Now, subject deceiving, God's
sovereignty, and man's responsibility. God's sovereignty and human responsibility. This is the hardest of all the
subjects concerning the sovereignty of God that I've been preaching
on, but this is the hardest of all subjects. Because the first thing we have
to realize is that God's ways and our ways are not the same. Our thoughts and God's thoughts
are not even in the same world. You see, man wants to have things
in a logical order for him. He thinks naturally, looks at
things naturally. So when you're dealing with two
things that seem to contradict one another, like God's sovereignty
and man's responsibility, and when they're put before man's
mind, he either denies one or the other of them. He cannot
reconcile the two. But yet it's a fact in the scriptures
that God is sovereign, orders all things, decrees all things.
And at the same time, He holds every man responsible for his
own actions, even the ones that God Himself decrees for him to
do. Look here at Matthew 12 and verse 34. Oh, generation of vipers, how
can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure
of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of
the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you
that every hour of worship that men shall speak, they shall give
an account thereof in the day of judgment. Got evil men, good
men, and out of words, given an account. Every man's got to
give an account. Paul says, you know, we shall
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. We shall all
give an account of the deeds that we've done in this body,
whether they be good or evil. Paul told the Romans, he says,
we shall all give an account to our Lord. As the Lord saith,
every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. that I
demand righteousness, and righteousness is of me, and that every man
should give an account of himself to the Lord." But that's what
I say, that God's sovereignty, God's absolute sovereignty and
man's responsibility, those seem to contradict one another. It's
called an antinomy. It's a contradiction between
two apparent truths. And they seem to contradict,
such as God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. Mitch Spurgeon
said it like this. He said, here you got God's sovereignty,
and here you got man's responsibility. And as you look way, way down
the road, you'll see where they'll come, and they'll make war. And
that's the hope I can do that tonight, because both are undeniable. Now, let me ask you some questions,
and I'm going to try to answer them from the Scriptures. order all things, decree all
things, then hold man responsible and judge them for what he decreed
should happen. How can he do that? How can he
order all things, decree all things, and then turn around
and hold man responsible and judge them for what he decreed
should happen? I'm going to try to answer that
question. Second question, how can the
sinner be held responsible for doing what he cannot do? How
can God hold a sinner responsible for doing what he cannot do?
And how can God decree that men should commit certain sins and
then hold them responsible for doing them? But all three of those things
are true. I believe I can prove from the Scripture. How can the
sinner be held responsible to receive the Lord Jesus Christ,
believe on Him, and then be damned for rejecting Him when God foreordained
Him to condemnation? That He was a vessel of wrath
fitted for destruction from the beginning. So how can God, the
man, the sinner, be held responsible to believe and receive the Lord
Jesus and believe on Him, then be damned for rejecting Him when
God ordained him to this condemnation. Boy, I think I... Tough subject. Tough subject. And I pray that
God the Holy Ghost would teach us these things, and we might
see. First question, see if we can answer. How can the sinner
be held responsible for doing what he is not able to do? How
can God How can God justly condemn him for not doing what he couldn't
do? How can God justly condemn a
man for not doing what he couldn't do to start with? How can he
be held responsible for doing what he's not able to do? Well,
first of all, as a creature, as a creature, as one that God
made, as one come from the hand of God Himself, He's responsible
to love, obey, and serve His blessed God, to serve Him, bow
to Him, and worship Him. But as a sinner, as a sinner,
he's responsible to repent and believe the gospel. But the fact
is that the natural man is unable to love God, unable to worship
God, unable to serve God. The sinner is and of himself
cannot repent and cannot believe. The Lord Jesus says, no man could
come unto me except the Father which sent me drunkly. And what
does it mean to come to Christ? Well, first it means that man
sees his danger. He sees his situation. He sees
he's in trouble. He sees that God is angry with
him. He sees that he's under the wrath
of God. And he sees that he's without any claim upon God. He
has no claim upon God. Sinner has no claim upon him.
That he's without strength. And he'll turn around and he'll
take sides with himself, with God, against himself. He'll say,
yes, Lord, what you say about me is true. That's what David
said, it's against me. The only that I have sinned,
that when you judge it, you'll be justified, because I'm guilty
of what you say about me. And third thing he did when it
comes to Christ, he has to abandon his righteousness and give up
his will. He'll walk off and do like Paul
said, count everything but done that he might win Christ and
know Christ. But the sinner does not see these
things. He doesn't see his danger. Have
you ever told anybody their danger? And they said, I don't see it.
Have you ever told anybody that he has no claim upon God, that
God has wrath upon him? Have you ever told anybody to
abandon your righteousness, give up your will? And oh, but listen,
beloved, the sinner does not see these things. The natural
man is solely brave that he cannot come. He cannot come. And I'll tell you something,
this is where man is in trouble. You see, man is morally and spiritually
unable to come. Now morally and spiritually he's
unable to come. Joshua said, choose you this
day whom you'll serve. And he said, God is holy and
you cannot serve him. Now you've served the gods on
the other side of the river. You've served the gods of the
Ammonites and the gods of the Jebusites, but you cannot serve
the living God because he is too holy. And our Lord Jesus,
look over in John 8.43. Keep Matthew here just for a
minute. Look in John 8.43 a minute. Look what our Lord said here. I think I preached on this
here a few weeks ago. John 8.43. He said, Why do you not understand
my speech? You're listening to me. You hear
what I say. But you can't hear my words.
You don't understand what I'm saying because you don't grasp
my word. You cannot hear it. You won't
believe it. You're morally and spiritually
unable to do so. And look in Romans 8, just a
moment. Look in Romans 8. And here's
man's problem. Here's man's problem. This is
why he's held responsible. Look in Romans 8 and verse 7. So how in the world can God hold
the sinner responsible for not doing what he is unable to do
to start with? He's unable to come. He's spiritually
unable to come. He's morally unable to come.
So how can God hold him responsible for not doing what he couldn't
do to start with? But look what he says in verse
7, Romans 8. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God. That word enmity means furious. A hatred that manifests itself
in fury. Raise yourself up against. When
somebody crosses your path and that enmity comes up, it rises
up in anger. It rises up in fury. And watch
what he says now. For it's not subject, the carnal
mind is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can it
be, so being they that are in the flesh, the natural man, cannot
please God. Now let me tell you what's the
difference between unable, and cannot. What's the difference
between the unable and cannot? The sinner's inability. Listen
to me. The sinner's inability is his
lack of willingness to come to Christ. And this lack of willingness
to come to Christ comes from a depraved heart. Why didn't
you come before you did? Why don't our children come?
Why don't our grandchildren come? It's because they have an unwillingness
to come, because of their depraved heart, and their inability lies
in that. Now, there's a natural inability,
a moral inability, and a spiritual inability. And let me see if
I can make the distinction between the two. There was a king named
Ahasuerus. And this woman was going to come
to him and the scripture says that he was blind because of
reason of age and could not see. Now that's a natural inability,
he could not see. And then there is in Jonah chapter
1 verse 13 when they rose furiously to bring that boat to land. And
they could not bring it to land. That's natural inability. Things
that man tries to do, he can't do it naturally. They didn't
have the natural ability to see, they didn't have the natural
ability to bring that boat to land. But now look over here
in Genesis 37, verse 4, and let's look at the natural ability,
but also the spiritual inability. Look at Genesis 37, in verse 4. Look what is said here now. Verse 3 says, Now Israel loved
Joseph more than all of his children, because he was the son of his
old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. And when his
brethren saw that their father loved him more than all of his
brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto
him. Now they had the natural ability
to speak peacefully to Joseph. But they didn't have the moral
and spiritual ability to speak peaceably to Joseph because they
hated him. They could say nice things to
him and treat him right, but they couldn't do it because they
hated him, so they lost their spiritual ability and moral ability. And that's why Peter says they
cannot cease from sin, having eyes full of adultery. When you
cannot cease from sin, that means you don't have the ability to
do anything but sin. And they that are in the flesh
can't please God, that means he's spiritually unable. He's
alienated from the life of God. And I'll tell you something about
man, he can't do, he cannot do, and we tell people this all the
time. Man cannot choose something his
heart hates. He can't do it. Ask people to
come all the time. Oh, I'm going to come, I'm going
to come, I'm going to come, I'm thanked by coming. And know that
they lie to you when they tell you that. Ain't that what our
Lord said down in Matthew 12, 34? He said, Oh, how can you
being evil speak good things? You've got the natural ability
to speak. You've got the ability to say
good things, but yet you're evil, so how in the world can you say
a good thing when you're evil? That's why no man, he said, our
Lord, no man can come unto me except my Father draw him. Then
can't you something his heart hates. And that's why the sinner
must be drawn to Christ. It's like Barnabas. Barnabas
had no natural ability to see. He's blind. No natural ability
to see. But he wanted to see. He desired
to see. He didn't want to stay blind.
But the Pharisees could see naturally, but they couldn't see spiritually.
Let me show you that in John 9. You remember old Bartimaeus? He says, he heard the Lord Jesus
coming, he cried out and cried out and cried out and said, Lord,
thou son of David, have mercy on me. What do you want? I want
to see. I want to be able to see." And the Lord gave him sight.
And then here you have, but he couldn't see naturally. And then
you have Pharisees who could see naturally, but they were
blind spiritually. Look in John 9 and verse 39. And our Lord says now, This is
that man that's born blind when the Lord gave him sight. And
our Lord said, for judgment I am coming to this world, that they
which see not might see. Now Bartimaeus couldn't see.
Christ gave him sight. This blind man here, he couldn't
see. Christ gave him sight. That they
which see not, they that are blind, might see. And that they
which see might be made blind. Y'all was talking about right
before the service, you was talking about talking to a certain person,
showing them from the Scriptures what the Scripture said, and
say, I know that that's what it says, but that's not what
it means. He cannot see. He don't want to see. And if that thing we see might
be made blind, and some of the Pharisees which were with him
heard these words and said unto him, Are we blind also? Look what our Lord said. And
Jesus said unto him, if you were blind, you should have no sin. If you were like that man that
was born blind and couldn't see and said, I can't see, you would
have no sin. But now you say, we see. We see
how to be saved, we see how to live right, we see how to attend
church, see how we ought to read our Bible, see how we ought to
tithe, see how we ought to witness, see how we ought to love Jesus,
see how we ought to do all these things to make ourselves acceptable
to God. He said, because you see, you're
blind as a bat, and you're going to stay that way the rest of
your life. You'll never see God, you'll never see Christ. And
oh, the natural man could come to Christ if he wanted to. And an IL, capital L, if his
inability, see his inability lies in the fact that he doesn't
want to come to Christ. And why don't people even want
to pick up a book and read about God? He has the natural ability, and
that's why he's responsible. He can read the Bible as well
as he can read a magazine. He can seek God just as well
as he can seek riches. He can seek the Lord just as
well as he can seek pleasure. But he does what his heart does
because that's where his heart's at. And that's because he has
the... A man can get in his car and
come to a worship service like this as well as he can get in
his car and go sit on a barstool and drink a bottle of beer. And because he chooses to go
to the bar and sit on the barstool and drink the beer instead of
coming here, you reckon God ought not to hold him responsible for
not coming here? He's got the ability, but he don't have the
natural ability, but he don't have the spiritual ability. And
oh, beloved, and because he's morally unable, that only makes
him that much more guilty. Joseph and his brethren, because
they hated him and couldn't speak peacefully to him, that made
them more guilty than you could possibly, because they hated
him, without a cause. Men may say, I couldn't help
being born with a depraved heart. So I'm not responsible for my
moral and my spiritual inability. Your responsibility lies in the
very fact that you give in to your depravity. That's why men,
you know, men freely give in to their sin. And let me tell
you something, God never forces a man to sin. People sin because
they want to and because they know they're depraved, didn't
know they're sinners, and don't do anything about it, that's
why they're responsible. Somebody says, well, I inherited
the fiery temple from my parents. Well, so you're blaming your
parents for your fiery temple and your sinful actions. Mom
and Daddy made you the way you are now. And that's why the Lord said,
out of your own mouth, Out of your own mouth. I'm going to judge you. What
you say is what I'm going to judge you on. A man robs you and says, I can't
help being a thief. That's my nature. Well, let's
just let him go on. Just continue on being a thief.
Let's don't put him in jail. Let's don't lock him up. Let's
don't hold him responsible for being a thief. Oh my, murderer hates a man so
much, he couldn't be near him without killing him. What's God going to do with a
man like that? He knows that he hates. Is he responsible for
being such a hater? I tell you, beloved, man's responsibility
is a fact, taught in Scripture, and it's witnessed by the conscience.
And the reason The reason for man's responsibility is his human
inability. Now, what does ability, or human
ability, now what does ability mean? Now, everybody has a certain
amount of ability. Let me give an illustration,
if I can. A man, you loan a fellow a hundred dollars. He owes you
the hundred dollars. And he just runs here and yonder,
and goes here and yonder, and has his fun, has his pleasure,
and does all things that he wants to. But he never, ever pays you. And then when you ask him, say,
why can't you pay me? And he says, well, I'm unable
to pay you. Well, you've got money to go here, and you've got money
to go there. You know, the only inability of that person that
owes you the hundred dollars has, he doesn't have an honest
heart. If he had an honest heart, he
would gladly pay you the hundred dollars. The ability lies in
the power of His hand to give me the money, but He lacks an
honest principle. And the fact that He has the
power to give the hundred dollars makes Him responsible to do it.
But because He doesn't have a responsive, honest heart doesn't take away
His responsibility. He just doesn't have an honest
heart. And He's not going to give it back to you because He
doesn't have... He has the ability to do it.
He's got the money to do it. But he don't have an honest heart
to do it. He got all ability, but he's got a heart problem.
And man's natural inability is what makes him accountable to
God. Men have natural faculties like you and I do. He can love as well as hate. They have the same heart to believe
as they have to disbelieve with. And that's why an infant or an
eating is not responsible, because they don't have the natural ability.
And the normal man has a conscience, he has a mind, he has logic,
he has reason, he has the ability to weigh out eternal issues,
and because he does, and he doesn't do it, that's why he's responsible.
He's got the ability to weigh these things out. And because the sinner has the
natural faculties, logic, reason, he can love. He's got the same
heart to love as you and I. He's got the same heart to believe
as he has to disbelieve with. And because he has the natural
faculties, that's why he's a responsible creature. And because he doesn't
use his natural powers for God's glory, he's guilty, and justly
so. That's why we say, Lord, you
do whatever you do with our people and our children is exactly right. You're the judge of all the earth,
and you do what's right in your eyes. We're not going to justify anybody
that we know. Say, they didn't know any better.
Oh, they know better. They don't want to do better.
They know what to do, but they won't do it. And they'll stand
there and tell you flat-footed, I know that's what I ought to
do. But they won't do it. Why don't they do it? They got
the natural ability, but they don't have the spiritual ability,
the moral ability. And how can it be consistent
with God's mercy to require the debt of obedience from those
that are unable to pay? I'll tell you why. God's not
lost His right. to obedience from his creatures,
even though man has lost his power, God still has the right. That's why he said to Adam, Adam,
where are you? He called him to account. And that's what he's
going to do, he's going to call men to account. Where are you? Where are you? You've got a heart
to believe, why don't you believe? You've got the ability to get
to a place where the gospel is preached, why don't you go? You
got that tongue that you use to curse with, why don't you
bless with it? You got that ability to get here
and yonder and everything else, why don't you have the ability
to come and veil yourself of the things that God has provided
for you? And oh man, just because he's
lost his power, that doesn't mean God's lost his right for
him to give him the glory. And let me ask you this other
question. How can God, decree that men should commit certain
sins, and he did. He raised Pharaoh up for one
reason. Judas was raised up for one reason. How can God decree
that men should commit certain sins and then hold them responsible
for committing the sins that they committed? How can that
happen? Judas God decreed that Judas
should betray the Lord Jesus Christ. Zechariah 11, 12 says
that it was a friend that lifted his heel up against me. And he sold him for thirty pieces
of silver, told what he was selling for. Now, was Judas responsible
for what he done? Huh? Oh, listen, the responsibility
lies in the motive. What was his motive for doing
what he did? What was his intention for committing the act of selling
the Lord Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver? See, even man's
law makes a difference in something done by an accident or something
done on purpose with malice in it. If a man's calling his heart,
he said, I'm going to go over there and I'm going to kill that
fella, then the law will make that man responsible for first-degree
murder because he'd done it before. If a fella runs over somebody
with an automobile because they run out in front of him and he
can't stop, it's an accident, then he'll get to go free. The
law of the land makes a distinction in those things. And that's the
way God's way is. You see, Judas was greedy. Judas
was covetous. He was a devil from the beginning.
And I'll tell you something, he was not conscious that he
was fulfilling God's decree. His intention was only evil.
He'd done just exactly what he wanted to do by his own nature,
and that's how God can hold him responsible. He himself said,
I've betrayed innocent blood. Now look in Acts 2.23 with me
just a moment. Acts 2.23. And that's why we've got to,
you know, that's why we've just got to keep telling them and
telling them and telling them. And telling them and telling
them and telling them and praying for them and telling them. My, my, most of my grandsons
are living in sin, and yet I ask them to come hear the gospel.
God save either him or Ernie the one to wonder with, he'd
break up that rigmarole. He'd break it up. But they don't
want to come here. Why not? Oh, we're going to do that one
of these days. We're going to do that one of these days. Why won't they do it? Why won't
they do it? They got the natural ability.
If they ain't got gas money, I'll buy it for them. I'll bring them and I would not,
I'd preach the gospel like I always would, wouldn't single them out
anyway, but yet men don't want the truth. They love pleasure
more than God. And look what happens here in
Acts 2.23. Him talking about Christ being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now listen here. God
delivered him up. God said, by his foreknowledge,
determined counsel, delivered Christ up to the cross. He spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. And then look
what he says, and you have taken him, and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain him. You have done what God determined
before to be done. You have done what God predestinated
to be done, and you are responsible for killing the Son of God. for
murdering him. Huh? Look in Acts 4.26 with me
just a moment. I'll show you this, and then
I'll make some comments on it. Acts 4.26. He's quoting here from Psalm
2. The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord and His Christ. Herod rose up, The
high priest rose up, the rulers, Pilate, he stood up, and they
all got together against the Lord and against his Christ,
against the Lord Jesus. determined before to be done. Everything that was done against
our Lord Jesus Christ was decreed to be done. I mean, they went
down to every word he said, every act that was done on the cross,
everything that took place up to that time that he was crucified
and raised from the dead was exactly told everything that
would be done. And those fellows read the scripture.
And yet, they'd done exactly what they wanted to do, irrespective
of what the Bible said. They'd done what was in their
hearts to do, in their intent to do, in their motive to do,
and they were guilty because they were doing exactly what
they wanted to do, and in doing that, was doing exactly what
God purposed to do before the foundation of the world. Ain't
that right? God said, this is what they're
going to do to you. And they did that. And God said, I'm going
to make a fellow reach up with a spear and cut his side out.
Sure enough, the fellow reached up there. God determined that
to be done. Of course, with it came blood and water. You reckon
that fellow read that in the Bible? You reckon it was in his heart,
said, I've got the power. I told a woman one time, we're
going through an airport, and she was a real smart aleck. Had
one of these working, you know, and there's security in there,
you know, that takes all your bags and goes through all that
rigmarole. I said, the only reason in the world you're doing what
you're doing right now is because you've got a uniform on and you've
got the power to do it. That just made her that much
madder. But, you know, a little woman with a big badge, a little
woman with a big uniform made her the power. But it's in her
heart to do it to start with, or she wouldn't do it. And it
was in these men, that's why Father said, willing to contend
the people, he gave Christ over to them. Here, here, Moravius,
let him go! Let's kill Moravius, let Christ
go! No, no, no, no, no! You know why? They were doing
exactly what they hated Him without a cause. We will not have this
man reign over us. And they were doing exactly what
God predetermined for them to do. And they were doing exactly
what they wanted to do. And so, should God hold them
responsible? You see, God doesn't take good
men and make them sinful and force them to do sin. Men do
what they want to do, even though God directs them to fulfill His
will. And how can the sinner, a third question, how can the
sinner be held responsible to receive Christ, the Lord Jesus,
and be damned for rejecting Him when God foreordained him to
that condemnation? Well, the first answer to that
is this. No sinner, no sinner knows the secret decrees of God,
whether he's a vessel of honor or whether he's a vessel of pitted
destruction. Nobody knows that, do they? Nobody
knows that. But I'll tell you what he can
know. He can know the revealed will of God. He can know this
blessed book. He can know what the revealed
will of God is. He don't know. I don't even know
the secret. I don't know the secret counsels of God. The secret
things brought unto the Lord. The revealed things unto His
prophets, he said. But I tell you, he don't know
the secret decrees of God, whether God's made him a vessel of honor
or a vessel of wrath. But he can know the revealed
of God, and this is what a man's responsible to obey. What did
our Lord say? They're commanded to believe.
You're commanded to believe on the Son of God. This commandment
you've received in 1 John 3, that you are commanded to believe
on Jesus Christ. Paul said they have not obeyed
the gospel. And I do know this, all who repent
and all who believe Christ, they're saved. So every sinner is responsible
to repent and believe. God commanded all men everywhere
to repent. And I tell you what, it's also
a man's duty to search the Scriptures. That's what our Lord says, search
the scriptures. In them you think you have eternal
life, and that's where you'll find what they testify of me.
And God said this to the man. God said this to sinners. When
you search for me with all your heart, you'll find me. You'll
find me. And, oh, listen, I'll tell you
something else you can do. You can use the means God has
told us and given us, and He might meet with you. You know,
just use the means. Use the Scriptures. Come to hear
the Gospel. Read the Bible. Call on God. Pray. Call on Him for mercy. Call on Him for direction. Call
on Him for help. Call on Him for sight. Call on
Him as a sinner and say, Lord, I don't have anything to bring.
I don't have no knowledge. I don't have nothing. I'm coming
as nothing with nothing. And do what He commands you.
Let Him do what He will with you. We have the scriptures,
and man can read the Bible as easy as he can read a newspaper.
And if he's blind and he can't read, he can have somebody read
to him. And if a man, listen to me, if
a man refuses to use what God has given them, should he be
pitied or to be blamed? If he refuses to use the means
that God's given him, do you feel sorry for him, or is he
to be blamed? Oh my, man's not only powerless
to do good, but he delights in evil. The cannot is, I will not. And that God is clear from the
Scriptures, that God requires things from even us, His children
and men, that's beyond our power to do, is clear from the Scriptures.
He said, what the law could not do, that it was weak to the flesh.
Is God going to lower the standards of His law? We can't keep it
through the weakness of the flesh. He said, being imperfect as my
Father in heaven is perfect. Can you be perfect? He said, wait till righteousness
is sin not. Can you not sin? How many sins
have been committed in this service tonight? John said, little children, sin
not. Anybody incapable of Not doing
these things? He said, little children, I said,
do you sin? Not, but if you do. He didn't leave any possibility
that you wouldn't, but he said, this is the way you'll get up
one day. Jesus Christ the righteous. So why does God demand what we're
incapable of doing? I'll tell you why. Because he
refuses to lower his standard. to our level of sinfulness. He
ain't going to change. He's got to change us. Is that
not right? Now let me hurry up and finish.
Man's responsible first to acknowledge before God his inability. And
I do that. I do that. I acknowledge my inability. Can you acknowledge your inability? I can't even believe if God don't
keep me believing. I can't keep calling if God don't
keep me calling. I can't pray if God don't work
it in me to pray, though I try to pray. I can't understand the
Scriptures if God don't give me the understanding. I can't
love you without the ability of God giving me that love. So
I acknowledge my inability. But also, I turn around and cry
to Him, God give me the ability. Lord, don't let me go up to service
tonight and not be able to speak, not be able to make things understandable. Oh, Lord. We cry to God for His
enabling grace. One of Mary's first cousins,
when he found out that Mary was sick, he said, how in the world
should we pray for her? How are we supposed to pray?
And you know what? His wife said this, she said,
praying for grace, enabling grace, that's what she needs. Grace
enabling her to deal with it and live with it every day. Now,
that's what we've got to have. God, enable me. Enable me to
believe today. Enable me to live to Your glory
today. Enable me to seek You today. Enable me to do good to
your people today. Enable me to pray for your folks
today. Enable me to keep from sinning
at the high hand today. I need you today. Now, you can
do that. You can say, Lord, I have no
ability, and Lord, please give me the ability. Now, if I start
to dance with food in front of me, I'm to be blamed. If I fall down and break my leg,
and just lay there and go cry for somebody to come pick me
up, instead of crying for help, I'm to be blamed. And so sinner,
the gospel, and Christ, and all He is, is there. Take sides with
God. Say, Lord, You're the right.
You're right about everything You say. I'm without strength. I'm a sinner who can't do nothing
else. I'm a redhorn. But God, have mercy on me and
bring me to Thyself. Bring me to Thyself. And let
me show you in closing. I'm going to show you two things.
Look in Acts 27, 22. And I'll show you some instances
of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. Let me show you
this. Acts 27, 22. You know, Paul's on this ship.
The ship's going to be lost. Paul told in verse 24 and 21,
but after long absence, After this, Paul stood forth
in the midst of them and said, Sirs, you should have hearkened
unto me, and not loosed from Crete, and to have gained this
harm and loss. But now I exhort you to be of
good cheer, for that shall be not loss of any man's life among
you, but of the ship." But of the ship. Now, they're going
to lose the ship. They're going to lose the ship.
And it goes on down here to say, and Paul said in verse 23, For
thou stood by me an angel of the God, and I, whose I am, say,
Sir, said, Fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar,
and God hath given them all that sail with thee. And all some
of the men were fixed to jump over the ship. And Paul said,
Except you stay on the ship, you can't be saved. And Hezekiah,
he was sick under bed. God's gonna give him 15 years,
but you know what he had to do? He had to take a lump of pigs
and put on his bowl. And Paul knew he was securing
Christ, and yet he kept his body under subjection. And Paul said,
little children, abide in him. And then he said another verse,
you shall abide in him. Tells us to abide in him, little
children, abide in him. Then another time he says, you
shall abide in him. God says you shall, and because
he says you shall, we seek to, we want to. Is that right? I
hope that made some sense.