I want to ask you a question. What is your opinion of God? If your opinion of God is wrong,
then your religion, beliefs, salvation are of no profit to
your soul. Do you, like many, think that
God is the old man upstairs, softly and tenderly calling,
trying and begging and pleading that somebody come home to let you save him? If you do, then your opinion
of God is wrong and contrary to the Bible. You think that God has made salvation
possible and it's up to you to decide if you will accept or
reject it by something you possess called a free will? If you do,
then your opinion of God is wrong. Your opinion of God, Christ,
and yourself is wrong and contrary to the Scriptures. And it's very
sad but very true that the majority of people in this world have
the wrong opinion of God. Their opinions of God are way,
way too low. How does the Scriptures, how
does this Bible reveal God? What do the Scriptures say concerning
the Creator of the universe? To those whose opinion of God
is wrong, I ask you plainly and sincerely, have you not read
your Bible? Maybe it would do good to dust
it off and read it. This Bible is clear about who
God is, what He does, how He does it. Have you not read from the inspired
pages of the Scriptures who God is and what we are and how I
can be the wretched sinner that I am, reconciled to a thrice
holy God? There's only one way. And this
Scripture, this book, says over and over again what
that way is. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our message is about a person
in whom the Scriptures say, in Christ. Your opinion of the president,
your opinion of the government, the economy, or anything else,
any personal opinion, have no real consequence to your soul. Is that not right? But your opinion
of God is a matter of eternal life and eternal damnation. Your opinion of who He is, what
He did, what you are, will either lead to life everlasting or eternal
damnation. Now if you're of the opinion
that God needs you for anything, Anything. Your opinion of God is wrong. He don't need you for anything.
Not dependent upon you for anything. If your opinion of God is that
Christ died for everybody in the world, then your opinion
of God is wrong. If you think God's left salvation
up to your decision, your will, your works of righteousness,
then your opinion of God is dead wrong according to this book,
God's Word. Now I could quote you scripture
or read you scripture after scripture that proves you to be wrong if
your opinion of God is these things that I've mentioned thus
far. But this morning, And just for
a few minutes, I'll use only one passage as a text that shows
you without a doubt who God is, how He deals with sinners, what He's done for us in His
Son, And I'll add, before we even begin to read that text,
that your opinion of the sovereign God, right or wrong, does not
change God in the least. If nobody believes the truth
in Scripture about God, it doesn't change Him for being God. He's
always been God. He'll always be God. But one
thing that we know for sure, God is a merciful God. He delights in showing mercy. He loves to show mercy to chosen
sinners. Just maybe He'll have mercy on
you today if you don't know Him. Your opinion, if your opinion
of God is wrong, you must repent if you're ever to be saved. And
that word, repent, means to change. Did you know that? That's what
it means, repent. It's to change one's mind. It's
to change your mind about who God is. He's not somebody wanting
and trying and hoping and pleading and begging. That's not God.
You're going to have to change your mind about who He is. It's
to change your mind about who you are. Well, I'm a pretty good
old fella. No, you're not. You've got to
change your mind about who you are and what you are. I sin because I'm a sinner. Sin's
what I am, not what I do. Oh, my God, help us. It's to
change your mind about how God saves sinners. Sinners must repent. God's not going to change. He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. Numbers 23 says, God's
not a man that He should lie, neither the Son a man that He
should repent. Hath He said, and shall He not
do it? Oh, now we're getting a little
glimpse of who God is. Have He spoken? And shall He
not make it good? The psalmist David wrote, Our
God is where He is in the heavens. And He's done whatsoever He's
pleased. Whatsoever He's pleased. So if
you would turn with me to the epistle of Galatians. Right after
2 Corinthians. Galatians chapter 1 verse 15. I have, I believe, five brief
points for you, but I make no apology for them. This is the
God of the Bible. This is what God has called me
to preach, the truth. That's the only thing that saves
sinners. You'll never be saved in hearing a lie. You'll never
be saved by having the wrong opinion of who God is. Galatians
1.15. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace."
Friends, in this single verse, the divine work of salvation
is laid down plainly. It's laid down plainly. God's
salvation always, always now, begins with God. It does never
ever begin with man, with the sinner. Never. Well, I gave my
heart to Jesus. No, you didn't. The King's heart's in the hand
of the Lord and He turneth it however He pleases, however He
chooses. God don't want your wretched
heart. He's going to have to yank it out and give you another
one. Salvation always, God's salvation
always begins with God. It always begins with God's will. It always begins with God's purpose
and pleasure. If you hear a message, friends,
that gives any recognition, honor, credit to man in the least, it's
not a Gospel message. It's not a message from God.
God will not share His glory with another. And in this message
of Christ and Him crucified, In this message that it pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb, God gets off the
glory. Does He not? Can I take any credit
in that? Absolutely not. The foundation
of salvation never begins, never, ever begins with the will of
man, never. What did God say to Moses? In
Romans 9.15, the Apostle Paul tells us, he said, I'll have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. In Exodus 33.19, Moses asked
God to show him His glory. And God said, I'll make my goodness
pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord
before thee. And I'll be gracious to whom
I'll be gracious, and I'll show mercy on whom I'll show mercy.
That didn't originate with the Apostle Paul. That came from
the lips of God Himself, the mouth of God. Only a sovereign potentate has
mercy on whom he wills, and compassion on whom he wills, and on whom
he wills, he hardens. Well, that's not fair. You better get ready to deal
with an unfair God, if that's what you think. God does as He
pleases. And so the Apostle Paul concludes
in Romans 9, he says, so that it's not of him that willeth.
I know this much. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Charles Spurgeon once said, salvation
does not begin with man's obedience and then proceed onward to the
purpose of God. That's backwards. The first cause
of salvation is my first point to you this morning. It pleased
God. It pleased God. This is the foundation
of all divine grace. The Apostle Paul who wrote these
words by inspiration of God was saved and called to be a preacher
only because it pleased God. It sure wasn't by the merit of
his heart. Do you remember who he was before? His name was Saul. Why, he hated the people of God. Hated God and the people of God.
Scripture tells us he held the coat of the men that stoned the
beloved Stephen. He stood there and held their
coat so they could pick up the stones and stone the man of God. Why? It sure wasn't by his merit,
was it? He persecuted the church with
great passion. It was against the disciples
of Christ that scripture says in Acts chapter 9 that he breathed
threatening and slaughter. My, he drug people out of church. Can you imagine somebody busting
down that door right now and come in with the law and drag
you out of church for being here and worshiping your Lord and
Savior? That's what Paul did. And I find it interesting that the
Scriptures say that he was breathing out threatenings and slaughter
against the people of God. I'm going to tell you, that's
a great illustration because sin is so much of what we are. that we breathe it in and out,
don't we? It sends so natural to us that
we breathe it. We drink it. We drink it. Job 15.6 says, How much more
abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like
water? You think about on a hot Texas
day, you've been working out in the yard, and I don't know
about you, Gatorade don't do it for me, nothing else does.
When I'm thirsty, I've got to have water. That's what quenches
my thirst. And yet the Bible says we drink
iniquity like a thirsty man drinks water. Now do you want to brag on yourself
a little bit? You think God's impressed? with any works that
you might do, any goodness you may think you have. Friends,
the foundation, as I said, of all divine grace is it pleased
God. That's it. It pleased God. The
second thing is the election of God. Next to the sovereign
will and good pleasure of God comes the act of separation commonly
known in the scriptures as by the name of election. What does
Paul say here? He says, it pleased God who separated
me, separated me from my mother's womb. Our text tells us that this separation
occurred and took place long before we were born. Matter of
fact, I'm going to be, to be perfectly accurate, it says separated,
it took place in my mother's womb. Actually, it took place
before the foundation of the world, before we were born, before we
could have done anything to win or to merit God's favor He chose
us in Christ. Now if you would hold your place
here and look over at Romans 9 with me just real quick. And I know most of you know right
where I'm going. Romans chapter 9, look at verse
10. Hold your place in Galatians
if you haven't already. It says, and not only this, But
when Rebekah had also conceived by one, even by our father Isaac,
and the story here is that Rebekah had twin boys. You've heard about
them, Jacob and Esau. And verse 11 says, for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand not of
works. but of Him that calleth." If
God chose me before the foundation of the world, set His affection
on me, elected me to be one of His, how? Tell me how could it
be by anything that I've done? That's pretty plain, isn't it?
Children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil that the purpose of God according to election might stand. People don't like that. That's not a popular message.
And I'm sure you can drive by this church 20 years from now
and you won't see a megachurch because of what we preach. It's
not popular. Men want to have something to
do with it. What must I do to be saved? What good thing must
I do to be saved? You can't do nothing good. You
can't do a thing. Bow to Christ. Love and trust
Him. And that's only by it pleasing
God to do so and separating you. That's right. That's right. God separated us from the earliest
part and time of our being, even before the foundation. I think
about this often. The Scriptures say Christ was
a Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Before the foundation
of the world. To me that means that before
He ever said, let there be light, there was a sinner that God had set His affection
on. to redeem a remnant according to the election of grace. Long before the mountains were
ever piled up, long before the oceans were ever
formed, in God's eternal purpose, He set His people apart for Himself. Isn't that amazing? That should
be our first clue that salvation is not by the works. Shouldn't
it? Oh, what beauty God's people
see in the election and foreknowledge of God which predestinated us
to be conformed to the image of Christ. Now men will tell
you that God looked ahead in time and He saw who was going
to be good and who was going to be naughty and He chose them
based on that. If that is so, salvation is of
works. It's still based on what the
sinner did. If God saw I was going to be
good, or if I was going to be the rotten thing that I am, and
chose me based upon what I was, then salvation's a works, and
God's a liar. But we know that's not so. The Apostle Paul said in Romans
8, moreover, whom he did predestinate. That simply means predestined. You hear that word destiny. My
destiny was predestined by God Almighty. It says, whom he did
predestinate, them he also called. And whom He called, them He also
justified. He made perfect, just like His
Son. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. Friends, one of these days, those
that are in Christ are going to get a new body without sin. That's a glorified body. Like you read, no more tears.
You know why there's not going to be any more tears? No more
sin. You know why there won't be any
more sickness? No more sin. The third thing we see in this
verse is the calling of God. Look at it again. But when it
pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, and what? Called me by His grace. Called me. Well, I called on God. Only after He called you. That's
right. Only because He called you. God in the divine separation,
afterwards comes the effectual calling from God to the sinner. Called me by His grace. Now some
people's definition of grace is different than my definition
of grace. And your definition of grace,
those of you who know him. I recently heard Pastor Todd
Nybridge say in a message that we like to call this grace sovereign
grace. And I do. So much so that's why
we named the church Sovereign Grace Church. We like to call
it free grace. And I agree that what most people
call grace is no grace at all. And that's why it's needful,
I think, for us to distinguish between what God calls grace
and what religionists call grace. We put that word sovereign before
it and free before it. But listen, friends, there's
no grace that's not sovereign. It wouldn't be grace if it wasn't
sovereign grace. It's unmerited favor. from God
Almighty, undeserved, unmerited favor. It has to be sovereign
or it's not grace at all. There's no grace that's not free
grace. If grace is not free, then it
cannot be grace, can it? And if it's not grace, if it's
not free, then it's of works. Oh, we need to understand that
the calling does not cause the election. The election springing
from God's divine purpose causes the calling. The calling comes as a result
of the divine purpose and the divine separation of God. It pleased God. He separated
me from my mother's womb and then He called me by His grace.
He called me by His grace. The Apostle Paul didn't just
start out preaching. He was a preacher according to
the purpose and will of God. The Spirit of God called him
out of his state of nature into a state of grace. He said, it
pleased God. And God separated me and God
called me. God made me His. He adopted me
into the kingdom of His dear Son. Oh, friends, please God to elect
me, separate me, and call me by His grace. Why did He call
me by His grace? Well, that's my fourth thing.
Look at verse 16. To reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among
the heathen. Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. Now friends, if it doesn't please
God to elect me and call me by His free, sovereign grace, then
Christ will never, ever be revealed to me or in me. It just won't happen. You see, not only is Christ revealed
to me, but He's revealed in you. Those of you that love Him and
trust Him as your all and in all. For whom He did foreknow,
He did also predestinate. To what? To be conformed to the
image of His Son. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Oh, this is a personal thing. Not only was it revealed to me,
but revealed in me. Those who put man's will first
don't know what they're talking about. Well, that's being quite
blunt, isn't it? And no more blunt than God Himself. I'm not here to tickle your ears
and tell you how great you are. You're a wretched, hell-deserving
sinner. And if it doesn't please God
to separate you and call you by His grace, you're heading
to hell. Is that plain enough? You can be assured of this, dear
child of God, that the salvation of any soul is a display of the
eternal purpose and sovereign will of God. Salvation is of
the Lord. Period. You look it up in Jonah. Gary, we talked about that. Salvation's
of the Lord. There ain't no comma. Salvation's
of the Lord. If you do this, if you do that.
Salvation's of the Lord. Period. Period. Fifth and final thing. What is
the gospel? What is the gospel? Well, according
to Paul here, it is to preach Christ to the lost. Heathen. My mother used to call
me a heathen all the time. I thought it was something good. You're just a little heathen. When I found out what it was,
I agreed with her. It's to preach Christ to the
unconverted. It's to preach the good news
of the Savior to those that are lost without hope and without
God in this world. And I've said this many times
and it's true. It's not anything that I came
up with. The same message of Christ and Him crucified is the
message that converts sinners and comforts sinners. It's the
same message. It converts the lost and it comforts
the redeemed. Doesn't it? It's the only message that will
ever save your soul and it's the only message that will comfort
you after God saves your soul. It's the only message that pronounces
judgment and pronounces acquittal. Same message. And Paul says plainly and simply
here that I might, look at it, preach what? Him! I might preach Him. Don't you preach on giving? No,
I preach on Him. If you love Him, you'll give. Don't you preach on living right? Well, I'd myself be a castaway
if I preached that. But I preach Him, and your bent
life's going to be to live right. Paul said, I preach Him. You
see, again, the message of the Gospel is in a person. It's in
Him. Christ, the crucified Lord. That's what this message is about. Christ and Him crucified. Well,
what about the doctrines of grace? Isn't it to preach the doctrines
of grace? Well, are doctrines a person? Are doctrines people? Salvation is in a person. Now,
I'll add that when you preach Christ, the doctrines of grace
are set forth. For salvation is of the Lord
and in the Lord. So you see an election. Do we
not see the salvation is of the Lord? If He elected me before
I could ever do any good or evil, is salvation not of the Lord? in predestination. God predetermining
my destiny. God's foreknowledge. Is that
not saying salvations of the Lord? Sure it is. In God's effectual calling, we
see the salvations of the Lord. The Scripture says you will not
come that you might have life. No man can come except God. In justification and redemption,
we see the salvations of the Lord. I can't redeem myself.
I can't keep God's law. I offended in every point. I'm
guilty. Christ had to keep it for me.
Salvations of the Lord. In substitution, we most definitely
see salvation of the Lord. Christ did for me what I couldn't
do for myself. What about in preservation? No
man can pluck them from my hand. Salvation is of the Lord. He
not only saves me, He keeps me by His grace. I can't leave Him. I can't be plucked out of His
hand. I can't jump out of His hand. I'm His and was before
the foundation of the world. In glorification, we see the
salvations of the Lord. In total depravity, we see salvations
of the Lord. We see our inability, don't we?
Now, when we're honest with ourselves before God, and I remember the
first time a man preached the gospel to me, and I thought to
myself, finally, somebody told me the truth about me. You will not come. You cannot
come. You don't have the ability to
come. unless, except, God the Father draw you by His grace.
You won't come. And in that I see salvations
of the Lord. It's irresistible grace. You
want to talk about doctrines? It's irresistible to those whom
God sets His affection on. You believe once saved always
saves? God saved you. If you saved yourself, chances
are, But if God saved you, salvation is of the Lord alone. And this
is what Paul is saying in these two short verses. He says in
verse 16, the end of it, immediately, I conferred not with flesh and
blood. Flesh and blood did not reveal
this to Paul. Flesh and blood did not teach
him these beautiful truths, that it pleased God, that God separated
him, that God called him to reveal His Son in him. He said, flesh
and blood, and didn't teach me that. I confer not with flesh
and blood. One day, and I love this story,
one day Christ asked, who do men say that I, the Son of Man,
am? Who do men say that I am? And
they said, well, some say you're Elijah. And some say that you're
some other great prophet, Ezekiel, Jeremiah. Why, even some say
you're John the Baptist. And He said, who do you say that
I am? And old Simon Peter, I tell you,
you've got to love him, don't you? He answered, and he said, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And what did our
Lord say to him? Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee. Who
revealed it unto him? Well, he told him. He said, Flesh
and blood have not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which
is in heaven. It pleased God to separate me
from my mother's womb and calm me by His grace. What do I have to glory in? What do you have to glory in? Oh, God, help us. Let's look at those two verses
again. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. Say, what He did to you, Russell?
He revealed His Son in you, didn't He? It wasn't anything you did,
was it? that I might preach Him among
the heathen. I might preach Him to others.
Go unto all the world. Tell them about me. Baptize them
in my name. Immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood." Dear friends, if you're a safe sinner, it's
God's doing. Now if you're still here today
and you've got the wrong opinion of who God is, The Scriptures
command you to repent, change your mind. Better change your
mind about who God is, what we are, and what He's done for us. He pleased Him to elect you into
salvation, and He called you by His free and sovereign grace. Why? To reveal His Son in you.