This one verse here in John seventeen. I believe. This defines. What salvation is is one verse
if you ask me. For a verse of Scripture. That
most clearly defines the gospel, I would without hesitation say
2 Corinthians 521. But this one I believe defines
or declares what salvation is or what it means to be saved. Look at John 17 and these are
the words of our Lord himself. as with all of this book, but
these are the very spoken words to God by God the Son. Verse 3. Verse 3, Christ says, This is
life eternal. This is salvation. This is what it means to be saved. This is what it means to be a
Christian or Christian. that they might know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." This is
life eternal. This is what it means to be saved. Now, what it means to know someone? What does it mean to know someone?
To know someone. To know someone. To know someone
means to understand what that person is like. To know someone. I know almost
all of you here know what you're like, your characteristics, your
attributes, if you will, your ways to understand what someone
is like. That's what it means to know
someone. There was, in other words, your
attributes or your characteristics. I talked to a man on the phone
one time, and I was talking to him about the attributes of God. I was
trying to tell him that God has more than just one attribute. And you know, most of you know
what I'm saying. I was trying to tell him that God has many
attributes and we have to know more than this one. And he said
to me, he said, attributes of God aren't important. Well, this is what Christ is
saying here, this is life eternal, this is salvation. What it means
to be saved is to know something about God. No man knows God. even that much, but I tell you
this, all of God's people know pretty much the same thing about
God. They know something of his attributes. That's what it means
to know God, to know something about him, and to know where
his attributes, and to know someone also. The scriptural word to
know, the first time it was used, the word know, do you know where
that was the first time it was used? in the book of Genesis. Like all doctrine is first taught
there, it's the beginning. And when the scripture says that
Adam knew his wife Eve, same word, he knew his wife Eve. That is, he was joined with her. He was in love with her. He loved her. He communed with
her. He had fellowship with her. You can't do that with a stranger.
It's someone you know something about and someone that you love. You know them. The Scripture
says, For whom he did for know. For love. All right, you can't
know a stranger. So that's what this is saying
here. This is life eternal. This is salvation that they might
know thee, the only true God. Well, how does one know God? Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter
1. How does one know God Almighty? And you know, in preparing this
message, I started on it a couple of days ago up in Kentucky. And I'll be honest with you,
I started it with the hopes that some of the new folks would come
that have been coming. And I don't see them on. Oh, well. These are the things
we need to hear, too. The Bible study in Romans. The
reason we started that study was in hopes that some new faces
who'd been coming would get in on that. They're not coming. However, there are some here
who weren't here when we first started Romans, back seven years
ago. But, beside that, Or at the same
token, to write, Paul said to write the same things to you
is not grievous. To me is not grievous. I had
just as good a time with this message as I've ever had anything. Studying the book of Romans,
I'm enjoying that as if I'd heard it for the first time. And besides,
Paul said for you, it's safe. It's salvation. It's salvation,
Vicki. This is life eternal now. This
is how you're going to be saved, if you know the true God. You've got to know the right
one. I wish the world could hear this, because this is life eternal. This is what it means to be saved,
to know the true and living God, which very few people do. All
right, how does one know God? How does one know God? Look at
1 Corinthians 1, verse 21. It says here, after that in the
wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. Men don't know
God by wisdom. Or that is by intellect, human wisdom, mental
efforts on the part of a man. Job said, can a man by searching
find out God unto perfection? No. Not by searching. You don't know God by searching.
By searching. Not by wisdom, he says. Not by
intellect. Or else the smarter people would
know him. Wouldn't they? Wouldn't the smartest people,
the highly educated and the intellects of our day, wouldn't they know
God? And us common folks wouldn't. But no, God says it's the other
way around. We saw Wednesday. We saw Wednesday night how our
Lord rejoiced because that was the fact that God hid these things
from the wise and proved and revealed them to babe. He rejoiced
in spirit. The only time it said that. Now
look at what he uses. Verse twenty-one. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching. By the foolishness of preaching. Preaching. This preaching that
goes on today, which is just a bunch of foolishness. It is
a bunch of foolishness. And I could go on talking about
it, but I'm not. But it's not what goes on today
under the name of preaching by these men who are utter fools. And those, if you read that article
by Spurgeon this morning, he said, if you go and hear something
that's not the gospel, that's your misfortune." He said, if
you go again and you don't hear it again, he said, what did he
say? He said, you're absolutely your
fault. And he said in the end, if you
go again and hear it, it's your crime. That's a good article. Well, there's a specific type
of preaching or kind of preaching that God Almighty uses to save.
That God Almighty uses to save people, to make himself known.
And it's what the world calls foolishness. It's what the world
calls archaic. It's what the world calls old-fashioned.
It's what we've done already this morning. What we're going
to do again is gospel preaching. Like they told Brother Ray, that's
all you preach. That's all you preach. That's all God uses. Paul, you preach as Christ crucified.
That's all God used to say. That's all the thing he used
to say. Nothing else. Paul was a smart man. Saul of Tarsus.
Paul was a smart man. As smart as they come, perhaps
the smartest. Had the greatest intellect of
any man of his day. I'm certain of it. Studied at
the high school of his day. He said, I'm determined to know
nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Nothing.
Why? Well, this is salvation. A sovereign God, we talk about
a sovereign God nearly every time we get together, don't we?
Sovereign God. Why? It's the salvation. We talk about
dead sinners, don't we? Nearly every time we get together.
There's some mention of man's helplessness and hopelessness.
Why? Because salvation is only for dead sinners. Nearly every time we get together
in every passage of Scripture, we see something of a sovereign,
effectual Christ, his person and work. Why? This is what God
uses. This is the word of his power.
Scripture says Christ is the wisdom of God and the power of
God. Unto everyone that believeth, Jew first, Gentile also. Specific kind of preaching, which
the world calls old-fashioned. We've got to get above and beyond.
Everybody knows Jesus died. We've got to go beyond that. No, you don't ever get beyond
that. Never. Never. What if the Jews of old said,
All right, we've sacrificed enough blood, let's go to a higher thing?
What if the high priest had said that one day? All right, boys,
it's been enough bloodshed, let's get out our philosophy books
and start trying to . . . God would have killed them all on
the spot. Look at 1 Corinthians 2. Look
over at the page there, 1 Corinthians 2. It says, we just read it,
"...pleased God by the foolishness of preaching." Preaching what?
Preaching Christ crucified. He said in another place, "...he
called you by our gospel." Scripture says, "...you were chosen from
the beginning through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth." The truth. And one knows, if you're taking
notes, one knows God by preaching. And one knows God, by God the
Holy Spirit, through preaching, revealing himself to you. And this is how God reveals himself
to a man or woman, through preaching. Through preaching. It's not sitting
out on a mountain, cross-legged. I've tried that. It doesn't work.
It just gives you aching legs. You won't know God. All the heavens
declare his glory, the firmament showeth his handiwork. But you
won't know the attributes of God and you won't be saved. Apart
from what? Preaching. How shall they believe
in him whom they have not heard? Who shall call on the name of
the Lord, shall we say? How are they going to call on
him whom they have not believed? How are they going to believe on
him whom they have not heard? Romans 10. How shall they hear without
a preacher? How shall he preach except God
send him? So this is what God uses. And God, the Holy Spirit,
through the preaching of the Word, reveals Christ to that
person, reveals God to that person. Look at 1 Corinthians 2, verse
10. He says, God hath revealed, or verse 9, look at that, eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard. We just read that, didn't we,
in Isaiah 43? Eyes they don't see, ears they
don't hear. How are they going to? Christ the Lord comes and
touches their eyes and their ears. How does He touch eyes
and ears? How does He touch blind eyes?
How does He touch deaf ears? Gospel. Preaching the gospel. I have not seen, neither ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed
them unto us," how? By His Spirit, by His Holy Spirit. Look down at verse 11, "'What
in the man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man
which is in Even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God." Now, we have received, not the Spirit of the
world, or that is wisdom and so forth, the thoughts and ideas
and the foolishness, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Verse 16, "...who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he
may..." We have the mind of Christ, and this is what God the Holy
Spirit does. He's called the Teacher, isn't
He, Terry? Christ said that when he has
come, he'll lead you and guide you into all truths. He'll teach
you. He'll take the things of mine
and show them unto you. All that's going on today in
the name of the Holy Spirit is false. How do I know that? Because
it's not Christ-centered. It's not God-exalting and honoring
and glorifying. The attributes of God are not
being declared. You won't even hear a man say anything about
God's attribute. That's how I know the Spirit's
not in it. Wherever the Holy Spirit is, that's where God is
being exalted, where Christ's person and work is being magnified,
where the sinner is being brought down first and then brought up
in Christ. One knows God by the Holy Spirit
revealing himself. Look over John 3. This thing
of knowing God is a sovereign revelation. Sovereign revelation. God Almighty
chooses to make himself known. And we just read that in 1 Corinthians
2, didn't we? What are you thinking right now,
Brandon? I don't know. Right? How am I going to know what you're
thinking, Brandon, if you tell me? Well, that's what he said
there. What man knows the things of
God, say the Spirit of God, and he to whom the Spirit will reveal
them. No man knows God by searching or by finding out, but it's by
God Almighty up in one day saying, I'm going to reveal myself to
this person. I'm going to call them. They're going to know me.
We'll see that in Isaiah in a moment. It's a sovereign revelation.
Look at John 3. John 3. Look at verse seven, he said
to this religious fellow, and you've run into him, haven't
you? People, the religious folks of our day, are just like Nicodemus of old.
They're masters. They read their Bible. They go
to school. They're brought up in a religion, like one woman
told my wife. And she was talking to her about
God's sovereignty and his sovereign election, his will and covenant,
Christ's effectual, just these things that we hear all the time. And this woman said to her, she
said, I was brought up in religion. I was brought up in religion,
she said, but I've never heard any of these things. I've never heard any of these
things. This thing is, and all the world,
the religious world, is just like Nicodemus of old, and God
says, you must be born again. The word born again, and Brother
Stan, they're so ignorant, they said, you've got to get born
again. Get, you know, get born again. I didn't get born the
first time. What they mean by that is you've
got to get saved now. You've got to get yourself saved.
I didn't get myself born the first time. And you don't get
yourself born a second time. It's something that happens to
you. You're born from above. And our Lord is talking to this
fellow, religious fellow, brought up in religion. He said, Marvel
not that I said unto thee, you must be born again. Why is this
a mystery? Why do you have any problem with
this, he said. Verse 8, the wind bloweth where it listeth. Doesn't
it? I saw a sign. And it says, Thou hearest the
sound thereof, you can't tell whence it cometh, or whither
it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Saw a
sign down in Alabama as I was driving down the highway. Talladega
Highway, guys. Went right by it. Right by that place. You know,
there were rubber marks. There was rubber, burnt rubber
from the start of that highway. all the way down through as far
as the eye can see. And I went right by down Talladega
Highway, went by a church, and on my sign out front it said,
God is here July the 2nd. Now that was on May 29th, I believe,
that I went by there. Hmm, I thought. Well, they can
just predict where God's going to be. God is here. Get mourned again. People are
ignorant, just as ignorant as Nicodemus of the whole. Are you
a master? Our Lord said, are you a master
in Israel and don't know these things? People talk about the
Holy Spirit. What's the work of the Holy Spirit?
It's a mystery. You can't predict it. It's something
that happens to you. The Holy Spirit moves on dead
people. Born again. Born again. That's what our Lord
said. And the Holy Spirit is sovereign. That's what He's saying here.
The Holy Spirit is sovereign. And the Holy Spirit makes known,
God makes known Christ to whom He will. To whom He will. It's not of Him that willeth
or of Him that runneth. It's not of Him that willeth
Or of him that runneth. It's of God that showeth mercy.
God said, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. Not
who will let me. I'm getting ahead of myself.
But in John chapter 6, listen to me. John 6, our Lord said
in verse 45, listen to this. He said, They shall all be taught
of God. And I'm speaking to you this
morning like you've never heard these things before. All right? He says they shall all be taught
of God. Another lady had been arguing
with my wife that Catholics, you know, that she wants to include
Catholics in on salvation. People, Catholicism is anti-Christ. The priesthood is antichrist. If you have a priest in your
religion other than Jesus Christ, it's antichrist. If you have a mediator other
than Jesus Christ, no matter who it may be, his mother, it's
antichrist. And if any man preach any other
gospel, anybody believes any other gospel than this, They're
not saved. But they're no less saved than
the Armenians who don't believe in the true God. That's anti-God. It's anti-Christ. And we'll go
on to say that. He said, All be taught of God.
They'll all be taught of God. All thy children. He took that
from Isaiah 59, I believe it. All thy children shall be taught
of thee. That is, in other words, God's
going to teach You're going to teach them all the same lesson.
You have brothers and sisters, most of you did. Did your mom
and dad teach you differently, each one of you differently?
Did your mom and dad teach you one thing and teach Rebecca another? No. And this is what the Scripture
says. If they're God's children, He
teaches them all the same thing. Same thing. All right, look over Psalm 50
with me. Got your Bible? Let's turn. Let's
be like the noble Bereans this morning, OK? You know, we need
to be ready. I'm giving you some of the most
basic scriptures in all of the Bible so that you might be ready
to give every man a reason for the hope that is within you. an answer for the reason that
the hope is within you. Okay? I'm giving you some of
the most basic of all Scripture. You ought to be furiously taking
notes. I'm serious. I'm serious. This is it. If you have opportunities to talk to
people and all, and you're ignorant of these things, it's not my
fault. All right? Psalm 50. This is one of the
most basic of scriptures. This is something we can, should
take to heart and memorize. Psalm 50. You see, man's thoughts
are not, man's thoughts of God are just all wrong. All wrong. Look at verse 21 of Psalm 50.
These things hast thou done and I kept silent. I told you about that woman that
told, one of our ladies said, I asked God to prove me wrong
and he hasn't yet. That ain't the way God operates. And nobody makes God prove them
wrong. Scripture says, Let God be true,
and every man a liar. Anybody that's going to have
the truth revealed to them comes to God in this way, I am wrong.
God's true. Everything in God's Word is right.
Everything I think about is wrong. Oh, Lord, set me straight. Look
at this, Psalm 50. He says, You done me, I kept
silent. Thou thoughtest, look at it, verse 21, Thou thoughtest
that I was altogether such an one as thyself, like a man. What's God like? What's God like? And they'll begin to compare
him with man. Invariably. Invariably. When you ask people what he's
like, he'll be compared to a man in some way. And they even call
him that. The man upstairs. One parent thought it was cute
that their child prayed in that way. I tell you, it's a crime
that that parent hasn't taught their child the fear of the Lord.
That they would allow that child to say that. Old man upstairs? They call him that. Oh, some
old white-headed fella. These cartoons in the paper. that depicts God as some old
white-haired bald-headed at that, sitting on the heavens or sitting
in a cloud or something. Whew, man. Come, my children, the psalmist
says, I'll teach you the fear of the Lord. They call him the
man Jesus. Poor, pitiful—this is a Catholic
byword. You want to know what Catholicism
believes about the true God? They call him gentle Jesus, meek
and mild. Hail Mary, mother of grace, pray for us sinners. This is eternal life to know
the true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. Men think God's
like a man. Look over at Isaiah chapter 46.
And if you want to take someone to the scriptures that declare
God in no uncertain term, that more definitively declare God,
that I mean tell God who He is, the attributes of God. You go
to Isaiah. You just start in Isaiah 45, and you just start
reading. Have them read it. Do like my
pastor does in wisdom. Say, you got your Bible? All
right, you read it. Don't take my word for it. Read
it out loud. Let's see what it says. Isaiah
46. Men think God makes plans and
doesn't know the outcome of them. Don't they? Now, God's plan,
God's purpose, but don't you mess it up. Robert Shuler said this, and Robert Shuler is the most
widely watched religious figure on planet Earth. He's the first
and only religious broadcast allowed in Great Britain. He said this. Listen to this.
He said, Hell, this is his word, Hell is a monument to the failure
of the trying God to save man. That's what he said. Look, God plans. God makes His
plans, but they fail. They fail. Nobody. Oh my, Isaiah 46, let's see what
the scripture says. Verse 10, he says, I declare
the end from the beginning, from ancient times, the things that
are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand. I will do what man lets me. I will do what circumstances allow. I will do all my pleasure, what
I feel like doing," he said. And we read that over in Isaiah
43. It says, God will work, and you
will let it. Let God? Who will let it? Won't
you let God? Who's going to do that? Oh, my. Not God. God doesn't make plans not knowing
the outcome. Acts 15, 18 says, Known unto
God are what? All His works. From when? When it all ends? From the beginning. Known unto God are A-double-L. All His works from the beginning. Romans 8, 28. All things work together, all
A-double-M, according to His purpose. According to His purpose. Men say God tries and fails,
don't they? God tries and fails. God's willing,
if you let Him, God wants to. But there's nothing God wants.
You know that? There's nothing God wants. Where
does it say anywhere in scripture God wants? Somebody in this world,
I'll give somebody a million dollar bill, if I had it. I don't
have it. But I'll get somebody to hedge that bet if you can
find where it says God wants. Or where it says, won't you let
God do this or do that. Trying and failing, willing and
wanting, unable to carry out his will due to circumstances
out of his control. Buddy, if there are circumstances
out of God Almighty's control, what's to keep this building
from falling? Huh? My dad was telling me about a
girl sitting that went to spend the night with her grandparents. A sleeping bed. And a storm came
like the one yesterday. A storm came, blew a tree over
him. He did. What did? I'm going to
cut every tree down in my yard. I don't want that to happen to
my daughter, Stan. It's her circumstances out of
his control. Can't, sir. God didn't want that to happen.
I'm never going to eat a piece of meat the rest of my life.
I'm going to eat nothing but spinach." Circumstances out of his control,
he said, I wound, and I heal. I kill. Deuteronomy 32, 29. And I make I create peace, I create evil,
I, the Lord, do all these things," he says, all A-double-L, these
things. Do you know this God? This only
God the person must know to be saved if you don't know this
God. All through the Scripture, all through the book of Isaiah,
he says this over and over again. Terry, he says, I'm the Lord,
there's none else. He says that more than anything
else. I'm the Lord, beside me there's no God. I know not of
any. God, is there another one that's
just as powerful? I know not any. What about Satan? No God beside me. He's a dog
on a chain. What about man? as Virgie would
do. He's a worm in the dust. I'm
God. There's none else. I kill, I
make alive, I wound, I heal, I lift up, I cast down, I give. What's the word? He said, I demote
and I promote. I promote, I bring down. I make
rich, I make poor. I'm the Lord. This is eternal
life that they might know be the only true God. You see, the
only one that's God is the God who's in control of circumstances. The one who's God is the one
who controls, doesn't just control them, he causes them. He doesn't just control the circumstances,
he causes them. He causes them. Oh, my. They say God is willing,
God can't, due to man's sovereign will. That's what Jimmy Sweigart
said. It must be so Jimmy said it. He said God is sovereign, but
not over man's will. He said God limited his own will
to keep from violating man's free will. Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy,
Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy. Where does it say that, Jimmy,
Jimmy, Jimmy? Where does it say that? Oh, people
that hear Jimmy. Oh, foolish Galatians or foolish
whoever, Los Angeles or Roanoke or whoever. Where does it say
that? Let God be true and Jimmy Swagger
to lie here. Look back at Isaiah 43 again. Look down there at verse 13.
He says, I will work, and who shall let it? Who shall let it? Look at chapter 45. Chapter 45. He said, I'm the Lord. There's none else. There's no
God beside me. There's no God beside me. I girded
you, though you haven't known me. I'm the Lord. Chapter 46. Look down at chapter
Chapter 46, verse 10, he says, I declare the end from the beginning,
from ancient times of things that are not yet done. My counsel
shall stand. I will do all my good pleasure.
Verse 11, the last part of that verse, he said, I have spoken
it. I will bring it to pass. I will. I will. Where does it
say man's will in there? Where is man's will found there
anywhere? Where does it say I will if you
will? God says, I will, I will, I will. We love that chapter 36 in the
Ezekiel, don't we, John? Where he says all the way through,
I will do this, I will do that. I'll give them a new heart. I'll
cleanse them from all unrighteousness. I will cause them to do it. I
will, I will, I will. And he says, and you shall. Now,
this is the God of the Bible. This is the true and living God,
God who is God, who says, I will, and therefore man shall. But
an idol, a figment of man's imagination, something they've made up, and
not from the Bible, something they've made up, this God, their
God, says, now God will if you will. But it doesn't say that. Because he says man's will is
dead, dead. And the only reason they're ever
willing is they're made willing in the day of his power. Romans 9 and 16, not of him that
willeth. Philippians 2 and 13, it is God
that worketh in us, both the will to do of his good pleasure. John 1.13, not of the will of
flesh or the will of man, but of God. As Barnard would say to people
today, buy you a Bible. And not one of these new-found
perversions. Why do I insist on the King James?
Because it was translated from the original Hebrew and Greek.
And any time you keep translating something, it loses its original
meaning. That puts it in a nutshell. I
don't care what it is, even the New King James. That's where
you've got a preacher, really, to declare unto you, all right,
they say God tries and fails, and men think God's like a man,
he changes. Oh, has the world ever read Malachi
3.6? If you haven't, if you don't
know what that verse is, open it up and Think a big circle
around that verse. He says, I am the Lord. I what? Huh? I what? I change not. Hebrews 13.8. What's that say? Jesus Christ the Savior. Yesterday. When was yesterday? In the beginning. was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. Before anything was made, it
was made in the beginning. Who? Jesus Christ. That's it. The same yesterday, today. Same Jesus Christ, same God,
same Jehovah, as in the Old Testament. God hadn't changed. James 1 says
He's the Father of lights, with whom there's no variable, and
there's no shadow of turning. He hasn't changed one iota. God's not the God of wrath in
the Old Testament and the God of love in the New. No, He hasn't
changed a bit. Ah, boy, they say, like I said,
God makes His plans and He can't carry them out. It's
as if the word covenant was never written, isn't it, John? It's
as if there was never any such word as covenant in the Scripture.
There's no word in the Bible I enjoy or I like or rejoice
over any more than the word covenant. You can't understand Hebrews
without understanding covenant. David said in his dying words,
this is all my hope. He said, this is my salvation.
Oh, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Ordered in all things, when?
Before the world began. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning, made with me of God who hath chosen us
from the beginning. Ephesians 1 verse 4. Blessed
be the Lord who hath chosen us from the beginning. And this is all my hope, all
my salvation, that God hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things. Sure. Covenants. God says it's so important, He
slid His own wrist to ratify it in blood. It's called the
blood of the everlasting covenant. Shed His Son's blood, John, to
ratify that covenant, to make absolutely certain everybody
He did it for is saved. Is it important? Everybody knows this God. Everybody
that's saved knows this God. Everybody that's saved knows
it's blood. Nothing else, Joe Parks. Everybody. They shall all be taught of God.
What's your salvation hinge upon? Blood. Ain't no blood. What about righteous? Yes, he
is. only true God, and that's the
Jesus Christ he sent to be made propitiated, whom God has set
forth. We read that in Romans 3, didn't we? Romans 4, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation, Romans 3. And let me hurry, let
me quit on this. Barnard used to say, I've got
some notes here, I hope we don't have to use them, but I haven't
used mine. There's one attribute. What is
God like? What is God like? Look at Psalm
99. Psalm 99. You want a verse of
Scripture, a passage of Scripture to turn to in declaring, describing
the God of the Bible? Most people will take you to
1 John. 1 John, where it says, and blessed
that it does say this, that God is love. How blessed God that
he is. I bless God that he is. But do
you know the disciples in the book of Acts never even mentioned
the word love? Not once. Never said it once. They went about evangelizing
all over the place, preaching. They never said love in any of
their sermons. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? Never said it. This one attribute, you know,
if God is low, and you ask people to tell you what God is like,
his chief attribute, ask that. What is God's chief attribute,
or that is his characteristic, or that which makes him what
he is? What is it that makes God what he is? What is it that
makes God do what he does? In other words, everything. Everything is one chief attribute
that makes God what it got. It makes God do what he does.
If they say love. Without exception, they'll say
love. God's people won't. Without exception, they won't. If love is the chief attribute
of God, why is there a hell? Why is there a hell? If God does
everything according to his love, why is there a hell? Hell is
a monument to the wrath of a triune God. Not the failure, but the
wrath. It's a monument to the holiness
of the triune God. That's what it's a monument to.
It's a monument to the justice of the triune God. That's what
it's a monument to. That's what hell is all about. There's no
love to be found in hell. What about disasters? What about
calamities? What about disease? What about sickness? What about
suffering? If God doesn't want something to happen to you, he
loves you and doesn't want something to happen to you, why doesn't he do something? Spit on that guy. Kill my loved
one, make him suffer and go down to nothing. If he loves him,
he can't do anything. Spit on him! Huh? But if everything is
ordered according to his infinite purpose, for how good in his
glory, and nothing can touch him except he doesn't divinely
ordain it, that's the God I'm going to bow down to. And I'm
going to say, The Lord is comforting, and we'll be thankful. I'm going
to worship that God, John. But this one who loves and can't
do anything, My God loves his people, and
he saves them. The God of the Bible, whom we
must know and bow down to, does according to his will, and his
will is absolutely perfect, and everything about it is the best
that could happen to his people. You know, men attribute to Satan
all these things, don't they? Why doesn't God handle that guy? Huh? Why didn't he handle that
Satan? If Satan's responsible for all
this, Henry, why doesn't God do something? Why is he sitting
idly by? Isn't that what they say? That Satan's responsible? Why is God sitting idly by, Stan?
He ain't. The world will just absolutely
shriek in horror at this, but Satan is doing what God tells
him to do. Where does it say that? John
chapter 1 and 2 is where it says it. That's where it says it. Psalm 99. Here is the God
of the Bible, whom men must know. Psalm 99, verse 3, "'Let them
praise thy great and terrible name, for it is holy more than
any other attribute.'" You see, this describes hell, Brandon.
Why is there hell? God is holy. Why is there disease? God is holy. Why are there calamities? God is holy. It defines it all, explains it
all. You can't explain Calvary except this. Why would God kill
His Son? Why would God? That's God's Son
there. Well, men say, well, men took
Him and killed Him. No, God did. Scripture says it
pleased the Lord to bruise Him. You can't explain Calvary. You
can't understand the cross except to understand that God's holy.
He will by no means clear the guilty. Well, what was Christ
doing there? He was guilty. The reason people are corrupt
on the doctrine of atonement. The reason they get it all confused,
the atonement. You see, Christ was, God hath
made him to be sin for us. Who's us? His people. Made him
to be sin for us. God had laid on him the iniquity
of us all. And when God Almighty poured
out His wrath on Christ, He's pouring it out on me. And so, who is he that condemns?
Christ died. It doesn't have anything to do with
my decision or what I do. It's this infinitely mysterious
thing of his son hanging on a tree being made sin and God killing
him, putting him through hell. You can't understand Calvary
apart from the holiness of God. Well, he can't be just. He can't
clear the guilty. He's got to kill them. He's got
to kill them. He's got to kill me. He's got to kill me for my
sin. He's got to kill me. He's got
to kill you. Every human being has got to die. God's got to
kill them. That's what Christ was doing.
And you can't kill a man twice. You know that old cowboy came
back and Somebody was worried about him going into town, getting
shot, and he said, I ain't never been killed today in my life. Well, you can't kill a man twice.
Paul said, I've been crucified with Christ. You dig a man up,
you can try to kill him, and he's dead. He's dead. God's not going to kill those
whom he killed in Christ. You can't understand Calvin.
Apart from that, God is sovereign. Romans 9, he says, and very soon
I'm going to preach on this, I'm the potter and you're the
clay. God doesn't give a more clear
illustration and all about it. He took old Jeremiah down there,
didn't he? Down in the potter's house. He said, Jeremiah, what's
that on that wheel? Mud, clay. What can it do? What can it do? He said, that's
you. And that man there that's going
to shape it, that's me. I'm Potter. You're the clay.
I can make one way I want it, make another way I want it. Why? He's a true God. He's a living
God. Who is he? He's Jesus Christ. That's who he is. The Jehovah
Witnesses missed him. They've missed him. They've missed
life. This is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God. The Son of God has come
and given us an understanding that we might know him, even
him that is true. This is the true God in eternal
life. The Son of God has come. God manifesting the flesh. Ascent
one. All right. I took too long, but
I was not grievous. I had a good time. And it's salvation. Do you know this true and living
God? For you, it's safe. Do you know him? Do you know
him? Do you love him? Do you love
God being God? Do you love hearing about him? That's good evidence. You never
get tired of hearing that. We heard that four preacher.
Oh, God's people don't say that. He said, We've heard that four.
We're anxious to hear it again. true and living God and Christ
who he sent and why they all know it without exception is
not one of us. That's what Christ said in no
question. What is it you got a number picked
out Joe what is. One hundred twenty seven. One twenty seven. Hallelujah. What a sight. That's
a good one. One twenty-seven. Let's stand and sing. Sing first and the second. Stand.
First and the second. and of sorrow, what a thing for
the Son of God, who came through the sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah! What a Savior! My ring-saving, scoffing group,
in my place condemned he stood, still my part of wicked blood,
hallelujah, for the Savior. Thank you for your listening. Thank you very much.