The Way The Lord Leads

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

The Bible teaches that God sovereignly elects those who will be saved, as seen in Ephesians 1:4-5. The Scriptures affirm that God's will is paramount in the salvation of sinners. Ephesians 1:4-5 states that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, demonstrating that our salvation is not contingent upon our actions but solely on God's sovereign purpose. This truth is echoed in Romans 8:29-30, which outlines God's foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification of His chosen people. Each stage in this process underscores God's initiative and control over salvation, assuring us that it is not our cooperation but His grace that secures our eternal destiny.

Q: How do we know that God loves us?

God's love is demonstrated through Christ's sacrificial death for His people, as outlined in Romans 5:8. The certainty of God's love for His people is most clearly exhibited in the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ. Romans 5:8 states, 'But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' This verse encapsulates the biblical understanding that God's love is not merely an abstract feeling but is deeply tied to action—specifically, the act of redemption through Christ's death. Furthermore, only those who are in Christ by faith can experience the fullness of God's love, as His love is particular to His elect. Thus, the assurance of God's love is anchored in faith in Christ, affirming that His love is everlasting and effectual.

Q: Why is God's holiness important for Christians?

God's holiness underscores His nature and shapes how believers are to live in relationship with Him, as highlighted in Isaiah 6:3. The holiness of God is central to understanding both His character and how believers are to respond to Him. Isaiah 6:3 illustrates this by depicting the seraphim declaring, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.' This thrice-repeated proclamation emphasizes that God's holiness is fundamental to His being. For Christians, understanding God's holiness invites a deeper reverence and humility before Him, recognizing that He cannot tolerate sin. Consequently, believers are called to pursue holiness in their lives (1 Peter 1:15-16), conforming to the image of Christ, who epitomizes perfect holiness. By striving for holiness, Christians reflect God's character and demonstrate gratitude for the grace that saves and transforms them.

Q: What is the purpose of trials in a Christian's life?

Trials serve to refine believers and draw them closer to Christ, as indicated in James 1:2-4. James 1:2-4 encourages believers to consider it pure joy when facing trials because they produce perseverance. This perseverance is crucial for spiritual maturity, highlighting that God sovereignly uses difficult circumstances to achieve His sanctifying work within us. By enduring trials, believers develop a stronger faith and deeper reliance on God's grace. Furthermore, as the sermon suggests, trials can humble believers and lead them to recognize their dependence on the Lord. This humbling process, coupled with God's love and guidance through hardship, reassures believers that even the most challenging situations are under His sovereign control, ultimately leading to growth and spiritual fruitfulness.

Q: Why is it important to understand God's justice?

Understanding God's justice helps us appreciate His righteousness and the gravity of sin, as shown in Psalm 5:5. God's justice is integral to understanding the fullness of His character. Psalm 5:5 states that God 'hatest all workers of iniquity', emphasizing that God is not only loving but also just. His justice means that He must deal with sin appropriately, ensuring that righteousness prevails. For believers, this understanding deepens our appreciation for the work of Christ, who took on the punishment for our sins. Recognizing the severity of divine justice encourages believers to reflect on their own sinfulness and the grace extended to them through Christ's atoning sacrifice. This perspective also instills a sense of awe and reverence for God, fostering a desire to honor Him in our lives, knowing that He is both just and merciful.

God gives us hope in the night
season and all the day long. Now turn back with me to Deuteronomy chapter 8. Deuteronomy chapter eight. First, I want to read a verse
to you from Isaiah fifty five. Isaiah fifty five, verse eight.
Says this. Listen carefully. God says. My thoughts. are not your thoughts. Neither
are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. My thoughts are not
your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. All of us by nature, including
me, are ignorant of the will and
the ways of God Almighty. God is a spirit. We're flesh. We're ignorant by nature of our
own understanding. We don't understand God. We don't
understand His way. And modern preachers don't help
us any. When we turn the TV on or the
radio or whatever, most modern false prophets, is what Scripture
calls them, they don't help matters any by what they're telling us.
They just confuse us a little more. As a matter of fact, what most
preachers preaching today are telling folks about God, His
will, His ways, is exactly the opposite of what's true. Most of what is being said today
is exactly the opposite of what is true about God and the way
he does things. Let me give you an example. Let
me tell you, and you've heard this yourself hundreds of times. The modern false gospel of today,
and Paul said in Galatians 1, that they would come preaching
another gospel, which is not the gospel. It's a perversion
of the gospel. And he said in 2 Corinthians
that they, in chapter 7, I believe it is, that it's another Jesus too. Another
Jesus. Here's what they're saying today.
And I'm not just merely making fun of what's going on and preaching
a negative message, but you have to understand, you have to compare
what is being said today and what this book said. The gospel
today goes something like this. They say God is love. Well, that
is in the scriptures, but it's just a portion of one verse.
It's just one line taken out of one verse in the scripture.
God's a whole lot more than just love. God is love, they say,
and God loves everyone and everything. Oh, buddy, I tell you, I have
to say this. If God loves everyone, why? Do things happen the way they
do? Why are things going like they go? They say God loves you
and has a wonderful plan for your life. Don't they? That's what they're
all telling us. And if you'll only cooperate,
there's the catch. If you'll cooperate with God,
everything will just be wonderful for you. But some of you have tried that,
haven't you? They say, God loves you, but
you have some faults, say, this is a problem. You have some faults.
You have sinned. So God sent his son Jesus down
here to show you how to live. He came down here to show you
how to live, but sadly, men rejected him. But If you'll accept Him
as your personal Savior, and later on, if convenient, make
Him your Lord, then He'll save you. If I accept Him, He'll save me.
Sounds like I had something to do with it, didn't I? Well, anyway,
if you accept Him, He loves you and He died for you, They won't
really tell you why. But he died for you and loves
you and came to show you how to live and you'll accept him
and follow, do like he did. He'll save you and he'll make
you healthy and wealthy and happy all the days of your
life. Until the day, one day, he's
going to come back and gather all his happy kids up And they're
going to go on and live in a place called heaven that's going to
be much like earth, a carnal utopia, doing the things they
like to do. Now, is that not what they're
preaching today? Is there anybody in here that
would deny that that's what most preachers... Isn't that what
you hear on TV when you turn it on? Nothing could be further
from the truth. There's not an ounce of truth
to any of that from this book. God is love, yes. But the scripture
says in Romans 8, verse 29, that the love of God is in Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean that God put
some love in Christ to show you what love is all about. That
means that God only loves those who believe, who know, who are
in Jesus Christ by faith. You see, God is not first love. When the angels, Isaiah, it said
in chapter 6 of Isaiah that he saw the Lord high and lifted
up The whole earth was full of his glory and the world and it
says his train or his glory filled the temple and it says the cherubim,
the seraphim, the angels and all that hovered about his throne
and they cried day and night, all the time, 24 hours. These
angels were crying something, were saying something about God. And they weren't saying love,
love, love. John on the Isle of Patmos saw
this same one. And heard the elders, four and
twenty elders, fall down before his throne, saying something. And they weren't saying, God
is love, God is love, God is love. They were saying, holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. Holy. God is first holy. God is just. He will just love what's holy.
It's beyond, it's out of his nature. You see, if you understand
that God is holy, it's out of his nature to love anything that's
not holy. You understand? You understand
what we're saying here, what the Scriptures say? Loves righteousness, holiness.
He can't love anything but holiness and righteousness. The scriptures
over and over and over again say things like this. He's of
too pure eyes to even look upon iniquity. You know how things
repulse us, things, wicked things. We see it on the news and all
that. And even as wicked as we are, it repulses us. Oh, how
can? And we don't like to think about it or look. But God's of
too pure eyes to even look on it. He won't do it. He doesn't
have to, so he won't. He's holy. He's just. God says, I will by no means
clear the guilty. Right? He's just. He will punish
every sin and sins, any transgression of his law, the thought, the
word, the deed, anything. God's holy. He can't just let
it slide and be holy, can he? Well, I'll just forgive and forget.
That's what they say about God, don't they? He just said, well,
boys will be boys, you know, humans will be humans. Let's
bygones be bygones. He's such a cute little fellow.
I hate to do anything to him. I hate to send him to hell. He's
just a sweet little, poor little man. Just forgive that. I'll just forget that. No, no,
no. God will by no means clear the
guilty. All right. He is just, he is just. The scripture says he's a just
God first and a savior. But he's just first. Your sins,
my sins, have to be punished by this holy God. All right. All right. God does not love
everyone. Scripture says God does not love
everyone as matter of fact Psalm five five Psalm seven eleven
keep going. Say that God there's some people
God hates. Says God hates all workers of
iniquity. Says he's angry with the wicked every day. Scripture
plainly says that there's a man named Esau he hated. It says, six things that the
Lord hate, yea, seven are abomination. And the seventh thing is talking
about a person. Six things that the Lord hate,
yea, seven are abomination. And the seventh one is, he is
a person. He that soweth discord among the brethren. That's a
person, isn't it? God hates whoever sows discord
among the brethren. So it's plainly some people that
God hates. He does not love everyone, according
to this book, right? And I have to say this in answer
to what is being said today. If God does never love everyone,
why is there a hail? Isn't that the most horrible
picture of somebody's love you've ever heard of? The scripture
says God's love is everlasting, eternal. Whoever he loves is
everlasting. Well, I like that. That means
if I find myself in the love of God, in Christ, it's forever. No matter what I do, He'll still
love me. That doesn't make me want to
live like the devil. That makes me want to serve Him, thank Him
for it. But if God Almighty's love is
eternal, that means He still loves people that are burning
in hell right now. Right? If God loves everybody,
And if scripture says that I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, eternal love, that means the people that are burning in
hell right now, eternally tortured, God still loves them. Now that's blasphemy. That's
a mockery of God's love. A mockery. I've used this illustration
before and I'll use it again. It's such a good one. You see,
you weaken, you cheapen the love of God when you say that. God
loves everybody, and He just throws it out there, and whoever
does something with it, they're the ones that end up being saved.
That cheapens the love of God. And I've said before, I've used
the illustration of, I asked my wife to marry me. And I say,
at the time, I proposed to her, I say, Honey, would you marry
me? She says, Well, do you love me? And I say, well, yes, yeah,
I love you. Sure, I love you. I love all women. I love all women. Sure, I love
you. You're a woman. I love you. I love all women. Would that mean anything to her?
Would she feel like marrying me? She'd be a fool to do so,
wouldn't you? Because probably I'd go out and
love another woman. Right. And oh, and I say to her, honey,
yes, I love you. I've got my heart set upon you,
my affection, my love for you. You're the only woman. You're
the woman of my dream. You're the only one I want. I
want to enter into a covenant with you, to stay married with
you from now on, to love you till death do us part before
God Almighty, by the grace of God given to me. You're the one
I love. I choose no other. I choose you.
Would she marry me then? She did. She did. And that's the love of God. It's
particular. It's effectual. It's for his
people. And he comes through the message
of the gospel and says, Roberta Sword, sinner. He doesn't call
you by name because he's a sinner. Every sinner God loves. You know
that? Yeah, he does. If I can find a sinner out there,
I mean a bona fide, hell-deserving, guilty, wretched, vile sinner
who says, I don't deserve anything. I can say to that person, God
loves you. Christ came to save you. Believe
it. Believe it. He said, I'm not
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repent them. And God
says in the gospel of those people, I loved you and have loved you
with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn you. You're mine. forever. That's
good. That's the love I want. And that's
the love of the Bible. That's the love of God in the
scripture. And while God does love his people,
though, you say. I love my daughter. I just can't
put into words. Those you have children, you
can't, Rick, you can't put it into words, can you? You can
see it when I watch you look at her and she's doing something
cute. I can see it. It's written all over your face.
Your love for that little girl. And I love her with every fiber
of my being. I'd lay down my life and just
wouldn't even have to think about it. Wouldn't have to stop and
consider me or her in a minute. But sometimes she gets out of
line. Quite often you get out of line.
And I have to chase her, right? Whipper. This is the this is
a scriptural way of dealing with kids. It really is. And as I said before, if you
really love somebody, you won't abuse them. There's no way you
can abuse a child that you really love. No way. You may think you
are. They may wail like they're being
broken in half, but they're not. They just don't want another
one. But it hurts, doesn't it? Doesn't it hurt to get a spanking
or whipping or be chastened or whatever your mode of chastening
is? It's not punishment, it's chastening.
You're trying to teach them something. Right? It's not punishment. It's you're teaching them something.
You want them to understand, so they won't make the same mistake
again. But it hurts. If they're going to learn the
lesson, it's going to have to hurt. They'll never learn the lesson
unless it does hurt. Same way with me, if I'm a child of God. And see, I'm a great big, well,
five, six, seven, not great, but I'm a grown-up. I'm supposed
to have grown up. Some of us didn't make it very
far. But nevertheless, I'm a man now. And buddy, you talk about
a stubborn, you know, the older you get. Whatever God teaches
then is going to be painful. God does love his people and
has a wonderful plan for their life. He does, every one of them,
a wonderful plan for their life. But it has nothing to do with
my cooperation. If I'll make him this, make him
that. Nothing to do with it. He's already made the plan, Henry.
Already got it written down. It's forever settled in heaven.
Every step I'm going to take, everything that comes to pass
in my life has been sovereignly ordained before the foundation
of the world. And I like that, too. That means even the trouble I
get into, God somehow or another ordained it that it's going to
work out for my good. If I thought I was on my own,
I'd hide under a rock somewhere. That's exactly where we need
to hide, in the rock of Christ Jesus. But it has nothing to
do with my cooperation, my participation with Him. It has everything to
do with His sovereign purpose. And God has to do everything
You see, because I'm so fickle, so finite, so fallible, so failing,
so human, I can't do anything right. So if I'm going to get to heaven,
I'm going to have this thing called eternal life. God's going
to have to do it all. I mean every bit of it. Right? I'm like that little child. If
I left her alone now, she would die. Even if she thinks she's
seven years old, you know, big girl and all, she's growing bigger.
She's not a little, little girl anymore, but she still can't
make it on her own. And Henry, you're 60. You're
soon to be how old? 60. You won't tell. Sixty-something. Might as well be 70. Eighty-four,
I'll pick on Virgie back here. Could you make it on your own
now without God Almighty? He's led you all the way. All
the way. And God, in his infinite wisdom,
devised the only way that he could both love his people, forgive
their sins, and yet punish their sins. They have to be punished. I keep on sinning. They have
to be punished. He can't forgive them. He's got
to put them away. He can't look at me unless I'm
holy like you. I keep sinning. I'm a sinner.
Got to do something about it. I can't do it. Quit your sinning. Well, I try. And we ought to. We can't do it, can we? That
doesn't mean we're not supposed to try. It just means we can't
do it. So God Almighty came down Himself. To do what only he could do.
His name was Emmanuel, Jesus Christ, we know. More particularly,
Jesus Christ, he came down here as a man. Why did he come? Do you know why Jesus Christ
came to this earth? Did he come just to show you how a man ought
to live? Well, he did that. He just said, now, if you'll
walk like me, if you'll do as I do, and you'll not do as I
don't do, if you thou shalt not this and shalt not that, and
if you'll walk straight and narrow, and if you'll quit your drinking
and smoking and this and that and the other and straighten
your life up and all, like me, then God will love you too. Well, if you could do that, God
would love you. But we can't, can we? We can't. So Christ came down here, and
you see the law came through Moses. Moses handed down ten
commandments and other laws, and he said, now, this is the
way it is, and if you do this, you'll live. If you don't, if
you break one of them, you're going to die, and you're going
to go to hell for it. And the people said, whoa, whoa, wait
a minute, wait a minute, we can't just too deep. We can't fulfill all
that law. We can't even obey the first
one. Love the Lord thy God with all
your mind. We can't even make, sorry, Moses said, sorry. That's
what God said. The law came through Moses from
God. But grace came through Christ. God came down and said, You can't
do it, can you, Joe? You can't do it, but can you,
buddy? You're still guilty, aren't you? You can't do it. But he
says, Joe, I can. I'm going to do it for you. Isn't
that good news? Huh? Christ said, I'm going to
do it for you, Joe. And he did it. Not one jot or
one tittle passed from that law till he fulfilled it all. Thought,
word, deed, clean hands, pure heart, never lifted up his soul
unto vanity or swore deceitfully, lived for the glory of God, loved
God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength, his neighbor
as himself. Never killed, stealed, coveted, never thought of adult,
never nothing like that. Perfect, holy, righteous, as
a man. Before God, God Almighty was
pleased with this man. He said, that's my boy. This
is a man I approve of. That's the way it ought to be
done. Well done, my good and faithful servant. A man approved
of God. God says, I approve of this one.
Abraham didn't make it. Moses didn't make it. Adam didn't
make it. This is the one. Everybody look at this one. Only
one who ever fulfilled my law perfectly. As a man. There's a man. Now, in God's
grace, and miraculously, Christ said, OK, I'm going to take this
that I've done, this righteousness. It's called a righteousness that
he lived. I'm going to take it off, like taking off a coat.
He took it off. And this is a mystery. It's called
imputation. I'm going to charge it to my
account. And here I am naked and sinful and wretched and vile
and stinking to God Almighty. And Christ wraps that robe around
me, covers me up where even God's eye can't see me. And I'm all
covered up like a child in his daddy's coat or shirt, you know.
You women like to wear your husband's shirt to bed. It just covers
you all over. If he's Mike's size, it's not
mine. But it covers you all over. And
that's what the righteousness of Christ does to an old sinner.
It covers him completely from head to toe. No matter what they've
done, what they're doing now covers them. How do you get that
right? Ask him for it. Lord, cover me with that. That's
all I want. Just cover me. I can't do it.
I can't live. I can't quit this quick. Just
cover me right now and give me the grace to quit." Well, I can't
quit. And He covers you. And God looks
at you and sees you with this beautiful, spotless, righteous
holiness on you. And God says, there's a man approved
of God. And there's a woman approved
of God. There's another one approved
of God with a righteousness. There's another one. Another one. He did that, and
then he himself then was naked, and he took on my old filthy
rags, old sin, you know, all my sin, my wretchedness that
God can't even look on. He took it on himself and went
to the cross. This is why he died. This is
why he died. God has to punish me for what
I've done. So Christ took what I'd done
on him and went to the cross and hung there, and God Almighty
read back. It's me, that's what I deserve
to be done. I'm a rebellious, sinful, wretched
child. And like our child, he'd really
need a good whoppin' every now and then, you know. I needed
it bad, and God had to kill me, really. If He gave me what I
deserve, He had to kill me. I'm not fit for living, fit for
inhabiting anything, especially heaven. And God saw His Son as
me, and He killed Him. slew his blood, cut his throat
like that lamb, God's lamb. But that was me. That was me
hanging on that cross. And you, if you're a sinner,
that's you. And he killed us, put us out of sight, put our
sins away. He said, I've cast their sins
now behind my back into the depths of the sea. The depths of the
sea. Remember them no more. No more. Well, that's good news. No more.
But we remember them, don't we? Oh, they haunt us night and day. Well, we ought to remember. And
this is what our story is about here in Deuteronomy 8. You didn't
think I was ever going to get to it, did you? I didn't either.
Deuteronomy 8. That's what this story is about
here. There are those rebellious, wicked children. If any of you
have read the Old Testament, Remember how the children of
Israel for forty years in the wilderness did. It didn't matter, you know, while
they were in Egypt, God miraculously delivered them by the hailstones,
you know, great big hailstones of fire and the serpent or the
scorpions and the frogs and the lice. And, you know, all these
kids can recite all of those plagues and that people saw this. And God miraculously delivered
them out of Egypt. Well, I tell you the thought
that from that day forward for the next 40 years, they live
for the glory of God. Never take a step without. Thank
you, Lord. Oh, I remember, Lord, I remember
one bondage having to make bricks for these cruel Egyptians and
all living in bondage to sin and poverty. I remember that,
Lord. I'll never forget that. Never
forget how you delivered me." But they did, didn't they? I mean, they weren't out of town
30 days until they started, well, what, I wish this wouldn't have
happened. I'm thirsty. I'm hungry. We'd rather be back
there eating the good beef stew, you know, or just bread. You know, God opened up bread,
the heavens, and poured bread out to them. Where'd you get
the food you eat? Huh? Well, I went to Kroger's
and got it. Where did Kroger get it? Where
did Mr. Kroger get that food? They just
produce that in the laboratory? God grew it. He said, no, I planted
it. Where'd you get the beans? Where'd
you get the seed? Well, I got it down in Southern
State. Where'd the old Southern get it? God grew it. Ultimately, everything we have,
the clothes on your back, is that a cotton dress? Cotton,
your dress grew on the, your dress grew in the field. God
just opens up heavens and here live, here you are, food, clothing. You need some rain, don't you?
Here you go, rain. Can't live without it, here's
some more. Got to drink it and here, can't live without it.
Here, there's some rain. 10, 15, 30 days later, I wish
this wouldn't have happened. Why am I flat on my tire? I've
got a flat tire on my car. Well, my toilet's stopped up. Why do I have to work this job? Why can't I have another one?
Oh, I wish I... Why'd you give me that woman?
Anything complaining, you know. Or man, it was better off that
way. What'd you give me him for? I could have had so-and-so. No,
he wouldn't have been a whit different. He'd have been worse.
Complaining, you know. Complaining. But God just keeps
pouring out. But He deals with you. While
this is going on. He did with them. Every time
they'd open their mouths and start murmuring and complaining,
God would deal with them. Wouldn't He? He'd chase them. He'd deal
with them. He'd send something. A plague.
Serpents. And it bit them all. Some of them died. Some of them
lived. This and that and the other.
What happened to them? Well, look at verse 1, chapter 8. Now,
all the commandments, he says, I command thee this day shall
you observe to do that you may live. Turn with me to John 6. John chapter 6. John chapter
6. God says, all the commandments
I tell you A woman has to come to it first. They have to come to see that
keeping God's holy law, even though God requires it of us,
it's impossible. But that's what he requires of
us to live, doesn't it? All the commandments I tell you to do,
you do them, you'll live. Just do and live. Impossible. That's right. And we've got a
good start, don't we? With man, it's impossible. Impossible. To love God with
all your heart, to love your neighbors yourself, never to
think, speak, or do evil, it's impossible. But Scripture says,
not with God. Not with God. And now listen
to this. Now, this is what God Almighty
tells you to do. To live. I mean, this is, it's a mystery. And it's not easy in the sense
of what it took to bring it. But this is what God now tells
us to do. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you'll live. Isn't that better? I like that a whole lot better.
Instead of this, do and live. Now he tells us, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and live eternally. Look at it, verse 28. They said
unto him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God?
You know, here are these Pharisees, these church-going folk, Bob,
these churchgoers, you know, today. We want to live right. We want to get right with God.
You know, here a man and woman comes and we want to get right
with God. What must we do? Well, you've heard the commandment
saying you want to do something. You better love God with all
your heart, your neighbor as yourself. You better not make
any graven images or take his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath,
keep it holy, still, coveted. Not even think about it. See,
law demands you don't even think about it. Don't ever even think
about it. Now, if you can do that, you'll live. Oh, I had
no idea it went that deep. I can't do that. You're right.
All right, here's the work of God then. Verse 29, Christ answered
and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe
on him whom he hath sent. Now, that goes two ways. You
want to do the works of God, you want to do his commandments. God's number one commandment
is you kiss the sun. I put all things in the hands
of my son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you bow to him. Believe him. Trust him. You want life? You
go to him. Don't come up Mount Sinai. You'll be consumed. Don't even
get near it. I'll burn you with fire. Scripture
says there's Mount Calvary. You go to him. Everybody, anybody
can go if they want to. You go to him. That's my son.
That's the only way you're going to get to me. Kiss the sun, bow
to the sun, submit to the sun, love the sun, call on the sun. He'll give you what you need.
Go to Joseph. He's got the corn. He's got the
corn. If you're hungry, you're a sinner,
he's got the salvation. Don't go anywhere else. to the
sun, believe on him. That's the that's what you do
to work the works of God. God says you go to him, you trust
him, and I'll make it as if you had never seen it. I'll make
it look like I'll justify you. I'll say that you're in him.
And someday when you appear before me, I won't see you as a sinner
that you really are. I'll see you as Christ. In him,
in him. Cover you with His righteousness.
All right? And that's the work of God, to
make a man go to Christ. You see, that's not the free
will. That's not the free will. It is God that worketh in us. Philippians 2.13, both to will
and to do of His good pleasure. He says, come unto me. In another
place, He said, you will not come, didn't He? But another
place says, Thy people shall be willing in the day of His
power. So if you do come to Christ,
it's God's work. It's God's work. All right, back
to the text. He says now, all these things,
all these commandments, what commandment? Number one, trust
Christ. Look to Christ. Come to Christ. All the laws fulfill in Christ.
And salvation is in a name, in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Him. You say, I can't.
You better. Well, I don't know what it's
all about. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. Believe Christ. All right, He said, that you
may live and multiply, bear fruit. He said in another place, the
Father is glorified by you bearing fruit. We've got to bear fruit.
We've got to become like Christ. We can't become like Christ no
matter how hard we try, can we? Some of you trying your best
right now to listen to what I'm saying and having a hard time
of it. You can't do it. And that's what Christ said,
without me, you can do nothing. But with God, all things are
possible. What about works? Well, faith without works is
dead. That's true. But whose work is it anyway?
It is God that worketh in us, both the will. God said, I will
save them, so you'll be saved. God says, I will change them,
so they shall be changed. Yeah, they will. So you don't
come to Christ, you don't come first by changing. That's not
the way you come for salvation. You don't say, well, I'm going
to quit this, I'm going to quit that, and therefore God will
save me. No, that'd be works. That'd mean
God would be rewarding you for something. This thing's about
grace. You come to Him and say, Lord, I can't change. You change
me. Right? Lord, I can't save myself. I can't do anything right. But
Christ did everything right. I need Christ. Would you give
me Christ? I will. Be thou saved. Your sins are forgiven. Go sin
no more. But I can't. You won't. My seed's in you. born again. I'll be with you. Just whenever
you run into trouble, you call on me. I'll be with you. I'll
take care of you. And when we get into trouble,
why? We have not because we ask not. We ask not. He says, and you'll go in to
possess the land. You'll go in and possess the land. What land
is that? There's a land that is fairer
than day. We sang that the other night.
And by faith we can see it afar. And my Father waits over the
way. He's prepared me a dwelling place
there." A land, a place, an actual place. Now, I'm not looking for
heaven. I'm looking for Christ. He is heaven to me. All those
who are looking for a carnal utopia, like I said, a good place
to play, a new place to play golf without mosquitoes or whatever,
you know. They're not going to be there.
Christ, see, when Christ saves you here, Christ becomes your
life. Christ becomes your heaven. And what you want to get to heaven
for is to see Him. See Him. And everything else would just
be gravy. He said, you're going to go and
possess the land. He said, if I told you all about it, you
couldn't stand it. You couldn't live. You'd take a gun. And sometimes
we feel like doing that. I want out of here. Now, if it
were up to us to save ourselves, to keep ourselves, to make it
all the way, not a person in here would make it, wouldn't
he? Not one. Especially this fellow. I'm in the most dangerous
position of anybody here. You know, it's the most dangerous
job in here. But it's not up to us, thank
God. It's not up to us. It was the
Lord that gave birth to you, brought you forth from your mother's
womb. It was the Lord that saved you, called you by the gospel,
if indeed you had been saved. I'd be calling you right now.
It was the Lord that sustained you all those years, saved your
life, kept you from bashing your brains out in an automobile while
in a drunken spree or whatever, you know. It was the Lord that
sustained you, provided for you. It was the Lord that gave you
all the food and everything, made you to grow up to be the
man or woman or young person that you are. And it's the Lord
that keeps you right now. Right now. And what worship is,
really, what we're doing right now, worshiping, is realizing
that and praising God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Worship
is thanking God. And that's what we're going to
be doing throughout eternity. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for
what you've done. Thank you for... unto him that loved us and washed
us from our own sins and his own blood, in remembrance of
his mercy and his grace, we're going to remember. What exactly
we'll remember of this life, I don't know. Isaiah 65, 17 seems
to indicate that we won't remember our sins, per se, because it
would make us feel guilty all over again, wouldn't it? Oh,
I wish I hadn't have done that. Oh, that pains me, the fact that
I... Somehow or another, we're just going to remember the pit
from which we were dug, the pit where we used to be. And remember,
and that's what worship is going to be all about in eternity,
remembering Him. And verse 2 says, And thou shalt
remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty
years. You're going to remember all
the way. And we can look back now, so
many of us can look back now and see the Lord's marvelous
mercy and grace in our lives. And you can just look back yesterday
and the day before, certainly years ago. You know, hindsight's
20-20, they say. that you could look back and
see what all the Lord had brought you through and how He preserved
you and what He did for you and what He gave you and how He led
you here and there and to be where you're at right now. And
you're just amazed. And you stand back and say, Who
am I? And what is my house that you've brought me here hither?
Look at where I am. Look what I have. Look at these
kids, these beautiful kids. Look at this house. Look at this...
Oh, who am I? Then he looked down the road
there and there's a fellow that's suffering. He said, by the grace
of God, by the grace of God, he's not
here and I'm not there. And someday we're going to look
back with perfect understanding. I mean, we're going to see perfectly
every step that God brought us. And that's the reason we're not
going to be able to, we're just going to be just is filled with praise. Oh! You get a little glimpse
now of what the Lord saved you from and brought you through
and led you and guided you and will make you praise Him. Then
we're going to know, even as we've been known, that we're
going to praise Him now. You ladies aren't going to have
to keep quiet. We're going to shout, Thank You! unto Him that
loved and led us all the way. All the way my shepherd leads
me. All the way. And we're going to praise Him
to high heaven for all of it. The good and the bad. Even the bad. Even the bad. My child losing, my husband losing. Yeah. Even that. You see, like I started out by
saying, trial, temptation, trouble, toil, misery, sorrow, pain, suffering,
that is the lot of all of God's people. It's not health and wealth
and happiness, else you wouldn't want to leave this earth, would
you? If it's all health and wealth and happiness, why leave here?
Why doesn't Christ just come here and we'll stay here? I'm
having a good time. I sure hate to go. I'm healthy. I'm always healthy, I'll never
get sick and die, you know. I'm wealthy, what else do I need?
I'm rich and increased with goods and have no need of nothing. But the Scripture says that blessed
are the poor, blessed are they that mourn, blessed are they
that hunger. And that's not talking about
physical necessarily. It's talking about spiritual.
Poor, oh, I don't have it. I've got all the house I need,
I've got all the children I need, I've got all this I need, I don't
have what I need to get to God, and righteousness, and so on.
But sickness, poverty, sorrow. See, we're going through a wilderness.
It says there, verse 2, that God, forty years in the wilderness. It wasn't that we're not in fair
Canaan. We're not in the promised land. No, we look for a city whose
builder and maker is God. And look at the reason he said
he does all this, verse 2, to humble thee. You see that? To humble thee. To break us. We're proud by nature. Everybody
in here are proud by nature. We're hard-hearted, we hate God,
we love self. God's got to break that. Like
a little child's will, you know, they grow up saying, My! No! Don't this do. No! And then the parent, the loving
parent says, Yes! No! Yes! Until finally they say,
Yes! Yes, sir! Yes, ma'am! Yes, ma'am! Yes, ma'am! Right? And that's
what God Almighty does to His children. Yes, sir! Yes, God! That's the way I want to act.
I see it's necessary now. Not my will be done, but thy
will be done. He has to break this old self,
first of all, and bring repentance. Oh, Lord, I've gone my own way.
I've put my fist in your face. I've lived for me, and you did
all this for me. I'm nothing. I'm nobody. You're everything. Forgive me
for being such a selfish person, for being me. Forgive me for
being me. That's where they come to first,
and then he makes them poor. See, only the poor need a handout,
right? A rich man doesn't need grace.
He's got everything. A poor man needs grace. A poor
woman needs grace. You need everything. You need
a handout. Beggars before the king. That's
a sinner before Christ. Only the guilty need mercy, right? Only the guilty. Why does God
allow you to feel so guilty and your sins to feel it? Only the
guilty are going to get mercy. Right? Only the guilty. And only
wilderness travelers are going to get heaven. God gives the wicked and makes
them fat and sassy and healthy and wealthy. You know, it's exactly
the opposite of what preachers are saying. God gives the wicked,
makes them healthy and wealthy and happy in this world. That's what David said in Psalm
73. You go home and read it for yourself. He said, I was envious
of the prosperity of the wicked. But he said, I went into the
house of God and I heard the gospel. I heard that when God
loves somebody, he takes things away from them. Why? So they won't hold on to that.
So they'll hold on to him. So that when they get there,
they'll have all they need. God makes them feel guilty. God
makes religious people feel He blinds them, hardens their heart,
blinds them. I'm a good fellow. I've got some faults, but I'm
not a sinner. The leper never touched my lips and this and
that and the other. So he thinks, hey, I'm fixed up. I'm a good
man. God has left that man alone.
He takes an old boy that's clinging to Christ with everything and
allows Satan to sift him and bombard him and the world to
tempt him. And he's hanging on. save me
or I perish." Right? And then at the last moment,
he says, I am thy salvation. Reaches down in the water like
old beer and draws you out again. And you think you can go walking
on it again. There you go. Take off. Let's
see how far you make it this time, bud. And you go about two
steps and you fall miserable and you call again. Right? But
if you kept walking, you'd never be calling, would you? If you
kept walking without falling, you'd never do any calling. Somebody
write a song. Care to write a song? Keep walking
without falling, never do any calling. But if you fall miserably,
you'll call beggarly, greatly, continuously. Right? He proves
you. He humbled you. He suffered you
to hunger. Why? To show you Christ is your
manna. Christ is your manna. Now, I'll
quit. I've got to let you out of here. Look at verse four. It says,
Your raiment waxed not old. Someday when we look back, we're
going to see that righteousness of Christ, God, we were in it
the whole time. He never saw us outside of Christ,
never. Our feet never swelled. The gospel,
some of you, Ellen, you've been, you still believe this gospel?
Has it held you up this long? Are your feet swelling? I don't
talk about these. Yeah, they are. But it's still
still good news to you. It still holds you up when a
trial comes along. You're still shod with the preparation
of the gospel. It'll prepare you for whatever
comes along. Nothing else will. Verse five,
and you'll consider, you shall consider in your heart that as
a man chastens his son, so the Lord thy God chastens thee. And whatever comes along, painful
as it may be, and you like a little child may say, I can't, I can't,
I can't help it. Why did this happen? I don't
understand it. How could he love me and he do
this to me? And he says it hurts me a lot more than it hurts you.
I don't believe that. But we got to. We have to, even though we don't
understand it. We're children, we can't understand
it. We can't understand it. We're
not God, are we, Sherry? We can't understand it. We never
will until we get to be just like God. And we're going to
look back and say, it was best, wasn't it? It's absolutely the
best thing. Like Scott Richardson said, if
you were God, if you knew all God knows, you would do everything
to you just exactly like God's doing it. He wouldn't change a thing. Somehow
or another we're going to line up with God right now like that.
There's no way we're going to have any peace. Now look over chapter 9. I'll
quote this and we'll quit. Chapter 9. Look at verse 3. Now you understand, therefore,
this day that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before
thee. You see, Jesus Christ, God's Son, came to this earth
as a man. He said, Behold, and see it presented sorrow like
my sorrow. Well, God wouldn't love you, that wouldn't happen
to you. Oh, now wait a minute now. God had a one Son and he
hollered from heaven, I love him! I love this Son of mine. What did he have? According to preachers today,
he must not have had enough faith, right? While he was a man of
sorrows acquainted with grief from his youth up. Persecuted,
under trial, temptation, hungry all the time, no place to lay
his head. What's wrong? Didn't he have enough faith? Even though he was a son, as
Scripture says, he learned obedience by the things he suffered. That's
the mystery in it. He learned to live like a man.
See, he went before you. And we have a high priest now
that you can go to, Sherry, and say to him, do you understand
what I'm going through? Oh, do I. He says, I went through
it. I went through it. I lost loved
ones. I was hungry. I was poor. I was lonely. Oh, I was in pain. I was sorrowed. I wept. I was
in grief. Do I know? Yes, I know. I know. He went before thee. Now look at verse 6. It's shouting
ground here. Now understand, therefore, when
you get there, understand that the Lord thy God giveth thee
not this good land to possess it for your righteousness. You don't even deserve to be
there. You're a stiff neck, old boy. You're still a rebel, aren't
you, Henry Sowell? You're still a sinner, aren't
you, buddy? And you're going to get there, and you're going
to be just like John Newton, the greatest wonder of all. I said three things
is going to be a wonder to me in heaven. Number one, I'm going
to see some people there that I didn't expect to be there.
Christ said the harlots and the publicans are going to get there
before religious folks. We're going to see the worst
person we, you know, somebody on the street, we thought. That's
right. We're going to see people we
didn't expect to see there. We're going to see, we're not going
to see some people we expected to be there. Where's my preacher? Anybody seen my preacher? But the greatest wonder of all. And you're never going to get
over this. You're going to forget about who's there and who's not
there. You're never going to forget this. I'm there. I sure didn't expect
to get here. And you're going to sing like
the song we're about to sing, all the way. My Savior leads
me. From start to finish, didn't
He? All the way. Not footprints in the sand, you
know. You walk a little bit and He picks you up. No, all the
way. If I get there, it's because
He led me all the way. That is 296, 296. Stand with
me, we'll sing a couple of verses there. 296. you

The Way The Lord Leads

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

How do we know that God loves us?

Why is God's holiness important for Christians?

What is the purpose of trials in a Christian's life?

Why is it important to understand God's justice?

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The Way The Lord Leads

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

How do we know that God loves us?

Why is God's holiness important for Christians?

What is the purpose of trials in a Christian's life?

Why is it important to understand God's justice?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

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