I was given a description this
morning of a preacher of God's Word. This preacher was described
as one who is proud and arrogant. Proud and arrogant. Would you
go listen to somebody who's proud and arrogant? Well, that depends. What do you mean that depends?
How can that depend, John? Why would I go listen to somebody
who's all proud and arrogant? Here's a question for you. If you know somebody who's not
proud and arrogant, you don't need Christ. There's
not a man or woman that's ever walked this earth who is not
proud and arrogant. I love my pastor, Gene Harmon,
more than I love my own dad. But if he were sitting here today,
I'd look him right in the eye, right in the face, and I'd tell
him, Pastor Gene, you are a proud and arrogant man. But did you
notice, did you notice as I would be pointing at him, did you see
something there? There was three fingers pointing right back at
me. Why three? I guarantee you I am three times
worse than any man I know when it comes to pride and arrogance.
You all know I like to play golf. You all have heard this before.
When I hit that ball right down the middle of the fairway, which
isn't very often, did you see what I just did? Did you see
that? Wow, what a shot! What a shot. Now why don't I do that when
it goes off into the bushes, which it does more often than
not. Folks, we are all I'm not such
a bad person. I'm okay. If you just fan the
flame a little bit, I'll be a good guy. No, that's not what God's
word says about us at all. You know what he says about us?
He says the heart is wicked, is desperately wicked, above
all things. No, that's not talking to me.
Don't you call my grandmother that, right? And that first thing
popped into most of our heads right there. Don't you talk about
my little child, my great grandbaby, that just is the cutest little
devil there is. She's exactly right. She's a
devil. Folks, we are all just so full of sin. Every one of
us. This man who stands before you
today, in my eyes, is the biggest sinner I've ever known. I'm here
this morning to talk to you about what we have. What can we look
to if we can't look to ourselves for any goodness? Where can we
look? In our bulletin today, if you
have one available. If you don't, I'll give you a
moment to get one. There's an article right underneath the
announcements. It's written by Pastor David Pledger, who preaches
to a church down there somewhere around the Houston area of Texas.
Good preacher. Listen to what he wrote here.
First, he titles his article, he says, how can God who sees
all things, isn't that the God of all things, that He sees all
things? He can see everything, right? How can He no longer see
sin in believers? I see it every day when I wake
up and look in the mirror the first thing in the morning. I
try not to, but I have to. Somebody has to cut my hair.
How can God Almighty, who sees all things, not see the sin in
believers? Listen to these words from Daniel,
line verse 24. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
answer, writes David Pleasure. The Messiah, that's the Hebrew
word for Christ, or deliverer. And this is the one for whom
Daniel wrote. He says this in Daniel, line 24. To finish the
transgression, this is speaking of the Christ, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness. Now that's a description
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. That describes no man or woman
who's ever walked this earth other than Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. And this is what he says to that. To make an end of sins, the Lord
Jesus Christ has so effectually redeemed His people, so perfectly
reconciled His people, so absolutely propitiated God, so thoroughly
removed the sins of His people, that God declares, the God who
cannot change declares these words, their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. That's in Hebrews 10, 17. As
far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our contritions
from us. That's from Psalms 103, verse
12. And then in Romans 8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. And David brings his article
to a close. He says, in Christ. He sees us
in Christ. In the Beloved. in whom He is
well pleased." And I say, amen for a Savior, wouldn't you? Amen
for a Savior. Turn to Luke chapter 9, if you
would. There's a series of messages from Luke, and I just want to
read a couple of verses here in chapter 9, beginning at verse
51, if you would. Luke chapter 9, beginning at
verse 51, and it came to pass. Don't you like that? I've got
this message that I'm going to be testing it out a little bit
on you folks over the next few weeks. I'm not leaving until
October 1st. So between now and then, you may hear a little bit
about the message over and over again. Just trust me, you're
helping your pastor out. I'm practicing. I'm practicing
on what I want to preach back there. But the title of my message
is, Yay and amen, or something to that effect. The word of God,
yay and amen. And what that's talking about,
you know, in the scriptures, it talks about the ministry of
yay and nay. That means yes and maybe, or
yes and no. That means it could be this or
it could be that. But the word of God, it's yay
and amen. That means yes. And amen to that. I mean, it's going to happen.
I agree with that. So what I'm going to bring out in that is
this word, is that it came to pass as a yea phrase. That means
it happened exactly as it was purposed, as it was determined
by the Almighty God to happen. That's exactly what we're talking
about here. Folks, God is sovereign in everything. Everything comes
to pass exactly That shooting yesterday of President Trump,
or ex-President Trump, that shooting missed his head exactly where
God had determined it to miss him. Everything. The men who flew planes into
our towers in New York City, God purposed that. Why would God do that? I don't
know. He's God. He knows everything. The point
is, is he rules all that is. Is that true or not? If he's
not God to you in all things, then he's not God to you in all.
People love to say, oh, I believe in God. But he's left some things
for me. He's left some things for me
to decide. I'm not a puppet hanging on a
string. You're right, you're not. But
if God left you to yourself, you would run from Him just as
fast and as hard as you could run. And God's people know that. We know that we're just like
Jonah. If God left us to ourselves, we'd be running down to the seaside
to get in a ship and run away from Nineveh just as fast as
we could. God had a purpose for that though,
didn't He? So if I was to be running, that would be God's
purpose, wouldn't it? See, He's God of everything.
Or He's not God at all. It says, thereafter, and it came
to pass when the time was come. See that? There's a time that
was come. There was some time that was purposed to happen.
And here's what should have happened. Here's what was coming that was
going to happen. He said that He should be received
of He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. He was to
be received in Jerusalem, not in a very good way. No, no, no,
no. The religious rulers of that
day were going to crucify him, and he knew that. But the day
had come. when he was to be received up.
Let's go on. Verse 52, And he sent messengers
before his face, and they went and entered into the village
of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive
him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James
and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command
fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elijah
did? But he turned and rebuked them
and said, ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. You don't
know. There's a reason why they need
to turn me away. There's a reason that they need
to turn their backs on me. These were not vessels of mercy.
We'll see at another date. There was one, wasn't there?
Was there not one woman at a well in Samaria, a Samaritan woman,
who the Lord had to come to? Did it not tell us that he must
needs go through Samaria? For that one woman? It's not
that time yet. Let's go on. What does it say
in verse 56? For the Son of Man is not come
to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And it went on to
another village. I've titled this morning's message
this. When the time was come. Turn over Proverbs. if you would,
chapter 8. Mark your spot here. We'll come
back to our text here in Luke chapter 9. But I want to go over
to Proverbs chapter 8 for a moment. From old eternity the Son of
God had determined to save His people. Did you know that He's
called the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world?
What does that mean? That means there was a covenant
made between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. That means that before the world was ever created, God
had purposed. What? You mean Adam's sin didn't
change everything that God had created? Do you mean when Adam
fell, He didn't change all things that God had already purposed
to happen? No! Christ had purposed to come
to this earth, be manifest in the flesh. He had purposed to
lay down His life for you and I! For His people! Those who were chosen! before
the world was ever made. Those whose hands, whose names
were inscribed in the palms of His hand. Those whose names were
written on the breastplate of our Savior. He was known as the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world because God had
purposed all things before anything had happened. He's God. Things
don't happen by accident with God. It wasn't an accident that
the man almost got shot yesterday, Donald Trump. It wasn't an accident
at all. The Lord had determined himself
to be a sacrifice for his people and nothing could keep him from
accomplishing what he had determined. If you could turn the hand of
God, would he still be God? Not at all. Absolutely right,
not at all. Who are we? Who are we to think
that we can tell the potter, the one who forms the clay as
he sees fit, who are we to think that we can tell him what we
should be? Isn't that what got us into trouble in the first
place? Isn't that exactly what we did in the first place to
get us into trouble? We stood up just like the devil and said,
I'll not have that one to rule over me. I will decide when I
shall be saved. Our Lord never turned back on
His Word even though all the turmoil, all the hatred, all
the hatred that His creation threw at Him as He walked this
earth. Look at Proverbs chapter 8. Look
at verses 23-34 with me if you would. Proverbs 8, verse 23, I was set
up from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth
was. When there were no depths, I
was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. While as yet He had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world, when He prepared the heavens, I was there. when
He set a compass upon the face of the depth, when He established
the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when
He gave to the sea His decree that the water should not pass
His commandment, when He appointed the foundations of the earth,
when I was, then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, and
I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him. We're talking
about the Lord Jesus here. We're talking about our Creator.
In John 1.1 it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. Verse 31, Rejoicing in the inhabitable
part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men. Now
therefore hearken unto me, O you children, for blessed are they
that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise,
and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth
me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. I've said all I can to inspire you to look to our
Savior at this moment. But I'm just a man. Only God can speak to your heart. And I pray that He is. I pray
that He is. But He doesn't speak to everybody's
heart. Why? Why? God has chosen in the wisdom
of His Son to save some from their destruction. We all deserve
it. We've all earned it. And if it
wasn't for His grace, we would be right there with the many
who are on the path to destruction. Yet God has loved a people for
Himself. So much so that He has laid down
the life of His Son as their propitiation, as their payment.
How can God not remember my sins? Because His Son has paid my sins. I pause for a moment because
I want you to try to grasp a hold of the depth of that love. God
Almighty, the Creator of everything that is, laid down his life and
was made sin. Men try to explain that. I don't.
You know that. Who can explain that? The majesty
of the creator of all that is was made my sin. He never sinned. He never had
any sin of his own. Yet God made him my sin, so that when he looks at me, when he looks at you, his people,
he sees your sin no more. Why? Because he took it, Jesus
Christ took it into the grave and paid it all. Though we fell
in the garden through the sin and the fall of our father Adam,
our Lord's purpose has never changed. at the last appointed
time had come. And the Son of God assumed our
nature, that He might die in our stead upon that cursed tree.
Listen to these words from Romans 5, verses 6-8. For when we were
yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Did you catch that? You've got
to be shown that you're an ungodly person before you'll know that
He died for you. the depth of our depravity revealed
to us before we can see the greatness of His grace, of the majesty
on high in what He's done for us. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet preadventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. toward us. And that while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Isn't that good news? That's what the gospel is. That's
what God's preachers do. We don't get up here and tell
people how to live. I don't need to tell you how
to do that. You know what's right from wrong. I've told you that
before. That guy who tried to shoot the
president yesterday, and they sneak up there. A baby
knows when things are wrong. You ask him, did you take the
cookie? No. You laugh about that, but didn't
you do that? I did. And then Lee told on me. I say that because he's on the
internet right now. No, I didn't. Yes, you did. Folks, we don't need. We know
what's right from wrong. What God's preachers are here
to do is to tell you that because you can't do anything right,
there's One who's done it for you. There's One who's done it
all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left
the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Pointing people to Christ. While
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Is that good news? Listen
to these words from Galatians 4, verses 4-7. But when the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoptions of sons, and because ye are sons,
God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son, into your hearts. The gospel is great news to a
sinner. That's why I asked the question,
are there any sinners here today? The one who's standing before
you is telling you about the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ
and what He's done for me. That's all I can tell you about.
The Lord healed that poor demoniac man who ran in the tombs all
of his life and cut himself and raised all kinds of ruckus in
the neighborhood. When the Lord had healed him,
he said, go home and tell those about what the Lord had done
for you. That's what we do. We go and tell those who can't
do what they need to do. Those who have been shown their
complete depravity. and doing anything righteous,
that God has done it for us. Look to Him. Trust in Him. Because of your son, God has
sent forth His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father,
wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a Son. And if a Son, then
an heir of God through Christ Jesus. The Lord of all glory,
had a baptism to attend, he had to be baptized. He had a cup
to drink, and with great desire, he longed to eat that last supper
with his disciples. Why? Because the hour had come. The time had come when he would
put away the sins of his people. Time had come when he would bury
those sins in the depths of his love, never to be remembered
again. Now in due time, when the fullness
of time had come, Luke tells us it came to pass. When the
time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly
set his faith to go to Jerusalem. You think he didn't He knew. He had purposed it. He rebuked these
men because these men wanted to step up and say, whoa, stop,
you guys can't be treating the Lord this way. Remember what
the Lord said to Peter when Peter said, you shall not die. I'll
go out and fight for you. He said, get thee behind me,
Satan. He said that to Peter. The very one that he reached
down to and grabbed ahold of his arm when he took his eyes
off of the Savior and kept him from sinking in the waters of
the sea. The very one that he loved and
warned, you will deny me three times. Our Lord had set his face like
a flint He had set His face to accomplish the great work that
God the Father had given Him. The great work for us. He refused to be hindered from
it. Even though those disciples were speaking out of love back
in Luke chapter 9. Even though they thought they
were speaking out of reverence for God, the Lord turned on them
and rebuked them. He says He turned and rebuked
them and said, ye knew not what manner of spirit you are of.
I'm going to give you four quick points. And the first one is
this, our Lord was a ready substitute. He was ready to go to the cross
and bear our sins. knowing that we had earned every
part of God's wrath for those sins. Our Lord was ready to substitute
himself. He was ready to present himself
as our scapegoat. You talk about love? I wished
I could love this woman even one drop to that effect. I love her greatly for what we
can in this flesh, but my Lord loved me so much, He gave His
life willingly. Because of His great love for
us, the Son of God went to Calvary to die as our substitute, and
He did it willingly, as we read there in verse 51, and it came
to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up,
He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And that means
He... Nothing's going to get in my way. Nothing's going to
prevent me. I'm going to Jerusalem. You could,
let's just say, tomorrow I'm going to go, I think I'm going
to go to the movies. But that place could burn up,
and I may not be able to go tomorrow. I can't be steadfastly. The creator
of everything steadfastly went to Jerusalem to lay down his
life for us, for his people. There was a time that was fixed
for this purpose. It was a time that was purposed
before all eternity. A time that the Lord would go
through these sufferings and death as our Redeemer. You know what that word means,
redeemed? That means that we were separated
from God, and that's what sin does, is it separates us from
God, yet God the Son has redeemed His people. The word is redeemed,
not redeeming. He's already done it. He's paid
the price. He's laid down His life for us. Where we should be dying in our
sins, He has taken that death for His people. When He saw the
hour approaching, He looked through His sufferings and He looked
beyond them. He looked to the glory that would follow. The
Lord Jesus knew what His reward would be. He knew that soon it
would be received, that He would soon be received up into glory.
And I can show you that over in 1 Timothy, if you want to
hold your place again there and look and turn over to 1 Timothy,
chapter 3. Again, to show you that our Lord
was a ready substitute. He was willing to look past all
of what he was about to go through because he was going to receive
the glory for it afterwards. Look here at verse 16 of chapter
3. 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 16. And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He was revealed. How did he reveal
himself? Through all the miracles that
he did. Remember the story where the Pharisees came to him and
said, tell us plainly who you are. And he says, I did. I told
you plainly. On top of that, I performed miracles
and miracles and miracles in my father's name, and you still
didn't believe. Why? Because you're not of my
sheep. And he says this glorious thing, my sheep hear my voice. Dear sisters, struggling right
now with belief. She's reading God's Word and
the Lord's Word is convicting her. She reads some things about
those who fall away. Those who God has not loved before
the beginning of the world. Those who He has allowed to come
into His churches here or there or wherever, hear the truth of
His Gospel, and yet they walk away Aren't you thankful that the
Lord didn't let you walk away from Him? He wouldn't leave me alone when
I hurt Him. He wouldn't leave me to myself. He kept me. You've got to come back and listen
to it again. And again, and again. That's been going on for 25 years
now. And without controversy. Great is the mystery of God,
only as God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit. That's laying down His life,
His perfect, righteous life, His life that never sinned. He laid down and paid for all
of our sins, justifying His people, seen of angels, preached unto
the Gentiles, and believed on in the world, and then received
up into glory. He saw all that he was about
to go through on that cross, and he knew the results of it
was this, that he was going to present the church of God faultless. That's hard to understand, isn't
it? That's as hard to understand as Christ being made sin. He's
going to present me, the one who is pointing three fingers
at himself, six total, saying, proud and arrogant, He's going
to present me flawless before His throne, just like He will
every single one who He's given the gift to believe in Him. Folks, we are saved by grace
through faith. Faith is important. You can have
faith in all kinds of things, and that doesn't save you. But
if Christ died for you, you will have faith in Him. By His death, He would save His
people. By His death, He would glorify
His Father. And by His death, He would be
translated into a better world, a better life, and a better company. May God give us grace to look
upon death as a desirable thing. I'm not talking about going out
and taking your life. I'm talking about not being afraid
of that day when it comes. I've got to share this with you. There is a glow that I have seen
in God's people when that day comes. A glow of peace. And then there's fear that I've
seen in those who don't know God as they go through that death,
that doormark death. God's people know what's on the
other side for us. We look forward to the day the
Lord is going to take us out of this world. I hope it doesn't
hurt. But when it comes, I won't care
when it's over. In John 14, verses one through
three, our Lord says to you and I, let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I
go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That
where I am, there you may be also. In Philippians chapter
1, verses 21-23, for to me to live is Christ and to die is
to gain, writes Paul. But if I live in the flesh, this
is the fruit of my labor, yet that I should choose I want not,
for I am in a strait between the two, having a desire to depart
and to be with Christ, which is far better than what I am
right now. Isn't that what we desire? I want to be with Christ
right now. If He takes me this afternoon,
I'm fine with that. But if He doesn't, whatever He's
got for me between now and the time He does is for my good.
And I'm okay with that too. Knowing that the hour had come,
our Lord anticipated the joy that was set before Him. He steadfastly
set His face to go to Jerusalem, the place where He was to suffer
and die. He was fully determined to go and let nothing hinder
Him. He would not be moved. And He
made His way towards Jerusalem. He knew that all that would befall
Him there, yet He went anyway. His mission was to accomplish. And He did not fail. Turn over
to Isaiah 50. Actually, I'll just read that
for you real quick. We're running out of time. Let
me just turn there quickly and read it for you. In Isaiah 50,
verse 7, we read these words. For the Lord God will help me,
therefore shall I not be confounded, therefore have I set my faith
like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed." That's
our Lord, speaking through the prophet. How should this shame
for us? How should this shame us? How
shall our reluctance? Boy wrote some notes that I just
cannot figure out, so I'm going to pass them right on by. Let
us ever give thanks. Let us ever give thanks to our
God, our Savior, for his willingness to suffer in our steppe. Secondly,
the Samaritans had a great loss. And the rest of these next couple
points will go really quick. These ones in this village, the
Samaritans, who allowed racial prejudice to jump to jump up
in its ugly head to rob them of eternal blessedness that we
read of in verse 52 and 53. The Lord sent messages before
his face and they went and they entered in the village of Samaritans
to make ready for him and they did not receive him. They did
not receive him. These unnamed Samaritans would
not receive the Lord because he was evidently determined to
go to Jerusalem. Samaritans would have nothing
to do with Jews, and vice versa. It was a racial thing. If you
don't believe me, in your own time, you can see that in 2 Kings
17 and Ezra 4. What a sad picture, folks. What
a sad picture. that these folks would go away
in unbelief over a simple thing as that. Our Lord sends his messengers,
gospel preachers, and we preach the gospel to those who will
hear. But the Lord must prepare the way, otherwise multitudes,
in fact, vast majorities, like these Samaritans, will find reason
not to receive him. Also, it made the apostles angry.
Did you notice that? It made them angry. They were
in a tizzy. They were ready to bring down
fire on these peoples. How dare you not accept our Lord? Have you missed the grace in
God showing you Himself? That would be exactly us, folks,
leaving and saying, no, we don't want the Lord to be here. We
don't want that man to rule over us. That's exactly where we would
be if it were not for the grace of God. And these disciples missed
that. for a moment. They were angry. And then lastly, Our Master had
a mission, and nothing could stop Him from it. It says, For
the Son of Man has not come to destroy lives, but to save them,
and they went to another village. Now the Lord Jesus came to save
His people from their sins. That's what we read in Matthew
1 verse 21. It says these words, "...and
she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people." That's a yea and amen
word. Shall. That's as black and white
as you can get. It shall happen. That's yea,
yes, and amen. I agree. John 3, 16-17, For God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For
God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through Him might be saved. That's all the world
throughout all time. Not all mankind. I'm here to
tell you that if God wanted to save all mankind, what could
stop Him? By grace are we saved. That means unmerited favor. That
means we can't do anything to earn it. But we're saved through
faith, through believing in Him. When the Lord speaks of the world
at times, He's speaking about all of His people throughout
all time. He was not sent into the world
to condemn it, but to the world through Him might be saved. His
people might be saved through what he was about to do. Listen
to 1 Timothy 1 verse 15. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save. John Reeves. Sinners. Sinners. Priscilla Jane Owens
wrote these words in a hymn. We have heard the joyful sound,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Spreading the tiding all around,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves. That's what we're doing today.
We're gathering together in his name to worship him and cry out
to the world who will hear us, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Our Lord says to needy sinners,
look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, for
I am God, and there is none else. He calls poor, lost, helpless
sinners, doomed, who are damned, to himself. With this promise,
the promise of mercy and grace, salvation and eternal life to
all who come to Him, is there any needy sinners here today? Jesus saves. Look to Him and
Him alone. Amen.