two words that we'll find in
this passage that will answer the question that we'll pose
this morning. The question is simply this,
who then can be saved? And I say then because of what
we've spoken about in our last two messages on what's wrong
with man. We found out there's quite a
bit wrong with us, isn't there? Spiritually, pretty much everything
is wrong with us. We're dead, spiritually. We're
incapable of pleasing God or coming to Christ. We're hopeless,
without God and without hope in this world. And so thus the
then, in that question, who then, seeing that that's true, that
I'm helpless and hopeless and dead and vile in the sight of
God, cast out of communion with him, rightfully so, not worthy
to be even in his presence, much less enjoy his blessing. Who,
then, can be saved?" And the answer is two words, and we'll
see them in this text. Ephesians 2, verse 1, That simply
means made alive. You have to be made alive who
were dead in trespasses and sins. It wasn't an idle threat when
God said, in the day that you eat thereof, you'll surely die.
Adam did die, and Eve died that day, not years later when they
got old and died of old age. They died right then when God
said they would. Wherein in time past you, this
is not about them. It's about you. You walked according to the course
of this world. It's not about sinners. It's
about you, who are a sinner. You walked according to the course
of this world. You walked just like everybody
else did, because we're all the same. of the same lump, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the one that deceived
us to begin with. We've been following him ever
since, because he says the things we like to hear by nature. And
he sets the example that we like to follow by nature. So we walk
according to the prince of the power of the air, Satan, that
serpent that we talked about. The spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, if you don't know God, you're
a puppet of the devil. Did you know that? And as Tim
James said in the message that I made copies of for you, you're
demon possessed. He works in the children of disobedience. His spirit worketh in you now.
You may not like that and you may not believe it, but it's
still true. You're full of devils. among whom also we all had our
conversation, our conduct, we're all the same. If you're different
than that now, it's because of what he sticks to say. In times
past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others, exactly like everybody else, When God chose
you, it wasn't because he saw something in you different from
anybody else. Even as others. But, there's the difference right
there. There's no difference in us.
But here comes the distinguishing factor right here. But God, who
is rich in mercy for his great love, where was he loved? Here's
the difference now. Us. Even when we were dead, not because
there was a spark in us that set us apart from somebody, not
because we were. What's the word they used? Because
we were enlightened sinners, or I can't think of the exact
word that they used. We're a little bit different
sinner than another sinner, you know. We're enlightened sinners.
No, we're just sinners. We're dead just like they're
dead. But even when we were dead, he has made us alive together
with Christ. He's our life. He's our life. He's alive, and we're alive in
him, together with Christ. See, in parentheses, not to diminish
the value of the statement, by any means, by grace are you saved. Oh, in case you missed that in
that, in case you didn't see that you were just like everybody
else, until God came in mercy, Paul spells it out for us, doesn't
he? By grace, so you see. We can't miss it now, can we?
No, we can hate it, but you're not going to miss it. And has
raised us up together. When God loves you, He does something
for you. His love doesn't sit in the corner
and wait on you to do something. I like what Clay said about that
purchased possession. If I go down to the pet store
and buy a dog, they don't open the cage and say, OK, this dog
is free now. If he follows you home, he's
yours. No, I bought that dog. I'm going to take him home with
me. And that's what God... He bought it! And he bought it!
And He made us alive together. He raised us up. His love doesn't
just sit there and see what we'll do. It raised us up together. It made us sit together in heavenly
places. Made us, made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. Why? That in the ages to come,
that from now on, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. When people look
at you and Gloria, they're not going to say, I'm glad He made
a decision for Jesus. They're going to say, look at
the riches of the grace of God that would take a wretch like
that and put him on the throne next to Christ. Not as joint Lord with Christ,
but we do reign with Him. For by grace are you saved through
faith." Well, I don't believe that. Then you're not saved unless
you believe. It's through faith, isn't it? Anybody going to be up there
that don't believe? And that's not of yourself. In
case you kind of flipped over when I said through faith, you
kind of flipped over, well, there's my part. No, you don't have a
part in it. That's not of yourself. He gave
you that. It is the gift of God. Not of work. If you came here
to get some glory this morning, you came to the wrong place.
And I did too. Not of work, lest any man should
boast. For we're his workmanship. We're
not going to talk about what we've done. We're going to talk
about what he's done. were his workmanship. Created. When God created this world,
he didn't have anything to work with, did he? And when he created
you again in Christ, he didn't have anything to work with. He
made something from nothing. He made a new creation when he
saved you. Unto good works. You're going
to do what he made you to do, which God has before ordained
that we should walk in them. Well, we're out of time. I haven't
even read my scripture yet. We're out of time. That preaches
without me even saying anything, doesn't it? Now, we recently
explored the question from the Word of God and tried to answer
from the Word of God. We don't have anything except
it come from the Word of God. This question, what's wrong with
man? What is wrong with us? And we
saw from Genesis chapter 3 that man in the Garden of Eden, though
blessed of God, though favored with all they could ever need
and all things to enjoy in fellowship with God and in perfect moral
standing before God, nevertheless transgressed God's law. His law was very simple then,
wasn't it? Very simple. What was his law? He said, but of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. There was
one thou shalt not. Pretty simple, isn't it? His
law is pretty simple now, too. Did you know that? It's very
simple. In Matthew 22, 37, it's spelled
out for us, Jesus said unto that man that inquired, what's the
greatest commandment? He said, thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart. All. You know who God is, you
know who he's talking about. And you know what the heart is,
that's the affection, the love, the desire. And you know what
all means. with all thy soul and with all
thy mind. This is the first and great commandment,
and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets." Love God supremely with all your
heart, mind, and soul, and love everybody else just as much as
you love yourself. How do you do? Did you misunderstand that? Is
this difficult in any way to comprehend? It's not ignorance
of God's law that's our problem, is it? Our problem is that we
hate God, we hate his law, and the only thing we hate worse
than God's law is God's grace. We are haters of God's grace. That's what Paul meant when he
talked about the offense of the cross. the offense of God's grace
in saving dead sinners by the sacrifice of his Son. We hate
his grace by nature. That's our problem. That's what's
wrong with us. We saw that from Genesis 3 primarily. Are you
in compliance with that law? Love God with all your heart
and your neighbor as yourself? Adam couldn't keep the law that
God gave him in the garden, and he was in an upright, perfect
condition before God. You came into this world depraved
because of the fall, and will you presume to be a keeper of
God's law? You will without God's grace.
The rich young ruler did, didn't he? Christ said, you know the
law. And he said, I've kept these
from my youth up. Would you say that? You would
if you don't know any better. And you're not going to know
any better unless God teaches you. We came into this world
depraved, and we'll leave it depraved and sinful and deserving
of His wrath. And we will experience His wrath
unless we get in on verse 4 there, but God, but God. If you do,
if you are perhaps like this rich young ruler and you think
you've done a pretty good job from your youth up, at least
you're good that way, you're bad and that ought to count for
something, you know. Paul has a question for you in Galatians
4.21. He said, tell me you, you that desire to be under the
law, you who would stand before God in the law thinking that
you've done a pretty good job, you know. Do you not hear the
law? Did you hear what I said? Did
you hear that all part? We don't want to be God of the
Bible at all, much less with all of our hearts. Not by nature,
no. You who hope to gain favor with
God by anything that you do, and I don't care what it is now,
you can walk an aisle or whatever, but anything that you do, do
you not hear the condemnation of God's law against you? Romans
3.20, Paul said, Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall
no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the
knowledge of sin." Not the forgiveness of sin, not the putting away
of sin, but the knowledge of sin. God's law lets us know just
what is wrong with us. He lets us know how bad we are
by nature. How? By his law. By the law is
the knowledge of sin, because every time he says, you haven't
done it. And every time he says, Thou
shalt not, he's talking about something you've done ever since
you was born. In your heart, if not outwardly, and if given
the opportunity and the freedom by God, you do it outwardly with
both hands earnestly. And you're guilty of it already,
whether you've done it outwardly or not, according to Christ,
if you've thought it in your heart to do it. And so that's
us, that's where we're at. Paul, when he found out what
God's law was saying to him, that's why he's asking you, don't
you hear the law? When he heard the law, here's
what happened. He said in Romans 7 and 9, I was alive without
the law at once. I was doing pretty good. I was
that fella, Clay was talking about Hebrew of the Hebrews now
is touching the law of Pharisee, blameless. Everybody said I was
just perfect. And I felt like I was too. But
when the commandment came, when God had somebody tell me what
he said in his word about me, sin revived and I died. Sin came alive and I went the
other way. I died. When you find out what
God says you are, and that's all that matters, it'll kill
you. It'll slay you where you stand.
We spoke there of the inability of man in those messages, the
inability of man because of the fall. 1 Corinthians 2.14, the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
He's not going to be talked into them, he's not going to be persuaded
of them. He doesn't receive them. Why not? Because they're foolishness
to him. His will is affected by the fall. The things of God are foolishness
to you. You can't decide to come to Christ,
because coming to Christ is repugnant to you. And also, the rest of
that verse, 1 Corinthians 2.14, neither can you know them because
they are spiritually discerned. Your very nature is affected,
you're dead spiritually, and you can't discern spiritual things.
John 6.44, no man can. come to me, except God do something
for him. The Father which hath sent me,
draw him, and I'll raise him up. If God draws him, if he comes
to me, I'll raise him up at the last day. But we're not coming
otherwise. No man can. John 5, verse 39,
"'You search the Scriptures,' Christ said to the Pharisees,
because in them you think you have eternal life.'" You're trusting
your knowledge of the Scriptures. You're trusting your conformance
to the Scriptures. You're trusting your own deeds.
You're making a god out of the law. And he said, "'You think
you have eternal life in them, and they are they which testify
of me.'" The Scriptures don't give life, they testify of him
who is life. and you will not come to me. That doesn't say you shall not. I had this discussion with somebody
one time. Okay, it was an argument. That doesn't mean you won't come
to me. You shall not come to me. It means you will not. Look
it up. You don't have to. I did it for
you. It says to desire, to take delight in, to have pleasure. It doesn't please you to come
to Christ. And you're not coming because
you're not pleased to do so. You don't want to. You don't
want anything to do with it. Men and women say, well, I'm
as smart as anybody else. I can read. I understand the
Bible. That little bunny rabbit hopping
in the field out there, he's got teeth. He can chew. He knows how to chew. He's got
a stomach. He's got a digestive system.
And he's free, as far as I can tell, to do what he wants to
do. But he'll never eat that dead dog laying in the road.
You know why? Because he doesn't want to. He
don't like dead dogs. Vultures like dead dogs. I've
seen them enjoying it. I've never seen a rabbit doing
it. He's got teeth. I can understand just as good
as you can. Yeah, that's the problem. That's
the problem. You have a mind, you're limited
by your will. In the fall, that's what happens,
that's what's wrong with you, your will is depraved. You have
a mind, a heart, you have hands and feet, but you will never
do that which pleases God. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin or the leopard his spot? Then, when that happens, you'll
do something good, God said. Then may you also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. We're also limited by our nature.
We're limited by our will, aren't we? We're not going to because
it's foolishness to us. We have no taste for Christ.
But we're also limited by our very nature. A goldfish can do
anything he wants to do, can't he? As long as you can do it
in a goldfish bowl. And that's a pretty good description
of us. As long as you can do it in a
depraved, vile nature. You can do whatever you want
to do. You can choose whatever evil you want to choose. We're limited by our nature.
That goldfish will never fly out of that bowl. So, our question,
who then can be saved? The disciples asked that question.
You know that. Turn to Mark chapter 10, and
they got an answer. And there's nothing ambiguous
whatsoever about the answer, is there? You already know about
this. Mark 10 and verse 22. We'll just
start with verse 22. It's the rich young ruler that
we've already talked about. He came to Christ and said, what
must I do that I might inherit eternal life? And Christ told
him, keep the law. And it says in Mark 10, he said,
I've kept all these from my youth up. Christ said, well, there's
something lacking in you. Go sell everything you have and
give it to the poor and come follow me. And that's where we
are in verse 22. He was sad at that saying and
went away grieved. Was that saddening you to hear
Christ say that? To hear Christ say to you, Get
rid of all the cares of this world, all the things of this
world, and come follow me. Forget about it. Don't take no
care for what you shall eat or drink or wear. Don't take any
care for that kind of stuff. I know that you have need of
those things. You come follow me. Would you do that? You would
now, wouldn't you? My goodness, you talk about a
privilege to be commanded by Christ. to do that which is eternally
and infinitely good for us and blessed. But he was sad at that,
and he went away grieved, for he had great possessions. He
couldn't let go of that stuff. And Jesus looked around about
and said to his disciples, how hardly shall they that have riches
enter into the kingdom of God. And you ever wonder why Christ
said some of the things that he said? You look at what happened
after he said them and you'll find out why he said them. Because
he always gets the result that he says what he says to get. And the disciples were astonished
at his words. I believe he said it to astonish
them, don't you? That's a pretty safe bet. And
to cause them to ask this, but listen to what he said. He said
it again. He saw the shocked look on their
faces, and he knew the astonishment in their hearts. He didn't have
to look on their faces. He saw their hearts, and he saw
the astonishment there. And he said again, he answereth
again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that
trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God? Well, that's
not exactly what he said before. Yes, it is. Because if you have
them, without his grace, you're going to trust in them. It's easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out
of measure. How astonished is that? That's pretty astonished.
Saying among themselves, who's in? Who then is able to be saved? See if you understand this answer.
Jesus looking upon them. Why do you think it says that?
Can you picture that? He's looking at his disciples.
And he said, with men it is impossible. But not with God. For with God,
even something as hopeless as you, With God, all things are possible. This rich young ruler was given
a decision to make, and he made the same decision that everybody
has made who has ever been given a decision to make about God.
Is that not right? What decision did Adam make?
What decision were the people on this earth making when God
looked down among the children of men to see if everybody was
seeking Him? What had they decided? What had
the ones on this earth decided when God looked down and saw
that the imagination of man's heart was only evil continually? What decision had they made?
What decision did his people make when it says he came unto
his own and his own did what? They received him not. And this
man just made the same decision that everybody else has made
who's ever been given a decision. to make about God. He went away. That's what it said. He went
away. Away from God. Away from life. Away from truth. And so did you. Why? Because no man can. That's why. He went away. With men it is impossible. Then how are sinners saved? I
told you there was a two-word answer, and it was in our text,
by grace. Grace isn't God giving you another
shot. Grace isn't God saying, maybe
you'll do better than everybody else has and make a decision
for you. Grace is God doing something
for you that you can't do for yourself. That's what grace is.
Grace! By grace are you saved. Ah, so
we progress in our thinking if we have spiritual understanding
from God. If we, by His grace, understand
what the scripture said, we progress in our thinking very naturally
from the truth of our condition before God to the truth of God's
electing grace. You see? Who then, seeing what's
wrong with man, who then can be saved? By grace. with God,
all things are possible. Whose end can be saved? If you're
waiting on man to do something, impossible. Impossible. As we saw in our study in Job,
Job's friends answer to Job's situation was for Job to do something. Wasn't that right? We saw that
in Job 8, verse 6, and all of it, but it was kind of spelled
out there in 8, 6. His friend said to him there,
If thou wert pure and upright, surely now he would awake for
thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. Thy righteousness, that's man's
answer. If you were pure enough, if you'd
just do the right thing, if you'd just make a decision for Jesus,
if you'd just walk down the aisle and rededicate your life to Christ
and live the Christian life, he would make the habitation
of your righteousness prosper. No, he's going to do away with
your righteousness. That's what he's going to do. Like Paul says, forgetting that. Not forgetting my sins, forgetting
my righteousness. But Job knew better than that,
didn't he? He replied in the first verse of the next chapter. He answered and said, I know
it is so of a truth. I know that the righteous man
will prosper. Oh, but how should a man be just
with God? That's the question. Who then
can be saved? If you've got to be perfect before God, who can
be saved? And he asked another question
that I thought was so good, I saw this this week, in Job 26 verse
1, it says, But Job answered and said to his friend, How hast
thou helped him that is without power? How savest thou the arm
that hath no strength? Your answer is pretty good, if
I can do something, but how have you helped the one that doesn't
have any power? You haven't given anything to me. You haven't helped
me in any way. And preachers this morning aren't
helping sinners that have no power to come to God. The advice
that preachers are giving to poor sinners this morning is
good advice if you can take the first step. If you're able to
choose more wisely than your father Adam did. If you're able
to decide to love somebody that you hate from the bottom of your
heart. If you can just decide, I think
I'll love him. And their advice is pretty good. But Job said,
what if you're without strength? What if you don't have any power?
What if you can't do anything to recommend yourself to God?
You haven't helped me much. Well, if you are without strength
like Job saw himself to be, I've got good news for you. Because
when we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly.
When you were without, I'm not talking about you didn't have
much strength, so you just had to lay there and kind of move
a little. No. You've got a little bit.
If you can move, you've got some strength. If you can lift a little
finger, you've got strength. Without strength. When you were
unable even to lift a little finger toward God, God came where
you were and did what you could not do if you're His. That's
the good Samaritan. He doesn't recommend a nice inn
down the road. He picks you up out of the ditch
while you're dying and laying dead and bleeding, and he puts
you on his beast and carries you to the inn and pays your
way. That's my good Samaritan. That's grace. That's grace. Just as Adam represented a people,
God sent his Son into this world to represent a people. That's
why Paul said what he did about, even as in Adam all die, so in
Christ shall all be made alive. Not all those that can prove
upon his grace, everybody he represented will be made alive
in him, their representative. He lived for them, He died for
them, He arose for them, He sits on the throne this morning for
them, interceding for them, He does everything for them as their
representative. And how a priest and mediator
and intercessor are. Jeremiah 31.3, The Lord hath
a peer of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
That's the kind of love I'm talking about. God, who loves to show
mercy, has been merciful to a chosen, sinful people who, like all of
Adam's race, are hopeless and helpless in themselves. And he
hasn't required them to do something for him, for them to be saved.
He's done something for them. And what he does for them is
salvation. He saved us when he gave us Christ. And this is his prerogative.
Romans 9.11, turn over there. I know you're familiar with this,
but I want us to see it together in the context of what's wrong
with us and the answer to the problem. Romans 9.11, it 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. It was said
unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. And he still does. The lost are serving the elect. That's the only reason God put
them on this earth. This world exists for his elect. Did you
know that? The elder is always going to
serve the younger in this sense. That the non-elect will serve
the elect and everything else. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he said to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Do you think he meant
that when he said it? I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then, seeing that God has
mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardens. We see then
by that that it's not of him that willeth. You're not going
to be saved because you want to be saved. If God saves you,
you'll want to be saved, but you're not going to be saved
because of that. It's not of that. It's not of him that willeth. It's not of him that runneth.
You're not going to do enough. It's of God that shows mercy.
He's going to have mercy And he's going to have mercy on who
he wants to have mercy on. He's going to save who he will,
when he will, the way that he will. He's going to do as he
pleases in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. That's what Nebuchadnezzar said. He's still doing that.
That's what he's doing. He said, that which I please,
that's what I do. not of him that willeth or of
him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture
saith, And Pharaoh, even for this same purpose, hath I raised
you up." He saw, sir, Jacob and Pharaoh, and God raised him up
to show his people his power. And that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth for his own glory. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will." He'll
harden you. He'll harden you. Romans 11.1,
turn over there with me, we're through, but I want you to see
this passage of scripture also. Romans 11.1, Paul said, I say
then, hath God cast away his people? He's talking about the
Jew has no advantage as far as being recommended to God over
the Gentile. We are all sinners, we are all
under the law, under the curse of the law, we are all the same.
Has God then cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham and of the tribe of Benjamin.
God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. His people
in a spiritual sense were never the nation of Israel, but of
what he foreknew. Was he not what the scripture
saith of the lives, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel,
saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophet, and digged down
thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life? But what
saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself
seven thousand men who have not died beneath the image of Baal,
Even so, Paul said, just like that. Elijah said that there's
nobody but me. I'm the only one that knows and
loves God. Nope. God said, I've reserved some.
And Paul said, that's how it is now. Even now at this present
time, also there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And I'm saying that to you this morning. Even now, at
this present time, God has reserved unto himself a people. And they're
the ones whom His Son came to represent, His sheep, His elect. And if by grace, Paul said, verse
6, then it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. There cannot be a mixture. God
can't save you by grace and then look to see if you're going to
make a decision for Him. There's no more grace. But if
it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise, work is
no more work. If you're going to be under the
law, God can't help you out with it. He can't give you a boost. Talk about not being fair. People
say it's not fair for God to choose whom He will. What's fair
about God leaving it up to you and then somebody here, a pretty
good preacher, somebody down there, not hearing a very good
preacher. You've got a disadvantage. It's no more grace, is it? If
there's any grace at all mixed in it, if you were born a better
parent than somebody else, then it's no more work. Because there
was a little bit of grace there, wasn't there? You had an advantage
over them. You had Christian parents. They didn't have Christian
parents. You talk about unfair. That'd be unfair. What then? Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for. The nation of Israel is a mess,
and always has been. But the election hath obtained
it. And the rest were blinded. there's
the election, and then there's the rest. I know that's not popular,
but God said in Isaiah 1-9, except the Lord of hosts had left unto
us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should
have been like unto Gomorrah. Why has not God rained down the
fire of his wrath on this building this morning and put us all in
hell where we belong? because he has a remnant according
to the election of grace. Now if you hate, if you hate
the God, I'm closing now, two minutes. If you hate the God
that would pass by a thousand sinners and leave them in their
sin to die and go to hell where they belong. And having passed
them by, he set his eye and heart upon one just like them, and
said, That one's mine. I will live to sanctify him.
I will die to redeem him. I will call him out. I will. I will. I will. Lord, if you
will, you can. I will." That one right there. If you hate that God, let me
save you some time and trouble. Get rid of your Bible. Don't
waste any more time trying to make it say what you want it
to say. Because it's not going to. Don't waste any more time. Don't rest the scriptures to
your own damnation. Forget about it. If you hate
them, don't waste your time. They're not going to say what
you want them to say. Get rid of your Bible and don't
bother gathering with God's people anymore. And whatever you do,
don't call yourself a Christian. Don't do that. That just confuses
things. That's all it does. And it dishonors
God and Christ. Don't do that. Go out and live it up while you
can. Because when you leave this world, you're going to go straight
to hell where you belong. And I'm not saying that that's
what I want to happen. I would to God that you might
bow to the sovereign God of the Bible. But if you hate him, don't
pretend that you don't. Be honest with God. Be honest. I pray that you might bow to
the God that made you and who clearly in this book reveals
that he saves sinners by sovereign, free, electing, distinguishing,
grace, bow and ask for mercy. No one has ever bowed at his
feet and asked for mercy that did not receive mercy. Did you
know that? Now there have been those that
have come to him wanting to go to heaven when they died and
didn't receive mercy. We read about one of them a while
ago. That rich young man, he wanted to go to heaven, didn't
he? What must I do that I might inherit eternal life? I want
to go to heaven when I die. And he went away without mercy.
But no mercy beggar ever came and left without what they came
for. So I would to God that you would bow and say with that leper,
because that's what you are spiritually. You're a hopeless, incurable,
vile leper. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. not give me a helping hand, not
meet me after I've taken the first step, make me clean. The sovereign Christ who came
to save his people from their sins. May God enable you this
morning to bow at his feet and ask him for mercy before hell
swallows you up. Let's bow in prayer. Lord, how can we adequately say
thank you for the mercy that's in the Lord Jesus Christ, for
sovereign mercy that would take a vile sinner that's in an impossible
situation, by your own word, impossible, and freely save that
sinner by your grace, freely put us in your Son. and give
us all things in him. How can we say thank you for
that? All we can ask is that you would use us to exalt his
holy name. And we can't even ask that without
your grace. Lord, please don't leave us alone. Use this church, use every one
of us in it for the glory of Christ. We don't know when this
thing's going to be wrapped up. It may be today before we leave
this building, and it may be a thousand years from now. We don't know how long we're
going to be on this world, in this world, on this earth. But
Lord, use us for the glory of Christ, whatever time you give
us here. Let it be spent not settling
roots into this soil of this earth, but looking for that kingdom
looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.
May we ever be looking to Him and be about His business while
we're on this earth. Bless us in that, Lord. Cause
us to hold ever so lightly to the things of this world and
to cling steadfastly to the Savior of sinners. Bless us together
in Christ and use us for His glory. Thank you for all that
you have done for us, Lord. Lord, give us a zeal according
to knowledge. Give us the truth that would
burn in our souls, making us jealous for the glory of Christ.
In his precious name we ask it. Amen. Now stay this morning,
if you can, and have lunch with us. And let's enjoy fellowship together. What a good day. I enjoyed the
Bible lesson this morning so much. And I agree so wholeheartedly
with it. It is time to stop playing, isn't
it? We saw in the message from Genesis there, Clay spoke to
the men a while ago. We saw in that message that God
said, Adam, where are you? He didn't say, Eve, where are
you? Let's quit ourselves like men and be the leaders that we
ought to be for his sake. Did you read that article in
the Bulletin a few weeks ago? It had an unusual title called
Gut-Sucking Time. That may be a little bit crude,
but it's the truth. It's time to quit playing church,
isn't it? How much time do we have left? I don't know. be in spirit for his glory, for
his sake. We hesitate sometimes to say
things like that because we know that it's all of grace. But God
puts it in our hearts to hold lightly to the things of this
earth and to look for ways to honor his name, not just while
we're up here, but everywhere we go. Look for ways to glorify
him and to seek in prayer. his blessing and glory." I believe
he'll answer that prayer, don't you? He put that in our hearts
to pray it. He said, of the people of Israel,
I will yet be inquired of thee regarding this thing, that I
may do it for you. Isn't that what he said? He already
said, I will do it for you before you ever ask for it, but I'll
have you ask for it. What's ask? Ask and you shall
receive. Well, I'm going to preach again
if I don't quit. Stay for lunch and have a good
day. You're dismissed.