All right, Brandon, if you will,
let's turn to John 15. We carried that printer in here
this morning, hooked up that computer. My computer's messed
up. And I said, we ain't got no bulletins. I said, I ain't
got no notes. But this one's been burning in me for quite
a while. This old outline, about as old
as that one's old Timothy's preaching from, isn't it? Might have heard
it a few times. John 15, I'm going to look at
this Wednesday and I just had to hold it in. I want to hopefully
everybody be here Sunday morning and could hear it. Uh, especially
when I speak to the young people today, because they're going
to have a little different time than us grownups will. And, uh,
and to the young believers, those that are new believers, you're
going to need this. I want to speak to people that
are born of God this morning. That's who I want to talk to.
I'm not concerned about preaching an evangelical message to those
that's never met him. I'm not concerned really of even
preaching an expository message and going verse by verse, but
an experiential message as old writers said. Something I've
lived and you're going to live this if you believe God and I
will help you. I want to give you some answers, because you're
going to have some questions, and you're going to want to know
how to navigate this world, and I'm going to tell you what God
says, okay? We have some rough times sometimes. The Lord might be pleased to
make it all three, though. He can do it. I ain't sufficient
for those things, but He can call out His. expound the scriptures
in their minds and give them the experience of faith. All
on the same go, can't he? Maybe he will. Maybe the Lord
might save somebody through this this morning. I pray he does.
I'm excited every time. I'm like, I think this is it.
I think there's going to be a watershed moment. We're going to soak these carpets,
ain't we? John 15, verse 16. The Lord's speaking, those 11. And he said, you have not chosen
me. John 15, 16. He said, you have
not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained you that you
should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain.
Now, whatsoever you ask of my father's name, he may give it
to you. These things I command you that
you love one another. And he starts off with that,
doesn't he? That's what he's getting at. That's really impacted
me. You love one another. You better, you're going to need
one another. You're going to need it. I'm
going to put you all together because you're going to need
one another. Now love one another. What if I was by myself? Who
could I love? I already love me plenty. He said, do I command
you? These things I command you that
you love one another. Verse 18, if the world hate you,
ye know that it hated me or hated you. If you were of the world,
the world would love his own. You bear everything be fine.
but because you are not of the world, but I've chosen you out
of the world, therefore the world hateth you. That means it has
hated you. It hates you right now, and I got some bad news.
Guess what's gonna happen next week? Gonna hate you. Those outside
of Christ gonna hate you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they
have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they had
kept my saying, They will keep yours also. But all these things
will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know
not him that sent me." Our Lord tells his people, he says, the
world's hated me. The world is going to hate you. It's going to hate you. Are you
hated by the world? We're going to see in a minute.
Not as bad as it could be, huh? Is there somebody out there with
a bunch of firewood gonna burn me at the stake as soon as I
get through preaching? No. What's the Lord mean by that?
What's he mean by that? People say, I'm not hated. I
get along pretty good. I live peaceably with all men.
We're commanded to, right? I got friends. People of the world, those I
live peaceably with, they wouldn't say that they hated me. And people
get along, they say, I don't hate you. I've had a few people
get mad enough to bare-knuckle-box me over the gospel. I mean, they
were fighting mad, literally. If you ain't mad enough to bare-knuckle-box,
you ain't mad, was an old saying. That ain't true, though. Mostly,
they just get mad. Some get really mad, but they
all get mad, don't they? And how does that manifest? How
does that come out? If I tell them about the Lord, or I say,
come hear about a man, Come church with me. How does it manifest
the world hating me for that? Or I'm going to worship God today.
How's that manifest? I've been mocked. Have you even
made fun of been ridiculed? I've told people what the Lord's
done for me and I've been laughed at. Have you? I've had, I've had
people shrunk their noses at me just Just a little, little scrunched
face. What? That ain't hating people,
is it? Some may even say something so just sugar, plum, sweet. I
said, well, we're going to the same place, just taking different
paths to get there. Different ways. Man said that
to my children in my house one time. He talked about rebuking
him sharply. I said, no, we're not. There's one way and you
ain't on it. The way is Christ. Don't you tell my children that
garbage. You knock it off. I'd like to be friends with you,
but you ain't doing that here. Well, you know, we just, at least
we're brothers in Christ. That was an article last week
in Greg Elmquist in a bulletin. Well, at least we can say that
we're brothers in Christ. No, we ain't. That ain't my brother.
They got a different father than I do. You hear me? That ain't
my brother. And that title comes at a precious
cost. It's the blood of Christ that
makes it so. And that's why I'm sanctifying myself. You ain't
my brother. No, you ain't. That manifests in different ways.
What's it mean when they hate me? It might feel like somebody
really hates you, and it may feel like they don't really hate
you. What's God say about it? That's my job, isn't it? Tell
you what God said. Remember Jacob? He got them two
wives. He went and he served seven years for Rachel, and then
it wasn't Rachel. It was Leah. So he served another seven years,
and he got Rachel. In Genesis 29 and 30, here's what it says.
And he went also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more
than Leah. He loved Rachel more than Leah.
What's that mean? He loved Leah a little bit less. Do you love somebody more than
you love somebody else? Is there preachers you love more than
other preachers? Let me tell you what God says. The very next
verse, Genesis 29 verse 31, it says, when the Lord saw that
Leah was hated. But Jacob said he just loved
her less. God says you hated her. Now who's
lying and who's telling the truth? Well, we're just getting there
different ways. God says they hate you, or they burn you at
the stake. God says they hate you. Why? Because of him. Because
of him. People that are not born of God,
they may be restrained by the Lord's grace, but if he took
those restraints off, they'd cut your throat and put your
head on a pike. Don't you dare tell me about that. Don't you
dare tell me about free and sovereign grace. I'm gonna do something.
God owes me. and I'll kill you for telling
me different if he took his hand off of him. That's what people
can confuse the restraint of God for personal holiness. Well,
I don't drink anymore and I don't say bad words anymore. God just
ain't let you or you got too old to do it. Hangovers ain't
fun for nobody. God's restraining grace to those.
You who love the Lord. Not that you're some fanatic.
You just love him, right? Because he's in you, you have
to say, well, that business is booming. Well, the Lord's blessed
us. The Lord saw fit to do it. Why would you say that? You're
the one that got up early. The Lord made me get up early. You just
talk about him. You think about him. He's in
your thoughts all day long. You're at work, and you think
about him. And you're at home, and you think about him. And
you're at basketball practice, whatever. You think about him.
You dream about him. You just love him. And you invite
your loved ones. We always do that first, don't
we? It's selfish, but so we want our loved ones to be saved. And
then we want our friends to be saved, don't we? And then maybe
years down the road, we'll start praying for our enemies. Maybe
that mean old president, whatever year it is. whatever election
cycle it is. Maybe that mean no governor.
Maybe God might save him. We'll start praying for those.
Our pastor said, he goes, those that the Lord, those that love
the Lord, they're not a belligerent soul winner. You ever met those?
There's some people I know in this county, you know them too.
They've had religion shoved down their throats their whole life.
And now you say, well, now, now I know Christ come here and I
don't want to. I don't blame them. They said they hate religion. Me too. I don't like it. We're not belligerent soul winners.
We have conversations, we're normal. But people that are worldly,
they don't like you much after Christ does a work in you. You
used to get along fine. Some of you was just like them.
I was. You're hard partying rebels. You're drinkers, you're base,
you're profligate people. just heathens, right? And when
you were like that, you got along fine with everybody. And you
was out smoking dope or drinking or whatever, running around with
everybody in the county. And you got along fine with everybody.
Now, there was some people, they didn't really like what you was
doing. They might not like the way you acted. They might not
like the way you treated other people, but there was a little
bit of pity there, wasn't there? Even with your family members
and your loved ones. You still had some communication,
some things you could get along with. Then there was a new creation
in you and it's never been the same. That's with the belligerents. That's with the outwardly sinful
people, right? Others of you, you didn't grow
up that way. You wasn't a Jack Daniels drinking hard party person. You didn't do those things. You
grew up in religion. That's what you grew up in. You were moral
people. You'd never been bad outwardly.
You observed some type of system. You observed some type of theology,
some form of the law, and it's always whatever's convenient
for you, right? The easy stuff. And you got along with a bunch
of so-called Christians. Everything was fine. Now, they
may not have liked the way you worship. They may not have took
the Lord's table the way you took the Lord's table. They may
have been a four-point Calvinist to a five-point Calvinist, or
a two-and-a-half point, or whatever. Those are all Christians. And
you still had this exact wording I said on the other one, ready?
You still had some communion with them, some fellowship, and
there's some things you could get along with. There's something
you could talk about that you could agree on. Then there was
a new creation in you, and it was never the same. Why? They hate you. They hate you. Now, it may be a shrunk nose
and it may be trying to burn you to stake. They hate you.
They hate you. I hope this is a comfort for
some of you that's being hated. They don't hate you. They hate
your Lord. It ain't you. He's the root cause. Look at verse 18 again. If the
world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you're his servant, you ain't
above your master. They killed him. They said crucify him. What do you think they're going
to do to you? They hate you. They hate you. An unregenerate
person, they cannot understand grace and they cannot tolerate
it. They can understand works. You
go find a natural man walking up down the street and say, you
do something and God does something for you. And they say, I get
that. or all this 5.1 points Calvinism. He saves his people,
God loves, they leave all that stuff, and now you gotta sanctify
yourself. You do something, God'll make you holy. They get that.
Natural man gets that. Now let's flip to the other side,
you ready? Natural man understands hyper-Calvinism. Natural, unregenerated,
unsafe people, they understand fatalism. There's an almighty
God on His throne. You can't do nothing about it.
And I said, roll over and show your belly. Wait for the lightning
to strike. They get that. Natural man understands
that. But free grace in a person without
merit. God did it all because He wanted
to. It made Him happy to do so. And He runs everything. And He's
right and doing it. And I thank Him for it. They
neither understand that, and I tell you what, they will not
tolerate it. You can take two heresies and they'll walk hand
in hand. You can take a seven day Adventist
and you can take a Catholic or you can take a Baptist or whatever.
And you take some people that's got sovereign grace on their
sign out front and put them right with a worker, a Buddhist, and
they'll find something they can walk hand in hand. You put truth
with a lie and it cannot walk together. They may pull a knife
out and try to shank you, or they'll just go, well, we'll
agree to disagree. That's called judgment of God.
They hate you, if God's done a work in you, okay? If you ain't,
you're like, I don't know what, and I said, they don't understand
it, they don't tolerate it. I don't know what he's talking
about, but I don't like it too much. It'll be all right. Works and
grace cannot be yoked together. Lightness cannot be with darkness.
They can't mesh. Unsafe people can't understand
free grace. They will not tolerate it. They hate those that love
it. Now, before we go, us that are hated, before we go and have
a pity party and we say, oh, the Lord hates us, or the world
hates us, everybody's against me. Before we write our names
in that book of martyrs part two, okay, get old Fox out. Let's know it's the Lord they
hate, not us. But we get a martyr's complex. It's him they hate,
not us. Now, the world may hate you and the world may hate you
justly. Maybe you have some unredeemable qualities. Maybe you're a know-it-all.
Maybe you correct everybody you've ever talked to and you always
find something wrong instead of something nice to say. And
maybe they don't like you anyway. Maybe you're just unlikable.
Don't blame that on the Lord. That's you. But for His, for
the gospel's sake, Once we are gone from this world, they'll
build monuments to us. Do you know that? There's people that will not
have anything to do with me. They'll correct me. They'll tell me everything
that people that's dead said and look to that. And I read
this article and I read this sermon and this and that. And
I don't want nothing to do with Kevin. I ain't going down there.
It's a long way. And the second I die, they'll say, man, I loved
him. They'll go after you with a vengeance. And the second you're
gone, I said, she was the greatest lady that ever walked to San
Diego County. It's gonna happen. I can make
good on that. Do you know that? I can prove it to you. Would
you look at God's word with me? Turn back to Matthew 23. Matthew 23. Some of y'all, me and Mike was
together at Henry's funeral. And there's people that crushed
that man, and they said he was a heretic, and he was sending
people to hell, and gave him down the road. And then as soon
as he died, what'd they do? Oh, he's in a better, my mother,
same ones. They said my mother's a little
blue haired widow, poor widow woman. They said, you're going
to hell believing that gospel. And then as soon as she died,
they had the nerve to look me in the eye and say, well, she's
in a better place now. And I said, what changed, you or her? You
cussed her while she's alive. You said she's a heretic while
she walked this earth believing God, looking to Him only. And
now all of a sudden she's a saint that's just tap dancing in heaven.
What changed? What changed? I should have took
him out back, put him over my knees, what I should have done.
That's normal. Did you know that? It always
has been. I'm going to show you. I'm going
to make good on it. Matthew 23. Look here in verse 29. Oh, I got one page
or one verse. Hold on. Matthew 29. He says, woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets
and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous. Where they're
buried, you go and put flowers on their grave on certain days.
And you say, well, we love these prophets. Oh, oh, we love those
saints of the Lord. And you say, if I had been there
in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers
with them in the blood of the prophets. Oh, if I was alive back then,
I wouldn't have went after so-and-so. I wouldn't have killed the Lord
is what they're saying. I wouldn't have killed the prophets. I wouldn't
have wanted to stone Moses. I'd have done anything he said.
Wherefore you be witnesses unto yourself that you're the children
of them which killed the prophets. You're saying all these things
and that's exact proof that you hated them. And if he was alive
then you'd have murdered him. But now you're out there decorating
their graves. Do you know that? How does that play out throughout
time? Moses was here. They hated Moses. They hated him. They was going
to stone him. They wanted to kill him. He went
up on a mountain to go get the law of God. He's gone for a couple
of days. And they raised up another prophet and built a golden calf
to worship. And that's systemic too. Pastors go out of town.
All kinds of nasty things take place when they get out of town.
Insurrection always comes when they're out of town. They hated
him. Then they got Elijah and the
other prophets, and they said, now we love Moses. We don't like
you. Why are you telling us this stuff?
And then it finally got to where Christ was here, and they said,
we hate to kill him, crucify him, but now we love Abraham. Why are you telling us this stuff?
We have Moses. We have all his prophets of old. And then Christ
died, and Paul started walking through the world, and he started
preaching the word, judgment, mercy, faith. And I said, we
like that Jesus fella, but you better hush. You stop saying
those things. You can trace that all the way
through. In the 1300s, there was a man named John Wycliffe,
and they tried to shut him up. I mean, there was laws against
him. They said, take all those books he wrote and you burn them.
Burn them. Why? Let me tell you what he
said. This is in the 1300s. You ready? Trust wholly in Christ. rely altogether on his sufferings,
beware of seeking to be justified in any other way than by his
righteousness." They said, kill him. What are we going to do? Shut him up? Let's put him on
court, imprison him, put some chains on him. And you know what
they do now? When he was here, they wanted to kill him. Now
there's Wycliffe Hall in Oxford, and that's one of Church of England's
designated evangelical theological colleges. They named their main
preaching school at Oxford after Wycliffe. When he was here, they
wanted to kill him. You think everyone at that college
is telling them to rely solely on the Lord Jesus Christ, trust
him only for everything? I doubt it. They're just painting
a sepulcher. Oh, Jan Huss. July 6th is Jan
Hus Day, John Hus, we call him, in Czech Republic. They have
a day they celebrate this great reformer. When he was alive,
they literally burn him at the stake, and they didn't put enough
wood down to kill him all the way, so some little widow woman
went and got some scrap wood and threw it on there so he could
go all the way and die. They only halfway did it. And now
they have John Hus Day. They worshiped him, don't they?
100 years later, Martin Luther came. We name our children after
Calvin and Luther. Name him Martin, don't we? We
have Reformation Day on Halloween in this nation. We're so pure.
Oh, it can't be all Hallow's Eve. You can't let children have
candy. This is Reformation Day. You'd have killed him if you
had a chance when he was walking this earth. Luther had to hide in his friend's
house for months because it was going to kill him. The world
hates you. Preach that truth on and on and
on till I get to see me and you, isn't it? If I truly believe
the gospel, this here's an article by Henry Manning I put in the
bulletin last year. If I truly believe the gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus, I will not hesitate to
be fully identified with those who believe and preach the gospel
in my day and in my area. You'll hunker up with them. Paul
wrote from prison to Timothy and cautioned him, he said, do
not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner.
He said, it's no use to brag on dead preachers like Spurgeon,
Pink, and Barnard. That was the man that taught
him the gospel. Henry wrote that. You've read it. There's no use
to brag on dead preachers like Spurgeon, Pink, and Barnard,
nor to brag on driving miles to meetings in other towns. Do
you know what I used to always used to go? I used to drive 10
hours to go to a conference. In other towns, while I refuse
to encourage, support, and identify with those who preach and believe
the gospel now in my area, those who can never suffer with him
will never reign with him." Ooh, that's true. He lived it. I've
lived it. And those who wear no scars of battle will never
wear the crown of victory. They give lips. It's all lip
service. You get that? I hate them people. I don't want
to deal with them people. Don't preach that word to me.
And then they die, and I say, boy, they're wonderful. They're wonderful.
What takes place while they're alive? Violence. We may be coming
back to that. A firefighter is way more respected
than someone that gives you the word of God in this nation. In
Czech Republic, like 58% is there's no religion at all. 2% is Protestant. A lot of things have changed
in a couple hundred years, ain't it? We may be going back to violence
in this country. I don't know, but I know the mocking's here. I
know the laughing at's here. I know the teasing is here. And
I'll tell you what else is here, ignoring. Just don't look at them. Just
keep doing what I'm doing. Don't pay no attention to it.
Don't listen to it. Just keep doing what you're doing. I got something
going on. I have important things going on this weekend. Oh, really?
Life and death things? All that's too, it's all based
on correction and self-pride. If there's contention, the proverb
says, only by pride comes contention. It's pride. It's pride. That's
damnable. It's pride. because they hate
your Lord. You young people, you listen
to me. I'm gonna say it slow as I can.
This doesn't really apply to other people. It applies to you
young people. To be raised under the gospel, that gets thrown
around about as much as brother and Christian in this world.
But to be raised under the gospel, it brings you some trouble. There's
going to be some trouble for you. And I'm not talking about
a parent that happens to partly agree with a guy on TV named
may hand a thousands of them east of the Mississippi. And
that's been raised underneath gospel. No, I'm talking about
being raised under the gospel to be where it is preached day
in and day out. Every time it's preached to be
a child. and be underneath that gospel and be raised by people
that believe that gospel and commit themselves to it. That's
being raised underneath the gospel. Not a false gospel, not a close
one, the gospel. From a child, the Lord gave me
those parents. I was raised in a faithful house.
I was raised by a man that believed God, a woman that believed God,
a grandfather that believed God, and my father commanded his house
to worship God. And from my youth, before I ever
knew the Lord, people called me the Pope, because I couldn't
go out. They said I was in a cult. I
hear the same thing in this day. At 15 years old on the basketball
court, they called me preacher man. I didn't preach to none
of them. Now that got me fired up and
I started being, started arguing with everybody. I ain't said
nothing to them. I was out running rowdy with
you. Same as that. Somebody said one time, Kevin
got tied up in the wrong crowd. And dad said, no, Kevin is the
wrong crowd. It was different. You children. Little ones, you
listen to me. You're going to be teased for
missing practices on Wednesdays. Lord said that's hatred. You're
going to be teased and mocked and kids are going to laugh at
you for not being able to stay out all night on Saturdays because you've
got to get up and go worship God on Sundays. And you're going
to be teased when you have friends come over and spend the night
at our house, at your house, you're going to go to church
with them Sunday morning. You can stay Saturday night, you're
gonna go to church with us, because as for me and my house, we're
gonna serve the Lord. And if you're underneath my roof, you're on
my property, you're gonna do what I say. I have the right to that. If
you don't like it, don't go. You're gonna be mocked, you're gonna
be teased, laughed at, and you're gonna be made fun of. People's
gonna have negative things to say because your dad commands
his house, and you're gonna say I'm old-fashioned, and I'm a
bigot, and I'm everything else you gotta go Google to see what
it means. And the list goes on. Now I want to tell you why. They're
not mad at you. They're not upset with you. They
don't hate you. They despise the Lord of your father, the
God of your father, the God of your parents. That's why. That's
it. He's despised and rejected of
man. So you're going to be despised
and rejected. He's a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. So you're
going to have something to know about grief. You'll be acquainted
with sorrows. I got three quick points as to why people hate
it, and I'll go as fast as I can, okay? First, here's why people
hate the gospel of free grace. That's why the people hate, now
they can go mm, or they can burn you to steak, but they hate it,
the gospel of Christ and Him crucified, because it offends
man's dignity. It declares all human beings
under sin. Everybody's a sinner. Everybody. I had a text message this morning
off a website I didn't know we had. So that's kind of harsh. You said everybody's sinful.
A-double-L. That offends man's dignity, doesn't
it? Remember those nuns that Paul talked about in Romans 3?
He said, there's none righteous. No, not one. There's none righteous.
No, not one. Well, what about grandma? No,
heathens, sinners, rebels, they despise God. They're at war with
him. They're enmity. There's none that understand
it. When I got a good handle, and I sorted this stuff out,
and I came to the knowledge, the doctrines of grace. No, you didn't.
No, you don't understand. There's none righteous. There's
none that understand. There's none that seeks after God. I was looking
for the right thing. No, you weren't. God may have been drawing
you, You didn't do it. They're all gone out of the way,
they're all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Is he lying or you lying? Man's
a liar. Mankind's a liar. Isaiah says, the ox knoweth his
owner, the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my
people doth not consider. When we're born in this world,
we don't even think about these things. He said, from the sole of the
foot, even to the head, there's no soundness in them. We're nothing
but, we're all unclean. We're nothing but putrefying
sores in front of a holy God, from the soles of our feet to
our heads. And we can't be in his presence.
Mankind's sin, the noun, that's what you are. And people say,
I'm too dignified, you can't say that to me. Isaiah said,
we are all as an unclean thing and all of our righteousness
are as filthy rags. That don't mean you change the
oil in your shop towels. It's soiled menstruation cloths.
That's what your good works are, you think you've done for God.
And we can't maintain our Sunday morning dignity of respecting
people and respecting ourselves and tell men and women what they
are before a holy God. It's bloody used maxi pads. You
get that? That's what it was in that day.
Gil had a little bit different wording for it for his day. Sanitary
napkins or whatever. That's what it is in our day.
Everything you think you've done good, that's what it is. God
says so. Don't you dare tell me that. The ones that'll get
most mad at you, ain't the drunk down at the bar. You say salvation
to the Lord, I say you got that right. It'd have to be. It's
the sweet little religious blue haired people, little old ladies
that they taught their I wanna class and they've been good their
whole life and they read their Bible every day and they've done
their devotions and you say you ain't nothing but sin. And I
said, don't you dare tell me that. I'll cut your throat. God
owes me something. No, he doesn't. He does not. He owes us judgment. Second, mankind's intellect's
offended. Our dignity's offended when we're
told we're nothing but sin, and our intellect, our mind's offended
when the gospel must come through revelation. You can't figure
this out. You ain't smart enough. God saves
the simple. That gives every one of us hope.
That gives the biggest mind that ever walked this earth hope,
because we're all simple compared to him. You get that? We're all
pretty slow. None of us are the sharp crayon
in their drawers. We're all crayons, ain't we?
Our intellect's offended that this gospel must come through
revelation. Paul said, it's written, an eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things that
God's prepared for them that he loves. You ain't sorted this
out. You ain't figured it out. But
God's revealed them unto us by his spirit. It comes through
revelation. The Lord must teach his people. It must be revealed
as we gotta be given that faith like was looked at last hour
through the preaching of the word, We're given that assurance we're going
to be grown through the preaching of the word. It has to happen.
People say, I don't like it. Of course you don't. The Lord
ain't made you love it yet. You can't. Proves its point,
don't it? It'll all be through the preaching
of the gospel. And the one that's going to preach is going to be
an unappealing clay pot. No commonness in us. It's going
to be through the head harlot, the chief of sinners. the lowest
of the low, and you're looking at him. If you get inside of
my, if I could tell you some stories, you quit eating lunch
with me. You get inside of my head, you quit living in the
same county as me. You pack up and move in. I'm like, I'll sell
out. That guy's a heathen. That's unappealing, isn't it? Paul said, pray for me. He said,
pray for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open
my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. You
pray for me that I can tell people plainly that they ain't nothing
but sinners. And I tell people plainly, you ain't that smart.
God's got to reveal Christ to you. You can't do it. Nothing, nothing. You can't do
it. There's no working in. It's all
of him. The world hates the fact. And I said, fact, it's the truth.
It's an unbendable reality of their sin before a Holy God.
They keep standing here and they hate the truth of revelation
that God must come to us. He must save us and we can't
sort it out. And finally, third thing. The
world hates this gospel. He hates the Lord's people, his
messengers, his servants, because they hate the Lordship of Christ. I'm going to have you up the
doctrinally up till now. It's going to hit the road. You
ready? He's not some dude named Jesus that we can agree with.
We do not decide he's right. You know what? I've come to decide
that that's right. It's always been right. Bumper stickers,
God said it, I believe it, it's so. That's not correct. God said
it, it's so. He's the Lord, he's the Lord.
We don't condone his sovereignty, he is sovereign. In Philippians
2 now it says, Wherefore the God hath also highly exalted
him and given him a name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow on things of heaven
and things of the earth, things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
the Father. That's going to happen 100%.
It's either going to happen in this life or it's going to happen
in judgment. You either bow to him before he sends you to eternal
damnation. It's going to happen. He's the Lord. He's the Lord.
That's what the 11 called him. He said, one of y'all is a devil.
What'd they do? Every one of them said, Lord,
is it I? Lord, I think it's so-and-so.
I'm pretty sure it's them. Lord, is it I? Lord, is it I?
Lord, is it I? And then what'd Judah say? Master,
is it I? He said, you just said it. I'm just your teacher is
all I am. I ain't your Lord. That leopard
called on him, didn't he? So there was a leopard came and
worshiped him and said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou can makes
me clean. The harlots, the prostitutes
called him Lord. That woman caught in adultery,
he said, did anybody charge you? After he ran them all off, he
wrote down the dirt, everything they did wrong probably. And
one by one they left. He said, where's your accusers,
lady? And she said, no man, Lord, Lord. And he said, neither do
I. Condemn thee. Go and sin no more.
All your accusers are gone. Christ was her Lord. Don't tell
me about your savior. Tell me about your Lord. Don't
tell me about your doctrine. Tell me about who rules and reigns
every element and every molecule that's ever been, always, every
raindrop, every particle of dust in the air. Is that your Lord? That tough, hard-working Martha.
She asked, he said, you believe? And she said, yea, Lord, I believe
thou art the Christ. Martha called him Lord. Well,
what about that sweet, tender Mary, her sister? She chose the
good things. Mary came to him and said, Lord,
if thou hast been here, my brother would have lived. That's who
he is, isn't it? But the unsaved, the unregenerate,
his citizens that hated him, he sent a message after him saying,
we will not have this man reign over us. Now they'll call him
Lord with their mouth. He ain't, he's not the Lord.
He doesn't rule and reign in everything, in salvation, in
providence and everything. But those that he's come to,
poor sinners, whether it's Nebuchadnezzar or it's the hooker down the street,
don't make a difference. He says, he told those publicans
or the Pharisees, he said, I tell you, the publicans and the harlots
go into the kingdom of God before you do. Oh, man. But I've been religious all my
life. Grandma saved, grandpa saved, great-great-grandpa saved. Mafiosos and prostitutes will
go to heaven before you do. He said, for John came to you
in the way of righteousness and you believed him not. I sent
John to you. John the Baptist came preaching
and cut his head off, put it on a plate. We don't want nothing
to do with him. Saying I can't get married to
who I want to get married to. That's what happened to him, they killed
him. He said, but the publicans and the harlots, they believed
him. They believed him. He said, you ain't nothing but
sin. They said, that's right. If you're gonna get mercy, there
ain't gonna be nothing in you, it's gonna be from him only. They said, that's
right. They said, here's what his word says, believe him. He
said, I do. Everything you've ever lived
on in your whole life's a lie. That's right. Salvation is being united with
the king. That's it. It's in Luke 14 when there are
great multitudes with him, and he turned and he said, What do
you think he meant by that? Well, I'd love a gospel, but
now my kids won't let me come, and my daughter's in town, and
my father-in-law, you know, he just, he's been helping me make
my truck payments for a little while, and I'm gonna have to
go over at another church with him for something. What God say? He's gonna be your Lord. He ain't
gonna be the biggest part of your life. He's gonna be your
life, or you ain't gonna be his disciple. A-double-L-all. He's my life. He said, then drew
near him, publicans, all the publicans and centers were to
hear him and the Pharisees and scribes murmured. And I said,
this man received centers and eats with them. You bet he does. That's me. That's good news. When we see him as Lord, we see
everything's his, everything is his, this life that I'm living
right now. This ain't my life. It's his
life. I'm his, I'm bought with a price. It don't matter what's
going on. He gave me a job, dude, I gotta
do it. I see my wife. I love her dearly, lay down my
life for her. That ain't mine, that's his.
It's his daughter. Jesus, he's her husband. We have
to be married here. You're his, you ain't mine. I
see my children, his children, ain't my children. I got to raise
them. I got to put them in the sound of the gospel. Every time
them doors open, they're going to be here. I'm going to train them
up best I can according to this word so they don't depart from
it. But they ain't my children, they're his children. It's not
my money, it's his money. I don't have a penny. I don't
have no stock options. I don't have an IPO. It's his.
Some give lip service. Some do. They say, Lord, he said,
they'll cry, Lord, Lord, and his department, I don't know
you. They have lip service. They tip God with devotions.
I'll give him five minutes of my time every morning. I'll read
them. I got the, my computer advertises Spurgeons morning
and evenings as an ad. I don't think they're selling
that many. It's heard me talking, I guess. They tip God with their
devotions, they tip Him with their 10%, though they double
that for a waiter, don't they? Whatever. They dress the kids
up twice a year, make them miserable all day long, we're gonna go
to church, and the rest of the time, it's my money, it's my
time, it's my people, it's my family, it's my home, it's my
vehicle, it's all mine. And when they die, that judgment's
gonna be yours, too. Hell's gonna be yours. I gotta warn people. They're
gonna hate me for it, but that don't change my job, does it?
Bow to the king. Bow to the king with everything
in you. You can't make it on your own, you ain't nothing but
sin. Judgment's coming. He delights to show mercy. Bow
to him. Or he'll make you bow. That's what I have for you. I
hope that blesses you. Lord, give us a good motivation. He constrained us. His love constrains his people. That doesn't mean restrain. He restrains us too. But he constrains,
he makes us do something, pushes us out. I pray we can serve him
regardless of the adversity, regardless of those that despitefully
use us. I will say this too. I'm going to say this to me.
I'm going to look in the mirror for a second, right? If I'm going
to preach the almighty God of heaven and earth, he deserves
my best. I ain't going to be able to do
my best. He deserves my best, doesn't
he? Does he? Is he worthy of that? What about
you got to sing? You got to pick a song though.
He deserves your best. He does. We got to sweep the
floors and take the garbage out. He absolutely deserves our best.
We got to change the toilet paper roll back there. He deserves
the highest quality swamp, right? It's his house. He deserves the
best. We're going to pray. Not flowerly, canned responses. He deserves heartfelt, earnest,
pleas of mercy, doesn't he? And praise. And praise. Lord,
thank you. You did it all. Thank you. He deserves our best. I pray
make me do that. Amen.