When we were singing the song
a few minutes ago, 125, Jesus paid it all. The last verse, I've sung this
song I guess, I remember coming up in false religion singing
this song. It's just one of those you always
remember. But this line really came back
to me. Well, I don't know if it came
back the first time I ever really saw it, I guess. And when before
the throne I stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save. My lips shall still repeat, thinking,
standing before God. I honestly believe that the judgment
will be over in just a twinkling of an eye. Just be over. Just
be over. But to stand there and have that thought come back to
me, He died for me. He died for me. He died for me. Put away my guilt. Oh, may the
Lord cause my heart to have that thought come back, He put away
my guilt. Proverbs 18, 17. Proverbs chapter
18, verse 17. I've entitled this message this
morning, The Biggest Lie Ever Told. The Biggest Lie Ever Told. Proverbs 18 verse 17, He that
is first in his own cause seemeth just, but his neighbor cometh
and searcheth him. He that is first in his own cause
seemeth just, but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him. I've always heard this, you have
too, there's always two sides to every story. Always two sides. And this, that statement right
there, there's always two sides to every story. It's what verse
17 is saying. That's what it's saying. Father, by the grace of God,
I want us to look at that for just a few minutes and see that. He that is first, that is first
in place or first in time is what that means, first. He that
is first in his own cause, that is as a matter pertains to him,
seemeth just, he seems to be right, but his neighbor, or that
is another, cometh and searcheth him, or exposes him, is what
it's saying. Here's what that verse says.
He that's first in time or place in his own cause as a matter
pertains to himself seems to be right when he tells his story. But another comes and exposes
him. You know, when a story is told
and you hear one side of the story, now you know this, it's
going to always be presented as, or in a way that, seems to
sound so logical, so right, well I really don't see any need of
even hearing the other side of the story. I mean, the way you
told it, It just, that sounds good to me. I mean, I don't see
how it could be any other way but that. Just one side of the
story. Can you imagine how Potiphar's
wife's story sounded when she told her side of the
story? You know, telling her husband.
Can you imagine Potiphar's wife explaining this to her husband?
Honey, you're not going to believe this. This young boy, Joseph,
that you brought into the house, I was against it from the first. And I've noticed the way he's
looked at me. I could see it in his eyes. He scared me. He scared me from the very first. I knew what he was thinking. And my fears were justified. He tried to take me. I fought
him off. And I'm telling you, if it wouldn't
have been for the screams, my fear. In fact, I'll tell you
this, just to prove that my story is right, I've got his coat right
here. I mean, I fought him off and he, you know, and I'm telling
you, it's only by, you know, grace that I wasn't taken. Now
let me ask you something. Just think about the nature of
man. Just think about man, naturally
speaking. You know that story sounds, you
know, I pretty well believe that one myself. I, you know, young
guy, Probably Potiphar's wife, probably a beautiful woman. Nobody's
in the house. They threw Joseph in jail. But
you know, before it was all said and done, God exposed the truth. The truth came out and it all
redounded to the mercy and grace of God. God kept that boy. I
mean, don't think for one second that Joseph and his natural self
was beyond that. It was only by the grace of God
that kept him from falling. It kept him preserved. God kept
him. Many are going to stand before
God in the day of judgment and going to give their side of the
story first. Lord, You know that we've prophesied
in Your name. Lord, we preached in Your name. We set forth that men and women
needed to be saved. We preached life only found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what they're saying now.
They're not saying everything. We prophesied in your name. There's
men standing in pulpits all over this world today that's preaching
that salvation is only in the name of Jesus Christ. But you
let them keep talking and they're going to qualify what they're
saying. He's done all he can do. He died on the cross. Everybody
has put away all of the sins of all men, all women, all you
have to do. We prophesied in your name. And in thy name, we cast out
devils. It's evil in this world. We cast
demons out. And in thy name, We've done many
wonderful works. We've got programs, and we've
got unwed mothers, and we've got crippled children, and we've
got this. And I'm not belittling, helping. I'm not doing that at
all. But I'm telling you, when that becomes the basis of a man's
righteousness before God, we've done all of these marvelous things. That's the first side of the
story. And then the Lord speaks. And then he said, another cometh and searches him,
exposes him. And this is what the Lord said,
I never knew you. Never knew you. Almighty God
is going to search out the motive of every man, every woman. Many
will say, he that is first in his own cause seemeth just. But his neighbor cometh and searcheth
him. Another comes and exposes him.
Now, here's my question. When did the lie of every unconverted
man, woman, preacher, Where did all of these lies begin? Turn to Genesis 3. Where did
this all start? The name of this message is the
biggest lie ever told. Genesis chapter 3 verse 1, now
the serpent was more subtle. than any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea,
hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat of
it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent
said unto the woman, here's the biggest lie right here, ever
been told, ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in
the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman
saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her, and he did eat. Satan began a conversation by
aiming at the point of his hatred. God's word. God's word. Let me tell you what man by nature
hates concerning what we're doing right here. Man by nature hates
God's Word. This is just a continuation of
the first message. God's Word is hated because it
gives all the honor, all the glory, all the praise to Him. And it makes man to be the recipient
of God's mercy and compassion or God's condemnation. Almighty
God is going to do what Almighty God is pleased to do. Hath God said? That's the point
of contention. Did God say that? Eve related to Satan that God
did forbid for her and for Adam to eat under the penalty of death
and he said, You're not going to die. You're not going to die. Man by nature today does not
believe he's going to die. Only a believer believes God. Oh, men will admit that they're
going to die physically. But I'm going to tell you something,
and I know this, I know this. I know it by experience, personally
experience, and by witness of it. Let me ask you this, before
the Lord called you out of darkness, before the Lord called you out
of darkness, Did you truly believe that you
were going to leave this world under the condemnation of God
if God Almighty didn't show mercy to you? I mean, did it go through
your mind that you were, you know, mulling over in your mind,
you know what, if the Lord doesn't show mercy to me, I know this,
I'm going to perish under the judgment and condemnation of
God. You didn't think that. That never even entered your
mind. You didn't believe He was going
to die. Not a loving God, not a loving
God can condemn you. And I'll tell you another thing. Just because of man's pride and
arrogance, he thinks that he has the ability to reconcile
himself back to God. Well, if I don't do anything,
I know that's not a good thing, so I'm going to give my heart
to Jesus. I'm going to settle this thing. I had someone tell me one time,
they'd been in about three different religions, and this was their statement.
Well, the reason I wanted to do all of them, this is a quote,
I wanted to cover all my bases. I wanted to cover all my bases,
just in case. Just in case. I don't know if
speaking in tongues has anything to do with it, but just in case.
I don't know if you really have to be baptized in order to be
saved, but just in case. I don't know if you have to walk
down an aisle and pray through, but just in case. Man does not believe he's going
to die, that he has the ability, somehow, You're not going to die because
God does know that in the day that you eat, your eyes are going
to be open. You're going to be as God's.
You're going to know good and evil. And you know what? Their eyes
were open. And they did know good and evil. They knew good and did not have
the ability to perform it. They knew evil And they couldn't
avoid it. They could not avoid it. So what
did they do? They took them some fig leaves
and made themselves an apron. I'm going to cover myself before
God because I know that I'm naked. There's a battle that goes on.
And every believer, he knows something. He knows good and
he knows evil. And a believer knows this, there's
no good in me. And all I am in myself is evil. Oh, wicked, wretched man. And
there's a battle that just goes on. Galatians 5, 17, For the
flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit is against the
flesh, the contrary one to another. So you cannot Now listen to this,
you cannot do the things you would. Is there a believer here
that does not want to walk perfectly before God? In yourself, I'd
love to be able to say I can do that, and I cannot. I'm going
to tell you this though, but in Christ, And this is the heart
of a believer. My first statement as being born
in Adam said, I could. And by the grace of God, the
Lord showed me, no, you can't. And a believer believes God.
And he said this, I know that I can't. I cannot do that. Born in Adam, sin reigned. It sat on the throne of my wicked
heart. And I believe the lie of Satan,
just like you did, being born in Adam. An unbeliever believes
that lie and thinks he can ascend into heaven and reconcile himself
back to God and be righteous in himself. He hears the lie
that's being told that there's a little good in all men and
God wants to do this if you'll let Him. And he believes that.
It sounds good. If the Lord had never done anything
for you, does it sound logical to you? Does this sound logical? I'm talking about if you knew
nothing of God's grace. The Lord wants to save you. It sounds good to me. God sent His only begotten Son
into this world to lay down His life for everybody. And His blood
is sufficient for all of the sins. That blood is sufficient
for all of the sins of all men in this world. I'm thinking,
that sounds good to me. And if you will go through this
Bible, and take that Roman road and admit that you're a sinner. I mean, listen, I'm going to
tell you something. I get tracks that will tell me why. All I'm
doing is repeating the tracks that I've found. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Well, I know that because
I know some things I've done. And God Almighty is a gracious
God and He'll forgive you if you'll humble yourself and ask
Him to come into your heart. and to save you, and then be
faithful and get in a good gospel teaching Bible church. Go to
the church of your choice, but go, just go, be faithful. That sounds good to me? That
sounds just as logical? Because what it does is it shows
me that God will save some people if they'll let Him. He wants
to. He that's first in his own cause
seems just, but his neighbor cometh and searches him out. Now, let me ask you this. By
the grace of God, has Almighty God set forth in His Word that
He's going to have mercy and compassion to whomsoever He will? Yes, He has. What does the Lord
have to say? I know what Satan said to Eve. You're not going to die. But
what did God say about it? In the day you eat, you're going
to surely die. You're going to die. And she took of that fruit
and she gave it to Adam. And let me tell you what happened.
They died spiritually. Now here's what I know. And by
the grace of God, I believe this, I was born a spiritually dead
sinner. I know that. I know that. By the grace of God, I don't
believe that Almighty God, I don't believe that Almighty God sent
His Son into this world to pay for all the sins of all the men
and women of this world, I don't believe in universal atonement.
Why? Because God Almighty has set
it forth in His Word and His Spirit has taught me this. I've
heard His Word. I've heard His voice and He has
told me, I saw fit Not because anything in me, but according
to His will. I chose to show mercy to you. And before the foundation of
the world, I chose you. I knew you before time ever began. And I chose to show mercy to
you. And I chose you in my Son, who
has ever stood as the surety for you. And having chosen you in my Son,
I sent Him because of my love for you. I sent Him in this world
to live before me because you couldn't. and I was not going
to let you perish. And in Him, according to His
obedience, I reckoned His obedience to you, and charged you, imputed
it to you. And you, Marvin Stoniker, in
yourself, you're one of those that did only evil, in whose
heart there only dwelt rebellion. That you dead in your trespasses
and sins would never come because you couldn't come. And I took that which you are,
and I made my Son to be what you are. And before me He suffered
the penalty and I spewed out my wrath upon him for his honor, for his glory,
and for his sake in obedience to my will. And I did it for
your good. And when it pleased me, I called
you out of darkness. And I gave you a new heart. I
gave you a new spirit. And I wrote my law. I wrote my
word on your heart. And I told you that I'm your
God. And you're my son. Adopted. I adopted you. And because it
pleased me, I'm going to give you everything
that's coming to my son, I'm going to give to you being found
in him. I am, I am your God, you're my
son, and you're going to be with me forever. And when you die, you'll be put
in the ground. And this old corruptible is going
to go to dust. But I'm going to raise you again. And the promise that I'm going
to raise you is that I raised Him. God raised Him from the
dead as the first fruit. There's the promise. And you know what? I believe
God. I believe he's going to do that. The first story that was told
me was a lie. But bless God, by his grace and
mercy, a neighbor came and exposed it. They called me out of darkness
and gave me a heart after him. And I stand before you this morning
a sinner saved by the grace of God. And I don't want, Pat, I don't
want to claim any honor to myself. I just love proclaiming that
I've been saved by grace, kept by power, His power, by the power
of God. And one of these days, this old
corruptible right here is going to be put off and it's going
to be incorruptible. And the will of the Lord Jesus
Christ, He said, Father, I will that those that you've given
me be with me where I am. One of these days, that which
I can't even imagine right now, I don't know how to think it. I have not seen, heard, neither
it's entered into the heart of man. Streets of gold, gates of pearls, I don't know. I don't know. But I can tell
you this. Whatever it is, whatever heaven
is, is going to be heaven because he's there. Lord, thanks be unto you that
by your grace you came and exposed the lie. That you didn't leave
me in darkness. that you saved me by grace, kept
me by grace, teach me by grace. Lord, hold me because I can't
hold myself. Amen.