Greetings, friends, and welcome
to another broadcast of the Old School Primitive Baptist with
Elder Don Martin, Sr. Stay tuned for another gospel
message of God's free and sovereign grace. Well, I'm blessed. I'm blessed already. I could
sit down and say we've had church. I believe that the gospel that
we have heard already presented of Brother Michael is that sweet
and glorious good news that is unsurpassed by any. That it's the gospel of an all-sufficient
God who is the sum of all spiritual truth. And as it was set before
us this day, It is as a sweet-sounding trumpet, a sweet noise in the
ears of the Lord's people. And I pray that it was a sweet-sounding
sound in your ears as well. Coming up here, I was thinking
about the name of this church and the names of various churches
that I have been around and about in visitation at our Minister
of Pasture Fellowship at Premier Baptist Church in Hillborough
County, Florida. And there's so many assemblies
around about the country that are named after biblical names.
I mean, Corinth Church. There's a Corinth Church involved
in every state. Sardis Primitive Baptist Church,
Grace Primitive Baptist Church, and so on. And there are many
churches named after biblical titles and biblical names, such
as Corinth or Hebron Primitive Baptist Church. There's those
in about every state as well. But to think about The name of
some churches that are special to me over time, I can recall
two that really do something to my heart and my mind, Brother
Donald. One of them that I had come to know the name of and
knew the pastor of, and you may be acquainted with Brother Langham
up in North Carolina. And he was a pastor. I don't
know whether he's still alive or not. I met Brother Langham
back in the late 80s when a dear widow had moved down from North
Carolina to Central Florida and was meeting with us, because
she'd come from a primitive background. And her pastor was Brother Langham
up in North Carolina in Kernsville. And the name of the church was
Saints Delight. I don't know whether you've ever
heard of that church or not, but Saints Delight was a sweet sound
for a name of an assembly of God's people to make. I've never
forgot that. Saints Delight. Oh, it is. It's a delight for the saints
of God. to come together, together, together
in a common meeting place, whether it be out in the grove, under
the trees, or in a wooden shingled building such as we have here,
it is in the light of the saints of God. And so I thought that
was always a unique and a sweet name. And then the other one
was Pilgrim's Rest. Where can you go in this time,
wherever, as God's people, when the society is wicked and corrupt
as we see it before us today, and find any peace and any rest
other than at the house of God, For those who believe in the
sovereign grace and the relationship that one can have with the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the heaven calling in that salvation
experience, where can one go besides that place that is a
pilgrim's rest? And they go there and they can
gather together and sing the songs of Zion, as we have done
this day, expressing the sweetness and the attributes and the characteristics
of the Lord God Almighty and His dawning Son, Jesus Christ,
of whom we have to do. Yes, Pilgrim's Rest. As we come
up here today, I look forward to coming to Pilgrim's Rest because
I want to come in the doors and close them behind me and forget
about the things that so easily try to beset me in my mind and
in my emotions and in my feelings. Just within the last month, my
stepfather had passed on. Being sickly for a number of
months and had congestive heart conditions for a couple of years,
God had torn him away. He was a man that loved the scriptures,
loved the gospel, that I had sweet fellowship with. And my
stepbrother, his son, was a pastor of a little church in Haines
City, Florida, it's a Baptist assembly. And now my mama, my
mama's 90 years old. And she has seen three husbands
outlived and buried. And now Mama's got full-time
home care there, bless her heart. And I went down and arranged
things my brother and I put together to have someone there with her
all the time. Because she needs to be able to have help to walk
around and get around. So I told Mama, I said, Mama,
you've got to cut this out. You're burying all these herpins.
I said, you done seen three of them. That's gone as cold away. And she kind of grinned and smiled. And she says, I didn't have nothing
to do with it. And I said, my dear mother and
sister, you're right. You didn't. I said, you could
help us. I said, maybe Lord helped you
as to when and how to continue on day by day. And bless her
heart, she's the one who loves the Lord Jesus Christ with a
fervent love, and loves that gospel of grace. Now, Pilgrim's
Rest is where I want to find myself as much as I can in this
low ground of sin and sorrow. Pilgrim's Rest is where I want
to abide at. You know, it's like David when
he said that the Lord is my shepherd. You know, I shall not walk. He
leads me beside the green pastures. Oh, and he leads me. If you take
the 23rd Psalm and read every part of that, you'll find in
there that it was God that led him, directed him in every aspect
of that Psalm. David was merely a recipient
of a blessing. to find one place in there that
David merited or did anything to gain the favor of God to get
the blessings he got. He was blessed of God because
of grace, unmerited favor. That's what grace is all about.
You heard it preached this morning. Brother Michael stood here and
preached to you the gospel of grace. And if that's sweet to
you and that's something that is a blessing to you that you
don't hear somewhere else where you may go and gather with some
other folks that you like the sound of that gospel as you believe
it is the truth of the matter, then you need to cast yourself
among the people who believe that truth. I'm not here to try
to solicit church membership, but let me tell you something,
folks. When you get a church that was established here in
1800, according to the sign out front, that has stood for a gospel,
that is an everlasting gospel of God's grace and sovereign
mercy. We've got two living members
in this church, and we've got a lot more than two in here this
morning. Oh, what's wrong with this picture
here? Huh? If this is a gospel you
love to hear, and you come here on an annual meeting to hear
about it, and you love that gospel, you need to put yourself among
the people that need it. That's the truth of the matter.
If you're hearing something else that's not the true gospel of
God's almighty sovereign grace towards undeserving sinners,
you're hearing a false gospel. And God gave me a season of Clarity
of mind, focusing on some thoughts here, I want to read to you from
the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. And I'll begin reading in verse
17 because it goes on down into the context about Paul and his
journey. Paul was at a place that was
called Miletus, and he sent to Ephesus and called the elders
of the church. And the Bible says in verse 18,
And when they came to him, he said unto them, Ye know from
the first day that I came to Asia, after what manner I have
been with you all at all seasons. serving the Lord with all humility
of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by
the line and weight of the Jews." Now we know that the Apostle
Paul was a zealot for Judaism. He was a Pharisee, he was of
the tribe of Benjamin, born a Jew by nature, and was a zealot that
go out and was persecuting those who were the believers of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And as Brother Michael has said
regarding Matthew, he didn't go say to Matthew, the tax collector,
Matthew, Jesus merely spoke to him and
said, come follow me. And the Bible says Matthew left
his place as a public and tax collector at the gate, and he
followed the Lord Jesus Christ as it was with Peter, who was
down there mending nets as a fisherman. And Jesus came his way and said
to Peter, Peter, come follow me. He didn't say, let me continue
to mend my net. He laid it down and he followed
Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something this
morning, that the apostle Paul, a zealot for the cause of Judaism,
persecuting the church of Jesus Christ, that held the garments
of those who stoned Stephen to death. One of the disciples of
the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the book of Acts, he stood
there while Stephen was stoned to death, and persecuted many
of those who believed in Christ, and took many in bonds and imprisoned
them, and even seen others perish along the way. And when it came
to that journey down the Damascus Road, there was... God Almighty, in the person of
His Son, Jesus Christ, had called Saul, whose name was Paul, and
He didn't say, Saul, whoa, wait just a minute, stop along your
journey here. I got something I want to propose
to you. I want to offer you to be my
disciple. He didn't say no such thing,
did he? He said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? And Saul said, Lord? And he knew
who it was that spoke to him. He says, for it is I speak to
you, the Lord Jesus Christ, why do you persecute me? He said,
why am I persecuting you? He said, for you're persecuting
my church. Why do you kick against the prince
of my church and my people? Why do you continue to do this?
He stopped him in his mad pursuit and zeal and to go out against Christianity. And this man called Jesus, he
was stopped dead in his tracks. He was brought to the ground
before the God Almighty. He was spoken to and struck blind,
the Bible says, and was unable to see. He rose up from the ground,
he was blind as a bat, had to be led on into the city where
he met a man named Ananias. And Ananias laid hands on him
and he was praying for her and he was able to see again and
was baptized immediately, the Bible says. Paul was not, he
did not come and have any kind of a, there was no negotiations
going on between God and him. There was a divine call right
there that blinded his eyes, transforming and making a helpless
sinner unable to do anything but be led by the hand of another
man on through the journey to Damascus until his eyes were
opened again. Let me tell you, when God calls,
God's people come. My sheep hear my voice, Jesus
said. And they that hear my voice,
follow me. They don't say they're going
to try to follow me. They say, the Bible says, Jesus
said, My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me. Now, if one says that they are
sheep of God, and they're not following Christ, it's evidence
that they are deceived and that they are liars. or that they're
living in a condition that is not pleasing to God, which in
time will be manifested. Because whom the Lord loveth,
he chastens them, and he chastens every one whom he loves. And
every one, the Bible says, shall be partakers. Do you know that?
Every child of God that is called of God, determined by God to
be his chosen people, his elect appointed heirs of grace before
the foundation of the world, are going to be chastened by
God. Because we live in a carnal,
mortal place that is often contrary to the things of the Spirit,
that wars against one or the other. And when we do things
that are against the Spirit of God, we are chastened by God,
brought to the acknowledgment of that, and repentance is granted,
as Brother Michael said. We don't only repent one time.
Repentance is a continuation of the Christian walk. We repent
initially when Godly sorrow is brought upon us, and we see ourselves
as unregenerate lost sinners. And we repent, and we come to
trust in Christ and believe that He is. The Lord God Almighty
is the only rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. The
repentance continues on as we go through the Christian law.
And if we fail to do those things which God has told us to outline
in the scripture, I'm not going to be doing that.
I'm going to get it again. God is the same way towards his children. In reading on the Apostle Paul, he says, the Jews were lying
in wait for me in the latter part of the 19th verse. They
were lying in wait for me because I had left Judaism and I am now
marching to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. At the same time, there were
those in Jerusalem that had heard about Saul, whose now name was
Paul, who was converted on the road to Damascus, that they were
leery of him because they saw how brutal he was before he was
slain by the Spirit of God on the road to Damascus and how
he treated those who believed in the Lord Jesus. Therefore,
he did not stay in Jerusalem at all, but he left there and
he went into Arabia for about three years, the Bible says.
And he was taught there of the Lord, as God no doubt opened
his heart and mind to the revelation of this scripture. the Old Testament Old Covenant,
that God had revealed to him, through the Old Testament, the
teachings of Isaiah the prophet and Jeremiah, and he opened his
eyes up to the manifestation of what he's seen in the person
of Jesus Christ, is this fulfillment of what was prophesied by those
prophets of old. Even 737 years. Before the birth
of Jesus Christ, Isaiah said, there's going to be a virgin
that's going to bring forth a child. And people thought, no doubt,
that was a total erroneous We take Brother Thomas here with
his blessed heart come down from Rome, Georgia, a man who had
been used of God in his professional experience to deliver many a
baby, a newborn baby from a womb of its mother, and yet one come
out of a womb of a virgin? Oh, this is an impossibility. But I'll tell you what, God is
a God of impossibilities. God can take those men and women,
boys and girls, who cannot change their hearts and minds by themselves,
which is impossible for them to do, and He can transform their
hearts and minds by the power of His grace and mercy. For all
things are possible with God, the Bible says. The Bible goes
on to say here, it says, He says in verse 20, and how I kept back
nothing that was profitable, that was profitable to you, that
have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to
house. He's talking to these brothers
from Ephesus about how that he had been faithful to preach the
gospel, to minister to them, to teach in their houses from
place to place, testifying both to the Jews and also the Greeks,
repentance towards God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not
knowing the things that shall befall me there." He said, now,
I'm leaving out of here, you guys, and I'm going to Jerusalem.
I don't know what to expect there, because there's brethren there
that are still leery of me. because of my former association
and Judaism experience and the persecution of the church. But
he says, say that the Holy Ghost witnessed it in every city, saying
that the bonds and afflictions abide me. None of these things
move me, Paul said. None of these things move me,
neither can I my life dear to myself. so that I might finish
my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the
Lord Jesus to testify, listen to this now, to testify the gospel
of the grace of God. The gospel of the grace of God. That's the only gospel that can
bring A little poor, needy, lost sinner getting hope and comfort
and joy is the gospel of the grace of God, which Brother Mike
ably expressed and brought before us as well this morning. No,
he says, I testify of the gospel of the grace of God. Now we know
that the word grace is interpreted as unmerited favor. The apostle
Paul says that this is what I've received of the Lord Jesus, and
that is to testify of the unmerited favor. that may be strange to your ears. To some, maybe not others. Jesus Christ did not come into
this time world and give himself upon that cross
of Calvary And calls himself, I say calls himself, because
he has power over all things. To call down the thousands of
angels to deliver him from that cross, if he so desires. And
Pilate had no power over the Lord Jesus. He said to Pilate,
Jesus said, I've got power over all things. You have no power
over me. He says, I've got power to lay
my life down. I've got power to take it up.
Jesus Christ was nailed upon that cross of Calvary. And upon
that cross of Calvary flowed the red, rich, royal blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me tell you folks this
morning, if it is morning, it's afternoon, that Jesus Christ
did not come into this world to shed his blood for every human
being alive on the planet Earth throughout all the generations
of time. Now hear me. Jesus did not come
to shed his blood for every man, woman, boy and girl. He came
to shed his blood for a particular people. A peculiar people. And I'm going to prove it to
you who it was he shed his blood for here in the text that we're
reading from. I have come here to tell you
this morning that Jesus' blood is particular in its application. And if it was shed on the cross
for every lost man and woman, boy and girl on earth throughout
the generations of time, then salvation is universal, it is
automatic, and Jesus Christ has paid it all, and so everybody
might as well happily go along and do whatever they want. Heaven
is ours to claim. But that is not the truth. That
is a lie. The Bible says, let me read on
to you, verse 25, And now, behold, I know that ye all among whom
I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more,
because I'm leaving here, I'm heading to Jerusalem. He says,
wherefore I take you to the record this day, that I am pure from
the blood of all men. In other words, he says, there's
no blood of men on my hands, for I have set before you the
full counsel of God. I preached in you the entire
truth as I have been revealed it of God. It is the grace of
God, the salvation of God, the gospel of Christ that is the
true message. And he says, I have nothing to
look back on and be ashamed of. I have said it all forth just
as I have received it of God. He says this now. For I have
not shunned to declare to you all the counsel of God. In verse
28, now listen to this. Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers. He's talking to the ministers
and the elders and the pastors. To feed the Church of God. That's just what the ministry
is for. To feed the Church of God. It's not to go out there and
try to convert the world. Jesus didn't say to go out there
and bring all the world in the meeting house and try to have
a happy meeting together. The church is not where the world
is to be gathered at. The church is a place where people
of God, called by God, Chosen in Christ Jesus by the Father
before the foundation of the world are gathered together to
worship Him in spirit and in truth. The world cannot do that. And you can go out and break
in and fill this house up to capacity, running over with unsaved,
unregenerate, worldly people that have no interest in the
gospel, and you cannot have any worship meeting here that is
of any blessing at all to the Lord God Almighty. Because those
outside of Christ cannot worship God. That's what's wrong with
the most in our society. They're filled up with people
that have no idea what the true gospel is, neither have they
experienced the salvation of God. It's a social gathering,
having social programs, having entertainments, and just coming
together, just like it was the Moose Lodge or some other organization. But listen, the Bible says, to
feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own
blood. Jesus Christ purchased with his
blood. Was it the salvation of all mankind? No, it was for the salvation
of the church. And that church is that bride,
that church is those called out of God out of every tongue, kindred,
and nation throughout the islands of the sea and throughout the
regions of the world that God had chosen in Christ before the
foundation of the world to be his elect, appointed heirs of
divine grace. And to them and them only was
that red, rich, royal blood shed upon the cross of Calvary. His
redemptive work is particular in his application. And the Bible
teaches it, because I just read it to you. He purchased a church
with his blood. And the thing about it is, are
you in that church? I don't know if you're in that
church or not. Are you in that bride of Jesus
Christ? God only knows if you're in it.
Now, we can have some idea, fellowshipping one with another, if we've been
blessed with that hope, which is accompanied with repentance
and faith, that we are in that church. But I've not seen my
name written in the last book of life. But I have hope and
I have a belief because of faith, which is a fruit of the Spirit
of God within me, that my name is there, brother Mike. And I
have hope and I believe that those who testify have such experience
of grace and trust and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ have
as well their names in that same book. and walk with them in this
pilgrim way down here below as my dear brethren and sisters
in Christ Jesus and love each other with an unfeigned love
that is only by Christ in Him alone. I can only love you individually
as you that name the name of Christ because Christ in me causes
me to love you. Listen, oh, the Bible says He says, blessed is the man whom
thou choosest that pauses to approach him to thee. That is
one of my favorite songs. Blessed is the man. Let me make
sure it's right because I'm recording this and I want to make sure
that if somebody's looking at it and want to look at this,
this gets reversed, they'll have it right. Psalm 65 verse 4. Psalm 65 verse 4. Blessed is
the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee. God calls Matthew to approach
him to him. God calls Peter to approach him
to him. God calls every disciple whom
he calls to approach him to him. God calls every sheep that he's
been given of the father to Out of all the nations and kindreds
and tribes of this time world, He's calling the people. And
I'm persuaded that when He is finished calling those of whom
the Father has given Him, that time shall be no more and the
Lord Himself shall descend from the heavens with a shout. And
with that trump of God, And I'm telling you, when he comes back,
it's going to be a shout that the world's going to hear. And
if you've been taught that there's going to be some kind of secret
rapture, and people are going to be taken away, and it's going
to be some kind of a secret unknown happening, I got news for you.
The Bible says that when he comes back, he's going to come with
a shout. And I believe that the world is going to hear that shout
to where it trembles this earth like never before. But I believe,
as Jesus said, that even as the lightning shineth from the east
to the west, so shall it be when the Son of Man return. You see
lightning, don't you? And it shines across the sky
as it is brilliantly streamed across the heavens above. So
shall it be when Jesus comes. There's no secret about it. He's
coming. And He's going to come. that be in the grave to be asleep
in Christ Jesus, as well as the general resurrection of all of
mankind. And we which are alive remain
at that time, if it so be. We shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with the
Lord. Oh, this is going to be a dividing time. It's going to
be a time when God the Father and the Lamb stand there, seated
there at their rightful places in that great white judgment
area. And it's going to be a time of
where the Lord is going to summon the angels to bring forth all
the resurrected as a great multitude of mankind standing before the
Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the Bible is going
to, it says in there that the Lord is going to say, you, sheep,
on my right hand, enter into the joys of life eternal. And
to those on the left, the goats, those who God has been pleased
to pass over over time, shall be told to depart from him, all
ye that have worked iniquity. into the torments of hell fire,
into hell, where the torment of their smoke shall come up
before the Lord forever. Yes, there's two types of people
in this world. There are sheep and there are
goats. There's nowhere in the scripture
that you can see where a sheep was ever turned into a goat.
Nowhere in the scripture was there a goat ever turned into
a sheep. Therefore, they were to perform who is sovereign in all his ways. Our God is in the heaven and
does whatsoever he pleases. My friend, there's also wheat
and there's tares. Both of those categories make
up the people of the human race on this earth. Wheat and tares. Wheat is the good part. and there's grace. And the tares
of those weeds that look similar too, but yet they're not that
which God has pleased in. Now you say it sounds unfair
that God would pass over some and not others. Let me tell you
one thing today, if God was fair, he'd take every one of the human
race and cast us into an eternal hellfire that'd burn us forever,
and be just in doing it and be The cause of sin. The cause of
sin. That Jesus Christ died. Who himself was put upon that
cross of Calvary. 2 Corinthians 5.21. Paul writes and he says to the
church of Corinth. For he, Jesus, who knew no sin, of God in him. My dear friends,
Jesus Christ became the sin bearer for every one of God's elect
people down through the ages of time. And if you be named
in that number and you have that blessed hope that Jesus Christ
has paid the ultimate price for your sin, then rejoice and be
glad in it. Oh dear friend, we have something
to worship about. We have something where we can
gather together in a little humble gathering like this and we can
rest in. For the Bible says, Jesus said,
all ye that are laboring and heavy laden. Oh, he says, come
unto me. What are they laboring about?
They're laboring about keeping the law and the commandments
and trying to be good enough to please God Almighty. Jesus
said, you come to me, and I'll give you rest. And the Bible
says in Hebrews, I believe it's chapter, chapter in Hebrews, Let me read
it to you. Chapter 4, it says this, There remain therefore in chapter
4 of Hebrews verse 9, a rest to the people of God. For he
that is entered into his rest also has ceased from his own
works as God did from his. Have you entered into Christ's
rest? and made you good enough through
his redemptive, vicarious work of sacrifice on the cross for
Calvary. Dear friends, Christ is the sinner's
only hope of salvation. And in Him we rejoice and we
shall be glad forever and evermore. And dear friends, I pray that
God would take what few words I may have spoken this afternoon
and apply it to your heart and mind, that Jesus Christ and Him
alone would be He which is set before you. That this mortal
man that merely just was a messenger today that brought forth an audible
voice would be put in the background and that you might see Christ
on the cross of Calvary and then see Him raised from the dead.
and then see Him ascending into heaven's glory, and now see Him
seated on the right hand of the Father, making intercession for
you as your great High Priest today. Oh, this is what I want
you to see today, as Christ is your High Priest, Savior, Redeemer,
Mediator, Perpetuation, the Lover of your souls. That's what I
desire for you to see today in my blessed hope and prayer. May God bless you in my prayer.