Now, our lesson this morning
has a very fantastic story in it. It's a tale of witches and
ghosts bringing up people from the dead to talk to the living.
And that kind of story really appeals to the flesh. It is a
story that just is so prevalent in our world today, but the blessing
is not in some astonishing story of the supernatural. The blessing
is in the mercy and grace of our God to sinners in his Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ. We don't need a witch to bring
back someone from the dead in order for us to hear something
amazing. We have Christ, that prophet, who reveals the truth
of God. We have the gospel. And when
you want to hear something amazing, We have the gospel that declares
mercy for the guilty. We have the gospel. There's nothing
more amazing than the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's
nothing more amazing than God's electing love. There's nothing
more amazing than salvation for sinners in our Lord Jesus Christ. So let's look at this chapter
and see maybe if we can't learn something about that. First Samuel
28, verse one. And it came to pass in those
days that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare,
to fight with Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know
thou assuredly that thou shalt go down with me to battle, thou
and thy men. And David said to Achish, Surely
thou shalt know what thy servant can do. And Achish said to David,
Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head for ever. Achish
tells David, I have protected you, I have provided for you,
and now you owe me. You owe me. And David promises
to fight valiantly for Achish. When he says thou know assuredly
what I can do, what he's promising is I'll fight valiantly for you
against Israel, against my people. Now, maybe David didn't mean
it. I don't know. The writers say David didn't
mean it. I don't know whether he meant it or not. But I do
know he promised Achish that he'd do it, that he'd go fight
against Israel with the Philistine army. And Achish gives David
the high honor of being the captain of his bodyguard, his honor guard.
It's a very high honor. Now think about it here. This
is David. And David's presence with the Philistines made them
much more confident to go attack Israel because David's with them.
David is the one who defeated them so many times. Now he's
with them. David is with them. You know,
if he can't beat them, join them. Well, now David's joined them.
So we figure, hey, they can go beat Israel, defeat them. Now,
you remember last week's lesson, six results of unbelief. Well,
here's another one. David compromised the truth when
he came to the Philistines. When he came to Achish, he compromised
the truth. Among other things, David compromised
where royal authority truly lies. If you look back in chapter 27,
look at verse 5. David said to Achish, if I have
now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some
town in the country that I may dwell there. For why should thy
servant, David's a servant of Achish, this heathen king? He says, why should thy servant
dwell in the royal city with thee? What, I'm not worthy to
dwell in this royal city with you. You know, you're the king,
I'm just nobody. He compromised where he knew royal authority
truly was. And David continued to compromise
and continued to compromise for those year and four months. He compromised until he came
to the point that he agreed to fight against the people of God.
And that's where compromise will always end up. The compromise
might not seem like very much at first. It's just a little
thing. You know, we'll just let that
go. And once that gate's open, you'll continue to compromise
and continue to compromise until you become the enemy of God's
people. Until you become the enemy of
God. This is the position that David's put himself in. Now while
this is going on, look at verse 3. Now Samuel was dead. And all
Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah, even in his own
city. And Saul had put away those that
had familiar spirits and wizards out of the land. Now we're given
a reminder here, Samuel's dead. He is really dead. And that's
going to be important for us to remember later on in the chapter. And after Samuel had died, Saul
had removed the wizards and everyone that had a familiar spirit out
of Israel. And wizards and familiar spirits, you can look this up,
what that means is people who can talk to the dead. And that's
exactly what Saul should have done. He should have removed
them out of the land. But you know, he probably did it because
he himself had a particular problem in this area. He liked to go
find someone with a familiar spirit so he could talk to the
dead. How often do you see a man in religion? He'll preach and
preach and preach and preach against a particular sin. Just
wait and you find him caught in that very sin. I saw it just
last week, this fellow. I never heard of him before,
but he's a pastor of it. huge, huge mega church, thousands
of members. He's on TV and apparently he
spent all his time preaching against homosexuality. You know
what happened to him last week? He got found in multiple homosexual
relationships. You see that all the time. And
most people think that's why Saul had these wizards and people
with familiar spirits removed. But now that's what he should
have done. Look back at Deuteronomy 18. He should have removed those
people. In Deuteronomy 18, verse 9, Now thou art come into the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to
do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not
be found among you anyone that maketh this son or his daughter
to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an
observer of tides, or an enchanter, or a or a charmer, or a consulter
with familiar spirits, or wizards, or a necromancer. All those things
are people that talk to the dead. For all that do these things
are an abomination unto the Lord. And because of these abominations,
the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee." That's
what Saul should have done. He should have removed those
people from the land. But now read on in verse 13.
Thou shalt be perfect, you'll be upright or sincere with the
Lord thy God. For these nations which thou
shalt possess hearkened unto observers of times and unto diviners,
but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee to
do so." Now why aren't we, you and me, us here this morning,
why aren't we, just like everybody else in false religion, why aren't
we bound down to a ceramic statue this morning? Why aren't we? Really? Because the Lord thy
God hath not suffered thee to do so. That's the only reason. We're cut from the same cloth.
We come from the same Adam that everybody else in false religion
does. And the only reason that we haven't
fallen to those things is the sovereign electing grace of God. The Lord thy God hath not suffered
thee to do so. And here's why. We don't need
to find someone who can speak with the dead. God's people don't
hear from the dead. We hear from the living. We don't
need to find someone who can speak to the dead because we
hear from life himself. Look at verse 15. The Lord thy
God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy
brethren, like unto me. Unto him ye shall hearken. We don't need a witch. We have
that prophet. We have God's Son. If we're going
to hear from God, we're going to hear from God through His
Son. That's how we're, we're not going to hear from the living
among the dead. We're going to hear from God's
Son. God, who at sundry times and diverse manners, spake in
time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last
days spoken to us how? By His Son, by His Word, by His
Son. If we're going to hear from God,
it's going to be through His Son. We don't need a witch. Look
over in Isaiah chapter 8. We don't need to hear from the
dead at all. We need to hear from the living. That's what
God's people have. And when they shall say unto
you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and to wizards
that peep and that mutter, should not a people seek unto their
God for the living, to the dead, to the law, and to the testimony?
If they speak not according to this word, it is because there
is no light in them." I don't care how impressive someone or
something might be. They might work these fantastic
miracles and speak to the dead and all these miraculous things.
I don't care how impressive they are. If they don't speak according
to this word, don't you listen to them. There's no light in
them. They may even say true things,
but if it's not according to this word, don't you listen to
them now. There's no light in them. We
don't need anything other than what's in this book. Not one
thing. Everything that we need to know
about salvation, about eternal life, about forgiveness of sins,
about how to live in this world. Everything that we need to know
is in this book. And any addition or supplement
to this book is an abomination to God. And any attempt to make
this book, this word more appealing to the flesh is an abomination
to the Lord. Now, you stay away from it now
and we're going to see what happens. Look back in our text. We'll
see what happens when you don't. Look at 1 Samuel 28, verse 4.
And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came
and pitched in Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel
together, and they pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul saw the
host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly
trembled. And when Saul inquired of the
Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim,
nor by prophets. Now Saul saw how large this Philistine
army was, and he was scared out of his wits. And he inquired
of the Lord. And that word inquired means
to beg, or to earnestly plead. Saul was very sincere. He was
begging the Lord for mercy. He was begging the Lord for help
and some direction in this matter, but the Lord did not answer.
Because it was too late. The day of mercy was over. The
Lord already turned His back and gave Saul up. Here's a warning
to us. Don't think that you can just
go out and live however you want and wait until the very end of
your life and call upon the Lord and He'll save you. And people
tend to think that because that's what modern religion tells people.
God just wants to save you, won't you let Him? If all I've got to do is let
him, then I'll just wait till I get to the end of my life.
I'll live however I want to. I'll sow my wild oats or whatever.
I'll enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And then I'll let
him save me. Then I'll accept him. Don't you
listen to that now. That makes God a beggar. And
God's not a beggar. You seek the Lord today. Today. Not tomorrow. Today. And I would tell you, don't wait
till this afternoon. Do it right now. Not only are
we not guaranteed tomorrow, we're not guaranteed this afternoon.
I might not make it home this afternoon. Seek the Lord today,
right now. And I give you three reasons.
Seek the Lord right now. Because we're not guaranteed
tomorrow. In James chapter four, we're taught to say the Lord
willing, I'll do this or this or this tomorrow. Well, why are
we taught to say the Lord willing? Because you know not what shall
be on tomorrow. But what is your life? It's just
a vapor. It's just a vapor up here for
a little time and it's gone. We're not guaranteed tomorrow.
Seek the Lord today. Secondly, look in Galatians chapter
6. Seek the Lord today. Right now, you seek the Lord
because God's not mocked. God's not going to take your
leftovers. Seek the Lord now. Galatians chapter 6, verse 7. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." You seek the Lord
today. God is not mocked. He's not going
to take your leftovers. And third, look in Isaiah 55.
You seek the Lord today. It's the command of Scripture.
It's the command of Scripture to seek the Lord right now. In Isaiah 55, verse 6, seek ye
the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he's near.
That's not just a good idea. That's a command of Scripture.
You seek the Lord while he may be found. Let the wicked forsake
his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return
unto the Lord, and he'll have mercy upon him. And to our God,
for he will abundantly pardon. And maybe that's the fourth reason.
Seek the Lord today. He will abundantly pardon. Seek
the Lord. Call upon him. Saul sought the
Lord, but it was too late. It was too late. He had already
turned his back on Saul. And when God turns his back on
someone, it's hard to tell how far out in left field they'll
go. Look at verse 7 back in our text. Chapter 28 of 1 Samuel.
Then said Saul and his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar
spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. I can't inquire
of the Lord any more. Let me go inquire of this witch.
Someone has a familiar spirit. And his servants said to him,
Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit in Endor. And Saul disguised himself and
put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and
they came to the woman by night. And he said, I pray thee, divine
unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall
name unto thee.' And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest
what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar
spirits, and the wizards out of the land. Wherefore then layest
thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? And Saul swore
to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord liveth, there shall
no punishment happen to thee for this thing. Then said the
woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? Bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw Samuel,
she cried with a loud voice. And the woman spake to Saul,
saying, Why hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul. Now, did
this really happen? My daughter, Savannah, asked
me. Did that really happen? Yes, it did. That really happened.
Is it possible for you or me or anyone to see someone who's
already dead? Is that possible? Yes, that's
possible. That's entirely possible. Look
in Matthew 17. Yes, it's possible that we would see
someone who's already dead. In Matthew 17, verse 1, And after
six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother,
and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured
before them, and his face as shine as the sun, and his raiment
was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto
them Moses and Elijah talking with him." They actually saw
Moses and Elijah, who had been dead for who knows how many years.
They saw those men. So yes, it could happen. You
could see someone who is already dead, been dead a long time.
Did this woman really see Samuel? I don't know. But I know this. She saw somebody. She saw something. Normally, this woman may have
been a charlatan who prayed on the weak and on the sorrowing,
and she just pretended to talk to the dead and, you know, kind
of gave them something that made them feel better. I don't know.
Maybe that's why she seemed so shocked. She really saw Samuel
or what she thought was Samuel. She saw a spirit. She saw something. I know that. Now listen to me. We don't need to know anything
about this, about this seeing ghosts and talking to the dead.
We don't need to know anything about this. John Gill made an
interesting point. This woman used some incantations
to bring up the spirit. And you notice The Lord left
it out of His Word. So you and me wouldn't be tempted
to use it. If that was in God's Word, we'd
be trying to use this incantation and the Lord left it out of His
Word. You know why? Because everything
we need to know is in this Word. He didn't put it in there because
you and me don't need to know what it is. We don't need to
be tempted to use it. We don't need to know anything
about this, bringing up this ghost, other than this. There
is evil in this world you and me don't know anything about.
And we don't need to know anything about it. I promise you we don't.
People claim to see ghosts. And usually they're either lying
or they're under the influence of one or the other. But rarely,
occasionally, they could see a ghost or a spirit of some kind
because they exist now. These spirits and these things
exist. There are angels in this room right now. We can't see
them, but they're here. I know because that's what God's
word says. So who knows what the Lord allows somebody to get
a glimpse of? I don't know. We need to leave those secret
things alone. Really, those secret things belong
to the Lord, not to us. Leave them with him. It's enough
for us to be taken up with the Lord Jesus Christ. Just be taken
up with Him. It's enough for us to be taken
up with learning more of our Savior who loved us and gave
Himself for us and washed us from our sins in His own precious
blood. That's enough for us. We don't
need the supernatural. The miracle, the wonder of our
Lord Jesus Christ is plenty for you and me to take up the rest
of our days with. The miracle. that the Lord Jesus
Christ, God's Son, became incarnate and became a man. The miracle
that God's Son was made to be sin for His people. The miracle
that God's Son suffered and bled and died for those sins. And
the miracle that He arose again and ascended back to the Father.
And the miracle that He sends His Spirit to give eternal life
to those people for whom He died That's a far greater miracle
than seeing the ghost of Abraham Lincoln look out the window of
the White House. It's a far greater miracle and a far more important
star souls. Well, back in our text, verse
13, the king said unto her, and I
be not afraid, for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto
Saul, I saw gods descending out of the earth. That word God means
spirit. She saw spirits descending out
of the earth. Now, did she really see that?
I believe she did. She really saw that. And I'm
warning us again, leave everything like this alone. Because I promise
you, I'm going to show you this as we go through here. I promise
you, as fantastic, miraculous, or whatever the right word is,
as seeing those things would be, they'll bring you nothing
but heartache and sorrow. They will bring you no comfort.
Let's read on verse 14. And he said unto her, What form
is he of? And she said, An old man cometh
up, and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was
Samuel. And he stooped with his face to the ground, and he bowed
himself. And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me,
to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore
distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God
is departed from me. And he answereth me no more,
neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called thee,
that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. Then said
Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is
departed from thee, and is become thy enemy?" Now Samuel, or this
spirit, tells Saul, if the Lord is not going to answer you, what
do you think I'm going to tell you? I'm the prophet of the Lord. I can't tell you anything. unless
He tells you. The only thing I have to tell
you is what He tells you. Isn't that a good definition
of preaching? All I've got to tell you is what God tells you. In His Word, that's all I've
got to tell you. And if the Lord does not speak to you this morning,
you will not hear anything of any eternal value. If hearing
God's Word is not your heart's desire, then you're not going
to enjoy anything John or I've got to say this morning. Because
all we've got to tell you is what God's Word says. That's
our whole message. But verse 17, read on. He says,
And the Lord hath done to him as he spake by me. For the Lord
hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy
neighbor, even to David. Because thou obeyest not the
voice of the Lord, nor executest his fierce wrath upon Amalek.
Therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day.
Now this ghost, maybe he's Samuel or See someone who looks like
Samuel. It's a spirit. Saul's talking
to him. And he gives Saul the exact same message that he gave
Saul when Samuel was alive. The message didn't change, did
it? It never changed. Even if you could bring up a
ghost of one of these prophets this morning, if you could bring
up a ghost of one of these great prophets or preachers of the
past, you know what? The message would not change
because the truth never changes. It doesn't matter who tells it.
The truth is an absolute and it never changes. And God has
ordained that the gospel be preached by men of our generation to people
of our generation. Now, I love the old writers.
I read them every week. I love some of the old preachers
of the past, and I read some of their sermons and things occasionally.
And I do that because I can learn some things from them. But I
thought about this this week. I've never been blessed. I mean,
just my heart just thrilled. Sitting in my study, reading
a book of a message from Charles Spurgeon, like I have here in
my pastor preach. It's never happened. I don't
think it ever will. Because God has ordained that
the gospel be preached by men of our generation to people of
our generation. Now if we advertised this morning
in the newspaper that we had a witch, and she could bring
up the ghost of Charles Spurgeon, and she was going to do that
this morning, people would be busting down the doors to get
in this place. You couldn't have gotten in here
this morning if we had advertised that in the newspaper. And most
people would have been here because they got itching ears and itching
eyes. They would have given anything
to see this woman, this witch, bring up the ghost of Charles
Spurgeon. Some people might be here because, by golly, I'd really
like to hear Spurgeon preach. That'd really be something. I'm
going to go hear that. Maybe that's why they come. But I promise
you, you'd get a greater blessing from hearing John or Dale or
Eric preach this morning. I promise you, you would. And
that's true. That's just so. Yet, people aren't
busting down the doors to get in here, are they? You know why? Because flesh has always loved
the dead prophets more than the living ones. Always. Saul was
seeking him a dead prophet. And the flesh has always been
more impressed with the supernatural than sovereign grace. God's people
don't need the supernatural. They need God's word. Sovereign
grace. Grace for sinners. Now look back
at Matthew 17. We're there just a minute ago. If that old witch could bring
up a dead prophet so we could hear him preach, would it do
us any good? Matthew 17, Peter, James, and John saw it,
and look what happened. Verse 4, Then answered Peter
and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If
thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one
for Moses, and one for Elijah. And while he spake, behold, a
bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold a voice out of the
cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. Hear ye him. And when the disciples
heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. And
Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, be not afraid. And
when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only."
Peter had the wrong focus, didn't he? He saw this wonderful sight
And he had the wrong focus. And I'm not being hard on him.
I've done the same thing. You would have too. He had the
wrong focus. But what did him any good? When
he saw Jesus only. And that's what we need. We need
in our preaching to hear, to see by eyes of faith the Lord
Jesus Christ only. Look over 2 Peter chapter 1.
Now Peter, James and John, they saw that. They saw this sight. They saw Elijah and Moses. And years later, what is it that
Peter had to say about that experience? 1 Peter 1, verse 16. For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his
majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory,
when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And this
voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him
in the Holy Mount. We heard these things. We saw
these things. Yet, he says in verse 19, we
have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto you do well
that you take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place,
until the day dawn and a day star arise in your hearts, knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Now, one more scripture in Luke
chapter 16. We have something far better than a vision of a
ghost. We have God's In Luke chapter 16, verse 27,
this is the story of the rich man Lazarus. After the rich man
had died, he asked Abraham, send Lazarus and let him dip his finger
in water and just put a drop of water on my tongue for I'm
tormented here. Abraham told him, you can't do
that. So verse 27, then he said, I pray thee therefore, father,
that thou wouldst send him, send Lazarus to my father's house
where I have five that he may testify unto them, lest they
also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him,
They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said,
Nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead,
they would repent." They won't listen to Moses and the prophets
and the word of God, but they'll believe if they see someone come
from the dead and tell them these things. And he said unto him,
If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be
persuaded. though one rose from the dead.
Eternal life is found in God's Word. And the gospel that we
preach cannot be improved. Just cannot be improved. You
can't find better news than Christ. And I know the flesh wants some
fantastic show. You know, they like seeing miracles,
healing and tongues and ghosts and all those things. But you
can't find better news than the Lord Jesus Christ. Can't be done.
If a man won't repent, if he won't believe after hearing the
gospel, he's not going to repent after seeing signs and wonders
either, because you don't have a greater wonder than the message
of Christ in this Word. Now back in our text, verse 19,
this goes on. Look at it. In verse 19, this
Samuel or whoever it is goes on. He says, Moreover, the Lord
will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines,
and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with The Lord also shall
deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines."
The only thing this spirit added to the message that Saul had
when Samuel was alive was that Saul was going to die tomorrow.
That's the only thing that was added to it. There was no good
news. It was a miraculous sight, I'm
sure, but there was no good news in the message of this ghost
because there's no good news apart from Christ. All the good
news that God has for man is the Lord Jesus Christ. And this
is so important to remember, not just when we preach the gospel,
but when we're looking for someone who does preach the gospel. Remember
this. Everything that spirit says is true, isn't it? Did he
make one untrue statement? Did he lie to Saul one time?
No, he didn't. But he still didn't preach the
gospel, did he? He gave Saul no comfort. He gave him no mercy. There is no blessing because
Christ was not the message. And a man can make a whole string. He can take 45 minutes and make
a string of true statements and still not preach the truth of
the gospel. He can make a bunch of true statements
about the Lord Jesus Christ and still not preach the gospel because
the gospel is not true statements about Christ. The gospel is Christ. And there's a huge difference.
Now I'll show you where this leads, where this thing of looking
for these miracles and wonders and things happen. Look in verse
20. I told you that if you don't
find any blessing, this is going to bring you nothing but heartache
and sorrow. Then Saul fell straight away all along on the earth and
was sore afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was
no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all the day nor
all the night. And a woman came unto Saul, and
saw that he was sore troubled, and said unto him, Behold hath
obeyed thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have
hearkened unto thy words, which thou spakest unto me. Now therefore,
I pray thee, hearken also unto the voice of thine handmaid,
and let me set a morsel of bread before thee, and eat, that thou
mayest have strength when thou goest on thy way." But he refused
and said, I will not eat. But his servants together with
the woman compelled him, and he hearkened unto their voice.
So he rose from the earth and sat upon the bed. And the woman
had a fat calf in the house, and she hasted and killed it,
and took flour and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread
thereof. And she brought it before Saul and before his servants,
and they did eat. Then they rose up and went on
their way that night." Now, this witch, she did minister to Saul's
flesh, didn't she? She gave him the show that he
wanted, she ministered to his flesh, but that's as far as she
could go. Saul received no spiritual blessing.
from the visit with this witch. He received no repentance. And
he left in despair. He didn't find any salvation.
He didn't find any comfort. He left no better off than when
he arrived. And everyone who hears a false
gospel, even if it's a bunch of true statements, is going
to leave the same way. No better off than when they
arrived. Now let me tie all this together with this. What's the
difference? between Saul and David. What's
the difference? Neither one of them is acting
in faith, are they? Neither one of them is trusting
in the Lord. They're both trusting in the flesh. Yet Saul is a reprobate
and David is the man after God's own heart. What's the difference?
Sovereign electing grace. That's the difference. I ask
myself this question. You ask yourself this question.
Think about it. What's the difference? between
me and Saul. What's the difference between
me and Jesus Iscariot? Now what's the difference? It's
God's electing, distinguishing grace. Salvation in no part ever
depends on me. My acceptance with the Father
in no part ever depends on me. Salvation is by grace. undeserved,
sovereign, saving grace through faith, which is the gift of God
and our Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm telling you what's the
truth. You cannot improve that message. You cannot make that
message any more amazing than it already is. Our job is just
to declare it in the nail. That's our job. Just declare
it. All right. I hope the Lord will bless that
too.