If you have a Bible with you
this morning, turn with me to Psalm 115. Psalm 115, I'd like
to read the first three verses. The first three verses of Psalm
115. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto Thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. I want to begin this
morning by reading some remarks that I thought was pertinent
to our subject this morning. We admire a man who was firm
in the faith, say, 400 years ago. But such a man today is
a nuisance and must be put down. Call him a narrow-minded bigot
or give him a worse name if you can, yet imagine that in those
ages past, Luther, Zingle, Calvin, and their compeers had said,
imagine if they had said, the world is out of order, but if
we try to set it right, we shall only make a great stir and get
ourselves disgraced. Let us go to our chambers and
put on our night caps and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps
when we wake up, things will have gotten better. Such conduct
on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error. Age after age would have gone
down into the infernal deeps and the pestiforious bogs of
error would have swallowed up all. These men loved the faith
and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on. It is today as it was in the
reformers' days. Decision is needed. Here is the
day for the man. Where is the man for the day? We who have had the gospel passed
to us by martyrs' hands dare not trifle with it nor sit by
and hear it denied by traitors who pretend to love it but inwardly
abhor every line of it. Look, you sirs, their age is
yet to come. If the other generations, if
another generation and another, and all these generations will
be tainted and injured if we're not faithful to God and His truth
today. We have come to a turning point
in the road. If we turn to the right, mayhaps
our children and our children's children will go that way. But
if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names
for having been unfaithful to God and to His words. Those words were spoken by Charles
Haddon Spurgeon in 1888. Now in Psalm 115, my text this
morning is verse 1. And that is not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory
for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Would everybody say Amen
to that? Amen, unto the name of the Lord
be glory. My subject this morning is who
gets the glory for the salvation of a sinner. Now the great contest
between the man-centered religion of the world and the religion
of our Lord Jesus Christ is just this. who is entitled to the
praise and the glory of the sinner's salvation. Salvation, what is
it? What is this thing, salvation,
that we're always talking about, that the people of God are rejoicing
in, that the people of God brag about, talk about? Salvation. Now the word salvation means
deliverance. And it means deliverance from
hell, it means deliverance from the wrath of God, it means deliverance
from the judgment, and yes, it means deliverance from what we
deserve. Every one of us here in a state
of nature, we deserve the judgment of God, the condemnation of God,
the wrath of God to fall upon us. We were all the children
of wrath, even as others, the Bible says. And so we deserve
that the judgment and wrath of God come upon us. But salvation
came. Deliverance came. The Lord was
pleased to give deliverance and to bring us out of that state
of condemnation and judgment and bring us into that state
of life. We were translated, as Mike read
this morning, out of the kingdom of darkness, even into the kingdom
of God's dear Son, that glorious Kingdom of God's dear Son. This is the salvation that we're
talking about. We're talking about a salvation
from eternal gloom, a salvation from eternal suffering, eternal
suffering under the wrath of God. unto an eternity of bliss
and glory and happiness and joy. An eternity, I say, of blessing
we have been delivered to. Now beloved then, who's going
to get the glory for this? I believe that everybody here
this morning that loves our Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody here
in whom the Spirit of God dwells. Everyone here wants the Lord
wants the Lord to receive the glory and the praise and the
honor for such a wonderful deliverance as we have experienced. Now Paul
talked about in the book of Hebrews about this so great salvation. And I think all of you this morning
would agree with me as one that this salvation that we're talking
about is a great salvation. It's a wonderful salvation. And
we praise the living God for it this morning and give Him
glory. Now, beloved, when we ask the
question, who is entitled to the praise and glory of the sinner's
salvation, your answer to that question, I believe, will be
determined by your answer to this one. Now, I want you to
listen carefully, and if you would, respectfully this morning,
listen to the Word of God. Listen to what God says. Listen
to what the Bible says. And if you want to just sort
out what I say and what the Bible says, and say it's different,
then you go ahead and do that. But I wish that you would listen
carefully to what we have to say today. We want God to be
glorified. We have in our hearts the desire
to see our God extolled. We desire to see all glory ascribed
unto this our living God. And one of the things that characterize
this generation of religious people is that they have little
or no zeal for the glory of God. And this is very evident. They
have no zeal for the glory of God. Now, beloved, we're getting
up in age, some of us are, and we desire to give glory to God. All the glory that we have the
strength to give, we desire to give it to our living God. We
want to press the truth of the grace of God upon this generation
in every way that we know how. in order that God might be extolled
and that He might receive all the glory. And you may, I don't
know how long it will be before you'll ever hear another sermon
like this. Maybe you never will. But you will remember this one,
I believe, and I trust that God will burn it into your soul in
order that you might give glory and praise unto God. This is
the object. We have no other object in mind. I would to God this place was
filled and another building added to it and another building was
added to it by people who would give glory to God. I would that
this state and every church building in this state were filled with
people that would give glory and praise unto the living God. What a wonderful thing it would
be. I would to God that we could have men from every part of the
state come into this town. We put them up in the Fairfield
hotel over here, motel, and come at their convenience into this
place and hear them preach, if they would extol the grace of
God and lift up our God, we would all rejoice and be glad in Him. We'd be glad in Him. We'd be
glad in Him. We'd pay Him well, and we'd be
glad to hear them. We want that, we desire that
with all of our hearts. The issue is who's going to get
the glory for the salvation of the sinner? Shall it be free
will or will it be free grace? To answer these questions, I
make no appeal to the preachers and the theologians of the past,
though I thank God for what he has taught me through the writings
of those faithful men who served our God in past generations,
and I make no appeal to the preachers and to the theologians of the
present, though I truly thank God for His faithful witnesses
who minister to the souls of men in our day. I thank God for
them. for all faithful men, for all
men who have been able by the grace of God and the leading
of the Spirit of God and the revelation of the Spirit of God,
been able to sort out the truth and know how to rightly divide
it and proclaim it. I thank God for every one of
them. But to find the answer to these
questions, we want to turn to the Word of God, the Bible, which
is our one rule of faith and practice. The Bible says in Isaiah
chapter 8 and verse 20 to the law and to the testimony if they
speak not according to this word it is because there is no light
in them. Who I ask is entitled to to have
the praise and the glory of our blessed salvation. What does
the text say? It says, not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy. Oh, it was the mercy of our God
that brought this salvation to our doorstep, that brought it
into our souls, and for thy true sake, The Bible says that He
is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus Christ is the truth. Unto Him be glory for the sending
of the truth into our hearts, into our souls. Now there's some
selected verses of scripture that I would like to share with
you. I'd like for you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and I
want to read beginning with verse 26 and listen carefully as we
read. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are
despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to
bring to nought things that are, that no flesh, that no flesh
should glory in his presence. No flesh, not unto us, not unto
us. that no flesh should glory in
his presence, but of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God
is made into us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glorieth Let Him glory
in the Lord. If a man's got any glory to give,
if he's got any glory in him, if there's any ever in his heart
inspired by what God does for him, let him give the glory unto
God. Not unto us, not unto us, but
to Him, to His name be the glory. Now turn with me to the book
of Revelation, chapter 4. Revelation chapter 4. And I want
us to read here some blessed verses of Scripture. And we take
note here, beginning with verse 10. I want to read verse 10 and
11, and then a few verses out of chapter five. But in verse
10, he says, the four and 20 elders fall down before him that
sat on the throne. That's where God is. He's on
a throne. And they worship him, and that's
what everybody ought to do when they see God, as Isaiah did in
chapter six of Isaiah, see him high and lifted up on his throne.
They ought to worship him. that sat on the throne, and they
worshiped Him that liveth forever and ever. Our God liveth forever
and ever. And cast their crowns before
the throne. They cast their crowns down before
the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord. Thou art worthy,
O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For Thou hast
created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. In chapter 5, we begin with verse
9, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou wert worthy to take
the book, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain,
and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred,
tongue, people, and nation. and has made us unto our God
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld
and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne,
and the beasts and the elders, and the number of them was ten
thousand times ten thousands and thousands of thousands. Saying
with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive
power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory
and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,
Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the
four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders
fell down and worshipped him, that liveth forever and ever. I believe that we should imitate
these four and twenty elders and we should be worshiping our
God. Now in the book of Jude, there's
only one chapter in the book of Jude, verse 24 and 25, listen
to these verses. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise
God our Savior be glory and majesty and dominion and power both now
in this life and ever in the life to come amen that's what
he said to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty
dominion and power both now and ever. Amen. Well, you wouldn't
have anything against a man doing the best he knew how to see to
it that God was glorified after reading those verses. You wouldn't
say a word about a man, though he might not have the gift of
homiletics, if he did what he could in order to set forth the
truth of the grace of God, you wouldn't find any fault with
him, I'm sure. If the end result was that God
got the glory. God got the praise. Him that
was due the praise received the praise. I think you'd be in favor
of that. Well, now let me ask you this.
Is salvation by the free will of man or by the free grace of
God? Well, what does the Bible say?
Well, it says in Romans 9 and 16, so that it is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy. So it's not of the man that exercises
his will, nor of him that runs, even if he be running as it were
in the religious race, but of God that shows mercy. God is
the author of all saving mercy. John 1 verse 13, which were born
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God. Salvation is not by might nor
by power, but the Lord of hosts says, it is by my spirit. James 1 and 18 says, of his own
will begat he us with the word of truth. What, pray tell me,
does this vile, ugly, reprehensible term, free will, represent? I do not believe these words,
free will, should be in our vocabulary. much less shape our theology. Why would we say such a thing? I say such a thing because the
will of man is impotent toward God. I say it because man's will
is biased toward sin. I say it because man's so-called
free will is like water. It's only free to run downhill
and has to be pumped uphill, and man is just that way. Man
is like the vulture, free to eat carrion, but he would starve
to death in a wheat field. My friend, free willism is the
heart and core of man-centered religion. It's the heart and
the core of it. It represents anything that is
decided, determined, or done by man to obtain salvation. Now free willism is the religion,
I believe, of Satan. Lucifer was the first free willer. In Isaiah chapter 14, verse 13
and 14, For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into
heaven. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Now free willism was the religion
of those men who crucified the Lord of Glory. I want you to
turn with me, it will be worth your while, to the Gospel of
Mark chapter 15. And I want to read beginning
with verse 9. But Pilate answered them, and
listen to the language here. I'm saying that free willism
was the religion of those men who crucified our Lord, the Lord
of glory. But Pilate answered them, saying,
Will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews? Will ye?
Is this what you will? Do you want me to release unto
you Jesus the King of the Jews? For he knew that the chief priest
had delivered him for envy. But the chief priest moved the
people that he should rather release Barabbas unto them. And
Pilate answered and said again unto them, listen to this, What
will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call King of
the Jews? What will ye do then? What will ye then have me to
do about this King of the Jews? And they cried out again, crucify
him. Then Pilate said to them, why,
what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly,
crucify him. And so Pilate willing, willing
to content the people, release Barabbas unto them, and deliver
Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified. I assert to
you that free willism was the very religion of those who crucified
the Lord of glory. They did what they willed to
do. They were willing to do it, and
they were given the liberty to do it by Pilate. Free willism
is the religion of Babylon. It's the religion of Antichrist.
Well, what is represented by that glorious, God-honoring,
Christ-exalting term, free grace? Beloved, I would to God that
I was young again for one reason, so that I could more emphatically
give myself over to preaching and exalting the free grace of
God. Oh, it would be worth living
and going through what I went through in my lifetime to be
able to keep on preaching the free grace of our God. Oh, that our tongues were loose
to be able to do it. Free grace represents everything
decided, determined, and done by God Almighty to bestow salvation
upon His elect. John Gill says this, listen to
it, free grace is the sovereign, voluntary, eternal, immutable,
unconditional, uncaused, uncontrolled, gratuitous bounty of God's goodness
by which salvation in all of its branches is accomplished.
I like that statement. I love that statement. I believe
that statement wholeheartedly. It is the grace that reigns into
eternal life by Jesus Christ. Now Romans 5 and 21 says that
a sin hath reigned unto death, even so my grace reign. Aren't you glad that grace reigned? Hallelujah, I'm glad it reigns.
If grace did not reign, there'd be no day of salvation. You mentioned
it in your prayer. There'd be no day wherein the
sinner, the vilest sinner could return home. There'd be no day
when a man could have life. in his soul from God if grace
did not reign. And I know all of the elect shall
be saved because grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord unto all the elect. It reigns,
beloved, and we need to see that. I don't see anything wrong with
emphasizing and exalting the grace of God that reigns, and
we do that today without any hesitation. Now consider with
me this. Free will religion is will worship. I can think of
nothing in all the world more foolish more debasing to humanity,
more dishonoring to the God of the Bible, and more assuredly
damning to the souls of men than the sin of idolatry. Free willism, in my humble opinion,
is idolatry. Idolatry is evil. Idolatry is
worshiping another god besides the God of the Bible. Idolatry
is sin, and in my judgment, the most abominable form of idolatry
in the world is that which Paul calls, in Colossians 2 and 23,
will worship. will worship. My friend of yourself,
that's what it is, those who attribute salvation in the whole
or in the part, to the will, the work, or the worth of man,
are self-worshippers. That's what they are, for they
worship themselves, not God. Let me illustrate this. Last,
well it was two weeks ago, our son Mark, John Mark, who was
recently converted five months ago. His wife set up an appointment
at an Armenian Baptist church who has about a thousand members.
And this appointment was for the preacher to try to straighten
out John Mark on what he believed about the gospel. And so they
had this appointment. And they go into this fancy office
in this huge monstrous church building. And they sit down and
they begin to converse as to the doctrines of grace. And this
preacher, Mark asked him the question. He said, Do you believe
in sovereign grace? And the man said, Well, it all
depends on what you mean by sovereign grace. And Mark said, for an example,
do you believe that Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, do you
believe when God struck him down on the road to Damascus, do you
believe that he could have resisted the Holy Spirit, that he could
have resisted the Lord Jesus Christ that was right there speaking
to him? Do you believe he could? And
this man said, absolutely I believe he could. I believe he had a
free will and he could have resisted the Lord Jesus right there. Now
I want you to turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 9 hurriedly. I won't take long with this but
I just want to show you how that people that believe in free will
that they actually are practical atheists. They do not believe
the word of God. Now listen to what the scripture
says. Acts chapter 9 and verse 15 I want you to see what the
word of God says this man said he could have resisted but the
Lord said unto him go thy way For he is a chosen vessel unto
me. Now this is Ananias after he
had heard about how Paul had been converted and after Paul
had been blind for three days and the Lord had given him sight.
He said, but the Lord said unto him, Go thy way. He said this
to Ananias. For he, that is Saul, is a chosen
vessel unto me. He's a chosen vessel unto me. God says here, I elected him. I chose him. I chose him for
reasons known to myself, for my own purpose, and for my own
glory. I chose him. He's a vessel chosen
to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of
Israel. Now, this man said, I believe
that he could have resisted. Well, he was chosen of God. God
had set his affection and love upon him from the foundation
of the world. How could he not have been saved? And then when you get over to
the 22nd chapter, Mark asked him also, do you believe that
God chose Paul to make him a writer of Scripture? Was he chosen of
God to be a writer of Scripture? This man said, no, God could
have used anybody to do it. He could have used anybody to
do it. Now then, there's a verse of scripture in Acts 22, verses
13, 14, and 15, actually, that I'd like to share with you. Listen
to what the Word of God says. came unto me, and an eye, he
says, came unto me, and stood, and said to me, Brother Saul,
receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked upon
him, and he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee,
that thou shouldest know his will, see the just one, and shouldest
hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness
unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. Does that sound
to you like that there was just any man would have done? Absolutely
not. Saul of Tarsus was a chosen vessel
unto God. No free will about it. And then
I want you also to notice Galatians chapter 1. Turn with me to Galatians
chapter 1 and listen to what Paul says. If you think that
pre-realism had anything to do with his conversion, notice this
in verse 15 and 16. But when it pleased God, listen
to what Paul says here. But when it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. What's
he saying? He's saying that God was present
whenever my mother was in labor and it was God, it pleased God
to separate me from my mother's womb. God was there in prevenient
grace when I was born into this world and nothing could happen
to me because he meant to call me by his grace in time and he
did that on the road to Damascus. And then in verse 16, to reveal
his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen. And immediately
he said, I didn't ask anybody in the flesh whether it was the
thing to do or not. I knew it was the will of God
because I was told that I was a chosen vessel to bear the testimony
of the Lord. And so we see clearly and plainly,
my friend, that the conversion and the life work of Saul of
Tarsus, that it was through the free grace of God and not by
the free will of man. And so my point is this, that
free willism, I repeat, is the worship of oneself. It's the
making of one something that he's not. When a man says, I
repented. A man says, I believe. A man
says, I accept it. That makes a big you and little
God. It is God that saves the sinner. And I repeat it, a man is a practical
atheist that denies everything the Word of God says in the truth
of salvation being by the free grace of God. Might as well junk
the Bible. Throw it away if he doesn't believe
what the scripture teaches about free grace, reigning, and God
receiving the glory and the praise for the work of salvation. Free
will works religion, makes man his own savior, for it makes
the will to work and the works of man to be the determining
factor in salvation. It says that in the human-centered
religion says that what man does makes the difference, and what
man does is to receive the glory. And I tell you that is erroneous,
that's false doctrine, that's contrary to the teachings of
the Bible. If your salvation in whole or part is looked upon
by you as something that is depended upon or determined by your will
or your works, You are not about to be glorifying God this morning. You're not about to. You're not
going to do it. You're going to say immediately
when somebody approaches you, I. I, I, I'm the big shot in
this thing. I'm the one that made the deceit.
I'm the one that turned around. I'm the one. I'm the repenter.
I'm the believer. No, my friend, salvation is of
God. And the more you hobnob and carry
on around these particular people that believe in will worship,
you will find out that they've got very little praise for anybody
other than themselves. And our praise is unto God. That's
my message this morning. Not unto us, not unto us, but
unto God give glory. And so you and your preacher
can talk about God and grace and Christ and redemption, the
Holy Spirit, regeneration, but you really worship yourself.
That's what you're doing, in my opinion. In my opinion. Your trust is in your decision.
Your confidence is in your goodness, your worth, your particular effort
and not from Christ and from what Christ has done. It is what
you have added to it that make the work of Christ effectual
on your behalf. A man says, the Lord Jesus, He
died. Yes, He did. The Lord Jesus,
He suffered death on the cross, but He can't save nobody unless
they let Him. unless they let him. Now, my friend, that's a
damnable lie. There is no truth to that. That
is not true. Somebody said he did all he could.
I've heard preachers say it over and over again. He done all that
he can do, but he can't do a thing with you unless you let him.
Well, my friend, if your particular will has to be joined to the
will of God in order for God to save you, the whole, this,
this, everybody's going to hell if that's the case. You have
no more power to agree with God in salvation than you have to
agree with God in the keeping of the Ten Commandments. And
there isn't anybody here that has kept the Ten Commandments.
Nobody was willing to do it, and nobody did it. And God has
given us, in grace, salvation. And He deserves the glory. In
your opinion, the thing that separates you from the damned
is not the will of God, the work of Christ, and the grace of the
Spirit, but your own will, your own work, and your own worth.
It's what separates you from those that have died and went
to hell. My friend, I urge you to flee from your idolatry. That's
what it is. It's idolatry. Smash to pieces
the gods of free will and good works and human work and give
God the glory. Worship Him who is worthy of
worship. Not unto us, not unto us, but
unto thy name give glory. Now, beloved, salvation is a
work of grace. It's a work of grace. Entirely
of grace. That's what Jonah says in Jonah
2, 9. Salvation is of the Lord. Experienced
in time, yes indeed it is. There was a day when God worked
it in your heart. And that's a wonderful day. Hallelujah,
it's a wonderful time when God saves a sinner experientially.
When he brings a sinner to trust and to grasp, to lay hold of
the truths of the gospel. It's a wonderful, wonderful day.
Regeneration, faith, repentance, conversion, sanctification and
preservation are things which God's elect experience on this
side of the grave. We experience this in this world. But salvation began a long time
before we got here. Our salvation began a long time.
Paul said in Ephesians 1 and 4, according as he had chosen
us in him before, before, before the foundation of the world.
We're bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the
truth. Long, long before God began His work of grace in us,
He began His work of grace for us. For us. If your thoughts
about salvation are limited to what you experienced in time,
You, my friend, are very limited and you have a perverted view
of God's work. If we would understand this wonderful
thing called salvation, we must begin where God began with the
eternal election of His people in Jesus Christ. To whom are
we indebted for this? Well, the first of all spiritual
blessing is God having laid hold of us and having known us in
His Son, the Lord Jesus. Pride says You owe it to me. Self-righteousness says you owe
it to me. Free willism says you owe it to me. But faith joins
with the Word of God and says, not unto us, not unto us, but
unto thy name. Give glory for thy mercy and
for thy true sake. Is the election of grace in any
way dependent upon something that God foresaw the sinner would
do? Is it? We've been bombarded People
are bombarded with the idea that God looked down through eternity
and he saw what the sinner would do. Big man and little God, God
had to look down and see what he would do. Big enough God to
look all the way down, but he wasn't big enough to determine
what was going to be done before the sinner did it. He said, now
God looked down and saw what man would do and made his decision
based on that. Now who's the big shot in all
of that? I'll tell you who the big shot is. The big shot is
the man. It's not God, it's the man. Paul
says in Romans 11 verse 5 and 6, even so then, at the present
time also, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then it's no
more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be
of works, then it is no more grace. Listen to what Augustus'
top lady wrote. Grace ceases to be grace unless
it is totally absolutely, irrespective of anything and everything, whether
good or bad, in the objects of it. Now listen to that again. Grace ceases to be grace unless
it is totally, absolutely, irrespective of anything and everything, whether
good or bad, in the objects of it. In Romans 9 and 11. I make
no apologies for using these verses. For the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, not
of works, not of works, but of him that calleth. God's election
of some of the fallen sons of Adam to salvation and eternal
life was a work of unconditional and eternal grace. Grace and
conditionality are two incompatible opposites. They cannot exist
together any more than two things can occupy the same place at
one time. If you slip free will and works
into the scheme of salvation, you push out grace altogether,
and you, my friend, have fallen from grace. You have fallen from
grace. If you establish grace as the
grounds of salvation, you must throw out works altogether. Did you hear the word altogether? You must throw it out altogether.
It cannot stand on both foundations. It stands on one foundation,
unconditional grace. Grace and works will not mix.
Are you listening to the Word of God? Even when we were dead
in sins, hath made us alive with Christ by grace, ye are saved. If you're saved at all. If saved,
saved by grace. Can't be any other way. There
isn't a son of Adam going to heaven any other way, but being
saved by grace. Hallelujah. Lets us all in. We can be saved by grace. Couldn't
be saved any other way. And then Paul said in Galatians
2 and 21, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. He died in vain. He died in vain. Salvation begins
with God's eternal election, and God's election was a work
of grace alone. Where were you when God did his
knowing? You know the Bible says the foundation
of God standeth sure having this sealed, the Lord knoweth them
that are his. God has people all over this
world, wherever He sold them. Has them all over this world.
And that's to be understood. And God has His people. He knew
them. He knows them. He knew them before
the foundation of the world. Where were you whenever He did
His knowing? Where were you? You say, well,
you know, I try to figure out who's saved. Well, I think we
better give that up. Just give it up. Trying to figure out who's
saved. God knows who's saved. He knows
Himself. He knows all of His own. Somebody said, well, I think
so and so say, well, that's alright, that's fine. Hopefully you can.
You can judge them by their works and so on. But my friend, God
knows. But where were you when God did
His knowing? That's the question. I wasn't
there. You wasn't there. Except in our
representative, the Lord Jesus, in whom we were chosen. We were
in Him when we were chosen. So we need to be very careful
when we say, well, we know who's saved and who's not. We don't
know any such thing as in God's hands. There are people that
have not, in history, have not been able to read a line that
as much saved as anybody in this building, saved by the grace
of God, couldn't read a line. There have been idiots whom God
has saved. I think He saved a whole lot
of them myself. But nevertheless, there are idiots that God has
saved that you wouldn't save. You're not sane enough to be
saved. How sane do you have to be to be saved by the grace of
God? How sane? How sane? Let God be the judge about how
sane you have to be. Well, in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 20
and 21, I'm going to hurry up here. We're going to have dinner
downstairs. But I'm about finished. I want you to know that. In Hebrews
chapter 13 verse 20 and 21, Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working
in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. covenant, this everlasting covenant
of grace made between God the Father, God the Son, and the
Holy Spirit before the world began. In and by that covenant
the salvation of God's elect was made sure. It was made sure. I don't have any trouble with
things that are sure, do you? They don't disturb me. Some people
say, well, be careful about that being sure business. Well, I
don't have any trouble about this being sure. I don't have
any trouble about it. As long as the presumption is
not based on you and what you've done. If it's based on the covenant
keeping God, then you can be sure. Now, those whom Christ
represented in that covenant shall be saved, no doubt about
it. Now I ask you, were the blessings
of the covenant, that covenant, that everlasting covenant, which
the blood of Jesus ratified and sealed was that condition upon
our works or upon God's work. Is the immutability of that covenant
determined by man's free will or by God's sovereign will? Our
representative, our repentance, faith, obedience, and perseverance,
are they conditions of the covenant or are they fruits of the covenant? Repentance, faith, coming to
Christ, loving Christ, obeying Christ, are fruits of the covenant,
not conditions of the covenant. Every blessing of the covenant
comes to us according to the eternal purpose of God in election
and predestination by grace alone. This covenant of grace was established
in eternity, put into force at Calvary, by the death of God's
dear Son, and sealed to the hearts of God's elect by the Holy Spirit
in the day of regeneration. It is read to sinners in the
preaching of the Gospel. Its blessings are received by
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that faith itself is the
faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the gift of the covenant-keeping
God, which was exceeding abundant in our experience of regeneration. Well, what do you say with regard
to God's covenant and all the blessings of it? Was the covenant
which David said was ordered in all things ensured established
by the will of man or the will of God? Take a look at David.
Take a look at David. Think about David. Did David
keep a covenant with God? Did he? Did David never sin? Did David never transgress God's
holy law? Did David never displease the
Lord? Absolutely not. David displeased
the Lord. David, in this matter of Uriah
the Hittite, in this matter of Bathsheba, he displeased the
Lord. There could be no covenant ordered
in all things and sure to David by the will of man. It had to
be by the will of God. The will of God, no doubt. No
doubt. No question about it. Now, was
the covenant put into force by the work of Christ or does it
wait upon the work of man? The work of Christ, no doubt.
Did not Jesus Christ, when he died on the cross, did he not
fulfill all the types of the Old Testament? You remember when
the priest went in to offer the sacrifice for sin? And when the
hands were placed on the scapegoat, and the scapegoat when it was
sent off out into the wilderness never to return, that was a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ and His death. And when our sins
were placed on Him, and He suffered death for our sins, that's when,
my friend, the work of Christ was done, and that's when the
covenant was put into force, was by the death of our Lord
Jesus. Does God's covenant recognize
the worth of Christ, I asked you, or the worth of man? What
does it recognize? I mean, if God's going to have
satisfaction, to whom do you want Him to look? To whom? My
sinner friend. Do you want Him to look to you?
Even those of you that make perfection of faith here. Do you want Him
to look to you? Do you? Well, I tell you what
I want. I want Him to look to my substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ. God's covenant recognizes the
worth of Christ, the merit of Christ. No doubt. No doubt about it. If God's covenant,
is God's covenant the result of man's free will? are the result
of God's free grace. And I say to you, it's God's
free grace. And I add, no doubt. No doubt. Beloved children of
God, when we think of the everlasting covenant and all of its blessings
and all of its provisions, let us sing with the sweet singer
of Israel, David. Not unto us, not unto us, but
unto thy name give glory for thy mercy. And for thy truth's
sake, for the everlasting covenant by which we're saved is the work
of God's everlasting, free, and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus
Christ. May he be praised. May he be
praised. The last verse of that psalm,
that we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Father, we thank you. We give
you praise. We give you honor. We glorify
Thee. We have attempted in our feeble
way, with the limited abilities that we have, with the limited
mind ability, we have attempted to set forth the glory of our
God in Jesus Christ this morning. And we've attempted every way
we know how to try to say to God be the glory. And Lord, we
desire that you receive our worship. The worship of our hearts is
the best we can do. And we worship thee, we praise
you, and we honor you. And may this message be received.
May it be received and may it be studied. And may there be
much meditation go on in the hearts of your dear living children
over these truths. And may they become conveyors
of these precious and glorious God-honoring truths unto all
they come in contact with. To your name be glory and honor.
You're worthy. In Jesus' name, amen.