Would you please turn in the
word of God to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew 25 and we're going
to start at verse 31. This is a time of year for little children
that have a different view of things.
Our grandson was here Thanksgiving. He saw something he wanted for
the holidays. Yeah, we'll buy that. His mom
and dad says, you can't have it. for the 25th. He says, Grandpa, I want it,
but I don't know that I can wait four weeks. And he couldn't. He kept putting
them on. My wife had to hide them from him. To him, four weeks
was a life. It was like an eternity. As we
read this, if you have, as the Bible says, hoary hairs or gray
hairs on your head, You'll know that this life, as the Lord has
told us, is but a vapor. And it's just... we just don't see it. I pray
this morning the Lord will let us see it for what it really
is. It is just a vapor. These words that we hear, in
verse 31 he's saying, the Lord saying, when the Son of Man shall
come in His glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall
he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be
gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And
he shall set the sheep on his I thought that interesting, on
his right hand. There's other places in the world
where Christ is referred to the right hand of God. He puts us
in Christ. But the goats, they're on the
left. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, the people of God, come, ye blessed of my
father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you When you made your decision,
oh no. Prepare for you from the foundation
of the world. Christ is saying, for I was hungered
and you gave me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger and you took
me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was
sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came
unto me. And here's the reply of the people
to God. Then shall say the righteous, answer him, saying, Lord, when
did we see thee hungered and fed thee, or thirsty and give
thee drink? When did we see you as a stranger,
and took you in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we
thee sick, or imprisoned, and came unto thee? Every believer
will say, Lord, I don't I didn't do anything to deserve your salvation,
Lord. And the king shall answer and
say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done
unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it
unto me. The mark of every believer is
they have a love for Christ, a love for the gospel, and a
love for the people of God. Those three are not in your life.
I will tell you by the word of God, you are not a believer and
you're not his child. Every believer will have those.
And then he's going to say unto them on the left hand, Oh, depart
from me. He cursed into an everlasting
fire. Prepare for the devil and his
angels. For I was hungered, and you gave
me no meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
no drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in. Naked, and
you clothed me not. Sick, and in prison, and you
visited me not." The unbeliever is going to, this is the reply
of the religious. Then shall they also answer and
say, Lord, when saw we thee hungered, or thirst, or a stranger, or
naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto you?
look what we've done for you. Someone says, let me tell you
what I'm doing for the Lord, you know right then, you're talking
to a goat. And then the Lord shall answer
them, verily say unto you, insomuch as you did it not to one of the
least of these, you did it not unto me. And these shall go away
into, this is what I want you to see, everlasting. punishment. It's not a temporary
punishment, it's an everlasting punishment. Oh, but the good
news is, those who are on the right hand in Christ, but the
righteous into life eternal. I've been thinking, you know,
the New Year's people, this little 60-something years I've spent
on this life, It's a blip. And yet, I'm so attached to it,
it seems at times, but it's nothing. As Brother Greg said, we're just
journeying through the valley of death on the way to glory
and hope. What a precious promise. Eternity
with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I pray you'll put that
in our hearts this morning. Will you try to join me in prayer,
please? Lord, we are so blessed this
morning, and it's a blessing that you had to give us to cause
us to love you. and to put us in a place and
time where your gospel was preached faithfully by your servants.
And Lord, you gave us the faith to believe. If not for your sovereign grace
toward us, Lord, we would have never come. But oh Lord, we are
safe in Christ, and it is life eternal. Strengthen our faith. Give us
the faith to believe and to rest on Christ more with every breath. We pray for your servants this
morning that stand to speak. Oh Lord, put your words in their
heart. Give them the ability to speak.
And as your people, Lord, we pray for your spirit to descend
upon us and give us the faith to believe and to rejoice. Give
us a love not only for you, but for your servant. And we ask,
Lord, the ability to love one another in Christ. We ask this
for your glory. Amen. I just can stand amazed how the
Lord directs our music. I don't know of a hymn that would
be more appropriate to the message I've prepared for this morning
than the one we just sang. For this is a faithful saying,
and worthy of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came to save sinners,
of whom I am chief. The irreligious world and the
religious world have Billy Joel's philosophy about sinners and
saints. He said, I'd rather laugh with
the sinners than cry with the saints. Truth is, truth is, only saints
are sinners. And every sinner is a saint. People that aren't saints aren't
sinners. You find the most hardened person
that you can find. I mean, no conscience, proud,
arrogant in their defiance against God. And I promise you, you're
going to find that person to believe that something about
them is good. They're not going to be a sinner. Only saints are sinners, and every sinner is a saint. Christ receiveth sinful men. Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? It's so good to have, we're Dan
Culver, Lauren's father, pastors the church in Wheelersburg, Ohio,
where Charlie Pennington used to pastor, and I need to find
out how Charlie's doing. I know he's, we got a text from them yesterday, from Cheryl yesterday,
and said that his blood count looked good and he was tolerating
the chemo. We miss having him here this
summer, this winter. But Dan, it's good that you're
here. I had heard you were coming a long time and I forgot. And
just, I wish I had remembered. This Wednesday night, Delphus
and Joel are going to share their vows of holy matrimony after
the service. So you come, dress appropriately,
we're going to have a wedding here Wednesday night. Okay? And we sure look forward to that. Next Sunday, Robert Horton from
Sarasota will be here to preach and Hugo will bring a message
the first hour. And I will be helping out with
Jared's wedding up in Kingsport. I'm preaching for Gabe in Kingsport,
Tennessee on next Sunday. I want you and me to have confidence
before God. I want us to have boldness to
approach the throne of grace and to know that we have acceptance
before God. I want us to be able to enter
into the holies of holies. to believe that the veil has
been rent and that we have a new and living way into the presence
of God. I want you and me to draw near
with true heart of full assurance, believing that we have acceptance
before God. If that is to be, then the Lord's
going to have to make us to be a sinner. For in truth, the way
up is down. That's the title of this message.
The way up is down. I have people, as I'm sure you
do, object to the gospel of God's free grace because they don't
think that it's fair that God would sovereignly, according
to his own good pleasure and will, without any consideration
on the part of man, elect a people before the world ever began.
unconditional election? That just doesn't seem fair,
is what they say. And then you'll have some people
say, well I can deal with the election thing, but particular
redemption? That when the Lord Jesus Christ
died on Calvary's cross, that He died only for those that God
chose in the covenant of grace before the world began? that
the atoning work of Christ is limited? And then they'll come
up with some foolish statement like, well, it's sufficient for
all men, but efficient only for the elect. That doesn't even
make sense. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
God's elect, and that's the only ones he died for, and he put
away effectually, once and for all, all their sins when he bowed
his mighty head on Calvary's cross and said, it is finished. It's finished. But men have problems
with that. And then they'll have a problem
with irresistible grace. You mean to tell me that when
God's pleased to open the eyes of our understanding that it's
completely apart from any contribution of my will? That His grace is
completely irresistible by me? That I can't say no? Yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm telling
you. Well, you're making me to be
a puppet. I've got a problem with that. You mean to tell me
that once the Lord is pleased to save you, that you can't do
anything to get out of that covenant? That you can't get out of Christ? You can't send your way into
damnation? Perseverance? Preservation? Eternal salvation of the saints
being kept by God? I got a problem with that. Truth
is, get this, the truth is that men don't have a problem with
unconditional election. They don't have a problem with
particular redemption, limited atonement. They don't have a
problem with irresistible grace. They don't have a problem with
perseverance of the saints. That is not their problem. It's not their problem. It's
a smokescreen. It's a facade. It's their objections,
but it's not really at the heart of the problem. You know what
the problem is, don't you? The problem is they've not been
made a sinner. Their problem is with total depravity. If God ever makes you to be a
sinner, the rest of it just absolutely makes total, complete, perfect
sense to you. It can't be any other way. If
I'm a sinner, then God's going to have to do it all. If in me, that is in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing, then God's going to have to do it
all, every bit of it. The problem that men have is
that they're not sinners. If you and I are going to be
able to approach the presence of God, He's going to have to
make us to be a sinner. Sinners flee to Christ. Sinners
run into His arms. They delight in His glory. They rejoice in His truth. That's just what sinners do.
And if God is ever pleased to make, you know, people talk about,
well, we need to get some folk, people need to get saved. Well,
they need to get lost. But the truth is that if you've
ever been made to be lost, you're already saved. That's right. Those two things
come hand in hand. If you're not saved, it's because
you haven't been made lost. If you're not a saint, it's because
you haven't been made a sinner. They just go together. You can't separate them. They're
one and the same. Turn with me, if you will please,
to Leviticus chapter 13. Are you looking for evidence
that you're a child of God? Are you looking for evidence
in your life that you're a child of God, that you're a believer? Now, in Leviticus chapter 13,
God gives Moses the law that it was to be followed in diagnosing
and pronouncing unclean those who
were afflicted with leprosy. And we're not going to read the
whole chapter, but if a man came, if you came before the priest
and you had spots of whitened flesh on your body and the hair
on that flesh was turned white and it was risen above the rest
of your flesh, the priest would inspect you and declare you to
have leprosy and put you out of the camp. And that's just, that was the
way God preserved the health of His people. But spiritually,
it's a picture of man's sin. Leprosy in so many ways parallels
the truth of our spiritual condition of sin. It's a condition of the
blood. It dulls the senses. It kills the nervous system.
It deforms the body. It's inherited, passed down. All these things are picture.
And it makes one unclean. It makes one unclean. And an
unclean person could not enter into the temple. They couldn't
worship. They couldn't come into the presence of God. So this
picture of leprosy is a picture of our sinful condition. Look
at verse 12 of Leviticus chapter 13. And
if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy
cover all the skin of him that hath the plague, from his head
even unto his toe, whithersoever the priest looketh. no clean
flesh on him from the top of his head to the bottom of his
feet he's completely covered with leprosy now the previous
verses says that if he has spots of leprosy on him he's considered
unclean but now a man comes and he can't find a square inch of
clean flesh anywhere on his body then the priest shall consider
I love that word The priest will look at him differently than
all these other lepers. He'll consider him to be special. The priest will consider, and
behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce
him clean that hath the plague. It is all turned white. He is
clean. Are you a sinner? I mean, are
you a leper? From the top of your head to
the bottom of your foot, there's not a square inch of clean flesh
on you anywhere. You have no hope of salvation
in and of yourself. You have no ground on which to
stand in the presence of God. You have no plea to make based
on anything that you've ever done. ever done, any prayer you've
ever prayed, any good work you've ever performed, in you that is
in your flesh dwelleth no good thing. If there's any evidence
to be found that you're a child of God, there it is. There it is. Because you, my brother, you
my sister, are looking to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only
hope of your salvation, your only righteousness. The way up is down. The hope that we have of being
able to come into the presence of God is to be made a sinner,
And if you've been made a sinner, it's because the Lord saved you.
You see, the truth is that God never saved anybody halfway.
He never made someone a sinner without making them a saint. He doesn't leave you in that
state. He strips you of all of your
unrighteousness when He enables you to look to the Lord Jesus
Christ as the only hope of your salvation. And to believe that
His atoning death on Calvary's cross is the only hope you have. To believe that He is the Son
of God. That He's the only one. He's
the only one. that's acceptable before God, and that my acceptance is to
be found in Him. Your confidence before God will
be found in you having no confidence in yourself. That's what the scripture says.
We are the true circumcision who worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have what? No confidence in the
flesh. if you've got any confidence
whatsoever in your flesh. And I'm telling you, you find
the most hardened, hearted person you can find, and you talk to
them long enough, you're going to find something that they think
is good about themselves. You're going to find something
that they think is virtuous. You're going to find something
that they think is better than somebody else. Why? Because they hadn't been
made a sinner. Sinners and saints are the same
person. They're the same person. So many examples of that. And
when the Lord... The Lord makes you to be a sinner
when He's pleased to make Christ known to you. You don't become
a sinner because your conscience bothers you over some terrible
thing you did. That's true with everybody. Everybody's
got a conscience and people do bad things, they feel bad about
it. That doesn't make you a sinner. You become a sinner when the
Lord is pleased to reveal Himself to you and you see yourself in
light of His glory. How many examples in the Word
of God are there to that truth? You think Moses was a confident
man? I mean, well, he was raised up as the son of Pharaoh in the
most powerful nation of the world? Moses was as educated as anybody
could be on the face of the earth. He was as wealthy as a person
could be on the face of the earth. He sought in his own strength,
by his own hand, to deliver the Israelites when he killed that
Egyptian. And then when he fled finally from Egypt, he went into
Midian and there were seven women the sons of Jethro that were
being abused by a bunch of shepherds. And Moses stepped in and gave
water to their flock and protected those women. And when they went
back to their father Jethro, Jethro said, why have you come
back? Well, a man came and he delivered us from the abuse of
the shepherds. He opened the well and watered
our flocks and chased off them. I mean, Moses was a man's man. until at the age of eighty years
old, he found himself standing on
holy ground. And God spoke to him and said
to him, Moses, take thy shoes from off thy feet, for the ground
on which you stand is holy ground. And the scripture says that Moses
hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God. When the Lord commissioned him
to go into Egypt, what did Moses say? Who am I? Who am I? What made the difference? What
made the difference in Moses' life? The Lord was pleased to
make Himself known. What about Daniel? Daniel was taken in captivity
into Babylon and the king of Babylon said to his servants,
he said, I want you to go among the children of Israel and I
want you to find children in whom there is no blemish. Men
who are well favored, skillful in all wisdom, cunning in knowledge,
men who understand science, men who have the ability to stand
in the king's palace. And you know who they chose?
Daniel. Daniel became the Prime Minister
of Babylon. He was ruler over all the people.
You suppose Daniel was a man of great confidence? Daniel chapter
10. Daniel saw the Lord. He had a vision. And he said
in verse 7, I Daniel saw the vision and those men that were
with me fled and hid. I was left alone and I saw the
great vision and there remained no strength in me for my comeliness
was turned in me to corruption and I retained no strength. The way up. is down, isn't it? The means by which the Lord shows
us that we're sinners is by revealing to us the glory of Christ. What about David? A man after
God's own heart? The sweet psalmist of Israel?
The slayer of giants? the King of Israel. When the Lord was pleased to
reveal Himself to David, what did David say? Wash me throughly
of my sin. For against thee and thee only
have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest. Oh Lord, my sin is ever before
me. In sin did my mother conceive
me. Lord, I've been a sinner all
my life. Are you a sinner? In truth, the
way up is down. What about the prophet Isaiah?
Read the first five chapters of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah
was a fearless prophet. He was called of God. He was
part of the king's court. He was an advisor to the king
of Israel. And he spoke without compromise
about the sin of Israel in those first five chapters of Isaiah
when he said, woe unto you. And rightly so. And then what
happened in chapter six? What happened in chapter 6? In
the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was high and
lifted up. And His train filled the temple.
And the seraphim hovered over the throne of God. And they cried,
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. You know what that
word holy means? It means that He is separate
from sinners. He's undefiled. He's holy. He's not like us in any way. And when Isaiah saw the Lord
Jesus Christ upon his throne, what was the first words out
of his mouth? Here's a man of God. Woe is me,
for I am undone. I'm cut off. I'm a dead man.
For my eyes have seen the King. I've seen the Lord. And Isaiah
became a sinner, didn't he? Here's what God said about Job
to Satan. Hast thou considered my servant
Job? There is none like him in the
earth. He's perfect and he's upright. A man that feareth God and excuse
evil. Now that's what God said about
Job. Job had some things to learn
about grace, didn't he? By the way, the message of the
book of Job is the same message of the entire book of God's Word.
It's law and grace. Law and grace. That's the message
of the book of Job. But that's what God said about
Job in the early chapters of Job. And then what happened? Elihu
preached the gospel and then God spoke and revealed himself
to Job. And the Lord answered Job and
said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?
He that reproveth God? Job, brace yourself like a man
and answer me. I'm going to ask you a few questions. And God reveals Himself to Job. And what is the first thing out
of Job's mouth? Behold! You know what that word
means? Job saw something he had never
seen before. I mean, he was amazed. Behold, I am vile. Job saw himself. as a vile sinner
in need of God's mercy. A mercy beggar. He said, I have heard of thee
by the hearing of my ears, but now mine eyes have seen thee,
and I repent in dust and ashes. Lord, I put my hand over my mouth.
I'm not going to say another word. That's what he said. The way up is down. If we're gonna have any confidence
before God, it'll be as a sinner. Because only sinners place all
their confidence in Christ. Only sinners do that. What about Peter? Peter was a man's man. Peter
was a fisherman. Peter had confidence, didn't
he? Lord, they may do that, but not me. And Peter stood up to
that confidence when he got to the garden of Gethsemane, he
pulled out his sword. Peter was willing to... I mean,
again, we're talking about Roman soldiers. A whole brigade of
Roman soldiers had come to get the Lord. Peter pulled out his
sword and cut off one of their ears. I mean, he was ready to
die. His confidence was not well placed,
was it? For though he was willing to
stand up to a Roman soldier, that very night he bowed and
buckled to a little girl and denied the Lord. And when the Lord came to Peter,
what did Peter say? Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man." Lord, I'm a sinner. Nothing about me. What about Saul of Tarsus? He
excelled in religion above all his peers. He was a Pharisee
of Pharisee. Most people believe that he was
a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling class. He certainly was
bold enough to be able to take the commission that was given
by the governing authorities and go out and arrest believers
and bring them back. I mean, he was uncompromising,
wasn't he? Until the Lord was pleased to
shine a light from heaven, speak to his heart. Then he became a sinner, didn't
he? And he goes on to say, in me
that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I delight in the
law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
of the law of sin. which is in my members, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?"
And it was Paul the Apostle that called himself. He wasn't exaggerating. He wasn't being pious when he
said, I am the chief of all sinners. In truth, the way up. is down. The only way that you
and I will have confidence before God is to have our confidence
placed in the One who makes us accepted in His presence. Turn with me if you will please
to Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel 36. Verse 24. For I will take you
from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and
I will bring you into your own land. I'm going to bring you
into the church. I'm going to give you ears to
hear. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness, and
from all your idols will I cleanse you." Verse 26, a new heart also
will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will
give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within
you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep
my judgments and do them." You're going to be a believer. I'm going
to make you a believer. The irresistible grace. and you shall dwell in the land
that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and
I will be your God. I will also save you from all
your uncleanness, and I will call for the corn, and I will
increase it, and lay no famine upon you, and I will multiply
the fruit of the tree, and increase the field, and you shall receive
no more reproach of famine among the heathen." Now, how do I know
if God's done that for me? How do I know if God has done
that for me? Look at the next verse. Now you
remember, in the King James, if the word is in italics, that
means that the translators put it there. And most times it doesn't
belong there. There's a word in the next verse.
It's a verb. W-E-R-E. And you'll see it's
in italics. Scratch it out. It doesn't belong
there. It doesn't belong there. How do I know that the Lord's
done this for me? Then shall you remember your
own evil ways and your doings that not good. He's not saying
you're going to remember the sins that you used to commit.
You're going to remember, you're going to see yourself for what
you are. You're going to believe yourself
to be the chief of all sinners. You're going to know that in
you dwelleth no good thing. And you're going to loathe yourself. You see that? In your own sight for your iniquities
and for your abominations. And I'm going to do this not
because I saw something in you, but I did it for my own sake." The love of God is what makes
self-righteous Pharisees to be sinners. The publican would not
so much as look up, but smote himself upon his breast, and
said, Have mercy upon me, O God, the sinner. And the Lord said,
Which one went to his house justified?" Could we with ink the oceans
fill? And were the skies a parchment
made? And were every stalk on earth
a quill, And every man a scribe by trade? To write the love of
God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain
the whole, though stretched from sky to sky." It is the love of God that makes
us to be sinners. He constraineth us. It is His
love that brought the Lord Jesus Christ to satisfy the demands
of His law and to satisfy the justice of
God. Saints and sinners, they're one in the same. In truth, the way up is down. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we're thankful that You're a God of mercy, that You're merciful
enough to make us to be sinners and cause us to find our hope
and our confidence in the person of Thy dear Son. We pray that
You would do it for Your glory. We ask it in Christ's name, Amen. Number 26 in the soft back tenor. Let's stand together. Ah!