Good evening. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 292. 292. A pilgrim was I, and a wondering,
In the cold night of sin I did roam, When Jesus, the kind Shepherd,
found me. And now I am on my way home. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. He restoreth
my soul when I'm weary, He giveth me strength day by day. He leads me beside the still
waters, He guards me each step of the way. Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days, all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. When I walk
through the dark, lonesome valley, My Savior will walk with me there,
And safely His great hand will lead me To the mansions He's
gone to prepare. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days, all the days of my life. And I shall
dwell in the house of the Lord forever, And I shall feast at
the table spread for me. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me All the days, all the days of my life. All the days, all the days of
my life. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
303. 303. Jesus saved her pilot bee, Over
life's tempestuous sea. Unknown waves before me roll,
Hiding rocks and treacherous shoal. Chard and compass come
from thee, Jesus, Savior, Pilate be. As a mother stills her child,
Thou canst touch the ocean while boisterous waves obey Thy will. When Thou sayest to them, Be
still, wondrous Sovereign of the sea, Jesus, Savior, I would
be When at last I near the shore. And the fearful breakers roar,
Twixt me and the peaceful rest. And while leaning on thy breast,
May I hear thee say to me, Fear not, I will pilot thee. Let's turn to Jude, the book
of Jude. We'll read down to verse 4. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, called. Mercy unto you and peace
and love be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for
me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before
of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace
of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God
and our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord and our God, in that blessed name that's above
every name, the Lord Jesus Christ, we come into your holy presence
so thankful that we can come. We have the boldness, the liberty,
and the confidence to come into your presence, not because of
anything we are or anything we've done, but because of who he is
and what he has done. And Lord, we come to petition
you this evening, supplicate you, that you'd meet with us
tonight, that you'd come in the presence and power of the Holy
Spirit, meet with us, meet with us, Lord. Give me some understanding
of your word and give me some wisdom to preach it. And Lord,
now we pray for our brothers and sisters that are having a
great fight of afflictions. We pray for Rick and Helen, Lord,
they need you. He needs you. For all the strength
that you could, grace you'd give him, Lord, and Helen too, please
be with them. Pray for Fran and her condition. Please have mercy on her and
have mercy upon these dear saints. And Lord, for someone that I'm
forgetting, someone that I don't mention, Lord, I pray
I know you know who they are and you know where they are.
And so, Lord, please bring glory to yourself in this service tonight.
Lord, have mercy and please be mindful of our children. Oh,
Lord, our children and our grandchildren, even our great-grandchildren,
Lord, they have no hope without you. They'll be so taken up with
the world, things of the world, always interested in what they
can get out of it. that, oh, Lord, you can stop
them on their mad career. You can stop them on their road
to hell. You can stop them, and you can
turn them, and you can trouble them. And so, Lord, we look to
you to do that for Christ's sake. Amen. Page 31 on our course books. Oh, how merciful. 31 in the course
book. When I was lost in sin and shame,
How Thou let me take the blame! Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
was to me! When I could look down deep within,
and see the sinfulness of sin. Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
art to me. O how merciful, how merciful, Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
art to me. A sinner lost and so helped in. Yet thou say'st, I must repent,
Blessed Lord, how merciful thou wast to me. I wonder why should I rebel,
And with the soul deserving hell, Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
was to me. Oh, how merciful how merciful thou art to me oh
how merciful How merciful, blessed Lord, how
merciful Thou art to me. I'm not ashamed of all Thy grace,
When Thou came and took my place, blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
art to me. And when this world ceases to
be, Eternal blood to speak for me. Blessed Lord, how merciful
thou art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, How merciful Thou
art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful,
Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou art to me. I want to get my subject out
of verse 4 tonight. We've dealt with everything else.
And it said, For there are certain men crept in unawares who were
before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning
the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God
in our Lord Jesus Christ. of old, ordained to this condemnation. Ordained to this condemnation. Ordained to this judgment, that's
what condemnation means, judgment. Jude expressed his love for these
people and he prayed for their blessings to be multiplied. He
said there in verse two, mercy unto you and peace and love,
let it be multiplied. Let God give you Instead of just
once or twice or three times, let it be multiplied. Let God
multiply his love to you, mercy towards you, grace towards you.
Let it be preserved, multiplied towards you. And then he was
zealous and diligent in writing unto them. He said, it was needful
for me. I gave diligence is needful for
me in verse three, necessary for me, zealously for it. to exhort you to earnestly contend
for the faith. And let me take a moment to say
some things about that. Let us contend for it in our
own hearts and lives. Let's contend for the faith in
our own hearts and lives by what we believe and how we react and
how we act towards one another and towards our Lord Jesus Christ.
contend for the faith in our own lives, in our own hearts,
in our own minds. You know, and men can go through
great, great trials, great losses, but if they lose and if they
leave the gospel, leave the faith, and that's what he's talking
about, the faith of God's elect, the faith, the things that we
believe, the gospel we believe, If you leave the gospel, the
faith, you've left the only means of salvation there are in this
world. That's why I said contend for
it in your own lives, in your own heart, in your own mind.
A church, a body of believers, can endure and survive schisms. They can endure and survive divisions
and arguments. They can survive money problems.
They can survive discouragements and disagreements. But if a church
loses the gospel, loses the faith that they contend for, it has
no need to exist. If you leave off the gospel,
leave off contending for the faith, it has no right to exist
any longer. No right. And so why was it necessary
for him to write to them and exhort them? He gave the reason
for it in verse four. Certain men crept in, crept in
unawares. You know how they get in? They
crept in. They crept in. And when it means
crept in unawares, people weren't aware of what they were really
like. They didn't see them as they really were. And to enter
in, it means to creep in unawares. It means to enter in by the side
door. It means to come in in a way
that you won't be able to see them. It means to insinuate yourself
into a situation by stealth, by sneaking in. And these men crept in unawares. People were unaware of who they
were, unaware of what their motives were, unaware of what they were
and what they did and what they thought and what they taught.
But now here's the thing that happened to them. This is what
has to happen. They came in as in a profession. They came in
as professors. They professed the name of Christ. They took the name of Christian. They took the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And they didn't come in just
suddenly and start teaching false doctrine. No, no, they didn't
just come in automatically and teaching false doctrine. Anybody
could spot that. Anybody could spot that. No,
our Lord Jesus Christ, like he told the Pharisees, you're of
your father, the devil. And they were there out of subtlety
and craftiness. They were there to deceive people
in a very subtle, they come in stealthily, unawares of what
they really were. People didn't have any idea of
what kind of person they were. And how many times have we didn't
hardly suspect anybody would be the way that they were. Now
you keep, you can go over with me to Ephesians chapter four.
Ephesians chapter four. You know, in verse 14, oh my, they came in
and they had a profession. Of course they had to have a
profession. You know, just to give you an
illustration that Judas was with the 12 disciples and with Christ
for three years, and nobody had any idea that he would end up
being the son of perdition, that he was ordained to this condemnation,
like these men were ordained to this condemnation. Look what
he said here in Ephesians 4.14. that we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine,
waiting like they did at Mars Hill. Let's see if we got something
new to say. You know, when a man comes in
with a new doctrine, he comes in blowing some new truth or
something, he comes in with thinking, boy, they just don't understand
this. You don't get this. And, oh, they carried about what
they were rendered by, and listen to this, by the sleight of men,
like a musician, like a magician, by the sleight of men and cunning
craftiness. And they wait just to deceive
you. They're waiting to deceive you.
And that's what they do. These people, back over in our
text, these people crept in. They crept in. They didn't come
in upright. boldly and confidently, and they
crept into people's hearts. They crept into people's hearts.
They didn't come in teaching false doctrine. No, they crept
into people's hearts. They crept into their affections
by pretense, by pretense. Oh my, telling folks all what,
I remember preaching one time, in a meeting up in Kentucky years
ago when I was preaching the gospel. And after about three
or four nights, this woman stood up and she said, do you understand
what this man is saying about us? Do you understand what this
fellow is saying? Their preacher wasn't preaching
what I was preaching. But she stood up, do you understand
what he said about you? What he said about what salvation
is? Do you understand it? Don't you get it? I just sat there and listened to
her talk, kept on preaching. But oh, they creep into people's
hearts, they creep into their affections. They come in bragging
about them, talking about them, what fine folks they are. and
slipping their error in just a little bit at a time into their
ears. They come and just whisper a
little something. Oh, I believe your preacher missed
it on this. I believe your preacher might've
missed it on that. And you know, I think that we
ought to, you know, change this verse and change that verse.
And you know, I just don't, and oh my, slipping their errors
in at a little time. and time into their ears. Look
over with me at 2 Peter. Let's go back over to John's
and then 2 Peter's right there. Look what he said over here.
Paul called them false brethren. And by the way, I'm going to
start preaching through Galatians Sunday night. You know, but Paul
said, you're false brethren. They come in to spy out a person's
liberty. They come in and if you've got
too much liberty, there's gotta be something wrong with you.
You ain't got enough law, you ain't got enough works. And they
come in and insinuate those kind of things into people's ears
and into their affections and they come and get a hold of their
heart and start just whispering little things to them. Oh my. And then they, but look what
it says here, 2 Peter 2.1. But there were false prophets
also among the people. Oh, how many false prophets there
were. There was 400 false prophets
at one time, in one place. False prophets among the people.
God said, they cry, peace, peace, when there is no peace. My people
perish for lack of knowledge. And he said, listen to this,
now, even as there shall be false teachers among you, they gonna
come in and teach something else. And listen to how they do it,
they shall privately, privately, Get along with people privately.
Get along privately with people. Bringing in damnable heresies. And just like these fellows over
here, denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves
with destruction. Now what does it mean that they
denied the Lord that bought them? You see, Christ, let me put it
this way. Christ, this world is called
the field. This world's called the field.
And there's a treasure hidden in that field. And the Lord Jesus
Christ brought the whole field to get that treasure out of that
field. And that treasure is his elect. But he owns every soul
on topside God's earth. And he decides what to do with
them. He does. But look what they go
on to say. and they'll bring upon themselves
swift destruction. And listen to this now, and many
shall follow their pernicious ways, deadly ways, lascivious
ways, and because they do that, by reason of whom the way of
truth shall be even spoken of. When they find out what you believe
and what you preach, they'll say, that's false, that's wrong,
that's wrong. And now look what else it says
about them. Verse 3, 2 Peter 3. And through covetousness,
they covet your attention, they covet your money, they covet
your praise, they covet you, and they will show with feigned
or phony words. You know what you are to them?
Merchandise. Merchandise. Something to make
money off of, something to make a name off of, something to make
some power off of, something to better yourselves from. And
oh, listen to this, whose judgments now of a long time lingereth
not, and their damnation slumbereth not. In other words, God's not
gonna let them get by with it. Now back over in our text. Oh
my. You know, These men crept in
unawares. They come in by stealth, come
in by side door, come in like talkative, you know, Christian
and faithful, and they were going on the narrow way. And no talkative,
you know, he liked to talk about religion. He jumped over the
fence and got in the narrow way with them. And he'd like to talk
to him to death. Tell him about how all of his
religious experience, how dedicated he was, what a good fellow he
was and all that. They started questioning him
and asking him questions. And he had to own up and said,
well, how'd you get in this way then, if you're like you are?
He said, well, I climbed over the fence and got in here. He
said, well, if you didn't go back and start way back under,
you're in this thing the wrong way. Our Lord said, if a man
comes up any other way, he's a thief and he's a robber. That's
what Christ said about, what is it to be a thief? To rob God
of his glory, to rob the truth of his power, to make merchandise
of men's souls. And oh my, and they appear meek,
back over in our text, they appear meek. And we read it Sunday morning,
I read it Sunday morning, and he says, beware false prophets
who come in sheep's clothing. They got sheep's clothing on
them. But inwardly, inwardly, they're just like a wolf and
they rave and they want to destroy everything they can get their
hands on. Oh, you remember Absalom, David's son. Oh, he was a beautiful
man, glorious man. Everybody thought this guy, Absalom
is wonderful. And he tried to take the throne
from his own father, King David, the man after God's own heart.
And the scripture said because he was so smart and talked so
well that he won the hearts of the people. Won their hearts
away from their rightful king that God anointed. He said, I
want the throne. I want to be on that throne.
I don't care what I have to do to my father to get it. Oh, he stole the people's heart
away. And I'll tell you what, you know
what happened? God let his old long hair get
caught in a tree, and they come up and killed him. And you know
what, David loved his son so much, even that's what he done.
They run over out to tell David, you know, he's waiting for somebody
to come. The first thing he said, what
about my son? What about my son? And that's
what God says, what about my son? And that one fellow said, I'll
run, I'll run, I'll run. He said, when he got there, he
didn't have nothing to say. He could outrun the one that
stood. The boy went, oh, the one that got there, he said,
what about my son? And he had to tell him. And David
wept. And that's the way God is about
his son. What about my son? What have you got to say about
my son? Who's trying to usurp my throne? Who's trying to usurp
his throne? Who's trying to take power away
from him? Who's trying to usurp his authority? Oh my. And I tell you, these
men thought they had a higher and a better gospel. They thought
they had a higher and a better gospel. I heard a fellow say
one time, he says, you know, there's something in the Bible
besides just Christ and him crucified. There's a lot more in the Bible
than that. A fellow said, well, if you believe that, you're not
going to get in my pulpit. No, no. Listen, they think they've
got a higher gospel, a better gospel. No, what better gospel than Christ
being our Savior, being our Redeemer, being our mediator, being the
only one that put away our sins. Oh, but they think they got a
better gospel. Paul said, I marvel. A marvel that you're so soon
removed from the grace of Christ unto another gospel. They said,
boy, we got a better gospel than you got. You know what Paul said? He said, there's not another
gospel. And if me or an angel from heaven come and preach on
anything I've not preached for you, stay away from them. Stay away from them. And all
my And here's another thing that they had that really influenced
people and made people impressed with them after they got in there.
They had great learning. Oh my. They had good educations. Oh my. They knew the original
language. I know they're like, you know.
I'll tell y'all a true story. I'll stop and say this. Todd
Nyburn, I love this man so much, and he's such a good preacher,
such a good pastor, such a good friend. But there was this fella,
one time, he wanted to let Todd's Road to Grace Church to sponsor
him, and be, sponsor him in a new church, in a new work. Well,
Todd went over there and had lunch with him, and was sitting
there eating lunch with him, And they got to talking and this
fella, when it's all said and done, Todd was trying to ask
him questions whether we should support him or whether our church
ought to be the one to lay hands on him and start this new work.
Use that church as a platform. They got to talking and he started
asking this fella questions. He got mad because Todd is not
smart enough to ask him the right questions. And he told Todd, he said, you
know what you are? You're obtuse. You know what
Todd had to do? He had to go home and get a new
shirt. I'm an obtuse man. But this man, I said, I'll have
to say this. I watched him just a little bit,
two or three times. And he would quote a verse of
scripture and read it. And next thing you know, he'd
be speaking in Greek. And then he'd go back to the
language and he'd put it all back out in Greek. And I didn't
understand one word he was saying. Nobody else does. What good does the original language
do us? We got an English Bible. God
gave us an English Bible. Now, if you was down in Greece.
They have a Greek Bible and they would preach in Greek, but we're
not in Greek. Greece, not in Greece. Greece, Greek. Oh my, they, you know, we can
preach the original language. And they love to be called doctor.
I know some fellas that used to preach with us, they went
and got them a doctor's degree. And then there's those that have
the doctor of theology. Then there's those that have
the PhD. And oh, that impresses people.
You know what Paul called it? He said at the feet of Gamaliel,
the best teacher in the Jewish language, in Jews. And Paul learned
at him, Gamaliel. And you know what Paul called
all that? He said, I called it, but done. Everything I ever learned,
everything I ever did, and all the laws I kept, and all the
languages I knew, I counted but done. And if God ever saves a
man, They'll count it done too. I don't care how much education
he's got. When God saves a man, he'll take
his education and he'll throw it just like he does the rest
of himself at the feet of Christ. And you know, Greg Amquist, I
love him dearly. And you know, he told me years
ago, he said, I had to unlearn all the stuff that I'd learned.
Had to unlearn it. Had to unlearn it. And that's
like being an Armenian or being a legalist or something. We got
to unlearn all that stuff. We learn a new language, get
a new Bible. Oh my, Paul called it dumb, but
they use these things to draw attention to themselves and away
from Christ. But now look how God viewed them.
He said here in verse four, for there are certain men crept in
unawares. Now listen to this, what God
says about them. who were before of old ordained
to this condemnation." God said, I'm going to ordain you. I'm
going to let you go and preach a lie. I'm going to let you be
a somebody and let you make something of yourselves. But I ordained
you to this condemnation. I ordained you to judgment. I ordained you to be a liar.
I ordained you and, you know, As many as were ordained to eternal
life believe, as many were ordained to this condemnation, they're
damned. That's just all you can say about
it. God said, I've ordained you to be this kind of a man, to
creep in underwears. I've ordained you to go in there
and lie and win people's hearts and minds and deceive people.
I've ordained you to do that. And he did it before of old.
It didn't happen when they start telling lies. It didn't happen
when they start creeping in. They crept in because God ordained
them to do it. And I'll tell you another thing,
Paul said it's this, that a lie has to, you know, the only way
you can manifest truth is whenever you put something up against
it. Spurgeon used to say, the only way you can ever tell a
stick is crooked is lay down a straight stick beside it. And
when you keep laying down that straight stick, you find out
how crooked your stick's been. And that's what these fellas
did. Oh, of old ordained. That means written in a book.
Written in a book. And as to the church, they crept
in unawares. But they were not unaware to
God. They weren't unaware to God. He ordained them. He decreed them to this condemnation,
creed them to this judgment. We read there, whose damnation
lingereth not. Not only are men's ways, but
their persons are the object of God's decrees. God ordained
these men to do this. He ordained and you can find
several places where God did that. He ordained Judas. He was
a son of perdition from the beginning. God didn't make him be a liar.
God didn't make him deceive Christ and betray Christ. He done what
was in his heart to do to start with. That's why regeneration
has to take place. God was aware of them. He ordained them. He decreed
to them. Not only are men's ways, but their very person are the
object of God's decrees. Oh, look at Paul, he said, God
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace. He was 30 years old before God
ever saved him, but he said, God separated from my mother's
womb and called me by his grace. He said, what he's saying is
God knew me. And you know, it's like Jeremiah,
before you was formed in your mama's belly, before your mother
ever got pregnant, I ordained you to be a prophet. among the
nations. And then there you go. There's
Judas, Nebuchadnezzar. God ordained him to go walk around
there and brag about himself. And you know what God did to
him? Put him out in the field just like an old cow. And he
stayed out there seven years. And his hair got down like feathers
on his back. His fingernails clawed out like
big claws. Oh, my Pharaoh. I ain't gonna
let my people go. Oh, yes, you will. I ain't gonna
do it. Yes, you will. I'm not gonna
do it. Yes, you will. Oh, in Exodus 9, 16, you look
at yourself. God said, I'm gonna bring glory
to my name by destroying you. By destroying you. And he drowned
him in the Red Sea. And he'd been in hell for these
thousands of years. And Pilate, Pilate, I'm gonna
wash my hands of this man. He's still washing his hands
and they still got the blood of Christ on them. Oh my, God
ordained these men to these things. And when men start to play with
opinions, opinions, and start to pervert the truths of God,
they don't consider the end of it. Damnation is the end of it. And how did these men come to
this? Well, how did they come to this condemnation, these ungodly
men ordained to this condemnation? How did they come to this? They
didn't know anything about God. They didn't know anything about
His decrees. And I tell you, they didn't believe in the revealed
will of God, His word. They want to add to it. They
want to take away from it. And here's another thing God
does. He puts things in His Word that harden men. They don't understand. So they take the way they want
to. They want to. Let me show you
something, Mark chapter 4. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ He told a bunch over in John
chapter 12. He said, God gave you eyes of
slumber, ears that can't hear, and he says you cannot believe. You cannot believe. He told a
group of people you cannot believe. And look what he said here in
Mark 4 11. He said unto them, unto his disciples,
his 12, unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom
of God. But unto them that are without,
all things are in parable, that seeing they may see and not perceive,
hearing they may hear and not understanding, lest at any time
they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven
them. It's not gonna happen, it's not gonna happen. You know,
he said, our Lord said, God has hid these things, hid these things. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost. And I tell you, God leads them
to follow their own heart. That's men follow their own heart.
You know, in Matthew 15, Peter said, Lord,
you, do you know, he said, you've offended them people. You've
offended the Pharisees. You know what our Lord said?
Let him alone. Just let him alone. Just let
him alone! If my father has not planted
that tree, it's gonna be rooted up anyway. Just leave him alone.
Ephraim. Joseph had two sons, Manasseh
and Ephraim. And he loved Ephraim. Oh, he
loved Ephraim. But Ephraim, the scripture says,
he was a half a tribe, and the scripture says that he turned
unto idols. And do you know what God said
to him? Leave him alone. Let him have his idols. Leave
him alone. Oh, my. And God does it to bring
honor to himself and honor to his name. I got to show you this.
Look in Proverbs 16. Proverbs 16. I hadn't thought
of that in a long, long time. Used to quote it pretty often
in Proverbs 16. Look in verse 4. The Lord hath made all for himself, yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. My, my, my. Even the wicked for
the day of evil. And all back over in our text,
I gotta hurry, I gotta hurry. I don't wanna hold you too long.
I'll try not to preach this long on Wednesday if I can help it.
But look what else about these men's character. They were ungodly
men, ungodly men. And you know what that means? Means without worship. Means
without true knowledge of God. And I looked it up today, it
means without reverence for him or his word. without reverence
for him or his word. They have what you call will
worship. They worship according to their own will. They worship
according to the way they think men ought to do it. And God,
believe it or not, thank God this happens. God justifies the
ungodly. Christ died for the ungodly. But these men, being ungodly,
are men who won't acknowledge God as the first cause of everything. Paul's on Mars Hill. He was preaching
up there. They had gods everywhere. And
he said, there's an altar that says unknown god. He said, I'm
going to tell you about him. That one you don't know about,
that's the true God. Because you can't know the true
God unless he makes you know the true God. Oh, my. And oh my, these men here, they
didn't depend upon him. They depended upon their will.
They depended on their own power, depended upon their own education.
Didn't trust him. They loved the praise of men
more than the praise of God. Paul said they had a form of
godliness, but denied the power thereof. And look what happens
to these men. Look what they do. Look at what
they end up teaching. They turned the grace of our
God, our God, see the difference, our God, turned the grace of
our God into lasciviousness and denied the only Lord God in our
Lord Jesus Christ. When you talk about turning the
grace of God into lasciviousness, turning the grace of God, the
gospel into wantonness, shameless conduct, absence of restraint,
past feeling, past feeling. And I'll tell you what, we get
accused of this. You know, when people really
understand that you preach grace, free grace, no ifs, ands, or
buts about it, when you preach grace, free grace, the first
thing they'll tell you is, if I believe that, I'd be able to
go out and sin all I want to. And that's what they accuse us
of. But these men actually do it.
They actually do it. But there's nothing, nothing,
let me wind this up, nothing about the gospel would cause
us to turn the grace of God into lascivious. Nothing about the
gospel would cause a man to be that way. Nothing about it. Nothing
about it. It turns men just the opposite.
It turns men from idols to the true and living God. It turns
men from love of self to the love of Christ. It turns stingy
men into generous men. It turns ungodly men into godly
men. Oh my. It turns them from the
shame of sin, so ashamed of their sin, and turn them to the true
and living God. Their gospel turned away men
from grace and from the gospel and from God, and theirs was
the ways of flesh. Paul said they rest the scriptures
to their own damnation. But the gospel, the gospel of
the grace of God saves from sin, saves us from trusting in the
flesh, saves these men who use grace to excuse their depravity.
Their flesh, it's like Sodom and Gomorrah. Oh my, they follow
strange flesh. Strange flesh. And here's what
God does. He gives a man just enough rope
to hang himself. You ain't got enough? I'll give
you a little more. I'll give you a little more. And then they
go so far, God jerks the rope. Oh my. And I'll tell you what,
deny our only Lord God in the Lord Jesus Christ. They deny his power. They deny
his supremacy. They deny his throne. And you
know, he's the only one that's got all power in heaven and earth.
He's the only one that can give life to whom he will. All judgment's
been committed to him. They love His power for healing,
love His power to make themselves look like they're doing miracles
and wonders, but they don't want Christ reigning on His throne.
They deny His power as the only Savior. Only Savior. Oh, no. Gotta be other ways to
God. Gotta be. He, you know, He can't
save us unless we cooperate with Him. He can't save us unless
we let Him. They deny His power as the Savior. Oh, my. And they deny His work. They deny His death. They deny
His death. They deny the power of His blood. And let me tell you something
the false prophet uses, and I want you to understand what I'm saying.
People get up all the time and they said the death of Christ
is sufficient for all and efficient only for his elect. Why they say it's sufficient
for all so that they can make the gospel real, real broad,
real, real broad. But it's not sufficient for everybody.
It's not. It's only sufficient for God's
elect, it's only effectual for God's elect. And they do that,
they do that. There's preachers that used to,
years and years ago, they'd come down here and preach from Henry's.
And now some of those very men deny particular redemption. Deny the blood of Christ. Deny
effectual calling. Said they can't preach the gospel
unless we preach that God loves everybody. I can preach the gospel
without telling everybody that God loves them. I don't have
any problem with it. Oh my. He laid down his life
for his people, his sheep, vessels of mercy, children of God, elect
sons of God. Oh my. Let's contend for the
faith because of these men, men. I'm going to tell you something
in closing. Everybody, I guess, knows about
this here flat earth business. If you haven't heard about it,
about the earth being flat, there's men that started out
with the gospel, men that came out of Don Fortner's congregation.
There was a couple here that I baptized and they stayed for
a long time, took them out to eat and they spent the weekend
with us. And after a while, I called them and I said, I guess y'all
found a new place to worship. No, no, no, we ain't. I said,
well. I said, I figured you did because I hadn't seen you for
quite a while. He said, well, we've changed our view of the
cosmological view. I said, what are you talking
about? He said, we believe in the flat earth. And they made that their gospel.
And if you didn't agree with them, you didn't believe the
gospel at all. But he said, you know, I said, he said, you know,
I said, I said, boy, how'd you come to that conclusion? They
said, well, we got to preach and teach what we know and what
we understand. I said, the only thing that's absolutely necessary
to believe is Christ and Him crucified. That's the only necessity
we got to have. And he said, well, if I come
back up there, would you let me mention the flat earth? I said, absolutely not. Absolutely
not. And if you do come, I got men
that'll show you to the door. Some good men that'll show you
the door. That's what I mean. How did these folks going from
preaching the grace of God and the gospel to becoming flat earth
people, believe the earth is flat? How's that happen? Ordained to this condemnation. God will let you believe a lie
and be damned if that's what you want to do. If you want to
deny God, He'll let you. If you want to hate God, He'll
let you. You want to turn the grace of God into lasciveness,
He'll let you. I'm interested in as many as
were ordained to eternal life. I will see them believe it. Amen. All right. Our Lord and our God, we done sung, oh, how merciful,
oh, how merciful you are to us. Lord, you are indeed merciful,
abundantly merciful, abundantly gracious, abundantly forgiving. Oh, God, we thank you. Oh, we
praise you and bless you. And Lord, please, please help
us to, in a loving, kind, and gracious way, contend for the
faith of our own hearts and own lives. Don't let us fall and
shame you and embarrass you and bring shame to your name. Keep
us true to Christ, true to the gospel, true to our blessed master. Let others do what they will,
but enable us, oh Lord, believe you, trust you, worship you,
honor you, and glorify you. We ask these things in his holy
name. Amen. Amen. Jesus Christ is made to me. All I need. All I need. He alone is all my plea. He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and power. Holiness forevermore. My redemption full and sure. He is all I need. Amen. Well, see you Sunday, God
willing.