Turn back with me now to I Thessalonians
chapter 5. As repetitious as it may sound,
I want to begin this morning where faith and revelation begins
with an awareness of sin. What is this Bible talking about
when it talks about sin and sinners? What's he talking about? Is he
talking about somebody that's gone astray? Is he talking about
somebody who's went down the wrong path, made
the wrong decisions, influenced by somebody, grown away, reached
the age of accountability, and went the wrong direction? What's
he talking about when he talks about sin and sinners? Because that's what this Second
Coming's all about. That's what salvation is all
about. And as repetitious as it may
sound, this is where revelation begins. This world is in a mess. It's always been in a mess. It's
been in a mess since Adam fell. It's in a mess. The Bible said
sin entered and death was passed. That's what it says. Sin entered. How did it enter? By one man. Isn't that what that says over
there in Romans 5.12? As by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men. Evidenced by the fact that all
have sinned. Sin entered. Death was passed. And you call it what you will.
Call it what you will. Man fell in Adam. The scripture
said, in Adam all die. All of them. Those with eyes
to see. See what? See what? How often did our Lord
say that? Eyes to see. Those of you who
have ears to hear. Hear what? See what? To see sin reigning, ruling,
and ruining everywhere, everyone in this world. This world's in
a mess. It's in a mess. Disease, catastrophe,
disasters in place, all the result of sin. All the result of sin. And I'd ask you this morning,
has God the Holy Spirit ever opened your eyes to see what
you are? To see what you are. Not what
you think you are, but what God says you are. Sin is not so much
what we do, it is what we do, but it's not so much what we
do as it is what we are. It's our condition. It's our condition. It's our
nature. Paul calls it in Romans 7, verse
23, a law. A law, a fixed condition. Listen to this. Here's a man
after God's own heart. You may question my salvation.
You may question the salvation of everybody in this place, but
you can't question the salvation of David. This is a man by God's
testimony, a man after God's own heart. And he said God required
of him to confess what he was, to confess his sin before God. And listen to what he says. He
said, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. Listen to this, Psalm 58.3. He
said, the wicked are astraying from the womb. They go astray
as soon as they be born, speaking lies. And then in Romans chapter 3,
verse 9, Paul declares by infallible inspiration that he'd already
proved both Jews and Gentiles all to be under sin. under its
power, and under its curse, and under its influence, and under
its damning effects. We're sinners. Sinners. That's where revelation begins
with what you are. You won't find fault with election
if God ever convinces you of your condition. You won't argue
about the means that God has chosen. You won't argue about
God's sovereignty. You won't argue about those things
when God, if God, ever convinces you of sin. Because a sinner
is a helpless man, a helpless woman. Helpless. Have you ever seen
that about yourself? Helpless. I couldn't bring God
down. I couldn't bring His presence down. I couldn't get Him to hear
what I wanted Him to hear. I had nothing to bargain with,
nothing to barter with. Helpless. Helpless. Paul said, For I know that in
me, in me dwelleth no good thing. Do you know that? I am talking fundamentals to
you. This second coming of Christ
is not going to mean anything to you until you get clear on
this thing of sin. This thing of rejoicing Christ
is not going to mean anything to you until you get straight
on this thing of sin, who you are. Grace of God will just defend
you until you learn who and what you are. We are nothing. We are nothing. We've got nothing
to barter with, nothing to trade, nothing to recommend us before
God. All together, he said in Romans
chapter 3, become unprofitable. And that's what Paul said. He
knew this. He knew this. I know this. In my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. And listen to this. He says this
same thing in Romans chapter 7. He said, I know that the law
is spiritual. It's spiritual. It's God's law.
It's God's standard. It's not what you think it is.
Our Lord told those Pharisees who bragged in their righteousness,
He told them, He said, you think to commit adultery, that's what
this commandment is all about. He said, I'll tell you what this
is all about. This is spiritual. And he said, to look on a woman
in lust after her is to commit adultery already in your heart.
To be angry at your brother without a cause is to be guilty of murder.
Paul said, the law is spiritual. It goes deeper than I thought
it did. It judges the thoughts and intents of the heart. But he said, I'm carnal. The
law is spiritual. But I'm carnal, listen, sold
under sin. Sold under sin. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. And when God, and if God ever,
is pleased to show you what you are, you weep over your sins. I remember years ago visiting
Brother Scott Richardson up in Fairmont, West Virginia. And
in the pastor's study is a picture. It just looks like somebody sketched
it out of black ink. And it looks like this young
lady sitting before a vanity, a dresser. You remember those
old vanities? They were kind of long, and they had a place
for a chair to sit down, and a little round mirror in the
middle. And that's what you were looking at. And this lady was
brushing her hair, looking in the mirror. But when you walked
up on it, what it really was was a skeleton. It was a skull. When you got up close to look
at it, you saw it for what it was. That's what I'm trying to
tell you. He said the lost, the Gentiles,
those lost men, men who don't know God, he said they walk in
the vanity of their minds. It's all vanity. All vanity. And when God reveals to you what
it is, you're dead. He did. Sin is what we are, and sin is
what we love. He said, here's the condemnation,
here's the judgment. We're talking about God's judgment
on the world. You say, where is that judgment?
Light came into the world, and men loved darkness rather than
light. Here's a perfect man. Here's the Son of God. He did
no sin whatsoever. Nobody ever loved as He loved. Nobody was ever faithful as He
was faithful. And yet they rejected Him. They
turned their back on Him. They despised Him. Here's the
condemnation. Men love darkness rather than
light. That's sin. We love what we are. And sin is what we choose. I'm not going to go through 20
minutes of arguing over free will. I'm just going to tell
you this. Your will is biased by sin. And I'll tell you what
you're going to love every time is sin. I'll tell you what you're
going to choose every time. You're going to choose sin. That's
what you're going to do because that's where your heart is. Sin
is what we choose. It's what we are. It's what we
love. And sin is our nature. Those folks over there, oh, I
ain't drinking no wine now. I ain't doing that. You might
get grape juice if you want me to have the Lord's table. Our
Lord said, it ain't what goes into your mouth that defiles
a man. It's what comes out of his heart.
What comes out of his heart. Well, what comes out of a man's
heart? Evil thoughts. Murders. adulteries, fornications,
theft, false witness, and blasphemy. Where did it come from? Out of
your heart. Out of your heart. You. That's what Paul started
that second chapter of Ephesians. He said, and you who were dead. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses. This is where this thing of faith
finds its beginning, and the Holy Spirit conviction of sin.
Somebody told old Ralph one time, he said, you can catch more flies
with honey, Ralph, than you can with vinegar. And old Ralph said,
I suppose you can, but he said, I'm not trying to catch flies,
I'm trying to kill sinners. I'm trying to kill sinners. I'm
trying to tell you the way it is, not the way you thought it
was, not the way you feel it is, but the way it is by the
testimony of God Himself. Man will never seek mercy, sovereign
mercy, until God shows him what he is. Our Lord said to those
self-righteous Pharisees, those that He called hypocrites, He
said, now you go learn what this means. That's what I'm saying
this morning. This is the first lesson of faith. This is the beginning of revelation,
right? He said, now you go learn what
this means and then we'll talk again. I'll have mercy and not
sacrifice. For I'm not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. Paul said this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into this
world to save sinners. of whom I am chief. What are
you trying to do, preacher? I'm trying to tell you the way
it is. You reason things and we're so
quick, we're so prone to quickly give an answer. I remember I
opened a pantry up one day and one of my kids was standing on
top of the washing machine. I had no idea what they were
doing. I said, what are you doing? And
they came out, just immediately came out with a big long explanation
of what they were doing on top of the washing machine. And that's
the way we react toward the preaching of the gospel. Somebody says
that man is totally depraved. And immediately, with no consideration
of God's book, with no study, no reading, no thinking about
it, no praying about it, pow, we got an answer. I don't believe
that because it don't seem right. I'm trying to tell you the way
it is. Are you happy with yourself? Think about it. Are you happy
with yourself? Are you pleased with yourself?
Are you satisfied with the way things are? Most people are. Most of them are. Maybe you're
saying this morning under your breath, somebody says, yes, I
am. Yes, I am. Then you've made yourself
a perfect example of God's condemnation of man. A perfect example of
it. And man's nature makes him an
easy mark for the prince of darkness. The scripture says men are taken
captive by him at his will. At his will. Think about that. At his will. Taken captive. The scripture
says we walk according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
What does he work? What does he do? He works through
his ministers. It says, Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers
also be transformed as ministers of righteousness. He works through
his assemblies. In Revelation 2, verse 9, he
calls them the synagogue of Satan. He said, I know the blasphemy
of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue
of Satan. Satan has his churches, and Satan
has his ministers, and he and his cohorts called in the Scriptures
the rulers of the darkness of this world. Man is an easy mark
for Satan's ministers because he's totally depraved. He's born
in sin. Satan knows exactly what this
flesh craves and he lays it out before you. What does it crave? It craves pride. Pride! Listen to the preaching that
goes on in this world. It pours itself out over the
pride of man. And yet men are helpless before
him. Men are nothing before Him. They serve Him as Israel did
Pharaoh down in Egypt. And there's not the slightest
possibility that any man can resist or overcome his nature,
this world, or the prince of darkness. The disciples watched
that rich young ruler with every advantage to man known. Watched him walk away. And they
turned and looked at each other and they said, who then can be
saved? If this man, with every potential
there is, was rejected and turned away and walked away, who then
can be saved? Now listen to what our Lord told
him. And let this go deep into your heart. He said, with man
this is impossible. Huh? Let me tell you when you're
going to know that, when He convinces you of sin. That's when you're
going to know it. It's impossible. It's impossible. Well, if you can take the first
step, you don't need Him at all. You take the first step, that
means you're not dead. I can't imagine standing out
in front of the tomb of Lazarus trying to beg Him to come out
of that tomb. Can you? Would you even do something like
that? Stand there now, come on, come
on. Every eye closed, every head
bowed. Nobody looking around. Come on,
take the first step. No, he's dead. He's not only
dead, he's corrupted, he's rotten. Lord, he stinketh. Sin. The salvation of a sinner
is wholly and completely in the hands of the Lord. It says in
the book of James, of his own will begat he us with the word
of truth. Whose will? God's will. God's
will. It said, being born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. And receiving the faith of God's
elect, not the profession of something arising from his works,
but as the gift of God's free and sovereign grace. By grace
are you saved through faith. What kind of faith? Not of yourselves. That's the kind of faith. A new creation, raised to walk
in newness of life, circumcised with the circumcision made without
hand, circumcised in the heart and in the spirit, whose praise
is not of men, but of God. God working in them both the
will and to do of His good pleasure. Led to repentance. Man has to
be led everywhere he goes because he's blind. He's blind. All those miracles that Christ
performed when He was on this earth, they're all pictures of
faith. All pictures of how sinners come to Christ. They come as
unclean like the leper. They come as is barred from His
presence. They come anyway. They come in
desperation, like that leper, and fell down. And he said, Lord,
if You will, if You will, You can make me clean. They sit there
on their beggar's blanket, like Bartimaeus, and wait for the
Lord to pass by. That's right. You never thought about that.
Before the Lord touched you and did something to your heart,
you never one time saw yourself a beggar sitting on a blanket.
Shut up! Shut up to the providence of
God who is going to pass by or at least leave you like He did
a lot of those blind men sitting on a blanket. Paralyzed down
by the pool. Go on and on and on with it.
Issues of blood, unclean. This world goes on its way and
it has since the beginning, deceiving and being deceived, never learning,
never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, walking in the
vanity of their minds and every imagination of the thoughts of
their heart, only evil continually. And the ministers, they cry,
peace and safety, peace and safety. They have been crying it for
a thousand years. Peace and safety. Oh, but one
day, our text says, sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon
a woman with child, and they shall not escape. Listen to the text. I Thessalonians
5.4. But ye, brethren, are not in
darkness. Huh? You're not in darkness. You were. Blind Bartimaeus was not in darkness. He started out that way. But
God didn't leave him in it. He gave him eyes to see. Eyes
to see. You're not in darkness that that
day should overtake you as a thief, are you? Has God given you eyes
to see? Can you see yourselves for what
you are? Can you see this world for what
it really is? And better than that, And more
than that, can you see religion for what it is? Can you do that? If you can't, you don't have
eyes to see. Can you see the difference between
works and grace? There is a difference. There
are poles of difference. He said if it be of works, there
is no more grace. What part of it? Any part of
it. All of grace. If it's not, it works. It works. Between natural and spiritual,
between free will and free grace. God's people are not in darkness.
And they don't walk in darkness, they don't live in darkness,
and they don't work in darkness. Verse 5, ye are children of light
and children of the day. We're not of the night. We're
not of darkness. We don't love darkness. We don't
walk in darkness. Christ is the day star, Peter
said, that has arisen in our hearts and filled our minds and
hearts with grace and truth. Therefore, he says in verse 6,
let us not sleep as do others, but let's watch. Let's be sober. He's not talking about an alcohol-related
sobriety. Here, he's talking about being
sober. He's talking about understanding
what's going on. He's talking about being aware
of what this world is and what religion is and what you are
and what God's doing. And that that day is approaching
fast, speedily, coming upon us. Be sober. Let us watch and be sober, for
they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken,
drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, for in helmet
the helmet of salvation." Now let me very quickly give you
five things that he gives us as a sweet comfort to those who
have been called of God and given eyes to see. First of all, they
see God's sovereign purpose. God's sovereign purpose of grace. Did you ever, before you heard
the Gospel, hear anybody talk about God's purpose of grace? I never did. I never did. I thought things were just going. Just going. No specific end to
it. on one end of the rope pulling,
and Satan's on the other end of the rope pulling, and Church
of God pulling with God, and sinners are pulling against Him,
and there's in this big tug of war over sinners. I didn't realize,
I never heard anybody talk about the fact that God had a purpose,
and that this purpose is a purpose of grace. He tells us over in 2 Timothy
1, verse 9, that God has saved us, God did. We didn't save ourselves. God
saved us. And called us with a holy calling
not according to our works, now listen, but according to His
own purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. God has a purpose. And His purpose
is to save a people for His glory. And I tell you, if you ever learn
this, everything you know will go out the door. God saves men
on purpose. On purpose. He doesn't save men
by accident. He saves men on purpose. There's
no chance or luck involved. There's nothing unforeseen, nothing
undecided, nothing left to circumstance. God saves men on purpose. Everything about it is on purpose. That preacher that He sends to
them, how shall he preach except he be sent? How can you hear
without a preacher? That providence that aligns you
with Him is God's purpose. God's purpose. And there's no
luck to it. And that purpose is a purpose
of grace. A purpose of grace. And this
purpose is what's behind the election of God's saints. Men
are chosen unto salvation. I hate to listen to a man who
don't understand that, get up and hedge all around that and
whisper, they let God chose a people for His own glory. God did. God
did. The Word of God is full of it.
He told His own disciples, He said, you didn't choose Me. Now
they did choose Him, but they didn't. He said, you didn't choose
Me, I chose you. I chose you. I gave you the ability
to choose me. Chosen unto salvation. They are
elect according to the foreordination of God. Acts 13.48 says, As many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. And nobody else will. Nobody else will. That's the
amazing thing about this. A church full of people will
sit and hear this and one man, one man, God will open his eyes
and ears and man, just like that. He hears it. He knows that man
telling him the truth. He knows that's what this book
teaches. God calls him. Calls him just
like He did Lazarus. Calls him. Those Jews were getting
They were perturbed with Christ. They were getting upset at Him. And finally, He just tied them
up in knots. They'd come up there and try
to bait Him into all kinds of arguments and lay traps for Him.
And He'd just unravel it with a few little simple words or
an illustration or whatever He did. And finally, one day, they
couldn't take it anymore. And they said, If thou be the
Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you. But you believe not because you
are not My sheep. Like I told you, My sheep hear
My voice. They hear My voice. They hear
the truth. They obey the truth. And they
follow Me. They come to Me. They see life
in Me and they come to Me. They see salvation in Me and
they come to Me. They see grace and truth in Me
and they come to Me. They lay hold of Me. They hear
My voice. These chosen ones of God, Paul
said, He blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ according
as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
It says in Ephesians chapter 1 in Christ, verse 11, In Christ
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. And this purpose includes all
the means, all the providence, even to the thoughts and intents
of the heart and the emotions, everything involved, all of God. Listen to this, God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit, belief of the truth. Wherefore, He calls you by our
gospel. But how do I know if I'm chosen
of God? Paul said in the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians, he
knew theirs because the Gospel came to him. It came to him. The Gospel doesn't come to everybody.
Have you ever thought about that? It's impossible for me to preach
to everybody in Arkansas. I preach to anybody who listens.
I preach to anybody God will gather. and let me speak. But
I can't preach to everybody. Everybody don't hear the gospel.
They don't even get the opportunity to sit and hear it with these
ears, let alone with spiritual ears. And it's a high privilege
if you do. He said, I know your election
of God, but when my gospel came, it did come. And then the second
thing he says, it came in power. It wasn't another theory. It
wasn't another doctrine. It wasn't just another opinion.
It was God's message to them. I tell you, it's one thing to
hear the truth and another thing altogether to be convicted by
it, moved by it. Are you with me so far? We're
sinners. We're sinners. If there's any
saving to be done, it's going to be on the part of God. And
it's a comfort to those called of God to know that they've not
been appointed to wrath. That's what He said. Brethren,
you haven't been appointed to wrath. You ought to be jumping up and
down, praising God over nothing but that. But to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ. And the second comforting thing
he tells us here is that this purpose can't be frustrated. It can't be frustrated. People
can be frustrated. People can get mad and jump up
and down and get upset and angry and fold their arms and roll
their eyes and do all kinds of things, but God's purpose can't
be frustrated. God's purpose just moves on.
It ain't even a bump in the road. Not even a bump in the road.
Those eternal blessings and provisions are being trusted into the hands
of His sovereign Mediator. Verse 10, He tells us who died
for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we'll live together
with Him. And every chosen sinner given
to our Redeemer will be called. Every chosen sinner that's called
will respond to the call. We'll be born of God. We'll persevere
in the faith. And we'll be raised in the last
day. You know, Paul tells us over there in Hebrews, I think
it's at the end of chapter 10, he said, we are not of them who
draw back to perdition. We're not of them. Not of them. He tells us, all that the Father
giveth Him shall come to Him. And those that come to Him, he
said, I will in no wise cast out. And it is the eternal, irresistible,
unchangeable will of the Father that everyone which seeth the
Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life." And he
said, I will raise Him up in the last day. Paul said, our
life is hid with Christ in God. Christ is our life. Christ is
our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification and redemption.
He's the way. He's the truth. He's the life.
And when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, He said, then shall
ye also appear with Him in glory. That's why we look for Him. Everything
we hope for is in Him. That's why we look for Him. We
walk, Brother Don said, on the tiptoes of our faith, looking
for Him, looking for His return. He said, I give unto them His
sheep. Those who hear His voice and
see His glory, I give unto them eternal life, and they'll never
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." And
then thirdly, we have this to comfort ourselves together with.
This hope is a present hope as well as a future one. He said,
whether you live or sleep, either one, whether you live or sleep,
whether you live or sleep. Oh! Let me tell you something that only
true believers can know. He has the presence of God with
him. With him. The presence of God. If you didn't have the presence
of God with you, you couldn't understand anything this book
says. Now, I'm not speculating. I'm
telling you the truth. I used to play and sing and drive
church to church and stuff. And the Lord began to reveal
some things to me. And I'd ask these pastors, old
pastors, men 50, 60 years old, some of them older, been in the
church all their life. And I'd ask them questions about
this. And they were dumber than a felt boot. They didn't know
the first thing about it. One of them told me, said, well,
that's not in there. I was asking him about 1 Corinthians
5.21. He said, that's not in the Bible.
And I said, well, turn over 2 Corinthians 5.21 and read that. He said,
I never read that before. I don't know what that means. Election? Oh, he's talking about
the Jews. On and on and on. You didn't
have the presence of God, you wouldn't choose Him. You wouldn't
love Him. You wouldn't come to Him. You
wouldn't embrace Him. You wouldn't allow a division
between you and your friends and your family. You wouldn't
allow that without His presence. It's God who worketh in you. Paul said, for as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. And because
you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. And then fourthly, we are united
to Christ by an eternal union, by His incarnation taking upon
Him our flesh and bones, and by a spiritual union of faith,
and by the indwelling of the Spirit of God. Paul said that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, things present or
things to come, height or depth, nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. We are one with Him, bound to
Him by an inseparable union of love, married to Him forever. And our text says we live together
with Him. Together with Him. And then one
more thing, and I'll quit. It's the comfort, such a comfort
to believers to know that God has appointed over them one to
watch for their souls. One to tell them the truth. I met a man years ago, one of our members, He came to me and said, I know
a guy on TV preaching exactly what you're trying to preach
here. He's dealing with all these subjects you're trying to deal
with. I said, I don't think so. He said, yeah, he's on TV every
Sunday morning. So the next Sunday, I turned
him on. It was Henry Mayhem. And he's dealing with all these
things these other preachers said, don't fool with that. That's evil. Well, he was dealing
with it on TV. He was preaching these things
to the multitude. I said, that's where I'm going.
I went up there and sat down. God convinced me that he was
called of God. He was a man of God. And I loved
him, cherished him, rejoiced over him, thanked God for him. You see what I'm saying? That's
what Paul's saying here. We're waiting. We're watching.
We're on the tiptoes of faith waiting for the coming of our
Redeemer. And while we're here, while we're here, we need to
comfort one another. We need to assemble ourselves
together and comfort one another, encourage one another. And then
he said, esteem them that God's put on you. Don't reject them. Don't push them aside. like a
day that's already spent, realize what they are and what they're
here for, and come here, come here, take advantage of them.