Let's take our Bibles this evening
and turn to the gospel according to Luke. Luke chapter 9. I'd like to begin reading in
verse 1. Then he called his twelve disciples
together and gave them power and authority over all devils
and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the
kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And he said unto them,
Take nothing for your journey, neither staves nor scrip, neither
bread, neither money, neither have two coats apiece. and whatsoever
house ye enter into there abide, and thence depart. And whosoever
will not receive you when ye go out of that city, shake off
the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.'
And they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel
and healing everywhere. Now Herod the tea-truck heard
of all that was done by him, and he was perplexed because
that it was said of some that John was risen from the dead,
and of some that Elias had appeared, and of others that one of the
old prophets was risen again. And Herod said, John, have I
beheaded? But who is this of whom I hear
such things? And he desired to see him. And
the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they
had done. And he took them and went aside
privately into a desert place belonging to the city called
Assaida. And the people, when they knew
it, followed him. And he received them and spake
unto them of the kingdom of God and healed them that had need
of healing." Let's pray. Our Father, this evening, we
are so thankful that we can be here once again, the glorious
gospel of God's grace. Lord, I ask you to bless this
Word. I pray, Lord, that you would
heal spiritually, physically, according to your purpose and
grace. those that you have everlastingly
loved in Christ. Lord, I pray for our kids, our
grandkids, our husbands, our wives, our neighbors. Lord, call sinners unto Yourself. For Christ's sake, Amen. in this blessed passage of Scripture. The wonder of God's saving grace
is being set forth. The Scripture says that the Lord
had retired to a desert place and
brought His twelve disciples with Him. But I got to thinking,
you know, no place is a desert place if He's there. It's spring. It's a fountain of life. There's
joy there. Now the events that took place
in this passage of Scripture, no doubt, relate to that which
the natural man could understand. The Lord retired to a place. had his disciples with him, a
group of people. He was there and they heard that
he was there, knew that he was there, followed him. And he began
to talk to them. But let's look at that 11th verse
and look at it in the light of the salvation of God's elect. The Scripture says, and the people,
when they knew it, they followed Him. Now, I know this. There is a great spiritual truth
set forth concerning God's purpose and God's will and God's grace. They knew that He was there and
they followed Him. They perceived that He was there
and were in the same way with Him. Now, there's something that
I've mentioned before some of the old writers used to speak
of. And it was called provenient
grace. Grace before grace. There were some people The people,
verse 11, when they knew it. You know, this is an amazing
thing, but when you think about, let's say Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus
had heard, he knew that the Lord Jesus Christ was going to be
passing through Jericho. How did he know that? What caused
him to know it? Nothing but the grace of God. He caused that fellow to have
a desire to climb up in a sycamore tree because he knew that the
Lord was coming that way. He wanted to see Him. What brought
him to that place? Grace. Sovereign, purposing,
predestinating grace. I know that we talk about this
thing of God's predestinating, electing grace. Why? Because
the Scriptures make much of it. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. Does the Scripture set forth
that Almighty God is going to save His people? Yes. Does the Scripture set forth
that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation? Yes. Yes. Is it necessary that
the Gospel of God's grace, and you know I never can make enough
of setting forth. I need to hear this. If somebody
were to say, were to ask you, do you believe the gospel? Yes. Yes, I do. What is it? Tell me what it is. Tell me what
the gospel is. Do you see how quickly your mind
just almost goes blank? You just think, I know. I know the answer to this. I
know this. Let me tell you what it is. The
Gospel is the declaration of what Almighty God has eternally
purposed concerning the redemption of an elect people that He chose
before the foundation of the world in Christ because He loved
the order of man, and would honor His Son in their redemption. It's the good news of salvation
for a fallen race who in themselves could absolutely do nothing to
reconcile themselves back to God. And a believer would say,
that's it right there. That's what I believe. That's
it. That's what I believe. The Scripture sets forth that
they knew, they knew that He was there. Before God's sheep leave this
world, they're going to know, God's going to bring them. How
did you come? Those of you that are sitting
here whose parents were here, your parents came. More than
likely, maybe not exactly, but your parents came, brought you,
came up hearing the Gospel. And in the good pleasure of God,
those at God's purpose to save, He called you out of darkness,
showed you the truth. You knew it. You knew it. Oh,
I'll readily admit, until He revealed Himself to you. There
is a revelation of knowledge, but they knew by the provenient
grace of God that He was there. And the Scripture says, and they
followed Him. They came where He was because
the Spirit of God would empower, cause them. He said, Hear my
voice. They follow me. The Spirit of
God is going to providentially cause God's people to cross paths
with the gospel. Now you'll look back and you'll
say, well, I personally thought I was coming
because I was courting this person. I thought I was coming. The reason
I thought, well, A believer will look back and
say, you know what? I see all the while His hand had caused
me to come and to follow. And the Scripture says thirdly,
He received them. He received them. Those that
He has everlastingly stood for as the surety of the sheep and
will in no wise cast out, He received them. I don't know who the sheep are. I don't know who they are. I
had a dear friend of mine just tell me that he heard someone
say, this salvation is not just for a select few. Well, let me tell you what my
attitude is going to be. I'm going to be true to this
Word by the grace of God. And I'm going to preach to everybody
that I can. I need to be inviting more people to come. I want people
to sit. I want people to come. I want
to ask them to come. Come. This is what I would desire. I want my kids to hear. I want my grandkids to hear.
I want my family. I want your family to hear. Almighty
God, I pray that God be honored in the setting forth of the glorious
gospel of God's grace. I don't know who they are, but
I want to preach to them. I want to put an article in the
paper. I want people to read it. I would pray that God would
draw them here. The Scripture says forth that
these that came to Him The Lord received them. I'm not trying
to exclude anybody, but I will tell you this. I know that God's
going to do what God purposed to do. I know that. I know that. But the Lord received them. Now,
no doubt I can see in Scripture that many that followed Him for
a while followed Him no more. They said, that's a hard saying. Who can hear that? But where
do you ever find? Show me one place in Scripture
where the Lord ever turned away any that came to Him in need. Never. Never. Do you know why
men will not come to Christ? Because they don't want to. They
don't want to. You might say, well, now wait
a minute. I'm telling you that men don't come to Christ because
they don't want to. If Almighty God let every man
do what He wanted to do, all of them, Pat, would go away.
Every one of them. Every one of them would go away.
Do you know why? Some don't go. It's because God
Almighty is not willing that they should perish. Almighty God is going to make
them willing in the day of His power because He said, I am a
merciful God. Is it God's fault if some leave
because they want to? Is it God's fault? The answer
is going to be no. Let me just answer it for you.
If they come, who gets the honor for it? Almighty God is going
to get the honor for it. Some say, well, I just feel as
though you need to make this thing fair. My friend, remember
this, unless God Almighty intervenes, and causes a man by giving him
a new heart and new will to come. If He just says, leave them to
it, let everybody do what they want to do, I'm telling you,
this whole world would perish. He received them. And then the
Scripture says He did this. He spake unto them of the Kingdom
of God. Now this is what we're doing
tonight. When I say the Kingdom of God, This is what I know. I know, first of all, God's got
a kingdom. I know that it's a kingdom in which the Lord Jesus Christ
is the head. And with Him being the head,
being the surety, the redeemer, the husband, the Savior, the
great high priest of this kingdom, He's got a kingdom. And a kingdom
has a king and it has subjects. This is the kingdom of God. In
this kingdom, there's a body that belongs to the head, and
that body is God's people made up, those that the Lord has everlastingly
loved. And the Lord began to teach them,
speak to them of the kingdom of God every time we meet together.
When we proclaim the gospel of God's grace, this is what we're
doing. We're speaking of the Kingdom
of God. This Kingdom. It's in this world. But the Lord said it's not of
it. This Kingdom and the mysteries of this Kingdom is hidden according
to our Lord's Word. It's hidden from the wise and
the prudent and it's revealed under babes. This glorious message
of the Kingdom, God's Kingdom, this Kingdom that is set forth
according to the Scriptures that was settled before the foundation
of the world. This Kingdom that is the Bride
of the Lord Jesus Christ. that God Almighty gave to His
Son, this is the bride. Speaking of the kingdom, contrary
to what any man says apart from these scriptures, this kingdom
is going to believe this gospel. Paul the apostle, under the spirit
of God's direction, said if any man preached any other gospel,
unto you than that which we have preached. Let him be accursed,
anathema." I don't want to be disrespectful. I don't want to
be disobedient. I don't want to second-guess
God. I don't want to take a man's word against this gospel right
here. It's a kingdom that is known
Believed upon, received by faith as a little child, helpless,
needy, weak. But it's a sure kingdom, I can
tell you that. Our Lord said, all that the Father has given
me shall come to me. They shall come to me. It's not
going to be any of His bride that's left. He died and redeemed
every one of them. And every drop of the blood that
He shed, He shed effectually. There was no blood shed and wasted. He will not be the laughingstock
of hell. He will not have one demon be
able to raise up and say, you know what? We didn't get them
all, but we got some of them that you died for. No, sir. No,
sir. That's a false gospel, Neil.
That's not right. He did not die to make salvation
possible. He redeemed his people. I lay
down my life for the sheep. That's what he taught them. He
spake unto them of the kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
in His high priestly prayer says, "...as Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh." He does as He will in the army
of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth. And no man stays
His hand. "...Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him." That's the truth. He spoke unto them
of the kingdom of God. And this kingdom has to do with
everything that is God's delight to honor the Son. Luke 12, 32,
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. You don't earn it. given. The Lord Jesus Christ
came to this world to seek and to save that which was lost because
it pleased the Father for Him to do so. And not only did He
speak unto them of the kingdom of God, the Scripture says, and
He healed them that had need of healing. He healed them that
had need of healing. You know, when I first read that,
I thought, hmm. He healed them that had need
of healing. Now, whether physical or spiritual,
the Lord knows those that have need of healing. You know, physically, and I'm specifically speaking of God's
people, physically, according to God's good pleasure and wisdom,
I'm going to have to bow to this truth. Now, I've heard men say
that sickness is never the Lord's will. I beg to differ. I beg to differ. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. Again, as Brother Scott said,
who's running this show anyway? I can tell you for a fact, our Lord knows that we may need
a sickness for our good. I know this. According to His
good pleasure, He knows whether or not a sickness in our body
is more needful for the easing of our souls. How often have we witnessed the
pleasure of our Lord to withhold physical healing to accomplish
His eternal will? and bring His own unto Himself. There are some dear, dear people
that we've all seen and known and loved in this congregation
that the Lord was pleased to remove out of this world. And
they were sick. And the Scripture says He healed
those that had need of healing. I'm talking about physical now,
right now. I'm going to get on to the spiritual in closing,
but just for a second. Does the Lord not say in Psalm
116, 15, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His
saints? There were some that He took
out of this world that were our brethren right here. And we miss
them. But physically, they had no need. physically to be healed. The
Lord took them. And He brought honor to Himself.
And they died in the faith. And for that, we do one thing.
We bow to it. But I do know that there is a
need of healing of the soul. And the need of the healing of
the soul, I know, that everyone that has been given Him in electing
grace, they do have a need of healing. And I can tell you that
He's going to heal them spiritually. They're going to come to Him,
and He will never fail to accomplish this healing. It's a need of
my healing before Him Spiritually speaking, I need new eyes. I need eyes to see. And according to His mercy and
grace, those eyes are going to be given. I need new ears. I need ears to hear. I need to
be able to hear the glorious gospel of God's grace. I need a new heart. to believe. I need a new will. I need a brand new creature.
I need a brand new man created in righteousness. I need for
Almighty God to do something for me spiritually that I cannot
do for myself. You know those that we realize That God has done
something for her. That God has met that need. You
know what they do? They believe Him. They believe
Him. They come to Him for mercy. They
come to Him in mercy because God's already shown them mercy.
They come willing to trust, wanting to trust, wanting to love Him
because they love Him. They know that they couldn't
heal themselves. And they speak out of a new heart
just like that leopard did when that leopard needed that physical
healing in Matthew 8. He said unto the Lord, he said,
Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. A believer says
that after the Lord has given him a new heart until he does. He doesn't even know that he
needs a new heart. He didn't even care. Oh, how
blessed it is to have been made to sit under the sound of the
gospel of God and to hear with new ears the preaching of the
kingdom where God Almighty shows mercy to sinners. To have been
seen by God Almighty before the foundation of the world in mercy
and grace and compassion and love. And in time, God opens
your eyes and causes you to see what He has eternally purposed.
The people, when they knew it, they followed Him. He received
them. He spake unto them of the kingdom
of God and healed them that had need of healing. Lord, have mercy
on me. Lord, heal me. Renew me. I tell you this, if
a man has a heart to ask for mercy and healing, Almighty God
has already healed him. The Lord has done something for
him already. May the Lord bless these words
to the glory of our blessed Savior and the salvation of His people.