We go to Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians chapter 2. We're going to take from our
course of studies through Psalm 119 tonight. And I'm just going
to talk to you a little bit, do a little more talking and
discuss some things with you from the scriptures, things I
believe that will be profitable. Perhaps answer some of our questions,
do a little more teaching and talking here than preaching,
whatever the difference might be. Ephesians chapter 2, let
me read to you these very familiar verses, 8 through 10. Ephesians
2, 8 through 10, by grace are you saved, through faith, and
that even is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It's not
of works, lest any man should boast, for we are His workmanship. We are His workmanship. And He
created us in Christ Jesus, that is, new creatures in Christ,
unto good works. That's why Christ came. You know,
that's why Christ came, to do a good work, to glorify the Father
in the greatest sense possible. A good work, the good news. Which
God, and He created us in Christ Jesus, new creatures in Christ,
unto good works which God hath before ordained, that we should
walk in them. I believe with all my heart that
we have here at Central Baptist one of the most well-balanced
preaching ministries anywhere. I believe that with all of my
heart, that we have one of the most well-rounded and balanced
of ministries anywhere. And beyond a shadow of a doubt,
I don't hesitate for a moment to say this, that I believe that
we do not shun to declare all of the counsel of God. We've
not kept back anything that is profitable from anybody. We're not trying to hide anything. We're not trying to gloss over
passages that speak of whatever that works. And we believe, my conscience
is completely clear in this thing of preaching and teaching, completely
clear that I've not shunned to declare all of the counsel of
God as much as God has taught me, as much light as I have.
We've gone through, in the two and a half years that I've been
here, we've gone through, let's see, Romans, Galatians, Hebrews,
1 Peter. What else? We're going through
1 Corinthians now. At least four books in two and
a half years. That's a pretty well-rounded,
I mean, that's a lot of material to cover. And my conscience is
clear about concerning everything that's been expounded from up
here. I want to be I truly want to
be true to the word of God and true to our hearts and soul.
I'm not satisfied. With my preaching. I'm not satisfied
with my and your faith. I believe we've got a long way
to go I don't believe by any means we have arrived yet or
attained anything yet like Paul said I'm not satisfied I believe
That we should be much farther along, growing in grace and in
knowledge. As long as this church has been hearing this gospel,
I believe we should be much farther along. I'm not satisfied at all
with my progress. I say our, I say our, I say we,
I say us. As long as I've been under the
sound of the gospel, I'm not satisfied with my progress. I'm
far from being satisfied. And I believe we need a great
deal of growth. In many areas, I don't believe
that we love each other fervently like Peter tells us to do. I
don't believe we're loving each other actively like I heard this
statement the other day. It bothered me to know when I
heard. About somebody who. Made a visit to another so-called
church or at least another congregation elsewhere, and they made the
comment that. They didn't preach anything down there, yet those
people seem to have a real love and concern for one another. I want that said about us, because
Christ said, By this shall all men know. Not because you got
your doctrine in the right order, right? He didn't say that. He
said, By this shall all men know you're my disciples if you have
love one to another. And Peter called it active, fervent
love. See that you love one another
fervently, he said. I'm not satisfied with us in
that area at all. Me, us. There's a whole lot more
I can do for you. There's a whole lot more you
can do for one another. Gentle rebuke, OK? It distresses
me to no end when those who have been under the sound of the gospel
for years show no real enthusiasm for this gospel. distresses me
to no end. And those who have been under
the sound of the gospel and profess to know and love Christ and yet
can miss because the dog gets sick. I mean, that's that's extreme,
but yet we do find very. Ridiculous excuses and that distresses
me, bothers me. For those who say. It distresses
me and those that have no real active relationship with each
other. There's no real brotherhood, sisterhood. That distresses me
to no end. But I remind myself and I remind
you for your comfort, and this is not an excuse, but it's a
fact. God must give the increase. God
must do the work. We can't. We're responsible.
This is, this is a mystery here. God is absolutely sovereign.
He gives the increase, but we do plant in water. God must give
the increase. God must increase our faith.
Yet we do are supposed to desire the sincere miracle of the word
that we grow thereby. God every good work every good and perfect
gift comes from above every every good work that comes from us
is the constraining grace of God yet we're called unto good
work. He tells us to maintain good work. I would that I would
affirm constantly. It's a paradox I know that. But
I do believe. I honestly believe. with a clear conscience, I believe
that we're doing and saying about all that can be done and
said from the pulpit anyway. In other words, we're going through
the scriptures verse by verse, not shunning to dwell on hard
sayings, hard things, so-called Arminian verses, if you will,
things like that. I think we're doing and saying
everything we can from the pulpit to promote these things. I really
do. My conscience is clear. I believe all that can be said
has been said, and hopefully will continue to be said, and
is being said, that will exhort, reprove, rebuke with strong doctrine. You believe I'm about as strong
doctrinally as a man could be from the scripture? That all
scriptures, and any man that stands up here, and all scriptures
are being plainly taught that are profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction. You know I haven't shown that.
For instruction in righteousness, not only the imputed righteousness
of Christ, but what we refer to as imparted righteousness
of Christ. That is the new nature. that is put within all of God's
people. We're not shunned to declare
any of those things, that the man of God, the woman of God,
might be perfect, mature, throughly, thoroughly, completely furnished
unto all good works. And as the old saying goes, though,
you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink,
right? God can. I made it my own saying you can
pack your child a good nutritional lunch to take to school but you
can't be sure he's going to eat it right. You can't be there
to make sure he might trade it for a Snickers. You might trade
it for junk food and not get anything out of that lunch you
prepare. And once again, I make this statement.
Another preacher said it. He said there may be there may
be better preachers out there. I know they're better preachers.
No, maybe to it. They're better preachers out
there, but there's not a better, more well-rounded expositional
preaching ministry going on anywhere. Now, this message is not a vindication
of me and my preaching. That's not what I'm doing this
for. This is a vindication of the gospel we preach of the word
of God. It's a vindication of the gospel,
a declaration of the true gospel, a vindication or in defense of
the gospel we preach, Vicki. There's nothing wrong with the
gospel we preach, not a thing. There's nothing wrong, this is
a vindication of all the scriptures we've been going over, not me
and my preaching. And all of this that we've gone
over is not a matter of interpretation. I can say that with a perfect
clarity of conscience. I haven't tried to interpret
a thing, Henry. I haven't tried to twist, subvert
to our destruction or just to fit in with our doctrine, Terry.
We're not trying to do that, are we? You're not trying to
do that when you teach our children. You want to be true to God's
Word, don't you? And I can say that, that we haven't interpreted
the scriptures we've been declaring them. We've been declaring them. We don't interpret the scriptures,
we declare them. We compare, and I say this too,
we compare scriptures with scripture. We compare scriptures with scripture.
When there's a problem with an understanding. We go to other
scriptures, not what I think. No, this is, that's difficult.
That's a hard saying. Well, here's what I think. No, let's go to
another scripture. That's the way you find out. You keep going
to scriptures until you find out what it said. Like that saying,
put a scripture up on a pedestal. You think it means something.
Whatever you think it means, put it up there and then take
other scriptures and then start trying to knock that scripture
off. Try to make it not say that. If you can knock it off. then
evidently it doesn't mean that, because God's word is consistent
with his word. Just because Martin Luther said
this to him, he said, now I'll put in all inconsistencies in
the word, or that is, everything I don't understand. Scripture
that seems to me to contradict another, inconsistency. He said,
I'll just put that off as my own ignorance. The problem doesn't
lie in the word of God, it's in my understanding of it. So
what I'll do, I'll just swallow it like a big old pill, like
a big horse capsule. I won't take it apart and try
to take it in grain. I'll just swallow it and go on.
If I can't understand it, I'll just swallow it. Just believe
it. All right? Good enough. Now, I know most
everybody will claim the same thing that we do. Everything
I've said tonight, I know most every preacher that stands behind
a wooden desk will say the same thing. We preach the Bible here. I know most everyone will say
that. In truth and sincerity, they'll claim biblical preaching.
Yet, I said now I'm just going to talk to you a little bit tonight. Well, if God the Spirit lets
me preach, I'll do that too. The difference in what we're
doing here can be summed up in two things. The difference can
always be seen. The difference in what we preach
or how we preach can be seen in our emphasis. What we emphasize. Rather who
we emphasize. The difference can always be
seen if you've got the ear. If you've got the discernment.
You can tell the difference by the emphasis of the man's preaching. Right and the scope of it or
that is the you know what a scope is scope is that what you hone
in on that which you're you're aiming at that which you're desiring
to look into your goal what you're pursuing what you're really looking
to the whole reason and purpose for what you're doing the scope
the difference in what we do and preach here and the difference
in what can be seen in our emphasis and the scope. Now, I want to
explain that more fully. Our emphasis here. We consistently
preach, consistently preach. I can say this without hesitation. We consistently preach and major
on Christ and Him crucified. Somebody stand up and call me
a liar if that's not so. We consistently preach and major
on Christ and Him crucified. We major on Christ and minor
on man, our work, don't we? The person and the work of Christ
is all our salvation. We make no bones about it. We say it in no uncertain terms,
but rather, seeing then we have such hope, or only this one hope,
we use great plainness of speech. Even to the point of using slang,
there ain't no salvation in any other place. Don't we? Plainness
of speech. Nothing, nothing of man's worth
can be added to this thing of salvation. Zero, not a zilch. Nothing can be added to our salvation. Our salvation is conditioned
upon zero in man, nothing in us. Even our faith, we didn't
just up and believe that's the gift of God. That's God's work
even. That's of the Lord. Faith is
of the Lord. We believe in good works. Yeah, we do. We believe that a truly born
again regenerated child of God will walk in good works. Yet
they are not conditions for salvation. No sir. Our salvation is not
conditioned upon our good work. No. Our salvation is not conditioned
upon our good work. How plain can you get it? How
plain? These works, these good works
are not the cause of our salvation, they're the results of it. Good
works are not the means to an end, or that is not, they're
not that which makes God save us, or elect us, they're the
ends, they're the end. Good works are the end of God's
means, which is giving faith, giving life. That clear? In other words, we're born again,
first of all, before we believe. Before we do anything, God gives
life. God saves us before we do anything. Now, most people, when I'm talking
about the emphasis now, that is our emphasis, right? Most
certainly. Salvations of the Lord. Most
ministries, so-called, I don't even want to use that term, most
preaching that's going on today, Emphasizes what? Man works. It's clear. And if you've got
some discernment. All things are plain to them
that understand. Most so-called preaching majors
on man and minors on Christ. They'll talk, they'll bring a
whole sermon on what you ought to do, what you ought to be.
Living a good Christian, and then in the end, maybe make one
or two little statements about Jesus on a cross. Isn't that
so? Oh yeah. Most minor on Christ and major
on man. Most make salvation conditioned
on man's will. You get to the heart of all false
religion, you'll find free will. Free will. Most make man's faith,
man's work. The condition of salvation and
they leave most leave people with the impression that man
has a part in his salvation don't. Certainly. The emphasis is on
what man better do what man does and then God will react right. We turn that thing 180 degree
we say God's already acted therefore man reacts. Right. All right, and these are all
all I've been saying there about this false. Preaching. Man's work. Man's part, that's
a lie. It's completely alive, completely
unscriptural to now look here at Ephesians two with me, and
let's answer a few often asked questions, some difficult questions. This will help you. Help me. Ask a few difficult questions.
And we'll get you to answer. No, just just kidding. I sat
down and thought about it a long time, wrote, wrote everything
down. Wouldn't do that to anybody.
But this will help you answer somebody else asking. If God
is sovereign. If God has ordained us to walk
in good works and all, why do the Scriptures always keep telling
us? Why do they constantly exhort us and admonish us to keep telling
us the good? If God has just ordained that
we're going to walk in them and we're going to walk in them,
then why do they have to keep telling us? That's a good question, isn't it? Look
at Ephesians 2, verse 8. Let's read this again, 8 through
10. We read it. Let's read it again. Make no doubt about it. Here
we go again. By grace, it's a gift. People
misunderstand what that word means. Everybody's saying it,
everybody's singing it. Very few people understand it.
Grace, it means a gift. It means an unmerited, unearned
gift. Unconditional gift. God's love
is his gracious love. God's mercy. God's salvation.
It's all of grace. It's a gift. It's a gift of God. By grace are you saved. didn't
say grace and works it by grace you're safe through faith. Through faith faith is a means
is an instrument that we acknowledge this grace that we receive this
grace that we look to Christ it's it's an instrument it's
a mean but even that's not of yourself it's a gift it's a gift
it's grace faith grace gracious faith faith the gift of God.
Faith is a gift of God. It's not of works. Nobody of
them decides for Jesus, because he'd boast about it later, wouldn't
he? Christ said they're going to
get all the way to the throne of glory and say, well, I did this. Imagine
that. Imagine the hardness of a man's
heart, the deception of a man's mind, where he could stand before
a thrice holy God and say, hey, we did many wonderful works.
We believed on Jesus. Imagine that. That man never
understood grace, did he? He never bit the dust and begged
and cried out for grace, I mean, amazing grace. But you have,
you believe this. Not of works, lest any man should
boast, because we're his workmanship, not ours, his workmanship. It's
not our work, it's his work. It's not what we do, it's been
done, right? It's not he started it, we finished
it. No, he said, I finished it. Can't get any more plain than
that, can you? where his workmanship and he created us in Christ Jesus
of God are you in Christ who of God it's all of God who of
God is made under us all these things we need to be accepted
by God wisdom right to think it's ridiculous. Are you in Christ
created in Christ put in Christ by God's Holy Spirit given this
faith given or even repentance is the gift of God right. The goodness of God leads...
Romans 2, 4. The goodness of God leads you
to repent. Now, here's a question. If God has sovereignly ordained
that we will walk in good works, why does he say things like this?
If you be willing and obedient, you'll eat of the good of the
land. It's in Isaiah chapter 1. I didn't write the verse down. Why does he say things like this?
Give diligence to make your calling and election sure, because if
you do these things, you'll never fall. That's 1 Peter 1.10. If you continue
in the faith, grounded and settled in the truth, be not moved away
from your hope, your only hope. Why does he say things like that?
Well, listen. Once a man or woman is regenerated, and this goes back to this thing
of being dead in sin, we've got to realize you have to be quickened
who were dead. We were stone cold graveyard
dead spiritualists. Couldn't do, couldn't talk, walk,
think, move, nothing. Dead in trespass. We've got to
be quickened. God who is life must come and
give life. Must give eyes to see him, ears
to hear his voice. A heart to believe in, right?
A voice to call on Him. God must give us life. We're
dead. We have to understand that, first
of all. But once a man or a woman is regenerated, quickened, created
a new person, once regenerated, we're no longer dead. There was
a time when we were puppets. There was a time when we were
pawns in Satan's cruel game. We were under the control, the
dominion, the bondage of our father Satan, right? We were
puppets. You say, I'm not a puppet. You
were at one time, buddy. Weren't we? He pulled the string
of sin and we'd move, right? We're under sin's dominion and
his power. But we've been delivered from
that. We've been set free from that. The Son of God has come
and given us new life, new creatures in Christ. Alive, we're no longer
dead in trespasses and sin, ruled by Satan, ruled by self completely,
but alive unto God. We're spiritually sensible, alive
to God, new creatures. We've got spiritual sensibility. You understand what I say when
I always say that? Spiritual sensibility. That is,
we've got ears to hear him talk through his word. Everybody doesn't
hear it. He said, my sheep do. They're
alive. We've got eyes to see his glory, see the way things
are about us, discernment and all. Got eyes, sensible. These
senses, spiritual senses, are exercised, made alive. We've
got a voice. He says, use it. Call on me in
the day of trouble and I'll answer you. We've got a voice now to
call on. Before we was dead, it was mute, wasn't it, John?
Mute. Like that deaf and dumb man Christ came to. He loosened
his tongue before it was bound. We're no longer puppets of Satan,
but we're living, responsible children of God Almighty. Let me emphasize that. Children
of God. Children. Let me emphasize that
for all our comfort. Babies. Babies. Babes in Christ. Paul admonished
in one place, he said, when for the time being, you ought to
be teachers, you have need to be taught again, like babies.
I'm not applying that to anybody, but that's what the scripture
says, doesn't it? And if it applies, it applies. But we all, do we
do feel ourselves to be babies? But you know something, babies
have all the faculties that are able to make them into men and
women. They have all that little Jonathan David now. He has everything
he could possibly need to make him a full-grown man, doesn't
he? Huh? Yeah. Got them all. Fingers,
toes, everything to make him a full-grown man. All of those faculties he's got.
But, mama going to have to feed him, didn't she? Daddy's going
to have to nurture him. He's going to have to be fed
to make him grow. Right? To make him grow. Now let's turn over to Ephesians
4 with me. Ephesians chapter 4. Look at this with me. I want
you to notice this sovereignty and responsibility. Ephesians
4, after telling us all the way through Ephesians 1 and 2, what adjective can you use to
talk about Ephesians 1 and 2? Glorious. Marvelous. Somebody give me one. Just wonderful
passages of Scripture concerning our so great a salvation. What
God has done for us. Ephesians 1 and 2 just comprehend
everything he's done for us in spite of us. Right? And after talking about those
things, telling us we've been chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Telling us we've been predestinated
under the adoption of children. Telling us we've been accepted
in the beloved, even though there's nothing acceptable about us.
Telling us we've been saved by grace, just been freely given
this gift of grace. Telling us we've been ordained
to walk in good works, that he's going to make sure we walk in
them. Then right here, look at Ephesians 4, he says in verse
1, he says, Now I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech
you that you walk worthy of the vocation for which you walk. He just told us that God was
going to make sure we did, but right here he says, now do it. And he says in verse 14, he says,
be no more children tossed to and fro, carried about with every
wind of doctrine by the sleight of men, and so forth. Verse 15,
speak the truth in love, grow up into him and all things. Verses
17 through 21, this I say therefore, Testify in the Lord that you
henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of
your mind, having the understanding darkened, alienated from the
life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the
blindness of their heart, past feeling, giving themselves over
unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness.
You haven't so learned Christ, he said. You know better. It's just kind of like comparing
one of our children to some child on the street, a homeless one.
You know better. You see, we're new creatures. We're under new government. We've
got a new father. And he teaches us. All of our
children should be taught of God. If so be, verse 1 of him,
you have heard of him. If so be that you have heard
his voice and have been taught by him as the truth is in Christ.
And he goes on dozens and dozens of verses to exhort us to walk
the walk and live the life. Is that inconsistent with God's
sovereignty? No, it's perfectly consistent with it. Perfectly
consistent. Now, listen, let me illustrate
this. So in a very easy term, I have a little girl. I have
a little girl. I fathered her. She's mine. She
is mine. Nothing's ever going to change
that. Nothing. Boy, I tell you, she could get
some real comfort if she knew that. She'd get some real comfort.
Nothing is going to ever change that. She's my girl. I love her. Nothing will ever diminish my
love for her. Nothing. Not even her falling
away. Not even her rebellion. Right? Nothing. Nothing is going to
make me quit loving her. I know some parents who have
children in prison. It doesn't matter what the man
would do. You still love him. It's in your
blood. He's in your blood. He's in your
bosom. Nothing's going to change that.
And not any fall that my daughter takes will cause me to disown
her. I tell you what her falls will
do. It'll make me run to her aid. Won't it? If she falls,
mother's a little more prone to this than father, you know.
Us fathers like to make our kids tough, you know. Little girls
is prone to cry. easily anyway. She'll stomp her
toe or whatever and kind of start whimpering up. She wants that
attention. She wants that attention. I'll just pretend like nothing
ever happened. Mindy will run, grab her old baby, and know how
to scratch on her. But it, whatever fall the child
takes, the parent, it'll only make a parent who really loves
a child run to their aid and do everything to help. And I'm
going to teach her. I'm going to guide her. As much
as lies within me, as much wisdom as God gives me, I'm going to
teach her. I'm going to guide her. I'm going to lead her. I'm going to instruct her. I'm
going to protect her. I'd lay down my life for her.
I'm going to provide for her, even at my own expense. I'll give her the last bite of
food on the table. I found out what real love was
like growing up, or I just recently did, when my mother hadn't had
an egg to eat, and all of us had already had one or two, and
she let us have it anyway, the last one. That's a simple illustration
of it, but that's love. That's love. Oh, I'm not hungry.
That's love. And I'm going to provide for
her even at my own expense. And the older she gets now, the
older she gets, The more responsible she's ought to be. Right, certainly,
certainly. Now, if she falls terribly. If
she falls terribly, if she disobeys me, she's going to suffer. Oh,
she's going to suffer. And I'm going to be grieved.
The Scriptures talks about grieving the Holy Spirit. Yes, sir, we
do that. We can do that. I'm going to
be grieved. But she's still my child. She's still my child. Right? And bless God, it's not if I fall, it's when. Right? When I fall, He will never
disown me. That's all of my salvation. That's
all of my hope. Right? Went because God gave birth to
me. God called me by his name. God
loved me before I ever loved him. He's my heavenly father.
The scriptures talks about. And he's even he's more fully
my father. Now listen. He is more fully
my heavenly father. Then I am a father to that little
girl. Yes, he is. He loves me more. then I love
that daughter. That's inconceivable to me. Isn't
it? Isn't that inconceivable? I've
heard grandparents say that. I heard a man joke before he
ever had a grandchild. He said, well, it was your dad.
He said, there's no way that you could love a grandbaby like
you love your own children. Ask him now. He's going to be
down here this weekend. Watch him. Watch him around there. He's another SOG, silly old granddad. You do, don't you, Joe Parks?
Yes, sir. God Almighty, the scripture says,
loves us with an everlasting love. Our love, it just may fail. It does all the time. Mothers
dump their babies in trash cans. God said, I won't do that. He
says, I'll come find you in one and pick you up and clean you
off and wash you and bedeck you with jewels and take you home
and say, Leo. That's the love of God. And like
I say, as much as I love my child, God loves me more, and as much
as I endeavor to lead, guide and instruct my child, God teaches
all his children. That's what John 645 says. He
teaches all his children, all of them. If I don't learn it's
not his fault. Right. We can't blame God ever
for our fault. And if if my child falls I'm
going to pick her up and help her. And love her none the less
and when I fall not even when I fall God picks me up every
time. Turn with me to Psalm thirty
seven. Psalm 37, my soul, did this ever bless my heart when
I read it. Psalm 37, look at this. When
I fall, God picks me up every time. How many times have you
fallen, Barbara Ross? How old are you? Multiply your
years by your days and then multiply that by a thousand times every
day, right? How many times has he picked you back up? Look at
Psalm 37 verse 23, the steps of a good man. Now, do we need
to clarify this? For the sake of tape, somebody
here is on tape maybe. There's none good, no not one. There's none righteous, no not
one. The only good man is a man that God declares good, declares
in Christ. The only righteous man is the
one who's had it imputed to him through Christ, right? Now the
good man, That is the steps of a good man that is a man who
is put in Christ by God are ordered established by the Lord. I like
that. God delights in his way. Though he fall. Ain't no ifs,
ands, buts about it, is there, Joe? He says, though he fall,
he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth
him with his hand. I've been young, David said,
and now I'm old. I have not seen the righteous,
that is, those put in Christ, forsaken, nor his seed begging
bread. Why? God's ever merciful and
lenient. His seed's blessed. His children
are blessed. His children are saved. I mean saved. Now, if I could keep my child
from ever falling, I'd do it. You better believe it. If I could
keep her from sinning ever, I'd do it, wouldn't you? You would
too. But you know it might not be
the best for her. This is what's wrong with, this
is my biggest problem with so-called Christian schools. OK, if we
shelter our children too much, we run the risk of turning them
into self-righteous Pharisees. If they're never exposed to the
world, and I've seen it happen time and time again, once they
do are turned loose. They come to for twofold more
the child of Hilton. They were to begin. Not always. It may be some good, some good
I understand why anybody would. I would love to shelter and shield
my child from this world. Matter of fact, I'm going to
build me a 12-foot-high barbed wire pen so no little rotten
boys can get over it. Andrew Hust or some of them.
They're not getting to my daughter. No way. They will, too. They'll crawl under that baby.
They'll tunnel. You know, boys, don't you, Rick? They'll get
to them. But if I could, I'd shield her, I'd shelter her.
I've got her on tape at about three years old saying she's
never going to get married. She's going to live with daddy
the rest of her life. I've got her on tape. When she
hits about 18 and her eyes are just glowing for some little
nut, some little rebel, I'm going to play it and say, now here,
you've got a covenant here. God can keep us from falling. It says he's able to him is able
to keep us from he's able to. Good question. And a reasonable
question why doesn't. I don't know. That's the best
answer to that but here may be some help here somehow somehow. In the all-wise purpose and will
of God, it's ordained for my good. Right? Somehow. And I'm going to come
out of this thing the better for it. Somehow. Or I tell you this, if I don't
come out the better for it, God sent that trial, put it on
me, used me for somebody else. That happens. That happened. God uses people. I remember the
first time I heard a man say that. Oh, it went against my
grain. God uses people. Look over at
Isaiah 43 with me. Isaiah chapter 43. God uses people
for his own purposes. Didn't he say, cannot I do with
my own what I will? He's the creator with the creature.
Isaiah 43, I believe Henry Sword, you read this back in the study
not too long ago, didn't It would be a good passage to preach on.
We're going to preach on it right now. Isaiah 43 verse 3. Now look at this. You know that
God used whole nations. He raised up whole nations only
to dash them in the ground. That's what Israel said. Christians so-called everywhere
will admit that. They've got to. If you read the
Old Testament, all you've got to admit that everybody that
came in the path of Israel, whether Israel was right or wrong, they
got obliterated. God moved them out of the way.
And I might add, by the way, God did that to Israel several
times. Led them captive to the Babylonians
and so forth. God did the same thing to his
people, so we can't cry unfair, unfair. Everybody gets what they
deserve. Whole nations were raised up
and dashed down for the preservation of God's people. Look at Isaiah
43, verse 1. Let's go ahead and read that. Now, thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob. Now, you all remember who old
Jacob was, don't you? Worm, scheming, conniving, no
good bum. Old Jacob, and he that formed
thee, O Israel, or all the sons of Jacob. Fear not. We have every
reason to fear, don't we? We ought to fear judgment, hell
and death. We earned it. But he says, fear
not. I love the fear not. You know,
Todd Nyberg brought this to my attention. He said, you know
what command that Christ commanded more than any other? Was fear not. I like that. When I heard that,
I couldn't believe it. Christ commanded that of his
people more than any other. Fear not. He said it over and
over again. Fear not. He said it right here a long
time ago. Fear not. I have redeemed thee. I have
called thee by name. Thou art mine. When you pass
through the waters, I'm going to be with you. Through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee. Trials and tribulations. When
you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. Neither shall
the flame kindle upon thee. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
you know. I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel." Christ
is our Holy One, our righteousness, thy Savior. Look at this, I gave
Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Saba for thee. Look
how many people I slew to get you out of that place. Why? Why did he do this? Verse
4, Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable,
and I have loved thee. Now wait a minute now. Were they
precious and honorable people? Henry, they were worse than the
Egyptians. The Egyptians didn't have light. They were worse.
They sinned against light. They sinned against love. The
Israelites were worse. It wasn't through their loveliness
or their obedience or their honorableness. No, they were worse. But he says,
I've loved thee, I just sovereignly set my love upon you. The word
precious, it says, I made you precious in my sight. I made
you precious, how? By the precious blood of Christ,
by a precious offering. And you've been honorable. That
word honorable there is accepted. You've been made honorable. You've
been made an honor. There's nothing honorable about
us, is there? Any more than the Israelites.
I give men for thee, people for thy life. Fear not," says it
again. Fear not. I am with thee. I'll bring your seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I'll say to the north,
give up. I'll say to all my people who are coming to the south,
keep not back. Bring my sons from far and my daughters from
the ends of the earth. Everyone that is called by my
name is coming. I've created them for my glory.
I've formed them. Yea, I've made them. He's coming. And the same thing, now back
to Ephesians 2. And I'll try to wrap this thing
up. Ephesians 2. And the same things are said
about us, people. The same things are said about
us. God considers us precious and honorable. God loves us. Because of anything in us? Oh,
no. Oh, no. Scripture says that He
died for the ungodly. Scripture says that even while
we were dead in sin, even while we were dead in sin, I'll remind
you of these passages in Romans. It says he will finish the work
and cut it short in righteousness because a short work will the
Lord make upon the earth. And like Isaiah said, except
the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed, we've been like Sodom
and been like Lamar, right? And over in Romans 11, it says
this. Israel has not obtained that
which they seek for, but the election obtained it. He's even
turned the thing around, Stan, to where Israel, who had the
promises, the sacrifices, the ceremonies, the law, they didn't
even, they're not even saved. But we are, the Gentiles. He used Israel for us. God uses people, you see, for
his own purposes. And here in Ephesians chapter
2, look at verse 4 with me again. Ephesians 2 verse 4. But God,
who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved
us even when we were dead, even when we were dead in sin, hath
raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. Why did he do all this? Why did
he do all this? Oh, how unlovely, how unworthy. Verse 7 explains it all. That in the ages to come, He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Jesus Christ. Trophies of His grace in His
trophy case. Ain't no trophies doing any talking
down at my parents' home. They do any talk and they remind
people of me, what I've learned. We're not going to do any bragging.
No room for boasting. He's going to get all the bragging
rights, isn't he? He's going to point us out to the angels
and the heavenly hosts and say, look what I did. Look at old
John Davis. Look at him! Would you look? And every eye is going to behold
Him. They remember what He used to look like, wallowing in sin. And they're going to see Him
looking just like Christ. And they're going to sing praises
to Him. Right? All praise to Him. We're His
workmanship. No boasting except on God's behalf.
We're His workmanship. Salvation is of the Lord. He
gets all the glory. He gets all the glory. And I
tell you what, if I'm obedient, if I do anything good, He gets
the glory. And if I do all that's required
of me, I still have to say I'm unprofitable. Right? It's my
reasonable service. Besides, it's his power and his
grace anyway that enables me to do anything. Now, the scope, and I'll quit, the
scope of what, remember I said two things distinguish? The emphasis,
all the emphasis there was on what God has done for us, right?
what God has done for us. And He does things in us, too.
Makes us like Christ. You look like Christ, whether
you know it or not. Yeah, you do. The scope of salvation, that
is, the purpose, the ransom, is just what we just said in
verse 7. It's all for God's eternal glory. And let me ask this one
more difficult question. Why doesn't God keep us from
falling? It seems like that if we were
would remain holy that he'd get more glory. Why didn't he keep us from sinning
and falling? Well, like Peter said, if we
are kept, if we do not fall, it's because we're kept. We can't
keep ourselves, can we? Sin is like gravity. And we're
in God's hands. He lets go of us for a minute.
We're gone. We'll hit rock bottom, won't we, Sam? If we do fall,
we get all the blame. We can't blame it on God. Yet
God is still going to get the glory somehow. He's going to
get the glory. If anything, He's going to get
the glory by our recovery. That's the reason. I really believe
that's the reason for the fall of man. God got greater glory in saving
man. and saving, all of His attributes,
His mercy and grace and love were seen. They weren't seen
before. They weren't seen before. To show forth God's glory. And
when you fall, and you will surely, you will fall, when He picks
you back up, you're going to love Him more than you did before
you fell. Right? You know what David said in one
Psalm 119 and another place? It's good for me that I've been
afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. It's good for me.
Unto whom much is forgiven, thou love much, right? Every time
you fall, what are you real thankful for later on? Grace. I tell you, come back
more hungry for the gospel than you've ever been before, right?
You've taken it for granted otherwise. Is that making sense? Well, then
somebody will say, and this is what they argue with Paul, well,
let's just sin then, and grace may abound. He said, the only
way he answered this was, God forbid that. How can anybody
that's dead just sin and live any longer therein? That is live,
live a life of it. Walk in it, you know, live in
that. Have our conversation in it.
We can't. We can't. His seed remains in it. We can't
do it. But because we're still flesh, Because we're still flesh, we're
always going to be prone to it. We're always going to be liable
to it. And that's why the child of God cries out, screams out
before God, who's going to deliver me? Huh? Right? That's why we cry out
incessantly, unceasingly. Who is going to say, I want out?
Who's going to deliver me from this stinking body of sin? The same person that delivered
you from the condemnation of it. The same person who delivered
you from the curse of it is going to finally deliver you someday.
It appeared at one time, John, that you were never going to
be delivered from sin. And it appears to you now you're never
going to be through with this body of sin. But I tell you what,
Paul thanked God before it had been done. He said, I thank God.
Through Christ Jesus my Lord. And with the mind I serve the
law of God, but with the flesh I serve the law of sin. And I'm
just going to leave it with him. These hard questions and my sin. I just don't have to be confident
he'll take care of it. He won't let me fall. I hate
it. Do everything he tells me to
do. I won't fall anyway. I'm just going to have to cast
all my care on him. Let me read this scripture to
you, and this will be it, I promise. Listen, this will mean more to
you now than ever. Little children, These things are right and do
you. That you cannot. Don't you see in him or so. Don't do it. Deborah don't do
it really. That's what he's saying there
is. You know we're responsible. Don't do it Vicky don't see him
that's the reason he wrote this really writes these things make
you responsible. Thank you liable. These things
are right under you that you sin not. But and if any man does sin,
we've got an advocate with the Father. We've got an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. If you do sin, when you do sin,
fear not. And I hope that will comfort
you, son. They will answer some questions and comfort you both.
All right, stand with me and be dismissed in prayer. Joe, how about dismissing us
in prayer today? Prabhup�da, the master of the
world, is here to embrace us and to explain to us how to do that. He's gathered here like a big group of people
and he's trying to explain to us
how to do that.