To Whom is Glory Due in Salvation

I'm gonna ask you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 31. Proverbs 31. I'd like to look at verse 26. Proverbs 31. Verse 26, Scripture declares this. She, that is the bride of Lord Jesus Christ, openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness.

You know, there's one thing that we need to constantly remember. Whenever you hear the gospel, the gospel which is the good news, that's what it is, the good news, good news. You know, when we preach the truth of the gospel of God's free grace, We lay a foundation when we preach.

We lay a foundation by doing this. We tell men and women who and what they are in Adam. We're laying down the foundation. When you're going to preach the gospel, this is the first thing you're going to do. You're going to establish where man is being born in Adam. You lay that down first. Tell men where we are by nature.

And then the gospel, which is good news. Now this is when the gospel is preached. You tell them the good news. But God, who is rich in mercy, has a people that he's going to save out of the darkness, sin, unbelief, rebellion against God. The gospel is always good news. We tell men and women where they are. They're dead in trespasses and sins.

That in itself is not good news. When the Titanic was struck, or when the Titanic struck, a life—a iceberg. The good news wasn't the truth that the Titanic stroke—struck the iceberg. That was true, but that wasn't good news. The good news was that there were some lifeboats there. I know the truth of the Titanic is that there wasn't enough lifeboats, but thanks be unto God, we have a savior who is all sufficient. Here's the good news. Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. That's good news. It's good news.

The truth of the gospel is always set forth. Now, I want to do something tonight that I've done time and time and time again. I'm gonna take this scripture and preach the same message that I've been preaching. Hopefully I've been preaching this. I know in my heart I have. But I pray that the Lord bless this because this is what, this is the foundation of what I'm going to preach tonight. Out of that passage right there. Who gets the glory for salvation? Man or God?

Now, you know that. You that believe, you know that. We know the answer to that question. But you know, the reason that we preach the same message over and over and over again out of the different passages of scripture, you know why we do? Number one, the Lord has instructed his preachers to do that. You go into all the world and you preach the gospel to every creature. And the Lord is going to save whomsoever he will. I'm not here, I'm not here trying to do anything, but be obedient to the Lord's instruction. That's what I want to do. I want to do this.

And I know to the natural man hearing the gospel over and over and over again, to them, So the unbeliever, it's boring. Tell me something new. Yeah, I heard somebody say one time, don't you have any new material? Is that all you got? Yeah, that's all I got. That's all I got. But you that believe.

Do you want to hear anything else? Do you want me to tell you how, you know, how wrong, you know, abortion is and how, how wrong you, I mean, okay. It's wrong. I agree with you, but that's not going to do anything because the only message that the spirit of God is going to bless is the gospel of God's free grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I preach this because we're prone to forget. We forget we're forgetful people. Now, our passage declares this. Here's what it says. Verse 26. She, and you know that that's the bride. She. She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness. While the scriptures declare what she does, what the bride is doing, we have to remember one thing. These words are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Now, this is a great mystery. I know that. But here is the truth of God's word. When it says she, you say, well, that's talking about what this woman is doing. She. She's the instrument. She's the means.

I'm going to try tonight to preach the gospel to you. But I'm going to tell you this. I don't have any power to do anything. I can tell you what the Lord says. And if the Lord blesses the message to your heart, and gives you an understanding, an ear to hear, a heart to believe, then you'll hear it.

If not, it's just words. It's just words, as I've said before. They're biblical words. They're biblical. I mean, when somebody reads scriptures, if the Lord doesn't give you an understanding, it sounds biblical. It sounds like, well, that's Bible talk.

But I need something to my heart. I need the Lord to teach me something. So when we're saying she, who is the author of what or who she is? Well, let me read this scripture to you. You tell me the answer to it. Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 5, 24. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. Faithful is he that calleth you. The Lord has instructed pastors. You preach the gospel. You tell them what I say in the way I say it, in the way the scripture declares it. And you remember who's doing the talking here. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. So whenever you read that right there and you say, she openeth her mouth, who opened the mouth? Well, you say it was the bride, the bride. She was the instrument. She was the instrument. She was the object of God's mercy.

We need to be remembered to that, the miracle of our oneness with him, oneness. Whenever we read these words, these scriptures, we remember it is God that's speaking. It's the Lord himself. And what he does through the bride is totally his work, his work, his words, his tongue, and the instrument of his choosing. Can God save anybody, you know, without the hearing of the gospel? God could do anything he wanted to do. He's God. But he's chosen not to save people in any other way except through the preaching of the gospel. Are we limiting God? No, we're exalting him. This is the way he's chosen to do it. Remember this.

He's God Almighty. He spoke this world into existence out of nothing. He can do that which He will. He doeth as He will in the armies of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth. So could He do something? He could do anything, but He's chosen this way to do it. And so, therefore, we be obedient. We do that which He declares. He said all power is given unto Now, to prove this truth when I say that it's the Lord who works all these things after the counsel of his own will. He doeth as he will.

And to prove this scripture when it says, she openeth her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness, that right there is the evidence of what the Lord has been pleased to do. This is the evidence of the Lord's Word. That's him speaking, and here's the evidence of it.

And my heart was drawn, and I'll just be honest with you, I struggled with the passage of scripture that I was going to use and go to concerning that. She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and her tongue is the law of kindness. My heart's desire was this, Lord, would you direct me to the passage? Would you direct me to the scriptures to establish, to prove what you have said right here?

She openeth her mouth. Well, I'll tell you how my heart was When it says that she openeth her mouth with wisdom, my mind went back to this fact. Where was the bride when she was born in Adam? And what was the language of her mouth? Right now, regenerated by the grace of God, she openeth her tongue with wisdom now, but where was she before? Where did she come from? Where was she being born in Adam? Turn with me. Hold your place right there and turn with me to Luke 15. Luke 15. Luke 15. I'm going to read verses 11, starting in verse 11, read a few verses there. Luke chapter 15. Scripture says in verse 11, and he that is the Lord said, certain man had two sons, the younger of them, said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.

And he divided unto them his living. Not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all that he had, and when he spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land, and he began to be in want. He went and joined himself to a city of that country, and he sent him into his field to feed swine. He would fain have filled his belly with a husk that the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him. And when he came to him, No, and when he came to himself, he said, fell on his neck and kissed him.

And the son said to him, father, I've sinned against heaven in thy sight. I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. The father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his hand, shoes on his feet, kill the fatted calf. No, no, take and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be married.

This my son was dead. He's alive. lost and is found. Now, let me ask you this. Here's what I want to say. The scripture says back in our passage, she openeth her mouth with wisdom. Where did the scripture say this boy's father? Where was this boy? Well, he was found in rebellion. He was found in resentment against his father.

And this is what he said. This is how he spoke. And this is man by nature. This is all a picture of this by nature, by being born in Adam. This is our speech. If you didn't say this outwardly, this is what you thought. This is how you thought. This is what he said. This was his speech back in verse 12, Luke 15.

Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. I deserve them. I deserve it. I deserve the inheritance. I'm your son. Sons leave inheritance for their dad, from their dad and mom. I deserve it. Give me what's coming to me. All by nature, we're spiritually proud. We're selfish, self-centered. thinking that we can handle the situation, thinking that we know what to do with our lives. We think we've got the ability and the cunning, the craftiness, thinking that God owes us something and is waiting on us. This is man by nature. Here's the foundation I'm building by the scriptures. concerning what we're going to look at.

Here's what this boy said by nature. Give me what's coming to me. He didn't even realize what he was saying. If he really realized what he deserved, eternal death, he would have never said that. But man by nature is blind. But this boy, after he had received all that was coming to him, Dad gave him all that was his. And after he had exhausted all of the resources that he thought would give him pleasure, what he did was he sold himself out to a citizen of that country. That prodigal son associated himself with those that he thought would sustain him. Now you talk about a picture of man by nature finding some place and getting religion, getting false religion.

I had a man tell me one time, it doesn't matter where you go, just so you go to church. It doesn't matter what you hear, just so you hear something. You know, go to the church of your choice. Let me tell you something. That is the greatest lie. that you could possibly hear. You talk about a lie that was spawned out of the pits of hell. Go to your church. Satan is a religious liar. He's a religious liar.

And men and women by nature, you want to talk about what will evidence a man or a woman being left to themselves is to believe the lie as long as you go to church and you do good and you're kind to your neighbor and you be a good citizen, you pay your taxes, as long as you do that, you're going to be okay. You're going to be fine. Don't worry about it. Everything's going to be good.

He went to a citizen of that country and he associated himself, just like men associate themselves with false religion. that does nothing but feed the flesh. This boy had come to a point to where he was doing nothing, being satisfied for just a while to eat the husk that was fed to the swines. And man by nature, he's going to go to church, he's going to feel good, he's going to put on his best clothes, he's going to put on some perfume and some, you know, my dad used to call it some foo-foo juice. Makes him smell good. And he's going to go and sit there and look past and look around and see and, you know, look at his watch, see what time his service is going to be over. But he feels good just eating the husk of this world's lying religion. That's man by nature. That's the foundation of what I'm getting ready to preach right here. All but by the grace of God.

Verse 17. And when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and spare, and to spare, and I perish with hunger. You know, I tell you when this, that truth right there really becomes evident is where you find yourself. I've told you many times. how blessed so many of you have been to have sat under a faithful preacher of the gospel and to have actually experienced it, of what it is to sit there and go to church and feel good, go to the church of your choice, you know, whatever sounds right to you. I like that one better than this one. I think we'll go over here. Let's do church over here today. And you go over there and you eat that husk for a while. And it never satisfies you spiritually. Why? Because you're dead. You're dead.

And you that have grown up under Brother Scott, I'm telling you the truth. You were truly blessed. But until the Lord gave you ears to hear, you were in no different shape, no different position than those that weren't sitting under the gospel. You were still lost, still proud, still arrogant, Well, we go to Katie Baptist Church. Scott Richardson is our pastor, you know. Everybody hates what he's preaching, and I'm one of them. So anyway, there was still pride and arrogance. And it's all there. It just takes a different shape, that's all.

But when you've sat under false religion and you've heard a lie, and at that time you believed it, But when you came to yourself by the grace of God, when God Almighty was pleased to give you a new heart, a new understanding, and you came to the conclusion, this is nothing but hog food. When I was in Louisiana, mom and dad had a restaurant, and at the end of the day, all stuff, and the rest, you know, we'd scrape all of it in a big barrel thing. My dad had hogs, and he would, we'd bring that big old bucket, I mean, not quite a 55-gallon drum, but maybe a third that size at the end of the day, and he'd take, we'd back the truck up there, and he'd pour all that junk out on the floor, out on the ground, and I'm telling you, those hogs just ate it up. I love to hear, boy they smacked, if y'all have raised hogs before, man they smack and they are getting into it.

They love it, love it. My dad would tell me, he said, I love to hear them eat. Yeah, I got it. I mean, you know, it sounded good. I mean, they were enjoying it, but oh, it was just nasty stuff. But they loved it. And that's man by nature. He loves to hear a lie. He loves to hear that which feeds his flesh. Oh, but when the Lord was pleased to bring this boy out of darkness, he came to himself. And he said, I'm eating hog food. This is hog food. This is what you feed the swine. And they love it. He came to himself and he said, I'm I'm going to go back. I'm going to go back.

I bet you it went through his mind a thousand times, oh, how foolish I was to talk to my dad like that. And man by nature, when the Lord's pleased to reveal himself to him, you begin to think, I'm here again now, I'm just talking from experience, you begin to think, When I say, how could I believe that? I can tell how I can believe it. The Lord just didn't give me eyes to see. I just, I'm blind. I'm blind to the truth.

Oh, but when God Almighty was pleased to reveal Christ to me, Christ, not religion. Everybody and their brother, you know, has religion. But I'm talking about when Christ When the glory of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ was revealed to me, this boy said, you know what, I'm going to go back. I'm going to go back and I'm going to tell my dad, Dad, I've sinned. I've sinned against heaven. I've done it.

In your sight, I've done it while he's looking at me. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. Oh, the realization of what that boy Saul, verses 18, 19, in our passage, the scripture says, he went, 18, 19, I will arise, go to my father, and I'll say, unto father, I've sinned against heaven before thee. I'm not worthy.

Make me one of your hired servants. You know, this is what a believer's desire is. wherever you would have me to be in your kingdom. That's where I want to be. That's where I want to be. I want to be wherever you see fit. Lord, I'm your building, your building. You said that God's people, that we are the temple of God, Christ in us, the hope of glory. And the Lord is building his temple in wherever he's pleased to build his temple. That's where he's going to build it. And whatever he's called you to do.

Somebody said, well, I just, I just go to the services and I'm just, I just go to the church. I'm just there. Do you know what an encouragement it is? I can tell you as a pastor, what an encouragement it is to me to see those come. What an encouragement it is to me, encouragement to see The Lord has brought some of his people to sit and hear the gospel. Just make me one of your hired servants, wherever you want me to be.

That's where I want to be. That was the language of his mouth. Now, before, here's what scripture says in Proverbs 31. She opened her mouth with wisdom. Before the boy said, give me what's coming to me. But now, the bride, she opens her mouth with some wisdom. She speaks of the glory of Christ, the honor of God Almighty in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. She opened her mouth with some wisdom now. Instead of bragging on herself, well, I gave my heart to Jesus.

Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, have mercy on this sinner. I'm not deserving. I know I'm not deserving. In my heart, I'll tell you this. I couldn't tell you how many times that comes to my mind. And every time, I'm just going to tell you probably more than I should, but I want to tell you. It never fails when I'm Thanking the Lord for the assembly. I told you how I do it. In my mind, I go down the aisle where you sit, and I remember where you sit, and call your names.

And every time I call one of your names, every time I call your name, Don, I thank the Lord that he's given me the memory to remember to call your name. Lord, would you remember Don Brown? Lord, have mercy. Have mercy. Have mercy on Chuck and Bob. Have mercy. And Lord, forgive me for not praying as I ought. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Thank you for mercy. Thank you for your compassion. Thank you for grace that you haven't left me to myself. Thank you that you kept me by your power and you've not allowed me to leave so many that have come. and said, I'm not going to have that man rule over me. And they left. They left. And I'm thinking, Lord, if you had not have kept me here, I'd have left. I'd have gone. And you deserve all the honor and glory and praise for keeping me here. Thank you.

She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and her tongue with the law of kindness, that ruling principle in her heart. The spirit of God has given her a new heart with a new longing, a new law, a new desire. And her tongue is the law of kindness. Here's what she's going to say. First of all, she's going to thank the Lord for his kindness. Lord, thank you that you didn't leave me in the dregs and depravity of my old heart. She speaks, opens her mouth with wisdom.

Let me tell you in closing something of the glory of God in his wisdom. Thank you, Lord, in his wisdom in creation. Think of the Lord in his providence, the wisdom of God. Think of the Lord in salvation. Think of the Lord, the wisdom of God. You think, why would God show mercy to somebody like me?

Because it pleased him. Because he saw that it was right in his eyes. And in her tongue, her speech is the law of kindness. Faithfully preaching the gospel of God's kindness and pity to his beloved bride, his goodness and faithfulness to never leave her, never forsake her. This is the speech of the bride. As I said, This is the evidence. She's not the source of it, but this is the evidence of the bride.

She opened her mouth with wisdom. Let me tell you about the wisdom of God. God was pleased to save sinners. Paul said, of whom I'm chief, but in his wisdom, He was pleased to show mercy to this sinner and not leave me to myself. Her mouth, her tongue is the law of kindness. Here's the ruling principle in the heart of a believer. God Almighty has been pleased to be kind and pitiful to pitiful ones like me and you that believe for his glory and our good.

To Whom is Glory Due in Salvation

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To Whom is Glory Due in Salvation

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