Good evening. Let's all stand
together and sing hymn number 228. 228. My faith has found
a resting place. His wounds for me shall bleed. I need no other acumen, I need
no other plea. that Jesus died and that he died
for me. Enough for me. I come to Him, He'll never cast
me out. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. My heart is leaning on the Word,
the written Word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name,
salvation through His blood. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. My great physician heals the
sick The lost he came to save For me his precious blood he
shed For me his life he gave I need no other argument I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
127. 127. ? Man of sorrows, what a name ?
For the Son of God who came ? Ruined sinners to reclaim ? Hallelujah,
what a Savior Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned
he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah, what a
Savior. Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
spotless Lamb of God was He. ? Hallelujah, what a Savior ? Lifted
up was He to die ? In His finished was His cry ? Now in heaven exalted
high What a Savior! When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring, Then anew this song we'll sing,
Hallelujah! What a Savior! Good evening. Turn with me this
evening to the book of John, John chapter 20. I'd like to begin reading in
verse 19. Verse 19. Then the same day at evening,
being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus
and stood in the midst and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed
unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again,
peace be unto you. As my father has sent me, even
so send I you. And when he had said this, he
breathed on them and saith unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost.
Whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and whosoever
sins ye retain, they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve,
called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other
disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except
I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my
finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into
his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his
disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be
unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach
hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy
hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing. And Thomas answered and said
unto him, my Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me thou hast believed. Blessed are they
that have not seen and yet have believed. And many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book. But these are written that you
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that
believing you might have life through his name. Our kind and gracious and merciful
Heavenly Father, we Join our hearts together once again, giving
you first of all, thanks for all that many blessings. Providing
for us and. Caring for us. For gathering
us together in this place tonight to once again. Endeavor to worship
to open your word. To read it, consider it. to hear it preached. We Lord,
ask you to send your spirit to come and anoint our ears, anoint
the mouth and the mind and the heart of the preacher and cause your word to go forth
in power and be effectual in our lives, in our hearts, in
our minds. Lord, we We can do nothing else
but come to you and to look to you, to look at your word. We find no, nothing but sin and failure in
ourselves and weakness, frailty, inability. And Lord, we need thy salvation.
And thank you that you've provided a perfect salvation that crossed
right out in his own body as our blessed substitute, our sin
bearer. Help us to have a side of him tonight. There's
no comfort anywhere else. That that one who died. Our dear Savior. And seeing who he is. And knowing what he accomplished. We know whom we have believed. And persuaded that he is able.
To keep that which we've committed unto him against that day. How
we do thank you for him. Help us to rest in him. Help
us to keep looking to him. Give us the ability, the desire. Go before us. And keep us in the way. Don't take your hand off of us
lest we go astray. Thank you for the. Presence. We know, Lord, that you're here
with us. As your word is opened and where two or three are gathered,
you've promised to be with us. Pray for those that can't be
here. Remember our children and grandchildren, Lord, that don't
yet know you. We ask that you've purposed that
in their lives, before they leave this world, that you'll cross
their path. intervene and overcome their will, and not leave them
to their will and their way, but save them by your grace.
Help us to worship you tonight. Help us to see only Christ. May our vision be filled with
him. And we know that he alone is
worthy to be exalted, to be honored, to be glorified. And we ask you'll
do that in our midst tonight, we pray. In Christ's name, amen. Page 29 in our course books.
29 in our course book. On a hill far away died the Christ
of the cross. He yielded to suffering and shame. And there in His grace He died
in my place The purpose of God to fulfill So I'll cherish the
Christ of the cross and before His throne I'll bow down. I will cling to the Christ of
the Cross, for He is the King I must crown. O the Christ of the Cross, so
despised by the world, has the wondrous attraction to me. He, the dear Lamb of God, left
His glory above to bear all I sit on the tree. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross. His throne I'll bow down I will
cling to the Christ of the Cross For He is the King I must crown In the Christ of a cross, and
His blood so divine, A marvelous beauty I see. For He opened my eyes that long
had been blind To behold Him now on His throne So I've cherished
the Christ of the cross And before His throne I'll bow
down I will cling to the Christ of the Cross For He is the King
I must crown To the Christ of the cross I
must ever be true His shame and reproach gladly bear For in love
he constrains shall be gained, and His glory
forever I share. So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross, and before His down. I will cling to the Christ
of the cross, for he is the Some of y'all made me remember,
while you turned to Job 11, that I started to sing the old rugged
cross one time, signaling it's where I lay my trophies down.
Remember Brother Henry saying, you ain't got no trophies. Where
you gonna lay down? What trophies could you possibly
have? And that's true, so true, so true. So true, I tell you
it's a, I'm looking for something here,
let me find it. I'm gonna read Job 11, three verses,
seven through nine. Cuban chapter 11, verses 7 through
9. 7 through 9. Canst thou by searching find
out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection? It is as high as heaven, what
canst thou do? Deeper than hell, what canst
thou know? The measure thereof is longer
than the earth, and broader than the sea. Can you find out God to perfection? Can you know God to perfection? You know, Paul told Timothy about
God. He is the only blessed and only
potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath
immortality. dwelling in the light which no
man can reproach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to
whom be honor and power everlasting. And Job asked the question, if
you went to looking for God, went to start searching for God,
could you find him? And if you did find him, could
you know him perfectly? Could you know Him perfectly?
That's what Job's asking. Could you know Him unto perfection?
He said, well, He said, you look up at the heavens. If you can
look all the way through the heavens, as far as you can look,
He's higher than that. You look at the sea and can't
see from one side of it to the other, He's bigger than that. So can you, by searching, find
out God? Can you do it? Can you do it? You know, there's a horrible,
horrible ignorance in the world of Christendom, in religion,
and it's an ignorance of God. It's an ignorance of God. People
say, Well, we just have different views. We have different things
that we believe. Most of us, our gods are different.
Their gods are different. And there's a great ignorance
of God Almighty. THERE'S AN IGNORANCE OF HIS WAY.
GOD HAS WAYS OF DOING THINGS. HE'S THE JUDGE OF ALL THE EARTH
AND HE MUST ALWAYS DO RIGHT. AND THEY'RE IGNORANT OF THE WAY
OF HAVING COMMUNION AND THE WAY HE FELLOWSHIPS WITH HIS PEOPLE.
YOU KNOW, TO HAVE COMMUNION WITH GOD ALMIGHTY AND FELLOWSHIP WITH
HIM AND KNOWING HIM. THAT'S WHY PAUL SAID, I WANT
TO KNOW CHRIST. HE KNEW CHRIST. He knew Christ,
Christ apprehended him on the Damascus road. He knew Christ,
but he said, I want to know Christ. And that's what the longer we
live, the more we want to know him. The more we live and longer
we live, the more desperate we get to know that we know Christ. And Paul was in his last days
and he said, I want to know Christ. I want to win Christ. I want
to be found in Christ. And oh my, and there's two reasons
for this ignorance. Two reasons for this ignorance
of God Almighty. First, because of the spirit
of the age. The spirit of the age. And what
it means is, is that they produce great, great thoughts of man
and small thoughts of God. Man is everything. Man is everything. man becomes his own Savior, man
becomes his own power, man s got his own rights, man s got his
own power. I mean, man, you know, it s this
thing of humanness, this thing of people talking about humanity
and all that it's capable of. Well, I'll tell you one thing
it's capable of, it's capable of sin, it's capable of rebellion,
it's capable of not knowing God, it's capable of making themselves
to be everything and God to be nothing. And oh my, God is so far off
If there is an outright denial of Him, you know, I tell you what, I
heard, listen, I'm going to tell you who said this. Everybody
knows who Mike Huckabee is. I don't know if you know who
he was, but he is a Southern Baptist preacher years before
he got involved in politics. But this is what he said. A man
asked him about God, interviewing him about God and how you have
a relationship with God. And he said this, he said, if
God imposed His will on someone, it would be like rape. He will not do that. He gives
us choices. He gives us a free will. He makes
us to have all the power and He have none. That's the spirit
of this age. Man's free. God's the one that's
bound now. God can't do ANYTHING without
our cooperation. He can't do ANYTHING without
us ALLOWING Him to do it. That's the spirit of this age.
Man is made SO HIGH, SO HIGH, and God's made SO LOW, SO LOW. Oh, when there is thoughts of
DEATH, thoughts of ETERNITY, thoughts of JUDGMENT, Greatness
of the soul. When men consider the abiding
consequences of their temporal decisions, they push them away,
away from their minds. They re just following the crowd,
going with the flow. And the more lies told about
men after they died than they ever told on them when they So I tell you what, the reason
they don't know God and ignorant of Him is because of the spirit
of this age. Man's everything, God's very
small. God, if He even exists at all,
if He even exists at all, we gotta let Him, gotta let Him. I read a lot, I read a lot of
things and And I tell you what, with these telescopes, I don't,
you know, they got all these big telescopes out in space now.
And they're figuring out now, you know, that that they think
they found in one of these black holes out yonder, that that's
where the big bang came from. And the earth came into existence
from the stars exploding, and then all of a sudden it exploded,
and then the earth appeared, and a whole bunch of people appeared
on it. How ridiculous can you believe? Now that's a willful,
willful ignorance of God Almighty. Anything to believe in this world
but God. Believe in the Big Bang Theory.
Believe in a one-celled thing creeping out of the muck one
day and has sprung a leg here, sprung a leg there, sprung an
eye here, sprung a lung there, and next thing you know, after
a few billion years, we end up like we are. That's what I'm
telling you, how IGNORANT people, what they will BELIEVE anything
besides God. And then here s the second reason
they re ignorant of God, skepticism, skepticism, a denial that God
has control in this world. Oh, a denial that God has control
in this world. The character, the character
that they ve forged in their thinking won t let Him be in
control. for if he controlled all things,
then they would have to answer to him for their thoughts and
for their actions. So he can t control all things,
because if he did, you d have to answer to him. You d have
to answer to him. And oh, there s such a skepticism
around here, skepticism concerning his revelation. Oh, my, you know,
There's people that say they believe the Bible, but they don't
believe the first 11 chapters of Genesis. There are certain
people that say they don't believe in the book of James. And then
you go down through things, and they're skeptic about the Bible.
Did God really meet Moses at Sinai? Did God really write 10
commandments? Did God actually appear to people? Did He actually speak to people,
they say? All Jesus was was a very, very
spiritual man. Just a very, very spiritual man. Did the miracles really happen
in the Bible? Did they really happen? Was that
really miracles that happened? Did Christ really perform miracles?
Did it really happen? So either man just, oh, there's
such an ignorance of God. And I'll tell you what, I'll
remember how ignorant I was of Him. I remember, oh, how ignorant
I was. And after all these years, after
all these years, in March I'll be here 46 years with all the
studying and all the reading and all the preaching, all the
things, I still, still know that much about God and about Christ. Not enough to even hardly talk
about it. But I want to know Him. I want to know Him. I want to believe everything
there is about Him. Now, I want to give you five
truths, five foundational truths concerning knowing God. That's
what I want to talk about, knowing God, knowing God. That's what
he asked here, canst thou, verse seven of chapter 11, Job, canst
thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection? As high as heaven, what can you
do? Deeper than hell, what can you know? I will give you five
foundational truths, and the first one says, God has spoken. God has spoken. That's the first
thing a man's got to understand, that God gave us a book, gave
us a Bible, gave us His Word, and He gave us this Bible and
this Word, and like Paul told Timothy, He gave you the Scriptures,
that make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ.
God gave us a book, gave us a blessed, blessed book, and the only way
you can know God Almighty is through that book, that s the
only way, somebody telling you about Him out of a book. And
you know, and I tell you the Scriptures tells us that ALL
scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it s profitable.
I mean the only thing that s profitable is it s profitable for reproof,
for instruction, for correction and instruction in righteousness.
So I tell you what, I tell you some things a man can know and
believe in the existence of God, and he can even believe in the
judgment of God, and judgment by God, And you know how I can
believe that and still not know God? Because creation, the heavens
declared the glory of God. The firmament shows His handiwork.
He said, you can't look, the visible things that we see was
made by someone that you can't see. That's what He's talking
about. So the man's gonna be without
excuse just because of creation. And then there's the conscience.
I mean, you know, a man's conscience will tell him that there's something
wrong with him. something wrong with him, it'll
accuse you or excuse you, and you can have a conscience that
can tell you that you can believe in the existence of God and believe
in creation because of creation in conscience and because of
providence. You know, when you start seeing
God work in this world, And this is hard for people to understand,
but there's not a thing happens on this earth that was not willed
and ordained of God Almighty. I don't care how bad it is, how
many people are destroyed in it, how many homes are destroyed,
how many people die, how many famines, how many pestilence,
how many deaths, there cannot be without God Almighty. It cannot
happen. And that's why he said over in
Amos, he says, now listen, he said, I gave you cleanness of
teeth. I tell you, I sent a famine. And then I sent something to
eat all your corn. And then I turned all the water
off. And he named about seven or eight
things. And he says, and listen, and after all I did, you still
not not turn to me. So now prepare to meet your God. Prepare to meet your God. And
I tell you what, and I'd be an awful to live in a world that
you didn't know where God was running it or not. My goodness,
the life, Scott Richard and you say if there's a square foot
of earth on this earth, on this world that God's not control
over, I don't want to stand on it. If there's a square foot
of it, I don't want to stand on it. If God's not over that
upper edge of this earth and everything that's in this earth,
I don't want to stand in any place that He don't have control
over. Do you? I don't. Oh, my. But I tell you what,
they can't know. They can, you know, they can
believe in existence. Oh, they say there's a higher
power. Call it, you know, our Mother God, they say. But I tell
you, they cannot know who He is or worship Him apart from
this blessed book. You can't know Him. Our Lord
Jesus Christ says, Search the scriptures, for in them THERE IS ETERNAL LIFE, AND THEY
ARE THEY WHICH SEARCH HIM, BECAUSE THEY ARE THEY WHICH TESTIFY ME.
WHEN YOU LOOK THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES, WE'RE LOOKING FOR CHRIST, AND
THAT'S WHAT HE SAID, THEY TESTIFY ME. THE WORD ALONE, THE WORD
ALONE TEACHES US HIS GODHEAD, THAT HE'S GOD, THAT HE HAD NO
BEGINNING AND NO END. IT TELLS US THAT THINGS ABOUT
HIM THAT SET HIM APART FROM MAN, Oh, what great distance between
God and man. There's a distance between God
and man that there's only one man that can guff that distance,
and that man is the Lord Jesus Christ. He can lay hold on God
and lay hold on man, and He's the only one that can bridge
the difference and distance between us and God Almighty. We couldn
t know God. No man can know Me and come unto
Me except the Father which sent Me drawing. So there s this great
distance and difference. Oh my! He s the Creator! We re just creatures. We re just
creatures. And oh my, only the Bible long
tell you about His self-existence. You reckon there ever was a time
that God wasn t? You know what he said? I'm he
which was, I'm which he is, and I'm he which is to come. I was, I am, and I will be. Ah, self-existence, oh my. And here's the thing, he's always
been as he has been, and always will be as he is. I love this. I say this all,
you know, I've said this so many times. That what God does, He does it
without thinking. He declared the end from the
beginning. If God ever had to stop and think, He'd be like
us. But oh my, His self-existence,
His infinity, He's infinite. He's infinite. He's eternal. He's immutable. He cannot change. It's impossible for Him to change.
It's impossible for Him not to exist. It's impossible for Him
to not be infinite. We're just finite creatures.
We're here for a space of time and then we're gone. But when
we come and go and come and go and come and go, God is always
there. He's always been. We live about that long, God
has always been. His Word shows us and teaches
us the power of God. We wouldn't know nothing about
the power of God if it wasn't for the Bible, if it wasn't for
His Word. You know, what kind of power
did it take to create a world? What kind of power did it take
to create the heavens? What kind of power did it take
to create the seas? What kind of power did it take
to make the mountains? What kind of power did it take
to put the stars in the heavens? What kind of power did it take
to put the moon up there? What kind of power? And what
kind of power it took to save a rebel like us? Oh, what power
it took to save us. And I'll tell you what, It's
an omni, you know what omni is? That means it's all. He's omnipotent,
he's got all power. He's omniscient, he's all wise.
He's omnipresent, he's everywhere all the time. And oh, what blessed,
blessed perfections he has that the Bible tells us about. Oh
my, his moral character, as I already said, the judge of all the earth,
he must do right. And you look at what He said,
He said, Jacob have I, we dealt with the other night, Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. The first thing man says is,
that's unrighteous. God's unrighteous. That's not
right for Him to do that, to love one, hate another. And that's
the first thing man does, that's not fair, that's unrighteous.
You know what Paul said? Who in the world you think you
are that you reply against God? You going to set in judgment
on God? Tell him what's right for him to do and what's not
right for him to do? Did you never read? where He said, I'll have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy, I'll have compassion on whom I'll
have compassion. Did you never read where He said,
For this reason I raise Pharaoh up, that I might show my POWER
in him? Oh, my! And I tell you, He's
holy! His love is holy love! mercy,
truthfulness, faithfulness, goodness, patience, justice, righteousness,
all the things that make Him God and makes us, oh my, what
we are, God's so different than us. And oh, and I'll tell you,
His Word tells us what pleases Him. And there's only one thing
that tells us what pleases Him, that's His own blessed Son. He
said, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. And
you know what? If you believe the Son, then
He's pleased with you too. If you're in Christ, He's pleased
with you. He tells us what offends Him. God tells us what offends Him.
Sin offends Him. Rebellion offends Him. Slothfulness offends Him. Hatred
offends Him. Mistreating people offends Him.
And I tell you, it tells us what stirs up His wrath and what satisfies
Him. Oh, what could ever satisfy God? What could satisfy God? I know
I couldn't do it. You couldn't do it. And all the
things that we've ever done in all of our lives put together
could never satisfy Him. But oh, He said, He saw, God
saw the travail of our Lord's soul. and was satisfied. He tells us who satisfied him.
And that's my most blessed comfort to my soul, is the satisfaction
of Christ. Oh my. And I tell you, faith,
how do we learn these things? Faith comes by hearing, hearing
by the word of God. That's why we come. Every time
we hear, faith comes with it. Huh? Every time we're listening,
while I'm preaching right now, faith is coming with what I'm
saying. And here s the second thing,
here s the second foundational truth. God is Lord, He is King
over His world, King over His world, and I tell you He rules
and does all things for His own glory. You know that? the reason
He rules in this world and is king over this world. Everybody
s looking for a coming king. Listen, He s king right now,
but everything He does, He does for His own glory. He manifests
His perfections in all that He does, and He does it in order
that men and angels may worship Him and adore Him. That s what
ought to worship Him and adore Him. Now, look over here in Ephesians
chapter 1. Go with, I m going to give you
time to get over here, Ephesians chapter 1. Talking about God
doing for us what s in His, for His own glory. You know, God
said, I will not give my glory to another. You know, after Moses had seen the Lord, had
seen so many miracles, seen so many things happen, and
he was sending them out and Moses went back up there and said,
after all he had seen, he said, Lord, Lord, would you do me one
more thing? I want one more thing to ask.
He said, Will you show me your glory? Will you show me your glory? He said, I can't. I can't. I can't show you all that it
is. He said, I'll tell you what I'll do. You can't see everything
about me. He said, I'll show you my hiding
spot. He said, there's a rock over here by me. There's a cleft
in this rock. I'll put you in it, and I'll put my hand over
it. And then I'll pass by you. I'll pass by you. And that's
the way only God can pass by us, is being in that rock of
ages, being in Christ the rock, and Him putting His hand over
it, then God can come and reveal Himself to us. But look what
He said here in verse 5. I want to talk about how He does
things for His own glory. He said here, "...having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself," listen
to this, "...according to the good pleasure of His will." That's
all emotive He needs! And listen to the next thing,
"...and then to the praise of the glory of His grace." He said,
I will bring glory to myself to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein by that grace and the glory of His grace made
us accepted in the Beloved. Now look down in verse 11, talking about together in Christ,
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose OF HIM WHO WORKS, WORKS ALL THINGS AFTER
THE COUNSEL OF HIS OWN WILL. And here we go again, THAT WE
SHOULD BE TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY, WHO FIRST TRUSTED IN CHRIST. God s going to bring glory to
Himself in every human being on the face of this earth. He
s either going to bring glory to Himself in His grace and saving
them by grace, saving them through His Son, or else He s going to
bring glory to Himself in His justice and damning One way or
another, He's gonna get all the glory for everything that happens
in this universe. One way or another, I want that,
I want that grace. I want Him to bring glory to
Himself through His grace. And oh my, I tell you one thing,
it's when men see His glory, see His glory, they bow and they
worship before Him. Isaiah said, when I saw the Lord
high and lifted up, And his train filled the temple and the post
trembled at his presence. And he said, when I saw him,
the first thing he said is, woe is me. Woe is me. I've seen God's glory. Woe is
me. Woe is me. I've seen him. And the Lord, you know what he
said? He went to an altar and got a coal off of it. He said,
I'll fix you. He said, I'm a man of unclean
lips, and I'm dwelling in a people of unclean lips. And the Lord
Jesus come by and just took that coal off that altar and cleaned
him up. Cleaned him up. Christ did it. Oh, my. And then Job said this. Job went on and on about God. And he got down and God himself
come to him and said, Job, Job been talking about God and God
come to him himself said, Job, gird up your loins like a man,
stand up here like a man. And then he started asking him
some questions. Where was you when I laid the foundation of
the earth? Where was you, Job? When I put the stars up there,
the moon, the stars are not pure in my sight. Where was you, Job? When I called into existence,
when I caused the snow in the forefront, where was you? And
God asked him some questions. You know what Job said? He said,
oh, I heard about you. I heard about you with the ear
of my ear. But now I see you with my eyes. And oh, Lord, I
abhor myself. I abhor myself. And I tell you
what, when you see God in His glory, you see just how desperate
you know that if He don't do something for you, you cannot
see God and not see yourself. You cannot see the Lord and not
see yourself. You cannot see His holiness and not see your
inabilities. That's the way it goes. And then
let me tell you the third foundational truth. God is a Savior. Now what do I mean by that? God
is a Savior. Okay, now by searching, find
Him out. Well, He's a Savior. He is ACTIVE. He is ACTIVE in
sovereign love and grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
ACTIVE in the salvation of His people. He's not a bystander. He's not a bystander. He's not
waiting on anything to do. He is active in His sovereign
love and grace. And He comes to rescue and deliver
believers from the guilt and the power of sin, and then take
them and make them His sons, to bless them as sons. Oh my. The verse that God taught me
that God opened the whole Bible to me years and years and years
ago, 2 Timothy 1.9, God says start God, the Bible starts with
God, the gospel starts with God. And oh, I said, God hath saved
us. Not gonna save us, hath. It's
a stunt deal. Hath saved us and called us,
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. God's word just opened up like
that. That's all it takes. God drop a word. Oh, brethren, we re bound to
thank God for you because brethren, beloved of the Lord, He hath
CHOSEN you unto salvation. How did He do it? Through sanctification
of the Spirit and believing the truth. As many as were ordained
to eternal life, they believed. God is ACTIVE in the salvation
of His people. If He hadn t been active in our
salvation, would we have been saved? Huh? I said it this morning. You know,
we just react to what God's done for us. We love Him because He
first loved us. We call on Him because He first
called on us. We believe Him because He gave
us a heart. He gave us faith to believe Him. We worship Him from a heart because
He gave us a new heart. Our minds understand Him because
He made us and gave us a new mind. And we love His Word, love
Him, and love to worship Him. You know why? Because He opened
our understanding and opened our hearts to believe the truth.
And had He not been active in that, and STILL wasn't active,
if He's STILL not active in our salvation, you know what we are?
We're a bunch of gone Jesses. He stays active in our salvation.
Stop he don't quit after he saves us. Oh, no, if he just saved
you and said well listen now I hope you can make it to glory
for the devil catches you Run a foot race with the devil.
Oh, no, that's not the way it works. Oh my and this look at
all the people in the Bible There's any He walked with God, and he was
not, for the Lord took him. As Noah, the first time the word
grace is mentioned, mentioned about Noah. And you know what
grace did for Noah? Prepared an ark and put him in
that ark and saved him. What about Abraham? He was over
in Ur of the Chaldees, over there worshiping idols. over there
living on the other side of the flood over there, and he is living
over there, and I mean he was an idolater, and God appeared
to him one day, said, Abraham, go out and go to a land that
I'll show you. He didn't wait, said, well, let
me check with my wife, see if she wants to go, let me make
sure that we got the right way to move. No, no, he got up and
went out, and the scripture said, not knowing where he was going.
God is active in his people's salvation. Jacob, God got a hold
of him and changes his name from Jacob to Israel. He went out
of his way one time to go meet a woman at a well, been married
five times. Oh my, I mean, he was active
in one soul. Zacchaeus was up a tree, come
down out of that tree. He was active inside. Today,
he didn't say, listen, if you had asked me to come home with
you, I would. He said, no, today I must come to your house. Today
I must abide at your house, for this day salvation has come to
you. That's what the Lord told Zacchaeus.
And that's exactly the way he does us. This salvation's coming
to you. Oh, and then Paul on the Damascus
Road. Oh my, he knocked him down and
I tell you what, he never got back up. Before I ever formed
you in your belly, I knew you, I knew you and ordained you to
be a prophet. We are shut up to God saving us if we are saved
every day of our lives. And I want to be, I wanna be. And then let me hurry, I got
to hurry. God is triune, there's three places. This is a foundational
truth, five foundational truths. about knowing God. God is a Triune
God. He's three persons. One God,
but in three persons. Now that's, you know, it's hard
to grasp, it's hard to understand how there can be one God, but
in three persons. But in 1 John 5 it talks about
it, and 1 1 John 5, it reveals the Trinity. And in John's Gospel,
it reveals the Trinity. At the baptism of our Lord, it
reveals the Trinity. But there's three persons in
the Godhead. There's the Father. There's the Father. Our Lord
called Him His Father. We call Him our Father. And then
God's Son, Only Begotten Son, Beloved Son. He sent Him through
the womb of a woman to come into this world. And then there's
the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost of God. And all three of them
work in our salvation and the salvation of God's elect. God
purposed to save a people. God on purpose said, I purpose
to save a people. Well, the Son said, well, I'll
go and I'll pay for them people. I'll redeem them people. I'll
shed my blood for them people. I'll lay down my life for them
people. I'll pay their sin debt for them people. that you give
me. And then the Holy Ghost comes
along, and He comes along and He takes the things that the
Father purposed, that the Son accomplished, and He brings the
work of Christ and the purpose of the Father, and He applies
what Christ done for us and what God purposed for us. He applies
it and puts it in our heart. We wouldn't know anything about
it if it wasn't the Holy Ghost come and taught us. Oh boy, I tell you what. All
right, let me give you, here's the fifth one, godliness. Now people like to talk about
godliness, godliness. You know what godliness really
is? It's responding to God's revelation in trust and in obedience. People think godliness is living
a certain way, and acting a certain way, and dressing a certain way,
and doing certain things, but godliness, godliness is responding
to God's revelation in trust and in obedience. Huh? Abraham believed God. What did
he do? He went out. That was godliness. He believed God. You know, And
you know, godliness is responding to God in faith, it s worship,
it s prayer, it s praise. Look over in Romans 11 with me,
look in Romans 11. You know, people say, Boy, he sure is a
godly man. And what they mean by that, He lives a way that
they approve of. But what does God approve of? You know, you prayed it tonight
in your prayer, I know, I know whom I have believed, and I'm
persuaded that whatsoever I've committed into His hands, He's
able to keep it against that day. And that's godliness, godliness. Godliness with contentment's
great gain. And oh, His faith, worship, it
s prayer and it s praise. Oh, look what he said here. Oh,
Romans 11 and 33, Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are
His judgments and His ways past finding out. That s what Job
was talking about, right? For who hath known the mind of
the Lord? Who hath ever counseled the Lord? Who hath first given to him?
And he got to turn around and pay him again. For of him, through
him, and to him are all things to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. Amen. You know, godliness
is prayer and praise. Godliness is submission and service. I beseech you, brethren, by the
mercies of God, present yourselves a living sacrifice unto God.
Godliness, and I know I'm right about this, godliness is a life
seen and lived in light of God's Word. AND BY HIS GRACE OBEY HIM,
SUBMIT TO HIM, WORSHIP HIM, PRAISE HIM, CALL ON HIM, AND TRUST HIM. AND THIS AND NOTHING ELSE IS
TRUE RELIGION. AND LET ME ASK YOU THIS, AND
I'LL BE DONE. WHY DOES GOD GIVE A KNOWLEDGE
OF HIMSELF? WHY WOULD HE BRING AND GIVE US A KNOWLEDGE OF HIMSELF?
TO PUFF US UP? Make us think we know something
somebody else doesn't? No. No, no. Just to show people how knowledgeable
we are? I tell you why he does it. That we can know him and enjoy
him. If you know him, you enjoy him.
Do you enjoy him? I enjoy him. I enjoy His gospel,
I enjoy His worship, I enjoy His gospel, I enjoy His people,
and you know that the first thing in the catechism, any catechism
you read, is God s man s end purpose, God created man, his
end purpose is to know God and enjoy Him forever. That s the
first thing. Oh, he does it that we can know
him and enjoy him. That's what David wanted to know.
David asked so many times, Lord, open my eyes that I may behold
wondrous things out of your law. Oh, my. David studied and sought
to know him. He laid down one night and here's
a shepherd looked up and saw the stars in the heaven, looked
up and said, Oh, God, He looked up and saw all God's grace. He
said, Oh Lord, what is man that you're mindful of him? What is
man that you're mindful of him? But oh, he was so grateful. And
I tell you, men and women over the ages, as long as God's made
a man, as long as God's revealed himself, he does it. that we
want to know God, that we might enjoy Him and know God for ourselves. I can't know God for you and
you can't know God for me. We can only know Him for ourselves. And I tell you what, we want
to know God's truth in our hearts and we want to respond to it. If you want to study God, if
you want to study God, if you want to know about Christ, Right
here is where you find out. Right here. Call on him. Seek him. And say, Lord, please make yourself
to know me. Let me see you more clearly.
Let me worship you more from my heart and soul. A lot of people
know the doctrine of God's attributes. I got a book in there by Stephen, I can't think of his name, but
he got two volumes on nothing but the attributes of God. Big
old books about like that, nothing but on the attributes of God. If I know God, I'll find out
who he is and what he does. I know he's sovereign, I know
he's got all power, and I know he's the only one that can make
himself known. Oh, call on him, seek him, worship him. Think
about him. Get lost in the worship of him
and the wonder of him. Because there's no one in this
universe like him. He gave me, he's gave me so much
peace and joy in my life. He gave me such comfort in my
life. He gave me such much enjoyment in my life. And this life right
here. And you think what it's going
to be when it's over. You think I enjoy him now. Oh, oh, bless you, Lord. Bless your
holy name. Thank you for allowing us to
meet here this evening. Oh, Lord. To know you, to know
you, to know you. Lord, we, we pass from death unto life.
You give us eternal life. You give us a knowledge of your
blessed self. And in that knowledge, you brought
salvation. You saved us, and you're keeping
us saved, and you'll save us all the way to glory. Lord, we
bless you and praise you. In our Lord Jesus' name, God
bless these dear saints. Lord, bless their time as their
families gather in this week. Kids and grandkids come to visit. All the food that's gonna be
ate and the food's gonna be prepared. God bless these families as they
get together with their families and enjoy one another and delight
in one another. Kids and grandkids, God bless
them. Lord, make their time together be so precious, so real. Lord, I love these dear people
and thank you for what they've done for me over the years. Thank
you and bless your holy name. In Christ's name we pray, amen,
amen. There is a name I love to hear. I love to sing its worth. It sounds like music in my ear. The sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because he first loved me. I hope you all have a wonderful
week and I'll see you next Sunday, God willing. Good night and God
bless you. And thank you for that wonderful,
wonderful gift. Oh, thank you all so much.