This is what it is to be saved.
This is what it is to have the life of God within. This is what
it is to pass from darkness to light, from death to life. This
is what it is to be translated from the kingdom of darkness
to the kingdom of God's dear Son. This is life eternal. Here and in heaven, it's the
same life. that they may know thee the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent." That's what it is to be saved, is to know the only true
God, not to have a God. It's not their God, their God
that men hate, it's the God of the Bible that they hate. It's not their God. It's not
the God they're preaching. It's not the God they're talking
about or worshiping. It's the true and living God,
the only true God. I preached a meeting over years
ago in Second Baptist Church here in Ashland on Williams Avenue.
And I preached then what I preach now. It was in 1952 or 3 or somewhere
in there. And there was a very elderly
pastor, Brother Denny, M.C. Denny. In fact, when I was ordained
to the ministry in 1947, 51 years ago, Brother Denny was on the
ordaining council, signed my ordination Bible. Snow white
hair, I suppose at that time he was 65B, something like that. when he was your pastor, 65,
70 years old, in the latter days of his ministry. Now I brought a message, a true
message from the Word of God on the subject for whom did Christ
die. I preached substitution. I preached death and atonement.
I preached what the Bible teaches, that Christ died for his sheep,
for the elect. And after I left, he stood in
the pulpit, whether it was the next Sunday or when, I don't
remember, but this is what he said, which verifies what I'm
telling you. It's not their God they hate,
it's the true God. He said, if Jesus Christ died
only for the elect, he is no savior of mine. I won't have
him. His anger wasn't against a doctrine,
it was against a person, Christ. His anger wasn't against his
Jesus, it was against that Jesus who died for the elect. See what
I'm saying? If men ever find out who God
is, They'll believe in a sovereign God, because that's who God is.
When men find out who Christ is, surety, high priest, atonement,
mercy seal, effectual, blood atonement, sacrifice for sin.
When they find out who He is, they'll believe those things.
And that's the problem. It's not election and predestination
that people do not believe. It's the God of election they
do not believe. See what I'm saying? It's the
God of election. It's not the doctrines of grace
that men despise. It's the God of grace. It's the
God of grace. They have a God. They preach, they're pastors,
they have churches that people sing these songs. It's not the
doctrine they hate, it's the God who does things that way. See, it's just like this preacher
said, if election and atonement is particular, He is no savior
of mine. That God is not my God. He said,
I won't have Him. I just won't have Him. And why do you believe what you
believe? The Son of God hath come and
given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent." Christ
has come and given us an understanding. He's revealed God. No man knows the Father, but
the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal Him. No man has seen
God at any time. They only have gotten have declared
Him and revealed Him and manifested Him so we can know the true God.
And that's eternal life. So it's not, you know, when you're
dealing with your friends and neighbors and the men you work
with, don't try to convince them of a doctrine. They're not going
to have it. But if you'll show them who God
is, who God is, Who the living, the only true God. Who God is. What He says about Himself. See,
these folks have made their own God. Just like, turn to Isaiah
46 now. This is what these people, like
Brother Frank read a moment ago in verse 20 of 45. He said, Assemble
yourselves and come, draw near together, you that are escaped
from the nations. We have escaped. He delivered
the captives. Let them captivity. They have
no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image and
pray to a God that cannot save. They've invented their God. An
image is an imagination. That's why an image is a figment
of our imagination. An idol is out of our imagination. Now Isaiah 46. Baal boweth down, Nebo stupid. Who is Baal, Beal and Nebo? They are the idols of Babylon.
And Isaiah spoke in derision of these idols. They are gods
these people have made. Invented gods to worship. Well, Baal boweth down and Nebo
stupid. Their idols were upon the beast
and upon the cattle. Your carriages were heavy-laden,
heavy-loaden, laden is the word, they are a burden to the weary
beast. Here's what happened. When the
Medes and the Persians came in and defeated Babylon, the Babylonians,
they did what they always did, they took their gods, huge gods
made out of gold and silver, precious stone, melted and put
together, great elaborate gods. And they bursted them into pieces
and put them in sacks and put them on these beasts and put
them on their wagons. They loaded, took these gods
and broke them into pieces, precious stones and silver and gold and
put them on wagons and their beasts, weary beasts. All these
gods out of Babylon took them down to Persia and Media. And here's what Isaiah is saying. He said, the cattle grown under
the weight of your gods. Your gods are a burden to the
weary beast. What a comment about a god hauling
him around on a beast and on a wagon. That's what he's talking
about there. In verse 2, he said, they stoop. The gods stoop. The gods fall
down. They bow down together, those
that made them and the gods themselves. The fellows that made them were
in captivity and the gods were in captivity. They fell together. They could not deliver the burden.
The gods couldn't deliver the people. And the people couldn't
save their gods. And they both perished together.
False gods and false worshippers themselves are gone into captivity. That's what happens to false
gods and those who make them. They perished together. Now watch
verse 3. So listen to me, O house of Jacob. The house of Jacob are the sons
of Jacob. All believers are sons of Jacob.
We are like Jacob in that he was loved before he was born. He was elected before he was
born. He was given the birthright. though he didn't deserve it.
He wasn't the firstborn. He didn't merit it. He had a
revelation of the ladder, the way to heaven, at Bethel, the
house of God. And God kept him and sustained
him. And he was in the house and lineage of the Messiah. And
all who are believers are like Jacob. They're loved and elected,
chosen and revealed. grace of God to them, and the
house of Jacob, and the rendement of the house of Israel." It may
be the reason the Lord uses both Jacob here and Israel is because
at one time the twelve tribes were divided. There were ten
tribes called Israel and two tribes called Judah. But this
takes in all of the elect in Judah and Israel. sons of Jacob,
and there is a remnant in the house of Israel according to
the election of grace. Turn to Romans 11. Just mark
this. This is the theme throughout
the Word of God. Romans 11, verse 5. You know when Elijah said, Lord,
just kill me, I'm the only one left. The Lord said, Elijah,
I've reserved for myself 7,000 men that haven't bowed their
knee to Baal. And verse 5 of Romans 11 says,
Even so then, at this present time, there's a remnant according
to the election of grace. Because by grace it not works.
So he said, you listen to me, verse 3, you listen to me, house
of Jacob, sons of Jacob, you listen to me, you are remnant
by election of the house of Israel, you listen to me, you are born by me from the belly. You are carried by me from the
womb. See the difference? You see the difference? These
false gods are carried on wagons. They're carried about by those
that made them. They're even carried about on
the backs of beasts, broken, fallen down. And the Lord God
says here, I'm not carried about by anyone. I'm not born by anyone. I bear my people. They don't
bear me. I bear them. You see the difference? They don't carry me. I carry them. They don't bear
me. I bear them. And listen, how long have I borne
them? Turn with me to Psalms. Psalm 71. Turn over there and
look at this. I have borne them from the womb. In Psalm 71, verse 4, the psalmist
says, deliver me, O my God. out of the hand of the wicked,
out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. Thou art my hope,
O Lord God. Thou art my trust from my youth.
By Thee I have been holding up from the womb. Thou art He that
took me out of my mother's bowels, and my praise shall be continually
of Thee. I am as a wonder unto many, but
Thou art my strong refuge. Look at verse 16. I will go in
the strength of the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even of thine only. O God, thou hast taught me from
my youth, and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also,
when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, until
I have showed this generation thy strength unto this generation,
thy power, to everyone that is come. Thy righteousness also,
O God, is very high, who has done great things. O God, who
is like unto thee? You don't bear me, he said, I
bear you. And I borne you from the womb. I carried you. He said
to Jeremiah, before I formed thee in your mother's belly,
I knew thee, and I ordained thee a prophet. How does he bear us? He bears us on his heart with
an everlasting love. How long? Everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. He bears us on his body, in his
body on the tree. He took our sins in his body
on the tree. We were in Christ crucified unto
the world and the world unto me. He hath borne me on his shoulders
as the shepherd bore the sheep from the wilderness of sin. He bears us up under all our
afflictions and gives us grace. He bears with us in our weaknesses,
our infirmities. He remembereth our frame. He knoweth that we are dust.
He bears us in his bosom when we come to die and carries us
to our eternal home. Surely he hath borne our grace
and carried our salvation. He shall give his angels charge
over thee, that they shall bear thee up in their hands." Look
at my text. These idols, these false gods
that people invent They're doomed for failure and a fall. And those
who invent them will fall with them. Listen to me, O house of
Jacob. Listen to me, O remnant of elected
grace in Israel. I've borne you from the belly. I've borne you from the belly.
You don't bear me. I've carried you, I've carried
you in my bosom, I've carried you on my shoulders, I've carried
you in my heart, and I'll carry you to glory from your womb,
from your mother's womb to glory. I've carried you." That's worth
the whole night, isn't it? And listen here, and even to
old age, even to old age, I'm He. I've changed not. I'm the same yesterday, today,
and forever. I'm the eternal, unchangeable
Jehovah, God my Savior. I'm the Lord, I change not. You'll
never be consumed. You'll never be ashamed. I'm
the same in my love and mercy in Christ. I'm the same in my
power and protection. I'm the same in my promises and
covenant. I'm the same in your last days
as I was to you in your first days. I'm the same. even to old
age, and even listen to poor hares, poor hares or white hares,
hares that have turned white with age, and listen, from the
womb I've carried you, and when your hair turns snow white and
you're an old man or an old woman, I'll still be carrying you. I
wrote down, Our Lord cares for us and carries us like a tender
loving parent carries a child. But this is something the tender
loving parent cannot do. When the child gets old and the
hair is white and they're in a nursing home, there's no mom
or dad there. But he said, I'm there. I'll
carry you. You can't cry out there in your
room in the nursing home, Mom, Dad, but you can cry out to Him. I'll carry you. Even I, I'll
carry you. The Lord will carry His children
from the womb to the decline of life, to the decline of strength,
to the decline of health, and to the decline of the mind. I may forget, Everybody I know,
but he'll never forget me. Listen, I've made you, and I'll
bear you up. I've made you. See that verse
4? Even the white hair is what I
carry you. I've made and I'll bear. Even I'll carry and deliver
you. I've made you. But you know,
this is not merely a creature. that he's made like the birds
and the beasts that he feeds. He feeds the sparrows and he
feeds the lions and he feeds the animals. But these are new
creatures. These are sons and daughters
that he's made. New creatures. I've made you.
I've created you in the image of Christ. I've made you my church,
my sheep, my son, my people, my bride. My beloved is mine,
and I'm his, he made me. And he said, because I made you,
I'll bear you up. Even I, even I will bear you
up and deliver you, deliver you from the hand of every enemy.
I will. Now verse 5, to whom will you
liken me? To whom will you liken me? With
whom will you compare me and make me equal and compare me
that we might be alike? Is any creature in heaven or
on this earth among angels or men or spirits who has the eternality
or the power or the majesty or the holiness or the glory or
the wisdom to whom God can be compared? Ridiculous. What likeness is there between
the creator and the creature? What likeness is there between
holiness and sin? Between light and darkness? Between
life and death? Between majesty and corruption? And I'll tell you this, and I'll
make this applicable to preachers and churches today. This doesn't only apply to idols
made of gold and silver and clay. This applies to any person who
in his mind and imagination and doctrine and theology has made
him a false god. That's an idol worshipper. To
refuse and reject and deny the eternal, sovereign, reigning
Lord of heaven and earth is to pretend to make a God who better
suits our lifestyle, our frame, our desires, or our purposes. And such a person is a fool. And when that God goes down,
they'll all go down with Him. They fall together, he said in
verse 1, verse 2. They fall together. They fall
together, the idol and the nature of the idol. Turn to Psalm 50
and see if that's not what this is saying. Psalm 50. God is who He says He is. God
is who He is. God is what He does, what He's
always done. What He's always done, He does
now. It can only be revealed in His Word. in His true character. The heavens declare the glory
of God and the power of God, but the heavens do not declare
the character of God, His attributes of justice and mercy and love
and grace and righteousness. Look at Psalm 50, verse 7. Hear,
O my people, and I will speak. O Israel, I testify against thee. I am God, even thy God. I will
not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, or thy burnt offerings, to have
been continually before me. I'll take no bullock out of your
house, nor he goats out of your foals. For every beast of the
forest is mine. The cattle upon a thousand hills
is mine. I know all the fowls of the mountains,
and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I
wouldn't tell you. The world is mine, and the fullest
thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving,
pay thou vows unto the Most High, and call upon me in the day of
trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou
shalt glorify me. Look down at verse 21. These
things hast thou done, and I kept silent. Thou thoughtest I was
altogether such a one as thyself. But I will reprove thee, and
set them in order before thine eyes." God is not like us. And that's what men and women
and preachers are doing today. They're inventing a God that
fits themselves, their frame of mind, their lifestyle, their
philosophy, their thoughts, and their desires and their purposes.
God wouldn't do that. To elect a people, that's unfair.
Who says it's unfair? God does what God does. God doesn't
do anything because it's right. It's right because He does it.
He's the rule of right. He's the rule of justice. He's
the rule of love. He's the rule. He is those things. He is just. He is righteous. He is love. He's not like us. It's true because
God does it. It's right because God does it.
Look at verse 6 of Isaiah 46. Here's what they do in making
their gods. Their gods are made according
to their specification and design. Their god is made from material
furnished by them. They're the potter. He's the
clay. Listen. They lavish gold out of a bag. They waste silver
in the balance. They hire a goldsmith. And he
makes them God. And they fall down, yea, they
worship. As if this image is really God.
But isn't that what people are doing today? They've made them
a God. They've paid preachers to preach
this God that they've made. They have itching ears, and the
preachers do too. They preach what the people want
to hear, and the people want to hear is what the preacher
preaches. Spurgeon asked a fellow one time,
he said, what is this that you believe? He said, I believe what
my pastor believes. Well, he said, what does your
pastor believe? He said, he believes what I believe. Well, Spurgeon
says, what do you and your pastor believe? He said, the same thing. They hire somebody to make them
a god. and to preach that God. And then verse 7, And they bear
him upon their shoulders. Oh, this is astounding, look
at this. They bear him upon their shoulders,
they carry him and set him in his place. They put him in his
place. And he stands, and from his place
he cannot move. He can only do what they let
Him do, what they allow Him to do, what they say He can do,
or what seems right to them. He can't get out of where they
put Him. Yet He can't answer. One shall
call upon Him, but He can't answer, and He can't save Him. I heard a preacher say not long
ago, now God can and He will if you let Him, But he can't
do these things. Now let's compare that. You remember
what I read. They bear him upon their shoulders.
What does the scripture say? The government shall be on his
shoulders. Under us a son is given, a child is born, a son is given,
and the government shall be on his shoulders. His name is Wonderful
Counselor of the Mighty God. The everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. They're gods, they carry on their
shoulders. What does the scripture say? He picked up the lost sheep
and put it on his shoulders and bore it on. Then he said this, they carry
Him. They carry their God. You know
what it said? In verse 7, they bear Him upon
their shoulders. They carry Him. Turn back to
Isaiah 46. Isaiah 46, no, Isaiah 46, yeah,
verse 4, back to verse 4. What did our Lord say? To old
age am he, to white hairs I'll carry you. Turn back to Isaiah 40, that's
where I wanted to go, Isaiah 40. Let's look at this. Isaiah
40, verse 10 and 11. Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand, and his arms shall rule for him. Behold, his
reward is with him, his works before him. He'll feed his flock
like a shepherd. He'll gather the lambs with his
arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are
with him. See the difference? I read also in that verse, they
set him in his place. Verse 7, they set him in his
place, and there's where he stands, in his place, and from his place
he cannot move. And David said, O Lord, whither
shall I flee from thy presence, if I ascend into heaven out there,
if I make my bed in the grave out there? If I take the wings
of the morning and dwell in the othermost parts of the sea, even
there thy hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the night will
cover me, the night is light about me. God is everywhere. It says over here in verse 7,
One shall cry to him, and he can't answer, and he cannot save
them out of their trouble. What Brother Frank read, they
cry unto a God that cannot save. But verse 22 says, look unto
me and be ye saved. I'm God. You look to me, I'll
save you. You cry to me, I'll hear you. Because I'm God. The only true
God. Now verse 8. Remember this. Remember what? Remember these
things that I've said. The difference between the living
God and the so-called gods of this world. Remember this. These gods are
impotent. Our gods are almighty. Remember
this. Remember what I said in the giving
of the law. I shall have no other gods before
me. I shall not make unto thee any likeness of things in heaven
or things in the earth. I am a jealous God, and I'll
hold your children accountable down to the third and fourth
generation." Isn't that what he said? Third and fourth generation. Compromising my majesty. Remember these things, remember
this, and show yourselves men. What does that mean? Show yourselves
to be men with minds and not beasts, and pagans and ignorant. Show
yourselves to be men created by God, made in the likeness
of God. Look, Paul referred to that.
Turn to Acts 17. See if that's not what Paul said
on Mars Hill. In Acts 17, verse 29, listen
to it. In verse 28, he said, In him
we live, move and have our being. A certain also of your own poets
have said, We are also his offspring. We are the offspring of God.
We are the creation of God. For as much then as we are the
offspring of God, we ought not think that the Godhead is like
silver, gold, stone, engraven by art and man's devices. Show
yourself to be men who think. with the mind God gave us. If
I'm the offspring of God, and I live, and I think, and I move,
and I have feelings and emotions, then why would I worship an idol
that can't hear, can't speak, and can't do what... I do what
I will, humanly speaking. God does too. Infinitely more
than I. That's right. I'm his offspring.
So that's what he's saying here. Remember this and show yourselves
to be men. And bring it again to mind, oh
you transgressors. Constantly keep this before you.
Let's read on quickly. Remember the former things of
old? What are these things? God created the heavens and the
earth. Remember that. By the word of his power. Remember
how God destroyed the world by flood because of his wrath and
their sin? Remember how he destroyed Sodom
and Gomorrah? Our country is not thinking smart,
allowing this gay movement, lesbian movement, homosexual movement
to run rampant. God is going to deal with this.
He did in Solomon and Gomorrah. Can you remember these things?
Remember the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt? Remember how He led them through
the Red Sea into Canaan? Remember the reign of David?
Solomon? Power of God upon Israel? Remember
the former things. I'm God. Young people, He's God. There's
none else. I can't compromise this present-day religion. They
have sunrise services. I can't go to them. They're not
worshipping the God I'm worshipping. They're not preaching the God
I'm preaching. They're worshipping idols. They're worshipping a
God who wants to and can't, who wills to and has no ability,
who died for sinners and can't save them unless they let it. My conscience bothers me sometimes
when you have Thanksgiving services and I can't cooperate with that
foolishness. I cannot worship another God. And I cannot sit with people
who do worship another God. Can't do it. You remember who
I am and what I've done and where I am. I'm God and there's none
else. I'm God and there's none like
me. Listen, here's the difference.
Here, my friends, is a cutting edge. Right here, one statement
right here. Here's the cutting edge. Here's
the great divider of religion. Here's the difference in salvation
by grace and works. Here's the difference in the
true God and the false God. The true God declares the end
from the beginning. That's it. from before the foundation
of the world he declared the end just exactly as it shall
be whom it shall be where it shall be and how it shall be
he declared it and he works all things after the counsel of his
own will to bring that purpose to pass that's the God of the
battle and there's the cutting edge and there's the difference
between a false God and the true God. The false God doesn't know
what's going to happen. He hopes somebody will let him
save him. He hopes that his blood wasn't shed in vain. He hopes
that there will be a bigger crowd in heaven than in hell. He hopes,
but he's not sure. He'll have to wait to find out
what we're going to do. Not God. He declares the end
from the beginning. The Lamb's Book of Life is the
book of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world and
every name was written there. That's the difference. I declare
the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done. They will be done, but they're
not yet done. This is what Abraham believed. You don't need to turn
and let me read. Abraham believed in God even
God, who quickeneth the dead, and calls those things which
be not as though they were." God calls those things that are
not. He said the Savior will have
a son. There's not a doubt about it. By Abraham. That's right. I declare the end
from the beginning, from ancient times of things that are not
yet done, and I say, my counsel, my will, my purpose shall stand,
and I will do everything that pleases me. I'll do my pleasure. That's the true God. And there
is no other God. That's right. There is no other
God. And to worship a God who can't say that is to worship
an eye. I call a ravenous bird, some
people think this is Cyrus he's talking about here, a swift general.
I call a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my
counsel from a far country. In other words, God is saying
here, he puts in the heart of even pagan men to fulfill his
will, even those who don't know him. Even those who do not know Him,
even those who are not even concerned with doing His will, He uses
them to accomplish His will, as He led Cyrus to take Israel
out of Babylon. He didn't mean to. He didn't
mean to do what God wanted to do. He did what... Pharaoh, I've raised you up for this purpose,
to get glory. I'll call a ravenous bird from
the east. I'll call a man from a far country
to execute my counsel. He doesn't know me. He's never
met me. He doesn't have any concept of
who I am, but he'll do what I will for him to do. That soldier that
ran that spear in the side of my Lord did what God told him
to do, and he didn't even know God. He did it because he was
mean. He was mean. That fellow put
the crown of thorns on his head. He did it to hurt him, to spite
him, to humiliate him. But he did what God wrote thousands
of years before that he'd do. For the glory of Christ. Everybody's
going to serve his purpose. That's what he's saying. My counsel
shall stand. Verse 11, I've spoken it, I'll
bring it to pass, I've purposed it, I'll do it. The end from
the beginning. Man, I love this. I just flat
love this gospel. I love this God. I wouldn't have
it any other way, would you? It has to be this way. I'm a
poor, feeble, fickle sinner. Hopeless, helpless, without any
strength. I need help. I don't need pity. I need help. I need somebody
that can come where I am. and do what I can't do. I keep
praying, do what I can't do myself, and lift me, and transport me,
and put me on his shoulders, and take me to glory, and set
me down. Give me life. He's got to do
it all. I can't do one. I can't make
a contribution. Now I'll close. Now hearken unto
me. Hearken unto me. Listen to me,
you downhearted. I believe stout-hearted ears
These folks are downhearted, who have lost hope, lost heart,
who are far from righteousness. They don't have any, have no
righteousness, can't produce any by themselves. They're far
from righteousness, far from God, with no standing. I'll bring near my righteousness.
You call His name Emmanuel, God with us. I'll bring near my righteousness. It won't be far off. Our salvation
shall not tarry. Old Simeon held him in his arms.
He said, I've seen that salvation. And I'll place salvation in the
church for Israel my glory. And let me read you something
and I'll let you go. Zion, I will place salvation
in Zion. The Zion is the church. It's
a church. For Israel, my glory, Israel
is a church. Spiritual Israel. The Lord came
to Zion. The Savior came to Zion. He said, I'll build my church.
For Zion, the gospel was purposed. For Zion, the Lord died. My sheep,
I lay down my life for my sheep. But from Zion, the gospel went
into all the world. In Zion, The Savior dwells where
two or three are met in my name, I'll be in their midst. His salvation
is the life of Zion. His salvation is the safety and
assurance of Zion. He is the walls and bulwarks
of Zion. He's the joy of Zion. And spiritual
Israel is Zion. Chosen, redeemed, called, and
they'll be saved with an everlasting salvation by the glory of God. What a Savior! What a Lord!