My point of Rebellion

Now this may be the most important
message that you will ever hear, and I want you to listen carefully,
very carefully, to every word in the message tonight. In 2 Kings, chapter 5, the first
fourteen verses, we have a story. There was a man named Naaman,
a mighty man, the Scripture says. a courageous man, evidently the
general of the armies of Syria. And God had used this man, though
an unbeliever, though a heathen, Gentile, to give deliverance
unto Syria. He was well liked by the king
of Syria, one of his favorite men. But this man, Naaman, was
a leper, had an incurable at that time in that day. And there
was a little girl who had been captured in one of the battles
down in Israel, a little maid of Israel who had been brought
back to the land of Syria, and she was a servant in the household
of Naaman, the general. She knew her master Naaman had
leprosy, and one day she said to someone, to her mistress,
Naaman's wife, there's a prophet of God in the land of Israel
who could heal my master Naaman if he could get to that prophet.
Well, the king of Syria was told this, and so he wrote a letter
to the king of Israel, not to the prophet, not to Elisha, but
to the king of Israel. And he sent along quite a bit
of money with Naaman, sent ten talents of silver and six thousand
pieces of gold and several changes of along with the letter to the
king of Israel, saying, I have sent you my servant, Naaman. I want you to cure him of his
leprosy. And the king of Israel knew nothing about this, all
new to him. He rent his clothes. He thought
the man was picking a quarrel, wanting to have a fight. And
Elisha, the man of God, heard about it, and he sent to the
king of Israel, and he said, Send Naaman to me. Well, Naaman
was a proud man. He was a top-ranking officer
in the armies of Syria. So he came with his caravan to
the tent, or the little house, of the prophet of God, Elisha.
He didn't stoop and walk through the door and go into the prophet,
as a humble man should, but he stood outside the door. And he
sent word to Elisha that he was there to come out and heal him.
Well, the prophet of God didn't go out. he stayed in the tent
or in the little house, and he sent his servant out. That humiliated
Naaman. But the servant came out to him
and told him to go and wash seven times in the River Jordan, which
in that area was no more than a muddy ditch. To go and wash
seven times in the River Jordan, and he'd be healed. Beginning
at verse 11, let's read the consequence. Naaman was And he went away,
and he said, Behold, I thought, this is what I thought, that
the prophet of God would surely come out to me. Doesn't he know
who I am? He should come to me and stand
and call on the name of the Lord his God, not my God, his God,
and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper.
Why, we have rivers in Damascus. far for better than all the waters
of Israel. This is nothing but a muddy ditch.
We've got beautiful rivers. We've got clear rivers, much
more beautiful and better than these. May I not wash in them
and be clean?" So he turned and went away from the message, from
the messenger, from the instructions, in a rage. He was angry. And then his servants took him
aside and they said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do
some great thing, something where you would receive some honor,
recognition, something you could do, unusual, special, wouldn't
you have done it? How much rather then when he
said, Just wash and be clean? Then went he down. and dipped
himself seven times in Jordan according to the instructions,
according to the word from the man of God. And his flesh came
again like unto the flesh of a little child. Now two questions
meet us head on in this scripture. Two questions. The first one
is this. Could the waters of the Jordan
River cure leprosy? Could they? And the answer is
no. The waters of the Jordan River
could not cure leprosy. There would have been thousands
of lepers all around that river just waiting their turn to get
in if the River Jordan could cure leprosy. But it couldn't
and it can't. Second question. Could Naaman
have been cured of his leprosy without going into the rivers,
into the waters of the River Jordan? Could he have been cured?
And the answer is no, no way. Do the waters of the River Jordan
have power to heal leprosy? No way. Could this man, Naaman,
could he have been cured of his leprosy after God told him through
the messenger to dip seven times in the River Jordan? Could he
have been cured any other way? And the answer is absolutely
not. Then what do we have here? We
have God breaking a proud human heart. That's what we have. We
have God bringing a sinner down. Naaman had contempt for Israel,
Naaman had contempt for the Jordan, and Naaman showed his contempt
for the prophet of God. His human pride and his human
will and his human thought had to be brought into subjection
to the divine command, whatever the command. Whatever the command. Now let
me ask this question. Did all lepers, did all lepers
have to be dipped in the River Jordan to be cleansed? No, sir. But Naaman did. But Naaman did. God healed other lepers other
ways. He healed some one way and some
another way, but Naaman had to go to the River Jordan. That
was his point of rebellion. And God met him at his point
of rebellion, and God dealt with him at his point of rebellion,
and God broke him at his point of rebellion, and God healed
him. Now, all lepers who were healed in the Old Testament and
the New Testament didn't have to be cleansed in the Jordan
River, but Naaman did. God Almighty will meet a sinner. Now, you can be sure of this.
God Almighty will meet a sinner at that sinner's point of rebellion,
and God knows where it is. Christ knew all men, the Scripture
says. He knows our point of rebellion. He knows where the will of man
rises up and resists the will of God. He knows the area. That's
where God's going to meet you and deal with you, and that's
where he's going to meet me and deal with me. That's the reason all
sinners don't have the same experience. It's because we're all different
personalities, and we've all got different areas of rebellion
where God has to deal with us and break us at that particular
point. This is where he broke Naaman,
the proud general with his medals and his uniform and his arrogancy
and his pride had to take off all his clothes, and Neff could
go down into that dirty, muddy ditch called Jordan in a land
for which he had nothing but contempt, being stared at by
a bunch of people for whom he had nothing but contempt, and
sent by a humble prophet whose house he wouldn't even enter.
But I'll guarantee you he'd have rotted as a leper. if he hadn't
have done what that prophet told him to do. Now I want you to
take your Bible and turn to some scripture with me. Proverbs 6,
Proverbs 6, verse 16. Now listen to this scripture.
Proverbs 6, verse 16. I'm saying that God will meet
a sinner at his point of rebellion and he's going to break his proud
heart. In Proverbs 6, verse 16, listen,
these six things doth the Lord hate. What's the first one? These six things doth the Lord
hate, yea, seven are abomination unto him. A proud look, number
one. A lying tongue, hands that shed
innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
feet that are swift to run into mischief, a false witness that
speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." God
hates these seven things. Number one, a proud look. Over in the book of Obadiah,
don't hunt it, it takes a little time to find it, it's just a
few verses following Amos, but listen to what God said. "'The
pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the
cleft of the rock in the little city of Petra, in Edom, Thy proud
heart hath deceived thee. You said in your heart, Who will
bring me down to the ground? God said, Though you exalt yourself
as an eagle, I'll bring you down. I'll bring you down, saith the
Lord. I'll bring you down. God giveth
grace to the humble. He rejecteth the Scripture, said
in James 4, 6. He resisteth the proud. That's
what it said. Now listen to me. Did all lepers
have to bathe in Jordan to be cleansed? No, sir. But Naaman
did. But Naaman did. Do all men have
to sell all that they have and give it to the poor to be saved?
No, sir. But the rich young ruler did.
Now come on, think with me. The rich young ruler did. He
stood toe-to-toe, face-to-face with the master. And the master
told him, your money's your God. Go and sell what you have and
give it to the poor and come take up your cross and follow
me and you'll have eternal life. And he walked away. In no way
that man could have been saved. No way he could have followed
Christ unless he sold all he had. That's not true of you and
me, necessarily. Maybe, I don't know, that may
be your point of rebellion. But God met that young man right
where he roosted in his pride. Now, here's another question.
Did all men have to be baptized of John to be saved? No, sir.
But the Pharisees did. You turn with me to Luke chapter
7. You listen to this. willingly, stubbornly rejected
the baptism of John, and they could not be saved without submitting
to the baptism of repentance. Now you read the Scripture in
Luke chapter 7, verse 29, and all the people that heard him,
John the Baptist, and the publicans justified God in his judgments,
in his holiness, And they were baptized with the baptism of
John. But the Pharisees and the lawyers
rejected the counsel of God against themselves being not baptized
of John, showing that they rejected it by not submitting to his baptism.
They came and listened to him and turned and walked away and
showed that they rejected God's message to them by refusing to
submit to that act. of baptism. And I'm saying, just
like the rich young ruler, and just like Naaman, I'm not saying
that all men had to be baptized of John to be saved, but I'm
saying those men did. Because when they rejected that
baptism, they rejected God's counsel. And when the rich young
ruler rejected Christ's command to sell what he had, he rejected
God's counsel. And when Naaman rejected the
orders to bathe in the River Jordan, he rejected God's counsel. Did all men have to put away
their wives of a second marriage in order to be saved? No, sir,
but Herod did. That's where he and John the
Baptist had their battle, right at that one point. John the Baptist
said, Herod, Herod had divorced his wife and married his brother's
wife. And John the Baptist said, Herod, It's not lawful for you
to have your brother Philip's wife, Herodias, and that's when
they crossed swords right there. And that's the point where God
had to break Herod, but he would not be broken and finally kill
John the Baptist. And I'm telling you that God
will meet a sinner in the church or out of the church, in religion
or out of religion, God will meet a sinner at his point of
rebellion and He'll break him or He'll send him to hell. Not
so. And we've got other illustrations
of this, but I don't have time to give them all. But turn to
Psalms, chapter 34. And as I say, it would be wise
of you tonight to listen to this message. I don't know where your
point of rebellion is. I think you do. I think God does. I'm sure He does, and I think
you do. In Psalms 34, verse 18, the Lord is known to them that
are of a broken heart, and he sayeth such as be of a contrite
spirit, a broken spirit. That's where God will break us.
He'll break us in the heart. He'll break us in the spirit.
He's going to bring the sinner down. Look at Psalms 51. Listen
to what David said in this great psalm of repentance. In Psalms
51, verse 17, the sacrifices of God. are not the burning candle,
not the burning incense, not the bleeding lamb on the altar. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit. A broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. And over here in 2 Kings 5, verse
14, we have the key to Naaman's cleansing. We have the key to
Naaman's salvation. In verse 14 it says, "...then
went he down." Ah, he met God's prophet, and God's prophet gave
him the message, and it crossed his will, it bucked his will,
and it made him angry, and he turned and walked away. But then
the Scripture says, "...then went he down." And when he went
down, when he was broken at that point of rebellion, when he submitted
to God's instructions, whatever they were, when he submitted
to God's command, whatever it is, God saved him. He did more than cleanse him.
You read the rest of that chapter and you'll find out he came to
the knowledge of the Lord. Now I've got some questions to
ask tonight. Somebody said I was awful brave
to tackle them, but it doesn't take bravery to tackle this,
because to me, it's as clear as it can be. My first question
is this. Can a man be saved and not bleed
in divine sovereignty? And I'm talking about the sovereignty
of God, particularly in salvation. The sovereignty of God in creation,
the sovereignty of God in providence, and the sovereignty of God in
salvation. That God is in the heavens, and he doeth according
to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of this earth, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. That God
will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, he will be gracious
to whom he will be gracious. Can a man be saved not believe
that, and not believe in election, that God chose his people in
Christ before the foundation of the world? My answer is this,
absolutely. Why absolutely? Salvation's not
in a doctrine, it's in a person. Salvation's not in a doctrine,
it's in a person. Salvation's not in believing
in election, it's believing in Christ. The Scripture says, He
that hath the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath eternal life. He that believeth not the Son
of God shall not see life. Salvation's not in a doctrine,
it's not in a system. It's in a person. And salvation
is to come to know and to love and to trust Christ. But, and
you underscore this, but, if divine sovereignty becomes an
issue with you, if God Almighty sends it to you,
and it becomes an issue, and it becomes a point of rebellion,
God Almighty will humble you or He'll destroy you. Now you remember that. I don't
say you'll have to do it tomorrow or the next day. God doesn't
do everything in 24-hour periods. It may take Him 24 days or 24
months. But He'll break you and He'll
make you bow to His sovereignty. And He'll make you own that He's
Lord of heaven and earth and the seas and the earth and all
that dwell therein, that he doeth his will in the armies of heaven,
and among the inhabitants of this earth, or he'll destroy
you." Now let me show you that turned to the book of Daniel.
If it becomes an issue, if God ever faces you with this truth
of His sovereignty, of His right to reign, of His right to rule,
with His right to do with His own what He will, as the potter
hath power over the clay, and you bucket God will break you
or he'll send you to hell, I promise you, and you can take my word
for it. In Daniel chapter 4 there was
a man named Nebuchadnezzar and the king in verse 30 of Daniel
4. Now listen to it. In Daniel 4 verse 30, the king
spake and said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for
the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, for the
honor of my Now God let some sinners get
away with that. I trusted Jesus. I believed on Jesus. God sent
his word, and I did this, and I did that, and I did the other.
I built the city of salvation. But God didn't let Nebuchadnezzar
get away with that, and he may not let you get away with it.
He told Nebuchadnezzar, verse 31, While the word was in the
king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, King Nebuchadnezzar,
to thee it is spoken. The kingdom is departed from
you, and they're going to drive you from men, and your dwelling
is going to be with a beast of the field, and you'll eat grass
as an ox till seven times passes over you, till you know, till
it becomes crystal clear that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom
of men and gives it to whomsoever He will. You're going to find
this out. That's what God did to Nebuchadnezzar. And that happened
the same hour it was fulfilled, and he was driven out in the
fields, and his nails grew like birds' claws, and so did his
hair. And in verse 34 he said, At the
end of those days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes, and my understanding
returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised
and honored him that lives forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion. His kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of this earth are reputed as
nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of this earth, and none can stay
his hand, or say to him, What doest thou?" That better not
be your point of rebellion. God did the same thing to Herod.
Turn to Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 12, listen to
this. Here was King Herod. He sat on his throne one day
and made a great speech. Oh boy, he made a great speech.
It sounded like some testimonies I've heard in some churches about
what people had given up for the Lord, and how they've served
Him all their lives, and this, that, and the other. And God
said in Acts 12, verse 21, "'Upon a set day Herod arrayed in royal
apparel upon his throne.' He made an oration unto them, and
the people gave a shout and said, "'What a beautiful speech! It's the voice of God and not
man. And immediately the angel of
the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory, and he
died eaten of worms. Now you study that a little bit,
and I'm saying this, and I'm saying it as positively as I
say you must be born again. A man does not have to believe
in the doctrine of sovereignty, or election, or particular redemption,
or irresistible grace, or perseverance to be saved. But I guarantee
you if it becomes an issue, and it becomes a point of rebellion,
and you begin to buck God on this point, He'll break you,
you'll submit to it because it's so. It's so. You know that sign
out in front of that school down in Louisiana, God said it and
I believe it and that settles it? That's no good. God said
it and that settles it whether I believe it or not. And this is true. And if God
has to meet you here and this is your point of rebellion, He'll
break your proud spirit or He'll destroy you like He did Herod
and like He did Nebuchadnezzar. Turn to Romans chapter 9. Paul
deals with it here, Romans 9, beginning with verse 10. And it says not only this, but
when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even our father Isaac,
the children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of work, but of him that calleth, it was said unto
her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, this
is written, this is the record. Jacob have I loved, but he shall
have I hated. What have you got to say to that?
That's what Paul's asking. What have you got to say to that?
What shall we say then? What are you going to say? I'm
going to say praise the Lord. I'm going to thank God that he
saved somebody since I can't save anybody. And I'm not going
to curse him out because he didn't save everybody. But Paul said,
what are you going to say? Are you going to say there's
unrighteousness with God? Are you going to say God's not
fair? God's not just? God's not righteous? Huh? God
forbid! How could you say such a thing?
He said to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll
be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Salvation is not of him that
will it, nor of him that run it. It's of the Lord. Look down here at verse 20. Nay,
but, O man, who are you to reply against God? Huh? Who are you? Naaman, you've got the leprosy. God's got the healing. Who are
you to tell God how to do it? You've got the leprosy, and God's
got the healing. Who are you to instruct Him how
you to be healed? Your thoughts, our thoughts,
He said, your thoughts are not God's thoughts. You'll never
be healed till your thoughts submit to God's thoughts. Let
a man forsake his thoughts and return to the Lord. I want you
to turn to Isaiah 45, and this is a verse that ought to be underscored
right here on this particular point. Isaiah chapter 45, verse
9. Listen to it. Isaiah 45, verse
9. Woe unto him that striveth with
his maker. Let the potsherds strive with
the potsherds of the earth. You've got a quarrel, pick it
with me, don't pick it with God. Shall the clay say to him that
fashioned it, what makest thou? For thy work he hath no hands. Look up above that. What's he
talking about here? Here's what he's talking about,
beginning with verse 5. He says, I am the Lord, there's none else.
There's no God beside me. I girded you, though you didn't
know me. But you may know from the rising of the sun and from
the west, there's none beside me, I'm God, and there's none
else. And I form the light, and I create
darkness, I make peace, I create evil, I, the Lord, do all these
things." Did all lepers have to bathe
in Jordan to be healed? Naaman did. Naaman did. Do all men have to believe in
divine sovereignty to be saved? No, sir. But you might. But you might. According to if
that's your point of rebellion, if that's an issue with you.
Some people it is. It's an issue with them. They
hate it. They reject it. Like Naaman, they'd turn away
in a rage. They'd become angry. This is
what I think. Oh, proud sinner. Down, down. The Lord Jesus Christ said, Father,
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent. Thou hast
revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in your sight. I bow to that. God's too wise
to make a mistake, and He's too good to do wrong. All right,
the second question. Can a man be saved and not believe
in or understand original sin? Or what happened in the garden?
Absolutely, I'm sure of it. I'm positive of it. What did
the publican in the temple know about imputed guilt? He knew
something about personal guilt. He knew something about personal
sin. He stood and cried, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. And Christ said he went home
justified. He wasn't a theologian. He only knew that he had sinned.
He didn't know what happened in the garden. He didn't know
how Adam's sin was imputed unto us, and charged unto us, and
imparted unto us, and by nature we're born in transgression and
sin, and from the womb come forth speaking lies. He just knew he
was a sinner, and he wanted mercy, and he got it. What did that
Philippian jailer know about theology? What did he know about
the fall? What did he know about how man
was created, and how God told him not to eat of the tree, and
how he ate of it and died, and we all died spiritually? That
old boy just knew one thing. God scared him to death when
he sent that earthquake. And he knew he was a sinner,
and he knew he was lost. And he cried to Paul, what must
I do to be saved? When Philip preached to the open
eunuch, he preached not original sin, he preached substitution.
He preached Christ to them. But this is what I'm saying.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 4. Now, you don't have to believe
in original sin. You don't have to believe in
what happened in the garden. You don't have to know a whole
lot about it. You don't have to know that because Adam fell,
you fell in him. You sinned in him. You're responsible. But it better not become an issue.
It better not. If you become, when a man becomes
puffed up, And he says God looked down and saw what he would do.
And God looked down through the ages and saw what he would believe. And God looked down and saw that
he was different from other men. That he was a little smarter
and a little wiser and a little more religious. You better be
careful. Listen to 1 Corinthians 4.6.
And Paul said, These things I have in a figure
transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes, that
you might learn in us not to think of me and above that which
is written, that no one of you be puffed up one against another. For who made you to differ from
another, huh? You's just one of the millions
of maggots down here in the carcass of sin, just like all the rest
of them. You were a child of wrath just
like all the rest of them. You were full following the God
of this world. You were fulfilling the lust
of the flesh and the heart and the mind just like all the rest
of them. And God didn't love you because
of who you were, because you loved Him. He loved you because
it was according to the good pleasure of His own will. Who
made you to differ? What do you have that you didn't
receive? Now if you received it, why do
you glory? as if you had not received it. I'll tell you when a man's going
to have to believe what happened in the garden, when he's exposed
to it, when he comes face to face with it, and when he begins
to look within himself to find a reason for the mercy of God. When he begins to look within
himself to find a reason for the grace of God, that's exactly
when God's going to break him and make him receive every jot
and tittle about the fall of Adam and imputed guilt and imputed
sin or God will destroy him. Now listen to John chapter 6.
Here's the master speaking again. These people rejected it. In
John the 6th chapter verse 41. Listen to it. John 6, verse 41,
Then the Jews murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread
which came down from heaven. And they said, Why, this is Jesus,
this is the Son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know. How
is it then, he said, that I came down from heaven? And Jesus answered
and said, Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except
my Father which sent me draw him. No man. You were so ruined
in the fall, you were so slain in the fall, you were rendered
so unable in the fall, that you don't have the strength, nor
the power, nor the aid, nor the help, nor the desire to come
to me." He said, "...my Father awakened me." And down here in
John 6, 64, he said, "...there are some of you that believe
not." He knew from the beginning who they were that believed not
and who should betray Him. And he said, "...therefore I
said to you, no man can come to me, except it were given him
of my Father." If you go to hell, it'll be your fault. If you go
to heaven, it'll be God's fault. That's so. If you perish in your
sin, it'll be your full responsibility. But if you sing with the angels
in glory the song of the redeemed, it'll be of the Lord from beginning
to end. Thirdly, can a man be saved?
and not confess Christ in baptism? Can a man be saved and not publicly
confess Christ through the act of baptism? Absolutely. Water can't put away sin. Sin
is cleansed by the blood. Water can't put away sin any
more than the waters of Jordan could heal leprosy. The thief
on the cross is a prime example. He wasn't baptized. And yet our
Lord said, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. A man doesn't
have to be baptized to be saved, but if the command of our Lord to
follow him in believer's baptism becomes a point of rebellion
with you, you can be sure you'll submit or you'll perish. That's
so. And you go back to the foundation
of this message. Naaman, go dip in the River Jordan. And when he did, he was healed.
The water had no power to heal him. Ananias came to Saul of
Tarsus. Saul said, Lord, what would you
have me do? You go to a certain place and
it will be told you what to do. Ananias came to him and said,
Saul, the God of our fathers hath chosen thee. that thou shouldest
know his will, that thou shouldest hear his voice, that thou shouldest
be a witness to all nations, Saul, arise and be baptized,
and wash away your sin." What if Saul had gotten angry, and
he said, I'm a Pharisee, there's no way you'll get me in that
water. I'm a Presbyterian, there's no way you'll get me in that
water. I'm a Methodist, there's no way you'll get me in that
water. Well, you'll just have to perish then. Brother, if God's
Word comes to you and finds rebellion, if God's Word comes to you and
finds resistance, the people at Pentecost, after Peter preached,
what must we do? Repent and be baptized, Peter
said, every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you shall receive remission of sins. Then they that gladly
received his Word were baptized, every one of them. because they received his word. Our Lord said to his disciples,
you go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Well, I'll believe,
but you're not getting me in that water. Okay, Naaman. Go back home. That's all I can
say to you. Okay, Naaman. Well, we've got
better ways. We've got a fount. We've got
beautiful rivers. in Damascus. We've got clear
crystal rivers of water in Damascus, better than this old muddy ditch,
the River Jordan. I'll go back there and I'll get
some water sprinkled on my head, or I'll get some water put on
my face when I'm a baby. We've got better ways to do it.
Naaman thought he had a better way than God's way, too. But
I'm still giving you God's way. Can a man be saved? Now listen
to me. Can a man be saved and not be identified with the people
of God in his area, the church? Can he be saved? Of course. Church membership and church
affiliation doesn't save a man. These are means of grace. Christ
is the Savior. It's not my union with a church
that saves me, it's my union with Christ. a living, vital,
personal union. I'm the head, you're the body.
I'm the vine, you're the branch. But let me tell you this, and
this goes for baptism and church membership and being identified
with the people of God, and they're usually a despised lot. People
have a lot to say about them. They're fatalists and radicals
and antinomians They're dead, and they've got a lot of things
to say about them. But I'm telling you this, our Lord has no secret
disciples. The scripture says in John 7,
they wouldn't confess him for fear of the Jews. In John chapter
9, verse 22, they wouldn't confess him for fear of the Jews. John
19, 38, Joseph of Arimathea would not be associated with the disciples
for fear of the Jews. Do you fear the people you work
with? Do you fear the company you work for? You fear your relatives? You think you're going to lose
some of your prestige in the community if you associate with
a preacher who preaches God's sovereignty and God's grace?
You think you're going to lose some of the respect and honor
and esteem that you have, wherever you are, whoever you are, if
you associate with a poor class of people who are Christians? Well, you remember this. If that's
an issue with you, That's where God'll break you,
or He'll destroy you. Our Lord said, if you're ashamed
of Me, and He ain't here, but we are. If you're ashamed of Me, I'm
not ashamed of the Lord, I'm ashamed of His church. That's
the Lord. That's His presence here, that's
His representative. Well, I'm not ashamed of Him,
I'm ashamed of His people. There's some people down there
I just don't like. You can't not like anybody and be saved.
He that loveth not his brother, how dwelleth the love of God
in him? Huh? If you're ashamed of me, Christ
said, and you're ashamed of my words, my messenger, I'll be
ashamed of you. That's what he said. And if this
thing, church membership, identification with God's people, baptism by
immersion, if this becomes a conflict, if this becomes an issue, if
this becomes a testing point, now you may not be baptized because
you can't. You may not be baptized because
you're ill. You may not be baptized because
of something else, but it better not be because you don't want
to. And you may not belong to the church where the gospel is
preached. because it's too far to drive, or because it's too
much this or too much that, but that's not because you're ashamed
of it. A man who stands in fear of public
opinion does not stand in fear of God. Now next, can a man be saved
and not tithe? Can a man be saved and not give
his income to the kingdom of God? Can a man be saved and not
forgive someone against whom he has a grudge, huh? Can you
carry a grudge and be saved and not forgive men? If these things,
just like the rest of this, become an issue, if this thing of giving
your income to preach the gospel, if it becomes an issue, and you
become greedy and you say, this is mine, then God will break
you at that point. And he said in Matthew chapter
6, if you forgive not me and their trespasses, neither will
your father forgive yours. Isn't that what it said? Brother, if we don't walk in
the light of his revealed will, we are not his sheep. For he
said, my sheep hear my voice, and they follow me. and they
follow me. And I give them eternal life,
and another shepherd they won't follow." This thing of the River
Jordan was an issue with Naaman. This thing of selling his goods
and giving them to the poor was an issue with that rich young
man. This thing of divorcing this wife he wasn't supposed
to have was an issue with Herod. And these men went down with
it, except Naaman. God brought him down. Now, God's
commands are not coming down. You are. God's commands, God's
instructions are not going to be moved. The rock will not break. You'll be broken on it. You'll
be broken either here or in hell, but God's going to meet you at
your point of rebellion. Every one of us better get down
on our faces before God and say with the Apostle Paul, when God
broke him on the road to Damascus, that proud sinner, he said, Lord,
what will you have me do? Our Father, take the message
and use it for Thy eternal glory. All glory is Thine. It doesn't
belong to any flesh. That in the flesh no man should
glory. Let him that glorieth, glory
in the Lord. God give us a broken heart, a
broken spirit. May Christ be formed in us, the
spirit of Christ, who thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, yet made himself of no reputation and became obedient even to the
death of the cross. We ask these things for his glory
and his praise. Amen.

My point of Rebellion

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My point of Rebellion

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About Henry Mahan

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