If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to Isaiah chapter 1, Isaiah chapter 1, I've entitled
this message, God's Word of Contempt, Conviction, and Promise. God's Word of Contempt, contempt
for sin, contempt for religion without Christ, God's Conviction,
how God convinces man, convicts man of sin, and the promise of
salvation to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
by way of introduction, I want you to remember that there are
at least seven things here in this text that the Holy Spirit
has recorded for us that are confirmed throughout the Word
of God. And we studied the last, the first, nine verses the last
time we were together, that I was here present with you. And the
first thing we see in verses two through eight is the doctrine
of God concerning the total depravity of man. God speaking here to
Judah here represents all men as we are by nature. In verse
two, he says, they have rebelled against me. They've rebelled
against me. This is how men, by nature, we
have rebelled against God. Verse 3 tells us of our ignorance. He says, the ox knoweth his owner,
the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people
doth not consider. Man, by nature, is ignorant of
God and his righteousness and goes about to establish his own
righteousness, which is foolishness. In verse 4, we see that we are
laden with sin. It says, ah, a nation of people
laden with iniquity. Man by nature is laden with iniquity
so that he cannot escape the condemnation of God. He's gone
backwards. Man's religion is backwards.
It always works from man to God instead of true religion that
works from God to man. And because of this, We know
in verse 5 that man, no matter how much God strickens him, no
matter how much pain God inflicts upon man, it only stirs evil
in man. He says, why should you be stricken
anymore? What will happen? You will revolt.
That's what happens when judgment comes upon man, is they revolt.
Now why is all of this? Why have we rebelled? Why are
we ignorant? Why are we laden with sin? Why
do we revolt? Verse 6, Because from the sole
of the foot to the crown of the head there is no soundness, but
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores that have not been closed,
neither bound nor mollified with ointment. God says we are as
a leper. That's the analogy here. Man by nature is as a leper.
He is corrupt with no sound flesh in him. There is no goodness
in man. He is covered with the leprosy
of sin and as a leper was outcast from the worship and service
of God. Even so, man by nature is cast
out. Look what he says. He says your
country is desolate. Man by nature is desolate. He
cannot give himself life. He is dead in sins. In verse 8 it says, A Zion left
as a cottage in a village, as lodged in a garden of cucumbers,
and as a besieged city, even God's elect among the sons of
men. are as an old, wasted cottage
in the middle of a desolate field of cucumbers. Nothing. There's
nothing. There's no life, even in God's
elect. But here's hope, verse 9, the
second thing we saw is this, God's sovereign election. The
doctrine of God's sovereign election in verse 9, it says, Except the
Lord of hosts hath left a very small remnant, we should have
been as Sodom, we would have been like unto Gomorrah. We all
have sinned In Adam, we all have trespassed against God and are
dead in trespasses and sins. What does this mean? It means
we cannot save ourselves, but God gives us a light of hope.
Here's the light of hope. Sovereign election. We would
have all would have been as Sodom and Gomorrah. How was Sodom and
Gomorrah? They were wicked, they were evil, and they were destroyed. We would all have been destroyed
like Sodom and Gomorrah had God not made an exception. Except
the Lord of hosts had left us a small remnant. This is the
divine light of the gospel. God left a remnant by sovereign
election. That God chose a people before
the foundation of the world and gave them to Christ. And purposed
that Christ should save them. That they should be accepted.
And this election was not only sovereign, it was unconditional. For the children not yet being
born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand. For Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. Election is unconditional. It's not based on anything but
the love of God, the grace of God. And we know this, that this
election is immutable because God's love that was set on that
remnant is immutable, is immutable. Now, we have four things this
morning, four more things, I believe, can learn from this passage the
Holy Spirit has given us. And I'm going to give you these
four things. First of all, the means by which
God reveals these things. The means by which God reveals
this message to men. The second thing is the contempt
of God for the works of men. The contempt of God for the works
of men. The third thing is the conviction. How does God convict men of their
ruin and the uselessness of their religion? How does God do that?
And the fourth thing is the promise of eternal life. A call to reason. A call to reason. God says that in verse 18. Come
now, let us reason together. Those are my four points this
morning. And so we're going to begin with God's means of communication. How does God convey the word
to man? Look at verse 10. Hear the word
of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, give ear unto the law of our
God, you people of Gomorrah. Now who's speaking here? It's
Isaiah. Isaiah is is speaking to the
nation of Judah, and he is saying this, you children of Sodom and
Gomorrah, you listen and you hear the Word of God. It was
Isaiah speaking, but in truth, it was the Word of God. It was
the Word of God. God does not directly speak to
men, but only speaks through His chosen
vessels, those men that He has called to convey His Word. It's
always been this way. You know, I was looking at this,
and said, God did speak to the whole nation of Israel one time.
Where was that? Sinai. You remember, God spoke
to them, and what did they say? Don't let Him talk anymore. We
can't bear to hear Him. And you know what God said? He
said, they've well spoken. No man by nature is able to bear
the voice of God except through one God gives to speak. The people
heard Isaiah, but in truth, they were hearing the word of God.
Therefore, Isaiah was sent of God. He was given a heart for
the glory of God and a heart for the souls of men. And so
it is. He spoke with such plainness.
He did not ad-lib. He did not add to the Word of
God, but simply spoke exactly what God said. He said, hear,
not my Word, hear the Word of the Lord. Even so, God continues
to speak through His chosen man. Through men He has called into
the ministry. into the ministry. And he gives
them the same heart he gave Isaiah, for the glory of God and the
souls of men. We speak the word of God, and
this is the only means by which the gospel of God is effectual
to the hearts of men. You remember what Paul said to
the church of Corinth? He said this, Christ sent me
not to baptize. Now, baptism is important. The Lord willing,
next week, there's some people in Harrisburg that have confessed
the Lord and want to confess Him in believers' baptism. Baptism's
important. If you believe on Christ, you
should be baptized as He commanded. But Paul said, that's not what
I'm here for. I'm here to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ be may have none effect. For
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, what? Foolishness. But, but, unto us. which are saved, what is it?
It is the power of God. He goes on in verse 21 in that
same chapter to say, It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. This is the means. This is the
chosen means God has ordained by which to convey His Word to
men. There is no other means. No matter how much men want there
to be other means, God says, this is the way I communicate
with you. You remember what happened to
the sons of Korah that kicked against that. God chose Moses. God chose Aaron to convey his
word. And the sons of Korah said, well,
hey, we're just as good as you. No doubt. Moses said, hey, look,
I got it. Yeah, let's just do this. Let
God choose. And you know what happened to
them? They were swallowed up. This is the means God has chosen. Today, I'm speaking to you, and
I want to speak to you only through the Word of God, only by the
Word of God. I don't want to take from this
Word. I don't want to add to this Word. I want to tell you
what God says. There is no other thing to do. I wouldn't be here if I didn't
want to tell you exactly what God says. This is what God's
men do. And our message is to the same
people Isaiah wrote to. Look what he said. Now, these
were religious people. Now, I'm not saying he wasn't
speaking to wicked people as well, but listen, these were
mostly religious people. Look what he calls them. He said,
you rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, you people
of Gomorrah. These religious rulers he was
preaching to, and he called them Sodomites. Why? Because religion without
Christ is just as good as Sodom and Gomorrah. It's nothing better. Today I'm speaking to professing
religious people, those who profess to believe on Christ, but claim
to be justified, sanctified, or made righteous by some religious
action or ceremony. You are as Sodom and Gomorrah. All who believe in such freewill
works religion, you are as vile as Sodom and
like unto Gomorrah. This is the Word of God we preach,
that the best works and most orthodox devote people in the
world. Apart from faith in Christ Jesus
alone, you are just as unacceptable in the sight of God as those
that practice homosexuality or murder. This is because no man by nature
has any personal righteousness. Isn't that what he said in the
first eight verses? The first eight verses, he went
over that with you. He said you are without righteousness. He said from the sole of your
foot to the crown of your head is what? No soundness in you. There's nothing in us by nature. In Isaiah 64, you know he says
this, all our righteousness is are as filthy rags. And because of this, no man has
any ability to be righteous by his will or works. Listen, you
determine to do good. Determine! Put your mind to it! Put your will to it! You know
what? You will fail. Because this is
our nature. No man by nature can be righteous. He said, can the Ethiopian change
his skin? And He said, then you who do
evil, that's what it's going to take for you to do good. It's
impossible for you to do good. This is because all sinful men
can do is corrupted by sin. All we do is corrupted, defiled. See, that's what the leper illustrated. The leper in the Old Testament,
if he touched anything, it became unclean. This is what it is true
spiritually. All that we touch, no matter
how good it is, is contaminated and becomes useless. You know,
the Lord illustrated this in Exodus chapter 28, when He said
that Moses, that Aaron, He said, upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron
shall bear the iniquity of the holy faith. Iniquity of holy
things. What is he talking about? All
that tabernacle, all those instruments God ordained because man was
performing the ritual, man was performing the ceremony. They
were contaminated and needed a sacrifice to cover the sins
of our holy things. Even though God ordained those
things and set aside for His worship because they were given
and offered by sinful men, they themselves were defiled. This
shows us that the best efforts of religious deeds of men, even
those things ordained of God, are mixed and defiled by sin. See, God commanded men to be
baptized. But listen, if you're putting
your trust in your baptism, who did that? Both of them were men. We've contaminated. It's not
able to save, even though it was ordained of God. This is what we preach, that
man is altogether at his best state, what? Vanity. You be the best you can be, and
the best you can be is vanity. The best you can be is vanity.
All we do is sin, all we think is sin, all we feel is sin. It's
not just what we do, but sin is who we are. Therefore what? All our offerings, and this is
what God's going to go into now, all our offerings, all our sacrifices
by nature are contemptible to God. except Jesus Christ, our High
Priest, make an offering for our holy things, they're unacceptable. And so then we preach this, the
only way a man could be made righteous is the same way he
was made a sinner. How was man made a sinner? Wherefore
by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So death
passed upon all men for all have sinned. It says, even so, by
the disobedience of one, many were made sinners. Listen, so
by the obedience of one, the disobedience of one, many were
made sinners. By the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous. Who is that? That is our message. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The only acceptable offering
for sin is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is only by Jesus
Christ can sinners be made acceptable to God. Only by Him. Therefore we preach this. Hear
ye the Word of God. That's the Word of God. Oh, if
you don't hear anything else, hear that. Hear that. Hear that. Hear the Word of God. What does God say about sin,
righteousness, and judgment? What does God say about salvation?
He says this, salvations of the Lord. You that would be saved by deeds
and works of the flesh, I'm talking to you this morning. If you want
to be saved by something you do, I'm talking to you. Hear
the Word of God, you children of Sodom. Hear the Word of God. Hear the Law of God. You people
of Gomorrah, I tell you this, you've got to forget your traditions,
forget your creeds. There's no way you can be saved
by your obedience. None whatsoever. Therefore, I
preach this, that no flesh is justified by the law in any part. In any part. You can't be justified
by your obedience in any part. The only way we're justified
is through faith in Jesus Christ. All who are justified, made righteous
by Jesus Christ through faith will live by faith in Him alone
and will never ever look to ourselves. We never look to our righteousness.
We never look to our deeds. Why is it then that we look to
Christ? Because of the second point.
All religious works apart from faith in Christ are contemptible
in the nostrils of God. Look what God said. Hear the
word of God. What is this word? Verse 11.
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith
the Lord? I am full of your burnt offerings
of rams and the fat of fed beasts, I delight not in the blood of
bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When you come to appear
before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my
courts? Now friends, all sin is offensive. All sin is worthy of eternal
damnation. All sin. Wages of sin is what? Death. Death. We know that, but we know this,
that some sins are greater than others. Some sins, murder is
a great crime against God. We know adultery is vile in the
sight of God. We know that homosexuality is
an abomination unto our God. We know this. These are sins
that are vile and contemptible. And it's sad that the philosophy
of our day and the laws of our land defend such crimes. Isn't this why the judgment of
God is coming to this nation? It is. Make no mistake, the judgment
of God is already here. It's not coming, it's already
here. To defend such base acts of homosexuality and murder of
unborn children. What kind of society does that?
What kind of evil people do that? They murder their own unborn
children. They defend homosexuality and adultery. You know what that
reminds you of? Sodom and Gomorrah. This is why
they were killed. And though homosexuality, adultery,
and murder are great sins and bring the judgment of God upon
a nation, they yet are not the greatest contempt in the eyes
of God. That is not the greatest sin
in the eyes of God. The most abominable stench in
the nostrils of God is this, legal, self-righteous works,
religion. Religion is the most contemptible. Religion is the most contemptible. Works, religion. What I mean
by that, I mean this. Any form of religion that teaches
that man's acceptance with God in any way depends or is conditional
upon man. That's what I mean by that. Any
religion, any religion that bases salvation in any part upon the
works or will of man is contemptible. It is worse than homosexuality
and murder of unborn children. All salvation that begins with
an act of man's free will, all justification that depends upon
man's sacrifices and ceremonies, all sanctification that depends
not upon God, upon Christ, but upon their own personal obedience
to the law. All who preach that our preservation
depends upon our personal holiness. All who teach that rewards in
heaven depend upon good works or the practice of legal self-righteous
religion. Anyone who teaches these things
is contemptible in the sight of God. And this is the point of the
message. That all religion that depends upon man in any part
for salvation is an offense. An offense unto God. Look at their text. See what
they're doing here. They're not out committing homosexuality.
They're not out murdering people. What are they doing? They're
trying to obey the law. They're offering sacrifices.
They're doing what God commanded them to do. And what does God
say about their sacrifices? He says this, Why are you sacrificing? I'm full of these burnt offerings
of rams and beasts. I don't delight in their blood.
And when you come to appear before me, who's required what you're
doing? That you should tread on my courts. I don't believe I can overemphasize
or stress that enough, that God holds legal, self-righteous,
freewill, works religion in utter contempt. These Jews were Orthodox. These sons of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, they were following on outward ordinances of the
law to the letter. What was wrong with what they
were doing? Listen, they did it not by faith. Christ they did it not in faith
looking to Christ these men were looking at what they were doing
and not what these things pictured They thought they were being
accepted based on their outward exercise of religion. How many
people believe that today? That if they do this and stop
doing this, if they go to church, if they get baptized, if they
come and shake the preacher's hand, if they become more faithful
in their church, that that's going to make them acceptable.
God says, no, you are as Sodom and like unto Gomorrah. I will
not accept your obedience and outward offerings except through
faith in Christ." They built all their hopes of
eternal life on their own zeal and religious works. And for that, God was angry.
In our text, God testifies that He rejected their offerings.
Their offerings were vain. It was empty. Might as well not
have done them. He said, why are you even coming? What is
the purpose of these multitude of these sacrifices? You mean
sacrifices they made? You mean lambs and rams and he
goats they offered him? And he said, what's the point? The reason they were rejected
is because they trusted the sacrifices themselves instead of what they
pictured Jesus Christ. So when they offered the lamb,
what were they supposed to see? the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world." That's what John said. Behold the Lamb
of God which beareth away the sin of the world. He's what all
those lambs pictured when they altered it on top of that brazen
altar. We know this. They trusted the
altar. They trusted their sacrifices.
Christ is the altar. Peter said, Paul said that. He
said, we have an altar. where they're not able to come. They have no part. You remember
the great day of atonement? Those two goats, the scapegoat
and the offering, those pictured Christ. The strong man that bore
away the scapegoat, pictured Christ. The high priest that
slew the goat, pictured Christ. The blood that he took, pictured
his blood. The mercy seat on which He sprinkled
it pictured Christ. They should have been looking
by faith instead of looking at what they were doing. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Scripture
says this, He is the propitiation for our sins. He is the propitiation
for our sins. Because they trusted their own
works and refused to trust the blood of Christ, God refused them. I tell you,
any man that thinks his obedience in any way is meritorious before
God, your faith is vain. Your religion
is vain, and you are lost. Men think highly of religion,
don't they? They think highly. They see a man dressed up in
robes, and they just say, oh, look at that pious man. No. If he's trusting in his works,
he's just as good as the sodomite down the street. He said this, Behold all your
incense. Look at that the next day. He said, Bring no more vain
oblations. Stop bringing them. Listen, if you're going to church
to be saved, stop going to church. If that's how you think salvation
is, is based on you going to church, then just quit. It's
vain. It's empty. If you think by your
obedience and doing good and building houses for the homeless
and feeding the poor somehow merits you favor with God, stop
it. God says stop. Don't bring those
sacrifices anymore. They're contemptible. Incense are an abomination unto
me, your new moons and your sabbaths, the calling of the assemblies,
I cannot away with it, iniquity, even solemn meetings, the new
moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are trouble
unto me, I am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your
hands, I hide my eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers,
I will not hear, your hands are full of blood. What is this? Any man who brings his works
in the stead of faith in Christ, you listen, he is guilty of the
blood of the Son of God. God says, I hate it. Men love
religion, but religion without Christ is useless. even if it's ordained. Listen,
you may have all the right doctrines. You know, you may have all the
right doctrines in your head. You may have this systematic
theology down to a tee. But listen, if that's what you're
trusting in, away with it. Away with it. You must have Christ,
or you have nothing. You must have Christ, or you
have nothing. That men would hear the Word
of God because they are full of sin Because all we are full
of sin all our works and religious deeds are full of sin Are full
of sin they are vain because they are not They are not seen
to be accomplished by Jesus Christ alone The reason we do not seek
to be justified, sanctified, or made righteous by the law
is because of this, Christ already did it. Anyone who is saved by
the grace of God understands this. There is therefore now,
what? No condemnation of those who are in Christ Jesus. For
what the law could not do, and it was weak to the flesh, God
sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh. Why? That the law of God might
be fulfilled in us. You see, salvation is something
done by Christ alone. Faith simply receives what has
already been done, and those who receive it are
accepted. This morning we are worshiping,
and our worship, listen to this, it's acceptable. I mean, can
you imagine that? That's astounding, isn't it?
Because I know our minds have not all been in this. We've not
been so absorbed with the love and mercy of God, and the grace
of God, and the power of God, and the glory of God. Our minds
have wondered how many times. And yet God says, acceptable.
Why? Because it's not what you've
done. It's what He's done that made it acceptable. Makes it
acceptable. Okay, now, in seeing that man
is full of sin, seeing his works is in no way acceptable, what
then is the hope? Conviction. Conviction. Verses 16 and 17, God displays
His means of conviction. Look what He says. Here's the
remedy. You realize you're a sinner? You realize that your works are
abomination to God? Here's the remedy. Wash you. Make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings
from before mine eyes. Listen to this. Cease to do evil.
Learn to do well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for
the widow. He gives you a remedy. Go ahead.
If you want to be saved, listen to this. Go wash yourself. Then,
after you wash yourself, listen to this. Stop doing evil. In those two things, God displays
the impossibility of self-salvation. What are you going to wash yourself
in? What works do you have? What sacrifices and blood have
you offered that's acceptable for washing? God says, go and wash yourselves. And then stop sinning. Be holy,
even as I am holy. Listen. Even if it were possible
for this moment for you to stop sinning. If it were possible,
it's not. You know it's not. You're even sinning as you're
thinking about not sinning. I tell you not to sin, what's
the first thing you do? You think of what sin is, you've already
sinned. So it's impossible, but if it were possible, from right
now on, that you stop and you be holy, what are you going to
do with all your sins that are past? How can you wash away your sins? How? In order to be accepted
of God, you must be purged from all your sins. Wash you and make
yourself clean. Listen, if any man's claimed
to have done this, he's a liar. You cannot wash yourself. I know
people think this. Well, I was baptized. I don't
care. Since when does an earthly thing
put away spiritual sin? That's what religion's all about.
They say, here's a cross. Now then, make the sign of the
cross and I'll throw some water on you and you'll be clean. What
is all that? They're taking physical things, trying to get a spiritual
result. They can't do it. It's impossible. You can't wash
yourself. You can be baptized a thousand
times and never take away sin without the shedding of what?
Blood. There's no remission of sin.
Water won't cleanse you. The law can't cleanse you, it
can only condemn you. Curses everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
The law can't help you, friend, in this. This is the conviction
of God. Hear ye the law of God, you children
of Sodom and Gomorrah. What does the law say? Be ye
holy, even as I am holy. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. with
all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. Now go do that. And then what Jesus said, that
lawyer, that lawyer said, he said, what must I do to be saved?
He said, you know, Lord, go do it. Go do it. Impossible. Have you seen this? Have you
seen this? I'm here to tell you this, the
only hope of salvation and acceptance is this, that someone else do
it for you. Someone else needs to provide
the sacrifice with which you can be washed. Someone must give
you the power to be washed. And someone must give you righteousness
to clothe your nakedness before God. Someone must do that. Now
you listen, the only one, there's only one, there's only one who's
done this. That is the Son of God. Jesus
Christ is the only one who has provided an offering where which
you may be able to wash. What offering is that? It is
not water, it's his blood. It's his blood. He alone has
made the only acceptable sacrifice. Over in Isaiah 43, in verse 24,
it says, Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money, neither
hast Thou filled me with fat of the size sacrifices, but Thou
hast made me to serve with Thy sins, and hast wearied me with
Thine iniquities. Listen, I, even I, am He that
blotteth out Thy transgression. Why? For mine own sake. I will
not remember thy sin. You see, this is Christ speaking.
He said, I was made to bear your sin. When Christ came into the
world as a man, he honored the law of God as a man, as a substitute,
as a representative. as a great high priest he made
one offering to God and by that offering the scripture says he
hath obtained eternal redemption so by the blood offering of Christ
for all the sins of his elect they are forever washed forever
blotted out and by his righteousness he now
That righteousness that He made, He now gives. You see, we were
all born as Sodom and Gomorrah. We were all like any other man,
had nothing to offer. Our righteousness, our religion
was vain, just like everyone else. But Christ made a righteousness
for us, and in time, He comes and He gives this. But first,
He must convict you of the vanity of your religion. I've talked
with men, and they say, well, you know, preacher, I understand
what you're saying, and I can't disprove it. What you're saying
is true about God's sovereign election, about Jesus Christ's
perfect atonement. But, you know, I'm just going
to keep going to this place over here. No, you won't let go. You're still holding to your
word. This is what God says to you
who are convicted. If God has convicted you this
morning, listen, this is the promise of God. Look at verse
18. God says this to you who are
convicted. You cannot wash yourself, you
cannot make yourself holy. Behold Christ! Behold Christ! He says, come now, let us reason
together, saith the Lord. Can you reason this morning that
your sins are as scarlet Can you reason this morning that
all your works are vanity? You know who gave you such ability
to reason? God. If God this morning is convicting
you of your sin, listen, God says, come now to me and let's
reason together. This is not an invitation. People
think it is. It's an invitation. It's not.
It's a command. It's a command. When God says, come now, you
know what He means? It means come now. Come now. And this reason is not earthly. It's very spiritual. It's a reason
based on a covenant of eternal grace. Here's some reasoning
for you. You can do nothing to be accepted. Here's some reasoning. Christ
has done everything so that you may be accepted. Though your sins be as scarlet.
What does he promise? What does he promise? Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool, clean, white. Everyone who believes on Christ
alone washed Everyone who believes on Christ
alone is clothed in the righteousness God Verse 19 if you be willing and
obedient you shall eat of the good of the land Are you know
people get this confused we're not saying man doesn't have a
will it's just not free But I'll tell you this, if you be willing,
God has never cast away one who is willing. You know why? Because He makes you willing.
That reason of your conviction and the reasoning of Christ being
all is of God. It's not a work of will. It's
not a work of man. It's a work of God. Are you willing
this morning? I am. I am. I see the reasoning. I have nothing. Christ is everything. I believe on Him. I trust Him. And you shall eat of the fat
of the land. In other words, you're able to understand this
book. You're able to eat. If you see all this book is Christ,
you're able to eat. Come and eat. Eat. Fill yourself
with fatness. God promises this, if you refuse,
if you rebel, you should be devoured with the sword, for the mouth
of the Lord has spoken it. How does God convey His Word?
Through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What
does He convey? Total depravity of man, the uselessness
of your religion. When God saves a man, what does
He do? He convinces him of sin, that he has no hope in himself,
and God, by spiritual reasoning and understanding, He makes a
man willing to trust Christ alone. Have you trusted Christ? I say
this, you're a fool if you haven't. If you still want to cling to
something you've done, God says your works are worse than sodomy. But, this is my promise, He says,
you shall be as white as wool. If you trust Christ, all your
sins will be gone. I will remember them no more. I pray God will bless this to
you.