If you have your Bibles this
morning, please open them with me to the book of Acts chapter
17. Acts chapter 17. I'd like to begin reading with
verse 18. and read down through verse 23. Then certain philosophers of
the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him, that is, Paul,
and some said, What will this babbler say? What will this babbler
say? Others some, he seemeth to be
a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached unto them
Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him, and brought
him into Erepicus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine
whereof thou speakest is, for thou bringest certain strange
things to our ears. We would know, therefore, what
these things mean. For all the Athenians and strangers
which were there spent their time in nothing else but either
to tell or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill and said, You men of Athens, I perceive that in
all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld
your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription to the
unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly
worship, him declare I unto you." The Epicurean and Stoic religious
leaders of the Jews looked upon the Apostle Paul as an ignorant
babbler. As an ignorant babbler. Now they
said that he was a plagiarist one that was just polyparitan
things that he had heard from somebody else. They said that
he was one who was outside the circle of intelligent people. They said he did not belong to
the class that know. He was pictured by them as a
setter forth of strange gods. because he preached unto them
Jesus and the resurrection they did not believe that Jesus was
the Christ and they believed he was an imposter and a fake
and so when Paul preached him they thought Paul was ignorant
didn't really know anything like they did and then of course when
he mentioned the resurrection My friend, the Lord Jesus Christ
had been raised from the dead. God had raised him up. You remember
he was crucified and was buried and God raised him from the dead
and made him to be both Lord and Christ. Now this was strange
words to these people because they had never known anyone to
be resurrected before. But the Lord Jesus Christ being
God, he was resurrected. He came forth out of the grave
as proof of the fact that God the Father had accepted his death
in the place and room of his people. And so the Lord Jesus
was preached by Paul as having come alive after he was dead. And because they could not understand
his doctrine, his teaching. They didn't have the ability
to understand it. Because we know that all spiritual
truth is learned experientially, and it's also learned by revelation. And they did not have the ability.
I'm not saying they were not intelligent people and could
not read words, but I'm saying that no man can understand spiritual
truth except it be revealed to him, made known to him. And so
they could not understand Paul's doctrine. Though they could not
refute it, and because they were determined to hold on to their
religious superstitions and idolatry, they attempted to discredit Paul's
message by deriding him, attempting to make him look ridiculous. Now, beloved, nothing has changed
to this day. Now that is a statement that
you might have to think about a little bit, but nothing has
changed to this day. Those who despise the gospel
of God's free grace in Christ, wishing to make room in the kingdom
of God for themselves and others without denouncing the idols
of free will and good works before which they joyfully bow every
day deride a babbling idiot such as those who preach the free
grace of God. We're considered or looked upon
by those who supposedly are in the know as being somewhat below
them. We're babbling idiots. We're
smiled upon with condescending sneers as ignorant people who do not
understand the issues of this humanistic society. And we, of
course, would agree that we are not in sympathy with the views
of the humanists, because we believe that salvation is all
of grace. We believe it to be all of the
grace of God. We say it so people can hear
it, that salvation is all of grace, that Christ is all our
righteousness for both justification and sanctification, and that
every false way is really a false way. We are denounced as hyper-Calvinists. We're denounced as antinomians
in our day. We're considered extremists,
if you please. Take the mud slung at you, my
brother and my sister, in this day, this world in which you're
living, and wear it as a badge of honor. Wear it, I say, as
a badge of honor. Let us be extremists for Christ
in this day when most are extremists against Him and against everything
that is high and holy, every truth that is taught in the Word
of God. Was He not an extremist for us? What could be more extreme than
His everlasting, free, unchanging love for our souls? What could be more extreme than
that? The Bible says he loved us with an everlasting love and
with loving kindness has drawn us out of sin unto himself. What greater extreme could he
have gone for us than he has gone? Well, the Bible says in
2 Corinthians 8 and 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, how that he who was rich became poor that we through his
poverty might be rich. And in Romans 12 verse 1 and
2 the Bible says, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies
of God that you present your bodies holy and acceptable unto
God which is your reasonable service. Our extremism for him
is the only thing that could possibly make any sense. Do you agree with that? Our extremism
for him is the only thing that could possibly make any sense. Now, beloved, as we come to this
point in our message this morning, we believe that believers are
not ignorant. True believers, the people of
God, are in the know. They are in the know. They know some things. And those that are in the religious
world, having not been born of the Spirit of God, having not
the Christ of God revealed to their heart by the Holy Spirit,
and beloved, you cannot commit yourself to an unrevealed Christ. He must be revealed to your heart
and to your soul We recognize that the people of God, according
to the Bible, they know some things that are most important. And we are not in any way, shape,
or form to take a back seat to this religious world and to believe
anything they have to say in regards to our position or our
standing. And we know that this generation
of religious people, they worship the unknowing God. The unknowing
God. They say, you can't know it.
You can't know it. And they say, well, you know
that anybody that says that they know God, that they're off their
rocker, or somewhere or another are a little bit touched, or
they don't have a full load of book, or something is not quite
right if you say you know God. But one of the things, and I
want to talk about four or five things here that believers, men
and women who truly are in Christ, the things that they know, the
things that they know, four or five things that they truly know
that this generation of religious people don't know anything about.
I would invite you, if you would now, to turn to John chapter
17, and I'd like for you to look at the third verse. Now, being
taught of God, as the people of God are, we remember in John
6, 45, that Jesus said, and they shall all be taught of God. Everyone that hath heard and
learned of the Father cometh unto me. They shall all be taught
of God. And that means all the people
of God. That means all those chosen of God in all time. All those ordained of God unto
eternal life. They shall all be taught of God. They're going to be taught some
things that was going to put them in a position that other
men and women are not in. And so they shall be taught of
God. Well, what shall they be taught? Well, let us notice in
verse 3 of John 17. And this is life eternal. Do you need to know? Do you want
to know? Are you interested at all in
knowing what eternal life is? And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. Now, whatever you might say about
salvation and eternal life, whatever your religion, your religious
affiliations might teach concerning eternal life, our Lord Jesus
Christ himself said that life eternal is knowing is knowing
God. That's what it is. It's knowing
God. It's having an intimate acquaintance
with God. It's being found in the Lord
Jesus Christ and having God, as it were, revealed to your
heart. You know God. And he said this
is what life eternal is. This is what it is when you're
a young person. This is what it is when you're
middle-aged. This is what it is when you get
my age. Life eternal is knowing God. It's never anything more or less
than knowing God. Having an intimate acquaintance
with God through the Word of God and through the Spirit of
God. It's knowing God. Now then, a
man might know a lot about God, and still not know God. You can study the institutes
of Calvin until intellectually you might know as much about
God as John Calvin did intellectually, but you will never know God by
just reading books and studying books. You never will. John Calvin
knew God through the operation of the divine spirit in his life. There was a time when he was
called irresistibly by the grace of God and brought out of sin
and given the life of God in his soul. He come to know God. And so you may know a lot about
God. You may know a whole lot. And
your religious leaders and teachers may know a lot about God. But my friend, there's a difference
between knowing about God and knowing God savingly. Now this knowing God savingly,
I read in the book of Jeremiah chapter 9 and verse 23 and 24,
listen to these words. Thus saith the Lord, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that gloryeth glory in this. that he understandeth, and knoweth
me, that I am the Lord, which exercise lovingkindness, judgment,
and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord. Now in the book of Daniel chapter
11 and verse 32, Daniel said, speaking of the characteristics
of those who know God in the latter days, He says that they
shall be strong in the Lord, they shall do exploits. They
that are strong in the Lord, they know the Lord, they will
know God, and they will do exploits. Now when I begin to think about
the difference between men and women who know God and those
who don't, I think of J.I. Packer and his book on knowing
God and some things that he had to say. And I want to just point
out a couple of those to you to help you to understand the
drift here this morning in our message. And he says those who
know God have great energy for God. And then he mentions this
verse in Daniel, in chapter 11, verse 32, where the people that
do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. And in another
translation, he says, the people who know their God shall stand
firm and take action. They'll stand firm and take action. Now, this shows us that the action
taken by those who know God is their reaction to the anti-God
trends which they see operating around them. While their God
is being deified or disregarded, they cannot rest. They feel they
must do something. The dishonored unto God's name
goads them into action. Now you may wonder why somebody
would be so zealous as the Apostle Paul to go into Athens and begin
to speak the word of God as he did in the midst of those who
despised him and despised the truth. But it was because he
knew he is God. He knew God. He understood who
God was. And therefore, in his heart and
soul, he was moved, you see, to a reaction against those who
put up an inscription to the unknown God. Those that were
ignorantly worshipping God, he reacted toward them. And he could not rest. He had
to do something. He had to speak the word. He
had to preach the truth unto them, because dishonor was being
done to God's name. And then it is simply that those
who know their God are sensitive to situations in which God's
truth and honor are being directly or tacitly jeopardized. And rather than let the matter
go, by default, will force the issue on men's attention and
seek thereby to compel a change of heart about it, even at personal
risk. Now, my friend, I believe that
those who know God have got to stand for the truth of God. They must stand for His truth.
They must declare the truth. They must take sides against
heresy in our day. and we must expound the truth,
believe the truth, and stand for it, whatever be the personal
cost. And so believers, as they begin
to consider the fact that they're the ones that are to be the spokesmen
for God in the day in which they live, they must take up the challenge
and they must be ready to stand, even at the cost personal sacrifice. And so I say the first thing,
and we don't get to first base unless we know this, do we know
God? Do we know Him? As He's revealed
in this book. Have you read this book enough
to where He, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the expositor of God,
has made Himself and His Father known unto you through the Spirit. Jesus is the exegesis of God. He reveals God. He manifests
Him. Do you know Him in your heart? All right, now I want you to
turn over with me, if you will, to the book of 1 Peter chapter
1. And our brother read this chapter
to us this morning. And in talking about things that
the people of God know. We're in the know if we know
Christ. And if we know God, we're in
the know. Let the religious folks say whatever
they have to say. They have opinions, and they
have theories, and speculations, and conjectures, but believers
really know some things. They truly do. Well, the first
thing here that I want to mention is found in verse 18 of 1 Peter
chapter 1. And he says, Forasmuch as ye
know, Peter, are you telling us that these to whom you're
writing, that they have a knowledge of something? Yes, that's exactly
what he's saying. For as much as ye know that ye
were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold from
your vain behavior received by tradition from your fathers. And oh, how important this is
to know that we've been redeemed and to know how God went about
doing it. Now, he says here that we were
redeemed not with corruptible things. Now, corruptible things,
he mentions here silver and gold, and they refer to anything that
we can do, anything that we can give, or anything that we can
produce. Those are corruptible things.
But he said that we've been redeemed not with corruptible things as
silver and gold, meaning not with things that you can give
or do or produce. Titus 3, 5, and 6 says, Not by
works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the
renewing of the Holy Ghost. And in 1 Timothy 1 and 9 it says,
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. Now, beloved, any fool except
one blinded by the papal doctrine of indulgences knows that money
cannot buy grace. Money cannot buy grace. Yet most people in and out of
our churches foolishly imagine that it can be bought by human
works. The price of redemption is much
higher than anything you and I can offer to God. and true
believers know it. A true believer knows that he
cannot offer anything to God to buy him off. He knows that. He knows that if he ever gets
off, it's going to be because God has been appeased and satisfied
by an offering made by one who was capable of making it that
would satisfy and appease his divine justice and holiness. He knows that. A true believer
knows that money and good works is not going to buy his way into
heaven. The price on the sinner's head
is blood and death. The soul that sinneth, it must
die. And a man cannot be saved unless
someone dies in his place, in his room, and in his stead. Now beloved, God's law must be
honored. His justice must be satisfied. And thanks be unto God, there
was one who was able to do that. He was able to do it, and he
did it. Now then, the next thing that
these verses say that we know. And I'm talking about the fact
of being in the know, and I don't know whether you're ashamed to
say, well, these are true or not, but if you're truly in Christ,
and you know the Lord, then you will, I think, with emphasis
say, it's true. I know I wasn't redeemed with
corruptible things. I know, as he goes on to say,
but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot. We know that we were redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ. We're told in 1st Corinthians
6 and 20, for ye are bought with a price. Those words were spoken
to the church at Corinth who was in Christ. And it was said
that they were bought with a price. Do you really believe that there
is worth in the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you believe there is worth in the shedding of his blood?
The Bible says in Hebrews that without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. Without the shedding of the blood
of the innocent substitute sacrifice, there is no remission. No way to have your sins remitted. No way for them to be blotted
out. apart from the precious blood
of Jesus Christ being spilt. Now in the Bible, wherever you
find forgiveness, you find blood. You find blood. Ephesians 1 and
7, it says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sin according to the riches of his grace. That's what it
says. Now wherever you find atonement,
you find blood. Wherever you find mercy, you
find blood. And that word atonement means
atonement. Wherever you find people being
brought to be at one with God, reconciled to God, in fellowship
with God, walking with God, it's because of the atonement, the
atonement that Jesus Christ has provided. Wherever you find mercy,
you find blood. You find blood. Have you experienced
the mercy of God? It's through the shed blood of
Christ that God is merciful unto men. Wherever you find the sons
of Adam worshipping the Holy Lord God, you find blood. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. So whenever you find men and
women, boys and girls, worshipping truly God, it's because the blood
of Jesus Christ has been sacrificed on their behalf, and they've
been brought nigh by the blood. been brought nigh by the blood. Isn't it wonderful to be near
God? We're near through the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, the third thing, and
I'll hurry on here, is that we know that our redemption by Christ,
listen to this verse of scripture here, who verily, verse 20, was,
and that word verily is truly, who truly was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you. Now you say, is this something
that true believers know? I believe it is. Now listen to
it. We know that our redemption by
Christ was arranged and purposed by God's sovereign decree and
eternal fordination. Now this is so important that
we see this, and there's so many today that just immediately says,
well, not interested. Not interested. And that's because
they don't know God. Somebody says, I don't believe
in all this stuff getting stirred up about these doctrines of grace.
That's because you don't know God. If you ever come to know
God, you won't have any problem with somebody getting excited
about free grace. You won't have any problem about
some preacher getting up and preaching and preaching and preaching
the doctrine of God's free mercy in a substitute, in a sacrificed
substitute. You won't have any problem with
that. Now then, the blood of Jesus Christ, His sin-atoning
death, His substitutionary sacrifice was not an afterthought with
God. It was not an afterthought with God. The death of Christ
was in the mind and the heart of God from everlasting. Oh, my friend, the Lamb was the
Lamb slain according to Revelation 13 and 8 from the foundation
of the world. Christ was the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Contrary to popular heretical
opinion, the Son of God did not die as the helpless victim of
circumstances because the Jews would not let Him be their King. No, no, friend, that's not what
happened. His death was not a secondary
plan God had on reserve and adopted because the Jews had rejected
Christ. No, no. Their rejection of Him
was part of the plan. And this is what the 11th chapter
of Romans is all about. The Lord Jesus Christ died by
the hand of God according to the will of God to satisfy the
justice of God for the elect of God to the glory of God. You believe that statement? I
believe that is a true statement. Now we recognize that our Redeemer
is crucified by the hands of wicked men, but He was delivered
to their hands by the will of God according to Acts 2 and 23. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. And those wicked men did nothing
but that which God himself had purposed and determined beforehand
to be done. Acts chapter 4 verses 27 through
28. And the hour of faith looks beyond
the malice of the Jews. It looks beyond the weaknesses
of Pilate. It looks beyond the Roman cross
and traces the death of Christ back to its original source And that is to the heart of God
himself. Peter said that he truly was
foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you. And so the eye of faith looks
beyond all the secondary causes to the first cause. And the first
cause is God Almighty himself. The Lord Jesus Christ died according
to the purpose and decree and will of God. We do not, we dare
not impute to God the sin and the guilt of the crime that those
wicked men accomplished. Wicked men did exactly what they
wanted to do, but God did not force them to act as they did,
yet he did absolutely govern and control their actions and
use them to accomplish his own purpose of grace toward his elect. Settle that forever in your mind.
Not a single action, circumstance, or pain involved in the death
of Jesus Christ came to pass except by the decree of God. That's what this verse says.
Do you want us to lie to you about what this verse says? And
this says that those who know God, they know this. They know
this. Now then, this is a foundational
truth of the Word of God. See that you get a good grip
on it. God Almighty has written a book
of sovereign and absolute predestination. John the Revelator saw this book
in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne, Revelation
5 and 1. And the poet said, Chained to
his throne the volume lies, with all the fates of men, with every
angel's foreman's size, drawn by the eternal pen. So I say to you that nothing
escapes the will, the purpose, decree, and the power of God. Everything that comes to pass
in time was ordained by God in eternity past. You may be sure
that God Almighty who feeds the sparrows and clothes the lilies
of the field and numbers the hairs of our heads left nothing
to chance or circumstances regarding the life and the death of his
Son. The death of Christ is the very
core of predestination. It is the center and the mainspring
upon which God fashioned all his purposes. It is the foundation
upon which the structure of God's decrees was built. Jesus Christ
is that Lamb slain before the foundation of the world because
it pleased the Father to bruise him. Long before there was a
sinner, God provided a Savior. Before the sheep went astray,
God made His Son our Chief Shepherd. Before we fell in the first Adam,
we stood already by God's decree of election in the last Adam. Before ever we broke God's law,
Christ was our ransom. Before we became polluted, Christ
was our cleansing fountain. Long before we incurred the debt
of sin, Christ stood as our surety to pay off the debt. Before ever
we died in sin, Christ was our resurrection and life. Though this doctrine sounds strange
and new to a generation of lost religionists who have never heard
from God, it is no new doctrine at all. It is the doctrine of
the prophets and the apostles. Now next, as Peter goes on here, we know that redemption in Christ
was purchased, provided for a particular people. And I'm not ashamed of
this doctrine. Notice it, if you will, in the
last part of verse 20 and the first part of verse 21. But was
manifest in these last times for you, comma, who by him do
believe in God. Do you see that? You say, now
preacher don't make too much of that. Oh, we better make something
of it. This is the truth. Hear it. But was manifest in these last
times for you who by him do believe in God. that raised him from
the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might
be in God. Infidels and free willers may
be ignorant of this, but God's true people know that the blood
of Jesus Christ was not shed in vain. It was not shed in vain. He died for someone in particular. Yes, he did. The one thing that
characterizes every false teacher and preacher is a denial of the
efficacy of Christ's atonement. The one point of doctrine upon
which they all agree is this. They all deny that every soul
for whom Christ died shall be saved. They say some of them
is in hell. Christ died for them just as
much as he did for everybody else, and some of them's in hell.
Well, that's a denial of the truth. They may give lip service
to Bible doctrine and Bible terms, but they deny the very foundation
of the gospel, which is absolute substitution. The modern day
prophets of Baal preach a redemption that redeems no one, an atonement
that atones for nothing, and a salvation that saves no one. They preach possibility of redemption,
possibility of atonement, possibility of grace, and possibility of
salvation. The Word of God teaches that
every sinner for whom Christ died shall, upon the grounds
of justice satisfied, be saved. Do you believe that? Justice
satisfied. If the justice of God is satisfied,
what does God have against me? If the death of Christ satisfied
God for me, then what do I have to be afraid of? I can claim
salvation, eternal salvation, because of the death of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, for whom did Christ die? Who by Him do believe in God? Who by Him do believe in God?
Listen to me. In Acts 13.48, It says, And when
the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the
word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Do you believe on Him? Do you believe on Him? Well,
God helped you to believe on Him. Because, as He said, who
by Him do believe in God. Now, you say, can a person believe
in God without His help? Well, I challenge you, if you
can believe in God, believe in Him. Believe in Him. Can you believe in God savingly
without the irresistible call, the effectual call of God's grace?
Then believe on Him. But I'm telling you, no soul
Believe savingly on the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from sovereign
grace being involved in it. God must call your soul out of
death unto life. He must give life to your dead
soul. You cannot be saved apart from
Christ coming to live in your heart by faith. Do you believe
on him? Well, if you do, you believe
on him by him. By Him. By Him. And so all of us here that know
God know that it was by Him that we came to know Him and came
to believe on Him. It's by Him. Don't you think
He should have the glory for that? Who by Him do believe in
God? Well, the Bible says that He
died for His sheep in John 10 and 15. He said, I lay down my
life for the sheep. lay it down for the sheep, those
that were designated sheep from before the foundation of the
world. The objects of redemption, those for whom Christ died and
laid down His life, a ransom price, are described in the Bible
as being sheep. They are the sheep of Christ.
They are His special property. They are the special property
of the Good Shepherd. And as such, they were given
to Him by the Father. They were His the fathers, and
then the father gave them to Christ. These sheep are represented
as being everlasting distinct from others who are not his sheep. You get that. Everlastingly different. God has separated in his eternal
purpose the sheep from the goats. The goats will never be sheep. Sheep never become goats, and
goats never become sheep. You remember that. The whole
human race is divided into two groups, sheep and goats. All of us are one or the other,
either sheep or goats. Some of the sheep are saved,
some are yet lost, but all of the sheep are safe. They are
His sheep, some are folded, some are strained, but all are redeemed,
they are his sheep from eternity. John 10.26 Jesus said, you believe
not because you are not of my sheep. We have reason to believe
if you are here this morning and you are an unbeliever. God
have mercy on you if you are an unbeliever. We have reason
to believe according to the Bible at this point that you are not
yet one of the sheep. Now, if you are one of the sheep,
you have been from all eternity. But if you're not a believer,
there's no evidence that you're one of them. Now, next we believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ died for his church. It is the church
which he loved, for which he gave himself as a sacrifice to
redeem. Now, I'm not talking about a
denomination. This is the church of the firstborn,
whose names are written in heaven. The church is all the elect of
God. The church is made up of all of the elect of God. Ephesians
5.25 says, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved
the church, gave himself for it. for it. Isn't that what it
says? Acts 20 and 28. Take heed therefore
to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath
purchased with his own blood. This church that I'm talking
about, this is the church which Christ is the head and the husband. Christ is the head of the church. Thy maker Isaiah 54 and 5 says,
is thine husband and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Now this cannot be said, as we
said, of any denomination or of all bodies of men professing
to be the Church of Christ. The great whore of Babylon is
not the spouse of Christ. Those who are drunk with the
intoxicating wine of Babylon, Armenian free willers, works
religionists, do not belong to and have no part with the church
which is the bride of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. The church
coming from Babel, our Redeemer called a whore. The church which
is his bride, he calls a chaste virgin. Though there be threescore
queens and fourscore concubines of Babylon's sort, yet says Christ
in the Song of Solomon 6 and verse 9, my dove, my undefiled,
is but one. is but one. Take his bride, this
is his bride, this is his true spouse, the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ, all the redeemed, all the elect of God. And they're
called his people in Isaiah 53 and 8, and we're hurrying here
to a conclusion. It says, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken, my people, Here again the objects
of redemption are described by such words and characteristics
as show them to be special and distinct. Zacharias in Luke 1
and 68 The father of John the Baptist at his birth said, Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed
his people. Those who are redeemed by Christ
are redeemed, Revelation 5, 9 says, out of every kindred, tongue,
and nation. They shall be my people. God
said, and I will be their God, where his portion, his inheritance,
a people near and dear unto him, a people given to Christ to be
redeemed and saved by him, of whom it is said, thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. Redemption is not universal. By the precious blood of Christ,
effectual redemption has been obtained for God's elect. And
God said of the rest, Hear me out. You're going to say the
same thing? What's this babbler got to say?
What's he got to say? Well, we're listening closely.
What's this babbler going to say? You know, Pat and I was
talking yesterday about a babbling creek and how that characteristic
of a babbling creek is they don't say nothing that you can distinguish. And so the religionists would
say, what's this babbler, what's he going to say? What's he going
to say? Well, you've heard what he said. Now, he said to the rest, in
Isaiah 27 11, he that made them will not have mercy on them,
and he that formed them will show them no favor. Hosea 1 9,
you're not my people, and I will not be your God. The election
hath obtained it, Romans 11 7, and the rest, the rest were blinded. For all men have not faith, and
some shall die in unbelief, and they have no
part in the redeeming work of the
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I do hope this morning that God
has sobered our hearts and that we will begin to read, meditate,
study, beg, pray unto God that He'll reveal Himself, make Himself
known to our hearts. I cannot reveal Him to you. Christ
can reveal the Father to you. He is, as we said, is the expositor
of God and he'll reveal, he can manifest God to your heart, to
your soul. Begin to pray, seek the Lord.
All this generation is not a humble generation, full of pride, fleshly
pride. You will not bow, you will not
bow to the Lord. The Bible said you kiss the Son,
lest he become angry with you and you perish from the way. Kiss the Son, bow before him. Let's pray. Father, thank you
that you allowed us to be here this morning. Thank you, Father,
for this congregation and for the truth of your holy word.
Bless this word to the glory of your name and to the salvation
of some poor lost soul here today. Build up and edify your people.
Make this people strong to do exploits. in this day. Stir up this church to be strong
against the heresies that are all around us. May your great
name be honored and glorified. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.