Just imagine that if a person is here tonight
or this morning, maybe for the first time, or
perhaps a person is here who has been here before a few times, and as I read those scriptures
a moment ago, they might be saying to themselves, Why haven't I seen this before
in God's Word? Why haven't I heard this preached
on before? Why is this suddenly a new revelation,
all these scriptures about election and sovereignty and predestination
and divine call? Well, I really can't say. But this was my experience, and
this was the experience of many people who have been here a long
time. I was brought up in the church.
My mother and father attended church on a regular basis. My
father was a deacon. My mother attended regularly,
and I went to church every service, Sunday morning, Sunday school,
morning preaching, training union, evening service, Wednesday night.
And every time we had what we call a revival, I was there every
service playing my trumpet, singing in the choir. I entered sword
drills. I spoke in training union. I taught young people. I read the Bible, not a great
deal, but I read it. And then I went to school and
studied for three years to be a preacher. I took Pauline Epistles. I took New Testament Survey.
I took all these different courses and pastored a church and preached
every Sunday morning and every Sunday night and every Wednesday
night for three years. And I never heard one time or
saw one time the doctrine of divine election. Not one time. I never saw it. Not one time. I can't explain that, except
the natural man is blind. He sees only what he wants to
see. You see, we've got our system
of religion. This is the thing that disturbs
me clear down to the bottom of my feet. We're no different from
the Jews of old. We have our religion, we have
our customs, we have our tradition, we have our God, and we have
our prayers, and we have our standard of morality, and we
have all these things. We have them set like in concrete,
and they've been set a long time. And any new thing that comes
along just bounces off. We just don't pay attention to
it. And I remember one time when I was a teenage boy, I think
I was about 15 years old, But I can remember this like
yesterday. I came home from church, and
I was sitting in the living room of our home down in Fairfield,
Alabama, and I heard my mother and dad quarreling about something
in the kitchen. So I just got up and walked in
there, and I heard him say, she asked him what he was upset about.
And he said, E.J. got on that election this morning. And I thought, what is he talking
about? You know, I didn't know who was
running or anything, but what is he talking about? I do remember
that word being said. E.J. got on that election this
morning. And I investigated a little bit,
and E.J. Daniels was teaching the first
chapter of the book of Ephesians to the men's Bible class in the
First Baptist Church of Fairfield. And evidently he said something
about election made my daddy mad. And then when I was 24 years
of age, I came to Pollard Baptist Church as assistant pastor. That's
been 33 years ago. And Brother Barnard read or had
me quote Romans 8, 28. Now, we know that all things
work together for good to them who love God, who are called
according to His purpose. And he screamed the word purpose
so you could hear it Down to Blackburn Avenue, I reckon. I
mean, down to 13th Street. Purpose. He looked at me and
he said, everything God does, He does on purpose. Purpose. There are no accidents
with the living God. Nothing takes Him by surprise.
He's a God of purpose. Now, he said, if you ever learn
that, if you ever learn that, it'll open that Bible for you.
And I'll tell you, I went right across that parking lot, got
in Don Wells' study. Doris hadn't moved up here yet.
She's still in Birmingham. And I got the Book of Romans,
and I took that word, purpose. God, the God of purpose. The God of purpose. And I started
reading, and honestly, all the way through the Word of God,
I see that God is on the throne. In creation, providence, salvation,
his purpose is accomplished. Turn to the book of Daniel a
moment. This is what God taught Nebuchadnezzar. This is what
the Lord God declared in Daniel chapter 4. I don't know how I
missed these scriptures, but you remember how Nebuchadnezzar
boasted and bragged about the great Babylon that he had built?
And God said in Daniel, do you have it, chapter 4, verse 32? And they shall drive thee from
men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beast of the field.
They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall
pass over thee, until you know that the Most High ruleth in
the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. Verse
34, And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up
mine eyes to heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me,
and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him
that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and
his kingdom from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest
thou? This is God. Now, I preached
a message here not long ago on my religion. And I said, suppose
someone asks you, what is your religion? Now, you're religious,
I'm religious, everybody cares the Bible's religious. Everybody's
got religion of some kind. If someone asked you about your
religion, what would you say? How would you define your religion?
Well, I told them this, my religion starts where everything starts.
With God. That's where my religion starts.
It starts with God. That's where this Bible starts.
In the beginning, God. That's where creation started.
God. created the heavens and the earth.
That's where everything starts, with God. And your religion's
got to start with God. All right, that's my first question
for you. How big is your God? Who is your
God? Most people's religion starts
with a law, or starts with a denomination, or starts with an experience,
or starts with a decision. Mine starts with God. Davidson
our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever. He pleased
whatsoever the Lord pleased That did he at heaven earth and the
seas and all deep places God Let God be God. Let God be true
and ever man alive. He's a God of purpose Why let's
go back to Romans 8 now having Having had preached to me By
a faithful servant and here's the thing. Here's the thing we've
got to We got to deal with here. No man that woreth entangleth
himself. Now this is speaking of the minister
of God. A man who speaks for God must
be free, totally free. He can't be married to a denomination
because he'll be constrained to some extent speak for that
denomination, Tom. It's just, that's just human.
If I'm Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, you're going to have that slant.
You're going to have that slant. A man who speaks for God must
not be a man who is obligated to men. He must have no fear
of men. He's got to be, not care, and
that's not the right word. He does care whether they believe
it or not. He wants them to know Christ.
But like Paul said, I know no man after the flesh. That's what
he said. He said, I used to know Christ
after the flesh. There was a time when Christ
walked on this earth. But no man. I know no man. I
know no man. That is, I'm obligated to no
man. I fear no man. Absolutely no man has any hold
on me. Now, if a man will speak for
God, he's got to say that. He's got to be totally and completely
rid of ambition. Now, if he's ambitious for a
move, for a promotion, he can't speak for God because this, you
see, this will taint in some way. It'll taint or touch in
some way what he said. We're human beings. We're human
beings. This is the reason I say all
the time, find out before you speak what's your motive. What's
our main goal and objective in preaching? Now think a minute.
What is our main goal and objective in preaching right now? In preaching.
What is it? You say to win souls. That's
wrong. It better not be. Our main objective
in preaching and reading this Bible is to glorify God Almighty. To tell the truth on God. Now,
if your main objective is to win souls, you'll cut corners.
If that's your goal, your goal determines your message. If that's
your goal, and that's where Southern Baptists fell years ago, they
got numbers on their mind. Well, our goal is to fill these
pews. Better watch out. You'll cut the corner. You'll
take the edge off. You'll compromise. You'll compromise
God's message to fill those pews. Our main goal and objective,
and we must not be tied to a denomination, an association. I fear these
brethren who are starting this Reformed Baptist Association,
they're doing nothing but putting an albatross around their necks.
They're going to build their creeds and catechisms and their
rules and regulation, and it's human nature. You're going to
try to build that organization. But if a man can somehow become
unshackled and unentangled and not be interested in what tomorrow
holds or what tomorrow brings or whether anybody ever hears
him again or whether he ever preaches again, whatever the
cost, whatever the consequences, to declare the truth of God Almighty,
God somehow bless him. Now, somehow. And I believe that can be said
for this pulpit And what I'm trying to say tonight, I just
know this. I know this, and God has set
this forth in no uncertain terms. I read it to you. Almighty God
has set forth in no uncertain terms His absolute, unrestrained,
complete, unchangeable sovereignty in this thing of salvation. He
saves whom He will. That's what this book says. He
saves whom He will. That's not popular. Well, what
of it? You can't build a church on that.
Well, what of it? Jerry Falwell wrote this in his
own hand. It appeared in the sword of the
Lord several years ago. He said, I used to hold to these
doctrines, and I saw that they were ruining my ministry, and
I quit preaching them. That's exactly what he said.
Sure, it'll ruin your ministry, but we don't have a ministry.
It's God's ministry. It's not my ministry. I'm not
the servant of men, I'm the servant of God Almighty. I've got to
tell what God says. You can't compromise the Word
of God and be His servant. You can't preach what you want
to preach about the Bible, or what you think you ought to preach,
or what's even applicable to this day. Paul said to Timothy,
just preach the Word. Let God decide what's applicable
and what's not applicable. And here in no some certain terms,
salvations of the Lord. It's of the Lord in its planning. It's of the Lord in its execution. It pleased God to bruise him.
It's of the Lord in its application. Paul said, God separated me from
my mother's womb and was pleased to call me by His grace. Did
you choose God or did He choose you? God chose you. He said that. When did He choose you? Before
the foundation of the world. Known under God are all His works
from the beginning. He declares the end from the
beginning, from ancient times, the things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel will stand. I'll do My pleasure. None can
stay My hand. None can say unto Me, What doest
thou? That's God. If He wants to pass by the angels,
He will, and He did. and choose the seed of Abraham.
If he wants to pass by the Hittites and the Amalekites and the Amorites
and the Italians or the Russians or the Chinese or whoever, he
will. That's God. He owes man nothing. He owes us the wages of sin,
but not the grace of life. If he wants to choose Israel,
he'll choose Israel. If He wants to give the prophets
and the law and the tabernacle and the atonement to Israel,
God will do it, which He did. And if He wants to love Jacob
and hate Esau, I'm going to let Him do it and not ask Him why. Because that's what He said.
If He wants to harden the heart of Pharaoh and raise him up to
show his power, I say so be it. Let God be God. If he wants to
say Judas was the son of perdition from the beginning, I say, Amen,
let God be God. How about you? The gift of God
is eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not of him
that willeth, it's not of him that runneth, it's of God that
showeth mercy. Turn to John chapter 1 for a
moment. This is just what the Scripture
declares. And our Lord Jesus Christ, in
His great priestly prayer, John 17, said, I pray not for the
world. I pray not for the world. I pray
not for the world. Christ said, I pray for them
which thou hast given me. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me. John chapter 1, look at verse
11. John 1, 11. He came unto His
own, and His own received Him not. But, as many as received
Him, and I believe I have, and I believe some of you have, received
Christ. To them gave He the right, the
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on
His name. There's no period at the end of that word. I don't know a lot about English,
but I know that's not a period, that's a colon. The sentence
is continued. That's not the end of it. Why
do you quit there? I'll tell you why we quit, because
we don't like what it says in the next verse. Read on. Which were born, which were begotten,
which were conceived, not of blood, that is, not of family
inheritance. It's not a bloodline deal. I'm
not saved because I was born of Christian parents. It's not
of the will of the flesh. It's not of the will of man.
It's of God. Of God are you in Christ Jesus. Of God He's made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Anybody who's
repented in here tonight, the goodness of God led you to repentance. Anybody that's believed on Christ,
that faith is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. You'll give God all the glory. That's true. God chose us. Turn back to Romans
8, it says that. Verse 29, it talks about His
purpose and says, and here's where we are. Here's where we
are. It's a matter of facing the Word
and receiving the Word. You say, well, that's just your
interpretation. My friends, I'm just reading
it. Not interpreting it. How else can you interpret this?
For whom He did foreknow. Now how does God know anything?
Foreknow means know beforehand. How does God know what's going
to happen? Because God has the power to make it happen. He foreordains. He foreknows because He foreordains. He declares this. Whom He foreknew,
He predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He predestinated, them He called." He called, not the preacher.
He called them. Whom He called, He justified. He also justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. Now here's the question. What
do you say to those things? What then? What shall we then
say to these things? Well, the enemies of grace, I've
heard it all. This is what they say. They have
a lot to say. They say, I don't believe that.
That'll tear up your church. That'll do this, that, and the
other. Here's three things they usually
say. If I believed that, I wouldn't
preach anymore. If I believe that, I'd never
preach, I'd never witness, I'd never send a missionary. If I
believe that God elected a people, if I believe that Christ died
for them and the Holy Spirit will effectually call them, I'd
never preach again. Now they don't say it's not there,
they just say, if I believe that, I wouldn't preach anymore. And
then secondly they say, if I believe that, If I believe that a man
is predestinated to be like Christ, why, I'd live like I please in
flesh and sin. That's what I'd do if I believe
that. You ever heard that before? That's
what I'd do. If I believe that, I'd just break down the traces
and let her go. The third thing to say, if I
believe that, I'd never pray. I'd never pray anymore. I never
studied the Bible anymore. Now that's what the enemies of
God say. That's what the enemies of these
things say. But you know, I've never heard anyone who believes
the grace of God say any of those things. This is what, you understand
what I mean? This is what people say who don't
believe it. They say, if I did believe it,
I wouldn't preach. If I did believe it, I wouldn't
pray. If I did believe it, I'd live
like the devil. But you know the people who do
believe it and who do see it, the opposite is true. They have
more desire to preach than ever before. Did you know that? More
desire to preach than ever before. Turn if you will to the book
of Acts. Let me show you something here. Paul certainly believed
it. He certainly, because the writings
that I was reading were the writings of Paul. But now listen to Acts
chapter 20 and verse, beginning with verse Verse 22, Acts chapter,
I beg your pardon, chapter 18, I beg your pardon, Acts 18 beginning
with verse 9. Now Paul believed that God chose
a people to salvation out of every kindred, tribe, nation,
tongue under heaven, Jew and Gentile. That God had a people
whom he had elected, whom he had given to his son, and Christ
had assumed the responsibility of their surety, their righteousness,
and their representative. Now listen to Acts 18 verse 9.
Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision. Be not
afraid, he said, but speak. Hold not thy peace, for I am
with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee. For I have
much people in this city, talking about Corinth. So Paul continued
there for 18 months, teaching the Word of God. God came and
said, Paul, Don't leave Corinth. He's about to leave. He's about
to leave town. He thought it was going to kill him. And God
said, stay there because my elect are there. I have many there.
So you stay there. And Paul said, well, ain't no
use preaching. No. Paul stayed there and preached
the gospel to them. I tell you, you know what will
motivate you to preach? To know that thanks be unto God
who always causes us to triumph in Christ. To know that his word
will not return void, it shall accomplish that whereunto he
hath sent it. Turn to 2 Timothy 2. Now you
know you can't answer people's objections. They're not going
to listen to you anyway. Somebody has an objection and
they're going to have it when you get through. But what I'm
trying to show you is that people who love and believe the grace
of God never make statements like that. I'd never preach again.
The Lord came to a man called Ezekiel one time. He was a preacher. Ezekiel was a preacher. And he
said, Ezekiel, come out here. And he led him in the Spirit
out to a valley. And there was a valley full of
dead bones. There must have been a battle
fought there sometime years ago because the whole valley was
full of bones. And there were very many and
very dry. They were bleached. They were
barren. They were parched. They were
made white by the sun, the sand had blown over them, and Ezekiel
just stood there and looked around at all those bones. And God said,
Son of man, can these bones live? Can they live? That's a good
question. And this is what we're saying,
men are dead in trespasses and sin. There's nothing but very
many, very dry, very dead, lifeless, without even the moisture of
life. There wasn't even a drop of moisture. You know what Ezekiel replied? He said, O Lord, thou knowest.
Now listen. And the Lord said, preach to
them. I beg your pardon? Preach to
them. Preach the word of the Lord to
those boned and say, Oh ye dry bones, hear the Word of God. Now you Armenians, would you
walk off or would you do what God told you to do? You say,
if I believed that I wouldn't preach. Well, Ezekiel believed it and
he preached. He knew they were dry and he
knew they were dead, but he knew God could make his Word to be
life. And that's the reason I preach.
Because the God of life can give life, and he said, of his own
will beget he us with the word. The word is the seed of life. And he's pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And Ezekiel stood there. Boy, I bet he's glad nobody heard
him. Somebody been hiding behind a
rock, heard him standing out there. Oh, ye dry bones, hear
the word of the Lord. They'd have come after him, wouldn't
they? Put the old man away. But that old man believed God
was sovereign, and he believed men were dead, and he believed
the Word of God had the power to give life. And you know it
said they stood up a great army. Look at 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. 2 Timothy 2. 2 Timothy 2, verse
9. Listen to Paul. He said in verse
9, wherein I suffer trouble, I suffer trouble as an evildoer.
Yeah, I'm a disturber of Israel, even unto bonds, prison, but
the word of God's not bound. Therefore, I endure all things
for the elect's sake. This is the greatest missionary
that ever lived. This is the most diligent preacher
that lived since Christ. This is the most dedicated martyr
since Christ. And he says, I endure what I
endure for the elect's sake that they may obtain The salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. That's Paul's
reply when you say, I'd never preach again. He said, I not
only preach, but I'll die for him. I not only preach, I'll
go to jail for him. I not only preach, I'll suffer
stripes and scourgings and shipwreck that the alert might come to
knowledge of Christ. I say the The more you learn
of the grace of God, the more anxious you are to preach. And
I've heard people say, well, I wouldn't be interested in missions
if I believe in election. William Carey, 100 percent believe
in election. Judson, 100 percent. The Apostle
Paul. All these great missionaries.
Calvin, Luther, Whitfield, Zwingli, Huss, Martin Luther, every one
of them believed exactly what I'm preaching to you tonight.
Every blessed one of them. And they were met. Martin Luther
gave his very life for the gospel of grace and justification by
faith, and he believed 100% in God's elective grace. 100%. In fact, there isn't one freewill
Arminian that's ever amounted to a hill of beans or a pinch
of snuff. That's right, not one. Not one. People who love the grace of
God are more interested in missions, more anxious that God's sheep
should hear His Word than anybody in all the world. Walter Groover
is an example. He believes exactly what I'm
preaching tonight. And yet that man left home 20
years ago with five little babies and went to Mexico and lived
like a pauper for years to preach the gospel to sinners. Well,
I believe what you believe. I wouldn't go. I know you wouldn't.
I know you wouldn't. It takes grace to do that. It
takes grace to do that. And I'll tell you something else.
I find there's people that believe the grace of God. They want more
than ever to glorify Christ. More than ever. They pray more,
they study more, they're more anxious to worship God, they're
more diligent in the study of God's Word. You know, to be perfectly
honest with you, prior to the time that I came to knowledge
of God's sovereign elective grace, I did very little studying. Because
you don't have to study, all you need to do is stand up in
front of some people and say, accept Jesus and tell a story,
you know, and read a poem and stuff like that. But I tell you,
when you start preaching and teaching the Word, you got to
dig. And when I found out who God is and what man is and what
Christ has done, I had to hit the books, Charlie. I had to
hit the Word. I have to study. I have to study. Well, let's
see Paul's answer. Let's see. We've heard from the
folks that say, if I believe that this, that and the other,
let's see what Paul said. And I'll just give it to you
briefly and then quit. He says here in verse 31, you
know, the proposition, you know, what I've set for salvations
of the Lord. He's the author and finisher of our faith. He's
Alpha and Omega. He's the beginning and the end.
Christ is all thing. Christ is all and in all. Paul
said, verse 31, what should we say to these things? Well, here's
his reply in four questions. First, he said, if God be for
us, if God, the eternal, almighty, omnipotent, immutable God be
for me. For me how? If he be for me.
If he be for me. He's for me in election. He said
that here. He's for me in predestinating
purposes. He's firing me in divine calling. He's firing me in justification
by the blood of his son. He's firing me in glorification. Then who can be against me? Who
can be against? I have no enemy that can succeed. God's not against me. He's firing
me. Christ is not against me. He's firing me. The Holy Spirit's
not against me. He's firing me. The devil's against
me, but he's whipped. He's judged. He's cast out. The
law's against me, but it's satisfying. Justice is against me, but it's
been honored. So then can't anybody be against
me? If God's for me in everlasting purpose and predestination, in
everlasting justification, redemption, then Paul said, who can be against
me? There's your peace. There's your joy. There's your
comfort. There's your comfort. Then secondly in verse 33 he
asked verse 32 said though he that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all All of those whom he's talking
about Shall he not with Christ freely give us all things what
Christ purchased shall we not have? What Christ bought for
us shall we not own and then verse 33 who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect and You know, we stand here tonight
and we think about the immaculate, infinitely holy law of God. And
you feel a little bit, before the law of God, you feel just
a little bit on shaky ground. Now that law is pretty holy.
You, do you know what the law says? Do you know what the law
says? Well, let me tell you something.
If Christ met that law and obeyed it, then it's honored, completely
exalted and satisfied, and it cannot charge me with anything.
It can't do it. The law can't lay one thing to
my charge that Christ hasn't fulfilled. He came to fulfill
it in every jot and tittle. Same thing with justice. The
soul that's in it, it shall die. What are you doing about God's
justice? You say, well, I joined the church and I believe on Jesus
and I've given my offerings and I've tried to live the best I
know how. Is that your hope for heaven? Aren't you a little bit
worried about the justice of God? Aren't you just a little
bit? I tell you, if I were trusting
anything other than the perfect obedience of Christ before the
law and the death of Christ on the cross, particularly effectually,
sufficiently, I'd stay trembling all the time. I really would. Because I tell you, it's an awesome
thing to think about standing before God. But here Paul said
this, who can lay anything to my charge? God has justified
me. Whom he foreknew, he predestinated,
he called, he justified. Now, what shall we say to these
things? Well, if he justified me, then who's going to charge
me? Huh? It's what he said. But now, if
this is not true, then this is not true. Now that's right. Now you're hung up here, you're
in trouble. Whom he foreknew, he predestinated,
called, and justified." If that's not true, then this question
is not true here. Who can lay anything in charge
of God's elect? Paul said the reason is God justified it. All right, look at the next line.
And I say this, who is he that condemneth? Who can condemn me? And he gives four reasons. Paul
doesn't say, now who can condemn me? I'm a preacher. Who can condemn
me? I'm a Jew. Who can condemn me? I've worked
hard for Jesus. Who can condemn me? I've suffered
for Christ. Who can condemn me? This, that,
and the other. He said, who can condemn me? And he gives four
reasons why he can't be condemned. It's Christ that died. It's Christ
that died. He's already died. He's died
under condemnation of my sins. And listen, he rises a little
higher. He said, it is Christ that died, yea, rather is risen
again. God Almighty, when He raised
Christ from the dead, He put approval on all Christ's dead.
And who is even, even, more than that, He died, He was buried,
He arose, He's even at the right hand of God. And he climbs a
little higher, and he said, and he also, in addition to all this,
prays for me. He makes intercession. That's
why I'm not condemned. Oh, I tell you, this is foundation. This is rich. This is something
to put your teeth in. This is something to rest in.
This is a refuge to hide in. This is something of depth and
consequence. I listen to these preachers with
their microphones running up and down, hollering and yelling
and waving the Bible and getting people to talk about speaking
in tongues and talk about America's going to the dogs. America's
already gone to the dogs. They've been to the dogs since
1776. America's not the kingdom of
God. Patriotism is not Christianity. It's not synonymous. We act like
it's synonymous. America needs God just as much
as Russia. We're sinners just as much as
a communist. There's no difference. There's
no difference. All if sin comes short of the
glory of God. This is not the capital of God Almighty. This
is not the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God's in Christ.
It's in the heart. And I'm trying to tell you something
to lay hold of here. There's some purpose and reason
and foundation for you to give to somebody that asks you a reason
for the hope you have. Christ died. Yea, rather He's
risen again. He came out of the tomb. Why?
Why was He buried? What does it say when He rose?
He's ascended to the right hand of God. What does that mean?
Sat down. What does that mean? The priest
never sat down. Christ did. He finished His work.
Sat down. He even intercedes for us. He
prays for us I'll tell you say preacher pray for me priest pray
for me cardinal pray for me I'll tell you who must pray for you
Christ must pray for you If he's not praying for you won't do
any good to get the whole religious world praying for you That's
right. You can organize every I'll tell
you every religious Person on this earth could be praying right
now for one individual and if Christ were not his Mediator
and his intercessor and his high priest and his substitute and
the object of his faith. He won't do one bit of good That's
exactly right No man cometh to the father but by me That's what
scripture says. That's Christ. All right. Here's
the last question Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation... In other words, if he said his...
Turn to Jeremiah a minute. Let's see if I can find that
verse over here. Jeremiah, I think it's 30. What kind of love is
this that we have in Christ? What kind of love? Jeremiah 31.
Jeremiah 31. Verse 3, The Lord hath appeared
of old unto me, saying, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee an everlasting love. Now then, I know we've
got here tonight in this congregation people who have been Methodists,
Baptists, Presbyterian, Catholics, Camelites, Mormons a little bit
of every church of God assembly of God a little bit of everything
under the Sun Southern Baptist United Baptist primitive Baptist
all the other different kind But I'm telling I wish that somehow
all of these names and and all of these views and all of these
Persuasions were just blown up just completely blown up and
we get back to this book right here Find out who God is, and
who we are, and who Christ is, and the way of life. And I've
tried tonight to set before you the way of life. It's in God.
There's a two-fold message of evangelism. Let me show it to
you in Isaiah 40, and I'll quit. In Isaiah 40, there's a two-fold
message of evangelism. He came here in Isaiah 40. Now listen to this, just quickly.
And he said in verse 1, comfort my people, speak comfortably
to Jerusalem. And the voice, verse 6, now watch
this, the voice said, cry, cry. And he said, well, what shall
I cry? This is talking about John the Baptist, the forerunner
of crying. Cry out there, boy, cry. He said, well, what shall
I cry? Two things. All flesh is grace. That's the first thing. All flesh
is grace. And all the goodliness of men
of flesh is as a flower of the field that withereth and fadeth,
because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth on it. Now verse 9, here's
the second thing to cry. O Zion that brings good tidings,
get thee up, get thee up to a mountain. O Jerusalem that bringeth good
news, the gospel, lift up your voice, lift it up, be not afraid,
say to them, behold your God. That's the message. It's twofold. Flesh is grass, withereth and
fadeth. And then turn your eyes away
from that flesh, and behold your God, the source of all goodness,
mercy, and grace. Behold your God. Behold your
God. Get your eyes off your mourners,
benches, and ordinances, and candles, and processionals, and
good deeds, and law, and all the rest of that stuff, and behold
your God. Behold your God. Our Father,
bless the Word, the Word tonight. Oh, that we might get back in
this day to the Word, not just our pet verses. And these things
that we pick here and there to prove what we believe bring us
back to the Word, the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever. And let this be the cry from
this pulpit, and I pray many pulpits tonight, all flesh is
grass. Nothing to it, nothing in it,
nothing will come of it. And behold your God. All things
are God. In his name we pray for the glory
of Christ. Amen.