I think in these verses that
I read to you, and probably some more, that the Lord is speaking directly
here. I don't necessarily think that
it's just Isaiah speaking and being inspired of the Lord. I think that God himself speaks
here. Isaiah pins just exactly what
he speaks down here on this paper. I think he speaks in the majesty
of his sovereignty and he swears here by himself. He swears that
every knee shall bow before him and every person, man, woman,
or child shall acknowledge him to be the only supreme Lord and
governor of this universe." I believe that's what he says. I have sworn
by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth
in righteousness and shall not return, that unto me Every knee shall bow, and every
tongue shall swear." Now, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, here
we have the same verse of Scripture in the book of Romans, also in
the book of Philippians, that there'll come a time when every
knee will bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now, speaking of the
Lord Jesus, there's no doubt about that. Now it's true, I believe, that
there are two ways in which men shall be made to bow the knee
before God. And every man or every person
will bow the knee before God. If there's any thought that might lie dormant in your
mind or heart here this evening or this morning, This is not
talking to you. You better dismiss that right
now because God has sworn that every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall make a confession by acknowledging that Jesus Christ
is Lord and that He is the Supreme Absolute Sovereign and you're
going to bow to Him. I said that there are two ways
in which men shall be made. Men shall be made to bow the
knee, shall be made to bow the knee. Some of them will bow unwillingly
when they feel the weight of his rod of iron upon them, but
they will bow. They will bow. all the careless, profane, indifferent,
all the so-called atheists, all men of all sorts and all descriptions
from all tribes and kindreds and places upon the face of God's
green earth shall bow, shall bow. One day they shall bow. Men will not bow now and give
submission and obedience to the God of this universe and live
and act as if God did not exist, but they'll come a day. Now you
can mark that down this morning. You can mark it down. If you're
thinking, anybody's thinking here this morning that it doesn't
apply to me, then you're wrong. You're badly and sadly mistaken
because it applies to me And it applies to you. One day, God
is going to make you bow. And there will be a whole lot
of people that will bow unwillingly, but they'll bow. Kevin, they'll
bow. Under the weight of the rod of
iron that God lays upon them, they'll bow. They'll bow. God will see to it. This is God
speaking here. This is as much God speaking
here as if as if God was in our midst in human form and speaking
to us eye to eye here this morning, just as real. I have sworn, I
have sworn, God said, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall
pay homage to me and acknowledge that I am I am Lord. I am God. There is no God besides
me. There is none else. Every man
will acknowledge that. I said that there are two ways.
Some will bow unwillingly when they feel the weight of the rod
of iron. Others shall bow willingly, cheerfully,
gladly, and joyfully when they feel the power of His grace. And I trust that for the most
part, those of us that are gathered here, I'm not saying all of us,
but there are some of us, I believe, that are gathered here this morning
that have bowed willingly and cheerfully and gladly and joyfully
when we felt the power of the grace of God in the Lord Jesus
Christ. I kind of read with delight and
I read with an enthusiasm and an aspect of good feeling here
in my heart. These expressions of the text
that I've read to you, particularly in verse 24 and 25, these expressions as the decrees and determinations
and promises and declarations of the God of grace who affirms,
in the Lord, he affirms this, in the Lord have we righteousness
and strength Even to Him shall men come. You see that? Verse
24, Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness
and strength. Even to Him, to who? It refers
back to what he just said. Surely shall one say, In the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to Him, even to
the Lord, shall men come. They will come. they will come
to him and acknowledge some things. Even to him shall men come, and
all that are incensed, or all that are in opposition against
him, all that are opposed to him and against him, all of these
that remain in their hostility against God shall be ashamed. in the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and shall glory." Now, there is no doubt
in my mind about this great truth, that Jesus Christ did not die
in vain. The gospel has not been sent
into this world for nothing. There is a reason why the Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world. And there's a reason why the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is being preached hour after
hour and day after day, month in, month out, year in, year
in, year in, year out, all over the topside of God's green earth.
You see, my brethren, there shall be a people saved in the Lord
with an everlasting salvation. And the book of Revelation puts
it like this, says that there is a number or a multitude that
no man can number. We're living in the day of computers,
when they can just flip the machine on and have a qualified operator
to punch a few buttons and astronomical figures come up. Information
comes out of that thing that people just, well, couldn't comprehend. It just staggers your very imagination
and intelligence to think that just a box like that could do
what it does. But not even the computers will
fail when they try to number this multitude that no man can
number. who shall bow before the Savior. There shall be a people that
shall bow here in time before the Lord Jesus Christ, and they
shall bow gladly and willingly and cheerfully and joyfully and
receive Him as their Lord and as their Savior. They'll do that
here in time. these people will, and it will
be a number that no man can number. And these that do bow here in
time now, these shall be an adequate reward for the sufferings and
the agonies of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said that he shall
see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. I'm telling you
this morning that the Lord Jesus Christ didn't die in vain. Now,
whether you get with it or not is not going to determine whether
he's going to be a success or not. I'm saying that God hath
sworn that he's going to be a success. He hath sworn by himself that
the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be a success. He said that
there will be a people. Surely shall one say in the Lord,
Have I righteousness and strength, and even to him shall men come. He'll be a success. And he'll
see the travail of his soul, which shall satisfy even the
very infinite heart of the Son of God." Now, the first thing
that's said in this text is that there shall be a people who shall
own the truth concerning God. That's the first thing that's
said here. There shall be a people. Whether I'm in the number or
whether you're in the number, is not the issue. The issue is
that there shall be, there will be a people who will own the truth concerning
God. Men shall say in the Lord is
righteousness and strength. It means that there shall be
a people who shall confess audibly that In God and in Him alone
is their righteousness and their strength. There will be a people
that will do that. It doesn't look that way right
now. It doesn't look like that there's
going to be anybody of any size or number. Here they are, just a few of
us, and I believe that I preach the truth here. I don't know
everything. I don't know everything. But
what I know and what I preach, I believe to be the truth. And
I believe that what I'm saying this morning is the truth. As
in Christ Jesus, under God, I believe this is the truth. And I hope
that this is taken with the intention that it's said. The majority,
of the people that are gathered this morning in various places
in this locality are listening to a false prophet. He's not
telling the truth. But I believe I'm telling you
the truth. Now you say, well, you're a little presumptuous.
No, I'm not a bit presumptuous about that. I, under God, and
I know I have to face God. I have to face God with what
I say. And I'm careful about what I
preach. I only preach what I know and what I've felt, what I've
experienced. I don't preach anything that's
out there that I don't know anything about and haven't experienced
and haven't felt in my heart. I tell you what I know and what
I feel in my heart as it is revealed here in the Scriptures. And I'm
telling you the truth this morning that there shall be a people
who will acknowledge the truth in regard to God Almighty. And
these people that will acknowledge that, they'll see this righteousness
and strength of God Almighty in His attributes. Now everybody
ought to plainly see the evidences of God's strength. Everybody,
whether he's saved or lost, ought to see that, ought to know that. Anybody that's got a brain ought
to see the evidence of the strength and power of God just by opening
his eyes, just by viewing himself, just by saying that man is a
marvelous thing. A work, a work of infinite rarity
is man. A mechanism put together, not
by man, but by God Himself. Everybody ought to plainly see
the strength and power of God. We see that in the creation.
God created all of this that we see and we enjoy. God created it out of nothing.
If you can fathom that, if you can comprehend what nothing is,
God made all this out of nothing. That's power and wisdom and might. God did it out of nothing. He
caused the rivers to run. He caused the oceans to be. He put the stars and the moon
and the sun and all of that in their respective places and caused
them all to run in order. I'm telling you here this morning
that everybody ought to plainly see the evidences of God's strength. Many people are frightened. They shudder in terror before
the thunder of the power of God, yet they will not or they cannot
see His righteousness. accuse God of being unjust and
unfair and what have you, particularly in His dealings with them. But
there shall be a people, according to this text, there shall be
a people who shall be able not only to see that God's strength
is there, but they'll see that God's strength And his power
is always associated with his righteousness. The text is, Surely
shall one say unto the Lord, Have I righteousness and strength? And the reason that there shall
be a people who will be able to say that is, is because their
eyes have been opened with the eyesalve of heaven. Because God
hath made them to see. God hath made them to understand. The reason why some can see and
some cannot see is the first cause, it's God. God hath made
some to see. He's given them eyes to see.
He's given them the eye of faith that they might see the things
of God and the beauty of God and the perfection of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the gospel and how God can be just and justify
him that believeth in Jesus. God hath made them to see. Well, listen, the text here also
means that there shall be a people who will see that all their righteousness
and their strength is to be found in God and God alone. All shall
say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Others, and there's
lots of them, others might believe and might say that they can find
a righteousness in their own doings. Some of you here this
morning, you have left people at home. You've left people,
your loved ones, bone of your bone and blood of your blood,
you've left them in the living room, or in bed, or going someplace
else, who believe, who believe that their righteousness is in
their own doing. But there are some people in
this world, here in time, who believe that it is in Him that
they have righteousness and strength. And that their righteousness
and their strength is to be found in God and in God alone, not
in their own doings. Do you see that? You've read
some, you've said goodbye to some this morning and waved at
some this morning that believe that their righteousness is in
their own doing. I'm all right. It's okay for
you. I don't need it. I'm all right.
Don't worry about me. My conscience is clear in this
matter. I'm all right. I'm doing the
best I can. I never hurt anybody. I don't
offend anybody. I'm far better than some of the
people that you assemble yourself with. Some of them is this and
some of them is that, but I don't do that. You see what I'm saying,
Bob? My righteousness is to be found
in my doings. That's what men are saying. They're
found in my doings. What I do and what I don't do.
I'm telling you here this morning that this text says that there
shall be a people who will see that their righteousness and
their strength must be found in God and God alone. You see,
others believe what they will. Others believe what they will,
but these people, They find righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ. They know that the work of righteousness
has been completed and carried out to the full only by Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. My heart aches for people who
cannot see farther than the nose in regard to this thing that
God demands? Righteousness. And they cannot
see. They cannot see. They are so
content and so smug and so satisfied in their own little old righteousness
that they have hewed up for themselves and they carry around in their
pockets. Oh, my heart is heavy for them. Really it is. I feel
so I feel so insufficient when I'm in their midst. I feel like
I can't do anything, that they're so fortified, they're so smug,
they're so hid in this, it seems like impregnable refuge that
they're in, that they hide behind. Oh, but these people that I'm
talking about, they know. They know! They know some things. Paul said,
I know. And these people know some things.
They know that the work of righteousness has been carried out in the full,
in the full and complete in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and they
are content to receive God's righteousness by faith. so as to become righteous before
God as Abraham was. For he believed God, and it was
accounted unto him for righteousness." Is that right? He believed God,
and it was a... Let me read it. Where is that?
In the book of Romans? Turn with me, if you will, just
quick. I want you to see this. I know you've seen it. Lots of
times. Romans chapter 4, I think. Romans chapter 4, look at this
now. Paul says, What shall we say then that Abraham our father,
verse number 1, as pertaining to the flesh, hath a pound? What did you find, Father Abraham?
Oh, if Abraham, for if Abraham were justified by works, now
look at it. If he was justified by works,
He hath whereof to glory, but not before God. He may glory
before his wife, he may glory before his sons and his daughters
and his servants, he may glory before human flesh, but he'll
not glory before God. Listen, for what saith the Scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. That's what I'm saying about
these people. These people, and this text says that, that there
shall be a people who will see that all of their righteousness
and strength must be found in God. If they have any, it's got
to be in God. There shall always be a people
who shall feel that all their righteousness is found in the
Lord Jesus Christ, who justifies the ungodly, there'll always
be a people who will be resting in Him and in Him alone. And these people will be satisfied
and content in their heart to be resting there. That's part
of what this text says. Now another thing that this text
says is this, it says, they that know him to be their righteousness
will not be backward or will not be timid in confessing him. Well, you know, they may keep back some things
they know, concerning him. For instance, verse 24 says,
"...surely shall one say in the Lord..." He'll say it. He'll say it. He'll confess it. You can only confess back what
you know. If you don't know anything, you
can't make a confession. You can't be a witness of anything
unless you've experienced it or seen it. You can't be a witness
of it. But once you have seen it, once you have witnessed it,
once you've experienced it, then you'll not be timid in making
a confession of it. Surely, one shall say, what shall
he say? He'll say, in the Lord have I
righteousness. He won't be timid about it. He'll
not say, well, I think maybe I'm saved, I've been baptized.
No. No, he'll say, in the Lord have
I found righteousness and strength. In Him. It's not baptism. It's
not going to church. It's not, I don't cuss, I don't
drink, I don't do this. It's not that. He's trying to
say, in the Lord have I found righteousness. My righteousness
I found in the Lord. I didn't find it in myself. I
didn't find it in what I don't do and what I will do and what
maybe I'll do. I found it in the Lord. I found
it in Him. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's what He'll say. Don't
be timid about it, Brad. He'll come out with it. You won't
have to ask Him questions and keep pulling it out of Him and
putting answers in His mouth. He'll tell you. See what I'm
talking about? He'll tell you. You can only
tell what you know. If you don't know anything, you're
in bad shape. Now I'm saying, brethren, that
they may keep back some things they know concerning Him. You're
talking to somebody. You're not going to jump on him
about, well, have you been baptized? And start telling him about the
mode of baptism and what baptism means and this and that. You're
not going to start talking to him about the wine or the Lord's...
You're not going to talk to him about the doctrine of election,
the decrees of God concerning Jesus Christ before time ever
was. You know some things, but you'll
keep back some things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. But these
people that I'm talking about, they will, when called upon and
opportunity presents itself, and they'll be looking for that
opportunity, they'll stand up for Jesus, whatever the cost
may be. Whatever it may be, they'll stand
up and they'll say, I want to be counted in that number. They'll
do it. This is God talking. He says,
Surely, shall one say this? In the Lord have I righteousness
and strength. Sure. Well, you see, they're
going to stand up for Jesus. They're going to identify. You're not going to have to coax
them to come to church. You're not going to have to beg them
to serve the Lord. You don't have to get them, just make a
deal with them. You do this and I'll do that.
I'll make a deal with you. Would you come halfway and I'll
meet you? Would you come and all that?
We need you so much. Would you fill it? No, I'm telling
you, my brethren and sisters here this morning, that individual
shall say in the Lord, and he'll honor the Lord. He'll honor the
Lord. He'll do it. You have to beg
Him. Bob, you don't have to beg Him.
No, sir. He'll stand up for Jesus, whatever
the cost might be. The cost may be great. He may
have to break off with his family. He may have to break off with
his neighbors or his relatives. He may have to break off from
them. He may have to be counted out,
but he's going to stand up for Jesus. Even if he's misunderstood. Even if people say, well, he's
a hard shell. Why, he's an antinomian. He's a hard shell, that fellow
is. He believes what will be, shall
be. Bless God, I believe that too.
Not apart from any means, but I believe it. I believe whatever
God has decreed, it'll come to pass. It'll come to pass. I believe
that. I'm on that side. But it'll come
to pass with means. God's pleased to use people.
As weak and foolish and frail as we are, God's been pleased
to use people. Listen! Let me tell you this. God has
reserved unto Himself a people. I'll read, I think I can make
good on this. Romans chapter 9, is it, or 10,
somewhere over in there. Chapter 11, listen to this. Why? Verse number 1 of the 11th chapter
says, I say then, hath God cast away his people? God forbid.
He hasn't cast them away. God hath not cast away his people
which he foreknew? What? Ye not that the Scriptures
say of Elias, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,
Lord, they have killed thy prophets? They'll dig down thy altars,
and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith
the answer of God unto him? This is what God said. God said,
I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed
the knee to the image of Baal. Even so, then at this present
time also, There is a remnant according to the election of
grace. I'm saying, brethren, that God
has reserved unto himself a people who will not turn their backs
on God in the day of battle, but will come forward into the
very teeth of society and will not bow to the God of materialism
and evolution and what have you in this religious world. But
they'll stand up and say, they'll not bow to the God of Arminianism,
this free willism. Free willism, man's got a free
will. How free is it? I'll tell you
how free man's will is. I'm not saying that God violates
man's will. I want to tell you how free man's
will is. Say man's got a free will, he
can do this, he can do that, he can accept, he can refuse.
I'll tell you how free it is. He can act according to his nature. That's how free his will is.
His will is going in one direction, and that's the way he can act.
He's as free as a frog in a snake's belly. Free to move around, but
he's not free to get out. That's how free he is. I'm saying, brethren, there'll
be a people whose knees have never bowed. to the modern God of our world. I wonder, though, how many of
us really know this great truth that I'm talking about down in
our inner beings, down in our innermost souls. This is one
of the most weightiest matters that you've ever heard, this
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You never heard anything
more weightier than this. Now, if you think that you have
any righteousness of your own, you're badly and sadly mistaken. If you think that you have strength
of your own that will carry you to heaven, then you're wrong,
and you'll find out that you'll faint and you'll die. You see,
there's no foundation upon which we can build so as to so as to
secure the blessing of eternal life, but who? But Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. And the only way to build upon
that foundation is to simply trust in Him to the fullness,
whom God has sent, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is no foundation upon which we can build apart from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Another thing that this text
says, I want you to see this, it says, Even to Him shall men
come. You see that? Verse 24, Surely
shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.
Now look at the next three words. Next five words, even to Him
shall men come. Even to Him, even to the Lord
shall men come. What does that mean? Well, someone
says, maybe they won't come. What then? But they will come. But they will come. He makes
them willing in the day of His power. You who have come, if
you'd have been left to yourself, you'd never come. He made you
willing. He didn't violate your will.
He made you willing to come. He made you willing in the day
of His power to drop your weapons, to lay your weapons down and
gladly, joyfully receive His Son as your Lord and your Savior. He made you willing. You thought
at the time, you thought it was a decision that you made. All
together by yourself without any outside influence. That's
what you thought. You thought, well, I wonder how
come this fellow over here heard the same thing that I heard,
who's just like I am. I responded and he didn't. You
thought, well, maybe I'm a little better than he was. Maybe God's
seen something in me. No, no. God made you willing. He made you willing in the day
of His power. You say, well, maybe they won't
come. What then? But they will come,
you see. Someone else says, well, that
after a fellow told me this, a good friend of mine, I was
first made a profession of faith, and I thought a good friend of
mine who we enjoyed one another's company a good bit, and I thought
I ought to tell him the story. And so I made a path to his house. He married a Roman Catholic girl.
He didn't make any profession of religion himself. He was a pretty nice fella, morally
speaking. So I went to his house. And he said, well, it's good
to see you. I said, well, I got something on my heart here, something
on my mind, something I want to tell you. I said, I want to tell
you. I said, I'm a Christian. I said,
I've become a Christian. He said, you have? I said, yes.
I said, I've seen myself guilty and ashamed before God, and I've
seen the Lord Jesus Christ dying in my stead and place and room.
I want to tell you the story. Can I tell you the story? He
said, alright, but he said, what if you tell me the story and
I reject it? What if I don't pay no attention
to you after you tell me the story? And I said, that'll be
alright, but I'd like to tell you the story. And I told him
the story and he didn't pay no attention to me. And that's been
30 years ago, or more or less, and he's still following the
same trail. But one day, he'll see the eye
of his way, and I hope and pray that it'll be between the eternities
sometime. But if he does not see the eye
of his way, between the eternities, he'll be one of those that God
will make bow unwillingly, but he will bow. He will bow. It's not a question, will I bow?
It's a question, when will I bow? I'll either bow now or I'll bow
then, but I will bow. No doubt about it. I will bow.
And if you've set up some sort of a barrier between you and
God and you say, well, I don't know about that. Well, I'm telling
you, you're fighting a losing battle. You better just take
your foot and shove that barrier down because God's going to make
you bow. He's going to do it. Sooner or later. Oh, if you'd
do it now, if you'd do it right now, if you'd just bow right
now in your heart, out of your heart before God and say, Lord,
I believe. I believe what that preacher's
saying. I believe that I'm a justice sinner. I deserve hell. I believe
it, Lord. Oh, Lord, I believe. Help now
my unbelief. I believe God would save you.
You say, well, I thought I didn't
have anything to do with it. You don't have anything to do
with it. You have this to do with it. You're to cry out unto
God. Say, well, I can't do anything.
You can cry. What does it mean over and over
in the Bible where it says, seek the Lord? That means you seek
Him. What does it mean over and over
in the Bible when God says, hear, hear, hear? It means for you
to stop and listen to some things. Then seek the Lord. Cry out unto
God. Listen now, even to him shall
men come. Well, what if he heard the gospel
and then rejects it? Huh? Well, what if he hears it
and he says, well, I don't want it. Well, then he'll hear it
again. Well, what if he says the second time, well, he'll
hear it again. And he'll hear it again and again
and again until at last, if he be God, until at last he'll yield
unto God, and he'll bow to God, and he'll receive God's Son,
and he'll depend upon it. I'll tell you this, brethren,
when God says, men shall come, you can depend on it, men's going
to come. And He said here, Surely shall one say unto the Lord,
Have I righteousness? Even to him shall men come. Now
listen to this. All, now listen to me, get it? Get it? All, A-L-L, all the Father
giveth to me shall come to me. All the Father giveth to me shall
come to me, and him that comes to me, I will in a wise cast
him out. Why don't you come to him right
now? Why don't you come to Him right now? You're ruined. You're a ruined, guilty, lost,
filthy, corrupt sinner. Why don't you come to Him? All
the Father gives to me shall come to me. If God says they
shall come, you can depend on it. Bob, they'll come. Why, surely one shall say, he
won't be timid in saying it, surely one shall say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength, Even to Him shall men
come. They'll come to Him, bow to Him. All the Father giveth to me shall
come to me, and him that comes to me, I won't cast him out. Another thing that this text
says is this. Even to Him shall men come. Now the glory of this fact lies
in that they do not stop short of Him. They actually, literally,
really come to Him. They don't stop short, but they
come to Him. Well, they rest in Him. They
rest in Him. Now, let me tell you what I mean
here when I say that men don't stop short of Him. What do you
mean by that? I mean this. I mean that most
people stop short of coming to God in Christ and content themselves
upon doing what? Reading the Bible? Saying prayers? They stopped short. They haven't
got there yet. They've heard that a man must
come to God in Christ. And they make some sort of move. And they say, well, I better
start reading my Bible. I did that one time. I did that
one time. Paid $10 for a Bible and thought,
my wife did while I was working. And I thought, what in the world
did that woman do? Paid $10 for a Bible. Now I'm only making
$6 and something a day. And here she made, here she paid
$10 for a great big old Bible with a bunch of pictures in it
that nobody's going to read. And one time when she was gone, I
got the Bible out. I got to feeling, got to feel religious. And I
got the Bible out. I said, I'm going to start reading
the Bible. I'm going to start reading the Bible. I never come
to Christ. I never come to God in Christ.
I stopped short. I started reading the Bible.
That'll do it. That'll do it. That'll help me.
The more I read, the less I knew what was going on, the less I
understood, and I finally closed it up. And I said, it's a dead
book. Nobody can understand it. And
I just quit reading it. Couldn't understand it. Didn't
think anybody else could. Most people are like that. They
stop short of coming to God in Christ and stop contending themselves
with reading the Bible or making some sort of a vow or resolution.
I'm going to start saying my prayers. I'm going to start praying. But the text says there is a
people who will get beyond that. Even to Him shall men come. They'll get beyond just the altar. Most of them invite them to come
to the altar, Tim. Come to the altar! And as far
as they get is the altar! He doesn't say come to the altar.
Even shall men come to me! Will you listen to me this morning?
I'll tell you with a broken heart. Will you listen to this? Will
you give me your attention this morning? Salvation in a crucified,
resurrected person! The Lord Jesus Christ. Can you
get to Him? If you'd be saved eternally,
you've got to lay hold of eternal life. And that's crying. You see what I'm talking about?
It's not at the mourner's bench. It's not shaking my hand. It's not baptism. It's not the
Lord's Supper. It's not you quit smoking, quit
cussing, quit chewing. It's not that. It's getting here. It's getting here to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Come to Him. That's where it's
at. I wish I could tell folks that. I wish I could make them
see it, but I can't do it. I can't make them see it. God's got to
do that. I believe He will. You see, many
stop short. No, sir. They stop short. The
text says, They'll come to Him. Now listen, if you'd be saved,
you must get to God in Christ. Stop short of that, and there's
one word for it. Stop short of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and there's one word, and that's L-O-S-T. Many go to
the priest and think all is well. Thousands and thousands. I've
got a brother and his wife who live in Detroit. They go to church
two or three times a week. They go to the priest. They think
all is well. Now talk to them. I've talked
to them just like I'm talking to you this morning, and they
just look at me and their eyes just glisten. His wife said,
I just love to hear you talk. I just love to hear you talk
about the Bible. But they stop short of coming
to God in Christ, and they go to the priest. As soon as they
get through talking to me, they start telling me about what they
do at their church, what they do down there. I know they go
to the priest. You've got to go, if you're a
good Catholic, you've got to go and confess your sins to the
priest in the confessional box. And you've got to take the communion. You've got to take that little
wafer and put it on your tongue, and you believe that that little
wafer becomes, when it hits your mouth, it becomes literally the
body of Jesus Christ. You take that wine, you've got
to believe that they call it transubstantiation, which they
mean that it literally turns in to the body of Christ and
to the blood of Christ, and they get Christ in there by being
cannibals! They eat Christ! Christ in you,
the hope of glory! They say you get Christ in you
by eating Him. They're 10,000 miles from home!
They had missed it a million miles. We get in Christ by faith, not
by eating Him. Listen, men come to the priest
and they think all is well. Everything is okay. The priest
said so. I was in the hospital. Martha
and I went up to see her brother and went to this big hospital,
the biggest hospital I was ever in. The parking lots were so
far away that they had seven shuttle cars to take the Take
the visitors to the hospital. They just circled the parking
lot. Somewhat looked like a half a mile, three quarters of a mile
away from the hospital. Car after car after car. But I got there
on the fourth floor and Martha and her brother and someone was
talking to her sick brother and just sitting there with him.
So I walked down the hall. I got me a magazine and sat down
and there was three or four people there. One fellow I could see
was a cancer patient. All of his hair had fell out.
And he was sitting there talking, and they were discussing the
church. They'd seen a priest up the hall, or I'd seen him
coming down the hall, and they got talking about religion. And
they got talking about going to church on Sunday morning,
about the mass. And oh, you ought to have heard
their conversation. It was such drudgery for them. They said, my gracious, they
began to talk about how people kept piling in there, and people
stepping in front of people and getting the communion and going
back and drinking it and then leaving. And they said, well,
if you want to get it, you've got to get in there early in
the morning, get up front where you can get it and get out of
there. You've got to get it and get out of there. I said, if
you don't, you're getting a traffic jam. And one of them said, the
fellow that was He was going to be operated on the next day
for, I think, cancer maybe of the throat. I don't know. This
young fellow, looked like about 27, 28 years old. And he said,
well, he said, don't you know, he said even the organist, the
father's got to tell the organist, now you sit there and play that
until we get through. They said if he doesn't, she'll
get up and walk out. And he said, we're talking about playing a
cassette, Pat, a record. So the woman went away. You call
that worship? God help us, you talk about heathens. You don't have to go to Cancun,
Mexico or Yucatan to find heathens. There's plenty of them right
here. Heathen people. Heathens. Worshipping a God of
stone. Worshipping a God that has a
collar on and some clownish looking garb to wear around. I'm telling you that there'll
be some people that will wind up at the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Even to Him they'll come. They
won't go to the priest. They'll come to Him. Many go
to ceremonies. They think all is well. But I'll
tell you this, my prodigal son, it shall never If you live to
be 125 years old, it shall never be well with you till you come
to your Father and get your head on His shoulder and rest your
head in His bosom and make confession to Him and receive the forgiveness
or the kiss of the forgiveness of sin. There'll be no rest for
you. Well, even to Him. To Him. They'll come to Him,
Bob. They'll come to Him. They'll come to Him. You see,
our Lord Jesus Christ said to some people in His day, He taught
me some folks, like I'm talking to you here this morning, He
was talking to them. And He said to them, He said, Search the
Scriptures. Search the Scriptures, for in
these Scriptures that you're searching, ye think ye have eternal
life. But these Scriptures that you're
searching, They all testify of me! They speak of me! Now, what's he saying? He's saying
that their fatal flaw was that they read their Bibles and they
said their prayers, but they would not come to the Lord Jesus
Christ even though the Scriptures that they searched and they read
pointed them to Him, they still wouldn't come. They did what?
They stopped short of the Lord Jesus Christ. See? They read the Scriptures. You
say, well, preacher, you're not condemning reading. No. No. I don't condemn reading the Scriptures.
But reading the Scriptures is not salvation. See? You tell men, ìCome to Christ.î
And they say, ìWell, brother, Iíll pray about it.î Well, pray
by all means, pray, but praying will not save you. You must come
to Him. The text says, ìEven to Him.î
Now, how does these people come? First, they come in repentance,
weeping because of their sins, weeping because of who they are. And they come by faith. They
come disowning all of their righteousness. They come as they are, naked
and guilty and filthy and agreeing with God as to who they are and
as to who He is. But I'll tell you this, they
all have one thing in common. What's that, preacher? They all
come. They all come. They come to Him. Another thing
the text says is this. They that do come to him shall
be ashamed of their former opposition to him. Notice I read up here
where it says, all that are incensed or opposed against him shall
be ashamed. The man that finally winds up
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ will finally come to the
realization of his guilt, of his sins, of his delusion, and
his opposition against God, and he'll blush, and he'll be ashamed
of what he once was. I tell you, these fellows that
brag, when they stand up, preachers, I've heard preachers brag. Well,
I heard one fellow say, well, he said, you know, I'm a converted
alcoholic. I'm a converted alcoholic. He
said, I used to drink four-fifths of whiskey every day. You know
what he's doing? He's bragging about his sins.
He'd never come to Christ. He'd never come to Christ. He
wouldn't be bragging about it. He'd be ashamed of it. He wouldn't
even mention it. He wouldn't tell anybody about
it. He wouldn't want anybody to know that he was a drunkard,
he was an adulteress, or an adulterer, or she was an adulteress. He
wouldn't be bragging about it. They'd keep their mouth shut.
They'd be ashamed of it. Ashamed of their opposition.
Shamed of being angry with God. Shamed of being angry with God's
providence. Shamed because they were opposed
to the law of God, to God and to His law and to its strictness
and to its penalty and to its severity. They say, well, the
law, prior to their being saved, they say the law is too severe.
It asks too much. You can't expect me to keep a
law like that. Oh my soul, they'd be ashamed.
You see that? All that are incensed against
Him shall be ashamed of it. They'll be ashamed of it. Notice
verse 25, and I'm going to quit. Stay with me for just a minute
now. Another thing that this text says, it says that all of
those that say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength,
all of those that come to Him Even to him shall men come, and
all that come to him are incensed against him, going to be ashamed.
And it says, All these shall be justified. You know what it
says? In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified. That's spiritual Israel. All
of those that are Abraham's seed, the spiritual seed, every one
of them shall be justified. Well, what do you mean by that?
I mean that it means that we are made and constituted just
before God. Can that be done? Can that be
done? An unjust person be made just
in the sight of God? Can that be done? Yes. How? In the Lord? In the Lord? See? Shall one say, In the Lord
have I righteousness? That's how man is justified. In himself? No. In the Lord. In the Lord. What do you mean
by that? You mean that I've been guilty all my life, I've been
a sinner, a practicing sinner, I've been opposed to God, I've
been this, I've been that all my life, and that I can now be
just before God? Yeah, in the Lord. In the Lord. It means this. When it talks
about justification, it means this. It means that He, the Lord
Jesus Christ, He stands in our place and He puts us in His place. Now that's what justification
means. It means that He stands in our place, bears all that
is due us, and puts us in His place as a favorite of God. That's what it means. Well, I've been sinful all my
life. Now can I be righteous in God's sight in the Lord? I'll quit. A guilty, weak, and
helpless worm, on thy kind arms I fall. Be thou my strength and
righteousness, my Jesus and my all. God help us.