there's a struggle, there's a
warfare that rages in every believer's heart. And I do pray, Father,
that you would put down all rebellion in our hearts and minds, that
you would lift up our eyes to see Christ magnified, Christ
honored, that your name should be glorified in this place and
in the hearts of your people. I do beg you this morning, forgive
us our sins. Cleanse us of our unrighteousness. And the grounds of our request
is the blood and righteousness of thy son. We plead for these
things. And we're thankful for your word
that gives us hope in this, that you are faithful and just. to forgive us our sins and cleanse
us of our unrighteousness. If there be any today outside
of Christ that you would be gracious, that you would draw them by the
power of your spirit to yourself, that you would bring them into
the refuge and that they should flee the refuge of lies and cling
fast to Christ and be found in Him. I do ask for Your grace to give
me, open my mind and my heart, that I may speak the truth in
plainness and clarity, and that, Father, You would give it to
Your people as an act of sovereign mercy. And we plead for these things
in the name of Jesus, our Savior, and for His sake. Amen. All right, take your Bibles and
turn with me to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. A text will be found in verse
24 through verse 27. I've entitled this message in the
form of a question What does it take to save a sinner? If you are a sinner, this is
a question of great necessity. What does it actually take to
save you? The scripture says, Therefore
saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel. This
is what he says. I will ease me of mine adversaries
and will avenge me of mine enemies. And then he gives a message of
grace. And I will turn my hand upon
thee and purely purge away thy dross and take away all thy tin
and I will restore thy judges as at first and thy counselors
as at the beginning. Afterward, thou shalt be called
the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be
redeemed with judgment and her converts with righteousness. Now, the first part of this chapter
before this is a treasure trove of great doctrines, wonderful
truths. that God lays out. He begins
this message to Isaiah, and he tells him in verse 2, Hear, O
you heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. Now, this is important. This
that we are declaring is not the Word of man. It is, in fact,
the Word of God. This is not something we make
up. This is not something I desire to add anything to. I desire
to tell you what God says and let it fall where it may. It's
God's word. Whether you like it or you don't,
that's not up to me. And I'm going to show you a minute.
It's not really up to you. Look what he says. The first
doctrine he lays out is the absolute utter depravity of man. Look
what he says. He says, I have nourished and
brought up a children and they have rebelled against me. An
ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel
doth not know my people, doth not consider. God first declares
the ignorance of his people. They have rebelled, and this
is why. They're stupid. You're dumber than an ox and
an ass, is what he just said. That's an insult, just in case
you missed it. But it is true, an ox, he knows
his owner. An ass knows where he lays his
head, but my people don't know anything. Why? Because they've rebelled. Look what he says in verse 6,
he says, From the sole of the foot, even to the crown of the
head, there is no soundness, none whatsoever. He is comparing
you and I to a leper. that is fully, completely covered
in leprosy. There is no wellness in you,
not at all. But wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores, they have not been closed, neither bound up nor mollified
with ointment. This is God's declaration, not
only of Israel, but of all men by nature. This is who we are. We are ignorant of God's righteousness,
therefore we go about to establish our own. We have rebelled against
God. But notice the second doctrine
is this. The doctrine of election is verse
9. Look at this. Except the Lord of hosts had
left a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and
we should have been like unto Gomorrah. We're going to study this a little
bit further, but had God not chosen a remnant, We all would
have been as the sodomites. All of us. You got that? All
of us. Without the doctrine, without the truth of God's sovereign
election, there would be no salvation. It's the root of all salvation. We're going to see that in a
minute. Had God not left a remnant, what would happen? What did God
say would happen? Had I not chosen a remnant, We
all would have been as Sodom and Likened to Gomorrah. The
third thing is God's contempt for all works religion. Look,
you see this in verses 11 through verse 15. He said, to what purpose
is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, saith the Lord? I'm full
of the burnt offerings of rams and fat of fed beasts. I delight
not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of goats. When
you come to prepare before me, who hath required this at your
hand to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations.
Incense is an abomination unto me, new moons and Sabbaths and
calling assemblies. I cannot away with it. It is
iniquity. Isn't this amazing? God established
his law, told him to make the sacrifices. And you know what
he said about your sacrifices? Not sufficient. God is plainly declaring this,
your works is not enough. He said, I can't away with it
fast enough. It's iniquity. Do you understand that the best
works we do is nothing but sin? The best thing. Later on, the
Isaiah tells us all our righteousnesses are as minstrel calls. before the eyes of God. And so
what does God think of works religion? I can't away with it
fast enough. It's an abomination unto me.
He says in verse 15, when you offer prayers, I won't even hear
you. Verses 16 through 17, God gives
a means of conviction now. Listen, God gives a demand here.
This is a command to all sinners. Wash ye, wash ye. Make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings
before me, before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do
well. You know what he's doing? He's
showing you an impossibility. If you want to come before me,
go wash yourself. Learn to do good and stop doing
evil. Okay, who's done that? This is a means of conviction.
He's not really giving you something to do. He's giving you something
impossible to do. He's declaring something impossible,
and this brings conviction. God commands this. This is not
an option. This is a necessity. If you were
to stand before God, you must be as holy as God. There is no subpar level of holiness. You're either holy or you're
not. God says you must be holy. Go
wash yourself. Stop doing evil and do good. The fifth thing, verse 18, God
gives a promise, a promise to those who are convicted. To you
that are convicted, here is the promise. Look, come, let us reason
together. Sayeth the Lord, though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they
be red like crimson, they shall be wool. God says, let's do some
divine reasoning. You come reason with me and I'll
show you how you can be clean. I'm going to show you how. You that cannot Wash yourself. This reasoning is only given
to one of conviction and need. Is there anyone who needs washing? Then God says, come to me. If you can't wash yourself, if
you can't cease from doing evil and doing good, God says, come
to me and let's reason about this. What a gracious word, isn't
it? Here's divine promise of reasoning. You that need washing, I'll wash
you. You that can't wash yourself,
I'll do it. You that can't stop doing evil
and do good, I'll be your righteousness. Here's the divine reasoning.
But all who refuse, all who will rebel shall be consumed. This
is another promise. Look at that. He says in verse
20, But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured with the
sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. And in verses
21 through 24, God marvels. Now, this is an amazing thing.
God condescends to our understanding to marvel at something. You know
what He marvels at? He marvels at the utter depravity
of our nature. How far we have fallen. God marvels
at the distance that we have failed. When God made man, he
made him upright, he made him without sin, and yet know that
it was this, he says, how has the faithful city become a whore? That's what God calls us by nature. That's pretty offensive, isn't
it? True. We've sold our souls for the
lust of our flesh. How far has man fallen? He says thy silver is become
as dross and thy wine is mixed with water. We're going to see
this that dross and tin in our text is nothing but sin. God made us to be a silver. God
made man to be a silver as gold. He made him to be precious. He
made him to be valuable. But now that he has fallen, he
is nothing but dross and tin. There's no silver in him. There's
no good in him. And this is what God swears.
He swears this. I'm going to cast off all my
enemies. Everyone, listen to me. Outside of Christ, God is
going to throw you off as easily as he throws off a piece of cloth.
He said, I will away with my enemies. I will destroy my enemies. I
will ease myself mine adversaries. If you're outside of Christ,
you're an enemy of God, you're without righteousness, and all
your works are useless. All your religion is vain. and
you have no hope to stand before God in yourself. But let me talk to those who
need cleansing. You see, my message is not for
the righteous, but for sinners. If you're righteous in yourself,
you might as well go. I got nothing for you. If you
are a sinner, I got plenty. I got a good message for sinners.
If you need cleansing, how then, the question comes then, how
then does God save a sinner? How does God save a sinner? Well, He does it by divine power
and grace. Now, if you don't get anything
else out of this, you listen to me. This is the sum of my
message. Salvation is of the Lord. This
is the sum of it. What does it take to save a sinner?
It takes God to save a sinner. It takes the power of God. It
takes the grace of God to save a sinner. And that's it. There
is no other thing that can save a sinner. Salvation is of the
Lord. If you are to be righteous, then
God must make you righteous. If you are to be righteous, God
must do it. If you are to be redeemed, God must do it. Now
I've got four divisions. Mark them close. What does it
take to save a sinner? Divine resolution. In order for a sinner to be saved,
God must will him to be saved. The second thing is divine redemption. If God has willed a man to be
saved, He therefore must redeem him. The third thing is divine regeneration. If God willed to save a sinner
and Christ redeemed that sinner, that sinner must be regenerated
by the power of God. And if that sinner is to ever
be restored, this is the fourth thing, divine restoration. If
that sinner is ever to be restored to God, God must do it. Now,
first thing, divine resolution. Look at your text. Look at your
text with me. 25. God says, and I will turn my
hand to thee. This is a divine resolution. A resolution of mercy. A resolution of mercy. God declares,
I will avenge me of my enemies, but has purpose to show mercy
unto thee. Now who is that? Well, that's
the ones he referenced in verse nine, the remnant. Had God not
left a remnant, we'd all been a Sodom and Gomorrah. He is speaking
to the remnant. The elect. God says, I will turn
my hand upon thee. God's determination is not for
every man, but only upon the remnant of Israel. And the thing to be determined
is salvation. Notice, I will turn my hand upon
thee, and here's the determination, salvation, to purge away, purely
purge away thy dross and take away thy tin. Remember, dross
and tin are a picture of sin. God swears to thee, the remnant,
I'm going to do something and I'm going to do this. I'm going
to take away your sin. So then the Holy Spirit is here
instructing that salvation begins with the will of God. Go to Romans
9. This is my line. Okay, just checking. I don't want to make things much
longer. Romans chapter 9, the first part
of this, Paul is describing who true Israel is. From verses 1
down through verse 10, his whole purpose here is to describe Israel.
Israel is not that people over there in Palestine. That's not
Israel. It's a nation called Israel.
That's not really Israel. The descendants of Abraham are
not really Israel. They are physically, and they
inherited the physical promises of God, and they were blessed
by those physical promises. But that didn't make them the
children of God. Who is it? Children of promise. And he describes
who the children of promise are by these two sons. He says in
verse 11, for the children, being not yet born, neither having
done good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said
to her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Now what was the
purpose of God to do this? You see, the promise was to Abraham,
and then it was given to Isaac, okay? And Isaac had two sons
in the womb of one mother. They were both sons of Isaac,
Yet God made a distinction between them before they were born. He told the mother, He said,
I've chosen this one, the younger. I love Jacob and I hate Esau
before they were born. For what purpose did God reveal
this? That you should understand that salvation is by the sovereign
election of God. That's what he's telling you,
what he's testifying of. That's why he said it. That the
purpose of God according to election might stand. So then, this is
the purpose that salvation is not of him that willeth, or runneth,
worketh. It's God that shows mercy. Now, why did God manifest His
love to Jacob and hatred to Esau before they were born? So that
God should manifest this truth of election should be established
The salvation is not based on the works or will of man, but
the sovereign will of God. And look what the objection is.
There's going to be an objection. There always is. I've heard this
objection thousands of times and it doesn't matter. Give the
same answer, Paul. Is God unjust? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Paul says, God forbid. In no
way is God unjust for sovereign election. No way. The evidence He gives is the
word He spoke to Moses. For He saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. You know, mercy by the very definition
means undeserved. Isn't that right? If it's mercy,
then it's not deserved. If there's anything you can do,
it's justice you want, not mercy. God says, I will have what? Mercy. Now, for somebody who needs mercy,
that's a pretty good statement. For somebody who don't deserve
mercy, That's an astounding statement. I will have mercy. Isn't that
good? They just don't like this next
part. On whom I will have mercy. I'll have compassion. Oh, that's
good. I need compassion. On whom I
will have compassion. And what's the conclusion? So
then, here's the conclusion of it all. So then, it is not of
him that... What? Why is there an Arminian church
anywhere in this world? It's just foolishness. A man
for begging, he thinks he can earn something, do something.
So then it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. See religion running? They're
running. Man, they are fast. They are
strong. They run. They do a lot. I'm not saying what they do is
bad. They do a lot of good things, according to me. I mean, they
build houses and feed the hungry. That's not bad. Well, that's
good enough to merit my favor, but not God's. Not of him that runneth, but
God that showeth what? Mercy. So this mercy then is
based upon the will of God. It's not based on the will of
man or the works of man. And again, God uses an ultimate
reference of Holy Scripture in verse 17. For the scripture saith
unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up
that I might show my power in thee, that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Did Pharaoh have a shot in hell
of ever being saved? Nope. Why? God would not have
mercy. He said, I raised you up just
to show my power unto my people. Therefore, he hath mercy on whom,
what? He will have mercy. And what about the rest? and whom he will he hardeneth."
Who does the mercy and who does the hardening? God says, I do
it. Now, we know that election, my
friend, is not salvation. It is unto salvation. But if
there were no election, you mark this down, there would be no
salvation. Had God not made a determinate resolution, To save a people,
none would be saved. I like to sing this hymn back
home. "'Tis not that I did choose thee, for Lord, that could not
be. This heart would still refuse
thee, had thou not chosen me. Thou from sin that stained me
has cleansed and set me free. Thou from old hath ordained me. that I should live to thee. This
is the teaching of our text that salvation is not by the will
of man but by the will of God. God said, I will turn my hand
upon thee. Now what did he mean by hand?
This is a resolute will. God willed to do something for
the remnant. What did he will to do? He willed
to turn his hand to them and save them. That's what he means.
I will. I'm going to destroy my enemies,
but you, I've determined to turn my hand, not of judgment, but
of mercy to you. How do we know it's mercy? He
said, I'm going to take away your ten. That's what he's talking
about. Turn my hand to you to take away your sin. To take away
your sin. This is recorded in Zechariah
chapter 13. God tells us how he's going to
do this. He says this in Zechariah 13,
verse 7, awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man
that is my fellow. Who is that? That is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He had determined to save us
by the death of Christ. This is the will of God. So he
not only determined to save you, he determined how he would save
you. Are you getting the picture?
He's not leaving anything to the imagination. He's going to tell
you exactly what he determined to do and exactly how he's going
to do it. He says he's going to smite the
shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. And after that,
he's going to do something. He said, I will turn my hand
to the little ones. To the little ones. God purposed
to save us, and the means of His salvation was by the death
of Jesus Christ. And He swears, when He dies,
I will turn My hand of compassion to the little ones. Turn to Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63. Still talking about
the will of God in this. Isaiah 63 and verse 4. God says, for the day of vengeance
is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. What is he talking about here? Behold the resolution of God,
His vengeance and the day of redemption, both the same day.
The day the Lord Jesus Christ hung upon the cross, His vengeance
was in full display. For what purpose? To redeem. To redeem. That His time of salvation
had come. That His Redeemer had come. And now God looks in verse 5.
He said, I looked and there was none to help. I wondered and
there was none to uphold. Therefore, mine own arm brought
salvation to me, and my fury it upheld me. God is saying He
looks out upon the mass of fallen humanity and He sees one of His
elect and He looks in compassion toward him. And He sees this,
there was none to help him. When the Lord looked and saw
me, He saw this, there was none to help me. I couldn't help myself
and there was no one else could help me. And so what did He do? He said, Therefore, my own arm
brought salvation to me. My own arm. God purposed that
His arm. Who is that? That's Christ. He
is the arm of God. He is the strength of God. He
is the salvation of God. He is the one that brought redemption. You see, there's one of God's
elect wandering in the wilderness of sin, dead in his sins, ignorant
of his need. running madly to hell, and God
says this, I brought his salvation with my own arm. All the elect that God has purposed
to save had no intercessor, no man to mediate. Therefore, God
made Christ to be our mediator, our representative, our high
priest, and that Christ should come and merit all our salvation. That's exactly how it's stated
in Ephesians chapter 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, in Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Christ, when? Before the foundation of the
world. For what reason? That we should
be holy and without blame. before him. What was his motivation? In love. In love. Having predestinated
us under the adoption of children, listen to the means, by Jesus
Christ to himself. according to the good pleasure
of his resolution his will to the praise of the glory of his
grace wherein he hath made us something that we weren't by
nature made us accepted in the beloved and you know this at the appointed
time then God revealed it to us God revealed it to us Behold
the grace of the omnipotent arm of God's salvation that brought
it to us. I like to think of old Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth, the son of Saul.
David, when he ascended to the throne, he had every right to
kill his adversaries. And there was Mephibosheth, couldn't
run. And David told his soldiers,
go fetch him. Now David had a reason to fetch
him. You know why? David had already
purpose to show mercy. For Jonathan's sake. There was
a covenant made for Mephibosheth before Mephibosheth was born.
Before he fell and broke. David had made a covenant with
Jonathan. And after the death of Jonathan,
you can't write this stuff. You just can't come up with this.
This was 700, this was more closer to 1,000 years before Christ
came into the world. And there's Bephibosheth, he
said, go fetch him. Why? I'm going to show him mercy.
When those soldiers came to Eusippo, Bephibosheth thought, well, gee,
David's going to show me mercy. No, they grabbed him and they
took him And they threw him down at the feet of David. And David
said, I'm going to show mercy. And what did Mephibosheth say?
What is thy servant that you should look upon such a dead
dog as I am? That's exactly how God determined
to save us sinners, by covenant. with Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. And notice this will of God.
He said the object, he says, in poem B, we know this, that
these are the elect. These are the ones that God will
have mercy, that He will turn His hand of salvation toward
all the ones that He had chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Now, the second part is the salvation
of sinners requires a divine redemption. Not only does it
require a divine will, a divine redemption. You see, no man could
ever be accepted of a holy God unless his sins are removed.
Now, God willed that you should be holy. But in fact, our sins
must be of necessity removed. God says, I will turn my hand
upon thee. But how? Here it is. I will purely, completely,
perfectly purge away thy dross and take away thy tins. Friends, this was the work of
Jesus Christ. To purge our sins. To purge our
sins. Go over to Malachi. Right before
Matthew. Last book of the Old Testament,
Malachi chapter 3. It's a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
God's going to describe to us His work. When He comes, God
purposed Him to save us. And when He comes, God describes
to us exactly His work. Look at this. He said, Behold,
in verse 1, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way
before me. This is John the Baptist, his
messenger, and he's going to prepare the way. And the Lord,
whom you seek, shall suddenly come into his temple, even the
messenger of the covenant. Whom you delight, behold, he
shall come, saith the Lord. Now, but who will abide the day
of his coming? And who shall stand? Who shall
stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire
and like fuller's soap. Here's his work, and he shall
sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This is spiritual
language. He's not going to be a real silversmith,
is he? That's not what he's talking about. He's talking spiritually.
What is he going to do? He is going to purify silver. He's going to be like a refiner.
Dross and tin represent iniquity, transgression, and sin, and Christ
has come to burn it all away. That's how you purify gold and
silver, is you burn it. Put it in the fire. And we know
this, that when you burn the gold, it melts, and the dross
comes to the top, and you scoop it away, and it's pure. That's
exactly what Christ came to do. He came to make us pure. to completely and perfectly purge
away our sins. Now, purging or melting away
of our sins is an impossible task for us. You're not going
to do it yourself. You cannot do it yourself. Our
spiritual disease is incurable, friends. It's incurable. Our
sin cannot be removed by religious works or offerings, no matter
how sincere or zealous they may be. Only one thing can remove
sin. What's the only thing that can
remove sin? Blood. Without the shedding of
blood is no remission. A bloodless religion is a useless
religion. Sin requires death. The soul
that sinneth, it shall die. Period. That's it. Requires blood. God has ordained these offerings
in the Old Testament. He ordained them, didn't he?
He said, I want you to take a pure lamb, and I want you to kill
that lamb before the congregation, put the blood on the door. He
ordained these sacrifices. Why? Why were these sacrifices
to be done? They weren't done to remove sin
by the offerings of bulleted bloodshed. You can never remove
sin. Why were they ordained? To picture His Redeemer. Christ is the Lamb. Christ is
the scapegoat. Christ is the sacrificial goat. He is the offering for sin. They
all pictured Christ. It's not possible for the blood
of bulls and goats should take away sin. Much less the works
of man. Isn't this ridiculous that men
believe they can remove sin by being obedient? God says no. Only death. Only death by blood. But our
blood is not sufficient, is it? Don't you know why hell is eternal?
Because it will never pay. It's not sufficient. It's not
sufficient. But behold, the means of God's
purging is the offering of Jesus Christ that completely purged
away our sins by His one offering. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, how did
this happen? How did this happen? Well, God
charged Christ with our sin for this reason. For He hath made
Him to be sin for us. Now listen, I don't care who
you are, that's an astounding statement. That's not a trifling statement.
God hath made Him to be sin for us. and at the same time who
knew no sin. I tell you what, I don't understand
it because I don't do nothing but sin. So I don't understand
that. I just have to believe that and
hold on to it. That's the truth. And when I
say God imputed sin to him, I mean that he charged him with sin.
Now, God can't charge an innocent man. Isn't that an abomination? God says an abomination charged
an innocent man. Yet Christ was without sin, and
truly He was made sin for us. Now go scratch your head a little
while. For this purpose, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. This was His purpose,
that Christ should redeem us. Galatians 3.13, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law. How? Being made a curse. Therefore
all the sins All the sins. Now, I don't know. Sit there and count yours. How
many you got? Not just yours. All the sins
of all His people. He bore them in His own body. on the tree. And the day of God's vengeance
fell on him. How does God save a sinner? By divine redemption. And what
is the result of this? I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgression." Listen, why? For my own namesake. I don't do it for you, Jason.
I do it for me, God said. I do it because I willed it to
do. I do it because I'm going to manifest my glory, the glory
of my grace, in doing it for you. He blotted out our sins. I want you to know this, that
Christ bore the full responsibility of our salvation. Full weight. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders. The weight and responsibility
of the salvation of God's elect depended totally on the death
and burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Absolutely. I don't know if you've noticed
this, but I've not included you in anything thus far except sin. That's the only part you've played
in this. And when He was done, when God's
justice, the eye of God's justice who cannot look on sin, when
God's justice was fully satisfied, Jesus Christ said these greatest
three words in the history of all mankind. When something's finished, what
does that mean? It's done. It's done. Can't be undone. It's done. It is finished. When God says, I will remove
thy tin, I will purely purge you, that
day my sin was purged. Let's say, that day my sin was
purged. And how do I know that? God raised
Him from the dead. And God was so pleased, God was
so satisfied with His offering, He sat Him on the throne of God
and said, you look, God, manifest in the flesh. Third necessity is regeneration.
Redemption, Christ purged our sins, God willed it, Christ did
it, He purged our sins. But divine act of regeneration,
God purges us from the very guilt and dominion of sin by power
of the Holy Spirit. Now, behold the difference between
the salvation of modern religion and the salvation of God. Modern
religion is a co-mixture, a cooperative effort between man and God. God's
done His part, now then man has to do something. I don't care
what it is. That's how they divide denominations is by the blank. God has done this and you must
do blank. And then they all get different
versions of what that blank is. But notice the division here. Salvation is the work of God.
It's the work of His resolution. It's the work of His redemption.
And friends, it is the work of His regeneration. This is the
work of the Holy Spirit. The Father purposed salvation,
the Son redeems, and the work of the Spirit is what? To quicken
the elect. To give them life and faith in
Jesus Christ. Go to John chapter 3. John chapter
3. The Lord's talking to this man
Nicodemus. And he says in verse 5, Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born
of water, even of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of heaven. You got that? Except you be born of the Spirit,
you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. You cannot enter the
kingdom of heaven except you be born of what? The Spirit. Now he says this, that which
is born of flesh is what? What is it? Flesh. It will live
flesh, it has died flesh. This flesh, this earthly nature
that we have right now, it is flesh. It is only flesh, it will
continue flesh, and it will die flesh. But that which is born
of Spirit is what? Spirit. It's spiritual. Its life is given by the Spirit,
its life is sustained by the Spirit. Marvel not I said him
to do you must be born again now. He's not telling Nicodemus
what to do. I remember a preacher one time He said he said, you know, you
must be born again now Let me tell you how and he just couldn't
he stammered around trying to tell men how they could be born
again. I No, he's not telling Nicodemus
what to do. He said, look, you must be born
again because God willed it. You must be born again because
I'm going to redeem you. That's why you must be born again.
And you know who's going to do it, Nicodemus? The Spirit. He'll
do it. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
You can hear the sound thereof, but you can't tell whence it
cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of
who? The Spirit. To be born again is the work
of the Holy Spirit, and He blows whithersoever He will. I know the day when the Lord
came to me, there were many people in that congregation. Why me? God willed it. I don't know what
to say. Why me? Christ redeemed me. I don't know.
Nothing in me. One day he came to me, and when he did, I knew this. Either I changed or the world
changed, but something changed. Whereas before, I could not believe,
but now I did. I remember that this one lady
came to our church and she gave a clear deposition of faith,
like I'd ever heard. She was listening to a message
our friend was preaching and she said, I knew this before
I started listening to this message. I did not believe. But all of a sudden I could not
help but believe. That's it. That's the work of the Spirit.
And when He works in you, you know what He does? This is an
amazing thing. Go to Ephesians chapter 4. When
the Spirit gives us life, look at what takes place. Ephesians chapter 4. And Paul's
giving an exhortation here to believers. Now, this is true.
Verse 24. Let me see. He says, and put on the new man. Can you put on something that
you don't have? If you don't have a new man,
how in the world are you gonna put him on? He's talking to you
that have been born again in the Spirit. You have a new man.
Wait a second. Describe him. Alright, hear what
Paul says. Which is after God. After the power of God and the
image of God. Which is after God. Created. Oh, wow. This new man is something
created. He's not something you made.
Not something you earned. He's created. Wasn't there before. Isn't that the definition of
creation? Something wasn't there and it
was there, created. What is His nature? In righteousness and true holiness. Now you that believe, that is
an astounding statement. Because that's not what you see
when you look in the mirror, is it? That's not even what you feel,
is it? What you see and what you feel
is the old man. Paul says in the other place,
he said, put off the old man and his deeds. You and I know
a lot about the old man. Put him off. Put on this, by
faith, listen to this. You have a nature created of
God in true holiness. I'm a man of two natures. Why do you suppose you struggle,
you that believe? Why do you suppose to fight or
sin? Why do you struggle? Because
there are two natures warring with each other constantly. so
that you cannot do what you would. The new man would be holy. The
old man would only sin. And he is constantly in warfare. But I want you to see that this
new man, it must be a work of the Spirit of God. It must be
a work of God. In divine regeneration, God has
accomplished by this the removal of the guilt of sin. Isn't this
amazing? I feel guilty. I see it. I may surprise some
of you. I don't think so. I see it. I feel it's guilty. I feel its pain but I know this by faith that
God has removed my sin and given me a nature like His own so that
I am now and forever accepted of God no matter how I feel or
what I think Again, what does my feelings and thoughts have
to do with this? Did my feelings and thoughts,
yeah, they changed when God saved me, but they had nothing to do
with my salvation. Can you feel guilty enough? What's
that song we like to sing? If you tarry till you're better,
you will never come at all. You'll never feel guilty enough. When God comes in, I want you
to see this, He removes the guilt of our sin. I'm so glad God's
just. You know why? Because a just
God cannot demand twice payment. Isn't that great? He cannot demand it of Christ
and then again demand it of me. He's removed my guilt. He said,
I will take away thy ten, purely purge away thy ten. He did that
at the cross, but in the experience of grace, in the regeneration
of grace, I now have my draws completely removed. Go to 1 John. Oh, this is astounding. 1 John.
1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3, look at verse
9. See if you can reconcile this with your experience. Whosoever is born of God, you
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? You who believe, that's the evidence
of the new birth. That's the evidence that God
has given you this new nature. Now, He says to you, listen,
whosoever is born of God doth not commit, what? Let's square with your experience.
Now, the beginning of 1 John is very strange. He says, when
we sin. Why? Because we sin. He says
we have not sinned. We have made Him a liar and the
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins. And then two chapters later,
He says, look, you don't have any sin. How do you square that? Only
that by two natures. The nature that we were born
with is only sin. And when you sin, you that have
a new nature, we may confess our sins, and we do readily confess
our sins, and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
But this is our hope, is that, look, he that is born of God
doth not commit sin. Why? For His seed, the seed of
Christ, the new nature remains in Him, and He cannot sin because
He is born of God. He doubles down. Go to chapter
5. The Scripture says something
once, you think, oh, anomaly. It says it twice, you need to
pay attention. Chapter 5, verse 18. We know. It's something we know. That
whosoever is born of God, what? What does it say? Sinneth not. But he that is begotten of God
keepeth himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not. Isn't this
astounding that nothing we or Satan or the world can do can
taint what he has put in us? Can't be tainted. And although I cry with Paul,
O wretched man that I am." Paul said, I see two natures within
me, one that loves the law of God and one that despises it.
And he said, O wretched man, I am, I am, as present tense,
he's not talking about something past, He's talking about right
now. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? You know what
that means, that body of this death? Romans had a cruel torture
that they'd put on a criminal. They'd wrap a corpse around his
neck and sew it to him. And he'd have to drag the corpse
around until it rotted off. That's exactly my experience.
I've got a corpse about me. I want to serve God, but it's
dragging me down. Only way this corpse falls off
is death. And when this old man dies, the new man will go to
God that gave it. And I will be accepted and nothing
can touch it. And lastly, fourthly, God gives
a sinner, whenever God saves a sinner, there will also be
a divine Notice this in verse 26, I will restore thy judges.
And as at first thy counselors at the beginning and afterward,
thou shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful
city. What does God promise to do? He's promised to give preachers.
That's what he's promised to do. He's promised to give men
who, as he did before, to declare this message to you. Salvation
is of the Lord. This is our message. If anyone, any sinner is going
to be saved, it must be by the will of God, the redemption of
God, the regeneration of God, and God will use this means of
preaching to convey this message to his people. And this is what
they're going to be called, a city of righteousness. This is what
his church... You know, I'm really just sent
to preach to the elect, you know that? I'm here to warn everybody
else. But I'm really here to preach
good news to the elect. I just don't know who they are.
So I just tell everybody. I just tell everybody about it.
And you know what? I got this promise. God will
get his people. I don't worry about it. I used to be really burdened.
It is a burden to preach the gospel because I got to tell
you the truth. That's the burden of it, is that I better tell
you the truth. I better not lie. But the result is not my burden. When I figured that out, preaching
became a lot better. It's not my responsibility to
make this effectual to you. Not my responsibility. Not whatsoever. I can't do it. I feel freer when I don't try.
Why? I know God will make it effectual
to you if you're His. He will. What do I mean by effectual?
Powerful. Means he's gonna do it, he's
gonna get the job. It gets the job done, that's what effectual
means. It gets the job done. When God determines to get the
job done, he gets the job done. He saves you. Notice this, he says it in the
last verse, Zion shall be redeemed. Does that sound iffy to you? God doesn't speak in ifs. God
is always determined when He speaks. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment. Oh, that's good. Why? If not, we'll always be
worried if we're going to come back up on Him. If it's not done
justly... I knew this guy. He was in jail
and he got out on a technicality. You know that guy never stopped
looking over his shoulder? I was just wondering, one day
they're going to catch the technicality and I'm going back to jail. Now this is done in judgment.
It's justly done. Justly taken care of. You don't have to look
over your shoulder. It's done. God shall redeem him with judgment
and her converts with righteousness. And I know this. What God has
purpose to do, save you. What Christ has done, saved you. What the Spirit has done, applied
that salvation. Know this, it will take divine
power to keep you saved. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 5,
we are kept. I do like that word. Kept. How are you kept? I'm trying the best I can. That ain't enough. I am kept
by the power of God under salvation, ready to be revealed. I don't
know the fullness of this, but one day it's ready to be revealed
when He comes. And until then, I'm going to
be kept. You know why? God purposed it. God's resolution. I will turn my hand upon you. God's redemption, I will purge
away thy sin. Regeneration comes and actually
purges it away in experience. And then resolution, he sends
a man, we believe in the gospel and he will keep us. And what do you have to do? What's left for you to do? Well, you got to believe. Yeah. Who do you think does that? Who
gives you faith? Why are you still here? Jason,
why in the world are you still here? You heard this message. You've heard this message a lot.
Here you are. What are you doing here? How
you kept this law? Why ain't you got bored, Mike?
Huh? Same old message you heard thousands
of times. Why are you still here? I'm kept. It gives me faith to continue. That's how I know my place with
God, because I keep believing. Salvation's of the Lord. May
God bless you.