For going through the gospel
of John, I'm kind of skipping ahead a little bit. I feel that
this is the right thing for me to do. John 19, verse 30. One verse. John 19, 30. And when Jesus,
therefore, had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. A few days ago, I saw someone wearing a shirt. And this is what it had on the
front of the shirt. Paid in full. And then they turned around And
I read the back of the shirt. And it was like a little advertisement
for an assembly where this person went to church. And he gave the
name of the church. And it started with the word,
Free Will. Free Will Church. And I got to thinking about it.
I got to thinking about what was on the front of the shirt
and what was on the back of the shirt. And as I thought on it,
I know this. What was on the front of the
shirt? If those words paid in full are considered in the light of
God's everlasting covenant of grace. That covenant that has
everlastingly, eternally been established by God Almighty for
a particular people chosen by the Father and given to the Son
as their surety. as the one that is going to answer
for them. That covenant whereby the Father,
according to Ephesians 1-4, that chose a people in Christ, He
considered them in Christ, and that everlasting covenant whereby
the Son Himself eternally stood as the one who would answer for
the demands of God's justice and judgment. That everlasting
covenant whereby Christ Himself would come into this world made
of a woman, made under the law, made answerable to every demand
for the law that his people broke in Adam's fall and break every
day in attitude. And then that covenant whereby
the Holy Spirit of God, in total agreement with the one God, Father,
Son, Spirit, one God, three persons, one God, said, I will call them
out of darkness. I will seal them, keep them. I will teach them. Here is the
everlasting covenant, all that God chose, Christ redeemed, and
the Spirit of God is going to call them out. All that the Father
giveth me, the Lord said, shall come to me. And him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast him out. That everlasting covenant
whereby the Lord Jesus Christ shall and did put away the sins,
the debt owed to the law of God for justice through His shed
blood and thereby making His sacrifice His sacrifice. The only ground for forgiveness. Someone would say, well, what
is the ground for forgiveness? That a man believes? No. The
ground for forgiveness is the blood of Christ. Only the blood
of Christ. Now, the Lord said, and you jot
these down, John 10, 15, The Lord said, I lay down my life
for the sheep. Some of the Pharisees questioned
him on it, and they said in John 10, 24, they said, how long are
you going to make us doubt? Tell us plainly. And he said,
I told you. And he said, you believe not,
because you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. And they
follow me. I give unto them eternal life.
And they're never going to perish. Now here's the fact. God has
a sheep. He has a people that He's going
to save. And He said in John 10, 15, I
lay down my life for the sheep. Now, here's the way it is. If
He died for me, If he shed his blood for me, if for me he cried
according to John 19.30, it is finished. If redemption's work
has been completed for me, I know it's been completed for somebody,
Jeff, but if it's for me, if the law And its condemnation
has been eradicated by His shed blood for me. Then and only then
can it be said for me, paid in full. Paid in full. Now, if it says
paid in full, it is finished, you know what that leaves left?
To add to that, nothing. Nothing. Pain and full. Now the very words, free will, openly declares. If a man or
woman believes, I have a free will. And I have to exercise
my free will in order to make redemption complete. If I believe I have a free will,
then I really don't believe it was fateful. Not yet. Not yet. By the very insinuation, now
listen, hear this. By the very insinuation that
I have to add my decision to his work, then that means that
I don't believe that everything truly has been done by God. It's
available, I say, if I believe I have a free will. I believe
it's available, but free will says that there is yet a work
of righteousness that I must do before God will have mercy
on me and save me and wash me in regeneration by the Spirit
of God. There is still something left. Now you consider this implication
of thinking that a man has to do something. That is, to exercise
his free will to make salvation complete. Now, I want you to
think. Let me tell you what I entitled this message. Free will, with
a question mark. That's blasphemy. That is blasphemy. If you believe that it takes
your free will to add to his work of redemption, He died for
everybody. Now that's what Arminianism believes. He died for everybody. And I'm
going to have to exercise, I'm going to have to hear the gospel,
and I'm going to have to believe it. I'm going to have to exercise
faith, and I'm going to have to accept it before it becomes
effectual to me. That's what free will believes.
I grew up in it. I know what it believes. Here's
the implication. First of all, it implies that
God is not the finisher of salvation. He's not the author and finisher
of faith. That salvation is truly, as Jonah said, it's truly not
of the Lord. And that man plus God equals
salvation. God's work plus my will equals
salvation. That's what free will is. That's
what free will believes. Secondly, it implies that Christ's
blood was really not sufficient to put away sin. That His blood must be mingled
with my choice. And that God must see His blood
and my work of righteousness to pass over me. That's what it says. It implies
that the blood of Christ is really impotent. That it was shed for many. That
is, that the Lord Jesus Christ paid the debt of every man, but
he couldn't save them because they wouldn't let him. They wouldn't
exercise their free will. And now millions are in hell
for whom Christ died and wanted to save, but man wouldn't act
upon the offer. Really, free willism says that
man truly is God. That man has the last word. It
implies that God's love and God's purpose, God's eternal purpose,
I'm talking about the God Almighty that says, my counsel is going
to stand. I will do all of my pleasure
I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I will save my people. They shall come to me. I'm talking about the God that
said that. Man says he can't unless I let
him. Free willism means that God's
purpose to show mercy and compassion to whomsoever He will can be
thwarted, and really makes God's will to be a servant to man's
will. It implies that fallen man is
really not dead in trespasses and sins, and that there is some
good in all men, and that God was mistaken when He told Adam,
in the day that you eat of the forbidden fruit, you are going
to die. Free willism says man is not
dead. Man still has the power to reconcile
himself back to God by his own will, claiming that man has a
free will is blasphemy. It calls God a liar. Free will
is what ruined man in the garden. Adam chose to disobey God. Here's what the scripture says.
God has ever seen that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination, that is the whole imagination of the
thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. Man born in Adam has never thought
one good thought. Never. Never. And men say that
man is born with a will that can come back to God. God says
all man has ever thought is evil. Evil. Mr. Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon
said this, when we see the dead rise from the grave by his own
power, Then may we expect to see ungodly sinners of their
own free will turning to Christ. A dead man could crawl out of
a grave faster, easier than a dead sinner
can reconcile himself back to God. The scripture says, So then
it is not, this is Romans 9.16, men say man has a free will. The scripture says, it is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, that
is, activities or efforts of the flesh, but it is of God that showeth
mercy. Salvation, the rescue and the
eternal preservation of helpless sinners must be by grace or it
is no salvation at all. Man cannot save himself. Man cannot reconcile himself. That is a lie that the scriptures
does not bear out. My hope of salvation is not in
my goodness, but it's in my lack of it. And it's His purpose to
show mercy. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Sinners. Lost sinners. Salvation reveals the wisdom
of God. Only God can be just. in dealing with sin and justify
or declare a sinner not guilty. I'm going to deal with that,
Lord willing, in the next service. Here's the wisdom of God. To choose a people and to put
them securely in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how did God do that? He said He did it. He said He
did it. Ephesians 1-4, He hath chosen
us in Him. I put a little article in the
bulletin this morning, an excerpt about something Brother Henry
said, asking a man, did he believe in election? God said he didn't. Brother Henry asked him a few
questions. Read it when you get a chance. Does the Scriptures
teach that God chose a people, elected a people? Yes, it does.
God said He did. There's the wisdom of God. God
chose to show mercy. Here's the wisdom of God. For
Christ to come into this world, made flesh to do the will of
His Father, which was to seek and to save His people, that
which was lost, Listen to this, when I said His people, He said,
well, you just added that. Well, let me tell you where I
got it. John 6.39, and this is the Father's will with which
has sent me, that of all which He has given me, I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. Who said that? God said
it. God said that. This is the Father's
will. And is His will going to be done?
Absolutely. Here's the wisdom of God. For
Christ to bear the griefs, the sorrows of His people, to be
stricken of God as their absolute substitute. For Him to be made
who they are. That's the verse I quoted, John
10, 15. I lay down my life for the sheep. Here's a miracle. God chose a people. That's a
miracle. Here's a miracle. That God would
show mercy to undeserving sinners. Is there anything in me that
is condemnable? Yeah. Yeah. I'm a sinner. I'm a rebel against God in myself. But that God would not impute
my iniquity to me. Now there's mercy. That God wouldn't
charge me with it. Well, what did He do with it?
He charged it to Christ. He put away the guilt of His
people. I lay down my life for the sheep. And He put away their debt. Robed them in His righteousness.
They have no guilt to answer for. There's a miracle. They have no guilt to answer
for. Do they have guilt? In themselves
they do. In Christ they don't. There's
no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus. And robed
them in His righteousness, that means that what He did as a man
before God, His walk, His attitude, His thoughts. The Father said
of Him, this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. What
He earned, the righteousness He earned, is what's charged
to His people. They stand in Him uncondemned. And then here's another miracle.
In wisdom and power, that Almighty God would give them a new will. The will that I was born with
was born dead. But He gives me a new will to
come to Him, and to come willingly. Somebody says, well, you're just
saying that men are robots. No, they're not. They're not
God's people. They want to come. Why? Because
they have a new nature. He said in Ezekiel 36.25, Then
will I sprinkle clean water upon you, the blood, the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ applied, and you shall be clean. Verse
26 of Ezekiel 36, I'll put a new heart also in you. There's a new man there. There's
a new person there. There's a reborn man. And the old man is still there.
The old man is still there. I've still got an old man in
me that resists God. I still have an old man, the
one I was born with in Adam. That's what Paul says, I know
in me, that is in my flesh, there dwells no good thing. But there's
an old man in me that fights and wars against a new man that's
in me. That new man that John said,
that sinneth not. There's a new man that doesn't
sin. There's an old man that doesn't do anything but sin.
And there's a battle going on. And there's a new man in me that
wants, desires, and loves God, to serve after Him, long after
Him. And the old man says, who do you think you are? The old
man that reprimands me for it. The old man that says, I know
who you are. I know exactly who you are. You're still a rebel
against God. He said, I'll also save you.
Verse 29 of Ezekiel 36. from all your uncleanness. And
when we had no righteousness before him, he hath clothed us
with the garments of salvation, he hath covered us with the robe
of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments,
and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." That's Isaiah
61.10. And when our Lord declared from
the cross, it is finished. It is finished. He alone is the one that is due
all the honor for the salvation of his people from the punishment
of sin. And in due time, he, in regenerating
grace, calls them out of darkness. And you know how he does it?
Under this message right here. The message that declares salvation
to be all of grace. This message that gives God all
the honor and all the glory and all the praise, and it gives
man none. None. And in the day of the departure
of God's people from this world, He is going to save them from
the very presence of sin. This old body, this old man,
this body of death? Yes, for those that he has everlastingly
loved in Christ, chosen in Christ, redeemed by Christ, truly, for
his people, paid in full. Paid in full. Now let me ask
you this as I close. Do you believe this? This is
what God said. This is what God said. Do you
believe that there is nothing that was in you, that came from
you, that you did to make salvation complete? Do you believe that
salvation is all of grace? God purposed it, God accomplished
it, and then in time, God just told you about it. He told you
about it. He crossed your path and in power
gave you a new heart to believe it. And that there was nothing in
you that added to that. If you believe that, then you
believe God. If you believe that, and you believe that by the grace
of God, because it's given unto you, the Scripture says to believe.
Confess Him in baptism. Confess Him. He's the one that has told His
people. Baptism doesn't save anybody.
Water doesn't save anybody. Water is water. Baptism doesn't
save anybody. Baptism is the confession that
the Lord has already saved me. Confess Him. Salvation is of
the Lord. And I pray God bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake.