Madly in sin I ran my course,
despising all that's good, my sinful heart swollen with pride,
all enmity to God. My guilty conscience pricked
my heart and slight impression made. The law of God with threats
of hell filled me with fear and dread. Still, I pursued my lust
with zeal. Satan and sin are strong. With
hardened heart and stubborn will, to hell I plotted on. When first
I heard the gospel call, bidding me come to Christ, I yet despised
the Son of God. I would not bow to Christ. But God the Spirit came with
grace. Grace I could not resist. He gave me life. He gave me faith. He made me bow to Christ. Blessed is the man chosen of
God and forced by sovereign grace to come to Christ with willing
heart and humbly seek his grace. I've come here today praying
that God the Holy Ghost will graciously force you to come
to Christ. that he will break you, bend
you, bow you, and force you to come to Christ. If he doesn't,
you won't. As God the Holy Ghost enables
me, I want to talk to you about irresistible grace. God's almighty,
effectual, irresistible grace. Grace that will not take no for
an answer. Grace you cannot resist. Try as you may. Irresistible
grace. I'm not here to preach about
grace that helplessly offers salvation and leaves sinners
lost. I'm not here to tell you about
grace that depends on something from you. I'm here to tell you
about God's grace. irresistible grace, grace that
saves poor, helpless, doomed, damned, dead sinners who must
forever be lost, except God come by irresistible grace and bring
you to his darling son. Are you interested? Is that the
grace you need? If so, I've got a message from
God for you. There is, according to the revelation
of this book, a call that goes forth by the preaching of the
gospel, a general call. I'm here today calling you to
Christ, but if my voice is the only voice you hear, it'll do
you no good. This general call is that which
God sends his servants proclaim. He sends us to the highways and
hedges to bid all who will come to Christ. He commands all men
everywhere to repent. That being said, because God
commands you to repent, it is your duty and your responsibility
to repent. I didn't say it was your ability,
it is your responsibility to A preacher, a man can't be responsible
for that which he has no ability to perform. You're responsible
to God to be perfectly holy. You can't do it. You're responsible
to God to obey his law. You can't do it. And you're responsible
to God to believe his son, but you can't do it. It's your duty
to trust Christ, your responsibility to believe on the son of God.
And if you trust him, you have everlasting life. But if you
refuse, if you refuse, if you refuse, preacher, I won't
hear that, and you get up and walk out those doors and walk
to hell, you have no one to blame but yourself. It's your responsibility. You're without excuse. Your damnation
is just. Preacher, I've never heard God
call me. Yes, you have. Yes, you have. God has put something
in you we call conscience. It is the voice of God in your
heart, in your soul, in your mind that you cannot silence,
scream and try as you may. so that God constantly speaks
by conscience. Guilt, guilt, guilt, guilt. Sin, sin, sin, sin. Eternity, eternity, eternity. Damned, damned, damned. And you can't silence it. It
terrifies you. God speaks by creation. You look
around and see the handiwork of God in the heavens above and
in the earth beneath. God's your creator and you know
it. And you can't stop the sound of God speaking from the heavens.
And God speaks by his providence. God speaks by his providence.
A small child is taken. God says you're gonna die too.
Your younger brother, your older sister, taken suddenly. Death is around the corner. There
is but a breath between you and God, between you and death. God
speaks by his providence. In the tornado, in the flood,
in the hurricane, in the wind, in the lightning, in the storm,
in the war, in the pestilence, in the sickness, in the disease.
And you keep stopping yours. I won't hear! I won't hear, I
won't hear, but God continues to speak. And then you have the
privilege of being where you are this morning and hearing
a man preach the gospel of God's free grace in his darling son. And by the gospel, God shows
you the way of life and faith in Christ. God shows you how
he can be just and justify the ungodly by the sacrifice of his
own son, by blood atonement, by perfect righteousness. God
speaks by his word, commands you to believe, and you refuse. Therefore, this is what God says,
therefore, because you have refused, therefore they shall eat of the
fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with their own devices. God says when you go to hell,
you're gonna eat what you've been feeding on all your life. When you go to hell, you're going
to have your own devices to fill you. When you go to hell, you
will eat the fruit of your own way. If you go to hell, you'll
have no one to blame but yourself. You've heard the gospel and you've
refused. What a statement. What a statement. You wonder why I tremble when
I preach. You hear the gospel this day
and you walk out of here in unbelief and God takes you to hell. You're going to hear my voice
for eternity. without excuse, without excuse. We preach the gospel to all men
everywhere. We call sinners to Christ and
promise with divine authority as God's ambassadors, eternal
life we promise to all who come to Christ. And yet, as he preaches
the gospel, God's servant knows All of God's servants know, all
of them. These yahoos on every street
corner who claim to be preachers are ambassadors of hell, they're
not God's servants. God's servants know, as he preaches,
that no one will, by his own free will, by his own choice,
by his own volition, no one will ever come to Christ, because
nobody can. A dead man can do nothing. And you who are without Christ
are dead, D-E-A-D, dead spiritually. You have no life, no ability,
no feeling, no knowledge, no understanding of anything spiritual. And yet, as he preaches the gospel,
knowing these things, the gospel preacher, proclaims eternal life
freely given to sinners by Christ Jesus. And if you hear the word
I preach and you trust the Lord Jesus Christ, I'll tell you what
the reason is. It is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. It is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. It will not be because I preach
better than another man, or because I have better understanding than
another man, or because I study harder than another man, or because
I have greater logic than another man. It's the spirit who takes
the word, and with the word quickens the dead. And he does this that
no flesh should profit. There is this general call, but
there's another call. an almighty call of grace, a
call that no man can resist, a call that brings life and works
faith in the sinner by the Holy Spirit. This call is that which
is spoken of when Peter says, we're born again, not a corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. That is by the preaching of this
book. For this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. Our faith in Christ is the fruit
and result and operation of omnipotent mercy, irresistible grace, and
the effectual call of God the Holy Ghost. Now that's my subject
this morning, irresistible grace. My text is Isaiah 30 and verse
21. Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 21. This is what the Lord God says
to every chosen redeemed sinner. This is what God says concerning
everyone he's determined to save. This is what God says concerning
everyone he will save in time. If you are among those I just
described, chosen of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, called
by God, this is what God says. Thine ears shall hear a word
behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it, when
you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left. Let
me give you the context. Because Judah had refused to
believe. Because Judah had rebelled against
God. God visited that nation with
judgment. But there was in Judah an elect
remnant who must be saved and God speaks to them. Says he will
call them by his grace because he's determined to be gracious
to them. Even so, at this present time, the Spirit of God tells
us there is a remnant according to the election of grace. There
is an elect multitude in this world whom God will call. They will weep no more. He will
be very gracious to them. At the voice of their cry, when
he hears it, he will answer them. They are chosen of God in everlasting
love, redeemed by the precious blood of God's darling Son. God
chose you to salvation. God chose you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit. God chose you to salvation through
the call of the Gospel. God chose you to salvation through
the bloodletting of His own darling Son. There's no other way to
salvation. but God must bring you to his
son. And God says he will be gracious
to you and save you if you're his. Though God gives his elect
the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, as we're
told in verse 20. Though he gives his elect the
bread of adversity, and the water of affliction. It is that he
may be gracious to them. God in his providence fixes it. He fixes it so that you must
have him. He fixes it so that you've got
nowhere else to turn. He fixes it so that you're real
to and fro as a drunken man, you're starving to death, you're
in prison with no one to help, and when you're at your wit's
end, then you call on him. And I'm gonna tell you this,
you'll never call on him until you're brought to your wit's
end. You will never trust the Lord Jesus Christ until God knocks
every prop out from under you. You will never seek refuge in
Christ until God destroys every false refuge you build for yourself. The Lord God providentially causes
his elect to hear the word of his grace at his appointed time
of love. He sweetly forces you to hear,
fixes it so you just can't avoid it. He fixes it so you just can't
avoid it. He somehow creates an interest,
somehow brings you to a place, maybe here, maybe here. I remember
I was attending a church, had no interest in what was going
on, but I attended church because I wanted to date a girl there. And one morning I went and sat
in the pew, and all of a sudden, the preacher got my attention. And I heard God speak. And I
believed on his son, because God brought me to that place
at the time when God had prepared me to hear his word and brought
me to my wits end and revealed Christ in me. That's how God
saves sinners. Thine ears shall hear a word
behind thee saying, this is the way, walk ye in it. When you turn to the right hand,
and when you turn to the left. This is one of those gracious,
unconditional promises upon which the salvation of God's elect
depends. When God calls, sinners hear. If ever God calls you, you'll
hear his voice. If ever God speaks to you, You
can't resist his call. If ever God says, this is the
way, walk ye in it. You will walk in the way, Christ
Jesus the Lord. Otherwise, there's no hope for
you. Well, preacher, if that's the
case, all I've been hearing all my life is not so. I've been
told all my life is up to me. God's done everything he could.
Now it's up to me. You've been hearing a lie all
your life. This is what God says. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Now, Brother Don, you didn't mean to say that all these will-worship
Arminian freewill preachers are liars. You meant to say, well,
they're just confused or had less light or they haven't studied
enough or they haven't come yet to know the gospel. No, they're
liars. They're ambassadors of the devil.
If you read this book, if you just read this book, the book
of God says, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Sooner or later, either
now or on the other side of judgment, you're gonna find out salvation
is of the Lord. Now let me show you four things
revealed in this text. Number one, the position of the
center. Our text describes the position
of the center to whom God is pleased to be gracious. Where
does God find those to whom he's gracious? What position are they
in when he calls them? Does he find them seeking the
Lord? Does he find them making their first step toward God?
Does he find them making a decision for the Lord? Does he find them
searching for him? Listen to what the scriptures
say. Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee. Our text declares
then that when God calls sinners, he always finds them with their
backs turned to him. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned everyone to his own way. That's the way of man. This is how God always finds
his people. This is how God always finds
his elect, with their backs turned to him. They may be going to
church three times a week. They may be praying three times
a day. They may be reading their Bibles
every morning and every night, but their backs are turned to
God. They're not interested in Christ. They're not interested in God.
They're not interested in God's salvation. They're interested
in themselves and religion and what they can do and what they
can learn. But when God comes calling, he finds folks with
their backs turned to him. The word of grace is heard behind
thee. We've all by nature gone astray
from God. We've turned everyone to his
own way. And our way is always away from
God. This is what God says, Jeremiah
32, 33. They have turned unto me the
back and not the face. They turned unto me the back
and not the face. We turned our backs on God in
the sin and fall of our father Adam. We turned our backs on
God, every one of us who went astray from the womb, speaking
lies. And we turned our backs on God
with every breath of our lives, all the days of our lives. But God would not turn his back
on us. That's the reason you hear. That's
the reason you believe. There is no other reason. God
refused to turn his back on you. What matchless grace. What stupendous
mercy. God calls after sinners, though
they openly renounce his rule, flee from his mercy, spurn his
grace, and despise his son. Instead of leaving us to ourselves, he would not let us go. One of the men asked back in
the office one day last week, Sunday night or Tuesday night,
I forgot which, said, can you imagine what we'd do if we'd
been God? Don't have to imagine low. Don't have to imagine low. I'd
kick you out. I'd throw you away. I wouldn't
have any patience with you. Well, no, no, that's not true. That's the way I'd act if I was
God. That's not the way God acts. That's not what God does. God
refused to turn his back on us. Those, God says he will call,
turned their backs and went further and further and further away
with every breath of unbelief. It was while we were going as
fast as we could away from God, away from Christ, away from life,
rushing headlong into hell with our hearts burning against God
and our fists clenched against him. There, the Lord found us
and arrested us and turned us. I had a will to roam, but God
had a will to save. I'd made a covenant with death,
but God made a covenant with his son. I was in league with
hell, but God was in league with my substitute. And when the Lord
saved us, when he caused us to hear his call, We were pursuing
a course of rebellion in spite of every warning we'd heard.
God graciously spoke often, but we refused to hear. We ran
toward hell with such zealous commitment to destruction, one
would think we looked upon hell as a prize to be gained. You
who are sitting here today, and many who will hear this message
by various means of media God has put at our disposal. You've
heard God speak by his word countless times. You've had faithful parents
to teach you the way. You've had faithful Sunday school
teachers to teach you the word. You've had faithful siblings,
brothers, sisters, young brothers, older brother, younger sister,
older sister. You've had friends, you've had faithful pastors point
you to Christ Jesus the Lord, and you refuse to hear. You turn
your own way. Some take the right-handed way
of self-righteousness. Others take the left-handed way
to hell of prolificacy and ungodliness. The way to life is the other
way. The way to life is about faith
from what you bid. You've been walking toward hell,
seeking religion and seeking to do good, seeking the lust
of your flesh and seeking your pleasure, delighting in yourself.
The way to life is to turn your back on everything else and turn
to Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. There's
no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved, save the name
of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who says, look unto me, and be
ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and beside
me there is none else. Here's the second thing. God
finds sinners with their backs to him. Second, God's call is
a call of Almighty, irresistible grace. Now understand what I'm
telling you. God always takes the initiative
in salvation. That is, God is the first actor. But that's not all. Salvation
is God's work alone in its entirety. God takes the initiative and
God performs the work, you don't get credit for anything because
you don't do anything. No aspect of salvation is dependent
upon, or determined by, or in any way accomplished by something
you do. Salvation is of the Lord. We know this book teaches the
blessed doctrine of election, election. That's God's choice
of centers to salvation. Now people talk about election,
well they don't talk about it much, they're scared to death
to mention the word in most churches, but when they do talk about it,
they make election somehow to be God looking out with a long
telescope of his great omniscience and he sees how good you're gonna
be. He sees that unlike other people,
you're gonna decide for Jesus. Unlike other people, you're gonna
make your choice. Unlike other people, you're gonna
turn to the Lord. What stupidity. What does a sinner
have to do with election? Listen to what God says. Ye have not chosen me. ye have not chosen me. You didn't, you wouldn't, you
couldn't. But I have chosen you. Folks
talk about redemption if they get around to mentioning the
death of Christ at all, most places don't much. But if they
do, Jesus died for you and he made it possible for you to be
justified and made it possible for you to be sanctified, made
it possible for your sins to be forgiven. He opened a way
so that you could be saved if, if, if you do something, if you
contribute something, if you just make a choice, If you just
decide, if you just walk down the aisle, if you just say the
prayer, if, what does a sinner have to do with redemption? This
is what the book says. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. With his own blood, he entered
in one time into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. What does a sinner have to do
with regeneration, the new birth? Now, even Armenians have a tough
time with this. Even we'll worship as a tough
time with this. They will tell you that you're dead and trespasses
and sins, but you've got to make the first move. That'd be a fancy trick. I'd
like to see it. I like to see a dead man lift his finger, raise
his hand, walk down an aisle, make a decision, make a choice,
decide something, reason something out. Dead folks don't do anything. It is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. You hath he quickened, who were
dead in trespasses and in sins. That means by grace are you saved. What does the sinner have to
do with the call of the spirits? Nothing, nothing. The wind bloweth
where it listeth. Thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth.
So is everyone that is born of the spirits. The call of grace,
the call of the spirit. comes to lost, wandering, straying
sinners, and it comes unsought, unasked, and undesired. In Romans
10 verse 20, the Apostle Paul quotes from Isaiah 65 and verse
1, and he makes a statement I find strange. Isaiah 65 verse 1, Isaiah
is speaking of the Lord Jesus our Savior. Romans 10 verse 20,
the Apostle Paul is speaking about faith in Christ. Now this
is what it says, but Isaiah, Isaiah is very bold and says,
very bold, very confident, very brave, very strong, very open,
He's very bold. Why do you use that word bold?
Because most everybody will cuss him and trample on him till he's
dead for saying it. Religious folks hate him. They'll
persecute him. They'll put him to death if they
can for saying it. He's very bold because religious
folks won't have it. He's very bold. What did he say? He's quoting the words of the
Lord Jesus, God our Savior. I was found of them that sought
me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. Who is it defines the Lord? Folks
who aren't seeking him. Who is it to whom God makes himself
manifest? Folks who are asking for him. But the scripture says,
seek you the Lord and he will be found. The scripture says,
call on him and he'll answer you. Yes, but he'll find you
before you seek him. He'll seek you out before you
seek him. If you seek him, it's because
he's already sought and found you. You will hear his voice
before ever he hears your voice. And when he hears your voice,
it's because you have already heard his voice. This is the
language of scripture. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Very personal thing. This too
is language of scripture. Whosoever believeth on the Son
of God, H-A-T-H, hath, hath. He's got it. It's already his. Whosoever believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. He has it in possession. You
could not believe him if he hadn't given you life. God speaks his
word and says, return. This is the way, walk ye in it.
You may pause for a moment, but you're not interested. You push
onward to hell. God speaks again, this is the
way, and you're startled. Your conscience is pricked. Maybe
you can't sleep very well that night, so you resolutely set
yourself against God, determined to go to hell anyway. Unless
God stops you, you will. But some of you, like Jonah,
trying hard to go down to Tarshish where you can get away from the
voice of God. I'm not gonna listen to that
preacher anymore. I'm moving, I'm getting out of here. As soon
as you get grown, Daddy, I'm gonna move here. Mama, I'm gonna
move down there. I'm not listening to him anymore. And you'll gladly
pay the fare if you can get away from God's voice. But some of
you just can't get away from it. Because God won't let you. Grace will force you into the
way. Grace will teach you to pray. Grace will teach you to know
and rejoice to confess. Salvation is of the Lord. This
word behind thee is the voice of the unseen and unknown God
you despised all your life. It comes to you with mysterious
power. It comes at all hours, day and
night. You're driving down the road, you're out hunting or fishing,
you're plowing your field, and you're laying in bed at night
trying to sleep. It comes all hours. It's a still, small voice,
a voice that comes after the earthquake and the fire, the
voice of God in your heart and in your conscience that you just
can't silence. You just can't silence it because
it's God's call. This is a call that pursues and
overtakes the chosen blood-bought sinner. It comes at the opportune
time when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the
left, just as you're about to turn down dead man's leg, just
as about to fall into the dungeon of no return, God overtakes his
chosen. His call is absolutely necessary. Without it, none would be saved. None could believe. None would
come to Christ. No wonder the psalmist wrote,
blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causes to approach
unto thee. Three times in the 80th Psalm,
The psalmist said, turn us, O God, and cause thy face to shine,
and we shall be saved. And then he said, turn us, oh
God of hosts. God, God who rules everything
and everybody, calls thy face to shine and we shall be saved.
And he closed the psalm with these words, turn us again, oh
Lord Jehovah, God, God alone, God in control of everything
and everybody and calls your face to shine and we shall be
saved. Here's a third thing. The word
of the call. The word by which God brings
salvation to his elect is the preached word of the gospel. The preached word of the gospel. God saves sinners by the foolishness
of preaching. not just any preaching, but the
preaching of Jesus Christ and him crucified. Why is that? Because it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Well, we believe
God's sovereign. He can save sinners with the
use of means, without the use of means, or in spite of the
means used. Well, he saves sinners with the use of means, and he
saves sinners in spite of the means used, meaning the preacher.
But he never saved sinners without the use of means, because it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Well, I don't understand that.
You don't have to understand it, you gotta bow to it. This
is what God says, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. Of his own will began he us with
the word of truth. We're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. I know folks say, well, so what
if a fellow lives where the gospel is not preached? Do you really
think that's a problem to God? Do you really think it's a problem
to God? What if there's no preacher left? God can take an evangelist
named Philip, and suddenly, Sam in the road, coming down from
Jerusalem back to Ethiopia, right beside an Ethiopian eunuch, at
exactly the time he's pleased to do it. And he always does. He always does. I dare say that
most of you here could point to extraordinary, almost unbelievable
facets of life, events in life that brought you here to hear
the gospel. Things that you just, you were,
nobody would believe it if you sat down and wrote it in a diary.
No, he's stretching it, he's stretching it. Oh no, God moves
the world. God raises up and tears down
nations. God preserves races and destroys
peoples just for the saving of his elect. He does all things
for his own. You understand that, Bill? Oh, the wondrous mystery of providence. God just works everything out
just right. So that at just the right time,
He causes you to hear. I think of Jim and Susan. You
can nod yes or no if I'm correct or wrong. I think you went to
about every Baptist church in the county. Went out and rode
here. Went out and hit a Baptist church
there, lightin' candles. Might as well been goin' to kneel
at a papist altar. Lightin' candles, burnin' candles
so God'll hear your prayers. And then came here. And I think
came two or three times I wasn't here. And how come? Because he's looking for a place
to get close to Louisville, Kentucky, back to where she's from, and
out of Colorado where they didn't want to live any longer. Well,
why'd they come here? Because God brought them here. That's all, that's all. Matter
of fact, I think, Jim told me, you're the hardest place there
was to find. Now I can believe that, but here they are. How
come? This is God's way, this is God's
way. The way of life in which we walk
is Christ the way, the only way. The way of blood atonement, the
way of perfect righteousness, the way of free salvation, the
way of free grace. This is the word of His grace
and the word that comes to us. This word of grace spoken by
God is always successful. That's the fourth thing, the
success of the word. Thine ears shall hear. Thine ears shall hear. I can't do it. I can't make you
see your sin. But when God speaks, your ears
will hear and you will know your sin. I can't reveal God's son
in you, but when God speaks, he'll reveal his son in you.
I can't make you understand the way of righteousness, Christ
Jesus the Lord, but if God speaks, you'll walk in that way. I can't
call you to come to Christ in faith, but if God speaks, you'll
come, and God will be gracious to you. Oh, may God then be gracious
to you for Christ's sake. There are some sinners who cannot
to Jesus answer no. When called by grace, they willingly
to Christ the Savior go. Chosen by God in covenant love,
in time they must be saved. Predestined to eternal life,
eternal life they'll have. For God's elect Christ Jesus
bled and died upon the tree. Those sinners justified by blood,
by grace, must be set free. When God the Spirit comes in
grace, grace they cannot resist. The chosen, ransomed, called
ones come with joy to Jesus Christ. Bless God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Spirit too. The triune God has done for us
what we could never do when we would not and we could not awake
and come to him. Our God in sovereign grace caused
us to come to him. That's called irresistible grace. My God, I wait on you. Make your word effectual by your
sovereign, omnipotent, irresistible grace to chosen sinners for the
glory of Christ. Amen.