Oh, how I hope you've seen that
from the heart. I hope I can. And I hope after this message
that perhaps God will show us just what sinners we are. We
need it. Last Sunday I had the privilege
And I do count it a privilege, and it's a privilege that I have
taken for granted and you have taken for granted, I know. Privilege
of sitting and hearing the gospel preached. And an estimable privilege. I
just can't describe it the way it needs to be explained. But it was so easy, so relaxing,
and such a blessing just to sit there and hear somebody preach
the gospel. Just to sit while a man preached
the gospel. Such a blessing to me. I heard
a man in Pensacola, Florida. I heard him do an overview or
a brief summary of the first seven chapters of Romans, and
then he did a brief exposition or description of Romans chapter
8. And as his message unfolded,
as God gave him liberty to preach that message, and he did, he
gave him much liberty, and as God gave me liberty to hear it,
it takes the same power for us to hear the gospel as it does
for a man to preach it. We need the Holy Spirit to enable
us to hear the gospel. I know it's true. I sat and listened
to message after message, unmoved, unaffected, because the Spirit
didn't open my ears, my heart to receive it. The fault didn't
lie in the preacher. But as Todd Nybert one time said,
if a man stands up and exalts God and abases man and points
you to Christ, you see, it's a good message. Whether or not
he had liberty or not, whether or not you felt like he really
hit a home run or not, it's a good message. And we should have heard
it. We should have rejoiced in it. But the Lord gave this man
liberty to preach, and he gave me liberty to hear it. And as
that message unfolded, my heart began to melt as I heard that
gospel. I listened to the story that
I had heard so many times. Time after time, I've heard it
the same story. The same story. I've heard it. Many times, because quoted backwards,
I heard the same scriptures read to me, the same doctrines, same
old doctrines expounded upon, same scriptures. I heard the
preacher say the same things I've heard other preachers say,
that this preacher said. I've heard it so many times for
so many years yet it rejoiced my heart. And I thought, this
has got to be the truth. God's got to be real. Christ's
gospel's got to be real. If I can hear this over and over
and over again and not get tired of it and rejoice over it, even
cry over it, it's got to be God's work, God's power. And you know
what seemed to touch me more than anything in the course of
that message? Todd, like you, perhaps right
now, you're struggling to listen to me. It's always the case.
You come in, and you're tired, and your mind's wandering. You
haven't prepared as you should. But at any rate, you come in,
and your mind's wandering. You think about this and think
about that. You're trying. You're struggling to hear. You
utter a little prayer. Try to say, Lord, let me hear. And if something bombards your
mind, you say, Lord, let me. I want to hear. And all that
tiredness of the body and the mind and so forth creeps in.
It was the same way with me for the first few minutes. But as
it unfolded, the thing that began to break my heart, the first
15 or 20 minutes of his whole message was spent in telling
me what a rotten, wretched, no good, worthless, hell-bound sinner
I am. That's all he said for the first
15 or 20 minutes, and it broke my heart. He said, and it rejoiced
my heart. He said, how could that touch
you, somebody calling you a maggot? How could it rejoice your heart,
somebody just saying all these terrible things about you? Because
I was convinced in my heart from the scriptures that he read,
I was convinced it was true about me. And then, after that, he
went over to Romans chapter 8, verse 1. He went all the way
through the first seven books of Romans. You remember how Paul
said in Romans 7, how that you just can't do what you want to
do. The things you want to do, you don't do. The things you
don't want to do, that's what you do. And how that there's none
that do us good. And how that we're enmity against
God. We're enemies of God. Sinners.
That God ought to send us all to hell. And he got to Romans
8, and he just read verse 1. He said, There is therefore now
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. And that thrilled me. That thrilled
me. It's a recurring theme of all
the scriptures. It's the same throughout all
the scriptures. Mercy for the guilty. If God
the Holy Spirit would make somebody feel real guilty this morning,
real guilty, I mean feel real bad about yourself, it would
thrill me to no end. Because the Scriptures is full
of nothing but mercy for the guilty. The Scriptures is full
of nothing but grace, grace for the poor in spirit. People that
feel themselves just to have nothing, know nothing, are nothing.
The Scriptures are full of salvation for sinners. I'm talking to sinners. And I want to get just as graphic
and just as real and just as down to earth and just as pointed
and just as direct. and open up your and my wicked
heart this morning to where there's no doubt in our minds what we
are before God. Henry, if he'll do it, there
may be salvation in store for somebody. Because that's what
this book is talking about. Salvation for sinners. Not church
folk. Sinners. Rotten sinners. And it's all of the Lord, and
it's all in the Lord Jesus Christ. My very ladies, I keep bringing
her up. very candidly told me one day that she feels offended
at times when she gets real self-righteous. This is when she gets to feeling
like she's a pretty nice church lady, you know. She gets, I come
in here, she comes in here and I call her a whore from the scriptures. Call her a sinner, an ungodly,
wretched sinner. And she said, I don't get tired
of hearing that. Well, the fact of the matter is, you are. I
don't care if you get tired of hearing it or not. Whether it
rejoices you or makes you mad, it's so. Right? Right. We may not feel particularly
bad about ourselves at the time. We may not feel particularly
sinful. But we're just like skunks. We're
all just like skunks. We look pretty good at times.
We might have a black suit on and white hair. A streak of white. Look pretty good, you know. But
the slightest provocation, then the snake comes out. Right? And
everybody around us will know, he's a skunk. He's a sinner. We may not know it though, Henry.
Skunks are impervious to their own smell sometimes. I think
all the time. But we're just like skunks. The
slightest provocation, and we turn into rotten wretches, don't
we? And everybody sees it. And sometimes
we don't even see it, right? But that's us. And you tell me
if it isn't so in you. Tell me if that isn't the case
with you. And listen to this. I know it's the case with me.
The only time the gospel seems real sweet to me, real precious
to me, is when I feel real bad about myself. Isn't it so? You that have experience, that
know anything about the gospel, it's so. The only time the gospel,
times when the gospel doesn't touch you, doesn't move you,
It's the time when you're not particularly plagued by something,
right? Everything's going pretty smoothly. Sin's not bothering
you. You've overcome something, you
think? It doesn't move. It doesn't touch
you. But when you feel real sinful, real wretched, real rotten, feel
like you don't have any business coming in here, feel like you're
the only apostate in here, that's when the gospel's real sweet.
Real sweet. Yeah, it is. And it's so, folks,
the only good news is somebody that feels real bad. Real bad
about themselves. Christ is only the Savior to
those that are lost. I wish this generation knew that.
Don't you? I wish somebody in here knew
it. They're lost. Without God, without
Christ, without hope of eternal, lost. Lost. Strangers to the gospel, to the
truth, strangers to salvation. I wish somebody in here knew
that. I wish somebody in here knew that the hope of the gospel
is for the hopeless. I wish somebody felt real hopeless
in here this morning. If the Holy Spirit, like I said,
if the Holy Spirit would open the eyes of somebody in here
this morning, he just might. He might go out here and change
a man or woman or young person. And I wish, I wish I could do
it. I wish I could do it. I wish
I could make everybody in here, from the youngest to the oldest,
see what you are. I wish I could make myself see
that. I can't do it. Can't do it. The Holy Spirit
has to do it. God's Spirit has to do it. But I know what I'm
about to say. If nobody in here becomes convicted
for the first time, somebody that doesn't give a flip for
the gospel or Christ, if nobody believes this for the first time
here this morning, somebody that has believed it before is going
to get comfort from this. Somebody that has. I wish God
would save somebody new But like some preacher always says, I
wish he'd save me over again this morning. I need to be saved
again and again and again. I need to hear this gospel again.
But you know, just like all of God's people down through the
ages, beginning with the Old Testament people of God, God
in His mercy and His goodness showed them themselves, showed
them, revealed to them what they were by allowing them to fall.
Terrible fall. Grievous fall. All of God's saints
down through the years, God allowed them to have a terrible, sinful,
wicked fall. Perverse and all of these things.
Fall. And God in His goodness and mercy
did that. You say, how is it the goodness
of God to allow a man to fall into sin? Well, listen. Because
only, I've said it over again, Only sinners need a Savior. Only
when a man realizes what he is will he apply it to Christ for
salvation. Only then. Only the ungodly,
only when a man sees what he really is will he need God, will
he apply it to God and apply it to Christ's righteousness.
Only the ungodly, the wretched, only those that see themselves
angry with God, God angry with them will apply for this peace
that comes with God. And the greater the sinner, the
greater God's salvation appears. The greater his sin, the more
that person will appreciate it, the more he'll appreciate it.
The greater the salvation, too. God gets greater glory from saving
great sinners. Paul said it. He said, I asked
before a blasphemer and a persecutor. Paul went out and had people
killed for believing the gospel. But God saved him. So he'd be
a pattern. So he'd show everybody. God saves
the worst. The worst. And there are many
examples in the Scriptures. Noah. All of these examples of
people throughout the Scriptures falling into terrible sin. They were descriptions of God's
mercy and grace. Of his salvation. Of his character. Noah. Right after God saved Noah. Noah was out on that boat, he
was only one of eight people that was saved in all the world.
And what did Noah do? Right after he got off of that
ark, he went and planted him a vineyard, and as soon as the
grapes grew, he made some wine, went out and got drunk, laid
and drunk. Right after so great a salvation. Anybody in here
laid and drunk? Why did God allow Noah to do
that? To show just how longsuffering God is, just how much He'll put
up with in His people, His longsuffering. Abraham called the father of
the faithful. After God did so many great miraculous
things to Abraham, called him from among his people and sent
him into a land, Abraham was like a chicken and
a coward. The father of the faithful went
into this land of his enemies and and told his wife, who was
real pretty, he feared that they'd get his wife and kill him. And
he told Sarah, you act like you're my sister. They'll cut my head
off just to get to you. And in reality, what he did was
he gave his wife to that man. Here, you want to turn? She's
my sister. He did that twice, back to back.
The father of the faithful. Faithful Abraham, we like to
talk about. He was a coward and a chicken. a no-good, unbelieving,
wretched, rebel sinner, just like you, no better than you?
Why did God allow Abraham to do that? How did that do us any
good? To show us his faithfulness. To show us how that God will
never leave us. Though we leave him, he'll never
leave us. Though we don't believe, he abides
faithful. Moses. Moses. You know what all God showed
Moses? The burning bush. parting of the Red Sea and the
water out of the rock, all these miracles. God showed Moses his
glory. God spoke to Moses face to face,
showed him his glory. Moses saw all these miracles.
But after a little while, Moses got to feeling real good about
himself. He thought, I'm so nice. And
the children of Israel crossed him one time. He said, must I
give you water again? As if he is the one that gave
him water in the first place. He said, alright, here you rebel.
I'll give you some water. And smoked that rock and did
the most injurious thing to the gospel a man has ever done. Smiting
that rock. Killing Christ over again. Why
did God allow him to do that and fall in the face of all those
people? Why? To show us His justice. To show us how He won't allow
His gospel to be abused like that. How about old Peter? Constantly failed. Peter constantly
failed. Why did God allow Peter to cuss
in that fire and deny Christ? I don't know him. Blinkety, blinkety,
I don't know him. Believe me, I don't know him.
I'm not one of those Christians. You ever done that? You haven't
done it in the same words, baby, but you've denied Christ. Yes,
you have. I have. Still do it. Why did God allow
Peter to do that? Why? to show us His grace, His
persevering grace. Why did God allow Paul to go
through such a terrible past? To show us unconditional election,
how that he has to choose us or we won't be saved, that we'll
go to hell with our track shoes on, just as fast as we can get
there, unless God shows us salvation and unconditional election. You
say, why would God save such sinners? Why would He save you?
Let me ask you that question. Anybody? Anybody? Vicki, why on earth
would God save you? Gracious sakes. Why? John, what in the world does
He need with you? You know something about yourself,
don't you? What in the world does God need? He doesn't. He
doesn't need you. And why would he save you? Why
did he save David? Why did he save Noah? Why did
he save Moses? Why did he save Abraham? Why did he save Peter
and Paul, all these wretched rebels? I know we like to call
them saints, but they're wretched rebel sinners like everybody.
No goods. No better than a harlot. No better
than a drunk on the streets. Nobody. Every man at his best
state worthless. Why would he save anybody? To
show us what a great God He is. To show us His glory. To show
us what a great salvation this is, and what a great sacrifice
it took to save such wretched sinners as we are. Somebody said this, only those
who fit the character described can claim the promise. In other
words, God says something in the Scripture, He describes somebody
like this, Christ said, I came not to call the righteous, that
is, good folk, good church-going, law-abiding citizens. I didn't
come for those people. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners. He talked to harlots, he talked
to publicans, he talked to no-good, wretched bottoms, and he saved
those people. He said, I didn't come to call
good folks. A church isn't a place for good
folks to meet. It's a place for wretched, rebel
sinners. sinners to come, so that they'll
know how to be saved. Do you fit the character? Do
you fit the description? Are you a pretty good person? Christ said, the Son of Man is
to come to seek and save that which was lost. Are you lost? I just think that's pretty honest
with you. About half the time, maybe three quarters of the time,
I still feel lost. That's the reason I sure need
a Savior. If you ain't never been lost, you don't need a Savior.
That's the trouble with this generation, too. They've never
been lost. temporarily displaced out of the way. Need somebody
to show them the way. Point me on the path, I'll walk
it. Tell me how to live, how to quit my chewing, my smoking,
my cussing, my drinking, and get me, point me on the road
to heaven, go to church. How am I supposed to dress like it?
Okay, I can make it now. See you later, Jesus. See you
in heaven. Show me the way. No, I need somebody to come pick
me up and put me on his shoulders and take me all the way to glory.
I need a Savior. How about you? I need a shepherd. I'm a sheep out there. I'm caught
by my horns. A horn head toe, that's me. Caught
by my horns in a thicket. I need him to come get me loose
and take me home. Or else, as soon as he turns
me loose, I'll go the other direction. How about you? If he drops me
for a minute, I'll jump right back into wide women and so on.
Dive head on into it. Let's face it now. It's appealing
to the flesh. I had fun! It was fun! But now, by God's grace, I don't
want that. I don't want that anymore. But
He's got to keep me now from that. Now! Or else I'll plunge
right back. Who's salvation for? Those that
are kept by the power of God. He said he's called a friend
of publicans and sinners. Now, we don't know what a publican
is. We don't have publicans. Well,
the IRS is the closest thing to publicans. Tax collectors,
but they don't do it illegally. These publicans back then were
turncoats. They were Jews whom the Romans,
whom the people hated. The Jews were under the persecution
and dominion of Rome. They didn't want to be. They
were being held captive under these pagan rulers. And these publicans were paid
off by the Roman government to go and collect money from their
own people. And they could pocket what they
could get over and above what they told them to get. Go down
there and get 10% off with a Henderson family. They'd tell a publican.
He'd go ask 15. I mean, like a brother, a neighbor,
just like them. And he'd go down in his pocket
that money. Greedy. No good. And people hated him.
Despised those publicans. Greedy. Out for the almighty
dollar or whatever it was back then. Christ came as a friend of those.
And that's what the Pharisees said. He's sitting with publicans. Any publicans in here? Turncoats? Sinners, when they talk about
sinners now, they talk about sinners. They talk about harlots,
whores. The oldest, what do they call
it, the oldest occupation on earth? There's a lot of them
back then. Drunks, harlots. A lot of that
went on, just like it does today. Just like it does today. Paul
said it's such for some of you. I don't know if there were any
of you this morning or not. I don't know if you had that
in your past or not. But you're just as bad. It's just as bad. And Christ said He was a friend
of those. Any Mary Magdalene's in here
this morning? Huh? Any? Scripture says Christ is
your friend. Now, are you a good person? I
look pretty good to you, I think. I look pretty good, don't I?
You don't know, there's probably nobody in here, except my wife
perhaps, that knows anything about my past. You just know
what I've told you. For all you know, it's just some story. You
didn't know me. You never saw me. You didn't
see me where I was 15 years ago, what I looked like. You didn't
see me. Hair down to here, that's when I used to grow. Hair down
to here, big long beard. You didn't see me. You don't
know me. And you're looking at me. I can take my place right here. No good. Henry, I've cleaned
up my act. Got a haircut, a shave. My old
habits are pretty much gone. But I'm still the same person
on the inside. I need a Savior. How about you, huh? I don't think the problem is
people think they're too bad. I've heard this. People say,
well, I'm just too rotten. God wouldn't save me. Boo! Nobody
feels like that, else you'd be banging on your hands and knees.
Save me. That's not the problem, people
thinking they're too bad. It's they don't think they're
bad enough. There's the problem. It's the problem with somebody
in here that doesn't give a flip for Christ and the gospel. You
don't know what you are. That's my problem. That's the
reason the gospel at times doesn't mean anything to me. I forget
what I am. I'm telling the truth, aren't I?
Yes, I am. Let me ask you this. Have you
ever killed anybody? Maybe some men in here have been
in a war, I don't know, shot somebody, I don't know, probably
not. Maybe, uh, maybe have, but probably not. Have you ever killed
anybody? You ever wanted to? Have you ever committed adultery? Have you? If you're married,
God's given you a nice husband or wife. Have you ever lusted after another
man or woman? David actually did both. He was up on his roof one day.
Let's tell it like the Scriptures tells it. David was up on his
roof one day. He was the king of the land.
He should have been out fighting the battle, but he's at home
for some reason. I know. He had this thing planned.
He's up on his roof one day, and he was looking down there
and saw some woman bathing herself, and she looked real good to him.
And he called and had her come up. King gets what he wants to.
Had her come up there and he committed adultery with her.
This was another man's wife. A man that was one of his best
friends, one of his devoted soldiers was out fighting for him. A good friend. And he knew it. And David committed adultery
with that woman. And when the man got back, he tried every
way to cover it up because the woman got pregnant. He tried
every way to cover it up and couldn't, so what did he do?
He covered himself up. He had that boy killed. He had that man killed. Put a
bounty on his head, said, you put him out on the front line,
make sure he doesn't come back. Isn't that awful? That's the most hideous thing
I've ever heard of, really. It's probably the most hideous
thing we've seen in all of the Scriptures. David, you've done the same thing. The
exact same thing. Is there anybody in here who's
thought this thought? Just think about it. Who's thought
this thought? What if something happened to
my wife or my husband? I'd sure like to have so-and-so. I'm getting where the rubber
meets the road now. You're the same boat. Why on
earth would God Almighty save you? Same reason He saved David. Because
David sure needed it. And if David hadn't gone through
that, you wouldn't have Psalm 51. It's your favorite psalm,
isn't it? Have mercy upon me, O God. After the Lord finally
showed David what he was, what he had done, and gave him repentance,
he cried out, Have mercy on me. We wouldn't have Psalm 51, Terry,
if that hadn't happened. Have mercy on me. And that's
where I go. Every time I get to feeling pretty
bad, I go to Psalm 51. Have mercy on me. Do you? I know
you do. I know you do. Are you a great sinner? Are you
there at Psalm 25? Look at it with me. I got good
news for you. Listen to what David said. Look
at Psalm 25, verse 11. Everybody's got a Bible to look
at. David said, For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity. Are you looking
at it? If you care. For thy name's sake,
O Lord, pardon my iniquity, because it's And like I said, David may be
safely called one of the greatest saints in all the Bible. God
says he's a man after my own heart, didn't he? Yeah, he did. God called him
a man after his own heart. Look over at Luke chapter 7 with
me. Luke chapter 7. Yet David committed the worst
sin as recorded in all the scriptures. He committed the worst sin recorded
in all the scriptures, the worst sin known, a murderer, an adulterer,
a lustful man, terrible. So why did he save David? Why
did he forgive David? David needed it bad. He knew
what to do. He finally knew it. He didn't
know it for nine months. He went nine months. How long have you
all gone? Nine years. Twenty-nine years. Some have
gone in here without knowing, without repenting, nineteen years,
twenty-one years, forty-nine years maybe, without knowing
what you've done, who you are, what you are before this whole
holy God. David went nine months. Supposed
to be a man after God's own heart. We can do that now even. We'll
go nine months or longer without the gospel moving us, touching
us one bit. Stone cold. Why did he save old
David? Because he finally realized,
by God's Spirit, he needs to be saved. Look here at Luke chapter
7 with me. Look at it. Who would you suppose
is the greatest? Now, I could just call David
the greatest Old Testament saint, but yet he committed the worst
crime and sin ever recorded in the Scripture. But I still have
to say that David was the greatest saint in all the Old Testament.
Who would you call the greatest saint in the New Testament? Paul?
Apostle? Peter? That's who first comes
to our mind. The Apostles, don't we? Stephen,
that martyr? I'm thinking somebody else. Anybody
got any clues? Greatest saint in all the New
Testament. Can you think of him? John, the
beloved disciple who leaned upon his bread? No. That's not who
I'm thinking of. Let me show you here. Look at
Luke chapter 7. Look at verse 37 with me. Christ
was in a house of a Pharisee eating, and behold, a woman, a woman in the city, which was
a sinner. We're talking about a harlot
here, a prostitute. Everybody knew it. Christ knew
it. She sure knew it. When she found
out that Jesus, see that name? I mean Savior. When she found
out that Savior, God in human flesh, was in that house next
door, she went in there and she stood behind me in verse 38,
crying, weeping. I can see this picture now. Christ
is seated at the table, all around the table. They sat down, or
they kind of leaned over on pillows when they ate back then. And
all these high-muckety-muck religious folks around the table talking
about this and that and the other doctrine. Christ was probably
just eating, listening to them. And in walks this notorious woman. Everybody knew her. Mary was
her name. I'm not sure which one it was. There's three Marys
in the Scripture. I'm not sure which one it was.
Mary Magdalene, perhaps. who was with the seven devils
was cast out of it. But in walks this woman. And
the room got quiet. Everybody knew that woman. The
Pharisee, whose house it was, looked. I mean, he was shocked. Choked on a chicken bone. What's
she doing here? What's she doing? She went over
behind him and stood there, weeping, standing, weeping. And then she, the scripture says,
verse 38, she fell at his feet. And again, she was weeping so
uncontrollably. She knew what she was, and she
knew who Christ was. He's the only one that could
help her. And she fell at his feet. She was weeping so profusely,
so uncontrollably, that it just poured out like a pitcher of
water on his feet. Weeping on his feet and kissing those feet. God's feet! Who had come to save
her? Kissing those feet and began
to wipe them with her hair. Look over at verse 47. And these
fellows, all these religious, pious fellows, were sitting around.
But he knew If he knew who this woman was, doesn't he know that
that's a... I wouldn't let her touch me. In Christ's name... ...her sins, which are many. Hell, she's a great sinner. She
knows it. Everybody else knows it. I know
it. But she's forgiven. You ain't! You pious religious
Pharisee, you ain't. You're going to stand before
this. Christ said it's going to be easier for the harlots
in heaven in the day of judgment than for the righteous and the
pious in the church going to hell. You ever heard this before? This is the gospel according
to Scripture. He said, her sins, which are
many. You've got many sins? You've got to have a lot of them
to be saved, John. You've got to have a lot of sins.
Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much
to whom little is forgiven, though the same love is little. You don't feel lost. You don't
feel particularly bad about yourself. You don't feel much like a sinner.
You don't need Christ. You're not interested. You see, this is why we need to constantly
be reminded. This is why Barbara will call
you one more time. If I can ever convince you that you are, then
you can crawl in like this woman here, up to the feet of the Savior,
and kiss his feet, and cry profusely on his feet. And look at a saved
man, Lord, and he'll say to you, you know what he says every time
to people like that? Every time! You're forgiven. But the man that comes waltzing
up, I accept Jesus. No! Go home and learn what this
means. I'll have mercy. Mercy is only
for guilty. You guilty? If not, you ain't
got mercy. That's very simple isn't it? Very simple. Why did Christ forgive
this woman? Why did he pay such attention
to her? And you know, I call her the greatest saint, because
from here on out, Deborah, she talks about her a lot. Mary is
always mentioned throughout the Scripture. Do you know where
he finds her every time? Nearly every time when Mary is
mentioned. If Christ wanted to find Mary,
he said, look now, she's at his feet. She remembered where she
came from. She always did, always will.
And she's the first one that Christ revealed himself to when
he rose from the grave. When Christ rose, after he had
accomplished that great salvation, he came back to earth in his
glorified, resurrected being. Who did he appear to? The early
apostles of God. Mary. That beautiful little old,
that former harlot. He says to the father, he says,
I've got to go back to earth and appear to one woman there. She's great. Scripture says the least shall
be greatest. The greatest shall be least in
the kingdom of God. She said, you know why God, why
did God save her? That would be one of the greatest
pictures of salvation in all the Scripture. Why did He save
her? She was a great sinner. And we're not bragging. I'm not
bragging about our past life. I hear men do that. I hear them
get up on the podium and talk about what a drunk they used
to be. They're bragging about it, what to do. They used to
be a drug addict. And this and that and the other.
They're bragging about it. That's what people want to hear.
They want to hear these seedy stories. It feeds their still corrupt
minds, you know. I want to hear this. Tell us
again how you used to be a drug addict. I'm not bragging about
sin. I'm ashamed of it. We ought to
be. But here's the thing about it.
It's the only thing you've got to plead with God. The only thing. The text, back at the text, says
this. David says this. It's not our goodness that recommends
us to God. It's not our goodness. This is
so contrary. Isn't this so opposite today's
religion? Isn't it? It's not our goodness
that recommends us. It's our badness. The badder
we get. The more, the better possibility,
probability that God will save us. And this is what David says,
Oh Lord, for your name's sake, pardon my iniquity. It's great. He didn't say, Lord, he didn't
say this, Lord, pardon my faults. I know I've got faults. Talked
to a man on the phone not too long ago. I said, are you a sinner?
He said, well, yeah, I've got faults like everybody else. David
didn't say that, did he? He said, Lord, please forgive
me. I've got my faults, but not very
many of them, after all. I'm trying to do the best I can.
Isn't that the plea of most people today? Isn't it? Huh? Like the
Pharisee in the temple? Lord, I thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you,
Jesus. I sure ain't as bad as so-and-so over there. But the
publican, what is that? He said, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. Go back and read it. The sinner,
as if he was the only one on earth. Everybody else looks pretty
good to me, Lord, but I look bad to me. God be merciful. Christ said he's forgiven. That
boy's forgiven. And I'm not sure you have ever
repented of your sins, unless you see yourself as the worst
person in here. I'm serious. I'm serious. Paul said Christ became the safe
center, and I'm the worst. That's right, and Paul was the
greatest. The greatest. Can you imagine pleading this
in court? David said, Lord, have mercy upon me. Please forgive
me because I'm the worst. My sins are many. Can you imagine
pleading this in the courtroom today? Judge, would you please have mercy upon
me? Would you please set me free
because I'm a habitual criminal? I can't do anything but steal
and murder and rape and rob. I just can't help it. Judge let
me off because I'm a habitual criminal. The judge would be
so shocked. And the first lady said, put
him in the deepest, darkest cell. But that ain't what God says.
No. He says the worst. The worst
will get the best. And the best will get the worst. The worst. And that's what David
pleads here, because the greater the sin, the greater the need
of the Savior. This is what I'm saying. The
greater the deliverance. Now, we plead our goodness, don't
we? We plead our goodness. Judge, it's the first offense.
It's the first time it's happened, and it won't happen again. That
ain't the way to plead with God. You know how you ought to plead
with God? Lord, it ain't my first. And it will happen again. Just
as you turn me loose, I'll go do it again. But please have
mercy on me anyway." And that's who God sent. You explain that?
You can explain that, you can explain the mercy and the glory
and the grace of God Almighty, His character, His person. Explain
the gospel. Because the greater the deliverance,
the greater the deliverer, you see? Christ came down, He said,
I came to call sinners. And after reaching down in the
muck and the mire and pulling out an indescribable bum like
me, like some of you, picking you up and dusting you off and
cleaning you up and making you like Christ, who gets the glory? Who gets all the glory today?
He does. Christ does. That's who. You
know what it took? You know what it takes to save
somebody like you and me? A little decision? Goodness gracious! Isn't this gospel a mockery,
Henry? This gospel today? It's a stench
in my nostrils and it's a stench to God Almighty. Couldn't make
you a decision for Jesus? Goodness gracious! You know what
it took to save rebels like me and like you? It took all the
wisdom The power, the glory, the decrees, the purposes, the
covenant of God Himself before eternity began to think this
thing up, to come down Himself. God had to come down Himself. Why couldn't He just say, you
say, no, it wouldn't work. Now, good enough. He had to come
down Himself to do the job. Himself. He had to come down
and live as a man. himself, because we can't live
like he tells us to live. We think we do at times, but
we just fall right back, don't we? He had to come and live as
a man. Christ lived as a man and lived
a perfect life, never thought anything bad, never did anything
bad. On the contrary, he was pleasing
to God Almighty. God looked at this man, Jesus
Christ, and said, now that's the way men are supposed to live,
and I'm going to accept that man and nobody else. But that
Jesus Christ, because of what He did. And then Christ took that life
that He lived, that perfect life, and said, but Father, I won't
give this to somebody else. I'm going to give what I did
to someone else. And then God says, somehow, God
says, there's old Henry. And old Henry's been a bum. Still
above, aren't you, Henry? But God sees you and sees Christ. He's not looking at you. He's
looking at Christ. That's your only hope, old boy, young boy.
That's your only hope. My only hope. That's anybody's
only hope. Not making your silly little decision for Jesus, it
took a whole lot more than that. It took Christ living 33 and
a third years on this earth, perfect Thought, word, and deed. And in going up to that terrible
Roman tree, and God seeing you and me, our sins in Him, and
killing Him, punishing every one of those sins, shedding His
blood, God had to come down Himself. You know why? If you want something
done right, you've got to do it yourself. I'm real bad about
this, aren't I, Sherry? Delegating authority. I mean,
I have a hard time letting somebody fold bulletins. I mean, how much,
what can you mess up about folding bulletins? But I'm standing right
there. Why? My name's on that bulletin. Your name is not on that bulletin.
Mine is, right there on the front. Everybody reads that bulletin,
it reflects upon me. I know it says Central Baptist
Church, but I, it's more reflecting upon me than anybody else. I
want it done right. And God says, now if I'm going
to accept anybody, if I'm going to save anybody, A man came down and did it himself. Because nobody could do it. Abraham
tried it, failed miserably. David tried it, failed miserably.
Peter tried it, failed miserably. Paul tried it, failed miserably.
Christ did it! And God says, well done, my good
and faithful servant. Enter in. And everybody that's
in Him by faith enters in with Him. Had to do it Himself. And it took the very blood of
God Himself. That's God dying on that tree.
The Son of God took the blood of God Himself. Why? He couldn't
have sin in it. Just a mere man dying had the
sin of Adam in that blood. Had to be pure blood, spotless
blood. Feed the church of God which
he had purchased with his own blood, the scripture said. God's
blood, pure blood, spotless blood like that lamb without spot,
without blemish. Had to do it himself. Had to
die. Steve, you can't pay for your
sins. I don't care if God sends you to hell. He won't pay for
your sins. Your sins are infinite because they're against an infinite
God. One sin requires a hundred million years to pay for because
of who God is, because of who it's against. It's an infinite
sin. It takes an infinite sacrifice.
That's the reason he had to do it himself. Why does he save
anybody? For his name's sake. It says
there, look back at it, it says, for thy name's sake, O Lord.
When you talk about somebody's name, when you call somebody's
name, what do you think of? You think of their person, don't
you? When I say Charles Ross or Terry Kinsley, what do you
think of? Do you think about Charles' truck?
Do you think about Terry's Jeep truck? No, you think about Terry.
And speaking of his person, you think about Terry. That smiling
face appears before you. You think about Terry. But he
says, for your name's sake, what is the name of God? Who is the
name of God? What name does God declare? When
he said to Moses on that mountain, John, he said, I'll declare my
name. I'm going to declare my name.
Who is what? Who is God? What is the name
of God? Emmanuel, Christ, Jesus Christ,
came to declare the Father. The name of God is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And He said, for thy name's sake,
that is, because of the Lord Jesus Christ, because of what
He did, because of who He is, because of what He did on this
earth and what He did on that cross and where He went and where
He is now, because of Him. O Lord, be pleased to the Father.
O Lord. He knows something about sin.
And this is the only way we can plead. Oh Lord, for Christ's
sake. And this will give you peace.
For Christ's sake. Because of him. You love him.
Look what you did to him. For sinners. Plead with him.
Argue with him. You said it. For sinners he came. Lord, for his sake. Because of
this. Because you sent him. Pardon
my iniquity. There's a lot of them that need
pardoning. The only thing that will pardon me. The infinite
blood of Christ? Would you do it? The answer is always the same.
Always the same. Always the same. I will. I will. Our sins, which are many,
are forgiven. To whom much is forgiven, they'll
love much. Have you had much forgiven of
you, or just a little bit? And according to your sinfulness
will be your love for the Savior. Yes. Even right now. I ain't talking about somebody
that never made a profession of faith. I'm talking about church
folk. According to the way you feel
about yourself is how you feel about Christ and this gospel.
Yes, it is. When I heard that man preach
down there in Pensacola, I was feeling particularly bad about
myself at the time. And that gospel was awful sweet.
It's the best news I'd heard in about three or four days.
Oh, I wish somebody'd hear it. I wish I'd hear it again. I think
I have, this morning. He has to do it. Like I prayed,
though, if nobody in here hears it, I'm praying to God that I'll
hear it. And I wish you'd have seen the
same attitude. Lord, and I pray for my, if you
won't pray for yourself, if you won't go home and pray, if you
won't seek Christ, go on to hell. I'm going to. That's pretty blunt,
pretty plain, isn't it? If you want to wallow in sin,
go ahead. I'm through. I'm through. I want to know the Savior. I
want to know Christ. And by His grace and by His mercy,
I think I do know Him. I'm going to continue to seek
after him. I don't know him like I want to. Do I have a right? Like I said, well, it's a lot
worse now than I did when I started. Matter of fact, the things bothering
me now didn't used to bother me when I was a, I mean, an out
and out rebel. Things bothering me now didn't
used to bother me then. I feel like I've got more problems now
than I did then. But now I got a Savior who took
care of them, took care of them. Well, I tell you what, let's
see.