I want you to open your Bibles
again to the book of Acts, if you will. One of the most shocking and
disturbing experiences that a believer can have, especially a man who
is endeavoring to preach the gospel, a person who to whom
God the Holy Spirit has revealed the gospel of his glory, the
gospel of his grace. A man who feels called of God
to support it, to preach it, to witness to the truth of that
gospel, one of the things that amazes him and shocks him and
puts him through a traumatic experience to find out is to
find out that those who are his greatest enemies, and those who
will see, will attempt to stop his mouth, and those who will
give him the most difficulty in his ministry and in his support
of that ministry, are not the people of the world,
but they are the leaders of religion. Now, that's shocking. The enemies of Paul were not
the soldiers. The enemies of Paul were not
the Roman leaders and governors. You know who they were? Religious
leaders. Religious leaders. Men who claimed to know the scriptures.
Men who claimed to know God. Men who claimed to believe God.
Men who claimed to have a religious background and heritage. These
are the people. Let me show you what the soldiers and the chief
captains and the governors and the kings and those men said
about Paul. Turn to Acts 23. Acts 23, verse 27. Listen to
this. Here's the chief captain of which
John just read in Acts 23, 27. He's writing to the governor
and he says, This man, talking about Paul, was taken of the
Jews and should have been killed of them. And I came with an army
and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman. And when
I would have known the cause whereof they accused him, I brought
him forth into their council. whom I perceive to be accused
of questions of their law, but to have nothing laid to his charge
worthy of death." He's done nothing worthy of death, or even of bonds. He hasn't done anything worthy
of being in prison, much less death. This is the chief captain
speaking in defense of Paul, the servant of God. Now listen
to what Festus said, Acts 25, verse 25. Here's the governor,
Festus. And he's defending Paul. It says
here in Acts 25, 25, he says, But when I found, verse 25, Acts
25, that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and that he
himself had appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him.
He's done nothing. These religious leaders wanted
to kill him. In fact, several of them made
a pact, a covenant, that they wouldn't eat or sleep until they
saw Paul dead. These were church leaders. But
these, Festus and Felix and the chief captain, came to his defense.
He's done nothing worthy of death. And then listen to Agrippa. Turn
to Acts 26, verse 31. Acts 26, 31. And when they'd
gone aside, they heard Paul speak, and then they went aside and
had a little conference. They talked between themselves, and they
said, This man's done nothing worthy of death or of bonds. This man's done nothing. But
my friends, the greatest enemies of the gospel, the gospel of
God's grace, are not the soldiers, they're not the governors and
the kings, they're not the publicans and senators. The greatest enemies
of the gospel of God's glory, the gospel of God's grace, the
gospel which gives God all the praise and the glory for redeeming
sinners, The greatest enemies of this gospel are those who
are going about to establish their own righteousness. And
Christ said to his disciples in John 16, turn over there,
he told them before he was crucified, before he left them, he said
in John 16 verse 1, these things have I spoken to you, that you
should not be offended, that they should not take you by surprise.
I'm speaking these things that you should not be offended. They,
verse 2, will put you out of the synagogues, out of their
religious organization. They'll try to put you out of
the ministry. They'll try to put you out of the denomination.
They'll try to put you out of the churches. They closed the
churches to Whitefield. Wouldn't let him in the established
churches. He had to go out in the cemetery and stand on his
daddy's tombstone and preach the gospel. They wouldn't let
him in the pulpit. They wouldn't let him in the churches. They'll
put you out of their synagogues. They'll put you out of their
churches. The time will come when whosoever killeth you, he
destroys you, will think that he doeth God a service. That's
how they hate the gospel of grace. Christ is not talking to rabble-rousers
here. That's what we're going to see
in a minute. Paul said, I'm not a debater. I'm not a disputer, I'm not an
arouser of people, I'm not a reformer, I'm not an organizer, I'm not
trying to organize anything. I'm not stirring up the people. And our Lord said, Whosoever
killeth you will think that they're doing God a favor. In verse 3,
John 16, And these things will they do unto you, my servants,
my witnesses, my apostles, my people, because they do not know
the Father. They have a God. They don't know
the living God, and they don't know me. It's so sad, it breaks your heart.
But this thing started back yonder when Adam and Eve came out of
the Garden of Eden. And the two religions began right there.
There were two brothers. There was Cain and Abel. And
Cain was a tiller of the soil. Cain was a farmer. Cain was a
hard worker. And Abel was a shepherd. And
those two boys came to approach God. And Cain approached God
on the basis of his own merit, and his own works, and his own
righteousness, and his own efforts. And Abel came through the blood.
He came through the substitute. He came through the sin offering
and the sacrifice. That's how they came. Now, Abel
didn't rise up against Cain. Abel had no evil thoughts against
Cain. Abel did not seek to put Cain out of business, but Cain
destroyed Abel. He couldn't be quiet. He couldn't
go his way. He couldn't practice his deceit. He couldn't practice his human
merit. He couldn't practice his self-righteousness
and leave this man alone to come to God as God instructed him
to come. He had to silence him. He had
to destroy him, and that's what he did. He rose up in the first
blood that was ever shed on this earth. The first man who ever
died on this earth died because he believed salvation by grace.
That's so. The first blood. We ought to
engage more confidently in the battle to which God has called
us, knowing that the first argument, the first blood ever shed on
this earth was shed because a man dared to come to God, not through
any merit of his own, but through the blood of Jesus Christ by
the grace of God. having nothing of himself, but
looking to the sacrifice and sin offering of another in his
place. In my hands, no price I bring,
simply to the cross of Christ I cling." That's how he came.
And the first man to ever shed any blood in anger was a man
who was fighting for the principles of self-righteousness. Getting
the glory, getting the praise, and it's been that way ever since,
and it's that way everywhere. Let a man dare to stand up and
say, Salvations of the Lord, totally of God. And all who despise
that message and hate that message are going to rise up against
it. They're not satisfied to say, Go your way, preach what
you will. As God reveals it to you, preach what you will. They've
got to silence that message. They've got to put that man out.
But I talked to this precious young preacher yesterday, day
before yesterday, and I called And he said, I'm encouraged.
I said, what happened? He said, Tuesday night, about
20 of our young people, young couples, called me over to their
house and wanted to hear what I had to say about salvation.
And he said, we talked about three hours about the Lord. And
he said, I'm encouraged. I got somebody on my side. And
maybe the young people, maybe God will in these days be pleased
to raise up some young people who are sick and tired of hearing
folks brag on the flesh and want to hear somebody preach the gospel. Maybe God will raise up some
young people. I'm encouraged to believe it's
going to be so. But look at Acts 24, and Paul
was brought before this hierarchy, Paul was brought before this
council of religious people, and he said to them, verse 12,
he said, they didn't find me in the temple disputing with
anybody. God's preachers aren't debaters.
I always get a little skeptical when I read some preachers going
to debate with another. They're both foolish. You don't
accomplish anything by debating. The gospel must be revealed.
The gospel is not argued. It's not debated. It's not disputed. It's proclaimed. It's proclaimed. And the Holy Spirit reveals it.
Men do not by reason discover God. They discover God by revelation,
never by reason. And Paul said, I'm not a debater,
I'm not a disputer, I'm not an organizer. You haven't found
me raising up the people, neither in the synagogue nor in the city.
And they can't prove anything that they've accused me of. But,
he said, and here's my message. He said, here's my confession
of faith. I'm not ashamed of declaring to you my confession
of faith. Verse 14, this I confess, my confession of faith. That's
what it is. This I confess to you. Three points. Number one,
he said, after the way that they, who are they? The religious leaders.
After the way which they, these religious leaders, these false
accusers, these false witnesses, these men who are attempting
to take my life, who are attempting to silence my mouth, who are
attempting to destroy my ministry, after the manner that they call
heresy, what they call heresy, is just exactly what I believe.
That's the way I worship God, after the way they call heresy.
Now, brethren, our world, like the world of Paul, is a religious
world. A lot of folks are getting excited today over what we call
the revival of our times. I don't see any revival. I see
a whole lot of commotion, and I see a whole lot of noise, and
I see a whole lot of entertainment, but I don't see revival. I see
a whole lot of religion, and there was a whole lot of religion
here. This was a religious battle here. This was a religious fight.
This was a religious council here. What does the religious world
today call heresy? All sit after the way that they
call heresy. That's the way I worship God.
And I'm here to tell you the same thing. I know. little town of Ashland, Kentucky,
a peanut preacher. Barnard used to say a one-gallus
evangelist making waves. But I've got this to say. After
the way that this religious world of 1979 calls heresy, Jack, what
they call heresy is the way I worship God. Exactly. Now let me show
you what I mean. Six things, quickly. Number one,
this religious world today would call original sin and total depravity,
total depravity, heresy. That's heresy. To say that in
Adam all died, to say that in Adam judgment and condemnation
passed upon all men, that's heresy. To say that in the flesh dwelleth
no good thing, that in the Garden of Eden man was not wounded,
he died. Man did not become nearsighted,
he became blind. Man was not rendered lame, He
was rendered without strength, without hope, without help, without
God, without Christ, dead in trespasses and sin. That today
is heresy, that there is not in any man's soul any life or
any fire or any desire or any knowledge of God Almighty. And
this, John, is where it starts, what happened in the garden.
Now turn to John chapter 5 and listen to what our Lord says
here. And he's talking to this crowd of religious people and
he says, he tells them verse 39, that they're busy searching
the scriptures, for in the scriptures they think they have life, but
they've missed what the scriptures teach, because the scriptures
teach Christ. But he says in verse 40, now watch it, you will
not come to me that you might have life. You won't do it. Men
will not come to Christ. They love darkness, they don't
love light. They love evil, they hate holiness. They love death,
they do not love life. They will not come to Christ.
Left to themselves, they'll never move toward God. And the preacher
that says to a sinner, if you take the first step, God will
meet you, he's giving that sinner an impossible altar. He's dead. You will not come, Christ said.
Verse 42, he said, I know you, you have not the love of God
in you. Verse 43, he says, I am come in my Father's name, and
you will not receive me. Let another come in his own name,
preaching error, and him you will receive. That's how twisted
your mind is. That's how warped you are spiritually. I can come to you in my Father's
name with the truth, and you will not receive me. Let another
come, preaching error. It doesn't matter what that error
is. You say, how can men like Oral Roberts and this Feminine
Angelina knows that how can they make millions because here's
why People will receive error no matter what kind of package
it comes in, but they won't receive truth It did they can't recognize
truth Christ Jesus the Lord came into the world and the world
knew him not And it's all received him not And he said, that's what's
wrong with you. Look at verse 44. How can you
believe? You're not seeking the honor that comes from God. You
receive an honor one of another. One worm is bragging on another
worm, and everybody's happy about it. Oh, how we love the praise
of men. How we seek the praise of men.
How we want to hear the applause of men. Don't think, he said,
that I will accuse you of the Father. There's one that accuses
you. And that's this Word in which you trust, the Word of
God, Moses' writings. Well, the world calls original
sin heresy. But that's what I believe, that's
where I worship God. Secondly, the world would call
election heresy. Over in Exodus 33, turn over
there a minute. In Exodus 33, I want to show
you something here. In Exodus 33, This man Moses,
he spoke to God face to face as a man speaks to his friend.
That's what it says in verse 11. Moses had a tent of meeting
out there where he met God, where he prayed, where God appeared
to him. And God met with him one day, and in verse 13 of Exodus
33, Moses therefore said, Lord, if I have found grace in your
sight, show me your way. Show me your way. And verse 14,
he said, Lord, if your presence go not with us, In verse 15,
if your presence go not with us, don't let us go, carry us
not hence. And then in verse 18, he says,
Lord, show me your glory. Now, brethren, here was a man
who had seen enough to satisfy the average person for a lifetime.
He had seen the bush that wasn't consumed, it burned but was not
consumed. He had seen the dividing of the
Red Sea. He had seen the death of the firstborn. that plagues
in Egypt, he'd seen the greatness and power of God manifested in
so many ways, but here he is saying, Lord, show me your glory.
He knew he had not seen God's chief glory. Though he had seen
all these miracles, though he had seen all these unusual things,
he had not beheld God's greatest glory. Show me your glory. And the Lord said, all right,
verse 19, And he said, I'll make all my goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. I will show mercy to whom I will
show mercy. Moses, this is my glory. This
is my chief glory. This is my greatest glory. that
I will be pleased to show mercy to dead sinners. But this mercy,
Moses, is sovereign mercy. This mercy is particular mercy. This mercy is mercy that comes
from the hand of God as God Almighty, in his wisdom and in his purpose,
is pleased to bestow it. What I'm saying is this. God
will save whom he will. God will call whom he will. Our
Lord Jesus stopped one day and lifted his eyes to heaven. He
said, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I thank thee, I praise
thee, I rejoice in thee, that thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them to them. There is an election
of grace. It's found throughout the Word.
In Ephesians 1, 3, and 4, Paul said, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who according to his own abundant
mercy and grace and according to his will had chosen us in
Christ before the foundation of the world. In 2 Thessalonians
2.13, Paul said, I thank God for every one of you, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
unto salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. And in John chapter 17, when our Lord prayed that priestly
prayer, that's the Lord's prayer, John 17. Six times he prayed
for those whom the Father had given him. Six times. He said, Father, I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me. Six times in that one prayer
he talked about those the Father had given him. So the world would
call election heresy. But after the way which they
call heresy, I worship God. All right, thirdly, the world
would call particular redemption heresy. That's right. That's heresy in this world.
That's heresy in a lot of Baptist churches. I was over in Ireland
preaching in 1970, three, four, five, somewhere
in there, and there's 50 Baptist churches in North Ireland, and
they were having a Northern Ireland All 50 churches had sent representatives
down to Hamilton Road Baptist Church in Bangor, Ireland, and
I was the 8 o'clock speaker. They had speakers in the afternoon,
the speakers at 7, and I was supposed to be the special speaker
at 8 o'clock on two nights. Well, the first night I spoke
on redemption, particular in nature. I judge that these people
over there, you know, that's where I studied my theology from
over there in Ireland and Scotland and Wales and England. That's
where all the books I read came from. And I assume that they
believe that when Christ died on the cross, he saved somebody.
He didn't make an effort to save anybody. He got the job done.
He died for sinners and redeemed them. So I said this, I said,
well, I like what John Owen says. John Owen said, if Jesus Christ
died for all the sins of all men. All men must be saved. That's universalism. But, he
said, if Jesus Christ died for some of the sins of all men,
nobody will be saved. But if Jesus Christ died for
all the sins of some men, some men are going to be completely
saved. Well, I finished my message and went on and talked about
the glory of the Lord, that the sacrifice of Christ was not to
man, it was to God. You read all the Old Testament
sacrifices. That sheep, that lamb was offered
unto the Lord. It wasn't offered unto men. It
wasn't a sacrifice which was made to men, offered to see if
they would do something with it or accept it or reject it
or something. It was a sin offering made to
God. And our Lord's sin offering, our Lord's sacrifice was not
to man, it was to God. And it wasn't. It was substitutionary
in its nature. He was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on Him, and by His stripes we are healed. Christ bore our
sins in His body on the tree, paid for them. And I pointed out that the sacrifice
of Christ is full. It's not in part. It's not an
installment payment nor a down payment for us to complete the
transaction. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified by one offering. And the sacrifice of Christ is
in full accord with the Father's covenant and the Spirit's application.
When I finished the message and I came down to the front to see
if anybody wanted to shake hands with me, and two or three did,
but one gray-haired old man walked up. His name was Johnson. He
was head of a mission board over there, and he's shaking his head. And he put out his hand to me,
and I said, how are you, sir? And he said, my name's Johnson.
Went on and introduced himself, and he said, I never thought
I'd hear that statement made from a Baptist pulpit in Ireland.
I said, what statement was that? He said, that John Owen statement.
I said, do you believe it? He said, I sure do. I know it's
so. But I didn't think anybody would
ever say it in one of the pulpits in this country. And I said,
well, that's what I believe. And I preach what I believe.
I said, I thought these fellows believed the gospel of grace.
He said, most of them don't. Oh, he said, preacher, ten years
ago you couldn't find one grace preacher in this country. They
just weren't here. But now there's some who dare
to declare the truth. My friend turned to John 13.
When Christ Jesus died on the cross, when our Lord suffered
and bled and gave his life for ransom for many, was that just
an effort on the part of God, or was that a payment? Was that
a transaction that completed, completely, effectually, sufficiently
redeemed those for whom he suffered? In John 13, our Lord washed the
disciples' feet here, and Peter said to him in verse 8, he said,
Lord, verse 8 of chapter 13, You'll never wash my feet." And
Jesus answered and said, If I don't wash you, Peter, you don't have
any part with me, if I don't wash you. And Peter said, Well,
Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head. And Jesus
said, Peter, he that is washed, he that is washed, need not save
to wash his feet. That's all. Now, here's what
our Lord said. When I take a bath, I'm all clean. I've had a bath, I'm clean. And
I walk over here to church. If this were in the days of the
apostles, I'd get my feet dirty. I'd get my feet soiled between
the house and the church here. But I don't need to go in there
and take another shower. All I need to do is wash my feet.
I'm already clean. I'm clean every whit, you see.
I'm clean, but I need to wash my feet, because my feet have
come in contact with the road and the dirt. Now our Lord said
I ought to wash the disciples' feet, and he's washing their
feet. He said, never wash my feet. The Lord said, if I don't
wash you, you don't have any part with me. He said, Lord, just wash
me all over. He said, I've already washed you. I've already cleansed
you. My blood's already purified you.
But day by day, you need to be forgiven, you need to be cleansed
of daily sins. As you walk through this world,
as you communicate with this world, as you walk in the flesh,
you need the daily cleansing and the daily purifying and the
daily sanctifying work of the Spirit of God. Peter, you're
already clean. You're already washed. Your sins are put away. This is something the world doesn't
understand. Christ died for my sins. I have
no sins, and yet I pray tonight, Lord, forgive my sins. You understand
that, don't you? I understand it. People who are
saved understand it. That I have no sins, and yet
my thoughts today have not been perfectly pure. My words have
not been without fault. And I want the Lord to forgive
me. I want him to love me and sanctify me and help me to grow. But I'm cleansed. I'm clean. You see what Christ is saying?
That's what he's showing there. It's not just a lesson in humility.
I'll tell you, every scripture in this Bible points to the cross.
If you're studying giving, you go to the cross to study it.
If you're studying forgiving, you go to the cross to study
it. If you're studying sanctification and daily cleansing and growth
of the believer, you go to the cross because that's where it
all starts. And Christ said, Peter, you're
already washed. I don't have to wash your head
and your hands and your body. I've already cleansed you. I
just have to wash your feet. Now, what's this next line? But
he said, verse 10, I look at it again, he that is washed does
not need only to wash his feet, but he's clean all over, inwardly.
And you're clean, every one of you, except one. See that? You're all clean. You're clean,
but not all of you. Now look at the next line. He
knew who should betray him. Therefore he said, you're not
all clean. I didn't die for Judas. What
kind of sacrifice have you got that our Lord died to save Judas
and couldn't do it? What kind of sin offering is
that? What kind of justice is that? The Lord paid for Judas'
sin and God sent him to hell to pay for them, too? What kind
of justice is that? Here's a man over here in Africa,
and you send him a missionary, and Jesus already died for all
your sins. The only sin that will send you
to hell is not to believe on Him. I said, what did you come
tell me about Him for? If you'd left me alone, I'd never have
committed that sin. You brought me bad news, fella. You brought
me bad news. I was already saved before you
got here. You see that? I was saved before you got here.
Christ died for all my sin. I didn't know about it. And here
you come and tell me about Jesus and I don't believe on Him, and
I'm going to hell because I didn't believe on Him. That makes Christ
my condemner and not my Savior. Yeah, it's heresy, but it's gospel. It's heresy to this ungodly world
that calls itself religious. But Christ, when he died on that
cross, he died for his sheep. He died for every believer. I
don't know who they are, but I do know that he put my sins
away, and I didn't make a contribution to it. I did not save myself.
If Christ died for people in heaven, he died for people in
hell, the difference between heaven and hell is not Christ
at all. It's what those people do with it. So Christ is not
my Savior, I'm my own Savior. I'm my own Savior. That's heresy. But that's the truth. That's
what Paul said after the way they call heresy. Let's look
at it again, the next thing. They would call, the world would
call, and they call this heresy. My friends, there was some blood
going to be shed here. And what's going to be shared
by those soldiers or governors or kings or publicans or sinners
is going to be shared by these religious leaders. And they were
going to kill God's preacher. And God's preacher stood there
and he said just exactly what they call heresy is the way I
worship God. Exactly. And this world would
call effectual grace heresy. Men talk about the new birth,
but they don't understand it. They don't understand it. My
friend, you don't born yourself either in the flesh or in the
Spirit. Somebody gave you both births.
Somebody gave you that fleshly birth and somebody gave you that
spiritual birth. First of all, the new birth is
of God. It's a work of God. We're born not of the will of
the flesh, not of the will of man, we're born of God. That's
what Scripture says. And then we're born of the Holy
Spirit, and look at John 3. Everybody reads this, but nobody
pays much attention to it. In John 3, our Lord said in verse
5, "...verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not, I say unto thee,
ye must be born again." Now listen to verse 8, "...the wind bloweth
where it listeth, where it pleaseth." And you hear the sound thereof,
but you can't tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So
is everyone that's born of the Spirit. What am I saying? I'm saying that the Holy Spirit
is sovereign and he quickens whom he will. The Lord Jesus Christ reveals
the gospel to whom he will. He effectually calls. That's
what the old timers used to call it. They used to call it a general
call and an effectual call. The general call comes forth
as the word is preached and as the law is given and as the glory
of God is declared by the heavens and nature and all these things.
Most men know there's a God, but the Holy Spirit teaches the
sheep who God is. Most people have a general understanding
of sin, but the Holy Spirit of God teaches the sheep what sin
is and who it's against. Most people have a general knowledge
of a man called Jesus Christ who came into the world, some
great prophet, some great teacher, some great healer. But whom say
ye that I am? Christ said. Peter said, Thou
art the Christ. And the Lord said, Flesh and
blood didn't teach you that. My Father revealed that to you.
Blessed are your eyes, they see, and your ears, they hear. They
have eyes, but they don't see. They have ears, but they don't
hear. They have hearts, but they don't understand. Blessed are
your eyes. Who gave you eyes, my father?
It's effectual. The world knows that that man
Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again. We
celebrate it on Easter, the resurrection. Everybody talks about the resurrection.
But the sheep know why he died. that God might be just and justify
the ungodly. They know that their hope is
in that blood, and their salvation is in that sacrifice, and their
acceptance with God is in that person, and they know that he's
their high priest, and their mediator, and their advocate,
and their assessor, and they live by Christ. They've had it
revealed to them. And that's effectual grace. That's
invincible grace. Oh, I don't like to call it irresistible. I think it's a bad term, because
we do resist. We for a while resist. I don't
know many folks in the flesh that don't resist, but he breaks
down our resistance. If you're one of his own, he'll
stay with you until he brings you home. He'll stay with you
until he breaks you. He'll stay with you until he
humbles you. He'll stay with you until he reveals his truth
to you. It's effectual grace. I'd change that T-U-L-I-P to
T-U-L-E-P. I wouldn't spell it too. Look,
would it? Well, maybe we'd get away from that then. And the
next thing the world calls heresy, they call perseverance or preservation
heresy. Now, brethren, eternal life is
exactly what it says. It's eternal. And a man is complete
denier of the Word of God, who even intimates that one for whom
Christ died, or one whom the Holy Spirit had quickened, or
one whom the Father hath accepted in the Beloved, or one whom God
hath saved, could ever be lost. That's the biggest pack of foolishness
I ever heard in my life. I don't know anything as silly
as that. I got saved last year, but I'm not saved now. You never
were saved. I accepted Jesus, but I went
back on the Lord. I backslid, and I've got to get
saved over again." You go through the same process, and you're
going to hell anyway. John said, if they were of us,
they no doubt would have continued with us. No doubt. Listen to Paul over here in Romans
8. Turn over there a minute. Romans 8, and listen to the Apostle. He says here in verse 29, "...whom
God foreknew, Verse 29, listen to it, "...whom he foreknew,
he 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, then he called, and whom he called he
justified, and whom he justified he glorified." Well, what shall
we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God be for us in covenant
mercies, if God be for us In elective grace, if God be for
us, in redemptive glory, if God be for us, in Holy Spirit calling,
if God be for us, in effectual advocacy and intercession, who's
left to be against us? Where are the powers against
us? What can they accomplish? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, shall he not with him freely
give us all things? What Christ purchased shall he
not have? What Christ bought for us, shall he not give it?
What Christ purchased for his people, shall they not own it?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? If God
did justify it, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that
died, verse 35. Who can separate us from the
love of Christ? Now, you can separate me from
a profession. You can separate me from a decision. You can separate
me from a denominational commitment. You can't separate me from Christ.
If all I've got is an experience or a commitment, if all I've
got is a decision, if all I've got is a reformation, if all
I've got is a church affiliation, I don't have anything anyway.
But if I've got a vital living union with Christ, there's no
power in heaven, earth, or hell that can break it. I'm in Christ. And Christ said no man can take
them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man can take them out of my Father's
hand." I'm in Christ, and Christ is in God. That's right. They call that heresy, but that's
true. That's the way I worship God.
And they call God's sovereignty heresy. Absolute sovereignty. I believe God Almighty is sovereign
in creation. He made all things for himself.
Proverbs 16, 4, even the wicked for the day of evil. God's sovereign
in revelation. And God's sovereign in salvation,
totally, completely sovereign. He does what he will, when he
will, with whom he will, for his own glory. I told John and
Jim the other night, we were talking, and I said, these three
things came home to me years ago. There's just one place that
a man will worship. I mean worship. He'll play church.
This is just one place he'll worship, one place he'll fall
down, and that's at the throne of a sovereign God. I don't care
who that man is, how big he is, how little he is, how old he
is, how young he is, how strong he is, how weak he is, it's one
place that all men if they know anything about it, will fall
down in subjection, submission, in reverence, in fear, in awe. And that's at the throne of a
God who can do all things. He has my breath in his hands.
He has my life in his hands. He has my hope in his hands.
He has all things in his hands. And if I find out who he is,
like Isaiah, I'll cry, woe is me. Like Job, I'll say, I'll
put my hand on my mouth. I've been talking too much, Job
said. I've been talking about things I don't understand. I
won't say anything else. I hate myself. When he finds
out God is on the throne, in him we live and move and have
our being, that's where a man will worship. You wonder why
there's no fear of God before their eyes this generation? You
want to know why they have that silly familiarity with Jesus?
Why they call God the man upstairs? It's because they don't know
the living God. He's never been preached. He's
never been declared from the pulpit. They've got God as a
buddy, God as a good friend, God as a valet, God as a servant,
and they're serving him. But when they find out he's reigning,
ruling, doing according to his will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of this earth and giveth it to whomsoever
he will, somebody's mouth will be stopped and they'll start
worshiping. I'll tell you a second, the only
place that a man will ever find true salvation is in the hands
of God who is able to deal with and cope with and answer his
law and his justice and effectually so honored and so satisfied that
he can be holy and yet merciful, that he can be righteous and
yet he can be grace and he can be perfectly pure and yet deal
with that sinner in mercy. Only God can answer that question.
Only a sovereign God can so deal with the law as to satisfy it
and honor it, and yet deal with a wretch like me. Salvation is
so great, I can't do it. God will have to do it. Salvation
deals with infinite things. It deals with immutable things.
It deals with celestial things. It deals with things that are
so far above and beyond me that I can't comprehend or understand
them. God will have to take care of those things. Jesus Christ,
the Lord, will have to deal with those things. I'm groveling down
here with a bunch of flesh. Salvation is in His hands. I'm
guilty of sins I don't even know about. I don't even know about
it. That's what David calls secret
sin. For to give me of my secret sins, even I don't know about
them. That law is so above and beyond me to even mention it
makes me tremble. God's holiness and righteousness
is so infinitely greater than anything I can even comprehend. What am I to talk about pleasing
God, my soul? I don't know anything about God.
We know in part. We prophesy in part. That's what
bothers me, John, about these degrees of Master of Theology. You know what the man's saying
when he's saying he's a Master of Theology? He's mastered God.
Theology is the study of God. He's mastered his God. But the
more I preach, I've been preaching 31 years, the less I know about
God. I'm going to have to turn it
over to the Lord Jesus. He knows the Father. And he knows me. He's been up there and he's been
down here. And he knows that he can take care of what God
demands and what I need, and I'm going to turn it over to
him. It's all in his hands. He'll take care of it, and he
won't fail. I've got a good Savior. And then that's the place where
a man will find some salvation. And thirdly, where a man will
find comfort, only at the throne of the Sovereign God. Now, some
of us are getting a little older, and we're going to have some
trials, and we're going to shed some tears. And we're going to
say goodbye to some awful precious folks. And God may visit us with
some infirmities and afflictions and crippling problems and blindness
and all sorts of things. But let me tell you something.
If I know he's on the throne and all this takes place because
he decreed it, And because he directed it, and because he purposed
it and he planned it, and it's for his glory and my good, I
can take it. I can take it. I can take whatever
he's pleased to bring upon me. That's what Paul was saying.
He said, not that I speak in respect of want. I've learned
in whatsoever state I am, if it's a state of sorrow, sickness,
grief, gladness, joy, poverty, success or failure, I'm going
to be content." How can you be content? Well, I can be content
because I know that my Father sent it, and my Father won't
do anything that's not for my good and his glory. Now, I believe
that. I believe it. I want to believe
it with all my heart, and I want God to give me a heart to believe
it. The world calls that heresy. This is a day of health and wealth
religion. God wants you to be healthy and God wants you to
be wealthy. Some of God's greatest saints
have been poor and sick. That's right. And if you carry
that to its logical conclusion, everybody's healthy is godly
and everybody's unhealthy is ungodly, but that's just not
so. God's on the throne. And Paul said, that's the way
I worship God. The way these people, what they call heresy.
And the other two things, he says, I have hope toward God.
I have hope toward God. And he said, I believe what's
written in the Scripture. Everything's written in the Scripture. You
know, our object of faith is Christ. We look to Christ for
redemption. Our foundation of faith is the
Word. This is the foundation of faith. It's the Word of God. I love my books, but I don't
rely on them. I don't look to them. I look
to this book. I believe it because God said it, only because God
said it. The only reason I have a right
to believe that God will save sinners is because he says so
here. And that's the reason, the way they call Harrison, the
way I worship God, because I've read it to you tonight. It's
right here in God's Word. It's in God's Word. When we give up
the infallible, inerrant, verbally inspired Word of God, we give
up our foundation of faith. I believe in creation. I believe
God created the heavens and the earth, just like it says in this
book. I believe in the miracles of Scripture. I believe in the
mighty things God did. I believe it just like God said
it. And that's my foundation of faith. And if you lose that...
Now, Peter, let me give you this illustration. I'll quit. Peter,
a lot of people want to dream dreams and see visions. I don't
want any dreams. You say, what's wrong with you,
Peter? Wouldn't you like to dream about the Lord tonight? No, sir. I don't dream
about the Lord tonight. I don't want to see any visions
tonight. I don't want to. And I'll tell you why. There's
a man called Peter who went up on a mountain with the Lord Jesus
Christ and his friend John and his friend James. And while they
were up there on that mountain, something marvelous happened.
They saw something that nobody had ever seen before. The Lord
Jesus Christ was glorified right in front of them, right before
their eyes. Moses appeared and Elijah appeared. And they saw Moses and Elijah
and the Lord Jesus talked to Moses and Elijah. Moses represented
the Lord and Elijah represented the prophets. And what did they
talk about? They talked about the cross. They talked about his death.
That's what they said. They talked about the cross.
They talked about his death. That's what Moses and Elijah
talked about. They came down here from Gloria and talked to
the Lord Jesus about his death. And Peter said, I saw that. But he said, now listen, turn
to 2 Peter 1. Let me show you what he says
about that. He said, I was right there when that happened. I saw
the Lord Jesus glorified. Verse 17 of 2 Peter 1. You got
it? 2 Peter 1, 17. Peter said, He
received glory from God the Father, honor and glory, when there came
such a voice to him from the excellent glory. And I heard
the Father say, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
My goodness, Peter not only saw a vision, he heard a voice. And
this voice, which came from heaven, I heard when I was with him on
that mountain. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy, something better in a vision, something better
in a voice. Whereunto you do well that you
take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until
the day dawn, and the day star rise in your hearts, knowing
this first. What is that more sure word of prophecy? that no
prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation,
for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of God,
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
You know what's better than a vision? This book. You know what's better
than a voice? This book. That's what he's saying.
He said, we've got something that's more sure, because a man
can't trust a voice, he can't trust a vision, but he can trust
God's Word. That's right, that's exactly
what he's saying. We've got something a whole lot better. I don't believe
anything anybody dreams or any visions they have or any special
revelations that they have. We've got the Word right here.
And that's the most sure Word of God. That can't fail. That's
infallible. That's immutable. That's inerrant. That's God's Word. And that's
what we believe. It's the foundation of faith.
Our Father, thank You for speaking to us through Your Word. Lord,
Help us not to run ahead of Thee. Help us, O Lord, not to lay our
plans and purposes and blueprints. Let us wait. Let us learn to
wait upon Thee. Receive a message, a burning
message, a message that we have experienced, a message that has
blessed our own hearts, and then give us the boldness and the
courage to preach that word. Leave us not to our own thoughts,
which are foolishness, and not Thy thoughts, and our ways, which
are not Thy ways. The Lord speak to us through
thy word. Give us ears to hear the voice of our master, and
eyes to behold his beauty, his redemptive glory, and hearts
to understand the mystery of the gospel, how the Lord God
of glory can be just and justify the ungodly. Minister to our
hearts in these days. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.