I'd like for you to turn back
with me now to 2 Timothy chapter 2. And I want to zero in on a
verse of scripture, verse 15. 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 15. Study to show thyself approved
unto God. not unto men, not to those who have itching
ears, not to those who want to tell or hear some new thing, not to those who want to present
arguments, who want to start an argument
over a word, studied to show thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth. Now the Apostle Paul, when he
wrote to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, He said, we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery. It's a mystery. It's not the
simple gospel you hear on the radio. Not the simple gospel
that men are preaching on the television and have filled up
the internet. He said, we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom. which God ordained
before the world unto our glory. Now everything that God has to
say to this world and to his elect is plainly stated in the
scriptures, but is hidden to the wise and prudent. That's
what our Lord, when he prayed, he said, I thank thee, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent. And all along the way in the
word of God, concerning false religion and self-taught men
and the wise and the prudent, our Lord sets what Isaiah calls
gins and snares and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. He puts in his word scriptures
like John 3.16. Everybody here knows what John
3.16 says. And the wise and the prudent
get caught up in the snare and they come away preaching universalism. God loves everybody. No, he don't. He says plainly in the scriptures,
God hateth all the workers of iniquity. He says plainly concerning
two men who represent all men, one represents God's elect and
the other represents the rest of the world, he said, Jacob
have I loved and Esau have I hated. You know when he said that? Before
any one of them were ever born or ever did any good and evil.
You can read about it over in Romans chapter nine. He writes in 1 John chapter 2
verse 2 that he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And the false
religionist drinks it up and comes away preaching a universal
atonement. He builds a whole religion on
one verse of Scripture. In 1st Timothy chapter 2 and
verse 4, he writes that God will have all men to be saved and
to come under the knowledge of the truth. And that's what men preach. They
take that and run off the deep end with it. When all along what
he's talking there is all kinds of men. If you just read what
he has to say before he says this, He said it's good for you
to pray for all sorts of men. Pray for kings and pray for governors
and pray for your president and pray for these leaders and pray
for your teachers. It's a good thing. It's a good
thing because God will have all kinds of men to be saved. He might save that king. He did
some in the Old Testament. He saved them and those nations
benefited by it. And there's many, many more scriptures
that I could give you. These are gems and snares written
to expose the false professors of faith and Satan's messengers. Men of this world don't have
to study. They spend their times in cars
at the hospital. Got a little sign there on the
front of the car that says clergy. Got special parking places for
them. They go over to hospitals and they spend half a day walking
room to room to room to room all over the hospital. And then
they visit people's homes and they go there and they do other
things, but they don't study. They don't study. And if you try to talk with one,
he'll just say, oh, he said, I'm not as well studied as you
are, brother. I'm not discoursed in all this
deep theology. You're not in any kind of theology
as far as I can tell. When you talk to them, they don't
know the first thing. They don't even know the basic
things of the gospel. These things are gems and snares
written to expose the false professors of faith and Satan's messengers. The messenger of God must study. He's got to study. There's no
way out of it. He has to Every minute that he
can, he has to get in his study and get away from everything
that's going on and study. Free his mind from the world.
Call upon his God and look into the word of God and see if God
won't reveal to you what he's talking about here. The types and symbols of the
Old Testament must be learned and rightly interpreted to teach
and preach the gospel because all of these Old Testament types,
the type of the priesthood, the type of the atonement, the type
of the redeemer, you've got to go through there and find out
what these types signify. You've got to study these things
and see how God set before men in the Old Testament the gospel
of Jesus Christ. If you don't have that behind
you. Why it's nearly impossible to
understand anything that Christ did. Because he came as a priest. If you don't know what a priest
is and what that priest did and who that priest did it for, you
don't have any clue what Christ did. You see what I'm saying?
It requires study. It's a big book. It's a big book. He talks here in Timothy, he
said, there are some desiring to be teachers of the law. That's
their desire. They want to teach the law. They
want to hammer down on the pulpit, thou shalt not steal, and beat
on that pulpit. They want to be teachers of the
law. But they understand neither what
they say nor whereof they affirm. I used to sit and listen to men
preach who knew nothing whatsoever about God or his gospel. And
every time they'd say something that seemed right to me, I'd
say, amen. He didn't know what he was talking
about, and I didn't know what I was affirming. That's what
Paul's talking about here. They don't understand what they're
teaching, nor whereof they're affirming. Study, he said, to show thyself
approved unto God. Now this is the thing. The preacher must be approved
of God. If he's approved of God, he'll
take care of you being approved by a congregation. I don't need
to worry about whether or not you approve of me. I need to
worry about whether or not God approves of me. If he approves
of me, you'll fall right in line. I guarantee it. Guarantee it. I've seen so many men who just
would do anything to get that congregation to love them. Let
me tell you, all you have to do to get that congregation to
love you, be approved of God. That's right. That's right. They'll
love you. They'll love you. Study to show
thyself approved unto God. And God's messengers are God's
messengers when they're approved of God and when they're in harmony
with his gospel and in sync with his word. What makes a workman
approved unto God that needeth not to be ashamed? What makes
him approved unto God? Listen, rightly dividing the
word of truth. The messenger of God must rightly
divide the truth concerning all things pertaining to God and
to the salvation of his elect. How does one divide the truth? Well, you say you just read it.
You just read it. No. I'm gonna give you some examples. Almost anybody, anywhere will
concede that Christ died on a cross. I dare say I could go into any
bar over here in Texarkana, walk up, sit down, order me a beer,
and sit there and talk to the guy next to me and say, do you
believe Christ died on a cross? Well, sure I do. Sure I do. Almost anybody anywhere will
concede that Christ died on a cross. That's got to be divided, don't
it? Has to be divided. For whom did
he die? I've got to go into the word
of God and divide this thing and be able to sit before me. For whom did he die? What did
his death purchase? Did he actually buy something
with this blood? Did he actually purchase something
with this blood? What did he buy with this blood? Who required him to die? There was nothing natural in
Christ to cause his death. If it hadn't been for the cross,
he'd live forever. There was nothing in him to cause
him to die. He was without sin. Somebody
required him to die. Who did that? You see what I'm
saying? The truth must be divided. Believing
that Christ died on the cross ain't gonna do anything for you.
I'm just gonna be honest with you. That's not gonna do anything
for you. You're gonna have to find out for whom he died What
did his death accomplish? Who required him to die? And
so on. Here's another example. Almost
anybody would tell you that Jesus was born 2000, some 2040 years
ago. He was born. But where did he
come from? Where did he come from? Who sent
him? And why? Why must he be born of a woman
and made subject to the law? This truth has to be divided.
It's not enough to say, well, I believe Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Thousands say it every Christmas.
Millions. Little manger scenes everywhere.
You drive up and down the road and see them, and they ain't
got a clue who he was. Almost anybody will tell you,
you must believe to be saved. They used to tell me that all
the time when I was in Armenian religion. Wasn't a one of them
knew what they were talking about. And they'd just tell me, well,
just believe. Believe what? Just believe. Believe what? Over in Romans chapter 10, Paul
deals with some questions over there. He said, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's talking
about faith, talking about belief. But how are you going to call
on him in whom you have not believed? How are you going to believe
in him of whom you have not heard? And how are you going to hear
without a preacher? Is man the author of faith? If
he is, I need to be begging you every Sunday. I need to bring
this whole thing down to your lap and tell you that God's done
everything he can do for you. Now it's all up to you. If faith
is a product of man, I need to be begging men. I need to be
pleading with men. I need to be trying to get you
down an aisle, get you up here to make a profession of faith.
Or is God the author of your faith? See what I'm saying? This truth has to be divided. The Lord said to the serpent,
he said, I'll put enmity between thee and the woman and between
thy seed and her seed, and it'll bruise thy head and thou shalt
bruise his heel. In other words, a savior would
be born of a virgin and crush Satan's head and be bruised in
the process. And as the scriptures progressed,
so did the prophecies concerning the Christ. And when Jesus of
Nazareth was born, he was born in the fulfillment of his office
as the Christ. What is this office, the Christ,
all about? Well, the Christ is the promised
Redeemer. He's the promised Redeemer. He's
the Savior. He's the one mediator between
God and man. He's the surety of the everlasting
covenant of grace. I didn't know there was a covenant
of grace till I heard the gospel. Didn't know anything about it. When he was talking about the
Old Testament and New Testament, I thought he was talking about
all the Old Testament prophecies and then the New Testament scriptures.
I didn't know he was talking about an Old Covenant and a New
Covenant. God Almighty, before the foundation
of the world, purposed to save a people for the glory of his
name, and he chose a number that no man can number out of every
kindred, nation, tribe, and tongue under heaven. And by divine act
of election and predestination, he put his chosen ones in a covenant
union with his son. That's the office of the Christ. He's the God and Father, Paul
said, of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he has
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. In covenant union, they are one
with him. And from that time, he became
their federal head and representative. In the scriptures, in the New
Testament scriptures, Romans chapter 5 in particular, as Adam
was the federal head of all mankind, even so Christ is the federal
head of the body, his church. He's the head. Well, you're saying salvation
and the curse is in two men? That's exactly what I'm saying.
In Adam all die, in Christ shall all be made alive. Isn't that
what scripture says? I know there's a lot of things
in between, but this is what it says. Listen to this scripture. Therefore,
as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men under justification of life. That is, in Adam, all men
that were represented in their father Adam, by his disobedience,
they brought the judgment of God upon men. And all who were
represented in Christ, they were justified at his resurrection. That makes sense, we're represented
in two men. The Christ takes in the whole
scope of their salvation. God hath made him to be unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So I've got to divide this thing
of who is this man? Who is this man? Christ Jesus. It's not enough for me to stand
up here and talk about Jesus. I've got to tell you who he was.
who He was, and then secondly, why did He come? Our Lord tells
us in John 6, 38, He said, I'm come down from heaven, not to
do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this
is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which He
has given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. Why did He come? He come to raise
up at the last day all that was given Him by the Father. As we've seen in the book of
Revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ, there shall be
many lost souls. Just let that sink in for a minute.
There are going to be many lost souls who under the deception
of Antichrist shall perish in their unbelief. There are going
to be many who are drawn away by the deceit of Satan, by the
enticement of this world and by false religion. There are
going to be many who shall hide in their self-made strongholds
only to be exposed in judgment. There shall be many in that day
of judgment who pleading their own good works shall say unto
him, we preached in thy name, we did many wonderful works in
thy name, only to hear him say, depart from me, you workers of
iniquity, I never knew you. Many lost souls shall perish,
but now listen, Not one soul shall be lost who was given to
Christ. He came to save them and to raise
them up at the last day and present them perfect to the Father. And
that's what he's gonna do. That's what he's gonna do. Oh, the scripture said the good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And because He did,
He also gives unto them eternal life, and they'll never perish. And He said, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. Why did He come? He came to accomplish
His Father's redemptive will. That's what it says in Hebrews
chapter 10. We need to read the scriptures and find out what
he's saying here. I need to read and study these
things and set them before you and show you in the scripture
where it says these things. Over in Hebrews chapter 10, he
said, behold, I come in the volume of the book it's written of me
to do thy will, O God. by the which will we're sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. That's God's will. And he accomplished
God's will. And because he did, we're sanctified
once for all. All right, thirdly. What did
he do? I got to divide this thing out
of the scriptures by what he did. Preachers are just telling
everybody, God wants to save you. He wants to save you. I don't know if he does or not. I know he's gonna save his people. I know he's gonna save all who
call on him, but I can't look you in the face and say, God
loves you and Christ died for you. No, I can't say that, I
don't know that. He died for his people, he died
for his elect. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. Oh, it used to make them so mad.
They had that big, there was a big park up in Ashland, Kentucky,
and their evangelist got sick at the last minute. Providence
of God. And they didn't have anybody,
it's a big, city-wide thing going on, county-wide
thing, and they're trying to get all these churches to cooperate
and come down to the park, and they set up a big tent, and everything
was ready, and the evangelist got sick. And they said, what
are we gonna do? And the one old deacon said,
well, I know a guy that'll come preach for you, I think. Well,
what's his name? Roth Barnard. Called old Roth up, and he got
down there, and he finished preaching. And he said, he told him, he said, call upon
the name of the Lord. He might save you. He said, I
don't know if he will or not, but he might. He might. He saved some, and he's gonna
save all his elect. Might save you. Boy, you got
to lose. Call on him. What did he do? Thou shalt call
his name Jesus for he shall save, now listen, his people. Who's he gonna save? His people
from their sins. Jesus Christ is our appointed
head and representative was made under the law, that is he was
subject to it, accountable for it, came in union with human
flesh, And it's his life's obedience
to that law that constitutes our righteousness. I don't have
a righteous, Paul said, oh, he said that I might be found of
him not having my own righteousness. I don't want anything to do with
my righteousness. It's filthy rags, that's all
it is. Isn't that what God said through
his prophet Isaiah? All your righteousnesses are
as an unclean thing. You don't want to be found before
God in your righteousness. Paul said that I might be found
in him not having my own righteousness, but the righteousness of God
in Christ. It's his life's obedience that
constitutes our righteousness. And in Romans chapter 10 verse
4, he said, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. He's the end of the law being
its highest goal. And he's the end of the law for
righteousness being now the righteousness of God according to Romans chapter
three without the law. Christ is our righteousness and
we are made, he said in 2 Corinthians 5, we are made the righteousness
of God in him. And he's our justifier and our
justification. Delivered for our offenses and
raised again for our justification. And the life, death, and the
resurrection and reign of Jesus Christ is for his elect. This
is plain. Let me just divide this for you
and show it to you plainly in the scriptures. In Romans chapter
eight, verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? That's pretty plain, isn't it?
I think a child would understand that. How come these theologians
can't? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Justifieth who? His elect. Who is he that condemneth? Condemneth
who? His elect. Christ that died,
yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand
of God who also maketh intercession for us. Jesus Christ by his own blood
entered into heaven itself. It says he obtained eternal redemption
for us. He took it in his hand. He possessed
it for us. He did not pay a down payment
on it. He did not merely make it possible. He obtained it. And eternal life
is his to give. It's his to give. I love that old leper laying there
at his feet. Lord, if you will. You have it in your power. You
have it in your hand. You have it under your authority.
If you will, you can make me clean. He said, I will. I will. Listen to this, John 17, 2. He's about to go to the cross
and he begins his high priestly prayer. And he's talking about
that suffering and what's going to be accomplished. And he said,
glorify thy son with that glory which I had with thee. As thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. Now you can't give
what you don't have. Does he have it to give? Said
he did. And then fourthly, where is he
now? Religion acts like Christ is
completely passive. Like he went somewhere and went
into his father's house and sat down up there and crossed his
legs and just leaned back in the easy chair waiting to see
what happens. Talks like he's completely passive. What does the resurrected ascended
savior mean to you and I? Well, first of all, it means
that our representative is seated, accepted, crowned, and victorious
at the Father's right hand. He sits at the right hand of
God as our guarantor of salvation. How do you know you're going
to be saved? Well, if I'm one of his, I'll tell you how I know
I'm going to be saved. My guarantor sits at the right
hand of God. He's my salvation. In order for
me to fall, he has to fail. if my trust is in him. We're
said in the scripture in Ephesians 2 verse 6 to be seated with him
in heavenly places. Seated with him. And secondly,
it means that he's in a place to be the testator of the Father's
promised inheritance. Now you know what a testator
is. He's the guy that takes the will and he says, The bulk of
this estate he leaves to Russell Sanders. That's the testator
saying, well Christ not only is a fellow heir with us, we're
joint heirs with him, he's not only the heir, but he's the testator
of it. In other words, he's seated at
the right hand of God to ensure that what he did And what he
purchased is gonna be given to those it was intended for. He's
the testator. He has both the power and the
right to save and dispense the grace of God upon all his elect. In Ephesians 2.6 it says, he
hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show
the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith. You know why you got faith? Because
the testator gave it to you. And that's what he's saying here. Paul puts it this way over in
Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 15. He said, for this cause He is
the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament,
that they which are called might receive the promise of eternal
inheritance. So what are you saying, Preacher?
I'm saying that salvation is not iffy. That's what I'm saying. It's not iffy. It's certain in
him. All the promises of God are yea
and amen in Christ. Christ has wrought out for them
a perfect righteousness and paid their sin debt in full. And now
having all power in heaven and earth, he sits upon the throne
and he tells his people, now you go preach the gospel. I'll
make it, I'll make it effectual. And there's one more major point
of truth which must be rightly divided and set before his church,
and that is the preaching of the gospel. I don't want to get
into all the issues of the necessity of it and the means of it and
all these other things, the ordination of it and all of these things.
What I do want to talk about is the way it is to be presented
to men. There's actually two things,
I believe, that are taught in the scriptures about our manner
of preaching. First is that our sovereign,
eternal, and immutable God has ordained the giving of faith
and repentance of sins to the preaching of the gospel. It's
married to it. It's married to it. All that
were given to Christ in divine election shall be sent a preacher,
hear his gospel, and believe. That plain enough? That's what
it says. The church at Antioch is a prime
example of this. They heard God's messengers and
it says as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. I'm not telling you what man
thinks or what I think, I'm telling you what God said. Whom he did foreknow, the scripture
said, he also did predestinate. And whom he did foreknow and
whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Paul puts it this way. He said,
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of spirit, belief of the truth. Who did that? God did. When did
he do it? From the beginning. You reckon he's going to change?
He said he wouldn't. Our sovereign, eternal, omnipotent,
and all-wise God has ordained and purposed to save his people
by gospel preaching. But in rightly dividing this
truth, I also discover that Christ is an open door. He's an open door to every thirsty
sinner who finds himself able to call on his name. Listen to this, when he's talking
about the will of God, he said, I came down from heaven, not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. This is
the Father's will, that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day. And this is
the will of God, that everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, shall have eternal life. Every one of them. The spirit
and the bride, What do they say? They say come. Isn't that strange? They say come. They don't say
you can't come. They say come. They don't say
you won't come, although both of those things are true in their
proper context, but they say come. And let him that is at
thirst come. And let him that heareth say
come. Every thirsty sinner, let him come and take of the water
of life freely. Now I'm going to tell you something.
Not one time in all my young life did I ever entertain the
thought that I was chosen of God before the world was. Did
you? Not one time. That never entered
my mind. That thought never crossed my
mind that I might be one that God chose to save before the
foundation of the world. that I had the Son of God appointed
as my surety and redeemer, my covenant head, that I might be
an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. But coming to Christ
as a thirsty sinner, I soon discovered that this is how this election
is known. This is how it's made known.
They come to Christ. There's no other way to know
your election. All that the Father giveth unto me, now listen, shall
come to me. And him that cometh, I will in
no wise cast out. Study, that way said, to show
thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.
I don't need to. And I'm not beyond that, but
I don't need, if I rightly divide the truth, I don't need to come
in here next Sunday and say, now, I want to apologize for
what I said last Sunday. I don't need to do that. I don't
need to be ashamed of it, because it's the truth. And it's never
going to change. It's never going to be altered. Rightly. rightly dividing the
word of truth. Now I'm gonna tell you, it says
of the religionists of this world that they rest the scriptures. They don't rightly divide them,
they rest, W-R-E-S-T, they rest the scriptures to their own destruction. And so to all who hear. Oh, you
pray for me. You pray for me. that God will
enable me to study and give me the heart to study and give me
the mind to study and give me the ability then to set it before
you and rightly divide it.