Sovereignty and providence, not
a sparrow falls to the ground without your Heavenly Father.
The hairs of your head are numbered. God works with all things after
the counsel of his own will. He doth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth.
And he giveth it to whomsoever he will. And none can stay his
hand, but say unto him, What doest thou? He said, Can I not
do with my own what I please? And sovereignty and salvation,
the redemption of a sinner from first to last, is of the Lord,
and of Him only. He's sovereign in election, He's
sovereign in calling, He's sovereign in justification, He's sovereign
in glorification. He's Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. We make no apologies for His
absolute sovereignty. And yet, half of my message is
on responsibility. If any man is saved, God saves
him. If any man goes to hell, it'll
be his own fault. He'll condemn himself. He'll
have no charges to bring against God or the gospel. He'll have
all the responsibility at his own door. If men are saved, it
will be by God's grace. If men go to hell, it will be
because they are rebels, because they are sinners, because they
deserve to be damned, because they could have been saved, but
they would not come to Christ that they might have life. And
that seems like a contradiction to the average person. It says
here in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14, the natural man, and we're
talking about folks who are unregenerate, natural man, as opposed to spiritual. That's what we're talking about
here, the natural man, the man on the street, the everyday man,
the man you meet on the street, the man you meet in the pulpit
too often, natural man. and no spiritual understanding,
discernment, no spiritual awakening. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God, the things of God. Now what are the things
of God? Well, all things are of God. But most especially here
we're talking about in regard to redemption. He receiveth not
the things of God, of the Spirit of God, but foolishness, foolishness
to it. The preaching of the cross is
to them that are perishing foolishness. Barnard used to say the word
there is sheer nonsense. To the young man, to the middle-aged
man, to the old man who's not been awakened by God's Spirit,
what I'm going to say tonight is sheer nonsense. It's utter
foolishness. Foolishness. For there is foolishness
to him, neither can he know, neither can he understand them. He can't comprehend them, he
can't put them together. because they're spiritually understood. You see, we're dealing in a different
area. We're dealing in an area where he doesn't live, where
he doesn't have any knowledge. We're dealing in an area of darkness
to him. We're talking about the wisdom
of God. We're talking about the power of God. We're talking about
the grace of God. Not knowing God, he does not
understand. The word discern is understand. But, but, he that is spiritual,
as opposed to natural, He that has been awakened or quickened
by the Holy Spirit, he's been regenerated, given life, born
again, if you will. He that is spiritual judgeth
or discerneth or understandeth all the things of God. All things. He understands the things of
God. Yet he himself is discerned or understood by nobody. I remember
when My friend, Bill Borders, was awakened by the Holy Spirit
to the fact that he had not known Christ. He was a very religious
man, one of the key members of a certain church in this area.
And when he came to see sin and God's sovereignty and Christ's
salvation, redemption, His church friends thought he was crazy.
They thought he'd lost his mind. Oh, Bill flicked his lid. That's
what they thought, you know. One of the finest men they knew,
morally, outwardly and all. But Bill knew Bill. And God knew
Bill. And God was pleased to save Bill. And they couldn't
understand. You see, that's what I'm saying.
When a man comes to be awakened by the Holy Spirit, brought to
know Christ, he's not going to be understood. What he says won't
be understood. What he does won't be understood.
What he believes won't be understood. And they'll write him off as
having lost his mind. He's flipped, that's what they'll
say. And he's a fanatic, he's a radical.
Because they don't understand. For who hath known the mind of
the Lord, that he may instruct him? We have the mind of Christ. Now, here's what I'm talking
about. The scripture says there's none that seeketh after God.
They're all together. They're gone out of the way.
They're all gone out of the way. They're all together become unprofitable.
There's none that understand. None that seek God. That's what
Scripture says there in Romans 3, 10, 11, 12. But the Scripture also says,
you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all
your heart. The Scripture also says, seek the Lord while he
may be found. Call upon him while he's near.
Doesn't say that, Jim? It says both of them. And then
the Scripture says plainly, our Lord says, no man. No man can
come to me, except my Father which sent me to draw him. And
yet our Lord said in Matthew 11, 28, Come unto me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Isn't
that what it says? Just as plain as anything, if
words mean anything, it says if you'll come to Christ, he'll
give you rest. He'll give you rest. He said you will not come
to me that you might have life. Old Jerusalem, he walked over
that wicked city, that wicked religious city, and said, how
oft would I have drawn you to myself as a hen that gather her
chickens, but you wouldn't. And then the scripture says this,
all that my Father giveth me shall come to me. They shall,
every one whom my Father in the eternal counsel of mercy gave
to me, he will come to me. And yet in that same sentence,
our Lord said, and him that cometh, I will in no wise cast out. Him
that cometh out of no wise cast out. In Romans chapter 8 it says
this, Whom he foreknew, he predestinated. And that word foreknew is foreordained. I don't think anybody has any
trouble knowing what that means. Whom he foreordained, he predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his Son. Whom he predestinated,
he called. Whom he called, he justified.
Whom he justified, he glorified. equally inspired, equally God-breathed,
equally the Scripture says, Whosoever will, let him take the water
of life. The Spirit and the bride say, Come. Let him that heareth
say, Come. Let him that in the thirst come,
and whosoever will, let him take the water of life. Now it's clear,
there are two things clear to me from these Scriptures, and
I do not choose to deny either one of them. The first thing
that's quite clear to me is this, the Lord God of heaven and earth
hath chosen to redeem a people. Now God created, God created
this world, and God created man in his own image, and the fall
was no surprise to God. And there's one scripture, I
think you saw a scripture for that, wasn't it? Christ was the
Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. The fact that God
provided a Savior before man ever fell is clear indication
God knew that man would fall. And we were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. God has from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. So it's clear to me from the
scripture that the fall of man was no surprise to God. That
it was in his permissive will. That God Almighty made man with
a full intention. of permitting him to fall. You
say, why? Well, I can't answer that. Because I can't answer
anything, I'm not going to deny its truth, truthfulness, because
I can't understand it, because I can't explain it. Because I
cannot tell you why God did something, I'm certainly not going to deny
the fact that he did it. But he created man with a full
intention in his permissive way. to allow man to fall, for he
provided a Savior before man ever fell. But God Almighty determined
from all eternity to have a people according to the good pleasure
of his will, and the goal and end of that council of grace,
that covenant of grace, was to make those people like Christ.
That's what predestination is. Every time it's used in the New
Testament, it has reference to what we shall do. God elected
the people. Election has to do with persons.
Predestination has to do with what God's going to make of those
persons. They're going to be like Christ.
He predestinated the means to make them like Christ. And He
chose them. That's so. He chose them. He
chose them personally. He chose them individually. You
can quote scripture for that. The elect are mentioned all the
way through the Bible. Mine elect. God's elect. If you
want to, you can take this thing back to the angels. When the
angels fell, no savior was provided. Christ took not on himself the
nature of angel. According to his own sovereign
will, he was pleased to pass by the angels which fell. In
fact, Jude said they are reserved, they are awaiting eternal damnation
and change of darkness. But God was pleased in his sovereign
will. according to the good pleasure
of that will, for reasons known only to himself, to save men. And he took on himself the nature
of Abraham's seed. He was made in the likeness of
flesh, and he became a man. But God chose a people, and he
made his Son our surety. Christ is the surety of an everlasting
covenant. His blood is the blood of an
eternal covenant. God decreed to save, God defied
the purpose to save, God defied the will to save. And he gave
a people out of every tribe, nation, tongue, and kindred unto
heaven, the scripture says. Christ is going to have a people
out of every tribe, out of every kindred, out of every nation,
unto heaven. He gave his Son a people innumerable
as the stars of the sky and as the sands of the seashore. I
just throw in what I believe. I believe there will be more
people in heaven than there will be in hell. Our Lord Jesus Christ
is going to have a people without number, without number. And you
say, well, how do you say that? Well, every baby, every infant. Doesn't that tell you something
that shocked me? I ran into a young man in a meeting recently and
found out that there are a lot of what we call reformed Baptist
preachers who believe infants go to hell. Did you know that?
First one I've ever met in all my life. First preacher I've
ever met that believed that. Never have met one. Their character
of God's challenged, I believe. God's so gracious and so good
and so merciful. But there's infants that died,
there's families that have had eight and ten children, only
one of them lived. I heard about tribes in Africa
that didn't even name their children until they reached five years
of age, keeping wasting names. That's right. Because of the
way children die. But they're in Christ. They're
under the blood of Christ. See, the Bible's written to morally
responsible individuals. That's who the Bible's written
to, accountable, morally responsible individuals. The retarded infants,
little children, those who die in infancy, they're going to
be with Christ. I tell you, Arminian can't say that. Because they've
got to exercise some type kind of faith to be saved. If they
don't come to the front and shake the preacher's hand and get baptized,
they're going to hell. That's what the Arminian said.
Unless he's got two ways of salvation. I worship salvation in Christ,
in his blood, in the gift of his grace. But he gave his son
a people, and the Holy Spirit came to call them. by his sovereign
power to call them to Christ. And all that the Father giveth,
Christ said, shall come to me." Now, I'm not going to deny that.
That's scriptural. I see that in the Word of God.
It's scriptural. And to deny that is to deny God's
Word. But now, watch this. This Bible
also teaches that all who are aware of their sin and their
inability, and I'm not talking about just an emotion or upheaval. I'm not talking about a fellow
realizing that he shouldn't have got drunk. I'm not talking about
a fellow realizing that he shouldn't have beat his wife if she wouldn't
have left him. I'm not talking about a fellow who suddenly realized
he shouldn't have held up that bank or he wouldn't have gone
to jail. I'm not talking about an emotional experience that has
to do with some outward transgression of the law. I'm talking about
a man who is aware of his sin, his sinful nature, his sin being
against God. There's something wrong between
him and a holy God. that he's mourning over not just
what he's done, but what he is. He's mourning over not just the
outward acts of the flesh, but the inward nature and principle
and root of sin that he finds within him. And his inability
to perform that which is holy and that which is true. And he
has a sincere inward desire to know God. to be saved from that
sin, to be delivered from that nature, to be delivered from
that practice and power, and yea, the presence of that sin,
that law of sin, that body of sin. He has a desire not just
to go to heaven and live in a better house than he's got here, not
just to go to heaven and live with a stronger body than he's
got now, or a prettier body than he's got now, or live longer
than he's living now, but he desires to be saved from his
sins, to know the living God. All who will believe on Christ
as their Lord and Savior, all who will in Christ seek God's
mercy, all who will receive Him in their hearts, consciously
and lovingly and intelligently, will be saved. Now that's what
this scripture teaches. The Lord is rich in mercy to
all who call on Him. That's what it says. The Lord
delights to show mercy. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord," and that's calling out of a need. Let me ask you
this, if you were walking down the road down here on Front Street
and somebody's out in the river and they call, and you were a
good swimmer, you'd say, you're not one of my family. Would you
do that? No, sir. If he called, you'd
run and rescue him. Are you more holy than God? Are
you more compassionate than a living, loving God? Whosoever shall call,
call out of a need. I'm not talking about an emotional,
sentimental understanding of some offense. I'm talking about
a need, a despair, a seeking, Lord save me, I perish! He'll
save you. I don't care who you are. He'll save you. He'll say, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is
scriptural. And my friend, whatever your
doctrinal system, I hope under God you don't deny that. I hope
you can say to any person, any son of Adam, any creature of
any nationality, color, that you need Christ. He'll save you
if you want Him. God's going to save every sinner,
every lost man. And we can say that. I believe
that. And I don't know any way to make
it, Joe, any plainer that I believe that. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. For as many as received
Him, to them gave he the right to become sons of God. Come unto
me, Christ said, I'll give you rest. You come on. Little, big,
short or tall, old or young, rich or poor, learned or ignorant,
black or white, super mercy. Cry out to God, He'll save you.
He delights to show mercy. He takes no pleasure in the death
of the wicked. Our God's rich in mercy to all
who call on Him. All who call on Him. Now then,
there are multitudes in this world who cannot rejoice in both
of those statements. I have friends who just cannot
receive and cannot rejoice in the offer or the invitation or
the extended hand of our Lord in mercy. They can't rejoice
in it. They just cannot rejoice in it. They can only rejoice
in that which fits into their human system. They can only rejoice
in that which they can reconcile. with what they believe. They
can only rejoice in that which is consistent with their understanding. Brethren, there's no position
more dangerous than that one, in reference to the things of
God. You establish a position, even on the Word of God, you
establish a position that's challenged on every hand by other scripture,
you better let it go, because you're positioned wrong. In other
words, here's what I'm saying. If you have believed the doctrine
of sovereignty and salvation, to the point that you pray less,
that you witness less, that you give less, that you're less concerned
for the souls of men, that you can be satisfied with their damnation. You've missed Sovereign Denelection.
You haven't understood it. That's all there is to it. You've
got it wrong, totally wrong. You see, election's not the sinner's
enemy, it's his friend. And I have some friends that
have this idea, well, God elected a people, he's going to save
them, there's nothing I can do or you can do or anybody else
can do. There's something I can do, and by God's grace I'm going
to do it. I can pray for them, Joe. My
prayer to God, Paul said, for Israel is that they might be
saved. I can intercede for them. Old Job said, my children may
not be praying, I'm going to pray for them. I'm going to pray
for them. I can be an intercessor. I can
pray, I can witness, I can go to the whole world and preach
the gospel to every creature. That's what our Lord told me
to do. And I know that it's in his grace to use these means
to call his people to himself. And I intend to preach not less,
but more. I intend for this church not
to have fewer missionaries, but more. I intend for us to have
not fewer TV programs, but more. I intend for us to put out not
fewer papers and tracts and invitations, but more and more and more as
God supplies the need. If you're satisfied with any
less, you don't understand the gospel as I understand it. And
I have friends who say, no need to pray for the lost, no need
to witness, no need to preach, no need to persuade men, no need
to send missionaries. If God's going to save them,
He's going to save them. This is the worst kind of error.
And I'll tell you this. I don't want to be an Armenian
or an Antinomian, but I'd just about soon be one as well now.
If I have my choice, if I've got to be, if I've got to be
one of those people that's on one end of the spectrum, I'd
just about soon be an Armenian. At least Barnard said he's having
fun going to hell. He's having fun. I have other
friends who deny election. They deny sovereignty, they deny
the sovereignty of God and salvation, and they leave salvation entirely
in the hands of the sinner. They say it's an act to the human
will and so forth and so on. Well, that's error. That's error. And this is what I'm saying.
I'm saying that both are true. Both of these positions that
I have presented to you are true. God is absolutely sovereign in
salvation. He saves whom He will. He has
elected a people. He's predestinated them to be
like Christ. Christ died on the cross for their sins. The Holy
Spirit will call them. They will come to Christ. But
this is what I'm saying. They will come. They will come
consciously. They will come intelligently.
They will come willingly. They will come lovingly. They
will come because they want to come. They will come as if God
did not elect them at all, but it totally, completely depends
upon them crying out to him, and calling upon him, and looking
to him, and believing on him. That's exactly right, they're
both true. Now I don't hope you say, well how do you reconcile
this? I feel how Spurgeon answered that. A fellow said to him one
time, he says, how do you reconcile sovereignty and responsibility?
Why, he said, I didn't know there were enemies. You don't reconcile
friends, you reconcile enemies. And sovereignty is not the enemy
of responsibility, nor is responsibility the enemy of sovereignty. I believe
in purpose, but I also believe in response. I believe in God's
sovereignty and God's sovereign will. He will do what he says. But I believe we'll respond.
For example, our Lord Jesus Christ, watch this now. Our Lord Jesus
Christ was the Lamb's flame before the foundation of the world.
You believe that? That's what the Bible says. But he still had
to come and die. That's right, he still had to
come. He talked about his blood, the blood of the everlasting
covenant, but he still had to shed it. He had to do it. He had to willingly do it. He
had to go through that willing, submissive act of dying for our
sins as if God didn't even decree it. And that's so. Now, God decreed for Joseph to
be king of Egypt. But Joseph had to go down there,
and Joseph had to go through every one of the things that
God had determined and purposed and decreed, and he had to do
it because he would, and he had to be willing to do it. God decreed
that eight souls should be saved from the flood, but they had
to enter that ark. If Noah had not entered that
ark, he'd have died in that flood. He entered that ark willingly.
The Bible does not say, God put him in, God invited him in. He
said, Come thou and all thy house into the earth. And Noah walked
up that gangplank willingly. He knew in his heart he believed
God. He knew there was going to be
a flood. And he walked up that gangplank. God didn't push him
or pull him or shove him. He walked up willingly because
that's what he wanted to do. That's what he believed he should
do. And that was what God had taught
him. And he went in there willingly. These people stayed out willingly.
And as long as that door was open, anybody could have gone
in there and wanted to. That's so. Anybody. Don't you... Do you think Noah
would have stood in front of... Here's some fellow walks up and
says, Noah, I believe there's going to be a flood. And I don't
want to die in the flood. I'd like to go in. Noah said,
I'm sorry, you ain't on the list. I can't find you. I find me and
my wife and Shem, Ham and Japheth. But what did you say your name
was? Jay Wembley. I don't find it on here, Jay. You mean there's
no room for me? And I'm sorry, God's not big
enough to save you. He's just got room for eight.
There's no more room. That's not so. That's not so. If Jay wants to come in, he can
come in. I guarantee you, that's what God's Word teaches. You
say, I don't understand that. God didn't call on you to understand
Him. He called on you to believe Him.
And I get really fed up with folks talking about they don't
understand something. You can't comprehend God unless
you're God. You don't put up with that in
your home. You tell one of your children to do something, he
says, why? Huh? You sit down and write him out
a reason? He says, son, you don't understand now. Well, I don't
intend to do a thing. Well, I expect you better. I
expect you'd be wise on your part to do what I say, whether
you understand it or not. And that's what I'm saying to
you. If you're God's child, you don't question the will of your
father. You don't question the wisdom of your father. You don't
question the word of your father. You say, I'm a child, teach me. I believe it. If it says it,
I believe it. All right, let me show you something
that'll help you. It's helped me. Let's turn to a number of
scriptures. Go first of all to 2 Thessalonians
2. There are a number of scriptures, my friend, that begin with sovereignty. They begin with sovereignty and
they end with response. They end with faith. They end
with man's response. They start with absolute, unconditional,
undoubted sovereignty. And they end with response. And
there are some scriptures that start with response, the response
of man. And they end up with sovereignty
and show why a man responded. It shows in sovereignty to whom
he responded. And then when we read of his
response, it goes right back to sovereignty and shows us why
he responded, because God did so. Now watch this 2 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. There it is. Now don't stop there.
Let's not stop there, John. God has chosen you to salvation.
What's the next two phrases? Through sanctification of the
spirit. What is sanctification? Well, it's threefold meaning
in the scripture. It means first to set apart, to set apart for
a holy purpose, to take something ordinary, common, everyday, and
set it apart from the rest and make it God's. It means to declare
to be holy. To sanctify means to declare
to be holy. And to sanctify means to actually
make holy. To make holy. Well, he says through
sanctification of the Spirit. God chose us, elected us from
the beginning to salvation, not to service, to salvation. Through
sanctification of the Spirit, what's the next line? And belief
of the truth. Now then, you wouldn't leave
out sovereignty there. You blame the fellow down here.
That says if you believe, you'll be saved. You say, well, you
ought to say you believe because God enabled you. Okay. But you
also ought to say they do believe. Now, don't accuse him of doing
something that you do. You say salvation is totally
of God, absolutely of God, whatever I do. No, sir. No, sir, no more
than faiths of me, whatever God does. It's both that. Sovereign,
chosen sovereignly, sanctified by the Spirit, but believing
the truth. And if you don't believe the
truth, you'll never be saved. See, it starts with sovereignty,
winds up with responsibility. Turn to Romans chapter, or rather,
Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1, listen to
this. Ephesians, the first chapter, beginning with verse 3. Now,
so often I've given this, and no use giving it all over again,
but the first chapter of Ephesians. gives salvation, redemption's
work, the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And the first six verses have to do with the work of the Father,
and he ends up verse 6, "...to the praise of the glory of his
grace." The next few verses have to do with the work of the Spirit,
or rather the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he ends verse 12
with, "...that we should be to the praise of his glory." Verse
13 and 14 have to do with the work of the Holy Spirit, and
he ends up, verse 14, the last line, unto the praise of his
glory. But in verse 3 and 4 it says, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According,
he chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him, in love, having predestinated
us to the adoption of children according to the good pleasure
of his own will. That's sovereignty. But now look at verse 13. After
you talk about the work of the Son and the Spirit in verse 13,
it says, in whom you trusted, in whom you trusted after you
heard the word. You trusted. He didn't trust
for you, you trusted. He enabled you to trust. He made
you willing to trust, but you trusted. I did receive Christ. Yes, I did. I personally, individually,
on purpose, one day said, Lord, I receive you as my Lord and
I do believe your word. There's a time I didn't believe
it, there's a time I did believe it. There's a time I didn't trust
Christ, there's a time I did trust Christ. There's a time
I didn't receive it, there's a time I did receive it. And
I trusted him in whom you trusted, you trusted, after you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also
after you believed, after you believed, you received with the
Holy Spirit. Now a man's not sealed before
he trusts and before he believes. He's, he, God's purposed to save
and God's elected to save and God's determined to save and
God will save. But he's not saved till he believes.
And we're justified by faith. We're justified by faith. And
a man who does not have faith is not saved. There's no way
you can make him saved, there's no way he can claim to be saved.
Well, I'm saved. I'm one of God's children. Have
you believed on Christ? Have you received him? No. Then
you're not one of God's children. If you die like you are, you'll
go to hell. That's so. This is what the scripture teaches.
And see, this is one of the reasons why we get in trouble. If we won't let the whole Bible
talk, Jay. We're going to let one side talk
and not let the whole Bible speak. There was a time when I wished
some of these verses weren't in the Bible. I'd read some scripture,
and when I came to that scripture where God delights to show mercy
or something like that, takes no pleasure in the death of wickedness,
I said, well, why don't you word that a little better for us,
you know, that believe in sovereignty, so we wouldn't give ammunition
to those other felons. Well, let's not be guilty of
the same thing. They deny sovereignty, let's
not deny responsibility. Let's be two-eyed Christians.
You've got a lot better balance that way. I've never been without
one eye, but they tell me that the balance is pretty bad. I
need both eyes. I need both. Let's turn to 1
Thessalonians 1, verses 4 through 9. What I'm saying is these scriptures
begin with sovereignty, indisputable, immutable, unchangeable, absolute
sovereignty. And dear sovereign grace friends,
I'm not letting you down. I'm trying to lift you up. Don't deny the very basic principles
of our faith, Brother Henry, we believe in grace. I do too.
But I'm not a robot. I'm not a tin can. I'm a responsible,
accountable human being. If a man's going to hell for
his rebellion, then you've got to say he was responsible to
believe. That's right. You've got to say he was responsible. All right? Look at 1 Thessalonians
1 forward. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. knowing your election. That's
pretty clear isn't it? God elected you. God elected
you. For our gospel came not to you
in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Ghost and much ascent.
That's sanctification of the Spirit. God sent it to you in
power. Verse 6, And you became followers. And you became followers
of us and of the Lord. And he said, verse 9, the last
line, you turned from your idols. But you turned from your idols
to serve the living God. Who did it? You did it. You did
it on purpose, you did it willingly, you did it because you loved
Christ, but you did turn from them. It starts out, C.J., with
God's absolute, God elected you, the Holy Spirit sent the Word
to you in power, but you responded. You responded by becoming a follower
of the Lord. You responded by becoming a person
who turned from their idols. to save the living God and to
wait for his Son from heaven. All right? 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy. The Bible, I don't know why we
have such a hard time just letting it speak and this is to me, this to me is, opens the whole
thing and I have to tell you that really by God's grace I
do understand what I'm preaching here. I do understand it. It
seems very clear and very logical to me, God chose a people because
he had nobody would come. But those he chose, those whom
he had chosen will come. And they will come lovingly,
they will come willingly, they will come because they want to
come. They're going to believe on him, he gives them the means,
he makes them willing, but not against their will, he saves
a man with his full consent. I'm not sure I like that prayer,
I hear it and And some of my friends use it, God saves a man
against his will with his full consent. There's a time when
it's against his will. But I believe that we're willing,
I'm willing for Christ to save me. And he has my full consent. Now, the scripture says this,
that if I shall believe in thine heart that God raised him from
the dead and confess Christ with your mouth, you shall be saved.
And that's your heart and your mouth, isn't it? Your heart and your mind, the
Holy Spirit doesn't do it for you. Look at 2 Timothy 1. It says
here in verse 9, He saved us, He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. Boy, that's what I believe. Danny, that's God's Word. I believe
that, I'd die for that. That's what I pray. But I'm not
going to leave out verse 12. But Paul says, for the which
cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed.
I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded he is able
to keep that which I committed to him. I hope Paul is telling
you what he did. And he did it willingly, and
he did it because he wanted to, and he did it because there was
nowhere else to turn, and he did it because he saw the wisdom
and justice and righteousness of God in the death of his son.
I believed on him, he said. I committed it to him, and I
am not ashamed. It starts with sovereignty. All
right, let me hurry now and go to some more scriptures that
start with man's responsibility and man's response. Romans 10.
Now, a good solid grace preacher had rather start with God and
wind up with response. He'd rather. But God's been pleased
in his word to start with man's response in a lot of scripture
and wind up with sovereignty. Start with what man does and
go back and show the reason why he did it. Romans 10, verse 9,
I just mentioned this verse, that is, thou shalt confess with
thy mouth Jesus to be Lord. And if you believe in your heart
God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. There's no difference
between the Jew and the Greek. The same Lord is over all, is rich unto
all that call upon him. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. That's responsibility. Watch
verse 14. How shall they call on him in
whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a
preacher? And how shall they preach except in this sense?
Where do we go back to? I heard a preacher one day, and
I believe that preacher, and received the message and was
saved. Who sent the preacher? Who sent the preacher? God sent
him. If he's God's preacher, God sent
him, if he delivered that message, he delivered God's message. Who
enabled you to hear? Who gave you ears to hear? Who
gave you eyes to see? That's perfectly clear. Turn
to Psalm 110. Now here it starts with responsibility
and winds up with sovereignty. Psalm 110, verse 3. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. You see that? They're willing. They'll be willing. Willing to what? Willing to receive
Christ, willing to trust Christ, willing to cast themselves upon
Christ, willing to commit themselves to Christ. In the day of our
power, that's when they'll be willing. Let's try 1 Peter 2,
and I'll move quickly. 1 Peter 2, verse 1 through 10. I'll read this quickly. Let's
just look at it, kind of scan it, and show you how it starts
with responsibility. He's talking to us, and he says,
"...lay aside all malice." Wherefore lay aside malice? 1 Peter 2,
verse 1. And guile, and hypocrisy, and
evil speaking. Now, brother, you can't say,
you can't say, well, if God's willing for me to lay it aside,
he'll lay it aside. No, he says, you lay it aside.
You lay it aside. That's exactly what he's saying.
It's responsibility. You lay aside this feeling of
hatred and malice and bigotry and prejudice and guile and hypocrisy
and envy and talking about people. You quit it. As newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the Lord, you desire it. You desire
it. But you may grow thereby. You're going to have to desire
it, reach out for it, and read it. God's not going to pull your
mouth open and shove it down your throat like you do a pill
in your two-year-old. You're going to ask for it. That's
what he said. If so be ye of taste that the
Lord is gracious, to whom coming? To whom coming? Always coming.
as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of
God, and precious. You also, as living stones, are built up,
a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God." Verse 7, "...unto you that believe he
is precious," and so on. But now you get down to verse
9. Come back to sovereignty. You are a chosen generation.
You are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation. You are
a peculiar people. that you should show forth the
praises of him, you show it forth, but he called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light. In time past you were not a people,
but you are now the people of God, which have not obtained
mercy, but now you have obtained mercy. You didn't earn it, you
didn't buy it, you obtained it. You see how, you see that Joe,
that's so clear to me. He starts out with, you do this
now, You do this, you believe, you receive Christ, you walk
in Christ, you love Christ, you glorify Christ, you adorn the
gospel, you seek the word of God, because he said you've been
chosen. God set his love on you and his
favor upon you. He made you his own. You're a
royal priesthood, a chosen generation, a holy nation. You've obtained
mercy. You've obtained mercy. All right,
let's go back to 1st Ephesians 1 just a minute. I'm just hitting
4 or 5 of these verses, Ephesians 1, verse 11. Verse 11 says, "...in
whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated." Verse 13,
"...in whom you trusted after you heard." You see how it starts
with grace and comes back to who enables you? Let's go to
Acts 13.48. Turn over there just a moment. Acts 13, verse 48. You hear Paul
preach to the Gentiles, brought the message of the gospel, the
grace of God. And when the Gentiles heard it, now you're talking
about, listen to me, you're talking about Walter Gruber standing
down there in front of a bunch of ignorant pagan Mayan Indians
who've never heard the gospel of God's dear son. And he goes
to them with the fact of sin, the truth of sin, the consequences
of sin, the penalty of sin, the wrath of God against sin, the
remedy of sin, Christ Jesus, the grace of God in Christ, the
mercy of God in Christ, and the intercession of Christ, and the
willingness of Christ to save. And some old dark, grubby hand,
Mauryan Indian with calloused knees and feet and hands reaches
out and says, I receive him. I believe on him. I receive Christ. Well, that's the people whom
Paul was preaching right here, ignorant, alien, strangers, tyrants,
Gentiles. And when they heard it, listen,
verse 48, and when they heard it, they were glad and they glorified
God as your responsibility. But right behind it comes this
verse, this word, and as many as were ordained to life believe. Huh? I'm not going to deny you
the one or the other. either by God's grace or not.