Somebody sitting in there said
a while ago, he said, well, really, it's better to have no refuge
at all than to have a false refuge. And that's true. That's true. I've said this before, and I
hope I don't offend anyone needlessly, but really and truly, I'd rather
a man be a bartender than an Armenian preacher. Now, you think
about it a little bit. You see, what we call a free
will, salvation by works preacher has a refuge, he has a building.
He has a religious hope. And before he can be brought
to rest in Christ and trust Christ, that foundation, that building
has to be destroyed. You have to destroy his God.
You have to destroy his foundation. You've got to get it down to
the bare ground where there's nothing. Well, this bartender
over here, this drunk, he doesn't have a building. He doesn't have
a refuge. He doesn't have a foundation.
And therefore, you can start building on bare ground. But
I'll tell you the truth, the most difficult thing in the world
is to kill a man's God. I'd rather preach to a man who
has no God than to preach to a man who has a false God. Because
when you come in and destroy his God and destroy his refuge
and destroy his religious house and hope, well, he fights you. He fights you, but here Saul
is ready to listen. He's up to zero now. He's up
to zero. And he said, Who are you, Lord?
Down here in verse 10, he said, What shall I do? What shall I
do? I'm ready to listen. This is one of the things I look
for when people come to this church or come to this assembly,
religious people. I look for the individual who's
ready to listen. The man who's always talking,
and always got something to say, and always got a contribution
to make, as far as words and doctrines are concerned, he's
not going to learn. He's not going to learn until
God not only strips him, God not only brings him down, God
not only destroys his false God and his false refuge and his
false hope until God shuts his mouth. Two men came here one time years
ago. They came out of the same religion.
They came out of the same false refuge. They came out of the
same works religion. They were both leaders. One of
them came listening. The other one came talking. One
of them came receptive. The other one came rebellious. The silent one, the listening
one, God saved. God taught him by spirit. God
revealed Christ to his heart. Now he's got something to say.
the one who spent all his time wanting to teach and wanting
to preach and wanting to testify and wanting to sing and wanting
to make a contribution. God never taught him. And finally
he went right back into his religion. So what I'm saying is this, and
I know it's difficult. Here's Saul of Tarsus. My friends,
you say, well, I'm somebody. That man's somebody, too. He
said, You've got something to brag about? Let me tell you what
I've got to brag about. He said in Philippians 3, he
said, Do you think you've got something weighing to trust?
Shut your mouth, he said, and listen to me. I was this, that,
and the other. You talk about the kingpin, I
was the kingpin. And God brought him He not only
shut his mouth, he shut his eyes. Humble him. This man who led
men to the slaughter had to be led by the hand, by his own serpents. Humble him. I'm telling you,
that's where God will bring you for your safety, especially if
you're a religious leader. Especially if you're a kingpin,
especially if you're somebody in religion, especially if you're
high up, especially if you've got a seat somewhere, an honorable
seat, and especially if you've got somebody listening to you,
God will shut your mouth. He said, Let every mouth be stopped. Let it be stopped. And the only
thing Saul of Tarsus had to say was, What shall I do? What shall
I do? What shall I do? I know this
is difficult. I know it's hard. I know it's
an experience that I really tremble when a fellow
comes this route. I know what he's headed for. I know what he's got to go through.
I know this convicting and humbling and crushing and breaking work
of God's Spirit when he brings us down. And the higher a man's
being, the harder it is to come down. But you know, David said,
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in God's house than to dwell as
a son in the tents of the wicked. I'd heap rather sit down and
shut my mouth and never speak another word and know Christ
than to play church the rest of my life and wind up in hell.
I'd rather sit down, never sing another song, never be called
on to pray, never be called on to witness, never be called on
to testify, never be called on to do one living thing except
maybe sweep the floor, or pick up the paper, or cut the grass,
or rake the leaves, or say amen to somebody else. I'd rather
do that and know Christ and love Christ than to be the greatest
preacher in America and miss Christ. But I'm telling you,
God just has to bring this down, that's all. It has to come down. And here's the next thing. These
are humbling experiences. God puts Saul in the dust. He
was riding on a horse, and God put him in the dust. He was out
there in the lead, and God put him down on the ground, groveling
around there blinded. He couldn't see anything, blinded.
And somebody had to help him up and hold him by the hand and
lead him. What a humbling experience. Then
God put him in a seat down here for how many days? Three days
or something like that, blinded, not knowing anything. God didn't
say another word to him. This is the thing I'd say to
you also. Don't put the Lord God under any pressure or hurry,
because the Lord moves as the Lord moves. And I'll tell you,
it may be 6 days, 6 months, or 6 years before he speaks to you,
but he'll speak when he pleases. You just don't go in and say,
Well, I'm here, teach me. I wish you that evening. But
if you want to hear something about the gospel, I'll give you
15 minutes. Just sit there, and God will
speak to you when he will. And Saul of Tarsus went down
there and sat there in his darkness, in his helplessness, in his dire
need. Now don't you know he said, well,
why am I here? Why doesn't God say something?
Why doesn't God speak? The heavens were silent. He'll speak when he will, and
to whom he will. And he just sat there. And finally
the Lord God in his sovereign went down to a man called Ananias
and told him to go down and speak to him. So here in verse 12,
finally, Ananias came. And I'll tell you this, here's
the next thing. God will bring a man down, he'll strip him. Secondly, he'll shut his mouth.
And that's one of the hardest things to do, shut a man's mouth.
We're so opinionated, we're so proud, we're so arrogant, but
God will flat shut his mouth. He is a And they'll have nothing
to say. And thirdly, God will send somebody
to him. He will. He'll send you the word
by somebody. That's just the way God is pleased
to work. He's not only a God of the end,
but he's a God of the means. And he uses a man. I'll give
you a few examples of that in Jeremiah 1. Turn over to Jeremiah
1. Jeremiah 1, God will use a man. In Jeremiah 1, he came to Jeremiah,
and he said to him in verse 5, verse 4, Jeremiah 1, 4, Then
the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed thee
in the belly, I knew thee. Before you came out of your womb,
I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nation.
I listened to him. Then said I, O Lord God, I can't
speak, I'm a child. I'm a child, or I'm a poor man,
or I'm not an eloquent man, Moses said. I'm not an educated man. I'm a shy, timid man. I'm a young
man. You know, God will use whom he
will. And too often, this is a real problem in the ministry
today. We are mistaking human credentials
for God's credentials. Now, this is sad. A church wants
a preacher, and they want one between 35 and 50. They want
one with experience, they want one with not too many children
or too few. They want a man that's been to
the college and seminary and got this degree and that degree
and the other degree. They want all these things. And
that's not the man God uses. The Lord God said he chose the
foolish things of this world to confound the wise. God has
chosen the despised. God has chosen the base things,
things that are nothing. Now, God will send whom he will.
And Jeremiah said, I'm just a kid. You want me to go speak to these
old men or these folks? And God said, verse 7, Say not,
I'm a child. You will go to all that I shall
send thee, and whatsoever I command you, that's what you're going
to say. And don't you be afraid of me, for I'll be with you to
deliver thee, saith the Lord.' And then the Lord put forth his
hand and touched his mouth, and the Lord said unto me, Behold,
I put my words in thy mouth." Somebody may say, I'll never
go to that 13th Street Baptist Church, or I'll never go to that
Katie Baptist Church, or I'll never go to that Baptist Church.
I can hear the gospel somewhere else. There's a good possibility
where you say you won't go is where you'll go. And the man
to whom you say you'll not listen is the one you'll listen to.
God said, Ananias, you go talk to Paul. Let me show you another
verse over here in John 1. In verse 6 it says, There was
a man. That's what he was, he was a man. If you hear from God,
you'll hear from a man. Paul said, we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. That's all we are. We're nothing
more, nothing less than a man. But that man was sent from God.
And that man, his name was just John. It wasn't Pope John or
Cardinal John or Bishop John or Dr. John. It was just John.
In fact, he was a man of the rough, of the wilderness, a voice
in the wilderness, a man who lived on locusts and wild honey.
But that man, verse 7, came for a witness. to bear witness of
the light, that all men through him," that is, through the light,
"...might believe." So God sends a man. In Romans 10 it says,
"...how shall they hear without a preacher?" So Ananias came
and here is the disturbed and broken and troubled sinner. He is stripped, his mouth is
shut, and God sent him a man. And he didn't send a man down
there to debate with him or reason with him or argue with him or
compare notes with him. He sent him a man down there
to preach the message to him. And I want to show you that message
briefly. First of all, in verse 14. He came, and while Charlie was
reading this, I looked at these three words, and he said, and
he said, and he said, number one, that God of our fathers
hath chosen thee. Now, evidently, no one had told
Ananias that you're not supposed to preach election to sinners. Evidently, nobody had told Ananias
that election was the children's doctrine, family teaching. Because
Ananias went down there, sent from God to this sinner, this
awakened sinner, and the first words out of his mouth, he said,
the Lord chose thee. The Lord chose thee. The first
point in his message was sovereign mercy. You know, there's but
one way to preach the Word, and that's preach it. There's but
one way to tell the truth, and that's tell it. People say, well,
I'd bring my friends to the church or hear Brother Mahan, but sure
as well he'd preach on election. Sure as well he'd preach on particular
election. Well, that's the first thing
Antoninus said. He said, The Lord God, the God of our fathers,
hath chosen thee. You know, Paul one time wrote
in Acts 20, he said, I kept back nothing profitable unto you.
I have not shunned or declared unto you all the counsel of God. My friend, I'll tell you why
Ananias began here. The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee. You know why? Because salvation begins with
God. It doesn't begin with a sinner.
If I love God, it's because he loved me. If I choose God, it's
because he chose me. If I seek God, it's because he
sought me. If I call on God, it's because
he called me first. I want to show you a verse of
scripture in Psalm 65. Psalm 65. Alan said something
about Philippians 2, 9, 10, 11 being one of his favorite passages
of scripture, one of mine too. Here is one also. I have this
verse with a star beside it, and I have a red circle around
it, and I have a blue line under it. In Psalm 65, verse 4, it
says, Blessed, happy, twice happy, favored, highly favored is that
man whom thou choosest. And cause it to approach unto
thee. that he may dwell in thy courts, we shall be satisfied
with the goodness of thy temple, even of thy holy temple. O my
soul, twice happy, highly favored and blessed is that man that
God chooses." My friends, election. I remember one time years ago
Brother Barnard was up here visiting us and he brought along a track
which had been written by a friend of his. This was 25, 30 years
ago. I was still trying to learn something.
And Brother Barnard brought along this track, and it was all, I
guess, 15, 20 pages long, if I remember, a pretty good size
piece of writing. And he handed it to me and he
said, what's wrong with that? And I looked at the title, had
the title and the author's name under it, and the author had
sent Barnard this copy, asked him to read it and let him know
what he thought about it. And I looked at it and I said,
I don't know, what's wrong with it? He said, what's wrong with
the title? I read it, The Hated Doctrine of Election. And I said,
I don't know, what's wrong with it? He said election may be hated
by religionists, but it's loved by God's people. And he said,
that's the first thing I'm going to write the author and tell
him, change the title. Change the title. Election is
a beloved doctrine. Turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter
2, and let me show you, election is a beloved doctrine. It's a
precious doctrine. If God had not chosen us, we
would have never chosen him. If God had not given to us covenant
mercies from before the foundation of the world, we'd still be in
darkness. Let me tell you something. Don't
misunderstand me. When I condemn and criticize
false preachers and preachers who preach salvation by works,
please remember, I know if it wasn't for God's grace, I'd be
right there with them. If it wasn't for God's grace,
you'd still be a Mormon. If it wasn't for God's grace, Mike,
you'd still be a heathen. If it wasn't for God's grace,
Charlie, you'd still be in false holiness. If it wasn't for God's
grace, Bob, you'd still be in the business world, ignoring
the living God. If it wasn't for God's grace,
I'd be singing for Jimmy Swagger if it wasn't for God's grace.
That's a fact. And you know it, and I know it.
I know it! He lifted the beggar from the
dunghill. He washed him in his blood, he
elevated him, he seated him, and let me tell you something.
Ours is no uncertain seat, but it's by his grace that it's not
uncertain. You'd topple tomorrow if it wasn't for his grace. You'd
wind up Mr. Nobody-from-Nowhere tomorrow
if it wasn't for God's grace. Look here at 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 13. Paul, when he talks about election,
he says it's a doctrine of praise. He said we're bound to give thanks.
Everyone whom he elected, everyone whom he chose, everyone upon
whom he set his affection, I give thanks. You know, when he wrote
about election in Ephesians, he said, blessed be God who chose
us. Blessed God. Election is not
only a doctrine of praise, it's a doctrine of love. He said,
you beloved of the Lord, I give thanks to God for you, brethren,
you beloved of God. God loves you. Oh, he loved you,
the love of God, how rich, how pure, how measureless, how strong,
it shall forevermore endure the saints' and angels' song. Could
we with ink the ocean fill where the skies of parchment made?
Every stalk on earth a quill, every man a scribe by trade to
write the love of God above, and drain that ocean dry. Nor
could the scroll contain the whole, nor stretch from sky to
sky. The love head of the Lord. Election
is a doctrine of eternal grace. He said, because God hath from
the beginning, from the beginning chosen you to what? Election
is a doctrine of salvation to salvation. God chose you to salvation. He didn't choose you to an office,
he chose you to salvation. And look at this, election is
a doctrine of holiness through sanctification of the Spirit.
God's people are sanctified people. God's people are separated people.
God's people are peculiar people. God's people are a holy nation.
God's people are royal priesthood. God's people are new creatures
in Christ. Under holiness, he chose us that
we should be holy. Sanctification of the Spirit.
And look here, election is a doctrine of means and belief of the truth. Nobody is going to be saved who
does not believe the truth. So this is good news. Ananias
came to the broken, awakened, stripped, silent sinner, and
the first thing he said to it, the God of our fathers hath chosen
me. Oh, what good news! I had a preacher tell me one
time, he said, You can preach election and sovereignty and
particular redemption, you can preach these things in such a
way that folks really won't know what you're saying. I said, that's
not really my aim. I want them to know what I'm
saying. I want to preach it so that the God of our fathers hath
chosen thee, salvation is of the Lord. That's the second thing
he said. He said, the God of our fathers
hath chosen thee that you should know his will, his will. I tell you, we've got all this
conflict going on over man's will and free will and the creature's
will and all this sort of thing. But when Ananias came to this
center, he was going to talk to that center about God's will,
not about his will, but about God's will. What will was he
talking about? God had chosen thee that you
should know his will. Well, Paul knew something about
God's will of command, did he not? He was a student of the
law. He knew God's will of command.
He said, Thou shalt have no other God before me. Thou shalt not
make unto thee any graven image. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day. Honor
thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt
not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear
false witness, thou shalt not covet. He knew the Lord's will
of command. What Paul was ignorant of was
the Lord's will of redemption. God's will of redemption. Now
turn to Hebrews and we'll show it to you. In Hebrews 10, he
knew something about God's will of command. He knew something
about Moses' Levitical law, he knew something about the types
and sacrifices and all these things, but he knew nothing about
God's will of redemption. And this is where salvation begins,
this is where salvation is born, in the will of God. He blessed
us, I showed you this in Ephesians 1 several Sundays ago, he blessed
us with all spiritual blessing, according as he chose us, having
predestinated us, to the adoption of sons according to the good
pleasure of his will. That's where salvation was born,
in the will of God. In the will of God. It's not
of him that will it, but of God that showeth mercy. We're born
not of the will of the flesh or the will of man, but we're
born of the will of God. Salvation in its purpose, in
its execution, in its application, in its sustaining power, in its
ultimate perfection, was all born and purposed and promised
and planned right here in the sovereign will of God before
the world began. That's where it started. That's
exactly right. And you look at Hebrews 10, verse
5. Wherefore, when he comes into
the world, this is Christ speaking, he said, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldst not. but a body hast thou prepared
me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure." All of these multitudes of sacrifices
and offerings on Jewish altars in the tabernacle and temple
never gave God pleasure, never put away sin, never satisfied
his holy justice and righteousness. Verse 7, "...then said our Lord,
I come In the volume of the book, and he may be speaking here of
the Old Testament, Genesis to Malachi, he may be speaking of
the Book of Life, he may be speaking of the Lamb's Book of Life, he
may be speaking of that book that God held in his right hand
in Revelation 5 that nobody could look upon or open, but in the volume of the book
it is written of me, I come to want do thy will." Oh, I wish
I had the brilliance and the vocabulary and the intelligence
and the power to say what I'm trying to say here. God's will
of redemption. It's all in his will. It's in
his divine covenant and purpose. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
There are but types, there are but pictures, there are but illustrations,
there are but patterns, there are but object lessons, and thou
hast never had any pleasure in the erection of temples and tabernacles
and and the holy places and the blood sacrifices that flowed
like rivers, and the priests and all of their doings and going
about, you've never had any pleasure, I come to do thy will. In the
volume of that book, it's written of me. Read on. Above, when he
said, Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering
for sin, thou wouldst not neither have had any pleasure thereof
which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. And he taketh away the first,
he taketh away the first Adam, the second Adam. He taketh away
the first paradise. Yes, sir, Eden is gone. There
is a second paradise he takes away. the first tabernacle. Christ is the tabernacle among
us. He has taken away the first priesthood. Now, Christ is our
great offering, after the order of Melchizedek. He takes away
the first offering, the first covenant. Gone! Gone! The covenant of grace is established.
Our first birth is nothing. We are born again. Our first
nature, rotten, depraved, second nature, divine, created in the
image of Christ. You see, all of that, all the
way, takes away the first to establish Christ in everything.
He takes away the first Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath. He takes
away the first circumcision. There's the inward circumcision
of the heart. You don't go back there and pick
up any of that stuff. And that goes for tithing, Sabbath-keeping,
and the rest of it. I'm telling you the truth. If
you be circumcised, Christ profits you nothing. And you sit down
and set aside your Sabbath day to keep holy, and Christ promises
you nothing, profits you nothing. Especially if you do it for acceptance
with God, and we labor, whether in the flesh or not, to be what?
Accepted of God. That's what this is all about,
isn't it? We labor to be accepted of God. Whatever I do, I'm I'm
here to be accepted of God. I'm reading to be accepted of
God. I'm believing to be accepted of God, but I find it all in
Christ. You see what I'm saying? And you take your check and you
figure out, Honey, we owe God ten percent. You don't owe God
nothing. God owns everything. You're not dividing with him.
That's And God's not going to let you
have a piece of it. He takes away the first. He obliterates
it and disannulls it and eradicates it and puts it aside. We keep
reaching back wanting to dig it up, to give us something to
do, to find acceptance with God. It won't do, my friend. Verse
10, "...by the which will," what will is that? When I said, I
will. Oh, no, when he said, I will. We're talking about the same
will. He said, God hath chosen thee that thou should know his
will, his will, his will of redemption. Christ has been talking about
that here the whole time. He said in the volume of the book
that's written, I come to do thy will. Verse 10, "...by the which will
we are sanctified." Now, brethren, let me tell you something. I
mean, this is not second work of grace here we're talking about,
where some fellow has joined the Church and accepted Jesus
and later on made him his Lord and come down and said, I won't
sin anymore. This is not when a bunch of people
get together and say, we won't drink, smoke, or play cards or
go to the movies. By which we are sanctified, I
mean made holy. We have the very righteousness
of God. We have that very holiness and
righteousness that gains admittance and interest within the veil.
I mean before the presence of a living God. I mean a sanctification
and a holiness that sets you down at the right hand of God
in Christ. I mean a holiness with which
God is pleased that you didn't have anything to do with. By
the witch will, and it's by his will, that I am sanctified, how? Through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. It's not progression, it's not
first blessing, second blessing, it's by the will of God that
I'm sanctified. It's through the offering of
Jesus Christ I'm sanctified, and I'm sanctified once for all.
My friends, there's a growth in grace. We have young men,
we have babes in Christ, we have young men in Christ, we have
elders in Christ. We have a growth in faith, and
a growth in love, and a growth in humility, and a growth in
patience, and a growth in meekness, and a growth in understanding,
desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.
But bless your heart, and you can call it sanctification if
you want to, I don't care. You can call it righteousness
if you want to, I don't care. You can call it holiness if you
want to, I don't care what you call it. But I'm telling you,
this holiness and this sanctification, without which no man will see
the Lord, is a once-for-all deal that God accomplishes by his
will, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. I'm
as holy as I'll ever be right now in Christ. And I'm just as
holy as God. I've said that before and have
people swallow their bubble gum nearly. They nearly gag on that. In fact,
one woman said to me one time, you ought not say that. Well,
I'll tell you, if I'm in Christ with his spotless
garments on, I'm as holy as his Son, and Jesus Christ is God,
is he not? So I'm as holy as God in Christ.
I'm the chief of sinners by nature, chief of sinners, and know it.
And I don't feel a whole lot of added holiness through the
years. I can get just about as mad as
I used to get, unfortunately. I can make just the dumber mistakes
I ever made, sometimes dumber. And I'll tell you, some of the
men of God have had more difficulties in old years than in young years. But my holiness is Christ. And
that's all by the will of God, and that's the will by which
I sanctify. And verse 11 says, And every
priest standeth daily, a lot of them, and they stood, they
never sat down, because they never finished their work, ministering,
offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin.
But this man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sin forever,
sat down. It's finished. There's nothing
else to be done as far as my redemption is concerned. I am
redeemed. I am sanctified. Every believer
is, and I am holy, and I'm already seated at the right hand of God
and glorified in Jesus Christ. My forerunner has already entered
within the veil and staked the claim based on his merit, not
mine. That's what that will is. that you should know his will."
Let's go back to our text and see if we can move on more quickly.
The God of our fathers had chosen thee, the salvations of the Lord,
and he had chosen thee that you should know his will, and his
will originated with him. That's where all this is done,
and his will is fulfilled in Christ. I come to do thy will.
I come to do thy will. Notice the next thing, and that
you should see the just one. We're not talking here about
seeing Christ with the natural eye at all. There are people
who saw him in the flesh who never knew him. Paul said, I know no man after
the flesh. I knew the Lord Jesus. He saw
Christ as one born out of due time. And we're not talking about
seeing him in a vision. I would suggest this. If you
ever have any kind of religious or spiritual dream, forget it. That's my first advice. You say,
well, what do you think this means? Don't ask me. Just forget
it. Buy your Bible. Don't depend
on any kind of visions or dreams. Don't do it. Just don't believe
God speaking to men in visions and dreams today, speaking to
his Word. That's true. I wouldn't lead you astray. I'm
trying to help. And this is not talking about seeing a picture
or a statue. But he said that you should see
the just one. This is seeing him with our faith
and seeing him as the just one. Now, turn to Isaiah 45. Let me
see if I can make this plain. Isaiah 45, the just one. My friends, our God, the God
of glory, the living God, the living God is holy and he's merciful. The living God is righteous and
he's love. And the living God is just. He's just. It's an unbending
justice. It's an uncompromising justice. It's as straight as a plummet
And it's straight as a line. God's justice. It doesn't bend. There's no mercy in his justice.
God's justice. And yet God is gracious. But
the Lord God will never show his mercy and his love and his
grace if he has to compromise his righteousness, holiness and
justice. He just won't do it. That's the
reason that Job asked, How can man be just with God? How can
he be clean? It's born of a woman. God's unchangeably
just. We're going to get what we deserve. Then if that's true, if God's
unchangeably just and we're unchangeably evil, how's anybody ever going
to associate with him? How's anybody ever going to be
in his presence? How's anybody ever going to commune
with him? Well, on their own merit, nobody.
through their own works? Nobody. By their own deeds? Nobody. But God in his will sent
his Son down here in the likeness of sinful flesh, and he became,
he always was, he always is, but he is a just God and a Savior
in Christ. He's a just God and a Savior.
Let me show you that now. Here in verse 21 of Isaiah 45,
"...tell ye, and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together."
Who hath declared this from ancient times? Who hath told it from
that time, ancient times? Have not I the Lord? This is
my message, this is my grace, this is my covenant, this is
my gospel. I told it from ancient times. Have not I the Lord? And
there's no God beside me, I am a just God!" I'm glad he didn't
stop there. But he said, and a Savior, and
a Savior. And that's what Ananias was talking
to this awakened sinner about. He said, you're going to see,
and to see is to understand or discern or to comprehend to some
measure. You're going to see the just
one, how that God can be just. and righteous and holy, and yet
justify the unclean, justify the sinner. And that's what Christ
is. And he said in Isaiah 45 there,
now look at verse 22. So look unto me, look unto me,
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. If I am God, then
there's none else. Now, Lord Jesus Christ was just
before God the Father. The Father said, This is my Son,
in whom I am well pleased. Our Lord Jesus Christ was just
before the law. He was tempted in all points
as we are, yet without sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ was just
before God's holiness and justice, for on the cross of Calvary God
rained down upon him and poured out upon him all of his wrath
and condemnation as he bore our sins. And now in Christ, because
of his righteousness and because of his perfect obedience and
because of his sacrificial death, this sinner is justified before
God, holy, accepted. And that's what Ananias is talking
about here, that you should see and comprehend and understand
how God can be just and yet justify you. Brethren, that's the gospel. Now look at the fourth thing,
and I'll try to hurry. The fourth thing, here he said,
and that you should hear the voice of his mouth. That you
should hear the voice of his mouth. What does he say? Turn to John, chapter 5. You know, I preach, and other
men here preach, and we read the Word, and we try to explain
things, try to help people to to understand. We try to get
to the heart through the head. But if my voice is the only voice
you hear, we've wasted our time. You say, what do you mean? I
mean this, that if I can talk you into something, somebody
else can talk you out of it. I'm talking about we need to
hear him who speaketh from heaven speak to our hearts through his
word and through his servant. It's like the woman at the well
went down and told these fellows about this prophet there at the
well, and they came to hear him, and they said to her, Now we
believe. Not because of what you said, because we heard him
ourselves. We've heard him ourselves. And
that's what I want you to say. Well, a man preached the gospel
to me, or Brother Charlie preached the gospel to me, or Paul or
Bob or Jim or or John Chapman or Ron or some of these fellows,
they all preach to me, but I heard him. I heard him. He's the one I heard. I heard
him speak. And I'm not resting in the arguments
of a man or the reasoning of a man or the logic of a man or
the persuasion of a man. I'm resting in his Word. His
Word. Look at John 5. Down here in
verse 24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my
word, and believeth on him that hath sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God. And that's not talking about
the resurrection of the body. He talks about the resurrection
of the body in verse 28, he said, Marvel not at this, the hour
is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice.
But verse 25 here is talking about dead sinners hearing the
voice of the Son of God and living spiritually. They heard his voice. So if I don't lead men to Christ,
I don't quicken dead sinners, I don't convict anybody of sin,
we've got to hear him speak, who speaks through his word.
And that's what we, when we pray, we say, Lord, give me an ears
to hear, give them hearts to understand, give them eyes to
see. Sought of Pharisees, God hath chosen you. God hath chosen
you. That you should see the just
one, that you should hear the words in his mouth, and watch
this next line in verse 15, that thou should be his witness, that
thou shalt be his witness. Not ought to be, you will be.
And you'll be his witness of what you've seen and what you've
heard. Now, he said in the last verse there, and I'll quit, he
said, what are you waiting on? If God has chosen you, and God
has taught you his will of redemption, and God has shown you how he
can be just and justified, and God has spoken to you through
his word, then get up from there and confess Christ.