You'll turn back with me now
to Colossians chapter 1. I'm going to try to speak to you
on this subject over the verses that I read to you this morning.
What can I say to you? What can I say to you? What can I say to you whose bodies
are broken and worn? Diseases in your den. And begun
a work that one day will probably claim your flesh, claim these
bodies, claim. What can I say to those of you
who are suffering because of these things to comfort you?
What can I say? What can I say to you? What can
I say to you who are wrestling with and laboring over a burden
of sin? Sin. Sin in everything you say
never comes out the way you feel it down here, does it? Sin in everything we say, sin
in every thought we think, in every deed, in every motive,
Sins of indifference. Sins of greed. Sins of lust and
anger and pride and rebellion. Paul thought about these things
and the longer he talked about it, he was overwhelmed with it.
And finally he writes in his letter, oh, wretched man that
I am. Have you ever labored over the
burden of sin? Sin. Sin. You can't read the
Bible and your mind just wanders, wanders. Try to read, but the words have
no effect. You try to pray, but the heavens
are like brass. You try to meditate, but your
mind wanders like a lost man in a desert. What can I say to
you who are laboring under sin, engaged in a battle that it seems
you cannot win? You can't quit and you can't
win. What can I say to you this morning
who have repeatedly heard but would not receive the things
of the Spirit of God? What can I say to you? Push the doctrines of grace from
you as a man repulsed by food which he has no appetite set
aside by a proud heart who believes it don't need the free grace
of God. What can I say? What can I say
to you this morning that have been blinded by false religion,
duped into believing you can work your way into glory, can
decide your way into everlasting life, and earn your place among
the redeemed? What can I say to bust that soap
bubble? What can I say to the young people?
You that are just beginning to awake out of adolescence and
hormones raging out of control, an adult one minute and a child
the next. Stepping out into this present
evil world who think you're ready, but I assure you, you're not.
You're not. If you'll give me your ear this
morning and just a little bit of time, I've got five things
that I know, I know could answer all your questions and meet all
your needs and overcome all your troubles. That's quite a statement,
isn't it? The first thing I'd show you
in the Word of God is that the eternal God has purpose to save
a people. for His glory. Boy, I tell you,
my purpose don't go very far. It's good coming out of the gate,
but it don't go very far and it just fizzles out. I look back
on things that I want to do and things that I feel I should do
and things I want to do and they just don't get done. They just
don't get done. And I tell you, I'd hate to have
to think it was my purpose alone and my will alone that had the
last say in the salvation of my soul. I tell you, I've been
sick in my life. I don't get sick often, but I
have been sick. And I've been to the point where
I tell you, you could forget trying to think about anything.
You could forget trying to meditate about anything. Well, here's
the good news. Not you, but God. God has purposed
from all eternity to save a people for His glory. And He's going
to save them. He's going to save them. The
Apostle Paul tells us in our text that thanks is due to the
Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
with the enlightened saints. Saints with spiritual eyes and
ears, and saints who have received the revelation of Christ, and
saints who have been given an understanding by the Spirit of
the living God, who have been delivered, he said, from the
power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear
Son, in whom we have received, we have redemption, He said,
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Now watch this, "...who
is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature."
every creature. For by Him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by Him and for Him. Verse 17, And He
is before all things, and by Him all things consist. This
One by whom By whose blood we are redeemed is He who was purposed
of God as our Savior and Redeemer before the foundation of the
world. God purposed to save a people and then He created the people.
Huh? And He created the people by
their Redeemer. Else there would have been no
hope for man. No hope for man. Creation is not the result a
circumstantial collision in space that somehow gathered into a
mass and produced this little tiny one-celled animal that eventually
crawled out on the land and evolved into man. The purpose behind creation is
the salvation of God's elect through the person and work of
Jesus Christ. That's why He made man. That's
why He put him in the garden. That's why He permitted Satan
to come into that garden. This whole thing of creation
and life and men and women and all this, the whole thing behind
all of that is the purpose of God in the salvation of a people
for the glory of His name. And I tell you, that might not
mean much to an intellectual. But I tell you, for a sinner,
for a sinner who knows he's a sinner, it means everything. It means
everything. God made this world and everything
in it to manifest His glory. Flip back a few pages to Ephesians
chapter 1. Let me show you something. Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 9. He tells us that we were chosen
in Him before the foundation of the world. He tells us that
we were predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself. And then he goes on down here,
and in verse 9, and he said, hath made known unto us the mystery
of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed
in himself. And here's the will of God that
in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, which
are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an
inheritance being predestinated Why so? Listen to this. According to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Oh, that circumstance that brought
you and the gospel together one day. Huh? Pure accident, wasn't it? Huh? Uh-uh. He worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will." God's purpose before the
foundation of the world. God's purpose ruled under the power of the
reigning Christ who rules over providence, who rules in the
minds of men, who the heart of the king is in the hand of the
Lord just like those rivers of waters out there. And He turns
them whichever way He wants them to go. And one day He turned your heart,
and your heart, and this heart. And boy, it seemed circumstantial
at the time. And then I got to reading and
found out this whole thing is due to Him. This whole thing
is due to Him. We obtained an inheritance. being
predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will, that we should be to
the praise of His glory, that is, the praise of God's glory,
who first trusted in Christ. That is, He put His purpose in
Christ. Here's my purpose. Here's my
will. In the redemption of a people,
I'm putting it all in your hands. didn't he? And everything that
God has done and is yet doing, He is doing in Christ for the
glory of His name. You can't find any reason in
yourself for the living God to save your soul. But thank God,
the reason is not in you. The reason is in Him. And it
goes unchanged and unaffected. The enemies can't overcome it.
Man himself can't overcome it. His purpose is sure, His purpose
is eternal, and His will shall be done. And I tell you, when
He lets you in on it, so that you know what His will is, you
will pray, Thy will be done. Thy will be done. All right, here's the second
thing I'd have you to see. What can I say to you this morning?
I can say to you that God has purposed from all eternity to
save a people for the glory of His name. And then secondly,
that Jesus Christ alone has been given all preeminence in this
eternal purpose of grace. You see it there in the text?
He's the creator of all things. He's the beginning of all things.
He's the head of the church. But He might have all preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell." That means that he alone has
been chosen to accomplish the eternal purpose of God in the
redemption of his elect. He is not just a special man
who was born at the right time and the right place and brought
into the limelight by the circumstances of the day. I listen to Armenian
preachers talk that way all the time. It's just a matter of circumstance. If he'd been born some other
time, these things wouldn't have happened and all that kind of
nonsense. My friend, Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He
was in the beginning with God, and He was God. Jesus Christ
is the Son of God who was appointed to be the Savior and Redeemer
of God's elect. And Jesus Christ came into the
flesh as a man appointed to redeem. Don't ever lose sight of that.
He came into this world. He was born in that manger over
in Bethlehem. He was born to save a people. Unto you this day a Savior is
born. Isn't that what the Scripture
said? He was appointed to redeem a people given Him by the Father
before the world began. And He came into this world to
do for them what they could not do for themselves. Galatians
4 verse 4 says, God sent forth His Son. When did He do it? In
the fullness of the time. When that time was come, He sent
forth His Son. Made of a woman. Made under the
law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive
this eternal adoption of sons. The law must be obeyed and justice
must be satisfied and righteousness must be established and God's
holy name remain uncompromised. And there's only one who could
do it, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm telling you this, you
go on talking about man's works and man's will and man's glory,
but the Bible never speaks of man earning anything except hell. The wages of sin is death. The Bible never talks about man
earning anything or willing anything except the judgment of God. And
salvation is always, always attributed to Christ. In Adam, all die. Even so, in
Christ, shall all be made alive. Our sins were laid on Him, and
He bore our sins and His own body on the tree by His own blood. The Bible said He entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. And His death was the death of
a substitute who appeared in our room instead. Boy, don't
you wish you could get a hold of that! You could see yourself
in Him, obeying the law. In Him, perfect thought, perfect
motive, perfect love, perfect mercy. In Him, under that law. In Him, before that law. Bearing my sins in His own body
on the tree. Satisfying the justice of God. In Him, being buried in that
tomb. In Him, being raised from that
tomb. ascending up into glory and sitting
down at the right hand of God. His death was the death of a
substitute who appeared in our room instead. His righteous obedience
was as our representative, and He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believes. If He is not the end
of the law for righteousness to you, you are not a believer. We stand before God in perfect
righteousness, not ours, but His. And His present reign and
glory is as our guarantor to see that all receive the inheritance
which He purposed and which He purchased, and that they should
receive it for whom it was purposed and given. He has come to accomplish
the will of God and the salvation of God's elect. And then the
third thing I want you to see is that having accomplished the
redemptive will of God, Jesus Christ now sits. He sits at the
right hand of God. He sits there expecting till
His enemies be made His footstool. He's not pacing. He's not worried. He's not exhibiting any anxiety. He's seated at the right hand
of God expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. Well,
what in the world does His sitting in glory have to do with my salvation? According to Ephesians 2, verses
5 and 6, we've been quickened together with Him. Now, that's
not a quickening that we experience. This is the quickening of God
who quickened us to life when He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. This is talking about that eternal
union of God's people whom the Father chose in Christ. And we
were quickened together with Him. That is, we've been given
life by virtue of an eternal union with Him. And so we were
in Him as He obeyed the law, and in Him bearing our sins before God and
satisfying divine justice. And we were raised up together
and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And by
virtue of His person and work, we've already been approved.
Isn't that what it says in Ephesians chapter 1? We're accepted in
the blood. That means you're approved. Boy, I'll tell you, for a guilty
sinner whose sins have weighted him down and dragged him down
into the mire, and he knows that he's a child of wrath even as
others. He knows that he breathes out
sin and thinks sin, and he can't escape sin. I'll tell you, when
that sinner sees himself in Christ, in Christ. Oh, my soul, there's
hope in Him. There's hope in Him. There's
hope in this seated Christ. What does this sitting in glory
have to do with my salvation? By virtue of His person and work,
we've been approved and accepted, and God throws His arms out.
Just like that father ran out to meet the prodigal, That's
the verse of Scripture God used to save my soul. The Father running
out to the prodigal. The prodigal was standing there
looking around to see whom the Father was running out to greet.
He was running out to greet Him. He couldn't believe it. Can you
believe that the Eternal God has His arms open? That the Eternal
God sent His Son into this world to save sinners, Paul said, of
whom I am chief. Can you picture the Father with
His arms open, calling, waiting for His Son, making preparations
for His Son? Can you see that? That's what
that seating in glory has to do with this thing. We're already
approved. Already approved. Accepted in
the beloved. Seated at the right hand. The
right hand is the right hand of fellowship, isn't it? The
right hand is the right hand of power. The right hand is the
hand that God's Son sits on. And we're seated with Him. Seated
with Him. This One in whom we are united
has been given all power in heaven and earth, power over everything
that is, power over providence and creation, and power over
Satan and his ministers of darkness, and power over the hearts and
minds of fallen sinners. We have One seated in the heavens
who has the authority, the ability, and the willingness to overcome
all our enemies, all our troubles, and all our problems. What if the Lord were here today?
What if Jesus Christ was in this place today and seated right
here? Seated. Have you not read how
many times the Lord Now, the Pharisees stood back and they
said, he don't know who's touching him. Oh, here he is. Here he is. He knew that woman
was a harlot. He knew that leper was a leper.
He knew that woman had an issue of blood when she touched him.
He felt the virtue go out of his body. He knew that man had
a wizard arm. He knew he received sinners. and sinners, He received them
to Himself. He's seated in glory and He can
be approached by sinners because of what He's accomplished. We
can come to Him, look to Him, find favor with God in Him. So much so that the Scripture
said he is able, by virtue of his person and work, he is able
to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him. And my friend, he's manifested
on this earth his willingness to receive sinners to himself. What would you do if he was seated
here this morning? Huh? Would you have something
to say to him? Or would you just go out the
door? Would you have some praise to give his name, or would you
just go home? What if he were seated here this morning? Well,
let me tell you something. Were two or more gathered in
my name, he said, there I am in the midst. He's here. He's here this morning. And he's
accessible. He can be touched. going through
these physical diseases and sicknesses and illnesses and things. Let
me tell you something. He can be touched with the feelings
of your infirmities. He can be touched. I can be touched. But touching
me don't do a lot of good. But this one seated at the right
hand of God, he can be touched. And he gets what he asks. He
gets what He asks for. We have at the right hand of
God a high priest who can be touched with the feelings of
our infirmities, one seated with the Father who is able to save
to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him. There is no
yea or nay in Christ. All the promises of God in Christ
are yea and amen. They are not iffy. They are not
iffy there yet. And then fourthly, I would speak
comfort to you this morning in telling you that by virtue of
His accomplishments, God has poured out the Holy Spirit upon
His church to apply the salvation that God has purchased. I tell you, if I was dependent
on man to be moved, if I was dependent on man to be touched,
if I was dependent on something I said or the way I said it or
some illustration or something Men are dead in trespasses and
sins. They're in total depravity. They're totally depraved. They're
totally ignorant. They walk in darkness. And there's
nothing that I can do to overcome that. There's nothing I can do
to get past the religion of this world and the blindness that
He's put in men's hearts. They walk in the vanity of their
mind, and I can't overcome it no matter how much I love them,
no matter how close they are to me. But I tell you this, He
said, I have not seen or heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love Him. But He hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. I tell you, God poured out His
Spirit upon the church, and the promise that His Spirit will
accompany His gospel into the hearts of His elect. And that's
why I preach. People say, oh, you're Arminian. You're telling somebody to do
something. You're telling somebody to believe. Why? He can't believe. He's a
depraved sinner. He can't if the Holy Spirit enters
into him. I love that message Henry preached
years ago. He couldn't, but he did. He told
that paralyzed man who laid down there for how many years? 38
years he laid down there on his bed. His muscles had just gone
to jello and laying there, he couldn't even get two feet over
to the water when the water was troubled. Had to have somebody
come down and roll him in. The Lord said, take up your bed
and walk. He couldn't, but he did. Was the Lord Arminian when he
told him, take up that bed? That leper said, if you will,
you can make me clean. He couldn't make himself clean,
no could he? I told that man with that withered arm, you can
almost picture him sitting out there, he said, stretch forth
thy hand. He couldn't, but he did. And he told old dead Lazarus
to come out of that tunnel, and he couldn't, but he did. And
I tell sinners, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know why
I tell them that? Because I know God has poured
out His Spirit upon His church. That's why. That's why. John said they went out from
us, but they were not all of us. Had they been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But,
he said, you have an unction from the Holy One and you know
the whole thing. Huh? If it wasn't for that, you
wouldn't know anything. It's by way of the effectual
working of God's Spirit that men and women here repent, Believe
and enter into the rest of Christ. Words and arguments have no effect
upon these hearts of stone. Preach until you're blue in the
face. Natural man's unmoved. He receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God. But, oh, let the mighty, sovereign
Spirit of God move upon him. Let it move upon him. He changed
forever. He changed. And then lastly,
I'd comfort you by telling you that God has purposed to save
sinners by way of gospel preaching. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And there's coming a
day, Paul said, in which the rulers of the darkness of this
world will come with power and signs and lying wonders and with
all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. because
they receive not the love of the truth that they might be
saved. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie and be damned." 2 Thessalonians
2, 13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto or for this
cause He calls you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the glory,
that is, the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. Let me tell you something. A man
standing and declaring Bible doctrine doesn't have much effect
on a natural man. Some of you have tried it. You
stand and talk to them We'll go all around. One fellow told
us before his conversion, he said, I could tell you exactly
how many sealing towels in 13th Street Baptist Church. He said,
I counted every one of them. Natural man stands and questions
that man who's preaching to him. He questions his calling. He
questions his qualifications. He questions his doctrine. He
questions his style of preaching. But oh, let the Spirit of the
living God do His sanctifying work in that man, and then send
him a preacher. And oh, what a difference it
makes in the situation. I tell you this, when the Holy
Spirit of God accompanies that gospel message into the hearts
of elect sinners, chosen sinners, When that power of God rests
in them, begins to convince them of these things, that preacher's
words are like music to his ears then. The old prophet said how beautifully
he thought about it. Thought about how God saved his
soul and the Holy Spirit upon him. And he said, oh, he said
how beautiful. are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace. How beautiful are the feet. That
ain't what most men say. Most men say, when's it going
to get done? But I tell you, not for a hungry
sinner. Oh, it's music to his ears. Music to his ears. Now his doctrine's like honey
in a honeycomb. Now he no longer doubts his calling,
because God speaks through him directly to his own needs and
to his own heart. Listen to this. Isaiah said,
he frustrateth the tokens of liars, and maketh diviners mad,
and he turns wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish.
confirmeth the word of his servants. Where is he confirming that?
In their hearts. In their hearts. John said, We are of God. He
that knoweth God heareth us. How come? Because God confirms
that word in the hearts of chosen sinners. That's why. They say
that's it. I don't know how many messages
I listened to in my lifetime. My daddy started a ten-church. He laid out a church for a long
time and he started back and he started carrying me. I wasn't
even in the first grade of school yet. He carried me down there.
We went to every meeting, young people's meetings, old people's
meetings, camp meetings, went to the state meetings. We even
went over to a place over in town where they ministered to
the winos. I sat on the feed sack and listened
to that man preaching. I don't know how many messages
I heard in my lifetime and didn't get any of it. None of it made
any sense to me. And I just write it off to your
own foolishness. You're just too ignorant to understand
what they're saying. And one day I heard the gospel,
and I said, that's it. That's it. Now, that's how it
happens. That's how it happens. A man
who believes God, who's loved of God, chosen of God, redeemed
of God, looks upon the face of a preacher like that of the face
of an angel. God sent him to me to minister
to my heart. In his unworthiness, he sees
this man as sin of God, and he cries out from his soul, how
beautiful is his fate. Huh? That's the difference. That's
the difference. Up to then, you're just an employee. You're just an employee of the
church. Just something we've got to do because mom and daddy
takes us over there and tells us that's what we've got to do.
Oh, that God do a work in your heart. It'd be a different thing
then. It'd be a different thing.