Darvin, come. If you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me this morning to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Generally speaking, the theme
of the book of Romans is justification by faith. We're not justified
by faith, but freely by His grace through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ was delivered, the
scripture says, for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Our faith does not justify us
as the means of justification. Christ is the means of justification. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree. The Father saw Him. He saw the
travail of His soul and was satisfied. That's our justification. By faith, God lets us in on it. That's what justification by
faith is. God lets you in on your justification
in Christ because He didn't justify everybody. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God who justified. Justified who? His elect. And
all through the book of Romans, he just keeps going over and
over and over this doctrine, justification by faith. In Ephesians 2, Paul says it
this way. He talks about our union with
Christ, being buried with Him, raised with Him, ascended with
Him, and seated with Him in glory. By grace, he said, ye are saved. Saved us in that eternal union
with Christ, our substitute. And then Paul says after that,
he said he did this, that in the ages to come he might show
the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus, for by grace are you saved through faith. And
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. We're his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus. justification by faith. And by
this way, God declares Himself just and the justifier of all
them that believe. He declares Himself righteous
in the remission of our sins. And then the book of Romans also
sets before us the absolute sovereignty of God. The absolute sovereignty
of God. In Romans chapter 9, he sets
before us two unborn babies still in their mother's womb. Two men
having neither done any good or evil. These men he's going
to use to typify his elect and to typify the rest of the world
in these two children. These were representative men
typifying God's elect in the rest of the world and he said
unto their mother before they were ever born, the elder shall
serve the younger. And he said it that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, that's why he said
it, not of works but of him that calleth. And then he goes back
to the book of Malachi and he quotes the basis for that statement. He said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. In Ephesians 1, Paul said the
Father blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ according
as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy without blame before Him in love. Now I'm going to tell you how
I read that verse to our folks. Before him being loved. Will we love him? Absolutely.
Absolutely. When he calls a man out of darkness
into his marvelous light and saves him by the grace of God,
that experience alone leaves that sinner, that bankrupt, hopeless,
helpless sinner standing before God and he loves him. He loves
Him. But that's not what that verse
is talking about. This is something we've been
blessed with from all eternity. He's talking about His love for
us. And He chose us in Christ. He made provision for us in Christ
that we'll always sit before Him being loved. There was never
a time when God didn't love His elect. Never! Not ever! That love, the old writers used
to say, is the wellspring of everything God does. That love. He loves His people. Sovereign love. That's what it
is. Sovereign love. Sovereign grace.
Sovereign mercy. And no man can really truly enter
in and worship God in His sovereignty until He understands that that
sovereignty is engaged to save your soul. God engages His whole character,
all that makes Him holy, He engages everything in His character to
the salvation of our soul. Think about it. Is God merciful? Sure He is. Is He sovereign?
Yes, He is. Then it's sovereign mercy. I
don't know, people get all upset when I start talking about eternal
justification. Boy, they just, man, here they
come, like a bunch of hornets. Well, is your God eternal? Or
does He just, oh, this happened, so now I've got to do this. No,
God's eternal. He's eternal. And if He justifies
us in time, it's because He justified us in eternity. That's just so. Just so. Romans 8.29, He said, Whom He
did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that we might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, Whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. And Whom He called, them He also
justified. And Whom He justified, them He
also glorified. What are we going to say to that?
If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? Who's going to lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God to justify it. Who is he that condemneth? Christ
died. Who's going to condemn you? And this epistle states God's
absolute sovereignty over salvation as plain as any book in the Bible. And then the third thing that
this book declares is a gospel declaration so wide, so free,
so unlimited as to say to anyone, anywhere, whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, you've got to get this
little group and then you have to sort them out. No, I can say
this to anybody. Anywhere. I don't have to know
you. I do say to folks over in Australia, wherever Croatia is, somebody
there downloaded a message. France, islands that I've never
heard of. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. I don't even have to know you
to tell you that. What a glorious, wide declaration. I'm not going to call it an invitation.
I'm going to call it a declaration because that's what it is. And
that's my subject this morning, the whosoever gospel. And you'll be amazed. If you
have a concordance, look up that word whosoever. It goes on in
a page after page after page after page. The Holy Spirit uses
that word as much as He uses any other word in our language,
whosoever, whosoever, whosoever. I know that God has a people,
and that there are cross-sections, so to speak, I suppose you could
say, of society. A people out of every kindred,
nation, tribe, and tongue under heaven. I know that God has made
an eternal provision for them so much, so much so, as He made
this provision for us as to create an entire race of
spiritual beings just for our good. You think about that. Now, I'm not to be prejudiced
at all when I preach this gospel, but God is extremely prejudiced.
So much so that He created a whole angels, angels. And I know that God has made
an eternal provision for us and so much so that He tells us He
has predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. That's
pretty prejudiced, isn't it? And these, though they look,
act, and are subject to everything that others are subject to, yet
they are... He sees us with a loving care. A loving care calls us vessels
aforeprepared unto glory. and created a whole race of spiritual
beings. They're ministering spirits,
he tells us in Hebrews 1 and verse 14. Sent forth to minister
to those who shall be heirs of salvation. Those Pharisees were
looking down and talking down to these objects of salvation
and our Lord said, be careful what you say. angels, T-H-E-I-R. Their angels do always stand
before your Father. Be careful what you say. God's
love and care for His people extends over all things. We know
all things work together for good. Huh? Isn't that what it says? All
things work together for good to them that love God to them
who are the called according to His purpose. But we don't have that prejudice
when we preach the gospel. We don't know who these people
are. I have no clue who they are.
People come in and you can't help it. We're flesh. Man, this
guy, he's smart. You know, just like the disciples,
when the young ruler called, they said, boy, here's the prime.
This guy is ready. This guy, if anybody can be saved,
he can. And man, he's walking away with
his tail tucked between his legs. And they looked at each other,
and they said, who then can be saved? Our Lord said, with men,
it's impossible. Boy, that levels to the playing
field, don't it? With men, it is impossible. But with God,
all things are possible. I don't know who they are. And
we're warned over and over about trying to weed God's garden.
Don't do it. Just don't do it. What God's
preachers are called to do is to preach a whosoever gospel. And what I mean by that is to
preach the gospel, the only gospel, the one gospel to anyone and
everyone that will give me a hearing. And to do it the same. Do it
the same. Oh, I'm going down to the jail.
I'm going to have to change my message. Oh no, I'm changing
my message. The same message that calls sinners
out of darkness is the same message that matures believers. Did you know that? Same message.
I don't have to change my message. Oh, that's a message for believers.
All messages are for believers. We have a prejudice, don't we?
But we're not, we shouldn't. We shouldn't. And I want to preach this gospel
without prejudice of age, or color, or station, or sex, or
religion, or anything else. I want to preach this gospel
with as much enthusiasm to total strangers as I do to my own congregation. Henry Mahan gave me 10 things
to think about. I've still got them written in
the cover of my Bible. 10 things to think about before
I get in this pulpit. Number 10. Expect men to believe. Is preaching the means he's chosen?
Yes, it is. Is he going to call the men out
of every people, tribe, kindred, and tongue under heaven? Yes,
he is. Then why shouldn't I expect them to believe? God's arranged
his providence to that end. He's called me and gave me evidence
of my calling. The message I preach is evidence
of my calling. I preach Christ. Why shouldn't
I expect men to believe? Why do I expect them to not believe?
Oh, my soul. We just like to sort folks out,
rate them as to the possibility of believing. So there's a sense in which this
gospel we preach is, it's always a whosoever gospel. And I can
look any man or any woman in the face from any place in the
world, black, white, yellow, or red, rich or poor, male or
female, and I can say to them what Paul says in Romans 10,
13, whosoever. I'll be honest with you. I'd
rather he said whosoever than to printed my name, because I
found a fellow. I've got an unusual name, but
I found another fellow on Facebook with the same name. First and
last. I'd rather the whosoever. Now
I know that's talking about me. Whosoever. Whosoever. Shall call upon the name of the
Lord, shall be saved. In Revelation 22, 17, it said
whosoever will. Don't be scared of that word
will. It's OK. We have a will. It's in bondage. But God can overcome bondage.
He's overcome everything else. Why can't he overcome bondage?
Whosoever will, let him take. That word let means to get out
of the way. That's what that means. Let him take. If he's
hungry, if he's thirsty, let him take the water of life freely.
Quit throwing obstacles at him. Quit throwing the roadblocks
down. If he's willing, then God made
him willing. If he wants that water, because
there's just one water, Christ said, if you'd ask of me, I gave
you water, you'd never thirst it again. Where can you draw
it? I'm the water. If he's thirsty
for that water, get out of the way. Just get out of the way. Quit throwing obstacles at him.
Just point him to the water. Whosoever will, let him take
of the water of life freely. False religion is so misapplied,
these verses in the Bible, that true preachers avoid them. And
we shouldn't do that. We shouldn't do that. Peter preached
this very thing on the day of Pentecost. He's standing up. God's poured out His Spirit on
the church. He is speaking in unknown tongues. Everybody there in all these
languages are hearing Him in their own language. If ever there
was a time to preach everything in great detail, this was it.
And Peter said in Acts 2.21, and it shall come to pass, that
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. There is that whosoever comes
on the day of Pentecost. In Acts 10.43, Peter said again,
to him, talking about Christ, to him give all the prophets
witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins. And having preached Christ to
the people, Paul said in Acts 13.26, men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham,
and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this
salvation sent." I find this gospel preached by the apostles
to be a whosoever gospel. And this is a grand and glorious
declaration, and I know nothing about, when the Lord saved me, I knew
nothing about God's sovereignty. I knew nothing about God's eternal
election of his saints or predestination. It wasn't even in my vocabulary.
Justification, sanctification, imputed righteousness, and especially
sovereign grace. I knew nothing about these things.
This was like a foreign language. I grew up believing children
were innocent, and then when they reached the age of accountability,
whatever that is, they chose the way that they would go. I
was taught that men had a free will, that God loved everybody,
died to make salvation possible for everybody, and I embraced
those universal promises and had no understanding of what
they meant. Brethren, the gospel goes out
in a sincere declaration to all nations and all people. The great
commission by our Lord to us in the New Testament in the gospel
age. Go ye into all the world and
preach my gospel. You go into all the world and
you teach all nations. You teach them these things.
You can't teach somebody that's unteachable. God will make him
teachable. That's my hope. That's my hope. He'll make him teachable. Made
me teachable. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Alright, but then I find a universal
problem. This is a great and grand declaration. I mean, it's as wide as it could
possibly be. I'd go anywhere, anytime, to
any people and preach this gospel, just as I'm preaching to you.
But in Romans 10, he says this, how then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? Here's the problem. They don't
know God. They don't know His name. You can't call on an unrevealed
God. People think they know God. But
if you read the scriptures and take God's account of Himself
and compare it to the God that they're describing, they're describing
another God. They have another God. They're God's changeable. He said, I'm the Lord. I change
not. That's pretty clear, isn't it?
And yet people talk about Him changing. He's not going to change. Circumstances change. People
change. Nations change. Rules change. God don't change. And He said,
that's why you're not consumed, because I don't change. Problem facing every son of Adam
is his sinful nature and the influence of Antichrist religion
over him since he was a baby. That's all he's ever known. Long
after conversion and still to this very day, I've got luggage
that I brought over from that, just like those old Jews did.
They had that old luggage that they brought with them. They
couldn't stand for a preacher to stand up and teach him unless
he had on a robe or a gown or a hat or something. And they
bring him in and he stands up and they just brought that old
luggage over. And I still have it. It sticks on us like flies on
flypaper. Can't get rid of it. Shake it
and it's still there. You just can't get rid of it. People said, well, you didn't
say that. certain way, like you ought to say it. Well, I don't
want to tell you. I've got a lot of luggage. I'm
trying to get rid of it. We've got this sinful nature. Paul said, I have before, he
said, are we better than the Gentiles? These Gentile heathens,
these snake worshipers and Worshipping idols and pictures and statues
and false gods and gods of their amount. We better than them.
We've got the law. We've got the prophets. We've
got the history. We any better than them? Listen,
he didn't say partly. He said no. What? No. In no wise. Why? I have before proved both Jews
and Gentiles are all under sin. That's why. Well, what's that
mean? It means there's none righteous.
No, not one. Now watch this. There's none
that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone astray. None good. No? Huh? That level's a playing field,
don't it? Unless God does something, nobody's
going to seek Him. How you going to call on Him
in whom you have not believed? They're ignorant of God. To the
Pharisees, zealous, religionists, trained in the Scriptures, they
could probably quote everything in the book of Isaiah. You said
something out of Joel, watch Joel 2, you know. Man, I mean,
they were on it. They knew everything. Studied
these things since they were children. And these zealous religionists,
here's what our Lord said to them, you neither know me nor
my father. Huh? They don't know God. Now, whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved, but how are you going
to call on Him in whom you have not believed? I'm not some spiritual gray-haired
grandpa who looks over his grandchildren's faults because they're his. He's
God, eternal, sovereign, holy. Just, righteous God, and He's
perfect in His attributes. And He condemns anyone and anything
that's contrary to Himself. I was preaching in Kingsport
the other day, and I was preaching on this, that Peter said, if
the righteous scarcely be saved, what on earth is that talking
about? To be saved is to be as good
as God. To be saved is to be as righteous
as God. Is that right? It must be perfect to be accepted. Well, when God saves a man, you
can't go above that, can you? There's nothing above that. So
if he saves you, You're scarcely saved. He brings you right up
where you need to be. And there's nothing above that.
There's nothing above that. God is God. And He's perfect
in His attributes. He condemns anyone and anything
that's contrary to Himself. Be ye holy, for I am holy. He
that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. God cannot and
will not save anyone at the expense of his character. He's not going
to do it. Salvation is that which enables God to be just and justifier and righteous in his remission
of our sins. And simply calling out the name
Jesus is not calling on his name. Accepting Jesus as your personal
Savior is not calling on God's name. Trying to negotiate deals
upon empty promises is not calling on God's name. And a strong determination
to turn your life around for Jesus is not calling on God's
name. God established His name, His
character, His wisdom and salvation to sinners in His Son. That's where His name is. None
other name given unto heaven whereby we must be saved. It's
His name, that name which He established. You'll be saved
that way or you won't be saved. Period. God is a just God and His justice
must be satisfied. He's righteous. And that righteousness
must be established. God is holy. All of His perfections and perfect
harmony Eternally. Never out of sync. Always the
same. Always the same. And He's love. His love never ceases, never
turns, never diminishes. It's eternal. It's all-efficient. And He's soft. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And I can say
that without reservation to any man. And then secondly, Paul
declares to us this universal problem. How then shall they
call on him in whom they have not believed? The whole world's
ignorant of God, ignorant of Jesus Christ, his son, ignorant
of the Holy Ghost. They imagine God as being some
entity with some ancient origin who dwells somewhere in the universe. But in Him we live and move and
have our being. The universe dwells in Him. It
dwells in Him. He talks about the universe like
a tent. Like a tent. He's the Creator. He's the Ruler.
He's the Sustainer of all things. And Jesus Christ created all
things, was before all things, and by Him all things consist.
They were all made for Him. Creation was made subject to
vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected the
same in hope. And this whole universe is created
and maintained in order for God to manifest His glory in the
salvation of sinners through the person and work of His Son. That's what's going on, that's
what was going on in the garden, that's what was going on in the
flood, that's what was going on in Babylon, what was going
on when Christ died on the cross, and it's what's going on today. This name Peter tells us is a
name given among men, a name declared to men and women, most
of whom are religious and lost. The religion I was raised in,
they said, just believe. Just believe. That was their
byline. Just believe. Just believe your sins are all
gone. Just believe you have a place in heaven. Just believe God loves
you, wants to save you. Just believe and everything will
be all right. But my friend, God's name is
a person. It's a person. It's in Him. In Him. You can't call on that name unless
you call on Him. That name is set forth in His
incarnation, His life, His death, His resurrection, His present
reign and glory. And God's name is declared in
Him. His name is Immanuel, God with us. And I could go through
14 other ones. Jehovah's Seed can know. Jehovah
Jireh, you could go on and on and on. God's name is in him. It's in his life and death. Those things constitute my righteousness. That's where my justification
is in all these things. And then that brings me to this
statement. Here's the third thing. How shall they believe on him
of whom they have not heard? Huh? One Reformed preacher who followed
me at a meeting up in northeast Arkansas said this. He said,
I was in my closet playing with my toys, and God spoke to me,
and he saved me. And then when I was 14, he called
me to preach. Spoke to me. Had no need of the
Bible. He's in direct line of communication
with God. The problem is it's contrary
to the Bible. Contrary. How are you going to believe
on Him of whom you have not heard? My friend, while that may be
appealing to some, this God speaking and all these things and dreams
and visions and out on the lake or whatever, while that might
be appealing to the flesh, it's contrary to the Word of God.
I'm not asking this question. The Holy Spirit of God is asking
this question. How shall you call on Him of
whom you have not believed and how shall you... How are you
going to do this without hearing? You have to hear. You have to
hear. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Hear what? Hear what He say.
Our Lord would preach and He'd say, He that hath ears to hear,
let him hear. Turned to his disciples. They
were rejoicing. He said, blessed are your ears.
They hear. Listen to these Jews. They got
angry. They said, if thou be the Christ,
tell us plainly. He said, I told you. I told you
plainly. You believe not because you're
not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep hear my voice. And I know them, and they follow
me. The voice of Christ is declared
in the preaching of the gospel. He sent out the 70 and said,
He that heareth you, heareth me. And now we see it. Christ is going to speak to you. If He does, He'll do it through
a preacher. He'll speak to you. And then
fourthly, Romans 10, 14, how shall they hear without a
preacher? The Holy Ghost asked that question. You don't have to say anything
to me. Say it to him. How shall you hear without a
preacher? Preaching is the ordained means of calling His sheep to
Christ. It's the ordained means of feeding
His sheep, maturing His sheep. It's the spiritual seed of which
we're born. This is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. Isn't that what it says in 1
Peter 1.25, I think? Born again, not of corruptible
seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God. And this is the
Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you. Preachers are not just
another option, one of many chosen by God. 1 Corinthians 1.21, listen
to this. After that, in the wisdom of
God, the world by wisdom knew not God, That's what I just told
you. They don't know God. What he
just said here in the Scriptures. They don't know God. You can't
call on an unrevealed God. The world by wisdom knew not
God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. That pleased God. Don't please
men. Men despise that. They hate that.
You mean I've got to listen to some preacher? If you want to
be saved, you do. That's what God said. You can fill in the blanks any
way you choose to, but God the Holy Spirit who asked the question
and then He answers it. How are you going to hear without
a preacher? And how on earth is He going
to preach if God don't send Him? He's sent by prearranged providence. He's sent by divine preparation. He's sent through a willing mind
and a willing heart. And James tells us that all of
these gifts that come down from, they all come down from the father
of lights with whom is no variable, neither shadow or turn. And what's his summation of all
that? You be prepared to hear. That's what he said. You be prepared
to hear. He said, wherefore let every
man be swift to hear and slow to speak. And then lastly, there's
only one reasonable conclusion to all of this, Romans 10, 17. So then, faith cometh by hearing,
hearing by the Word of God. So how is this and what in the
world does that have to do with a whosoever gospel? It's not
up to me. That's why it's a whosoever.
It's not up to me. I can preach to anybody. God knows His elect. I know them. His elect hear His
voice. I don't have to run around and
put a mark on them. All I've got to do is preach. Just preach. and get out of the
way. Dom said, it's dynamite. Light it, throw it, get out of
the way. That's the gospel. His sheep hear his voice. They
hear his voice. Paul said, I know your election
of God. He said, our gospel didn't come
unto you in word only. This is not something you go
out in the street and argue about after the service, debate back
and forth, you know. One fellow told Paul Mahan, or
maybe it was Clay Curtis, I think it was Clay Curtis, one man told
him when he got down, what John Gill said, he said, I just told
you what God said. I kind of think we ought to listen
to God over John Gill, don't you? Oh, my soul. All the whosoever shalls and
the whosoever wills are those God makes. He makes them willing
in the day of His power, and He makes them able by the means
He has ordained. He made us meet to be partakers
with enlightened saints. And then something. Listen to what John said. To
as many as received Him, nobody else, Him, To them gave he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,
who were born, not of the will of the flesh, nor the will of
man, but of God. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved." Let me give you this, and I'll
wind this thing up. Back in the 1800s, There was a tightrope walker
whose stage name was the Great Blondin, and he went to Niagara
Falls. And he stretched a line across
the Niagara Gorge. If you've ever been there, there's
a giant whirlpool. The Niagara River, after it goes
over the falls, flows down and then makes a right-hand turn.
And right there in that, and these are, they don't even know
how to classify the rapids, they're so huge. So, right at the end
of those rapids, this thing makes a sharp right-hand turn, and
out in the middle is a gigantic whirlpool. I don't know how many
people have been killed trying to swim across that thing. But
he stretches a line, and it's vast, you just can't imagine.
He stretches a line all the way across that, and he was the first
man to walk across the Niagara Gorge. And as he become more
and more famous, he put a line across Niagara Falls, and he'd
walk across that. And he walked across first with
a balancing pole, and then he walked across shackled in chains,
and he walked across blindfolded, He walked across one time on
stilts, walked across these falls. He rode across the line on a
bicycle. He put peach baskets on his feet
and walked across Niagara Falls, on and on. After a while, he
was so famous, everybody drove to Niagara Falls to see the great
Blondin walk across those falls. And in his heyday, the peak of
his heyday, Harry Concord was his promoter,
and he was there that day, and he was seated on the side where
he would be walking to. And the great Blondin walked
out on that rope, and he walked across Niagara Falls, and the
Maid of the Mist was up there right under the line. And when
he got out there, he had a little line, and he put that line down,
and they sent him up a bottle of champagne and a glass, and
he poured it and drank his champagne and lowered it back down and
walked across the falls. And he got on the other side
and he said, well, hey, do you now believe that I can do everything
that I told you I could do on a tightrope? He said, brother,
I believe every word of it. The great Blondin told him, he
said, get on. Get on. I don't know if I could have
done that. But that promoter did. He got on his back and he
walked back across the falls with his promoter on his back
and set him down safe on the other side. Do you believe what
I preached this morning? Get on. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Believe on Him. Thank you.