Christ. We ask you today, would
you bless this Word to our hearts and cause us to see that these
things we ask for Christ's sake. Amen. Out of that passage that
Brother Mark just read, in verse 11, this is what the psalmist God has spoken once, twice have
I heard it, that power, strength, belongs unto God. Power. Now man is born with a heart that is ignorant of God. He's born dead. He's ignorant of God's will. He's ignorant of God's character. Especially, he's ignorant of
God's power. Because all false religion has
this as the basis of their false belief. that man has to do something
in order for God to save him. Now, when you say that, what
you're actually saying is, I deny, I refute that God Almighty is
all-powerful. I absolutely deny that God Almighty
can save a sinner apart from that sinner doing something for
God or with God. All-powerful means that God Almighty
can do and does do what God is pleased to do without your or
my help. He doeth as he will. God Almighty
is omnipotent. God Almighty is all-powerful. And until by the grace of God
a new heart is imparted, until God Almighty gives a man a new
heart and saves him from himself, calls him out of darkness, regenerates
him. And after God Almighty has regenerated
a man, then God gives that man faith to believe what God Almighty
has powerfully done. Faith does not precede life. Faith is the evidence of life,
faith cometh by hearing. If you believe God right now,
this is brand new faith. New to you, new to God, but new
to you. You're not believing God right
now by the faith that you had yesterday. Faith cometh and it
cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Make much of the Scriptures. Make much of hearing God's Word. Almighty God has provided means,
the means of His blessing to His people. Make much of hearing
the Gospel. Make much of reading God's Scriptures
and prayer when you pray. Begin your day meeting God in His Word, and
end your day, close your day in God's Word. of the time that God has provided
to the hearing of the gospel. Almighty God has been pleased
to bless and to comfort His people, and He's done it by means. Make
much of them. Don't shun them. Don't think
light of them. I'm telling you, if you're here
today, you're here today by the grace of God. Today we're going to consider
in this series, the God that we worship, the power of God. Job said in Job 26, verse 14,
but how little a portion is heard of Him. Isn't that true? How little! But the thunder of His power,
who can understand that? Who can understand? You know,
we could read continually concerning the Scriptures and the acts of
His power. I mean, we could just talk of
God's power and creation in sustaining this world. But there's two areas
of His power that we're vitally concerned with, all of us. And here it is. It's His power
in salvation, and it's His power in judgment. We feel as though
that Almighty God is somehow just passive in this world. And I'm telling you, we're here
this morning in the very presence of Him who is going to do just
exactly what He's pleased to do. James 4.12 says there's one
lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou
that judges another as one? Now, concerning His power in
salvation, to say that God has a will to save is believed by
this whole world. To say that God has a will has
a desire that he would long to save, that he hopes that there's
going to be some save. That's what I'm trying to get
at. To say that God has a desire or a will to save a sinner, everybody
will believe that. God Almighty, they say. I'm just saying God Almighty. has a desire or a longing to
do something is a contradiction. I mean, if he's almighty, then
he's almighty. But they say that he has a desire
to say, but to say that God has power, the ability to do that
which he's pleased to do apart from somebody else helping him. That's going to take divine revelation,
because I'm telling you, everybody born in Adam wants the glory. As I've said before, this is
man's attitude. I know I didn't do much, but at least I believed. I don't want to get all the glory
for this. That's a lie. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. By nature, you want it and I
want it. Man, by nature, is powerless. He is absolutely impotent. The Lord said, without me you
can do nothing. Nothing. Well, I can believe. No, you
can't. No, you can't. You have no ability to believe
God. You have no heart to believe
God. You have no will to believe God. It's given unto you to believe.
And all men have not faith. Man thinks that by his self-righteous
works, he can cause God to do something. God's power in salvation is according
to His grace. This is what He said to Moses,
I will make all My goodness pass before thee. Now, listen. If you see all of the goodness
of God, then you see Christ to be all of your hope. If you see
all the goodness of God, you're going to see the Lord Jesus Christ
because He is all you'll ever see of God. He's the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. You see me, the Lord said, you've
seen the Father. That's what He said. I will make
all my goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I'll
be gracious. I will show mercy on whom I'll
show mercy." God's power in salvation is according to His grace. His power and all power is His. All power. That's what you read,
Mark. Power belongeth to the Lord. So how much of it do you have? The answer is none. The answer
is absolutely none. You have none. All power and salvation and the power of
God to save and impart life and call out of darkness and give
a new heart Born a man from above, and it is an expression of His
love. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. God Almighty saves men by power,
by grace. And He does it according to His
love. And His love is a distinguishing love. Men say God loves everybody. The only thing that I will ask
you is this. Show me in the Scriptures. Show
me in the Scriptures where God Almighty loves everyone. It's not there. Almighty God
loves who He says He loves. And then
Paul, in answer to that, he anticipated what men would say. He said this,
is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. Hath the potter not power over the same lump to make one
vessel under honor and another under dishonor? See, the problem
that we have is that We're going to take our little fickle minds
and our little fickle thoughts against God's. Who art thou,
O man, that replies against God? God Almighty is all-powerful
in salvation. But I'll tell you this, He's
all-powerful in judgment too. The Lord, Proverbs 16, 4. hath
made all things for himself." Somebody would say, oh, bless
the Lord for that. The Lord made all things for
Himself. Let me read you the last half
of that verse. "...Yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." You say, are you telling me that
Almighty God has made all men according to His purpose to show
mercy, to exhibit His mercy and grace, and also His wrath and
judgment? I'm saying exactly that. You're saying, well, now wait
a minute. That puts everything in the hands of Almighty God.
Well, that's probably the wisest thought you've thought this morning
because that's exactly right. Well, then, what can I do? What should I do? If you have any sense, any inclination
at all to cast yourself upon the mercy of God, it's not because
you came up with the idea. It's because God Almighty gave
you a heart to bow before Him and to cry unto Him for mercy. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And what will you do if God leaves
you to yourself? Let me tell you what you'll do.
You'll say, that's not fair. That's not fair. I'm not going
to bow to a God like that. Yes, you will. Yes, you will. Every knee is going to bow and
every tongue is going to confess that He's Lord. And He puts a
rebel in hell. It's going to be to the honor
and the glory of His justice. The problem with this world today
is nobody except those that God Almighty has called out of darkness
and given a heart to cry unto Him for mercy. He that cometh
to me, the Lord said, I will in no wise cast him out. Well, then come. Whosoever will,
let him come. But you shake your finger in
the face of God Almighty who is all-powerful, and I'm telling
you, based on His Word, He will put you in hell. Now,
you can sit here and argue with Him, and you can just... Oh,
no, I'm not doing that. I'll tell you where I'm going
to go. I'm going to go right over here Because they don't preach
like you do. They preach love. They love people. God have mercy on your soul.
I'm telling you, this is the God of this Bible. This is the God that is all-powerful. All-powerful to save and to judge. To deny His power is to deny that man is impotent,
unable. It's to deny man's depravity.
You say, I don't believe that God is that way. Proverbs 21 says, The king's
heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth
it whithersoever he will." Listen, God Almighty is all-powerful. Man's fall in the garden was
not a result of God's impotence. You say, couldn't God have stopped
man from falling? God Almighty can do anything
God Almighty wants to do. Well, then why? Did God allow
sin to enter into this world? You tell me why God allowed that. I can tell you that Romans 8,
28 is the same right now as it was in the day of the fall. All
things. You mean even the entering of
sin into this world? If the entering of sin into this
world is included in all things, then I would say yes. All things
work together for good. Are you saying that sin was good?
No, I didn't say sin was good. Sin is evil rebellion against
God. All things work together. They're
ordered together. God Almighty works all things
after the counsel of His own will. And Almighty God, even
the fall of man, for those that God Almighty has
everlastingly loved in Christ, chosen in Christ, and put in
Christ, preserved in Christ, even the fall in the garden is
going to prove to be a glorious exhibition of the power of Almighty
God to redeem those that He's everlastingly loved and bring
them to Himself. God's going to get glory in the
redemption of those. And placed against the backdrop
of the blackness and evilness of sin, Christ is going to be
honored. Christ is going to be seen. Christ
is going to be glorified. the Lord Jesus Christ, all-powerful
in creation. He spoke and it was. All-powerful
in providence. All-powerful in salvation, able
to save them, the uttermost that come unto God by Him. All-powerful
in judgment. He's all-powerful. There is no
area. There is no area. The Lord Jesus Christ said, no
man takes my life from me. They said, well, the Romans did.
They nailed him to a cross and they put a spear in his side
and out came water and blood. So the Romans killed him. He
said, no man takes my life from me. He said, I laid it down. He gave up his spirit. There's a time when a man comes
to the end of his life, if he could, If He could, we can. If He could, say, I've suffered
enough. I'm just going to give it up.
I'm just going to will myself. No man can lay down his life
and just say, Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit and
it be gone but Him. He laid down His life and He
said, I have power to take it again. He has power to lay it
down. He has power to take it back.
All power belongs unto Him. Here He is a man, the man, Christ
Jesus, the God-man, bound by the same laws that you and I
are bound by in this world. He came into this world and He
had to eat and drink and He got tired and He was weary. and He ascended into heaven,
denying the laws of gravity. I can't do that. All-powerful. And in that great day of the
judgment, in the great day of the resurrection, He's going
to speak. The trump of God is going to
sound, and every man in the grave, every woman in the grave is going
to come out of the grave, and they're going to stand before
Almighty God And the books are going to be open in the book,
the book of life. And all men are going to be judged
according to their works. And whosoever is not found written
in the book of life that was written from before the foundation
of the world is going to be cast into the lake of fire. Every
man found in the book of life, found in Christ, Christ assured
he's going to answer for him. You'll stand for them in that
day. God Almighty is able to bring to pass whatever God Almighty
has eternally purpose to do. Mr. Pink said if he were not
all powerful. His mercy would be pity, nothing
more than pity. His promises would be nothing
more than empty sounds and his warnings would be nothing more
than a scarecrow. Don't mean anything if he's not
all powerful and he is. All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. You know, if God ever brings
a man or a woman to see that, you're nothing. Apart from Him,
you're nothing. He doeth according to His will
in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth, and
none can stay His hand. You know, when man says that
you can resist God when God is wanting to draw a man to Himself,
and you can resist the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God said through Daniel
that none can stay His hand. None. when God is pleased to call one
of His own to Himself. Do you know what He does? Somebody
says, well, you're making men robots. That's all you're doing.
No, God gives you a new will. God gives you a new heart. Thy
people shall be willing. Do you know why any of God's
sheep come to Christ? Because they want to. That's
why. They wanted to. They came because
they wanted to. And you know why men don't come?
Because they don't want to. What's the difference to grace
of God? Listen, don't shun Him. Don't
shun Him. Those words that I just quoted
are just empty words unless the Spirit of God gives you a heart.
If He leaves you to yourself, let me tell you what you're going
to do. You're going to go back as soon as this service is over and I'll
smile and say hi to you and shake your hand And all of a sudden,
then, it won't seem as sharp as it does right now. It'll just
be easier. Marvin's not really as hard as
I thought he was just a minute ago. I'm not trying to be hard
at all. I'm just trying to be honest,
Carl. Just honest. The problem is that
men are standing in pulpits and they're not honest with you.
This is the truth. The disciples walked with him
and witnessed the power on the sea. It was rolling and he stood
up and he calmed the sea. Calm. Calm. What manner of man is this that
even the winds and the sea obey him? The power of Almighty God. Power belongeth unto the Lord. Men think that God is waiting
to do something. He is not waiting to do anything.
In fact, even the power that is His alone is God's name. In closing, listen to this Scripture.
And Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the Son of
Man sitting on the right hand of power. on right hand of God
Himself and coming in the clouds of heaven. I'm going to just ask you, if
you would, to jot down. I'm not going to read it. It's
just way too many scriptures, long length of time. Job 38 through
Job 42, verse 6. 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, verse 6,
five chapters. to 42, verse 6. It finishes the
thought, I think. That's where that thought finishes.
Read that. It's when Job was brought before
the Lord, and the Lord asked him, you gird up your loins. I'm going to talk to you. You
that have raised yourself up and thought that you were something.
I've got a few questions for you. That's what he said. Where
were you when I... That's that passage of Scripture.
Read that. The Lord Himself set forth His
power. Now listen, Almighty God is all-powerful. We've established that. We've
thought on it for just a few minutes. But in His power and mercy and
grace, if He'd given you a heart to call upon Him It's because
He's everlastingly loved you. If He calls you, you will come. You'll bow to Him who is all-powerful,
and you will not sit under someone that's trying to tell you that
God's trying to do something. Anybody that tells you God is
trying or God desires to do, but He can't unless you let Him,
that's a lie. That is a lie. He does as He
will. What should you do? I'll tell
you what I'd do. You don't have to move. This
aisle, you don't have to walk down this aisle. That's just
a piece of carpet is all that is. In your heart, you come to
Christ. He that cometh to me." You don't
come down here and shake my hand. I don't give invitations. The
Gospel. The Gospel is God's invitation.
He that cometh to me. I'd cry out unto the Lord in
my heart and ask Him for mercy. Ask Him to have mercy on this
sinner. And I'd confess Him in baptism.
That's what I'd do. Baptism is a confession of what
God's already done for you. Baptism is not salvation. Baptism
is a confession of your faith in Christ. This may be the only
time you ever hear me even use words like this. I came out of
false religion that just negated, or not negated, that made salvation
to be when you decided to walk down the aisle like 20 or 30
feet made some kind of difference. The only difference in me and
you is just a few feet. You come to Christ. You don't
come down to the front. You don't pray through. I'm telling
you, Almighty God is able to give you a heart and cause you
to cry out to Him for mercy. May the Lord have mercy on our
souls for Christ's sake. Amen.