Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 29. I'd like
to look at one verse of Scripture. Deuteronomy 29 and verse 29. Deuteronomy 29,
29. Let's read this one verse. The secret things belong unto
the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto
us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words
of this law. Let's pray together. We come this morning realizing,
oh, the dire need, necessity that we have to ask. You said
we have not because we ask not. Lord, I ask You this morning,
would You bless this Word? Help us. Help us to hear. Help us to worship. Comfort our
hearts by Your Word. I pray for Fred and June. I pray for Betty. I pray for
those, Lord, in our congregation that are hurting physically and
emotionally. Lord, have mercy. I pray for
Katie. Lord, thank you for raising up
the candlestick of grace. Lord, would you be pleased to
maintain the gospel in this place for your honor your purpose,
your will, and the good of your people. For it is in Christ's
name we pray, Amen. God's secret revealed. This Scripture sets forth that
there are some secret things that Almighty God is just pleased to not reveal
at this time. We talk about the Trinity, and
we believe that. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. We worship one God, and we cannot
reconcile in our mind How? One God. Three Persons. We cannot in our mind. We believe. We believe this. We believe this. We know this. We know that the
Father chose His people and gave them to the Son. And the Holy Spirit absolutely,
effectually called out all that the Son who was made flesh."
Now, there's a secret. Explain to me. Explain the fullness. You can't. You can't do this.
Of the incarnation of Christ. God, man, one. Totally God, totally man. Great is the mystery of godliness. Great is the mystery. God was
manifest in the flesh. We just can't explain that. The day of judgment. I know men foolishly think. They've got it figured out mathematically.
But isn't it amazing how foolish the Lord exposes them? Some things He hides. But when
the Lord is pleased to manifest His will, when He is pleased
to show some things, and reveal them. He does it in regenerating
grace. The things of the flesh are flesh. Spirit is spirit. The flesh cannot receive the
things of God. to man by nature foolish things. He mocks them. But when Almighty
God gives spiritual life, the life of Christ, then that new
creature created in righteousness, holiness, that new man, that
man minds the things of God, a new creature. born from above. The Lord said, I will give you
a new heart, a new spirit I will put in you. This is the only
way that men have ears to hear, eyes to see. A new man, a new
creature. Men were blind spiritually as
they were born in Adam because they are dead. Dead men. I mean, physically,
you might find somebody that's blind physically and have physical
life. Not spiritually. Men are blind
because they're dead spiritually. But in grace and mercy, Almighty
God has done something. And you witness it. And it's
so apparent. is an evidence of a hungering
and a thirsting after righteousness. God's people, when He calls them
out of darkness, old things have passed away. Old things become
new. They have a new hunger, a new
thirst, a new desire. And the stuff of this world,
it doesn't glitter like it once did. It doesn't sparkle. Oh, that old man, oh, he's still
there. And there are some things of
this world that are wonderful. I thank the Lord for the things.
God made this world, made it good. And by sin, this world
was cursed. And there are some things that
we see. I'm thankful. I'm thankful for
the beauty of this day. I'm thankful to be able to look
and to see the wonder of God's creation. I'm thankful for that,
but not above His honor, not above His glory. May God keep
me from the desire of the things of this world that would steal
my heart away from Him. May the Lord keep me from following
after those things. Almighty God in the revealing
of the wonder of redemption. That wondrous redemption that
is not known by man's wisdom. Not man's wisdom. It takes the
wisdom of God. A marvelous thing happens. You
take a new creature in Christ Jesus and He He's a possessor
of something that he did not have before. Wisdom from above. When Jesus
came to the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples,
saying, Who do men say that I the Son of Man am? And they said,
Well, some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias,
and others Jeremiah. or one of the prophets. And he
saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter
answered and said, You are the Christ. You are the Anointed One. You
are God in the flesh. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
Here is a miracle of God's grace. God's people understand and they
perceive some things that they just didn't know before. They may have sat under the gospel
for years and years and years. And they were cheerleaders for
Calvinism. Man, I tell you what, they could
jump in there and, you know, and make good points for the
five points and do it with the best of them. But they had no
heart, no tenderness for Christ. They were really, really on the
mark when it came to Calvinism. But Calvinism didn't die for
us. Christ did. Who do you say I
am? You're the Messiah. The Gospel of Christ, His incarnation,
His work, His person, His office, His death, resurrection, All
of salvation, that's not understood by the natural mind. It must
be revealed by the Spirit of God. Colossians 126, even the
mystery, Paul says, which have been hid from ages, from generations,
but now is made manifest to His saints. Those that are sanctified. That's what saint means. set
apart for God's glory. It's made manifest to God's saints
to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory
of this mystery. This mystery which is among the
Gentiles, which is Christ in you. The hope of glory. The expectation of glory. The
anticipation of glory. We see through a glass darkly.
But we have a hope. By faith we see Him. We know. Now this distinguishing grace
is set forth in the hiding of these things. Deuteronomy says
the sacred things belong to the Lord. But those things which
are revealed, they belong to us. They're ours. God has given
us some understanding. The grace of God in the distinguishingness
of Him hiding things and revealing things, that is God's glory. It's the glory, Proverbs 25,
2 says, it's the glory of God. It's the thought of God. It's
the purpose of God. This is the way God thinks. It is the glory of God to conceal
a thing. But the honor of kings is to
search out a matter. God is honored in those things
that He keeps hidden and those things that He reveals. The Lord
in Matthew 11, 25, 26, at that time, Jesus answered and said,
I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and proved it has revealed
them unto Baal. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight. Why would God hide some things? Because it seemed good in His
sight. Why would He reveal some things? Because it seemed good
in His sight. And you know what a believer
does? We do just as the Lord did. We do, in part, we do imperfectly
what He did perfectly. I thank Thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Lord,
thank You. Thank You. that, Lord, that it
was pleasing to You to hide some things. Now, let me tell you
what the unregenerate is going to say. That's not fair. That's not fair. Every man deserves... No, whoa. Let me tell you what
every man deserves. God has been pleased. to do what
He's done. And He's done it according to
His good pleasure. I thought about three things
that Almighty God has been pleased to reveal. And these three things
I am absolutely convinced every believer is going to believe
these three things. And where you find someone that
says, I don't believe that, there's a desperate problem. Desperate
problem. Here's the first thing that I
know that Almighty God has been pleased to reveal unto His people. I do what I do because of what
I am. I am a sinner. I sin because I'm a sinner. I know by divine revelation that
I am in myself, I am a rebel against God. Now that is a divine
revelation. Romans 3.23 says, All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Rebels by birth and rebels
by practice. But let me tell you how deceitful. Now that scripture, Mitch, is
truth. Now you know it's truth. Romans
3.23, All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans
3.11 says there's none that understand it. There's none that seeketh
after God. They're all going out of the
way. They all together become unprofitable. There's none that
doeth good. No, not one. Now, we know that. But let me
tell you how deceitful the human heart is. Let me tell you how
rebellious the human heart is. You know that scripture that
talks about they rest, W-R-E-S-T, they twist. They twist the scriptures. They twist them to try to hide. Let me show you how deceitful
the human heart is. Men attempt. to cover their guilt by saying,
yeah, I know that men are sinners. Yeah, I tell you what, man, when
mankind fell in the garden, yeah, all men fell. Yeah, everybody
is a sinner. Yeah, I know. Did you notice how general that
was? Truth. Truth. But do you know when I'm
in a gang with somebody else, if there's a bunch of us out
there and we're all out there together, I'm just not out there
by myself, man by nature will try, will attempt to hide and
even rest the Scriptures in saying, yeah, I know, boy, men are just
sinners. But here's the secret that God
mercifully reveals. I'm not going to have to stand
before God for you. I'm going to stand before God
myself. All men, we're all going to stand
at the judgment. Almighty God has revealed that
I am a rebel. I am my own problem. I have rebelled against God. That is a great secret because
I know that God saves sinners, not excusers, not, you know,
about to join the gang. Listen to this. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank Thee that I am not
as other men are. Extortioners and unjust and adulterers
are even as this public. I'm not as they are. You know
what a believer says? Yes, I am. Yeah. I'm a sinner. Paul said, O wretched
man, that I am. I do realize that we are all
dug out of the same pit, but I will tell you, when God reveals
that I am a sinner, this is a grace. I do what I do because of what
I am. It is a miracle of God's grace that
He would reveal to man what He really is. Why? Because the Lord said in Luke
13, 3, I tell you, nay, but except you repent, you shall all likewise
perish. I stand before Him in need. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I'm not trying to hide. I can't
hide. Almighty God knows. That is a great secret. The reason
that men are not concerned with their standing before Almighty
God is because they don't see themselves as a sinner, as a
rebel. And I'm the problem. Here's the
second secret. No sinner has the power to regenerate
himself. No sin. Now here's my plight. And it's after a woman is converted. That's when they know this. Before,
it didn't bother them, the man in the moon. Here's the problem.
I am a rebel dead in trespasses as being born in Adam. I know
this. After the fact, yes. But how glorious it is that God
Almighty would reveal to me Grace becomes grace, grace when I see
the pit from which I've been dug. I'm a sinner. I'm a rebel. And
the thing is, secondly, I don't have any power to do anything
about it. The Scripture says, I showed
you in that first point right there how men rest the Scriptures. and excuse themselves, well,
you know what? All mankind fell in at them.
Yeah, that's right. That's right. All men are just
sinners. That's right. That's right. But
are you a sinner? Are you? No sinner has the power to regenerate
himself. Now, I'm going to show you something,
how men rest the Scriptures again. When the Lord came to Nicodemus
in John 3, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, born from above,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Except a man be born again,
he can't. Now, do you know that that's
not the point that men are mad about? Everybody and their brother,
Neil, on television talking about born again. Everybody talks about
being born again. I'm a born again Christian. Well,
as I heard Brother Scott say, there are no other kind but born
again Christians. But men ignorantly talk about
that. Well, what kind of Christian
are you? Well, I'm a born again one. They use that term so loosely Men are not angry. They're not angry. They're not
mad at. They're not when someone tells
them you must be born again. They're not mad at that. You
know what they're mad at? Is when you tell them that they
don't have any ability to do it. Now, there's the problem.
The secret that is revealed. is that man has no ability. People will talk about the new
birth. Men will stand in pulpits and
tell people they've got to be born again. And then they will
tell them, they'll give them a set of rules and regulations.
Now, if you'll do A, B, C, D, E, then you're safe. They'll tell them All you have
to do. God wants to save you. God wants
to rebirth you. God wants to call you out of
darkness. Now, if you'll let Him, if you'll
let Him, there's the problem. The reason that men do not believe
that they can't do anything to rebirth themselves, the reason
that they don't believe that they're incapable is because
they're dead. They don't believe God. The reason that a man thinks
that he can produce life is because he really does not believe he's
dead. He does not believe that he's
a proud, arrogant rebel against God. He doesn't believe that. I want you to listen to this.
Here's what the Scripture says. 2 Timothy 1.9. I think what an amazing passage
of Scripture. And I'll tell you this, the carnal
heart will not bow to this. The carnal heart will not bow. 2 Timothy 1.9. Now listen to
this. Who has 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 before the world began." Now let me tell you what the
carnal heart is going to say. Because I accept and He saves. That's not what the Scripture
says. And what the Scripture says is
the truth. Who has saved us and then told
you about it in regenerating grace, not according to our works,
not according to our works. And the unregenerate will say,
no, no, I don't believe that. I do have a free will. I do have. I can. I can do that. God needs me. to accept. I exercised my free will. And
I was the one that... No. The Scripture sets forth that man does not have the power
to regenerate himself. You didn't have any contribution
in your first birth. It was totally outside of your
ability, knowledge. No. No. The secret that God reveals
to sinners is that Almighty God, God Almighty saves according
to His power and His purpose and His grace and His mercy. God's people are born again,
not of corruptible seed. Do you know what that means? Not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible. By the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. Man has no ability. The problem is men are not fighting
against the fact that there's a rebirth. They ignorantly speak
of it. I will give you that. They ignorantly
speak. They talk about it, but they
do not know what they're talking about. By the deeds of the law, by doing,
there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. The law exposes sin. The law
cannot justify you. Because the law is going to tell
you straight up, you've broken me. Men think I can keep the
law. No, you can't. As soon as you
say, I can keep the law, you've just broke it. You're a liar. When that Philippian jailer asked
Paul, Silas, sirs, what must I do to be saved? We dealt with
this when we went through the book of Acts, but I want to remind
you of it. Their answer, Paul and Silas's answer, was not the
effect. I mean, the question that the
Philippian jailer asked them and their answer to him was the
effect of regenerating grace. It wasn't the source of grace.
The jailer asked, what must I do to be saved? And this is the
evidence. What he was saying is, what will
I see myself? What will happen? If Almighty
God has saved me, what will happen? Paul said you'll believe Christ.
That's what you'll see the evidence of, not the source of. Belief,
faith is not the source of regeneration. Faith is the evidence of things
that are not seen. It's the evidence of it. Faith,
again, didn't die for you. Go back, ask yourself this. Whenever
anyone tells you this is the reason that I'm saved, ask yourself
this. Whatever you're trusting in,
whatever it is, whatever you think your ground, your source
of salvation, whatever you think it is, ask yourself this. Did
that die for you? Did that walk obediently before
God Almighty in absolute faithfulness? Did it put anything in there? And I'll tell you this, if the
answer is not the Lord Jesus Christ, then it's the wrong answer.
You're trusting in something that will not save you. The law
did not. Walk before God in obedience.
The law was God's standard to show you what you are. Christ. Grace. Mercy. I do what I do because of what
I am. I don't have any ability. I do
not contribute to my salvation. For by grace are you saved. And
through faith means by the knowledge it revealed. God reveals it to
you. That's how you know. And here's
the third point. And as I told you before, every
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, God's going to reveal these things
to you. A believer in the Lord Jesus Christ knows that He does
what He does because of what He is. When Paul said, Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? Who shall deliver me from sin,
the corruption? I'll tell you who shall. Christ.
Paid the penalty of it at Calvary and one day will deliver you
from the presence of it. A believer knows that. I'm a
sinner. I don't have anything to do.
I did not contribute to my salvation. God saved me by grace. And here's the third thing that
every believer is going to know. God's not a failure. You say,
well, you know. Well, I know that. Not unless
God reveals it to you. God is not a failure. Now, you
listen to every message that is based upon man's free will. Every one of them. I don't care
what you call it. I don't care what you call it.
What they're really saying is this. God has desired to. God has longed to. The Lord wants
to. But He can't unless they'll say
the blood of Christ was shed for sinners. It was. But if you
don't do so-and-so, whatever, then the blood that was shed
for you was shed in vain. You cannot get around that. If you tell someone Christ died
to make salvation possible, my question is going to be this.
What if you go to hell? What if you die and you find
yourself lifting up your eyes out of hell just like that rich
man. What happened? Was the blood of Christ shed
in vain? Did He die for at least some,
based on what you're saying, did He die for at least some
that will not be saved? Now, if you tell me no, I'm going
to have another question then. I'm going to ask you, Explain
to me, then, why you don't believe that the Lord said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. You're not going to get around
it. You're not going to be able to justify. You cannot justify. You can't. Here's what the Scripture
sets forth. God is not a failure. When the Lord Jesus Christ said
in John 6, 37, All that the Father giveth me shall
come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out. Now let me tell you what that
said. What that said was, all that God has eternally purposed
to save, He's going to save. There is not going to be one
person. There will not be one person
that was given the Lord Jesus Christ in eternal electing grace. There will not be one of them
that God doesn't have in glory with Him. The Lord said, Father,
I will. that those that you've given
me be with me where I am, that they might behold my glory."
Almighty God is not a failure. Moses said, I beseech thee, show
me your glory. And he said, I will make all
my goodness Christ, I will make all my goodness, all my goodness pass before you. And I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show
mercy. This is the way it is. This is
the glorious gospel. This is the message. This is
the message that God is going to bless to the salvation of
His people. You comfort my people. And this is what Almighty God
has sent preachers to proclaim. You are a helpless sinner. You
cannot save yourself. Salvation is all of grace. God chose a people in Christ
according to His own purpose and will before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. He wrote their names, Revelation
17, in Christ before the foundation of the world and in time. predestinated
them and put them under the sound of the gospel which is the power
of God. This is the only message that
God will bless to the salvation of sinners. There's no other
message. There's no other message. And
God's going to call out His elect. And Christ came into this world
as the Good Shepherd and knows His sheep. I know them. He said,
I know them. I know them by name. I know who
they are. And I'm absolutely convinced
when He said, I know them by name, I am absolutely convinced. When He died, He died with a
perfect knowledge of every one of them. He's God. Laid down His life, hanging on
that cross. There's Marvin Stoniker in a
substitute. There he is, made flesh. And
there He is putting away my guilt. There He is paying the debt that
I owed to God's broken law. There He is. And His Father forsook
Him because He had everlastingly purposed that He was not going
to forsake me. And He put His Son upon that
cross. made him sin and forsook him and killed him. Put him in that ground. He was
dead. He was dead. And three days later,
declared to all the world. Some see it. By divine revelation,
some never saw it. But to those that He called out
of darkness and gave them a new heart, the resurrection of Christ
declares God satisfied. God Almighty declared there is
therefore now no condemnation to them of being Christ Jesus.
Almighty declared everlasting peace everlasting joy, everlasting
hope. And when the Spirit of God is
pleased to call them out of darkness, the Spirit of God is going to
reveal this message to them right here. And His people are going
to be willing in the day of His power. They're going to be willing
to believe. They're going to be willing to
come. They're going to be willing to love. They're going to be
willing to stay. Why? Because He keeps them. He keeps
them by power and grace. What a marvelous message. All that the Father chose, Christ
redeemed. And all that He redeemed, the
Spirit of God is going to call them out of darkness. Last verse
of Scripture, 1 Peter 1, 3. I'm so thankful. Here I am, a
helpless sinner. I can't do anything to help myself. If Almighty God shows mercy to
me, He's going to show mercy to me on purpose, and He's not
a failure. I struggle and strive and look
at myself and I think, how could God have mercy? How could God
keep one such as I am? And His answer is, because I've
everlastingly loved you. And that just breaks me. I think
you could love one such as I am. 1 Peter 1, 3-5, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His
abundant mercy. And oh, how little do I know
of that abundant mercy hath begotten us again, hath rebirthed us unto
a lively, a living, confidence, hope. He has rebirthed us and has given us a living hope,
a living expectation. How? By the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. How do I know that I've got a
hope? Because my Lord has raised from
the dead ascended up, and the Scripture says, he ever liveth
to make intercession for me. There is our elder brother, our Lord,
our husband, our King, our surety. Oh, the glorious offices of our
Lord. And he is seated in the heavenlies. And truthfully, we know that
we're there with Him. There's a great mystery that
God has not revealed to us, but will. A lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance, incorruptible,
undefiled. Aren't you glad you can't defile
it? Because it's kept. It's in Christ. Reserved in heaven. for you who are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time." There's something God's going to reveal. He's going to
show us what He's done for us. Secret things belong to the Lord.
Some things I don't know. Some things God's been pleased
to hide. But those things that He reveals, I'm guilty in myself. I can't help myself. If Almighty
God has set His affection on me, God's going to keep me. He's going to sustain me because
He's everlastingly loved me. And He's not willing that any
of His people should perish. That's good news. May the Lord
bless these words to our heart for His honor and for our good
and comfort. Amen. Let's take a few minutes
break.