It tells us here in verse 8, for by grace are you saved through
faith. And that faith is not of yourself
and grace is not of yourself. It is the gift of God. Grace
is God's gift. Faith is God's gift. Works has
nothing to do with it, because if it did, a man would boast.
He would boast. For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them. The title of my message today
is, Tell Me the Old, Old Story. of Jesus and his love. How many
of y'all like a good story? How many have heard a good story,
like a good story? I know there's been a multitude
of books written, full of stories, short stories, long stories,
some like some stories better than others. Mysteries, biographies,
legends, Love stories, historical stories. And I know there's some men that
can tell good stories. I remember Floyd. Floyd would
tell some, he could tell stories. About true stories, about his
own childhood. Things that happened from his
mother and his dad and things that happened at the place. Oh,
he could tell stories. And Henry Mahan can tell a story. Oh, Henry could tell a story,
just captivate you telling stories. and I've always enjoyed listening
to men that can tell stories and they have competitions today
that people who tell stories they have great competitions
and men get up on stages and they tell a story and whoever
can tell the best story he wins a prize but there's a story in this blessed
book oh what a story it is I've heard
this story I've heard it told to me many, many times over the
years. I've read this story, and I love to read it because
it tells me of my own experience. It tells me my own experience
of my own heart. It's a story of love, but it's
also a story of hate. A story of hate. It's a story that
has more mysteries than all the mysteries that anybody's ever
written combined. Because you can always get to
the end of a mystery, but you'll never get to the end of these
mysteries here until you get into eternity. It's a story of
life, a story of death. It's the story
of the rise and fall of many. It's a story in which weakness
It's called Strength. And a story of great power vested
in one man. It's a story that concerns man's
past, present, and future. This story that I'm telling you
about, this blessed book's about, it concerns both God and man. It concerns them both. This blessed story tells about
good and tells about the most evil that's ever been known. It tells us also this blessed
story, this old, old story is a story about salvation and also
damnation. A story of condemnation and a
story of condemnation being removed. It tells about rich men and poor
men. Talks about kings and beggars
being put on the same level. Talks about religious men and
infidels. And as it says in one place,
the captains and kings of the earth and the great men of the
earth. It's a story of great, great
glory. and a story of awful, awful humiliation
and in this whole story that I want to talk about today is
the story of the best deeds done by man and also the worst deeds
that a man could possibly commit and you know who's the author
of this story? God himself is the author of
this story God wrote it in 66 books we call the Bible
starts out in Genesis called the beginning ends up in the
revelation of Jesus Christ and ends up with saying Amen even
so come Lord Jesus and come quickly and I tell you beloved he's the
one who has to tell it to us we can't hear it and we can't
learn it if God don't tell it to us And it's so vast. And it's so
vast. The story is so great and so
vast. It has so much in it that nobody
that I know of has ever, ever been able to tell it all. He
tells just a little here, a little there, a little line upon line
here, a little precept upon precept there. Have you ever heard anybody
that can be able to tell the whole story at one time? Can't
be done. That's why we keep telling it
over and over and over and over. Tell me the old, old story. That's
what they say. And all those who know it best
love it the most. And I tell you what, there's
been nobody when we read this story and heard of this story
that ever can plumb the depths of it, reach its heights, and
tell the story that's so vast that I think we can find the
majority of it here in our text today. And the first thing about
this story, this old, old story, you got to start out with man
and the condition he's in. What does he say here in verse
1? And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins, and you walked, walked, lived according to the course
of this earth, had your manner of life in time past in the lust
of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the
mind, You see, you got to start out with man's utter and absolute
ruin. Because here's the thing, every
part and every faculty of a man's being is ruined, is absolutely
and utterly ruined. And the fact the scripture says
that man is his best state is altogether vanity. There's not
a part of a human being that God could inspect, inside and
outside, that God could find one spot, one speck, that He
could accept apart from His Son. I mean, God can look you inside
and outside, and there's not a spot, not a bead, nothing about
you that He can look on with favor. can look on with favor. Inwardly, the heart is desperately
wicked. The mind is darkened. The understanding
is so darkened. With the mouth, we speak lies. With the eyes, we look on wickedness
and on vanity. With our feet, we are swift to
shed innocent blood. They ran to condemn the Lord
Jesus Christ. They ran to the cross to watch
Him die. and we were right there and our
feet was going along with them and I tell you remember in Bunyan's
holy war when Diabolus took the city of Mansoul whom Shaddai,
El Shaddai had created Mansoul for himself and you know what
Diabolus did when he attacked the city of Mansoul You know
who the first person he had to kill was? He had to kill Mr. Resistance. He had to kill Mr. Resistance. He had to kill that
one who resisted. That one who knew what he was
going to do. And then after he killed Mr. Resistance, you know who he killed
secondly? He killed Innocency. Innocency was lost right then
and there, and innocency fell down. And then Diabolus came
in and he built a wall around the understanding of man's mind
so that light couldn't get in. And that understanding was so
darkened that light couldn't get in unless God himself commands
the light to shine in that darkness. And oh, beloved, I tell you,
it's a story of man's ruling. And I know this, I know this,
the more you know of Christ, the more you know of your ruling.
We ain't, the half ain't been told of the condition that a
man's in, outside of Christ. The half ain't been told of how
desperately wicked a man is outside of Christ. The tenth ain't been
told of what a man does in his mind and his heart. As Brad said
the other night, God somebody was bragging over another man
and Scott told him, he's got one problem that he can't deal
with. What's that? He said he hates God. That's why, how do
you know we all hated God? We didn't hate the God that we
knew. We hated the God of the Bible.
You talk about God's sovereignty. You talk about God's election.
You talk about man being ruined in his sin. And you see how quickly
man hates God. Don't let him have his religion
and find a false refuge in it. You'll find quickly how much
man hates God. Huh? And I tell you, God's got
to get a man. I tell you what, when man makes
a man a sinner, he's still a lost sinner. When God gets a man ruined,
when God shows a man he's a sinner, he'll be a sinner all the days
of his life. He'll be like John Newton. He'll
say, here lies a sinner saved by grace. That's what he'll say. And I tell you now in all of
this, listen, ain't you glad that that's just the beginning
of the story? Ain't you glad that's not the
end of it? That's just the beginning. You think God's going to leave
it? He's got some people who's not going to leave in that condition.
Look what it says there in verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love, were with you, loved us. When did He love
us? Even. when we were dead in sins. What did he do while we were
dead in these sins? He gave us life together with
Christ. Now when was Christ quickened?
2,000 years ago. And I tell you this is a story
of love. It's a story of eternal love. You know the story. Look with me in Deuteronomy 7. Jeremiah said, Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love, and with the cords of the man
have I drawn thee. God's love didn't start in time. God's love started in eternity. God loved us even while we were
dead in trespasses and sins. And it's an eternal love. God
said in Hosea 14.4, He said, I will love them freely. And when He says freely, that's
what He means. He don't want nothing, He don't
require nothing for you to do to love you. He's not looking
for anything from you to cause Him to love you. He loved you
before you ever existed. He loved you before you ever
were. When you were in the loins of
your father Adam, if you were one for whom Christ died, He
loved you with an eternal love. Look what he said here in Deuteronomy
7. The Lord did not set his love
upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than
any people, for you were the fewest of all people. But because
the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which
he had sworn unto your fathers, hath he brought you out with
a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage from
the hand of Pharaoh. And that's what he done. He had
to lay his hand on us and bring us out. Now I tell you what,
Christ didn't die so God could love us. He died because God
did love us. There's an old hymn writer, I
believe it was Philip Daugherty, I'm not so sure. "'Twas not to
make Jehovah's love towards his people fame, that Jesus from
the throne above a suffering man became. "'Twas not the death
which he endured, nor all the pains he bore, that God's eternal
love procured, for God was loved before." And so it's eternal
love. And I tell you what, not only
that, But it was electing love. That love, you know, He chose
us. When I tell you what, when we
talk about electing love, it was love. God has asked what
He says, we were dead, but God in mercy, great mercy were with
us, He loved us while we were dead in trespasses and sin. Now,
I'll tell you something about the love of God. He said, and
Brad preached this so well last Sunday night, he said he used
text John 15, 16. No, you're not. Our Lord wanted
people to understand this. No, you not. You did not choose
me. He said, I want you to understand
that. I want you, Peter, to understand
it. I want you, John, to understand it. I want Matthew to understand
it. I want everybody to understand
this. That you did not choose me. You didn't do it. I chose you. I ordained you. I called you. And he went up unto
a mountainside, he said in Mark chapter 3, and called unto him
whom he would. The children not yet being born. never having done any good or
evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand.
He said, Jacob have a love and Esau have a hate. And I tell
you, beloved, and we've quoted this so many times, God who has
saved us and called us with the Holy Covenant, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us Whereas in Christ Jesus, when? Before the world
ever began. And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
I pray not for the world. John 17 and 9, I pray not for
another world, but them which you has given me out of the world. And I'm going to tell you something
else about the love of God. This is discriminating. Oh, people
hate discrimination. They go on and on about discrimination,
racism. But I'm going to tell you something
about God's discriminating. His love is discriminating love.
I'll tell you who He don't love. He don't love good people. He
don't love righteous people. He don't love people who've got
strength of their own and ability of their own. He don't love folks
who feel so good about themselves that they don't need God. You
know who he loves? He don't discriminate as man
discriminates. You know who he loves? Sinners. No good sorry for nothing sinners. know themselves sinners, feel
themselves sinners, call themselves sinners, and have nothing good
to say about themselves before God except the Lord Jesus. They
have one way to approach God, and that's through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I'll tell you how He discriminated. Two thieves
on the cross. He only saved one of them. Can you imagine a woman having
seven devils? I'll tell you what, I've met
some pretty mean people in my time. When I was growing up,
you know I was on the streets quite a bit. I was 14, 15, 16
years old in one of the roughest neighborhoods in the east side
of Dayton. There were about 4 or 5 blocks. I mean it was tough. I remember
going to the grocery store one time to get a loaf of bread and
a gallon of milk and I had a little change left and 3 or 4 guys caught
me in a little old alley and took my bread, took my milk and
took my money. That's how rough it was up in
them days. And I've seen a lot of mean people.
My dad was a mean man. The people he ran with were awesome,
sorry people. But you imagine a woman that's
got seven devils. Me and you cannot imagine what a
woman like that would be like. But you know where you find her
at? At the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Weeping, weeping, weeping. And she's drying his feet with
that. And that Pharisee has the last
person he wanted in his house was that sinner! But that sinner
only found one place of comfort, that's at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh my! And then there's Paul,
who hated Christ with a passion, and hated the Lord's people.
That's who the Lord saved. Peter! Who denied him three times? That's who the Lord said. And
I'll tell you who... He discriminated for you, for
you, for you, for you. He passed by your brothers and
your sisters. Passed by your mothers and your
daddies. Passed by grandpas and grandmas. And came to you. Came to you. That's what you
call, that's electing love, that's discriminating love. And then,
how in the world are we going to experience this love? It's effectual love. Look in
Romans chapter 5 with me just a moment. Oh, it's effectual
love. It's effectual love. You know,
to love somebody and then not get that love back. Well, our
Lord Jesus Christ, He loved us and He's going to make us feel
His love, experience His love, know His love. And look what
He said here in verse 6. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time according to the time, Christ died for
who? The ungodly. Ask me. And when we, for scarcely for
a righteous man will one die. If a man's righteous, why would
you want to die for him? Maybe, just maybe, a good man
some would, well he's a pretty good fellow, I'll let him go
and maybe I'll, you know, they'd think about it. But now this
is the way God looked at us. But God commendeth His love toward
us in that while we were not righteous, while we were not
good, when we were out of strength, when we were ungodly, God commendeth
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Oh, listen. Our Lord Jesus Christ says the
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep and I know my sheep and am known
of my sheep and I lay down my life for the sheep and I tell
you what he done the Holy Ghost and this is what happens the
Holy Ghost comes and it takes the death, the blood, the righteousness,
the sufferings of Christ for you particularly Not generally,
for you particularly, when God opens your eyes and opens your
heart and gives you understanding and shines that light in your
darkened mind. What He does, He gives you a
view of Christ bearing your sins, not just everybody's yours. And
when you get a view of Christ dying for you, bearing your sins,
suffering in your stand, bearing everything He would do you, that's
when His love will pierce your heart and you'll never get over
it. You mean to tell me He'd done
that for me? There He is hanging naked for
me? Is it my sins or was it for Christ
that I had done? He groaned upon that tree. Amazing
pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree. And I tell you,
if God ever gives you a view of that cross, a view of Christ
on that cross for you and you alone, Oh, He'll win your heart right
there, once He gets it. People say give your heart to
Jesus. He can't want that one. He's got to give you a new one.
And that new one He gives you, He puts the love of God in it.
He makes the love of God, you shut Him right in it. And once
He wins that heart, He's got you lock, stock and barrel from
that day on. He owns you! And guess what? You're just tickled to death
and He does. Yes, you're just absolutely thrilled. Thrilled. And let me tell you, not only
is it a story of love, but it's also a story full of mysteries. Oh, the Scriptures call it the
mystery of godliness, the mystery of the gospel, The mystery of
iniquity which doeth already work? And Paul said there was
a mystery that had been hid from generations, now made manifest
unto the saints. And you know what that mystery
is? Christ in you, the hope of glory. I tell you, beloved, Here's the
great thing about this and this is a mystery and I tell you we
think about this and we wonder about this and we get caught
in our minds just enlarges over it but there was a covenant between
God the Son, God the Father and God the Holy Ghost and our Lord
Jesus Christ stood as the surety for a people that was given to
Him in that covenant God said, I have a people that's mine.
I love them. I love them with an everlasting
love, but I can't save them because of their sin, their ruin. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, the eternal Son of God stood and said, I will Take their
charge. I will become their surety. I'll
pay their debts. I'll pay their obligations. I'll
suffer their debt. I'll satisfy your judgments. I'll keep your law. I'll endure
their wrath. I'll suffer so much for them
because of who I am that they will never ever have to suffer
what I owe them from my hand ever again. And he said, the only way you
can do that is for you to take their sins in your own body. Take their sins and let me put
them on their couch and let me, their sins, become yours. And
our Lord Jesus said, I will. So you know what had to happen
after that? He had to become a man. God can't die. So God prepared our Lord Jesus
Christ a body. And no wonder he says, great
is the mystery of Godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God manifest in the flesh was
seen of angels. Justified in the Spirit. Priest unto the Gentiles, that's
me and you. And then received back up into
glory. Huh? Oh, and he had to come through
the womb of a virgin because he couldn't be identified with
us and our blood. Our blood's tainted, so he became
a virgin-born son of God. And he came here as a man to
be our representative, to be our substitute. And He rendered
the obedience you and I could not, the perfection you and I
could never give, the fulfillment of the law you and I could never
give, and the curse to bear it that you and I could never bear.
And then, whoa, they came to get Him after just 33 years on
this earth they came, and they said, we'll not have this man
reign over us, and they brought Him before the court. And He was brought before the
court because God Himself ordained, predestinated Him,
suffered Him, called Him to do this for our stead. Him was delivered
by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God. And they
brought Him there and they brought some false witnesses and they
found Him guilty. You know what of being? King! God! They said, we can't have God
in the person of a man, and we certainly can't have a king besides
Caesar. And they took him, and they delivered
him up. And there he was, nailed to a
cross. And he was so despised, so rejected
of men, that even God himself could not look upon him. He turned
the lights out, turned his back on him, and our blessed Savior
says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And God could not answer him
and would not answer him. But as he was there for six hours,
He died. They put him in his tomb on Friday
night. Friday afternoon. Died at three
o'clock. They had him in his tomb. Pretty
quick. Sunday morning. Four daylight. Mary. Couple of Marys went down there.
Mary Magdalene and Another Mary, they run down there and looked
in the tomb, and there was two men sitting in there, white as
crystal, just white as lightning. He said, who are you looking
for? We're looking for Jesus of Nazareth. Where have you laid
Him? He said, He's not here. Where's He at? He's risen. Why are you looking for the living? Out here among the dead. He said,
behold, He has risen. and all beloved and he entered
into heaven after he by himself purged our sins after he put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself once in the end of the
world he entered into that holy place with his own blood and
he came back out and he said I've got eternal redemption for
all the father gave me I got it. It belongs to me. Every sin
they've ever committed, past, present and future, I've eternally
redeemed them. I've redeemed their sins of thought.
I've redeemed their sins of heart. I've redeemed their sins of flesh.
I've redeemed them for sins they ain't even committed yet. Because
I redeemed all of my people before they were ever born. Paid for
all their sins before they ever knew me. Oh, that's what it actually
loved us for you. And he entered one after he by
himself purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the
majesty in heaven. Oh my! Now let me tell you this,
I got that. That through this great work,
the Father gave him this work, and through this great work he
undertook and he accomplished it. by His perfections, by His
obedience, by His own righteousness. Listen to me now. God will and
God does accept sinners only through and by Him. Ain't that what He said back
over here in Ephesians? Look back over there with me
where we were. Look what it says here in Ephesians. It says there, in verse 5, even
when we were dead and since, Ephesians 2 verse 5, hath quickened
us together with Christ. The margin says, by whose grace? By the grace of Christ. How could
He quicken us? He quickened us with Christ.
When Christ was quickened, when Christ was raised from the dead,
we were raised with Him. When Christ ascended, we ascended
with Him. But look over here. in verse
6 of chapter 1 oh listen to what he says here to the praise of
the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accented in the
beloved and not only made us accented but in the beloved we
have redemption through his blood we have the forgiveness of sins
according to the great wealth of all his grace here's what
happens God imputed our sins by one man's disobedience we
all became sinners and God charged Adam's sin to
us and then he took our sin and
he charged it to his blessed son and then he wounded him for our
transgressions, bruised him for our iniquity and it pleased the
Lord to do that and he saw the travail of his soul and he said
I'm satisfied and then he took Christ's righteousness after
he bore our sins after he satisfied justice upheld the truth magnified
the law endured our wrath God justly now Gives us the righteousness
of Christ And we stand as righteous in God's sight is the Lord Jesus
Christ himself And I say something else God does for us look down
here in verse 10 of Ephesians 2 That God makes us new creatures
in Christ for we are his workmanship and I love that. I love that. I say, has God ever made anything
that wasn't good? God created it, He said it was
good. God created it, He said it was
good. Well, here we are His workmanship. God's workmanship. You say, oh
my, I don't feel like I've been worked on. Listen, that's what
He said about it. We are His workmanship. And listen to what this workmanship
does, what He creates us. And only God can create. He created
us in Christ Jesus. And He created us unto good works. And God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Well, I'll tell you one thing
I know for sure. What God does, it lasts. And what God ordains,
happens. And whether you know it or not,
we're walking in good works. God said we was. And I believe
that. You say, I don't see it in me.
Well, that don't make no difference if that's what God says. What
God says is right. What God says is true. That's
what's so wonderful about this gospel. Tell me the old, old
story. Oh, my. He created us in Christ
Jesus. We're new creatures in Christ.
And with that new creation comes new love, new desires, new will,
new life. New eyes? Oh, everything's new. And listen to this. And here's
what else God will do when He actually has created us and made
us rebels and sinners. We're rebels and sinners, new
creatures. And that God will keep them.
God will keep them in His love. He said, they're in My hands. Nobody's able to pluck them out.
In my father's hands, nobody is able to pluck them out. Having
loved his own, he loved them to the end, that God will keep
these people, these beloved, these ones that he died for,
these new creatures that he made. He will keep them in his love,
and guess what he'll do? He'll bring every one of them
safe home to glory, and set them in his presence, and perfect
them. Look right at what he says, look
what he said here, in verse 7. That in the ages to come, He's
going to show the exceeding riches of His kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. When we're in the new age, when
we're in them ages that go on and on and on and on and on.
You know what we're going to see? The kindness and love of
God towards us through His blessed Son. Worlds without end. That's
what we're going to do. That's what we're going to do.
And then look what it said here, down in verse 13. But now we
were without God and without hope, strangers from the covenant
of promise, but now in Christ Jesus. Ye sometimes were afar
off, but made nigh by the blood of Christ. I want you to turn
with me now to Luke 15. I want to show you a thing or
two here and then I'll be done. Luke 15, the God who is rich
in mercy for the great love who loved us. You all know the story
here of the prodigal. You know the story here. That
there was one of his younger sons, he took a journey, went
off into a far country and wasted his substance living high, high,
high. Living a party life. Right, living
means he partied all the time. Lived as wicked as you could
live. And he spent everything that he had and there rose a
famine. And he began to be in want. And then he said he was
so hungry that he took the husk that he was feeding to the swine
and ate them himself. And nobody cared for his soul.
No man gave him anything to eat. They didn't care nothing about
him. And it said in verse 17, he came to himself. And he said,
how many higher servants of my father's have bread enough and
to spare and I perish with hunger. He said, I know what I'll do.
I will arise and go to my father. And you know what is the first
thing I'm going to say to him? Father, I sinned. I have sinned. That's where the story starts. I have sinned. That's where it
starts. I have sinned. And not only that,
and look what he said, and I sinned against heaven. And Father, I sinned before you.
And I'm not even worthy to be called thy son. Not worthy of it. How can it
be? How can it be? Make me as one
of the hired servants. That's what we want to do. We
start trying to say, oh Lord, I'm not worthy. Give me, oh Lord,
you know. And He arose and came to His
Father. Now I want you to sow something.
You see, mercy is God not giving us what we do to serve. He didn't
deserve his father's love. He didn't deserve his father's
forgiveness. He didn't deserve his father's compassion. He didn't
deserve the best robe. He didn't deserve the ring. He
didn't deserve the peace. He didn't deserve that it came.
He brought himself to the condition that he was in. But he arose
and verse 20, came to his father. And when he was yet a great way
off, we just talked about being far off. His father, listen to
this now. His father saw him. You know how far God saw us off?
He saw us from eternity. That's how far off He looked
for us. And look what He said. And oh, He had eyes of mercy. The Father saw Him. And then
look what He had compassion. He had a heart full of mercy. He had compassion. And then look
what He says. And He ran. You think you're
in a hurry to get to God? God runs to get back to His people. And He ran. Feet of mercy. He ran with those feet. And then
look what He said. And then His arms of mercy. And
He fell on His neck. Fell on His neck. You've seen
people get on somebody's neck and just weep and weep and weep.
That's what happened here. And then after he fell on his
neck, guess what he done? He kissed him and kissed him
and kissed him and kissed him and kissed him. Oh my. Let me tell you something
sinner. That now. That now. Get up. and say I'll arise and go to
my father and he's already kissed you and already fell on your
neck and already had compassion and already saw you're far off I will arise and go to Jesus our father in the blessed blessed
name of Christ our Lord Oh, blessed be your name. Oh, for such a gospel, this old,
old story. Oh, what a wondrous story. Still
enthralls our hearts. Still captivates our mind. Still makes us want to hear it,
and hear it, and hear it, and hear it, and hear it again. Help
us to learn more of it. Learn more about our Savior.
In His blessed name we pray. Amen. Find it in your chorus
book. Come, you sinners. 9, number 9. Stand with me. We're going to sing all the verses
before we sing the chorus. Come ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus ready stands to Come ye thirsty, come and welcome
God's free bounty. Glorify true belief and true
repentance. every grace that brings you nigh. Let not conscience make you linger,
nor unfitness fuck me dream. All the fitness is is to fill your need of Him. Come ye weary, heavy laden, lost
and ruined by the fall. till you're better, you will
never walk alone. Come right down. I will arise
and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in His arms,
in the arms of My dear Savior, oh, there are ten thousand charms.