Nice and relaxing. and cuddle with him more. He's
the warmest in the house, and the comfiest in the house. But
she's like, she's like solid. Muscles, she's the first. And
fun. And fun. And she's like muscular, full athletic body,
you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How you doing? You have a good week? What do
you call it? Bop. Bop. Bop. Bop. Bop. Bop. Bop. Bop. Hey, careful. That's a good way to bite your
tongue off. It's going to be really obnoxious to go to a hospital
for it. It's not funny. Wait. Walk. This was the worst
time of the year. I would stop until 5 a.m. How have I been moving? Oh, you've been laughing. She
overdid it. She blames it on this pre-workout
she did. I said, it has nothing to do
with the caffeine. It's all about the lift you were doing. I think
I had a little bit of caffeine before I worked out. Oh, they
do these goofy little, these crazy, whatever. They don't lift. They do these dance and yoga
stuff. No, I was lifting. Weights. Yeah. Like a kettlebell or something. 15. Plays naebo with weights. Oh, my goodness. That's fun.
I don't know. Anything they told me to do,
I did. And then now I can't walk. I love classes like that, guys. I mean, there's ways like this
and doing these weird squats. I guess it's for, like, hitting
weird ones. Well, and then nobody else is
dropping. And they'll be mean. They'll be not mean, but like,
pick your weights back up. Like, ooh, OK. We're going to
begin our second service. We're going to begin by standing
and singing 446. Satisfied 446. My life long I had vented For
a drink from some clear spring, And I hope would quench the burning
Of the thirst I felt within. Alleluia, I have found Him Whom
my soul so long has craved, Jesus satisfies my longings, through
His blood I now am saved. None to husk around me, till
my strength was almost gone. Longed my soul for something
better, only still to hunger on. Alleluia, I have found Him
whom my soul so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longings,
through His blood I now am saved. ? For I was and sought for riches
? ? Something that would satisfy ? ? But the dust I gathered round
me ? ? Only mocked my soul-set pride ? ? Alleluia, I have found
Him ? ? Whom my soul so long has craved ? Jesus satisfies
my longings, through His blood I now am saved. Well of water ever springing,
bread of life so rich and free, untold wealth that never faileth,
my Redeemer is to me. Hallelujah, I have found him
whom my soul so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longings. Through his blood I now am saved. If you would turn to 477, Calvary,
477. Calgary. Years I spent in pity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He
died on Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace
was free. Pardon there was multiplied to
me. There my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary. Thank God's word my lessons in
I learned Then I trembled at the law I spurned Till my guilty
soul imploring turned to Calvary Mercy there was great and grace
was free. Pardon there was multiplied to
me. There my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary. Now I'm given to dearly think. Now I gladly own him as my king. Now my rapturous soul can only
sing of Calvary. Mercy there was great, and grace
was free. Pardon there was multiplied to
me. There my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary. O the love that true salvation's
planned, O the grace that brought it down to man, O the mighty
gulf that God did span at Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace
was free. Pardon there was multiplied to
me. There my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary. Thank you. May be seated. Good morning, everybody. Good
to see everyone. I'm going to be reading this
morning out of Daniel. It'll be Daniel chapter 3, picking
up in verse 19. And for those who are like me
with Old Testament books, it's right after Ezekiel. Daniel 3, starting in verse 19. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full
of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach,
Meshach, and Bendigo. Therefore he spake and commanded
that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it
was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty
men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men
were bound in their coats and hosen, and their hats and their
other garments were cast into the midst of the burning furnace.
Therefore, because the king commanded was urgent, In the furnace exceeding
hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound into the midst of the burning,
fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king,
was astonished and rose up in haste. and spake and said unto
his counselors, did not we cast three men bound into the midst
of the fire? They answered and said unto the
king, true king. He answered and said, lo, I see
four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they have
no hurt in the form of the fourth is like the son of God. Lord, we're thankful once again
here, Lord, to assemble and to Have your son preach, Lord. We
pray that you give us hearts, Lord, to trust and lean on your
son, believing on him, Lord. And we pray for a pastor this
morning, Lord, that you'd give Eric the words to say and encourage
him, Lord, in his ministry, Lord. And throughout the week, Lord,
we pray that you'd be with him. We pray for your ministers everywhere,
too, Lord, that you'd comfort them and give them the encouragement
they need. And we do pray for those, Lord,
who are traveling and are going through any difficulties that
we don't even know about, Lord, whether it's physical or mental
or spiritual, Lord, that you'd comfort them and give them your
grace, Lord, and look after them. You know we pray. Okay, brethren, we're gonna be
in John chapter one, John one, and I wanna look with you this
morning at verses 10 through 13. John one, 10 through 13. Now, many of us in grace have
heard that there are two kinds of people, and that's what this
text is speaking of this morning, the two kinds of people, those
who know the Lord and those who don't know the Lord. And the
Lord breaks it down that simply for us. There's two kinds of
people, those in Christ, those outside of Christ. And so in verse 10 and 11, these
are the people who are outside of Christ, right? They're described
as those who knew him not and received him not. And then there's
the Lord's people in verse 12, where, To begin with they knew him not,
but in grace the Lord delivered them out of that darkness and
they are described as those who received him and those who believe
on his name. And then we find in verse 13
the distinguishing marks, that is, the Lord revealing to us
so that we know and understand how it is that they were made
to be the Lord's people, how they were made to be what they
are. All right, so that's pretty much
our divisions. Those people who are not the
Lord's, those who are the Lord's, and then third, why? How are
they the Lord's people? What made the difference there
in them? And so I've titled this message,
Two Kinds. people. So let's begin there
with those who are not the Lord's people and we see them in the
first two verses. It describes they're a people
who heard the Lord, they saw his miracles, and they heard
the things which he spoke. So that on more than one occasion
as you read the Gospels in the Synoptic Synoptic Gospels, it's
described or said of them that they were astonished at his doctrine. But they were hearing Christ
say it astonished them because they never heard anyone speak
like that before. They never heard the truth of
God spoken by one who is true and righteous and holy. And it astonished the people. And so when they heard him, this
was in the beginning of his ministry, that was actually from Mark 1
verse 22. In the beginning of Christ's ministry, when they
saw him and saw the things he did and heard what he said, it
seemed as though all the Jewish world would believe on him. It
seemed as though he was just rising exponentially, just rocketing
up in fame and in popularity among the people. And in fact,
over in John chapter two, since we're there, John chapter two
and verse 23, It says that during the time of Passover in Jerusalem,
in the feast day, many believed in his name. They saw, right,
when they saw the miracles which he did, they saw this man doing
miracles. They heard him speak and many
believed in his name. And that's how it is today, right? Many, many claim to believe in
Christ and people in religion would say, well, that's a good
thing. We see a lot of people confessing
Christ and a lot of people professing to believe, to be Christians
and to believe Christ. And they would call that salvation
the way it's described here in John chapter two, verse 23. And
it's as if that's what God wants all men to do. He wants all men
to just believe, just to say a little confession, a little
prayer in favor of Jesus. And that's how most of religion
presents salvation. to the people as though God is
somehow rooting for man and pulling for him and just hoping that
he does just enough to get himself saved. But look what it says
there in John 2 verse 24. But Jesus did not commit himself
unto them, because he knew all men. And need it not that any
should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. Now, it
says many believed on his name, and yet Christ didn't commit
himself to them, because he knows what's in man. Many believe,
right? Many profess to believe Christ
and to believe on him. And that describes religion.
That describes our religion. He's a component. Christ is just
a good luck charm or a component or some facet of our salvation,
but he's not all the salvation of his people. And so the Lord
reveals this to his people, makes us to know this truth because
The religion of man is vanity. And we think that God is pleased
with our works and we think that God is pleased with us just being
good and being religious or having a little religion in our lives.
And yet the word of God reveals that, that the religion of man,
God isn't satisfied with. Our Lord said that except your
righteousnesses exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. And man hears
that in the flesh and then thinks, well, I've got to be even better.
I've got to try harder and be more religious. And that's not
at all what Christ is saying. We must be perfect. And there's
nothing we can do in this flesh to make ourselves perfect. It's
the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ alone that makes
our righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees,
because it's not our righteousness, but His. And He is perfect and
holy and pleasing to the Father. Now, this is the testimony that
our God gives concerning His Son coming into the world. And
it's in John 1, verses 10 and 11. This is the testimony of
men and women in the world in religion. Christ was in the world
and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He
came unto his own and his own received him not. Now when it
says his own here in verse 11, this isn't his own spoken of
in the next verse that we're going to come to. This is speaking
of national Israel. These are people who, after the
flesh, were Jews, just as Christ was, after the flesh, a Jew. And so this world's system of
religion, what we find is that the whole system of this world
rejects God. It rejects the truth of God.
It rejects Christ. It rejects the salvation of God
in the Lord Jesus Christ. scriptures teach that this world's
system, this whole system, is Antichrist, right? What we see,
it's not simply a single man who is Antichrist, but it's the
whole body, the whole system of Antichrist that we see here
in the world, and so that system of Antichrist is anti-christ
it's against christ and it rejects the light of christ it rejects
the life of christ it rejects the truth of christ and we see
this because even at his birth you know there was no room for
christ at the end all right it began right from the beginning
when christ was to be born they didn't receive Mary and Joseph. And you would think, well, this
world would have just opened up and rejoicing for the Christ
and the Savior of men. But no, it closed up and rejected
that truth. They wanted no part of him so
that they had to go to a manger. And Christ was born in a manger
being not received by man. And so You know, just be aware of what
this whole world, what this world is all about, right? And this
is why the Lord tells us don't love this world and don't seek
to be one with this world and become united with it because
he that loves this world, the love of the Father is not in
him. Now it's the love of God in us
that teaches us this and delivers us from the trappings and the
allure of this world. Only God can teach us that. And
He, by His Spirit, enables us to work and live and move about
in this world without being destroyed and corrupted and destroyed under
the wrath of God when He comes to destroy the earth. All right,
so this world rejects Christ. In fact, we hear of, we're coming
up, sooner or later, we're coming up to Christmastime, and in those
manger scenes, they always have the wise men there at Christ's
birth, and they actually say it was probably more, He was
around the age of two because they were in the Far East and
they saw when the star appeared and it took them time to get
together their things and to go on this long journey to Jerusalem
where they saw the star appearing over. And so they came to worship
the King of the Jews. And actually that aligns with
why Herod then killed the children two years old and younger because
It took time. He was estimating based on when
they said they saw the star appear. All right. And so they came looking
for the king of the Jews. And you'd think that Jerusalem,
of all places, would be rejoicing in the coming of Christ. And
it says instead that Herod was troubled and all of Jerusalem
with him. When they heard that there were
some men looking for he that is born king of the Jews. They were troubled by it. And
that's in Matthew 2, verse 3. All right? And so, it experiences,
you know, it reveals to us that the love of this world and, you
know, sometimes we see things we want to experience the world. It gives us this hankering to
go and travel and just take in and experience everything that
the world has to give, but those who would do that actually live
a very detached existence from what is revealed in the scriptures.
because the scriptures warn against just this open embracing of all
that the world has because it is corrupt. And the spirit of
antichrist is very much present here in this world and is contrary
to the light and life that God reveals in his word. As Christ
ministered the truth to the nation, he says in John 11, 47, Then
gathered the chief priests and Pharisees of counsel, and said,
what do we? For this man doeth many miracles. Our Lord, he's revealing the
truth of God to us. And they said, if we let him
thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans shall
come and take away both our place and nation. And so again, we
just see this constant reminder, revelation to us that this world
does not love Christ. They don't receive him. They're
not looking for the truth of God. They want to continue in
their pursuit of this world, to be all that they can be in
this world. And they don't want to lose the
things that they've gained. And so they fight and defend
that little piece of what they consider life, and hold on to
that dearly because the truth of God threatens that to deliver
them from that and they don't want to be delivered from that.
They love that darkness and fight tooth and nail for that darkness. And so these religious leaders
who should have been the most welcoming of Christ and should
have been rejoicing and looked into what Christ was teaching
and revealing in his word to see and know, is this indeed
the Christ? He does many miracles. He says many profound things
that seem foreign to us, but is he speaking according to this
word? They should have been receiving
of him, but they didn't. They rejected Christ, and they
didn't recognize him, and they did not believe him. They didn't
believe him. And so, they did this even being
told by Moses. They were told that a prophet
would come. They were told that the Christ
would come. Actually in Acts 3, I'm reading
from Acts 3, 22, It says, for Moses truly said unto the fathers,
a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your
brethren like unto me. Him shall ye hear in all things
whatsoever he shall say unto you. And did the people rejoice
in everything Moses said? No, they didn't. There was times
when they wanted to kill Moses that they could go back to Egypt
and would submit themselves under servitude Just for a little peace
and safety, they would submit their necks back under Egypt
to be slaves to them that they might partake of the leeks and
the onions of Egypt. And what a picture that is of
our fleshly pursuits for pleasure and peace and comfort and rest
in this world, even though it's contrary to the truth that God
is revealing to us in his word. And then verse 23 says, this
is Moses speaking, it shall come to pass that every soul which
will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people.
Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow
after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these
days. And they foretold of Christ's coming. And we hear of Christ's second
coming, right? And there's such a love in this
world by the people who are so content in darkness and in the
coming judgment of this world. And it's not to be that way for
the people of God. Our Lord said, nevertheless,
when the son of man cometh, shall he find faith in the earth. There's a people, there's a people
that should have received Christ, but they didn't receive him and
they weren't looking for his coming. And so the Lord's saying
to us this day, look for his coming. He's coming again. And
we see all the marks and signs of his coming as a reminder to
us, right? There's a pattern of things that
always remind the believers in every age that Christ is coming. and he's going to come. And so
it says there of his own, which receiveth him not, that's speaking
of the nation of Israel, right? The nation of Israel. And so
they were a very religious people, but they didn't believe the word
of God. They were religious people. And so It's a good reminder for
us who are religious, right? We don't call ourselves religious
because there's a despising of that word for how we've seen
people pollute the truth of God in the name of religion. But
we are a people who believe God and trust him and hope in him. And so it's a reminder for us
not to be careless in this world and to know that our faith is
a living faith. and that we live by his grace
and not by ourselves. We live by his kindness and mercy
to us and not by our own works of righteousness, which we have
done. And so we're always being taught,
always being reminded, always being cared for, right? As you, who are parents, gently,
tenderly, mindfully care for your own children, so the Lord
cares for us and is always teaching us and giving us the things that
we have need of here, lest we should perish with this world,
right? You do the same things for your
own children, for their good, right? And so we trust and know
that our God does things for our own good, all right? And then Acts 13, 27 reminds
us again, For they that dwell at Jerusalem
and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices
of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have
fulfilled them in condemning Christ. Christ. They went so far, right? So it
began at the inn, when there was no room for Christ at the
inn, all the way through his ministry to the end when they
crucified him. Cried out, crucify him, crucify
him. We have no king but Caesar, right? They went so far as to say that
about the promised Messiah who came just as the Lord had promised
that he would come. And so that's the testimony that
God gives us of man. Man doesn't receive the light
and life of Christ, or what is revealed in Christ, who is the
light and life of men. And so he doesn't recognize Him,
he doesn't receive Him, and this is God who created them. God,
their maker, right? Their physical maker, who came
as a gentle Savior, and they would not receive Him then, what
are they going to do when He returns again? The scriptures
tell us this in 1 Corinthians 2.14, but the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned. Right? So it's a reminder to
us that we're no different. We're physical, beings and in
the flesh we don't please God and we have no knowledge of God
it's a spiritual life which only God can give and so we we're
desperate for him to have mercy on us and to give us of his spirit
and reveal Christ to us and make us to know him and to hear his
words and to believe on him right we're not those people that I've
said this a few times now but It's so true that we think that
if I had been in the days of Christ, I would have been his
disciple. I wouldn't have cried out to crucify him. But that's
not true. If we really believe that we
would have been any different, we condemn ourselves because
we're not understanding what God is revealing to us, that
we're all sinners. and we've all come short of the
glory of God. And we can't stand up and boast
and say, I would have been different, because no, we would have been
just like them, if not for the grace of our God. All right,
Psalm 10.4 says, the wicked, through the pride of his countenance,
will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts.
All right, or all his thoughts, he says there is no God. And
that's why men, And women do the things that they do because
by our actions we're saying there's no God. We're not gonna come
into judgment for this. God's not gonna call us to account
for this. So they go on doing the things that they do and saying
the things that they say because they go on believing that they're
not gonna come before the true and living God. But Romans 3,
10 through 12. says it's written, there is none
righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understand it. There's none that seek it after
God. They're all gone out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable. There is none that do with good.
No, not one. And so the scriptures revealed
to us that every one of us is naturally born dead in trespasses
and sins. All right? We're not going to
make ourselves righteous. We're not going to turn it around.
We're not going to change our skin color, as it were, or remove
the spots. If we were a great cat, we would
not be able to do anything. We can't change what we are by
nature. Only God can change what we are by nature. All right? So that's the testimony of those
who are not the Lord's people. They don't receive them. They
don't hear them. They don't believe them. Well, who then are the
Lord's people? How are they described in this
passage here? Verse 12, but as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name. And so the difference here is
that the Lord reveals himself to the sinner. He's the one that
makes the difference. They receive him. They hear him
and they believe him. It's a spiritual birth. And so we preach the gospel. We declare what Christ has done
because in the preaching of the gospel is where the Lord reveals
himself by faith. We declare that all men are sinners
because we need to hear. We need to know that we cannot
save ourselves. but that God Himself has provided
salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ, whom He sent, not to condemn
all men, but that His people, whom He foreknew and loved, that
He sent His Son to come in the flesh and to fulfill all righteousness
for them, because we cannot fulfill all righteousness. And He, as
the Lamb of God, went to the cross bearing the sins of his
people, to put them away, to deliver us from the punishment
and the wrath of God, so that Christ himself bore that wrath. to set us free and to let us
go free from the wrath of God, that we might know him and have
fellowship with our God. And so it's a revelation. Our
God reveals Christ to us and in the preaching of the gospel
by his spirit, making us to know him, to hear him and to believe
what he declares he has accomplished for us. Romans 1 17 says, therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith? to faith, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. And so we will know
what sinners we are. We will know how we fail and
come short of the glory of God. But it's that we should not hope
in ourselves or have confidence in our own abilities or trust
in our religion and how religious or righteous we think we are,
that all that should be destroyed, that we might look to him who
is the righteousness of his people and trust in Him alone. And so He reveals that faith
to us so that we're always walking by faith. Even you that believe
and hope in Christ, you don't continue to hope and trust in
Him and walk in faith toward Him because you see in yourself
some holiness or some goodness that you have of your own strength.
You walk by faith in Him. Because we see our own weaknesses
and we see our failings, but we know and believe his word,
which says, I've covered your sins with my blood. I've put
that away. Stand firm in me, look to me,
trust me, believe me. And so we walk in faith. And so faith is revealed in chosen
sinners by the grace of God. You know, a spiritually blind
person, they don't make a decision to see. They are made to see
by the grace of God. A spiritually deaf person doesn't
make a decision to hear Christ. They're made to hear Christ by
the grace of God. And so our God works this life
in us. He shines this light so that
we do see. It's not a decision that we make
to see. He makes us to see by his grace and power and glory. And so that's how salvation is
revealed, that we are his and we believe him all by the working,
the manifestation of the power of God in us by his spirit. And so actually our Lord, he
thanks the father for his people, right? Which are revealed by
faith. And he says over in John 17,
verse 1 in the second half, he prays for his people saying,
Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son
also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And so as I was saying, this
flesh is dead. This flesh cannot make a decision. to believe Christ, or make a
decision to become a Christian, or make a decision to do that
which is right. This flesh is dead under the
power of darkness, under the power of sin and death, and imprisoned
by our sin. But the power of God is that
Christ has the power over our flesh. And so he breaks in upon
this wickedness. He breaks in upon this darkened
heart. He comes into the prison where
we are, casts open the doors, and delivers his people out of
that dominion and that death so that we hear his voice and
believe him and trust him. And he says, I pray for them,
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me, for they are thine. And that's why there are some
who receive Christ, meaning that he's been given to them by the
power of God. There are some that believe,
while many others hear and do not believe. So that it's our
God who is the difference maker. He's the one who reveals himself
in the hearts of his people, all right? And so, having redeemed
his people, purchased his people with the blood of Christ, who
cleansed them and set them free, He calls them in grace and mercy,
making them to know what He has accomplished for them. And He
works this power in them and He grows them in grace and in
the knowledge of Him under the preaching of the gospel, whereby
they hear and are settled in Christ and rest in Him and deliver
time and time again from the vain trappings of this world. And so our belief in Christ is
the evidence of what God has already accomplished in his people
and for his people. That's why we believe and why
we trust him. All right. And the next verse,
verse 13, it reveals that truth. It confirms that truth of what
I've just said to you, that our believing, our receiving is not
of this flesh. It's a spiritual work of God. Verse 13. which were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but were born of God. God gave them birth. And that's
why we continue to declare it's a spiritual birth. You were born
the first time, but you must be born again to see the kingdom
of God. It's a spiritual birth that he
does for us. And so That's what he's saying
there, which were born, which were spiritually born of God,
not of our own will, not of our own choosing, but by the faith
which he reveals in us by his glory and power, the new man
created by God in us, whereby we believe Christ and do not
sin. ever trusting in him. This flesh
is sinful, but the new man sins not." All right? Now, very few
who hear the gospel believe, right? We know that. Some of
you, you know, we know a lot of people in this world, religious
though they may be, have no real hope in Christ. They may mention
his name, but they're still trusting in their works. They're still
trusting in their religion. So the difference maker is God. And that's the difference between
the unbeliever and the believer. It's all of the Lord. He says,
first, it's not of blood. All right. It's not of blood.
And what it means is it doesn't matter who your parents are.
It doesn't matter what line you come from. You could be born
from the greatest preacher on earth, and it means nothing for
your own salvation. You may have heard some good
things, but it doesn't mean that you're a child of God just because
you're born of a believer. Well, in like manner, just because
your parents aren't believers doesn't mean that you won't be
a believer. Our God chooses whom he will
and reveals himself to whom he will. And that's our hope, that
it's not of blood. It doesn't matter whether we're
a Jew or a Gentile, whether we're male or female, whether we've
been educated or we're uneducated. It doesn't matter if we come
from a long line of believers. It doesn't matter if we come
from a long line of unbelievers. our God saves whom he will, and
by his power, he brings his people under the preaching of the gospel,
and in his day of grace, he causes them to hear, and he gives them
faith whereby they believe Christ." All right, so it's not of blood
lineage that we're children of God, nor is it of the will of
the flesh. And we've already seen that,
right? This morning, we've seen how
Our will does not save us. It's not by our free will that
we choose to be a follower of Christ or we choose not to be
a follower of Christ. Our will is already dead and
corrupt. It's never gonna turn. It's never
gonna believe the truth of God unless God gives us life by his
spirit and reveals faith in us whereby we believe Christ and
receive him. As it says in John 644, no man
can come to me except the father which hath sent me draw him,
and I will raise him up at the last day. And so our God, he
brings his people under and draws them under the sound of the gospel,
making them to hear his word and to believe on Christ. So
it's not man's free will that saves him. It's the father corrupt,
it's God's, it's God's will that saves them, all right? Now, man
will not come to Christ that he might have life except God
save him. All right, nor is it of the will of man. Well, what's
that mean? Well, our birth is not wrought
by the effort and the working, the hard working of other people
for us. It's not friends that are gonna
save us. It's not family that's gonna
save us. It's not pastors that are gonna
save us. We can't believe for the Lord's
people. We can't give them faith. We
can speak the truth in love. We can be a friend and show our
kindness and love for others. And we can speak the truth as
we have opportunity to do good unto others. but it's a work
of God. Only he can cause a sinner to
believe him. Only he can reveal faith in them,
right? And we see many churches around
that go to great lengths to try and provoke a work in the flesh
of people. They have fantastic programs.
They have big, beautiful, ornate buildings. They have numerous
pastors and various programs. They put on skits and choruses
and all kinds of things to attract the flesh and to engage the flesh
to become part of their body there at that local assembly.
that's not going to save anyone. Watering down the Word of God
isn't going to save anyone. Changing what God has taught
in His Word isn't going to save anyone. We preach and declare
the Word knowing that the Spirit takes the Word and applies it
to the heart of whom He will and reveals light and life in
them in the time of His choosing and is pleasing. So our salvation
is wrought by God. James 1.18 says of his own will
begat he us. Not my will, his will begat us
or gave us life with the word of truth that we should be a
kind of first fruits of his creatures. Then Romans 9.15 and 16 say He
saith to Moses, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion.
So then it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. It's not by my will, my free
will, which is bound in sin and darkness. death and it's not
by my running my effort and striving to to be good in the kingdom
of God but it's of God that showeth mercy that's our hope brethren
all right so by God's grace we know and believe that as many
as were ordained of God Those that were ordained to eternal
life, they believe God. And so that's why there's two
kinds of people in the world. One is a child of God, as we've
been seeing in Isaiah 43.1, where it describes those who are created
of God, formed of God, redeemed by God, and called by God. And then there's the others who
are the children of wrath and disobedience who are left to
themselves and they will never come to a knowledge of the truth
even though They hear it preached to them, right? They'll labor
under that yoke of the law and of nature's darkness. But I pray
that the Lord give you faith and comfort your hearts. And
that if we labor and walk in the darkness of this world, that
the Lord have mercy and compassion upon us and deliver us from that
death, that we might know him who is life and that we might
see the truth of God revealed in him by his light. And I pray
that and preach that with all the love of my heart that the
Lord gives me because I really do care for his people and know
that that's how he saves his people through the preaching
of Christ. So I pray that the Lord bless you and comfort you
with the words of Christ. All right, we're going to pray,
and then, brother, you'll close us in a hymn, and then we'll
be dismissed. Our gracious Lord, we thank you
for your word of grace to us. Lord, we see that there are just
two kinds of people, those who believe and those who do not
believe, those that receive Christ and those that receive him not.
And Lord, we know that in this flesh we can't put ourselves
in one or the other. All naturally are unbelievers
and do not receive Christ. But we know, we see in your word
that you're the God of grace, that by your power and glory,
you save your people and you reveal faith in them. And we
pray that you would, this very hour, reveal the faith of Christ
in our hearts, that we may know him and believe receive him and
trust him even unto the end Lord knowing that it's by your grace
alone that we are saved through the blood and righteousness of
Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Father we pray that you would
help us teach us reveal this gospel in us and help us to to
articulate it and speak it to others, knowing that you have
a people whom you call out of darkness, sinners who have no
goodness of their own, but that you are pleased to reveal your
son and save even the chief of sinners through the glory and
praise and honor of your name. Lord, we pray for our brethren
who are traveling, that you would protect them, keep them safe
on the road, and bring them home safely. Lord, we pray for those
who are sick and recovering from surgeries and sickness, Father,
that you would have mercy upon them, comfort their hearts, and
Lord, help us to be loving and to serve them, Lord, and to even
go out of our way at times to show them the love of Christ
in our hearts. And Father, we pray this, that
you would call your people out of darkness even in this this
place here in Battlefield, Lord, that you would draw out your
people and that you would bless the body here that we might serve
you in this dark part of the world. It's in Christ's name
that we pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's stand and sing a closing
hymn for 488. I will sing of my Redeemer, 488.
? O sing of my Redeemer ? ? And
His wondrous love to me ? ? On the cruel cross He suffered ?
? From the curse to set me free ? ? Sing, O sing of my Redeemer
? With His blood He purchased me, On the cross He sealed my
pardon, Paid the debt and made me free. I will tell the wondrous story,
How my lost estate to save, In His boundless love and mercy
He the ransom freely gave. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer,
? With His blood He purchased me ? On the cross He sealed my
pardon ? Paid the debt and made me free ? I will praise my dear
Redeemer ? His triumphant power I'll tell ? How the victory he
giveth ? Over sin and death and hell ? Sing, oh sing of my Redeemer
? With his blood he purchased me ? On the cross he sealed my
pardon the dead and made me free. I will sing of my Redeemer and
His heavenly love to me. He from death to life hath brought
me, Son of God, with Him to be. Sing, oh sing, Thank you.