In the book of Isaiah chapter
42, the Lord God of heaven and earth is speaking and He says,
Hear ye deaf, and look ye blind, that ye may see. Two questions
come immediately to my mind. How can those who are deaf hear? Hear ye deaf? How can a deaf
man hear? How can those who are blind see? If God would enable us to answer
those questions truthfully, we most certainly could say that
we have begun to hear and to see some things. Now we live
in perilous times. We live in a day where men are
lovers of their own selves. They're covetous, they're boasters,
they're proud. Blasphemers. High-minded. Arrogant. Lovers of pleasure
more than lovers of God. And men and women, many men and
women, I might add, have a form of godliness. But they deny the
power thereof. We see a lot of folks today with
a form of godliness, but they deny the power of God. How do men deny the power of
God? That's another good question.
Well, they claim that they can make themselves here. And they
claim that they can cause themselves to see. That's to deny the power
of God. That alone is God's work to do. Now, I know that many profess
in our day to love God. Most everybody loves God. Most
everybody says they do, anyway. But really, they only love themselves. And here's why I say that. The
majority of men and women in churches today have made a God
in their own imagination. And they have made Him to be
altogether one like unto themselves. You don't have to hear about
their God very long to realize that. Proud and high-minded men
and women boast where there is a will, there is a way. That's become the theme of what
is called gospel preaching today, but it's not. Where there is
a will, there is a way. If you have the will to be saved,
God will save you. Well, what's wrong with that?
Well, I'll tell you what's wrong with it. God says you will not
come to me that you might have lies. You will not come. That's the problem. Our will. Our will is the problem. And men and women in the name
of religion today are taking the credit and the glory that
belongs to God alone. Men and women are attributing
their salvation to a free will work that they have done. But God will not share His glory
with another. And this is nothing less, I'm
telling you, it's nothing less than denying the power of God
in the salvation of sinners. It's nothing less than man's
effort to rob God of His glory, and at the same time, exalt himself
above God. It will only serve to condemn
the sinner who believes this way, and men are claiming to
have done that which they cannot do. The Lord Jesus Christ plainly
said, you know this well, Matthew 11, verse 28, He said, all you that labor and are heavy
laden." And he's talking about sin there. If you're heavy laden
over your sin, you're heavy laden because of it, come unto Me and
I will give you rest. And then he turns right around
in the Gospel of John 6 and says, no man can come to Me. No man can come to Me except
the Father which hath sent Me draw him. Now why would He command
sinners to come and then tell them that they cannot come, that
they do not have the ability to come. That's what he's saying.
You cannot come. You don't have the ability. You're
not able to come. Why would he command sinners
to come and then say, oh, by the way, you can't come. You
don't have the ability to come. Because there's one exception
to the rule. If I was going to entitle this
message, it would be just that. One exception to the rule. Now the rule is, and it's proclaimed
throughout all scripture, that man is dead in trespasses and
sin. No life in a man. A dead man
can do nothing. Can a dead man do anything? Does
a dead man have a will? Well, that's ridiculous. Let's
don't make this hard. A dead man can do nothing. Nothing. So what is the exception to the
rule? Our Lord said, no man can come
to Me except... I love that. That's the exception.
Except the Father which sent the Lord Jesus Christ, God in
heaven, draw Him. Enable Him. Give Him life. Make He that was dead alive. That's the only way that a man
can come. That's the exception to the rule. And listen, God's call is always
effectual. That simply means, Bill, that
it's effective. God's call is always effective. When God calls and commands the
dead to come forth, you can be assured that the power to come
accompanies the command to come. Christ said, Lazarus, come forth. And the Scriptures say, and he
that was dead came forth. The Lord Jesus said to that young
man, we looked at it a month or two ago, that young man that
had died, they're having his funeral procession at the gate
of Nain. They're carrying him to the grave.
And the Lord Jesus passes by and He says to that young man
who's dead, He said to the young man, I say unto thee, arise. The very next words that follow
in Scripture say, he that was dead sat up and talked. Effective,
effectual. God's command and call is always,
always effectual. Do you see the exception? Do
you see the exception to the rule? God is the exception. Christ is the exception. Only
God can speak to dead men with definite results. Now listen,
I can tell dead men and women to arise, and they never will.
I can tell the dead to come forth, but they'll never come. I don't
have the power to make the dead alive. But I'll tell you the
exception. I'll tell you who is. God is. God's able. God is able. Because the power of God's grace
always accompanies the command. It always does. He enables us
to do what He commands us to do. Isn't that wonderful? Salvation
is of the Lord. That's what that means. God enables
us to do that, which we can't do. And yet what he commands
us to do. Now turn with me to the gospel
of Luke chapter six, Luke chapter six. Let's begin reading in verse
six. And it came to pass, also on
another Sabbath, that he, being the Lord Jesus, entered into
the synagogue and taught. And there was a man whose right
hand was withered." Now, two things I want to mention here.
This man had a withered hand. A withered hand. His hand was
drawn up. It was shrunken. closed and it
couldn't be opened. Have you ever seen paralytics
bless their hearts, their hands and their arms? That's what this
man was. His hand was dead to him. He couldn't work. This man couldn't
even hold out his hand to receive anything from anybody. And men
are masters at taking credit for even the things which they
receive. But what an illustration God gives us here. This man's
hand was withered. And spiritually speaking, you
and I in and of ourselves all have withered hands. We can do
nothing. We can receive nothing. in and
of ourselves. We can do no work to save ourselves.
We can't even assist or contribute in any way in doing so. Our Lord said, without me, you
can do nothing. John the Baptist confirmed that. And he said, a man can receive
nothing except it be given him from heaven. God is the exception
to the rule. Second thing I'd have you notice
is not only do we have a withered hand, but notice that it was
his right hand. Now in scripture, the right hand
always, always signifies power and ability. It said that our
Lord sits at the right hand of God, on the right hand of God
on his throne. That means in power and authority. And that's what the right hand
signifies, power and ability. This man's right hand was withered. Now, what does that mean? That
means he had no power. He had no ability. And neither do you, and neither
do I. We have none, no ability, no power. We don't have any power
or ability to believe. We don't have any power or ability
to call on God. We don't have any power or ability
to come to Christ. No man can come to Christ, except
we have no power or ability to save ourselves. You see, our
ability's been crippled. Our ability is withered. It's drawn up. It's closed, and
we can't open it. You cannot open it. To say that
man has a free will is to say that man has the ability to save
himself. And it's the biggest lie that's
ever been told. A man who once believed in free
will used an illustration once of a goldfish. in an aquarium
to illustrate man's free will to an old gospel preacher. And
he pointed to that little goldfish in his aquarium and he dropped
some food in the aquarium and he said, you see preacher, that
fish, that little goldfish, he can swim anywhere he wants to
in that aquarium to eat that food. Anywhere that fish wills
to swim, he swims. And the old wise preacher said,
well, you're exactly right. But he said, herein lies the
problem. Though he can swim where he wants in the aquarium, he's
confined by the natural environment in which he lives. He can swim
to the top of the aquarium. He can swim to the bottom of
the aquarium. He can swim to the left side of the aquarium
and he can swim to the right side, but he can't climb out
of the aquarium. And he can't walk down the street
and go into a restaurant and order a meal and eat it. He doesn't
have the ability to do that. His free will is restricted by
his nature. His will is confined by his environment. His will allows him to only do
what a fish can do in the space that the fish is given. He doesn't
have the ability, he doesn't have the power to do anything
more. Therefore, he really has no free
will at all, and neither do we. We cannot come to Christ that
we might have life. Our nature, our environment,
our ability will not allow it. That's what God said. No man
can come. The exception to the rule is
except unless the Father, which sent me drawing. You and I have
no strength. You and I have no power. You
and I have no ability. You see, the right hand of our
will is withered. It's withered. You might say,
well, that's bad news. Well, it's only bad news if you're
bound and determined to do something yourself to be saved. Then it's
bad news because you can't. But it's good news It's good
news. It's not bad news at all. If
you believe what the apostle Paul said in Romans chapter five. In verse six, he said, for when
we were yet without strength, no strength, no ability in due
time, Christ died for the ungodly. Then it's the best news the sinner
has ever heard. Christ came to save those who
were without strength. And men seem to think that they
can be good and do good and somehow merit God's favor by the works
of their hands, by the works of His law, and you can't, my
friends. Paul said, oh no, you can't.
He said, for what the law could not do and that it was weak through
the flesh. The one exception to the rule
is this, God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. That's the exception
to the rule. Verse 7, And the scribes and
Pharisees watched Him, whether He would heal on the Sabbath
day, that they might find an accusation against him. Now,
I don't want to get sidetracked here, but the Holy Spirit put
this verse here for a reason. There's a lesson here to be learned.
I honestly believe that. And it's a very important lesson.
When you profess to believe the truth, When you confess that
you, the sinner, has no power, no ability, that you're saved
only by the power and grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
you can write this down. You can be for certain that the
scribes and Pharisees of religion will be watching you. And notice
the motive behind their watching. They watch you to accuse you. That's why they watch the Lord,
that they might find accusation against Him. They watch you to
disprove you. They watch you to disprove what
you believe. And they watch the Lord Jesus
Christ closely for one reason. For one reason, they wanted to
see if he would heal this man with a withered hand on the Sabbath
day. Modern day religion, now listen,
is not concerned about people being healed. They're not. No more than the scribes and
Pharisees. They could care less if this man's hand was restored
or not. Their only concern was that the
Lord was going to heal him on the Sabbath day. Religion is
not concerned about men and women being healed. Oh, they say they
are. They say, oh, we want to see people saved. But really,
they're not concerned at all about sinners being healed and
saved from their great disease of sin. And that's our problem,
by the way. We've got a horrific disease
and it's called sin. And unless we're healed from
it, we're going to die from it. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. The wages of sin is death. And
we've all got this disease. And unless we're healed from
it, we're going to perish. But their concern is how and
when sinners are saved. Now, what do you mean by that?
Well, their concern is that a man must be saved at a certain time
in a certain way. Their way. These religious hypocrites
cared nothing about this man being healed. They could care
less if he was healed or not. All they cared about is he going
to be healed on the Sabbath day. And what they're saying is this.
That's not the way we do things. All these scribes and Pharisees
cared about was the law. In verse 2, look at it. They
said, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath
days? False religion cares nothing
about the souls of men and women. Their only concern is that men
and women are saved their way. Modern day religion says God
wants to save you. Won't you let Him? But the Scriptures
teach that God has never wanted to do anything. He does what
He wants to do. Our God's in the heavens. He's
done whatsoever He has pleased. God saves whom He wills, when
He wills, how He wills. And religion says, that's not
lawful. That's not right. Religion claims
that God loves everybody. However, the Bible declares that
God loves some and hates others. The Bible teaches that he loved
Jacob and he hated Esau. And religion says it's not lawful. When I tell folks that we don't
have an altar call at the end of our services, I'm telling
you they look at me like we're doing something horribly wrong.
You don't have an altar call? How then can anybody be saved
sitting right where they are? They come in their hearts. That's
how men are saved. There's no salvation down here.
None at all. God don't need us to pressure
people into coming to the front of the church and making a false
profession. There's no salvation there. And
trust me, friends, folks are watching, and their intention
is to accuse and make accusation. Now verse eight, but he again
being Christ knew their thoughts and he always does. He's God. And he said to the man which
had the withered hand, rise up and stand forth in the midst.
And he arose and stood forth. In verse nine, then said Jesus
unto them. Now he's speaking to the scribes
and the Pharisees. And he said, I will ask you one
thing. One thing, is it lawful on the
Sabbath days to do good or to do evil? To save life or to destroy
it? And our Lord asked this question.
There's only one answer to it. Only one answer. And it's a very
pertinent question. And it's still a very relevant
question today. Is it not lawful for the Lord
Jesus Christ to do what He wills with His own? That's the question. Is it not right for the Lord
to do good, even on the Sabbath? Is it not right? Of course, the
answer was yes. It's right. He has the right. Would God the Son, the only one
who is good, would He do evil on the Sabbath? Of course not.
He doeth all things well. He does all things right. Does
God have the right to do good? That's the question. And it's
still a very relevant question today. Does God have the right
to do what He wills with His own? Of course He does. God has
the right to save a life. Yes, He does. He's God. And sadly,
we find the same response to those questions today as our
Lord did in His. Turn back to Mark 3. I want to
show you Mark's account of this same story. Mark 3, look at verse
4. Mark 3, verse 4. Mark's account
of this same story. And in verse 4, He saith unto
them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do
evil, to save life, or to kill? And notice those next words.
But they held their peace. They didn't answer Him. They
didn't answer Him. Why does this religious world
hold their peace when asked this most important question? Does
God have the right to do what He will with His own? Because
the answer disproves everything that they say they believe. When
you show men, religious men at that, from this book that God
as God has the right to do what He wills, when He wills, how
He wills, to whom He wills, it will shut them up. They watch
Christ so that they might accuse Him of doing wrong. None can
accuse God of doing evil. He always does what's right.
And we've talked so many times about the passage in Romans 9,
where it says, where God said, God said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. And Paul anticipates the first
thing that's going to come to your mind when you hear that,
especially the mind of those men and women who don't know
God, the first thing you're going to ask is, is there unrighteousness
with God? Is God right? Is it lawful for
God to do what He wills with His own? Is God wrong in loving
one and hating another? We looked at this not long ago.
God's never wrong. God is always right. We're always
wrong. The Lord Jesus Christ on this
day in this temple, He said, is it not lawful? Is it not right
for me as God to do what's good? Is it not lawful? Is it not right
for me as God to save a life on the Sabbath? He said, I am
the Lord of the Sabbath. Men need to shut their mouths. And I think about the words of
Scripture that say, may every mouth be stopped and all the
world become guilty before God. Because this is the God with
whom you have to do. You say, well, He ain't my God.
No, but He's the God. He's the only true and living
God. And it's to Him that you're going
to have to give an account. And I suggest that you get this,
open this Bible and you start reading it and you start asking
God to show you who He is. I believe you'll find that He's
who I declare Him to be. Okay, look at verse 5 here in
chapter 3. I'll wrap this up. And when He
had looked around about on them with anger, being grieved for
the hardness of their hearts, the Lord looked on them with
anger. That goes against what men preach
and teach today. Well, God loves everybody. He
looked on them with anger. He was grieved with the hardness
of their hearts. I think immediately my mind runs
to Genesis chapter six. It says, the Lord looked down
upon man and he saw that man's heart was only evil continually. And he told Noah, he said, I'm
going to destroy the world. I'm going to wipe it out because
of the hardness of their hearts. Here the Lord is angry and He's
grieved for the hardness of their hearts. And as we've discovered,
they had no compassion for this man's inability. Matter of fact,
the hardness of religion, now listen, will endeavor to convince
the sinner that he has no inability. They're not only hardened against
his inability, they try to convince him that he has ability. Why,
brother, open up that other hand. You only got one bad one. Open
up the other one. Do the best you can. Brother,
don't you know that God helps those who help themselves? No,
He don't. No, He don't. God helps those
who cannot help themselves. God does for sinners what they
cannot do for themselves. And this nonsense and hardness
of heart angers and grieves the God of grace. And here the Lord
illustrates to us what God does for sinners. He does for sinners
that which they cannot do for themselves. We've made that quite
clear, haven't we? The last part of verse five says,
He saith unto the man, stretch forth thy hand. This is a command to do something
that he could not do. His hand's withered. His hand
is dead. It's drawn. That's what sovereign
grace is. It's God commanding us to do
what we cannot do. God's power comes with God's
command. And this wasn't an offer. This
was not an offer. Salvation is not an offer. He
didn't say, if you believe, I'll restore your hand. Salvation
is not something that's negotiated between God and the sinner. God
doesn't make us an offer and then we reject it and then we
make a counteroffer. Is that what salvation has been
reduced to? Sadly, it is. Sadly, it is. The Lord didn't say, if you can
muster up some faith, I'll restore your hand. He commanded the man
to stretch forth his hand. The exception was this, God empowered
the man to stretch it forth. It wasn't anything in the man
that enabled him to stretch it forth. The exception was the
power that was in the one who commanded him to do so. And this
is the thing that exposes men's free will. The free will religionist
says, God would be unfair to command folks to do what they
cannot or will not do. Let me tell you, He does. This man's hand was dead. It
was withered. It was drawn up. There was no
life in it. And yet God the Son, the Lord of glory, commanded
him to stretch forth his withered, dead, useless, drawn up hand.
And verse 5 says, and he stretched it out. And his hand was restored whole
as the other. Now don't you tell me that God
doesn't command folks to do what they cannot do. If he didn't,
nobody would be saved. Nobody would be saved. Our Lord
commanded that paralyzed and lame man whose four friends dropped
him down through the roof. You remember that story? He told
that man who couldn't walk, he said, rise up and walk. And how
can one who's paralyzed walk? God's the exception. He's the
exception to the rule. And immediately the scriptures
say, he rose up before them. Can you see that poor woman the
Lord saw in the temple? The scripture says she was bowed
over. She's bowed over. All she could see was the ground.
She was probably half her original height. The scriptures say that
she could in no wise lift herself up. The Lord Jesus saw her, no
one else did. She'd been hard to see in a crowd
because she was bowed over. Everyone tired over her. She
didn't see the Lord, but let me tell you something. He saw
her. All she saw was the ground. But
He saw her, and you know what He said to her? Straighten thyself. Now, if she could have straightened
herself, she already would have. She'd been this way for 18 years. If she could have, she would
have. But with the command came the power. And immediately, the
Scripture says she was made straight. She did what she couldn't do.
And the exception was God. The exception was Christ. Well,
preacher, you have to be willing. God doesn't save sinners against
their will. Turn with me to John 5, and I promise this is it.
John chapter 5, and I'm finished. Look at verse 2. Now there is
at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the
Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. And in these lay
a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind and haught and
withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went
down in a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water
and whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped
in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain
man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. And when Jesus saw him lie and
knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he said unto
this man, look at the words, will thou be made whole? The Lord asked him, are you willing
to be made whole? Will thou be made whole? And
he never says yes or no. Matter of fact, notice his answer,
verse 7. The impotent man answered him
and said, Sir, I have no man. when the water is troubled to
put me into the pool, but while I'm coming, another steppeth
down before me." Now, what's he saying here? Well, just what
he's saying. He said, I have no man to put
me in the pool. I have no legs to get there myself. I have no one. I have nothing. I am nothing. I have no power. I have no ability. And after
38 years of being in this condition, Do you think for a minute that
he was not willing to be made whole? He was willing, but what did
he do? He simply confessed his inability. In doing that, our willingness
is always revealed. Like that leper, we say, Lord,
I have nothing. I am nothing. I can do nothing. But if you will, if you will,
you can make me whole." Verse 8, Jesus said unto him,
Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made
whole and took up his bed and walked. Jesus Christ, God the
Son, is the exception to the rule. With His command comes the power.
For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath
shined. Hath shined. Hath shined in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. Friends, God is the exception
to the rule.