I asked Brother Scott to read
there from Romans 8 because I'm not going to preach verse by
verse like I normally do, but that verse tells us that from
verse 28 down to verse 39, it tells us that God's love is an
inseparable saving love. It tells us that salvation is
by God's will. Whom He did foreknow, He also
did predestinate. Whom He did predestinate, He
also did call. Whom He called, He also justified. Whom He justified, He also glorified. It tells us who Christ died for,
all of those, the us who he foreordained, who he predestinated, who he
justified, who he called. And the elect, it says there,
the elect of God. It tells us too that they're
called, that the Holy Spirit calls them. You know, my job's
sort of like a miner in a way because I spend all week digging. for these treasures in this gold
mine of God's Word so that I can bring these precious riches to
you. And so this week I've been digging
with one arm in a cast and with electricity out and in the dark
and so I borrowed an outline. I was laid up, I was listening
to messages, and I listened to a sermon that Pastor Henry Mahan
preached years ago titled, Four Questions for Thoughtful People,
or Four Questions for the Thoughtful. I want to take those four questions
and use them for my outline this morning. Now, before we begin,
let me ask you this question. Why is it that I'm going to ask
these questions? What's the need to ask these
questions? Well, the need is this. Sinners
are proud. Sinners are proud by nature.
And there's none so proud as religious sinners, naturally
religious sinners. And sinners need to be humbled.
We need to be brought down. And the only way a sinner's gonna
be humbled, I mean, in God's grace, by his grace, by his power,
is by the truth. It's only by the truth. And God
must receive all the glory. That's the second reason. And
the only way God's gonna receive all the glory is to tell the
truth of what God says. That's why we are preaching the
gospel. That's why God has sent us forth
to preach the gospel. He said that no flesh should
glory in his presence. We gotta be brought down. But
that he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. That God gets
all the glory for salvation. Now most in our day, speak evil
of the truth. They speak evil of the gospel.
I'm not just talking about folks outside of organized religion. I'm talking about folks in religion.
They speak evil of the truth and the Holy Spirit told us through
Peter why that is. He said false prophets will come
and they'll preach heresy, damnable heresy, so much that folks will
speak evil of the truth. When they hear the truth, they'll
hate it even more because they got so much vested in this lie
that they've been taught. So I want to teach you this to
tell you this truth because sinners are being taught lies. They're
being taught lies. Now, if you think, if you're
a thinker, if you pay attention and you consider yourself to
be a reasonable person, then I want you to reason. I want
you to think today as I ask these questions. We'll just go through
them one by one. Now, here's the first thing.
Most commonly, it's taught in our day It's taught and believed
that God loves all men in this world without exception. That's
being taught and most people believe that. Here's my question. If God loves all men without
exception, and yet it's obvious that many are perishing in their
sins, then what does the love of God have to do with salvation? If God loves all men without
exception, and yet men are perishing in their sins, what does the
love of God have to do with salvation? If you hear folks make that statement,
They tell you God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your
life. And they'll make that blanket statement. I had a woman come
up to me a few years ago at Penitent Day and she said, just cry out
and say, God loves you. And I said, well I don't know
that. And you'd have thought I killed her puppy. She looked
at me like she'd never heard of such. But look over at Romans
chapter 9. The gospel plainly, the Bible
plainly tells us that God does not love everyone. The psalmist
said, The Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked, and him that
loveth violence, his soul hateth. Now look here, if you told Esau,
God loves you. If you went up to Esau and said,
God loves you and He's got a wonderful plan for your life, you'd have
been lying. You'd have been lying against
God and lying against Esau. Look at Romans 9 verse 11. 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
Rebekah their mother, the elder shall serve the younger. As it
is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now that's humbling, that's humbling
to a proud natural sinner because natural men think we deserve
to be loved of God. All men think by, it's a natural
thought that all men think, I deserve to be loved by God. But God,
if He loves all men and yet just one perishes, then what does
the love of God have to do with salvation? It would have nothing
to do with it. Why then would we even speak
of God's love? Why even tell somebody that? Look over at Deuteronomy chapter
7. The truth is the love of God is the foundation of our salvation. And God is love. He is love. But God's love is in Christ. And God's love saves. Every sinner in Scripture that
the Scripture says God loves, God saved. God's love is saving
love. It's not a passion like men love. That's what men think of when
they think of God's love. God's love is saving love. Unconditional love. Nobody in
this room and nobody on the face of this planet has ever loved
anybody unconditionally. Never. Not any of us do. We just
don't. That's a lie if we think we do.
God loved his people unconditionally. with no condition in them. Look
at this in Deuteronomy 7. God loved His elect in Israel. There were some elect people
in Israel that made up His true Israel that God loved. And listen
to God say why. Deuteronomy 7, 7. The Lord did
not set His love upon you nor choose you because you were more
in number than any people. There was nothing in them. For you were the fewest of all
people, but because the Lord loved you. What was the cause? That's it. Because the Lord loved
you. That's what He said. He loved
these people because He'd keep the oath which He'd sworn to
their fathers. In Isaiah 43, verse 4, this is what He said.
He said, Since thou wast precious in my sight, God said, in my
sight thou has been honorable and I have loved thee. That's
the call. You were precious in my sight,
honorable in my sight, and I've loved you. And this is what he
said about that. Therefore will I give men for
thee. and people for thy life. You
see, he's saying my love's distinguishing towards somebody so much so that
I'm willing to give other people for them to save them that I
love. God's love's saving. God's love
is in His love that He regenerates His people. Ephesians 2, 3. Ephesians
2, 3. We were by nature the children
of wrath even as others. Just like everybody. What made
the difference? Verse 4 says, But God, who is
rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, by grace
you say. You see, God, in love, sent His
Son. And He sent His Son into this
earth, and by Christ's finished work, by His blood, He remembers
the sins of His people no more. That's what His love does for
those He loves. Hezekiah said, Behold, for peace
I had great bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered
it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins
behind my back. That's what God's love does.
Look at Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31. Look at verse 3. God's love chose
a people, unconditional election. That's what it is. Jeremiah 31. God's love for his elect is sovereign,
it's unconditional, it's distinguishing, it's everlasting, it's unchanging
love. Let me ask you this question.
Does God love men in hell? Well, if not, then if He loves
all men, then His love changes based on whether or not men love
Him. Then that's conditional changing
love. That's not how God loves. That's
how sinners love, but that's not how God loves. Look at Jeremiah
31 through. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee. with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee." Everlasting love is love without end. In
lovingkindness, God draws His people affectionately to Himself
so that they believe on the Lord. He corrects us. He keeps us.
This is what His love does. You know Hebrews 12, 6? It says
this, Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth. Whom He loves, He
scourges every son whom He receives. Why? For our profit, that we
might be partakers of His holiness. Whom the Father loves, that's
what He does. You don't go around correcting
other people's children, do you? I don't, but I love mine and
I bring mine to myself and correct them and teach them and keep
them dependent on me. Well, the Lord Jesus stood in
toe-to-toe with some men one day and He said, you are of your
father the devil. And He didn't turn them. He didn't
speak in power and turn them. But the Lord says, whom the Lord
loves, He does, that we might be partakers of His holiness.
You see, we love Him because He first loved us. His love is
effectual. His love is saving. God's love's
in Christ. Now what do you mean by that?
I mean that it's holy. I mean it's righteous love. That's
what I mean. You see, God can't love somebody
that's unholy and unlovable and unacceptable to God except He
first make them holy and accepted of God. And so He put a people
in Christ and in Christ the Beloved, blessing us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ before the world began.
God loved us. Holy. Christ has established
righteousness for His people and made us the righteousness
of God in Him. Made us holy to be accepted of the Father. And
He loves His people. He loves His people. That's why
Romans 8 that Scott just read to you said, Paul said, I'm persuaded. There's nothing, nothing whatsoever
that will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ.
Nothing. If God ever first set His affection
on you, there's nothing that will be able to separate you
from God. God will get you. God will bring
you to Himself. He sure will. I was going to go into John 3.16.
I just don't have time to get through this message with you.
But I preached a message on that one time after this manor God
loved. If you want to go listen to that,
go listen to it. But you see, you've got to interpret all Scripture
in light of the context of that particular Scripture and in light
of the whole Scripture and in light of everything God says.
And God's telling us how He saved sinners. You think that, honestly,
what you think, here's a bunch of dead, God-hating, depraved
sinners that can't do a thing. Do you think God would send his
only begotten son into this world to lay down his life and bear
that shameful cross in hopes, just hoping, just by the mere
chance that maybe one of these dead sinners might somehow make
himself come to life and somehow believe on his son? Would you
give your son if that was the case? No. But God ordered and
ordained and set everything in order. Whom He foreknew, then
He also did predestinate. Whom He predestinated, then He
also called. Whom He called, then He also
justified. Whom He justified, then He also glorified. What
can we say to those things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? It's Christ that died. It's God
that justifies His elect. Who can lay anything to their
charge? Do you see that? Men are so puffed up and so arrogant
and so haughty and so proud by nature that men who go forth
and preach that haven't been called of the Spirit themselves
or men who just are too scared, they just won't tell the truth
because they think by not telling somebody the truth, that's going
to get them to believe God. But if you've got somebody to
believe God through a lie, all you've done is get them to believe
a false God. Huh? Isn't that right? They keep
on going around saying you can't spell church without you. You
can't spell pride without I. That's the problem. Pride is
the problem. We don't deserve for God to love
anybody. But God did. And His love constrains
those He saves. That leads to the next question.
Look over at 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. It's commonly taught and most
commonly believed that it's the will of God that all men be saved. Well, if it's the will of God
that everyone be saved and yet some perish in hell anyway, then
what does the will of God have to do with anybody's salvation? Nothing. If that's the case,
the will of God has nothing to do with anybody's salvation.
Look at verse 9, 2 Peter 3, 9. This is the text most commonly
used. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count
slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now the us-word
to whom he's long-suffering is his elect. That's so obvious.
In verse 15, the Holy Spirit says, account that the long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation. He's going to save those he's
long-suffering to. But free-will preachers and others
who glory in man, they make God's will to hinge on man's will. saying that it's God's will that
every member of mankind should come to repentance. And so they
say their God has done all that He can do and He's waiting on
you now. He's waiting on sinners to repent.
You know what that's doing? That's making man God. That's
making God dependent upon man. If salvation depended upon the
will of man, nobody would ever be saved. Nobody would. There's none that seeketh after
God. That's what the scripture said.
So if it depended on the will of man, nobody would be saved. Look at John 1. John chapter
1. Here's the truth. The truth is
It's the will of God that makes His elect willing to believe
on Christ. It's the will of God that saves
His people. That's the truth. Men are commanded, sinners are
commanded to repent and believe the Gospel. That's what the Scriptures
tell all men. That's the general call, repent
and believe the Gospel. And you're responsible to do
so. But men aren't able to do it. unless God exercises His
will, giving them life and giving them a new heart and making them
willing. And it don't change the fact
that a man's responsible. I've given you this illustration
before. There's a bunch of folks in our nation right now that
cannot pay their mortgage. Their inability to pay it don't
change the fact that they're responsible to pay it. That's
why they get foreclosed on. They're responsible to pay it.
The inability don't change the fact. So even though we're responsible
to believe on God, it doesn't change the fact just because
we can't, we're still going to be held accountable. But God
comes in grace and He does make some of His people to repent
and believe on Him. And that's what our salvation
hinges on, God's will. Look at John 1.11. He came unto
His own and His own received Him not. Here's a bunch of folks
in Israel that had the Word of God, had the Oracles of God,
heard everything about Christ. And Christ went about fulfilling
everything so much so. I mean, it's like Christ was
holding up the book and saying, alright, I'm doing this now.
Here it is. You've been reading about this.
Now I'm doing this now. And He went and did it. And they
still didn't believe on Him. They still didn't believe on
Him. But, as many as received Him. To them gave He power, privilege,
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.
And here He tells us how it came to be. Which were born, they
were born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God. That's how they were born. James 1.18 says, of His own will
begat He us with the word of truth that we should be a kind
of first fruits of His creatures. Look at Ephesians 1. Look at
Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1.9 tells us this. This is what he does when he
begats us again by his own will. He makes known unto us the mystery
of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed
in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he will
gather together in one all things in Christ. That means all his
elect. both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him in whom in Christ also we have obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. So then Paul
said in Romans 9.16, It's not of him that willeth, nor of him
that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. If God willed
to save all men, all men would be saved. That's just plain and
simple. Because the Lord of hosts has
sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to
pass. As I have thought, so shall it
stand. So if God purposed to save everybody,
He'd save everybody. That's just plain and simple.
But that means for everyone that He's purpose to save, He will
save. Whatsoever the Lord please, that is He in heaven and earth
and the seas and all deep places. He doeth according to his will.
In the army of heaven, among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou?
This is who God is. So, in every other aspect of
your life, listen to me now, you use the truth to determine
if something is true or not. And you know in every other aspect
of your life, you know that no lies are of a truth. Well, this
is the record of fact right here. God's Scriptures. Use these Scriptures. Pick these Scriptures up and
see what God says about it. And if it's not spoken according
to God's Word, lay it aside. It's not worth listening to.
You see what I'm saying? If God loved everybody and yet
men perished, what good is the love of God then? If God willed
that everybody be saved, what good is the will of God then?
Why even bring those things up? But God does save by love, and
He does save according to His will. Here's the third question.
Men say Christ died to redeem the whole human race. That's
why He laid down His life, to redeem the whole human race.
Well, if Christ died to redeem everyone, and yet some die under
the wrath of God anyway, what does the blood of Christ have
to do with anybody's salvation? If those for whom Christ died
can perish in hell, His blood didn't accomplish anything. It
didn't do anything. So what's the use of even talking
about His blood? The truth is the blood of Christ
shed at Calvary was shed for as many as God gave Him. Isaiah 53, verse 8 says, for
the transgression of my people was He stricken. That's what
God says about it. And Christ made complete atonement
to God for their sins. That's what, he accomplished
that, he did. This is the issue, you see. Now
listen to me, this is the issue. This is why I ask this question,
because this is the issue. The issue is, Christ did not
fail. That's the issue. The issue is
He finished the work of putting away the sin of His people by
Himself. He accomplished that. He shall
not fail. That's what the Scriptures say.
His name is Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins. And here's the issue too. This
is the second thing. The issue is this. The righteousness
of God. That's the issue. That's slightly
more important than whether a man gets his feelings hurt because
he's too big for his britches. God's righteousness is what this
is about. God sent His Son to declare God
saves in a way that is perfectly consistent with His justice.
They were sinners. They were dead. They were guilty. They deserved the wrath of God.
And God sent forth His Son to take their place in their room
instead. And God poured out wrath on Him
in the place of His people. And thereby God is just now to
call them and give them eternal life. And He also is the justifier,
because He came in the person of His Son. He's the justifier.
But you know what's happening? When sinners, when men are preaching,
they're making sinners out to think. They're making them think
that Christ's blood is made effectual by whether they believe Him or
not. That's what sinners are being made to think. That Christ
went to the cross and He laid down His life for everybody.
But now the end all be all of whether or not His blood really
accomplished anything is whether or not you believe Him. If you
believe Him, His blood is effectual for you. But you listen to me. That's not so. That's not so. We don't make atonement by believing
on Christ. We don't make atonement by believing
on Christ. But through faith, through the
gift God gives us, that gift of faith, we receive, we're given
atonement that Christ has already made. When did He do it? Christ
put away the sin of His people before He ever sat down at the
right hand of the Father. He, when He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
high. Not before, but when He had done it, by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on
high. The Spirit of God comes. Look over at Hebrews 11. I'm
sorry, Hebrews 10. The Spirit of God comes and convinces
us of sin, convinces us of righteousness because He's gone to the Father,
convinces us of judgment because the Prince of this world is cast
out. And you know what He convinces us of when He convinces us of
righteousness? He doesn't come and convince
us that if you believe on Christ, your faith will make Christ but
effectual. He comes to us and tells us what
Christ has already done. So that that one he's coming
to is one for whom Christ has already done it. He's coming
to bear witness in that dead sinner to make him alive and
give him a heart to believe what Christ has already accomplished
for him. Look here. Look here at Hebrews
10.14. It says, therefore, by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, whereof
the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. This is what the Holy
Ghost comes and tells us. This is what the Holy Spirit
comes and bears witness of in our heart, that Christ has already
perfected the people forever at Calvary. Now doesn't it make
sense if, I don't know how to illustrate this, I wish I could. If I take everything from on
this side of this desk and put it on this side of this desk,
it's already there, even though you don't know about it. And
I come and tell you, you don't have to put anything on this
side of the desk. It's already done. It was already done before
I ever came and told you about it. Well, Christ already put
away the sin of His people before He ever came and told us about
it. And that's what God's doing. He comes and tells us what Christ
has done. Well, look over at 1 John 2.
Well, what about a scripture like this? This is one of those
scriptures that men will twist. What about a scripture like this?
1 John 2 verse 1, My little children,
These things write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any
man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the Righteous. And He is the propitiation for
our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. Ah, see there, Christ died for
everybody. Context. Get the context. In the context
of all the Scripture. John was a natural Jew. He was
writing to believers who were predominantly his own countrymen
and they were Jews. He was writing to comfort them
because only the believer sees his sin. Only the believer knows
he's yet a sinner. And he's writing to comfort them.
And he's writing to turn us from our sins, from our pride, from
their pride. to Christ Jesus. And so He said,
when you sin, remember, Christ is the propitiation. That means
He's the satisfaction, He's the atonement for our sins, the elect
redeemed from among the Jews. And He says, and not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the elect that have been redeemed
by Christ from among the whole Gentile world. The key to knowing
what this really means The key to knowing that it means only
those God gave Him, those for whom Christ died, is the word
propitiation. That's the key to it. Christ
is satisfaction. Christ made atonement. His blood
satisfied the justice of God for the sins of each one for
whom He died, no matter where they are in the world. No matter
how bad they stumble and fall in sin and transgression after
He's called them, He's justified them. And God will not execute
justice upon one Christ has already justified. That's what He's saying. That tells you who He's talking
about. because Christ our righteousness is our advocate with the Father.
You see, John was doing for them, through the Spirit of God, what
Augustus' top lady was doing for believers when he wrote this.
From whence this fear and unbelief? Since God my Father put to grief
His spotless Son for me? Can He, the righteous Judge of
men, condemn me for that debt of sin which Lord was charged
on thee? Complete atonement thou hast
made, and to the utmost farthing paid, what e'er thy people owed. How then can wrath on me take
place, if sheltered in thy righteousness and sprinkled with thy blood?
If thou hast my discharge procured, and freely in my place endured
the whole of wrath divine, payment God will not twice demand. First
at my bleeding surety's hand, and then again at mine. That's
what John was telling them. The justice of God that required
Christ die when He was made sin for those giving Him of the Father,
now requires that each one be given eternal life because we've
been made the righteousness of God in Christ. That's what John's
telling them. But if Christ died to redeem
everybody, and yet some die under the wrath of God, then the blood
of Christ has nothing whatsoever to do with anybody's salvation. You see, brethren, a denial of
the particular redemption, the limited atonement of God's elect
by Christ Jesus is at the very core of all man-exalting heresy. It's at the core of it. You see,
in all of these things I'm telling you, if God loves everybody,
then what it comes down to is, He'll love me if I let Him love
me. If it's God's will that everybody
be saved, what it comes down to is, He can't do it unless
I let Him do it. My will is what reigns. If Christ died for everybody
without exception, What it comes down to is, I have to make Christ's
blood effectual. You see, this is turning everything
upside down. It's making man to be big and
God to be small. And it's heresy. If you were
charged with a crime, Gonna go before a judge. Wouldn't you
want every word spoken to be true? Wouldn't you want every
word to be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses?
Wouldn't you want the judge sitting on the bench to be the just judge,
to be a just judge in your case? This book right here is the witness. This is the record of what God
has done in his son. And God is the just judge. He
is. And truth matters when it's most
important to us. That's right. If this truth doesn't
matter to you, it's because it's not important to you. Truth matters
in what's most important to us. I gave you this illustration
the other day. If your banker tells you, I'll give you a different
one. Let's say I walk out here today
out in the parking lot. I pick out my boat, my vehicle's
got a combined total of about 600,000 miles on them. If I walk
out there and just pick out the newest vehicle in the parking
lot, and say, that's mine. I'm driving that one home. I
bet truth will matter. How much you want to bet? I bet
you whoever owns that vehicle will not say, well, you know,
truth is relative. He believes that's his car, and
I believe it's my car. Truth's not relative. One of
them, you don't say, well, we're both sincere, so that's all that
matters. No, one of us is sincerely wrong. That's what the case is. Paul
said that zeal does not make a lie true. Paul said, I bear
them record. They have a zeal of God, but
it's not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
You see what I'm saying? You know in everyday life no
lies of the truth. Now be honest with this question.
If Christ died for everybody and yet men perish, what does
the blood accomplish? Nothing, nothing. But it's by
His blood we're saved. Now, here's the fourth question.
Men commonly teach, men commonly teach that the Holy Spirit is
striving to call all sinners to life and faith in Christ.
That's what they teach. He tried his best to save everybody.
Well, if God the Holy Spirit is trying to call all sinners
alike to life and faith in Christ, yet some die without faith, what
does the Spirit's work have to do with anybody's salvation? You'd have to say nothing. They
use this scripture. Turn over to Acts 7. Acts 7. This is just one of the scriptures,
but Acts 7.51. ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ear, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your
fathers did, so do ye." Or they'll use Genesis 6-3 that says, The
Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that
he also is flesh, yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty
years. And men will say, See, God the Holy Spirit can be resisted
unless man lets God save him. Well, the stiff-necked and the
uncircumcised in heart and ears do always resist the Holy Ghost. They do. The natural man cannot
receive the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness to
him, neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned.
But that does not mean that God the Holy Spirit can be prevented
from creating a new heart in God's elect. It don't mean that
at all. He's always effectual and irresistible in calling whom
he will. If grace can be resisted, It's
not the distinguishing factor in salvation, but God says it
is. John 6.63 says, the Lord said,
it's the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profits nothing. In
John 3.16, the Lord said, that which is born of the flesh is
flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. And
He says, don't marvel that I said you must be born again. The wind
blows where it listens. Now you listen to this Scripture.
The wind blows where it listens, wherever it will. And you hear
the sound thereof, but you cannot tell whence it cometh and whither
it goeth. And He said, so is everyone that
is born of the Spirit. Look over at Job 37. Job 37. Does puny, puny little weakling
man really think he can resist God the Spirit? Now be honest
with me. You're talking about God. We're
talking about God here. We're talking about God Now,
he just said, just like the wind comes and goes where it will,
he said, that's how the Spirit of God comes. You can't stop
the wind. Do you think if it would have
been possible, there would have been some folks that would have
stopped that hurricane from coming? If it had been possible, man,
we'd have stopped that hurricane from coming. Now, look at the
aftermath of it. But listen to what God says.
Look at verse 9, Job 37, 9. Out of the south cometh the whirlwind,
and cold out of the north. Look down at verse 12. And it's
turned round about by his counsels, that they may do whatsoever he
commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth. He
causeth it to come whether for correction, or for his land,
or for mercy. You see that? God does that.
Now look at Isaiah 55 and look at verse 9. Look at Isaiah 55
and verse 9. He says, For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down,
and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth
the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give
seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word
be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto
me void. But it shall accomplish that
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto
I send it. And ignorant will-worshippers
will say, but God wouldn't save me against my will. If he don't,
you won't be saved. It's just that simple. And the
fact of the matter is, he don't save men against their will.
He gives them a new will. He has power to create a man
anew. by the incorruptible seed, by the Spirit of God. And when
he does that, he gives a man a willing heart for God to do
what God is pleased to do, to bring glory to God's own name.
That's what he does. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Ask the Apostle Paul. He said,
beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, but when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb, to call me by
His grace and reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him
among the heathen, immediately I conferred night with flesh
and blood. He don't have a problem calling His But if God the Spirit's
trying and He's failing, then the Holy Spirit's call has nothing
to do with anybody's salvation. You see, if that's the case,
man's his own Savior. And that's exactly what the free
will man-exalting preacher and believer wants. Will-worshippers
have to save their God. But God alone saves His people.
That's right. Here's the conclusion. The Scriptures
are the witness of God. This is the law, this is the
word, this is the testimony, this is the record, this is the
witness of God right here. And he said to the law and to
the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it's
because there is no light in them. That's what he said. Salvation,
this is the truth, salvation is of the Lord. It's by God's
saving love, it's by God's sovereign will, it's by the Spirit effectually
quickening the life and faith, it's by the successful finished
work of the completed atonement by Christ Jesus. Jonah said,
I'll sacrifice to Thee with a voice of thanksgiving. I'll pay that
I vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. Psalm
68, 20 says, He that is our God is the God of salvation. And
unto God the Lord belong the issues from death. Israel shall
be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You shall
not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end. That's God.
That's God. Look at Revelation 7, 9. We'll
end with this. We'll end with this. Revelation
7, verse 9. What are we going to sing when
we get to glory? This is what His people are going to sing.
Revelation 7, 9. John said, After this I beheld,
and lo, a great multitude which no man can number. That's what
God's love, and His will, and His blood, and His Holy Spirit,
and His love do. They save a multitude no man
can number. If it wasn't for it, nobody would
be saved. But look, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
tongue, and they stood before the throne, and before the Lamb,
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and they
cried with a loud voice, and here's what they said, salvation
to our God. which sitteth upon the throne
and unto the Lamb." They gave all the glory to God. That's
right. You can't do that unless God
does it all. But now listen to me, sinner.
If God's made you willing, listen to this. Bow to God's Word. Don't
listen to men. Bow to God's Word and you will
if God's called you. If God's made you willing, you
will. Bow to God's Word, trust His Son, look away from ourself,
and thou shalt be saved. That's the truth. God saves his
people. Amen.