Brother Bobby Estes began attending
worship services here just a little, not very often, he didn't have
much interest, after he and Judy were married. Judy came and if Bobby wanted
to come, he came, but he didn't come very often, just every month
or two he'd show up. And one Sunday morning, sitting
right there, I saw Bobby's eyes kind of perk a little interest.
He knew and he'd heard we have a reputation around here for
what we believe and preach. And I like the reputation. Most
folks don't, but I do. And he said, I said to the congregation,
beginning on our Tuesday night, I'm going to begin a series of
messages for you in our midweek worship services on what folks
commonly call Calvinism. I don't much like the term, but
folks commonly call it Calvinism, the doctrines of grace. And Bobby
didn't say the name. Tuesday night, there he was. He knew we'd been every service
since then, right there. And I missed it, what? After
about a year or so, back in 1986, going out the door one Sunday
morning, having listened to the gospel for a good while, Bobby
said to me, he said, I believe the Lord's saved me, given me
faith in Christ. He said, I thought I was saved
when I was a boy going to that other place. That's just the
way he put it. And he said, but I didn't know God, didn't know
the gospel, so I want to confess Christ. And he'd been a faithful,
faithful, faithful man in this congregation, dear, dear friend. I can't think of a better way
to honor our friend and brother, a better way to honor God, a
better way to minister to you who dearly love this man, and
to you who are yet under the wrath of God, than by preaching
to you the gospel of God. Bobby's doctrine most of you
knew it the doctrine of God our Savior The Apostle Paul writes
in Romans chapter 2 and verse 16 that there is a day coming
Appointed by God when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus
Christ according to my gospel God shall judge the secrets of
men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Soon, somebody's
going to kiss you goodbye for the last time. Soon, you will
meet God in judgment. Soon, you will enter into the
wrath of God in hell's everlasting torments. or enter the bliss
of God's grace and glory in heavenly glory with Christ Jesus the Lord. And it will all together be determined
by whether or not you know God's gospel. If you don't, you'll
perish forever. If you do, if you believe the
gospel, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as he's revealed
in the gospel, life eternal is yours. So I'm going to speak
very plainly to you today about some things that I'm quite sure
you're going to hear. I prepare funeral sermons. I've
been doing this for a long time, and I'm aware that most people
don't pay any attention. They just go in one ear and out
the other and about give up on folks paying attention to funeral
sermons or wedding messages, but I keep trying. And I'm just
dead sure convinced everybody here is going to remember this
one. You can either go out here rejoicing and beat me at the
door and say, thank you for that, I needed that, that's a great
blessing, or you're gonna go out here just so mad you could
bite nails into and you'd shoot me if you could. But you're gonna
hear what I've got to say, I promise you. You know what a fable is? Growing up, there's a book called
Aesop's Fables. Folks, read the fables. There's
stories. They're lies, but they're stories.
Stories folks make up to give good moral lessons. I find that
a little hard, how to give a good moral lesson by telling a fellow
a lie. But you teach things like that, fables. Well, almost everybody
I know and everybody you know, Baptist folks, conservative Baptist
folks who are religious, live believing fables. Three religious
fables commonly believed, taught, and preached everywhere in the
world. Here they are. You've heard all your life. God
loves everybody. God loves everybody. You know
God loves everybody. No, he doesn't. If you've ever
read your Bible, you know he doesn't. Now you may cut it out,
you may ignore it, but if you've ever read your Bible, you know
he doesn't. This is what God says. Jacob have I loved. Anybody else know what any of
that sentence is? But Esau have I hated. Now that's Bible. That's not fort, no that's Bible.
God doesn't love everybody. If God loves you, everything's
all right. If God loves you, you're gonna wind up in glory.
And to tell folks God loves them, apart from faith in Christ, is
to speak to them what God does not say. We rejoice to know God
is love. But God loves sinners in Christ,
with Christ, only in Christ. Sacket folks have heard all their
lives this fable that Jesus died to redeem and save everybody.
Where on earth does anybody get that nonsense? It's not written
in this book. You won't find a hint of it.
You won't find a suggestion of it. You won't find a single word
in this book that suggests he did. The Lord Jesus laid down
his life for his sheep. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken, the scripture says. Christ died in the room
instead of his people. If God loves everybody, and some
folks go to hell anyway, the love of God ain't worth spent. If Christ died for everybody,
and some folks go to hell anyway, the death of Christ is utterly
meaningless. He died in vain for the multitudes
who are in hell. What blasphemy. And then folks
tell us that God the Holy Spirit is trying to save everybody.
He gives everybody an opportunity. There are people all over this
world right now, right now, who've never even seen the word of God. or heard the gospel of God's
grace. No, God the Holy Spirit doesn't try to save anybody.
Where did you ever read in the scripture of God trying to do
something? I try. You try. Not God. Not God. God doesn't try, he
does. He doesn't try to convince, he
convinces. He doesn't try to convict, he
convicts. He doesn't try to save, he saves. Salvation is God's
work. Well, brother, God, Where does
that leave man? Nowhere except in God's hands. That's a good place for you to
be. But what about man? What's man's part in this? You
don't have one. Man is dead in trespasses and
in sins. Man is helpless. You who believe
not, believe not because you're rebels against God. Your hearts
are enmity against God and you will not bow to God. How is salvation? Listen to the scriptures. So
then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. Oh, may God show mercy on your
soul this hour. We believe God. Who is like unto thee? There is none like thee among
the gods that doeth wonders. He who is our God is God indeed. The God we worship is not a good
luck charm. He's not a rosary bead. He's
not a rabbit's foot. The God we worship is God Almighty
in absolute control of everything. always and everywhere. Everything and everybody in heaven. Everything and everybody in the
earth. Everything and everybody in hell. You and me. He holds all men
in his hands. God's not in your hands, you're
in his. God is not manipulated by you,
you're ruled by him. So that the king's heart is in
the hands of the Lord. Like rivers of water, he turneth
it whithersoever he will. He who is God, the creator of
all things, is the ruler of all things. Listen to the scripture.
All things are of God. But quit butting like a goat
in battle. All things are of God. For of
him, that's the source. And through him, that's the means
by which they're done. And to him, that's the end of
all things, are all things, to whom be glory forever. Either
of God's God. In absolute rule over all things,
in absolute control of all things, in all the affairs of providence,
from the beginning to the end, the ruler of everything, the
governor of everything, the disposer of everything, are gods just
a name. If your god doesn't rule, you
worship an idol. If your God's not sovereign,
your God is no God at all. If your God is not as our God,
you have no God. Your God is like Dagon, he just
falls and gets his nose broke. He just stands there and can
do no good. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. That means that salvation
is in God's hands. That means that God saves whom
he will. That means he has mercy on whom
he will. He is gracious to whom he will
be gracious. And he predestined everything
that comes to pass in time, exactly as it comes to pass, for the
saving of his people to the praise of his glory. I can't tell you
how many times Brother Bobby said to me, if I hadn't married
Judy and started coming here, I'd have died in my sins. Sister Betty Jo, after her first
husband died, moved down here, and she came for years. I've
forgotten how many. And then she called me up one
day, got her work in her heart, giving her life and faith in
Christ. And she said to me, as I came to church, just because
Bobby was coming, I didn't want to make Bobby mad, I didn't want
to get along with Bobby. But she said, I hated you. Were those the words? I'd go out of there every time
you preach something, man, I could bite nails into. That's a good
place to be. Maybe you pay attention. Maybe
you pay attention. How come? Because she hated God. That's how come. She was born
hating God. You see, that's the first thing
that men and women need to understand. this thing called total depravity. Those aren't just words. Total
depravity refers to the fall of man in the garden. When Adam
sinned in the garden, God created Adam as the representative of
all men. And being the representative
of all men, the scripture says, when Adam sinned, we sinned. When Adam died, we died. So that all men inherit by birth
the nature of their father Adam. All men and women come into this
world as babies speaking lies. Which of you mamas ever had to
teach your children to lie? But you never had to teach a
child how to do wrong. That's what we are by nature. Totally depraved. That's the
nature of every man, woman, and child in this universe from Adam. Everyone. I don't believe that.
Yes, you do. Yes, you do. You might not like
it, but you believe it. I'll guarantee it. If not, stand
up here and tell your wife everything going through your mind this
morning. Tell this congregation everything you've thought today,
this hour. Every thought to run through your mind. You know the
heart of man is evil, only evil continually, full of corruption,
out of which comes nothing but poison, ungodliness, and sin. The master said so. As a result
of man's depravity, As a result of man's fall, men and women
are described in scripture to be dead in trespasses and in
sins. Dead. Dead men don't feel anything. Dead men don't do anything. Dead
men don't hear anything. And all men by nature are dead. So that none seek after God,
none will hear the word of God. I mean hearing. None will come
to Christ, none will believe on Christ, none will follow Christ,
but all will rebel against him. Our Savior said, no man can come
to me except the Father which has sent me, draw him. Well,
that means that if salvation comes to anybody, it's got to
come by God's choice. Do you know what the Bible calls
that? Election. Can y'all say that, election?
It'll do you good, election. Y'all gonna say that, election. Our Savior said, ye have not
chosen me, but I chosen you. And if you believe on Christ,
it's because God from the beginning has chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of spirit
and belief of the truth. Nobody is saved apart from election. God chose from eternity whom
he would save with absolutely no reason to do so except his
own sovereign will. God's choice of men doesn't depend
upon them. Not something he sees in them,
not something he hopes they will do, not some action of theirs,
but from eternity he said, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. The apostle Paul put it this
way. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame in
him. Oh, what a blessed word, in love. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will. Brother Don, I didn't know the
Bible taught election. Maybe you ought to read it. Maybe
you ought to read it and quit listening to folks who lie to
you about God. This book is full of consolation. Election is the
guarantee that some folks shall be saved. Election is the guarantee
of the salvation of all the people loved of God. Those people redeemed
by Jesus Christ the Lord. I know people have the idea that
Jesus died for everybody, and he made it possible for everybody
to be saved, and made it possible for everybody to go to heaven,
if you will just believe. I had a preacher right back here
in my office, years ago, sat in the office and asked me one
day, he was trying to sell me some insurance, that wasn't gonna
work, so he said, will you tell me the difference between what
you believe and what I believe, what your church believes and
what I do? I said, you got a little time? He said, I do. So I spent
the next four, four and a half hours telling him. And this is
exactly what I said to him with regard to Christ's death. I said,
you correct me if I'm mistaken. You believe, and your church
believes, the denomination you're in believes, that Jesus died
for everybody, but he didn't really redeem anybody, he just
made them redeemable. He didn't really save anybody,
he just made them savable. He didn't really justify anybody.
He just made it possible for them to be justified. He didn't
really put away anybody's sins. He just made it possible for
their sins to be forgiven. And man, by his faith, makes
the death of Christ meritorious and effectual for his own salvation.
Is that right? He said, that's exactly right.
I said, that's damning heresy. You'll go to hell unless God
shows you a better God and a better Savior. That's damning heresy. Oh no, Christ didn't make something
possible, he did it. He hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law. Every sinner for whom Jesus Christ
died shall and must and will be with him in everlasting glory
because the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ shall never be discovered
a miscarriage. He shall not fail. Every sinner he came here to
save will be with him in glory. He said, them also I must bring,
and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And those sinners
redeemed by Christ are brought to him by the irresistible, omnipotent
grace and power of God the Holy Ghost. Irresistible grace. You fellas preach that God forces
sinners to be saved. He sure does. He sure does. He forces them to by the marvelous
constraint of irresistible love. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Oh, blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. The last time Brother
Bobby prayed for us back in the office, He made this observation. I don't often say anything about
men's prayers. I just find it difficult to do
so, don't find much reason to do so, but Bobby prayed with
such simplicity, such plainness. And he said, God, thank you for
choosing me. Thank you for choosing such a
sinner as I am, bringing me to this place to hear the gospel. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. How is it that he
forces sinners to come to him? He does it by the revelation
of Christ in you. Our congregation's heard this
many times, but some of you haven't, so I'm going to tell it again.
It makes me look good to tell it. Most of you have seen my
wife, the pretty blonde, and says, that's his wife. How did
he get her? Well, when we first met, started
dating, I was just 17 years old, and she was in college, and I
would drive five miles across town to carry her books a half
a block, every time I got a chance. And when, then just a little
while, I said, I said, Shelby, I wanna marry you, and she looked
at me and said, you don't know what you want, like I was crazy.
So I continued to court her. And you know what I did? All
I did was showed her the very best of me I could show her.
I'd take her to McDonald's, get her any flavor of milkshake she
wanted. And we dated and dated. If she didn't say no, we dated
every time I was off work. Every time I was off work. And
one night, after about a year, we were having spruce pie in
North Carolina at my aunt's house, and uncle's house, and everybody
else was going to bed. She was now sitting on the couch,
and I knelt down beside the couch and asked her if she'd marry
me. You know, she about jumped off the couch to say yes. How
come? I was irresistible. I had made myself irresistible
to her. She just couldn't withstand the
love anymore. Oh, Spirit of God. Oh, Spirit of God, make Jesus
Christ irresistible. Irresistible. to every soul in
this place. And if you so reveal Christ in
you, you've come to Him. You've come to Him. You've come
to Him. Now come to a preacher, come
to an altar, go and rub some rosaries. You've come to him
right where you are right now. If God's given you eyes to see
and a heart to believe, that's called coming to Christ. But
don't you have to say a prayer? No. But don't you have to get
baptized? No. Don't you have to join church?
No. Don't you have to walk down front? No. No, all that stuff
comes from Rome. That's men doing something to
make them think they've come to God. Nobody's ever come to
God like that. If you come to God, you come
to God by faith in Christ, and it's an act of the heart. It's
an act of the heart. Now, the one more aspect of Bobby's
gospel, our gospel, the gospel of God, we find most delightful. Some folks call it eternal security. Now most folks mean by that if
you made a profession of faith when you were five or six years
old, then you're saved even though you lived like hell all your
life. No, that's not it. This is eternal security. My
sheep hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. I give unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish. That's the scripture. Let me
give you the Fortner add-on interpretation. No matter what. No matter what. But what about
all my faults and failures and falls and unbelief and sin and
corruption? No matter what. Our sins were
forgiven us before they were ever committed by us. And he
who cleansed our sin continues to cleanse us from all fault
forever. Oh, brother, darling, if you
tell people that, they'll go out and live like hell. No, they
won't, not unless they want to live like hell. That's just that. That's just
that. Save sinners, follow the Savior,
and rejoice to know were kept by the power of his grace through
the faith he's given us and he sustains in us and though we
fall seven times in a day and fall we do seven times in
a day. Why did he say seven times? Why
not 70,000 times? Seven speaks of completion. And
you who are God's will bear me witness. You rise up in the morning
and you want to walk with Christ. You want to serve God in your
mind, in your heart, in your life, in your deeds, before you
get done shaving. We don't do anything but fall
and fall and fall and fall. and fall, and fall. So that we
must continually lean on the arms of the Almighty Savior,
who carries us at last to glory. The righteous, though he falls
seven times in a day, throughout the days of his pilgrimage on
this earth, the scripture says the Lord will raise him up. And the Lord raises him up. and
keeps them, keeps them, keeps them, until at last he brings
them to glory. And she wasn't very well off,
and they chatted a little bit, and she told him the hymn she
wanted sung and the scripture she wanted read, and they got
done talking. She said, and one more thing,
she said, when they bury me, be sure they bury me with my
fork in my hand. And that kind of puzzled him.
He said, I understand the hymns and the scripture, but what's
this fork for? She said, well, as you can see,
I've never had much, but since growing up, we were real poor.
And we didn't very often get dessert. But when we got done
eating, and Mama said, keep your fork, I knew something better
was coming. I've given my wife instruction.
I have one fork. We've only had one. I like it real well. When
we got it, it was a gift at one of those gas stations when they
gave away stuff like that, and we never could afford to buy
the right set, but I've got that one fork. That'll be laying right
there when I'm gone. There's something better coming.
He that liveth and believeth in me, the Savior said, shall
never die, shall never die. When we leave this body, we will,
with our brother, enter into glory and life everlasting, awaiting
the resurrection of the body. Body joined to spirit and soul
in everlasting glory in the perfection of God's salvation. Oh, I pray
God will give it to you and work it in you for Christ's sake.