Doctrines of Grace | Steve Lawson Sermon Jam Pentalogy

[Music] and if you are walking with the lord jesus christ it is all of grace then the lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually you could have never found god in a million trillion years if you would search for him and look for him your entire life but the bible says there is none who seeks after god no not one no it is god who came and found you it is god who chose to have mercy upon you and have compassion upon you because it pleased god to reveal himself to you he did not make the world reconcilable he actually reconciled he did not make the world merely redeemable upon the cross there was a transaction between the father and the son and he actually redeemed a people with his own blood what a mighty savior we have a glorious savior as he propitiated the righteous anger of god toward us hallelujah what a savior we have he fulfilled a successful mission of salvation you shall call his name jesus because he will save his people from their sin [Music] free will is a pagan myth of religious superstition spurgeon said i've heard much about free will but i've never met it yet george whitefield said man has a free will to go to hell but none to go to heaven the unregenerate will is not free to choose in jesus christ the will is in bondage to its cruel master sin and can only obey sin this is a closed case this is irrefutable evidence the entire realm of humanity is guilty as charged the mind is darkened the heart is defiant the will is disobedient the throat is decaying the tongue is deceiving the lips are deadly the mouth is defiled the feet are destructive the eyes are distorted and when paul paints this picture he says their throat every time they open their mouth there is nothing but the stench of death that comes out of their mouth every time they open their mouth what is down in the heart the deadness and the decaying heart ruined by sin comes out of their mouth it is loathsome it is heinous it is ransom what a powerful picture that this is graves were never left open graves were always sealed up why because what is down in the depths of that grave is decaying has turned rotten is full of worms is full of maggots the stench that arises from an open grave is odious it is foul it is an unbearable stench because there is a dead corpse down in this grave and what's down in the heart comes up the throat and then out of the mouth and it says with their tongues they keep deceiving they can't stop deceiving and it is a constant and continual lifestyle their minds are unplugged by sin and to describe the gospel to them is to present a glorious painting a masterpiece to a blind person as a natural man does not accept the things of the spirit of god for they are foolishness to him and that word foolishness comes from a greek word moros that comes into the english language as every unconverted person is a spiritual they do not have the mental capacity to understand spiritual truth the entire human race has a darkened mind there is none who understands and when he says none who understands he's referring to spiritual understanding of who god is and what god requires and who you are and what you so desperately need there is no one who gets it none understand their human condition before god none understand the depth of their own depravity and their guilt none understand that the grace of god is the only way of escaping this wrath it doesn't matter how smart they are in school they are dummies before god they do not understand the truth of the gospel and their desperate need of it a defiant heart there is none who seeks for god this is representative of the fact they have no desire for god they have no love for god they have no passion for god but do not mistake the gift for the giver all they want is the gift they do not seek for the giver of these benefits that they hate what they should love and they love what they should hate and this is true of every unconverted person they are running away from god as fast as they can you just simply need to be able to see as god sees they are going in the wrong direction they have turned away from god and have turned aside to their own path isaiah 53 verse 6 says we all like sheep have gone astray each one of us has turned to his own way together they have become useless the word useless here is used a fruit that has spoiled it's just useless for any human consumption the word is used of meat that has turned rotten it's used of milk that has soured the idea really is they have rendered themselves unfit for any purpose of god please note at the end of verse 13 he says the poison of ass and asp is a venomous snake a poisonous snake with its lethal deadly poison with its fangs ready to inject its venom into the unsuspecting victim the deadly poison of snakes is under their lips their mouth is like a den of vipers injecting death into the other bystanders by their slandering by their lying by their deceiving whose mouth is full of please note full of not just a few drops in there it's just like bubbling up and spilling over is full of cursing and bitterness the heart is deceitful above all else and desperately wicked who can understand it jeremiah 17 9 their feet are swift to shed blood there is so much hatred in their heart towards others they are swift like a sprinting athlete running as fast as it can not slow swift to shed blood and this does not mean that every member of the human race is a murderer physically but it does mean as jesus said in matthew 5 that you are a murderer within your own heart destruction here indicates that as an ongoing habitual lifestyle they destroy peace within families they destroy peace within relationships they destroy the reputation of others they destroy the livelihood of others they destroy homes their feet are continually pursuing destruction and misery and misery is the result of the destruction and if you need any further proof just go home tonight and turn on virtually any cable news get on your computer and just surf the internet and you will see more evidence and more validation for what god is saying in this passage than you can even process or handle so verse 17 and the path of peace they have not known they know no peace with god they know no peace of god they know no peace with others it's only destruction and misery that they know the path to peace they have not known they haven't even sniffed it they haven't seen it for one day of their life they have no holding god in high regard they have no all for god they have no respect for god they have no regard for god there's no fear of god as a template before their eyes as they look around and see and when he says before their eyes is talking about their whole life perspective and their way of seeing life they don't see god they see themselves i remember the day in seminary when my professor asked this question what can a dead man do stink that is all that a dead man can do a dead man has no capacity whatsoever to respond and it doesn't matter how well you could speak to that person sing to that person read to that person they have no capacity whatsoever to respond to you because they are dead and so it is for the unregenerate person they have no spiritual life even in their will to be able to respond to god and to believe in the lord jesus christ jesus said it so clearly no one can come to me unless it is granted by the father further in hebrews 12 and verse 2 it says jesus is the author and perfecter of faith you are not the author of your faith you are the exerciser of your faith but your faith did not come from you if it was left up to you to believe you would have zero faith whatsoever to put your trust in jesus christ it is jesus christ who must offer that faith you don't have to teach a little child how to sin you teach a little child how not to sin the unregenerate person cannot see and cannot understand the truth you might as well be describing a sunset to a blind man or a beethoven symphony to a deaf person the affections the desires of the heart have also been poisoned and polluted by sin such that everyone coming into this world loves what they should hate and they hate what they should love tone depravity means that the corruption of adam's sin nature has corrupted every part of human nature from the top of their head to the bottom of their feet every inch and every ounce of them has been plagued and polluted by adam's sin the will is in bondage to sin some christians some well-meaning christians think that only the mind and only the affections are plagued by sin as though the will is is uncontaminated as though the will is an island unto itself surrounded by an ocean of depravity but the fact of the matter is the will is simply a handmaiden of the mind and the heart you tell me what the mind and the heart know and love and i will tell you exactly every choice that the will will make wherever the mind and the heart go the will must follow the will is the tail the mind and the heart are the dog and the tail is not wagging the dog the dog is wagging the tail paul is saying in and of ourselves we too have been corrupted by this sin it's not that we're smarter it's not that we're better it's not that we had any advantage or anything going for us that the rest of the world did not have we've all been poisoned from the same fountain and from the same well that being adam's sin to be under sin is to be under the pollution and the power of sin it is to be under the control and the curse of sin from the very moment you were brought home from the hospital you were already under sin sin plagued you sin polluted you it was in your spiritual dna you were born with it that's the charge that paul makes here paul now presents his case that this is nothing new that this was all taught in the old testament it's already in your bible it was put there long ago as paul will now quote the word of god this is god's own case that is being presented there is none righteous not even one none meet the divine standard that is required for acceptance with god god does not great on the curve and it really doesn't matter if you're a little better than some drunk who's laying in the gutter it really doesn't matter if you're a little better than someone who is a serial murderer and is on death row the fact of the matter is you and i and the whole world have been weighed in the balances and we have all fallen woefully short of what is required to have acceptance with god from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet the entirety of your personhood is corrupted and depraved by sin do you not know stop right there that means this is christianity 101. he says do you not know are you breathing are you saved then you know this do you not know you are slaves of the one whom you obey so in other words everyone here tonight is a slave no one's free you're a slave i'm a slave no one is not a slave it's just not in this room the same is true throughout the world on all seven continents he says either of sin so everyone is either a slave of sin resulting in death or of obedience a slave of obedience resulting in righteousness so if you are unregenerate the only thing you can do is obey sin and if you are a believer the general thrust of your life will be to obey righteousness every unconverted person is a slave to sin into satan held in the unbreakable chains by any human effort to be free to believe in jesus christ you and i were in the dungeon of sin held in the chains of sin unable to liberate ourselves now we know of course we know this if you don't know this where on earth have you been now we know that whatever the law says please note present tense says not once said to moses not once said in old testament times but the law is still speaking today and to fulfill the requirements of the law so that every swearing cursing slandering self-promoting mouth may be closed just shut as they stand before god no excuse can be offered no rebuttal the entire planet and so this is the condemnation of the entire human race it is a slam dunk case there are no exceptions there are none excluded from this there is not one single person no matter how sweet they may appear to be no matter how kind they may appear to be no matter how many old ladies they help across the street everyone you will ever meet for the rest of your life is in desperate and dire need of the gospel based upon this indictment it's not enough for someone to feel weak they must feel wicked it's not enough for them to feel lonely they must feel lost it's not enough for them to be depressed they must feel that they are damned no one giggles through the narrow gate no one in the history of the world has ever been converted apart from coming under deep conviction of sin no good works no religious ritual no good intentions no church membership no water baptism no repeated prayer no eye walking no personal ministry nothing can be added to the work of god in salvation no one will ever be saved until they know they are utterly helpless and hopeless without the grace of god no amount of arm twisting no amount of manipulation can ever talk someone into the kingdom of heaven it is exclusively a work of god's grace by which he says lazarus come forth and the dead are raised from the grave of sin we must plead we must urge we must persuade you need to know how wicked how vile how evil the human race is and once you understand that when we then pull out the diamonds of unconditional election and definite atonement and irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints those truths will explode with light before your very eyes and they will be the most appealing truth that you've ever heard in your life without this truth there is no amazing grace [Music] then i believe the forgotten member of the trinity is god the father standing in the shadows somehow overlooked has been the one who was the author and the architect of it all god the father he is the one who chose the elect he is the one who gave them to the son he is the one who commissioned the son to come into this world and to lay down his life for these whom the father has chosen everything is flowing out of that eternal fountain of the infinite genius and abounding wisdom of god the father it is god the father who chose us it's not the son not the spirit it is god the father and so god the father here is is given the credit and the glory that he so rightly deserves by the apostle paul it's not on the basis of works but because of him who called those whom he foreknew he also predestined and those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified the trillion dollar question is who is the he was not god the son it was mentioned in verse 29 as distinct from the he and it is not god the holy spirit who is mentioned in verses 26 and 27 it is god the father who foreknew it is god the father who predestined it is god the father who called through the spirit and by the voice of the shepherd but it was god the father who was calling it was god the father who justified who will bring a charge against god's elect god is the one who justifies it is god the father who takes the perfect obedience of christ in his sinless life and substitutionary death it is god the father who takes that righteousness and imputes it to you reckons it to your account deposits it into your account clothes you with it it's god the father and standing behind this irresistible call of god stands the towering mountain peak of sovereign election for the apostle paul stands as exhibit a of the sovereign saving grace of god the apostle paul is the poster child for sovereign grace he was converted by sovereign grace on the damascus road with letters in hand going to arrest the christians and to drag them back to jerusalem to stand trial and possible execution when suddenly jesus christ appeared to him on that damascus road and knocked him off his high horse and he was dramatically radically immediately converted if anyone was converted by sovereign grace it was saul of tarsus he was not looking for christ but christ came looking for him and god said of saul he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear my name and for the rest of his life and ministry paul preached sovereign grace he taught sovereign grace he wrote sovereign grace he lived sovereign grace he said he was the chief of sinners and that wasn't a false humility he saw himself as the greatest sinner who had ever lived because he was a blasphemer and a violent aggressor against the church and with all of his might he sought to do everything he could to totally obliterate christianity the only explanation for the conversion of saul of tarsus his sovereign grace paul is not some stoic monotone lukewarm apathetic calvinist his heart is literally breaking for those who are without christ and what we see with the apostle paul is how he takes the doctrine of sovereign election in one hand and his responsibility and his burden to reach the loss for christ in the other hand and he brings the two together and as they come together it is like gas and fire coming together and there is an explosion within his own heart and within his own soul and it is the doctrine of sovereign election that is high octane gas now these truths fit perfectly together sovereign election and personal evangelism they fit together because it is sovereign election that guarantees the success of our evangelism this truth is taught throughout the entire bible jesus said in matthew 24 verse 22 for the sake of the elect these days will be cut short jesus said will not god bring about justice for his elect who will bring a charge against god's elect we are those who have been chosen of god god has chosen you from the beginning for salvation i endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen has not god chosen the poor to be rich in faith now these verses are like rabbits they're just multiplying like you go to sleep at night and you wake up in the morning and they put more verses into your bible on the sovereign election of god they're just everywhere in other words god did not choose his elect based upon anything good that was foreseen in them in fact it is in spite of them not because of them that god has chosen them the reason lies exclusively in god himself for though the twins were not yet born so the divine choice could not have possibly had anything to do with them once they were born because they were not yet born and he ends and had not done anything good or bad so it is abundantly clear that god is not looking down the proverbial tunnel of time to see what someone is or what someone will do and based upon what god foresees that person will do or be god then chooses them as a result of what he foresees let me just tell you god has never looked into the future and learned anything that is a pagan myth based upon religious superstition of of empty minds the only thing god ever knows about the future is what god has foreordained about the future not on anything anything that they have done good or bad so that god's purpose according to his choice would stand it had nothing to do with the choice of jacob or esau it had everything to do with god's sovereign choice it had everything to do with the free will of god not because of works in other words they did nothing to merit it nothing to deserve it but because of him who called and it is the external call that you and i give to our children to our class to those to whom we witness but the external call can only go to the ear it can go no further there must be the internal call by god the father that summons and arrests and subpoenas the one who is called and brings them to faith in jesus christ it is this internal call that takes the message that is put in the ear and it brings it from the ear to the heart now there will never be an internal call until there is first the external call faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of christ romans 10 17 but once the external call is put into the ear then god takes it from the ear to the heart and then he says god has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong now god does have a few who are smart and wealthy and schooled in the upper echelon of of education yes those there are a few of those god just has to work harder with them because there's too much of them in the way and the despise those that the world rejects are those whom god chooses god chooses those whom the world just turns up their nose and the things that are not that that means they're just nobodies they did they didn't make who's who they made who's not i mean they're just not anything they're zeroes with the edges trimmed off they have nothing going for them in the estimation of the world why does god operate like this the nfl doesn't work like this college football doesn't work like this i mean when you go recruiting you go look for the fastest the strongest the the toughest the meanest i mean you don't go into the library and look for nerds to build a football team but spiritually speaking that's exactly what god does he takes a bunch of nobodies to go tell everybody about somebody because he gets all the the glory so that no man may boast before god we have nothing to boast about you and i have absolutely nothing to be proud of we have everything to be humble about because as paul said in first corinthians 15 9-10 i am what i am by the grace of god it's not me it's him yeah i totally get god hates uh esau of course he hates esau what i cannot understand is that he would love someone as equally sinful as jacob and you and me this doctrine of election is the free and sovereign choice of god made an eternity pass to set his saving love on certain individuals not on the basis of anything in themselves but solely because of the good pleasure of god's will this choice by god is a totally unmerited undeserved choice that leaves every one of us who are chosen scratching our head dropping to our knees and saying why me why me and let us also understand that god does not choose good people to be his people god reaches to the bottom of the barrel and chooses those who are least deserving to become trophies of his grace so that no flesh may boast in his presence that is why when you get to heaven one day and you are given a crown it will stay on your head half of a millisecond and you will immediately cast it back at his feet god's choices are so often the very opposite of what man would choose and who man would choose that god delights in choosing the most unlikely people to be his the birthright went to the older son who was the firstborn and according to man the younger would serve the older but with jacob and esau according to the sovereign pleasure and the inscrutable wisdom of god and also to show us to pull back the curtain and to give us a a brief glimpse into how god operates that god reverses the order and he chooses the one that we would least expect to be his and passes over the one that we would expect that god would have chosen just to show us he's still dealing the deck he's still in control god's call bypassed the academies of athens and the rabbinical schools of jerusalem and the halls of higher education in egypt god just bypassed all of the so-called brilliant ones of this world in fact the bible says god has hidden it from the wise and the prudent you're not going to find it if god hides it and he's revealed it and debates it's the last person that you think who would be saved is so often the one that god says this one is mine and it's the one that you think has their toes right up to the narrow gate and are ready to fall through it are so often the one who never enters not many mighty meaning mighty in the things of this world mighty and riches mighty in stature mighty and influenced the kind of people who can make things happen who can pick up a phone make a call and set a city moving in a certain direction no god's not interested god just bypassed so that when god builds his church nobody can say well it was because of their zip code no so that only god receives the glory then he says not many noble not many in the upper echelon of society god has just yawned and looked the other way and has reached down to the bottom drawer and pulled it open and said here are my lottery picks here is who i choose to set my love upon and disorder salute us everything is flowing out of sovereign election [Music] and not a one of them will perish i lose nothing to say that jesus christ died upon the cross for people who go to hell is to say that jesus is a bumbling shepherd and that jesus is full of faults and jesus has lost that for which he has given his blood and life no thank you you may have that savior i will take the one who says i lose nothing there is no greater subject that we will ever study than the subject of god himself and his glory the crown jewel of all theology is the study of the atonement there is no nobler and no more imminent truth in the saving grace of god in the death of his son for undeserving sinners this is the coveted jewel atop the diadem of all theology the atonement of jesus christ we preach christ crucified that christ jesus died for sinners upon the cross is an indisputable fact that christ made a perfect atonement upon the cross that alone is the exclusive way of salvation is an irrevocable truth and no one can be saved apart from believing that jesus christ has died for sinners upon the cross but the crucial question before us tonight is this for whom did christ die or to put the question another way did christ die for the entire world did he die for every single individual who has ever lived before his coming into the world at the time of his uh being here and has he died for everyone who would ever live in the history of the world or did christ die exclusively for the elect and what did jesus actually do upon the cross did jesus actually redeem everyone did jesus actually reconcile everyone to god did jesus actually propitiate the anger of god toward everyone did jesus christ actually take away everyone's sin at the cross believer and unbeliever alike was jesus's death an actual atonement or did jesus merely make everyone savable did he merely make everyone reconcilable contingent upon whether or not the sinner repents and believes upon christ do any for whom christ died suffer eternal punishment did christ die in vain for any did he die for those who would never believe and if so why did jesus die for those who were already in hell because of unbelief during the old testament era did jesus die for those already in hell and if so why i am convinced that the bible teaches a definite atonement by that i mean and theologians mean and bible teachers mean down through the centuries that jesus christ died triumphantly and that he died exclusively for all who would believe upon him and it is also known as limited atonement why take world to mean something other than every person in the world and why take all to mean something other than all people in the entire world what is the number one reason to believe in the fact the truth that jesus died exclusively for the people of god the unity of the godhead that god the father god the son and god the holy spirit all work together in perfect unity in saving sinners there is perfect harmony and perfect unity and perfect economy all that the father gives me will come to me that is one of the most extraordinary statements in the entire bible on the sovereignty of god in salvation it stands as a mount everest of truth that is unavoidable to every christian who reads his bible or her bible regarding this towering subject the sovereignty of god in salvation jesus said all that the father gives me will come to me to come to christ is to believe upon jesus christ paul writes he chose us in him before the foundation of the world this is one of the central and core truths of the entire bible it is the truth of the doctrine of election that before time began god chose those who would believe upon his son jesus christ that of all that he has given me i lose nothing jesus would actually accomplish their salvation he would do far more than make them merely savable he would do far more than merely remove barriers and obstacles jesus would actually save them in his death upon the cross and in his continuing priestly intercession for them he says i lose nothing none for whom christ died will ever be lost all for whom the savior would lay down his life at the cross he would not lose a single one of them he is a faithful shepherd this is the equivalent of romans 8 29 and 30. this is a golden chain of salvation there are no additions and there are no subtractions all whom the father has given to me long before they ever came to me they were given to me in eternity past i lose nothing and i raise them up on the last day and it is the holy spirit of god who will pursue them and draw them to the lord jesus christ it is only in this manner does the godhead work in perfect harmony for this is the will of my father that everyone who beholds the son and believes in him this is all those whom the father has given to me this is all the elect everyone who beholds the son and believes in him will have eternal life and i myself will raise him up on the last day now the only way that the armenian can look at this is very simply this the father has chosen all who choose him and the father looks down the tunnel of time and sees who will choose him and upon seeing who will choose him the father then like tag team wrestling tags them back and chooses them back so the father chooses and works with only those who believe the son and going to the cross works with an entirely different group according to the armenian scheme the father works only with believers the son goes to the cross and lays down his life for the whole world for everyone a totally different group than the father who chooses those who choose him and then the holy spirit that too is an entirely different group for the spirit merely woos and those who hear the gospel which is not the entire world right so it's a different group than the entire world for whom jesus died the holy spirit of god gently lose to come to himself to come to christ those who hear the gospel so here are the three members of the godhead and here are the three entirely different groups that they work with the father with those who choose the son the son with the entire world and then the holy spirit with only those who hear the preaching of the gospel whether they believe or do not believe no it is the armenian view that fractures the godhead it is only a definite atonement for those chosen by the father that preserves the unity of the three members of the trinity in accomplishing salvation to deny definite atonement is to deny the unity of the one saving purpose of the godhead christ went to the cross and laid down his life for the sheep not for the goats but for the sheep not for sheep of another fold but exclusively for the sheep that belong to the household of god the jews then gathered around him and were saying to him how long will you keep us in suspense and there is a note of sarcasm in that if you are the christ tell us plainly their unbelief is blatantly obvious they are coming close to even taunting and and mocking the lord jesus christ jesus answered i told you and you do not believe the works that i do in my father's name they testify of me but notice verse 26 but you do not believe because you are not of my sheep now the armenian says it the complete opposite he says that you are not of my sheep because you do not believe that jesus said it correctly jesus said no i'll tell you the reason why you don't believe in me and the hard core reason is the doctrine of reprobation it is because my father has passed over you and my father has chosen not to save you and to leave you in your sin and to leave you in darkness and for your heart to remain hardened that's why you don't believe the reason because you're not one of my sheep my sheep hear my voice if you were one of mine you would hear what i'm saying and it would ring true in your heart and you would fall to your knees and you would humble yourself and you would commit your life to me having repented of your sins my sheep hear my voice i and the father are one those whom the father loves the son loves and those whom the father rejects the son rejects and that which the father pursues the son pursues and that which the father refuses the son refuses they are of one essence they are of one attribute they are they are one but in addition built upon that it is implied here from verse 28 and 29 they are also one in mission one in purpose one in direction they this is like two parallel uh rails on a on a train track they are running perfectly uh in parallel fashion together verse 29 my father who has given them to me referring to these sheep is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand if jesus would go purchase the salvation of any other group he would be working in disharmony with the father and as jesus leaves heaven and comes to this earth he will pursue the eternal purpose and the eternal decree of god in saving the elect and what will not happen will be this the father will choose his elect but the son will certainly not come into this world and say well i'm going to die for another group i'm going to go ransom someone else you have your elect i will go to the cross and i will die a death of a different scope all whom the father gives me will come to me and tonight if you are in jesus christ you may know that it was the father's intention in eternity past to save you and it was the savior's effort upon the cross to save you with great intentionality and it was the holy spirit of god who opened your eyes opened your ears opened your heart and brought you to faith in jesus christ [Music] a great high priest name is love whoever lives and pleads for me my name is [Music] and tells me of the [Music] who made an end of all my sin because the silliest savior died my sinful soul is counted free forgot the dust is satisfied to look on him in part in me [Music] before and there there is [Music] [Music] i cannot die my soul is purchased by my life is hid with christ on high with christ my savior and my god with christ my savior and [Music] the greatest display of the power of god is seen in his saving works greater than god's work in physical creation is his saving work in his new creation greater than god calling light into being is his causing gospel light to shine into the darkened hearts of men greater than god moving mountains is his removing the heavy load of sin from the human soul greater than god forming man from the dust of the earth is his reforming him from the depravity of his sin as he saves his people from their sins only a god who is omnipotent can display such sovereign power for i am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes to the jew first and also to the greek for in it the righteousness of god is revealed from faith to faith for it is written but the righteous man shall live by faith the reason that you are a christian if you are saved tonight is not because you sought the lord the bible says there is none who seeks after god no not one the bible says we all have gone astray like sheep each one of us has turned to his own way no god was the great initiator and it was god who not only bought us but it is god who has brought us to himself and it is this powerful effectual call that has laid hold of us and drawn us to faith in jesus christ that all power belongs to god is clearly taught throughout the entire bible from genesis to revelation this is the doctrine of divine omnipotence that attribute of god by which he possesses all power and is therefore able to do all that he pleases and purposes to do in other words there can be no opposition and no resistance that could ever hinder the eternal purposes of god because he is a god of all power the scripture asserts in exodus 15 6 your right hand o lord is majestic in power in job 9 4 he is mighty in strength the psalmist in psalm 42 verse 8 the lord strong and mighty psalm 33 verse 6 by the word of the lord the heavens were made and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts for he spoke and it was done he commanded and it stood fast he made his power known he rebuked the red sea and it dried up the prophet isaiah said there is none who can deliver out of my hand god is a speaker i act and who can reverse it the prophet jeremiah oh lord behold you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm nothing is difficult to you and revelation 1 verse 8 identifies god as the almighty he is almighty the power of god was clearly seen in his act of creation god spoke and everything came into being out of nothing by the sheer word of his sovereign authority and power moreover the power of god does continually sustain and uphold all of the works of his hands all creation is under the sway of his power divine omnipotence governs all of human history paul is setting forth the soul-saving power of the gospel of jesus christ where did the gospel come from who authored it whose gospel is it it is very clear that god is the author and the owner of the gospel the gospel is god's saving message this gospel has come from god it has been authored by god it did not originate with man it has not come from any church or any denomination the gospel is a supernatural message that comes down from above it is god's property it is god's saving declaration and none of us are allowed to tamper with this message it is god's saving message that has been entrusted to us that has been preached to us and it is god's solution to the human dilemma of sin and because it is god's gospel it bears all of the properties of god himself it is an authoritative gospel because it comes with god's authority it is a powerful gospel because it comes with god's power it is a gracious gospel because it comes with god's grace and none of us are free to alter the language none of us are free to negotiate the terms this is god's message and to alter the gospel one must give an account of himself to the one who has authored it god almighty now this gospel is not a trendy theological fad to appear today and be gone tomorrow oh no and the gospel of the old testament is the gospel of the new testament there is only one saving gospel that runs from cover to cover in the scripture it is the gospel of god and all of the way through the old testament it is the prophets who looked ahead and spoke of the coming of the lord jesus christ by prophecies and by pictures and by types and by illusions the entire old testament pointing ahead to the coming of this christ who would be set forth in the gospel the entire bible speaks with one voice presenting but one way of salvation revealing but one plan of redemption saving but one people of god but by his power he will act to bring to himself a people for his own glory listen you cannot preach the gospel without preaching christ and him crucified you cannot share the gospel with another person without presenting the person and work of jesus christ and when we talk to others about the christian faith we have not shared the gospel until we speak of the person and work of christ his virgin birth his sinless life his substitutionary death his bodily resurrection his present exaltation at the right hand of god the father and let me be quick to say that there is salvation in no other name for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved it is our responsibility to proclaim the gospel but god guarantees the success of his own gospel the gospel will triumph in the hearts of people because god will sovereignly and powerfully call out a people to faith in the lord jesus christ he said i have authority to lay my life down and i have authority to raise it back up again he had prophesied his own death burial and resurrection he said it took you 40 years to build this temple and it will be torn down and i will be raised up in three days but he spoke of his own resurrection it was the declaration of god from heaven that this is my beloved son who is fully god he alone able to die upon that cross and be equal to god be equal to us and to bring the two parties together in his saving death upon the cross this is the very heart of the gospel the death of christ substitutionary death for us as sinners as our mediator jesus christ offered the perfect sacrifice for our sins as he offered himself in our place our perfect atonement the perfect sacrifice was a once and for all sacrifice that he has made for us his people the bible says he makes us willing in the day of his power it is a call that is an internal call the call of the spirit it is an individual call as he calls us individually each and every one of his elect it is a powerful call that overcomes all human resistance and it is a divine call it is a summons it is that call which arrests and apprehends the heart of the sinner toward whom it is extended and brings them into a saving relationship with jesus christ no paul puts this truth out on the very front doorsteps of this book for all who pick this up to read it to make known this sovereign call of god that guarantees the success of the gospel as we witness for christ listen our responsibility is to be a witness for jesus christ we are to preach the gospel to every living creature we are ambassadors for the lord jesus christ and we are to go in the highways and the byways and lift up our voice and to speak of jesus christ but god goes before us and god works powerfully in the hearts of people and there are a people who have been appointed unto eternal life and when the gospel comes to their hearts god will work powerfully and god will draw them to himself this is what he speaks of to all who are beloved of god in rome called as saints and it is this call of the spirit that opens blinded eyes it opens deaf ears it opens closed hearts and it activates dead wills and without this powerful call of the spirit our gospel witness would be in vain the total depravity of the human heart will always resist the free offer of the gospel of jesus christ god must call and this guarantees the success of the gospel because the gospel is so compelling it makes demands of each and every one of us and it calls for our unwavering allegiance and loyalty the gospel can never be a side issue in any of our lives and paul realizes that the riches of heaven have been entrusted to him in the gospel of jesus christ and now there is a stewardship involved in being one who has received the gospel and he is under obligation to god to spend the rest of his life proclaiming this gospel but we all feel under obligation to god with the gospel because we have received the riches of salvation in this gospel and we must now take it to others who are under great need now listen rome would be the the most difficult city in the known world to go and to bring a different message rome was a place of greek philosophies and many different ideologies and pagan gods but paul says i am eager to come to rome and put the gospel up in the marketplace we have received the gospel to to proclaim the gospel we have been called out of the world to go back into the world paul tells us in know uncertain terms why he is so eager and why he is so confident to share this gospel message far and wide and so paul as he writes he wants to put steel into the faith and into the backbone of these early believers you and i ought to be filled with confidence and we ought to be filled with great boldness regarding the gospel he says for it is the power of god unto salvation this word power speaks of the dynamic explosive power of the gospel to save sinners it is the most powerful message in the history of the world it is the only message by which salvation comes to lost sinners it is a message that is so powerful that even the chief of sinners will melt down under the sway and influence of this gospel message the apostle paul himself stands as exhibit a a trophy of god's grace how the gospel had conquered his own once proud pharisaical heart until that day the gospel exploded in his soul and he was radically changed and transformed from the inside out never to be the same again he is not saying that the gospel is about god's power nor is he saying it is just a source of god's power he says the gospel itself is the power of god when it is brought to the human heart and accompanied by the ministry of the holy spirit so powerful no one beyond the saving power of the gospel no one gone so far into sin but that the power of the gospel is not yet greater to remove their sin and to clothe them in the perfect righteousness of the lord jesus christ we bring a message that is so powerful that no one is beyond the saving power of this gospel message martin lloyd jones writes quote it is of god's mighty working it is god himself doing this thing not simply telling us about it but actually doing it listen we all have two unmistakable appointments death and judgment and there is a final judgment and jesus christ will preside over that final judgment and he will render to every man according to their deeds in that last day unbelievers are storing up wrath until the day of wrath jonathan edwards described it this way the flowing river of god's wrath is presently dammed up by his mercy and it is being held back by his mercy but the longer it is being held back that wrath is only building and growing and increasing and in the final day god will remove his grace and that wrath will consume sinners in the last day and they will be the object of his vengeance forever and ever and ever in a real place called hell every person needs to be saved from god himself from the wrath of god that will be poured out this is the good news that christ upon the cross has stood in our place and as he bore our sins he absorbed the wrath of god that was due us and that there is now therefore no condemnation for them who are in christ jesus this is the strength of the gospel and only god himself can save us from himself this is the saving power of god and it is contained exclusively in his gospel the gospel of god it is rooted and grounded in the prophets in the old testament it is centered in god's son the lord jesus christ the god man this is the power of god in salvation that he can take lost ruined corrupt depraved defiled sinners who are justly under his wrath and condemnation and forgive us and pardon us and clothe us with the perfect righteousness of his son jesus christ and impute to our account the perfect obedience of christ to every point of the law it is the power of god unto salvation that comes to the life that believes exclusively in jesus christ it is this gospel that is offered to the world it is this gospel that is offered to sinners and all who will believe upon christ are those who are made the object of the power of his saving grace may all hear tonight who have believed upon jesus christ may we take this gospel far and wide to every person and every creature and if you find yourself here tonight and have never entered through these gates into the kingdom there is only one way of entrance into the kingdom of god it is through the narrow gate who is jesus christ you must come repenting of your sin you must come believing upon jesus christ and it is in your faith in christ alone that you receive this gift of his perfect righteousness whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved [Music] spurgeon said i love god's shalls and wills as there is nothing comparable to them let a man say i shall what is it good for i will says one man he never performs i shout he says and he breaks his promise but it is never so with god's shalls if he says shall it shall be when he says will it will be now he has said here many shall come the devil says they shall not come but they shall come you yourself say we won't come god says you shall come yes there are some here who are laughing at salvation who can scoff at christ and mock at the gospel but i tell you some of you shall come what you say can god make me become a christian yes i tell you for herein rests the power of the gospel it does not ask for your permission it gets it it does not say will you have it but it makes you willing in the day of his power the gospel wants not your consent it gets it it knocks the enmity out of your heart you say i do not want to be saved christ says you shall be he makes your will turn around and then you cry out lord jesus save me or i perish ah might heaven exclaim i knew i would make you say that and then he rejoices over you because he has changed your will and made you willing in the day of his power close quote all glory to god we ought to stand on our heads and clap with our feet about that what a glorious god we have not only does he offer the gospel but he works both sides of the aisle and he knocks on the door of your heart then he comes around into the back door he opens the back door lets himself in and he comes in and opens the front door himself to let himself in this is sovereign grace this is the salvation of which christ came into the world to secure this is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth and i want to say anything else is a mere figment of man's fallen imagination i must they shall [Music] [Music] what good is it to be chosen of the father before the foundation of the world if in the end you die lost what good is it to be redeemed by the sun with a definite atonement if in the end you die lost what good is it to be effectually called by the spirit and to be begotten by the spirit in the new birth if in the end you die lost the biblical truths of election and redemption and regeneration are all sweetened knowing that in the end all whom the father has chosen all for whom the son has died and all whom the spirit has regenerated will in fact spend all eternity with the father now i know someone will say well i once knew someone who prayed a prayer and committed their life to christ and and then they have fallen away and and so what would you say about a person like that i'm glad you asked because i would say that person was never saved to begin with because the faith that fizzles before the finish had a flaw from the first a true believer will persevere in their walk with the lord because it's not a matter of you holding onto god it is a matter of god holding on to you and that is a world of difference as charles adam spurgeon said noah fell down many times in the ark he never once fell out of the ark this salvation is a work of grace from which we can never fall away that we are as certain for heaven we who have believed upon christ as though we have been there ten thousand years my sheep hear my voice and i know them and they follow me this is a very clear statement that all of god's chosen ones his sheep will hear not just the voice of the sh of the preacher and not just the voice of a parent or a sunday school teacher but in the presentation of the gospel to the sheep they will hear more than just a human voice there will be the effectual call of god and they will hear the voice of the shepherd the lord jesus christ now this voice of the lord jesus christ is so powerful that it can never be rescinded and it can never be resisted and this effectual call listen to this it is an irrevocable call it is an irreversible call all whom he calls to himself he continues by the power of his voice to preserve them in a state of grace my sheep hear my voice and i know them and this word no gnosko means to enter into a personal relationship with it he does not say i know about them this is far deeper this is far more intimate that he actually knows each of his sheep and he said earlier in verse 3 that he calls his own sheep by name it is not an audible voice that one hears it is much louder than that it is much louder than than an audible voice it is the sovereign call of the lord jesus christ by which he calls his sheep to himself and he calls them by name he says zacchaeus come down for i must dine with you tonight he says matthew come and follow me he says lazarus come forth and there was that day there was that time when the lord jesus called you to himself you were arrested you were you were apprehended by the lord and he drew you powerfully and he brought you to himself and they follow me please note that is a statement of fact there are no conditions given here this is the certain response of the sheep to their good shepherd once they are made to hear his voice he calls they come they follow christ's sheep hear his voice they hear only his voice and they follow him once they hear his voice and they are never going back to strangers they are no it never going back to the dead religion of of this world they are never going back to any false shepherd all of christ she are branded as belonging to him that there are two marks on every one of christ's sheep the mark on the ear is that that one hears the voice of christ and the mark on the foot is that one follows christ it's obvious who are the lord sheep they bear the double mark they have the mark on the ear and the mark on the foot they are those who hear the voice of the shepherd and they follow after the shepherd so i want to ask you tonight are you one of the lord's sheep do you hear the voice of the shepherd are you following after christ every sheep of christ bear this double mark i give not that they earn but he freely gives by his grace eternal life to them if you received grace and then you lost it after 10 years you never received eternal life if you could be a follower of christ for only 10 years and then fall away what you received was in your life but this says he gives to us eternal life the salvation is not just getting man out of hell and into heaven it is getting god out of heaven and into man eternal life is new life it is spiritual life it is supernatural life it is divine life it is abundant life it is the life of god and the soul of a man it is the life of eternities come to indwell us he's not giving us a one-year contract that he renews at the end of each year and i give that's present tense not will give but i give right now present tense eternal life to them do you see the present tense of of eternal life william hendrickson the great commentator writes the life which pertains to the future age becomes the possession of the believer here and now god does not give eternal life once i reach heaven like if you can just hang in there and hold out to heaven once you enter into the throne room then he will give you eternal life and only then will all eternity be settled that i give present tense right now eternal life no you and i presently are the possessors of eternal life listen to these verses john 3 verse 15 whoever believes in him will have eternal life so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life right now in john 3 verse 36 he who believes in the son has [Music] eternal life right now i already have eternal life john 6 47 truly truly i say to you he who believes has not will have has eternal life a john 6 54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life your destiny is forever settled in glory and is all of grace and they will never perish i've done a study of this in the original greek and this is exactly what it says and they will never perish read my lips what part of never do you not understand i think we understand what it means to perish it means to be eternally lost to be eternally punished it means to suffer eternal destruction in the flames of hell under the relentless wrath of god but jesus said not one of his sheep will ever perish in the vows of perdition below where even one sheep to perish that would make jesus a liar but the fact is that not one of his sheep will ever perish john 3 16 for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life there it is in the very words of our savior his sheep will never perish if he were to lose one of his sheep he would not be the good shepherd he would be an absent-minded shepherd he would be a misguided shepherd but he is the good shepherd he begins with 100 sheep in eternity past he ushers all 100 sheep into the presence of god forever how many times does god have to say something before it is true just one time and he does not owe us even an explanation christ holds all this sheep securely in his omnipotent hand it would take another hand that is stronger than his omnipotent hand to pry it open and to pull us out but christ has all authority in heaven and earth he has all power no one can seize us from his hand no one not satan not demons not false teachers not temptations not false prophets not even ourselves we are held in the sovereign grip of his saving grace no hand is stronger than his omnipotent grip on us as i've said only one who is greater than christ could remove us from his hand but none is greater than the king of kings and the lord of lords none can pry open his grip none can release his his strong hold of us he is holding us in his own hand it's not that he has handed us off to one of the angels for one of the angels to babysit us for one of the angels to to watch over us to want it for one of the angels to to laid hold of us so we don't ever slip down into the pit of hell no this says jesus said that we are forever held by his own hand he's not a fumbling bumbling shepherd and if he loses a couple sheep like a businessman who would say well that's just a write-off for the business if we lose two out of a hundred that's pretty good business now each one of us are individually important to the lord now verse 29 makes this doubly secure and says we are held by the father's hand we are doubly sealed the fact is by the holy spirit from other texts we are we have a triple seal who could be greater than god the father who could be greater than the great i am the great jehovah the great yahweh the great adonai the great elohim who could be greater it doesn't matter what some some uh opponent or enemy or foe would say against you before almighty god the gavel's not in their hand god is behind the judge's bench god is the one who justifies god is the one who pronounces that we have the the righteousness of the lord jesus christ [Music] my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one no one no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand christ's sheep are held in the hand of christ and then it is as though the hand of the father encapsulates and surrounds the hand of christ an irishman was being kidded about his continual preaching of the doctrine of eternal security by one who said what if after all your preaching of this doctrine you could actually lose your salvation the answer immediately came god would lose much more than i would i would only lose my salvation god would lose his reputation because god has said and pledged by his word and sworn by his own holiness that not a one of his sheep will ever perish we have the word of god on it let every man be found a liar let god be found true i and the father are one that is to say that the father and the son jointly guarantee the eternal security of all the sheep now the word one i and the father are one is not in the original language is not in the masculine it is in the neuter if it was in the masculine it would mean i and the father are one person but is not has nothing to do with person it has everything to do with purpose and mission and goal and aim and this is another way of saying that we are jointly held by the sovereign grace of the father and the sovereign grace of the son and they are one in their saving enterprise [Music] they are pulling together they are not cancelling each other out the godhead is perfectly one they are of one will and one decree and one purpose jesus said this is the will of him who sent me that of all that he has given me i lose nothing but raise it up on the last day for this is the will of my father that everyone who beholds the son and believes in him will have present tense eternal life jesus is saying the father and i are of one will and one purpose and matter of salvation and as christ has come down from heaven to the earth he remains of one aim and one goal with the father and the father and eternity past chose his elect he gave them to the son and fast forward all the way to eternity future jesus said i will raise them all up on the last day it is a resurrection unto life those whom he began with in eternity past are those whom he concludes with in eternity future none are gained along the way none are lost along the way do you see how protected you are in grace no matter how the temptations of this world may rage no matter how deceitful satan may be no matter how many false prophets and false teachers will be unleashed upon this earth no matter how weak you are in and of yourself this is cause and reason for every one of us tonight to rise up and bless the name of the lord this is reason for every one of us here tonight to humbly bow before the lord and say salvation is of the lord none of us serve out of a sense of fear that what i do for the lord i must do in order to keep myself saved it is the total opposite i am now motivated to wake up every morning and put both feet on the floor and to burst forth into this world and to be determined and motivated by his grace i will go wherever he leads i will follow that voice wherever he takes me i will be bold i will be courageous because i am secure in grace i am preserved in grace and i can approach even my deathbed fearlessly how could we ever come to be the sheep of such a glorious master as the lord jesus christ no sheep were ever so dirty as we were and no sheep have ever come to be the possession of such a good show if you have never believed upon jesus christ and not act by faith this moment now and in your heart of hearts right where you sit say silently to the lord who is with us today lord jesus i come to you as a sinner you died for sinners you are a physician who came not for those who are well you came for those who are sick have mercy upon me and jesus says him who comes unto me i will in no wise cast out you

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Length: 101min 25sec (6085 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 28 2021