I was talking with Judy a couple
of days ago, and we were discussing this morning what I would be
bringing, and I said, I have nothing new to offer. And I quickly followed that statement
with this statement, and I better not have. Someone said, if it's
new, it's not true, and if it's true, it's not new. The message that all of God's
preachers declare when they have the honor of preaching is the
same message that the apostles preached, the same message that
we find from Genesis all the way through the whole Bible.
Jesus Christ paid the ransom price in full for all of our
sins, and he's now on his sovereign throne in heaven. working all
things after the counsel of His own will, giving eternal life
to as many as God the Father gave Him in the eternal covenant
of grace before a star ever twinkled in the sky. That's our message. Now when the Lord delivered me,
he delivered my wife also about the same time. And she was steeped
in Armenian religion when I was dating her when we were only
17 years old. But she wasn't a Christian. She didn't know the gospel. But
when the Lord started dealing with me, he brought me under
the preaching of his glorious gospel. I went to the church,
we went to the church that Judy used to attend, and that had
been converted to a law works religion church. of the reform group were meeting
there and the pastor was a reform preacher, just as wrong as Arminianism. And then after he left, they
called a true gospel preacher. And all this took place without
me knowing anything about it. But God's providential hand worked
it out to where when I felt the need to go to church and that
was God working in me, that's where we went. And the Lord delivered
us. I had no religious background. I didn't know the difference
between Calvinism, Arminianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other
ism. I just knew that Jesus Christ
was my Lord and my Savior, and I heard the truth preached. I
had a brother, an older brother, and his best friend who were
steeped in Arminian free will religion, and I just assumed
in my stayed as a babe in Christ at
all, professing Christians believe the same. Boy, was I rudely awakened. I started talking to them about
what the Lord had revealed to me, how he chose me in Christ
before the foundation of the world, and how he paid the ransom
price in full for a particular people. And boy, did I catch
the flack from those two. I'm telling you the truth. I
just was shocked. And they went to their pastor,
who was a false preacher, preaching free willism and deceiving the
people, and he said to my brother and his friend, you've got to
get Gene out from underneath that doctrine, he'll lose his
zeal within six months. That was over 50 years ago. And they said to him, well, we'll
just go out and try to straighten his pastor out. And he quickly
said, oh, I wouldn't do that. He'll tie you up with scripture.
Can you think of a better way to be tied up than with scripture? Brethren, our hope and our trust
is in the Christ who paid the ransom price in full for all
of our sins, and we did nothing, absolutely nothing, to merit
that grace that He bestows upon us. Salvation is of the Lord
from start to finish. He not only chose us in Christ,
He sent His beloved Son, God sent His beloved Son to this
earth to redeem us with His own precious blood. And He quickened
us when we were dead in trespasses and sins, giving us His Spirit
so that we could understand who Jesus Christ is and what He has
done for His chosen people. I want to ask you to turn to
John Chapter 17, one of my dear brothers, who
was under my ministry when I passed into church and rescue for over
30 years, and was under the ministry of John Reeves for almost four
years, a faithful brother, a week ago
Friday, he was on his way to the conference there in Rescue,
California, and he had a motorcycle wreck and the Lord took him home. It's hard when a loved one is
taken from you, but when we know they have gone to be with the
Lord, we wouldn't want them back into this life. if I could only
get a glimpse of the smile that's on Bill Silva's face right now.
And I do, yet we don't fully understand. We can't comprehend
that. We're still in this life, but
we know the joy of being delivered from the body of this death where
we'll sin against our God no more has to be far more precious
than we can put into words. the sufferings of this life are
not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed
in us. Now, Brother Bill brought my
attention to a passage of scripture right here in John 17 that I
just overlooked. All the years of my preaching
and studying God's Word, I was reading something into this verse
that's not there. Look at verse 6. Our Lord in
His high priestly prayer said, I have manifested Thy name unto
the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world. Thine they
were, and Thou gavest them Me, and they have kept Thy word. Now, I've read that I don't know
how many times, But our Lord says in that verse, that thou
gavest them Me. Thou gavest them Me. And I always read that thinking
that it was saying that the Father gave them to Christ. But that's not what it said.
He said, Thou gavest them Me. We would word it this way. Thou,
Father, gavest them Christ. That's what it's saying. It's
the Father who gives Christ to us. He sends the Spirit of His
Son into our hearts. And it's the Spirit of Christ
crying, Abba, Father. And when He sends the Spirit
of Christ into our hearts, that's the miracle of the new birth.
And He enlightens our minds to the truths of the Gospel, who
Jesus Christ is. He's God Almighty. What He has
done, He redeemed us with His own precious blood. Where He
is now, He has risen from the grave. And He's in glory right
now ruling over this whole universe and everything in it. He's Jehovah
God. And He's coming back one day
to catch us all to be with Him in glory. Where we'll ever be
with the Lord, praising and worshiping Him for His sovereign grace that
delivered us out of that awful spirit of darkness that we loved
and delivered us and translated us into His Kingdom. So if I
was going to give this message of title, I would call it Receiving
Christ. And who receives Christ? God's elect receive Christ, those
who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Receiving Christ is not something that we do to receive him. We
read in the second chapter of Ephesians where we were just
as guilty, just as sinful as the goats were and still are. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us, hath quickened us
together with Christ. By grace are you saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God. So we were
sinful, just as guilty as anybody, but in the midst of all of that
rebellion against God, in the midst of all of that running
from Him, hating Him, loving darkness, not wanting to come
to the light, He brought us under the preaching of His glorious
gospel. Now listen to me. That's God's
providential hand. When I started going to the church
that Judy went to, that was God's providential hand. I had nothing
to do with that. He was working in me to get me
under the preaching of His gospel. And that's what He does with
all of His elect. His arm is not shortened. He's
able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by Jesus
Christ. And He does this for the glory
of Jesus Christ. He, God Almighty, has a particular
people that He determined before the world began to bring into
a living, loving union with Jesus Christ, who is the object of
all worship and praise. Look at verse 9 of the 17th chapter
of John. I just want to draw your attention
to something. Our Lord, as He was praying to
His Father, said, I pray for them. I pray not for the world,
but for them which Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine.
Now this, and Larry, you did an outstanding job this morning
bringing before us that false religion that robs God of His
glory, which is called free willism, they try to tell us they can't. If it were possible, we could
be deceived, but the Word of God says that's not possible.
Once we're enlightened by the Spirit of God, we won't listen
to the voices of strangers. But they're preaching constantly,
telling folks that Jesus Christ died for everybody, God loves
everybody, you're the master of your own destiny and all you
have to do is make a decision for Jesus, they not only make
the cross of Christ of none effect, they trample underfoot the blood
of Christ and count it an unholy thing, that word unholy means
common, and they despise the spirit of grace. They hate Christ
and they hate his gospel. Well, If God loves everybody,
why didn't our Lord pray for everybody? He says, I pray not
for the world. Oh, but God so loved the world.
Well, what rule of interpretation are we using if we make John
3.16 to be universal, and we know that the word world right
here in verse 9 has to be taken not universal, but in a limited
sense. God does not love everybody. I know that shocks people. But I'm amazed that he loves
anybody, aren't you? I'm amazed that he would love
me. That overwhelms me. And I know this is the love that
God himself purposed before the foundation of the world for a
particular people. He loves us with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness He draws us unto Himself. Now I have a question I want
to ask myself and bring before you as well. How do I know if
I have received Christ? That's what I would title this
message, Receiving Christ. So how do I know if I have received
Him? Here's how you'll know. You'll
believe God. Abraham believed God. It doesn't
say he believed there was a God or that he believed in God. He
believed God and it was read in the men's meeting this morning
how Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief,
but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. He didn't stagger
at the deadness of Sarah's womb. He believed that God was able
to fulfill what He had promised. Then it goes on to say that it
was imputed to Him for righteousness, but not to Him only, but to us
also, if we believe that Jesus Christ was delivered for our
offenses and was raised again for our justification. And that's
what we've been singing about. He ransomed me, only a sinner
saved by grace. Jesus Christ paid the ransom
price in full for all of the sins of his people. And we rejoice
in the unspeakable gift of God, eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Turn back to John chapter 15,
if you will. When Saul of Tarsus was saved,
when the Lord delivered him while he was on the road to Damascus
with letters from the high priest to throw men and women in prison
who were followers of Christ, God sent a man by the name of
Ananias to Saul of Tarsus. to preach to him. God has ordained
the gospel as his instrument in delivering people from darkness
and translating them into his eternal kingdom. And he has chosen
certain men to preach that gospel. We're just instruments. And the
apostle Paul brought this out very plain in his writings that
some would like to say they're of Paul, some of Barnabas, some
of Peter, some of Christ. Who makes us to differ? God makes
us to differ. What do we have that we haven't
received? And why would we be glorious
if we hadn't received it? We're instruments. We preach
the gospel, but only God can give the increase. He must make
his gospel known. And Ananias told Saul of Tarsus,
the God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know
his will, and see that just one, and hear the voice of his mouth. This is God's doings. So I want
to use that as an outline. God has chosen us, the God of
our fathers, Abel's God. Enoch's God. Noah's God. Abraham's God. Elijah's God. Jeremiah's God. It's the same God. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. And He has chosen us. We don't choose Him. In our unregenerate
state, we were just as full of hate for Christ and His gospel
as those wicked men who crucified the Lord of glory, hating Him
and shouting, crucify Him, we won't have this man to reign
over us. We were just as guilty. But our Lord chose us, and He
ordained that we would believe His gospel. and right here in
John chapter 15 verses 15 and 16 we read these words, henceforth
I call you, no, yeah, henceforth I call you not
servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But
I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard
of my Father I have made known unto you. Now listen to this.
Our Lord Jesus said, and this is as plain as plain can be,
ye have not chosen me, But I have chosen you, and ordained you,
that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name,
He may give it to you." So, Jesus Christ tells His disciples, and
I believe this, and this is what I said earlier, how do I know
if I've received Christ? I believe God. I believe what
the Word of God says. You have not chosen me, our Lord
said, but I have chosen you. And we read in the first chapter
of Ephesians that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. We read in the book of Revelation
that our names were written in the Lamb's book of life before
this world was created. And these false preachers who
are deceiving the people and giving them a false hope, thinking
that they've merited God's favor by something that they have done,
and I don't care if it's free willism, or if it's people who
believe they're going to heaven because they're meeting on Saturday,
or people think they're going to heaven because they got baptized,
or whatever they're using to deceive the people into thinking
that they've gained favor with God by something they have done,
it's all false. And the Word of God teaches us
that it's not just the preachers, but those who follow the preachers
that are deceived. And the Lord's going to say to
them on that last day, depart from me that work iniquity, I
never knew you. So, we have this wonderful truth
that Anne and I shared with Saul of Tarsus, who is the Apostle
Paul. The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. that thou shouldest know His
will, and see that just One, and hear the voice of His mouth."
Now if you would, turn to John chapter 6. God has chosen us
that we should know His will. Peter knew God's will. He wrote
under divine inspiration The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise that some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. He knew what our Lord taught.
Not only Peter, but James, writing on a divine inspiration, said
in his epistle, of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
And John, writing in the Gospel of John, the first chapter, he
said, as many as received him to them gave he the power, the
authority, to become the sons of God, which were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God. And Paul, who wrote at least
13 of the books of the New Testament, wrote these words in the ninth
chapter of Romans, after he quoted what God said to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion, Paul wrote these words, so that
it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. So who are we gonna believe?
God or these fly-by-night, muny-mouthed weaklings who call God a liar,
who are deceiving people, saying it's your free will? Man doesn't
have a free will. Our will is bound by our nature.
In our unregenerate state, we were children of wrath by nature,
and our will was in bondage to that nature. And that's why we
will not come to Christ that we might have liked. We hate
Him. We run from Him. But when we're called of God,
when we experience the miracle of the new birth, God puts his
spirit within us and we're made partakers of his divine nature. Now we have a new will. The will
that's in subjection to the divine nature. And that will and the
will that we have in our unregenerate state are contrary to one to
the other. There's a constant battle going
on in here. And that old nature tries to
gain authority over, but Christ in us won't let that happen.
It's a battle, but by his grace, the battle has already been won. God himself gives us grace to
suppress that old nature and keep us looking to Christ, the
author and the finisher of our faith. Now right here in John
chapter six, starting at verse seven, we have, the words of
Christ himself as he talks about God's will. So the God of our
fathers had chosen us that we should know his will. Verse 37
reads this way, all that the father giveth me shall come to
me. and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. They're
all going to come. God's going to bring all of his
elect into a living union with Christ. And here's why. Our Lord
says in verse 38, For I came down from heaven, not to do mine
own will, but the will of him that sent me. Now we're talking
about knowing God's will. And in verse 39 we read, And
this is the Father's will. And this is the Father's will,
which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."
Now, if that's the Father's will, and it is, then He's gonna bring
all of those for whom Christ died out of darkness into a living
union with Jesus Christ. Is that hard to understand? What's
in those words that, It's hard to understand. It's as plain
as plain can be. Look at the next verse, and this
is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth
the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life, and
I will raise him up at the last day. We must see Jesus Christ. We must see Him as our only hope. And this is what Anna and I said
to Saul of Tarsus. The God of our fathers hath shown
thee that thou shouldest know His will, and see that just one."
Let me take you over to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter
4. Jesus Christ is our sovereign
Creator. When He spoke back, and we read
about it in Genesis, When He spoke everything into existence,
He just spoke, and there it was. When He said, let there be light, guess what happened? There was
light. He was with His disciples in
a boat, asleep in the back part of the boat, and a storm came
up. Guess who caused that storm to
come up? our Lord Jesus. And his disciples
thought they were going to perish and they cried out to him, Master,
cares not that we perish? And he stood up in that boat
and he said, peace, be still. The wind stopped blowing and
the sea obeyed his voice. And I just have to believe that
sea was as calm as any lake on a beautiful hot day when there's
no wind at all. And they said, what manner of
man is this that even the winds and the sea obey his voice? Well,
let me tell you what manner of man he is. He's the God man.
He's 100% God and 100% man. He, Jesus Christ, is the very
one who caused the light to shine out of darkness, to shine in
our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in Christ Jesus. Brethren, we see Jesus. We see
Him. as a virgin-born God-man. 100% God, 100% man. You say that's a mathematical
impossibility. Well, it is if you're only familiar
with the mathematics of this earth. But none of us are familiar
with the mathematics of heaven. And he, Jesus Christ, is 100%
God, and he's 100% man. He's the God-man. That little
baby that was lying in the manger because there wasn't any room
for him in the inn, that was born of the Virgin Mary, He was
100% God while He was a baby in the manger, and 100% man as
well, and God commanded all of the angels to worship Him. Can you imagine the sky just
being filled with myriads and myriads of angels worshiping
that baby in the manger? That just boggles my mind. But
He's the object of all worship. And He, we must see Him in this
respect. He, Jesus Christ, is God Almighty,
equal with the Father in essence and power and in purpose, and
the object of all worship. We see Him as the virgin-born
God. Man, we see Him as the perfect
righteousness of God. As He walked on this earth, He
did whatever it was that God had willed Him to do. Perfect. The thoughts in his mind, the
words he spoke, the deeds he performed, the steps he took,
and the motive for doing those things was perfect. He did always that which pleased
the Father. He's the only man that walked
on this earth without sin. I know Adam and before he ate
the forbidden fruit was without sin, but he did eat the forbidden
fruit and he fell and he sinned against God. But Jesus Christ
is separate from sinners, harmless, pure, spotless. He has no sin
of his own. God has no sin of his own. And as he walked, perfecting
that which we need to be accepted in the sight of God, he established
a righteousness for us that makes us acceptable in God's sight.
A perfect righteousness. Why would we want to even think
about seeking for a righteousness of our own when we have the righteousness
of Christ? God accepts us in Christ. because
of His perfect obedience. He was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. So we see Jesus not only as our
only righteousness, but we see Him as our dying substitute. Now get a hold of this. I used
to love it when Don Fortner was preaching and he came to a subject
that just thrilled his heart to no end. And he would say,
hang on to your pew, we're going to jump a creek. Brethren, we've
already been punished in our substitute. Get a hold of that. If our faith is in Christ as
He is freely brought before us on the pages of Holy Scripture,
if we believe in Him as the Scriptures declare Him to be, we have already
been punished for our sins. When Jesus Christ hung there
on that cross, God poured out His unmitigated wrath on his
darling son. That's what caused our Lord Jesus,
when he was in the garden, to pray with great sweat drops of
blood, as it were, saying, Father, if it be possible, remove this
cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thy will be done. He knew, our Lord Jesus knew,
when he hung there on that cross, God was going to turn his back
on him. God is so holy he cannot look
upon sin. And Jesus Christ was made to
be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. He bore in his body all the sins
of his elect. God laid on him the iniquity
of us all. And when He punished His Son,
He was pouring out His wrath on all of those He promised to
His Son. We were in Christ when He died. And the soul that sinneth it
must surely die. And we've already died in our
substitute. Nothing can be laid to the charge
of God's elect. Let me say that again. Nothing
can be laid to the charge of God's elect. I'm not making that
up. Those are words of Holy Scripture found in the book of Romans.
We have the promise from God that Jesus Christ has purged
our sins from God's sight forever as far as the east is from the
west and he remembers them against us no more. Get a hold of that.
Get a hold of that. In God's sight, those who are
in Christ have no sin. There is therefore now no condemnation,
no judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus. So we must see
him not only as our dying substitute, but as our risen high priest
who is seated on his throne at the right hand of God, making
intercession for us, pleading our cause for us. He's our heavenly
advocate, our lawyer, if you will, but he's also the judge,
and I've said this before, but it bears repeating, there's no
lawyer who is also the judge who will ever lose a case. Think
about that. He's our heavenly advocate, but
he's also the judge. Will he lose any for whom he
died? Absolutely not. They were promised
to Him by God the Father in the eternal covenant of grace, conditional
upon what Jesus Christ would do for His people. And He met
all the conditions of the eternal covenant of grace. And every
time a man or a woman experiences the miracle of the new birth,
It is God the Father giving to Christ, one for whom He died
in fulfillment of His promise to His darling Son. We must see
Him. Well, how are we going to see
Him? Well, look here. In 2 Corinthians
chapter 4, verses 5 through 7, Paul, writing on a divine inspiration,
said, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, now
catch this, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have no knowledge of spiritual
truths in our unregenerate state. not in the sense where we would
give God the glory for the spiritual truths that He reveals to us.
I'm not saying that there aren't false preachers and members under
their ministry who don't have an understanding of Christ and
His death on the cross, but their understanding is not for the
glory of God. When God calls us out of darkness,
when he commands the light to shine in our heart, he gives
us an understanding that gives Jesus Christ all the praise and
all the honor and all the glory. And we have this treasure, it
says in verse seven, in earthen vessels, that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. Oh, what a wonderful
God. What a wonderful God. We see
Jesus, and we must hear His voice. Will you turn with me to John
chapter 10? And I'll bring this to a close.
John chapter 10. And then I have told Saul of
Tarsus, the God of our fathers hath chosen thee. that thou shouldest
know His will, and see that just One, and hear the voice of His
mouth." Now the preacher's voice is important. I'm not going to
demean that. I know it is. We must preach
the Gospel. Whosoever shall call upon the
Lord shall be saved. But how are they going to call
upon Him whom they have not believed? And how are they going to believe
in Him whom they have not heard? and how they're gonna hear without
a preacher, and how they're gonna preach except they be sent. We
must hear the gospel. That's the preacher's honor,
that's the preacher's delight, and that's the preacher's responsibility. We have one message, Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. But if all we hear is the preacher's
voice, we'll go out of the church building shaking our heads saying
that's foolishness. with its foolishness unto them
who perish, but unto us who are saved it is the power of God. He uses that gospel to enlighten our minds to the
truths of his gospel and we hear the voice of Jesus Christ, God
must send the Spirit of His Son into our hearts before we can
hear His voice, and we hear His voice confirming these truths
to us. This is the miracle of the new
birth. And our Lord here in John chapter
10 and verse 11, He says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. He laid down his life for the
sheep. He did not lay down his life for the goats. He laid down
his life for the sheep. We were never goats. We were
lost sheep. sinning just as much as the goats,
running with the goats, hating God, running from God, but we
were never goats. And God is not in the business
of changing goats into sheep. He's the Good Shepherd seeking
His lost sheep and bringing them into a living union with Himself. And our Lord here in this 10th
chapter of John has declared Himself to be the Good Shepherd
And some unbelieving Jews, in verse 24, came round about Christ
and said unto Him, How long dost Thou make us to doubt? If Thou
be the Christ, tell us plainly. And Jesus answered them, I told
you, and ye believe not, the works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, now catch
this, but ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep as I said
unto you. I didn't write this, but I believe
it. He said, ye are not of my sheep. He didn't say you're not my sheep
because you don't believe. He said you believe not because
you're not my sheep. He didn't lay down His life for
them. They weren't His sheep. He laid down His life for His
sheep. Then He tells us in verse 27, My sheep hear My voice. We must hear His voice. And we're
going to hear His voice. He didn't say, I hope My sheep
will hear My voice. If they'll just pretty please
give Me a chance. If they'll just make a decision for Me.
No. He said, My sheep hear My voice. We hear the voice of the
eternal Son of God speaking to us by His Spirit within our heart,
confirming who Jesus Christ is, Jehovah God, what He has done
for His people. He redeemed us with His own precious
blood. He obtained eternal redemption
for us by His one supreme sacrifice. He, Jesus Christ, sanctified
His people, made them holy, and perfected them. We were reconciled
to God by the death of His Son. I'm quoting scripture. Jesus
Christ must speak these truths to our heart, and when He does,
we'll believe Him. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
and I know them. In other words, I love them.
I'm intimate with them. He doesn't love everybody. He's
not intimate with everybody. Matter of fact, on that last
day, he's going to say, depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
I never knew you. I never loved you. I was never
intimate with you. Now, Henry Mahan said this, and
I know it's true. If we go to heaven, it's God's
fault. But if we go to hell, it's our own fault. They don't
want Christ. The unbelieving reprobates don't
want Christ. Those who are not His sheep,
they don't want Christ. They will not have Him to reign
over them. And they read the same scriptures that we read,
but they'll just debate and argue and take a couple of verses out
of context and try to make people believe that God has done all
that He can and the rest is up to you. And let me tell you something.
If God has done all He can, and the rest is up to us, there's
no hope for any of us. But our Lord Jesus paid it all.
All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
and He washed it white as snow. He said, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them when they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal
life. He doesn't offer it. We offer
it. But Jesus Christ doesn't offer it. He gives it. He deals
with those that He convicts of their sin. All ye that labor
on a heavy laden, come unto Me, He said. He's dealing with those
that He has convicted by God the Holy Spirit of their need
of God's mercy. And He gives eternal life to
all of His sheep. and we will never perish. He
said neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father
which gave them me, there it is again. not gave them to me,
but gave them Me, My Father which gave them Christ. My Father which
gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
Him out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." Jesus
Christ is equal with God in essence, in power, and in purpose, and
He's on His sovereign throne of power right now. working all
things after the counsel of His own will, giving eternal life
to as many as God the Father gave Him. And brethren, if we
believe this gospel, and I hope we do, I hope that we believe
God. This is how I know if I've received
Christ, I believe God. I have a limited, very limited
understanding, but I believe God, and I believe that I was
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. I believe God chose
me to know His will. And I believe that God chose
me to see that just one. And I believe that God chose
me to hear the voice of Jesus Christ. Salvation is of the Lord. Come to Christ. Don't believe
in this watered down perversion of the gospel that's presented
for most pulpits today. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
as His Plainly set forth on the pages of Holy Scripture, come
to Him. Put your trust in Him. He's able
to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by Him, seeing
He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Oh, how thankful I am
that He sought me, called me out of darkness, brought me into
living union with Himself, and put this one and only blessed
hope in my heart. that Jesus Christ is my Lord
and my Savior and he's worthy of all adoration and praise.