Before we begin the message, go to him in prayer again. Pray that you would ask the Lord's grace upon me as I desire to preach the gospel. The last time that we'll preach the gospel this year, and Lord willing, if you'd be gracious, next Sunday will be the first Sunday of the new year. And to tell you the truth, there's no other place I'd rather be than with you here. I just don't have any other place I'd rather be.

Because of my weakness, though, I stand here in fear and trembling, asking God's grace to give me the ability again to preach His gospel to you. I need His power, His Spirit, to feed you with his word and encourage you in the gospel of Christ. So pray for me as I preach. Pray for yourselves that God the Holy Spirit would teach you.

I know this, I'm nothing but a vessel. That's just it. I'm telling you, I'm glad for the container that holds this water, but it does nothing for my thirst. The water is what I need. Nothing more than a vessel, a container. And by God's grace, I pray that he'd pour out his word in refreshment to your souls and encouragement and strength and boldness in the days to come.

Pray for those that are sick. Jean is having surgery this next week, so pray for her. Pray for the doctors. Give them wisdom and her healing. We ask that of Him, as well as the others who are sick in our congregation, those who have continually been struggling with illness. Pray for Miranda, she's not doing well, so just pray for her and Terrence. Pray for Rick.

Pray for God's churches and God's men. Don't neglect to pray for, I want you to pray for me. But they need the same prayers, they need the same strength and wisdom that I do. and pray God would send more. Pray that God would send more. There are not many in this generation. I remember what he said to Elijah. Elijah, he said, I'm left alone. He said, no, there's 7,000. In a country of over two million people, there were only 7,000 in the day of Elijah. Imagine that, the greatest prophet, the greatest miracles that took place with that man Elijah, greatest deeds that were done to prove the sovereignty and grace of God in that day, and there were only 7,000.

I think we're in a day like that. But I'll tell you this in just a minute, I'm kind of encouraged. I am, I'm kind of encouraged. Seen some things this last year and I'm very thankful that the Lord has allowed me to see some things happening that He's doing among men, among those that are lost and I pray that it is a start of an awakening, a great awakening.

I'll tell you this, He's not going to use a false gospel for it. He's not going to use a false gospel for an awakening. And I hope that God give us the grace to stand firm in these days to come. There'll be many who question the scriptures. Many people don't know anything at all about this book or the God of this book. May God help us who are asked in the future that if someone were to ask us that we might have an answer. Be ready Peter said, give every man an answer of the hope that is in you. And I pray that God may use us, use us for the furtherance of his gospel.

Let's go to him in prayer. Our gracious Father, we come before you tonight seeking to worship and again we find ourselves to fall so short. We fall short in our minds, in our hearts, in our bodies, in our spirits. And confess that without the power of the Holy Spirit in us, we cannot receive the things of Christ. I pray this night that you would send the Spirit into the hearts of your people, that we might receive the word, the instruction given in the word of God. Father, we might be comforted, encouraged, strengthened, and emboldened to preach the gospel to others. Forgive us our sins. Lord, there are many. There are so many. But in this we are confident that the blood of Christ reaches deeper than the stain has gone. That His blood is super abundantly able to cleanse us of all our sins.

It is the benefit of Your grace and mercy upon the believer, for those that are sick. We pray, Father, that You would give healing. strength. For those that are troubled, that you would give them comfort. For those who have trouble in the mind, that you would, Father, give them instruction, wisdom, and understanding. I need you. I can't do this without you. Bees can't do it without you. Please be with us. in mercy be with us. And we ask these things in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen.

All right, take your Bible and turn with me to Acts. Acts chapter 24. Acts chapter 24. A text will be found in verse 14. The apostle here in this text is being brought before the Sanhedrin. Remember he had come back to Jerusalem to worship and they had caught him in worshiping God and they were about to kill him and the Lord had sent that captain to step in and saved his life and now he has been brought before the magistrate here.

And in verses 1 through 9, the Jews send some slick lawyer to accuse the apostle Paul, but his words, if you read them, I don't have time to read his vain, empty words, but that's all they are. They're vague, and they're vague accusations. There's no truth to them whatsoever. They said he's a mover of sedition, a troublemaker. Later on, Paul says, Look, I was only there 12 days, and I didn't even say anything. I didn't even preach. And so their argument begins to fall apart. They accuse him of profaning the temple, which was the serious charge in their eyes, but there was no proof.

In verses 10 to 21, Paul begins his defense. He confesses, again, a good conscience. He said, I've got a good conscience about this. There's nothing they said that's true whatsoever. He said, I'm not a mover of sedition. But in verse 14, this is what Paul says. He says, They got something right. This is what they got right. He says, But this I confess unto thee. that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things that are written in the law and in the prophets.

They had no real charge but this, that Paul was preaching heresy. That's what their charge was. He was preaching heresy. Now Paul would not have suffered any of this if he had just given a little bit to them. Had he just confessed that the law is part of salvation, they wouldn't have hauled him to the court. If he had just confessed that the Jews had not rejected Christ, and confessed that God had not rejected the Jews, that the Jews were still part of this, then they wouldn't have had anything to say against him.

But the reason Paul was hauled before the Sanhedrin was this, because he would not bend. And this is what he said, what they say is heresy, is how I worship God. What they call heresy, Paul said is this, this is the Word of God. The Word of God.

Now tonight, as we begin a new year, as I've told you just a moment ago, I've seen some things this last year, especially in the last few months. The Lord seems to be working in many, I'd say young people, I'm sure older people as well, but a lot of young people have called me and asked questions. And I'm very encouraged by that, I'm very excited that the Lord is moving on them and they're listening to the messages, they're excited about it. They seem to want to hear the gospel.

And so when I thought about this, I thought what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 13. He said this, Hold fast the form of sound words. You see, it is the temptation. When people come and ask us questions, it is the temptation not to offend. We're going to have to learn something very true about the Bible. The Bible is very offensive. God does not shave off the rough edges of His Word and neither should we. We must, as we are engaged, hold fast the form of sound words.

Paul said, which you have heard of me in, listen, in faith and love. This is how we preach the gospel. In faith, I believe everything God says. And it doesn't matter what men say. It doesn't bother me whatsoever what men call me. I believe what God says, and when I preach it to people, I should preach it in love. And that's my desire, to preach this with a heart of love and desire for you to believe it.

But I'll tell you this, as we preach the gospel, as Paul was opposed by these people and called a heretic, listen to me, when you preach the gospel in this religious age, they're going to say the same of you. The mainstream religion of this day are in direct opposition of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They don't think so. They think you're in opposition of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just like the Jews. The Jews sincerely thought they were right in calling Paul a heretic. And listen, they're going to sincerely think they're right in calling you a heretic.

When I tell you these things tonight, this is what the world calls heresy. I'm going to give you seven things, seven truths that we are to cling to. And every one of these truths religion calls heresy. I'm talking about modern religion. You see, they love to hear a message that God loves everybody. Not very offensive, is it? That Christ died for everybody. They love to hear that. They love to hear a message that salvation is made possible and the only thing man has to do is either exercise his will, perform some kind of ceremony, perform some kind of ritual, do some kind of good deed, obey the Ten Commandments, and then he can be saved. That's modern religion.

They hold that Christ desires to save all men, but the Spirit cannot save them except they give Him permission. They believe that men must somehow sanctify themselves. They believe they've got to believe in Jesus. There's no doubt about that. You've got to believe in Jesus. Then, after that, now you've got to become holier. You've got to start becoming holier. You've got to stop doing this. You've got to start doing this. And as you obey the Ten Commandments, as you perform these ceremonies, as you perform these rituals, you become a better Christian, a holier Christian.

You know there's only one problem with that? It's not in the Word of God. None of it. None of it is in the Word of God. All of this is based on feeling and opinion. You know what the root word of heresy is? Opinion. You know why we don't have opinion sections in this church? Why we all just don't sit around and give our opinions? Because that's where heresy comes from. It comes from opinions. I don't give you my opinion. You don't want my opinion. And I don't want to give it to you. Without thus saith the Lord, I don't have anything. Now if we would preach the gospel, if we would confess the gospel and preach it, If we would just concede to any of these things, everybody would just get along with us. If we concede to any of these, everybody would applaud us. But we declare that none of these things that I just said are true.

God does not love all men without exception. Christ did not die for all men without exception. And when the Holy Spirit comes, He's not trying to save, He saves.

Now listen, when we preach the gospel, I want you to understand it is going to offend people. You don't have to try. I'm not trying to offend. Matter of fact, I want to do this in love, but I am not going to bend the gospel out of some sentimental sincerity to try to get you to believe it. The gospel will offend man's pride and dignity because the gospel will expose man for what he is, nothing but sin. That's all we are. From the sole of our foot to the crown of our head, there is no goodness in us. That's going to offend somebody.

It will offend the intelligence of man to tell them that salvation is not by education but revelation. You understand that? Salvation is not by education. I can't educate you. I can teach you the doctrine of grace. I can show it to you. We can all get a checklist and you can say, well, that makes sense. Check. Well, that makes sense. Check. Well, that makes sense. So what? If Jesus does not reveal it to you, you'll never know it. You see where I'm getting with this? You have no ability to save yourself. and you can't manipulate God to save you. That's a helpless condition, isn't it?

Jesus said, All things are delivered to me by my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son. Listen, And to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. That's the only way. If you know the Father, if you know anything at all about the Father, and you know anything at all about the salvation of grace, it is because it was revealed to you by grace. You didn't earn any of it. It wasn't by your academics. I tell you what, I academically understood this gospel before I spiritually did. I thought my academic was spiritual and it wasn't until he revealed it to me and then I realized all my academic was nothing. It was nothing. It offends man's pride.

This gospel is offensive to the self-righteous. Because all man's righteousness are as filthy rags. And friends, I want you to hear me. There is only one gospel. There are not many gospels. There's not a gospel based on your opinion and a gospel based on your opinion. There's only one gospel. And it's based on God's Word. This is it. This is it.

Now I've got seven truths. Now I need to get I need to get moving. I've got seven gospel truths that we must hold fast. And listen, every one of these truths they call heresy.

First of all. The word of God is the only source of faith and practice. This thing you got in your hands, it is the only source of faith and practice, there is no other source. No other source. I got a lot of good books. I do. I got a bunch of bunch of books, read a bunch of books about in the back. They're only as good as this book. If they don't say what's in this book, I don't care what they say. I don't care. We that preach and believe the gospel have no other need for the words and writings of men." I like them because sometimes these men could say, you know, they say it better than I could say it, but they're not saying anything different because we are saying what God says. Now many religions, many religions require other writings. The Catholic Church depends upon the traditions of their fathers. What some pope said. And when their traditions are put against the Word of God, guess what they take? Traditions. The Mormons rely on the Book of Mormons. When the Word of God contradicts the Book of Mormons, guess what they take? The Book of Mormons. You have people who are in reformed theology. They have all these creeds, the Westminster Confession of Faith, and then they have the London Confession of Faith, and they have the Dutch Reformed Confession of Faith. They have all these confessions of faith. And yet when the Word of God contradicts their confession, guess what they take? They take their confessions.

And so when I say this, that the Word of God is the sole source of our faith and practice, this to them is heresy. Why? Because it offends them. It offends their writings and their traditions. This is why I don't refer to any creeds. I mean, I think the London Confession of Faith has many good things in it, but there are many things that are not scriptural in there. So I just leave them alone. I don't need it. What do I need that for? I've got the Word of God.

So our gospel message must be the word of the living God. You know what God says? God says, I have exalted My word above My name. That's something, isn't it? What does that mean? That He's exalted His word above His name. That means that all the glory of God depends on the fulfillment of this book. In other words, God says if this doesn't come true, I'm not God. God put His name on it. It is the Word of God. And this alone is the Word of God to reveal the holy nature of God. It reveals the sinful nature of man.

What's the sum and substance of this book that we proclaim to be the source of our faith and practice? What's the sum of it? It is this, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If you go to this book for anything else, you missed it. When our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead and talked to those disciples on the road to Emmaus, in Luke 24, this is what He said. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, who wrote Genesis? Moses. Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures, what? Things concerning Himself.

When I read the Passover Lamb, what do I preach to you? I preach Christ. When I preach the great day of atonement to you, what do I preach? I preach Christ. When I preach the tabernacle, what do I preach? I preach Christ. When I preach creation, what do I preach? I preach Christ. When I preach the prophecies, what do I preach? I preach Christ. And this is what Paul was saying, he said, what they call heresy, I know it's the Word of God.

So as we go out into this world, hold fast to the Word of God. Preach Christ. Preach Christ. Why? He's the sum and substance of the Word of God. Any compromise to this, you preach another gospel. You move from this book and you preach another gospel.

The second thing, the truth concerning the sovereignty of God over all things. Hold fast this truth that God is sovereign. Go to Psalm 115. Psalm 115. Look at verse 2 there. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where now is thy God? Look, when something bad happens, some calamity happens, some destruction, some hurricane or tsunami or some tornado or something, what's the first thing the heretic says? Where's God? Where was your God? First thing they ask. I remember reading an article a long time ago. I can't remember what year was that tsunami came through Japan. And I mean, I mean, there was like thousands of people killed and hundreds of children were were just taken in a moment. And the pope was there and one little girl, I think she's about seven years old, asked, she said, Why do I have to be so afraid? She said, Why does so many children die? In other words, where's your God? You know what the Pope, he couldn't answer. He didn't have an answer. He didn't have an answer. He said, I don't know. That's what he said. In the article, that's what he said. I don't know why some people suffer.

But look what God says, but our God Now you may ask where your God is, you may not know where your God is, but I know where my God is. But our God is in the heavens, and look what He did. He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. You know why there was a tsunami? You know why all those people were killed? Because it pleased God to do it. See, I don't have to, that's offensive to man, man may not like that, What do I have to do with that? It doesn't really matter what they like about it or they don't. God did it! And He doesn't have to answer to you. You want to know why? He's sovereign. He's sovereign.

If you look at verse 4, their idols are silver and gold, the works of men's hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak. They have ears, eyes, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses, but they smell not. Hands, but they handle not. Feet, they have, but they walk not, neither speak through their throat. See what God's doing here? He's making a very important distinction. Here's the distinction between the true and false gods. The true God is sovereign. And every God that's not sovereign, listen to me, is not God. What do I mean by sovereign? I mean sovereign over everything. I don't mean sovereign over just portions of things, or over the weather, or over the You know, whether you get a job, or you don't get a job, or whether you get a car, or you don't get a car, or, you know, whether you've got wealth, or your family's healthy, they say, well, ok, God's sovereign in those things. No, God's sovereign in everything.

Isaiah 46, Isaiah 46, look at it. Look what God says about Himself. Again, we're dependent upon what? The Word of God as to who God is. This matter of God's sovereignty is determined by God. And listen what God says about Himself. I'm sorry, Isaiah 46. Not Psalm 46. My mind is not working. Isaiah 46. And look at verse 9. He says, ìRemembering the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me.î You got that? Thereís nobody like me. Iím all by myself. Iím alone in this. Here it is, declaring the end from the beginning. from ancient times to things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure."

Now what's God going to do? He's going to do all His pleasure. Now what are you going to do about that? What can you do about that? My friends, whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he. Listen, in heaven, men don't mind God being sovereign in heaven, and in earth. And listen, in the sea, and in the deep places you've never even seen, God is sovereign. You hold fast to that, and listen to me, This world call you a heretic for that because of this. Listen, they don't again, they don't mind whether they don't mind even providence sometimes. But listen to this.

God is sovereign, especially in salvation. You know who saved only those that God saves. Nobody else. God is sovereign in salvation. Jonah learned this in the well, didn't he? He said salvation is of the Lord. 100% of God and 0% of man. He is sovereign in salvation.

Listen to me, any God that did not choose or elect a people to salvation is not God. If your God did not elect anyone to salvation, listen, I'm going to tell you what He is, He's not God. Because God's Word reveals to us that God did choose a people. God that chose no one to salvation but left it up to man's will or works is no God at all.

According to the Word of God that we preach, God tells us that He has from eternity chosen a people. We read that many times in Ephesians. Chapter 1, According as He had chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Now any God that did not choose us before the foundation of the world is not God. And our God did not choose based on any merit in us. But His election was unconditional. His mercy and grace upon Adam's race was solely of sovereign mercy.

And so then we who believe may have this comfort, for God works all things together for good. Sovereign God working all things together for good. For who? To them that love God. Well, who are they? those called according to His purpose. His purpose. So as we declare the gospel, what's our source? The Word of God. Who's the God of this book? He is a sovereign God.

Now thirdly, we see this, all men by nature are depraved and spiritually dead. We must hold fast to this because this is according to the Word of God. And when you do, listen to me, they will call this heresy. They will call this heresy.

Go to Psalm 51. Look what David said about himself concerning his nature in Psalm chapter 51. Look at verse 5. The psalmist writes, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Now wait a second. David's parents were married. Scripture says that a marriage bed is undefiled. So he's not talking about his mother being a fornicator or an adulterer. What is He saying? He's saying because He is the seed of His Father, who was the seed of His Father, who was the seed of Adam, He said this, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

The Gospel is clear that by one man's sin entered into the world, Romans 5, 12. Wherefore is by one man sin. You see, Satan could not bring sin into the world. He's the father of sin, but he could not bring it into the world. You know why? Because he did not represent anyone but himself. That's it. When Eve disobeyed and she ate the fruit, what happened? Nothing. Why? Eve did not represent anyone. Wherefore is by one man sin entered in the world. When Adam ate, you know what happened? Sin entered the world. Result, death by sin. In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Now he did not die physically until he was 900 and something years old. He died spiritually the moment he ate. And you know who else died? All of us. So Paul said, Death passed upon all men for all have sinned. When did you sin? When was your first sin? You sinned when He sinned. And you died when He died.

Now this religious world preaches that there's some goodness still remaining in man. That man has some goodness. He sees a man And he goes over there and that man has compassion on somebody, and he gives them some food, or he helps them build a house, and that guy thinks, oh, look how good that man is. Well, to you he's good. But how is he before God? Does that have anything to do with righteousness before God? You think God's going to accept because he gave some food to somebody, that that's goodness? That's righteousness? No. Why? Because sin is mixed with everything we do. Name something you've done that sin's not mixed with it. And if you do, you don't understand it. You don't understand what I'm talking about. I'm sitting here preaching to you and I confess that there's sin mixed with all I do.

Religion believes there's some life left in man's souls that he may somehow recover himself I want you to, this is offensive. Now, this is going to be offensive to natural man, it's going to be offensive to religious man. I want to tell you something about salvation. Salvation with man is impossible. Salvation with man is impossible. Now, where do I get that? Is this my opinion? I tell you I'm not looking for my opinion. Go to Matthew, look at 19. Look what the Lord Jesus Christ said. This is our Lord Jesus Christ himself talking about salvation. Matthew chapter 19, look what our Lord says about salvation in verse 24. He said, Again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Listen, now this is where religion comes in and says, well, He didn't mean a little needle. He meant this thing called a needle, and that the camel's gotta get down really low, and if it gets really low, the camel can squeeze through there. What a bunch of BS. That is a crock. How in the world do you know the word needle means? Needle! It's a sewing needle! You ever put a camel through a sewing needle? Well, how do you know that? Is that your opinion, preacher? No, I don't like giving opinions. Look what he said, look at his disciples. He said, when his disciples heard this, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, who can be saved? If salvation is equated to a camel going through an eye of a needle, who then can be saved? And Jesus said this, you're right. With men, look what he said, With men, this is impossible. He didn't say almost. He didn't say, well, it's hard. He said it's impossible. But with God. God put a camel through an eye of a needle. He wants to. And listen, only God can save a sinner. A man can't save himself.

with you, it's impossible. Why? Because this is our nature. It is depraved. Isn't it just then reasonable to understand what Jesus said in John 6, 44? He said, no man can come unto me. How many people do you say, well, if you just Come to Jesus. If you just exercise your will and come to Jesus. Wait a second. That contradicts what Jesus said. He said it's impossible. You can come down this front all you want to. You can dunk yourself in that baptismal pool all you want to. If you do it, it's impossible. Jesus said no man can come unto me. Why? He's depraved. He's dead in sin and he cannot come.

The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him. These things I'm talking about are foolishness to the religious world. They hate them. Word of God is the only source? That's narrow. God is sovereign and I'm not heresy. Man is depraved. That's wrong. That's not right. Man's not depraved. He has a will. He has a free will. You can yell that all you want to. Christ said he doesn't. No man can come and accept. I love that. I'm thankful for that. Aren't you?

There's an exception. Except the Father do something. The Father which hath sent me, draw him. Words drag, but that's what it is. Let the Father draw him.

Fourth thing. Fourth truth that is called heresies, the eternal, unconditional election of God. False religion calls this doctrine heresy, that God chose to save some and not all. What do men say? When I tell them that God chose a people before the foundation of the world and left the rest to die in their sins, you know what the first thing they say? Well, that's not fair.

Go to Romans 9. Romans 9. I love the way the Bible will answer your objections. God is patient. You know, I'm not so patient sometimes. I'm just not so patient. But God is very patient about answering your objections to His Word. You object to His Word and He still has patience to answer you.

Romans chapter 9. The apostle here makes a distinction between the physical Israel and spiritual Israel. And he says this, not everybody that's a Jew is an Israelite, a spiritual Israelite. Look what he says in verse 10. He said, Not only so, but when Rebekah had conceded by one our father Isaac, listen, parentheses are very important here, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil. God's going to tell you something about these children before they did any good or evil. Now listen why He's going to tell you. He's going to tell you this for a purpose. That the purpose of God according to election might stand. So that the purpose of God might be on display here about election. Not of works. Is the election of works? Nope. but of him God that calls. It is said to her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

When did he love Jacob? When did he hate Esau? When they were in the mother's womb, not having done good or evil. God said, I love that one and I hate that one. Know what the world is going to say? That's not right. That's not fair!

Listen to me, what's fair is both die. That's fair. You want fair? Okay, that's fair. They both were sinners, weren't they? Weren't they both conceived in sin? Weren't they both sons of Adam? They both deserved to die. Now if you want God to give you what you deserve, you'll go to hell. That's it. No one, no one's saved.

But here's the hope that man has. God chose one. And listen, he anticipates your objection. Look at this in verse 14. What are we going to say? What are you going to say? Is there unrighteousness for God? That's what religion says. When I talk about election, they call me a heretic. What are they saying? God's not righteous. What does Paul say? God forbid. Is God unrighteous? No. For he told Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

So then, here's the conclusion, so then, it is not of him that willeth. Free will religion, gone. It's not of him that willeth. It is not of him that runneth. Works religion, gone. What made the difference? The mercy of God. God showed mercy. What's the? What's the context of mercy? What mercy means? You don't deserve it, right? If you deserve it, it's not mercy. Jacob did not deserve it. Esau didn't deserve it either. But in mercy God loved Jacob. Why? That the purpose of God according to election might stand. That's why he did it. Why do men kick against this? Don't they realize if there were no election, then no one would be saved? You understand that? If there were no election, no one would be saved. If God left it up to us, remember, We're depraved. We're dead in sins. If God left it up to us, there'd be none of us saved.

All right, look at this next one. I gotta move faster now, come on. It's not my fault, must be y'all's. Y'all are slowing me down. Here's the next one.

The next truth we must hold to is this. that Jesus Christ is a successful Savior. That Jesus Christ is a successful Savior. Now, go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, and look at this. What do I mean by this? Jesus is a successful saver. Religion holds the fact that Jesus made salvation possible, which is also possible that he saved nobody. If salvation is only made possible, then we must conclude this, that salvation, it's possible that he saved no one.

The scriptures are clear that Christ didn't come to make salvation possible. He actually came to save. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The Apostle says this, to wit, that God was in Christ and what was He doing? Reconciling the world unto Himself. Now we just concluded by divine election the word world doesn't mean everybody because He was not reconciling Esau to Himself. He was reconciling Jew and Gentile. That's what the word world here is understanding. God was reconciling. He was doing something.

Wait a second. Where were you? When God was in Christ, reconciling the world, where were you? You weren't even born yet. Yet this is what God was doing. Reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. Isn't that astounding? All of God's elect, God said this, I will not charge you with your sin. It's your sin, but I won't charge you with it. And hath committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead be you reconciled.

See, I'll preach to anybody this gospel. You know why? I don't know who the elect are. Do you? I don't know who they are. So God committed to us the word of reconciliation. And we pray this. We pray this of everyone. Be you reconciled to God. Why? Because I don't know who the elect are. I know that this, He reconciled only the elect. And one day, only the elect will understand it. I don't know who they are. So I tell it to everybody. I'm commanded to tell it to everybody.

And this is the grounds, listen, for God hath made him. Look at that past tense, God hath made him. God did something, God made him to be sin. That's what Paul said, for us. You that are reconciled, you that do believe, listen, this is the grounds of your salvation. That when Jesus Christ came into the world and he hung on that cross, God made him sin for you. He imputed your sins to him, and he died. Died unto the angels. Pray, God, for my sins. that I might be made something I was never, the righteousness of God. And yet as he suffered, he had no sin in himself. He was the perfect offering, the sinless son of the living God, sent to die in my stead for my sins. by his death he did something, he reconciled me to God. Something I can never do for myself.

The question is was he successful in his work? Religion says no. Religion says he made it possible, but in order for it to be successful, you have to do something. My Lord Jesus Christ declared his success. In John chapter six, he said this, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. When they do, I will in no wise cast them out, for no reason. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will that hath sent me, that of all He hath given me, I should lose nothing.

Does that sound like a loser? Does that sound like somebody who just tried and failed? If your Christ is unsuccessful, it's because your Christ is not Christ. The Christ of this book is successful. The scripture says this in Hebrews 10, 14, by his one offering, he hath perfected forever. Them that are sanctified, those God gave him, those God set apart and gave him, they are perfected, how long? He's a successful Savior.

Now, come on, I've got to move on. The sixth thing is this, the truth of the irresistible Spirit. Now, the religious age says that the Spirit of God can be thwarted. That the Spirit of God is out there trying to convince men to accept Jesus. But man has some power, some sovereignty over this, either to accept Him or reject Him. That's not the Spirit of this book.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said the Spirit, He said the Spirit is like the wind. The wind bloweth where it listeth. Can you control the wind? Can you will? I tell you what, I would like to say, man I will, it is not cold outside. But it is. I have no power whatsoever over the wind. Neither do you have power over the Spirit. The Spirit goes wherever the Spirit pleases to go. And wherever the Spirit pleases to go, He gives life. He doesn't ask, He gives.

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, was He asking? He said, Lazarus, would you please just get up? If you would accept my word, just please get out of the tomb and come out to me. No, He said, Lazarus, come forth. What could Lazarus do? When God called you, what could you do? You that have been called by the Spirit, was it a question? Was it a polite invitation? No, it was a command. You that believe, can you do anything else? You that believe on Christ, do you want anything else? Do you want less faith? You that believe? Why do you want more faith? Simply because the Spirit of God gave you life. And the only reason you believed is because the Spirit of God gave you faith.

Now listen to me very carefully. What I just said, according to the religious world, to them, it's heresy. But to us, it's how we worship God. And the last thing is this, everyone the Spirit calls to life shall be preserved. Go to one last passage. Go to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. Look at this. 1 Peter chapter 1. Look at verse 5. He talks about the election. He says, Man, that is everything I just told you. Now, look what he says. Who are kept? You that believe. You know this. If you believe through the rest of this night into tomorrow, it is because of this you are kept. If God kept you up until a certain point and let you go on your own, you know this, you wouldn't make it. I would have abandoned the faith long ago if I was not kept. But this is my joy. This is my hope. that according to God's word, the sovereign God chose me. Though I was born dead in sins, could not save myself, God chose to save me. And by His grace, He sent Christ, and Christ actually saved me. And in the time appointed, the Spirit of God came to me, and I believed by the power of His grace. And today, tonight, I believe because I am kept by the power of the Holy Spirit, which are kept by the power of God, listen, through faith, unto salvation ready to be revealed. Salvation ready to be revealed. Friends, we are kept. We who believe. This is the gospel they call heresy.

Isn't it a strange thing, you that believe the gospel, for them to look at you and call you a heretic? I don't care what they call me. When I start preaching the gospel, they'll say, I've had people do this a thousand times, listen to me, they say, oh, you're a Calvinist, and they'll just walk away. What are they saying? Heretic! I don't even want to talk to you, heretic. Listen, my gospel's not based on Calvin. My gospel's based on the Word of God. What's yours based on? Your thoughts, your feelings, your opinions? I don't care about that. What you call heresy is the way I worship God according, as Paul said, to the Word of God.

May God help us to hold these truths fast. Never to compromise or give an inch. Because if we do, we've moved from the word of God to another gospel. Don't move. Stand on it, no matter what happens. Because it's God's word. God help us.

Now stand and be dismissed in prayer. Holy Father, thank you for allowing us to be here in this place to hear the word. Oh, it is my heart that you would grant into all of us the power of your spirit to hear the word, to believe it, not to believe doctrines, but to believe Christ, to trust in Christ. And this we know is that power and grace to give us life and faith and to keep us. And I'm so thankful for your promise that you said no man can pluck us out of your hands.

Father bless us in these hours to come and in this next year. I pray that your gospel would go forth in power and demonstration of your spirit and sweep across this land Not for political power or gain, but, Father, that the cross of Christ, the glory of Christ might be preached and declared, and men might believe and be saved according to your sovereign will. May all the glory be down to Christ Jesus, our Savior. In His name we ask. Amen.