As you all know, I don't ever
get announcements right unless I read them right off the paper
the announcement's written on. So while you're turning to Isaiah
35, I have a note here. Have men set up chairs in dining
hall. I love you. I don't get tired of getting
those notes. Sammy, if you'll get the fellows to set up chairs
downstairs after service, I'll appreciate it. Isaiah chapter
35. Most people, when they hear the
word grace or think about the grace of God, vainly imagine,
ignorantly and foolishly imagine that God's grace is helpless,
a passion, a good intent. a noble desire, a great ambition
in God's being toward man, but that his grace may be frustrated,
come to nothing, bring forth nothing, because it lacks power. We'll worship idolaters, and
that's what they are. All who worship at the altar
of man's free will are we'll worship idolaters. They set man
in the place of God, in the house of God, and demand that he be
worshipped as God. That is, they attribute to man
power and work that belongs only to God. Such people are not believers,
but unbelievers. They're anti-Christ. They're
contrary to the gospel of Christ. The grace of God, they imagine,
can do nothing. without the aid, assistance,
and consent of the sinner's will. Rubbish, nonsense, blasphemy. Such grace is not worthy of God,
but only of hell. I've come here tonight to talk
to you about almighty grace, invincible grace, irresistible
grace, grace that you cannot resist. Grace that cannot be
frustrated. Grace that always accomplishes
its desire and its end. You'll find my text in the 35th
chapter of Isaiah. Grace here is described not as
the helpless passion of God, but as an attribute of God's
being, which like himself is all by
himself. an attribute of God which works effectually, irresistibly,
always accomplishing that which God purposed for the salvation
of his elect. By grace are you saved. We read here in Isaiah 35, five,
that when the Lord Jesus Christ, God our Savior, comes to save
sinners, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened. and the
ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap
as in heart and the tongue of the dumb sing. For in the wilderness
shall waters break out and streams in the desert. Our text is a
prophecy of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the establishment
of his kingdom in the hearts of men in this world. It's talking
about this gospel age in which we live and the coming of Christ
in two distinct ways. It speaks of him coming literally. It is a prophecy of our Lord's
first advent, the coming of the seed of woman through the virgin's
womb into this world to save his people from their sins. And
it speaks also of his spiritual coming. His coming to the hearts
of chosen sinners, redeemed by His grace in the time of His
love, by the saving power of His grace to save them. Then,
when Christ comes to establish His kingdom in the hearts of
men, when He comes to accomplish redemption, when the Son of God
comes in power, the power of His Spirit, the power of His
omnipotent grace to save His people, He will do wondrous things. And let's look at three things
in this text description. First, understand there is no
question about the fact that this prophecy refers to our Lord's
first advent. When the Christ of God came into
this world in our flesh, wonders were performed by him, both in
the kingdom of nature and in the kingdom of grace. His birth
was itself a wonder. a miraculous, a supernatural,
a divine thing. He who is the savior of men came
as a man into this world without the aid of men through the womb
of the Virgin Mary being conceived in her womb by the power of God
the Holy Ghost. Wonders of mercy while he walked
on this earth during his earthly ministry were wrought upon men. Wonders of mercy which declared
him to be the Christ, the son of the living God. The miracles
our Lord performed demonstrated clearly that he was sent of God. Nicodemus, you remember, came
to him by night and said, good master, we know thou art a man
come from God, a teacher come from God, for no man can do these
things that thou doest except God be with him. The miracles
certainly gave testimony that he was one sent from God. But
the fact that he performed these miracles in his own name and
by his own power demonstrate clearly that he is himself God
come to save. He who made man's mouth made
the mouth of the dumb to speak. He who made the eyes of men caused
the eyes of the blind to see. He who made men's ears caused
those who were deaf to hear. He who made the legs of men caused
the lame to leap. Turn over to Matthew chapter
11, Matthew the 11th chapter. I want you to see this, I've
referred to it several times in recent weeks, Matthew 11.
When John's disciples wanted proof of the Messiahship of our
Lord Jesus, the Savior simply reminded them of the miracles
he performed. Isn't that strange? It's strange
to someone who does not read the Old Testament. But if you're
familiar with the Old Testament scriptures, it's not strange
at all. Matthew 11, verse two. Now when John had heard in prison
the works of Christ, He sent two of his disciples and said
unto him, Art thou he that should come or look we for another?
Throughout the Old Testament scriptures, from the fall of
man in the garden, when the Lord God first preached the gospel
in the garden, promising the seed of woman to crush the serpent's
head, until Christ came and Simeon held him up in his arms and said,
Now mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Men and women who believed God
looked for one man. A man who is himself God who
would come to redeem and save his people. Art thou he that
should come, thee Christ? Or do we look for another? Now
don't imagine, don't ever think that John had any question about
this. John the Baptist identified Christ
by a miraculous work itself. The Spirit of God descended on
him and abode on him when John baptized him. So John wasn't
asking for himself. He is saying to his disciples,
you go and you ask him for yourself. Are you the Christ or do we look
for another? Verse four, Jesus answered and
said unto them, go and show John again those things which ye do
hear and see. And here they are. quoting directly
from Isaiah 35. The blind receive their sight,
and the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed, and
the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have
the gospel preached unto them, and blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. Turn back to Joel chapter two,
Joel two. Peter refers to Joel 2 on the
day of Pentecost when he speaks of the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit upon his church by the power of the risen ascended enthroned
Christ. The purpose of those miracles
performed by our Savior was to authenticate his claims as the
Messiah, the Christ of God. Joel chapter 2 verse 21. Fear
not, O land, be glad and rejoice. For the Lord will do great things.
Be not afraid, ye beast of the field, for the pastures of the
wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, and the
fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Obviously, he's
using physical, earthly things to speak of things spiritual
and mysterious. I don't imagine that you're likely
to hear me preaching to beast or fig trees or vines. He's speaking
about spiritual things. Verse 23, be glad then ye children
of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he hath given you
the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for
you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first
month. And the floors shall be full
of wheat, plenty of harvest, and the vats shall overflow with
wine and oil. And I will restore to you the
years that the locust hath eaten, and the canker worm, and the
caterpillar, and the palmer worm, my great army, which I sit among
you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and
be satisfied. And praise the name of the Lord
your God that hath dealt wondrously with you. You will praise the
name of the Lord your God that hath dealt wondrously with you,
wondrously with you, and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye
shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the
Lord your God, and none else, and my people shall never be
ashamed, and it shall come to pass afterward. It shall come
to pass afterward. Once Christ has come, once he's
come and accomplished redemption and grace and salvation for his
people, it will come to pass afterward that I will pour out
my spirit upon all flesh, not just Jews, but Gentiles too.
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. And your old
men shall dream dreams. And your young men shall see
visions. and also upon the servants and
upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit and
I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth blood and fire
and pillars of smoke." You're going to bring judgment upon
what's looked upon as the light itself. The Jewish world turned
upside down and brought to darkness. The sun shall be turned into
darkness and the moon into blood. before the great and terrible
day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered,
saved by God's grace. For in the Mount Zion and in
Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, and in
the remnant whom the Lord shall call. Another passage in this connection,
Hebrews chapter two, Hebrews chapter two. We live in this
age of Pentecostal charismatic tomfoolery. Pentecostalism is
tolerated, it's not encouraged in almost all denominations that
are called Christian. Pentecostalism is damning. Pentecostalism is utter heresy. It is the sure sign of Antichrist.
Read 2 Thessalonians 2. But when our Lord came and left
his apostles to write for us the New Testament, to give us
testimony of his ministry, he performed wondrous miracles.
And he gave his church power to perform miracles, specifically
given to those gathered in the upper room on the day of Pentecost.
But once the apostles ceased, and once the New Testament was
complete, the age of miracle-working men is over. There are no apostles
today. No one has the ability to speak
in tongues as the apostles did. No one has the gift to heal the
sick, to raise the dead as the apostles did. They were given
these miracles, these powers to attest themselves as the messengers
of the Christ, who is the one who came to save his people from
their sins. Look at Hebrews 2 verse 3. How
shall we escape? If we neglect so great salvation,
which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed
unto us by them that heard him, God also bearing them witness,
both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts
of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will. Now, that no one misunderstand
me, I have no question at all, God can and does do exactly what
he will do. If there were need for me to
have ability to speak in a language I had never learned, I would
have the gift of tongues as needed. But we do not have those supernatural
apostolic gifts since the apostles are all gone. No one since the
apostolic age ever has. And those who claim to have are
themselves deceiving men and deceiving themselves. And they
are not of God. Brother Don, are you saying all
these folks are wrong? No, I wouldn't say that for anything.
God says they're wrong. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 identifies
them with Antichrist. Today these gifts are no longer
needed because we have the complete revelation of God right here. the complete revelation of God
in His Word in the person of His Son who is revealed in His
Word. Now both God's servants and the
message we proclaim are authenticated not by miracles that we perform,
not by speaking in tongues, not by prophesying, but they're rather
authenticated and validated by the Word of God itself. I'll give you a challenge. Find
men who claim to have apostolic gifts, and women too, if you
wanna listen to a female preacher. If you're that crazy, you're
just that crazy. But you find those who claim
to have such gifts, and listen to what they preach. And you
won't find any preaching the gospel of God's grace. You won't
find any proclaiming Jesus Christ and him crucified. You won't
find any proclaiming absolute free grace, redemption accomplished
by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus. But rather, you will find
them always proclaiming the will worship religion of Babylon.
When our Savior was here, he wrought wondrous things upon
and in the bodies of men. Let me remind you of some of
his miracles. The eyes of the blind were opened
by him, who is the light of the world. Some years ago, Brother
Rex Bartlett stood here reading about our Lord healing that blind
man. They came and brought him to Jesus and asked him to heal
him, so he took him out of the crowd and he made a little bud,
put it in his eyes and said, do you see anything? And he said,
I see men as trees walking. And he touched his eyes again
and he said, what do you see now? And the scripture says,
he saw all men clearly. The Lord Jesus opened his eyes
and he saw all men clearly. And Rex gave us a good message.
He said, when God opens our eyes, we see all men clearly. Those
whose eyes are opened see the first man, Adam, as God made
him in the garden clearly. And they see fallen man as Adam
became in the fall clearly. And they see the second man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the God man clearly. And they see the
new man, the man made new in Christ clearly. The ears of the
deaf were made to hear by him who is the word of God. Our Lord
Jesus said to that maiden, be open, and her ears were opened. That's all it took, that's all
it took. Many that were lame were caused to leap with life
by him who is the way. The dumb were made to speak and
sing by him who spoke the world into existence. And the dead
were raised by his power. But our Lord promised far greater,
far more wondrous things to be accomplished and performed upon
the souls of men in this day by the preaching of the gospel.
Turn back to that passage in John we looked at last week,
John 14, John chapter 14, verse 12. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also. And greater works than these
shall he do, because I go to my Father. And whatsoever ye
shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son. Greater works than these. I received a call from a friend
of mine today, wished to express to me how God had been pleased
to use my ministry in his life, and his wife's, and his son's,
and his daughter's-in-law, and expressing his gratitude. And
I've never cured a headache. I know nothing about such things.
But what I have done is preach the gospel of God's grace, and
God saved them by his grace. I'm sometimes asked, do you believe
in miracles? My answer is, oh yes. The God
I serve is a God of miracles. I know he is. I'm proof. I am a walking miracle, and I've
experienced things that I think we could safely call miraculous.
God's providential intervention. Miraculous things. Things that
God obviously did just for me. Just for me. Nobody else in the
world benefited from it, just me. But there are greater things
than that. God heals the bodies of his people. and God heals the lives of his
people. His name is Jehovah-Rapha. And
he sent me to preach to you the gospel of his grace, by which
he heals the souls of men and women forever. He takes fallen
man. the dead in trespasses and in
sins, and by the preaching of the gospel gives him life by
the power of his spirit, creating faith in him, sprinkling his
heart with the blood of Christ. Through the preaching of the
gospel, by the sovereign operations of his spirit, by almighty grace,
the Lord Jesus still opens the eyes of the blind. He still causes
the deaf to hear. God our Savior still causes the
impotent and lame to run in the ways of God's commandments. These
are they which follow the Lamb with us wherever he goeth. The
Christ of God still causes the dumb to speak and to sing. Before God saved me, before he
saved you, we were spiritually blind, spiritually deaf, spiritually
lame, and spiritually dumb, dumb. I could not speak of God, not
with knowledge, because I had no knowledge of him. We could
not speak for God. We could not speak his praise,
because we didn't know him. We dared not speak to God in
prayer. We dared not do so. We had nothing
to say, but now, The Lord God by his spirit has opened my mouth
and loosed my tongue to confess him, to call on his name, to
speak to him without shame, without blushing, without embarrassment,
to call him my father and speak his praise and call on him in
prayer to proclaim the gospel of his grace. Now here's the
second thing. The Lord God pours out his spirit
in almighty saving grace, in power, omnipotent power, in grace,
irresistible grace. And he does so in the most unlikely
places. For in the wilderness shall waters
break out and streams in the desert. Our Savior stood on the
last day, the great day of the feast, and said, if any man thirsts,
let him come to me. Let him believe on me, and out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. The desert shall
spring as a fountain. The Lord God pours out his Spirit
and causes the blind to see. and the deaf to hear, and he
causes us to speak forth his praise, and he does it in the
most unlikely places. Who are God's elect? I'll tell
you who they are always. The very one you don't expect.
The very one you don't expect, the Lord sent Samuel. down to
the house of Jesse to anoint a king over Israel. He said one
of his sons will be king over Israel. And Jesse got word from
Samuel and he went and got his boys and lined them up. And he
brought the beginning ones, the oldest and the biggest. And he
brought them in and Samuel said, nope, that's not him. Nope, that's
not him. Nope, that's not him. Got down to the last one. Nope,
that's not him. And he said, don't you have any other boys?
He said, well, yeah, but he don't count. His name's David. He's just a little old ruddy-faced
boy out in the field taking care of sheep. He said, go get him.
And here comes David. My suspicions are, at least in
his youth, David was a kind of scrawny fellow. Not much to look
at. Not the fellow you'd look to
to defend you if you got in trouble. And he brought David in, that
young shepherd boy. And the Spirit of God said to
Samuel, Arise, anoint him, this is he. God finds his elect and
pours out his grace in the most unlikely, unexpected places,
choosing the least likely among men. Let's read it one more time. First Corinthians chapter one.
First Corinthians chapter one. Verse 26. You see your calling, brethren?
You see your calling? Look around this assembly. You
see your calling? Have it not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Now you please forgive me. I
wouldn't insult any. I cherish you above all people
in the world, but There ain't nobody here to impress anybody.
I mean, we're just not much. We're not folks that come asking
us to run for public office. We're not folks that ask us to
come and achieve great things. We're just nothings and nobodies. You see your calling, brother?
God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise. And God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen. Yea, and things which are not
to bring to naught the things that are. God's chosen in his
infinite wisdom, goodness and grace to save such pieces of
worthless humanity as we are. And to trust to our hands the
treasure of his grace. To proclaim the gospel of his
grace to centers around the world for the gathering of other centers
like ourselves. that no flesh should glory in
his presence. So that if anything's accomplished
by that fella named Fortner, anything's accomplished by that
group of folks over at Grace Church, if anything's done by
them, it wasn't their fault. It wasn't their fault. God did
it. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom. and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. One more thing,
and I'll be done. What are we to learn from our
text? These two verses of Holy Scripture. Learn this. The only difference between you
and any sinner in hell, the only difference between God's elect
and the reprobate is the difference grace has made and continues
to make. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou'st not received it? We were blind,
he caused us to see. We were deaf, he caused us to
hear his voice. We were lame, he called us and
with his call caused us to follow him. We were dumb, he caused
us to show forth his praise. We were dead, dead in trespasses
and sins. He gave us life. Learn this too. Grace does change people. Grace changes people, but not
the way you might think. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. But grace doesn't change the
way men suggest it does. I've heard folks say grace comes
and takes away a man's inclinations to evil. Do any of you experience
that? Grace doesn't allow him to think
like he used to. I think worse than I used to.
Grace will keep a man from sinning like he used to. I sin a lot
worse than I used to. I say it not with any pleasure,
but with frank honesty. This heart of nature This mind
of nature is utterly unchanged by grace. Utterly unchanged. Utterly unchanged. The old man
must go to the grave! God's ordained it, and he deserves
it. That which is flesh is just flesh,
and flesh has got to die. But grace changes. by putting
in us a new man, making us new creatures, a new man who's partaker
of the divine nature, new creatures, new creatures of man, a holy
man, created in righteousness and true holiness. God's grace
is almighty, irresistible, and saving. Blessed is the man whom
thou choosest, causes to approach unto thee, you and I, have great
reason to praise and honor our great God for his great grace. He saved us. He saved us. And he's working
in us to will and do according to his good pleasure. And He's
working in us to will and do exactly that which He purposed
to do from eternity. He's working in us to will and
do that which is best for His kingdom, best for the honor of
His name, best for the glory of Christ, best for the saving
of His people. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sins. By grace are you saved. By grace are you saved. Let's look at one more text and
I'll be done. First Corinthians chapter six. First Corinthians chapter six. Verse nine. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of
God. I read in the scriptures about
a fellow named Noah, who soon as he got off the ark was found
in a drunken stupor. I read about a man named Solomon,
the wisest of all, the man who wrote for us the books of wisdom,
who followed his wives to the temples of idols. I read in the
scriptures about a man named David who had his friend murdered
to cover his adultery with his friend's wife. Well, what does this mean? These
men shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of
you. But that's what we still are. That's what we still are. That's
what we are by nature. But God has made us new creatures.
And when the Lord God speaks of his people, he speaks of his
people as Israel, princes with God, men and women who prevail
with God, men and women called by the name of God's choice,
Israel. And such were some of you, but
you are washed. but you are sanctified, washed
of all sin, made holy, but you are justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Verse 19, what? Know ye not that
your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which
you have of God, and you're not your own, for you're bought with
a price? Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's. The knowledge of God's
almighty saving grace ought to encourage us with regard to ourselves
and with regard to our brethren and with regard to the salvation
of those whose souls we seek to serve in our generation. Many
years ago, John Newton had a visit from
his friend William Jay. Both of them were Anglican preachers.
Both of them believed the gospel of God's grace and Jay was in
Newton's office and he was talking to him a little bit and Newton
asked him, said, do you know such and such a man? And Jay
said, oh yes, I know him well. And he spoke plainly about the
man's character, his name and his reputation. spoke disparagingly
concerning the man with no hope with regard to him. And Newton
said to his friend William Jay, I have never despaired of any
man's salvation since the Lord saved me. I've never despaired of any man's
salvation since the Lord saved me. He saved me. He just might
save you. He saved me, he just might save
my children. He saved me, he just might save
my worst enemy. I never despair of God's saving
anyone because he saved me. He saved you by his free, sovereign,
omnipotent, almighty, irresistible saving grace, amen.