I was talking yesterday about
men departing from the faith. I was telling a story, and I
had a little booklet called The Victorious Life. I don't remember
who the author was, but it's Scott who had it, and it's all
marked up. It was about justification by
faith, and even holiness, Christ being our holiness. And I could
tell that Scott had used it a lot, and I read it, and it was tremendous. I gave it to Bruce Crabtree,
and Bruce Crabtree read it, and he went out to visit with Rupert
Reibenbach, and Rupert read it, and Rupert wanted to have it
published. He wanted to publish it again.
He said, this is so good, this needs to be republished. Well,
he got on the internet and found this fella's name, who wrote
this. And the fella's in Australia
now. And he don't even claim to be
a believer. He just says he believes nothing
anymore. He's raising trees. And said he didn't believe anything
that he wrote in that booklet, not one thing. And Rupert said, you mean you
can write something like that? Something that Christ-exalted,
something that true, something that scriptural. And then just
forget he said, yeah, I don't believe any of it. None of it.
None of it. And I know of another fellow,
personally, that he was a five-point, strong five-point
Calvinist, had a website, argued with everybody and every brother,
you know, everything that he could. and everybody he could
about Calvinism, trying to straighten everybody out. And, boy, he was
really, really something. So well-educated, and wrote a
lot of blogs and all that kind of stuff. And finally, one day,
he threw his Bible away. Just threw it away. Said, I don't
believe in no more. Said, I don't even believe there's
a God. Went back into heathenism. Of
course, he never got out of it. But I said all that to say that
people do it every day. People walk away from Christ
to gospel every day. Every single day. And that's
what I want to talk about tonight. Why in the world would someone
depart from the faith? Why would anybody depart from
the faith? And look down there in verse
19 of 1 John chapter 2. And what a question this is. Why did multitudes turn and walk
away from the Lord Jesus Christ? And I'm sure you've asked yourself
this more than once. And that's why a believer, when
he hears a message preached or reads the Word of God, he should
be extremely interested in four things. When we read or we hear
a message preached, we should be very interested in four things.
Is it Christ speaking? Is it Paul speaking? Is it John
speaking? Is it Simon Peter speaking? Is
it Isaiah speaking? Is it the Lord speaking through
us? Who is speaking? And to whom is He speaking? And
then what's the subject He's speaking to them about? And then
how does that subject apply to me? What is He saying to me in
that particular How does it apply to my heart, my life, my situation,
and the church that I'm a member of? What is God saying to me
through what this person's speaking? And we know that the writer of
all Scripture is the Holy Spirit. We know that, that it's God the
Holy Spirit. But here he is, he's speaking through John, the
beloved apostle. You know, holy men of God speak
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And he here is writing
to believers in general, just writing to believers in general.
He's not writing to a particular church, but to all Christians
in all states of spiritual life. Look back up here with me in
verse 12 and I'll show you what I mean. He's writing to all believers
in general, not to any particular church, but all Christians in
all states of spiritual life. Look what he says, I write unto
you little children, call them little children, because your
sins are forgiven you for his sake. I write unto you fathers,
went from children to fathers, because you have known him, that
is, from the beginning. You that are mature, fathers
in the faith, I write unto you young men, children, fathers,
and young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write
unto you little children, because you have known the Father. I
have written unto you fathers, because you have known him, that
is, from the beginning. And I have written unto you young
men, because you are strong, And the word of God abideth in
you, and you have overcome the wicked one. So you see, he's
not writing to any one person in particular, one church in
particular, but Christians, believers in particular. And his subject
in the book of John here is the Lord Jesus Christ, his deity,
his redeeming work. And he says forth the Lord Jesus
Christ, his person and his work, and yet he'll always come to
another subject as it relates to that. Now look with me in
chapter 2 and verse 1. Let's go down through here just
a moment to get where I want to go. You know, He talks about
talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. That was from the beginning.
That which we've seen and heard and handled with our eyes. But
He urges us not to sin. My little children, these things
I write unto you that you sin not. He urges us not to sin,
but He comforts us with the truth that when we sin, we have an
advocate with the Father. And the advocate that we have
with the Father is the same one who made the propitiation for
our sins. So the one who propitiated our
sins, that's the very one who's advocate with the Father. Don't
sin, but if you do, if you do. And then secondly, he encourages
us to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ in loving one another.
Look down at verse 8. He encourages us to imitate the
Lord Jesus in loving one another. And again, a new commandment
I write unto you, which thing is true in him, and in you, because
the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that
saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness
even unto now. He that loveth his brother abideth
in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brothers
in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth,
because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. And in John 3.14 he
says this, We know we have passed from death unto life, because
we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brethren
knoweth not God. So he encourages us to imitate
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he does it unto obedience.
And this is not a sham. This love, one thing Satan cannot
counterfeit, he cannot counterfeit love. This is not a put on or
a sham affection, a show of works, but a real, genuine commitment
to Christ and to one another by the Holy Spirit creating the
love for one another. And then down here in verse 15,
look what he says. Encourage us not to sin, encourage
us to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ in loving one another.
And he says, love not the world. In verse fifteen, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all that's in the world
is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of
life. It's not of the Father, none of these things. The lust
of the flesh, none of these things are of the Father. The lust of
the eyes is not of the Father. The pride of life is not of the
Father. All those things are of the world. And the world and
everything about it is going to pass away, and everybody who
has the lust is in this world. But he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. You see, beloved, the love of
the world and the things of the world are not consistent with
the love of God. The world, with all of its vanity,
will soon pass away, and only those who know and do the will
of God will abide forever. Then he turns to false professors. Then he turns to false professors
and their apostasy. And that's why he says, talks
about, oh my, sin not, love one another, love not the world. And I've told you fathers, I've
told you little children, all that's in the world is lust of
flesh, lust of the eyes. And then he says, and little
children, little children. It's the last time. It's the
last time you're going to talk about false professors and their
apostasy. It's the last time, and as you have heard, that Antichrist
shall come. Even now are there many Antichrists,
whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from
us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest that they were not of us. And beloved,
oh, might God teach us something personally by him talking about
this passage of these false professors and their departure. Why do men,
why do men and women depart from the faith? Why do they do it?
Why do men and women depart from the gospel? Why do they depart
from the truth of the redeeming grace of God in the Lord Jesus
Christ? And many, many do. Many do. And that's why John says they
went out from us. They went out from us. Well,
who went out from us? It says in verse 18, the Antichrist. Antichrist. That's what went
out of front among us. People that are Antichrist means
people that are against Christ. They don't believe Christ. They say they do, but they're
false prophets and false professors and false religionists. Antichrist
is not just one man. John said here, there's many
Antichrists. And I don't want to offend anybody,
but I'm going to make some statements here, and they're true, and they're
scriptural. Any person who believes in free
will, human works, and religion for salvation is an antichrist. If you think that by your free
will and your works that you can work your own salvation and
get God to accept you, that's against Christ. And any person who denies the
absolute sovereignty of God in all things is Antichrist. Either God controls
everything or He controls nothing. Either God is God or He's not
God. Either He's controlling every
molecule in the air and molecule in our body and every affair
in this world, or He's not God at all. And I'm grateful that when we
get up of a morning, everything for that day has already been
purposed from eternity. Every hair on my head, every
breath I breathe, every time my heart beats, God is the one
who caused it to do it. And whether the sun shines or
whether it rains or whether we got good news or bad news, it's
of God. He's the first cause. And I tell you, people who worship
a weak, helpless God, who man can control and manipulate and
keep him from doing his will is an Antichrist. Men who preaches or believes
that God loves everyone in this world, the man who preaches or believes
that God loves everyone in this world is an Antichrist. A person who believes in universal
redemption. And what I mean by that, that
Christ died for people who will ultimately perish. That Christ
died, He done everything He could to save you, but yet He couldn't
do it, He didn't have the power, He didn't have the blood, He
didn't have the righteousness, He didn't have the will, He didn't
have the purpose, and it was you who will ultimately perish,
though Christ died for you. It's an Antichrist. Denies his
very deity. Huh? What did John say there
in verse 22, here of John chapter 2? Who is a liar, but he that
denies Jesus is the Christ, that he's the one Messiah, that God
manifests in the flesh. He is an Antichrist that denies
the Father and the Son. To deny God's particular love,
to deny God's sovereignty, to deny that Jesus Christ was the
one Son of God to save His people. And any person who doesn't believe
in the sovereign, electing, redeeming, calling, keeping grace of God
in Christ Jesus, as it's revealed in the Bible, is antichrist. And you want to know that if
I'm telling you the truth and not bring up any one of these
subjects, around somebody that's super-religious and see if they
won't start a fight with them. Now, ain't that right? All you've
got to do is bring up this subject that I just talked about. Oh,
salvation to the Lord, your free will and I am done. Wait a minute.
You mean to tell me that you don't believe in a man's free
will? You've got to find it on your hands. God is sovereign
in everything. Everything that He creates, the
light and the darkness, they're the same to Him. He does according
to His will and the army of heaven among the heavens and the earth.
And God, beloved, He said, everything that happens in your life starts
with God. Oh, listen, I believe we've got
a lot of work to do. So you can start a fight at the
drop of a hat with any one of these subjects you want to. I
know I've done it, seen it happen too many times. Huh? And I tell you, beloved, what
John said here, there are many, many antichrists, many antichrists. And let me tell you something,
these antichrists, if they enter into the fellowship of the true
church, you keep John too. And look with me over in Acts
chapter 20. Let me look at what Paul told
these folks at Ephesus. These folks at Ephesus. Oh, there's been many a time,
many a time, and I'm sure you have too, that you've said, Lord,
keep me. You've prayed, Lord, keep me.
Lord, keep me. Oh, Lord, keep me. And look what
he said here in Acts 20 and verse 28. Paul telling the Ephesians'
elder when he's leaving, Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased
with his own blood. For I know this, that after my
departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock. Also of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples
after them." Now, that's the kind of people you've got to
watch out for, Paul. And false professors always, and let me
tell you something about it, let me tell you something about
false professors. False professors always seek
the place of leadership in the church. They're not content just
to sit back. John said this, he said, He loves
the preeminence. He loves to have the preeminence,
and that he will not let any that we send to you come and
fellowship among you. He said, when I get there, I'm
going to deal with him. loves to have the preeminent.
He said, I don't want nobody else having anything to do with
you all. I've got everything under control
here. And they keep up the charade,
the masquerade, the living under false prestiges for a while.
And John says here, but sooner or later, they'll go out. Sooner
or later, they'll depart from the gospel of grace and the fellowship
of believers. And then he said, give me to
you four things, four things that contribute to their departure.
I believe there's things that contribute to their departure.
And here's the first one. If the pulpit, the pastor, the
teacher will be faithful to preach the true gospel, the true gospel
of God's grace and glory, false professors can't remain long
in that congregation. You see, there's only two religions
in this world, grace and works. Salvation of the Lord or salvation
of man. Grace and works, and they want
and cannot abide together. Isaac and Ishmael couldn't dwell
in the same tent. The flesh and the spirit can't
live in the same place. And grace and works cannot abide
together. Truth and error cannot walk together,
but other error can walk together, but truth and error can't do
it. Can't do it. And those who don't love the
truth of sovereign, redeeming grace, those who don't love the
truth of Christ's glory, They won't stay and listen to that
message. They'll either leave or try to get rid of the person
who's preaching it. One or the other. One or the
other. And I'll tell you another reason
people depart. Trials, suffering, continue to
contribute to their departing. People will suffer for something
they don't really believe. They just won't do it. They won't
suffer for something they don't really believe. That's why you
know our Lord talking about the seeds on by the wayside. He said,
there's some seed that fell among stony ground. And He said, he's
that man that at once receives the word with joy. But, with
tribulation coming, because of the word, or some trouble arises,
He withers up because he has no root in himself. And I tell
you, not only trials of suffering contribute to the departing.
People don't like to suffer for something they don't really believe
in. And also trials of prosperity will cause men to depart from
the gospel. I mean, you know, you don't want
a fellow to get too prosperous. He gets prosperous. And I tell
you, this is one thing that will really cause people to go. It
will cause men to depart from the gospel. False professors
can't handle either trial, prosperity, or suffering. And that's why
the Lord Jesus says, you know, the pairs of this world, the
deceitfulness of riches comes and gets them. I know of several
folks in other churches, and they left and said, you know,
I got this opportunity for this job, and I can make all this
kind of money and all that. And if they get by with it, if
they get by with it, and God don't chastise them and don't
bring them back and make them miserable, that's a horrible
sign. I know a couple that's left to
go take big jobs and make a lot of money, and in a little while,
buddy, they quit that job and go back home and go back to where
they started at. They can't live like that. But I know some. I remember a preacher. Pastor
to church. Got tired, you know, he wasn't
making enough money. Decided to go out and start making
some money. He said he wasn't making enough
money to take care of his family the way they ought to be taken
care of. He decided, you know, I'm going to go out. He said,
I'm tired of scratching with the chickens. I'm going to go
out and make a living. He went out and
made a big living. Made lots and lots of money. forsook the
church, forsook the gospel, tried to pick it up years and years
later. It don't work. It don't work. Would you want
to hear a fellow that walks off and leaves the gospel to go make
him a few hundred thousand, a couple of million, then come back and
want to pick up the mantle right where he left off? Would you
listen to a man like that? And, oh, beloved, listen. And
I'll tell you another reason, the third reason that causes
men to depart from the gospel and the faith. They have their
own glory, not God's glory at heart. They're not seeking God's
praise, not seeking God's glory, but their own. You see, if men
had the glory of God and the welfare of the congregation at
heart, they would not sow discord. They would not bring division.
They would be lovely, gracious, kind, tender, forgiving people,
and would never, ever sow discord or division. And I'll tell you
something, and I know this for a fact, and you do too. You cross
a false professor's will and his tradition and his idea of
what God's truth is, and you cross his will and his tradition
and his idea of what God's truth, and you'll see quickly that God's
glory and God's And the good of the church is not his concern
whatsoever. What you can't do, you can't
rebuke a false professor. You can't reprove him, you can't
admonish him, you can't instruct him, you can't teach him. Cross
his will, he said, I'll quit. I'll quit. And I'll tell you, beloved, and
that's his fourth reason, when a true love for the Lord Jesus
Christ is missing. When a true love of the Lord
Jesus Christ is missing, men soon weary of pretense. They soon weary of pretending.
They soon weary of playing church. If they don't love Christ sooner
or later, they'll just weary of it. Most religious places
are just nothing but adults playing children's games. You know, Doogie
and Lenny, when they had little bitty things, we still got them
on cassette tape. They'd play church. Doogie was
the preacher. The lady was a congregation who
had a little old dog named Ginger. And Doogie would be a preacher,
and she would pinch that dog, make that dog yelp, and she'd
holler, Amen! Put your heads together in church.
And I remember Doogie, you know, he'd try to hack, like you heard
preachers do, and he'd say, the dog, I run around, ha, out of
the bush, but the dog, ha, couldn't catch it. And that's about all that folks
are doing in church today. Playing church. Playing children's
games. If men are in charge of the game
or the program, does it keep some new entertainment? some
new project going on, some too new promotion or some new revelation,
he'll lose his crowd. He has to constantly be coming
up with something to keep them coming. For men to just come
and worship God simply, for men to come and seek God's faith,
to cry over their sins and plead for mercy, and just to stand
up and read God's Word and hear the gospel, it gets all to a
man if it's not in his heart. Churches always must promote
things. Youth night, family night, Father's
Day, Mother's Day, Anniversary Day, contests. Just trying their
best to keep folks coming and keep the games going. But all
just to come and hear the Word of God and pray and seek His
face, confess their sins. They can't take it long. Let
me show you. Let me give you some things here quickly. Back
over in our text here. Look what it said. John gives
us three things that resulted from their going out. He says, first of all, in verse
19, they went out from us. Why? They were not of us. They
were not of us. Their bodies were there, but
their hearts were not there. That's what our Lord said about
the Pharisees. They draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, but
their heart is far from me. They bring their bodies, but
not their hearts. Their names are on the road, but not in the
Lamb's book of life. They take the name of Christ,
but never take up the cross of Christ. And let me tell you something
about the cross. The cross is a symbol of death.
And if you take up your cross, What you're saying is, I'm dead
with Christ. I'm dead to this world. I'm dead
to my ambitions. I'm dead to everything but Christ. I don't want to live. I don't
want the world and its way of doing. I'm dead to this world.
I'm crucified with Christ. I'm alive to His will. I'm dead
to my merit. I'm dead to my own righteousness.
And I'm alive to the Christ and His righteousness and His merit. Not only is the cross a symbol
of death, and when you take it up, you'll say, I'm dead! Dead
to the world! Dead to myself and dead to my
pride and ambition and the world in its glory! And not only that,
but the cross is a symbol of shame. Shame, you know, they say, crucify
him, crucify him, that's a criminal air of shit. Oh, he's got him.
Crucify him. And beloved, the gospel is offensive. It strips us. It strips us. Our shame is revealed. The false
man of God, our shame is revealed. Our filthiness, our guilt, and
our awful nature within us is revealed in the gospel. And the
awful death that our Lord Jesus Christ died is the death that
we deserve to die. And that's why Paul said, God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I'll give you an illustration
why. She left Sodom, didn't she? Her
body walked out of Sodom, but her heart didn't. And what happened
to her? That's what I'm saying. And beloved,
usually this departure has a lot to do with the things of this
world, material things, cold hard cash. Demons have forsaken
us, having loved this present evil world. Mary was talking to a dear brother
the other day. Oh, she said, I was envious of
you. He said, your children around you and your grandchildren, they
could walk down the street and come to your house. There we'd
go to the services and there they'd send husbands and wives
and their kids. And oh, they had, I mean, good
jobs. They just loved you and they
loved your mother and your wife. And they'd all come and all said,
I was so envious of you. Now, that same family Mary was
so envious of, they'd been divorced several years. Children had to go to counseling. And the son had a drug overdose
here recently, and they had to bring him back to life. They
shocked him. If they hadn't found him and died, he'd have never
woke back up. And I was just like her.
I said, boy, this is the most wonderful thing. But a man's body can be someplace,
and his heart not. I know a person that quit because
they wouldn't let them play the piano and sing as much as they
wanted to. Went somewhere where they could play the piano and
sing. If that's all it takes to make
you happy, buy you a piano and sing at the house. But you see,
beloved, it takes a new birth Here's what it takes to keep
a man from departing. It takes a new birth to wean
a man off of this world. Christ must give us a new heart.
He must give us a new love. He must give us new interest.
It takes a miracle of regeneration. And this John said here, they
may have been among us, but they were not of us. They never had
that new nature. They never partook of that regenerating
power of God. They never knew what it was to
have a broken and contrite and a humble heart. They had never
brought face to face with the living God in turn from their
religious idols. They never bowed to a new master. Never fell in love with Christ.
Saul was a man like that. But when God apprehended him,
you know what he said? He said, I count everything that
I was everything that I did, everything that I believed, but
know that I may win Christ, be found in Christ, have in his
righteousness, and not mine. I want to know Christ. Now that
can't happen unless God puts Christ in you. Oh my. Just let me ask you, if
you try to go back, you try to go back and look up a whole bunch
of friends you used to run around with, the same people you knew
before you knew Christ, and you can't be around them, you can't
have a lot of fellowship with them very long. You know why?
Because you don't have the same interests. Huh? Same interests. We're not, they still say, He's
not with us anymore. They're exactly right. We're
not of it. Everybody's thoughts. is with us, but not of us. And
look what he says there again in verse 19. If they had been of us, they
would, now let's leave the no doubt out of this, they would
have continued with us. But out that they might be made
manifest. And I tell you, see, beloved,
he said that if they had been of us, they would have no doubt
continued with us. I'm going to tell you something,
beloved. I'm not leaving Christ because I've got nowhere else
to go. I've got nowhere else to find
a righteousness that's acceptable to God. I've got no other atonement
than the one that Christ made. I've got no other ransom that
ransomed me from my sin. I have no other substitute who
could take my place before God and satisfy Him. I have no other
person that is so faithful and unchanging as our Lord Jesus
Christ is. Made little Riley mad yesterday
evening. Got her up in my lap and she was crying. I said, Riley,
don't you love Papi? She said, no, I don't love Papi. And immediately my mind went
to this. God's not like us. She was mad
at me. Couldn't get her way. Wouldn't
let her have her way. But it wasn't five minutes with
Papa, I love you. See, her love changes by what
goes on. But God's love never changes.
Never changes. We'll never crawl up into His
lap. I tell you, do you love me? No.
No, he loves us. Love us as we were, love us as
we are, and always love us as we will be. Look in Jeremiah
32. I hope I'm not taking too long.
Look in Jeremiah 32. You see, here's the thing about
this business. You know that I'm not leaving
Christ. I've got nowhere else to go.
And there's a two-fold lock, and I've done this before. In
Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse 40. There's two locks on the
door of grace, two-fold lock here. Look at this. This is why we
won't leave Christ. I will make an everlasting covenant
with them. And here's the first thing. You
see, we're kept by the power of God. I will not turn away
from them to do them good. God said, I'll never, ever turn
away from them to do them good. God ever turned away from you? God ever turned away from you?
He never turned away from me. When I ain't had nothing to say, but just to groan, He's never
turned away. He can take my groanings and
my utterings and understand them. And then not only that, I will
not turn away to do them good, but he said, look what I'll do.
And I'll put my fear in their hearts that they shall never
depart from me. That's two locks. I'm not going
to turn from them, and I'm going to put my fear in their hearts,
and they're not going to turn from me. I love my master. I love my wife. I love my children. When the slave wanted to go out,
I don't want to go. Get that all out. Go over there
to that door post. Get it out. Say, you want to
stay with me? Yes. I'm going to dig a hole in you
here. I'm going to dig a hole in you
here. It's going to be bloody. It's going to hurt. I don't want to go out. I love
my Master. I love my wife. I love my children.
And I tell you, we love our Master. We love everything about God,
everything about everything He does, everything about Him we
love. Everything about God we love. Would you change God in any way
ever? Would you change His will for
you in anything that's ever happened in your life? And all God's children won't
leave the gospel. They won't leave the family.
They won't leave the table. They won't leave the things identified
with Him. The reason being, beloved, they
have found in Him a resting place. They have found in Him a hope,
an acceptance, a satisfaction, and a joy. And we will continue. We will continue to the day our
souls enter into glory because God said that we would. I ain't sayin' what I'm gonna
do, I'm sayin' what God said was gonna happen. And then look
what it says again. They went out from us because
they were not of us. And look what it says. They might
be made manifest. Ain't that what it says? They
might be made manifest that they were not all of us. Huh? Oh, that it might be made manifest,
revealed, that they were not all of us. We sing that old song
when we all get to heaven. What a day of rejoicing. Well, that's a good song if everybody's
going. We're all not going to get there. We're all not going. You know,
God permits false professors and teachers to be in the church
for a reason. For a reason. And look with me
in Matthew 13, 24. And I will. I'll wind it up here.
Matthew 13, 24. Oh, Lord, I thank you. Thank
you for your mercy. Thank you for your strength.
He's talking about false professors. God permits false professors
in the church and teachers. He permits it. He said another
parable, Matthew 13, 24, another parable put forth unto them,
saying the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man which sowed
good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy
came, and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. And
when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then
appeared the tares. So the servants of the householder
came, and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed
in thy field? From whence then hath it tares?
Where did these tares come from? You put good seed in there. He
said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servant said unto
him, Wilt thou then that we go, and gather then up? He said,
No, no, no, no. Don't do that. Lest while you
gather up the tares, you root up some of the wheat with them
also. Now listen, that's why we don't know who in the world,
we just preach the gospel. God does the separating. Let
both grow together, the wheat and the tares, until the harvest.
And in the time of harvest, I'll say to the reapers, Gather ye
together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn
them, but gather the wheat into my bar." Our Lord is teaching us several
things, that tares and wheat are always in the church. And the church is the threshing
floor to separate the chaff from the wheat. The service knew they
were there, and teaches us that we ought to be observant. and
learn from them, that salvation, salvation is of the Lord. God's
Word teaches us that salvation from election to calling to glorification
is of the Lord. But in observing and watching
people, we can learn that salvation is of the Lord by grace in Christ
alone. I understand this, that if it
wasn't for the grace of God, I would leave too. If it wasn't
for the grace of God, I would depart too. If it wasn't for
God's sovereign grace, I would grow weary. If it wasn't for
God's grace, I wouldn't have any interest in the gospel either.
And their departure teaches us that that which sustains us and
keeps us and makes us what we are is not our own effort, like
the man who lived. but it's of the grace of God.
But we're not promised that it might be clearly manifest, that
if it weren't for the grace of God, you and I'd leave too. John, or Paul said it like this,
who maketh thee to differ? If it wasn't for the grace of
God. Salvation to the Lord, not by
our efforts. talking to Brother Mahan one
time. I will quit, I really will. We was talking about, you know,
sitting around one night and talking. Cold night, you know,
we had our jackets on, sitting outside talking. Several names came up and he
said, he said, well, we'll just have to wait and see about that.
Somebody else come up and he said, well, He said, he'll be
keeping on thirty years from now, you just mark it down. God done a work in him. When
God does a work in a man, it's forever. And that's the difference
between those who depart and those who don't. It's going to
be clearly seen who is and who ain't. I need grace. Give me grace,
give me grace, give me strength, and Lord keep me. And make me
gracious, even when I'm around people. And I don't want us to
go out here and be mean. I started out with those statements
that I made at the beginning. Don't go out here and be mean
to people. And believe in free will, don't be mean to them.
Don't be mean to people who don't know nothing about God's sovereignty.
You be gracious to them, and you witness to them, Tell them
the truth and tell it to them in a gracious way. Don't fuss
and fight with them. Okay? Let's do that. Oh, blessed, blessed Savior. Oh, how wondrous, wondrous Your
grace is. The strength that You give, the
help that You give, the hope that You give, Overwhelming. Lord, I bless you. Oh, how I
bless you. Thank you for these dear saints
who have come out. Thank you for the love of Christ,
the grace of Christ. Thank you for this body of believers,
what you've done for us. I pray that you'd continue to
work in us. Oh, Lord, make us love you more.
Make us see our need of you more. Make us more utterly and absolutely
dependent upon you than we are. Help us never ever to look to
ourselves, trust ourselves, and only look to you and trust you. And Father, I thank you for what
your hand gives, we take, and we bless you in Christ's name.
Preserve and keep your people. Open hearts here to the truth.
And when a heart's open to the truth, we pray, Lord Jesus, if they'd
be willing and ready to share it with us so that we might rejoice
with them. In our Lord Jesus' name, keep
you people for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. I'll see you Wednesday night,
God willing.