me then this morning to the third
chapter of the book of John. I want to read a verse here and
use it as a basis for my remarks this morning. John chapter 3
and verse 18. Now I thought about this by something
that was said yesterday or several things that were said. I think
most of the The preaching that I heard had to do with the exaltation
of Christ and the debasement of the sinner. And I just got
to thinking about some of the experiences
set forth here in the Bible of the mercy and the grace of God
in the salvation of sinners, who he did save. I remember reading
in one place that this woman at the well who had, what was
it, five husbands, and one that she lived with now really wasn't
her husband, and the Lord spoke, had conversation with her, and
before it was over with, why, he made himself known to her
heart. She was so overcome by His love and mercy and that amazing
grace that she forgot her water pots, the first thing, but she
went back to where she had started from and she had told the area
there all things that this man did for her. She was so appreciative
and thankful that God had visited her and the person of his son. But when the disciples came back,
they marveled that he talked to this woman. They marveled
that he would condescend and talk to this lowly woman, this
fallen woman, this woman that had overshot the sacred bounds
of matrimony and divorced and all and lived with another man.
And they marveled, but as I got to thinking about it, Peter and
James and John were no better than she was. And what's true
with them is true with us. We're no better than the vilest
sinner out of hell today, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ who
makes the difference. And then I got to thinking about
the fact that there's a whole lot of the Pharisee in all of
us. I remember that in the land of
the Gadarenes, the Lord Jesus chose there a man that was possessed
of demons and devils. He was not himself. He was beside himself. In fact,
he was so bad that they must chain him. They must
chain him in order to keep him from throwing himself upon people
that came down the road. And of course, when the Lord
came and made himself known to him while he was of a right mind
and he clothed himself and announced to the Lord that he would follow
him, they said, I'll devote myself now to your service. I'll follow
you and be your helper and servant. So I thought of the amazing grace
of Almighty God and the salvation of sinners. There in Jericho
he chose this blind beggar who was blind. Not a thing about
this fellow that would be commendable unto God, but yet the Lord Jesus
chose a blind beggar. There was a lot of people on
the street that day. There was a great big crowd there,
but he singled out a blind beggar. He singled out a harlot, one
that was living with had five husbands, and the one she lived
with wasn't her husband now. He singled out her, and chose
her, and made himself known to her, and certainly she ought
to know something about the grace of God, and she ought to be amazed
at the grace of God. And then this naked man, the
man that was possessed of devils, and the blind beggar, then there
was this little tax collector that was setting up a tree, in
a tree there, Lazarus, or Zacchaeus then, The Lord Jesus Christ came
along and he said, Zacchaeus, come down for today's salvation
has come to thy house. And then even at the end of the
human life of the Lord Jesus, before he gave his life, before
he laid his life down, there at Jerusalem a fellow was telling
me that there was probably a hundred or two hundred thousand people
in Jerusalem when the Lord was crucified that all come to town. And someone put it this way.
Everybody that was somebody was at the hanging. And if there
was a hundred or two hundred thousand people there, the manifestation
of the amazing grace of God was pointed and evidenced in that
the Lord chose a thief and made himself known to that thief on
the cross. So, I've come to this conclusion
that if I'm not amazed that God saved me, If I'm not amazed,
I mean if I'm not astounded every day, every time that I can draw
my mind to think upon my position and state in Christ Jesus, if
that doesn't amaze me, then I've come to this conclusion. I don't
know anything, I don't know the first thing about sin, or I don't
know the first thing about the grace of God, if that doesn't
amaze me. I'm not amazed in a sense. I'm not amazed about you being
saved. Let's put it that way. I'm not
amazed about you being saved. But what amazes me is that God
saved me for this reason, because I know me and I don't know you.
I know me. I know everything about me. I
know my heart. I know my thoughts. I know my
ways, I know my directions, I know my feelings, I know my emotions,
and I know something of my heart. I know my past, and I know my
present. So as I think about that and
meditate about that, in light of the fact that God saved me,
that's amazing grace. It's the grace of God that He
saved me. I don't know about you. See, I don't know you like
I know me. But as you apply it to yourself, and if you're a
recipient of the grace of God, and if your feet is upon the
solid rock, if He hath brought you out of that horrible pit
that you was bogged down in the mire clay, if He hath lifted
you out, and set your feet upon the rock, and established your
goings, and put a song in your heart, and a spring in your step,
then you ought to be amazed at the grace of God that He would
condescend and save a wretch like you, a wretch like me. Well, I was thinking of those
things as these brethren preached. Now, I've come to this conclusion
then, and I want you to consider it with me here this morning.
There is nothing that keeps an unbelieving man at any moment
out of hell, but the mere good pleasure of God." That is his
arbitrary will. He is not restrained by any obligation. Now, verse 18 of the third chapter. As we read this, keep in mind
what I said, that there is nothing, not a single solitary thing that
keeps an unbelieving man at any minute, at any second, at any
moment, out from the pit of hell, except the mere good pleasure
of God. It says, he that believeth on
him, or he that believeth on him is not condemned. That is,
the man who is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
the recipient of the grace of God, He that believes on him
is not condemned. No condemnation on him, but he's
justified. I told you the opposite of condemnation
was justification. So if a man is not condemned,
he's justified before God. That is, he's acquitted of all
the charges that God's law had against him. These charges have
been satisfied and he's been turned loose. He's been delivered
from that law and he's not condemned. But, he that believeth not, he that believeth not is condemned
already. And he tells us why we're condemned
already. He that believeth not is condemned
already. Why is it? that a man who is
not a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ is condemned by God, and
it is only the mere good pleasure and the will of God that that
man does not drop off into hell at any given moment. Why? Because he does not believe
on the Son of God Almighty. He that believeth not is condemned
already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. We're kind of flippant sometimes
about believing. It seems like that about any
time we have any religious gathering, by way of instruction, by way
of preaching, someone talks about believing on the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we have heard that so much
in our religious lifetime that we become flippant about it. And it does not become significant,
but it becomes insignificant, and we look at it in a vain light
and think about it in a vain light. But listen now. The man
that winds up in hell is the man who has not believed upon
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only thing that keeps
that man out of hell right now, right now, this given minute,
this given second, the only thing that keeps him from falling through
that trap door into that open pit is the good pleasure of God. That's the only thing that separates
the unbeliever, the natural man, right now from hell. The only
thing between him and hell is the thin air. That's the only
thing between him and hell. And if God would be pleased If it were according
to his good pleasure to take his hand off of every unbeliever
right now, there would be nothing that could stop him from entering
into that open pit. Not a single solitary thing could
prohibit him. It would be like a spider web
trying to stop a falling rock. A spider web certainly would
not put up any defense for a fallen rock, would it? What I'm trying
to say this morning is this. If we're saved by the grace of
God, we ought to be amazed that God saved us. We ought to be
amazed, we ought to be overwhelmed, overcome with the love and the
mercy of God that He would condescend and come where we are in all
of our rebellion and all of our iniquity and all of our sin and
make things right. Bring about a right relationship
between Him and us through the Lord Jesus Christ. knowing that
the only thing that separated us in our unregenerate state,
in our natural state, and the only thing that separates a man
now, an unbeliever now, from the pit of corruption is the
mere good pleasure of God. That's the only thing. Well, the truth of this observation
that we've made will appear by the following thoughts, which
we want to take under consideration here this morning. Number one,
there is no want of power in God to cast men into hell at
any minute. In other words, because men do
not drop off into hell right now, because they have lived
for 50 years or 20 years or 10 years or 90 years or 100 years
before they've dropped off into hell. It's not because a want
of power on God's part. He's got the power. That's not
the reason why men don't drop off into hell at any moment.
It's not because God doesn't have any power. Men's hands cannot
be strong. when God rises up. The strongest
have no power to resist God. Why, even the rocks cannot resist
God. Even the water cannot resist
God. Even the hills cannot resist
God. There is nothing by way of combination
or association, molded together, that is any defense against the
power of God. So the reason why men don't drop
off into hell right now, it's not because there is a lack or
want of power on God's part to carry out this execution. You
see, I read to you this scripture, he that believeth not is condemned
already, right now. Right now, every man outside
of Christ, every man who's an unbeliever, who has not closed
with God's Son, he hasn't closed with God's Son, he's under the
condemnation of God right now, and the only thing that keeps
him out of the pit is God's good pleasure. That's the only thing
that keeps him out of there. It's not because God has a lack
of power. He would have no or has had no
difficulty in subduing the meanest of rebels. Don't care how mean
a man might be, God can subdue him. If we had time, we could
go into the Old Testament and we could read various descriptions
and portions of the Bible there that do describe rebellious men,
men who steeled themselves against God by way of rebellion, who
defied God openly and deliberately and thoroughly, but yet God overcome
them. Pharaoh was one. I mentioned
that to you here some time ago. Pharaoh. If ever a man lived
upon the topside of God's green earth who openly and thoroughly
defied God, it was Pharaoh. He said, Do your best! Do your
best! Take your best shot! And he said,
I'll resist everything that you throw at me. I'm determined that
you'll not overcome me. But when he had some trouble,
He began to recant a little bit, but soon as the trouble passed,
soon as the pressure was taken off of him, the first thing you
know, he started right out again. But, of course, you know what
the end was. God just drowned him. God drowned Pharaoh and all of
his chariots and all of his potent army. God just led him. He led
him, right? He led him in an unheard of way. Who ever heard tell of such a
way of killing people as God killed all them people? He just
led His children, He led His people over there. There was
this raging water, this raging sea. And God just led them over
there and He just parted the water. That's all He did. He
just parted the water and that sea just walled itself up like
that. just walled itself up and there
was dry ground. There was a sandy road that went
right through the base of the bottom of that great ocean. And
his people just marched right down through it and went over
on the other side and never got a sprinkle of water on them.
They didn't have to take a towel and wipe themselves off because
they got wet. They were completely dry and
completely safe and completely secure. But here comes Pharaoh. into this unseen, unheard of,
inconceivable way of killing men. Period. They marched right
into that thing. And when they got out into the
middle of it, God just closed it up. And they all went to hell. Someone said so quick that they
didn't have time to pack a suitcase. That's how quick they went to
hell. They didn't know what hit them. He said, well, they'd come
up on me, I didn't know what hit me. Just that quick, it was
unseen, unheard of, inconceivable. It just smacked me so quick I
didn't know what hit me. That's what happened. So you
see, it's not because there is a lack or the want of power by
God. That's not it. That's not the
reason. The reason is, it's His good pleasure. It's in His hand,
you see. It's in His hand. That's the
reason. The reason is locked there in the mind of God Almighty. And when He has reason to, things
will happen. So it's not the want of power.
You see, it's easy for him to crush the hardest rebel that
ever rebelled against God. You know how easy it is to tramp
on a worm and crush a worm? You know how easy that is? This
time of the year you see the woolly worms crossing the road.
The woolly worms. And they're all humped up there
and they're defenseless. They're defenseless. The cars
just kill them by the thousands. You see them crawling on the
porch and sometimes they get on your coat. All you got to
do, they're so helpless and so defenseless, just the flip of
your finger. That's all you got to do, just
the flip of your finger. and knock them down and put your
foot on them and crush them. And they're gone. Never knew
what hit them. Never knew what hit them. That's how easy it
is for God to crush the meanest rebel outside of hell. That's
how easy it is. And I'm not overplaying this.
I'm not exaggerating. I'm underplaying it and under-exaggeration,
if there is such a word. Yeah. That's how easy God could do
it. He could crush you and I just like a man crushes a worm. I
was building a fire this morning, earlier this morning, and I knocked
a piece of, put the axe through a piece of wood and there was
a big white worm there, just helpless, lying there kind of
dormant, cold, and in that wood for warmth and protection. and
substance, substance to eat. I just peeled that worm out of
there and picked it up with my fingers and I just throwed it
in them hot coals. And it just popped like that. Big old white worm just popped. That's how easy it is for God
to do away with you. For God to do away with me. Just
like I took that worm and cast it in those hot coals and it
just You see, folks, brethren, sisters, there is no want of power in
God. No lack of power in God can cast men into hell at any
minute. Secondly, now listen to this,
secondly, I said first off, there is no
want of power, and secondly, Men deserve to go to hell. They deserve to go. There is such a thing as justice,
divine justice. I was listening to the news program
here the other day and there was a doctor out in New Jersey
that he was accused of killing three patients. I believe it
was patients he killed, or they accused him of killing three
patients, that is, of giving them overdoses of something.
For what reason, I don't know. I don't know the details of it,
but I'd read a little bit about it, just the headlines and all,
but the trial dragged on and on and on, and finally, finally
the trial ended. The jury went in and deliberated
for eight or nine hours, and they came out. And the judge
said, have you arrived at a decision? And the former of the jury said,
we have, your honor. What was it? He said, not guilty. That
fellow came out the door of the courthouse. The reporters were
around him. And they said, what have you
got to say? He said, thank God. He said, justice has prevailed. He believed that he was innocent.
I guess he was. He said, justice prevailed and
triumphed. There is such a thing as justice.
Justice. The justice of God demands, now
listen, the justice of God demands that every soul that sinneth
be punished. The justice of God demands that.
Now listen, I said that these that I'm talking about and that
our text speaks of here, But he that believeth not is condemned
already. They deserve to be cast into
hell. Men who do not believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ deserve to be cast into hell. Men and women,
boys and girls, who rend underneath their feet the precious pearl,
the Lord Jesus Christ, God's only beloved Son, God loves the
Lord Jesus Christ with a passion. You and I will never know, I
don't believe, the love that God has for His Son. You talk
about us loving the Lord Jesus Christ. Like the brother said
last night, Raymond, he said, I can't love God with all of
my heart. and all of my strength and all
of my soul." He said, that's what God demands, but I can't
do it because my love is divided. I love my wife, I love my children,
I love the church, I love you all. He said, my love is divided,
my heart's divided, and I can't do it. But God's heart's not
divided. God loves His Son with a deadly passion. He loves His
Son. And oh, He's jealous for the
honor of His Son. And to those who do not love
His Son, Do not love His Son, they deserve to go to hell. You
see what I'm talking about? They deserve to go to hell. You
say, well, I don't understand that. Well, you think God is
like you are. That's the reason you don't understand Him. That's
the reason you're not sensible of this. You think God is some
fictitious, imaginary somebody that you heard about or would
like to think He is. You don't believe in the God
of this book, see? God loves His Son. This is my
beloved Son. I love Him. He's the darling
of my bosom. You think you love your children.
You think you love your children when you hug them to your bosom.
You think you love them. Oh, there's no love. It needs
an angel's tongue to describe the love that God has for His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I couldn't do it. No way I could
do it. I couldn't even stagger on to
a few thoughts that would somehow aptly describe, in the smallest
measure, God's love for His Son. I'm telling you this morning,
I'm telling you the truth. If I ever told the truth in the
25 or 26 years I've been proclaiming the gospel of God's sovereign
free grace, I'm telling you the truth this morning, that every
man, woman, boy or girl, or child that does not believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ deserves to go to hell. He deserves to go. They deserve to go. I told you
about divine justice. Divine justice never stands in
God's way in this matter. It makes no objection against
God using His power at any moment to destroy them. The justice
of God doesn't object. On the contrary, on the contrary,
justice cries out loud and hard for punishment of their sins
because they have not believed on the name of the only begotten
Son of God. Justice says, punish them. Justice
hangs over every unbeliever's head this morning and justice
is crying aloud to God, punishing, punishing, punishing. Why? He that believeth not is condemned
already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. Punish him. Punish him. Punish him. The Scriptures
say that the Savior came along one time and was wanting to get
some figs off of a tree. There in Jerusalem he came along
and went to that fig tree and he looked up at that fig tree
and there wasn't a fig on it. It wasn't a fig on it. You know
what he said? He said, I've come here three
years. He said, I've come here three years and there's never
been a fig on this tree. He said, cut it down! Why, Cumbria,
hit this ground! Why does it take up space when
it's not doing no good? Cut it down! That's what divine
justice says. Cut it down, cut it down, cut
it down. Justice, you see, makes no objection
against God in punishing sinners at any given time. And number
three, they're already, as Artex said, every man who's an unbeliever,
he's already under the sentence of condemnation to hell. They
not only deserve to be cast into hell, but the eternal and immutable
rule of righteousness that God has fixed between Him and mankind
is gone out against Him. He deserves to go. He's under
the condemnation of God already. Right now! You see? Now! He's condemned now! Oh, this
business that that men believe that, well, when this thing's
all over with, why, we're going to stand up there in the courts
of heaven and those golden streets, and they're going to play the
fiddles and the harps and the horns and all of that, and finally,
when everything's all settled down, why, then, they're going
to get out to books and they're going to look and see how good
I've been and how kind and generous and all of that, and they're
going to take my bad deeds and weigh them against my good deeds,
and then it's going to be decided whether I'm condemned or not.
There is nothing farther from the truth than that. The Scriptures
say we're condemned right now. He that believeth not on the
Son of God is condemned already. Right now. Right now. Alright. So, that every unconverted man,
then, properly belongs in hell. And that's his place. Every man. Now, this is hard, isn't it?
This is a hard doctrine. I certainly don't like to preach
about hell. I mean, it makes me weep in my
heart. It makes me weep in my heart the more I think about
it. The more I think about men and women and boys and girls
who go in this life, against God and against mercy and against
love and justice and righteousness and discontinue to run as hard
as they can run, jumping over every barrier that God has set
out in front of them on their way to hell as fast as they can.
And me, knowing something of the terror of God against the
ungodly, my heart breaks within me, it weeps when I see men and
women and boys and girls who are indifferent and unconcerned
in regard to the mercy and the love of God in Christ Jesus,
who trample underneath their feet His precious blood, and
say, I'm going to go to hell, I want to go to hell, I can't
wait to get there. Oh, my soul! My soul! It's an open pit. It's an open
pit. It's a pit of pollution, corruption. It's a furnace heated. It's a
furnace heated. And there's going to be torment
and pain and anguish and grief like we cannot conceive in our
minds. We cannot conceive of. It is
so terrible, it's so terrible that place that Jesus said, the
smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and forever and forever
and forever. The smoke of their torment just
goes up. I don't want to go there. I don't
want to go to hell. Every unconverted man, every
unsaved man properly belongs in hell. That's his place. And the reason he's not there
right now is not because God hasn't got power to send him
there. And it's not because he doesn't deserve to go there.
He's not there this minute because it is the good pleasure of God's
will to let him go on a few more days. That's the only reason. You see, I shouldn't even be
here right now. Humanly speaking, I ought to
have been in hell 50 some years ago. Jack, you should have been
in hell 50 years ago. And all the rest of you, men
and women, you ought to have been in hell. You deserve to
go to hell. That's your proper place. And
if you haven't went to hell, it's amazing grace that's kept
you out of hell. You ought to be amazed and you
ought to fall before Him in adoring wonder every minute of every
day. Bless Him and praise Him that He came where you was in
your rebellion and subdued you and made you willing in the day
of His power to receive His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. There
ought to be eternal praise and glory flowing from your lips
every conscious moment in your life. It ought to be. I know
it's not. It's not right. It's not with
me and I know it's not with you. It ought to be. It ought to be.
Fourthly, they, those who are condemned already for not believing
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are now the objects. Now listen, this is hard. Oh, listen to me. Listen to what I've got to say
here this morning. I believe that this is the truth.
I believe God gave it to me and I believe it's right. Listen
now. They, they, those that are not believers in the Lord Jesus,
I'm talking about a heart belief. I'm talking about one that's
embraced him. I'm talking about one that's
renounced his own righteousness, his own wisdom, and he's come
to God as a beggar. And he said, Lord, help my unbelief. Oh, Lord, I believe upon Thine
only begotten Son. He's mine. Lord, I'm a poor soul. I'm talking about them. They, they who are unconverted. They were in their natural state.
They were unbelievers. They are now the objects of the
very same anger and wrath of God that is expressed by God
in the torments of hell against those that live in misery there. And the reason why that they
do not go to hell right now is not because God is not angry
with them. God's angry with the wicked every
day. Every man outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, every child,
every boy and every girl, I don't care. I don't care about our
state. I don't care how far up we've got. I don't care if we're
politicians. I don't care how much education
we've got. I don't care. It doesn't make
any difference, brother. It doesn't make any difference.
I'm telling you the truth. God helped me and so helped me. God,
I'm telling you the truth that every man in his natural state
that has not kissed the sun, not embraced Him, God's angry
with Him right now. He's angry with Him right now,
and His anger is the same anger that's in His heart towards these
that are outside of Christ is expressed to those that are in
that miserable state of hell right now. And the only reason
that you're not in hell right now is not because God's not
angry with you. He's angry with you. He's angry. You've offended Him. You see
that? I wish I could tell that. I wish
I could make that so we could understand it. I heard it one
time. I heard it one time. I'd offended
God. I offended Him. I offended Him.
I said, how have I offended God? How have I offended God? I've
been careful not to take His name in vain. I've been careful. When others would take His name
in vain, it always made me shudder. Even when I was a boy, when I
was a small boy, I cursed, I cursed. I'm not saying that I didn't
curse. I'm ashamed of it. But there was something about
taking the name of God in vain that I, behold, couldn't stand. Just couldn't stand it. I was
scared, afraid that God would come down out of the sky and
strike somebody dead. I wouldn't do it. I said, how
have I offended God? You've offended God by not believing
on His only begotten Son. That's how you offend Him. God's
offended with you. And God's not just mad at you.
God's angry with you. And He's angry with you now,
right now, right now, at this moment, as He is with those that
are already there. And if we're not in hell now,
It's not because God is not angry with us, you see. It's not because
God is unmindful of a man's wickedness. You know, we say, well, we wonder
how this fellow gets by, you know, people shooting people. Someone there down at the Bible
conference, one of the preachers, I heard him telling somebody
else, he said, He said, you know, when I was in so-and-so, he said
there was four people murdered there in my county. Four people
murdered in my county. Just every, almost every minute
of every day, somebody with an uncontrollable, violent temper,
sometimes premeditated, sometimes not, grabs some iron or a piece
of steel or a block of wood or a hatchet or an ax or a gun and
violently kills somebody. Oh, yes. And we say, well, oh,
I wonder why God just don't strike that fellow dead. Well, I'll
tell you, it's not because God is not angry with him. It's not
because God is not conscious of his wickedness. That's not
the reason. That's not the reason. Oh, no. It's not because God is unmindful
of a man's wickedness that does not cut him off or loose his
hand from him and let him go. Listen, the pit is prepared.
The fire is ready. The furnace is now hot, and the
flames rage and glow. And the pit of hell opens its
mouth to receive men. And when God says, or when God
takes His hand off of men, down they go, down they go. Nothing
can stop them. They'll fall like a rock through
a spider's web. Fifthly, listen to this now,
fifthly, the devil, the chief enemy of God and the chief enemy
of man, the devil, he stands ready right now to fall upon
every unbeliever and to take him fully as his own. Take him fully, you notice I
said that. He's got them now, their souls are in his possession
right now. But he stands right by, Evra. He's either there or he's got
a demon that's beside Evra, unbeliever, just standing there gloating,
just waiting, just waiting. It won't be long, he says, I'll
get him. I'll get him when God takes his hand off of him. I'll
get him, I'll pounce upon him like a greedy lion waiting to
jump upon a helpless, defenseless rabbit. I'll get him, I'm waiting,
I'm waiting. They belong to him. He has their
souls in his possession. They are under his dominion.
And these demons watch for you. They stand waiting and ready
to pounce upon a man. The devil stands ready to fall
upon a man. And then again, let me say to
you that there is no security to the unbeliever for a moment. that there are no visible means
of death at hand. What I'm trying to say is this.
A man doesn't have any security just because he says, well, I've
been to the doctor and had a check-up, and he says I'm in good health,
and I don't hurt, there's no aches or no pains, and I haven't
been coughing any, and my bowels is all right, my stomach's all
right, I'm breathing good, my lungs are all right, it doesn't
look like I've got any sign of any tumors or anything like that.
I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm ready, I'm ready. I went to the doctor,
he's given me a clean bill of health. There's no security in
that! Simply because you cannot see
any visible means right now of death, there's no security in
that. I just listened there on the news the other day, this
came over the news, maybe you heard it. A young couple, a young
man and his young wife, just been married for less than a
year, and they had a new baby, about nine months old. And it
was a nice day, and the leaves began to turn, and they decided
to go on a picnic. And it was right here in the
area someplace, I think within a hundred miles, and they went
out to the picnic grounds, to a park, a public park of some
sort, and the water had been raining, the water was up, and
he had the little baby in his arms. They loved that child,
I know, and she loved him. They thought everything was alright,
they were healthy, and he had a job, and he had security, and
they were buying a home and all that. He had the little baby
in his arms and he walked over there to the edge of the bank,
looked down at the river, and do you know what happened? The bank
fell away, and then he went to the back of the water and came
in and bathed. And another fella, a friend of
the family was nearby. He jumped in and got the baby,
but never did get in. Never did get in. Oh, they got him after
he was drowned. Just walked right over to the
bank. Had the baby in his arms, certainly he looked. Walked over
to the bank, but he got there, the bank crumbled out in front
of his feet. And he went into a watery grave.
I'm telling you, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, there is
no security to be had just because There
is no visible means of your departure out of this world. There's no
security in that. Go anytime. Go anytime. Oh, listen. The unseen, the unthought of
ways and means of people going suddenly out of the world can't
be countable. They're uncountable. Someone said that the unbeliever,
listen now, the unbeliever He walks over the pit of hell on a rotten
covering, and there are many places in that covering so weak
that will not bear up his weight, and these places are not seen
by him. God has many ways of taking a
man out of this world. He has many ways. Every time
you hear of A death that is just a thing that, well, you say,
well, boy, how could a thing like that happen? Well, that's
one of God's unheard of, unseen ways that he has. Down here around
Parkersburg not too long ago, those fellas was way up on that
thing. Just come to work whistling that day, having a good time,
looking for payday, waiting for lunchtime to eat that turkey
sandwich, thinking about Friday night when they got their paychecks
and going home to their wives, and to their children, to their
families, to their aunts and uncles, and they're all right
up there on that great big thing, just got up there just as happy,
no sign of, no forewarning of anything going to happen, and
all at once, before they could collect their wits, just like
hitting them right smack dab into the face, that thing crumbled,
and within 30 seconds, there's about 60 of them covered up with
cement, and cement blocks, and stone cold dead in the market.
And people said, oh, I never heard Timothy. Oh, God has many
ways, unseen of, inconceivable, of taking you out of this world.
That's right. Yeah, and no security. No security
in the fact that you can't see any visible means of your death.
Don't take no security in that. God's got lots of ways. God doesn't
even have to perform a miracle to do it. Just the ordinary means
of providence is enough for God. He can do it. Oh, David's son. David's son
who rebelled against him. What was his name when he said,
Absalom, Absalom, Absalom, would God that I had died in your stead,
Absalom? Oh, Absalom, he cried. Oh, Absalom
was out there. He rebelled against David, tried
to usurp the kingdom away from David. He had done everything
unholy and unrighteous and thought he was getting by with it. And
he went out there one day and riding this beast of burden that
had run through there and stuck his neck right between the forks
of a tree and there hung stone cold dead in the market. He never
planned it that way, he never intended it to happen that way,
but it happened because it was one of God's unseen of, unheard
of ways of taking a man out of this world. No brethren, just
because you can't see any visible means at hand, Right now, if
you're going out of this world, there's no security in man. Sixthly,
man's natural wisdom and care to preserve their own lives is
no security. Or even the care of others to
preserve them. There's no security in them for
a moment. You know, and I take a lot of
vitamins. Sometimes I get Tired of taking
them. Just to be honest with you, I
get tired of taking them. My wife will say, well, take
them vitamins. If I don't do it, she sees to
it, in a sense, somehow to preserve me. But there's no security in
that. There's no security in them vitamins.
Now, they may help. I hope they do. But I don't know
that they do. I take them anyhow. Well, I don't do this and you
don't do that and other things in order that somehow we might
preserve, but don't take no security in it. There's no security in
it. Rosemary's dad, T.G. McDew, all of them remember T.G.,
remember this church. T.G. one time, I remember he
retired. He used to be able to walk, he'd
just take out and walk ten miles, didn't make any difference to
him. He'd take off in Bradfield and walk to work and people would
stop to pick him up and he'd say, no, I'd rather walk. Take
a hike on Sunday afternoon, wasn't anything for him to walk clean
over at Dunkard Mill running back. Maybe carry a sack of nuts. Got ready to retire. Got ready
to retire. And he went to the doctor. And
you know what the doctor told him? Looked him all over. And
he said, you're disgustingly healthy. That's what he told
him. So only a few short years he died. No security. No security in the preservation
of these bodies. There ain't no security there.
God can take healthy people just as He can sick people. He has
unseen of, unheard of ways, you see. All the pains, that's how
I'm going to quit. Stay with me one more time now.
All the pains and ways unbelievers use to escape hell while they
continually reject the Lord Jesus Christ does not secure them from
the pit for a moment. Almost everybody that I know
of, almost everybody that I've ever read about, that I've ever
heard about, has heard of hell, fire, and brimstone. I know the
majority laugh and joke about it. They joke about hell, but
it's no joke, I'll tell you that. Well, most everyone has heard
about hell and brimstone and fire, and they flatter themselves
that they're not going there. They shall escape. They shall
escape. What they're doing, they depend
upon themselves for their own security. They flatter themselves
into thinking what they have done and what they will do and
what they're doing now will secure them from this awful place of
hell. You see, they form plans. They plan. Man in his Natural
wisdom and ingenuity, he plans to escape hell. He doesn't intend
to go there. He doesn't plan to go to hell.
He doesn't intend to go to hell. He foolishly deceives and deludes
himself in his own schemes, thinking he's not going to go to hell.
No man sets out to destroy himself intentionally. He doesn't do
that. You go over here to Fairmont
and talk to that old wine head Looks like he's 75 years old
and maybe he's only 35 and he walks down there tattered and
torn. His face is pockmarked with scars
and his nose is all red and his eyes is blurring and he can't
see and he's shaking, you know, and he just wishes he could get
him a drink someplace. Oh, I'd like to have one. He'll
do anything under God's heaven for a drink of wine. I don't
care what it is. He'll debase himself, he'll shame himself,
he'll do anything for a drink. Don't you tell me he won't. I've
seen them. I know what they'll do. They'll steal, they'll lie,
they'll crawl, they'll shame themselves for a measly drink
of a sixty-cent bottle of wine. And if you go to them and if
you can get them sensible, sensible, and ask them if they ever intended
to arrive at this condition, they'll tell you no. I never
intended. I didn't plan it. I'm here, but
I didn't plan it that way. I started out by taking a drink
and fooling around and trying to be sociable and have a good
time. I tried that, but I didn't intend
for it to ever get this far. It's this far now. There's nothing
I can do about it. There's no turning back. The worm won't
turn. You see, men don't plan to go
to hell. They form plans in their minds
and schemes they devise that will keep them out of this awful
place. Somehow they're not going to
go there. Somehow, someway, someday, we're going to figure out something.
They say in their own hearts, something's going to take place,
I'm going to quit this, I'm going to quit that. I promised mother
on her dying bed that I'd quit drinking. or I promised mother
and father on their dying bed I'd start going to church and
listening to the gospel, say, yay! Somehow I'm going to fulfill
these promises and all. Something's going to happen.
I don't intend to go to hell. You ask one of them who's in
hell today if you could, and he'd tell you, I never intended
to be here. Oh, no. No, sir. I never intended to
be here, but I'll tell you what. It slipped upon me like a thief.
Death outwitted me. IT CAME WHEN I WASN'T PREPARED!
Like a thief it stole upon me. I didn't think I was going to
die. But oh, one morning I woke up and I was in hell. And I said
death outwitted me. Oh boy. People say peace and
safety, but destruction fell upon me. Lastly, God has laid Himself
under no obligation by any promise to keep any natural man out of
hell for one minute. God's not obligated. He's never
obligated Himself to keep anybody out of hell for a minute. Now
listen now, God has made no promises outside of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Every promise of eternal life is in Christ. Isn't that right?
Every promise of eternal life is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God has made no promises outside of Christ. It's in Christ. God's not under any obligation.
He never made any promise to anybody. He's going to keep them
out of hell except those that are in Christ. You see what I'm
talking about? I heard that fellow say, he was talking there yesterday.
I wanted to just rise up and say, listen, I know what you're
talking about. God wouldn't touch you with a
ten-foot pole outside of Christ. That's right. God wouldn't speak
to you outside of Christ. God wouldn't touch you outside
of Christ. God wouldn't give you the time
of day outside of Christ. Oh, how He loves His Son. Oh,
how He loves the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, if you're blessed this morning,
it's for Christ's sake. That's right, it's for Christ's
sake, not for your sake. It's for Christ's sake. He doesn't
have anything to do with you outside of Christ. It's all in
Christ. It's all in Him. That's His treasure. That's His
pearl of great price. That's the lily of the valley.
That's the fairest of ten thousand right there. That's the rose
of Sheol. He's the lily of the valley. He's the Christ of God. God loves Him. Oh, how God loves
His Son. Oh, this man called Jesus, He
received sinners. How would God that sinners would
receive Him? He receives sinners. Amazing
grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I ought
to have been in hell. I ought to have been in hell.
God has laid Himself under no obligation by any promise to
keep any natural man out of hell for a minute. Listen, there is
nothing right now between you and the pit, as I said, but the
air and this thin air at that. Only the power and pleasure of
God that holds you up. You're not sensible. You're not
sensible of this. You're outside of Christ this
morning. You're not sensible of it. That is, it just hasn't smacked
you between the eyes. You're not sensible of it. You
find out that you're kept out of hell right this morning. You
found that out. But you don't see God's hand
in it. You don't see God's hand in it.
Oh, if you could see the hand of God in keeping you out of
hell this minute. that that's what keeps you out
of hell right now is the hand of God. He's got a hold of you.
He's got a hold of you right now over the furnace. The fires, they're flaming and
glowing. And the furnace is hot and He's
got you right there. He's got you right there. And
the only thing that keeps you out of there is His hand. If
He ever lets His fingers go, you're gone. There's no hope.
You're a gone goose. You're a gone goose. Jesse, that's what you are. Not sensible of it, are you?
Your wickedness makes you as heavy as lead. The black clouds of God's wrath
are hanging over you. Those black clouds are full of
storm and they're full of big thunder. They're going to burst
one of these days. God looks upon you right now
as worthy of nothing else but being cast into that pit. It's
all you're worth. It's all any of us is worth.
I'm not worth a thing. You think, well, you're the preacher. Boy, I'm not worth that much
in God's sight outside of Jesus Christ. I'm not worth a time
a day outside of Christ. God doesn't love me because my
name's Richardson. God doesn't love me because I'm
a preacher. God doesn't love me because I
take the Bible and talk to you out of the Bible all the time.
That's not why God loves me. God loves me for Christ's sake. He loves me because of His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, because I embraced Him. He came down
one day where I was and made Himself known to me. Hedged me
in where I couldn't get out, and I fell at His feet and kissed
His son. It's for Christ's sake. You see,
man's outside of Christ, He holds you up right there. He's got
you by the hair of the head. You're over that open pit. The
only thing that keeps you out, keeps you out of that pit right
now, this moment, is the good pleasure of the person who holds
you, and that's God Almighty. See? I close by saying you've
offended him by not believing on his son. You didn't go to
hell last night. You're here today. You went to
bed last night, and you got some rest, watched the television.
And maybe you went somewhere, and you come home, and you went
to bed, and you went to sleep, and you got a little rest, and
you woke up. You woke up. And you're sensible of that.
conscious of the fact that you're awake and you're alive and you
exist. But you ought to have went to hell. But you ought to
have went there. You see, you've been permitted
by the mercy and the graciousness and the long-suffering of God
to awake one more day. There's no reason why you shouldn't
be there except for morning.