Do you want to know God? Do you want to rest in Christ
the Lord? Do you want the blessed, blessed
peace and joy of faith in Christ? Some of you, I'm sure, will say,
oh yes, that's what I want. But you struggle, you struggle,
and you struggle. And I'll tell you why you struggle,
because you keep trying to find something by which to commend
yourself to God and give yourself peace. You keep looking for something
in you. some good feeling, some good
work, some sense of a proper measure of repentance, some sense
of a proper and full conviction of sin. You're looking for something
in you to give you a footing by your works before the throne
of grace. And you will never find mercy. You will never find grace. You will never find peace with
God. You will never know the joy of
faith in Christ until you quit looking to trust yourself and
look to Christ alone as your Savior. Now to that end, I want
to speak to you as plainly and as forcibly as I can May God,
the Holy Spirit, enable me to do so about the purpose of God's
holy law. Romans chapter 3, verse 19. The purpose of God's holy law. Why did God give the law? Specifically now, I'm referring
to the Ten Commandments because that is specifically what our
text refers to. Why did God give those Ten Commandments
Recorded in the 20th chapter of Exodus Why did he tell us
those things that we must do and must not do in the commandments? What was the purpose? What was
his intention in that Romans chapter 3 verse 19? Now we know
now we know Paul has been talking about the depravity of the whole
human race talking about men who are lost though they have
the Word of God and the oracles of God given to them, though
they sit in the house of God Sunday after Sunday, week after
week, month after month, year after year, yet they don't know
God because they don't believe on the Son of God. And folks
who are scattered in parts of the world where they've never
heard the gospel, they too are lost and they're without excuse
because they refuse to walk in the light of creation and conscience
God has stamped upon their hearts. And then in chapter three, he's
told us about the utter depravity of all the human race, all the
corruption of our hearts and lives. And now he comes to this.
Now, now, this is what I've been working up to. We know that what
things, whoever the law sayeth, this do and thou shalt live.
Don't do this and you're going to die. Love God with all your
heart, soul, mind and being and love your neighbor as yourself.
The things that the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law, under the yoke, the curse, the condemnation, the
death sentence of the law. And here's the reason it does
it that every mouth may be stopped. And all the world become guilty
before God, the law was given to stop your mouth so that you
quit making excuses for your sin. You quit making excuses
for your unbelief. You quit making excuses for your
rebellion. We're taught in this generation,
and I guess it's been true in every generation, but particularly
in this generation, this me-centered generation, this generation where
everybody thinks only of themselves and lives only for themselves
and to hell with everything else. Everybody's taught to think,
well, if I've got a problem, it's mama's fault, daddy's fault.
It's the way I was raised. It's the school. It's the environment.
It's the society. It's because I'm poor. It's because
I'm black. It's because I'm white. It's
because I'm uneducated. It's because I'm educated. I've
got some excuse for it. The law is given to shut you
up so that you know you have no excuse for what you are. You
have no excuse for what you are and to make you guilty. Guilty
before God. Guilty before God. Oh. Oh, how blessed it is. How blessed
it is when God comes in omnipotent mercy and effectually works in
a center to make you guilty before God. Guilt before God is unbearable. Guilt before God is tormenting.
Guilt before God is crushing. Guilt before God is deadly. Oh,
may God then speak his word today and shut your mouth and make
you guilty before God. The purpose of God's holy law. That's my subject. I want to
show you from the scriptures how the law of God is to be used
particularly in the preaching of the gospel. The person who
knows the proper place of the law and knows the glory of God's
free grace, that person who can rest in Christ alone for everything,
for all that the law requires and for all that the justice
of God demands, that person knows the gospel. But those who mix
law and grace, you who mix law and grace, I know we're saved
by grace, but you just got yourself altogether out of it. I know
we're saved by grace, but those who mix law and grace in any
measure whatsoever as the matter of our acceptance with God. I'm
talking about acceptance with God in conversion, acceptance
with God in this blessed state of grace and life in Christ,
acceptance with God today, tomorrow, and forever. Those who mix law
and grace in this matter of acceptance with God, peace in the heart,
peace in the conscience, peace in your mind, peace with God.
If you mix law and grace in a matter of acceptance with God, you don't
know God. And any pretended peace you have
is a delusion and you know it. There are no two things in the
world more completely opposed to one another than law and grace,
works and grace. They are as opposed to one another
as light is to darkness and darkness to light. They can no more agree
than fire and water. Like oil and water, the two will
never mix. Turn to Romans chapter 11. Look
at this, Romans chapter 11. And we're going to look at some
scripture today. And I want you to see what the
scriptures say. verse 5 Romans 11 verse 5 even so then
at this present time also there is a remnant according to the
election of grace that simply means this there are some people
in the world who must be saved because God's chosen some and
this election is all together by grace there is a remnant who
must be saved by grace according to the election of grace But
what does that mean? And if it be by grace, if by
grace, then it is no more of works. The two can't mix. You put works in, you push grace
out. The two can't mix. Otherwise,
grace is no more grace. If grace somehow depends on works,
if God's salvation somehow depends on what you do, what you feel,
how you behave, what you experience, Salvation not by grace, it's
works. Read on. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. The two cannot be mixed at any
point, not to any degree. And yet there is an amazingly
well-established opinion in the distorted minds of men that law
and grace will mix after all. Though law and grace are diametrically
opposed to one another, the depraved human mind is so void of spiritual
understanding that the most difficult thing in the world for a man
to do is to discriminate between law and grace, between grace
and works. Man insists on mixing that which
God has put us under, and because of his foolish ignorance, Man
wants always to find some legal footing. some, some legal standing,
some legal basis upon which to approach God now. Now I can believe
in Jesus because I've repented enough. Now I can believe in
Jesus because I've reformed my life and I've quit acting like
I used to. Now I can believe in Jesus because my heart's not
as wicked as it used to be. Now, now I can believe in Jesus
because I don't have the same ill feelings I used to have,
the same wicked thoughts I used to have. I've still got some,
they're not all gone, but I'm not like I used to be. Now, Now,
I can trust Jesus. No, you can't. No, you can't. No, you'll never find peace with
God standing on the footing of your works. Now, understand this
first. I want to make four dogmatic,
clear statements. Number one, number one, there's
absolutely no sense in which believers are under the law.
Now, I've said this so many times. I've said it in every way I know
how to say it. I've said it as dogmatically
and forcibly as I know how. So all I know to do now is just
repeat what I've said. There is absolutely no sense
in which believers are under the law. Now, Brother Don, you
can't say that. I've been told that a number
of times the last 45 years. Let me see. Let me see if I can
state it in a way that will be more acceptable. There's absolutely
no sense in which God's people are under the law. None at all. Let's see what the book says.
Look again here in Romans chapter 6. We'll read several scriptures.
Legalism, law works religion. It doesn't matter what the legalism
refers to the 10 commandments. We're going to live by the 10
commandments Nobody does no, but lots of people say they do
nobody does lots of people haven't posted on the living room wall
Haven't posted on church walls have posted in courthouses and
say we live by the 10 commandments Who do you think you're fooling?
You've never kept one of them You've never kept one of them
not for a half a second. You've never kept one of them.
Oh, we we don't we don't we don't keep the Ceremonial law and circumcision
and Passover and all those things, but we live by the moral law.
There's not a moral bone in your body. You don't live by the moral
law. Which one of you ever kept a
Sabbath day? Whoever did. I challenge anybody in the world,
whoever kept the Sabbath day. Even the Jews who keep the right
Sabbath day, Saturday. And for law's concern, don't
keep the Sabbath day. Whoever kept the Sabbath day,
not one of you ever did. Not one of us. There's no such
thing. No man lives by the law, he just pretends to. What he
does is he sets the commandments up and he says, we can't do it
perfectly, but we do the best we can. Well, best you can is
just say it. Best you can is breaking it.
The best you can do is violating it. Your every attempt to keep
it is a violation of it. Legalism is the most persistent
of all heresies throughout all the world. And through the scriptures,
this is the one heresy that is denounced universally. It is
the one heresy exposed, dealt with, and denounced universally
because all men want to be saved by works. Everybody wants to
be saved by something he does. Now, he calls it grace, but it's
works. If you've got something to do
with it, it's not grace. If it depends on you, it's not grace.
If you can improve it or lessen it, it's not grace. If you can
add to it or take from it, it's not grace. Grace is free! It doesn't depend on you. I took
the time again to look, as I was preparing this message, at every
reference in the New Testament epistles to law. Every one of
them. It's referred to, the word law
is used 160 times from Romans through 1st John. It's not mentioned
at all in 2nd John, 3rd John, Jude, or Revelation. But in Romans
through 1st John, it's mentioned 160 times. I would challenge you, if you
want to do your homework assignment, as Brother Darwin put it the
other day, get your concordance when you go home. And for you
who've got those electronic concordances, it's an easy job for you. Just
punch it in, they'll pop up. Find every one of those 160 references
that has something to do with calling believers to do something
because the law says do it. Find every one of them. There's
not a single time. Not one time, not one time in
the New Testament is the word law used to show believers to
be under the law, constrained by the law, motivated by the
law, guided by the law, directed by the law. The law is not for
the righteous man, but for the unrighteous. The scriptures are
abundantly clear. Look in Romans 6 verse 14. I
read this to you just a few weeks ago, but let's look at it again.
Paul is now moving to the area of new life in Christ. He's been
talking about free justification, and now we've been baptized.
That's what's taken up with chapter 6, verses 1 through 11. Now in
verse 14, he's talking about this new life we have in Christ.
If there's any place in all the Word of God where we're going
to have some instruction about how we're to live under the law
so that we can glorify God as believers in this world, Romans
6 is the place. Let's see what it says. Sin shall
not have dominion over you. It doesn't say sin should not
have dominion over you, does it? Sin shall not have dominion
over you. How come? Because for ye are
not under the law, but under grace. Sin doesn't have any control
over you. Sin doesn't press you down. Sin
doesn't condemn you. Sin has no power over you, because
you're not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall
we sin? Oh! Oh! If we're not under the
law, then that opens the floodgates to sin. What stupidity! What
irreasonable logic! What unlogical logic! What a
contrary statement that is, since we're totally saved by grace. free from the curse of the law,
then we ought to go out and do everything we can to dishonor
God and live in licentiousness and ungodliness. That's about
the most absurd thing I can imagine. That's just the most absurd thing
I can imagine. Here's this dear lady, and y'all
all know what a fine husband I am. I mean, I'm a good husband. I love her to death. And she
knows I'll give her anything. I get up in the morning and ask
her, honey, what part of the moon do you want today? I'll
go get it. I'm a good husband. I'll defend her. I'll fight for
her. Somebody starts to behave in
a manner that's embarrassing her, they're going to stop or
they're going to get hit. One of the two. That's just the
way it is. I'm not going to tolerate it.
I'll cut because I love her and I respect her. Now she says,
he loves me. He always has. He's never never
quit love me 45 years. We've been married. I believe
I I want to start Staying at the house and Drinking
and watching TV and laying around let the house get dirty and First
fellow comes off. I'll run off with him for a few
days and then come home. Don't take it back I'll be all
right. He loves me. He's a good husband. He's good
at does that sound like somebody who's got any sense of sanity
about him? Well, that'd be absurd. That'd be absurd. Goodness doesn't
lead to licentiousness. And the goodness of God doesn't
lead to licentiousness in his people. The Son of God had unloved
us and gave himself for us. That's all the reason in the
world to live for him. That's all the reason in the world to
live for him. And if you can be motivated to do something
for Christ, If you can be motivated to sacrifice something for Christ,
if you can be motivated to some service for Christ by law command,
that you're not motivated to do by gospel grace, you don't
know God. You don't know God. God's people
aren't under the law. They're not under the law. Look
at Romans chapter seven, verse four. Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become Hmm. Let's get a different translation. That can't possibly mean what
it says. You also become D-E-A-D. That's dead to the law. Dead to the law. How? By the
body of Christ. When Christ died, I died to the
law. The law said Don Fortner must die. The law said concerning
every sinner, he must die. And when Christ came in the room
instead of God's elect, we died in him. And I'm dead to the law. The law can't do anything else. The law has no other power. The
law has no other ability. Chapter eight, verse three. What
the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.
God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Why? That the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. Now let me tell you what that
does not mean. Now I have to tell you what it does not mean.
Because almost everything you read on this passage of scripture
will tell you exactly the opposite. Everybody says this means that
Christ fulfilled the law for us. He died for us and he rose
again for us so that we might now live in obedience to the
law, living by faith in Christ. Is that what that looks like
to you? Well, it's absurd. No, no. The righteousness required
by the law is fulfilled in us who believe on the Son of God.
That's what it is to walk, not after the flesh, but after the
spirit. To walk after the flesh is to walk after the law. The
carnal ordinance is to walk after the spirit is to live by faith
in Christ Jesus. Romans chapter 10, verse 4. The
Jews, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, went about to establish
a righteousness of their own, stumbling over Christ Jesus,
the stumbling stone. For Christ is the end of the
law, the terminating point of the law, the finishing of the
law, the fulfilling of the law, the completion of the law. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
Now look at Galatians chapter three, Galatians three. Verse 24, tell me ye that desire to be
under the law. Don't you hear the law? That's
what Paul's asking Galatians 4, 21. You who desire to be under
the law, don't you hear what the law says? Verse 24 of Galatians
3 now, watch this. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster. Not anymore, was. The law was
our schoolmaster to bring us under Christ. You might read
it this way. You'll notice to bring us is
in our tannics. The law was our schoolmaster unto Christ that
we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come,
we're no longer under schoolmaster. But well, that sounds like since
God's given us faith in Christ, The law doesn't have anything
else to do with us. It does, doesn't it? Is that what it sounds
like to you, Bobby? That's what it sounds like to me. The law
was our schoolmaster unto Christ. But now that we've come to Christ
by faith, now that faith in Christ has been brought to us, we're
no longer in a schoolmaster. I don't know a better illustration
than what I've given you in the past. Some of you have met my
friend Bob Spencer. He was my sixth grade schoolteacher.
One-armed man, he had polio in his left arm, just a withered
arm. An old man now, I still hear from him every now and then.
His wife is now gone, but he called just a few weeks ago.
We had a long chat. He was my sixth grade school teacher. And I wasn't much of a pupil. I gave
him a hard time. He caught me doing about everything,
about everything. And he didn't have a one arm, but man, it was
a strong arm. And I was scared of him. I was scared of him.
I hadn't seen him in 30 years. Went into an elevator down in
North Carolina, and I recognized him. I said, you're not Bob Spencer,
are you? He said, I am. You won't remember me. My name's
Don Fortner. Stuck a man. He said, oh, I remember you. I remember you. And later on,
told Shelby, I said, I prayed more for him than all my other
students together. That fellow one day caught me fooling around
in the hallway and grabbed me with one good arm by the belt
and shoved me, literally, through the wall. I'm sitting in the
library on the other side. I was scared of him. And he had
a tube. I won't call it a belt. He had
a tube that would leave stripes on you. And I felt it often. I felt it often. But now, if
I were to see him driving up, if I saw him walking in the door
this morning, he'd be the first one I'd greet when I got out.
I'm not afraid of him at all. And if he were to take a notion
to pull out his red tube and work on me again, I'd take it
out of his hand. Why? Because he's not my schoolmaster
anymore. I'm grown up. I'm grown up. He has no authority over me.
He has no legal right, no power of any kind over me. I'm no longer
his pupil. I'm no longer his student. I'm
no longer under his discipline. The law was our schoolmaster
until we grew up in Christ, until we came to the maturity of sons
in Jesus Christ, until we were born again, brought into the
family of God by God's free grace. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 1.
First Timothy chapter 1. Now I'm just reading scripture
here. I'm just reading scripture. If
you get your confessions of faith and church covenants and all
the stuff that men write about scripture, it'll read different.
But this is what scripture says. First Timothy chapter 1 verse
8. We know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. Man
use it lawfully. Knowing this, that the law is
not made for a righteous man. The law is not made for a righteous
man. David Peterson, are you a righteous
man? If you're in Christ, you are. Bill, are you a righteous
man? Well, the law is not made for
a righteous man. I'm a righteous man. Romans chapter 6, verse
11. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. We're made the
righteousness of God in Christ. We're told that through our scripture.
The law is not made for a righteous man. That means law is not made
for me. The law is not made for a righteous
man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly
and for sinners, for the unholy and for faith. for murderers
of fathers and murderers of brothers, for manslayers, for home-mongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine. The law is not made for a righteous
man, but for the unrighteous, for the lawbreaker. The law is
given to restrain evil in man. The law is given to keep men
in check. The law is given to keep men
from acting out what they are in their hearts. The law is given
to keep a fellow when he gets so mad he could kill you from
killing you. The law is given to when a fellow is really down
and out and he's tempted to steal from you, the law is given to
keep him from stealing from you. That's the reason it's made. And the
fellow who's guilty has got to be fearful all the time. He's
going to get caught. He's going to get caught. I used
to drive far less conservatively than I do now. And I paid for
it. I paid a lot of money for insurance
when I was a kid. I lost my license frequently. And I'd drive down the road.
I mean, by the time I got out of the driveway, I was looking. Always on the lookout. Always
on the lookout. Scared to death if I saw a police car. Scared
to death. He got me down. And he usually did. These days,
I drive down the road and the only time I get a little scared
is when I'm coming into town and I didn't spot that sudden
drop from 55 to 35. That gets a little tense. If I see a police officer sitting
right on the edge of town, oh yeah, that's all right, I got
it, I got it. But driving down the road, Shelby and I were somewhere
just recently, everywhere we went, we saw police cars pulling
folks over, pulling them over. I'd see them sitting on the side
of the road, she said, there's another. I said, honey, I'm not worried
about anything, I'm not breaking the speed limit. He won't bother me. I'm not breaking
the speed limit. I'm not weaving in and out of traffic. I'm just
sliding down the road just fine. Why aren't you afraid? Because
I wasn't breaking the law. Wasn't breaking the law. I'm
not afraid of God's law because I'm not breaking it anymore. Christ fulfilled the law for
me and it can demand no more than perfect fulfillment. You
understand that? The law is for the unrighteous man. Was Paul
opposed to the law? Did he think the law was an evil
thing? I preach like this, and folks say, Fortner's opposed
to the law. Fortner hates the law. Fortner's
against the law. Fortner thinks the law's evil.
Oh, what absurdity. Paul shows us his own and every
true believer's attitude toward God's holy law. The law's holy,
and the commandment is holy and just and good. We know that the
law's spiritual. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. Believers recognize the purpose
of the law and highly reverence the law. I can say this with
complete confidence. It is every believer's desire
to live in perfect compliance with everything revealed in the
law. It is every believer's desire
to live in complete compliance with everything revealed in the
law. My God, my God, I want more than my next breath to love you with all my heart,
soul, mind and being. And I want more than another
breath to love my neighbor as myself. That's just true. That's just
true. I can't do it. One day I shall. But blessed be God, I already
did in God's Son, Christ Jesus. Understand what I'm saying? We
delight in the law of God. It is our reverence for the law
of God. that keeps us from trying to live by the law. The perfect
holiness and strict unbending demands of God's law and his
justice drive me to Christ. It is reverence for the law that
prevents us from seeking to live by the law, the holiness of God's
law, the righteousness and unbending justice of God's law. drive me
to Jesus Christ as my only hope before God. Dr. Thomas Chalmers, who was a great
Scottish Presbyterian theologian back in the 19th century, made
this statement before God saved him. He was a preacher. He said,
I preached morality until there was scarcely a moral person left
in the parish. I preach righteousness and goodness
until I could hardly find a decent, honest man anywhere around me. That's what Law Works does. That's
what Law Works does. You don't believe me? You read what's going on in Mexico?
You read all the filth and degradation and human trade and drugs and
murder and robbery and deceit going on in Mexico? Do you know
what the religion is down there? It's Roman Catholicism. Law,
works, religion. And wherever it prevails, ungodliness
prevails. We now have in our society a
society that is bent on ungodliness because ungodly law, work, religion
prevails. Then Dr. Chalmers, God saved
him, he began preaching Christ crucified. Salvation by the grace
of God in him and things changed That's exactly what the Apostle
tells us in Titus chapter 2 Titus chapter 3 look at it Titus chapter
3 Verse 4 After that the kindness and love
of God our Savior toward man appeared Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done the kindness and love of God Our Savior appeared
not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and
the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that being justified by his grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Oh, that's grace. Now watch the next word. This
is a faithful saying. These things I will that thou
affirm constantly that they which have believed in God you have
been justified by grace You to whom the love of God and mercy
of God in Christ our Savior have appeared Not by works of righteousness
you've done but by by his mercy that you you Who have believed
God might be careful to maintain good works Did Paul say that the experience
of absolute free grace causes folks to be careful how they
live? That's what he said. Did Paul say, writing by divine
inspiration, that being saved without anything done by us causes
sinners to maintain good works, which are good and profitable
to men? That's what he said. That's what he said. Well, character
and conduct don't matter. Where did you ever get that kind
of idea? Who ever told you that kind of nonsense? Character and
conduct matter a great deal. Read Titus chapter 2, he spends
the whole chapter talking about it. By these things we adorn
the doctrine of God our Savior, but they've got nothing to do
with the saving of our souls. We don't preach Sabbath keeping
because God forbids it, Colossians 2.16. But we keep the Sabbath
rest. We rest in Christ. He's our Sabbath.
We don't preach circumcision because God forbids it. But we
are the circumcised, circumcised in the heart by God, the Holy
Spirit in the new birth. We don't preach tithing. We don't
preach tithing. I've had folks ask me, how do
you get folks to give? Because I don't preach tithing. If you
tithe, you don't give. If you tithe, you're just you're
just doing what the law compels you to do. You tithe. Oh, man,
I got to pay my tithe or God will take it out of my hide.
Doesn't that sound like grace? I got to pay my tithe or the
children might get sick and go to the hospital and die. I've heard
fellas preach that nonsense. Oh, if you don't pay your tithe,
your house will burn down. Don't pay your tithe, somebody
will rob you. God will get it. God's going to get it. Tithing is a
legal tax under law. Tithing is not taught in the
New Testament. It is not what we teach here.
But we give to him who loved us and gave himself for us. God
loves a cheerful giver. The believer gives himself to
Christ. That means everything, lock,
stock and barrel. That means his hand is open wherever it's
needed. His purse is open wherever it's
needed. His heart is open wherever it's needed. God's people give
and give generously. I like what Brother A.D. Mews
said. He said, if you tithe, you're under the law. If you
don't tithe, you're an outlaw. Give it! Give it! Oh, God's people
give and give because Christ gave. Paul said, you say you
love Christ? There's a need over here in Macedonia. Prove now the sincerity of your
love. Prove now the sincerity of your
love. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how
that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor,
that you through his poverty might be made rich. Now you give
like that, everything will be all right. You give like that,
there won't be any need. You give like that, and those
folks over in Macedonia will be taken care of. You give like
that, and the gospel won't go begging for somebody to take
care of the preacher. You give like that, and the missionaries
will be supported. You give like that, and the churches will be
built. You give as Christ gave everything well. All right? Here's
the second thing. I'll be very brief. Every gospel
preacher is faced with three great difficulties in preaching
the gospel. The first difficulty is to get
sinners lost. Really lost. You ever find yourself lost,
you'll seek help. Until you find yourself lost,
you won't. Several years ago, Shelby and I were going down
to Spring Lake. I was preaching with Brother
Rupert Reifenbach. And that's down where I was born. I wasn't
raised in that neck of the woods. I was born down there. My grandparents
and aunts and uncles and cousins, tons of them lived down there.
And I got lost. I got lost. But, you know, I'm
a man. And I don't like to admit I'm
lost. Oh, I hate to stop mass for directions. This is before
the days of GPS things. You know, I was lost and I kept
trying to find my way and it was getting late at night and
I was lost. And Shelby was beginning to sense
that I was lost. I was a little concerned because
I was in a real, real rough section of Fayetteville, North Carolina,
and I knew it. And it wouldn't be too much concern,
but I had my wife with me and I was getting pretty concerned.
Pitch dark. And everywhere I went, I knew
it was getting deeper into a rough section of town. Finally, I stopped
at a place where there was a little light and there was a payphone.
And I got out of the car hoping nobody saw a shell, but I knew
they'd see my face. It was the only white one in
the area. And I called Rupert, and he said, where are you? I
told him, he said, you better get out of there. I said, I'm trying
to. How do I get out? Because I was
lost. I was lost. When you're lost,
you get scared. When you're lost, you don't know
where to go. When you're lost, you find you
can't do anything. You can't do anything. The more
you go, the worse it gets. The more you try, the worse it
gets. The harder you try to find your
way, the more tangled you are. You're lost. Then you cry, oh
God, save me. Find me a lost man, I'll find
you a man who needs mercy. Find me a lost man, I'll find
you a man who's seeking grace. Find me a lost man, I'll find
you a man who needs the Savior and will look to the Savior.
But the difficulty is getting folks lost. Joseph Hart put it
this way, what comfort can a Savior bring to those who never felt
their woe? A sinner is a sacred thing, the Holy Ghost hath made
him so. new life from him we must receive before for sin we
rightly grieve. This faithful saying let us own
well worthy to be believed that Christ into the world came down
that sinners might by him be saved. Sinners are high in his
esteem and sinners highly value him. The second difficulty is
to teach a person the gospel of the grace of God. It's difficult to teach lost
men the gospel because the gospel is opposed to our pride, our
thoughts of wisdom, our thoughts of righteousness and religious
prejudices and our traditions. You remember Naaman when Elijah
told him to go wash in And that river, Jordan, that dirty Jordan
River, seven times need to be made whole. And they said, it
looked to me like the prophet ought to come out here and said,
he ought to come out here and done something, wave some kind
of hands on me or maybe cross me or bless me or something.
He ought to have done something. But tell him to go wash the river
Jordan, I'll go home. How about clean water washing
there? I thought, I thought. Your thoughts what keeps you
from Christ. I thought it all be this way. I thought it all
be that way. No, this way it is. Salvation by free grace flowing
to sinners through the fountain of Christ's precious blood and
that alone. Here's the third difficulty. It is to convince folks that
salvation is in Christ alone, to convince you to rest in Christ. Rest in Christ. Fall back on
Christ. Fall down on Christ. Stretch
yourself upon Christ. But preacher, I trust Christ. But preacher, I trust Christ.
But preacher, I trust Christ. But I don't trust Christ. But
I do trust Christ. Quit everything and trust Christ
alone. Look unto me, he said. and be ye saved. All ye ends
of the earth for I'm God and beside me there is none else.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe
it. Believe it. Believe it. I've got to have a little problem.
I've got to have a little help. I've got to have You can't take
everything away from man. No, I can't, but I pray God will.
God, take everything away from you but Christ, and you'll trust
Christ. Third, I want you to see the
law of God has only one use. It was given for only one purpose.
It wasn't given as a code of moral conduct and ethics. It
wasn't given to be a rule of life. It wasn't given as a motive
for Christian service. It wasn't given to be a measure
of sanctification. It wasn't given to be a ground
of assurance. It wasn't given to be a basis of reward in heaven.
No, no. Brother Darwin brought that excellent message on evidence
of the purchase out of Jeremiah. People talk about evidences,
evidences, evidences. Well, if Mark's saved, he'll
have some evidences. None that Mark can see. None that Mark can see. You look
at Mark. You look in here and find something
that gives you hope other than Christ the Lord, and I'm telling
you, you've got a false hope. I'm not what I ought to be, but
I'm better than I used to be. That's your hope, is it? That's
your evidence, is it? But I don't love Brother Don
perfectly, but I love him pretty good. That's your hope, is it?
That's it. I don't rob any banks. I still
have a little problem with the envy and covetousness, but I wouldn't
rob a bank for anything. That's your hope, is it? People
are watching you, you know. You've got to live right and
give them a good impression. That's your hope, is it? Folks
are well impressed with you. You don't have any hope. You
don't have any hope. But preachers, doesn't grace
change you, fella? It does indeed. It does indeed. But not so as
he can tell it. Not so as he can tell it. Bob Ponson, my dear friend, you're
just exactly what you were when you were 16 years old. And worse. That's just fact. That's just
fact. And if you think otherwise, you're
deluding yourself. Your heart's as corrupt now as it ever was.
Everybody thinks all the folks at rest home are saints. No,
they're just too old. They're rocking chair rebels.
They're just too old to do what they want to do. That's all.
That's all. No, no. Man by nature is just
corrupt. And grace doesn't make you uncorrupt
or incorrupt. Grace gives you a new nature
that's not corrupt. That's all. Well, Richard, what's
the evidence? I love the language of Scripture.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for. The substance of everlasting
life and glory with Christ. The substance of heaven is faith
in Christ. I've already got it. The earnest
is mine. Evidence of things not seen that's
not what it says Lindsay. That is not what it says Faith
is the evidence of things not seen What makes you think you're
a child of God? I trust Christ Sometimes I feel better about
myself that I do it other times Sometimes I feel closer to God
than I do at other times. Sometimes I think I can pray,
most of the time I don't. Sometimes I think I want nothing
more than eternity with Christ, and sometimes nothing more than
everything I can get in this world. Oh God, this is what I am. This
is what I am. Well, how can you, a wretched
worm like you describe yourself to be, call yourself a Christian? I believe on the Son of God. Christ is my hope. You understand
that? Christ is my hope. Nothing else. Nothing I feel. Nothing I do. Nothing I experience. I believe Christ. In the teeth
of all my sin, I believe Him. In the teeth of all my unbelief,
I believe Him. In the teeth of all my corruption,
I believe Him. The law shuts me up to Him. Makes me to know my sin. Makes
me to know my corruption. Makes me to know my guilt. shutting
me up to Christ alone as my Savior. Now, that being the case, I'm crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. I live by His death. I live by His death. When Christ died, I died in Him. When Christ arose, I rose in
Him. And now, I've been quickened
together with Christ. How do you know? I believe Him. Oh, God help you now. Cast your
deadly doing down and trust the Son of God. Amen. Wow.