steals that which does not belong
to him. But a robber is one who robs
openly. He does it openly. He plunders
openly, sometimes by violence. I remember reading here, as a
matter of fact I just read it this morning, here in the book
of Isaiah to kind of fortify this verses of Scripture by way
of introduction to it. Then the first chapter and the
third verse says, The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's cream.
The ox knows who he belongs to, and the ass knows who he belongs
to. But Israel doth not know. She doesn't know. The ox knows
his owner, but Israel does not know. Not only is the charge
made against Israel by Isaiah the prophet here that she does
not know, but it says she does not even consider. She does not
even consider God. So it's a serious charge then
that The prophet brings against man here when he says that, calls
him a robber, and there's kind of an astonishment indicated
in the question here, will a man rob God? He kind of asks this
question in amazement. The question is asked as if it
were improbable, if not impossible. Will a man rob God? Man, an insignificant
creature, dependent upon his God for the very breath that
he breathes, or for the very air that he breathes, insignificant. Will that man rob God? Will a
man who is dependent upon God, his Maker, for the very air that
he breathes, for the very next breath, Will he rob God the good,
the just, and the kind? God who can crush him in a moment's
time? Will a man rob God? Well, if
a man would rob God, it would be a very bold thing to do, I'll
say that. A very daring thing to do. A
very bold thing for man to rob God. You see, if a thief would
rob his fellow man, who being his equal, he has reason to fear
the law. The law will look for him. The law will search for him.
It will manifest some effort to apprehend this man who has
stolen from his equal. Well, if he finds him, why he'll
be punished by the justice of our civil laws. But what are
police and law enforcement officers and judges and juries and prisons
and penitentiaries and places of confinement, what are all
of this compared to the judge of all the earth? All of the law enforcement and
all of the law and all the punishment that's involved in our society
is nothing in comparison to the judge of all the earth. Will
a man rob God? I'll tell you, it's terrible. Think of it. Will a man rob God? The crime is more terrible because
it When a man does rob God, he robs God before his very face. If a robber could go behind the
back of God and rob him, it would be insolence. But since the Lord's eye is everywhere
in all places, That is, there is not a foot
of ground, there is not a foot of space in the universe at any
time that God's eye is not fixed upon, that God's eye does not
rest upon. God's eye is everywhere at all
times. So, a man who would rob God must
rob God to His face, because God's eye is everywhere. Is that
not so? God's eye is upon every particle
of this universe, and nothing escapes the notice or the attentive
eye of God Almighty. Nothing, absolutely nothing.
As a matter of fact, Our God even knows the intents of our
hearts. He knows the purposes of our
hearts. He knows the motive of our hearts. He knows all of our plans. He
knows all of our schemes. He knows all of our plots. He
knows what we will do before we do it. And these things are
not something that has taken Him by surprise, but He knows
these all along. So in light of that, brethren, when a man robs God, he robs
Him to His face. He cannot go behind God's back. Since there is no place behind
God's back, and there is no spot upon this earth where His eye
does not rest, he must inevitably rob God to His face. Well, will a man rob God whose
eye is fixed upon him? Will a man have the audacity? Will he be so ignorant that he
would fly into the very face of God and rob him while his
eye is fixed upon him? Will he do that? This is very serious, I think,
when we get to thinking about the text, will a man rob God? And I said, if a man would rob
God, it would be a daring act, it would be a bold act, because
God's eye is fixed upon every place. And he can't go behind
God's back because he cannot get behind God's back, because
God's back is everywhere. God's eye is everywhere. Now,
will man fly into the very face of God, God whose eye is fixed
upon every move? Will man have the ignorance or
the audacity, the boldness to rob God to his face? Will he
defy his very Maker? Well, if a man robs God, It's
a bold act, wouldn't you say? You'd have to agree with me that
if a man robs God, it's a bold act. Because God's eye is fixed
right on him. And if he does so, he does so
to his face. He defies his Maker. Secondly,
if a man would rob God, he'd have to be an ungrateful wretch. He'd have to be one of the basest,
most ungrateful wretches that was ever born of woman into this
human race, if he would rob God Almighty. You see, God has made
us, and we not ourselves. Therefore, we are bound to serve
Him, and every religious instinct that we have forbids us from
robbing him. Shall a creature injure his Creator? You and I who are creatures,
shall we somehow injure the Creator who made us? God made us. Shall we injure Him? Well, if we live It's certainly
by His forbearance. That is, if we live, and we do
live, all of us here this morning, we're alive. Physically, we're
alive. That's one thing for sure. We're not dead physically, we're
alive. And we live and breathe and we
exercise our faculties and we have appetites and we live. We're
here, there's no denying that. We're not in a dream. We're actually
here, literally here in life on this earth. And if we've lived
a certain period of time, it's been by God's forbearance. It's
because God has put up with us. It's because God in His providence
has kept us unto this hour. Whether we be hale or hearty
or sick or poor or whatever the situation is, God has forbearance
with us up to this point. If we live, it's by God's forbearance. Now, if we're saved, it's by
God's divine redemption. If we have been provided for
in our daily life by the bountiful hand of God by way of food and
drink, and He has given us clothing and lodging, We owe that to God. We owe it
to Him. He's done it. We have not done
it ourselves. Would a man rob his own father? Would we somehow go into our
earthly father's house and look him in the eye and steal from
him? Would we do that? Will a man
rob God? Will a man rob his father who
has given his very life for him? Who has provided his needs from
the time he was born? Who has put food on the table,
clothes on his back, and a pillow for his head? Who has educated
him? Who has loved him? Would a man
go into his father's house and look him in the eye and steal
from him while he looks him in the eye. Would a man do that?
Will a man rob God? That's what I'm trying to find
out here this morning. Will a man rob God? And the prophet
here, when he makes this heavy and weighty and serious charge,
he does so in amazement. He said, Will a man rob God?
He seems to understand something of the character and benevolence
and goodness of God to His creatures. Would a man rob God who has caused
the rain to fall upon the just as well as the unjust? Who hath
caused the sun to shine upon the just as well as the unjust?
Who hath fed the young lions when they roared? Who has cared
for the ravens? Would a man rob God? Would he do it? Well, once more,
will a man rob God when he is sure and certain of punishment? Will he do that? Will a man rob
God when he is sure and certain of punishment for the crime? Will he do it? You see, a man
who is a thief, who is a robber, he hopes to escape. That fellow
that robbed you the other night, Daris, when he took your car
there, he did so with this idea in mind, I hope I can get by
with it. I hope that when I get into this
car and I can turn the key on and the motor starts up, that
nobody in that building there will hear the roar of the engine
and I can get out on the highway and get out of here before I
get caught. Now that's what the thief, the
thief and the robber, he hopes to escape. He does. Well, even if he begins to reason
about this thing, he thinks, well, if they do here, the motor
start, I can be out on the highway and I can be two or three miles
maybe up the road before they can get their wits together and
someone get after me or call the police. And even if they
do that, there's a possibility that I might escape, elude, I
might even battle the police. I might go up one of these muddy
roads here in West Virginia and lose the police as they search
for me. That's the thief's hope. That's
the way he thinks. You see? You see, if he was sure
If he was sure that he was going to be caught, and he was going
to be tried, and he was going to be condemned, and he was going
to be sent to jail or hanged, he wouldn't do it. If he was
sure of it! If he was absolutely sure, Darius,
that fella, when he'd come up out here Sunday night, if he'd
been absolutely sure, as he looked at these, these cars were very
tempting to him, And maybe he'd walk for a long ways, and his
legs was tired, and he thought, well, if I had one of these cars,
I could get on home and relieve myself, and I'd be rested. Maybe I could do that. And he's
seen all these cars up here, and he said, now, but I know,
I'm sure that if I'd get in that car and start up, they'd catch
me. So I won't do it. I won't do it because I just
know, I'm sure, I'm absolutely sure 100% that they're going
to catch me. And if they catch me, they're
going to try me, and they're going to condemn me, and they're
going to put me in jail. If a man was absolutely sure
that that would take place, that there was no way that he could
evade the search of the police, There was no way he could get
out of it. He couldn't lie to get out of it, or he couldn't
have someone else to lie on his behalf and get out of this thing.
I'm going to tell you this, brethren, he would not absolutely steal
anything. He wouldn't do it. If he was
absolutely sure he was going to be caught, you see, he wouldn't
commit the crime. He wouldn't do it. But, let's
go a little further. No man, you see, can hope to
escape the ever-present seeing eye of God Almighty. No man can
hope for that. You see, where will he hide? Where will a man hide from God,
Jack? Can he find any place upon this
universe that he can hide from God? What foreign country can
he go to that God doesn't know every trail, and every step,
and every tree, and every cave, and every refuge? Where can he
go that he could hide from God? They know where he can go. If
he goes to hell, God knows where he's at. He can't go anywhere
but what God will find him. Well, you see, will a man rob
God when he is sure to be caught and punished? Will he do that?
Will a man rob God when he is absolutely sure that he cannot
escape, and he's going to be caught, and he's going to be
tried, and he's going to be condemned, and he's going to be punished?
Will a man rob God? Will he do that? When he's sure
of it. Listen to me. Listen to me. Some of you here this morning,
some of you here this morning, including myself, that have robbed
God, we've robbed God. Some of you are continuing to
rob God. And let me tell you, let me tell
you, the thief, he may think that he can escape. The law can't
find him. And he may baffle the law all
of his life. And the law may never bring him
to justice. There's thousands of men who
have went got free. The law has not caught him. They've
went off into another state, another town, another country,
and taken up an alias, a different name, different social security,
and all that, and they've got by. And they've escaped the law. But let me tell you, let me tell
you, you can't escape God. His eye is everywhere. He knows
where you're at. He knows exactly where you're
at, what you're doing. You see? And you can't escape
Him. No way! Will a man rob God? Ask yourself
this question. Will a man rob God when he is
absolutely sure to be caught and to be punished? Well, I'm
telling you, as the brethren have said, he will rob God. Man will rob God. Let me give
you quickly here some form. of this robbery, some forms of
this robbery. How is it that man robs God? Well, there's many people, and
you know them. I run into them just every whip
stitch. I could run into this type of
individual every hour of every day if I set out to look for
them. There's many people who are alive
right today, and maybe some right here. Many people who for a whole
lifetime, that is, from the time that they were born until right
now, 50, 60, 70 years old, have lived a full life, a full life. That is, they've been blessed
by the mercy of God in that they have enjoyed enjoyed good health for the most
part of their lives. I know people 60, 70, 80 years
old that's never been in the hospital in their life. Never
been in the hospital and had very few sick days. I've talked
to people that said, well, I've never been really sick a day
in my life. I've never had so much as a sore
throat in my life. I've never had any broken bones.
I've never spent a day in the hospital. I've had no operations. I've been very fortunate throughout
my life. I've lived my whole life without
any serious health problems. Lots of people like that. But
these very same people doesn't seem to understand for some reason
or the other. They understand, but they don't
understand. They don't want to understand.
These people have been prolonged by the forbearance of God all
of these years. You take a man or a woman that's
had a full life like I've described here, That, the root cause of
the blessings and fullness of their life is to be attributed
to the goodness and the kindness and the forbearance of God. He's
the cause of that. But these same people, these
same people have never given God a minute's semblance of worship. Not one time, not one time. They
have not worshipped Him in their hearts. They have not worshipped
Him in prayer. They have not sang one song of
praise with delight in their heart unto the God who hath kept
them these 50, 60, 70 years. As a matter of fact, they have
never one time used that holy name of God Almighty in worship. The only time the holy name of
God has crossed their lips has been with a careless profanity. Now, I'm telling you this morning
that this is one form of robbing God. When a man lives in God's
world, and I want you to know here this morning, that the world
in which we live is God's world. I want you to know the food that
you eat is God's food. I want you to know that the air
that you breathe is God's air. I want you to know that the water
that you drink is God's water. I want you to know that everything
that you enjoy in this life belongs to God Almighty. I want you to
know that. I want you to look me into the
face this morning and hear me say that all of these things
belong to God. They belong to Him. And if you
have not one time praised and blessed Him in your heart for
His bounty unto you, you have robbed God. You have robbed God
that which is His due. Listen, would it make you mad? Would it make you mad? Would
I offend you if I'd take you by the hand right now and look
you smack dab in the face and tell you that you've robbed God,
would that make you mad? Listen, He made you, He made you. God
has made you, you have made yourself, but He has nothing from you.
He got nothing from you, He made you. Does He feed you day in
and day out, and in His hand is your breath, but you have
done Him no service? If a man buys a cow, he expects
milk. If a man buys a dog or has a
dog, he expects that dog to come when it whistles. Will God make you? Will God feed
you? Will God clothe you? Will God
smile upon you? Will God keep you in this life
and bless you? Is He to have no return for His
efforts? You live as though God did not. You plan, you promote, you do
as if God had died and there was no God. I tell you this morning,
I tell you, you make a big mistake. You make a big mistake when you
rob God of His due. Some rob God this way. You know,
when God prospers a man, or when things go well with a fellow,
you know how it is, you get a better job and you get an increase in
salary, or some windfall comes in your direction. Something
has been bestowed upon you. And you say, my soul, what do
you think of that? Looky here, looky here what I've
got. I've come into this, or I've
come into that, or I've been promoted. When a man takes this attitude
and says, well, I sure am a lucky fellow. I'm lucky. I'm a lucky
fellow. We ought to get back to using
biblical terms. My mother visited with me not
too long ago. We were in the car someplace
and she told me, I believe it was her or my aunt one, they
said, well, boy, I'm so old and I sure am lucky. I said, well,
I don't like that word lucky. And it upset them. It bothered
them. Because I said, well, I just
don't like that word lucky. I said, what do you mean lucky?
I'm seventy-some years old and I haven't been sick hardly a
day in my life. I feel like I'm lucky. Well,
when men and women begin to prosper sometimes, God prospers them,
that's what they say. They say, well, I'm a lucky fellow.
I'm lucky. I plant my lucky stars. What do stars have to do with
that? Can you figure out what stars have to do with providence? I thank my lucky stars. Oh, listen,
you know what a man's saying? He's saying by this that he's
robbing God of the thanks that belongs to God. If God, if He
prospers you, He doesn't prosper you. You're to thank Him. All
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. Let's not say,
well, I'm a lucky fella. Boy, I'm lucky. Boy, I've lived
here for 40 years and no one's ever robbed me. I've lived here
for 50 years and boy, I just got along good. I've prospered
and I've raised a family and I've had a good job and I've
been able to send my children to college. My wife has never
been too sick or haven't had any hospital bills. Boy, I sure
am lucky. Listen, when you take that attitude,
you know what you're doing? You're robbing God! You're robbing
God of His due! You're robbing God of His plans!
It's God that kept you. It wasn't your lucky stars. It's God that did it. We'd better
get back to, you know, to what the Bible's teaching. A fellow
called me here yesterday. He said, I'm a missionary to
Alaska. He said, this is an independent
Baptist church. Well, I said, it's a Baptist
church. I said, I don't know how independent we are. I said,
it's a Baptist church. We're certainly not independent
of God. And if we're independent, it's a mighty little lie. It's
a mighty little lie. But anyhow, he said, I'll tell
you what. He said, I'm a missionary. from
Alaska, and he said, I'm visiting the area here, buying a trailer,
and I'm going to take the trailer back for my wife and children. He said, I'm trying to get some
meetings while I'm here. I'll only be here a week or so.
He said, I wonder if I could come down and preach at your
church. I said, I don't know about that. Well, they said,
I'd like to come. I said, well, you'd have to tell
me what you believe. I said, do you know what the
gospel is? Do you know who Christ is, what
Christ done, and where He's at, and what He's doing now, and
what He's done it for? Can you tell me some of those
things? I said, you have to tell me what the gospel is. Well,
he said, I believe the gospel is 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
the death, burial, and resurrection. That's all he knew of the gospel.
He didn't tell me anything about who Christ was. He didn't tell
me why Christ died. He didn't tell me whose sins
against. He didn't tell me anything about the imputed righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't tell me anything about
what God demands. All he could say was, he said, I stand or
fall in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the death, burial, and resurrection.
I said, here is what I want to know. He gave me an illustration.
He said, well now, if I go up into Alaska, if I go up into
Alaska, And he said, there's 75,000 people on the street up
there. He said, I feel like I can go
to every one. He said, if there's 75,000 drunk
people on the street, and I can go up there on the street and
I can tell every one of them, Christ died for you. Christ died
for you and was buried for you and rose again for you. And he
said, I feel like I can do that. And I said, well, I feel like
you can do it. I said, I don't know whether you're telling the
truth or not. Listen to me now. If you tell every man that you
meet, every man that you meet, that Christ died for him, that
God loves him, how do you know that God loves him? How do you
know that Christ died for him? How do you know that? Listen
to me now. Let's get down to talking like
the Bible does. The Bible doesn't talk like that. The Bible says
this. The Bible says that Christ died
for sinners. That's why he said he died. Anyhow,
this fellow told me this. He said, now, I said, well, in
other words, I said, if there was five men or five women out
of the 75,000 that you talked to up there, if they responded
to your message, if they turned from their sins, if they trusted
in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and as their Savior, I said,
now, why? Would you tell me why they did
it? And the other seventy-some thousand people didn't do it.
Would you tell me why? Well, he couldn't tell me why.
He said that salvation is by decision. I said, no. He'd already
quoted to me from the second chapter of the book of Ephesians
in verse number 8 where he says, by grace are you saved. And then
he tells me that salvation is by choice. Salvation is by decision.
I said, now get it straight. What do you believe? I said,
either salvation is by grace or it's by choice. Which is it?
He said, it's by both. I said, it can't be by both. Oh, my soul. Listen. Some rob God by attributing free
will as their Savior. Now, I know that man has a will.
Man has a will. We do make a decision. But I
want to know why we make the decision. That's what I want
to know. Why do we make the decision?
You're saved here this morning and you trusted in the Lord Jesus
Christ? Why did you trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ? Why did you do it? When there
was people sitting right beside of you that heard the same message
that you heard, heard the same preacher that you heard, and
maybe were better people morally than you were. Why is it that
you responded and they didn't respond? Now that's what I want
to know. Why? Why? If you tell me free will, If
you say, well, it's because I was just willing to do it and the
other fellow wasn't willing. Then it was up to your free will.
Yeah, well, that's what I'm saying. It's up to my free will. Well,
then free will is your Savior. Here's what I'm saying, brethren.
When we say that free will is involved in this, then we rob
God of His free grace. I'm going to tell you what made
you willing. That's what I want to know. What made you willing?
Other people weren't willing, but you was willing. You was
willing to turn from your sins. You was willing to count the
cost. You was willing to turn your back on the world, turn
your back on your family. You was willing! Who made you
willing? Who made you willing? That's
what I want to know. I want to know that because if
you can give me the right answer then, I can tell you that you're
not robbing God. See? Who made you willing? God
made you willing. The Bible says that God makes
His people willing in the day of His power. He makes them willing.
The old Puritans used to say this, God saves His people against
their will with their full consent. God saves His people against
their will with their full consent. He makes them willing. See, it's
free things. It's all of God, brethren. From
start to finish, it's all of God. And everything in between,
it's all of God. It's not of your will. Let me
read something to you here, real quick. This is what I read to
this fellow over the telephone. Listen to this. I've read it
to you numerous times, and you've read it. It's in the book of
John 1, verse 13. Listen to this. He came unto
His own. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. They said,
No. Thumbs down. We will not have this man. We
won't have Him. We don't want Him. We don't want
Him. We won't have Him. Thumbs down. We don't want Him. 11th verse
says, "...he came unto his own, but his own received him not."
Now the 12th verse says this, "...but as many as received him."
There are some that received him. Now, as many as received
Him, to them, to these that received Him, He gave power, or He gave
authority, or He gave right, or He gave privilege to become
the sons of God, even to them that call upon His name or believe
on His name. Verse 13 now explains the whole
thing. Now, who's He talking about in
verse 13 when He says, "...which were born?" He's talking about
these fellows up here. As many as received Him, gave
He them the power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name, which were born, not of blood." They didn't
get that way because of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God! They were born of God! Salvation is of God! Salvation
is not of my free will. I have no free will! I have no
free will. I lost and forfeited my free
will in Adam and the garden of Eden. Our free will is what got
us in this trouble. Can you see that? Free will is
what got us in trouble. In the garden, Adam and Eve had
a free will. God said to them, He said, you
can partake of anything in this garden except the fruit of the
tree in the midst of this garden. You cannot partake of that. You
cannot eat of that fruit. Everything else is yours. I've
provided everything here for your satisfaction. for your nourishment,
for your happiness. I'll come down and visit with
you in the cool of the day every day. We'll have unlimited fellowship,
sweet communion one with another. Everything that's needful and
necessary for your happiness, I'll provide. But the fruit on
this tree, thou shalt not eat of that fruit. The day that you
do eat of it, you'll die. Free will. Free agency. What happened? They had it. They
had it. What did they choose? Did they choose God? I ask you,
did they choose God? No, they didn't choose God. They
chose to usurp authority over God and push God off of the throne
and they ate of the fruit. And they ate of the fruit. What
happened? They died spiritually. And every
one of their seed died. And when I was born physically
into this world, I was born dead with a nature of enmity towards
God. And if God ever saves me, if
God ever saves me, a rebel I am, A nature that is enmity against
God. God's got to do something to
my heart. He's got to change my nature. He's got to cause me to have
a heart that'll love Him. Well, here's what I'm saying.
If God ever saves anybody of this fallen race, it'll be by
the grace of God. It won't be by free will. That's
what I'm trying to say. I may have stepped too far. I
got away from what I was trying to say, but I trust that you'll
forbear with me. What I started out to say was
this. Some rob God when they say, well,
thank my lucky stars for my prosperity. I thank my lucky stars for my
good health. I thank my lucky stars that my
children have all been honorable. They haven't disgraced me. They've
been decent and they've been honorable. They're not Christians
by any measure of the word, but they've been honorable and they
have not disgraced me. I'll thank my lucky stars. You
better start thanking God for it. Quit worrying about your
lucky stars. I'll tell you, sometimes men
begin to brag and boast of what they've done by their own genius
or by their own achievement. You see, when a man brags or
boasts about his accomplishments, then he robs God of the honor
due to God's goodness. Look at old Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar
lifted his hand up to heaven and said, I've done this. This
is what I've done. And he began to brag and to boast
about what he'd done, his power, his might, his genius, his achievement. You know what God did to him?
God said, I'll make you go out there in the field and you'll
crawl on your forefeet like an animal. And He said, I'll put
feathers on your body and nails on your feet. And He said, you'll
get out there in the dew and the dust and just like an animal. And that's what happened. And
boy, when He come to the end of Himself, finally He said,
He said, all the honor and glory is due unto God Almighty. Listen,
you know, sometimes when the Lord sees fit to make a man useful,
even in the ministry, when he has a large congregation, it
is easy for the preacher then to think that this large congregation
is due to my eloquence. It is due to my faithfulness.
He's taking praise to himself and he's robbing God. He's robbing
God. He's robbing God. That's how
you rob God. Some yield to the temptation
to limit the legal claims of God. They rob Him of His rights
under His just and righteous law. Some say that God does not
require from us perfect obedience to His law. He only asks sincere
obedience, that's what they say, doing the best I can. I believe
that if I do the best I can, I'll be alright. If I go as far
as I can go, I believe I'll be alright. A fellow told me here
one time, I met a fellow out front here, and I said, well,
why don't you come on in this evening and be in church with
us, and we'll sing together, and we'll worship together, and
we'll listen to the Word of God together. He said, no, I haven't
got time. Well, I said, you better take time. We'd love for you
to come." He said, no, he said, if I lived up to the rules of
my particular organization, he said, I'll be all right. He said,
if I live up to the rules of my lodge, he said, I'll be all
right. And I said, well, I don't know about that. I said, God
requires perfection. Well, he said, I believe if a
man does the best he can, goes as far as he can, he'll be all
right. Well, you see, when a man thinks like that, he robs God. He robs God of His legal and
righteous claims of His law. His law demands perfection, absolute
perfection out of every one of us. That is what God demands. His law demands that. Well, I
know by reason of our sinfulness we cannot render perfect obedience
unto God's law. I know that, and I think you
knew that. But God's not to be blamed for
it, is He? God's not to be blamed for my
inability, for my sinfulness to render perfect obedience to
His law. If I cannot pay yet, the debt
remains, even though I can't pay, the debt is still there.
I'm under obligation to the law of God to keep it. So let's not
get to the place that we say, well, I don't think God requires
that. He just requires you to do the
best you can. No. His law requires you to be perfect. Every jot and every tittle of
His law has to be kept. A man must be perfectly righteous. in order to stand before a perfectly
righteous God and live in a perfectly righteous atmosphere throughout
the eternities to come. He must be! He must be! Well, how can I get it? Well,
you can't get it by you trying to keep the law. You can't get
it that way. Some rob God by rebelling against
His sovereignty. That is, most people don't think
that God has a right to do with His own as it pleases Him. They
don't believe that. They think that every man must
have a chance. When folks hear me preach like
this that have never heard me preach, you know what, immediately
the question that arises in their hearts and minds? They say, well,
doesn't God give every man a chance? I don't know whether God gives
every man a chance or not. I don't know. Doesn't God give
every man a chance? Aren't we supposed to have a
chance? In other words, what they're saying is, isn't God
obligated to every man? Obligated to do something for
him? Isn't God obligated? Man, by nature, rebels against
God's sovereignty. God is an absolute sovereign. He does what He wants to, when
He wants to do it, to whom He wants to do it to. Let me read
something to you in connection with this. Listen to this. In the 9th chapter of the book
of Romans. Is it the 9th chapter? Yes. Listen to this. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil. Verse 11 of the
9th chapter. Listen now. The children. He's
talking about Rebecca's children. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, said unto
Rebekah, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. Now this is God
talking here. Don't ask me to explain it. I
can't explain it. I can't explain it. Just believe
it. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? This
is the immediate response from Paul Anticipates, a fellow making
a response. And he anticipates it by saying
in verse 14, What shall we say then? He's already said, Jacob
have I loved, and Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? That's the way we think. There
must be unrighteousness with God because He said, Jacob have
I loved and Esau have I hated. There must be unrighteousness
with God. He can't do that. He cannot do that. That's not
like the God that my mother told me about. That's not like the
God my preacher told me about. That's not like the God of the
average church member. That's not like the God of the
average fellow today. God loves everybody. God loves
everybody. That may be so, but here's one
that he didn't love. That may be so. Folks say, God
loves everybody. God loves everybody. Jesus Christ
died for everybody. He paid everybody's sin debt
on the tree, so everybody Well, if God loves everybody and Christ
died for everybody, paid for everybody's sin debt on the tree,
what prohibits that fellow from going to heaven when he dies?
If his sins have been paid for and he has the righteousness
of God imputed to him through the Lord Jesus Christ, what hinders
him from going to heaven when he dies? That's what I want to
know. You say, well, God loves everybody. He may do it. I don't know. But here's one
that He doesn't love. As it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. That's what he said. Esau have
I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Paul answers and says, no. God forbid. You see what I'm
trying to say? I'm trying to say that God is
sovereign. God is sovereign. And a man robs God when he rebels
against God's sovereignty and says, you cannot do what you
want to with your own. Can't God do with His own what
pleases Him? Can you do with your own what
pleases you? That's one of the issues in our world today, right
now, among the conservatives and the liberals. What is it?
Someone says, well, I think I got it right. This is my property. I've paid for this thing by the
sweat of my brow. I've deprived my children, my
wife, and myself of things that we ought to have in order to
pay for this property. We paid for it. It's mine. I've got the title and the deed
to it. It's free from any lien or loan,
and it's mine 100%. I pay the taxes on it. This property
is mine, and I'll do with it what I want to do with it. If
I want to leave it to my wife, I'll leave it to my wife. If
I want to leave it to... I'll do with it what I want to. It's
mine. It's mine. Absolutely mine. And nobody, and I mean nobody,
is going to come on my property and tell me what I can do and
what I can't do. That's sovereignty. That's what
we want for ourselves, but we won't give God that right. We
want that right! You don't want me whipping your
kids, do you? You want me to whip your kids? You want me to
take one of your children and smack him alongside the rear
They say, you have no right to do that, preacher. I say, why? You say, well, he don't belong
to you. He belongs to me. He belongs to me, lock, stock,
and barrel. He's mine. Every drop of blood
that runs in his veins belongs to me. I don't want you laying
your hands on my children. We want, you see, we want our
absolute rights. You see what I'm talking about,
Fred? Our absolute rights. But we don't want to give God
His rights. God made us all. Did He make
us all? He made us all. And God can do
with us as it pleases Him. That's why I'm talking about
God's sovereignty. God's sovereign. Now whether
you believe it or whether I believe it, it's not going to change
it any. God's sovereign. Well, now listen to this. This
caps it all off. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. Listen to the next
verse. For he saith to Moses. Who said to Moses? God said to
Moses. What did God say to Moses? This
is what He said. I will, not you, I will have
mercy on whom? I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Verse 16. So then it is not of
him that willeth... I thought free will brought me
here. No. So it's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For
the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, that my
name might be declared throughout all the earth." That is, Pharaoh,
I raised you up for this reason. This is the reason that I raised
you up to be the monarch of all Egypt. Why did you do that? I might show my power in thee,
that I might display my awesome power in thee, that my name might
be declared throughout all the earth." Whose name? My name! The name of God. Verse 18, listen
to this now, "...therefore," which refers back to what he's
previously said. In other words, in light of what
I've said, Therefore hath he, that's God, therefore hath he
mercy on whom he will have mercy, and on whom he will he hardeneth. Oh, thou wilt say then unto me,
why dost thou yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Verse number 20. Nay, O man, who are you that
replies against God? Shall the thing formed? You're
the thing that's formed. Say to Him that formed it, shall
I, who God made, say to God who made me? Why have you made me
like this? Shall I do that? Look at it!
What I'm saying, brethren, I'm saying this I'm trying to teach
us this morning, I'm trying to teach my own heart as well as
yours, something here in the Bible that's vital to the glory
of God. It's vital to the glory of God.
I'm saying, will a man rob God? I'm saying when you ascribe these
things that we've talked about to your own doing, you rob God
of His honor. When you rebel against God's
sovereignty, When you rebel against God's legal right and claim to
do with His own as it pleases Him, you rob God of His honor.
Let's not rob God of His honor. Let's give God all the honor
and glory that's coming to Him, everything that's due His name.
You see, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing
formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me like
this?" Verse 21, "...hath not the potter," that's God, power
over the clay. I'm the clay and you're the clay.
God's the potter. Does He not have the power over
the clay? Now listen, "...of the same lump,"
here's the lump right here, a lump of clay, "...over the same lump
to make one vessel, unto honor out of this one lump.
He takes this one lump of clay and He makes out of this one
lump of clay a vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. Is that what He says? I'm not
trying to explain it away. I'm just reading it like it is.
Half moth to potter, that's God's power over the clay. The same
love to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show
His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, that he might make
known the riches of his glory, and the vessels of mercy which
he had aforeprepared unto glory." Oh, my soul! You see, we rob
Him. We rob God by rebelling against
His sovereignty. Is it not lawful for me to do
with with my own, what I will? Is it not lawful? It's lawful.
It's lawful. Listen. People talk about their
rights as if man had any rights before the throne of God. Man
has no rights. He has none. I told you we lost
our rights in Adam. The only right that we have is
the right to be punished. That's the only right that we
have, is to be punished. You see, men who rebel against
God's sovereignty, they rob God of His crown and leave Him without
any throne, and they leave Him without any will. Let's not rob
God of His glory. Oh, I feel that many rob God
of the glory of His free grace, which is akin to divine sovereignty. The grace of God is one of the
brightest jewels in the crown of God. God does not save anybody
according to merit, but according to mercy. It is free grace. Salvation
becomes the individual's because God alone wills it. You see, to spoil the freeness
of the grace of God is to rob God of His glory. And I believe
honestly in my heart that it is the ambition of many preachers
to rob God of His glory. One drop of human merit put into
the ocean of free grace spoils it all. Just one drop. Oh my
soul, hold to it this morning. Saved by grace. We are saved
by the grace of God. Not because of any human merit.
Not because of who we are or what we did. No reason whatsoever
apart from the grace of God. By grace are ye saved, and that
not of yourselves. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. Hold to it! Saved by grace! I know people are saying, I'm
saved by the grace of God, but they don't know what the grace
of God is. They don't know. Find out! If
you don't know, find out. Find out! I'm telling you, I'm
telling you, if you don't know, if you don't know, you better
find out. Salvation is by the grace of
God. God didn't have to save you,
He didn't have to save me. Not obligated to do anything
for me except to punish me. The only rights I've got is the
right to be punished. And if I'm saved, it's by the
grace of God. He didn't have to do that. And
if He did it, He did it all. I didn't do anything. Well, preacher,
you believe... I believe I love Him because
He first loved me. Well, you took the first step.
No, I didn't. He took the first step. He took
the first step. If I could take one step, what
would hinder me from going all the way? I couldn't take a step.
You know what I was like? I was dead in trespass. What
about the ninety and nine? What about that poor sheep? He wasn't concerned about the
ninety and nine. They were safely in the fold. Who was he concerned
about? That one that was out on the
mountainside. And what did he do when he found
it? When he searched, when he looked over mountain, over hill,
over dale, through the water, through the mud, and he finally
found that sheep. What did he say to that sheep?
Did he say, come on little sheep, let's go home.