Psalm 14. Our subject this evening is total
depravity. Here in Psalm 14, the psalmist
David writes by inspiration and says, the fool hath said in his
heart, there is no God. Now please notice those two words,
there is, are in italics. That indicates that those words
were added by our translators to make the sentence read more
smoothly in the English language. And usually, those words that
are added by the translators are added with very good reason
to just give a smoother reading of the sentence. But in this
particular case, though it makes the sentence read more smoothly,
those two words are a detriment rather than a help. Because to
read the text as it stands in our English translation, the
fool has said in his heart, there is no God, is to put David in
direct contradiction with what the Apostle Paul teaches in Romans
chapters one and two. In Romans one and two, the Apostle
Paul declares to us plainly that all men are born with a God consciousness
from which they are not able to escape. So that there is no
such thing as an atheist in this world. There are many who would
like to be atheists, many who hold down the revelation of God
that's given to them, who suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness. But all who claim to be atheists
are liars. There's no such thing as a man
who in his heart says there is no God. There are many who with
their lips say so, none who in their hearts say so. All men
by nature know that God is, and that one day they must stand
before the Holy Lord God in judgment. There is absolutely no escaping
that. A better reading of this first
line of Psalm 14 would be this. The fool has said in his heart,
no God. Or better yet, the fool has said
in his heart, no to God. What David is telling us is that
all men by nature live with their fists shoved squarely in God's
face as rebels against God Almighty because this is the way we come
forth from our mother's womb. So that all men and women by
nature are fools. Fools because they are rebels
against God Almighty. They've taken up a warfare which
they have no possibility of bringing to a satisfactory conclusion.
They've taken up a warfare against God Himself. So the fool has
said in his heart, no to God. Now read on. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see, not because he was inquiring
after knowledge, But he looks down from heaven upon the children
of men. That sentence is simply to give an accommodation to our
puny brain so that we can get a grasp of the idea of God's
condescension. He looks down from heaven to
see if there were any that did understand. Any that understood
His ways and His truth. Any who understood righteousness.
Any who understood sin. Any who understood redemption
and grace. He looked to see if there were
any that did understand. and seek God. And this is his
conclusion. They are all gone aside. That is all by one act, all at
one time, all together have gone aside. They are all together
become filthy. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Now in these three verses, the
Holy Spirit describes the character and condition of all human beings
by nature since the sin and fall of our father Adam. Here are
seven facts about the entire human race. They're true of you
and of me by nature. They're true of all our children
by nature. They're true of all our forefathers
and our mothers, our parents and our grandparents by nature.
These things are true of all human beings. There are no exceptions. Number one, all human beings
are by nature rebellious fools. Fools in rebellion against God
Almighty. The fool lives every day with
a stitch of square in God's face. Constantly saying no to God. He will not submit to. He will not bow to. He will not
yield obedience to God Almighty. Secondly, the whole human race
is corrupt. The prophet here uses three words
to describe this corruption. He says that we are corrupt,
abominable, and filthy before God. He would have us to understand
that man by nature is not a morally upright creature, but one who
is corrupt, abominable in all his ways, and filthy in the sight
of God. so that the human heart, the
human mind is the sewer out of which the excrement of immorality
and the excrement of filth in the world comes all from the
human heart. Thirdly, we are all people who
have become corrupt, abominable, and filthy at one time. By Adam's
one act of rebellion, by Adam's one act of treason against God,
they are all together become filthy. All at one time by one
man's transgression. And fourthly, we all turned away
from God. All at one time. In the sin and
fall of our father Adam, we willfully, deliberately turned away from
the Lord God and we have been turning away from the Lord God
ever since. Fifthly, because of Adam's sin
and our sin in him, the entire human race has become totally
ignorant of spiritual things. I keep going back to this and
stating this and emphasizing this over and over again because
we don't halfway believe it. At least we act like we don't.
Natural human beings have no spiritual perception, no spiritual
knowledge, no spiritual understanding. In fact, every man's notion Every
man's idea, every man's understanding of righteousness and right, of
goodness and uprightness, of spirituality, every man's notion
of salvation, of grace, every man's idea about everything spiritual
is altogether perverse. And you can bank on it. Everything
a man by his own understanding arrives at and comes to insofar
as religious, spiritual things are concerned, will always be
wrong. The natural man's understanding
of things is always wrong. There is none that understandeth
the scripture says. Now, sixthly, no one left to
himself. Because we are rebels, because
we are fools, because we're corrupt, abominable, filthy, ignorant,
depraved human beings, no one left to himself will ever truly
seek the Lord. Won't happen. Will not happen.
There is none that seeketh after God. Now I know that men and
women are religious. I said to begin with, all men
and women by nature have a God consciousness. and they are aware
of judgment to come. So that when many women get in
serious trouble, when they start to face death or they face the
death of someone they dearly love, then suddenly they will
become religious and act religious and start going to church and
start talking about praying and start wanting to join the church
and get baptized and start to act like they serve the Lord.
But as soon as their time of fear has worn off, as soon as
they've gotten over whatever it was that disturbed them, the
religion peters out. It just doesn't last very long.
No man will of himself truly seek the Lord. Men left to themselves
seek religion. Men left to themselves seek a
refuge of lies. Men and women left to themselves
seek after many things in a religious way. But no one left to himself,
of his own will, of his own accord, by his own power, will truly
seek the Lord. And seventhly, no one has the
ability to do anything that is even slightly good and acceptable
before God. There is none that doeth good,
he says, and then he repeats it. There is none that doeth
good, no, not one. And thus, the Spirit of God tells
us that man, by nature, is totally depraved, helpless, a perishing
creature before God Almighty. Now tonight, I want to show you
from the Scriptures, as plainly as I possibly can, the doctrine
of man's total depravity. We take our doctrine directly
from the words of Holy Scripture. We do not believe anything on
the basis of human logic, human reason, or human perception.
We do not believe anything because it was taught by our forefathers,
because it is set forth in the ancient creeds and confessions
and catechisms of our forefathers. We do not believe anything because
it is traditional to accept it or because the most people who
profess the name of Christ believe it. We believe and teach and
preach what we do because it is written in Holy Scripture.
And if it is not written in Holy Scripture, we have no authority
for believing it or preaching it. So I want you to see clearly
this evening what the Scriptures themselves say concerning the
doctrine of man's total depravity. Now we're going to look at several
passages in just a little while, but I want to read 15 texts of
Scripture. I want to take texts from the
beginning through the end of Scripture and show you what the
Bible says. You can jot them down and follow
along with me at your leisure. First, in Genesis chapter 6 and
verse 5, this is a statement declaring the reason for God's
judgment in the days of Noah. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart. Now look at it. Every imagination. Every imagination. What a word. Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. That takes in everything, everything
that flows through your mind. Every thought, every thought
relating to God and man, Every thought relating to husband or
wife, every thought relating to children, grandchildren, parents,
every thought relating to neighbor and friend, every thought of
the imagination of the heart of man was only evil continuum. And that's exactly the way it
is now. That's exactly the way it is with you and me right now. There is no such thing as a man
who even thinks that which is righteous. No such thing. Look
in Job 15 verse 16. Job 15 verse 16. How much more
abominable and filthy is man who drinketh iniquity like water. This is the character of man.
As a thirsty man drinks water, wicked men drink iniquity. They
love to do evil and hasten to do so. In Psalm 51. The psalmist
David says in verse 5, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and
in sin did my mother conceive me. In chapter 58 in verse 3,
the psalmist says the wicked are estranged from the womb.
That is, they are separated as strangers to God from the womb. As soon as they're born, they
go astray. As soon as they're born, speaking
lies. So that every child by nature
comes forth from his mother's womb in wickedness estranged
from God and speaking lies unceasingly. So that all men in reality live
constantly as liars before God. We are all pretenders. We're
all fakes. We're all hypocrites. In the
very essence of the truth of what we are and think, we always
hold up a facade. We don't dare let anybody see
what we really are or what we really think. Look in Isaiah
chapter 1. Isaiah 1. In verse 4. The Lord God speaks by His prophet.
And he says, ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity,
a seed of evildoers that are corruptors. They have forsaken
the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One
of Israel unto anger. They are going away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore? Ye will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. The whole
heart faints. From the sole of the foot, even
unto the head, there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. They've not been closed, neither
bound up, neither nullified with ointment. Isaiah 53 and verse
6. The prophet Isaiah says, all
we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. The scriptures universally declare
man's depravity. In Jeremiah chapter 13, the prophet says, can the Ethiopian
change his skin? Are the leopard his spots? Then
may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil. In chapter
17 in verse nine, he says, the heart, the heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Now look in Matthew.
Matthew chapter 15, I want you to look at two passages in the
New Testament. I'll read two or three others,
but I want you to look at two passages. In Matthew 15 verse 19, Jeremiah
said, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked, desperately wicked. Oh, children of God, don't ever
be so foolish as to cease watching your heart. And don't ever be
so foolish as to imagine that your heart is sound. Don't ever
be so foolish as to imagine that your heart is well. Don't ever
be so foolish as to imagine that your heart is true. It is not. The heart's deceitful. This is
the natural heart of man, yours and mine. The heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Look in verse 19 of Matthew
15. The Pharisees were very much
interested in outer things. That's the way religious people
are. They think if they paint the sepulcher, nobody will smell
the rotting carcasses buried in the tomb. They presume that
if you clean up the outside, nobody will perceive anything
on the inside, including God. And so the Pharisees, before
they would eat, they would wash their hands. They would go through
a ceremony to wash their hands publicly. Now, I dare say, Only
the very strictest of them did so privately. They did so public
because they wanted you to see how holy they were. And so before
they would sit down at a public table, they would wash their
hands. Our Lord and his disciples, John's disciples, they ate without
washing their hands. In private, they probably did. But the ceremonial washing of
their hands, they had no use for. And so they did not engage
in this public religious ritual before they would sit down to
eat. And the Pharisees said, why do your disciples eat with
unwashed hands? Why do they come and eat without
going through this ceremony? And this is our Lord's response
to them. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things
which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands,
that's got nothing to do with what goes on inside. That doesn't
defile a man. No, no. The inner man is what's
corrupt. I don't know how many of you
heard our president give his address to the nation on Saturday
morning. The news media carried a good bit of it. He was denouncing
hate crimes, as if you can murder somebody without any hate involved
in it, but he was denouncing hate crimes. And he said, now,
hatred and bigotry and meanness are not things with which children
are born. They have to learn them. That
will tell you about how much understanding he has of spiritual
things. Our Lord said, you don't have
to learn them. You're born with them. These
things are natural to men. These things are what proceed
from the hearts of men and women by nature. Romans chapter 3 and
verse 9. In Romans chapter 3 verses 9,
10, 11, and 12, the Apostle Paul quotes from Psalm 14 a good bit.
He says, What then? Are we the Jews better than they
the Gentiles? In no wise. For we have before
proved both Jews and Gentiles that all They are all under sin. That is, under the law of sin,
in bondage to sin, held in shackles by sin. As it is written, there
is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Therefore, we are under the sentence
of death. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. The Apostle said, Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. And then in Ephesians 2, It tells
us that we walked according to the course of this world, that
we were polluted, that we were defiled, that we were under the
spell of Satan, that we were the children of wrath, even as
others. And then our Lord Jesus declares, this is the condemnation,
that light has come into the world and men loved darkness
rather than light because their deeds were evil. Now, these 15
passages of scripture are but a very, very few of the many,
many passages throughout God's Word describing the total depravity
of the human race. They stand without comment. They
stand on their own. declaring that all men by nature
are totally depraved. To deny the depravity of man,
the utter depravity of all human beings, is to deny the veracity
of the Word of God, and to fight against the doctrine of man's
depravity is to be found fighting against God himself. The Word
of God plainly, universally teaches that all human beings since the
fall of Adam are born in a state of total depravity. lost, corrupted
heart, condemned by nature under the curse of God's holy law,
and utterly incapable of removing that curse or changing their
condition. In fact, Man is so thoroughly
far off from God, so thoroughly completely lost, so thoroughly
completely utterly depraved, that not only can he not change
his condition or remove the curse, he cannot even contribute anything
toward changing his condition or removing his curse. Now I
want us this evening To look into the scriptures, and let
me make five statements. I will be as brief as I possibly
can. And I want you to follow me now to five passages of scripture.
I want to speak with utter clarity concerning man's depravity. First,
turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Ecclesiastes chapter 7. In this first point, let me remind
you just of the things we've looked at in the last two or
three weeks. I want you to see that man, by nature, is a fallen
creature. In Ecclesiastes 7, verse 29,
the wise man says, Lo, this only have I found, that God made man,
and the word is Adam. God made Adam upright. But they have sought out many
inventions. When the Lord God first created
Adam upon the earth, things were far, far different from what
they are now. Adam was created by God in perfect righteousness.
He had no original sin. He had no corruption of nature,
no inclination towards sin, no weakness toward temptation and
sin. Adam had no bias toward that
which was evil, and there was no reason for him to sin. There
was absolutely nothing conditioned in creation which would excuse
Adam's transgression. God placed Adam in a perfectly
sinless environment, providing him with everything necessary
to give him satisfaction all the days of his life forever. The Lord God, by decree, made
Adam our federal head and representative, the federal head and representative
of the entire human race. Now that simply means this. God
deals with only two men. I've said this to you repeatedly
over the last few weeks. We must understand it. God deals
with all men either in the first Adam or the last Adam. Either
in the first representative man or the second representative
man. Either in Adam or in Christ. The Lord God declares in Adam
all die. When Adam sinned against God,
we sinned against God. Now let me explain it if I can.
When God put Adam in the garden, as our representative by God's
decree, That is, by the ordinance and purpose of God himself, Adam
was a public figure, much like our representatives in Congress
are public figures. I haven't read the article, I
just noticed today something in the paper about Mitch McConnell.
Like it or not, he is our public, legal, federal representative. So that whatever he does in the
Senate, he does as our representative and the laws enacted or the laws
that are put aside by him are all such things as have an effect
upon us and he speaks for us in that House of Congress. In
much the same way, only in a far more strict sense, Adam was chosen
by God and made by God to be the representative of the whole
human race. Whatever he did or did not do
in the garden would be imputed to the whole human race. If our
father Adam had obeyed God, His righteous obedience would have
been confirmed and imputed to all his children. If Adam disobeyed
God and broke his covenant, as he did, then his disobedience
and sin would be imputed to all his children. Therefore, the
apostle says, in Adam all died. For in Adam all sinned and death
passed upon all men. Our father Adam sinning against
God. broke his law, broke his covenant,
and plunged the whole human race into depravity, sin, corruption,
and spiritual death under the condemnation of God's holy law.
This is what we've seen in the last several weeks. So let's
move on. Second, I want you to see that
the word of God plainly teaches us that all men since the fall
of Adam are born with a decided bias toward evil. an utter hatred
of God. Now I do not pretend that men
hate their notions of God. All men are idolaters by nature.
All men love their ideas and their concepts of God. All men
love what they think God ought to be. But men, all men by nature,
utterly despise and hate God Almighty in his true character. There are no exceptions. And
I want you to see this from the Word of God. You say, well, I
don't hate the Lord. You don't know your heart. You
don't know your heart. The heart of man by nature hates
God. But I don't believe my grandma
hated God. Oh, yeah. Are you going to judge
God by your standard or judge God by his Word? This is what
he says. Look in Mark chapter 7. Mark
chapter 7. We saw a similar passage to this
in Matthew. Mark gives us a slightly different
rendering of our Lord's words. These are the words of the Son
of God. He says, from within, out of the heart of men. Now
notice the language. He does not say, Ron, out of
the hearts of men, because we've all got the same heart. Out of
the heart, singular, of men, plural. Out of the heart of men. We all have the same heart. Out of the heart of men proceed
evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil
eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from
within and defile a man. In Romans chapter 8 and verse
7, the Apostle Paul says the carnal mind is enmity against
God. Not at enmity, but enmity. That means, Bobby, your mind
and mine by nature, your heart and mine by nature, hates God. Hates God. Despises God. For it is not subject to the
law of God. Neither indeed can it be. Sin is not a social disease.
It's not something you pick up as you move through society.
It's not something that a man has to learn or be taught. It's
the inbred family disease of our race. It is a matter of the
heart. Because our hearts are evil,
we do evil. The evil tendencies of our hearts
are guarded and restrained and held in check and kept back by
many, many things in God's good providence. But the seeds of
evil, the seeds of corruption are in our nature. They're what
we are. This is what our Lord tells us.
All men, regardless of age, regardless of their outward behavior, regardless
of their social standing, all men and women are vile, loathsome,
corrupt at heart. We read it earlier in Psalm 14.
All are abominable, corrupt, and filthy. This much must be
evidently true to any reasonable man. History tells us that man's
a depraved creature. Oh, what barbarities men have
heaped one upon another throughout history. And they're not just
things scattered here and there. We pick out fellows like Mussolini
and Hitler and such as that, but they're not just a few fellows
here and there. Throughout history. Wherever
men have had absolute power without check or restraint, there'd be
nothing but barbarism and cruelty, even in the most enlightened
societies. Our daily newspapers tell us
that nothing, nothing but depravity comes from man, nothing else. We see clear evidence of human
depravity in our most darling children. They're all deceitful. They're
all liars. They're all just exactly like
us. Just exactly like us. Every father who's worth his
salt's scared to death when his daughter starts to go out with
fellas, because he knows the fellas she's going out with,
just exactly like him. Just exactly like him. Everyone else. There are no exceptions
to that. Every man's conscience testifies
of his depravity. woman who should sit before me
or stand before me and say, no, no, no, no. I can't agree. I'm not like that. I'd speak
squarely in their face, no matter who they are. And this is what
I say, you're a liar. You're a liar. Your conscience
tells you what I'm saying so. Your conscience demands that
you say amen to everything I've said so far. This is what God
says in his word. More than that, you who are believers, we have a constant painful reminder
of the universal depravity of the human heart in our own heart's
daily experience. It's amazing what wickedness
can flood your mind before you can even time it or
think about timing it. Amazing what perversion can flow
through your mind while you're sitting here trying to worship
God and one minute you read the scriptures and you're focused
on those things, suddenly your mind runs in a thousand directions
to wickedness. Your heart is deceitful and desperately
wicked, just exactly like mine. Man is not good at heart, but
evil. Corrupt. Abominable. the smut, pornography, the filth,
the abominations, the corruptions that go on all around us. All that we observe with our
eyes and hear with our ears is but a dim reflection of the black
Dark corruption of our depraved hearts. Man, that's just so. That's just so. Thirdly, no one has the ability to save
himself by his own works. Turn to Galatians 2 and verse
16. The Apostle Paul is confronting
Peter over the dissimulation that took place at Antioch, and
he says in verse 16 of Galatians 2, knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the law, But by the faith of Jesus
Christ, even we had believed in Jesus Christ that we might
be justified by the faith or the faithful obedience of Jesus
Christ. And not by the works of the law.
For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Now let me show you why that's
impossible. Why it is impossible for a man
to be saved by his own works. God demands perfection. And Bob,
we can't give it. We don't even know what it is. Our highest, noblest thoughts
of good and righteousness and perfection are so indescribably
beneath what perfection is, we can't even think what it is,
much less do it. We cannot, by any work or sacrifice,
make atonement for our past sins because the atonement we would
bring is corrupt. We cannot change the principles
of our hearts. Thank God one day we will drop
this robe of flesh and this body of sin, but the principles of
the natural heart will never change while we live in this
world. Never. The very best that we do Because
it comes from a corrupt heart, the very best we perform is altogether
sin. Even in performing our best works,
we're motivated and guided by principles of a sinful heart,
so that the very plowing of the wicked is an abomination to God,
and our righteousnesses are filthy rags in His sight. Even our holy
things are full of evil. I'll give you a text to look
up if you want to when you go home, in Exodus 28. I believe it's verse
38. Aaron went into the holy place
on the day of atonement. And the scripture says, he shall
bear the iniquity of their holy thing. make atonement and sacrifice
even for the iniquity of their holy things, when they're going
in to the tabernacle, going into the temple, going into the Holy
of Holies, that too must be atoned for, even that, because it cannot
be performed in absolute perfection by man. Fourthly, turn to John
chapter 5. I want you to see that according
to the plain statements of Holy Scripture, No one has the will
or the ability even to come to Christ by faith. John chapter
five and verse 40. And notice what our Lord says.
And you will not. Underscore that. That's very,
very important. You will not. That lays the responsibility
marks squarely on the shoulders of unbelieving men. You will
not, you choose not to, and you will not. You will not come to
me that you might have life. But that's not the only problem.
Look in John chapter six in verse 44. This passage describes not man's
responsibility for his unbelief, but man's corrupt character by
which his own will is bound in corruption. And it says, no man
can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him, and
I will raise him up at the last day. Now here are three things
clearly set forth in those two passages of scripture. Number
one, no man by nature, by the exercise of his will, by his
own choice and decision, if left to himself, will ever come to
Jesus Christ. Coming to Christ is an act of
faith. It is not something we do with
words. It's not something we do by walking
down a church aisle. It's not something we do by going
to a confessional booth. It's not something we do by some
act. But coming to Christ is altogether an act of the heart.
It's believing on Him. It's believing on Him. And no
man will trust the Son of God as his only Lord and Savior.
No man will bow to Jesus Christ as his King, the King of Glory
by nature. It'll never happen. Because man's
will is bound by his nature. His will is bound by the corruption
and depravity of his heart. His will is such that his will
is constantly bent toward wickedness, and bent toward self-righteousness,
and bent toward perversity, and living with his fists squarely
shoved in God's face. Therefore, no man will come to
me, our Savior says. Secondly, he tells us that no
man can come. Can't do it. Can't do it. He
can't do it because he's dead. He can't do it. Because a dead
man can't do anything. Before a man can do something,
life must be given to him. And so God the Holy Spirit comes
in sovereign, irresistible, saving grace. And He raises sinners
from the dead, convicts them of sin, gives them faith to Christ,
causes them to come to Christ. And when they come to Christ,
first thing they know here and now, they're in Christ, believing
on Christ. And they're made to recognize
God did this. Now here's the third thing. Everyone
which is drawn by the Father, that is, drawn by the Holy Spirit
of God sent from the Father to draw chosen sinners to Christ. Everyone who is taught of God
shall come to Christ and he shall be raised up at the last day.
Look at verse 44 again, John 6, verse 44. No man can come
to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. Now, folks
read that and they quote it as though that's the end of the
verse. Now, we understand that sinners cannot come by themselves. The Father, by His Spirit, must
draw them. But now, when the Father draws
them, it's up to man whether or not He comes. It's up to man
whether or not the purpose of God and the blood of Christ and
the call of the Spirit are effectual. Look at the last clause in the
sentence. and I will raise him up at the
last day. So that all who are taught of
God and drawn by the Spirit come to Christ and are preserved by
the Spirit until the last day when Christ himself shall raise
them up to glory by the power of his grace. Now, let me wrap this up. Let me show you one other thing.
Man by nature is fallen. Our hearts are evil. Our works
are evil. We're spiritually impotent and
we're justly condemned. Therefore, the only hope for
fallen, guilty, depraved, helpless, vile sinners such as we are is
the free and sovereign grace of God in Jesus Christ the Lord. Turn to Romans chapter 9. If salvation depends in any measure
upon you or me, all hope is gone. But since it's entirely the work
of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ, there's hope even
for me, even for you. Here the apostle declares, speaking
for God, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I
will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then
it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. Thank God for free, sovereign
grace in Jesus Christ our Redeemer. My salvation and yours is not
in any way conditioned upon or determined by you and me. It is conditioned upon and determined
by the will of God and the will of God alone. The Lord God chose
to save a great multitude of Adam's fallen race. He determined
to save his elect by the sacrifice of his own darling son. He sent
his Son into the world to accomplish eternal redemption for us. And
he sends his Spirit to regenerate chosen, redeemed sinners, to
effectually call them to life and faith in Jesus Christ. And
he causes every awakened, believing sinner by the power of his irresistible
grace to come to Christ, saying, could my tears forever flow?
Good my zeal, no lanker, no. All for sin could not atone.
Thou must save, and thou alone. This is where I take my place.
Take the place right now, ladies and gentlemen, like you've never
done it before. A sinner with nothing but Jesus Christ. Now I promise you, as surely
as you confess your sin, acknowledge your sin, As surely as you believe
on the Son of God. And the two things go hand in
hand. They go hand in hand. There's no acknowledgement of
sin apart from believing on Him. There's no believing on Him apart
from acknowledging your sin. As surely as you believe on Him,
the Lord God Almighty chose you. Christ redeemed you. God the
Holy Spirit has called you, and he'll keep you by his grace forever. No man has any claim on the grace
of God, and yet any sinner who believes on Christ, who casts
himself into the arms of Jesus Christ, constrained by God's
almighty irresistible grace, gives praise to Jesus Christ
the Lord, and shall be found at last to the praise of the
glory of His grace, declaring by the grace of God, I am what
I am. Amen. Ron, let's sing Solid Rock,
number 272.