Isaiah 45, I prepared this message to present
to the young people tomorrow morning at the Bible School. Each morning, the beginning of
every morning, there are five of us men who are going to five
attributes of God. And I'm beginning with the sovereignty
of God. And I prepared this message for
those young people. But one of the ladies told me
one time, the simpler you preach, the better. So this is geared
for little children, even. And I got a blessing out And
as I was preparing, I thought, I'm just going to preach this
Sunday morning. Oh, and the attributes of God. What does that mean,
the attributes of God? Attribute means, that's right,
someone said what he's like. Attribute means the characteristics
of God, descriptions of God, declarations. of who God is,
what he's like, how he does things. Is that important? Is it important
that we know something of the attributes of God? I told you about this, but one
time I was speaking on the phone to a fellow. He called me to
give me a piece of his mind about something. And in the course of the conversation,
I said something about the attributes of God. And he said, don't talk
to me about the attributes of God. That's not important. Well,
I'll tell you how important it is. It's so important that if
you don't know at least something of the attributes of God, you're
lost. What do you mean, preacher? You've
got to be a theologian. You've got to understand it.
No, no. But you've got to know God. You've got to know the true
God. Right? This is what John 17,
verse 3 says. Christ said, Now this is life
eternal. This is salvation, he said. That they might know thee,
the only true God. The only true God. The only God there is, the only
one who's truly God. Why'd you say that? For the same
reason God kept saying here in Isaiah, that I am God, there's
none else. Did you notice how many times
he said that? There's no God beside me. There's none else. I am the Lord. There's none else. He said, Woe unto them that they
pray unto a God that cannot say. Do you notice that? A God that
cannot save. That sounds just like some God
that men are talking about today. So we've got to know the true
God, the one who's described in this book. Unless we do, we're
lost. All right? Now, knowing these
facts won't save. If we come into contact with
this one, he'll show us who he is. We believe who he is. All right? He that cometh to
God must believe he is. All right? There are certain
characteristics or attributes of God. And Scripture says, All thy children shall be taught
of thee. It's in Isaiah. And Jesus Christ
quoted that in John 6. They shall all be taught of God. And you've heard this illustration
before. There are four of us children
in my family. And we all had the same father.
We were all sired by the same man. We all knew the same father. We all knew certain things about
him, right? Same father. We knew the same
man. We knew certain facts about him. If you were to ask each of us
children about our father, we would describe him similarly,
wouldn't we? Huh? Same God. Same father. I'm the same father. And what if someone said to me,
I know your father. And I said, you do? Describe
him to me. What are his attributes? And
they began to describe my father in this way. They say, well,
he is six foot five and weighs 300 pounds and has red hair and
a long flowing beard. I'd say, wait a minute, that's
not my father. You don't know my father. Right? And the same way that men are
describing God today, I have to conclude, you don't know my
father. You don't know my God. That God's
done all he can do. Now it's up to you. You don't
know my God. If he's done all that there can
be done, that's all that can be done. Right? And nothing up to us. That's
not my father. That's not my God. And that's the conclusion
people come to, don't they, when they hear about this sovereign
God. They have to conclude, we're worshiping different gods. Ever had anybody say that? Or
you've said it to them? Your God's not my God. Their
rock stand is not like our rock, is it? Their Christ is not like
our, their gospel is not our gospel. Alright, I'm going to
tell you something about our sovereign God here in Isaiah
45. What does sovereign mean? Young
people, what does sovereign mean? I'll ask you now and ask you
later. If I ask you tomorrow, you better answer. What does
sovereign mean? Well, the meaning is in the word. Sovereign. Sovereign. He reigned. means rule. The word sovereign means rules
over all. That's what it means. The supreme
ruler, sovereign, supreme ruler, the highest power. God is sovereign. God reigns. God is supreme ruler. God is all powerful. Look here in verses 5 and 6 of
Isaiah 45. He says, I am the Lord. That's what Lord means. Lord
means Lord, Sovereign, Supreme One. There is none else. There
is none else. There is no God beside me. He says, I have girded thee,
or rather, I have clothed you. I have provided for you. I have
done everything that concerning you, everything you have, you
have received from me, though you didn't know me." Whether
a man or a woman acknowledges God to be God or not, He is God. Whether they submit and bow to
and call Him their God or not, He is their God. Right? There's a modern-day argument
going on today, how men must accept Him as Lord. Preachers like to tell people,
make him your Lord. He is. Always has been. You're going to find out one
day. He is God. I'm the Lord. Not the Lord of
everyone that will let me. Over in Romans 14, it says that
to this end, Christ both died and was buried and rose again,
that he might be Lord over the dead. and the living. And to say that, that he might
be Lord over the dead and the living. He's Lord over all, whether
they acknowledge him to be or not. He's God. Verse 6, he says
that they might know, and all flesh is going to know, from
the rising of the sun, that's from east to west, that there's
none beside me. I am the Lord. There is none
else. Now, two things I want to declare
about sovereignty of God, two basic areas of His sovereignty,
and it includes everything. All right? Number one, God is
sovereign in creation. God is sovereign in creation,
over creation. Number two, God is sovereign—would
you like to make a guess? in salvation. All right? These
two things. Very simple. So that young people
even can understand. Number one, God is sovereign
in creation. God created all things. Look
down here in verse 12, I mean. Verse 12, I have made the earth. It doesn't say that it evolved. It doesn't say he made a microscopic
organism that evolved finally into an earth with man upon it. He said, I made the earth. I
made this planet. Read on. Even I, even my hands. Up there in verse 9, it says,
these potsherds, let them strive among themselves. But shall the clay say to him
that fashioned it? If you don't have any hands,
God didn't make this planet. It just evolved. That's what
these potsherds are saying, aren't they? Potsherd. What's a potsherd? It means a
broken piece of pottery, doesn't it? Fragmented pottery. Men's
knowledge is fragmented at best. I don't care how many degrees
they have. If they don't acknowledge God, they're ignorant. They're
a fool. They're educated fools. with them. God said, I have made
this earth, I made man upon it. Made man in his own image. Only
a fool would look at mankind and say he came from an ape.
Only an ape would say that. Right? Like one old preacher
said, how did they know that that's where, he said, that must
have been where their ancestors came from? I made the earth. And I created
man upon, he was created in God's image. And only a fool would not acknowledge
that. And since God, so God created
everything. Now if you make something, should
have brought something with me that I made. If you made it,
what does that mean? You own it. You own it, and you
can do with it what you want to. Right? You can do with it
what you will. God made this earth. He owns
it. God made man. He owns us. He can do with us what he will.
And he does. He does just that. See, somebody
argues, well, you're making man God's puppet. I've argued against that, you
know, for years, but now I'm going to quit arguing and just
say, That's about the, that's about the way it is. Huh? And then we live and move
and have our be. Huh? Once he, we're in his hands,
right? Cut the strings and then what?
Dead. Can't move. God created us. God is sovereign in creation.
Everything is like it is because God made it that way. Everything is like it is because
that's the way God made it. Now, I love the story of creation,
which says, after it's kind. After it's kind. He created the
birds after it's kind. The dog after it's kind. The
horse after it's kind. Man after it's kind. After it's
kind. After it's kind, you know that
law, and I don't want to ramble here, but that law of after it's
kind just is down in everything, even among the species. You have
species, you're not going to believe me, but it's so. You
can have the same species, like ducks. Tell you something I know
about. Not much, but all you know is
about ducks. But we had two breeds of duck, all right? Same species,
duck, right? Waddle, no arms, flat feet, swingin'
duck, all right? Our same species, we had Muscovy
ducks and we had Mallard ducks, all right? They didn't intermingle. They didn't mate with each other. They wouldn't do it. They just
would not do it. We lost every one of our Muscovy
ducks but one. No, we didn't lose them. I gave
them away. I sent them away. They're my
own. Cannot I do with my own what I will? I should have got
rid of all of them. Shouldn't I? They were nothing but trouble.
But I kept Daffy. I kept Daffy. She was my first
love duck. I kept her. Kept Daffy. I didn't have to. She's trouble
too, Sherry. She's nothing but trouble. All
she does is mess. And eat the dog's food. But I
kept Daffy, alright? I got one Muscovy duck, alright?
We had two Mallard ducks. Now we have one. Dilly. Don't laugh. That's his name.
Dilly and Daffy. Alright? We got a Mallard and
we got a Muscovy duck. Alright? A male. He's a male.
She's a female. Well, you'd think they'd get
together, wouldn't you? They won't do it. They just won't
do it. They won't do it. After it's
time. That goes down into worms. After
it's time. Why is that? That's the way God
made them. That's exactly the way. God's
sovereign in creation. You know, science, they call
things, they say things are up to genes. Well, things are up to God. What about James? God made the
James. God made the James. All right, God controls all things.
God is sovereign in creation. God is sovereign over all creation. Nothing happens under God's heaven. that he didn't absolutely divinely
ordain it and order it and control it. He said this in the scriptures. He said, there's not a bird,
a sparrow, a small bird, a little
sparrow that falls to the ground. What an insignificant creature.
Of what consequence is that? What should that matter? It does
to God. That's what makes him God. Not
one falls to the ground without your head to fall. Joe, he gets
a little farther down, even more minute. The hairs of your head. Now, wait, what difference does
it make how many hairs are in my head? It does to God. He's
got a number. Now, if he's ordering things
like that, What about large things? What about everything concerning
us, happenings in our lives? Huh? Yes, sir. God is sovereign over all creation. Look at verse 7. He says, I form
the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. Now, this is hard to understand.
It may be impossible. even harder to declare, maybe
impossible to declare. The presence of evil in this
world was ordered by God, or it wouldn't have happened. Right? God's not the cause of it, of
sin. God's not the author of sin.
He can't. God can't tempt. Neither be tempted,
the Scripture says. But sin, I know this, God's God,
and sin wouldn't have come into this world if God hadn't have
purposed it. Is that right? And here's the
blessedness of this, is that whatever befalls us as his people,
no matter how bad or evil it may seem, the worst thing, we think, that
could possibly happen. Why did it happen? Because God
ordered it, that's why. And though it may hurt, and though
it perplexes us, and though we don't fully understand why, we
can't see into the future. We can't see God's, why he did
everything the way he did it. We know, well we do know, the
end. So our comfort is to just submit
to a sovereign God. God's sovereign. Everything and
everyone does his bidding. All right? God is sovereign in
salvation. God is sovereign in salvation.
That means God decides who is saved. And God does the same. God decides who is saved, and
God does the saving. It's not up to man, it's not
up to a woman, it's not up to boys and girls to get saved. They must be saved. There's a big difference in the
truth, and this thing is so close, the difference can be in a word.
How many times have you heard people say, so-and-so got saved? Huh? What they mean is they went to
so-called church and they had an emotional needy and all that,
and sang so many, and he went down front and accepted Jesus,
and he got saved. Committed, dedicated, consecrated
himself, and so on and so forth. Joined a church, shook the preacher's
hand, got in a baptismal pool. saved, something he did, all
right? That's not salvation. The difference between getting
saved and being saved. When you ask the Lord's people
about their salvation, they'll say, the Lord saved me. The Lord revealed himself to
me. The Lord revealed the gospel to me. God sent his Son to die
for me. God sent his Son. God did this. God did that. The Lord did this,
the Lord did that. What did you do? Sin, that's
all, sin. Well, didn't you? No, sin. Weren't
you looking? No, you're looking for me. Weren't
you calling? No, he called me. I started calling
after he called me. Weren't you speaking? No, these
scriptures says, I'm sought of them that's, I'm found of them
that's caught me not. Doesn't it say that? Well, God's people will tell
you it's the Lord. Salvation's of the Lord. It's
of the Lord. God decides who's saved. God
decides who are his children. This thing of salvation is to
be put into the family of God. Salvation is to be made a child
of God. Hannah didn't make herself our
child. Isn't that foolish? Our Lord was dealing with that
Nicodemus one day. That ruler, master in Israel,
had a D.D. Darn hell, he had a D.D. Nicodemus
did. He'd assigned his name, he'd
assigned a Nicodemus, D.D. And Christ was talking to him
one day, and he was talking to him about being born from above.
And Nicodemus couldn't figure it out, could he? He said, I
don't understand. Can a man enter his mother's womb again? That's
exactly what these Fiddle-dee-dees are saying then, get born. That girl wasn't even around
when her mother and father got together, was she? She wasn't
even around. Her mother and father decided
the thing. God did. Her mother and father, as a title. She didn't decide anything. We
didn't ask her anything. Huh? And neither do God's people.
They don't decide to be His children. God decides. He decides who gets
into His heaven. Nobody comes in my house over
there unless I decide for them to. Right? Huh? Deborah, you got a key to our
house? Sam, do you have a key to our
house? Who gave you the key to our house? You didn't get a key to our house.
So you can get in our house, right? You can't get in our house
unless you break in. And then you're a thief and a
robber. Is that not right? That's exactly
what God says about salvation. Christ said, I have the keys
of hell and death, heaven and hell, of life. He decides who
gets it. He decides who goes in. And if
you try to get in any other way on your own, you're a thief and
a robber. And he'll have you arrested. Isn't that right? Very simple illustration. God decides who goes to his head.
I've decided to accept Jesus. You can decide all you want to.
It doesn't mean you're going to get him. It doesn't. Matter of fact, that pretty much
seals it that you won't. But a man or a woman or a young
person who says, Oh Lord, would you accept me? Good indication
he already has. You hear that? Good indication
that he already has. It's up to God to do the saving.
We must be saved. He said you must be born, and
the word really is, from above. He said marvel not that I said
you must be born from above. And the wind bloweth where it
is done. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Now when
I say God is sovereign in salvation, I mean the three in one. I mean there's three people in
this Godhead. When I talk about God, I'm talking
about more than just God the Father. We're talking about God
the Son. We're talking about God the Holy
Spirit. We're talking about God the Father. They're in this thing
together. This thing of salvation is of
the Lord. Lord God the Father, Lord God the Spirit, Lord God
the Son. God, the Father, is the one that
purposed it. God, the Father, is the one that planned it. God,
the Father, is the one who decided who gets to go there, who gets
Christ, who's found in Him. God, the Father. God, the Father,
decided who, how, and when. Doesn't it? Oh, yeah. He's the
one. All right? God the Son, just like God the
Father purposed salvation, God the Son purchased salvation.
God the Son did what God said must be done. That rhymes. That would be a good song wouldn't
it? God the Son did what God the
Father said must be done. Establish righteousness. Shed
his blood for the remission of our sins. God the Son did that. He did what must be done to save
us, for us to be saved. We couldn't do it. Christ alone
could and did. He did it for all of God's elect. He did that. God the Spirit. God the Father purposed it. God
the Son purchased it. God the Holy Spirit applies it. God the Holy Spirit applies salvation. Or somebody said God thought
it. God the Son bought it, and God
the Holy Spirit brought it. That's good, isn't it? He thought
it, he bought it, he brought it. He purposed it, he purchased
it, he applies it. God. These three are one. Salvations
of the Lord. God the Holy Spirit. You see,
everyone that God elected, everyone that Christ died for, the Holy
Spirit sends the gospel to. The Holy Spirit applies it. The
Holy Spirit causes them to hear the Master's voice, which is
the gospel. The Holy Spirit breaks their
heart. The heart must be broken over
sin. The Holy Spirit gives them the gift of repentance. They
must repent. God has commanded men everywhere
to repent, young people to repent. Nobody will repent unless God
gives them repentance, unless God makes them repent. We're
stubborn as an old mule. Like that fellow that had that
mule that wouldn't go, and he took a tuba for him and hit it
right between the eyes. And it got up and went. Fellas
say, why'd you do that? He said, he's got to get his
attention sometimes. Well, God the Holy Spirit's the
only one that can get our attention. Right? We're stubborn. He says
our hearts like flint. Now what does the scripture say?
as a rock. He said, I'll give him a new
heart. That's the Holy Spirit. He gives them ears to hear a
broken heart. He gives them a heart to believe,
a heart to believe. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. Oh yeah, he teaches them the
truth in their head, but salvation is a heart issue. Out of the
heart are the issues of life. He gives them a heart to believe.
With the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Believeth
what? Not what, it's who. comes to Christ, the Holy Spirit
causes them to call on the name of the Lord. Whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, who's going
to call? Well, Joel 2.32 says, As many as the Lord our God shall
call. Who's going to call? All that
the Holy Spirit comes to one day and says, Call! But until he does that, they
will not call. You can cry, you can beg, you
can plead, you can play, you can do whatever you want to,
they're not going to do it. But when that wind at Burlesburg
lifts, they're going to call, buddy, they're going to call.
But not until then. That's the reason we don't do
that, beg and plead and cry and so forth. The Holy Spirit. And give them a love for God. Give them a love for God. You
know, so any of you like country music? You're ashamed to admit it. I
know you listen to it. Ain't nobody in here nodding
their head. Well, I admit it, all right? I listen to George
Strait and Randy and the boys every now and then, all right?
Well, there's a song. One of my favorites is, You Can't
Make a Heart Love Somebody. You can lead it to love, but
you can't make it fall. God can. And only God can. You can't. The preacher can't
make this old boy love God. He can lead it. Joe was standing
in my house the other day, and I was talking about trying to
get away for the horses to go down through the branch. He called
it the branch. You country folk know what the branch is, don't
you? For you stood his hope. You've got a horse down there, but you
can't make him drink. So that's right. And we began
to talk about this gospel. how that we could preach it and
preach it and declare it and witness it and talk to people
about it and wish so badly that somebody would drink, drink the
water of life, come to Christ, believe, but you can't make them
drink. You can't make them love Christ.
You can't do it. There's only one who can. God
the Holy Spirit. And buddy, once He moves, they'll
be like Molly. They can't get enough to drink.
They can't get enough of this gospel. Well, in closing, I want you
to turn to Ezekiel 36. Now, unless somebody argues this,
somebody may say, well, and maybe a young person in here is saying
that. Really, if I'm going to be saved,
I'm going to be saved. If that's true, God's sovereign, then I'm
just, I'm just, I'm just, if I'm one of the elect, I'll call
someday, I'll, I'll believe someday, if I'm, if I'm going to be saved,
I'm going to be saved. It doesn't matter what... It could be somebody's saying that.
Huh? That's what the world argues,
isn't it? If that's true, then what's the
sense of preaching? And what's the sense in that, right? All
right, let's look at it. Look at Ezekiel 36. Look at verse
24. Ezekiel 36. He says, I will. I love this. Nowhere in here does it say,
if you will, does it? John, this chapter right here
declares the difference between salvation of the Lord and what
preachers are saying today. Salvation is of the Lord. The
true gospel says, God says, I will, and therefore you shall. That's
the gospel. What men are calling the gospel
today is, if you will, God shall. Boy, if that ain't the cart before
the horse. Well, look at it here. It's all the way through here.
God's talking about salvation. Verse 24, I will take you from
among the heathen. Henry Soar was one of them heathen
Methodists, weren't you? In case you think I'm picking
on Methodists, did we have any Southern Baptists in here? Well,
somebody, just one person raised their hand. Bunch of them. You
was one of them heathen Southern Baptists, huh? Heathen. Take
you from among the heathen. Gather you out of all country.
Verse 25, Then will I, I will sprinkle clean water upon you.
Oh, that's the word, that's the gospel, that's the pure word,
that's the pure blood, that's the pure gospel, and you'll be
clean. You'll hear a gospel that saves
from all your filthiness, all your sins gone, and from your
idols. Don't worship that other God
anymore, do you, Henry? Oh, he now served the true and
living God. I'll do it, he said. Read on, verse 26. A new heart
also will I give you. A new heart, a new spirit, that
is a new creature in Christ Jesus. I will, verse 26, I'll take away
the stony heart out of your flesh. I'll give you a new heart that's
touched by the gospel, that loves God, loves Christ. I will put
my spirit within you, cause you to walk in my statutes, make
you like Christ, keep my judgment. Verse 28, you'll dwell in the
land that I gave your fathers. You'll dwell where God's people
are. You'll dwell right there. You'll be where the sheep are,
in the fold. Verse 29, I will save you from
all your uncleanliness. I'll call for the corn. Give
him some corn. No famine shall come upon you. Now in verse 32, not for your
sake. I didn't do this for your sake.
What did God need with another heathen Methodist, Henry? He saved a few of them. What
do you need with another? You can do it for your sake.
Look here, not for your sake, be it known unto you, be ashamed
and confounded. Verse 33, and that day that I
shall have cleansed you from all your iniquity, I'll cause
you to dwell. You're going to know I did it.
I did it for my sake, for my holy name's sake. Down in verse
22 it says that, for my holy name's sake, which you used to
profane. Now you're going to praise it. All right, but wait a minute. But wait a minute. God said,
I'm going to do all this, didn't he? Didn't he say that, Polly,
before the fact? I will. I will. I will. Didn't he say that? Will it be
done? Yes, sir. Will it be done without
them asking him to do it? No. No. Oh, no. You answered a little
too quick there. Look at verse 37 with me. Thus
saith the Lord, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house
of Israel. They're going to ask me to do
it. To do it for them. See that? That there's God's
sovereignty. God's eternal purpose, and the
means which he uses, is calling on the name of the Lord. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ask. Didn't Christ, God in human flesh
say, ask and what? You shall receive. If you don't
ask, will you receive? Didn't James say that? You receive
not because you Ask, he says. Seek, and you'll
do what? You'll find. Anybody going to
find that doesn't seek? No. That means keep seeking,
too. It means keep asking. Knock,
like that widow. You remember that widow that
kept, oh, please, Lord, please, Lord, please, Lord. Her continual
coming. That means keep knocking, keep
knocking. If you really want something bad enough, you've
got to get in the house. My wife has locked me out of the house
on numerous occasions. As she should. As I'm worthy. That's what I deserve. But, you
know, if I want in bad enough, it doesn't matter where she is
in that house. I keep knocking, right? Boom. Boom. I want in. That's what he means, knock.
Anybody going to get in that doesn't knock? No, sir. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. God said that. Anybody going to be saved that
doesn't call? No, sir. No, ma'am. What does it mean
to call? Keep calling. Keep calling. Keep calling. Is that right? What does that mean? Say, I don't understand. I don't
understand how that, you know, when it's all said and done,
I really don't either. You know, I know that I would
never have called unless God had first called me. No way. No way. Man, I was hell-bent
and hell-bound. Aren't you, John? Unless God had called me, laid
hold on me, unless He'd stopped my wild career, I never would have heard. I never would have sought. But
let me tell you something. When He did call me, I began
calling, buddy, I began calling. Seeking. Read everything, get
my hands on. Attended every gospel preaching
meeting I heard of. Went around, was around every
person I thought was a believer. Listened to every tape and get
my hands on. That's seeking. That's seeking. That's seeking. That's in God's sight, salvation
is up above, and the means he uses to do this is ask, seek,
knock, call, search, hear, hear. All right. Brother Joe, you got
a hymn picking? 252? 252. Stand and sing a couple
of verses. Number 252, stand with me. Only
trust me. Sing the first and the...