I have a little bit of a different
approach today. I want to just talk with you
for a few moments. Lessons from this past week.
Old friends, same message. I'll tell you a bit of a story.
I don't know about you, but I'm ever learning. Ever, ever learning. ever looking into this mystery
of God's grace and God's providence and often wondering what is God
saying, what is God doing? And asking those questions not
in a sad way, but in an exciting way. What is God up to? Every day is a day of God's providence. Every person that comes into
your life, God has placed there. 50 years ago, a young man from
Harrodsburg, Kentucky, came to Lexington Baptist College where
I was attending along with Miss Pam. He was a big 22-year-old
kid. He was 6'7 and weighed 400 pounds. He was very, very religious and
very, very lost. He was very intelligent. He was
working for IBM at that time. In those early college days,
I soon learned that most religious people don't like at all the
message that salvation is of the Lord. And David Collier, was one of
them that didn't like the message of grace. I had a friend by the
name of George Locke, some of you here, of course, remember
George, know George, who also came down there to school. George
was short and a little plumpy. And he and David got in a discussion
over the doctrines of grace, and David is said to have taken
little short George Locke and pushed him up against the law,
and let him know that he had a part in his salvation. I don't think at that time George
completely understood that people really do hate the message that
salvation's all of God. that God did it, that he deserves
all the glory and all the praise. David Collier was one that hated
that message, at least for a while, but being 6'6", 6'7", 400 pounds,
he was no match for the sovereign almighty creator, God. I want
to say, no matter how big a sinner you are, whether you're a religious
sinner, a crack sinner, a heroin sinner, or whatever kind of sinner
you are, God's bigger than you. Somehow in God's providence,
David and I became best of friends. David got to kind of following
me around. And of course, you know, every
once in a while I preach grace. And so he heard it and heard
it, and he had a Damascus Road encounter with Jesus Christ,
and came to love the truth he once hated. Amen. I baptized this big guy. He was
the largest person I have ever baptized. I baptized David in
a small, muddy cow pond just outside of Harrodsburg where
the mud was deeper than the water. In fact, best I remember, I had
to put my knee up on his stomach to get him totally under. A death, burial, and a resurrection
in picture and type. David grew in grace and in the
knowledge of Christ, and later we formed the Grace Baptist Church
at Headsburg, where David pastored for 43 years. And he actually became known,
Miss Pam calls him this, the gentle giant. He was well-known
in Central Kentucky as the voice of Harrodsburg football games,
as he broadcast those over the radio station there in Harrodsburg,
and was a horseman, and did all of the Kentucky horse shows.
On Monday of this past week, I got a call from Johnny Collier
saying that David, about 5.30 a.m., had gone to be with the
Lord, that he died in St. Joe Hospital there in Lexington,
Kentucky. And he, Johnny, and David Wayne,
the two sons, who were just about as big as David, asked that Miss
Pam and I come and conduct the funeral service there in Harrisburg. All kinds of people came to honor
David, honor him in death. Football coaches were there.
Horse trainers were there. A lot of pastors were there. School teachers were there. and several addicts were there.
I saw people I haven't seen in over 50 years. David was a free
grace man. And so I was certain to set forth
the gospel of Jesus Christ in his sovereign grace. There's
only one gospel. It's the gospel of grace. And
what a variety of folks. I got to deliver the message
to. I'm sure there were many there who had heard and there
were many there who had heard and did not like. But what a glorious time it was
at that memorial service. I brought a message from 1 John
chapter three that you have heard me speak from so very, very often. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall
be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every person
that has this hope, within himself, purifies himself, sanctifies
himself, comes out of the world, hates his sin. That's the Kent
Clark interpretation that I'm putting in it. Purifies himself
even as he is pure. In other words, you live right.
Not perfect. Well, the new man never sins.
What a mystery that is. Those of you who have been out
there and you know about your sinnership, you know that in
your flesh dwells no good thing, and now you've come to know Christ,
you hate what the flesh does, you hate what the flesh says.
And your new man says on Sunday morning, I was glad when they
said, let us go up to the house of the Lord. The old flesh is a wild ass's
coat that can't be tamed. So when you get up in the morning,
the flesh says, Another day, another dollar. But the new man
says, This is a day the Lord's made. I'll rejoice and be glad
in it. I also read from Romans 8, And
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love the Lord. to them who are called according
to his purpose." Look at you. You thought you
came here today by accident. What a mess you are. But behind
the scenes of your life there was an unseen end. Even the providence
of God that brought you into the old saloon, clutch cargo,
to hear the good news, the glad tidings that Christ came into
the world to save a mess like you. Good news, glad tidings. Just think about what an exciting
life God has brought you here, on purpose, for a purpose. And
when God begins a work, he never stops until he completes it.
He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it. For whom
he did foreknow, he did predestinate. That God foreloved you, that's
what the word foreknow means. It means to love intimately. Adam knew his wife, King James
Version, and she conceived. We know what that means. They
had intercourse, they were intimate. God has an intimate love, he
foreknew, he foreloved his people. You didn't get converted by accident,
it was on purpose. And then after you were converted,
you began to find out that God's always loved you. When mom and
dad didn't love you, and auntie and uncle didn't, and nobody
cared for you, there was one who cared for you. His eye is
on the sparrow, and he watches over me. And not a hair falls
from my head, and I have lost several, except he knows. The numbers of our hair are numbered
by him. What a great God we have. Those
of you here who are believers, And I told them about glorious
predestination. I even had a little wiggle when
I was preaching. Glorious predestination. And I like to smile because usually
when you say that, religious people are looking back like
this. God's people look at it like
this. Thank God for a predestinating
God, a God that would not leave me to myself, but was behind
the scenes all the time working for my good. Even when I was a crazy man or
woman out there living in the lasciviousness of this world,
God loved me. The truth is, and I've been challenged
a few times on this statement I'm making, David was loved by
God as much as when he was building the temple, as when he was in
bed with Bathsheba. And that's true of you and I.
Aren't you glad that God doesn't stop loving you when you do something
stupid? That his love is eternal and
everlasting. predestination. And then there
in Romans 8, whom He predestinated, them He also called. Oh, glorious
calling. Have you ever heard the Savior
calling? Well, you have if you're converted.
Maybe not an audible voice, but deep down where you live, deep
down in the most personal place there in your soul, there was
something about that hillbilly preacher's voice that God took
and began to do a work. in your heart, crack addict,
and you begin to hear a voice much louder, much deeper, much
stronger than the hillbilly pastor, it was the voice of the hound
of heaven that came on a mission to find you and called you, hallelujah,
out of your loady barn. You, the dead dog, laying there
beside the road, all bloated in your iniquities. and he would
not pass you by. You, the babe in the open field,
helpless and undone, your mother and your father were heathens.
You had no spiritual inheritance from them except their own depravity
and sin nature that you came by. You were not a little angel. You didn't grow up an angel.
You're a little heathen. And your heathen parents put
you out in the field. They didn't want you. They didn't
care about you, Ezekiel 16 said. And you laid out there in your
own blood. When you were born, your navel wasn't even cut. You
were just laid out there in the field in your own blood, unable. without strength to take yourself
out of the field, without strength to save yourself, and left to
yourself, you would have died in that field of sin in your
own blood, but somebody came walking by. Somebody came walking
by, and it was a time of love. And that somebody was God Almighty
who saw you laying there, helpless, without strength to save yourself,
and said in powerful regeneration, life-giving, live! It was a time
of love. Oh, you were the dry bones. You were
in the valley of dry bones. Couldn't put yourself together.
There was no hip bone connected to the leg bone and the leg bone
connected to the... You were unconnected. And God breathed a breath of
life into you, a miracle, a wonder. What manner of love is this that
God would love somebody like me? You were the gomer. You were
the harlot. leaving God Almighty, not turning
to Him. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray
and turned to His own way, but thank God there was and is a
seeking shepherd who left the 99 and follow us into the fields
of sin and iniquity and over the mountains and into the valley
of our transgression. and lay hold on us and didn't
drag us back, but we had a free ride. He put us on His shoulders
and brought us back to the fold. This is amazing grace. This is the story of the Bible. This is the message of the Gospel. This is God's undeniable love,
eternal, effectual. Somebody said, You know, what
if God goes calling and nobody wants to listen? Oh, this is
not that kind of voice. When God goes on the hunt, when
the hound of heaven goes seeking, a sinner, I mean, he's a real
hound dog. He's a retriever. You hunters know what I mean
by, he's a retriever. He will retrieve you. He will
bring you back to Himself, back to repentance, grant you faith
in Jesus Christ, put a new song in your heart, lift you from
the miry clay, set you on the solid rock. Salvation is of the
Lord. That's what I'm saying. predestinated, called, and justified. Oh, justified. Justified. I want everybody who attends
this congregation to understand clearly the doctrine of free
justification. God has declared you not guilty. How can God do that? How can
God go down into the coal mine of sin and take hold of you? and bring you out and not get
himself dirty. God is a holy, holy God. You
remember I tell you this story quite often because it illustrates
what I'm trying to say today about justification. Darius was
a friend of Daniel. Daniel broke the law of the Medes
and the Persians, and the penalty was if you break the law and
pray to any other god, you go down into the lion's den. But
Darius loved Daniel. They were good friends. And the
Bible says that the enemies of Daniel went and told the king
he's broke the law, he's got to go in the lion's den. And
in the lion's den he went. And Darius paced all night long
trying to find a just way to get Daniel out of the lion's
den and couldn't find a way. But I want to tell you, my friend,
God found a way to be just, to be just, and to justify us no-good-for-nothing,
sorry, miserable wretches. To declare us not guilty. Say, but Pastor, I don't know
whether I can handle this or not. I'm thinking about could
it be, and can it be, that I should gain an interest in the Savior's
love? Died He for me who caused His
pain? The Spirit of God. The Spirit
of God is in this place. I'm telling you, the Spirit of
God is speaking to somebody today. I'm excited on the inside. I
know the hound of heaven is here today, and he's talking to you. I know you've committed adultery.
I know you've snorted. I know you've shot up. I know
you've been in church all your life. How's God gonna justify you?
but I also know about you church people that you're no different
than the crackhead or the heroin user. You think the same thing. You have a false God. How come
it's getting quiet in here? You must be born again. What
a glorious thing. All of you folks in here who've
been saved out of church anity, you ought to be on your feet
shouting. Oh, what a wonder. I was all camouflaged in First
Baptist Church. I was a Sunday School teacher
and a deacon. Wouldn't it be something if a preacher got saved
today? Wouldn't it be something? I have seen that happen. God
put our sins on Jesus Christ. The Bible says we've been freely
justified, Romans 3, freely, without a cause. There's no reason
for God found in you for God to take you to heaven or me. The Bible says in Psalm 14 that
God looked down from heaven and looked all through time, and
he was looking for a good man. And the Bible says he couldn't
find a one. I know some of you are here thinking, yeah, that's
me. I'm pretty good. No. Not one. Not you, honey. Not you, sir. All have sinned and missed the
mark. How are we going to make it? We're going to have to have
a for-loving God. We're going to have to have a
predestinating God. We're going to have to have a
God with a purpose. We're going to have to have a
God who comes calling and justifies on the basis of Himself. his holiness, his righteousness,
his doing, and his dying. And then I said at the funeral,
We missed something here because it says, whom he justified, and
by the way, I didn't get to say this, but I remember now, right
now it's in my notes, it's amazing what the Spirit of God does.
I am amazed at it when I'm preaching sometimes, the things the Spirit
of God brings to my mind. I forgot to say this, but the
personal pronoun he foreknew, he predestinated, he called,
He justified. He glorified. Now, who are you
going to give the glory for salvation to? I'd say you got to give it
to Him. So it was a glorious time, David's
body laying in front of us, but it was a glorious time. I worshiped
God. After the service, So many people
came and talked to Pam and I, people I haven't seen for years
and years. I watched the faces as I do yours when I'm speaking.
I can almost discern when I'm getting through to you and when
I'm not, when the Spirit of God is opening your eyes. I watched their faces. I saw
many weeping. I think weeping with joy. Some
of these people I have known so many years, and I have been
their pastor. One of the outstanding statements,
and I believe it to be true across this country with the church,
I came to see today while you were preaching that I've been
living in a bubble and we're dying. Now let me explain what
this person meant. This person was in a church.
Living in a bubble. Listen, I don't want this church
to be in a bubble. I want us to be turning this
city upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want our reputation to be,
you better not get near that saloon church. Just as sure as
you do, you'll get saved because God's over there. God's in there
preaching. God's in there praying. God's
over there. Living in a bubble. How easy that is to do. We got
our little churchy club. and there's 50 of us. And we
haven't grown in 50 years, nor seen anyone converted. And we
go through the same old ritual, we have church on Sunday morning,
and we have church on Sunday night, only on Sunday morning
we have 50, Sunday night we have 14. And Wednesday night, we hope
we have enough to have prayer meeting. Not for me. In fact, I don't know exactly
what God did for me with regard, but I've been preaching over
54 years now. I've never been satisfied with
religion. I've always wanted to shout,
smile, rejoice in this message of God's grace. God's doing something here, and
I pray if we're getting bubbly that he'll pop the bubble. We've seen great things, but
God can do so many more great things, such greater things. An older man, and when I say
older, I mean older, came up to me and put his arms around
me and he said, I was in religion for almost 50 years. And I came to this little church
beside the road called Grace Baptist Church. And David was my pastor. And
he said, you gotta remember, for all those years I sat in
church, going through the same rituals, hearing the same old
dry, bloodless message. He said, in my short time here,
I learned more in just a few months about the grace of God
and the wonderful salvation that we have in Christ than I learned
in all those 50 years. And I said to him, Isn't that something that God
in his great providence brought you out of that big, large ceremonial
church and set you here beside the road with 30 people in this
little congregation and you heard the good news. Another gentleman came up to
me and said this, I need to talk with you if you can stay. I need
to talk to someone I can trust. Well, why would you say that
to me? How do you know you can trust me? I said something like
that to him. He said, I know I can trust you
because of the message you preach. I know you know you're a sinner.
Let me tell you this. Don't talk to anybody about your
sins. who doesn't know they themselves
are a sinner because you can't trust them. But if I know I'm a sinner and
you know you're a sinner, then that makes two of us. And this
man, person, told me his story and he said to me, what am I
going to do? It was a mess. And I said to
him, are you ready? I said to him, I have no idea
what you're going to do. And that's the truth. But I do
know this, it doesn't change God's foreknown love, it doesn't
change God's predestination, it doesn't change the fact that
God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we
ask for. Somebody said, I went to the
preacher and he didn't have an answer. That would be me. But I do know God is God and
I know He's able to save us. I thought this was a very powerful
comment. Nobody is preaching what you
preach today around here. We don't hear that kind of preaching. Some of you are so fat on gospel,
you've been fed. Some of you have been around
here forever and you just got fat on gospel food. Yeah, full. Filled with the fullness of God. But I also thought, how sad.
Because as I, Ms. Pam and I drove down those roads
in that area, church after church, after church, after church. I don't wanna be in that. I wanna
be somewhere where the spirit of God is in such a powerful
way, anointing the gospel, where adulterers are converted. You
see, If you're sitting here and wondering what you should do,
let me tell you this, God didn't save you to sit. He saved you
to be a witness. And I was thinking this morning,
we have about 300, I don't know, maybe 400 here. What if every
one of you brought a friend who was lost next Sunday to hear
the gospel? Why aren't we filling this place
up? I mean, look at all those vacant seats in the balcony.
God didn't give us this to have vacant seats. Well, preacher,
you said salvation's of the Lord. Yes, it is. Now go fishing. Your friend that you love, your
son, your daughter, how many of you have children out there?
Never hear the gospel. One of you, so many of you, young
married couples who are having babies, how God has honored you. He has saved you, brought you
together, and you're having babies, and they're gonna sit under the
gospel, and they're gonna be taught the gospel downstairs
in Sunday school. They're gonna hear the good news.
They're gonna grow up right away and stick their tongue out at
you. They're gonna lie, because they came out of you. They have
your nature. They're sinners by nature, choice and practice.
They need to hear the gospel. I thought this was quite extraordinary. I was standing out at the cemetery
by David's casket and a young lady, I would say she was about
23 or 24, came up and looked at me and she goes, you need
to move down here tomorrow. And she said, I'm not going anywhere. She said, she said, she said
this, something like this. My brother-in-law OD'd a few
months ago, and I could tell by your preaching that you're
dealing with addicts up there in Pontiac. And I said to her
with a big smile, the house is full of them. The place is full of addicts. She said the state of Kentucky
is experiencing such a blight. It's not just the state of Kentucky.
And I would say to you, like the lepers who discovered that
God had scared the Assyrian army away after the city was held
hostage, And the lepers who lived outside the city found out what
God had done and there was all this food and all of this, horses
and just all kinds of things. And they said something like
this, we're so blessed and we hold our peace, it's not right.
You've been saved, you've been out there, what a mess you made
the first 30 years of your life, or 40, okay, or 50. and God has brought you into
the gospel of his grace, taken the scales off your eyes, called
you, and you sit here and hold your peace. The worst thing in the world.
I couldn't help but think about David, my friend. He was 72 years
old. You know, I experienced something
that's a little unusual. a pastor friend of mine converted
under the gospel that I preach, a man that I baptized, leaving
here. I saw that little church, how
lost they were with regard to what now, what happens to us
now. I made a promise to them, and
I will tell you, I will do everything possible to help them and make
sure that that little church doesn't go under. We can help
them down there. I don't know, maybe we send Joe
Atwell down there to preach. Dwayne wants to preach, maybe
we'll send Dwayne down there to preach. And I would just say this to
you guys that are here. Why wouldn't God call you to
preach the gospel? Why wouldn't he? Why isn't every
man in here? able to stand before a congregation
of people and tell them how God is just and justifier of the
ungodly. Why aren't you ladies who've
been brought out of darkness? Your emotional needs have been
met by Jesus Christ. You have a shout in your heart.
You know you're loved and protected. You have a husband called Jesus. You're engaged to Christ. Ladies, you think about the little girls
that, the girls, the ladies that are out there. When you get 74,
you start talking about little boys and little girls that are
30, 40 years old. Can you remember how messed up
you were? How lonely? How you were taken
advantage of? How you were abused? I don't know who put this on
Facebook, but I was looking this morning. Some of the most horrendous
things are put in there. I was watching a drunk husband
who had a little two-year-old boy, and they were on the street
somewhere. And this man was beating and kicking and slapping. And I thought, oh, God, that's
not so unusual. I'm sure that's happening across
our country. Abuse. We have the gospel here. Let me tell you this, and I want
to try to prepare you. I'm not a hold the fort type
guy. You may hear some crazy things
from me because I believe take the fort, not hold it. We're not going to sit still
here. As long as I have breath, we're gonna move. We're gonna
move, we're gonna take this good news. And watch God do the most miraculous
things. I would say this because I believe
God's put this on my heart to say. Those of you who are graduates
from across the street, Those of you who are graduates now
from aftercare, and all of that may change too, the way we do
it. Because I personally believe that real community is the local
church. It's here where you grow and
you learn how to live. But I see many of you who get
through all of that aftercare stuff, first thing you wanna
do is leave. I'm not a catch-and-release guy.
People say, you know, pastor just expects us to live there
forever. Absolutely! I'm not denying that. Come to
know Christ, quit using, get a job, go to work, pay taxes,
get married, have babies, live in community, come to church,
don't miss, buy your own house, and change the city of Pontiac. I saw some comments, I can't
say that I appreciated the comments. I think the person meant well.
I want to tell you all, everything on Seneca Street and Moreland
Street, all the basements leak. They're Michigan basements. And
you know what? They've leaked for a hundred
years. But the upstairs is dry, the carpet is nice, the new paint
on the wall is good. You're not living in a house
with all the windows knocked out. Maybe God's calling you. I'm
not saying everybody that comes to this church ought to live
here, but I am saying this. The whole idea here is to create
a community of believers that began to change the city. You
know how many churches have left this city? There's no First Baptist Church
of Pontiac. They left. They left town. We're not going
anywhere. And so from this place, you see,
when a crackhead gets saved, and I hear people say this all
the time, you shouldn't say crackhead pastor. I calls it the way I
sees it. And, and, When a crackhead comes to
know Christ as Lord and Savior, crack becomes an ugly thing.
And now you have a better community. You know, every time one of you
come to know Christ, we have a better Pontiac, we have a better
Oakland County, we have a better Michigan. I saw on Facebook some of these
things I don't know, I have to read Facebook. We're now celebrating
our 51st house. It's going to be a big deal. But you know, I've only got about
three years. My five-year plan is to have
116 houses. Somebody said, what are you trying
to do? Own Pontiac? Yep. Yep. Not me. but God's people who have been
called by his name out of darkness into glorious life. And then, you know, I say this
to all of you here. You get a house, learn to mow
your own grass. I mean, think how crazy it is.
Get you a lawnmower and mow your own grass. Shovel your own snow. Hallelujah Learn to live and be all that
God's called you to be You know, we have 51 houses and some of
you call for us to change a light bulb get a life No, let me say
that different get a light bulb and all you have to do is take
the old one out Screw the new one in What I'm trying to do is show
you how big this is. You know, this is an $8 million
organization plus. That's big. But look at us. There are no millionaires in
here that I know of. And if I find out, I'll be after
your money. Life can be good. Christ Jesus
came into the world not only to save your soul, but save your
life. I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. Miss Pam's really on that part
now. She's telling me all the time
how good God is. It's good for me to hear that.
She's always telling me, we were driving down the road, she's
reading a book about how good God is. I'm even beginning to
think she's right. God is good. All right, Dwayne. I want to
say to you, I know I'm talking to somebody. I know I talked
to somebody down there at that funeral, too. I spotted a couple
people that I thought to myself, mm-hmm. They didn't look too good. They actually looked like they
might be using. And to me, it's like this. I got a big fish here. You know, when I was a young
preacher, I used to pray, Lord, send me somewhere where there's
big centers. He heard me. See, I can't believe
you're just running us down, running us down. No, I'm not.
I'm trying to lift you up and point you to a savior. who's
able to save to the uttermost. I wonder if you saw beauty in
Christ today and you desire him. That's the work of the Spirit
of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
You mean I don't have to be baptized? I don't have to be sprinkled?
You mean I don't have to go through this and that? Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Some of those things
will follow. And grow in grace and in the
knowledge of Jesus Christ. Let's stand and pray.