It came to pass when Jesus had
ended these sayings, the people were astonished at
his doctrines. Astonishing doctrines. I want to say some things that
I think are very basic and elementary, but they're things that we don't
think about. We talk about them sometimes
and most of the time it's way on the outskirts of whatever
it is that we're talking about. But it is the plain and repeated
declaration of scripture that not all of Adam's children are
going to be saved. Well, you say everybody knows
that. No, they don't. No, they don't. The Bible speaks of wheat and
tares. The Bible speaks of sheep and
goats. The Bible talks about the righteous
and the unrighteous. The Bible talks about the saved
and the damned. Not all of Adam's children are
gonna be saved. And our text, beginning back
in Matthew 7, verse 13, our Lord speaks of two ways. He just stops
in the middle of this exhortation, this preaching, And he speaks of two ways, the
way of destruction and the way that leadeth unto life. He speaks of two gates. The gate
of hell, he tells us, is wide. And the way is wide. It's a broad
way. But the gate of heaven, he said,
is narrow and the way is narrow. Few there be that find it. One way is designed for the multitude,
the other for a few. The way of the world is called
a broad way because it encompasses everything which is not the truth. Everything that's not the truth,
the broad way encompasses that. way of the world the way of the world denies the
existence of god as god you believe that? they have a
god but he's not the god in second corinthians chapter
four paul talks about it he said if our gospel be hid It's here
to the lost in whom the God, little G, G-O-D, little God,
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the glorious
gospel of Christ should shine unto them. They have a God, but
he doesn't exist as God. In Romans chapter one, verse
21, it said they glorified him not as God. Talking about men
who have creation that bears witness of God, my soul, walk
outside and look at the sky. It didn't just happen. You have to be an absolute moron
to believe that everything created, you can't see the end of it.
Even shuttles and things that we've sent out into space, they
just keep taking pictures and the pictures show it being as
far away as it was when they left. Those things just happened. Huh? You're a moron if you believe
that. God put creation into existence
to witness his power and his throne as God to men. And it's undeniable. He said
you're without excuse. But God goes beyond that, and
He gives man a conscience, and his conscience tells him, bears
witness of God. But it said when they knew Him,
they glorified Him not as God. They allowed Him to have the
name and the title, but not the glory, and not the power. In verse 23 of Romans 1, it says,
they changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image
made like unto man. Their God is like man. He changes his mind. He has a purpose and a plan,
but he can't do it all the time. He's like man. They changed the
glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto
man. But that wasn't the end of it.
And I'm gonna tell you something, when you change the glory of
God, you're going down a slippery slope and it goes all the way
to the bottom. The next thing they did is they
made him like birds. Is there anything dumber than
a bird? You can't teach a bird to do anything. That's why they
call people bird brains, isn't it? They're God. He was like unto man, and then
he's like unto birds, and then four-footed beasts. Israel made a calf. That was
their God. Made him out of gold, made him
shine real pretty, but he was a calf. You gonna worship a cow? And creeping things. Verse 23 of Romans 1, they changed
the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like unto
man and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Verse
25 says they changed the truth of God into a lie. God tells
you who he is. He said, I'm God. There's none
like me. You don't have to lay back and
speculate about God. God tells you who he is in his
word. He said, there's none like me. I declare the end from the
beginning. From ancient times, the things that are not yet done,
saying my counsel shall stand, I'll do all my pleasure. God tells you who he is. He rules
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or even ask him what he's doing. He said, where were you when
I hung the world and laid its foundation? Where were you, Job? Where were you when I set it
into the heart of the beast to migrate? Where were you? Have
you entered into the treasures of my snow? The treasures of
my frost? Have you entered into those things? I tell you, read the end of Job.
Man, he fires these questions at Job, and Job put his hand
over his mouth. He said, once have I spoken,
yea, twice. He said, I'll never open my mouth
again. God is God, but man, this world,
the way of the world, is to deny God his existence as God. God's not who you thought he
was, he's who he says he is. That's God. And then in verse 28 of Romans
1, he said, even as they did not like to retain God in their
knowledge. Oh, men hate to hear about the
living God. that poor little jesus boy in a manger that listened
to you all day long poor little jesus boy wringing his hands
and looking over the banisters of heaven and hoping somebody
will help him to have his way they listened to that all day
long but not the living god not the living god they didn't
want to retain god in their knowledge so god gave them up to a reprobate
mind. We're talking about the world.
We're talking about the broad way. The broad way encompasses
everything that's not the truth. It's easy to find because it's
a broad way. The way of the world is self-serving. It lives to gratify the flesh. Whatever the flesh wants, it
struggles to get it. Did you know that your flesh
is insatiable? If it had the world, it'd want
another one. If you give it two worlds, it'd
want three. You can't fill it up. It's insatiable. It wants what it's forbidden
to have. It wants what it wants. That's
all it does its whole life. It wants and wants and wants
and wants. It's self-serving, it lives to
gratify the flesh, riches and wisdom and titles and station
and on and on and on it goes. And the way of the world is false
religion. Look back at our text in Matthew
7 and verse 15. It talks about these two ways and
the next thing out of his mouth was beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they're ravening wolves. Well, how do we know
a false prophet from a true one? You know them by their fruits. What's the fruit of a minister?
Huh? Somebody said we're fruit inspectors
talking about men's work. He never says that in the scriptures.
He tells us that you'll know ministers by their fruits. Actually, what are their fruits? Well, their fruits is their message.
What do they preach? It's the gospel they preach.
That's their fruit. Go back and read that over there
in John, I think it's John 14 or 15, along in there where he
talks about himself being the vine. He said, you can't bear
fruit until you graft it into the vine. And even those who profess to
be grafted into the vine, if they bear no fruit, God cuts
them off, throws them in the fire. It's all the good for them.
You'll know them by their fruits. They preach Christ. You'll know
them by their converts, because their converts believe what they
preach. John said they went out from
us. Why would they do that? They weren't of us. I'll tell you, when you're not
of us, and you hear this every week, you can't wait to get out
the door. And sooner or later, you'll have
the authority to do it, and out the door you'll go. And you won't
look back. The way of the world is false
religion. You'll know them by their fruits.
the gospel they preach. He said, you don't go to a thorn
tree looking for grapes, do you? I had a big old thorn locust
on the front end of my property up in Kentucky. I had to cut
it down because I ruined I don't know how many tires on my ride
motor. That thing had thorns on it that long, six, seven inches
long. And I never went out there looking
for grapes. That's just not where you go.
And you listen to these men, and they're throwing trees. You
can't get around them. You get pricked if you get around
them. You get stuck. And he said, when you want some
figs, you don't go out and find one of these big thistles about
that tall, about that big around. You go out there and start doing
this, looking for figs. You'll get stuck. Then why do you go to these men?
You know them by their fruits. And then look down here in verse
21. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, gonna enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Because a
man uses the name Lord, Don't make him a child of God. The Pope uses the name Lord all
the time. I guarantee you he's not the
child of God. False prophets use the name Lord
all the time. They use it in their messages,
they use it in their prayers, they use it in their writings.
Our Lord said not everybody, and he's standing here in the
audience of the Pharisees who use that word a lot. He said
not everybody that says Lord, Lord gonna enter into the kingdom
of God. But what are you saying? I'm saying
God doesn't intend to save all men, that's what I'm saying.
I'm saying it as clearly as I know how to say it. That's what Christ
said. God doesn't intend everybody
to be saved. God's not trying to get everybody
saved. Why not? Why is it that God does not intend
to save this whole race? He's good, isn't he? There's
no lack of goodness in the character of God. In fact, our Lord said
to the rich young ruler, they're none good but God. Why are you
calling me good? You believe I'm God? They're
none good but God. God created all things, and when
they were all in place, he looked at what he'd made, and behold,
it was very good. No lack of goodness on God's
part. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is
God incarnate, went about doing good. Everywhere he went, he
did good. God is good. And God is love. I'm going to tell you something.
I know you hear this a lot. I'm going to tell you again.
I'm going to keep on telling you, by the grace of God. No one can ever be separated
from the love of God. God is love. And you can't be
separated from his love. In Hosea 14.4, God says, I love
them freely. You didn't do something for God
to love you. We say, I believe that's why God loves me. Oh,
no. If you are a believer, it's because
God loves you. Sin can't separate us from God's
love. Paul said, God commendeth his
love toward us and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. And after naming every situation,
circumstance that a man might face in his life, Paul says that
none of these things shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. God is good and God is love and
God is merciful and gracious. You won't find mercy anywhere
else except in God. He delights to show mercy. He
has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He delights to
show mercy. So why does this good and loving
God, this merciful and gracious God, not save all men. Well, it's not because of a lack
of wisdom and power. He said, my arm is not shortened
that I cannot save. And God's all wise, so it's not
a lack of wisdom. So let me give you a couple of
reasons. First of all, our God is sovereign. He's sovereign. What's that mean? That means
he does what he will, when he will, with whom he will, all
the time. He's sovereign. Whether you like it or not, whether
you accept it or not, whether you believe it or not, doesn't
change a thing. God's sovereign. He worketh all things, the scripture
said, after the counsel of his own will. Even when men despises
him and hates him for smacking his son and mocking his son and
nailing his son on the cross, they were doing what God's hand
and God's counsel determined before to be done. When God spoke to Rebecca, Isaac's
wife, she was pregnant with twins. They weren't born yet. Hadn't
done anything. Hadn't said anything. Hadn't
done anything. Hadn't cried. Hadn't done anything. It was
still in her womb. And God came to her and said,
Rebecca, the elder is going to serve the
younger. I'm going to reverse the process. Why? Because Jacob have I loved. And Esau have I hated." Now wait
a minute, Esau hadn't done anything. Yeah, but he will. He will. But here's the astounding thing.
Jacob have I loved. And he said this, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. Not of works, but
of him that calleth. That's why he said it. He made
her an example, her two sons, an example of his elect. Do you believe that? Why? Because he's sovereign. And because
it pleased him. That's why. He's God. He's God. Our God is the eternal, omnipotent,
all-wise, unchangeable God, and He doeth according to His will
all the time. All the time. When He revealed
Himself to Moses, He said, I'll have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and whom I'll have compassion, I'll have compassion on them,
whom I will. And whom I will, I'll harden.
I'm God. I'm God. So then Paul said, it's
not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. And then Paul said this in Romans
9, 19. He said, you're going to say to me, why doth he yet
find fault? Because nobody's resisted his
will. Everybody's doing his will. Why does he yet find fault? Here's
the only answer I can find for this in scripture. Nay, but,
O man, who art thou that replies against who? God. You see where I'm going with
this? He's God. Man denies that. He won't have
that. He's not going to submit himself
to that. He's not going to bow to that. He's not going to confess
that. God is God. And when he tells you a thing,
believers submit to it. They bow to it. They don't question
it. They don't debate it. They don't
argue with him about it. He's God. Who art thou that replies
against God? Shall the thing formed say unto
him that formed it, why'st thou made me thus? Is that how it works? The potter
picks up one lump of clay and he pinches it in half and he
takes this one and puts it on the wheel and spins it and sits
there with the water on it and his fingers and he makes a vessel
unto honor. And he sets it over here and
he takes this one and makes a slop jar out of it. Huh? Does the
potter not have power over the clay? Of the same lump to make one
vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? I'm talking about God not intending
to save the whole world, and why? Because he's sovereign. He'll save whom He will. Our God, the true and living
God, the God of Holy Scripture, is omnipotent, sovereign, and
almighty. And this sovereign God in love
and goodness and mercy and grace chose a people in His Son before
the world began. And that's who's going to be
saved. Who are they? I don't know. I don't know. I
do know this. He's going to call them out of
every kindred and nation and tribe and people under heaven. He's going to take a sampling
from all over the world. And that's going to be his elect. He took these people that He
chose and He sent them in covenant union with the Son and made provision
for them. Made provision for their unrighteousness
by the fall of Adam. And provision for their sins,
and provision by an appointed representative, provision by
an ordained substitute. Let me tell you something about
the Lamb. The Lamb was slain in time, but when it tells you
about the Lamb, He calls Him the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. And if your sins had not been
charged to Him back then, He would have destroyed this world
when Adam sinned. It would have went up in flames.
But there was a mediator, there was a substitute, there was a
redeemer already in place. God made provision. by an appointed
representative, another head. Provision by an ordained substitute. Provision by his son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Provision for reconciliation,
redemption. Provision for righteousness.
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Do you ever
want to believe it? Provision for calling, for regeneration,
for conversion, for preservation, resurrection, and for final glorification. God's made provision. When did
he make it? Back yonder. Back yonder. Having predestinated us. That's how it reads in Ephesians
1. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Why doesn't God intend to save
everybody? Because He's God and this is
the way He ordained to do it. Salvation is not determined by
the will of man, but by the will of God. And our God is sovereign. Whatever the Lord pleased, David
said, that did He in heaven and in the earth, in the seas, and
all deep places. Some are going to be saved and
some not. And those things have all been
determined by our sovereign. All right, secondly, here's another
reason why God doesn't intend to save the whole world. Because
God's not all love and all mercy and all goodness and all grace. He's also righteous and just. He told Moses, who he is, Moses
said, show me your glory. He said, all right, I'm gonna
put you here in the cleft of the rock, that's Christ. And
I'm gonna pass by before you, I'm gonna show you my glory.
He said, I am the Lord. What's that mean? That means
he's sovereign. He's the king, what he says goes.
I'm the Lord. Now watch this, the Lord God. The Lord God, merciful, that's what I told
you, He's merciful, gracious, long-suffering, and abundant
in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving
iniquity, transgression, and sin. But Moses, you know this,
I will by no means clear the guilt. I'm telling you this,
if you're guilty and you're not in Christ, you're damned. You're damned. There's only one
hope and that's to be in Christ. That's why I come in here every
week and I tell you about Christ. I point you to Christ. I show
you Christ in the scriptures. No other hope. Everything God intended to save,
he put on the ark. Everything God intends to save
in eternity, He put in Christ. You read Ephesians 1 carefully
and He'll tell you that's what Christ did when He came. He was
gathering together all things in one which were in Christ.
All things. Things in heaven, things in earth,
things under the earth. Sin must be paid for. It can't
just be excused. Just go on, don't do it again.
No, I do that, but God can't do that. God came to our guilty father
and mother in the garden, he came with a lamb. And he slayed
that lamb. And he skinned that lamb. And he poured out its blood for
their sins and he clothed them. a picture of his righteousness
and his atonement. When Christ came into this world,
he was made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law. Philippians 2, 7, and 8 says
that Christ made himself of no reputation, took on him the form
of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and as a man,
a representative man, he humbled himself and become obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. And you can wrap yourself
up in all the John 3 16's and all the 1 John 2 2's and all
the 1 Timothy 2 4's that you want to. There's no way you can
rest the scriptures into a doctrine that teaches universal love or
universal atonement. It's not there. It's contrary to the character
of God. It's contrary to the will of
God. Christ said, I come to do the Father's will. I didn't come
to do my will, I come to do His will. And this is the Father's
will which is sent me that of all which He has given me I should
lose nothing. This idea of universalism, whatever
it is, atonement or love or anything else, I'm telling you it's not
so. It's contrary to the character
of God, it's contrary to the will of God, and it's contrary
to the purpose of God. If God were not willing, people
love to run over that scripture, God not willing that any should
perish, quote the whole thing to me, not a piece of it. If God, think about this, the
sovereign God, I've been telling you, I've used that word a hundred
times this morning. If the sovereign God were not
willing for any to perish, none would perish. It's just that
simple. Ain't nobody perish. If God loved all men everywhere,
then none would ever perish because nothing can separate them from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If God intended to save
every man because he loved every man and he loved him without
prejudice, then Christ our high priest would not have refused
to pray for some. Is that right? Our Lord said,
I pray not for the world. But I pray for them which thou
hast given me. Now if he loved every man, he
wouldn't have refused to pray for them, would he? In John 17, 9, in his high priestly
prayer, he said that. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me. If he intended to save the
world, wouldn't he have asked the Father to preserve the world
in his prayer? But he didn't. He didn't. Instead, he prays, Father, keep
through thine own name those which thou hast given me, that
they may be one as we are one. In John 6, our Lord said, I come
not to do my own will, the will of him that sent me. I've already
quoted that to you. He said, all that the Father
giveth me is going to come to me. Him that cometh to me, I'm
not going to cast him out. And you don't need to murmur
about it. He said, no man can come to me except the father
draw him. Why would the father just draw
some? Because that's who he intended to save. Why'd you come? Hardly anybody
else in your neighborhood, but you come. Why is that? Because you have to be drawn. You have to be taught. You have
to hear. God has a people that He chose
in His Son before the world began. And His Son came in the person
of Jesus Christ and accomplished their redemption. It says He
bore their sins in His own body on the tree. Christ also hath
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God. He was delivered for our offenses,
raised again for our justification. Now if Christ died for all men,
then all men were declared justified when He was raised from the dead.
But He didn't declare their justification. In Hebrews 9.12 it says, by His
own blood He entered in and obtained eternal redemption for us. He
obtained it. He took possession of it. In
Hebrews 10.10, it says that by His accomplishing of God's redemptive
will, we're sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all, forever. And by that same sacrifice, He
has perfected forever them that He sanctified. Can you apply that to the world?
No way. No way. His life and death are
not an offer or a down payment that man makes effectual by his
decisions and will. Rather, it's his effectual, righteous
obedience and atoning blood that calls the Spirit of God to come
and regenerate them. Because you're sons, God sent
forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. A preacher, why are you telling
us all these things? Because I want you to see the
glory and deity and lordship of Jesus Christ. He's not just
Lord in title. He's Lord. And He's Lord of the
dead and the living. And no man lives to himself and
no man dies to himself. He's the Lord. He's seated this
morning on the throne. And men act like he doesn't exist. They act like he's just a title,
just another word, just something we say in religious language
to make us feel good. He's Lord. And he's doing exactly what he
will. He Lord by manifested rule over
all things. He workin' providence this morning.
Our bank account was sittin' there just bouncin' off the bottom
the other day. Just bouncin' off the bottom.
I got a letter in the mail. Man sent us $15,000. We'll be
able to do our addition here on the back. Actively engaged as Lord seated
on the throne doin' what he will. Huh? Some see it, some don't. Some walking on that narrow way,
and on that narrow way, they see it all. On that broad way,
they just see each other. He's Lord by manifested rule
over all things. In John 17 to our Lord said that
God had given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as God had given to him. His sovereign power over all
flesh is vitally connected to God's redemptive will and purpose. He God, all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily in Him. He is the redemptive manifestation
of God, God coming into the flesh to save His people from the sin.
And having accomplished that will and purpose, He ascended
into glory where He reigns over all flesh, and He dispenses that
sovereign grace as He was appointed to do. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
His to give or withhold, His to save or to lead men to themselves. All right, preacher, we acknowledge
that. We see that. We see that, and we're careful
to use call our savior lord wish we're careful so did the pharisees you know how you know when a
person acknowledges his sovereign when he obeyed him happens in a believer's heart.
Submission, obedience, and love. In Luke 6, 46, our Lord said,
and why call ye me Lord, Lord? Now listen to this. But ignore
what I tell you to do. This is Luke's version of the
same thing of my text here in Matthew 7. And then here in Matthew
7, he said, not everybody saith unto me, Lord, Lord, to go and
enter into the kingdom of God, but he that listens, submits,
and does what I tell him. Now, the airport. You see what
I'm saying? I took a lot of time so you'd
understand what this is there for. When you see a therefore,
you look to see what it's there for. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I show you a wise man. God given him some wisdom. I liken him to a wise man that
built his house on a rock. Because the rain's coming. Believer
or unbeliever, the rain's coming. He said the same thing, the unbeliever,
he says to the believer, the rain's coming. The rain descended
and the floods came and the winds blew and they beat upon that
house and it fell not. He built it on rock. Built it
on Christ, rested everything on Christ. You cannot own Christ as your
Lord and ignore His commandments. It's an absolute impossibility,
and that's what our Lord's preaching. And He's preaching it with authority.
You can't do it. Well, what does Christ command
us to do? Repent and believe. These things are not a suggestion,
they're commandments. He commands us to confess Him
in believer's baptism. He commands us to love one another. He didn't say, you ought to love
one another. No, He said love one another. He commands us to be kind and
tender-hearted and forgive one another even as God for Christ's
sake has forgiven us. That's a commandment. He commands
us to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together. He commands us to put off the
old man. Put it off. Take it off. Lay
it down. Not to tolerate it. Not to parade
around in it. Put off the old man and his corrupt
behavior and ungodly habits and pleasures. Take them off. Lay
them aside. And then he commands us this,
put on the new man. Put him on. Huh? Don't put him up on the shelf.
Some kind of fire insurance policy. Huh? Cash that in when I die. No. Put him on. Put him on. Put on that new man
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Oh, may God enable all of us to do what our Lord commands
us to do. That's how you know His people.
They follow Him. They listen to Him. Where so
ever the Lamb goeth, that's where they go. Wherever. The Father
used a message this morning. For Thy name's honor and glory. Press it upon our hearts. Enable
us to do these things. We ask it for Christ's sake.