Something's been eating at me
all week long. I wasn't quite sure what it was. I kind of did,
but not quite sure. I mentioned it last week. Once again, I've made the error
of starting a conversation on social media. A family member
got a little upset about that. I've got the article in today's
bulletin. It's right underneath the names
of the songs and stuff there is written by Caleb Hickman.
And the article goes like this, is salvation a choice? Some folks showed up, and I was
really hoping they were going to be here this morning. They're
not. But that's the way the Lord works things out at times. Is
salvation a choice? Absolutely! It's just not yours. It's not mine. If God left us
to ourselves, folks, We'd be on that path to destruction that
we were on before he came along in the day of his power and arrested
us. Cut our legs out from underneath
this. We were running. Yes, just not mine or yours,
writes Caleb. It is God's sovereign right and
choice alone that saves sinners by grace. That upset her. Are you saying that the Lord
saves people against their will? And I didn't even answer her
with man's word. I just copied Scripture. So I'll
make you willing in the day of my power." That's how I answered
it. I gave her God's Word. God says that, not John. It's
not a translation that John has. I don't know what Bible she has,
but boy, I'll tell you what, she quoted from Jeremiah, I think
it was, and when I looked it up in the King James Version,
it was like totally different words. It weren't even the same
words. It didn't mean the same. It said,
God wants, in her Bible. Where it says in the King James
Version, He's not willing. that any should perish. 2 Peter,
not Jeremiah. Is salvation a choice? Absolutely. It's of the Lord. And every child
of God knows it. We've got to be brought to that
point. Every single one for whom he died for on that cross must
be brought to a point of knowing There is nothing we can do in
this flesh. Anything we do is tainted with
sin, right? Everything John does, it comes
from this body of sin. So it can't be perfect. And salvation
must be perfect. The law must be perfectly fulfilled. Justice must be perfectly met. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
done that for every one of His people. He didn't come here to
serve the righteous. He came to serve those who are
sick. Those who have been full of sin,
like leprosy, from the top of your head to the bottom of your
feet. I answered her with things like this. John 5, verses 39-40,
search the Scriptures in them, ye think ye have eternal life,
and they are they which testify of me, and ye will not come to
me that ye might have life. And she said this, she said,
I am so thankful that I chose to begin to follow
Christ. Now this is where I did not use
Scripture, and I probably should have, but I didn't. I said, there
you go. You just took the glory away
from God. She didn't agree with that. She
said, submission is not taking God's glory. Folks, if there
is anything, anything that we could stand on, like my aunt,
her own decision, that she is thankful Tell me that's not glorifying. It's something you've done. I'm
so thankful I did this. I'm so thankful I quit smoking.
I'm so thankful I came down to the front of the aisle and said
the prayer. I'm so thankful I got in the waters of baptism. Tell
me that's not taking glory for yourself. It absolutely is. Salvation is of the Lord and
of the Lord alone. Turn to your Bibles, if you would,
to 1 Corinthians 2. And you can just lay your Bibles
in the seat of your lap again. We're going to stick right there
and spend our time there today. I want to talk to you about glorying
in the Lord. Giving God the glory. Religion wants to say, they want
to share the glory with God. Oh, I'm submitting. Oh, absolutely, I'm submitting.
But I'm not stealing God's glory by submitting myself. Hogwash. Bolonialism. That's my new word,
right? That cracked my brother Lee up
last time I said that. Let me give you another example.
I mentioned it before, you've heard it before, a church just
up the road from us here. Every time it was spoken of,
that church, I knew a person who went to that church, and
every time they spoke of their church, it was this, we brought
30 souls to the Lord today. What does that start with? Did
that start with what the Lord had done for them? No, it started
with what they had done for the Lord. Did it not? I've heard
this from people who go to these mega churches where there's thousands
of people twice on Sunday. Be a thousand, two thousand people
the first service and another two thousand the second service. There's two thousand people that
show up for services here. How could that be wrong? All
I ever heard about that church up the road is what good they
did for their people that came to the church. We fed 30 people
today and 15 of them came to the Lord. And I've shared this
with you before too. I asked the question one time,
how many of those 15 came to the Lord last Sunday? And that
person didn't talk to me again for at least a couple of weeks.
They didn't like that at all. That was an attack on them. An attack on them stealing the
glory from God. I'm not beating up on people
take care of the poor, and you know that. I'm thankful that
there are those who are generous and help the poor. We need people
like that. We need loaves and fishes, as
it is downtown Sacramento, to help those who are hungry. We
need those things. But that's not the gospel. And
when you present it as the Gospel, you're stealing from the Lord.
You're taking the glory from God. And Scriptures tell us,
glory in the Lord. I have a question for everybody
here who's listening, and everybody who's here in person. Does what
you say glorify the Lord? Now, I'm going to tell you right
now, I'm asking the question, but I can raise my hand and say,
no. It doesn't. None of us. None of us can give
everything we have to glory the Lord. It would be foolish for
me to try to say that you could. Oh, there's some who say you
can. You're going to get better at
it. They call it progressive sanctification. You're not going
to be as much of a sinner as you were before. Bolonialism. You count your sin however you
want to. All it takes is one. You doubt
in the Lord? I do. That's a sin. Don't tell me I'm getting any
better. I look in the mirror and I see the worst person that ever walked this earth. And if you knew who my real father
was, you would say, oh, what is he saying that for? I couldn't
see the heart of that man. I could see mine. And I echo the words of Paul,
O wretched man that I am. Do you? Where does the glory
go? You know, if you stop and you
ask yourself that question in everything you do, you'd be surprised
at how different you walk in this world. Lord, is this glorifying
you? You'd be surprised. Our Lord
told a bunch of unbelieving Jews that were following Him around
after He had fed them and 5,000 others. He said this to them.
He said in John 6, 26, Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek
me not because you saw the miracles, but because ye did eat loaves
and were filled. At what point does feeding the
poor become glory to those who do the feeding? When does serving
others become our pride, our glory? The flesh is weak. We must always
take care not to fall into the lust of the flesh. And there's
no greater lust than pride. Pride is the most terrible lust
we carry within each and every one of us. Do we not read in
scripture, Let not the right hand see what the left hand is
doing in Matthew 6.3. Isn't that what it says? Don't let this hand over here
see what that hand is doing. Why? Because this hand over here
will start bragging about it. That's why. Look what I've done. I quit smoking. Look how I've turned my world
around. This is the very thing that Paul
is addressing here in 1 Corinthians 2. Begin with verse 1 of chapter
2 if you wouldn't believe me. He says, and I, brethren... Here's what God's people do.
We're going to put ourselves right where we belong. Listen
to what he says here. I, brethren, when I came to you,
came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. See how he put himself in the
dirt? Folks, that's where we belong. That's where Moses belonged
when he stood before the burning bush. He deserved, he belonged
in the dust. Because we're not perfect. We don't have a right to stand
before God in this flesh because there's no perfection in it.
There's nothing but sin, as I said, from the top of our heads to
the bottom of our feet. We're like the man over in the
corner again, once again, crying out all the time, Lord, have
mercy upon me. But guess what? The Lord does
mercy! He does! He comes to us and He
shows us His Son, the Lord Jesus, who gave Himself for us, laid
down His life. He walked perfectly for us. And
then He shed His blood that you and I would live. for eternity
with Him. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech." Paul had every right
to say that he had an excellent speech, didn't he? I mean, wasn't
he not one of the well-trained, most trained Pharisees? He was
a Pharisee of the Pharisees? Did he not carry letters from
the high priest giving him the ability to chasing and to attack
the church of God? Yet he declares himself that
he came not with any excellency of his speech or wisdom. You know, there are people who
won't come to this church to hear The gospel preached because
the man who stands before you has never been to school. Church
school. I've never been to any seminary.
Paul had been to the best seminaries there were. And yet he considered
himself ignorant. The wisdom that he knew, that
he was taught, the religion that he was taught, he counted it
as Dung. And He came doing what? What
does it say there at the end of that verse? He came declaring
unto you the testimony. This is my profession. This is
what Paul is talking about in Hebrews 3, verse 1. The object
of our profession is the testimony of Christ Jesus the Lord. He's my Lord. He's my God. That's what Paul
is saying. Paul's not telling you about
how good you should be, or this or that. He's telling you about
the Lord Jesus. He's telling the people about
His God. That's what we do. I've told
you this before. People know who our God is. They
just don't believe in Him. Anybody who's around us for any
amount of time will know who our God is. We will profess that
He's God Almighty. I was remembering the other day
that trip that Kathy and I took up to Canada. Look what the Lord
has made here! The beauty of the ice fields
of Canada. Oh! Declaring unto you the testimony
of God. Paul is dealing with a group
of believers who had fallen into a trap of, who am I a follower
of? Look over at verses 13 and 14.
Turn to the left one page. And look at verses 13 and 14
of chapter 1. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified
for you? Or were you baptized in the name
of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none
of you but Cripus and Gaius. Paul is addressing a group of
people in the church who have raised up and said, well, I follow
Paul. I follow Don Fortner. I follow
Henry Mahan. I follow this one. I follow that
one. I follow Gene Harman. Instead of who? You see how they
made men? And they glorified men more than
they would glorify God. I follow Cephas or I follow Apollos. or I follow Paul, these poor
folks had fallen for the weakness of the flesh, and they began
following the men that were preaching. There are some who were in this
very building at one time before, and I haven't seen them in a
while, but there were some who did that very thing, glorified the
preacher. I'm thankful that you haven't.
They had fallen for that weakness of the flesh. They began following
man, glorifying the men they followed instead of glorifying
God. Could it be? Could it be the so-called Christian
churches of today have fallen to their weakness and follow
good works rather than Christ as well? Could it be not the
problem with that church up the road who are following their
good works and they're feeding the poor instead of following
Christ? I can tell you this, if that is their problem up the
road, They're not the first to do it. In fact, people have been
doing that for a long time. Cain. Cain was going to bring a sacrifice
before God. He was taught. We know this because
Abel brought a lamb. But Cain brought works of his
own hands. Astute. He tried to come to God
by his own works. And the Lord had no respect for
his sacrifice. No, the Lord's respect was for
the one who brought a sacrifice picturing his son, the Lord Jesus.
A spotless lamb. The very one, and this is what
I'm talking about, glorifying the Lord in all things. We bring
Christ, because that's where the glory of God lays. At the
feet of His Son, the Lord Jesus. There's nothing in this flesh
to glory in. But in my spirit, I have Christ
dwelling in me. It's called the new birth, if
you didn't know. calling that time when the Lord
comes to us when we're dead and trespasses in sin. And the Word
of God uses the word quicken, meaning made alive. When I first began bringing devotions
here before this congregation, Pastor Gene told me, he said,
every time you get up, you talk about Christ. Get on the path. Get on the road to Christ. And
once you're on that road, stay there. Stick to it and you can't
go wrong. And that's what Paul is saying
here in verse 2. Look at verse 2 with me, Corinthians chapter
2. For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. You folks know Gabe Stonker.
You've heard, I don't know if all of you have, I'm sure some
of you have listened to him preach outside of the times that he's
been here. You may tune into one of his
messages that he's preaching. And he's as thorough as any preacher
I've ever heard. And I'm going to put Don Fortner
right there next to me. He's as thorough in Scripture
as any man I've ever heard. And he told me the other day,
he said, John, I'm being harassed. I'm being harassed by some folks
who say I just don't give enough." I said, just like that. I giggled. I said, really? I said, you mean
kind of like flapping around on top of the pond? That's what
they told me. He goes, really? People say that about you? I
said, yes, they do. And then a good brother in Christ
came to me and said, John, you just keep on flapping around
on top of that pond, because that's what feeds me. Christ
and Him crucified. Oh. Christ and Him crucified is what
a true believer most desires. We live in this world of sin
and degradation, this world of self. And what we need is a Savior. We need the simple gospel news. I need a Savior, and God has
provided His people a Savior, and that is His Son, the Lord
Jesus. That's my Savior. And every time
I can stand before anybody, that's who I'm going to talk about.
That's who I'm going to glory in, because that's God's glory,
His Son. More about Jesus would I know. More of his grace to others show. The cross of Christ is as simple
as it gets, folks. I don't need to spend time in
telling you all about how totally depraved you are. If you belong
to God, you're going to know it. He's going to show it to
you. I don't need to spend time telling you about how the election
was unconditional, even though it
is. If you belong to God, He's going
to show you that you had no desire for Him at all through the preaching
of His Word, through the preaching of His Son. The cross of Christ
is as simple as it gets. God became a man. He became flesh. Why, you may ask, why did God
become a man? We talked about this last week,
didn't we? He provided, He prepared a body. that his son, the eternal
son of God, would dwell in and walk as perfect, fulfilling the
law every bit of it. The only one who ever walked
this earth that the father said, this is my son in whom I am well
pleased. It was the only way he could
pay the sin debt for those that he has loved since before the
world was. Isn't that what Jeremiah 31.3 tells us? Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. My aunt said, when I mentioned
Lazarus, had to be given life before he could come to God,
well that was because he had already turned his life over
to Christ. That's because he had already
started loving God. God looked down through time
and saw who would make a decision for Him, and that's why He called
them His own. Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. I'm here to tell you this morning,
if you've never heard this, that if God loves you, you're going to be His. If God
loves you, you're going to be His. I want you to have to seek
in, because I know there may be somebody who hasn't heard
that before. They're probably sitting there
thinking, what must I do to be saved? If He loves you, you're
going to believe His Word. My sheep hear My voice. Not maybe. Not if they decide
to. Not if they're smart enough to.
They will hear His voice. All that the Father giveth Me
shall come to Me, saith the Lord. And He's Lord. And if He says
so, isn't it going to be? To say that God loves everybody
and He's just waiting for you to make a decision is to say
that He has no power. It's to say that He's not God.
It's to say that He's not Lord. Salvation is of the Lord is a
foolish thing to the natural man. Look at verses 18 of chapter
1. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God." That's what I was just saying. The power
of God shall lose none, folks. That was the scripture over there in Peter
that she was trying to quote, that He wants all to turn to
Him. to repent and come to Him. He's
not willing that any of those that He laid down His life for
is what it's saying. He's not willing that any of
those that He shed His blood for, He's not willing for them
to die. They will be His. Period. I'm His because He has loved
me from before the world was. You're His because He has loved
you from before the world was. loving kindness, he comes to
us and draws us to him. That's his word, not mine. That's why he could cry out on
the cross, it is finished. Salvation has been accomplished. Israel, your warfare has been
accomplished by the Savior just over 2,000 years ago on the cross.
Our sins have been put away, our transgressions have been
blotted out. God sees the blood of His darling Son, and He sees
no sin in those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of
Life. When we look to the cross, we
see our hope We see our substitute hanging on the cross, receiving
the judgment that you and I deserve. We see our assurance because
that One who hung on the cross is God Almighty Himself in the
flesh. We see our Savior, our righteousness,
our all in all. We glory in what He has done
for us, giving Him the glory for His mercy and for His grace
to us. We who deserve nothing but His
wrath. But God, but God. I was thinking about bringing
that message this week, but I don't have it ready yet, so maybe I'll
bring it next week. Oh, how I love these words in
Ephesians 2, verse 4 through 7. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath
raised us up together that made us to sit in heavenly places
in Christ. That in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards
us through Christ. Who gets the glory? Our Savior. and every bit of it. Where does
the wisdom of this world take us? It takes us down the path
of works, works, works. The wisdom of the cross takes
us down the path of grace, grace, grace. Look at verse 20 and 21
of chapter 1. 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. We preach Christ and
Him crucified because that's how God saves His people. Isn't
that what we read in Romans 10 verse 13? For whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How shall
they believe in Him in whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? Folks, this is the Word of God
that I've been sharing with you. It was the Word of God that I
was sharing with my aunt. These are the words of our Creator,
written of men, yes, but inspired of God. The preaching of the
Gospel is the power and the wisdom of God. Look again, if you would,
there in verses 22-24, 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 unto God's elect, unto those
that He chose where before the world was, and called them by
the Holy Spirit of God, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the
power of God, and the wisdom of God right there. Oh. For this
dummy, for this man who has no wisdom at all, that's good news. My wisdom is sitting on his throne,
working everything out according to his purpose, according to
his will. And guess what? He's promised it's for my good.
You know how often I've heard that in these last two weeks?
Coming from a dear lady whose husband is about to die and has
died? I can't even imagine. I can't even imagine. What our
sister Gladys has gone through losing her husband Larry. What
our sister Deanne is going through losing her husband Cass. I can't
even, I can't even phantom that. Losing a son. My brother and
his wife, they lean, they lean on that verse all things are
for the good of them who are called. Them who love God. Them who are called according
to His purpose. Oh, what joy! I don't know if
joy is the right word, but what comfort that gives this dear
sinner. When I hear God's people with
such a torn heart, say, my God is still on His throne. And He hasn't left me. Our Lord
comes to one of His chosen ones whose name is inscribed in the
palms of our Lord's hands. And He reveals His wisdom in
His Son so that we see our need of Him. Read on with me if you
would. I've got to wrap this up for
you here. Let's read 25-29. because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound." To
confuse. Are you saying the Lord would
confuse some? Oh, absolutely. Our Lord Himself
prayed to the Father. He says, I thank Thee, O Father,
that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent,
but revealed it unto babes. We were talking about Friday
night's study. You know, the Lord fed 5,000
people. The one thing out of that study,
out of that whole story, and there's a lot there. You could
spend much time on it and never exhaust it all, but the one thing
that jumped out at me to bring that study on Friday night was
this. He had compassion. God has compassion on his people. He looked out on that hungry
crowd, on the world, and he saw a sick dead, valley of bones, and he
had compassion on some, and raised him from that death to spend
an eternity doing exactly what these two ladies just did a little
bit ago, sing a new song. Sing a new song. He hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things of the mighty. The
base things of the world and the things which are despised
hath God chosen. Yea, the things which are not,
to bring to naught the things that are. And here's the reason
why, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But notice what it says next
in verse 30. But of Him. You could say this, but God.
Because that's who that's talking about. Of Him. Because God. The Lord asked the disciples,
who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, and he said,
Thou art the Son of the living God. And the Lord Jesus said,
Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed the Son to you, but my Father which is in heaven. That's what this is saying. But
of Him are ye in Christ. It wasn't my decision. It was His. Do you see the grace
in that? Do you grasp the grace of God,
the love that God has for His people, that He chose us even
when we wouldn't choose Him? Who of God has made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Our God says this. He says, I
will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Look at verse 5. Look at verse 5 of chapter 2.
And I'll close with this. That your faith should not stand. Now, folks, grasp this. Grab a hold of this. Wrap yourself
in it, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men,
but in the power of God. Faith does not come through the
wisdom of man, but it is a gift of God. Oh, for the wonderful
grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin, how shall my tongue
describe it? Where shall its praise begin? Where's the praise in your heart
today? Is it in something you're doing?
Throw it out. Don't even mention it. It's not
even worthy to play with. Look to Christ and look to Him
alone. That's where salvation is. Amen.