If you take your Bible to turn
with me again, Isaiah chapter 55. Title this the call of the gospel. Call. Of the gospel now. As I'm going to expound on this
call, this scripture says, ho, everyone that thirsted, Come
ye to the waters. He that hath no money, come buy
and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
price. This, my friends, is a call of
the gospel. Now, I want us to see, first
of all, what is the gospel? If this is a gospel call, then
what do we mean by this? We know it is what we call good
news. It is good news. It is the best
news. And this news, this gospel began
not in time but in eternity. So I want us to see that this
gospel is not something that began in time. It began with
an eternal purpose of God. The gospel of God begins with
an eternal purpose. And that purpose is God's purpose. According to the Holy Word of
God, we know this, that God in sovereign election did choose
some of Adam's race to salvation, specifically by this one means,
by Jesus Christ. You know that in Ephesians 1,
you read it constantly, it is a good, that's a great text of
comfort, isn't it? To you that are the elect, it
is a comfort. Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessing. You know, you ain't lacking one
spiritual blessing. All spiritual blessings in heavenly places,
according as he had chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy, that we should be holy
and without blame before him. In love, having predestinated
us under the adoption of children, here's how, by Jesus Christ. There was never a time then in
eternity when God's elect were not known of God. Those that God intended to save
by Jesus Christ were known of God. In fact, in the eternal
purpose of God, they were predestinated. They were called, they were justified
and they were glorified. Now that's over in Romans chapter
8. Paul says we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his what? Purpose. You see that's where the gospel
began, purpose. According to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did what? Predestinate. He predestinated
them to be conformed to the image of His Son, that Christ might
be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
He also called. Whom He called, He also justified.
Whom He justified, He also glorified. This is something God did on
purpose. That's always a good thing to
associate with the Gospel. It's something God did on purpose. Gospel is something God did on
purpose. And so all who believe on Jesus
Christ, we rest then completely, absolutely on Jesus Christ as
our eternal, immutable, unfailing salvation. Why? Because that's
how God purposed it. God purposed I should be saved
by Jesus Christ. Now, we were not elected Then
because of anything God foresaw in us. Exclude that out of your
mind. There's nothing in us that is
any different from any of those that God excluded from this. God chose us, the scripture says,
from the same lung. In Romans 9 it tells us. that
he is the potter and he chose to make vessels of mercy and
vessels of honor vessels of dishonor out of what the same lump the
same fallen race and so it was by grace he purposed to put us
in his son it was God who predestinated all things then in providence
of time so that Christ then should come and accomplish this salvation
You read that when God, when Adam sin, what's the first thing
he learned? He learned Christ was coming.
You see, God had already purposed that Christ was going to come
before Adam sin. But when Adam sin from that time forward, God
began to declare this, that my son is coming. My son is coming
to accomplish what I purposed. Adam, I purposed your salvation,
not by your works, but by my grace. And my son is coming. The seed of the woman shall crush
the head of the serpent. He gave him a message. Christ
should come. And so the second part of this
gospel message is the accomplishment of God's purpose. The accomplishment,
the first part of that was God's eternal purpose of salvation.
The second part of the gospel is Christ's fulfillment of that
purpose. Jesus, the scripture declares
to us, was as a lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
Isn't that something? Because see, there was no sin or death
before the foundation of the world. And yet God says he was
as a lamb slain. God always purposed that Christ
be the offering for sin. He always be purposed that. Yet as all God's eternal decrees,
they must be accomplished in time. Isn't that right? Everything
God purposed to happen in time must happen. It must happen. He said, I will do all my pleasure. Isn't that right? Our gods in
heaven had done whatsoever he pleased. None unto God or all
his works from the beginning. So this matter of salvation was
was especially known of God, and it must come to pass that
Christ must become the lamb of God. He must become a man. It's what he told Adam, the seed
of the woman told him he had come in the flesh. He would come as the Lamb of
God and give himself an offering for sin. And God condemned the
sin, therefore condemned the sin of his people in the flesh
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Over there in Romans 8, you remember
he tells us that wonderful thing that there is therefore now no
condemnation. Those are in Christ Jesus. That's a wonderful thing,
isn't it? Well, how'd that happen? How
is it that a sinner who is truly guilty has now no condemnation? For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin did what? Condemn
sin. Oh, that's good. Sin must be
condemned. But where was it condemned? It
was condemned in His flesh. He was condemned in Christ for
this purpose that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. So therefore Christ then having
obtained this righteousness, having obtained the righteousness
of God by his merit and satisfying the justice of God by his blood,
what did he do? He accomplished what God purposed,
the salvation of his people. Like I said, you need two things
to accomplish this. You need righteousness and you
need redemption. You need righteousness and redemption. And both of these Jesus Christ
has accomplished. This is the gospel. He's accomplished
it. Go to Jeremiah chapter two. Look
at this. I'm sorry, 23, Jeremiah chapter
23. God says, behold. Behold, the
days, verse five, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that
I will raise up under David a righteous branch. And a king shall reign and prosper. He shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. In his days, Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely, and this shall be his name, whereby
he shall be called the Lord. Our righteousness. Not the Lord
of righteousness. He was already the Lord of righteousness. But listen, he is the Lord, our
righteousness. Christ was determined to be a
king, to reign and prosper, to be successful. Successful in
what? Righteousness. Christ was to
obtain righteousness according to the purpose of God. Now look
at Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53 and look and
see how he accomplished redemption. This was the purpose of God,
righteousness and redemption. Look at verse 10. I noted this. I just I just thought of this
when I was reading it today. It says yet. All right. What does it mean yet? It pleased
the Lord. All this that goes before is,
it sounds negative, it sounds really bad. He's a man of sorrows
acquainted with grief. He's rejected of, he came into
his own, his own received him not. He was oppressed, he was
afflicted, he opened not his mouth. It sounds bad. He said he's going to be taken
from prison and judgment. Who shall declare his generation?
He's going to die. But I want you to understand
something, that was not defeat. Yet, it was not defeat. Yet,
it pleased the Lord to do all this stuff. It pleased the Lord
to crush him like this. It was purposed of God that he
be crushed. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him and put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, prolong his days,
and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. He
shall make his soul an offering for sin. And what's going to be the outcome? It pleased the Lord to do this.
What's the outcome? He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. You got that? that's redemption
God says I'm going to see the suffering of my son for sin and
I am going to be satisfied with his one offering what Paul tells
us in Romans 10 isn't Romans 9 and 10 look up that word one
and once just follow it he tells us over and over that those guys
offered sacrifices that can never take away sin minimum two sacrifices
a day and none of them accounted for anything But this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins, what did he do? He
sat down because it was done. Jesus Christ sat down because
he finished it. What did he finish? Exactly what
God the Father purposed he should finish. The salvation of his
people. Our salvation, my friends, I
want you to get this when when you believed you were saved.
You were saved. But you were saved long before
you ever knew it. You experience salvation the
day you believed, but that's not when you were saved. Then you were saved 2000 plus
years ago when Jesus Christ made that offering for sin. You were
saved. When he fulfilled the purpose of God, you were saved. Second, Second Timothy one. Second
Timothy one. Verse eight, last part, it says,
But thou be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. Who hath saved us? And what? Called us. You say called you and saved
you. That's important. The order is vital there. The
gospel is that he saved you. Then in grace he called you. Not with just any calling, but
with that effectual, holy calling. Perfect calling. And so therefore, Jesus Christ
has brought righteousness and redemption for every soul of
those the Father chose. Not one more, and not one less. I want to exalt the success of
Jesus Christ. That's what I want you to see.
I want you to see a success. His victory. Jesus Christ himself
said this, that of all the father has given me, I should lose nothing. Who else could say that? What are the king could say that
about his country or his nation, his people? Not one. Jesus said, All that the father
giveth me, I will lose nothing. I will lose nothing. In John,
chapter 17, in verse one, you remember that high priestly prairie
looked up to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son that thy son may glorify thee as thou has given him power
over all flesh. Now, why does he have power over
all flesh? He had power over all flesh.
Why must He now be given power over all flesh? Because He glorified
the Father. He earned it. John specifically says that,
doesn't he, in Revelation? He said, I saw the Lamb and He
took the book. He went up there to God and he
took the book. Anybody else? Nobody could look
at the book. Nobody was worthy to even look
at it. He didn't just look at it. He
grabbed it. It's mine. I earned it. The father said, Yes, you did.
You earned it. He said, All power is given to
me in heaven and earth for what that I might give eternal life
to as many as. Not one more, not one less, as
many as thou hast given me. That's who he gives eternal life
to. That's who he saved. Isn't that what he told that
woman at Cain, that woman, when she begs, she's up there begging,
Lord, please help me, help me. And he says, you know, I've not
come but for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. You know, that was a true statement.
He didn't lie to her. He told her the truth. Now he meant spiritual. Everybody
else thinking he's talking about Jews. He's not. He's talking
about that woman right there. She was one of those. All that the father gave him,
he accomplished salvation. What was a proof of his success?
Tell me what proved his success. God raised him from the dead. To show there's no more sin left
to pay. There's no more sin left to pay.
He paid it all. God has raised him from the dead. My friends, Christ is the gospel. You got that? Christ is the gospel. The gospel is not a system. It's
a person. It's Christ. It's Christ. He's the gospel. I remember listening
to somebody Talk about that thief on the cross and. They were all asking him certain
questions, so you know about what he knew. And he said, What
do you know about this? What do you know about this?
He said, I don't know much. So why are you here? He said,
That man said I could come. The man next to me on the cross,
he said I should come. You see, that's my only hope,
is that man on the cross. That man who rose from the dead,
Jesus Christ, is the gospel himself. He is the embodiment of it all.
He is all my wisdom. He is all my righteousness. He
is all my sanctification. He is all my redemption. He's
all of it. That's the gospel as a person. Now I want to talk about the
application of this gospel. You see the purpose of the gospel.
God purposed it. You see the success of it. Christ
accomplished it. Now that I want you to know how
this gospel is applied. How is it given to those elect? Just as sure as God's election
of grace, just as sure as Christ's accomplishment, all of the elect
shall be called to both life and faith by the spirit of God,
every one of them. Every one of them shall be called
I just told you that that he he saved us in first Timothy
chapter 2nd Timothy chapter 1 in verse 9 He said he saved us and
called us with what kind of whole calling unholy calling a holy
calling an effectual calling That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
told us in John 6 he says All that the father giveth me shall
come to me. Was there any doubt in his mind
that they were going to come? No, because all he saved, he's
going to call. He's going to call. And by what
means does he call? Second Thessalonians. Chapter
two. In verse 13. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren. Beloved of the Lord. Because
God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation, and here's
the means to through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. This is the means by which God
calls all his people. No man, my friend, by nature
will ever seek the Lord himself. And the scripture in in Isaiah,
Chapter 55, we're going to get on to get that far to it. But
listen, he says, seek the Lord while I'm called upon him. I
seek the Lord. I mean, the scriptures are plain,
no man is going to seek the Lord. By nature, no man will seek Him.
No man will ever be subject to the Law of God. And no matter
how much he wants to, he can't. Carnal mind is enmity against
God, for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither can be.
No man can or ever will believe on Christ alone. A lot of people
want to believe on Christ plus something, That's most of the
modern religion today is I want to, I believe on Christ, but
I also believe you got to add something to it. You got to,
you got to help him out. You got to, you got to, you got
to do this. You got to stop doing this. Salvation
has nothing to do with that. Nothing at all. Now listen, if
you are saved, will you not seek to follow him? Of course you
will. You are not seeking him to be saved by it, not what no
no means or or make yourself more acceptable. If I do every
exhortation in scripture, I do not make myself more acceptable
to God. Now, I may make myself more acceptable
in your eyes, and I probably will make myself more acceptable
in my own eyes and probably be proud for it, and it's all ruined. Not going to make myself more
acceptable to God. No, Christ made me acceptable. But no man
by nature wants to do that. They want to add something. So
man by nature, listen, man by nature is full of sin. I thought
of this. If something is full, it means
you can't fit anything else in there. I am by nature, we are full of
sin. Therefore, there can fit no righteousness
in here. There's no righteousness in us. In fact, the thoughts of the
imagination of the hearts of man are continually evil. Romans chapter 3 and verse 10,
there is none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understand it. There is none that seeketh after
God. They all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. And so then I know this, if there
were no eternal election to salvation. If there were no redemption accomplished
by Christ, if anything was left to us, there would be no salvation. Therefore, in this matter of
application, just as much as the purpose, salvation and accomplished
salvation, the application of salvation belongs to God, too. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit of God alone to create in the elect a new nature, a
new heart, a new man in the image of Jesus Christ. I just read you that in Romans
8, for whom he did foreknow, not what, whom, a people. He did predestinate to be conform
to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren and so all who are born of God are given a new
heart a new mind and a new will which is to say a new nature all we that have a new nature
have not eradicated the old one the old one is just the opposite
in mind in will in heart this is why we are encouraged
to put on the new man put off the old man and his deeds put
on the new man which is after God now that word after means
like to the uttermost what it means like to the uttermost. The new man is after God, like
God to the uttermost, created. Again, when you create something,
nothing has to be there before. It can't be created if it's already
there. It has to be made. It's created. It's created of
God. in true in righteousness and
true holiness. This is done by the power of
God. It's done by the power of God. And this new birth of the
Holy Spirit. Without which no man can enter
the kingdom of God. Therefore, Christ said, You must
be born from above. You must be born again. So no matter how many decisions
men make for Christ, no matter how Many of they feed the hungry
or clothe the poor or do all of these wonderful things. No matter how much they know
about the doctrines of grace, election and redemption, etc.
If they have not been born again of the power of God, of the Holy
Spirit, if they've not been given spiritual life by the omnipotent
hand of God, then they are lost. This is the application of the
work of God in the heart of man. And what is the proof of this
new work of this new heart? What's the evidence of this? What's the evidence that you're
a believer in Christ? Is it your moral character? I can find some people in the
Roman Catholic Church that are more moral than everybody in
this group. Morality, no, that's not the
measure. What's the measure? How do you
know? Do you believe on Jesus Christ
alone? Faith is the evidence. Of a new birth. Why said sanctification
of the spirit and what belief of the truth? The sanctification
of the spirit, the result is always belief of the truth. Faith
and love are the law of the believer. Not the law of Moses in any measure. Faith and love, those are the
commandments of the believer. And so, what is the means of
the Spirit of God to save and make application of what God
purposed, the salvation of His elect, what Christ accomplished,
the righteousness and redemption for the elect? What the Holy
Spirit applies to the hearts of man is this, it is by the
means of the gospel, the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the means that God uses to save sinners. Matter of fact, uh,
I didn't have this, but it's right there in, uh, second Thessalonians
chapter two. If you read the next verse, he
said, Where into he called you? Well, how by our gospel, you
see the means of the spirit to the saint, you've got to be born
again. The spirit is that's his work. That's his work. to give
you both life and faith. But the means by which He does
this is very specific. It is by He called you by our
Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the means of this life and
faith is what? The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul
says in Romans 10, Faith cometh by hearing. And hearing by what? The Word of God. The Word of
God. This is why God sends preachers
to declare something. I'm not here to debate. You want
to debate, you have to go someplace else. I'm just here to declare. Now listen, that's what God sent
me to do. You got that? That's what God
sent me to do. I agree there's probably 10,000
men that I would say more capable of doing this than I am. But
you know what? God didn't send them. Ask him. OK, he sent me to do
one thing. Preach the word. Preach the gospel
to you. And there's a lot of theologians
out there. Boy, they're well studied. They can study. They read a lot of books. OK. It's a lot of theology classes. I don't read any theology classes
in this book. Matter of fact, the only ones went theology class,
the Pharisees. God sends me. To simply declare
Christ. That's all my purpose is to declare
Christ to you. The Word of God is all about
Christ. People get hung up on so many
different things. If you're hung up on this, you're
not looking at Christ. Look to Christ. Trust Him, believe Him, and this
is our message, a declaration. Look, go back to your text now.
Go back to your text. Look at this. Ho, everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters. He that hath no money, come ye
buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without
price. Now the first way we preach is
a general call. It just goes out to everybody.
When I declare the Word of God to you, it goes to every ear
that is in earshot of me that has the ability to hear. It's
a general call. Preachers are not called to pick
and choose the elect. I don't have any clue who they
are. I don't do that. I don't pick
and choose. We're not called to even apply
the blood of Christ or to give life to sinners. We have no ability
to do that. Even because we have no power
in ourselves to do it to ourselves. I can't do it for you. I can't
save you. You know, when I declare the
gospel to you, I can't make you understand the gospel. You know
who does that? The Spirit of God. He is the teacher. I'm just a voice. But God called us to preach the
gospel to every creature, and that's what we're doing. Oh,
stop! Behold everybody! Listen! The gospel of Jesus Christ! Behold
Him! Look to Him! Believe on Him! Everyone who believes on Him
will be saved. You got that? That's a call that
goes out to everyone. Our Lord put it like this in
Luke chapter 8. He said, A sower went forth to sow. And as he
sowed, he threw the seed, and some of it fell by the wayside.
Some of it fell on the hard ground. It was stomped on. Birds came
and took it and ate it. Some fell on stony ground, had
a little bit of earth on the top, took a little root, but
then it was so hard underneath, when the sun comes up, it burned
it up. He said some landed over here on some weeds, and it shot
up, but the weeds choked it out, and it didn't produce anything,
it was useless. He said some fell on good ground. And so it is with gospel preachers.
That was the whole parable that gospel preachers cast the seed
at a venture. I got this that some people think
that the gospel preaching is like digging a hole and planting
one seed at a time. We want to some people want to
get you alone and start talking to you and, you know, try to
I don't know, trick you into it, I guess, or or no. Throw
it out there. Because it's not my business
where it lands and how it lands. It's not my business where it
goes and what it does. God said my word shall not return
to me void. It shall go out and accomplish
whatsoever I send it forward to do. See what he's going to
do? He's going to do exactly what he wants to with this word.
Not what this preacher wants to do with this word. I'm not
trying to. Just throw it out. Some going to hear it and some's
not. So I'm going to believe it. Some's not. Paul said that whosoever shall
believe on the name of the Lord shall Jesus Christ shall be saved.
But how shall they believe on whom they have not what? I don't have time to listen.
J.D., it just comes to my mind. My brother now with the Lord,
I miss him so much. I believe Lord saved him the
night that he came and heard the gospel for the first time.
He just. Oh, it. It joyous joy in my heart to
see his face. And. I think after a while of
sitting there listening, he came to my office, he was mad, he
was oh, so mad at me. I said, brother, what's wrong?
He said. I don't know, that message last night, it really affected
me. I said, what happened? He said,
you're saying to me, you were saying to me that before I came
here, I was not saved. I said, J.D., I didn't say anything
like that to you. I didn't specifically call you
out and tell you you were or weren't saved. I don't know if
you're saved now. It's not my business. But I can
ask you a question. Did you hear the gospel before
you came to this place? Did you hear of a successful
Savior before you came to this place? No. I said, well, how could you be
saved under a Christ like that? I don't see any purpose. If you
hadn't heard the Gospel, how could you believe on Him in whom
you've not heard? And how shall they hear without
what? Preacher. How shall they preach except
they be sent? And some of you will hear the sound of this and
it will fall on hard ground And it will go away just as fast
as it came. Some of you it may take a little root. You may have
a little problem in your life and the gospel sounds pretty
good to you and you receive it with joy. But it ain't long and
pretty soon trials and tribulations will come along and it just goes
by the wayside, it withers away. Some of you may hear it and it
may you may grow up. You may have all the green leaves
you want, but the cares of this life, the love of this world,
the love of the flesh, choke the word. And there is no fruit.
There is no faith. There is no love. There's no
joy. There's no peace. But here's my hope is this. I
know some of this will land on good ground. Because God is the
one that prepares the ground. I know when I was young I knew
everything. I did. I was probably the one
that had the least teachable spirit there was. God plowed that up. His word
came in power. And life came. And I believed
on Christ. This is what we call, then, the
effectual call. The general call goes out to
everybody, but the effectual call is the call of God to the
elect. The effectual call. What do I
mean by effectual? I say that a lot. What does that
word mean? I put that in the bulletin. I think John Chapman wrote that
a long time ago. He said there are two different
words, affect and effect. Affect has to do with the moving
of feelings. The moving of a mind you may
change someone's mind. Or you may move them emotionally. You see, that's what religion
wants is they want an affect. What God does is effect. That word means this. It gets
the job done. Whatever God. Desires to affect. It does. It actually does something. It does what God purpose to do.
It saves the sinner. That's what it does. Now let
me give you a quickly. The qualifications of all those
that God affects. Look at this. Oh, everyone, there's
a general call. That is what? Thirsty. You see how it narrows it down
real fast? Hey, everybody, are you thirsty? Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come you to the waters, come you to the waters. What the gospel
is calling is thirsty sinners. Thirsty sinners. Are you thirsty
for a heart of righteousness? Do you are you? When I say thirsty,
I don't mean like I'm I'm kind of thirsty right now. You know,
I'm I can get a drink of this water, but I'm really not going
to die in the next 30 seconds if I don't get one. So I'm not
dying of thirst. He's talking about somebody dying
of thirst. Do you need righteousness that
bad? Are you thirsty? Are you thirsty for the mercy
and grace of God? Then come to the ocean, the river
of God's salvation, avail yourself to the gospel that is preached. One who is thirsty will not stop
until he has water. You know that if you are thirsty,
you will not stop till you have it. And there is no refreshing water
in the law. There's no refreshment in the
law. Lord gave that picture of the
bitter waters of Mar, you remember that? Bitter waters of Mar, that's
a picture of the law. There's nothing but death there. But you remember, he said, cut
down a tree and put the tree in the water and the waters were
made sweet. It's a picture of Christ and
his obedience to the law, his satisfaction to the law. Come
you to Christ. Everyone that's thirsty. Come to Christ and drink. Drink
of his perfect salvation. That's what he told that woman
at the well, and he said. He said, if you knew who it was,
you'd ask of me and I'd give you living water. Living water. And this secondly, this is a
call to the poor. He said this, you that have no
money, combine a combine wine and milk without money and without
price, you see, God calls only those that are bankrupt that
have nothing to pay. Nothing. You have nothing to
pay. Do you need God's mercy, God's
righteousness, yet have nothing to offer? Now, if you have something
to offer, it's not for you. If you've got something to add,
it's not for you. This is for someone who has no
money. No merits. No righteousness of their own.
No ability to buy the righteousness of God that is in Christ. God
calls poor sinners without price. Thirdly, this gospel call is
only effectual to the dead. He said, why do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and labor for that which satisfieth
not, hearken diligently unto me, eat that which is good, let
your soul delight itself in fatness. What is this? Christ said that we must eat his flesh and
drink his blood or you have no life. You see the bread we enjoy
is Christ. The wine that we enjoy is his
blood. Spiritual language friends web
faith. We receive these things and they
are nourishment. They are refreshment and they're
free How often you need forgiveness You need it Delight yourself in fatness There's
forgiveness. There's more forgiveness than
you have seen. I Matter of fact, the Lord said
that he paid double for all our sins. Twice as much. And this
calls to the day, look at this right here, he said, climb your
ear and come into me here and your soul shall what? Live. Live. See, God doesn't call the righteous,
he calls sinners. He said, I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. Jesus told us in John 5, He said,
The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Oh, that God might come now to
call the dead to life. And what I'm talking about here,
everyone that has been called from death to life, you understand
exactly what this means. I've not said anything tonight
that you don't already know. You know this by your own experience
of grace. You were called to death and
death to life, and look what he promises. He says, and I will
make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies
of David. The sure mercies of David. You know he's not speaking about
David, but Christ. When he thinks about the sure
mercies of David, I know he's using the picture of Mephibosheth. There's that son of Saul, son
of Jonathan, worthy of only death, lame on his feet, and yet before
his birth he made a covenant for him. Jonathan and David made
a covenant. And when David had conquered
all of his enemies, he sent his soldiers to fetch Mephibosheth. And fetch it. I think one preacher
said that David must be a southerner. Fetch it. It's a southern word. He brought Mephibosheth to him.
And the scripture says he fell on his face. What else could
a man do that's lame on his feet? Couldn't run. Fell on his face. And David said,
I'm going to show you mercy for Jonathan's sake. Isn't that what
happened to you? God brought you, fetched you
before his mighty justice. You fell on your face. And you
said, what is thy servant that you
should look on such a dead dog as I am? And God said this, I'm going
to show you mercy for Christ's sake. Pick him up, put him at my table. He's going
to eat there the rest of his life. Just like my son. At David's table, who do you
suppose was the most, most thankful? You suppose Absalom, one of the
sons was thankful. I'll tell you what, Bibishep
was most thankful. Why? He had the sure mercies
of David. Everyone God saves, every thirsty,
bankrupt sinner that comes to Christ, he gives life and he
shows us mercy. According to what? The covenant
of grace. That's why you show mercy. That's
why I'm still here. That's why I still believe. Not because of the power of my
faith or the strength that's in me. I believe because God
made a covenant. He's going to keep that covenant. I'm so thankful that God does
not depend upon me keeping this covenant. I failed. Tonight I failed. Have you failed?
Did you keep everything tonight? Are your minds sharp and keen
on all the word of God? No. No. That's why we say Christ is all. He's
all my hope. He's all my life. He's all my
salvation. What did that huckster say? I'm
a sinner and nothing at all. Jesus Christ is my all in all. I don't know about that. I'm
a sinner and nothing at all. Ask him all those questions.
That's his only answer he can come up with. He didn't have
any other answer. That's a good answer. I don't know much about
that. I know this. I'm a sinner and
nothing at all. And Jesus Christ is my all in
all. That's someone who's effectually
been called by this gospel. Have you been cold? We should give thanks for what
God has given us. Give thanks. You know, we can't
murmur and be thankful at the same time. Can't do it. God help
us. Praise Christ. Let's stand and
be dismissed in prayer.