What does it take for God to
save a sinner? How can a man be just with God? How can he be clean that is born
of a woman who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Those are questions raised in
the first book of inspiration, the book of Job. What does it
take for God to save a sinner? That's my subject this evening.
That's the question I want to answer from the word of God.
Most people, most people seem to think that it's a very easy
thing to be saved. That faith in Christ is a very
simple thing. There is no sense of astonishment
awe and amazement among religious people with regard to salvation
for the most part because the salvation they think they have
really is no big deal. There's nothing amazing about
the grace that most people talk about. Traveling back and forth
and up and down this country for the past 45 years, I've preached
to a lot of people. I've met a lot of people. Most
of them are very religious. Most of the people I preach to
are absolutely sure they're saved. I haven't talked to anybody in
a long time who wasn't sure they were saved. Everybody just sure
they're saved. Most of them never disturbed
themselves by questioning the matter. They'd been taught not
to. They walked down the church aisle, they knelt at an altar,
and they said the sinner's prayer. Some because of tragedy, some
because of fear. Preachers manipulate folks with
tragedy and fear. Preachers are worse ambulance
chasers than lawyers and try to get folks to make a profession
of faith and strike while the iron's hot, and they use fear. I've told you often, shortly
after I came to Danville, Churches all got together and had a big
show out here at the Boyle County High School, put on a picture
called the Burning Hell. And I guess I was the only preacher
in town that had anything to do with it. And folks, some folks
got kind of upset with it. Why not? They got together and
scared the hell out of everybody. And about everybody made a profession
of faith. I had folks come to me wanting
me to baptize them after that, and I refused to do it. How come?
Because that's not God's way. and that's not God's salvation
and God doesn't use it to save sinners. People make a profession
of faith because they're put under pressure, emotional pressure,
peer pressure, psychological pressure, the methods of evangelism. If I could tell you the things
I was taught when I was in Bible college, about how to get people
to make a profession of faith. And you manipulate the audience,
and you put pressure on folks, and you get them to make a...
One fellow said, you want to make a profession before they
realize what they've done. Get them saved before they realize
what's happened. No, no, that's deceiving folks. It's not working
for their souls. That's increasing the numbers
of folks you can say you had something to do with their salvation.
That's not ministering to the souls of men. Folks have done
what the preacher told them to do. They said the sinner's prayer.
They said, I believe in Jesus. I know many who had this experience,
even as small children. And they're confident they're
saved because they followed what was called the simple plan of
salvation. I'm sure some of you have had the same experience.
You profess that you're saved because you walked down the church
aisle and you said the sinner's prayer and you felt that unexplainable
feeling of relief when it was all over. You were talked into
a profession of faith by a slick soul winner and you never questioned
the reality of that profession. Well, you do question it, but
you suppress it. You hold it down because you
are convinced that's a satanic temptation. Now hear me. Well, God helped you to hear
me. I would do God. I had the ear
of the whole world, but that's not God's purpose. It is his
purpose that you hear this message. Hear me now. Salvation is not
an easy thing. Salvation is not an easy thing. I want you to open your Bibles
to first Peter chapter four. It is not a simple thing for
a sinner to exercise faith in Christ. It is not a simple thing
for a sinner to exercise faith in Christ. In fact, faith in
Christ with men is an utter impossibility. I remember years ago hearing
Billy Graham make the statement on some interview he had on television,
and he said, man has a sixth sense. You hear that? Man has a sixth sense. He has the ability to believe
God. His sixth sense is faith. But that's not what this book
says, is it? That's not what the book says. Do you remember
that rich young ruler who came to the Lord Jesus and said, good
master, what good thing must I do that I may inherit eternal
life? And when the conversation was
over, the disciples looked at the Lord Jesus and saw that this
man went away sorrowful. He went away from the Lord Jesus.
He refused to bow to Christ. He refused to believe the son
of God. because he had much riches. And
they said, if this man, this good man, this sincere man, this
religious man, if this man is lost, who then can be saved? Who then can be saved? And our
master's answer was plain. With men, it's impossible. With men, it's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Faith in Christ is the gift and
operation of God in us. It is not something conjured
up in man's imaginary free will. It is not something that is accomplished
by religious excitement. No one, no one, now I've chosen
my words deliberately. Don't go out here and imagine
I said something I didn't intend to say. This is exactly what
I wanted to say. No one has ever been saved by
walking a church aisle. No one has ever been saved by
kneeling at an altar or a mourner's bench. No one has ever been saved
by repeating the sinner's prayer. No one has ever been saved by
getting in the waters of baptism. No one, not you, not your mama,
your daddy, your brother, your sister. No one has ever been
saved by such things. Salvation is God's work. Salvation
is God's work. If you are still clinging to
such a profession as the basis of your hope before God, I urge
you to give it up at once, renounce it at once. Your religion, your
imaginary faith, your conjured up salvation is a satanic delusion. It is not the real thing. The
scriptures are abundantly clear. Listen to this. This is stated
twice, exactly the same way in the Book of Wisdom, in the Book
of Proverbs. Seldom do you find in Scripture
two passages of Scripture that say the same thing in the exact
same words. But here it is, Proverbs 14,
verse 12. There is a way which seemeth
right unto a man, a way. But the end thereof are the ways
of death. The religious world around us
presents men with a way that seems right to a man. You've
got to do something. It just stands for reason. You've
got to do something. God's done all that he can do.
Now the rest is up to you. There is a way proclaimed by
the whole of the lost religious world that seems right to a man. Well, that just makes sense.
But the end thereof, It doesn't matter whether you always the
Methodist way, the Baptist way, the Campbellite way, the Pentecostal
way, the Catholic way, the Islam way, the Jew way, it doesn't
matter what it is. The way that seems right to a
man, the end thereof are the ways of death. The church and
the religion and the religious exercises will take you to hell,
not to glory. My friend, it is not an easy
thing to be saved. I know that in this day of mass
evangelism and easy believism and decisional salvation, that
statement will not be popular and it won't be quickly received.
And some, maybe some of you will even become angry at hearing
it, but hear it. You must hear it. You must hear
it. You must God help you to hear
it. It is not an easy thing to be safe. Now let's see if I can
back that up in the word of God. It's not an easy thing to be
said. Our Savior said, strive. The word is agonize. Agonize. I don't often meet with anybody,
Merle, agonizing about salvation. Agonize. Agonize to enter in
at the straight gate. The word straight doesn't just
mean straight like an arrow. It means straight, constricted,
narrow, tight. Enter in at the straight gate
like the eye of the needle. Our Lord said concerning that
rich young ruler, it's easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom
of God. Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
Now I've read just about every kind of explanation preachers
can give on that. I'll tell you what our Lord meant.
It meant that it's easier for a camel to go through the eye
of a needle you can't get a piece of thread through than it is
for a rich man to get into the kingdom of God. Easier. A man who thinks he's good, a
man who thinks he's rich in his soul, a man who thinks he's righteous,
a man who thinks he has God at his beck and call, it's easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for him
to enter into the kingdom of God. Strive, agonize to enter into
the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter in and shall not be able. Years, years, years
ago, Brother Maurice Montgomery and I were preaching together,
and he made this statement. I wrote it down. The gate is
so straight that you can't take anything in as you enter. And
the way is so narrow that you can't pick anything up along
the way. It's not an easy thing to be
saved. It's not a simple thing to believe
on Christ. If saving faith is no more than
saying a prayer, making a decision, walking an aisle, believing in
the death, burial, resurrection of Christ, the historic facts
of our Lord's death, burial, resurrection. Answer me this
question. Why did Judas perish? If that's
all there is to salvation, why was Simon Magus lost? Why did
Demas die? Why was Deopthes destroyed? True
saving faith is such a rare, rare thing in this world that
our Lord Jesus asked this question. When the Son of Man cometh, shall
he find faith on the earth? Yes, the way of truth and holiness
is so plain that wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. That is to say, the most simple
minded, uneducated, illiterate person who believes on Christ
walks in the way and he won't err. Yet, because of the sin
and hardness of our hearts, it's no easy thing to enter into that
way. No easy thing for us to continue in the way until we
reach everlasting glory at last. Now let's look at first Peter
chapter four, verse 18. Here's my text. If the righteous scarcely be
saved. Where shall the ungodly and the
sinner appear? If the righteous scarcely be
saved. That word scarcely is really
a very poor translation. Peter is not suggesting that
God's elect barely get into heaven, or that we shall enter into glory
with fear and trembling hesitancy, or that some folks are going
to be saved just by the skin of their teeth. No. God's saints
shall be ushered into heaven in a blaze of glory, triumphant
and victorious by his grace. The word scarcely. would be better
translated with difficulty. Peter's meaning is this. If the
righteous are saved only with great difficulty, what shall
become of the ungodly and the sinner? What does it take for
God to save a sinner? God who says I will by no means
clear the guilty. God who says that he is holy
and righteous and just. God who says the soul that sinneth
it shall die. God who says the just wages of
sin are death. What does it take for God to
save a sinner? Now, I've got nothing new, deep
or profound to say. But what I had to say, if you're
a believer ought to flood your heart with joy. And if you this
day would be saved, I beg that God will give me your attention.
Here are seven things that ought to give you hope and encouragement
to seek the Lord. Number one, what does it take
for God to save a sinner? It takes the will of God. It takes the will of God. Salvation,
the salvation of a sinner requires God's sovereign will in election
and predestination. I know people have the silly
notion, and it is a silly notion, that God wills the salvation
of all men, and still some folks aren't saved. If God wills the
salvation of all men, then either all men shall be saved or God's
will is meaningless. Now you take your pick. You take
your pick. No, God does not will the salvation
of all men. He wills the salvation of some
men. And God's will in the salvation of some men, God's will in the
salvation of those who actually in time are and must be saved
is called election and predestination. And the book of God teaches these
things so plainly, so plainly that you cannot possibly miss
that fact unless you refuse to read the word of God. The word
of God teaches it plainly. Look in Ephesians chapter 1.
Salvation has to begin with someone's will, with someone's choice. The whole world says it begins
and ends with man's will and man's choice. But this book declares
just the opposite. This book declares it begins
and ends with God's will and God's choice. Election is God's
free, sovereign, eternal choice of his people in Christ Jesus
unto salvation. Predestination is God, before
the world began, having arranged all things in time to accomplish
His will in the saving of His people. God, before the world
began, chose the people. He said, I will be their God.
They shall be my people. He specified who they were, wrote
their names in the book of life of the land, slaves and the foundation
of the world. That's what the book says. That's
what the book says. And in predestination, God Almighty
arranged everything in time exactly as it has come to pass, is coming
to pass and shall be brought to pass to accomplish that will,
the salvation of his people. Imagine that. Imagine Oh, my
soul. God Almighty, before the world
began, predestined, predestined, He determined beforehand everything
that happens in time and brings it to pass for the salvation
of my soul. God does it all for his elect. Ephesians 1 verse 3. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us, who hath at one time before the world began blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before him. Before the
world was, God chose us. And according as he chose us,
he blessed us. And his object in choosing us
was to make us holy and blameless in the perfection of salvation
before him. in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. What does it take for God to
save a sinner? Number one, the will of God. Number two, it takes
the blood of Christ. The salvation of a sinner requires
blood atonement. It takes a work of effectual
blood redemption, the satisfaction of divine justice by an infinitely
meritorious substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, our savior. I want you to turn back to the
book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 40, Isaiah chapter 40. This is God's word to his prophet. God's word to every prophet. God's word to every preacher.
Telling every preacher exactly what he is to preach. Exactly
what he is to preach. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. It is the business of every preacher
to preach that which comforts God's elect. Speak to the heart. Speak to the heart of my people.
Speak comfortably to Jerusalem. Cry under her. Jerusalem, not
that city across in the Far East. No, no, no, no, no. It's talking
about that city of God's elect, the church of the New Jerusalem,
the whole host of God's elect. Speak to the heart of my people. Cry unto her. I have prepared
this message and I've worked at it and I have a responsibility
now to speak to your heart. And I can't do it. I can't do it unless God speaks
by me. He says, speak to the heart of
Jerusalem. Cry to her. What do I say? Tell
her her warfare is accomplished. Tell her her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. Not only, not only did
the Lord Jesus put away our sins so that we're forgiven by his
blood and by his grace, he brought in everlasting righteousness
so he makes us holy and blameless before God according to God's
own purpose. We've received in the Lord's
hand double for all our sins. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Beginning in verse
4, Isaiah describes a great Apparently insurmountable difficulty difficulties
which lie in the way of God saving sinners God could not get to
us in mercy and We could never get to God for it until these
great difficulties were removed then in verse 5 he tells us that
the glory of the Lord is revealed in Christ removing them and Mercy
could never have been exercised toward guilty sinners. So long
as justice stood like a high mountain between me and God.
Christ Jesus came and fulfilled all that justice required and
brings the mountain down. Our all glorious Savior, the
Lord Jesus, by his obedience and death as our substitute,
by satisfying the righteousness and justice of God for his elect,
has leveled that infinitely high mountain that stood between us
and our God, our holy God, the high mountains of our sins. Reaching up to heaven. And in no way God can get to
me or I can get to God until the mountains are removed. And
our Savior said, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed,
thou shalt say to this mountain, be thou removed into the sea.
And it shall be removed into the sea. If you believe the Son
of God, that's not talking about if you just believe God, you
believe God for anything. He's talking about this very passage
of Scripture, this very passage of Scripture. God gives sinners
faith in Christ. And consciously now that mountain,
that mountain of sin and iniquity that separated me from God is
cast into the depths of the sea so that it no longer stands between
me and God. Christ did that when he died
at Calvary. He buried our sins in the depths
of the sea, in the depths of the sea, the sea of God's infinite
forgetfulness. Blessed be God, our great Savior,
leveled the mountains of our sins. Oh, precious, glorious
Savior, he bear our sins in his own body on the tree and bear
them away forever. That same Lord, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who leveled the mountains of God's offended justice and
the black high heels of our iniquities, is the one who by the revelation
of himself makes the crooked places straight and the rough
places smooth so that the sinner looking away from himself, looking
to Christ. Oh, God help you. Look away. Look away from yourself and all
that you know and do and experience. Look away from yourself to the
crucified son of God. And you'll see how easy the way
is. It is just faith in Christ. Faith that God alone can give. Without the shedding of blood,
we now see, there's no remission. God Almighty cannot and will
not save anyone, election and predestination notwithstanding,
without blood atonement. I was traveling somewhere out
of Louisville Airport. I forgot where we were going,
and a fellow asked where I was going. I was going somewhere
to preach, and he asked me where I was from. I told him, and he
said, What do you think about election and predestination?"
I said, well, you know what I think about it. He said, well, does
the Bible teach that? Well, these TSA agents. He was
kind of whispering. They were not supposed to talk
that kind of stuff, you know. I said, well, of course it teaches that.
He said, well, if you believe that, why do you go preach? I
said, because I believe that. Because I believe that. God has
a people whom he will save and he saves them by faith in Jesus
Christ that God alone gives by the preaching of the gospel.
There's no way for God to save without the shedding of blood
according to God's purpose that God may be the just and the justifier
of all who believe on his side. Number three, turn to Romans
chapter eight. Romans chapter 8. I touched on
this just a little bit, but let's look at it. What does it take for God to
save a sinner? It takes divine providence. The salvation of a sinner requires
divine providence. It takes all the work of God's
wise, adorable providence. Providence is simply the outworking
of predestination Day by day the accomplishment in time of
what God purposed in eternity Now almost everyone who's at
all familiar with the New Testament can almost quote Romans 8 28
We know that all things work together for good. That's that's
that's getting a little close, but that's not all it says Look
at what it says Romans chapter 8 verse 28. I And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God. Who are they? To them who are
thee called according to his purpose. To them who are thee
called according to his purpose. And then it tells us what God's
purpose is. For whom he did forego. Those whom he loved with an everlasting
love. Loved with the infinite knowledge
of perfect love. Then he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he, the Lord
Jesus, might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, then he also called, and whom he called,
then he also justified, and whom he justified, then he also glorified. Well, what shall we then say
to these things? That's not right. Oh, no. If God before us, who can be
against us? If God has purposed our salvation,
if God willed our salvation, if God chose us to eternal life,
all hell can't stop it. If God be for us, who shall be
against us? What does it take? It takes everything
that is, everything that has been, and everything that shall
hereafter be. You see, nothing in God's universe
is excessive, unneeded, redundant, or superfluous. Nothing. Nothing. That's worth remembering. Nothing in God's universe is
excessive, unneeded, redundant, or superfluous. Oh, preacher. That ought to make
you bite your tongue when you start to grumble. That ought
to make you bite your tongue when you start to murmur against
God. Everything that is, has been, and shall hereafter be
is because God purposed it, has been because God purposed it,
and shall be brought to pass because God purposed it for the
saving of His elect. We judge things by what we see
immediately. And God forgive us, we judge
God's grace and God's providence and God's purpose by what we
see and feel right now. Don't ever do that. Now I'm preaching
to myself, I hope you hear me. Don't ever do that. Judge what
you experience tomorrow. what you have experienced today.
Judge what you experience by what God reveals in his word.
This too, God ordained before the world was for the saving
of his elect. And all of it works together. Works together. You young people,
go to the fair, and in the spring you'll start going up to, what
is it, Kings Island up there, and you get on those rides, and
you ride those wild, crazy rides like all young people do, and
folks who are crazy enough to think they're still young people.
And you get on those wild roller coasters and just ride. And all
you see is that roller coaster going across the tracks, just
flying across the tracks, hitting that sharp turn, turning. What
you don't see are all the cogs and wheels and things meshed
together to make it work exactly right. Take out just one and
the whole thing crashes. Just one. Every part is necessary
for the machine to work. So it is with God's providence.
Every detail When the water at the sea splashes against the
wall and the mist sprays over every particle of water, falls
exactly according to God's purpose for the saving of His people.
That's called providence, divine providence. God working all things
together for our everlasting good. What does it take for God
to save a sinner? It takes irresistible grace. This is what the book says. Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto
thee. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. No one would ever come to Christ
No sinner would ever believe on the Lord Jesus. No one would
ever seek God's mercy. No one would ever call on the
name of the Lord for salvation. Were he not forced to do so? You mean God saves people against
their will? Absolutely. If he didn't, you'd
never be saved. He saves us. He always saves sinners against
their will with their full consent. He makes them willing in the
day of his power. Makes them willing in the day
of his power. Today, you say, no, no, no, no. I will not bow. I will not trust
Christ. I will not be his. I will not
be the subject of his kingdom. I will not serve him. And then
something happens. God reveals Christ in you, and
you want him more than life itself. How's that? Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. I can't make you willing. Mama
and Daddy can't make you willing. All the influence of your parents
can't make you willing. The best preaching in the world
can't make you willing. All the troubles you can face,
all the difficulties can't make you willing. But God the Holy
Spirit does in the day of his power, revealing Christ in you. And he graciously does so by
irresistible force. by power, by grace that can't
be resisted. I know, I've been instructed
by fellows, well, not use words like that. People are confused. Nobody's confused by something
irresistible. That's not a problem. That's not a problem. Well, it
offends people. That's the problem. That's the
problem. And I full well intend to go
on offending folks as long as God offends them. Our farewell
intent to go on using terms that offend man's pride and man's
arrogance and man's self-righteousness. Yes, if God saves you, it will
be by grace. You can not resist irresistible
grace. That irresistible grace comes
by the revelation of Christ in you. How is it that God, the
Holy Spirit, makes sinners willing in the day of his power? He does
so by conviction. by the gift of faith, by giving
life to the dead, by almighty conversion, by omnipotent grace,
by all the constraints of his providence. I look at my life
and my experience, God's grace, all the things that I lament. Oh my God, how much that is. All the evil wrought by these
wicked hands, all the pain and sorrow I caused among my own
family and in my own life, all those things, all those things
God used to bring me to utter emptiness of self and reveal His Son in me, thus
preparing the object of His mercy all the days of my life, preparing the object of His mercy
for the appointed time of love when He would reveal Christ in
me. Preacher you talk like God Ruled even the bad things. I'm
glad you heard me, right and Rules them for good for the saving
of his elect everything What does it take for God to save
a sinner? I'll tell you something else
Look in first Corinthians chapter 1 first Corinthians chapter 1 Here's the fifth thing The salvation
of a sinner Requires it requires because God ordained it it requires
the preaching of the gospel If God saves a sinner it takes a
man sent from God with the gospel of your salvation. I Don't suggest
for a moment that God could not save his elect without the preaching
of the gospel Without the instrumentality of gospel preaching. I don't
suggest that for a moment, you know better. I God Almighty could
regenerate and cause his elect to believe on his son by the
buzzing of a gnat if that were his purpose. He's God. But it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. You see that first
Corinthians 121, 22 and 23? It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Faith cometh by hearing. and hearing by the word of God.
Gospel preaching is not an optional additive, but an essential part
of God's method of grace. Now, this is what I mean. When
the appointed time of love comes, when the time comes when a chosen
redeemed sinner must be saved by God's grace, two things are
going to happen. God's going to send that person
a preacher, and send that preacher to a person, even if he has purpose
to turn the world upside down to do it. How often this is illustrated
for us in the book of God. There was a woman by the name
of Lydia, for whom the time of love had come, and a Philippian
jailer for whom the time of love was almost present. The Apostle Paul was called to
go over and preach he felt strongly inclined to go over preaching
this person and God said no No, not now you go down to Philippi
and preach and he went down to Philippi and preached and found
a woman group of women gathered by shore and he preached Christ
to them and the Lord opened Lydia's heart. She took Paul and his
friends into her house and cared for them and he preached some
more and he was arrested. Oh, he must have been out of
God's will. No, no, he was doing exactly what God intended. He
was arrested and thrown in jail. Well, how could that be good?
Well, there's a crusty old retired Roman soldier who had been given
this job of being a jailer at Philippi. And he took Paul and
Silas, Paul and Luke, and threw them into the inner chamber and
locked them up. Now, Luke tells us about Paul
and Silas, and Paul and Silas worshiped God. And about midnight,
there was a shaking, and the jailhouse just shook. All the
doors sprang open. God opened the doors and the
jailer, knowing that was going to cost him his life, was about
to slaughter himself. And Paul said, do thyself no
harm. We're all here. We're all here. And he came rushing
in and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? I wonder what
happened. God brought him down. God caused
him to hear what Paul and Silas preached while they're sitting
in that jail cell, one to another, worshiping God. And that jailer,
when he was in utter terror, fearing for his life, now is
made willing in the day of God's power. There was a heathen chieftain
on an island down off the coast of Italy called Milita. We call
it Malta today. Every time I think about this,
I think about our friend Jeanette Morel, her family's from Malta.
And Paul was being taken to Rome as a prisoner. And when they
left the seaport, there was a ship sailing under the side of Scarlet
Crossbones, a pirate ship that left and didn't have any trouble
at all. Just sailed just easy. Boy, sure would be nice to be
on that ship, wouldn't it? Never go through a storm, never have
your boat turned upside down and everything look like it's
just going to be destroyed. Just sail smooth water. Well, why is that? Because God
didn't have anything for those folks. The ship that Paul's on
goes into a storm. Everybody's terrified. unload
the ship throw off everything and finally they couldn't control
it so they let her drive and ran it into the ground and the
ship broke and they swam to shore on broken pieces of the ship
and they're cold and it's damp and they're out there building
the fire and Paul's out gathering wood threw it on the fire and
an ass bit him got warm and jumped out and bit him right there and
Paul shook it off and went on about his business and and the
heathen They said, he must be a sinner. God's going to kill
him. Watch it. And when nothing happened, they said, he must
be a God. Paul said, no, but I'll tell
you who he is. And he preached the gospel to them. And there
was a chieftain there for whom the time of love had come. And
God prepared him to hear the gospel of his grace as he sent
his servant, Paul, on a wrecked ship to the island and wrecked
the ship so that that man Paul would be gathering wood and put
it on fire and be bit by a serpent. All the trouble because God works
all things together for good to them who are the called, the
objects of his grace. I recall the first time I went
to Australia to preach. I was preaching for the Don McMurray,
a little chapel. Oh, it wasn't half the size of
this auditorium. And it was packed full that night,
folks standing outside in the doorway. And while I was preaching,
I saw a fellow back in the days when some folks wore those Ronald
McDonald hairdos, you know, just he was a redheaded fellow, his
hair sticking out everywhere. And he was wearing a real short shorts,
fellas running in and just a basketball type jersey. And he went running
by and then he came running by again and then he came walking
by. And then he walked back down
and sat down. And I didn't see him. I didn't
see him. But God got him. The next Sunday, he was there
asking Don to baptize him. He had heard the gospel of God's
grace. God Almighty never bypasses the instrumentality of gospel
preaching in the saving of his elect. That ought to inspire
us to do everything we have within our power to get folks to hear
the gospel and to hear it ourselves. If God speaks to you, it's going
to be by the preaching of the gospel. If God has a word for
you, it'll come by the preaching of the gospel. Six, it takes
divine preservation. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. It takes the same grace and the
same power to keep us in life and faith. It takes the same
grace and the same power to keep us believing as it took to give
us life in the beginning. If it were up to you, you'd been
gone a long time ago. If it were up to me, I'd have
been gone a long time ago. But the Savior said I'd given
to them eternal life. and they shall never perish. We're fickle and frail. He's
faithful and true. Nothing about us is dependable. Everything about him is. He said,
I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. And it'll take one more thing.
It'll take one more thing. What does it take for God to
save a sinner? It takes resurrection glory.
We won't look at the text tonight. Soon, this corruption shall put
on incorruption. And this mortal shall put on
immortality. and death shall be swallowed
up in victory. For when Christ comes, he will
raise our bodies from the dust of the earth in the perfection
of resurrection glory, like unto his glorious body, and calling
us to himself, so shall we ever be with the Lord. That's what
it takes for God to save a sinner. May God be pleased to do that
work for you. Amen.