Some say that there was doubt
as to who the Lord Jesus Christ really was in the heart and mind
of John the Baptist. Others say that the reason why
John sent his disciples was in order that his disciples might
be confirmed in the truth, because shortly his disciples would be
transferred under the auspices of the Lord Jesus Christ because
John was going to die, have his head cut off here shortly. Well,
I don't know what the motive was in John sending his disciples
to our Lord as to inquire if he was really the Christ. I can't
think in my own heart that there was a complete falling on the part
of John the Baptist as to who our Lord was. John had already
preached, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world. But there may have been, because
of the circumstance, John was in prison. He was in prison for
no other reason than being identified with the truth of his Master.
And I'm sure it was a lonely place and a time of reflection,
a time of wondering. And there may have been some
little doubt, I don't know, in his mind. What's this all about?
Looks like I would have been delivered. Here I am in prison
here. I don't know. Am I the forerunner of the Lord
Jesus? I don't know, but anyhow, I think
that maybe that this 6th verse was kind of a hint to John the
Baptist. John had not fallen, but maybe
he had faltered. Now, in verse number 7, it says, and as they departed,
that is, as those that came of John the Baptist to our Lord
to find out, to get some information. As they departed, Jesus began
to say unto the multitude concerning John, Now, our Lord will sooner
or later bear testimony to the man or to a man who has faithfully proclaimed and identified himself
with the Lord Jesus. Sooner or later, our Lord will
bridge the gap. Our Lord will come to the forefront
and bear testimony of the faithfulness of the man who has honored Him.
And so He did with John the Baptist. He spoke to these people concerning
John the Baptist. And He said, well, you know that And sometimes a
man can go along in this life, a Christian man, woman, boy or
girl, and there's no seemingly, there's no confirmation or there's
no attesting by the Spirit of God or God Himself
to this man's genuineness or to this man's faithfulness, and
he just keeps going day after day and day after day and day
after day, and he seems to be alone. He seems to be by himself,
and his influence is not very effective. Sometimes his own
family, his own family is not affected by what he believes,
and he's made to wonder and doubt, is he genuine? Now, I know all
of you have experience that to a degree anyhow. You don't seem to be useful.
You don't seem to be effective. And you wonder, you wonder, well
now, is this thing that I claim to have, do I really have it? Or am I saying that I've been
someplace and I've never been there? Do I profess to be something
and do not possess that which I profess to have? And there
comes a time of serious contemplation as to whether I am or whether
I'm not. God has not seemingly manifested
any confirmation of who I am. I have not been recognized. And there's a serious time of
doubt. Sometimes it comes in our hearts.
But I want you to know, sooner or later, sooner we hope. But I'm sure sooner or later
He will come. He will come and confirm. And He will. He will bear witness
of those who have faithfully honored Him. I remember the story
one time I heard. I've told this before maybe by
way of illustration. It may be that we could go on
in this life and never have that which our heart cries for by
way of honor or recognition by God. I'm not talking about someone
patting us on the back saying you're a good fellow or something
like that. But it may be that we may never have what we want
in order to satisfy our own inquisitive mind and heart. But sooner or
later, God's going to come along. It may be later. It may be in
eternity. I don't know. But God is going
to confirm. He's going to bear witness who
we are, that we're His friends. They said that one time that
there was a game going on. And the observer of the game
noticed that the team that was at bat seemed to be circling
the bases. They just won after another.
And finally, he asked one of the fellas on the opposite team,
he said, now, what in the world is going on here? He said, who's
winning? Well, he said, what's the score?
And the fella said, well, the boy said, well, the score right
now is 50 to nothing. And he said, 50 to nothing? That's
right, 50 to nothing. Well, he said, aren't you discouraged?
He said, no. He said, we haven't come to bat
yet. We haven't come to bat yet. We're
not discouraged. The score's 50 to nothing. But
we're not ready to quit. We haven't had our turn yet.
Well, you see what I'm trying to say? Your turn may not come
for a long time, but your turn will come. Your turn will come. just as John's turn came. John
was here in prison, deserted by everybody, by himself, and
about to be put to death. And he had some serious doubts,
I suppose, about everything that he was involved in. And he wondered,
is someone going to come to my rescue? And no one did come to
his rescue, by the way. And he had his head cut off and
he died right there in the loneliness of that prison. But our Lord
did bear witness and did provide and give testimony of who John
the Baptist was and of his character and so forth. Now, God will do that for us
one day. Sooner, maybe later, who knows? I don't. But He will. He will
come. And He will say, They're my friends. They're my friends. You see? Now notice, it says, And they
departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning
John. What do you think of John? Well,
what do you fellas really think of John the Baptist? He said
you went out to see him. You went out to have a look at
him. What do you think of him? You know what he's saying here?
Begin to say unto the multitudes concerning John, what went ye
out into the wilderness to see? What did you see when you went
out there in the wilderness? You went out there to look at
a man. What do you think of him? What do you see? Did you see
a reed shaken with the wind? What did you see? Did you see
a man influenced by the times? Did you see a man that was bowed
before the Spirit of the times? John was no man-pleaser. John did not preach or witness
in order that Men might be pleased, or did He court favor of men,
of kings and those in power? What do you think of this man?
What did you see when your eyes looked upon this man out in the
wilderness? Tell me what you think about
him. What did you see? Did you see a man of courtly
manners? Did you see a man of costly dress? Did you see a man of pompous
diction? No, sir. We didn't see that. No, John was a messenger of God
to prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ, and our Lord Jesus
Christ recognizes John in that capacity. He came to his defense. Sounds to me like maybe there
was some doubt and problems in John's mind down here. John had
heard in prison the works of Christ So he said, what will
I do? A languishing prisoner. What
will I do? I need to have something confirmed
in my heart. Why am I here? Am I going to
be here forever? Is the Christ that I preach,
is He really the Messiah? I better send two disciples and
find out. So our Lord Jesus Christ says,
alright, you tell John. You tell John this concerning
me. This is what I'm doing. The blind
receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel
preached to them." That will fill old John's boat. That will
be enough for John. So they went back and told John
that, and then our Lord Jesus Christ begins to identify Himself
with John. Honors! John, who had so faithfully
honored him. And so, John who was the messenger
sent from God. You remember that passage of
Scripture in the book of Matthew in chapter 2 there where it says
there was a man sent from God, or John chapter 1? There was
a man sent from God whose name was John. John the Baptist. God sent John. and sent him for
a specific and particular reason that he might prepare the way
of God's Son, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, our Lord
Jesus Christ recognizes John in that capacity. John had confessed
his Lord, and now his Lord confesses him. Do you remember there is
a verse of Scripture that says, Whosoever shall not confess me
before man? He said, I will not confess him
before my heavenly Father. John had confessed the Lord Jesus
Christ before man. He said, Lo, he said, there is
one that cometh that is preferred before me. He said, the latchet
of his shoes, I'm not worthy to tie. He said, behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He said, I must
fade away, I must diminish, I must decrease, but he must increase. John said, I'm only a boy. That's
all I am, I'm just a boy. Not a very articulate one at
that. But I'm just a voice, that's
all I am. A voice of one crying in the
wilderness, preparing you the way of the Lord. That's all I
am. What I'm saying is, John confessed the Lord Jesus Christ
to be his Lord, to be his Savior, his Redeemer, his Messiah. Now
the Lord Jesus Christ confesses here. that John is faithfully
identified with him. You see, this is the rule of
the king. And I'll read a little more here
to you, but let me say this before I read it. No mortal man, no
man before, no man since, has ever received such commendation
as John the Baptist received, being bestowed upon him by the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. He says here, among them that
are born of women, of a woman, of men that's born of women,
he said there's none greater than this man. Listen, where
does he say that? Maybe not here, but another place.
But look down in verse number 9. He said, verse number 8, let
me read that. But what went ye out to see?
Did you go out to see a man clothed in soft raiment? Well, if you
did, you didn't find him. Because he said, Behold, they
that wear soft clothing are in king's houses. That's where they
are. But what went ye out for to see? What did you go out there
to see? What did you look upon when you
were out there in the wilderness? Well, he said, a prophet, John
the Baptist, not only among women, he said there's none greater
than John the Baptist, but he said he was a prophet. Yeah,
I say unto you, more than a prophet. I'm telling you this morning,
brethren, that the man who confesses his Lord Jesus Christ, sooner
or later, the rule of the King is, I'll confess Him. I'll confirm
His confession among men. Don't be offended, John. The
text is this, and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended
in me. Don't be offended in me, John.
Don't stumble, John. Don't falter because of anything
concerning me. And, of course, that's a hint
to you and I. That's a promise to you and I.
We ought not to stumble or falter in regard to anything concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, whatever it is. Verse number 11, "...verily,
verily, I say unto you, among them that are born of woman there
hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding
he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."
Well, can I say again then, in light of what we've read, no
mortal man ever received such commendation as Jesus Christ
Himself here bestows upon His friend. And our Lord will do
the same for every man who so identifies with Him, who so faithfully
honors Him in this life. He may not, I say, He may not
receive such confirmation or recognition here in this life,
but there will come a time, there will come a time when he will.
Well, all right, let me deal with the text here. It says,
Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Blessed
is he whosoever is not made to stumble concerning anything about
me. Now, there are some people in
the world, among the world's population, they are some who
are offended with the Lord Jesus Christ to such a degree that
they will never bow down and receive Him as Lord. They're
offended. As a matter of fact, the majority
of people that are alive today, right now, the majority, I'm
not saying that all, but I'm saying the majority of the people
that are alive today are offended with the Lord Jesus Christ to
this degree that they will not bow down and receive Him as Lord. The majority of people at any
given time are offended with the Lord Jesus Christ. Why are
men offended? The offense, now you might Folks
say, well, I remember one time I was talking to a fellow and
he said, well, I don't go to church. He said, the reason I
don't go to church is, he said, my mother and dad, they made
me go when I was a boy. He said, they made me go every
Sunday morning and every Sunday night. And when I got to be about
16, 17, 18 years old, I said, well, that's enough of that.
I'm my own man now and I'm not going anymore. And he said, that's
the reason why I'm not identified with religion or Christianity.
It's because my parents tried to force this upon me. They made
me go to church. And now, when I'm my old man,
I'll do what I want to. Well, you see, that was just
a pole to ride out on. That really wasn't the reason.
That really wasn't the reason. I'll show you what the reason
is. When men are offended, it's not that they're offended with
religion, or denominations, or instructions, or rules, or regulations. Now that might be the pole that
they use to ride out on, but what really offends every man
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ offends him. Listen
to this. In the seventh chapter of the
book of John, Our Lord said, in that last day, that great
day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man
thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. That is, there they
were. They had came from all over Judea
and gathered at Jerusalem for the great day of the feast. And
they had been there for a number of days. And they had went through
all of their religious instruction. They had observed all of the
ceremonies. They had listened to all of the
rabbis and priests. And they had their fill of religion. And our Lord Jesus Christ looked
down upon them, and He said, now, to Himself, I understand
your feelings here. You went through all the formalities
and all the religion, and he said, you've come out and you've
got nothing. Now he says, if any man thirsts,
that is, if there's any man among you that's guilty, what does
it mean to be thirsty? It means to come to see yourself
guilty. before God. Anybody thirsty? Anybody tired and hungry of this
formality of religion? Anybody in that crowd? Anybody
guilty? Well, if there is, if any man
thirsts, Jesus said, let him come unto Me and drink. Alright,
going down to verse 40 now. Many of the people, therefore,
when they heard this saying, said, of a truth, This is the
prophet. Others said, this is the Christ. But some said, shall Christ come
out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said that
Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town of
Bethlehem where David was? Here's what I want you to see.
So there was a division among the people because of him. The division, regardless of what
other means are given or used, it always comes back to him. They were divided over who he
was. They were offended because of
him. Now, there are some people that
are offended with the Lord Jesus Christ to the degree that they
never in this lifetime, though they live to be 104 years old,
they live in out and out rebellion against the Lord Jesus Christ. And their rebellion, and their
uncircumcised heart, and their so stiff-necked that they live
in this rebellion all of their life and die in that state and
in that condition. They are offended, absolutely
offended with the Lord Jesus Christ to a degree that they
will not bow and receive Him as their Lord. There are some
that are offended with Him, because of the humbleness of his character. Some here in the Bible said,
well, he's the son of the carpenter. We know this man Jesus. We know who he is. He's the son of a carpenter. He's the son of Joseph the carpenter. We know who he is. He is father
and his mother. We know him. We know him. We
will not bow down to this man. We know something about his origin,
where he come from, who his mother and his father was. We know some
of his brothers and some of his sisters. So men, you see, even
to this day, are offended because of the humbleness of the character
of the Lord Jesus Christ just as they were in biblical days. You see, our Lord, when he came
among men, he came among them as a common man. He wore the
ordinary clothes that they wore. The Bible says that he had a
garment without seam woven from the top throughout. He had no
soft garment on. He had no gorgeous apparel. He came with no chariot of horses
with pulp of princes? He didn't come like that. The
Bible says that he rode upon a colt, the foal of an ass. And they said, is this man the
king? Is he the king? Well, listen,
whenever you find a religion, wherever it's at, which unites
itself or identifies itself with pomp and show and worldly power,
you won't find much truth in it. Some, they are in this life
today, who are offended with the Lord Jesus Christ, who reject
him because of the fewness of his followers. They like to go
where the many go. They say, well, there's just
a few. There's just a few, so we won't be identified with them. We've got to go where the many
go. We've got to go where the crowd. How many do you have in
your congregation? How many do you have? Generally,
it's what folks want to know, but many people seem to forget.
Now listen, this is important. Many people seem to forget that
our Lord said broad is the way. that leadeth to destruction.
Broad is the way, but straight is the gate that leadeth unto
life eternal. So you see there's many reasons
why men are offended. Our Lord said to John, He said
this in order that John might be comforted. John here languished
in prison and he said, Now blessed is he whosoever shall not be
offended in me. Whosoever shall not stumble in
regard to anything concerning me, don't stumble. Don't stumble. Blessed is the man who will not
stumble. Many do stumble. Many are offended. Offended for many reasons. Let
me give you a few of them. Some are offended because of
his claims. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
claims to be God. Men stumble and are offended
because he says he is God. There are whole denominations
whose sole ambition is to deny the Godhood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is a denomination of They
call themselves Christians. They shouldn't be called Christians.
They shouldn't be identified with the Christian religion.
They call themselves Unitarians because they do not believe in
the Godhood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't believe that
Jesus Christ is God. And their greatest ambition and
desire is to prove to any who will listen that Jesus Christ
is not God. Many are offended because of
his claims. He claims to be God. Let me read
something to you here. In John chapter 10, look at this
with me if you will. Turn over here in John chapter
10. I want you to see this. John chapter 10. This is what he claims. People
are offended. Verse 27, verse 26, Jesus said,
But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep. But I said
unto you, as I said unto you, My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them thee
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Our
Lord Jesus Christ He claims absolute equality with the Father. That's
what he claims. He said, I and my Father are
one. He says, in other words, I am
God manifest in the flesh. That's who I am. I came from
God. I am God manifest in the flesh. Now, many people are offended
in regard to the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ as to who He
is. He says he's God. He said he's
God. And I believe he's God. I believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ, who was born there in Bethlehem's
manger, in the city of David, in that stable, that that little
baby was none other than God Almighty Himself. Now, you can't
explain it. You can't explain it to reasoning's
satisfaction. It's only by the faith given
by God can we believe that. But nevertheless, it's true.
That's the claim or one of the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ
that He's God. Manifest in the flesh. I and
the Father are one. He claims to be God over all
and above all. You see, I must have a God to
save that's able to save me or I'll never be saved at all. If
he's not God manifest in the flesh, then there's no salvation.
If he's just a mere man, he can't save anybody. He couldn't save
himself. He must be God in order to save a sinner. So many people
are offended. They're offended. Our Lord said,
John, I've got a message for you. Blessed is the man that
will not be offended With me, with my testimony, with who I
am, with what has been said about me, or what I say. Blessed is
the man who will not be offended. You offended this morning because
of his claims of who he is? He is God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is God. That is who He is. Listen to
some of his claims here. He said, I am the good shepherd
and I know my sheep. And he said, I am known of mine,
as the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father. And he said, I lay down my life
for the sheep. I lay it down. Now look at verse
18 of the 10th chapter. No man taketh it from me. These
are the claims of the Lord Jesus. He said, no man takes my life
from me. In other words, he said, you
couldn't kill me. You couldn't take my life from me. It looked
that way when the Roman guard and the high priests and the
scribes and Judas Iscariot led that pack there at the garden
that night to get our Lord. It looked like they was taking
his life from him, but they couldn't take his life from him. Listen,
because he said, I lay it down. I lay it down. Freely, willingly,
gladly, carefully, I lay it down. You can't take my life. You can't
kill me. That's an impossibility. I am
lying. Now notice, no man taketh it
from me, but I lay it down of myself. Now he makes a statement
here that no, well, already made a statement that no mortal man
could make or ever make. I let down of myself. Notice
now, secondly, I have power to let down, and I have power to
take it again. No man takes my life from me.
I'm God. I'm God. And listen, verse 19
says, There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these
things. They were offended. These people
were offended. Why? Because of his claims. And
many of them said, this is what they said, because they were
offended. He hath a devil, and is mad,
why hear ye him? Many, I'm telling you this morning,
brethren and sisters, that there are many in this world among
the children of man who are born of the race of Adam who are offended
with the Lord Jesus Christ for no other reason than who he claims
he is. They're offended. They are offended
to the extent that they will live and die, steeled in this
rebellion against God, and go off into eternity Christless
and hopeless. Well, some are offended because
of His atonement. Some cannot endure a statement
like this, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some
can't endure statements like this. There is no remission of
sin apart from the shedding of blood. Some people just faint
at the sight of blood. Some people faint and are shocked
when they hear men talk about blood. But our Lord Jesus Christ,
from the beginning of the Scriptures to the end of the Scriptures,
talks about nothing except blood, except sacrifice. You remember
there in the tabernacle when the high priest would go in to
the Holies of Holies once a year to offer up a spotless victim? When he went in there, There
was blood splattered everywhere! There was blood on the walls! There's blood on the floor! There
was blood sprinkled everywhere! If a man couldn't stand the sight
of blood, he couldn't have stayed in that tabernacle. Blood! It's a bloody religion! It's a bloody religion! There
is no salvation apart from a bloody sacrifice. I'm telling you this morning
that there's a whole lot of people in the world today that's going
to go to hell because of their sophistication. They're going
to hell because they can't endure this bloody sacrifice. A glorious
sacrifice! There's two men in the first
part of the Bible here. Two men! The first two men that
was born of a woman. Cain and Abel. And there came a time when they
both went to offer sacrifice unto God. And Abel, he got a
lamb of his flock and he built an altar. And he cut that lamb's
throat. And he just poured out the blood
of the dead lamb upon that altar. And God accepted Abel, and He
accepted Abel's sacrifice. Because it was a bloody sacrifice. And it depicted or represented
in type. the offering of the sinless One,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who would come and offer His blood for
the sins of His people. But there was another fellow,
his brother, Abel, or Cain. Cain came and he said, well,
I'm not going to bring no lamb. I'm not going to bring no lamb.
I'm not going to bring no turtle dove or I'm not going to bring
any animal at all. These are valuable. These animals
are valuable. I'll bring some, I'll bring a
handful of barley. I'll bring a gomer of wheat.
I've got plenty of wheat, I've got plenty of barley, but I've
got too many lambs. And that will be alright because
God will understand my intention. He'll understand my intention.
So He brought the first fruits of his fields, and he brought
them and offered them unto God, and God was wrong with him, and
God rejected him, and his countenance fell. And our Lord said to him,
He said, Well, why are you in such a state? He said, If you
go back and do better, it will be accepted. If you go back and
bring a lamb, it will be accepted. Bloody sacrifice! What I'm telling
you is this, that men, there's men and women who are offended
with the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah, I told you
several times about the A good friend of mine, one time I talked
to him about the script. I said, just listen to me for
a few minutes. I said, I feel like I've got
to talk to you. And he said, well, not in these words, but
this is how it came out by impression. I haven't got time for you, but
I'll give you a couple of minutes. Go ahead and say what you've
got to say. And I tried to tell him. I tried to tell him that,
oh man, are sinners before God. And I tried to tell him that
there's only one way that a man can enter into the joy of glory
in heaven, is to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tried
to tell him that, and he always said to me, he said, that's alright
for you, you need it. It's alright for you. You need
something to help you on. You need that. But he said, I
don't need it. I don't need it. I never did
this and I never did that. He was offended, offended. Because I told him that if he
ever gets to God's glory, he's going to have to come the same
way harlots, thieves, adulterers, and adulteresses, and all the
rest of the category of sinners come that offended him. That
offended him. I don't need that. That's what
Abel says. I don't need it. But I'll tell
you, brethren, the very heart of the gospel is that He stood
in our place, in our room, in our stead, and bore in His own
body that which was our due. And this is to be preached at
all times over and over and over and over. You can't hear anything
better than that. You can't get tired of hearing
it. This is the best news in the
world. And I've heard people say or indicate, well, man, ain't
there something else? There's nothing else. There's
nothing else. I don't want to hear nothing
else. I don't want to preach nothing else. Why? Because this is the best news
that ever fell upon the ears of mortal man, that Jesus Christ,
who was God Himself, gave Himself, blood, and soul, and spirit,
in my stead, my place, and my rule, in order that I might be
saved. I don't want to hear anything else apart from that. I don't
care what it is. That's the best news. That's
the good news. I don't care about government,
the economy, The price of potatoes, the shah of Iran, Tony Comini,
that's all right and it's praised, I suppose, but that's not what
I want to hear. I want to hear something about Him. See, this
is the heart of it, the heart of the gospel, is the substitutionary
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who stood in the sinner's stead
and paid the sinner's due. Listen, if you and I are ever
cleansed from sin, it must be because the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's dear Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we're ever cleansed,
how are we going to be cleansed? Through the blood sacrifice,
through the atonement that our Lord Jesus Christ makes. So don't
stumble, don't falter, don't be appended at the cross of Christ. Remember Paul said? Paul said
that, he said, I glory in the cross. God forbid that I should
glory. He said, I don't want to glory
in anything I've done. I haven't done anything. I'm
less than least of all those things. I haven't done anything.
I am what I am by the grace of God. God forbid that I should
glorify, say it in the cross, say it in the cross, a glory
in the cross. I brag, I boast in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? That's where God dealt with
Paul's sin. God didn't deal with Paul's sin
on the road to Damascus. Paul didn't, or God didn't deal
with Paul's sin in the back street. God dealt with Paul's sin in
the person of that bloody sacrifice on the cross. Therefore, Paul
said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. So don't be offended. Don't be offended at the cross. Some are offended with Him. because of the graciousness of
his gospel. In other words, it has too much
free grace in it. They'd like to see it mixed with
a little worse. We're offended. You mean to tell
me? You mean to tell me that a look
at the crucified one will save a guilty sinner? That's what
I mean to tell you. Oh, that's too easy. Oh, no,
no. No, I wouldn't stand. You've got to do that. You've
got to believe in Jesus now. That's right. You've got to accept
Jesus, make a decision for Jesus, but, but you've got to do this. No, no. Oh, no. Many are offended. Many are offended with the Lord
Jesus Christ because of the graciousness of free grace. Brother, it's
free, Kevin. It's free. You can't buy it. You can't pay for it. It's free. It's a gift. Free grace. That's what it is, it's free.
Listen, we talk about mercy? It can't be mercy if it's deserved. There's no such thing as mercy
if you deserve it. If you deserve it, it's not mercy.
Mercy is for undeserving, hell-bent men and women and boys and girls.
Mercy is for them. That's the stiff nearest hell. That's who mercy is for. Some
men are offended though. They're offended. Let me read
something to you. I believe over here in the book
of Galatians maybe. You turn with me to the book
of Galatians. If you would just for a second or two, I'll let
you go here in just a minute. Galatians. so I can find it. The second
chapter. I'm talking about free grace.
Verse 16 says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the law. I'm going to tell you right now,
that there never was a man nor never will be a man that will
ever be justified by the works of the law or the deeds of the
flesh. Never will. No man will ever be saved by
keeping the law. I don't care who he is, big,
little, or small, yellow, green. I don't care where he comes from
or where he's going. I don't care how good he is or
how good he thinks he is. He'll never, never, never in
this world be saved by keeping the law. He won't do it. Knowing
that no man, no man is justified by the works of the law. How is he justified? Listen to
this verse, "...but by thee..." It doesn't say your faith. You're not justified by your
faith. You say, well, I believe, and your believing don't save
you. I'm going to tell you who saves
this morning. I'm going to tell you who saves. That man that
God hung upon that tree who shed His blood, that's the man that
saves. He saves. Your faith don't save
you and my faith don't save me. It's the object of faith that
saves. Where is the object of faith?
That man on the tree there, Tim. The man that hung on the tree,
that's who saves. Listen. but by the faith, the
faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by your faith or my faith, that
we may be justified by the faith of Christ and not by works of
the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Someone said, well, I can keep
the whole law. You still couldn't be saved. You say, you mean to
tell me, you mean to tell me that if I kept the law, I couldn't
be saved? No. No. There ain't nobody going
to be saved by keeping the law. Nobody. I don't care who they
are. No flesh shall be justified by the works of the law. No flesh. All right. Verse 19. For I, through the law, am dead
to the law, that I might live unto God." Now look at this.
I am crucified with Christ. Well, I'm still living, but yet
I've been crucified with Him. I hung there with Him. I hung
there with Him. My representative, my surety,
I hung on the cross with Him. When He was crucified, I was
crucified. Yet I live. Yet not I. But He, Christ, lives in me. Christ lives in me. Right now,
the life which I now live in the flesh. Listen, watch again
now. I live by the faith of the Son
of God. I live by His faith. Not mine, His. By the faith of
the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Now, look
at that last verse. Paul, he straightens her all
up right here. You remember what I said. I said
some are offended. Some. Many. There's many that
are offended with Him, with the Lord Jesus, because of the freeness,
because of the graciousness of His gospel. It has too much free
grace for them. They'd like to have it mixed
with a little work. Now look at it. I do not frustrate. Frustrate means mix up. Paul
said, I do not mix up the grace of God. You don't mix it up with
a little works and a little faith. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness, and that's what I need, I need
righteousness. I need a righteousness that will
render me absolutely, perfectly free from every blemish of sin. I need a righteousness that will
honor God Almighty. I need a righteousness that's
equivalent to the righteousness of God's only Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who was God manifest in the flesh. I need a righteousness
just like that. If I haven't got a righteousness,
a perfect righteousness, just like the righteousness of the
Son of God, I'm a gone Jesse, and I'm going to hell when I
die. There ain't no alternative. If I haven't got that, that's
what I've got to have. You see that? You see that? You offended? Anybody offended now? Now listen,
I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness
cometh by the law, Then Christ is dead in vain. He died a purposeless
death. If righteousness cometh some
other way apart from the bloody sacrifice and the freeness of
the grace of God to the poor guilty sinner, why, he said,
Jesus Christ, God made a mistake. God made the biggest mistake.
He made the biggest blunder, the biggest mistake that men
on this earth combined could possibly make. He killed his
son. He killed his son and the killing
of his son won't save anybody. Oh, my soul! We'll not charge
God with a blunder. We'll not charge God with a crime.
We'll not charge God with a mistake. He knew what he was doing. When
he hung his son on that pole, as he fixed that brazen serpent
on the pole, he hung his son there on that pole to pay for
the sins of somebody! And that's for sure. I hear it said, complete justification. complete exoneration by faith
is a very dangerous thing and should not be preached only with
much caution. Moral virtues ought to be the
main theme. They say it's wrong to sing a
hymn like this Nothing, either great nor small, nothing, sin
or no, Jesus did it, did it all long, long ago. They says wrong
to sing that. I'm telling you, my brethren,
doing is a deadly thing. It's free grace. Grace as free
as the air that you breathe. Undeserved, certainly, but given
of God because He delights to do it. God delights to show mercy. He's rich! It doesn't tell us
in Ephesians chapter 2 that we're dead in trespasses and in sins,
but it goes on and says, but God who is rich in But God, He's
not poor. He's not poor. He doesn't have
just a little bit of it. He only has a snuff can full
of it. But it says, God, who is rich
in mercy, rich in mercy, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you saved. Some are offended with Him, my
brethren, because they have found out that his religion, the religion
that he's identified with, demands more self-denial than they reckoned
with.