Paul's epistle to Titus, chapter
3. If you're using a few Bibles
this morning, you'll find it on page 1299. I want to read
the first seven verses of chapter 3. Titus, chapter 3. Well, it's on page 1301, if you
have a few Bibles. 1301. The first seven verses. Titus chapter 3, beginning in
verse 1. Put them in mind to be subject
to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready
to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers,
but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men, For we ourselves
also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and
hating one another. But after that the kindness and
love of God our Savior towards man appeared, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He
saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior."
Paul was riding here to Titus, whom he left on the island of
Crete, the small island there, to establish these churches and
ordain elders. He was advising him, instructing
him what to tell the church and preach and teach to the church.
And he begins here with verse 1 to tell them to be sure not
to be rebels against the government. Don't be trying to overthrow
the government. It may be a bad government, but
don't be trying to overthrow it. The Lord Jesus, He's in control
of all of that. He sets up kings and pulls down
kings. And he says the church has no
business trying to overthrow any governments, but he says
be subject to them. Be subject to the laws and to
those who enforce them. And then he tells them to be
ready to perform every good work. Anytime you have an opportunity,
he says, to do good, then do it. Do it with the right motives. Do it in faith. for the glory
of God. Be ready to every good work.
And then in verse 2 he says, Speak evil of no man. Don't defame. That's what that
means. Don't defame men's characters. Don't do it to the brethren.
Don't do it to your neighbor. Don't do it to lost people. Don't
do it to politicians and to the kings and rulers. Don't speak
evil of any man. It's not our objective to speak
evil of people. You and I should plead for truth. We should plead for honesty.
But it does no good to attack people personally, does it? That's
what he's telling us. Don't be quarrelsome, he tells
them there in verse 2. Don't be brawlers. Don't be fighters,
contentious and argumentative. Desiring to get in a shouting
match with people. How many of us have did that?
And we have to learn by experience, didn't we, that you get no place
like that. You be meek, you be gentle, you
be kind, you be long-suffering, you be conciliatory. That's what
he tells them there. Don't be brawler, but be meek
and be gentle. It's possible, brothers and sisters,
to be gentle and to be kind and to be patient when you're contended
with people about the truth and yet not compromised. Some people
thank you for not screaming. over somebody, then you're compromising.
But that's not so. You can be gentle. You can be
long-suffering and mild and yet not compromise and set forth
the truth. And it seems here in verse 3
that Paul was speaking mainly of the Christian's attitude towards
the lost. But look how he says it in verse
3. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish. And so on.
He says, you treat them with respect and kind, and gentle,
and be patient with them. Don't be argumentative. Don't
speak evil of them. Because He said there was a time
when you were just like them. You were just like that. Remember to what degree He said
you lived in rebellion against God? You were a rebel yourself. You were a rebel against authority. You were a rebel against your
parents. You were a rebel against your own conscience. You were
a rebel yourself. And you were also, he says there
in the next verse, sometimes deceived. You didn't recognize
the truth, he said. You may have even argued against
it. I've done that, haven't you? Deceived as to what the truth
really was. No sense getting mad at lost
people, he says. You were just like that. You
were deceived also. And then he goes ahead to say
you were serving divers lust. You were led by pleasures. Pleasures of this world. That's
what you lived for. In another place he called it
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, didn't
he? And then he goes ahead to say
living in malice. That word malice means disposed
to injure others, a spirit of revenge, envious, jealous, a
feeling of spite against somebody else because they have something
that you don't have. Jealousy is as cruel as the grave,
ain't it? The rich man said. Envy is cruel. And then he says hateful. You
were hateful. Anytime that anybody crossed
your feelings, this hate, this animosity rose up in you. Hate and hating one another. You know, one of the things that
has destroyed nations and whole cities and families is hate. Boy, it gets into the heart and
begins to bubble over in wrath, hatefulness and hating one another. You know, when you consider man's
depravity, just these couple of verses here, and you consider
man's depravity, what he is in and of himself, isn't it a miracle
of God's divine providence that any nation stands, that any Society
has any security or decency about it at all when you consider man's
depravity. And it's owing to the kind providence
of God. We look back upon our country
and we say, well, it was better 200 years ago. I bet you if we
go back 200 years ago, we think this is the worst time we ever
lived in in our life. You know what's kept our country?
No thanks to the politicians. No thanks to the rulers. All
praise and honor goes to God. He's kept it in spite of man,
in spite of us. Has He not? Because Paul said,
we also were sometimes all of these miserable and wretched
things. And what changed us? Who makes
us to differ? Why aren't we living this morning
under the dominion and power of foolishness, and hatefulness,
and hatred, and malice? Why isn't He having dominion
over us this morning? Well, verse 5, the latter part
there, He says, He saved us. He saved us. No thanks to us. We were just like everybody else,
but He saved us. Some may have been more openly
profane than others. Sometimes these things are more
evident in the lives of some than they are others. But every
one of us was guilty, were we not? If you weren't as bad off
as somebody else as far as outward sin, you owe it to God's restraining
grace. He restrained you from doing
it. We were just like everybody else. He saved us. That's what made the difference,
wasn't it? He saved us. What might you and I have been
and what might we have done Where could we have sank into immorality
if God with straining grace had not kept us? I look at you this
morning that are saved and I just wonder, if the Lord had not kept
you, even in your lost condition, how many devils would you have
had? How many people would you have
murdered? How many times would you have blasphemed the blessed
Holy Spirit? How often would you have trampled
the blood of Jesus Christ under your feet? And the reason you
didn't is because of His kind providence to you until He was
pleased to save you. He saved us, and that's what
makes the difference this morning, is it not? I'd have you to think
upon this question this morning. I'll ask you to go home and think
diligently upon this question. What was the difference between
you and that person who is suffering the agonies and gloom of eternal
ruin this morning? What's the difference this morning
in you and that person who is suffering in hell this morning? My wife and I went to high school
with several people who later took their own life. In different
ways, took their own life. Killed themselves. Died without
any hope of heaven. In my own family, I've got a
dad who has died without any hope. I've got a brother, as
far as I know, was killed without any hope. I've got several uncles
and aunts and cousins who have died, as far as I know, without
any hope. And what is the difference between
me and them? Why do I profess this morning
that I am saved and have a good hope of heaven, and as far as
I know, those people have died lost and suffering in hell? And what made the difference? He saved me. That's it. Is it not? He saved us. And He tells us here why He didn't
save us. First of all, did you notice
there as I read that in verse 5? He first tells us why He didn't
save us. Not by works of righteousness
which we had done. not because of any thought that
we had, not because of any words that we spoke, not because of
any deeds that we had done, not by works which we have done. Well, why then? Why then? Why did He save us? If it wasn't
anything we done or we could do, why did He save us? Why did He do it? That's a good
question, is it not? Why did He save you? When all
these others have perished that you know of, why did He save
you? Well, He tells us there in verse
5, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy He saved us. When God condescends to save
such foolish and deceived people that we are, it can only be attributed
to His mercy. Why would He save anybody? He
has to condescend. He has to stoop to do it. It's
attributed to His mercy. Unheard of mercy. At first, unsought
mercy. Sovereign mercy. Free mercy. Unmerited mercy. Unearned mercy. The free mercy of God. The mercy He don't owe anybody.
My wife used to have a dear old grandmother, and she said, God
will do us good. He'll show us mercy if we'll
be good. God will show us mercy if we'll
be good. Mercy like that won't save these
people that we're talking about. Mercy like that won't reach somebody
like you and me that was full of malice and hateful and hated
one another. Mercy that came not by the will
of man, but by the sovereign and distinguishing will of God. Why did God save anybody? Mercy! But it's distinguishing mercy.
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Now listen to me. I'm going to make a statement
to you and see how it fits into your salvation. Did you know
that it's not God's sovereign will to have mercy on everybody? Isn't that something? What does
the will of God have to do with your salvation? In the day of
man's free will, where it's being spoke of so highly and so often,
what does the sovereign will of God have to do in your salvation? Do you ascribe all of your salvation
to His will? That man Larry told us about
this morning, that leper. where He lived or where He died,
He put in the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ain't that amazing? And you know where you live eternally
or die? It's in the will of God. Is it
not? We've done ruined ourselves. We've ruined ourselves by our
sinning. And now it's up to Him where
He'll break in upon us and show us mercy or let us go on in our
sinning ways. Sovereign mercy. Paul said that
the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. Paul attributes this salvation
that he's talking about here, He saved us to four things. In
verse 5, he attributes it to His mercy, by His mercy. In verse 4 he said the kindness,
after that the kindness and love of God our Savior towards us
appeared. And then verse 7 he attributes
it to His grace, being justified freely by His grace. You know the reason that you
are saved this morning, dear brother and dear sister? The
whole reason that you are saved is found in God. And none of
the reason that you're saved is found in yourself. It's all
found in Him. Gary Boren, he lives over in
West Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia. I've known him for
a long time. He was down at the funeral of Mary Bell's when we
were preaching Mary Bell's funeral. And Gary met Mary Bell sometime
in the late 70's Henry Mahan's conference. He didn't know who
she was. He went out into the parking
lot between services, and he saw this woman smoking a cigarette. Poor Mary never did quit smoking.
She couldn't. She cried like a baby. I've seen
her just weep trying to quit smoking. And he said he went by this lady
talking to this other fella, and he didn't know who it was
at the time, but it was Mary Bell. And he says as he passed
her, he heard this woman say, what's wrong? with giving God
all the glory for our salvation. That's what Paul said. He has
saved us. Why would He save us? We're no
different than everybody else. Even we ourselves were involved
in this awful depravity. Why did He save us? And the cause
and the reason and the motive is found wholly in God, His kindness and His love and
His mercy and in His grace. That's why we're saved, brothers
and sisters. Old Martin Luther used to say,
if a man attributes all of his salvation to his free will, he
has not been taught of God. We ascribe to Him the glory for
saving us, don't we? And we would not be saved if
it wasn't for Him saving us by these things. That's why He saved
us. And Paul goes on here to tell
us how He saves us. He tells here in verse 5, "...not
by works of righteousness which we have done, But according to
His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost. How did He save us? Regeneration
by the Holy Spirit. That's the way He saves us. We've got it going around today,
and I believe it myself. that in the purpose of God, we
were saved. All the elect were saved in the
purpose of God before the foundation of the world. But we dare not
stop there. We cannot stop there. Election
is essential, is it not? You and I believe that God chose
who He was going to save before the world, and that's essential.
If God had not chosen who He did, nobody would be saved. And the cross, we come to the
cross. How essential is the cross? Without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission for our sins. It's
essential, is it not? But if we stop there, we're in
trouble. We have to be born again. Just as the Father's work was
essential in choosing and the Son's work was essential in redeeming,
the Holy Spirit's work is essential in giving us a new heart, regenerating
us, giving us the life of Christ in our souls. That's essential,
isn't it? And this is what Paul is talking
about here. He regenerated us. And what happens
in regeneration? Well, we're given life. That's
what it is, isn't it? Life is imparted just like when
you come forth from your mother's womb. A new life was born. And it's the same way in the
new birth, a new life is given that never existed before. Born again. Born from above. And He says you're in regeneration.
There's a washing. There's a washing. That's when
our sins are washed from our conscience. in regeneration.
He loved us and washed us from our sins and is on blood. And notice how he says it here
in verse 6. I love this. Which He shed on
us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. All of this kindness,
all of this love, this mercy, this grace, it all comes to us
Abundantly. The word means to pour out. Like
you're pouring water out of a large vessel. He poured it out on us
abundantly. How? One way. Through the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the way salvation comes.
Through no other name. Through no other person. Through
no other work or merit. It comes. It always comes. Through the Lord Jesus. We can't talk about approaching
to the Father. We can't talk about salvation.
Except it's through the blessed Son of God, Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Our attitude should be one of
humility and meekness and gentleness. For we were no different than
anybody else. The reason the Lord saved us was for reasons
found in Himself and not in us. Are you angry at anybody this
morning? Are you mad at anybody? Do you hate anybody? Are you unwilling to forgive
somebody for something? How could we be? How could we
harbor such things? How could we harbor spite and
malice and jealousy against any? We're saved! He has saved us from these things. Find the most
open and profane man living today, and God will damn him if you
don't save him. There's no doubt about that. But we can say this,
apart from the love of God and the kindness of God, and the
mercy of God, and the grace of God, there go I. We ourselves were just like that. And all the glory and all the
praise belongs to Him who saved us. Now, just for a few minutes,
I want to dwell on one word here, one concept that Paul uses. Well,
we see these other things evident, foolishness and disobedience,
serving divers lust and pleasure and all this. We see that more
or less manifested, some than others. But here is a word, here
is a concept that we see an ever-lost person, and that is deceived. We ourselves were sometimes deceived. And if you talk to somebody long
enough, he may not be openly profane, openly serving his lust,
but every lost man is deceived. And that will come to the surface
more than any of these other characteristics. He is deceived. Talk to a lost man long enough,
and you'll go away saying this, Man, that guy's deceived. That
guy is deceived. Usually it comes down to this.
That person is deceived as to his spiritual condition and his
present danger. That's what he's deceived about.
That he's dead in sins and he's living in danger of perishing. Now this is amazing when you
think about deception. It's amazing for two reasons. When you think about these two
reasons, for a man to continue to be deceived is amazing. It's a mystery. Paul talked about
the mystery of iniquity. Here's the mystery of deception. All around us we're being reminded. that we're all right on the brink
of eternity. There's no one in this building
this morning but that you've had a dear loved one or a neighbor
or somebody that you knew that you had just been talking to
and the very next day he was dead. They stepped off into eternity. And it happens all the time.
This is a land of sudden death, is it not? And people are going out unprepared. And this is happening all the
time. And for a person to go on living
his life as if he's going to live it forever when everybody
around him is dying, and yet he goes on like he's not going
to. Ain't that amazing? My dear wife, I lost my dear
wife. How does that affect you? It don't. I lost my two children
in a car accident. How does that affect you? It
don't. How does that make you think? I'm not thinking. I'm
just going on about my life. If they stepped off into eternity,
don't you think you might be the next one? Don't you think
this will be your last breath that you'll draw? Never thought
about it. Isn't that amazing? But doesn't it show something
of deception, how deceived a person can be? There's nobody in here
this morning a hundred years oldest. I don't know that we've ever
had anybody in this building a hundred years old. And yet
people are living as though they're never going to die. That's the
first thing. And the second thing, deception
is amazing when you think of this. The Bible is so plain about
the danger lost people are in. And why they're in that danger.
And the remedy for that danger. The Bible sets that forth so
clearly. And preachers preach on it all
the time. And yet, people go on. unprepared for death and the
judgment to come. Why is that? It has to do with
deception. I want to show you three quick
scriptures, and I won't comment on them much, but I want to turn
to them. We've looked at them several times before. In Jeremiah
chapter 17, I want three places. in Scripture quickly I want to
show you about deception, being deceived. In Jeremiah chapter
17 and look in verse 9, it is the first one. It is page 841
in your pew Bible. I want you kids to turn there
if you will and read this. It tells us something about ourselves
as we are born into this world. Jeremiah chapter 17 and look
in verse 9. The heart. Now what is the heart? It's the very seat. It's the
center of what we are, isn't it? It's where our understanding,
what we know, what we think, our knowledge, it's the seat
of our intellect. The heart is the seat of our
affection. What we love or what we hate
comes from our heart. It's the seat of our will. What
motivates us to do something or not do something? The heart
is the essential part of what we are. And what about the heart? The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Ain't that amazing? The heart. The heart. Our hearts, as we're
born into this world, is deceitful. You know what that means? That
what we understand, what we know, can deceive us. I may have knowledge, and that
knowledge may be deceiving me. It's the seed of my intellect.
What I love is the seed of my affection. What I love, what
I desire, may be deceiving me. And my will, what I will to do
and abstain from doing may be deceiving. The heart is deceitful. It's misleading. This word means
to mislead, to delude, to cause to error, to lie, to trick, to
fool. The heart of man can trick him,
can fool him, can lead him astray. And there's something about this
heart that is incurable. It's desperately wicked. You
wonder how man's heart, his own heart, could deceive him and
be lost because of it? How could my own heart do me
that way? It's desperately wicked. The word means incurably wicked. You know, the Lord don't even
fix it thus. He does not even fix it. He just subdues it by
a new heart. Gives light unto it and subdues
it. John Gill had four things. He
had many things to say about this verse and if you have his
commentaries you can go there and read it. But he had four
things to say about this heart in regards to what this heart
promises. I thought this was very interesting.
Listen to this. John Gill said this. in respect
to sin, it proposes it to him under the notion of pleasure.
It promises him a great deal in pleasure, but does not yield
what it promises. It is all fancy and imagination
and a mere illusion and a dream, and what it does give is a very
short life for a season and it ends in bitter death. The heart promises you are going
to have a long life of pleasure, eat, drink and be merry all your
life. Everything is going to be just
fine for you. We've seen that in our day, especially in the
lifestyle of the rich and famous. You remember that show that was
on TV? The Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous. And you know what
you see about people out in Hollywood? Those people are miserable. They're miserable. They've got
all of these avenues open to them for pleasure. And some of
them kill themselves. Very few of them live very long
in a married state. Their heart promises them satisfaction,
sweetness, sweet pleasure, but it gives nothing but bitterness
and death in the end. Secondly, John Gill said this,
the heart deceives in regard to worldly profit. It promises
riches and suggests them to a man that he may obtain them in so
and so sinful ways. And when he has got them, he
is the loser by getting them, because these riches are deceitful
riches. And they choke the word from
his heart, they cause him to err from the faith, they pierce
him through with many sorrows, and endanger his precious soul. Promises profit. Charles Spurgeon
said, I have seen multitudes leave Christ for profit. I've
never seen one leaving because of poverty. But I've seen multitudes
leaving because of poverty. A man cannot serve God and mammon. A man cannot obtain the riches
of Jesus Christ while lusting after the riches of this world.
And a man who thinks he can has been deceived by his heart. And
that's the truth, isn't it? Thirdly, John Gill said this,
the heart deceives by promising honor. and preferment in the
world, but promotes him to shame. It promises liberty, but brings
him to bondage. It promises him exemption from
punishment and peace and security, but sudden destruction comes. The heart promises much, but
it can't give anything. And fourthly, he said this, the
heart deceives in the point of knowledge. It persuades him that
he is very knowing, when alas, he is blind and ignorant and
knows nothing as he ought to know. And what matters, brothers
and sisters, what does it matter how much we know if we don't
know God and if we don't know the Lord Jesus Christ? Knowledge,
I don't care what it is, it may be in spiritual things or religious
things, as well as about the stars or things of this world,
but he'll just puff up if it's not the true knowledge of God
and Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. The heart is deceitful
above all things. It tries to deceive God and can't. It deceives its fellow man so
often. It almost always deceives itself. The heart is deceitful. And you
know the only remedy for it? The washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost. To be born again, to have a new
heart given us. I tell you, one of the most dangerous
things in the world, and the most dangerous deception,
is for a man to profess to be a Christian. And he does not
think and believe and walk according to this Bible. That's dangerous,
is it not? That's dangerous. Secondly, look
at this passage. Look in Hebrews chapter 3. First of all, the heart's deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. And look in Hebrews chapter
3. Here is something else that we
are told is deceitful. And look at it in verse 12. Hebrews
chapter 3 and verse 12. It is on page 1304. And this is sin itself is deceitful. Look in verse 12. Take heed,
brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief
in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily
while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin." Sin is a deceiving thing and it deceives
by hardening the heart. It slowly, progressively, hardens
the heart. And as the heart gets hardened,
it gets more deceptive. All of us have had this to happen
to us. We knew something was wrong and we resisted it for
a while and then did it anyway. And what happened? Our conscience
smote us, didn't it? But then you do it again. And
then you do it again. And what happens? There's not much conviction there,
is there? And after a while, you can do
it real easy. What's happening? Sin hardens. It calluses. The Bible calls
it searing the conscience. All of us see burns on our arms
or faces. What happens to the skin? It's
calloused. It can't feel anymore. That's
what happens to the conscience when it yields to sin. It's a
hardening thing. And as it hardens, it deceives
us. If you've never seen Mae West,
look on the computer sometime. She was an actress that died
in 1980. She was the sex symbol of that
time. She was born in the late 1800s
and just made 12 movies. But boy, I tell you, she was
a piece of work. She hated Christianity. And anything
she could do to make them mad, she called them those old Puritans.
That old Puritan attitude. And she showed up on an interview
on the TV program and she had a sleeveless shirt on. Sleeveless
blouse. And boy, people were outraged.
And she just did it so people would be outraged. And they asked
some of the church folks, why were you so outraged about Mae
West being on a TV program in a sleeveless shirt? And here was the chief answer
given. Somebody had some wisdom. Somebody had some foresight.
And they said, it's a sleeveless blouse today. What will it be
in a few days? I know what he was talking about,
don't you? Well, that's awful petty. That's awful petty. It
seems like it today. But how have things progressed?
Have you watched your TV lately? You dare not let your children
watch it but themselves. There are things that people
are doing now that a few years ago they would have been horrified
to think about doing. Why? Why can't they do it now? I'll tell you why. The deceitfulness
of sin. It starts out little. It starts
out with a sleeveless blouse. And next time, they're wearing
nothing. In 1973, our Supreme Court came
down with a decision that has greatly and negatively affected
this nation. They said for the first few weeks,
a mother is legally allowed to kill her baby in her womb. I remember that rule, and some
of you probably do too. Up to the first few weeks, you
can do that. What if, back in 1973, it had
been flashed across all our media? Babies who have come to full
term are being pulled from their mother's womb and their brains
sucked out and their body parts sold for profit. What would you
think would have happened? There would have been an uproar.
People said, no way, we'll not stand for this. But over the
process of 40 years or so, where have we come to? Now it's being
done and it has been done. Where is the uproar? Where is
the outrage? Where is the horror? People are
not bothered much by it. Why? The deceitfulness of sin. The deceitfulness of sin. Hardening
effect of sin. But I tell you something, the
worst part about sin and how it hardens is to be gospel hardened. And boy, we see this a lot. Children
raised under the gospel. And there was a time when they
were tender to it. They'd give a listening ear,
and they thought about it. And it had an effect upon them.
But they just kept hearing it, and kept hearing it, and kept
hearing it. And after a while, it had no
effect upon them. Other things begin to enter in.
A career begin to enter in. Pleasures of this world begin
to enter in. Family begin to enter in. And
what happened? Gospel means nothing to them. They have no ear for it. No delight in it. They've heard
it so much, and now they've cast it aside altogether. How many
pastors, how many parents have this complaint about their children? Oh, be sober, be vigilant, lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. One
more place, and I'll close quickly with this. Look over in Revelation
chapter 12. I bring these three passages
out because Paul mentioned in our text that this is one of
the characteristics of a lost person. He was deceived. He is deceived. And here we are just finding
out. And look here in Revelation 12 and verse 7. Revelation 12
and verse 7, page 1346. And there was war in heaven,
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon
fought and his angels, And the dragon prevailed not, neither
was there place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon
was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which
deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out unto the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him. The reason the Bible
uses all these terms to define the devil is because they mean
something. This word dragon, it means cruel. It shows his cruelty. The word
devil, it means accuser. He accuses us before God. The
word Satan means the enemy, the enemy of God in Christ, the enemy
of our soul. And the serpent means he's deceptive,
as the serpent beguiled Eve. And what does he deceive this
world about? I tell you, the chief thing that
he deceives the world about is the gospel. It's the gospel. Do you wonder that we have so
many different denominations? Do you wonder there are so many
places out there, and let's be honest, that the truth is not
being preached from so many pulpits? What's the cause of that? Satan
has a say in that. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians
4, that he's the God of this world, that he blinds the mind. Unless the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine through unto them. I'll tell you what He does to
people. He'll keep people from coming to hear the gospel. He
can do that. God's let Him rule. He put Him
on a chain and He rules in the kingdom of darkness. He influences
a man's mind. Sometimes He makes these things
happen. And He keeps people from hearing
the Gospel. And the way He does that, He
plays on the mind. He says, Oh, don't you remember
you bought those oxen and you've got to go try them out? Don't
you remember you bought this land and you've got to go see
it? Don't you remember you married a wife and she won't come so
you stay home with her? He uses these things. He doesn't
want anybody under the Gospel. And if He can't keep you from
coming to hear the Gospel, He'll keep the Gospel from getting
to you if He can. Paul said, I would have come
to you once and again, but Satan hindered me. Don't ask me why
God permits him to do that. You have to ask God. I don't
know. But I just know He does that. He permits him. And you
know something He does? When He gets people under the
Gospel, What he does, he fills them with prejudice. When they
do hear the truth, oh, they get upset. He slips and whispers
in the ear, now he don't like you. That preacher just don't
like you. That's why he's so mad this morning.
He's mad at you. Listen to what he's calling you,
a rotten, no good sinner. He knows you. He's mad at you.
He does things like that. I had a man in this congregation
a few years ago. He got up. I'd never seen the
man before in my life. He got up and went outside and
told one of the members of the congregation what rights he got
talking to me that way. I never saw him before in my
life. Why would he think that? Satan. Satan. The Lord Jesus said, The seed
that is sown by the wayside That Satan comes and gets the seed
and takes it away, lest he hear and believe. He does that all
the time. Brother Donnie Bell wrote an
article not long ago. We put it in the bulletin. What
goes on in the congregation when the preacher is preaching the
gospel? And boy, things are going on in the mind. And the devil
is working, trying to snatch the Word and put prejudice in
the mind. That's his business, isn't it?
And boy, how many. How many? As He darkened their minds, and
the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ never did shine
unto them. Aren't you glad that salvation
is of the Lord? We talk about the free will of
man, that we have power over Satan? That's one of the ways He's deceived
the whole world. Go to these poor guys that's
boasting in the power of their free will and look at them and
say, man, Satan's deceived you. Aren't you glad that God saved
you? Aren't you glad that God is the
sovereign Lord of heaven and earth? And when Satan thought
he had you secure and he pulled down the blinds on every window
of your soul, that the Lord sent the blessed, sovereign Holy Spirit,
the light shined into your heart. Aren't you glad to Him be glory? No thanks to you, but to Him
be glory that He saved you out of your deception. May His name
be glorified. Let's pray.