Let's turn together to Isaiah
chapter 26. Isaiah chapter 26, in the third
verse of this chapter, we read this blessed word of assurance.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
thee, because he trusteth in thee. O God, teach me so to trust
thee. Then in the light of that, the
prophet says, Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord
Jehovah is everlasting strength. Now look at verse 12. Lord, thou
wilt ordain peace for us. He has ordained peace for us. But here he says, thou wilt ordain
peace for us. He will order peace for us in
all things. He will give peace to us today,
tomorrow, and forever. He has made peace for us by the
blood of His cross. He is our peace. He gives us peace, inward peace,
spiritual and eternal peace by His Spirit, and He disposes us. So that as we live in this world,
leaning on Him with our minds fixed on our Redeemer, trusting
our Savior, He ordains peace for us. Peace that none can understand
except those who experience it. Now look at the next line, verse
12. The prophet expresses absolute
confidence regarding this peace, not because of something done
by us, but because of that which God our Savior has done and will
do for us and in us. Lord, thou wilt ordain peace
for us, for this reason, because thou hast wrought all our works
in us." Now, I want to camp right there, and I want to talk to
you as simply as I possibly can about a God-wrought salvation,
a salvation wrought by God. This religious age, this religious
generation doesn't know God from a gourd, and they know nothing
more about his salvation than I know about nuclear physics.
Folks talk about, I got saved. I made my decision for the Lord.
I came to the Lord. I. This book talks about something
God does for us and in us. And if ever you experience God's
salvation, you're going to talk about God's salvation that way.
Thou also hast wrought all our works in us. What a humbling
confession. It describes everything in this
matter of salvation to God. and nothing to man. Self-sufficiency
and self-satisfaction are the tendencies of proud human hearts
the world over. We all like to think, I am rich
and increased in goods and have need of nothing. But the fact
is, we're poor and bankrupt, helpless sinners in need of everything. We have nothing to boast of,
nothing to boast of. Two things are emphatically asserted
by our God in this passage here in Isaiah chapter 26. The first
is this, salvation is something wrought in a man. Did you get that? It is something
wrought in us. Thou also hast wrought all our
works in us. Salvation is internal. not external. Multitudes delight
themselves with a form of godliness, that is, with the practice of
outward religion and outward religious customs and outward
religious ceremonies and outward religious deeds that have no
idea what the power of godliness is. No idea what it is to have
the power of the gospel bring life to their hearts by the hand
of our All human religion is external. It is totally external. God's salvation is internal. Our Lord said, you may clean
the outside of the cup and the platter, but within are full
of extortion and excess. All carnal religion, all human
religion, matters not what brand it is, is on the surface. It deals with that which is external. God looks upon the heart. God
deals with the heart. God hears the heart. He says, come to me with a true
heart. It is he that believeth with
all his heart. He looks on the heart. No man
can do that. I can't and you can't. Forget
imagining that you can. No man can look on the heart.
All we can see is the outside of the cup, and it's easy to
impress men with the outside of the cup. God looks on the
heart. Here's the second thing clearly
stated here. This salvation that is wrought in the heart is altogether
God's work. Thou hast wrought all our works
in us. that every true believer gladly
makes this acknowledgment of grace. Every person taught of
God is taught what Jonah was taught in Wailbelly Seminary,
salvation is of the Lord. Every person who is taught of
God acknowledges and gladly acknowledges salvation is of the Lord. This is the universal testimony
of Holy Scripture. It is the universal testimony
of Holy Scripture. This is what the psalmist said,
the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength,
and He alone is our strength. So then it is not of Him that
liveth, nor of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. I hear this all the time. Folks
say, well, you folks talk like salvation, man's got nothing
to do with it. But you understood what I was
talking about. Nothing, whatever. Well, I do the running. I did
the running. He did the catching. That's about
it. God's salvation is altogether His work. It doesn't matter how
you study it, what aspect of it you consider, how you look
at it. It doesn't matter whether you
look at it from the standpoint of this which we have experienced,
that which has been done in the past, or that which shall be
done in the future, salvation is always presented as the work
of God alone. It was planned and purposed by
God our Father in old eternity in divine predestination. It
was earned and obtained and purchased by the obedience of Jesus Christ,
our Substitute, when He died in our stead at Calvary, pouring
out His life's blood unto death. And it is brought to our hearts
in the experience of grace. It is brought to us in power
by God the Holy Spirit in the new birth, as He gives us life,
gives us faith, and sustains us in life and faith by His grace. Now, let me answer Three or four
questions concerning this God-wrought salvation, and I want you to
listen carefully. Number one, who are those people in whom
God works? Who are those people in whom
God works? So God works in everybody. I
beg your pardon. No, I'm done begging anybody's
pardon concerning these things. You're dead wrong. Who are those
people in whom God works? Well, God wants everybody to
be saved. If God Almighty wants everybody to be saved, everybody's
going to be saved. It's just that simple. And a
God who wants what he doesn't get, ain't worth spit, is not
God. He may as well worship a stump.
That's exactly right. Who are those people in whom
God works? The Scripture describes them as God's elect. People forever argue and fuss
about election. Children of God don't ever be
bashful about it. Well, that's one of those deep
things, those profound things, those things that we can't do
anything about. Oh, no. You read election on virtually
every page in this book. It's written everywhere. Written
everywhere. Adam had two sons. God chose
one and didn't choose the other one. We read about Abraham, two
sons. God chose one and He didn't choose the other one. And so
it has been throughout the ages of history. The Lord God has
a people whom he has loved with an everlasting love, whom he
has chosen to salvation, and all who are loved and chosen
of God are those people in whom God works his works of grace. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Now, election is
not all there is to salvation. But there's no salvation without
it. God has, from the beginning, chosen you to salvation. Well,
I don't like that. If you ever get in on it, you
will. Well, we shouldn't tell those things to folks. Our Lord
proclaimed it when He first started preaching. He proclaimed it all
the days of His preaching. And one of the very last things
He preached was election. He said, You've not chosen me,
but I've chosen you. God's saving grace, secondly,
comes to every sinner and only those sinners, for whom there
is a high priest, and the sacrifice in heaven, for whom sin atonement
has been made." That's what all the pictures of the Old Testament
were about. God told Moses, said, you go whisper this in the ears
of the children of Israel. You tell them, take a lamb, shut
it up for 14 days, slaughter that lamb, sprinkle the blood
on the doorpost and the window. Whisper it to the children of
Israel. Don't even tell anybody else
about it. It's not intended for anybody else. Whisper it to the
children of Israel. God gave a priest to Israel alone. God gave a sacrifice to Israel
alone. God gave an altar to Israel alone. And God accepted that sacrifice
for the atonement of Israel's sins on the mercy seat He gave
to them alone, those to whom God comes in grace. in whom he
works his salvation are those people for whom Jesus Christ
has obtained eternal redemption. Those for whom the Son of God
died. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 53
for a moment. Isaiah 53. Grace comes to those
for whom Christ obtained eternal redemption. for whom he makes
intercession as a priest in heaven, for whom there is a sacrifice
in the holy place, and to no one else. The scriptures teach
plainly that doctrine that is commonly snarled at as limited
atonement. Why, y'all believe in limited
atonement. Everybody does. Everybody does. Everybody believes
that either Christ's sin-atoning blood is limited in its power
and efficacy and merit, or limited in its design and purpose and
accomplishments. One of the two. If Jesus Christ
shed his blood and made atonement for all men, and some men go
to hell anyway, his shed blood is useless, and such a Redeemer
is useless. That's exactly right. Just as
worthless as it could be. If Christ died for somebody,
and they still suffer the wrath of God, you tell me what usually
his death is. It's a limited, in power, merit,
worth, and efficacy. That means he's limited in power,
merit, worth, and efficacy. No, the scriptures limit the
atoning work of Christ in a different way. Purpose, design, intent,
and accomplishment. Isaiah 53, for the transgression
of my people was his trick, and we're told in verse 8. Look at
verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Now watch
this. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. An old Welsh preacher came to
Piedmont Bible College when I was in school, amongst all the heretics
down there, in 1968, 69. And he made this statement, Brother
Thomas George Larkins. After preaching for a little
while, he said, ìThe cross of our Lord Jesus Christ shall never
be discovered in miscarriage.î And I shouted, ìAmen!î It shall
never be discovered in this carriage. Jesus Christ did not die for
nothing. He did not suffer the wrath of
God in vain. He suffered and died for God's
elect, the people given him from eternity, whom he came to redeem
with his blood. And I'll tell you something else
about those to whom God comes, in whom he works his grace. They're
always the most unlikely undeserving of sin. I love that passage in
1 Samuel 16, where Samuel is sent to anoint a king. And the
Lord told him to go to Jesse's house. I told him one of Jesse's
sons. And Jesse, oh, you can fix it,
old man. He's tickled to death. One of my boys is going to be
king. And he went and got the oldest and the smartest and the
brightest and the best looking and the best dressed and brought
him in and started working his way down. And he got down to
the very last one. Well, not quite. There was one
he didn't even consider. He had all these boys, but there's
just one of them that can't be the one. Just one of them that
can't possibly be God's chosen. Samuel said, call him. He said,
all right. Go get that little red-headed,
scrubby-faced boy and bring him in here. Arise, anoint him. This is He. This is He. You see
your calling, brethren? That's just exactly the kind
of people God chooses. in whom he works his salvation.
Now, here's the second thing. What are those works? The prophet
says, Thou hast wrought all our works in us. He's speaking specifically
about the works of God's grace in salvation. What are those
works that he works in us? What aspect of salvation is he
talking about? What part of this great work
of grace is he talking about when he says, Thou hast wrought
all our works in us? Well, it seems strange to anybody
who asks that, doesn't it? He said all of them, all of them.
If it's got anything to do with salvation, it's got nothing to
do with what you do. If it's got anything to do with
salvation, it's got nothing to do with what you do. We speak
of the salvation that God works in us, and it's spoken of often
as the new birth, being born again, regeneration. The new
birth is wrought in chosen, redeemed sinners by the sovereign power
of God's omnipotent mercy and grace, by the Spirit of God coming
to dead sinners and giving them life. It is the Spirit that quickens
the flesh prophet of nothing. The Spirit quickens. He gives
life. He comes to the dead and gives
them life. If you have life before God,
it's because He gave it to you. Oh, we can do this, we can do
that. We can't govern God. Oh, no,
we can't do that. But we can certainly do things
to make ourselves more fit and more ready and more like. We
can do things to get you in a better condition, a better position.
We can use psychological trickery and manipulation and maybe, by
these things, persuade you to let the Spirit of God do something
for you. Let's see how our Lord describes
it. The wind bloweth where it listeneth. Thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh. and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. Everyone. Repentance. Except
you repent, you shall all likewise perish. That's what the Master
said. Well, we must repent. Yes, you must. You must be born
again and you must repent. But you can't repent any more
than you can give yourself birth. It's not going to happen. Repentance
is the gift of God. Christ was exalted, Acts 2, 5,
31, to be a prince, to give repentance. Repentance is that which comes
to us by the goodness of God. It is the fruit of the Spirit
of God coming, giving us life, not the cause of him giving us
life. Repentance is the abhorrence
of ourselves. It is the turning of our hearts
to Christ. But it is turning because he
has turned us. Holy Spirit conviction. Turn
over to John 16. Let me look at this with you
one more time. John 16. Conviction is that which precedes
and always causes repentance. It is that which flows from the
gift of the Spirit bringing life in the soul. Somebody said, well,
which comes first? Don't try to put God in such
a box. You're not going to figure out what God does. There's no
question life must be given before there's ever any act of life. But this is God's work, not yours. God's work, not mine. And he
comes and brings conviction. John 16, verse 8. When he is
come, he will reprove. The word is convince. Convince. I try to convince you
of your need of Christ. I can't do it. Oh, but if he
will come by his word, you're going to be convinced. He will
convince the world. Not everybody in the world doesn't
intend to. That's not the purpose. But his people scattered through
all the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Now, this is
Holy Spirit conviction. And I realize that I'll give
Folks who want something to gripe about, something to gripe about.
So just go ahead and take it and gripe all you want to, whenever
you hear it. Holy Spirit conviction ain't nothing like what folks
think it is. Well, I'm just convicted. I ought not to have felons in
my house. He didn't convict you of that. Some preacher convicted
you of that. Well, I'm convicted. I ought
not to wear striped shirts. He didn't convict you of that.
Some preacher, religious group convicted you of that. Well,
I'm just convicted. I ought not to wear shorts. He
didn't convict you of that. That's not Holy Spirit conviction.
That's not it. Holy Spirit conviction has to
do with three things. Only three things. Sin, righteousness,
and judgment. Not somebody else's sins. Your
sin. He will convince you that you're
nothing but sin. Because you believe not only
sin. Larry Brown, that's what you
are. The lady sitting beside you, that's what she is. The
children and the grandbaby, that's what they are. Just see it. Just
see it. Oh, now that's not all I am.
I know. I know. I'm fully convinced that's not
what you are. No. I know it's not. In your own
view of things. But if God ever has mercy on
you, you're going to be convinced of your sin. And he will convince
you of something else. Of righteousness. Now watch what
it says. He will convince you of righteousness
because I go to my Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ came down
here as God's servant, as God's righteous servant, as our servant
did, to save His people from their sins by establishing and
bringing in righteousness through His whole obedience unto death.
And He could not go back to glory until it was done. He'll convince
you. When you see Christ Jesus crucified
in your room instead, crying, it is finished. Righteousness
is done. He's gone back to the Father
and to judgment. Ah, judgment. See Him hanging
on the tree? I'm convinced God cannot demand
more for me. Judgment is over! There's therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Faith in
Christ, this is the gift. It's the gift of God. How often
some of you sitting here talk to me, Brother God, I just can't
believe. I want to believe, but I can't.
And I send you home. And you come three, four, five,
six months later, what do I do? I want to believe, but I can't. When you walk out the door one
night, Brother God, I believe God's given me faith. That's
exactly how it happens. If you find yourself believing
on the Son of God, will you hear me? Do you right now find yourself
believing the Son of God? It's because the Spirit of God
has given you life and faith. It's the gift of God. Unto you
it is given in behalf of Christ to believe on. Thank you, my Father, for your
gift. Do you have spiritual understanding,
spiritual knowledge? It's God's gift. Do you have
an unction from the Holy One that causes you to know all things?
Do you walk before God, serving and honoring Him, ministering
to one another, ministering to His people? These are gifts of
God's Spirit. Do you walk in the Spirit with
love and joy and peace? Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
meekness, faith, tenderness. This is the fruit of the Spirit.
Not fruits, the fruit. This is that which flows out
of God the Spirit coming within you, giving you life and faith
in Christ. Even prayer. Even prayer. Oh, prayer. How can you pray? I don't know how to praise God
about anything. because I don't know what's best
about anything. I don't know. I don't know. I
have difficulties, troubles, heartaches, trials. And folks
say, well, you pray about this. And my answer is I'll try. I'll
try. I pray for you, but darlin',
I don't know what to pray for you. I don't know what to pray
for you except for God to be gracious to you, keep you, be
merciful to you. And then sometimes, sometimes
I can pray. Sometimes I can. In 2 Samuel 7, you remember the
Lord told David what He was going to do for him. He said, I'm going
to establish your house and your kingdom. Your son is going to
build me a house, and I'm going to set a man on your throne forever.
And David said, Therefore hast thou, servant, found it in his
heart to pray this prayer unto thee. Do as thou hast said. Once in a while. When God Almighty
puts prayer in the heart, and you pray, you can pray. And when
God puts prayer in your heart, you know He put prayer in your
heart. And when you're just trying, you know you're just trying.
You mean, brother God, everything totally, totally is completely
dependent upon Him working in us? You've got it. Oh God, don't
leave me to myself. Not for a second. Not in any
care. Not in any responsibility. Leave
me not to my judgment. Leave me not to my will. Leave
me not to my way. Leave me not to my skill. Work
in me to will and do of your good pleasure. Now why is it
that the Lord wrought all our works in us? I'll tell you why. If He didn't, they wouldn't be. If He hadn't wrought His grace
in us, we could never have been saved because we were dead, dead,
spiritually dead. We were lost. We were and are
utterly depraved and could never be saved except He come and give
us life and faith. It needs so much to be stressed. It needs so much to be stressed.
In this day, mamas and daddies, keep your kids away from these.
I know everybody in town, everybody in the country is having Bible
school for babies and children and getting folks to make professions
of faith. Keep your babies away from that foolishness and idolatry.
Keep away from it. If you can't find a place where
you can send them where they hear the gospel of God's grace,
don't send them. Don't do it. Keep them out of religion as
best you possibly can. Keep them away from it. Because
they'll grow up convinced that they're saved because they did
something or something was done to them by somebody else. Keep
away from it. Dead sinners must be wrought
upon by God. Wrought upon by God. The Lord
God has wrought all our works in us so that our salvation would
stand forever as a matter absolutely God says, My salvation shall
be forever. My righteousness shall not be
abolished. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. And He did it this way, that
no flesh glory in His presence. So God saved you today. God forgave
your sin. God spoke peace to your soul.
from ungodliness and darkness and filth and degradation to
life and liberty and righteousness and peace. Thanks be unto God. Well, aren't you going to pat
me on the back? I believe you're Jesus. Aren't you going to pat me on
the back? I repented. No, you didn't. If you had, you
wouldn't be looking for the patch. Now, I've been talking to you
about God's salvage, about God wrought salvage. I send you home
to give earnest consideration to this one last question. Is
my salvation a God-wrought salvation? Is it? I can answer that question in
three simple statements. If the salvation that I think
I have is a God-wrought salvation, it is a salvation that has put
an entirely new nature in me. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. A new creature. And He puts somebody
new in you. Something new. Something that
wasn't there before. A new nature. Not just a new
disposition. Not just a new will. Not just
a new thought. A new nature! So that now, there
is within you this love of God. Delights in His love. Where once
there was nothing but enmity. Tell you something else, if God
has wrought salvation in you, he has caused you and continually
causes you to abhor yourself. The one thing that keeps men
and women, more than anything else, from trusting Christ is
they have high opinions of themselves. They think more highly of themselves
than they ought to think. What does that mean? That means
you think something of yourself. If ever God the Holy Spirit causes
you to look on Christ whom you have feared, to mourn and be
in bitterness for Him whom you have feared, you will abhor yourself. And the longer you live with
yourself, the more you will abhor yourself. And the third thing,
if God has brought salvation in you, it is a salvation that
continually, continually, continually destroys all confidence in the
flesh, causing you to look to Christ alone. Dost thou believe
on the Son of God? I'm not asking you what doctrine
you believe. I don't care. I don't care. You
folks want to make everybody Baptist. No, I want to make you
know Christ. You want to make everybody Calvinist. I don't
give a flip whether you're Calvinist or not. It doesn't matter a bit
in this world to make Whether you go to hell as an Arminian,
a Calvinist, a Buddhist, or a Papist, it doesn't matter a bit in the
world to me. I want you to know Christ did not go to hell at
all. Well, but you said we must look to Christ alone. That's
it. Where do you find righteousness? Where do you look for righteousness?
Where do you look for acceptance with God? That's what I thought. That's what I thought. That's
what I thought. If you're looking in yourself,
in the past, around you, out yonder, you've missed it. Righteousness is Christ. I trust Him. He's the Lord my
righteousness. I have none but Him. How do you
hope to stand accepted before God in acknowledgement of all
your sin, all that you are? Christ redeemed me. His blood
put away my sin. How do you have any confidence
before God? What are your experiences? I
am a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my
all in all. I don't trust my works, but He
is. I don't trust my obedience, but
He is. I don't put any confidence in
my baptism, but He is. I don't trust my goodness, but
His. I don't look on my suffering
for anything, but His for everything. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Do you? I ask you right now, answer the
question for yourself before God. Dost thou believe on the
Son of God? Yes. I sure do. I sure do. I can't say much with
certainty, but John York, I believe the Son of God. I have no hope
but Him, no confidence but Him, no peace but Him, no expectation
but Him. Thou, O Lord, hast wrought all
our works in us. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift. Amen.