If you will, turn with me to
the book of Isaiah chapter 45. While you're turning, I want
to say this to everybody here. I'm not necessarily talking to
one person, but to all of you that are gathered here today. I'm not preaching to any individual. I don't do that. I sit at home
and prepare these messages days before I get here. I don't know
who's going to be here and who's not going to be here. I try to
take from my own experience and from what I've seen in people
all over the United States where I've been, and I try to take
these texts And to the best of my ability, I want to apply them
to those of you that are gathered in this place. I'm not preaching
to any individual when I get up here to preach. On the other
hand, what I do prepare, I hope and pray, is for every individual
that attends my preaching. Somebody said, well, boy, I wish
he was here. He needed that. No, he didn't
need it. You needed it. That's why God
gave it to me to say. You needed it. It's for those
that are here. And my messages are prepared
ahead of time, and I have all your faces before me in my study. I'm not thinking on people out
in the wilderness somewhere. I'm thinking about you. This
is where God sent me, not somewhere else. And when a message comes
home to you in a good way, or just plain old makes you mad, it's God making it personal,
not me. You know when a message becomes
personal? When God speaks. Now I ain't
nobody. Things I say shouldn't upset
anybody. They just look at me and say, Just consider the source, you
know, or whatever. But when God speaks, it ruffles
feathers, don't it? When God speaks, it goes home
to the heart. And that's what I hope for. Oh,
how I long for him to make it so. To make these things. We're not just gathered in here
to go through another ceremony. We're gathered in here to worship
God. Isaiah chapter 45, Thus saith the Lord to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before
him, and I'll loose the loins of kings to open before him the
two-leaved gates. What in the world is that? That's
just talking about a double gate. And the gates shall not be shut. I'll go before thee and make
the crooked places straight. I'll break in pieces the gates
of brass and cut and sunder the bars of iron. And I will give
thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places
that thou mayest know that I, the Lord which call thee by thy
name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake,
and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though
thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. There is no God beside me. You
ever think about that? There is no God beside you. There's
just one God. I am the Lord. There is none
else. There is no God else beside me. I girded thee, though thou
hast not known me, that they may know from the rising of the
sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord
and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. Drop down, ye heavens from above,
and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, and let them
bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together.
I, the Lord, have created it. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say unto him that
fashioned it, what makest thou, or thy work? He hath no hand. Woe unto him that saith unto
his father, What begattest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou
brought forth? Thus saith the Lord, the Holy
One of Israel, in his Maker, Ask me of the things to come
concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands. Command
ye me. I've made the earth and created
man upon it. I even my hands have stretched
out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded. I've
raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways. He shall build my city, and he
shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the
Lord of hosts. Thus saith the Lord, the labor
of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia, and of the Sabaeans,
men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be
thine. They shall come after thee in
chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto
thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God
is in thee, and there is none else, there is no God. Barely
thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior. He's not talking about Cyrus,
is he? They shall be ashamed and also confounded, all of them. They shall go to confusion together. They are makers of idols. But
Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Ye shall not be ashamed or confounded,
world without end. For thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made
it, he hath established it, he created it not in vain. He formed it to be inhabited.
I am the Lord, and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret,
In a dark place of the earth, I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves, and come,
draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They
have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image,
and pray unto a God that cannot save. Kill ye, and bring them
near, yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this
from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time?
Had not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
me, a just God, and a Savior. There is none beside me. Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth. For I am
God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself the words
gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto
me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall
one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall
men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified, and shall glory. May the Lord add his blessing
to the reading of his word. I don't generally preach very
long. But this morning may be a little
different. There's a lot of content in these verses, and I don't
want to skip over any of it. I preached on this text several
times before in the past. I preached on our Savior being
just and justifier. That's what He said that He is. God our Savior, there's none
like Him. He's a just God. and Savior. When He saves men, He saves them
to the honoring of His justice, to the satisfying of His justice.
So I invite you this morning to turn back with me to Isaiah
45. My beloved pastor and friend
for many years, Brother Henry Mahan, affectionately referred
to this prophecy as the gospel according to Isaiah. and truly
his gospel shines throughout the book. Isaiah 45 is a prophecy
of the coming Redeemer and King. It speaks of a heathen king called
Cyrus, who by historians was called Cyrus the Great. King
of the Medes and Persians and considered by many to be the
greatest of the warriors, and a statesman. And by his victories
and his diplomatic talents, he pieced together the largest kingdom
up to that day in the world. You see, he didn't just conquer.
You can conquer a people, and you can turn them into servants
the way Egypt did Israel. But you can't win their hearts.
They cried out to God to be delivered from them. And you can conquer
a people and you can do that, but you can't win their hearts.
He was not only a skilled warrior and was able to go in and conquer
these nations, but having conquered them, he then won their hearts.
And they served him that way with all their hearts. He's called Cyrus the Great.
He's mentioned in the Bible more than 30 times. 30 times. What other heathen king do you
know in the Scripture was mentioned that many times? This man was
mentioned time after time after time and it's recorded in God's Word being
used of God to illustrate Israel being freed from Babylonian captivity. God's gonna use him. He calls
him his anointed. Think about that. He never said
that. Unless I'm mistaken, he never
said that about any other heathen king other than Cyrus. Not that
he was a saved man. Not that he knew God. But that
he was used of God. He was God's anointed. That's
the first thing he tells you. God's anointed. But that being said, Isaiah 45
is not about Cyrus, but it's about one greater than he who
would come and set the captives free, spoil the strong man, and
establish his kingdom forever. Isaiah 45 is a prophecy of the
coming Redeemer and King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Holy
Ghost uses the same word when talking about Cyrus as he did
when he talks about Christ. He sayeth to his anointed, his
anointed, his deliverer. And if I'm not mistaken, he's
the only one he ever said that about. And this he said not because
Cyrus was a saved man or had any interest in the Lord, but
because of whom he typified. He typified Christ. And because
he raised him up to liberate his people and build again the
temple of God. Isn't that what Christ said?
Tear down this temple. Three days I'll build it again.
All of this was typical. It was Cyrus who gave them permission
to go back down to, after delivering them out of Babylonian captivity,
gave them permission and money to go back down into Jerusalem
and rebuild their temple. He's a picture of Christ in great
detail. And he says to this heathen king,
I will hold his right hand. I'll take him by his right hand.
How many times did he say that about Christ? Over and over and
over. I'll take him by his right hand
to subdue nations before him. I'll loose the loins of kings.
I'll make them quiver before me. And opened all the gates. Oh,
they all got gates. Man, Babylon had gates. It's
unbelievable. Big, double, brass gates. They
were impassable. Impassable. Couldn't get in.
You know what the Lord did? He caused them to have a drunken
party, and they wasn't afraid of anybody because they were
so great, and they just left the gates open. Ain't got a problem
if they just opened the gates. Cyrus just walked in. The door
to the palace was left open. The king up there in the drunken
stupor, he'd been celebrating. And he's laying there on his
bed and the soldiers walked in and killed him. Ain't got no
resistance. No resistance. I'll go before thee and I'll
make the crooked places straight. Who'd they say that about? Christ
sent John the Baptist, didn't he? He went before him. John said, I'm just the voice
of one kind in the wilderness. Make straight the ways of the
Lord. I'll give him treasures of darkness. Oh, my soul. Hidden secrets of
the heart. Those people had all this money
and they went out and buried it. The Babylonians, they went
out and buried it. But God revealed it to Cyrus
where they were and he just walked in there and dug it up. Isn't it amazing how Christ could
dig up those scriptures? Oh, he said, didn't our heart
burn within us as he opened to us the scriptures? I'll give thee treasures of darkness
and hidden riches in secret places. Is this not Christ, God's anointed? In him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. The riches of his grace, he said,
he's going to show them to us. Treasures of His wisdom. We have
this treasure in earthen vessels, Paul said. Secrets hidden from
men. I thank Thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because You've hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them unto me. All of these things revealed
in the Son. Verily, says the Spirit of Christ,
Thou art a God that hideth Thyself, O God of Israel. The Savior. Verse 15. The Savior. Oh, this is God our Savior that
he's talking about. But to whom is the Spirit writing
these things? If you're a studier of the Scripture
at all, you ought to immediately see the type of Christ in Cyrus. My soul. He had probably more
in common with him than anybody else. Unbelievable how much he
had in common with them. But to whom is the Spirit writing
these things? Look down at verse 20. To a people
called of God to assemble themselves, who by God's hand and God's anointing
have escaped the nations. What does that mean? What does that mean? The nations
have not had their way with God's people. God wouldn't let it happen. He didn't let it happen. It means
they have escaped the curse of those nations. The ignorance of their idolatry. The abomination of their religion. Isn't that what he calls it?
It says again in verse 20, they have no knowledge that set up
the wood of their graven image and pray unto a God they cannot
save. And this is the world. They may
not, some of them do, still set up statues and images. The churches
are filled full of images. They wear them around their neck.
They wear them on their bracelets. They have them on their dress. You can go to a foreign country,
you can see them right here in this country. I'll never forget
going up to Michigan Creek one time on the northern side of
Detroit. And I took the bypass out around
Detroit and there was a church there with a big lake in front
of it. And had the Lord standing there with his arms up like this. And next time I went up twice.
I went up that week. The next week when I come up,
The statue's head was blown off by lightning and it's just a
body standing there with one hand. Idols, idols that cannot say. He prayed to a God that cannot
say. And this is the world. It's a
world of men and women whose God is the God of their imagination. They have an image in their mind
of what they want to call God. And when you talk to them, here's
what you say, my God wouldn't do that. Well, you rightly called
him your God. He's your God. He's your making.
He's your God. My God will or won't do this
and that, and that's what they call him, and so he is. They
set up the wood of their graven images, and they pray to it.
And whether actual or visible, it's still an image, and it's
still idolatry. It's idolatry to worship the
God of your imagination. Well, I think that's the worst
thing you can do. Don't do that. Don't do that.
Read the Word of God. Read the Word of God. He'll tell
you who God is. And the real danger of Israel
mixing with the nations was not the color of their skin or the
geography of their land, but the religion of their hearts.
That's why he told them not to mix. He forbid them to mix with
these nations. They're cursed of God. They're
idolaters. Their religion is an abomination
before me. And those things that they adopted,
like the groves in the mountains, they build these beautiful little
groves, and they go up there secretly, and like a monk, they
worship God all by themselves, and they go to these groves. God cursed them for that. The real danger is the religion of their hearts.
And here's what he says. Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near all by yourselves. That ain't what it says, is it?
Draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nation. Tell ye. Who am I telling? Those who have
escaped from the nations, who have escaped that idolatry of
the world. What am I to tell? Tell you and
bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. What's he talking about there?
Is he talking about getting together a council? And the counsel will
hear what I've got to say, and then the counsel will talk it
over and say, no, he's talking about receiving counsel. That's
what he's talking about. Take counsel together. Take it. Don't fight it. Don't
kick against it. It's hard for thee, Paul, to
kick against the priest. Quit kicking. Take the counsel of God. Who
is Christ? He's the counselor, isn't He?
How are we counseled? Through Christ. I don't have
anything else. Through Him. Till you bring them
near ye, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this
from ancient times? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? Who's been doing the talking?
I the Lord. I the Lord. Paul begins his letter
to the Hebrews saying, God, who at sundry times and in divers
manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.
Oh, my soul, Isaiah wrote, but God spoke. Ain't that what he said? God
spoke. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost. All scriptures given by inspiration
of God have been profitable for doctrines, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect,
complete, throughly furnished unto all good works. And what
about now? Is it any different today? The
Lord sent out his preachers, 70 of them. Turned right around
and sent 70 more. He sent him out with his gospel
and he said unto them, he that heareth you, heareth me. Oh, now wait a minute. You mean
those 70 guys, they were fishermen, they were tax collectors, who
knows what all they were. God saved them out of it. They
escaped from the nation, escaped that idolatry. They were followers
of Christ. He anointed them and he sent
them out to preach. And he said, he that heareth you, heareth
me. Do you believe that? Huh? That's what God said. That's
what he said. God spoke to our fathers. How
did he speak to them? Through men. Through the prophets. Through the prophets. And he
speaks now through his preachers. He that heareth you, heareth
me. Now listen. He that despiseth you. You preach to him from your
heart. You bring him the counsel of
God, the good counsel of Christ. You bring it to him. He despises
you. Christ said he despises me. And
he that despises me despises him that sent me. Oh, is it any different now than
it was then? Listen to this. Paul was talking
to the Corinthians. They were back and forth living
in all kinds of sin and all of these problems going on in the
church. And he writes to them. And some of them were saying,
well, I was born of Apollos, so I'm going to step up on those
that were born of Paul. And this and that. And going
back and this preacher and that preacher. He said, who's Paul? Who is Paul? Who is a Paulist? They're ministers, now listen,
by whom you believed. Yeah, but that was written for
them. Uh-uh. That ain't all the scripture. Now watch this. Even
as the Lord gave to every man. Oh, that draws it right down,
doesn't it? Am I making something out of
nothing? I don't think so. And I see it taught throughout
the scriptures. Who hath declared this from ancient times? Who
told it from that time? Had not I the Lord. And what
about you and I? Are we escaped of the nations?
Have we escaped that idolatry? Have we escaped that anti-Christ
religion? Have we escaped the abomination
of what they practice in churches every day? owing salvation to themselves
and their will and their decisions? Have we escaped that? God said
by His prophet to tell all those who have escaped the nations
to assemble themselves together. Assemble yourselves together.
Not to isolate yourselves like a monk or to secretly go up to
the groves to worship, but assemble yourselves together. Preacher,
that was written 760 years before the coming of Christ and 2,023
years have passed since then. So that was written almost 3,000
years ago. That couldn't be talking about
us. Well, let me bring it a little closer. Forsake not the assembling
of yourselves together as the manner of the Son lives. Whoa. You reckon he meant that? Well,
he commanded it. Is that what the Bible teaches?
That's what it says. You might make it say something
it don't say, but that's what it says. But exhorting one another. And everywhere that word is used,
it has to do with a gathering together for public worship.
Every time you see the word, that's what it means. And the
command then is this, to meet together for the worship of God,
and it applies to every believer, and a blame or fault is attached
where it is neglected, always is. All the commentators that I read,
some 16 commentators from various years, going clear back to the
1700s and all the way up to the modern day commentators, every
one of them said that this is true. It's talking
about gathering together, assembling ourselves for public worship.
And one of the commentators I read, said this, why will a person
on a regular basis absent himself from public work? And he gave
four reasons. One is to relieve himself from
persecution. I'm not talking about somebody
slitting his throat or something, although that could have been
true back in the day. They martyred a lot of people,
martyred a lot of them. But this is not just talking
about physical persecution. But this is persecution mostly
by family and friends. And then secondly, some absent
themselves from public worship because they have no interest
in it. It's just repetition. It's the same old thing. He says
the same thing every time he gets in there. One lady looked
at Scott Richardson and said, Christ, Christ, Christ, that's
all you ever preach. He said, could somebody put that
on my tombstone? Just to have it etched out on
my tongue. All he ever preached was Christ. All my soul. I've
been there. I've been there. Thought about
these things that way. Then others absent themselves
from public worship because they doubt the necessity of it, the
priority of it, and the benefits of it. But the scriptures talk
about all three of those things. and there is a benefit from it.
You know that he talks about his pastors who are pastor-teachers. He talks about that and the assembling
of ourselves together in Ephesians 4 and talks about the best. It
was his ascension gift to the church. And whatever else they do brings
them more pleasure than this. And then fourthly, Some of them
stay home because of dissatisfaction with the preacher or one or more
members of the church. And we've all experienced that
at one time or another. Whatever the reason, it's not
a good one. And my friend, this is what I
want you to see. It is a resistance of the commandment of God. That's
what it is. Don't do it. Don't do it. For
your soul's sake, don't do it. Are we escaped of the nations?
Then let us take heed to the ways and means of God. Bring
them near, he said. How can I bring you near to God?
How can I do that? I'm just a man, I stand up and
preach. How can I bring you near to God? By preaching Christ. By preaching Christ. In Him,
you who sometimes were far off are made nigh. Made nigh by the
blood of Christ. Bring them near. Let them take counsel together.
Let them receive counsel. Let them receive what God has
given to them. God's word is not for them who
are not here. It's not for them whose hearts
are still in the world. It's for those who assemble. They had people tell me, boy,
I wish he'd been here. That message was just for him. No, it was for you. It was for
you. Listen to this, 1 John 4, 4.
Ye are God, little children. That's what he called believers,
little children. Except you become a little child, you're not going
to enter the kingdom of God. Ye are God, little children,
and have overcome them. Talking about false religion. Because greater is He that's
in you than He that's in the world. They are of the world. Therefore speak they of the world,
and the world hears them. Turn your TV on sometime. There's
masses of people following men who have nothing to say. But
whatever it is they're saying suits them to a T, and they flock
in there to hear. Don't they? They are of the world,
therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them. Well,
what does the world say? The world says that God is whatever
you want Him to be. My own sister told me that. They say that if you do the best
you can, God will accept it. It ain't so, is it? All our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Man at his best state, at his
best state, altogether vanished. If I was hungry, God said, I
wouldn't tell you. The world says that salvation
is all up to you. It's in your heart. God's done
everything He can do. I think That is the worst statement
I ever heard out of an ungodly man. The Lord has done all he
can do. The creator of the universe.
He who runs all things, preserves all things, did all things, he's
done all he can do. But now it's up to you. Huh? That don't even sound right,
does it? The world says man has a free
will. Sin don't have no influence on
him. He has a free will. And nothing influences him but
what he wants to influence him. That's nuts! Sin entered and
death passed. You had the quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sin. They say it's okay to neglect
the Word of God. You don't have to read the Word
of God. That Ethiopian eunuch didn't
believe that. He was a Gentile. A Gentile. And he's out here. Do you know how rare it was to
have the parchments, to have a copy of the Word of God in
that day? It was hand transcribed. Wasn't
a book in everybody's library. There were scrolls and there
wasn't very many of them, but that Ethiopian eunuch had a copy
of Isaiah, didn't he? The book I'm preaching to, and
he was reading it. And when Philip got there, he started looking
around, wondering who the Lord sent him out to, and here's this
man, he's reading a parchment. That's him. That's him. He said, do you understand what
you're reading? He said, how can I? I said, it just, it's
amazed me. It's just, it's a locked book. I say it's okay to neglect the
Word of God, and I say it's alright to forsake the assembling of
yourselves together. And all those who are of the
world, hear them, and follow their example. You know, when
Paul preached on Mars Hill, he was preaching to the Greeks who
were... He calls false religion, and
he uses the word Greeks, To the Jews and to the Greeks, he says.
The Greeks just compiled all the wisdom of men. It just kind
of stood for them. And when those Epicureans and
Stoics heard Paul, they said, he seemeth to be a setter forth
of strange gods. What kind of god do you got? Strange. He's not like the god
we've been talking about. He preached Christ. and His resurrection. They'd never heard anything like
that. He'd bring us strange things under our years. Has that ever
happened to you? Oh, it happened to me all the
time. Verse 22, and here's my text. Look unto me, all, and
be saved. How you gonna get saved? How
you gonna be saved? You're gonna be saved looking
unto Him. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. God has purposed the salvation
of a people from every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under
heaven, and that's what this chapter is all about. It is universal
in the sense that he'll have a sample of all Adam's race from
beginning to end. And he'll have them by an election
of grace. And Israel is the Israel of God. When you're reading about Israel
in the Old Testament, he's talking about the Israel of God. Spiritual
Israel. And in the Lord, all the seed
of Israel shall be justified. Justified. Cleared of all charges. God's justice satisfied on their
behalf. And they're going to glory. That
is, they're going to glory in the salvation of the Lord. Now here's the question. Saved
from what? Huh? Saved from what? What does it mean to be saved?
A man said, well, I'm not sick. I'm not sick. Go work at the
cancer place someday. Just go in there and sit down.
You'll hear people praying because they're sick. But here's a man,
he says, I ain't sick. I've got a good marriage. Not
having trouble with my wife. I pay my bills. I've got a good
standing in society. I'm well-liked. I live in a great
country. I live a moral life before my
children and my community. Saved from what? What does it
mean to be saved? Let me give you just as many
explanations as time will allow. May God the Holy Spirit be our
teacher. First of all, to be saved is
to be delivered from the wrath to come. Is he talking about
eternal judgment? That's included. But that's not
all what he's talking about. He's talking about God's wrath.
God's character, His true character is wrath. He's as much, wrath
is as much his character as grace. It's as much his character as
love. God's wrath. That's who he is. That's who he is. And to be saved is to be delivered
from the wrath to come. And nothing ought to raise the
hairs on the back of our neck more than the reality of the
wrath of God. An almighty God by whose hand
all things were made, maintained, and governed. An unchangeable
God. He's not going to change. Who's
angry with the wicked. A God in whose hand is the heart
of kings like the rivers of water. He can turn it whether so ever
he will. A God who arranges his providence to carry out his will. And to the nations and to all
men, he says, he that believeth not the Son shall not see life. When? Ever. Ever. But the wrath of God abideth
on him. Oh, my soul. Before conversion the scripture
says we were by nature children of wrath. The evidence of wrath
being all in our lives, in our minds, in our hearts, the wrath
of God. Children of wrath left to obey
the prince of the power of the air, left to walk in ignorance
with the rest of this deceived world. And it's daily wrath. It's 24-7, it's continuous wrath
and it will ultimately end in eternal wrath. They'll cry, it
says in the book of Revelations, hide us from the wrath of the
Lamb. God shows His wrath and He makes
His power known as He endures with much long-suffering the
vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. Oh, he says, and the time of
the dead has come that they should be judged, and shouldest destroy
them which destroy the earth, corrupt men's souls, and give
comfort to the guilty, and sow discord among the brethren. The
work, the wrath of God has come. No escape, no alteration, no
relief, no appeal. John the Baptist said to those
Pharisees and Sadducees, they got jealous of the crowds, and
they thought, well, so we don't get shut out by the crowd, we'll
go get baptized. We'll let John. He's just going
to stick us in the water, and we'll come up, and we'll go business
as usual. Oh, he seen them coming. And
he knew why they were coming. And he said, you vipers. Oh. John did. He said, you vipers, who hath warned you to flee the
wrath to come? To be saved is to be delivered from
the wrath to come. And that deliverance is by the
person and work of Jesus Christ. Were it not for the intervention
of God, that wrath abided on us would continue to abide right
on into eternity. Secondly, to be saved is to be
delivered from the curse of the law. Why is the holy law of God
called a curse? Because men are responsible to
keep it, but no man has the will, the heart, and the ability to
do so. And it's a curse. It's a curse. It demands what they cannot and
will not do to keep it out of love for God and for your neighbor. The whole law hinges on that.
If you break that law in any point, it goes right back to
the start. Here's what happened. You didn't
love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and
you didn't care for your neighbor. That's why you did what you did.
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them. Now here's salvation, Galatians
3.13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us. He took our place under the judgment
of that law. being made a curse for us, for
it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And our
Lord was hanged on the tree of Calvary, that the blessing of
Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. To
be saved is to be delivered from the curse of the law. In Christ
and on the behalf of all his elect, Christ has satisfied,
fulfilled, and exalted the law of God and made it honorable.
It's no longer our enemy. It's our friend. Thirdly, what
does it mean to be saved? It means to be delivered from
this untoward generation. What's that mean? It means a
generation of rebels, liars, and deceive men and women, people
that are going in a different direction. We're all not going
in the same direction. Somebody said we're like spokes
in a wheel, we're all going the same. Oh no, we're not. This
one's going this way and this one's going this way. They're
not going the same direction. You know what repentance is?
When God turns you around. Huh? He does a 180. You're going
north, now you're going south. He turns you completely around.
To repent is to be turned inside. In the mind, in the heart, in
the soul, in the action. Turned. He turns us. Peter preached Christ to those
gathered at Pentecost And having said all that he said about Christ,
he says, save yourselves from this untoward generation. Not a generation of a certain
age, but a generation of deceived men whose carnal minds are enmity
against God. Come ye out from amongst them,
saith the Lord. Don't seek their company, don't
follow after their wisdom, or seek their applause or fellowship.
They're a threat to your souls. Let no man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit, all of which they receive by the
tradition of men. Somebody else said it, and they
bought it, and now they repeat it. And it's also after the basic
principles of the world. They're antichrist. They're walking
the course of this world, going in the opposite direction, untoward
Christ. Fourthly, to be saved means to
be saved from the works of the devil. What is that? What is the works of the devil?
An old comedian used to say, the devil made me do it. And
they'd all laugh. What are the works of the devil?
His activity is in religion. That's where he works. He don't
have to work in the bar. He don't have to work in the
brothels. Man's nature is what causes him to run after those.
Those are lusts of the flesh. When Satan works, when he talks
about Satan's work, he's talking about religion. That's where
he works. He's a deceiver of men's souls.
He told those Pharisees, he said, God's not your father. If God
was your father, you'd love me. I proceeded forth and came from
God. I'm the only vision you'll ever have of God. I'm the only
manifestation of God you'll ever know. God's not your father. Satan's your father. It means to be saved from the
works of the devil. And before he saves us, we walk
according to the Prince of Tyre. I fear, Paul said, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted
from the singleness in Christ, the simplicity. We preach to sinners, hoping
that God will turn them away from the power of Satan unto
the true and living God. And then, fifthly, what does
it mean to be saved? It means to be saved from ourselves. Does it not? They're going to
have to save us from ourselves. You know why? Because destruction
and misery are in our ways. None righteous, none good, none
that understand it, none that seek it after God. But we all
think we do. We all think we do. Salvation
is to be saved from oneself. Somebody gives this excuse for
their sin. Oh, I just do that because that's
just how I am. Oh, you don't want to go there.
By grace, may God save you from yourself. You don't want to do
things because that's just how I am. That's like a murderer
saying, well, I wouldn't have killed him, but I am a murderer.
That's not an excuse. That's evidence of what you did
and who you are. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Solomon wrote
this. Trust in the Lord. Trust in the
Lord with all thine heart. Now listen. And lean not on thine
own understanding. Somebody says something and the
boy cuts to the quick. Don't he? And what's he do? Well, here's what I think. Don't
lean on your own understanding. Go to God's means and God's word
and pray that the Holy Spirit reveal it to you. Go there. Don't lean on your own understanding. Don't try to interpret God's
word with your own understanding. Don't do it. And then, sixthly, what does
it mean to be saved? It means to be delivered from
anti-Christ religion. Satan's ministers are called
his ministers. They were transformed into ministers
of righteousness, self-righteousness. They would not receive the love
of the truth, that they might be saved, and for this cause
God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie
and be damned. All might be damned who believe not the truth, but
have pleasure in unrighteousness. Oh, but Paul said, we are bound
always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord. For God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief in the truth, whereunto he calls you by our gospel. Sixthly, to be saved is to be
delivered from the charm, the beauty, and the attraction of
this present evil world. Love not the world. That's what
John said. Use it. Use it, but don't abuse it. And don't love it. Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man
loved the world, the love of the Father's not in him. Here's
a man, his name's Demas. And he and Paul got together,
and Paul loved him, and he seemed to love Paul, and he'd become
Paul's right-hand man. Now Paul wasn't duped easily.
This was an experienced apostle. But he didn't know this about
Demas. And Demas was his right hand man. He called him my fellow
laborer in Christ. And he sent Demas to preach. And he preached on his behalf.
And went out and preached to folks. He was in the ministry. And then Paul writes, Demas hath
forsaken me. What happened? Did he change
his doctrine? Oh no, he didn't change his doctrine.
I bet you Demas after he left would still argue with you over
the gospel of Christ over those things. Why did he leave? Because he loved this present
world. That's why. He found more attraction
in the world than in the ministry of Christ. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. And if any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him. And then lastly, to be
saved is to be delivered from unreasonable men. Pray for us, Paul said. Pray
for us. I think I can say that from my
heart. I desire your prayer. Pray for me. That our gospel
has free course. That it doesn't meet worldly
resistance. That God will open those doors
the same as he did for Cyrus, the same as he did for Christ.
Open those doors like he did Jonah. Come up to Nineveh. And
here's this great wall, an impenetrable city, and the door's wide open.
He walks in and goes all the way to the heart of it. That's
what Paul's talking about. Pray for us that our gospel have
free course and that we might be delivered from unreasonable
and wicked men. Who's unreasonable? Everybody
that God hasn't saved and some that He has. Deliver us. Deliver us from them. Assemble yourselves, this is
what he says, and come. Don't stay home, come. Assemble
yourself. Draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nation. The nations have no knowledge
that set up the would of their graven image, and pray unto a
God that cannot save. Tell ye, and bring them near,
yea, let them receive counsel. Take counsel together. Let them
be counseled, who hath declared this from ancient time, who hath
told it from that time, and not I the Lord. And there is no God
else beside me. A just God and a Savior, there
is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none Is that what he says? May God
the Holy Spirit make it so today in the hearts of his people for
Christ's sake.