The beloved John wrote, he that
hath the Son hath life. I've often said this in quoting
that verse. There's nothing about those words
that we can't understand. A sinner, a man or a woman that
has Christ has eternal life. and he that hath not the Son
hath not life." Five simple words that mean the same thing as salvation
is of the Lord. The Lord being the Lord Jesus
Christ. Salvation is of Jesus Christ. There's nothing in our salvation
that God in Christ does not do. Nothing. Everything in the sinner's
salvation is Christ's doing. Do you agree with me? We, the
sinner, have no participation, no cooperation in the matter. How much? None. None. First, God is mighty, He is omnipotent,
He's sovereign. He's powerful. And each of those
descriptions of God are defined as all. Three little letters,
all, A-L-L, that takes in everything. He's all. He's almighty. He's
all-powerful. He's all-independent. He's all-supreme. He is all-effective. All-potent. Omnipotent. And when you are
all, then you have it all. No one else has any. If I've
got all the money, y'all are broke. Christ is all and in all. That's beautiful. Wouldn't want
anybody else to have it all but Him. And He has it all because
He is all. That has to be so for salvation
to be in and of Him. Secondly, God is holy. I know God's love, but He's first
and foremost holy. He's just and He's righteous. God can and will by no means
clear the guilty. If you're guilty of sin, you're
going to be condemned. Because God is too holy to let
it slide. Nor will He by any means punish
or condemn the innocent. Now that's good news if you're
innocent. The problem is, all of us, in and of ourselves, are
not. We have to be made innocent. And He's the one that makes us
so. The one who judges our innocence is the one who makes us innocent. Christ is too right to do wrong.
He's too just to be unjust, and He's too holy to be unfair, as
people claim Him to be. Well, that's not fair. Only a sovereign, omnipotent,
almighty God can be completely, all-holy, totally just, entirely
right, and be so all the time. I'm kind of like that broke clock.
I'm right at least twice a day, but not much more than that. But He's right all the time.
All the time. He had to be, and He has to be,
in order for salvation to be of Him. Thirdly, God is all-loving,
all-merciful, and all-gracious. What other cause or reason would
He have to send His Son into the world to save wretches like
you and me? Those that have offended Him.
Did you know that you've offended God? Had someone say one time,
I didn't mean to offend you. I said, I didn't know you did.
But we've offended God. And some of us don't know that
we have. But we have. We've offended God.
Against Him, Him only, have we done this evil that we do in
His sight. We've offended God. His justice
requires Him to send us to hell. And He certainly has the power
to do so. But this sovereign, this omnipotent,
this all-holy, all-just, and all-righteous, and all-merciful,
and all-gracious God finds no pleasure in the death of the
wicked. No, sir. He delights to show mercy. To
me? To anyone who desires it. And
to all who love His Son. Who does He leave the light to
show this mercy and grace to? Well, to whosoever He wills. I don't know why folks think
that those who believe in the sovereignty of God, the election
of God, the choosing of God, don't think we believe that. Whosoever will. That's what the
Scripture says. He's sovereign to whosoever He
wills. Not to whosoever we want Him
to, but to whosoever He wills, to whosoever loves His Son. And whosoever loves and trusts
and depends on Jesus Christ is who God loves and who God saves. Not the whole world, but God
so loved the world, yes, His people in the world that whosoever
believeth in Him, Christ, shall have everlasting life. Who has everlasting life? That's
pretty plain. Those who love His Son. No one
else. God doesn't love everyone. He
doesn't love all in the world. God loves all. God loves everyone
in the world who loves His Son. Still agree with me? God must
be loving, merciful, and gracious. God must be a holy and just God
in order for salvation to be justly and rightly given to chosen
sinners. And God can only be those things
in Jesus Christ. You and I are none of these things.
It's amazing to me how any mere man or woman can believe that
they're even close. So salvation can't be of us.
Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is in a person. You
tell people that and they act like it's some strange doctrine.
Salvation is in a person. That person is God's Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Might want to write that down. Easily forgotten. You see, it's
impossible for man to become God, and it's absolutely necessary
for God to become a man. Why? Because God, as a man, in
the person of His Son, must come. He's got to be made a man, made
under the law, to keep the law for man and satisfy God's strict
justice in man's place. It's called substitution. Jesus
Christ is my substitute. He's my sacrifice. He's my salvation. And only one who is God and man
can be so. Without God, it's impossible
for us to be redeemed. And without faith in Christ,
it's impossible to please God. A holy and just God must be pleased
with you in order to save you justly, according to the law. How can God be pleased with the
unpleasant? How can God, who cannot look
upon wickedness, love the wicked? How can God, who can by no means,
under any circumstance, clear a guilty man or woman, clear
them, and do so according to justice? These questions need
to be answered according to the Scripture. And there's only one
way. Only one answer. You have to
have the Gospel. And the Gospel is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is salvation. And
He's the only means by which we can be saved. What do we need
to know to be saved? No, it's who we need to know
to be saved. And Christ must be known and
worshipped in spirit and in truth. Now, don't lose track of that.
Those that worship Him, the Lord told that lady at the well, those
that worship Him must Worship Him how? In spirit and in truth. You can't worship and be saved
by a false god. Did you hear me? An idol cannot
save you. Idols? What about idols? Psalm 51 says, well, they've
got eyes, but they can't see. They've got ears, but they can't
hear. They've got mouths, but they can't speak. They got feet,
but they can't walk. What good is an idol going to
do you? You need God. You need the Lord
Jesus Christ. And He must be known and worshipped
in spirit and in truth. No one else can save you. Any
fallen, dead sinner that somehow believes that God finds them
necessary in any way, does not have a right understanding of
God and His means of salvation. Now, do I need to say that again?
Well, I'm going to anyway. Any fallen dead sinner that somehow
believes that God needs them, He needs my participation, He
needs my cooperation, doesn't know God, nor His means of redemption. The Lord Jesus was the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. This is not something that the
church here at Bible Baptist Church on Beulah Road, Princeton
Pike, came up with back in the 60's when this church began. This is something that God proclaimed
from the foundation of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ was the
Lamb slain before there ever was a sinner. Before there was
ever a sinner, there was a Savior. Paul, speaking of Jacob and Esau,
one whom he loved and one whom he hated. And boy, that'll fire
some folks up, you tell them that. But he said before you
were born, before you've done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God, according to election, might stand. It's God that does
the saving. Aren't you glad? Because you
can't save yourself. You'd never be saved. Here's
the Lamb slain. I touched on this briefly last
week, but the first four words of Scripture, God's got to cause
you to understand, in the beginning, God. Now let me tell you what
that tells us. That tells me that in the beginning
there was no one but God. In the beginning God. It doesn't
say in the Word was God and David. Not David the psalmist or David
this unprofitable servant. In the beginning was God. Oh,
try to sink your finite carnal heads into that. There was a
time before time, a time when God in the unity of His own nature, three divine persons, God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, dwelt all alone.
I remember as a young boy sitting under a tree in the backyard
and looking up into the sky and saying, where did God come from? It's mind-boggling. Who created
God? Nobody. He always was. How can
you always be? I don't know. But I know it's
so. In the beginning, God. In the
beginning, there was no heaven where His glory was manifested. There was no earth that engaged
His attention. No angels to sing His praises.
No angels! There was a time when there wasn't
angels. No universe needed upheld by His power. There was nothing
but God. In the beginning, God. That's
where we start. And that wasn't just for a day,
a year, or even a generation. There was no such thing as time.
And see, we can't wrap our minds around that. Because everything
we do has to do with time, bound by time, bound by time. And it was from everlasting. It was a past eternity when there
was only God, the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God was self-contained, self-existent,
self-sufficient. God was in need of nothing. What's changed? What's changed? God can't change. There was and is no variableness
or shadow of turning in Him. No change in Him. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. He is the Lord that changes not. He is Alpha and Omega, the first
and the last, the beginning and the end. Now, did God get old and impotent? You know, that's the way some
folks portray Him. Oh, you know, God, He's standing on the portals
of heaven wringing His hand. He's got His old man upstairs.
And He just wants somebody to love Him. Won't you just love
Him? No! No, no, no. Not the God of the
Bible. He changes not. We change. But He doesn't. And God is nothing like us. Did
God get sick and weak? We do. But not God. What changed with a God who never
changes? If a universe, if the worship
of angels, if the worship of man had been necessary to God,
in any way, He would have called those things into existence,
creating them from all eternity. Because he needed them. But he
didn't. And he doesn't. Nothing is added to God by these
things. Nothing is diminished from God
without them. He created them of no need of
His own. Why then? Simply for His good
pleasure. He wanted to. It pleased Him to do so. For
no reason outside of Himself. Now, be careful now not to reply
against God. That's what Paul warned those
that he was preaching to there in Romans. He said, oh, be careful. Shall the thing formed, say to
him that formed it, why did you make me thus? Why did you do
things like this way, God? Because I want to do. I'm God. No reason outside of myself.
You see, the potter has power over the clay. I've never seen
a lump of clay form itself. Have you? Go to Walmart and get
you some Play-Doh and take it out and stick it down and see
what happens to it. Nothing. It'll just be a lump. He is able to make a vessel of
honor out of the same lump. I'm calling you a bad name. You're
a lump. And so am I. I've been called that a lot,
lumphead. But he's able to make one lump
unto honor and another unto dishonor. That's talking about God and
who He is. Paul went on to say, what if?
You know, you say that to your mom growing up. Well, what if?
You'd get smacked. What if? What if God is willing
to show His wrath? What if? What if? God willing to show His mercy.
What if? He's God. All these things were
predestined. That's a bigger word than it
is easier to understand. It means predetermined. It means
determined beforehand, before it ever happened. God determined
it. And it's predetermined, determined beforehand, according to the
purpose of Him, not our purpose, the purpose of Him, who worketh
all things, all things after the counsel of His own will,
Ephesians 1.11. Who works all things after the counsel of His
own will and purpose? God does. And He does so in,
by, and through Jesus Christ. Some of you still nodding your
head yes, that's good, that's good. Turn with me to Job, Job chapter
35, right after the, I believe the book of Esther, but I'm not
sure. Job 35, you can find it. I want to look at three verses
here, 6, 7, and 8. And I want to this morning so
badly to again endeavor to show you why you need Christ. You do. So do I. Everyone needs Him. We live in a day where folks
don't think that they need Him. But they do. You see, when you
and I sin, how is God affected or changed? If we continue in
sin, which we do, is God diminished? We've already talked about that
some. Job 35, look at verse 6. There's
some questions asked here. If thou sinnest, if you sin,
what doest thou against Him? If you sin, how does that change
God? What are you doing against God?
Or, if thy transgressions, plural, your sins, be multiplied, what
doest thou unto Him? Against Him and unto Him. What
is your sin? How does it change God? Sin is
said to be against God. That's what David said in Psalm
51, verse 4. He said, "...against thee, and
thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
that you might be justified when you speak against me, and that
you might be clear when you judge me." No one can accuse God of
being wrong. He's always right. He's always
righteous. Sin is contrary to God's nature.
Sin is against God's law. Sin is a breach of God's holy
justice. Men sin against God's power and
authority. And God hates and abhors sin. It's abominable in His sight. The verse goes on to say that
if our transgressions be multiplied, what are we doing to God? How
does our sin which is against God affect Him? In our sin, God
is profaned and blasphemed, yes. It's acts of treason against
Him. He's dishonored. He's despised. He's not given the honor that's
due Him. And we most definitely may bring
shame to the glory of His name. But is His glory eclipsed? Is that at all possible? No. He changes not. For what if some did not believe?
Now listen, unbelief is sin. Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? God forbid, Paul said, Romans
3, 3 and 4. God's essential glory is untarnished. It's unblemished. It's unhurt. No more so than the sun by an
eclipse. In the last 10 years or so, we've
had two eclipses. We watched one right here from
our patio, and then we went to Henderson last year, I believe,
2024, to see the other one. The total eclipse of the sun
only shadows the sun's brightness and glory for a short time. But
it does not affect the sun in the least. It affects those under
it, As we watched that eclipse last year, it got dark. That
affected me. It got a little cooler. And we're
hearing crickets in the day. But in that total eclipse, the
sun was not in the least affected. It was dark for a while. Yeah,
they cooled things off. But soon the sun's essential
glory shined through. shined bright, shined glorious,
and it got hot again, only affecting us, not the sun, in the process. God always remains the same,
friends, without any variableness, as we just read, or any shadow. That's what the eclipses did.
They just cast a shadow over the sun. And if anything, His glory shines
brighter through the power and wisdom and goodness as it overrules
the sins of man. We see God's glory shine even
brighter when we see His mercy and grace, His patience and His
long-suffering. It's gloriously displayed in
bearing with sinners in their sin to grant them repentance
and conversion. Listen, if the Lord had sent
me to hell when He should have, I wouldn't be standing before you
today. But He was patient and He was long-suffering. And each
of you will say the same that are saying, aren't you glad He
was patient? Unbelief hurts only those who
don't believe. Then we have the opposite side
of the coin. Look at verse 7 here in Job 35. If thou be righteous, what givest
thou Him? Speaking of God. Or what receiveth
He? Speaking of the Lord God of thine
hand. Huh? A lot of people basing their
salvation on that and that alone. Lord, Lord, haven't we done Many
wonderful things. Just the other day, I cast the
devil out of an old boy. I preached six times last week.
Man, I've done all kinds of wonderful work. They're wonderful. The
Lord said, I never knew you. You're not one of Mine. You're
not doing anything for Me. You haven't added anything to
My glory. If thou be righteous, what givest
thou him? And what receiveth the Lord God
at your hand? Nothing. Big goose egg. Nothing. Not a thing. All righteousness is God's to
give. We exchanged our sin for Christ's
righteousness. That's what 2 Corinthians 5.21
says. For he hath made him to be sin
for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
Now you think about that. We traded our sin for His perfection. Who do you think came out on
that deal? All righteousness is His to give.
So it seems proper to ask, what are we going to give to Him? Have you and I given anything
to God? Not a thing. That's what nothing means. Not. And then add a little a, a, thing. Nothing. What the angels have. The righteousness
the angels have. What Adam lost. What believers
have in Christ. That being His righteousness
imparted to them. His holiness implanted in them. All of it's by God's grace and
God's strength. God's will and God's purpose.
It's all given to us. It's a gift of God. All that is ours is our sin. That's the only thing we can
lay claim to. Sin. What do we give God to God of
any value? What do we add that benefits
Him in the least. What does God receive at our
hand? He says here that our wickedness may hurt men, and many times
it does, if not all the time. And our righteousness may profit
men, but neither in any way hurt or profit God. Why? He can't
change. You can't change Him. God can receive nothing but what
He has given. And He didn't give sin. Nor could God receive anything
that's not His due. If we do wonderful works unto
the Lord, it was His due. We've done only what we ought
to do as unprofitable servants. God is not laid under obligation
to anyone. Nobody. You can't obligate God. The good works of men is not
a reward to God. It was given unto them by the
grace of God. Our giving is entirely owing
to His goodness. Our actions may hurt or help
others and us, but they don't add anything to God. We can't
be repetitive. I want to be. God doesn't gain from our worship?
People act like they do. Oh, we had a wonderful day of
worship. What? Raising your hands and
singing and beating on the bongo drums? I don't think so. Worship is
opening this book and seeing who God is. And acknowledging
Him as God. And acknowledging yourself as
a sinner. And laying hold of Christ. That's true worship. That's the only worship God gains
from. And yet, He's glorious even when
we don't change Him. We can't change Him. What moved
God to elect a people? Have you ever thought about that? Well, man wasn't around to do
anything for Him to elect Him. Before man was born, before He'd
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. God did it in and of His own
fruition. What is man that thou art mindful
of him? Can anybody tell me? If you can
give me one reason, I'll let you come up here and tell me
what it is. What caused God to predestinate
wretched sinners to salvation? Well, I know there's one nothing
in them. It was according to the pleasure
of His own will. It was to the praise of the glory
of His own grace. That's why we're accepted in
Christ the Beloved. You're accepted nowhere else,
in no one else, only in Him. Not by works of righteousness
that we've done. Well, you know, I gave Jesus
my heart. Not by works of righteousness
we've done. Well, you know, I let go and
let God. Not by works of righteousness that we've done. By grace through faith, not of
ourselves. It's a gift of God. You know,
the problem with mainstream religion today is not that it's unpopular. Actually, its popularity is at
an all-time high. In our day, it's cool to be religious
in this world. So why are multitudes in religion
dying and going to hell? Well, it's really quite easy
to diagnose and identify. It's impossible to correct, though,
without a divine intervention from God. Now Martin Luther,
do you remember Martin Luther, wrote Pilgrim's Prophets? Martin Luther once declared to
the Dutch scholar Aramis, I believe is how you pronounce his name,
in just a few short words, what the real problem was with his
religion, and what the real problem still is today. And it's so simple
that it's profound. He told him that his thoughts
of God were too human. How true? How so very true? Men and women imagine that God
is moved by sentiment rather than principle. They think that
God loves too much to correct, condemn, Being all together such
a one as men and women themselves are. David told us that way back then. You thought you were all together
such a one as I did. God told David and David told
me. My, my, nothing like God. But
God promises to reprove those who think that way. God promises
to set them in order before their eyes. God pities sinners, but not to
the point that He looks the other way. And God cannot look the
other way because of sentimentality and emotion. Well, poor little
Linda Welburn, she's had a tough time. You know, I'm going to
spare her because I feel sorry for her. No, you can't. He's
too holy. Can't do it. Is not God's omnipotence and
holy justice declared in this book? Or has idle fantasy taken
precedent over God's holy Word? You wouldn't know by sitting
in most religious services today. Does Satan actually have the
authority to thwart God's power, purpose, and afflict men and
women to the point that God feels sorry for them? Is God ruling
things or is Satan? Is God now subservient to the
devil? Did God rewrite the Scriptures
and not tell us? Too human! To human, man's thoughts
are to you. The little g God as I call Him,
because I don't even want to use the word God with a capital
G. when talking about this God of the world, the little G-God
of our day no more resembles the Supreme Sovereign of Holy
Scriptures than just a dim, flickering candle resembles the noonday
sun. Teresa had a candle burning the
other day, and the wax was way down, and she'd light it, and
it'd just go out. And she'd light it, and it'd
go out. That's this world's God compared
to mine. He's just a flickering candle. But not my God. He's supposedly, according to
harling preachers, letting unregenerate men and women into His kingdom
unjustly by a work of righteousness that they do. You perish the
thought. A God whose will and purpose
is resisted. A God you can put in handcuffs.
A God that is denied, frustrated, and constantly checkmated. Possesses
no title to deity. Only contempt. We ought to hold
that kind of God in contempt. And I do. He's of one mind. Who can turn Him? What his soul
desireth, even that he doeth." There's no wisdom, no understanding,
nor counsel against the Lord. Proverbs 21, 30. The King's heart. Where's the King's heart? In
the hand of the Lord. And He turns it whatsoever way
He pleases. At His pleasure, God, spoke to
the Red Sea and divided its waters and it stood up with walls. And the people of Israel walked
right through it on dry ground. According to God's purpose, one
day the earth opened up and guilty rebels went down alive into a
pit. Numbers chapter 13. When God
so ordered, the sun stood still. Joshua 10. It went back ten degrees
on the Dowel of Ahaz. Ravens carried food to Elijah. An iron axe head swam on top
of the water. Lions became tame in their den. Hungry lions. Fire didn't burn in the king's
furnace. Can you imagine the Electricians
trying to figure that one out? Oh, I don't know. It was hot
the other day. Not anymore. God turned the thermostat down. Are thoughts of God way too human? We need to search the Word of
God and hear what God says about Himself. And I haven't even scratched
the surface of who God is and what God can do. He can do anything. He can do everything. There's
nothing too hard for the Lord. Isn't that what the Lord told
Abram? Abram, do you and your wife really
think that I can't give you a child in your old age? Is that why
Sarah laughed? Does she think I'm funny? You
know, people, they think God's funny. We've got preachers that are
more comedians than preachers. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? No. Why do we act like this? In order to be saved, men and
women need to know how they are. They must have a correct understanding
of what is required and what must be done in order to be saved.
No mere creature in their fallen and dead state will ever see
their need of God until they see that God requires perfection. and that they cannot provide
what God requires without a substitute. And that again shuts us up to
the Lord Jesus Christ. As long as men see God as a little
old man upstairs, wanting and trying, hoping and wishing, they'll
never take their sin seriously. Now I'm here to tell you that
God is not only able to save sinners, but He's able to condemn
them too. I'm here to tell you that God
is not only to save, but He's able to damn. And mere sentiment
and mere pity is not going to stop Him. Men's thoughts of God
are what? Too human. Way too low, and of themselves
way too high. God is light and in Him is no
darkness. The reason men and women do not
concern themselves with God's holy law and strict justice is
that they really don't believe that God can or that God will
carry out the sentence of sin's penalty. But He will. Never confuse
God's kindness with weakness. The soul that sins, it shall
die. He's glorious in holiness. Holiness is the excellency of
His divine nature. Why do the angels cry before
His throne? Holy, holy, holy. Holy to God the Father, holy
to God the Son, holy to God the Spirit. Holy are the three in
one. And God's mercy is never at the
expense of His justice. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord,
and glorify Thy Name? For Thou only art holy. For all
nations shall come and worship before Thee. For Thy judgments
are made manifest." And we all know that that word fear means
to revere. And no man or woman naturally
fears or reveres the Lord. Well, I don't want you to be
discouraged this morning because we're few. in number. You know,
that's what the world thinks. Well, there's so few that they
can't be right. You've heard people say that.
There's so few of them, they can't be right. Well, what did
the Lord Jesus say about the few? He said, Enter ye in at
the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in
thereat. Because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there
be that find it. He said, The harvest truly is
plenteous, but the laborers are few. So the last shall be first,
and the first shall be last, for many are called, but few
are chosen. Salvation is not a number. Salvation
is in Christ. What think ye of Christ? Well,
most of you have heard this story. In light of these things, I'm
going to tell it to you again. There was once a very wealthy
man who had a very devoted son, and they both shared a passion
for art collecting. And this man, being very wealthy,
traveled around the world with his son and he added only the
finest masterpieces to his art collection. Works by Picasso
and Van Gogh and Monet and many other masters adorned the walls
of his family estate. And this widowed husband, the
young man's father, just looked on his son with such pride and
satisfaction as being his only child because he became an experienced
art collector. And he was trained with a sharp
eye and he was given business sense to talk with art collectors
and dealers all over the world. But then soon a war engulfed
the nation and the young man left to go to serve his country.
And after only a few weeks, his father received a telegram saying
that he'd gone missing in action. Within days, his fears were confirmed. The young man had died while
rushing a fellow soldier to a medic. And distraught and lonely, the
old man faced the upcoming holidays in anguish and distress. He was
so sad. On Christmas morning, a
knock came on the door and there was a soldier dressed in his
uniform. As he walked to the door, the
old man looked at the masterpieces hanging on his wall and all he
could think about was his son. And he answered the door and
the young man said, I was a friend of your son in the military.
I was the one that he was rescuing when he got shot. when he died. He said, can I come in for a
few minutes? I have something to show you and I have something
to give you. And the two began to talk and the soldier told
of how the man's son had told him and his fellow soldiers of
the love that he and his father had of the fine art. And the
soldier said, and I'm an artist and I want to give you this.
And he handed the old man the package and he began to unwrap
it. and the wrapping gave way to reveal a portrait of his son. It looked just like him. The
painting featured the young man's face in striking detail. Overcome with emotion, the man
thanked the soldier and he said, I'm going to hang it right there
over the fireplace. I'll push the masterpieces out
of the way because that is my masterpiece. He said, thank you. I'm going to hang the picture
over the fireplace as the centerpiece of my collection." And true to
his word, that's what he did. He pushed thousands of dollars
of paintings, rehomed them to other places to put that painting
right there. In the days to come, the father
would learn that his son had also rescued dozens of other
soldiers. before he himself was struck
with a bullet. And the story of his son's gallantry and bravery
and courage continued to pour in. And the following spring,
the old man got sick and died, and the art world was in anticipation. They knew it was going to be
auctioned off. The masterpieces were going to be sold at auction.
Collectors came from all around the world. Dreams would be filled
this day. finally have an opportunity to
buy that piece we want. And it began, the auction began,
the auctioneer began with a painting that wasn't on anybody's museum's
list. It was the painting of the sun.
The auctioneer said, who will open the bidding for a hundred?
And it was total silence. Minutes passed, no one spoke.
Then from the back of the room, somebody said, who cares about
that painting? It's just a picture of his son. Let's forget it.
Let's go on to the good stuff. More voices echoed in agreement.
No, we've got to sell this one first, the auctioneer said. It
was the request of the father. Who will take the son? And finally,
the gardener of the wealthy old man said, well, can you take
$10? That's all I've got. That's all
I have. I knew that boy. I loved that
boy. I want that painting. I'll give
you all I got for it. I got $10." Said the auctioneer,
will anyone go higher? And after more silence, the auctioneer
said, going once, going twice, gone. Sold to the man in the
back. And then the gavel fell. Cheers
filled the room. And they said, now we can get
on with it, and now we can bid on these masterpieces. And the
auctioneer looked, and he said, no. He said, the auction is over. What do you mean it's over? It's
over. We didn't come here for a picture
of some old guy's son. What about all these other paintings?
There's millions of dollars of art here. I demand that you explain
what's going on. And the auctioneer said, I am.
It's very simple. According to the will of the
Father, whosoever takes the painting of the Son gets it all. Every bit of it. So again, I
ask you, What think ye of Christ? What think ye of God's Son? Must
you have the Son? Do you know Him? Will you give
all you've got for Him? Whosoever comes to Christ, he
gets it all.