Sovereign Grace - The Answer to Human Guilt

I want you to turn back in your
Bibles to Matthew 11. It's important that you follow
with me this morning. I'm going to try to cover a great
deal of Scripture. And there's no more effective
ministry, and this might be a lesson for all of us, for me in particular,
but there's no more effective ministry than to preach again
the message which our Lord preaches himself. And that's what we have
here in Matthew 11, it's Christ preaching. And what I'm going
to do this morning is just re-preach the message that he preached
here in the eleventh chapter of Matthew, and this message
is divided in the 5 parts, or 5 points, and I'm going to deal
briefly with 4 of them, and then a little more carefully and maybe
with more emphasis on the 4th point. Let's look at, first of
all, verse 7. In verse 7, as they departed,
Jesus began to say unto the multitude concerning John. Now, here's
the first point of this message. He talks about John the Baptist,
talks about John. And he said, What went ye out
into the wilderness to see? What did you go to see? You people
who went to hear John, who went to hear this man, what did you
go out to see? Did you go out to see a reed
shaken with the wind? Now, this, our Lord uses earthly
examples of type to illustrate heavenly truth and meaning. Now,
what do you think, when you see a reed? That's a stalk of grass
out there in the pasture, and the wind blows this way and the
reed leans that way, and the wind blows this way and leans
this way, and the wind blows this way and leans that way.
He said, is that what you went out to see? Did you go out to
hear a man, a preacher, who is a man-pleaser, who can be swayed
and manipulated, who can be swayed by popularity, who can be swayed
by force? who can be swayed by or influenced
by what the people want to hear? He says, God's prophet, God's
preacher, God's messenger is not that type of preacher. He's
not one who seeks to please men. Paul said, If I please men, I'm
not the servant of Christ. And talking about John the Baptist,
our Lord said, What did you go out there to see? What did you
go out to hear? Did you go to hear someone's who would tell
you what you wanted to hear, or who would be afraid to tell
you the truth, or who would be driven by just any wind or force
that came his way and just lean with it, following the path of
least resistance, or at the next birth. What went you out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment
Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses." Did you
go out to see a weak, feminine person who concerned himself
most of all with the comforts of this world more than the word
of the living God? Is that what you went out to
see? A man who was interested in possessions, as one of the
writers said, in filthy lucre, is that what you went out to
see? The next verse. But what went you out to see?
A prophet? A preacher? Did you go out there because
somebody said, well, this man is preaching, this man has ability,
this man has talent, this man has gifts? Did you go out just
to hear a preacher? Now, watch this. I say unto you,
more than just a preacher, more than just a prophet, but a preacher
who is God's own messenger, verse 10, for this is he. This man,
John the Baptist, is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send
my messenger. He's not just a preacher, he's
God's messenger. I send my messenger before the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall prepare the way before
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my messenger, anointed
with my Spirit, bringing my message revealing my son." Now, that's
the first point of this sermon. Our Lord said to these people,
you who went to see John the Baptist and to hear him, did
you go out there to hear someone who would tell you what you wanted
to hear? Is that what you're interested in? A reed that's
shaken in the wind, that leans whichever way the wind blows,
that goes whichever way the wind blows? Is that what you want
to hear? Or do you want to hear someone who's interested in the
comforts of this world? in the possessions of this world,
woe unto the preacher, and we learn this from the Scripture
and we learn it from experience, woe unto the preacher that becomes
entangled with the things of this world, the possessions of
this world, who tries to have a part-time ministry, who tries
to serve God and preach the gospel and gets tangled up with making
money and living in fine homes investing in stocks and bonds
and businesses, he's in trouble, and the people to whom he ministers
are in trouble, too. And then he said, what went you
out to see? Did you go out just to hear a preacher? Are you satisfied
with just a preacher? Just any preacher, just a preacher
among preachers. No, he said, more than just a
preacher, more than just a prophet. This man, John the Baptist, he's
my preacher. God said he's my messenger. He
is my servant. He's my anointed. I personally
send him. Oh, how blessed are the people
who have not just a preacher, but they have one whom God sends.
They have God's messenger. A man doesn't just want to be
a preacher. Folks, I hear folks say, I think I'd like to be a
preacher. Well, don't fool with it. But
oh, if God would anoint one of us or two of us or some of us,
like John the Baptist, and send us to prepare the way of Christ.
Christ is coming. Christ is going to possess this
person, this heart. Christ is going to take this
living stone and make a temple for his glory, and we can be
the one God would send to prepare the way for Christ to indwell
a human heart. That's what his message is for.
John the Baptist came as the forerunner of Christ, and that's
what God sends every one of his preachers to do. to be the forerunner
of Christ, to come and tell men their need of Christ, and to
tell men who Christ is, and to tell men what Christ did and
why he did it, to prepare the hearts of men to bow to Christ
and to love Christ and to receive Christ. That's the first point
of that sermon there. Christ said, John the Baptist
is not a man-pleaser, he's God's servant. John the Baptist is
not interested in the things of this world, he's interested
in the kingdom of God. And John the Baptist is more
than just a prophet, he's God's prophet. He's more than just
a preacher, he's God's preacher. Now, look at verse 11. And among
them that are born of women, David was great, but not greater
than John the Baptist. Solomon was great, but not greater
than John the Baptist. You can go through the whole
annals of human history, and this simple leather-clothed, locust-eating
prophet of God is as great as any man who ever lived. That's
what God is saying here, that his prophet, that his preacher,
doesn't have to take the second chair of anybody as far as greatness
is concerned. But he goes on and says, but
he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Grace. Somebody says the grave is the
leveler of men. Well, grace is the real leveler. Grace makes us all brethren.
No one is anybody as far as the kingdom of God
is concerned. But we are all somebody in Christ. But everybody in the kingdom
of God is a brother. And the one that's least is the
greatest in the kingdom of God, and he that's greatest is least.
Notice the next point quickly. But he said in verse 15, and
verse 15 says, you've got ears, you'd better listen. I send my
messenger before my face, my messenger, O that God might give
us spiritual discernment. You won't grow in grace the knowledge
of Christ until you hear God's servant, or that we might have
the spiritual discernment. This is what troubles me. It
troubles me, people who write in and say things like, and you
hesitate to call names, but somebody who says, you and Oral Roberts
are my favorite preachers, you know, something like that. Somebody's
not hearing something, because that's two different notes that
sounded that. to And they played happy music,
happy music, joyful music. And these dull, uninterested
companions, they didn't dance, they didn't laugh, they didn't
rejoice. And then he said, we played sad music, we played funeral
music. And you didn't weep, and you
didn't lament, and you didn't mourn. What's he saying? Look at the next verse. John
King, neither eating nor drinking, John came fasting, John came
serious, John came preaching repentance, John came warning
men of God's wrath, John came speaking of judgment, John came
crying, prepare ye the way of the Lord, repent, for the kingdom
of God is at hand. John came with a severe message,
John came telling the soldiers to not shed innocent blood, telling
the laborers to be content with their wages, telling the kings
to rule in righteousness, telling all these people to live according
to God's law. And he said, and what was your
reaction to John's ministry? You wouldn't listen to him. You
said, he has a devil. He has a devil. Look at the next
verse. The Son of Man came. The Lord Jesus came, eating and
drinking. The Lord Jesus came. The Lord
Jesus came a friend of sinners. The Lord Jesus came with a message
of reconciliation and love. The Lord Jesus came, eating with
you and suffing with you and fellowshipping with you, with
a joyful message. We bring you great tidings of
great joy! And you say, Behold a gluttonous
man in a wine-dibbler, a friend of publicans and sinners. Whatever
note the messenger sounds, falls on deaf ears, no interest in
God's word. A preacher comes preaching judgment,
you won't hear him. A preacher comes preaching good
news, you won't hear him. A preacher comes crying out,
Repent, and you won't hear him. A preacher comes crying out,
Grace, and you won't hear him. You won't hear anybody. Whatever note is sounded, falls
on dead, dull, uninterested ears. Whatever the message, it meets
with criticism and rejection. So then he began to upbraid the
cities that had heard John and heard him, and wherein his mighty
works were done. Now, he said, John King, my messenger,
what did you go out to hear? He wasn't a man pleaser, he wasn't
a man establishing his stakes here. trying to build for himself
a name and a kingdom. He, like Abraham, lived in tents,
he was a sojourner, he was passing through. He wasn't just any preacher,
he wasn't a professional preacher, he wasn't a preacher by vocation,
he was God's messenger, and he passed through. But you wouldn't
hear him. But you won't hear anybody You're
like these dull, uninterested children sitting in the marketplace,
and you won't hear a happy note or a sad note. You won't hear
happy music or funeral music. You don't hear anything. You're
dull and dead. If John comes with a message
of repentance and you say he hath a devil, we won't listen
to that. If Christ comes with a message of good news, we won't
listen to that. Why, he's not holy enough, he's
not righteous enough, he's not sober enough. He began to upbraid them, and
he said, Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! If the mighty works which are
done in you had been done in the cities of the plains, and
tired beside you, they would have repented long ago. They
would have heard what you heard, if they had heard what you heard.
And I say unto you, if you are going to the judgment, if you
are going to hell, it would to go to hell from Sodom and from
Ashland, Kentucky. That's exactly what he said.
Oh, you think back to the Sodomites, wicked perversion named for them. You think about the thing that
Sodom is remembered for is a hideous, unnatural, perverted, the nickname
for the most wicked perversion is tagged on those people, and
yet Christ said it will be easier for them. in the judgment than
for these cities that heard the gospel. He's saying you'd stand
a better chance at the judgment if you were from Sodom than if
you were from Capernaum. In other words, Christ is saying
that men are going to give an account of what they've They
may have resisted it and rebelled against it and found no interest
in it and expressed no appreciation for it, but God will someday,
he said, bring them into account. You're not going to hear this
good news and be neutral. You're not going to do it. And
then here's the point, this fourth point, that I want to look at
more carefully. He goes on and says the same
thing through Capernaum. Verse 24, I say unto you that
it would be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day
of judgment than for you. At that time, here's the fourth
part, at that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father. God didn't say anything to him.
Here he is preaching to the people. Here he is talking about human
ruin and human rebellion. and lack of interest. Now, he
said, you wouldn't hear John and you won't hear me, but you're
going to give an account for what John preached and what I
preached. If God sends his messenger, everybody is going to give an
account for what they heard and what they could have heard, and
what they wouldn't hear. You know, over there in the book
of Ezekiel, there's an interesting It talks about the prophet of
God and the fact that the people wouldn't hear him. Look at verse
Ezekiel 33. Let me show you this. This is
so interesting. It reminds me so much of our
day. I read this every once in a while. Ezekiel 33, verse 30. Listen,
son of man, the children of our people still are talking of thee. That's what it says, against
thee, but it's of thee, or about thee, by the walls and the doors
of the houses. And they speak one to another,
every one his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what
is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. Let's go hear
the preacher. Let's go to church. Let's go hear Brother so-and-so.
Let's go hear him. Let's go hear him. Maybe somebody
here this morning is saying, we watched Brother Mahan on television,
let's go hear him. That's what they're saying. They're
talking about you in the house and on the streets, and they're
talking about you. And they say, Let's go here.
And they come! And they see it! Before thee
as my people. They come under the pretense
that they're Christians. They're believers in God. Yeah,
there they are. They're believers in God. They're
Christians, you know. All right, read on. And they
hear your words. They're not deaf. They could
turn off the microphone to hear you. But they hear you. But they're not going to do what
you say. You see that? They hear you, but they'll not,
they hear your words, but they're not going to do them. They're
not going to pay attention to you. But with their mouth they show much
love and appreciation. Good sermon. Delightful. Enjoying
it. Appreciation. But their hearts,
you know what they're interested in? Their hearts go after covetousness.
They're interested in that world out there. They're interested
in all these things that the world has to offer. They're not
interested in your God and your Jesus and your salvation and
your redemption. That's not what they're interested
in. They just want to hear you. But they're not going to do what
you say. And the reason they're not going to do what you're saying,
the reason they're not interested in what you're saying, is they'll
talk about it with their mouths, they'll talk about it on Sunday,
but their hearts, their hearts go without the covetousness. And lo, you are to them a very
lovely song, one that hath a pleasant voice. Mike, you sang pretty
this morning. There's room at the cross for you. But they're
not coming to occupy that room. They're not going to do it. They
thought you did a good job. That was pretty, wasn't that
pretty? But they're not coming to the cross. They come here,
you sing about the cross, but they're not coming to the cross.
You're a pleasant song, you've got a good voice, and Marty and
Kelly did a great job on those instruments, and they hear your
words, but they do them not! They do them not. And when this
cometh to pass, when the judgment comes, he's been talking about
judgment, when the overflowing scourge of God's wrath, when
God comes walking through Zion, and when God unbears his sword
and God starts dealing with sinners in judgment, and it will come
to pass, lo, it will come, then shall they know that a prophet
has been in their midst. But it's too late, Dan. They
ain't going to know it, Dan. Well, I sure wish I'd listened
to that sermon. My soul, I wish I'd pay attention
to it. He's up there reading God's words
to me, reading the very words of Christ, the hope of Christ,
the grace of Christ, the love of Christ, and I'm sitting there
thinking about something else. And after all, he's just a man,
I know that, and a weak one. But that's the only fellow God
sends to preach his sermons, a man. That's about all you're
going to get to hear. Well, I don't like Brother So-and-so,
he preaches too loud. I don't like Brother So-and-so,
he's too happy. I don't like Brother So-and-so,
he's too sad. I don't like Brother So-and-so, he's too this, that,
and the other. That's what they said about John. He came and
he was eating and drinking. They said, he has a devil, we're
not going to listen to him. And Christ came eating and drinking
and fellowshipping with him. They said, well, we're not going
to listen to him. He's a glutton, a wine-bearer. We're not going to listen to
anybody! We are our own preacher, we are our own theologian. Our Lord said it will be a whole
lot easier for Sodom and the judgment than for you. Then he lifted his eyes and said,
I thank you, Father. I thank you, Father. I thank
you that you have hid these things from the wise and the prudent,
and you have revealed them to me with rejoicing spirit. Our
Lord, God hadn't spoken audibly, but God always spoke to Christ.
He sees sovereign grace meeting all of this human ruin. While most men won't hear, somebody
will. And I see five or six things
here. Now, the first one is this. Watch this, and I'll give you
a little sermon outline lesson here. First of all, here is the
cause for gratitude. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, I
thank you, because in your sovereign purpose you reveal this debate. I thank you. I fail to understand
why men quarrel with elective grace. I just can't understand
it. I don't understand why people
hate what we call election. I can't understand why people
quarrel with what we call God's sovereign choice of sinners.
Because without it, no one would be saved. No one. If God had not chosen me, I wouldn't
have chosen him. If God had not called me, I wouldn't
have called him. If God had not sought me, I wouldn't
have sought him. Our Lord Jesus says, I thank
you, Father. I thank you. You know, every
time Paul talked about elections, He said, Praise God for election.
He said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Bless God for his choosing love. And then in 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 13, he said, Beloved, I give thanks to God, who from
the beginning chose you to salvation. Here is the second thing. First
of all, here is the cause for gratitude. God hath been pleased
to reveal it to some. Secondly, he is the author of
election. Now, what's this? I thank you,
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid, thou hast
revealed, even so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight all
things that deliver unto me of my Father. God's the author of
election. God's the author of redemption.
God's the author of eternal life. Thou hast given me power over
all flesh, that I should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given me. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me. No man cometh unto me except
my Father which sent me drawing. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I lose nothing,
but raise it up at the last day." Christ thanked God for that. Hear men murmur against it, Henry
Bailey, I don't believe that, I won't accept that! What will
you accept? Well, I accept what I want to
hear. I accept what my preconceived notions have taught me, or my
traditions, or my forefathers. Will you not accept God's Word?
Will you not accept what he has written in his Word? Here is the third thing. Here
is the Father's right to act as he pleases. He calls for gratitude. I thank you, Father. The author
of election, thou hast hid these things, thou hast revealed them.
And here is the Father's right to do it, Lord of heaven and
earth. You see that? I thank thee, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth. They asked David, turn over to
Psalm 115. They asked David, they said in
Psalm 115, they said, David, where is your God? The heathen
said, Where is your God? We know where our gods are. They
are right where we put them. They do what we let them do.
They said, David, where is your God? And David said, verse 3,
Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he pleased.
He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Psalm 135 says, Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, earth, and the sea,
and all deep places. One time several years ago I
read that, God hath done what he pleased. And I thought, I'm
going to go through the concordance and see what it pleased God to
do. And I began to look up that just one phrase, it pleased the
Lord, it pleased the Lord. And I found it written in the
Bible several times. First of all, in 1 Samuel 12,
verse 22, it says, It pleased God to make you his people. Then
in Colossians 1, verse 19, it says, It pleased God that in
Christ should all fulness dwell. Then in Isaiah 53, verse 10,
it says, It pleased God to bruise him. Then in 1 Corinthians 1,
verse 21, it says, It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching,
to save them that believe. Then Paul, giving his testimony
in Galatians 1.15, says, God, who separated me from my mother's
womb? When it pleased him, he revealed his Son in me. Here is the Father's right
to choose and the Father's right to redeem whom he will. He is the Lord of heaven and
earth. And this is the foundation of all true theology, who is
God. The fourth thing, here are the
objects of election. Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and thou hast revealed them to babes.
The wise and the prudent, their pride will never let them come
to the door of mercy as a beggar. Their wisdom will never allow
them to know nothing. to receive God's word by revelation,
their self-righteousness will never bring them to admit they
need forgiveness. Their love of praise will never
allow them to glorify God alone. But the babes, now watch this,
they're guilty and in Christ they find forgiveness. They're
lost, in Christ they find a redeemer. They're poor, in Christ they
find riches. They're sinful, in Christ they
find sanctification. They're nothing, in Christ they
find all things. They're weak, in Christ they
find strength. I read a story some time ago
about an old slave back in the Civil War who was under conviction
for sin, seeking the Lord, and so was his master, his owner. He was seeking the Lord. He was
troubled about his sins. He was troubled about his relationship
with God. The old servant, the old slave,
found peace. He found Christ. He found a saving
interest in the Lord Jesus. They had been together a long
time, and the master, who was up in years, too, said to the
old slave, he said, How is it that I'm smart and you're not
so smart, and I'm educated and you're illiterate, and I'm the
master, and you're the servant, and yet you say you found peace
with God, you found an interest in Christ, you found forgiveness
for your sins, and I can't find it! And the old black man said,
Well, Master, I think it's something like this. He said, The Lord
came to you, Master John, and he said, Master John, I've got
a new robe for you, a new coat. And Master John, you look at
your coat and you say, Well, Lord, my coat's not too bad.
Oh, it could stand maybe a little bit of fixing up here and there,
but Lord, my coat, I just need a little help, you know. I don't
need a brand new coat. I just need maybe a touching
up here and a touching up there." But he said, the Lord came to
this old docket, and he said to me, he said, Boy, I got some
new coat for you. And he said, I fall on my knees,
and I said, Lord, I sure am glad, because mine's so ragged. And
mine's so dirty, and mine's so no-count, and Lord, I'd sure
be much obliged if you'd just take this old ragged coat away
from me and give me that brand-new one." Maybe, maybe that's our
problem. The wise and the prudent, the
wise and the prudent, they don't really need everything, they
just need something. They don't need life, they don't
need mercy, they don't need a total renewal, they don't need a new
creation. They don't need God to start
from nothing and make something. But the beggar does. You see,
he's broke. He's ragged, he's diseased, he's
dirty, and anything that's done for him, God has to do it all,
has to do it all. And that's what our Lord said,
that you've hid these things from the wise and the prudent,
and you've revealed them to babes. And here's the reason, here's
the reason behind all this. We see, first of all, the cause
for rejoicing. I thank you, Father. We see the
author of it, the Father. And we see his right to do it.
He's Lord of heaven and earth. And we see the objects of his
love, they are beings. And here is the reason, verse
26, "...it seemed good in thy sight." Even so, Father, it seemed
good in thy sight. God's reason for saving you.
Paul, what's God's reason for saving you? Russell, why'd God
save you, Charlie? Are you stopping there? Well,
it's not the reason I found in you. Here's the reason right
here, it seemed good to him. That's the reason. That's the
only way. You can ask the angel Gabriel
before the throne of God, Angel Gabriel, why did God save me? Why did God, among all the fallen
sons of Adam, choose me? Why? Do you know what he would
answer? Just what our Lord answered.
It seemed good in his sight. Let's ask the holy angels, you
angels up there, all of you, listen to me. Here I am, an object
of God's mercy, an object of God's grace, an object of God's
love. Why me? It seemed good to him. I ask God's
people everywhere, and that's the only answer that can be given.
It seemed good in thy sight. And last, here is the channel
of all these blessings. That is the reason, verse 26,
it seemed good in God's sight. But here is the channel. All
things are delivered unto me of my Father. All things, all
spiritual blessings are delivered to Christ. They are in his hands.
Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. God has nothing for anybody
except through Christ. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. They are put in my hands. What
about the man that doesn't believe in Christ but believes in God?
Well, he's going to be like the fellow that believed in Pharaoh
and wouldn't come to Joseph. He's going to be without food.
Joseph opened the storehouses. Pharaoh, people came to Pharaoh
and they said, give us food. He said, you're going to see
Joseph. Joseph built the storehouses, Joseph filled the storehouses,
Joseph owns the storehouses, Joseph's in charge of the storehouses,
and if you get anything, it will be from Joseph. That's what it
said to him. And our Lord said in the same
thing here, Everything is delivered unto me of my Father. And no
man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal. I'm not
calling you to myself. I'm calling you to Christ. I'm
not calling you to the Baptist church. I'm calling you to Christ.
I'm not calling you to what we call sovereign grace theology,
I'm calling you to Christ. I'm not calling you to baptism by
immersion or the Baptist government of what we call every man one
vote or something. I'm calling you to Christ. It's
all in him. The Father has delivered everything
into the hands of the Son. That's the channel of grace,
that's the fountain of mercy, that's the source of goodness.
And that's the reason he said in the next verse, here's the
fifth part of this whole message, come to me. Come to me. This is our Lord's words. He drives none away. He says,
come to me. Come to me, not to Moses, not
to the law, not to the preacher, not to the church, not to the
confessional booth, not to Mary. Come to me. My Father has put
everything in my hands, and nobody is going to know the Father save
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal it. So come to me!
I fill the storehouses with good things. Come, for all things
are ready. Go out and invite the lame and the hoarse and the
blind and the miserable and the beggars, and come to me! Come
to me. And I'll give you something this
world can't give you. I'll give you rest. Oh, that's not talking about
if your body won't get tired, not talking about you won't have
to work hard anymore, sit around, lay around, do nothing. No, so
God doesn't put a premium on laziness. Man won't work, God
said, don't let him eat. Your body will get tired, your
mind will get weary. That's not talking about that
kind of rest at all. That's talking about when you can When you can
know in your heart that your sins are put away, when you can
know in your heart that God loves you, when you can know in your
heart that your name is in the book of life, when you can know
in your heart that salvation is not depending on your works
and your drive and your zeal and your enthusiasm and your
theological knowledge, it depends on Christ. that your relationship with God
is all taken care of by him who loved you and died for you and
buried and rose again and intercedes for you, that all the demons
in hell can't touch you and all the men of the world can't change
you and all the forces of evil can't turn you, that you belong
to him. You've entered into his rest,
you cease from your labors. And all things work together
for good to them that love God. If God takes your wife or your
husband or your child, he did it on purpose for his glory and
your good and rest. You know, I had quite a thrill
going up to Canada last Monday. I was standing in a little airport
up there in Fort Francis, and the young man who was piloting
the Canadian airplane from Fort Francis to Dryden was standing
there, and I turned to talk to him. And I asked him where he's
from. He said, Toronto. I said, well,
I've preached up there in Hamilton, Rhodes Baptist Church, one time,
several years, a beautiful country. And we talked a few minutes,
and then he left. Went out there and got in his plane. I got on
board, and I was sitting back about two seats back on the right-hand
side, and I could see into the cockpit there, the pilot and
the co-pilot. And in a minute, he turned over to the co-pilot
and got up and walked back inside and started talking to me. And he
said, tell me about that miner's strike down there in Kentucky,
in West Virginia, and we talked about that a while, and we talked
about that. Then I asked Kim, I said, what's your ambition? What do you want to do? He said,
well, I'd like to fly for Air Canada. He said, this is my first
day as captain of the ship, of the plane. He said, I've been
flying copilot, it's my first day as captain. And I said, well,
I hope you get to fly for the big airline. He said, well, if
the Lord wants me to, I'll get it. If the Lord doesn't want
me to, I won't get it. I said, say, you're a believer, aren't
you? He said, I'm blessed. That's the reason I want to come
back and talk to you. He said, I just wanted to talk. He said,
my wife and I don't have any children. We live in Thunder
Bay and I fly for this airline, but we found this little church
over there to go to. I said, would you like me to sing you
some tape? He said, I sure would. And we talked a long time there,
a believer. But when he said that, that one
word, I knew he was a believer. He said, if the Lord wants me
to have it, I'll have it. If he doesn't, I'll be satisfied.
would you? That boy has entered into God's
rest. Sure he was ambitious, sure he wanted to captain one
of those big 747s or something for Air Canada, but if it wasn't
God's will, he was persecuted. See, I'll stay in Thunder Bay,
he said. That's rest, that's what Christ said. Come to me,
I'll give you rest. Who, all you that labor and are
heavy laden, can't do it yourself? For my yoke is easy, and my burden."
Somebody said, I wouldn't want to be a Christian, they live
a miserable life. No, they don't either. No, they don't. His yoke is easy. You bear a
yoke, he's the king, he rules over you, but it's the rod of
love. It's the rod of love. And you
have some burden, but they're not heavy. They're light. For our good, come to Christ. I hope you'll do that. I would
invite you down here to the front. That's what they do now. Everybody
says, Come down to the front and get saved. But Christ didn't
say, Come to the front and I'll give you rest. He said, Come
to me. come to me. It's not down here. That rest
and joy is in Christ. I want you to go home and fall
on your knees in his presence and say, Lord, I trust you, I
believe on you. Give me that rest. Let me enter
into that joy and peace and rest of soul. I cast my weary soul
on thee. Leave, O leave me not alone.
Still support and comfort me. And then come back and tell us
about it. Then come back and say, I want to follow the Lord
in baptism, I want to unite with his people, be identified with
his church. I want you all to rejoice with me, I've entered
into his rest. Let's sing a closing hymn, Don.

Sovereign Grace - The Answer to Human Guilt

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Sovereign Grace - The Answer to Human Guilt

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