Before the service, I was in
a conversation with a couple of the men, and they were remarking
at the sharpness of Charles Spurgeon's mind. I was able to just be so
sharp and brilliant. And it reminded me of another
man, a man named John Newton. John Newton, for those of you
that don't know, he penned that well-known hymn, Amazing Grace. I was thinking about him. how
in that time state was coming to a conclusion just before he
went, just before he departed, his mind was failing him. His
faculties were very poor. I mean, if you were talking to
John Newton, perhaps if we asked him, can you give us one of the
stanzas? He couldn't even remember that
stanza that we love to sing. You know, when we've been there
10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we'll have no less
days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. So John,
can you remember that? No. What about a verse from the
Bible? I'm speculating, but I hope you'll
forgive my speculation, but perhaps he can't even remember. For God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Can't
remember that. But he said this, at least it's
reported. I read this. He said, I don't
remember much, but I remember this. I know two things. I'm
a great sinner, and he's a great savior. And it's really easy to be friends
with people like that, that know those two things. I thank you
for your friendship and your love. I thank you. You guys kind
of loan David to me. I get to have lunch with him
from time to time. On one occasion, he said to me, I think you've
probably heard this said by many faithful preachers of the gospel,
faithful men that the Lord has sent. They said, you know, men
that have been preaching for 40 years. I think we have two
men that have been preaching over 40 years here, Milton and
David. And then I remember Drew saying that he's preached for
over 30 years, 35 years. And I said to David over lunch,
I said, I'm still learning how to preach. And he said, well,
when you've got that figured out, let me know. So with all due respect to my
brother, Drew, I really sincerely say this. You know, the apostle
Paul said, I'm the, at the beginning, he said, I'm the least of the
apostles and that the Lord taught him. And he said, I'm the least
of the saints. Well, behind this pulpit, I know
I'm the least of preachers. But while other men may preach
the gospel better than me, all of us, we can't preach a better
gospel, right? So my motive, my prayer in preaching this morning
is that you would be glad You know, when people hear the gospel,
they're either mad or glad. Isn't that the truth? You read
through the book of Acts, and there's no in between. You either
get mad or you're glad. And if you look at, I'll show
you what I mean as the motive in bringing this message to you
this morning. I pray at the end of this time
that we have together, that God be pleased to bless his word,
the gospel of our salvation, that everyone in this auditorium
will be glad. Glad. Look in Acts chapter 13
with me, if you would. Now I'm going to be looking at
a lot of verses this morning. We don't have to look at all
of them together, but I did want you to see this in Acts chapter
13. And by the way, I have been so
glad to be here. Last night was a real blessing
to me to hear, to be reminded how that our great high priest
by his own blood has attained, found, accomplished eternal redemption
for us, or to be reminded about how that the publican said, be
merciful to me, a sinner. And I think that, I'll always
think of that portion of 1 Samuel chapter 21 as that, the public and saying, you know,
give it me. There's, there's nothing, there's
none like it. May that propitious mercy seat be my atonement. Let's see if I can get here.
Acts chapter 13 and look there with me in verse 20, rather 38. It says there, Be it known unto
you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him, all that believe
are justified, declared innocent, declared not guilty from all
things which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
And then in verse 48. It says there, the Lord, verse
47, the Lord hath commanded us saying, I have set thee to be
a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation
to the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this,
what happened? They got all serious? Did they
get all depressed? No, these were not Puritans. These are not Puritans. They
got glad. It says, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed. Now notice the order there. It
does not say as many as believed were ordained to eternal life,
but rather as many as were ordained in the eternal covenant of God's
grace were believed. Now, my text is found, if you
would open your Bibles with me, to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. And we'll be looking at verse
28. While you're turning there, I don't know if any of you know
the man's name. This is a man who is a well-known
political pundit. His name is Dennis Prager. And
by his own admission, he's a religious man. And he was recently asked
in a podcast, can you say you know there is a God? And Dennis Prager replied, quote,
I don't know there is a God. I'm pretty certain, but I don't
know. I know you're sitting there because
I can empirically prove it, but I cannot empirically prove God." Look what it says in verse 28
of Romans 8. The Apostle Paul writes there,
and we know. He doesn't say, and we believe.
or we'd like to think so, or we're gonna work ourselves up
into this, convincing ourselves. He says, ever so blessedly, and
we know that all things work together for good, to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Now last night, our brother quoted Psalm 99. It said, the Lord reigneth. And this verse is only a blessing
when the Lord reveals that to us, to know that He reigneth
in creation. He reigneth in providence. He
reigneth in salvation. Now, this word reign or sovereign,
it's a big word. How about we just say it more
simply? He is the king of creation, the king of providence, the king
of salvation. And Paul, the apostle Paul writes
in Hebrews chapter 11, he says there, Now just to define a word here
for you, the word empirical, as I looked it up, it means verifiable
by observation or experience, rather than theory or pure logic. Now I say that to draw your attention
to how it is that the Apostle Paul could write at the beginning
of that verse, we know. We know. It says here in Hebrews
chapter 11, verse one, now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. And Paul knew these things. How is it that he knew these
things? Well, he tells us in Galatians chapter one, how that he was saved. He didn't say anything
to do with himself. He just said, when it pleased
the Lord, who called me forth from my mother's womb and called
me by his grace and revealed Christ, what did he say? Did
he say to me? No. Ever so blessedly, it says
in me, in me. It's being revealed to us by
God's spirit. It's being born again. It's being
quickened. I'm so thankful. that in this
one verse we see so many things, and I'm not gonna try and exhaust
everything here, but there's three things I'd like us to look
at in this verse. And I pray by the end of it,
if God be pleased to bless His word, that you would know that
the knowing of this verse, and that you be made glad. If he's
pleased to bless his word this morning, and what did our Lord
say to Nicodemus? He said, no one can enter, no
one can see the kingdom of heaven except they be born of water
and spirit. And I pray he'd take the clean
water of the gospel of his son this morning and bless it with
his spirit. And that, oh, wouldn't it be
great if everyone here would be glad? Be glad? Now, the three things I'd like
to look in this verse, it's a very simple outline. It's three things,
God's purpose, God's people, God's power. That is to say,
the purpose of God, the people of God, and the power of God. Now, I would be remiss if I didn't
start off with another letter P, and that's a problem. It's man's problem. Everyone
in this auditorium has a problem. I have a problem. You have a
problem. Some of you have had that problem
triumphantly taken care of already by the blood and righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So what is this problem? Well,
the word of God declares very clearly and very plainly what
that problem is. It's sin. The prophet Jeremiah
says, the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all
things who can know it. And in Genesis, describing your
heart, my heart, our problem, it says there that the thoughts
of the heart of man are only evil continually. Somebody might
be thinking, well, preacher, that's the Old Testament, really? Do you not hear him? Our Lord
and God, Jesus Christ. You remember when he was talking
to his stepbrothers? You know, Mary had other children
after the Lord Jesus Christ. And his stepbrothers were egging
him on. And he said to them, your time is always, but my time
has not yet come. And he said these remarkable
words. He said, the world doesn't hate you, but it hates me because
I testify that the deeds thereof are evil. He tells us that in
John 7, 7. And in Matthew 11, verse 7, remarkably,
the Lord is now speaking to his disciples. And he says, and you
being evil, full stop. That's why I need a savior. That's
why I need him. I need his blood for that perfect
pardon of all my sins. I need his righteous life to
be my righteous life. I need him to perform that which
I cannot perform. And this is the good news. This
is why we're gathered here this morning to hear about who he
is, what he did, and what he continues to do for us. He's
a savior who saves sinners to the uttermost. I'm so thankful
for that. But he said to his disciples,
and you being evil, know how to give good gifts to my children.
How much more will my heavenly father give to them that ask?
And a brother, what was that thing? I want that, I need that,
get me that. And we can pray this morning,
like the publican, be merciful to me, a sinner. And we can say
it all the more emphatically. Lord, bless your word this morning
and get me that. Give me life in your son that
I might know, not merely believe. I'm so thankful for those precious
places where over and over and over again, we read how The believer
knows these things. What was it the Apostle Paul
said in another place? He said, I know in whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that, which I've committed unto him against that day. So
we all have this great, great problem. In a word, let me make
it real simple. Everyone in this auditorium is
bad, and there's only one good, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said this in John 8 verse 29, I believe. He said, the father
is always with me for I do always those things that please the
father. That ain't you and that ain't me. And we, we need him. I need him. And, uh, I pray by
the time we look at these, these three piece, the purpose of God,
the people of God and the power of God, God be pleased to. give
you that peace that goes beyond all understanding. Now, in our
text, I'm going to go about this a little bit. I'm not going to
sequentially go through each verse. Let's look at the last
part of that verse. It says two words there, His purpose, His
purpose. Now, what is that speaking about?
Beloved, that is speaking about God's purpose, the purpose of
God. Our Lord expressed it a little
bit differently. He said, this is the Father's
will, right? In John chapter six, there in
verse 39, it's so wonderful to hear His words, isn't it? He
said, this is the Father's will. Well, who wants to hear the Father's
will this morning? I do. I wanna hear it again and again
and again. He said, this is the Father's
will, He who sent me, that of all that He has given me, I shall
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. You know,
the word of God, speaks to that the servant of the Lord must
be patient, apt to teach in meekness, instructing those that oppose
themselves. That's 2 Timothy 2 verse 25, I believe. And, you know, I'll ask sometimes
people this question. Everywhere you go in Texas, everyone's
a Christian, right? Everyone believes in God. But
they've not heard about our Lord. They've not heard about our God.
And so a good question sometimes is useful to draw out the matter.
We can ask someone, just so we can brag on the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're not looking for a debate or an argument.
You ask someone, of all the people that our Heavenly Father wants
to save in sending His Son into the world, what percentage do
you think He'll actually end up saving? And you hear answers
like 5%, half. And it's our undeserved
privilege to tell sinners about our sovereign, successful savior. That in the covenant of God's
grace, in covenant agreement with his son, the father says,
save my people. And in covenant engagement, not
one of his people will perish. In fact, right now, there is
not one lamb, not one sheep that the Father gave him who's in
hell right now, because he's a sovereign, conquering, successful
Savior. I'm so thankful for that. And
think about this purpose, all the shalls in the covenant of
grace. Isn't it a blessing to hear all the shalls? We just
heard one just now. He said, this is the Father's
will. He who sent me, that of all that
he giveth to me, I shall. I shall lose nothing. And in John chapter 10, it says
there in verse 14, so I'm going to show you some more shalls.
It says there, I am the good shepherd, and know
my sheep, and am known of mine. As a father knoweth me, even
so I know the father, and lay down my life for the sheep. And
other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I
must bring, and they shall, hear my voice, and they shall be one
fold and one shepherd. Therefore does my father love
me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down on myself. I have power
to lay it down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my father. What a glorious
commandment. The father gave his son covenant
commandment to come into the world and save his people from
their sins. That leads me to this other shall.
Don't you love all the shalls of Scripture? I just keep on
finding newer and newer places I hadn't seen before. But this
one I'm sure you know, beloved. In Matthew chapter one, verse
21, remember Joseph? He had been betrothed to, or,
you know, Joseph and Mary, they were engaged. They were, Joseph
was Mary's fiance, and Mary was Joseph's fiance. And Joseph was
troubled because Mary was pregnant and they had not consummated
their marriage. He was troubled by that. I mean, I haven't known
you intimately as my wife. How can it be that you're pregnant?
And Joseph's a young man. He's troubled about this. Maybe
he's thinking about going to Mary's home and visiting the
parents and canceling the wedding. But the angel of the Lord came
to Joseph in a dream. with the message from the very
throne of God. And the angel told Joseph, don't be afraid
to take Mary for your wife, for what's conceived in her womb
is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. And you shall
call his name Jesus, Joshua, Jehovah saved. How come? For he shall save his people
from their sins. If you're in this auditorium
this morning saved by the blood and righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that wasn't by accident. That was on purpose. I'm so thankful for that. Now
we've looked at the purpose of God just a little bit. And we've
looked at how that is the will of the father and how he shall
save his people from their sins. I'd like to look at this next
part in Romans 8. Look at the first part there,
and it says something very short, this one word, it says, we, and
we. Now, what is that speaking about?
Speaking about God's people, the we of God, if you'll allow
me. I want to know who the we are. Well, I believe that I found
a verse for us to look at this morning that I hadn't seen before. It's in Job chapter 22 and verse
29. And we're gonna see that same
glorious word shall again. I love that word shall. It says
there, when men are cast down, then thou shalt say, there is
lifting up, and he shall save the humble person, the humble
person. Now, in my margin, it says, him
that hath low eyes, him that hath low eyes, the humble person. This is a description of the
people He came into the world to save. And this points, in
my mind at least, ever so blessedly to the parable our Lord taught
us about the Pharisee and the Publican. Remember how He's before
those Pharisees, those that trusted in themselves as being righteous
and despised others? It's an accurate description,
nothing worse than being around self-righteous people that trust
in themselves as being righteous because they will despise. It's
a horrible thing, it happens. Nevertheless, he tells us this
parable of two men that went up to the temple to pray. And
the Pharisee prayed within himself, this is Luke, and remember we're
talking about How can we know who it is that he came into the
world to save? I pray the Lord will bless his word this morning.
But in Luke's gospel, chapter 18, I don't want to misquote
it. I'd like to read this to you.
He spoke of two men, verse 10, that went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself. Now, I'm about to read something
that describes just how dark and just how ignorant the natural
man is. This is all what we say by birth. We come out of our
mother's womb speaking lies. I'm a good person. I'm a good
man. I'm not so bad as my neighbor.
Sinner, well, yeah, nobody's perfect. My neighbor's worse
than I am. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men
are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast
twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess, and the
publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes
unto heaven. This is a humble person. humbled
by the Lord God himself. See, the Lord must strip us first
before he'll clothe us. He must slay us before he'll
give us life. And here we see our brother,
the publican, smoting his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me,
a sinner. And in this auditorium, I know
you, beloved, you can say it all the more emphatic. God, be
merciful to me, the sinner. I'm the one who needs Christ
the most here. I need his blood to be my full pardon. I need
his life to be my perfection, my true holiness, if I could
put it that way. God's people, who are they? Who
did the Lord Jesus Christ come into the world to save? We'll
be forever looking up verses, we'll take up too much time.
I'll just quote these verses and you check them. What does
the word of God say? God be true, every man a liar.
But isn't it wonderful, the Apostle Paul writing to young Timothy,
beloved Timothy, a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation, Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And St. Paul added, of whom I'm chief,
of whom I'm chief. Back in our portion in Romans
8, verse 28, We've looked at the last part
there, his purpose, that's God's purpose, the purpose of God,
how that he sent his son into the world to save his people.
And who are his people? They're the people that he brings
low and puts into the dust and shows them that from the top
of their head to the bottom of their feet, they're just one
big reason why God should justly send them to hell. Nevertheless,
God died, or the Lord Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. I'm so
thankful that The Lord teaches us that He's the one that's done
everything for us. It's not this idea that men have
that somehow God's making a proposition for you to reject or accept,
or that the Lord Jesus Christ died for everybody without exception,
and now you have to do something to make what He did on the cross
to work. And we know this is just blasphemy. These are things
not after Christ. These are things that are antichrist.
And that might sound bombastic. It's not. It's just a very simple
thing. Not only do we know him, beloved,
but we hear his voice. Right? Do we not? We hear his
voice. What we believe is affected by who we believe. And the Lord
Jesus Christ said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they
follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.
How come? Because he's the author and finisher
of our faith. Because he's the one who is the
author and finisher of eternal life unto them that obey him.
I'm so thankful that we read in John's gospel, when he was
upon the earth, when he gave his life a ransom for his many
people, he said, it is finished. And because we're so, I'll speak
for myself, because I'm so dumb. You know, sheep, we're dumb.
He condescends to tell us again in Revelation 21, verse six,
it is done. It is finished. Two times he
tells us that. So we looked at the purpose of God, the people
of God, and now this word here, it says here, and we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. Now, this word,
no, this is speaking about God's
power, God's quickening power. And our Lord spoke about that.
He spoke about that in John chapter six, verse 29. You remember when
he did the miracle of the 5,000 people being fed, 5,000 men plus
women and children, five loaves and two fish. And they were just
interested in bread and fish, evidently, because they labored
to get to the other side of the sea where he was. And the Lord
Jesus Christ beheld that multitude and he said to them, don't labor
for those things that perish, labor for those things that do
not perish. And then they asked him, this question, this multitude,
ask our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, this question, what is the work
that we might work the works of God? And this is the life-giving
answer our Lord and God gave to the multitude. He said, this
is the work of God. Come. This is the work of God. God gives us faith. We don't
work it up in ourselves. We don't figure it out. We're
born from above. He's revealed this to us. He's
given us this gift, this faith. And then he continues that you
believe on the one God sent. It is the power of God. It is
the power of God, the work of God to believe on the one God
sent. I love it where We read in God's word, and it's clear,
often we read it too quickly, too quick sometimes to read God's
word. Let's just hear it again. It
says, by grace ye are saved, through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God. The gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. There's another portion of God's
word where we can read about this operation in Colossians
chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2 says there,
and I'll begin reading in verse 9, I'll begin reading in verse 8.
That's a good verse. You ever find yourself doing that, David?
You just go right to the beginning of the chapter. Beware lest any
man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of this world, and not after Christ.
All heresy, all error is not after Christ. The Apostle John
writes in his second epistle, he says there, whosoever does
not persevere in the doctrine of Christ has not God. God's not there. But whosoever
perseveres in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and
the Son. And it's doctrine singular. We don't pick and choose. It's
all of his teaching. Verse nine, for in him, in the
Lord Jesus Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. and ye are complete in him. By
his blood, full and complete pardon of all our sins, and by
the life he lived on the earth, he established perfect righteousness
for us. Two peas in a pod, pardon and
perfection. And ye are complete in him which
is the head of all principality and power, in whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands and putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ. Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised
him from the dead. And you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it." Triumphing over
the sacrifice he made for his people. back in our portion, it says there, and we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. In 2 Timothy chapter one, Apostle Paul, our brother, is
writing there in verse nine, speaking about the gospel according
to the power of God. He writes, God who hath saved
us and called us with unholy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. what a miracle it is to believe
the gospel to have as our lord has explained to us as it's written
in the prophets they shall all be taught of god and all who
hear the father and learn of him, come to me." They don't
come to some fine point of theology to argue over. They come to a
person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's who I'm trying to
preach to you this morning. You know, from time to time I
come across Things you read about, you know, believers of the past.
There's a name that I'll mention. Some of you might know the name,
some of you perhaps won't. The name is Top Lady. He's another
hymn writer. He wrote the hymn Rock of Ages. And I don't know, I trust it's
true for the other men when they're reading an article by someone
that's passed and they never met, or they're singing a hymn
that they've never met the author who wrote it. But you can't help
that one day you're gonna meet that brother. Because he's preaching
and declaring the same glorious gospel that we read about in
Isaiah chapter 40, there in verses one and two. It's so good to
hear, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak
comfortably to Jerusalem. Don't speak to her head. God
will never bless the word to open your head. He'll bless the
word to open your heart like he did with Lydia. Lydia was
there at the riverbank and it says there, and the Lord opened
her heart that she might give attendance to the things that
Paul was saying. And he was, what was he saying?
Christ and him crucified. He was preaching the person and
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Isaiah chapter 40, I'm
convinced that Top Lady had this in mind. I'm fixing to conclude
here shortly. We looked at the purpose of God.
Our Lord said, this is the will of the Father. He who sent me
that of all that he has given me, I shall lose nothing. Look
at the people of God. Who's his people? Sinners, real
sinners, sinners who've been loved everlastingly in the covenant
of God's grace. And then We looked at the power
of God, how true it is that we can't
know these things unless God himself reveals them to us. Like
the Lord said to Nicodemus in that evening meeting, he said,
no one may enter the kingdom of heaven except they be born
from above. None of us will see or enter
the kingdom of heaven except by water, and the spirit. And that water is the clean water
that Ezekiel talked about, the clean water of the gospel, the
clean water of the truth as it is in Jesus. And God, when he's
pleased to, he'll bless that clean water, the gospel of his
son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, with his spirit. It says here
in Isaiah chapter 40, verse one, comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
sayeth your God. I pray the Lord's made you glad
this morning. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her
that her warfare is accomplished. What happens when warfare is
accomplished? Peace. Perfect peace. That her iniquity
is pardoned for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. Top lady penned this stanza. He said, let the water and the
blood from thy wounded side which flowed be the double cure. Save
from wrath, how we save from wrath that shed blood, the precious
shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and make me pure. We're
made pure because of this gospel fact, how that our Heavenly Father
has made His darling, well-pleasing Son, He who knew no sin, to be
made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Christ. To conclude, let me read this
benediction in Romans 16. It's been a real undeserved privilege
to be with you this morning. And I'm so thankful that the
Lord makes his people glad, that he comforts them through the
doing and dying of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 16, it says
there, beginning in verse 24, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. Now to him that is of power
to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of
Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the ministry of
the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began. But now. Oh, is this happening right now?
I pray so. in the hearts of this people,
but now is made manifest by the scriptures of the prophets according
to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith. To God, only wise, be glory through
Jesus Christ forever. Amen.