the the the Bites your attention back to
Jeremiah chapter 32 in verse 27 Our Lord says to Jeremiah the
prophet Therefore thus saith the Lord
behold excuse me behold. I am the Lord the God of all
flesh Is there anything too hard for me? Now this is the Lord's
answer to Jeremiah's assessment that God had somehow failed to
keep his promise. What brought this about? God
had instructed Jeremiah to buy a piece of land that the prophet
would possess. Jeremiah was to invest his own
money and purchased the parcel of real estate, do all the paperwork,
get the receipt and everything, and put the paperwork in an earthen
jar for safekeeping. The prophet followed the Lord's
instruction, and after he did, the Chaldeans invaded and took
possession of the property that he had just purchased. And he
was unhappy about that. Jeremiah was vexed. He began
to consider the possibility that God could not perform what he
had promised He begins to rehearse to God in this chapter all the
things that God had done, the many deliverances that he had
accomplished for Israel. And he did that in order to put
God on the spot concerning the land that he had been instructed
to purchase and had just lost possession of. He's upset. Now, Jeremiah had faced many
nations with the truth. Jeremiah stood boldly and often
alone in the face of the adversaries at the command of God, a fearless
man. Now we find him whining because
he thinks God has failed him about what he spent his own money
for. How often we reveal our unbelief when we trust God for
great big things, but question Him when little things such as
our meager possessions come under fire. God simply answered Jeremiah
with a rhetorical question, stating that He is God of all flesh.
And being the God of all flesh, He's also the God of the Chaldean
flesh that has just possessed this land that Jeremiah had bought. And He keeps His promise to the
prophet. And the fact that he has promised him makes the keeping
of the promise not even an issue with God. He said he's going
to do something. Whatever his purpose, whatever
he has spoken shall come to pass. He's God. And therefore he cannot
fail in what he says he's going to do. The end of this story
is found in the same chapter beginning in verse 37. It says,
Behold, I will gather them from all countries, his people. Whether
I have driven them in my anger and in my fury and in my great
wrath, I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause
them to dwell safely. And they shall be my people,
and I will be their God, and I will give them one heart and
one way, that they may fear me forever for the good of them
and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do
them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts. that they
shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them
to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with
my whole heart and my whole soul." That's the promise kept. But
at the time, Jeremiah didn't believe that God was going to
keep the promise. When our Lord spoke thusly that
He's the God of all flesh, the same kind of language was implored
by our Lord in the high priestly prayer. He prayed in John 17.
He says, Thou hast given me authority power, right, over all flesh,
that I might give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
me. Also referring, when referring to the sad state of the rich
young ruler, saying it would be easier for a camel to pass
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of God. The disciples lamented, who then can be saved? Our Lord
responded, as he did with Jeremiah, with men, it's impossible. but with God, all things are
possible. Not up to men, it's up to God. Conversely, Scripture
declares that there are some things that God cannot do. He
is unable to do these things, not because of lack of power
or ability, but simply that He will not do some things because
they would go against His honor and against His character. These
are called by some self-restrictions of God, for lack of a better
term, And they flow from the essential character of God's
absolute perfection. Because He is perfect. And He
is. God is perfect. It is perfectly
impossible for Him to do some things. Because He's perfect. The beauty of these things is
they form a catalog of positive assurances concerning the destiny
of those whom He has chosen unto salvation from the foundation
of the world. Natural men like to think of
God actually prefer a God who is unable to do some things and
their erroneous emphasis is usually on the vapor of man's ability
and the power to resist God and keep him from achieving his pleasure
or to by their will make God's purpose effectual because they
believe it. They salaciously spew out that
God cannot and will not override or overthrow man's will I heard
Jimmy Swaggart say one time that God was so solicitous, that makes
him a beggar at man's door. God is so solicitous. He's the
God of all glory and the God of all power. What if God would
not overpower man's will? They say things like, God is
a gentleman. He wouldn't overpower man's will. And I simply ask
the question is, do men go to hell willingly? Do they volunteer
for that job? Do they volunteer to go where
the darkness does not cease, and the fire is not quenched,
and the worm dieth not? No, they're going to have to
be cast in, thrown in, and tossed in. You mean God overcomes man's
will to put him in hell? But he won't overcome man's will
to do him eternal good? That's a lousy God if you ask
me. That's a lousy God. They say
things like, in their heretical hallucinations, they use phrases
like, God's hands are tied, or God has done all he can do and
now it's up to you. And these ideas are nothing more
than the serpent's seductive lies in Eden, refined to modern
vernacular designed to make carrion-consuming maggots of the dunghill aspire
to the realm of deity. They are lies brewed in hell's
cauldrons. They are eggs hatched in the
netherworld's nests. incubated by the warm flames
of eternal damnation. Their efforts are made to deify
themselves, that's what man's desire has been since the beginning,
and make God their lapdog. When I say that there are some
things that God cannot do, I am in no way referring to their
wild forays into human depravity, or the up and spoke pipe dreams
of presumed power of the crippled calumny of human will. These
things God cannot do clearly defined in his word are set forth
as an unbreakable iron chain of indisputable evidence that
the work of Christ was an unqualified success. What he did on Calvary's
tree, he accomplished the salvation, the redemption, the sanctification
and justification of all his people. What cannot God do? God cannot lie. Scripture says that. God cannot
lie. In Titus chapter 1 and verse
2 it says, God is not a man that he should lie. So I guess man
is just a liar, isn't he? That's what the scripture says,
let God be true and all men be liars. And we are. Put us in
the right fix, we'll try to lie ourselves our way out of it and
nobody is an exception. Abraham, the father of the faithful,
went before the king King kind of looked like the looks of his
wife. She's a pretty girl. Abraham
said, don't do that. She's my sister. He lied. He lied. The harlot, Rahab, lied. It was a good lie. It was a God-ordained lie. Men
are liars by nature. It's what they do. It's what
they are. But God's not a man that he should lie. God cannot
lie, it says that in Jeremiah chapter, or rather Numbers 23
in verse 19 through 21. God cannot tell a lie. And in
each of those instances in which he cannot lie is a reference
to the salvation of his people, to the deliverance of his people
from sin. God cannot lie. Isn't that good to know? Something
God cannot do, cannot lie. He can be trusted. Secondly,
God cannot change. He cannot change. Men believe
that they can change Him by multiplicity of prayers or grouping in together
and holding hands and get God to do something that He didn't
intend to do. God cannot change. He said that in Malachi chapter
three, verse six. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not. Therefore, because I change not,
You sons of Jacob, which is a typical representation of all the elect,
all the sons of God, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
How come you're not consumed? Shouldn't you be consumed? Don't
you deserve the fires of hell? Isn't every one of their thoughts,
words, and deeds worthy of capital punishment? Of course they are.
Well, why aren't you going to hell? Because God cannot change. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. He is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. And since he has promised the
gift of Christ to his people, grace, mercy, faith, repentance,
and salvation, he's promised all those gifts. If one for whom
he has made these promises does not receive them, that he has
changed. And he said, I change not. I change not. God cannot save
anyone. God cannot save anyone apart
from a perfect sacrifice. It's impossible. Leviticus 22,
21 says God will not accept a sacrifice that is not perfect. It shall
be perfect to be accepted. So we know our sacrifices must
be accepted in someone else and not ourselves. And the only sacrifice
we really can offer is the true sacrifice of the child of God
is praise from our lips, giving thanks unto God for all he's
done for us. His law cannot be ignored. It cannot be ignored. He must be satisfied. God must
be propitiated. Job 25. Turn over there if you
will. Job 25. This is the question
of questions. This is the question that men
don't care to answer anymore, but it's the one question that
needs to be answered always. In Job chapter 25, where therein
lies the heart of the gospel, Verse four it says, how then
can a man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? Those are two really important
questions. Behold even the moon, and it
shineth not. Excuse me, behold even the moon
and it shineth not, yea the stars are not pure in his sight. How
much less pure man that is a worm and the son of man which is a
worm. How can such a one be just with
God? You can't be just in yourself.
You cannot be justified by your works. You cannot do anything
good because there's none that doeth good. You cannot be righteous
for there's none righteous. No, not one upon the face of
the earth. What can you do? Yet there are men and women in
this world who actually claim, and many of them said here this
morning, that I've been justified before God. How can you be just
before God? Only if a perfect sacrifice is
made on your behalf. A perfect sacrifice without splat
or blemish or any such thing. And what is that sacrifice? It
is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not his life. Now
he lived a perfect life. There's no doubt about that.
He lived a perfect life. He lived a perfect life not to
impute that life to us. He lived a perfect life that
he might be a perfect sacrifice. That his death may be imputed
to us. That we died when he died. And
when the question of sin was answered with His death for His
people, then what remained for them was righteousness. Who was
their righteousness? God had made Him to be unto us
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He is our righteousness. We rejoice in that pure, perfect
life because it suited Him, or made Him suitable, if you will,
to be the sacrifice that God would accept. And God did accept
it. A perfect death. Christ has made
that perfect sacrifice. He entered once into the tabernacle,
not made with hands, but offered his own blood on the altar and
obtained eternal redemption for his people. We are not redeemed
with corruptible things like silver and gold or the tradition
of our fathers, but with the precious blood of the Lamb. was
foreordained before the foundation of the world. Christ has perfected
those for whom He died. That perfect sacrifice perfected
those for whom the sacrifice was made. Scripture says in Hebrews
chapter 10, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And they are sanctified according
to verse 10 of that same chapter by the will of God. What does
it mean to say they were set apart in election to be regarded
as holy in the Lord Jesus Christ. He satisfied God. He gave his
life for the church it says in Ephesians chapter 5 and in doing
so presented the church to God without wrinkle or spot or blemish
or any such thing. His bride is beautiful. Typically he says to her in the
Song of Solomon, thou art lovely my love. There's no spot in thee. No spot in thee. If you are in
Christ this morning, you are without sin before a thrice holy
God, before whom the stars, moon, and sun are not pure in his sight,
much less a worm that is born of a woman. You're pure in his
sight. Why? Why? Because God cannot
save a man except by perfect sacrifice. Scripture says that
he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.
He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.
God is propitiated for those for whom this perfect sacrifice
of death was made. He's propitiated. God's satisfied
with you. God's not mad at you. When God
thinks about you, there's a smile on his face if you're his. He's not waiting around the corner
to thump you on the head for doing something bad. You're going
to do plenty bad. You're going to think thoughts you don't even
want to admit you think. You're going to do things you
thought you'd never do. When you want to do something
good, evil is going to be present with you. That which you would
do, you do not. That which you would not, that's
what you do. That's what the scripture says. What kind of
person is that? That's the kind of person that God looks at in
Jesus Christ. Because it was Paul the Apostle
that said that. That's the kind of person God looks at in Jesus
Christ and says, they are without fault. There is no sin in my
child. No sin. No sin. Why? Because a perfect sacrifice
has been made. That's the only thing that will
settle the issue of conscience. It's a perfect sacrifice. If
your conscience is bothering you, I can tell you why it's
bothering you. You're going to yourself or to
the law to try to do something to impress God. The conscience
says, no, that's not enough. And so you keep trying and you
keep failing. What will satisfy a conscience?
The only thing that will satisfy a conscience and clear your conscience
and quiet your conscience is to be in a place where no accusation
can be made against you. Because the conscious is an accuser.
It's that banshee that screams in our bosom all the time. It's
a constant accuser. So you must be in a place where
no accusation can be made against you. Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. It is God that justifies. God
cannot require payment. This is something else God cannot
do. God cannot require payment for the same sin twice. The payment
for sin is death. It's that simple. In that sense,
every one of us, in nature, naturally, every one of us is going to keep
the law. Every one of us is going to be a law keeper. How do we
know that? Don't start quoting the Ten Commandments. Because
you don't keep them and nobody else does. How are you going
to keep the law? How am I going to keep the law? I'm going to
fall over dead one day. I've kept the law naturally.
That's how you keep the law. Because that's what the law requires.
Since the Garden of Eden, that's what is required. In the day
that you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, you shall die. Law and death right together.
Don't make it anything it's not. The law condemns you to die.
what the law saith that saith to them who are under the law
that every mouth might be stopped and the whole world become guilty
before God but if God has punished your sin He will never punish
you again for that sin and the only way God has punished your
sin in time and that's only when it will happen for God's elect
The only time God has punished your sin was 2,000 years ago
on Calvary Street, when your sin was made to be put on the
Lord Jesus Christ, made to meet on the Lord Jesus Christ, when
He was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. There, your sin was
punished. You didn't get off scot-free.
Somebody stood in your room and said and took the punishment
that was due you. It was as if God stood at the
back of this room with an AK-47 and slipped in a clip and started
to pull the trigger and Jesus Christ stepped in front of it
and took every one of the bullets that were due us. God therefore will not and cannot
punish sin twice. The old poet wrote, justice cannot
twice demand payment by bleeding short his head and then again
at mine. The payment for sin is death. The soul that sinneth
it shall die. The wages of sin is death. In the day ye eat of
that fruit ye shall die. Shakespeare wrote, we all owe
God one debt. Now if the payment is made in
full, as stated in the previous point, then it would be unjust
for God to require to be paid again. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather
is risen again who sits at the right hand of the Father making
intercession for us. That's one of the strongest verses for particular
effectual redemption in all of Scripture. If Christ died for
everyone, like this crazy world says, this crazy religious world
says Christ died for everyone, then everyone can stand at the
judgment seat and say, who can condemn me because Christ has
died? But that ain't gonna work. Because
He didn't die for everyone. He died for His people. He died
for His church. He died for His sheep. I laid down my life for
my sheep. He gave His life for the church. This is who He died
for. And because their sin has been
punished in Jesus Christ, they will never be punished again. The world likes to say that God
loves everyone. Loves and just loves them up
real good. Part of the reason they say things
like that is because they don't understand what love is to start
with. and they use their love which is puny and ineffectual
and often unrequited to gauge God's love by that. Whoever God
has loved God has saved or else he don't love them. But they
say God loves you all the way up to you get right to eternity
and you need to stand before the judgment seat because you
haven't accepted him in your lifetime then he put you in hell.
What kind of love is that? I'll tell you what it is. It
says two things. First of all, God loved you and then He hated
you. That makes Him a change and He
cannot change. He cannot change. Secondly, it makes Him unjust
because if He punished your sin in Jesus Christ and then punishes
in you, He's punishing you for the same sin twice and God cannot
do that. God cannot do that. It would
make the death of Christ no value. It would make God a liar because
He inspired the words of Hebrew 10 to be written. that he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Paul preached the
gospel, how that Christ died according to scriptures and was
buried according to scriptures and arose again according to
scriptures. How did he die? He died as the substitute. He had purged our sins. He sat
down on the right hand of the Father on high. Listen to me. I know people in religion like
say, well, are we going to leave the judgment smelling like sulfur? No, we're not. Perfect love casteth out fear. And we don't fear the judgment,
because as Christ is, so are we in the world. He has borne
the judgment of God for us, and we are in heavenly places in
Christ right now. There we are seated. God cannot
require payment for the same sin twice. Finally, listen very
carefully. God cannot put anyone in hell
for whom Christ died. He cannot put anyone in hell
for whom Christ died. Everyone for whom Christ died
will be saved eternally. These are His words. That's why
they named Him what they named Him. They didn't name him Timothy. They didn't name him Hefty. They didn't name him any of those
things. They didn't name him Sylvester, why not? Sylvester
has to do with going into the woods. Timothy means noble. It certainly don't apply to me,
but that's my name anyway. Why did they call him Jesus?
This is from the word of God from heaven? He said, you named
that boy Jesus. Why? Because He, Jesus, shall
save His, whose? Jesus, His people. From what? From their sins. Their sins. His people from their sins. You
call Him Jesus. You call Him Jesus. He gonna
save His people and has saved them from their sins. John 6,
37. To answer unbelief. Our Lord
says, I know you don't believe in me. I know you won't come
to me. I know you don't believe I'm the bread of life, the manna
from heaven. I know you don't believe that. And I'm just so
upset I'm going to wring my hands over heaven because it's just
such a bad thing that you won't believe on me. Did he say that?
I know you don't believe on me, but all that the Father giveth
me will. All that the Father giveth me
will come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out, for I came down from heaven not to do mine own will,
but the will of him that sent me. And this is my Father's will,
which has sent me, that of all he has given me I lose nothing,
but raise it up again in the last day." He said that three
times in the same passage of Scripture. John 10, 29. Again, answering
unbelief. John 10 26 answering unbelief.
You know we say we ought to be nice to folks. I think you ought
to be nice to folks too. You ought to never be a mean
person. I train my children to always be kind no matter what
and try your best to show mercy in every situation. It's the
best thing to do. But we ought not be so readily
malleable when someone don't believe the gospel. When they
say they don't believe, well, just tell them as Christ did.
All that the Father gives me is going to come. And he said
in John 10, 26 to those who didn't believe him, those Pharisees.
He says, well, you don't believe on me, I know that. But my sheep
hear my voice. And they follow me. And the reason
you don't believe is because you're not my sheep. If you was
my sheep, you'd believe. They follow me, and I give unto
them eternal life, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. The Lord hath appeared of old
to me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love,
therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee, said in Jeremiah
31, which is the chapter of Jeremiah that introduces the gospel that
is quoted throughout the New Testament, that new covenant,
that new covenant. What God cannot do, cannot lie,
cannot change, cannot save anyone without a perfect sacrifice,
cannot require payment for sin twice, cannot put anyone in hell
for whom Christ died. You see, it's what God cannot
do assures us of a sure salvation in Jesus Christ. To Him be glory
forever. Never doubt that what you believe
and what you tell people concerning Christ is not effectual. It is. God said it would be. Now don't go by the standard
of religion today and start counting numbers. Don't do that. Know this, that
when you tell folks what Christ has done for you, it changes
them forever. It always does. When you leave
this building today, Whether you're a believer or
an unbeliever, you won't be the same. You can't hear the gospel and
not be changed. It does something to your soul. It does something
to your heart. It does something to your mind. It'll save you
or damn you. One or the other. Father, bless
us through our understanding of prayer in Christ's name.