What's Said Is Done

Q: What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty in salvation?

The Bible teaches that God is sovereign over salvation, choosing whom He will save according to His purpose and will. The scriptures reveal God's absolute sovereignty in the process of salvation, highlighting that it is not based on human will or effort. For instance, in Romans 9:15-16, Paul emphasizes that God’s mercy is given according to His will, not human desire or effort. Similarly, in Ephesians 1:4-5, we learn that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, underscoring that our salvation is entirely based on His sovereign grace. Like Jacob, who received a blessing he did not deserve due to God's sovereign choice, believers today can rest in the assurance that their salvation is a work of divine grace, independent of their actions.

Q: How do we know faith is a gift from God?

Faith is a gift from God, given through the work of the Holy Spirit in a believer's heart. Ephesians 2:8-9 affirms that it is by grace we have been saved through faith, and this is not from ourselves; it is the gift of God. The sovereign work of the Holy Spirit plays a crucial role in imparting faith to believers. As seen in John 6:44, no one can come to Christ unless drawn by the Father. This highlights the passive role of individuals in coming to faith, entirely reliant upon God's initiative. The Holy Spirit not only opens our eyes to our need for salvation but also instills the faith necessary to respond to the gospel. This emphasizes that our belief does not stem from our own volition, but from God’s grace at work within us.

Q: Why is it important to understand grace in salvation?

Understanding grace is crucial because it teaches us that salvation is solely a work of God, not based on our merit. Grace is foundational to the Christian faith as it underscores the reality that salvation is not something we can earn or achieve through our actions; it is entirely a gift from God. Romans 5:20 affirms that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, highlighting the overwhelming nature of God's grace in addressing human sinfulness. Recognizing this helps us appreciate the depth of our need for a Savior and the richness of God's mercy towards us. For example, Jacob’s story illustrates that God’s grace is given even when we are unworthy. When we understand grace in salvation, we learn to depend entirely on Christ’s righteousness, leaving behind any notion of self-reliance.

Q: What does the Bible say about God's unchangeable promises?

The Bible assures that God's promises are unchangeable and certain, fulfilling His will perfectly. God’s promises are described as immutable, meaning they cannot be altered or revoked. In Numbers 23:19, it states that God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. This means when God declares something, it is as good as done. Similarly, Isaiah 46:10 affirms that God’s counsel shall stand and He will accomplish what He pleases. For believers, this brings tremendous comfort, as our hope rests in the certainty of God's steadfast promises. In salvation, when God declares us righteous, that declaration stands firm, independent of our actions or failures.

Q: How does the Holy Spirit work in the salvation of a sinner?

The Holy Spirit works in salvation by convicting sinners of their sin and making them willing to come to Christ. The Holy Spirit plays an essential role in the process of salvation. As highlighted in John 16:8, the Spirit convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. This initial work of opening a person’s eyes to their need for salvation is vital, as it leads to their realization of being lost and in need of grace. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit does not just stop at conviction; He also empowers and enables the believer to respond in faith. By regenerating the heart and imparting faith, the Spirit ensures that no one can come to Christ unless they are first made willing. This demonstrates the complete sovereignty of God in drawing people to Himself.

Blessings from God will come
down in the east now. Praise my faithful man. Praise my faithful man. That's a good hymn. You can worship
singing that hymn. That's what worship is, describing
the hymn. glory, all faithfulness, all
the work of salvation. Genesis 27 now. Genesis chapter
27. Let's read verses 30 through Let's read down through verse
40. And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing
Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of
Isaac his father, that he saw his brother came in from his
hunting. And he also had made savory meat, and brought it into
his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise,
and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me. And
Isaac, his father, said unto him, Who art thou? And he said,
I am thy son, thy firstborn, Esau. And Isaac trembled very
exceedingly, and said, Who? Where is he that hath taken venison,
and brought it me? And I have eaten of all before
thou camest, and have blessed him, yea, and he shall be And
when he saw, heard the words of his father, he cried with
a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father,
Bless me, even me also, O my father. And Isaac said, Thy brother came
with subtlety, and hath taken away thy blessing. And Isaac
said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? He hath supplanted me
these two times. He took away my birthright. Behold,
now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved
a blessing for me? And Isaac answered and said unto
Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren
have I given to him for servants. And with corn and wine have I
sustained him. And what shall I do now unto
thee, my son? And Esau said unto his father,
Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also,
O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice
and wept. And Isaac his father answered
and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness
of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above. By thy
sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother. And it shall
come to pass, when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou
shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." There's a few more things I wanted
us to note about this blessing of Jacob before we get into this
story here. There's just so many things.
I told one of the brothers that we went through 29, almost 30,
verses of Scripture this morning in 45 minutes or less. That's
only a minute and a half per verse, and you could spend that
long on one verse. in that passage we read. We just
skimmed the surface of that glorious story of Jacob receiving the
blessing. But there are some more things
that we need to note, some things that you and I talked about after
the morning service, some things I considered more fully. The
story we saw this morning, if you were here, how that Jacob
was not deserving of the blessing from
the Father, but Rebekah, his mother, disguised him as Esau. And we saw how that was a picture
of every sinner being made righteous, being found in Christ, being
blessed as if they had done the things that Jesus Christ had
done. And all of that was the work
of the Holy Spirit. See, like Jacob. Jacob was totally passive when
all that was going on this morning. Did you notice that? Jacob just
standing around. Rebecca was doing everything.
Rebecca did it all. Jacob was totally passive during
all this. She's the one that devised the
way, that thought of the plan. She's the one that spoke to him.
He wasn't He wasn't really looking for the blessing. He wasn't.
He wasn't doing anything. He was passive. She spoke to
him and said, You want to be blessed, don't you? It made him willing. She drew
him. She drew him. She instructed
him. She clothed him with the raiment
of Esau. She prepared the savory meat
that he could take in. to the father, she compelled
him to go. Go! Oh, I don't want to, he won't
let me. Go! You see, he was totally passive.
He was unwilling, unwitting, unknowing, ignorant. And that's
a picture of the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation. The
sovereign, we call it invincible, irresistible work of God's Holy
Spirit in salvation. We're passive in this thing of
salvation. We're passive. We're ignorant. We don't know
God. We don't know Christ. We don't
know the gospel. We don't know we need a gospel.
We don't know we need the blessing. We don't know how to get it.
We don't want it. And when told about, told about
how to get it, we're unwilling. We're, we won't go. We won't come. You will not come
unto me, he said. Christ said, you will not come.
No man can and no man will except the Holy Spirit of God come.
to them and teach them, show them their need. And the first
thing the Holy Spirit does is show a person that they're sinners,
that they need saving. He gets them lost. Ross Barnard,
a great old evangelist, not like these fools today, called himself
an evangelist. He was a true gospel preacher,
and he said, I'm not trying to get people saved. He said, My
job as an evangelist is to get people lost. I want people to be lost, plum
lost. I mean, without hope, without
God, without help, without strength. Utterly desperate people. And
the Holy Spirit's the one that does that. The Holy Spirit must
convict the person of their sin. That's the first thing he does.
A person that they're lost, undone, unclean, without God, without
hope, and that they need saving. And if there's nothing they can
do to be saved. That's what the Holy Spirit says, nothing they
can do. And he teaches them, you stand, you stand still and
you watch the salvation of the Lord. You stand still, you be,
you stand still. Be still and know I'm God, the
Holy Spirit, and watch me work. And the Holy Spirit instructs
us in the gospel, and the Holy Spirit clothes us and imputes
the righteousness of Christ to us, applies the blood, and makes
us willing. The Holy Spirit has to make a
man call on him, or a man's never going to call on the Lord. A
man or a woman's never going to call on Christ unless the
Holy Spirit first calls on them. Won't do it. Why? Because the
Scripture says, we're dead and trespass against them. And a
dead man can't call. He won't call. The Holy Spirit
makes a man call. That's the reason, you know,
I speak to our young people. I don't beg, but I implore, I
beseech, I warn, I persuade, I do everything I can within
my power to persuade them of their need of Christ. And they
look at me at times like many adults do, too. Like I'll be glad when this all
is over. It takes the power of the Holy
Spirit. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit. And it's the
same thing with me every time I hear the gospel. Every time
you hear the gospel, it takes the power of the Holy Spirit
to show you your need of Christ, to make the gospel sweet to you,
and make you willing to call, make you come to Christ, make
you believe. Faith is the gift of God the
Holy Spirit. He creates repentance. It causes
a person to call, he creates faith in Christ, he makes them
willing, he compels them to come. It's all the work of the Holy
Spirit with passiveness. With passiveness. That's the
sovereign work of the Spirit. And another thing I wanted you
to notice about what we looked at this morning. Isaac was going
to bless Esau, wasn't he? And that was wrong of Isaac.
God told, Isaac knew, God heard what, or Isaac heard what God
said to Rebekah, that the elder shall serve the younger. Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Isaac heard that. Well, he's
going to bless Esau anyway. He loved Esau, and I'm going
to bless Esau, he said. He's my boy, my oldest boy. I'm
going to bless him." God said, No, you're not. No, you're not. Yes, I am. No, you're not. God had purpose. You see, what God purposes, God
carries out. Inspired the best laid plans
of man or man's will or purposes or man's wrath or whatever. God
had chosen and loved Esau or Jacob. And God had spoken it,
and there was no way that Isaac was going to bless Esau. No way. Even if he'd had perfect eyesight,
somehow or another, he'd have blessed Jacob. That's God's sovereign
power, isn't it? Aren't you glad salvation's like
that? Aren't you glad salvation is against your will? God saves
every man against his will. Because John 1.13 says, it's
not by the will of man or the will of flesh, but of God. You see, I was unwilling. I've
told you my story and you were the same way. Like Saul of Tarsus. Saul, whose name was turned to
Paul. He wasn't, he was said, I was a blasphemer, a persecutor. I was dead set in my ways. And nobody's going to change
me. Oh, yes, somebody will. Nobody's going to change my mind.
Oh, yes. See, this is the power of God
Almighty. This is the sovereign power of God. Our God does as
He will, and even with the will of man. Now, that's power, isn't
it? Scripture says he's declared
to be the Son of God with power. How much power? All power, he
said, is given unto me. All power. Power over the will,
the minds of men. Now, that's power, isn't it?
Now, you might be able to physically make me say something or do something.
You might be able to overpower me. Steve Parks there's a big
fella. He might physically make, overpower me and make me do or
say something, but he cannot, he cannot make me change my mind
or think the way I'm thinking or whatever. You cannot impose
your will on me. God can and God does. That's
what he must do in order to save us. He must make us willing. I didn't want salvation. I was
having a big old time in my former life, in my former pursuit. I didn't want this stuff. I'd
had enough of that growing up. I was done with that. And now I was going my own way,
my own way, on my own. Happy, go lucky. But God, like Saul of Tarsus,
stopped my wild career. And he said in the things he
did, he's. Things he did in his sovereign
province to bring me to his feet to bring me to my knees spiritually. He said in so many words, it's
hard. You get these bricks in. It sure
is, Lord. And eventually you stop kicking. Say, man, God doesn't bring a
man kicking and screaming against his will in a way he does. In
a way, I wasn't willing, didn't want it, but thank God He willed
my salvation and made me willing. Psalm 110, verse 3, made me willing
in the day of His power. And that's what it takes, His
power, the power of His Holy Spirit. Power. God saves a man
against his will with his full consent. If you can understand
that, that's what salvation is. against a man's will. In other
words, I didn't want it, wasn't seeking it, not even interested. And God made me will it. God
made me interested. And once he made me interested,
he had my full consent. Against his will changes the
will of a man, changes the will of a woman, changes the want
to, and makes them consenting. Consenting, not adults, consenting
children. All right, so he saw, you know,
Isaac was going to bless Esau. Is he going to bless him? No,
he wasn't. No way. No way. I like that. You know, if God says, I'm going
to be saved, who or what shall separate me from the love of
God? Didn't we read that in Romans
8? Did you rejoice in that? Who? What? Paul starts listening
to something. Well, let's think of anything.
Life? Anything in this life? No. Death?
No. That'll join it. Persecution? Famine? Taking the
sword? Peril? Trials? He bled. Nothing. No
one. Why? He's God. Another thing. Rebecca and Jacob, man, I'm telling you, they, these
two were rotten to the core, weren't they? Tell us, what if
your wife did this to you? What if they did this to you?
What they did for O.I.C.? Huh? Boy, I tell you, you know
what I'd do. They schemed, they connived,
they tricked. They were rotten, sinful people. See, Rebecca and Jacob were. Scripture says where sin abounded,
though, grace did much more abound. This was a story of two scheming,
rotten, sinful people tricking this man, underhanded, lowlife
people tricking this poor old blind man. Sin abounded, but
grace did much more abound. In spite of it all, through it
all, the purpose of God was accomplished. The purpose of God. We saw one
of the greatest pictures of Christ through these people's sin. Right? Through their sin, we saw the
glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. They meant
it for evil. Well, God meant it for good,
didn't he? To accomplish his purpose. Nothing, and this is
what I'm trying to say, nothing and no one can thwart God Almighty's
purpose. The scripture says, even the
wrath of man shall praise him. Go ahead, get mad, God said.
I love that text, or that saying by the old Puritan. He said,
Satan, he said, Satan, with every blow of his hammer against the
child of God, and Satan does attack Christ said, Satan, like
a roaring lion, walketh through the earth, seeking whom he may
devour. He said to Peter, Satan hath desire to sift thee like
wheat, but he can't touch you. And if he does, like Job, it
will redound to my glory and your good. Satan, the saying
says, Satan, with every blow of his hammer or his hand, sweats
at the task of conforming God's people to his Son. Like a man trying to destroy
something somebody else built, and with every blow he builds
it. A man make a sculpture and a fella
come along to try to destroy it, and he hits it and something
beautiful comes out of it. That's not what I meant to do!
Not that either! That's the power of God, too,
isn't it? To take the wrath of man, to take the wrath of Satan,
and turn it to his own purposes. That's power. That's my God.
That's my God. Satan isn't alive and well on
planet Earth. I don't care what Hal Lindsey
said. God says he's on a leash. He's God's devil. Scripture says
that God has reserved the angels who kept not their first estate
in everlasting chains of darkness. Satan is one of those. He's on
a cane. God lets out his leash every
now and then, and he does what he wants to and wills to do,
but he does what God determines for him to do, to work out his
purpose. Do you believe that? If you don't,
I'd run and live in a cave. And if I didn't believe that,
if I didn't believe God was even in charge of the devil, I'd be
living in a cave right now. I'd have my daughter. There might
be another Waco in Rocky Mountain. There might storm this church,
Stan. Oh, no. Come hell or high water. We just
read that in Romans. Who? What? When am I going to
get to Genesis 27? In a minute. In a minute. And the wrath of man shall praise
him. Now, what we're going to see from here on out in the life
of Jacob, I couldn't wait to get to this
either. the life of Jacob, all in his life, all that came to
pass in his life, all that he did and all that God did in spite
of all he did. What a rotten fellow this fellow
Jacob was. But God says, I'm the God of
Jacob, and all you sons of Jacob that are just like him are not
consumed. Why? Because I'm God of Jacob's.
I saved Jacob's. Jacob's have I loved. And what
I, who I say I love their love, they stay loved. What a rich,
what an undeserving fellow this fellow Jacob was. We've already
seen that, haven't we? From the very outset we've seen
him to be nothing but a cheat, nothing but a cheat. But God,
who is rich in mercy, set his love on old Jacob, and he shows
us through Jacob in Ephesians 2, 7, the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward Jacob, or toward us, through
Christ Jesus. And he adds this, "'Buddy, by
grace you're saved.'" By grace you're saved. Jacob knew it.
I started to name this title, this message, Dictum Factum.
You'd know what that means, wouldn't you? This should be very encouraging
to you, if it hadn't already. Genesis 27, look down here at
verse 41. Now, this is a type, again, but
it, like all types, any type, it can't, like my pastor says,
it can't walk on four legs. It can't make everything say
what it doesn't say, period. to be Christ, everything. Sometimes
things are anti-types. In other words, they have, they're typical of, but in the
opposite sense. They're typical of Christ, but
in the opposite sense. In other words, the opposite
of what happened here is what Christ is and does. All right,
look at verse 41. It says, He saw, hated Jacob
because of his blessing. Well, you see, Christ It was
the love of Christ that gave us the blessing. He said, I've
loved them with an everlasting love. And therefore, he was made
a curse for us. He willingly, Esau didn't willingly. It was against Esau's will. Christ
willingly, for the joy set before him, was made a curse for us,
that we might have the blessing. He was, though he was rich, yet
for your sakes he became poor. Was he begrudging? Oh, it made
him happy. That's what pleased him. It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He saw a purpose to kill Jacob.
See that, verse 42? Verse 41, he says, The days of
mourning for my mind, an old man is going to kick the bucket,
he said, and I'm going to slay my brother Jacob. See that? He purposed to kill
Jacob. Christ, all of Christ's purpose
was to lie. So it's the opposite. Jacob started
running from Esau. He ran from it. Scared to death
of it. Ran from him. We run to Christ. We run to him. He who has made
a curse. And we have received a blessing,
and not rightfully so. We don't run from him. We run
to him. All right, you remember the story. Jacob was a scoundrel,
a supplanter. He was instructed by his mother
how to obtain the blessing, and Isaac blesses Jacob. He blesses Jacob because Jacob
looked and felt and smelled like Esau. We saw this morning how
that's a picture of the sinner. having the righteousness of Christ
imputed to him, the works of Christ imputed to him, the blood
of Christ shed on his behalf, and the holy God accepts them
in Christ, because he sees them, he views them as in Christ. Well,
Esau returns. All right, Esau returns to be
blessed, and he finds out that Jacob was blessed instead of
him. Now look at verse 32 and 3 again. Isaac, his father, said unto
him, Who are you? And he said, I am your son, your
firstborn, Esau. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly
and said, Who? Who? Where is he that hath brought
me, gotten the venison and brought
it me? And I have eaten all of it before you came, and I have
blessed Yea, and he shall be blessed." Now, that's the verse, as I was
reading this, that just jumped out at me. Isaac said, I blessed
him, and he shall be blessed. He shall be blessed, though he
didn't deserve it, though it wasn't rightfully his, though
he didn't do anything to merit it. I have blessed him, and what
I've said can't be taken back. I've spoken it, and it'll come
to pass. What's done is done. Said, done. Victim, faithful. It's been said, it shall be done. So it is written, so let it be
done. I caught my eye. I blessed him
and he shall be blessed." There's no reversing it. Isaac said,
there's no reversing what I've done. No reversing it. No changing
my mind. But, Daddy, can't you change
it just a word? I won't change my mind. My immutable
mind. My immutable decrees cannot be
changed. What's said is done. That there is this old sinner's
hope of salvation. All my hope, all my hope is based
upon this one firm foundation, that what God has said shall
be done. That what God has promised, it
will also come to pass. And he will. That what God has
spoken surely will be done. What God has promised must surely
come to pass. That forever, O Lord, thy word
is settled in heaven. Like Isaiah 46, 10 says, My counsel
shall stand. I have spoken it, I'll bring
it to pass. I have purposed it, I'm going
to do it. Well, what has God purposed?
Why has God spoken? What has God said? All right?
Just a few more minutes, you'll get a blessing. You got five
minutes? Barbara, you got five? Okay. Turn over to the book of
John. We don't need to go any further.
We don't need to, you know, you could begin in Genesis 1 and
go on. We could go on all night. I could
preach till midnight. But one of you would fall asleep
and break your neck, and I can't heal you. But you don't have to go any
further than the book of John. Let's just go over to the book
of John. Let's look at some of the things that our Lord, the
Word incarnate, Christ God, manifests in the flesh. Let's hear what
he has to say. When he came here, let's hear
some of these blessed promises. John 3, the Gospel of John, chapter
3. And let's not let the Arminian
world take away the comfort and the glory and the marvel of these
verses. OK? I'm tired. Let the pod church strive. Let's
draw the promise out of this. Let's draw the goodness out of
this. Quit arguing about the word world. John 3, verse 14
through 16. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
He must. Why? Because man has been bitten
by sin. The people were dying. Those
people in the wilderness were dying. having been bitten by
snakes. Moses made a snake in the form
of that, or in the likeness of that one that bit them, that
was causing them to die left and right, and hung it on a pole.
And he said, look and be healed. What significance is that? Well,
even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. Christ was made sin for us, made
in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was actually made our sins. That which is bitten us, that
which is caused us to die dead in trespasses and sin. Christ
was lifted up like that serpent on the pole, crucified, and everyone
who looks to him as their sin bearer, God said, will be healed,
will be saved. That everyone, verse 15, whosoever
believeth in him, believeth what? Believe that Jesus came and lived
and died and rose again, that it—no, just trust, believe, depends,
looks to Him as their salvation. Truly believes that Christ had
to die, must be lifted up, has to be their sin-bearer, has to
be their substitute. Whosoever believeth in Him, that
He is their only hope, His blood, His righteousness, will not perish,
but have eternal life. Yeah, but there's more. No. No. No, there's not. Is there any
conditions to that? Anything else? Whosoever believeth
in him won't perish, but will have eternal life. I believe. Do you? Anybody else? I do. You're safe. Is that it? That's it. That's it. He's it. That's it. That's all as far as I'm concerned,
as far as God's concerned. Verse 16, 4, God so loved the
world, he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him. Now, this is the Son of God talking. Whosoever believes
in him. But you don't know how sinful
I am. Whosoever. I love that word. I'm a Calvinist,
and I love that word. I'm one of them, one of those
whosoever. You didn't know me before the
Lord saved me. And if you'd have read this and said, whosoever,
and looked at me, you'd say, no, that ain't true. Well, he
won't. Oh, yes. Whosoever. Even that scumbag. Cellar dweller. Come on, somebody
give me a worse adjective. Lower than a snake's belly. Jacob. That's what I want. Jacob, am,
was. Oh, whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life. Look over at Romans. No, John
3. I told you I wasn't going to
turn you further, didn't I? John 3, look at verse 30. John
3, verse 34, God says, He whom God hath sent speaketh the words
of God. Christ says, I am speaking from
God here. Speaking from God, all right?
Verse 36, all right, now listen. He said, and you listen, He that
believeth on the Son, not might have, not will someday hope to
have, not a hope of hope, cross my heart, hope of die, hath. everlasting life. He that believeth
on the Son hath. Now! Beloved, now! I won't preach on that, John.
Now! Are we the sons of God. Beloved,
now! Wash your hope and save some. Now! He that believeth. You believe? Now! He hath everlasting life. He
that believeth not the Son shall not see him. The wrath of God
abideth on him. John chapter 6, turn over there,
and I'm just reading you some blessed promises. This is something
you could have gleaned for yourself. Just look through the Word to
find these promises. Romans 8, he says in verse 1,
Romans 8 and 1, don't you love that? There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Not someday. Now. No condemnation. And it says that we read that
in verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. God says, justify. You can't
do that. I just did. God said. You can't. He says, you can't
bless. I did. What's did is done. What's said is done, I won't
change it. God says whoever comes to Christ, not that old sinner,
yes, whosoever will be saved is saved, is saved. No condemnation. That old Pharisee and the publican. If the Pharisee had known after
his over that God had justified the publicans in his stead, You
remember the story, don't you? The Pharisee and the publican
came in the temple, and the Pharisee said, Oh, I thank you. I'm no
sinner. Liquor has never touched my lip. I've never smoked or
drank or cussed or chewed or ran around with women that do.
I've never done this and never done that. I've tithed and I've
given a ten percent of all I've sent at Sunday school. I've got
tennis pins down to my shoes. Oh, I'm such a pious man. I pray
every morning when I read my Bible. I thank you, Lord. I'm not like other men. I'm not
like that old Pharisee back there. Why, he, oh, listen to this.
He last Saturday, and so on and so forth. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Everybody see me praying? And then that old publican, a
rotten snake of a sinner. No good bum, and he knew it,
and everybody else did, too. Everybody knew him. Everybody
turned thumbs down on him. Just an old sinner, like a harlot.
Like somebody like that, standing in the back, wouldn't come up
front, wasn't presumptuous, wouldn't dare to presume that he had any
business even in the place. But he snuck in there, and he
sat in the back, and he beat on his chest like trying to get
the sin out of him, and said, God be—all he could say was,
God be merciful to me, I'm a sinner. The sinner. The sinner. You know
what Christ said? The Son of God. He who has all
power and all authority given unto him, the only one that can
justify, and whatever he says is done and nobody can change
it. You know what God said? Here's this religious fellow,
here's this old rotten sinner. God says, this man's justified,
this man's going to hell. Why? Well, it wasn't because
of either one of them, anything they did. No. Anything that wasn't
man wasn't justified because of what he did. This man wasn't
going to be saved because of what he did. It was all because of what
Christ said. Christ said, justified. You can't do that. I just did.
That's what that Pharisee would have said. You can't do that.
You have no right. Oh. I just did. Cannot I do with
my own what I will? This is what the world hates
about the sovereignty of God. This is what this old sinner
loves about it. Huh? You feel yourself to be an undeserving,
hell-deserving, but heaven-deserving sinner, rotten, you've never
done anything to deserve God's merit, and God says, saved. Oh, man, you shout. He said,
I love that. I love that. I love sovereign
grace and sovereign mercy. God says, I'll be merciful to
whom I will be merciful. And ain't nobody going to say
nothing about it. So what shall we say to these
things? I say, yippee. Who is he that condemneth? Christ
died. Now there is another thing. Who
shall lay in the charge of God's elect? You know, there's lots
of things that the devil and my conscience, everybody can
lay to my charge. Why, why, why, why? Just this
morning. Why, just a moment ago. Just a minute ago, he was thinking
the most awful, hellish, hell-deserving thoughts. God says, justify it. You like that? Find me one sinner
in here and he'll like it. You'll love it. Yeah, that'll
be all. He's cause for rejoicing. Who
shall lay anything to charge of God's elect? God to justify. Who is he that condemneth? How
can God justify an ungodly sinner? Christ died. Sins are paid for. God just doesn't
up and forgive sins. Something's got to be done about
it. As Scripture says too many times he will by no means clear
the guilty. Those sins have to be paid for.
Either I'm going to pay for them in hell throughout eternity.
Or Jesus Christ paid for them for me on the cross. And if he
did that for me, buddy, sister, they're gone. I mean they're
paid for. He's got the receipts. And he's
seated in heaven right now. Showing the receipts. Scars. He said, I died that he may live. I died. That's the reason he's
keeping those scars. That's what I'm going to be looking
for. I'll be looking for scars up in heaven. That paid my redemption. John 6, what God says shall be
forever. John 6, verse 39. Look at this. This is the Father's will. All
right? This is the will of God. which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me." Right there's
election people. All he has given me. See, he's the shepherd, and he's
been given a sheep. He knows them by name. He comes
calling them, and they're going to follow him. All which he hath
given me, I should lose nothing. Nothing. but raise him up again
at the last day. Verse forty, And this is the
will of him that sent me, the will of God, that every one that
seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up. Have you seen the Son? Have you? I have. Oh yeah, I have. It's not these silly pictures,
you know, that look like Wild Bill Hickok, that people have,
where he's like Brother James says, Wild Bill Hickok, before
he died, he was leaning over a rock, looking at aces and spades,
playing poker. And they got this silly picture
of some fellow who looks like he's supposed to be Jesus, leaning
on a rock, you know. That's Wild Bill Hickok, who
that is. That ain't him. No man has seen him. There's
no description of him in all the Bible. That's idolatry. God says, you shall not make
any graven image of anything. What do they do? Paint a picture
of Jesus. What's he look like? Well, this is what I think he
looks like. Where does it say that? Not in the Bible. You want
to paint a picture of Jesus Christ? You paint him as he looks, what
he looks like there in Revelation 1. It says, "...clothed with a garment
down to the foot, head and hair like white as wool, white as
snow, eyes as a flame of fire, feet like fine brass that burned
in a furnace." John said, I would have painted a picture of him,
but I fell dead. I fell dead. Nothing can describe
his likeness. Nothing will do. I've seen him,
though. Have you seen him? That's what
he said here, he that seeth the Son. I've seen him through his
word, people, through the gospel. I've beheld his glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace. Have you? I've
seen him. I've seen him as my hope, my
plea, my righteousness, my sin-bearer, my substitute, my lawgiver, my
Messiah, my mediator, my intercessor, my high priest, my advocate,
my Lord, my Savior, the Holy One of Israel. All these things,
I've seen him. I've seen him. The Fairest of Ten Thousand,
The Bright and Morning Star, The Rose of Sharon, The Lily
of the Valley, My Boaz, My Kindred Redeemer, The Scarlet Lion, The
Servant on a Pole, The Arches in the Wilderness, The Tabernacle,
The High Priest, The Altar, Deborah... Go on. I've seen him as all these
things. I've seen him. Have you seen
him? I've seen him through his words. Oh, he that has a dream
talks about seeing a nine hundred foot Jesus like Oral Robert.
My Jesus is bigger than that. Nine hundred feet, kind of small,
ain't he? He couldn't have the, he couldn't
sit on the circle of the earth, or have it in the palm of his
hand, nine hundred feet, ain't big enough. Yes, it's that. It
ain't big enough. He, my Jesus Christ, has the
universe in the palm of his hand, like a speck, an infinitesimal,
like Edwards saying, infinitesimal speck in the palm of my Lord's
hand. That's how big he is, bigger
than that. Look at verse 47, and this is
what he said, "'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth
on me, people to barely, barely. When Christ says something, you
can believe it. When he says barely, you can believe it. When he says barely, barely, you dart, bird, you sound, double
dog, dare you, you ought to believe it. You ought to believe it. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life." Who's the
me? You've got to have the right one now. The right one. The one with all power. The one
who's all salvation. John 10. Turn over there quickly.
John 10, so I can get done in 45 minutes. John 10. Look at
this, verse 27 and 28. Look at verse 26. I'd like to read the whole chapter,
wouldn't you? Verse 26, he says to some Pharisees,
he says, You don't believe, do you? They said, No. He said,
I know, because you're not my sheep. Do you believe not? Because you're not my sheep,
like I said to you. My sheep hear my voice. I know. How do you know? I've
got their names written on my breastplate, on my heart. Their
names are written in a book that I've got memorized and sealed. How do you know? Because they've
been given to me by the Father. I've got perfect recall. I know
them all. They have engraved their names on the palms of my
hands. You remember me telling you about
baptizing one of our ladies, and she hadn't been coming along,
and I wrote her name on my palm so I wouldn't forget it? It's
happened. My dad married a girl, married
her, and called her by the wrong name. He said, Do you so-and-so take... Her name was Kathy, and he called
her Debbie. Do you Debbie take mine? He said it two or three
times. Two or three times, well, I didn't
want to do that in something so, you know, married, not serious. Those people divorced. Those two divorced. At any rate,
I wrote that girl's name on the palm of my hand. I said, I don't
want to forget her name. You know, this is too serious.
It's too important. It's too glorious here. And I
wrote her name, and it was just as I baptized Isaiah, my sister. and looked at my palm. And Christ
went to that cross to pay for those sins. He has names written
on it. Who are you doing this for, Lord?
John Davis. You got it right there. There's
a name right there. Mary Parks. Yeah, I got a name
right there. And a number which no man can
see. His hands have to be big to hold all those names. But
he said, Dad, I've engraved you on the palms of my hands. And he said to some, you don't
believe because you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice.
I know them. I know them. And they follow
me. Have you heard his voice? Oh,
I have. I have. In the gospel, I've heard
his voice. Oh, so powerfully. I've sat and
listened to men preach the gospel. And it was as if God himself
did beseech me by him, just as really, the voice as a sound
of many voices. I've heard it both ways, a still,
small voice and a great, powerful voice. I've heard it preached
many ways. But it was the voice of God, nonetheless, the voice
of the shepherd. And they followed me, he said.
Here I am, following him. They follow me, and I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish." That soul that
on the Lord Jesus Christ hath leaned for repose, Song says,
I'll never. No, never. No, never. desert to its public. Never. And in closing, one more. 1 John 5, in closing. I promise
you this will be it. 1 John 5. And you see, I have
eternal life. Can I be so presumptuous to say
that, that I have eternal life? People, that's not presumption.
It's just faith. I've told you this before. I
have full assurance part of the time. Part of the time. But you know,
our assurance should be totally, but the reason I don't have full
assurance all the time is because I'm looking to myself. The times
when I'm not looking to Christ and I'm looking within and I'm
saying, you're too simple. How could you be a child of God
if you do that? How could like me a child of God and do what
he did? Huh? He was. You see, I'm looking
within. I don't look within. Where do
you look? Where do you look for some assurance, huh? Don't look
within. Do you ever go in your bathroom
and look in a commode for something good? That might be crude. But this
heart is a cesspool of iniquity, isn't it? I'm not going to look
there. That ain't nothing good. It stinks. It's desperately wicked. Where
you going to look? Christ said, look unto me and
be ye saved. Look unto me and be ye saved. I have eternal life. How do I
know? I ain't going to look within for any answers. I'm going to
look right here. for the answers. I know because
he said so. But you can't be. Look what you
did. I don't care what you say. Put a sign up. Believer, put
a sign on your door like our brother said. Put a sign on your
door for all these religious Pharisees to see. Put a sign
on your door that says, Do not disturb. Resting. Resting in Christ. Trust in Christ
alone. Don't disturb me. Don't disturb
my people. 1 John 5, it says in verse 11,
this is the record. God has given up to us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. God hath. He that hath the
Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know. that you have eternal life. You may believe even more fully
on the name of the Son of God. Do you? I believe. Lord, help
my unbelief. Verse 20, well, we know. And
you know that he was manifested to take away our sin, and in
him is no sin. And we know that the Son of God
has come and has given us an understanding that we may know
him that is true. And we are in him that is true.
Even in his son, Jesus Christ, people get that he's God, and
that's eternal life. He's God. And he says, I blessed
him, and he'll be back. What I've said shall be done. And nothing and no one can change
it. Nothing and no one can change
it. Boy, I like that. You ought to
be able to eat that meat for a few days. Go in the strength
of that. Comfort one another with these
words. All right. Stand and I'll dismiss it. Oh, Heavenly Father, we thank
you for the gospel. Glad tidings. Good news. Full, free, final, effectual,
The salvation that's in Christ Jesus and Him alone, Lord God,
we thank You that salvation is of the Lord. We thank You that
Christ is all and in all, all our hope. We thank You. Sinners,
sinners, thank You. Sinners see their need of a Savior,
and we're so thankful that He came seeking to save the lost,
and He did just that. He saved them. It's all our hope
and all our plea that when Christ died, he died for me. And we're
justified. Christ died. It's in his name
we've met together in hopes that we've worshiped and treated your
scriptures as they should be. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

What's Said Is Done

What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty in salvation?

How do we know faith is a gift from God?

Why is it important to understand grace in salvation?

What does the Bible say about God's unchangeable promises?

How does the Holy Spirit work in the salvation of a sinner?

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What's Said Is Done

What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty in salvation?

How do we know faith is a gift from God?

Why is it important to understand grace in salvation?

What does the Bible say about God's unchangeable promises?

How does the Holy Spirit work in the salvation of a sinner?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

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