I think the leadership definitely
to the Spirit of God. Now, I want you to go with me
to the Gospel of Matthew. And we're also going to read
from Mark. Matthew 27, verse 44. And then we'll go to
the 15th chapter of the Gospel of Mark. Matthew 27, verse 44. The thieves, if you found it,
say, Amen. Matthew 27, verse 44, the thieves,
plural, also which were crucified with Him, cast the same in His
teeth. The thieves which were crucified
on either side, cast the same in his teeth. The same as the
high priest, the same as the people who sat down and watched
him there and mocked him and said, if you're really the Christ,
come off the cross and save us and thyself. The thieves, plural. Both of them cast the same in
his teeth. And then in the Gospel of Mark,
the 15th chapter of the Gospel of Mark, similar verse, verse 32, and let Christ the King of Israel
descend now from the cross that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified
with Him reviled Him." Strange, isn't it? Scripture makes it very plain
that both of these thieves in the hour of crucifixion mocked
and ridiculed the Lord of glory. In the darkest hour that the
universe has ever known, it seemed as if there would be no witness to
who Jesus of Nazareth really was. All of the apostles, the disciples
had forsaken Him. Peter had denied Him three times. His mother stood, Scripture says,
afar off. And then suddenly, when there
seemed no hope, a witness stepped forward. One of the thieves that had railed
on him. While the other thief was railing,
the Gospel of Luke in the 23rd chapter says, And one of the male factors which
were hanged railed on him saying, if thou be Christ, save thyself
and us. But the other. But the other. Some way, somehow, something has changed with one
of the thieves. Something has happened to one
of the thieves who previously joined in with the crowd and
the other thief railed on him. But an unexpected testimony in
Luke 23 says this, but the other answering rebuked him. One thief rebuked the other thief
when just a few moments before, both thieves were doing the same
thing. What has happened? But the other
answering rebuked him saying, does thou not fear God? Does thou not fear God? This thief confesses that Jesus
Christ is God. Dost thou not fear God, seeing
thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, you and
I, are getting exactly what we deserve. We're thieves. We're
murderers. For we receive the due reward
of our deeds. But this man, this Jesus of Nazareth, hath
done nothing amiss. The thief who had previously
railed on Him with the other thief, there has been a change. Do you believe in change? If
any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Have you experienced the quickening
of the Spirit of God? When there was no difference
between you and the rest of the crowd, did God Almighty in sovereign
and free grace make a difference? When you were a liar, a thief,
a drunk, a user, an adulterer? No better than anybody else? And when people see you confessing
Christ, do they take it up in wonder? Is that you, Mark? Is that really you under the
bridge, Quentin? Is that really you? Why, I remember
when you were one of us. And then this thief said, to Jesus Lord. I'm going to tell
you, the first words out of your mouth after you have been quickened
and reconciled to Almighty God is going to be this, Lord. Not a little Savior boy. Not
a little baby in Bethlehem. Not even Jesus. But Lord. Think about what a wonder this
is. What a marvel this is. Both thieves have been railing
as they hung there on the cross beside the Lord of Glory. Nobody stepped forward in the
darkness, in the silence of this raging war to give testimony. It looks like the Prince of Peace
will die without a witness. And then suddenly, There is a
change in one of the thieves. Oh, what a wonder that Jesus
found me. Out in the darkness, no light
could I see. He put His great arm under, and
wonder of wonders, He saved even me. Some of you don't understand
what happened here this morning. Well, some of us got happy about
being the chosen of God. By and by, when the morning comes,
I'll understand it better by and by. Lord, remember me. Don't forget
about me. Think about me. Concentrate on
me. Consider me when you come into
your kingdom. You're a king and you have a
kingdom. I want to be part of it. And then there was silence. And then there was silence. If
this old boy doesn't have a word from heaven, if God Almighty
hanging on the cross does not speak, then he is eternally doomed. A silence. Can you imagine what
he felt in his soul? Lord, remember me when Thou comest
into Thy kingdom. And then silence. And then a mighty word of grace. Verily I say unto thee, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise. Don't forget there was a time
when you were a part of the crowd. Somehow or another, this church
crowd has forgotten. That you were just like those
down in the hood. That you are just like those
who are still in the hog pen. That you at one time were down
in Lodibar. That you were the dead dog beside
the road. That you were in an awful pit
at one time. Don't forget where God found
you. You were once a heroin addict. It will help you to be patient
with other addicts. You were once in church and blind
and could not see, trying to work your way to heaven. You
were a part of the cluster. There was a time when you were
in the world and with the world, a time in times past when you
walked according to the course of this evil world. They could
still be saying about you, what is he doing? Is he crazy? They
could be saying that still about you and I. How come he doesn't
get it? There was a time when you didn't
get it. There was a time when I didn't get it. When the prince
and power of the air ruled in our life and our conversation,
our manner of life in times past, we spent fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children
of wrath even as others. Don't forget it. Don't forget
it. When you forget and when the
church forgets, we stop praising. We stop praising. We sit still. We sit on a duff in the house
of God. We don't raise holy hands. Our hearts are not lifted up
and praise God from whom all blessings flow. It's when we
remember, from sinking sands He lifted me. With tender hands
He lifted me. From shades of night to planes
of light, O praise His name, He lifted me. I was in the miry
pit, in the miry clay. And in loving kindness, Jesus
came. My soul in mercy to reclaim. And with tender hands, He lifted
me. From shades of night to planes
of light, O praise His name, He lifted me. There was a time
when there was no difference There was no difference. Do you
remember that? Recall that. There was a time
when you did not know God. When you did not want God. When
you would have never been found where you are this morning in
the house of God. There was a time when you sat
maybe where some are sitting here this morning thinking, what
a silly bunch of people. What a silly show they put on
today. You were sitting there at one
time. And now you have joined the crowd. It was a miracle of God's grace. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Who maketh thee to differ from
another? In other words, when there was
no difference, Almighty God made a difference in your life. It
will help you with your patience. It will help you with your graciousness.
It will help you with forgiving other people. It will help you
to be long-suffering when you recall when there was no difference. That there was a time when there
was no difference. People are always saying silly
things to me. Like, you know, Pastor, you're
doing a great job over there with those people. I'm so weary
of hearing those people. The people in Birmingham are
just as much sinners as the folks in Pontiac. And I'm going to tell you this,
even those of you who don't know God, Those of you who've never
been in the crack house, those of you who've never shot up,
I want to tell you this. It's only by the grace of God
you haven't. Because if God turns you loose,
if God takes His hand... I'll tell you why. Even you lost
people have not been shooting up. Even you who don't even claim
to know God. You atheists. You who have a
pocket full of money sitting here in the house of God. You
millionaires who may be here today. I want to tell you why
you're not shooting up. Only by the grace of God. Because
your nature is evil. You are a sinner by nature, by
choice, and by practice. You are no different when it
comes to your nature than the person who uses heroin or crack
cocaine. The only difference is you sit
in church and hate God. They go to the crack house and
hate God. There's only an outward difference. That's all. That's
all. There is no difference in the
sight of God. Because sin is not so much what
you do as what you are. It's what you are. You are sin.
You are enmity against God. Whether you're in the choir loft
or on the barstool, whether you're singing 99 bottles of beer on
the wall, or Oh, How I Love Jesus from the choir loft, sin is what
you are. Many in that day will say, Lord,
Lord, did we not do many wonderful works in Your name? You see,
you thought you were different. You thought you were different,
but you thought wrong. And I would rather go to hell
as a crack addict than a self-righteous Pharisee sitting in church. I'll let you think about that
a little bit. Because all you nice church people
sit in church and hug your self-righteousness, and God will surely damn you
for that. Most drug addicts, I don't have
to say you're no good. They already know it. They've already stolen from mother
and father and sister and brother. They know they're no good. It's
you self-righteous church people who try to cover your unrighteousness
with fig leaf aprons and hide in the church bushes from God
and camouflage yourself. There is none righteous! No,
not one. The thieves railed on Him. There is one thing God wants
His people to know and it is this, I am the one that made
the difference in your life. God said to Moses, you're going
to lead the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, which
is a type of sin. You're going to lead them out.
And when you come out with millions of people and chariots and wagons
and dogs and cattle and all that stuff you're coming out of Egypt
with, a dog's not going to bark at you. A dog's not going to
bark. Do you know a dog that won't
bark is a dumb dog, the Scripture says? I've told many people who've
got a watchdog that a dog won't bark. He's a dumb dog. That's
what the Scripture says. Dumb dogs that won't bark. It's
their nature to bark. You've heard my snowball story.
I used to have an old dog named Snowball when we lived in Kentucky
down on the farm. And Snowball would get run over
every week two or three times. Because Snowball was always chasing
cars. And he'd get up there and bite
at the tires. They'd pass by in front of the house. And one
of them would hit him. And we'd see him laying beside the road
and say, old Snowball's gone this time. Next thing you knew,
Snowball was up there drinking some water and eating his food. I don't know how smart Snowball
was. But when you leave Egypt, a dog's not going to bark that
you may know how that I put a difference between you and the Egyptians. Should have been dead sleeping
in my grave were it not for the grace of God. We need to clearly understand
that God was not obligated to save us. We that are saved and converted
here ought to be rejoicing. He made a difference. He made
a difference. When there was no difference,
He made a difference. But God! That's deep theology
there in Ephesians 2. And you have been made alive
who were dead. You were dead in sins and trespasses. But God! He made a difference. The Apostle
Paul, and so many church people hate this, but you're never going
to praise until you get a hold of this. That God, I owe it all
to Him. I am what I am by the grace of
God. It was not my works. It was not
my church. It was not my decision. It was
Him, and I'm happy about it. That I did not choose Him, He
first chose me. I did not first call on Him until
He first called on me. I did not first seek Him until
He found me. Salvation begins and ends with
God. He's the Alpha and the Omega. You're never going to praise
until you're caught up in the wonder that He made a difference. What a dead dog I was! Count your many sins, name them
one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done for
you. Unworthy, sorry rascal that you are. You don't know anything about
the glory of God until you know something about sovereign grace. Sovereign grace. You know what
that means? That sovereign grace is simply
this. And by the way, any grace is
sovereign. For God to save you, He had to have mercy on you.
Moses said, show me your glory in the 33rd chapter of the book
of Exodus. Show me your glory. Well, I'm
the great Creator, God could have said. Let me show you how
I can make something out of nothing. Let me show you a few magic tricks.
How I can create a goat by just simply speaking. Let there be
a goat. But He didn't say that. He said,
I'm going to show you My glory. Here's My glory. I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. Should have passed you by. Should
have passed you by. You deserve to be left out. He
didn't even have to look your way. Oh, I love it when God quickens
a sinner. Here's the talk of a quickened
sinner. A sinner who has been made alive.
A dead sinner is like this. Nothing to him. Nothing to Him. I see no beauty in Him that I
should desire Him. But let the Holy Spirit quicken
the thief on the cross. Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
while on others Thou art calling. I'm over here. Hey, over here. It's worth a shot. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. Some of you in here think you
deserve to be saved. That's why you sit down when
we stand up. That's why there is no smile
on your face except a smile, a smirk of, are these people
nuts? What are they doing? They're
out of control. You go to your little dead tombs
of church anity. And there is no praise. I'll
tell you this, where there is no praise, there is no God. Because He saved us for His glory,
to the praise of the glory of His grace where we say. You know, you could have been
a Pharaoh. So many people and in so many
churches, they need to go to the potter's house. Sometimes on that potter's wheel,
there's a marred vessel. He throws it away on the junk
pile. He's the potter. Oh, you're the potter. I'm the
clay. Mold me and make me after your
will. Don't I have the power to make
one vessel under honor? and another to dishonor? Do you understand that God can
let you live and be an absolute heathen and smoke crack all your
life and send you to hell because you deserve it? Or let you sit in church and
let you get real active in churchanity And you do many wonderful works
in the eyes of the hierarchy of the church and send you to
hell. And it will be just. Or He can have mercy on you.
He can make you and use you as a Pharaoh or as a Moses. Mercy. You see, most of the preaching
today pictures God as some kind of wimp. And especially the Lord
Jesus Christ. I've heard this for 46 years
now from other preachers. The only feet God has is your
feet. The only hands God has is your
hands. Won't you let God? You don't let God. Even the little
plaque on the wall, let go and let God. Not good theology. Not Bible. I want you to clearly
know that God, that you are, listen, you are no problem for
God. You're no problem for God. God
is not pacing the corridors of heaven hoping that you're going
to get... God is not hoping in you. God is not trusting you. You've
got this thing backwards. He is not pacing the corridors
of heaven needing a Xanax. I've created this world and it's
out of control. No, he sits holding the reins
to this universe. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? We need to go down to the potter's
house most often. And I want to tell you, and I
understand that emotions can, you know, get out of control.
I understand that. But I also understand that where
there is true Christianity, there is joy and peace. There is lifting
holy hands. There is shout. There is applause.
There is smile. There is joy. There is peace
that passes all understanding. And heaven is not going to be
a quiet, nice little place. It's going to be a place where
10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands are singing, worthy
is the Lamb that was slain. Isn't that going to be some choir? You know, in the book of Jeremiah... By the way, do you know God found
you on the dunghill? Out there amongst the tumble
bugs. That's where God found you. Now
for you non-Southern, non-farm people, tumble bugs are bugs
that work in manure piles. And all day long, this used to
be my entertainment down in Carlisle County, Kentucky as a little
boy. I'd find a good juicy cow pile where the tumble bugs was
active. And I would watch them roll little
rolls of manure. into little balls. They'd work
at that all day long. You know, when you don't have
any toys in your poor Job's turkey, you have strange entertainment. I'd watch those tumble bugs. That's what you were. And God
came down to the manure pile, found tumble bug number one,
and just passed it right on by. He said, I want tumble bug number
two. How come? He's just like tumble
bug number one because I want him. That's sovereign grace. Now, I know some of you are going
like, that ain't fair. We're not talking about being
fair. We're talking about grace. You want what's fair? You need to be quiet about what's
fair. Don't ask God to be fair with
you. Don't ask God, all I want is
what I deserve, Jesus. Don't be asking Him that. You know. You know if He gives
you what you deserve. They're going straight to hell,
you know. The church has to go back to
the potter's house. We've got to go back and see
that it was absolute mercy and grace. That we are what we are
by the grace of God. Somehow or another, this grace
thing has been covered up in a smokescreen of religion. And
grace is not out front. Grace is no more grace. Grace
has become this mixture of law and grace, of works and grace. If it be grace, it is no more
works. If it's works, it's no more grace. You can't mix the two. Either
you're saved by grace, or you go to hell with your works of
righteousness. Pure grace. That's having mercy
on whom He will have mercy. Pure grace. No mixture. You know, David was ridiculed for getting
happy about God's choice. In the book of 2 Samuel, you
might want to turn there with me to 2 Samuel 6. Now, all you Baptist folks need
to put Your hands and your ears, perhaps. You know, when I was
a kid growing up, dancing was one of the top sins. Dancing and having non-marital
sex was kind of synonymous. They were like the same thing.
2 Samuel 6 verse 14, And David
danced right in front of the Lord. And David danced before the Lord. And he didn't just dance. I mean,
he got down. Now, I'm not going to dance for you.
Shannon and Amber will have a heart attack here if I even... But,
David did. I noticed Herb did this morning. Duane was about to break loose. Brother Gilroy is about to do
that Church of God in Christ dance. And in verse 16, it says Michael
was watching him. His wife was watching him. And
you know, she was the daughter of Saul, the king. And she despised
him in her heart. I mean, look at the king. Kings
aren't supposed to be doing that. You know, she had her nose... If it had rained, she would have
drowned. She had her nose up in the air.
She thought she was different. Look at verse 20. And David returned
and blessed his household. Michael the daughter of Saul
came out to meet David. Oh, she wasn't happy with him. Most of the time when that woman
comes out to meet you. How glorious was the King of
Israel today! She didn't mean it. Who uncovered Himself today in
the eyes of the handmaids of His servants. You know, He took off His crown.
You can't dance with a crown on your head. I think there's some spirituality
to that. You've got to get the crown off
your head if you're going to dance. As one of the vain fellows shamelessly
uncovered himself. Oh, she was disgusted. And David said unto Michael,
it was before the Lord. I didn't do it for you anyway,
woman. I wasn't dancing to make you
happy. Sometimes you've got to talk that way. It was before the Lord which
chose me. And He chose me before your daddy. And before all His house to appoint
me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore
will I play before the Lord. He said, play. I'm going to have
fun. You know, worship and praise
ought to be fun. I'm playing before the Lord.
I'm one of His little kids. I'm playing before the Lord. Sometimes I've seen little kids
who are good dancers and their parents will say, dance for pastor. That little kid will get it.
It makes me smile. Look at verse 22. He said to
her, And I will yet be more vile than thus. In other words, you
haven't seen anything yet. I'm about to really get down.
Because I feel a happy spell coming on again. I'm thinking
about it while you're criticizing me. I'm thinking about God chose
me and not your daddy. I'm thinking about He elected
me. He predestinated me. He foreordained me and nothing
shall separate me from the love of my God. Oh, I wish I could dance. And will be base in mine own
sight. Yeah, I'm base. But I don't want any glory. I'm
not trying to impress anybody here. I'm just simply saying,
praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow. I don't care
what you think. He has saved me and washed me
in His precious blood. I said, you know, I just can't. You understand, don't you, Pastor?
I just can't lift holy hands. I feel so intimidated. I'll tell you this. And I do
understand that. And that's basically flesh. It
really is. You're intimidated by a person.
There is no difference. Why should you be intimidated
by a person who's just like you? There is no difference. You say,
well, pastor, are you saying that we have to put up our hands
or that we have to show... No, I'm not saying any of that.
I know we all have different personalities, but I'm saying
this. At some point, you're going to
be overwhelmed by the Spirit of God and glad to be saved. And there's going to be appreciation
of some kind. Things just kind of happen when
you're... You know, this happened. I tell this so many times. You've
heard me tell this story about going out to the GM plant and
that guy giving us all those things and you know a 1,700,000
square feet of everything imaginable and we sold $380,000 worth of
stuff and made up our budget and he gave us a check, bought
these air conditioners that are here in the building when we
didn't have any air and you know took asbestos out of the mission
building and You know, all of that stuff. And then sponsored
our golf outing. And we were in a circle. And
after I'd seen all that, and he told me all that, and then
he said there's going to be two major sponsors for our golf outing. I was so overcome, I fell. I
was so overcome. No planning. It just happened.
I just went down to my knees. And they're picking me up saying,
Pastor, Are you sick? Is it your heart?" And I'm going,
it's my heart, but I'm not having a heart attack. I was overcome. If God ever lets you see His
hinder parts of how merciful He's been to you, how gracious
He's been to you, something's going to happen. Something's
going to happen. Maybe... Amen! It may be, oh no! Something's
going to happen. You're going to praise Him. And
the reason praise and worship does not happen is because we
do not hear the gospel of His grace. And when we hear it, and
the Spirit of God opens our eyes to it, there's praise and worship. That's why we must recover the
Gospel. This whole thing is about praising God because He's worthy. He's just worthy. By and by, when the morning comes, morning comes in the morning, and the darkness and the blackness
fades away. And joy comes in the morning,
is what I was trying to say. Joy comes in the morning. There's a time of joy. And I, you know, I don't know
whether you follow me here, but you know, I am... Saturday will
be 65 years old. I've been preaching for 46, 47
years. And I appreciate that. But 46, 47 years ago as an 18-year-old
boy, I knew he was missing. I've been thrown out of more
churches than many of you have bars. The Baptists put me out. The
Methodists wouldn't have me. The Presbyterians were too formal.
Episcopalians. And I want to tell you what's
happening here. It's really very simple what's
happening here. I can remember in seminary, as just a young lad of a preacher
laying on the floor and beating the floor and saying, there's
got to be more than this. I want you to know. I want you
to know. If God had not promised me His
presence, I wouldn't go to church. It's the most boring, hideous
thing. I'd find me a good friendly hopping bar somewhere, get me
a couple of drinks and sit in there with the guys and watch
football. Religion is boring. Just going
through rituals. And if I had to sit and hear
it in Latin, it would even be worse. I don't know how I'm going
to do it. I'm going to have a translator
this afternoon. So those of you who come, I'm
going to say, the gospel is the power of God. I don't
know how I'm going to do that, but I know what I'm going to
preach. All that's happening here, if
we ever get back to honoring God and His Son, Jesus Christ,
blotting everything out, Killing everything that moves and tries
to take any of the glory or praise away from the precious Son of
God. God's going to honor that. All
that's happening here is God is honoring the message of the
Gospel. That's all that's happening. I said, well, Basil, you know,
while we were singing, you were mighty calm up there. Yep. Mighty
calm. I was enjoying the praise. Just a little taste of heaven.
Now, I know there's some of you too here like, you know, I think
so-and-so was putting on. Well, I'll tell you this. You
don't have to worry about so-and-so. In fact, if you were watching
so-and-so, you probably missed the whole
deal. Who are you to watch so-and-so?
You sitting over there like a knot on a log, like the mule looking
through the barn door with a sad face. Well. Say now, he's trying to put me
in the black church. That's why he's trying to. Let's stand together and praise.