I want you to turn with me again
this evening to the book of 1 Chronicles chapter 29. This morning we spoke
to you from chapter 28. Now we want you to turn over
to chapter 29 of the book of 1 Chronicles. Let us pray again. Father, we come again in the
sweet and blessed and precious name of the dear Savior who loved
us and gave Himself for us. Who gave Himself, Father, gave
His all, body, soul, and spirit. Withheld nothing. Offered Himself
in our stead and place and room. Father, we thank you and bless
you this evening for him whom to know is life eternal, even
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful as our brothers
pray that you've given us this privilege by your grace and mercy
to meet together here this evening and to think upon eternal things,
to have our hearts and minds directed toward him who loved
us and gave Himself for us. This is a blessed privilege,
Father, and we thank You. And we trust that we might meditate,
even, Father, as we read the Word here this evening, and have
meditated as the Word has been read and as prayers have been
made, Father, that we've worshipped and we've meditated and we've
turned our thoughts toward Thee. Bless now the reading of Thy
Word. Help us, we pray, In Jesus' name, Amen. Here in this 29th chapter, David gives thanks and praise
unto God for all that God has done for them, and in particular,
for the willingness of the people to render unto God that which
is his due by way of materials for the building of the temple. Here in verse number 9 of this
29th chapter, look at that, will you? This is David speaking here,
and he says, Then the people rejoiced. for that they offered
willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly
to the Lord. And David the king also rejoiced
with great joy." That is, it means when it says there, they
offered willingly unto the Lord, that they did not do so grudgingly. I wish that all professed Christians would
understand what it means to give unto the Lord. Anything that we give, if it's
a cup of cold water in the name of the Lord Jesus, ought to be
given willfully, willingly, willingly, cheerfully, gladly, not grudgingly,
not grudgingly. Nothing will ever be blessed
of God, no labor that you and I ever perform, no work or service
that we ever do, if it's not done willingly, cheerfully and
gladly, with a pure heart that is in view of God's honor and
God's glory. It will not be blessed of God.
We just as well not do it. They offered willingly unto the
Lord, not grudgingly but cheerfully, not pressed, not urged to do
it, not by force, not by constraint, but freely, freely, willingly,
and that with a pure view to the honor and glory of God. And the people rejoiced for that
they offered. willingly. Now what was it they
gave? Well, they gave for the service
of the house of God of gold 5,000 talents, 10,000 grams of silver,
10,000 talents of brass, 18,000 talents, and 100,000 talents
of iron. And they with whom precious stones
were found gave them to the treasure of the house of the Lord. And
the people rejoiced, for they offered willingly, because with
perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord. And David the king
also rejoiced with great joy. And then he comes down to, well,
let me continue reading, we'll stop there at verse number 12.
Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation,
And David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our Father,
forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness
and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty,
for all that is in heaven and in earth is thine. I wish we
could see that and understand it and believe it. I wish all
the preachers and all the churches would read passages like this,
and passages that are paralleled with this in other places in
the Bible that says what this passage says. Thine, O Lord,
is the greatness and the power. It belongs to Thee. Greatness,
power, glory, victory, majesty, that belongeth unto God. For
all that is in heaven and is in earth belongs to Him. Everything
that moves and breathes and wiggles belongs to God. Thine is the
kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all. If
that's so, then everything that moves ought to worship. Everything
that moves is obligated unto God to bow in perfect submission
to Him. Verse number 12, Both riches
and honor cometh of Thee. and thou reignest over all."
God reigns over all. And in thine hand is power and
might, and in thy hand it is to make great and to give strength
unto all. Well, he said, both riches and
honor come of thee. Now, whatever, and I'm speaking
to you and I here this evening, whatever of either, whether it
be riches or honor, Whatever of either you and I have, or
the children of men have, it is not owed to their merits. It is not owed to their goodness. It is not owed to their diligence.
It is not owed to their industry. It is not owed to their wise
conduct, but to the providence of God. Both riches and honor
come of thee. Now, whatever we have of the
two, comes from the providence of God. It comes because in God's
wise providence He hath bestowed, whether it be riches or whether
it be honor, if we have either of the two or if we have both
of them. It's not because we deserve it.
It's not because of wise conduct diligence. That's not the reason. It's due to the providence of
Almighty God And notice he says, "...in thine hand is power and
might." That is, to do whatever pleases God. It's in His hand. Might and power is in the hand
of God. To do whatever pleases Him. It's
in His power to make a man great. It's in His power to give strength
unto all. Verse 13, "...Now therefore,
our God," We thank thee and praise thy glorious name. Now here's,
I just want to try to answer this question here in verse 14. I want you to stay with me for
a few minutes now. Verse 14, that's my text. But
who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer
so willingly after this sword? Who am I, David? The king said, here's a man now
whose heart beats with God's heart. Here's a man that God
said, a man after my own heart. His heart beats with my heart. He thinks like I think, this
man David. And David says, but who am I? And what is my people? The people
of Israel. That we should be able to be
privileged. What a privilege it is to do
anything for God. That's a privilege. Oh, we just kind of slough along,
you know, and take things for granted, and kind of blow ourselves
up, you know, with pride. self-will and think we're so
much, you know, if we give a dollar sometimes, we want someone to
brag on us. If we go to church three or four
times a week, we want to have special recognition for it. And
in most cases, if you don't do that, people won't come back.
You know, in most churches that I know of, if they don't have
a special day set aside at the end of the year to recognize
the faithfulness of the parishioners, that's trouble. got to pin little
badges on people because they never missed a Sunday all year.
They never came to church, but as long as they came to Sunday
school. Come to Sunday school, even if you... I remember back
when I was a boy that even if some children were sick and had
a cold and all that, their mothers would make them go. Go, at least
go to Sunday school so you'll have a perfect attendance. have
a perfect attendance, then you'll get the badge. You'll get a little
ribbon pinned on you on recognition day. Say, oh my soul, listen
to me. What a privilege. That's what
he's talking about. What is my people that we should be able,
that we should be so privileged to offer willingly these things
to you? What am I? What am I? What a privilege it is. What
a privilege it is to do anything for God. God, over all and above
all, He doesn't need us. Where in the world did we ever
get the idea that we added anything to the glory of God? We share
in His glory, but we add nothing to it. We are creatures of the
dust. God could be just as happy without
it. I don't know why he has prolonged
our days unto now. It's a privilege. It's a blessed
privilege. It's an honor. It's a distinct
honor and privilege for a man to do anything, however small
it might be, for God Almighty, who rules up all who has power
and might in His hand. Everything is in His hand. Everything,
everything that moves on top of the earth, in the heavens,
in the seas, everything comes under God's jurisdiction, under
God's power. He killeth, He said, I killeth
and I maketh alive. What a privilege it is for you
and I. to do anything for Him, to read
the Bible for His glory, to tell some poor hopeless soul the story
of the Lord Jesus Christ for the glory of God. What a privilege
that is. What a privilege it is to give
of our time, our talent which God has given us, to give of
our money, to give anything to the service of God. That's a
privilege. That's a privilege. That's an
honor. That's a distinct honor. Oh,
that's what David's talking about. That we should be able to offer
so willingly. That is, to have in our mind
that we're doing this not grudgingly or of necessity. We're not forced
into doing it. We're not high-pressured into
doing it. Most people nowadays are forced. or pressured into giving of anything
unto God. Preachers are geared in that
direction to pressure people, urge them, and force them by
constraint to grudgingly give. I listened to a fellow on the
television there this morning. He said, I think that he said
he started in 19... in 1976 to build a university,
a preacher, to build a university. And from 1976 to 1981, they had
spent a hundred million dollars. A hundred million dollars. Now
he said, we need five million more. And he spent, I know, at least
fifteen minutes telling about the need of that two and a half
or the five million dollars that they needed. And he told how
he wrote letters to his friends, telling them that they ought
to give and they needed to give and it was a worthwhile cause
and this and that, and went on and on and on and on and on,
and said God was behind all of this. God was behind it. I'm
telling you, brethren, I don't believe a word of it. Don't believe
a word of it. If you've got to, if a man's
got to, If he's got to urge people and press people to give of their
money unto God, it's not of God. It's not of God. And I'll tell
you, I don't care if it's a television preacher or a radio preacher
or a public preacher in a place like this, if he's got to drum
people and threaten people and urge them and press people to
give, Well, that's not a God. He's wasting his time, and he's
wasting the people's time. No, sir. Old David said that
we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort. Now,
look at this. Watch this. For all things come
of thee, and of thine have we given thee. Why, he said, who
am I and what is my people, that we should be able to have this
privilege to give so willingly, not grudgingly or out of necessity,
knowing that God loveth the cheerful giver after this sort, when we
understand that all things come of thee, that which we've given
to you, you've given to us. Isn't that what he's saying there?
For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given
thee." We've only given you what you've given us. All things come
from you. And what a privilege it is that
we can be willing to give you that which you've already given
us. That's the reason I say, brethren,
what a privilege it is, Bob. to give a dollar or five hundred
dollars or whatever it is, or to give our time, or to give
our witness, or to give our influence, or whatever it is, for the glory,
for the glory, the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
alone is worthy. Ah, what a privilege! We ought
to bless God that we got the privilege We can gather together
on a Sunday night and open up His Bible, open up His Word,
and read His Word, and thank God that He's given us a little
bit of understanding of what it means. Thank God for the privilege
of turning our hearts in His direction and blessing His name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, and forget
not His benefits. For all things come of thee,
and of thine own have we given thee." Let me get back now to
my text here. This is my text. But who am I
and what is my people? Who am I? That's what we want
to know. Who am I? Well, look up here
in verse 15. This will give us some indication
as to who David is and who David's people is. He says, we're strangers
before thee, sojourners, as were all our fathers. That is, we're
here in the land of Canaan, but the land of Canaan is not ours. God said in the book of Leviticus,
the land is mine. And he said here, I've already
read to you, he said, all things are mine. The land belongs to
God. It doesn't belong to the Israelites. They were tenants.
Tenants. They were sharecroppers, that's
all they were. They were tenants on this land. And did you know that God drove
out seven nations? He drove out seven I don't know
whether they were civilized or not. I guess they were. Seven
civilized nations out of the land of Canaan and let these
Jews, the Israelites, occupy that land. Drove them out and
killed them off by the thousands. Killed men, women, and children. Killed them off and given this
land. God did that for these people.
Who am I? David said, we are strangers
before thee. We have no right to this land.
Sojourner, sojourner, just passing through, that's all. This world
is not my home. I'm just passing through, as
were all our fathers, our days. Now notice this. Who am I? Our days on earth are as a shadow. You see here, our days on earth are as a shadow. That is, man's life is expressed
by days. In a day is 24 hours. Since 7.30 yesterday evening,
when we were watching the news or eating our evening meal or
whatever we were doing, from that point until right now, 24
hours has slipped by. Where did it go to? Where did
the last 24 hours go? We're 24 hours older than what
we were last night at 7.30. We're 24 hours nearer to our
eternal destiny than what we were yesterday. Oh, the brevity,
the shortness of man's life. What am I? Like a shadow? I'm a stranger. I'm a sojourner.
I'm like a shadow. My life is expressed in days,
not months, not years, not centuries, but in days, like a shadow, like
the shadow of the sun, here a few minutes and gone. You know what
he says? Ah, listen. He says, or as a
shadow, and there's none abiding, and I'll tell you what that means.
There's none abiding because life is so short. There is, it's not long. None abide. There is no habitual,
constant, perpetual abiding place. That is, there is no hope in
a man's heart of living long, living long, or recalling time
spent, or avoiding death. Oh, Lord our God, all this store
that we have prepared to build thee a house for thy name, for
thy holy name cometh of thine own hand, and is all thine own."
What is my hand? Who am I, David said. Who am
I and what is my people? Who am I? Listen, I'll tell you
what, y'all. David knew this. David said,
I'm a stranger. I'm a stranger. Every man by
nature is a stranger to the holiness of God. Every man. I care not
how big he is. I care not his background, his
environment. I care not his name. I care not
his pedigree, his ancestry. I care not whether he's big,
little, black, white. Every man. Every man by nature
is a stranger to the holiness of God, and I'll go even farther
than that. In Romans chapter 8, verse number
7, it says that he's not only a stranger to the holiness of
God, but he's an enemy to the holiness of God. The carnal mind
is imitating, not toward God, but against God. So every man
by nature is a stranger to the holiness of God, a stranger and
an enemy to the holiness of God. Every man that comes into this
world, every one of us, every man that comes into this world
comes with his face towards sin and hell and with his back upon
God and his back upon the holiness of God. That's man. That's man. All men are born sinners. And
there's nothing short of divine power that can make them saints.
Old Job put it this way. If you want to read something
here with me this evening, turn with me to the 25th chapter of
the book of Job. Let's look at something here
together. Listen to what Job said. Job chapter 25, and verse
number 4. Listen to this. Who am I? That's
what David said. Who am I? Well, David, you know
who you are. You're a stranger, stranger to
the holiness of God, an enemy to the holiness of God. And all
men that are born are born sinners, and there's nothing short of
divine power that can make them saints. In the fourth verse of
the twenty-fifth chapter of the book of Job, listen to what Job
says. Job said, How then can a man
be justified with God? How can this be? How can a man
be justified with God as he stands before God? How can God look
upon him and that man be justified in the presence of God when God
is so holy, when God's eyes are so pure that he cannot look upon
sin? God, Jesus Christ, was made sin. He had no sin, but he was made
sin. by imputation. Our sins were
imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ, were transferred to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it was so obnoxious to God
that God turned His back on the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus
Christ only had imputed sin. He had no original sin. There
was no There was sin in Him. There was sin on Him by way of
transfer. And He cried. He cried, My God,
My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Why have You denied Me Your
presence? Why? Because He was made sin. He was made sin. And He was so
obnoxious, so obnoxious to God, this transfer of sin, God couldn't
even look upon Him. God couldn't look upon the Lord
Jesus. He was there by Himself. No one to comfort Him. No one
to help Him. Even God is Heavenly Father,
and our Heavenly Father denied Him His presence. Job said, How
can a man be justified with God? Man who is so unholy? And God
who is so holy, how can this thing be? Job said that. How can a man be justified? Oh,
I would to God that that would be the cry of all of our hearts.
Oh, how can a man be just with God? I want to be just with God.
I want the slate clean. I want pardon. I want forgiveness.
I want sanctification. I want wisdom. I want redemption.
I want righteousness. I want a right standing with
God. How can that be? How can that
be? Oh, I'd be like Rachel of old. Give me children or else
I die. Samson said, give me water or
else I die. John Knox said, give me Scotland
or else I die. I would to God that we cry out,
give me! Jesus Christ, or else I die. I must have him." Oh, Job said,
how can a man be just with God? Look at this now. Or, how can
he be clean? That is, born of woman. How can
a man be just before God when he's so unjust? And God is so
just, and God is so holy, and man is so wicked. And now he
says, how can a man be clean? How can a man be clean that's
born of a woman? Well, how can a man be clean that's
born of a woman? A man that's born of a woman
is born in sin. Born in sin. A man that's born
of a woman. All of us, all of us, there was
only one that was born of a woman that was free from this disease,
and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He was free from this moral disease
and pollution, corruption of self-will and rebellion and sin.
That was the Lord Jesus. Only of all of the billions and
billions and billions and billions of people that was born, that
was born through the human process of birth, that came forth from
their mother's womb, there's only one that was ever born. of woman that was free from this
disease. And that's the Lord Jesus. Every
man that's born a woman is born in sin. He's born under the wrath
of God. He's born under the curse of
God. And Job goes on and says, Who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing? For our righteousness,
Isaiah said, is as filthy rags. Oh, do you see what I'm talking
about here? Who am I? Who am I? I'm a sinner before God. That's
who I am. Who is my people? They're just
like I am. They're sinners before God. Listen,
I'm going to tell you this. It's not absolutely necessary
that you should be great or you should be rich in this world,
but it is absolutely necessary that you be just before God.
I'll tell you that. It's not absolutely necessary
that you should enjoy health and strength and friends and
liberty in this life, but it's absolutely necessary that you
be just before God. Oh, how can a man, how can a
man be just before God, huh? Who am I, he said, who am I? Who am I and who are these people,
huh? Let me read something else here
to you from old Job. I think in the latter part of
that book, the last chapter maybe, or pretty near the last part
of the book of Job, he has something to say. He found out who he was.
Oh, what a moment. What a moment in man's history
when he finds out who he is. When he finds out who he is.
Men have never, for the most part, don't know who they are.
But if we ever find out, if I ever find out who I am, who I am guilty,
guilty, depraved, ungodly, unholy, unsanctified, a sinner by nature
and by choice, if I ever find that out, if I ever find out
how obnoxious I am, so obnoxious that when my sin was placed on
the Lord Jesus Christ, God couldn't even look for me. If I ever find
out that I'm like that, I'll tell you, brethren, there'll
be some changes made. I'll be looking in another direction.
I'll be seeking help. I'll be crying out for mercy
if I ever find that out. Find out who I am. Find out who
I am. That is the most important event
in man's history, is to find out who he is. There's other
things that are important. It's important when you're born.
It's important to who you're born to. It's important where
you live. It's important to your background,
environment, and so forth. Your parents are important. Your
school's important. When you graduate, it's important.
When you get married, it's important. When you have children, it's
important. When you have your bank account,
that's important. When you retire, it's important. But I'll tell
you the most important event in a man's life is to find out
who he is. Who am I? Find out that you're
a sinner. Find out that you're not as good
as you thought you were. Find out that your righteousness
is as filthy rags before God. When a man finds that out, when
a man finds that out, oh, the light, the light that floods
his soul when he finds that out. I'll tell you, when God makes
a man to know who He is, then He'll make that man to know who
God is. See that? When you find out who
you are, God will make you to find out who He is. And when
you find out who He is, that's eternal life. Does not the Scripture
say in John chapter 17, and this is eternal life? What is eternal
life? He said, this is eternal life,
that they might know Thee. That's eternal life. And when
a man finds out who He is, and God comes along by His Spirit
and quickens that man, and reveals in that man's heart who God is,
then he'll enjoy the salvation which is of God, that his sins
are pardoned, that he has a right relationship with God, that he's
just before God through the vicarious sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ
who had no sin. Oh, my soul. Who am I? Who am
I? Well, listen to what Job said.
Job said a lot of things. He said a lot of things in the
presence of men that he wouldn't have said in the presence of
God, Pat. He said some things in the presence of men. He cursed
the day that he was born in the presence of men. His three friends
came in. You remember that? His three
friends. Here he was. He was scraping himself with
a pot shirt. He had corruption. pollution
of boils all over him from the top of his head to the soles
of his feet. And the pollution and corruption was oozing out
of him. He took a pot shirt and began to scrape himself. And
there he was in dust and ashes, had his head down. The dust was
his headquarters. And here comes three friends.
They came from afar off. They came for days to come to
comfort Job. They didn't say a word. They
came into Job's presence. Just came there and sat. They
sat before him and never said a word. Never said a word. All
at once, Job took the initiative and he looked up at those three
friends. There was something about those three friends that
caused Job to curse the day he was born. He said, curse it is
the day that I was born. Curse it is the day that the
news came that there's a man-child born in this family. Oh, curse
it! He said a lot of things in the
presence of man that he would not have said in the presence
of God. You and I are like that. We'll say a lot of things in
the presence of men that we surely won't say in the presence of
God. Oh my, my soul! Job, listen, Job said, The Lord
answered Job and said, He that contendeth with the Almighty,
instruct him. He that reproveth God, let him
answer it. Then Job answered the Lord and
said, Behold, I am Thine. I'm vile. Oh, who am I? Well, I'm vile, Job said. Are
you vile? Are you vile? Or do you make
some excuse for it? Or do you say, well, I'm not
as bad as someone else. Well, I know, but I never did
this, or I never did that. You did it in your heart. You say, well, I never broke
that. You did in your heart. You say, well, I never committed
adultery. I never robbed anybody. You did it in your heart. You
did it in your heart. You said, well, I never took
God's name in vain. You did it in your heart because you were
scared to do it with your lips. But you did it in your heart. Now, let me be honest with you.
Now, did you ever sometime off by yourself in your heart say,
I wish there was no God? Did you ever say that? That's
the evidence of this bad heart. We all run this same road. Let's
be honest before God. Let's quit trying to cover ourselves
up with excuses. Let's take our place before God
as we are. Find out who we are. We're vile,
let's see, v-i-l-e, which means filthy, filthy. We're vile and
we're filthy before God. We haven't got a single solitary
thing in us, in us, apart from divine grace that is conducive
to God's mercy towards us. Not a thing, not a thing. You
can't do anything. Not anything. Everything, everything
that you and I do, every word that we speak, every breath that
we exhale is contaminated with the pollution of our nature,
which is that we're a sinner. Nothing. We've got nothing. Hopeless
and helpless, we've got nothing. We're vile. We're vile. David
said, what am I? You're vile. Behold, I'm vile. He said, what shall I answer
thee? He's talking to God now. What can I say now? I said a
whole lot of things out of your presence, but right now, when
the Lord says, shall he, that's Job, shall he that contendeth
with the Almighty instruct the Almighty? Come on, Job. Let's
hear from you now. Job said, I'm vile. I'm vile. I can't say anything. I'm filthy.
I lay my hand upon my mouth. I put my hand over my mouth so
I can't talk. Even though I want to talk, I'll
put my hand over my mouth and muffle anything that tries to
come out. He said, once I've spoken, but
I will not answer yet twice, but I'll proceed no further.
He said, I've talked and run off the mouth before. He said,
I'm vile. That's who I am. I'm vile. Oh,
these people that are so good in God's sight, they never found
out who they are. Ever find out who they are, watch
out. Behold, I'm bound. Turn the page over to chapter
42. Listen to this. And Job answered
the Lord and said, I know. I wish that we could know this.
I wish that a lot of preachers would know this. Job said, I know that thou canst
do everything. I know that you can do everything,
and that no thought can be withholden from thee." You can't withhold
anything in here from Him. He'll read our hearts like an
open book. Who is He that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore
have I uttered that? I understood not. Things too
wonderful for me, which I know not. Here I beseech thee, and
I'll speak. Listen, verse number five. Job
speaking now, he said, I've heard of thee by the hearing of the
ear. Oh, there's lots of people that have heard of the Lord Jesus
Christ by the hearing of the ear. They've heard of their condition
by the hearing of the ear, but I'll tell you, if their eyes
ever see themselves, the eye of their mind, the eye of their
soul ever sees themselves as they are and sees God as He is,
Then, brethren, they'll be like Job, they'll say, I'm vile, and
they'll make dust their headquarters. Listen, he says, Behold, I've
heard of thee, verse 5, I've heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now, he said, my eye seeth thee. Right now,
my eye sees thee. What's my response to that? What's
my reaction to my eye beholding thee? I've heard of you. I've
heard of you. But now the eye of my mind, the eye of my heart,
the eye of my soul, actually, really, Job said, really, I see
you. I see you. Not visibly, not a
physical form, but the eye of faith sees what? He's not seeing
He's not seeing God in an old man with a big long beard, and
he's not seeing Jesus there in a crib in a manger. He's seeing
the pure holiness, the absolute holiness of God Almighty. That's
what he sees. He said, this is my
response after my eye sees you, sees your immaculate holiness. And he said, I know what I am.
I'm vile. And he said, therefore, I abhor
myself. I hate myself. The theme is now
on these television programs among these preachers and these
do-gooders is that we ought to love ourselves. Everybody loves
you. Don't you love yourself? I love
myself. I hear them time and time again.
I love myself. I love myself. You ought to hate
yourself. If you ever see yourself, Man
never sees himself as God sees him and as God knows what he
is. Instead of loving himself, you
say like Job said, I'm vile, I'm filthy, and I hate myself.
I abhor myself and I'll make the dust my headquarters. See,
I abhor myself and I repent. I change my attitude about myself. I used to think I was a pretty
good fella. I change my attitude about myself. There's no merit
in me, no goodness in me that would tend to cause God to show
favor upon me, no goodness in me. Where did men ever get the
idea, preachers and theologians and schools and so forth, that
come up with the idea that man was so good that God would look
down upon him and find something in man that would be conducive
to God to bestow mercy upon him? There's no goodness in him. His
righteousness does filter right. No goodness in it. He said, I
abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. That's Job. Ah, that's who am I? That's who
I am. Well, I ask you this evening
then, in light of that, in light of your condition, in light of
my condition, let us flee to Him who alone can help us. I
ask men. I ask men all the time. Come
to Him whom to know is life eternal." Come to Him. Why don't you come
to the Lord Jesus? All your sin and all your filth,
come to Him just like you are. And I tell them that Christ died
for sinners. They say, well, I'm a sinner. And I say, well, Christ died
for sinners. He didn't die for righteous people. He didn't die for good people.
He died for sinners. That's who He died for. Why don't
you come to Him? They always have some reason
why. Let me read something just hurriedly,
and then I'll quit. Chapter 14 of the book of Luke. Turn there with me, will you?
14 of the book of Luke. And I just want you to see this
real quick, and then I'll quit. I promise you. Here in verse... Verse 15, it says, And when one
of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said
unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom
of God. And he then said unto him, A certain man made a great
supper and bade many. This is a parable. A certain
man made a great supper and he bade many to come. And he sent
his servants at suppertime to say unto them that were bidden.
In verse 16, the indication is this, that this certain man,
when he made the great supper, he invited many to come, and
many consented to his invitation. He bade many. Now verse 17, he
says that he sent his servant at supper time to say to these
people who had accepted or acknowledged the invitation to the supper,
to say to them that were bidden, said, Come, for all things are
now ready. And that's what I say. I say,
all things are now ready for the poor sinner. For the poor
sinner, hopeless, helpless, doomed, damned sinner, no hope in himself.
If he continues to go in the direction he's going, trusting
in his own righteousness, trusting in his faith, trusting in anything
apart from the Son of God, then he's doomed. I tell him, I say,
come, for Jesus Christ has paid it all. Come, for now all things
are ready. But listen to what they say.
And they all with one consent began to make excuse. Now listen
to me. There are different ways of replying
to the invitation of the gospel. That is, when a man means to
refuse it. And all these ways are bad, you
know that. Now, these people, they all with
one consent began to make excuse. The first two that were invited
to the supper, made some appearance of courtesy here because they
said, I pray thee, have me excused. It was kind of a form of courtesy. I pray thee, have me excused. But the third man, he didn't
make any excuse or he didn't pray to be excused. He said bluntly and he said sharply
in verse number 20. Look at it now. And another said,
that's the third party there, and another said, I have married
a wife and therefore I cannot come. Verse 19, that fellow said,
I've bought five yoke of oxen and I've got to prove them. I
pray thee, have me excused. But this fellow, he didn't say,
there was no courtesy attached to his blunt answer at all. He
didn't say, I pray thee, therefore have any excuse?" What did he
say? He said, I cannot come. Do you know what he is saying? He is saying, I will not come.
It wasn't that he couldn't come, but he was saying, I won't come.
I will not come. Well, all things are ready. All
things are ready. He said, I won't come. I will
not come. He didn't make any excuse. He
meant that he did not intend He meant that he did not desire.
He meant that he did not wish to come to the supper. That's
what he meant. He meant that he thought very
little, or he thought very lightly, of the man who gave the feast,
the giver of the feast. He thought very little of that
fellow that was given the feast. This is a parable, certainly,
that speaks of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This man
here said, I will not come, I cannot come, which shows that he didn't
think much. He didn't have no respect whatsoever
for the man who gave the feast. That's what he meant. He had
no respect for this certain man. And he had an opportunity to
slight this man by refusing his invitation, and he did so, and
he said, I will not come, I cannot come. He refused his invitation. And he also showed that he had
a low estimate of the supper itself. He said, I cannot come. It might be a fine meal. He said,
it might be a fine meal. I don't know about that, but
I don't want it. I don't want it. I don't care what you got.
I don't care if you got the best. I don't care if you went to California
and got ten pounds of bear. I don't care where you went.
I don't care what you got. I don't care if it's quail or
turkey or whatever it is. I don't want it. I can't come. Tell him I can't come. You were
bidden to come. You accepted the invitation.
What made you change your mind? That's none of your business.
I won't come. Quit trying to persuade me I will not come. It may be a fine meal, but I
don't want it. I can eat my supper at home.
If I want supper, I'll eat it at home. I don't have to come
down to your place. I'm not dependent upon nobody.
These are the things that he was saying. I'm not dependent
upon nobody. I can do for myself. I cannot
come. I want no more persuading. I
cannot come, and that settles it. That settles it. I won't
come. That's what men say. That's what men say when I preach
the gospel. I will not come. I will not come. I hate that way. I hate that
way. I despise God. I have no respect
for God. I have no respect for His Son.
I have no respect for His Supper. I will not come. When you don't
come, that's what you say. I will not come. It's not that
you can't come. Something matters if you will. Something matters if you will.
You can. You can. But you won't. You see, you've got a bad heart,
a bad will. I will not come. I've fixed suffering
myself. I don't need to come to your
suffer. I'll fix it myself. I'll not be dependent upon Him. Well, listen, it's bad enough
for this man to say, I can't come because he's going to suffer.
But it's far worse for you to say, I can't come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Ah, just to lose a supper wouldn't
be too much, would it? I've lost many of them, haven't
you? I've lost many a supper, and that wouldn't affect us too
much. Looks to me like most of us could, uh, we could do without
a supper, too, couldn't we? That'd help us if we could do
without a supper. You see, breakfast won't be very
long. My dad used to tell me years ago, and I was just a boy,
here and there, you know, and trying to make it, and he told
me, he said, listen, he said, eat. Be someplace, you know,
for supper. He'd say, eat. And I said, well,
I'm not hungry. I don't like this. I don't like
that. He said, eat. It's a long time till breakfast. You can
do without supper, but breakfast will always come, won't it? Breakfast,
I don't need nobody's supper. I may be good and all that. Ah,
just to lose the supper wouldn't be too much, because breakfast
will soon be here. But to lose, but to lose, listen
to me, to lose eternal life, to lose the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what you're losing?
You're losing reconciliation to God. You're losing redemption. You're losing the pardon of sin.
You're losing the righteousness of God. You're losing the joy
of faith. You're losing comfort in death. You're losing everything. You
lost everything. You lost everything. You committed
suicide. You lost everything when you
lose Nothing else. Jesus put it this way to emphasize
the magnitude of the importance of it. He said, what will a man
give in exchange for a soul? What will a man give? What will
a man give when he comes down to die? Oh, listen. Lose what you will. Lose what
you will. But don't lose your soul. What
am I? What am I and what are these people? Poor sinners. Poor sinners. But listen, God
has mercy on sinners. That's the only people in this
world that God shows mercy to, is sinners. Poor sinners like
you and I. Hopeless and helpless. Nothing
to commend ourselves. Nothing in our hands. We don't
have a thing in our hands to bring, to barter, to bargain
with God. Not a thing. We just throw ourselves
at the court of God's mercy and say, Lord, Lord, I'm a sinner. I can't help myself. I can't
help myself. Help me. Help me, Lord. Help
me. Is that your prayer? Help me, Lord. I can't help myself.
He said, Come to the supper. All things are ready. Come to
Jesus while you can. Let's stand and we'll be dismissed. Atkin would sing a verse of some
old hymn. 216.