This morning, turn with me to
the book of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians, chapter
2. This will be the third message
that I've preached from the book of 1 and 2 Thessalonians the
last three weeks. Last week, we preached on the
damning of the lost. And if you were not here, maybe
you should get you a tape and listen to that message. the damning
of the lost. And this morning I want to speak
to you on the subject, thank God for electing love. Thank God for electing love. According as He has chosen us
in Him from the foundation of the world that we should be holy
and without blame before Him in love. In love. Praise be unto God for the love
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ toward our souls. I want to read beginning with
verse 9 of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders
Take note that even him is supplied by the translators. And with
all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because
they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. And for this cause God shall
send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. that
they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness. that we are bound to give thanks
always 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 the belief of the truth, whereunto he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. This may be a shock to some of
you here this morning, but it is a fact of Holy Scripture that
is so plainly taught in the Word of God that we must be honest
with the souls of men. We must be honest. We cannot
stand before lost men and women and lie to them about their state. It is so very important that
any man who takes the Word of God into his mouth, that he be
honest with the people to whom he's speaking, to whom he is
preaching. There are some people who are
irretrievably lost this morning in this world. There may be some
of you that are in this building that are irretrievably lost this
morning. You cannot be saved, you're cast
off by God, you're rejected by God. Now the scripture here in
2 Thessalonians chapter 2 talks about these that will be brought
into a state of deception And these that will perish because
they receive not the love of the truth, how that God will
send them in His time according to His schedule, He knowing the
hearts of all men, He understanding the hearts of all men, He will
send strong delusion to them that they should believe a lie.
And what an awful, awful thing that would be. And he goes on
to say that they all might be damned who believe not the truth. That they all might be damned
who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness,
had pleasure in sin, had pleasure in fulfilling the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the mind, and the lust of the eyes. These
that have walked in rebellion against God. There is a time
when God will not show them his mercy, when he will cut them
off. These people for the most part
are people that have heard with their ears the gospel over and
over and over again. They know that it is true. They
know that the gospel that they have heard is the record that
God hath given of His Son, and they make Him a liar because
they will not receive the record that God has given of His own
Son. This, my friend, is a terrible
sin. It is a terrible sin indeed.
And it shall be punished with delusion that comes upon those
individuals because they've rejected the truth and believe, they shall
believe, a lie. Now, they have called God a liar,
as we said, rejecting the testimony and the counsel of His Son. They
turn thumbs down on the truth of God concerning the Blessed
One, the Lord Jesus Christ. They will not trust Christ. They will not trust in the shed
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They will not come to Him that
they might have life. Therefore, because of their willful
rejection of the Gospel, God has shut them up to unbelief
and they cannot be saved. You cannot be saved in a state
of unbelief. It's believers that are saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shall be saved. So we believe that they are judicially
blinded. They are hardened by God. God will not save them. Turn
with me to John chapter 12. Hold your finger here in our
text. John chapter 12. And I want to read a few verses
here. John 12. We read beginning here
with verse 36. Now listen to what he says. Well,
maybe I'll back up to verse 35. Then Jesus said to them, yet
a little while is the light with you. Walk while you have the
light, lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness
knoweth not whether he goeth. He's a delusioned soul. He's
walking in darkness. He doesn't know where he's going. He's going hither, thither, and
yon, but he knows not where He is going. And He says in verse
36, while you have light, believe in the light, that you may be
the children of light. While you have the light, and
that light, beloved, the light of the world is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And while you have the light,
while the Holy Spirit is evidently crucifying Him before you, while
you're hearing the message, while you're hearing it laid out, that
God so loved that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever
believeth in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. While
you're hearing the message of the pure gospel of God's saving
grace, that redemption is by the blood, Redemption is by believing
in Him who was sent of God and who spent Himself on Calvary's
cross that we might be redeemed. My friend, while you have the
light, believe in the light. I plead with you on the authority
of the Word of God, it's time to believe in the light. And he goes on to say here that
you may be the children of light. It's wonderful to have the light
of the gospel in your heart. It's wonderful to have that light
having been turned on by the Lord. We know that the whole
world lies in darkness and we know there came a day when the
Lord flipped the switch and turned the light on in our soul. if
we be saved and we know God did it. And I say to you this morning,
my friend, don't go out of here a child of darkness. Go out of
here a child of light. Believe in the light. Believe
in the light, saith the Lord Jesus. Believe in me that you
may be the children of light. These things make Jesus and departed
and did hide himself from them. What a word. Jesus spoke these
words and he departed and he hid himself from them then. He
hid himself. You say, do you mean that the
Lord Jesus didn't stay around to give a further invitation?
He didn't stay around to some way or another get a hold of
them personally and drag them to himself? No, my friend. The Lord Jesus departed and he
did hide himself from them. Now, it may be that if you walk
out of here this morning that Jesus will hide himself from
you and you will not be able to be saved. You cannot be saved
if he rejects you and if he hardens your heart. Notice what else
happened here. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. Some of
you have witnessed the transformation of your mother and your father
in saving grace. Some of you have experienced
the salvation and maybe others in your family. You've seen the
power of God at work. And you know that God is working
out His will and His salvation in the souls of those that He's
chosen. And you know that, but yet you
believe not on Him. Yet you believe not on Him. You've
viewed the miracles, but you will not believe Him. Now then,
in verse 38, this is to the end that the saying of Isaiah the
prophet might be fulfilled when he spake, which he spake, Lord,
who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the
Lord been revealed? Therefore, they could not believe,
because that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and
hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes,
nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should
heal them. And Isaiah said these things
when he had saw His glory, and when he was speaking of Him,
Isaiah related these matters. It is the glory of God that salvation
is in the hands of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to the
glory of God that He will have mercy upon whom He will have
mercy, and He will have mercy in whom He will, He'll harden. He will harden. Romans 9 and
18. He will do that. That's His glory.
You see, salvation belongs to God. Salvation is not something
you do for Him. It's something that He does for
you. And it's a gift of God. And you cannot take lightly the
fact that you're in the presence this morning of praying people.
People that have the Holy Spirit of God in them. That you're in
the presence of the Word of God as it is being spoken and preached.
And my friend, it's time to believe in the light. Now, reprobation
is the judgment of God which falls upon men while they live
as a result of their willful unbelief. Their willful unbelief. One of the most sobering things
in the world is that when you hear the gospel, the good news,
the gospel of the grace of God, the glory of God, in His saving
of sinners, and if you do not believe it, you'd be better off
if you'd never been born. You'd be better off if you had
never heard it. You'd be better off if you was
born in a far off Africa somewhere, where there's never been a missionary,
or where nobody has ever come and spoke the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You'd be better off. What a message
is the gospel, my friend. Wonderful, wonderful message
of the gospel. How that the Lord Jesus Christ
came into the world to reconcile sinners unto Himself. He laid
down His life for the ungodly. He died to save the ungodly. My friend, it's a wonderful thing
that there is a way of escape. There's a way out. Oh, neglect
not the salvation, the great salvation of our God. Neglect it not. It's wonderful
that God has sent an ambassador pleading with you, saying, be
you reconciled to God. I pray you, in Christ's stead,
be you reconciled unto God. It is time for you to lay down
your unbelief. It is time for you to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. We come in His name. And we plead
with your soul that you will trust Him. Far greater will be
your damnation that after having seen these things you refuse
to believe them. Can we show you this from the
Bible? Absolutely. Our brother read from the book
of Proverbs chapter 1 verse 23 he read the whole chapter and
my how that chapter speaks of how that God said I will call
and he said I did call and you did not answer and you did not
answer so when you call I won't answer I won't be there to answer
you, just as surely, my friend, as God has called. Now I'm aware
that there are some people who know, maybe who I preached to
here this morning, and you've heard over and over again, as
we said earlier, that you still linger on and you will not, believing
that there will come a day, maybe when you will want to call upon
the Lord. My friend, salvation is received
by God calling men and women, boys and girls, out of the world.
When He calls, that's the time, that's the time for you to respond. Just as surely, my friend, as
God, listen to what the scripture says, He that believeth is not
condemned. He that believeth not is condemned
already. And this morning you sit here,
you're lost, you've not believed the gospel message, the testimony
of the word of God, then my friend, you are condemned. You're condemned
already. The sentence hasn't been carried
out yet, but most surely, most surely it will be carried out. Listen to John 3 and 36. He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Now, beloved, when God shut the
door of the ark, those on the outside were irretrievably lost,
even though they had not drowned yet. Think about that. Do you
know when Noah got in the ark, and God enabled him to put together
all that big family that he put into the ark, And you recall
that there came a day when God shut to the door. God shut that
door. Now beloved, I don't know. I
know it rained 40 days and 40 nights upon the earth. There
may be some of these people that lived a month. Maybe they lived
the 40 days after it started to rain upon the earth, but as
soon as the door was shut, they were irretrievably lost. They
could not get into that ark. There was nowhere else to go. It was the judgment of God or
be in that ark. And they could not get into that
ark. What I'm saying is that in God's
reprobation, when men trifle with and refuse and they harden
their neck, God finally shuts the door. And that's it, brother
and sister, that's it. That's it. And only God knows
when that is. I'm not here to predict a time.
I'm not here to say tomorrow will be the day or today is the
day. I'm saying that's all up to a wise and Christ holy God. Read the scripture. Does this
remind you of anyone in the scripture? Well, In Hebrews 12 we read of
Esau, who sold his birthright for a mess of beans, for a bowl
of beans. And we know that afterwards he
gave up the worship of God, that's what it means. He said, I need
a bowl of beans more than I need the Lord. And so he gave up the
worship of God for the bowl of beans, and afterwards he sought
it carefully with tears, but he could not find it. He could
not find it, the Word of God says. Now some preachers might
tell you that you can get it, that you can get it back, you
can find it, but unless God gives it to a man, he'll not have it.
Can't you imagine some quacks walking around in Noah's day
after God shut the ark, saying, I know a hill we can get on.
I know a hill we go, oh, we'll get by this. We'll be able to
escape this. No, no way that you're going
to escape. Next, you have the house of Judah
in the book of Jeremiah. And God spoke to the house of
Judah. And finally, he said, ain't no need of you praying
for these people no more. No need for you to pray for him
anymore. That's in Jeremiah 7 and 16. And then in Hosea 4 and 17,
Ephraim, the scripture says, is joined to his idols. Just
let him alone. Let him alone. Can you imagine
that if God speaks this morning and calls you by name and says
you're joined to this and joined to that and joined to something
else, and I'll just let you alone. I'll leave you be. I'm telling
you there ain't nobody that gets out of this sin, curse world
and gets into heaven above apart from God intervening in their
lives. God must save you if you are
going to be saved. And you must remember that this
is the work of God alone. And you must have the work of
God in you in order to be saved. Now that in Matthew 23 In chapter
23, verses 37 and 38, if you want to turn there right quick,
I'd like to show you this scripture. I'm trying to support what I'm
saying out of the Word of God this morning. In Matthew chapter
23, in verse 37 and 38, the Lord Jesus said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Thou that killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I
have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens
under her wings, and ye would not." The Lord Jesus says, He
says, how often would I have gathered thy children? How often
would I have done this? But he said, ye would not. I
would? He would not. You would not. You would not do so. There is
a general call of the gospel we preached on a few weeks ago
that goes out. And the men and women are warned,
men and women are told, they're given the invitation to the gospel.
Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come and drink, come and buy
wine, milk, without money and without price. They're invited
to come to the gospel feast, but they would not, they would
not. And in verse 38, behold, the Lord Jesus said, your house
is left unto you desolate. It's left in you desolate, and
I believe that from that hour on, that God quit dealing with
the nation of Israel as a nation. I believe that. Now, you may
have a different concept, a different view of the end times of eschatology
than I do, but I believe that was the end of God dealing with
the Jewish nation. I believe that's the end of it.
You say, well, is he dealing with them today? I don't believe
that he is. I do not believe that he is.
But nevertheless, he said, I would. They said, we won't. And God
said, all right, your house is left to you desolate. That's
the way that it is. Reprobation, my friend, I believe
is permanent. God will judge men in reprobation
for their rejection and their despising of him and the testimony
of the word of God concerning his son. Well, you say, I thought
a man could be saved anytime he wanted to. Well, you're wrong,
my friend. It will not happen. Now listen,
somebody said, well, I thought it was altogether up to me. Ah,
my friend, you're mistaken about that. It is not altogether up
to you. Well, I thought salvation was
by decision. I say it is, but not yours, my
friend. It's God's decision that saves
the sinner. It's the Lord that will save
a man. It is not when you decide it,
it's when God ordains it to be. Jesus is passing by. He's passing
by. He's passing by. And my friend,
He may not be passing by next Lord's Day. He may not. He may
not be passing by any other time in your life. He may let you
live and live and live to grow old and you be deceived Never,
never being able to receive the love of the truth that you might
be saved. Now then, salvation according
to God's will, and you will hear when God calls, or you will not
hear from Him, and that's what Proverbs chapter 1 was telling
us. You'll believe when God calls
through the proclamation of the gospel, or you must perish. We're living in a reprobate age,
don't you think? We have more religion today than
we know what to do with. And most of the religious people
that I know in this world are blinded, they're deluded, they're
hardened against the gospel, the true gospel by a false religion. Well, I say most of them are
at least. It is easier for me to talk and
for you to talk and others to talk to those that have nothing
whatever to do with religion. and know nothing about the gospel,
like the publicans and the heartlets of old, than it is to talk to
this religious generation of people. Who is lost? Well, I
say that the religious system, whether it be Catholic or Baptist,
that whole system, when it makes up salvation, acceptance with
God, dependent upon man's will, man's works, man's doing, the
whole religious world is going to hell with a Bible, with a
King James Bible. Maybe not a King James. Maybe
they've got another translation. But they're going to hell with
a Bible in their hands. They know a preacher, and they
listen to him. but they're blinded by false
religion and they do not know the God of the Bible. False faith,
false spirit, false God, false hope! And they have no real hope
in the gospel. Well, let me speak plainly. If
it had not been for God's grace, if it had not been for the everlasting
love of our God toward our poor, poor souls, we, you, and I would
be in the same boat with them. Do you believe that? Can you
say amen to that? Glory to God, we know we would
be in the same boat with them, believing a lie, not being able
to receive the love of the truth that we might be saved. You would
be sitting somewhere this morning listening to some false prophet
believing that you could save yourself by walking down an aisle,
signing a pledge card, or going through the motions of going
down to what they call an old-fashioned mourner's bench. My friend, the
whole fundamental Arminian free will, easy believism, decisionism
world is lost. I'm telling you, God is the author
of his salvation and he'll get the glory for saving any sinner
that he saves. And he'll not share that glory
with another. He will not share it with another. Praise be unto God when he shuts
a man up and shows that man that he cannot, he cannot make a contribution
to his own salvation. That salvation is God's work
from the beginning to the end. And you would be too if it was
not for the grace of God, my friend. You'd be lost if it was
not for the grace of God. The mystery of iniquity does
already work. The slick pill of fundamentalism
is very easy to swallow, and people have plenty of liquid
to swallow it with in our day and time. When men say that salvation
is up to you, when man says that salvation is something that God's
left up to you, that man is a liar. That man is not telling you the
truth. That man is antichrist. Any doctrine
which lowers the glorious character of God is Antichrist. Any doctrine which exalts man
is Antichrist. Any doctrine that diminishes
or adds to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ is Antichrist. Now any doctrine that attributes
salvation in any measure to the will of man, the works of man,
the power of man, that is Antichrist. There's only one reason why we've
not been deceived. It is because in our text, Paul
said we're bound in verse 13. That word bound means obligated.
He said that we're obligated to give thanks always to God
for you. Isn't that wonderful? He said
we're obligated to give thanks always to who? to God for you. To God? Oh, he had something
to do with it. Oh, my friend, yes he did. He
had everything to do with it. So we're obligated to give thanks
always to God for you. This is an apostle talking. This
is the apostle that preached to these people. He was the instrument
of God in their salvation. He didn't say, well, you're bound
to give thanks always for me. He said you're bound to give,
we are bound, obligated to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord. God loved you. God loved you
so much He would not allow you to be deceived. God loved you
to the point where He wouldn't allow you to get mixed up, so
mixed up, so mixed up in religion that you couldn't get out of
it. No, the Lord loved you so much, your beloved of the Lord,
because God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation. He chose you to salvation. And
in time, he set you apart by the spirit and the belief of
the truth. He brought you savingly to himself. And he gave you that work, that
work which could result in your being in union with him. He regenerated
your soul. He made you alive. My friend
this morning, well I'm talking to you now and I want to emphasize
my point and that is that God has truly loved us and we need
to thank Him and praise Him, give Him glory in this place
this morning for having elected us, chosen us because we'd be
so lost without Him. Now what are some of the effects
of understanding verse 13 in the light of what we're talking
about today. Number one, let me give you about
seven things quickly, the effects of this. And I won't keep you
too long, but let me just give you the effects of having been
loved of God and chosen of God from old time. Let me show you
the difference. How it stands with a believer
this morning. First of all, it'll cause us
to rejoice. All the way through the Word
of God, when one is spoken of as being a chosen one of God
or one elected of God, it makes him rejoice. It made old David
dance. It made him praise the Lord. It made him rejoice in the Lord. Oh blessed, Psalm 65 said, is
the man whom thou choosest and calls us to approach unto thee.
That's in Psalm 65, I think it is verse 4. Praise him from whom
all blessings flow. And that's what a believer is
singing. That's what he's singing. Praise God from whom all blessings
flow. God hath blessed us in the Lord
Jesus Christ by calling us out and showing unto us his elective
grace. And then secondly, it promotes
humility in the heart of a true believer. Who maketh thee to
differ? Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter
4 and verse 7. I say to you this morning, grace
and pride are incompatible. It's impossible for them both
to exist together. And we rejoice in Christ, and
we have no confidence in this flesh. We've been chosen of God,
and therefore, my friend, we cannot be lifted up with pride. We know that if God hadn't intervened,
if God hadn't crossed our path when he did, if God hadn't brought
us low, if God hadn't stripped us, if he hadn't put us in that
place where we call out unto him, we never would have done
it. We never would have done it. And so there is no room for
pride in this situation. It is that God loved us and God
did the work. And so we rejoice in Christ and
have no confidence in our flesh. And then too, it will comfort
us in hard trials. To know that it's God who laid
hold of us. To know that it's God who purposed
our salvation. To know that it was God that
started this thing with us. I don't know how many times in
my life I have went back to the fact and how I rested upon the
fact that it was God who started all of this in my life. If he
hadn't started it, then my friend, I would have never continued
to this hour. The Lord giveth and the Lord
taketh away. Mitch was talking about that.
If the Lord will help me on Tuesday, I want to use that scripture
there for my message on Tuesday. The Lord giveth and the Lord
taketh away. That's what a true believer,
somebody who knows that God owns them and that God has laid hold
upon them, that's what they can say. They're comforted that even
these all work together for our goodness, glory. We know that
because God purposed. He purposed that all things that
happen, that all things we experience, that whatever hard trials come
down our road, that every one of them, nothing just happens,
nothing just happens. God sends them down our road
and they will work out for His glory and our good. for our good,
His glory. When we trust Him, we don't have
to understand, do we? No, we don't. We don't have to
understand anything. He doesn't give any account of
His matters. The ways of the Lord are right. They're right
ways. And if you know, if you really,
deeply, down in the depth of your soul know that God is and
that He's called you and saved your soul, then, my friend, you
can take comfort in whatever hard trial comes down the pike.
You can take comfort from that. God owns me. God loves me. And
I know that He's going to do what's right. He's going to do
what's right. He's too wise to err. He's too holy not to do
right. God will do right by all. It
will suppress self and sin. Somebody says, well, how will
it do that? I'm talking about God's electing love. It will
suppress self and sin. We're not our own, the Bible
says. We are bought with a price. Did you ever really feel that?
Did that ever really come home to your heart? I mean, did the
Lord ever pour the gasoline on that and set that afire in your
soul? You're not your own. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. You're bought with a price. Well,
that's what we're finding here in this message this morning,
that the Lord has bought us with a price. Therefore, we desire
to glorify our Lord in our souls and in our bodies. You just let
a man ever find out that he truly is saved. You let a man find
out that God loved him before the angels. sang a song back
yonder, way before the foundation of the world. You let him find
that out, and I'll tell you what, he'll be a different man. He'll
be a different soul, a different person. And he'll recognize,
and he'll want to glorify God. He'll recognize that God has
first claimed on his life, upon his soul, upon his body, that
he's bought and paid for by a sovereign God. And then he gives us assurance
If God foreknew us, if He predestinated us to be like Christ, justified
us, called us by His Spirit, if we were redeemed by Him, and
if He intercedes for us, then who can be against us? That gives
you assurance to go on, go on and walk day by day in this troubled
world, in this difficult world, gives us assurance. Alright? And then I want to say this,
it makes dying easier. makes dying easier. If God owns
a man, if God's grace has been given to a man, if he's truly
found grace in the eyes of the Lord like old Noah did, if he's
found grace in the eyes of the Lord like David did, you remember
when David come to die, he had one soft pillow. to rest His
head upon Him. And that was the eternal covenant
of God's grace. He said, You made a covenant
with Me. And that covenant is ordered in all things and sure.
In 2 Samuel 23, 1-5, He talks about this covenant that God
had made with Him, ordered in all things and sure. And He said,
This is all My salvation. This is it. This is all My salvation. This is My hope. This is it.
That the Lord has owned Me and chosen Me and made a covenant
with my head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in the seventh
place, it will assure us that our preaching is never in vain.
It's never in vain. We need to think about this a
whole lot. You see, I say that nothing just
happens. I know that when God saves a
man, it's because he purposed it before the foundation of the
world. And I know that while there may
be some here who are already already a reprobate and you know
I want to say just one little word about this I think it's
important that I do so in 2nd Corinthians chapter 13 Paul said
examine yourself in verse 5 whether you be in the faith prove your
own selves now listen to what he says know ye not your own
selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates. Now, beloved, this is the acid
test of whether or not you're a reprobate or not, or whether
or not you're a Christian or not. If Christ be in you, then
you are a Christian. And if he be not in you, then
you fail the test. You fail the test. You are not
what God demands you be. The only way you can be what
God demands you be is for Christ to dwell in you. He must dwell
in you. God has respect for His Son. He has. He's condemned flesh. He's condemned it. That's the
message of Calvary. He's condemned the flesh. He
has respect unto His Son, Christ, in you. The hope of glory. And unless He be in you, you're
reprobate. You're reprobate! And you need
to understand this. Now listen to me. I know that
while we're preaching, often times people come to discover
that they do not have, that Christ is not theirs. A Christ not in
you is a Christ not yours. And if He be in you, then you
know that God has put Him in you. The Bible says, of God are
ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. It's of God if he's in you. And
you know that, and you know that He had to have chosen you before
the foundation of the world. But now the scripture says in
Isaiah 55, 11, I'm telling you that the doctrine of election
assures us that somebody, somebody is going to get saved. Somebody
is going to get saved, that our preaching is not in vain. It's
not in vain. He said, so shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth. He said it shall not return and
be void. It shall accomplish that which
I please and it shall prosper in the thing where to I send
it. Now, beloved, this cannot be
applied to all preaching, but only the preaching of the word
of God. that living word of God. And
when that living word of God is preached, then there will
be some who will be brought out of their sin and brought savingly
to the Lord Jesus. Now it may be that God saved
somebody here this morning. Now if that be the case, we'll
give glory to God for it. We know how it all started. We
know it started with Him before the foundation of the world.
We know that He had a people and He gave that people to His
blessed and adorable Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that in reference
to Him They might be made what God would have them to be righteous
before Him. That they might be made, that
M-A-D-E, made the righteousness of God in Him. That they might
be made this. And so we will give glory to
God. We'll give Him praise. We'll
give Him honor. And we worship God here this
morning. We worship the Lord. Regardless of what happens, we're
going to worship God. We're going to worship God. We're going to
praise God. We're not going to rob God of
His glory. Somebody said, I got a headache. Well, we're going
to praise God. We're going to bless the Lord.
Somebody said, well, you know, I've got a hard time. I've just
lost a lover. But they'll say, amen, we'll
bless the Lord. We'll bless the Lord. We'll honor
the Lord. We'll glorify God. I mean, we
haven't signed any agreement with God that we're not going
to praise Him when everything don't go our way? When things
are not right? Are we going to cut off His praise
just because things are not like we want them to be? It didn't
work out like we thought they ought to? Absolutely not! A true believer is somebody that
glorifies God regardless of what comes down the pipe, regardless
of what happens in their life. They'll honor God. Glorify Him. Glorify the Lord. Blessed Lord
Jesus, thank you that you've allowed us to gather in your
name this morning. And thank you, Lord, for your
word, and thank you for your help. Father, we thank you. We give you praise that thou
hast loved us, loved us everlastingly, loved us into the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Father, we've attempted to
preach Christ to sinners here this morning. Father, we can't
preach them to you, but we have preached you to them. And I pray
this morning that there would be some poor soul would stand
even with tears and stumbling a voice and saying, I want to
confess Christ. I want to confess Him because
I don't want to live another hour and take the chance. on being forever consigned to
eternal damnation and to perish forever. God, lay it upon the
heart. Stir the hearts of your sheep
to speak up. Those that doubt is redeemed.
May they say so this morning. Lord, we do ask that you would
continue to pour out your marvelous grace upon those who've been
bereaved and those who are suffering. We pray for our brother Hank.
We pray that thou would remember him and deliver him, Lord. And
we pray that he may be healed, raised up, dear Father God, that
he might be able to provide for his family, and he might be able,
once again, to be able to come and gather with us as the saints
meet. And Lord, whatever be the needs
in the coming week of our brother Mitch and his family, Pray, Lord,
they'll be supplied. And we do ask, oh, we do humbly
beg of Thee, that Thou would give us the liberty of the Spirit
on Tuesday, that we might be able to speak the Word of God,
and speak it plainly in a comforting way, but yet in a way that would
bring conviction, where conviction must be brought. We pray it in
Jesus' name, and for His sake. Amen.