There are many things that trouble
a true believer. There are many difficult trials
and burdens that he bears. One of our burdens is our own
sinful natures, our sinful passions. They cause us great anguish and
great pain. We struggle, Paul said, in this
body of sin, desiring to be clothed upon with our bodies or building
of God in glory. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I wake with his likeness. And Paul himself said, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin? great
burdens and trials of a true believer, the flesh lusting against
the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh so that you cannot
do the things that you would. That's a trial and a burden that
he carries all the time. And then another trial that he
carries with him all the time, another burden, is his slow growth
in grace and his slow growth in wisdom and faith and understanding. It causes us to cry to God, why
don't I have strong faith? Lord, increase my faith. Touch
my heart. Enable me to believe. Touch my
mind. Enable me to understand. Oh,
Lord, touch my lips. Enable me to witness. Touch my
soul. Enable me to be submissive. Our
growth in grace and wisdom and knowledge of Christ is so slow,
so very, very slow. It troubles us. causes us great
anguish and pain. We read the word and we just
don't remember it. We hear a message and we just
don't remember it. We lay hold on something real
good and we say, now I'll carry that with me to my grave. And
it's not six weeks we've forgotten we even heard it. Seem to make
one step forward and two backward, or two forward and three backward.
It's just growth is so slow. And I'll tell you another thing
that really causes anguish and heartache, and that is Our dullness
in prayer. Is there anybody here who prays
as much or as fervently as you'd like to? Our dullness in praise. I've tried to praise God this
morning, but have I really praised God as He's worthy to be praised
or as even I ought to praise Him? And then we worship. We're here worshiping, but I
look around at sleepy eyes And I'm not just looking at them,
I'm looking through them, you know. And we're just so dull
in the worship of the Lord. How could anybody doze while
the Word of God is being read, or while his praises are being
sung, or while his gospel is being preached? How could my
mind wander off somewhere else when we're dealing with eternal
matters, when I'm so near the grave, when I'm so near judgment,
when I'm so near meeting God, When I'm so empty, John Newton
said, if I love Christ, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless
frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who never heard His name. If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with everything I do. You that love the Lord indeed.
Is it that way with you? I carry these three burdens all
the time. I admit it, I confess it, I own
it. My sinful nature causes me great anguish and pain. I'll
be glad when God eradicates it. Thus far He hasn't. My slow growth
in grace and wisdom, understanding of the Word of God, I have to
struggle and dig for everything I get out of this book. I have
to struggle and dig for every meaning of every verse. It doesn't
come easy at all. It doesn't come any easier now
than it did 15 years ago. And I find so much dullness in
worship and prayer and praise, so much dullness, so much unlike
Christ in attitude. Do you hear that word? So unlike
Christ in spirit. So unlike Christ in my motives. So unlike Christ in my daily
living, just unlike enough that if they were condemning and sentencing
men to prison for being Christians, there's not many of us, there'd
be enough evidence against us to put us in prison. Wouldn't
be enough. Certainly not by our attitude,
and not by our motives, and not by our conduct, and not by our
conversations, so unlike our merciful and gracious compassionate
and affectionate Redeemer, so unlike Him. But that's not what
I want to talk about today. At the forefront of my burdens,
you may not believe this, but I think some of you share it.
At the forefront of the thing that brings me the most sorrow
in this world is the treatment, is the treatment
that we receive at the hands of Men are believing and preaching
and standing for the free and sovereign grace of God. Families, our families, our relatives,
people with whom we've lived all our lives, parents, brothers,
sisters, cousins, nephews, nieces, grandmothers, grandfathers, become
our enemies because we believe the free and sovereign grace
of God. I mean enemies. Friends, old friends. I have
some old friends right over here in the community where I live.
They said they were friends. We used to be friends. But they hate me with a positive
hatred for some reason. I've never stolen anything they
own. I've never defaced or marred their property. far as I know,
have never brought any charges against them. Religious people,
preachers, people who claim to be Christians, neighbors, even
people who don't even know us. This is what utterly destroys
me. People who don't even know us,
don't even know us, have never met us, have never heard us preach,
speak harshly of us because of the gospel of His grace. I don't
understand that. The Apostle Paul wept over this. He said to one of the churches,
he said, have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
I recently, well Thursday night, what gave the greater motive
to this message, Thursday night I went up to Dingus, West Virginia
to preach. I went there three years ago
and it was a congregation of emotion and flesh just pure flesh,
singing songs that were contrary to the scripture and contrary
to the gospel and contrary to the truth. People praying in
unison, everybody scattered over the congregation all praying
at the same time in utter confusion. Just division and flesh and emotion
and all these things. And I preached what the pastor
believed and what I believe is the gospel of Christ. Just preach
the gospel. I preached how that God is almighty,
that man's a sinner, and Christ is the only Mediator, the only
Savior, Prophet, Priest, and King, the only Lord. Our hope
is in Him. He puts away our transgressions and pardons our iniquities, makes
us accepted to God in His person, sanctifies us, justifies us,
makes us righteous, redeems us. Our hope's in Christ. We're to
do things in order. Would he do things led by the
Spirit? Would he sing his praises and pray in the Spirit but with
the understanding? No, he just laid out the gospel
and the pastor started preaching it. Well, half the congregation
turned against him. He was raised in that church.
He was a deacon in that church. He was everybody's friend. And
most of the congregation turned against him with such hatred,
such utter, complete hatred, you wouldn't believe. They quit
the church, they split, the people left. A handful of folks stayed
there. And I've seen this happen time
after time after time. I saw it happen in Dalton, Georgia.
I saw it happen in Jacksonville, North Carolina. These are people
that have worshipped together for 25 years. Suddenly the gospel
comes, a gospel in its beauty, in its strength, in its saving
power. The gospel of the Word of God
comes. And they're not satisfied to say, well, I just don't see
it that way, or I just haven't learned it that way, or I'm going
to have to study that a little more. It brings out hatred, anger,
the worst kind of hatred. And then someone in the car with
me was telling me, when he came to learn the gospel, the gospel
of God's grace, delivered out of Arminianism and Emotionalism
and Freewillism, into the grace of God. His whole spirit and
attitude and life changed. He came to adore and to love
and to worship Christ and to see His beauty and glory and
the Word of God open to him. And he thought, I'll tell my
brother this good news. I'll go to my brother. He'll
be so glad to hear what God's done for me. He'll be so glad
to hear about how God will save sinners through Christ. Well,
he sat down with his brother and started telling him. And
the more he talked, the madder his brother got. His eyes crackled
with fire. His veins stood out. His whole
countenance changed. He was livid with rage. He said,
I don't believe that. Who have you been talking to?
And this man who had been converted and come to know Christ was shocked.
What made you hate me? What made you turn against me?
So he wants to tell his mother and his aunt about it. There.
People who claim to love the gospel, love God, sweet, lovely
people. Same reaction. Same reaction. What's wrong? Doesn't this trouble,
doesn't this tear your heart out? You sit down with your mother
or your father or brother or sister People with whom you've
had some understanding, some fellowship, some love through
the years, you share the same blood, or neighbors or friends,
you're not a fanatic, you're not a radical, I'm not a heretic,
I'm just trying to tell people what the book says. What God
says about him, I don't intend to change. I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of God's free grace, that's the only gospel there
is. The gospel, as Scripture says, is the gospel of God, it's
the gospel of His grace, it's the gospel concerning His Son,
it's the gospel of His mercy and free favor. There is no other
gospel that's good news. I'm not ashamed to declare openly
what God declares in His Word concerning Himself and concerning
the redemption of sinners. It's in Christ Jesus, it's nowhere
else. The whole of the work, here's
my theology, I'm saying the whole of the work. And this is your
theology, and this is what men despise. This is what turns on
their anger and their resentment to the point that they want to
destroy you. They want to put you out of business. Now, as long as you were drunk,
they didn't care. As long as you were a blasphemer,
they didn't care. You go your way, I'll go mine.
But when you became a believer in the grace of God, in the free
grace of God, in the sovereign grace of God, in the grace of
God that says, I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I'll
be merciful to whom I will be merciful, that's when they set
out to destroy you and to put you out of business and to close
you out. And I'm talking about people
who claim to know God. I'm talking about people claim
to be versed in the Scriptures. I'm saying that the whole of
the work whereby sinful sons of Adam are lifted from the dunghill
of sin, and that's where we are by nature, by birth, by practice,
by identification, we're in the dunghill of sin. We're in the
rubbish pile. We're on the garbage heap. And
we're lifted from that dunghill of sin and made to sit with Christ
in heavenly places. I'm saying the whole of that
work, the totality of that work, is of God and of Him only. We don't do it. God does it,
that's what I'm saying. God does it, and God does it
through the merits and mercy of His Son. God does it. You
don't make one contribution to your redemption, to your justification,
or to the sanctification of your soul. God does it, and God's
going to get the glory. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying,
salvations of the Lord. He purposed it in eternity past. He said, I declare the end from
the beginning. That's the only thing He can
do and be God. A person can't be God who doesn't
know everything. A person can't be God. This one
can't be God who can be frustrated, who can be defeated, who can
be turned from his course. He can't be God. God is omnipotent,
omniscient, and omnipresent. God Almighty is Almighty. And
none can stay in His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou?
To talk about God trying to do anything is a misnomer. There's
no possibility of God trying anything. God does things. Just in a simple illustration,
I decide to pick this Bible up and close it and put it over
here. I have the power to do that. If I will to do it, I'm
going to do it. That's just a simple act
of a human being. When God Almighty wills to do
a thing, He's going to do it. He's going to do it. He's going
to carry it out. And none can stay His hand or say unto Him,
hey, what are you doing? Why did you make me thus? Salvation
is of the Lord in its purpose. He purposed it. He executed it. He sent his Son into the world.
Sure, wicked men crucified him, but God predetermined it. God
ordained it. God announced it. He announced
it over and over again. He applies salvation. He sustains
salvation. He will perfect salvation. The
covenant of grace is the gift of God. The free, absolutely
free gift of God. It's a covenant of grace. It's
a covenant of mercy. It's an everlasting covenant.
And God Almighty is the author of it. He's the essence of it. He's the fulfillment of it. Christ
is the unspeakable gift of God. Christ is the gift of God. He
gave His Son. We didn't earn Christ, or merit
Christ, or seek Christ, or desire Christ, or ascend to heaven and
bring Christ down. God purposed to send Him, and
He sent Him! Eternal life is the gift of God.
Even the goodness of God led me to repentance. Even faith
is the gift of God. Faith is the gift of God. Turn
to the book of Philippians. I was reading a scripture over
here the other day, in Philippians chapter 1, verse 28. Paul says in verse 27, the first
line, let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel. Let's talk in gospel terms. Let's
preach in gospel terms. Let's converse in gospel terms.
What's this? This is terms of grace. Let your
conversation be seasoned with grace, the grace of God. Talk
about the grace of God, the goodness of God. Talk about going somewhere
the Lord willing I'm going to go. The Lord willing, the Lord's
promise. I married a couple here last
night, and I said this in my prayer, God's providence brought
them together. That's seasoned with grace. I didn't say, isn't
it lucky they met each other? I'm sure glad y'all ran into
each other down the corner. God's purpose brought them together.
Talk that way, think that way, live that way, act that way.
That's what Paul said. Act like God's on the throne.
Talk that way. God's providence. The good providence
of God. The purpose of God. Let your
conversation be as it would come at the gospel. Verse 28, don't
be afraid of your enemies. Don't be terrified by your enemies.
It is to them an evident token of their condemnation. Their
hatred is a token of their lack of, their ignorance of God. That's
exactly right. You tell someone a truth from
the word of God and they grow livid with rage. It's an evidence
of their condemnation. That's what he's saying. Your
enemies, the very fact they hate you, they hated Christ without
a cause. I'm going to show you in a minute
some of the instances in which they, and things he said that
brought out their hatred, which revealed, it says here, it's
a token of their perdition. It's a token of their condemnation.
Their hatred for you for no reason other than the gospel of grace
is evident. They're damned. They're damned. They're just waiting execution.
And to you, of salvation, it's a token of your salvation, and
that of God. You see that? Those four words,
and that of God. Your salvation's of God, the
whole thing's of God. For unto you, look at verse 29,
unto you it is given, it is given to you in behalf of Christ, not
only to believe on Him. Did you ever see that before?
Not only to believe on Him, that's the gift of God, but also to
suffer for His sake. That's the same trouble Paul
said in verse 30 that I'm having, same conflict you saw in me,
same conflict all over the world. They hate the grace of God. They
hate the gift of God. But my friends, when you stand
here and preach, or in any other congregation and preach, who
God is, what man is as a result of the fall, what he is by nature,
and God's eternal grace, and God's purpose, There are no accidents
with God. He's doing everything on purpose.
All that He can wisely save, He'll save. All whom He can save
for His glory, He'll save. And the mysteries of the gospel
of God, where you preach these things, and churches, just they
grow angry. They fight these things. But
they did when Christ preached them. Let me show you a few scriptures.
Turn to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. Now, our Lord
Jesus Christ, you say, Preacher don't preach these things
then. If this is what divides and causes
trouble... You know, the world, as long
as Christ just healed people, as long as he fed them, as long
as he just talked about morality and so forth, righteousness,
he didn't get any real static. But now let's see where he got
the real problem. In John 10, verse 30, he said,
I and my father won. Well, back here in verse 24,
let's read back a little bit. Then the Jews came round about
him. They said, how long do you make us to doubt? If you be the
Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you. And you
didn't believe me. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not, because
you're not of my sheep. I said to you, my sheep hear
my voice. I know them. They follow me, and I give them
eternal life. And they'll never perish. Neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave to me is
greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." Then, what happened? Then, what happened? See what
I'm saying? They took up stones to stone him. They came around,
they said, now, if you be the Christ, if you be the anointed,
the consolation of Israel, if you be the King for whom we look,
tell us... He said, I told you. Well, tell us plainly. I told
you plainly. But you don't believe me because you're not of my sheep.
My father gave me some sheep. And my sheep will hear my voice
and they'll follow me and I'll give them eternal life because
I and my father won. They said, we're not going to
hear that. Now let's talk about feeding folks again. Let's talk
about starving Chinaman. Let's talk about building a hospital
and heal some sick folks. Let's talk about taking care
of the widows and orphans. Let's talk about doing good to
your neighbor. We like that kind of talk. But now this sheep business,
and this shepherd business, and this God giving the Son of people,
and you being equal with the Father, and being one. Oh, I
was looking at Luke chapter... Let's turn to John 8. Why are
we in John? John chapter 8. John 8. They hated being called
sinners. He said in John chapter 8, listen
to this. John 8, 43. Why do you not understand
my speech? Even because you cannot hear
my word, that's divine revelation, is essential to a man understanding
the word of God. You're of your father the devil.
The lust of your father you'll do. He was a murderer from the
beginning. He'll bode not in the truth because no truth in
him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own. He's a liar
and the father of liars. Because I tell you the truth,
you won't believe me. Which of you convinces me of sin? If I
say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God
hears God's word. You don't hear them because you're
not of God. And then they said, didn't we say, well, when you,
we said you had a devil? They said, you got a devil. That's,
that's, that's damnable doctrine. That's what they say, I pray,
damnable doctrine. That's what they said. Christ
said, you have a devil. In verse 59, then took they up stones
to cast at him. Luke chapter 4. Come over there
with me a moment. Luke chapter 4. I'm bold to declare, openly and
publicly, that if any man's saved, it'll be by the grace of God.
And boldly and publicly, I want to say to everybody to whom I
have the privilege of preaching that if you go to hell, it'll
be your fault. If you sing and rejoice with
the redeemed and glory, you're going to give God all the glory.
He chose you. He sought you. He called you.
He redeemed you. He kept you. And He raised you.
And He seated you. And He'll get all the glory.
And that's what Christ is saying here. Listen to the reaction.
He said, here's a whole bunch of religious folks, religious
Jews. And they were there because they felt that Abraham was their
father. because they had the right religion, because they
kept the laws, because they tithed, because they fasted, because
they honored the feast days and holidays and kept the Sabbath
days and all these things. And our Lord said in verse 25,
I tell you a truth, There were many widows in Israel in the
days of Elias when the heavens were shut up three years and
six months and great payments was throughout all the land.
But God didn't send his prophet to any of the Jews. He sent his
prophet to Sarepta, a city of Sidon, to a woman that was a
widow and was a Gentile. That's what he said. And there
were many lepers in Israel, in religious Israel. In the days
of Alicius the prophet, none of them were cleansed but a Gentile
named Naaman. Now how are they going to react
to that? That's sovereign purpose. That's God's sovereignty. Here
were all these Jews that felt that they deserved God's presence
and they merited God's mercy and they were children of God
by heritage and by all these different things. And God just
passed every one of them by and went over here and healed a Gentile
and fed a widow who was a Gentile. Now what's their reaction? Well,
let God be God. No, that wasn't their reaction.
Well, praise God for his power and might. Praise God he fed
somebody. Praise God, oh no, no, no, no. Verse 28, And all
they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, that God
is merciful to whom he will be merciful, that God is gracious
to whom he will be gracious, that no man merits his mercy
or deserves his grace or earns his favor, they were filled with
wrath and rose up and thrust, get out of our city and don't
ever come back. We're religious, but we don't
believe that. We believe in God, but not that God. Your God is
our devil. That's what they said. John 6,
turn over there a minute. They hate the deity of Christ,
the sovereignty of Christ, hate being called sinners, they hate
effectual grace. Listen to John 6. Now, what you're supposed to
preach, I know what you're supposed to preach. You're supposed to
tell all these rebels and God-haters that God's doing all He can do,
and that's up to them. You're supposed to tell them
that the Holy Spirit's standing outside every door, scratching
or knocking or doing something, trying to get that sinner to
open the door, because the latch is on the inside. But now listen
to what Christ said. John 6, verse 63. It's the Spirit that quickeneth
the flesh, prophet of nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they're spirit and they're life. My word is spirit and life. Some
of you that believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not, who should betray Him, and He
said, therefore I said unto you, no man can come to Me except
it were given him of My Father. From that time, many of His disciples
went back. They said, we're not going to
go there to church anymore. We're not going to hear Him anymore. Oh, my. Turn back to John 5.
Listen to this. What will they hear? I'll get
you a brass band and a bunch of singers and get you some entertainers
and chalk artists and things to attract the crowd and then
stand up and tell them what they want to hear. Tell them what
they want to hear and they'll attend. They'll back you. They'll
fill your coffers with gold. They'll give you Cadillacs and
mansions to live in. They'll help you do all, anything
you want to do. Christ said in John 5.43, I come
in my Father's name and you receive me not. Let another come in his
own name, with his own message, with his own gospel, and him
you will receive. That's human nature. That's human
nature. But here's the thing that disturbs
me the most, and I speak out of experience. And when I went
over to Jacksonville, North Carolina, where the pastor was recently
asked to leave, and he left with a number of people and organized
another church, just last week a pastor from Mississippi called.
He'd been fired from his church. He said, I really didn't ring
the bell too clear on grace, but they found out I didn't believe
in free will and they fired me. And I asked this pastor in Jacksonville,
North Carolina, I said, what are they out there in the community?
And these people you used to pastor, what are they saying
that you're saying? I said, is this not what they're
accusing? Now this, I found this everywhere I go, this is what
bothers me. Their hatred and persecution for the sake of the
gospel, they do not deal with the true issues. They accuse
us of preaching things we don't even believe. And I said, Gary,
is anybody out there saying that you're preaching babies go to
hell? He said, how do you know that? I said, they always do. One of the ladies of the church
has one child. She's a school teacher, plays
the piano in the new church. I forget her name. You remember
her name, the blonde lady that plays the piano. Can't think
of her name. But anyway, she has three dead children. Now,
you talk about kind Christian compassion. She was a pianist
in that other church for 15 years. Her husband was one of the leaders.
Everybody adored her and loved her. She believed this gospel
of grace. She left with this pastor. One
of her dear friends called her up and said, you left with Gary,
didn't you? She said, yes, I believe this
gospel of grace. I believe God is sovereign in
salvation. I believe Christ died for his
people. She said, well, what about your babies? She said,
what? Well, she said, you've got three
babies, does that mean they're in hell? Gary Preacher's babies
go to hell. Can you imagine anybody doing
something like that? And my friend, you say what you want to, but
that's ungodly. That old drunk staggering down
the street down there ain't near as ungodly as that woman who
made that phone call. He doesn't have near the hate in his heart
that she does, and hell won't be near as hot for that drunk
as it will for that woman. I promise you that. I've never
heard a grace preacher preach babies in hell. Never in 35 years. I've never read, not one time,
an evangelical, well-informed, accepted preacher of the grace
of God ever preach that. Where do they get it? Let me
tell you where they get it. Old E.L. Williams used to say where
they got it. It's an egg hatched in hell and the devil sat on
the egg. That's where they got it. They won't deal with the issues.
Here's another thing. I said, they're accusing you
of this too, aren't they, Gary? I said, they're telling out there
that you believe God, before the foundation of the world,
predestinated some to heaven and some to hell. He said, how'd
you know that? I said, that's what they always
say. Predestination, what is it? Well, God predestinated some
to heaven and some to hell. Two-seed predestination. That's
a lie. God never predestinated anybody
to hell. God predestinated men to be like Christ. That's what
the Bible says. That's all we preach. We're saying what the
Scripture said. He chose us in Christ and He
predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. That's
what the Word of God says four times. Predestination has to do with
what we shall be. We'll be like Christ. He's ordered
the means. He's ordered the effectual work.
He's ordered the directions. He's ordered the ways. He has
directed us in those ways and means that we're going to be
like Christ. That's predestination. God doesn't have to predestinate
a man to hell. All God has to do is just leave
you alone. Just leave you alone. You're going where you want to
go. You're doing what you want to do. You hate God and you like
hating God. You enjoy. Men enjoy seeing.
They enjoy darkness. They love darkness, the scripture
says, rather than light. They love darkness. God's not
forcing any man to do what he doesn't want to do. Every man's
doing what he wants to do. Leave us alone, they said to
Christ. Leave us alone. All right, I'll
leave you alone. That's what you want. I don't
want anything to do with a sovereign God. Okay by me? Leave us alone. I said, tell you something else
they're telling too. They're saying that you believe
if a man's one of the elect, he'll be saved no matter whether
he ever hears the gospel or believes the gospel or perseveres in the
gospel. He said, yeah, that's what they're telling. I said,
did you ever preach that? He said, I don't believe that.
I said, I've never preached it. I wonder who they heard preach
that. I never heard anybody preach that. We believe God chose men to salvation,
but through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. That's what Scripture says. Have you been sanctified
by the Spirit? Have you believed the truth?
Have you laid hold on Christ? Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call on Him
in whom they've not believed? How shall they believe in Him
in whom they've not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher?
That's what I'm preaching. How shall they preach except
they be sent? It's so unkind to accuse a man of preaching
what he doesn't preach, of believing what he doesn't believe. But
what this is, it's a smoke screen to divert your attention from
the real issues to these phony issues. If you can get men to
talk about babies going to hell, about a false predestination,
about an election to life without grace and without Christ and
without faith, then they won't look to the real issues. There's
straw men. Barnard used to say they built
straw men, they create straw men, while refusing to come to
grips with the real issues. I'll tell you something else
they're saying too, Gary. They're saying, you don't believe
in missions. You don't believe in evangelism. You don't believe
in witnessing. You don't believe now in sending
missionaries and calling people to Christ. He said, yeah, that's
what they're saying. The most missionary-minded people in the
world are grace people, true grace. If you find a man who's
not missionary-minded and not concerned for sinners, and doesn't
give to send men to preach the gospel. I'll show you a man who
doesn't know God. He doesn't know the grace of God. Listen
to the Apostle Paul. My heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is they might be saved. I could wish myself a curse from
Christ for my brethren according to the flesh. O God, open. Pray for me, people. He said
that God will open and fix your doors so I can go and preach
the gospel where Christ has not been made. Preach the gospel. Our master said, go into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. I'll tell
you this, since coming to believe the grace of God in Christ, this
church has become more missionary and more evangelical than it
ever was before. It's just a lie, such a sad,
sad, heartless lie. And I'll tell you this, this
congregation here does more in the way of foreign missions and
to send the gospel out to any church in this whole area. It's
exactly right, and it's not the largest church here either. I'll
tell you another thing we're accused of. I'm accused of it
everywhere. Well, if you have him hold a
meeting for you, he'll split your church. I've never split
a church in my life. I've never divided a church,
not one. The Word of God divided some, but I didn't do it. I came and preached and left,
but the Word wouldn't go away. the word wouldn't go away. And
it won't go away. You stand there and preach it.
And you don't need to preach it belligerently. I get upset
when I think about what they're saying. I get upset when people
treat folks like they shouldn't be treated and don't deserve
to be treated and bear false witness against them. But you
can preach the truth of Christ as affectionately and kindly
and compassionately as you please. And when you go away, that word
just hangs there. It just hangs there. It won't
go away. It's like I get amused at these. They'll have a courtroom,
a trial, you know, and that little old gal sitting there hitting
on that dooflunky, you know, recording everything, and the
jury's sitting over there, and some lawyer will say something
that ought not be said, and the judge say, strike that out. How
you gonna strike it out? That jury's already heard it.
Make out like you didn't hear that. You didn't hear that, did
you? Unfortunately, I did. And it
stuck. And that's what happens when
we preach. Go and preach it, gentlemen. And it'll stick. And it'll hover over that congregation
until they do something with it. And when they do something
with it, that's when the fur flies. But I didn't split it.
I didn't split it. Now, I'm going to give you in
five minutes something here. Here are the real issues, and
I'm going to just sum them up. I have a whole message on this
here, but I'm just going to sum it up. Those aren't the issues.
Those aren't the issues. Babies in hell, predestinated
to hell, and no missions, and splitting churches, and teaching
a man to be saved no matter what. Those aren't the issues. And
I think most people know, here are the issues. I'll give them
to you briefly. There's seven of them. Number one, is God absolutely,
immutably, infinitely sovereign or is He? Now come on, who is
your God? Our God's in the heaven, David
said, and he hath done whatsoever he pleased. I won't take that
back. I worship at the throne of an absolutely, immutably sovereign
God. He reigns over light and darkness,
good and evil, over men and all creatures. He reigns in heaven,
earth, and hell. He has the keys of hell and death.
Huh? He'll do what He will, when He will, with whom He will, and
none can stay His hand. I believe that. And anything
less than that's not God. Secondly, is man dead in trespasses
and sin? Is he? Now, come on. Did the
fall in Eden's garden rob men of spiritual life and plunge
them in a state of spiritual death without hope, without help,
without even a desire for God? Now, what happened in the fall?
And if you believe original sin, if you believe by one man's sin,
death, judgment and condemnation came upon all men. And brother,
you've got to believe the next question. Did God choose men
to salvation, or did men choose God? Dead men don't choose anybody. Dead men do not seek anything.
Dead men just lie there. And that's what Sennacherib did.
But God chose us. Well, if He did choose us, when
did He choose us? Before the foundation of the
world. Why did He choose us? Why did He choose you? According
to the good pleasure of His own will. That's what the Word says.
That's what I'm preaching to. Here's the fourth one. Is salvation
a gift or an offer? The Bible says, thanks be unto
God for His unspeakable gift. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God's eternal life. For God so loved the world, He
gave His Son. This is the faithful saying,
God has given us eternal life. This life's in His Son. Gift,
gift, gift, gift. Nowhere in this Bible does it
say salvation is an offer. Nowhere. It's offered. Men are invited, but it's a gift. Fifthly, is the regenerating
work of the Holy Spirit and the call to Christ only an effort
on the part of the Holy Spirit? Is it only an effort or is it
an effectual work? Did the Holy Spirit come down
here just to, in an effort, in an adventure, try to get somebody
to believe this book? Try to get somebody to look to
Christ? Try to get just somebody to come
to the feast? No, sir. The Heavenly Father
sent Him on an errand to call out His sheep. To call out His
sheep. And He comes with an effectual
call. He breaks the door down. He breaks
the sinner's heart. He puts him in the dust. Saul
of Tarsus is an example as he rode his religious horse to Damascus. The Spirit of God smote him.
God arrested him. That's effectual. In the sixth
place is Christ's perfect righteousness, His perfect obedience. Is His
perfect life my righteousness? Did He clothe me upon with His
holiness and His righteousness and His life? and that's my righteousness
and acceptance with God, or do I have to add something to what
He did? What could I add? Anything I do is imperfect. Anything
I do, it spoils His righteousness. If He made me a coat, a beautiful
robe of righteousness, and I put anything on it that originated
with me, it spoils the whole thing. God couldn't accept it.
God couldn't look upon it. God couldn't deal with it. God
couldn't... Anything that I touch, I putrefy. Did you know that?
You do too. I contaminate, like the lepers
of old. Don't touch me! Anything I touch,
I contaminate. Am I complete in Christ? Complete! You can't find a better word
than that. Complete means it's all that's needed, all that's
required, or it's something that ought to be added. Now that's
the issue. And then last of all, did Christ
redeem me by His blood? Did He pay the debt? Did he pay
the debt? Did he satisfy God's law? Did he honor God's... Did he
or didn't he? If he did, I'm heaven bound,
because my hope's in him. If he didn't, I'm hell bound,
because I ain't got a hope. That's all there is to it. If
Jesus Christ, when He came down to this earth in the flesh, if
He fulfilled and supplied for me a perfect righteousness and
on the cross a perfect redemption and a perfect sanctification,
then I'm as sure for heaven as if I were already there. Because
in Christ I am already there. But if it's anything, if it's
left up to anything I think, feel, do, decide or am persuaded
to perform, No hope, no hope. Now my friends, I still, I rejoice
in my friends, I rejoice in, I hope, love my enemies. But
one of the burdens I carry, and I don't understand it, I just
can't understand, I can't understand the wrath, I can't understand
the feelings, I can't understand the attitude of people who claim
to know God against those who declare the truth. And if you
want up, may God have mercy on your soul. He said, touch not
my anointed and do my prophets no harm. If you bring one tear
to one eye of one of God's sheep, I feel sorry for you. I feel
sorry for you. May God have mercy on your soul.
But he won't. But he won't. Moses' hands were
held up by those who loved God. And as Moses' hands were held
up, God sent blessings upon his people. May God enable us to
hold up the hands of those who love Christ, to give cups of
cold water in the name of a disciple. Our merciful Father, we pray
for you to honor your word here this morning. We believe the
message has been one given to us by thee. We've tried to deal
from the heart, sincerely, from the scripture with the issues
of this day. These are the issues. It's your glory. It's man's emptiness
and inability. It's Christ's sufficiency. It's
the effectual work of thy spirit. It's the perfection of his holiness
and righteousness. It's the sufficiency of his sacrifice
and his precious blood. Those are the issues. And Lord,
we pray for our enemies. Never let us engage in the conflicts
in which they're engaged. Never let us use the methods
that they use. Never let us bring harm and reproach
and sadness and grief to the hearts of those who are your
jewels and your sheep and your beloved. Grant, O Lord, that
our spirits shall bear witness with their spirits to this gospel
of thy saving grace.