I gave an illustration down in
Lexington the other night. If a native on some island somewhere, walking across the beach, and he came upon an object in
the sand And he picked that object up and looked at it, and it was
a wristwatch. Height got there, there's no
problem, but he found a wristwatch, pagan, heathen, hot and top,
somewhere on an island. And he picked that watch up and
looked at it. He would know several things.
Number one, he would know that somebody made that watch. somebody
made that watch. And then secondly, he would know
that the person who made that watch was infinitely wiser than
he, quite a bit smarter than he. He's never made anything
but a stone hatchet or some kind of plow out of a log. And he'd look at that watch,
he'd know that much, that the person who made it, someone made
it, and that someone was a good deal smarter than he. And that's
all he'd know about that, the maker of that watch. That's all,
I can't think of anything else that he would know by looking
at the watch. The man, whoever made it, was skilled, whoever
made it was very intelligent, and all of these things, but
he would know nothing of that person's character or attributes. He'd know nothing of that person's
temperament. He wouldn't know whether that
person was tall or short, white or black, old or young, compassionate
or intemperate, nothing about him. And there'd be no way by
looking at that watch that he could find out any of those things.
Now, he could form some ideas, but they may all be wrong. And
most likely they would be all wrong. Now suppose that along
with the watch, he found the book. And that book was the biography
or autobiography of the man who made the watch, picked up the
watch and looked at it. And he'd want to know something
about this man that made this watch. He'd want to know something
about this intelligent person that's so far above him. is so
supremely greater than he. So he picks up the book, and
this person has written all about himself. And that way he could
find out who the man is, his age, his wisdom, his knowledge,
his ability, and all these things. Now, this is what I'm saying.
I quoted this morning the college student down at Lexington. was
talking to one of our young people. This young person was witnessing
about Christ and his gospel, the gospel that we believe, the
gospel of God. And finally, the young person,
the college student, and this is a person studying to be a
doctor, a person in third or fourth year college. And this
young person looked at my young friend and said to Well, I don't
know anything about the Bible, but I know what I think. That's like the native, you know,
here we're born in God's world and we see the sun. What a magnificent creation.
That's what that native would think when he looked at the watch,
what a magnificent creation. He'd watch the second, the sweep
hand. He'd watch the other and listen to the noise of it and
see the band, the stretch band and all these things. What a
magnificent creation. What a brilliant person. Well,
how foolish it would be for him just to look at the watch and
not go to the book. And we look at the sun, what
a magnificent creation. We look at the planets that God
has made in their perfect orbit, you know, in their perfect course.
We look at all the other planets in the world, and we observe
the ocean and the land, and we observe the heavens and the earth,
and we observe the trees and the things that God has made,
the flowers and people, and how wonderfully I am made. Well,
we can know something. We can know that some being,
infinitely greater than we are, made this earth and made the
heavens. The heavens declare the glory of God's power and
wisdom and these things. And we can look at the things
that God has made and we can discover that he is wise and
he is powerful and he's... But there's so much about God
that we cannot possibly know just by looking at what he's
made. I hear people say, You know, I can worship God out on
the lake or out in the woods, as well as I can worship God
in a church. Well, I don't question the power to worship God, looking
at the things God has made. If you have some kind of scriptural
foundation for worship, for knowing whom you worship, But most people
I see going to the lake have a boat tied on the back of their
car. And they spend their time worshiping with a pair of water
skis on. And most people I see going to the woods have a shotgun
in the back of their car, you know, or in their old truck,
or some fishing poles. I don't see many people going
to walk in the woods to worship God. But I see intelligent, God-taught
people with a Bible under their arm going to church to study
the Word of God. Now, if you want to know who
God is, you're going to have to read the book. If you want
to know who God is, if you want to know his eternality and his
deity, you want to know something about his redemptive work. If
you want to know something about his love for sinners or his purpose
to save sinners, you're going to have to get in this book.
And the more you neglect the book, the less you're going to
know about God. Now, that's just so. And if you shut yourself
up to just observing the things which God has made, and depend
on your thoughts, he said, your thoughts are not my thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways. There's a way that seems right
to you, seems reasonable. But believe me, it's not. Because
God just does not fit human logic. He'll not fit into the pattern
of human logic. The world, by wisdom, knew not
God. You see, the wisdom of man, the
scripture says, is foolishness with God. The wisdom of man is
not just a little bit below God's wisdom, it's ranked foolishness.
And the wisdom of God is foolishness to men. So what we're going to
have to do, we're going to have to get into the book. Now, I
want to show you something here in Daniel chapter 6. I grew up
listening to people who said they were called to preach and
people who said they were teachers. Not many of them could preach,
and not many of them could teach, because somehow they just didn't
get into the book. But here in Daniel 6, and that's
scripture that David read a moment ago. That was a sermon, and I
just sat there and rejoiced, and I thought, well, we can go
home. God's already spoken to us. You see, those things didn't
happen to Nebuchadnezzar just to prove something to him. Those
things happened to him for our sake. These things are examples. And the proud he's able to abase. That's not, you say, boy, he
sure whipped Nebuchadnezzar. Has he whipped you yet? Has he
whipped you? That's what that's for. Boy,
he sure brought that fellow down. Has he brought you down? Has
he brought me? These are the things that, and
these are written for our admonition, for our example, for our learning.
And all my life I heard about Noah and I heard about David
killing the giant, and I heard about Daniel. And the lions did. But I never heard why he was
there. And I never heard how God delivered him or why God
delivered him. And I never heard a redemptive
story taken from Daniel. Never, never, never, never. I
never did. I learned Daniel purposed in
his heart, and I heard, I learned Daniel prayed when he wasn't
supposed to pray, and all these different things. But I never
was taught redemption in this story, and that's what's there.
And that's why it was written. God didn't give that much, this
much space in his word to something that has nothing to do with Christ,
has nothing to do with redemption. So let me see if I can help us
to see this. And what I'm driving at in this
whole thing, like I said this morning, I was trying to present
this important subject of faith. Now tonight I'm trying to present
this. The sum and substance of our
message is this, salvation is of the Lord. Now that's the sum
and substance of our message. I'm saying that the whole of
the work, the entirety of the work, from its beginning to end,
from Alpha to Omega, the whole of the work whereby a sinful
son of Adam is delivered from the state of corruption to the
kingdom of God's dear Son is of the Lord and of Him only."
You see that's what I'm saying, Herman. I'm saying that the whole
of the work in its entirety from beginning to end, whereby a sinner
is lifted from the dunghill and washed in the blood of Christ
and sanctified by the Spirit of God and indwelt by that Holy
Spirit of God and made a child of the King and seated with Christ
in the heavenly, the whole of that work is of God and of Him
only. The royal bath of mercy, the
royal bath of mercy was drawn from the veins of Emmanuel, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and no blood of noble martyrs, and no blood
of human beings, and no effort and works of human being enters
that stream. It's pure and holy. It's from
Christ's veins. And the royal banquet of mercy
is served up by one host, the Lord of Glory, and those that
are seated at the table and partake of it are invited by the King,
and clothed in his righteousness, and crowned with his crown. That's
right. Now here in Daniel, let me show
you this, Daniel 6, there was a king called Darius. There are
several kings mentioned in Daniel, Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar, now
Darius. Darius was a pagan king, king
of Medes and the Persians. And he held Daniel in high esteem. Darius, the king, held Daniel
in high esteem, their high esteem. In fact, King Darius had in his
kingdom three presidents. He was the king, the monarch.
He had three presidents under him. And he had 120 princes under
those presidents. And the leading president was
Daniel. Daniel was the man he trusted. Daniel was a believer. Daniel believed God. Daniel worshiped
the Lord God. The rest of them didn't. King
didn't. But he respected Daniel and held him in high esteem and
depended upon him. And these other fellows were
jealous of Daniel. So they came and they couldn't
find any fault with him. They said, what we're going to
have to do is get him somewhere regarding the law of his God.
And so they came up with this idea. They came to the king in
verse 6 of Daniel 6, and these presidents and princes assembled
together to the king and said to him, King Darius, live forever. All the presidents of the kingdom,
they didn't include Daniel in this now, the governors, the
princes, and the counselors, and the captains have consulted
together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree,
that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty
days, save of thee, except of thee, O king, he'll be cast into
a den of lions." Now you see that trickery. These men knew
that Daniel prayed every day, three times a day. And they knew
he prayed to God, and they knew he always would pray to God.
So they came to the old king, who was like Nebuchadnezzar,
proud of heart, like we are, and they came up with this story.
They said, we want to honor you. We want to honor you. So all
of us got together, and this is what we decided to do. We
decided to make a law in the land, that for 30 days, anybody
who prays to any god or asks a petition of any man except
of you for 30 days, throw him in the lion's den. Well, verse
7. Now, O King, establish the decree and sign the writing."
And what's this? Now, this one statement, "...that
it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians,
which altereth not." Now, that's repeated again and again and
again. It's like in the Book of Ruth.
When you study the Book of Ruth, there's a key phrase that goes
like this. It talks about kinsman-redeemer,
one who has the right to redeem. It's in there several times.
And you'll find the key to the Book of Ruth in that kinsman
redeemer. And you'll find the key to this
chapter right here when they keep emphasizing, this law cannot
be changed. This law cannot be altered. Once
it's established, once it's in effect, once it's been signed,
once the king has put his signet or ring or whatever upon it,
it cannot be changed. And anyone who violates it must
be punished according to that law. Now, that's what it says.
And what that's showing us is this, that the law of God cannot
be changed. You see, the law that God gave
to Adam, this do and live, is still in effect. It has not changed. The law of God has not altered.
It cannot alter, because the law of God is drawn from the
character of God. The law of God is drawn from
the holiness of God. Like Jotel said the other night,
the law of God has to do with everything God says, everything
God requires, every statute, every commandment, everything
that God says, to the least thing that God says. Don't just talk
about his great laws. If there is any least law, even
the least requirement is essential. It's the law of God. And it alters
not. If it goes out of the King's
mouth, it's there. And the punishment attached to
it is going to be meted out. It cannot be changed. Now, that's
what we're saying. Wherefore, verse 9, King Darius
signed the writing and the decree. Now, verse 10, when Daniel knew
that the writing was signed, he went to his house, his windows
being opened in his chamber towards Jerusalem. He kneeled upon his
knees three times a day and prayed, they knew he would, and gave
thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. Then these men
assembled. They found David praying, making
supplications before his God. And then they came near and spake
before the king concerning the king's decree. Hast thou not
signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of
any god or man within thirty days, save of thee, O King, shall
be cast into a den of lions?' The king said, The thing is true
according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth
not. Then answered they, and said before the king, That Daniel,
which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth
not thee, O King, Now, he didn't disregard the king, but he regarded
God more highly. They lied, but they were liars,
you see. And this is what you want to watch in a story or a
parable. You say, but what Daniel did
was right in violating the law of a wicked king to be in subjection
to the law of God. I know that. But when you study
a parable or a story in the scripture, you don't try to make it walk
on four legs. You learn the story for which
the parable was written. You learn the reason, you find
out why God gave this parable, and you apply it to that particular
thing. And what we're saying here is
a king over a kingdom has established a decree and a law which cannot
be altered, which cannot be changed, and here's a man who has broken
that decree. Now watch this as we go on. Then
the king, when he heard, verse 14, heard these words and he
was sore displeased with himself, And he set his heart on Daniel
to deliver him, and he labored till the going down of the sun
to deliver him." He set his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and
he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. I
call this Darius' dilemma. He was in a dilemma. Here, a
man whom he loved, a man whom he respected, a man who was dear
to his heart, had come under his law. had come in subjection
to his law, and he wanted to save him, but according to the
law he had to punish him. The law which cannot be altered,
the law which cannot be changed, demanded of Daniel certain things
that he did not fulfill. And he said he labored to the
going down of the sun. He'd go sit a while in a chair
and think, now I can do it this way, and I can't do it that way.
And he'd walk the floor, and he'd say, well, maybe I can work
it up, and I can't do it that way. And he finally came to this
conclusion, I can't do anything for Daniel. I cannot deliver
him. I cannot. You see, the law has
him. He's in the grasp of the law,
and if I change my law, I cease to be king. If I change my law,
I've lost all my power. I've lost all my authority. I've
lost all my credibility with my people. I cannot change my
law. Now, he loved Daniel more than
he loved anybody in that kingdom. More than anybody in that kingdom.
You'll see that in a moment. But there's nothing he could
do. The law is greater than Daniel. And justice cannot submit to
mercy. Justice has got to be satisfied.
And so these men assembled, verse 15, unto the king, and said to
him, O king, know that the law of the Medes and Persians is,
that no decree nor statute which the king established may be changed. Do you hear that? God said, The
soul that sinneth, it will surely die. The scripture tells us,
Cursed is every one that continueth not in everything written in
the law to do it. That's what God's word says.
Now, some people have the mistaken idea that God is merciful at
the expense of his justice. Well, in it, half of that's true.
God is merciful, but not at the expense of his justice. People
have the idea God, they say, is a loving God. God wouldn't
send a man to hell. I tell you, God is love, and
God's going to deliver some people from hell. But God is not love
at the expense of righteousness. He is love, but he is righteous. He is merciful, but he is just.
And this is God, and I hate to say it this way, but Almighty
God, faced with the sins even of his elect, faced with the
sins even of his beloved, and Paul calls us beloved of the
Lord, faced even with the sins of his beloved, God also And
I hate to word it this way, but has, to a certain extent, a dilemma. You see what I'm saying? God
didn't labor to the going down of the sun. He already had a
deliverer. He already had a redeemer, but
he's faced with the same thing that Darius is faced with here.
I love this man, but my law says he must go to the lion's den.
I love this man. I want to save him, but there's
nothing, absolutely nothing I can do. Nothing. And so in verse
16, then the king commanded, they brought Daniel and cast
him into the den of lions. Now watch this. The king spake
and said to Daniel, Your God, whom you serve continually, he'll
deliver you. He'll deliver you. And a stone
was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed
it with his own signet. And what I imagine in this den
of lions, sort of like down at the zoo, except they didn't feed
on it. They were hungry lions. They were lions you could see
their ribs. They were ferocious lions. And there were a bunch
of them in this cave like a fair, and they just put Daniel in there
with them, and they put a rock over the door of the cave, the
mouth of the cave, and they sealed it. They sealed it with the signal
of his lords that the purpose might not be changed concerning
Daniel. Nobody was going to take him
out of that den of lions. Verse 18, Then the king went
to his palace, and passed the night fasting. He didn't eat
anything, neither were instruments of music brought before him.
And his sleep went from him. He didn't sleep all night. Then
the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste
to the den of life. And when he came to the den,
he cried with a weeping, sad voice unto Daniel. And the king
spake and said, Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, and
here's my question. It's the same question he asked
Daniel at the mouth of that lion's den, is your God, whom you serve,
and I hear people talk about serving God. I really don't know
what to mean. I don't know what to mean. A young man said to
Paul Kuhn the other day over at his place where he works,
he read something or discussed something with Paul about, Paul
talked about God's sovereignty and salvation and election and
these things. The world hates these doctrines.
Unfortunately, they do, but they do. And this man said, well,
I'll tell you this, I wouldn't serve a God who wouldn't give
my son at least a 50-50 chance of being saved. I want a better
50-50 chance, don't you? Salvation is not by chance anyway,
by grace. But this is sad. This grabs your
heart, you know, and people talk that way, a 50-50 chance of being
saved. And here he called out, Daniel,
O Daniel, is your God whom you serve continually, is your God
whom you serve or whom you boast, of whom you boast, is he able
to deliver thee from the lions? And I'm saying this, I'm saying
that my God is able to deliver me not only from the lions, but
he's able to deliver me from a law that changes not. He's
able to deliver me from the guilt and the curse and the condemnation
of His own law. Now, there's your problem. There's
your problem. You walk all the aisles you want
to and shake hands with all the preachers you want to and make
all the professions you want to, but that won't deliver you
from the curse of that law. That law alters not. It changes
not. And you can go to the baptismal
pool and you can come to the Lord's table and you can be confirmed
and catechized and all these other things, but it won't deliver
you from the justice of God, which says the soul that's in
it, it shall surely die. But my God, whom I serve, whom
I love, in whom I trust and whom I believe, is able to deliver
me even from his own justice. Because back in eternity past,
he ordained and appointed and foreordained a representative. And that representative came
and went to the lion's den for me. The only reason I'm not in
the lion's den is Christ was there for me. The only reason
that law has no charge to bring against us is Christ has fulfilled
that law. God doesn't have to walk the
floor of heaven. God doesn't have to face this
dilemma. God doesn't have to wonder how
he's going to deliver his own. The Lord Jesus Christ has delivered
him. He said in the book of Job, deliver
him from going down in the pit. I found a ransom. I found a ransom. That's how God delivers. Let
me show you some scriptures. Listen to this. Don't turn. Let
me just read several. In Genesis 49, 18, Jacob said,
I have waited for thy salvation, O God. Thy salvation. In Exodus 14, verse 13, Moses
said to the children of Israel, now here they were, they had
left Egypt, they were going toward the Promised Land, they came
to the Red Sea, and coming down, thundering down upon them from
this direction was the army of Pharaoh. And Moses stood out
there, and I want you to think what he said. Out there before
those people who were trapped, trapped between the sea and the
hordes of Pharaoh's army, bloodthirsty troops. And Moses stood out there
and said, stand still. I want you to think about that.
I'm sure one of those fellows, Bounder, said, well, if there's
anything we ought to do, it's not stand still. But he said,
stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And I believe if
we could get all of the church religious people of our day,
and Barnard said, lock them up in the barn, until they stood
still and waited on God, and God did something for them, I
think it'd help every one of them. But we're so busy, we stay
one jump ahead of waiting on the Lord. We're just so busy
doing things for Jesus. And he's never done anything
for us. In 1 Samuel 2, 1, Hannah said, I rejoice in thy salvation. In Job 13, 15, we quote this
so often, Paul, though he slay me, I'll trust him. That next
line says this, for he also is my salvation. Though he slay
me, I'll trust him. But I'll tell you why I trust
him, he's my salvation. And then Jonah cried from the
belly of the whale, and I'll tell you this, Jonah's state
is no more helpless than yours. Old Jonah had been cast off the
deck of the ship and the whale or whatever fish it was that
God prepared and swatted him up and he'd gone down into the
fish's belly and he said, I cried out of the depths. He said, the
seaweed closed about my head, darkness was about me, the iron
bars were closed forever. And I looked toward the throne
of God and I said, salvations of the Lord. You talk about helplessness,
you talk about inability, but let me tell you this. When they
marched Daniel towards that lion's den, he was totally helpless. So were his friends, and so was
his friend the king, because the law says he must go in. Justice
says he must die. Isn't that correct? Nobody in
the kingdom could deliver. When Jonah was in the depths
of the whale's belly, no one in there or outside could deliver.
Hopeless, helpless, absolutely shut up to one thing, a sovereign
act of God. That's exactly right. And I'm
telling you, he's in no worse predicament than you and I, because
we are under the curse and condemnation and penalty of a holy God's law,
and a holy God's justice, and there's just one direction we
can look, and that's up. And there's just one thing we
can do, and that's cry like the thief on the cross for mercy.
He's no more helpless than we are. or the public and the temple. He's no more helpless than we
are. Salvation's of the Lord. And salvation is not something
that I do for God. Salvation's not something I do
for myself. Salvation's not something I do
in cooperation with God. Salvation, from beginning to
end, is the work of God in me and for me. Now, that's just
so. And I care not what anyone says.
I know that that's true. It's the work of God. Now let
me show you something I learned years ago that helped me a great
deal here, and turn to Psalm 115. We're absolutely shut up to the mercy
of God. And this is the question, is
your God able to deliver you? I really don't think that we
think we're in trouble. Daniel knew he was in trouble.
Daniel knew he was in trouble. The king knew he was in trouble.
The king, the highest law of the land, the highest court in
the land, the king knew nothing anybody could do for Daniel.
He said, well, your God will deliver you, and if he doesn't,
you're done for. If he doesn't deliver you, that's
it, because nothing anybody else can do. I wonder if you've ever
considered that. I wonder if you've ever considered
that. If God doesn't do it, you're done. And Jonah knew that from
the whale's belly. He said, it's done. I'm wiped
out. I'm a goner. I'm going to look
one more time toward where? The throne of God. You better
look one more time. And he said, salvations of the
Lord. And I'll tell you, in Psalm 115, he says here in verse 2,
wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God?
And David said, but our God's in the heavens. What's he like? Well, that's where he is, and
here's what he's like. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. I'll tell you what God can do.
He can do anything he pleases to do. That's what David said. The heathen said, we know where
our God is. Our gods are sitting on these
heathen altars, and our God, we polish them and clean them
and dust them and keep them where we want them. They do what we
want them to do. David said, our God's in the heavens. The
heaven of heavens is his throne, the earth is his footstool. And
this is what our God's like. In the area of creation, providence,
and salvation, or whatever, He does what He pleases, whatever
He's pleased to do. And God's pleased to save you, you'll be
saved. If He's not, you won't be. Is that too hard? Well, it's
so, nevertheless. Turn to Psalm 135. Let me show
you this again. Psalm 135. David said in verse
4, I know that the Lord is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods." That's a little letter.
You listening? G-O-D-S. That's heathen, gods, and idols. Now, whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he, in heaven, in the earth, in the seas, and all deep
places. You say, well, that's everything
but salvation. I wouldn't bank on that. Because salvation is
the nearest and dearest thing to the heart of God. Salvation
has to do with his son. Salvation has to do with his
kingdom and the population of his kingdom. In fact, salvation
and that which is identified with salvation is the kingdom.
The kingdom of God is not material things because he said he's going
to destroy the old heaven and the old earth and make a new
heaven and a new earth in the man Christ Jesus. So this is
the thing that nears him. Whatsoever God pleases, that's
what he does. Now, when I read that years ago,
I broke out of concordance, and it just impressed me. David said
twice, our God's in the heavens, and he does what he pleases.
What the Lord pleases, that does he in heaven, earth, seas, and
all deep places. And I thought, well, what does
it please God to do? And I found four or five things. Now let
me give them to you. I won't ask you to turn to these. You
want to jot them down and read them later. 1 Samuel 12, 22.
It says, decidedly and definitely, 1 Samuel 12, 22, it pleased God
to make you his people. That's what it said. It pleased
God to make you his people. Paul wrote out there on the Bulletin
Board, not many mighty, not many noble, not many wise are called.
But God hath chosen the foolish, God hath chosen the weak, God
hath chosen the things that are not. I don't know why God chose
the people he chose, but I know he did. And I know he chose them
from the foundation of the world. It pleased him. Our Lord said,
You have hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them to babes that seem good in thy sight, seem good to God.
What God pleases to do is what seems good to God. Is that not
true? Here's the second thing, Colossians
119, it says, it pleased God, it pleased God that in Christ
should all fullness dwell. That's what it said. In other
words, it pleased God to best everything in Christ. All fullness. There's only one place you'll
find perfection and fullness, and that's Christ. All fulness,
the fulness of his grace, the fulness of his deity, the fulness
of his spirit, the fulness of his mercy, the fulness of his
grace, the fulness of his salvation, everything is in Jesus Christ.
It pleased God to put it that way. It's not in the water, it's
not in the table, it's not in the ministry, it's not in the
church, it's not in the law, it's not in the denomination,
it's in Christ. That's so. Thirdly, it says in
Isaiah 53.10, it pleased God to bruise him. You see, God,
it pleased God to have a people. It pleased God to put all their
blessings in Christ. It blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ. But we've got to have a substitute.
We've got to have a satisfactory sin offering. So it pleased God
to bruise his son, our representative and substitute in our place.
It pleased God to do that. You say men crucified Christ.
Of course they did. But they did what God determined
before to be done. They did what God Almighty predestinated
to be done. They nailed him to a cross, but
to fulfill the determinate counsel and purpose of God in doing so,
because it pleased God to bruise him. And then, it pleased God
to reveal his Son in me. That's what Paul said for 40
years he didn't know God. He was religious, but he didn't
know God. He was moral, but he didn't know God. He persecuted
people that didn't believe like he believed, but he didn't believe
anything, anything of any value. And then it pleased God one day
to arrest that religious rebel on the road to Damascus and reveal
Christ to him. It pleased God to do it. God
revealed Christ to Saul of Tarsus because he was pleased to do
it. And then he said in 1 Corinthians 1.21, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Now there it is. It pleased God to make you his
people. It pleased God to put everything
you need in Christ. It pleased God to nail him to
a cross as your substitute, to bury him and raise him from the
dead. It pleased God to stop you one day by the power of his
Spirit, and arrest you, and grant to you conviction, repentance,
and faith, and reveal Christ to you. And it pleased God to
do it by preaching of the gospel. Now I do want you to turn to
Psalm 40. This is what David said, and as a result of all
that, this is my prayer in Psalm 40. Now listen to it. I'm going
to read starting with verse 11. Psalm 4011, listen, withhold
not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. Now I know this is a Messianic
psalm, but David writes as if David's speaking. Don't rob it
from David, it's bifocal, it's two-fold. For innumerable evils
have compassed me about, My iniquities are taken hold upon me." Have
you ever been there? "...so that I am not able to
look up. They are more than the hairs of my head, therefore my
heart faileth me, forsaketh me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me." Is he able? Now, there's where you are. There's
where you are. Innumerable evils have encompassed
me. You talk about evils. There's
principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness and spiritual
wickedness in high places. You don't even see them. They're
surrounding your head right now. You don't even know what it's
all about. Evil, powerful evil, demonic evil, hellish evil. It's all about us. You can't
see them, but they're there. Scripture said we wrestle not
with flesh and blood, but against these principalities and powers.
Innumerable evils have encompassed me about. Mine iniquities from
within have taken hold of me. Have you ever felt that? I'm
not able to look up. My sins are more than the hairs
of my head. My heart paleth me. I have one
place to look, same place Jonah looked, same place Daniel looked. The same place the thief on the
cross looked, the same place the public in the temple looked.
Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. If I'm delivered, he'll do
it. This is all I'm saying to you.
Now, I'm asking a question. I'll quit. I'll try to be brief,
but I was sitting the other day with Dr. Paul Wormsley, with
whom I stayed this week down in Lexington, and called his
wife from the from the hospital, and he said, uh, I'm coming home,
said, is Henry going to study or going to talk? She said, he
said he's going to study. He said, well, I'll come home
because I've got a book to read, too. I've got to make a report
on a book, so we'll study together. So we sat down around the dining
room table, and I was working on this message right here. He
was sitting across from me. And, uh, well, we studied a while,
but we talked a little bit, too. And he looked over at me, laid
his pencil down. He said, uh, here's what he asked
me. How much of the doctrines of
grace does a man have to know to be saved? That was the question. You want to hear my answer? I
knew you did. Well, he may know none of this
as a doctrine. He may know nothing about total
depravity, Unconditional Sovereign Election, Particular Redemption,
Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance as a Doctrine. They know nothing. But I'll tell you he'll know
all of it as a way of experience. Now you listen to me. A man doesn't
have to know the name of a flower to smell it. I don't know much
about flowers, but I do love them. And I may come upon a beautiful
flower here and its aroma fills the room and I walk up and I
touch it, it's velvety, beautiful, I see it, it appears beautiful
to me and I smell it and the fragrance just fills my head
and heart. But it has a name. And the fellow
over there that brought it in knows the name of it. I don't,
Jim, but he does. He knows the name and enjoys
it. I don't know the name and enjoy it. But it's still got
a name, Cecil, that's a rose, or whatever. I can't doubt you,
whatever, mom, but it's got a name. Now, here's what I'm saying.
A man to be saved is going to know he's a sinner. Now, don't
God save sinners? And nobody's coming into the
kingdom of God who's not a sinner. He's going to be convinced of
his S-I-N, of his S-I-N-S, and of the rottenness of his own
righteousness. He's got to know he's a sinner,
right? Well, he doesn't know the name of that, but I do. That's
total depravity. That's what that is. He experiences
it, but he doesn't know the name of it. But I'm sitting over there,
and I know the name of it. I know his trouble. He's totally
depraved. He feels totally depraved, but he doesn't know what it is.
He couldn't give you the theological term. He knows nothing of original
sin. The thief on the cross didn't
know the name original sin, but he knew the results. He smelled
it in his own heart. All right, secondly, a man's
going to know he can't save himself, that God's going to have to do
it. Now, don't tell me any person can be saved who thinks he helps
God save him. Now, that's just not so. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, the scripture says, will not share his glory.
He chose thus, thus, thus, that no flesh should glow in his presence.
And you say, well, I believe people are saved in those Arminian
things. They are not if they get robbed of Christ of any glory.
Now, he's not going to share his glory. And you're doing nothing in the
world but whistling by the cemetery if you think he will. Every voice
in heaven is going to praise Christ thoroughly and completely. Not going to praise Christ plus
some decision they made, or Christ plus some profession, or Christ
plus some preacher, or Christ plus this one led me to the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord now.
Now, that aroma is going to fill his mind and heart. He doesn't
know what it is. I do. It's sovereign election.
It's the sovereign grace of God. No, he doesn't know what it is
by name. But he experiences it. You see what I'm saying? I'm
a sinner, and I'm shut up by God must deliver me. And if he
does, it'll be according to his own will, not mine. We're not
saved by our free will, we're saved by God's free will. It's
not of him that will it, nor of him that run it, it's of God
that showeth mercy. We're born not of the will of
the flesh, not of the will of man, we're born of God. You see
what I'm saying? And a man doesn't know that doctrine
by name, but he knows it by experience, so he's not saved. Who are these
and which came they? These are they who came through
great tribulation and washed their robes in the what? Blood
of the Lamb. So that brings me to the third
part. A man may not know the doctrine of particular addiction,
but I'll tell you he knows this. He knows that his only hope is
when Christ died on that cross, he died for him. There was an
old boy down in New Orleans that wrote a song that says, I once
was lost, but now I'm found, and by God's grace, I'm heaven
bound. My only hope, my only plea, is
that when he died, he died for me. That's particular redemption.
He may have never heard the doctrine, but brother, he knew the fact.
There's two words you learn if you learn the gospel. One on
substitution, the other satisfaction. Christ was our substitute. Who'd
he satisfy? I hear a song, I'm satisfied
with Jesus. You've got nothing to question
about that, whether you are or not. God's satisfied with him. You see, when the Lord God raised
him from the tomb, he said, I'm satisfied. Now you be reconciled
to my son. You kiss the son lest he be angry.
But Jesus Christ's offering was toward the Father, not toward
you. He wasn't trying to win your sympathy or support. He
was satisfying a broken law and satisfying an offended justice.
And the lamb was slain before the Lord. And so a person who's
saved knows this, that his atonement is the blood, and his cleansing
is in the blood, and his forgiveness and remission is in the blood,
without which there is no remission. Now that's particular redemption.
He doesn't know the name of it, but he experienced it. I had
an old man come up to me down in Appalachia, Virginia. I was
preaching down there a long time ago, and I preached this message
of salvation by free, pure grace, and he came up and he said, you
know, I never heard those things before. I never did. But that's
the way God saved me, and that's what I'm saying. He didn't know
the name of the flower, but he had smelled it. He didn't know
the name of the flower, but he had touched it. He didn't know
the name of the flower, but he knew it was there. Now, this person may not know
about effectual calling. He may not know about what we
call invincible grace. But one day, one day, he experienced
an awakening, a troubling of heart. One day he experienced
something he hadn't experienced before, a concern for his soul,
an interest in the Word of God, a desire to hear the gospel.
A desire to hear about Christ. A desire to know something about
redemption. I'm not just talking about a
desire to go to heaven and miss hell. I'm talking about deeper
than that. He was troubled. He was convicted. He had an interest in God. And
he couldn't stand to be alienated from God any longer. He wanted
peace with heaven. And he began to search and dig
into the world. What's that? Holy Spirit conviction.
Irresistible. My sheep will hear my voice,
Christ said. Now, he doesn't know the name
of that doctrine. If he comes and says, what's happening to
me? I said, the Spirit of God is working with you. Well, I
didn't know what it was. But I'm troubled. I'm troubled.
I'm troubled. Like Cornelius sent for Peter.
He was troubled. Like the Ethiopian eunuch reading
the scripture, you know. And that man was troubled. Well,
that's the Holy Spirit. No natural man's in trouble.
He's at peace. And then the fourth thing, what
does every believer say? Lord, keep me or I'll perish.
That's security. That's perseverance. That's preservation. Now unto him that's able to keep
me from falling and to present me faultless before his presence
with exceeding glory. You say, what's the name of that?
That's perseverance. That's preservation. Well, I
didn't know that, but that's what I want. I want to be like
Christ. I want to continue in his grace.
So here's what I'm saying. And when Paul asked me, he said,
how much of the doctrines of grace does a man have to know
to be saved? He doesn't have to know any of them by name,
but he'll know them by experience. And then I'll tell you this,
as he reads the words, he'll find the names. He'll find the
names. He'll find that fall. He'll find
that ruin. He'll find that regeneration.
He'll find that redemption. He'll find that substitution.
So I ask you tonight. I know we keep preaching this
message, and I'm going to keep preaching it because I believe
it. And I ask this question, is your God, is He able to deliver
you? Is He? Mine is. He's able, if
He's pleased. If He's pleased, that's where
it all is. That's like the thief said, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. I know the whole world's preaching
like God's obligated to save everybody, but He's not. He'll
save whom he pleases. He told Moses that. He said,
I'll be merciful to whom I will. I'll be gracious to whom I will.
I'm not obligated. And our Lord Jesus Christ came
to Nazareth, where he was brought up, and stood in the temple. And he said to those Jews who
thought they'd had a corner on God, they thought God was obligated
to them, as America does today. Well, that's the United States.
Well, that was Jewry. And our Lord said this, He said
there were many widows in Israel and God didn't feed a one of
them, He fed a Gentile. And He said there were many lepers
in Israel and God didn't heal a one of them, He healed a Gentile
called Naaman. And they just rose up with one accord and took
him out there and would have killed him. And that's what men
will do, they'll kill the preacher rather than bowing to the Word
of God. They'll kill anybody. They hate this worse than they
hate hell. They hate God's sovereignty. But everybody whom God saves
loves it. I've heard people say, well,
if I believe what you believe, I wouldn't even pray. I've never
heard a believer say that. Everybody I've ever heard say
that is a rebel. Every man who believes this always
says, I wish I could preach more. I got something to preach now,
that's what they say. I got a message now. I got a reason to preach.
That's what they say. I hear other people say, well,
I believe what you believe, I wouldn't pray. I've never heard a believer
say that. I've heard rebels say it, but I've never heard everybody
I know who knows the grace of God's got some reason to pray
now. He's even got somebody to pray to. I've heard people say,
well, if I believe what you believe, I'd just go out and live like
the devil. I've never heard a believer say that. I've heard rebels say
that. But I've never heard a man who's
ever seen Christ in his glory say anything but, boy, I'd love
to be like Christ. I'd like to be perfect. I'd like
to walk in his absolute will and glorify his name." That's
what I hear them say. It all depends on whether or
not you've been broken. It's by revelation. It's a supernatural,
mysterious revelation. And God will have to do it. Is
your God able to deliver you?