open my ears that I might hear. All right,
Colossians chapter 1 again. Turn back to Colossians chapter
1. This message will sound like my own personal story,
and it is. But I'm sure that everyone in
here who has heard the gospel and believed the gospel, everyone
who has experienced Sovereign saving grace of God. I'm sure
everyone in here will say, this is my story too. And I hope perhaps someone else
may say, that's me. All right, Colossians 1, look
at verse 21. This is the text. Colossians 1, verse
21. And he says again, and you. that were sometime or at one
time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet
now hath he reconciled. And you, and you that were sometime
or at one time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled." This word reconcile means to make
friendly. That's what it means, very simply.
It means to make friendly, to cause someone to be friendly
towards someone else, to cause two that were at odds with one
another to be reconcile. And the Word of God says to believers. This is written to believers.
This is not written to every person. Oh, no. If you go back
to chapter 1, you'll see who he addresses it to. To the saints
and faithful brethren in Christ. And he goes on to say those who
have heard the truth and believe the truth. This is written to
believers. It's not written to the world. And he says, and you hath he
reconciled, and you hath he made friendly. He says you were alienated
and enemies. Alienated and enemies. Now, every
son and daughter of Adam, every person born on this earth, the
scripture says, every person hates God. That's what the Scripture
says. Look with me at Romans chapter
8. Don't just take my word for it. Let's look at Romans chapter
8. Every person, by nature, has
a natural hatred for God. And it shows up in one way or
another, and I'm going to describe this I'm sure there's someone in here
who is probably sane right now. Not me. I've never hated God. Well, I have. And he says here to all believers,
and you who are intimate, he says that to all believers, and
you. point out any one individual at Colossae does. He says, all
of you, all you believers at Colossae, and you who were enemies
yet now. In Romans 8, look at verse 7.
It says, God says, the carnal mind. Verse 6, let's go back
there, to be carnally minded is death. Carnal means flesh,
means natural. natural way of thinking, to be
carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life
and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. You see that? And is not subject
to the law of God. Doesn't want to be, doesn't like
the law of God, neither indeed can be. Is that clear what that's
saying? And he said it in 1 Corinthians
2, verse 14, the natural man receiveth not the things of God. That's what he said, again. The
natural man, that is the average natural person, does not receive
the things of God. There's foolishness to that.
Is that right? That's what the Word says. Romans
chapter 1 goes on to declare it. God is not in all our thoughts. Man, by nature, does not like
to retain God in his mind. Let me quote another passage
of Scripture in Psalm 14, where it says that God looked down
from heaven upon the sons of men. And you can look it up for
yourselves. Psalm 14, the first three verses,
says that God looked down from heaven to see if there were any
that did understand, that if there were any that did seek
after God, and he concluded they're all gone astray. Those of you who know those verses
of Scripture know it so, don't you? And if you know yourself,
how you were, or if someone is honest with
themselves right now, how you are. Well, someone may still say,
well, not me. I don't hate God. I don't despise
the things of God. Well, first of all, that's really
calling God a liar, isn't it? Isn't it? As God said, we do,
by nature. And let me illustrate. this natural
enmity. Why do we come forth from the
womb? Why do we come out of our mother's womb speaking lies? You parents who have raised children,
well, that's the only kind of parents there are. But those
of you who are parents, in raising your children, what was about one of the first
things that came out of their mouths? And Deborah went, no,
no. Rebellion, right? Against authority. Well, what about this? Man! Selfishness, anger, hatred, rebellion,
lies. Which is easier for your child
to do? Lie or tell the truth? Well,
you'll spend all those years that they're under your roof.
trying to get them to tell the truth. What? That's our nature. That's man's nature. He comes
forth from the womb speaking lies. That's what God said. And
if we're honest with ourselves, we'll realize that. What are
we more prone to do by nature? Good or evil? What are we more prone to do?
Do we just live by nature? worshiping God, singing praises
to God, reading the Bible? Is that what we love to do by
nature? Or would we rather be whatever? Isn't that proof of
our God-hating or the things of God-hating nature? Isn't it? Sure it is. You know, when you grow up, I
grew up in a religious family, and my mother and dad, well,
they didn't drag me to church, but the truth be known, I felt
like they were. Why is it such a drudgery to
thank God? And basically, that's why we
come here. We don't come here to play religion. We come here
to thank God. Realizing that we have what we
have from God, we are what we are by the grace of God, we come
here not to play at church or play at religion, but to thank
God. It's a reasonable service, isn't
it? Set aside one day a week to just thank God. Why is it
a drudgery then? Because we hate God by nature. I know that sounds hard, but
that's God's Word. And that's what the apostle says.
He says it to everyone across the board, and you, who were
alienated and enemies in your own mind by wicked works, yet
now hath he reconciled, made friendly. And he says this to
the church at Colossae. He says it to the church at Central.
And turn over to Ephesians, OK, the book of Ephesians. He says
the same thing everywhere he goes, and to all believers. No
exceptions. Ephesians chapter 2, look at
it. It sounds like the very same language. It is. Ephesians chapter
2, read verses 1 through 3. He said, And you hath he quickened,
hath he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sin, wherein,
or that is, in sin, trespasses you. In time past, you walked
according to the course of this world. And he goes on, and according
to the prince, or that is, the dictates or the power of the
prince of the power of the air, do you know who that is? The
spirit or evil spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also, verse 3, among whom also we all, we all, We all had our conversation or
lived our life in times past in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath. You see that? Children of wrath. What is that? Hating God. That's the way, this is the way,
look down at verse 12, in chapter 2, verse 12. At that time you
were without Christ being aliens, there's the same word, aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenant of
promise, and so on. Now that's the way God finds
every single person he saves. That's the way he found me. And
that's the way he found you, if you are one of these. Now, there are two classes of
people that hate God. And someone may say, what a subject
for Sunday morning. You know, the gospel doesn't
mean a thing unless you realize this. be gospel, that I'm about to
preach of the mercy and grace of God, it won't mean a thing
to you unless you realize, hey, I was one of these God-haters.
There are two classes of people that hate God. Number one, there's
the irreligious, or those who were out-and-out, what's a good
way to describe it, out-and-out hellions. I call them gutter dwellers. And they hate God. They're irreligious,
those who come up with no religion, and they hate God. And then there's
the religious. Is it possible for someone to
be religious and hate God? You better believe it. That's
who killed God. That's who killed the Son of
God. It was a Sunday go-to-meeting
crowd, or Saturday go-to-meeting, Sabbath crowd turned into a lynch
mob and killed the Son of God. Religious, they were all religious.
All right, let me describe these two, all right? See which group
you're in. You're in one or the other. There's the irreligious and hate
God. In verse 1 there, we just read it, Ephesians 2. It says,
"...you who were dead in trespasses and sin." Now, this is openly
wicked and vile. Someone who has no conscience
for what they do. No conscience at all. Not bothered
by sin. Just live in it, or dead in it.
Verse 2 says, "...in time passed what they walked according to
the course of this world." What's the course of this world? What
is the course of this world? Well, if you watch TV and so
forth, the course of this world is, if it feels good, do it.
It doesn't matter what it is, grab
it, do it. It doesn't matter the consequences.
Life's short, live, play hard, you know. He who dies with the
most toys wins. You know how the course of this
world is. It doesn't matter who you walk over or what you do
or the trouble you get, you'll get out of it. Good lawyer? Do
it! Grab the old Augusto, you can. If it feels good, do it. All
manner of sin and iniquity, irregardless of anything or anyone, out for
self. Well, that's some people that,
and that was me. I belonged to this first class
here. Verse 3, read on. It says they
fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind, wake up in the
morning, go to bed at night thinking about what meanness you can get
into, and wake up in the morning and try to fulfill it. Try to
get into it, you know. Some of you are nodding your
head like, that's me. That was me. 2 Timothy 3 says lovers of pleasure
are more than lovers of God. Children of wrath, children of
disobedience, despising any mention of God or religion, recoiling at the mention of religion. In the song that people concuss
with God's name, they can say, Use God's name to curse with,
and it just doesn't faze them whatsoever. Use the name Jesus
Christ, which is very popular now. It's the most common byword
being used today. Oh, Jesus Christ, they say. But
then let somebody say Jesus Christ's name in glory to Him, in praise
of Him. It's like throwing cold water
on them. Well, are you getting religion on me? Don't bring up
your religion. Isn't that so? That's some people.
Hate these things. Oh, give me your religion. Verse
12 says that that time you were without Christ. Didn't see any need of him, didn't
want him, didn't care. That's the reason I despise these
preachers that stand up and tell everybody, God loves you and
Christ died for you. They don't care. People don't
care. And you're not supposed to tell
everybody that anyway. None of the prophets went anywhere telling
people that God loved them. None of them. None of the apostles went anywhere
and told anybody Christ died for them. God loves you. Jesus Christ himself never went
around telling anybody that. God loves you. The first words
out of his mouth were, Men hate God by nature. That
was me. How about you? Irreligious. Not knowing,
not caring, not wanting, not needing God. Not looking. I wasn't
looking for God. Aliens and strangers, it said
there. Aliens and strangers. I remember
coming to church. quote, coming to church as a
young man, a teenager. And I told you my story. I wasn't
coming because I was seeking God. I was coming because I got
my eye on that girl right there. She grew up in the church there,
and I kind of had a little crush on her, you know, and I realized
that, hey, if you're going to get that girl, you have to get
religion. You have to cut your hair. I told you that that's
back when my hair used to grow, you know. And I realized, you've
got to cut your hair, you've got to straighten your act up.
Her daddy's not going to let you take her out. You've got
to straighten up and fly right. You're going to get that girl.
That's why I came. I wasn't wanting saved. I was enjoying myself. I didn't
need saving. Aliens. When I came, I felt like
an alien. Everybody's looking at me. And
well, they should, because I look bad. You say, you look bad now. Well, granted, I looked worse
then. I hope some of you kids today,
I hope you'll look back later on and think, did I really wear
that? I hope you'll look back at yourself
and say, did I really wear my hair that way? And I thought
I looked good. Aliens and strangers from the
covenant. The preacher could get up and
talk until he blew in the face to me about this gospel. I don't
know what he was talking about. Mercy. I don't need mercy. Grace. Alien, the stranger. No hope,
the scripture said, no hope without God in this world. Without God. That's the best two-word definition
of hell that there is. Without God. And that's the best
description of a hellion, too. Somebody who has hell in their
heart. And that's where they're headed.
Without God. And that was me. And here's salvation. But God. And you, who were aliens and
enemies in your own mind by wicked worship, yet now. But God. Look at verse 4 there
in Ephesians 2. But God, who is rich in mercy. Mercy. You know what mercy means? Why, the way preachers tell it
today, the way people believe it, you'd think that people had
this coming to them. People, mercy is not something...
Mercy means not getting what you deserve. That's what mercy means, not
getting what you deserve. But God, who ought to put you
out of His misery. I ought to block you, block me
out of his book. But God, who is rich in mercy,
who will, Romans 9 says, have mercy. How? On who? On whom he will have mercy. It's
sovereign mercy. You see, it has to be. It must
be. If it's mercy, it has to be sovereign.
You understand what I'm saying? Since nobody deserves it, since
everybody earned judgment and condemnation, then if he's going
to be merciful, he's going to have to do it to whom he will.
He's going to have to choose. And now, this is salvation right
here. Joe, I'm describing Bible salvation. A God-hating son of
Adam. Now, here's salvation, but God. Preachers all the time say, God
won't interfere with man's will. I'm sure glad He did mine. Bible salvation is God Almighty
absolutely interfering with our hell-bound will. Bible salvation
is God Almighty taking a hell-bent and hell-bound son of Adam and
saying, Bible salvation, which God won't
leave a man or a woman to themselves, but absolutely lays hold on them, and lays all their iniquity on
Jesus Christ, and lays all their sin on Him, and dips them in
the blood, and sends the Holy Spirit, and gives faith, gives
repentance, gives—that's Bible salvation. That's what happened
to me. And you, who were an enemy, yet
now have He. Remember that. Those are a few
short words, aren't they? And you, yet now, have He. That's a very short description
of salvation. Mercy. Look at verse 8, down
there in verse 8 of Ephesians 2. By grace are you saved. Now, mercy means not getting
what we deserve. What does grace mean? Grace means
getting what we don't deserve. You catch that? Mercy is not
getting what we deserve. For that is, we deserve damnation,
condemnation, but God shows mercy to some. And grace means, it
says, by grace are you saved. Grace means us getting what we
did not work for and did not deserve. Giving us what somebody
else did, what Christ did. Is that clear? John, that's as
clear as a nose on your face, that grace. Paul talked about
it in Romans. He said, now, it's either by
grace or it's works. It ain't grace works. It's by
grace or it's works, or else it's by works. It's not by grace.
It can't be both. And verse 10 or verse 8 says,
well, there you say, preacher, it says through faith. All right,
what's the next line? That's not of yourself. It's
the gift of God. I would never have believed this
gospel had not God sent His Holy Spirit and said, believe. I would
never have repented unless God said in Romans 4, verse 6, is
it John? The goodness of God led me to
repentance. Is that the verse, John? I think. Pardon me if I misquoted that.
I didn't misquote it. I might have had the wrong place.
Let me look it up. The goodness of God. Romans 2,
verse 4. The goodness of God leads a man
to repent. I would never have repented.
I would never have seen I needed repentance unless God had sent
his Holy Spirit and said, you're in a mess, buddy. Bow. You better beg for mercy.
It wasn't God loves you and wants you to... Oh, no. God's angry. Huh? Is that right? And verse
10 says, for we are His workmanship. His workmanship. Listen, it takes the sovereign
What I mean sovereign is I mean, how can I say it? When we talk
about sovereign, I'm talking about nothing else will get the
job done. That's what I mean by sovereign.
Nobody else can do it. That's what we mean by sovereign. It takes the sovereign, almighty
power of God to turn a hell-bent, hell-bound, gutter-dwelling,
God-hater into a child of God. It takes nothing less now, that
power. That's what our text says. And
you, and you who are aliens and enemies in your own mind, by
your own wicked work, yet now hath he reconciled, made you
friendly. Made you love that which you
once hated and hate that which you once loved. Jeanette, we
can't change our wills. Doesn't the Old Testament scripture
say, can the leopard change his spots? Can the Ethiopian change
his skin? Can a black man make himself
white? Can a white man make himself black? No, it says it's impossible. Well, it goes on to say, oh,
neither can you do good what you're accustomed to in evil.
that come forth from the wrong speaking lies, I tell you who
can do it, and who does do it, and who must do it? The sovereign
God. Why? Look back at Ephesians 1. Look back there. Why does God
do that? Why does God save anybody? Why does God save anyone? That's
what we're talking about, salvation. Why did God save me? Because
He needed me? Because I was going to do great
things for Him and nobody else could do it but me? Man, God
forbid such a thing. That's absolute blasphemy. I
remember reading one place where God said to those Jews of old,
He said, I can make sons of Abraham out of rocks. Do you remember
reading that? I can make of these stones children
of Abraham, He said. I made you out of dust. I don't
need you. God doesn't say anywhere He needs
anybody. That's what makes Him God. Why does he do it? Why does he
save anybody? Are they going to add something
to him in the future? He can't add to perfection. Well, look here. Let's look at
what the Scripture says. In Ephesians 1, look at verse
5. It says he predestinated us under
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will. Why did God save any sons of
Adam? And there's an old preacher named
Ralph Barnard one time that says, you better be glad I'm not God. Let me ask you, how long would
you have put up with this planet if you were God? How much longer
right now would you put up with this vile ball of dirt? Hmm? Well, if I were God, I wouldn't
have put up with Adam. I wouldn't have let them go on
for another minute. But I'm not, thank God, I'm not God. I'd have
said to Adam and Eve, well, you ungrateful, thankless. Look what all I've done for you.
What do you need? How come you didn't believe me? Get out. I
don't need you. God is rich in mercy. And here's
why He does it. He decided to do so, and verse
6 says to the praise, here it is. It says this three times.
to the praise of the glory of His grace. Look at it in verse
12, that we should be to the praise of His glory. Verse 14,
the last line, unto the praise of His glory. Why did He save
this old son of Adam? This old rotten, no good worthiness
to anybody, including myself, son of Adam? Why? He's got to
get glory out of me. Like a trophy case. Like a trophy
case. Don't you have to have trophies
at home in your case? The trophies sitting up on the
shelf, you have them on display, and everybody that comes in your
house, you say, look what I did! Well, right here, back when I
was... In fact, the only ones we have was back when we were
about seven or eight years old. We quit earning trophies after
a while, Brother Henry did. Back when I played little league,
I was starting third base, you know, look at that. I was on
the all-star team. And then over here, I was football,
and this and that, cheerleader or gymnastics or whatever. There,
I did this. My trophies, that's what I am
to God Almighty. That's what every sinner that's
going to be saved by Him is going to be. A trophy in the halls
of grace, where the Jesus Christ says, that's what I did. That's what it's all about. Get
it? To the praise of the glory of his grace. Didn't he say that all the way
through Isaiah? If we had time, we'd look at it. He said, I did
not save you for your sakes. I'm telling you, he says this
all the way through. I did not save you, talking to the Jews.
I'm not saving you for your sakes. I don't need you. But I'm going
to get glory out of you. I'm determined to do it. Until
the whole world sees that nobody can do this but God. Nobody can
say one like that but God. Well, who could bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? God's only one. Trophies in the
halls of grace. And I don't mean to be another
one of these yelling preachers, but people, these things need
to be shouted from the top of the roof. All these mealy-mouthed preachers
today running around, you know, telling men just how badly God
needs them and how much God loves them. And, you know, he just
can't get along without them. And church wouldn't be church
without you and all that crap. That's exactly what it is. I want to get just as plain as
I can. That's exactly what it is. Paul called it a stronger
word, didn't he? Dung. And all these fellows running
around telling people that, and they've got people believing
it. But this book doesn't say it. This book says God doesn't need
anybody, and He doesn't save anybody because He needs them.
He saves them for His glory. How does He do it? How does he
do it? Well, they don't contribute to
it. It says, and you hath he quickened who were dead. Dead
men don't do anything but stink. Isn't that right? It's just like
Lazarus. Salvation is just like old Lazarus. When Christ came to the tomb
of Lazarus, his sister came running up. and
said, Lord, he stinketh. He's been dead four days. He's
been dead a long time. And in my case, Lord, he's been
dead 20 years, 21 years. He stinketh. He's dead in trespasses
and sin. Can't do anything for him. Christ
said, that's why I've come. I've come that they might have
life. I'm the only one that can give it. And just like it took
the almighty, powerful voice of the Son of God to call Lazarus
out of that tomb, it takes the very same voice to call a dead
sinner to life. Isn't that right? I told you. I came and came and
came and sat and listened, you know, with eyes on that gal. But God, finally. in his good time, according to
his good pleasure, to the praise of the glory of his grace, one
day, he said, look at me. Look under me and be set. Open
these deaf ears. Open these blind eyes. See what
I am, where I was headed and all that. He pointed me to Christ. I'm talking about the Gospels,
what I'm talking about. And he did it by Christ doing
it all. Isn't that what we read there
in Colossians? That he might have the preeminence. Didn't
we read that in Colossians? All the way through? He hath
made peace by the blood of his cross. He hath made peace. Isaiah 53, 5 says the chastisement
of our peace was laid on him. You see, it took nothing less
and nothing more than the bloody death of God's Son to save me. Nothing less and nothing more.
And Paul, that's the reason he deals so hardly with self-righteousness. He says, if righteousness come
by the law, then Christ died in vain. Salvation can come by us doing
anything, us just being good people, you know, and getting
to God on our own. Then why did Christ come? He
didn't need to come. He didn't need to die. All that
was in vain. But no, it wasn't. Here's the
only thing that would save me. How? Why? Because there's power
in the blood. And the righteousness Oh, there
I go without mentioning this. Not by works of righteousness
or religion or getting good or turning over a new leaf, as I've
said before, the other side of the leaf is just as bad as the
other one. Not by works of righteousness, he said, which I have done, but
it's according to his mercy he has saved us. by giving me the
righteousness that Jesus Christ worked out. Read that article
in the Bulletin. Everybody in heaven is wearing
something that clothes their naked souls. They're wearing
a robe. Where'd they get it? Well, did
they whittle it out? Did they needle point? Did they
make it? No, Jesus Christ made it. A righteousness, a life, a perfect
pristine, holy, unblamable, unapprovable life in God's sight that God
said, I approve of this man, nobody else but this man. And
then he takes that righteousness off and puts it on his people
and says, now you're holy. You look like my son in that
robe. I approve of you. You take off
that robe and wear a naked son of Adam. Isn't that good news, John David?
Now, that's the gospel. It is if you realize you were
and would still be and maybe are now, by nature, a God-hater. But, God, yet now, now no more a an alien, but these
things mean something. When the preacher stands up and
says, I'm going to preach about mercy, you say, oh, I need that. The preacher says something about
grace, you say, oh, that sounds good to me. Huh? Whereas before, Teresa, before,
I don't need that stuff. You call it stuff. Religion, I don't want that now,
and you. Reconciled, made it delightful
to your ear. Now, that takes fire, doesn't
it? You didn't have anything to do with it. I told you before,
at one time, I'd a whole lot rather listen to the Rolling
Stones than sing the Rock of Ages. Now, who can pair a Rolling
Stone with a young, sixties, hippie with a heart of stone
into one who's standing on the rock, Christ Jesus, huh? It takes power. All right, that's the first group.
There's another group of people. They're religious, but they hate
God, too. Now listen to me very carefully.
People don't hate their conception of God. People don't hate their conception
of God. When God said in Psalm 50, He
said, Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as yourself.
Have you ever read that? I'm pretty sure it's Psalm 50. Be like the Beryllians and go
home and see if these things are sucking, all right? Don't
get mad at me. Go home and search it for yourself.
I implore to you, everyone in here, to go home and take this
tape and word for word search it out in the Bible. Please do
that. I have nothing to hide. As Paul
said in 2 Corinthians 4, if our gospel be hid, it's hidden in
the loft. We're not hiding it. Well, people don't hate their conception
of God, a God that Scripture says they've
conjured up in their own imagination, which doesn't resemble the God
in the Bible. But they hate the God of the
Bible. Do you remember that illustration
of Brother Barnard again? Remember when he preached like
I'm preaching now, what I'm preaching now, and he went home with this
fellow, deacon in a local Baptist church, you know? Not here, this
was years ago. Remember he went home with that
fellow, and that fellow was just boiling mad over what all he'd
heard him say? And Barnard was eating that chicken.
Why do they serve preacher's chicken? Fried chicken. That's all right, I like it.
But Barnard was at this fellow's home eating chicken, and he knew
the fellow was mad, because the fellow wasn't eating his chicken.
And sitting there like a feller, and finally he said, He said, My God won't do what
you say. And Barnard said he just kept
on eating. He thought if he's going to get to finish his meal,
he better quit and keep eating. And he said, You hear me, preacher? My God won't do what you said.
And Barnard, that old hitchhiking preacher from North Carolina,
he said, pushed himself away from the
table and he said, I suspect you're right. I suspect you're right. You're
God wants, but the God of the Bible will and does. People aren't mad at their God
of their own imagination. They love him. that you stand
up and declare this God who is God, who doesn't need anybody
in order to be God, who doesn't ask anybody permission to do
anything, who does exactly as he will in the armies of heaven
and in the heavens and the earth, and none can stake his hand or
say unto him, you can't do that. Yes, he can and he does. And
this God who chooses whom he will, that's what makes him God.
It's his divine prerogative. I'm talking election here. that
God chooses whom he will. It's mercy that he chooses anybody,
let alone a number which no man can number. The people are the
stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore. It's mercy that
he chooses one. But yet God is so full of mercy
he chooses a bunch. But don't anybody get mad because
he doesn't choose everybody. He shouldn't have chosen anybody. And that's what makes him God,
you see. If it were not so, we'd be gods
like him. We'd have just as much power
as him. Now what do you think about that
god? People, if I were standing in
an average pulpit in Franklin County, they'd be getting up
and walking out. Why? They hate that god. Why is it when I say these things,
you smile? And you go into the workplace
and say these things, and they're not smiling, they're gritting
their teeth. And if they could get their hands
on you, they would. People, that's exactly what they
did to the Son of God, who came down here and said these things.