morning. There are just two words,
two small words that are found in Romans chapter 8 and verse
32 that I want to try to emphasize here this morning. Romans chapter 8 and verse 32. And the two words that I want
to try to describe who they are is the
word US ALL. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. Who are these that are described
in the us all? Whoever they are, he says, how
shall he not with him? How shall not God with Christ also freely give us all things? give us all things, not pay us. It's not some proposition set
forth that you meet certain conditions that after you've met them will
enable you to have part and parcel with them, but it's giveth. How shall he not with
him also? freely give us all things, us
all, us all, to us all in that verse. Now, what a blessed, precious,
wonderful, glorious truth is this for you who can do nothing,
think nothing, desire nothing, and have nothing that is good
except what God gives. What a mercy it is! What a great mercy that you have nothing to do, nothing demanded on your part, that you might reconcile yourself
unto God. by what you do or what you don't
do. You have nothing to do. You're
like a beggar. You have nothing to give. The
only thing you can do is receive. You can't give anything. You've got
nothing to give. Like the two fellas our Lord
talked about and said, And when they had nothing to give, he
frankly forgave them all. When they had nothing to give.
As long as a man's got something to give, he's not a candidate
for the mercy of God. If he thinks he desires mercy,
or if he thinks he deserves mercy, he disqualifies himself as a
candidate for mercy. See what I'm talking about? If you think you deserve mercy,
you disqualify yourself. Mercy is for those that don't
deserve mercy. What a mercy it is that you and
I have nothing to do. It says here that He spared not
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not
with Him also freely give us? all things. Now, with respect
to the persons included in the words, us all, it's very evident
that the Apostle Paul, the writer of this book, it's very evident
that he does not mean that all of Adam's race or all of Adam's
posterity are included in the assault. It's also very evident
that all of Adam's race have not all good things given unto
them. And that's a truth. There are
thousands upon thousands alive and well today who are ignorant
of God. who go on as fast as they can
to fill up the measure of their iniquity who will be damned at
last for their sin. So he's not talking about every
member of Adam's race. He describes the persons contained
in the Word us all, they are set forth in the Word, described
as his own nation. They are described as his people. They are described as his kingdom. They are described as his inheritance,
David of old. whose heart beat with the heart
of God, said, Blessed be the nation whose God is the Lord. He also said that there is a
nation which God owns as His nation and of which He is King
and He is Lord and He is the only Potentate. David said, I
have sent my king upon thy holy hill Zion. Now, I do not think
that David meant literally the kingdom of Israel, but I think
what he's talking about is God's peculiar people among the kingdom
of Israel. He's talking about a spiritual
nation. a holy nation, a spiritual nation,
which he has something to say about here in the book of 1 Timothy,
chapter 2, if you'll turn with me there and see what this says. The us-alls are called a spiritual
nation, a kingdom of God. Notice in the 9th verse of the
2nd chapter of the book of 1 Peter, listen to what he says. First
he says in verse 5, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up
a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. To do what? To offer up spiritual
sacrifices. acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Nothing is acceptable unto God
apart from Jesus Christ. The best prayer that was ever
prayed by the best man that ever lived is not acceptable unto
God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. We used to have an old
lady that came to this church, years and years ago, and I believe
was a fine Christian lady, and she used to tell me every once
in a while about hearing someone pray. And she would always say, they
make such a wonderful prayer. They make such a wonderful prayer. Regardless, that's neither here
nor there about the wonderful prayer. But no wonderful prayer
is ever made unto God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. No man
can come unto the Father except by Him. You can't come to Him
in prayer. You can't come to God in prayer
except you come through Him. God has wrapped up everything that he has and everything
that he has to give, he's wrapped it up in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's shut up, bound up, tied
up, wrapped up in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not a prayer can be made
that will be heard by God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ as
our intercessor, our sacrifice, only him. Only the Lord Jesus
is pleasing unto God. You can't be pleasing unto God,
and I can't be pleasing unto God, apart from the pleasing
of the Lord Jesus Christ unto the Father. This is my beloved
Son, in whom, in the person of, I am well pleased with Him. Hear
ye Him. You can't do it. So he says here,
to offer up. spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the Scriptures, found in the Scripture. Whatever is found
in the Scripture is truth. And the people who God is talking
about in the us all are people who love the truth. They don't
hate the truth. They don't put question marks
behind the truth. They love the truth, whether
they understand the truth or not, yet, over all speaking,
they love every word that falls from the mouth of God and the
holy writers penned upon these pages. They love that truth. Wherefore also is contained in
the Scriptures, search the Scriptures, wherein ye think ye have eternal
life, but they are they which speak of me. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone," that's the Lord Jesus Christ, "...elect, precious,
and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded," shall
not be confused. Why won't he not be confused? Because God will give him a heart
to understand, and he won't be confused. Unto you, therefore,
which believe, this chief cornerstone lept and precious of God. He's precious. Unto you, therefore,
which believe, he's precious. Precious. The only thing that
we can compare precious to, in a sense that we might understand
the value of it this morning, is gold. Gold is precious. Do you know why it's precious?
Because there's not much of it. That's what makes it precious.
The Lord Jesus Christ is precious. There's only one of him. There's
not two or three or four, just one. And he's so precious that
you'll never get to God apart from him. That's how precious
he is. You can't get to God except you get to God by him, who's
the chief cornerstone, the elect, and he's precious. And therefore,
you who believe he's precious, he's precious to you. To them
which be disobedient, to them that won't believe, This stone,
this chief stone, the Lord Jesus, which the builders disallowed,
that is, the nation Israel, they disallowed this stone. It's like
a company of men building a building, building a foundation, and they
roll in the stones, and the chief builder, the chief construction
man, looks the stones over, and he says, this one's fit, and
this one's fit, and this one's fit, but here's one, he said,
it's not fit, don't put it in, and he disallowed it. He rejected
the stone. Now that's what happened when
the Lord Jesus Christ came. He came unto his own, but his
own received him not. They rejected him. The builders
rejected the stone. The disobedient, he said. He
said, to them which is disobedient, the stone which the builders
disallowed and rejected, the same stone is made the head of
the corner, and is a stone of stumbling, and a stone and a
rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a
A chosen generation. A chosen generation. Who chose
you? Who chose you? You say, well,
I don't like this business of God being on the throne and having
all the say-so. Well, like it or not, that's
the way it is. God's on the throne, and He does
the choosing. And if you're talking about persons
and people, he chooses persons and people. And the reason for
his choosing them is not found in them, it's found in him. Shall not the God of all the
earth do right? He will do right. Now listen. their chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. Now, he's not talking
about the nation Israel. That's not who he's talking.
He's talking about those who have been begotten by the
Word. He's talking about those who were dead in trespasses and
in sins and were the children of nature, even as others. He's
talking about those that His Spirit has worked grace in their
hearts, and they cry out to Him, Abba, Father. They are His sons
and His daughters. They have been begotten Word
of the Gospel. They have been born of the Spirit
of God. They are the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. That's that chosen generation.
That chosen generation. You hear them talk about, they're
not of our generation. I hear on the television people
who sometimes decry the morality of this day, and they say the
morality of this generation is detestable. They have no morality. In history, they'll write about
this generation. They had no morality. They were
not lovers of holiness. They were not lovers of God and
the lovers of But there is a generation within this generation who are
a chosen generation. And they are the people of God
wherever they're found, whether they be Methodists, Baptists,
Presbyterians, or whoever they are. They're a chosen generation.
They've embraced God's Christ as their Redeemer. and their
substitute, their righteousness, their acceptance, they've embraced
Him. They're that generation that
God's talking about, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
royal priesthood. We do not, this chosen generation
does not go to some Man as they are men and ask that man to intercede
to God on their behalf. They do not confess their wrongdoings
and their errors to some mortal man who is as sinful as they
are. They are king. God hath made these of his generation
kings and priests forever. They go to God through their
high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, whoever lives on high. Chosen
generation of royal priesthood and a holy nation. They're a
holy nation. What do you think of that? Huh?
Chosen generation, royal priesthood, holy nation, and a peculiar people.
That ye, notice what he said, that ye should show forth the
praises of him. What is their main business? These people who are chosen generation,
us all. He that spared not his own son,
how shall he not with him freely give us, give us, who are they? Chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a peculiar people. What should they do? Why? Salvation is brought home to
their hearts, and they understand that Jesus Christ is all in all
to them. He's everything to them. Why,
that has an effect upon their hearts, and what do they want
to do? They want to show forth the praises
of Him. That's what they want to do.
That's what they desire to do. to show forth the praisings of
Him who hath called them." Where were they? They were in darkness,
they couldn't see, but they were called out of darkness into His
marvelous light. And that effect, that the sweetness,
the sweetness of who Jesus is and what the Lord Jesus did has
its effect upon them, and they're never the same. They've been
changed. They've been converted. They
walk not in this direction anymore. Their objective is to show forth
praises of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous
light. They desire to do that. They
don't always do it, but they desire to do it. Called out of darkness. Set forth
as a holy nation. Now listen to me. Not holy in
their fallen nature. Not holy in their fallen nature. We've got a fallen nature. It's
never changed. When God saved us, our nature
didn't change. It's still as bad as it always
was. And if you're honest, you'll
agree with me. You're as bad now as you was
before. Your nature. Your nature. There's two opposites in you.
There's the spiritual and there's the fleshly. They war one against
another. And the fleshly never changes. Never changes. That's the reason
why. We want to do something, we find we can't do it because
there's a war going on inside us. What we want to do, we can't
accomplish. What we don't want to do, we
generally do as a war going on. Not holy in their fallen nature. Listen, there's no people on
the face of God's green earth who are so sensible as to their
unworthiness as this holy nation is. They are sensible to what
they really are. I'm only a sinner, only a sinner,
never change from that. There's no people on the face
of the earth who've grown because of their sinful nature like this
holy nation does. Ah, these people that comprise
the us all, that royal priesthood, that holy nature, They have a
hateful sense of their unworthiness and their unholiness. They detest
what they are in themselves. They hate it. They say, from
the top of their heads to the soles of their feet, they're
nothing but wounds and bruises. and putrefying swords, and they're
altogether an unclean thing. Their righteousness is as filthy
rags, but, bless God, they are a holy nation unto the Lord and
in the Lord, perfect in Him. My God, I wish you ever won under
the sound of my voice, could understand that if we have been
the recipients of God's Christ to substitute the Lamb of God
to take it away, if we have Him as our Savior, our help, our
friend, our guide, our light, if He's ours, we're perfect in
Him. Oh, you shrink back, don't you?
You say, me perfect? Not in yourself, not in your
fleshly nature. You're imperfect. You're full
of putrefying souls. You're full of maggots. You're
full of worms. You're full of dirt. You're full
of filthiness. In yourself, in your fleshly
nature, but in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, listen. Blessed be God this morning.
He's given his people an understanding heart. And they know his gospel. They know his gospel. Let me
read something to you here from John chapter 17. John chapter
17. Listen to what it says. Verse 21. This is our Lord praying here. This is his high priestly prayer. Verse 20 says, Neither pray I
for these alone. I'm not just praying for the
apostles. I'm not just praying for these
that have embraced me at this particular time. Not just them,
but for them also, which shall believe on me. Are you one of
them? I'm one of them. I'm one of them. Two thousand years later, I heard
the message and I believe on it. I didn't believe because
it was in me to. I believed because a work of
grace was worked in my heart and God opened my heart with
understanding. And with these eyes I see, and
with these ears I hear, and with this heart I believe. And I say,
Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. I pray
for them, he said, not these, not just these, but for them
also that shall believe. Listen, shall believe on me through
thy word. Now listen to what he says here.
That they all, who's he talking about? They all. Well, all those
that believe. Those before and those that believe
as a result of the testimony of those who believe before. All. All believers. That's what
he's talking about. Now, listen. That they all may
be one. One. Not two. One. One. One. One. As thou, Father, art in
me. and I in thee." Remember, I told
you that the Lord Jesus Christ is none other than the second
person of the Trinity. And I told you that He thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. And I told you that God
is one. Yet He has represented Himself
in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. There are three, but yet they're one. It's three in
one, and one in three. But there's one God. And He said,
that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee. We're one. Now listen, that they
also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou sent
me. That's what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about we are not perfect in ourselves, in our
unworthiness, our fleshly nature, but we are perfect in Him, perfect
in Him. There's no flaws, there's no
blemishes, there's no spots in us as we are connected to and
with Him. We're one with Him. The first Adam sinned against
God, the first Adam. I wasn't even born. I don't know what was on the
tree of the fruit that he ate. I just know it was in the garden
and God told him not to eat it. I don't know anything about it. I didn't eat of that fruit, but
he who represented me ate of that fruit. And it was counted
as if I ate it. That's how you got this way.
You got this way because Adam was your representative. And
because he sinned, you sinned. You was one with him. I don't
understand it. Well, you better try your dead-level
best to understand it. Because if you don't understand
that, you sure ain't going to understand about Jesus Christ
and you being one, if you can't understand how you're one with
Adam. By one man's sin, by one man's disobedience, What happened? We're all sinners. And by one
man's obedience, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. No flaws, no blemishes,
no spots, no wrinkles. In us, a holy nation in Christ. How blessed it is, huh? Oh, to
see the holiness of the Lord, the perfection of His beauty.
Here His people are holy. in Him and nowhere else. Not in yourself, nowhere else. I in them and thou in me that
we may be perfect in one. This nation is a holy nation. Internally in their hearts, internally
in their hearts they are a holy nation. not internally as to
their fleshly natures, no, a thousand times no. I've been following
this trail. I've been in this way for forty-some
years. Forty-some years. Short and sweet
are every one of them. But I've been in this way since
I was in my middle twenties, and I'm in my middle seventies.
I've been in this way. And I first thought, when I got
in this way, I first thought I would get better as I proceeded
along in years. I wanted to fill my mind more
with God. I wanted to have the world more
under my feet. I wanted this cursed army of
sin and iniquity that's in me to be put down and to be weakened. But instead of that, I think
it gets to my feelings stronger and stronger so that when I feel
the the gravity of my heart. I'm made to cry unto God. Can ever God live in this dirty,
filthy heart of mine? What do you think of that? That's my experience. I don't
know about yours. But if there was not a holy kingdom in a child of God's heart. He
would never come to hate this unholiness if it wasn't there. We feel in ourselves that our
hearts are as flat as a devil can make them. Our hearts are
forever wondering and rambling and it causes us to grieve because
of it. And we cry out to God and want
God to deliver us from this spirit, this spirit that lusteth against,
or the flesh that lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit that
lusteth against the flesh. These opposite causes us that
we cannot do the things that we would, but yet this holy nation
and holy kingdom within our hearts has holy desires of living to
God and for his glory. And then he says, last but not
least, that they are a peculiar nation. This nation, which is a holy
nation and a peculiar nation, this generation, They are a nation
with which no other nation on the tough side of God's green
earth can be compared to. They have a particular language. They call one another brother
and sister. There's no nation under earth
like them. They are loved. with a peculiar
love. They have a love that they are
the recipient of, that has no beginning, and it has no end. It has height, but it has no
top to be found to. It has depth, but it has no bottom. He said, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. Is not this love a precious love,
a peculiar love? It has peculiar effects upon
the soul that receives it and hears it. It makes him love his
God and makes him to love his people. And he loves everything
that honors and glorifies and he despises and detests everything
that doesn't affect him. That's the effects that it has
upon him. I was talking to a friend not
too long ago, a few days back, and he was talking to another
fellow, and the other fellow said, well, you're, said, you
need to, What you need to do is to accept Jesus. And the fellow
that was telling me the story said, well, he said, I didn't
know hardly what to say. I didn't want to offend him.
But I didn't understand what he was talking about. He said,
I need to accept Jesus. And he said, everybody loves
Jesus. He said, I guess everybody's
accepted Jesus. Ain't nobody hates Jesus, are
they? And anyhow, he said, he finally told him not knowing
what to say. He said, well, he said, I do
go to church once in a while. He said, I go up there at that
Richardson fellow that preaches. I've been up there a couple of
times. He said, it's been a couple of years ago since I've been
there, but he said, I'm thinking about going back. He said, I
just told my dad the other day, Dad, I think I'll go back up
there and listen a little bit. And this fellow said, you don't
go up there at that church, do you? And he said, well, yes. Well, he said, they're nothing
but a cult. He said, that's all right, they're a cult. He said,
they don't have anything to do with anybody. He said, all the
other churches around, he said, they don't have anything to do
with them. He said, there's all these Baptist
churches, he said, they don't have anything to do with the Baptist church.
And I said, plus we don't have anything to do with the Mormon
church, the Roman Catholic church, or the Methodist church, or the
Baptist church, or the Seventh-day Adventist, or the Seventh-day
this or that, or we don't have anything to do with any of them.
I said, you could tell them that if you wanted to. You want to
be a cult? I don't know what he's talking
about. I preach the gospel. Anyone's interested makes me
interested. And I found out if a man ever
sees it, if a man ever finds out who he is, it'll have its
effect on him. It'll have its effect. He'll
love and honor God, and he'll love and honor those who honor
God. Ah, listen, the effects? It'll cause you to bear ridicule. You'll be able to bear ridicule,
and insults, contempt that men have upon you. You'll be able
to bear, for Christ's sake. All these people, they love all
that is of God. Their love, even though sometimes
it's treated with contempt, They try to return it with kindness. It's such a peculiar love and
a particular love that no one can understand it but those who
have received it. They can't understand it. You
can understand it here this morning, can't you, because it's the same
love. You understand it. You marvel
why everybody can't understand it. Oh, listen. They who are described in the... I'll be through here in just
a minute. are the citizens. They're the citizens of God's
city. They're the citizens of the city where God the King reigns
and where God the King rules. They're citizens of that city.
They are members of the household of faith. You've heard of that
in the Bible, haven't you? And this city is immutable in
all the ways of the devil and his demons can ever overthrow
this city, that they are members of. God has walled this city
round about with his salvation. This city of God, where those
are the household of faith, where they dwell, it's founded upon
a rock. It's built upon a rock. The King,
eternal, immortal, invisible, only one that's omnipotent with
all of his glory. He dwells in this city and he
protects his people, those on his left hand and those on his
right hand. They're citizens of his city. They eat at the same table. They
eat the same food. Don't they? the children's food,
they're taught the same language. They're all clothed with the
same clothing, the righteousness of God. They're all brought to
have the same feeling towards the household of God. They love
one another. They're brothers and sisters.
They talk about the things of God. They're all united in their
heart together. in truth and in love, but my
souls." He gave them his Son, and his Son completely annihilated,
abolished sin and put an end to it. The devil was conquered,
death was subdued, and the flesh He that spared not his own son,
he inflicted his own son with the punishment that was due us
as sinners. The penalty and the wrath of
God that was due us fell on him. Vengeance belongeth to God, the
Bible says. The vengeance of God against
us fell upon his son. he spared not his son. At Gethsemane's garden he was
not spared. There he was in agony. Drops of his blood fell to the
ground, not for his sin, for he had no
sin, but for the sins of his people. He suffered the just
for the unjust, a holy nation, a chosen generation, the household
of God, a peculiar people, not all of Adam's race, but those
that he knew and foreknew before time. No one is excluded. You say, well, you've excluded
me. Oh, no. If you'll have him, you can have
him. He's yours for the taking. There's no barrier there. The
Bible says, Oh, let the Father give it to me, so come to me.
You know, what I want to hear is, Come to Him. Come to Him. If you're a sinner, you qualify.
As long as you're holding on to some good thing that you think
is God-worthy, well, then you don't qualify. Drop it all and
lay at His feet and come to Him. Like you are. Nothing in my hand
I want. Just own him to be your king. Let's stand. We'll meet again
soon. Godspeed.