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. We are in big trouble. You know, over the years, I don't
know how many times that I've heard preachers from various
denominations and backgrounds and so forth make the comment that God is
not willing that any should perish. That is one of the first comments
normally that you will get in a response when you tell somebody
that God has not chose to save all of mankind. Well, that kind of puts the humanistic
comprehension of things in a whirlwind, because you say, well, if God
has not chosen to save mankind, then who has he chose to save?
And then, in logic, it comes down to, well, the Bible says
that whosoever believes shall be saved. And that's true. So therefore it is apparent that
by human logic if one just believes that that is what initiates and
what is the work of salvation is caused by
the efforts of the human creature. But when you start studying the
scriptures and you realize that in Adam's disobedience and in partaking of the forbidden
fruit, And God said to him that when you partake of that fruit
that's on that tree, that you shall surely die. He didn't say
you might die, or that there's a possibility that you're going
to die. He said when you partake of that fruit, which I told you
not to partake of, you shall surely die. Now Adam partook
of that fruit, Though Eve did at first, Adam followed suit,
and he partook of that same fruit, and both of them were plunged
into disobedience. And they both died, because God
said they were. Now they had a spiritual life
that God had breathed in them initially, but in disobedience,
They died spiritually and so they brought upon all of mankind
from that point on, our inheritance became a depraved nature. Sinful. Desires to serve self
and disobey and rebel against God. That's our nature. We're born that way. The Bible
says that those that are begotten from their mother's womb, neither
doing either good nor evil, are guilty of sin because they have
inherited that through the blood lineage of their nature, through
the fall of Adam and Eve, the federal head and the parents
of all mankind. Now if that's the case, and we
are spiritually acquire the ability to believe
spiritually upon Jesus Christ. If they're dead spiritually,
that means they have no ability within them. They're spiritually
dead, as if one be laid dead in their mortal body in a casket
in a funeral parlor. There is nothing they can do. They do not respond to anything. Their body is totally dormant
of any feeling. They cannot hear anything, nor
can they see, nor can they speak. And so that it is with a normal,
natural, mortal human being by nature. We are spiritually dead
to the point where we cannot hear spiritual truth and perceive
it. Jesus said, many shall hear what
I preach, but they'll not perceive it. They'll not understand it.
They don't have ears to hear it. There'll be those that will
see me. and see the things that I do
and the miracles that I perform. They'll see lame people made
able to walk. They'll see the blind made able
to see. They'll see other miracles, but yet they can't believe it. They will not believe what they
see, because they can't. They don't have the faculties
to. And so therefore, we are dead to where we must be made alive
in order to be able to respond to the spiritual work of God's
sovereign grace. And so therefore life is that
which is the prerequisite to all of our begotten into a child of God,
chosen in Christ Jesus, the Bible says, before the foundation of
the world. Therefore, all of mankind lays before God as sinful
and depraved and unacceptable. But God in His infinite love,
in His in His kindness and everlasting mercies has chosen out of the
ruin of mankind to choose a people for His namesake. And out of
the people He has chosen, they are from every tongue, kindred,
and nation upon the earth, the Bible says. And out of that various
generations God has chosen a people. And those people are His elect
children. They are ordained and appointed
to life eternal. They have been called, they have
been elected and predestined to be heirs of grace in time
as God has determined. For all that the Father has given
Jesus Christ shall come to Him and believe upon Him. For they
shall be made alive and caused to walk after Christ, because
they hear for the first time by the Spirit's quickening, the
voice of the Son of God, when He says, come unto me, all ye
that labor and have neglected, I'll give you rest. He says,
I don't want to give you rest. He says, I want to give you life.
I want to teach you the truth. He says, and I am the only way
that you're going to get this life, and you're going to learn
of this truth. Those that have said that God
is not willing that any should perish are those who are out
here trying to redeem the world by the efforts of men. They're
out there trying to do what you would call and what is designated
as winning souls. Jesus did not send the disciples
out to win souls. You won't find that text in the
scriptures. You won't find where Jesus sent
anybody out to win a soul. You found where Jesus sent them
out to preach the gospel. And the Bible says if you read
the Acts of the Apostles, everywhere that they were sent, there were
those that were prepared by God, by His Spirit, to hear that gospel
when it was preached. And only those that were quickened
by God's Spirit and given the hearing ears to hear it, are
ever going to be able to hear it and respond to it. For they
are those who Jesus said, My sheep shall hear my voice, and
they will follow me. They will not follow another,
they will follow me. I am the Good Shepherd, and my
sheep know and hear my voice. You say, God is not willing that
any should perish. I'm going to read you the scripture
text of where that comes from and I will explain to you the
erroneous teaching of that, if God permits. If God is not, let
me start here, if God is not willing that any should perish,
then how do you explain the ark? And Noah, as we sang about there
in the song that Buddy chose, about he had taken eight souls
and put them in the ark with the animals that God had instructed
him to gather together. And the Bible says that God himself
closed that door on the ark. No one didn't pull the door down
and latch it shut. The Bible says he was closed
in that ark. And he was closed in there until
the ark comes to rest when the water subsided and the door was
then opened and Noah was able to see the sunlight again and
of course you know the rest of it. There was a bird that was
sent out, and when it came back with a vine, then he knew that
there was land, and there was dry land around about, and the
water was subsided. But what about all those millions
now? I don't know what you thought
about it in your mind, it wasn't a few hundred people, I'm talking
about millions of people! On the earth, at the time of
Noah, Every one of them but eight souls, eight souls perished. Noah, his wife, his three sons
and their wives were the only ones that survived the flood
and everyone else, man, woman, boy and girl, perished. And as
that ark was being lifted up above, and with those waters,
as the deluge came down, as it rained for the first time. Did you know that it never rained
before the deluge came from the heavens above, and it caused
the ark to float? It never rained before that.
You read your Bible. There was things that were watered
in the Garden of Eden, and therefore it was watered from below. The first time it rained was
when God had caused the deluge to fall down for 40 days and
caused that ark to be lifted up and float and covered the
earth with water. And every one of the human race
had died. Oh, can you imagine how many
of us slammed towards that ark and hammered on the side of it
and then cried out, Oh, help me! Save me! Help me! Help me!
You know, I saw a gospel track one time. And it was a gospel
tract and it had a picture on the front of it. And it had a
picture of the ark as you would suppose it to look like, okay?
There's a picture of the ark on it and here's, you know what
a lifesaver is? It's one of those round flotation
devices with a rope on it that you have with your boat or usually
on ships especially. And off the side of this ark,
Brother Clyde, is hanging down this round lifesaver Here's all these people in the
water with their hands reaching upward, drowning. Boy, did that picture ever set
forth a message. Think about that. Here's the
ark with all the people on the earth, floating in just desertation of annihilation because
of the water and they're dying, they're drowning by the millions.
And yet here's this lifesaver on the side of the ark that says
Jesus saved them. There's something wrong with
that picture. Why didn't Jesus save all of them? Because he didn't choose to.
They all perished. Now if God is not willing that
they should perish, you cannot explain how that God had rained
down water upon the earth to cause every soul to perish except
for eight. Therefore, you go further and
you go into Sodom and Gomorrah. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Wicked cities where there was
nothing but sexual abuse and wickedness going on in that city
amongst a bunch of ungodly people and Lot was a righteous man,
an elect, chosen child of God in that city that was told to
come out of there. And he eventually come out with
two daughters, his wife and himself, and his wife is told not to look
back as you come out of this city because God said he was
going to rain fire and brimstone upon the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah and kill every one of the inhabitants thereof. And
as they walked away from there, and walked miles away from the
city, Fire and brimstone came raining from heaven and destroyed
the cities in smoke and ashes. But lost life, disobeyed God
and turned around and looked back. And the Bible says she
was turned to a pillar of salt. I can assume now, I'm assuming
why she looked back. Because she had children there
behind that did not want to come out. They refused to obey them. They said, now we're not, this
is home and I like this kind of lifestyle and I'm going to
stay here. I don't know any more about it than that. All I know
is they left children behind. And as a mother, and only a mother
can love a child, she turned around and looked as the city
was being destroyed. God told her not to. And she
was turned to pill or salt. Is God willing that any perish?
He was willing that all of them be perished. Let me read to you, let me read
to you the scripture where that idea comes from and how the people
tried to persuade others to become a Christian by telling them that
God is not willing that any perish. All you have to do choose Jesus and everything is
alright. Because God is not willing that
any should perish. Let me tell you this, if God
is not willing that any should perish, I'm standing here today
to tell you that none will perish. But God is not talking about
all of mankind in the book when that scripture is being misquoted.
And I'm going to prove it to you that He's not. If you'll
turn with me to 2 Peter, the epistle of 2 Peter. 2 Peter, I want to read to you
the 3rd chapter, probably about half of it here. I want to show
you where that text comes from and who it is applicable to,
or who it applies to, and who it applies to only. In the 2nd
epistle of Peter, chapter 3 and verse 1, This second epistle,
beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance." Now, pay attention to who he's
writing to. Peter says, I'm writing this
second epistle unto you. Who's the unto you? Let me prove
to you now who we're talking about here. This is a key issue
in understanding the text. Go back to the first chapter
in the first verse. Just flip back, chapter 1, first
verse. Let's see who he's talking to.
Who's Peter writing this epistle to? Is this epistle to the world? Is this epistle to all mankind
in general? No, it says, Simon Peter, a servant
and apostle of Jesus Christ, to whom? Them that have obtained,
like precious faith, with us through the righteousness of
God and our Savior Jesus Christ. That's who he's writing it to.
To those who have obtained life-precious faith. He's writing it to those
who believe in Christ. He's writing this epistle to
those of the Church of Jesus Christ that have been brought
to an understanding of salvation by grace alone through Jesus
Christ, the Savior, by the work of sovereign grace. And so therefore,
this book is written to those who believe. It's not written
to an unbeliever. For it says here, this second
epistle in verse 1 of chapter 3, we're going back over to 3.
He says, Beloved I am writing this second epistle, because
he already wrote the first epistle. He said I'm writing this second
one to you that it might stir up your pure minds. Now you can't
have a pure mind unless you are a born again child of God. Because
the Holy Spirit gives you a pure mind to be able to divinely understand
the truths of God's word. as God applies it to your heart
and mind. Now the Bible says that ye may
be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy
prophets and of the commandment of the apostles of the Lord and
Savior. Knowing this first, that there
is coming in at the last day scoffers walking after their
own lust and saying, where is the promise of his coming? In
other words, where is Jesus Christ? Where is this one you've been
preaching about that is coming back, that's going to come and
establish his kingdom and his church and gather together those
and resurrect them and so forth? And saying, where is the promise
of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning, he says.
He said, in other words, there hasn't been no change since Christ
has ascended and He's no longer here and all this preaching about
the resurrection of God's people and Jesus coming back, where
is He? And there's scoffers. The Bible says in verse 5, For
this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the
heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water
and in the water." He's talking about the time when God had caused
the rain to come down and the ark begin to lift up with eight
souls saved. And it says, whereby the world
that then was being overflowed with water perished. except for eight souls. Now I
ask you a question. Is God willing that any perish? The Bible says here that the
water overcame and the whole world was overflowed with it
and they perished. Was that against God's will?
Can anything occur that is against God's will in this time world? But the heavens and the earth
which are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But listen, he says, but beloved, now he's not writing to the world,
I keep telling you that. He's not writing to the world
in general, he's writing to the beloved believers in Jesus Christ. He's writing to the Church of
Christ. He's writing to those who have been born of the Spirit,
called of God, and by sovereign free grace have been brought
into an experience of salvation through Jesus Christ. He says,
But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day
is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as
one day. Now listen to this, verse 9.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness, but is longsuffering to usward. That is the key to
this text right here. God is longsuffering toward who? Usward. Usward is who he is addressing. the believer in Christ, the brother
and sisters in Christ Jesus. Listen, not willing That any,
any who, of mankind? No! Of the usward, of the brethren,
of whom he's writing the epistle to. Not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now let me assure
you of one thing, according to the promises of God. that everyone
that has been chosen by God before the foundation of the world to
be a saved child, an heir of grace, chosen in Christ by God,
they shall in time be caused to believe and repentance shall
be the evidence of that belief. Therefore, God is long-suffering
towards us, not willing that any of us perish that have been
ordained, elected, called, chosen, and predestined by God to be
His children. He's not willing that any of
us perish because He's ordained and we believe. He's ordained
and we repent. Godly sorrow work is repentance.
The Bible says that God caused the children of Israel to repent.
And he says that he caused the Gentiles to repent. Repentance
is a virtue of the Spirit of God brought about by grace and
grace alone. You cannot repent for sin of
which you do not believe you're guilty of. God makes you guilty
of sin by His Holy Spirit and causes you to be remorseful about
it and causes you to have a contrived heart about it and you repent
and say, Oh God, have mercy upon me, etc. That is what godly repentance
is. And so the Bible says that God
is not willing that any of us, any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. And we do come to repentance.
But repentance is not only a one-time issue. It is in the initial But we continue to repent as
we go through this Christian life, in this time world, brothers. But as we do things we know in
our hearts and minds, as God has put his commandments and
law upon our minds and hearts, that we do things that are not
right before his sight. What do we do? That we are chastened
by God's Holy Spirit. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter
12, that whomsoever the Lord loveth, he chastens. Every one
of them. All shall be partakers of the
chastening of God. Because all of us are going to
continue to sin from time to time. But the love of God chastens
us and causes us to call out and say, God, forgive me. Forgive
me, a sinner. I'm sorry that I have sinned. Knowing that the blood of Christ
has paid it all in full at the cross of Calvary. Nevertheless,
God still chastens his children and brings them to repentance,
that we might be more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ
in this time world. That's what the Bible teaches.
That we are to be more identified with the holy character of Jesus
Christ in this time world. As we go and grow in the grace
and knowledge of Jesus Christ, our pure minds are stirred up
more and more of what's inside this Word of God to teach us
and to cause us to live like those which have been called
by God's sovereign mercy and loving grace and kindness. The
Bible said he's not willing to be, he should perish, but it
all should come from repentance. And he says, listen, but the
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. In other
words, how does a thief in the night come? He don't come with
bells jingling on his feet. He don't come stirring up a bunch
of noise. half a dozen flashlights shining
around where everybody can see him and know he's coming. He
comes sneaky. He comes quietly. He comes silently. So it is with the Lord. When
he comes back, no man is going to know the time. The Bible says
no man knows the time when the Son is coming back except the
Father. The Bible says that the day of the Lord is going to come
like a thief in the night, and in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements be melded with a
fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. But let me tell you something,
when Jesus Christ comes back, it's going to be with a great
noise. And the elements of this world,
That means all the things that we know and have seen upon this
earth, every invention of man, everything that man has ever
devised and ever built and manufactured is going to be burnt down into
the elements of its existence in the very beginning, back to
death. And people say, well, when Christ
comes back, it's going to be a secret rapture. There's no
secret rapture here when it says that when the Lord comes back,
it's going to be with a great noise. Is that secret? Is that a secret rapture? Let
me tell you, when he comes back, it's going to be with a great
noise. And in 2 Thessalonians 4, it says, for the Lord himself
shall descend from the heavens with a shout and with a voice. Some of them teach dispensationalism
that in this dispensation of the rapture of the church, it's
going to be those taken out and there will be others left behind.
And it's going to be a chaotic situation. The Bible tells me
that when Jesus Christ comes back, it's going to be with a
great noise and every eye and every ear shall hear and see
it. And everyone that's outside of the elect, in the world are going to be
taken and set aside to the left of God Almighty's throne. And
all of those that are the sheep and the lambs of God, chosen
by God in Christ Jesus, shall be on the right side of
God's throne. And he shall say to those on
the left, which will be those of the non-elect goats, as the
Bible calls them, or the tares, as God also calls them. There's
two types of people in the world. There's lambs, there's sheep,
there's goats, there's wheat, and there's tares. The terrors
are the demonstration or the type of the non-elect ungodly,
unredeemed. The wheat is that good, good
part that God has chosen in Christ Jesus to be an heir of God through
Christ Jesus. And yet the sheep we know are
Christ's sheep that hear His voice and follow Him. Whereas
the goats A goat's a goat. They never were chosen in Christ
Jesus. Jesus does not have any goats. He has only lambs and sheep. The Bible says that they'll be
segregated at that time. The goat should be told to depart
from God's presence into the everlasting punishment of hell's
fire. To those on the right side, the sheep of God, those which
are the wheat of God's harvest, shall be those who are the elect
chosen, and Christ Jesus shall be told to go and enjoy the bliss
of eternal life in heaven with my darling son Jesus. That's
the truth of the matter. The Bible says, seeing then that
all these things shall be dissolved, everything is going to be dissolved
in this earth, What manner of persons ought ye to be in all
holy conversations? And that word conversation don't
only mean in verbal communication, but it means in lifestyle. What
should we be in the way that we communicate, in the way we
live, in godliness? Looking for, and hastening unto
the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
a fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Or we have a promise of God amongst
many promises in that Bible. And this is one of them. That
we have a new heaven and a new earth to look forward to. wherein
dwelleth righteousness, wherein there is no sadness, and there
is no tears, there is no sorrow, no mourning, and no sickness,
and no bodies that need walkers, and canes, and glasses, and all
these other things that help us along as we get aged in this
time of world. Oh beloved, Christ has promised
us, along with the many other promises, He's promised that
He's going to be to those whom He's chosen in His Son, that
He, Christ, would be the living bread to them, that they would
never hunger for another. that He would be the living water
to them, that they would never thirst for someone else or another
type of way to find a relationship with God the Father in Heaven's
glory. The Bible says that He's the
resurrection and the life, and no man shall be raised except
to be by Christ, who alone is the resurrection and life. Oh,
the Bible has so many promises in the scriptures pertaining
to those chosen in Christ Jesus. But I wanted to focus in this
morning, if God permits, upon the fact that it is not a true
thing for someone to say that God is not willing that any should
perish, and including all of mankind under that statement,
as many assume. Because I myself have personally
heard many, many say it, whether it's on television, or at a crusade,
or even in the missionary churches. Oh, God's not willing that any
should perish. Now it's totally up to you. Oh,
let me tell you something, beloved brothers and sisters, if it's
totally up to me, I will have in no wise ever been able to
make it. I will never make it. Because
in me is nothing. Jesus said without me you can
do what? Nothing. But he says, Paul says,
that in Christ I can do all things which strengtheneth me. Christ
is our only hope, and shall be. Christ is our only hope to be
acceptable to the Father. Christ is the only means by which
God has provided forgiveness of sins and salvation. And that
is totally by grace and grace alone. And that grace is free.
You cannot earn it. You cannot do anything to merit
it. You can't do nothing to pay it back. You can't be obedient
enough. to appease the Father, you can't
do enough duty works to please God, because Christ has already
satisfied Him to every jot and tittle. Christ has satisfied
the Father in the Law and the Commandments, because the Bible
says in Ephesians that God had caused Christ to take upon His
body on that tree. The ordinances that were written
on the wall of the law and commandments. Jesus Christ became the law keeper
for everyone that believeth on him. You say, yeah, but you need
to keep the commandments. I've got one that kept them for
me, and he's keeping them for me today. His name is Jesus. He's the performer of my righteousness. He is the essence of my person
as a believer in Him. He is the one of which I look
to for the strength and the power and the ability to press on in
this life down here in this low ground of sin and sorrow. Oh
yes, it's Christ in Him alone. And if it's Christ plus anything,
you take it to the bank. It is wrong doctrine. It is Jesus
plus anything. It's not Jesus plus how good
you can be. It's not Jesus plus how many
commandments you can keep in a day. It's not Jesus plus your
devotion and obligations and duties. It's not Jesus plus anything. It's Christ and Him alone. The
Bible says that He is our sufficiency. And He is the fullness of all
that God had bought me. He is the very image of the invisible
God. And He, on the cross of Calvary,
shed His blood to take upon Himself all of the sins of every one
of God's chosen people throughout the ages of time. And in Him
we have life eternal, sins forgiven, and the joy of salvation. Oh,
that ought to make you... want to shout and say, hallelujah,
that God, God alone is the Savior of sinners. For Jesus said, I've
come to seek and to save sinners. Has he failed? Is he failing? No, everyone that the Father
has given to Him shall be saved and eternally secure. Because
Jesus promised us, I shall in no wise lose none. All that the Father has given
shall come to me. They shall believe. Now they
may not have all the doctrines straight in their mind when they
first believe, because I believe, as I've told you before, I believe
that in the Christian realm there are various stages of maturity.
I believe there's little babes in Christ that's just come into
the kingdom through this new birth experience by the Spirit
of God. They don't know much. All they
know is, and all they need to know is, Jesus Christ said that
you believe on me, I'll save you. That's all they need to
know. burning inward desire to want
to take this book and open it and begin to read more about
what has happened to them and grow in the grace of knowledge
in him to the point of where they realize that Christ is our
total sufficiency in all things. I remember one time a preacher
wrote a book and I'll never forget the title of it. The title of
it is called That's it. Christ is the sum
of all spiritual truth in this book. From the beginning of Genesis
1 to the last chapter of Revelation, Jesus Christ is the sum of the
truth of the matter. The Old Covenant, the Old Testament
fulfilled a purpose, didn't it? It's gone away. The Bible says
that God had taken the old away. He has waxed it old and moved
out of the way of the New Testament. A New Testament is that new will
and testament. that God has promised those who
believe in Christ in this day and dispensation in which we
live. The new covenant is the new promises built upon, it says,
a better way. Built upon new and greater things
than that which was of the old covenant. And they're based upon
no less than the person of Christ. and His righteousness. And I
conclude with this, one of my favorite verses found in 2nd
Corinthians, I believe it's chapter 5, verse 21, where it says, that
God hath made Him, Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for
us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Oh, what a blessed thing that is! That God took His only Son,
God himself incarnate in the flesh and body of a human being,
preached the gospel of the kingdom for three and a half years, was
taken by the cruel hands of men by the determinate counsel of
God, according to his predestined purpose, putting on the cross
of Calvary, to die the death. to bear the sins of every one
of God's elect people throughout the ages of time, and He bore
on that cross my sin and your sin here today to believe on
Christ and have that blessed hope of salvation experience.
Yes, our sins have been eradicated, removed as far as the east is
from the west, never to be remembered again. Past, present, and future. You say, does that give you a
license to sin? No ma'am, no sir. What that does is give you
a love for God where you don't want to sin no more. Oh, but
yet we find ourselves contrary with our natural man and with
the Spirit of God and we still continue to sin. But oh, the
Holy Spirit convicts us as I said earlier. And what's He do? He
brings us to repentance. Not everybody repents. The world
out there round about don't give a darn about being here at Fellowship
Church today. They don't care about the kittens.
They could care less. They're out there on jet skis
and bash boats and motorcycles and just having a good time.
They're enjoying what they have with their God. That's their
God. Ride that bike at Harley Davidson. Yeah, I ride. I got a motorcycle.
But I'll tell you what, I ain't riding one today. Because God
called me to preach today, and He called me to when I ride that
motorcycle, to ride it as a Christian that He's called me to be. Not
like some alien with leather on and all kinds of stuff hanging
off of me trying to identify with the world's rebirths. Oh, that we might know that Christ,
that Christ alone, has sought out a people and saved it, for
the glory and praise of His honor. and the exaltation of the Father,
God in heaven. That's the gospel. That's the
message I've come with this morning to tell you about. That's the
only message I know how to preach. And I hope that that's the message
that God has given me from this book. Because that's the only
one I know. And what I know, maybe not as
I ought to know, but yet we know that revelation only comes from
one source. And that's the Holy Spirit of
God. He must be our teacher or we be left ignorant and unenlightened.