How old you gonna be this week,
Stan? Fifty-four. My goodness. Well, it's good to see y'all
out. Good to see y'all out this morning.
Remember those who requested prayer, happy birthday to Stan
this week. We're going to have the Lord's Table next Sunday,
the last Sunday of the month, the 26th. We'll have the Lord
say we'll have no afternoon service. We'll have dinner after the morning
service at the Lord's Table. Other than that, I can't think
of any announcements. Nancy Rice, any progress on her? About the same. Remember those folks who request
the prayer, seek the Lord's help for them. Okay, let's begin our
worship service with hymn number 485. Revive us again. We praise thee, O God, O the
Son of our love. For Jesus who died and is now
gone, Alleluia, thine the glory. Alleluia,
amen. Alleluia, thine the glory. Revive us again. We praise thee, O God, for the
spirit of light who has shown us our Savior and scattered Alleluia, Thine the glory, Alleluia,
Amen. Alleluia, Thine the glory, revive
us again. All glory and praise to the land
that was slain, who has borne all our sins and has cleansed
every stain. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us. Revive us again. Village hard with thy love. May it so be rekindled with fire
from above. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. after scripture reading and prayer
we'll sing hymn number 352 Jesus lover of my soul turning your
bibles to John chapter 17 John chapter 17 before we read scripture I'd
ask you to remember Loretta in your prayer she's have it's real
difficult operation she's pain doesn't seem to be getting better
some kind of surgery for glaucoma also had a cataracts put in she's
had some difficulty it's rare people do but remember the prayers
should be here she could John chapter 17 this won't read
one verse of scripture. Verse 17, our Lord speaking of
his elect, his chosen, his disciples and those who would hear the
gospel down through the ages and believe through the word.
It says in verse 17, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, blessed
Lord and Savior, who is Lord over all, blessed
forever, amen. We come in that blessed name
that is above every name, the only name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. We ask, Father, for those who
are sick, especially remember our sister Loretta. She's having
difficulty with this problem with her eye. We ask, Lord, that
you bring her back to a good measure of health and be those
doctors they minister to and crow as he ministers to her also. For the others who have requested
prayer, Lord, and for those who have lost loved ones or those
who are facing various operations and treatments, we ask, Lord,
your help for them. we pray for ourselves this day
as we gather here that you might be pleased by your Holy Spirit
to take the things of Christ and reveal them unto us. Cause us to stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. Help us to worship you. You're
worthy of all praise and all glory for the things you have
done for your people, for who you are. help us to catch a glimpse
of our great savior high and lifted up, exalted, sitting at
thy right hand, having finished the work of salvation. Cause us in our hearts to love
you. We know you've loved us with an everlasting love. And
our frail efforts at love are weak. But we know we love you
because you first loved us. Help us now, we pray in Christ's
name, for his glory, amen. Psalm number 352, Jesus, lover
of my soul. Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high, Hide me, O my Savior, hide. ? Till the storm of life is past
? ? Safe into the heaven guide ? ? O receive my soul at last
? ? Other refuge have I none ? ?
Hangs my helpless soul on thee ? Leave or leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me. All my trust on thee is staid,
all my help from thee I bring. Cover thy defenseless head with
the shadow of thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name. I am all unrighteousness. False and full of sin I am. Thou art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace for thee is found. Grace to cover all my sins. Let the healing streams of our
make and keep me pure within. Thou of life, the fountain of
heart, freely let me take of Thee. Spring Thou up within my
heart, rise to all eternity. Let us pray. Father, again we approach
in the name of Jesus Christ, that majestic, sweet, and holy
name, the name of the one whom you've freely given to your people
and with him freely given us all things. Help us to appreciate,
to recognize, and have great interest in what He has done
for us and who He is, and give thanks unto Thee for all things. For we know that all things are
working together for good to them that love God, to them who
are called according to His purpose. Help us now to return to Thee
that which belongs to You with joy in our hearts. We pray in
Christ's name, amen. you Yeah. back to John chapter 17. This is the high priestly prayer
of our Lord which he prayed prior to going to the cross of Calvary
stating in it that he had glorified God and now desired to be glorified
by God and God said in John 12 I've already done that. But the unique thing was that
he could only glorify God if God glorified him to save those
whom God had chosen from the foundation of the world. That's
how it worked. For God to be glorified by Jesus
Christ, Christ must save those whom God has given him and tasked
him with the job of giving them eternal life because that would
glorify God. and then God would glorify him,
that's the language. He sets forth the fact that he
prays for his people, he doesn't pray for the world. And he says
to, he asks the Lord to sanctify his people through thy truth. God's truth is the truth and
it came by Jesus Christ. The law came by Moses, but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. And truth has no degrees. I've heard people say, well,
he preaches some truth. That means he's preaching all
lies because the fact is the truth is a singular, absolute, uncorruptible thing and is the
measure of all things. And truth is only found in one
place upon this earth. You will not find it in the Congress
of the United States. You will not find it in the hearts
and minds of men. You will find it in what God
has declared in His Word. Sanctify thy people through thy
truth, thy Word, His truth, thy Word, His truth. Now I'm going
to preach a message that I've preached almost every year since
I've been here but as I was looking back it's been three years since
I preached it the last time. It's a message I first heard
Ralph Barnard preach on tape. That was a long time ago when
he preached this and I'd heard Henry Mahan preach it and I stole
it from both of them and I've been preaching it ever since. It's a message that bears repeating
because it sets things in order. I think it was Martin Lloyd-Jones
who said he loved the gospel because it set things in proper
order. It set things in proper order. It's a message that will always
produce a verdict in those who are hearers of this word. it'll
always produce a verdict. In fact, the gospel always does.
This message will certainly do that. And whoever you are, for
whatever reason you're here today, when you leave today, you'll
know whether you believe this or not. You'll be sure. Because these things are absolutes
that I'm going to deal with. Upon it, you will respond, upon
hearing it, you'll respond yea or nay. So much in life renders
itself to the exalted arena of debate and opinion, but here
it's yes or no, truth or not. When you leave here having heard
this, if you don't believe, you'll know what you don't believe,
I'm sure of that. I grow tired of men who stand in the pulpit
and say we don't preach things like predestination election
because it'd be confusing to people. There's nothing confusing
about it. Nothing confusing at all. The fact is that the men
are confused. That's who's confused. And it's
their problem. They believe or they know what
the truth is. You can't deny it unless you
know what it is. And they deny the truth because
they fully understand what the truth says and simply means this
when they hear it. What it says to them is But if
that's the case, then I'm not saved. And so they reject it
because they're not going to get cut loose at that old profession
they've made. Seven Stubborn Statements is
the title of this message. And you've heard it before. I've
been here eight from 14 to 16, 46 years. I expect I've preached at least
40 times from this text or text relating to this. The first stubborn
statement is simply this. The Bible is the Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God. It is inspired from heaven. God breathed it or He didn't. The Bible is the Word of God
or it's not. One of those things is true. This is the record of God's operation
of the universe or it's not. The very nature of truth brings
everything and everyone to account and puts everyone in his or her
place. This is God's divine communique. This is how God talks to people.
If somebody says, God told me something, you do what old B.B. Caldwell used to do, immediately
say two words, Scripture please. Scripture please. God told you
something, if it don't line up with this, you're lying. Or maybe
the God you're worshiping is really the devil. If this is the truth, then no
part of it is false. If it is false on any level,
then no part of it is truth. Being truth is not a matter of
will you believe, but the revelation that you do now believe or you
don't now believe. That's what the truth will do. God's Word. Think about that. You and I who are pismires upon
the face of the earth, to think that God has spoken to us. Some of the thoughts that are
higher than our thoughts, even as the heaven is higher than
the earth, have been revealed in this book. Being God's word,
it cannot be subject of debate, lest maggots make themselves
magistrates, and wild asses, colts, become arbiters and bring
God who cannot lie to the bar of their depraved deliberation. This is not to be debated. I
know people like to have theological debates and more power to them
if they want to do that. But if a thing can be debated,
it's debatable. It's simply that. The truth is
not debatable on any level. If the regurgitated opinion of
worms carries weight, then it's their thoughts, the imagination
of their hearts, which are evil continually, that are exalted
to a higher place than God's thoughts, and they have reached
the heights of the serpent's promise and have become divine,
sublime serpents, splendid snakes, venerated vipers, lying to you. If a person, any person, any
person, can look at this Word that God has spoken, for all
Scripture is given of inspiration, and it is probable for doctrinally
proved correction and instruction that the man of God might be
truly furnished unto all good works. If you can look at any
part of this, even if you say you're a believer, even if you
say you believe sovereign grace, and say, I don't believe that,
then you're an unbeliever. Flat out, that's just how it
is. To take a portion of it and leave
another off is to perhaps seek to justify yourself in sub-behavior.
You've assumed to declare yourself an unbeliever. Thy word is truth. Thy word is truth. The Bible is the word of God
or it's not. Yes or no? Yes or no? As I was thinking on this, Deb
told me of a woman who was the daughter of a very famous senator
in the United States. She's a journalist of sorts. She went to a young children's
class in school of mostly homeless immigrants and asked the children, do you
believe in God? This is a grown-up woman talking
to five and six-year-olds. Do you believe in God? And most of them said yes. And she said, well, how can a
God who's good let this homeless situation happen to you? What
would she say? God's not good. Or is she saying
there is no God? Did she even hear about God?
Where did we hear about God? We heard about God when somebody
God sent told us about Him. Or our parents told us about
Him. They told us about Him where they heard about Him. Where do
men hear about God? When God speaks, that's where
we hear from Him. Our Lord in Isaiah 45 said, assemble yourselves
together, gather yourselves together, have your councils and all that
stuff. Where'd you hear this stuff from? Someone tells you
to go to hell, say, where'd you hear that from? Where'd you get
that word from? Where'd that come from? It comes
from God's word. God's word is truth, or it's
not. Second second statement, God
is sovereign, or he's not. The Bible declares that He rules,
reigns, controls all things, for He doesn't. If He is God,
then He is absolutely sovereign. He rules in creation and providence
most assuredly, and the thing that honors and glorifies Him
most is the salvation of sinners. He uses all things. all peoples,
every grain of dirt upon the face of the earth, every little
bit of air that flows, every leaf on every tree, everything
that rise and wriggles, every man, woman, and child he uses
because they are his by creation and he uses them moves them,
motivates them, manipulates them, uses all men and women for His
predestinated purpose, if He's God. He has set the world on a course
that began in the Garden of Eden and will end with the return
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that course is to bring all
things to their appointed end. And that end is the glorification
of His name in person and the good of his chosen, and you here
this morning, and everybody that walks in this great land of Cherokee,
and outside the boundaries of the boundary, and the far reaches
of the earth, everybody, everybody is working for the good of God's
people. Everything is. I know with reading news and
things like going on today, you think, how can that work for
my good? Well, it's good. When that lady went in and asked
those children that horrible question, made those poor children
sad. That was for your good and for
God's glory. I don't understand it. Don't begin to. Can't figure
it out and don't try. It's one thing. It's one thing.
One thing. If one thing is outside his predestinated
purpose, then all things are outside his control. Isaiah 14,
24 says, I've done all my purpose. In heaven and earth, I've done
all my purpose. He does his will according to his will in the
armies of heaven and among the heavens and the earth, and none
can stay his hand. The judge of all the earth shall always
do right. read Romans chapter 9 read Daniel 435 when Nebuchadnezzar
come to his senses and said God does according to his will in
the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay his hand or say unto him what doest thou
his dominion is forever that means he dominates forever he's
sovereign God is sovereign or he's not Third question, or third
statement, man is totally depraved or he's not. The Bible declares him to be
in no certain terms and the ramification of believing otherwise calls
into question the record of God's manner of salvation. The man
had within himself the ability to generate faith, to change
who he is, and what was the purpose of Christ coming into this world
to begin with? If a man has a spark of life,
a dollop of divinity that could be stirred into faith by the
ingredients of some human recipe, then what cruelty must be laid
at the door of God for pouring out his wrath on his son when
in truth it was unnecessary because he was just with a pinch of pretty
persuasion and a little emotional maneuvering or a tiny shove in
the right direction, man could save himself. Why did Christ
die? If man is not totally depraved
and ruined, then it is right and reasonable to make a plea
to him to do something about his life. Religion don't believe
that man's depraved. That man's dead in trespasses
and sin. They don't believe that. Elsewise
they'd stop. If they believed that, they wouldn't
ask man to do anything. If I believe that you can't do
nothing, why would I ask you to do something? Man is depraved. Now he's not
as bad as he could be, but he has no idea how bad he is. The invitation system, the so-winter
chicanery are but prayers and pleas to men. Depraved men to
save themselves. If man is depraved, then it is
right to pray to God for his salvation. If you understand that your children
are depraved, Don't go to them, try to get them to do something. You get alone in the closet with
God, and you ask for his salvation. I do that for my children every
night. I know you do too. It ain't gonna happen overnight.
It might, but I can remember with Sarah, we'd prayed for her
for years. And all of a sudden she started
talking strangely about the Bible and about spiritual things that
she'd been reading. I think she was 40 years old
or better. She called one night and said,
the Lord has saved me. I never told her to do anything. But
I sure prayed for her. she heard the gospel and the Lord saved her. She got a call yesterday from
Nancy Byrd, Ethan, Susanna's second oldest, right? He's in
the Army, he's a Ranger if I'm not mistaken. Just called Jim
and told him the Lord had saved her and will be baptized. When he's on leave, Jim's gonna
baptize him. Jim never told him, you gotta
do this, you gotta do that. But he prayed for them. The reason we pray for men is
because they're totally depraved. We pray to God for them. We pray
to God for them. The Bible declares that man is
totally depraved, telling lies from the womb. There's a leopard
who can't change his spots, an Ethiopian who can't change the
color of his skin. The Bible says he's a liar and lighter
than vanity, condemned, who drinks iniquity like water, is lame,
halt, dead, doomed, damned, and dying, and all those things how
he's described in Scripture. He never said to have a free
will ever in all the Bible. Either man is totally depraved
or he's not. God elected a people unto salvation
or he didn't. The Bible declares that he did.
Since man is totally depraved then something's got to happen
on his behalf. I prayed for him. Your prayer
didn't save him. My mom prayed for me as if I
was one of the elect. She used to tell God, she told
me, she said, Lord, by the time you save him, he's one of yours,
isn't he? But that didn't save me. That
didn't save me. It didn't do anything for me.
It did something for her. The Bible declares that since
man is totally depraved, an election is an absolute necessity for
anyone to be saved. You can't do nothing, somebody's
gonna have to do something for you. For men to wind up in hell, God
would have but to leave them to themselves. Barney, you say,
you'll go to hell if you can. And if you can, you will. The only thing that'll stop me
if somebody interrupts my career, stops my progress, for God to save, for someone
to be saved out of that cesspool of putrefaction called humanity,
God must have chosen them, selected them, elected them, severed them
from the ruins of their desolate existence. Unless your election
does not keep anyone out of heaven, that's the misnomer, it assures that some will be
in heaven. over 40 times the concept of
election is spoken of in the New Testament. Just two examples,
2 Thessalonians 2, verses 13 through 16 make it very clear. Because Paul is making comparisons
with those who God has sent a delusion to believe a lie and damned them
for it and is going to put them in eternal hell. He said, but
God, beloved of the Lord, has chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the
truth. For unto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. God chose you. God chose
you. Ephesians 1 verse 3 through 6
makes that very plain. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ according as he's chosen us in him for
the foundation of the world that we should behold him without
blame before him. Having predestinated us to the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself to the praise
of the glory of his grace wherein he has made us accepted in the
beloved. The Bible says that God chose
whom he would save. God did not, in sweet sovereign
grace, choose some people to salvation. Then all would have
perished, and rightfully so. God either chose a people, elected
a people out of this depraved society, or he didn't. Christ actually redeemed and
saved and justified. That's the fifth thing. Christ
actually redeemed, saved, justified, sanctified those for whom he
died or he didn't. This is where most people think
they disagree with the five points of truth here. They say, well, I can't believe
Jesus didn't die for everybody. I can't believe anybody in hell
Jesus did die for. Can't believe that. this is death means nothing there are people in hell that
he died for then what value is his death at all there's nobody in hell that Christ
died for he saved them and redeemed them they say well I'm a four
point capitalist that means you're pointless and I don't need to
talk to you anymore the bible declares that he saved his people
from their sins that's why they named him his name there's no
place no line, no paragraph, and no parenthetical expression,
no hint, no inference, no intimation, and no suggestion where the death
of Christ is even vaguely presented as being anything other than
a complete and absolute and unqualified success. Absolute. From the name he is given, I
shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. to his final words on the cross
and he lifted up and cried with a loud voice, it is finished. And he gave up the ghost. His
accomplishment is unequivocal. Proclaimed surely so in the scriptures. He only tried and he only failed. He himself declared that he laid
down his life for the sheep and they will hear his voice. and
they will follow Him and they will never perish. No charge
and no condemnation can be laid to the account of those for whom
Christ is not there is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ. He cannot be the Redeemer of
unredeemed men. That's a stupid statement. You
call Him a Redeemer and say He didn't redeem His people? Why
would He wear that title? That's a false title. That don't
belong to Him. not a savior of unsaved men. That would not make him a savior. He is exalted to the right hand
of God, the right hand of the majesty on high because he got
the job done. When he describes him in Hebrews
chapter 1 as a glorious creature, having the effulgence of God's
glory, doing all things by the word of His power, upholding
all things, the glorious message of God, Jesus Christ the Lord. It says, When, uh-oh, something
happened sometime, if it's the word WHEN there, WHEN He had
purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Father.
He got the job done. He finished salvation. He completed
it. He perfected forever those for
whom He died. He put away their sin by the
sacrifice of Himself, made them accepted, made them righteous,
holy, justified, sanctified, and complete. For whomever His
blood was shed, their sin was remitted, and there'll never
be any more sacrifice according to God. Those for whom He died
will never be charged with sin. Either He actually redeemed His
people or no one. has ever been redeemed. The sixth
statement is this. The Holy Spirit effectually gives
faith to all whom Christ died for, or He does. The work of the Holy Spirit is
to reveal to the elect what Christ has done for them, not what they
can or must do, but what He has done for them. And Paul wrote
to the first Corinthians, setting forth that the wisdom of this
world means nothing, has nothing to do with the salvation of God's
people. He said in 1 Corinthians chapter
2, verses 9 through 11, he says, But it is written, I
have not seen nor heard, neither hath entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Now most people think most preachers use that to preach about heaven,
but this is not what it's about. It's about the gospel. It's about
the gospel which Paul has been speaking about all along, this
mystery in the Word of God, which God ordained before the world
for our glory. The second time the word predestination
is used in the Scriptures right there in the New Testament, the
word proorizo. but I have not seen or heard
what God has prepared for them. But, wait a minute, nobody's
eyes seen it, nobody's ears heard it, but God hath revealed them
to us by His Spirit. What a miracle faith is! For
the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. What man knoweth the things of
man save the spirit of man? We understand each other because
we're alike. Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the spirit of God. Now we have not received the
spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God. Why does
the spirit in us? So we'll know what God's given
us. freely. This is why He's given us. This is why He takes the things
of Christ and shows them unto us. He takes the Word of God
and regenerates the people of God. I don't begin to understand
that. The language that's used in Scripture
is kind of a mysterious language of His own will. Begat He us. He gave us birth with the Word
of Truth. We are born not of corruptible
seed, but incorruptible seed, semen. Even the word of God,
which liveth and abideth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. How does that work? I like that
fellow. I asked that fellow, I said,
how does electricity work? He said, really well. How does the gospel
work? Really well. Does exactly what
it's supposed to do. He's not some religious influence,
some Star Wars force, some nudging influence, some available commodity
at the disposal of man. He is God, the Holy Spirit, the
Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, sovereign in power and effectual
in calling. He reveals Christ to his elect.
He does not operate in the realm of conscience or in the realm
of the law, but in the realm of the invisible spirit imbued
with sovereign sway. does not do anything apart from
this word. He operates in truth. He guides
into truth. He does not operate in the area
of reformation or behavior modification, but in the realm of regeneration,
giving life. He does not convince men of sin
by the law, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ, or what He did,
or wherever He is. When the Spirit comes, Christ
said, when the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, comes, He will convince
men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Unless somebody
goes haywire on those three things, some preacher picks that up and
says, sin, that's for drinking and chewing and messing around
with folks who do. Righteousness, you've got to
be good, you've got to be good to get to glory. Judgment! God's going to judge you if you
sin! That's what they'd say, but that's not what the Spirit
said. Our Lord made it clear there. He'll convince men of
sin and righteousness, of sin, because you believe not on Me.
Of righteousness, because I go to my Father. Of judgment, because
the Prince of this world is cast out. A whole lot of different things
than what those other things are. It's all about Jesus Christ. does not put people in a trance
or manipulate them to all manner of goofy and ludicrous recordable
silliness or ridiculous religious hijinks. The Holy Spirit puts
people in mind of Jesus Christ and His glory, teaching them
and leading them and guiding them into truth. Thy word is
truth. When He teaches, the elect hear. and heed. His people are willing
in the day of His power. They're willing in the day of
His power. And the final stubborn statement is this, God keeps
His people or He doesn't. The Bible clears that He does.
We are kept by the power of God unto salvation. We're kept, Scripture
says, over and over again that's the language. If he didn't keep
his people all would fall into utter ruin. Lord save me or I'll
perish. Lord hold me lest I fall. God keeps his people. I can't keep myself. I'm embarrassed to say I don't
even do a good job of trying. I thank God He keeps me. Let me tell you, if God for a moment lifted His
finger from you, you'd really resort to your old nature and do all
manner of evil. You're not really a good person
and neither am I. I don't keep myself. God keeps
me. The Bible is God's word or it's
not. God is sovereign or it's not. Man is depraved or he's
not. God has chosen a people where
He didn't. Christ actually redeemed those people where He didn't.
The Holy Spirit calls those people where He didn't. God keeps His
people where He doesn't. Now you know. Father, bless us
to understand and pray in Christ's name. Amen.