If you will, turn back with me
to 2 Timothy chapter 1. Forty-two years ago. Seems like a long time. My wife and I were going to a
small denominational Baptist church called the Enterprise
Baptist Association. My father and I had just recently
been ordained into the ministry in that denomination and accepted
by them and recommended by them as ministers of the gospel. A very short time later, due
to a conversation I had with a man, I began to discover things
in the word of God that I'd never heard dealt with by any preacher
anywhere. God's absolute, absolute and
total sovereignty over all things. I was shocked. I read this for the first time
in the book of Daniel. in Daniel chapter four when Nebuchadnezzar,
he showed Nebuchadnezzar his absolute total sovereignty. That he could make him a beast
or give him sanity. Absolute total sovereignty. And then I read it in other places. But I began to inquire into these
things and see these things and I was shocked by these things.
Man's total depravity. I knew men were ornery and women. You'd have to be blind not to
know that. But this wasn't talking about
men being ornery, this was talking about men being totally depraved. Total inability, total depravity. Nothing but wickedness. And God's eternal purpose of
grace. Nobody ever told me God had a
purpose. That Jesus Christ came to fulfill
that purpose. That God had a purpose from the
beginning and that that purpose had never changed. And election and predestination
and many other things. I discovered it. I didn't know
what they meant. But I was just shocked by the
statement of them and the lack of information about them. I
mean, I was asking preachers that I knew had been in the ministry
for 40 years who couldn't give me a straight answer about predestination. And these things were contrary
to my upbringing and contrary to all the churches that I had
fellowship with and contrary to the church covenant to which
I'd just been ordained a minister. And so as I began... Well, here's where I started. I went
to talk to my father. I had more confidence in him
than any man alive. He'd been studying the Bible
and I saw him read it daily. long before I was born, and asking him about these things,
and you'd have thought I handed him a rattlesnake. That was his reaction. And so
I talked to some of the fellow ministers, a lot older than I,
and when I did, he nearly lost his breath. He started choking
and just didn't know what to say. So then I decided I'd go to the
bookstore and I'd pick up a book on Daniel 4 and I'd see what
that man had to say about it. And if it was positive, I'd buy
the book. I'd read the rest of it. Or Romans 9 or Ephesians
1. But to say the least, I didn't
have much understanding of these things at all. And one day, one
of my deacons overheard me talking to my brother-in-law about these
things. And he said, well, there's a
man up in Ashland, comes on every Sunday morning, nine o'clock,
and he deals with these things every week. And I turned and looked at him,
and I said, nobody's on primetime TV on Sunday
morning dealing with these things. He said, he is. And sure enough, there was a
man on TV on Sunday mornings, Pastor Henry Mahan of 13th Street
Baptist Church, just 50 miles up the river from where we lived. And to make a long story short,
my wife and I moved up there. I lived in a last house on the
block. The church had bought everything
but this one house. The rest of it was parking lot.
I lived in the house on the corner. When the Lord saved me and brought
me to Christ, I thought everybody would want to hear it. Is that, was that your reaction?
I thought everybody, why wouldn't a man want to hear this? It's
the best news that ever was. I just thought everybody would
want to hear it. And I knew a lot of folks in
the same religion that I'd came out of and I was just sure they'd
love it when I told them what these things meant. Told them
what I'd learned. And I had relatives and friends,
and I just couldn't wait to tell them, and I just wanted to see
them hear this and know this and rejoice in this. And many
old friends I'd gone to school with, oh, just wait till I can
tell them these things. But what I discovered is that
those who do not know the Lord despise His gospel. They despise it. It's not just
a matter of misunderstanding. They despise. I don't care how
clear you make it. I started doing that. I thought,
well, I'm making this whole thing confusing. I'll just state it
real simple. The more simple you make it,
the madder they get. They despise. his gospel. They despise his messengers for
bringing it, and they despise him of whom the doctrine speaks. My own father, peering at me
in his self-righteous anger, denying those things that he
was just totally ignorant of. You'd have to see the look to
even believe it. and other family members siding
with him and taking a stand against me until at last I had nowhere
to fellowship except at my newfound church in Ashland. And so that's
where I went. Every child of God experiences
these things to some degree or another, but especially those
that God calls into the ministry. Now with these things in mind,
I want to read these verses leading up to my text again, beginning
with verse eight, 2 Timothy 1, verse eight. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, according to the
power of God who has saved us. Who saved you? God did. God did. How long has he been
saving you? Huh? From all eternity. How long shall he continue to
save you? Through all eternity. Huh? That's why they call it eternal
life. "...who hath saved us, and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began." How many doctrines are stated there?
God's absolute sovereignty, God's eternal election, God's eternal
justification. On and on and on, the doctrines
flow from one verse of scripture. But, he tells us in verse 10,
now is made manifest. It's not just talked about as
one who is coming, but he came. It's now manifest by the appearing
of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and has
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. How you learn it? Through the
gospel. Now watch this. Whereunto I am
appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles.
Are you listening? For the which cause I also suffer
these things." Imprisonment. Having his name abused among
men. Men went out and said he preaches
a gospel that encourages men to sin. all these things that
men did. He said, I suffer these things
nevertheless I'm not ashamed. Why not, Paul? Because I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that this one
in whom I have believed I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I've committed unto him against that day. Now here's the question I want
to ask and to answer as best I can. Why can't I put a denominational
sign out in front of our building? My relatives ask me all that
all the time. You had to go all the way to
Arkansas to find somewhere to preach? Well, no, I hope God
brought me to Arkansas. But they say there's churches,
there's thousands of churches right here in the state of Kentucky.
Why are you going to Arkansas? Why can't I put a denominational
sign out in front of this building? Why can't I give in just a little
bit and find some common ground and take to this church the name
Methodist or Christian or Southern Baptist or Reformed or Presbyterian
or Lutheran or Catholic or some denominational name. Why can't
I put that on my sign out front? Why must we remain under the
persecution of this world's religion and remain exiled from long-known
family members and ministers of the gospel And why must we
be separate from the world? Well, in one word, I'll tell
you why. Knowledge. Knowledge. You see, back when
I could compromise and when I could take my guitar and I could play
one Sunday evening at a Methodist church and then I could go over
to a revival in a Baptist church and I could play in that and
listen to him preach and then I could come over here in a free
will Baptist church, and I could listen to them preach. I could
do that when I was ignorant, when I couldn't see any difference.
They're all preaching the same thing, salvation by works. They
might run their services a little different, some of them more
prim and proper than others, and some of them jump up and
run up and down the aisles, and there's all kinds of things,
but they're all saying the same thing. Salvation by works. Salvation by free will. Salvation
by man. Here's why I can't put that on
my sign out front. It's knowledge. When I learned, we grew up, we
had wood heat. We had an old potbelly stove.
Raise the lid up and throw some mobs in there, just the lid back
down. There was always a glove sitting there. My daddy would
always tell me, because I just love that. He'd always tell me,
don't touch that stove, son. It's hot. You know when I learned I couldn't
touch that stove? When I touched it. Then I knew,
you don't touch a hot stove. That's right. I quit reaching out for it. When
I learned that if you couldn't swim, don't go in over your head. You're just going to go to the
bottom. And when I learned my daddy wouldn't
tolerate a loose tongue, I held my tongue. I cannot compromise what I believe
and preach because of what I know. I know now what I didn't know
then. All right, so what do I know
that keeps me from having fellowship with this world's religion and
those that trust in it? Well, if time will allow, I have
six things that keep me separated from worldly, accepted, and approved
religion. The first thing I know is this. All mankind fell under the curse
of God in the garden. You think the rest of this world
knows that? Ask them. Ask them. And if they will agree
with you in conversation, say, will you allow me to come down
to your church and teach Sunday school class on this? See how
far you go. My cousin came by one time. He
said, I want you to come hold a meeting for me. Little town
up there, kind of between where I lived and Ashland. And I said,
OK. So I did. And I preached on total depravity
the very first night. And I got up about daylight,
and he was pacing out on my front porch. And I said, well, Don,
what are you doing up here? Well, he said, I got something
that I gotta tell you. And I said, well, go ahead. And he said, well, the church
told me if you come back, then I can't. He was their pastor. And I said, well, what you want
me to do? He said, I guess, stay away. All men are born sinners. That's what the Bible teaches.
That's what the Bible teaches. The garden is the place of man's
ruin. And that's not my opinion. That's
not my interpretation. That is the testimony of God. God looked down from heaven.
This is what it says on the psalm. God looked down from heaven to
see if there was any righteous, to see if there was any who understood,
to see if there were any who sought after God. And there was
none. Huh? Does that sound like an
interpretation? That's a quotation of scripture.
You don't need an interpreter for that. It's just plain declaration
of God, and I can go on and on and on with it. Man fell in the
garden. By one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men. Was it all sin? Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
21 that by man came death. How'd it come? By man. Verse 22, in Adam he said, all
die. And I cannot stand in the pulpits
of this world's religion and in good conscience talk to men
as though they had some goodness in them. I hear this in every
movie I watch. There's a little bit of good
in everybody. Usually that's a Catholic priest
saying that. There's a little bit of good
in everybody. a little bit of God in everybody. Well, that's not what God said. God
said there's none good, no, not one. I can't do it. I can't stand
in the pulpits of this world's religion and in good conscience
talk to men as though they had some goodness, some righteousness,
some potential to reconcile themselves to God. There's no potential
in man. The potential is in God's purpose,
and God's will, and God's power. God said there's none righteous,
none that understandeth, none that seeketh after God, and none
good. He said they're all gone out
of the way. They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking
lies. That's what God said. And I cannot gear my ministry
to men who are dead, who are spiritual lepers, and men who
are born hating God by begging men to do something for poor,
helpless little Jesus. I can't stand to listen to it.
It's inoffiating to me to listen to. begging men to walk down an aisle
which will accomplish nothing but get them to the other side
of the building. That's the only thing that's going to happen.
You're going to go back there to up here. There's going to
be a change in geography, not a change in heart. I cannot fellowship with those
who would make religious proselytes like unto themselves who then
become two-fold more the child of hell than they are. Henry said to a friend of his
one time, he said, don't you question all these
little kids coming down and making professions of faith? Oh no,
he said, isn't it wonderful that they come down here before they
got anything to repent of? I cannot join the ranks of established
religion because I know the truth about man's fall. Secondly, I
know whom I have believed. I know that Jesus Christ is God
manifest in the flesh. This is God come into the flesh. This is not a good man. This
is God. Isn't that what our Lord told
that rich young ruler? He said, there's none good but
God. Why are you calling me good? His hearers addressed him as
master. He said, you do well, for so
I am. He is sovereign, eternal, omnipotent
God, the creator of all things, both which are in heaven and
which are upon earth. In 1 John 5 verse 20 it says,
and we know that the Son of God is come. Believers know that. The Son of God has come and has
given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true.
Now I'm going to tell you something. If you've got men out here making
the death of Christ effectual, you've got a man out here who
don't know God. Jesus Christ, he said, I must
need to go to that cross. It's expedient. I have to go
to the cross. This is why I came into the world,
to go to that cross. And I must go to that cross.
And if I go to that cross, I'll put away your sins. I'll
put away your sins. You see, we know God. We know the true God. by this
man who appeared in this world. And that's what Paul was telling
Timothy earlier. He's now manifest. He manifested
God in the flesh. He's given us an understanding
that we may know Him that's true and that we're in Him that's
true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and this is eternal life. Eternal life is to know God.
It's not to know a bunch of junk, it's to know God. And I'm gonna tell you this,
Jesus Christ is all of God that you're ever gonna see. That's
it. No man knoweth the father save
the son, and he to whom the son will reveal him. Philip said,
just show us the father, and we'll be satisfied. Why, Philip,
have you been so long time with me? Have you not seen the father? He that hath seen me hath seen
the father. What does a man see when he sees
the Father in Christ? He sees the glory of God in the
face of his son. That's what he sees. He sees
the immutability of God in the promised Redeemer. How many times
would God have been justified to condemn this race and wipe
it out? Actually, when he did wipe it
out with water, It said that every imagination of the hearts
of men was only evil continually. All men, including Noah. Oh, now wait a minute, preacher.
God saved Noah and said he was a righteous man. You know why? Because Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. That's why he saved Noah. That's
why he saved you, if he saves you. But he said to Israel, how many
times would he have wiped out Israel and been just for doing
it? But he said, I'm God. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. What does a man see when he sees
the Father? He sees the grace of God. Grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. Surely you don't think we deserve
Christ's coming? Huh? A man told me one time, he said,
you don't believe an election violates the rights of men? And I said, what rights? Huh? Man condemned, what rights
does he have? He doesn't have any rights. You
go in as a condemned prisoner, the only rights you got is the
ones that the warden at the prison gives you. That's the only rights
you have, whatever he gives you. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. What else could prompt the holy
God to send his son into this present evil world and suffer
as he did but the grace of God? And then we see the justice of
God. God not sparing his own son but
delivering him up for us all. He spared not his own son. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness. Declaring God to be both just
and justifier of all who believe. And then we see God's mercy in
Christ. God who is rich in mercy for
his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in
sins hath quickened us together with Christ. And we see the love of God. God
commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners
Christ died for us. Believers are men and women who
have seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ his
son. They've seen the uncompromising
unity of God's attributes, His perfections and His majesty,
that which makes Him God. And you can't know the glory
of God and preach a God who's willing to compromise His glory
to save rebels. God predestinated our salvation
in Christ that we should be to the praise of his glory and he
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. You
think the First Baptist Church in Texarkana would allow me to
preach that doctrine in their pulpit next Sunday? Not hardly. And then thirdly, I cannot fellowship
with the religion of this world because I know that God has purposed
to save a people which he chose in his son before the world was. Boy, that's the death blow to
an unbeliever. Election. You just believe God gonna save
some? Well, if he didn't, then his
death made no difference at all, did it? If he died for Esau,
and Esau's in hell, then his death didn't make any difference. Is that right? If Christ died
for every man, woman, and child in this world from the beginning
of time to the end of time, if his death was for all of them
universally, then his death made no difference whatsoever. The only thing that made a difference
was their free will and their decision to accept what he did. Is that right? Now that's what's
being preached in this word. What if salvation were by the
will of man? Huh? What if it were? What if
salvation was by the will of man? Well, the Bible said the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
so his will wouldn't do him any good. Huh? Neither can he know them, they're
spiritually discerned, they're foolishness unto him. The carnal
mind's enmity against God is not subject to his word, his
law. I don't know how you wanna read
that. It says law, but every word that God speaks is law because
he's God. It's not subject to the word
of God, neither indeed can be. If salvation were by the will
of man, it would be devastating to the souls of men because they
would not come to Christ that they might be saved. But wait a minute, preachers,
some do come to Christ. How do you explain that? Psalm
110, verse three. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of his power. You wanna know who's gonna come?
Who will? That's who will. John 6, 37. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Nobody else is coming. But they
will. The Jews said, if thou be the
Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you. I told you. But you believe not,
because you're not my sheep. As I sit under you, my sheep
hear my voice. And I know them, and they follow
me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they'll never perish. John 644, no man can come to
me except the Father which has sent me draw him. As it's written,
they shall all be taught of God. I cannot join in some God dishonoring
attempt to ignore God's eternal purpose of grace. I can't do
it. God has a people. He chose them in Christ before
the world would. All right, fourthly, I must minister
to God's elect as separate from this world because I'm plainly
instructed in the scriptures to do so. Is that right? Come ye out from amongst them. Isn't that what the scripture
says? It didn't say go try to find
a place in the ranks. It said come out of Come out of them. Come ye out from amongst them,
saith the Lord, and be ye separate. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers, not in religion, and not in marriage, and not
in business. You're going to have trouble
if you do. And here's why. He said, for
what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion
hath light with darkness? Listen to this, Ephesians 5 verse
11. And have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For
it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of
them in secret. I don't get it, guys. I just
don't get it. I've got a lot of friends who
come here and visit and listen to me preach. And if I were to
go up there in their home, they'd entertain me and welcome me into
their home. But they want to go down in ungodly
religion and sit there and pretend to worship God. You can't do it. If I thought
I could do it, I'd put their name on my sign out there. But
I can't do it. I can't do it. In 1 John 1, verse 6, he said,
if we say that we have fellowship with the Father and with his
Son and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light,
as he is the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. And then fifthly, I cannot have
fellowship or minister together with the religion of this world
because I have the anointing of the Holy Ghost. All these wounds over the years
have left us, John said. He said, they went out from us,
for had they been of us, they no doubt would have continued
with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that
they were not of us. Now listen, but you have an unction
from the Holy One and you know these things. You know the truth. How come
you know the truth? and your next door neighbor don't. How come you know the truth and
people that you talk to about this every day still don't know
the truth? Because you have an unction from the Holy One and
know all things. You know when you hear the truth.
1 John 4 verse 4, ye are of God,
little children, and have overcome them, these false prophets and
teachers, 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 heareth them. We are
of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. Isn't that something? You have
an unction from the Holy One. That's why you're here. That's
why you're listening. That's why you're obeying. You
have an unction from the Holy One, and you know these things. Hereby know we the spirit, that
is the preacher of truth and the preacher or spirit of error. There are no other explanation for whom men listen to and especially
of those who listen to God's ambassadors. The spirit of the
living God enables him to know that he is God's ambassador. Paul said, I know your election
of God. My gospel didn't come in word
only, but it come in power, and it came in the Holy Ghost. Now
listen, and you become followers of us and the Lord. Isn't that what that says? That's what his elect do. And
then lastly, I cannot work together with or try to minister to men
in fellowship with this world's religion. Because I know that
the sovereign, almighty, victorious Christ affectionately calls his
people out of darkness into his marvelous light. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul said
that he renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. Oh, my soul, it's so dishonest
for that preacher to stand up here and say every head bowed
and every eye closed. Our preacher used to say that
all the time. Every head bowed, every eye closed. No little kid
in that place bowed his head and closed his eyes. We all wanted
to see who was looking and who wasn't. And I looked, and he
said, I see that hand. And I looked, and there was no
hand. That's dishonest, isn't it? I see that hand. I see that hand. And on and on it goes until finally
they get somebody down the aisle. Paul said, I renounce the hidden
things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the
word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. It's dishonest to tell men that
they have a free will. That's dishonest. It's dishonest to tell people
that God loves everybody and wants everybody to be saved. It's dishonest to lay the success
of the work of redemption upon a sinner's decision to accept
it. It's not up for your acceptance. It's dishonest to tell sinners
that God has done all He can do, and now it's all up to you.
And it's dishonest to tell folks that they're saved if they accept
Jesus as their personal Savior. Now let me tell you something.
Salvation is not based upon your acceptance of Him, but of God's
acceptance of you in Him. Ephesians 1, 6, salvation is
to be to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath
made us accepted in the blood. Man's not the moving cause of
his salvation, God is. Isn't that how Paul started this
conversation? God has saved us, Timothy. And God has called us Not with a bunch of lies, but
with a holy calling. None of it based on our works,
all of it based on his purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded. How am I persuaded? By who he
is. Why he came, what he did, where
he's at. I'm persuaded by the testimony
of God concerning his son. I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. What
does a sinner commit to Christ? Everything. Huh? Everything. And why wouldn't
you? Why wouldn't you? Do you think
you're more qualified to keep yourself than He is? Now come
on. You think you're more qualified
to make your decisions than He is? People think it's so strange
that you try to walk according to the will of God. My soul,
His will is right in everything. Mine's always been wrong. Always. I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed unto him against that day. Is that
your hope? Are you persuaded? Have you rested
your soul on the sufficiency of Christ? Then you can do what
he tells Timothy to do next. Hold fast. the form of sound
words which thou hast heard of me, and you hold them in faith,
and you hold them in love, which is in Christ Jesus. And that
good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost
which dwells in you.