Isaiah chapter 43, and we'll
be looking at verses 10 through verse 13 this evening. And the title of my message this
evening is, Jehovah's Witnesses. Jehovah's Witnesses. It says this in verse 10, You
are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He. Before me there was no God-form,
neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and
beside me is no Savior. I have declared and I have saved
and I have showed when there was no strange God among you.
Therefore, you are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. Yea, before the day was, I am
he, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. I will
work, and who shall let it? Jehovah's Witnesses. I want to
start by this, prefacing this by this statement, this blanket
statement. All believers in Jesus Christ
are witnesses of Christ. All of you who are believers
in Christ, you are Jehovah's witnesses. You are his witnesses. In Matthew chapter 5, we have
been studying that message on the mount. And the Lord Jesus
said to those blessed, He said, You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. These are not ambiguous statements.
These are statements of truth and of fact. You are these things. He's not speculating what you
shall be, but what you are. You are the witnesses of Jehovah. Now what is a witness? But one
who is himself personally seen and can give testimony as evidence
of something. If you have witnessed a crime,
you would be someone who saw the crime. You are a a living
witness or an evidence against that person, because you were
there. Now we who are believers in Christ,
we are witnesses of Jesus Christ, but truly we're not eyewitnesses,
are we? We're not eyewitnesses. We were not there when Jesus
walked upon the earth. We did not see Him in the flesh,
nor did we hear His voice as He preached. We did not see him
agonize in the garden, nor did we see him suffer upon the tree.
We did not see him rise from the dead, and nor did we see
him ascend into heaven. Yet we surely have read the account
of eyewitnesses. The apostles, are they not all
eyewitnesses? They're eyewitnesses of these
things. Matter of fact, go over to 1 John. 1 John. John tells
you this. John chapter 1, 1st John chapter
1, sorry, 1st John chapter 1, he says, that which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes. which we have looked upon, and
our hands have handled the word of life. For the life was manifest,
and we seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you. That eternal
life which was with the Father, and was manifest unto us, that
which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you. that you
also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is
with the father and with the son john is testifying he said
we've seen it we've seen him we've touched him we've handled
him so you have here an eyewitness you have someone who actually
was there and witnessed the whole thing and he's not alone He said,
this is our witness. We, the apostles, have seen this
and show it unto you. What did they show? They showed
Jesus Christ. These men were chosen of God
to be His apostles, His eyewitnesses. They seen Christ in the flesh,
witnessed His death, His burial, His resurrection. These have seen Him alive after
His death. You know there were more men
that have seen the Lord Jesus Christ alive after His death
than there were there to sign the Declaration of Independence? And yet men still will not believe.
They will not believe because of this. There's multiple witnesses. All of the Old Testament prophets
and Psalms and they all did what? They spoke of Him. They witnessed
of Him. They testified of Jesus Christ. Jesus told them, He said, You
search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life, but they are they that testify, that witness of Me. And over in John chapter 17,
the Lord Jesus Christ in His high priestly prayer, He said,
I pray for them, for those that I've given Your Word to. And
this is why he said in John 17, he said, "...so that others should
believe through their word." The apostles were eyewitnesses
of these things. The prophets testified of these
things. And Jesus Christ, "...so that
others should believe through their word." Through their witness. Which is the case of everyone
here. Every one of the believers in Jesus Christ, you here are
not eyewitnesses. You have not seen the Lord, yet
you believe the word of those who did eyewitness his accounts. You believe their word. Every believer in Jesus Christ,
you believe because faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. Yet this faith that we have in
Christ is not a mere acknowledgment, is it? It's not a mere acknowledgment
of the witness of the apostles. This faith which every true believer
possesses is not just a mere act of human will, nor is it
a product of human emotion or sentiment. No, our faith in Jesus
Christ, listen, it is the work of God. the fact that you believe
the account of the apostles. It is not a mere act of will
or determination. I can lay out the evidence. I can lay it out before you where
you had no other choice but to accept it as truth. Yet that's
not real faith. That's not genuine saving faith. Because real faith acknowledges
not just the facts of the case, but is also a partaker of those
things. There's something supernatural
that goes on inside of the heart of a true believer in Christ. This faith in Jesus Christ. is the work of God upon our souls. This faith in Christ is not the
cause of our salvation, but rather it is the result of our salvation
and the work of God the Holy Spirit. So if you ever have faith,
don't take it lightly. It's a gift of God. It is a supernatural
work. It's a work of God in the new
creation. The Spirit's work of regeneration,
resurrection from the dead. As Paul describes it, it is a
new creation. A new creation. Ezekiel the prophet
told us this in his prophecy concerning the new covenant.
He said, the Lord said, I will give them, what? A new heart. A new heart. That's part of the
covenant of grace. And our Lord Jesus Christ tells
us in John 3 and verse 3, Verily, verily, except a man be born
from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. How could you
ever witness of the kingdom of God or know of the kingdom of
God except you be born from above? You can't. This new birth. Jesus says is
not carnal, but spiritual. Remember Nicodemus thought it
was carnal. He said, I don't understand,
how can a man be born a second time? Can he come into his mother's
womb again and be born? No, it's not carnal, it's spiritual. He said, except a man be born
of water, even of the Spirit. Water is a picture of washing. And that's what the Spirit does
when He comes and He washes. And He also likens the Spirit
not just to water for cleansing, but likens Him to the wind. And
what does the wind do? Do you know where it's going?
Do you know where it came from? No. All you can do is see the
effects of it. Even so is everyone that is born
of the Spirit of God. I don't know where the Spirit
of God is going. I don't know who He'll save. But when He does,
it'll happen. Just as the leaf moves in the
wind, even so when God Almighty saves a man, you won't have to
guess. He does the work. And back in John 14-16, our Lord
Jesus, He tells of this Spirit that gives the new birth. He
says He's coming. When I die and I rise from the
dead and ascend unto glory, He said, then I'll send my Comforter
unto you. And the Comforter, He said, He
will live with you forever. He will abide in you. He said,
this Comforter will teach you all things concerning me. He
will testify only of Jesus Christ. Doesn't that do away with a whole
lot of false religion immediately? When they say the Spirit of God
has come and they start jumping up and down, they're saying the
Spirit is testifying of His presence. Well, I'll tell you what, the
Holy Spirit never testifies of Himself. He always testifies
of Jesus Christ. That's His mission, His purpose.
And the Holy Spirit alone will reprove the world of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment. Therefore, herein is our witness. Even the work of God, the Holy
Spirit upon our hearts. Have you had the work of God's
Holy Spirit on your heart? Then no guess that listen, you
are his witnesses. This is the work of God. If you've
had the work of God worked into your heart so that you are born
again, then you are the witnesses of God's saving grace. The work of the Holy Spirit is
on our hearts and has given us the light of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. And by this work of grace to
us, he has given us faith. We then are made witnesses by
supernatural work of grace. And because we surely have ourselves
experienced the truth of God in our hearts, therefore we know
this. We are witnesses. I am a witness. I am a witness of this, of the
work of God's grace in my heart. I testify of that. And the evidence
of that is what? Faith. Faith in Jesus Christ. This work of God makes us witnesses. Paul speaks of this truth in
Romans chapter 8. Go over there and I'll show you
this real fast. Romans chapter 8. Look what the Spirit of God does
when He comes to a man and saves him. Paul says in verse 14 of Romans
8, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God. Are you led
by the Spirit of God? Does the Spirit of God work upon
your heart, the grace of faith in Jesus Christ? Then you are
the sons of God. For we have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the spirit
of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And listen, the Spirit
Himself, what does He do? He beareth witness with our spirit
that we are the children of God. How do I know that I'm the child
of God? Because the Spirit of God bears witness with me. Bears
witness in my own heart. Does the Spirit of God bear witness
in your heart? Are you His son? Are you His
child? Now let us by the grace of God
the Holy Spirit, go back to your text, go back to your text. I
want us tonight to see by the grace of the Holy Spirit our
witness. We who are believers in Christ,
we are the witnesses of God. God said, you are my witnesses,
saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen that you may
know and believe me and understand that I am he. We who are witnesses of God,
God declares unto us that we are witnesses, first of all,
of God. We are witnesses of God. No man by nature can know God,
neither does any man seek or worship God. This is clear in
all the scripture. Scripture said, there's none
righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth.
Listen, there's none that seeketh after God. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that doeth good, no, not one. So this is clear. And we who are quickened by the
Holy Spirit are now made partakers of a new nature, a divine nature. We were dead, but now we are
born again of the Spirit of God. And our text declares that this,
of God's witnesses, look at that, he said we were chosen. He said,
you are my witnesses, sayeth the Lord, my servant, whom I
have, what, chosen. Do you know this, believer, you're
a witness because God chose you to be one? He chose you to be
His witness. His witness. We were chosen of
God for this purpose. That we should know. That we
should believe Him. And understand who He is. That He is the great I AM. Now, this is really for later
if you want to go back over it and look at it It's quite amusing. Isaiah chapter 41 is quite amusing
because God is mocking false deities. He is out and out mocking
them. And in that chapter, in verse
21, He says this, Produce your cause, saith the Lord, bring
your strong reason, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring
them forth and show us what shall happen. Let them show the former
things what they be, that we may consider them, and know the
latter end of them, and declare the things for to come. Show
the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know you are gods.
Yea, do good, or do evil. Do something, he's saying. If
you're a god, do something, that we may be astounded. He's mocking
them. He's mocking all who worship
a false god. He said, you come and bring your
cause. Bring your God here and let's look at it. You remember the story, I've
told it several times, the missionary in Mexico talked about this man
whose son was saved, and they have these idols, they really
do, they make idols, and they bow down to these idols, and
his son was trying to tell his dad, he said, no, Christ is the
one, he's the God, and these are no gods. And he wouldn't
listen, so one day his son took a hammer and he hit all of the
gods except for one. He put the hammer right beside
him. And when his dad came home, he
said, Son, what did you do? You've destroyed my gods. He
said, No, he did it. He did it. And the father was
mad, he said, no son, he didn't have any ability to do it. And
they said, that's what I've been trying to tell you. They don't
have any power. There's no power in a false god.
And God said, you false gods, you worship idols, you bring
them before me and let's examine them. There are no gods. And in verse 29 he said, behold,
they are all vanity. They're nothing. They're nothing. No gods at all. And this is the witness both
of the Word of God and the witness of the Holy Spirit in our heart.
Is that not true? You believe on Christ. Is that
not true? This is our witness that there are no other gods
except God. Except Jehovah. There's no other
gods. He is God. He was before all
things. He created all things. And He
will be after all things. He is God and there is none else. There is only one God. This is
our witness. Witness in our hearts and the
witness of this book. That God is absolutely God. And He is sovereign over all
things. What do I mean when I say God
is sovereign? What I'm saying is God is God.
That's what I'm saying. God is God. And nothing and no
one else is God. Now that's pretty clear, isn't
it? So how many God? One God. There's only one God. God is God and no one else is
God. Therefore He reigns supreme over
all things and does according to His own sovereign will. You want to know what God's doing?
He's doing absolutely what He wants to. That's what He's doing. In everything. He is doing absolutely
everything He purposed to do. Everything. Look at verse 13 of your text.
Isn't that what it says? Verse 13, Yea, before the day
was, I am He. And there is none that can deliver
out of My hand. I work, I will work, and who
shall let it? Who shall stop it when I do something? Isaiah says it in Isaiah 46,
in verse 9, he said, remember the former things of old. I'm
God and there's none else. I'm God, there's none like me.
Declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times, the things
that were not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand. And I will do all my pleasure. And all who know God and are
His witnesses, we believe and understand that everything that
comes to pass in time and eternity comes to pass because God sovereignly
ordained it so. That's just so. That's my witness. That's the witness of this book.
And any other witness is a lie. That's just so. I don't have
any patience for anything else. God is God and nobody else is. He's sovereign. Who can deliver
out of His hands and who's going to stop Him from doing what He
pleases? You? No. No, you won't, neither will I.
God's sovereign. This is the witness of that evil
king, Nebuchadnezzar. You remember that God had raised
that man up and gave him all of the kingdoms. Largest kingdom
there ever was and ever will be was Nebuchadnezzar. Set him
on the throne. And you remember what God did
to that man? He cast him down and made him
eat grass like an ox for seven years. Made that man to lose
his mind. And yet he sustained his kingdom.
He didn't give it to anybody else. That man ate grass for
seven years. And you know what he said when
his reason, when God gave him back that reason? He looked up
to heaven and his reason was restored to him by God and he
said this, I bless the most high and praised and honored him that
liveth forever and ever. Whose dominion is everlasting
dominion. Whose kingdom is from generation
to generation. And listen, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
own will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. And listen, none can stay his
hand or say, what are you doing? Let the potsherd strive with
the potsherd, but he will not strive with God. God will do
what he pleases with you and with me. Now that's my witness. And I know this, not just in
my head, I know this in my heart. I know this by experience. You
who believe, don't you know this by experience? Did He not grab
your heart and give you life without your permission? He reached
down His sovereign hand and gave me life, gave me faith, and I
didn't even ask for it. One lady said this, she said,
the Lord saved me for I knew what was happening. That's exactly
my testimony. I identify with that. I identify with it. I didn't
even know what was going on. The Lord just saved me. And then
I believed on Him and oh wow. You know what? I'm His witness.
I'm His witness that God does with us as He pleases. Now there
are some who claim to be witnesses of God. They claim to know God.
But if you were to bring their God before you, before us today,
and compare Him with the God that I just described to you,
He would not compare. You put them side by side and
listen. If your God is not absolutely, completely sovereign in all things,
He is no God! He is no God at all. He's vanity. He's empty. If their God is not absolutely
sovereign over all things, people, time, events, and eternity, He
surely is no God at all. Some will try to say that their
God is sovereign over most things. Well, especially if something
happens that's good. Oh, they'll say, thank God. Well, whoo, God,
I'm so glad You gave me this wealth or this car or this thing,
this hell. Whatever it is that's good, they'll
give God the credit. But when something bad goes on,
They think God was blindsided, as though He didn't have anything
to do with that. If man's God is not sovereign
in all things, especially in this matter of salvation, listen,
He is no God. If man's God is not sovereign
in salvation, and has somehow yielded His sovereignty to a
man, then that God is no God. Because my God witnesses here
and in my heart, He says this, in verse 11, He said, I am the
Lord, and beside me is what? No Savior. You see, He's not
giving you to be your Savior. God does not yield His sovereignty.
He is sovereign in salvation. As a matter of fact, if you are
ever to be saved, God must do it. God's got to do it. God doesn't yield his sovereignty,
and if your God yielded his sovereignty to man's will, then your God
is not God. For our God says, besides me,
there is no Savior. I will work, and who will let
it? Behold, our God, in whom we are
witnesses, is sovereign in all things, especially this matter
of salvation. And we know because God hath
from the beginning chosen us, his witnesses, to salvation. See, I'm a witness of God's sovereignty.
Matter of fact, I'm evidence of God's sovereignty. I am what
you would call a trophy of His grace. I'm evidence of it. And we know this because God
hath from the beginning chosen us to salvation. He said, I have
chosen you to know and to believe Me and to understand that I am. In 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13,
Paul says, We are bound always to give thanks to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. I had a man call me once and
ask me, you show me where it says election is unto salvation. I just showed you. We were chosen
to what? Salvation. God chose us to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Oh, how sweetly does this witness
come to our heart that God loved us. He loved us with an everlasting love, an eternal love, an immutable
love, an unchangeable love. He loved us before time began. And I'll tell you, His love will
always endure to the end of eternity. Always His love. And because
of His love, listen, He purposed us to come before Him as holy
sons. That's what He says in Ephesians,
according as He had chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame. That's what God chose you, you
witnesses of God. That's what He chose you for,
that you should be holy. And this sovereign choice of
His was never because of our merits, His love was never founded
upon our works or decision, but only according to His own purpose
and grace, which He says in 2 Timothy, I believe 2 Timothy 1.9, which
was given us grace, which is given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Now this election of grace, which
is under salvation, This election was hidden. It was a hidden mystery. And known to no one. Do you realize
when God made the angels and He made the heavens and the earth
and Adam and all of the creation, He had already purposed our salvation,
but nobody knew it. Nobody but Himself. He knew what
He would do. He knew what He was going to
do. Paul says this is the mystery which is revealed to us. I'm a witness of this mystery
of election because it has been revealed to me by the Holy Spirit
of God. Just to show you I'm not crazy,
go over to 1 Corinthians. How dare you he said that Holy
Spirit came to you and revealed you something you bet he did Paul says in chapter 2 of 1st
Corinthians, he said how bit we speak wisdom among them that
are perfect Yet not the wisdom of the world nor the prince of
the world that came to naught. I But we speak the wisdom of
God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before
the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of the world
knew, for had they known it, they would have not crucified
the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I have
not seen nor ear heard, neither entered into the heart of man
the things which God has prepared for them that love him. But God
hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. You now see that? That's exactly His testimony
is my testimony is your testimony. Is my witness, is His witness,
is your witness. That the Spirit of God revealed
these things to me. I didn't learn them because I
was smarter. I had these things in my head
from my youth. These things were taught to me
from my youth, but it was not in my heart until the Spirit
of God put it there. I didn't really know it until
the Spirit of God put it in my heart and showed me. And I testify
to this truth, that the Father's purpose to save all of His elect
people, His peculiar people, and a certain number of people,
And listen, any God who has not chosen a people from eternity
is no God. Any God who yields His sovereignty
to the free will of man is no God but our God. This is my witness,
this is the witness of the Word, that God has in His sovereign
mercy chosen some of Adam's race to save. The second thing we are witnesses
of is this, that the Father hath saved them by Jesus Christ. That's my witness. Look at your
text in verse 12. He said, I have declared. Wasn't
that election? You see, God has already declared
salvation. I have declared, I have chosen
my people, I have loved them. And look at this, and have saved. Saved. God declared His sovereign mercy
and, notice, He has saved. The Word of God declares that
we are born again of the Spirit of God to faith in Christ, and
all spiritual blessings were ours in heavenly places in Christ. You see, this is the purpose
of God, that He should save us by Jesus Christ. That was the
word. He chose us to be holy. How? How should you and I be
holy? By Jesus Christ. This was always
God's purpose. And therefore, He gave us to
Christ. All of His elect, He gave them
to Christ. Therefore, we give thanks to
God because He had blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in Christ. In Christ. We were chosen in
Christ and God purposed that by Christ we should be both holy
and righteous in His sight. So then from the fall of man,
Ever since man fell, God has been revealing this slowly. Little by little. You think of
the fall. After the fall, he said to Adam
and Eve, the seed of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent.
And then he gave that picture of killing that animal and covering
their nakedness with that skin. Isn't that a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ? You bet it is. You remember when Abraham was
sent up to Mount Moriah to offer his son, that God, the Scripture
says that God would provide Himself a lamb. And He did provide Himself a
lamb when Jesus Christ came into the world as a substitute for
sinners. You remember that Passover lamb,
how that lamb was kept for a certain amount of days to be looked over. He had to be perfect. Was not
the Lord Jesus Christ set aside for thirty-three and a half years
so that men would test Him, Satan would test Him, and God tested
Him to show that He is the perfect Son of God, the sinless man. And as that blood of the Passover
lamb was shed and put upon the doorpost and the lintel, and
the justice of God passed over that house, even so it is with
the blood of the Lamb of God, Christ. His blood was shed and
applied to our hearts, and the justice of God passes over us. These pictures of the Old Testament are now fulfilled by the coming
of Jesus Christ, of which we are witnesses. It was God that put us in Christ,
and it was Christ who came into the world to be our substitute
and our Passover lamb. Therefore, as our representative
man, he humbled himself, subjected himself to the law of God and
man, and offered himself a sacrifice for the sins of His people. He was the Passover Lamb and
this transaction of God to redeem us was not a human transaction,
but rather a divine one. That God actually took guilt
from us and imputed that guilt to His Son. And Jesus Christ suffered the
full fury of God's wrath and vengeance on the tree. He endured
the cross, despising the shame, and when justice was satisfied,
He cried what? It is finished. What was finished? Salvation. Salvation was finished. It was in His death that God
was forever satisfied, and by His one offering our sins had
been purged. And by His blood we have been
saved, perfected forever. Who? Those who are sanctified
by God. And God testifies of His victorious
salvation and redemption by His resurrection and ascension into
glory. And of this, listen, of Jesus
Christ and His successful atonement, I am a witness. I am a witness
of this. We are witnesses of this by the
work of God, the Holy Spirit, which He has showed. That's what it says in verse
12. He said, I declared salvation, I've saved, and I've showed it.
I've showed it. He shows it to us. Oh, blessed
be the God and Father of Jesus Christ, who had declared, saved,
and showed us our salvation. He hath worked in us the work
of grace. And listen, who will let it? He said, I've worked. I've done
this. Now, who will let it? This word,
let it, means who will return it? Who will stop it? Who will
thwart it? You hear false worshipers of
a false god, a free will works religion, they say, let go and
let God. I want to say a very bad word right
now. Because that's just all it is. It's mess. Let God. Well, if you'll just
let Jesus come into your heart, if you'll just allow the Holy
Spirit to come in, then He'll save you. Holy Spirit's trying,
but He can't get through you unless you just let Him. Listen, this is not the witness
of God's saints. That's not our witness. For we
testify not of a Redeemer trying to redeem, but we testify of
a successful Redeemer. We testify of this because it
is our experience. We by nature testify. We testify
that we were dead in sins. That we were not subject to the
law of God and could not come to Christ. I testify that I was
in absolute darkness. And all that I am by nature and
all I can do by nature is sin. I testify to that. I witness
of that. I know that to be true. I was
bound in the chains of my sin. Justice had barred the doors
of heaven. And Satan was my taskmaster. It was exactly like the hymn
writer wrote, enwrapped in thick Egyptian night and fond of darkness
more than light. Listen, madly I ran the sinful
race, secure without a hiding place. That's my experience. I can witness of that because
that's true of me. But God who declared my salvation
and Jesus who has accomplished my salvation also would show
me my salvation. Therefore, the light of the gospel
shined into this dark heart of mine and exposed me for what
I am." Exposed my sin. And this light came into my heart
not because I let it. And when it came, I could not
resist it. It was irresistible. Irresistible. I could not resist the work of
grace, for I was dead. And when I heard the voice of
the Son of God that says, live, you know what I only thing I
could do then was what? Live. That's all I could do. And when God speaks to your heart,
I know this. When he says to your soul, live,
there won't be anything else you can do. but live. I testified the power of the
Holy Spirit who raised me from the dead, and He revealed to
me my lost condition." Listen, if a man has never experienced
his own depravity, he is still in his depravity. If a man doesn't know his own
vile, corrupt nature, his helplessness to save himself or to provide
anything, But his poisonous sin, that man is no witness of God,
for only the guilty need mercy, only the dead need life, and
only the blind need sight. Which I testify of myself, as
does every one of you who are witnesses of God. And we, in
such a loathsome condition, what was our experience? We cried
out to God, for mercy. Have you ever cried to God for
mercy? You know what I realized when
the Lord saved me? Is that I needed a righteousness
that I couldn't provide. I needed a redemption payment
that I could not myself, through an eternity of hell, could never
pay. And you know what I found? I found that Jesus had already
provided those things I needed. I found that He had already provided
righteousness, redemption. I needed a new heart, a new nature.
And I find out that even as I'm crying out for one, He's already
given me one. He's given me a new heart to
love Him, to believe on Him, and to testify that Jesus Christ
is the successful Redeemer. And listen, all others are false
redeemers. If your Christ did not accomplish
salvation, he's not Christ. That's my witness. That's the
witness of this book. And he called us to life which
was irresistible. And we who are saved, He also
calls. And whom He calls, Him He also
justifies. And whom He justifies, Him He
also glorified. We testify of this truth, that
God's word says, let God be true, and every man a liar. Therefore, as the witnesses of
God, listen, you who are witnesses, I want you to hear this. Be very
careful about this. You are witnesses. of God. And as being witnesses of God,
you are witnesses against every other false god. You're witnesses against them. Now I want you to know this.
We are never to study the false in order to disprove them. You
know how I know that a god is false? by the witness that God
has in his word and in my heart. This is how I know what a false
god is. I don't go around studying other
religions. Just don't do it. Matter of fact,
God told him in Deuteronomy 12, if you want to read it later,
he said, don't even try to figure out the heathen gods. That's
not for you. When they did that, they just
got confused and backslidden. Don't do that. You don't need
to try to study the false. Study the true! Know the true
God! And all others, when you set
them beside Him, they just fade away into nothingness. You are
His witnesses. And believer, we surely, we live
in an age of so-called enlightenment, to where men no longer bow down
to totem poles or tadpoles. Yet make no mistake, man is still
making gods. Man's mind is a god factory. A man will go into the corrupt
recesses of his own mind and imagination and cut down a tree
of his own making and produce a god that suits him best. And they'll prop that God up
and they'll call Him Jehovah. They may even call Him Jesus
Christ. Yet when He is compared to the
God of the Bible, there is no resemblance. Therefore, we are
witnesses that the God of Arminian false freewill works religion
is no God and anybody who worships Him does not know the truth.
That's a witness. That's the witness of this book,
and that's the witness of the Spirit of God in my heart to
you. That's my witness. I testify
to that. Believer, then, let us who are
witnesses of our Savior. Remember, the Lord said you are
the light of the world, and don't put this light of the testimony
under a bushel. but rather on a candlestick. I want you to listen because
I am not ashamed of this witness. I will hold this witness in,
I tell you, bring your gods. Let them do good, let them do
evil, let them do something. But really, they're no gods at
all. I'll match this to anybody. I'm not ashamed of this gospel,
because I am a witness of God. You remember that man that was
a demoniac? I'll close with this illustration. I identify with that man. There
that man was. He was a demoniac. He had twelve
legions of demons. Even so was I chained to twelve
legions of my sin and guilt. And as he walked among the dead,
even so did I, being dead, walked among the dead. But you know
what? The Lord Jesus Christ had already
purposed to come to Gadara. to save that man. Without his
knowledge. He was in the dark. He had no
clue. And here comes the Lord Jesus Christ one day to the shore. And that man runs to him and
he says, What am I to do with thee, thou son of God? Well,
I testify to that. I knew this when the Word of
God came to me. I said, What do I have to do with this? I
don't want anything to do with this book. But then the Lord spoke one word,
and as those legions had to depart from him, even so did all my
sin, all my guilt depart from me. Never to be seen again. And as that man was sat at the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed in His right mind, even
so, by the word of His grace, I was clothed in His righteousness,
I sat at His feet, and I had a right mind, finally. I knew
what I was. I was a sinner, and I knew what
Christ was. He's my Savior. I had a right
mind. I was humbled. I was laid out
before Him. And you know what that man, he
wanted to go with the Lord Jesus Christ so bad. The Lord Jesus
got in that boat and he was trying to get in and he said, no, you
can't go with me. He said, go home. Go home. And show what great things He didn't say go home and take
them and beat this book into their head Shaking them will
do no good make you feel better probably but it ain't gonna do
them any good Go home and witness Witness That our God is sovereign We witness that our God has purposed
our salvation and Jesus our God has accomplished our salvation
and the Holy Spirit has showed it to us. And listen, we are
his witnesses. I don't care what men say. You are his witnesses. And I tell you, they'll have
nothing to say against it. They can't stand against it. Because we are made witnesses
of God by God. And we should thank God for his
great love. Wherewith he hath loved us, his
witnesses. Now you should go and be his witnesses. May God help you. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed in prayer.