Well, thank you for everything,
for having me here, for inviting me. It's been a treat. Somebody
asked me this morning, are you preaching this morning? I said,
we'll see. Reminded of a story, a true story. I think we were preaching down
in Sylacauga when Henry Breedlove was still a pastor down there
many years ago. We were at somebody's house,
it was kind of like a farmhouse, and Doris Mahan and Henry were
there. several other preachers, and we were sitting around a
table and we were just telling stories as preachers often do. And Doris
began telling a story about Kent Clark when he was a young man
in a singing group from a Bible college. And I think there were
an octet, there were four girls and four boys, and they traveled
around and sang at different churches, sang gospel music or
some kind of music, something like that. One night they were
singing at a church, and they were told they were going to
stay at this man's house. So they all showed up, the four
boys and the four girls. And the preacher said, well,
you all stay in here. And he opened up a room, and there was
like eight beds in one room. And Kent looked in there, and
he knew that the boys and the girls were going to have to stay
in the same room all night. He got kind of verklempt about
it. And he said, well, we can't do that. The fellow says, why
not? You're Christians, ain't you? And Doris looked at me and said,
What would you have said, Tim? I said, Well, I'll let you know
in the morning. So I'll let you know in a little
bit whether we preached or not today. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 20.
Now when I finish this, and as I'm preaching it, you're going
to think that there's been some collusion between me and Brother
Bruce. Because as he was preaching,
I was thinking, well, that's what I'm going to preach. And he was
quoting Scripture, and I said, well, that's what I'm going to
quote. But trust me, Bruce and I aren't smart enough to be colluders. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 20. And we know that the Son of God
is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know
Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in
His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. This passage of Scripture is
a kind of grand iconoclast concerning men's natural thoughts about
God and religion. For years I've heard people,
even people who say they believe grace, and I believe many do,
speak of the knowledge of the truth as being something that
they learned After they were saved. After they were saved.
And when I asked them what they meant, they usually spoke of
an experience they had when they were young, or when they were
in trouble, or when they were convinced to walk down some aisle
at some church. At which time they accepted the
Lord. And that's usually the terminology they use. I accepted
the Lord. If you believe that, you're wrong. First of all, in order to accept
anything, you must judge whether or not it's acceptable. Deem
it's acceptable. And if you're a maggot on a dunghill,
I just don't believe you have the right or warrant to deem
or judge the King of all glory as acceptable. If anyone is accepted,
it's you. And it's God alone who must do
the accepting. People who speak in such language
usually go on in a peaceful oblivion, believe that they are saved to
the uttermost, attending worship services, singing hymns and hearing
of a God that was not the God that they now suddenly believe.
Yet they hold on to the premise that they were saved back then. Somewhere in their journey they
heard the truth or read the truth and then embraced the truth of
the doctrine of God's free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus
Christ. They speak of a time when they
came to the doctrine of grace or a time when they saw the truth. all the while claiming that all
the time they did not know the truth and did not believe the
doctrine, that they were yet saved because they believed on
Jesus. Now, there's so much wrong with
that that I can't begin to tell you all of it. First, it makes
no sense. It makes no sense whatsoever. If one is saved before they heard
the truth and now suffers because of the truth, and that suffering
comes from those with whom they once stood while they were saved,
why not just deny the truth that you now believe and opt for that
which you believed back then, after all, it was sufficient
to save you and to give you eternal life? Why put yourself in needless
trouble if the truth you believe now cannot save you any more
than the so-called truth you believed back then? It's kind
of masochistic to embrace something painful. when it does not affect
anything having to do with eternal life. If indeed you were saved
before you knew the truth, then why bother with the truth altogether,
especially when it alienates you from the people who have
not embraced the truth, but believe what you believed when you were
saved? That sounds to me like you're
trying to be different, maybe trying to be a martyr or something
like that for some cause of truth that you now imagine that you've
embraced. which in the final analysis,
according to you, had nothing to do with your eternal life.
Why bother? If you believed you were saved
before you heard the truth, don't start talking about the truth.
You'll be a lot better off in this world. Just go back to where
you were before. Peaceful, happy as a hog in mud. There's no problem.
If the Christ that folk were preaching saved you back then,
why are you swimming upstream now? Doesn't make any sense.
By your own admission, the truth has had no part in your knowing
God. None whatsoever. And knowing
God is what it's all about. Knowing God. Christ said, the
Father has given me authority over all flesh to give eternal
life to as many as He's given me. And this is eternal life.
That you know God. The true and living God. Even
Jesus Christ whom you have seen. Henry Mahan used to tell a story.
I believe it was a man of a man in his church who was eating
breakfast one Sunday morning with his wife and heard a knock
on the door. He went to the door and opened it up There's a man
standing there and the man just said this, do you know Jesus
Christ? And the fellow shut the door
and went back and sat down at the table and his wife said,
who is that? He said, some fellow. And she
said, what's wrong? He said, well, he asked me if
I knew Jesus Christ. She said, did you tell him you
was a deacon and a Sunday school teacher? He said, that's not
what he asked. Do you know Jesus Christ? That's
eternal life. That's eternal life. Some might
say that what folks mean is that they've grown in grace. when
they talk about coming to the truth or seeing the truth after
they were saved. But growth in grace is most surely
a facet of eternal life in Jesus Christ. There's no doubt that
you grow in grace, but I guarantee you this, you've never seen yourself
grow. Have you? I used to want to see myself
grow. I used to want to be a big strong fellow. So I started lifting
weights. It didn't last long. I didn't
like it. It was boring. But for about three or four weeks,
I'd lift barbells and dumbbells, and I'd go back to the mirror
and look, and no change. So I'd go lift and pump a few
more reps, and I'd go back and look, and there's no change.
I wanted to be 6'5". I used to stretch myself to make
myself think I was going to be tall. I never saw myself grow,
ever. Not one millimeter. And you haven't
either. So don't expect to see yourself
grow in grace, either. I'll tell you how you can be
sure you will. Make sure you get the proper nourishment. Come
and dine when the gospel is preached. And you will grow. And you'll
look back someday and say, oh, I've grown a little bit. But
you won't see it happen. But growing in grace is a process,
a facet of eternal life in Jesus Christ. But growth in grace does
not present an opposite view of Christ. It doesn't. It presents
a fuller view, a greater view, more understanding. It is not
growth in grace to believe that salvation is conditioned on free
will one day and the next to believe that salvation is conditioned
wholly on the person and work of Christ. That's not growth
in grace. That ain't growth at all. I believe that's repentance
unto life. I believe that's what that is.
Growth in grace does not come from learning the opposite of
what you formerly believed. That's not growth in grace. Growth
in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ presupposes,
first of all, a true knowledge of who Jesus Christ is, an understanding
of Jesus Christ to begin with. Now our text declares why and
how this knowledge and understanding came to be in us and what this
understanding is. Clearly the context reveals that
what the believer knows and what the world knows are completely
opposite of each other. Look at verse 19. And we know
that we are of God. You'll find two words used a
great deal in the beloved disciples' writings. The word love or loving. And the word know, or knowing,
he says that a whole lot. We know that we've passed from
death to life because we love the brethren. We know that, he
said. And we know that we are of God. And we also know this, that the
whole world lies in wickedness. There's a real distinction there.
Make no mistake about this. What the believer knows is the
killer and the nemesis of false religion. Verse 18 says this,
We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that
is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth
him not." Toucheth him not. John in our text makes clear
distinction about the understanding that is given to the believer.
He does so by repeating a word three times in verse 20. He repeats this word, true, true. And this word is an adjective.
It's attached to and used to modify or distinguish the noun
to which it's attached. And no matter how this word is
used, it's always a word that makes a clear distinction. If
you say something is true, you've made a distinction whether you
know it or not. You see, truth is absolute. It's absolute. The root word for heresy in the
Greek language, you know what it is? You know what heresy,
the first word definition of heresy in the Greek language
is? Opinion. The first word, that's the first
meaning of it. What does that mean? If truth is absolute, all
you can do is bow to it. You can't even opine. You can't,
because it's the truth. Well, this is what I think about
it. You're a heretic. This is the way I see it. You're a heretic.
You don't have an opinion about the truth. You bow to the truth
because it's an absolute. You opine about other things,
but not about the truth. Because when the truth is set
forth, it makes a distinction of all that is not the truth
is a lie. Everything else but the truth
is not the truth. It's not the truth. Some folks
say, well, that fellow preaches some truth. If he preaches some
truth, he's preaching all lies. The truth is absolute and it's
therefore distinctive. And we may attach this to the
most mundane thing, but in doing so, we're also distinguishing
that true mundane thing from the false mundane thing, whether
we know it or not. It stands then that if a person
says that he has come to the truth, everything prior to his
knowledge of the truth is a lie, is a lie. A person who made a
profession under a system of teaching and says later that
he came to the truth, if he's truthful, He's declaring that
the former system was not the truth. Was not the truth. Lest
he believe that the truth is just a more logical and reasonable
presentation of the lie. But it's not. It's the truth.
John speaks of knowing him that is true. Knowing him that is
true. Being in him that is true. And the true God. He further
states that this is eternal life. So if the God you believed is
not true, and the Son He begat is not true, and the one you
profess to be in is not true, you don't have eternal life.
That simple. This is life eternal that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou
hast sent. Now since this is eternal life,
the knowledge and the understanding that is spoken of does not have
to do with growth or Learning by experience, because both of
those things occur only in those who are already alive. The knowledge and understanding
that is referred to here is essential understanding and essential knowledge. And let me say this, the doctrine
of grace is not higher thinking. It's Salvation 101. It's primary
school. It is. It's what you learn. when
you learn the gospel. It's what God teaches you when
He teaches you the gospel. We know that the new birth is
an act of God, accomplished through the Word of God. James 1.18 says,
Of His own will beget He us with the Word of truth. How does that
work? I have no idea. I really don't.
It's not for me to know, though. I know somehow the preaching
of the gospel is part of that process. So I do that part. Whatever else happens, I don't
know anything about it. Kind of like electricity. A fellow
says, how does electricity work? Real well. And that's how the gospel works.
It works real well. Works real well. It's God's gospel.
The Bible never tells us how to be born again. Though Billy
Graham wrote a book about it, the Bible never tells us how
to be born again. But here in this passage of John,
I believe, is as close a definition of how the new birth takes place
as found in all of Scripture. Now, this is not knowledge gained
through extensive use of theological libraries or personal study on
any level, whether at home or in seminary. Many years ago,
I was in Waynesville, North Carolina, a little hardware that I like
to go to, home of these two old women. It was just one of those
little buildings that they used to build. It was about 12 feet
wide and about 60 feet deep. And it was just packed with all
kinds of tools and old horse harnesses and bits. I mean, it
just had everything you could imagine. had little lead things
that you could heat up and seal up coffee pots. I guess back
then they didn't think you knew you was going to get lead pouring
and die from it, but things like that, tinker stuff. And I had
on my check, because I thought this might impress somebody when
I first started preaching, I reckon, I had Tim James, pastor of Sequoia
Baptist Church, and he gave the number. That lasted one check
cycle. But I gave it to the lady, and
I wrote the check, and maybe I thought that since I was a
pastor that they might not ask me for an ID, I don't know. She
said, oh, you're a pastor. I said, yes, ma'am. She said,
where did you go to seminary? I said, well, I didn't go to
seminary. She says, well, how do you think it affected your
ministry? I said, I think it helped. I do. This knowledge that you have
of Christ Jesus, you don't get from studying. This is essential,
primary. This knowledge comes to the elect
immediately upon hearing the gospel. Immediately. And this
is essential primary understanding. You know why? Because it's eternal
life. That's what it says. This is the knowledge of the
true God and truth and the Lord Jesus Christ who is true. As
our brother said already, this knowledge is revelatory. Revelatory. It comes by revelation and that
through the preaching of the true gospel. You believed, Paul
said to the Ephesian church, after you heard the word of truth,
the good news that you were saved. That's what you heard. You didn't
hear you could be, did you? It's the good news of your already
possessed salvation. The gospel tells you what you
have, not what you can get or what you might work up to. or
what you might try for, or what you might get if you believe.
The Gospel tells you what you have if you're one of the elect. You believed after you heard
the Word of Truth. Salvation, eternal life, is a
revelation. Our Lord looked at a group of
people who had rejected both His message and John's message,
and He lifted His eyes to heaven in Matthew 11 and said, I thank
Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid
these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto
babes, even so, Father, for it seemed good in Thy sight. No
man knoweth the Father but the Son. No man knoweth the Son but
the Father, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." He
to whomsoever the Lord will take that sack off his head. John
said, we have an unction from on high. We know everything.
Now I know some people who are preachers have been accused of
acting like that. Well, you think you know everything. Yeah, I
do. I have an unction from Honi. I know everything. The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit. They are foolishness
to them, neither can he know them nor discern them, because
they are spiritually discerned. But the spiritual man discerneth
all things. You know why? Because he has
the mind of Christ. He has the mind of Christ. What does the
Gospel tell you? Turn over here to 1 Corinthians.
Our brother quoted it, but I'm going to read it. So we won't
be doing exactly the same thing. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Verse 9 says this, But as it
is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered
into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him. Now, most people think that's talking about heaven,
but it ain't. It's talking about the gospel. It's talking about the mystery
that he's been talking about in the previous verses here.
But God hath revealed to us by His Spirit. Well, I have not
seen and ear heard. I don't know about that. Well,
I do. If you're a child of God, you do too. God has revealed
them by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even
so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the
Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things that God
could do for us if we only exercise our free will. No, that's not
what it says. That we might know the things that God might do
for us if we make a decision for Jesus. Is that what it said?
Here's what the gospel tells you. God has given you some things,
and now you know what they are. What has He given you? He given
you eternal life. I didn't know that. You do now. You do now. He given me peace,
eternal peace. He given me rest, rest from my
labors. I didn't know that. You do now.
If you've heard the gospel, with the hearing ear and the seeing
eye that God alone can give. Our text plainly sets forth three
characters here who are said to be those of whom God gives
His people understanding. They understand these three characters
that God sets forth. And this eventuates in them having
God and therefore eternal life. The three characters are God,
His Son, and us. He's going to give you an understanding
of these three characters. And when you have them, You'll
know you have them because you have eternal life. The essential
knowledge is that God gives His people understanding of Himself,
of His Son, and of themselves. The only record that we can rely
upon as real is the record that God has left us, the Holy Bible,
the Word of God, the true Word of God. The Lord said, sanctify
them with your truth. Your Word is truth. Your Word
is truth. The truth shall set you free.
We don't apply to Webster's or Spurgeon or even Gill to know
God. Only His Word by the Gospel,
preached by one whom He has sent, reveals who He is in truth. Who is God? Who is God? Moses said, Lord, show me Your
glory. Show me what glorifies You. Now,
you would think that he had already seen some of that, wouldn't you?
I mean, he had caused ten plagues to come upon Egypt. He had had
his people kill lambs and put blood on the doorpost and go
through Egypt and get blood at every house. Whether the blood
of a substitute or the blood of the firstborn of the house,
he got blood at every house. He said, God's going to get blood.
God must have blood. God's got to have a death. Shakespeare
said that we all owe God one death. We owe Him one death for
our sin. Show me a glory. Well, I parted
the Red Sea. I didn't know what he said. Show
you my glory. I'm going to lead these people
with a cloud by day and a fiery pillar by night. I'm going to
surround them where no harm can come to them. I'm going to tell
you what, I'm going to control the bacteria. Muraine ain't going
to be able to land on their cattle. Muraine ain't even got a free
will before God. Control everything. That's my
glory, ain't it what he said? Lord, show me your glory. He
said, here's my glory. I will make all my goodness pass
before you. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before you. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I will be gracious unto whom
I will be gracious. There's my glory. That's who
God is. The glorious God who does as
He pleases in heaven and earth and all the deep places. In Job
33, verses 12 and 13, it speaks of God who does not give account
of His matters. He's an absolute sovereign. He's
an absolute sovereign. He's not going to tell you what
he's doing. It ain't none of your business. Well, I'm his
creature. Now, shut up. Wait around. You'll see what's
going to happen. He's God. He don't give account of his
matters. He doesn't. I was preaching not long ago.
And you know, you always answer a fool according to his folly.
You try your best to be kind and generous to people. Some
people just require a slap upside the head with a two-by-four to
get their attention. And this lady come up after I'd preached
not long ago, and she said, look at me, square in the face with
a hearty look. mean spirit, she says, I don't
believe in God. And I said, you think he loses
any sleep over that? You think he cares? Do you think
he cares? He cares enough to make sure
his elect believe. But our Lord said in John chapter
six, when those fellas didn't believe him, he looked at him
and he says, you know, y'all don't believe me. He said, I've done these
works, spoke to you the truth. You don't believe who I am. But
listen, All that the Father gives me is going to come to me. And
not one of them is going to be 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 He sent me. Of all He's
given me, I ain't going to lose nothing. Y'all don't believe?
Don't worry about it. I ain't. God's not in heaven
wringing His hands because you don't believe. God's got His
people. They're going to believe. The elect are going to believe.
That's why we preach the gospel here. Why we send missionaries
out. Because we know that the sheep are out there and they've
got ears ready to be perked up. They just don't know it yet.
But when they hear the voice of Christ through the word of
the gospel, those ears perk up and they say, oh, I believe.
How come? Because you're a believer. You're
a sheep. And that's what sheep do. Isaiah
14, verse 24 through 27 says, God's thoughts come to pass. Whatever He thinks, whatever
passes through His glorious divine mind comes to pass because He's
God. That's who God is. Absolute sovereign
over all the earth. Stand upon the hill and say unto
Jerusalem, Behold your God, behold Him, the One who created the
universe in a span, a span. You know what a span is? That's
a span. Now does God have hands? He's
Spirit. What's He telling us? That the entire universe, which
our great Hubble telescope can't even begin to start to commence
to reach the outer limits of, or really the inner limits of
our own solar system and galaxy, God created it. And it all fits
right in here. The mountains, he weighs them. The nations are dust on the scales. What do you do with dust on the
scales? You don't do anything with it. You just leave it there.
It don't matter. If it's dust, it don't weigh anything anyway.
It's of no value, no weight, no substance. The nations are
a drop of the bucket, not a drop in the bucket. It's when you're
reeling up the bucket, that little drop on the bottom of the bucket
that drops down, and you go, oh my soul, I've lost that drop.
You say, it's just a drop of the bucket. It don't matter.
You don't matter. I don't matter. Save in His grace. He raises up princes. I sure
hope Hillary don't get elected this year. What if she does? If she does, it's God who put
her there, and God will take her down. Don't start cursing
second causes. Don't get so mad about what's
going on. No matter what the event, no matter how disturbing,
no matter how hurtful, no matter how much it makes you worry,
God has never, ever vacated His throne. Ever. Well, I'm so mad
about this. Well, stop being mad about it.
Everything is on schedule. Precisely and exactly. You know how happy we'd be if
we stopped cursing second causes? We stop looking at circumstance
and judging God by circumstance rather than judging circumstance
by God. I expect we'd be happy people
in this world. Old Nebuchadnezzar found it out, didn't he? He said,
I found it out. My sanity come back to me. I
found out that God does what He wants to do. He rules in the
heavens. He rules among the armies of
heavens and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay
His hand. They can't stop Him. They can't
even say, what are you doing? Because they have no right. You
can't say what doest thou. That's the God of Scripture.
That's who God is. Jesus Christ has come that we
might know God. That's what our text says, that
we might know God. God creates evil. He creates
Good. He creates light. He creates
darkness. He said, I do all this. He said,
I create the wicked for the day of evil. I take a lump of adamic
clay and I run my hand right down the middle of it and I split
some over here and I split some over there and I take these and
I make them vessels to be used by me for a while. And they're
common vessels. They mean nothing to me. I really
just put up with them for a while. And I use them for my purpose
and when I'm done with them, I throw them on the pile where
the rest of the pots are. But I take these here, same clay,
same outfit, same makeup, and I mold these, and I make them
vessels of honor and vessels of mercy. And I pour my mercy
and my honor into my vessels, and I sign my name to them as
the trophies of my grace. Say, I don't seem fair. He's
not going to give you account of his matters. He's God, and
you're not. You remember Saturday Night Live
when Chevy Chase, you say, I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not.
God says, I'm God, and you're not. You are not. He runs the
show. He runs the show. Who is God? He's the absolute, infinite,
glorious, divine, majestic, all-powerful, omnipotent, omniprescient, most
high potentate, the omniscient God who controls everything. Your next breath is His. You just get to hold one at a
time. Have you ever noticed that? Try to take a breath and then
try to take another and not let the first one go. Seeshe from
man whose breath is in his nostrils. That means who can only hold
one breath at a time. You know what your life is? If
He don't give you the next one, you're gone. He's God. Majestic. Wondrous. Absolutely
sovereign. What is man? He ain't much. You
read the book of Job, he's described as a worm. A worm. vile, unclean, drinks iniquity
like water. Imagine this is iniquity, that
which opposes God, that which is against God on every hand,
that which despises God and wishes God was not on his throne and
would like to stick a knife in God's heart and rip him from
his throne. Enmity against God. Man drinks it like water. That's
man. Man loves darkness rather than
light. Psalms say he's that God looked
down and man stinks. Altogether become filthy, stinking. You can accuse anybody about
anything but stinking, you know. You want to hurt somebody's feelings,
say, you stink. They want it. It hurt my feelings.
I mean, that's why I bathe and put on aftershave and stuff like
that so people won't really find out how I smell. God says I looked
down from heaven and looked on the whole human race and they
all stunk. There was not one that understood. There was not
one that sought after me. Not one. They all together become
unprofitable. No fear of God in their eyes.
No peace in their life. Hands and feet swift to shed
blood. The poison of asps under their
tongue. Liars and deceivers all. That's
mankind. David said man is lighter than
vanity. How light is that? Vanity is
emptiness. Vanity is absolute zero. Lighter
than nothing. Man he is. Spurgeon said, add
a man up to zero, you've gone way too high. Way too high. Can the Ethiopian change the
color of his skin or a leopard change his spots? And how can
ye who are accustomed to doing evil do good? Man can't do anything
good. There's none good, no not one.
Can't do anything good. There's not a just man. That's
you who are believers. There's not a just man, a justified
man on this earth who doeth good and sinneth not. And that means
doeth good and sinneth not in the thing that he does good.
Life within vanity. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy, minstreless rags which must be atoned for. Or we have
to stay outside the camp. What is man? He's nothing. He's
nothing except sin. That's what you are. That's what
I am. by nature. Do you know the first thing I
did when I come forth from my mother's womb? I lied. That's
what scriptures say. I lied. They say, well, babies
are pure, not egg. They're innocent. What does that
mean? They've not been exposed to their own depravity yet. Give
them time. Give them time. You can put two
down on the floor and put ten blocks between them and I guarantee
you each one will have five because they'll share. Now one of them
is going to get hit in the head with the blocks. One of them
will have ten and the other one will have none. Because they're depraved. What is man? His depravity, his
ruin, is so great that it's indescribable. Our heart is blacker, as the
poet said, than a thousand midnights down in a cypress swamp. Who
is God? He's sovereign. He's the Lord
over all. What is man? He's nothing except
vileness and corruption. Who is Jesus Christ? All shall
call his name Jesus. For He shall save His people
from their sin. He shall save His people. He's the King of
glory. He's the Lord over all. He's
your Lord. You say, well, I haven't received
Him. That don't matter. What's that
got to do with anything? Well, I haven't made Him my Lord. You can't make Him Lord. He's
already Lord. Now, I could tell you that God loves you, and I
might be lying to you. He might not. I don't know if
He does or not. I know He loves His people. I know He hated Esau.
He hates the workers of iniquity. He's angry with the wicked every
day. I know that. God hates some people. That don't seem right.
Remember, He doesn't give account of His matters to you. I might
be lying to you if I told you God loved you. I might tell you
that Christ died for you. I could be lying about that too.
Because I don't know whether He did or not. He died for His
elect. I know that. He died for those whom God gave Him. Saved
them. Redeemed them. Guaranteed them eternal glory.
But this I can tell you and it hits everybody on the top side
of God's green earth. Jesus Christ. is your Lord. He has absolute claim on you. You are His property. He will do with you what He will
do with you. He will not ask you your permission.
He is Lord. You owe Him absolute obedience
and obeisance. You owe Him to bow before His
throne and acknowledge Him for who He is. Say, well, I'm not
going to do it. It doesn't matter. You will do it. You ever wondered
why there's a joint in the middle of your leg? Because one day
you're going to bow. You're going to go down. Because
He's Lord. He's your Lord right now. He's
Lord over all. What's that mean? He's out of
control. He's out of control. He just does what He wants to
do. He's the Lord. He's the Lord. He's the sovereign
substitute. The Lord, the owner, proprietor,
governor of the world, came into this world and took upon Himself
the seed of Abraham. Found Himself in the fashion
of a man and became obedient even to the death of the cross.
On that cross, and don't expect me to explain it, I've tried
to figure it out for 29, 30 years and I ain't got a clue anymore
now, dead, dead. He was made to be sin. Does that mean He's a sinner?
God regarded Him as a sinner, but I think sin's worse than
a sinner. He wasn't made corrupt. He was made corruption. He wasn't
made a sinner, He was made sin. Him! The Glorious One! The Lord of Glory! the altogether
lovely One, the blessed, spotless, immaculate Lamb of Almighty God,
the Son of the Most High, the Light of the Morning, the Dayspring
arising in your heart, was made to be seen for us, for us. Our Sovereign is our Substitute.
And I'll tell you, I wouldn't have it any other way. Because
if my Sovereign is my Substitute, His substitution is an absolute
success. You can be guaranteed. Who is
Jesus Christ? He's the light in Genesis 1 when
God said, let there be light. He's the slain beast in Genesis
3. He's Abel's offering in Genesis
4. He's the paschal lamb and the angel of the Lord in Exodus.
He's the fire by night and the cloud by day and the high priest
in Exodus. He's every sacrifice in Leviticus.
He's the tabernacle and all its attendant functions and numbers.
He's the doctrine of God and the rock of our salvation in
Deuteronomy. He's Joshua's captain, the one
name wonderful in the book of Judges. He's the kinsman redeemer
in Ruth. He's David in Samuel and Chronicles. He's the temple in Ezra and Nehemiah. He's the sceptered king in Esther. He's the living Redeemer in Job. He's the believer's defense,
shield, buckler, sword, life, and joy in the book of Psalms. He's the wisdom of God and sovereign
Lord and suffering successful substitute in Isaiah's book. Jeremiah, he's the new covenant.
Ezekiel's living beast and loving sovereign and husband. He's Daniel's
friend of the three in the fire, the glorious Lord before whom
Daniel's comeliness melted He's Daniel's God in the lion's den
who is able to deliver. He's Hosea's redeeming husband
of the fallen whore. He's Joel's Lord that dwells
in Zion. He's Amos' God who men must be
prepared to meet. He's Obadiah's deliverer from
Zion. Jonah's salvation. Micah's God
like no other. Nahum's strong deliverer in the
time of trouble. Zephaniah's pure language and
perfect rest. Haggai's glorious latter house,
Zechariah's branch, king-priest, lowly king, pierced one, Malachi's
messenger of the covenant, angel of the covenant, Matthew's king,
Mark's servant, Luke's son of man, and John's son of God. He is all and in all. What is this essential understanding? that the Son of God is come and
hath given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true,
and we are in Him who is true, even His Son Jesus Christ. This
is the true God and eternal life. Thank you very much. Well, I've lived on this earth
for 43 years, and in this world, it don't get any better than
that. It don't get any better. Thank God for that message, for
the messages we've heard this week, this weekend. I'm thankful
for His grace. Do you know how many people will
live and die in this world and never hear that? His mercy to
us, so kind to us now, to us. Why are we here? That's sovereign
grace, sovereign grace. Well, let's be dismissed in prayer.
Stay and eat with us today if you can. Thank you all for coming. We enjoy all of our guests and
hope that it's been a good time for you, that you've been taken
care of in every way, especially spiritually. The Lord has blessed
your hearts by his gospel here. Let's be dismissed in prayer.
Lord, we do thank you for bringing us here. We thank you for this
glorious gospel. the Lord Jesus Christ and what
He's done for us. Thank you for revealing to us
what we are. And help us, Lord, never to pretend
to be anything else, but just worms of the dust, nothing, altogether
vanity. And thank you for the Lord Jesus
Christ, whose very name means that He'll save us, that He will
save us. He came to save us, and He finished
the work, and is sitting down on the right hand of the glories
of heaven right now, and we're sitting with Him, in Him, because
of his mighty conquering grace. Thank you for the wonderful message
that you came where we were through a servant of yours and spoke
the truth to us and revealed to us what you had already done
for us. What a privilege, what a precious
thing the gospel is to us. Thank you for this meeting, Lord,
and we pray that the name of the Lord has been exalted in
every heart. that his glorious name has been
exalted, that Christ will be praised in every heart, because
he alone is worthy, and he is altogether worthy. Thank you,
Lord. And as we go from here, let us
go rejoicing in him and in his mighty grace, his work for us. Bless our fellowship together
in him. In his precious name we pray.
Amen. Thank you for coming.