cover a little ground, remind
us. You know, we started, and I told
you why we were going to study the doctrines of the Bible, the
doctrines of the Bible. And I asked the question, is
it right to do it? Is it right to do this? And I told you that
there was a time that this was common. I got lots and lots of
books on Bible doctrine in my study in there, and I don't have
near as many as a lot of other preachers have. There was a time
that it was common. Every church had catechism classes.
John Gill wrote a body of divinity and preached to his people. Thomas
Watson's body of divinity was preaching to his people. John
Calvin, all these things they've done, they've preached to the
people, and they've set forth the doctrine of the Bible in
order. And you know, and why do we do this? Because the Bible,
now listen to me, the Bible teaches certain truths. This book teaches
truths from Gents to Revelation teaches certain truths. And this
book, what we want to do is we want to find those truths and
reiterate those truths and teach those blessed truths. And this
blessed book, the Bible, has a definite object. It has a definite
object to it. And its object is to make God
known and to make redemption known through His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, to reveal the way that God saves sinners. And his
teaching has certain ends. And what I mean by that is I
preach. My preaching has an end to it. I preach for a verdict.
I preach that men might know God. I preach that men might
have an understanding of who Jesus Christ is. I preach that
men may know something about themselves and know something
about salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. And that's
my end. And the gospel has certain ends.
And then the second message I brought was on revelation. Can God be
known? Can God be known? That's the first thing. Can God
be known? When we open the Bible, the first thing we're confronted
with is God. In the beginning, God. God who hath chosen you
in Christ for the foundation of the world. The scriptures
always start with God. It don't start with man and go
up to God. It starts with God and comes down. And so when we're
confronted with God, can God be known? It opens up with Him
in the beginning, God. Can God be known? And if He can,
how can He be known? That's what Job asked. Is thou
by searching find out God? People say all the time, I found
Jesus. No, you didn't. You didn't do that. Nobody's
ever found Jesus. Nobody's ever found God. And the reason I say that is
they're not lost. God's got to find you. God's
got to do something for you. And I tell you, beloved Rome,
God can only be known by revealing Himself. He declared that He
is. And He reveals Himself. It's
a revelation. You know, our Lord Jesus says,
No man knows the Father save the Son, and He to whomsoever
the Son will reveal Him. And so this is a revelation.
And God did reveal Himself. And we talk about revelation.
Revealing himself. That means that God unveils Himself. Now, He don't unveil Himself
to everybody. It's like He unfolds Himself. If you go in to look
at beautiful tapestries and things like that, you unfold them so
you can see the whole thing, see the whole beauty, see the
whole picture. Well, what God does is He unfolds Himself and
unveils Himself. And He does His revelation. And
He does it, not for everybody, but only for His elect, only
for folks that he's pleased to do it. And I tell you this, that's
why it's by grace that he reveals himself. And he reveals himself
and manifests himself to man. And if God don't reveal himself,
a man will never know God. He may talk about God. He may
quote Bible verses. He may understand systematic
theology. He may be a strong Calvinist.
But he will not know God until God reveals himself to him. Now
that's right. Our little granddaughter-in-law
said today, she said, did you remember seeing that person,
where was that place at when they heard about this earthquake
in Haiti? Where was that place at? Is that where that person
had themselves crucified back at Easter? I said, no, no, that's
in the Philippines. She said, I believe that's awful.
I said, yeah. I said, that's blasphemy is what that is. That's
blasphemy, the worst kind of blasphemy. Somebody crucified
themselves, thinking they're honoring God, and they're going
to by that deed, by that act, show themselves acceptable to
God that they're willing to suffer for Him. No amount of human suffering
Has ever put away one sin but the suffering of the Son of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you'll never know that until
he reveals himself. And I said that fella wouldn't
know God from a goat that hung himself on a cross. Now that's
the truth. Wouldn't you agree with that?
He wouldn't know God from a goat. He'd just well worship a goat.
That's like these fellas walking around with a piece of wood with
a wheel on the back of it, carrying it all over the country, carrying
the cross, witnessing for Jesus. Oh, he must reveal himself, and
he has revealed himself in creation. He's revealed himself in history.
Oh, you go back through history and all the times, God, and in
his providence. But he especially, especially
reveals himself in Christ, in his Son. John 1.18 says this,
Our Lord Jesus says, No man has seen God at any time. The only
begotten Son of the Father hath declared him, hath told him out,
hath made him known. And then you look all the way
through the scriptures and how he made himself known and revealed
himself through the scriptures. Now, here in Job, I want to talk
about knowing God. Knowing God. Our next study will
be on that. on what our authority is, what's
our authority for believing what we believe. And we'll deal with
that next time. But knowing God. Ain't that what
he asks here in verse 7? Canst thou by searching find
thy God? If you was going to search for God, where would you
start looking? Where would you start looking?
Can you find Him out unto perfection? The Almighty. Can you find out
God, perfection in your mind, and find Him out under His? Oh,
my! Watch this. It's high as heaven. What can you do? Can you get
up there? Deeper than hell, what can you know? Now, let me show you a couple
of things over here. Let me show you over in 1 Timothy 1, just
a minute, before I get into this message. 1 Timothy 1.17, I want to show
you a couple of things. 1 Timothy 1.17, talking about
God. You know, there's a horrible
ignorance. There's a horrible ignorance in the world. There's
a horrible ignorance in Christendom. And what the ignorance is, is
an ignorance of God. There's an ignorance of His way.
An ignorance of the way of communion and fellowship with Him, of knowing
Him. You know how many people today said that, you know, talked
about, we're going to pray for these people, we're going to
pray for this people, we're going to pray for that people. And a person
said yesterday, said, I pray and said, do you think God hears
me? And I said, no, not unless you're calling on Him through
Christ. He won't hear you. He won't do
it. And oh, beloved, and look what
it says here in John 1, 17, talking about God, knowing God. Now,
1 Timothy 1.17, what did I say the second time? I'm sorry. 1 Timothy 1.17, Now unto the
King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God be honor and
glory forever and ever. Amen. Eternal, immortal, invisible? How are you going to know Him? How are you going to see Him?
If He's eternal and He's immortal and He's invisible, Now look
over here at 1 Timothy 6, verse 15, which in his times, talking about
Christ, which in his time shall show who is the blessed and only
potentate. You see how that's capitalized?
Potentate means the one with all the power, the one with all
the authority. And the king, capitalized, the
king of kings, small kings, all other kings as little kings.
Lord, capital of lords, little lords, who only, listen to it,
who only have immortality, dwelling in the light, listen now, which
no man can approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see,
to whom be glory and power forever. Now, Knowing God. Oh, listen. There's an ignorance
in this world in Christendom. It's an ignorance of God. It's
an ignorance of His way and the way of communion and fellowship
with Himself. Of knowing Him. Paul said, I
want to know Christ. I want to be found in Christ.
I want to know Him. I want to know everything. I
want to know Him intimately. And let me give you two reasons
why there's such an ignorance of God in this world and in Christendom. First of all, because of the
spirit of the age in which we live. The spirit of the age in
which we live. Now, the age in which we live,
you know what it does? It produces great thoughts of
man and small thoughts of God. God is little, man is big. God is far off, if there's not
an outrage denial of him. And oh, beloved, I heard a fellow
say this, and I'll tell you when I get through saying it, who
said it? I heard this with my own ears. If God imposed His
will on someone, now God loves everyone, gives everybody a chance,
and He gives you choices to make, and He said if God imposed His
will on someone, it would be like God raping them, forcing
His will on them. And He gives us choices, He gives
us a free will. And you know who said that? Mike
Huckabee said that on his show on Saturday night. Heard it with
my own ears. If you don't believe me, Google
it and find it. Now that's what I'm talking about. That's the
spirit of this age. God, if He don't impose His will on a man,
what's going to happen to him? If man leaves him, God leaves
a man to his free will, what's going to happen to him? Man already
made his choice. He made it in Adam. I don't want
God to reign over me. I'm going to eat of that fruit
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If it costs me my relationship
with God, I'm going to eat it. If I have to be driven out of
the garden. Huh? Oh, we're living in the age when
man's free and God's the one that bounds. Man is high and
God's low. And we've made thoughts of death
and thoughts of eternity, thoughts of judgment, the greatness of
the soul, the abiding consequences of the temporal decisions that
men make. They're pushed from people's
thoughts. Men don't want to confront them. They're just flowing and
going with the flow and following the crowd. Oh, we don't want
to think about judgment, eternity, the consequences of our temporal
actions. And I'll tell you, that's the
first reason why there's such an ignorance of God. God's not
known. It's the spirit of the age in
which we live, the spirit of the day, what an awful spirit
it is. And secondly, because of skepticism. Men are so skeptical of God,
skeptical of Christianity, skeptical of the Bible, skeptical of miracles. And oh, beloved, if they deny
that God has control in this world, you take any calamity
or catastrophe that happens, they automatically say, if God's
in control, why did this happen? Why did that happen? They don't
never think, don't never think that the consequences of sin,
the consequences of the men's actions, they don't never think
of judgment and God's providence. And as long as man's been, there's
been things happening. And oh, beloved, listen, the
character they've forged in their thinking, they won't let him
have him controlled. He can't have control. Because
if he controlled all things, if he really controlled all things,
you know what they'd have to do? They'd have to answer to
him for their thoughts and their actions. Huh? Oh, listen, they're skeptics
about the divine revelation. Oh my, do you know how many people
ridicule the Bible? How many people ridicule the
Scriptures? How many people ridicule the miracles, the supernatural?
Everything about religion, everything about God, everything about the
Bible, everything about salvation, it's supernatural. Everything
about it. There's nothing natural about
it. The natural man can't receive it, can't believe it. But did
they ask, did God really need Israel at Sinai? He did. Was God really in a burning bush
speaking? He did. They ask those kind of
questions. Was Jesus just a very spiritual
man? Is that all He was? That's what they teach today.
They're still looking for the historical Jesus. All the time
trying to find out some more evidence, some more proof that
He really existed. Did the miracles in the Bible,
did the miracles that Christ performed in the Gospels, did
those miracles really happen? Did they really happen? I'll
tell you what, everybody in here tonight that's converted and
saved by the grace of God, you're a miracle. The fact that I have
faith, that's a miracle. Me believing God is an absolute
miracle. That I bow and submit to Him
as the Sovereign and He can do with me as He pleases, that's
a miracle that I believe that. That's not natural to me. It's
a miracle, a miracle I can pick up this Bible, and I'll say,
you know, people say, there's no way that Jonah could have
got swallowed by a whale. I'll tell you, if the Bible says
that Jonah swallowed the whale, I'd believe it. That's how much
confidence I've got in the Word of God. And oh, beloved, listen,
I'm going to give you five truths, five foundation truths concerning
knowing God, about knowing God. Oh, listen to them now. I want
to know God, don't you? I want to know Him. Let me give
you five truths. That's why we study God. God's
people want to know God. Here's my first point. God has
spoken to man. Well, how did He speak? By His
Word. By the Bible. He gave the Scriptures
to us, gave the Bible to us, gave His Word to us, And you
know what He gave it to us for? Look here in 2 Timothy 3. You're
already in Timothy, I'm sure. Look at 2 Timothy 3. I'll show
you why He gave the Bible. God's spoken to man. How does
He speak to us? He speaks to us in His Word. He speaks to us in His Word. Our Lord Jesus says this. He
says, Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Word shall never
pass away. Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is
settled in heaven. 2 Timothy 3. Verse 13, look what
it says. He gave us the Scriptures, spoke
to us to make us wise unto salvation in Christ. Verse 13, But evil
men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived. Oh, go ahead, let them do that.
But let me tell you what you do. You continue in the things
which you have learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom
thou hast learned them. And that from a child that has
known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith that is in Christ. That's why God
gave us this Bible, to make us wise unto salvation that's in
Christ. And look what he goes on to say
in verse 16. is given by inspiration of God,
breathed of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction and instruction in righteousness, that the man of
God, not the woman, the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Now, let me tell
you something, beloved. Man can know and believe in the
existence of God. He can even believe in judgment. and not know God. Now that's right. In fact, you
won't hardly find anybody that says, oh yeah, I believe in God.
I believe in the existence of God. I believe that there's a
judgment. But that's a far, far cry from
knowing God Himself. You know, the heavens, the creation
shows God. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The firmament shows His handiwork. Everywhere you look,
the things that are made, were not made by anything that you
can see. Can you see who made this world?
God made it. And that's why men are without
excuse. And then their conscience, you know, can know and believe
in the existence of God in judgment by our conscience. Our conscience
will accuse us when we do wrong and excuse us when we do right. Our conscience
always bothers us and lets us go so far, but don't trust your
conscience. And then providence, the acts
of God. You know, over in, I think it's
Amos, where there's a verse over in Amos chapter 4, it says, Prepare
to meet thy God. You know, all y'all see them
signs when you go out on the road. Prepare to meet thy God.
You know, that was judgment that God pronounced. God said, you
know what I did? I gave you cleanness of teeth.
I blasted all your fruit, I sent locusts among you, I kept your
water out, I caused it to rain in the city and wouldn't let
it rain on your gardens. I kept warning you, and warning you,
and warning you, and you wouldn't listen. Guess what? Prepare to
meet God now. No grace, no mercy, just nothing
but judgment. Huh? And oh, beloved, that's
His acts of providence. You don't listen to His acts
of providence. Prepare to meet God. But oh, beloved, they can't
know who He is or worship Him. Now listen, men can't know or
worship God, know who He is or worship Him, apart from this
right here. You can't know Him or worship
Him apart from this. That's why I love for people
to bring their Bibles. I want them to follow along in
their Bibles. I want them to see that what we're saying is
so. Our Lord Jesus says, search the Scriptures. Search them.
John 5.39, search the Scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life. For they are those which testify
of me. If you believe Moses, you'd believe
me. Moses wrote about me. And so
the Word alone, now listen, the Word alone teaches of His Godhead. The Word alone teaches about
God and His Godhead. qualities that set God apart
from man. When you start looking in the
Bible and look at God and man and have the difference, there's
the distance is worlds apart. And the distance is eons apart. It's a great gulf fixed between
God and man. And who's going to span that
gulf that will bring God and man together? How are you going
to find out that how can man and God, who are so different
and infinitely distant and different, how are they going to be brought
together? The Scriptures are the way you can find that out.
Find out about God. Oh, they show the difference
between the Creator and the creatures. But preachers today, they tell
everybody, you know, you, God ain't got nobody but you. I thought, all he had is me,
he's out of business. He's bummed out of business. You know how many preachers that
there's been come over the years? All the apostles are gone, and
they wrote the Bible. I mean, beloved, the minute you
think that God needs you, you're in trouble. You don't know what
you are, and you certainly don't know who He is. And, oh, beloved,
listen, the only one in the Word you can find out about His self-existence. Now, listen, about His self-existence.
You know the only One who was and is and always will be is
God Himself. Everybody else gets their existence
from someplace else. Everything gets its... the creation
got its existence from God. Birds got their existence from
God. Sea got its existence from God. Fish got its existence from
God. I got my existence from God. Everything, none of us are
self-existent. We're here, and we're gone, and
somebody else comes into existence. But there never was a time that
God wasn't in existence. And He's self-existent. Contained
in Himself. by himself, and always been the
same, never was a time when he wasn't, never will be a time
when he won't be, and he's always been what he was, and always
will be what he is. And all he's, what about his
infinity? Infinity. People say you go out
into infinity. We don't have a clue what infinity
is. That God is. Eternality? God is. Immutable? Oh, we change. We change in feelings. We change in emotions. We change
in anger. We change in our stature. We change our thoughts. We change
our minds. Oh, we change our eye color. We change our keys. We change
our glasses. We change lots of things. But
God don't ever change. He's immutable. And we're going
to learn these things in His Word. And His Word shows and
teaches us the very power of God. He's omni. You know what
omni means? That means all. Encompasses everything. He's omnipotent. That means he's
got all power. He's omniscient. That means,
beloved, that he knows everything. And he's omnipresent. That means
he's everywhere, all the time. Everywhere, all the time. And
he has perfections. And he has a moral character.
And what I mean by God having a moral character, Well, I mean
by that that God must always do what's right. The judge of
all the earth will always do what's right. Now, do you and
me always do what's right? Now, we're moral beings. We're
moral beings. We like to think, you know, that
we're fairly moral. But do we always do what's right? But the judge of the earth must
always do what's right. That's why Abraham asked him,
he said, would you go down there and destroy the righteous with
the wicked? When he was getting ready to
destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, you surely wouldn't destroy the righteous
with the wicked, would you? And God said, oh no, I won't
do that. I will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. And
he won't ever do that. The wicked are going to be destroyed
and the righteous, they're not. They're already saved in Christ.
But what he asked him, and he says, shall not the judge of
all the earth do right? And oh beloved, what that means
is this, his moral character is manifested in his words and
in his deeds. Holiness, that's a moral character. People are always trying to attain
to be more holy. God is holy. Love is a moral
character. We love more, we love less. God's love, He is love. Mercy
is a moral character. We'll extend it to some, we'll
extend it to others. Sometimes we'll show it, sometimes
we won't. But God's always full of mercy. Truthfulness, that's
a moral character. Do we always tell the truth?
Do we ever exaggerate? Do we ever have hyperbole? God's
always truthful. Faithful. You see what I'm saying? Goodness,
patience, justice, all these are moral character. And God
is perfect in every single one of us. Every single one of us. And His Word tells us what pleases
Him. It tells us what offends Him.
It tells us what will stir up His wrath. It tells us what satisfies
Him. And over in Habakkuk, it tells
us even what brings Him joy. He joys over us. How are we going
to find out to know this God? Cast out by search and find him
out. And oh, my second point is this, that God's spoken, but
He's spoken through His Word to make us wise under salvations
in Christ. He can only be known and worshipped
by what He is in His Word, makes Himself known in His Word. Secondly,
God is Lord. He is Lord. He is King over all
of His world. He rules over all His world.
He rules and does everything for His own glory. Do you know
that? Everything he does, he does for
his glory. Look over in Ephesians. You can Ephesians with me just
a minute. You know in Ephesians chapter
1, God manifests his perfections in everything that he does so
that men and angels may worship and adore him. That's what he
does. He manifests all his glory and
all his perfection. Manifests His glory, does all
things for His glory, that men, like me and you, may bow down
and adore Him and worship Him, and angels may bow down and worship
Him. Look what it says here in Ephesians
1, 5 and 6. Talking about He does all things
for His own glory. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will. Now watch it. To the praise of
the glory of his grace, where he hath made us accepted into
his love. Why did he do that? To the praise
of the glory of his grace. Look down at verse 11. In whom also, in Christ, in whom
also we have obtained an inheritance. We're not going to get one, we've
already got it. being predestinated according to the purpose of Him,
who worketh all things out to the counsel of His own will,
watch it now, that we should be to the praise of His glory,
who first trusted in Christ." Why did God do that? To glorify
His grace and to the praise of His glory. No wonder the Revelator said
this, Be all honor and power and wisdom
and majesty and might and glory, both in heaven and the earth
and seas and all deep places. And every creature said, Amen. Amen. And I know this, Moses
says, Show me your glory. Show me your glory. And he just
saw just a tiny glimpse of it, but that's all it takes. You
know what happens when men seize glory? Isaiah said, I saw the
Lord high and lifted up, and His glory filled the temple. And he said, and I cried out,
woe is me. When's the last time you've been
in a church where somebody says, woe is me? When's the last time
you heard somebody sing the glory of God and say, woe is me? They
don't say woe is me, they say woe is Him, and woe is that one,
woe is this other. And why ain't nobody on that
war with me? I'm undone, I'm unclean, because
they haven't seen the glory of God. They're too busy running
aisles, they're too busy counting money, they're too busy counting
heads. And old Job, he said, I heard
about you with the hearing of my ear. Now my eye sees you,
and I abhor myself, and I repent in dust, and I repent in ashes. And John turned around and saw
the Lord Jesus Christ in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. And
Christ was there with this white girdle on, white hair, beautiful
in His countenance. And John saw Him and he fell
as a dead man. And anything about God that will
not motivate and cause somebody to bow down and want to bow down
and worship Him and fall prostate before Him is not worth talking
about. And if he ever sees glory, you
can't get close enough to the dust. You can't get down enough. You can't worship Him enough.
You can't love Him enough. You've got this longing in your
soul to cling to Him if you ever see His glory. When the God of
glory appeared unto Abraham when he dwelt in Mesopotamia, do you
know what happened? He went out! Turned his world upside down. Oh, here's my third point. So
he could throw his rules over everything. And God is Savior.
To know God. God is Savior. What do I mean
by that? He's active. Regardless of what
anybody says, He is active in sovereign love and grace. If
He's not active in sovereign love and grace through the Lord
Jesus Christ, then there's no hope for us. But you know what?
He's active. He's active in sovereign love and grace through the Lord
Jesus Christ to do what? To rescue, to deliver, to save
believers. from their guilt and the power
of sin. That's what He does. God's not
a bystander just waiting for us to walk an hour for Him. God's
not a bystander just waiting for us to knock and beg and plead. And God certainly ain't sitting
at our heart's door waiting for us to let Him in, whether we're
going to accept Him or not. That's not the way God is. He
is active. No man can come under the Father
except by and come unto the Son, except the Father which sent
me, draw him." And oh beloved, listen, and He saves, He comes
to rescue, to deliver believers from the guilt of sin. And not
only from the guilt of it, but save us from the very power of
sin that ruled over His dominion. And then He adopts us as sons. And He sends forth the Spirit
of His Son into our hearts whereby we cry, I'm a father. And then
He adopts us as sons, and then He treats us as sons. Huh? 2 Timothy. Let me show you this. We've read this so many times. 2 Timothy 1.9. Oh, listen. God sends forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law. To do what? To redeem them that
were under the law. And he sent forth the spirit
of his Son into our hearts, whereby we cry, I have a Father.
No longer servants, but sons. Look what he said here. I'm talking
about God being active in salvation. God is the Savior. 2 Timothy
1.9. Talking about the gospel according
to the power of God who hath saved us. You notice that? Everything, you know, everything
regarding salvation in the scriptures, in the New Testament, and most
of it in the Old, is always in the past tense. That's why when we read it, has
saved us. Not trying to save us, not hoping
to save us, not wanting to save us, but saved us. And watch this,
called us with the holy calling, because He saved us in Christ,
called us with the holy calling, not according to our words, but
according to His own purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Now watch it, but is now
made manifest, this purpose and grace that was given us in Christ,
This salvation that was given us in Christ, but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, watch
Him, who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality
to the life. Right through what I'm doing
right now, preaching the gospel. Oh, my God is Savior. And you
look all the way through the scriptures. You find one person,
one person, if you can, one soul, that God did not initiate their
salvation. Enoch was not. Why? God took him. Noah. You reckon Noah was any different
than people of his age? It says all men was wicked, their
imagination was on evil continually. But you know what it says? Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God distinguished him. And not only that, then there's
Abraham. Abraham grew up on the other side of the river, and
he was an idolater. That god he carried around with
him on his camels, set him up in his tent. And God appeared
unto him, and called him, and saved him, and called Isaac,
called Jacob, And oh, what about that woman at the well? She didn't
have a clue. And she walked up. She was there
getting water. And when she came up to get water,
there was a man sitting on the well. And it was more than a
man. He was the God man. God don't get weary, but a man
does. He sat down on the well. God
don't get thirsty, but a man does. And he asked for a drink
of water. But God don't save sinners. And man don't save sinners,
only God can save sinners. And man can't give everlasting
life, but only God can give the water of life, and Christ gave
that. And she said, I know that when the Messiah comes, He'll
tell me everything there is. He said, I do speak unto thee,
I mean. What about Zacchaeus? You reckon Zacchaeus knew Christ
knew His name? He told Jeremiah before he was
formed, didn't you, Haley? Before you swore me in your mother's
womb, I knew you." Didn't he say that? Paul said, when he
pleased God, He separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by His grace. You reckon Zacchaeus sitting
up in that tree, how shocked, how do you think he felt when
he's sitting there? And he's up in that tree. And
the Lord Jesus stops and looks up at him and says, Zacchaeus,
how do you know my name? I ain't hardly nobody here knows
my name. Just a few people know me, but here's... I come here
to see Jesus, what He was like, such as... Come down. You know what the next thing
He said? Today I must abide at your house. This day salvation
has come to your house. He didn't say, will you take
me home with you? Would you please let me go home
with you today? No, no. He told Zacchaeus what
he's going to do. And Zacchaeus came out of that
tree and said, Come on. Oh, we're shut up to one thing.
We're shut up to this, that if God saves a man, if a man's ever
saved, God's got to do the same. We're shut up to that. And I
love it like that myself. That gives hope for my children,
for my grandchildren. If He saved me and came to me
and made Himself known to me and gave me grace and gave me
faith, then He can do it for anybody. If salvation is of the
Lord, I've got hope for Him. If salvation is of free will,
I've got no hope for Him at all. If salvation is by their works,
I've got no hope for them. If salvation is by their merit,
I have no hope for them. If salvation is by their choice,
I have no hope for them. But if salvation is God doing the work, then I've
got hope for them. Right? And oh, let me hurry. Oh, my goodness. God is triumphant. What that means is there's three
persons in the Godhead. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost. And all three of these, all three
of them, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost,
all three of them work in the salvation of God's people. The
Father, we read there about how the Father purposed, gave us
grace in Christ, how He purposed, how He works all things according
to His own purpose, purposed grace in Christ. And the Son
came and He fulfilled God's purpose and accomplished that redemption
that God gave Him to do. And the Holy Ghost comes to us
and works in us like Christ worked out for us. And we're dependent
on all three of them. When we call on God, we're calling
on the Father, we're calling on the Son, we're calling on
the Spirit. And all three of them work in our midst all the
time. They're one in purpose, one in will. And let me tell
you something. Here's my fifth point. Godliness. Let me talk about godliness.
Everybody likes to talk about being godly. What is godliness? What is godliness? Godliness
is this. It's responding to God's revelation
of Himself in faith and obedience. When God makes Himself known,
godliness is just saying, I agree with you. I believe you. I trust
you. I'm going to obey you. I'm going
to give myself over to you. I'm going to bow to you. I'm
going to submit to you. And that's godliness. That's
godliness. That's not putting your head
up in buns. That's not wearing dark clothes. Your hair up, hair
up. I didn't see somebody's head
in a bun. Your hair up, you know, all put
up in curls. And these long dresses and men
wearing long sleeved shirts and hats and beards and all that.
That's not godliness. Godliness is, all the people
in the scriptures, you know, godliness was men bowing and
submitting to God. Saying, this is my God. God saying,
these are my people. Huh? Oh, it's in faith and worship. Abraham believed God. That's
he trusted Him. And what did he do? He obeyed
Him. He went out. Oh, it's prayer and praise. Let me show you this
quickly. I'll be done just in a second.
Well, I won't say a second, but a few minutes. Look in Romans
11 real quick. I'll show you prayer and praise
unto God. Prayer and praise unto Him. Submission
and service. Paul says, you know, I beseech
you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your
bodies to live in sacrifice. Just give yourself over to it.
And oh, prayer and praise unto him. Look what he says here in
Romans 11.33. This is what I'm talking about when
you see him responding to him. Trust and obedience. Oh, the
depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, who hath been his counselor,
who hath first given to him, and shall be recompensed unto
him again? For of him, and through him,
and to him are all things. Watch it, to whom be glory forever. Amen. Oh, that's what happens
when we see God. He reveals Himself. And why does
God give us this knowledge of Himself? And I know this, godliness. Do you know what godliness is?
And I see it here in you. A lot of you. Godliness is life
seen and lived in the light of God's Word. And nothing else
is true but that you look into this Word. I want to live by
this Word. I want to obey God. I want to
know God. I want to pray to God. I want to worship God. I want
to submit to God. I want to believe God. And that's
what God has lived according to this blessed book, as much
as God gives us grace to do. Well, I'm done. I took too long.
I took too long. Oh, our Father, our Father, in
the blessed name of Christ our Lord, Thank you for allowing
us this time together with you people. Thank you for the truth
of your precious word. Oh God, I bless you for it. Make
it real, make it alive, make it affectional to hearts and
minds. And Lord, it's in our hearts, it's in every believer's
heart here tonight to know you, have wonderful knowledge of you,
to know you, to know you, not about you, to know you. Not just
to know your attributes, but to know the living God, whose
attributes they are. We bless you. God save you people
in this place, for Christ's sake. Amen.