salvation. When is a baby alive? When it knows it is. And when
the parent gives it life. That's the new birth. It must
be born from above, and you later on, by faith, realize it. All right, in Hebrews 13, is
our text this morning, Hebrews 13. I want you to read one verse
of Scripture. from which to expound is born. Hebrews 13. And you ought to read the whole
chapter for yourself later on. I wish we had time. Look at verse
13 with me. Hebrews 13, verse 13. Let us
go forth Let us go forth, therefore, unto
him," talking about Jesus Christ, without the camp, bearing his reproach. Now, most of modern religion
today talks about getting saved. A great deal of talk about you
need to get saved. Maybe someone has collared you or cornered you
one time or another and asked you as they like to do, as these
soul-winning vultures like to do. Are you saved? You need to get saved. But what do they mean by that?
What does it mean to be saved? What is this thing, salvation?
Everybody's talking about it. What does it mean? It's kind of ironic to me that
religion talks about it so much. When they say that God loves
everybody and Christ died for them, I have to ask where they
need saving from. Huh? If God loves me and Christ
died for me, what I forgot to worry about. What do I need saving
from? That's a pretty good question,
isn't it? And they say things like this,
God wants to save you, and I have to ask, well, if he wants to,
why doesn't he? Now, there are very few people
that talk about, preachers included, that talk about, that use the
language of Scripture. Very few preachers today are
even using the Bible, folks. I'm serious. If you watch them
on TV and so forth, you'll notice that. There are very few today that
are talking about things the Scriptures talk about. Very few
people, certainly very few that believe them. Things like sin,
this talk of sin, much spoken of about sin in the Scriptures,
death, judgment, condemnation, hell. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke
about hell more than anybody. The Scriptures talk about the
wages of sin being death, that is, eternal death. The Scripture says the soul that
sinneth must surely die, and it also says all have sinned.
They're not addressing these Scriptures, are they? They're
not addressing this problem. The Scripture says that he that
believes not is condemned already, that people by nature are already
under the condemnation and wrath of God. Not the love of God,
but wrath of God. That a holy God, the Scripture
says, loves righteousness and hates iniquity. And the Scripture
says, we are altogether unrighteous. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. There's no unrighteous, no, not one. And it says God
loves righteousness and hates iniquity. Aren't these some good questions
we ought to be asking these preachers and people today in religion?
Huh? Save from what? God loved me. Christ died for
me. What's there to worry? What me worry? The Scriptures, it says, God
will by no means clear the guilty. And Romans 3, 19 says, Whatsoever
things the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become what?
Guilty before God. The Scriptures says God is angry
with the wicked every day, that His wrath abides upon some people. God loves everybody? No, He doesn't. Now, this is old-fashioned. This
is so out of step. This is so strange to the ears
of people. When Paul came to Athens and
preached that day, they said, he seems to be a setter forth
of strange gods. We never heard of gods spoken
of like that, because most people aren't reading the Bible. They're
just listening to preachers talk about love, love, love, love,
love. They're just picking out of the Scriptures what they want
to pick out. They're not reading the rest of it. This is so strange
that men call it strange doctrine. They call it heresy. Paul said,
I confess, after the way they call heresy, that's what I preach.
This is so out of step and old-fashioned and hated. This is the hated
message. It's old-fashioned, you know, hell's fire and damnation
preaching. What did the preacher preach
on this morning? Hell's fire. Are you cussing or is that his
subject? and could've come away from hearing
Christ preach and he preached hell's fire, the fire of hell,
where the worm died not. He preached on it more than anybody. Old-fashioned, out of step, hated,
yes, but viable, viable. To be saved now, and I've said this so many times
that some of you are tired of hearing it, but there's a big
difference between getting saved and being saved. The Scriptures doesn't know anything
about or talk anything about getting saved. This is the difference
between what we preach here and what the world is preaching.
The world is talking about something you do for God. We're talking
about a salvation where God does it all for you. The world is
talking about a God who can't do anything unless you let Him.
We're talking about a God who you can't do anything unless
He lets you. The world is talking about a
God that wants this and wants that and tries this and tries
that. We're talking about a God who does all things after the
counsel of His own will, and none can stay His hand or say
unto Him, You can't do that. Yes, He does and does. to be saved. The difference between
getting saved is what religion has today. They've gone out and
gotten it by their own little works and their own little decision
and coming down front and shaking the preacher's hand. How salvation
is contained in a man's hand, I'll never know. Or down here
at a mourner's bench, a little two-bit piece of wood, how salvation
is in that, I'll never know. But because you come down here
and make your little decision, how salvation is in the How a
human being can be transformed from a human being to a son of
God by the act of his will, I'll never know. The Bible doesn't
talk anything about that. The difference between hit and
save, like the world got religion, so-and-so got religion, so-and-so
made his decision for Jesus, so-and-so accepted Jesus, that's
not in the Bible either. So-and-so joined the church.
Well, good. Might as well join the Lions
Club. They do good work, too. So-and-so did this. So-and-so
did that. The difference between that,
getting saved, and what we preach, being saved, something done to
you, is the difference between a false profession of religion
and true salvation. The difference between a man
doing something And in the end, coming before God and saying,
Lord, Lord, we did this, we did that, and have him cast them
out. And a man or woman coming before God and saying, Christ
did this, Christ did that, and have God bring them in. Now, if I don't say anything
else, you've heard the gospel already, and just that brief
summary. Salvation is something that happens
to you. It's not something you do. It's not something you get.
It's not a place you go. It's something that happens to
you. Salvation is for someone to come where you are and rescue
or save you. That's what the word save means.
If men knew the English language, they'd understand that. To be
saved means to be rescued, doesn't it? Have you ever been lost? Do you remember when Brother
Walter Gruber, a missionary we support on the Yucatan Peninsula
of Mexico, you remember when he was here and told us about
that experience he had out in the jungle? Not a religious experience,
but when he was out hunting, and if you go down there, you'd
see what it's like. I've been there five times now,
and it's just a vast wasteland of nothing but rocks and Henica
plants it looked like a yucca plant just for miles all you
can see is just Wasteland if you get out in the middle of
that in a hundred hundred and ten degree weather hot sun Get
out in the middle of that and become dehydrated You'll become
disoriented you'll die in a matter of a couple of hours Walter was
out there hunting And he's having a hunter and he went out hunting
by himself against a They just don't recommend you do that down
there. He went out there by himself and became, I don't know, I don't
know if he had any water with him, I don't think he did. And he went out there by himself
and he became, started getting dehydrated, became disoriented,
couldn't find it. He was lost, literally, actually
lost. He got down on the ground. He said he was, and a doctor
told him later that you would have died in just a matter of
a little while. He was lost. Some men who began
to be worried about him came and found him. They saved him,
or he'd have died. He said he was too weak to call.
He said, I didn't have any moisture in my mouth. I couldn't even
help. They came and found him. Do you
understand that illustration? He was lost. And Henry, the Scripture
says in Ephesians 2, 1, you who were dead in sins, hath he quickened. Salvation is for Jesus Christ
to come to you. and saved. If you're lost, if
you're dead, every single person in the Scriptures
now, you look it up, every single person was saved when the Lord Jesus
Christ came to them. Barnabas was by the wayside.
He said he was calling. He wouldn't have called on Christ
unless Christ came by. Christ came by that day. Wasn't
Bartimaeus lucky? No. The Lord God of glory was
walking planet Earth. Jesus Christ was his name, and
he had predetermined and predestined before the foundation of the
world, because he works all things after the counsel of his own
will, he had determined to meet a man named Bartimaeus on the
road one day. And he walked by. There were
plenty of places he could have gone, but no, he walked by Bartimaeus.
You say, Bartimaeus called. Yeah, he did, because Jesus Christ
determined for him to call. Fatalism? No, this is just my
sovereign God and sovereign Christ. Matthew, Peter, James, Luke,
all of them. Why would they say? Because Jesus
Christ came to them and called them. The woman at the well,
Paul the apostle. They were all saved because Christ
came to them. So salvation, now listen to me.
While salvation is to be delivered from the penalty of sin, the
judgment and condemnation of sin, is to be delivered ultimately
from hell, salvation, principally, salvation is when you meet somebody. Salvation is not when you get
this or get that. I found it. What's it? You see
those bumper stickers? It. Is salvation an it? This
is eternal life. You might believe it. Or doing
this or that. Salvation is when you meet a
person. When a person comes to you. When Jesus Christ comes to you
and reveals His almighty sovereign self to you, you little pea on
you, I'm talking to me, too. If man didn't have such a high
opinion of himself, he just might meet God. And he does this. Christ comes
and reveals himself to people through the preaching of the
gospel, what I'm doing this morning. Not me, I'm not the power of
God, but the gospel is. That's the reason Paul said,
woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. And Paul said again
in Galatians, if any man preach any other gospel, curse him,
damn him, let him go to hell. So salvation is when Jesus Christ
comes and, in effect, is when he comes and introduces himself
to you. I am the Lord. That's my name. You didn't make me Lord. I was
Lord for you were ever born. Anybody who made him Lord and
accepted him and they call that salvation, they ain't let the
Lord of glory. Salvation is when the Lord of
glory comes and stops your wild career. The Apostle Paul wasn't
looking for Jesus, he was looking to kill those that believed on
him. Right? Salvation came to the Apostle
Paul because Jesus Christ was looking for him. Well, is he going to be saved?
Is there a chance? Depends on who does the saving. If God wants
something, he's going to have it. Count on it. This religious
generation's God may want something and can't have it unless you
let him. Not the God of the Bible now. Everything he wants, he
gets. And if you're his, he's going
to have you. Now, the world could gnash their
teeth at that and do. Maybe somebody this morning is
doing that, gnashing their teeth at what I'm saying. I love this. This was all this old sinner's
salvation. Then when God Almighty stopped
my wild career, the Scripture says of every single sheep that
God calls, you were gone astray. And the great shepherd of the
sheep says, I'm going to come to get you. He leads the nine
and nine in search of the one lost, and what does he do? Hope
they come to him. He goes and gets them, puts them
on his shoulder, and takes them all the way home. Now, that's
salvation. It's not a would-be, a can-be,
ought-to-be, hoped-to-be. It is salvation. And let me tell you now. Now,
I spoke briefly about faith and what comes first, life or faith. And I gave you a simple illustration
of natural birth. When is a child alive, when it
cries or when it's born? And the reason people can't understand
this, they can't even understand simple illustrations like that.
Our Lord is the one that said that. You must be born again. And Nicodemus,
are you a master in Israel? Do you have a master of divinity?
Do you have a doctor of divinity? Have you gone to seminary and
you don't understand that a man's got to be born of God? It's not
of him that willeth or him that runneth, but it's of God that
showeth mercy. It's not of the will of the flesh,
not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will
of man. It's not in anything a man does. It's when God Almighty,
who is Spirit in your flesh, makes Spirit out of you. Are
you a master in Israel and don't understand that? Salvation comes when God Almighty
determines to save a person, and He sends His Son in the form
of the gospel to that person. And they're dead in trespasses
and sin, and just like old Lazarus who was in that tomb, it's when
Jesus Christ in the power of the gospel comes by and says, They call him by name. He calls
them all by name. Somebody said if Christ hadn't
called Lazarus' name, everybody in the grave would have come
out. He's life. Did you notice that every single
funeral the Lord went by, that person got up and lived? You
can't be dead in the presence of life. But if he hadn't called
Lazarus' name, everybody would have come out. Come forth, and
all the world would have come forth. All the graves would open. But he called Lazarus' name.
Well, who are the people that he calls now who are dead in
trespass and sin? I'll give you their names. Sinner! You say, that ain't me. He ain't
calling you anything. I have you know I'm religious.
I know that, and he's not calling you. He said to you, leave him
alone. Like he said to the Pharisees,
leave him alone. I'm not coming to call the righteous. I've come
to call the sinner. Sinner, where are you? Sinner, Patton. Sinner, you sinner? I've described you, haven't I,
Teresa? I've talked about where nothing, where worms, scriptural
language. Now, I'm not making this up.
I'm not just standing up here belittling people. Hey, this
is the language of Scripture. There's none righteous. No, not
one. Scripture calls us worm. Fear not thou worm, Jacob. He
said, I'm the God of Jacob. And you sons of Jacob. He said,
I'm the Lord. I change not. Malachi 3, 6. Therefore,
you sons and daughters of Jacob are not concerned. Jacob was
a worm. That's your great, great, great,
great, great granddaddy. Is that you? Are you a daughter of Jacob?
Are you a sinner? Unworthy? God doesn't need you.
What's he need with you? A thousand million more just
like you? Is that you? Doesn't, I mean, it offends your
pride, doesn't it? No? Good. He'd come to call you
then. And he says, Senator, I came
to die for you. I came to save you. I just believe
he has. Say, what's that got to do with
our text here? Because I ask the question, which comes first,
life or faith? Faith is coming to Christ. The Scriptures talk much about
faith, which means to believe. Very simple, simple concept to
believing. Do you believe everything I've
said thus far? People, some of you that know
the Scriptures, have I made up any of this? Have I twisted or
taken out of context? Is this just not the Scripture?
Is this just not the God that's described in the Bible? Is this
just not the Jesus Christ of Scripture and how he saved people?
Is it not? John, you're a man of the Scripture.
You study and you can quote them and all that. Have I misquoted
or taken anything out of context? You see, faith is to believe
Him. The Pharisees said, we don't
like that. And a lot of people today say, I don't like that.
It doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. That's
the way it is. Salvation is when God comes to
you and makes you like it. He said, my sheep, hear my voice.
His voice being the Word. Everything he said. To be a believer. I like to call God's people believers. That's what the Scriptures call
them. And that, to me, comprehends or takes in everything it means
to be a child of God. You believe God. Whatever He
says about Himself, you believe it. When He says, I'm holy, I'm
just, I will by no means quit. Whatever He says about Himself
in the Scriptures, you say, that's right! Who am I? Paul said, Who art
thou, O man, to reply against God? What do you say to these
things, Barbara Ross? What do you say when God says,
I'm God, there's none else? You're a worm. What do you say?
You're God. Who am I to say anything? I'm
a worker. What if I'm walking through my yard one day and a
worm popped his head out and said, I don't like the fact that
you own this place. What's that to me? Don't bother me, Eddie. Is he God or is he not? Now,
what does that make us? He said, I am from above. You're
from beneath. That's what Christ said. Now, what about faith? Faith
comes when this God says, I'm going to sell you one of those
worms. You don't have to. I don't need you. I can create
more of you. That's what one of the prophets
said. He said, the rocks and the hills. He can make sons of
Adam out of sons of Abraham out of rocks. That's what he did.
That's how he made us, dust. I can make a whole bunch more
just like you. It's when God Almighty says, I'm going to save
one of those. I'm going to save a bunch of them. God says, I'm going to save a
multitude which no man can number. This is how merciful and gracious
I am, how great my salvation is. I'm going to save a people
as many as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore.
And God Almighty elects each one that He's going to save.
He actually hand-chooses every single one that He saves. They
don't choose Him. He chooses them. Is that what
Jesus Christ said? You did not choose me, Christ
said. I chose you. Elect according
to the foreknowledge of God. Through sanctification, or that
is, setting apart of the Spirit and belief of the truth. All
right? That's 2 Thessalonians 2.13. God Almighty comes, chooses a
people, says He chose them in Christ before the foundation
of the world, Ephesians 1.4. Chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world, decided every single individual he's going to save,
that makes him God, doesn't it? You choose what you want to do,
don't you, Sammy? You choose the color of car you drive, the
color of clothes, the type of clothes, where you go, don't
you? Makes you a free man, doesn't it, to do that? Yeah, but you're
dead in trespass and sin. You can't choose God unless he
chooses you. You're dead. God Almighty says,
I'm going to bring them to life. They're dead. I'm going to save
them. They're dead. I'm going to have to call them
to life, like Adam, who was that creature of dust, and he didn't
live until he breathed in him. That's the Holy Spirit coming
through the Word and preaching the gospel and says, and comes
looking for those sanctification of the Spirit. It's the Holy
Spirit calling out, lassoing, setting apart His sheep. They
got blood on them. They got a mark. They got a brand
on them. Just like we have cattle, we brand them. You know, God
does too. His sheep. He says, there's one. How will
I know? He's got blood on him. That's
how you'll know him. The blood of the lamb's on him.
And the Holy Spirit comes through the preaching of the gospel and
says, hey, sinner. That's the first thing
the Holy Spirit does. John 16, verses 9 through 11,
says when the Holy Spirit comes, He'll convince the world of sin. Righteousness and judgment. He
comes and calls you a sinner. He doesn't say, God loves you.
None of the prophets, none of the apostles ever went out in
the world preaching, God loves you and Christ died for you.
Look it up! None of them. Sin was the message. When Peter
preached at Pentecost, he said, You've killed the Lord of glory,
and now you're in His hands. This same Jesus whom you crucified,
God has made Him Lord. He's sitting at the right hand
of the Majesty on high, and you're in His hands, not vice versa.
And they said, Oh no. They began wringing their hands.
We're in this Lord's hands, not vice versa. We're sinners in
the hands of a holy, sovereign God. Sinners. to do with as he
pleases. And then he says in the gospel,
after he convinces you of sin, he said, Woe is me! Look at that! Every single person God saved,
the first reaction was, Woe is me! When they see God high and
lifted up, they saw themselves. And they said, Woe is me! Isaiah
said it. When I saw the Lord high and
lifted up, His train filled the temple, holy, holy. I said, woe
is me. Daniel said, my beauty, I thought
I was a good man. It melted into corruption. John,
when he saw him on the isle of Patlas, fell at his feet as a
dead man. And you will too, if you ever
see the Lord of glory, not a God who's all love, but a holy, righteous,
sovereign, just God, you'll say, I'm a sinner. Would you have
mercy on me? And then in that gospel, he says,
yes, God is love. God is mercy. God is grace. But it's sovereign. God loves
who he will. He doesn't have to love anybody. There's nobody worth loving,
people. That's what makes salvation precious
to you. And when you find out that He
sovereignly put His love, bestowed His love on you, an unworthy
object of that love. Me? Who, me? Yeah, you. Oh, precious. That's precious. Praise God. That'll be from the heart, and
it won't just be from the head and the lips. You won't just
be going around praising Jesus, and it'd be full of hypocrisy.
But it'd be from a heart. with a love of God shared abroad.
And God says, I'm going to have mercy on you. He didn't have
to, but I will. So God says, I'm going to be
gracious to you, to whom I will be gracious. Well, he said in
Exodus 33, what? 15. I'll be gracious. Send my son
down there. God sent his son down here. Why?
To show us how to live? No. No. He came that we might
have life, Christ said. He came to call dead sinners.
That's the reason the scripture says that He won't. And He came
to call His sinners. He said, call His name Jesus. Why? Sounds good. Everybody likes
the ringing of it. It'll be real pretty in some
songs we sing. Jesus, Jesus. No, it means something. Call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His Listen, are you listening to me? What's his name mean? Call his name Jesus. Why? He
shall save, not try to save. He shall save who? Everybody
listen. Who? Say it again. His people from their sins. He shall save. Now that is this
old sinner's only hope. Because I'm a nothing, I'm a
nobody from nowhere who knows nothing, can't do anything, helpless,
hopeless, without God, the Scripture says, without God, without strength,
God doesn't help those who help themselves. That's not in the
Bible. God helps the helpless. God Almighty came to me one day,
and this same gospel, smart, eligible, young teenager, young
man, twenty-one years old, thought he knew everything there was
to know. Old-fashioned. I heard this all my life, this
gospel, this same thing. I heard it all my life, you know,
this thing. I'm smarter than that. I don't
need that. That's old-fashioned. Oh, I'm glad God jerked me by
that. I am come that they might have
life. I am come to call dead sinners to repentance to life."
And he came to do something for them that they could not do for
themselves. Who's going to sin, Psalm 24? Who's going to sin under the
holy hill of the Lord? Who's going to get to heaven? Who's
going to get to God? Psalm 24, read it for yourself sometime.
It says, "...they that have clean hands, a pure heart, who have never lifted up their
soul unto vanity, never sworn deceitfully, or lifted up their
soul unto vain. That means sinless in thought,
word, deed, motive, heart, absolutely perfect. Your hands are spotlessly
pure before a holy God. That's who's going to get in
the presence of a holy God. Who can do it? I'm as good as anybody in here,
I guarantee you that. I can't do it. I've sinned. I can't do it." There's only
one man who ever walked planet Earth who said, I can, and I
did. And that's what Peter preached
at Pentecost. You'd better hear this now. You'd
better hear this, the Gospel, and believe it. There's one man
approved of God. Hear, O Israel, Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God. One man that's ever been accepted
by God on the basis of the life he lived—Jesus Christ! And he's
the only man God Almighty says, I am pleased with you, I will
accept you, you come into my heaven. That's what the same
Psalm 24 says. Who is this that comes in? Lift
up your heads, ye everlasting gates, ye everlasting doors.
Lift up your head. Who's coming in? The King of
glory, Jesus Christ. Well, somebody's behind him.
Lookie there, his train's filling the temple. People behind him. A whole bunch of people are coming
in with him. That's the only people that are going to get
in. He said, No man cometh unto the Father but by me. By me! By what? Doing this or that? Accepting Him? No, by His merit,
His righteousness. The Scripture says He came to
fulfill righteousness, to live the law. But according to the
law, you could not do it. You could not do it, Terry. Try
for a million years, you couldn't do it. Adam couldn't do it. And
he did, though. And have you ever heard the word,
imputed? Romans 4, imputed righteousness. If you don't know anything about
imputed righteousness, I doubt very seriously if you know anything
about the gospel. That's the salvation of a sinner. Jesus Christ came down and lived
that righteous life that God demands of every single sinner
that walks planet Earth, and they can't do it. Jesus Christ
lived it to perfection. God said, I accept you. And Romans,
or Ephesians 1, 6 says, Now we, who? All those that God chose
Ephesians 1 for, before the foundation of the world and predestinatingly
conformed to the image of Christ, we are accepted in the Beloved. God accepts us. Why? Because
we're sincere, because we're good boys and girls. No, we're
sinners! God accepts us because of Jesus
Christ. Because Jesus Christ took that
righteousness and imputed it, charged it. to the account of
all God's chosen people, charged it to their account. And how
God sees me, you know I'm the holiest man that ever lived.
I'm perfectly spotless without blame before God Almighty, righteous. God sees me as righteous, just
as if I justified, just as if I had never sinned. That's what
it means, justified. God declares me innocent of any
wrongdoing. How? To declare, I say, Romans says,
to declare, I say, at this time, His righteousness, Jesus Christ,
that God might be just, holy, and let an old sinner like you
into heaven justify the ungodly. Not my righteousness," he says
in Titus, not my works of righteousness which we have done. Are you with
me? You know, I have mixed emotions
about visitors coming into these services. I really do. I want so badly
for people to hear the gospel. But I'm telling you, if you don't
believe this gospel, it adds to your condemnation. If a man
comes in and heard it and hears it and rejects it flat out, it
is condemnation. Paul said it in Galatians 1.
Am I quoting Scripture or what? Galatians 1, he said, If any
man preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached,
let him be an apple. He's going to hell. If anybody
doesn't believe this Christ, Paul said, they're coming preaching
another Jesus. He wants to save and kill. That's
not the Jesus Christ of Scripture. I'm preaching Him! A suffering Lord who actually
saves people. I need that man, that Christ.
I need Him. I believe Him. You say, where's
faith come in? It's the gift of God. He comes
in this same gospel and says, now believe it! No, I won't. Believe it. Henry, there was
a while when you heard this same message and you said, I don't
like that. Why? It hurts pride. And that's the
thing God said in Isaiah 23, verse 9. He said, I'm determined
to sustain the pride of all glory and to bring in to contest all
the honor of all the earth. That which is highly esteemed
among me is the boldness of God. The best man in the—best states
altogether, man, in the Scripture says. I've not come to call self-righteous,
good, religious people, but sinners! Anybody here like that? And you
heard that and you say, I don't like that. I'm somebody! God
says, no you're not! I'm somebody, God says. You're
nobody. God made something out of nothing,
didn't He? If He's going to make something
out of you, you've got to be nothing! Open up the windows, this world
needs to hear this message. Planet, goeth before a fall.
He that exalts himself shall be a base, he that abases himself.
Oh, Lord, I'm nothing. You're somebody. I'd die for
you. You're mine. You're going to
be a son of God someday. He that is first shall be last. He that is last shall be first.
Lord, I don't deserve to be there. You're going to be on front row. Where is all of this? God gets
all the glory. This is the difference between
true religion and the preaching of the true God, and the true
gospel is God gets all the glory. The world is preaching the gospel.
It ain't the gospel. It gives man the glory. God better
get all the glory, or it's a false gospel. You say you're getting
excited. The zeal of God's house is eating
me up. The zeal for God's glory would
get preachers to get more excited and tell people like it is from
the Scriptures. You might have one message that
you'll ever hear. This is it. I'm going to preach it. God's
God. Not us. We're in His hands. And salvation comes when God
says, I'm God, and you're in my hands. And he says, and I
came down to earth and did something for some sinners. Is that you?
And he convinces you. Irresistibly convinces you. Yes,
that's me, Lord. And then there's something that's
got to be done about your sin. It says, God will by no means clear
the guilty. It says, the soul that sins must
surely die. The wages of sin is death. Without the blood,
there's no remission of sin. Sin's got to be paid for. If
God let one sin go by, he wouldn't be holy. He wouldn't be blessed.
He's got to pay for sins. And either we're going to pay
for them. That's the reason hell is eternal, because we can't.
Our sins are against an infinite God, and they're infinite. Jesus Christ, the God-man, came
down. He said, Lo, I come to pay for
sin. Nobody can do it. No man can
suffer enough. Christ did. That's how powerful
He was. In a matter of six hours on Calvary's
tree, He suffered the equivalency of eternal hell for a people
which no man can number. That's who He is. That's how
powerful He is. And we're saying our silly little
decision saves us? That's fascinating. God put His
Son through hell to save people. Doesn't have anything to do with
our decision. He decided that. And by basis
of that decision, that eternal decision before the world, sent
His Son down here to go through hell to suffer wrath and judgment
of God, and impute that righteousness to them. Now God says, everybody
you did that for is going to be saved. Every last one of you. You know that everybody Jesus
Christ died for will be saved. Huh? Because the blood of God's
Son, Jesus Christ, cleanses from all sin. It's the blood that
makes it tough. He said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. And he made a covenant to that
effect. Bound himself with an oath, an immutable oath, where
it's impossible for him to lie. So when I see the blood, I'll
pass over you. Everybody Jesus Christ died for will be saved.
Particular redemption. Yes, sir. They see that gives
God all the glory. That gives Christ all the glory.
And when God sees the blood, He says there's a safe, and He
brings this gospel, and they receive it. They believe it.
Didn't they say that in John 1, 12? Huh? To them that received him, to
them gave he power, the right, the privilege to become the sons
of God. Right? Well, there you go, preacher.
Sorry about receiving. Everybody accepts him. Oh, read
on. Read on. John 1, 13. There's
not a period there after verse 12. To as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God. To as many as
believed on his name, which were born, not of bloods. In other words, they were born
first. And God gave them faith to believe
on Him. And they believed. They believed
the unbelievable. You believe, and I didn't even
deal with my tax. Verse 13, I'm sorry. No, I'm
glad. Now, those people aren't leaving
because they don't like this. They love this. They're leaving
because she has to go to work. But look at the text one more time,
and I'll quit with it. And look at it now. Have you
got it? You remember where it was? Hebrews 13, 13. Would you look at it with me?
It's important. This is the reason this was the springboard for
everything I've said. I talked about faith. Ephesians
2, 8 says what? John, could you quote that John
out loud? Or by grace, through faith, and that is not of your
sin. That's what it said. In other
words, that says that faith, you didn't produce it. It's not
of your faith. What does the rest of it say?
It is what? The gift of God. Where's faith come from? Put
a man up and decide someday to believe on Jesus? It's a gift
of God. It's to believe the unbelievable,
to love what the world hates. And this is one reason that all
of this came. Verse 13 says, Let us go forth,
and faith is coming to Christ by faith. It's believing Christ,
trusting Him, depending upon Him. And it says, Let us go forth
therefore unto Him. You see, I preached a person
this morning, not doctrine. I preached a person. I tried to exalt a person, a
God, not a concept, but a God. I tried to exalt not a denomination,
but a person. I'm not extolling and honoring
Baptist principles and doctrine. I'm extolling and honoring Jesus
Christ. I'm not a Calvinist. I am a Christian. I don't believe this and that
creed because so-and-so. I believe it because it's the
truth. Christ is the truth. And it says,
let us go forth therefore unto him. What kind of church is this? It's him. It's people who love
to sing hymns. Not have our choirs and cantatas
and stand up here and show everybody how good we can sing. There's
mama out there. I don't sing solo. It's hymn
worshipers. People like to sing H-I-M. It's not a bunch of people who
are studying history, it's people who love to hear His story. Not people who just believe the
Bible, but it's people who believe that in Him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead Bible. In Him are hidden all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. That according to Him, it's written
of Him. Him people. Let's change the
name of this church. the hymn-worshippers. Let us go forth therefore unto
hymn. Religion is a person, not a denomination,
not a creed, not a doctrine. It's a person. And we go therefore
unto hymn, and where is he to be found? Where? Without a hymn. Rick, you've been in a lot of
places, and I have too. I've been in a lot of churches.
Listen, I grew up, my dad was a preacher. I've attended seminary. I say, I got so sick of going
to church. I'll just be honest with you.
I'll just be honest with you. I went to every service, every
what. I've been in a lot of different
places. You, this is, Christ said, broad
is the way, and wide is the gate that leads to disruption. And
many are going up. Floods, tides, millions of people
are going that broad, easy, comfortable, God loves sweet, peace, peace
when there's no people. Just flooding into it, you know.
God, there's something going on down there. God must be in
there. Look at all the people. No. I'll tell you where God is. There's
a little boat over there, and there's eight people in it. The whole world is out there,
and everybody in that little boat is God's elect, God's people. And there's a preacher in there
named Noah. Well, the whole world is without the ark. But look at that big place. You
say you're just jealous because you don't have more people. I
don't have any people. What are you talking about? I
don't have any people. I don't have church members.
I'm not Jesus Christ. The church is His people. He
fed just two or three guys in His name. That's church, isn't
it? It doesn't need man sanction. The sanction it needs is God's
sanction. So you're just jealous. No, I'm not. I'm zealous for
His glory. But see, religion, the world's
religion, is the camp. Are you in the camp? Why, Catholics
and Methodists and Baptists and Episcopalians and you name it,
they're all joining hands in one big worldwide ecumenical
movement, see? We'll all join hands and we'll
all believe heresy together. Everybody believes the same thing.
God loves you. same thing. I don't know why
they have so many different church houses, huh? They're preaching
the same thing. That's the camp. Are you in the
camp? Christ is not to be found there.
They're patting on man's back, they're bragging on man, they're
bragging on this and that and the other. They're giving man
the glory, preaching man, a man-centered gospel about man, for man, and
the glory of the thrice-holy God and his My son, who's the
center of the universe, is not getting A-double-L all the glory. And he said, I've got to have
it all, or I'm not going to be there at all. I've got to have
it all. And that's the camp. It's real
comfortable in the camp, and everybody's in the camp. Aren't
you in the camp? No, Christ is not in the camp. You've got to
go, therefore, unto Him without the camp. You've got to leave
your religion. You've got to leave Mama and
Daddy, who don't like your religion, or don't like this message. Didn't
Christ say that in Matthew 10, you shall be hated by all men?
Where's the hatred that the world, where's the hatred? He said,
woe is unto you men, so we speak well of you. Why is it that men
aren't, you know, at least good Christians? Nobody hates them,
because they're not saying anything. Christ said, you shall be hated,
you shall be persecuted by all men for my name's sake. For my
name's sake, what's his name? Lord, Jesus, Savior, Christ,
one. You've got to leave your religion,
you've got to leave that which is popular. Christ said, if any
man forsake not mother and father, and this and that and the other,
the approbation, the approval, the acceptance, the love, the
favor, And here's what I'm saying, you
don't have to. You don't have to give these things up if you're
on the court. They'll drop you like a hot cake. Just trust Christ
and Christ alone. Just bear like I am this morning. Am I preaching the glories of
Central Baptist Church this morning? Huh? Am I begging people to do
anything? Am I patting on anybody's back
here? Am I trying to get church members? What have I been doing
all morning? Trying to exalt God and who He
is. To the stars you can't get God
high enough. You can't get God high enough.
I can't preach Him high enough, powerful enough, holy enough.
I can't do it. I try. I can't show us like we
really are in God's sight. He said in Isaiah 1, he said,
man, from the sole of his feet to the top of his head, there's
no sound to send him. Listen to how he describes that
as nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. But there's a balm for Gilead,
those that feel that way. You know, everyone of God that
the Holy Spirit comes to, he makes them feel that way. Boy,
then he makes them feel awful good. The gospel is sweet news
indeed. It's good news indeed to an old
sinner. It's good news indeed. Not of
a Jesus who tried and failed, but of a Christ who actually
saved them. Not of a God who wants to and
can't unless you let him, but of a God who said, I will, therefore you shall. I will. Lord, if you will, I
will. I will save them. I give unto
them eternal life, and no man, not one of them, shall perish. Buddy, that's the gospel, I believe.
That's the gospel. That's the only gospel there
is. There's no good news otherwise. And you gotta go to Christ in
that gospel without the camp. It's not being preached everywhere.
It just happens by God's grace and God's mercy to be preached
here. And there are other places. You
don't have to come here to hear it. But I'm telling you, there are a
few of them far between. And people will call you foolish.
Fool for Christ's sake, Jerry. Well, Jerry, you and Stan, you
drive here and you pass high up in church houses, so to speak. Why don't you go down the road?
It's gospel in there, isn't it? Oh, what about over here where
Mom and Dad go? It's as good as any. Yes, as good as any,
but it ain't as good as what God commands. It's not the gospel. You're a fool. That's silly.
You drive Floyd? Perry, you come from Floyd? Surely
there's churches up in Floyd that preach this gospel? I'll bring them from the east
and the west, from the north and south. The Jews of old had
to come to Jerusalem where that tabernacle was, in the wilderness. It wasn't to be found everywhere.
There are more. There are more. But I'm telling
you, sheep. The Lord brings His sheep sometimes
a long way to find good pasture, green pasture. Pastures of His
Word and not man's thoughts and opinions. religious denominations
and so forth, in a place where just an old ordinary woman and
man, a sinner, just an old ordinary sinner,
a person who's not a super Christian or super pious, can hear about
a real, real salvation that will really give them some hope of
God who's really God and there's nothing outside of His control.
And it's all going according to plan. Well, that's good news,
isn't it? Got two more hours? Come back
tonight and you'll hear the same thing. Same thing. I have one
message, because there's one Lord, one faith. There's only
one way to believe, because there's one Lord, one faith. It's a gift
of God. One hope of your calling in the
Holy Spirit. One baptism. When you come to Christ out of
the camp, you confess Him. You come to him, and it's not
coming down here. I'm not going to give an invitation.
Joe, we are going to sing that. Just as I am, Billy Graham would
have you sing a hundred verses just so that somebody would come.
I'm not asking anybody to come down here. There ain't nothing
down here but a wooden I'll explain that. A wooden bench, some man
made, and a pot of fake flowers, and there ain't nothing down
here. And an old wretched sinner takes
his clothes off, and he's just naked. No different from Jews. Jesus Christ ain't down here.
I don't know why I preachers are telling people to come down
here. Come down, come, come, come. He ain't down here. He's
seated at the right hand of the majesty of God. And he said,
in Matthew 6, he said, when you pray, pray to your father, which
is in 6. Don't come down here and all
make a big show over this, bow your head, and don't let anybody
move you, you'll upset the Spirit. What kind of Spirit is it anyway?
Is he so weak that he gets upset over the least little thing?
Or is he all powerful? Huh? He said to write him into
God, so you come to God like old Scott Richardson, a poor
old dumb coal miner, but the best preacher you'll ever hear.
He said, you come to Christ, don't move a muscle. That's flesh come to Him in the
heart. And I'm not asking anybody to
do anything. I'm just telling you what the gospel is, and I
pray and I do hope that God Almighty will convince you of it. If you're
His, He will. He will. And you'll come to Christ. And you won't come down here,
but you'll come to Christ, and you'll believe Christ, you'll
trust Christ, and He'll say unto you, I am your salvation. And
you'll have peace and joy, and I'll tell you what you will do,
though. You'll get in that pool of water. I mean, that's nothing. That's just water. It's well
water. It's just a pool, and we're going
to dunk you under it, just like you take a shower or a bath.
There's no efficacy in that. That doesn't wash your sins away.
It's merely a public confession, saying to the world, hey, I believe
this Christ. I believe this gospel. I believe this God, I believe
this Christ. I'm dead, buried. When he died,
he took my sins and buried them, cast them behind his back. When
he arose, I arose walking in the supply that followed him.
I'm still a sinner. Get out of that pool, you'll
still be a sinner. But you keep coming to Christ. That's what
Peter said there in 2 Peter 1, forward and to whom coming. 1
Peter 2, forward. to whom coming. You keep coming
to Christ by faith. Right? OK. Joe, come up in the... What's
that number? What's that? 249. Joe, come up
and lead us in a few verses. And like I said, don't come down
here. I'm not asking anybody to do anything. I'm asking God
to have mercy on a sinner and reveal to them the gospel and
create faith where there was none, cause them to believe it,
make them willing in the day of His power, and they'll let
it be known. They'll say, I believe that.
All right. Let's sing. Let's sing the first,
the fourth, and the fifth phrases. First, fourth, and the fifth. O say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? Because I am forbidden blood,
I make it clear, say I am one. Say all I need is faith to find you. And as I am, thou wilt receive,
with an open heart in mystery. All my heart was crying when
the light came on.