I've got a couple of passages
of scripture. One's over in Isaiah chapter 40 and Isaiah chapter
52. Isaiah chapter 40 and Isaiah
chapter 52. There's two things. I know this from experience where
I'm from, what I've watched, tried to see what's going on
in the realm where I live. And there's two things I see
that we need in our day that is so vital if we see anything
accomplished in our generation. If we see the Church continue, saints to be edified, if we ever
see anybody converted, we desperately need truth. Lately, especially in our area,
it seems like truth has been thrown to the dogs. and walked
on in the muds of the street, would desperately need the truth
in our generation. Todd quoted that scripture in
James 1, "...of his own will begot he us with the word of
truth." We need truth. I read a few days ago Martin
Lloyd-Jones in 1942. He said, Many are laboring today
in a sincere attempt with all their hearts to get us to join
together in one large universal church. And you and I today are reaping
the fruit of their labors. We have some who have gone into
their ranks and come out and live to tell about it, and they say about the truth
that as long as they can get the bare minimum and keep unity. I don't know
what it means to have the bare minimum of truth. I have my suspicions. The Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, those who have been born to the truth, begotten by that
holy principle that abides in the heart of every child of God,
that Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. Not
a truth, not some truth, the truth. The Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ can do nothing against the truth. We desperately need
truth. We desperately need sincerity. The rejoicing of our conscience
is this, that in simplicity and godly sincerity not by the wisdom
of men, but by the grace of God we have had our conversation
in this world. I have seen men that have a lot
of truth and no sincerity, and they have done more damage
than good, God. The last words, and you will
recall these words, of that great general He was
an old man and ready to leave the children of Israel. And his
parting advice to them was, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity
and in truth. We've got to have truth and sincerity
in our generation. Look here with me in Isaiah chapter
40. Let's begin here in verse 5. The glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it. And the voice said, Cry. The
voice said, Preach. The voice said, Declare. And
I said, Lord, what do you want me to say? You have called me
to preach, and I feel so empty And now here I am before you,
what do you want me to say? All flesh is grass. And all the goodliness, all the
merit, all the righteousness, all the comeliness of a man is
as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof fadeth away. because the Spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The
grass withereth, and the flower fadeth, but the word of our God
standeth forever." And in Isaiah chapter 52, look in verse 7, how beautiful. upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,
that saith and designeth, Thy God reigneth." There are three
things that will be evident when the gospel is proclaimed. Number one is this, it will be
evident to those who hear you that God reigns. And somebody always says, we
know he reigns in creation. We all know that, don't we? Most
people who believe the Bible believe that. Many people believe
that he reigns in providence. We believe that. But this is
not talking about providence. This is not talking about creation,
this is talking about salvation. God reigns. In Psalms, chapter 47, verse
8, he said this, "...the Lord God reigneth over the heathen."
And when you see that in the Scripture, it's like the Lord
Jesus said when he said, "...thou hast given him power over all
flesh." And when he says he reigns over the heathen, it means he
reigns more than just over their limbs or over their vital organs. He reigns more than just over
this vile, contemptible, weak, corruptible thing we call flesh.
The king's heart is in the hands of the Lord. He reigns over the
will of individuals. He reigns over the understanding
and the affections of individuals. He reigns. And he said this,
he not only reigns, but how he reigns. He saideth upon the throne
of his holiness. He saideth that. He's not frustrated. He's not praying and begging
somebody to do something for him. He is not hoping that somebody
will let him do something for them. But he saideth that. in his sovereignty reign him. And he says he said in there
that you and I may know that he rests in his sovereignty. He has no rivals that he fears. He is not worried that someone's
going to frustrate his purpose or make void his counsel. He
does all things as he pleases to do in heaven and in this earth
and under the earth. Not only is he able, but he does
do according to his will. I know he's able if he would,
but does he? He does according to his will.
He reigns, and he does it while sitting
there. He sits there. and in holiness. What does that mean? It means
everything he does is right. He doesn't do it because it's
right, it's right because he does it. He can do no wrong,
he cannot be tempted of evil, neither tempteth he any man.
He is set upon the throne of holiness. Is there any unrighteousness
with our God? God forbid. He reigneth in holiness. And you and I believe, and we
declare. We say, just say it. I don't understand it. I don't
understand it all either. He didn't tell us to understand
it all. He said, say it. Say it, Thy God reigneth. And when we say, Our God reigneth,
we mean He reigneth over all things. He controls all things
down to the minutest of details. the sparrow that falls from the
sky, it does so at the purpose and will of our God. The hairs
of your head are all numbered." That's how he ran. Some have said it's dangerous
to believe and preach this truth. The only thing dangerous about
it is if it's not the truth. What's the alternative? If our God is not reigning, who
is? That's a scary thought, Brother Charlie. It's a scary thought
that a grain of sand is flying through the air out of his control.
What's the alternative? But saying to Zion, it's not
so. Thy God reigneth. I like that,
don't you? Thy God reigneth. Some people said, well, he does.
We believe that God rules and he reigns, but what we should
do is keep this in our Sunday school classes. Or gather some
of the well-established older gentlemen in the Church and teach
it to them. Listen to what David said. He
said, by God reigneth. You find you
about to heathen and say, heathen, listen to me! Our God reigns. There's no gospel, and here's
what I'm saying. There is no gospel. There is
no good news apart from the absolute authority and reigning of God
Almighty. There's no gospel. What makes the gospel sure? What
makes the gospel absolute? What makes the gospel a reality? Thy God reigns. He reigns in
the gospel. And if you've got a gospel in
which God doesn't reign in it, it's another gospel. That's the first thing it does.
Where the gospel is proclaimed, it glorifies God. He's a reigning
God. And secondly, when the gospel
is proclaimed, it does this. It humiliates flesh. And the voice said, Cry, and
he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass. and all the
goodliness of man, whatever he came into this world with, and
whatever he acquires in and of himself while he lives in this
world, it fades. It's sinful. It's death. It's going to wither
when the sun rises upon it. It's going to pass Now listen to this, when the
gospel is proclaimed, the glory of God is seen in it. And when
it is proclaimed, all men, all men, religious men, irreligious
men, all men without exception, in and of themselves, will be
declared to be lost. My old daddy, that was a freewill
Baptist preacher. until he backslid. He was lost. My dear mother died loved dearly
and still missed after twenty-eight years. As far as I know, died
lost. All men, irregardless of their
standing in this life, if they live as they are born, they are
lost. They are separated from God and
are without hope, and facing a destination of eternal ruin,
and that which makes their case more desperate. There's nothing
in and of themselves that they can do about it. Who then can be saved? Wasn't
that the question that was asked? And what was the answer of our
Master? With men, this is impossible. And I'm telling you, the sole
prerogative, the sole prerogative of God Almighty is either to
visit that sinner in mercy or pass him by. When the gospel
is proclaimed, flesh will wither. And the third thing is this.
When the gospel is proclaimed, it will be good news. It will
be good news when a sinner finds out that God Almighty in the
Lord Jesus Christ has exercised his prerogative and delivered
him from sin. Then he can rejoice with tremor
and be glad. You know the book of Revelation
begins to wind down with this verse. the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth, let us be glad and rejoice and give glory to
him. Right quickly, I want to do this.
I want us to look at the doctrines of grace. And I told Todd as
we were sitting over here, the reason I want to do this Terrence, a young man that's
with me, he has a friend that just graduated from the seminar.
And he told Terrence, he'd been talking to Terrence about the
Doctrines of Grace and reading some literature, and he told
Terrence, he said, I've never heard such stuff. I've never
heard such stuff. They're not teaching in the seminars.
I've been in Indiana 28 years. I listen to the radio quite frequently
and sometimes watch religious programs. I've never the first
time in my life heard the doctrines of grace. Ain't that sad? They're not being
preached in our churches. I want to look at them right
quickly and see if these truths don't do those three things that
I just talked about. They glorify God, and that's
a good test, ain't it? They humiliate the flesh. And
it's good news to sinners. Let's look at these, and I'm
not ashamed to be called a Calvinist, if you know what a Calvinist
is. Are you ashamed of that? I'm not ashamed to be called
a Calvinist. Let's look at this just a minute with me, and here's
the way I want to look at this. The doctrines of grace and why
we love them. The doctrines of grace and why
we love them. Now, I looked this word depravity
up in Webster's, and he gave three definitions. He said it's
crooked, it's corrupt, and it's wicked. And all you'll have to
do is just put total on each one of them, and you've got what
we are, the nature. We're totally crooked. We're
not what we were when God made us. When we stand against our
Creator in Adam, We fell into death. Our ways are not his ways. As high as the heavens is above
the earth, if you looked up lately, that's how high his ways and
his thoughts are above our thoughts. We took a 180-degree turn, and
we're going in the opposite direction. We're crooked, totally crooked.
And we're totally corrupt. from the sole of our feet to
the top of our heads, there's no sounding in us. There's wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores. We're a cesspool. Brother Scott
Richardson said, there's never been a sin that came to a man's
heart from the outside in. He has a generator within his
heart, and all it does is generate sin. It's a cesspool, a reservoir
of iniquity. He is totally corrupt in his
heart. And he's wicked. He's totally
wicked. You won't see man's depravity
how he treats his brother, how he treats his neighbor. That
isn't where depravity is seen. You won't see depravity because
men commit homosexuality. Oh, you'll see it, that that's
not what the height of depravity is. The slaying of innocent unborn
babies, ain't that repulsive? That's so repulsive. But you
know where depravity shows itself? In enmity towards God. The heart
is totally set at enmity with God. Dear Scott Richardson said,
if a man could, What he would do, he would give him a ladder
and he would set up behind God's throne and climb up and take
a knife and stab him in the heart if he could. He's at enmity with
God. Somebody said, let him come into
this world and we'll love him. He came and we killed him. We
killed him. I asked a young man one time
that came to pick up my daughter for a date. We were talking about
this and he said, We were talking about what we are by nature,
and I said, what if I told you that your heart was at enmity?
You hated God. He said, that would scare me
to death. That would scare me to death. Well, there's where
we are by nature. I never met but one honest lost
man in all my life. I used to work with him. I asked
him a question one day. I said, Bob, why don't you come
to the Lord? He said, isn't it obvious? I don't love him. I
don't want anything to do with him. Ain't that obvious? You know how the Scripture describes
us? And here's where this generation
bails out on us. The Scripture describes us as
being dead in trespasses and sins. We're dead. And the next time you go down
to the funeral parlor to visit someone that's dead and you walk
up and see them in the casket, one of the first things that
dawns on my mind, you know what it is? Inability. Inability. I saw a lady take a man not too
long ago by the coat. And she was so distraught. And
she began to shake him and scream at him, Oh, don't leave me. Oh,
please don't leave me. I love you. I love you. Don't
leave me. But he never responded. Because
he's dead. He's dead. And what's the first
thing you think about a dead man? He can't do anything. He
can't hear, he can't see, he can't feel. And our Lord Jesus
says about a man that's dead and trespasses in sin, he cannot. He cannot. He cannot what? He cannot do anything. He can't
see until God gives him eyes. He can't hear until God gives
him ears. He can't enter the kingdom of
God until God gives him faith. He can't leave until God gives
him faith. He cannot come. And that's what
we mean when man is totally depraved. He cannot. He cannot. I holler and cry and scream and
everything else at home until I feel like my heart rate starts
coming out. But you know something? No man
is ever going to close with the Lord Jesus Christ and embrace
him by faith until God gives that man life. He can't do it. He just absolutely
cannot do it. I remember when old Ignat was
talking with Christian and hopeful Pilgrim's Progress, you remember
old Ignat? And he told him, he said, you'll never convince me
that my heart is this bad. An old Christian told him, said,
then you've never had a right thought concerning yourself all
the days of your life. And I'll tell you something else,
old ignorant never had a right thought concerning Jesus Christ.
Until a man's brought to know himself and his own nature. He cannot know the nature of
him that come into this world to save sinners. He must know
himself. Now, what's the alternative of
believing this? I'm not glad. I don't love my
depravity. I hate to look down in that dark
hole. But I'm thankful when I consider the alternative to total depravity. What is the alternative? Well,
listen to this. What if man did not die in the fall? What if
he fell and stumbled and was injured? What if he still possesses
a spark of divinity? What if there is, after all,
a slight inclination in his heart after God? What if down deep
in his soul there is a faint guiding light directing his path
back to God. What if his will is not, after
all, taken bondage to sin? And what if these things are
the deciding factor in a man's salvation? Where does that leave
people like me and you? I didn't have a spark that needed
to be fanned. Paul, I didn't have affections
that needed to be cultivated. I didn't have a will that someone
just needed to persuade me. Where does that leave a man like
me, if total depravity is not true? Well, that leaves us in
despair. It leaves us in despair. But I take
great comfort in this, having passed the same judgment
upon myself that the word of God passes upon me. that I am
indeed and in truth altogether vanity, that I do walk in a vain
show, he saves me right where he found
me. Ain't that good news? He passed
by that little baby, and he said, When I passed by
you, I saw you polluted. in your own blood. And I said
unto you, live, yea, when you were in your blood. I said, live,
yea, while you were in your blood. I said, live. In other words,
when you were dead in trespasses and sin, that's when he found
you, that's where he quickened you, that's where he saved you.
He didn't have a fan in his hand to fan a spark. He came where
he found you and he gave you life. That's why we love the
truth of total depravity, when we consider its alternative.
And what about the election, God's electing grace? Well, we
love His electing grace. Now, everybody believes in election
almost. Some people believed that God,
before time, got his telescope out and looked down through time,
and he saw some people would do something or possess something,
had something that other people didn't have. Or he foresaw that
some people would believe, or some people would repent, some
people would be more submissive. So he backed up and he turned.
And he sat down and wrote their names down in the last book of
life. But that's not what the scripture
teaches. The scripture teaches that before eternity, before
time ever was, God in the Lord Jesus Christ, out of his own
good pleasure and for his glory, chose out of this large mass
of mankind a great number that no man could number. to salvation. He did not see anything in them.
He was not looking for anything in them. And he, of his own goodwill
and pleasure, wrote their names down in the Lamb's Book of Life. And you know where we get that?
The best example of that, the Apostle gave himself. Of God's
elect in grace, the children Esau and Jacob being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil. that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, it was said to the
younger, older, you're going to serve the younger, Jacob,
I love you, I've chosen you, I've put your name down in the
book of life. Why did he do that? Not because of anything he saw
in him, not because he did good, and he passed by Esau, didn't
he? Why did he pass by Esau? He didn't pass by Esau because
Esau was bad. They have done no good or evil,
but according to his own purpose and good pleasure. He chose out
of the mass of mankind to save the great host by his grace in
Christ. And why do we love that? Well,
when we consider its alternative, we love it. Because the alternative
is this, if God had to see anything in me, If he had to look down
through time and see anything in me and in you, and chose us
on those conditions, where would that leave us? That would leave
us helplessly and hopelessly lost. Oh, he looked down, didn't
he? He looked down upon the children
of men to see if any did seek him. And we'd all together become
filthy and gone astray. What if God Almighty, the reigning
God, had to say, I love this man, but I foresee he can't repent? I'd love to save this man, but
I foresee that he cannot believe. I love this man, I long to save
him, but I foresee he cannot break his heart. We'd despair. We would despair. There are two
reasons given in the Scriptures. of our Lord's electing grace.
And all other reasons flow out of these two. And one is this. He loved us. Because I loved
you, I have chosen you. And the second one is this. According
to his own good pleasure and will. And everything else flows
out of that. There are only four places in
the scriptures that the word foreseen is mentioned. You brethren
that read this, you know that. Only four places. And it's never
speaking of a person's works, what they did, but it's always
speaking of the person himself. Only four places. In Acts chapter
2, when it's talking about our Father foreknowing him, he was
delivered by the foreknowledge of God. In Romans chapter 8, When he's speaking of his election,
those he foreknew. He didn't foreknew your works,
Todd, he foreknew you. Then what did he do? He provided
for us. He predestinated those he foreknew.
Romans chapter 11 and verse 2, he's not cast away his people,
which he foreknew. If he foreknew their works, why
he knew their works, that they were works of iniquity, but he
foreknew them. knew them. And then in Peter,
he left according to God's foreknowledge. Only four places, that's huge.
And it's always dealing. God foreknew you. He foreloved
you and provided for you in that everlasting covenant of grace. And there's this particular redemption.
Limited atonement. And everybody believes in the
atonement, don't they? Some people believe in its power,
and they believe it has power to reach everyone that it was
shed for. And some people limit it in its
purpose. You and I limit it in its purpose,
but not its power. Whatever else our Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished on that cross. And I don't know what all he
accomplished, but when we talk about sins being put away, when we talk about everlasting
righteousness being brought in, when we're talking about eternal
redemption being obtained, he did that for his elect. That's
what we say when we say particular redemption. And listen to these
scriptures. Read these scriptures. This is
my blood of the everlasting covenant. This is my blood, which is shed
for many for the remission of their sins." The Son of Man came not to be
ministering to, but to minister and give his life a ransom. He
offered his life a ransom to God to deliver his people. He, by his own blood, entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. It's already accomplished. Before
we were ever born, he accomplished it. Once in the end of the world
hath he appeared to put away Satan by the sacrifice of himself. And listen to this one. God shall
see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
my righteous servant shall justify many. Well, he's going to bear
their iniquities. He's going to bear their sins.
General Atonement believes this. They believe that Christ died
equally for every individual, even those who were in hell when
He died. He died as well for Judas as
He did for Peter, and it accomplished no more for Peter than it did
for Judas. Our Lord Jesus died for sure for everybody, but did
not for certain obtain redemption for anybody. Isn't that what
they say? I'm not exaggerating that at
all. And here's the difference. They limit the power of his blood. His blood was shed for many,
but now that blood don't have merit enough in it, don't have
power enough in it to reach those for whom it was shed. But you know what the Father
said to his son. He said, Son, by the blood of thy covenant,
you are going to send forth the prisoners out of the pit, thy
prisoners, wherein is no water. It will reach every last sinner
for whom it was shed. This is my Father's will. This
is my Father's purpose, that all which he hath given me I'll
lose nothing. It'll cost me my blood. It'll
cost me my sweat. But I'll lose nothing. I shall
not fail. I shall not be discouraged. I
shall redeem my people." Did he do it? John said, I saw the end of this,
didn't he? He said, I saw in heaven, the
Lord letting me see, a great host out of Adam's race. And
they's gathered around the throne. And an elder came up to me, and
he said, When come this number that no man can number? How come
them here? How did they get here? Who are they? And he said, Oh,
you know, I don't know. Who are they? He said, These
are they. This great multitude out of every
nation, race, and kindred, and tongue, they came out of great
tribulation. They were dead in trespasses
and sins. He gave them life. They lived in caves and dens
of the earth. Some of them were sewn asunder
with a sword. They were called heretics, disturbers of our peace,
perverters of the nation. They came out of great tribulation.
And how did they get you? How did they get you? Every last
one of them. This is going to shoot that theory
Billy Graham has a thirst of whiteness in God's mercy outside
Christ. Everybody that goes there, they
wash their robes and make them white. Who wash their robes?
They wash their robes. You ask them, how did you get
here? I wash my robe. I deliberately. I willingly. I lovingly. tuck the blood of
the lamb, and wash my robe in it." You ain't going to ask nobody
there in heaven, how'd you get here? Well, all I know is through
the wideness of God's mercy. No, so they ain't going to say
that. Oh, there's a wideness in God's mercy. There's a depth
in God's love, but it's all in Christ. And he said that to let
us know. Everybody goes there through
faith in his blood. That's the way we wash our robes,
through faith in His blood. What's the alternative to this?
If you don't believe this, what do you believe? Well, the alternative
is to believe this, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of
glory, He that was obedient to death, God in the flesh, that
created and holds this universe, somehow, someway, fail to do
what he attempted to do. We were talking about this this
morning. The cross of Jesus Christ is
his chief glory. God forbid that you and I see
glory in anything else because that's his chief glory. It's
his crown. It's his throne room. He talked
of it as a great accomplishment. When he spoke with Elijah and
Moses on the matter of transfiguration, he spoke of his death as something
he was going to accomplish. And when he raised from the dead,
do you know the first thing he showed his disciples? His wounds. That was his scars
of victory. And he is identified today as
the Lamb, still today in heaven. He sits on that throne. And the
way they identify the lamb that was slain. That's his chief glory. The Father himself glorified
the Lord Jesus by putting the responsibility and the power
to redeem his people into his hands. And he accepted that responsibility
and acknowledged that power when he did for them all that God
required to be done. And he glorified the Father that
way. Father, I've finished the work you've given me to do. I've
glorified you on this earth." What was that work? Finishing
it. Everything that God gave him to do in order to redeem
his people, he finished it. That's his glory. And if the
Lord Jesus Christ obtained eternal redemption for everybody, every
individual upon this earth and those in hell, and he suffered
for sin and bore all their consequences, And that individual perishes
at last. Where's the glory of God in that? You won't see it, will you? Where's my assurance in that? If he died for millions, that's
already a person. I may get purged too. And if I yet perish, and those
for whom he died yet perished, what does the blood and suffering
and sweat and death of the Lord Jesus Christ even have to do
with salvation? And where is the justice of God? Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? Will he punish sin twice, first
at our bleeding surety's hands, and then again at mine? Is it
not enough that the Lord Jesus bore the load of human guilt? Is that not enough for God? Will
he accept of that and turn around and punish us again? He'll never
do it. But that's the alternative. Effectual calling. Irresistible
grace. Those God chose. The Lord Jesus
Christ died for them. and the Spirit of God calls them
to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And all these stand or fall together,
don't they? If our Master redeemed a man
and he doesn't have the power and the wisdom and the grace
to bring that individual to lay hold upon him by faith, then
throw out everything else. They stand or fall together.
There are no four corners in this work. They all fall together. This
is a golden chain. Break one link and throw the
chain away. All that the Father gives to
me, the Lord Jesus rejoiced in that. They weren't coming to
Him. They were ready to leave Him
and walk with Him no more. And He comforted Himself in this.
You may not come to Me. You fellows are going away to
walk with Me no more at all. But I'll tell you this, all the
Father gives to Me, they'll come to Me. They shall come to Me.
That's the most positive word in our English language. So says
Webster. It means unavoidable, inescapable. They shall come. Lord, what if
they don't have a heart? I'll give them a heart to come.
What if they don't will the time? I'll make them will in the day
of my power. What if they don't have faith?
I'll give them faith. What if they don't have any repentance?
I'll grant them repentance. They shall come. Blessed is the
man whom thou choosest, and calls us to approach unto thee. Can't
you go back in your lifetime, and don't you bear witness to
this with your experience? Especially after you get older
and a little bit established and you can understand more,
can't you see how He calls you to approach unto Him? Do you know why He calls you
to approach unto Him? gave you to him back in eternity. He suffered
for your sins, and now he says you are mine. Come on. Come on,
you are mine. It is written. We need truth
so desperately, don't we? It is written in the prophets.
They shall all be taught of God. Every every last individual that hears
and learns of the Father, what does he do? He cometh to me. There are two things that you
and I will never get over, will never graduate from as long as
we are in this world.