If you wish to follow along,
turn to Romans chapter two again. Romans chapter two. Now last
week I just read verse four, but I wanna bring us back up
to speed and give the context. Romans chapter two, I wanna read
the first four verses. I will comment a little as I
read them. Therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man. whosoever thou art that judgeth. And we do. I don't know if you
remember, but when I went through this, began to go through this
to start with, we all, we all do this to some degree or another. Today in modern so-called Christianity,
men and women will read the book and if there's any kind of judgmental
or seeming condemnatory statement, they seek to place themselves
without the broad spectrum of that judgment. That's not me,
this is us. Wherefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judges. For, not if. That's what I was pointing out.
For, wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for
thou that judgest doest the same things. And that's just the way
it is. That's just the way it is. We,
but we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth
against them which commit such things. In other words, I can
find no escape when, well, everybody does it. Yeah, exactly. That's
it. You ever heard somebody say,
well, everybody's doing it. but we are sure that the judgment
of God is according to truth against them which commit such
things. And thankest thou this, O man,
that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that
thou shalt escape the judgment of God? So in strict light of
this, if you want to escape the judgment of God, you must be
perfect. That's what that's saying. And
while Paul is not teaching Mosaic law here, this is the principle
of God's divine law. Absolute perfection. A preacher
read, well, it may have been some time back, I heard it, I
heard the message just some time back, and he was quoting a preacher
who basically said this, it won't be a verbatim, but basically
said, God is looking for your best effort. That is not true. That is not true. Now they talk
about holiness and accuse us of not holding forth for holiness,
but they have no idea what holiness is. God is not looking for our
best effort. God demands perfection. Perfection. And thankest thou
this, O man, that judges them which do such things, and doest
the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God. And then
here's our verse. Or despiseth thou the riches
of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering. And at one
time, that's all I did. At one time, that's all I could
do. I despised everything about God as God is. I do not think that I do that
with my whole being now because I am persuaded that God has created
within me a new man that's created in righteousness and true holiness
after the image of him that created him. But yet in me there is still
that evil, wicked rebellion. These preachers who present themselves
as great examples of righteousness on TV or the radio, they are
deceivers. They are deceivers. Or despiseth
thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering?
How longsuffering God has been with us even here this morning. As Joe was preaching the very
word of God, did your mind wonder? Did you think of a thought that
you knew you should not have thought? And once the thought
is out there, there is no taking it back. or despiseth thou the
riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. And we looked
at what the goodness of God is. It is primarily a person. It's
a person, but it's connected to God's absolute sovereignty. What I've been dwelling on the
past two weeks, and here is part three, godly repentance. I realize repentance is not the
most pleasant of subjects to some degree, and the best way
to get me to stop preaching on godly repentance is to tell me
you enjoyed the messages and I will probably move on, but
if you say I don't like that and I'm getting tired of it,
I'll preach on it for another six months. Godly repentance. Told you I'd
give you seven things. We went through six, but I will
bring us again back up to speed. Remember, God commands repentance
of all men and women. Do not, I want to emphasize this,
do not get caught up with arguing about what it means when Paul
said and preached, and the time of this ignorance God winked
at. and men will write books on what that means, rather than
dealing with what Paul's really saying there, but God now commandeth
all men everywhere to repent. Number one, God commands all
men everywhere to repent. Number two, he gives some men
and women space to repent. He gives them an opportunity
to repent, maybe even a place to repent. Of the woman that
he spoke of in Revelations 2.21, she was in the midst of a local
assembly. That's a fine place to find a repent, is it not?
Where the gospel's being preached. But he gives some men and women
space to repent, and they do not. They do not. Number three
is this, except men and women repent, they shall perish. I
don't really feel like I need to repent, preacher. I'm not
really that bad. Maybe I should just believe a
few things. That don't cut it. Because even our righteousnesses
are filthy rags in God's sight. And that's what we're talking
about holiness. You see, men and women have been so lied to
in this day and age that they think, if we think it's good,
then God must think it's good. But that's not so. The Lord Jesus
Christ himself said this to some people who sought to justify
themselves amongst one another. He said, that which is highly
esteemed among men. Now what's wrong with justification? Everything if it's self-justification. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination That's one of the strongest words that
you can find in his book, is abomination in the sight of God. And Henry Mahan used this example
years ago and it crushed me when I first heard it, but I knew
it was true. He said you can support the Shriners
Crippled Children's Hospital And it's one of the finest things
in this world, that they take care of them little boys and
girls and do what they do for them, but it will not earn you
one ounce of merit before God. And if you seek to find merit
before God in your support of it, you are just adding to your
condemnation. The natural mind says that can't
be so. It just is. Except men and women repent,
they shall perish. Number four, some people seek
repentance, and Hebrews tells us that one in particular sought
it carefully with tears, but never found it. And oh God, help
us not to try to soften the blow of that truth. Why do we do that? Because we
want to escape the thought of our depravity in some way. because maybe that applies to
me. No, it does apply to you. Because you can't bring yourself
to repentance, though God commands you to do it. Can the leopard change his spots?
Can the black man change the color of his skin? No. And especially
in this sense, can they just will it to be so? Hmm? It would take some kind of special
operation. Well, there was one pop singer. He was a black man. He had his
skin. He looked like a white man years
later. But he didn't just will it to happen. He didn't just
decide for it to happen. He had to have something from
without make that change. Here's another thing, number
five. God must grant repentance. You see, this thing's not up
to us. And yet, men and women have been
so hoodwinked that they think most of what is being preached
out here in these other buildings called churches, they are preaching
this. God wants you to do this. No, God commands you to do this. Our God, the God of heaven and
earth, has never wanted anything. And he actually tells us, if
I did, I wouldn't tell you. Now you say, that don't sound
consistent. We ain't talking about consistency.
We're talking about God. Let me illustrate this. If a
TV camera were here, not just as this camera through which
we record and put it on TV, but actual TV camera were in this
place where they could get a whole shot of this, the two wings of
this building. Show you exactly how many people's
here. And that same TV camera be placed in another mega church
and show the thousands of people that fill the stadium and not
have any words but just visibly show this place and then that
mega church. Who do you think this world would
say they must really be doing the work of God? Do you think most people would
say, well, that little group there must be carrying on the
truth of God? Mm-mm, no sir. Now turn on the
sound and let them hear what's being said here as compared to
there, and I guarantee you they say, those little group of folks,
they're nuts. They're nuts. But God must grant
repentance. God must give repentance. Number six, we've seen this from
Jeremiah 31 verses 18 through 19. When God is pleased to yoke
you, Joe, when God's pleased to fetch
you, you will be fetched. Jeremiah said, I've heard Ephraim
bemoaning himself. And what did Ephraim say? After
that I was turned. And he clearly confesses, turn
thou me, and I shall be turned. Speaking to the Lord, he said,
after that, then I repented. Someone says that, again, that
doesn't sound consistent. We're not talking about consistency,
we're talking about God. We're talking about God. As a matter of fact, I never
find in this word that God is consistent. Because if God were only consistent,
we'd all be in hell today. We'd all be in hell today. He wouldn't be giving us space
to repent. He would not be giving us opportunity to repent. He
would not let us even seek repentance carefully with tears and not
find it. And I will show you a passage
that lets us see that here later. But here's number seven. So,
to sum it up. What is repentance? Now turn
to 2 Thessalonians chapter one. I know I've mentioned it, we're
familiar with it, but did I say 2 Thessalonians? I meant 1 Thessalonians,
I apologize. What is repentance? Let me sum
it up, then we'll read the passage that clearly declares this. Repentance
is to turn to one thing from other things. It's simply stated. Maybe over simply stated at first,
but simply, what is repentance? It's to turn to one thing from
other things, and we read that in First Thessalonians one, verse
nine. where Paul writes, and remember
these Thessalonians were idolaters. I mean they actually worshiped
stumps and graven images. How many people do that here
today? I would dare say not a person here one does that. Got a little
shrine in your house where you got a little thing hewed out
of wood. Who's doing that today? Now there are some people still
doing that today. And let's not fool ourselves, but how many
people are here? How many people listening out there? Probably
not many, but look at what it says. For they themselves show of us
what mannering of entering in we have unto you. In other words,
these people that talk about, they've seen what happened to
you. They see this difference, this change that's happened.
And we don't have to say anything. What happened to you says it
all. For they themselves show of us what mannering of entering
in we had unto you, how ye turned to God from idols. Did you see it? And as Earl pointed
out years ago, it's not you turn from idols to God. Now that in
itself's not bad if you could actually do it within your lifetime
and get to God. But we have so many idols because
they don't have to be a little human thing. Our idol starts
out, remember chapter one of Romans, our idol starts out down
in here. We're our own idol. Me, me, me, I, I, I, ego, ego,
ego. We worship and serve the creator
more than, or the creature more than the creator. And remember,
God's not just to be worshiped, he is only to be worshiped. Nothing
else can be worshiped or it's called idolatry. For they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we have into you, how you
turned to God from idols. Most people think of repentance
only in this, I'm doing this one thing that's wrong, I quit
doing that and I start going to church. Now that may be a
good thing to do, but it doesn't justify you in God's sight. There
are many sober deacons that will die and go to hell. And there's
a lot of drunks that God has saved that are going to go to
glory with Jesus Christ. There are a lot of these little
ladies that wear their bonnets and their hats and have their
little white gloves, and if you watch on TV, you'll see them
singing and praying in the congregation. They're gonna die and go to hell.
And there's a bunch of street walkers out there that have been
selling their bodies to men for years, but God saves them and
takes them to glory with Christ. It's just the way it is. It's
just the way it is. Somebody says, that's not the
way to talk about repentance. Look at Lot. Now get off our
high horse. I want to see some evidence.
It don't matter what you see. It don't matter what I see. Whose
sight does it matter in? God's sight. And if you read
Lott's life and you look at Lott's life and all you had was the
Old Testament about Lott's life, you'd throw up a great big question
mark on Lott's justification. Now would you not? Look at where
it leaves Lott in a cave with two pregnant daughters and there
wasn't but three of them around. Now figure that one out. I don't
even have to go into it in detail in mixed company, do I? Figure
that one out. And yet the blessed book of God
comes along and calls Lot a righteous man with a righteous soul. God knew his work in Lot. No
matter what was manifest to men. I just had to throw that one
in when it comes to a good old message on repentance. Because
there ain't a one of us repented enough yet to gain God's favor. There's a lot of us, we've thrown
off a lot of things that were in our past. And even as believers,
Mac, we still find things we gotta throw off, don't we? Still find things we got to repent
of because we're either too rebellious or hard-headed to stop and take
notice of what God's word says. But you can't earn God's favor
by repentance. You can only repent if God gives
you his favor. What is repentance? It is to
turn to one thing from other things, and that turning can
only be to God in Christ, because he goes on to say, and to serve
the living and true God. You ever think about that? Most
people think they already know the living and true God. That's
not the problem. They think the problem is these
other things I do wrong. And let me give you a partial
list. Smoking, drinking, going to, well nowadays, I used to
say G-rated movies, now they got so many ratings I can't keep
up with them. You know, even Disney movies are full of filth
nowadays. You don't go to the bad picture
shows, you don't listen to rock and roll music, well most of,
a lot of what I hear is Christian music today might as well just
be rock and roll. There is no honor of God in it,
it feeds the flesh. There is no honor of God in it.
Now I've went to meddling, haven't I? Here it is. Here is what repentance
is. It is to change direction of
thought. It is to change direction of
belief. You don't begin believing the
truth. I don't care if you've been born
and raised in it and you know it mentally, you don't love it
in your soul until God Almighty gives you a heart with which
to love it in your soul. It is to change direction of
thought. It is to change direction of belief. It is to change direction
of attitude. It is to change direction of
conduct. And all of this concerns many
things. God, Christ, the Holy Ghost,
self, sin, Satan, the world, and on and on and on. Because
we know nothing correctly until God gives us life from above.
We don't know anything correctly. Everything we think we know is
skewed by our ego and self until God regenerates us by his mercy. Oh God, pour your mercy out upon
me. Because even after he saves me,
Joe, I need to be kept by the power of God. Because if God don't keep me,
I'll be just like Peter. I'll be down there warming my
hands by the enemy's fire. And a little kid comes up and
said, I seen you on TV. You used to preach this sovereign
God. No, not me. No, not me. I never preached that so and
so and so stuff. Apart from being kept by the
power of God, folks, that's where we be. If God lifts his restraint
off of us for a moment, we plunge in a downward spiral. And we
would not stop until God put a stop to it. Really happy message so far,
isn't it? But God in grace does this to some people. He so lays
hold of them that they have nowhere else to turn but to Him. And
that God is not preached nowadays. And I know all of you have heard
this over and over. You've been here very long at
all. You know, people present God
as up there in heaven wringing his hands, just wishing somebody
would let him have his way. Listen to the way these preachers
preach. If they don't say those words, that's the God they're
preaching, right? That old grandpa that just in his soul, he's just
wanting somebody to let him have his way. He's having his way. He was having his way with Pharaoh
when Pharaoh says, who is the Lord that I should worship him?
Well, you will, buddy, at the bottom of the Red Sea. Dead and
fish food. Then your soul will stand before
God and give an account of yourself. Yeah, yeah. All right, now, I'm
gonna give you a number eight. I hadn't planned on the number
eight. But I've got a few minutes left. Turn to Hebrews chapter
six. Hebrews chapter six. I did not
avoid this because I think it is an avoidable subject. But
there are a lot of people who avoid this passage here. Hebrews
chapter six. Look at it. Therefore, leaving
the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on into
perfection, not laying again the foundation of, and notice
the first thing, the first mention of repentance. Here's what. Of
repentance from dead works. How many preachers have you heard
on TV, radio, or whatever, preach about repentance from dead works? If they do, they're talking about
that list I gave you before. Using illicit drugs, right? Smoking,
drinking, going to the picture show, playing pool, dancing,
that ain't it. Look at the context of this book.
It is if I try to offer a sacrificial lamb on an altar, Mason, that
is now dead works. But those things were ordained
of God to be done at one time. But he whom those things pointed
to has come and fulfilled their meaning. We no longer do those
works. They are now dead works. And
these Jews are being exhorted, repent from those dead works.
That's what he thought about. But Paul says we're not gonna
lay the foundation of that, but he mentions that subject, doesn't
he? Repentance from dead works. Here's another dead work. It's
all of the things that men and women who call themselves Christians
come up with that they say is good works. Those things that
men and women are steeped in, in religion. Well, let's see,
singing in the choir, ain't that a good work? Teaching Sunday
school, ain't that a good work? And neither one of those are
found in the scripture. They're not following the scripture.
As a matter of fact, the only people to be teaching in the
local assemblies are those who are pastor teachers. And women
are not to even teach at all. Is that what the book says, yes
or no? That's what the book says, all right? But men come up with
their Christian rules. You gotta keep the Christian
Sabbath, and that happens to be Sunday. The Sabbath is Saturday. Friday evening it's sundown,
to Saturday evening it's Sunday, and it's always been the Sabbath.
The Christian Sabbath is Jesus Christ himself. That's the Christian
Sabbath that if you want to gather, if we decide to gather on Saturday
or Sunday or Thursday, if Thursday worked out for more of us to
be here, that's probably, Mason, what we ought to do. Because
the day itself don't matter. It's who are you worshiping.
But Christianity, put that in quotes, has their rules. Those
are dead works. An example, did not God give
to Moses and command Moses to make the brazen serpent? And
a bunch of Israelites were bitten by poisonous snakes and were
dying. And Moses was told, make this brazen serpent, put it on
a pole and lift it up, and whoever looks to that brazen serpent
will be cured of that deadly poisonous snake bite. Yes or
no? The thing was ordained of God.
But somebody kept it. And for hundreds of years, it
was kept out of sight. That'd be good. But with fallen
man, those things are never kept out of sight. And somebody during
Hezekiah's days found that thing or brought that thing out and
they began to worship that brazen serpent. That was now, even back
then, a dead work. If you could find the cross on
which Christ was crucified, you know what men and women would
do to that thing. They'd build a shrine, they'd put it behind
some plexiglass, because we'd be trying to steal it and take
it home with us, and they would be worshiping that thing. Now
you know that's what we would do. I would do that apart from
God's grace. But that stick of wood means
nothing. It's he who hung on that stick of wood that means
everything. Repentance from dead works, haven't
even got to what I was, Going to, and anybody on TV wants to
hear the rest of it, you have to hear the rest of it online.
Of doctrine of baptisms, and laying on of hands, resurrection
of the dead, and of eternal judgment. We're not even looking at those,
and this will do, if God permit. Now this is, you know, I used
to think this was so tough, but I was trying to make it fit with
everything I thought was right. and therein lies the blessed
infernal problem. Make sure I explain it so it
don't insult anything else I've said before. Look what it says. And this will we do if God permit. For it is, what's that word? Impossible. Now not hard to do. Not really difficult, but impossible. Whatever the writer's talking
about here, it's going to be what? Impossible. For it is impossible. For those
who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the
good word of God and the powers of the world to come. Now when
I read those words, what does that make me think of? A saved
person. Yes or no? Now, the only reason
it wouldn't is because you're trying to make it fit something
you've already come up with in your mind. When you read those
words, it makes you think of what? A saved person. And when
you look at a person like this, that's exactly what they look
like, a saved person. a saved person. Why? Because
they were once enlightened, have tasted of the heavenly gift,
were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good
word of God, and the powers of the world to come. But something
here about them is said to be what? Impossible. Right? Now if I confounded this, or
just try to point out what it's saying. If, now here we're gonna
get the problem. If they shall fall away, That
means apostatize. Didn't say that, right? What
does that mean? It means to abandon Christ. It means to abandon his
person and his work. Here are men and women who have
made profession of faith under gospel preaching and have had
Holy Spirit influence upon their lives. They've been in a gospel
assembly and heard the truth and professed, I believe that
truth. And you couldn't tell the difference
in them and anybody else that had done that under the hand
of God. It looks the same. But if they shall fall away,
what is it impossible? That is, if they leave Christ,
if they abandon Christ, if they turn their back on the truth
of the personal work of Christ, it is impossible what? To renew
them again unto repentance. That is a frightening thought,
folks. That's a frightening thought.
Because if I turn my back on Christ, This is true of me. Now, I know there are those who
say, well, this is talking about somebody that's saved and lost.
Okay, if it were, that's really saved. God saved them and then
they're lost. Then they can never be saved
again. If that's what it's saying. Because
you've got to, if you're gonna be honest, it is impossible to
renew them again into repentance if they fall away. In spite of
the fact that these things have happened to them, yes or no?
Is that what that's saying? It is what that's saying. Why?
Seeing that they, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son
of God afresh and put him to an open shame. You see, Christ
died once and he secured the salvation of all those for whom
he died. This Hebrew epistle states that
clearly. Clearly. Now if what happens
to you can't carry you all the way through, it was not the work
of Christ. and you are saying it would take
the death of Christ again. But what is the real problem? Look at it. For the earth which
drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth
herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing
from God. You see how God's working this?
This first statement, this verse eight, God's done this work.
Oh, but look. But that which beareth thorns
and briars is rejected. You see it? And is nigh unto
cursing, whose end is to be burned. The proof of whether your salvation
was an act of God will not really be absolutely known by you until
you awake in his likeness. Not absolutely, it's not as I'm
for sure as hell as if it had already been already there. My
only surety of heaven is my Savior's already there. And if he died
for me, he is the forerunner saying, Walter Pendleton's coming
later because I died for him. And God's work will keep me in
the way. I may fall, no. I will fall, but I will never
fall away. Now the problem with the believer,
the born again converted believer and this apostate is this. They
both fall and it looks the same when they fall. But the believer
falls into the hand of the Lord, who upholds him. And the book
says that we fall seven times, the Lord upholding him with his
hand. But this false professor, the one who has turned his heart
and mind away from Christ, falls away. And you don't know the
difference until the actual away comes. This passage ain't so hard when
you just quit trying to prove your own point. you better hope
that what's happened to you, and I say this to everybody here,
myself included, I better pray to God and seek God's face in
Christ, that what has happened to me was a work of God. Because this work fell short,
yes or no? Because they fall away, and it
is impossible to renew them again and to repent it. To sum that
up, I cannot take this thing for
granted. I've been preaching 36, going on 37 years now. I can't take this for granted.
Folks, if I turn my back on Christ today, and I truly turn my back
on Christ today, I'm a goner. And Peter says the first thing,
I don't have time to, he says the same thing in 2 Peter 2,
20, 21 and 22. He said, some peoples escaped
the corruption of the world through lust, through the knowledge of
the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but they're overcome. Peter said
it'd been better for them not to even hurt it than after they
hurt it to turn from the holy commandment that was delivered
unto them. You see, it's not just once saved, always saved.
These folks clearly weren't saved in some sense, were they not?
In some sense, they were saved, but they weren't saved by Christ.
You see the difference? There's all kinds of people out
there saved. Look at where they used to be, Mason. Look at where
they are now, in church, reading their Bibles, praying, decent,
upright, moral folk, and they still go to hell because their
salvation wasn't a sole, lone act of God. Now I do believe this, once God
saves you, bless God, he'll continue to save you. But he don't just
save you one time, then turn you out to yourself. He bought
us with a price. Bless God, if he died for you,
you are his lock, stock, and barrel. He owns you and he will
have you one day. He don't forfeit anything he
bought. This religious world can talk about he died for everybody,
paid the price for everybody, that is a lie. It's a lie, because
we're bought with a price, and that price is said to be the
precious blood of Christ. Now, here's the summary. Turn
to Psalm, not Psalm, I'm sorry. Proverbs chapter one. Now, let's
see if this sounds like the God that most people are preaching
today. And yet, this is God. Let me emphasize that. Proverbs chapter one. Verse 22,
how long, ye simple ones, will you love simplicity? In other
words, let me just, what I just, I'm just gonna say, I don't understand
much. I can't comprehend. God's not asking you to comprehend. God's commanding you to bow down. You're not going to comprehend
him. In light of who God is, we are all simple. Our minds
are so far from grasping this truth. How long, ye simple ones? Will you love simplicity? Oh,
here's another one, and scorners. No, I'm not gonna have that.
Not me, okay, that's fine. Look, and scorners delight in
their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit
unto you. I will make known my words unto
you. Do I believe God means that? I know God means that. Mason,
if a man or woman will bow down themselves before God and say,
God, teach me who you are and who I am, no matter what I discovered
I don't like about it. Teach me who you are, he will
teach you that. But look, because I have called,
and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded,
but ye have said it not, and you considered it to be nothing,
nothing, you said it not, all my counsel, and would none of
my reproof, I also, ooh, this is God, I also will laugh at
your calamity, and I will mock when your fear cometh, and one
day everybody's gonna get it, One day, look, when your fear
cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish cometh upon you. God said of Jezebel, I gave her
space to repent and she repented not. Same thing will happen to
her, it's gonna happen to these people. Look, look, when your
fear cometh as desolation, and your desolation cometh as a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call
upon me. Oh, thank God, they're finally
doing it, right? Not in this case. But I will not answer. It sound like God up there wringing
his hands now? Sound like God up there just
wringing his hands now? Uh-uh, that ain't God's scripture. Then
shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. Then shall
they seek me early, but they shall not find me, for they hated
knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. It ain't about, well, choose
to give Jesus your heart. He don't need your heart. It's
desperately wicked above all things. We can't even comprehend. Somebody says, oh preacher, you
just don't know how bad I am. No, you don't know how bad you
are. And I don't comprehend how bad you are. Only God knows how
bad we really are. For they hated knowledge and
did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel.
They despised my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the
fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices.
God basically said, I'll give them exactly what they want,
themselves. And that's all they'll ever have.
Now somebody says, preacher, how far do you have to go before
that happens to you? I don't know. Pharaoh, dare I say, Pharaoh
never had a chance. Because we're told for what reason
God raised Pharaoh up. To put him down. You see what
I'm saying? None of us knows the sovereign
counsel of God's eternal purpose. Never take it for granted. They
shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their
own devices, for the turning away of the simple shall slay
them. When somebody does finally turn to God, it'll just confound
them even more. You'd think that would manifest
to anybody, somebody finally seeking God. Faultingly, yes.
Unperfectly, that's a give me. but seeking God. You know what
that does? You'd think that would turn other men to God. Wouldn't
you think? God raises up some old drunk out of the ditch and
saves him by his grace. Mason wouldn't. People say, well,
I need that. Do they? Uh-uh. I'm not that
bad. That's what we say, don't we?
Well, I'm glad for him, but I'm not that bad. Well, the turning
away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools
shall destroy them. Now I know most people are thinking,
when God Almighty saves some lowlife, and they still don't
have nothing but a minimum wage job, but they got joy in Christ,
and they can see to some degree the glory and the honor of the
personal work of Christ, this confounds the unregenerate rebel
even more. They can't handle it. They can't
handle it. Whoso hearkeneth unto me shall
dwell safely. You're saying, preacher, you're
telling me I got to do something? I thought this was all of grace.
It is. It is. And there's one thing you gotta
do, and you can only do it by grace, that is bow down to God. And that is impossible apart
from the grace of God. but whoso hearkeneth unto me
shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Because you know what? Think
about it. If I believe God, no evil ever happens to me. You say, preacher, you can't
say that. What if you lose your job? No evil will ever happen to me. Well, what if your health deteriorates
so far that you're laying in a bed and your wife has to take
care of you top to bottom? No evil shall fall upon me. Why? Because all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. Even if it's me being bedridden,
Mason. It wasn't evil, was it? When
Joseph's brethren sold him into slavery, I'm sure it felt like
evil. And from their perspective, it
was evil. But not from God's. Isn't that
amazing? I wish to God I could see that
all the time. Don't you? Then I wouldn't bellyache
about anything. I wouldn't bellyache about anything. But I still do. Therefore, Red, I still need
to repent.