Last Sunday, in the message, I made a comment. It wasn't even in my notes. But
I made this comment. I said that there will be people
who wake up today, like any other day, go about
doing whatever it is that they do. on that certain day, whether
it's Monday and they go to work or Sunday they go to church. And yet there will be some who
will never see the sun set that evening. Monday morning, the
day after, I got a call from a good friend of mine who was
telling me about another friend of mine who had gotten up Monday
morning and went to work. This day they were still cleaning
up the mess there in Kentucky of all the downed branches and
tree limbs. A limb was cut and he was killed
instantly. Well, Brother David, do you think
you're some kind of a prophet and you foretold? No. No. Not even one little bit do I
think that. But I do think that what I said
is the truth. None of us are promised tomorrow. We never know when our time is
up. God does. God appointed it. But I said all that to say this,
that God continually reminds me that this is serious, serious
business. What we call the gospel, the
good news to sinners, is absolutely a matter of life and death. life and death. I hope by God's grace that I
can believe that even more than I do this morning. Now with that
said, I want you to turn with me to Romans chapter 5. I want
to look at just one verse this morning. and I think you'll see
and agree with me in the reading and studying of this verse that
this the gospel is pretty well contained in these few words
of scripture and I want to read to you verse 8 of Romans chapter
5 Romans 5 verse 8 but God commendeth his love toward us
in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Now this is a small familiar
verse and in it is the message of the gospel to chosen elect
sinners. God's message is never hard to
understand, but it's impossible to believe unless God calls you
to believe it. What keeps most people from the
table of the Lord is their obstinate unbelief, their determined will
of, I will not have that man rule over me. I will not bow
to him as Lord and God." And that's what keeps men from the
gospel. We looked in Sunday school and
Jesus said unto them one day, talking about rich men, he said,
it's impossible for harder for a rich man to enter into heaven
than it is for a camel to go through the eye of the needle
and it was very disturbing to them and they said who then can
be saved and he said with man it's impossible salvation with
man is impossible that's what he said it's how hard is it for a natural
man to be saved apart from God it's impossible Not even possible,
much less likely impossible. But not with God. For with God all things are possible. And it's impossible for natural
men and women to believe because Scripture plainly teaches that
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Why? Their foolishness unto Him? Neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Now
that word, discerned, you'd be surprised that it means discriminated. God discriminates? Better read
your Bible. He said, I'll have mercy on whom
I'll have mercy, and whom I will, I'll hardeneth. Well, that's
not fair. Then you better get ready to
deal with an unfair God. The things of God are foolishness
unto a natural man. I believe it was Brother Mahan
one time that said only a fool or a Christian would believe
it. That's true. They're foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them. Why
can't he know them? He doesn't have the ability.
He can't know the things of God unless God reveal it to him.
They're spiritually discern, discriminate. We can't see what
God doesn't show us. And we can't know the things
of God unless He does show us. And often times, and you know
it so, when people are confronted with the truth about God, you
make a statement about a sovereign God and you watch them wiggle
and squirm. Oh, I can't believe that! I can't believe that. Now that's
just not fair and I can't believe that. And you know what? They're
exactly right. They cannot believe it. They cannot believe what an elect
of God believes unless God gives them eyes to see. But God. I love those two words. They're
found often in scripture. But God. You want to know the
cause of your salvation? But God. I'm a wretch born in sin, conceived
in sin, came forth from the womb speaking lies against God and
God only. Have I sinned and done this evil
in thy sight? And I'm headed to hell as fast
as I can. But God, who's rich in mercy, I deserve nothing but hell. All
my righteousness is filthy rags. And I want to bring up my righteousness
before God. One day I'm going to stand before
Him giving an account of all that I've done. And I'm going
to say, Lord, I was a preacher. I used to sing specials. I was
faithful. Went to Sunday school for 47
years. and he's going to say, depart
from me, ye that do iniquity, I never knew you. And I will never know him, if
not but God. But God. Many so-called preachers preach
a God who is bound by the arms of man's will and choice. There's
many leading the masses down a road of works religion. Do
this, do that. Convincing men that God is helpless
to save unless you let him have his will over your will. I declare
to you this morning by the authority of the holy scriptures that I
hold in my hand that a God who is trying, a God who is wanting,
and a God who is striving with man is no God at all. I wouldn't worry much about him. You might as well worship a mailbox. You know why? Because a mailbox
is more useful than a helpless God. Because you can at least
get your mail out of a mailbox. A helpless God can't even deliver
mail. He's helpless. And He's no God
at all. And when false prophets, false
teachers tell people God wants to do something with their life, God never wanted to do anything.
I want to tell them, read your Bibles. Please read the Word
of God. Do you find anywhere in the Scriptures
of God wanting to do something? Trying to do something, striving
to do something, waiting on man to let him do something. You
got the wrong God. He's no God at all. There's only
one true and living God and He's sovereign. He works all things
after the counts of His own will. And nobody says unto Him, what
are you doing? I do what I want, I'm God. Oh, the God of Scriptures, He doeth
according to His will, it says. Old Daniel said, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he, God, doeth according
to his will in the army of heaven, among the inhabitants of the
earth, in the deep places, in the seas, as far east as you
can go to as far west as you can go. He doeth according to
his will. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? He always does what He wants
to, and He does what He wants to whenever He wants. And how
can men, I honestly, I ask, how can men think so lowly of God,
their Creator? My, we can just walk out at night
and look into the skies and see the stars and the moon and the
heavens. And we want to think in our own
finite minds that He who created these things are in somehow,
some way subject to us and our will. That don't even make good
sense. That don't even make good common
sense. Yet it is so. Men really think
that low of God. Men have preached a false, weak,
beggarly Christ for so long that you know what? People believed
them. People have believed them. And there's no word in Scripture
that tells me this, but I can't help but to think that hell won't
be just a little hotter. for those that have lied on God.
You see, people in this religious world, God's given them what
they wanted. We pray, God, deliver me from
myself. Don't give me what I want. Don't
give me what I deserve. Give me what I need, and I need
Christ. Believers don't pray that way. They pray, Lord, don't give me
what I deserve. I deserve death, hell, and condemnation,
but I need mercy. But I believe God's given this
religious world what they want. It's rampant everywhere you look,
everywhere you hear, everywhere you see. Religion wants a big
golden calf is what they want. They want something shiny on
the outside And they themselves like the Pharisees all we're
all we're all slicked up on the outside We look like beautiful
sepulchers, but inside nothing but dead man's bones Men want a God they can control
and manipulate and It's rampant on television. I
hear about this God of health and wealth. People want a storybook ending.
God wants you to have riches. God wants you to be in hell. I wonder what old Job would have
said if one of them had come to him. Well, now, Brother Job,
the Lord don't want you to be without, and the Lord don't want
you to be in bad health. He said, The Lord giveth and
the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
I had ten children. God took them. Don't tell me God don't want
me to have or to suffer. and yet in all this Job cursed
not God his wife came to him and said won't you just curse
God and die he goes out on the well basically
it was a what do you call those that you
go to see waste the dump he's sitting out on the dump scraping
his sores with broken pieces of clay. Three of his best friends
in the world come along and they told him everything but what
he needed to hear. I'd like to see one of the health
and wealth gospels preachers talk to Joe. I want you to be rich. I want you
to be healthy. I want you to have the desires
of your heart. The problem is that our hearts are on evil continually. and desperately wicked, deceitful
above all things. And our heart don't know what
it wants. It definitely doesn't want what's
best for us. I can tell you that. Mine don't. Not the one that's
beat inside me all my life. I'm not talking about the one
God's given me. There's still an old nature there I'm battling. And you know, men want to determine
their own destiny and call it faith. And they want to tickle their
ears tickled with healthy and prosperous good things. They
want this and they want that. And their God's become no more
than a mail-order superstore internet provider that gives
them their every want and whim. But I'll tell you what they don't
want. They don't want the truth. Don't want the truth about God.
Don't want this man to rule over them. They don't want to be in subjection
to God. They want to do their own thing,
their own way, in their own time. And I'm talking about me. If
it had not been but God. But God. Who maketh thee to differ
from another? But God. but God. This is the God of the Bible,
and He's the true God that I proclaim to you this morning. And if any
man thinks that God is bound by their will, hindered by their
words, interrupted by their decision, then you've missed the truth
about God of the Bible altogether. You've been lied to. Men and
women can believe whatever their sinful minds can imagine, but
it does not. It does not alter, change, hinder in any way, in any shape
or form, anything about the sovereign and unchangeable God of Scripture. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He's not a man that he should
lie or a son of man that he should repent or change his mind. The determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God will always be accomplished. Always. And our deliberate disobedience
of God's holy law called for our arrest, our judgment, and
our condemnation. And that's what the Apostle Paul
says here in Romans 5, 8. But God. But God intervened. But God. Salvations of the Lord. Has there ever been anyone saved
that God did not save? Only God can save. You know why? Because only God can forgive
sin. Think about it. Who but God can forgive sin? All sin is against God. David
said, Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil
in thy sight. So if all sin is against God,
then it has to be forgiven by God. That makes sense, doesn't
it? One day the scribes and the pharisees
begin to reason, and they say, who is this guy which speaketh
these blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
alone? They didn't know, but they answered
their own question. Who can forgive sins but God
alone? And that's who stood before them,
God in the flesh. You see, sin's what I am, folks.
Sin's what you are. And in order for me to be saved
from destruction and eternal damnation, my sin has to be paid
for. Now this is the great issue between
God and man. God's law has been offended. I offended it. Payment must be
extracted from me or someone in my stead. But that leads me to another
dilemma, Gary. I can't just pick anybody to
be my substitute. Not just any substitute will
do. Can I grab another man to do this for me? No, he's in the
same shape I'm in. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory to God. We are all together become unprofitable. There's none of us that doeth
good. No, not one. Oh, there may be one who is a
little more moral than me. One who seems to have things
a little bit more under control. But he can't be my substitute,
because he's as guilty and vile as I am in his heart. Still in a dilemma. You see,
my substitute must be perfect. My substitute must be righteous,
perfectly righteous, perfectly holy and sinless against God's
law or he cannot stand in my place. My substitute must be approved
by God. He must have God's stamp of approval
on him. God's law is perfect and holy
and so must my substitute be. There's never been a man or woman
born of woman from an earthly father that met the qualifications
that God demands. Men and women, as I said, are
all in the same condition. We live in a place called unworthy. Where are you from? I'm from
unworthy. That's where I live. Unworthy. We have nothing to
call our own but one thing, sin. Who are you? I'm a man from unworthy
and all I have is sin. And being all of us in the same
condition individually and collectively, We are altogether unprofitable. You read that we're altogether
vanity. You wrap us all up together and
tie a pretty little bow on us and we're still vanity. We're
altogether unprofitable. And as you read, Tyler, in Psalm
39, Behold, thou hast made my days as a hand breath, and mine
age is as nothing before thee, verily every man at his best
state is altogether vanity." Now I don't have many what I
would call best days, but I suppose you could take my best day that
I've ever had on earth and it's still altogether vanity. Man was lost and could not save
himself, but God became his substitute. Fully depraved and totally unholy
is what we are. Now here's the gospel, but God. Salvation always begins with,
but God. And it always ends with the same.
Salvation's of the Lord from beginning to end. He's Alpha
and Omega. He's the beginning, He's the
end. Thank God! Because He's my salvation that
endures forever. You remember the story about
Joseph, the young boy that his father had given him a coat of
many colors? Beautiful coat. and his brothers
were envious and jealous and one day they took Joseph with
them and they killed an animal and spread blood on the coat
and they sold their brother into slavery for thirteen years thirteen
long hard years he was in slavery And Acts 7 verse 9 says this
about that story. Let me list this little verse.
And the patriarchs, being Joseph's brothers, moved with envy, sold
Joseph into Egypt. And they did. And he stayed in
bondage for 13 years. But you know what Acts 7 and
9 says? But God was with him. And like Joseph's dear sinners,
we're sold into Egyptian bondage by our father Adam. And we served
our master called sin. And we could not save ourselves.
We groped in darkness looking for a way of escape from the
dark dungeon of our slavery, but we could find none. And in
some perverted way, we seemed to love our darkness rather than
the light. But God." Those two words start to mean
something when you see in that light, but God. Joseph was hated
by his brothers and in envy and jealousy was sold into Egyptian
slavery, but everything is alright. God was with him. And no matter
what I go through in this life, whether to you it may seem horrific,
bad, old, he's gone through so much. None of it means anything
when I know in my heart that my God is with me. And He's been
with me all the way. God caused that which was meant
for evil. Talking about Joseph. What his
brothers meant for evil, God caused it to be for good. Too good of who? Well, Joseph,
for one, wound up even being good for his brothers because
he became ruler and decided who got the food. God made it good
for all of them. But God was with him, Joseph. Oh, and it's the same with the redeemed
of the Lord. Scripture says Emmanuel is with
us. God is with us. God is with His
people. God is with His chosen. But God,
it's God who shows us and teaches us. 1 Corinthians 2.10 says this,
But God, there it is again, but God hath revealed these things
unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. I was dead in trespasses
and sin. And what can a dead man do? Can
he will himself saved? He's dead. Can he work his way
to God? He's dead. Can he decide to make
himself alive? He's dead. It'd be foolish to
think so. If you walk into a funeral parlor
and there's a man laying there dead and you say, hey, get up
and go down and get me something to eat, people think you're a
fool. And you would be, because he's dead. He can't do nothing. And it's no more absurd than
to ask a spiritually dead man to do something to be saved.
Same difference. Spiritually dead, physically
dead, it's dead. You see, our only hope of revelation
is, but God has revealed. But God has revealed. If you
have any understanding at all of this book that you hold in
your hand this morning, it's because God has revealed. Not the preacher. Not the Sunday
school teacher. God has revealed. Paul said,
I've planned it. Paulos has watered. God gave
the increase. God gave it. And the Spirit has
searched all things, the deep things of God, and has revealed
them unto us. And we no longer see darkness.
Now we still see dimly. But we see some light. We don't
see plainly, but we desire more and more light. Lord, show me
more. Show me more of your grace. Show
me more of your love. Show me more of your mercy. Show
me more of your sovereignty. Cause me to bow to your providence. For now we see through a glass
darkly, but then, one day, face to face. Now I know in part, but then
I shall know even as I am known." I cannot wait. When a man or woman has been
taught of God and revealed the things of God by the Holy Spirit,
they begin to love and cherish His providential intervention. The preachers of the gospel rest
in knowing and trusting the but God of scriptures. We preach,
we plant, we water, but our hope and our comfort is that God might
give the increase. You see religious men everywhere.
They talk about building ministries. People say, I have this ministry. I have that ministry. One has
an evangelical ministry. The other has a pastoral ministry.
This one has a teaching ministry. And the other has a preaching
ministry. And the other has a marriage and couples ministry. One has
a prison ministry. This fellow's got a music ministry,
and another has a drama ministry. And that fellow's got a youth
ministry, and then this one's got a senior ministry. And Fred's got the bus ministry,
and somebody else has got the fuss ministry. Because there's
one of them two. And am I trying to be funny and
facetious? Yes, I am. Because it's ridiculous. And in all these ministries,
nobody's getting ministered to. Why? Because only God. But God. Only God can save a
sinner. Only God can give the increase. And He saves sinners by His sovereign
grace in Christ. And that's why this is God's
ministry. This is not my ministry. This
is God's ministry. We cannot increase anything.
We can only plant. We can only water. But God has
to give the increase. And I intend to as long as God
gives me breath to preach Christ and Him crucified. Would it be
foolish for me to stand up here and give you a 30-minute exhortation
on how you ought to live when I can't even live right myself? I can encourage you and myself
to live for God. Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abandon? God forbid. Lord, I sin every
day. Help me. Teach me. Show me. My intention is to always to
encourage you to look to Him and Him alone for all you need
and all your redemption. I intend to point you to Him
for everything, whether you're young or old, rich or poor, married
or unmarried. My one desire in life is to point
you and show you He who doeth all things well. It's the only
thing that will ever benefit your soul. It's the only thing that will
ever give you peace and joy in this life. And it is definitely
the only thing that will reconcile you to God. Christ. Christ. Had a man tell me one time, he
said, Brother, every message you preach is Christ. You need
to go on into some deeper things. I said, deeper things? Oh, the love of God. In the Lord Jesus Christ, you
can't go no deeper than that. Can't measure the height, the
breadth, the length. Who can separate us from the
love of God? Too deep. It's too deep. Go into the deeper things. And as I said in 1 Corinthians,
Paul said, I've planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase.
And then he made this statement. And this is a good thing for
us to learn. He said, so then neither is he that planteth anything,
and neither he that watereth nothing. Don't mount a hill of
beans, but God. but God, but giveth the increase."
Oh, aren't you thankful for the but-gods of Scripture? I'm nothing. I hate to tell you, but you're
nothing if you didn't already know. And Christ is everything. He that plants is nothing. He
that waters is nothing. And until we realize that one
fact, friends, I think we'll struggle all the days of our
life. Let's just agree with Him right
now. Let's just bow to Him. We're nothing. In my own life, I tried being
boss. It didn't work out too well for
me. I tried to be my own king. It didn't work out too well. I tried to be Lord and exercise
my will, and I failed miserably, and it was miserable why I failed. Try if you must, but you will
also fail. I tell you now. And it'll be
sad if you do succeed, for then He's left you to yourself. But our hope, our hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's the foundation on which
we build. The solid rock. The solid rock. And now by His grace and because
but God intervened, I trust and rest and bow to the One who works
all things for my good and for His glory." How's that worked
out for you? Wonderfully. Wonderfully. That's worked out real good. I've been through a lot, but,
my Lord, infinitely more. I felt man's common temptations,
but never above what I was able to bear. Never was there no way
of escape, because God is faithful. But God is faithful, Scripture
said. I'm unfaithful, but God is faithful. And that's where I hang my hope. There's no temptation taking
you such as common to man, but God is faithful. Okay, just the
second thing and I'll be done. But God, in our text, but God
commendeth His love toward us. In that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Now the word commendeth means
to entrust for care or preservation. What does it mean for God to
commend His love? It's not hard. It means that
He entrusts us with the care of His love. He preserves us
by and in His love. He recommends His love and He
shows to us that it's worthy of confidence and of our taking
notice. It's as if God is saying, I know
what you are. I've known everything you've
ever done. And you can't do anything to merit My love. And you can't. But God commands. But God entrusts His love. God commends it freely to whomsoever
He wills. God commendeth His love. He entrusts it to you. Will you not trust it? He recommends it. Will you again
doubt His love and endeavor to make Him a liar? He reveals His
worthiness. We see that He's worthy. God
shows it to us. He reveals His worthiness by
showing us our total unworthiness. And here's where confidence and
salvation is found, not in you, but in the One who gave Himself
for you, but God. God intervenes. God commends
His love. He doesn't commend the love of
the world. He doesn't commend the love of religion. He doesn't
commend His love by His law. His law was our schoolmaster,
and it had one purpose, to bring us to Christ. But He does commendeth
His love. His love. His love. I can't commend my love. It ain't
worth much. But God commendeth His love toward
us. And I propose to you that the
Lord Jesus is God's love. And God commendeth His love His
Son. And notice to whom He commends
it for us. Who's us? Sinners. God commendeth
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. My conscience felt and owned
the guilt and plunged me in despair. I saw my sins. His blood had
spilled and helped to nail Him there. Oh, can it be upon a tree
the Savior died for me? My soul is thrilled. My heart
is filled to think He died for me. while we were yet sinners. Oh, what love! What amazing love! Has God shown you your sin? Has
He shown you your need? Has He given you eyes to see,
ears to hear, hearts to believe? Do you understand what God has
done while we were yet sinners? Christ died for us. Make sure
you hear that correctly, Christ died for sinners. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, because I am chief. When Jesus heard it, He saith
unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician,
but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance." Is there a sinner here today? If
there is, I've got some good news for you. Christ saves sinners. There are many who are well in
their own eyes, but is there a sick person here? If you're whole and well without
Christ, then you're still blind to your need. But if you're sick,
if you're sick with sin, if your soul is sick, come that you might
have life. If you never see your sickness,
you will always have no need of the physician. You read that
passage there sometimes, have no need of the physician. Not a physician, the physician. But if you're sick, the great
physician is here to save you. Always. You've got to be a sinner. You've got to be sick. You've
got to be in need. Are you? If so, then my gospel is for
you. Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden. What? And I'll give you rest. That's not rest like my little
Sunday afternoon nap now. That's rest, but that ain't rest
like this. This is soul rest. This is true
rest. This is a rest that endures forever.