I've preached on several things
about it, that God is sovereign, that God actually reigns. He
acts like God. He's not a pretender after the
throne. He conducts himself in the affairs of this world. It's
either God rules or somebody else does. And he rules in wisdom,
he rules in grace, he rules in power. and talked about the necessity
of God's sovereignty. It's absolutely necessary that
it be so. What's the alternative? What
is the alternative if God does not rule and reign in this world?
What's the alternative? Love? Chance? Fate? Destiny? Karma? What's it going to be? You want to be left to karma?
You want what goes around covering? No, we're in the hands of a righteous,
just, and glorious God. And I'm very, very thankful that
He has taught us that, that He has made Himself known as He
is. He declared, I am God, and beside
Me there is none other. Look unto Me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. I'm a just God and a Savior.
He says, where is the God like it unto me? He says, you can
go out and you can find men that go out in the woods or go get
them a piece of silver, go get them a piece of gold, and they'll
go to whittling and whittling and whittling and whittling,
and they'll make them an idol. And he said, the idol have eyes,
but they don't see it, have ears, but they don't hear, have hands,
but they can't do anything, have feet, but they can't walk. And
he said, and they don't know. When they cut down those trees
and make all those idols out of them, that they use part of
it to cook with, part of it to eat with, and use the rest of
it to worship. Look what he said here in Revelation,
excuse me, Romans 11, in verse 33. Oh, the debts of the riches. The riches of
what? Of the wisdom and knowledge of
God. How rich is God in wisdom and
knowledge? How unsearchable are His judgments? Oh, the judgments that He makes.
He made a judgment this morning. How unsearchable are His judgments
and His ways past finding Him? And then He asked this question,
Who hath known the mind of the Lord? Anybody here say, I know
the mind of the Lord? What God's mind is for you tomorrow? What God's mind is for you today
after? What God's mind is for the day
that He's going to save His last elect? Who has ever known the
mind of the Lord? Who has ever sat down and said,
well, I think that you're doing this the wrong way and I need
to counsel you and make sure you do this right. Has anybody
ever done that? Who's ever been His counselor?
Then verse 35, who has first given to Him? Give something
to Him. And God turned around and said,
I need to pay you back. You've done me so good and you
gave me so much, I'm going to have to turn around and pay you
back. When He sends the cattle on a thousand hills of mine,
He puts the stars in the heavens and He calls every single one
of them by name. And not one of them fails without
Him. He measures the water in the hall of His hands, counts
the nations as a drop in the bucket. And then somebody says
that they're going to give something to God, and God owes them something.
Huh? For of him, through him, and
to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. You know God's purpose
is to bring glory to Himself. And He says in Ephesians 3.11
that God brings His eternal purpose is to bring glory to himself
through Jesus Christ. And I know this, that his purpose
shall be accomplished. God's purpose shall be accomplished.
Now, most folks would tell you that believe in God, that God
knows and foreknows all things, because He looked down through
time. But I say this, that if God knows all things, knows all
things, Isn't it clear that he foreordains all things? If he
knows all things, is the reason why he knows all things is because
he foreordained all things? If God foreknew what will be, isn't it because he decreed what
shall be? You think he just knows what's
going to be because he can look down through time and say, well,
this is going to happen, that's going to happen, that's going
to happen, that's going to happen. I'm just going to stand by as a spectator. Or it's what's
going to happen because he decreed for it to happen. He purposed
for it to happen. Anything cannot be known as what
shall be unless it's certain to be. You and I can suppose something.
We can think something. We can believe something's going
to happen. But if you know something's going to happen, and you know
it beforehand, then it's certain to be. And since God knows everything
that's going to be, it's certain to be because He ordained it
to be. Known unto God are all His works
from the creation of the world. Now, some will say that God governs
everything but man. He's got control over everything
but man. He left man with the free will. He left man with the
ability. He left man with this great power. He left man with this great power,
and that he, God, gives him his chance, gives him opportunity,
and if he gives him his chances and gives him his opportunity,
and then that man cooperates with God when he gets his will
and his opportunity, then everything will be all right. But my message
tonight is God's sovereignty towards the righteous, His elect,
how God deals with His elect, and how God deals with the wicked.
And if there's a righteous, and if there's an elect, there's
a wicked. And if He does good towards His elect, that means
that He doesn't do good towards the wicked. Why did I preach
on Wednesday night in Psalm 75 that God is angry with the wicked?
How often? Every day. And the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. Now God's way and the way of
His method of dealing with His elect. And I love election. I love God choosing a people.
I love the fact that had not God chosen me, I would have never
chosen Him. Had not God set His affection
on me, I would have never had my affection set on Him. Had
God not foreknown me in Christ before the foundation of the
world, I would have never, ever chosen Him. I'd have never come
to Him. I'd have never known Him. That He sent us out on my
trail before I was born. And Paul said, Would it please
God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace? Now, you know the way that God
deals with His elect? The first thing He does with
them in time, and we're talking about time, He chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1.4. But what
He does in time, in His method of dealing with them, the first
thing He does for them is He quickens them. He gives them
the new birth. And look over in Ephesians 2.1
just a moment. Ephesians 2.1. And this is what most people
don't understand, and that's why we have preachers,
that's why we have the Bible, that's why we have Folks, we
want them to listen so that we can learn. We want to learn what
God says. And then when God quickens us
and does these things to us, we learn not only from His Word,
but as His Word is taught to us and preached to us, we learn
by experience what the Word of God says. We experience it ourselves. Look what He says. And you have
been quickened, Ephesians 2.1, who were dead in trespasses and
sins. Now, a dead man cannot act in
any way towards anything. And we were dead in trespasses
and sins. We trespassed God's law, we sinned
against God, and we could do nothing there. Look what it says,
where in time past we walked according to the course of this
world. We fulfilled the lust of our flesh and the desires
of our mind, and were by nature the children of wrath and was
even in mercy. But God quickened us together
with Christ And what word quicken means, and he gives us life.
We were dead and God comes and he said, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, cannot enter into the
kingdom of God. And so the spirit of God comes
and quickens us and gives us this life of God himself in our
soul. And John said, we know we've
passed from death unto life. How do we know? Because we love
the brethren. And I'll tell you, and look over
at 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2. I want to really deal
with this here. You know, what makes a person different
than he was before he was saved? What happens to a man? What happens
to a man before he's converted? What happens to a man that makes
him become what he wasn't before. What makes a man go from living
out in the world, and living in sin, and living for himself,
and always to turn and start coming to God, start listening
to scriptures, and start needing Christ, and start wanting to
find out what God says, and start wanting a relationship with God?
What causes that to happen? That's the Spirit of God going
after people. That's the Spirit of God clicking
on a person. That's the Spirit of God enlightening
the understanding. That's the Spirit of God moving
the heart, and moving the affections, and bringing a person to the
place where they want to know Christ. And then when that happens,
that's when He comes and He clicks that person, and that life of
God comes into their soul, and a new person comes in there that
never existed before. There's a radical change. A radical
change. As you know, this raising your
hand and getting baptized in water does not wash away sin. Joining the church doesn't have
anything to do with being joined to Christ. You can join every
church, but until you're united to Christ, you're just nothing. And look what he said here. In
Ephesians 2 Peter 1 verse 4, talking about this new birth
and what happened, God makes us partaker, whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these, we hear
these promises, we hear what God's done, we hear what Christ's
done, and He promises life. He promises forgiveness. He promises
justification. He promises righteousness. He promises grace. He promises
to keep us, oh, all these exceeding great and precious promises,
and when we hear these promises, by these promises, we're made
partakers of the divine nature. The nature of God Himself is
given unto us, and that's what God does for His elect. And,
oh, beloved, we couldn't do this for ourselves. We were dead.
And Paul said in Romans 5, 6, when we were yet without strength,
in due time Christ died. For whom? The ungodly. And, oh,
beloved, the new birth is a miracle, absolute miracle. And what happens
is that God takes the seed, the Word of God, and He plants that
seed in a man's heart in the preaching of the gospel. And
that seed germinates, and that seed germinates in that heart
just like the seed in a woman's womb, and nine months later,
a baby is born. Now, I don't know when that seed's
planted, and I don't know how long it has to be there, but
I do know this, when that seed's planted, life comes out of that
seed. The life of God comes out of
that seed. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and
abideth forever. Oh, my! The seed of God is over
in Mark 4. I think this Mark 4 is what I
want to look at. Here's a perfect illustration
of it. In Mark chapter 4. I just remembered this. I hope
this is it. About how this seed comes to
life and how it comes to be. Oh yes, yes, right here it is. And he said in verse 26, Mark
4, 26. And he says, so is the kingdom
of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground. and should
sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and
grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth
fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that the
full corn and the ear. But when the fruit is brought
forth, immediately he put in the sickle, because the harvest
is come." And he says, that's what we'll liken the kingdom
of God to. You see, first of all, when that seed is sown,
I just, I mean, you know, just a little old bitty green blade
spots on it. Remember, we used to raise garbage.
Every morning I'd go out and see if anything was up. I'd go
out and see, watch for that first bean to pop through, first corn
to pop through, just a little old bitty thing. And then after
a while, it'd get up big like this here. And then after a while,
you'd go get to pick it. And he said, that's the same
way it is in the kingdom of God. You start out just a little bitty
tiny blade. And you know what? We make the
mistake of looking to see if it's there or not. But we don't
know where it's at. God knows where it's at. But you know, as long as that
line will come up. And that's what he's talking
about. That's just seed. That's just the way this seed
does. And all beloveds, the new birth is the first thing God
does in His elect. He makes the dead to live. He
takes those that were shapen in iniquity and conforms them
to the image of his Son. He takes those who were taken
captive of the devil and makes them members of the household
of faith. He takes a beggar off of the dunghill and sets him
among princes and gives him the riches of Christ. He turns those
that were rebels into subjects. He takes those that hate him
and turns their hearts until they love him. And oh, beloved,
by his irresistible power, he takes a sinner and makes him
a saint. He takes an enemy and makes him
a friend. He takes a slave of the devil and turns him into
a child of God. And he exerts upon his elect
the power to stand, the power to serve, the power to understand. You know, he's the one that Ephesians
3.18 says that he enlightens the understanding. That's one of the things that
we get so discouraged with is that we say, boy, it seems like
I understand so little. This is a great blessing if you
understand anything. You know, because there was a
time he didn't understand nothing. And oh, beloved, then he starts
enlightening our understanding, and those scriptures start coming
to life. The scriptures start having power. And we start understanding
things we didn't understand before. And, oh, beloved, He gives us
the men, He gives us the power to stand. What makes us go on
day after day, year after year, year after year, believing the
same things, rejoicing in the same things, delighting in the
same things, hearing the same things? What makes us go on in
spite of what's in our flesh, in spite of what's in the world,
in spite of our sicknesses, in spite of our weaknesses, in spite
of our infirmities, in spite of everything that goes on in
our lives? What keeps us standing day after
day after day? What causes that? Surely it's not us. He enables us to fight the good
fight of faith. He enables us to continue against
all things that are against Him within and without. And we have
no strength of our own. We're like sheep, and the shepherd
has to take care of us. Micah said it like this, I'm
full of power by the Spirit of God. It's not by power, not by
might, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. And, O beloved, they
preached unto the people the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
and God gave them power, and men cried out, O men and brethren,
what must I do? And this power that God gives
us and exerts over us and conforms us, and conforms us and confirms
us in the graces of believers. You know what we need first?
We need knowledge. Where are you going to get knowledge
of God? Where are you going to get it? If you don't get it from
the Bible, where are you going to get it? That's why, you know, Job said
it this way. He said that the knowledge of
God is higher than the heavens, deeper than the sea. He said,
can God be found by searching? And our understanding, where
do we get the will to do? Where do you get the will to
pick up a Bible? Where do you get the will to come to a service?
Where do you get the will to pray? Where do you get the will
to do something unselfish? Where do you get the will to
do something for somebody else and want nothing in return? Where
do you get that will? Where do you get that will to
love people? Where does that will come from? Where do you
get that will to teach people that you would never have nothing
in common but Christ? And you get this will to do something
for people and you absolutely don't want no recognition, nothing
in it. Where do you get that will? Where do you get the will
to do? Where do you get the will to
do tonight to be here in here? God put that will in you. He
works in you both to will and to do. And oh, what makes you
hungry to be like Him? What makes you hungry to be conformed
to the image of Christ? Where do you get the love, the
joy, the peace, the gentleness, the goodness, the faith, the
meekness, the temperance? Where do you get the fruit of the Spirit
from? I'll tell you what Paul called it. He said, It's Christ
in you, the hope of glory. That's what it is. And I'll tell
you something else God does. Not only does He exert power
upon us to stand, and to understand and discern. But he directs his
elect by his power. You know, when Israel was coming
through the wilderness, every day he had a cloud over them
by day, so the sun wouldn't be on them. And they would follow
that cloud. When that cloud stopped, they'd stop. And then at night,
the same cloud would get behind them, and that cloud would be
a cloud of fire. And he put that cloud of fire
behind them so the enemies couldn't get to them. And He put the cloud
for them so they wouldn't be in that old hot sun. And that's
what He done. He led them day by day and night
by night. And that's the way He directs
His saints. Now let me tell you something. He directs us from
within. He don't direct us from without
with visions and dreams and feelings and this kind of thing. If He
directs us, if we know anything about His will, of what we're
supposed to do, He does that within us. Huh? He guides us
by working in us. Look in Philippians 2.13. He
guides us by working in us. You know, people all the time
talk about, I had this vision, I had that vision, and God told
me to do this, and God told me to do that. If God ever tells
you to do anything, He's going to do it in your heart through
His Word by the Spirit of God. He's not going to give you some
vision out here. Look what He said here in Philippians.
For it is God which worketh in you,
both to will and to do his good pleasure. It is God which works
in you. Oh my, we can't boast of anything
we've ever done, any good thing comes out of us, God did it.
God did it. That's why, you know, God gets
all the glory. I want God to have all the glory.
Don't you? We started out saying that God's purpose is to bring
glory to Himself. That's His purpose. He's going
to bring glory to Himself. He said, I'll not give my glory
to another. And God preserves us by His power. He preserves us day in and day
out by the power of God through faith. He will preserve us unto
His glory, and we persevere. You know why we persevere? Because
we're preserved. Let me show you that over in
Jude. Jude, that last little book before you get right before
the book of Revelation. Look here in Jude, verse 24. I remember Maurice Montgomery
telling me one time, he always stopped at this little old grocery
store on his way to the office in the morning, and he'd go in
there and get his coffee, and he got to talking to a little
girl who worked in there. Come in there one day, she sat and
reading her Bible. Asked her what she was reading, he told
her. She told him where he was reading
that, and said, Where is it? He said, Read somewhere there
in Ephesians. He said, Well, did you read there in Ephesians
1 where it said, According as he hath chosen us in him for
the foundation of the world, we should behold him without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us under the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, to the praise of the
glory of his grace, when he hath made us accepted in the Beloved,
and whom we have redempted through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins? And she said, No, I never read that. She said, You never
read that in there where God chose the people? She said, Oh,
I don't believe that's in the Bible. I don't believe that's
in the Bible. She said, No, I read that. And Marie said, Well, turn
over there and let me show you. Turn over there and let me show
you. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God. And then when she reads it herself,
She said, boy, I just don't believe that mean. I don't think that
means what it says. But you know, ain't you grateful
that God, it's God that works in us. It's God that made us
to differ. What have we got to glory? What
have we got to glory? God saved us. God keeps us. God teaches us. God preserves
us. God chose us. God's going to
take us all the way to glory. What in the world are we going
to brag about? That's what I just read to you. What did God, we
ever do for God? Did God turn around and say,
I owe you? And all beloved, the Lord preserved David even wherever
he went. Look what it said here now in
Jude, verse 24. Oh, I love this verse right here. Now, now unto him that is able
to keep you from falling, Now, listen to me, able to keep you
from falling. And not only is He able to keep you from falling,
but to present you faultless before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory and majesty, dominion, and power, both now and forever. Amen. Now, let me talk about
how God deals with the wicked. how God deals with the wicked.
Look in Romans 9. You know, He has a way of dealing with His
elect. He has a way of dealing with the wicked. And one thing
that He does with men is He restrains. He exerts upon them a restraining
influence. And that prevents them from doing
what they would naturally be inclined to do. And if God ever
takes His hand off of a man, you know what you have? You have
mass murder. A man left to himself and his
own inclinations, without God restraining him whatsoever, he'll
turn into an animal. He'll turn into a beast. He will
become a murderer. He'll become a rapist. He'll
become a drug addict. He'll become anything but a benefit
to society in any way. And that's why we're hearing
all these things now, because the Scriptures tells us that
God in the last days would just keep withdrawing the Spirit,
withdrawing the Spirit, withdrawing the Spirit. And beloved, that's
God. God right now, the only reason
this world has not just turned over into absolute utter chaos,
because God continues to restrain men. He restrained MP. We talked
about him this morning. He restrained that. That boy
intended to kill himself, he said. And he restrained him to
keep him from killing himself. He kept him from that. And you
remember in Genesis 20 and verse 6 when Sarah went into Abimelech's
house. He took Sarah away from Abraham. He went into Abimelech's house.
You know what God said to Abimelech? He said, I kept you back from
sinning against me. I didn't let you touch that woman. God kept him back. And look in
Genesis 37. Well, let me deal with Romans
9 first before we go over there. Let me deal with Romans 9. I'm
jumping around here too much. Let me deal with Romans 9. Here's
a perfect example. So in verse 17, here's God, how
He deals with the wicked. For the scriptures, Romans 9,
17, for the scriptures saith unto Abraham, Even for this same
purpose raised I thee up, that I might show my power in thee,
and that my name be declared throughout all the earth. Now
he had mercy on whom he would, and he'll harden whom he will.
And so he had mercy on Israel, and he hardened Egypt. He had
mercy and saved Israel, and he sent the Ephesians army into
death. And you know the story of Joseph.
Now let's look over in Genesis. Genesis 37. Everybody knows the
story of Joseph. How his brethren hated him. Oh,
how his brethren hated him. Genesis 37. Oh, how his brethren hated him.
Joseph, the young man, his father loved him. Had that coat that
his father made him in all these different colors and all these
wonderful things. Oh, he loved him. And one day, Joseph was out looking for his
brother. In verse 17, Genesis 37. And the man said, they are asking
about his brethren. He said, I heard that they went
to Dothan. And so Joseph went after his
brethren and found them in Dothan. And when they saw him afar off,
even before he came near unto them, they conspired against
him to slay him. They conspired against him to
slay him. And you know this story how that they sold him into slavery.
put him in a pit. They come along, found him in
a pit, went home, told his daddy that the animals had destroyed
him. Now look over in Genesis 49, excuse me, 45. Look what happens. Now he gets
down in Egypt. He's in prison. He lives in Potiphar's
house. He's blessed there. In Genesis 45a. Now here's his
brother standing before him. And he's been there, there's
been this famine, and look what he said, he told his grandson.
And God sent me before you to preserve your posterity in the
earth and to save you by a great deliverance, save your life.
You fellas did it for evil. You hated me and you despised
me, but God sent me down here. God caused you to hate me. God
caused you to despise me. God caused you to sell me. And
look what he said. And then in verse 7 here of Genesis
45 and 7. And God sent me before you to
preserve you, to put you in, to serve and save you by great
deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but
God. And he hath made me a father
to Pharaoh, and a Lord over all of his house, and a ruler throughout
all the people. God sent me down here. And you know, I tell you, God
not only does individuals that way, but He does whole nations.
In Exodus 34, He said, now Israel, they got to go up to worship
three times a year. Three feasts they have to go
up to worship. They have the Feast of the Passover, they go
to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. They go to Jerusalem
for the Pentecost. Then they go to Jerusalem for
the Feast of Tabernacles. And so they went there three
times a year. And they thought, when we go up to Jerusalem, these
nations will come in here and take all of our cities and take
all of our towns. You know what God said? He said,
you all go up there and I'll put it in all the nation's hearts
that not one of them will invade you or never bother you. He said,
you go up there and you worship the Lord. Nobody's going to take
a thing you've got. And I tell you, beloved, I tell
you, I could go on and on. Look how God treated Pharaoh's
daughter, treated Moses as an infant. And you remember when
Esau swore vengeance on Jacob? Jacob, you know, he stole the
birthright from his brother, and he deceived him, him and
his mother deceived him, and got the birthright. And Jacob
left town, went over, stayed at Laban's for years and years
for Rachel, and he came back, and Esau said, the first time
I see him, I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill my brother,
I'm going to destroy him. You know what happened the first
time he saw him? He fell on his neck and wept and cried over
him. Went from wanting to be able
to kill his brother to falling on his neck and weeping over
him, saying, oh, so good to see you again. And you remember how
that nobody could go into the king's presence unless he was
bitten into the king's presence, asked to come into the king's
presence? And if anybody ever come into his presence in the
book of Esther, you know, if he didn't hold out his scepter,
somebody would just come and get him and take him and kill
him. She said, live or die, sickness
will. My people are going to be destroyed. So she said, I'm going to go
into the king's presence. And she walked into the king's
presence, and that king, I don't know how long he sat there, but
eventually he rushed and got his royal scepter, and he rushed
it out for her and said, Oh, what do thou want, O Esther?
If you understood, that's the way it is with Christ. If He
stretches out that scepter towards you, you're welcome into His
presence. If He don't step out that scepter, He holds out that
scepter of righteousness. He holds it out to men and women.
And, beloved, we come and gladly bring forth that royal diadem
and crown Him Lord of all. And, oh, beloved, I tell you,
I could go on and on and on. You know, Cyrus was a wicked
king. And all of Israel was down in
Babylon. Do you know what he did? God
changed Cyrus hundreds of years before he ever done anything.
Told who it was that would let his children come back into Israel,
come back to Jerusalem, and that he would provide the means for
them to rebuild Jerusalem. And God told his name a long
time. But took a wicked king, a Babylonian king, and moved
on his heart. to save the children of Israel
and send them back down to Jerusalem and rebuild Jerusalem. And I
could go on and on and on, but the greatest example of God's
controlling and directing the influence upon wicked men is
the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ. You know,
I'll tell you something, Whenever they, Pilate, kept saying, kept
saying, you know, I found no wickedness in him, he finally
says, willing, willing to content the people, he gave them to Christ. But everything about our Lord's
death was predestinated. It says over in Psalm 46, 9,
he was betrayed by a familiar friend. And when he came out to give
him in the garden, he kissed Judas on the cheek and said,
why comest thou? Judas kissed Christ on the cheek
and he said, friend, why comest thou here? And then it tells
us he'd be sold for 30 pieces of silver. And who would give
that silver? The Pharisees would. And what
would become of it? That it was sold to bury poor
people in. He was told that there'd be false
witnesses against him. Psalm 35 and 11. It said that
he should be spat upon and scourged, and his beard plucked out by
men's hands, Isaiah. That he would be numbered with
the transcriptures hanging between two common speakers. They said
that they'd give him vinegar and gall to drink when he cried
out, I thirst. They said that they would gamble
for his garments, And they gambled at his garments while under his
cross. They said that not one bone of his body should be broken. And there wasn't, but they came
and broke both bones, knees of both men beside him. You see,
God directs all things of all people. Everybody fulfilled their
will and their purpose at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Judas was raised up to sell Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Pilate
was raised up to wash his hands and say, I'll not have this man's
blood on my hand. But still it was on him. And
I tell you, God also hardens wicked men's hearts and blinds
their mind. And I want to show you that in
John 12, and then I'm through. And I hope that this is something
that I'm, you know, I hope this don't happen to folks I'm preaching
to, but I've seen it happen too many times. Oh my, look what I, Lord, look
what it said here in John 12, verse 37. That though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. Miracle
after miracle after miracle. We just got through talking about
this morning in John 11, right before this, that he raised Lazarus
from the dead. And he had done so many miracles,
yet they believed not on him. Now watch what it said, that
the saying of Isaiah, the prophet might be fulfilled which he spake.
Lord, who hath believed our report? Who has believed our preaching?
And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Now watch
it. Now listen to it. Therefore they could not believe
Because that Isaiah said, once again, wouldn't it be awful for
God to put a man's heart in a man's heart this way? He has blinded
their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not see
with their eyes and understand with their heart and be converted,
and I should heal them. Isaiah said these things when
he saw his glory. Now it says right there they
could not believe. Why couldn't they believe? God
hardened them. God gave them blindness. God
did that. God did that. They've seen miracles,
but they wouldn't believe. Wouldn't believe. Look over in
2 Thessalonians 2.11, and then I'm through. 2 Thessalonians. That's why that, you know, when
you understand what man is by nature, It's awful the things
men do, what they do to children, what they do to women, what women
do to one another, what man does to another. Oh, it's just awful
the way human beings are. And the only reason that anybody's
not as bad as they can be is because God restrains them. And
if you have any interest in God, any interest in the Gospel, and
you want to hear the Word of God, you'd delight to come hear
the Gospel. That's because God put something in you. He did
something for you that He didn't do for somebody else. My brother Jimmy died fifty-seven.
He's fifty-seven years old. Died, what, two months ago? Got out of bed, had a heartache,
laid down on the floor and died with his head on the floor. Fifty-seven
years old. No interest in God, no interest
in Christ. He had two interests. gambling,
and give him a six-pack of beer. That's the only thing he lived
on. Now, what made me different from
him? Huh? What made me and my dad different
from one another? When my dad would rather tell
you a lie than tell you the truth, what made us so different? Got
a brother one year to the day younger than I am. I was born
February the 9th, 1950. He was born February the 10th,
1951. We look enough alike to be twins
almost. But he's not interested in God.
Don't even want you to talk about it. Don't want to bring it up. Who makes you to differ? Why
am I here rejoicing in the gospel, and they're not? Who makes them
different? Why do some people have a great interest, and some
people sit in the service and don't have any interest at all? Why do some people say, oh, I
really appreciate that creature, and some folks can't hardly wait
to get out of there, so they won't have to say anything? Who makes the difference? And
that's what he said here about them. They could not believe. And look what he said here in
2 Thessalonians 2.11. And for this cause God shall
send them a strong illusion that they should believe a lie, that
they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness." Oh, my. God sent the Jews a strong delusion,
and they crucified His Son. God sent the religious world
a strong delusion, and they're preaching a false Jesus because
they receive not the love of the truth. And, oh, my. God's statement, take my heart,
crush it, break it, injure it. Make Me want you more than I
want anything in this world. No, God make me a vessel of mercy,
not a vessel of wrath. Have mercy and compassion on
me. Don't do me like you've done Pharaoh and raise me up just
to show how you can destroy me. Lord, we're in your hands. And if you don't do it for us,
it won't get done. But we believe in you, that all
power is in your hands. And we bow down and worship you,
who's the only true and living God. Amen. Our Father, O gracious, gracious
God in heaven, how wonderfully blessed is Your Word. Lord, what a feeble effort to
try to explain it, but Lord, it's true. Whether I can explain
it right or not is true. Whether I glorify You very well
or not, Lord, is true. But Lord, it's in all of our
hearts here. that know you. We want you. We desire you. We
want to be saved. We want to know Christ. We want
to honor Him. We want to tell the truth about
Him. We want to love men and women and be honest with them. So, Lord Jesus, please, move
among us. Cause this church to be a blessing.
Cause it to grow in grace. cause us to grow in the knowledge
of Christ our Lord, enable us to honor and love one another, and especially love and honor
you. I thank you for them. I ask for your saving presence
and power in all of our services to save your people in this place. We ask you in Christ's name.
Amen. Amen. Let's take forty-two. Forty-two.