Well, it is such a delight to
be with you again. And I apologize I couldn't make
it the last time. That's just the second time in
47 years I've had to cancel a meeting because I just couldn't get there
because of the weather. But I'm delighted to be here
now. And that's him. What a blessing. The first time
I heard that, where'd you go, Terry? I think you were present
at Ashland. Brother Holmes Moore and I were
preaching together there, and Holmes sang that hymn. And it's
been maybe my favorite ever since. Robert Murray McShane wrote it.
Oh, my soul, that's been, what, 350 years ago? Great, great hymn. I'm not quite that old. I wasn't
there when he wrote that. But I do appreciate the hymn.
So very well done. Turn with me, if you will, to
the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Romans. Fourth chapter of
the book of Romans. If you can remember three words,
you can remember the title of my message and my outline. Righteousness,
faith, unbelief. Righteousness, faith, and unbelief. That's my subject. Our text will
be Romans chapter 4, verses 23 and 24. Romans chapter 4, verse
23. Now, it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him. Back up in verse 6. I'm sorry, verse 3. Abraham believed God, and it
was imputed, accounted to him for righteousness. Genesis 15,
6 is the place that's quoted from. Abraham believed God, and
it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now Romans 4.23, the apostle
says, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed
to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Now look
at verse 25, who was delivered for our offenses. The word for,
would better be read because of who was delivered to the hands
of divine justice delivered up to death because of our sins
he took upon himself and were made his our sins he bear in
his own body on the tree under the wrath of God he was delivered
for our offenses and raised again because of raised again because
of our justification. He was put to death because our
offenses were made his. And when he had satisfied the
justice of God, our Lord Jesus laid down his life in our stead
and was buried in the tomb, and three days later, The scriptures
tell us he was justified in the spirit, raised up from the dead,
publicly justified from our transgressions that were made his transgressions,
and we were justified, that is, all who are now, all who ever
have been, and all who ever shall be justified were justified because
Christ died in our stead. Yonder sits the proof. He was
raised again for our justification. Now, I'm here tonight, I hope
for God's glory to minister comfort, edification, and peace to the
hearts of every sinner who trusts Christ. to reprove you who are
my brothers and sisters in Christ and myself for every particle
of unbelief that's in us. And I'm here seeking the salvation
of your soul. I want by the grace of God to
persuade you to believe on God's darling son. Oh, I pray that
God will this hour open the windows of heaven and drop his grace
into your heart and into mine, and let us worship God our Savior,
believing him. One of our friends, Dr. N.B.
Magruder, who's been with the Lord a number of years, who was
for many years pastor of Redeemer Baptist Church in Louisville,
Kentucky, when he would get up to preach, He was one of the
bright stars. He had a brilliant, brilliant
mind. He'd get up to preach and always carried a yellow legal
pad. And I'm always curious what a fellow has with him when he
gets up to preach. And I'd peek over his shoulders. Did you ever
do that? And I have, I write out lots
of notes just in case I don't have anything to say. And I always
have lots of notes. Dr. Morguda would always write
just one sentence. He had that whole legal pant. He'd have it
turned over like he had a ton of stuff on it. One sentence.
Just one thing he wanted to get across. And he'd come at it from
every angle he could possibly think of and preach to you. And
he did a good job with it. Well, I want you to get just
this one thing tonight. I want you to get it. God helped
you to get it. Unbelief is damning. But faith in Christ is saving. Did you get that? Unbelief will
take you to hell. Faith in Christ will take you
to glory. Oh, may God save you from your
unbelief and give you faith in his son. Paul said much about
Abraham in this fourth chapter of Romans and his faith. But
this description of Abraham and his faith was not written because
Paul wanted to exalt and magnify Abraham or exalt and magnify
Abraham's faith. It was not written because God
the Holy Ghost wanted us to think highly of Abraham. Now, it is
true. We are taught to give honor to
whom honor is due, and we are always right to do so. It's always
proper to honor folks to whom honor is due. But this book,
no part of this book is written to exalt any man except the God-man
Christ Jesus. No portion in this book is written
to give honor to any man except the God-man Jesus Christ our
Redeemer. Paul's purpose here, the purpose
of God the Holy Spirit in this chapter is to teach us how the
sinners are saved by God's free grace through faith in Jesus
Christ alone. Sinners are saved in the entirety
of that word salvation by God's free grace through faith in Jesus
Christ alone. Now this was written not for
Abraham's sake alone, but for us also if we believe on him
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. All right, let's
look at these three things. Righteousness. Let me remind
you first that the righteousness of God imputed to Abraham was
not the righteousness of Abraham's faith. It was not the righteousness
of Abraham's faith, but rather the righteousness performed,
established, and brought in by the obedience of Jesus Christ,
our surety and substitute, by his doing and dying in our room
instead while he walked on this earth in our flesh. Righteousness
is not something we perform by faith. Righteousness is something
we receive by faith. He said, well, preacher, what's
the difference? I want you to see the difference. There's a
big, big, big difference. Both faith and righteousness
are the works of God. They're the works of God performed
in us and given to us, not the result of man's will, man's work,
and man's worth. The righteousness of God given
to Abraham is called the right of redemption by Jeremiah in
Jeremiah 32. It is the right of redemption
that belongs to every sinner who believes Christ. The right
of redemption, redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ, gives sinners
the right to enter into glory. The redemption accomplished by
Jesus Christ, the righteousness accomplished by Jesus Christ
gives sinners who have nothing to offer God but sin, who can
do nothing before God but sin, that righteousness heaped upon
us and received by faith, faith given to us and brought in us,
gives sinners a conscious right to enter into glory. Oh, if you can get that, it'll
float your boat through troubled times. I promise you. Faith in
Christ receives from God righteousness wrought out, performed, and bought
by God's darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ alone is
the object of faith. He's both the author and finisher
of our faith. By Him, all who believe, whether
strong in faith or weak in faith, are justified from all things. completely justified. Abraham
believed God, we're told, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Sadly, however, most people have
the idea that when it says Abraham believed God and it was counted
to him for righteousness, that Abraham's faith was counted to
him for righteousness. That just can't be the case.
That just can't be the case because Paul said, it shall be counted
to us for righteousness if we believe. You mean Abraham's faith
shall be counted to us for righteousness? Oh no, the object of Abraham's
faith. That's the difference. It was
the object of his faith that was counted to him for righteousness,
counted to him in his own conscience, in his own heart, in his own
mind. You remember the scripture speaks
of Enoch. Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him
and before he was translated he had this testimony he received
this testimony that he pleased God. Now this is what you commonly
hear and read about Enoch Enoch was a man who believed God and
he was saved by God's grace and he walked with God and he was
so holy and so spiritual and so spiritual minded he was just
right for heaven and he just walked into heaven. And you want
to try to stretch and exercise and discipline yourself so you
can be as good as Enoch and you'll have testimony that you pleased
God. The testimony Enoch had that he pleased God wasn't from
men. It wasn't for men. It wasn't
for men. We've been taught all our lives.
We've been taught all our lives, wrongfully taught, that we ought
to show people by what we do that we're Christians. You can't
do it. You can't do it. Now, don't misunderstand me or
misrepresent me. Live right. Seek to live for
God's honor. Live uprightly before God. Walk
uprightly with your neighbors. Do that which is right to the
best of your ability, striving earnestly to do so, seeking grace
to do so. But don't ever imagine that folks
you work with at the post office are going to see Christ in you.
They didn't see Christ in Christ. They ain't going to see Him in
you. You understand that? Oh, where did he get this testimony
that pleased God? He got it from God. He got it
from God. I've got a testimony from God. A testimony from God that I please
him. How many son? And he said, this
is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And faith in Christ
apprehends what God has given me and done for me in his son. So the righteousness we have
is not righteousness we perform, not even by faith. Faith's only
work is to receive. Faith's only work is to take. Faith's only work is to lay hold
of. And that faith that receives
and lays hold of and takes hold on Jesus Christ is God's operation
of grace in you. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. The righteousness we receive
then is the righteousness that God gives us from which we can
never be separated by any means, not even by our greatest failures. The Savior says, I've given to
them eternal life. And what's his next word? And
they shall never perish. I've been warned by fellows all
my life. I started preaching when I was
17 years old. And I've been warned all my life, now you've got to,
you can't just make statements like that. You got to, you gotta,
you gotta tell fellows you can't do this, you can't do that. Well,
I agree, I shouldn't just leave it just like that. The Savior
said, I've given to them eternal life, and they shall never perish. What does that mean? No matter
what. No matter what. No matter what. If God's given you eternal life,
you can't perish. You understand that? But preacher, you don't understand
how sinful I am. Yes, I do. Oh, yes, I do. But you don't
understand what corruption's in my heart. Oh, I know I do. I know. But you don't have the
kind of struggle and unbelief that I do. Oh, yes, I do. Oh yes I do. Oh yes I do. But Christ is made of God unto
us who believe. Wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. The pastor doesn't even say we
make Christ unto ourselves wisdom, righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. You can't do that. You can't
do that. God has made us to be in Christ,
who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Well, preacher, if that's the
case, man has nothing to do with righteousness, sanctification,
or redemption. I must have preached that pretty
good. Why is that? That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord, that no flesh should
glory in his presence. You see, if somehow your faith in Christ
is the determining factor in your salvation, then you're going
to strut before God. I recall years ago, this is 1968,
I was in school in Springfield, Missouri. In fact, that's the
time I met Brother Holden Moore. I was at their winter conference
there in 1968. And we'd go out various places
at school. And sometimes, I don't know where
you go in religious circles, you find women who think they're
theologians. I wish ladies would learn to
cook, keep house, and be good, wise, and good mothers, and quit
trying to be theologians. You make poor theologians. All
of you do. You don't have the capacity for
it. God didn't intend it. Amen, Brother Fortner. That's
right. That's just exactly right. We were chatting with me and
another fella and he was fussing about the gospel of God's grace,
just angry. And this gal sitting behind us,
she stood up in the middle of the bus and she screamed top
of her voice, I'm saved by grace, but it was my faith, my decision
that made the difference. That's exactly the conclusion
you will always come to as long as you imagine that faith is
your work. Oh, no, faith is God's gift. If you believe, I'll tell
you what happened. I'll tell you what happened. Somewhere along the way, you
woke up and found yourself believing. That's exactly right. Well, I
made a decision to believe on Jesus. No, you didn't. No, you
didn't. You found yourself believing.
You just found yourself believing. Brother Bobby Estes, he's now
78 years old. He attended services for a good
while. He married one of the ladies
in our congregation. He's with the Lord now. And he came once
in a while, didn't come much. And then one Sunday morning,
I announced I was going to be preaching a series of messages
on the doctrines of grace, what folks call the five points of
Calvinism. And he showed up on Tuesday night. And he'd been sitting right there
ever since. I've been sitting right there
almost every service ever since. And after about two years, Sunday
morning, Sunday night, Tuesday night, Sunday morning, Sunday
night, Tuesday night, he walked in the door one day, he said,
Preacher, I don't know when it happened, but God's given me
faith in Christ. I want to confess Christ in baptism. That's generally
how it happens. Sometimes you have a Damascus
road experience, but not many folks do. Sometimes there's something
startling that happens that you can look at and say, there, that's
where I began to believe. Not generally, not generally.
Most folks just find themselves believing God. And the issue,
now please hear me. I know to whom I'm speaking,
and I know the day in which I'm speaking. Listen to me, listen
to me. It doesn't matter when you believed. It doesn't matter who was preaching
when you believed. I'll take you to the time and
I'll take you to the place where the Lord saved me by his wonderful
grace, I doubt it. I'm telling you the truth. I'm
telling you the truth. We place way under too much emphasis. And if you place any emphasis
at all on something you experienced yesterday as the basis of your
assurance, you've missed the boat. The issue is, Brother Terry
Worthing, do you believe on the Son of God? That's all that matters. Even if nothing else matters,
that's all that matters. Dost thou believe on the Son of God? Well, I don't know whether I
believed back in 1967 when I first made a profession or not. I don't
care. I really don't. Was that real back then? I don't
care. I'm not interested in investigating
it. I made a profession when I was seven, too. And I know
that wasn't real. I was preaching by the time I
was eight, and I know that wasn't real. I was a hellion by the
time I was nine, and I know that was real. That's exactly right. That's
exactly right. But I believe God now. And I've received testimony because
faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the evidence
of things not seen. Is that what the book says? Faith,
that's the evidence that my name's written in the book of life.
Faith, that's the evidence I'm one of God's elect. Faith in
Christ, that's the evidence that Christ died for me. How do I
know if God has called me? Do you believe on the Son of
God? Do you believe on the Son of God? He called you, if he
didn't, you wouldn't believe. Faith is the operation of God.
What does it take for a sinner to believe? The very same power,
Ephesians chapter one, verse 19. which God wrought in Christ
when he raised him from the dead. You must be raised from the dead. So the book says, he that believeth
on the Son of God hath everlasting life. Faith in Christ didn't
cause you to get it. Faith in Christ simply experiences
it. Faith in Christ rejoices in it.
Faith in Christ is the assurance of it. But faith in Christ isn't
the cause of life. It's the fruit of life, the evidence
of life. All right, now, here's the second
thing. Let's look at this matter of faith. I wanna be as clear
as I can possibly be. The righteousness of God established
and brought in everlasting righteousness by the obedience and death of
Jesus Christ is bestowed upon, given and imputed to every sinner
who believes on the Lord Jesus. Some of you came in here tonight
like that publican we read of in Luke's gospel that our Lord
described. with a sentence of death in yourselves. Your consciences,
your minds, your own hearts condemning you. Children of wrath, even
as others. That doesn't mean that God changes
his mind and folks of today are children of wrath and more children
of mercy. Oh, no, no, no, no. But as far as you know, as far
as you know, now I'm telling you, as plainly as I can, As
far as you can possibly know, there's no reason for you to
hope for God's mercy if you don't believe on his side. There's
not a word in this book. Not a word in this book. I challenge
anybody in the world to show me otherwise. There's not a word
in this book to indicate to any unbelieving sinner that God loves
you, that God chose you, that God's gracious to you, that Christ
died for you, or that God wants to save you. Is that accurate?
There's not a word in this book. Now, a preacher I've heard all
my life, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
You've heard a lie all your life. Nobody's got the right to tell
you that. That's not so. The promises of God are yea and
amen in Jesus Christ. You understand that? You can't
claim any word from God except you believe on his son. And believing
on his son, you can claim every word from God. God gives perfect righteousness
to every sinner who believes on his son. In recent months,
I've received numerous letters from an elderly lady. She's dying. She's been religious all her
life, trying to work her way into God's favor. My dad said to me one time before
he died, many years before he died, and he was sincere. He was sincere. Shelby was standing right beside
him. He started to leave the house. He said, son, I hope somehow
before I die I can make up for all that I've done. I can make
up to God for all I've done. And I said, dad, I hope God will
teach you you can't. And she'll quit trying. You can't
make up to God. You can't make up to God. You
can't make up to God. This gal's been trying all her
life to work her way into God's good favor. About a year ago,
she started listening to our messages. And she's now learning
something about her sin and the horrid evil of false religion.
And she's tormented with guilt. And she keeps asking me the same
questions. How can I know I'm one of God's elect? How can I
know Christ died for me? I pray and beg God to save me.
How can I be saved? And I keep telling her the same
thing. I've been telling sinners for 47 years everywhere I go.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe
on the Son of God and you will walk out of this house Like that
publican walked out of the temple justified. Justified. Not that your faith in Christ
is going to justify you. Oh no! But you walk out with
a conscious awareness that Christ is yours. You're justified. You're justified. But how can
you be sure of that? What more can God require than
what God gave? What more can God require than
His own darling Son? What more can God require than
perfect obedience to His holy law, perfect obedience to His
will, perfect obedience to everything He requires, and complete satisfaction
for all sin, so that justice is satisfied when Jesus Christ,
with one tremendous draft of love, drank damnation dry. He
that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life. He that believeth
not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him." Our Savior said just before he
ascended into glory, all power is given unto me in heaven and
in earth. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. Preach good news to every creature.
Preaching the gospel is not offering good advice. Preaching the gospel is proclaiming
good news. Preaching the gospel is the announcement
of redemption accomplished. Preaching the gospel is the announcement
of salvation finished. Preaching the gospel is the announcement
of righteousness free in Jesus Christ the Lord. Preach the gospel
to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Now that's exactly what the Apostle Paul tells us in
our text. This was written for our sakes
to whom righteousness shall be imputed if we believe on him
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. This was written
not for Abraham alone, but for us. In John 6, our brother began
reading at verse 35. Back up in verse 28, the Jews
asked the Savior, tell us, what shall we do that we may work
the works of God? What may we do that we may work
the works of God? That's a good question. How on
earth are you going to do the work of God? How are you going
to do the work of God? And the Savior gave an answer.
He gave an answer, the only answer that can be given. This is the
only answer. He said, this is the work of
God that you believe on him whom he has sent. That's the work
of God. To believe on him whom he has
sent. You can make issues all you want
to, and you can Set goals all you want to, and you can look
at standards all you want to, and you can fuss and fight and
divide up and split all you want to. The question is faith or
unbelief. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Turn to John chapter 20. John
chapter 20. Look at the last word in John's
gospel. Verse 31. This is what God the Holy Ghost
tells us about everything written in this book. Now, look this
way a minute. Look this way a minute. See this book? You see it? People make this a book about
prophecy. They make it a book about denominationalism. They
make it a book about theology. They make it a book about morality. They make it a book about politics.
Every politician of every brand under the sun, since I've been
old enough to understand anything about what's going on, all of
them refer to this book when it's convenient. Liberal, conservative,
everything, everything. All refer to this book when it's
convenient. And refer to God and Jesus when it's convenient.
And they've been doing it since the beginning. Why is this book
written? Why did God give you this book?
Why? Look here, John chapter 20, verse
31. These are written. that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you might
have life in his name. That's why God gave his word.
so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ that once
spoken of in all the Old Testament prophets, by all the Old Testament
types who fulfilled every word the Old Testament spoke about
the Messiah. When he would come, he that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. He's born of God. This is written
so that you might know who Christ is and knowing who he is that
you might believe him. Now let me show you five things
about faith. First, understand this, I've already said it, I
won't look at all the scriptures. Faith in Christ is the gift of
God. Faith in Christ is the gift of
God. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. God, by his will, gave life to
dead sinners, and giving life to dead sinners, we breathe new
life. And that breath of new life is
faith in Jesus Christ. Number two. Faith in Christ is believing
God's record God's testimony given in his word Concerning
his son now. I want you to look at this one
first John chapter 5 first John chapter 5 faith in Christ Is believing God's testimony
concerning his son Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God Now understand what the Holy Spirit is here
telling us When I was seven years old we had I've been going to
church some I guess sometimes I wouldn't go much when I was
a kid, but we were going to church Church was packed and they were
Give an invitation to Solomon and preachers, scared the hell
out of everybody in this. All coming forward, crying and bawling,
and kneeling down and making a professional face. And I saw
everybody else go in. Man, I was scared because I didn't
meet the rest of them. And I came down front, and a
pilot for Piedmont Airlines, John Chancellor. I knew him well. Knew him all his life. Big man. Big. Made me look a little, but
I got to be a big fella. He was a big man. He knelt down beside
me, pulled me over to one side, put his arm around my shoulder,
and he said, now Don, son, you know you're a sinner, don't
you? I said, what do you mean? He said, did you ever do anything
wrong? I said, yes, sir. I said, I've done a lot wrong.
He said, that's sick. The way he said sick, he's dead.
You don't want to die, do you? You don't want to go to hell,
do you? I said, I don't know. And I'm just bawling, just blubbering
the whole time. And he said, now repeat after me. and went
through this mess of saying what's called the center of prayer,
saying I believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God. Now you're
saying, don't anybody ever tell you any different? Don't anybody
ever tell you any different? You might as well have been rubbing
rosary beads, saying Hail Mary's, or worshiping in a stump of some
witch doctor in the middle of New Guinea. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. That's
all nonsense. That's all blasphemy. That's
all. But what's John saying here?
Look at the text. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ. What does this book say the Christ
of God will accomplish? What does it say? It says he'll
bring in everlasting righteousness. He'll make an end of iniquity.
He will put away the sins of his people. Read the book. Do
you believe that Jesus of Nazareth, that man who lived 2,000 years
ago and died upon the cursed tree, cursed of God and cursed
of man, lifted up as a curse between heaven and earth, do
you believe that he actually did everything the prophet said
he would do? Do you? He actually redeemed
his people. He actually put away sin. He
actually satisfied God. He actually brought in everlasting
righteousness. He did. You're born of God. And if you
deny that, you're not born of God. You're not born of God. Everyone that loveth him that
begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. Look at verse
10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in
himself. He's got testimony of God in
his own soul. He that believeth not, God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us, eternal life. And this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God. I spent a good bit of time recently
preaching through 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, and you other preachers
have made me witness Almost everything I've ever heard or read on the
book of 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, those three books. Sort of, sort of, that's not
the right word, just all the way through the chapters, all
the way through those seven chapters. Keeps telling you John wrote
this so that you could examine yourself and see if you love
God, love your neighbor like you ought to, and if you do,
You have assurance. No, no. John said, I wrote this
so that you believe me. Don't you believe? The whole
book was written to tell you, he that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. I believe that Jesus is the Christ. I have testimony from God, the
witness of God in my soul, the spirit bearing witness with my
spirit. I'm born of God. I'm born of God. All right, understand
this. God gives righteousness to every
sinner who believes on his son. Faith in Christ is believing
God's testimony concerning his son. Third, God commands you
to trust his son. God commands you to trust his
son. And I know there's a, Constant
battle raging. I've had fellas ask me to write
books for duty of faith and ask me to write books against duty
of faith. And I say, no, I don't believe I'll get into that fray.
But I want to tell you something. God holds you responsible to
believe his testimony. That's your responsibility. God
commands you to believe. He said, look unto me. and be
you saved all the ends of the earth. This is his commandment
that we believe on his son. That's the word of God. God commands
it. Now that makes it your responsibility.
But I'm here to tell you something beyond that. If God commands
you to trust his son, I reckon it's all right for you
to trust him. If God commands you to trust
his son, I reckon it's all right for you to trust him. But preacher,
I don't know whether I've repented enough. You haven't. But I don't
know whether my faith's strong enough. It's not. But I don't
know whether I'm sincere enough. You're not. But I don't know
if I feel like I ought to. You don't. You don't. But God
commands you to trust his son. That means you can trust his
son. That means you're perfectly at liberty to trust his son.
Perfectly at liberty. Set this up here and say, here,
have a drink. That means if you want a drink,
you can come get it. Here it is. As a matter of fact, I don't
even have a command. Nobody told me that was for me.
But there it sits. And I'm about as big as anybody
in here. And I don't think anybody's going to knock it out of my hand.
And I'm a little thirsty. I'm going to make a presumption.
I think that was poured in that glass for me. Let's see. You reckon I can prove whether
it was or not? Let's see. Yep, it was for me. I know it
was. I got it. I know it was. I got it. All believe on the
Son of God. And go home with this assurance.
God gave his Son to you. He prepared his son in the womb
of a virgin especially for you. He sent his son to live in righteousness
particularly for you. He laid on his son all your sin
and punished him in your place particularly for you. And Christ
sits in glory interceding particularly for you. Father, Father, I will. I will. that Don Fortner be with
me where I am. That he behold my glory. This
I know. You can't come, no man can. And anyone may come, that means
you may. And everyone who's taught of
God shall come to the Lord Jesus. What is that? What's it mean?
To come to Christ. Do you remember a commandment
God gave to Israel in the Old Testament about Sabbath days?
Now, we don't keep a Sabbath day. No kind of Sabbath day. And Sunday's not the Sabbath.
Sunday's Sunday. Saturday was Sabbath. We don't
keep a Sabbath day. And we're forbidden to keep a
Sabbath day. I mean, we're just strictly forbidden. Colossians
2, 16 said don't do it. Don't do it. Well, what's the
whole purpose? God said to the children of Israel,
On the seventh day, don't you even go out and pick up sticks
to build a fire? Is that what you do? Easiest
thing you do is throw them to death. Killing. You think God would kill a man
for picking up sticks on Sunday? On Saturday? No. No, no, no,
no. That Sabbath represented a whole
lot more than anybody imagined. Except for the power of God.
It represented God's salvation. a total cessation from works. A total cessation from works. You've been trying to work your
way into God's favor all your life. That's the reason you don't
believe Christ. You've been trying to earn your way to heaven all
your life. The only way you can ever enter into glory is to quit
trying. You've got to quit working. Faith
in Christ is resting in Christ. Resting in Christ. Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Faith in Christ is entering into
his rest. Ceasing from all effort on your
part to please God, satisfy God, find favor with God, trust in
Christ alone for all favor with God, all pleasing of God, all
satisfying of God. And fifthly, faith in Christ. As I said earlier, is the fruit,
the evidence of eternal life and salvation in Christ. Paul
said to the Thessalonians, I know your election of God. I know
you were chosen of God because our gospel came to you not in
word only, but in power and a demonstration of the Holy Spirit and much assurance. Much assurance. What is that? I believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God. That's much assurance. That's
much assurance. Well, you need to do this to
get assurance. No, you don't. Believe on Christ
and quit doing. Believe on Christ and quit working. Believe on Christ, rest in him. That's God's salvage. Faith in
Christ tells me that God is my Father. The Spirit of God comes and gives
life to the sinner. And for the first time, the sinner,
awakened by Almighty Grace, lifts his eyes to heaven and is not afraid of God anymore.
Do you know what it is to be afraid
of God? Oh, I do. Terrified with every
thought of God. Terrified at every thought of
God. Terrified at the thought of meeting
God. Terrified of death. Terrified of judgment. Terrified
of hell. Until one day, God calls me to
hear the word of his grace. And I found myself looking to
Christ. It lifted my heart to heaven,
said my father. And I want to tell you something. Terry Ho, I'm not afraid of God
anymore. Oh, now that's peace. That's
peace. I'm not afraid of God anymore. Oh no, he's my father. I know
that because he's given me faith in his son. Now here's the third
thing. I'll wrap this up. Understand
this. Unbelief is damning. Twice our savior said to sinners
saved by his grace. He said this twice. Thy faith
hath saved thee. The Lord said, oh, you can't
say that, we're good Calvinists around here. Well, maybe that's
a good reason for me to say that again. The Savior said, thy faith
hath saved thee. Faith is the saving grace of
God wrought in sinners, and he who believes has salvation by
faith in Christ. Ah, but unbelief, that'll carry
you to hell. Unbelief is damning. If you go
to hell, you'll go to hell because you choose not to believe on
the Son of God. That's exactly right. You say,
well, I'm not paying attention to you. You may as well shut
up. Don't bother me. I'm not going to believe on Christ.
If God leaves you to yourself, you'll go to hell because you
choose not to believe on the Son of God. You won't go to hell
because you've committed adultery, horrible as that is. You won't
go to hell because you were a thief, horrible as that is. You won't
go to hell for telling a lie, bad as that is. You won't go
to hell for committing fornication, bad as that is. You won't go
to hell for committing murder, bad as that is. I can show you
saved folks in this book who've done all that. Is that right?
You won't go to hell for that. And I'll go further than that
and tell you something I've never heard anybody say. You're not gonna go to hell
because of Adam's sin. No, sir. No, sir. You'll go to
hell because of your unbelief. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. And when you go to hell because
of your unbelief, you'll say, man, that's right. I deserve
it. Because you see, unbelief is
to call God a liar. Yes, I read that book, but I
don't believe it. Just spit in God's face, say
you're a liar. That's what unbelief is. Unbelief
is to trample underfoot the precious, sin-atoning blood of God's darling
son. That's what unbelief is. Yeah,
Christ died, I knew that. That's unbelief. Unbelief is to do despite to
the Spirit of Grace. What on earth is that? I can't
think of a stronger word that could be used. It is to do despite
to the Spirit of Grace. Unbelief is man's... Now let me make that a little
more personal. It is your Your heart, spite
of God. Your heart, hatred of God. I won't have God be God. It's your attempt to reach up
and shove God off his throne and set yourself there because
you really think you ought to be God. That's what unbelief
is. The one thing for which God sends
folks to hell is unbelief. And unbelief is what every man
chooses all his life until God stops him in his mad rush to
hell. Gives him life, reveals his son
in him. And when God reveals his son
in you, you find yourself believing on the Son of God. And you say,
Lord, take me. I'm yours. Please take me. I'm yours. Take me. Possess me. Rule me. Use me. Dispose of me as you will. But pride in your heart. will not allow you to take your
place before the throne of the sovereign Christ as a worthless,
dirty, doomed, damned, dead dog sinner depending on grace alone. You can tell a sinner to do most
anything. If I could convince you, if I could convince you,
we could line up broken beer bottles down this aisle here.
and set coals on fire and get them blowing hot. And I can convince
you, if I can convince you, if you'll just pull your shoes off
and walk down those broken bottles over those hot coals just this
far, God will accept you. If I can convince you of it,
everybody in here, pull your shoes off and get in line. Let
me do something. Let me do it. Don't take away
everything from me, but my Bible reading, my prayer, my good works,
my repentance, my holy church, my tithing, my missionary pride won't let you take your
place as a worthless, worthless, worthless, dirty, dirty, dirty,
dead, dog-centered, rightly, justly damned before the throne
of grace, begging for mercy. If you can, oh, if you can, if you can, If you believe in
the Son of God, if you find yourself in untrusting God's Son, have
belief, you have a power of belief. You will hold the testimony from
God that you're evil. And God's pleased with you and
your son.