Do you know God? Really, do you know God? Salvation is something more than
a religious decision. Salvation is something more than
just saying a prayer. Salvation is something more than
a reformed life. Salvation is more than a doctrinal
creed. The Lord Jesus Christ describes
what we call salvation this way. This is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. Do you know God? Really, do you
know God? This I want you to understand. The God who makes himself known
in this book, the God of the Bible, he who really is God,
distinguishes himself from all his creatures and from all that
men call gods and distinguishes himself clearly and distinctly
in his words. And every man who speaks for
God, every faithful gospel preacher, every one of them, every man
sent of God to preach the gospel, clearly distinguishes between
the character of God and the gods that men make for themselves. Now I stand before you this morning
as I have often said to you and will often say again, God willing,
either as the servant of God or the servant of the devil,
there's no in between ground. He that is not with us or with
me is against me, our Savior said. The Apostle Paul said,
woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. In another place
he said, though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let
him be accursed. If I preach another gospel to
you, or if the fellow across the road preaches another gospel
to you than that which Paul preached, then that person, me or he, must
be damned and shall be damned. Paul says, let him be accursed. If I do not preach the gospel
that Paul preached, the gospel of God's free grace, then a curse
hangs over my head. That puts me in an awful position
of responsibility. No wonder the prophets of old
spoke of the message they carried and the responsibility of delivering
that message as the burden of the word of the Lord. God's servants
are set on the walls of Zion as watchmen. Watchmen responsible
to watch over your souls. Watchmen responsible to care
for and protect God's church and God's kingdom. Watchmen responsible
to set before God's people his word, instructing eternity bound
sinners in the way of life and salvation by Christ. As we hear
the word at his mouth, so we must speak it. The Lord God says
to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to
this word, it is because there is no light in them. What solemn words, what solemn
words. People often ask me about preachers,
preachers who butcher the gospel and butcher the souls of men,
who rob God of his glory, who entertain folks on the way to
hell, who preach perverse things. Well, they're sincere. No, there's no light in them. There's no light in them. That means they don't know God. They don't know his word. They don't know his truth. And if you follow what they say,
you will follow the preacher to hell. If they speak not according
to the words of this book, there is no light in them. God says,
he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. He who dares to stand in this
place and speak to eternity bound immortal souls in the name of
God as God's ambassador, who shows forth as one who is responsible
to give the mysteries of the gospel, he must be faithful. He must be faithful to the word
of God, faithful to the glory of God, Faithful to the souls
of men faithful to the gospel. I call on you who hear me To
open your Bibles. We're gonna look at some scripture
this morning. I call on you to search the scriptures Try everything
this man says by the Word of God Prove it by the Word of God
if it is so hear it and Bow to it, believe it, embrace it, and
rejoice in it. And if what I say is not according
to this word, then do not ever hear this man speak again. Pastor, is it that serious? Your
soul's at stake, Merle Hart. And everybody you influence,
your soul's at stake and theirs too. That's how important this
is. I make you this promise. I make
you this promise. As I preach to you, I don't dabble
in questions. I don't get up here and start
talking to you about what may be or might be or I think maybe
this is the right thing or speculate about this point of prophecy
or that point of doctrine. I just don't do that. I leave
my speculations back there in the study. I leave my questions
back there in the study. I come here, Larry Brown, to
declare to you what God has inscribed on my heart by the finger of
His grace. I come to declare to you that
which I know God teaches in His Word, that which I know to be
true by the experience of His grace, by the revelation of His
Word, by the teaching of His Spirit. It's not theory, it's
not opinion, it's not conjecture. This is absolute truth. I ask you who know Christ to
do something. Lift up your hearts to God for
me. As I preach to you now and as
I go elsewhere and proclaim the gospel of God's grace, that God
may be pleased to speak through these lips of clay His word of
life to eternity bound sinners by the effectual power of His
grace. I want you who know Him to be
comforted, edified, strengthened, made to rejoice, your hearts
reproved and rebuked for unbelief and sin, and yet at the same
time made to rejoice in God our Savior. I want you to be inspired
and motivated by the glorious gospel of God's free grace to
devote yourselves to Him relentlessly and entirely. And I want you
who are without Christ to know Him. Oh, I want you, I pray God,
will not leave you to yourself. I pray that God will be pleased
to cause you this hour to know God, to know God. Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful
to go home knowing God, knowing God? I have on a number of occasions
in my life had the privilege of of meeting someone. And when
I leave their company, I had been benefited. And I think,
oh, I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful. God let my path
cross his path or her path. And I became acquainted with
them. Oh, but never, never, never have
I been so thankful for the knowledge of another as I am for the knowledge
of God in Jesus Christ the Lord. The knowledge of God that radically
alters my life every day. The knowledge of God that radically
alters everything about me every day. The knowledge of God that
fills my soul with joy and peace in the midst of this crooked
and perverse generation. There are certain things about
the character of God that all people who profess to be Christians,
all of them, if you knock on church doors throughout this
county and ask them, any church doors in this county, doesn't
matter which one they are, any of them in this county. There
are certain things that folks would agree to concerning the
character of God. Everyone who even professes anything
about Christianity, be they Mormon or Methodist, Pentecostal or
Presbyterian, Papist or Protestant, it doesn't matter, Baptist or
anything else. Everybody who professes to know
God and says God's holy, God's holy. Everybody who professes
to know God speaks of God as being righteous. Everybody who
professes to know God says God's omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. See, he knows everything, he
can do all things, and he's everywhere present. Everyone who knows God
will tell you that God is wise and just and good. Everyone who
knows God will tell you that God is true and God is faithful. Everyone who knows God speaks
of God and say, God is love. God is love. Everybody talks
about the love of God, mercy, grace, and love. Everybody does.
Everybody sings amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. I've heard that song sing. I
don't go to papers, funerals, and such as that, but somebody
on television once Kennedy died and sang Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound of St. Rachel.
Hate the fellow who preached it, who taught it and wrote the
song, but sing the song. Because everybody says these
things are true of God. But there is one specific attribute
of God. One thing. Just one thing. Just one thing. by which God
identifies himself throughout this book, which distinguishes
him from all that men make to be gods. One thing, look at Isaiah
chapter 46, Isaiah chapter 46. What is this one attribute, this
attribute of God's being that's essential to himself as God? Without this, he is not God. And this attribute, all men refuse
to acknowledge until they know God. Until they know God. Isaiah 46 verse 9. Remember the former things of
old. For I am God, and beside me there
is none else. Now, in your readings this week,
we read a good portion of this part of Isaiah. Back in chapter
40, the prophet speaks for God and says, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith the Lord. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Declare to her that her warfare
is over, that her iniquity is pardoned. She's received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. And he tells the prophet,
go and preach. And the prophet says, what shall
I preach? And he said, you go tell these people these things. All flesh is grass. All flesh is grass, and the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field. And then beginning in
verse nine of Isaiah 40, he says, you tell the people, behold your
God. And he's been on that same subject
all the way through the end of chapter 49. Behold your God. He's not like you think. Behold
your God. He's not like any God men have
ever made. The gods that men make, they're
like Baal and Nebo. Read this chapter again at your
leisure and mark what the prophet says here about Baal and Nebo
and God, what he says about himself. Baal and Nebo, these were gods
that the Babylonians made. They'd go get them an ash tree,
and they'd cut it down. And they'd take a portion of
it, and they'd hire somebody to carve them out of God. And
they'd cover it over with gold and silver and precious stones. And what they didn't use, they'd
use for firewood and cook some food on it. The same God, the
same God. And then they would set their
guard on their beast and carry him to his place, and their God
was so heavy, so heavy, they pressed down the cart, and the
beast couldn't carry the load, so that Baal and Nebo bowed and
stooped the beast and caused him to be pushed down all the
time. Man, that sounds like this religious
age, doesn't it? What does religion do to folks? It pushes them down. It pushes them down. It causes
them to live in heaviness and weariness all the time. Bell
and Nebo are set in their place. These gods that men make, they
take them and put them right where they want them. And they
bow down to them. And they pray to them. Of course,
they can't hear. And they can't answer. And they can't deliver. But they're
God. They're God. And they are carried.
by the ones who made them. These men make their gods, and
then they carry their gods, and their gods are heavy, their gods
are a burden, and their gods are set in their place, and they
can't remove them from their place. If they move them to another
place, they have to be moved by men. Men have to make the
gods do what they do. And these gods, men, carry and
bear all their lives. And then God says, not me. Not me. I made you. And I've been carrying you from
the womb. And I called you by your name.
And you are mine. And I redeemed you. And I have
made you to be in the place where you are. I set you in your place. And when I call, I lift up from
the dunghill. I don't make myself a burden
to you. No, no, no, no. I carry you and
I help you and I sustain you. And to your old age, I will still
carry you. Now watch what it says here.
Isaiah 46, 9. Remember the former things of old. I am God and there
is none else. I am God and there is none like
me. It is utter blasphemy for men
and women to compare God to stuff. It's utter blasphemy. Compare
God to the man upstairs. Compare God to Pepsi-Cola. He's the real thing. Compare
God to you. To compare God to men. What nonsense. What foolishness. There's none
like me. Declaring the end from the beginning. What's that mean? I'm God. I'm the only one who is God. I declare how things are going
to be before they ever start and then it says and from ancient
times the things that are not yet done. I declare before the
world began, I declare in that time before time began, everything
that shall be done in time, and then I do it, you know. Saying,
my counsel shall stand. My counsel shall stand. People talk about God. God's
tried. God's tried. What did God ever try to do?
Would you tell me? What did God ever try to do?
Try. My counsel. My counsel. What's he talking about? The
things I declared from the beginning. the things that come to pass
in time, brought to pass by me in time, my counsel shall stand. Now watch this. And I will do
all my pleasure. I will do all my pleasure. What does that mean? Boy, oh,
Well, you would have to guess what that'd mean if you didn't
read the Bible. If you read some man say that, you'd say, well,
that means he gets his way all the time. Wouldn't you? If you
said that, you say, sure, I'll do what I want to. That means
you said your son, your daughter, I'll do what I want to. And always
do. And you can't do anything about
it. I will do my pleasure. Hear me now. He who is God always
does all his pleasure. If it comes to pass, God brought
it to pass according to his pleasure. That's my subject this morning.
God says, I will do all my pleasure. The fact is the Lord our God,
he who is God, is absolutely and universally sovereign. I'm here to assert in the plainest
possible terms that anything less than an absolute sovereign
is not God. As a matter of fact, Go through
the scriptures. How many times have we read?
We've read up now through opening chapters of Jeremiah this year
in the scriptures. How many times have you read God's description
of idols? How many times have you read?
No matter which idol he's talking about, no matter who made the idol,
he says, they are the works of your hands. Is that right? They're the works
of your... No matter what the fellow's name
is, they're the works of your hands. When Paul gets to 2nd
Corinthians 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 and starts to describe
this apostate Antichrist generation which we live they said this
is this is Antichrist He sets himself up in the house of God
Demanding that men worship him as though he were God And then he describes that Colossians
chapter 2 as will worship Cause we'll worship Put all of that
together, what's it mean? All idolatry. All idolatry is
man worshipping himself. All idolatry is man worshipping
himself. Men are enraged, as Brother Lindsey
taught in the opening session this morning. They're enraged,
enraged by the gospel of God's grace, because it won't let you
worship you. These, Baal and Nebo, men bring
their works to them. They bring their works to their
God. God says, not me, I bring my
righteousness to you. You don't bring your righteousness
to me, I bring my righteousness to you. You don't bring salvation
to me, I bring salvation to you. What I'm trying to assert as
clearly as I can. is that the God of this apostate
religious generation, you may call him Jehovah, you may call
him Jesus, you may call him God, you may call him Holy Spirit,
you may call him whatever you want to. But if your concept,
your idea, your notion of God, if that thought you entertain
in your mind of God has something about it that lacks sovereignty,
absolute sovereignty, then the God you worship is an idolatrous
figment of your imagination, carved from one of the trees
of your dark, depraved mind, and is no more God than I'm God. No, no. He who is God is an absolute
sovereign. When we say that God's sovereign,
we're simply declaring that he's God. Modern religion is well
described by the Lord God, they pray unto a God that cannot save. They pray unto a God that cannot
save. How often have you heard folks
talk like this? The Lord's done all he could,
now it's up to you. Doesn't that sound wonderful?
There's a fellow who used to pastor First Baptist Church here
in town, Al Giesler. She and I were driving out of
town one night, If he hears it, I hope he hears it. So he shouldn't
use his name. Well, maybe God will save him. He was driving
out of town one night and he turned on some tears as he was
giving an invitation. He said, oh, won't it be a shame? You remember? Won't it be a shame? There'll be so many people in
hell for whom Jesus died. Won't it be a shame? And he just
cried and cried. I stopped and I said, write that
down. I don't want to forget it. Yeah. It would be a shame
to Jesus. It would be a shame to God. It would be a shame to the triune
Jehovah if he tried to save folks who weren't saved. If he sent
his son to redeem folks who aren't redeemed, he sends his spirit
to call folks who are not born of his spirit. Well, that's idolatry. I would rather hear anybody here
take God's name in vain and cursing fit any day than hear such preaching
as that. That's utter blasphemy, utter
blasphemy. Oh, no. God almighty is almighty. A weak, helpless, frustrated
God is no more God than the totem pole of some barbarian tribesman.
The God of the Bible is an absolute sovereign. He's sovereign in
creation. That means just this. The Lord
hath made all things for himself. even the wicked for the day of
evil. The Lord hath made all things
for himself. You're going to glorify God one
way or the other. One way or the other, God's going
to use you to get praise to himself either in the service of his
kingdom by his grace or in the service of his judgment in everlasting
damnation. But you shall give praise to
God. The Lord made all things for
himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. God is absolute
sovereign in creation and the absolute sovereign in providence.
Providence, oh, what a wonderful, wonderful story is the story
of God's providence. I tell you how you ought to understand
history. I'm not looking for words. I
want you to get it, hear what I say. History is his story. It's his story. Whatever has
been, that's his story thus far. That's his story. God did it. This is how the book describes
it. For of him and through him and to him are all things to
whom be glory forever. Romans 11.36. Of him, that's
the source. Through him, that's the means
of accomplishment. To him, that's the end. Are all
things, all things, all things, to whom be glory forever. The
Lord our God rules the universe, absolutely controls all things
in providence, so that whatever comes to pass in time is but
the accomplishment of God's purpose from eternity. God teach me,
teach me to live like a man who believes what I just said. Like you, I get disgusted with
things I read in the newspaper. Like you, I get disgusted with
the politicians and their perverse ways. Like you, I get disgusted
with the things going on in society around us. I get disgusted with
it. Like you, I get disgusted with
the laws and the lawless laws that are being passed in our
legislation, not just in this country, all over the Western
world. Same thing's true in Europe, it's true here. It's all over
the place that way. And you just, oh, you get mad,
you want to march and protest and you want to start a revolution. Children of God, bow down and
worship. Our God's sitting on his throne.
Our God's sitting on this throne. We've got the beast for a president
we have because God said you'd need a beast to rule over you.
It's exactly right. And I hope he hears this. Not
likely he will, I hope he hears it. God sent him there. God sent
him there for purpose. And I know exactly what his purpose
is. His purpose is the saving of his elect. God rules in providence. God
rules in providence. If I If I get cancer, I get cancer
because God gave me cancer. And when I die, I'll die because
God took my breath away. God rules in providence. You
too. You too. Everything is done by
him for the good of his people and the glory of his son. And
that which is most difficult for folks to swallow is this
assertion. Our God is absolutely sovereign
in saving sinners by His grace. I don't know why that's such
a problem. Well, I do know. I do know because men are rebels.
They hate God and they love themselves. Why do men have a problem with
that? Salvation is by grace. It's by God's choice. It's by
God's work. And you don't have anything to
do with that. You don't have anything to do with that. It
was done from eternity. It was done from eternity. If
it was done from eternity, if we were accepted in the beloved
from eternity, justified from eternity, redeemed from eternity,
called from eternity, sanctified from eternity, as the book says
we were, what part did you have in that? What part did you have in that?
Salvation by grace. God says, so then it is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. God says, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
God says, whom I will, I'll harden. That's what God says. Because
it's written, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. God Almighty is the absolute
sovereign of the universe, especially in grace. When we assert that
God is sovereign, we're simply declaring that God is God, no
more and no less. Now, the Lord God asserts in
our text, I will do all my pleasure. Let's look at five texts of scripture.
I want to show you five things that are God's pleasure. First
Samuel chapter 12. First Samuel chapter 12. I'll
wrap this up with these five declarations of God's pleasure. What is it that God is pleased
to do? The secret things belong to the
Lord. And I'm perfectly content to
leave the secret things secret until God's pleased to make them
known. I have no desire to pry into secret things. No desire
at all. I'm not interested in what angels
are shaped like. I'm just not interested in that.
I'm not interested in things that God's kept from me. I'm not interested in knowing
the date or the time of Christ's coming. Not interested in that.
I'm content to know He's coming. I'm content to know He's coming.
He's going to make all things new, set up His rule on this
earth. And if you think you know when He's coming, you're a fool.
You don't know either. I'm content to leave those things
in God's hands, leave those things in God's purpose, in God's decree.
But the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children. Here are five things God has
revealed in His Word that are His pleasure. Look in 1 Samuel
chapter 12 and verse 22. The Lord will not forsake his
people for his great namesake. Now watch this. Because it hath
pleased the Lord to make you his people. Every time I read that, I like
to stretch back and lift my heart to heaven and say, thank you,
God. It pleased the Lord to make you
his people. Don Renari, if you're God's,
it's because God was pleased to make you his. Isn't that amazing? Nobody in the world wants me,
but he does. Nobody else has had me, but he
does. He does. It pleased the Lord
to make you his people. Moreover, as for me, as for me,
God's servant, your pastor, God forbid that I should sin against
the Lord and cease Him to pray for you. God forbid that I should
sin against him in ceasing to pray for his people. Read on. But I will teach you the good
and the right way. I've had the great, great honor
in my lifetime, a few occasions, folks called Shelby
and I aside ask if we would agree to take their children. They
could put it in their will, that their children be taken by us
and raised by us, that something should happen to them. And that's
a great responsibility. And I couldn't turn it down to
anybody. Not to anybody. Not to anybody. I tell them I want y'all to travel
separate from now on. But I couldn't turn it down by
anybody. Not by anybody. And I make this
promise to them. If that should come to pass,
I'll teach them that which is right and good by God. God Almighty, the God of heaven,
has trusted to my care you, his people. What an honor! What a responsibility! And I make this vow to God and
to you. I will teach you the good and
the right way. I'll teach you the old paths. His Word. Only fear the Lord
and serve Him in truth with all your heart. and here's the motive
for it, and consider how great things the Lord hath done for
you. It pleased the Lord to make you
His people. He made you His people by sovereign
election, choosing you as His whole, adopting you as His sons. It pleased the Lord to make you
His people. He made you His people, calling
you by His grace. giving you life by his spirit,
causing you to live by his power. He made you his people, making
you new creatures in Jesus Christ. That's what salvation is. Salvation
is a resurrection from the dead. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. On such the second death shall
have no power. The new birth is not walking
down an aisle saying, whoopee, I believe in Jesus. The new birth
is not getting in a baptismal pool and having somebody duck
you in water. The new birth is not eating the bread and wine
at the Lord's table. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no. The new birth is not a decision
you make. Men are dead in trespasses and
in sins. The new birth is God's gift of
life. The new birth is God raising
sinners from the dead. The new birth is God putting
Christ in you. The new birth is God giving you
faith in His Son. Somebody, I forgot who it was,
she told me just the other day, she was just shocked. Somebody
said, Jim, the best thing I ever did was the day I made my decision
for Jesus. Well, you fool. You poor, deluded
fool. Made your decision for Jesus.
The new birth is not making a decision for Jesus. Faith in Christ is
not a decision for Jesus. Oh, no. You don't choose to believe. You choose not to believe. You
don't choose to believe. You just find yourself believing
God. Where'd this come from? What
happened? Yesterday, I said, God, get out
of my way. God, leave me alone. God, don't
bother me. And today, I find myself believing
him. It's called the new birth. We
believe by the faith of the operation of God, the Holy Spirit. Number
two, the Colossians chapter one, verse 19. It pleased God to make
you his people. Colossians chapter two, let's
look at verse 18. And he, the Lord Jesus, is the head of the
body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead. Now watch this. That in all things
he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell. It pleased God to put all fullness
in his Son. to put all fullness in the God-man,
Christ Jesus, our mediator. It pleased God to do that. Pleased
God to do that. What's that mean, all fullness?
It's not talking about him, Rex, as God. God he is equal with
the father as God. He's one with the father as God
He's coexisted with the father as God. He's created all things
holds all things maintains all things uses our face for his
glory How can it be said then that God put all fullness in
him? the word was made flesh and dwelt
among us and we beheld his glory the glory as the only begotten
of the father and full of grace and truth. You are complete in
Him, complete in Him, who is the fullness, the fulfilling
of all things, and in Him, in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. So that that man, Christ Jesus,
our mediator, Possesses all the fullness of the infinite incomprehensible
God That means that Jesus the man is God Jesus the man is God. Isn't that wonderful? He is God
not a God not a representative of God not like he is God He's
got but he's man He is the man God, the God-man, our mediator. He is God, possessing all the
fullness of the Godhead. And He is that one in whom is
all the fullness of God's covenant mercy and grace, so that all
the blessings of God are in Christ. They're in Christ. And they come
to us from Christ through our union with Christ. And all the
fullness of God's salvation is Christ. Simeon waited in the
temple. He knew that the time had come
when Messiah must appear. And he's waiting there for the
appearing of the Messiah in the house of God. Oh, that old man
understood what the prophets wrote. And he's just waiting.
He's waiting. And on the day that Mary and
Joseph brought the baby, the Lord Jesus, into the temple to
be circumcised according to the law, Simeon walked over and he
said, honey, let me hold that baby. And he picked him up in
his arms and he said, Lord, now let your servant depart in peace,
for mine eyes have seen. You remember what it said? Thy
salvation. It's not just the salvation is
by Christ. It's not just that salvation is in Christ. It's
not just that salvation comes from Christ. Christ is salvation. God said, I will bring my righteousness
near. I will set my salvation in Zion,
my glory. That's Jesus Christ, our Lord.
He is all our salvation, all our desire. the fullness of God's
in him because the triune God is Determined that he in all
things had the preeminence turn back to Isaiah 53 Isaiah 53 it
pleased God to make you his people number two it pleased God to
put all fullness in Christ our mediator Isaiah 53 verse 10 It pleased the Lord to Bruce
him It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an orphan for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his
days. and the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. People will often snarl and spit
at you God's words by the prophet Ezekiel, I have no pleasure in
the death of the wicked. So you see there, God doesn't
want to punish anybody. Who is so perverse as to ever
imagine that God is tickled because men are damned? That's not what
the word means. God cannot be satisfied by sending
you to hell. He has no pleasure in the death
of the wicked. You will go to hell if you die without his sword,
but you will never satisfy the justice of God. That's the reason
whatever hell is, it's forever. Should all Adam's race be cast
forever into hell to suffer the fear of God's wrath in the flames
of darkness? God's justice could never be
satisfied. There's only one way by which
the justice of God could be satisfied and has been satisfied forever.
Did you hear the prophet? It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. rather than slaughter his people
in order to redeem and save his chosen whom he made his people
from eternity. This is how God did it. So that
he could be a just God and a savior, he satisfied himself with the
sacrifice of his son. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of his son, so that Jesus Christ, by his one offering for sin,
when he was made sin for us, has put away sin, and with one
tremendous draft of love, has forever drunk damnation dry,
because it satisfied God to bruise him. When God slaughtered his
son, God said, that's enough. Oh, bless his name. That's enough! God requires no
more. His anger is turned away forever. Number four. Look at Galatians
chapter one. It pleased the Lord to make you
his people. It pleased the Lord to put all fullness in Christ. It pleased the Lord to bruise
his son. Now watch this. Galatians chapter
1 verse 15 But when it pleased God Who separated me from my
mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in
me It pleased God to reveal his
son in me in me See, salvation, salvation, the
knowledge of God doesn't come by learning, and it doesn't come
by a decision, and it doesn't come by joining the church, and
it doesn't come by doing good. How does a man come to know God? How does a man come to know God? God steps into you and reveals Himself. You can't
know God except by special, personal, divine revelation. It's the only
way you know God. You take those children of yours,
you pray for them, and you instruct them, that new grandbaby, you
pray for them, you instruct them, you commit them to God, beg God
to hedge them about, can't cause them to know Christ. Can't be done. Can't be done. Not by you. But he can. He can! Salvation comes by divine
revelation. God shines out of darkness into
the hearts of chosen redeemed sinners to give the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He pours out his spirit upon
the house of Israel and causes his spirit to call sinners to
look on him whom they have pierced and to mourn for him as one mourns
for his only son, giving repentance and faith by the revelation of
Jesus Christ. Oh, one more thing. The first
Corinthians chapter one. Chapter one, verse 18. Verse 21, I'm sorry. First Corinthians
121. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? It pleased
God to make you his children. It pleased God He's put all fullness
in His Son. It pleased God to bruise His
Son in our place. It pleased God to reveal His
Son in man. And it pleased Him to do it by
the foolishness of preaching. By the foolishness of preaching. I just wrote an article this
week on that passage of John 11. Wrote a chapter and commentary
on John. The Lord commanded the folks
standing by the Lazarus tomb take you away the stone. Then
you might say, well, why'd he do that? Why'd he do that? He's fixing to raise Lazarus
from the dead. Don't you think he'd get rid of the stone? He
could get rid of that stone. All he had to do was win it,
and he's gone. But he condescends in indescribable
mercy and grace to use men to roll away the stone from the
tomb of the dead man, whom he's about to raise by his grace.
And that's what we do in preaching. He condescends to commit his
gospel to these earthen vessels. And we preach the word. This
is what he tells us to do. He says, go through and cast
up the way. Level them. Fill up every ditch. Take every hill and level it
down. Make crooked things straight and cast out the stones in the
highway of God. So my people, the redeemed of
the Lord, may come to Zion with joy and praise. Oh, what an honor. What an honor. Faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so we preach the
gospel and hear God say, So shall my word be that goeth forth out
of my mouth. It shall accomplish that which
I please. It is. I will do all my pleasure
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sinned. Always does. Always does. You send your pastor
all over the world preaching the gospel and we Do everything
we can to disperse the gospel by every means God puts in our
hands all over the world We had we've done so for 34 years together.
We support missionaries wherever God raises one up if we can find
a way to help them we help them and Rejoice to do it with full
confidence With absolute confidence The labor is not in vain For
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Amen.