All right, brethren, Luke chapter
2. Verse 1 says, It came to pass
in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be taxed. Verse 3, And all went
up and went to be taxed, every one into his own city. Joseph
also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth unto
the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, to be taxed with Mary,
his espoused wife, being great with child. So it was that while
they were there, the days were accomplished that she should
be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped
him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because
there was no room for them in the inn. speak to you tonight on my favorite
topic. The absolute sovereign Savior. The absolute sovereign Savior. Our God, our Savior, is all-powerful. He's absolutely sovereign over
things visible and invisible. Our God purposed in eternity
that He would glorify His name. He would, in particular, glorify
His Son. That His Son would have all the
preeminence. And so He chose Him to be the
Christ. He anointed Him the Christ. And
He chose a people sovereignly by His grace without any merit
in us Nothing good or evil done by us. He chose a people. He actually created us when He
chose us. Before we ever had a human existence,
He created us in Christ when He chose us in Christ. And He
sent forth His Son. And the way God purposed to glorify
His Son and to glorify His name was saving us after we had fallen
in sin and we're totally thoroughly ruined with a devil against us
and a host of wicked angels against us and wicked men against us
and against him and every obstacle that could be put in his path
and yet that's what he chose to come forth and show his absolute
sovereign power to save his people from our sins. Our God is the
absolute sovereign Savior. Now, we're going to see that
right here. I want to show it to you in three ways. First way
is, our God's absolutely sovereign to make men do what He would
have them to do, to turn their heart, to make them accomplish
His will, even when men don't know they're accomplishing His
will. This man, Caesar Augustus, he sends out a decree that all
the world should be taxed. He made this decree, and he's
in this position of authority. He makes this decree, and in
his mind, everybody does his bidding. Everybody does what
he tells them to do. He has the power. But this man
did what he did because our sovereign God put it in his heart to do
what he did. God put it in his heart. Proverbs
21.1 says, is in the hand of the Lord as
the rivers of water. He turneth it whithersoever he
will. Proverbs 16 tells us the preparations
of the heart in man. The preparations of the heart
in a man. And the answer of the tongue
is from the Lord. Is from the Lord. A man's heart
deviseth his way. but the Lord directs his steps.
Our God is the sovereign savior. He's the sovereign of heaven
and earth, ruling all. Now listen, a brother sent me
a video of this fellow that was being interviewed by Joe Rogan.
I can't remember the fellow's name, but this podcast was viewed
by millions of people. And to my surprise, this fellow
declared the gospel. He declared the gospel. He declared
that no man can believe on Christ of his own will, that we're just
spiritually dead. And he declared we have to be
born from above. We have to be born again of God
and Christ has to be revealed in the heart or man can't know
him. He gave God all the glory for him believing on the Lord
Jesus and he said that The question was asked, well, how does God
choose who he'll give this revelation to? And he said, it's God's elect. He said God chose who he would,
passed by who he would. That's who makes the distinguishing
factor of who will have Christ revealed to him. It's God, God
alone. He said, I couldn't know this
but by God alone. And I couldn't wait to read the
comments. I could not wait to go and see
what people wrote to this man's words. And brethren, folks were
using the same old objections that you've heard over and over
and over, the same objections we used. One person wrote, said,
how do you reconcile this doctrine of election with John 3.16? For
God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Another
person quoted Paul in Timothy, where he said, God will have
all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
Brethren, I've heard those scriptures thrown at us over and over, and
I know you have too. A believer does not have to reconcile
any scripture, because there's no scripture It's in any disagreement. It's all consistent with each
other because it all came from the same God through the same
Holy Spirit that used holy men of old to pen these scriptures.
It's the Word of God. You don't have to reconcile anything. And they don't contradict each
other. But look at verse 1 of our text
here. Verse 1 says, There went out
a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be
taxed. Does Caesar tax everyone in the
world without exception? No. No. He taxed the people living
under his rule. Just the people living under
his rule. Why does it say all the world then? Because Rome
had a lot of land. There was a lot of people. To
the people that lived there, they were ruling the world. But
not all men without exception. John 3.16 declares, God loves
his elect scattered throughout the whole world. You know, if
you see a scripture that looks wide, looks real wide, well,
then you find another scripture that seems to narrow that scripture
a little bit. Well, you have to go with a narrower
scripture. Obviously the world means what this narrower scripture
means. And God elected a people, it's all through the scriptures.
That's what they're called everywhere in the scriptures. Ephesians
1, God blessed us with all spiritual blessings according as he chose
us in Christ Jesus. We should be holy and without
blame. He did this before the world
was made. And that's, Nicodemus thought it was just Jews that
were elect, and they were elect just because they were Jews.
No, there's no elect just because of where you're born. God chose
whom he would. God chose where you'd be born.
But he's declaring there's elect throughout this world. And I'm
thankful world doesn't mean all without exception because our
great high priest prayed in his high priestly prayer and said,
Father, I pray not for the world. Does that mean he didn't pray
for anybody without exception? No. It means he don't pray for
everyone, he prays for his elect. He said, here's how he defined
it. He said, I pray for them which
thou hast given me. for they are thine. And in case
somebody says, well, that's just talking about the apostles. Listen
to the next word. All mine are thine, all of them. All mine elect are yours, Father,
and thine are mine, and I'm glorified in them. And that's the issue.
God chose his people and trusted on Christ that Christ might get
all the glory in saving his people. He's gonna be glorified. God
elected a people and trusted them to his son that his son
might be glorified and he will be glorified in his people, in
our salvation. Proud sinners, spiritually dead
sinners, they go to these scriptures just like we did when we were
dead in our sin. We go to these scriptures and
they filter every word through that lens of trying to get glory
for man, trying to protect his proud will, trying to give a
work in his own hand, so we can have something to glory in. That's
why the sovereign God of glory has to give us new eyes. He has
to give us new ears. He has to make us entirely new
because until he does that, until the Lord comes in spirit, creates
a new man in us. From the sole of our foot until
the crown of our head, there is no soundness in us. Wounds
and bruises and putrefying sword. I've been bound up, either mollified
with ointment, and we can't bind them up. We can't mollify them
with ointment. The leopard can't change his
spots, the Ethiopian can't change his skin, and we can't do good
who are accustomed to evil. to come forth from our mother's
womb speaking lies. And to be honest, when I read
those comments, I thought a man that's physically blind would
sooner tell you the colors of the rainbow than a spiritually
dead man can give you any truth regarding the word of God. When
we read Paul's word to Timothy, and he said, God will have all
men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, The thing
to focus on there is God's will. God will. He will. He will have all men to be saved
and come to the knowledge of the truth. Well, let's answer
this question. Is God powerful to work his will?
Can God work his will? If God cannot work his will,
if anybody or anything can frustrate the will of God, especially when
it comes to saving his people, why even talk about the will
of God then? What's the will of God have to
do with salvation if God's will can be frustrated? Is the devil
more powerful than God? The devil had to ask God's permission
before he could touch Job. Is the sinner more powerful than
God? Because that's what men are really
saying. Sinners are more powerful than... Well, that vain idol
that men worship, that men imagine, he is a weak, helpless God. And
man is more powerful than that God, because man made him. But
the true God of this book, the true God of this Bible, No sinner
is sovereign. No sinner is able to frustrate
his will, not the sovereign God. A sinner can't keep himself from
catching a cold, much less frustrate the will of God. Turn over with me to Isaiah 40.
This is what came to my mind when I was reading those comments.
Listen to this right here. This is the question God asks. Listen to this. Isaiah 40. In fact, verse 21, Have you not
known? Have you not heard? Hath it not
been told you from the beginning? This is God speaking. Have you
not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He that sitteth
upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are
as grasshoppers. that stretcheth out the heavens
as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in, that
bringeth the princes to nothing. He maketh the judges of the earth
as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted.
Yea, they shall not be sown. Yea, their stalks shall not take
root in the earth. And he shall also blow upon them,
and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away
as stubble. To whom then will you liken me,
or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? See what God says? The devil's not equal to God.
He can't frustrate God's will. A sinner's not equal to God.
He can't even come close to hindering God's will. None are equal to
God. Look at verse 26. Lift up your
eyes on high and behold who hath created these things that bringeth
out their hosts by number. He calleth them all by names
by the greatness of his might for that he is strong in power,
not one faileth. We're talking about the absolute
sovereign savior. God is sovereign to work his
will and a man can't turn his hand back, he can't stop his
hand and a man can't question him. Just ask Nebuchadnezzar. All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will,
according to his will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and none stayeth his hand. Nobody
can stop the hand of God, and none can question him. None can
say, what doest thou? You know what Paul's telling
Timothy in that verse? Paul's telling Timothy, pray
for kings. We pray for kings, just like
we pray for poor sinners, and we pray for men and women, and
we pray for bond and free, and rich and poor, because God will
have all kinds of sinners to be saved. Listen, how are they
going to be saved? This is the issue. How are they
going to have the knowledge of God? They shall be all taught
of God. Whoever God's willing to save,
they shall be all taught of God, or else they can't know God,
else they can't know the Savior. They shall be all taught of God,
and Christ said, and when they're taught of my Father, they come
to me. They come to me. Those that he
reveals Christ in, they all have this in common. God chose them
before the foundation of the world, Christ came forth and
he made atonement for each one of them. He laid down his life
and made atonement for them. I heard somebody say in one of
these commentaries, how dare you limit the atonement? Well,
we don't limit the atonement. We declare there is an absolute,
definitive, sure and certain atonement that was accomplished
by the Lord Jesus Christ. The Armenian doesn't even say
atonement was accomplished. They just say it was made possible. Talk about limiting the atonement.
The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished their redemption and every one
of them shall be taught of the Father because God's glory is
what the whole purpose of this is. His glory, the glory of his
son to show his name and declare his name, that's the purpose
of saving this people. And he justified them. and they
shall be called and he will not lose one of them. Scripture says
of Christ, God said he shall not fail till he has set judgment
in the earth and even his people among the Gentiles, they're going
to wait for his word. And he's going to set judgment
in their heart. He's going to reveal the truth in their heart. and bring them all to cast all
their care on Christ. They have to be born from above.
That's what all God's people have in common. We cannot come
to God by ourselves because we can't know him of ourselves.
We can't call on him. We can't make ourselves willing
to do so. We will not believe on Christ
that we might be saved. We'll exalt ourselves, we'll
exalt our will, we'll try to steal the glory that belongs
to God, we'll just leave out scripture we don't want to deal
with, and we'll latch on to just the scripture that we think exalts
us. We'll do all of that. But we
will not declare that we are the guilty Hell-deserving sinner
that can add nothing or do nothing to save ourselves. We will not
cast all our care on Christ. We will not give God all the
glory. That's what we will not do by
nature. That's why God has to create us anew. Our Lord Jesus
said this. This is another thing I thought
about reading these comments. All I heard was murmuring against
God, murmuring against God. Our Lord Jesus said, murmur not
amongst yourselves. When you hear men murmuring and
arguing against the gospel, objecting against it, brethren, don't get
angry with them. Don't get frustrated with them.
Don't, because that's all man can do by nature. That's all
we could do. That's all we could do. You get
so caught up in your sin nature now, as one of his saints, that
if God doesn't save you out of your sin nature even now, that's
all we'll do. He said, no man can come to me
except my father, which has sent me drawing, and I'll raise him
up at the last day. It is written, they shall be
all taught of God, and everyone that has heard of my father and
has learned of my father, he comes to me, Christ said. That's
what everyone does. And they don't come boasting,
and they don't come saying, I did it by my will, and they don't
come saying, I accepted my little Jesus. They come bowed down at
his feet, giving him the glory and thanking him, thanking him,
thanking him for mercy, mercy, mercy, and grace, grace, grace. Pharisees boasted in their will,
they said, are we blind also? Here's what this true Lord Jesus,
this true sovereign Savior, here's what he said to them. He said,
if you would have said you were blind, You know what all this, how do
you reconcile that with John 3, 16? You know what they're
saying? Are you saying we're blind also? That's all that is, trying to
boast in a man's way. They said, are you saying we're
blind also? He said, if you would have said you were blind, you'd
have no sin. You know what that means? The only way a man could say
he's blind is the same way that blind man did that day. Christ
came to him. Christ did an operation of grace
on him. Christ made him see. And when
Christ made him see, he came to him and said, Lord, I don't
know who Christ is. I don't know. Will you teach
me? I don't know anything. I'm blind.
And God gave him, Christ gave him spiritual sight. He gave
him all things so he could enter into glory. Christ is the Savior. He's the provider of righteousness
and holiness and eyes and ears and all the spiritual senses
and all things that pertain to Godliness. He gives it to us.
And that man was given everything by Christ. And a man that has
been given some understanding of what a sinner he is and how
bad he needs to save, he comes like that man came. His mother
and daddy cast him out. You know why? They were fearful
of the Pharisees, that they'd get kicked out of the synagogue. They were more afraid of their
mother and their father, and trying to act religious, and
act like they knew something in religion, to impress a wicked
sinner, like their mother and their father, like the Pharisees. That's what his mother and father,
they're trying to impress these Pharisees, and deny their own
child. Christ has to make us see we're
blind by nature. We can't do anything to please
God. We don't deserve anything from
God. But the man that's brought there
by the Lord, that man will find out. Christ put away all his
sin because Christ's the one that gave him that sight and
drew him to him. This is the true and living God.
He's so sovereign, He's upholding everything right now by the word
of His power. and He's not gonna let one perish. He's gonna call every one of
His people. He's longsuffering to us. We're not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And
because He's the sovereign Savior, Peter said, you can account that
the longsuffering of God is salvation. He's gonna save every one of
His people. That's what the will of God does. The will of God
saves. Secondly, let me show you here. We see God's sovereign
power and how he declared his promises in the scripture, and
then he brings them all to pass. He declares what he's going to
do, how he's going to say, what's going to come to pass, then he
brings it all to pass. Verse 3, they all went to be
taxed, everyone to his own city, and Joseph went up from Galilee
out of the sea of Nazareth unto Judea, unto the city of David,
which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage
of David. Caesar Augustus is calling the
shots over Judah. You know why? You know why this
Roman Caesar is ruling over Judah? Because the scepter has departed
from Judah. The Romans put a Gentile in place
to rule over the Jews. There wasn't even a Jew ruling
over Judah at the time. God promised that way back there
in Jacob's day. He promised it, and God brought
it to pass. Genesis 49, 10 said the scepter,
the kingly rule, shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from
between his feet. The Lord kept a king in Judah
all the way up to where we are right now in our text. And there
won't be a king depart until Shiloh come. And Shiloh's in
Mary's womb. Shiloh has come. and unto him
shall the gathering of the people be. You see, Christ declared
that through Jacob, and here he is bringing it to pass. That's the sovereign savior.
God ruled the king's heart to make this decree. He made this
decree for this purpose, to put Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem,
because in the scriptures, God said that's where the savior
was coming from, Bethlehem. Micah 5.2, he said, Thou Bethlehem
Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be
ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old, from
everlasting. That's Christ. He declared he'd
be born in Bethlehem. That's why this king made this
decree. That's why the Lord put it in
his heart, to put Joseph and Mary right there in Bethlehem,
because that's where the king's coming from. Our Lord fulfills
the scriptures. He gives the scripture, He makes
His promises, and He brings every one of them to pass. Joseph and
Mary are both of the house and lineage of David. Why? Why did God, why did He say something
about that? What did He say about it? He
said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise
unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. That's
Christ Jesus. That's why they went back up
there. They have the house of David.
Brethren, don't let your heart be troubled. Go with me over
to Ecclesiastes chapter five. Don't let your heart be troubled.
You know, I was thinking about this. I remember being on the
floor playing, just a child, and I remember hearing grown
folks arguing and fussing over politicians and how just awful
the rulers were and all this. I'm 55 now, and I hear them saying
the same thing, same thing. You'd have thought, if the answer's
in a politician, you'd have thought they'd have figured it out by
now. We've been at it in this country since 1776. They've been
rulers at it a whole lot longer than before that, and it's still
the same mess everywhere. But I'm gonna tell you something.
You know who put Caesar Augustus where he put him? Our king put
him there. You know why he put him there?
Same reason he put Pharaoh where he put him. He said, I raised
you up that I might show my power, that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Here we are right now, over 2,000
years later, and we're still talking about that sovereign
king that put Augustus on that throne. That's why he was there. So when I see a politician raised
up, I don't worry about that politician. You know why? My
Lord put him there. You know what he's going to do?
He's doing just what my Lord put in his heart to do. Well,
they stole the vote. He ruled the stealers. If they
did steal the vote, he ruled the ones doing the stealing to
put his king right where he put him. You want me to tell you
the secret to a good night's sleep? Trust the Lord and go
to sleep. Sleep like a baby. Nothing is
out of kilter. Everything is right on track
and right on time. And it's being done exactly according
to the will of God, exactly as He has it come to pass. Look
here, Ecclesiastes 5.8, If thou seest the oppression of the poor
and violent perverting of justice, In a providence marvel not at
the matter, for he that is higher than the highest regardeth, and
there be higher than they. There's one that's ruling everything,
and he sees it, he regards it, he's ruling it. One of the spiritually
dead sinner's favorite objections is, if God's sovereign, then
why does he let so much evil happen in the world? It's the
sinners doing the evil. Is sinners doing evil? You know
why you gotta sign a contract on every single thing you do?
You know why you gotta just sign your name, sign your name, and
fill out paper after paper after paper if it's anything of any
importance whatsoever? You know why you gotta enter
into contract, every contract? Cause all men are liars, that's
why. Cause sinners are sinners, that's
why. But why does things come to pass?
Listen, surely the wrath of man shall praise God and a remainder
of that thereof shall God restrain. Now that's wisdom. If it's coming to pass by a sinful,
wrathful man, God's gonna make it glorify him. It's gonna glorify
him. And all the rest of the evil
and wickedness that's in a man's heart, God just restrains every
bit of it. Because whatever is not bringing
Him glory or working out for the good of His people, He don't
let it come to pass. That's God. That's who the true
God is. Look here, how does He deal with
me and you? You know Psalm 103. He says,
He hasn't dealt with us after our sins. After our iniquity,
as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy
toward them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath He removed our sins from us. Like a father
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him,
for He knows our frame, He remembers where dust. He's not putting
anything too awfully important in your hand, child of God. If
he does, he's holding your hand, and he's holding you, and he's
gonna bring whatever that important thing is, he's bringing it to
pass. Just mark it down. I'm not depending on me to pastor
this church. I'm depending on the Lord. I'm
not depending on me to call people in here or to get them to stay
here. I'm depending on the Lord to do it. I can't do it. Let me show you this one last
thing. The greatest example of God's sovereign power is the
manner in which he chose to appear to men in this world and how
he saves his people. This shows his sovereignty above
everything else. Look at verse six. While they
were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered
and she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, laid him in a manger because there was no room for
them in the inn. Now, if man had all power like God does,
oh, we'd show out and we'd try to come show our pomp and all
our show and how powerful we are. You see it every day. You
give a rock star a little bit of money and he acts like he
created the world. You put a man in and give him
a title and give him a little recognition and you'd have thought
he created sand. The all-powerful sovereign God,
our Creator, the one who upholds all things by the word of His
power, you know how He came? As an infant in a womb. He said that's the lowest parts
of the earth. Think how helpless an infant
in a womb is. You want to talk about how He
submitted to serve the Father and made Himself a servant? An
infant in a womb. How long wilt thou go about,
thou backsliding daughter? How long will you go backwards,
thou backsliding daughter? For the Lord hath created a new
thing in the earth. A woman shall come past the man.
Holy God, the Son of God, with all power to come any way He
chose to come into this world, made Himself in the lowest part
of the earth, in the womb of a virgin. He's the seed of woman
that He promised. That's how he came. The work
of almighty power to create a human body for the Son of God to take
in the womb of a virgin. You see, when you have all power,
you don't have to put on a vain show. But to show that he is
all powerful, he came in a way that would in no way make any
sinner of his own will desire him whatsoever. He came to show
that it takes His power to call His people. It takes Christ's
blood to justify His people. And He did it through a bloody
cross that just turns men's stomach. He came in a way in a poor family. He made a mockery of our vain
pomp and how we look on the outward appearance. If they'd have had
some money, the owner of that inn would have made room for
them. But they didn't have any money, so they had to be cast
out. But you know where his people
were? His people, because we sinned in Adam, we were cast
out. So you know where Christ came?
He came cast out. He was, because his people was
made after the flesh, he made after the same. He came down
because they were under the law, he made himself to be under the
law. Imagine that, the lawgiver come to fulfill his own law for
his people. The just judge come to pass judgment
on himself and justifies people and show how just he is in doing
it. He who is all righteousness came
down and willingly bowed and was made sin for his people.
All the sin of all God's elect was made to meet on him and he
bore it and he bore the shame of it and he bore the curse and
the wrath of God for our sin. And he put our sin away. He put it away. And he ascended
to the Father and he sat down because the work is finished. No man helped him. All men did
was oppose him and object to him and try to stop him. And
then in the actual cross itself, men just were nailing the nails
thinking they were getting him out of the way so they could
go on with this charade of religion. taking his word, taking his law,
taking his statutes, and throwing the God that gave him away and
saying, we're just gonna play with religion. We can come to
God this way. He came, he conquered, he saved,
and he went back to glory. And man never knew he even showed
up. Oh, brethren. What a Savior. made himself a servant of rulers
and he takes men who think they're kings and makes them come and
bow down and be his servant. Willing bond servants, happy
to be his servant by his grace. His name should be called Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sin. No maybes, just
yes and amen. That's our savior. I'll tell
you one place, the world, it means everybody without exception.
If he ever makes you hear the law, we know what things the
law saith. It saith to every man that's
under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God. It means everybody without exception. What amazing grace. The lawgiver
came and he magnified and he honored his own law for his people.
And He comes and makes you hear that He's done it on your behalf.
And when He does that, that's what melts the heart. He doesn't
come and just power and force you down and lord over you and
make you bow and make you confess Him. He comes. secret like he came into this
earth. He comes in that still small voice, he comes and he
speaks into the heart and he turns you to look to that cross
and you see what you deserve. You see what he did for his people
and you hear God say, I'm satisfied with him. And God said, blessed
is the man whom thou choose and cause to approach unto you and
they'll be satisfied with your temple. He makes us satisfied
with him. Brethren, I pray that he give
you rest and make you know. He said, my peace I give you
not like this world gives you. He's not in D.C. wrangling, trying
to claim and he's working out for your peace. He gives you
peace. My peace I give you. He is that
peace and He gives you peace and you're in His hand. This
world's in His hand. Every rule is in His hand. Everything
come to pass is by His hand and He's doing what's right and He's
doing it when it's right. You just rest in Him and have
peace. And when it's all said and done,
when your time is over, He's going to just take you right
into glory with Him and show you what a wonderful Savior He's
been to you your whole life. And you that don't know him,
I pray tonight he come into your heart and speak just the words
all he's got to speak and you will bow. A word and you'll fall
down in gratitude. A word and you'll fall down praising
him for his grace and his mercy. I pray he make you see you are
a sinner and you need a savior and you can't be that savior
and nobody else can. Only the Lord of glory. There's
no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. I pray he make you see that.
If you're his, whether it might not be tonight, but when the
time's appointed that he predestinated, he gonna make you see it. I pray
give you heart to seek him while he may be found. All right, Brother
Adam.