Would you turn back to Luke,
the fourth chapter? I want to remind you, we're trying
to give a gift to Joseph Murphy in Mexico, he's needing a Used
vehicle. His car's got 280,000 miles on
it. It's broken down several times.
He's getting a transmission, putting it now, and he can sell
that one if he gets it fixed. And we want to help him in any
way we can. So if you have a gift for him,
just mark it on your check. Tonight, I'm going to be speaking
from the 13th chapter of 2 Corinthians, where Paul said this we wish.
Even your perfection. Even your perfection. And I want
to speak tonight on perfection, it has something to do with maturity
and growth. I've entitled the message for
this morning. Temple goers turned lynch mob. Now, that's what took place.
Temple goers, there was a religious gathering. People gathered together
to hear the scriptures read, to hear the word preached. And
after they heard what was said, they became so infuriated that
they took the Lord Jesus Christ, they picked him up. I can see
him there. They're carrying up a hill to
throw him down a cliff and kill him. Now, what took place? Beginning in verse 16, let's
read of what led up to this. And he came to Nazareth where
he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he'd opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, the spirit of the Lord
is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight
to the blind. To set at liberty them that are
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed
the book, and gave it to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto
them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bearing witness and wondered
at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said,
Is not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, You will
surely say unto me this proverb, physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever
we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in
his own country. But I tell you of a truth. Many
widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven
was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was
throughout all the land. But unto none of them was Elijah
sent, save unto Sarepta, the city of Sidon, unto a woman that
was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel
in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them were cleansed
save Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue
when they heard these things were filled with wrath. Now the Lord said, you hear me and you don't believe. You don't accept my person. You
don't bow to who I am. You don't believe my claims.
But it's no different today than it was back in Elijah's day. There are a whole lot of widows
in Elijah's day in Israel. And it was a time of great famine
and great need. And the Lord did not send Elijah
to even one of these widows. He let him go. And he sent his
prophet to a Gentile widow. And there were a lot of lepers
in Israel during the days of Elisha, a lot of lepers dying. And the Lord did not send his
prophet to even one of them. But he sent his prophet to a
Gentile by the name of Naaman. He sovereignly decided to send
his prophets to Gentiles and pass by all these Israelites. You don't believe me. You don't
bother what I'm saying. But it's no different today than
it was back then. Now, these people were angry
at this. What was our Lord saying? Our
Lord at this time was declaring and you listen real carefully.
Our Lord was declaring the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation. You don't believe? Well, God's
passed you by. As an act of His irreprehensible
justice and sovereign will, He's passed you by. And that's when these people
became so angry. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Romans chapter 9? The sovereignty of God in salvation. Here's what the sovereignty of
God in salvation is. Verse 11. For the children. Talking about
Jacob and Esau being not yet born. Neither having done any good
or evil. Twins out of the same womb, hadn't
been born, so obviously they didn't have any good works or
bad works at this time. Twins in the same womb. That the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. That's God speaking. What should we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? Is God unfair in loving Jacob
and hating Esau? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth. Now, the next time you hear somebody
talk about free will, remember this verse. It's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth. Man's efforts and exertion but
of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, and it's God speaking to Pharaoh, and I love the way
when the scripture speaks, God speaks. The scripture said to
Pharaoh, and that scripture hadn't been written yet. Yeah, but God
is the scripture. He's the one who speaks. The
scripture saith unto Pharaoh, 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, have
he mercy on whom he will have mercy. And whom he will, he hardens. Now that's God speaking. Whom
he will, he shows mercy to. Whom he will, he hardens. Verse 19. Well, that was saying
to me, why does he yet find fault for who has resisted his will?
If he's determined to harden me, how can I be held responsible
for my sin if that was his will? That's not fair. I love Paul's
answer. David, old man, who are you to
reply against God? Since when are you in the position
where you can stand in judgment of God and say, I agree with
this or I don't agree with that? You're not in that position. Now, these people were so angry
with these words of divine sovereignty in salvation, and I'm wondering
what you're thinking. I'm wondering what I'm thinking. What's going
on in your mind when you think of whom he will he has mercy
toward? If he wants to save you, he can.
And if he wants to pass you by, he can do it. If he wants you
to go to hell and let you go to hell, that's in his hands. Whatever he does is right. Now,
what is your response to this? I see what their response was.
They wanted to throw him off a cliff. Now, men always have
and always will hate the sovereignty of God in salvation. Now, men will allow, so to speak,
God to be sovereign in creation. He's the one who created the
universe. Most folks believe that. Men,
to some extent, will allow his sovereignty and providence. Well,
there's a reason for everything. There's some kind of reason.
Some kind of good is going to come out of this. I believe there's
a reason for everything. But to declare his sovereignty
in salvation, he has mercy on whom he will have mercy. And
whom he will, he hardens. This stirs up the enmity of men
toward God. This creates this gnashing of
teeth and this desire to murder the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, our
Lord gives these two examples. The heavens refused to give rain
for three years and six months. And there's a mighty famine throughout
the land. And there are many poor widows
in Israel who don't have anything to drink and no way of sustenance. And God does not send his prophet
to any of them. And he sends them to a Gentile
woman who was a widow. And then there were many lepers
in Israel. God didn't send his prophet to
any of those lepers. They died in their leprosy and
he sent his prophet to a Gentile by the name of Naaman and healed
him. Now in both of these instances
we see the freeness and the sovereignty of God's grace. Now I'd like
us to probe a little deeper, there are two words I want us
to consider. Look back in our text in Luke
chapter 4, verse 26. But unto none of them was Elias
sent. That's the first word I want
us to consider. Sent. And then The second word I'd
like us to consider is in verse 27, and many lepers were in Israel
in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them were cleansed. Saved, saving name in this area. The second word I want us to
consider is cleansed. Two very important words, sent
and cleansed. If I send someone to do something. I have a particular intention
in sending them, don't I? It's not just kind of some kind
of generic vague, well, I'm going to send you out. After what?
There's an intent. There's a purpose. The Lord talked
about him being sent. Back in verse 16. He came to
Nazareth where he'd been brought up, and his custom was he went
in the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of Isaiah the prophet.
And when he opened the book, he found the place where it's
written, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me. There's
the word is again. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captive. Recovering aside to
the blind and to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. Now, he's sent. He's sent. I want to show you some scriptures
from John, chapter six, which you hold your finger there and
look for in John, chapter six. You know, he's called the apostle
and high priest of our profession. You know what the word apostle
means? It means the sent one. The sent one. He is the sent
one of God. Now look in verse 29 of John
chapter 6. Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom
he hath sent. You don't merely believe on him. You believe on him whom he hath
sent. He was sent for a purpose. Look in verse 35 of the same
chapter, and Jesus says unto him, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But
I said unto you that you also see me and believe not. Now, he looks at these fellows
and he says, you see me and you don't believe what I'm saying.
You don't believe me. You believe not. Verse 37. It's as if he said, that's not
a discouragement to me. And here's why. All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will,
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. Now here's the Father's will
which is sent me, that everybody he gave me in eternal election
I save." That's God's will. That's the will of Him that sent
me. And I'm going to raise him up at the last day, verse 40.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth the Son and believeth on him, seeing who I am and relying
on me, every one of those people may have everlasting life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. Look in verse 44. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me. Draw him, and I'll raise him
up at the last day. It's written in the prophets
that they shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me. Now, it's obvious from these
verses that he was not sent for everybody. Now, isn't that clear? He was not sent for everybody. It was never his intention to
save everybody. Well, who is he sent for then?
He identified these people very clearly. Back to Luke chapter
four. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
verse 18, people whose hearts are no good. To preach deliverance
to captives, people who are captives, not people who are free, but
people who are in jail and can't get out. He sent me for the recovering
of sight to the blind, people who can't see why God would ever
look in favor toward them. And to set at liberty them that
are bruised, crushed and disabled, to preach the acceptable year
of the Lord, the year of jubilee to slaves, that's who he came
to save. That's what he was sent to do. Now, the next word is cleansed. Look once again in verse 27.
We see who he was sent for, he was sent for a particular people
and look in verse 27. And many lepers were in Israel
in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them were cleansed,
save Naaman the Syrian. Well, who needs cleansed? Somebody who's unclean. Somebody
who is filthy. Now, in this thing of cleansing,
I know this. I know exactly what that leper
meant when he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. This is what I need. I need to
be cleansed. Now, in the word of God. There
are three things that are said to cleanse the believer. First,
the will of God. If He wills your cleansing, you
know what? You are clean. If thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. Secondly, the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The blood of Christ cleanseth
us, the scripture says. The blood of His Son cleanseth
us, washes away and makes us clean. So when God sees me, there's
no filth, there's no sin, there's nothing but that which is pleasing
in His sight. were cleansed by the blood of Christ. Hebrews
1-3 says, when He by Himself purged, cleansed, put away, purified
our sins, He sat down at the right hand of God and was said
to be cleansed by the Word. The Word. Now are you cleansed
through the Word, the Gospel, the message I've spoken to you.
Now are you cleansed through the Word. Now, who is cleansed? Well, the people he cleansed. Everybody he died for. Everybody
he purposed to save. Now, what is your personal response
to who he sent for and who he cleanses? How do you respond
to that? Now, these people had a very
negative response to this, didn't they? They were so angry they
wanted to murder the Lord Jesus Christ over this. He was taking
away what they were hoping in. And they were angry. Their response
was that of hatred and bitterness and enmity, finding fault with
God and thinking God is harsh and wrong. What kind of what
kind of God would do something like that? That was their response. What is your response? What is
my response? Well, let me show you a more
favorable response to the sovereignty of God and salvation. Turn with
me to Matthew, chapter 15. Verse 21, Then Jesus went this, and departed
into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts,
and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son
of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. This woman came for the right
thing. Mercy. She came with a great need. And
she knew who the Lord was. The son of David, that's pretty
impressive resume, isn't it? I want to come just the way this
woman came. Verse 23. But. He answered her. Not. A word. She's crying for mercy. And he
does not respond to her. You ever felt that way? Where
you ask for mercy and you know that your prayer is not getting
any further than the ceiling. You know that. Silence. The silence of God. He answered
her, not a word. And his disciples, verse 23,
came and besought him, saying, Send her away. For she crieth
after us. How hard hearted were the disciples
at this time? I mean, she heard him say he's
not going to have anything to do with this. You ought to go on. Verse 24. But he answered and said. I'm
not sent. Remember this issue of sending?
Who's he sent for? Well, he tells us who he's not
sent for. He said, I'm not sent for anybody but the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. Now, he says to this woman in
no uncertain terms, who's seeking mercy from him, I only came to
save the elect. And that's what he says. Now,
what is her response to this? What's your response? If you
come to Christ and say, I need your mercy, I need your grace,
and he says, I only came to save the elect. You shut up to that. How did this woman respond? Then. Perhaps not before then. Then
came she. And. Worshiped. worshiped. Even if you don't have mercy
on me. Even if you don't heal my daughter. Even if you pass me by. You are who you are. And you're
worthy of worship. And I worship. Now, do you worship? In response to whatever he says,
I don't care what it is. Do you worship? You know, you'll only worship
a sovereign. If you can manipulate him, there's
no worship involved. If you can get him to respond
to you, there's no worship involved. You'll only worship an absolute
Sovereign. Now, if you don't worship this
sovereign, you don't worship at all. Then came she and worshiped
him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, it's
not me to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. Rough language. And she said, truth, Lord. And that's a believer's response
to everything he says. Truth, Lord. Truth, you only
came to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And truth,
I'm no more than a dog and I wouldn't dare seek a place setting. I wouldn't dare do that. Yet
the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.
I may be a dog, I may not consider myself a child, but I'm your
dog, and even the dogs are dependent upon the crumbs that fall from
the master's table.' Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O
woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt." And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. True story. There was a man in
France. And the leader of France thought
a lot of this man. And he said, I'm going to send
you into a ship with a bunch of galley slaves. And I don't
care what they've done. You pick out one that you want
to have mercy toward. and he'll have mercy and you
can set him free. So this man goes into this ship
knowing that he has the power to grant mercy to someone. So he begins to interview some
people. The first man he came to had
been sentenced to 10 years as a galley slave. Can you imagine
what a miserable existence that would be just rowing and rowing
in that dark, dirty, dingy, filthy place? Ten years. And he asked
the man, why are you here? He said, well, I've been treated
unfairly. My crime did not warrant this
judgment. The man thought, well, he doesn't
need mercy. He needs justice. That's what
he needs. So he comes to another man and
this man admitted to what he had done. I am guilty of the
crime, but My circumstances were such that who could blame me
for doing what I did. I mean, I was I had to because
of my circumstances. I wasn't really treated fairly. And the man who had mercy in
his hand thought this person doesn't need mercy. This person
needs justice. So there was another man he comes
to as a galley slave. And this man says, I've been
falsely accused. I did not do what they've accused
me of. Now, here's another man who didn't
need mercy. He needed justice. So he came
to another man who admitted doing bad things. Indeed, they were
bad, but there were others who had done much worse and they
weren't being punished as he was. Once again, not someone
who needed mercy. Someone who needed justice. He finally came to a man and
he said, why are you here? And he said, I deserve everything
I'm getting. And if they knew the truth of
the matter, they would have had me executed. I deserve everything
coming to me. And when that man heard that,
he said, oh, here's not somebody who needs justice. Here's someone
who needs mercy. And he said, you're free. And
that fellow walked out scot free. Mercy. Would you turn with me to Luke
chapter 18. Verse 9. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray. The one a Pharisee and the other
a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. He thought he was praying to
God, didn't he? But he wasn't. He was praying thus to himself. And look at his prayer. God,
I thank thee. He gave God the credit. I'm far
too humble to give myself the credit for the wonderful person
I am. I'm going to give God the credit. God, I thank thee. I'm no Arminian. I'm giving God the praise. God,
I thank thee. So far, so good. But what does
he thank him for? that I am not as other men. He looked at his life. I'm not like other people. I'm
better. I'm giving you the credit. But
I'm not like other people. Now, for one thing, he was using
a corrupt standard. Other people are evil. If you
compare yourself to other people and you think I'm better than
them, you're using a corrupt standard. I thank you that I'm
not as other men. So. He also then commenced to
talking about what all he did, let's go on reading. I'm not as other men are extortioners,
unjust adulterers, Or even as this public of this poor pathetic
creature standing back there in the back. I fast twice in
the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Now, let me say one real clear
thing about this fella. This sounds impressive and we're
impressed with his religiosity and perhaps intimidated by it.
But it was all a lie. Everything he said was a lie. Everything he said he didn't
do, he did do. And everything he said he did
do, he didn't do. It was all a lie. I fast twice in the week and
give tithes of all that I possess, verse 13. And the publican, standing afar off, he didn't believe himself to
even have any business there. He would not lift up so much
as his eyes unto heaven. He was so ashamed, but he smote
upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner,
the worst man to ever live. That is how he viewed himself. The worst man, the most sinful,
the most weak, the most vile man to ever live. In the original,
the definite article is used, God be merciful to me, the sinner. Now, here are the words of our
Lord. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. You know what that
means? No guilt. No sin. Just before God. This man went down to his house
justified rather than the other. And here is the unalterable law
of the kingdom of heaven for everyone that exalts himself. shall be abased, and every one that humbles himself
shall be exalted." Now, we're to come into the presence of
the great Sovereign of the universe. Holy and reverend is His name. Whatever He does is right, just,
holy, and true. And whatever He does with me
is right, just, holy, and true. We come into the presence of
the great Sovereign of the universe with the rope around our neck,
confessing our guilt before Him. I cast myself at Your mercy,
looking only to the sacrifice of Your Son. Now, if you do that,
And you perish anyway. I'll perish right with you. But
bless God, there's never been a sinner who asked for mercy
that God didn't save. It's never happened. I got a
letter from somebody just this week that said, does this mean
you say that Christ only died for the elect? Does this mean
that if I want to be saved from my sins, I can't be because Christ
only died for the elect? No, it doesn't mean that. Anybody
who asks for mercy. Will be saved. You see, sovereign
election is not the sinner's enemy. It's the sinner's friend. Election does not keep people
from being saved who would have otherwise been saved It keeps
people from being damned who would have otherwise been damned. You believe that? That's the
truth. Election. These folks wanted
to kill the Lord over it. Well, let me tell you this. If
you're a sinner, the only hope you have is sovereign mercy and
grace. And the only thing that prevents
someone from delighting in sovereign mercy and sovereign grace is
self-righteousness. That's the only thing. If you
don't rejoice in this, it's because you believe you've got something
that recommends you to God. And this is taking away what
you believed in. That's the only reason you wouldn't
rejoice in this. But if you are a real sinner,
like this publican was, this is going to be your only plea.
God, Be merciful to me, the sinner. And you make that plea before
God. You will hear Him say, I tell you, this
man went down to his house justified. Perfectly righteous before God. Let's pray together.