Open now, if you would, with
me to Romans 9. Romans 9. I was thinking this
week about what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 9, verse 1. I was thinking about what he
said here and I was thinking about how dogmatically he said
it. I was thinking about the confidence
that the Lord gave him in the message that he preached the
absolute confidence that the Lord gave him. in this message
that he preached. And it struck me that every man
who is called of God to preach must have this same confidence. If he's called of God and if
he is going to preach on behalf of the Lord God of heaven, he
must have this exact same confidence. He said in Romans 9 verse 1,
I say the truth in Christ. I lie not. My conscience also
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost." Paul said, I'm telling
you the truth. I'm not lying to you. I'm not lying to you. Now, Paul
plainly declared in the scripture that there are many men out there
whose message is a message of lies. A message of lies. The scripture says many false
prophets have gone out into the world. Many false prophets. There are many preachers out
there who do not say the truth in Christ. They lie. They lie. But Paul said, my conscience
bears me witness in the Holy Ghost. He said, the Holy Spirit
of God has given me a confidence in this. An absolute confidence in this,
he said, the message that I'm declaring to you is not a message
of lies. He said, I say the truth in Christ. Now, how could Paul say that?
With such confidence, how could he say that? Turn with me, if
you would, to Acts 28. We're going to turn quite a bit
this morning. We need to see it in the Word
with our own two eyes. But in Acts 28, verse 30, It says, and Paul dwelt two whole
years in his own hired house and received all that came in
unto him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching those things
which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence. No man forbidding him. How could he confidently say,
I'm not lying to you, I'm telling you the truth. How could he confidently
say that? It's because he was determined
by God's grace, by God's doing, he was determined to know nothing. I mean to know nothing and to
preach nothing and to teach nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He said, the only thing that
I'm going to preach to you is what God has written in His Word
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. When it comes to the
issue of salvation, it's the Word of Christ on the accomplishment
of Christ alone. Paul said, I'm not going to add
my opinion to it. I'm not going to add my forefather's
traditions to it. I'm not going to change it. I'm
not going to take anything away from it. I'm not just going to
preach half of it. You know, half the truth can
still be a lie. You can tell somebody half the truth and still
lead them into a lie. Paul said, it's gonna be the
truth of the word of Christ on the accomplishment of Christ
alone. By God's grace, it's the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Paul said, so help
me God. Look with me if you would at
1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 17, Paul
said, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the
gospel. not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is
written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to
nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews
require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach
Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom
of God. He said right here in chapter
two, verse one, I brethren, when I came to you, came not with
excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony
of God, for I determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Well, What about man's role? You're going to preach Christ
crucified, preach the gospel concerning Christ. What about
man's role in it? What about man's will and man's
works? What about man's responsibility?
What about the response of man's flesh? Look with me, if you would,
at Philippians chapter three. Philippians three, verse three,
Paul said, we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. None. He said, we worship God
in the spirit. We rejoice in Christ Jesus and
we leave man's ability and man's work and man's flesh out of it. We cast it out, we throw it away.
We count it all dung, he goes down to say. We have no confidence
in the flesh of man. We preach only what is written
concerning the ability and the work and the accomplishment of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what Paul says concerning
himself and his own preaching, Paul says the same thing to every
other man who's been called to preach. Every other man. Look with me a few pages over
at 2 Timothy 4. 2 Timothy 4 verse 1. Paul said to Timothy, he said,
I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and
his kingdom, preach the word. Be instant in season, out of
season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine,
for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables, lies. That is largely what has happened
today. Very largely, that's what's happened
today. Verse five, he said, but watch thou in all things, endure
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of
thy ministry. How does a man make full proof
of his ministry? Make full proof means fulfill. How does a man fulfill his ministry? He preaches the word. He preaches
the Word, the Word that God has written, whether it's in season
or out of season, whether it's popular or not popular. Either
way, he only preaches one thing, what the Word of Christ has to
say on the accomplishment of Christ, and that's it. That's
it. Now, don't turn back, but the
Apostle Paul said in our text that the Holy Ghost had borne
witness to his conscience, borne witness to his heart, that he
was preaching the absolute truth in Christ. And if any man is
going to preach the truth, the Holy Ghost must bear witness
of the exact same thing to that man. You cannot declare, you
cannot confidently declare what you're not confident of. You
just can't. You cannot dogmatically declare
what you are dogmatic, what you're not dogmatically confident of.
God's spirit must bear witness and convince. And this right
here is what he witnesses and what he convinces of. Turn one
page. Titus 1 verse 1. It says, Paul, a servant of God
and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's
elect and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness,
in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised
before the world began. But hath in due times manifested
his word through preaching which is committed unto me according
to the commandment of God, our Savior." Paul said, this is what
God's Spirit has convinced me of. He has convinced me that
this is God's Word and God cannot lie. This is God's Word and God
cannot lie. That's what the Spirit will convince
every man of that God calls to preach. This is God's Word. God wrote this. And God cannot
lie. Sometimes we casually say, well,
Paul said, or Peter said, or John said, and I say that, I will say that.
Paul did pen it. Peter penned it. John penned
it. But the reality is God said through Paul. God said through
Peter. God said through John. God said
this. God wrote this. These are not
the instructions of men. These words are the very words
of God Himself. Now look with me at 2 Peter 1. I'll stop turning here shortly.
2 Peter 1, that's what it says in 2 Peter 1 verse 20. Knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation. No man came up
with any piece of this on his own. These are not the words
of men. These men felt led to write this
and they truly did write from their heart, but they were not
the ones who put any of this in their heart. God put it there.
Verse 21 says, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost. Paul said what he wanted to say,
Peter said what he wanted to say, John said what he wanted
to say, but they were all being moved by the Holy Ghost to say
it. And when God's Holy Spirit comes
to a man, and calls that man to preach, he will convince that
man that these words are not the words of men. These are the
words of God. Therefore, every word in here
is truth. It's truth. There's no lie in
these words. And once God's spirit convinces
a man that these words are the truth, He will convince that
man to only preach these words. Only these words. He will convince
that man to declare these words over and over and over again. He will convince that man that
these words are not grievous to God's people. They're safe. They're safe. Oh, God forbid
that we ever leave these words for something new. God forbid. God forbid that we never have
a heart that says, oh, I've heard that before, I know all that.
This is safe, this is safe. When the Spirit of God moves
on a called preacher, a true preacher of God, that man will
fill his message with these words. knowing in his heart that as
long as I'm preaching these words, I'm preaching the truth and I'm
not lying to people. It weighs on me that we're dealing
with eternal matters. This is not a temporary fix.
We're not dealing with temporary healings. We're dealing with
eternal life, eternal death. We're not dealing with a temporary
death. And we need one thing, we need
the truth. We need the truth. The moment
I get away from these words, the only thing that will come
out of my mouth, I'm gonna make a confession right now. I say
this with confidence. Concerning salvation in God and
all these things, concerning the issue of life or death, The
moment I get away from these words, the only thing that will
come out of my mouth is lies. That's all that'll come out of
my mouth if I leave these words. If I say anything about God other
than what is written in this word concerning Him, it will
be a lie. May God open our ears to this
right now. If I say that God wants If I
say God wants to do, and I'm saying this because that's what
men are saying in pulpits today. They're speaking on behalf of
God. They're saying, now let me tell you what God wants. Let
me tell you what God wants to do. If I say that God wants or
God wants to do anything other than what God says in His word
that He has purpose to do, then I will be lying to you. I'll
be lying to you. I'll just be standing here with
a smile on my face, preaching lies. If I say anything about Christ concerning anything other than
what is written in His Word, anything other than what God
said He would accomplish, if I say that Christ came to do
anything other than what this Word says He came to do. If I
say He accomplished anything other than what this Word says
He accomplished, I will be lying to you. If I veer from what this Word
says concerning who Christ actually is and what He actually accomplished
for His people, I'll be lying to you. If I say anything about man,
the flesh of man, if I say anything other than what is written in
this word concerning sinful man, it'll be a lie. It'll be a lie. If I say anything
about you in the flesh, other than what this word says about
you and me and every other man and woman on this earth, it'll
be a lie. Might be tickling to the ears. Itching ears. They got itching
ears. What do you want to hear? I'll scratch it. It'll be a lie. The pulpits are so full of this
right now. Pulpits are so full of this right now. If I tell you that man has a
right, a right before God, a right before anything, If I tell you man has a right
that this word says he does not have, it'll be a lie. If I tell you man has an ability when this word says he does not,
it'll be a lie. Do you see how all truth hangs
on this word? not what he thinks or he thinks
or what kind of degree this man has or what kind of experience
that man has. All truth hangs on this word,
whatever this word says. When God calls a man to preach,
he'll call that man to preach his word. And in the Word, in
the authority and the power that God has vested in His Word, based
on the Word of God, that man can say with a clear conscience
and in absolute confidence, I'm preaching God's truth to you. I'm not lying. Black and white,
God says. I'm not lying because of the
authority of the word of God. Because of the confidence that
his spirit has given me, not in myself, but in his word. Because I'm so confident that
he is not lying. That's where my confidence comes
from, that I'm not lying. If I'm just repeating his word,
If I preach His word, I'm preaching truth. Anything other than this
word is a lie. Jeremiah 23 begins with God saying,
woe to the pastors who are lying to the people they preach to.
He said, they're preaching their own dreams and they are. He said they've imagined, they've
just made up in their mind dreams about God. He said they go around
telling everybody, now God said, that's what it says there, He
said. God said, I didn't say it, you
can't find it in my word. That's how you'll know that I
did not call that man to preach. That's how you'll know I didn't
send that man. He said, if they're preaching
things about me that you cannot find in my word, he said, I didn't
send them. And he said, they will not profit
one soul that they preach to. Men and women sit under a man
and no, he's not preaching everything in exact. correctness with the
scripture, but they say there's some good in there and we'll
get some benefit out of it and we'll go to heaven anyway. That's
not so. That's not so. God said, if they're not preaching
my word, they will not profit one soul they preach to at all.
Not at all. In Romans 10, he said, how shall
they preach except they be sent? And he said, I didn't send them.
If they're preaching dreams, I did not send them. He went
on to say, he that has my word, he said, he that has a dream,
let him preach his dream. But he that has my word, let
him preach my word faithfully. Now, this has caused me to examine
myself as a preacher, obviously. Obviously, this has caused me
to examine myself. It ought to cause every man who
preaches to examine himself. It ought to cause every man and
woman who hears the message preached to examine themselves. Can I
say with the Apostle Paul concerning the message I preach, can I say
I'm preaching the truth in Christ? And can we all as hearers say
concerning the message we hear, I'm hearing the truth in Christ.
I'm not hearing lies. That man's not lying to me. Can
we say that? In examining this and in thinking
on this, this realization came to me. Concerning God on this
issue and this subject, concerning God, concerning Christ, concerning
salvation, concerning what the Word says, If I was a liar concerning
those things, if I was a false prophet, if I was lying to you right now,
this is what I would tell you. All right. If I was a false prophet
based on the word of God, if I was a false prophet, this is
what I would preach to you. I would preach that God is not
sovereign. I would preach God is not actually
God. I would preach God is not reigning
and he's not ruling over all things. I would preach he's not
in absolute control of every single thing that's happening. I would preach that he's not
the God of you and he's not the God of me. I would preach God is not sovereign. If I was a false prophet, I would
tell you that all of his works were not known to him from before
the foundation of the world. I would tell you he's hoping
things work out okay. He's trying, he's working for
good. If I was a liar, I would tell
you that all of his works, everything that would happen, they were
not known to him from the beginning of the world. I would tell you He did not order
and He did not purpose all things that are going to be done. If I was a speaker of lies, I
would tell you that God the Father did not choose a particular people
to save. If I was a false prophet, I would
tell you God did not select and elect, and elect people. I would
tell you God did not look at this one lump of sinful, ruined
man, all men being the same, and of his own will and purpose,
select exactly who he wanted to redeem from the pit. I would tell you that he has
not purposed a particular bride for his son. a bride that He
set His love and affection on, a bride that He loved with an
everlasting love. If I did not speak the truth
in Christ, I would tell you that God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
did not finish the work of salvation through the blood of His cross.
I would tell you it's not yet finished. If I was a liar, I
would say it's almost finished. That last part hinges on you.
He did most of it, 99.9%. but it's not yet finished. You have to do something. He
did His work, now you need to do yours. He did not pay the redemption
in full. When He emptied His veins, it
was not a satisfactory payment. That's what I would say if I
was lying. If I was a false prophet, I would also tell you that God
the Spirit will not quicken He will not call every one of those
chosen redeemed people back to life and faith in Christ. If I was a liar on this subject,
I would tell you that we have the ability to overrule or change
or alter his purpose concerning us. I would tell you that to
some degree, you control the outcome of this. To some degree, this is in your
hands. Therefore, I would tell you that you should not and you
cannot cast your all on His Word. I would tell you that believing
on Him Believing that He finished it all, started it, finished
it, I would tell you believing on Him and casting your all on
Him is not enough. That's not enough. You cannot
trust His work alone. You need to add yours to it just
to be safe, just in case. You need to add your work to
it. But thanks be to God. And oh my goodness, I'm so thankful
for this. You can't imagine how thankful
I am for this. After the examination of the Word and what God's Holy
Spirit, by His grace, has caused me to declare concerning it,
according to the proof of the Word, I say the truth in Christ. I lie not, my conscience also
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. God is sovereign. Isaiah 52, seven says, thy God
reigneth. All of his works were known to
him from before the foundation of the world. Isaiah 46, 10 says,
declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done saying, my counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure. What was His pleasure? It pleased
God the Father to choose a people. Every soul purposed for glory
was elected according to the foreknowledge of God. 2 Thessalonians
2.13 says, God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. And here is the truth in Christ.
Here is the truth of Christ. Christ did finish the work of
salvation. When he emptied his blood on
the cross of Calvary, when he poured out his blood, he redeemed
all of God's chosen people in full. He cried, it is finished. Every time a sinner cries, what
must I do? Here's the response of the gospel.
Here's the response of the word. It is finished. What must I do? It is finished. Yeah, but what
about my, it is finished. It's finished. Hebrews 9 verse
12 says, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. And with that, God's Holy Spirit
will quicken. He will give life to. Life to,
ears to hear, eyes to see, a heart that believes. He will quicken
and He will call every chosen, redeemed soul back to Christ. John 6, verse 37, Christ said,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. You come to Christ
if you can, if God has given you the ability to and the Father
has drawn you, come to Christ, He will in no wise cast out.
Thank God we do not have the ability to overrule or change
or alter any of His mercy or His grace that He's purposed
for us in Himself. No matter how sinful we are,
no matter how ruined we are, and how wicked we are, and how
much we strive to wander, so prone to wander, and how rebellious
we are, this is what Malachi 3 verse 6 says. He said, I am
the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not concerned. No man can take us out of His
hands. No man can pluck us out of His
hands, not even us. Hebrews 13, eight says, the Lord
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Therefore,
you most certainly can trust Him. Second Peter five, verse seven
says, you can cast all your care upon Him. Because in the choice
of the Father, and in the blood of the Son, and in the call of
the Spirit, in his unchangeable mercy and grace, he careth for
you. He cares for you. Here is what
the Word of God says. It says salvation is of the Lord.
Here's what the Word of God says. It says Christ by himself purged
our sins. It says He bore our sins and
His own body on the tree. It says not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. It
says you can rest from all your works of salvation as God has
rested from His. He's not trying to save anybody
anymore. He's rested from that work. It's finished. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
You are complete in him. That's what the word says. That is God's truth in Christ
without lie. My prayer is that he'll give
us all faith to believe it. That's the declaration. Now,
oh, may God give us faith to believe it, faith to be able
to say, I believe the truth in Christ. If he does, if he does
give us that faith, he said, you shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free. And if the truth makes you free,
you are free indeed. If it sets you free from all
your bondage and all your religion and all your works. You are free
indeed. Because of the confidence of
God's eternal written word, Thank God, by the grace of God, I say
the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost. All right, let's close our service
with a song. It's hymn number 268, How Firm
a Foundation.