“Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God.” Now maybe you don’t like it, but that’s the way it happened. And God’s running this universe. Instead of getting a little placard and starting around and protesting today, why don’t you fall down on your face before Him and thank Him that He even brought you into existence. That He’s given the opportunity as a free moral agent to make a decision for Him. And His invitation still goes out: “If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink.” I think God is holding out for this lost world today a salvation, and He’s saying to men and women, “Take it or leave it.” And that’s where your freedom comes in. You will either choose Him or you’ll reject Him. You’ve got to do one or the other.
May 20, 2024
God is no tyrant. God is righteous. God is just. God is holy. And everything that God does, it’s right. Now you may not think so—and I have news for you. If you do not think God is right in what He’s doing today and that He’s not following the best plan, the news I’ve got for you is you are wrong. God is not wrong. You are wrong. And you are the person that needs to get your thinking correct, because if you don’t, you’re out of step with the universe. This universe exists for Him, for His glory, for His purpose.
May 17, 2024
May I say to you today, God is the Creator, and this universe exists for His glory. He is God! And He doesn’t look to anybody for advice. He’s running this universe for His own purpose. He’s directing it for His own glory. And you and I live in a universe today that, actually, is theocentric—that means God-centered. It is not anthropocentric, man-centered. That today it is not geocentric; that is, earth-centered. But it is uranocentric; that is, it is heaven-centered. Now today, this is God’s universe, and He’s running it His way.
May 16, 2024
God does not save by love, He saves by grace. And that’s love in action. You see, labor is foreign and contrary and the opposite of love. It just doesn’t go along with it. But, you see, love will labor, and when it does, it just doesn’t seem to be labor. Like that little girl was carrying a heavy baby, and a man, when she went by, said to her, he says, “Little girl, isn’t that baby too heavy for you?” And she said, “No, he’s my brother.” Makes all the difference in the world. It’s a labor of love. And the Lord Jesus, He put it right on the line. He says, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” And if you don’t love Him, why, I don’t think it’s worthwhile to try and keep them, friend.
May 15, 2024
Now what’s wrong with Cain? Well, he’s a sinner by nature, but he’s also a sinner by choice and acts. “By faith,” we’re told, that “Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous ….” How? Because he was a nice little Sunday school boy? No, not that at all. He was a sinner, but he responded to the Word of God. And he believed God. And when he believed God, then he was saved. My friend, that’s what faith is. It connects you to God. It communicates to your heart the Word of God and you respond. And that’s what conversion is. It’s to believe God.
May 14, 2024
Now faith is the response of the soul of man to the Word of God. And when a man responds to the Word of God, we find that then he walks by faith. And that is the thing the Lord Jesus in the 6th chapter of John, verse 29: “They came to him with a question, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent.” Now he says that you don’t come to God with works; you come by faith. But a living faith, then, presents itself in the life that is lived.
May 13, 2024
“He was made sin for us, who knew no sin ….” And He did it in order that He might save you, my friend. He did it because He loves you! He did it, my friend, in order that He might judge your sin and mine on the cross. And God made His soul an offering for sin. And God “spared not His own Son.” And my friend, if God didn’t spare His Son, what do you expect at the hand of God when you stand before Him someday? Do you think that you can escape? Do you know how? There is no way. Because He was taking the only route and paying the tremendous price that you and I might be saved.
May 10, 2024
“Rejoice in the Lord; and again, I say, rejoice.” My, that’s a commandment. You have no right, my friend, as a child of God to go around as a sour puss. You’ve got no right to go around as a cantankerous individual. You are to “rejoice evermore” as a child of God. And how wonderful it is to be able to rejoice. And by the way, it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace—and if you can’t rejoice right now, then begin reading the Word of God and calling on God to put joy in your heart. He’ll do it. Rejoice. Always.
May 9, 2024
Up to the time you’re saved, God has you shut up to a cross. God has the world shut up to the cross, and He’s not asking anything of the world. Except this. Here’s His question: What will you do with My Son who died for you? Now, after you’ve answered that question, and if you answered it in the affirmative and accepted Him as your Savior, now He’s going to talk to you about your life. He’s going to develop you, and you should grow in grace and the knowledge of Him. And we ought to be a better Christian this year than we were last year. Well, we’re going to look at those commandments next time. So until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
May 8, 2024
“We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name. They now surrender completely to God.” And I think this should be the attitude of the Christian today. What a picture this should be for us—complete yielding to God. Friends, most of us are afraid to do it. We’re afraid He’ll be hard on us. But He wants to be gentle with us and will be if we give Him a chance—but remember, He is the God of judgment. He is the One that’s coming, treading the winepress of the fierceness of His wrath on this earth someday. I’m not trying to frighten you. God’s not trying to frighten you. He’s just telling you the truth, that’s all.
May 7, 2024