Open the Bibles again this evening
to the epistle of Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. The most important thing at this
moment, the next little while, In my heart, in my mind, the
most important thing I desire and hope for, that which I want
above all else, is that by the Spirit of God, I may be enabled
of God to speak a word that will be a prophet, a spiritual prophet
to your soul for the glory of God. There's nothing on this
earth More important than that, I think. I have no interest in
seeking something new. I've got nothing new to say.
I have no interest in impressing men with learning, with logic,
or with eloquence. Those things I don't intend to
have. But I want, by the grace of God, to speak to you as God's
master. That's a great thing to desire,
a great thing to ask, but if God's pleased, He can speak to
you, to your heart, through these bits and pieces. I trust that
He will. Here are seven themes which I
see to be crystal clear truths of Holy Scripture. In this book, right here, If this book is,
as he claims to be, the Holy Bible, the Holy Book, the Book
of God, if this book is inspired of God, if it is the Word of
God, if it is infallible, if it is truly the revelation of
divine truth to men, then the seven things I'm about to tell
you are true. Not only are these things true,
but they are the most important truths taught in the Word of
God. They're not taught in a few isolated
passages of Scripture, they're taught throughout the Word of
God. The things that I'm going to talk about now for a minute
or two are so vitally, clearly revealed in this book, that either
these things are true according to the Word And these things
are the truth of God, or this book is not the word of God.
If a man believes this book, he must believe what I'm talking
about. If a man believes the revelation that God has given,
these seven things he must believe. Reject any of them, or reject
all of them, and you just as well close your Bible, toss it
aside, and search for another God and another revelation. That's
how important these things are. I know this to be absolutely
true according to the word of God. The God of heaven is a total,
absolute sovereign. He's a total, absolute sovereign. If you want to, you can follow
with me. We'll come back to Ephesians 1 in just a few minutes. Come
back to Daniel chapter 4. Daniel, the fourth chapter. There
are lots of verses, lots of passages we could turn to to see what
I'm talking about, but this passage states it clearly. Nebuchadnezzar
learned that the Most High God ruled in heaven and in earth
and in all deep places. God taught him that lesson. He
said in verse 34, At the end of the days, that is the days
of God's judgment upon me, by which I learned who I am and
who God is, I and Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven,
and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most
High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever." Now
listen, this is God's character, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion. And his kingdom is from generation
to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth, that's you and me, and everybody else, are reputed as
nothing. And he doeth according to his
will. He does not try, he does not
desire, he does not make an effort, but he does, according to his
will, in the army of heaven. Well, everybody knows that. This
is the part they don't care for. and among the inhabitants of
the earth. God's doing his will right here,
and God's doing his will at this moment in every part of this
world, in every man, woman, and child in this world, God's doing
his will. He's doing his will. And none
can say his hand, or say unto him, what doeth thou? But Nebuchadnezzar's saying,
nobody's going to slap God on the wrist and say, well what
are you doing? What right have you got to do this? God's not
answerable to man's judgment. God does not give an account
of his works to men. I wish we had learned that. God
is not in any way obliged to do so, and if he is pleased to
do so, it is altogether because he's gracious enough to let us
in on what he's doing. God will foster. Verse 37. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise
and extol and honor the King of Heavens, all whose works are
true, and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride,
he is able to obey. Anything less than this absolute
total sovereign is not God. Anything less than this absolute
total sovereign is but the idolatrous figment of man's imagination.
God Almighty is sovereign in creation. In the beginning, God.
Well, that's where everything comes from. Everything. All things
come from God. All things in their original
source are God. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. Out of nothing he created the
heavens and the earth. Out of nothing he spoke the world
into being. Instantaneously he spoke and
it was done. He saw. The Lord God is sovereign
in prophecy. Let me show you this from a passage
that you may have missed in your reading. Isaiah 45. Isaiah chapter
45. The Lord is telling us who he
is. He says in Isaiah 45 and verse 5, I am the Lord and there
is none else. There is no God beside me. And
he's about to give us a display of his glorious sovereignty and
property. When I say that God is sovereign
and property, the word of God teaches that, this is what he's
saying. He's saying that everything that moves or wiggles in heaven,
earth, or hell is under his control. Performing his will doing his
pleasure by his hand and by his power now. That's what he's saying
everything Look at what it says in verse 7 I form the light and
create darkness I make peace and create evil I Can't understand that we best
follow. This is what it says I the Lord do all these things
Therefore, drop down, ye heavens from above, and let the skies
pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation. Let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. Let not the potsherds strive
with the potsherds, or let the potsherds strive with the potsherds
of the earth. Sayeth, shall the clay say to
him that fashioneth it, what makest thou, or thy work he hath
no hand? Woe unto him that saith to his
father, what begadtest thou, or to the woman, what hast thou
brought forth? Thus saith the Holy One of Israel
and his Maker." God's the one who rules this world. Look in
chapter 46, verse 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there's
none like me. This is God declaring the end
from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not
yet done. Now God doesn't just know what's going to happen in
the end. I hear men talk all the time,
well I know that God knows everything. Yes, He knows everything because
He predestinated everything. He knows everything because He
ordained everything. He knows everything because He
brings everything to pass. He knows everything because He's
in control of everything. You can't know anything concerning
the next section unless you're in control of the next section.
God knows the end from the beginning because He ordained the end from
the beginning and He ordained the beginning to accomplish the
end. He knows all things. He declares the end from the
beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.
He says, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Well, I wonder if he can do everything
he intends to. Well, when he's got a prophet
that he wants to feed, he'll call a raven. A raven. Now, a raven is not a rooster.
A raven's not a pigeon. A raven's a bird that likes food,
and he likes meat. And God will send a raven to
feed his prophet with meat from day to day just to show that
he's God. He's God. Calling a ravenous
bird from the east, and a man that executed my council from
a far country, he'll call a man like Cyrus to come do his bidding.
I'll send Cyrus, and he will deliver my people. And so he
did. I have spoken it, I will also
bring it to pass, I have purposed it, I will also do it. But pastor,
I don't know whether what you're saying is so, that God is in
absolute control and he's done everything exactly as he will.
Look in Proverbs 16. Look in Proverbs chapter 16.
Surely we ought to put some kind of limitation on this. When you
begin to put a limitation on it, you've missed the mark. God
is totally sovereign. He's totally softened. The unbelieving
pagan infidel is no more out of the control of God than the
angels who bow before his face. The unbelieving pagan rulers
of the world no more do that which is contrary to God's purpose
than do the angels who worship before him and cry, holy, holy,
holy. God does his will with everybody
in all things. Proverbs 16, 4. The Lord hath
made all things. What all does that include? Well,
just start making a list. Anything you can think of, that's
there. Anything you've experienced,
it's right there. Anything you know, it's right
there. Anything that ever has come to pass, anything that is
now taking place, anything that shall take place, the Lord hath
made all things for himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of Eden. Proverbs chapter 21 verse 1.
Proverbs 21 verse 1. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord, and as rivers of water he turneth it, withersoever
he will." The illustration there is not quite as clear to us as
it might otherwise be, because we don't, in our day and time,
use irrigation canals, but rather we use irrigation pumps. Oscar
Bailey's got one. He'll connect those pieces of
pipe together and he'll go out and irrigate his field. And when
he gets done irrigating this field down here, he'll take it
over and irrigate that field. And when he gets done with that
one, he'll take it over and irrigate that one. And when he gets done with
all of them, he puts it away. He just puts it away. This is
exactly what he said. God says the king's heart is
in my hand. And I turn it in any direction
I will to accomplish anything I will with ease and pleasure,
just like a man would irrigate his fields with canals of water,
with the rivers of water. God's totally sovereign. And
God Almighty is totally sovereign in salvation. Romans chapter
9 is without question the clearest passage of Scripture. concerning
the salvation of God's elect and God's sovereignty in salvation
to be found anywhere. And so it is often the subject
of attack by men who disbelieve God's sovereignty. In Romans
chapter 9, God is not talking about the gathering of Israel.
God's talking about the gathering of His elect. God is not talking
about some kind of a Jewish state that's going to be yet established.
God's talking about the gathering together of his elect by the
cutting off of that Jewish state so that the gospel might extend
unto all the world and the Gentiles be brought in by the grace of
God. And here in Romans 9, verse 11, he uses the illustration
of Jacob and Esau. He says, the elder shall serve
the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. And God did this before the children
had done anything good or evil, that the purpose of God according
to election might stand. Now there's one illustration
of God's election. Here's another. Verse 15. He saith to Moses,
this is what God said to Moses, 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. But I thought you thought wrong.
It is not of him that willeth. It is not of him that runneth,
it is of God that showeth mercy. But if the sinner will just exercise
his free will, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith
unto Pharaoh, this is what God said to Pharaoh. Even for this
same purpose have I raised thee up. Now what purpose did he raise
him up for? Why on earth did God create Pharaoh? Why did God raise up that pagan
king and that pagan land in that pagan day? Why did he do it?
So he would dump him in the Red Sea. That's why he did it. So
that everybody would know he's God. That's why he did it. Look
at what he said. Even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he heartens."
And then some silly man says, well why does he yet find fault?
For who has resisted his will? Nay, but old man, Who are you
to question God? Who are you to question God? Well, God can't do that. It wouldn't
be right for God to do that. Why, God just couldn't do such
a thing as that. He did it. You'd best bow down
to him. But, as long as you butt, you'll
butt your way right into hell, right into hell and out of heaven.
You'll just miss it all. You're going to have to bow down
to this God. He's sovereign. He's sovereign. Not only is God
totally sovereign, but all men since the fall of Adam are totally
depraved. Totally. Turn to Romans chapter
3. And I say that man is totally
depraved. I'm telling you that man by nature, since the fall,
is sinful. He's born with a decided bias
toward evil. Sin is not something men and
women learn as they grow up. Sin's what you're born with.
Sin's your nature. Sin is what you come forth from
the womb doing. Sin is the natural bent of man's
will, the natural inclination of man's heart. In verse 9, Paul said, they're
all understands you and Gentiles. As it is written, there's none
righteous, no not one. There's none that understandeth,
there's none that seeketh after God. Now that just blows to smithereens
modern day theology completely. God said there's not anybody
good. God said there's not anybody righteous. God said there's not
anybody who has any understanding in spiritual truth. God said
there's not anybody in all the world by nature who seeks God.
Nobody. As it is written, as it is written,
they have all gone out of the way. They are all together become
unpossessable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. that man at his natural state.
All men by nature are spiritually dead. Alive, yes, physically. Alive, yes, morally. Alive, yes,
intellectually, but spiritually dead. Totally dead. All men by nature are morally
corrupt. That is, all men in their hearts
are exactly the same by nature. Some of us have been restrained
in God's providence from exercising the full vent of our will. Some of us have been restrained
by God's providence from doing the things that we imagined,
thank God. But all of us have the same kind
of heart. All of us. It's a heart full
of adultery and blasphemy and fornication and wickedness and
variance and hatred and murder Every evil there is in this world
is in your heart and mind by nature. Every evil. We're like
a caged lion. You take the children to the
circus when it comes to town and they see the lion in that
cage and they walk by and look at the lion. They want to throw
something in to feed the lion. They might even be foolish enough
to get up close to the cage and maybe as the lion goes by try
to say his name a little bit. But you let the lion out of the
cage. Everybody scatters. Well, God in his providence has
caged this lion in so that we cannot do the things that we're
capable of doing. You might say, well, Pilgrim's
Depravity doesn't mean man's as evil as he could be. Yeah,
it does. He's just as evil as he could be. It simply means
that God doesn't allow him to exercise the evil that he could
exercise if God lets his restraining bars off of him. All men are
morally corrupt, and all men are justly condemned. for all
are sinners, there are no exceptions. David said, in sin did my mother
conceive me. He said, the wicked are estranged
from the womb, they go astray as soon as they're born, speaking
lies. We're dead, we're sinful, we're condemned, and we're utterly
incapable of changing. It's no man's hand coming to
me. except the possible which hath
sent me draw him." That's what he says. He doesn't say he won't,
though he says that in another place. What he says is that man
has no ability in himself to come to me. No man has the inclination,
no man has the desire, no man has the ability to come to God,
because man by nature is dead. He can't do it until God does
something for him. We recognize, clearly taught
in the scriptures, that God has a people whom he has chosen,
whom he will save, having chosen them in unconditional election.
We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you
unto salvation. My friends, let men say what
they will. God does all things for his elect. Everything. I used it as a point
of humor a while ago, but it's a good illustration, Bob. I'll
just use it again. My wife makes some cookies, chocolate cookies,
stuffed full of creamy white ice. They're setting back for
us. And Mother Ponson, Mother Doherty, Mother Campbell, all
had a cookie. And they were licking their fingers,
enjoying those cookies, you know. I just reminded them that the
only reason they got those cookies is cause I'm here. That's right. She didn't make those cookies
for Bob Ponce. No, she made those cookies for me. He just got some
of the density. You follow me? He got to enjoy
them. He was satisfied with the taste
of them, but if Don Fortner hadn't been here, he would never taste
those cookies. She wouldn't have tasted them for him. God Almighty
causes the sun to shine. Hadn't it been beautiful then? Everybody in the world reaps
the benefits of the sun, but He causes it to shine for me.
He causes it to shine for His elect. Oscar and I were talking
this morning. We've had a good season. The
rain has just come at just the right time. The gardens were
flourishing and that unbelieving man, his garden flourishing just
like mine did. The rain came on his garden just like it came
on mine, but God didn't send it for his love, he sent it for
me. Everything God does in this world, he does for his elect,
everything. All of God's elect shall be saved,
and no one but God's elect shall be saved. We know the Lord Jesus
Christ died for us. and effectually accomplish the
eternal redemption of all God's elect. Yes, the Word of God does
teach the doctrine of limited atonement. Give it to you in
one verse, Isaiah 53 verse 8. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. The blood of Jesus Christ is
not limited in its merit, that's foolish. It is not limited in
its sufficiency, that's absurd, but it is limited in its scope,
in its design, and in its intention. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
those people who are actually saved by his precious blood and
no one else. That's clearly the doctrinal
scripture. And God the Holy Spirit effectually, irresistibly calls
all of God's elect to life and faith in Christ. of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth." Let me say something
about this thing of irresistible grace. When I talk about God's
irresistible grace, I'm simply saying this. When the Holy Spirit
sets out to save a man, that man's going to be saved. That's
all. That's what irresistible grace
is. All men, by nature, do and will resist the influence and
the call of God's Spirit. Every time I deal with this thing
of God's sovereign, irresistible, effectual grace, somebody comes
up and says, but I've seen men resist the grace of God. Well,
yes and no. Yes and no. All men resist the
influence of the Word and the influence of the Spirit, but
nobody successfully resists the call of God's Spirit. Nobody. We heard the Word and we stubbornly
held our hearts in rebellion and said, No! And the Spirit
of God called us again by the Word. We said, No! And the Spirit of God revealed
the glory of Christ and His sovereign Lordship and said, Bow down!
And we said, No! We'll never bow! And the Spirit
of God opened our hearts. and called Christ to come and
we willingly bowed down. That's his irresistible grace.
God the Holy Spirit saves men by his sovereign power and when
he calls dead sinners live. Our Lord came to the man who
was being carried out of the city, the widow's name, her son
was being carried out of the city and they were going to take
him out and bury him. And our Lord stopped the funeral
procession, and he said, the young man arrived. Well, that
was a foolish thing to say. That's crazy. That's absurd. Yeah, it is if a man says it.
But for God to say it, that young man arose. Though he was dead,
he got up and walked home that day. Though he was dead. And
as I speak to sinners, If God, the Holy Spirit, speak by me,
I say to dead sinners, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise
from the dead, and Christ shall give thee life! And if God will
speak by me, dead sinners will awake, arise, and have life in
Christ. We recognize also the teachings
of the Scripture, that all of God's elect shall persevere to
the end. no truly saved man ever can or
ever will by any possibility perish. Our Lord said, I give
unto them eternal life. Do you remember the next words?
I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. He said Well I heard such and
such preacher talking about that and this way he explained it.
I don't care how he explained it, this is what God said. They
shall never perish. Not one of them. And the seventh thing is
this. Salvation is entirely by the
grace of God. Entirely by the grace of God.
That may seem very elementary. It may seem that I'm just rehashing
with you old things that you've been familiar with all your life.
I hope that I can get them rehashed where they become just secondary,
no primary. Primary thoughts in your heart
and mind. I read that article that comes
out in our paper by the heretic up here on Lexington Avenue today. And he was again stating that
man is saved by obeying God in baptism. That's just what he
said. He said nobody's saved until
he submits to the commandment of baptism, and when he is baptized,
when he steps into the waters of baptism, he comes into contact
with the blood of Christ so that his sins are put away. It would
seem to me that anybody who reads the scriptures with one eye closed
and the other one nearly blind, if he just reads the scriptures,
will see that it is not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us. We believe on him
and we're justified not by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ. Justified freely by his grace,
apart from any works that we have done. Salvation is by grace
and grace alone. There's not any place, no place,
where our works can end. No place at all. They say, don't
you believe in good works? You know better than that. Of
course I do. I believe all of God's people
perform good works, after fashion, as good as they can. All of God's
people perform works of devotion toward God and love for him.
I know that. But our works, no matter what
they are, shall never merit us one thing with a holy God. Never.
Salvation is by grace in its planning. Salvation is by grace
in its purchase. Salvation is by grace in its
performance. Salvation is by grace in its
preservation. And salvation is by grace in
its glorious perfection. Salvation is of the Lord. That's all. Salvation is of the
Lord. Now, we know that God says things. And that God saves sinners
entirely by his rich, free, sovereign, eternal grace in Christ. We saw
that this morning. Now this evening, I want to try
to answer this question. Why? Why? Why does God save sinners? None of us deserve God's saving
mercy. Not one of us. People talk so
foolishly. You'd think they'd know better,
but they don't. Well, if anybody deserves to go to heaven, surely
such and such person will. Our beloved great aunt passed
away last year, and I don't know how many times I've heard, I've
bit my tongue so often I nearly bit it off. And every other person,
well, if anybody's in heaven, surely Ma is. Will you please understand? Nobody
deserves God's mercy. Nobody. Nobody mimics heaven. Nobody mimics eternal life. Our wages is death because all
we are is sin. The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Not only do we not deserve God's
saving mercy, not one of us has one thing all for God. Not one
of us. Won't you give the Lord your
cattle? God sure could use a man like you. Give the Lord your
heart. What do you reckon he wants with
it? What have you got to offer God?
He owns the cattle on a thousand wheels. He spoke the world into
being. If he were hungry, he wouldn't
ask you for something to eat. If he were thirsty, he wouldn't
ask you to give him something to drink. God's independent,
totally so, of all his creatures. God doesn't need anything from
you. He just does. Churches and religion have bowed
and scraped to men for so long that men have got the silly notion
that somehow God's people just can't get along without them.
God's church just couldn't exist without them. I speak to you
men and women here plainly. We have needs. I'll let you know
what those needs are. But I want to tell you something. The day that I have to go and
ask an unbelieving man for one time That's the day I'll quit
preaching. I promise you. The day I have
to go out to this world and try to persuade men or court men,
court men to come because we need somebody who's got some
money, somebody who's got some influence, the day it happens,
I'll quit. I'll go dig ditches. I'll not
so dishonor God. Abraham went down and delivered
those kings out of the flames. King came to Abraham and he said,
he said, Abraham you take all of this because you've delivered
us and I want to give a great present to you. Abraham said,
I've lifted my hand to God and I'll not take so much as a shoestring
from you lest you should say I have made Abraham rich. We
believe God. We believe God. And we recognize
that God doesn't need anything from men, and we don't need anything
from men as the Church of God. We need God, and only Him. None
of us are needed by God. We can't make Him one iota more
happy than He is. We can't make God more glorious
than He is. We can't add anything to the
greatness, the majesty, and the glory of our God. And even after
we're saved, Not one of us ever has done a single thing or thought
a single thought in our best frame of heart as worthy of God's
notice and acceptance. Not one. And not a man or woman
in this building or anywhere in this world has ever even thought
about doing anything worthy of God. Nothing. Much less anything
worthy of his praise if he wants. For why on earth then does God
say so? Look here and I'll show you.
Ephesians 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Look at verse 6. To
the praise of the glory of his grace. Look at verse 12, that
we should be to the praise of his glory. Look at verse 14,
which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of his glory. Now that's why God
says, if you're saved, that's why I did it. Paul tells us three
things. I'll get them to you as quickly
as I can. The Lord God chose us. He redeemed us, he called
us, and he saved us, Hubert Montgomery, because he delighted to bless
us. Because he delighted to bless us. That's why he did it. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
Before the world was, God blessed us. And let me give you a few
things here. I just jotted some of these things
down. They thrill my soul and bless my heart. Maybe they will
yours. God's the only one who can bless us. He's the only one
who can. The priest in Israel stepped
out after he'd made the sacrifice on the day of the atonement and
lifted his hands and he said, the Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, lift up his
countenance upon thee and give thee strength. but that priest
blessed the people in the name of the Lord. Only God can make
it a blessing. Not only that, men may say and
they may do many good things for us that we count to be blessings,
but God alone can make the good that men do for us to be true
blessings to us. We enjoy many temporal things
that we reap benefits from, and we think they're good, many things.
But only God can make the good that we enjoy to be blessings
to our souls. We usually think that God's blessing
us when the bank account is not overgrown, you know. We're able
to live comfortably and meet our bills and able to buy a few
extras and able to go here and do that. The Lord sure is blessing
us. Watch out. Watch out. It may
be the curse of God rather than the blessing. It may be the trap
of Satan rather than the blessing of God. I'll tell you what, I
haven't had a lot of experience, but in my experience as a pastor, for every one man who has turned
material prosperity to the good of God's church and kingdom,
I can name you ten who have used it for their own purpose. Well,
when the Lord makes it possible now, when the Lord causes this
to grow and we're going to work hard at this business now, when
it flourishes, we'll be able to do some things for God. I wish you would. I wish you
would, but I haven't seen many who did, Father. Not many. Man
looks upon blessing as being the tangible, material good of
this world. God can make your poverty a blessing,
or your riches a blessing, but only God can do it. Only God
can do it. God alone can bless us, and God
has blessed us. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us. Now look at
the blessings. He has blessed us, and when He
blesses, we're blessed indeed. He has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. The blessings of God, you see,
are spiritual. They're not carnal. The blessings
of God are to be judged spiritually, not carnally. The blessings of
God have not to do with the things of time and sense, but with the
things of eternity and the things of the spirit. The blessings
of God are spiritual. through earthly, carnal, mundane
means, bring about spiritual prosperity to our souls, but,
Lindsay, the blessings are spiritual, they're not carnal. We don't
look upon the material things that God gives us as the blessings
in themselves. Those things are simply instruments
that we may use for the glory of God here. The blessing was
given us in Christ before the world was. The blessings of God
upon us are complete and full. He hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings, all of it. Thomas Goodwin said this, if
any one blessing, then all. They hang together and go in
a cluster. When God gives one blessing,
he gives all blessings. The Lord God has given us every
blessing that he can bestow in his grace upon us, every one.
God has given all his children every blessing that his own holiness,
righteousness, and justice can require. And God has given every
believer every blessing that is needful for our eternal welfare
and our eternal happiness. Everything. Everything. Everything
that is possible for a man to enjoy spiritually, God's given
it to everyone. You see God's blessings are given
to us in Christ Jesus and God's blessings cause all things to
be blessings to his elect. Everything. Everything. Turn
over to Job. Job chapter 5. Job's three friends didn't have much heart, but they
did have pretty good theology at times. Here in Job chapter
5 and verse 23, one of Job's friends, Eliphaz, made a statement
that's true of all God's elect. He says in verse 23, Thou shalt
be in lead with the stones of the field, and the beast of the
field shall be at peace with thee. What he's saying is this. God
makes everything blessed to his left. Everything. Over in the
book of Proverbs chapter 12. Proverbs chapter 12 verse 21.
And nothing is a blessing to those who believe not. Nothing
is a blessing to those who are out of Christ. Nothing is. Not
really. But everything is a blessing to God's left. Look at verse
21 of Proverbs 12. There shall no evil happen to
the just. Nothing. For the Henry Edgerton sitting
back there, a few weeks ago he had a heart attack just after
having gallbladder surgery. That's good. That's good my friend. That's good. Now Pastor, how
could you say that? It doesn't mean it's pleasant
to go through. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm not saying it's
pleasant. I'm not saying a fella sits up
there and laughs and gets tickled to death while he's in pain and
misery. We're not crazy. What I am saying
is that God makes it good. God makes it good, whatever it
is. If you belong to him, God makes it good. No evil shall
happen to the just. to me, it's not possible. It
may appear to be evil, it may feel evil, it may hurt like it's
evil, but when God's done with me, he'll prove it was good.
Bless him. But to the wicked, the wicked
shall be filled with mischief. His riches and his prosperity
and his health and his happiness, wealth, being in this world,
shall prove to be mischief to the soul. God's blessings upon
us are heavenly blessings. He blessed us in Christ, and
he blessed us in the heavenlies, that is in the heaven itself. Our blessings are of a heavenly
origin. Our blessings are given, giving
to us a heavenly citizenship. Our blessings have made us to
be partakers of a heavenly calling, and they've given us a heavenly
inheritance reserved for us. Now notice this. It is as our
father that God blesses his elect. Turn back to the book of Matthew
chapter 7. Matthew 7 verse 11. God alone can bless us. God has
blessed us. God makes all things to be blessings
to us. God blessed us in heavenly places. God blessed us in his son. And
God blessed us as our father. I like that. A wise father, a
wise father, and you children listen to me. This would be good
for you to learn if you'd learn it. Michael, your dad knows what's
best for you. He knows what's best for you.
You'll be smart. Pay attention to it. Father,
a wise and good father knows what's best for his son. He knows
what's best for his son to have and when to have it. If he's
wise and he's good, he knows when that boy can be trusted
to go here or go there. He knows when that boy can be
trusted to get out and experience this or experience that. He knows
what the boy needs to wear. He knows how the boy needs to
behave. He knows where he needs to go and where he needs to stay
away from. A wise father does, is that correct? God blesses
us as our father. Look at Matthew 7 verse 11. If
ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven,
give good things to them that ask him?" You all raise your
children, sons and daughters, and if you give everything they
want, and give into their whims and desires, you're going to
raise irresponsible, selfish, spin-thrifts, who never learn
any responsibility, oh no, never. They pitch a Let's pacify the baby, give it
a little cookie, give him what he wants, get him to be quiet,
and next thing you know you've got to pacify him again. Pretty
soon you're pacifying him every time you turn around. Best way
to pacify him is to take a paddle and bust his rear end. That's
the best way to do it. And get it over with first time.
Just get it done first time. And then, child, learn. You don't
get your way by doing that. Teach your children to earn their
way. Not while they're, you know,
crawling around. Wait until they get six months
old anyway. But you teach them responsibilities. You're doing them good. Now your
neighbor may think you're being hard, but you're doing them good.
Good for the kids. They're learning responsibilities. God our Father does not just
open up heaven and pour everything down on his children. No, no,
no. He gives us what's good. Little by little, when we need
it, when it's best for us, everything. He blesses us as our father.
Well, I've got to quit on that part. Let's go to the next part.
God has saved us so that he might bless us. Now listen to this. God has saved us also so that
we might bless him. Look at verse three. Blessed be God. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. How can we bless God? How can
we bless Him? Let me just show you some scriptures. Turn back to the psalm. Psalm
34. We can't give God anything. He
doesn't need anything. We can't add anything to His
happiness. We can't add anything to His glory. Well, how can we
bless Him? We do bless Him if we're His
children. We bless Him. In Psalm 34, verse 1. David said, I will bless the
Lord at all times. Here's how. His praise shall
continually be in my mouth. Look in Psalm 63 in verse 4.
Psalm 63. He said in verse 3, because thy
lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
Thus will I bless thee while I live. I will lift up my hands
in thy name. Turn over to Psalm 96. Psalm
96. Go back up to verse one. Oh,
sing unto the Lord, and you shall. Sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
Sing unto the Lord. Bless his name. Show forth his
salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen,
his wonders among the people. For the Lord is great and greatly
to be praised. He is to be feared above all
gods. Verse six, honor and majesty are before him. Strength and
beauty are in his sanctuary. Verse eight, give unto the Lord
the glory due unto his name. That's how we bless him. Bring
an offering and come into his courts. Oh, worship the Lord
in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him all the earth.
Look in chapter 103 of the Psalms. Psalm 103, verse 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord,
all my soul. Here's how. Forget not all his
benefits. Look in Psalm 134. Psalm 134. Behold, bless ye the Lord, all
ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of
the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and bless the Lord. The Lord that made heaven and
earth bless thee out of Zion. Look in Psalm 145 now, verse
8. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy. The Lord
is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works.
All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, everything will, but
his saints. Thy saints shall bless thee."
How do we bless God? We bless God first and foremost
by believing Him. By believing Him. We talk about blessing Him, and
we talk about praising Him, and we talk about honoring Him. First
and foremost, DC, we bless God when we believe God. It's belief. To believe a son has sinned.
God being merciful to be a sinner, oh how that blesses God. To hear
a man cry out for mercy through the perpetuatory work of Christ,
that blesses God. We bless God while we walk in
this world believing Him. Believing Him. We bless God by
acknowledging and worshiping Him as God. Celebrating all His
activities. My wife, she doesn't do much
to help my humility. Well, sometimes she does, but
most of the time she doesn't do anything to help my humility
and she looks at me cross-eyed, you know, like wouldn't I ever
do anything to lessen your self-esteem. Well, you know, sometimes she'll
honestly criticize the sermon, that type of thing, you know,
if it's too long. Sometimes she'll tell me it's
too long, but usually she'll say things to me like, You've
got to be the best husband a woman ever had. You're the best father
a daughter ever had. Things like that. Well, I know
it's not so. I know it's not so. I'm aware
of that, but boy, I like to hear it. I like to hear it. I like for them to tell me so.
Let me tell you something. We speak to God and celebrate
his attributes, and when we speak and say, there is no God like
our God. That's so. That's so. And he delights to hear it from
others. He alone is gracious and true. He alone is faithful and full
of lovingkindness. He alone is righteous He alone
is infinite in mercy. He alone knows all and has all
power. He alone can do anything He will. He alone is the great God. That's what He is. Just celebrate
His attributes. We bless God when we honor His
Son and give praise to Christ. We bless God when we submit to
and rejoice in God. in all things. I tell you, one of the most striking demonstrations
of a man blessing God, found in all scriptures, is that man
Eli. God killed his two sons, and God killed his sons because
he had been neglectful as a father. The result of his neglect, he
spoiled those boys. He didn't have their own way.
He refused to exercise the rod when he ought to. He refused
to train them and teach them and instruct them. And because
he let them have their way, those two boys were killed. And when
Samuel reported it, Eli said, That's blessing y'all. That's
blessing y'all. I'm not interested in hearing
folks run around and every time they drop the pot on their toe,
holler praise the Lord. I'm not interested in having
folks have a Colgate smile and just so happy and giddy all the
time. That's foolishness. It's put
on. You know it, I know it, they know it, and God knows it. But
I'll tell you what, I'm interested in this. I want in my heart's
attitude to bless God in all of us. Just submit to Him. Just trust Him. Just trust Him. Ease of soul. I told you a little
while ago, God's sovereignty. God, there you was. Now, I preach God's sovereignty
pretty good. I really do. I preach it pretty
good. If I just half believe what I
preach about God's sovereignty, Just had believed it. As it ought
to be believed. There would never be anything
to disturb my soul. Never. Never. Never. So the preacher used to talk
as though we ought to just commit everything into God's hands.
I sure do. Everything. Totally complete. We exercise our responsibilities. I've got that girl right there.
For fourteen years, I have endeavored to exercise responsibility as
a father to her, to train her, to discipline her, to instruct
her in the gospel of Christ, to teach her the ways of God's
grace and His providence. I exercise those responsibilities
with great care. And having exercised those responsibilities,
she's in God's hands. She's in God's hands. The Lord
God Almighty is to be trusted. And when we trust Him, we bless
Him. We bless Him. And we bless God by celebrating
His praise. Oh, in thought and in meditation,
bless the Lord. Oh God, give us great rocks of
truth, great rocks of God, that we may bless them. In song and in praise, blessed
Lord. We sing these hymns of praise
to our God, and sometimes I'd I'm not talking at you now, I'm
talking at me and you. Sometimes I'd like to go along
with a hat pin and just stick everybody in. Just to see if you're awake,
you know. We're celebrating the praise of God. Celebrating His
praise. Now, I don't understand kinda
half-hearted singing about what we do for God, kinda half-hearted
singing about Our goodness, and our works, and our mansions,
and all that kind of stuff. But we'll sing of His grace,
and His mercy, His glory, and His love, His righteousness,
and His truth. Our hearts ought to be lifted
up to celebrate God's praise, and bless Him in prayer, and
above all, in attitude, in heart attitude. Now third way, very
quickly. God has saved us so that he might
be glorified in us and be glorified by us. And my friends, God's
primary purpose in all things is the glory of his own name.
And God is going to be glorified in everything. In everything,
God's going to be glorified. God glorified himself in Pharaoh. And we read in Revelation 19
how that God will be glorified even in the torments of the damned. The psalmist said, surely the
wrath of man shall praise thee, the remainder of wrath without
restraint. God is going to be glorified
in all his creation, everything. But our text tells us that God
has saved us through the praise of the glory of his grace. Marvel of marvel. God could easily be glorified
in taking all of us as Pharaoh and drowning us in the sea. God
could easily be glorified by taking all of us as wretched
sinners and casting us forever into hell. But God's been pleased
to save us for the glory of his grace. For the glory of his grace. God's grace is glorified in the
eyes of men and in our own hearts when he saves sinners such as
we are. God's grace is glorified by us as we walk in this world
before him by faith. And the day is coming when God
shall make us his jewels, and he's going to glorify us,
or going to glorify himself in us. Look at verse 7 of chapter
2. In the ages to come, God saved
us He quickened us together with Christ. He raised us up with
Christ for this purpose, that in the ages to come, he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. God's gonna hold us up. before
wandering worlds and the demons of hell. He's going to say, you
see, I am gracious. I am faithful. Oh, my soul is
peaceful. You see, I am full of loving
kindness and truth. You see, I am righteous and just. You see, I am a God who delighteth
in mercy. You see, I'm a God that loves
and ever likes to be loved. Here's the proof. Here's the
proof. And God shall be glorified in
us. Because he saved us that we should
be to the praise of the glory of his name. God bless our Father. to glorify Thee. These feeble words of mine have
been presented with weakness, but
I ask that you'll drive them home to the hearts of your children
with power, so that as we go forth from this place tonight,
in our hearts that we may bless thee. You've blessed us. Now grant
us another blessing, Father. Enable us in our hearts to bless
you. And hasten the day when our God shall be in all
things glorified. And that day when we shall be
made over again into the glorious
likeness of your Son. And we shall stand eternally
to the praise of the glory of your grace. Oh, there is no God like our
God. No Savior like our Savior. No mercy like the mercy you've
given us. We ask that you'll be pleased
tonight to call sinners to see your glory in Christ and to glorify
you by believing your word, trusting your son, For Christ's sake I
pray, amen. Good evening to you.