message this morning is the word
of faith. Paul said, what does this righteousness
of faith, how does it speak? It doesn't speak like the law.
The law said that the man, if he's going to
be justified by the law, he's going to do exactly what the
law said or he's not going to be justified. Cursed is everyone who continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
Know this, if your goal is to achieve a righteousness by your
obedience to the law, you've got 637 precepts. And that includes the offering
of the lamb, the building of the tabernacle. You're gonna
have to do it all. going to have to have a priesthood,
going to have to have a high priest and you're going to have to go
exactly as God told you to go in that law and you're going
to have to continue in them things from the cradle to the grave
and you're going to have to do them all with the overriding
principle of love So this is not the way to achieve
a righteousness. The way to achieve a righteousness
is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you don't hear
anything else I said today, you hear that. My subject is the word of faith.
That's what Paul said. This is the word which we preach. This is what we're telling you.
Now the Apostle Paul, under the influence of the Holy Ghost,
he begins this chapter with just a heart-wrenching, a heart-wrenching
declaration of his desire that his kinsmen, according to the
flesh, should be saved. Paul was just like them. He was
a Pharisee. He was a Benjamite. He was raised
in that religion, and God called him out of it. God arrested him
and saved him, brought him to faith and repentance. brought
him to Christ. In chapter 9, verse 3, he said,
for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ. Now
he said this under the influence of the Holy Spirit of God. So
I know it's a true statement and he said, I could wish that
myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen,
according to the flesh. He loved And he wanted them to
be saved. And to one degree or the other,
it is the desire of every true believer to see those he knows,
those he's had association with in this life, come to know and
to love and to rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want that, don't
you? But you say, now wait a minute.
The Jews were God's chosen people. That's why Paul said that. Well,
yes and no. God did make a covenant with
natural Israel, a temporal covenant, a covenant according to their
work, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey and to raise
them up over all the nations of the earth to overcome their
enemies and to inhabit that land that he promised Abraham that
he would give to them. And upon entering in, upon the
establishing of Israel in the promised land, God said, now
I have fulfilled my covenant with you. He did that. He fulfilled it. He promised
it. He gave it. And in that sense, they're a
beautiful picture of true Israel. Beautiful picture. And God fulfilled
His temporal promises to Israel. He brought them into that land
that He promised them and overcame their enemies and set up a new
nation. But the covenant of grace which
God established with Abraham was not with the Jewish nation. Now get that thought out of your
head. People will agree with you on an election as long as
this election that you're talking about has to do with national
Israel. They'll go along with you. Yes,
absolutely. That's God's chosen people. That's
God's elect. But the covenant of grace which
God established with Abraham was not with the Jewish nation,
but with his elect, which God chose out of every kindred, nation,
tribe, and people under heaven. That's God's elect. And he tells
us this great truth over here in Romans 9, verse 8. They which
are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of
God. But the children of the promise
are counted for the seed. And he told Abraham in Genesis
22, 18, he said, in thy seed, in thy seed, all the nations
of the earth are going to be blessed. All going to be blessed. And then listen to this verse,
Galatians 3.16. Here's the key to this whole
thing. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.
He saith not unto seeds, as of many, talking about his offspring,
but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. Election, hear
me, election is in Christ. Don't you dare get election outside
of Christ. Election is in Christ. God the
Father blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, according as he hath chosen us, now listen, in him,
before the foundation of the world. All the promises are in
Christ. And that's what Paul said about
his gospel. All the promises of God in Christ
are yea and amen. There is no if. There is no doubt. There is no failure. It's all
in Christ. Question is, are you in Christ? You see what I'm saying? The scriptures are perfectly
clear as to who his elect are, how they were chosen, and how
for you to tell the difference between the natural Jew and the
spiritual Jew. The natural Jew, everything's
outward. Everything's outward. Circumcision
in the flesh, outward. Worship, outward. Everything's
outward. Everything's in the physical.
Everything's in the natural. But not the spiritual Jew. He's
a Jew in his heart. and circumcision is when the
Spirit of God transforms him and makes him anew, that work
of the Holy Spirit in him. Ye are the children of God. Listen
to this, Galatians 3, 26. Ye are the children of God by
faith in Christ Jesus. God the Father chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world, and there was established
for us and by the triune God he had an everlasting covenant
of grace. Now David, the psalmist, a man
after God's own heart, these were his dying words. This is
the last thing he uttered before he went to be with the Lord.
He said, although it be not so with my house, yet God hath made
with me an everlasting covenant, and it's ordered in all things,
and sure. And he said, this is all my salvation. I'm ready to lay my head down
for the last time. This is all my salvation and
all my desire. And it's so whether he makes
it to increase in my house or not. By way of this eternal covenant
of grace, the Son of God was appointed the mediator, the covenant
surety. This thing is ordered and all
things ensured because it has a surety through which it is
ordered. He's the mediator, one mediator
between God and me and the man, Christ Jesus. And by way of this
covenant, the Son of God was appointed as our Redeemer, our representative, our Savior,
and our King. I don't know who his elect are.
Do you? I don't know who they are. They got no special mark on them.
They don't all dress the same. They don't all wear the hair
the same. I don't know who they are. But I know how they were chosen. And I know how they were redeemed.
And I know how God distinguishes His elect. Here's what I do know. I know
that every child of God shall be set apart from this world
by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit of God, which brings
His elect to Christ through the preaching of the gospel. I know
that's so. Listen to this. This is 2 Thessalonians
2, 13 and 14. You all ought to be able to quote
this by now. I use it so much. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel. That's pretty
clear, isn't it? How do I know you're lit? God
called you by his gospel. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 1,
Paul told the Thessalonians that he knew their election of God.
Some of them didn't know it, but he knew it. He said, I know
your election of God because my gospel came not unto you in
word only. All too often I stand up here
and preach and my message comes in word only. It goes in this
ear and out that ear. Or it goes in this ear and gets
caught somewhere in the vacuum. But it don't go home to the heart.
When you preach to God's elect in God's time and by God's power,
that word penetrates the heart. It goes home to the head like
it never did before and it strikes a chord in the heart. And a man
moves, he don't just sit there, he moves. It moves him to repentance. It moves him to faith. It moves
him to love. It moves him to give. It changes
him. He's a new creature in Christ.
Old things are passed away. Old things become new. He's not
the same man that he was. He's different. God arrested
him. He quit going in this direction
and started going in this direction. Now know this about God's elect.
As many as are led by the Spirit of God, that's the sons of God. The Spirit leads them. In John
chapter 6, our Lord said to the Jews, all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out. And the Jews listened to all
that he had to say about himself being the bread come down from
heaven and he was the living manna and all these things. And
they murmured. They murmured at him. Listen to what this man said. He thinks he's equal with God.
He thinks he's the Redeemer. And they murmured at him. He
murmured at his teaching, and this is how he answered him.
He said, don't murmur. Don't murmur. No man can come
to me. Now all that the Father giveth
me is going to come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. But no man is going to come to
me except my Father draw him. And the reason you're not coming
is because he ain't drawing. When he draws, you'll come. As
it's written, listen to this, he goes on. As it's written in
the prophets, they're all going to be taught of God. How does
God teach a man in such a way as to draw him? How does he do
that? It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. That's how you draw them. That's
how you talk. God teaches, he that heareth
you, heareth me. That's what the Lord told his
disciples. Men murmur at this. They don't
like that. The apostle Paul was not seeking
God. He wasn't denouncing his idolatrous
religion. He was actively engaged in it
when God arrested him. He'd been down to Damascus to
seek paper so he could go persecute some more Christians. He could
hold the coats of the council while they stoned him to death. God manifest his blindness to
him. Oh, you think when God's working
with a man he's just all full of joy and all full of Oh no,
when God begins his work in a man, he manifests his blindness. That's
the first thing he does. He didn't know where he was at.
He didn't know where he was going. He didn't know who was talking
to him. He didn't know anything. He was blind. He was laying there
with his face in the mud. He wasn't riding that big white
Charger around with his own righteousness and all these scriptures on the
broad phylacteries and persecuting Christians and justifying himself
before God. God threw his face in the mud
and he blinded him. He couldn't do anything. He had
to be led. Somebody had to come and get
him and take him down. Where did they take him? They take him out to the river,
take him out to the solitude, put him in a boat and say, float
around here a little bit and just think about things. No,
that ain't what happened. God sent him a man who took him
to God's preacher. And God's preacher told Paul
the will of God concerning him. And then when he preached, he
said, I delivered unto you that which I also received. Now that
Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. How'd he know
that? Somebody told him. Somebody told him. Oh, let me tell you something.
When the work of the Holy Ghost begins in a man, he begins to
see and to know and to understand. He finds himself submitting himself
to the Word of God. Never entered his mind before
to do that. He thought he was completely
able. He thought any time he wanted to. That's what a man
told me. He said, I'm going to go home this weekend, read this
Bible, and then we'll talk on Monday. Well, you ain't going
to get much out of it if that's how you read it. Men think they're totally able. This is just a matter of deciding,
just a matter of a decision, just a matter of change in will,
just a matter of turning over newly. It's a new life. It's a new life. When work begins in men, he begins
to see, and to know, and to understand, and he finds himself submitting
himself to the Word of God, and the will of God, and the ministry
of God, the means of God. He's being led of the Spirit. And that's a sure mark of God's
elect. And this enlightened sinner comes to see the full, free,
and sovereign grace of God. There's no reason in him why
God should separate him from the rest of the world. The reason
was in God. It wasn't in you. It was in him. Nobody's twisting his arm. Nobody's
throwing their works at him. Nobody's collecting a reward.
It's grace. It's all grace. The election,
Paul says, is of grace. And if it's of works, then it
can't be of grace. It's the sovereign grace of God
that separates us and calls us and makes us to differ. Without any cause in the sinner,
long before he's ever born god tells you you know how god establishes
this doctrine of election jacob and he's out before you
one of the done any good or evil that the purpose of god according
to election not stand it was said under their mother the elders
also are we're going to turn this thing around the elders
also are the young Why? Because I love Jacob and I hate
Esau. That's why. People go around, well, why would
he hate Esau? I don't have no problem with
that. What amazes me is that he loved Jacob. Esau had every reason in the
world for somebody to be proud of him. His daddy loved him.
He was a man's man. He was a hunter. He was a man's
man. He was a businessman. He stood
up. Jacob, he was a finagler, always cutting deals. God loved
him. You won't have no problem. God
opens your eyes. You won't have no problem with that. But you'll
wonder the rest of your life, why did he love me? Because he
would. Because he would. Without any cause in the sinner,
God chose him, redeemed him, brought him to repentance and
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and preserves him. And for the first time in his
life, he sees a full sufficiency in the Savior, and Christ becomes
to him the end of the law for righteousness. Now this righteousness
is not just talking about your obedience to the law. This righteousness
has to do with the redemption of your soul. You read Romans 3, verses 24
through 27. See what that says. He saved us in Christ that he
might be just and justifier and that he might declare his righteousness
in the salvation of sinners. For the first time in his life
he sees the blood of Christ enabling God to be just and justifier. Anybody that believes on Christ.
And this man, by the spirit of the living God, takes his place
at the feet of the Savior as a bankrupt beggar. A bankrupt, filthy thinking beggar. And here's what he says. In my
hand, no cross I bring, simply to thy cross. If God were to take the robe
of his righteousness away, you'd stand before God in your nakedness. You'd stand before God in your
shame, being fully exposed for what you are. If thou, Lord, listen to this,
if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who could
stand? Who's gonna stand? If he sees
in your heart one sin, who's gonna stand? And there's nothing
he don't see. This whole religious world is
ignorant of the righteousness of God and like old Israel, they're
going about to establish their own righteousness and will not
submit themselves under the righteousness of God. A preacher, you saying
that it's wrong to encourage men and women to do good works
depends on why you're telling them. If you're telling them to do
good works, to win God's affection, God's approval, or to reconcile
yourself to God, that's anti-Christ doctrine. That's heresy. That's
an abomination to God. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. And if you're telling sinners
to clean up their lives and make themselves presentable to God,
you're doing the very opposite of what the gospel commands.
He said, think not that I come to call the righteous. I'm not
come here to call the righteous. I came here to save sinners. The whole need not a physician,
the sick. Are you sick? Come to him that
way. Are you bankrupt? Come to him
that way. Our Lord said to the Pharisees
who questioned his presence with the publicans and sinners, he
said, you don't need me. They need me. That's why I'm
spending my time with them. But he said, you go learn what
this means. I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. Brethren, if Christ
calls you, He'll call you out of darkness. If He raises you,
He'll raise you from the dead. If He cleanses you, He'll cleanse
you from the leprosy of your nature. And if He sets you free,
you'll be free from the bondage of satanic religion. The Jews, Paul's beloved kinsmen,
were not saved, but in their ignorant zeal, they were going
about to establish their own righteousness. How does a poor, needy, ignorant
sinner come to know and believe in Christ? Romans chapter 10
and verse 8. Are you here this morning? Are
you willing to take your place before Him as the beggar? Are
you willing to confess to God who you are in truth? Has God
opened your eyes to see what you are? Has He let you gaze
into that siftful of iniquity? Then come that way before Him.
And come for mercy. Don't come there for reward.
He'll spit on you. You come up there seeking mercy. And He'll listen to you. He'll
listen to you. Listen to this, Romans 10 verse
8. The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy
heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach. Preaching is pointing poor, deceived
sinners to Christ. Salvation's in Him, it's not
in us. Salvation's in Him, it's not
in our decisions. It's in Him, not in our obedience
to the law. This representative man, this
sovereign mediator, this holy covenant surety and great high
priest, he came in union with his people and accomplished their
redemption. And then ascended into glory
and were accepted in the blood. And God hath made him to be unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
And by his own blood, he said, not the blood of others, but
by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place and
obtained, obtained it, took it in his hand, received it from
God the Father. Eternal redemption for us. Will you hear me? Can you hear
me? Neither, he said, is there salvation
in any other. whether none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And Paul said
this word is nigh you. It's nigh you. You hear it every
week. You're hearing it again this
morning. It's nigh you. You've heard it so often, it's
on your tongue. Right now, it's in your mouth.
You're tasting it. You're contemplating it. It's
now you. It's so close and yet so far
away. It's in your mouth, Walter. It's
in your mouth. You've already been talking about
it this morning. You've already had a taste of
it this morning. It's now you. It doesn't come by dreams and
visions. It don't come by natural gifts. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. And
this is the Word of Faith which we preach. And you hear it. Right here you hear it. Well you hear it. Sovereign grace. Sovereign mercy, eternal salvation,
divine calling, irresistible calling, particular redemption. God working in you both to will
and to do of His good presence. And it's right here, it's in
your mouth. And it's on your tongue. And it's already being contemplated
in your heart. All right, here's the third thing. The gospel is only limited by
God's eternal purpose and decree. How are you going to call on
Him of whom you have not heard? Oh, my soul, there's not a broader
gospel anywhere in this world. He used that word, whosoever.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord is going to
be saved. Well, what if He's raised whosoever? What if he don't know he's a
let? Whosoever. Are you thirsty? He said, let
the thirsty man come. And whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. Huh? You couldn't find a broader
gospel anywhere on the planet. Nothing in your way? Come on! Well, I just don't know if I
can do the work. I know that you can't do the work. But he
can. He can. You reckon that old man stood
there by the temple with his arm all withered up? He'd been
like this for years and years and years. And he stood there
by the temple. And the Lord came up and said, stretch forth thine
hand. He couldn't. But he did. He told that man, he'd been down
there 27 years, or 37 years, I don't know how long it was,
down there by the pool of Bethesda. People carried him down, laid
him down there, waited on the waters to be troubled. Lord come down there and looked
at him. He said, take up your bed and walk. He couldn't. But he did. Told Bartimaeus, what do you
want? that I might see, all right? He couldn't, but he did. And he tells you this morning,
come on, come to Christ. Believe on me. You can't, but
you will. You will if you're one of his. You will. The gospel's limited
only by God's eternal purpose and decree. And when I preach
this gospel, I'm to preach it to anyone and everyone that's
hungry and thirsty and willing to listen. In both verses here
in Romans 10, verses 11 and verse 13, he uses the word whosoever. Oh, God won't save my son. Huh? He saved you? What were you,
a goody two-shoes? No. No, you were a sinner. My friend Paul said, God saved
me first, the chief of sinners, for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe. When God saves a man, that man
should never despair of God saving another, because that man always
sees himself the chief of sinners. We preach a grand and glorious
declaration of salvation in Christ, whosoever believeth on him. But
how you gonna believe in him of whom you've not heard? You
see what Paul's saying? This gospel's so nigh to you
right now. It's not in the world. It's not
down here in this city, and it ain't over there in that city,
and it's not down there where we moved from. The word is nigh
you, right here, right now. Now what are you going to do
with it? It's on your tongue. You can taste it. What are you
going to do with it? Spit it out? Walk away? Or are you going to
come? I'll tell you how I know God
to let. They come. They taste. They see. And they rejoice. We preach a grand and glorious
declaration of salvation in Christ. Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. And there's no difference between
the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is rich unto all them
that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Why would the Lord God save anybody? for the glory of His own name.
That's why. And for Christ's sake. This world has looked on Christ.
They talked to Him. They questioned Him. They listened
to Him. And they saw His works. And they
set Him aside. They called Him out. And I'm telling you this, Christ
has no place in religion. They will not have this man to
reign over them. They're just not going to do
it. God's name is manifested in the God-man, but there was
no place in their religion for a sovereign Savior, for an eternal surety, for a
holy representative. we'll acknowledge him in the
cradle we're about to come into that phase and you don't see
him in the cradle everywhere in the mind you're saying they
realize in the cradle for the baby jesus will acknowledge him
on the ground hangin air bloody on the ground but we don't have
him on the ground naturally that he's on the ground None other name under heaven
given among men. You climb up some other way,
the Lord said you're a thief and a robber. I'm the way, I'm
the truth, I'm the light. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. You'll come as you are, exactly
as this book describes you, and be saved in Christ, or you'll
die in your sins. There has to be a hearing. How
you gonna call on him and whom you've not heard? How you gonna
hear without a preacher? Oh, I'll figure it out. You go
ahead. You let me know what you figure
out. You ain't gonna figure anything out. God's gonna reveal it. That's
how it comes. That's how it comes. The Jews
figured it out. They were wrong on every point. Religion figured it out. Go ask
them. They'll tell you. Here it is.
One, two, three, four. Take you down the Roman road.
Nothing to it. Huh? You ain't going to figure
it out. I'll tell you how you're going
to hear when God sends you a preacher. And shut your mouth. Just shut
your mouth. And how on earth is this man
going to preach if God don't send him? Ain't no power in me. I ain't got any power. I can't
call men. I can't persuade men. I can't
convince men of anything. In the religion I came out of,
they thought I was nuts. You're crazy. Like Paul, much
study has made you mad. You're a madman. Get out of here.
We're not going to have this. We're not going to have this
stuff free. Boy, it ain't that way when you find one God's elect.
He said, that's it. That's it. How you going to preach
if God don't send you? You just going to make up your
mind, I'm a preacher? Ain't going to happen. Ain't
going to happen. You talking to somebody who knows.
Ain't going to happen that way. But I tell you, when he sends
you, And he does that work in the heart. There's nothing like
it. It's wondrous. Where all else has failed, this
works. Huh? Oh, but I just don't know this
and I don't know that. It's already in your mouth and
on your tongue. Can you believe it? Can you come
to him? Can you rest in him? Well, you can if he draws you
and he teaches you.