I have a message that I received
the note, the outline, the raw outline many years ago from Brother
Mahan. He was in our home. We were sitting
in the kitchen having coffee and he was going over his notes.
He said, Brother Maurice, would you like to have an outline from
John Newton? And I said, probably. Let me get my pencil. I got it
and he gave it to me and I wrote it down. And I've had it in our
bulletin, the outline, several times. And I've preached it all
around this part of the United States because I think it is
so important. You and I, in a way, I, have
family and kinfolk and friends that belong to churches that
have a whole different concept of God. Whole different concept
of grace. Whole different concept of sin. And they think that's alright.
They think I've gone off the deep end, you know, I'm radical,
but everything's alright. But having a different concept
of God, is having another God. We don't have a right to form
our opinions of what we think God ought to be like or is like.
This book tells us. And if we don't accept that God,
we worship in another God. And so that makes this message
so very, very important. Brother Mahan gave me those,
I'll give you the first three points. There were two other
points or sub-points. These first three points, I'll
tell you what I'm going to preach and then I'll try to preach it.
Number one, true religion. That's the title of my message.
And that's what I want. Christ told that poor woman at
the well, he said, I know you worship, but you don't know what
you worship. Paul told those people at Athens,
he said, well, you folks, you are religious. You worship everything
but the true and living God. Let me tell you about Him. Mr. Newton said, true religion
arises, and I love that word too, arises out of a true knowledge
of God as He revealed in this book. And there can't be any
true religion without it. where it's another God. Secondly,
true religion arises out of a true knowledge of me, as I'm described
in this book. And there can't be any true religion
without it. Everybody talks about being sinners, but Christ told
those religious leaders, those teachers, teachers, He said,
you go learn what it is to be a sinner and I'll have mercy
and not sacrifice. You don't know what it is to
be a sinner. And thirdly, true religion arises out of a true
sense and understanding of the great things God has done for
sinners in His Son, the Lord Jesus. Without those three things,
there can be no true religion. So that makes this message that
I've perpetuated and kept alive, you know, around the country.
so very important. It matters what I think about
God. I tell the church at home often,
the most important thing, the greatest issue, as we've met
together this morning in the name of God, is what we think
about His Son. What we think about His Son.
And I say that for this reason. John 17, 2, Christ said, Thou
hast given Him, Me, power over all flesh, in order that I might
give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Me. And this,
this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou sent. You want to know what life
is? Knowing Christ. All these terms of closure with
Christ Believing, accepting, receiving, coming, trusting.
Oh, they're all epitomized in this one time. Knowing Christ. If you know Him, you'll believe
Him. If you know Him, you'll love Him. If you know Him, you'll
trust Him. If you know Him, you'll come
to Him. And if you really know Him, you'll stay with Him. Where
else could we go? You've got the words of eternal
life. And so that's it. We know that Christ has come. and given us an understanding
that we might know Him that is true and we're in Him that is
true. This is true God. This is eternal
life. He has the power to give us an
understanding of who He is. Paul said it like this, God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined into
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of His Son Mary's son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. John said he was in the world,
a world made by him. They didn't know him. He came
to his own and they didn't receive him. But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. even
to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of flesh,
not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man,
born of God, salvation to the Lord. And the first, next thing
John says is, we saw his glory. We saw his glory. The knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who know him, how blessed they
are. That's what he told Peter one time, he blessed her. Tell
Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood didn't teach you that. That knowledge
came from God. That knowledge came from heaven
to your soul. Now, statement number one, and this
is so important, we sing the song, How Firm a Foundation,
Ye Saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in God's excellent
Word. And that's true. True religion has for its foundation
sound doctrine. We can go back to it over and
over and over again. We can hear it over and over
and over again. We love to hear it over and over
again because it confirms our faith. Confirms our faith. It doesn't rest in creeds or
confessions or denominations which men make up because they're
always changing. But the Word of God never changes. It's always the same. Abraham
believed just what I believed. He got the Word from the same
God. The eternal, unchangeable, immutable God of the Bible. is
where he got his religion. True religion, however, is much
more than a mere acquiescence to certain true facts. True religion
is a personal relationship with the living God. And perhaps that's
where so many miss it in our day. They believed some thing,
the preacher patted them on the head and said, everything's okay,
just run along, don't doubt. True religion is a personal relationship
with the living, invisible God of the Bible. These people who know God, they
know Him personally, they know Him intimately. That means they
know Him savingly. They know God. The Apostle Paul, he said, I know whom, not in
whom, I know whom I have believed. Not about whom, I know him and
I believe him. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. I know the Lord Jesus Christ
and I trust Him. I know He's trustworthy. I know
Him and I trust Him. I've committed everything to
Him, every time. The Apostle Paul said in his
latter years, someone said it yesterday, he said the Apostle
Paul wanted to know Christ, to win Christ, to be found in Christ,
and to be made like Him. Philippians 3. Those four things
are clearly brought out. Made like Him. We're the worst
circumcision that worship God in the Spirit. Rejoice in Christ
alone. Have no confidence in the flesh.
Just to know Him. Just to know Him. That's everything. The very sum and substance of
our holy religion is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Everybody,
I used to be in a denomination, a group of people, they still
had the name Baptist, but they were independent, fundamental, premillennial,
missionary, and all down the line, you know. And they had
a hermeneutic principle that wasn't according to God's Word.
If they saw any passage of scripture, it had to fit their idea of prophecy,
or they wouldn't have it. They'd change it. If it didn't
fit their idea of the church, they'd skip over it, change it,
or mess it up somehow, make it fit, or ignore it. But the chief
hermeneutic principle is a master of interpretation. It's how you
interpret the scriptures. We interpret the Scriptures in
light of Christ. Everything we look at, it refers
back to Him or comes from Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
it's important to know Him. Know Him. This is life eternal,
to know Him. And He is the One who lived and
died and now is alive evermore. Now let me give you these three
points. I often tell the church family that most important thing
is God looks into your heart. What are your thoughts of Christ?
Is He a little pygmy Jesus? Not in our congregation, I don't
think. He's the sovereign ruler of this
universe, full of grace and truth. Full of grace and truth. But
what do we think of God's Son? Let me erase these three things
and try to express the importance of them over again, and I'll
be done, the Lord willing. Number one, true religion arises
out of a true knowledge of God as He's revealed in this book.
You can't have true religion without that. If you got your
knowledge of God from some Sunday school teacher and didn't tell
you the truth, I'm sorry, but that's not true religion. True
religion arises out of a true knowledge of God, as he's revealed
in this book. So the question is, who is the
God of the Bible? Who is God? You ask people around
the street, who is God? Well, the first thing that comes
to their mind, a God of love. He's more than that, He is love.
But not like they think. Smile, God loves you. And those
people who say that are telling people to smile. God loves you.
And all the while the wrath of God abides on them. What kind
of liar is that? What kind of man is that? It
goes on all over the country. We were going to Oklahoma recently
to a family reunion. My wife was driving, and I was
watching these church signs and marquees and advertisements along
the road, all advertising the love of God. And I got out my
pen and pad like old Brother McGruder used to do it. I'd write
little notes there. When I got home, I preached on,
does God really love you? It means so little to so many in
our day. But I told church, I said, if
God really loves me, That's enough to float my boat all the way
into eternity. That's all I need to hear. And
yet men hear it everywhere. Smile, God loves you. Not hardly. And then I commence to tell them
why it's such a wonderful thing to know that God loves you. Why
it's everything. Why it's everything. But anyway,
True religion arises out of a true knowledge of God as he's revealed
in this book. Who is God? God of this book
is absolute and alone. There is no other. There is none
his equal. There is none to compare him
to. He is beyond our wildest imagination. G-O-D. He's God. He's God. He doesn't want to be God. He
is God. He's not trying to be God. He is God. always has been
and always will be what he is now God heathen came to David
and that's what we deal with in religion all the time religious
heathen and said tell us now where is your God and if I may
paraphrase this is what he said he said my God where he's always
been he's in heaven and what's your God doing? he's doing what
he always has done well what's that? whatever he pleases Psalm
115, Psalm 135, He doeth according to His will in the heavens. Everybody will agree with that.
He also does according to His will down here and in the sea
and all deep places. He does whatever He pleases.
Psalm 135 says the same thing. Daniel 435, He doeth according
to His will. That simply means to me He does
what He pleases. He do it according to His will
in the armies of heaven. Well, I believe that. Well, you
don't believe this. Some of us don't. He also do
it according to His will right down here today in the United
States, in Africa, in China, in India, and every place else.
Do it according to His will. He is God over all. And if we don't believe that
kind of God, what kind of God do we believe in? We don't believe
in that kind of God. We simply believe in another
God. He's not the real God. That's
why this is so important. True religion arises out of a
true knowledge of God, as He's revealed in this book. Job, in the context of all the
things that happened to him, you know the different agencies
and things that came against Job and all that terrible things
that happened to him. He said, it's of the Lord. He said, and he's of one mind.
Who can turn him? And whatever his soul desires,
that's what he does. And he's got a lot of other things
planned for me too. Job 23. A lot of other things planned
for me. Romans chapter, Ephesians chapter
1 verse 11. He worketh all things." What
do you think that means? I think it means everything.
After the counsel of His own will, He does what He pleases. Always what He pleases. Only
what He pleases. Romans 8, 28. Everybody and their
son quotes that verse of scripture. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. And that's where they
stop. Them that are called according
to His purpose. That's the end of it. I take that to mean. I take that
to teach. Only a sovereign, absolutely
sovereign God can make such a statement. He makes everything that happens
in this world subservient to the salvation of His people.
I don't want to say that's not in the newspaper that this happened
for that reason. It's in this newspaper here.
God's behind it. God's in it. And it's everything
that transpires in this world. God makes it work together for
the good to His people. the salvation of His people.
That's what this world's all about. Christ was a Lamb crucified
from before the foundation of the world, and Christ came into
this world in the purpose and time of God, and Christ redeemed
us from all iniquity, and Christ is sitting in glory, bringing
many sons unto glory. That's what it's all about. Everything
else! What's this world all about?
God's calling out His people. God is bringing many sons unto
glory. What about all these other things
that are going on in the world? They're subservient to that one
purpose. That's the God I believe in. And there is no other. There
is no other. This God is infinitely holy and
pure. So much so that sinners, me,
in my best suit, my wife tried to keep me dressed up looking
decent, you know, in my best suit. Sinners by nature are just
running balls. Isaiah chapter 1 and maggots. in His sight. We're odious and
we're despicable in the eyes of God. He is so holy and so
pure. Even the heavens are not clean
in His sight. By nature, as one man said, we're
all children of God's wrath. We're not fit for anything but
destruction. That's all we're good for. We're just cumbers
of the ground. Unless God made us vessels of
mercy. God is so unchangeably just. He's so pure that we're odious
and despicable in His sight. He is so unchangeably just that
He can by no means clear a guilty man. He cannot clear the guilty. Exodus 34 verse 7. He cannot clear... Are you guilty?
Are you a sinner? God cannot clear a sinner. They're going to die. They're
going to die the death. One way or another. Either this
is in a substitute or standing alone. Standing alone without
a substitute. Every sinner must die, and shall
die the death. You know, in a land of... I'll
try to illustrate that. In a land of Egypt one night,
they had... the Israelites had killed a sacrifice
in obedience of faith, and put it on a lintel in the doorpost. And... The angel, death angel,
passed through that night, and the firstborn of every family
died. Died. But some died in a substitute. You can see the blood on the
outside. God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. But there's going to be death.
The wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that's in it, it shall surely die. Surely die. We are spiritual lepers. Lepers. That's a terrible disease. It's contagious. It's contaminating. It's a living death. And that's
what we are. We just, some man said, I don't
know whether to call it a living death or a dying life, but we're,
that's what we are by nature. Lepers. Lepers. A leper was shut out from society,
shut out from the house of God, shut off from the people of God.
And when someone inadvertently came near, he would put his hands
up here and say, unclean, unclean. What humiliation. But we can't
even imagine how we appear in the eyes of God by nature. Mama said we're pretty and sweet
and all that stuff. That's not what God said. Most men don't believe that we
really have leprosy. They see a blemish, a spot, you
know. Cover it with a band-aid, put
a little ointment on it. They think that'll do it. Now
we have leprosy. Unto death. Unto death. People stand up and say, well,
I thank God I'm not like other men. You know how many people
said that in the scripture? Only one that I know of. Christ
said you justify yourself, condemn everybody else. So many people
in the world. So many people in religion. Oh,
I'm a sinner. I need salvation. I'm a sinner.
But when they get to talking about what a sinner really is,
you listen to them a while and say, boy, thank God I'm not like
him. Thank God I'm not like her. They
say, I thank God I've never murdered anybody. But God looks down in
here and He says, whoop, I believe you have. You're a murderer.
God looks on the heart. Man jumps up and says, well,
I've never committed adultery. God looks down and you hear a
minute and you say, oh, wait a minute. I believe you're an
adulterer. Guilty. Guilty. Men look on the outward appearance.
God looks on the heart. Through religion. arises out of a true sense and
understanding of the great, great things God has done for His people
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It arises out of a true knowledge
of God, as He's revealed in this book. Rises out of a true knowledge
of me, as He described me in this book. And it arises out
of a true knowledge of Christ, the great things God's done for
sinners in and by Christ, set forth in this book. Set forth
in this book. True religion, true sense and
understanding of these wonderful things. First, there is what
the old Puritans called the infinite stoop of God. He came from the
highest unimaginable height down here to the lowest hell to redeem
His people from their sins. The highest glory to the lowest
hell. What condescension, what humiliation. Philippians chapter 2. made himself, made himself, he made himself of no reputation. I like to maintain a little bit
of reputation of honesty and decency. He made himself of no
reputation and became a servant for us,
and was obedient unto death for us, even the death of the cross."
What you talk about, that's love. That's love. From the highest glory to the
lowest hell, from the riches of glory to the poverty. I'd like to own a little bit
of something in this world, maybe, I don't know. If you own anything,
you have to pay taxes on it. But anyway, he had not where to lay his head.
He was born in a stable, the lower part of the inn where the
animals were housed. The mattress for his bed was
straw. The curtains for the windows
were cobwebs. He made himself. No reputation. Made himself. The eternal Son of God, I mean
God Almighty, as you said to this point, was made of a woman. God said, you listen now, that
child, that little baby, that infant that looks like other
children, he's not like other children. He is Emmanuel. When he's born, God will be with
you. What do you mean God? The lesser God, the Son of Almighty
God. There's just one. I thought about
that so often. You talk about the passage this
morning where people hated him. Brother Mahan and I were sitting
one time and he said, you know, Maurice said, talking about John
10, I think, where he said, I and my father are at war and they
picked up stone, let's kill this rascal. He said if we had been
there, we'd have been in front of the line. A man, looks like
other men. They know who he is, where he
grew up. And he says he's God? That's hard to take. There's only one way you can
believe it. By the miracle of God's grace. I mean really believe
it. made in the likeness of sinful,
leprous, to him odious and despicable flesh." That's amazing. I read a story about a man named
Lot, just man, dwelt out in the city of Sodom. sat in the gate
and listened to the conversation of the wicked. They said his
soul was vexed day after day by what he saw and heard. What
about this man? He is infinite purity. And everywhere
he looks, One of us standing there. Leper. But He did it. Did it willingly. Did it on purpose. Did it out
of a heart of sovereign free love. He loved us freely. Loved us freely. No wonder at
the end of His days, when He was headed for the cross, He
said, Father, oh my Father, if this cup may not pass from me
except I drink it, thy will be done. But such was the burden
and such was the weight that he felt, that he sweat as it
were great drops of blood. That's love. That's love. And in love beyond human comprehension
and imagination, he was made to be sin. Made to be what he hated so badly.
Made to be sin. What do you think about sin?
He answered, I hate sin. loathsome, it's odious, it's
despicable. But I'm going to be made sin. And that's the only way I can
remove it from the people I love. Made to be sin with the sins
of God's elect. And this is a verse of Scripture
that's very helpful in my conversion. He bore those sins, our sins,
in His own body on that tree. I read that verse one day. I've
been trying to believe, trying to believe up some kind of an
experience is what I'm trying to do, but it never did come. I just kept on struggling and
crying and crying and it never did come. One day this scripture,
I was reading the scriptures, and I read that verse. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. And I believed just a little
bit anyway. And I had a little spark of relief, a little glimmer
of hope, and that's it. Wonderful. I've been hanging
on that ever since. That's all I've got. He died
for me. And the Bible says, bearing our
sins in his own body on the tree, God made his soul an offering
for sin. He died the just one for the
unjust. He died the just one for us lepers
that he might bring us to God. After such a sacrifice, He didn't
just die to make us an offer. He died to bring us home, bringing
many sons unto glory. He lives today to pray for His
people, make intercession for His people as an advocate for
His people with the Father. And He lives to make lepers whole. And one day I saw a leper in
the Scriptures. He was coming. to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He heard who was coming. And
he never stayed back, and he never cried unclean. Man, he
ran right through that crowd. I can see him now, sidestepping,
get out of the way, don't touch me. Oh, that's that filthy man.
That's a shame they bore. But he ran up to the Lord Jesus.
And you know what he did first? He worshipped. He worshipped. And then I can picture him there
lifting his head to the Lord Jesus and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me
whole. I know you can if you will. And
I know I don't deserve anything. But if you will, I know you can
do it. He said, I believe I will. May
somebody like that leper find him here today. Come to him.
You don't have to move from your seat. Just look and live. Look
at him. Think about who he is and what
he accomplished for sinners. We have these three facts. I'm
going to repeat again. True religion. I don't care how
zealous people may be. I have kinfolks, I even have
personal family that are involved in religion up to their ears.
Zealous, dedicated, devoted, but we don't believe in the same
God. True religion arises out of a
true knowledge of God, which is revealed in this book. rises out of a true knowledge
of me, as God described me in this book, and not really very
pretty. I tried to say it a little bit,
not pretty. True religion rises out of a
true sense and understanding of the great things God's done
for his people, done for sinners, in and through and by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Without these three things, there
is not and cannot be any true religion. You hear all around
you every day on the radio, on TV, in the churches all around,
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's
true. But if you study the Scriptures, Psalm 145 says, God is very near
them that call upon Him. Those that call upon Him in truth. Not an imaginary God, not with
an imaginary condition. but sinners calling upon the
Lord. May God bless these words to
my heart and to yours.