August 29, 2026 Elder Danny Wisner AM service - "We are God's Workmanship"

Elder Danny Weaver.

Good morning.

Again, good to see everybody here this morning to come worship the Lord.

I trust that's why we're here.

You have your Bibles with you.

Please be praying for us.

My mind has changed somewhat this morning.

I was pretty certain what I was going to preach on.

I feel like it's changed a bit.

Let's go to Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

And I know you're probably like, why are you worried about that, y'all?

Ephesians 2 all the time.

But uh we're going to start off there and probably go to some other places and uh trying to figure out where we need to start at in Ephesians 2.

But I guess we'll just jump into verse 1 and work our way down to verse 10 real quick.

And please be praying that the Lord's name will be glorified and that we'll be strengthening the truth, which is in Christ Jesus.

It says, In you hath He quickened who were dead and trespassing sins.

I remember when I first came to the church and first started believing the doctrines of grace, this verse meant the world to me.

That uh Apostle Paul was saying, In you, and you, church members at Ephesus, God hath quickened, God hath given spiritual life to who were dead and trespassing sins.

Look, if we were dead and we had no spiritual life, there's only one way to get it.

The life giver had to give it to you.

The life giver had to give it to you.

Wherein over in Psalms it says, to him, to God, belongs the issues from death.

Like the only way you can get from death the life of God revives you, if God gives you that life.

It says, wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation.

We were all dead in sins.

Not just you, we were all dead in sins.

And times passed in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we're by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

By our very nature, we work wrath and we deserve the wrath of God.

You know, that's hard to tell somebody who looks at a little baby sometimes, and they, you know, to tell them that that baby was conceived in sin, that that baby's sin nature makes them deserving of death, but that's what that says here.

We are all by nature the children of wrath.

We all deserve wrath.

It says, but God, I love that, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.

Let me tell you something.

God's love does something.

Everyone that God loves is going to be quickened by the Spirit.

You get that?

That's what it says there.

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.

By grace you are saved.

By the unmerited grace of God, by the unmerited favor of God.

But people talk about free grace, is there any other kind?

And by grace are you saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ, that in the ages to come he might shoe the exceeding riches of his grace.

I'm going to tell you, through the preaching of the gospel, we're able to see the exceeding riches of God's grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

And then it says this, and and I want to make most of my remarks when we're in Ephesians 2 to around verse 10, but we've got to get there.

For by grace are you saved, by the unmerited favor of God are you saved through faith.

And brothers and sisters, this tells you, it's about to tell you that this faith ain't of yourselves.

And that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God.

Now there's a debate, some of y'all probably know about this debate, because it's like a lot of times it's a big preacher debate.

But what faith is that?

Through what faith?

Is that God's faith in Christ?

Is that the faithfulness of Jesus?

Is that the faith that we receive in regeneration?

I'm going to tell you, every child of God, whenever they're born again, they receive faith and regeneration.

And I'm going to tell you, everybody who's going to heaven, they're going to heaven because God had faith in Jesus Christ.

And everybody who's going to heaven is going to heaven because of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.

So you want to say, by what faith are we saved by?

Is it whenever we're regenerated the faith that we received?

Is it the faith that God had in Christ Jesus?

Is it the faithfulness of Christ?

Yes! You know what?

They all fit because you know what it says, Brother Martin?

And that not of yourselves.

You see, I'm tired of fighting.

I'm tired of let's fight the good fights.

There's some things we fight about, okay?

I pastor a church that uh uh the whole reason is it exists because their primitive Baptist pastor went off into reform doctrine and they had to break off, and that church ain't even called by primitive Baptist anymore.

They took the name off and they don't want nothing to do with the primitive Baptist name.

That's something to fight about, right?

I mean, and when I say fight, I'm not, you know, but that's something to stand for.

But I want to tell you, whether Brother Mark believes that that's just talking about the faith that we receive in regeneration, or that's talking about God's faith, brothers and sisters, as long as we say it's not of ourselves, I ain't fighting with you about that.

But what I will fight with you about is if you start to save where it says, by grace we are saved through faith, and you say that's me putting my faith in Jesus.

Because you know what that is?

That is of me.

Me using my faith and putting it in something, that's me.

You get that that's me.

But but me getting born again and receiving faith the end of me.

God having faith in Jesus, the end of me, Jesus being faithful, that the end of me, but this is this faith that we're staying through.

I'm going to tell you it's none of me.

So it can't be of me taking and doing something.

I'm gonna tell you, brothers and sisters, uh a lot of times uh God's people will fight over something and let somebody else win the victory.

We're gonna be here fighting about which faith it is, and we're not emphasizing what and back up yourselves.

Amen.

It ain't nothing you can do to save yourself.

It's by grace.

And then it says this.

And I'm one of those people who stayed up at four o'clock in the morning fighting about this, and then finally I'm just like, dang, I'm missing the whole point.

I need to be just emphasizing and pounding, it's not of yourselves.

Luke says, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

And this is what I want to bring our remarks to this morning.

I love this.

I love how the Bible flows.

I love how the Bible makes sense.

I love the simplicity which is in Christ Jesus.

You know, I find a lot of times whenever our people get off, they get tired of the simplicity and they and they and they just want to get all they they want their intellect to abound instead of the simplicity of God.

I'm gonna look look at this flowing simplicity here.

It says, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.

So it says it's not of yourselves, right?

And then the next verse says, not of works.

So that makes lots of sense, right?

If it's not of myself, then it can't be of my works.

And if it can't be of my works, how does it happen?

And why isn't it of myself?

Why isn't it of my works?

Then watch this, watch the flow here.

Not of works, lest any man should boast, and then look what the flow is.

Fool we because the reason is not of our works, because we are his workmanship.

It's not of our works, because we are his work.

Look, y'all know the brother Josh works on stuff, right?

Man, he he was showing us a bunch of stuff that he made like, he was telling us, I forget who it was, so so if I get the names wrong, my bad, right?

But uh he was like, and my daughter and my son-in-law got me this log, you know, and I'm like, a log?

Yeah, and I'm so excited to get that log.

Because he's a workman, he makes stuff.

Me, I don't make stuff, I just like stuff, right?

Don't get me a log.

You know, get me the bench, right?

Yeah, you know, you know, get me the chair.

But because he's a workman, he was excited.

He was like, yeah, he drove way up here to get this log, and it was this significant of this log, and and and I was intrigued by it, but I was really like, man, he really likes to work on stuff.

But my whole point is this.

He started showing me the stuff that he made.

He showed me this uh book thing that he made with the log, right?

You know what that thing is?

That thing is Brother Josh's workmanship, and he was talking about other stuff that he was gonna make out of the law.

That's Brother Josh's workmanship.

It's been worked on.

And you know what?

That bookcase or whatever it was there, and I'm not demeaning, I just can't, it was 12 o'clock at night, right?

I can't remember everything it was.

But that thing didn't make itself, right?

It's a workmanship.

Y'all know what we are?

We're workmanship.

Y'all know what these pews are that we're looking at right now?

These are workmanship.

You know why?

Well, a workmanship is something that is not in its original nature.

It's something that has been worked on.

Not something that worked itself, but something that has been worked on.

You know how I know that these pews are workmanships, Brother Bart?

Because I I mean, when me and Lydia was traveling along, we traveled like 100,000 miles one year preaching.

She didn't preach, she drove, but are trying to preach.

I'm telling you, we drove by a lot of forests.

We drove by a lot of woods.

Guess what we've never seen?

A pew forest, right?

I mean, we've seen pine tree forest, oak tree, pecan tree, peach tree.

We've seen all that.

I've never seen a pew tree.

You know, and I've never seen a pew tree forest.

What's your point, Brother Danny?

For us to have a pew, and there's no such thing as a pew tree, somebody had to make that.

And I'm able to look at that, and I'm able to say, somebody worked on that.

And I'm gonna tell you every little chapter of God, but be your nature, you're not a believer.

But you're nature, you're not a lover, but being natured, you were not born again.

But the nature, you can't believe in God.

Do you remember the Bible says by faith you believe?

Or do you understand that the world were funded by the word of God?

Do you believe in creation?

Do you believe that God spoke this world into existence?

I'm going to tell you you're not a natural man anymore.

You're a spiritual creature.

Right.

Because you've been worked on.

And only people who've been worked on can have the Spirit of God.

I'm going to tell you, if you're a believer, it's because you're a workmanship in Christ Jesus.

And we didn't do it ourselves.

That's why it says it's not of yourselves.

Isn't that simple?

That's why I'm a primitive Baptist.

It's like, hey, you gotta do this.

I thought it's not of myself.

Brother Philip Langenship.

I don't know if y'all know him, but he has a wonderful testimony.

He uh he was raised by uh a preacher of another order.

And his dad was preaching one morning.

Brother Philip was like five or six years old.

And uh his dad preaches on grace.

Salvation by grace, it's all a grace.

You do nothing.

Jesus did it for you.

All this stuff, all this stuff we rejoice in.

But they were another order.

And then his dad's like, if you want to join the church, you come for it.

Brother Philip's like five or six years old, he's pumped up about grace.

He comes running up there.

And he's like, I want to join.

And his dad's like, well, do you know what you gotta do?

And he says, What do you mean, what do I gotta do?

He says, Do you know what you gotta do to be saved?

And five, six years old, out of the mouth of babes.

You know what this little five, six-year-old boy said?

In front of the whole church.

You just said, I ain't gonna do nothing.

Ain't that beautiful?

Isn't that beautiful?

You know, I was I was at work one day and one of the ladies, one of the pediatricians I work with, I'm about to get in trouble.

It's okay though.

But one of the best, I gotta edit.

So one of the things one of the pediatricians that I work with, she came up to me and she said, Miss Danny, I need to talk to you.

And it was Monday morning, and and and I work in a clinic.

We're busy on Monday morning.

Everybody gets sick over the weekend.

And I'm like, I kind of got some patience.

And she said, okay, I'll come back.

And she said, let me just tell you what I want to talk to you about.

And and and then you can think about it.

She said, My little girl, she's nine.

My little girl, now she would come to church, come to work, and she'd tell me about her little girl.

She'd say, Mr.

Danny, we're on our way to school today, and my little girl, I'm not gonna say her name, but she's like, my, my, my little girl's praying this, she's praying that, she tells me about her conversations with Jesus.

I mean, I know that I hear about this little girl talking to Jesus all the time.

About this little girl is praying these sincere prayers, not like these like sanitized prayers that you're taught to pray, but like sincere prayers like like God, please don't let me say anything stupid today.

You know, stuff like that.

Like a nine-year-old is saying that.

Lord, please, please help me not be mean to people today.

You know, as a child of God, I don't care what you say.

And she believes in Jesus, and and so she comes to me and she says, My little girl, she was at this vacation Bible school all week.

Uh, you know, they're they're not primitive Baptists, but but she's like, she went to this vacation Bible school all week, and they were trying to get her saved the whole week.

They're talking about getting her saved, getting her saved, getting her saved.

And then she was like, Okay, what do I gotta do to get saved?

Little nine-year-old girl, she says, What do I gotta do to get saved?

And you know what they said, Brother Luke?

They said, You gotta ask Jesus to come into your heart.

You know what this nine-year-old girl said who never been to a permanent Baptist church a day in her life?

You know what she said, Sister Emily?

She's a very honest young lady.

She doesn't want to lie.

She said, I can't do that.

They said, why not?

She said, He's already there.

Does it not give you chill bumps?

How did he get there?

Did she create herself?

Did she work her way into heaven?

Did she manufacture the Holy Ghost?

I'm gonna tell you, the Lord God Almighty had already worked on her.

And so this pediatrician is coming to me.

That's a dear friend of mine, and she's she comes to me, and and and at first she's wanting me to give her advice on how I how I convinced how we're gonna convince her nine-year-old girl who realizes Jesus is already in her heart.

This preacher's gonna help her convince her nine-year-old daughter to accept Jesus into her heart.

And and whenever she told me this, she was like, Do you got anything to say about this?

I said, I got a lot to say.

I said, but we ain't got time right now.

Wait till I get these patients.

I said, I've been training for this my whole life.

I mean, brothers, just that's what the good news is.

When people lay bondages on folks, and you're able to say, don't listen to that.

I've got better news for you.

Brothers and salvation is something that's so important that God didn't leave to me.

And I started telling her about the fruits of the Spirit and about being dead in sins and about being born again, and how that you can't believe in the Lord, you can't honestly pray to God if you're not born again.

And I told her about Helen Keller, how how she was born deaf and blind, and nobody could communicate with her.

And finally, whenever they were able to communicate with her, a preacher said he wanted to get to her to save her soul.

And and and and and I told her about what Helen Keller said, how I already knew, uh I already knew him.

I just didn't know his name.

I said, your daughter has a Helen Keller experience.

He's already there.

And I'm gonna tell you, I was telling her about the sovereignty of God and how God doesn't leave this up to us, and how that what her daughter experienced for the last two years on her way to school, praying these honest prayers I've been hearing about for the last two years are fruit of the spirit.

What that means, she's already born again.

And she has a home in heaven.

And I'm gonna tell you, that woman came around wanting to ask me to help her convince her daughter to do something that her daughter knew that she didn't have to do.

And whenever she left, she said, Brother Annie, I feel better now.

I feel better now.

That's what the good news is.

Brother says, the gospel is good news.

It's not bad news.

It's not if you don't, you're gonna burn.

I'm on y'all.

We we had our niece and nephew stay with us.

And I just I just want to bring this home.

I'm not trying to be graphic, I'm not trying to put anybody down, but we had our niece and nephew stay with us.

And I'm gonna tell you, anybody who doesn't have children, get your niece and nephew to stay with you.

You know, get your niece and nephew to stay with you.

I think we all need to experience something like that because it makes me realize how much I take God for granted, how much I take my blessings for granted, how much I take my parents for granted, right?

Because, you know, I'm just like, they come with stay with us for a month, we save money to spend on them, to take them places, and we're like, we're we're gonna make all their dreams come true.

And they're and they're gonna be so happy for 30 days.

Wrong.

I'm like, I mean, it's like somebody said the other day, we had some friends who went to Italy, and Lydia said, Did y'all take your kids to Italy?

She said, What?

So they so they can just argue in another country?

You know, you know, so and that's how it is sometimes.

They're growing up, and I I'm like, I'm like, are y'all not even grateful for what we've done for y'all?

Y'all just gonna argue and bicker and be mad at each other?

You know?

And and that's just what kids do, right?

But I started thinking about that.

And we had church the next day after I was like, come on, y'all, don't be like that.

And we had church the next day, and I made this analogy.

I said, you know, if we if we came in this morning and y'all knew that Caleb and Aaliyah was staying with us, and y'all didn't see Caleb and Aaliyah, and y'all were like, Brother Danny, where's Caleb and Aaliyah at?

And I was like, well, they were really misbehaving yesterday, and they were fighting and fussing.

And I told him, I said, man, I love y'all so much.

But if y'all don't obey me and quit fighting and fussing, out of my love, I'm gonna pour gasoline on y'all and burn y'all to death.

And guess what?

They kept fighting and fussing, so they didn't hear today.

Are you gonna be like, man, you're such a loving uncle?

Are you gonna call the cops and call me a psycho?

And I'm gonna spend the rest of my life in jail for murder.

In prison for murder.

I said, if you don't understand that that is psychotic language coming from me.

I said I love my niece and nephew so much that if they don't want to obey me, I'm going to burn them to a crisp.

Why do people apply that same object to God?

And he loves them with an everlasting love.

And he sent his son to die for them.

But if they don't do this thing or two that he told them to do burn them up into fire for the time.

Is that love, brothers and sisters?

The simplicity which is in Christ Jesus.

You know why I believe that nothing's ever going to separate us from love God which is in Christ Jesus?

Because He loves us with an everlasting love.

Because it because it says nothing can separate me from God's love.

You know why?

Because He's the worker.

He's the Savior.

Look, let's just use common sense.

If God the Father is in heaven and one of His objects of affection is in hell, isn't that a separation?

But the Bible says He will never be separated from one that He loved.

Because He's the worker.

And it says this in the 10th verse, for we are His workmanship.

I want you to get this too.

Look what it says here.

For we are His workmanship.

Created in Christ Jesus.

Unto good works.

Do y'all know what created means?

Like, how was the world created?

God spoke into existence, right?

God said, Let there be, and there was.

God said, let there be a cow and something moved.

God said, let there be a fish and something swather.

You understand what I'm saying?

God said, Let the stars be there, and it was stars.

He said, let there be light, and the lights came on.

There was no process to it.

God spoke it into existence.

Brothers and sisters, if we understand, uh-uh, and this is something we need to tell to our Christian friends of other orders, do you understand what creation is?

Look, there are Christians of other orders, our friends, who denounce and get really offended when people talk about natural evolution.

They say, no, we don't believe in natural evolution, we believe in creation, right?

But the second way that we believe in physical creation, we also believe in spiritual creation.

And there's a motherfucker, too.

We'll preach a natural creation, but we'll preach a spiritual evolution.

It's just the second way that God created the heavens and the earth.

It's the same way that God made you a born-again creature.

You created it in Christ Jesus!

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus.

And this got me thinking, blow me over to 1 Timothy 1 and 15.

Please pray for us.

Then we're gonna go to Deuteronomy 32 and 9.

Got me thinking about God.

God doing the work.

God doing the saving.

God doing the finding.

So over here in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 15, it says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.

1 Timothy 1:15

Meaning this is true.

That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

How be it for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shoe forth all long suffering for a pattern to them?

We should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

So Paul says, I'm the pattern to believers.

How is Paul the pattern?

How many of y'all, he's the pattern to all believers?

How many of y'all were Jewish rabbis, were Jewish teachers?

Were any of y'all a Jewish teacher, Jewish rabbi?

Paul was a Jewish teacher.

Raised up at the feet of Gamel.

How many of y'all persecuted the church?

Anyone ever did that?

I know in a way some of us all did, or all of us did in some way, but you understand?

How many of y'all consented to the death of a Christian deacon?

And at your beck and call, Stephen was killed.

A primitive Baptist deacon, if you will, was killed at your beckon call.

How many of y'all made havoc of the church of Jesus Christ?

Did any of us do that?

No.

But so then how is Paul the pattern?

You know how Paul is the pattern?

It is evident to anyone that's reading scripture over in Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

You've just seen him consent to the death of Stephen and the end of Acts 7.

You see him making havoc of the church and compelling people to blaspheme in Acts 8.

And then in Acts chapter 9, he's breathing out murders and threatening and slaughters against the church of anybody who names the name of Jesus.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

He wants them to just shut up.

He compels them to blaspheme.

He says, if you don't denounce the name of Jesus, I'm going to kill you.

Of course, none of us did that.

But we did that chapter nine.

And he's trying to put Christians in jail.

And he's trying to kill Christians.

And all the stuff.

I've got a number of people.

And it is the pattern.

I'm the belief to believe the believer.

And the preacher.

And who's going to be in heaven?

I'm the street.

That is God that did the work.

They got to the choosing, they got to the finding that God did the morning again.

You cannot give credit to Paul one iota.

So go with me over to Deuteronomy chapter 32.

Deuteronomy 32 · chapter mention

Just remember, for we are his workmanship.

He's the worker.

Over in Deuteronomy chapter 32, when it talks about in verse 9, it's going to use the term lot.

Deuteronomy 32 · chapter mention

So here in Deuteronomy 32 and 9, it says, For the Lord's portion is his people.

Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

What does that word lot mean there?

It has some compound meaning.

And it means a company, a host, right?

And it also means a company or a host, and they all meet the same measuring line.

And what this is saying is that Jacob is the example of a greater host.

You get that?

He's an example of a bigger sample, if you will.

At work, I give a lot of shots.

And on the things that I, the medication that I administer, they all have a lot number.

And they all have a lot number, and they all have an expiration date.

And every single medication I give that have the same lot number, they have the same expiration date.

You know why?

Because they came out of the same bunch.

That lot, that lot number is saying all these things are the same.

And and here in Jeremiah, and basically it's kind of saying the same thing as where Paul says, I'm the pattern.

It's kind of saying the same thing with Deuteronomy 32 when it says that Jacob is the lot of the Lord's inheritance.

He's the example of how we all are.

You understand that?

And look what it says here.

For the Lord's portion is his people.

Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

He's the example.

They're all like Jacob.

And look how he found Jacob.

He found him in a desert land and in the waste howling wilderness.

He led him about.

He instructed him.

He kept him as the apple of his eye.

Brothers and sisters, you look at Jacob's life.

You know, the Lord changed Jacob's name from Jacob to Israel.

Jacob means the planter.

Jacob means to take something that's not yours with trickery and deceit.

And that's what he did.

And God changed his name from Jacob to Israel.

Y'all know what Israel means?

It means God strives.

And I'm gonna tell you, every one of us by nature, we're a supplanter.

Y'all know what we all die and Adam in the garden?

Because Adam took something that woman has.

And I know we think, well, that's that's crazy.

Why how did he eat that?

I know.

He wanted it.

But you see what I'm saying?

Brothers and sisters, we're all by nature, we're supplanters.

And whenever God found every one of us, whether we were in the womb when it happened, or whether we were on our deathbed, I'm gonna tell you he found us in a waste howling wilderness.

And I'm gonna tell you, you go and you look at Jacob's life.

I don't have time to look at it, but you go and you look at him from the very first time when they come out of the womb, he grabs his brother by the heel.

You tell me, you can't tell me little babies are innocent.

He's like, I want to be first! That's his nature.

That's his nature.

And then his brother, y'all think about this.

Y'all think about this.

His brother that he was raised up with.

His brother that he was raised up with.

Jacob is out there cooking one day.

And his brother's been hunting all day in the field, and he's just tired, and he's at the point of death.

And his brother says, Give me some of your food.

And Jacob says, You sell me your birthright.

Come on, y'all.

Do y'all see the love of God in that heart?

Like me and my sister, we're like oil and vinegar.

I'm gonna tell you what, if she's starving, I'm gonna give her something.

Maybe not a lot.

No, I'm just kidding.

I mean, I understand the rivalry I do, but come on.

That's your brother.

That's your mama and daddy's son.

That's your daddy's favorite person in the world.

And you're gonna let him die?

Do y'all see any fruits of the spirit there?

And then whenever his brother goes to kill a deer, so his daddy could bless his brother, so Isaac could bless Esau.

Jacob's mama hears about this and she tells, and she tells Jacob, hey, hurry up.

I'm gonna fix this goat to where it tastes like deer meat.

Man, she must have been a good old cook.

I'm gonna tell you what makes a goat taste like venison.

I ain't tasting no goat when I'm like, ooh.

Usually when I taste goat, I'm like, it ain't bad.

But anyway, and he knew that his brother was hairy.

So his mama puts animal skins on his arm so his daddy will believe that he's Esau.

And he and you know it just before the Lord found Jacob and the waste howling wilderness, y'all know how many times he said the word God in his life recorded in scripture?

You know how many times we're looking?

One.

And you know when it was because Isaac goes and he sends Esau to go kill deer me and to bring it back hooked.

And Jacob's mama hears about this and she says, Look, I'm gonna make this go.

You take it to your daddy.

In other words, he didn't get to go hunting.

It was already prepared for him.

So he just put the clothes on.

He gets to his daddy.

You know what his daddy says?

Daddy says, How'd you find it so fast?

You know what Jacob says?

Your God bless me.

You're stealing a birthright?

You're doing this most deceitful and trickery thing in the world?

And you're gonna put God in your business?

That don't sound like somebody who fears God, does it?

I'm not saying anybody who does that ain't born again, but I'm just saying it ain't looking good for the whole team, as my daddy would say.

You know?

I mean, I ain't seeing no fruit there.

He used God's name one time in his life, and it's to lie.

And then he finds out his brother wants to kill him for what he did, and he runs off.

And then in Genesis 28, go with me real quick.

There's a point to this.

Remember, we're talking about God being the worker, right?

We're not the worker.

God is.

Go me over to Genesis 28.

It tells us over in Deuteronomy 32 that God found Jacob in a waste howling wilderness.

Then go me over to Genesis 28 real quick.

I left my other Bible in Georgia.

This is my grandma's old Bible.

So sometimes when you use somebody else's Bible, it's like driving a new car.

You gotta learn the steering wheel.

But over here in Genesis chapter 28, the Lord appears to uh Jacob.

Genesis 28 · chapter mention

And we'll go to the 11th verse.

Look what it says here.

Well, we'll go to the 10th verse.

It says, and Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran.

And he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set.

And he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep.

And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest to thee, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.

And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in thee, and in all thy sea, and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

And behold, I am with thee.

That's beautiful.

God tells him, I'm with thee.

What did Jacob do to earn any of this?

How about when he grabbed his brother's heel?

How about when he told his brother, I'm gonna let you die unless you give me your birthright?

How about when he lied to his daddy in the name of God?

Any of that deserving for the Lord to appear to him and say, I'm with you.

You know why God did that to Jacob?

The same reason he did it to each and every one of us.

By grace are you saved.

And look what it says here.

And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land.

For I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.

Brother Mark, you ever been anywhere and you were like, God's not here?

No, because you know God's everywhere.

It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

You know the first thing I remember whenever I believe I was born again?

Going from not believing in God to believing in God.

And to be honest with you, it freaked me out.

Because I went from not believing in spiritual things to understanding that there's a God.

And you know what?

I understood that God was in this place and I didn't know it.

And I'm gonna tell you, Jacob, I believe he was born again right there, and he's like, man, God is real.

But brothers and sisters, he wasn't born again because any of the good stuff that he did.

What does Deuteronomy 32 say?

It says, He found Jacob in what?

The waste howling wilderness.

And what is Jacob?

He's the lot, he's the example, he's the pattern, he represents us.

That's how he found every one of us.

You know why?

Because God is the worker and not me.

I'll leave you with this.

This is one of my favorite examples in the Bible.

I believe if we just use a dear friend of mine told me one time, he watched a debate between a very smart primitive Baptist man and a very smart preacher from another order.

And he said, the Primitive Baptist man got slaughtered.

He said, Brother Dan, you know why he got slaughtered?

Because he depended upon his intellect and his smartness to defend.

He didn't go to the simple stuff.

The guy, the other guy, was using all this big language and all this theological terms and all this.

And he said the Primitive Baptist guy didn't stick with Scripture.

He said he got slaughtered.

You know how we defend the truth?

Scripture.

The simplicity which is in Christ Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, there's one word, in my opinion, that can help you understand that salvation is not of you and me.

Y'all know what we were predestinated unto adoption.

We got a little girl in our church at Urbanville.

Her name is Grace Hancock.

She was adopted.

She was adopted out of a very sad family.

Not going to get in all the details.

Very sad.

She's appreciative of being in the family that she's in.

And she was adopted whenever she was a little infant.

And I'm going to tell you, none of us have ever gone up to little Gracie and been like, dude, great job.

Man, you did a wonderful job on the family that you chose.

Good for you.

What do we understand?

Who do we give the praise to?

Who do we give the honor to?

To the little baby from for choosing the parents?

Or do we look at those parents and say, man, what a great heart you had.

What love you've shown.

You already had five children that you birthed, and then you adopted a sixth?

How awesome that is! Who do we give the praise to?

I'm gonna tell you, you know what adoption means?

It means the parents take a little child out of a lesser family and put them in a greater family.

Y'all know why we're going to heaven?

Because God the Father took us out of the family of Adam and placed us in the family of Christ.

And to me, one of the greatest examples, and who did the in adopting, who does the work?

Remember, we are his workmanship.

It's not of works.

And adoption, who does the work?

The child or the parent?

One of the greatest examples of adoption, I can't get it out of my mind, is Moses.

By Moses' nature, he was thrown in the Nile River.

Y'all know what they got over there in the Nile River?

They got crocodiles.

You know what a little infant baby is to a crocodile?

A snack.

And I'm gonna tell you, by his nature, he was throwed off in that river.

And y'all know what was gonna happen to him if there wasn't intervention?

He was going to be destroyed.

But y'all know.

What happened the day that Moses was adopted?

Let me tell you, the daughter of the king walked by.

The child of the king.

You understand what I'm saying?

Royalty walked by.

And you know what?

You know why Moses was taken out of that water?

Because she looked at him, royalty looked at him, and you know what it says she had?

She had compassion.

The Bible says that the Lord looked at us as a little baby cast out in the field.

And whenever he looked at us, the time was love.

And he had compassion on us.

And he brought us into his family.

I'm going to tell you, brothers and sisters, you you look at uh Pharaoh's daughter, royalty passed by.

Moses was gonna die.

He was gonna be destroyed.

But royalty walked by and she plugged him into the water.

And you know what she said?

The word Moses means to drink him.

She says I'm gonna come to Moses because I've been jumping into the water.

The Bible says, no man can come to me except the Bible which sent me drill him.

You know what everybody wonderful is over here this morning?

We're coming to Moses.

We've been adopted, we've been drunk, and we're going to heaven.

I'm gonna tell you what.

It says the same one, the same voice that borns you again in Matt and John 5 and 25 is the same voice that's sending you to heaven in John 5 and 29.

And I'm gonna tell you it's the Lord's word that's taking us to heaven.

And that second part of John 5 and 29.

And it's the Lord's word that burns us again.

I love you.

I give all praise and honor to God.

Amen.

I like Brother Danny's the Holy Spirit's illustration about Paul being the pattern, and he is the pattern that you know how are we all saved, quote unquote, we were saved like he was by the Lord's intervention.

But I recently I was listening to a sermon by another man, and it was pointed out exactly the same thing that Brother Danny was talking about.

That when we go to one of the places in the Bible that the Apostle Paul, the great writer of grace, was explaining predestination election in Romans chapter 9.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

He said in verse 11 For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated.

And you know, this is in the middle of the passage of Scripture that is talking, so this is Paul's example of God's predestination and election, and he's saying the exact same thing that Brother Danny just told us that Paul is saying, Jacob wasn't worthy.

Like neither one of these boys.

But, you know, we we want to demonize Esau that, you know, he didn't love Esau.

Well, Jacob didn't deserve to be loved either.

But God chose him, and we are Jacob.

We are fallen, you know, we're a deceiver, you know.

Well we're Gomer.

I mean, we're you know, we're the one in the wrong.

We didn't deserve, but but God, in the midst of these two bad boys, chose one of the bad boys.

But he chose.

Well, and so and in Romans chapter 8, I remember Elder Samuel Odom was talking about that again, the Lord talking about predestination election, Romans 8, 30, moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called, whom he called, then he also justified, whom he justified, then he also glorified.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

What shall we say then to these things, if God be for us, who can be against us?

Verse 32.

He, God, that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

So you're telling me in the theology of the world that here is God in all of his sovereignty and all of his majesty, that he is the creator Almighty God, that he knows everything, he understands everything.

He understands human nature better than we do, better than Satan does, better than everybody else.

He made us, right?

But God understands this, and you're telling me that God went 99% of the way in regard to salvation and then left the 1% up to fallen, depraved human beings like me and like you.

That is a terrible plan, right?

I mean, that that plan is awful.

I mean, it's going to fail, you understand?

God didn't do that.

In other words, Romans 8 32, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all.

You're telling me that the God who literally predestined Christ to die for us went all that way, but then he stopped short of salvation.

He stopped short of saving grace, of electing grace.

You're telling me God went all the way and said, Oh, I'm gonna stop right here and I'm gonna leave that last little bit up to y'all, folks.

That's a terrible plan.

It's a failure waiting to happen.

But that's not how he did it.

He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

He didn't just give us the grace, he gave us the faith, Brother Danny.

Yeah, he did all the work.

And he gets all the glory for it.

Not a single preacher in the history of the world has ever saved any mighty eternally to heaven except the Lord Jesus Christ.

Brother Joshua, why don't we evangelize?

We're supposed to tell everybody about what Christ has already done.

And that you and I might diligently follow after it.

Evangelism is not saving people to heaven, it's helping to save people to a timely knowledge and understanding of what Christ has already done to give him the glory so that we might bear fruit and bring him glory all the days of our life.

We do evangelism, we just do it differently.

To God be the glory that he is the great workman, the great creator.

Amen.

We're gonna close in a word of song.

We're gonna ask Brother Don if he would come up and help us do that.

And the church doors are always open if you desire to unite with the membership of our church.

Thanks.