In mercy, Lord, and by Thee,
God, in three Persons, blessed Trinity, Okay, turn back with me to Romans
chapter 1. Thank you, Sherry. Thank you,
Gabe. Romans chapter 1, verse 7, says,
"...to all that be in Rome..." I almost entitled this message,
"...to all that be in Rocky Mountain, all that be in America." who
are called, he says, saints, called saints for the saints,
because this is written to them, all that live in Rome. America,
like Rome of old, it's just like it. It's just like it. Civilized so-called society,
most powerful nation on earth. Technologically advanced more
than any other. Center of the world. Politics,
science, arts and so forth. Roman Empire is gone. Destroyed. Just a shell here
now. I went to Washington D.C. years
ago for the first time. I was shocked that it actually
looks like Rome. The architecture. You notice
that? Just like it. I was shocked. All that be in Rome, all that
live in America, saints that live in Rocky Mount, he said,
called saints. Called to be saints. Verse 7.
Called saints. Saint. Saint means sanctified
one. Separated. What sanctify means. Separated. And men don't do this. The Pope doesn't do this. God
does it. Sanctified. Set apart by God. He said there in 2 Thessalonians
2, bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning and sanctified
you by His Spirit. Set apart. The Lord The Lord,
when He was talking and when He was preaching in His Sermon
on the Mount, He said, in the end, He's going to set the goats
on His left hand and the sheep on His right. Didn't He? He's
going to separate them. They all dwell together now.
And in the end, He's going to separate them. And the goats
will be done away with. And the sheep are going to say,
come in, you're blessed of my Father. That's sanctification
set apart. What separates God's people from
the world? What makes them differ? Sanctify. Look at Romans 3. In Romans 1,
he's going to talk about the Gentile world. Romans 2, he's
going to talk about Jews, Israel. In Romans 3, verse 9, he says,
what then? Are we better than they? Jews
better than Gentiles? No, no. We proved Jews and Gentiles
all understand. What makes us to differ? Why
are some saved and others rejected? Why are some preserved? Why are
some saved? Is it our righteousness? Verse
10 says, No, there is none righteous, not one. Well, is it our understanding? They're ignorant, we're not.
And we sought the Lord. Verse 11, no, there's none that
understand. There's none that seeketh after
God. What about our goodness? Maybe
it's our goodness. That's what separates us. Oh no, it says
in verse 12, there is none that doeth good. No, not one. Go back to our text in Romans
1. All that be called saints, set apart by God, here's what
separates you, here's why. Grace. This sums up salvation by grace. That's why we changed our name. We really didn't change it, just
trying to Show the world that this is why
we're here and what salvation is, by grace, through the praise
of the glory of His grace. Grace, son, to you. If you've
been called out by God, separated, and it's the truth that separates,
God has been gracious to you. You've found grace in the eyes
of the Lord, just like Noah. If you've been put in Christ,
If you look to Christ alone for your salvation, grace unto you. God's been gracious to you. And
peace. Verse 7. Peace from God our Father in
the Lord Jesus Christ. God's given you life. He that
hath the Son hath life. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. If you really believe and look
to Christ, you have life. God gave you that. He was dead
before and he's quickened. He's given you life. Grace to
you. You've got eyes to see what people
don't see. And Isaiah 29 says, the blind
shall see. God's been gracious to you, given
you the gift of eyes that other people don't have. Ears. Faith
cometh by hearing. Well, they have ears, but they
don't hear, he said. The hearing ears of the Lord. He gave you
ears to hear the truth. God's been gracious to you. It's
by grace you're saved, he said. Repentance, the gift of God.
And most don't think they have anything to repent of. God's
people repent of what they are. Repentance, faith, born of God,
righteousness, peace, he said. Peace be unto you. God is angry
with this world. He really is. It's not like these
false preachers are saying. We're going to see that here
in a moment. God is angry with the wicked
every day. That's Psalm 711. But God is not angry with you
if you're in Christ. Why? Grace unto you. Peace. Christ made peace for
you by the blood of His cross. He didn't have to, but He did. Oh, my. This is what sanctifies. It separates. God's people from
the world. It's not you. It's not me. We didn't do it. When the Lord called out Simon,
Peter, and all of them, they weren't seeking the Lord. After
He called them, they started seeking Him and following Him.
After the fact. God gets the glory. Thank God,
He says, verse 1, first thing, first off, first and chiefly,
I thank my God for you. through Jesus Christ, because
he did it. I thank my God for you all, all
of you. All of you. Thank God for your
faith, he said. It's a gift of God. Gift of God. Gift of God. What the world calls
foolishness, you see it's the power of God, he said. My, my. Go down to verse 15. He talks
about the gospel. He said in verse 15, I'm ready
to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome. I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. I have a confession to make.
When I was a young man growing up under the word, the gospel,
I made a profession when I was 12 years old. I was baptized.
But it was nothing. It was nothing. It was just an
emotional experience. Okay? Because quickly thereafter,
well, several years thereafter, man, I hit the road and I didn't
want anything to do with this old gospel. You see, I got wise. I got enlightened in the 60's. You know, everybody that went
through the 60's and 70's was enlightened. Man, oh man. That's when darkness began to
descend over this land. Well, I was ashamed of this gospel. I was ashamed that my father
was a preacher of this gospel. And I didn't want anything to
do with it. I didn't want to be connected with it. But now,
by the grace of God, I'm telling you, it's by the grace of God,
I'm telling you from experience, it's by the grace of God that
now I am not ashamed of this gospel. Oh my, here I am preaching
it. I'm not fit, I'm not able, but
I'm going to do the best I can. This gospel is the power of God,
the power of God unto salvation. This gospel is what the Lord
used to stop my wild career. And I'm telling you, folks, we
talk about having our children under it, making them come and
sit under it. I'm telling you, there are not
going to be stops or change or anything except by this gospel. This is it. Not being cruel to
them, we're being loving and kind. It's the only thing. Only thing. This is the power
of God. The wisdom of this world, all
its psychology, is foolishness. This is the power of God. This
is the only thing. You're looking at a man who knows
from experience. But there's one thing that will
stop a wild ass's coat, and that's the voice of God. And that voice
is the gospel. And we keep preaching it, and
we keep preaching it. And our children come here, our
loved ones, our neighbors and all that, and we're hoping that
God will speak to them. And He does. He still is. He
does. I'm not ashamed of the gospels,
the power of God. What is the gospel? Verse 17,
he said, therein is the righteousness of God revealed. We just sang that song, Holy,
Holy, Holy, didn't we, Isabella? Holy, Holy, Holy. We teach that
to our children. Why? Because God's chief attribute,
listen to me, very few people know this. The religious world
doesn't know this. God's chief attribute is holy. When the angels and the cherubs
in Isaiah 6, when they, around 24 hours a day, day and night,
give him no rest, what are they crying? They're describing God
in one word. Holy, holy, holy. The world doesn't have a clue. They don't care. Our gods are
consuming fire. We just looked at that, didn't
we? Holiness, God's chief attribute. Holiness tells us why there is
death. Love doesn't explain that, does
it? You can't explain death. God
loves you, but you have to die. Why? Holiness does. It's hell. One thing defines and describes
why there's hell. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Righteousness revealed in the
gospel, it begins there with the holiness of God. It's revealed
in the gospel. There is no good news until you
hear the bad news. There is no salvation unless
you know you need saving. There is no pardon without fear. There is no forgiveness without
guilt. There is no good news without
bad news. There is no mercy unless there
is guilt. The Gospels for guilty... The old saying used to be, hell-deserving
sinners. Hell-deserving sinners. That's who this is for. God who
is holy. And his gospel has revealed that
holiness and revealed the righteousness that's provided. How good do you have to be to
get to heaven? As good as God. As holy as God. Well, that's
impossible, you're right. With man it's impossible, but
not with God. Not with Jesus Christ. You know
why Jesus Christ came down here to this earth? Not to show us
how to get to heaven, but to earn it for us, for His people. It's not just the doctrine. This
is what He did. This is our salvation. When Jesus Christ came down here,
He worked out a perfect righteousness. God said they're all guilty,
they've all come far short of the glory of God. There's not
one good, not one. No, not one. None righteous.
No, not one. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness.
He hated iniquity. And they're altogether filthy,
ungodly, without righteousness. Christ came down and said, I'll
be their substitute. I'll be their covenant head.
I'll be the one. I'll do it for them. He came down. And he lived 33 years. Fulfilled
every jot and tittle of God's Word. And thought Word, indeed,
righteous. And God said, I'm well pleased
with his righteousness. Then, great mercy, great grace, he
put his son on a Roman gibbet, a cross. and transferred all the sin of
all of God's people, laid it on him, and took his perfect
righteousness, everything he earned, and gave it to them. And his soul that sinneth must
surely die. He made his soul an offering
for sin. Killed him. Put him through hell. So we don't have to go there. The Gospel reveals that. You
see, we had nothing to do with it. It was all Him. He did it
all. God purposed it. The Lord Jesus
Christ worked it out. And the Holy Spirit applies it.
Salvation is up in the Lord. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. And it's said over in Romans
3 that the righteousness which is by faith of Jesus Christ,
upon all, not Jew, Gentile, doesn't matter who did it. It's upon
them. He did it for them. They didn't do anything but sin.
And He did it for them. Not everybody. God doesn't love
everybody, and Jesus Christ didn't die for everybody. What? God
doesn't love everybody and Jesus Christ didn't die for everybody.
Those are two lies, two biggest lies ever been told. That's why
this country's in the mess it is. We're going to see it here
in a moment. That's why, because false prophets have told everybody
so long that God loves them so there's no fear of God before
their eyes. There's no judgment, no punishment of sin. Nothing,
no consequences. You don't have to worry about
it. God loves you. Jesus Christ died for it. When it comes time
to die, you just accept Him. You go to heaven and be with
Him. And He'll congratulate you for doing that. That's not it. That's not it. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
for His glory. It's of Him, to Him, through
Him, for Him, by Him, because of Him. It's all Him. to the
praise of the glory of his grace, 100 percent. Choosing, calling,
convicting, changing, working, dying, living. Now he's going
to describe Rome. Rome. When it says to just to
live by faith there in verse 17, that's written four times
in Scripture, beginning with Habakkuk 2. Just shall live by
faith. What is faith? It's looking to
Jesus Christ. That's what faith is. Mark it
down. Faith is in Jesus Christ. Repentance toward God against
thee and thee only have I sinned. And faith toward the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's it. Want faith in a word? Christ. Want salvation in a word? Christ. Yep. Faith. Just shall live. Look under me and live. Okay? All right, here's Rome. He describes it, the wicked,
corrupt, evil world under the power of the God of this world.
As I said, chapter 1 describes the irreligious, ungodly world
that we live in, then and now. Chapter 2, religion. And such
were some of you, he said, but God. Verse 18, the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. The wrath of
God. I ask you, people, when the last time you ever heard
any mention whatsoever of the holiness of God, the anger of
God, the hatred of God, the wrath of God, the righteousness of
God, the reprobation of God. Anybody. Anybody. In modern religion,
or anywhere. If anybody does say anything
about wrath, it'll be some wild, crazy, foolish preacher who's
got it all wrong himself. And the whole world's scoffing
at him. Right? But this is God's Word. It's
God's Word. It says the wrath of God from
heaven is revealed. Revealed means seen. seen by all. And we're seeing it. Isn't it
incredible? Do you not see that these things
are really on the increase? Do you not see? You see it clearly,
don't you? It's revealed from heaven. All of these calamities, what
men call natural disasters, are on the rise, aren't they? How
many tornadoes went through and ripped up this country not too
long ago? How many? And people have never
seen the likes of it, Brother Stephen, haven't they? They have
never seen anything like it. What is it? It's the wrath of
God. Take a decadent city like New Orleans, and again, it's
no worse than Rocky Mountain for that matter. It's just more
of it. And God's saying, boom, just
wipe it out. Wipe it out. And men do men.
Everybody sees that. And the only ones calling it
the wrath of God are insurance companies. Right? We see it. It's like Egypt of
old. You remember when God sent, was
it nine plagues? He sent to Egypt. Flies and lice
and hail, fire and darkness and blood and on and on it went.
Well, you'd think surely the Egyptians would see. This is
the hand of God. It's the judgment of God against
them. They didn't see it. They couldn't see it. Who did? Israel. They saw it. And what did Israel realize?
When they went out of that place and were not destroyed with the
Egyptians, what did they realize? Everyone, to a man, what did
they realize? We're going out of here because
that blood is on the door. Right? We're going out of here
by the mercy of God, by the grace of God, because that blood was
shed. God saw the blood and He passed
it over us. Right? Every one of us knew that.
Who maketh thee to differ? God does. Put a difference between
you and the Egyptians. What is it? Blood. Righteousness. Not your own. Oh my. It says they hold the truth in
unrighteousness. Hold means hold it down. Suppress
it. It's clearly seen. His eternal
power and Godhead, verses 19 and 20, that which is known of
God is manifest, clearly shown to them. God has shown it to
them. The visible things of the creation of the world are clearly
seen, clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.
God's power, creative power and His authority, Godhead, even
His wrath is clearly there without excuse. But they're holding it
down. Holding it back. Science holds
it back. Why? To hold the truth in unrighteousness. Love of money is the root of
all evil. Hold it back. Clear, undeniable proof that
God created all things. What does man do? Man doesn't
want a God. Because if God is the Creator,
that means He owns us. He can do what he will, what
he wants. Right? We will not have him reign over
us. So what do they do? Hold the truth down. Okay? They
find a pig bone. I ain't kidding you now. They
find a pig bone in the desert of Africa, and three billion
dollars later, a blank check from the government, we've discovered
Neanderthal man. I'm telling you the truth. And
they suppressed that. Back in the 50s, they found a
pig bone. It's the first evidence they found to support what so-called
is a pig bone. Where'd you see that? They suppress
it to hold it down. What are they going to say? Don't
send any more money, it's all a hoax. They're going to make
something up. Remember when that little tube
they found on that Mars rock, you know? Remember that? Remember
that? It supports life on Mars. Remember
that little tube on a little mud dauber or something? You
remember that, anybody? Remember that? It's headlines
on Time magazine. Life on Mars. Three years later,
on the back page of the New York Times, an article that far said,
no proof at all there's life on Mars. Hold the truth. Hold it down. And nobody is more
guilty than religion. Religion. Now, I'm saying all
this not so that we'll look at those ignorant people. We started
out by saying, who makes us the different? How is it that seemingly
intelligent, wise people, educated people, so-called rational people
will fall for all this stuff? God gave them over to Him. God
left them to Himself. God had hidden these things from
the wise and reputed and revealed them unto babe. And if you believe,
if I believe what this world absolutely scoffs at and rejects
thumbed down, grace be to you. If I was Pentecostal, I'd say
somebody say, have a loose hand. I'm telling you, this place is
going to hell in a handbasket, and I ought to be in it. Right? Such were some of you. Verse
19, it says that professing themselves to be wise. Or verse 22, professing
themselves to be wise, education is the Savior of our society.
That's what they say, isn't it? Huh? Education is going to save
our society with all its arts and sciences and all that. It's
going to save us. That's what Rome said. You're talking about a fool.
You're talking about a foolish people to study history. To study
history carefully and repeat it. Repeat it. I'm a fool. Fools. Man's a fool, isn't he? A fool
that said, no, God. Everything so clearly shows a
handiwork of God. Heavens declare His glory. The
firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day others speak. There's
not a language on earth where the voice is not heard. Day and
night, works everywhere of God. This brain, a bowl of jello,
a bowl of jelly, little gray cells. You ever looked at it? It looks like scrambled, gray
scrambled eggs. And yet it's so complex. It can
build computers and architecture and all that. Well, would somebody
just stop? And think for a moment. Use that
to see. Somebody must have created that.
He did. Verse 21 says, When they knew
God, they see God clearly, they glorified Him not as God. That's
what it's all about. That's all it's about. Glorify
Me. Thank Me. They weren't thankful,
he said. Just thank me. Just stop what you're doing and
say, God did this. God gave me this. To God be the
glory. Thank you, Lord. What's hard
about that? What's unreasonable about that?
No man is full of vain glory. He wants the glory. Oh, that's
evil, isn't it? That's evil. That's why God called
man evil. That's evil, to want some credit
for something you have nothing to do with. And religion is the
worst. Well, he said they weren't thankful,
became vain in their own imaginations. That's what everything is, an
imagined thing. A foolish heart is darkened.
Change the glory, verse 23, of the incorruptible God into an
image. Made like what? What's the first
image? Man. God's like a man. Man is so foolish
that he got God like a man and man like a God. You talk about the understanding
backwards, like Isaiah 59 says. It's all gone backwards. Judgment is absolutely backwards. They got the Creator in the hands
of the creature. The potter in the hands of clay. How ignorant can you get? No
fear. Verse 24, God gave them up. So God gave them up. That doesn't
mean there's nothing He could do with them, so He gave up on
them. That's not what that means. If that's so, then I would have
been a goner. You would have been a goner, wouldn't you? Brother
Mack, if God said, well, I've tried and tried for years and
he just won't listen to me, I'm just going to quit trying. God
doesn't try anything. Isaiah 43 says, God will work
and who's going to stop it? And aren't you glad Mack Torrance,
aren't you glad one day he said, Mack, through the gospel? Rather
he said, sinner, stop. Look, listen, pierce your heart. Aren't you glad? That goes for religious people,
self-righteous people. My self-righteous sister, I'm
in the gutter, she's in the pew. I'm lost, she's lost. I didn't
know it, she didn't know it. It takes the same power of God
to convince somebody in a pew that they're just as bad as Harvard
on the street. Somebody say, Hallelujah. Some
religious person. Boy, I may not put this on sermon
audio. I'm not trying to be Pentecostal
at all. I'm just trying to show. You
know, and I've looked at this before. Look at those ignorant
people. Look at those fools. Look at
them. What's wrong with them? That was me. Such were some of
you, but God. That's what I hope we see after
this is all over. You are called to be saints.
You know why you're called saints? Grace. Infinite. Glorious. Saving. Keeping. Enlightening. Life-giving. Help
me. Grace. Invincible gift without
repentance, restraining, constraining, saving, eternal grace be unto
you and peace through the Lord Jesus Christ. God has given some people up
with an unclean mind. Verse 25 says, Change the truth
of God into a lie. And you know, there's times when
we feel like, oh my, is the Lord giving me up to uncleanness?
Because I struggle with these, I still struggle with these same
lusts and so forth. Is the Lord giving me up? No,
he hasn't. Why are you here? Anybody that's
given up won't come to the fountain, you see. Anybody who's given up won't
come back. Won't come back. Like the pig that wanders in
the mire, the dog to the vomit, huh? We're all just like that. But look, wait, wait, he's turning.
Look, look, he's coming back. What's he coming back for? Mercy.
Grace to help. Forgiveness of sins. Then maybe the Lord hadn't given
you up, hasn't He? Huh? You see? Why do we come
here? So we can see what strides we've
made? No! To hear about this same gospel. of forgiveness of sins, of mercy,
of grace, of righteousness charged to impute it to. Because we need
it until the day we die. To whom coming? To whom coming?
Who? To who? There is a fountain,
Bonnie, filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners
plunged beneath that flood, loose all their guilty stains. To whom coming? Oh, I don't think
he has given up on me yet. I don't think he has. Some, though,
change the truth of God into a lie. Would you change anything
of God's Word? Would you change a word of it?
Anybody? They worship and serve the creature more than the Creator,
verse 25. Oh, Mother Nature, you know. Man. Oh, my. God's blessed forever. God is the Creator. God is the
blessed God forever. Amen. And for this cause, God
gave them up unto vile affection. You see, these things are the
result of false religion, a perverse society, an immoral, amoral,
wicked, God called it this present evil world. back then and now,
is a result of false religion. Peter said it in 2 Peter 3. He
said, they are willingly ignorant of creation and the flood, the
judgment of God. Willingly ignorant. Clearly see
it in the heavens. Clearly see it in God's Word,
the truth. Now let's hold it down. Hold
that down. Why? Because you can't get a lot of
money. You won't get a hearing. you'll
get the hearing of God's people. His sheep will hear it, and he'll
save them by it. And that's all you're interested
in anyway. But false religion that worships man, the free will
of man, the creature. God said, I will work, who worketh
all things after the counsel of his will. And men have the
audacity The utter contempt for God, they'll even put it on the
rooftop of their building, free will. And God is angry. And such were some of you. Roberta,
that was you. Free will to the core, weren't
you? But God. But God. Why you? This is to you, Roberta,
called to be a saint. He's called to be a son. And
he goes on, and I've got to close. He talks about all of the things
that men practice and women, and giving over to these things. I remember we were sitting around
one time talking about this Romans 1. Some of the preachers and
I, years ago, I was just a real young preacher. I guess I was that. But I remember saying, God is
going to judge this country because of all this homosexuality and
everything. And one of the older preachers said to me, he said,
brother, he said, these things are the judgment of God. The society left alone. So just 40 or 50 years ago, there
was some amount of preaching of a holy God who will punish
sin and mention of righteousness. And there was some fear. They
even used to call people that, didn't they? He's a God-fearing
man. Not anymore. Is it? Not anymore. Or is there anymore? Anybody? Unite our hearts. David said,
unite our hearts to fear thy name. in a day when the whole
world is just mocking and taunting the God who is about ready. Lord,
please, keep the fear of God in us, that we may serve Him
acceptably with reverence and fear, He said. Because our gods
are consuming time. Oh, my. And God opens up. So,
God, let's open the floodgates. You know, the only thing that
prevents things is the grace of God. The grace of God. He
says to that ocean, here the two shall ye come, no further.
The grace of God. And God, you know, restrains
evil. Restrains evil. Okay? The wrath of man. So praise Him. And the remainder He restrains.
And after a while, He starts opening it up. Opening it up. Opening it up. Until it's given
over. Given over. Let me close with
this true story. And you know, we can be given
over. Young people, listen to me. Young people, listen. This
is true. We can be given over to the world,
to sin, the world, flesh, devil. This is biblical language. We
can be given over to it one way or another. I knew a man, know a man who had
two children. He loved dearly. His oldest is a daughter, beautiful,
beautiful. I've known her since she was
a child, a baby. And they were raised under the
gospel, just like ours are, just like our young Lauren and others
and Blair and Elizabeth and so on. Raised under the gospel,
her and her brother. Well, years went by, she left
home and got involved with drugs and sex, you know. and babies
and was so riddled with drugs that she was in and out of jail
and got on that meth, crystal meth, you know, just destroyed
herself. Just destroyed herself. And now she has nothing to do
with anybody. Gospel, parents, children, without
natural affection. given over to her brother. Her
brother, raised under the gospel, fine young man, chip off the
old block, just like his daddy. Well, he went out in the world,
became a success, educated, moved up the corporate ladder, and
now he has a high-paying job. lives fabulously wealthy, has
a family, beautiful wife, beautiful home, has it all, esteem of everybody,
power, riches, all this. He has no interest in God whatsoever. None. They're both lost. They've both given over. Ones
are just out and out, open, Sin is destroyed. One to the world
and riches and fame and honor and glory. They're both lost.
They're both without God, without Christ. Given over. Given over. I'll dabble in this.
You may be given over to it. I'll do this and later on, there
may be no tomorrow. Today is the day of salvation.
And his and her parents loved them dearly, had them under the
sound of the gospel. God was not pleased to speak
to them, but their parents were just hopeful. And now you know how distraught
they are. But there's still hope. There
is still hope. What's going to make a rich man
turn from his riches? Nothing but the power of God.
The gospel when you see Christ, unsearchable riches. What's going
to make a sinner, lowly sinner, a harlot, what's going to turn
a harlot to Christ? Ask Rahab. Today is the day of salvation.
Young people, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. When? Tomorrow? No, sir. Today. Call on the Lord. Seek the Lord
while he may be found. There may be a time. Let her
go. It's a horrible picture. A horrible
picture. Call upon Him. Seek the Lord.
Come to Christ. Today. Today. The gospel is being
preached. Mercy. Mercy. Go home. Get in your closet. And ask the
Lord to keep you from yourself. Keep you from this world. Do
you hear me? You do it now. Do you hear me? There may be no tomorrow. Lord God, please, please, please,
please save us and our children.