Our Lord Jesus said, blessed
are those who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled. Aren't you thankful that the
Lord made you hungry, put a thirst in you that he himself quenched
by his spirit under the preaching of his gospel? He's the only
one who can do that. Salvation is of the Lord from
start to finish. And we've been talking about
that. If you would turn to Isaiah chapter 10, Isaiah chapter 10,
please. We're going through the book
of Isaiah in a verse-by-verse study. And it's been rewarding
for me. I trust it has been for you as
well. During the men's meeting this morning, Brother Brad Warda
read The first 20, first verses of chapter 43. I can't wait until
we get to that chapter. It'll be a while, but oh, oh
the blessings that God has in his word for his people. Our
studies last week, we mentioned both the severity of God and
the goodness of God. The severity of God in pouring
out his wrath on those Christ-hating Jews. During Isaiah's day, and
not just his day, but all the days of the history of the nation
of Israel, only a remnant loved Christ, loved his gospel, saw
Christ in all the ordinances and the sacrifices and in the
holy days. And the majority of those people
absolutely hated and despised God. They were led by their ungodly
leaders and their ungodly priests who worship false idols. And God poured out His wrath
many, many times on them. Now the scripture says, there's
not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. And in our unregenerate state,
we were just as guilty as those Christ-hating Jews that God poured
out his wrath on. God has mercy on whom he will
have mercy and absolutely no one deserves God's mercy. Judy
was playing Unworthy in the prelude music this morning. All of us
are so unworthy. If We deserved God's mercy, it
would cease to be mercy. If we could buy His mercy, it
would cease to be mercy. If there was something that we
could do to earn His mercy, it would cease to be mercy. God's
elect, His remnant, are vessels of mercy which God afore prepared
unto glory. We read that very truth in Romans
chapter 9, and in verse 23. Why is that? Why would God have
mercy on some and not on others? Well today's religion and religions
of this world throughout the history of fallen man have tried
to come up with something that man does in order to earn God's
mercy. And like I said if you could
do that it ceases to be mercy. God has mercy on a particular
people for Christ's sake. For the glory of His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and for the glory of His grace. And last
week the title of my message was, God is not angry with His
people. And His people are in Christ.
Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. In Christ when
He redeemed us with His own precious blood. In Christ when He entered
into heaven there in the presence of God for us. Not without blood,
but with His own blood. And He's right there right now
making intercession for all of His chosen people. And He's our
blessed surety. And He's going to make sure.
He's going to make sure that all who were given to Him by
God the Father in the eternal covenant of grace, all who were
purchased by Him with His own precious blood, will be delivered
from the power of darkness and translated into His kingdom and
be with Him forever when this old body goes back to the dust
at my appointed time of departure or when the Lord returns to catch
us all home. All for whom He suffered and
bled and died will be with Him for all eternity beholding His
wonderful glory and be in the presence of the King in eternal
bliss. Now I brought some scripture
last week to show why God has mercy on some, and some of them
were taken from the 5th chapter of Romans. God commended His
love toward us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. If, when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,
much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
And our Lord Jesus said, because I live, you shall live also.
So life is in Christ, who is the giver of all life, who comes
to us when we're dead in trespasses and sins, under the preaching
of His gospel, and gives us eternal life. He said, our Lord Jesus
said, in the 10th chapter of John, beginning at verse 27,
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
My father which gave them me is greater than all. No man is
able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father
are one. So we're as sure of heaven as
if we're already there. God's anger has been appeased
for his particular people by the blood of Jesus Christ. God
is not angry with us anymore. We can never appease God's anger. The natural man is enmity against
God, not subject under the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Without faith it's impossible to please God. And faith, contrary
to popular opinion, faith is God's gift to the sinner, not
the sinner's gift to God. Now, when God the Holy Spirit
gives His enlightened saints the faith to believe on Christ,
to believe His Gospel, we enter into the perfect finished work
of Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior. We enter into His
rest. We cease from our own works as
God did His, and we just rest in Christ. The last words He
uttered when He was there on that cross were, It is finished. The work of redemption was finished
by our Savior. God was pleased with what our
Savior did for us. And those who are in Christ are
just as holy, justified by God himself as the Lord Jesus Christ. That's in God's sight. That's
not our standing. That's not our state. That's
our standing. So our standing in Christ is one of perfection.
Now, My subject this morning will be taken from verses 20
through 22 of this 10th chapter, but we're going through this
in a verse-by-verse study. So let me take us through, starting
at verse 5, through those verses that lead up to our text in a
cursory fashion. Listen to this. Verses 5 and
6 says, O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger and the staff in their
hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical
nation and against the people of my wrath will I give him a
charge to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread
them down like the mire of the streets. Now this king of Assyria
and his army was the rod of God in the hands of a sovereign God
to punish Israel for their rebellion. Israel is called by God himself
an hypocritical nation, the people of God's wrath. That's the word
of God. God used the Assyrians to spoil
the people of Israel, to tread them down like the mire of clay
of the streets. This righteous judgment that
was imposed upon those God-hating Jews was purposed and executed
by God, and that cannot be denied. Verses 7 through 11 says, how
be it he meaneth not so, that is the king of Assyria, how be
it he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so, but
it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations, not a few,
for he saith, are not my princes altogether kings? It's not kind
of all as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpat? Is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the kingdoms
of the idols, and whose graven images did excel of Jerusalem
and of Samaria, shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and
her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? Now this is the
king of Assyria speaking, in the stoutness of his heart, arrogant,
sinful pride that's in that man. He thinks he's doing what he
has been doing, not recognizing the hand of God. He had no idea
that he was a pawn in our Savior's hands. He didn't know that God
was accomplishing His purpose through him, using him as a rod.
He thought he was the master of his own destiny. Does that
sound a little familiar? That's this religious generation
we're living in. And false preachers are standing
before congregations that are in the thousands, telling them
that very thing. God is giving every person a
free will. You're the master of your own
destiny. God has done all that He can
The rest is up to you. Poor Jesus, won't you give him
a chance? I was talking to Barbara about
this just yesterday. And she said, I know, I've heard that
very thing. And it is true, that's what they're saying. They're
portraying God as a helpless deity who can't do anything unless
you give him permission. What kind of a God is that? I
wouldn't walk across the street to see a God of that sort. He doesn't even exist. like this
wicked king of Assyria who had gods of his own imagination.
This phony Jesus that's being portrayed for most popes today
is just an imaginary Jesus. Folks, I'm telling you the truth.
This king thought he was something. He thought he had enough nobles
under his dominion to furnish him with all that he needed to
conquer all the nations of the earth. He mentioned several cities
he had already conquered, boasting that he would do to Jerusalem
and her idols the way he had already done with those other
cities. He had already conquered Samaria, taken 10 tribes captive. Now his evil eye was on Jerusalem. And he was set to take that city
with no thought whatsoever of being in the hands of a sovereign
God. He was just filled with arrogant pride. Now brethren,
listen. The word of God says, all the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. And God does according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. And none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest
thou? That's the word of God. That's
in Daniel 4.35. Verses 12 through 14 of Isaiah
10 says, Wherefore, it shall come to pass that when the Lord
hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem,
I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria,
and the glory of his high looks, For he said, by the strength
of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent,
and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed
their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant
man, and my hand have found as a nest the riches of the people,
and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathereth all
the earth, and there was none that moved a wing, or opened
a mouth, or peeped. Boy, did he think he was something.
That wicked king, who never acknowledged God's power working through him,
boasted in his own strength and took credit for all that which
he was doing, not praising the God of heaven and earth. But when God was through with
him, when God was through using the king of Assyria to perform
what he had purposed, he, God himself, poured out his
wrath on that man and his army. God said he was going to do that
and he did just exactly what he said he was going to do. He
sent his angel and smoked that wicked king and his army in Mount
Zion in one day. In one day. Verse 15 says, shall
the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or
shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it?
as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up,
or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood?
You see what God is saying? He's saying the king was just
like an axe, or just like a saw, or just like a rod of wood. He
couldn't have done anything unless God had allowed him to do it.
Just like the woodsman that holds an axe in his hand, or a saw,
performing what he is determined to perform. The axe had nothing
to do with it. It was the woodsman holding the
axe that was performing the work. And this wicked king, was nothing
but an axe in the hands of Almighty God to do what He had purposed. Now folks, the Bible tells us
in Romans 9.20, this question is asked, shall the thing formed
say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? God is
the divine potter. This is what I was saying earlier
about the religious people of this world. They don't recognize
that. We're nothing but clay in the hands of God Almighty.
He forms us as it pleases Him. He forms one vessel unto honor,
another unto dishonor. That's in Romans chapter 9. And
we're vessels of mercy which God hath aforeprepared unto glory. And there are other vessels that
are appointed to wrath. That's what the Word of God says.
I'm thankful. And you should be too. That God
before a star ever twinkled in the sky determined that you would
be a vessel of mercy. If we have obtained the mercy
from God Almighty through Christ our Savior it's because God purposed
us to be vessels of mercy. And if not Folks, there's no
excuse for what we do. The responsibility of man and
the sovereignty of God go hand in hand. The Bible teaches both. Although I cannot explain it,
and I don't have to, I know it's true. If we're going to heaven,
it's God's fault. If we go to hell, it's our own
fault. That's just the way it is. Now, our Lord said, without
me, he could do nothing. I believe that. I believe that. That wicked king didn't believe
that. God destroyed him and his army just like he destroyed Pharaoh
and the whole Egyptian army to manifest his power. God raised
him up for that very reason. Verses 16 through 19 says, Therefore
shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness. And under his glory he shall
kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. And the light of Israel
shall be for a fire, and his holy one for a flame. And it
shall burn and devour his thorns and his briars in one day, and
shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field,
both soul and body. and they shall be as when a standard
bearer fainteth, and the rest of the trees of his forest shall
be few, that a child may write them." Now most of that wicked
king's whole army, most of his trusted officers under him, who
thought they were the world's best by the way, were destroyed
in just one day. Now we read this in 2 Kings chapter
19. You don't have to turn there,
but here's what verses 30 through 35 says in 2 Kings 19. And the remnant that is escaped
of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward and
bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go
forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Zion, the
zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall do this. Therefore, thus saith
the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come
into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before
it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he
came, by the same shall he return and shall not come into this
city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city to
save it for mine own sake and for my servant David's sake.
And it came to pass. that night that the angel of
the Lord went out and smoked in the camp of the Assyrians
185,000, and when they arose early in the morning, behold,
they were all dead corpse. Now I mentioned last week the
severity of God, and I mentioned the goodness of God. The severity
of God fell on those God hating unbelieving rebellious Jews,
the righteous judgment of God, and the severity of God fell
on that wicked king who boasted in himself of what God was doing
through him. He, that wicked king, went back
to Nineveh with his tail between his legs. And God raised up that king for a particular purpose. But after he got back to his
hometown, while he was in his own false temple worshipping
a god of his own imagination, his own two sons smote him with
a sword. Vengeance is mine, saith the
Lord, I will repay. Now brethren, the writers of
the Old Testament give us God's record of how He deals with the
men and women of this world. God has not changed. He's the
same yesterday, today, and forever. If we want to become acquainted
with God, we need to read how He dealt with people in the Old
Testament. It's the same. God is doing the
same today as He did back then. Nothing has changed. There's
still a remnant of particular people that God has purposed
to save through the finished work of Jesus Christ our Lord.
And all the rest, all the rest of the people, they're called
reprobates. are vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction. Now listen to this, verses 20
through 22, which I said will be our main text. And it shall
come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such
as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay
upon him that smoked them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the
Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even
the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people
Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall
return. The consumption decreed shall
overflow with righteousness." Now folks, there is an historical
meaning to these verses. A remnant of national Israel
was spared during the wicked days, or days of that wicked
king of Assyria. A remnant did return to Jerusalem
after the Babylonian captivity. But if all we get is the historical
meaning of these words, we've missed it. There's a spiritual
meaning of all of these scriptures, and they were written for our
learning. So let me take you over to Romans chapter 9. I've titled this message, The
Return of God's Remnant. And our text in Isaiah says, And in that day has reference
to the gospel age, the day we're living in right now. It's been
the gospel age ever since our Lord Jesus came and walked on
this earth and laid down his life for his sheep. The remnant
of Israel refers to God's chosen blood-bought children, spiritual
Israel. The house of Jacob is God's people. Those who are nothing but worms. Our Lord tells us in the book
of Malachi, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
So we're just worms in our unregenerate natural state. But God by His
own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began has raised us out of that awful, filthy cesspool
of iniquity we were in. He has set our feet on the solid
rock, Christ Jesus our Lord. He has washed us in His blood.
He has put a new song in our hearts. He even prays under His
name and has made us part of His holy nation. We're the royal
family. Yes, we were nothing but worms.
We deserve nothing but God's wrath. But because of Jesus Christ
and what He has done for us, we're in that royal family. You're
a prince. You're a princess if you're in
Christ. What joy! What blessings to know
that we're His. The house of Jacob refers to
spiritual Israel as well. His enlightened saints have no
confidence in the flesh. Our trust is in the Lord, the
Holy One of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our blessed Redeemer
has set us free using His gospel, the truth. His gospel preachers
are instruments. And we preach the gospel, which
is God's instrument. And through our preaching of
the true gospel, God takes His word, making it effectual in
our hearts, and gives us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and raises us from that state of spiritual deadness for
the glory of His darling Son, and for the glory of His grace.
No other reason The return of God's remnant is speaking of
the miracle of the new birth. That glorious day when God the
Holy Spirit delivers us from the power of darkness and translates
us into the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ our Lord. That term,
the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness,
means just this. And we'll look at this again
next Sunday morning, Lord willing. God has decreed, here's what
that means. God has decreed the salvation
of His elect. He will execute the deliverance
of His chosen people with righteousness. His sovereign life-giving power
has brought us into a living union with Himself. The word
consumption, it means destruction or to destroy. And Jerusalem
was destroyed when The Jews went into Babylonian
captivity. But when God comes to us, executing
what he has decreed, he destroys in the hearts of his people any
false hope we might have had, any phony imaginary gods that
we might have been bowing down to, destroys the confidence in
the flesh, gives us the assurance that God himself has purposed
our salvation, executed our salvation, and has brought us into this
living union with himself so that we can boldly say, the Lord
is my helper, I will not fear what man will do unto me. Now,
look at Romans chapter 9, starting at verse 27. We read Isaiah, Esaias is Isaiah,
and this is what we just read in our text in Isaiah. Isaiah also cried concerning
Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as
the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. And we're talking
about the return of God's redemption. Read on. It says in verse 28,
For he, God himself, will finish the work and cut it short in
righteousness, because a short work will the Lord make upon
the earth. And, as Isaiah said before, except the Lord of Sabeoth
had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom and been made like unto
Gomorrah. What shall we say then? that
the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have
attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of
faith, but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
have not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore?
Why is that? Because they sought it not by
faith, but, as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. As it is written, Behold, I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone, and rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Now folks, this is all
pointing to Jesus Christ. This is all pointing to His seed.
If God had not left us a seed, we'd all be like Solomon and
Gomorrah. We know what happened to Solomon and Gomorrah. By the
way, just as a footnote, God did deliver one of His elect
out of Solomon. His name is Lot. God delivered
just Lot. And that doesn't mean just Lot. It means Lot was just. And the
only way we can be just in the sight of God is to be washed
in the blood of Jesus Christ. And God has promised that He's
going to pour out His wrath. The day of His wrath is coming.
But not until all of His sheep are delivered. Not until that
last one for whom Christ died is brought out of darkness into
the safety of the fold, into the waiting arms of Jesus Christ.
And God is the one who does that. And so He gives us faith. To
believe on the righteousness of Christ is not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He
saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost. Now let me take you over to John chapter 8 and I'll wrap
this up. This is so very important. We
must see this. And while you're turning to John
chapter 8, I wrote an article that I put in today's bulletin.
called God's Chosen Remnant and I just want to read that in your
hearing to establish some truths before we read this passage of
scripture in John 8. The word remnant is used many
times in the Holy Scriptures, many of which has reference to
God's elect. Our Lord Jesus was referring
to his elect, a remnant, when he told Elijah that he had reserved
unto himself 7,000 men who had not bowed the knee to the image
of Baal. The Apostle Paul used those words that God spoke to
Elijah to draw our attention to this blessed God-honoring
truth. Even so, then, at this present
time also, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. Election is a biblical doctrine. God has a remnant he
has reserved unto himself, a particular people who were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. And it doesn't matter
what the works religionists, the advocates of free will doctrine
say about the election of God's grace. Let them deny it if they
will. Let them twist the scriptures
to their own destruction by their false teachings concerning election.
The truth cannot be altered. In every generation there has
always been a remnant according to the election of grace. And
if election is according to God's grace, it cannot be according
to man's doings. Grace ceases to be grace if the
least little bit of the polluted sinful works of man enters into
the picture. But as precious as the biblical
doctrine of God's electing grace is, it would be of no value to
the remnant if Jesus Christ had not paid the ransom price for
us, for his elect. If our Savior had not become
a man and had not redeemed us with his own precious blood,
God's remnant could not have been saved. God's holy law had
to be kept perfectly and His holy justice had to be satisfied. Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior
did just that by His perfect obedience to His Father's will
and by the sacrifice of Himself on that cruel cross on Mount
Calvary. He did that for His remnant,
His elect, for us, for you, for me, if our faith is only in Christ. But something else is necessary
before any hell-deserving sinner can benefit by God's electing,
redeeming grace. As Pastor Don Fortner stated,
we must be saved by the blessed work of God the Holy Spirit in
the experience of grace. If God the Holy Spirit does not
come to us and by his life-giving power make us partakers of his
divine nature, the truths of the gospel will just be empty
words to our darkened minds. We must experience the miracle
of the new birth or we'll never be allowed to enter into God's
kingdom. Christ in us is the hope of glory. Therefore, The salvation of God's
remnant, his elect, is the work of our great triune God. Every
aspect of our salvation is essential. Nothing can be omitted. Election
by God the Father, redemption by God the Son, and regeneration
by God the Holy Spirit is the gospel. Now with that in mind,
I just want to walk you through the first 11 verses of John 8.
Now Pastor Donnie Bell preached from this when he was here during
our July conference, and what a message, what a message. But
I want to stress a couple of things. I'm not going to preach
from this, but I just want to stress a couple of things in
respect to what has already been stated. We must experience God's
grace and salvation by the miracle of the new birth. or we won't
understand, or we won't believe, or we won't even, we'll actually
hate the doctrine of election. We'll actually hate the doctrine
of a particular people being ransomed by the blood of Jesus
Christ. That just doesn't seem right to the natural mind. But
when God delivers us from darkness, when we have the Spirit of Christ
dwelling in us, I guarantee you It won't come overnight, maybe,
but you won't have any lasting problems with any of the truths
of the gospel. Now listen to this. Starting
at verse 1, Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives. And early in
the morning He came again unto the temple, and all the people
came unto Him, and He sat down and taught them. And the scribes
and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery, And
when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, these
people representing the law, said unto our Savior, Master,
this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses and
the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what saithst
thou? They thought they trapped our
Savior. They didn't know that they were just like the wicked
king of Assyria, pawns in the master's hand. All of God's children
are sinners. We must come to Christ. And we
shall. Our Lord Jesus said that. All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And these men who
represented the law brought one of our Lord's lost sheep right
to the master. Now she would never have come
to him by herself. But the scripture says in Psalm
110 and verse 3, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power. And this is God's power. Bringing
this woman right into the presence of Jesus Christ. Now listen,
salvation is a personal thing between the sinner and God. We
told our children All of them. We have six. We
told all of them. You're not going to heaven on
your mom and your daddy's coattails. This is a personal thing between
you and God. You must believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ as he is set forth in the Holy Scriptures. So we
must come to him And this woman came to him, brought to him by
those who represent the law. Now the scripture teaches us
that the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. She was
taken in adultery, the very act. And as Pastor Donnie Bell mentioned,
what happened to the man? He was just as guilty as her.
They didn't bring Him. They're trying to trap the Lord
Jesus. Instead, they're doing just exactly
what He determined before He came to this earth. Everything
that happens in time was purposed by God before time began. And
He executes that by His sovereign power. So He brings God's power,
brings this woman into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, dripping
with sin. And she knows it. She can't hide
it. She was taken in the very act.
And this is what God does with us. This is where He begins. He convicts us of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. Only the Holy Spirit can make
us aware of our sinful condition. I mentioned Friday night during
our Bible study. Is there any loving way to tell
a sinner he's no good? You can't. We're raised thinking
that we're going to be rewarded for our good. Our mommas, our
daddy told us, if you be good, you can go to the movies Saturday.
I don't know about you, but they had a Clyde Beatty series going
on when I was a kid. I got to go to the movies every
Saturday, unless I was mean. So the promise of good to the
children, we're raised that way. If you be good, Santa Claus will
bring you some gifts. What a fat antichrist that is.
But see, this is our mental mind as we're growing up. We go to
work. If we do well at work, we get
promoted. So, we think that good is the thing that we are. We're
not. There's none good. No, not one. There's none that
doeth good. None. The Bible says that. How can
you lovingly tell a sinner that? You can't. He'll hate you for
it. Tell him that without faith,
anything you do is an abomination to God. I refer to Romans 11.6,
without faith it's impossible to please God. And so, we have
to be confronted with this, we have to be told, and only the
Holy Spirit can make this effectual, make us aware of this, that from
the top of our head to the bottom of our feet, there's no soundness
in us. Just full of putrefying sores.
Sickness that just expresses itself in all that we do or think.
And we have to be made aware of this, or we'll never experience
the goodness of God. And it's not the severity of
God that leads us to repentance, it's the goodness of God that
leads us to repentance. And it was the goodness of God
that brought this woman taking an adultery right before her
king. She didn't know that, but it
is so. So they asked him, thinking they
had him in a trap, Moses says to Stoner, what do you say? And
if he says, Stoner, that's going to turn the people away from
him. If he denies that truth, they're going to use that to
say he can't be of God because he's denying the Word of God.
So all he did, it says in verse 6, was after they were tempting
him that they might have something to accuse him of, Jesus stooped
down and wrote with his finger, And with his finger rolled on
the ground as though he heard them not. He's not even a bit
concerned about what they're saying. His concern is for his
little lost sheep, that woman that's brought to him. So when
they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto
them, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast
a stone at her. He didn't deny what Moses said.
If you have no sin, you cast a stone. Well, they couldn't
do that. There was one there that could
have. Our Lord Jesus could have, but He didn't. He didn't come
to destroy me. He came to save His people. He
didn't come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners to
repentance. But this convicted them. It says
in verse 8, stooped down and wrote on the ground, and they
which heard it being convicted by their own conscience went
out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last.
And Jesus was left alone, and the woman staying in the midst.
And this is where God's going to get His sheep. All alone. Whether you're in a congregation
of 500 or 4, when the Lord starts dealing with you, you're going
to be all alone with the Lord Jesus. Nobody around, just you
and Him. You know, I have to say this,
just give me a minute. When the Lord delivered me, I really actually thought Judy
had gone to the pastor and just told him everything about me.
My life was I wasn't just on the other side of the track,
I was way over there. I was living a very ungodly lifestyle. And
every time I looked up, the pastor of the church was looking right
at me and I thought, oh man. Conviction was so heavy upon
me. I knew, I knew I deserved God's wrath. But you know that
preacher didn't leave me there in that condition, he preached
Christ to me. He told me that all of my sins
were laid on Jesus Christ, my Savior. And He by Himself perched
my sins. That He obtained eternal redemption
for me. That He reconciled me to God
by His death. And the blood of Jesus Christ
removes every spot and stain from God's sight forever. And
He preached the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Him sitting
on His sovereign throne of power ruling over this whole universe
and everything. And I just leaped for joy. And I came down to the front.
There was no altar call. The pastor didn't give an altar
call. But I just was weeping. I didn't know what to do. And
I came right to here. Went up on the... There was a
door right there going into the back. And I didn't want people
to see me crying. I went through that door. I was
delivered from darkness by the sovereign power of God Almighty
through the preaching of Jesus Christ. I'm not saying that to
draw attention to myself. I'm telling you what God did
for me. He set me free. He opened my blind eyes to the
truths of the gospel. He sent the Spirit of the Son
into my heart so I could believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
here's this woman, right in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ,
And all of her accusers are gone. In verse 10, when Jesus had lifted
up Himself and saw none but the woman, He said unto her, Woman,
where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. The Word
of God tells us in Romans chapter 8 that nothing can be laid to
the charge of God's elect. God himself has justified us
through the perfect redeeming work of Jesus Christ our Savior.
And it's His finished work that we enter into. We lay down the
weapons of our warfare. We hear that our warfare is accomplished. We have received of the Lord
double for us. He has rewarded us for Christ's
sake. And today's preachers are talking
about something that you have done to gain favor with God.
Don't believe that. I'm warning you, don't believe
that. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Believe that He by Himself took care of the sin-dead of His elect
people once and for all when He laid down His life for us.
He sanctified us by His one offering and He perfected us forever by
that same offering. Romans 10. Verse 10 through 14,
I challenge you to read that. The ninth verse of Romans 10
says that Jesus Christ came to do the Father's will and He did
that. And because of that, because He did the Father's will, all
those who were given to Him in the eternal covenant of grace,
who were purchased by Him by His precious blood, shall come
to Him. You're here in John 6, turn back
to John 6 and just let me read this. Verses 37 through 40 says,
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. He didn't say,
I hope they'll come. He said, they shall come. And
him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. And why
is that? And he tells us why. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he
hath me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me,
that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may
have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day."
So the title of this message is The Return of God's Remnant. The scripture on the front of
your bulletin is taken from Isaiah 53, verses 5 and 6. It says that Jesus Christ was
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. And in 1 Peter 2, verses 24 and
25, we read that Jesus Christ in his own self bear our sins
in his own body on a tree, that we, being dead in sin, should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed, for
you were a sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the
shepherd and bishop of your soul. You have faith in Christ. Have
you come to Christ? If so, Our God promises nothing
but good for His people. It is always well with the righteous.
That's the goodness of God. If not, the severity of God is
waiting for all those who go through that doormark death,
dying in their sins. And God says what He means, and
He means what He says. Come to Christ. Come to Christ
by faith. Believe on Him as He is set forth
in the Holy Scriptures and you will be saved by God's grace
and His mercy because He's the one who raised you. Amen.