If you will open your Bible with
me to the eighth chapter of Isaiah's prophecy. I'm here tonight to
issue a call to dogmatism. A call to dogmatism. And I issue
this call to this congregation, to every one of you here. And
I issue this call to every preacher under my influence in any way.
If I could get the ear of every preacher in this world, every
man who claims to speak to immortal souls in the name of God, I would
say to that preacher, either proclaim the gospel of Christ
with bold, God-honoring dogmatism, or shut up, get out of the way,
and let somebody else do it. Either proclaim the gospel of
God's free grace with bold, unbending, relentless, God-honoring dogmatism,
or shut up, quit preaching, and go dig ditches. I'm sick to death
of mealy-mouthed, pussy-footing preachers who are scared to death
of offending anyone except God. In Isaiah chapter six, God's
prophet tells us that he saw the Lord Jesus, the crucified,
risen, ascended Christ, exalted, and sitting on his throne. Our
Savior said, Isaiah saw my day. He's talking about me. And with
the revelation of Christ, he tells us how he experienced the
forgiveness of sins through Christ's shed blood being effectually
applied to him by the hand of God through one of his angels.
And then the prophet was commanded to preach. Go now and preach
what you've seen. Go now and preach what you've
experienced. Go now and preach what you've
heard. The fact is, if ever Christ is
revealed in you, you will never get over the revelation. God
sealed his word to Isaiah's heart in the experience of grace. And
he said, now you go tell what I've revealed to you. He was
commanded to preach the glories of Christ crucified until the
land was utterly desolate. and there be a great forsaking
in the midst of the land. Yet in it, God promised, shall
be a tenth, whose substance is in them. So the holy seed shall
be the substance thereof. You go preach what I've taught
you. until men utterly abandon the
worship of God. But in the midst of that apostate
race, there is a seed chosen of God, and they shall live by
the word preached. In the seventh chapter, we read
about a confederacy, a confederacy made between Rezin, the king
of Syria, and Pekah, the king of Israel. Now this is what that
confederacy was all about. The children of Israel, the 10
northern tribes of Israel, who claimed to be God's people, who
claimed to worship Jehovah, they used all the right words and
kept all the right ceremonies and did all the right things
in the outward show of religion. But those 10 northern tribes
of idolaters made a confederacy with the Syrian pagans. to destroy
the children of Judah. They were determined to wipe
out the worship of God and those people who faithfully worshiped
him. But the Lord God said to his chosen in verse four, take
heed and be quiet. Fear not, neither be fainthearted. He says concerning this reprobate
confederacy and its determination to destroy God and his people
in verse seven of chapter seven, thus saith the Lord God, it shall
not stand, neither shall it come to pass. You go ahead, worship
me, serve me, proclaim my word, charge the gates of hell with
the battering ram of the gospel and it'll fall in front of you.
Without question, these words were spoken and written with
historic reference to the physical nations that were spoken of in
this chapter. I understand that. But I understand
this. These things were written for
us, addressing issues facing us in this day, in this day of
swarming infidelity and apostasy. when those who profess to be
the worshipers of God and followers of God join in hellish confederacy
to the destroyers of God's church and God's truth. They join in
hellish confederacy with folks who oppose everything about God,
his gospel and his worship. Multitudes who claim to be unflinching
defenders of the truth. are quick to compromise the gospel
of God's grace and glory in Christ so that they might be accepted
and get along with folks who hate the gospel. I can't tell
you how many letters I have written and phone calls I have made to
preachers, theologians, church historians, teachers in seminaries
around the country who claim to believe and preach exactly
what you hear from this pulpit three times every week. Every
time I hear of a man who claims to believe the gospel of God's
grace unknown to me, I do everything I can to contact him. And I write
to them. I invite them to come down to
our conferences. We'll take care of your motel bill. We'll take
care of your expenses. I want you to become acquainted
with us. But those very men who on paper would say they believe
all of these things concerning the gospel of God's grace, don't
dare identify with any group of people who actually preach
it. They won't dare. I've never even heard back from
one. Never had a response, not from
one of them. They'll join league with Billy
Graham's crusades. Billy Graham's not having it
anymore, but they did when he was around. They'll join league
with Armenians. They'll join league with will-worshippers.
They'll join league with legalists. But with free grace, they'll
have nothing to do with it in a public manner at all. They
stand in the seminaries and Bible colleges and preacher get-togethers
and Bible conferences and argue and fuss and debate about Calvinism
and historic Calvinism and predestination and election and defend it, write
books about it, get real excited. But in the pulpits, they preach
nothing, nothing. Just listen to them. They preach
nothing, absolutely nothing, because they're scared to death
of offending anybody except God. They form a confederacy with
will-worship idolaters of this world and make war against Christ,
his people, and his gospel. The war is not a war between
men and men. It's a war against God, against
him whose name is Emmanuel. It is a war between Christ and
antichrist, a war between Christ's church and hell itself. Look
in verse 14, chapter 7. For every battle of the warrior
is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood. But this shall
be with burning and fuel of fire, we're told in verse five, I'm
sorry, chapter nine in verse five. But this war is concerning
Immanuel, described in chapter seven in verse 14. It's a war
against the Son of God, that one who would come, God in our
flesh, and accomplish redemption. And you can be sure of this,
Immanuel is going to win the war. Look at chapter eight, verse
nine. Associate yourselves, O ye people,
and ye shall be broken in pieces. And give ear, all ye of far countries. Gird yourselves, and you shall
be broken in pieces. Gird yourselves, and you shall
be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it
shall come to naught. Speak the word, and it shall
not stand. For God is with us. God is with us look at chapter
9 verse 6 The prophet speaks again about Emmanuel our Savior
for unto us a child is born Unto us a son is given and the government
shall be upon his shoulders which government all government the
government of the universe, the government of every man's thoughts,
the government of hell, the government of heaven, the government of
every nation, it's on his shoulders. He rules everything and everybody. And his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. And of the increase of his government
and his peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David
and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this. Now go back to chapter eight. Let's look at our text. Here's
this call to dogmatism, verse 11. For the Lord spake thus to
me with a strong hand. What a statement. The Lord, that
is Jehovah the triune God, the only true and living God, spoke
to me by his Spirit accompanying his word and bringing it home
to my heart. He spoke to my very heart that
I might deliver his message to your heart. He spoke, taking
me by the hand in loving efficacy, pulling me back from the road
traveled by the multitude, pulling me back from the hellish confederacy. We're inclined to go this way.
I'm 67 years old, and I've been preaching the gospel of God's
free grace for 50 years. And since I was 17 years old,
I've had folks to come to me and say, you need to get in step
with the times. You need to get in step with
the times. When a fellow Shelby was raised with in Florida, Virginia,
I stand in a bookstore one day right across the street from
where I was selling shoes, went over there and did my lunch break
and look at some books, Bible bookstore. And he saw me looking
through some books and he said, you need to get this, pulled
off self, said, it'll get you in step with the times. And I
took it and set it back on the shelf. I said, I'm out of step
on purpose. I had no intention of getting
in step. But there's always something pulling. It's called flesh, and
pride, and ambition, and greed, something pulling. Well, you
don't need to be so dogmatic. You don't have to be so precise.
You can say these things in such a way that folks don't know what
you're talking about, except the folks who know what you're
talking about. The Lord graciously speaks and takes me by the hand
and pulls me into his way and away from any confederacy. It's
a hellish confederacy. His purpose in speaking to me
was that I should not walk in the way of this people. It is
God alone who keeps me and keeps you. God alone who keeps this
congregation from howling with those ravenous works will worship
wolves and roaring legal lions who would destroy the souls of
men with free will works religion. I chose my words deliberately.
They destroy the souls of men with Arminian free will works
religion. Any religion, any religion, that
makes salvation somehow to be dependent on you, determined
by you, is Antichrist and nobody involved with it knows God. That's
just fact. I want to say it as plainly as
I possibly can. I don't tune my fiddle to their pitch because
God's spoken to me. I've been swimming against the
tide all my life as a believer, and I'm prepared to do so until
I die. God giving me grace if I swim
alone. Ye therefore beloved, Peter says,
seeing you know these things before, beware, lest ye also
being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your
own steadfastness. All right, read on, Isaiah 8
verse 12. Say ye not a confederacy to all them to whom this people
shall say a confederacy? Neither fear ye their fear. Don't
be afraid. Don't be afraid of their God. Neither fear ye their fear. Don't
be afraid of their God. He's nothing. He's a peanut.
He's a pushover. They'll tell you so. They'll
tell you so. He's under their control. They're
not under his control. Don't be afraid of their God.
He can't even control a man's will. Don't be afraid of their
God. Don't be fearful of him. Neither fear ye their fear, nor
be afraid, but rather sanctify the Lord of hosts himself. Set
God apart as God alone. Set God apart as God alone. Would to God. Would to God. He would raise up voices in this
generation. who would dare stand before sinners
and set God apart from all the imaginary gods of men and declare
that he whom we worship, he is God alone. The Lord of hosts
himself, let him be your fear and let him be your dread. And
he shall be for a sanctuary, a sanctuary to you, a hiding
place to you, a refuge to you, are covered in the time of storm
to you, but for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both
the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem. He shall be a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense, a gin and a snare to religious people
going about to establish their own righteousness, refusing to
submit to the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And many
among them shall stumble and fall and be broken and be snared
and be taken. Now look at verse 16. God says
to his prophet, bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. It is my responsibility as God's
servant speaking to you as I preach the gospel to bind up the testimony
of God, the triune Jehovah to you, his people, as is given
in this book. The testimony is the word of
God. This book you have in your hands.
Particularly, it's talking about the word that God has just spoken
to his prophet and by his prophet concerning the person and work
of his dear son, the Lord Jesus. That man who comes to be a foundation
stone for our souls and a stone of stumbling and rock of offense
to the unbelieving. Hold your hands here in Isaiah
and turn to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 1. Now I want you to see this. I'm
not just pulling things out of the air. Let the Scripture speak
for itself. I said the testimony is the Word
of God, the Gospel of the grace of God. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse
8. 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 hath saved us and called us with an 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, but is now made manifest by the appearing of
our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel. whereunto
I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of
the Gentiles, for the which cause, that is the cause of God's testimony,
the gospel of God. I also suffer these things, nevertheless,
I'm not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. The preacher's responsibility
is to bind up God's testimony as something valuable, a treasure,
bind it up so that nothing is lost, nothing is missing. And
then he must, by his preaching, seal the law among my disciples. The word law here doesn't refer
to the Ten Commandments or the ceremonial law of Moses, but
rather to the whole word of God. This book is the law of God given
to his people. It is the commandment of God.
It's the whole doctrine of Christ. And it's the responsibility of
every gospel preacher to establish God's saints in the doctrine
of God. Fortner's a doctrinal preacher.
Yes, sir. I make no apology. We preach the doctrine of Jesus
Christ and preach it with dogmatism. It is my responsibility to establish
you in the present truth. That is the gospel of God's free
grace revealed to us in Christ Jesus. Look at 2nd Timothy chapter
4, 2nd Timothy 4. Paul is addressing his son in
the faith, Timothy, with his very last word before leaving
this world. He says to Timothy, I charge
thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.
Preach the word. Be instant in season and out
of season. When folks like it, when they
don't. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. Patiently preach the word with
long-suffering. Expound the doctrine of the gospel
when men like it and when they don't. Instructing those who
oppose themselves if God, per adventure, may grant them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth. Verse three, for the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their
own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears."
Teachers who say, what was it you'd like me to preach? What
was it you'd like me to preach? I actually had a preacher say
this to me. I don't mind telling you where
he was, down in Mississippi after Bruce Gresham The Lord took him
home. They had a fella in the church that had come from an
Armenian background and he was doing some preaching. And some
of the young folks got real upset and they said, that's heresy.
That's heresy. He called me up and this is how
he explained what he said. He said, I really thought it
was a very generic sermon that anybody could believe. I want
to be careful not to offend anybody. Preach the word. not with itching
ears preaching what men want to hear, but the word of God.
And they, that is these who eat to themselves, teachers after
their own lust, having itching ears, they shall turn away their
ears from the truth. I love that, not truths, but
truth. You see, the doctrine of God
is not multiple doctrines, it's one. The truth of God is not
many truths, but one truth. They shall turn their ears from
the truth and shall be turned unto fables. Fables. I don't know whether they still
have it for textbook in school, but when I was a young boy, I
used to enjoy hearing folks read Aesop's fables. When I got older,
I actually read it on my own. Aesop's Fables, it was a book
all about morality. Living good, doing good stuff. And they told fables to encourage
folks to behave well. You know what a fable is? It's
a complete fabrication. They made up stories to get folks
to live honestly. They told fables, that's what
fable is. That's the problem with religion
today. Men are turned to fables. Telling
religious lies, teaching religious morality, teaching men to go
about and establish their own righteousness. Standing before
eternity bound sinners. Speaking in the name of God as
I do now, it is my responsibility to deliver to you the word of
God. And doing that, I claim the right
to be heard. I insist on being heard. I have
a reputation, I'm well aware of it, that Ford doesn't allow
disturbances, he doesn't allow this, doesn't allow that. There's
a reason. Mark, this is too important to have children running in and
out or adults running in and out, folks playing games and
acting like they were at some kind of a coliseum watching a
ball game. It's too important, too important. I insist on being
heard. I don't claim the right to be
believed and followed blindly and given allegiance from men
just because I stand here and claim to speak for God. It is
your responsibility to try the spirits, to see whether they
are of God. I've given you this challenge
many, many, many times. I issue it again today. I issue
it every time I have opportunity. You search the scriptures. Find
whether what I say is according to this book. Bobby Estes, if
God says it, you better believe it. If God says it, you better
bow to it. If God says it, you better obey
it. This is God's Word. If it's not
according to what God says in the plainest possible words of
Holy Scripture, don't listen to this preacher. He's lying
to you. If he can't show you, thus saith
the Lord, he's lying to you. God's servants speak forth the
truth of God revealed in the word of God. And it's your responsibility
to see whether the man speaks the truth or not. Look at verse
20 of Isaiah chapter eight. This is what we read. To the
law and to the testimony. to the word of God, to the testimony
of God given in his word concerning his son. The doctrine of Christ
revealed in the testimony of God given in the book of God.
If they speak not according to this word, well, they're nice
fellas and they do the best they can. We ought to pray for them.
They just, they tell what they know, but they're good men. They're
good men. We wouldn't say anything against
them. If they speak not according to this word. But Brother Don,
you acknowledge, you wouldn't understand the scriptures if
God didn't teach you. No, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. But Rex, if I
stand here with this book in my hand, and I claim to speak
for God, I must speak what this book says. Now speak what this book says.
I'll give you an example. Back in 1955, Jerry Falwell,
you all know the name, over in Lynchburg, Virginia, attended
the same Bible college I did out in Springfield, Missouri,
Baptist Bible College. He was called into the office,
just like I was called into the office many years later. He was
called into the office with a friend of mine, Brother Millard Mitchell,
who pastored in Nitro, West Virginia for many years. And they were
threatened with expulsion. because they were called hyper-Calvinists,
five-point Calvinists. And Falwell decided he'd get
in line. Millard decided he wouldn't.
Many, many years ago, we used to live on Junction City. Shelby
was cutting supper one Sunday night and was washing dishes
and I was flipping through the channels. And Jerry Falwell was
gonna preach from Romans chapter eight. I thought, this man's
fixing to say something. He's about to say what he knows
is so. And I told Shelby, I said, quit
what you're doing, listen to this. You remember that? Sit
down and listen to this. I want you to hear this. He's
fixing to say something. And he read Romans chapter eight,
got down to verse 28, read that, and then he skipped all the way
down to the end of the chapter. I mean, didn't even read it.
Just didn't even read it. Wouldn't dare read it. Got right
to the end of the chapter. Who shall separate us from the
love of God? If they speak not according to
this word, it's because there is no light in them. Compare that with what Paul says
in Galatians chapter one. Galatians chapter one. Now this
is not Don's doctrine or Baptist doctrine or Calvinistic doctrine
or Gil doctrine, this is God's doctrine. The Apostle Paul writes
in Galatians chapter one, verse six, to these Galatians, who
had been turned away from the gospel, many of them, by Judaizers
who came in and sought to supplant the gospel. Paul says in chapter
one, verse six, I marvel, I'm astonished, that ye are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another. Now in the Greek
language, there are two words translated in English, another.
They're two very distinct words. When our Lord Jesus said in John's
gospel, I will pray the father and he will send you another
comforter. The word means I'm going to pray
for my father and he will send you another comforter just exactly
like me. A comforter who is God. A comforter
who makes intercession for you. A comforter who speaks on your
behalf. I will pray the Father and he
will send you another comforter just exactly like I am. For this
one is God the Holy Spirit. And then there's another word
translated another. It means not even similar. Not even similar. Here's a glass
of water. If you had a glass of acid sitting
over here, you'd say, here's a glass of liquid. That's another
glass of liquid. Not even similar. Nothing about
them alike. And that's the word Paul uses
here, which is not another. It's not even similar. It's not
like it. It's not like the gospel of God,
but there'd be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. But though we are an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, pray for him, give him some money, send him
to the mission field. Let him be damned. Let him be damned,
forever damned. I've come here tonight to bind
up the testimony. I've got nothing new to say.
I've said these things to you many times from this pulpit.
I'm going to just make the statements, read one verse of Scripture,
and we'll be done. One verse with each statement.
First, Psalm 138, verse 2. Psalm 138, verse 2. I will worship toward thy holy
temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy
truth. for thou hast magnified thy word
above all thy name." What a word. David writes by inspiration and
he said, Lord, you've magnified your word above all your name. What on earth is he talking about?
At least this much, Merle. The only way any sinner will
ever know God in his true character is as God reveals himself right
here in his Word. Either this book is the Word
of God in its entirety, inspired of God, containing no errors,
but only truth, divine revealed truth. Either that's what this
book is, or it's a fabrication, a lie, by which multitudes are
damned. If it is not the Word of God,
the best thing you can do is throw it away and burn everyone
you can find. But if it is as it claims to
be, the inspired Word of God, and that's what it is, God's
Word, God's Word, being God's Word This book claims complete
authority over the whole of our lives. If this is God's word,
it must be our only rule of faith and practice. If this is God's
word, as God declares it is, it is to be believed and obeyed
and submitted to in its entirety without question. Well, Brother
Don, I just don't understand everything in there. There's
a lot in this book I don't understand. Nothing in this book to which
I refuse to bow. If it's contrary to my reason,
if it's contrary to my experience, if it's contrary to what everybody
else in the world has ever taught me, the book stands. Everything
else bows to that. Number two. Turn to Psalm 135
if you wanna read it. Either God Almighty, absolutely
sovereign, in total control of all things at all times, or there
is no God. There is absolutely no difference
between the denial of God's sovereignty and absolute atheism. In fact,
to suggest you believe God and deny His sovereignty is more
ludicrous by far than out-and-out atheism. If God is His sovereign,
anything less than an absolute sovereign is not God, but like
all the little g gods of men. idolatrous pigments of man's
dark, depraved imagination. Nothing else. They can do nothing. They can do nothing. But our
God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. Look at Psalm 135, verse six,
or verse five. I know that the Lord is great,
that our God is above all gods, Whatsoever the Lord doeth, or
is pleased. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he. Where did he do it? In heaven,
in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. Can you think of
any other place? Can you think of any other place?
You mean, preacher, God has his way in heaven? and on the earth
in good things and bad, even in hell and over the devils and
demons, all places God rules. There's nothing God doesn't rule
absolutely. He's God. He's God. To deny his sovereignty is to
deny that he is God. The one true and living God,
he who alone is God, is the absolute sovereign of the universe. And
as you read the scriptures, when God distinguishes himself as
God, when he distinguishes himself as God, Mark when he declares,
now this is what I am, as opposed to all that men call gods, do
you know the number one thing he uses to distinguish himself
as God? sovereignty. Number one thing,
his greatest attributes is holiness. I wouldn't, I wouldn't dare presume
to say what's God's greatest attribute. Take away one, you
destroy God. But the one thing God uses above
all others to identify himself as God is his absolute sovereignty. Well, I don't understand how
you can say that God's absolutely sovereign and that man's responsible. Take it up with God. I'm just
telling what God says. Number three, number three, look
at Psalm 14. Either man, every man, coming
forth from his mother's womb is totally depraved, utterly
dead in trespasses and in sins, totally incapable of doing anything
to help himself toward God, or there's nothing wrong with him
and he needs no Savior. What does God say? The Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand and seek God. And this is what God says. They are all gone aside. They
are all together at one time by the sin and fall of our father
Adam. They're all together become filthy. There is none that doeth
good. No, not one. a very common statement
among men and women who don't know God, and sometimes folks
who do know God and pick up the language of Babylon, where the
Lord knows my heart. Yes, he does, but you don't. You don't. The heart's deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Number four, Romans chapter nine. Either God chose some of Adam's
fallen race to salvation and eternal life in Christ before
the world began, as the Bible says He did, or there is no possibility
of salvation for anyone. So election is not an essential
doctrine. Who decided that? Who decided
that? If God didn't choose to save,
James, nobody would be saved. You see, salvation is God's,
not yours. Salvation is God's prerogative,
not yours. Salvation is God's choice, not
yours. Salvation by God's will, not
yours. If God didn't choose to save
some, nobody would be saved. Election is that by which God
opens the door of mercy and pours out his grace upon sinners. The
quote it says in Romans chapter nine, verse 13. as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. I don't understand that. If you
read it in the Advocate Messenger this morning, you'd understand
it. If somebody got up and said,
I love Black folks, I hate white. Well, you might not understand
that. But if they said, I hate black folks and I love white
folks, you'd understand they're, oh, everybody being enraged.
Everybody just being enraged. Oh, you can't say such a thing.
How can they be so upset? Because they understand it. Why
do folks get in such a rage when they hear somebody quote Romans
9.13? Why? Because they do understand it.
That's the very thing that makes a man, they do understand it.
God said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What should
we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Everybody says so. God forbid. For he said to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Now this is the divinely inspired
conclusion to the matter. So then, It is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah 53, his fifth statement. Either the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's darling son, is altogether and alone, the effectual savior
and redeemer of his people, or he's a fraud, a fake, and a failure. Again, there's no middle ground.
Either Christ did what he came here to do, or he's a fake, he's
a charlatan. And those who represent such
a fake and charlatan are themselves fakes and charlatan. If he didn't
do what he came here to do, he's a failure. And if he's a failure,
he's not God, and we have no savior. Isaiah 53 verse 10. It
pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall
see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his
knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall
bear their iniquities. The Lord Jesus Christ shall see
of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Not one redeemed
sinner shall perish under the wrath of God. All chosen of God
and redeemed by Christ will be called by his grace. And that
brings me to the next statement, John 6, verse 63. You're familiar
with it, you don't have to turn there. Either we are regenerated
and called to life and faith in Christ, by the irresistible,
omnipotent power, mercy, and grace of God, effectually born
again by God the Holy Spirit, or there's no such thing as salvation.
You see, man is dead, spiritually dead. dead in trespasses
and in sins, without life toward God, dead. If he lives, he's
not gonna live by something he does. If he lives, God must step
in and give you life. This is what the scripture tells
us. It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. It's the Spirit of God who gives
life. Flesh profits nothing. What's
that mean? The sinner saved by God's Spirit,
given faith in Christ by God's Spirit, calls to come to Christ
by God's Spirit, that sinner has nothing to boast of. Mark Henson, you believe in God
is not something with which you get credit. Not even now. Not even now. God does it. If you can go home, believe in
God for just a little while, God gives you the faith. God
gives you the faith. You can't believe him otherwise.
If God doesn't give you life, you will never believe. If God
doesn't give you faith in Christ, you will never come to Christ.
A preacher, that shuts a man up to God, doesn't it? It does
indeed. It does indeed. I don't try to
play tricks on folks and get them to make a profession of
faith, join the church and act religious. I refuse to do it
or refuse to have any part in it because all I can do is mess
things up. You see, if God gives you faith,
It can't be attributed to my ability as a preacher, or to
my diligence in study and preparation, or to my prayers and intercessions,
or to anything I do. And it can't be attributed to
your mama or your daddy, your brother or your sister. The flesh
profits nothing, nothing. God has mercy on whom God will
have mercy. Number seven, Either God's people
are entirely free from the law, as the book of God declares we
are, or we're yet under the bondage of the law, and entirely obligated
to keep the law perfectly. I know there are multitudes out
yonder who try to tell us, well, there's a sense in which we're
free from the law, and there's a sense in which we're under
the law. That's strange language. There's no middle ground. Either
you're dead to the law or you're alive to the law. Either the
law is dead to you or the law is alive to you. Either you're
under the law or under grace. You can't be both. And the scriptures
declare, ye are not under the law but under grace. That's the
language of scripture. So much so that the apostle Paul
writes and says, Don't be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Don't do it. If you do, if you're circumcised,
if you read the Bible or go to church once a week or three times
a week, or you tithe and double tithe and triple tithe, or you
witness door-to-door five hours every day, or you read your Bible
on your knees every year, if you do it to get God's favor,
to improve your standing in God's favor, to get assurance, to get
peace, you're under the law and you've fallen from grace. Randall
Hopkins, our entire standing before God is grace. Aren't you
glad? Aren't you glad? Everything God
requires of me, God gives me through the obedience and death
of his darling son, number eight. Either every sinner who comes
to Christ is saved by Christ, or none are saved by Him. I'll
pray a minute, preacher. You've been preaching divine
sovereignty, and election, and predestination. How can you say
that? Because our Savior says, come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. If you come to Christ, he'll
give you rest. If right now, right where you
sit, you come to Christ, he'll give you rest. It's impossible
for a sinner to come to Christ and not be received by Christ
or else Christ is a fake and no such thing as salvation. He
that believeth on the Son of God have everlasting life. I believe on the Son of God. I have everlasting life. Sometimes,
Brother Murrell, I feel like maybe I do. Most of the time I don't. That's just fact. Well, how can
you be sure? Because God said, he that believeth
on the Son of God hath everlasting life. Brother Todd Nybert and
I were talking about Peter the other day. How helpless we are. Peter hears the Lord say, before
the night's over you, before the rooster crows twice, you're
gonna deny me three times. Peter said, not me, Lord, not
me. And so Peter denied the master. And maybe nothing happened. Maybe
nothing bothered him. He just paid no attention to
it. And then he denied the Lord again. And that rooster crowed. Can you imagine how terrified
Peter must have been? Can you imagine how utterly terrified
he, what have I done? What have I done? Still, Lindsay, he could not
extricate himself from the mess. He was on the downward spiral
of his own flesh, and he couldn't do anything about it. Nothing. So it is with you and me, if
God leaves us to ourselves for a second. And then he denied
and cussed, said, I don't know that man. And the rooster crowed
a third time, and he went out of there. Brokenhearted, no question.
Terrified, no question. He said to the disciples after
that, he said, he said, boys, I'm going fishing. And he was
not saying I'm going on a fishing trip. I'm going down to Lake
Fish for a while, think things over. That wasn't what he said.
Bill, he was saying, I'm going back to where I started this
thing. It's all been for nothing. And if you'd have walked up to
Peter and said, Peter, are you assured of your salvation? He'd
have said, what? Man couldn't possibly be saved
and act like I have. But if you ask him, Peter, do
you believe on the Son of God? He would have said, I believe thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's where salvation
is. It's in Christ. And it's experienced
believing on the Son of God. One more thing. Every sinner
saved by God's free grace, every one of them, every one of them,
every one of them, every one of them, no matter what, every
one of them, every sinner saved by God's free grace will persevere
unto the end, being preserved unto everlasting life by Jesus
Christ the Lord. You see, this thing doesn't depend
on you, and it doesn't depend on me. I'm confident of this
very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. God, thank you, thank you, thank
you. for free grace and free salvation
in Jesus Christ, your Son. Amen.