Good morning everybody. It has been so good for me to
be here and to be able to hear the gospel preached. It's such
a rare thing. And every time you get to just
sit and listen to it, you are reminded, this is what I love. And every time the flesh, as
you stand up behind a pulpit, thinks for one minute, I need
to tell something that's going to impress everybody. All you
have to do is sit in a pew and listen to a man preach Christ
and your heart will say, no I don't. That's it. That's all I need
and that's all we all need. And it has been just wonderful
to be here. And I thank this congregation
for hosting this weekend. It's a lot of work. Thank all
of you ladies so much the wonderful food and all of the hospitality. It's been wonderful. And I appreciate
my brother Clay for inviting me. And I appreciate Melinda
for having us in her home and taking care of us. I've been thinking about and
praying about this message in this moment. And as I was looking
around yesterday, Sitting here and then having dinner and just
taking it all in, I rejoice in, I'm very encouraged
by and I rejoice in how many young people the Lord has given
this congregation. Young adults and young children. And that's who I want to speak
to for just a minute. I really don't want to preach.
I just want to tell you something. I want to tell myself something. I want to tell every adult who
God has given a heart that is converted into a little child. Our Lord said, except you be
converted and become as little children, you shall in no wise
enter the kingdom of heaven. And I want to be as simple and
as to the point as I can possibly be. I just want to get to the
simple heart of the matter. And I pray that the Lord will
give all of us right now the heart of a child. The heart of
a child. And give us simple faith as a
child. And lead us into the simplicity
of Christ. Those of us who have been called
to preach, we are trying as hard as we can. We are. We are studying. And
we are trying to come up with outlines. And we are trying to
make some sense out of it all. These men know. You study and
you read and you scribble notes. And then you have to go back
and you have to see what is no good. What is right for today. How does all this go in order?
We're trying as hard as we can. We're trying to make outlines.
We're trying to make sense of it all. We're trying to deliver
it in a way that is clear and not a dissertation that just
goes over everybody's heads. Our brother said it yesterday,
we're trying to get to the heart. We're trying to get to the heart.
And I have an outline this morning. You're going to see my head look
down at my notes quite a bit. I have an outline here and I'm
going to follow my outline. But my prayer is that God might
let us enter into the heart. Enter into the heart of this.
I just want to get to the heart of the only thing that matters.
And I want to remind us that I am speaking to the young people
and any adult who has been given a young heart. I want to get
to the critical issue that we all are going to have to deal
with when we stand before God. Every person in here individually
will have your turn standing before God. And there's one critical
issue in that moment. And then after I tell us what
that is, I just want to tell you a story, and then I'll be
done. If you'll look with me at 1 Peter
chapter 2, 1 Peter chapter 2. Let's read the first eight verses
here. Wherefore, laying aside all malice,
and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may
grow thereby. If so be ye have tasted that
the Lord is gracious. To whom coming as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Ye also as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also
it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
corner stone, elect, precious. And he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe
he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling and
a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." That stone is
Jesus Christ. God the Father chose Him. We talk about election. God chose
Him. He said, Behold, this is my elect. How are we elected? Only in Him. God chose Him to be the head
of the corner, the chief corner stone. He is the foundation. He is the foundation. Other foundation
can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. He is
the stone. He is the living stone. He's the living stone. That's
what verse 4 said. He is the living stone. Just
like that rock that was smitten for the people of God and out
of that rock flowed living water. He is the living stone. And verse 5 says, Ye also as
lively stones. As that rock is, so are His people. That living stone, as He is,
so are they. Those that are chosen by God,
God chose and gave them to Christ. They are lively or living stones
built up on Him. All of His people. are built
up. They do not build themselves
up. This is what believers love about
believers. They're humble. That's what we
love about each other. Christ in a person makes that
person humble. And they don't build themselves
up. They are built up by Him, on Him, made to be a spiritual
house. One where He dwells. He said,
I'll dwell in them. As the great high priest of His
people, He offers up spiritual intercession. This altar built
up. Spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Him. Verse 5 says, You also as lively
stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Now many people do not want Him. Everybody says they love Jesus.
But many people do not want Him. They do not want a chief cornerstone. They want to be their own chief
cornerstone. They do not want to be built up. They want to
build themselves up. They do not want to be acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. through the intercession of His
work, through the intercession of His blood alone. They want
to be acceptable to God on their own. They will not have Christ by
Himself purging their sins. Not interested in that at all. They want to purge their own
sins. They want to work their own way. They want to be their
own contractor. They want to be their own builder.
I'm going to build my own house. So they disallow God's chief
cornerstone. Reject it. Deny it. It's just a stone of stumbling
to them. That's all it is. A rock of offense. But in the end, At that last
day, every soul that rejects the chief cornerstone is going
to be confounded for it. We just read. Going to be confounded. Put to shame. Not just shamed
and not just disgraced. Our Lord Himself said, ground
to powder. Ground to powder. Now here's
the issue. This is what I hope to This is
what I hope these children will learn, and this is what I hope
I'll learn. Look with me, if you would, at Matthew 21. Matthew 21 verse 42 says, Jesus saith unto them, did you
never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders
rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. This
is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore
say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and
given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever
shall fall on this stone shall be broken. But on whomsoever
it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." That's what it's
all going to come down to. That's what it's all going to
come down to. Either a sinner is going to fall on God's chief
cornerstone, or God's chief cornerstone is going to fall on that sinner.
Either way, sinners are going to be broken. Every single sinner
is going to be broken. We cannot get out of being broken.
Every sinner on this earth is going to be broken. We are either
going to be broken unto salvation or broken unto damnation. One of the two ways. Every soul
must deal with the chief cornerstone. Every soul. Now let me tell you
what my sincere prayer is. And this is why I say I don't...
I'm not trying to preach right now. I want every soul in this room. I want myself. I want my wife. I want my children. I want my
friends. And I want their children. And
I want you to fall on this stone. I want you to fall on this stone.
Don't mess around. Today's the day. Don't wait any
longer. I don't care how old you are.
I don't care how young you are. Fall on this stone. I know it's a great world out
there. And I know we have careers. And I know there's stuff we want
to buy. And there's things we want to do. I understand all
that. First things first. Fall on this stone. I want to be in heaven with you. I want to be at the feet of Christ.
I want to be at the feet of Christ. Lord, help me to fall on this
stone. I want to be there with you. And I mean that. Fall on
this stone. Kids, remember your Creator in
the days of your youth, before the evil days draw nigh. The
closer you get to teenage years, the more rebellious you're going
to become. I know from experience. You're going to think your parents
are idiots. You're going to think this is the most foolish thing
you've ever seen in your life. This is the biggest waste of
time I've ever seen in my life. Before those days draw nigh,
may God cause us to bear the yoke in our youth. Fall on this
stone. We're going to have to deal with
the chief corner stone. This is God. Not gentle Jesus
making mild. We're going to have to deal with
God. Adults, fall on this stone. Let's all right now, in the heart,
fall on this stone. What is it to fall on this stone? I can tell you what it's not.
It is not just to acknowledge that there is a stone. That's
not falling on the stone. It's not just to acknowledge
that there is a God and there is a Christ and there is a hope. That's not what it is. It is
to literally cast your all on Him. Cast your all. It's not just to believe in the
stone. It's to believe on the stone. That's the difference. No proud sinner will do that. No proud sinner will do that.
No proud sinner will fall until he sees his need to fall. God must reveal to us first that
we can't stand. In that day, who shall stand? Not us. We cannot stand. We are going to fall. God must
reveal that to us. And then He must reveal to us
the rock to fall on. And then He must reveal to us
that rock is Christ. And then He must give us the
faith to let everything go and fall. Fall on Him. Whoever does
will be broken. Whoever does will be broken. That is a wonderful, wonderful
thing. Let me show you why in Psalm
34. Turn with me over to Psalm chapter
34. Psalm 34 verse 18 says, The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. How does a sinner receive a truly,
I mean truly, broken heart? How does a sinner receive that?
by falling on the Lord Jesus Christ. By falling on Him, the
Lord is near every sinner that casts his all on the chief cornerstone. Cast his all on Christ. When
a sinner falls on Christ, it breaks all of his pride, it breaks
all of his self-righteousness, it breaks all of his works, It
breaks everything he's holding in his hands. He says, in my
hands no price I bring. It's all broken. Everything I
am, everything I have, it's all broken. To fall on Christ is
to have no support of your own. Every person in here has fallen.
When you are in the process of falling, you have no support
of your own. Nothing. Nothing of your own. When a sinner falls on Christ,
all of his support is just broken out from under him. Everything
is knocked out from under him. Everything he thought he could
stand on is knocked out from under him. To fall on Christ is to have
nowhere else to go. Nowhere else to fall. The disciples
said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Where else can we go? I'm broken.
I have nowhere else to fall. I have nowhere else to fall.
I have nowhere else to fall. That leper who came to the Lord,
don't you love these stories in the Scripture? Aren't you
so thankful for the stories the Lord gave us? Don't you love
that leper? That leper that came to the Lord,
that was a broken man. That was a man who had fallen.
He cast his all on Christ. He came and he said, Lord, if
you will, you can make me clean. This is what it is to fall. Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. Blind Bartimaeus was a
broken man. There he sat. Casting his all
on the Lord, he cried, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy
on me. This is all I have. Jesus, Thou
Son of David, have mercy on me. And they cried, Hush, Barnabas. Shut up. And he cried the more,
Help me, Lord. Please help me, Lord. that publican in the temple,
he would not lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his
breast, crying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. This is what
it is to fall on Christ. That woman, that dear woman who
crawled into the house of that Pharisee, knowing what she was,
a harlot. Can you see this woman literally
crawling into this house? A trail of tears led straight
to the Master's feet. She started crying all over His
feet, wiping His feet with her hair. She cast her all on Him. She'd fallen on Him. May God cause us all to fall
on Christ. Every soul who does, Christ will
catch him. Every soul who does. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that comes to me I will in
no wise cast out." How do you come to Christ? Well, no man
can come except the Father draws that man. But if He draws him,
He'll draw him with a fall. We'll come falling on Him. And every soul who does, He'll
catch them, He'll save them, He'll stand them back up, build
them up on the rock, the chief cornerstone. Look with me, let
me tell you a story and I'll close. Look with me at 1 Peter
2 again. Verse 4 says, coming, Christ, coming to Christ,
to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
but chosen of God and precious, precious. You also as lively
stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ,
Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay
in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious. And he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Now it says in verse 7, Unto
you, therefore, which believe, to every sinner that God has
chosen to give faith to, and authored that faith, and performed
that faith, who will finish that faith, Unto you therefore which
believe, He is precious. That's how you can tell if you
have fallen on Him. How will I know when I fall?
How will I know if I have fallen on Christ? Here's how you'll
know. You will truly say in the depths of your soul, He is. Oh, he's so precious. I want
to tell you a story that I told in Kingsport, and the first time
I told it, I just said, the pastor. And I do that a lot because I
mention Brother Henry a lot, and I think I mention him too
much. I mention his name too much. And so a lot of times I'll
say, a commentary writer said, or something like that. But I'm
going to tell you it's Brother Henry Mahan. I heard this story and this is
what it is to fall on Christ. This is what it is. Back in the
early 1950s, Brother Henry was in his 20s, he was in his mid-20s.
Back in the early 1950s, there was a man in the military and
he was overseas and he had a heart attack, a big heart attack. He was in the hospital over there
and the chaplain, as false preachers do, he was relentless to this
man. His name was Charlie. He came
by and started talking to him. Now you know Charlie, you almost
died now. Don't you want to get right with God? Don't you want
this? Isn't it time you make your decision? You need to get
baptized. So finally he broke Charlie down and Charlie made
a profession and he baptized him. And the military was sending
Charlie back to his hometown because of this heart attack,
which happened to be Ashland, Kentucky. So this chaplain called a pastor
in Ashland, Kentucky. Charlie was not a religious man
originally. And he called a pastor. and said,
here's the situation, this man Charlie's had a heart attack
and I've already talked to him, I've already led him to Christ
now and he's made his profession and I've already baptized him.
Will you accept him into your church with him already being
baptized by me? Or will you require him to be
baptized? He was trying to find a church that would just let
Charlie come right in on his work. And brother Henry wisely
said, oh, we'd love to have him. You just tell him to come on.
He's welcome to sit with us and hear the gospel preached. Brother
Henry said when Charlie got there, that man was on fire for Jesus.
Buddy, he was just big talk and big this and big that and he
was there and everything was great and started out just great. As he became healthier, as he
started to get his strength back, he was able to go do more things
and they started seeing Charlie a little less. And then a little
less. And then a little less. Until
finally they didn't see him anymore. Brother Henry back in those days
had a radio broadcast on every weekday morning. And it was before
Pro Tools. You couldn't email the file.
He had to go to the radio station and preach a 30 minute message
on the radio. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Every morning, I said, how long did you do that? He said, 20
years. Can you imagine? So Charlie used to sit at home
and he'd turn the radio program on to ease his conscience because
he didn't gather with God's saints anymore. He thought, I'm hearing
the gospel, I'll just sit over there. One morning, Brother Henry had
great liberty on the radio and the program was over. And he
got his hat and got his coat and all those kinds of things
and walked out of the station, got ready to get in his car.
And the station manager opened the door and ran out and said,
you have a telephone call. Somebody has called the station.
So he went back inside and said, hello. And the man was on the
phone bawling his eyes out. He said he was trying to tell
me something. I couldn't understand what he was saying. And it was Charlie. And he finally
figured out it was Charlie. And he said, Charlie, what's
wrong with you? And Charlie said, I'm lost. And Brother Henry said, I'm glad. And he said, you're glad I'm
lost? And he said, no, I'm just glad
you finally realize it. And oh, Charlie was crying and
he was so broken. And Brother Henry said, I'm going
to come over to your house. So he got there and the door was
open. And Charlie was sitting on his couch bawling his eyes
out. And Brother Henry said, Charlie,
let's talk about the gospel. And he said, it won't do any
good. He said, it's too late for me. He said, I am a wretched,
no good, miserable, vile, worthless, wicked sinner. Brother Henry
said, Charlie, You are the prime candidate. He opened up his Bible, 1 Timothy
1.15. He said, read this, Charlie. Christ came to save sinners. Sinners like Jacob. Sinners like David. Sinners like
me. Charlie asked him, he said, do
you really believe God will have mercy on me? He said, to all
that call upon His name. So, Charlie started settling
down and he came back together with the saints again. Brother
Henry said this time it was different. It was different. This was a
broken, broken, humbled man. And he said he didn't miss a
service. He came not only to every service, he came early
to every service. And he said he got there so early,
he didn't know what to do. He was the only one there. Brother
Henry would be there going over his notes, trying to get ready,
and Charlie would be out there with nothing to do. He'd go to
the piano, and he couldn't play the piano, and just start hitting
notes. He said it seemed like six months
he was out there just making ruckus on the piano while Henry
was trying to get ready. Before the service, one night
or morning, he came in and got Henry. He said, come here, I
want you to hear this. He'd been working on something.
So Henry goes out, Charlie sits down at the piano, and with one
finger he plays, Not have I gotten, but what I received. Grace hath bestowed it, and I
have believed. boasting excluded, pride I abase. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story. To God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. One Sunday, a visiting preacher
came. Henry said it was a visiting
preacher. My guess is Ralph Barnard. But a visiting preacher came
and he preached on, Do you know Christ? Do you know Christ? This is life eternal. That they
might know Thee. That they might know Thee. He
preached, Do you know Christ? Who He is. Not just that He is. Who He is. And the message was over, and
this visiting preacher stepped down from the pulpit. He was
walking back to his seat, and he said, Charlie always sat on
the second row. He looked right at him, and he said, Son, do
you know Christ? And Charlie said, I didn't used
to, but I do now. Oh, I know Him now. And the man said, well, I'm glad,
and he sat down in his seat. After the service was over, Brother
Henry was invited to go to another man in the congregation's house
for lunch. And while he was there, the phone
rang. It was Charlie's wife. She found out he was over there
and she called and gave the phone to Henry. And she said, can you
come over here quickly? Charlie's had another heart attack.
So Henry went over there, ambulance. Got there, Henry rode with him
in the ambulance over to the hospital and they were working
on him the whole time. Got there, went in the ER, the
doctor saw him and immediately said, it's too late, he's gone.
They pulled the sheet up over his face. Henry and the man who
he was having lunch with, they went together and they were standing
there, just standing there. And Henry asked that man, he
said, what is the last thing you remember hearing coming out
of Charlie's mouth? The man said, I don't remember.
And Brother Henry said, I do. That preacher just asked him,
son, do you know Christ? And he said, I didn't used to,
but I do now. That man left this world falling
on Christ. He left this world casting his
all on Christ. Everything he is, everything,
all of his hope. That man experienced the difference. And this is what I want us to
get a hold of. That man experienced the difference. in playing games, playing the
game of religion, even while sitting in a true gospel church,
playing the game of religion and falling on Christ. And there's
a difference. Let's not leave this world not
having fallen on Christ. Let's not leave this world. We
have someone to fall on. We have someone to fall on. And
to you that believe, He is precious. He is so precious. Fall on Him. Stay there and rest. Stay right
there. Thank you, Brother Clay.