Wish you wouldn't make me cry
before I have to try to preach. Truly a humbling thing to stand here and try to speak a
word for God who's sufficient. I had a fellow ask me one time,
well, what are your credentials? Where did you receive your education? I said, I sat under a faithful
man for 20 years and listened and watched and tried to learn
some things. I'd like for you to turn with
me to the first epistle of John, 1 John chapter 1. While you're turning, let me
say in way of introduction, I'll never forget what Brother Mahan
told me years ago as a young, inexperienced preacher. He said that from whatever text
the Lord put upon my heart to always endeavor to deal with
these three things in preaching. First, the holiness of God. who
God is, what he is. Secondly, the sinfulness and
the depravity of man, how bad we are. And thirdly, how the
two, God and man, can be brought together in fellowship one with
another. That's what the gospel deals
with. If we can truly answer that last
question, how the two can be reconciled together, then we've
no doubt preached the gospel. And that's the message of this
book. Now look at verse five with me,
first five words. This then is the message. We've heard of him. This, then,
is the message. It's not just a message. It's
not one of many messages. It's the message. Particular. All these little words, they
mean something. The message. Only one message for sinners
to believe in order to be saved. Are you interested? One gospel message, only one
message that declares good news for fallen sinners. This then is the message that
we've heard of him. This is the only gospel message
and it's concerning a person, him, H-I-M. Now John tells us in these first
three verses, he says, this then is the message. And then he goes
on to tell us that the Son of God was manifested. And he said,
I've seen him. And I've heard him and my hands
have handled of the word of life. John and the other apostles,
so privileged. John said, I've touched him.
I've laid my head upon his breast. He's God incarnate. I know that. My spirit has bore witness with
his spirit. This is the Son of God. This
is God the Son in the flesh. And I've touched him and I've
heard him. And I've heard this message from him. It's the message. It didn't originate with any
man. James, John, Matthew, Peter,
none of the other disciples came up with this teaching. This message was the message
of God to sinners. Verse 5, this then is the message
we've heard of Him and declare unto you. I don't have a message. It's His message. My message
is His message. And I dare not preach any other
thing. You know, the Apostle didn't
say, woe unto me if I don't preach. He said, woe unto me if I don't
preach the Gospel. That's the message. Good news
to sinners. Now notice that John doesn't
say we've heard this message from him, even though he did.
But John writes, we heard this message of him. It's about him. Christ said, these are the words
which I have spoken to you while I was yet with you, that all
things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. It's about
me. This is the message, and it's
about me, Christ said. The message your pastor preaches
so faithfully, the message Brother Donnie preaches week in and week
out, and the message that I endeavor to preach to you now is concerning
Jesus Christ. This message, the message has
to do with who God is. Look at that. This is the message
we've heard of Him in declaring to you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at
all. This message has to do with who God is. Not who He would,
could, or should be, but who He is. He's not trying to be. Not who he's trying to be, no
sir. Who he is. Not who you make him to be. Huh? God is. God who is not bound
by time. Always is. He said, I am that
I am. Not I was. Not I'm going to be. I am. that I am. He's eternal. He's never been,
nor will he ever be. He is. And he says, God is light, John
does, and in him is no darkness at all. He's not trying to be
light. He is light. God is not trying
to be holy. He is holy. God is pure. God is of such purity that his
eyes cannot so much as look upon iniquity. We're in trouble. His eyes cannot even look upon
iniquity. How is he going to look at me,
who is nothing but iniquity? So perfectly holy is God that
the angels cover their faces before Him. God is light and
the Father of light, in whom there is no variableness, no
shadow of turning. God can never be less than what
He is. Holy, just, and righteous is
His way, and His works, and His judgment. This is the message. It's the message of how a holy
God and unholy men and women can be brought back into fellowship
one with another. This message has to do with the
glory of God, not the glory of man. This book is not about you. It's
not about me. It's about God. It's about Christ. Moses said, let me see your glory.
And the Lord Jesus pre-incarnate said, I'll be gracious on whom
I'll be gracious. I'll have mercy on whom I'll
show mercy. That's my glory. And man's been
trying to rob it since the fall of Adam. Keeping mercy for thousands. forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin, and will by no means clear the guilty." Now that's
bad news for the guilty. How are we going to be reconciled
to Him? Reconciled, what a precious word. It is when you're the sinner
who's alienated from God. It means to be restored, as I
said, brought back into a friendly relationship with another. It means to settle a difference,
to settle a dispute, a disagreement and a conflict between two parties. Reconciliation is a bringing
together, an appeasement, an appeasement of satisfaction of
justice. The appeasement between the offending
party and the one who is offended. Now right there is where you'll
be separated with will-worshippers. Even those that you would like
to believe, or that profess to believe that salvation is by
grace. This is where you separate them.
When you tell them, you've offended God. You and I have offended
God. What happens when someone offends
us? Can we just be honest? When someone
offends me, you know what first thing happens? I get mad. I get
angry. So why then do we feel that God
has no right to be offended and angry with us? You know, there's not much that
you can say negatively about me that's not true in some sense. If I haven't done it, I've thought
it. Again, just be honest. But God does not deserve our
rebellion and our disobedience against Him. We've turned our
backs on the very God who made us, and without a cause Friends,
we hate the very One who provides for us and gives us our very
next breath. He gives us the air that we breathe
and He provides for us all the provisions of life. Self-made
man, there is no such thing. God gives you the health to work. So much is God offended that
His holy law demands justice. Well, that's a word that doesn't
mean much anymore. To offend God's law is to offend
the God of the law. The punishment of the law for
sin is death. The death penalty. The wages
of sin is death. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. That's what justice demands. I don't want justice. I want
mercy. Oh, God have mercy upon me. God would cease to be holy and
just if His holy justice is not satisfied. Isn't that so? so holy and just as God that
He can by no means clear the guilty. And that's bad news for
the guilty. God's law says to them that are under the law that
every mouth may be stopped and all the world become what? Guilty
before God. Are you guilty? I like all the old shows that
have to do with law and the judge and anyway, oftentimes we watch
these shows and they go, the verdict's in. Everybody's sitting
around waiting, you know, for the verdict to come in. The verdict
is in. Guilty. Guilty. What about the sentencing? Death. Death. So is there any hope? for the
guilty? Oh, yeah. That's the message. There's hope
for the guilty. There's one hope, and it's found
in the message that we've heard concerning him. This is the message,
and it's the only message that is for sinners. This message
is for the guilty. It's not for those who aren't
guilty. It's for those that are guilty. And the reason this message is
rejected by the mass majority of folks in this world is because
they don't believe that they're guilty. They don't believe that God's
really going to punish sin. They don't. I had a lady tell me not long
ago that God loves everybody too much to punish sin. And that's
how preachers have portrayed God. And that's why, folks, I
blame her preacher, if she has one, and if he has the nerve
to call himself that. God's too forgiving to send men
and women to hell. Oh, how I wish men and women
would read this book. I asked that same lady if she
believed there was a hell. She said, oh, yeah. Yeah, there's
a hell. I asked her if God loved everybody,
then why was there a hell? He loves everybody. There's not
going to be anybody in hell. There'll be no hell. No need
for hell if God loves everybody. And then she said a dirty word
to me. She said people are in hell because they don't accept
Jesus. That's a dirty word. Salvation has never been about
accepting Jesus. I heard that all my life. Well,
you've got to accept Jesus. People still say it all the time.
You've got to accept Jesus. You've got to let Him into your
heart. Men and women cannot come. We don't have the ability to
come to God that we might have life. Sinners don't have the ability
to accept Jesus Christ. They're dead in trespasses and
sins. Has God shown you that you're
dead? Our Lord said, no man can come to me. No man has the ability
to come to me except the Father which sent me drawing. And then
he said just a few verses later that no man can come to me except
it were given unto him of my Father. Well, preacher, what
about my will? What did God say to Moses? I
will. It's not about your will. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. It's not about your will. It's
about God's will. It's not of him that willeth.
It's not of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. That's the message. What about your will? Christ
gave the answer. He said, you will not come. You
will not come to me that you might have life. Our redemption
comes only by his acceptance of us. And he has to make us
acceptable. And that's the gospel. He's holy,
we're unholy. If I'm going to be holy, perfectly
holy, God is going to have to make me holy. God is righteous
and I'm unrighteous. If I'm ever to be righteous,
if I'm ever to have the perfect righteousness of God, He's got
to give it to me. He's got to give me His perfect
righteousness. God's going to have to make us
acceptable in order for us to be accepted.
And what God accepts has to be perfect. to be accepted. Perfect. That's another word
we don't know much about. You're going to have to be perfect
in order to be accepted by God. And if you're not, then God won't
save you. That's our dilemma. How am I going to be perfect?
Paul said in Romans 5 verse 6 that Christ died for the ungodly,
and I was thinking this morning how religion teaches you that
you've got to be good in order to be saved. You know, actually,
it's just the opposite. You've got to be ungodly. And I'm not suggesting that we
continue in sin, that grace may abound. No, sir, not at all.
But Christ said, I came into the world to call the righteous.
I came not to call righteous, but sinners to repentance. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. But God
commendeth His love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us." Christ came into the world to save sinners
of whom I am chief. And folks say, well, I mess up
from time to time, and I'm not perfect. You've got to be. You've got to be. Christ came to save sinners.
If you say that you're not a sinner, God says you're a liar. Now look
at verse 6. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
Verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth's not in us. And you remember the three things
I told you in the beginning that Brother Mahan told me? God is
holy. Man is unholy. And if we say
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, John says, and the truth's not
in us. But this, then, is the message
that we've heard of him. How can a holy, just, perfectly
righteous God and sinful man be reconciled? That's the question. That's the issue. God who is
perfectly holy and perfectly righteous, whose holy justice
can by no means clear the guilty. His justice has to punish sin. And unless God does something
for us, we're going to perish. Not long before she died, my
mother said, well, God will help those who help themselves. And I said, Mama, where does
it say that in the Bible? It's not in there. God helps
those who cannot help themselves. God helps those who are unable
to help themselves. That's why real sinners call
the message the gospel. It's the best news a sinner has
ever heard. And it's all that I want to hear.
I don't want to know how to live. I can't live right. I want to know how he lived and
he died to take away my sin. Can you? Lift yourself out of
the dunghill. Can you make yourself alive?
You have no righteousness to offer God. Our righteousness
is as filthy rags. But God sent Christ to do that
for us. He died the just for the unjust. I love that verse of Scripture.
I think about it all the time because the just one died for
the unjust one to bring us to God. He who thought it not robbery
to be equal with God was made in the likeness of sinful flesh
and took upon himself the form of a servant. This is God for
him. And he took upon himself the
form of a servant and was made unto the likeness of men. And
he was tempted in all points as we are. He did that for his people. He left His throne of glory and
He came and He perfectly honored the law of God that I had broken. He kept the law that I couldn't
keep. But God went to the cross and
He bore our sins and His own body on the tree. And He paid
the wages that the law demanded. And that's how sinners are justified. to the law, God can't overlook
sin any more than a faithful, honest, and truthful judge can
overlook a criminal's crimes. You know, if a criminal is tried
and found guilty, the judge is bound by his oath to look at
the book of justice, and the one who offended the law has
to be sentenced. Anything less is injustice. Right? So what's the judge going to
do? Is he going to forgive the criminal and just let him go
free? That's not justice. The judge has to look at the
letter of the law and judge them according to it. Justice has
to be honored or it ceases to be justice. And our sin, I remind
you again, calls for the death penalty. That's how serious this
matter. Oh God, enable us to see the
seriousness of this dilemma that we're in. And in the court of divine justice, either the offender must die
or there has to be someone that will take their place. Not just
anybody, somebody that's perfect, because it has to be perfect
to be accepted. You know, that's in that such
a simple message. You know, that's not that message,
this message, the message. It's not hard to understand.
Men and women just refuse to believe it. This, then, is the message. And
Jesus Christ is our message. Friends, Paul said, I'm determined
not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ. and Him
crucified. You know, I've thought about
that so much. That's just so plain, so simple, but let me
see if I can make it even simpler. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This gospel is about Jesus Christ
and what He did. Jesus Christ is God. God had
to be crucified to put away your sin. That's the message. What are we going to do with
that? Are we going to bow? Are we going to say, oh God,
be merciful to me, a sinner? Are we going to stand up and
throw in God's face the things that we've done in order to justify
ourselves? God is light, truth, and holiness. There is no darkness at all.
There's no leniency or compromise whatsoever. There's only truth
and justice with this God. Oh, are you, the unholy sinner,
going to appease and satisfy a God that you cannot satisfy? Are we going to endeavor and
try to do that? Oh, no. No, no, no. A thousand deaths. Now listen,
a thousand deaths. would not pay for your first
sin because of who you are. But the death of Christ paid
for all the sin of all God's elect throughout all time. And
that's our message. We cannot come. We will not come. We have to be brought. And just as old Mephibosheth,
we've got to be brought to the king. Why? We're too lame. We're lame from
a great fall, just like he was. And as old Jack Shanks used to
say, it's fetching grace. Fetching grace. It's called amazing
grace. Why? Because it's the grace of
an amazing God. God is holy and can by no means
clear the guilty. Man is unholy and can by no means
make himself holy or make himself acceptable. How then can a holy
God and unholy men and women be brought back together? Child
of God, learn these two words and burn them in your mind and
in your heart. Substitution and satisfaction. God is satisfied with his substitute. This then is a message. It's
a message about Jesus Christ who made us both holy and acceptable
before God. And I say with Paul, to the praise
of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. He's the beloved. Jesus Christ
is God's beloved, and you know what? In Him, so am I. God looks at me, and He says,
Beloved. This is the message, the message
of Him. May God enable me to love and
trust and rest in Him alone, and you too. Thank you. I appreciate so much your hospitality. I'm so thankful to be here. Thank you.