When your Bible now to first
Corinthians chapter six. First Corinthians chapter six. First Corinthians six, I want
to read three verses with you and will serve as a text. This should be a message of great
comfort to you. 1 Corinthians 6. Let's read verses 9 through 11. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor eminence, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the
kingdom of God." You say, I thought this was going to be a message
of comfort. Well, look at verse 11. And such were some of you,
but you are washed. You are sanctified. You are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit
of our God. I am so thankful. I am so glad. I am so thankful. God is merciful
to sinners. Aren't you? Because that's me. He's merciful to the guilty.
I'm so thankful that that mercy endureth forever, because I'm
going to need it till the day I die. I'm so thankful that Peter
wrote, The long-suffering of the Lord is salvation. I'm so
thankful, because he's going to have to put up with me till
the day I die, be long-suffering with me. I'm so thankful that
salvation is of the Lord. that nothing depends upon me.
I'm so thankful for that. I'm so thankful salvation is
by grace and not by works. I haven't got any good works.
So thankful God just freely gives it. I'm so thankful Christ receiveth
sinners. That's me. Even the chief. Even
the chief. I'm so thankful Christ is all
in salvation, that he's done it all, he is all. There's nothing
left for me to do but trust him. I'm so thankful that he said,
I'm complete in him. Aren't you? I'm so thankful for
the covenant of grace that God preordained my salvation before
the foundation of the world, and this covenant is ordered
in all things and its Sure, I'm so thankful for that. And I'm
so thankful that Jesus Christ is the surety, that this thing's
in his hands, that I'm in his hands because I'm in good hands. Not with all states, but with
Jesus Christ. I'm in good hands. I ain't got
just a piece of the rock. I'm standing on the rock. I'm
so thankful. I'm so thankful that I was given
to Christ. in that covenant, and that everybody
who was given to Christ will be saved by Christ. I'm so thankful. I'm so glad about that that I
don't have anything to worry about. I'm so glad that those
sheep that Christ died for will never perish. He promised that.
He said, I'll give unto them eternal life. They'll never perish.
Nobody is going to pluck them out of my hand. I'm so glad. I'm so thankful. I'm so thankful
Peter wrote that they'll be kept by the power of God. They don't
have to keep on keeping on. They don't have to keep the faith,
brother, that they're not keeping themselves, that they're being
kept. Oh, I'm so thankful for that.
That's the reason I'm bound to give thanks to God, to God for
all of this. I'm so thankful, and everything
I've just said is a summary of the gospel of my salvation. I'm so thankful for the gospel
of my salvation. I wish there was more thankful.
You know, what we think of Christ and the gospel, some of you,
your eyes lit up when I was saying those things. Some of you were
smiling right along with me. Some of you were nodding your
heads right along with me as I was talking about all the blessings
of God that are in Christ, the salvation, the sure and the certain
and the free and effectual and final and finished redemption
of Christ. Some of you were just nodding
and smiling. You know, what you think of Christ and the gospel
is in direct proportion to what you think of yourself. What you
think of Christ and the gospel What you think of Christ in the
gospel is in direct proportion to what you think about yourself. The most important question I
could ask you, the question that Christ asked his disciples was
this. What think ye of Christ? I was
approached by some so-called Mormons last night. I talked
to them more than an hour on my front porch. And they asked
me many questions and so forth, and I asked them basically this
one question. What do you think of Christ? Tell me about Christ.
Do you want to share the message of Jesus Christ? Then share it.
Tell me about Christ. Don't tell me about the Mormons.
Don't tell me about the Book of Mormon. Don't tell me about
Joseph Smith. Don't tell me about Moroni. Don't
tell me about any of that. Tell me about Jesus Christ. Tell
me about it. And before I ask you that, though,
let me ask you this. What do you think of yourself? Your answer to what you think
of Christ is in direct proportion to what you think of yourself.
What do you think of yourself? If you ask me that question,
this is what I would say. I would say with that other Paul,
I am less than the least. I would say I am the chief of
sinners. Brother Ron Travins said there's
going to be one argument in heaven. Who claims to be the chief of
sinners? Everybody claims it. All of his
people do. I'm the chief of sinners. You
ask me what I think about myself? I'll not say like that fellow
told me on the phone, I'm a pretty neat fellow. When I asked him
that, you asked me, I said, I'm the chief of sinners. I'm the
chief of sinners. I'll say with Paul, I'm unworthy
to be called a saint, unworthy to be called a disciple. I'll
say with Isaiah, I'm undone. There's nothing good about me.
I'm undone, a man of unclean lips. I'll say with Peter, depart
from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. I'll say, I'm unlovely, I'm ungodly,
I'm the vilest of the vilest, the sinfulest of the sinful. Then if you ask me what I think
of Christ, ask me what I think of myself, I'll say all that. I can't describe myself in bad
enough language. But ask me what I think of Christ,
I can't describe him in good enough language. When you ask
me what I think of myself and I say, O wretched man that I
am, you ask me what I think of Christ, I'll say, O holy man
that he was. I'll say I'm less than the least,
but I'll say about him he's greatest of the great. I'll say I'm the
chief of sinners, but I'll say he's the chief of the chiefs.
King of kings and Lord of lords. I'll say I'm unworthy to be called
a disciple, but I'll say of him he's worthy. I'll say I'm undying, but I'll
say he's complete. He's perfect and complete. I'll
say I'm a man of unclean lips, but I'll say of him, grace pours
from his lips. I'll say I'm a sinful man. I'll
say about him, though, he's the sinless man, the only one. I'll say about me, I'm unlovely.
I'll say about him, he's altogether lovely. I'll say about me, I'm
ungodly. I'll say about him, he's the
express image of God. I'll say about me, I'm the vilest
of the vile. I'll say about him, he's the
fairest of the fair. What do you think of Christ?
It's in direct proportion to what you think about yourself.
I'll say this, sum it all up, Christ is all and in all. The gospel. The gospel is the
most glorious and mysterious thing I know of. You ask me what
I know, we all ask each other that every day, don't we? Well,
you know. If you know the gospel, You know a lot. What's new? Whenever somebody asks, What's
new? You ought to say this, All his mercies are new every morning. What's new? The good news is
still new and fresh. The gospel is the greatest, the
wisest, most magnificent thing ever conceived. John Newton had
a glorious sermon which he called The gospel, the greatest stroke
of genius ever displayed. Stroke of genius. All the wisdom,
power, and person of our God is revealed in the gospel. How
are just and a holy God who will by no means clear the guilty? And we're all guilty, whatever
the law says to us. It says that in the run of the
law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become
guilty. God will by no means clear the guilty, yet he justifies
and clears some people. Men couldn't have come up with
the gospel in a million years if they had put their heads together.
A way that God could be just and justify the ungodly. For God to punish sinners, kill
them, yet spare them. for God's exact justice, yet
forgive them." You see, God will punish sin.
This is the problem with our generation today. They think
there is no God of judgment, therefore they don't fear him.
They think God is all love, right? If he is all love, then we don't
have to fear him, do we? Love casts out fear, doesn't
it? They think there's no judgment
against sin? That's the reason people live
like hell and expect to get into heaven, right? Because they think
God's all love. But God will punish sin, all of it, every sin. Listen to these verses of scripture.
God will by no means clear the guilty. That's recorded more
than once. He hateth all workers of iniquity,
the scripture says. He is angry with the wicked every
day. Are you wicked? He shall rain
fire and brimstone and horrible tempest on the wicked." Listen
to Hebrews 2.2. Every transgression and disobedience
shall receive a just recompense and reward. Every transgression
and disobedience shall receive a just recompense and reward. We look here in our text in 1
Corinthians 6. This is what Paul is saying in
verse 9. He says, Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? And there's
an unrighteous. He's unrighteous. No, not one. He says here, Be not deceived,
or deceived art thou. Paul said, evil men and seducers
shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. He says to
us, be not deceived, neither fornicators. Listen to me now. Listen to the Word of God here.
The sexually active before marriage, the perverse in these acts, unclean,
neither idolaters. Look at that. He says in another place, covetousness
is idolatry. Idolatry is loving, following,
pursuing anything but God. Anything above God. Neither idolaters
nor adulterers. Look at that, adulterers. Those who commit it, or those
who think it. Remember, the law is spiritual.
Our Lord magnified it, didn't he? When he said, if you look
on a woman, you've committed adultery already. He says, I'm
not married to anyone. Nor effeminates. That means,
effeminate doesn't mean just sissies, although it does. It
means the soft, the lazy, the fat, the useless, the worthless. Look, read on, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, that's homosexuality, perverts. Look at the next verse, nor thieves,
stealers of things, purloiners. You can steal time on the job,
you can steal whatever. Be deceptive, scheming for yourself. Robbers of God's glory. That's
a thief. That's the worst kind of thief,
isn't it, robbing God's glory? Read on. Everybody's getting
uncomfortable, aren't they? No covetousness. Covetous. Anybody
who desires and wants anything over and above God. Covetous. Nor drunkards. You know that? That's what it
says here, doesn't it? They say that? Nor revilers as
quick-tempered strikers, brawlers, fighting people defensive all
the time, ready to fight, get their back up in the air quickly. Revilers, who when they're reviled,
they revile back, spew out of their mouth. Revilers, nor extortioners
The word has a terrible meaning, it actually means rapists, you
know that? Extortioners of people's persons
or extortion of the things of different people. These shall
not inherit, know ye not, that's what he said in verse 9, know
ye not that these shall not inherit the kingdom of God? People don't
seem to know that today. Don't you be ignorant, people.
They won't inherit it. Look at verse 11. And such were
some of you. Like I said, I'm so thankful God is merciful. I'm so thankful Christ received
sinners. I'm so thankful for the blood.
I'm so thankful for the covenant of grace. I'm so thankful. I'm
so thankful. I'm so thankful for the gospel,
the good news, my salvation. I just heard the bad news. And for those who heard the bad
news, they'll rejoice in the good news. And then they'll be
like Scott Richardson. They'll say, once I heard the
good news, they ain't heard no more bad news. And such were some of you. I'm looking at a bunch of scallywags,
and you're looking back at the worst. This is a sorry lot. You know you're a sorry lot. You're like lots, and you're
sorry. But so am I. So am I. Look over at Matthew chapter
twelve. And such were some of you. Matthew chapter twelve,
with me. Look at it now, this is good
news. Matthew 12, according to our text, 1 Corinthians, and
here in Matthew 12, the vilest of the vile and the chief of
sinners. If there's a sinner in here this
morning, this is good news. According to our text, the vilest
of the vile, the worst of the worst, the chiefest of sinners
are sometimes saved. Matthew 12, verses 31 and 32. Read it with me. Matthew 12,
31 and 32. Our Lord Himself says, Wherefore I say unto you, and
it's not just anybody talking here. This is the judge. This
is the one that's going to sit on that throne, and we're going
to stand before him. He says, I say unto you, listen
up, it's good news. All manner of sin and blasphemy
shall be forgiven unto men. All those things Paul listed
in 1 Corinthians 6, 9 and 10. All manner of sin and blasphemy
shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. Verse 32, And whosoever
speaketh a word against the Son of man, even against Christ,
it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against
the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this
world, neither in the world to come." I'm not going to dwell
on that, spend too much time on that, but I will dwell on
this forgiveness. This forgiveness. All manner
of sin and blessing from me. All those things that Paul listed,
even against Christ. Saul of Tarsus did, didn't he?
Didn't Saul of Tarsus? Isn't he glad that all manner
of sin and blasphemy, even against Christ, is forgiven? Saul went
about hailing men and women to jail who believed in Jesus Christ. Paul said, he wrote it, he said,
God forgives. God forgives. I did. I remember
telling somebody one time that everything my dad preached was
a lie, that I could disprove it. Oh, Bob, I was about eighteen
years old at the time. You know, when you're eighteen,
you've got it all figured out, right? When you get thirty-eight,
you figure out that there ain't so much you know after all. But I did then, and I said that
this gospel and everything my father had preached was a lie. What I was saying was against
Jesus Christ, wasn't it? I'm thankful all men are a blasphemy
to be forgiven, aren't you? And you were. You were unbelieving. When you're in unbelief, when
you're out there in the world and don't give a thought to God,
don't give a thought to the gospel, don't give a thought to Christ,
what you're saying is a heck with Christ. Who needs him? He might as well not have come,
right? Isn't that what every unbeliever is saying? Everybody
that's not in the house of worship this morning, worshiping God,
blessing God for Christ, what they're saying is, I don't need
Christ, he might as well not have come. Go on back. We don't
need you, right? I'm thankful he forgives that.
I'm thankful. Look back at the text again,
1 Corinthians. He says all manner of sin, and for And he goes on
to list all these things, unrighteous, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers,
effeminate, abusers, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers,
extortioners, and such were some of you. I tell you, it's a shame to speak
of those things. Don't get up. If I was to ask
you to give your testimony, don't get up and tell about how drunk
you got. It's a shame to speak of those things. People do that,
don't they? You hear these little testimony
meetings? They get up and talk about how bad they were. They're
glorying in it. Another fellow gets up and tries
to outdo him. How's it badder than you? Let me tell you about
it. And that old widow down there, that woman down there who's never
touched liquor in her life, is going, Wow! Tell it again. This is better than the novel.
Letting the National Enquirer feed their own lusts is what
it's doing. Don't do that. It's a shame to
speak of those things. I'm ashamed of my life, aren't
you? I don't want to hear about it again. I'd just as soon forget
it, wouldn't you? I don't want to tell it again.
I want to forget it. Thank God he has forgotten. He's not going to bring it up.
Why should I? It's enough to say, I was bad. Right? Sinner. Such were some of you. What'd you do? What'd you do? There's some bad ones in here,
aren't there? Huh? If we were to open up the
screen tonight, pull down the screen and show a movie of your
past life, oh, you'd run out of here, you'd high-tail out
of here, wouldn't you? Show the darkness the things that live
in the dark. That's when it really comes out,
doesn't it? You think nobody's watching.
Whoa! You'd high-sail out of here, wouldn't you? And such
were some of you. But there is a fountain filled
with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners, the worst,
plunge beneath that flood. lose all their guilty stains. Such were some of you, but you're
washed. I hear one of our brethren, every
time he stands up to praise it, I thank you for the blood of
Christ who washes us from our sins. That's as good a prayer
as there gets, folks. You can have the prayers of your
doctors and your theologians. I'll take that right there. I'll
take that to the throne of God. Thank you for the blood. Isn't
that what we're going to be singing about throughout eternity? Huh?
Only one subject on the lips of all saved sinners—blood! Thank you for the blood. Thank
you for the blood. Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Huh? In the soul-cleansing blood
of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are
they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Some of you have been. By God's
mercy, God's love and God's grace, you've been brought to see yourself.
You've been brought to see your filthiness, your wretchedness,
and then God shows you there's a fountain filled with blood. How can I get in that red stuff
and come out white?" Try it and see. There's a fountain. No, more than that, you've seen
the sufficiency of that blood. You've seen whose blood it was.
You've seen what he did, why he did it, where he is now, what
the blood accomplishes, the blood before the Lord. You've seen
the sufficiency of that blood, the soul-cleansing, saving power
of that blood. There's power in the blood. Power,
wonder-working power, in the blood, yeah, in the blood, of
the Lamb, yeah, of the Lamb. And you've seen it by God's grace
and by God's mercy and by God's love. He's drawn you to see yourself
and your filthiness and show you that fountain flowing for
the soul unclean. And you say, I want in. I want
in. I want to dive headfirst. Or
don't just wash my feet. Wash my soul in the blood. And by faith, that's all faith
is, plunging in the blood. That's all faith is, is just
plunging in the blood. And you come out clean. We say,
I don't look it, I look in the mirror and I see pretty much
the same old thing. You're clean. Christ said it,
didn't he? If you've been washed, you don't
need to be washed again. You're clean. You've been washed. You're clean. Every wit, every
sin, but your feet need washing in the Word, just like His blood.
But you're clean. There's nothing. He's blotted
out the handwritings of ordinances against you. If God were to open
the book on your life, if you're a believer, if you're in Christ,
God were to open the book up of your life, He could show it
to everybody. You know that? He could show
it to everybody. He'd open that book and it'd
be—there wouldn't be anything there. There wouldn't be anything
written. All it would say across there
is, Justify. Or he might say this, In Christ,
in Christ, in Christ, clean every whip. And he goes on to say,
But you're washed, you're washed. And he says, You're sanctified.
You're sanctified. Sanctified. Some of you, by God's
mercy, God's love, God's grace, have been separated, called out
by the Holy Spirit. Why did he call me out and not
my buddies, my old cronies? John Davis. You've got some old
cronies you used to run around with, who are still old cronies. I mean, still. Why did he choose you out of
that? Huh? Here you've got two, three,
four, five, six, a multitude of fellows running and getting
into every manner of evil and iniquity. They live for it. They
lay on their bed and they think about the next day's evil. If
they ever go to bed, stay up all night doing it, wake up in
the morning plotting and planning it, go to work earning money
so they can spend it on evil. Huh? Here's a bunch of cronies
running around together, seeing what they can get into, what
hell they can raise. And God Almighty in mercy and
love and grace one day comes along and picks one of them out
of that, just one of them. He doesn't have to get any of
them. He comes along and picks one of them out, dips them in
the blood, sits them, clothes them in the right mind with a
Bible in their laps, and a song of praise and rejoicing on their
lips, Christ in their heart, sanctifies them by the Holy Spirit,
calls them out, woos them. Makes them fall in love with
what they once hated and hate with what they once loved. Sanctified. Some of you were. Separated, called by the Spirit
of God, called to Christ by faith, granted repentance. It's the
goodness of God that led you to repentance, wasn't it? Nobody
will be saved who doesn't repent, and it's only the goodness of
God that makes anybody repent. There's a lot of people out there
accepting Jesus as their personal Savior. There's very few people
saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, the sinner. A lot of
people talking about how they're going to give their life to Jesus.
A lot of people, very few people say, my life ain't worth giving
to Jesus. A lot of people talking about,
I'll give my heart to Jesus. There's very few people saying,
I need a new heart. What's he want with that old,
dirty one? I need him to give me a heart. But you, such were
some of you, but you're sanctified, called out, separated. Why me? You're not going to be walking
arm in arm in glory. Why me? Why me? Why me? Why me? Even so, Father, it seemed good,
and I sat, worthy as the Lamb. Justified, sanctified, he says
that in verse 11, you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Like I said, all of those things that were against you, God just
says, wipe them off. If the book was open against
you, then it would be black. You couldn't, the book wouldn't,
the world wouldn't hold the books recording our iniquity. The big
volumes against us, the handwriting of ordinances against us. God
says, blot them out. Clean them up. How? Nail them
to the cross. Wash them in the blood. When
that soldier comes by with a spear and rips the guts of Jesus Christ
open, that blood just spills all over those ordinances. God says they are clean. Some,
by God's mercy, love and grace, because of Christ, his work,
his person, who he is, what he did, where he is now, his righteousness
imputed, his substitutionary death, his resurrection, his
mediation right now. have been declared by God Almighty,
who is holy, who will by no means clear the guilty, has declared
some people innocent of all charges. Here I stand, Paul mayhear before
God Almighty, God Almighty who sees all, knows all, whose eyes
run to and fro in the earth, says of me, I declare him totally
without sin, spotless, unblemishable, unapprovable before me. That's the reason, throughout
eternity, we were sure, not on us! Not on us! How'd you get
here? If I ask you that, if I see you,
how'd you get here? Only basket. But if I did, you'd
say, not on us! I didn't do anything! I didn't
sin! Christ did the saving. I didn't
reject him. Are you going to be there because
you accepted Jesus? If you ask me that, I'll say,
I didn't reject him. God didn't accept him. I did the sinning. Christ did
the dying. He did the saving. Not by my
doings, but by his dying. By his doings. Justified in the
name and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at the text
once again, all right? And I'll hurry up. Look at the
text once again, and let me look at it with a new thought. Are
you with me? It says there in verse 11, And
such were some of you. Some of you. Not everybody who
has been saved was saved out of a life of open corruption. Right? Not everybody was saved
from a life of open sin, of laying in the gutter drunk, or the other
things he mentioned. Not everybody. Some people were
saved out of religion. I've told you the story about
my sister, haven't I? She said when she grew up, she
was a model child, preacher's kid, a girl, just a model child,
moral, upright, unblameable before men. In religion, she could say
with the Apostle Paul, touching the righteousness of the law
outwardly, blameless. She was in church every Sunday,
went off to college, didn't, for all we know, didn't get in
all of the wild parties that kids reason to go off to college
for, and went to church while she was away and all that. She'd
tell you right now she was the most self-righteous person on
the face of the earth. She was good and moral and upright,
but she was lost. Double loss. You know that's
double darkness? It's double darkness. Some are saved out
of double darkness. That is, they think they see
the light, and they're just as blind as they can be. Christ
said, "...as none so blind as those that will not see." They
don't see themselves. They read the scriptures that
say, none righteous. They don't say, that's me. They don't read
the scriptures that say, none that doeth good, no, not one.
They don't say, that's me. Self-righteous, lost, yet they
think they are saved. That's a double darkness. You
see, they're resting in a refuge of lies, a refuge of their own
works, their own religiosity, their own morality, and that's
a dangerous place to be. God despises that as much or
more so than he does open iniquity and open corruption. God in his goodness is going
to have to show us that we're sinners, religious ones, but
sinners. And some of you, we're like that. Thank God he saved some religious. Thank God he saved some moralists. Thank God he showed some good
moral women that they're bad, evil sinners. Thank God for that. Such were some of you. And look
at it again. It says, Such were. Now, this is important. Such
were some of you, but you're washed. Well, you say, I still feel the
workings of these things within me. Could it be that I'm not
saved? Well, hurry over to Romans 8
with me, OK? Romans chapter 8, and I'll be
through in a moment. Romans chapter 8. Let me ask you this question.
He says, Such were some of you, but you're washed now. Let me
ask you a question, OK? And deal with your own self. Ask yourself this question, all
right? Does sin reign and rule over
you? Do those things that you once
were involved in control your life? Come on now. Are you totally in bondage to
these things, as you once were? Huh? I didn't ask if these things
bother you sometimes. I asked you if they control you. There's a difference. Look at
Romans 8, verses 16 and following. Romans 8, verse 16, "...the Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit," talking to that we are
the children of God. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God, join heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer
with him, that we may also be glorified together. That is,
we died with him on the cross. I reckon the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which
shall be revealed in us. The earnest expectation of the
creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. Look down
at verse 23. and all of the creation and the
creatures, and we ourselves also, which are the firstfruits of
the Spirit, we groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that
is, the redemption of our bodies. Now, I know that these thoughts
these thoughts and these temptations still plague us, they always
will, as long as we live in the body of this flesh, this body
of flesh which is subject to sin. And sometimes we even fall
into an actual committal of these things, open sin. I know But
I'm asking you, do these things control your life now? Do you have pleasure in them?
Pleasure in them and live for them? Do you? The text says, over there
in the text it says, the unrighteous, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers,
and so forth. That text says present tense.
Do you notice that? It says the unrighteous now,
the fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, drunkards, revilers,
present tense, active tense. Those who live in and are practicing
those things now, practicing those things, shall not inherit
the kingdom of God. Doesn't this do away with all
antinomian tendencies and beliefs, huh? Sure it does. And I ask you that. I ask you,
does it do these things that you once had pleasure in and
your conscience never pricked you? We were talking about this
yesterday, weren't we, brother? You never gave them a thought. They
just came so natural to you, and they ruled you, and they
ruled your flesh. You were like an animal, like
a beast, following your natural instincts. Everything, whatever
it felt good, do it. Huh? That's the way it was. What
about now? Huh? As many as are the sons
of God, they're led by the Spirit of God, they're the sons of God.
He says, the Spirit of Christ dwells in you. Sin shall not
reign over you. You're under grace now. You've
got a new taskmaster, and he's kind. The Lord, he reigns and
rules now. Does sin? Does it? Does it reign
and rule over you now? You see, there's a difference
between plagued with them and sometimes falling into it. Yes,
sometimes we do fall into these things, but they don't reign
and rule over us like they once did. Such were some of you. Like I said, there was a time
when I didn't . . . my conscience never pricked me. I don't care
what it was, I'd do it without the slightest tinge of conscience.
Not now. Everything, every sin, breaks
your heart, breaks your consciousness. And if you fall into it, you
get in the worst shape you've ever been in. You go right back
to Calvary, don't you? You go right back to where you
started in the very beginning. I'm just a sinner and nothing
at all. And that's why Christ is my all
in all. Such were some of you, but you're
washed. You're washed now. by the Spirit. It's a difference. In closing, let me quote again
what I always quote. I've always quoted to you that
saying of my old brother John Newton. Any of you read his story? Some of you have. Old John Newton
was a bad fellow. He was an old seed. The sea captain was a slave trader.
He traded in slaves now. How bad of a rogue can you be? You know what sailors are like,
don't you? Suppose the reputation sailors have? How about a slave
trader on top of that? A slave-trading sailor dealing
in the bodies of human beings. He was a slave trader. The Lord
saved that old boy. You know, they made him a slave,
didn't they? They made him a slave. The Lord, that's how he brought
him to himself. He was shipwrecked and taken
in by a black family, and he became their slave. And the Lord saved that old boy.
He's the one who wrote Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound. It saved a wretch like me. And he meant But Newton is the
one that made this statement also. He said, concerning himself
after the Lord saved him, he said, I'm not what I want to
be. And if you'll read some of Newton's
poems and hymns throughout his later years, oh, he expresses
the things that are dear to your heart, things that touch your
heart. Oh, tis a point I long to know.
Often it gives me anxious thoughts. Poems like that, talking about
his own struggles with sin, his own corruption and all that.
He said, I'm not what I want to be. Paul said it, didn't he? I haven't arrived. I'm so wretched,
man, that I am. He said, John Newton said, I'm
not what I want to be, and I'm sure not what I'm going to be. Oh, what I'm going to be compared
to what I am now?" He won't recognize me. But he
added this, and I ask you, can you add this? He said, Thank
God I'm not what I used to be. Thank God I'm not what I used
to be. And I'll add to that saying,
thank God for Calvary. That's why I'm not what I used
to be. And such were some of you. But
you're washed. You're washed in that blood of
the Lamb. Brother Joe is going to come
up and lead us in the singing of this hymn, 198. I tell you,
that blood, because of whose blood it is, The pure, spotless,
holy blood of Jesus Christ, that blood can wash away the vilest
of vile, all of their sin, the most sinful of the sinful. I don't care what your past has
been or what your present is, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all our sins. Let's stand and sing 198,
a simple verse.