Good morning. I'm glad you guys are unfroze. And we're mighty glad at our
house because we didn't have hot water for about four days
and just weren't near as much fun as it used to be. This is sort of an odd message,
but just between me and you, I couldn't
find anything else to preach, so this is where I am is. I want
you to turn to the book of Jeremiah. Two verses out of chapter 6, and two out of chapter 5. and they are very much related
to each other. Jeremiah 5 and 6. Now let us pray. Lord, thank you that you allow us and cause us
to be present in this place today. And that our coming here is a
testimony to our need to know our precious Savior, to know
Him better, to worship Him, our glorious Redeemer, our God. Oh, what a Savior this is! How blessed we are to have some,
not enough, but some understanding of who our blessed Lord Jesus
is. And may we this morning add to
what we already know, and remind us of what we already believe, and the good, the everlasting
good and salvation of our souls. Christ is our hope, not part
of it, but all of it. And if that be the case, Lord,
we pray that you would show us more of our Redeemer as each
day passes. These are glorious things indeed. We beg it in our Savior's precious
name. Amen. Now, my title this morning, if
that means anything to you, It really does, but sometimes it
can contain a mighty brief synopsis of what we're about to look at
in our Bibles this morning, and what you're about to hear from
this old man that's standing up here. God's method of grace. Alright, are you located in Jeremiah
chapter 5? Then we'll read the last two
verses of the fifth chapter of Jeremiah. A wonderful, oh I'm
sorry, I didn't give some of your time. Everybody's not wireless, are
they? I'm not either, and don't ever plan to be. All right, Jeremiah
530. A wonderful and horrible thing
is committed in the land, that being the land of Israel. Here's
that horrible, horrible thing. The prophets, the preachers,
the teachers prophesy falsely. And not by accident, but by intention. I'm adding that, of course. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by
their means." Hey, that sounds like modern
day. You can buy your way into office. Did you know that? Plenty
of people have. And my people, This is hard to
unravel now, this statement. My people love to have it so. Craig, how about finding out
if that my people is really the true people of God? I don't know
how to find out on that one. My people love to have it so. And what will you do in the end
thereof? What is to be the outcome of
such ungodly behavior and teaching and preaching? Chapter 6, verses 13 and 14. Jeremiah 6, 13 and 14. For from the least of them, even
unto the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. What does this mean? People adopt
religion. Preachers adopt a profession.
because they covet the things that they can achieve and otherwise
might not ever have. Everyone is given to covetousness. Whoever these people are and
however big a group it is, Unless God intervenes, there's no recovery. How come? Because we like it
that way. From the prophets, even unto
the priest or the preacher, everyone deals falsely. Back in 1987, somewhere about in there, I'm
not sure, we closed our meeting that morning the same way we
do all the time. We don't give an altar call.
This ain't no altar. This is just a pulpit. It's nothing
but plywood and carpet. That's all it is. We were having a little bit of
a disturbance during those days and certain people wanted to
pad the voting list so that they could put me out the front door. So this young fellow came up,
probably 25, maybe 30 years old, and he came right here to this pulpit
and bowed his knee and started crying. I said, well, hey, I just want
to find out what the guys, you know, what I can do for him.
And he said, I want to join this church. I said, how come you
want to do that? He said, because I love Jesus. I said, well, how long have you
loved him? He said, I've always loved him.
I said, that's too long. You need to sit down and listen
to what's being said from this pulpit. But he didn't come back. I was so shocked. There's some people you don't
want in a congregation. We're glad to have sinners. And
if you ain't one, you're just willing to get up and leave now. This book says that The only
people that God means to show good in Christ are sinners. Christ
died for the ungodly, not the godly. Verse 14, chapter 6, They have
healed also the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, Seeing
peace, peace, when there is no peace. You tell somebody if they'll
do this, God will look on them as the essence of peace. He'll bless them with His peace.
It don't work that way. That's not it. If you have to
do anything to get God's attention or God's favor, You're already
gone. You're too far gone. I don't
know if you can turn around and come back. I hope you could. Some of us certainly have, that's
for sure. We hear a lot of preaching and
teaching. No matter where we're from, what
state, what county, what church, there's somebody somewhere all
the time. radio stations that are absolutely
overflowing with it, and internet sites, and whatever else there
is out there, I'm not sure I even know. Now, if I could ask you
one more favor here in Jeremiah, let's read those four verses
back to back, and I'll try not to comment. Verse 30, chapter
5. It's all on the two pages that's
staring me in the face. You guys had to turn, didn't
you? Verse 30, chapter 5. A wonderful
and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy
falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means. They buy
it. And my people love to have it
this way. Human nature likes this. And what will you do in the end
thereof? That is, that wonderful, awful
day of judgment in which Christ will sit on that great white
throne and judge this entire mass of humanity on this globe? And there's plenty of evidence
to show us how it will be with some. You can find that in Matthew
7, there when our Lord is finishing up His message on the Sermon
on the Mount. Chapter 6, verses 13. Somehow
when I got to the question mark at the end of 31, I thought I
was supposed to say something, so I've already broke my promise
to you. Alright, verse 13, chapter 6.
For from the least of them unto the greatest of them, everyone
is given to covetousness, the desire to have more. And from
the prophet, even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. Let me offer, here's another
buddy and I'm sorry. If you ever see a store that
says, we are Christians, we treat people fairly. If you got a lick
of sense, you'll run as hard as you can to get away. I'm dead
serious. If they got to use their religion
to get my business, they ain't getting it. Verse 14, they have healed also
the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying peace,
peace. when there is no peace. No peace. Now let's see if we can work
on this matter concerning God's method of grace. You might label it, what does
one have to do to be saved? But the real question is, what
does God have to do for you to be saved? You know how much He has to do?
Nothing. It's all done. And then on the
other side of the corn, He does everything. If we have faith,
He gives it to us. We don't deserve it, we don't
buy it. And that faith is entirely in the person and glorious work
of our Lord Jesus Christ. So these people are saying, peace,
peace, when there is no peace in those passages in Jeremiah
5 and 6. Before anyone can speak peace
to his own heart or to another, he must be made to see, to feel,
and to acknowledge to weep over his sins. And here's a list of five different
things that I think would have some bearing on understanding
what it is that we're reading. It is to weep over my actual
sins against God. Not having any trouble of joining
Paul and saying, Lord, I'm the chief of sinners. I'm the worst
of sinners. Have mercy on me. And he likely
will, if you tell him the truth. But don't try lying. Don't go
very far. Lord, have mercy. We think we
can tell God that we love Him and we don't ever think of Him.
or worship Him, especially in His Son? Here are five Bible
characters that can show us how this has to do with what we're
looking at this morning. The first one is this, we always sin against God, always,
always. Let's ask some Bible characters. In the Psalms, David has many
Psalms, but here are some words of wisdom in regard to God's
method of grace. after what had happened to David
with Bathsheba, and he deliberately used his soldiers to have her
husband killed in battle, and he denied this, and when that child was born,
he didn't live. And David, oh my, What an awful
crime. What an awful crime to kill a
woman's husband so he can marry her. He said in this statement, for
I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Try another one, this time Isaiah. Oh, by the way, that was Psalm
51.3, that famous 51st chapter. In Isaiah, Isaiah said to the
Lord, now he had been quite close to Israel's king at that time,
whose name, if I remember it correctly, and you gentlemen
and ladies can correct me verbally, audibly, his name is, oh good
heavens, Uzziah. Uzziah. Since all of you have not heard
this, I'll give you this little hint about Uzziah. He was the
king, and kings generally do what they please. But he made
the mistake of going to the tabernacle and demanded the right to offer
incense in the worship of God. And they all tried to persuade
him not to, but he did anyway. And God smote him with leprosy. He had to live in a little house
away from everybody else. He could not come where people
were. And David now is writing this
statement. I'm sorry, Isaiah. Isaiah was
a real fan of King Uzziah and it virtually destroyed him when
this took place and he subsequently died. Here's what he said, Woe is me, for I am undone, because
I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. What on earth has happened to
this prophet? For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."
You know who that is. Craig knows. He just told us
that this morning. He's talking about Christ. This is Christ. This beautiful
description of Him. By the way, that's in Isaiah
6 chapter 5. Let's go talk about Job a minute. A lot of things
are written about the book of Job. Some true and some false. Job had how many friends? Four? Come on guys. Four? Ten? Five? Four, thank you. They claim they were coming to
comfort him. It turns out they came to persecute
him, make it worse. And they seem to enjoy it. And
their words are enshrined in the book that is called by the
name of Job. And here's what Job said, when
everything's said and done, He said, I've heard of you by the
hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Now which God did
Jeremiah see? The God-man Christ Jesus. God absolutely considered cannot
help you, but our blessed Savior can. I've heard of you by the hearing
of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Wherefore I abhor, I hate
myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Now if we don't have
an inkling of what that means, we've missed something somewhere.
We've missed Christ. Let's go to Paul in the book
of Romans. You don't need to turn, you should
know this by heart. And I should too, but I'm just
scared I can't get it to come at the right time. Oh, wretched man that I am. Now catch this, not I was, I
am. This is over 20 years after Christ
met this man on the road to Damascus and saved him and appointed him
an apostle to the Gentiles. 20 years plus and he calls himself
a wretched man. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?" And he answers it for us. I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God. Whose words are these? Anybody? Paul the Apostle. Right? Right. Nobody answered
me, Craig, but you. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. One more, I mean on this point,
this is just our first point. One more, this comes out of Luke
18, where you have at least two parables, the parable of the
rich young ruler, the parable of the Pharisee in the temple,
and the publican, the tax collector, the Roman tax collector in the
temple at the same time. And the publican standing afar
off after this Pharisee had told the Lord what glorious things
he had done in his name. He did everything he was supposed
to and then some. And he ain't a little proud of
that fact. But the problem is it ain't a fact. The publican
standing afar off would not so much as lift up his eyes into
heaven, but smote upon his breast. And here's what he said, God,
be merciful to me, the sinner." The sinner. Luke chapter 18,
verse 13. Alright, now we come to perhaps,
I hope, little more positive statements
in regard to this matter of God's method of grace. In Matthew, we read this statement. You should
know where it is. If not, I'll give you the reference
if I can remember it. And she shall bring forth a son. Speaking of Mary, the Virgin
Mary by the way, she shall bring forth a Son and you shall call
His name, and it's all capital letters in our King James Bibles,
I don't know about these others, you shall call His name Jesus. Now these words were being spoken
to whom? Mary's soon to be husband. You can look it up, but that's
what you're going to find. If it was directed to Mary, it
would not say, and she said, and she shall bring forth a son.
It would be, and I shall bring forth a son. So just simple grammar
will solve that one for you. She shall bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus. And here's why he has that name. The word Jesus is God is our
salvation. It's the same word as Joshua,
whom we find in the Old Testament. He shall save his people. from
their sins. Now, when these words were spoken,
where was our Lord Jesus at that time? He was likely in that hay
bin in which He was laid when He was born. Everything about him did not
look like God. No place in the motel, all the
rooms were taken. They're staying in a stable.
This is God. Well, if Jesus was here today,
he'd be driving a Cadillac. That's a lie. That ain't so. That ain't so. It may be true of some Jesus
somewhere, but not the one in this book. No, sir. Not at all. Alright, let's try another direction. Let's look at actual sins against
God. which we have just done, and
look through that to the fountain of all sin. Where did sin first
begin? How did sin enter the human race? Whatever God makes is absolutely
perfect with no defect of any kind. None whatsoever. This is talking about Adam. in
the garden. Now remember, I'm not trying
to offend you girls, but just remember, if I can think about what I was
going to remember. I don't remember what I was going
to say, y'all. when Adam was created. You have to understand that what
God says about Adam in the early chapters of Genesis is because
he has everything on the face of this
globe for as long as this world stands. He sees every day, every
hour, every minute, every second. This is who He is. And so this fountain of all sin is sometimes
called original sin. Now you do know why, don't you?
Because it started with Adam. The origin of sin is in Adam. Yeah, but the devil did this,
the devil did that. That's neither here nor there.
He's still a devil and he's still alive today. And he does what he pleases.
I know what I just said. He does what he pleases, but
Christ is the one that rules what he pleases. Most of his
excursions end in utter and everlasting defeat. You can see that in the
chapter and in the Gospels having to do with the man that was a
lunatic, had thousands of demons within him, And our Lord dispenses
with all of them with just saying a word. Just saying a word. Let's see what Brother Paul has
to say in regard to this list that we're engaged in at the
present time. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. And Paul says, of whom I am chief,
the chief of sinners. I'll amuse some of you, I don't
know if all of you have heard me say this or not, You have
to do a lot of repeating when you're my age. We were living in Bladen County
and I was pastoring a church at White Lake. We had some guy come in and he
was meeting with the pastors and he said, the flyer that went
out is that I can show you how you can stay where you are for
as long as you want to. Now buddy, among Southern Baptists,
that's hardly likely. But if you did what this guy
said, he's probably right. He said you got to find out who
the Indians are and who the Chiefs are. You keep the Chiefs happy
and everything is hunky-dory. And let me remind you of something.
That ain't changed one iota. That's what it is today. If a
people want a gymnasium, build it. Bar the money if you have
to, but build it. Build it indeed. That was 1 Timothy 1.15. Another place in Romans. tells us, but God commends His
love toward us in that while we were yet, or
that word could be rendered still, we are yet sinners, still sinners. Now let's
bring that guy back. Let me ask this other question.
If somebody asked you, how long have you been a sinner? Do you know your birthday? That's
how long. That's how long. We ought to
have her down pat by now, hadn't we? In 1 John, that was Romans 5-8 by the way,
if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
We make God a liar and His Word is not in us. Now there's plenty of turkeys
on that tube called a television that declare themselves to be
free of sin. That ain't what this says. It
calls that person a lie. And I do too. And you should
too. Oh, it's not nice to offend people.
I'll tell you what, they don't mind promoting their God and
you want to keep yours in the closet? Do you want to see your loved
ones saved? Then they got to hear the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth. So help us God. So the fountain of all sin, called
original sin, lies with Adam. This time in Genesis, for unto
Adam God said, because you've hearkened to the voice of your
wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying,
You shall not eat of it. Curse is the ground for your
sake, and in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your
life." And if you've ever had anything to do with gardening
or trying to farm, you ought to know this lesson pretty good.
Everything's out to get you. You've got to find new and different
ways to do things and more chemicals to put on them and add infinite
nauseam. Romans 5.12, Wherefore, as by
one man sin entered into the world, And consequently, the
next words, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men. Why? Because all have sinned. Romans 5.12. Jot that down and
look at it again in your leisure. There's another category of sin
that we need to think of in respect
to these other things that we're seeing. There is such a thing as the
sin and evil of our best deeds, religious or otherwise, it doesn't
matter. reading verse 12 in Romans 5
again. Wherefore, as by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. Now I'll call to your attention
the people that I was talking about earlier. I don't remember
if that's the part that I forgot or not, but it's neither here
nor there. The people in Matthew 7. They stand before the judgment
seat of Christ on judgment day. And these are our Lord's own
words. And it is there for us to read,
to hear, to learn. These people, their opening statements
had to do with themselves. Lord, we've done an awful lot
of things in Your name. Wonderful things, they said. And our Lord said, depart from
Me, you cursed. I never knew you. There's plenty of people. I'm
telling you, the Baptists have got it oozing out the windows
and the doors. They're just people everywhere. who believe that they have done
God a favor and they've quit this habit and this bad habit
and no telling what else, and present themselves to God on
the day of judgment, just look what we've done for you. We ain't
done nothing for Him. If we ever have one good work,
it'll be God The Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
bringing that to pass. But there is what I call the sin of all sin. Now there are people who would
differ with me and they are welcome to differ. I don't care. There's one particular sin, it's called unbelief. Unbelief. When that day arrives, that great
day of judgment, if we're still unbelievers, we're gone Jesses. We must, we must, we must, savingly
lay hold on the righteousness and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That is where it is. Let me see if I can find that
thing Craig resurrected this morning. Well, well, well. It's not in here. I can't believe
that. It's in my other Bible that I've
retired and it was a pretty large church
in Fayetteville on Hay Street. If that means anything to you,
it may not. Evidently they had A good many
people maybe had stopped coming for one reason or another, I
don't know. But they ran an ad about that wide and about that
tall in the Fayetteville paper, and I cut it out. I generally
have it in my Bible, but I don't have it in this one. And here's
basically what it said. Will you come back to church
if we promise not to throw the book at you? You know what that means? Anything
that offends these people that they're talking to, also offend
them, so they ain't going to mention it. They're going to
wind up with a Thomas Jefferson Bible. He just cut out all the
miracles because he didn't believe in miracles, so he had a lot
of holes in his Bible. If we don't like what's in this
book, We've never been converted, never been born again, never
been saved. This glorious, precious method
of grace. Thank you.