Thank you so much. Let's open
the scriptures this evening back to the book of Daniel. The book
of Daniel, chapter 6. Our God, in his purpose, had Daniel and the other Jews
taken into captivity. First of all, by the people of
Babylon, Israel had fallen into idolatry, and God sent these
heathen in who overtook them and removed them from Judah to
Babylon. Under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar
and then the reign of Belshazzar, Daniel grew and he was well admired
within the palaces of the king, both kings. He was well respected. He was a man of integrity. He
was a man of God. He was one of God's prophets.
Then the kingdom of Babylon fell. They were overrun by the Medes
and the Persians. It wasn't very long before Daniel,
he had a very high position in the kingdom of the Medes and
the Persians. In fact, he was actually second
in command to the king, Darius. He was one of three presidents.
The other presidents, the other leaders of the nation, were envious
of Daniel. They were envious because the
king loved and respected Daniel, who was a faithful man of God.
And therefore they wanted to get Daniel. They wanted to get
him out. They wanted to oust him from his position. And so
they came up with this plot. They went to the king And they
said, why don't you make a law that nobody can ask anything
of any man or any God for 30 days. They can't ask anything
of anybody but you for 30 days. That appealed to him. That appealed
to his pride, to his arrogance. But he forgot about Daniel. because
everybody knew Daniel worshipped God. The only fault they could
find with Daniel was his worship. They couldn't find any fault
in his life, in his business dealings. While he was one of
the ones with the other presidents who was appointed to oversee
all the financial affairs of King Darius. And Daniel was honest. He was a man of integrity. Nobody
could find anything questionable about him. Nothing to criticize
him. Except this, he worships God. He worships God. Well, isn't
that something to say about somebody? Here's my problem with so and
so. He worships God. He believes
the Lord. I've looked at him, I've looked
at his life, and the only fault I can find is that he believes
the Lord God of glory. He worships God from his heart
according to the Scriptures. That's the only fault I can find
with him. Would the God people say that
about us? Wouldn't that be wonderful? That's
the only fault we can find. They worship God. You see, you can't worship God
too much. You can't be too thoughtful or
mindful of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever heard anybody say,
well, I don't want to become so heavenly minded that I'm no
earthly good. Have you ever heard that? I've
actually heard people say that. Well, I don't think there's anybody
in this world that has ever become so heavenly minded that they're
no earthly good. Because really, you're only good
for this earth if you are heavenly minded. If you're thinking about
the things of God, if you're interested in worshipping the
Lord Jesus Christ, if you're interested in your soul's salvation,
if you want to know more about grace, more about God's Son and
God's salvation, and God's omnipotence to save, well, that's a wonderful
thing. That's a wonderful thing. Would
to God more people were absorbed in this and were committed to
this gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the only fault they
could find with Daniel. So, they told the king, they
said, why don't you make this law? He didn't sign it. Put your signet ring to it and
seal it. And then that law is irreversible
according to the law of the Medes and the Persians. And so he signed
the law. And Daniel, knowing that the
law had been signed, he just continued to worship God. Now
he didn't make a big display of his religion. Like I said
this morning, once the law was signed, he didn't go down in
the middle of town and spread out his prayer mat and then start
praying to the Lord like, I want everybody to see. No, he just
kept on doing what he had been doing all along. You know what
it is to live the Christian life? It's just to love the Lord every
day and follow Him and believe Him. and do as the Lord leads
you to do, which is to honor Him. That's what it means to
live the Christian life. Listen, if you love Christ Jesus,
you'll seek to do the right thing. And it can really be said, love
Christ Jesus and live as you will. Don't you think that's
accurate? Love Christ Jesus and live as
you will. Because if you love Christ Jesus,
you'll always seek to do the right thing. You'll always seek
to honor Him and please Him in your outward life. So love the
Lord Jesus Christ and live as you will. Which means you'll
love God with your soul, with your innermost being. And you
want the best for others. You try to treat people right. Well, the law is signed into
effect. Daniel just keeps on worshipping
the Lord. And he opens his windows at 9,
12, and 3 every day to worship the Lord, facing toward Jerusalem.
Facing toward that place where God met with man and man met
with God. That's Christ Jesus. You see,
there's only one meeting place between God and man. There's
only one. There's one mediator. One God
and one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. That's what the temple represented.
That's where the sacrifices were offered. Daniel, he continued
to worship the Lord. These guys were watching. So
they go to the king and they say to the king, you know that
law you signed into effect? Yes. Has anybody broken that
law? I said, oh, yes. Somebody has
broken that law. Daniel. That was like a dagger
in his heart. Daniel. Oh, I forgot about Daniel. I forgot about Daniel. Daniel
the man that I was going to appoint over all the kingdom. Daniel
who would answer only to me. Daniel the man of integrity and
honesty. Oh, I forgot about Daniel. They
said, now King, you know that law. Daniel's got to die. Because in the law it said if
anybody asks anything of any man or God for thirty days, into
the den of lions he'd go. The king, he tried to figure
out a way to save Daniel. He tried to figure out an answer
to the dilemma. How can I be faithful to my law? It's His law. He signed it into
effect. How can I be faithful to my law
and yet save Daniel? Deliver Daniel. Deliver him. Deliver him. I want you to notice
in Daniel chapter 6 the number of times that the word deliver
or a form of it is used. Look in verse 14. When he heard these words, Daniel
6.14, then the king, when he heard these words, when he heard
what they said, he was sore displeased with himself. And he set his
heart on Daniel to deliver him. What does that mean? To rescue
him. To save him. And he labored to the going down
of the sun to deliver him. Look at verse 16. Then the kingdom
commanded. And they brought Daniel and cast
him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto
Daniel, Thy God whom thou service continually, he will deliver
thee, he will rescue thee, he will save thee. Look at verse
20. This is the next morning the
king came to the den. And he cried with a lamentable
voice. And Daniel and the king spake,
and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is
thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee? Is he able
to rescue you? Is he able to save you? And then down in verse 27, this
is Dariah speaking of the God of Daniel. He says of the God
of Daniel, he delivereth and rescueth. And he worketh signs
and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel
from the power of the lions." Can you picture the scene? Daniel
is being led to the den full of lions. Escape is out of the
question. None of his friends can assist
him or help him in any way. Even the king himself, he couldn't
find any way to spare Daniel's life. The love of the Medes and
the Persians could not be altered. Daniel couldn't help himself.
Daniel couldn't deliver himself. Daniel couldn't save himself.
Daniel couldn't rescue himself. And nobody else could deliver
him. Nobody else could save him. Nobody else could rescue him.
The situation appeared to be absolutely hopeless. There was
no power on earth that could save Daniel. But wait! There's
divine power. There's divine power. Go back
to Daniel chapter 3. Let me take you back to another
story. Daniel chapter 3. This is when
the Babylonians ruled so much of the world and Nebuchadnezzar
was the king. And Nebuchadnezzar, like a typical
king, he was arrogant and he was boastful. And he wanted all
the limelight. He built an image of gold. This
image of gold was 90 feet high and 9 feet wide. It was a massive,
massive thing. Meant for worship. And he built
it way out in the wilderness of Dura. He built it out there
so there would be lots of room for many, many people to come
out and worship the image. And he commissioned musicians. And he said, now, I want you
to play a certain note. And then he told all the people,
when you hear this certain note, you bow down and kiss the ground. You bow down before this image. And so the note sounded. I can
just imagine Nebuchadnezzar. He's like an orchestra conductor.
Then he goes, and the instruments sound and everybody bows down. And somebody is looking around,
wondering how come them three fellows over there are not bowing
down. Then the sound, everybody got up. Then the sound of the
note again and down everybody went. And they looked around
them three fellows, they are still standing. They went to
the king and they said, you know what? You know when that music
sounded? There are three guys that didn't
bow down. But he said, I want to know who they are. He said,
they told him, said, there are three Hebrew men, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. He said, you bring them here.
You bring them here. And they did. Why didn't you bow down? Why
didn't you worship? Why didn't you adore this idol?
Look at Daniel chapter 3 verse 8. Daniel 3 verse 8. Wherefore at
that certain time the Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews.
Then they spake and said to Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever. Thou, O
King, hast made this law, this decree, that every man that shall
hear the sound of the cornet, the flute, the harp, the sackbut,
the psaltery, and the dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall
fall down and worship the golden image. And you said, Whoso falleth
not down and worshipeth it, that he should be cast into the midst
of a burning, fiery furnace." There are certain Jews certain
Jews whom you have said over the affairs of the province of
Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And you notice they also had
been elevated. They had been promoted to very
high position within the kingdom of Babylon. You see, God's people
are honest people. God's people are people of integrity. God's people are people who seek
to do the right thing. Now we fail, there's no question
about that, because we're still sinners, but in our hearts we
long to do that which is right, because we want to glorify God
in our bodies, in our lives. These men, O King, have not regarded
Thee. They serve not Thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which Thou hast set up. Oh, and Nebuchadnezzar's
upset. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage
and in his fury, commanded that they bring Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. And then they brought them, these
men, before the king. And Nebuchadnezzar spake and
said unto them, Is it true? Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego? Do ye not serve my gods, nor
worship the golden image which I have set up? Do you dare defy
me? Now if you be ready at that time
when you hear the sound of the cornet and the flute and the
harp and the sacpet and the psaltery and the dulcimer and all kinds
of music, you shall fall down and worship the image which I
have made." Well, in other words, it will be fine. That's all you
got to do. But, if you worship not, You shall
be cast that same hour into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. And then he asks this question.
He says, Anne, who is that God that shall deliver you out of
my hands? Who is that God? Where is your
God? That's what they said to David.
They said, David, we have our gods. Our gods are up on the
shelves. And we move them around from
place to place. We move them where we want to
move them and we let them do what we want them to do. David,
where's your god? And David said, my god's in the
heavens. He's done whatsoever he's pleased. Nebuchadnezzar says, who is that
god that shall deliver you? that shall rescue you, that shall
save you out of my hands? I'm the king. I do whatever I
want to do. Who is that God that's greater
than I am?" And Shadrach and Meshach and
Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we're
not careful to answer thee in this matter. We're not hesitant. We're not afraid, we're not shy. If it be so, our God whom we
serve is able to deliver us. Here's that word deliver again,
as it's used in verse 15 as well. He's able to deliver us from
the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine
hand, O King. But if not, if He's not pleased
to deliver us, And be it known unto thee, O king, that we will
not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast
set up." We will not worship that idol. We worship only God. Nebuchadnezzar said, who is that
God that shall save you or deliver you out of my hands? Here's what
he's saying. I don't know anything about a
God who's got the kind of power it's going to take to deliver
you out of my hands. That's the way it is with most
people today. They don't know anything about
a God that really saves. A God who's able to rescue sinners. A God who is able to deliver
from sin. Deliver from Satan. To rescue
the perished. To lift up the fallen ones. To
lift up people out of the miry clay and set their feet on the
rock, Christ Jesus. They don't know anything about
the God who can actually save. They know a little bit about
a God who wants to save. They know a little bit about
a God who desires to save. They know a little bit about
a God who's willing to save if you'll let Him. They know a little
bit about a God who's willing to rescue you if you'll just
take the first step toward Him, He'll meet you halfway. They
know something about a God like that, but they don't know the
God of the Bible. And the God of the Bible is a
God who really saves. I tell you, when God makes bare
His right arm of grace and mercy and power, there is no power
on earth or in hell or even in heaven that can hinder Him from
doing His work. The Lord shall work and who shall
let Him? Or who shall hinder Him? Who
shall stop Him from doing what He wants to do? Martin Luther
said to his friend Erasmus, he said, your thoughts of God are
far too small. Far too small. I think we've
forgotten who God is. He's the God who spoke everything
into existence. He's the God who with His Word
made everything. He's the God who governs all
things. Listen to the Scriptures. For
of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things, to whom
be glory forever. Amen. God is behind everything. God is the first cause of everything
that has ever happened or will ever happen. God is. That's how
powerful God is. We forgot who God is if we've
ever known. You take the worst thing that's
ever happened in this world. What's the most wretched act
that men have committed in this world? Is it not the death of the Son
of God? God's own Son came to this world. He went about doing good. You
think of the thousands of people He healed. Nobody could find
fault with Him. His life was impeccable. And yet, men killed him. Well, who was behind the death,
though? Who was it that ordained that
Christ would die? And that ordination was before
the foundation of the world. In Acts chapter 4 we read that
the Jews and the Gentiles and Pontius Pilate and Herod and
all the rest of them, they all gathered together, the Apostle
said, to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ
was according to God's good will and purpose because there was
no other way for God to be just and justify the ungodly. We talked
about this morning about the dilemma of Darius. Our God, our God in His infinite
wisdom, He knew, He purposed the way whereby He would save
sinners, not at the expense of His justice, not at the expense
of His broken law, but in full conformity to His law by the
death of a suitable substitute. All things are of God. And as
it is in creation, so it is in providence, so it is in salvation. Who is it that saves? Who is
it that delivers? You see, salvation is not a cooperative
thing. It's not you do your part and
God does His part. It's not even 99.9% God and 0.1%
you. If that's the way it was, you'd
be able to boast. If that's the way it was when
you got to heaven, you could say, the reason that I'm up here
in heaven and those are down there in hell is because of a
difference that I made. You don't make the difference.
God makes the difference. It's God who rescues. It's God
who delivers. The king said. The king said,
who is that God that can save? Who is that God that can deliver?
Who is that God that can rescue? Oh, he's a God of heaven and
earth. He's a God who has all power
over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as God has given
him. And of course, Nebuchadnezzar
found out who God was. Because you go over a couple
of chapters, over into chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar, stubborn and
dead in trust that passes in sins. He strutted around babbling. He said, oh, this great city
that I built. And it was a great city. The
walls of that city, they say, was so wide six chariots could
ride abreast. Big, wide, well, great, big city. He said, oh, this great city
that I built. I'm the greatest. That's what
he was saying. There's nobody like me. And God
brought him down. God brought him down. You know
how low God brought him? Look at verse 31. And this is
according to Daniel. Daniel had said this would happen.
Daniel 4 verse 31. While the word was still in the
king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven. Daniel 4 verse 31
saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdoms
departed from you. They'll drive thee from men.
Thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall
make thee eat grass as oxen. Seven times shall pass over thee
until you know that the Most High God, He ruleth in the kingdom
of men, and He gives it to whomever He will. The same hour the thing
was fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, he was driven from men, he did
eat grass as oxen, his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till
his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird
claws. And at the end of the days, when
he found out who he was, he's nothing. Oh, he's strutting around
thinking he's the biggest and he's the greatest and he's the
most powerful. And how he found out, I'm nothing. And when God had showed him that,
verse 24, at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up
mine eyes unto heaven, my understanding returned unto me. And that's
what's got to happen. God's got to give us understanding.
He's got to give us understanding of our awful condition and who
He is and the only way out of this mess, Jesus Christ the Lord
and His substitutionary death. God's got to give us understanding.
He says, my understanding returned to me and then I blessed the
Most High. I praised and honored Him that
liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and
His kingdom is from generation to generation and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. He doeth according to His will
among the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. Whose will is done on this earth? God's will. God's will. And none can stay
His hand, nobody can stop Him. No power can stop God from doing
what He wants to do. While you ask any little child,
just ask a little child, what can God do? And you know what
a little child will say? Anything He wants to do. It's
only when we get big, and we supposedly get smarter, more
intelligent, that we say, well now wait a minute, there's some
things God can't do unless I let Him. Oh, out of the mouth of
babes and sucklings, thou hast ordained strength. He does whatever
He wants to do. That's what Nebuchadnezzar was
made to realize. God does whatever He wants to
do. And if God's of a mind to save,
He saves. If it's God's purpose to deliver,
He'll deliver. If it's God's purpose to rescue,
He'll rescue. And if God is not purpose to
rescue and save and deliver, then nobody else can. These three Hebrew children. God saved them. God delivered
them. You know the end of that story.
And to go back to Daniel chapter 6, to the story that we're involved
in today, it's God who delivered Daniel. It's God who saved Daniel. It's God who rescued Daniel.
As you read the historians, this is the way the Medes and
the Persians The way they did executions was like this. Here's
a man being led to the lion's den, like Daniel was. The drummers
would be drumming. The historians say it was a very
ceremonial thing. It was a big production. The
drummers would be drumming really loud, really loud. And here they
marched. The soldiers would march. And
they'd march Daniel to the mouth of the lion's den. They open
the door, the upper cage door, and they throw whoever the victim
was, in this case Daniel, throw him down in it as the drummers
continue to drum, which usually would drown out the cries and
the shrieks and the yelling and the moaning and the crying out
of the victims. And here goes Daniel. And the
drummers are drumming. And he is cast in. And the cage
is closed. The door is closed. And everybody
goes home. And everybody thinks he's lion's
food now. And all of the enemies said of
Daniel, we're finished with him. No more of Daniel. Oh, we got
rid of that guy. I sure am glad to be finished
with him. Boy, he got under my skin. With all of his worship,
with all of his praying, with all of his talking about his
God and his salvation and the forgiveness of sins and righteousness
through a substitute and through a sacrifice. We won't ever have
to listen to any of that anymore. The preacher is dead. And everybody
went home. Little did they know that God
sent His angel God sent His angel. Look at verse 22. This is what
Daniel said to the king. My God hath sent His angel. Who is this angel? He's the angel
of the covenant. He's the messenger from God.
Go back to chapter 3 and verse 28. He's the same one who spared
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. who enabled them to stand in
the midst of the flames of fire and not even be singed. Look
at verse 28 of chapter 3. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and he said, Blessed be the God
of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent His angel. And you know
what His angel did? He saved them. That's what the
angel of the Lord does. He saves. Get this, the angel
of the Lord is Jesus Christ Himself. He's a messenger of the covenant.
And what is His specialty? Salvation. He saves, He rescues. Old Nebuchadnezzar, he threw
those three guys in there and he was so upset. He said, here,
crank the fires up higher. And it was awful. Then he comes
and he looks in there and he says, I just put three in there,
didn't I? Yes, sir, you did. I see four. I see a fourth one. Looks like
the Son of Man to me. Looks like the Son of Man. And
we learn it's the angel of the Lord, the angel of the covenant,
Christ Jesus. It's the same one who spoke to
Moses out of the burning bush. You go back and read that sometime
in Exodus chapter 3. The angel of the Lord spoke to
Moses out of the bush that burned but was not consumed. And later
on in the chapter when Moses said, who shall I say? He spoke
to that voice. He spoke to that angel. And he
said, who shall I say has sent me? When the Israelites, when
I go amongst the Israelites and I say, now here I am to deliver
you, Or by what authority do you come to speak to us? Who
do you represent? Who has sent you? The angel of
the Lord said, you tell them this, I am that I am has sent
me. You've been sent by God. The
angel of the covenant is God's own Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. And here He is. Here He is. He's in the very pit of the lion's
den. He's right down there. And he's
with Daniel. He's with Daniel. And he closed
the mouths of the lions. And Daniel just had a restful
night. Oh, the king, he's pacing the floor all night worrying
about Daniel. Oh, Daniel just laid down and
slept. He slept all night. Got up the next morning, yawned
and stretched when the king yelled at him, Oh king! Or, Oh Daniel,
are you okay? Daniel said, Oh king, live forever.
God sent his angel. You see, this is what Christ
Jesus does. He saves sinners. He saves those
who can't do anything for themselves. Listen, you and I, let's bring
it to us. God's justice is after us because
we've broken God's law. The drums are beating. The soldiers of God are marching
us as it were to the place of execution. No hope for us. Listen, we've sinned. I tell
you, there are two things that people don't know about today.
Don't know who God is. Don't know what we are. We don't
know how bad a shape we're in. That's the truth. We don't know
how bad a shape we're in. If we knew how bad off we are in
our sins, nobody would ever fuss about the election of grace.
You'd say, thank God there was an election, because otherwise
I couldn't get in on this mercy. If people ever realized their
dilemma how bad off they are before a holy God, they'd never
fuss about the particular redemption of Jesus Christ that actually
secured the salvation of His people. They'd say, thank God
there was such a redemption. And they would never fuss about
the effectual call of the Spirit, the will of God that's effectual
in salvation. They'd say, thank God He overcame
my will. He's the Savior. Don't you see
that? Thou shalt call His name Jesus.
We sang all those songs tonight about the Savior, how sweet His
name is. Well, those are not just empty
words. We sing those for a reason. Don't we worship the Lord? We're
worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is He? He's Jesus who saves. That's what His name means. Not
Jesus who wants to save, Jesus who tries to save. But Jesus
who saved His people from their sins by His substitutionary death
on the cross. And He saved Daniel. He saved
Daniel. He rescued him. He's able to do that. He's able
to save. In fact, I'll give you... Let
me give you a few things here. Several things God is able to
do. Number one, those that walk in arrogance and pride, He's
able to abase. Daniel 4.37. That's what Nebuchadnezzar
said. Those that walk in pride, God
is able to abase. Listen, there's never been a
sinner too proud of what God couldn't break him if God had
purpose to break him. Hey, listen. God broke you, didn't
He? He broke you. He broke me. And we're all proud, right? We're
all proud sinners. We think we're something. Every
man by nature thinks more of himself than he ought to think.
The fact of the matter is we're all sinners against God. And
we're stubborn and we're rebellious. We're obstinate in our unwillingness
to come to Jesus Christ. But He's able to abase us. He's
able to bring you down now. You just asked Brother Nebuchadnezzar
about that. We read about him a while ago.
Nebuchadnezzar is the one who said those that walk in pride,
He's able to abase. What else is He able to do? Romans
chapter 4 verse 21 says He's able to keep his promises. He's
able to promise what he's able to fulfill what he's promised. He promised Abraham he'd have
a son in his old days that Abraham and Sarah would have a son. That's
an impossibility. God's able to perform that which
he promised. Oh, it's impossible with everybody
else. Nothing's impossible with God. I tell you, our thoughts
of God are too little. He'd do whatever He's in mind
to do. Whatever He's pleased to do. Whatsoever the Lord's
pleased to do, that He did in heaven, earth, and under the
earth, and in all deep places. What's He able to do? He's able
to subdue all things to Himself. Philippians 3.21. I'll go quickly. He's able to keep that which
I've committed unto Him. That's what the Apostle Paul
said in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 12. And you read for us there in
Hebrews chapter 2, He's able to succor them that are tempted. What does that word succor mean? He's able to help us with feeling. He's not unfeeling toward us. We don't have an unfeeling high
priest. We have a high priest who's touched
with the feelings of our infirmities. Oh, people of God, listen, your
Savior is touched with the feelings of your infirmities. He's a sympathizing
Savior. I think about that song, Does
Jesus, Does Jesus Care? Ever sing that? Does Jesus Care?
And it goes through and it's in our hymn book. It's several
things. Does Jesus care when this has
happened, when that happened? And then here's the chorus. Oh
yes He cares! I know He cares! His heart is
touched. His heart is touched. Oh, He
cares. He helps us with feeling. Those
of you who are God's people, you're going through some deep
trial, trouble, tribulation, whatever it is. Nobody ever cared
for you like Jesus. There's a song that way. No one
ever cared for me like Jesus. How much did He care? He cared
so much He gave His life for you. He died for you. Your sins were imputed to Him
and His righteousness is imputed to you. Nobody ever cared for
you like Jesus. Don't tell me nobody cares. Don't
tell me nobody knows. Every once in a while somebody
would come to me and my heart goes out to them. They say, preacher,
nobody knows what I'm going through. Nobody knows the heartache that
I'm bearing. Nobody knows all the tears that
I've shed. And I always tell them, there's
somebody who knows. There's somebody who cares. I
care, but I don't care near like he does. Because he's always
loved you. And he shed his life's blood
to save you. And he sent his spirit to draw
you to himself. He cares. He cares. And I'll tell you Hebrews
7.25 says He's able to save to the uttermost then that come
unto God by Him. He saves by His effectual atonement. He saves by His infallible grace. He saves by His prevailing intercession
all that come unto God by Him. Jude says He's able to keep you
from falling. He's able. Let me give you one
more reference. James chapter 4. The book of James chapter 4.
He's able. He's able to deliver. And you know, even King Darius.
He said, your God's able. Your God's able to save you. And before I read this, let me
ask you this. Is the God you worship able to
save? Is He able to overcome all rebellion? You say, well, if I let Him. You
got the wrong God. You worshiping the wrong God.
Because the God of the Bible, the God of heaven and earth,
He does what He wants to do. He overcomes the rebel's will
that's stubborn. Our Lord Jesus said, ye will
not come to me that you might have life. And yet, I've come,
haven't you? I've come to the Lord. Well,
what's the difference? Who made the difference? I was
made willing in the day of His power. The Savior said, you cannot
come to Me except, no man can come to Me except the Father
which has sent Me. Draw him. And I'll raise him
up at the last day. You know at the word draw, you
look over in the last chapter of John where it says they drew
their nets full of fishes. I tell you what, that net didn't
come by itself. They had to draw the net. When
Peter drew out his sword, to split the high priest servant's
head, but he missed and only got his ear. Remember that story? It says he drew out his sword.
Was the sword active or was Simon Peter active? You see, you and
I are like the sword. We're dead. The sword can't do
it. A sword can't do anything unless
you pick it up. And he drew that sword out. That's
what the Lord has to do to us. He has to draw us to Himself. And He does. He's a God who saves. Well, let me give you this passage.
James chapter 4, look at verse 12. There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. He's able to save if it's His
will, And He's also able to destroy if that's His will. And I promise you this, on the
authority of God's own Word, He will do one or the other with
you. He will save or He will destroy. And it's His prerogative. Is that right? That's His prerogative.
If we had any sense about us at all, we would fall at the
throne of God and say, Oh God, show me mercy for Christ's sake. I don't deserve it. You'd have
every right to throw me into hell and be finished with me
forever. Because I'm a rebel. I'm a sinner. I only think of myself. It's
the truth. It's the truth. That's the way
we all do. You think of yourself. You think of your family. That's
what's on our mind. The Lord's not much in our minds.
Listen, if we got what's coming to us, we'd all perish. But Lord,
if you will, if you will, I don't deserve it. I got no bargaining
chips here. I've got nothing to present to
you. There's no reason in the world why you should show me
mercy, except I read in your Word, Jesus Christ came in the
world to save sinners, and oh God, right here's one. Right here's one. Oh God, help
me, save me, forgive me, for Christ's sake. And you know what? He will. In fact, it's already
done. It's already done. Someday we're
going to see Him. We'll be with Him face to face.
Face to face with Christ my Savior. 511. Is that right? 511.