1 Corinthians chapter 2. While you're getting, finding
the text there, I'll read you a couple of verses we had in
our Bible school lesson this morning in Sunday school. Our Lord said, if the world hate
you, You know it hated me before it
hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love his own. But because you're not of the
world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hateth you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, If they
have hated me, they will hate you. If they have persecuted
me, they will persecute you. If they have kept my sayings,
they'll keep yours also. Now, the gospel of God's grace,
free and sovereign grace in Christ, is hated. It's very offensive. It's offensive to the natural
manner, not only in the world, but particularly and especially
in religion. I believe the religious world
hates the gospel of grace much more than the secular world.
I believe the greatest hatred comes from religious people,
especially the leaders of religion. When the glorious gospel of God's
free grace, His glory, His righteousness, His covenant, His elective grace,
His effectual atonement, when it's clearly defined and clearly
presented, it meets with great opposition. Why? Why? Well, I'll tell you why. And it doesn't concern a doctrine,
especially. It does, but it doesn't. I tell you the reason. It concerns
persons. Person. Now, let me show you
what I'm saying. A sovereign God, who acts according
to His will, who does as He pleases, when He pleases, with whom He
pleases, who saves whom He will, who shows mercy to whom He will,
who's gracious to whom He will be gracious, a sovereign God,
not dictated to by men, but God who has all power over all flesh
to give eternal life to whom He pleases, that God is hated. And men have a God. And they
have a God which they don't hate, but this is the God they hate.
When you define who God is, His power, His greatness, His glory,
that brings forth the hatred. It's not the doctrine of the
sovereignty of God, because a lot of people will preach the doctrine
of the sovereignty of God. It's actually the sovereign God
acting as He will. As He will. Hath not the potter
power over the clay? And then secondly, now everybody
believes that people are sinners. But a dead, depraved, spiritually
helpless sinner, that's the one that's offensive. See, everybody,
most everybody says, well, I know I'm a sinner. But they do not
believe that when Adam fell, that this human race died spiritually. That this human race not only
has no ability to come to God, it has no desire to come to God. That even a desire to come to
God is of God. Even the will to come to God
is of God. Man lost his will. His will is
dead and depraved. It's in bondage to sin. Our Lord
said, can come to me except my father which sent me drawing.
Why can't he come? Well, he doesn't want to. Why
doesn't he want to? He's dead! That's why he doesn't want to.
He's dead! He lacks the grace. That's the
offense. You say, if all preachers preach
that man's a sinner, what kind of sinner? A totally helpless,
depraved, lost sinner? Now that's offensive. That's
offensive. And then thirdly, everybody talks
about Jesus. Everybody talks about a Savior. Will you accept Jesus as your
personal Savior? And it's not Jesus and the name,
and it's not just a Savior, it's THE effectual Savior. The Savior that really saves.
A salvation that is not offered. A salvation which is complete
and full and effectual in Him. He saves. A redemption that redeems. That's the Savior that's despised.
That's what's offensive. If you're a preacher of Jesus
that came down here and died for everybody in the world, That's
fine with everybody, but if you preach the Jesus Christ who came
down here and gave his life for his sheep, for his people, for
his elect, for believers and only believers. And that's what I'm saying. It's
not the doctrine of substitution. It's not the doctrine of atonement. It's the doctrine of what kind
of atonement. It's not just the Savior. Who the Savior is, His
power, His greatness, His glory, His effectual work. Christ didn't
fail. He said it's finished, and it
was finished. Redemption's complete. Almighty
God is reconciled to every believer. That's right, that's what's offensive.
It's God who's suffering. It's man who's totally, completely
lost. It's a Christ who effectually,
particularly, completely redeemed his people from all their sins
and gave them a perfect righteousness and holiness before God. And
he did not fail. And all for whom he died will
be in glory. That's right. That's the offense.
Fourthly, the Holy Spirit. Everybody talks about a Holy
Spirit. But they've got a powerless spirit. They've got a spirit
that knocks on the door and people won't let him in. He strives,
and he calls, and he woos, and nobody pays attention to him.
And that's not offensive. Men like that. They like to be
wooed. They like to have the final word. They like to hear
you say, God voted for him and the devil voted against him.
This old boy's got to decide and vote. It's up to me. No,
it's not even. No. The Holy Spirit is sent by
God to awaken, to regenerate, to enlighten, and to call those
whom that sovereign God chose and those whom that effectual
Savior redeemed. And the Holy Spirit, like the
walls of Jericho, when He comes on the scene, they fall down.
When He calls me and comes, Zacchaeus, come down. You'll be down. Matthew,
follow me. He will. Abraham, get thee out
of thy father's house. He will. Everybody whom He calls,
whom He foreknew, He predestinated to be conformed to the image
of His Son, whom He predestinated, He called. And whom He called,
He justified. And whom He justified, He glorified. That's the offense. It's who
is God. Who is God? Everybody's got a
God, but who is God? Is He God? Is He really God? Is He sovereign, almighty? Is
He really almighty? Is it something He can't do? Then He's not God. The Savior,
is his work effectual? Did he really save? Or did he
help us save ourselves? Sinners, are they really dead?
Or just sleeping? The Holy Spirit, is he effectual
and successful and invincible? Does the Holy Spirit really give
sinners life? Does he? Does he regenerate? I'll tell
you another thing that's offensive is another person comes in here. The unknown, unrecognized, unauthorized
ministers of the gospel. You know, Cecil read something
there a minute ago where Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2 verse
4, my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom. This world likes recognized ministers,
authorized ministers, educated ministers, ministers who are
accepted, ministers who are known. They just clamber to hear people
who are known, who are not saying anything, but they're known.
And here Paul says, My preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. And
Cecil paused on this and said that your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. God put this
gospel in a clay vessel, in an earthen vessel, so that you wouldn't
follow the vessel. so that your faith would not
stand in the logic, intellect, so-called wisdom of that human
being. Don't follow Jim Jones. Follow
Jesus Christ. Don't follow Koresh. Don't follow
Mary Baker Eddy. Don't follow the Smith family. Don't follow
these people. Don't follow Christ. That's the
reason Christ raised up. They said of the apostles, they
were poor, Unlearned men. Unlearned. Unlearned in the schools
of men, but taught in the University of the Holy Spirit. That's the
one you want to hear. One that knows God. So that's
offensive. It's offensive. And I'll tell
you the sixth person. That's you. That's you. What did I read a
while ago? God hath chosen the foolish things.
That's us. God hath chosen the weak things.
That's us. The world would not be impressed
by this congregation. Not too much. God's poor flock
doesn't impress the powers that be. the influential, wealthy,
educated of this world. He hath chosen the poor. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
There is the King in God. Years ago, this impressed me
so much. Years ago, a family here in town
started coming to this church. Years ago. And the daughter of the family
had a lot of friends, I guess you'd say in the recognized known
circle in this city. And one of her schoolmates at
high school or somewhere she was going to school asked her,
said, where are you going to church now? She said, I go out
to 13th Street Baptist Church. And the little girl kind of wrinkled
up her nose and she said, well, who goes out there? You know what that means, don't
you? That means whoever amounts to anything goes out there. Who
goes out there? And she replied, me and my pastor. And he tells me about God. That's
who goes out there. I wouldn't take nothing for that.
And that's who goes out there. You see, this world is not impressed
by your preacher, you either one, or your God, or your Christ,
or your Holy Spirit. I'm impressed. He's God in every sense of the
word. Almighty. You can't glorify Him
enough. You cannot ascribe to Him the
power that is His. You don't have, I don't have
even a suspicion of how great thou art." I don't even have
a suspicion. He said, wait! He said, does
this offend you? Does it offend you to tell you
that no man can come to me except my Father which sent me, draw
him? Does that offend you? Christ said, you wait till you
see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before. And if this little simple message
on God's sovereignty is offensive, you're in for a real offending
time. Because God said every knee is
going to bow and every tongue in heaven, earth, and hell is
going to confess that He's Lord. He is supreme, absolute Lord
over all flesh. That's the God that we pray.
And the Christ we preach did not fail. He's not trying to
save anybody. He's saving everybody for whom
He died. The Holy Spirit's not knocking
at anybody's door. If He ever touches a door, it's
coming down. That's right. Men are warned.
But men who come to Christ are regenerated. They're not just
warned. They're not just cautioned. They're
not just invited. He sent and touched them. That's
why when old David wanted Mephibosheth, he sent and fetched him. And
if God wants you, He'll fetch you. In His own time, you're
coming. You're coming willingly. You're
coming lovingly. You're coming because you want
to. But He'll make you want to. He'll fix you so you can't live
without Him. And this world hates simplicity
of preaching. They hate simplicity. They hate
preaching it like it is. And they despise folks that know
Christ and love Christ. Now, I'm going to tell you the
heart of this whole matter. Look down here at verse 9, 1 Corinthians
2. Here's where their hatred comes
from. Here's the major source of their hatred. Verse 9, 1 Corinthians
2, As it is written, I have not seen, nor ear heard, Neither have entered into the
heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that
love him." The first words in verse 9 says,
"...as it is written." Where is that written? Why don't you
turn with me and see? Isaiah 64. Isaiah said it before
Paul did. In Isaiah 64, this is man's problem. This is the natural man's problem.
This is the religious man's problem. This is the preacher's problem
in our day. Isaiah 64, verse 4, listen. Isaiah 64, verse 4. I want you
to find it now as it is written. As it's written in the Old Testament.
Isaiah 64, verse 4, listen. For since the beginning of the
world, men have not heard. nor perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for
him that waited for him." From the beginning of the world, this
has been the problem in all ages and generations. Men and women,
rich and poor, old and young, black and white, educated and
uneducated, male and female, all races and Ages and religions
and walks of life and your relatives and your friends they have never
seen They have never heard nor do they have the slightest understanding
of the great and glorious things that Almighty God has purposed
and will and prepared for them that love him And them that wait for him Who
prepared them? God did. Who prepared them says clearly,
the things God's prepared. God's prepared. Our Lord Jesus
Christ said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare it, I'll come again and receive you to myself. He
prepared God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Redemption
is His work. Salvation is of the Lord. Did
you know that? Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon
one time on that five-word text from Jonah 2.9. Salvation is of the Lord. He said, Salvation is of the
Lord in its origination. It all began with Him. Salvation
is of the Lord in its execution. He sent the Savior, and He pleased
God to bruise Him. Men nailed Him with wicked hands. They with wicked hands, they
nailed Him to the tree, but they did what God determined before
to be done. Salvation is of the Lord in its
application. He sought you. You didn't seek
Him. He sought you. He loved you.
You didn't love Him. He loved you. He found you. Cecil
said, I didn't find the Lord. He found me. He wasn't lost.
I was. Salvation of the Lord in its
application. God who separated me from my
mother's womb was pleased to reveal His Son in me. He arrested
Saul of Tarsus. Brought him home too. Salvation
of the Lord. In its sustaining power, we're
kept by the power of God. Are you keeping yourself? Are you saved by the Spirit of
God and kept by the letter of the law? Did you begin in the
flesh and you made perfect in the Spirit? God keeps you. God keeps you. He didn't keep
you, you'd fall right now. You'd perish right now. He didn't
hold you. No man can pluck them out of
my Father's hand," Christ said. The salvations of the Lord in
His ultimate perfection. He shall raise our vile bodies
and make them like His own. He chose me. He died for me. He called me. He keeps me. And He'll raise me. And He'll
take me to glory. I'll sing throughout endless
ages, salvation is of the Lord." That's the only kind of gospel
that will save you. He prepared, look at that, read
the rest of it. They haven't seen, they haven't
heard, it's never entered their mind that things God has prepared. God has prepared. When did He
prepare them? Look at Matthew 25. You want
to turn over there with me, Matthew 25, 34. Listen. When do you prepare them? Matthew 25, 34. Then shall the
king, then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you. from the foundation of the world.
That's what he prepared, known unto God for all his works from
the beginning. From ancient times, he declares
from ancient times the things that are not yet done. And you
know the basis of old Abraham's faith. Let me read it to you.
Don't turn, just let me find it quickly. As it is written, Abraham, I
have made thee a father of many nations, before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickeneth the dead, God who calls those things
which be not as though they were." That's our God. All right, let's
move on. Listen. They haven't seen, they
haven't heard, it's never entered their hearts, the things. God
has prepared from the foundation of the world. For whom? For whom? Well, Isaiah said in Isaiah 64,
them that wait for him. Them that wait for him. Abel waited for him. Abel brought
his lamb like his father taught him. He knew that sin required
death. Sin brings forth death. He brought
a lamb, slew that lamb, put the blood on the altar, and he waited
for the Lamb of God. Abraham waited for Him. He saw
my day, Christ said. He rejoiced. He waited. Moses
waited for Him. David waited for Him. Isaiah
waited for Him. And Paul wrote here, he's prepared
for them that love him. Wait for Him. and love Him. He has come, the One for whom
we waited. Where is that in Isaiah? Is that
chapter 12? I usually jot down anything that
I'm going to try to refer to. It says somewhere over here in
Isaiah where it says, I've waited for Him. I've waited. This is
my Lord for whom I've waited, for whom I've waited, and loved. and love. Turn to 1 Peter chapter
1. I want to read you some verses
that identify these people for whom he prepared these things
and has prepared them. In 1 Peter chapter 1, it gives
you some words identifying these people. In 1 Peter chapter 1,
Peter writes to in this general epistle, he says in verse 1,
underscore this word, Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to the
strangers. Strangers. They are not strangers
to God, but they are strangers in this world. And then in verse 2 he says they
are elect. They are God's elect. They elect
according to the foreknowledge of God. For the nation of God
the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." Verse 3 says, listen,
underscore this, they are begotten of God. Verse 3 says, "...Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to His abundant mercy hath begotten us." Born again. They're elect,
they're strangers, they're born again. Look at verse 5. They're kept. Who are kept by
the power of God through faith. They're kept. And then verse
7 says they're tried people, that the trial of your faith
be much more precious than a gold that perisheth, though it be
tried with fire, might be found to the praise and honor and glory
of the appearing of Jesus Christ. And then they're people, in verse
8, who love Him, who believe Him, who rejoice in Him. whom
having not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him not yet
believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."
Now, what are these things God's prepared? People have not seen, have not
heard, never has it entered their hearts, the things God's prepared
for them that love him. What are these things? Well,
it's a kingdom. He said, enter ye blessed into
the kingdom. prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. A kingdom prepared. Here it is. Listen. Number one,
it's a kingdom of perfect holiness. A kingdom of perfect holiness.
His holiness. And He has given you His holiness
and righteousness through His obedience. Secondly, it's a kingdom
of glory and majesty. So glorious. so majestic that
when Paul came back from there, having been there, he said, whether
in the body or out of the body, I don't know. But he came back
and said, I heard things I can't express. There's no way to show
you. On television the other night,
they had a woman. I didn't see it. Somebody told
me about it. This was on one of the big programs, 2020 or
something. She'd died and been to heaven,
she said. And she'd seen Jesus, that's
what she said. Do you believe her? I don't.
That happened years ago when I was just a teenager. Some woman
died and went to heaven. And she's telling people about
it. She'd seen the Lord. And somebody wise enough asked
her, well, what do you look like? She said, just like the pictures. Those pictures are late, aren't
they? Somebody just invented them late.
I didn't know the Lord ever sat for a picture. I knew then she
hadn't seen the Lord, and I was just a kid. But Paul, anybody
who goes to heaven and comes back won't have anything to say.
Paul didn't. Too wonderful. That's right. And then he's prepared a kingdom
of perfect spiritual and physical life. on a new heaven and a new
earth, a body like His glorious body. He died to redeem us, body
and soul, in a kingdom of perfect love and perfect peace, and not
anything contrary to perfection. A kingdom of perfect knowledge
and perfect understanding. This is the kingdom of His dear
Son, given to Him and to us in Him, purchased by Him. and freely
given to us through His blood and righteousness. And no man
can truly say that Jesus Christ is Lord unless God takes the
veil away and breathes the Living Word. Then, only then, we feel
our interest in His blood and we cry with joy unspeakable,
Thou art my Lord and my God. I went to a funeral one time
years ago. I won't call the name of the person,
but I'll just name him Joe, all right? Old Joe had died. He was a...
I went because I knew him. He never cared anything about
God or the gospel or the grace of God or spiritual matters or
anything and the preacher got up and was talking about how
old Joe was in heaven. Joe was in heaven. And I wanted
to stand up and say, Joe wouldn't like heaven, preacher. Joe wouldn't
be happy in heaven. Joe can't be in heaven because
he hated heaven on earth. He just can't be in heaven. He
wouldn't enjoy it at all. You know that's so? He's prepared this kingdom of
holiness and kingdom of majesty and kingdom of glory and kingdom
of perfect love and perfect peace and perfect knowledge for those
who love Him. They already love Him. When they
get to Him, they just love Him better. They already love His
Word. When they get to Him, they love
it better. They already love His people. When they get to
heaven, they'll love them better. They already love His presence. When they get to heaven, they'll
love it better. But a man that doesn't wait for Him and love
Him here would never be happy in heaven. Turn to Revelation, chapter 22. I read you this several weeks
ago, and this is just true. This is just true. Revelation
22, verse 11. Listen to this. Revelation 22, verse 11. He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still. He which is filthy, let him be
filthy still. He that is righteous, let him
be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy
still. And behold, I come quickly, and
my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his
work shall be." It's never, they've never seen,
never heard. It's never entered their hearts. The things, holiness and righteousness
and glory and majesty and perfect peace and joy and the presence
of God that He's prepared for them that Love it. And wait for
it. But verse, I turn back to the
text. Why is it that we know it? Listen.
Verse 10, But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For
the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
Now let me qualify something and then I'll bring this to a
close. Say the natural man hasn't heard these things, he's heard
about them, he hasn't heard them. See what I'm saying? The natural
man hasn't seen these things, he's seen the doctrine, but he
hasn't seen them with the eye of faith. It's never entered
his heart, it's entered his mind, but not his heart. Illustration.
When God told Moses, I'm coming through at midnight. Now you have the Israelites select
a lamb without spot or blemish, the first thing of the flock,
and put it up four days. And then slay that lamb and roast
its body. And take its blood, a lamb for
a house, and put it on the door post and the lintel. I'm passing
through at midnight. I'm going to slay the firstborn
ever home. Now the Israelites heard that, and they began to
act on it. Do you suppose the Egyptians
never heard this? I mean, there were 2 million
Israelites, there were 2 million. There must have been a lamb for
a house, there must have been 100,000 lambs put up, prepared
for slaughter, kept 4 days. From the 10th day to the 14th
day, this was the talk. It was the talk among the Israelites.
It was the talk everywhere. God's coming through. Judgment
on Egypt. The Israelites worked for the
Egyptians. They worked as maids. They worked
as laborers. They worked as nurses for the
children. Even Pharaoh's daughter had a
nurse from Israel. Don't you suppose that these
Egyptians ask, what are you fellows up to? What's this lamb business? What's this judgment? What's
this blood on the door? What's this all about? And Moses and the children of
Israel said, God said there's going to be a judgment. Ah! What are you talking about? God
said put the blood on the door. Blood on the door is going to
keep death away? Blood on the door is going to
pacify and satisfy a God of vengeance and wrath? Don't make me laugh!
Blood! Roast a lamb and eat it? They heard it. They saw it, the
blood. And they thought about it. But
they never really heard it. They never really heard it. Like
that man said to me down in Cherokee two weeks ago, he said, I've
heard this, and heard this, and heard this, and one day I heard
this. And I saw all this activity,
and I saw all these things, and I saw this book, and one day
I saw it. And one day it slipped from here
to here. One day I was a Calvinist, and the next day I was a Christian.
One day I knew the doctrine, and the next day I knew the Lord.
One day I had an experience, I mean a profession, and the
next day I had an experience. One day I talked about what I
was doing for God, and I started talking about what God did for
me. It's a whole new ballgame. It entered my heart. That's the difference. It's a difference. The Spirit of God reveals Christ. And the songwriter said, Spirit
of God, come down and reveal the things of God. And make to
us the Godhead known and witness with the blood. The things that God has prepared. I tell you, the Spirit of God
has revealed I tell you, praise His name. Because folks around,
they don't see it. They see, but having eyes, they
don't see. Having ears, they don't hear.
Having hearts, Christ said they do not understand what God has
prepared. Our Father, thank You for the
Gospel of Your grace. Thank You for a revelation of
Your greatness and power Thank You that we have come to some
extent to understand something of Your glory revealed in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That we can rest, not in what
we've done for Thee, but what Thou has done for us. I pray
You'd continue to reveal Your Gospel in this place to those
who come, for Christ's sake,