Wonderful words. His kingdom
is for it. We saw that this morning. Oh,
wonderful. Tonight, I'd like us to look at four lies that are being promoted.
But first of all, We're gonna look at what scripture says about
each one of those and then we're gonna test it. Then we're gonna
see if that lie is a lie or if there's truth to it. And this is really relevant because
those of us who have family members who are in religion or just people
you work with probably and you're gonna hear, you'll probably recognize
some of these. Maybe you've heard people say
these. And all across this nation this morning, and actually all
around the world, these lies were probably promoted. And these four lies are extremely
man-centered. They're man-centered. See, our
focus is to get your eyes on Christ. Gospel preachers want
you to look to Christ and look away from yourself. Because we have no hope in ourselves. I remember what Scott Richardson
said, and I love this, he said, we look outside of ourselves
and up to Christ. And that's so true for the believer.
There was a time when before we were saved, we looked inside
into what we were doing, but now it's not like that. Now it's all what he's done.
It's all what he's done. Now these four lies, which religion
promotes as number one, God loves everyone. He loves everyone. Now God is a God of love, right?
He's a God of love. But his love is so set upon his
people, and his love is from everlasting, and we're gonna
look at that. The second lie is this. It's
God's will for everyone to be saved. Well, we're gonna look at that. We're gonna look at what the
scriptures say, and then we're gonna test that. The third lie we often hear is
this, that Christ died for everyone, even those in hell. Because we
know, you know, he died for those in heaven, of course, but even
for those in hell. They just chose to reject him. We'll look at that. And the last
lie that's often here is this. The Holy Spirit draws the saved
and the condemned alike, but their ultimate destination, or
the ultimate where there be, the choice, rests in them, not in Him, in
His doing, and that they can actually resist the power of
God, the Holy Spirit. So let's look at the first, and
as I said, As I said, these lies are, they're promoted as truth.
They're promoted as truth. And when you question them, when you question them with folks,
well, they, right away, they'll come at you. But something you'll notice when
they do that, I've experienced it many times, is they don't
have scripture. It's all based upon their opinion.
I've talked to many people about this. And I was one who believed
this way at one time. Until God showed me the gospel
and showed me the truth. And those who are promoting these
lies, they're adamant in protecting them. Adamant. And we're actually exposing
them for what they are. A refuge of lies. They're a refuge
of lies. Now God's people want to know,
we don't want to know what the person's opinion is, do we? Because
everyone has an opinion. But what we want is what say
the scriptures? What does the scriptures say? What do they
say about these subjects? And as I said, the one thing
that I've noticed in talking with these folks, and like I
said, I was one too, that believe this way, is the lack of scripture
support. Or when they use scripture, they
tear it right out of context. Always read scripture in context
if you can. But here, at First Baptist Church
in Alamont, we bow our knee to what sayeth the scripture. You
show me in scripture, bow my knee to that. Because that's, this is the final
authority right here. Not what someone's opinion is,
but what does the scripture say. So we will ask a question first,
to see what the scripture says, and then we'll weigh each of
these lies based upon what we've read in scripture. So, number
one, what saith the scripture, right? What does the scripture
say? And we'll just go over a few
things here. The scripture says, for the righteous
Lord loveth righteousness. His countenance doth behold the
upright, Psalm 11, verse seven. So, does God love everyone? Now we know that our God is a
righteous God. He's righteous. He loves righteousness. Psalm
11, seven says, for the righteous Lord love of righteousness. God himself is righteous. He loves those who are righteous. Turn with me, if you would, the
Romans nine verse 11. Now, remember, We have no righteousness
on our own that's acceptable to God, do we? We must be clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. We must be. We must be in order
to be accepted by God. And God is holy. Therefore, his
love is holy. And he's righteous. And therefore,
he hates unrighteousness or sin. Look at Romans chapter 9, passage
that we're familiar with, verses 11 to 14. For the children being not yet born,
haven't even been born, neither haven't done any good or evil.
So there's no good or evil that they've done, right? So election, we're gonna see,
is not based upon your doing. It's based upon the free grace
of God in Christ. That the purpose of God, according
to election, and that means to choose, might stand not of works,
not of works, not of works, not of works, but of him that calleth. We saw this morning that God
calls his sheep. We saw that in Sunday school.
He calls his sheep, and he calls them by name. He calls them by
name. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then?
Is there unrighteousness with God? Is it wrong for God to choose
Jacob over Esau? God forbid. Here's a story of
an old preacher that was in his study, and he had recently preached
this passage of Scripture. And his young son came in, and
he said, Dad, I heard you preaching today, and you said in Scripture
that God hated Esau. I'm having a hard time with that.
And the old preacher said, son, look at it this way. How could
God love Jacob? How could God love Jacob? Because
they're both sinners, aren't they? It's mercy. The love of
God is distinguishing grace. It's distinguishing love. It's
set upon his people. Now, he is benevolent to everyone
in the world. The rain falls on the just and on the unjust,
doesn't it? He is benevolent, but his love is set upon his
bride. Set upon his bride. When a man
marries a woman, you choose your bride, don't you? Your love is
set upon her. Christ has a bride given to him
in eternity, and his love is set upon her. That's all His
sheep. All His sheep. And how long has
He loved them? He's loved them with an everlasting
love. An everlasting love. Chooses them in eternity, in
Christ, before the foundation of the world. Now, everyone outside of Christ
is under God's condemnation and wrath. But remember this, if you're
saved, like I've said before, it's all God. But if you're lost,
it's all you. You're fully responsible for
your sin. What does a God have to do to
save a man? We looked at this before. Everything. What does
he have to do for a man to be lost? Leave him alone. Just leave him alone. Oh, that
God would move. Oh, that he would draw you. If
you're not, if you don't know Christ, that he would move in
your heart. See, we don't know who God's
people are, who his elect are, who his lost sheep are. Therefore,
we proclaim the love of Christ to save sinners, to whom he chooses,
to all, and he does the saving. He does the math. It's all his
work. So God's love is set upon those
in Christ. Jacob was one of his elect. Jacob
of our love, but Esau have I hated. If God loves those in heaven
equally to those in hell who suffer eternal damnation, then
what does the love of God have to do with our salvation? Does God love everyone? Well,
the answer we've seen from scripture is no. His love is set upon his people. As I said, he's benevolent to
all, though, isn't he? He's benevolent to all. God loved
Jacob, but hated Esau. Therefore, God's love is set
upon his people in Christ, too, and that's the only place. Because
remember how we saw that it wasn't based upon anything they had
done? Oh, it's the mercy of God. So this
first lie that God loves everyone fails to pass the test of Scripture. And what does the Bible say about
God's will in salvation? Turn with me, if you would, to
Ephesians 1, verse 5. What does the Bible say about
God's will? Is it the will of God that all men would be saved? Ephesians 1 verse 5, and then
if you would, your finger back in Romans, I should have kept
you there, Romans chapter 9. But Ephesians 1 verse 5, what
does the Bible say about God's will and salvation? Ephesians
1.5, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. You can't argue with that. If you're saved, it's God's will. Having predestinated us into
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will, God will save whomever he pleases
to save. Aren't you thankful, believer,
that he had mercy on you? Now, does this hinder folks coming
to Christ? Absolutely not. No. What did we look at today?
Scripture declared to us today, this morning, that God's elect
are a number that no man can number. We proclaim and he does the drawing,
he does the saving. If you're saved, if you're even
being drawn to Christ, it's according to the pleasure of his goodwill. He can give salvation to whomever
He is pleased to give it to. Romans 9. Today we looked at
Him as a king, sovereign king this morning. Romans 9 says this,
verse 15. And this is so plain. Now remember,
we're saved by the mercy of God in Christ, aren't we? That's
how we're saved. Look what He declares in Romans
9.15. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. And I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth. It's not your will, because your will's not willing. But to be made willing, then
you're going to run. But initially, when we come into this world
dead in trespasses and sins, we don't want to come to God. Dead and trespasses and sins.
I have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then, lookit,
it's not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth. So it's
not by your will and it's not by your works. There's the two
of them covered right there. But of God that showeth mercy. If you're ever saved, God has
shown you mercy. Mercy. Look what it says in verse 17.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for the same purpose
have I raised thee up. Pharaoh was raised up by God.
That I might show my power in thee. Remember, he's king. We saw that this morning. He
is a sovereign king. And I might show my power in
thee, that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. And
again, verse 18, therefore, he he Hath he mercy on whom he will
have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. God's distinguishing grace. It's his will to save his people. If it was his will for everyone
to be saved, everyone would be saved. And I remember when I was in
believing these things, my whole perspective of who God was was
warped. I thought he was at my whim. I thought that he was waiting
for me to run to him. And I used to tell people that,
oh, I, ah. You know, I used to say God cast
a vote for you and the devil cast a vote for you, now it's
up to you. Well, what a lie. But that's what I, I didn't know
anything else. I've been taught that by man,
not by God. Now, when we witness to someone
or even preach in the gospel, it's all in God's hands. It's
all according to his will and his mercy. This is why we can
talk to family members or if the Lord opens the door, if the
Lord gives us utterance, sister, like you were saying today, and
that's what we pray. Lord, please just open up doors
with our family if it's your will, please, please. And then what do we do? Remember
the demoniac. We tell them the great things
the Lord has done for us. God has had mercy on me in Christ. I don't deserve it. I don't deserve
it. But he's had mercy on me. If
he wills, he'll have mercy on you. Oh, what a great God. So here before us in the text
in Romans, we see before us God's free and sovereign grace explained
right before us there. He has the freedom to save whomever
he will. There's only one real will supreme, and that's God's
will. It's his will. He has mercy on
whomever he pleases. And what do we say? We say amen. Amen. Think of this. He saves those who cannot save
themselves. He saves those who cannot save
themselves. In verse 16, verse 16 absolutely
destroys Free will, works-based religion. It just destroys it. The text says, not of him that
willeth. Well, there goes free will. Not of him that runneth, there
goes works. But of God who showeth mercy,
there's the heart of it. Free grace, free grace, free
grace. And the merit is torn away, right? No merit. I like what Brother
James said, no merit, no merit, no merit. I love that. He preached
that to me all the time. That's so true. No merit. Not
at all. Undeserving. Oh, but God has
mercy. He has mercy. Shows mercy. Mercy to sinners. Mercy to those who don't deserve
it. Mercy. Mercy. Turn with me, if you would, to
John chapter 5. John chapter 5. Verse 21 to 23. So the question is, is it God's
will that all should be saved? John 5, 21, for as the Father
raises up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth
whom He will, whom He will. For the Father judges no man,
but has committed all judgment unto the Son. Christ has all
power and authority. We saw this morning, He's a king. He's got all the authority and
power to save whomever He wills. And all men should honor the
Son, even as they honor the Father. Well, He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which has sent Him. There was a time when I didn't
honor the Son. But God had mercy on me. Now I love Him. Now I praise
Him. Why? Because He's had mercy on
me. Is it not so with you who believe?
Just remember where you were. Never forget the rock you were
hewn from. Never forget where the Lord, the pit the Lord dragged
us out of. Never forget that. Never forget
that he had mercy on you if you're one of his. And he didn't pass
you by. So the second lie that religions
claim is that it's God's will for all to be saved, but we see
from scripture that God saves whom he wills. Whom he wills. And what does he do? Those he
saves, he saves his people from their sins. He does. Successful. It's not a question
of maybe. He does. So the second lie that
God's will for all to be saved does not, it fails again to pass
the test of scripture. What does the scripture say about
the purpose of Jesus' death on the cross? For whom did Christ die on the
cross? Now, religion tells you that
he died for all men, right? But what did we believe? What sayeth the scripture, right?
That's what we want. We don't want man's opinion.
We want to know what the scripture says. Turn with me, if you would,
to John chapter 10, and then also put your finger in Titus
chapter 2. So the religion exclaims that
God died for all men. What was the purpose of our beloved
Savior dying on the cross? What sayeth the scripture? John
10, verse 11. This is so plain. But unless
God gives you eyes to see, you won't see it. I know, I used
to read scripture before the Lord saved me and I didn't even. Then he saves you and it's, wow.
You start to see things you didn't see before. John chapter 10, verse 11. I
am the good shepherd. And this is our master speaking.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Remember, he's sinless, spotless. Shepherd gives his life for sinners
for the sheep Doesn't say everyone But he does give his life for
the sheep and in Titus chapter 2 The Lord Jesus Christ gives his
life for sheep his elect Titus chapter 2 verses 13 and 14 and looking for that blessed hope
and glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ, who gave himself for us. He really gave himself. The sinless one gave himself
for us, for his elect, for his bride. He might redeem us from
all iniquity and purify unto himself a particular people.
Purify. Redeem us from some iniquity,
all iniquity. All your trespasses and sins
are forgiven in Christ. And purify unto himself a particular
people zealous of good works. We desire to see people come
to Christ. We desire to be in church to
hear the gospel preached. We desire to be with one another.
We love our Savior and we love to be with his people. So who did Christ give himself
for? His sheep, his elect. And why did he give himself for
his sheep? That he might redeem us. We couldn't redeem ourselves,
could we? He might redeem us from all iniquity. And this is why we say, you know,
a lot of folks say they say, well, you don't you don't know
what I've done. You don't know how black my sin is. Oh, you don't know what I've
said. Well, I know how black my sin is. And I know the things
that I'm ashamed of. But God saved me. He saved me from all my sin, all the iniquity. I'm redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. And everyone in here who's believed
could say the same thing. You know what your sin is. You
know what you've done and you know what God saved you from.
And don't you praise his mighty name. Don't you give thanks for
knowing that he's forgiven us for all our trespasses and sins. And this is why we say, sinner
friend, come, come, come to the fountain. Come to Him who can
wash you clean. Because He's done it for us. He's cleansed us from all our
iniquity and sin. Oh, He's a marvelous Savior. And He gave His life for His
people. who gave himself for our sins,
Galatians 1.4 says. Who gave himself for our sins.
He's the sinless one. Pure, spotless lamb of God, the
perfect lamb. All those types and shadows in
the Old Testament, right there. Who gave himself for our sins.
Why? That he might deliver us from
this present evil world according to the will of God. Oh, the sinless one becomes the
sin bearer. The spotless, perfect Lamb of
God dies in the place of sinners. And think of this, that when
the Lord Jesus Christ died on that cross, He died, and remember
we saw today, an innumerable amount of people are God's people,
right? He died on that cross for every single one of them. So while he was redeeming my
soul on Calvary's tree, Brother Johnny's redeeming you. He redeemed his people from their
sins. And he did it. And He died for
His sheep. He didn't die for everyone, but
for those He died for, He redeemed them. He redeemed them. Isaiah says this in verse 7 of
chapter 50, For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall
I not be confounded, therefore have I set my face like a flint.
And I know that I shall not be ashamed. The Lord Jesus Christ
set his face like a flint to Jerusalem. Okay? Now that's old,
older language. Flint. He set his face like a
flint. To set one's face like a flint
means to be adamant as stone. I must redeem my people from
their sins. He set his face like a flint
to the cross. I must. He must redeem his people
from their sins. It means to be firm and undaunted. Constant and unmoved. Unmoved even by the words and
blows of man. And our Savior did that, didn't
He? They beat Him to a pulp. I must redeem my people from
their sins. I must. What he had purpose to do, he
must accomplish. He must. So the third lie that religion
promotes is that Christ died for everyone, even those in heaven
and those in hell. Well, we've just seen from scripture,
it fails to pass the test. It fails to pass the test. Because
Christ did die, but he died for his sheep. He has redeemed all
His people from their sins. The Lord Jesus Christ is a successful
Savior. Now if He died for those in hell
as well as those in heaven, then He wouldn't really be successful,
would He? I remember an old grace preacher saying that, that He's
failed. But no, no. Our Savior has redeemed all His
people. Every single one of them. And the last point I'd like to
look at is what does the Bible say about the work of the Holy
Spirit in redemption? Are sinners dead as the Bible
claims? Dead spiritually when they come
into this world? Turn with me if you would to Ephesians chapter
2. Are sinners in the Bible dead or are they just mostly dead? as religion likes to proclaim. Or are they really dead? And
we know when someone's dead, they can't do anything. They
have no ability, do they? I love this portion of Scripture.
Because it shows us who's in control. It shows us where we
were. And I think verse 4 is a mountaintop
Scripture. It is for me. Ephesians chapter 2, and remember
chapter 1, he's explained redemption in Christ. It's just beautiful.
Look at this chapter though, Ephesians chapter 2, starting
in verse 1. And you, and we know he's talking
to the believers at Ephesus. And you, hath he quickened? Beloved, you must be born again.
You must be. Who were dead in trespasses and
sins. Now, the Greek word for dead
in verse 1, I looked it up, it means a corpse. You were a corpse spiritually.
I was a corpse spiritually. Dead. No ability. But what does religion say? Well,
okay, walk that aisle, pray the prayer. It's your choice, right?
But a corpse can't make a choice. And the same word is used in
verse five. So you who are dead in trespasses and sins, Where
in times past you walked according to the course of the world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience. So you could not tell one of
God's elect before they're saved from anyone else. That's why
we preach to everyone. That's why we proclaim the gospel.
But you couldn't tell. I remember how I was. I had no
thoughts of God. I had no cares of God before
the Lord saved me. I didn't even think hardly, except
when I was in trouble. Of course, I'd cry out then.
God had mercy on me, but that's just grace before grace, pervenient
grace, grace going before grace. Where in times past you walked
according to the course of the world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we had our conversations
in times past, in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. You couldn't tell the difference.
But look at verse four, oh, but God, who is rich in mercy, but
God, in every believer's life there's a time, but God, but
God, who is, he just doesn't have mercy, he's rich, beloved
in mercy, rich in mercy. For his great love, there's God's
distinguishing love, right? Wherewith he loved us. And we
know from chapter one, he's loved us. He chose us in eternity.
His love was set upon us then. Now again, verse five, just in
case, I like to say just in case we didn't get it in verse one,
but verse five, even when we were dead, a corpse, spiritually
corpse, in sins hath quickened us together. Again, you must
be born again. The quickening is the regenerating
power of the Holy Spirit. hath quickened us together with
Christ. And look at this, by grace ye are saved. There's no
other way. And hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Every
believer is a trophy of the grace of God in Christ. Every believer. Trophies of God's grace. Oh, we must be made alive by
the Spirit of God. He must regenerate us. A question I've asked many people,
what comes first, faith or regeneration? And everyone, you know, most
of the folks in religion, they answer right away, faith. You
must be born again. Regeneration. You never flee
to Christ unless you're regenerated. Oh. Oh. Now, unless we're made alive
by the Spirit of God, we'll remain dead in our trespasses and sins,
won't we? In our prayers, oh. Oh, that
God the Holy Spirit would regenerate you. That He'd give you life. Give you life. That's it. Flee to Christ. Because I know
if He gives you life, you're gonna flee to Christ. You're gonna flee to Christ.
Oh, that He'd make you well in. How are we saved? The Holy Spirit
regenerates us and we run to Christ. And think of this, the whole
Trinity is in action. The whole Trinity is in action
in the salvation of a sinner. God chooses us in eternity. Gives
us to Christ, right? Christ redeems his people on
the cross. And the Holy Spirit brings us to Christ, regenerates
us, and draws us to Christ. The whole Trinity is in action. It's beautiful. Turn with me, if you would, to
Titus chapter 3. How we saved all by the regenerating
power of God, right? You must be born again. Now,
who saves us? Who saves us? God saves us. You can't be saved by your own
doing. He must save you. Titus chapter 3, verses 4 to 7. Look at this. This is beautiful. But after
that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, there goes works-based religion, gone, right
there. But according to his mercy, he
saved us. That's why I always like to say,
if you're ever saved, it's the mercy of God in Christ. By the washing, how? By the washing
of regeneration again. You must be born again. Must
be. In renewing of the Holy Ghost,
which He shed on us. Brother Matt mentioned that scripture
about being pressed down, overflowing. Look at this. Which He shed on
us abundantly through Christ Jesus. Abundantly. Abundantly
He shed it upon us. Through Christ Jesus our Savior.
All spiritual blessings for the believer are in Christ. abundantly
Shed on us abundantly that being justified by his grace Justified
by his grace not by our own doing again see how this destroys workspace
religion We should be made made errors you don't make yourself
an error you're made here you're made in there made errors according
to the hope of eternal life and So the fourth lie, which religion
promotes, fails when compared to scripture. And that is the
Holy Spirit draws the saved and condemned alike, but man has
the ultimate choice to resist him by accepting or rejecting
Christ. Out the door it goes. Doesn't
pass what scripture says. But we bow our knee to what scripture
says, don't we? We bow our knee to what he says, or what the
word says. And we looked at scripture earlier,
and it said, it's not man's will which saves us, or our works,
but it's God who shows mercy. Let us just remember that this
week. Let us just think on that. That if we're saved, and remember,
he gives us eternal life. We saw that this morning, right?
You can't mess it up. It's not eternal. If God saves a person, you keep
them. They're His. They're His. But let us think on this, that
God had mercy on us in Christ. Turn with me, if you would, to
Jude. I told you that I like to go
to the scripture a lot to finish sermons, but I really do. This
is something that can, if we think on this, boy, I find great
comfort here. This is somewhere where I go
to find great comfort. Look at this in Jude, verses
24 and 25. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling, to keep you from falling. If it was up to us, we'd fall
a thousand times, just going from the bed to the breakfast
table. Able, he's able to keep you from
falling. And to present you, presents
us before his throne, right? presents you faultless. Faultless. Think of brethren who have went
home to glory. They're in His presence faultless. Faultless. We who struggle with
sin every day, one day represent us faultless. Faultless. We're clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. Before the presence of his glory,
and I love this, with exceeding joy. It brings him great joy. But exceeding joy. And of course, our response is
to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion
and power, both now and ever. Amen. He gets it all, gives to
give Him all the glory, give Him all the praise. So we've
seen that these four lives which are promoted do not pass the
test of Scripture. Do not pass the test of Scripture.