Good morning. All right, today
we're going to be finishing up the first chapter of Romans,
chapter one. Before we read, let's pray. Father, we thank You for this
day. Lord, we ask that You would forgive us of our sins that we
committed against You, knowingly and unknowingly. And then we
pray for Your Word, Lord, that as we read it and go through
it, that You would teach us the truths of Your Word, that we
would grow in the knowledge and grace of You, be strong in You
and in the power of Your might, and then boldly declare your
truth, your gospel, to the world, knowing that in doing so, you'd
bring your people to you by your grace. And we give you praise. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right, so we're gonna finish up the book of Romans. We're
gonna read from verses 18 through 32. Romans chapter 1, verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as
God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds,
and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave
them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts,
to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed
the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the
creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections, for
even their woman Women did change the natural use into that which
is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving
the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward
another, men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving
in themselves that recompense of their error which was meek.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which
are not convenient. being filled with all unrighteousness,
fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters
of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural
affection, implacable, unmerciful, who, knowing the judgment of
God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not
only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Now, just
recapping this whole first chapter, I talked about the gospel and
what the gospel is. The gospel is the person and
work of Christ. Who he is, he's the God-man. He is God with us, Emmanuel. He was prophesied of in the Old
Testament. In the beginning, in the book
of Genesis, we hear of him, right? He was a seed of woman that would
bruise the head of the serpent. And as I continue to develop
this chapter, it talks about the people of God who are called,
and they're called to service. They're called saints. As it
says in verse 7 of Romans 1, to all that be in Rome, beloved
of God, called to be saints. And we know that that love, the
love of God, is eternal, and that's called the Eternal Covenant
of Grace, which the Triune God, the Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit determined to put part of the race of fallen
man into. They put them in Christ. That's
why it says in Ephesians 1 that we were chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. And I went on to talk about the
calling and the servitude. How when you're called of God,
you're going to be saved. Because you're a child of God.
You're an elect child. He's loved you from eternity.
And He calls you in time. For us, these things happen in
time. He calls us in time. As we are called in time and
regenerated, which is born again by the Spirit of God. So God
the Father has chose us, placed us in His Son. The Spirit of
God draws us and regenerates us. That's the work of the triune
God right there. God is a triune God. Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. So as you're called and you serve,
what you do as a servant is you declare the truth. As you grow
in the knowledge and grace and you learn of His truth, you begin
to teach others, sharing with them whether they're a brother
or sister in the faith and you have like-minded faith, you share
that way. You encourage, exhort, build
up one another. From there, I went on to talk
about the wrath of God and how the wrath of God is just as real
as the love of God. So we know that God has made
vessels of mercy and He's made vessels of wrath. And the wrath
of God, like I said, is just as real as His love. So we have
to warn people to flee from the wrath to come. And as we preach
the Gospel to them, we don't know who His elect are, but as
we preach the Gospel to everybody on the face of the earth, God
draws His people out amongst them. So there is a call, you
have like a general call and then you have a specific call.
The specific call is to his people alone. He calls them and they
believe. There's a reason why some believe and some don't believe.
Jesus told the Pharisees in John chapter 10, you believe not because
you're not of my sheep. Although they were in line with
Abraham and his descendants, They weren't the children of
promise, which the scripture tells us in Galatians about Isaac. So because of God's wrath as
being true, just as true as his love, we warn people of these
things. Now if you turn with me to Genesis 2.17, I'm going
to talk about that a little bit. You can hear my daughter in the
background. So, this is talking about the
fall, right? God warned Adam and Eve, or Adam, of the fall.
And he says, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For on the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. Well, we know that in the next
chapter, chapter 3, verse 6, it says, When the woman saw that
the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
she had already been tempted by the serpent. It says, 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." So we see the fall there. And as a result of
the fall, sin came into the world. As a result of sin, scripture
says the wages of sin is death, and the soul that sins shall
die. And we know that we all die naturally, out of the dust
we were created and to the dust we return. So man needed a solution. But the thing is, he couldn't
come up with that solution. So God gave him that solution. God had, later on in that same
chapter, verse 21, it says, He had already told them that because
they did those things, the ground was cursed, the serpent was cursed,
there was enmity between the devil and the woman between her
seed and between his seed because the devil has children. John
told the Pharisees in chapter 8, you're of your father the
devil. So we know that God's wrath is just as true and
just as love so we warn people to flee of the wrath to come. I'm taking you to Malachi chapter
1 verse 2. It's right before Matthew if
you have a hard time finding it. the burden of the word of the
Lord to Israel by Malachi. And we know Malachi wrote this
to the Israelites who were taken captive at the time. But it also
has an even greater significance in that there's a nation Israel,
but then there's the Israel of God. The Israel of God are God's
chosen people. So he goes on to say, I have
loved you, saith the Lord, yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved
us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother?
Yeah, he was his brother. He was his twin brother. Was
not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I love Jacob. So he's telling us right now,
his love is true, but his wrath is also true. We're gonna take
the next verse, and it says, And I hated Esau, and I laid
his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the
wilderness. And now we're gonna go to Romans
chapter nine, verses six. Let's do 11. And that says, Paul says that, not as though
the word of God have taken none effect, for they that are not
all Israel, they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.
Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all
children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called." That's what
I was just explaining earlier. Isaac was the children of promise.
We know in that narrative about Abraham and his wife Sarah, they
were very old. God promised them a child. It
was actually her name was Sarai at the time, I believe, but she
was impatient. And so she gave Abraham her servant,
Hagar. He had a child with her. and
the child's name was Ishmael, right? It says, neither are they
the seed of Abraham, neither because they are the seed of
Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be
called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh. These
are not the children of God. but the children of the promise
are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise,
at this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. And not
only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by
her father Isaac. Let's see. For the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. So, moving on, We're gonna go
to, moving on to finish up this chapter, laying some groundwork
to help us understand what this means, because the scripture
all makes sense together. It is syllogistic, is the word. So we're gonna go to verses 23
and 25 of chapter one. And it says, and change the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds
and to four-footed beasts. and creeping things. And verse
25 says, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped
and served the creature more than the creator who is blessed
forever. So the thing about fallen man is that he always makes God
in his own image. Why not? Make him like you so
that you can control him. Man has always, since the fall,
has always tried to control each other. That's why we have had
wars since the beginning of time. I mean, Cain slew his brother
Abel because Abel was in Christ, and Cain wasn't. And when Abel
brought a sacrifice before the Lord, it was accepted. And it
was showing that he knew what the Gospel required. It required
a substitute and a surety. And that's what Christ was, and
he believed that by faith. But Cain didn't. Cain's like,
no, I want the labor of my hands, the fruit of my hands, my labor.
This is what makes me acceptable. That's why people tell you, If
you go to church, if you pray, if you give, and they say tithe
as well, you do all these things, and that's your assurance. But
our assurance is based on what God did. God so loved the world,
the world of His elect, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever shall believe in Him would have eternal life.
Now God is the first cause. He causes the people to believe.
He chose them before they were born. He predestined them and
elected them unto salvation. That's what the Word of God tells
us. So when people tell you differently, you can't believe it. But the
sad truth is that many people do believe it. Let's go to Deuteronomy
4, 27. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
okay. fourth book and we're in chapter
4 and verses 27 and 28 and that says that says and the
Lord shall shat scatter scatter you among all among the nations
and you shall be left a few a number among the heathen whether the
Lord shall lead you, and there ye shall serve gods, the work
of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear,
nor eat, nor smell. Okay, let's also go to Isaiah
37, 19. And that one says, Have cast their gods into the
fire for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands wood
and stone Therefore they have destroyed them. This was talking
about when the king of Assyria came and took Israel one of the
one of the one of the I'm not sure if it was like there was
two different sections of Judah. There was Judah and then there
was Israel. I think there was like 10 tribes
in Israel and two in Judah. So then we're going to go to
Habakkuk 2, 18 through 20. You should always be ready. And
I'm not. Okay, let's... If you have a
problem finding a book, go to the index. Which I'm gonna do. Bear with me. Habakkuk 2... 18.
Daddy, can you put the hippos for me? A little later on you, okay?
1279... Oh man, that was right there. I missed it. Okay, Habakkuk
2... verses 18 through 20. And this
one says, what profited the graven image that the maker thereof
hath graven it? The molten image and a teacher
of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein to make
dumb idols. Woe unto him that saith to the
wood, Awake! To the dumb stone arise, it shall
teach. Behold, it is laid over with
gold and silver, and there is no bread at all in the midst
of it. But the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth
keep silent. silence before him so yeah honey
you can so it tells us that you know as I'm sharing with you
fallen man always makes a god in his image so when you I guess
I would say when you study ancient world history you see some of
the like Egypt you have the the pyramids and you have the sphinxes
And other civilizations had different gods that they worshiped, and
they were all gods that they made with their own hands. It
came from their own imagination. And this is from the imagination
of fallen man, not regenerate man, because the scripture tells
us in John 4, 24 that God is a spirit, and they that worship
him, worship him in spirit and truth. So going on to work through
this first chapter of Romans, Let's go to verse 28, because
I'm gonna talk about who are the reprobate and who are the
elect. There are two classes of people in God's eyes. There's
the elect and the non-elect. They can also be called reprobate,
because as you read through that scripture, it tells us, for example,
in verse 28, and even as they did not like to retain God in
their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do
those things which are not convenient. All right? the elect are his
chosen people. You go to verse six of the same
chapter and Paul says, among whom are ye also the called of
Christ. To all that be in Rome, beloved
of God, called to be saints. There's the people of God and
there's the people that are not of God. It's only two classes
of people. We have to be bold enough and
solid enough in the gospel to tell people this because nowadays
everybody's saved. I think I had mentioned in one
of my last last message is that it seems as though everybody
that dies, no matter who they are, they're going to heaven.
But that's not the case. Only God's elect are going to
be with him. That's why the scripture says, to be absent with the body
is to be present with the Lord. But Jesus talked about hell a
lot. He told the person in Matthew
chapter 7, depart from me, you worker of iniquity, for I do
not know you. And this was a religious person, someone that probably
sat in the front row of a church, maybe had a seat that no one
else took. He said he did all these things,
prophesied, cast out demons, and we see that stuff even now.
And I want to warn you, that stuff, it's hogwash. It's a sham,
it's not the truth. There's no apostles, there's
no prophets, none of that stuff. A woman can teach another woman,
but she cannot be a pastor. She cannot usurp the authority
of man. That's given to us in scripture. So reprobate people do these
things, but guess what? The left do the same thing. The
only difference is that the grace of God is upon them. and they
have a different standing before God as a result of the imputed
righteousness of Christ. That means that He died as a
substitute and a surety of His people only. It says in Matthew
121, "...and His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save
His people from their sins." That's a promise. All of God's
promises are yes and amen. So let's go to 1 Corinthians
4, verse 7. And it says, wait a minute, let's
check, three, there's seven. Paul tells the Corinthians, and
the Corinthians were a pretty jacked up church. They had a
lot of problems, like every church does, especially when it begins
to grow. And it's in a big city, too. It's not like a smaller
city where, I don't know, when things are small, it's a little
bit easier to contain them, but when they get really big, sometimes
it can be overwhelming and out of hand. So 1 Corinthians 4 verse
7 says, For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what
hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive
it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? It's
like, we're not born with these things. We don't have these things.
God gives his people gifts and abilities and talents. We don't
just, you know, you hear of all these people who call themselves
a self-made musician, self-made millionaire, billionaire nowadays. Millionaire doesn't mean anything,
but it's a big difference, especially when it comes to matters of salvation,
because there's a lot of people out there that tell you Yeah,
you're saved by grace, not works, but then they tell you you have
to work. That's why you have a works-based assurance being
taught, and a work is something you do. A work is something you
do in order to gain a wage or to get something. God doesn't
owe us anything. The fact that he's merciful and
gracious is his gift, and we can't earn that gift because
He had a law that was given to his people that no one can fulfill. Only Christ did. And as a result
of Christ fulfilling the law, satisfying the justice and wrath
of God, are his people counted as righteous before him. So we
don't have that sentence of death upon us as the non-elect do. But we still do the same things.
And that's a I mean, it's the truth. It's a sad truth, but
it is the truth. We should aspire to live holy.
We should aspire to do good, to love our fellow man, because
Jesus said the scripture is summed up in this, love the Lord with
all of your heart, mind, soul, and might, and your neighbor
as yourself. And we know that nobody has done this. None of
us has ever loved God with everything that's between us. Yeah, we sing
songs about it, we talk about it, we write about it, but we
cannot do it. There is not a person on earth
that has ever lived besides Christ that has done that. And he loved
his neighbor as himself. His neighbor, I'm your neighbor.
His neighbors were sinners, but yet he saved them that were called
and chosen in him. So now let's go to 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. We're gonna read 9 through 11. And that says, this is Paul
talking to the same church. And he says, know ye not that
the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And the unrighteous
are those who have a self-righteousness. They believe that their religion,
their faith, their belief, their works, that that's going to save
them. The only thing that saves a man is the blood of Christ.
You have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. Without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. So he says,
know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God. Be not deceived. Don't be fooled. Don't be deceived.
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, neither effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God. And that's not an exhaustive
list, like a total list, because there's as many sins as there
are people on the earth, if you were to think about it. There
are sins that we know we do and that we don't know we do. you
know so he goes on to say in verse 11 and such were some of
you so he knew that even in that midst there was people that were
not saved and that are because here's the thing that the false
believers grow with the true believers just like we have the
false gospel is is right next to the true gospel. It's gonna
always come and try to usurp the truth. That's what Paul is
talking about in the first chapter of Romans. He says, and such
were some of you, but ye are washed. Ye are washed. You're
sanctified. It's not a progressive sanctification
where people tell you you put off sins that you brought with
you or you get holier and holier. And I'm not saying that we should
not aspire to get better, to love the Lord more. If you do
something and you know you can do a better job, or you didn't
give it your all, that's one thing. But if you're doing everything
you can to the best of your ability, that's another thing. When it
comes to salvation, we're talking about a finished work, something
that was done for God's people by Christ. He's the one that
died on the cross. It's his death that saves his
people. It's not what we do. What we
do, as I said before, it matters, but it doesn't count. What counts
is what Christ has done. That's why when he bowed his
head and gave up the ghost, he said, it is finished. So it says
you're sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. So there again, you
have two members of the Trinity. You have the Son and you have
the Spirit. The Spirit's not a force. He's a person in the
fact that he has characteristics and traits that we have as people. So now I'm knowing that there's
a difference between the elect and the non-elect or the reprobate.
We're going to talk about the grace of God also in view of
his wrath because God always shows us things in contrast.
He made vessels of mercy, vessels of wrath. Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. Isaac was the son of promise,
Esau wasn't. Okay, so this gospel is a sinner's
gospel. It's for sinners. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. That's what Paul says in
Romans 3.23. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians 5.9. Okay, knowing that there are many that are under
God's wrath, We're talking about also the
grace of God in view of God's wrath. 1 Thessalonians 5, 9 says, but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's not like making a
decision. It's not obtaining it that way.
God has chosen us and called us in Christ, so he brings us
to him. At the appointed time, there's
a time of love that we tell people. He makes his people willing in
the day of his power. That's Psalms 110, verse one. But the sinners, let's see, in
view of his wrath, God calls us It calls us. That's why Paul
said, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God. Now, Paul was called to
be an apostle. The apostles are gone. They were with Christ.
They saw Christ bodily. They had 100% success. when it came to salvation, to
ministering to people. Every person that God had brought
before them that was supposed to be saved, there were always
people saved. Nowadays, when we preach, we don't know who's
going to be saved. We don't know who God's elect
are. But we know one thing, they will be saved. So that was from
being in view of the wrath of God and according to His grace
as well. We have that verse 1-1. And then
let's go to chapter 5, verse 7 of Romans. And that says, for
scarcely, is this five? I might have been wrong again.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure
a good man. Some would even dare to die.
I don't know how that got in there. I must have messed it
up. But this is a sinner's gospel. Going on, I wanna talk about
how and who does grace work for. So let's go all the way back
to Genesis again. Chapter two, verse eight. and that says, and the Lord God
planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man
whom he had formed. This is a picture of the church,
how God had, Christ said, I'll build my church, and the gates
of hell will not prevail. So he's been building his church
since the beginning. I mean, it's complete as far
as he's concerned, but we see it in time, right? So he placed
Adam in there, and Adam tilled the ground. Later on, he... I want to say this was before
the fall, actually, when you read this. But I might be wrong. So I'll have to bone upon that
a little more. Now let's go to verse 3, 21, because this talks
about how he made coats of skin. So, grace works for the elect
alone. I was listening to Brother Scott
Price this morning, and he was... debunking and refuting common
grace. Because a lot of people say, well, God loves everybody,
and He's gracious to people, and they'll use scriptures like,
He causes the rain to shine on the just and the unjust. And
when they say stuff like that, it sounds good to them. But you
can tell them, well, what about the rain that He caused to fall
on the people during the days of Noah's flood? All of them
were killed. Only eight were saved. That's
because they were in the Ark. And the Ark was a type of Christ. So there's no such thing as common
grace. Grace is particular and it's effectual. If Christ is
a substitute for somebody, you don't substitute for everybody.
You substitute for a particular person. If you watch a soccer
game, basketball or football, one person comes in for another.
They have to say, hey, number 77 is now eligible because he
came in for number 82. Christ is a substitute and surety
of his people alone. So the grace works for them.
Let's go to Malachi. Well, I already told you about
Malachi 1, 1-2 and verse 3, how Malachi tells us under the spirit
of the inspiration of God that He loves Jacob. Jacob are a type
of God's people, right? And what kind of people are they?
They're sneaky, they're conniving, and that's how all of us are.
And if we were really to be honest, how we are, you know, we're ugly,
we're fallen, we're marred. We're not in the image of God,
as some people say, the imago Deo. No, we're fallen. God's
people, the only way we're in His image is if we're in Him.
That's the difference. Okay, we have to clarify these
things so that we know and we are rightly taught. And then,
you know, this grace works for God's people, His elect. And
it's a sinner's gospel. He told them in Jeremiah. Let's
go to Jeremiah 31.3. So you can read this. And that says, The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. And that's what all of us as
God's people learn. you know, along the way. We should
be taught these truths. We should grow in the knowledge
and grace of God. And then we should know how to answer everybody,
every man, about the hope that lies within us with gentleness
and respect. You know, sometimes it can get heated, it can get
ugly, and we shouldn't be that way. And we should ask for that
person's forgiveness that we were mad, you know, mean to or
condescending to. But the truth is the truth. You
know, Christ came. He was perfect. He did everything
right. He didn't do anything wrong.
And yet what? They said he was a wine bibbler, a glutton, he
hung out drunkard, you know, he was a devil, he was a madman. And this is God. God the Son. Okay? So this grace works for
God's people alone. Let's go to Matthew. Well, Matthew
1.21 says, and his name shall be called Jesus, and he shall
save his people from their sins." Just like it says Romans... It
doesn't say the same thing, but in Romans 6.23 it says... Let's
go there real quick. I don't want to misquote it. And it says, "...for the wages
of sin is death." But the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So I've been showing you how
you have the Son and the Spirit, the Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Here you have the Father and the Son. There is a difference.
Brother James Tippins has a really good conference going on this
weekend about Who is the spirit of God the Holy Spirit some people
we call him I grew up calling the Holy Ghost but Teaching about
that and it's great teaching and very few people know how
to explain the truths of the gospel They just like all just
you know just Jesus only Jesus Jesus Jesus. Just give me the
Bible Give me Jesus, but Jesus talks about his doctrine you
know and and John said in first I want to say it's first John
2 9 that if anyone doesn't abide in the doctrine of Christ they
have not Christ I mean, that's That's His teaching. And we need
to understand that. And if we don't, we're going
to get tripped up by anybody that comes along. I keep correcting
people who are calling Russellites Jehovah's Witnesses. They are
not Jehovah's Witnesses. They are false Witnesses. They
don't believe that Jesus is God. They don't believe the Spirit
of God is God. They just believe in one God. They're Unitarians. We know that the wrath of God
is not upon God's people. We've been justified, right? Because from
the law and from the penalty of death by what Christ has done
on our behalf. So how do we know this? Let's
go back to Romans. Chapter 1, verse 7, and it says,
We know because we believe. Jesus told the Pharisees, you're
not of my sheep. If you were my sheep, you'd believe.
He says in John 10, my sheep hear my voice, and they follow
none other. And a lot of people We're going to quote these verses,
and a lot of people do know them by heart, but do they really
know the meaning of them? Do they know that it's not for
all men? Because you ask this person,
well, who does God love? Does God love everybody? And
they say, yeah, He loves everybody. No, he does not. I shared with you
earlier Malachi how he said, Jacob, have I loved? Esau, have
I hated? So only those chosen in Christ
will believe the gospel. And what is the gospel? The gospel
is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The person.
Who he was. He became man. A body, he says
in the Psalms, a body thou hast prepared for me. And he came
to do the Father's will. He said, lo, I come in the volume
of the book. It is written of me to do thy will. Christ is
the God-man. Unto us a son is given, right? A child is born, a son is given,
and the government shall be upon his shoulders. His kingdom is
gonna be everlasting. Christ came to fulfill the just
wrath of God in satisfying his law. And his law said, the soul
that sins shall die. And because of the fall of man
in Adam, we're all gonna die and perish and be in hell for
eternity. But those chosen in Christ will
believe the gospel. And that's Romans 117, and that
the gospel, he says, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live
by faith. So the righteousness of God is what Christ has done.
He's the Lord our righteousness. This is what the scripture calls
him and tells us. So we have to understand that.
Let's go to Isaiah 53, that's a very, a very well-known scripture, and I hear
a lot of people using it to tell people, well, God will heal you,
because by His stripes you're healed. That's not what it means.
So it says in Isaiah 53, verses 4 through 12, surely he
hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. This is talking
about Christ, right? For his people, not for all people. It's not the whole world. It's
a particular group of people. Just like Israel was chosen out
of all the nations on the earth during their time, it's a type
of his elect, the elect of God in Christ. Scripture says in
the New Testament, in the end, He's going to separate the sheep
from the goats. So there's sheep and there's goats. Sheep are
His people, goats are not. Goats look a lot like His people,
sound a lot like His people. The wheat and the tares, they
grow together. They hear the same thing, they say the same
thing, but they pour a different meaning in it. They put their
own righteousness in it. So going on to Isaiah 53, verses
4 and 5. That's talking about salvation. What He endured on
the cross for His people. He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
yet He opened not His mouth. When He was When they beat him, they ripped
his beard out, they spit on him. He didn't say anything to them. Me, I mean, if you cut me off
on the freeway, I'll probably call you an idiot, whether someone's
in the car or not, and probably should just lay back and let
you go. Not say anything, but I always
say something. He was oppressed and was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and
as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his
mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people." Not all people. Of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked, talking about when he
died. with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence,
neither was any deceit in his mouth. So I've heard some people
saying that he was peccable, and then they try and divide
his mind from his body, but he is impeccable. He's flawless.
He's holy, sinless, and undefiled. He's perfect. God's perfect. Christ is perfect. He became
a man. He became the perfect man. his
creation could never become. He's the creator. So that he
can die in place of his people. It says, yet it pleased the Lord.
So it's like every single person who was chosen in Christ is going
to be saved, right? That's what I said in that point.
Those chosen in Christ will believe the gospel. Right? By His knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, not all, for He shall bear
their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because He hath poured out His soul unto death, and
He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bared the sins of many,
and made intercession for them. And we know these truths because
the Spirit of God bears witness and teaches us these things.
The same God who who closes a person's eyes, also open sins, but they're
the ones that are chosen in Christ. Let's go to John 6, 37 through
40. I had shared that with you a
little bit earlier. And that says, 37 through 40,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from
heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will. which hath sent me, that
of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of
Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on Him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up
at the last day." And it's not just, oh, I believe in Jesus,
you know, Jesus is Lord, Jesus is God, you know, it's knowing
rightly who He is, and being able to explain it, you know,
People just say, I don't know, I love Jesus. Well, is it Jesus
you're talking about, the one that you see in the pictures,
you know, with hazel eyes and long hair, or the one standing
at the door knocking with the light? I mean, he's the light
of the world. What does he need a light for? So it doesn't make
sense. And then verse 44 says, no man,
no man can come to me except the Father which has sent me. Draw him. And how does God do
that? The Spirit of God draws a man
to Christ. He opens his ears and eyes, causes
him to hear the gospel. Without, without, how will they
believe on whom they have not, how will they believe on whom
they haven't heard? Let's go there really quick, that's John,
I mean that's not John, that's Romans chapter 10. How will they
believe on whom they have not heard? It says, Daddy, what did you put in here?
Daddy. Daddy, why did you put it here? It says, How shall they call
on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel, For Isaiah said, Lord who hath believed, I report.
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
So going back to John 6, 37 and 40 and 44, it's those who are
chosen in Christ. And we go to verse, chapter 10
of John, and verse 26, and that says, Jesus was talking
to the Pharisees, and they were trying to rip on him and just
say that, He didn't know what he was talking about. They said
he had a devil and he's a madman. And they said there was a big
division amongst them. And he went on to say to them,
because they asked, Hey man, hey Jesus. The Jews came around
about him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to
doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. I'm going to read through these next two verses. And Jesus
answered them, I told you, and ye believed not. The works that
I do in my father's name, they bear witness of me. I mean, they
knew the scripture. They knew that Christ, the Messiah,
was going to come. And he's doing these things,
and he's telling these things, and they still don't believe.
Why? This is why. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them to
me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out
of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." So
we know that those chosen in Christ are going to be saved.
And as a result of that, going back to Paul's writing, because
we were in John right there, 29 through 31. We know that 828
is famous because it says, all things work for the good of those,
right? And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. So verse 29 says, for whom He
did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son. That's just being saved.
Then we're transformed by the renewing of our mind. We grow
in the knowledge and grace of God. We don't become super saints
or holier than everybody else. No, man, we're ordinary, average
guy, everyday Joe, just like anybody else. We're not special.
Like I said earlier, it's nothing but the grace of God that causes
us to differ, and we have to always be mindful of that. Otherwise,
we get puffy and high-minded and think, oh, you think because
you know God, you're better? No, we rejoice in the fact that
we know Him and that He's merciful to us. And we share that with
others, hoping and praying that, hey, perhaps they're one of God's
elect and He'll save them. But we don't know, so we just
preach it to everybody, and we tell them the truth, that only
those chosen in Christ will believe this. So John 10, verse 26, well
actually I went back to Romans 8, 29 through 31. I'm sorry,
I got sidetracked. It says, "...for whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image
of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, Them He also called. Talked about
calling and service. And whom He called, them He also
justified. Talked about justification. We're
justified by His blood, shed before the foundation of the
world and at the cross, right? And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. We know that right now in our
bodies we're not glorified, but we're with them. Someday, after
the resurrection, we'll be resurrected. will have a glorified body. Paul
says there's earthly bodies and there's heavenly bodies. So we
know that just by reading. That's why I tell you guys, always
read the scripture. Let that be your source. Ask
God to help you. Ask the Spirit of God to bring
light to you, that you might know the things of God, that
you might grow in the knowledge and grace of God. Not that we'll,
you'll be the better for it in a sense because you'll love God
more for yourself. It's like when you fall in love
with a woman or with a man, you love them and you give yourself
to them. They tell you more and more about
themselves. They open up and you open up and it's like, it's
a greater love. But we know that our love is
never gonna be as great as God's love for us. And we're gonna
keep continuing to learn eternity but God will still be God so
we'll worship him forever so and that end of that scripture
of Romans it says what shall we then say to these things if
God before us who can be against us I mean the answer is it's
a rhetorical question the answer is no one you know so going on
to Ephesians 2 8 through 9 This is Paul's writing. He wrote the
majority of the New Testament. I want to say 17 books. I'm pretty
sure that's right. But he goes on to say, For by
grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, thus any man should boast. We're saved by grace. So that
righteousness that these people were suppressing, these reprobate
people were suppressing in Romans 1, They don't know the righteousness
of God. That hasn't been revealed to
them. And it's not going to be. So as a result of the finished
work of Christ, like what Paul said in Romans 117, the just
shall live by faith. We live by faith. We walk by
faith. Faith is the substance of things not seen, the evidence
of things hoped for. For by it the elders obtained
a good report. I believe it's Hebrews Yeah, now faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it
the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God. You know, you hear... People say, well, you know, this
Big Bang Theory or, you know, the universe came into existence.
No, we believe these things by faith. God causes His people
to believe in the finished work of Christ. We live by faith.
And Paul wrote that. He wrote that in Romans. He wrote
it in Galatians. Galatians 3.11. We'll go there
real quick. but that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God." That's the law. That's people
doing the works of the law. That's the Ten Commandments. You have to obey
the Ten Commandments. You can't cuss, smoke, chew, run when girls
are due. If you break one commandment,
you break them all. That's what James says. We can never fulfill them. So
3.11 says that but that no man is justified by the law on the
side of God. It's evident. For the just shall live by faith.
We live by faith, knowing that Christ fulfilled the law on our
behalf. Right? And I just read that to you in
Romans 117 and then Galatians 311. Now let's go to... Did I
do it in Hebrews 1038? No, I just did the... I did something
else that was faith. Gave you the evidence of faith.
So let's go to Hebrews 1038. before faith and it says now
the judge shall live by faith but if any man draw back much
my soul shall have no pleasure in him so the just live by faith
there's a lot of people that they start off and then they
leave and scripture says they they left from among us because
they were not of us for if they were of us they would continue
and the thing is God causes people to continue we can't continue
we can't We can't finish a sentence, let alone finish something that
only God does for His people. That's why Christ bowed His head
and said, it's finished. Now we're gonna go back to Habakkuk
chapter 2 verse 4, and that's talking about the just living
by faith. He says, Behold, his soul, which
is lifted up, is not upright in him." So that's a self-righteous
man. That's the Pharisee who was at the temple with the other
guy saying, you know, Lord, I'm grateful that I'm not like him.
You know, I tithe of my mint and anise and come in and I pray
and I fast. And what did the other guy said?
He said, beat on his chest, Lord, be merciful to me. So Habakkuk
is telling God's people, hey man, Your soul that's lifted
up is not right, but the just shall live by his faith. And
we know that faith is a gift, and God gives us a gift. So,
always look to Christ, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
if you do, it's because he caused you to. Now once again, I ask
that you pray for the city that we live in, the city of Los Baños,
that we'd be able to reach out to God's people that are here,
that need a home. There's a lot of people that
don't have a home church and travel or listen online, but
You know, God is the one that raises up his people, and an
under-shepherd to lead his people. So, I covet your prayers for
God's people here, for us, and just grateful to be a part of
the body and to serve the body. Let's pray. Father, we thank
you. For Your Word, Lord, we ask that You would bless it and
let it take root and grow in Your people and bear fruit that
only comes from You. We know that a branch bears fruit
as it's attached to the vine. We don't produce it, Lord, and
we thank You for these things. Continue to be gracious to Your
people all throughout the world. Help us to be strong in You and
in the power of Your might to grow in the knowledge and grace
of You. and to honor you in what we do. And we give you praise.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.