Shelby and I got home from the
office fairly early, I think it was Thursday night, and finished
supper, and by the time I finished supper, I had a phone call from
a preacher. And I'm always anxious to hear
from preachers. The man had been listening to
me on the Free Grace Radio for some time, and very complimentary
of what he'd heard, and wanted to encourage me. And we chatted
for a little while. Actually, we didn't chat much.
I listened for a while. I said just a couple of things
and finally just asked him, I said, what are you trying to tell me
how God saved you? And he spent the next 45 minutes telling me
how God saved him. Spent the next 45 minutes telling
me how God saved him. He never said a thing about God,
or about Christ, or about redemption, or about the satisfaction of
justice, or the power of the Spirit. Just his experience. Just his experience. And the
man's been preaching for years. He's nearly my age. He got done,
he said, he said, you and I believe the same thing, don't we? I said, If I've heard you correctly,
no sir. You've been talking to me for
45 minutes about how you got saved. You haven't said a thing
about God, Christ, or redemption. And if you were talking to a
man who had never heard the name of Jesus Christ, who had never
heard of God, who had never heard about salvation, I wouldn't know
any more about God, God's grace, God's salvation, and how sinners
get it than I did when I first picked up the phone. What a shame. What a shame. I knew immediately
I must again try to address issues that are vital in this generation.
The fact is there is a hideously ugly monster Beast risen up in
the world Whose hide I've been trying to nail to the wall for
over 50 years as I preach the gospel of God's grace The Beast
has been around for a long long time You can read about him as
we did earlier in Revelation chapter 13 He rose in the sea,
that is, in the pagan idolatrous Gentile world. When you read
about the sea in the book of Revelation, that's talking about
the world surrounding God's church, the world surrounding God's Jerusalem,
the pagan Gentile world. This beast has many names, but
the many names he wears is always the same. His name is always
blasphemy. Blasphemy. Blasphemy. Blasphemy. That's his name. He's
known by his blasphemy everywhere. He's only known by his blasphemy
everywhere. What is that? This beast always
ascribes to man a work that is God's work alone. This beast
always ascribes to man work that only God can perform, only God
does perform, only God has performed. The beast is found in every part
of the world. He has seven heads. Speaking
of completion, he's found everywhere. He's very powerful. He has 10
horns and he's deceitful. He's like a leopard, but he has
positioned high places on those horns he has ten crowns. He's
destructive, walking through the forest of darkness with the
feet of a bear. He's furious, devouring with
the mouth of a lion. Multitudes perish by him. His number we need to know. His
number is 666, 666. Now, if you care to read the
idiocy, the folks write about prophecy, the number 666, 666.
Is almost a magical number that folks are scared to death of
it's kind of when you if you see some of the advertisements
of movies about Exorcism, I don't recommend that you watch them,
but you see the movies and they're the cross Just image of cross
oh just terrible you see an image of antichrist you think he's
going to have a devil suit on with a red suit and horns and
pitchfork in his hand and you're scared to death, you got the
number six, six, six, crosses four. No, no, no, no. The number
six, six, six, is the number of man. The beast is mighty,
he's powerful, he's strong, but his number is the number of man.
It's the number of mutability, the number of frustration, the
number of sure defeat, the number of failure. The beast must be
slain. He will be slain, not by might
nor by power, but by the Spirit of God and that through the preaching
of the gospel of God's free grace. Nothing in all the world is more
foolish, more debasing to humanity, nothing more dishonoring to God
than idolatry, nothing more assuredly damning to the souls of men than
idolatry. People worshiping gods that other
men have made. Dumb gods. Gods made by the hands
of ignorant men. Idolatry is a hideously evil,
evil thing. It is the most debasing thing
there is in this world. Men and women worshiping that
which they have made with their own hands. Here in Psalm 115
verse four, listen. Their idols are silver and gold.
The work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see
not. Oh, every now and then you have
somebody think that one of the idols has shed a tear. Somewhere
down in Cold Spring, Kentucky a few years ago, one of the idols,
oh, it's a miracle, she's crying. You were smoking something that
night. No, no, no, no, no. What nonsense. Men stand before
a piece of stone, waiting for it to cry or bleed. What stupidity! What stupidity! They have ears,
but they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell
not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but
they walk not. Neither speak they through their
throat. They that make them are likened to them. so is everyone
that trusteth in them. But the most abominable form
of idolatry in the world is that which Paul describes in Colossians
2 as will-worship, the worship of yourself. Those who attribute
salvation in whole or in part to themselves, to their work,
to their will, to their decision, to their worth. Those who attribute
salvation in whole or in part to themselves are idolaters. They're guilty of the most abominable,
evil form of idolatry in the world. They worship themselves. Freewillism is the worship of
self. Legalism is the worship of self. Freewill works religion, makes
man his own savior. Now, nobody says that. Nobody
says that. Nobody, you go to every church
in this county, every church in this state, every church in
this country this morning, you won't find anybody who'll tell
you a man saves himself. And yet they all tell you a man
saves himself. They tell you that salvation ultimately, ultimately
depends on something you do or you decide. It's up to you. God won't force anybody to be
saved. Your will, your work, that's the determining factor
in salvation. Now hear me and hear me well. If your salvation, in whole or
in part, is looked upon by you as something dependent upon you,
something done by you, something determined by you, you do not
know God. You are not born of God, you
are not taught of God, but rather a Christ the soul, lost, undone,
and dying without Christ Jesus the Lord. Oh God, don't let folks perish
under the sound of my voice, trusting in themselves. Unless God stops it, you will.
Unless God stops it, you will. Unless God causes you to hear
his voice, you'll never hear it. Unless God causes you to
see, you will never see. Unless God graciously forces
you to come to him trusting his son, you'll never come to him
trusting his son. You may talk about God, talk
about grace, and talk about redemption, but you trust your own decision. Your confidence is in your personal
goodness. Your peace is derived not from what Christ has done,
but from what you've done or what you've experienced. Redemption
is accomplished by something done for us by Jesus Christ the
Lord, not by something we do. Our hope is outside ourselves.
Our hope is not in our experience. Our hope is not in our works.
Our hope is not in our knowledge. Our hope is not in our decision.
Our hope is in God's Son. In your opinion, you who believe
not, the thing that separates you from the damned is not the
will of God, the work of Christ, or the work of God. It is the
will that you exercise. The work you perform, the decision
you make. I want to go directly to the
dark, dark chambers of man's depraved heart. And I pray that
God, the Holy Spirit, will speak by me as I seek once more to
destroy the God of this world. Free will works religion. My
subject is free will or free grace. Free will. the religion of the beast, or
free grace, the religion of the Christ. Only one can be true. The other is false. Now let me
give you three characteristics of all false religion. It doesn't
matter what name's used. It doesn't matter whether you
call it Baptist or Papist or Pentecostal or Presbyterian or
Buddhist or Islam or Hindu or Shindu or stump worship. I don't care what you call it.
It doesn't matter what you call it. These three things are true of all
false religion. First, false religion always
has an exalted view of man. False religion always lifts man
up. False religion always gives man
prominence. False religion always puts man
up on a pedestal. The word of God declares that
man is dead in trespasses and in sin. That all men are guilty. depraved, condemned, and helpless
by nature, that there's none that doeth good, that no man
left to himself can or will come to Christ, trusting Christ alone
as Savior and Lord. That's the language of scripture,
is it not? Is that what the book says? Of course it is. Yet all
forms of religion in this world, all forms of freewill works religion
says that yes, man is somewhat depraved, But he's not really
dead. He's lost, but he's not hopeless. He sins, but he's not utterly
sinful. He doesn't commit sins because
he's a sinner. No, no, no, we wouldn't say that. He's condemned,
but he still has his free will. God gave us this thing called
free will. Man cannot save himself without
God's help. We recognize that. But God won't
save a sinner without the sinner helping himself. It just stands
for reason. You've got to do something. It
just stands for reason. You've got to make your decision.
It just stands for reason. Salvation must, you must have
something that you contribute to this thing called salvation.
Second, all false religion gives a demeaning view of God. God
put it this way, thou thoughtest that I was altogether such in
one as thyself. Men had the foolish notion that
God is like them, only weaker. God is like you, only weaker. Armenians, free willers, idolaters,
think that God is weak, subject to change, frustrated. They think that God tries to
do things, wants to do things, but he can't do them because
men won't allow it. They do not deny that God is
sovereign, but they speak of limited sovereignty. Figure that
out. They make the Creator the same
in some things, almost in all things, to be subject to the
creature. They do not in word deny the
death of Christ or redemption by His blood, but they limit
the merits of His death and the efficacy of His blood, making
the whole thing depend on you. So that, yes, Christ died, Christ
redeemed, but He just, it's a package. In order for it to become effectual,
you've got to do something. In order for it to apply to you,
you've got to do something. They don't deny the necessity
of the Spirit's call, but they make the call of the Spirit to
be nothing more than a sweet influence. Him wooing you, begging
you, please come to Jesus. Please let Jesus save you. And
third, false religion always gives the sinner something to
do to make himself righteous. You mark it down. Wherever you
find false religion, it has a exalted view of man, a weakened view
of God, and it gives man something to do to make himself righteous.
Something. Augustus Toplady put it this
way. Every religion except one puts you upon doing something
in order to recommend yourself to God. It is the business of
false religion to patch up a righteousness in which the sinner is to stand
before God. That's the business of false
religion. Go to church and do, do, do,
do, do, do. Everything there is about you
doing something. Now this is what I'm saying.
False religion always makes room for the flesh to glory. Who is
entitled to the praise, the honor, and the glory of your salvation?
Who is? Now, being rightly trained somewhat
in religion, you will automatically say, well, God is, of course.
But listen to what folks say when they start talking about
salvation. I went down to church last time and I got saved. I
began to pray and I got saved. I remember when I finally decided
to seek the Lord. I remember when I made my decision
for Jesus. And they give man, themselves,
the praise and the honor and the glory for salvation. Now
I want you to understand something. Bill Raleigh, if you don't ever
hear anything else I say, understand this. If God saves you, it will be
in spite of you, not because of you. You understand that? If God has saved you, It's in
spite of you, not because of you. If God preserves you another
hour, it'll be in spite of you, not because of you. And the same
is true of you, and the same is true of me. Salvation is of
the Lord. Salvation is God's work and God's
work alone. Here in Psalm 115 and verse 1,
the psalmist David says, not unto us, O Lord, Not unto us,
but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Is salvation by the free will
of man or by the free grace of God? What does the book say? It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. It
is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. But preacher, what about man's
will? It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. But I've always been taught that
man's got to make your decision. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. What
do I mean when I use that vile, ugly, reprehensible term, free
will? I mean anything decided, determined,
or done by the sinner to attain God's salvation. Free will is
the religion of Lucifer. Lucifer said, I will ascend to
the most high. I will make myself as the most
high God. I will ascend into heaven. I
will take over being God. Free will religion is Lucifer's
religion, not Christ's religion. What I mean when I use that glorious
God honoring all important term, free grace. I mean everything
decided, determined and done by God Almighty to bestow salvation
upon his elect. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is the Lord's. It belongs
to him, he gives it to him, he will. Free grace is the sovereign,
voluntary, eternal, immutable, unconditional, uncaused, uncontrolled,
gratuitous bounty of God by which salvation in all wretches is
accomplished. This is that grace that reigns
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now let's look at the scriptures
and see what the scriptures say. Every aspect of salvation, past,
present, and future, is God's work. Some years ago, I don't
know if they still have it or not, Campbellite Church here
in town had a Bible college. And I think their primary theology
course was Cus Fortin of 101. I get a call from them every
time they open up a new session. But the pastor had an article
in the paper and he made this statement. He said, the Bible,
Says that salvation is by grace. But it never says salvation is
by grace alone. And you know, he's right. The
Bible never says that. It teaches it everywhere. Salvation by grace. That means
it's by grace alone. If it's by grace, works have
nothing to do with it. Let's look at what God has done
for us. What God is doing for us and in us. and what God shall
do for us and in us. As we open the word of God, if
you find any place, any place in this book, any place, where
the scriptures teach that salvation depends on you, any place. I don't care what you're talking
about, election, or justification, or predestination, or sanctification,
or redemption, or faith, or perseverance, find any place where something
depends on you, as it's taught in this book, don't ever come
hear this preacher again, because I'm a false witness. I'm a false
prophet, if you find that in this book. But if what I have
to say to you this morning is directly from the book, don't
ever hear another preacher of freewill works religion. You
do so only to your own damnation and to the damnation of those
you influence. All right, first, let's look back at what God's
done for us. Salvation begins in eternity. It doesn't begin
in time. Salvation begins in eternity.
It doesn't begin with you. Salvation begins with God. It
doesn't start with me. Long, long before God began His
work of grace in us, He did His work of grace for us. And His
work of grace for us was finished from the foundation of the world.
If your thoughts about salvation are limited to what you experience
in time, you have a very limited, perverse notion of God's work. Salvation includes the past,
the present, and the future. I have been saved, I am being
saved, and I shall be saved. With regard to the past, In surveying
this momentous, glorious thing called salvation, nothing stands
out in the book of God like God's eternal election. God's eternal election. What
a wondrous, wondrous thing. God Almighty chose us as the
objects of His grace. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Election is based not
upon something God foresaw in me, but rather election is based
upon God's everlasting love. Election is not based upon something
God saw I would do. Election determined what I would
do. Election did not see that I would believe on Jesus, but
election determined that I would believe on Jesus. Do you understand
the difference? God chose us, and this election
is not unto us, O Lord. Not unto us, but unto thy name.
Give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Tis not
that I did choose thee, for Lord, that could not be. This heart
would still refuse thee, hadst thou not chosen me. My heart
owns none before thee. For thy rich grace I thirst.
This knowing, if I love thee, thou must have loved me first. Even so then at this present
time, Paul says, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then it's no more of works. Otherwise
grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. Paul, what are
you saying? Salvation is by grace. That means
works can't come in. If you put works in, you push
grace out. If you bring grace in, you push works out. You can't
have both. They can't both occupy the same
space. There is a remnant. God's elect in this world are
remnant. At any given time, always a chosen
few. Many are called, but few are
chosen. This remnant is according to
the election of grace, exactly those whom God chose from eternity. And if by grace, it's no more
works. Grace ceases to be grace unless
it is totally and absolutely irrespective of anything and
everything, good or bad in me. Trying to read last week a subject
matter from on the on election from old preacher many many years
ago I wanted to see what he had to say and he was trying his
best to find a way to talk about election and and Make it conditional
on something in you but the scripture says that The children having
done neither good nor evil That the purpose of God according
to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth
He said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. You mean
before they did anything good or bad? They hadn't decided to
do something pleasant and admirable and commending? And Esau hadn't
decided to do something horrible, betraying and deceiving? No,
they hadn't done anything, hadn't been born yet. God loved Jacob
and hated Esau as a matter of pure sovereignty. And we bow
to him in his electing mercy. We affirm that God's election
of some to salvation and eternal life is a work of absolutely
free, unconditional grace. Grace and unconditionality are
two things that must always run together. You put conditions
on grace and you destroy grace. Grace is free, absolutely free. God's next work revealed in scripture
was an everlasting covenant. Covenant order in all things
and sure you can read about it many places in Scripture Jeremiah
32 Hebrews 8 Hebrews 12, but you turn if you will to first
Timothy chapter 1. I'm sorry 2nd Timothy 1 2nd Timothy 1 I don't pretend to understand
everything taught in this book about God's covenant. I know
God doesn't have to do things in a sequential, logical manner. God doesn't operate one step,
then another step, then another step. God doesn't reason things
out. God is. And that which God does,
he did from eternity and was done from eternity. But in order
to accommodate our puny brains, He speaks of this thing of a
covenant, a covenant made on our behalf between the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in which our salvation was fully
determined and accomplished in Christ the Lord. And he speaks
of it here in 2 Timothy 1 this way, verse 9. God has saved us
and called us within holy calling, not according to our works, according
to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ." Now look back at verse
9. What'd he say? It was given us
in Christ before the world began. This salvation, according to
God's purpose and grace, given us in Christ before the world
began. but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death
and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Now, if I read that correctly, this is what Paul said. Well,
he's saying, God saved you before ever he hung the world in space.
It was done before the world began. And there was a time when
God called you to hear the word. and by the gospel brought to
light in you what he did for you before the world was." Is
that what that says? That's what that says. Well,
preacher, that's primitive Baptist doctrine. I don't care if it's
Buddhist doctrine, it's Bible doctrine. That's what the book
says. This was done from eternity!
And He causes us to come to knowledge of these things when He sheds
the light of the gospel in our hearts, giving the light of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Read on. Whereunto I
am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of
the Gentiles. This is God's salvation. It's
by covenant. By covenant. There's a story I read many years
ago of a young girl among the Scottish Covenanters during the
days of terrible persecution. They'd have to go and meet in
secret for the worship services. She's on her way to meet with
the church family. And as she's going, she saw the
Queen's troops coming. And she prayed for God to give
her some grace to deal with these troops. She knew what was going
to happen. and not deny the faith. And so the troops came and accosted
her rather roughly and asked her where she's going on Sunday
morning. And she said, she said, sirs, my elder brother has died. And
I'm going to a meeting of the family for the reading of his
will. and they passed by her and sent
her on her way. That's what we've done here today.
We've come here, our elder brother has died, and we're meeting as
a family for the reading of his will. The will is called the
covenant. He is the testator of the covenant,
the testator of the will. The covenant was established
in eternity, put into force at Calvary when Christ died, and
it's read in the preaching of the gospel. I preach the word,
preach the word, preach the word, preach the word, preach the word,
and then one day you hear. And God gives you the blessings
of the covenant and declares you to be an heir of the covenant,
giving you faith in Christ. And all the blessings are received
by faith. Faith itself being a covenant
gift of grace, a work of God. What do we say with regard to
God's covenant and all the blessings of it? Was God's covenant established
upon the will of man or upon the will of God? Obviously, upon
the will of God. Not unto us. Not unto us, O Lord,
but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. But what about atonement? Blood
atonement. Nothing in the book of God is
as significant as blood atonement. Nothing revealed in Holy Scripture
is as significant as the teaching of Scripture with regard to the
sin atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. His substitutionary
atonement. Jesus Christ either redeemed
his people from their sins or he is a miserable failure. One
of the two, one of the two. This fellow I was talking with
earlier in the week, he said, he said, I believed those things
all my life. I said, no, you didn't. He said,
oh yes, I was raised a Campbellite. I said, there's not a Campbellite
in the world who believes these things. He said, well, they'll tell you
they do. I said, no, they won't. You're not hearing me. You're not hearing
me. To believe on the son of God,
is to believe that Jesus of Nazareth, that man the Nazirite, that he
has accomplished everything the Old Testament Scriptures said
the Christ of God would accomplish. That means he didn't try to put
away sin, he didn't try to bring in righteousness, he didn't try
to magnify the law and make it honorable, he put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself. He magnified the law and made
it honorable. He brought in everlasting righteousness
by his obedience unto death. This is our redemption. By this
redemption our Lord Jesus secured with his blood the everlasting
salvation of every sinner for whom he died so that there's
no possibility of any for whom the Christ of God died perishing. He hath made Him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Jesus Christ, by His
blood shed at Calvary, fully satisfied the wrath and justice
of God. He put away the sins of His people,
He honored God and honored his law in his doing and dying as
our substitute. The whole doctrine of the gospel
stands on just this one thing. How that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. He died by his own sovereign
will. He died as a substitute in the
place of his people. He died to make satisfaction
to divine justice, and he died having successfully accomplished
all he came to the cursed tree to accomplish. He redeemed us
with his blood. Christ Jesus is our Redeemer. We trust him who is alone our
Redeemer. To be redeemed is to be forgiven.
To be redeemed is to be justified. To be redeemed is to be accepted.
It is done. The great transaction is done.
I am my Lord's and he is mine because he redeemed me. This
is the testimony of the saints of God in heaven. Thou art worthy,
O Lord. O Lamb of God, for thou hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue
and people and nation. Redeemed sinners on the earth,
say the same thing, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto thy name. Give glory for thy mercy and
for thy truth's sake. To God be the glory, great things
He hath done. But what about present things? Look at one passage with me.
Titus chapter 3. What about the work of salvation
God's doing in us? Titus chapter 3 verse 4. After that, the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of
the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace, we should
be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is
the experimental part of salvation. It is as essential as election
and redemption. As the work of God for us is
altogether of grace, so the work of God in us is by grace alone. It is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. Regeneration, the new birth,
is God's work. It is God giving life to dead
sinners. It's God's work. Who can give life to a man except
God only? Regeneration is called a resurrection,
the first resurrection. The conviction of sin, of righteousness
and judgment is God's work. The Holy Spirit comes by the
power of His grace and convinces you of sin, your sin because
you believe not on me, of righteousness, righteousness brought in by my
obedience and judgment, judgment finished by my sacrifice. Faith
in Christ, this wondrous thing called faith. This is the gift
of God. This is the gift of grace. Mark Hinton, if you believe God,
it's because God, the Holy Ghost, works faith in you. You've been
here in this assembly for a long time. and confess faith in Christ. And God gave you faith in His
Son. And the fact is, if right this minute, if right now, you
can believe God, it's because God works faith in you. Do you understand that? This is called the operation
of God. It's the work of the Spirit in
you. It is not the power of the flesh, not the power of man,
not the power of your will, it's God's gift. And he leaves us to ourselves often
enough we'll never forget it. He leaves us without the ability
to believe often enough we should never forget it. When Hezekiah was old and the
Babylonians came to see him because they heard about the wonders
God had done. God had recovered this man from a deadly disease. He'd been told he was going to
die and God recovered him. God had taken this man, made him
one of his, from the seed of his father Ahaz, probably the
most wicked king Judah ever had. God had done wondrous things
for Hezekiah, wondrous things. He had accumulated great wealth.
This little, just this little corner of the earth, Judah was
nothing. It's less then than it is now,
just nothing. Just nothing. But God had made him a mighty,
influential king in the world. Riches, riches, riches. And the
king of Babylon sent princes and said, show us the wonder
of the land. And Hezekiah showed him all the
wealth that was in his house. All the wealth that God had accumulated
for him. All the work God had done. But
as if he had done it. As if he had done it. And he
said nothing about God's goodness, God's mercy. Because when he
was old, God left him. That's the language of scripture.
That he might try him. Because Hezekiah, like you and
me, Had to learn something. He had
to know all that was in his heart. And hear me, my friends. This
man talking to you loves you. I love you so I want you to know
something. I want you to know what you gotta know. All that's
in your heart. And this is all there is in you,
unbelief and sin, death and corruption. Anything else is the gift of
God and the work of God. What about sanctification? People these days talk about
sanctification as if somehow this is something that depends
on you. Again, search the book. The word sanctify means holy. Sanctification means holiness.
Sanctify, sanctified, sanctification, as it's used in this book, as
it's used in this book, is never once attributed to something
a man does. Rather, it's something God does.
Sanctification is God making you and me partakers of the divine
nature. It's done by the purpose of God
in eternal election, it's done by the blood of Christ at Calvary,
and done by the Spirit of God in the new birth. So that He
makes us holy, makes us holiness. Are you listening? Look here,
look here. Here stands holiness. Holiness. Holiness such as God
requires. Holiness. What are you talking
about, preacher? God has made me holy in justification
by the righteousness of Christ being imputed to me. He has made
me holy in regeneration, in sanctification, by the holy nature of Christ
being imparted to me in the new birth, so that I made a new creature
in Christ. And this new man created in us
is created in righteousness and in true holiness, in sanctification. But that's not all. That's not
all. There is work yet to be done. Let me talk to you for a minute
about that which is yet to be done. This too is God's work. Soon, the Lord God will bring
us safely across the swell in Jordan into heavenly Canaan. And I read this again with great
delight this week. Next is 15. God says, fear and
dread shall fall upon them. By the greatness of thine arm,
they shall be as still as a stone, till thy people pass over, O
Lord, till the people pass over which thou hast purchased. And
I don't wish to limit God's Word in any way, but try to take it
as broadly as I possibly can. What's it talking about? All
those things that disturb men. All those foes, those saber-rattling
Egyptian soldiers, those fire-breathing horses on those chariots, fear
on as commanders. Hell itself shall be as still
as a stone when God carries his people across the raging Jordan.
Or perhaps he's talking about the people themselves. They shall
be as still as a stone until they get passed over. God will
bring us safely into heaven's glory, trusting his son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Built upon the foundation of
grace, entering in by the door of grace,
into the inheritance of grace, we're the sons of God. Thank God for that blessed, blessed
hope that awaits us. I don't know much about future
things, don't pretend to. I know there's going to be a
general resurrection when Christ comes. The dead will hear his
voice. All men gonna be raised up to
meet the Lord. Gonna meet God in judgment. Not
judgment to determine who's worthy to go to heaven, but rather judgment
to declare who's worthy. Judgment by which God the Holy
Ghost identifies his people in their perfection and holiness.
And God the Son looks upon each one and he says,
well done, thou good and faithful servant. Come, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And in that day,
the triune God will present us his church, his bride, without
spot, without wrinkle, without fault, without sin, without failure,
without corruption, without disease, without weakness, without a flaw. before the throne of his glory
and the wandering worlds. Because this is God's work. It's the work of God's free grace
in Jesus Christ the Lord. Oh, may God make it yours. I
bid you then, as we're being throughout the scriptures, come
out of her. Come out of Babylon. The perfecting
of holiness. is casting aside all your works,
all your goodness, all your righteousness, all your hope, all your uprightness,
all your morality, all that you think makes you superior to somebody
else, cast it aside. It's just dumb. It's just filth. It's just rags. It's an abomination. I cast it aside and I cling to
Christ alone. And that's the perfecting of
holiness in the fear of God. Oh, may God make it yours for
Christ's sake. Amen.