Brother Barnard was holding a
meeting in Olney, Illinois, 1951, right after he left here. This is the first time, 1950.
He was preaching in a church that had never heard this message
of God's glorious gospel, the gospel of God's glory. And Brother Barnard was preaching
at He felt in the power of God's Spirit. He was staying in the
pastor's home, and both the pastor and his wife were rebelling against
the message. She wouldn't speak to him, he
said. She'd put his meals down on the table and walk away, you
know. Had a hard time. About the third or fourth night,
the pastor called the deacons together after the service, He
said he wanted to meet privately with them, and they went down
to the basement, and the pastor walked the floor. And he said,
this man's going to ruin our church, tear up our church. And he said, we've got to get
rid of him, and I don't know what to do. And one of the men
spoke up, and he said, well, this was back in 1950. He said,
I'll give you $300, and you pay him off and put him on a plane.
And the pastor said, well, how does that meet with the rest
of your men's feelings about the thing? And they all agreed,
every one of them, around the circle. They came to an old,
Barnard said, white-haired deacon. And he'd been sitting there listening.
And the pastor said, what do you think? And he stood up and
he said, now pastor, and my friends, he said, that man's preaching
the gospel. And you, pastor, have never heard it. And your
wife's never heard it. And you deacons have never heard
it." He said, I've heard the gospel in my day. And he said,
that's the gospel. And he said, I'm going to speak
now and warn every one of you. You better not touch that man.
You better not lay your hand on him. God said something about
touching my anointed and do my prophets no harm. Touch not mine
anointed. I said, I warn you, that's all
I got to say. And he sat down, and they sat there in silence
for a while, and the preacher said, well, scared him. He said,
well, let's go on with the meeting. And Barnard said they went on
with the meeting, and two or three nights later, a man got
up and sang that song you just sang, Why Should He Love Me So.
The pastor's wife was an accompaniment on the organ. And evidently the Holy Spirit
used the message that Barney had been preaching in the words
of that song. Why should my Savior, the Calvary,
go? Why should he love me so? And
the organ stopped playing and the pastor's wife put her head
down on the keyboard and just sat there and wept. And the man
stopped singing. Nobody moved and after a while
here she came. Fell on her face down here at
the front and her husband joined her and seven of those deacons
joined her. And God saved a pastor and his wife and seven deacons
that night and a whole lot of other folks. Brought them to
knowledge of the gospel. If you're one of God's children,
you'll fight it just so long. God's going to win. He's going to win with all of
us eventually, but he's going to win with his people now. He's
going to conquer the proud heart. He's going to break the wild
asses cold. He's going to ride you. He's going to put his yoke
on you. He's going to put it on you.
And he will, or he'll deal with you in judgment. Now you can
just make up your mind on which ground you choose to stand, but
God's going to have the victory, going to magnify and exalt his
grace. Jacob have a love, but Esau have
a hated. Now my friends, please don't
imagine for a moment that I I am pretending to be able to unfold
all the great mysteries of predestination and election. I can't do it. There are some men today who
claim to know all about it, all about election, all about predestination. I don't. Mr. Spurgeon had this
to say, it shows shallowness of mind to claim to see the bottom
of all knowledge. He who dives deep finds that
there's always a deeper depth still. No matter how deep you
go into the Word, there's a deeper depth still. Just right on down. Oh, how high and how deep and
how long and how wide are the riches of God's wisdom. But men
have fought over this text for years. I know that. I'm looking
at a text. It's been a battleground. Jacob
had a love, but Esau had a hatred. They fought over this thing.
And they're going to keep on fighting over it as long as it's
in the Bible and as long as men are men with limited understanding. We preach in part, we understand
in part, we see through a glass dark. Some men say it should
read this way, Jacob have a love, but Esau have a love less. Well,
that may be so, but I don't believe it. I don't believe it. That's not the way it reads.
It says, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. It says
the same thing in Malachi 1, 2, and 3. Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. You say, but can you use the
word hate in reference to God? God hating something? Well, let's
see. Turn to Psalm 5. If you change that text, you're
going to have to change some more. In the 5th chapter of Psalms,
the 5th Psalm, in verse 5, the foolish Look at this. The foolish
shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. How about Psalm 7 verse 11? One page over. God judgeth the
righteous, and God's angry. God's angry with the wicked every
day. How about this scripture? He
that believeth on the Son hath life. He that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God. The wrath of God abideth upon
them. The wrath of God. And then there
are other people who say that this text doesn't refer to individuals,
it refers to nations. Well, nations are made up of
individuals. It doesn't say nations here.
These two young fellows were not only the same nation, they
were the same mama in the same womb at the same time. He says the children. Not the
nations, but the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It is said,
it is written, said to her, The elder shall serve the younger,
as it is written, Jacob hath a love, but Esau hath a hated.
My friends, here's what I'm saying. We must not try to make the scriptures
bow to our logic. We must not make the scriptures
try to make them bow to our reason. The word of God is as firm and
secure and accurate and precise as the throne of God himself.
This is the word of the Lord. It says, Jacob have I loved,
and Esau have I hated. Let's find out what God is saying.
Not what we think he's saying. Not what we want him to say.
This is what we do so often. We make a scripture mean what
we want it to mean, or what our congregation would like it to
mean, so we won't offend them. or what the general run of preachers
want it to mean. Let's let the word of God stand.
Now, it's sad but true. Most of Adam's race, most of
Adam's race despises this scripture and despises this truth. And
they reveal that hatred in many ways. I'll show you four or five
ways in which men reveal their hatred of God's sovereignty.
Not in creation. The average person will readily
admit that God created everything according to his own will. He
made everything as it pleased him. There wasn't anybody with
whom he could take counsel. Even when he made man, he said,
let us make man. Speaking of Father, Son, Holy
Spirit, he didn't confer with the angels, he made man as it
pleased him. He made the Sahara Desert hot and the Arctic region
cold and America a fertile land. and Africa jungle because it
pleased Him. You got any arguments? No argument.
God's sovereign in creation. Well, we believe God's sovereign
in the choosing of men over angels. I don't hear anybody argue that.
He took not on Himself the seed or nature of angels, but He took
on Himself the seed of Abraham. When the angels, how many? A third of heaven's hosts rebelled
against God and fell and are chained. reserved in everlasting
chains of darkness. I don't hear anybody marching
in any kind of protest against the fact that Jesus Christ didn't
come down and become an angel and redeem the angels. He passed
them by. And he chose Adam's right. And then back in the Old
Testament, every one of us talk about Israel, Israel, Israel,
the tabernacle, the tabernacle, the Jews, the Jews. What about
the poor Amalekites or Philistines? All the rest of the Babylonians,
Medes and Persians, just keep naming these imps, where are
they? Why come they didn't have any prophets, no prophets, no
tabernacle, no law, no sacrifices, nothing. God passed them by. I don't, no protest, Jay, I don't
hear anybody raising canes even. But you speak today and say God
chose, God elected, God chose to save this one and that one
and pass by another one and you, Some people just grow so angry
at the mention of election. Election, the very mention of
it. Their eyes flash, their faces turn red, the veins stand out
on their neck, and they begin to argue and to rage. You're
going to ruin your ministry, you're going to ruin your church,
you're going to ruin this, that, and the other, you're going to
lose your zeal, you're going to kill evangelism. Preaching
the truth? Telling the truth? Will that
kill evangelism? I think it'll kill fleshly evangelism. I think it'll kill fleshly zeal.
But brother, if you come to believe a lecture and it makes you any
less prayerful, you've misunderstood it. If it makes you any less
careful about your personal walk, you've misunderstood it. If it
makes you any less enthusiastic for the salvation of your children
and other people, you're a fool. You've missed it. You've misunderstood
it. You've got it all wrong. I have more concern for the loss
and zeal to see people saved and more concern for missions
than I ever had in my life. I'm preaching to more people
than the preachers in this town put together. That's right. I'm preaching to more people
every Sunday than all the preachers in this town put together. on television and radio to half
this nation, and they sit around and call me a hard shell. This
church gave more to missions last year than any church in
this city. I challenge any church in this city to come up with
$60,000 to foreign missions alone. I mean personally, to foreign
missions alone. We spent $171,000 last year not
building gymnasiums, but preaching the gospel. Now that's a smoke screen what
that is. Barnard used to say, I'll tell
you what to do, they build a straw man, beat the daylights out of
him, makes him look brave. We can lay the challenge down
before them. It's not me, it's God's Word
they hate. It's not this church, it's the
truth of God's Word. They don't have the courage and
boldness to declare God's Word, and they've got to make the man
who does appear ridiculous. That's right. Some people cry,
unfair. It's unfair. How can God be so
unfair? Doesn't every man deserve a chance?
Salvation is not by chance, it's by grace. Man had a beautiful
chance in the Garden of Eden. God said, everything's yours.
Help yourself. Rule and reign over it. Multiply
and subdue the earth. And man said, I will, but I'm
not going to have you reign over me. The Lord Jesus Christ came
to this earth and ministered to Adam's race and stood before
them. His mouth never spoke evil. His
eyes never flashed with any kind of hatred or lust or evil or
prejudice. His hands never performed anything
but good. His feet never walked anywhere
but in paths of righteousness. And this race nailed Him to our
cross. How many more chances is God going to give us? I'm tired of hearing people take
the side of the sinner against God Almighty. God hasn't offended.
We have. God didn't crucify us, we crucified
God. Somebody said one time, I can't
understand that verse of scripture, Jacob hath a Lord, but Esau hath
a hated. I haven't either. I can't understand
it either. What can't you understand? I
can't understand how God could love Jacob. I know how he could
hate Esau. I don't see how God could love
Jacob. I don't see how God could love any son of Adam. How can
God be just and justify the ungodly? How can he be clean, this born
of a woman? Behold the moon, it shineth not.
The stars are not clean in God's sight. How much more abominable
and filthy is man that drinks iniquity like the water? I tell
you, if God saves anybody, I'm going to give him thanks. I can't
save anybody, and nobody can save themselves, and I'm going
to give thanks to God if he saves a woman, just one. Some people,
here's the way they show their hatred for election. Some just
get mad and argue, gnash their teeth and spit. And some say
it's unfair, it's unrighteous, God's unrighteous. And Paul deals
with that two or three times. But some do it this way. They
seek to explain it away. You mention this sovereign grace,
read something about God's elective grace, and then immediately say,
what are you going to do with this verse? What are you going to
do with it? They immediately go to another
verse of Scripture which appears to deny it. And they'll take
that scripture, they do just like the Church of Christ, and
just like the Catholics, and just like the Seventh-day Adventist,
and every other cult, they'll take that verse out of its context
and try to disprove the Word of God. They'll do it every time. God's not willing that any should
perish. They won't quote the whole chapter, where God's long-suffering
to us, talking to believers, Not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. They say, whosoever will may
come. It doesn't say that in the Bible, nowhere. Nowhere. It says, let the Spirit and the
bride say come, let him that hears say come, let him that
is thirst come, and whosoever will, let him what? Take the
water of life. Who takes water? Thirsty people.
Made thirsty by the Spirit of God. That's the weapon they use. They're just trying to seek to
explain it away. And they'll use every means at their disposal
to do away, instead of dealing with it, instead of facing man's
responsibility and facing God's sovereignty and facing elective
grace and facing man's responsibility before God's Word, they seek
to do away with it. I'll tell you something else
they do. This is what some preachers say. Well, I believe it. I believe it. Elections in the
Bible, but it's not to be preached. It's not to be preached to the
unsaved. It's not to be preached to the
unsaved. A group of men came to see Brother Barnard one time
over in North Carolina. They wanted him to come hold
a citywide meeting. It was going to be sponsored
by a whole lot of preachers, countywide meetings, countywide
meetings. It was going to be sponsored by a lot of preachers.
And they said, now Brother Barnard, we want you to come, but we want
you to promise one thing. He said, what's that? They said,
promise us you won't preach on elections. Well, he said, I'm
not coming. And one of them said, well, Brother
Barnard, you can preach without preaching election, can't you?
He said, sure, I can. Well, I sure can. But he said,
I won't be there two nights, and it'll leak out on me that
I believe it, and then I'm going to have to deal with it. I had a Brother E.J. Daniels
stood over in my den about 11 years ago, and he said to me,
you don't preach election in revival meetings, do you? Well,
I said I don't take the term election and preaching because
I'm not preaching a doctrine, I'm preaching Christ. I'm not
preaching doctrine, I'm not trying to convince anybody of a doctrine.
What I'm preaching is not the sovereignty of God, but the God
who's sovereign. And the Christ who's sovereign,
and the Christ who's successful, the Christ who prospers in what
He lays His hand to do, who shall see the travail of His soul be
satisfied. It forms the background of what I preach. A man who preaches
the gospel, it's going to come out on him that he believes God
is the Savior. That salvation is not something
you do for God, but something God does for you. You don't have
to use what they call the terms, but I'll tell you this, if it's
a Bible term, I'm going to use it. Now, if it's in God's Word,
I'm going to use it. I'm not apologizing for this
book. No, it's too deep for the saved.
It's too deep. Too deep. It's not just deep,
it's so. It's not deep, it's just so.
That's the whole problem. It's not too deep at all. You
understand that God Almighty will take of the same lump, just
like a potter, and make one vessel under honor and another under
dishonor. What's deep about that? that the whole human race was
fallen in depravity and corruption, and God was pleased to save some
for his glory, all whom he could wisely save, and let the rest
of them go, let them perish in their darkness, leave them to
themselves. Look deep about that. It's just so. And then some men
say this, this is what one fellow said to me, Linda, down at Madisonville,
when I was in Madisonville some time ago, I asked him, he was
visiting from another church, and I said, does your pastor
preach grace? He said, yeah, but he don't harp
on it. I knew, he meant he didn't preach it at all. Well, you know,
don't leave it out of the whole course, you know, just don't
harp on it, you know, that's a good way out. Well, how often
does he preach it? Every ten years. No, he doesn't
harp on it. I'll guarantee you that. He doesn't
harp on it. Well, the mountain will not fall. It will not fall. The mountain will not fall. Our
carnal logic and arguments and reason is not going to do away
with it. There it stands. Jacob hath a love, but Esau hath
a hatred. What I want is the strength to
climb higher. I want the strength of mind and
heart to climb higher and higher in my understanding of God's
divine truth, of his glorious gospel. He said he made known
his ways to the children of Israel. He made known his will to Moses.
I want in on his will, don't you? He made known his ways,
his judgments to the children of Israel. He dealt with them
in judgment. and in his acts of power, but
he took Moses aside and showed him his glory. And that's what
I want to see. I'm not content with just seeing
the judging hand of God and seeing some fellow with a tricked knee
straighten it out and walk kind of funny across the front of
the auditorium and say, whoopee, God heal me. I want to see his
glory. Don't you? Glory of God. Turn over here to the book of
Acts. Listen to Paul when he's leaving this church. I read it
this morning. But let's look at verse 20. Paul said in Acts
20, verse 20, I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you.
I've got a responsibility. I must give an account. And if
God teaches me, I'm going to teach you. I kept back nothing
profitable unto you. Verse 27, Acts 20, I have not
shunned or declared unto you all the counsel of God. Now here
are six statements I want to make about election. Number one,
is it true? Well, it is. It is. Number two, it's absolute. Not because of what we are or
what we've done or what we will do, but the reason for sovereign
election is found only in God. Only in God. And thirdly, it's
eternal. This election took place before
the world began. And fourthly, it's personal.
God had chosen you. You didn't choose me, Christ
said, I chose you. Not you all, you. And fifthly,
it produces results. And sixthly, I'm going to deal
with what it does for the elect. Now, first of all, it's true. It's true. Who knows what may take place
tonight as we read the scripture. I believe in whatever I tell
our preachers back there in class, establish your point and go to
the scripture and prove it. If you can't go to the scripture
and build your point on the word of God, then you've got no point
to present. And Brother I.C. Herringdean
was in the printing business back years ago. I'm talking about
in the He's 95 now. It was back in the 40s, late
30s or early 40s. He was in the printing business
in Pennsylvania. He was printing gable-iron stuff.
He was an ultra-dispensationalist and pre-millenarian and all this
sort of thing. That's what he was majoring on. And there was
a writer by the name of Arthur W. Pink who had come to this
country, and he wrote to Mr. Herringdean and asked him if
he would publish a book for him. And Mr. Herrington, the title
of the book would be The Sovereignty of God. And Mr. Herrington told me personally,
we're very close friends, have been for many years. He told
me personally, he wrote Mr. Pink and he said, I don't know
what you're talking about. What do you mean by the sovereignty
of God? He'd been in religious business,
he'd been printing books, he had a Bible Truth Depot for years. What do you mean? And Mr. Pink, clever, clever, knowing
that God uses his word with his people. He didn't write and list
a lot of arguments. You know what he did? He wrote
Mr. Herringdean and quoted a verse of scripture and underscored
one word. John 6, 44. No man can come to me except
my Father which sent me draw. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. Brother Herringdean hit the Bible. Barnard gave me
one word in 1950, purpose. That's all he gave me, one word,
purpose. Everything God does, he does on purpose. And I'll
tell you, it opened up the book. And Brother Harrington took one
word, no man can. And brother, they flooded this
nation with sovereign grace material for the next 30 some odd years.
Sovereignty of God, gleanings in Genesis, Exodus, the writings
of David, the book of John, four volumes, you know what to do. So let me show you in the word.
Turn to Matthew 24. Our Lord called believers the
elect of God. That's what he called them, the
elect. Why is it that we're afraid of that word? Our Lord used the
word. He called his people the elect. In Matthew 24, verse 24,
look at it. He said, there shall arise false
Christ and false prophets, and shall show great wonders, signs
and wonders, insomuch if it were possible. they shall deceive
the very elect. Look at Luke 18.7, Luke 18. If you can't turn rapidly enough,
just let me read. I won't misread it. Luke 18.7,
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and
night unto him, though he bear long with them, his elect? I
don't see any reason to stumble and cough on that word and make
out like it's not there. And then Romans 8.33, the apostles
in their epistles, they call God's people the elect. That's
right, they call them the elect. He says in Romans 8.33, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God's elect, it's
God that justifies. And then Paul in the book of
Colossians, turn over to Colossians chapter 3, Verse 12, he calls
him the elect again. He says in Colossians, put on
therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy. Act like the elect of God. If
you're the elect of God, act like it. Conduct yourself as
if you were a son of the king. A son of the king is a special
person. He's the king's son. He's the king's son. And then
Titus, turn over to Titus chapter 1, the elect, that's what they
call them. I don't see any reason to, I know a college campus where
it's against the rules to discuss this doctrine. You can't even
discuss it. As one, if they find a sword
in trial, this magazine out, Ron McKinney's magazine out of
Texas, they'll give you so many demerits if they find it in your
possession. Well, I wouldn't give any demerits around here
if I found Bruce carrying around a copy of the plain truth. That
wouldn't bother me a bit in the world. I'm not afraid of God's
people being shaken off the rock, Christ Jesus. I want to tell
you something, the fellow that starts outlawing magazines and
outlawing literature and outlawing the other man's position, he's
in trouble himself. I guarantee you he's in trouble.
You just carry what you want to. I say that to all the preachers,
and all you members. You just get in, you subscribe
to any religious publication you want to. Just subscribe to
any of them. I tell you, if you know Christ
and love Him, there's nobody more beautiful, more wonderful,
more gracious, more loving. To whom shall we go, His disciples
said, you have the words of life. Titus 1 verse 1, Paul, a servant
of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's
elect. And then 2 John, turn to 2 John
1. 2 John 1, it says this, the elder
unto the elect lady and her children. Verse 13, the children of thy
elect sister greet thee. So you see, the Lord Jesus and
his apostles, here I've read several scriptures in which they
identify the people of God as the elect. Now let's look at
some more scripture. Turn back to John 6. Throughout
the Bible, the doctrine of election, or the truth of election, is
presented. And what I'm saying is this. When I say election,
I'm saying that back before the world began, God, He didn't look
down and see who would do this, that, and the other. That makes
salvation by works. If justification is not by works, election is
not by works. If justification is not based
on what I do, election is not based on what I do. If redemption's
not based on what I do, God's sovereign choice is not based
on what I do. But God, according to the good
pleasure of His own will, for reasons known only to Himself,
to accomplish His purpose, His predestinating goals, to make
us like Christ, chose a people out of Adam's race. Who they
are, I don't know. But He knows, known unto God,
are them that are His. That's what Scripture says. I
know my sheep, he said, and have known of mine. Now John 6, 37.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Not ought to,
might, they shall. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Christ said, for I came down
from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that
sent me. And this is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise
it up again at the last day. Now John 15, our Lord speaking
to His disciples in John 15, verse 16, He says, You have not
chosen Me. You've not chosen Me, I've chosen
you. We love Him because He first
loved us. We do choose Christ, no question about that. We do
choose Christ. But not before he chooses us.
We seek God, but not before he seeks us. We love God, but not
before he loves us. We call on God, but not before
he calls. The dead have to be awakened.
The dead have to be called. John 17, turn to John 17, verse
6. In this seventeenth chapter,
this is the priestly prayer, this is the Lord's prayer. And
in this seventeenth chapter, our Lord six times uses this
statement. those whom thou hast given me.
In verse 6, he said, I manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me. Verse 9, I pray for them, I pray not for the world,
but for them which thou hast given me, they are thine. Now,
you don't sacred ground here, you don't holy, holy, holy ground.
This is between the Father and the Son. This is the Son speaking
to the Father. Now, you can bank on that statement.
I don't pray for this world, my Savior said. I pray for them
which thou hast given me, I, the Lord." See, every prayer
he ever prayed was heard and answered. He never prayed contrary
to the will of his Father. Here's a verse, Acts 13. Men
have done all they can do to change this verse and never have
been able to do it. Acts 13, 48. Acts 13, 48 says,
And when the Gentiles heard this, they heard Paul preach the glorious
gospel of Christ. Acts 13, 48. They were glad and
they glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to life, to eternal life, believed. They've tried, Jay, to make that,
they've tried to change that. As many as believed were ordained
to life. That makes salvation the works. That makes God waiting
on the center. That's exactly what it does.
God's sitting around waiting to see what man will do. You
will not come to me, Christ said, that you might have life. That's
what man will do. John said this, we were born not of the flesh,
not of the will of man, not of the will of the flesh, but born
of God. Not of him that willeth, not
of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Look at Romans
8, 29 and 30. 8, 29, for whom he did foreknow. That word's foreordained. God
doesn't know anything because it's going to happen. He knows
it because he's going to bring it to pass. We don't have the Lord sitting
up here and things happening out there and Him being able
to see them happen. They happen on their own and
therefore He acts on what will happen. What will happen is decreed. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning. He foreordains things. Whom He
foreordained, them He also did predestinate. to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren, moreover whom he did predestinate them he called,
and whom he called he justified, and whom he justified he glorified."
Now, what shall we say to these things? What shall we say to
what I just said? What's your opinion? What shall
we say? Well, here's what Paul says,
if God be for us, who can be against us? If God be for me
in elective grace, if God be for me in divine predestination,
if God be for me in redeeming grace, if God be for me in calling,
in justifying, in keeping me, in glorifying, in preserving
me, then who can be against me? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
can condemn? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also
intercedes for us. How about Romans 11? Romans 11,
verse 7. I'm not teaching something that's
rare. I'm preaching a truth that's
saturated through this Word. The very truth of it, the very
foundation of it, Look at verse 7 of Romans 11. What then? Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for. Well, he sought it in the ceremonies. Israel sought salvation in the
table. They sought it in the sacrifice.
They sought it in the law. No, they're not going to obtain
it. The reason men do not find salvation, they're looking for
it in the wrong place. It's in Christ. It's not in this water. It's not in the table of sacraments. Salvation is not in the law.
It's not at the mourner's bench or in the front of the church.
It's in Christ. Israel hath not obtained what
he seeketh for. He seeketh it in the wrong place.
You'll obtain it if you seek it where it is. You show me where
something is, I'll find it. I'll find it if you show me where
it is. But the election, look at that, the election hath obtained
it. And the rest were blinded. That's judicial blindness. Verse
8, as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber.
They won't see. No man blind is blind as the
man who won't see. For the man's blind who can't
see, but brother, he's blind who won't see. Now there's a
difference. If that light which is in you
be darkness, how great is that darkness if it's there by choice? And that's the man that has the
greater condemnation, the man who won't see. I will not have
it. It conflicts with my tradition,
it conflicts with my custom, it conflicts with my feeling.
Oh, it doesn't conflict with the Scripture, but it conflicts
with my thoughts about the Scripture, and I won't have it. Well, God
someday will judicially blind you. He did Israel. They willingly
were blind, Jay, and then they were judicially blind, and they
can't see. There's a veil over their eyes
when Moses is read. God's veil. Judicially. Judicially blind. That's right.
There are people being saved of every nation, tribe, and kindred
on earth. The Jew is blind as he can be. That's right. First Corinthians,
turn over there a minute. 1 Corinthians, verse 26, chapter
1, 1 Corinthians 26, chapter 1, you see, your calling, brethren,
had it not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble a call. God had chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. God had chosen The weak
things of the world are to confound the things which are mighty,
and the base things of the world, things which are despised, that
God chosen. Don't hate that word. He ain't
the things which are not, to bring to naught things that are.
Why? That no flesh is glory in His presence. But of Him, watch this, of God
are you in Christ Jesus. That's how you got there. God
put you there. Of God are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
That is according as it is written, he that gloweth and gloweth in
the Lord. We're glowing in our soul winning adventures. We're
glowing in the size of our congregation. We're glowing in everything but
in the Lord. What a terrible, terrible judgment
is upon this generation. Ephesians 1. And I hear the singing,
I know what it is, it's I, I, I, I trusted the Lord, I rested
in Him. And they get up with these microphones
and croon and sway and got the big smile and the lights behind
them. It's Hollywood glamour is what
it is. It's calling attention to the
flesh. It's appealing to the flesh. You know it and I know
it. There's no sense in pretending
we don't know that. extravaganzas that are put on
in the name of God. Waterfalls behind the people,
dressed in their flowing gowns, you know, and their suits all
just alike, and their hair parted back, you know, and their music
fitting the beat of the modern music so it won't offend, you
know. I know it may have a little truth in it, but there's so many
false methods and false glamour and false foolishness about it
that Christ is not magnified. He's not glorified. And I'm not
being a stick in the mud. I'm just telling you what I know
is so. We're not glorifying Christ. We're crooning love songs. That's what we're talking about. Look at Ephesians 1 verse 3. No, you don't have to go back
to medieval days. No, you don't have to go back
to the first century and wear sandals and a gown. But I'll
tell you there are ways of honoring and glorifying the Redeemer that
do honor Him and do glorify Him. that do call attention to His
work and His grace and not attention to my trusting His work and trusting
His grace. Blessed be the God and Father,
verse 3, chapter 1, Ephesians. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He has
chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. that
we should be holy and without blame before him, in love having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved." You want to tackle that scripture? Well,
I tell you, let her stand. Praise God, let her stand. You
want to challenge the Apostle Paul? You want to challenge the
Word of God? I don't. You speak for yourself.
The Scripture's too overwhelming. I love it. I'm glad God chose
to save sinners. Otherwise, I'd have never been
saved. I would have never chosen Him. No, I never would have. I'd have never come. All of the
persuasion in this world would have never convinced me of my
sin. God had to do it. All of the pleadings of preachers,
would have never brought me out of that grave if God hadn't given
me life. All of the arguments and all
of the promises of heavens, glories, and all of that, I would have
never seen if God had not given me out. Never would have. I'd
have never heard His voice. And you wouldn't either. And
there's some that hadn't heard it yet. They've got a little
silly easy believism that they've hung on to and they're resting
on and building their hopes for eternity. But I'll give them
about 15 years. They usually fall away. They
usually do. Why do you think these Armenian
churches have 18,000, 19,000 members and only about 4,000
or 5,000 people? About 20% of their members attend.
And less than that attend prayer meetings. Less than that support
the church. A man staggered into my study
the other day. He came in there, you know, and came up to my desk
and he said, would you help a fellow? I said, who are you? He said,
I'm a member of Dr. Lee Robinson's church in Chattanooga,
Tennessee. Yeah. Well, some of these folks
here might be that way, but I bet your percentage ain't near as
great. Second Thessalonians 2.13. Brethren, you say you're making
fun. Bob brought something to my attention.
All right, so I am. But did you hear what Elijah
said on Mount Carmel when those prophets of Baal were trying
to get some fire from heaven? He said, call it loud. Maybe
your God's asleep. Elijah, you ought not make fun
of other people. He said, maybe he's off on a
journey somewhere. Maybe your God's talking to somebody
and can't hear you. Listen to that fellow. Call a
little louder. Maybe your God's off on a vacation.
He's gone to the beach. I'll tell you, this generation
of religionists, somebody needs to point an accusing finger and
point out their folly. and their foolishness. Second
Thessalonians 2.13, we're bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation, not service. I know, I've heard
the preachers, that means he chose us to service. To salvation,
it says, through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. Why did a man get called to service through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth? Before God calls him to
service, he'd better believe the truth. That's salvation. My friends, election is absolute.
God chose us. God chose us. The election's
eternal. God hath from the beginning.
When is the beginning? God hath from the beginning.
Here's the three questions Brother Johnson asked the preacher one
time. Did you choose God or did he choose you? And the answer
comes back, he chose me. When did God choose you? From
the foundation of the world. Why did God choose you? According
to the good pleasure of his own will. That's the answer. from
the beginning? Well, the beginning was before
I believe, the beginning was before I heard the gospel, the
beginning was before I was born, the beginning was before Christ
died on the cross, the beginning was before Abraham or Moses,
the beginning was before Adam fell, the beginning was before
the world was made, the beginning was before the angels and the
cherubims flew through space, in the beginning! When is that?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God, and I was in Him. That Herman's when God chose
you. That's the beginning. God had
from the beginning when everything slept in the mind of God, everything
that was to be, I was there too, known unto God, listen to me,
are all his works from the beginning. And I'll tell you this, if you
were in God's purpose, of redemption. If you were in God's design of
redemption, if you're in it now, you weren't in the beginning.
God hasn't, Cecil, added one thing to his program. Not in
be God. Now, come on, who is God? We've
got a mighty small opinion of God when something has to be
changed. Now, we may start building another
church. God may give us here a larger
plant someday, and we'll change some things. We'll get together
with these fellas and know something about building. I don't know
much about building, and I'll get together with him, we'll
change some things, and we'll change after you get started, you'll
change as you go along. God doesn't change. The Lord
God never learns anything, he knows everything. Known unto
God are all his works from the beginning, and Christ was with
God in the beginning, and I was in Christ from the beginning.
Now, eternally, sons of God, sons we are through God's election,
who in Jesus Christ believe. By eternal destination, sovereign
grace we have received. Elections personal. Zacchaeus,
come down. Our Lord didn't ask for volunteers.
Anybody here, you know, anybody here want to come forward or
anybody in the trees want to come down, Zacchaeus, come down. God hath from the beginning chosen
you. Paul said, God separated me. He said to Jeremiah, I knew
you before I formed you in the belly. Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. Peter, I prayed for you. Matthew,
follow me. Zachary, on and on through the
scripture. I have not the slightest doubt
that election is personal. Every member of the body of Christ
is chosen, loved, justified, redeemed, and called. by God. Job said, I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and shall stand on this earth, and whom I shall see for
myself, and not another. Election produces results. Look
back at 2 Thessalonians 2.13 a minute. We're bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Now
watch this. We're not saying the Bible doesn't
teach that a man will be saved no matter what. It doesn't teach
that I tremble at people who've misunderstood divine election
and use it as an excuse for evil, as an excuse not to preach, not
to study, not to give out tracts, not to send out papers, not to
print bulletins, not to preach on the radio, not to hold revival
meetings, not to witness, not to send missionaries. That man's
a fool! The elect must believe, they
must call on God. My sheep hear my voice, they
shall hear my voice and they shall follow me. of his own will, beget he us
through the word of truth. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of truth. Paul said, I endure all things
for the elect's sake, that they might come to a knowledge of
salvation. The angels are ministers to those who shall be heirs of
salvation. And this says we're chosen through
sanctification of the spirit. You know what the word sanctified
means. It means to set apart. It means to set apart, it means
to take something common and ordinary and setting it apart
for God's purpose or God's glory or God's use. It also means to
make holy, to declare holy. It also means to make holy. And
the Holy Spirit comes and awakens a sinner and quickens a sinner.
and brings the word. The word is the seed that gives
life. A man can't be saved without hearing the word of God. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever
is a wide word. Whosoever shall call. Call out of a need. Call out
of a sin. Call out of his emptiness. Call
out of his inability. Call on God. The name of the
Lord. Not just any Lord or any Jesus.
The name which is above every name. The name of the Lord Jesus
Christ shall be saved. But how shall they call on Him
in whom they've not believed. And how are they going to believe
on Him of whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? We must preach. We want to preach.
God is chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. It pleases God by the foolishness of preaching. So
God has chosen you through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. produces results. We're not dead logs in tin cans. We're morally responsible people
and we'll be sanctified and called and we will believe. We will
believe. The Holy Spirit will not believe
for you either. You'll believe. The Holy Spirit will not repent
for you. You'll repent. The Holy Spirit will not lay
hold on Christ. You'll lay hold on Christ or you'll perish. Let
me tell you this, any man in this world, any woman in this
world, any boy or girl who wants to be saved, I don't mean who
wants to go to heaven when they die, who wants to miss hell,
everybody wants to go to heaven, everybody wants to miss hell.
I'm talking about those who want to be bond slaves of Christ.
who wants to bow to his scepter, who wants to wear his yoke, who
wants to be one of his children, who wants to sit at his table,
who wants to honor and glorify him eternally, who wants forgiveness
of his sins, who desires the indwelling of God's Spirit, who
wants to be a new creature. He can be if he wants to. Believe on Christ. Lay hold on
Christ. Look to Christ. And you'll be
saved. And yet I'm saying this to you,
who gave you the want to? Now you think about that a little
bit. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Just
tell me, who gave you spiritual interest? Who maketh thee to differ? What
hast thou that thou didst not receive? I tell you this, if
you've got any desire after spiritual things, it's God in you. It wasn't your flesh. Your flesh
loves darkness and death and evil and sin. If you've got a
real interest, I'm talking about a real interest. I'm talking
about a persevering interest. I'm talking about an interest
that lays hold upon God. Well, I'll tell you who you can
glorify for that. You can say, praise the Lord. He didn't leave
me alone. What's the effect of election
on the elect? Well, if I dealt with that sufficiently about
the election produces results, Jay, it produces results. And
brethren, let me tell you something. Somebody called me on the phone
one day and said, you believe in predestination? I said, I
don't know. What do you mean by predestination? He said, well,
I mean some are predestinated to heaven, some are predestinated
to hell. No siree, I don't believe that. God doesn't predestinate
people to hell. God predestinates people to be
like Christ. If a man's lost, don't blame
God, blame the man. If a man's saved, you give God
the glory, but if a man's lost, my friend, don't you put the
blame on God Almighty. That man's going to hell because
he is unwilling to bow to Christ. He's going to pay for his sins. God's people will believe His
Word, and they'll give Him all the glory. Now what does this
do for the elect? It humbles them. Jay preached
on this Monday night at the conference when the messenger David went
down and got Mephibosheth. It was David's idea to go get
him. It was David's purpose. It was David's plan. David went
down and sent somebody down to get him. Go down and fetch him.
And he brought that poor, lame, crippled, poverty-stricken beggar
and set him down on the floor in front of David. And David
said, and we'll make you my child and put you at my table. Well,
he didn't say, I deserve it. He didn't say, it's about time
you found me. He said, who am I that you should show such mercy
to such a dead dog? And brother, I tell you this,
I'm so glad that Jesus loves me. I'm so glad that he didn't
leave me alone. I'm so glad, I'm just, the cold
chills run up and down my spine when I think where I could be
and what I could be this evening. I love this Word, and I love
you, and love Christ, love the Gospel, delight in these things,
never get weary of them. Why? Should he love me so? Boy, that'll take the starch
out of you, like Brother Scott said, not all of it, but lots
of it. Oh, it'll humble you, it'll comfort you. God be for
me, who can be against me? Let the tide roll. Let the trials
come in. Let the road be rough. Let the
darkness flood. Let the clouds roll in. Let the
rain fall. If God be for me, who can be
against me? Old Queen Mary of Scotland said
she feared John Knox's prayers more than she feared the whole
army of England. One man said one time, he said,
He said, I'd rather face a thousand Roman Catholics than one Calvinist
who was bent on destroying me and felt it was God's will. I believe he's right. Don't come
flame or flood, he's going to get the job done. I tell you,
it gives you boldness. To believe God's on the throne
gives you boldness. You don't cow in front of anybody.
Yeah, you bow down and worship, then you stand up and be counted.
and you'll challenge hell if God's on your side. That's right. He'll comfort you and he'll give
you boldness. He'll give you courage to preach
the truth. Somebody said, I know some preachers that say they
believe that doctrine but they don't preach it. They don't believe
it. No sirree. The man that believes
these things will preach them because it gives him a backbone
of steel. He's got a foundation, the rock
Christ Jesus, and he's not afraid. No siree, he's not afraid. And
I'll tell you what it does, it begets praise in the heart. Praise
God from whom... Our songs are pretty accurate,
it's our theology that's bad. Praise God from whom all blessings
flow. Praise Him all creatures here
below. Praise Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. Praise God. I tell you, When
you come to love this glorious gospel of God's glory and grace,
you're just never weary of praising His matchless name. And I'll
tell you this, it begets service. People who believe the gospel,
you don't have to pledge them to give, you don't have to threaten
them to witness, You don't have to embarrass them to get them
to come to church. You don't have to browbeat them
if they love the gospel, if they do. And I challenge, I say to
the young ministers that are here tonight, if you get caught
up in a program that sends you forth to threaten people with
the loss of rewards in heaven if they don't do certain things,
I feel sorry for you. You got your job on your hands.
Because a lot of us just don't care whether we got a big yo-yo
or a little yo-yo, just so we have Christ. You're not going
to motivate me that way. And you're not going to motivate
any thinking man. You're not going to do it. And
you go out and try to motivate people to witness by threatening
them and saying that if Jesus comes and you're in a bad place
you're not supposed to be, you might reach some dum-dums with
that, but not anybody's got any sense. Ain't no God better than
that. I wouldn't have your job. And
you've got to get cards and pass them out and threaten your people. If you don't give 10%, God's
going to take it out the door in a casket. If you don't give
10%, God's going to take something away, put you in the hospital.
Oh, I wouldn't give you two cents for that. God doesn't tax his
people. They give liberally and cheerfully
and willingly because they love him. Wouldn't you ladies hate
for your husband to give you a gift or a new dress because
he had to? You're entitled to two dresses
a year. That's all you get. Wear them
out and you're through. That man told his wife when he
got married, said, I love you. And if I change my mind, I'll
let you know. So don't ask me to say it again. That's my duty. I'm tired of duties. I like labors
of love, don't you? That's the reason I like to pastor
this church. I love to pastor this church. I love to be in
that study. I look forward to the services.
I'd rather be here than anywhere on earth. And I'll tell you why. There's a spirit of love for
Christ in one another. And there's no threats, and there's
no pledge cards, and there's no brow-beating to get people
to do things. I'll tell you the only thing
that troubles me. I just want to make sure all of you know
Christ. And I may, like this morning, get a little bit rough.