I feel like what the Apostle Paul said when
he wrote to one of the churches this morning. He said, I was
before you in much weakness and trembling. I want you to turn in your Bibles
this morning to the book of Genesis. to Genesis chapter 2. I want to read a few verses in
Genesis 2 and then some in Genesis 3. First of all, in Genesis 2, beginning
in verse 15, And the Lord God took the man
and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the
man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." And then if you look over in
Genesis 3, beginning in verse 1, It says, Now the serpent was
more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God
had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea,
hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of
it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent
said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. For God doth
know that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her,
and he did eat." Over the last few weeks, it seems like I've heard people
in this health care debate speaking of so many rights that people
have. We have so many rights. We have the right to health care. We have the right to this and
the other. But the issue before this world, the issue with you and with me,
the issue of the gospel, and the issue that is before all
others, is not human rights, but it is the divine right. And that's my message this morning,
the divine right. In other words, what I'm talking
about is the right of God to act as God. And this was the issue in the
Garden as it is revealed in our text of Scripture. Satan played out his rebellion
against God in man. Let me read you what it says
in Isaiah 14. God says of this very one, How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground, which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in
thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. thou shalt be brought down to
hell to the sides of the pit." You see, this issue that I'm
talking about will be settled between God and you, either in
your heart by His grace and power, or by his severe hand of judgment. I can remember in religion in
days past, being taught to sing that little song, everybody ought
to know who Jesus is. Well, according to this book,
what I found out is that everybody is going to know who Jesus is. And this issue will be settled
in us by God's grace, or it will be settled for all eternity at
the judgment. I read where someone said, it
is God's eternal purpose in Christ that on the basis of His life
laid down, God proposes to set up His totalitarian rule in the
hearts of His people and over all the world. And that is basically what Paul
writes in Philippians 2. He says of Christ in being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. God also hath highly exalted
him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. He says of Christ that He has
appointed Him and ordained Him over all things, so much so that
when Isaiah the prophet wrote of him, he described him in this
way. He says, for unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever. He said, the zeal
of the Lord of hosts will perform. I remember an old preacher saying
once, he said, in the Garden of Eden, two things happened. First of all, God's throne was
threatened, and if Adam had won, then God would have been out
of business. Secondly, for man, his wholeness
was lost, so lost that now the Scriptures speak of the natural
man to describe what is really the unnatural man, the fallen
man, who is crazy beside himself and who must be brought to himself,
the throne rights of God Almighty have to be settled, for God will
never listen to you or me on any other matter until this one
issue is settled. Who is God? And now God, in His wisdom and
according to His own sovereign will, has established this manner,
not in a tree, not in a garden, but in a person, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it is not now, if you don't
eat, If you eat of that tree, you'll die, but it is rather
if you do not eat of that one who is the Christ, who is the
real tree of life, you'll never live. It's not now eat and die. It is now in Christ, eat or you'll
never live, because he said, in that hour, in Adam, all die. And God has committed all things
now into the hands of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 5, he says, For the Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that
all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father,
he that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which
hath sent him." You see, there are some things
that are totally foreign to us by nature. And they are absolutely
foreign to all that we see done and spoken of in our day and
in our society. And that is that man was created
to be ruled, to be governed by God. He was created to serve God,
not to stand alone, but to be a part of God's great purpose. And man, in his sin, is a slave
and without freedom. It doesn't matter what men say. It doesn't matter what we think
or feel. It is exactly how God says it
is. In other words, the only way
that you and I will ever know how God is, the only way we'll
ever know what we really are, the only way we'll ever know
anything about any hope or any peace or any salvation or any
life is if we are able to hear what God says. And he says that freedom, true
freedom and liberty is in Christ. He says, if the Son make you
free, you are free indeed. And to be free indeed is to be
under the Christ who is said by Isaiah to have the government
on his shoulders. What government is that? All
government. The governing of heaven, earth,
and hell. The governing over every angel
or devil or man. The government over every kingdom,
over every nation, over every earthly government, the government
is upon His shoulders. And the heart of God's salvation,
the heart of biblical salvation is the total restoration of God's
throne in a person's heart. He brings us, if He saves us,
to know who He is and how He deals with us, what He has ordained
and appointed in all things. He causes us to know that as
God, He acts like God. And this is never anywhere any
more true than in the matter of salvation, in the matter of
grace and mercy. Because he states this as his
greatest glory. He says, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. And I will be gracious upon whom
I will be gracious." And he said, there is none in heaven or earth
that can stop my hand or say unto me, what doest thou? He said, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. He said, I will harden Pharaoh
if I desire, which he did, or I'll call out these vessels of
mercy and be merciful to them. He will act like God. He doesn't owe you or me anything
except as a just God in the matter of our sin, punishment in the
matter of sin. And He will, if He saves us,
establish His rule and reign in our hearts in and through
and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what Paul writes to
those believers at Colossae. He says, God hath delivered us
from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son. Who did that? God did. And we are, as a man once said,
we are most free when we are most His, and we never stand
so straight as when we bow to Him, when we are found humbled
at His feet. And if you stop and think, that
is clear and obvious in the very command of the gospel. You see, the gospel is not an
invitation for you to do something if you want to, or receive something
if you want to. It is a command from the God
of glory, and the command is to believe on the Lord Jesus. It isn't just to believe on Jesus. It isn't to accept Jesus as your
personal Savior, as is often heard in our day, but never stated
in the Bible. It is to believe, first of all,
on the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, We confront him
first in his lordship, in his kingship, and yet when Christ
came into this world as God manifests in the flesh, when he came as
the one described as the very heir of God himself, when he
came as the King of God, how was he received? Well, in John
it says that he came unto his own, unto his own world that
he created. He came unto his own people after
the flesh. He came unto his own dwelling
place, if you will. He came unto his own, and the
Bible says, and his own received him not. As a matter of fact, the Jews
of which he was naturally born, according to God's will and purpose,
they, when confronted with the Christ, said, we will not have
this man to rule over us. And they mocked him. And when
they mocked Him in His death, in His crucifixion, they mocked
Him not just in any character or office, they mocked Him in
His role as the King, did they not? Did they not crown Him but with
a crown of thorns? Did they not robe Him in a purple
robe symbolic of royalty? Did they not handed him a reed
scepter? You see, in that very office
that we are confronting Christ with, if we are ever brought
to God, that's how he was rejected and despised and crucified. But his title, given to him by
the Father as King of Kings, And Lord of Lords, it still stands,
He is the One who is the same yesterday and today and forever. He's not of lesser power and
glory somehow today than He was in a former day. His gospel is
described as the gospel of the kingdom. And even that word kingdom
is used something like 150 times in the New Testament. He's not little Jesus boy. He's
not your good buddy or your side kicker. He's not something like
a spare tire that you use whenever you have a flat in your life
somehow. He is the King of kings and Lord
of lords and God has put all things in Christ. As a matter of fact, especially
in Ephesians 1, it says that He has blessed His people in
Christ, blessed them before the world began, loved them with
an everlasting love, and blessed them with all spiritual blessings. Did you hear that? If you get
any spiritual blessings. And my friend, that's really
the only true blessings there are. Wealth and health and all
these things that men call blessings, they oftentimes prove to be a
curse. And if not, they are soon gone
in this life. But he said all blessings are
in the Lord Jesus Christ. All life is in Him. And Paul writes in Romans 14,
and he says, For to this end Christ both died and rose and
revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living. Now, this rebellion that's been
going on in this world ever since this day we read about in the
Garden of Eden. When at the command of God, God
gave them everything, every tree, everything on the created earth
to enjoy and to have and possess and rule over, and all he did
was place one symbol of his authority, of his godhead, of his government,
right there in one tree, not that it was any kind of a poisonous
tree or a special tree. But it was simply a symbol of
his right to be God. His authority as the creator
and owner of all things, including Adam and Eve, his right to tell
them, do not eat of that tree. Why? Because I said not. Because I said not. But this rebellion against God's
rule and reign, though it be manifested in many ways, and
men can and they do defy God, but none ever successfully. I just marked that down. By nature,
since this hour in the garden, all men, all women have come
forth from the wombs of their mothers as rebels against God. It says they come forth from
the womb speaking lies in defiance against God. But none of them have ever defied
Him successfully. Not even the devil himself. He said, you said I'll be as
the Most High. You said I'll mount up and sit
over the congregations. I'll rule over the angels. I'll
do all these things. I'll be like the Most High. But
God said you will not. You're cast down into hell. You see, that's what happened
at the Tower of Babel. What'd they do? They began to
build a tower. The Scripture says that they
said would reach up into heaven. They'll get to God by something
that they do. But what did He do? He confounded
their speech. And they could no longer even
communicate with each other. Scattered them all throughout. the earth. And this defiance
of God's sovereignty, of His right as God, this divine right,
His right to govern us every one, His creature, is at the
root of all sin. That's right. In the home, in that family relationship,
where it says that the husband is the head of the woman. Why
is the husband the head of the home? Is it because he's superior
in some way? No. Because God said so. That's right. You can trace back every place
Every area of life where there's problems and sin, it always boils
down to this. Rebellion against God. Why are children to obey their
parents? Because God commands it. And
this is the order that we have because God established They
can call it the Judeo-Christian ethic or example or whatever
they want to call it. And they can run from it simply
because they want to call it by some other name. But their
rebellion is because God said it. Why are we to obey the law of
the land? You say, well, It seems like
these elected officials, they only mess up. We have all these
things going on, and yet we're supposed to obey the law. Why? Because that's what God's ordained.
He says, "...whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth
the ordinance of God." And they that resist shall receive to
themselves damnation, for rulers are not a terror to good works,
but to evil. Will thou then not be afraid
of the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have the praise of the same, for he is the minister
or servant of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which
is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he
is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that
doeth evil." He's not there just because people
appointed and stuff. He's described as the servant
of God, and he's there to restrain that wickedness and that evil
that flies in rebellion against God, but is manifest against
the very ones that God's ordained. Why is homosexuality, all these
perverted things that we fine in our society except..." Why
is it wrong? Is it one opinion above the other?
Absolutely not. It's because God says such things
as this. He said, "...for a man shall
not lay with a man, or a woman with a woman." He says in Romans
1, Paul does, that this kind of activity is a mark of reprobation
And that reprobation is because of what? Man rebelling against
the truth of God. Because the Bible says God Himself
declares, male and female made he then. I saw a brief advertisement on
CNN one day this week where they were going to show a documentary
on somebody who had a sex change operation. Said I was born in the wrong
body. No, the problem was You were born in the body that God
created you, and this is how you're expressing your rebellion
against God. What is the root of all the abortions? It's just man trying to take
God's place and saying who will live and who will die. It's euthanasia. Man walks in at 80 years old,
and I certainly, in a sense, feel something about his plight
and all. But he walks into Alzheimer's
home here. His 80-year-old wife is there.
He shoots her twice and then turns the gun on himself and
commits suicide. He dies. What's that? It's man playing God. He's going
to decide who lives, going to decide who dies. We're going to enact laws in
the health system that decides who lives, who dies. All that
is is just rebellion against God. And why do we have this
great insistence on individual liberties? It's just simply man's
fallen desire to be free from God, to be as the devil promised
them that they would be, as God's to determine what is good and
evil. But when man took that to himself,
When he listened to the adversary of God, when he listened to the
adversary of his own soul, when he seized that authority from
God, it's been downhill ever since. That's right. We don't live in
a garden paradise anymore. Oh, no. We live on a sin-cursed
earth that one day God says, I'll purge it and destroy it
with fire. Absolutely. That's the whole
goal of man's theory of evolution. Why would you want to go in the
face of the obvious and try to devise a theory an idea that
somehow all of this came into being by some kind of accident,
some kind of cosmic upheaval. I'll tell you why. Because if
God created it, like he says in the very opening verses, as
has to be obvious, if God created it, then there is a God that
we have to do with. That's it. That's it. But the greatest manifestation
of this rebellion is in religion. That's right. You remember when
Paul, I believe, went to Athens and he walked around, he saw
all these statues, he saw all these images raised up to this
God and that God and the other. He said, men of Athens, he said,
I perceive that you're altogether too superstitious, which essentially
means just too religious. You've got this God over here,
you've got this God over here, and you've got this God over
here. There's just one problem. You made them all. You made them all. And a false god doesn't have
to be chiseled out of stone or carved out of wood or cast from
metal. An image begins first of all
where? In the imagination of man. You make God like you want Him
to be. And you rebel against Him as
He really is. As He really is. And right at
the heart of it, is this notion of man's so-called free will. Well, we don't want to violate
that. And even if somebody says, well, no, we won't say especially
that man has a free will. We'll say he's a free moral agent. What does this book say? What
does God say? Well, to start with, he says
man's not free. He says, man certainly is not
moral, and he's not an agent, he's a sinner. His will is bound. His will is
bound to his fallen nature. So much that Christ said to those
Pharisees, He said, you will not will to come to me that you
might have life. And if God leaves a sinner to
his own free will, you'll die in your sins. That's right. If He leaves you
to trust in your will or your worth or your works or your I's
or me's or my's, that's what people say nowadays. You have
hope of heaven? Well, yes, I certainly do. Well,
what's your hope based on? Well, see what I'm talking about? I
did this. I accepted Jesus. You're going to decide whether
or not you're going to accept or reject the Lord of glory. You see, nowhere in this book
does it talk about that at all. Never speaks of anybody except
in Jesus. I'll tell you what it does say
though. Paul in Ephesians 1, writing to those believers in
the church at Ephesus, He said, God is to be thanked and praised
and blessed because we are nothing but sinners, but He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved. See, the issue is not whether
or not I'll accept Jesus or not. The issue is whether or not God
will accept me. What ground will He accept me
on? Only in the Beloved, in Christ. Man's will is not free, but bound
to a depraved nature, so that it is only free to sin. Never is it free to choose God,
and all the perversions of our society lay in part to what preachers
have told people about God." That's what Paul says. You read
Romans 1. Old Ralph Barnard said, this
is sin, the setting up of our own little kingdom in opposition
to God. This is sin, to build a tower
of Babel, reaching up to God to bring Him down to do our bidding. This is sin, attempting to be
the Creator and not willing to be just a creature. This is sin, the subject trying
to be the sovereign. This is sin, open rebellion,
rebellion against the will and the authority of God, spiritual
deafness to His voice. Somebody said, well, You know,
everybody's got their own ideas. That's exactly right. And they're
all wrong. The only thing that's right is
what God says. It's not what I say about His
Word that's right. It is what He says. So the question always is, the
question for this hour right now is who's in charge? Who is
running this show? And as it is most precisely and
concisely brought down to what we call the nitty-gritty, here
it is, what think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ?" He asked that to the disciples.
They said, well, some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're
this one and that one. He said, who do you say that
I am? Now here is just a handful of people out of a great number,
a multitude of people. And they've all been wrong. Here
are just Dozen people. He said, who do you say that
I am? And a wretched fellow. Made a
lot of bumbling mistakes. But he said, you're the Christ. You're the Christ. You're the
one that was to come. You're the one who is salvation. You're the Son of God. You're
the Messiah. You're the anointed prophet and
priest and King of God. The Pharisees didn't know that. They wouldn't have it. They called
him a blasphemer. Here's a ragtag fisherman. And he said, you're the Christ. And the Lord Jesus looked at
him and he said, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh
and blood have not revealed that to you, but my Father which is
in heaven. The only one who can reveal God
is God Himself. The only one who can make you
know Him is God Himself. And here He is, God manifest
in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is that same One
who said, is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my
own? I can do what I want to with
any. But He said, Father, you can
read it in John 17, He said, You've given me power in the
flesh, over all flesh, that I might give eternal life
to as many as You've given me. You gave me a people before the
world began. You chose a people in me. You
loved a people in me. And you sent me to redeem them.
You sent me to lay down my life in their place for their sin.
You sent me to deliver them from the captivity of Satan. And I have all power. In Hebrews it says, neither is
there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all
things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we
have to do. We're going to meet God. If no other way we're going to
meet him when he comes in his glory, And we're brought before that
judgment seat. And there it is not in order
to decide whether or not we've done good or bad or whatever
it is. There it is for every unbeliever only for the pronunciation
of the sentence. Take him and bind him hand and
foot and cast him into outer darkness where there's weeping
and wailing and gnashing of teeth. But Christ's people, they can live in hope of that
day because they've already gone through judgment. You see, that's what Christ was
doing. He was going through their hell. He was found on that hour,
hanging on that cross as the one of whom it was said by Isaiah,
the Lord hath laid on him our iniquities. He's bearing in His
own body our sins on the tree. And He hears the Father say,
nothing. Nothing. Why? Because He's turned
His face away from His Son. And the son there cries out,
not for the father to hear, but for you and I to hear. He cries
out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And if he's
there being forsaken of the father, it is because that he has had
all the sins of all his people charged to him. And he's being
held accountable for them. And the wrath of God for all
that sin, for all the sins of his people, is meeting on his
head. And he gives his life for his
sheep. The things of God's Word that
stir this natural rebellion of sin in men are the very things
that declare God and reveal His glory. Somebody said, well, there are
many faiths. Billy Graham said there are many faiths. That's
not what this book says. When he's asked, do you believe
there's more than one way to go to heaven? Oh, yes. But you see, the Scriptures,
the true Gospel confronts us with this singular way. When Peter confessed Him, he
said, You are the Christ. Not many. Not one of many. You're the Christ. The Lord Jesus. said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. Paul said there is one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Not a priest of
an earthly sort, not a preacher, not any other thing, just the
one Mediator whose mediation is through and by His cross death,
His blood, which is what all the Old Testament sacrifices
pointed to. The Bible speaks explicitly of
how God saves sinners, one way, in Christ, through His death. Men say, well, I'm going to do
the best I can. That's not good enough for a
holy God. Or they say something like, the Scripture says this,
that God, out of Adam's race, chose a people In Christ, before
the world began, chose to save them and bypass others. He had vessels of wrath and vessels
of mercy as the potter he made of each of this same lump whatever
he will." A lot of people hate that because it puts everything in
the hands of God. Words like predestinate, whom
he did predestinate. That word means to mark off beforehand,
appoint, ordain. Why do they hate that? Because
God does it. Takes everything out of your
hand and my hand and puts it in the hands of God, which is
where it's always been and always will be anyway. Grace, free, sovereign grace
given to whom God will. Now men would rather hear this,
God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. The scripture
says He doesn't love anybody outside of Christ. The love of
God which is in Christ Jesus. His love is an everlasting love,
which means He's an immutable God. That means you and I can
never do anything to make Him love us. If He loves you today, it's because
He's always loved you. And the only way He could love
you as a sinner is in Christ. We're like the people who take
the knife that's good for cutting your steak dinner up to the enjoyment
of your body. We're like the man who takes
that same knife and cuts his own throat. I want you to turn over to Romans
10. Romans 10. Now listen to the
Apostle Paul. He's talking about his own people
by nature. He's talking about the Jews in
particular. He's talking about really all
of us by nature. He says, and this is the one
who just in chapter 9 has said, that it's not God's will obviously
to save all people. He loved Jacob, he hated Esau,
hardened Pharaoh, but saved a people for his glory. But he says, brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. Somebody said, well, if I believe
what you believe, I'd never preach again. If I
didn't believe what I believe, I'd never preach again. If it
was left up to human will, if it was left up to my ability
to convince you, I'd give it up. But God has a people. He is going to call out every
one of His sheep. Christ said, I lay down my life
for the sheep. He says in the Psalm, God does
to His Son, He says, thy people, shall be willing in the day of
thy power. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
chooses and causes to approach unto him." I'm not on a fool's errand. I'm just here week after week
preaching the gospel. God's going to bring His sheep.
They're going to hear this message. He said, My sheep hear My voice,
and they follow Me. He says in verse 2, For I bear
them record that they have a zeal of God. Oh, they're a zealous
people. They're religious, but not according
to knowledge. How do you know that, Paul? For
they being ignorant of God's righteousness. The only way that
God can be just and justify a sinner. The only way that God can remain
righteous and declare that I'm righteous. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness. You see, that's why a man can
fill a building telling people something to do to gain the favor
of God. Well, if you'll come, if you'll
give, if you'll work in the Sunday school, if you'll do this, if
you'll do that, the other, God will bless you. He'll take you
to heaven. This book says that man at his
best state is altogether vanity. That there's none that doeth
good, there's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh God,
there's none righteous in themselves. No, not one. All have sinned. He said, they're going about
to establish their own righteousness and have not, you see that word,
submitted. He could say, they have not bowed. They have not humbled themselves
unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes." To everyone that believes on
Christ. He is their righteousness. And
everything that God has to give in grace and mercy, we're going
to have to get it in Christ or we won't have it. You know what
one of the greatest pictures of that is? is when Joseph, you
remember Joseph? When God caused him to interpret
the king's dream and the king's dream was simply God showing
how that there would be years of plenty and then there would
be followed by years of famine. And so when the king found his
dream interpreted by Joseph, he appointed Joseph over all
Egypt. And the Bible says that in those
plenteous years they gathered in all this great harvest, put
it in the storehouses. And only Joseph could open them. You know what that meant? That
meant if you got a grain of corn or a grain of wheat, you had
to go to Joseph for it. Joseph is a picture of the sovereign
Christ in whom is everything. And if you get salvation, if
you get righteousness, if you have peace, if you have hope,
if you enter God's heaven, if you know God, it's going to have
to be in this Christ. Not just any Jesus. Paul warned
about that. Not just through hearing any
gospel or being led by any spirit. He warned against that, against
the counterfeit, against the Antichrist. That's why all this prophecy
preaching about Antichrist that's to come. John said even now there
are many Antichrists. Every one that is represented
to be Christ who's not the true Christ is Antichrist or against
Christ. You see, faith is not believing
in God for what you can get out of Him. That's man-centered.
Faith is not thinking you'll get what you want and need from
God by something you do. Faith is acknowledging God for
who He is. Paul said, repentance toward
God, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. An old writer said the true Christian
should be willing to be damned for the glory of God. We should
be willing to affirm God without demanding that He affirm us. True faith means having confidence
in God regardless of profit or loss, and only those will go
to heaven who are willing not to go. God casts me into hell if it
glorifies you. I'm not worth anything. You're
worth everything. But you see, that's the good
news of the Gospel. And that is that God in His infinite
wisdom has found a way in which He can not only maintain His
integrity as a holy and just and righteous God, but He can
at the same time get even greater glory and at the same time save
His people from their sins. That's why Christ is called the
Wisdom of God. I've got the hush. But I'll say this, men and women
who live, now you listen, men and women who live, regardless
of what they profess, in a blatant disregard to what
God commands, who live their lives according to their own They've never bowed to the claims
of King Jesus. Say what they will. God commands, He says, all men
everywhere to repent. And every person who's not submitted
to Christ who's not pled his blood and his righteousness in
the matter of their sin is a renegade in God's creation. They're in defiance of a God
that they can neither manipulate or defeat. Can a man defy Gravity? Well, sure he can. He can climb to that highest
building. Where is it? In Dubai somewhere?
Get right on the top of it. Pick the highest point in the
whole earth. He can defy gravity. He can go
leaping off. But he can't do it successfully. God is the one we cannot escape. He is the God whose purpose He
will not change. And He's the God who will bring
us to bow now in grace, surrender our arms, wave the
white flag, and bow to Him. And what a contradiction it is
to say that we believe in the sovereignty of God Almighty and
then make all our decisions, carry on our lives with a total
disregard of His Word and His will and His worship. Those who do this, they're just
rebels. They're just rebels. You see,
God is the only one with any rights. And that's because He's
the only one who is right. He's the one who has the right
to act like God. And all His people, whether they
be already in heaven or whether they're on earth, They acknowledge this very thing. Revelation 19, John said, And
I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as
the voice of many waters, and as the voice of many thunderings,
saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent. Reigns. The Lord God, I don't
care what it appears like at any given time. The Lord God
Almighty, Omnipotent, All-Powerful, He reigns. Right now. He's not waiting to reign. When
the Lord Jesus ascended back into glory, what does it say?
said he was seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. And salvation is God establishing
Christ on the throne of the heart of a sinner. And there are so
many things that are the consequence of that also, the consequence
of Christ's death, which is our being forgiven and righteousness
being imputed to us and all spiritual blessings being given to us.
But they are sovereignly given from the gracious hand of Him who sits on the throne. And my friend, if Christ has
saved us. If He loved us with that everlasting
love, if He came into this world for that particular purpose,
to lay down His life in our place, satisfy the justice of God in
the matter of our sin, if He came to be and is our Savior,
if He did as He says on that cross, it is finished. then you can trust Him. You can
lay your head in His lap. You can feel that kiss of His
love, that peace that He made by the blood of His cross. You remember Saul of Tarsus who
became Paul the Apostle? He wasn't looking for God. He
thought he knew God. But as he was on his way to Damascus
to cast Christians into prison and beat them and have them stoned
to death and all that, Christ stopped him. And he brought him off his high
horse. Nobody else was able to know
what was going on but him. He called him by his name, Saul,
Saul. The first thing that Saul said
was, Who are you, Lord? I don't know exactly all there
is to know about you, but I know one thing. This is the Lord God. This is His command. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what should I do then,
preacher? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what about tomorrow? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. When they all went away there
in John 6, just that handful stayed. He said, will you also
go away? They said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? You're the one who has the words
of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
you're the Christ. I don't know everything there
is to know about the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know all the
answers to some portions of Scripture. I don't know everything. But
thank God He came to me one day through a preacher of the Gospel
who told the truth about God and caused me to know this is
the One. What I found was this, the God
of this book is not the God of today's religion. He exercises the divine right. He acts like God, does whatever
he will, works all things after the counsel of his will. But most of all, he saves like
God. Suppose I was a... Well, there's a man in Mexico
now, supposedly. Of all names, he'd have the name
Slim. It's his last name, I think.
He's now the richest man in the world. Suppose he calls you up tomorrow
and he says, let's go to lunch. And you go in this big fancy
restaurant. You just order everything that
you've always wanted to order in your life. You're just so
happy and just full and all that. And the waiter comes. You'd say, the waiter says, now,
will there be one check or separate checks? And this man, who's a
multi-billionaire, he says, separate checks. Can you imagine how you'd feel?
That is so inconsistent with this man's wealth and everything. It's the same way with salvation.
The God of the Bible saves like God. He does it all Himself. For by grace are you being saved. Through faith. But even that's
not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. He does the saving. We did the
same. Our Father, this day, may you be praised, honored, magnified, glorified, Lord, above anything
that we would ever be able to say or Imagine. We thank you. We thank you that you are the
way you are. And we praise you. Be pleased
to reveal yourself this day to someone who's never known you
in truth. Be pleased to call out this day
one of your sheep that you've loved and laid down your life
for. And be pleased to make manifest
yourself afresh and anew to these who know you. For we pray in Christ's name,
amen.