Good morning. Good morning. As you all know,
our pastor is away preaching this morning in Spring Lake,
North Carolina. So we'll be in thought and prayer
for him this morning and their services. But we're very thankful
that we have Norm Wells with us today to preach both hours.
Norm is the pastor of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in the Dalles,
Oregon. So if you all ever find yourselves
on vacation, it's a wonderful place. We have a home there as
well, brethren. So let's open today's service
with the hymn from the hardbacked hymnal. We're going to sing hymn
number 69 in the hardbacked hymnal. Let's all stand together. Number
69, Safely Through Another Week. Safely through another week,
God has brought us on our way. Let us now a blessing seek, waiting
in his courts today. Day of all, the week the best,
emblem of of eternal rest. Day of all, the week the best,
emblem of eternal rest. While we pray for pardoning grace,
through the dear Redeemer's name, show thy reconciled face, take
away our sin and shame. From our worldly care set free,
may we rest this day in Thee. From our worldly care set free,
may we rest this day in Thee. Here we come, thy name to praise. Let us feel thy presence near. May thy glory meet our eyes while
we in thy house appear. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting feast. Here afford us, Lord, a taste
of our everlasting feast. May thy gospels' joyful sound
conquer sinners' comfort saints. May the fruits of grace abound,
bring relief for all complaints. Thus may all our Sabbaths prove
till we join the church above. Thus may all our Sabbaths prove
till we join the church above. Please be seated. Norm. Well, I cannot say how pleased
and thankful I am to be here today. And we were going to be
here anyway. But it's a joy to be here and
speak for you. Pray for us out in the Dalles,
Oregon. We have a small group out there.
We hold forth the same word of life. I often think of where
we are as a vineyard. And we're just in another part
of it. We're not in a different one. We're in just another part
of it. The world is the field. And wherever
the gospel is being preached, there are small vineyards where
God is working his work. The only reason I'm in the Dalles
is there's some lost sheep and some found sheep. If there wasn't, there wouldn't
be a church there. Join me this morning, if you
would, in the book of Titus. Book of Titus. Last night I read through the
Book of Titus two or three times and it took me four and a half
minutes to read through the whole book, all three chapters. And I thought about doing that
this morning, but I'll leave that up to you. It is a wonderful
book. and it shares with us so much
about God's work of grace and what he does with his people.
I'm reminded of something, the hymn writer that we just sang
a hymn of, John Newton. John Newton said, I'm not what
I want to be. I'm not what I'm going to be.
But thank God Almighty, I'm not what I used to be. Grace produces
gracious people. Their attitudes are changed.
Their hopes are changed. Their desires are changed. They're
at rest. Not at rest in this present world,
but we're at rest in Christ. And we understand some things
about what's going on. That God is in charge. That he is sovereign. I've never
met a true believer in Christ Jesus that did not understand
that God was sovereign. Now, we don't understand all
there is to know about it, but he is at least sovereign, and
he rules and reigns, and he does his will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand or say, what doest thou? It was by God's sovereign grace,
his free and sovereign grace, he called a man by the name of
Saul, on the road to Damascus. He was a wretched man. You know
you and I wouldn't want to live next to him prior to his salvation. He was a mean and ornery guy.
Yet the Lord saved him by his free and sovereign grace, and
that man was changed. He's writing this letter to Titus
because there's an island over there in the Mediterranean Sea
with some saints on it, and they needed someone to hold forth
the word of truth. They needed someone to preach
the gospel to them. I have found out that everybody
that knows Christ wants to hear the gospel. And when I run into
people that don't want to hear it, they just don't know Christ. Because once you know Christ,
once he's revealed himself to you, you want to be in a place
where the gospel is preached. And it may be you had to move
clear across the world to be there. But that's going to happen. God is going to feed his sheep
and his sheep want to be fed. It's sorry when we're trying
to survive on straw, when we really need the sweet clover
of God's eternal sovereign free grace in Christ Jesus. Now, this
letter starts off Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus
Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging
of the truth which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life which
God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. But hath
in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed
unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior to Titus, mine
own son after the common faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from
God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. Now,
I want to go back to verse one for our lesson this morning and
for our message this morning. Two, I want to take from this
passage of scripture, Paul, a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging
of the truth which is after godliness. Now, through this entire book,
the Apostle Paul was sharing with the saints that Titus was
going to be ministering unto, and he is no different than any
other God-called minister. He is going to be sharing the
same thing. God's preachers are going to
be sharing the same thing. Grace works grace. Now, we know Paul. We're quite
well acquainted with him and with this wonderful preacher
of grace. But it was not always that way, we know. But would
you turn with me to Acts chapter 22? Acts chapter 22, the Apostle
Paul was used of the Holy Spirit to put what God did for him into
words. Acts chapter 22, and I'd like
to begin reading with verse 1. Men, brethren, and fathers, hear
ye my defense which I make known unto you.' And when they heard
that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence. And he saith, I am barely a man
which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, yet brought
up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according
to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous
towards God as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way
unto death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
And also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the
estate of the elders, from whom also I received letters unto
the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring them which were there
bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished. It came to pass
that as I made my journey and was come nigh unto Damascus,
about noon suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round
about me. And I fell into the ground and heard a voice saying
unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, who
art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw
indeed the light and were afraid. But they heard not the voice
of him that spake to me. And I said, what shall I do,
Lord? And the Lord said unto me, arise,
go into Damascus, and there shall be told thee of all the things
which are appointed for thee to do. Now, we read a rather
long portion of scripture there with regard to what we know or
who we know as the Apostle Paul. He was known as Saul at that
time, and he was a person that wreaked havoc in the church.
He had them arrested. He had them taken out and slain
if he could possibly do that. And on that road that day, not
intending to go to a prayer meeting, not intending to go down there
to worship, not intending to go down there for any other purpose
but to wreck havoc, God Almighty exercised His prerogative over
this wicked man. And he came down in such a manner
that Paul was arrested, Saul was arrested. He was caused to
be stopped in his way in his travels, and it was there he
was able to reflect years later and say that God sent a light
and then he sent a voice. Now, everyone else with him were
able to see that light, but no one else there heard the voice. Now, that's the difference. There
is a call that goes out and we attempt every Sunday, every Wednesday
night to share the light. But we are so thankful when God
gives a call. to an individual person and brings
them out of darkness into his marvelous light. We delight in
that. Now, we cannot produce that.
We cannot produce the light and we cannot produce the call, but
we are simple messengers with a message that what God can do
and has done and will do until the last sheep is saved, and
then this is going to be wrapped up like a carpet, like a tent.
And it will be over. That's what we're waiting for.
Since I've been saved, I've never had to wait for the rebuilding
of a temple over there. I waited for the last sheep to
be saved. I haven't had to look for signs
in the newspaper. I'm waiting for the last sheep
to be saved. And when the last sheep is saved,
this will be over. All our wretchedness will be
over, all the world will be over, all the worries will be over,
all the tears will be over, but when that last sheep. Thank God
that the long suffering of the Lord means salvation. Means salvation. Somewhere in some generation,
maybe this one, but we don't know. It is totally wrong for
us to ever set a date, except we're going to meet on the first
day of the week. That's the date. We're going to meet on Wednesday
night. That's the date. Now, if the Lord should save
his last sheep before that happens, hallelujah. But until that day,
may the saints meet and worship the living God. Now, this Paul,
it says, a servant of God. Originally, it meant a slave. Truly, Saul of Tarsus, like the
rest of us, were slaves to sin. We were born into it. It's our
nature. When Adam sinned, all of his
generations after him fell into the same lot, dead in trespasses
and sin. When Jesus Christ walked the
face of this earth, he spent his entire ministry in a cemetery. He was dealing with dead people. Everywhere he went were dead
people. Now, some were raised to newness of life, but everywhere
he went, there was dead people. It's a cemetery down here. We
run into it every day. We try to talk to people about
the gospel and they have no ears to hear. We're in a cemetery. Dead and trespasses in means
they can't hear until God opens their ears and causes them to
hear. Just like they may hear the gospel,
they may have some light, but it takes the voice of God to
call them out of that darkness. He's a servant of God, and metaphorically
speaking, it's a voluntary service. I don't know a believer that
doesn't want to serve God. It's not out of need, it's out
of joy. It's not out of duty, it's because
we want to. Oh, it used to be Sunday, oh
gosh, it's Sunday, and I'm a pastor of the church. It's Sunday. You've
got to go to church. You know what? Going to church
is the most selfish thing I've performed now. I need it. I want it. It's a pleasure. I want to go visit with my friends,
my family. I want to hear the gospel preached.
I want to hear Christ exalted. I want to hear about a God that's
getting things done. I want to hear about a God that
saves his people from their sin. I want to hear about a God that
raised himself from the dead, and on that promise, he's going
to raise all his children from the spiritual dead and then from
the grave. I want to hear about that God.
He's a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. The
word apostle means one set, and it just brings us right back
to Hebrews chapter 3, and it says, would you please consider
the apostle and high priest of our profession? Christ Jesus,
consider him. Jesus Christ the apostle and
high priest he says I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ and that brings
us right back to the very Wonderful account that God gives us in
his word about God coming in the flesh You know, it's hard
for me to comprehend, to understand that God would want to, number
one, and that he would, number two. But we find in the Word
that God came in the flesh. Jesus Christ is God coming in
the flesh. for the suffering of death on
the behalf of his people. What love, what statement of
love, but also what statement is made there about the real
problem that we face. Our sin is a problem and we can't
take care of it. So we have Paul, a servant of
God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's
elect. This is a striking expression,
the faith of God's elect. My dad was an outlaw. It wasn't meant. I don't mean
that he went and robbed banks. He didn't go out and kill people,
but he shot deer out of season. You know what? Growing up with
him, I loved it. And we waited for a moon. We'd get out there and spotlight
deer in the moon. You could see your shadow. You
know, my dad called it moon light. But I didn't realize until I
got to studying about the moon. Moon doesn't have any light.
Moon only reflects light. We don't have any faith. We just
reflect faith. We're given faith of God to have
faith back towards him. We're just moons, solid rock,
can't do a thing on our own, but we can certainly reflect.
faith, we can reflect love, we can reflect hope, we can reflect
all the benefits and grace of God, but we have nothing in ourself. Walking around in this world,
all we do are casting shadows that is of the grace of God.
We're just rock. Well, this faith of God's elect
amongst all the professions of faith to be met in this world,
there is but one. which is true and genuine, and
that's the faith of God's elect. That's the only true faith. Now, we could go to 1,000 different,
and I bet we could, 1,000 different churches in this area. There's
one thing that Dallas has plenty of, churches. You can go into almost all of
them and hear about some faith, But there is only one I know
of that you can hear about the faith of God's elect and be serious about it. And
it's not a cuss word either. Among some people, it's almost
a byword. How could you? Why would you
want to believe that? Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, we find
the apostle Paul was used to write to a bunch of churches
up in Galatia, which we know is Turkey today, up in Galatia,
and there were a bunch of believers up there, and yet, as we heard
read in the men's reading this morning in Acts chapter 15, there
is always somebody around that wants to say, that ain't so. There was a bunch of people that
followed Paul around, says, unless you're circumcised, you cannot
be saved. And if we put that into today's vernacular, unless
you're baptized, unless you take the Lord's Supper, unless you
have good works, on and on that goes, the same thing follows
us today that followed the Apostle Paul. You have to have the law. The Apostle Paul is going to
share with the Galatians, no, you don't. You need Christ and
how quickly you have left serving him in Galatians chapter one. But in Galatians chapter five,
he shares with us these thoughts. Galatians chapter five, and there
in verse 22, but the fruit of the spirit. Now, in the previous
verse, it talks about the works of the flesh, and we're well
acquainted with those. We deal with those every day. And yet, God has given the grace
to say, I'm not what I used to be. I used to take our oldest son,
Nathan, into a store and I'd tell him, this is a pocket store. Put your hands in your pockets
and don't touch a thing. This is a pocket store. He got
so he said, ''Dad, is this a pocket store?'' Yes, it is. Put your
hands in your pocket. Don't touch a thing. By the grace
of God, he restrains his people from doing some of the worst
things we could possibly think of and thank God for it. We're
restrained. Thank God. Put the restraint
on me. Put it on my mind. Put it on
my heart. Put it on me. I want to be a
servant of the Most High God, and let me be a servant by restraining
me. That's verse 21, 19, 20, and 21. But verse 22, but the
fruit of the Spirit, oh God, that's what I want. I'm not what
I want to be, and I'm not what I used to be. But I'm going to be this completely
someday. You said here, but the fruit
of the spirit is love. Where did you get love for God?
It's a fruit of the spirit. Now, I wish they'd put hyphens
in here instead of commas. Because there's one fruit and
all of these ways of talking about it. The fruit of the spirit. Now we're not going to a tree
and finding pears and oranges and apples and grapefruit. We're
going to a tree and we're finding this, the fruit of the spirit. When God manifests his spirit
in his people, this is the product. Love, and you don't have it on
your own. I don't have it on my own. Thank
God he gives it to us. Joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness,
Gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against
such there is no law. And they that are Christ have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. The other
day it struck me, and I think my wife brought this idea up,
I appreciate her so much. She said, there's only, crucifixion
is something you cannot do to yourself. Now, many other ways of execution
we can handle ourself, but being crucified with Christ is something
we cannot do. It must happen to us. So these
things, this blessings that our Christ have crucified the flesh
with the afflictions and lusts, if we live in the spirit, let
us also walk in the spirit, and here's the fruit of the spirit.
So the faith of God's elect is faith that is given to us, and
that word according there that Paul used or we have translated
as used, in another translation it says to further, the preaching
furthers the faith of God's elect. The preaching is to build up
the faith of God's elect. We're given this faith, but thank
God, we go from measure to measure. We go from faith to faith. We
go from, oh my goodness, just to see a bit more of Christ.
If you've seen this much, it's by grace. But if he lets you
see this much more, that's grace. If we've just seen a little,
that's by God's free and sovereign grace that we got to see that
glimpse. In the Song of Solomon, it talks
about seeing him through a lattice. You got to see him though, even
through a lattice. We see him through darkly now,
but then face-to-face. We see him through pictures and
types and shadows. We see him through his own words
that he shares with us in the Gospels. Then the words that
are declared through the rest of the New Testament, we get
to see him in these statements about him. Our mind is not able
to comprehend and to grasp everything, but to get to see just a portion
about the God of heaven that came to this earth and took upon
himself flesh and permitted himself. I know man takes my life from
me, but I lay it down to myself. I lay it down for my sheep. When
we see these truths about the Lord Jesus Christ, it makes grace
so precious to us. And then we say the faith of
God's elect. It is God's word in us. It's
God's grace in us. It is wrought by God. It is thought
by God. It is bought by God. And in Ephesians
chapter two, we know that verse in verse eight, Oh, for by grace
are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's
not ours. It's that light that's given
to us. Thank God because of what we
get to see a shadow. We see the shadow of God's grace
all around us. As we come in contact with people,
there's one thing that we don't do. We don't try to screen door
many more. We want to get a profession of
faith so we can go talk about it. No, that's God's business. That's God's business. There
was a preacher I knew, and he had a son, and he is his only
son, and he really loved his son, and he wanted to give his
son all that he could. One time, just before Christmas,
this friend of mine, his son came in and says, ''Dad, I want
to give you a leather coat for Christmas, and I want to give
mama some diamond studded earrings.'' And this friend of mine says,
oh, that's very nice of you. That's very nice of you. You'd
think about that. I think that'd be great. You
know what the son said? Can I have the money? Oh, God, I want to love you more.
Can I have the love? Oh, God, I want to have more
faith in you. Can I have the faith? I believe, yet help thou
my unbelief. Give me the faith. This faith of God's elect does
denote a distinction the Lord's had made by his grace between
them and others and not because of works. Before I heard the
gospel, I believed in a system of theology that included the
five points. But down deep, I still believed
it was based on my works. That even though there was an
election, it was based on what I did. When I heard the gospel
preached and found out as he opened my ears to hear some message,
found out that my election was not based on what I did, it made
me mad. And most of you know what I said
about that preacher. I hate him. Because he brought
that election is based on grace and nothing else. And I want
nothing to do with that kind. Now, if people in this world
in religion believe in election, that's the kind of election they
believe. In religion. That's the kind
they believe. I was speaking at a church in
California one time, and a man came up after the services and
said, how could you not be saved and believe the five points?
I said, very easily. I read a book. It was a good
book. It was by Arthur Pink and the
Sovereignty of God. Changed my way of thinking, but
did not change my heart. This is the faith of God's elect. It is between God and no other.
It is on the behalf of some people that should have been sent to
hell. They should not have even been
considered for heaven. But that's what grace does. Grace
takes care of that very issue. I should be sent to hell. Now, that's one thing I found
out that grace people understand. I should be, but thank God, he
changed my course by his grace. I don't deserve heaven. I don't
want what I deserve. I want what grace give me. I
want Christ. Turn with me, if you would, over
to the book of Ezekiel chapter 9. Ezekiel chapter 9, I don't understand a lot about
the book of Ezekiel, but I understand this, it's about Christ. I understand
this. There's a lot of figurative language
here just like all of the sacrifices are a figure of Christ. There
are pictures and types and shadows. If we get wrapped up in worshiping
those figures, those types, those shadows, we're going to miss
the point. We don't worship a menu, we worship Christ. We don't worship
a picture, We worship Christ. We don't worship a tangible,
we worship a spirit, the spirit of the living God. So here in
Ezekiel, this account is given that shares with us just a little
bit about this wonderful subject that God dealt with fallen man
to rescue them before they're born. He marked some out and
not because of works. He takes care of that when he
deals with twins. Now, I'm a twin and I know a
little bit about this. Twins, before they were born,
before they could do any good or evil in the eyes of men, they
were fallen in birth, fallen in conception, fallen in birth,
and fallen in life. But God marked one of them out
for his own glory, and Charles Spurgeon says, I can really understand
why God hated Esau, but I cannot get wrapped around how he could
ever love Jacob. Now, we're a bunch of Jacobs,
supplanters. And yet we read that God in his
purpose loved some folk so much that he gave his son for them. Ezekiel chapter nine, and with
this we'll close. Verse one. He cried also in my
ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over
the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon
in his hand. And behold, six men came from
the way of the higher gate, which slithe toward the north, and
every man a slaughter weapon in his hand. Judgment. And one man among them was clothed
with linen, with a writer's inkhorn on his side. And they went in
and stood before the brazen altar. And the glory of the Lord of
Israel was gone up from the cherubim, whereupon he was to the threshold
of the house. And he called to the man clothed
with the linen, which had the writer's inkworn by his side.
And the Lord said unto him, go through the midst of the city,
through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads
of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abomination that
be done in the midst thereof." Now, why does anybody ever sigh
and cry about their own sin? They've already been regenerated.
Now, he's showing a picture here. The only people that do this
have already been regenerated. You don't have a worry about
sin unless you're headed for prison. until God really makes it apparent. Then we get concerned about not
ours, but our families too, like Job did, and our countries. Oh God, be
merciful. Well, he says, go through, mark
the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry, for all the
abominations that are done in the midst thereof. And to the
others, he said in the mine hearing, go ye after him through the city
and smite. Let not your eye spare, neither
have you pity. Slay utterly old and young, both
maids and little children and women, that come near, not near,
any man upon whom this is the mark. And began at the sanctuary,
and they began at the ancient men. which were before the house. Don't you touch anyone with a
mark. And the church says, hallelujah,
hallelujah. He set his mark on his people
and he touched his son in ways we cannot even conceive of. We
can't even imagine of. He touched his son with the slaughter
weapons of justice and let those that have the mark on them go
free. The faith of God's elect. the reflected light of God Almighty
upon those he marked out before time began, wrote their names
down in the Lamb's Book of Life, and the Book of Isaiah shares
with us, he even inscribed them metaphorically on the palms of
his hands. So he knew exactly who he was
laying down his life for when he was crucified. He knew exactly. Thank you.