If you have turned in your Bibles
to Ephesians chapter 4, I want to read beginning with verse
11 and read a few verses here. And he gave some apostles, that
is the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, that one who is ascended
upon high in heaven, and that he might fill all things. He
gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists. and some
pastors and teachers, for the perfecting or the maturing of
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying or
the building up of the body of Jesus Christ, till we all come
in the unity of the faith. What a desire that Paul has here
as he expresses the end of the ministry is that we would all
in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of
God. Oh, to know Him, Paul said when he had been in the faith
a number of years. Oh, that I might know Him. We
never get tired of finding out, of learning, of having our knowledge
increased of the Son of God. Till we all come in the unity
of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect
or mature man, unto the measure of the stature, of the fullness
of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to
and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the
slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. I pray that God will give us
hearing ears this morning to hear his word. We see that God
has called some to be prophets, apostles and evangelists, and
pastors and teachers. The Bible says, If any man minister,
let him minister with the ability which God gives, that God in
all things may be glorified. Paul said that his sufficiency
was of God. It was of God. And he said God
has made us able ministers of the new covenant, the new testament,
the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now this morning I want
to preach a message to you that I believe that the Lord would
have me to bring. I was thoroughly convicted that
this was the message for the day. And I trust that it will
be useful in all of our hearts. Now the title of this message
is Poor Questions for Thoughtful People. I would like to encourage
you to think a little bit this morning. We're living in a day
when it seems that very few people are thinking especially about
spiritual matters, especially about the things of God. On one
occasion, the Lord said, come now and let us reason together. And certainly there is a need
for the people of God to stop in their tracks, to sit down
and to think a little bit about the truths of the Word of God.
To think on them until they're established in the heart. Now,
beloved, this message this morning is a message that will divide. It will divide this congregation. Now we hope that most of you
will agree with what we have to say. There may be a few of
you here that will not. But the Bible teaches that salvation
is either all of works or it's all of grace. And you must stand
on one side or the other. It's one of the other. It's either
of works or it is of grace. And Romans 11 verse 5 and 6 says,
Even so then, at this present time also, there is a remnant
according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then
is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is
it no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. And so you see
clearly by the plain teachings of the Word of God that Salvation
is either of grace or of works. And the message that we preach
to you this morning will certainly show you what we believe the
Bible teaches about this subject. Now, beloved, there are some
messages that we hear that stick with us and we never forget them
as long as we live. Back in 1954, there was a Bible
conference held in Ashland, Kentucky. where Brother Henry Mahan is
the pastor. And there was a message preached
at that Bible conference, which I heard a little later, that
I have never gotten over. And I understand that this message
was preached by Brother Rob Barnard. And in this Bible conference,
it was the first one that anyone knew anything about, a Sovereign
Grace Bible conference that had been held in the United States
in the last hundred years. But he made six statements in
his sermon that were absolutely astounding, and they addressed
the truth of the Word of God concerning the subject of salvation
being entirely of God. That salvation, that it is entirely
of God. And these six statements that
he made, I've never gotten over them. And I hope that I'll be
able to relate them to you. I hope that through my ministry,
I have been able to set these statements before the people
of God in order that they might also come to the understanding
of the truth. Number one, he said, God is absolutely
sovereign or he is not. It can't be both ways. God is
either sovereign or he's not. Secondly, he said that man is
utterly and totally depraved or he is not. It's one or the
other. Man is either dead in sin or
he's partially alive. Either he needs to be quickened
by the Holy Spirit or he just needs a little flame to be fanned
a little bit in his system and he'll come to believe the truth.
And the truth is, as we know it, that he is totally, utterly
depraved. And thirdly, that God elected
a people, he chose a people in Jesus Christ, before the foundation
of the world, and gave them to Christ, or he didn't. There is
no middle ground on this issue. The Bible either teaches the
doctrine of election, or it does not. And I believe that the Bible
teaches the doctrine of election. It's clearly laid out in scripture. And fourthly, Jesus Christ, when
he died on the cross, redeemed his people effectually, eternally,
completely, without any help from anyone else, or he did not
save anyone by his death. Well, I think most of you would
agree with that. And fifthly, the Holy Spirit
effectually, invincibly, irresistibly calls God's people, gives them
life, brings them to Christ, or He doesn't save anybody. And sixthly, every one of God's
children, chosen, redeemed, called, quickened, will persevere or
none of them will. And those were the six statements
that this brother preached on in that Bible conference. These are six powerful statements
that have stood with me for many years, and I never will forget
these messages unless I lose my mind. Now as we look at Ephesians
4 here in verse 14, it speaks here of how that Let me read
that verse to you, that we henceforth, the reason for the ministry,
the reason for the propagation of the word of God is that we
henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and the
cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Now, as we read these verses
here, it seems to describe a condition which we find very prevalent
in the world today. When men and women are being
blowed about by every wind of doctrine, They have no foundation,
it appears they have no rock upon which to rest, and they
do not, most of them, know anything about what they believe. They
do not know what they believe. They profess to believe the Bible,
but they don't read the Bible, they don't study the Bible, and
they do not listen to the Bible faithfully being preached. that
by the slight of men, cunning craftiness, con men, they lie
in wait to deceive the souls of men. Now you may not feel
that that is a true statement as describing what's happening
in our day, but if you will listen carefully, to what men are saying
and what preachers are saying and what is being written today
in books, you will find that this is true. They butcher the
souls of men. They prey on people. They steal
from them. They lie on God and will not
tell the truth about the things of God. And Paul went on to say,
but speaking the truth in love, Now, beloved, this raises an
issue because, you know, every time that a preacher is found
preaching something that folks don't agree with, he's not preaching
the truth in love. He may be preaching the truth,
but it's not in love. Therefore, we don't have to accept
it. We don't have to listen to him.
We don't have to pay any attention to him. Now, but we're living
in a time when church people, church people I say, are not
interested in hearing the truth about God or themselves. We're living in a time when men
and women want the doctor to tell them the truth, and they
want the lawyers to tell them the truth, but they don't want
the preacher to tell them the truth. And therefore, when he
preaches something that they don't exactly agree with, then,
of course, he's not speaking the truth in love. Well, I want
to do that this morning if I can. I want to set forth the truth
of God. in love, that I understand that
people that object to the truth might even find fault with what
I have to say and say, that man's not preaching the truth in love. But now there are four things
that I'm hearing in our day that I want to address this morning.
And these four questions I would submit to you this morning, and
I hope that you will think them out as we go along. Now today's
religious leaders and churches, they positively declare four
things. Now we don't want to misrepresent
anybody. Is this true or is it not? Have
I misunderstood or not? I'm not as smart as some, but
then I'm not quite as dumb as others either. And I listen and
I read almost every church paper that is printed that comes my
way. And it seems to me that from
the pulpits in our day, they declare four things, 99%. of
the preachers in our day agree upon these four things. Number
one, here's what they say, that God Almighty loves everybody
without exception. That's one of the things I hear
any time you want to turn the television on to channel 369
or 371 or wherever, you will hear preachers tell you that God loves
everybody without exception loves everybody the same. They say
that God loved Mary and that he loved Jezebel. They say that
he loved Peter and that he loved Judas. They say that he loved
Israel and that he loved the Amalekites. They say that he
loved Jerusalem, and he also loved Sodom. And they will not
say that God loved Jacob and hated Esau. No, because the Bible
plainly states that God loved Jacob and he hated Esau, and
so therefore they don't want to touch that. The 9th chapter
of the book of Romans, they will not touch. Now, the second thing
that I'm hearing is, is that God wills the salvation of every
human being that ever came into the world or that ever will come
into the world. Now, I'm not overstating it.
What they say is that God wants to save everybody. Is that what they preach? Well,
I think it is. And God wants, they say, and
wills and desires the salvation of all men without exception. Now, beloved, is that a true
statement? Well, you think about it. Begin
to think about it. Thirdly, they preach that Jesus
Christ died on the cross for everyone without exception. And when he died, he paid for
every sin of every person of every generation in all the world. Now this is what they teach.
exactly what they teach, the general atonement of Jesus Christ. And fourthly, they teach that
the Holy Spirit strives with all men, and that God knocks
on everybody's heart's door just the same, and that the Holy Spirit
calls and tries and strives to save everybody, but cannot do
it because men will not allow him to save them. Now those are
the four things that I'm hearing, and if these four things are
true, this is what almost every preacher in America is preaching,
and this is what churches propagate in their literature and from
their pulpit. Number one, God loves everybody.
Number two, God wills the salvation of everybody. Number three, Christ
died for everybody. Number four, the Holy Spirit
calls everybody without exception. Now, if those things are true,
I ask you this question. Number one, what does, if God
loves all men the same, what does the love of God have to
do with my salvation? What does it have to do with
it? If one man is in heaven and the
other is in hell, and God loved them both the same, then the
love of God had nothing to do with eternal salvation. Had nothing
to do with it. If one is in heaven and the other
is in hell, you say, well, it's not the love of God that had
anything to do with it. It's what man does with the love
of God. Well, then you've already stepped
on the other side of the line. You believe in salvation by human
works and human merit, and you believe the sinner is alive and
not dead as the Bible teaches. Therefore, God's love has no
power or distinction between men. If God loves me and I still
go to hell, that's not love. This makes the love of God powerless. It makes it impotent to save.
Now the second question, if God wills the salvation of all men,
if God wants to save everybody, desires to save everybody, what
does the will of God have to do with my salvation? It has
absolutely nothing to do with my salvation. If God wills for
me to go to heaven and I wind up in hell, then the will of
God is useless, it's impotent, and it's thwarted. Now, if they
are right, the will of God has nothing to do with the salvation
of any soul. And the Bible is clear on it
that we are saved by the will of God. Damned by our own will,
but saved by the will of God. Number three. If Christ's blood
was shed to save all men, then what does His blood have to do
with our salvation? The Bible tells me that the song
of heaven is unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sins
in His own blood. Well, if he loves everybody that's
in hell, and he washed them too, then that song has no meaning.
It has no meaning whatever. You're talking about an atonement
that does not atone. You're talking about a redemption
that does not redeem. And you have a sin offering that
does not satisfy. And you have a propitiation that
does not propitiate. If Christ died for everybody
without exception, the people in heaven owe nothing to his
blood. For the people in hell, he died
for them too. And if they went to hell, then
what is to say that you're not going there too? Oh, you say,
I believe that the blood of Jesus Christ cleansed me from all my
sin. And so you say that's the reason?
But then you turn around out of the other side of your mouth
and you say, as these preachers do, that Christ died for everybody. and everybody the same. Now,
beloved, either salvation is of the Lord or it is of man. And we must find out which one
is true, whether it's of God or whether it's of men. Fourthly,
what does the Holy Spirit have to do with our salvation? If
He calls all men and strives with all men and illuminates
all men to this very same degree, what does He have to do with
our salvation? And the answer is nothing. No
distinction, no power, no regeneration. Now, beloved, these preachers
are inconsistent because they tell you that the Holy Spirit
is thriving with everybody and they tell you out of one side
of the mouth God's sovereign and out of the other side of
the mouth trying to get you to let God do something which you
won't let Him do. Now, which is true. Well, they
say that God Almighty then that God wants to save you and you
won't let Him. You won't let it. You and little
God. Because God is on the throne,
is he not? We worship God. I don't want
to bow down before a God that you're stronger than he is. Or
I just don't want anything to do with a God who's not able
to manage. And a God who's not omnipotent
and all-powerful. Almighty God will send you to
hell, they say. But He loves you anyway. That
is totally inconsistent, my friend. If God loves the people in Sodom
and those who perished in the flood, then who of you wants
God to love you, I ask? Do you want God to love you?
Well, you say, well, if he's going to send me to hell, my
friend, if God's going to send you to hell, like he did Sodom
and Gomorrah, like he did the sons of Korah, like he did others
in the Bible, like Judas, then my friend, do you want the love
of God? You're telling me that God loves everybody the same.
Well, if God loves the people in Sodom and those who perish,
then this is strange love indeed. I don't know anything about it,
but the Bible is clear that God does love and that his love has
got something to do with salvation. It tells us that salvation is
of the Lord, the Bible says. His love does have something
to do with it. His love is the very foundation
of our salvation, the very foundation of it. In 1 John 3, verse 1,
Behold what manner of love. The Father hath bestowed upon
us that we should be called the sons of God. What manner of love,
John said, that the Father has bestowed upon us! that we should
be called the sons of God. 1 John 4 and 10, hearing His
love, not that we love God, but that God loved us and gave His
Son to be a satisfaction for our sins. 1 John 4 and 19, we
love Him because He first loved us. Ephesians 2, 4 and 5, but
God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together
with Christ by grace. We are saved. Well, he loved
us everlastingly. I'll tell you this. And I believe
this to be one of the most important statements that a preacher could
ever make in your hearing. And I hope you'll listen to what
I'm saying. And that is that God's love is
in Christ. That's where it is. God's love
is in Christ. My friend, God will not touch
you with a ten-foot pole, you being outside of His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Father loved the Son, and
He's turned all things over to Him. God loves His Son. And no man will be loved of God
who is not in his son. And if God did not place you
in his son before the foundation of the world when he chose his
people unto himself, then my friend, you cannot go around
talking about God loving you. God loves Christ and all those
who get into Christ, my friend, they are loved of God. Now there
was an old colored preacher that preached back during the Civil
War, and he actually preached to more white people than he
did colored. And somebody asked him one time,
his name was Jasper, I believe was his name. And somebody asked
him, said, now when you get up to heaven, and you're standing
there before the door in heaven, what are you going to say when
they ask you, why are you here? You don't have any right to be
here. And he said, I'm going to tell them that I don't have
any right to be here. That's true. But that I'm here
because I'm in Christ. I'm here because God loved me
and I expect to be. ushered into glory because God
loves me in Christ. And beloved, that's where the
love of God is. Now you say what you want to,
I'm telling you what the Bible says, that the love of God is
in Christ Jesus. Of God, the Bible says, are you
in Christ Jesus? Who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption? It is impossible
for a holy, righteous God to love you, a depraved sinner. outside of Jesus Christ. Listen to what the Bible says
in John 3 and 36. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. The wrath
of God. Is there wrath with God? Is there anybody that God is
fixing to bestow His wrath upon? No, my friend, the Bible is clear
on it. There is wrath with God. Then
how do you account for the flood if you say there's no wrath with
God? God loves everybody the same.
There's no wrath with God. Does God love everybody? Well,
how do you account for Sodom and Gomorrah? How do you account
for that? How do you account for a cross? In our day and time,
we are told that you've got to love, you know, people of different
lifestyles, and that we've got to accept everybody the same.
And do you think God does? Well, read your Bible. Read your
Bible, and you'll find out that God does not love everybody. The Bible says in Psalm 55, the
Lord hateth all workers of iniquity. You say, does the Bible really
say that? Turn and look it up. Psalm 5 and verse 5, the Lord
hateth all workers of iniquity. God is angry with the wicked
every day. This is not one of us here who
can claim the love of a holy and righteous God, my friend,
being outside of Christ. If you're outside of Christ,
God is angry with you. If you're outside of Christ,
the wrath of God is going to fall upon you. And immediately
when you die, you're going to be executed and live for all
eternity in that place where the worm dies not and the fire
is not quenched. And Paul wrote in Romans 8, verse
38 and 39, For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, things present nor
things to come, height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord." Now, beloved, if the Bible says that, then
I think that's where we ought to attempt to be, and that is
in Christ. My friend, have you ever prayed
and asked God to put you in His Son? Have you ever done that?
Well, I believe that's a scriptural way of praying. Ask God to put
you in His Son. Do you want to be loved with
an everlasting love that you can never be separated from?
Ask God to put you in His Son. Do you understand that you're
obnoxious to God in your sin? And do you understand that Jesus
is the beloved one and the all together lovely one? And that
you must be in Him for God to touch you, bless you, and save
you. You must be in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 12 and 6 says, For whom
the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he receives. So the Lord is chastening everybody
that He loves. Do you see God with a switch
out here after these wicked and lost people running around in
the world? These ungodly, worldly sinners? Do you see Him running after
them and chastening them? No. But I see the poor, afflicted
people of God, the storm-tossed people of God, I see them God
taking them behind the door and whipping them. I see them under
trial and test and difficulty. I see them struggling and having
to cry out to God day after day to seek the Lord for His help
and His blessing. I see that. But I don't see the
wicked being disciplined by our God. The Bible says the love
of God is the foundation of our salvation. And so therefore I
believe that God loves his people and he loves them in Jesus Christ
and all that are outside of Christ. He is not loved of God. Number
two, the will of God is the cause of our salvation. I want to establish
this in your mind, the will of God. They say, well, God wills
everybody's salvation. He wants to save everybody. Well,
I want to tell you and show you from the Bible that the will
of God, beloved, is the foundation along with the love of God of
our salvation, Galatians 1 and 4, who gave himself for our sins
that he might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father. According to the will of God.
How did we get out? You say, well, I'm out. You're
out of what? I'm out of the mess that I was
in in the world, in sin. Well, how did you get out? Well,
the Bible says you got out by the will of God. That's how you
got out. Got out by God's will. And the Bible says in Psalm 110
and verse 3 that my people shall be willing in the day of my power. Whatever you say, to do what?
To do whatever God wills for them to do. He fixes it up so
they'll be willing in the day of his power. If salvation is
left to my will, I will not be saved. Count it down. You people
who are going to heaven, bless you, go on your way. But I'm
telling you, if salvation is not by the will of God, if it's
left to me, I will not be there. Salvation has got to be by the
will of God. If it's left to your will, you
will not be saved. The human will is in bondage.
The human will is depraved. The human will is biased towards
sin and corruption and evil. The human will loves darkness
rather than light. You can't get a man, apart from
the work of divine grace, to be interested in heavenly light. You can't get him interested.
You will not come to me, sayeth Christ, that you might have life.
You don't have life. You don't want it. You don't
want it. A lost man, a lost woman does
not want light until God does a work of grace in them. You will not come to me, saith
Christ. No man can come, Jesus said, except my Father do a work
in him. Except my Father draw him unto
me. It is not our will that brings
us to Christ. Remember, it's not our will that
brings us to Christ. It is God's will that brings
us. How many verses can you think
of in the Bible that teaches this? Let me give you quickly
a few of them. Romans 9 and 16. I don't get tired of using these
verses. They're in the Bible. And this
is the way we come to know what the Bible teaches. So then, it
is not of him that willeth, rules out the sinner doing any willing
at all, nor of him that run it, but of God that showeth mercy. James 1.18 says, Of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth. Of his own will begat
he us with the word of truth. John 1 verse 12 and 13, But as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to those that believed on his name, which were more.
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God. Is that not plain? God willed
our salvation, and we willed it too when we were made willing. I'm glad to be saved. I'm very
happy to be saved. I rejoice in the salvation of
our God. I praise him that he's the author
and the finisher of the faith of believers. And I rejoice in
the God of our salvation. And I'm willing to be saved. I'm willing to be saved. Oh my,
to be saved. To be saved completely and entirely. And even to be saved finally
from the presence of sin. How wonderful and glorious to
be taken up and be delivered from all this bondage of sin. Now then, I want to make this
statement of God will. Now this is because I believe
I know something about who God is. I make this statement because
I believe in a sovereign God. And I want to tell you the truth.
If God willed the salvation of all men, all would be saved.
Now I'm telling you, that's exactly what the Word of God teaches.
If God willed the salvation of all men, all would be saved.
Ephesians 1, 5, listen to this. Having predestinated us into
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will. Of His will. according to the
good pleasure of his will. Our brother read Isaiah 46 this
morning in verse 9 and 10. I wanted him to read the whole
chapter just to set these verses out. Remember the former things
of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there
is none like me. None. Declaring, being from the
beginning and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done,
saying, listen to what God says about himself, saying, My counsel
shall stand, and I will do all that I please. I will do all
my pleasure. Everything I please, I will do
it. David, someone asked him, where is your God? And he said,
Psalm 135, He's in the heavens, and He's done whatever He pleases.
That's where He's at. God is in the heavens, and He
said, I'll do all my pleasure. Now, are you against that? Are
you against God doing all of His pleasure? My friend, when
you begin to figure it out and you find out that nobody would
be saved unless God were to will their salvation, you are not
going to fight against that. You are not going to fight against
it. You are going to bow your knee and submit yourself. Now, there is another verse in Ephesians
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. And that goes along with the
verse out of Ephesians 1 and 5. But he works all things after
the counsel of his own will. Now that's what he's doing. You
say, I don't know what God's doing. That's what he's doing.
He's working all things after the counsel of his own will.
Can you just Get out of your humanistic ideas long enough
to believe in a God who is able to run this world, and whether
you can figure it out or not, believe that this God is running
this world, doing all things out of the counsel of His own
will. He's God, and He's doing it. And I'd rather believe in
a God who's working all things out of the counsel of His own
will, that I can lay down at night and say, Lord, my will
be done. I wake up in the morning okay, and if I don't, thy will
be done. Thy will be done. Lord, this situation over here,
work it out according to your will. Well, why would I pray
that way if I don't believe that way? And there's people out throughout
this country who may say, oh, I'm a prayer warrior. Yeah, you're
a prayer warrior. But the will of God's got everything
to do with prayer. And we must remember that the
God that hears prayer is a God that works all things out of
the counsel of His own will. Bow your knee. Bow your knee. Put down the flag of rebellion
and believe that God is sovereign and that He's working out His
will. Now you want to know a little
bit more about the will of God? Turn to John chapter 6 with me.
And I want to show you that the will of God is involved in this
salvation business. And it's the only thing that
brings us through, and the only thing that's going to get us
all the way through. Now in John 6, beginning with
verse 37, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out, for I came
down from heaven. Not to do my own will, but the
will of Him that sent me. And listen to what that will
is. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that
of all which He has given me, I should lose nothing. Now that's
the will of God. You talk about the will of God
that hasn't got anything to do with man's salvation? The will
of God says that everybody that's been given to Him, that that
will says, I'm not going to lose a one of them. I'm not going
to lose any of them. Is it alright with you if all
the sheep of Christ make it home to glory? Is that alright? Well,
praise the Lord, it is alright with me. And I give God glory
for such a verse as this. But then even further, that I
should raise it up again at the last day. It's the only hope
I've got coming out of the grave. It's the will of God. Don't talk
to me about the impotence of the will of God. That's the only
thing going to get us out of the grave. is the will of God. Now, do you think that God had
to put this in the Bible? No. I'm not saying He had to
put it in the Bible, but I'm glad He did. I'm awful glad He
did. And this, look at verse 40, and
this is the will of Him that sent me. This is God's will,
that everyone which seeth the Son, how do you see Him? Not
with the naked eye. You see Him with the eye of faith.
And we've been to Calvary. Somebody wrote a song one time.
We've been to Calvary. I've seen the Lord. Well, how? By faith. By faith we've seen
the Lord. And this is His will. that every
one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have,"
what kind of life? Everlasting life. And I'll raise
him up in the last days. So when you begin to hear people
talk to you about the will of God, the will of God, and that
God can't do, He can't save everybody, just read them those verses.
And then look at chapter 17 of John and verse 24. I want you
to listen to this. This is the Lord Jesus speaking,
and He said, I will. What? Jesus, you mean you've
got a will? Absolutely. And it's the only
will that I'm concerned about. You say, you're not concerned
about man's will? I'm not concerned about it at all. All he's going
to do is just go right on and be what he is. He's going to
go right on in sin and rebellion. He's going to go right on hating
God until the will of God takes hold. Until God's will. intervenes and then something
will happen. I want you to hear what Jesus
said, I will, I will. I don't think he ought to have
been so plain spoken about that. He said this is my will, I will
father that they also whom thou hast given me, there they are
again, be with me where I am. I will that they be with me.
Now that's the only way we're going to get to heaven is that
we've been given to Christ and that Jesus willed that we be
there. He said, I will that they be
there where I am, that they may behold. Oh, somebody said, oh,
that we may be there and walk on streets of gold. Well, we
might do that. Oh, that we might be there and shake hands with
mother again. Well, that's fine if that's all involved. But Jesus
said, That they may be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory. That's my will. That they see
my glory in heaven. That they be with me where I
see my glory. Ah, the glory of Christ. Remember
Jesus hung on the cross, that gory, gory tree. That awful,
shameful death of Calvary. And he said, What if you see
the Son of Man ascend up where He was before? You think that
the cross is something, you wait until He ascends up where He
was before, and we're there to behold His glory. I'm telling
you what, we're missing something if we don't believe that the
will of God is the determining factor in His people getting
to glory, getting to heaven. The will of God is the determining
factor. God willed our salvation, and
the will of God is our salvation. It is the determining factor
of our salvation. Well, I love those verses, and
so if you want to know something about the will of God, then my
friend, you ought to look I must go on because the time is getting
away. Thirdly, the blood of Christ, from whom was it shed? We said
that the general atonement people said it was shed for everybody,
that Jesus died for all men, the same. Well, there's no truth
in all of God's Word that is more important and clearer and
is easier, I believe, to lay hold of than the effectual, complete,
particular redeeming death of our Lord. I do not know of any
doctrine we preach that is easier for me personally to receive
than if Christ died for me, then I am saved. If Christ died for
me, I'm saved. Now what's hard about that? What's
hard about it? If he paid my debt, it is paid. Do you believe that? If he paid
my debt, it's paid. Romans 8.33, who shall weigh
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. God does
the justifying. We were not justified by our
mother or father, by our brother or sister, or by the deacons
in the church, or by the preacher. We were justified by God. He's
the one that justifies, and he justifies on the basis of his
son's death. If his blood cleanses me, then
I am clean every whit. Now what a man believes that
the death of Christ accomplished, hear this statement, what a soul
believes that the death of Christ accomplished will determine what
he believes about the extent of that atonement or that death.
What did he accomplish when he died? That's the question. The
purpose of his death was to make God just and justifier, where
God could remain absolutely just and yet justify people like you
and I. That was the purpose of the death
of Christ. God will not save anybody at
the expense of His holy justice and His holy law. God will be
satisfied. And so the Lord Jesus made it
possible for God to be just and justified. It was to pay for
our sins. Our sins were laid on Him in
His body on the tree. The just for the unjust literally
actually paid all of our sin debt past, present, and future. He paid all of our sin debt.
My sins of omission, my sins of commission, my secret sins,
my open sins, my sins of imagination, my sins of dreams, my sins of
attitudes and deeds, my sins of walk, and my sins of talk,
and my sins of open and bold acts. He took all the sins of
all believers of all ages on Himself and literally paid for
them. Do we believe that? Well, I do. I believe he paid for all the
sins of his people. He paid for them. He separated
our sins from us as for, as the east is from the west, he buried
them in the depths of the sea, he put them away. Now, if he
did that for everybody, then we have a universal salvation.
Have universal salvation, go tell everybody that you meet
on the sidewalk, Go tell everybody at your workplace, everybody's
saved. Everybody's saved. If He did
the same for everybody, we have universal salvation. Now, if
He was a Savior, then we are saved. If salvation is by the
death of Christ, and something we do, we are lost, hopelessly
lost, because nobody here has a shot at it, because there ain't
anything else you can do. There's nothing you can do. If
He paid everybody's sin debt, then baptize them, and as the
old Southern Baptists say, win them, wed them, and work them. If that's the case, if everybody's
saved, then they have as much right to the Lord's table as
we do. Somebody said that's foolishness.
No, no. They have as much right to the
Lord's table as we do if he died for all men the same. Everybody's
invited. Come on in and come to the Lord's
table. Universal salvation. Well, my
friend, that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that
he laid down his life for his sheep. laid down his life for
his sheep. And then last of all, I'll hurry
to a conclusion, the Holy Spirit quickens. What people hear that
bring them to life, it's the word being preached, not in word
only. but in power of the Holy Ghost. And when that word comes in to
a poor dead sinner, it makes him alive. God quickens him,
makes him live, makes those things live in his heart. Listen to
what I'm saying. I'm not born again because I
believe. I believe because I'm born again. Hallelujah. I truly
can believe the gospel. I can believe it. I tell you
I can believe it. The Bible says all through the
Bible. Believe on the Lord Jesus. I can believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. I can lay down and pray for Christ's
sake, for Christ's sake, forgive my shortcomings and my failures
and my sin. I can believe that Christ truly
died for me because I can believe it. I can believe it. There was
a time when I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it at
all. But now listen, I'm not born again because I see. Oh,
somebody said I got to see a few things. Well, no, I see because
I'm born again. The Bible says you can't enter
the kingdom of God unless you be born again. You can't even
see the kingdom of God unless you be born again. And so we
see because we've been quickened. We've been made alive in the
Lord. And I'm not born again because
I love God. I love God because I'm born again.
Now I would not ever mislead you if I could help it. I don't
love God like I ought to. I don't love Him as much as I
should. Man my age, been in the way of the Lord, should love
God more than I do. And I think probably every one
of you sitting here today would testify to the same thing. For
anybody been in the Lord as long as you have, and you still don't
love the Lord as much as you should. But my friend, listen,
I do love the Lord. God knows I do love Him. I do
love Him. But the only reason I love Him
is because I've been born again. Because of the new nature that
God planted in me that is capable of loving God. Unless you get
a nature that is capable of loving God, you ain't never gonna do
it. Oh, preacher, I think grandma loved God. We'll see whether
Grandma loved God or not. We'll find out. Grandma born
again? Well, she's born again, sure,
and she loved the Lord. Say, I think everybody loves
God. Be careful. Be careful. Be careful. Be careful. The wind bloweth where it willest,
as John 3 and 8 says, but you can't tell whence it comes, nor
where it goes, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. The
Spirit comes when He will, where He will, to whom He will, quickens
and calls to Christ, and gives the call, the effectual call,
to Christ's people. Makes them hear His voice, gives
them eyes to see a believing heart, and there is this birth
from above that sets them apart. Where would you be today if it
was not for the new birth? Where would you be if it was
not for the new birth? Well, I'll tell you where you'd
be. You would be lost, dead in sin, alienated from God, the
life that's in Him and His Son. You'd have no hope. No hope. You'd be in the world having
no hope and without God if it wasn't for the new birth. God
redeems His people. He quickens His people and He
will save all His own. He'll save them. He will. Now,
beloved, this is what the Bible says. And this is what the Bible
teaches. And now, I said at the outset, this is going to be a
dividing message. And maybe some of you say, well,
I don't know so much about what all the preacher had to say today.
Well, I wanted this tape on message, or this message on tape, I'll
get it right here. I wanted it on tape because I'd
like for people that come to this church visit this church
and is interested in what this church stands for and believes.
Now, we've been here a year today. Actually, we had the first service
in here September 1, 2002. But this is the first Sunday
in September of 2003. We've been here one year. And
the people that come into this place, we want them to know what
this church stands for and what to believe. And I believe that
I have spoken this morning for this church. I believe this church
as a whole, few exceptions maybe, but for the most part, believe
exactly what was preached here this morning. And I wanted it
to be on record, and I wanted everybody to know that no, this
church has not changed its views, and we've not slipped. And we've
not said, no, we're getting old, and so therefore we just can't
deal with these things anymore, and so we won't do it. Fully
on that, that ain't gonna work. We believe the Word of God, and
we're gonna go ahead and preach as long as we're able. As long
as we're able. And then we trust that after
we're done, there'll be some others get up and say, hey, hey,
I'll preach the same thing. That's what this church believes,
that's what the Bible teaches. And we'll stand for these truths. Well, Larry wanted to say a few
things and then Mike wanted to say a few things.