I invite you this morning to
turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I hope by the grace of God to
talk to you today about the mystery of faith. That's what Paul was
saying to these people. He'd been in religion all his
life. And faith was yet a total mystery
to him until God revealed it to him. And that's what he tells
these people. If you understood what I said
to you about how God revealed these things to me, this great
mystery of the Gentiles, and these great mysteries which had
been hidden in God before the world was. Divine truths are
a mystery to natural reasoning and philosophy, a total mystery. Total mystery. Doesn't make sense.
Man hears it and says, I don't understand. I don't understand. The idea that God created everything
that is, everything that's seen, everything that we walk on and
we look up and the sun that shines on us and the rain that's falling,
all of these things God made out of nothing. How can a being
make something out of nothing? It's a mystery, isn't it? But
that's what God said he did. He took the unseen things and
made things that are seen. But that's a mystery to natural
man. It has never been accepted by society because it's a mystery
to him. The idea that God chose a people
out of Adam's race to be saved by the person and work of Jesus
Christ for the glory of God is a mystery. It's a mystery. I've never heard any such thing
preached. I was 26 or 7 years old before
I ever heard anything like that preached. And again, I say it's
not accepted by society because it don't jive up with their limited
thinking and reasoning. The person of Jesus Christ is
a great mystery. Eternal and with the Father from
the beginning, yet born in time. made subject to time, lived day
by day, the eternal Christ. Both God and man in one glorious
person. How can that be? It's a mystery. It's a mystery. And the mystery
of the Holy Ghost, invisible yet sovereign, every wit God. Anything God can do, the Holy
Spirit can do because he's God. He's sovereign. He's ever with
God. And his presence and powers made
known to some while totally passing by others. That's a mystery,
isn't it? Mystery. He said, like the wind
blows, you can see its effects, but you don't know where it come
from and where it's going. That's the sovereign spirit of
God. Everything about the spirit of God is a mystery to natural
man. The need of a feeling, the need
of an experience, a vision, a voice to go with it or else they say
he wasn't there. He wasn't there. I made this statement to a friend
of mine on the telephone yesterday. I said, I doubt if the average
religionist had the Spirit abiding in him if he'd even know it. If he'd even know it. Because
he don't know the effects. He thinks the effects is a good
feeling. And like old Brother Barnard
said, if you want a good feeling, get some warm honey and pour
it down your back. That's not how the Holy Spirit
reveals Himself. He reveals Himself by the revelation
of Christ to your heart. That's how He reveals Himself. They need a voice. They need
a feeling. They need an experience. And then they can say, oh, now
I know the Holy Spirit because... and they'll go back to those
things. Yet we're plainly told He's in the midst of God's assemblies
all the time. All the time. We're plainly told
that when He's come, He'll take up His abode in you and He will
abide with you forever. Do you feel the Holy Spirit with
you every day? I don't. And I tell you, I've
read some of these old writers who talk about that, feeling
the presence of the Spirit and all this on a continual basis.
And if that's so, I don't know God. No, that's just the way
it is. Sometimes he, I can be preaching
or studying or sometimes driving down the road and he'll take
a verse of scripture and he'll open it to my heart and then
I can say with Peter and the rest of them, didn't my heart
burn within me when he opened up his word? And I can sense
his presence in that way. But just feeling the presence
of God, that's in a man's head, that's
where that's at. He abides with us forever. The
Holy Ghost is a mystery to fallen men and the Gospel is a mystery.
Paul tells us here in 1 Corinthians 2, look down there at verse 7.
We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom
which God ordained before the world unto our glory. He is going to take His glory,
this glorious mystery of God. And He's going to reveal it unto
us. The gospel we preach has little
in common with the so-called gospel of this world. They do
preach a gospel. They call it by that name. They
connect it with the promises of Scripture, and they say it,
if you accept it, you're saved. They preach a message contrary
to the gospel of God, and then they give assurance to the hearers
by quoting passages out of context. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. But they preach the gospel contrary
to the gospel of God. But then they take that and apply
it to it and give you assurance. They quote passages out of context,
like John 3, 16, and 1 John 2, 2, and 2 Peter 3, 9, and 1 Timothy
2, 4, and I could go on and on and on with these passages. They
preach a universal atonement, declaring that Christ died for
every man, making atonement for every man's sin. And if that's
so, then thousands are in hell for whom Christ died. Can you
even imagine such a thing? Where's the good news in that? They preach a universal love
of God and claim that this love is manifested in the death of
Christ. But if that were true, then God's
love for His people wouldn't have made any difference because
some are in hell today. And it would make God a liar,
wouldn't it? Because he said, nothing can separate you from
my love. And make him a liar in another
account, old Romans 9, where he said, Jacob have I loved,
and Esau have I hated. If he loves everybody, he couldn't
hate Esau. And somebody said, well, he hates
Esau because of what Esau did. Let me tell you something. God
said this before either one of them was ever born, or either
one of them had ever done any good or evil. That's exactly
right. That's a mystery to natural man.
How can that be? How can God? Because he's God.
Because he's God. They preach a gospel that declares
man to be broken but not ruined by the fall. They preach a gospel
that declares man to have a free will. Brethren, there's nothing
free to a man who's in bondage to sin. Nothing's free. His mind's
not free. His will's not free. His emotion's
not free. He's in chains of darkness. He's
in bondage. They preach a gospel that declares
salvation to be all up to man. God's done all He can do. Now
it's all up to you. I remember years ago, Brother
Merle Hart, one of Don's deacons up in Danville, I worked with
him. He's a trim carpenter, and we'd
trim these big expensive houses over in Lexington. And we went
out and bid on a house one day. And then these young boys come
by and underbid us and got the job. So we went on to another
job, and about three weeks later, that homeowner called us. And
he said, I'd like for you to come by and give me a bid on
finishing up the house. And Merle said, what do you mean
finishing up the house? He said, well, these other guys
come in and they trim the windows and they trim the door. They
did all the things that was simple to do, anybody could do. They
trimmed the windows, trimmed the doors, and made a draw, got
their money, and then went out the back door, what we call drawing
out and cutting out. That's what they did. And he
called us to do it. And here's what the boys told
him. We've done all we can do. It's all up to you. Now that's
the kind of gospel this world preaches to men. They preach a redemption that
does not redeem, an atonement that does not atone, a justification
that does not justify, and in short, a salvation that cannot
save. God talked about them way back
in Isaiah. He said they pray to a God, the
heathen does. They pray to a God who cannot
save. And worldly religion, antichrist
religion, long-established accepted religion, declares a reconciliation
by your own righteous obedience to the law. You join the church,
you pay your tithes, you attend the meetings, participate in
the ordinances, and do the best you can, and God will show you
favor and bless you. I see it on their bumper stickers.
Give, and God will bless you. People come here one time to
visit, and then they go away and they tell others, well, the
only thing different about them and us is they believe in particular
redemption. They believe in election. That's
the only difference. My soul, that ain't the only
difference. We differ on everything. We differ
on everything. We don't worship the same God.
Our God is holy and just and righteous, and He will by no
means clear the guilty. Our God is sovereign and not
subject to anyone or anything. He does what He pleases. He does
it in heaven, He does it on earth, and He does it under the earth,
and He does it at all times. Our God is gracious. He saves
men and women by His grace without any consideration whatsoever
for their works. And ain't you glad He does? Our
God's merciful. It's not of Him that willeth.
It's not of Him that runneth. It's of God that showeth mercy.
Our God's holy. He cannot save by compromising
His character. He's just in His justification
of all that believe, and He declares Himself in that salvation to
be righteous in all things. Our God's eternal. Whatever happens
in time was purposed from eternity. You know, we've got so-called
grace preachers today who are arguing about eternal justification. Is God eternal? You reckon God
just waited until a certain time and said, well, I guess now's
the time. No. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. He doesn't justify anybody in
time that he did not justify in his purpose before the foundation
of the world. Our God's eternal and he works
all things all the time after the counsel of his own will. Preacher, I knew one time, we'd
been talking for about a week or two. And he told me, he said,
I think we're pretty close on some things. And I said, I don't see how you
can say that. I said, we've been talking for
two weeks and we haven't agreed on anything. We speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the
world under our glory. Now look down there at verse
8, which none of the princes of this world knew. Not the wisest,
not the most educated, not the most advanced, most religious
men who ever existed. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. Who crucified the Lord
of glory? The princes of this world. Have
you ever stopped to consider who crucified him? Herod, the
son of Herod the Great, the one who demanded the head of John
the Baptist in a charger, he was there at the crucifixion
of Christ. Pilate, the governor of Judea,
the Roman governor of Judea, he was there. All the dignitaries
of Rome were there. They were all there. All the high-ranking soldiers.
And then the people of Israel, who were they? That was the high
priest, the high council, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, all
of the, I guess what you call the very heartbeat of Israel
was there at the crucifixion, involved in it. They went into
the midst of the crowd, stirred up the people to cry for his
crucifixion. What I'm saying is this, those
who had the deepest knowledge and highest wisdom concerning
this man were totally ignorant of who he was. Isn't that what
Paul said? Even the princes of this world
didn't know him. If they had, they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory. Verse 9, look here, 1 Corinthians
2 verse 9, but as it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard. Now listen to this. Neither have
entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared
for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit. How did we come to understand
them? God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. Let me tell you something, and
I pray God will give you some understanding here. The Holy
Spirit manifests His presence and power in the preaching of
the gospel. Is that so? That's what the Scripture
teaches. He manifests His power and His
presence in the preaching of the gospel. Listen to this over
in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 3. Paul told them, he said, you're
looking for papers. You're looking for confirmation
of my office to you. Men have drawn a question mark
on me. whether I'm God's servant or
not God's servant. Listen to what he says here.
Ye are manifestly declared. You ever stop to think about
what he's saying there? What he's telling them is that
you are declared and seen by those who have knowledge. You're
manifestly declared. to be the epistle of Christ,
ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit
of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables
of the heart. Now listen to this. And such
trust have we through Christ toward God, or to God. Not that
we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves,
but our sufficiency is of God, who hath made us able ministers
of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit.
For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. God made
us able ministers by accompanying those He sends with His Spirit. Accompanying that message with
His Spirit. When God the Holy Spirit shines
in the hearts of chosen sinners, He shines the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And Paul said,
we have this treasure. And what a treasure it is in
earthen vessels. And the reason we have it in
earthen vessels is that the excellency of the power might be seen of
God and not of us. That's why he does it. How did this great apostle know
the election of those he preached to? How did he know that? I think
he knew it before they did. But how did he know it? Because
his gospel came not in word only, but in power and in the Holy
Ghost. That's how he knew it. I know a man's election when
that man begins to rejoice in Christ. That's when I know He's
a legend. When God gives him an appetite
for Christ, when he can't get enough Christ. He loves Him. He needs Him. He
needs to hear about Him. He needs to feed on Him. He needs
to be assured by Him. He has nothing apart from Christ.
What has He? Everything else is vanity. He
doesn't have anything but Christ. That's to have a hunger for Christ. That's what it means for this
gospel to come not in word only. We don't sense the presence of
the Holy Ghost by feelings. I'm not saying that when you
experience the grace of God, you don't feel anything. You
do. But you can experience the grace of God and not feel anything.
Just know it in your heart and in your mind. When the Holy Ghost attends the
preaching of the Gospel, He sets things right in the center. That's
what He does. He sets things right in the center. He reveals the truth about God
and the truth about man and the truth about our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, if you continue
in My Word, that is the Word He taught and the Word He preached, If they followed Him, continued
in His Word, He said, then are you My disciples, and you shall
know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. God sets things right in the
soul. He purges the guilty conscience.
He reveals Christ to the heart. He unveils the glory of God.
And He sweetly, the Holy Spirit, I don't know how else to say
this, He sweetly forces the sinner to bow to Christ. Huh? Willingly, lovingly bows to Christ. I don't know. I listen to men
talk, and they're calling men to the front of the church. There's
nothing up here. If there was something up here,
I'd do everything in my power. I'd figure out some way to get
you up here. But there's nothing up here.
Nothing up here. Nothing in the front of the church.
There's nothing in the pool. Our church is preached for nothing
else except to get men baptized, get you in the pool. Fast as
they can, get you to sign a pledge card. There's nothing in the
pool. There's nothing in the card. There's nothing in any
of those things. Salvation is in the person of
Jesus Christ. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God, wherever else he has, he doesn't
have life. And that's a mystery to this
natural falling world. Well, preachers, you mean I don't
have to do anything to be righteous? That's what Paul preached. Try telling that to this present
world. Any church, any religion, anywhere. Try telling them that. Listen to what Paul said. He
said, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe." Preacher, are you saying that
God will not exact His justice from me concerning my sins? That's what the Scripture says.
Listen to this. Paul said, God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, not charging their trespasses
unto them. And David said, blessed is the
man to whom God will not impute sin. That's a mystery to this deceived
world. Are you telling me, preachers,
that the believer is not under the law of God, not in any way,
shape, or form? That's exactly what I'm trying
to tell you. He's dead to the law. The law
already took him out and killed him. He's dead to the law. And
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. That's a mystery to this world.
They cannot conceive of a man or a woman walking with God without
a law in place to threaten him. Huh? A preacher, you saying that God's
presence and blessings had nothing to do with our works? That's
what the Scripture said. Listen to this, Titus 3, 4. He
said, after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward
man appeared. How did it appear? You go back
and read the first chapter of Titus, he'll tell you. He said,
in these last days, he's manifested this gospel through preaching.
That's how it was manifested. That's how it appeared. And after
that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
appeared in the gospel of God's free grace, he tells us, verse
5, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost. All of that was not according
to our works. All of that was according to
the mercy of God. Paul said, God saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works. Never considered. But according to His own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. That's a mystery. Men don't understand
that. You can talk to them all day
long in the parking lot. They cannot understand that. That has to be revealed to the
heart by the Holy Ghost. Every one of these things that
I'm telling you has to be revealed. Oh preacher, you're saying that
faith is the gift of God and man is not, he's got to be enabled
by the Holy Ghost to believe? That's exactly what I'm telling
you. By grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
bow. You're saying you just preach
to people, they come in here and you just let them go out
the door? That's all I'm called to do and
that's all I'm enabled to do. You don't try to get folks to
accept a plan or to do something? He took Ezekiel out to this great
valley and he said, son of man, what do you see out there? And
he saw bones. Just body upon body as though
a great slaughter had taken place years and years before and there's
dust on them and dry. He said, behold, there's very
many and they're very dry. He said, can these bones live? He said, oh Lord God, thou knowest.
He said, preach to them. Now, did Ezekiel go out to that
valley? Can you even picture in your
wildest imagination Ezekiel going out to that valley and telling
those bones, we're going to sing one more verse just as I am. And if you're a sinner and you
feel your need, I want you to just step out into the aisle.
Can you even in your wildest... They were dead! Ezekiel did exactly what God
called him to do and left the whole shooting match up to God
in the bones. That's a mystery, isn't it? It's
a mystery. We speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the
world. Now watch this, unto our glory. The believer was chosen
unto salvation and all the means ordained by God and put into
place, whereunto he calls them by his gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what chosen
sinners see that others do not see. They see the glory of God
in that life-giving Spirit of God, that life-giving Gospel.
They see the glory of God in that. There's no glory to God
in getting somebody down an aisle. That's what chosen sinners see.
They see the glory of God. That's what the Spirit of God
reveals to us. He reveals these mysteries to
us. These mysteries to us. And I'm
telling you this. Your children and my children
can't save themselves. And if God's going to save them,
He's going to save them by the means that He's ordained. Isn't
that right? And some of you children are
old enough to hear what I'm saying. And you better count every opportunity
that you come through these doors, you better count that the mercy
of God. Could be. Could be. God may give
you faith. Could be. He did some. He did some. He gave old Jacob
faith, didn't He? He gave David faith. He gave
Paul faith. He may give you faith. Might
be. And if He does, if He does, And
you ever see this glory, you'll never lose your appetite for
it. You want to hear it over and over and over again. People
who don't see that glory, they say, well, he just goes down
there and recites the doctrines. He just goes over the same old
stuff. It ain't same old. I tell you, when mom put her
fried chicken on the table, it wasn't the same old chicken.
It was good. And it was good every time I
ever ate it. It was good. That's the way the gospel is,
if you have an appetite. If you don't, it's the same old
story.