Let's begin this morning in Isaiah
chapter 6, please. Isaiah 6, verse 3. If you would
ask a hundred people what is the most important thing in their
life, you would likely hear a hundred different things. But what would
you say yourself is the most important thing in your life?
Is it family, children, career, financial security, health, success
in general? What is the one thing that everyone
in the world would give up everything to get? I think probably most
would say eternal life, to live forever. And not just to live,
but to live forever healthy, wealthy, and wise. Most people
don't realize that's attainable. But for one merely to desire
to have everlasting life is a shallow, self-serving motivation that
will never bring eternal life about. There's no simple ABC
formula to get life eternal. Because life's greatest problem
is being dead in sin. No issue is more important than
a soul left outside of Christ. Humanity's deepest and most pressing
crisis is spiritual separation from God. By nature, you and
I are alienated from God. The most important thing in this
life is to be reconciled to Him. There's no eternal life apart
from that. How can reconciliation with God
be obtained? On the front of our bulletin,
if you have one, if not, they're there in the back, for nearly
35 years, the answer has been written on that bulletin, found
in the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 17 three, which
say, and this is life eternal. You wanna know what life eternal
is? This is it. That you might know Jesus Christ,
the only true God, it says, in Jesus Christ, whom He sent."
Eternal life is knowing the only true God. Eternal life comes
from knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many who profess to
know God. There are many who profess to
trust in Christ. However, even casual conversation
often reveals that their God and their Christ are not the
ones that are revealed in the Scriptures. And sadly, countless,
countless multitudes live unaware that they've offended God and
they're estranged from Him. People say dumb things like,
well, me and Jesus, we got a good thing going. Well, just those
words prove that you don't. Many think their alienation to
be unfair. You tell them that, you're estranged
from God, you're alienated from God, and they'll go, well that's
not fair. They believe they deserve eternal
life. That they have somehow deserved
and merited life eternal. Even in spite of how they live.
Even in spite of their opinion of God. They don't see that the
problem lies within. It's called seeing. Well, why
is that a problem? Well, first and foremost, because
God Almighty is holy, and He is just, and He's perfect. Here in Isaiah chapter six, verse
three, we're told that in heaven, the seraphims, which are angels,
heavenly beings, they cry one to another. What do they cry?
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His
glory. Whose glory? His glory. The Lord of hosts. The one who
is thrice holy. They're not crying, loving, loving,
loving. They're not crying, just, just,
just. They're not crying, right, right,
right. Though God is all those things. He's loving, He's just, and He's
always right. But this attribute, God's holiness,
is the only attribute of God that is repeated like this in
the Scriptures. And this threefold declaration
reflects the triune nature of God, Father, Son, and Spirit. This title, Lord of Hosts, it
means Yahweh Sabaoth. It means the Lord of Armies.
I thought that was interesting. The Lord of Lords in both heaven
and earth. And this simply declares His
sovereign power. This proclaims His command over
all creation. All the God and Jesus I hear
preached today is far from that. He wants to save you. He's trying
to save you. He's dependent upon you to give
Him your heart and let Him have His way. Hogwash! That's not
what the Scriptures declare. God doesn't have to be what men
call fair. Fair would be to have mercy on
none. That'd be fair. It'd be fair
to send all of us to hell. I don't want what's fair. I want
mercy. God is holy, just, and right. That's what makes Him God. This
is the God whom we have offended. You know what it means to offend
someone. That's what we've done to God. We've offended God. It's not talking about that helpless,
pathetic God that men declare today. This is the God which
it is a fearful thing. to fall into the hands of Hebrews
10, 31. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God, the God of this Bible. The God of modern day works religions
no more alive than a graven image like the head up on Mars Hill.
They had a God, a graven image, an inscription, or a statute,
I don't know what all they were, but they had one for every imaginable
little g God there is. And the very one that they did
not know and did not worship, they inscripted to the unknown
God, and Paul said, that's who I'm gonna preach to you. He's
unknown to you, but He's my God. He's the God of the Scriptures.
He's the God with whom you have to do. That's what David said in Psalm
115. The God the Bible declares gets
all the glory for His mercy and His truth's sake. We don't get
any glory. Why would we? We did the sinning. God did the saving. Not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, David said, but unto Thy Name give
glory. Isaiah said here in our text,
in chapter 6, verse 3, the whole earth is full of His glory. His
glory is not confined to heaven, it saturates the earth. His glory
is not just seen in His creation and in the beauty of nature.
but in His righteous acts of justice and mercy and salvation. David said, our God's in the
heavens. What's your God doing in the heavens? Whatever He pleases. He's doing whatsoever He is pleased.
His sovereignty and His power in salvation, that is His glory. To whom else would we give glory? Men have endeavored to make God
an idol. One made of silver and gold.
One made in the work of man's hands. They give him a mouth, but he
can't speak. They give him eyes, but he can't
see. He's got ears, but he can't hear. He's got a nose, but he cannot
smell. They give him hands, but he can't touch. He's not touched
with the feeling of your infirmities because he's dead. He has feet, but he walks not.
And those who made this idol, this little G God, as I call
him, they're just like him. That's what David said, dead
with no life within. The God I hear preached today
is dead with no life within. He can't do anything without
your help. What kind of God is that? I can't look to that God for
any true help, because I've got to be given life. I've got to
be made a new creation, a new creature. Who but God can do
that? The fingerprints of God's majesty
are very visible. They're visible in creation.
They're visible in providence. They're visible in salvation.
But you cannot see these things unless God gives you eyes to
see them. Remember, eternal life is given
to them who know the only true God in Jesus Christ whom he has
sent. For the invisible things of Him,
God, from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power
and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." Who's without
excuse? Everyone. Everyone's without
excuse. Have you seen God's invisible
attributes? Things you can't see with your
eyes. Power. Wisdom. Eternity. They're clearly seen
in the things you cannot see. Creation points to a sovereign,
omnipotent, powerful, intelligent Creator. Do they not? You ever
look at the skies at night The stars are just so numerous and
just so bright and then you get to thinking about those are other
galaxies and it just goes on forever and say that God had
to do that. Someone sovereign, omnipotent,
all powerful had to do that. Creation points to God's power
and ability. And again, I declare to you that
this same God is holy, just, and perfect, and He can have
nothing to do with sin. He's so holy and just, He can't
even look upon sin, and man is sinful, man is rebellious, and
man is spiritually dead. Our sin has offended this thrice
holy God. Our sin has separated us from
God. Turn over a few pages to Isaiah
59. Look at verse two. Isaiah 59,
verse two. Our sin has separated us from
God. Verse two, Isaiah 59, but your
iniquities, your sins have separated between you and your God and
your sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear. See, now we're getting to the
heart of the human condition. Before a holy God, our sin, Our
sin, your sin, my sin, has separated us from God. The word separated
speaks to a broken relationship. Sin causes separation from God. That's not something I came up
with. That's what God says. Our sin causes God to hide His
face from us. God showing His face implies
favor and blessing and presence, but when God hides His face,
it signifies just the opposite. It signifies disfavor and wrath
and judgment. Men make sin to be nothing more
than mistakes. Well, I made a mistake. Yeah,
you did that, all right. Sin is much more than that. Sin
alienates us from God. God does not ignore sin. God does not coexist with sin. God hides His face from it. Sin
drives a wedge between us and God. God does not hear. I'm wrong with his hearing. He's
just not gonna hear. Our sin cuts off our access to
God to where he doesn't hear us. Sin doesn't merely complicate
life for us. Sin cuts us off from life, from
God. And that separation is the root
of all the chaos that you and I experience. Our sin's the root of all brokenness.
Sin is the root cause of all suffering. War, greed, hatred,
injustice, pride, self-destruction is all caused by sin. So what's the solution for our
dilemma? What's the remedy for our separation? What's the answer for our predicament?
It's not what, it's who. Redemption is found in a person.
Salvation is in a person. Salvation is revealed in a name. This is eternal life, that you
might know the only true God and His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. That's His name. Okay, turn with me to Acts chapter
4. Verse 12, if you don't want to
turn there, you know this verse. Acts 4, verse 12. It says here, neither is there
salvation in any other. What does that mean? It's what
it says. There's no salvation in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. What is the name? Jesus Christ. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sin. You know, in
that verse there in Matthew 121, the name Jesus is capital letters. It means Savior. That's why I
call His name Savior. Why? Because He'll save His people
from their sin. He's the only one that can. He's
the only Savior. He's the one and only mediator
between God and men. Only God, only Christ can provide
what sinners truly need. I told you before about a man
that I knew, a religious man. that once told me that all the
spokes in a wheel are connected to the hub, the center core of
that wheel. His illustration was to try to
prove to me that all religions lead to God. It don't matter
what religion you're in. They all eventually lead to God. No, sir, they do not. They do
not. That's a lie. Salvation is not broad and vague. The way to life is narrow and
straight. That's what the Lord said. Salvation's
of the Lord. Neither is there salvation in
any other. There's none other name given,
whereby we must be saved. God's provision for salvation
is singular and it's final. Paul refused to be distracted
by any other message. And he said, I am determined
not to know anything else among you except this, Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. That message has been lost in
preaching today. You go to a funeral, someone
died and graced the door of a church in years, never showed any interest
in the things of God. And all of that, yeah, they're
better off now, are they? They're with Jesus now, are they?
Well, yeah, because they made a decision when they were eight
years old and they walked an aisle and they gave their heart
to Jesus, did they? This has been lost, Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, who Christ is and what Christ did. Jesus
Christ is God and God was crucified to put our sin away. That's the
most important thing in this life to know. There's no other
name, no other name, whereby we must be saved. That word must
speaks to the necessity of it. You must be born again. Well,
what if I'm not? You'll die and you'll sin. We
must be reconciled to God in order to be saved. There's only
one way. Jesus Christ is the way. That's what he said. He
said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh
to the Father but by me. Jesus means Savior. Christ means
the Anointed One. There's only one. Jesus Christ
is that Savior and that Messiah. Salvation is exclusively, solely
found in Him. God provides no other alternative.
There are no backup plans. There ain't no plan B's. You
must come to Christ to have eternal life. Eternal life is to know
Him. The problem is you will not come. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me draw him. God gotta give you life
before you'll see and hear and come. You will not come except
in the day of His power. Eternal life is to know Him.
This is the greatest problem, issue, urgency that faces humanity
today. And yet people just skipping
right along into hell. You know it so, and so do I. Salvation to no one else. Not
in Buddha, not in Mohammed, not in Allah. Not in self, not in
good works, not in the preacher, not in the Pope. Not in religion,
not in a denomination, not in sincerity. You can be sincerely
wrong. You can be religious and be eternally
lost. Salvation is in Christ alone.
Who's the way? Jesus Christ. Who's the truth?
Jesus Christ. Who is the life? Jesus Christ. That's the name. No one comes
or gets to God but by Him. I love those three words, but
by Him. That's what our gospel's built upon. But God, but God
is rich in mercy. We gotta be saved because we're
lost. And this isn't a scare tactic. I remember growing up,
our church used to, about once a year, they'd rent out the local
theater and they had this produced movie show, you know, of people
going to hell. They'd just try to scare you
right into hell. And they did. They scared a lot
of people right into making a profession, a false one. And pretty soon
after those vivid memories of burning in hell leave the mind,
we're right back to skipping our play right on there again.
It's not a scare tactic, it's a sincere reality, hell is. We're helpless to fix the sin
problem ourselves. And the men try, men think they
can. We're not the solution, friends.
We're the sinners. We're not the one that solves
the problem. We are the problem. I told you that story about Brother
Jack. He was a principal at a school,
and a woman called one day and said, Brother Jack, would you
make sure little Johnny, my precious little son, don't run with the
wrong crowd? He said, ma'am, your son is the
wrong crowd. We're the wrong crowd. We're
the problem. The problem is within us. We're not the solution. Salvation's
in Christ alone. It's by grace alone. It's through
faith alone. It's through the glory of God
alone. No salvation in any other. Okay, turn with me quickly to Romans
chapter three. Look at verse 23. I know you
know this verse. And again, we see the universal
problem of sin. Listen, salvation is not universal. God did not save everybody in
this world, but sin is universal. Verse 23, Romans chapter 3, For
all have sinned. How many? All. All have come short of the glory
of God. How many have? All. Universal
guilt. No one is exempt. Sin refers
to rebellion against God. That's what sin is. I will not
have this God rule over me. I will not. Sin refers to rebellion. Our hearts are deceitful and
desperately wicked. Our minds are enmity. The word
means hostile toward God. My mind, your mind. Precious
little Johnny's mind. We fall short. We fail to attain. We don't measure up. We're unable
to reflect God's character. Salvation must come from God
because it cannot come from man. All have sinned. All come short. Verse 24, being justified freely. How? Freely. By His grace. Where's that grace? Through the
redemption that is where? In Christ Jesus. Whom? A person. God hath sent forth
to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare
His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. Now listen, God doesn't just
sweep our sin under a rug. He justifies. He declares sinners
righteous. This is righteous in my Son.
Righteous, not by merit, but in Christ. Not by works, but
by grace. Through The Redemption. Redemption means that a price
was paid. When you redeem something, you
pay for it. And redemption means that a price
was paid to make us free. Who paid the price for that redemption?
It's that redemption that is in Christ Jesus according to
verse 24. Christ bore the wrath that we
deserve. That's what propitiation means. He satisfied God's just anger
against sin. At the cross, judgment and mercy
met. Righteousness and peace kissed
each other on the cross. through faith in Christ's blood.
Verse 26, to declare, to preach. I say at this time, His righteousness. We don't stand up here and talk
about how good we are, how righteous we are, because our righteousness
is non-existent, it's filthy rags. But we declare His righteousness,
that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. There again, not for the whole
world, but those who trust and believe in Christ. That's who
Christ died for. God doesn't ignore sin. The Lord
Jesus put it away. Why didn't when God looked at
me see sin? Because I don't have any. Christ became our righteousness,
and this God remains just, making Him both just and justifier,
enabling us to believe and to trust in Him as such. He's just,
but He's my justifier. Oh my, that's the best news I
ever heard. He lived the life we could not
live. He died the death that we deserved. And this, dear sinners,
the issue. This is the most important question
in all of life. Eternity, our eternity hinges
on what think ye of Christ? That's a timeless question. It's
a question for every generation. The most crucial question for
a young person is not what will I do for a living, or not who
I'll marry, or not where am I going to live. It's what think you
of Christ. You can't start thinking about
it too soon. I can remember when I was a younger
lad, a long, long time ago. He said, what are you going to
do when you grow up? I don't know. I could say a doctor
or a fireman or something else, but I'm eight years old. How
do I know? But you better think about Christ. The Lord didn't ask what they
thought of the Scriptures. He asked, what think ye of Christ?
And here's another question, actually, too, that needs to
be seriously considered, old and young alike. For what shall
it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul? What has a man profited if he
gained the whole world? The second, or what shall a man
give in exchange for his own soul? Those are good questions. What's your soul worth? Have
you ever thought about it? The world's greatest gain is
still a loss without Christ. The world is obsessed with gain. It is. Financial gain, the gain of social
status, the gain of power, pleasure, possessions. Everybody wants
more. When it comes to the world, is
more really better? It's taken me a long time to
realize it's not. What does it mean to gain the
whole world? Well, if you owned every corporation,
if you commanded every military, if you received every reward
known to man, if you basked in worldly admiration, everybody
just admired you. Oh, there she is, or there he
is. And you lost your own soul. And
all those things that were supposed to be gained are lost. To lose your own soul doesn't
simply mean to cease to exist. The soul is the eternal part
of a man or a woman. Losing your soul means facing
eternal separation from God in a place called hell. The Lord said, where the worm,
the maggot, doth not. I'm telling you, I don't care
how big and strong a man might be, speaking of myself, not very
strong anymore, but I don't like maggots. I don't want to look
at them. I definitely don't want to touch them. I don't want one
on me. But in hell, the maggot doth not. It's where the fire is not quenched. We accidentally touch the stove
or something hot and burn our fingers. Can you imagine a fire
that has never quenched? My, my, I don't want that. What
would a man give in exchange for his soul? If you lose your
soul, what could you trade to get it back? The answer is nothing. Because
if you've lost your soul, you don't have anything to give.
You can't buy redemption. There's no negotiations with
God after death. There's no second chances. Not
after death. Not after God has called your
number up. And this exposes just how bankrupt
that we really are. You cannot deal with eternal
matters using natural currency. All the rich people in the world,
don't care how rich they are, can't buy salvation. Not with the money of this world.
Listen to this verse, Psalm 49, actually three verses, short
though. They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in
the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means
redeem his brother themselves either. nor give to God a ransom
for him. For the redemption of their soul
is precious, and it ceases forever." But while there's still breath,
while there's still a heartbeat, come to Christ. The most important
thing in all the world. Only the Lord Jesus was worthy
to pay the price of souls. And He didn't pay it with gold
and silver. He paid it with His own blood. Our souls are worth
more than the world because our souls are eternal. Everything
in this life is corrupt. It's going to rust. It's going
to corrupt. It's going to be stolen. But long after this world has
passed, the soul will live on and on and on. The soul is infinitely
worth more than the world because God Himself came to redeem it.
The Lord did not shed His blood for land. He didn't shed His
blood for kingdoms. He shed His blood for His people's
souls. Heaven doesn't rejoice when a
millionaire makes another million. All heaven erupts with joy over
one sinner who repents. We messed up, our thinking's
messed up, our priorities are all wrong. The way to find true
life is to lose the life that you now know. To die to self,
to die to sinful desires, to die to pride and self-will. And
when Christ calls a man, He bids him to come, but He bids him
to come to die. Come to me and die. And when
you die, I'll give you life. Isn't that something? That's
when a man or a woman is given true life, eternal life. It's
the most urgent, critical matter in the world for each of us.
Why do folks take it so lightly? They don't see sin as a problem. That's one of the reasons. Eternity
gets drowned by the temporary. We get caught up in the little
temporary things of daily life. Come on now. You know it's so. You do it, I do it, we all do
it. Eternity gets drowned in it.
You can't follow Christ if you're chasing your dream. I'm chasing
my dreams. Well, you'll never come to Christ. Listen, pulpits have gone silent
on sin. Religion doesn't preach sin's
seriousness. There's no talk of judgment in
hell anymore. Today in religion, Christ is
no more than a business asset. Some of you know what I mean
by that. I know people that go to certain churches in this town
because it's a place where they network. It's a place where they
grow their business. Because doctors go there, and
lawyers go there, and important people go there. Listen, God's
church is for nobodies. Nobodies. Church has become a place of
networking. Now in closing, I want to turn you
to one more place, Hebrews chapter two. Look at Hebrews 2, verse
3, and I'll wrap it up. Here, the writer of Hebrews asks
a four-word question that I want us to all consider in light of
what we're talking about. How shall we escape? Escape what? death, judgment,
wrath, condemnation. Verse 3, how shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him? Now that word neglect means disregard. It means not to pay proper attention
to. It means to fail to do something.
What are men and women disregarding? What are they ignoring? What
are they failing to do? It's an easy answer if you know
it. It's an easy answer if you understand
the question. Folks are neglecting, disregarding,
ignoring, not paying attention to the eternal matters of salvation. Religion thinks this question
is for the native out in the jungle of Africa, not for the
churchgoer in the pew. Religion believes this escaping
is for the drunkard in the bar, but not the preacher in the pulpit.
The unbeliever of this world believes that salvation is for
the pervert and for the prostitute, not for the one who just merely
professes Christ, but does not possess Him. And yet those are
who it's actually for. Salvation here is called so great
salvation. It's not a light matter. It's
not a mere option. It's the most important thing
in this life. It's great because it was purposed
by a great God. It's great because it saves great
sinners. This great salvation was purchased
by the Son, who is great. This great salvation cost the
shedding of His blood, which was a great cost. This cross
is not an emblem to put on display. Remember, there used to be a
cross right here on the front of this thing. We took it off.
The guy that took it off for me and painted it said, why you
wanna do that? I'm like, another, we got more time. No, I told
him, I said, you got two daughters. If someone shot one of your daughters,
would you wear a little gun around your neck or hang it up on your
wall? No. It's just the instrument that
was used to kill the Lord of glory. Our salvation is in the
one that hung upon the cross. The cross is an emblem of divine
justice. When we look to the cross, we
see that God hated sin so badly that He killed His only begotten
Son on it. Christ bore the wrath of God
in the chosen sinner's place, and God killed Him because of
it. You want to see something of God's justice? That alone
makes it great. It's the only hope of eternal
life that we've got. And it's not something that we
discovered. It's not something that we figured out. It's something
that God divinely revealed to us. Has God revealed this to
you? Is this the most important thing
in your life? Now hear me on this, to ignore
this great salvation is to neglect it. Neglect reveals the heart. Where your treasure is, that's
where your heart will be also. There's no other gospel, there's
no other savior, there's no other escape. If you neglect Christ,
you perish. How shall we escape? Only one
way. Escape is needed because danger
is certain. God's justice is unbending. How shall we escape? We won't.
That's the urgency of this. Now, I want to say this before
I quit. There are many who profess to
believe in God that are very flippant about irreverence. That's what the word flippant
means. in their worship of Christ. People miss the worship of Christ,
the preaching of His Word, the fellowship of His people for
the most pathetic reasons. This is the most important thing
in the world. This is the most critical consideration
in this life. There's no hiding, there's no
deceiving, there's no escaping the all-seeing eyes of God. Sinners
will either be found in Christ or they're going to be found
guilty before Him. Did you get serious about this?
The opposite of neglect is to give care or attention to. How do we give care and attention
to this great salvation? We flee to Christ. Right now. Right now. I'm coming to Christ
right now. Well, I thought you were already
a believer. I am. But I'm still fleeing to
Him. To whom coming? I'm still coming. How do we give care and attention
to this grace? How? We preach the Gospel. We
preach it urgently. We preach it often. That's what
I'm endeavoring to do right now. We sound the alarm often. Every
time that we can. We warn, we weep, and we witness. We can't save, we can't give
life, but we can point folks to the One who can. That's what
preaching is. We examine ourselves. That's
another way. Always. We're clinging to Christ. Are
you? Are you clinging to Christ? Is
the gospel to you a side note or is it your lifeline to being
with Christ forever? At the end of the day, friends,
when the noise of this life dies down, one thing, only one thing
will matter. What do you think of Jesus Christ?
Not your career, not your reputation, not your bank account. But do
you know Jesus Christ? Or more importantly, does He
know you? Have you surrendered to Him alone as your only righteousness
before God? It's a yes or no question. God
knows the answer. The most important thing in this
life is to be right with God through Jesus Christ. You know,
life is a vapor. It's a breath on a mirror. Man,
it's here for a second and it's gone. Today, I'm nearly 70. Yesterday, I was 40. Last week,
I was 20. The week before that, I was a
newborn. Where has this life gone? Like
that breath on a mirror. You're for a little while and
it's gone. Men chase shadows. They build
castles in the sand. Yet only one thing stands eternal. Do you know Jesus Christ? It's
in Christ alone, life now and from evermore. May God
be pleased to make Him the most important thing in your life.