This morning, I promise to tell
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That's
the title of my message, nothing but the truth. When someone is
sworn in to testify in court of law, they put their hand on
the Bible and they say those words. And that's what I intend
to do this morning. The truth of the matter is you'll
either believe me or you won't. But I do believe this to be the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Recently, I mentioned
in a message that the Lord Jesus said to Pilate, when Pilate asked
if the Lord Jesus was the King of the Jews, the Lord said this. I've thought about this so much
lately. He said, my kingdom is not of
this world. And it was, Christ did not come
to be a worldly king. The Lord said, to this end was
I born for this cause, for this reason, I came into the world. What was that cause? What was
that reason? Well, the Lord tells us very
plainly. He said that I should bear witness unto the truth,
the truth. Not a truth, not some truth,
not one of many truths, but the truth, the only truth. The Lord
then followed that up with another very clear and direct statement. He said, everyone that is of
the truth hears my voice. Everyone that's of the truth
hears my voice. So what is it to be of the truth? You ever thought about that?
That little preposition of expresses the relationship between two
entities. This speaks of one who belongs
to another. It's not speaking of every one
of the world. This is speaking about everyone
of the truth. The relationship is speaking
of one who belongs to the truth. Again, not one of many truths,
but the truth, there's only one. Now you may introduce or I may
introduce someone as the son of a friend. This is so-and-so,
the son of so-and-so. And what you mean by that is
that that boy or that man belongs to that friend. and he is the
son of someone that you call friend. The Lord here said everyone
that is of the truth, everyone that belongs to the truth, not
just a truth, not just some truth, but the truth. I want to continue
to reiterate the truth. That little word the means so
much. He said, those that are of the
truth, they are the ones who hear my voice. Pilate then asked,
what is truth? What is truth? And you know,
Pilate really answered that question, though he didn't know what it
was, but he answered that question by the actions that followed. The scripture there says, and
Pilate went out again unto the Jews, and he said this unto them,
now listen, he said, I find in him, the Lord Jesus Christ, I
find in him no fault. No fault. You see, the truth
is Jesus Christ. Scripture is very clear in that.
In whom there is no fault. He is the truth. He said so himself. We quoted nearly every message. He said, I am the way. There is no other way. I am the
truth. There is no other truth. And
he said, I am the life. There is no life. And any man
or woman that comes to the father must come by him. No man comes to the father but
by me. So how is it that in Christ,
we can come to the father? Because in him, there is no fault. That's how we can come to God.
He who knew no sin was made sin, so that we who are nothing but
sin might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And I'll add,
that's a perfect righteousness. God won't accept anything less
than perfection. What about Moses? You know, Moses
knew who the truth was. He wrote this. He said in Deuteronomy
32 verse four, he said, he is the rock. He's the rock. His work is perfect for all his
ways are judgment, a God of truth and without iniquity, just and
right is he. God is just and God is right
in all that he does. That's why he's God. Moses knew
that Christ was perfect. Do you know that? Moses knew
Christ was a God of truth. Do you? Moses knew he had no
sin, was without iniquity. Moses knew Christ had perfect
righteousness. Is that something that God has
revealed to you? Well, it's the truth. John 1.14
says, and the Word, being Jesus Christ, was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full, full of grace and truth. Truth. And that's the truth. That's the truth. For the law
was given by Moses, but grace and truth come, or came, by Jesus
Christ. Verse 17 of John 1. So what is
truth? What is the truth? Well, I know
this. It's a matter of life and death. Paul wrote in Romans chapter
one, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, now listen, who hold
the truth in unrighteousness. They hold the truth unrightly. Because that which may be known
of God, that being the truth, is manifest in them, for God
hath showed it unto them. He said, for the invisible things
of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen. You know,
there's no one that lives upon this earth or that has ever lived
upon this earth that is without excuse before God, because they
have clearly seen this creation, the creation of the world, and
they've understood by the things that are made. even His eternal
power in Godhead so that they are without excuse. You cannot
look at a sunrise and deny there's a God in your heart. Now you
may do it, but you know, you know. It's instilled in men and
women to know. You can't look at the stars of
the universe at night and deny there's a God. It goes on to
say, because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as
God, and neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened. That's the condemnation. Light
has come into the world. And men and women love darkness
rather than light. Now this truth, the truth, can
only be revealed to a sinner by God showing it to them. Now
we talked about that in the first hour. No matter how intelligent,
how smart, how educated, how bright men and women are, only
God can reveal the truth. And hear me on this, I'm being
deliberate in my speech. Everyone who believes that God
made salvation possible for all, everyone who believes that God
made salvation possible, that Christ died for everyone, everyone
who believes that they must exercise their will, which they believe
to be free, everyone that believes that they must somehow make a
decision to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, does
not know the truth. They don't know the truth. And
they're lost in their sin. And you might say, well, that's
being pretty dogmatic, preacher. Well, first of all, let me say
in defense of myself, that's not what I said. That's what
God said. And yes, God is very dogmatic. And this is not just a difference
in opinion on doctrine. You know, some folks will say
that, well, we just have to agree to disagree. But everyone, our
Lord said it, everyone that is of the truth hears the Lord Jesus
Christ. Everyone who is of this truth
and belongs to this truth hears what this book is saying. They
do. But they who hold the truth in
unrighteousness are gonna perish under the wrath of God. And anyone
who claims to participate in their salvation attempt to rob
God of His glory. The salvation of sinners is in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is God's glory. And God will
not share his glory with another. You know, Moses did not say,
in Exodus 33, I read that passage again. It's just such an encouraging
thing to read. Moses did not say, Lord, show
me your justice. He didn't say, Lord, show me
your holiness, or Lord, show me your power, or Lord, show
me your omniscience. He said, Lord, show me your glory.
This is what God said. I will make all my goodness pass
before you. You see, the goodness of God
is his glory. God's goodness is His love and
His mercy and His grace in Christ. And then God said, I'll proclaim
the name of the Lord. You know, that's what preaching
is. It's proclaiming the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
proclaiming the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord. He's the only
means of salvation. He's the only way that sinners
can be saved. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus God in the flesh
came into this world to save sinners. And the apostle Paul,
who wrote the majority of the New Testament, said, of whom
I am chief. My, if Paul was the chief of
sinners, what does that make me? God shows his goodness in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God's goodness,
and He is God's glory. And God said, I'll be gracious
to whom I will be gracious, and I'll show mercy on whom I'll
show mercy. You see, that's His prerogative,
Danny. As God, He has the right to do
that. God's choice is His glory. God's electing grace is His glory. The Lord Jesus said, is it not
lawful, is it not right for me to do what I will with my own? You better believe it's right.
You better believe it's God's glory to do so. It's God's glory
to save whom He will. It's God who puts us in Christ,
the cleft of the rock. Isn't that what he told Moses?
I'll put you in the cleft of the rock. That's Jesus Christ.
If you're saved this morning, it's cause God put you there.
It's not because you decided or you raised your hand or you
walked an hour or that you did anything. It's what God did for
you. Now that's the truth. If it's
ever been spoken, it's God who covers us with his omnipotent
hand. It's God who shields and covers
us from the wrath of His holy justice, that justice that we
deserve, being eternal wrath and judgment and condemnation
and death. That's what we deserve. People
talk about God's electing love and say, well, that's not fair.
Oh, it's more than fair. It's what we deserve. It's what
justice is. The fact that God would spare
us and show mercy and grace to us is what's so astounding. Jesus Christ is our righteous
covering by whom we are accepted of God. And anything that we
add to it, Anything at all that we add to it is nothing but leaven,
which leavens the whole loaf. What is leaven? Well, in bread,
it's yeast that makes the dough to rise. And sinners, it's our
sin that makes us rise up in pride. That's exactly what it
does. When we start talking about all
that we do for God, I can just see those folks in the day of
judgment standing before the Lord. Lord, Lord, haven't we
done? Haven't we preached in Your name? Haven't we cast out devils? We've
done this. We've done that. What did He
say? Depart from me ye that work iniquity. Your works are iniquity. Your
free will choice is iniquity. Your decision for God is iniquity. I never knew you, that's the
issue. Does he know me? We love him because he first
loved us. The Lord Jesus said, you haven't
chosen me, I've chosen you. So let's just forget about all
that nonsense. That's not the truth. You know,
there are many today who claim and believe that there is no
such thing as absolute truth. Now, I've had men and women alike
tell me that on many occasions. They don't make that claim necessarily
with those exact words, but they say things like, well, that's
your interpretation. They say things like, well, what
you consider to be truth is different from what I consider to be truth.
The question is, what does God say the truth is? People have
told me, well, who made you the interpreter of scriptures? What
makes you so sure that you're right? How about this one? You think you're right and everyone
else is wrong. I wish I had a dollar for every
time somebody told me that. I'd take all of you out to lunch
today and have money left over for a good tip. What folks are saying is this.
What one believes to be true, someone else might not. Meaning
there is no absolute truth. Meaning that truth is dependent
on what one believes. That may be true with some things.
You know, you may think that beef is the best meat, and someone
else may think that chicken is the best. Someone else may not
eat meat at all, so what you think is best may be true for
you, and what they think might be best and true for them. In other words, when it comes
to the truth concerning meat, it's a relevant truth. You following
me? All are right as it pertains
to them. But when it comes to the eternal
things of God, one truth, the truth, one truth, the truth. When it comes to the gospel truth,
that does not hold true. The truth of God is absolute. The truth of how God saves sinners
is absolute. God's truth is independent of
what anyone else might consider it to be. It's valid regardless
of what anyone else considers, argues, debates, or thinks or
believes the truth to be. It's absolute. Some say the truth
is relevant according to the frame of reference. We all approach
what we believe to be true from different perspectives. But if
that's true, Who then decides what is true and what's not? One tells you this is truth,
another tells you that is truth, another differents from both
and says, well, you're both wrong. This is the truth. So who decides
who's telling the truth? Who decides what's true and what's
not? Well, I can answer that. God does. God does. God's Word determines what is
truth, regardless of what you interpret it to be. Well, that's
your interpretation. The denial of absolute truth
is but an attempt, now listen, it's but an attempt by man to
twist the truth of God into question so that man himself can take
credit for his own salvation. It's man's desire to share in
the glory of what God has reserved for himself alone. God gets all
the glory. The psalmist said, not unto us,
not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name. Unto you, God, is all
the glory. Salvation's of the Lord. God
gets all the glory in the salvation of sinners. For example, someone
might say that Christ died to put away sin. That's true. That is exactly right. Yet, they
don't put a period there, and they add that word, but, but. It's true that Christ died to
put away sin, but now you've got to exercise your will and
you've got to give Jesus your heart and you've got to make
Jesus your Lord in order for that to happen. No, no, you don't. When that but is added, it becomes
a lie. The truth becomes a lie. Someone
once told a preacher that I know that he did not believe in absolutes. What he meant was God's word
and God's power was dependent upon other things. God can't
save you apart from you wanting Him to and letting Him do so. No, God makes you willing in
the day of His power. No, you're not gonna go to heaven
kicking and screaming and saying, I don't wanna go there. He's
gonna make you willing to go. And if the power of God and the
savings of sinners is not absolute, but partially dependent on the
sinner, then God ceases to be God. What kind of God would make
salvation contingent on something that the sinner cannot do? That's
a good question. What kind of God would make salvation
dependent or contingent on something that I must do that I can't do? What kind of God would that be?
Now that word absolute is much like the word sovereign. It means
to be independent and in no way comparable to anything else. Now this man that said to my
preacher friend that he didn't believe in absolutes, he said
he didn't believe in the sovereign will and purpose and power of
God. And it was then that my friend asked him, are you sure
that you don't believe in absolutes? And do you know what the man
said? He said, absolutely not. He didn't believe in the absolute
Word of God. He didn't believe in the absolute
power of God. He didn't believe in the absolute
sovereignty of God, God's power to do what he will with his own,
but he believed in his own absolute resolve. And that's the problem. That's the problem with religion
today. That's the problem with preaching today. So what is truth? I know this much, truth is not
an opinion. Truth is an attribute of God.
Truth is His character. That's what God is. He's truth.
He's the source of truth. The Bible is the word of truth.
Truth is in a person. Jesus Christ is the truth. In whom He also trusted. After you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom? This is about a person. It's about Christ, in whom after
also you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
The promise of God is the truth, and the truth of God are His
promises. If so be that you've heard Him
and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus Christ,
Ephesians 4.21. Now, I wanna spend the time that
I have left this morning by looking here at Romans chapter nine,
and again, show you the truth. Verse one, Paul writes, I say
the truth in Christ. Again, Jesus Christ is the truth. You know, truth can't be found
anywhere else. It's not Christ and you. It's
not Christ's work and yours. The truth is in Christ alone.
Paul said, I'm telling you the truth. How do you know, Paul? He said, my conscience bears
me witness. Look back a few verses in chapter
eight, verse 16. It says here, the Spirit, God,
the Holy Spirit itself, beareth witness with our spirit that
we are the children of God. How do I know? How do you know,
Brother David, that you're a believer? How do you know that you're saved?
The best answer I can give you is I just know. I just know. My conscience bears me witness. The Spirit of God reveals it
to my spirit. That's what He said here. Now,
do I understand that? No, and neither can you. It's
beyond our understanding. God's ways are past finding out.
The Spirit of God reveals it to my spirit that in Christ,
I am a child of God. We're saved by grace, God's grace,
not our grace. We receive this grace by faith.
That's the faith that God gives us. It's a gift of God. So we don't go around bragging
on our faith. Oh, I've got great faith. No,
it's God-given. God gives us the grace and the
faith. They come from God. They don't come from us. It's
not of ourselves, Paul said. That's pretty plain. It's not
of ourselves. It's the gift, gift of God. It's not by works so that we
may boast. The Holy Ghost bears witness
to my spirit and my conscience bears witness to me in the Holy
Ghost. that I'm one of His. I just know
it. I just know it. Now, I'm not
walking around with my chest stuck out and I'm not looking
down my nose at other people because they don't believe the
way I believe. No, I'm humbled by that. I mean,
the first thing that I think is, why would He be merciful
to a wretch like me? You feel the same way. Every
child of God does. It's not by works of righteousness
that we've done. And look what Paul says in verse
two. He says, this is the truth. I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed
from Christ for my brethren. Now watch, my kinsmen, according
to the flesh. who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth
the adoption." Now, that's not talking about the special adoption
that springs from God's eternal predestination, that adoption,
which is the blessing of the covenant of grace. But this speaks
of the adoption by which Israel as a nation was God's people. As we've studied in Genesis and
Exodus and now even in Numbers, Israel was God's chosen nation. But not everyone in Israel was
God's chosen people, as we'll see here in a minute. God gave
them His covenant at Sinai. God gave them His holy law. Israel
was His nation and His servants in the world. But look at verse
6. It says, Not as though the word
of God had taken on effect, And what that's saying is this, it's
not possible that the word of God should fail. What God says
cannot fail. God cannot fail. So what he says
cannot fail. And Paul's sorrow and Paul's
heaviness for his Jewish brethren and kinsmen, according to the
flesh, might cause some to believe that God failed in saving his
chosen people. Not possible. Not possible. And then Paul tells us why. Because
he says, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. You see, not all of those who
were of the nation of Israel, according to the flesh would
be saved, because all of them were not true Israel. Now that's
important to understand. This is what Paul was saying
in Romans chapter two, when he said, for he is not a Jew, which
is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward
in the flesh, but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly. And circumcision
is that circumcision of the heart, not of the flesh, in the spirit
and not in the letter, not in the law, whose praise is not
of men, but of God. Look at verse seven here in Romans
nine. Neither, because they are the
seed of Abraham, according to the flesh, are they all children. They're not children of God.
But in Isaac shall thy seed, thy children, be called. When
Abraham and Sarah were past the age of childbearing, he's 100,
she's 90. Can you imagine Sarah telling
her friends, guess what? I don't think so. No, no, it's
true. God had promised them a son.
He was the promised son from whom would come the promised
seed, and that seed was Christ. And God showed Abraham, and God
showed Sarah, and God is showing us that salvation is not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. Verse eight, that is, They which
are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of
God. But the children of the promise
are counted for the seed. Now that's what gives me hope
because I'm not a Jew, I'm a Gentile. But in God's eyes, I'm a Jew. Salvation is due to an inward
birth, not an outward one. Salvation is not circumcision
in the flesh. It's a circumcision of the heart. It's a heart matter. And then
Paul begins to explain the truth of how God saves sinners. And
I love this, verse nine. For this is the word of promise. You could say that and it not
be any less correct by saying, this is the truth. This is the
truth. If God promised it, it's true.
And it's the truth. He said, at this time will I
come and Sarah shall have a son. Well, now wait a minute. Abraham's
a hundred. His seed is dead and Sarah is
90 and she's barren. What do you mean she's gonna
have a son? God promised that they were. And not only this,
verse 10, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by
our father Isaac, Rebekah, as you know, became pregnant with
twin boys. And in verse 11, Paul says, for the children being
not yet born, I'm glad he added this, neither having done any
good or evil. Oh, I believe the salvation has
something to do with what I do. Neither having done any good
or evil, they weren't born yet, that the purpose of God, according
to election, according to God's choosing, might stand. And then
again, he reiterates, not of works, not of works. but of Him, of God, they call
it. And that, my friends, is the
truth. That's the truth. This is the
truth concerning salvation. Salvation's not by works, not
by our decision, not by our choosing God. It's according to God's
election of grace. It's according to God's choosing
and calling us. We call it election. That's why
Paul called it. That's what God calls it. But
election is not salvation. It's not. It's unto salvation. Is salvation us doing something
for God? Or is salvation God doing something
for us? Is salvation due to us choosing
God? Or is salvation according to
God choosing us? Now a good place to start in
answering those questions is in finding out the true state
and condition of man. Ephesians 2.1 says this, and
you had he quickened, made alive, who were dead in trespasses and
sin. Dead. Colossians 2.13 says, and
you, being dead in your sins, and
the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he, God, quickened together
with him, that being Christ, having forgiven you all trespasses. Now, I've asked this question
before, and I know it may seem redundant, but has any dead man
or woman ever done anything to participate in their salvation? No. Why? They're dead. And that is the truth. Election
and predestination are true, but they're not the truth. The
truth was around long before John Calvin ever was. The gospel was declared long
before Calvinism ever was. Had someone not long ago ask
me what I believed, and I didn't spur off the five points of Calvinism,
but I told him what I believed, and he immediately said, you're
a Calvinist. And I said, no, I'm a believer. I believe John Calvin had five
good points. But I believe the word of God.
I believe the truth as it's revealed in the book of God. Years ago,
Teresa and I had an acquaintance with a man, a woman, but he went
to Lutheran seminary, I've told you this, and their motto his
senior year, he said, was back to Luther. Back to Luther, meaning
we've got to get back to the truth of the Scriptures. And
I heard a Calvinist say not too long ago that we need to get
back to Calvin. We need to get back to Calvin
and his five points. But you've got to go back further
than that. If you're going to go back, you've got to go all
the way back. You've got to go back to before the foundation
of the world. before the world was ever made,
and see that God chose a people according to His own mercy and
grace, and He gave them to His Son, and His Son said, Father,
I'll save every single one of them. And that's what Christ
came to do. And that's your hope this morning,
isn't it? You've got to go back further than Luther. You've got
to go back further than Calvin. That's not going back far enough.
Matter of fact, I'll be so bold again to make this statement,
there are going to be many Calvinists in hell. But there won't be any
true believers there. No. Christ didn't come into the
world to save Calvinists. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. And salvation is not by works
of righteousness that we've done, but according to His mercy He
saved us. Look at verse 12. It was said
unto her, and to Rebecca, the elder shall serve the younger,
as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And that, my friends, is the
absolute truth. God has a right to love one and
not another. All of us deserve to be hated.
All of us deserve to be condemned. The truth that God would love
anyone is a great token of His love, mercy, and grace. How could
He love any of us? That's the question. Not, is
there unrighteousness with God? Look at verse 14. Why shall we
say that? Is there unrighteousness with God? No. No, He's merciful
and gracious to be mindful of any of us. Is God unrighteous
to love one and hate another? God forbid. And this is why,
verse 15, for He said unto Moses, quoted in the beginning, He said,
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion." You see, friends, He's God. He
answers to no one. And it's lawful and it's right
for Him to do what He will with His own. God is not merciful
and compassionate to a sinner because they decide to let Him
be. Well, that even sounds ridiculous,
doesn't it? Well, okay, God, I think I'll
let You be merciful and gracious to me. God is God, and he does what
he wills in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, God,
what are you doing? God is in the heavens. He's done
whatsoever he's pleased. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he. So what is the conclusion of
the truth? Verse 16. So then, that's the
conclusion, so then, It's not of him that willeth, nor of him
that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. It's not of the
sinner that exercises their will. It's not what the sinner does
for himself. And it's certainly not what the
sinner does for God. Our salvation is summed up in
verse 16 with three words, but of God. That's it. It's God that shows mercy. Verse
17, to reiterate it further, in all hurry. For the scripture
saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised
thee up that I might show my power in thee, and that my name
might be declared throughout all the earth. Now who raised
up Pharaoh and made him the most powerful man on the earth? God
did. Who displayed His power and brought
Pharaoh down to the dust? God did. Whose name is to be
declared throughout all the earth for His majesty and His power
and His mercy and His grace? God's name is. Jesus Christ is
God. Who has resisted God's will? No one, nobody. Who are we to
reply against God? Same answer. No one, nobody. That's what we are. Shall the
thing formed, us, say to him, God that formed us, why'd you
make me like this? Does not the potter have power
over the clay? He most certainly does. Can he
make out of the same lump of clay, same lump of humanity,
that's all we are, just clay, Can He make one vessel unto honor?
And then can He mar another piece of clay and make it a vessel
of dishonor? You better believe He can. He's the sovereign potter. He can do what He wills. If God
is willing to show His wrath, who can stop Him? And if God
is willing to show His mercy, who can forbid Him? And that's
the God with whom we have to do. And that, my friends, is
the truth. And everyone that is of the truth
hears this message, and they rejoice in it. Have you heard
it? Do you believe it? Well, may
God be pleased to make it so. For His glory, for your good,
and for Christ's sake.