If you have your Bibles open
to 2 Chronicles 9, let me read a couple of verses here. And when the queen of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon with hard questions
at Jerusalem. with a very great company and
camels that bear spices and gold in abundance, precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon,
she communed with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon
told her all her questions. And there was nothing hid from
Solomon which he told her not. And when the Queen of Sheba had
seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,
and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants,
and the attendance of his ministers and their apparel, his cupbearers
also and their apparel, and his assent by which he went into
the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her." I trust the Lord has given us
a word this morning that will be to our edification and to
our up-building. Several hundred years ago there
was some men lived that were known as the Reformers. The Reformers. You've heard of
Luther and Calvin and others. Many voices from the Reformers
are even heard and still heard in our day And we'd often hear
of them speaking through their writings to us. But these Reformers had a watchword. And there were four things that
were contained in these watchwords. And the first thing alone, the
first thing that they had in their watchword was Christ alone. Christ alone. Scripture says, Neither is there
salvation in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but
by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And no other foundation
can be laid than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Paul said, I determined not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ. and Him crucified. We know that what the Reformers
meant was that Christ alone was salvation, and that a living,
vital union with Him was necessary for an individual to partake
of the eternal blessings of God, and that it was necessary for
one to be joined to Christ in faith for them to be saved, for
them to be a child of God, for them to know the Lord. Christ
alone. Christ alone. That was the first
part of the watchword. The second was grace alone. Grace
alone. For by grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it's
a gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast who
has saved us and called us with a holy calling. not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how He who was rich became
poor, that we through His poverty might be rich. The grace of God. Grace through grace alone. The
only reason what the Reformers were saying was the only reason
that God had in His heart for saving a people from their sin
and reconciling that people to Himself through His beloved Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, was that love and favor that He had in
His own heart, His own grace. It was grace. It was grace that
caused God, moved God to save poor sinners. and to bring them
into fellowship with Himself. Grace alone. Grace alone. I think we're probably aware
of that. That it's by God's grace alone that we're His children.
That we belong to Him and that we have what we have in His blessed
Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. By grace alone. We cannot
have anything from God. We will not have anything from
God apart from His free and sovereign grace. Now the third thing in
their watchword was Scriptures alone. The Scriptures alone. They looked to the Word of God.
They believed the Word of God. They were inspired by the Word
of God and they believed that the Word of God was inspired.
And it was Scriptures alone. It was not what some man said
about the Scriptures. It was what the Scriptures said. The Scriptures alone. And beloved, we need to come
back to that in our thinking. And that is that when we want
to know the answer to a question, Scripture alone. Scripture alone. When we want to know the direction
to go, Scripture alone. When we want to know how to live,
it's Scripture alone. When we want to know the truth,
it's Scripture alone that we must look to. And I think these
Reformers were right on. Now there was a fourth thing,
and this may seem a little strange to you, but I want us to reflect
upon this a little bit. And then it will give us, I think,
the platform to continue on with our message this morning. But
the fourth thing they had in their watchword was the right
of private judgment. The right of private judgment. Meaning this, that they believed
that the child of God was taught of God. That they were taught
of God. And they believe what 1 John
chapter 2 and verse 20 said, that we have an unction from
the Holy One, and that we know all things. We have an anointing
of the Holy One, and we know all things. Meaning that we have
no need that man as such should teach us, but that we have an
anointing of God, and that we've been taught of God to know God. Now, there are many scriptures
that will back that up. But what we're saying is, and
what they were saying, I believe, was that whenever there is a
statement of doctrine made, or when there is a creed set forth,
that it is not so necessarily because the church said it so.
It's not so because some man said it so. It's not so because
the Pope says it's so. It's not so because the priest
says it's so. It's not so because the pastor
says it's so. It's so whenever the Word of
God teaches it, and whenever God, by the revelation of the
Spirit of God, makes it known to the heart of the individual
believer. It is right thence when it's
right. That's when it's right. is whenever
God teaches it to the hearts of His people, the right to private
judgment. Now, we know that the Roman Catholics
made a great mistake along this line, because they didn't even
want their own people to read the Bible. They wanted to read
the Bible for the people, and they wanted to tell the people
what the Bible said, what the Scriptures teaches. And so they've said that there
needs to be a right to judgment, private judgment on the part
of the believer to be able to come up with whatever it is that
God reveals to his heart and to know it and to lay hold of
it and to cling to it securely. They need this right of private
judgment. Now, so then, What I want to
try to do is impress this upon your heart because it's so important
that we understand. Look in your Bibles to the book
of Jeremiah 31 31. Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse
31 and listen to what this verse of scripture says. Behold the days come, saith the
Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel,
and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, but which
my covenant they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith
the Lord. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,
saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and
right in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall
be my people. And they, listen to verse 34
now, and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor,
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord. We have often pointed out that
every church, house, in the world is dedicated to the proposition
that you can teach somebody to know the Lord. But beloved, the
Word of God teaches that you cannot teach somebody to know
the Lord. It is not so. They must be taught
of God themselves. Saying, know the Lord, said,
they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man
his brother, saying, know the Lord. For they shall all know
Me, all the people for whom the everlasting covenant was made,
they shall all know Me from the least of them unto the greatest
of them, saith the Lord. And that's significant. The least
of them to the greatest of them will have this private tutor,
the Lord Himself, which teaches us to know the Lord. And so this
is the right of private judgment, if you see. It is the privilege
and the heritage of a child of God to be taught of the Lord. Now the scripture says in John
1, it says that in verse 11 and 12, that Jesus came unto His
own. His own received Him not. But
to those that received Him, to them He gave the power, and that
word power is the right or the authority or the privilege or
the heritage to become the children of God. They have the privilege
of being the children of God. In Psalm chapter 49 and verse
20, the Scripture says that those that are in honor and understands
it not, are like the beast that perishes. A man who has been
blessed of God to know the Lord, he has been greatly honored.
And God does teach every one of his children. Somebody said,
oh, I just wish so and so knew the Lord. They will when the
Lord teaches them. when they are made to know by
inward revelation, by an inward working of the Spirit of God.
Now I invite you to turn over with me to a familiar passage
of Scripture, but over into the book of John chapter 6. The book
of John chapter 6, now this is found throughout the Word of
God, and it's no mystery to me that these Reformers that lived
500-600 years ago, that they came up with these things, that
they believed this. Here in the book of John chapter
6, In verse 41, the Jews then murmured
at him because he said, I am the bread which came down from
heaven. The Lord Jesus said, I am the
bread which came down from heaven. And they murmured at him. And
they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father
and mother we know? How is it then he saith, I came
down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourself. No man can come to
me. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me. Draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. Now listen to this, verse 45,
read on. It is written in the prophets,
they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. So here our Lord is telling us
that When these Jews murmured at the Lord Jesus saying He came
down from heaven, certainly is a startling statement. Anybody else could say that except
Him. But He made the statement that
He came down from heaven. I'm the bread which came from
heaven. Well, they couldn't receive this. They murmured among themselves.
And Jesus answered and said, murmur not among yourselves.
There isn't any need for you to get all worked up about this.
Because no man can come to me except the Father which has sent
me drawing. No man can. Now if the Father
draws a man and teaches him, like verse 45 says, they shall
be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard and learned of the Father, he'll come to Christ. Who comes
to Christ? When it's all finished and the
world is over and done, who will have come to Christ? Those whom
the Father has taught to Christ. those whom the Father has drawn
to the Lord Jesus Christ, no man can come to me." Many years
ago, there was a man by the name of Arthur W. Pink, who lived,
I believe, and pastored in Spartansburg, North Carolina. And Brother Pink
wrote a manuscript for a book known as the sovereignty of God.
And he wrote to a Armenian brother who had a printing company in
Cleveland, Ohio by the name of Herringding, Herringden. And he asked this brother if
he would print that book if he sent on the sovereignty of God what
he printed for him. And the brother wrote him back
and said, what on earth do you mean about, what do you mean
when you say you wrote a book on the sovereignty of God? And so he wrote to this brother
in Cleveland who owned the Bible depot, I think it was, known
as at that time. And he used these verses here
in John chapter 6. And he had drawn a line under,
no man can come to me. Not once, but twice he drew this
line under these verses explaining to this gentleman, what he was
talking about when he was talking about God's sovereignty, God
being a sovereign God. And he underlined these words,
and this brother later testified to the fact that when he got
Brother Pink's letter and read these verses and saw how he'd
underlined them and emphasized them, that like a flash of lightning,
the light turned on in his soul, and he could see the whole scheme
of grace and salvation. God opened it up to him, and
he wrote letters of testimony that God had marvelously shown
him this truth. The Lord had taught him in his
heart. And here he was now, sound in the faith, and became a printer
of a number of books I know. So therefore, we see this principle
that the reformers were advocating, the right of private judgment,
that God teaches a man and he comes to know the truth, and
that you can teach people and teach people and we'll go ahead
and do it. And we ought to go ahead and
do it. But until God teaches them and reveals the Word and
the truth to their hearts, they will not know it. And whenever
it comes, then they will know it. They will know these truths. Well, Isaiah 54 and 13. Look
at this verse of Scripture with me. Isaiah 54 and verse 13. I want you to believe these truths
because they are true. They are so important. Listen
to this 13th verse. And all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. Great shall be the peace of thy
children. Isn't it wonderful? If you've
heard from God in your soul, if you know the Lord, and if
you know that God's done something in your heart, then you know
it of a certainty, and you know it, and you feel honored. You
feel that you've been privileged, that God Himself, just like it
was only you and God that existed, that He actually came to you,
and He's actually said something to your heart. He's actually
told you something, and endeared Himself to your soul, that the
Lord has done this. He's done it, and so you're in
honor. You're in honor, and it's the
heritage of a child of God. to have these blessings and to
know these things. Now then, these questions. I thought about some questions
that I believe that God answers in the souls of His people when
He deals with them throughout their lives. And we don't set
any timetable as to when God has to do this or when He will
do it. But these are things that God
teaches people, and they know these things. You know, I heard
this last week, and some of you might have heard it too, but
I heard that there was an atheist over in Italy that was taking
one of the Roman Catholic priests to court, Because this priest
said that Christ actually existed. There was a man called Jesus
Christ that existed. And this atheist was going to
take him to court, said he had lied when he said that. That
Christ actually existed. There was a time when He existed
in this world. Now, brothers and sisters in
the Lord, Now when you hear something like
that, if you've been taught of the Lord, if you know in your
own heart by revelation that the Spirit of God has taught
you to Christ and brought you to Him, that kind of stuff, even
if they could prove that He never existed, you'd laugh at it. You'd laugh at it because you'd
know You know that Christ exists. You know because He lives in
your heart. And because He has visited you. And He's honored you and privileged
you. And it's been your heritage to
come to know Him. And to know who He is. And therefore,
there's no way that this is going to affect me. Just go on about
your business and leave me alone. Leave me alone. It's like old
Brother Barter used to say, don't rob me, don't try to rob me of
my hope. Because you can't do it. You
cannot do it. And so, there were five or six
questions that I believe that the Spirit of God in time... Now we know that the Queen of
Sheba came to prove Solomon with hard questions. and that Solomon
told her all her questions and there was nothing hid from Solomon
when he told her. And so he revealed to her all
the answers to her questions. Let me ask some of these questions
and say just a word or two and we'll keep in mind the time. What would it mean to you if
all your sins Past, present, and future were
completely blotted out, put away, forgiven, cancelled, remitted,
buried in the deepest sea, never to be dredged up again, never
to be remembered again. What would that mean to you? Open sins of yours, secret sins
of yours, sins of your hands, sins of your heart, sins of your
feet, were never ever to be remembered again. What would it mean to
you? What would it mean to you? Well, free from sin. Free from sin. Now, beloved,
I believe that every child of God, I believe the Scripture
teaches this, has this for their heritage. Every child of God,
their sins are forgiven, and that they are free from their
old life, free from their sin, and that there is no record in
heaven against any believer. No record. No record. Did you hear me say that? No
record. reminds me of a fellow I heard about years ago that
ran a stop sign and hit another car and there were some people
injured slightly and there was a ticket issued and he went to
court and he sat in the courtroom and had called everyone else and
he was the last person in the courtroom and he came up To the
judge, at the last, the judge said, what can I do for you?
He said, well, I run a stop sign and I had this accident and there
were some people that was hurt. And the judge said to the policeman
there, is there any record of this? And this man had been worried
to death for a week or two waiting to come to court. The officer said, I don't have
any record of it. No record here. And the judge
said, well, then if there's no record of it, then you're free. And beloved, that's the standing
of every child of God. Free in the Lord Jesus. There's so many verses that we
could read. But Isaiah 43 and verse 25 says,
I even I am he that blotteth out. your sins and iniquities
and will not remember them against you anymore. I, even I am He,
for my own namesake, not because of you, but for my namesake,
I'll blot out your sins and not remember them against you anymore.
John 1, 7, 1 John 1, 7 says, The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all, all sin. Hebrews 10 talks about how
that we have been perfected forever and by the blood, by the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, we've been perfected
forever. So beloved, it's wonderful to
know that your sins are put away, that they're blotted out and
they will never be remembered as again. Second question, what
would it mean to you to know that the eternal and just and
holy righteous God is completely reconciled to you, completely
reconciled to you, and that there is no wrath awaiting you. No anger. God is not angry with
you. And that there is no enmity in
the heart of God any longer toward you. Romans 5 says that when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. And that through His
atonement, we've been reconciled to Him. And so we have been reconciled
to God. No wrath. There's not even a
frown. going to be up on the face of
God when He sees us. Isn't that a marvelous thing?
The Scripture talks about in Ephesians 1 and 6 about how that
through His grace we've been made to be accepted in the Beloved. Isn't it marvelous that God will
smile when you appear before Him just like He would when His
own Son, His own righteous, perfect Son appears before Him? Because
we've been made to be accepted in Him. In Him, we're accepted. We're accepted in the Beloved
One. So what would it mean to you
to know that you're reconciled to God and God's not mad at you?
God is not angry with you. And that God has not got any
enmity in His heart. There was a song, well, he's
an old preacher, but I told you about him one time. He was born
a slave in 1851, Charles Tyndall, down south. And in 1865, when
the slaves were freed, he came north to Philadelphia. And he
became a janitor in a huge black church. And he went to school,
worked and went to school, and learned how to read, especially
read the Bible. Twenty-some years I believe it
was, he was the janitor of that huge church. Well, whenever the
preacher died, then they called Charles Tyndall to be the pastor
of that church. And he died in 1933, but he wrote
two songs. He wrote two songs that I know
of. And the name of one of them was,
Take a Burden to the Lord and Leave it There. And the name
of the second was, Nothing Between My Soul and the Savior. Nothing
between my soul and the Savior, so that His blessed face may
be seen. Nothing preventing the least
of His favors. Beloved, nothing between. That song is
found on page 321 in our hymn book, and maybe at the close
of the meeting Mitch would lead us in that song. But I thought
about that old song. What a blessing it is. Now thirdly, we must hurry. What
would it mean to you? You being acquainted with yourself,
knowing yourself probably is. as good as anybody. Of course,
your relatives, your wife especially, your husband, they all know you. But what would it mean to you
to have a new heart? To have a new heart. A heart
that honestly and sincerely loves God. Well, all those who are
regenerate, all those who are born again, they have one, don't
they? They have a heart that truly
loves God. That old verse in Romans 8, 28,
For we know that all things work together for good to them who
love God. To them who love God. When God saves a person, He fixes
it up so that those whom He saves loves Him. They just love the
Lord. They love the Lord. I love the
Lord. I do because of what God has
done in my own soul. I love the Lord. And I know you
do. You remember the Lord Jesus asked Peter three times if he
loved Him. And finally, Peter being grieved
with the questioning, said, Lord, You know everything. And You
know that I love You. You know I love You. So the Lord
knows whether you love Him or not. But a new heart. A new heart. And then, what would it mean
to you to have a heart that wants to put other people first? To have a heart that looks on
the things of others and not on the things of self. That's
not stingy and greedy. What would it mean to you to
have a heart that will put the Lord first? I heard Brother Mahan
years ago tell a story about Brother Barnard. And they were
all sitting in a church down south and they were having a
missionary conference. And preachers were preaching
and they come to a place, a time when they take up an offering
for missionaries. And Brother Henry and Brother
Barnard and another fellow friend of Brother Barnard's were sitting
in the front part of the church. They passed the collection plate
and everybody was putting money in and so on. Old Brother Barnard
didn't have any money. But he had an Elgin watch that
somebody had given him, a beautiful thing, Brother Mahan said. And so he just took it off and
put it in the collection plate, putting other people first. And
I'll tell you what, there's many people that we can minister to,
but we're going to have to put them first, not down the line
somewhere. I've always believed that God
is a gracious God, a loving God, a kind God, a tender God. He's
always been tender toward me, gracious, loving, always give
me what I, well, so much more than I deserve, always. And I
think we should practice trying to be like the Lord as much as
we can, being as gracious as we can be. merciful as we can
be, being an instrument in God's hands to provide for men and
women who are in need and to preach the gospel. Well, let
me go on to the next question. What would it mean to you to
know, for you to know without a doubt
that every success, every failure, every joy, every sorrow, every
good day, every difficult day, that they're all ordained of
God and purposed by God. They're all ordered by your Heavenly
Father. All your steps are ordered by
the Lord and that all of these days will all work together for our
good and for God's glory. What would that mean to you?
What would it mean to you? Well, I tell you what, it'll
solve a lot of your problems when God shows you that that's
the truth. That that's the truth. That your
good days and bad days and sorrows and joys, that the Lord has ordained
them all. They're all ordained by the Lord. Now, beloved, we must keep in
mind that we cannot believe and we cannot preach divine sovereignty
and then murmur about our lot in life. We just can't do it. We have got to come to the place sooner or later God help us,
I hope that we're taught of God to where that we don't have to
wait until our dying hours to believe just the statements that
we just made, the answer to that question, that we'd be able to
believe God and trust Him and not murmur any longer about our
lot in life. Well, the last question, I'll
give you this, and this helped me, helped me a world. What would
it mean to you and me to know assuredly that growing old and
dying is the best thing that could happen to us? Now what do you think about that? To grow old and to die is the
most wonderful, precious, and blessed thing that could happen
to you and me. And beloved, that's true of all
God's elect. That's the heritage of God's
elect. The heritage of God's elect.
There's a couple of verses that I'd like to read in closing. Turn to your Bibles if you've
got one or if you don't want to. Just hold your finger there. Philippians 1. And I want to read beginning
with verse 21, or verse 21st. According to my earnest expectation,
my hope, this is the Apostle Paul speaking, that in nothing
I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness as always. So now also Christ shall be magnified
in my body, whether it be by life or by death. In verse 21, for me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this
is the fruit of my labor, yet what I shall choose I want not,
for I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart
and to be with Christ, which is far better. Far better. Far better. Far better. Now if you could turn your Bibles
to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 4. 2 Timothy chapter 4, let me
read a couple of verses there. 6 through 8. For I am now ready, Paul says,
to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have
fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I
have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only. I like that part of it, don't
you? And let us in on it. But unto all them also who love
His appearing. So these verses of Scripture
teach us The statement that I just made that the most blessed thing
that could happen to you and I is that we grow old and that
we die and leave this world and go be with the Lord forever.
That's the most blessed thing. Now I know the world doesn't
look on it that way and I know that we in the flesh don't look
on it that way every day. But the book of Proverbs says
Or I think it is Proverbs, or Ecclesiastes maybe it is, that
says that the day of one's death is better than the day of his
birth. Yeah, it is. That is what they say. That is
what the Scripture says. The Word of God says it. That
is what it says. Well, these are some hard questions,
but if you have been taught of the Lord, you got the answers. They're right in here. He's got
them answers. Boy, those are tremendous questions. But the Spirit of God is pleased
to teach us and give us the answers. Like Solomon gave to the Queen
of Sheba. All her questions. Answered all
of her questions. Well, Brother Mitch, I wonder
if you