Good morning to each of you. I can remember when I was about
eight years old, my father brought home a dog. It was a German Shepherd. Thinking at first that it was
a young dog, I later found out that this dog had actually been
trained as a police dog. and could be quite vicious. Dad
kept him in a pen out back. And every day I made an effort,
I made it a point to go out and feed that dog cautiously at first. But I fed that dog day after
day and pretty soon that dog began to love me. He'd go with
me wherever I went. If someone even made a move towards
me, I had him on a leash, but he would go absolutely berserk. He was somewhat, like I say,
could be a vicious dog, but he loved me. I don't remember this personally
but my mother told the story for several years afterwards
because you know sometimes children can say cute things and we seem
to retain those in our memory and remember little cute sayings
that our children and other people said. I remember my mom telling
this story many times. One day a friend of mine was
over, I was probably eight years old, it's my guess. We went out
to look at the dog and I said, I'm going to put him on a leash
and get him outside of the pen. And my young seven or eight year
old friend said, will he bite? Will he bite? And I don't remember
this, but my mom said that I said he will if he wants to. And with that little story in
mind, look at Matthew chapter 20 with me, verse 15. I want to just look at one verse,
or have you read one verse with me, then I'm going to read several
to you. mainly for lack of time. But Matthew chapter 20 verse
15, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking here of his own, the
people that God gave him before the foundation of the world.
He's also speaking of all things when he says these words. Is
it not lawful for me Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with mine own? Is it not lawful for me to do
what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am
good? Now there's no attribute of God
Almighty more comforting and more delightful to His children
than that of divine sovereignty. knowing that God doeth all things
well. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. All things work together for
our good. Why? Because we're His children,
His chosen, His people. Nothing found in us that merits
or deserves that. It's by sovereign grace and mercy
alone. No doctrine in the Bible is more
important or more blessed. Under the most adverse circumstances,
whatever life might bring your way, in the most severe troubles,
when carrying out our heaviest burdens, we believe and are sure
that our God does all things well. All things. All things, all our trials, He
sovereignly controls. All our heartbreaks, He sovereignly
heals. And salvation has always been
and always will be at His disposing. His disposing. And I suppose
there's no doctrine in the Bible more basic and more fundamental
and more important to our faith than the doctrine of divine sovereignty. It's essential to the very character
of God. I know people yet in this world,
you mention the word sovereign to them according to the scriptures
and they have no clue of what you speak. Sovereignty, what
does that mean? Well, it's not a difficult thing
to understand. Basically, sovereignty simply
means that God is God. Now I hear about a lot of gods,
but they've got to be gods with little g, because they're trying,
and they're wanting, and they're willing, and they can't, and
they're frustrated. Not this guy. And I never grow tired of hearing
about his sovereignty, his control when dispersing of all things
after the counsel of his own will. Oh, you remember how we were
as children, when my daddy can beat up your daddy, when my daddy's
stronger than your daddy, when my daddy can throw a rock bigger,
stronger than your daddy can throw a rock. Oh, when I talk about my God,
it just makes me so proud that my God rules and reigns. My Father
does all things well. And I can rest in that. I can
find comfort in that. I can wrap myself up in that
blanket. And you know, it's no worse or
blasphemous to deny God's holiness, to deny God's justice, to deny
God's omnipotence, to deny God's truth. His Word is no more blasphemous
than to deny His sovereignty. To say that God's trying to do
something is to lie on God. It's blasphemous. He's never
tried to do a thing. I will, they shall. I will, they
shall. I will, it shall come to pass. Have I not said it, and it shall
come to pass." Don't allow anyone to ever suggest that our doctrine
is merely a point of logic. Well, that's just a point of
view, or that's just an old out-of-date religious system. Well, it does
seem to be, for the vast majority of religion, out of date. Because
we don't hear much about the sovereignty of God anymore. Not
in modern day religion. You see, we believe what we do
because we believe God. We believe His Word. Our doctrine
is not just something that a man wrote and stuck up on a wall
somewhere. Our doctrine is based upon and
arises from the plain teaching of Scripture. If you have a Bible and you can
read, you will have no difficulty at all in seeing that our doctrine
is the obvious, basic, unadorned revelation of God in Scripture. You can't deny its words. Men
try to water them down. Men try to say, well, now that's
not what that means. Why? Because man wants to be
his own God. Man wants to be in control of
his own destiny. Man wants to think he's had something
to do with not only his salvation, but his success in life, or whatever
the situation is. See, we don't want to share our
glory with another. But in the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, God gets all the glory. We might as well get used
to it. I love to brag on my God, but
now you ask me to tell you something about myself, ain't nothing worth
speaking of. And I believe that according
to this verse in the tenor of Scripture, that God has the right
to do what he wills with his own because Scripture plainly
teaches it. David said, Our God is in the
heavens, and he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. That's not hard
to understand, is it? But it's hard to bow to. David said in Psalm 135, 6, "...whatsoever
the Lord please." That did He. He did it in heaven and in earth
and in the seas and all deep places. God did. Isaiah 14, the Lord of Hosts
hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come
to pass. And I have purposed, and so shall
it stand. Notice the sureness of the language. Surely as I have thought, it
shall come to pass. As I have purposed, so shall
it stand. God said in Isaiah 45, 7, I form
the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. Oh brother, be careful what you
charge God with. I didn't say man wasn't responsible.
God allows even the depravity of man to accomplish his will
in the salvation of his people. Isaiah 46.10 says, declaring
the end from the beginning and from ancient times and things
that are not yet done, saying what? My counsel might stand. No. My counsel shall stand. And I might do all my pleasure,
just depending on how I feel today. No. I will do all my pleasure. Our God is a God of certainty.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
and what He doeth according to His will. Where? In the army
of heaven? Among the inhabitants of the
earth? That pretty well covers it, doesn't it? And none, not
a one, can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?
You see, God is sovereign in creation. Where was man when
he spoke the world into existence? He's sovereign in providence.
All things work together. Who's working on God? He is.
Everything. At the same time, nothing's too
hard for Him. God's sovereign in grace. None
can resist His will. When He calls, you're called.
You'll come. You'll bow. He makes you willing
in the day of His power. He changes our want to. He makes
me want to come. I will not come. I cannot come. I'm abstinent about it. I won't
have this man rule over me. God said, you'll come. You'll
come. I'll see to it. He's sovereign in heaven. He's
sovereign in earth and my dear friends. He's sovereign in hell
A lot of people seem to think that God and Satan are on some
level playing ground One day Lucifer said I will I
Will I'm gonna set my throne above God's God said no you won't
No, you won't I believe the salvations of the Lord, because that's the
language of the Bible. Can God do what He wills with
His own in salvation? If He's sovereign, He can. And
He's sovereign, so yes, He can. He planned it. He purchased it. He performs it. He preserves
it. He perfects it. And he shall
have the praise of it. Salvation is of the Lord. Don't
ever let that just be a term that we say half-heartedly, well,
salvation is of the Lord, you know, and not give it much thought.
That says a lot in those few words. Salvation is of the Lord. From beginning, middle, to the
end. God can do what He wills. He
can do what He wills with His own. And it seems that men are
insisted on nicknaming God's sovereignty Calvinism. And you
know, these are five grand old gospel truths commonly called
Calvinism and written out plainly in the Word of God. But you can
believe in the doctrines of Calvinism and miss Christ. You see, our
message is Christ and Him crucified. But John Calvin had five excellent
points. Five excellent points. He said
that man is totally depraved. I see you shaking your heads.
Most people wouldn't like that. You see, we've learned by God's
sovereign grace to take sides with Him against ourselves. And
you tell a believer he's totally depraved, and he'll go, yeah,
that's right. I am. Oh, there was a time when
God looked and saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and it still is. And that every imagination of
the thought of his heart was on evil continually. Now that
describes me by nature. I've never had a good thought,
never done a good thing. And all my righteousness is found
in Christ and Him only. Jeremiah was told that the heart
is deceitful above all things. Above all things? I can think
of some pretty deceitful things. And no matter what comes to mind,
my heart is deceitful above all, I could think. And it's desperately
wicked. Oh, desperate. That puts a whole
new little meaning to it, doesn't it? Desperately wicked. There's one thing to be sick.
It's one thing to be desperately sick. Near death. Desperately
wicked. Who can know it? I can't even
know the depths of depravity in my own heart. If God was to
show it to me, it'd kill me. Only God knows the deceitfulness
of my heart. And that's why we call this good
news. He saved me in spite of it. David said, the wicked are estranged
from the womb. They go astray as soon as they're
born, speaking lies. I've got a bad habit about saying,
oh, isn't he such a good boy? I hope people know what I mean,
as far as the little devil he is. We're estranged from the womb,
we go astray as soon as we're born. John Calvin talked about the
election of God and he said that election is unconditional. And
that's what scripture teaches. Christ said, you've not chosen
me, but I've chosen you. And I've ordained you that you
should go forth and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
remain, that whatsoever you ask of the Father in my name, he
may give it you. He stood another day in John
10, and he said, you believe not. You believe not, he told
the scribes and the Pharisees. He said, because you're not of
my sheep. As I said unto you, My sheep,
what do they do? They hear My voice. And He said,
And I know them. I have people all the time say,
Brother David, I know the Lord. And I want to say, Does He know
you? Does He know you? The Lord said, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me. There's some characteristics
here in the God sheep. They hear His voice, He knows
them, and they follow Him wherever He goes. And I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish. See, when God gives
life, there's no perishing. And neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand. Nobody can deliver me from God's
hand. If I'm one of His, If he ever
loved me, he loves me still. He said, my father which gave
them me, he's greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them
out of my father's hand. John Calvin, in his five points
of wonderful doctrine, speaks of atonement, and it's a limited
atonement. It's not for the whole world. It's for a specific, particular
people. Isaiah 53 8 says he was taken
from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation
for he Was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression
now This is God speaking for the transgression of my people
Was he strict? The elect of God are God's people. And that automatically puts them
in sovereign hands. Christ said, is it not lawful
for me to do what I will with my own? It sure is. It sure is. In John 17, 9, I've
heard all my life, for God so loved the world, God saved everybody
in the world, and yet in his prayer, before his death, he
said, I pray not for the world. Well, who are you praying for?
I'm praying for them which thou hast given me. They are thine. They're your people. They're
my people. And that's who I'm praying for.
And that's who I'm dying for. Irresistible grace. Some people don't seem to like
that word irresistible. I find it just fine and comforting
to my soul. Because I did resist it, but
it became irresistible. God wouldn't leave me alone.
Aren't you glad that God wouldn't leave you alone? Christ said, search the Scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. No man can come to me except... Oh, the buts and the accepts
of Scripture. Don't you just love them? Except
the Father which sent me, draw him, and I'll raise him up at
the last day. And in John 6, 65, Christ said,
Therefore I said unto you that no man can come unto me except
it were given. Given. Can you buy something
that's given? No, it's a gift. It's given. Free gift. It was given unto
him of my Father. Perseverance of the Saints. God-preserving. That's just as precious to me
as God saving me. Because you know what? If it's
left up to me, I won't be saved very long. If salvation's up to me, I'll
never be saved. And if it's up to me, and I can
lose it, then I'm not going to be saved very long anyway. But
God sovereignly saves and God sovereignly keeps His people. Not going anywhere. Not going
anywhere. Well, what about those that have
left? They never were a part. Never were a part. You can't
run God's people off. They keep coming back. I must
have Christ is the theme of our song. You can get any translation of
the Bible you want, but you can't find a translation that denies
these facts. All men try to throw little words
in, but you read the scripture in its entirety, and you read
the theme of this whole book, and it'll bear witness to your
heart. Now, you may not bow to it, but you... Well, I guess it's true that
only a fool or a believer would believe it. We insist upon these things because
they're written in the scriptures and God has penned His glory
to them. What kind of glory does God get
if salvation is by a free will choice of mine? That means that
salvation was decided by me, not by Him. God gets no glory
in that. But in the salvation of His elect,
God gets all the glory, every single bit of it. Now here's what our Savior was
saying. He said, it is not lawful for
me to do what I will with my own. Well, all things belong
to God, and it's His sovereign right to do what He will with
them. Who maketh He to differ from another God does. You can
read this passage of Scripture to an unbeliever, and they remain
silent in darkness. But in 1st Samuel the words are
clear and they ring from the page saying the Lord killeth
and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and he bringeth up. Who does? God does. The Lord
maketh poor. We have a tendency by nature
to look down our nose at people that are poor. God made poor
and he maketh rich. He bringeth low, and He lifteth
up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust. He lifteth up the
beggar from the dunghill. That's talking about me, Tyler.
That's talking about me. Beggar. Mercy beggar. He lifts me up from the dunghill
to set me among princes. And to make them inherit the
throne of glory. It almost seems as though we'd
have to be made to do what's right. He makes us. Make them inherit the throne
of glory, for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and
He has set the world upon them. And He will what? Keep the feet
of the saints. Do you believe once saved, always
saved? Absolutely I do. When God saves
you, you better believe it. He keeps the feet of the saints,
and the wicked shall be silent in darkness. For by strength
shall no man prevail. You see, I have no strength.
And my weakness, in my weakness, His strength is revealed. It's
revealed to me. It's revealed to those around
me. Oh, I think about the potter's
house, don't you? That was a beautiful illustration
that Paul gave. One day God took Jeremiah down
to the potter's house, and He showed him the clay, and He showed
him the potter, and He showed him how the potter had the right,
the authority, the ability to mire one in his hand and make
the other into a vessel of glory and honor. And God has the same
right to do with you as He does the clay. Keep going to the potter's
house. There you'll find comfort and
rest for your souls. Amen.