What is it to preach the grace
of God? What is it to preach the grace of God? Paul said here in Romans 5, Romans
11, 5, excuse me, you know, Elijah thought, Lord,
there ain't nobody left but me. I killed all your prophets, tore
down all your altars. And I'm the only preacher left,
the only child of God left on the face of the earth. And they're
after me. God said to him, no, no, no,
Elijah. I've got 7,000. Seven's a perfect
number. I've got 7,000. That's never
about the need of Baal. And then he said, even so, at
this present time, in verse 5. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace. And you know, when you look at
this world and all that's going on in it, that's all there is,
is a remnant. And if it's by grace, if salvation's by grace,
this election is of grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise,
grace would not be grace. But if it's of works, then it's
no more grace. It's got to be one or the other.
It's either got to be all of grace or all of works. Or otherwise,
work is no more work. So when we talk about preaching
the grace of God, what are we talking about? Almost every preacher
you meet will tell you he's preaching the grace of God. He'll tell
you that he's preaching salvation by grace. But I'm convinced by
the preaching that I hear, The preachers that I hear and the
preachers that I talk to occasionally, that they're not preaching salvation
in its entirety as a work of God's grace. Not in its entirety. They're not preaching that salvation
is a work in its entirety, a work of God's grace. You know that
it's His eternal grace. It's electing grace. It's effectual
grace. You know, Paul told them over
in 1 Corinthians, he says, you know, if a trumpet gives an uncertain
sound, even things that don't have life, you know, he said,
I'd rather preach the gospel to you in five words of my understanding
and ten thousand words with an unknown tongue. He said, even
things that don't have life, whether it's a trumpet, whether
it's a pipe, whether it's a harp, whatever it is, if it gives an
uncertain sound, you don't have no idea what you're playing.
I can sit down at the piano and I can hit keys, but all I'll
do is make noise. Somebody sit down and play it,
and you can understand what's being played. And that's what
he said. He says, if a man gives an uncertain
sound, how in the world can you tell what he's saying about it?
So we've got to make certain that our sound is true, that
when we hit our nose, that we're right on the money. And that's
what I'm talking about preaching the grace of God. You see, this
generation has been thrown a curveball, I heard preachers say one time,
and it's been lied to by modern preachers, been deceived by them. Most preachers preach for personal
gain, and Peter says that they make merchandise of men's souls. All in the world men are to them
is just merchandise, people by whom they can make a living.
people by whom they can brag about. People, they say, well,
I've got this big a church. I had that many people get converted.
I had this many people make a profession. I had this many people come to
the front. I had this big of an offering.
You know, we've taken in this much money. All the people are
to them is just merchandise. Just merchandise. And I'll tell
you, as Barnard says, they're butchers of men's souls. And
I, by the grace of God, I will by His grace, publicly and deliberately
denounces heresy, heresy, any doctrine which teaches that salvation
is in any measure, any measure accomplished by the will or the
works of man in any way. Got to denounce it. Got to denounce
it. I got an email from a fellow,
listen to me on the sermon audio, retired Air Force fellow. 66
years old, and he's got a record out and sang. He goes around
churches and sang. And he sent me a couple of his
songs, and he says, you know, if you feel like it, you know,
and you pray about it and you talk to the church, maybe I'll
come up there and sing for you. I list the songs, and one of
them, you know, is Drinking Water from Grandmother's Well. Another talk about how awful
times are and that, you know, we're just like a little good
news, you know, going through the newspapers and all that. Nothing about the grace of God.
Nothing about Christ. Had a good voice. Music was good. Backup singers was good. Harmony
was good. Melody was good. But there's
no truth in it. No truth. No Christ, no gospel,
no grace. In any teaching, John Newton
says this, Any teaching, this way we can tell whether a man's
preaching grace or not, any teaching that promotes the dignity of
man and diminishes the glory of God is a lie. If it puts man
in any position up and God down, it's a lie. Everything that gives
God all the glory and puts man down, that's the truth. That's
the grace of God. Now, if a man is preaching grace,
he's going to preach what I'm going to preach, no matter what
else he preaches. If he doesn't confront his hearers
with what I'm going to preach right now, he's not preaching
grace, and he's not preaching salvation by grace. And that's
why Paul makes a distinction here. If it's of grace, it's
not of words. And if it's of words, it's not
of grace. But he says, if God cast away his people, No, no. He only done that to bring in
salvation, to have it rendered according to the election of
grace. Here's the first thing that we have to confront when
we're dealing with the grace of God. What really happened
to man in the fall? Was he wounded or did he die? Huh? What does the Scripture
tell us? Now, most people, they think
that he just was wounded. They think that he can be convinced
to do something. But I want you to look at a couple
of places with me. You know what happened in the
fall when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden? Look with me
in Job chapter 15. You know, when Adam fell, when
he sinned against God for too little of that fruit, God told him the day that you
eat thereof, thou shalt surely die. And I'll tell you something
about Adam when he sinned and when he fell. Instead of turning
and seeking God, and crying out to God, and asking for mercy
from God, and saying, please, Lord, forgive me of my rebellion,
forgive me of my disobedience, he went and hid from God. In
a man that's been saved by the grace of God and his heart's
been touched, he's just the opposite. He wants out from out behind
that bush. He wants to come into the presence of God. He wants
to appear open and naked before God. Where Adam wanted to hide
his nakedness, wanted to hide himself from God. We're just
the opposite. We're the grace of God. We come,
Lord, open and naked before you. We come into your presence. We
need you. We don't want to hide anymore.
And if I'm hiding anything in my heart that's against you,
oh God, take it out. Take it out. But here, look what
John, this is what we're talking about. Look here in Job 15 and
verse 14 with me. What is man that he should be
clean? And he which is born of a woman,
that he should be righteous? Now watch this, talking about
God. Behold, He put no trust in His saints. But now preachers
say, you know, God can't do anything without you. I read a little
old bulletin on Sermon Audio this week, you know, that does
God want your money, need your money? And he comes to the conclusion,
yes, He did. How are we going to operate without
you? How's God going to run this world
without you? How are you going to start a
church without you? And He put no trust in His saints.
The minute you think He's trusting anybody besides His Son, look
in the evidence. You done missed it. But look
what else He goes on to say. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in His sight. The heavens have sinned against
God. But God is so holy and pure that He considers the heaven
is not even pure in His eyes. Now listen to it. How much more
abominable and filthy is man which drinks iniquity like water.
That don't sound like that fella is just wounded, does it to you?
Look in Job 25. Job 25. You know, that's why, you know, people
say, you know, Adam, his conscience being pricked didn't make him
seek God. So don't let your conscience be your guide. The only thing
in the world that can be your guide is the Word, Scripture.
But here in Job 25 and verse 4, look what it's saying. How
then can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that's
born of a woman? If your mother's unclean, your
grandmother's unclean, there's not a woman in this building
that ain't produced an unclean child. And unclean, we're not talking
about unclean before one another, we're talking about unclean before
God. Filthy before God, abominable before God. And look what else
he goes on to say here. Behold, even to the moon, and
it shines not, yea, the stars are not pure in his sight, how
much less man that is a worm, and the Son of Man, which is
a worm. Oh my, you reckon anybody of
these preachers even know that's in the Bible? You know, there's
a lot of people who don't have a clue that's even in the Bible.
They said, oh, they're talking about people back in those days.
We're more enlightened today. We're in the modern age. We're
post-modern. Oh, listen. But I'll tell you,
man, now listen, this is the situation. If a man is essentially
good, and he's a victim of his circumstances, If he's just been
put in a better place, better home, better situation, better
job, and a victim of his circumstances, then he doesn't need the grace
of God at all. No, no. If all a man needs to
do is just to do better, to make a change, go to church, and try
his very damn level best to get to God, I tell you something,
if that's all he needs, he don't need the grace of God at all.
But what if our Lord Jesus says, you will not, come to me, will
not come to me, that you might have life. He didn't say that
I'm going to, you could if you would. No, that's not what he
said. He says you will not. So that means that there's something
wrong with a man's will, that he will not come to Christ. You
know, if you get sick, you go to the doctor. If you get cancer,
you start taking chemotherapy, because you want to live. But
a man will not come to Christ for life. Men will do everything
he can to live as long as he can in this world, and I don't
blame him for it. But I tell you one thing, he'll
go to do anything to prolong his life and make it more comfortable,
but he will not come to Christ. And oh, beloved, I tell you,
that's why our Lord Jesus says, you do err in either knowing
the Scriptures. for the power of God. Everything
about man and around us testifies to man's wickedness, especially
his religious notions. All man's religious notions,
all my soul. The things they think about God,
the things they say about God, the things that come out of their
mouth about God, the things that come out of their mouth about
themselves. You know, if a man isn't dead, he doesn't need to
be born again. If he isn't lost, he doesn't
need to be found. Is that not right? And if you
miss what happened in the fall, Adam's death, Adam's sin, Adam's
repentance, you'll never, ever, ever understand anything about
the grace of God. You go wrong right there, you'll
be wrong all your life. I don't care if mama says, honey,
I know you, you're the sweetest girl there ever was. You're the
darlinest thing, you're sugar and spice and everything nice.
Puppy dog tails and all that stuff. That's what we tell people
all the time. You're a little princess. Well, they grow up
and they're not princesses anymore. That's why I'm telling you. And oh, let me ask you another
question, talking about the grace. Is salvation of the Lord? Or
does God say, sinner, save yourself? Is salvation of the Lord, does
He say, sinner, save yourself? Is the door open God's opened
the door, and all you've got to do now is just walk through
it? That's what they tell us. Are
men in prison, and their free will is the key that unlocks
it, and use it to open the door and come out? Paul said, if that's
so, then it works, and it could possibly be of grace. But if
you're in prison and you ain't got a key, and you can't get
out, and you can't save yourself out of it, then the only way
you're going to get out of that is somebody else come and open
the door and bring you out. And that's grace. Look over here
in Romans 9.16 just a moment. It's salvation of the Lord if
he says, sin or save yourself. Romans 9.16 says this, So then, It's not of him that willeth. It's not of him that willeth. Oh, Israel wanted to be free
from Egypt's bondage. They wanted to be free from Pharaoh.
And they could will it all they want. But they couldn't go through
the Red Sea. They couldn't save themselves
from Pharaoh. Somebody else had to bring them
out. So it's not of him that willeth. It's not of him that
runneth. But listen to it. It's God that shows mercy. You
can come to every altar. You can go to every church. You
can raise every hand sign to every car and get baptized by
every preacher you come to. But until God shows a man mercy,
all he's doing is willing and running. And thus the Scripture
says that salvation belongeth unto the Lord, and He gives it
to whom He wills. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. And oh, Jonah found this out
when he was in the belly of hell. That's where he said he was.
He's in the belly of hell and the bars were around him. And
he says, this I know. I know it now. I understand it
as clear as anything in the world. There's salvation to the Lord.
And I'm in this hell. I'm in the belly of this fish.
And I'm down here in the bottomless pit. And I can't get out. And
I know this, that salvation is of the Lord. And beloved, let
me tell you something. It's of the Lord in His planning.
And so the Lord, His divine wisdom devised a way how He can be just. How can a man be just with God?
Here we sit, we're vomitable, we drink iniquity like water.
We're not pure in His eyes. He puts no trust in us and we're
not clean. And yet, he says, God can be
just. And at the same time, take an
abominable man who drinks the nicotine like water and makes
him justified in God's sight. How does he do that? Divine wisdom
comes up with it. He doesn't say, now sinner, I'll
tell you what you do. From the day you're born until
you get twelve years old, I'm going to give you a pastor. I'm
going to declare you innocent. When you get 12 or 13, then I'm
going to start charging you as a sinner. And if you're going
to join the church, and go faithfully, don't miss a service unless you're
sick, pay tithes of all you possess, read your Bible every day, and
pray three times a day, I'll take you to heaven. How can that
be just? Huh? How could God justify a
man? The first time he missed, didn't
have the right motive, the right desire, the right attitude. If
you don't guess, you're right. And oh, beloved, it's not only
the Lord in His divine wisdom how to be just and justifier.
How can He do that? I'll tell you how He did it.
It's of the Lord's Salvation of the Lord and His execution.
God's plan, how He could be just and justifier, gave Christ to
people. But, beloved, who's going to execute that plan? Who's going
to carry out that plan? Did He get all the angels together
and say, I'm going to send you down there as an army, and I
want you to go around and mark everybody and save everybody
that I tell you to save? No, no. He sent one person into
this world, and He sent him to the womb of a virgin from the
seed of a woman. And he came into this world to
carry out this plan that God gave him. And that plan was that
he himself would bear the sins of his elect, of his people.
And when he bared their sins in his own body on the tree,
the wrath and justice of God would come down on him, and fall
on him, and punish him, and the guilt and sin of his people would
be put away when our Lord Jesus finished. Oh, who is this that
comes up from Basra with his garments dyed in red? It's he
who treads the fierceness of the winepress of the wrath of
God by himself. And with his own arm, it says,
he brought salvation. And oh, beloved, now, you know
what? God planned it. Christ executed
it. Put him in the grave. Said, oh,
listen, They said, we're done with Him now. But just in case
our first mistake was worse, our last mistake will be worse,
you all set a guard on that tomb. His disciples may come steal
Him away. They come early the next morning.
Who are you looking for? Jesus, the Master. He's not here. Behold, He's risen. And you go
there and you'll see Him. And beloved, the only people
that saw Him after His resurrection was the only people, and His
only elect, His people. And the only one to see Him now
after His resurrection is His people. Ain't that right? And
then He ascended to glory, and God put Him at His own right
hand, the position of power and authority and glory and honor. And oh, beloved, now, how in
the world are you going to be partakers of this? If God in
His wisdom planned this, And God in His wisdom showed us how
to be going to be just and justified. And Christ came and bore our
sins and executed this salvation that God gave Him to do. How
are we going to get it? How am I going to get it? Well,
I'll tell you how I'm going to get it. I'll tell you how you're
going to get it. I'll tell you how everybody's going to get
it to get you. The Holy Ghost comes. Through the preaching
of the gospel, through the word of God, through hearing right
now what things that I'm saying, he comes and he takes the things
of Christ. Takes the death of Christ, the
blood of Christ, the redemption of Christ, the glory of Christ,
the deity of Christ, the incarnation of Christ, the satisfaction of
Christ. He takes those things and he
comes and he starts dealing with your heart and he shows you what?
The glory of Christ is as they say, I saw the Lord high and
lifted up. Then you cry, woe is me. When you see Christ in
His glory, see Christ high and lifted up, then you start saying,
oh God. And then the Holy Ghost comes.
And then He applies that blood. This is what I love about what
Scripture says. You know, sprinkled, having your conscience sprinkled.
And over in Peter he says, you know, he's sprinkled with the
blood of Christ. The Holy Ghost comes and he takes,
actually makes you feel your guilt and convinces you of your
sin. He takes the blood of Christ. And I don't know how he does
it. This is one of those mysteries of the gospel. But he applies
that blood to your conscience. He applies it to your heart.
And when he applies that blood, the guilt goes. And from then
on, as he said in his hymn this morning, we sang praises unto
our sovereign king and for the greatest gift of all, Christ
our king. Oh, it's not this business that
Christ has done all, God's done all He can now, the rest is up
to you. The rest is the point of failing. And, oh, beloved,
at the Holy Ghost comes, and God Himself said, He'll take
the things of Christ and show them unto you. And that's what
I love about preaching the gospel. That's what I love about the
idea and the truth. that I do not have to talk anybody
into anything. I don't have to put no pressure
on anybody. I don't have to beg and plead. I don't have to have
tears coming down my face. I don't have to... You know,
I was a preacher friend of mine years ago, and he preaches the
grace of God now, and he's a fine, fine fellow, and I've preached
for him many times. But years ago, let me tell you something
he done. I told him that about the other day. Him and another preacher,
if I named them, you'd know them both. But what they used to do
years ago, they'd have a meeting, and what they'd do is they'd
turn the lights out, and they'd get in two-by-fours, and they'd
be together like a cross. And then, you know, they'd get
them up there in front of them, and then they'd go to driving
nails in them. And they'd start driving nails
in, telling them to be preachers, talking about a lot of horrible
things. And then they'd take some red paint, and they'd put
a little red paint on it, And then they'd turn on the lights.
As you know, when God turned out the lights. And then they'd
start driving those down. Ain't that the awfulest thing
you ever heard in your life? But what's the difference in
that? We think that's horrible. But what's the difference in
that, thinking you can save yourself? One abominable thing is as bad
as any other abominable thing. Uh-huh. And oh, beloved, listen. There's an old Catholic myth.
A fellow named St. Dennis. Well, you know, this
new pope's making saints just coming and going. But this is
a fellow named St. Dennis. And the legend is that
his head was cut off, and he took his head and he walked 2,000
miles. I wouldn't have a bit of problem
believing He can walk 2,000 miles if he can pick up his head and
take one inch. If he can move an inch, he can
go to 2,000 miles. And that's the way it is. If
you can make a move towards God without the Holy Spirit, without
the gospel, without the truth, if you make one move toward God,
you can go all the way by yourself. Ain't that right? But you think
a dead man can carry his head around? Oh, my. Let me tell you something else
about this salvation to the Lord. Not only is it of God in His
planning and of Christ in His execution and His application
by the Holy Spirit, but it has to be sustained in a man's heart.
Once we get it, how are we going to keep it? Once God saves us, how
are we going to stay saved? You know, the longer you sing,
the more you understand, woo, my soul, what am I going to do? The first time you sin, the first
time your mouth starts running off, the first time you say something
ugly, the first time you get mean or mad at somebody, you
say, oh, Lord, I'm lost and lost and lost. Oh, why did I have
to be so sinful? If the Lord don't sustain us,
me and you wouldn't last as long as a snowball you know where.
And oh, beloved, Christ has to sustain it. You know, we can't
make ourselves spiritually alive. And since we can't, we can't
keep ourselves spiritually alive. Is that not right? That's what
our Lord says, without me, without me, you can do nothing. I'm the
vine, you're the branches. He says this, it's given you
on the behalf of Christ to believe on His name, and it's God, listen
to it, God which worketh in you both to will and to do His good
pleasure. And Paul said, I'm confident,
I am confident that He, which begun a good work in you, guess
what He'll do? He'll carry it out to the day
of Christ. Oh, and then let me tell you,
this salvation of the Lord, it's of the Lord in its ultimate perfection.
You know, if we ever go to glory, if we leave this world and go
to the next, It'll be as much by the grace of God from the
day He saved us till we get right there. Oh, my beloved, we're
the sons of God, and doeth not yet appear what we shall be,
but we know that when He shall appear, we shall see Him as He
is, and what shall be just like. Oh, the foundation is grace,
and you can go to Zechariah and find it yourself, the foundation
is grace, and they put the top stone on it and said, Grace,
grace! Unto him. The whole building
is of grace. And let me ask you this, here's
another thing about the grace of God. Is salvation, you know,
of the Lord, or is it sin or save yourself? What happened
in the fall? Did man just get wounded or did
he die? Here's another thing. Is salvation an offer that a
man can accept or reject, or is it a gift that God sovereignly
gives to His people? Huh? Oh my, is the Lord Jesus standing? Standing here this morning? with
his heart standing wide open, with tears in his eyes and his
hands outstretched, begging, please, please, please accept
me. Please let me in your arms. Please,
please, please. I've got tears in my eyes and
I'm begging you. Accept what I've done for you.
Accept me as a gift. Accept me as an offer. I tell
you, I offer it to you and I don't know what to do if you don't
take it. Oh my, the scripture says that the gift of God, the wages of
sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. Huh? Oh, beloved, our Lord Jesus
says this. He said, no man can come unto
me except the Father which hath sent me drawing. And as it is
written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Therefore,
everyone that hath heard and learned of the Father," what
does he do? He comes to me. Preachers have fallen so long
that they'll say, you know, salvation's no more and you're just coming
up here and taking this watch. Jesus is here, you just come up here
and take him. If I offered to give you
this watch, And said, anybody that wants
it, just come up here and get it. And that's what people say,
Jesus up here, just come up here and get it. You reckon it's like that? But that's what they've done.
Ain't that right? And oh, beloved, you know, you've got to see this.
I know you're going to have trouble doing it, but over in Daniel,
Right at the end of the book of Ezekiel is the book of Daniel.
I want you to see this, and I'll hurry on. I'll hurry on. I know
it's hot. Is salvation an offer that man
can accept or reject, or is it a gift sovereignly bestowed upon
God's people? You know, when our Lord Jesus
turned to Daniel chapter 2, But when our Lord was hard on
a bunch of people, and to use this parable, hard on people,
6 o'clock, 9 o'clock, 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 5 o'clock, and when
they all got up there to get paid, He gave the last one, showing
that the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.
And that last fellow come up there, he'd just worked an hour,
get his pay for the day, hand him his pen. That fellow got
up at six o'clock this morning and went to work. He said, What? We've labored all day long. We've borne the heat of the day.
We've borne the burden of the day. We've worked all day. And
he ain't worked but an hour, and you give him the same money
you give us? You know what our Lord said? He said, Is it not
lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is your eye evil? because I'm good, because I give
everybody just exactly what I promise them. You won't get mad at me
because I treat everybody the same, my land and my vineyard. Oh my, look here in Daniel 2.20. Daniel answered and said, Blessed
be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are
His. Now watch it. And He changes the times and
the seasons. He removes kings instead of kings. He giveth wisdom unto the wise,
knowledge to them that know understanding. He revealeth the deep and the
secret things. He knoweth what's in the darkness,
and the light dwelleth with Him. Do you reckon He's standing offering
something? Kings don't amount to nothing
in His sight. Oh, beloved, our Lord Jesus said,
I'll take out the stony heart, and I'll put in a heart of flesh.
I'll cleanse you. I'll give you a new spirit and
a new heart. That don't hardly sound like something that you
can reject to me. You see, eternal life is not
an offer of grace. It's a mighty operation of grace.
Salvation is not an invitation. It's a free gift. And the gospel's
not a proposition for you to accept or reject. It's a proclamation
of Christ's victorious work of redemption. And, oh, beloved,
let me give you another one here. We're talking about grace now.
Shutting fellows up to grace. Is salvation by choice, chance,
a decision, or is it by revelation? Huh? Men are, you know, is salvation
by choice? Man's choice? Is it by chance? Or is it by decision? Or does
it come by revelation from God? You know, men are struck on their
rights. Oh, you never heard such people arguing about their rights.
Women's rights, men's rights, gay rights, children's rights,
Latino's rights. Every kind of right you can think
of, people's fighting for. And they'll stand up for their
rights. And they even want the right to choose. God would not force Himself on
anybody. A fellow said, if He does, it
would be like rape. I'm telling you something. If God don't do the choosing,
if He waits for you to do the choosing, You're just a gone
Jesse, that's all I can say about it. Ain't that right? Oh, I tell
you, you know where men made their choice? I'm going to tell
you where men made their choice. They made all their choice in
their father Adam. And they forfeited every right
right there in the sight of God. Do we have the right to the love
of God? Do we have the right to the grace
of God? Do we have the right to the mercy of God? Did we have
a right to the death of Christ? Did we have a right to the blood
of Christ? Did we have a right to the Righteousness of Christ. No. No. Did we decide that I'm
going to become a Christian? Did God give us a chance? And
when He gave us our chance, did we cooperate with grace when
He gave us the chance? And then our cooperation with
Him is what saved us? No. No. Oh, the children be not
yet born, having done neither good nor evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. Oh, beloved. Oh, that's what
he says. You know, it's not of him that
willeth, not of him that runneth. And I say he told us there, you
know, that salvation by grace is no more of works. And this
idea, you know, and I don't know how many people have told me,
and it's just as naturally ingrained in a human being as it is to
breathe air, that God's got to give everybody a chance He's
got to give everybody a chance. He could not be a God of love. He could not be a God of mercy
if He don't give everybody a chance. Well, there's only one thing
wrong with that. It's a lie. Salvation is not by chance. It's
on purpose. Ain't that right? Look in 2 Timothy
with me right quick. We've looked at this so many
times over the years, but I tell you what, look at it again. 2
Timothy 1. Oh, my. When the God of glory
appeared unto our father Abraham, he said, Abraham, go out! You
know what Abraham did? Out he went. Abraham was a heathen
idolater. Had his gods with him. Had him
on his mules with him. Had him on his camels with him.
When he set up his tent, he got his gods out and set them around
in his tent. Until one day, the God of glory appeared unto him,
and he left his idols on the other side of the river. He did,
left them over there. He came to the true and living
God, pursued His idols. But look what it says here, 2
Timothy 1.9. Paul says, Don't be ashamed of me, of the afflictions
of the gospel, or don't be ashamed of the gospel according to the
power of God who hath saved us. and called us, this is a verse
of scripture God used to teach me the gospel, show me the salvation
was entirely the Lord, who hath saved us and called us with the
holy covenant, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Years and years ago, I've heard
Henry tell this I don't know how many times. They was having
a tent meeting back in 1950-something, when they was all of a sudden
Baptist having revival all at the same time. And they'd try
to coordinate all their meetings. And they was having a big tent
meeting down there in Asheville. And Rothbard happened to be the
preacher. And he was preaching one morning and he looked at
Brother Henry and he says, Do you know what Roman 8.28 means?
Young man, he said, yes, sir. Stood up and he said, we know
that all things work together for good to be able to love God.
And he sat down. He said, is that all there is to it? Don't it also say there, the
call according to his purpose? And he stood back and screamed
out, Purpose! Everybody know what he does on
purpose. And here we stand right here
by world chain. I found out that everything God
does, He does on purpose. There's no chances, no accidents,
no luck. Our three ladies never come in
a church. Lady luck, misfortune, or Mother
Nature. They never come in a church.
Never. And I'm telling you, beloved,
salvation's on purpose. It's according to election. As
many as were ordained to eternal life. What'd they do? They believed.
Salvation's by revelation. Who to me is saying that I, Son
of Man, am? You're the... Some say you're John the Baptist.
Boy, and that John, what a preacher he was. Some say you're Elijah. He raised the dead. I mean, he
shut up the heavens for three years and six months. Some say
you're Jeremiah because you're such a man acquainted with grief
and sorrow that they think, boy, he's just a weeping prophet,
just so sad. He said, but who do you say I
am? You're the Christ. You're the Son of the living
God. Oh, you're so blessed. Flesh and blood didn't teach
you that. But my Father, which is in heaven, He revealed that
to you. When the Holy Spirit reveals
Christ to a man's heart, he'll commit himself to God. And I
tell you, beloved, salvation is on purpose. Salvation is by choice, but it's
God's choice. Salvation is by decision, but
it's God's decision. Salvation is by works, but it's
God's work. Ain't that right? And oh, beloved,
let me ask you, let me hurry, I can't. Is repentance and faith
a moral persuasion or a holy disposition imparted by grace? Now, what do I mean by that?
Most preachers and most people think that all they've got to
do is persuade somebody, that they're a moral free agent. They
may be moral agents, but they're not free. But because they're
moral free agents, they can be persuaded to repent, be persuaded
to believe. If we can just get the music
just right, get the preaching just right, get everything just
right, we can talk somebody in to repentance and faith. Man's
a moral, since he's a free moral agent, we can talk him into this
business of trusting Christ. Or is repentance and faith a
holy disposition that God puts in a man's heart by grace. You know, how many times, some
of you have been in religion for years and years. You used
to go to free will meetings and all that. How many of you all
ever seen somebody go back and get somebody's lap and just cry
and beg them to come to Jesus, come to the front? That's what I'm talking about,
moral persuasion. Get them and try to tug them. Oh, come on.
Come on. That's what they're talking about,
Marcus. You get down in their laps and just cry. Or is repentance and faith something
God does for you? Well, I'll tell you, I'll just
give you scripture. For by grace are you saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Faith is a gift of God. It's
given you on the behalf of Christ to believe on Him. Faith is a
gift. And I'll tell you something else.
Repentance is a gift. Him hath God exalted to be a
Prince and a Savior, that He should grant repentance unto
Israel. Paul says that godly sorrow,
work of salvation unto repentance that don't need to be repented
of. When God convicts a man of his sins and brings godly sorrow
upon him, he's a man who really understands how sinful he is,
and he comes to God and he's sorrowful. But the sorrow of
this world, all it does is work of death. I'm sorry that I got
caught. I'm sorry that I done my wife. I'm sorry I done my
children. I'm sorry I kicked my dog. And so he comes up and
all that worldly sorrow does, it just worked death. Get in
jail. Oh, if you get down in jail, just pay my fine. Lord,
please get me out of jail. Give me a lawyer. I don't want
to do it anymore." That's the world of sorrow. But boy, when
God begins to work repentance in you, man, I mean, He begins
to work in you and you start working on your mind. And the
first thing you start thinking is, boy, everything I ever thought
about, God's wrong. And then he starts working on
your heart and soul, saying, everything I ever thought about
myself and my mama told me, it's all wrong! Everything that preacher's
been telling me, it's all wrong! And you start changing your mind.
Start changing, you turn to God. And you start saying, oh Lord,
work in my mind, work in my heart. And I'll tell you something else. This is a disposition that God
gives us. Once you repent, you never stop repenting. Once you
believe, you never stop believing. This idea that you believe one
time and have an experience and you stay right there at that
experience, that time. I know the time and I know the place.
That won't work. If you've ever believed, you're
right now saying in your heart, Lord, I want to believe. I do
believe. I believe. I want to believe.
I've got to believe. And oh, when your repentance
is, Lord, forgive me. Oh, not only what I'm doing,
forgive me of what I am. Forgive me of what I feel. Forgive
me, I want to thank, and you're the only one who sees what I
thank. Oh, my. The Lord Jesus bought these blessed
gifts for His people and gives them to all of them. And, oh,
beloved, let me give you two reasons, and I'm through. Two
reasons why God saves entirely of His free grace. Entirely. First of all, to bring glory
to Himself. to the praise of the glory of
His grace through the redemption of sinners by His blessed Son.
That's the first reason. And Isaiah 23.9 tells you the
second reason. Isaiah 23.9. You know, everything
God does, He does for His own glory, to the praise of His own
glory. And we want Him to have the glory. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto Thy name be glory. First reason God saves by grace
is to bring glory to Himself, redeeming sinners by the blood
and righteousness and obedience of His own Son. Look in Isaiah
23.9, here's the second reason. The Lord of Hosts has purposed
it to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt
all the honorable of the earth. What? Stain your pride? To God be the glory, great things
He has done. And, oh beloved, salvation is
the work which God does in and for the sinner. Never something
that the sinner does for God. Salvation is completely in and
through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. His sin
offering, His sacrifice, His satisfaction, Him interceding
for us, Him sitting at God's right hand, taking up our case. Thirdly, salvation is not a temporary
experience or work, but it's a permanent work which God has
done for and in the sinner. You know this, I don't know how
many people's come here and how many people you'll meet, Well,
I know I was saved. I know I was saved. I just had
a lift of the Lord the last 15 years, the last 8 years, the
last 10 years. I was there. Everybody, I mean, you just don't
know how I felt. I know I was saved. Nobody can
tell me I wasn't. When God saves a man, He saves
it from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, from the
inside of his heart to the outside of his skin. And I'm telling you what, you
can't run him off. Oh, if anybody can quit, they will quit. If
anybody can leave, they will leave. And that's what's the
matter, folks. They've got an old profession
that stays old. They've got an old experience
that stays old. If you've got an old experience and an old
profession that stays old, I tell you, get rid of it right now
and trust Christ right this minute. And here, the last thing is this.
Everything that God does, He does on purpose. No accidents. Salvation is by decision, but
it's God's. Salvation is not a chance. God
saves men through His blessed Son. If a man is saved, ever
saved, he's saved on purpose.