Turn back with me now to the
book of Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 8. Ephesians 2 says, For
by grace are ye saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves, It is the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. It's not every preacher who has the privilege, and I use that word with a great
deal of emphasis, privilege, of staying in one place and preaching
and pastoring as long as I've been here. When another year goes by, I
shall have been the pastor of this people for 30 years. There are four things by way
of introducing this message that I wish to say in light of those
many years. I sincerely hope and pray by
the grace of God that my attitude as an individual and as a preacher
of the gospel has improved. I pray that I shall continue
to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and
shall, with improvement, manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
I believe I can say with the Apostle Paul with much emphasis,
and yea even more perhaps than he used, because compared to
Paul I'm a babe in swaddling clothes, but I count not myself
to have arrived. I long to lay hold upon that
for which I have been laid hold of by Christ, and I believe this
is manifested this inward relationship with Christ is manifested as
we grow older more and more in an outward godliness and an outward life of honesty and integrity
before God and before people. And the second thing, I hope
that my ability to preach and communicate with you has improved. A person certainly should improve
after 30 years. And I do pray that preaching
is communication. If we're not communicating, we're
not preaching. And my prayer is that I'll not
only grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ, but God will give
me more gifts and ability to communicate with people. To preach
not to their heads, but to their hearts, as Darwin prayed a moment
ago. Not just to communicate facts
either, and facts alone, because facts alone will not save. But
to preach a person. A person in all of its beauty
and glory. I told the preacher boys in the
class yesterday, don't be afraid of feelings and emotions. We need to show our feelings
and emotions more toward God, toward one another. We're not
dead logs, we're living people. And we are emotional people.
And it's no sin to weep. It's no sin to rejoice. It's no sin to make known those
feelings of joy and praise to our God. And I certainly hope
that our services never get to be the cold, dry, dead doctrinal
exchange of ideas. But I want the Spirit of God
to move in our midst. People to feel free to praise
God, worship God, and rejoice in the mercies of our Lord. Barnard
used to say to me, don't preach to my head, preach to my heart.
When you preach to my head all the time, I get tired and weary,
but when you preach to my heart, I can rejoice all night. And
I think if we preach to people's hearts, it'll get to their heads.
And then the third thing, I hope that my knowledge of the scripture,
you know the word of God says, study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed. Ashamed of what? Ashamed of our ignorance. ashamed
of our ignorance of His Word. His Word is here. It's here for
us to read. It's here for us to learn. It's
here for us to grow. And I hope that my knowledge
of the Scriptures is fuller and richer than when I began. And
I hope in 10, 15, or 20 years. We just started. We just entered into the vast
hall of God's grace. We know so little, and the more
we find out, the more we find out we don't know. But I want
to grow in knowledge of the Scripture and be able to present to you
what God declares in His Word. But the fourth thing, and while
I hope by the grace of God my attitude improves and continues
to improve, and my ability to preach, and my knowledge of the
Scripture, I can say with great emphasis, and those who have
who have been with us all these years. And some of you here,
you've been with us all these years. We've been together in
this effort, in this ministry. And I can say with much emphasis
and sincere conviction, my message, all is the same. It's the same
message. It's the same message. I can
say that. It's the same message. And it's
summed up in these two verses right here. Are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves? It's the gift of God. It's not
of works, lest any man should boast. Within the circle of these
words, as Charles Spurgeon said, my theology is contained, so
far as it refers to the salvation of a sinner. within the circle
of these words right here, for by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, it's not
of works, lest any man should boast. Within the circle of these
words, my theology is contained, as far as it refers to the salvation
of sinners. Now in this chapter, the apostle
gives us a good look at the three persons involved in the glorious
work of redemption. There are three persons involved
in the glorious work of redemption in the man. First of all, he
gives us a look, and it's a true picture, but a terrible picture,
of men by nature. Look at verse 1 of chapter 2.
And you, hath he quickened, made alive, regenerated, who were
dead. There's nothing more offensive
than a dead body. It smells. It's rotten, it's
eaten of worms from the inside. Down in Mexico they hurry to
get dead people in the ground. Because a dead person is offensive. And there's nothing more offensive
in the nostrils of God than a dead sinner. And you had to be quickened
who were dead. in your trespasses and sin, and
in time past you walk." This was your course of life. When
we talk about someone's walk, we're talking about their general
tenor of life, their general habit of life, their bent of
the will. They walk, we walk, according
to the course of this world. According to the prince of the
pie there. In other words, we walk with the devil. That's who
we walk with. We walked according to his course
and according to his will. That same spirit of evil that
works now in the children of disobedience was our master.
Our controlling spirit and dominating spirit was the spirit of the
devil. And then he says, among whom
also we all had our conversation in times past, fulfilling the
lust of our flesh, the desires of our flesh and of our mind,
and we were by nature, by birth, the children of wrath. even as
others, just like everybody else. There's no difference. There's
no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We've turned everyone to his own way, and there's no
difference. We were all the children of wrath, the wrath of a holy
God, just like everybody else. And then he lets us look at the
merciful Father. He says, and I noticed, Darwin,
when he read this, he paused. He said, but God. That's the
difference. It's not, but I'm different.
It's not, but I'm more intelligent. But I came to myself. But I realized
the direction I was going. But I changed my mind. But I
decided for Christ. No, there we are in the hog pen.
There we are in the dust, in the dung hill. There we are,
dead in our sins, loving darkness and hating light, loving evil
and hating holiness, loving death and hating life, loving lies
and hating truth. There we are, walking with the
devil under the wrath and judgment of a holy God. What made the
difference? God made the difference. It's
but God. It's not but I anything, or but
you anything, or but the preacher, or but some soul winner came
to me, but mama prayed for me, or but daddy witnessed it. It's
but God. But God, who is rich in mercy. Rich in mercy. You know every
attribute of the Heavenly Father is manifested in the salvation
of the sinner? It would do all of us real good
to study the attributes of God. One of the best books we have
in our church bookstore is by Arthur Pink on the attributes
of God. The characteristics of God, the
personality of God. We're going to have to know something
about his attributes. And in the salvation of a sinner,
every attribute of God is revealed. His foreknowledge in the election
of sinners. His wisdom devised the way of
salvation. His patience endured our rebellion. His holiness demanded the obedience
of His Son. His faithfulness to His covenant
and to His purpose sent Christ into the world. His power raised
us from the dead. His immutability Unchangeableness. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. His immutability preserves us
in Jesus Christ. And cheaply, His mercy and love
shine forth in the redemption of His people. But God who is
rich in mercy, God's rich in righteousness, but He's rich
in mercy. God's rich in holiness and truth,
but He's rich in grace and love too. But God who is rich in mercy
for His great love, wherewith He loved us. We didn't love Him,
He loved us. And He loved us even, even when
we were dead in trespasses and sins. He loved us even when we
were dead. And He hath quickened us together
with Christ. By grace are you saved, and He
hath raised us up together. and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, for God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son. God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And then Paul introduces us to
the blessed Savior. He shows us what we were. He
shows us what God did. And he shows us what the Lord
Jesus Christ hath done for our redemption. He says in verse
6, He's raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ that in the ages to come He might show the
exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. Christ is the source of mercy.
Christ is the source of salvation. Christ is the fountainhead of
all grace. We are quickened with Christ.
We are raised with Christ. We are seated with Christ. We
are heirs together with Christ. And then he comes down to verse
8 and he gives us the sum of it all. Far. Far. And that's what you always want
to remember when you're reading God's Word. And you come to the
word F-O-R that starts a verse. Far by grace are you saved. That
far refers to what he said prior to this verse. We were dead in
sin, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us, hath quickened us together with Christ, seated
us with Christ, quickened us with Christ, hath blessed us
with Christ. Far by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, if faith is the gift of God,
Faith is the gift of God. We're saved by grace through
faith, and that faith even is not of yourself. It's the gift
of God. It's not of works lest any man
should boast. Now, five things just quickly
in summing up this message. Five things you can follow right
along in this verse. The first statement is this,
for by grace, or by grace are you saved. Grace is a charming
sound. harmonious to my ear. Heaven
with the echo shall resound and all this earth shall hear. Grace
first planned the way to save rebellious man. All God's attributes
on display in that eternal plan. Grace first inscribed my name
in God's eternal book. It was grace that sent the blessed
Lamb who all my sorrows took. taught my soul to pray, grace
made my eyes overflow. T'was grace that keeps me to
this day, and grace will not let me go." Cheryl and Jay just
sang about it, amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. I once was lost, oh so lost,
so totally lost. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. I was blind, so blind, so completely
blind, so totally blind, but now I see. It was grace that
taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed. Grace, my friend, is seen in
our election. God could have passed us by.
He said there is a rendement according to the election of
grace. Do you see God's grace in the choosing of sinners? He
could have passed us by. He's passed by many people. Darwin
prayed a minute ago, and I thought, when he prayed, that's enough
praying. That's prayer enough. Because when prayer is laid at
the altar of God, before the throne of God, that's prayer
enough. Now wait for an answer. But he
prayed. He said this. God has given men
up. And when God gives a man up,
He turns him over to Himself. Do you remember that? Oh, what
theology is there? What mystery is there? But that's
how God gives a man up. Turns him over to Himself. He
could have done that to you. There's a way that seems right
to me. The end is death and destruction. My thoughts, God said, are not
your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. God
could have turned us over to ourselves. But He didn't. He
chose us. Grace chose me. And then grace
is not only manifested in my election, but grace is manifested
in my redemption. For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, how He was rich. Yet for my sake, He became
poor. Do you know how poor? Do you
know how rich Christ is? All things are His. God hath
given Him all authority in heaven and earth. God hath exalted His
name above every name. God Almighty hath seated Him
at His right hand. Do you know how rich Christ is?
How rich in love, and how rich in possessions, and how rich
in power, and how rich in wisdom, infinitely rich? Do you know
how poor He became? He didn't have a place to lay
His head. He didn't have a piece of ground to call his own. He
didn't have one single friend to stand with him. Even the Heavenly
Father turned his back on him. No man has ever died so alone. No man has ever suffered so alone. No man has ever agonized so alone. No man has ever been so totally
and completely alone. You've never been that way, and
you never will, by the grace of God. But Christ walked the
winepress of God's wrath alone, alone! So poor! Even his only possession, a robe,
was stripped from his body, and they cast lots for it at the
foot of his cross and nailed him up there naked to hang alone! Poverty-stricken! You say, why did God subject
him to such poverty that he might be identified with the most poverty-stricken
rebel who walks this earth? That's why. There's no man so
low that Christ has not been that low. There's no man so sinful
that Christ has not been identified with him in bearing guilt and
shame. Grace. Grace called us. Paul
said, God separated me from my mother's womb by His grace, and
then He curled me by His grace. It was His grace that arrested
me. It was His grace that would not let me go. It was His grace
that would not let me continue on my road of rebellion. God
says, whoa, stop right there, Saul of Tarsus, as far as you
go. Hell-bent, hell-bound, determined
to perish. will solitize us. And God's grace
says, stop right there. And God's grace would not let
him go. Jacob, Jacob was determined in his cheating, compromising,
hypocritical personality and nature to perish. And God says,
no! Jacob shall be a prince, Israel. You can go right on down through
the Word, all of those. Grace called us. Grace arrested
us. Grace stopped us. on our road
to hell. And my friends, grace keeps us. My God said His grace is sufficient. And every single blessing that
we receive from the Lord God is by His unchangeable, immutable,
infinite grace in Jesus Christ. Boasting excluded, pride our
base. I am only a sinner saved by grace,
for by grace For by grace are you saved. Now what's the second
thing? And Darwin read this right. He
said, For by grace ye are saved. Or you have been saved. That's
what it is. Past tense. It's finished. For
by grace you have been saved. It's a present possession. It's
a present salvation. John said now, right now, we
are the sons of God. Not going to be, not just might
be, we are now the sons of God. For by grace you are saved. We have, John said, passed already
from death to life. We've already passed from death
to life. Now if we say that a man is saved, stay with me, listen
carefully, this is important. If we say that a man is now saved,
he's already saved, he has been saved, by grace you are saved. If you say that a man has presently,
right now, salvation, that he has been saved, you've got to
precede it by grace. You have to. You have to. Why? Because there's no present
salvation except that salvation which begins and ends with grace.
There is none, there cannot be. There is not a denomination on
this earth that can preach a present certain salvation for any man
who does not preach salvation entirely by grace. The Catholics
cannot present a certain salvation because it hinges on a man's
faithfulness to the church. He may at any time be excommunicated. He may at any time lose his credentials. He may at any time lose his place,
his position. The Methodists cannot preach
a finished salvation. They cannot preach a present
salvation. You may be lost after all. You
may come right up to the door of heaven. You may come up to
your 79th year and for 78 years be a faithful member of the church
and then quit. And then stop this, that or the
other and be lost. They can't preach a present salvation. No,
not one person can declare a present salvation except that man who
says the salvation is not in the sinner's hands, it's in somebody
else's hands who cannot faith. Now you think about that a little
while. There is no man who can preach and there is no man who
can possess a present salvation. Except those people who preach
and believe we're saved from first to last, from Alpha to
Omega, from beginning to end, totally and completely and only
by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Can't do it. Why? Because the work of grace
is finished. And your work ain't never finished.
Are you depending on your goodness? You can't be sure, can you? It may fail. If you're depending
even on your faith, you can't be sure. You may after all stumble. If you're depending on your loyalty
and faithfulness, you can't be sure. If you're depending on
your baptism, you can't be sure that the man that baptized you
was safe. If you're depending on your church, you can't be
sure that that church is even one of God's own churches. You're
in trouble all the way. But my friend, if you're depending
on Christ, I know who He is. If you're resting in Christ,
I know what He did. If you're totally and completely
built upon Jesus Christ, the eternal Rock of Ages, I know
it's a tribe stone and a sure stone and a precious stone and
it cannot fail. What he did is finished. He said
it is finished. Any other way of salvation which
is dependent in any measure upon anyone other than Christ must
fail, but not Christ. So if you're going to say we
have been saved, you're bound to say it's by grace. It's got
to be by grace, it cannot be any other way. If it's a finished
salvation, if it's a perfected salvation, if it's a certain
salvation, if it's a present possession, I guarantee it's
not in your hands. Did you know that every creature
God ever made has failed under every sort of circumstances?
Let's look at that just a moment. Let's go back to Lucifer, who
was an angel. who was first in command of the
heavenly forces and the heavenly powers. And even under those
circumstances, without any other being having seen him, he fell. Adam and Eve, created, put in
the garden, with companionship and happiness, the fellowship
and communion of God, they fell. Noah was delivered through the
most obvious, obvious power of God. Everybody but Noah and his
family were destroyed. Everybody! And God chose to save
that man. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord, and yet Noah, just months after that traumatic experience,
divided his family, and it started with the sin of drunkenness.
That's where it started. David, God gave him the greatest
kingdom this world's ever seen. The greatest kingdom with total
power and honor, glory as no other man ever had known it before. And he paid. Solomon, God gave
him more brains than anybody else. Wisdom. Wisdom just dripping
from his lips. Wisdom just filling his head. And yet he acted the part of
a fool. And then the Lord Jesus Christ came down here in person,
in person, and chose a man named Judas to be His disciple. And let that man walk with Him
personally, the Lord God of glory, personally for three and a half
years. And at the end of that time, He sold him down the river.
Now, so I say to you, anything under any circumstances in any
environment, spiritually that rests and depends upon me or
you, You cannot be sure. I believe you can be sure. You
can be sure of one thing, it's going to fail. You can be sure
of that. Everybody before you has failed,
and you will too. And everybody after you, but
there's one who cannot fail, and that's Christ. And so we're
going to have to take all of this matter of redemption, salvation,
sanctification, perseverance, preservation, everything else,
and just lay it in His hands and say, Lord, keep me till the
river rolls its waters at my feet. then bear me safely over
where my Redeemer I will meet. I hope by thy good pleasure safely
to arrive at home. I like that song. A lot of folks,
a lot of Baptists don't like that song. They say that doesn't
teach eternal security. Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither
by thy help I come, and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to
arrive at home. If I arrive safely, it will be
by his good pleasure. That's a fact. And thirdly, it
says, for by grace, by grace you have been saved through faith. What is faith? What is this faith
that saves? We know a man is not saved without
faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. He that cometh
to God must believe, must believe. He that believeth not on the
Son shall never see life. So what is faith? Well, most
definitions of faith confuse rather than help. One man was
preaching, got his tongue tangled up, and said, I'm going to confound
the Scripture. Well, he did. He confounded it.
I hope the ex found it. But faith, I believe, is made
up of three things that I'll show you in 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy
1, verse 12. Faith is made up of three things.
By grace, God's grace, have you been saved. Through faith, through
faith, not apart from it, not without it, not in spite of it,
through faith. Faith in 2 Timothy 1.12, Paul
said, For the witch cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless
I am not ashamed, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed. That's the first part of faith.
Now some people seem to think that a man can believe what he
doesn't know. I can't. And I don't think you can. I
don't think you can believe what you don't know. I just don't
think you can. And Paul didn't either, for Paul
says, 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?
Paul asked that question. How can a man believe in one
of whom he has not heard? Our Lord Jesus Christ said that,
Verily I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believe
it on Him that sent me." What comes first? Hearing, Herman,
comes before faith. I've got to hear His Word. I've
got to know whom I have believed. One other verse. Turn to John
9, verse 36. Here's a man that the Lord had healed, and the
Pharisees and religious folks had given him an awfully hard
time. John 9, verse 36. And they kicked him out of the
synagogue, and he was And that's the best thing that ever happened
to him. One of the best things that ever happened to us is to
get kicked out of organized religion. Do you know the best place to
hide from God is in the average church? Because there you'll
never hear His words. The best place to hide from the
gospel is in the average church. There you'll never hear His gospel.
That's exactly right. You stay bound to your church
and to your tradition and to your religion. Stay, hang on
to it. Just hang on to it. Like those old Jews of old, hung
on to their traditional, ceremonial, legalistic, ritualistic religion,
and you'll never hear the gospel. You've got to get out in the
wilderness and hear some bold John the Baptist, who's got nothing
to gain but the favor of God. And Christ found this fellow
that got kicked out of the synagogue, and he said to him, when he found
him, verse 35, Jesus heard they'd cast him out, and when he found
him, he said, Do you believe on the Son of God? Now listen,
and he answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe? I can't believe unless I know
who he is. You've got to tell me who he
is. Brethren, that's what comes first. Paul said, I know whom
I have believed. I know who Jesus Christ is. That's
when Saul of Tarsus rode to Damascus under that bright light. That
light couldn't save him. He was blinded, lost his eyesight. That experience couldn't save
him. He was fallen to the ground in the dust and watered in the
dust. That couldn't save him. He was
prostrate on the ground, but that couldn't save him. And Christ
spoke, and He said, Who are you? And He said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth,
whom thou persecuted. How are you going to believe
in Him of whom you've not heard? Who are you? And if folks don't
take a little time to tell people who Christ is, it's not just
Jesus, it's the Lord Jesus Christ, it's prophet, priest, and king,
it's the glorious, very God of very God, it's the brightness
of His image, the express image of His person. Who is he? I know whom I have believed."
And Paul went on, he said, I'm persuaded. I am persuaded. I am convinced. I am confident. He's able to keep. And faith
is made up of knowledge of Christ and confidence in Christ. Where
there's no confidence, there's no faith. I'm leaning my weight
upon this pulpit because I don't have any doubt in my mind that
it will hold me. I can lean my entire weight on
this pulpit, I don't think it'll fall, but now if I had a suspicion
that the foundations of this thing wasn't exactly secure,
I'd stand back because I have no confidence in it. I'm not
going to walk up to the railing of a bridge and jump up and sit
on it unless I have some confidence it'll hold me. And no man is
going to receive Christ or believe on Christ or cast himself on
Christ to save if he has a suspicion or a doubt that that's sufficient. That's so. And this is what troubles
me about some folks make a profession and then there's certain things
they must do. in order to add to the work of
Christ. And you know why anyone would add to the work of Christ?
It's because he doesn't have complete confidence in Christ.
That's the only reason. You say a man's got to be baptized
to be saved. You know why you say that? Because
you don't have confidence in Christ to do it. You've got to
add something to it. A man has to do this and that
and the other. Let me tell you something. To be saved, a man
doesn't have to do anything but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what the Bible says. Nothing. Nothing in my hands
I bring. Nothing. Simply to the cross
of Christ I cling. And the only reason that any
preacher or denomination will present any requirement for the
sinner is because they don't have confidence in the person
of Christ. I believe he's sufficient. And
that's what Paul, he says, I'm persuaded that he, he is able,
without anybody's assistance, he's able to do what? Here's
the third part of faith, to keep that which I have entrusted to
Him. I've committed it to Him. Have
you? Have you? All I have, all I am,
all I ever hope to be, I commit to Christ. In my heart, I believe
a heart committal will bring forth a mouth confession. I believe
a heart committal to Christ will bring forth a life that reveals
that heart committal. I believe when a person is really
united to another in this kind of confidence and persuasion
that it'll be no secret. It won't be a secret. So there
it is. Knowledge, I know whom I have
believed. I am confident that He's able
to keep that which I have intelligently and willingly and lovingly and
finally committed to Him. Sink or swim, I go to Him. There's
no other place to go. And look back at our text now.
He says, for by grace, by grace, are you saved. You have been
saved through faith. Don't leave that out. Through
faith. Believe on the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And that not of yourselves. Now let me ask you a question
or two and I'll wind this up. Look back on your conversion.
You became aware one day of your guilt before God. You said, I
became aware of my sinfulness. I became aware of my wretchedness
and depravity, the evil of my person. Who made you thus aware? Who
made you aware of your sin? Your partners were not aware
of it, their sin. Your friends and family were
not under that type of conviction and under that type of despair. They didn't come. Who made you
awake? Well, you have to say God did. It was not of myself.
Alright? Then you say, and then preacher,
I heard the gospel of Christ's sacrifice and obedience. I heard
that Christ is the way to God. I heard that Christ died for
our sins. I heard it! Who gave you the
ears to hear? Christ said, blessed are your
ears, they hear. He said, our Lord said, the people
have eyes and don't see and ears and don't hear, but you saw and
heard. Who gave you those eyes to see and ears to hear? You
say, but I saw the wisdom of God in the death of Christ. I
saw the holiness and justice of God satisfied in the death
of Christ. I saw the righteousness of God
fulfilled in the obedience of Christ. Who gave you those eyes
to see that? He said, I believed on His blessed
name. I trusted Him. I trusted Him
with a heart faith. And I relied on Him. And I cast
myself on Him. Who gave you that faith? Oh,
it's all summed up in Psalm 110. In Psalm 110, verse 3. Listen
to it. Psalm 110, verse 3 says, Thy
people shall be willing in the day of Thy power. That's when
it is. In the day of His power. John 1.13. Turn over there just
a moment. John 1.13. It says in verse 12
of John 1 that as many as received Christ, to them gave Christ the
power, the right to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on His name. And there's no period there.
The sentence continues. And it describes those people
who received Christ, who believe on Christ. It says they were
born. Those people were regenerated. They were born. They were begotten. Not of blood. That is, it wasn't
of family inheritance. That's what the Jews thought.
They thought because Abraham was their father, they were naturally
saved. But it's not of blood, it's not of family inheritance,
and it's not of the will of the flesh. It's not of him that wrote
it. It's not of him that will it. It's not of man's personal
will at all. And it's not of the will of man. Some holy men desired the conversion
of their children who never saw it come to pass. David was one. You ever heard a more heart-rending
sob than that one? He cries, O Absalom, my son,
would God I had died for you. O Absalom, my son, would God
I... Don't you know David willed the
salvation of that boy? Don't you know he willed the
salvation of that boy, but he couldn't bring it to pass? a
man after God's own heart, a man in the very secret chambers of
God's fellowship, a man whom God used to write the hymn book
of the church, who could not will the conversion of his own
son? We are born not of blood, not
of the will of the flesh, and not of the will of man. We are
born of God, the Lord saveth whom He will. I don't want to
be harsh about that. I'm just telling you the truth.
Telling you the truth. Salvations of the Lord. He says,
I'll be merciful to whom I will be merciful. And don't charge
God with folly. Don't charge God with respect
to persons. Don't measure God by your feelings
of justice and righteousness. They're a whole lot different.
It's the Lord. Let Him do what He will. Because
He's too good to do wrong and too wise to make a mistake. And
old Rock used to say, God's going to save all whom He can wisely
say, and the rest of them, he's going down for his glory. And
I'll tell you this, it'd do well for us to get on the right side
in that judgment too. It'd do well. It'd do well for
us to say, Amen to God's judgment, because that's what the redeemed
in glory do. They said, Salvation and honor
belongeth to God, for true and righteous are His judgments.
And when the smoke of that harlot of Rome ascends up into heaven,
the believers are going to say, Hallelujah! Praise the Lord. He'll save whom He will. That
not of yourself. For by grace have you been saved
through faith. That not of yourself. Watch that
next line. It is the gift of God. The whole thing is a gift of
God. It's the gift of God. Just like
Christ is the gift of God, Christ in you is the gift of God. Just like Christ coming into
the world is the gift of God, Christ coming into you is the
gift of God. It's not a wage, the wages of
sin is death, but the gift of God's eternal life. It's not
a reward, it's the free gift of God. And God gives it to whom
He wills. And God gives it to those in
need. I hear people say, well, God helps them that help themselves.
That's a lie. God helps folks that can't help
themselves. If God stood back and waited
to help those that helped themselves, he'd have never helped you or
me either. But our God lifteth the beggar
from the dunghill and sets him among princes. He gives salvation
not only as a gift, but he gives it as a complete work. It's finished. Nothing needs to be added by
me, you, or anybody else. We are complete. in Christ. And then he gives it as a secure
gift. He said, My peace I give unto
you not as the world giveth. How does the world give? The
world may take it back. The world may give you praise
today and curse you tomorrow. But if God gives you praise in
Christ, it's yours forever. The world may give you peace
today and may give you hell tomorrow. But if God gives you peace today,
it's an everlasting peace. Your dear wife and children may
give you joy today, and they may give you despair tomorrow. That's right. But God's gift
is a secure, eternal gift. He'll never take it back. With
whom there is, He said, no variableness, no shadow of turning. He gives
it for keeps. That's what I want. I just, I
tell you, I'm tired of playing church, aren't you? I'm tired
of listening to folks who are playing church. I'm tired of
hearing people talk about a salvation that doesn't save, and blood
that doesn't redeem, and a frustrated Savior who can't do what He wills
to do. I'm going to go out here and
keep preaching.