has saved us and called us. I've said before,
what came first, salvation or regeneration? What comes first,
salvation or regeneration? Salvation. According to this
book right here. Well, I've always heard here
again, with all due respect, it doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter what you've heard if it's contrary to this book. Who has
saved us and called us with a 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, but is now manifested
by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished
death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. What happens in regeneration?
Is God just waiting on a man to just see whether or not he's
going to choose the Lord? No, no, no. When it pleased God, Paul said,
who called me by His grace, revealed His Son in me, immediately I
conferred not with flesh and blood. When it pleased God, when
it pleased God. When is God going to call one
of His own out of darkness? When He's pleased to. When He's
pleased to. I don't have to sing 75 verses
just as I am. God's going to save His own.
He said in John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me, they shall come to me. Why? Because He's going to call. He's
going to give them a new heart, make them willing the day of
His power. Salvation is not a decision. Salvation is not a decision. Salvation is a person. And salvation is union with that
person. Being found in Him. And that union with Him is according
to God's choosing, God's will, God's purpose, who has chosen
us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. And I'll tell you
this, in that day, according to this book right here, all
that the Father chose, the Son redeemed. He redeemed them. And the Spirit of God's gonna
call them. And in that day, we'll stand before God, not in our
own merit, because we don't have any. We're going to stand before
God in his merit, by his grace. And according to this book, we
shall hear those who have been made to see something of their
need and cry out for mercy. You shall hear him say, come,
you blessed of my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Have you ever noticed
that every time God says something about what he does, it was always
done before the foundation of the world? And he just reveals
that to us in time. Seest thou a man wise in his
own conceit, in his own eyes? There's more hope of a fool than
of him. That hope of a fool. A man that doesn't believe anything.
He just doesn't believe anything. It just doesn't matter. A man
wise in his own conceit thinks that he's got something that
he's done to merit himself before God. But you take a man who is
a stupid fellow. God might be pleased to save
somebody like that. Right here, here's one of them
right here. Just a stupid fellow. Thank you for having mercy on
this sinner, but not leaving me to myself, not leaving me
to go through this world thinking that I'd done something for you.
By the grace of God, I am what I am. Amen. Okay.