But we pray that he'll have good services out in Missouri. I'm sure he'll enjoy being out
there for a while. But we miss him dearly. Let's
start our service this morning by singing hymn number 222. Is
that right? 222. Stan's gonna lead the singing
this morning. My voice is terrible, so. We'll get through this. We'll
get through this some way. All right, 222. ? There is a
fountain filled with blood ? ? Drawn from Emmanuel's veins ? And sinners
but beneath that what? Lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. And sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. And there may I Wash all my sins
away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. And there may I no violence be. Wash all my sins away in a ne'er-dying
lamp, I pray. never lose its power, till all
the ransomed church of God be safe to sin no more, be safe
to sin no more, be safe sin no more. Till all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to sin no more. E'er since, by faith, I saw the
stream, like flowing wounds applied, Eating love has been my thing
and shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. And shall be till I die. Redeemer has been my theme. and shall be till I die. When this port is beached and
ring-tongued by sun in the grey, then in an older, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. Thank you, Stan. All right, let
me turn in our scriptures this morning. We're taking our scripture
from 1 Timothy. Second Timothy, rather. Second Timothy, chapter one. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9, Paul says, Who has saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace which He has given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Does anybody have any special
requests this morning before we have prayer? We certainly
want to remember Tim and Debbie. Lord, give them a safe trip back
home. And bless Tim and the pulpit
this morning. All right. Our Father, we approach
your throne of grace once again this day thanking you for your
great mercy and love toward us in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Thanking
you, Lord, for this another opportunity to enter in, Lord, to the house
of prayer to worship you. We pray, Father, that you would
help us in worship this morning, united in prayer and supplication
looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, praying,
O Lord, that thy divine spirit will be with us in our worship,
for we know that there is no true worship, Lord, except it
be in spirit and in truth. And we pray, O Lord, that you'd
help us, Lord, to enter into your word this morning, that
we might say right things about thee, Lord, that you might give
us your presence, Lord, in the message
today. We ask you, Father, to bless
those that are shut in and of our number, those afflicted.
So much suffering in our land today, Lord. So much trouble
and trials and tribulations, Lord, that our people's going
through. But just help us, Lord, to look always to you and trust
in you, Lord, because you told us that you'd never leave us
or forsake us. And you've given us faith, oh
Lord, to believe your blessed word. We know that thy word is
truth. We rest, Lord, in your unchanging
grace. Help us this day, Lord, as we
continue, Lord, in our worship service. Be with us, Lord, today
as we Speak from your word, but we ask these things in Christ's
name, for his sake. Amen. Okay, Stan. What's the next? Verse seven,
chapter, page 17. I'm about fount of every blessing. To my heart do sing thy praise. Streams of mercy never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet. Sunlight fading comes above,
raise the mountain fixed upon it. Mount of thy redeeming love
Here I raise my Ebenezer Hither by thy help I'm come And I hope
by thy good pleasure Safely to arrive at home Jesus saw me when
a stranger, wandering from the fold of God. He, to rescue me
from danger, interposed his precious blood. Oh, to grace how great
a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be. Let Thy goodness, like
a feather, bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander,
Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave Thy God I love. Here's my heart, oh, they can't
steal it, steal it for thy courts above. Okay. Brother Fred, would you come
and receive the offering this morning? Father, we approach thy throne
of grace once again today. We thank you, Lord, for this
gathering. Thank you, Father, for your goodness and mercy towards
us in Christ Jesus. We pray, O Lord, that you would
help us, O Lord, to worship you this day. And, Lord, we pray
that you would bless the offering that's given, knowing, Father,
that all that we have, Lord, is from your gracious hand. Help us, O Lord, with love and
charity, Lord, to return a portion of what you've given us back
to thee, Lord, for the furtherance of your gospel. We praise you,
granted in Christ's name, amen. Go ahead, Stan, you got another
one? I once was lost but now I'm found. Was blind but now I see. Grace that taught my heart to
fear. And grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear. The hour I first believed too
many dangers told. I have already come, dear strength
that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. When we've been there ten thousand
years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing
God's praise. Well, I'm moving a little slow
this morning, but you guys pray for me. Our text, as we said, was 2 Timothy
1.9. He said, Who has saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not of our works, but according
to His own purpose and grace, which was in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Now, in today's religious world, not much thought goes into what
folks say that they believe. It's more or less just religion
that's been handed down through the generations, and they believe something. They say they believe in Christ. Much like the woman at the well,
when our Lord went through that area, especially
to see this woman, and she began to tell him that They worshipped
in the mountains. He said, you know not what you
worship. And it's sad to say that much
of religion in our day is people worshipping. They use the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But they don't have much thought
in really what they believe. They believe that he died on
the cross. They believe that he rose the third day and he resurrected and went back
to glory and will return again to receive his people unto himself. But when you start speaking scriptures
to people, they don't seem to grasp Who really Jesus Christ
is, what He done, why He done it, and what He accomplished in His
death. You know it and I know it, and
we were once there ourselves. That's why I can speak with some
authority. religion for many years, and
in ignorance. I didn't understand these things.
But there are some things that are essential for us to believe
and to understand in order to worship God in spirit and in
truth. Because if his truth is not there,
his spirit is not there. And I know a lot of people, they
say, I know I'm a spiritual person. They don't even realize what
spiritual is, what it means. They think it's emotion. Feeling
good, shouting, you know, it's an outward thing. I know they
say I feel it in my heart. Well, God's people feel in their
hearts also. Like the Jews, Paul said, I bear
them record. They have a zeal of God, but
it's not according to knowledge. They, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, are going about establishing to establish their
own righteousness and have not submitted to the righteousness
of God. It's a little off of what I'm
going to preach on, but it's important for people to understand
these things. So modern religion is shallow
at best, and people are moved by emotion and force of excitement. When you try to engage people
in discussion, you'll find that not many know anything about
scriptures except a few well-publicized verses that are, for the most part,
taken totally out of context. I Peter 3, verse 15 says, But
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. And be ready to give
an account, give an answer to every man that asketh you for
a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.
That requires some knowledge. And I've asked people, you know,
what do you base your belief that you're saved upon? I just
know I'm saved. I feel like I know I'm saved.
There's no knowledge there. Why are you saved? How are you
saved? When Paul wanted to influence
his son in the faith, Timothy, he reminded him of solid doctrinal
truth, which he knew him to believe. Some preachers are able to excite
people, but are never instructing them. Spurgeon said they carry
a lot of fire, but little or no light. God said if they speak
not according to the law and the prophets, it's because there
is no light in them. There's a light here on Big Cove
in Cherokee, North Carolina, but there's not much light anywhere
else around here. A religion that's based upon
and sustained and maintained simply by excitement will be
a flimsy substitute for the true worship of God. Men must be enlightened
and instructed in the truth. Scriptural doctrine must furnish
us with powerful motives to act upon." What is the doctrine that Paul
is teaching here? Number one, Paul declares that
God is the author of salvation. He said, Who has saved us and
called us? And Jonah 2, 9 affirms this doctrine. It says salvation is of the Lord.
Well, most people believe that salvation is up to them. It's
in their hands. It's in their decision. But scriptural
doctrine says salvation is God's. It belongs to Him. He gives it
to whom He pleases, when He pleases, where He pleases. It's not in
men's hands whether to reject or receive. It's in God's
hands. It is God. who enlightens and
gives men understanding. When Paul wrote, Who hath saved
us and called us, and notice the order that that's in. A lot
of people think there's things in the Bible that's been inverted,
but that's not so. It's just like when they were
at Pentecost, It says when the Gentiles heard the gospel of
Jesus Christ, they were glad, and it says as many as were ordained
unto life believed. Some people want to turn that
around and say, Well, that was a misprint. What he meant to
say was all those who believed were ordained to eternal life. When were His people saved? Well, in reality, even before He died on the cross, in reality He chose His people
from the foundation of the world, but that salvation was consummated by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ dying on the cross of Calvary. He SAVED us and CALLED us. Well, He refers to all three persons
of the Trinity when He said that. Number one, the Father has saved
us in Ephesians 1, 3-6, and Romans 8, 28, it describes them who
are called according to His purpose. The Father has saved us according
to His purpose. Men have purposed many things
and had a will to accomplish them, but men do not have the
power to accomplish what they purpose and will. We may purpose
to do something particular, some particular thing, or to go to
a particular place, or we'll accomplish our intent, but things
can happen to disannul our desires. we may find that providence has
blocked our way. How many times have you decided
you were going to do something, and something happened and you
didn't get to do it? You see, we don't always have
the power, but God does. He is all-powerful. Satan had a purpose and a will,
didn't he? Isaiah 14, verses 13 and 14,
he said, For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into
heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north, and I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds, and I will be like the Most High.
That was Satan's will. That was his purpose. How's your
will compared to his? Well, he couldn't do it because God is in charge. You're
not, and Satan's not. I know he can cause a lot of
problems, but like Tim has said, he's just
a He's just an ape on God's leash. He can't do anything God don't
want him to do. The Son has saved us. Now, I
just said the Father saved us. The Son has saved us. Christ,
in order to fulfill the covenant that He made with the Father,
came to this Earth and took on the form of a man. And indeed
was man born under the law to fulfill the law and to lay down
his life to redeem every one of those that the Father had
chosen from the foundation of the world. They were called His
sheep, His sons, His elect. They are the children of God. Matthew 121 said, And she shall,
speaking of Mary, the one who gave birth to our
Lord, it says, And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Well then, who are his people? Many would have you to believe
that everybody is His people, and His mission is to try and
to save everyone. Isn't that what religion for
the most part believes? That's not the Scriptures. That's
not God's Word. THIS is God's Word. John 10, 22 says, and it was
at Jerusalem at the Feast of the Dedications And it was winter,
and Jesus walked in the temple of Solomon's porch. Then came
the Jews round about Him, and they said unto Him, How long
are You going to make us wait? I'm paraphrasing that. How long
dost Thou make us to doubt, if You're the Christ? Won't You
just tell us plainly? Jesus answered him, he said,
I told you, and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. You've got the Law and the Prophets.
They told you the things that I do. Tells you that I'm He who
was to come, that I am the Messiah. I told you and you didn't believe
me. but you believe not, because
you are not my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand." So, scriptural Everybody is not
His sons. Everybody is not His children.
He didn't come to seek and to save every man and woman on this
Earth indiscriminately. He come here for His sheep, and
He just plainly told these people they weren't His sheep. So then Christ came to seek and
to save His sheep, and He said, They WOULD hear His voice, and
they WOULD follow Him. It is plain from His speech that
only His sheep can and will hear His voice, and all others will
not hear because they are not His sheep. How many times in
the Word of God does it say, He that hath an ear, let him
hear? Everybody don't have an ear to
hear. physically, but they can't hear
His voice. You know why? They're not His
sheep. That's real unpopular. Religion
don't want to hear that. They don't believe that. John 6, 44 through 46 says, No
man CAN come to Me. Our Lord said that. No man CAN
come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him.
And I'll raise him up at the last day. It is written in the
Prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto Me." Men need to be taught, and preachers and teachers who
know God and know the gospel can teach men. There's nothing
wrong with preacher schools. There's nothing wrong with universities
if they're teaching the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But let me tell you something. A teacher can teach men's heads, but only God can teach a man's
heart. Only God can write His words
in a man's heart. Teachers can't do that. No man can come. The Holy Spirit has saved us,
and I told you the Father has saved us, the Son has saved us,
and now we're talking about the Holy Spirit has saved us. Who
but the Holy Spirit gives us power to understand the gospel?
The gospel is by revelation of the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2.14 says, But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
For they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. So being spiritual is more than
a feeling. Being spiritual is knowing God.
Being spiritual is being taught by God. being spiritual is having
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to your hearts
by the Holy Spirit. Verses 7 and 8 in that chapter
says, But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the
hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Which none of the princes of
this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have
crucified the Lord of Glory." So He don't teach every man.
He don't reveal every man, but to His sheep. Men like to boast
of free will, but Philippians 2.13 says, For it is God which
worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure. He's the instructor, the comforter,
the quickener. Men are dead by nature, but they're
dead spiritually. The Father has saved us in the
planting, the Son in redeeming, and the Holy Spirit in the applying
of the redemption. All must be spoken of as God,
the triune God. Who can say that we save ourselves? or that we've helped in any way
to save ourselves. Religion says we're saved by
grace. They use the words. But most
believe that Christ died indiscriminately for every person, which means
that Christ's death only makes salvation a possibility. It is only efficacious if a person
lets God save them. that the blood of Christ is only
effective if we, the creature, puts our seal of approval on
it. That's not scriptural. That's
not His Word. Men talk about accepting Christ
as their Savior, and preachers beg men and women to please accept
Jesus. Mankind in his state of nature
is no more than a maggot on a dunghill, and they have the arrogance and
the impotence to believe that they have to accept something
of God. Let me read to you Philippians
3. I should have had that mark,
but I didn't. Philippians 3, 12. Paul, speaking to the Philippian
church, he said, Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. And do
count them but done, that I may win Christ, and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith. that I might know Him and the
power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings
being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already
attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after that
I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ." Apprehended of Christ. That's a wonderful way of putting
it. But that's what God does with His sheep. He apprehends
them just like He did Paul. He apprehended them just like
a fugitive would be apprehended by the law. The law convicted and kills, but Christ makes alive all to be apprehended by Him.
My friends, if God don't accept you, And He leaves you to your
arrogant, self-proclaiming free will. You will perish. According to Scripture, we are
born into this world dead spiritually, dead in trespasses and sin, blind
from birth, blind to anything spiritual. Can a blind man give
himself sight? Can death reach out and take
hold of life? The saved of God are new creatures
in Christ Jesus. They're a new creation. It's
the new birth, being born again, born from above. Did we have anything to do with
that birth? No more than we had to do with
our natural birth. It's God, salvations of God,
salvations of the Lord. Salvations of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ tread the winepress alone
and he finished the work of salvation on Calvary's tree. When he cried,
it is finished, the work was done. It was finished. He didn't make a down payment
on your salvation. and they'll leave you with something
to do. He took away our bondage and he set the prisoner free. We're free. If Christ set you
free, you're free. Quit worrying about your righteousness. He is your righteousness. His people can lay down and go
to sleep at night and know that the work is finished.
You didn't finish it. He finished it on Calvary. And he said, going back to our
scripture, he said, and he called us by a holy calling ALL FOR
WHOM THE SAVIOR DIED ARE IN DUE TIME CALLED BY THE SPIRIT INTO
HOLINESS, NOT BECAUSE OF ANY FORESEEN HOLINESS IN US." There wasn't any holiness in
us. We were dead in trespasses and
sin, fallen in Adam. sinners by choice and practice. As I said before, men like to
boast of their supposed free will. And our Lord told the religious
people in that day, He said, You won't come to me. You come If you come, it will be because
grace inclined your heart. It will be because the Holy Spirit
apprehended you and revealed something to you that you didn't
know before. He revealed unto you the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and you loved Him. because he loved you first. John 6, 65 says, And he said,
Therefore I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except
it be given unto him by my Father. It is the Holy Spirit that makes
them willing in the day of his power. Religion says live good as you
can and go to church and give your tithes and offerings. Be
of good report. In other words, behave yourself
and God will save you. That's not Scripture. That's
not God's Word. But that's what religion says
for the most part. Stand on your good works and
hold fast to your own righteousness and God will damn your soul. Didn't they say on that day,
that day before they stood before the Lord, and they said, Lord,
we've done many wonderful works in your name. Depart. He said,
depart from me. I never knew you. You're not
my sheep. I don't know you. But according, he said, in our
scripture lesson, it says, but according to his own purpose
and grace, not according to man's purpose and merit, but his purpose. He said, In whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated unto the purpose
of him that worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will. Romans 9 said, For he saith to
Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll have
compassion on whom I'll have compassion, so then it is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy." Men don't know anything about
those scriptures. He said, which was given us. This wondrous thing was given
us. He said, where then is boasting? which were sold to us or which
was offered to us. I've had men to tell me that
faith is a gift of God. But they had to receive that
gift. They could reject it. That men have power and the right
to turn down the gift of faith. If it were so, you would have
something to boast in. In other words, if they say they're
saved, they say, I was wise enough to take God's offer, take God
up on His offer. How can man say that? But they
do. In Christ Jesus, He said, All
the blessings of God are in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He is our mediator
and our intercessor. Before the world began, where
were you before the world began? Where were your merits there? God's sheep are virtually saved
in the beginning, but not actually. He said, But we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. When was this beginning? Well, I know it was before I
believed on Christ. I know it was before I was born. I know it was before Christ died
for me on the cross over 2,000 years ago. You know when the beginning was?
Turn to John 1, verse 1. He said, In the beginning was
the Word. And the Word was with God and
the Word was God. That was the beginning. He said,
God hath chosen you from the beginning. What a wondrous thing. That God in His purpose, and
His purpose always stands, He declared the end from the beginning. and his word shall never fail. He chose a people and he gave
them to his son that in time that he would come and redeem
every one of them by the shedding of his own blood. Religious men
hate these doctrines because they expose their self-image.
It strips men of pride and self-worth, but it makes some people glad.
It's a comfort to those who have ceased from their labors of trying
to produce a righteousness that at best are filthy rags. He tells us to cease from our
labors and rest in Christ. Isn't that what he told his disciples
in Matthew 11? He said, All you that labor and are heavy
laden, I'll give you rest. Want to rest. They no longer try to keep on
keeping on because the work is finished and they rest in Christ. Father, we thank you again for
this opportunity. to tell men and women about you, about your glory, your glory in saving lost sinners. In Christ's name we pray, amen.