I am here today as God's ambassador. The king of heaven has sent me
to press upon you his sovereign rights as your sovereign king. You're in his hands. He's the
king. He has sent me to press upon
you his sovereign claims as your rightful king. I pray you, in
Christ's stead, be you reconciled to God. Quit fighting God. Surrender to the rule, the dominion
of Jesus Christ the Lord. Bow at his throne. kiss the sun,
seek his mercy. My text is Romans chapter 14
and verse nine. And my subject is of immense
importance. It's vital to your soul. I'm
not here to talk to you about such meaningless trivialities
as the shape of the earth, the color of the moon, or the gases
of the sun. Those are meaningless trivialities. Would to God I could persuade
preachers everywhere to leave trivial things out of the pulpit. Trivial things. I mean by that
things that just don't matter. Things that don't make any difference
to your soul. Things that make no difference
to the glory of God. Things that make no difference
to your immortality. Things that make no difference
with regard to your eternal destiny. Several years ago, I spent a
good bit of time with a couple of preachers very dear to me,
and I spent most of the evening, some of them till two and three
o'clock in the morning, trying to persuade them to quit chasing
rabbit trails. Quit chasing rabbit trails. Don't
chase down everything that you see a trail somewhere. Don't
do it. I warned them, if you start down that road, that will
become your message. And it doesn't matter whether
it's true or false. If Satan gets men off Christ
crucified, he's won the day and your usefulness is over. you'll
be of no benefit to anyone. You may as well die. God's servants
are sent as God's ambassadors to press upon men the urgent,
vital claims of Jesus Christ the Lord. Here are four areas
of gospel truth around which the battle for the glory of God
and the souls of men is raging. These four gospel revelations
are constantly attacked, misrepresented, and ridiculed by preachers and
religious leaders throughout the world. Nothing under heaven
so provokes the wrath of man as the simple declaration of
these four things. I've seen church members, deacons,
preachers, theology professors, enraged with hellish fury by
the mere statement of them. I know these things cause division.
I know that preaching these things divide churches and families
and friends. I've seen it happen and I've
experienced it. Yet it is my solemn determination go on preaching
these four gospel revelations regardless of cost or consequence. The more they're maliciously
attacked by the messengers of Satan, the more fully, the more
freely, the more frequently, and the more forcefully they
will be preached from this pulpit as long as I have breath and
God gives me grace to do so. Why? Because these things are
Focus on the very glory of God, the gospel of God, and everlasting
eternal salvation. Deny any of them, and you trample
upon God's glory. Compromise any of them, and you
deny the whole gospel. Refuse to proclaim these four
things and the blood of eternally damned men and women shall be
upon your hands. Apart from these four gospel
truths, these four divine revelations, there is no gospel and no salvation. Is that clear enough? And what
I just said, Mark, can't be said about anything else. Can't be
said about anything else. Apart from these four things
being declared, there is no gospel declared. The first is man's
total depravity. Unless man is totally depraved,
he needs no savior. Total depravity speaks of two
things. Both the fact that all men and
women by nature are born dead, D-E-A-D, plumbed down, graveyard,
dead, dead. Dead in trespasses and in sins. Dead, dead, dead, dead. Man by nature is spiritually
dead. He has no feeling, no emotion. no sensitivity, no movement,
no desire, no thought, no hope towards spiritual things. He's
dead. Dead. You can take a torch to
a dead man's body and he won't withdraw. You can pour ice over
a dead man's body out in the desert at 120 degrees and he
won't shake. He's dead. He's dead. And man by nature has no ability
to make any movement toward God. He's dead. That means unless
God saves you, you won't be saved. That means unless God does something
for you, you will never have life. That means unless God gives
you life, you will forever be dead in trespasses and in sins. And man being dead in sin, being
depraved is utterly defiled at heart. Corrupt. Corrupt. How many times I've
heard folks say, and you have, if the Lord knows my heart, he
does, you don't. He does, you don't. Out of the
heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies, nothing else, nothing else. No righteousness, no goodness,
no morality, no decency, nothing noble, nothing good. There is
none good but God. Not you, not me. Not your children,
not mine. All men by nature are absolutely
depraved, perverse, wicked, and evil at heart. We have neither
the desire nor the ability to change that condition. That's
your state by nature. Brother John, I can't agree with
that. I know a lot of good people.
No, you don't. No, you don't. You can go and look at lions
in a cage and be perfectly at ease around them because they're
caged. But that lion in the cage is
exactly the same as the wild starving beast in the open. A raging mad lion who has no
ability for anything except a desire to satiate his own lust. and
men by nature are caged in by God's providence, thank God.
So they cannot behave as they would otherwise, but let him
out of the cage and you'll find out what man's like. The second
of these vital revelations is limited atonement. The absolute
total accomplishment of redemption by Christ the Lord. I know that
all professed Christians and all professed preachers acknowledge
that Jesus Christ did in fact have something to do with the
redemption and salvation of sinners, but they don't know what. He
has something to do with redemption. He has something to do with salvation,
but we really can't say exactly what. It is universally accepted
by religious men. that the Lord Jesus did not actually
accomplish the redemption of anyone when he died at Calvary,
that he did not actually certainly secure the salvation of any by
his work on the cross. It's universally accepted that
in great measure, the Son of God really is a failure because
he shed his blood in vain for such great multitudes, multitudes. who will at last perish in hell,
though the Son of God died for them. Oh, won't it be a shame. What blasphemy, what blasphemy. The Word of God plainly declares,
that redemption was fully, completely, perfectly accomplished by Jesus
Christ, God's Son, when He died at Calvary, with His own blood,
He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. He justified us, He sanctified
us, He put away our sins, He obtained salvation for us by
His obedience unto death as God's Son, our substitute. When He
said it is finished, the whole work was finished. Our Lord Jesus
put away our sins. He brought in everlasting righteousness.
He obtained that redemption which declares Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law. He made it certain that all his
redeemed, all his chosen would obtain the blessing of Abraham,
the gift of eternal life by the gift of God, the Holy Ghost.
Number three, irresistible grace. But Brother John, you could say
these things in other ways and wouldn't be near as offensive.
I know that. I know that. The reason I say them the way
I have, total depravity, limited atonement, irresistible grace,
is because when I use those statements, Skip, everybody who hears those
words knows exactly what I mean. They know exactly what I mean,
and that offends man's pride. And my object is to offend men,
offend women who are offended with God, my Savior, and demand
that you bow to Him, bow to Him you must, or perish in your sins
forever under His wrath, bowing to Him in your everlasting damnation. Those are the only two alternatives.
Irresistible grace. That is the absolute, certain
salvation of every chosen, redeemed sinner by the power and grace
of God the Holy Ghost, which no man can resist. Blessed is
the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee.
I know men and women resist God. That's the way we live. live
our fist in God's face until God comes in irresistible grace. And you can no longer resist. You can no longer resist. And
you gladly bow to Christ the Lord, whom just a breath before
you despise. You gladly bow to Christ the
Lord, whom just a breath before you despised. How was that? You
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins. By
grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. God
hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. You see,
modern religion, it doesn't matter what brand it is, modern religion,
makes the grace of God nothing more than a benevolent desire
in God's heart by which he wishes to save men. But it's a helpless,
useless desire unless man, by his almighty free will, decides
to let God do what he wants to do. What blasphemy. What blasphemy. Preacher, are
you denying that man has free will? Of course I am. Any idiot
knows man doesn't have a free will. Everybody knows man doesn't
have a free will. He likes to brag about it, but
he knows he doesn't have it. His will is altogether bound
by his nature. Altogether bound by his nature.
You cannot will to do that which is contrary to your nature. and
you will not will to do that which is contrary to your nature.
That's not a possibility. Man is saved altogether against
his will with his full consent. How can that be? God makes sinners
willing in the day of his power. One day, 50 years ago, I walked
into a church building, a rebel against God. Less than an hour
later, I was gladly bowing to the throne of God. How come? What changed? God made the change. God gave me life. God revealed
his son. God gave me faith. Here's the
fourth thing. Look in our text. Romans chapter
14, verse nine. Romans chapter 14, verse nine. Man everywhere despises. Preachers everywhere compromise. Only when these four things are
plainly declared is the gospel declared. Total depravity, total
depravity, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and divine
sovereignty. That is the absolute, total,
sovereign dominion and lordship of Jesus Christ. For to this
end, are you there Romans 14 now? To this end, for this purpose,
Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord,
both of the dead and the living. Now, men and women today are
happy enough to have Jesus as a savior to keep them out of
hell, a healer to take care of them when they are sick, a provider
to supply their needs, a comforter to use in sickness, sorrow, bereavement,
and death. Whenever those things come, they
reach in their pocket. Let's see, where did I put him?
Where did I put him? Oh, there's Jesus, my rabbit
foot savior. let's rub his head a little bit,
and we'll call it praying. Folks are happy enough to have
Jesus as savior, healer, comforter, provider, but let a preacher
press upon proud man the claims of Christ the sovereign Lord,
the absolute monarch, and his proud heart of rebellion swells
with rage. And yet the word of God makes
clear No one has saving faith in Christ until he willingly
bows before the throne, surrendering his claims, surrendering to his
claims, submitting to his rightful dominion and trusting his sovereign
power as absolute Lord and King. As such, he demands a broken,
submissive heart. or he will never show mercy. A broken and contrite heart,
O God, thou will not despise. What is that? A heart broken
with the revelation of God in his son, contritely bowing before
his throne. Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. Salvation is nothing less than
King Jesus conquering the hearts of his enemies by the gospel.
That's the only time salvation comes. You've got to be conquered. That's the problem. You've got
to be conquered. God will either whip you or damn
you, but you've got to be conquered one way or the other. True faith
is the confident, submission of my heart to Jesus Christ as
my rightful Lord. Turn to Philippians chapter two.
I want to read another text. We may look at a couple of others.
Philippians chapter two. Let me briefly proclaim to you
the Lordship of Christ. Christ is Lord. That's my subject. Philippians two verse five. Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. who being
in the form of God, that is him being God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. He didn't have to seek after
equality, he's God. But made himself of no reputation. He emptied himself and took upon
him the form of a servant. and was made in the likeness
of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,
now watch this, and became obedient. Obedient as Jehovah's righteous
servant. Obedient as God's covenant surety
representing his people. Obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. Wherefore, wherefore, underline
it, star it, circle it, highlight it, wherefore, This is the reason
God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Our Lord's exaltation,
his enthronement, the direct result of his finished work of
righteousness and redemption on this earth as our substitute.
Paul tells us in Romans 14 9 that all the vast empire of God's
creation has been placed under the sovereign dominion of the
God-man our Savior. For to this end Christ hath both
died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the
dead and the living. There's no limit to the realm
and sphere of our Redeemer's total sovereignty. That's worth writing down and
remembering. There is no limit to the realm
and sphere of our Redeemer's total sovereignty. He sitteth
in the heavens. Isn't that a wonderful word?
He sitteth. Nothing ever disturbs him. Nothing
ever ruffles him. Nothing ever makes him uneasy.
He sitteth. God sitteth upon the throne of
his holiness. He sitteth upon the circle of
the earth. God our Savior sits upon his
throne in heaven and rest his foot upon this little ball called
earth, his footstool. The Lord sitteth upon the flood. You've been watching the news,
see these floods come? The Lord sitteth upon the flood,
even floods of lava, he sitteth. Nothing ruffles him. Nothing's
out of his control. Nothing makes him uneasy. Yea,
the Lord saideth, king forever. Thus saith the Lord, the heaven
is my throne, the earth is my footstool. God has given his
son a name which is above every name, and that name is Lord Supreme. The Lord God said, ask of me. Ask of me, and I will give you
the heathen for your inheritance. Christ Jesus is Lord, absolutely
and universally. Let me make four or five stabs
at demonstrating that. Turn to John chapter 17, number
one. Jesus Christ, our Savior, our
Mediator, is Lord Supreme, absolute sovereign Lord over all people. as the result of his accomplished
redemption as our Savior. John 17, verse one. These words
spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father,
the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. He's praying, Lord, my Father,
our Mediator, the God-man. He says, now publicly demonstrate
my glory as the accomplished Redeemer of your people. Do this
that I may glorify you in the saving of your people. He's praying
that the Father would accomplish what we saw fulfilled in Acts
chapter two. Show the world that I am rightful
King of everybody. Let's see if that's not so. He
says in verse 2, as thou hast given him, before the world began,
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. Before the world was, he was
accepted as our accomplished mediator. And God gave him this
power from eternity. It is a power that he earned
by obedience, possessed by him forever as God, but earned by
his obedience as a mediator. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. God the Holy Ghost
tells us that the object of Christ in his death, in his resurrection
as our Savior, was that he might be Lord of all. And he is Lord
over all, the righteous and the wicked, the living and the dead,
the believing and the unbelieving. Believers recognize this and
rejoice in it. We acknowledge it and willingly
surrender, being made willing in the day of his power. Unbelievers
deny it, but he's Lord nonetheless. All men and all creatures are
absolutely under his control. Don't you hear me? All men, all
creatures are absolutely under his control. All do his bidding,
only his bidding. All perform his will, only his
will. All accomplish his purpose, always
and in all things. The Lord willing, tonight I'll
pick up on this same subject in Isaiah 14, where we see the
fall of Lucifer. and Babylon's opposition to God's
people and the death that they has and the captivity of Israel
and all those things, God says, this is my purpose. This is my
purpose. Our blessed Savior bought the
right to rule the world as our mediator and he does. The thoughts
and actions of all men and all creatures are absolutely governed
by Him. As I've told you many times,
my dear friend, Brother Harry Graham, used to say to me, if
I could live a tithe of what I preach, things should be different.
If I could just live a tithe of what I preach. The thoughts and actions of all
men and all creatures is absolutely under the dominion of that man
who is God who redeemed me with his blood. That ought to keep me from ever
being uneasy about anything. That ought to keep me from ever
being fearful of anything. He has promised in his word that
no dog can move his tongue against his elect. Man deviseth his way,
but the Lord directs his steps. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. Like rivers of water, he turns
it whithersoever he will. Surely the wrath of man will
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain.
Our Lord told the apostle Paul, you stay right where you are.
No man shall lift his hand to touch you. No man, no hand can harm you. But folks who have to pull on
every side, stay where you are. Nobody gonna hurt you. Acts chapter
18. None can even cuss or curse one
of God's people without God's direction. Shemai comes out and
he called David everything on this earth except a nice white
man. He called him everything under the sun. He cussed him
and cussed him and cussed him, cussed his mama and his daddy,
cussed his sons and daughters, he cussed everybody. And David's
servant said, let me go over and shut him up. I'll cut his
head off. And David said, leave him alone.
The Lord has said to Shemai, cuss David. Perhaps he will requite
me good for his evil this day. Christ our Lord is absolute sovereign. All men are his subjects, and
therefore we have no reason to fear any man. Second, the Lord
Jesus Christ is Lord Supreme, the absolute sovereign over all
the powers of darkness. The souls of the damned in hell,
the souls of demons, or the demons of hell and Satan himself are
under the absolute dominion and control of our Lord Jesus Christ. That ought to be a great comfort
to us. Revelation 12, you read of this warfare. This warfare
between God and the devil. Between Christ and the devil. That warfare that began before
Mother Eve and our father Adam were created in the garden. That
warfare that began and the Lord God announced the end of it. He said, the serpent will crush
He is healed, but he, the woman's seed, will crush the shepherd's
head. And we see it accomplished in
Revelation 12. Our Savior said with regard to his death, now
is the prince of this world cast out. Revelation 20, he comes
down with a mighty angel with a great chain in his hand and
he binds Apollyon, the dragon, Satan, the devil. He binds him
in a chain and casts him into the pit and puts a lid on the
pit so that the accuser of the brethren is cast down. Not one
of our Lord's enemies can move, breathe, or wiggle except by
his direction. Not one can move, breathe, or
wiggle except by his direction, Satan. He attacks Job. Oh, poor, poor
Job. Look at, he's in Satan's hands.
No, he's not. He's never in Satan's hands.
He's in God's hands. And God sent Satan to use him
for good in his hands. The devil comes to give a report
before God. What a picture. He comes to give
a report at the throne of God. That's how the book of Job opens.
How? It doesn't open with all the
darkness and calamity and trouble. The Lord Jesus is sitting on
his throne, and the angels of God come to give a report, and
coming along to give a report is the devil. What's he been
doing? Well, I've been going to and
fro and trying to wreak havoc, but I can't touch anybody until
you let me. Read the report. And the Lord takes up the issue
with Satan. He said, behold, my servant, Joe, understand this. Satan and God are not rivals. Satan and Christ are not rivals. The devil is God's devil. He's
God's dog. He's God's house cat. He's on
God's chain. He does nothing without God's
direction. Stephen. is persecuted and finally
slaughtered by a mob of wild, mad religious men picking up
rocks while he preaches the gospel to them and throwing rocks at
them. And you think, well, how can you say God ruled that? There
was a young man there. He said, here, you fellas, let
me hold your coats while you kill that fella. And David and
he heard the whole sermon as Stephen rehearsed in his ears
everything God had done in history up to that time. Read in Acts
chapter seven. He said, this is what's been
going on. This is what's been going on. And they were gnashed
on him with their teeth and threw stones and killed him. And that
young man saw the Tarsus, couldn't help but to hear. And God was
pleased on that occasion to cause that chosen vessel to hear the
word which he would later spread through all the world. Christ
is on his throne. He does all things well. The
fact is, every hayman shall hang on his own gallows
when God gets done with him. Shelby and I were talking about
this yesterday. She read it in a morning reading,
and I've seen a lot of haymans build a lot of gallows. And I learned a long time ago,
just leave them alone. They'll leave them alone. I'll
tell you what I've watched in 50 years. I've watched God hang
them on their own gallows, one after the other, one after the
other. He always does. You see, Satan
is a defeated foe, number three. I rejoice to tell you that Jesus
Christ is Lord Supreme, Absolute Sovereign Monarch over all men,
over all the powers of darkness, and thirdly, over all providence. The pleasure of the Lord prospers
in His hand. The pleasure of the Lord prospers
in His hand. What's God doing today? His pleasure. What did He do yesterday? His
pleasure. What will He do tomorrow? His
pleasure. As long as Christ is on His throne. Do you hear me? He's Lord. He's
Lord. We know, since Christ is on His
throne, that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
There is no place in this vast universe from the throne of God
in the highest glory to the lowest pit of hell where Jesus Christ
our Lord does not rule in total absolute sovereignty. God's creation
is not out of control. Nothing is in confusion. Christ
sits on his throne. He sits in the highest heaven
on his throne, and he rests his feet on this little ball of dirt
we call earth, his footstool. What a picture, peace, serenity,
peace, joy, satisfaction. Our God, are you listening to
me? He really is God. He really is God. He rules. His purpose is being
accomplished everywhere, at all times, in all things, by everybody. What's the purpose of His rule?
The salvation of His elect. The glory of God. and the final
restitution of all things to God's glory. I'd love to get
to the back of the book and read the last chapters of Revelation
and see how that all the kings and all the nations of the earth
and all the riches of Babylon and all the affairs of time are
brought out of the world to the throne of Christ the King, to
his praise and his glory. Think of that, my brother, my
sister, The many things that have broken and are breaking
your heart. The many things that have broken
and are breaking your strength of mind and peace and joy. The many things over which you
weep and fret. The many things that you pace
to and fro about. The many things that give you
unease. are under the absolute control
of our Savior and shall at last redound to your everlasting good
and his everlasting glory. Christ is Lord over all people. He is Lord over all the powers
of darkness. He's Lord over all providence
and he's Lord in the hearts of all His people. We willingly, as Ruth sang just
a little bit ago, take Him Lord. This we desire of Him. Rule me. Rule me. Oh, Son of God, rule
me by Your Spirit. Rule my passions. Rule my tongue,
rule my mind, rule my life, rule me! I don't know how. I have no ability to control
my ways, my thoughts, my emotions, my feelings. I had no way to
direct my feet. All right, Lord God, rule me.
Rule me as only you can. As only you can for your glory
and my good and the benefit of your people. Believers come to
him and they take his yoke upon them. Anybody here, I'm asking
now, man, woman, or child, anybody here who can say with the same
breath, I trust Christ and I don't want Him to rule me? Anybody
here? That's not possible. You can
say it, but it's not possible. Believers are people who bow
to Christ, recognizing He's King, He's Lord. He's God and He's
good. And trust Him as Lord. Our faith in Him does not bring
us to know His Lordship. Our faith in Him is the result
of the revelation of His Lordship. We believe him because he's Lord. He's Lord. And we desireth him
that he would rule us for his glory. One more thing. Christ is Lord Supreme over the
vast region of heaven's everlasting glory. In Christ, Or in heaven, Christ
is everything. There the saints of God bow at
his throne and they say, behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah
hath prevailed. He's prevailed. That's all he
knows how to do is prevail. He has prevailed from eternity
through all the ages of time. He's prevailed, he's prevailing
now. In the United States of America,
in North Korea, in Japan, in China, in Russia, he's prevailing. In the Middle East, he's prevailing
everywhere. Everywhere, he's the lion of
the tribe of Judah. He prevailed and he shall prevail. And so we sing His praise, worthy
is the Lamb. Heaven's glory is being with
Him, seeing Him, being made like Him. He is our delight. He is our joy. He is our salvation. And we rejoice to declare He must reign. He must reign till he has put
all his enemies under his footstool. Yondri sits. He sits in the heaven
with his foot on his footstool, and he's going to put his enemies
bowing down under his footstool. All of them, all of them, either
by omnipotent grace, oh, may he do that for you, or an everlasting
judgment. But all shall bow before him
and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father, and everything in heaven earth and hell, when that's done,
we'll stand back and say, amen. He's Lord. That's Christ the
Lord. God give you grace to believe
it. Turn with me to the number 36.