Go with me if you would back
to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. And let's read again what our
brother just read to us. And from Miletus, he, the apostle
Paul, sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. And
when they were come to him, he said unto them, you know that
from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner
I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility
of mind, and with many tears and temptations which befell
me by the lying in wait of the Jews, and how I kept back no
thing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and
have taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying
both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward
God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold,
I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things
that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth
in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me, or
they are waiting for me. But none of these things move
me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might
finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received
of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
And now behold, I know that you all among whom I have gone preaching
the kingdom of God shall see my face no more. Wherefore, I
take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all
men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel
of God. The Apostle Paul knew by the
inspiration of God that he would never see these dear believers these brethren that He loved
so much. He knew that He would never see
them again. He knew that these were His final
words to them. And He said a few other things.
And then in verse 36, When He had thus spoken, He kneeled
down, and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore and fell
on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the
words which he spake, that they should see his face no more.
And they accompanied him unto the ship." I got to thinking
about that sad fact that there will come a time that I preach
for the last time. And I'm glad that I don't know
when that time is. I'm very glad that I don't know
when that time is. It will happen and I won't know
it's happening. The Lord has knit us together. My heart is attached to you. It really is. I don't think that
I could handle knowing that it was the last time I was going
to speak to you, much less preach to you. I just, I don't think
I could handle that. I believe we would fall on each
other's neck, kissing each other, sorely weeping, sorrowing over the fact that
we would never see each other again. But do you know that that's
a reality that we need to be prepared for? It's a reality that we need to
be prepared for. The time will come that I no
longer preach the gospel to this congregation as a whole. I'm
thankful to be here right now. I'm thankful for this moment
in time. I'm thankful for where God has put me. I'm thankful
for who God has put me with. This is a moment that I take
for granted and don't want to take for granted. But the time will come that I
no longer preach the gospel to this congregation as a whole.
More likely than not, the time will come that I no longer have
the opportunity to preach to an individual in the congregation before I no longer preach to
the congregation. Whether that be through the Lord
taking some in death, it's going to happen. We've never had a
funeral so far in this building. I've thought so much about that.
It's going to happen. Or God forbid, it'll happen through
some losing their heart for the message, losing their heart for
the gospel. Or God forbid me leaving the gospel. Paul said, I preach these things
to you fearfully, lest I, after preaching it to you, be a castaway. Whatever the case may be, sadly,
that's a reality that I need to be prepared for. I started
thinking a lot about that this week, and I thought if I knew
that this was my last message, to the congregation as a whole,
or to a member of this congregation individually, or if this was
the first and last time that anybody ever heard me, period. If this was my last message,
what would I want men and women to know? A lot of places play games we
don't hear. That's not arrogance, it's just
fear. We just don't. We don't. I have some dear brothers
and sisters sitting here. If I knew that one of them was
going to go meet God after I finished telling them what I have to say
to them, what would I want to say to them? Think about that. If I knew that someone was going
to leave me and meet God, You talk about a fearful situation. If this was my last message,
I would want men and women to know these three things. Concerning
mankind, talking about humanity, mankind, the natural flesh. I'm looking at a lot of natural
flesh. Concerning the natural mindset of men and women in religion,
out of religion, I'm talking about people. Number one, God is not who man thinks he
is. He's not. Number two, man is not what he
thinks he is. He's not. And number three, salvation is
not what the majority of religion thinks it is. It's not what the majority of
religion is declaring it to be. Masses of people are going to
stand before God. I've said this so many times,
but it's so true. It's so true. We talk about this
judgment. There will be, I believe, an
event called the judgment. But the judgment's happening
right now. Men and women go and go and go and go. And you read
their names in the newspaper and read their names in the newspaper.
What you're reading is a soul that just stood before the judgment
throne of God. Masses of people are going to
go stand before God not knowing who He is. Thinking they are something that
they are not. Pleading a salvation that's no
salvation at all. I had something one time that
I thought was worth a lot of money. And I took it to the place
who could tell me what it was worth and they said, it's fake. And I walked out of there with
nothing at all. I protected that thing. Every time somebody came
over, I hid it. I didn't want anybody, I didn't
want kids to know where it was. I didn't want, I was so worried
about that thing. When I brought it home, I just
threw it on the shelf. I thought if somebody takes it, take it.
It's nothing. Masses of people are going to
meet God pleading a salvation that is no salvation at all.
I mean masses of people. Our Lord said broad is the way
that leads to destruction. He said straight and narrow is
the gate that leads unto life and few there be that find it. You mean to tell me that the
masses are wrong? Ask Noah and the other seven
souls in the ark. Were the masses wrong? I don't want that to be one soul
in this room. I don't want that to be one.
I have been thinking about you this week. I don't want that
to be one soul in this room. The Lord is able to save us all. I want us to know who God is.
I want us to know who we are and I want us to truly know what
salvation is. Some will say, What difference
does it make? We may not have it all right.
I've heard people say so many times, no place has it all right. This place does. If we don't
get out of this place, we'll have it all right. Well, I may not believe every
single thing in there. What difference does it make?
Turn with me to John chapter 8. This is our Lord speaking. In
verse 23, He said unto them, You are from beneath, I am from
above. You are of this world, I am not
of this world. I said therefore unto you that
you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I
am He, you shall die in your sins. That's what difference
it makes. If you believe not that I am
He, oh to know what that means. Mankind does not know what that
means. Mankind does not know what that
means. Look at John chapter 3. John 3 verse 36, He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Oh, to know what that means. Man naturally does not know what
that means. The soul that leaves this earth
not knowing what that means, the wrath of God abides on that
man or that woman. That's what difference it makes.
Look with me at 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Men stand up and they preach
to people this person, Jesus Christ. And they're telling people
what He wants for them, and what He's trying to do for them, and
how He is hoping things will work out for them. Well, 2 Thessalonians
1 verse 7 says, To you who are troubled, rest with us when the
Lord Jesus, shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels."
One day He's coming back. Verse 8 says, "...in flaming
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." He's coming back taking
vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel. We need to know who God is. We
just do. We need to know what the gospel
is. And here's the reason why. God
is holy. Just a moment ago in the Bible
study, the first thing we read in that one verse was He's holy.
He's holy, holy, holy. God is holy. That is so far from
what is being told about Him today. Men preach that God is
not holy. That's what they preach. Men and women do not naturally
know. They do not naturally understand
that God is holy. He is not the man upstairs. He is not anybody's co-pilot.
He's holy. What does holy mean? It means
He must punish sin. He must. It means He is pure. He is right. He is just. And that's all that He is. Therefore,
He cannot and He will not allow anything that is contrary to
pure and right and just to continue. He will not allow it to continue.
He will by no means clear the guilty. He's holy. Look with
me at Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 verse 30. For we know him that hath said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the
Lord. Capital L, lowercase O-R-D. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Does that sound like what men say He says? He said, vengeance
belongs unto me. I will recompense, saith the
Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. Verse 31 says,
it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God. We need to know this. It is a
fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Who
is the living God? Jesus Christ our Lord. Capital
L, lowercase, O-R-D. I will recompense, saith the
Lord. He is holy. He is holy. His word is holy. Look at one of the last things
he said to us. I'm bringing this as if it were
my last message. The last thing I said. Look at
the last thing he said to us. Go to Revelation 22. Revelation 22 verse 18, for I
testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of
this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall
add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And
if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this
prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life
and out of the holy city and from the things which are written
in this book. He which testifies these things
saith, surely I come quickly. Who said that? Who testified
that? The Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I'm coming quickly. I'm coming quickly. Amen. Even
so, come, Lord Jesus. This is a trivial illustration,
but maybe it's one that all of us can enter into. Old, young,
all of us. If we were all bugs, if we were all bugs, Flying toward
the great bug zapper. The message would need to go
out. We would need to know this. That bug zapper is against all
bugs. I didn't know that. I never heard
that. That bug zapper will by no means
clear the bugs. I know it appears to be harmless.
I realize that's what's in all of our minds. It appears to be
harmless. It's so beautiful and so bright
and so inviting. But be warned, it is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the bug zapper. Men and women naturally do not
know who God is. They don't know what they're
dealing with. They're just so ready to fly
on up. But they don't know what they're dealing with. We must
know what we're dealing with. And here's the reason why. We're
bugs. We're sin. Man naturally does
not understand sin. Man does not understand sin.
He thinks he has a concept of sin. Man does not understand
how deep sin goes within him. He thinks it's on the tips of
his fingers and just on his lips. Maybe a little bit in the mind.
He has no idea how deep sin goes within him. How far sin reaches
into the things that he does and the things that he is. Man
knows that murder is sin. But he does not understand that
the pride that comes from not committing murder is greater
sin than the murder in God's eyes. He has no idea of that. The thing God hates most of all
is pride. Number one. Number one. Pride. The number one place to find
pride is in religion. It's the number one place to
find pride. There is more sin in religion. And I'm going to
clarify that by saying false religion. There is more sin in false religion
than in any other place on this earth. It's the cesspool. It's the melting
pot. But man has no idea of that. Just so happy to see all these
places all over. Man is eaten up with sin everywhere
and in every way and he has no idea. He knows to some degree
that the bar stools are full of sin. But he has no idea that
so is the pew. There's probably more sin in
the pew than there is on the barstool. Man does not understand that.
He does not see it. Our Lord saw it and he warned
us of it. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
six. Matthew chapter six. Verse one says, take heed that
you do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise
you have no reward of your father, which is in heaven. Therefore,
when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they
may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. He said, they're hypocrites.
Verse five, and when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites
are for they love to pray. Oh, they love to pray. Standing
in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they
may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. Verse 16, moreover, when you
fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they
disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast.
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Who's he talking
about in all this? He's talking about the religious. He's talking about tithing, praying,
fasting in the synagogues, that's churches. He said sin is mixed
with all of it. There is nowhere that a man can
get away from sin. Nowhere. There is nothing a man
can do, including tithing and praying, that doesn't have sin
attached to it. In the flesh, man will never
get away from sin. And the reason is because it's
inside him. It's inside Him. Look right here
at Matthew 7 verse 22. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye
that work iniquity. He said your preaching was sin.
Your casting out devils in my name was sin. Your wonderful
works were sin. Sin. In the flesh, man will never
be able to get away from sin. And it's because it's inside
him. Now here's the proof of it to every man and woman. This
will prove whether or not sin is inside a person. Look with
me at Romans chapter 5. Romans 5 verse 12 says, Wherefore,
as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Sin entered the world, death
by sin. Death passed upon all men because
all have sinned. If we want to know whether or
not sin is in us, All we have to do is wait and see if we die.
That's all we have to do. If we die, then it means sin
was in us. Romans 6 verse 23 says, the wages
of sin is death. Where sin is, death is. Where there's no sin, there's
no death. It's the reason why nobody dies
in glory. There's no sin. It's the whole reason. All of
us are going to experience a physical death. That means all of us have
sin. All of us are going to stand
before a holy God. If this holy God must punish
sin, and if sin is what we are, then what hope do we have? If we're going to talk about
salvation, being saved, What's the only hope that we
have? Well, I need to give more. Nope. Our Lord said in Matthew
6, that's mixed with sin. Well, I need to pray more. Nope. Our Lord said in Matthew 6, that's
mixed with sin. Well, I need to fast more and
I need to do more and I need to work more. Our Lord said every
bit of that is mixed with sin. They're all gonna come, say,
look at what we've done, and look at what we've done. He said,
I'm gonna say to them, it was all sin. So if there's nothing
we can do to bring salvation to ourselves because sin is mixed
with everything we do, what hope do we have? Here it is right
here, Romans 6, verse 23. For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Here's what I need to say. This is what everyone must understand.
Salvation is something God does. while everybody's saying it's
something you do. It's not so. Salvation is something God does. It's that plain and simple, period. It is a gift that only He can
give. It is a work that only He can
do, and this is the reason why. Only a sinless man can enter
into heaven. Heaven cannot allow sin to come
in. God cannot stand in the presence
of sin. The only sinless man that ever
walked this earth was the Lord Jesus Christ. There has only
been one sinless man. Therefore, he is the only man
worthy to enter into heaven. Only one man based on merit,
based on works, based on goodness, has ever been and will ever be
allowed to enter into heaven. One man, Jesus Christ the Lord. But this is what God chose to
do. God the Father chose to send His Son, that perfect man, to
be the substitute for His people. He said, call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. He did not come
to show His people how to get rid of their sin. They couldn't
do that. He came to take the sin of His
people away from them by laying all of that sin on Himself, pressing
it all into Himself. He made Himself to be sin. Their sin. And when He did that,
He wiped the slate of His people completely clean. It was all
removed. It was all gone. He got their
sin and they got His perfection. And then He brought Himself And
He brought every person that He did this for to the judgment
throne of God. All of us went. Standing before the Holy God
with our sin on Him, He got what we deserved. With His righteousness on us,
having this perfect record because He removed all the sin. Having
his perfection, we got what he deserved. This holy judge who
must do right and must punish sin, punished the sin and justified
the sinless after he made that transaction. In that moment, God the Father
denied his son and welcomed us in. The whole transaction was
holy, just, right, And here's the truth of the matter. People
ask this question. They make this statement. They
wonder in their hearts. Have I made my peace with God?
Alright, I'm feeling sick. I may come to the end of my life.
Have I made my peace with God? I'm here to tell you that's irrelevant.
It's irrelevant. Here's the only thing that matters.
Has God made His peace with you? This is the only hope that we
sinners have before God. Not what I have done, but what
Christ has done. That's what it is to believe
on Him. It's not to enter into a cooperation with Him, it's
to believe on Him. It's to believe His Word. Believe
that He finished everything that needed to be done. He accomplished
all of it. All of it. To leave this life,
pleading Christ, pleading His work, pleading His blood, His
glory, His praise, His honor, is to leave this life with a
sure hope. So if this is the last message I preach, if somebody
hears this, you know, this coming week or whenever and realizes
that really was His last message, If you all of a sudden find yourself
standing before God, it's a reality. It's a reality. In a moment you're
going to find yourself behind the wheel of a car, it's a reality.
In a moment you're going to walk through the door of your house,
it's a reality. Alright, if all of a sudden,
that fast, You find yourself standing before the throne of
God. And the question is asked to
you, what right do you have to enter in to my kingdom? Say this. Say, I'm not here on my right. I'm here on the right of another. Jesus Christ, my Lord. I'm here
pleading everything He has done. I'm here pleading the blood that
washed all my sins away. I'm not pleading one work of
my own. I plead Him. I look to Him. That man is my hope. Concerning
me, you need to speak to Him. Do that and you will hear, welcome
in. Welcome in. We need to know that. We need to know that. This is
all we need to know. Jesus Christ paid it all. all
the debt we owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
but He washed it white as snow. It's finished. It's finished. Now let me close with Acts 20
one more time. Go to Acts 20. Verse 26. It says, Wherefore I take you
to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. All the counsel of God is in
this one word, Christ. All the fullness, all the counsel
is in this one word, Christ. To him be glory forever and ever.
Amen. All right, let's all stand together.