It's good to be here with you.
I'm gonna ask you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the
book of Proverbs. Book of Proverbs chapter 30. Proverbs chapter 30. Oh, what a blessed book that we've
been permitted by the grace of God to go through. I'd like to look at verses 10,
Proverbs chapter 30, verses 10 through 14. Proverbs chapter
30. The scriptures set forth, accuse
not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, thou be found
guilty. There is a generation that curseth
their father and doth not bless their mother. There is a generation
that is pure in their own eyes that are yet not washed from
their filthiness. There is a generation, oh, how
lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth
are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor
from off the earth and the needy from among men. Beloved, today there's many people
that are assembled together in places of what we would call
places of worship. And the reason that they've met
together is to hear what is the eternal good of their soul. That's
why we're going to church. We're going to go to church because
this is good for our eternal good. And this assembling, I'm
just talking about assembling now in general. It has a scriptural foundation to it. It's one that people have read
the scriptures concerning assembling themselves together. Forsake
not the assembling of yourselves together. the manner of some
is. They read that, and they say,
well, you know, we need to go to church. I told you about some
folks that used to live next door to us when we lived in Tennessee,
and they would ask, you know, in front of us, think we ought
to do church today? Think we ought to do, you know,
maybe we ought to go to church or something like that. So there's
a sense in which men and women, they've got an understanding
of this going to church. Why are you going to church?
Well, it's good. We need to raise the kids. We
need to get the kids in church. But what is to be done whenever
an assembling takes place? What is to be done when people
meet together concerning going to church, going to a place where
they'll hear something from the Bible? What's to be done is according
to what they think or they've heard is best for them. Now, I've often thought about
this this truth. How many denominations are there
in this world? How many different places? How many different, you know,
this one says this, this one says that. This one's got their
thought on what they need to hear. Let me ask you this. With so many different denominations. Who's right? How can I know who's
right? We all know that we're gonna
die. We all know that there's coming a time when we're going
to leave this world. We've all attended funerals. We realize that this world, as
far as we're concerned, is going to come to an end. And then what? And then what? I don't want to come to the end
of my life, realize I'm wrong. I've been wrong. It's too late. So many different denominations. How do I know what is profitable,
eternally profitable for my soul? I want you to turn to Romans chapter
one. Hold your place there in Proverbs.
Turn to Romans chapter one. The apostle Paul was moved by
the spirit of God. Romans chapter one. move to write these words. Romans chapter 1, verses 15 to
19. Romans 1, starting in verse 15. He says, as much as in me is,
I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome, for
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, Listen to this. You've read this before, but
listen to it again. For it. Now that little word
right there, it, carries a lot of significance. It, it. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth. the Jew first and also to the
Greek. For therein, there's another
word we ought to grab hold of right there. For therein, that
gospel that Paul said, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of it.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. For it is written, the just shall
live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them. Here's what I know concerning
that passage I just read. Almighty God has been pleased
to set forth through the scriptures, through preachers that he's taught
the scriptures. He's been pleased to set forth
the way that he's going to show mercy to a people, to an undeserving
people, as none of us here deserve it. None of us. Leave us to ourselves,
and I'm telling you, we all deserve to be cast out, but God Almighty
has been pleased to show mercy to undeserving sinners. All right, now, knowing that, what is the acid test? What is the acid test to know
whether or not what I'm hearing is the true message of God's
grace, God's mercy. What is the true acid test? Don't tell me what you think.
Don't tell me what somebody has told you, unless what they've
heard is from this book, from this Bible. Because once I leave
this world, if it's not according to these
scriptures, Neil, we don't have any hope. We're gone. Everybody in this room, we're
gonna meet God. We're gonna meet God. I want
you to tell me the truth. Now here's where I'm gonna stay
for just a few minutes in these verses that I just read in Proverbs.
I wanna ask myself this question because I'm starting to realize
something. I'm realizing I'm getting older.
Realizing I'm going to leave this world. Realizing I'm not
10 feet tall and bulletproof. I thought I was one time. I'm
not. I'm not a frail creature of dust. And God Almighty has set forth
the message of the gospel. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
it. And oh, how thankful I am that God would give a man a heart
not be ashamed of the gospel. is the message that I'm hearing, is the message that I'm hearing,
a message that is conditional upon something that a man must
do, man or a woman must do, must be added to, to make the work
of Christ to be a factual? Is the message that I'm listening
to? Is the message that somebody
is preaching to me, telling me what I must do to be saved? Does it have any conditions on
my part to be fulfilled for me to stand before God Almighty,
accept it? if it's a message that has a
condition to it. If God's done all that he can
do, if God's done all that he needs to do, and all you need
to do is, something's wrong. Whatever's getting ready to come
out of your mouth, something's wrong. Because that's not scriptural.
If it's got a condition, or Is the message that I'm hearing
coming out of the mouth of a man that God sent to preach the gospel
of free grace, sovereign free grace, is the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ enough? Is his work finished? Is it finished? Is there something... Now, do I believe that God's
people are going to believe unto salvation? Yes, they're going
to believe. They're going to believe. But
they're not going to be right before God because they're believed. They're going to be right before
God because God Almighty saved them by grace and gave them a
heart to believe it. There's a big difference. One
of them is salvation by works, which is no salvation at all.
The other one is an evidence of salvation by the grace of
God. God saves men and women by grace, through faith, and
that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works.
What part of that do we not get? Not of works. Why? Because I boasted it. I've told you before. This is
salvation by works. It's to say that I know this.
I didn't do much. Bless God, I believed. And therefore,
I'm saved because I believed. No, sir, let me tell you something.
God's people believe by the grace of God. God saves them by grace. He saves them by grace and gives them faith to believe
it. Without works on their part,
there's nothing. All the denominations in this
world, and there's only really, when it comes down to it, there's
only two. There's only two. There's one that says that salvation
is by something that you've done. The Lord's done most of the work.
Now all I gotta do is believe it. If you believe this, then
you... That's works. The other one is, God saves His
people by grace. And then by the grace of God,
He tells them about it. I saved you. By grace, because
I chose to show mercy to you. Does God's people cast themselves
upon the mercy of God? Absolutely. Do they believe on
Him? Absolutely. Do they trust in
anything that they've done in order to make salvation effectual? No, sir. It is by grace, by grace,
You remember something here. A little leaven. Little leaven. Leaven's the whole lump. If I
find my hope to be in something that I've done, well, I've been
going to Katie Baptist Church all my life. Well, good for you. For that, I'm very thankful.
I'm thankful that God would allow you the privilege to be sitting
under the sound of the gospel. But if you're trusting in being
a member of Katie Baptist Church all of your life, that's works. That's works. A little of it,
little of it, 11th, the whole lump. Nothing is to be added
to, mingled with. Nothing can be mingled with.
To be effectual with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ with
the imputation of his righteousness. It is by grace. It is by grace. Through faith, that's how you
know it's by grace. Out of works that we're gonna
boast. Now, with this in mind, this
absolute truth in mind before us, that salvation is all of
grace, I pray now that the Spirit of God open our eyes to see,
to behold by faith the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
we may see Him alone as our hope before Almighty God. Now I'm
going to read Proverbs. We read it a while ago. With
that being said, I want to read what Scripture says. Proverbs
chapter 30, starting back, I'm gonna just read verses 10 and
go through that verse 14 again. Accused not a servant unto his
master, lest he curse thee, thou be found guilty. There is a generation
that curses their father, does not bless their mother.
There's a generation that's pure in their own eyes, yet it's not
washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, oh, how
lofty their eyes, their eyelids lifted up. There's a generation
whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives to
devour the poor from the earth. the needy from among men. This first scripture gives us
a warning concerning our treatment or our attitude
toward the servant and his master. That first verse, accused not
a servant unto his master. Now, you know, if we're looking
at a a general servant, just anybody, just someone that is
a servant to another. If this is just a general statement,
then we've missed the message of these scriptures. All of the
scriptures that have been set forth, given from the Lord, all
these scriptures are concerning one man. All of the scriptures,
you say, well, I don't see how every scripture can be concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said, you search the
scriptures. How many scriptures? He said,
you search the scriptures. And in them, thinking that you've
read the scriptures, you understand, you know how many there are,
you make associations, And you search the scriptures, and in
them you think you have life. That includes the whole group
of people that have got all these different denominations, and
they got their way. I used to say they got their
own little shingle that they hang outside. This one says you
got to do this, this one says you got to do that, and on and
on and on and on. You search the scriptures, And
in them you think you have eternal life. And listen to this. They
are they that testify of me. How many of them? All of them. Beginning with Moses, there were
two on the road to Emmaus. And the Lord Jesus Christ told
these two on the road to Emmaus and beginning at Moses. And how
many scriptures? All the scriptures. he expounded
unto them those things concerning himself. So let me tell you in
verse 10 of Proverbs chapter 30, accused not a servant unto
his master. Who is being spoken of right
there? If all the scriptures If we see
the fullness of all the scriptures, who is the servant that we're
being spoken of right there? According to the scriptures,
who is it? The Lord Jesus Christ. If you come down to the heart
of that scripture right there, of whom does it speak? Christ
Jesus. Accused not a servant unto his
master, who is the servant? But the Lord said, His Son, His
only begotten Son, the Servant of Jehovah. The Servant of Jehovah. Who is His Master? The Father. The Father. The One before whom
the Lord Jesus Christ has made Himself to be the Servant. And what is the work? of this
servant right here, that of all which he has given
me, I should lose nothing. I should lose nothing. I should
lose none of them. The servant of the Lord God himself
is Christ Jesus the Lord. And He has submitted Himself,
God Almighty has committed Himself to the work of accomplishing
that which the Father from before the foundation of the world had
purposed, that there's a people in this world and He's going
to save them. He's going to save them. All that the Father's given me,
I should lose none of them. And knowing that the only servant
who is deserving of all honor, glory, praise, the servant of
the Father, knowing that, when a man stands before people and
tells the people, here is the condition on salvation, all you
have to do is I can start naming them off. Just how long do you
have to sit here? How long do we have to listen
to all the false accusations? All you got to do is speak in
tongues. All you got to do is be baptized. All you got to do
is on and on and on and on and on. Do you know what you're saying? He's not able. His blood's not
enough. His righteousness imputed is
not enough. You've got to add your work to
it. And you're accusing Him. You're
accusing Him of being unable. You're accusing the Son of the
living God. His righteousness is not enough.
His grace is not enough. Now the Scripture says, Accused
not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou
be found guilty. To say that the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is not
enough. That man's got to add his little
two cents worth to make it effectual. God wants to save you if you'll
let him. That's a lie. That's a lie. Accused not a servant. He is the servant. He's the only
servant. And that false accusation is
soul damning. He is the faithful and true servant
of Jehovah. Here's what the Lord Jesus Christ
said. That sent me is with me. The father hath not left me alone,
for I do always those things which please him. And the father himself said from
heaven, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear
Him. To say to someone that you must
add something to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is to accuse
God, His blood, His righteousness, the Son of the living God, to
not be enough. Obedience before God must be
holy. It must be without sin, without
blame, and there is but one who is without blame in himself.
There is but one faithful servant. Jews, not a servant. You say,
well, that's just in general. Well, that might hold water if
the Lord did not say that these scriptures were concerning him. Don't accuse the servant. Don't
accuse his work. Don't accuse his faithfulness.
Don't accuse him before God. Why? Lest he curse you and you
be found guilty, guilty. And I'm gonna tell you in closing,
concerning the reason that we must be saved by grace. We must be saved by grace, through
faith, trusting not in ourselves. Because, verses 11 to 14, there's
a generation that curseth their father, doth not bless their
mother. It's one of the commandments.
Honor your father, honor your mother. that it may be well with
you, that your days may be long on this earth. There's a generation
that's pure in their own eyes. And it's not washed from their
filthiness. They see themselves. I may not
be the best, you know, that this world's ever known, but I tell
you what, I'm not as bad as this one. I'm not as bad as him. I'm
not as bad as her. I'm not as bad as Hitler. I didn't
do this, I didn't do that. To offend in one point is to offend in all of them.
I'm not as bad as this one, but if you're not perfect before
God Almighty, you're in this generation. There's a generation
how, oh, how lofty their eyes, their eyelids are lifted up. Oh, how many wonderful things
that I've done. You know, I give to the, I give
to this association over here. We're part of this, this group
over here. And we support, you know, we support crippled children. We do this. And all of the things
that I've done, I think when God weighs them all, I think
that there's going to be, you know, some mercy shown to me.
There is a generation, verse four, whose teeth or as swords,
and their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the
earth, needy from among men. Who's found in that generation?
By nature, everybody born into this world. There is a generation. All of us. Every generation of
men and women spiritually who are by nature spiritually dead
in their false security. Whatever it is, those who spiritually
are dead and in their own eyes see themselves as right before
God, because I'm not as bad as this one. The only problem is,
if man or woman is not perfect, before God, perfect. And there
is only one way, and that's for the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ to be imputed to me. For God to charge me, to
impute to me His righteousness. For my sin to be atoned before
God by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. When I see the
blood, not when I see your attempt of faith, not when I see your
good works, not when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Those who are dead spiritually,
their eyes never having been opened, the power and the grace
of almighty God that's been delivered from the filth of their own self-righteous
rebellion against God, Oh, how merciful is the Lord to give
a hell-deserving sinner. Oh, I've been preaching all these
years. I've been doing this all these
years. I've preached the gospel all these years. There's enough
sin in this message that I've preached today. to send a billion
worlds to hell justly because of my lack of faithfulness. My
lack of respect has been given unto the Lord. Salvation must
be by grace. It must be by the grace of God. The scripture says, who can understand
his errors? He said, the psalmist says, cleanse
thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from
presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over
me. Then I shall be upright and I
shall be innocent from the great transgression, Psalm 19, 12 and
13. Lord, deal with me and your son. Lord, have mercy on this sinner. Lord, keep me from listening
to the lies of men that are telling me that God wants to do something
with me if I'll let him. Lord, keep me from that. Lord,
save me by your grace. Don't let me leave this world,
Lord, trusting in any wit in myself. Just a little leaven. Know how much leaven there is
in this center. A little leaven leavens a whole
lot. May the Lord have mercy upon us for his glory and our
eternal good. Amen.