My heart sings thy grace, said
streams of mercy, never ceasing. His mercies are new every morning.
Streams of mercy from God's hands, streams, fountains of mercy,
never ceasing. They call for songs of loudest
praise. My, my, my. Turn back to Mark,
chapter 16. Mark, chapter 16. Let's read two verses here. Verse
15 and 16. Mark 16, verse 15. Christ said
unto them, Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall
be damned. Now, if you've ever experienced
something and know what you're talking about, and then you try
to convince someone else of it only to have them not believe
you or act uninterested, you know how frustrating that is
and how exasperating that can be, especially you parents. Parents of, I hate to keep picking
on Tina, you parents of teenagers, you know how frustrating it is
to try to convince them of anything, anything that you have personally
been through. You know, I believe, I think
maybe teenagers, I think they think most of the
time that parents go from birth to 40 years old overnight,
that they were never teenagers. I really think that they think
their parents were never a young boy. Their daddy was never a
young boy and their mother was never a young girl. You just
don't know how I'm feeling. Right. I went from 5 to 40. Yeah,
I don't I was never 15. I have no idea what you're going
through. And they fail to realize that
mom and dad were my dad, dad, believe it or not, was actually
15 years old, and a young boy going through all of the the
everything that goes through young boy, which is everything,
everything. And they fail to realize that
dad was It was that age, and that mom was a young girl, and
she just didn't understand me. She was a young girl, and perhaps
she said the same thing about her mom. But nevertheless, you know how
frustrating it is to try to say something to your children, to
try to convince them of something. Say, Honey, I know what you're
going through. I know what you're feeling. I know. You see, I'm
older now. I've gone through these things
and the Lord, I've been brought out of these things and I'm given
some wisdom and some understanding. Looking back, you know, even
a teenager can look back and see some things you did earlier
on. You think, that's foolish, that's
stupid. Can I do a stupid thing? Even a teenager can do that.
Well, how much more somebody who has 30 or 40, 50 years experience
can look back and say, boy, I was so foolish and stupid, and then
try to convince that young person of something. Honey, if you just
listen to me, I'll tell you what's right. It's exasperating and it's frustrating,
isn't it, Mom? Frustrating to try to tell them
something. They get a blank stare or just
plain old, I don't believe that. Either a blank stare, they're
not listening, or else, no, they don't believe it. They just refuse
to believe. Right? One of the two. But this
is exactly the case in preaching. Exactly the case in preaching. I'm preaching. And that is the
word preach. It means to proclaim or exhort
others to hear me. Listen. That's what preaching
is. Listen. And believe. This is the same thing in preaching.
I'm exhorting people to believe what I know to be true. I know
it's true from God's Word. There's no doubt in my mind that
this is God's Word. By many proofs, many, many proofs,
the Word is its own proof. And from experience, you cannot
teach or preach or tell what you don't know. As my dad likes
to say, any more than you can come back from where you ain't
been. You can't tell what you don't know. No, you can't. And
I preach and teach from personal experience based upon God's Word
also. And no matter how much I put
into it, no matter how powerfully I come across, I still look into blank stares, blank faces. even refuse to believe it. It's
always amazing to me. I'll say something from the pulpit
and perhaps maybe immediately after the service. I've had this
happen many times. Somebody will come up and say, you know what
I found out? And they'll tell me the exact same thing I just
got through saying. I think, well, I'm glad they
found it out, even if they weren't listening when I said it. But
just as it is with most other things, people have to experience
it. Yes, they do. And this thing
of the grace of God, of mercy, of salvation, people just going
to have to experience it. Yes, they are. And nothing I
can do, nothing I can say, nothing you can do really will convince
anyone of the truth unless the Holy Spirit decides to hone in
on that person. This is proof by taking the same
message. Somebody's going to go out of
here and say, oh, I've heard that before. Right. And I spent several hours coming
up with this message. And you've heard this message
a thousand times. And you think, that's not new.
Right, it's not new. But I search and look for a new
way to preach it or a new avenue to bring it out from, a new scripture
to bring it out from. But the Holy Spirit can take
the same old message that you've been sitting there listening
to, or not listening to, sitting there just, you've been present,
present and accounted for, you know, Sunday morning, can take
the same message in one day and open those eyes. I see. It happens. I was 21 years old. Grew up. Ain't nobody in here
been in more gospel preaching, heard more gospel preaching than
this fellow. Twenty-one years of true gospel
preaching. Now, you've heard some of our
men in here, but twenty-one years of gospel preaching, I heard
it. And one day, it's like turning
the switch on. Click. Like turning these, like sticking
a couple of Q-tips swabs in both ears and cleaning them out. Here. It's like opening these eyes
to see this book for the first time. I see. It takes the power of the Holy
Spirit. Nothing I can do, nothing you
can do, except pray for your kids. The Holy Spirit will do
that. I feel like everybody ought to
see this. And you do the same thing when
you're talking to somebody. Why can't you see this? They're
black. That's why. Good reason. But you still think, it's dummy. Black and white. Look, read this with me. And
I'm doing the same thing every Sunday. Would you look? Read this, and they read it. But you know, it's a miracle.
It's a miracle of God's grace that anybody believes in. That's
what he said in 1 Timothy 3, 16. Great is the mystery of godliness
believed on in the world. If somebody believes this, actually
believes this, a miracle every time anybody hears the gospel
and believes it, it's a miracle. It's a miracle. Because we're
telling people to think about something they've never seen
before. Think on the unseen, spiritual. We're trying to tell children,
young people, to think about dying. Man, they're so full of
life, they're trying their best to, they're going to explode
if they don't live life to its fullest, you know. We're trying
to tell them, what do we think about dying? That's the last
thing they want to think about, isn't it? And we're trying to tell people
to think about the unseen. spiritual things, when we're
flesh, we're carnal, soul under sin, as the scripture says. And
we're trying to tell people it's a miracle. It's a miracle. And we're trying to tell people
to believe somebody they've never seen before, who lived 2,000
years ago. You mean you stoke your eternal
soul, you're totally consumed with and in love with somebody
you've never seen before? And you live 2,000 years ago?
Yeah. Man, you're a fool. Well, we've
become fools for Christ's sake. Scripture says. We're trying
to tell people to stake their lives upon a book that was written,
began 3,500 years ago, written by mostly a bunch of unlearned
fishermen. Stake their lives upon what this book says. Come
on! It's a miracle, isn't it? I mean,
it's a miracle. And it's not just opium. It's not just opium when somebody,
you know, they need a sugar daddy or they need somebody to call
upon. And so they start believing. That's not, that wasn't my case
at all. It may have been your case, but it's not, wasn't my
case at all. I had no desire with whoever did it. I didn't
need it. Didn't know it did. But I didn't
need this. As a young man, full of life,
21 years old, I didn't need this Bible. Man, I had a good job. I had a sports car. You know, a young man, if he's
got a car, and if he's got five dollars in his pocket, he owns
the world. Five dollars and a good set of
wheels, and man, you king dude. It's who you are. You don't need
nothing or nobody and you know about all there is to know. You
jack that old radio up and go cruising down the highway and
you think, ain't I something? And that's the way I was. I didn't
need this old Bible. Who wants that? It's a miracle. It's a miracle. That's what that
song says, doesn't it? When he took a miracle Hang the
stars in space, but when he saved my soul, cleansed and made me
whole, it took a miracle of love and grace. Oh, a miracle of all
miracles. But in spite of all this, all
of this that's working against the man, we ought to believe
this. Even young people, they ought to believe it. Yes, they
ought to believe it because it's so contemporary. It's so relevant. It's so relative. I mean, you
can go through the word if you just pay attention just for a
little while. A young man, I remember preaching a message on Philemon.
It's talking about a young man who was out running around the
world. And Paul the Apostle was telling
a man to receive him. And he wasn't much account to
him. I know he'd done him wrong and so forth, but receive him
on my account. And that's a picture of us. and
Christ speaking to God on our account, that He doesn't need
us, that we're just out running around, doing nobody any good,
especially ourselves. And there were some young men
in here at the time, and I tried to relate it in a contemporary
fashion, as a young man out cruising and tooling around and not needing
and rebelling against his parents and thinking they're... And that's
exactly what Philemon did to his master. Or Onesimus did to
his master Philemon, a very relative message. It's like water off
a duck's back, you know. But I think it's so exasperating. I think a lot of people just
open their eyes and ears. I know it takes the power of
the Holy Spirit. But it seems like people ought to believe
this because it's so relative. It speaks. I mean, it's you can
read passages all the way over, as far back as you can go, and
it seems like it was written on April the 29th, 1909, doesn't
it? If you just open your eyes and
see it, wow, that sounds, yeah, that's what's going on, isn't
it? Undeniable truth to anybody who's
honestly looking for them. I know the Holy Spirit must give
eyes to see, yet here's the problem, here's the problem. Here's the problem. Some people. Don't want to believe. This is the whole problem, especially
young people. But most people, all people who
don't believe, don't want to believe. Well, it's we have ourselves
don't want to believe that. Why? I give you a few reasons.
Most do not believe what they don't want to be true. and they
convince themselves. You can convince yourself of
just about anything if you try hard enough. Yes, you can. You
can convince yourself that white is black and black is white.
If you don't like black, you'll convince yourself of something.
And men, most people, don't believe what they don't want to be true.
And I'll illustrate that. Like a soldier out in battle,
he'll make a man run headlong. What will make a man run headlong
into enemy fire? I mean, a guy pointing a gun,
several guns pointing at him, going to blow him away. And yet
that man just charged right at him. What convinced him to do
that? He doesn't think one of those bullets is going to hit
him, does he? He does not believe that I'm
going to die. I mean, whoa, let's go. What makes a thief Keep stealing. He didn't believe he's going
to get caught. Not me. I know so and so. Yeah, not me.
I'm too clever. What causes people to live in
vice and danger and in sin? Right over the pit of hell. What
causes somebody to live in open sin when God says you're going
to be punished for it? Not me. Not me. What causes an older
person to be consumed with the things of this world right on
the edge? I mean, maybe a day away from
dying, maybe maybe 12 hours away from from meeting God. What would cause a person to
be consumed when you see about my dog or now I want you to have
this this table that's passed down through generations? They
don't believe they're going to die. I mean right up to the point
where they're gasping for the last breath. Not me. I'm going
to get somehow or another. I'm going to get better. I'm
going to get well. I'm never going to die. This world's consumed
with that. They don't believe they're going
to die. Natural man. Here's another reason. Natural
man loves what he's doing and doesn't want to stop. It's so. The natural man loves what he's
doing and he does not want to stop doing it. I gave that illustration
of me as a young man. I loved what I was doing and
did not want to stop. Didn't want to stop. God has
to change your want-tos. Yes, he does. God isn't needed. Salvation's not needed. Christ
is not desired. A change, who wants to be converted
when they don't? Nobody wants to be converted
when they like themselves. They like themselves, and men
don't want these things to be true, so they convince themselves
they're not true. Am I driving this point across? Men don't want these things to
be true, so they convince themselves that it's not true, or else turn
it off and just don't even listen to it or whatever. But God's
Word and the gospel God's Word and the gospel revealed the truth
and they exposed us. They exposed us. Yeah, they did. And this is why men are unwilling
to hear sharp, clear, and pointed preaching. That's the reason
I'm talking about that large place over in Roanoke. They have
4,000 some odd people have to have two Sunday morning services
to get all the people in. And that man's sitting up talking
about nothing. Nothing. He's got a good voice. Powerful voice. It's the good
voice. And they turned, the program
goes off by playing soft music after he's saying something right
in the middle of the hour. Do you believe this? And the
music comes in real slow. And I admit, I was kind of captivated.
I'd listen to it. Wow. Not even mention the gospel.
And have thousands come in. Oh, this is great. Great. Love
this. Tell us some more. But you have a man standing up
with this book open. So let's get into what God's
Word says here. Let's go verse by verse and see
what it says about God, about us, and about Jesus Christ. The one thing needful. Let's
get into this and study this. See what we really need. Cost
what it may. Hurt how it may. Let's get...
And you look up. There's thirty people. Forty
people. Let me show you this from Isaiah
chapter 30. Isaiah chapter 30. I've entitled
this message, Why and What I Preach. Why do I preach? And some of
you wish I wouldn't. Not some, but a few, perhaps. Why do I preach? Because we read
it over there in Mark Fifteen. Christ said, Go preach, didn't
he? Go preach. That's why I preach. Because there's so many preaching
false gospel. Look at Isaiah chapter 30, verse
8. He says, Go, if you got your
Bible open, you got to see this. Write it before them in a table
and note it in a book that it may be for the time to come forever
and ever. I mean, he says it's now and
it's tomorrow and it's going to be a thousand years from now.
He says it's going to be this way. Write her in a book. Write
her down. This is the way it's going to
be. This is what God's telling the prophet. This is the way
it's going to be in 1990. He could have said that right
after that. That this is a rebellious people. Lying children. children that will not hear the
word of the Lord. And what's that? Oh, no, we won't
hear that. Which say to the seers, look
at this, what the people say, they say to the seers, these
were men who looked through the scriptures to see, men that sought
a revelation from God to tell it to the people, don't see.
They say, see not, don't see. No, they don't want to hear what
you saw. And to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things. Speak unto us smooth things. Prophesy deceits. Get out of the way. Don't preach
that gospel. We've heard that. We know the
gospel. Tell us something else. Get out of the way. That's what
they're saying. Turn aside out of that path.
You know the old path Jeremiah talked about? Church and look
for the old paths, wherein is the good way? Oh, not that again. Come on, man, you got one message,
don't you? Yeah. Cause it's booked there. Cause
the Holy One of Israel to speak. We don't want to hear about this
stubborn God. Isn't that 20th century? And
this is why. Men are unwilling to hear sharp,
clear, and pointed preaching that prefers smoother things.
And this is why there's all manner of ridiculous preaching going
on today. I don't care. I mean, I'd tell somebody, talking
about, I've got an article going in next week's paper, talking
about the ridiculous stunts that men pull to get people in the
church. Wasn't there a fellow somewhere
around here that's got up on top of his church building and
preached? I mentioned that in an article. I'm going to get
some hate mail out of this one. And talking about somebody putting
$10 bills under the church pew, they've actually done that. Put
$10 high on here and there so people will come out and see
who can get the $10. I actually heard this one time,
that a preacher said, if we have so many in Sunday school next
week. And this happened. They got the
quota out that he was looking for. He got out of his hands
and knees. and took a peanut and put it
on the floor and pushed that peanut down the aisle with his
nose. Ambassadors for Christ. I want to round them all up and
tar and feather them and then hang them. Push a peanut down
there with his nose. But you let a man get in and
they'll come out my drawers, fill the building, have to have
two services. It's beyond me. And I'm getting
up here. I've got nothing to gain by telling somebody they're a
maggot. On the contrary, you'll be hated by all men for my name's
sake, Christ said. But I've got to tell it. That's
what this book says. I've got to. He said to Ezekiel,
if you don't tell them, their blood's on your hands. And these
guys are going to come to God's presence itself. with their hands
ringing with the blood of thousands of souls. What did you tell them
last Sunday, Mr. So-and-so? Well, I put some peanut
down the aisle of my nose. Here's where I'm going to stick
it up your nose. Look at Jeremiah chapter 5. I tell you what. What do you
think? Just for a minute, what do you
think John the Baptist would do if he was alive today? If
he was beholding all this stuff? He'd do the same thing I'm doing. He'd be calling attention, pointing
fingers. Why? Not so he could say he's
right. Not so we could say we're right.
But it's men to see the grievous error they've fallen into, and
how that they've forsaken the true and living God, and hewn
out to themselves idols and cisterns that can't hold water, and forsaken
the true and living way, and they're on their road to destruction.
You've got to tell a man if he's in a burning house, you've got
to tell him the house is burning, don't you? No sweet way of putting
it, is it? Now, excuse me. Sorry to bother
you. I know you're warm and comfortable, but the house is burning. Did
I offend you? Look at Isaiah Jeremiah 5. God's word doesn't mean it's
words, does it? Goodness gracious! You stand
up and just read God's word today and you'll have a fight on your
hands. Jeremiah 5 verse 30. Look at it. He says this is wonderful. He's not talking about it's great. He's talking about it. He says
this is astonishing. This is amazing. Look at it. This is
amazing. It's a horrible thing that's
committed in the land. It's horrible. It's horrible
what's going on in our day. Joe, it's horrible, isn't it?
Horrors. The prophets are prophesying
falsely. The priests bear rule by their
means. They're telling me what they
want them to do and what they think and so forth, not what
God says. And look at this. And my people love it that way. He says, I felt that way. They love to have the sun. So
they've heaped up for themselves teachers having itching ears.
You scratch my back, I scratch yours. Preacher, you tell me
what I want to hear, I'll get you a big parchment and I'll
fill your pockets. And he says, what are you going
to do in the end? And he says in verse 31, And what will you
do in the end? I'm preaching this as if you
all never heard this before. I know you have, but maybe somebody
will hear it on tape and maybe you haven't heard it. I don't
know. Men are unwilling to hear the truth. Unwilling. People
don't like to think upon reality. Young people, that's the reason
some in here right now are not listening to what I'm saying.
They don't care. They don't care. They don't want this. Don't like
to think about it? Who cares? And people go to any
extreme to justify themselves. Preachers are the worst. They
hide the gospel to keep from offending anybody. Conviction
is unheard of. You just don't preach sin now. Robert Shuler has the largest
following audience in all the world. He says that revival is
going to be brought about in this day and age, and not by
preaching the sinfulness of man, but by preaching the dignity
of man. Yeah, Robert's going to get the biggest following
of any man on earth, and he's got her, by preaching a lie. Lying on God. God says, warn
them. He says, I don't think I need
to. I'm going to pat them on the back. And preachers are the worst.
They hide the plain gospel to keep from offending anybody.
And people, they don't read the Bible to keep from listening
to it. I don't, what I don't know won't hurt me, you know.
People don't pray or meditate because God might speak to them.
People don't like to be alone because they don't like to think
about these things. People plunge themselves into drugs and whatever
and this and that and the other to keep from thinking about reality. Reality makes you think. Yet in spite of all this opposition,
in spite of all this rejection, in spite of this natural, carnal
mind that just, no, no, no. It says, no, no, no. Christ says,
go, go, go, and preach one thing, the gospel. He that believeth
it shall be saved eternally. He that refuses and does not
believe it will be damned and is so and so and so. Ask the
ones who have me. So why do I preach? Because Christ
said, go preach, even as old-fashioned as it is. Don't preach, share. Don't preach, teach. No, he says,
go preach, expound it. Get on the rooftops, he said.
No, no, wait a minute. He didn't say that. No, he didn't
say that. Edit that, Terry. I did not say that. Slip of the
tongue. He says, go get under the high
mountain. That's what it says. Get up Isaiah 40, Behold your God. Why do I preach? Because God
said, get up there and do it. What do I preach? Behold your
God. That's the first thing. And this
is the first point of the gospel. The truth about God. Look at
Romans chapter 1 real fast. Romans chapter 1. I've got to
hurry. Romans chapter 1. This is what I preach. I preach
the sovereign God. Oh, we should have the power
to preach Him like He's supposed to be preached. Once, just once,
as high and lifted up. One preacher got in an article
right after mine one time. I was talking about the holiness
of God. And he said, everybody knows the moral superiority of
God. This is a veiled reference to
my article talking about the holiness of God, how people need
to see the holiness of God. He said, everybody knows about
the moral superiority of God. Is that all they think holiness
is? That's his only definition of holiness, that he's a little
bit better than us? This is exactly what I'm talking
about. The preacher doesn't even see it. The holiness of God. We're talking about, in the best
sense I can give it, go out tomorrow and take off your glasses, or
put them on, put on the brightest glasses, and look at the sun.
Stand there. It's a clear day. And look at
the sun. You can't do it. You'll be blinded. You can't
do it. I mean, not for just a second. You'll see spots. You'll be blinded.
And in such a small illustration, but in a way, God dwells in light. I'm not talking about just morally
superior. We're talking about an infinitely
glorious being. Unless you've seen it, you can't
even describe it, can you? Holiness, you can't describe
holiness. It's glory. It's light and accessible, unapproachable,
all-exposing. How could a man dare say something
like that about the holiness of God if he's ever seen it?
Everybody now, oh no. The truth about God, look here
in Romans chapter 1, verse 16. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God, the power
of God unto salvation, this gospel, to everyone that believes. Why
does anybody believe? Because God gave birth to them. You know, it could be, the only
reason a man doesn't preach the gospel is because he doesn't,
he's never, he doesn't know it. If a man, and this is what I
put in that article too, if a man does not believe the gospel to
be the power of God, that it is the only means that God uses
to save people's souls, he'll resort to all kinds of means.
He'll resort to anything and everything. If he thinks the
power of man's decision is what gets him into heaven, well then
he'll manipulate. He'll just draw and talk to us. The psychological means, guilt
manipulation, and emotional pleas, and anything and everything He'll
go out and get him a doctorate so he'll know how to sway wind
and sway people, you know. Know what to say. Play that chair,
get on a piano, play it real softly. I say to him, now you
come. You raise your hand up to your
feet. Now come on. Instead of just preach. Stand there and preach. Gospel
preach. A man ever sees that the gospel's
the power of God, he won't do anything. He won't do any of
this foolishness. He'll preach. He'll preach, and preach, and preach,
and tell nobody there to hear him preach, or else everybody
wants to hear him preach. Preach, and preach the gospel. How that the gospel is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, the Jew first
and also to the Greek. Because, verse 17, because of
this, because in the gospel is the righteousness of God, that
is the holy character of God. His pure and spotless person
is revealed. First of all, that personal righteousness
or holiness of God. In the Gospel, it's revealed.
How? When you see God with His Son hanging on that cross, His
perfect Son, and yet God kills His Son because there's sin just
imputed to Him. And God kills His Son because
He sees sin. Righteousness. And we think we're
going to come into God's presence with one little whatever? We want to come into this holy
God? When He killed His Son, hanging there because of His
holiness? See, in the gospel, the righteousness,
the holiness of God, the justice of God is revealed from heaven.
From heaven, the righteousness of God. And Christ is righteous.
Paul said over in Romans 10, he said, He says they're ignorant
of this. People are ignorant of God's
righteousness, and they're going about to establish their own.
I know God is holy, but I think he'll just accept the best I
can do. You're ignorant, man. You're ignorant of God's righteousness.
You haven't cemented yourself under the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law, of the Word, the sure and
established Word of righteousness. That only if a man is in Christ,
represented by Him, by Christ, only then will he have righteousness. Surely, shall one say, though,
someday, by God's mercy and grace, in the Lord I have righteousness.
And only if God does that to a man. But the only acceptance
we have is through God's imputed righteousness in His Son. He
says in the Gospel, It's righteousness of God's revealed from faith
to faith. As it is written, a just shall live by faith, not by worse
faith. Faith. Faith in this Christ is
their righteousness. Verse 18. Look at it. Romans
1, 18. And he says, The wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness. God's wrath against sin. That's
what the gospel says. Talks about God's wrath against
sin. He said, oh, I don't have your turn, I don't have time.
He said over in Matthew 7, he said that many, many will come
into me in that day and say, Lord, Lord. Many. Maybe, I don't know who. Maybe
you. Lord, Lord. And he'll say, depart
from me. You workers of iniquity. God's wrath against sin is wrath
against sin. He said, the will of God, this
is the work of God, that you believe on him whom God has sent.
And he said that he had done the will of God by establishing
that righteousness and imputing it to the count of some, and
they actually believe on him. And that is doing the will of
God. And if you want to get to heaven, if you want salvation,
there's nothing you can do for it. Christ must do it all for
you. And his wrath abides upon you
if you're not in Christ, if you're not in him. If you hold the gospel
in unrighteousness, like these preachers did, or if you hold
the gospel and yet have not really believed on Christ. Look at verse
19. He says, because, look at this, do you remember recently
we had this Earth Day? Everybody heard about it. Earth
Day. They got all the celebrities
all over the United States, movie stars and athletes and everybody
that was anybody was there, you know, and all the peace activists
and this and that and the other were gathered together on this
Earth Day, you know. What were they doing? They were
worshiping the earth. That's exactly what they were
doing, weren't they? Save our planet. It may have been a good
cause, somewhat, but this reminds me of that. God's Word, written
2,000 years ago, reminds me of this earth today. Look at Romans
1, verse 19. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in, or to them, God has showed it unto
them. Invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are very clearly seen, his creation, understood by the things that
are made. even his power, that there is a great being who did
this. So they're without excuse because
that when they knew God, when they saw something of his power,
they glorified him not as God. I bet if you went up and asked
any of those people about this, about being a sovereign, omnipotent
God creator, oh no, no, no. They knew God, they see His works,
but they didn't glorify Him as God. Neither were thankful. You
ask a movie star if he's thankful to God? Well, he'll say, I did
this. I worked hard to get what I've
got. They weren't thankful. They become vain in their imagination.
Their foolish heart was darkened. And look down here. Who changed
the truth. Verse 25. Changed the truth of
God. That is the truth that there
is God. into a lie. Evolution. And worshipped, here it is, Earth's
Day. Worshipped the creature more
than the creator. Earth's Day. I don't hear about
any God Day, do you? Oh, they'll have some two-bit
little Christmas pageant or Easter. Where are all these people when
you have a God Day? Today, God's Day, where is everybody? Well, you know that everything
throughout God's Word is the voice of God speaking. Everything
throughout the universe is the voice of God speaking to men
and young people. It's the voice of God speaking.
He says, I've called. God said, I've called, and you've
refused. He said, I've stretched out my hand. We said it, we heard
it in Romans 1. He said, I've stretched out my
hand no man regarded. Didn't like to acknowledge God,
worship the creature more than the Creator. He said, you said
it not, all my counsel. Don't need this, but this old
sign. And would none of my reproof. Oh, that convicts me, but I'll
have a drink. I like to think about that. He
said, I'll laugh at your command. God said, one day I'm going to
laugh. He laughed at me a long time ago. He said, I'm going to mock you when
your fear comes. Hurts, doesn't it? He said, then they'll call. I'm reading from God's word right
here. God's word is wrong. said, then they shall call. And
just as they did, I will do it, God said. Can't hear you! We preach God reigning, ruling,
holy, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God, to be bowed
to, submitted to, worshipped, You're in His hands to do with
it as He pleases, not as you will, not as you please. In His
hands. But men don't like that. They
refuse that, refuse to believe it, so they convince themselves,
best they know how, that that's not true. They go over here,
you know, look over here, why it says over there somewhere,
I don't know where it is, but it says God's love. I'll find it if it
takes me all day, I'll find it. It says over there, God is love,
I know where it's in there somewhere. I mean, you see how it's in there? wrapped around the holiness of
God, wrapped around this character of God. It's in there. It's in
Christ. That's where it is. And this
gospel that I preach declares the truth about man. Most believe
that man is basically a good creature who sometimes goes bad. Don't they? Yeah, they do. Most
people believe man's basically a good creature who sometimes
go bad. The Bible says man's a bad creature. who sometimes
gets good by God's mercy and grace. That's what the Bible
says. He's a very despicable creature,
from the sole of his feet to the top of his head. No soundness
in him. None good, no, not one. None
righteous, no, not one. All seem to come short of the
glory, so it seems he must surely die under the condemnation of
God. That's what the Bible says about man. Bad, bad, bad, a snake
with poison in him. from youth to grave, bad, bad,
God doesn't need him, unholy, sinful, wretched, vile. That's what the Bible says about
man. You tell us what he said there in Isaiah 40. Tell them
God is God, the holder of God, and tell them man is grass, fit
to be burned. But the gospel says God sometimes
takes those worms and exalts them to the throne as sons The man's got it all the other
way around, that everybody's headed good, you know. But some
people just, oh, poor John. Sorry. Weird one to have. Oh, so we're all like this, and
we look up, and some of us might go to heaven. Well, men don't like to think like
that, so they search high and low to find this or that scripture
to disprove that. And hence, because they don't
like to believe these things, they settle for silly sentimental
sermons about God, Jesus, meeting Mama in heaven, you know, and
moral stories about faith and know how you can be a Moses.
You can be a Noah if you try hard enough, and entertainment,
you know, push peanuts and whatever, diversions from Bible reading.
We'll open, we'll look at one verse of Scripture. Now close
your Bibles. Now listen to me, look at this. You know, don't
let them read the Bible. Don't let them do that. Satan's
right behind that to withhold God's Word from them. Get men
feeling good about you. Say, so you're okay, you know
Calvinism, you're all right. Everything will be all right.
Get men to think good about themselves and avoid this thing of sin.
Guilt. God. Judgment. Death. Don't think about that. Don't think about that. That's
what a preacher told my wife's parents one time. That's what
he told my wife's parents. This preacher at some so-called
Christian church came out and they liked to play cards and
all that. They were sitting playing cards
and the preacher and Mindy's daddy was getting under a little
conviction or something. He knew he wasn't hearing what
he needed to hear. And he confronted the man about it. He said, let's
talk. What do you think about this scripture over here? And
the man actually said this. He said, let's not talk about
that. He said, let's not talk about
that. Let's play cards. We'll talk about that, son. What do you think about that?
What do you think about that? Don't, don't, don't tell me they're
sinners. That's what Robert Hoover said.
God, Christ, he said Christ never called anybody a sinner. He called
that woman a dog. It's not right to give the children
bread and dogs. That's about as sinful and low
as you can get in it. You see, the Son of Man has not
come to seek and to save the righteous, not come to call the
righteous, but sinners. Well, if he ain't calling anybody
a sinner, who's he talking about? What heresy! What a lie! The gospel declares the truth
about man, the truth about God, the truth about man, and I've
taken too long to get here, the truth. It's in Christ. It's in God. And it's in Jesus
Christ. You go preach. It's old-fashioned.
They don't like it. They don't want to hear it. Do
it anyway. And not just anything, not just any old gospel, THE
gospel. He that believeth THE gospel
shall be saved. Right? And is baptized. That
is really coming out publicly, confessing this sovereign Lord.
And I advise you to do so if you have not done so. That's
disobedience. The gospel. Believe this gospel. This gospel I'm declaring under
you. No other gospel. There is no other gospel. I believe
there was. I wouldn't bother a priest like this. I wouldn't.
I'd let somebody else do it. I'd go down and join up with
First Baptist or whatever. Whether they're having a big
old time, having fun. Well, I'm having fun. Don't get
me wrong, but we declare the truth. The
gospel declares the truth about Jesus Christ, that he's not a
frustrated reformer, that he's not a weak and helpless martyr
that came along trying to do something. He's not a mere example
of how to live, that he's not an all-loving, sentimental, effeminate
Jew who tried so much to get people to let him into their
lives and accept God's will for their lives. And to let him have
a place in their hearts and to make him their Lord and Savior.
That's not the Christ we're preaching. We're preaching a successful
Savior. A sovereign Lord. The wisdom
and power of God Almighty. The Son of God come down to earth
to do something. To do something. Some of you
send your children out. Go out and do this. My son, go
out and mow the lawn. If you have any power or authority
whatsoever, and he respects your authority, and that kid has any
ability to do so, he'll go out and he'll get the grass cut,
won't he? Well, this God that I'm talking about said, Son,
go and save these people I set my love and affection upon. Save
them! And because of who He is, Son
of God, He came down here and He did it! Didn't try to do it. Wouldn't try if you let him,
and he'll... He didn't! Came down here to satisfy, God
said, these sinners, these men that I've chosen, they deserve
hell. They deserve punishment. Now
you go down and take their place so I can accept them wholly and
unblame them, unreprove them. He came down here, became a man,
lived the perfect life. God said, that's good. That's
what I require of them. Now you're going to have to take
their sins. Because my justice demands it. You're going to have
to take their sins on you. They're supposed to die. So you're
going to have to do it for them. Either they're going to die or
you're going to have to do it. You're going to have to do it. Christ said, OK.
He took that sin on him, went to the cross, and God said, Now
I'm going to kill you. I'm going to turn my back on
you, because the soul that sins must be forsaken by God Almighty. I'm going to turn my back on
you now. Are you prepared? Yes! And God did it. He did it. He did it. And that all-powerful
man, he saved all of God's people from their sins. He did it. That's the gospel. There is no
other gospel. Is there? There is no other gospel. I'm a weak... This is an earthen
vessel here you're looking at. And I don't want to appeal to
your sentiment that I'm doing the best I can. But I'm telling
you folks, this is the gospel. Do you believe this gospel? Is it just the same old thing
to you? I don't preach it. I'm not sure
I know how to preach it. I'm just not sure. But I'm seeing
that when I started out, I'm seeing that. Well, the Scripture says go anyway.
Go preach the gospel. And he that believes that gospel
is baptized for the same. You know what believing the gospel
is? Believing the gospel is trust
Christ, yes. But this thing I've been dwelling
on, I've been dwelling on it now for a couple of weeks, three
weeks or so. I'm talking about commitment.
I'm talking about being wholly engrossed in a person. Taking
up with it. Having your affections set on
things above. That's what it is to believe the gospel. You
know what it says there in one place? It says that Christ But
he preached that he said some believed in him. But it says
he didn't commit himself to. Because he knew what was in him.
You believe because you got your belly full. You believe because
you like this doctrine. You're not following me. Come
on. Don't sell what you have. Follow
me. And that young ruler went away
sorrowful. It much could. Oh, it cost me too much. You
better believe it. That's the only belief the gospel
there is. This gospel changes lives. Yes, it will. If it doesn't change your lives,
it ain't the gospel you're believing. It's something. I don't know
what it is. It's in the head. I'm telling you folks, gracious
sakes, I just can't. I'm telling me. That gospel is
the power of God unto salvation. Salvation from sin, from self. God granted that we'll experience
true saving faith in Christ and salvation in our very being. Not just our head, but our very
being. The gospel. Well, let's sing a hymn. Let's sing that song, Beneath
the Cross. Do you know that's here, Beneath
the Cross of Jesus, Steve? 309, let's try that anyway. I'll leave
you in it. Three hundred and. Three hundred. You know that you try. To. Beneath the cross of Jesus I
think would take my stand. The shadow of a mighty rock within
a weary land. A home within the wilderness,
a rest upon the way. From the burning of the noonday
heat and the burden of the day." Verse 3. I take across thy shadow
for my abiding place. I ask no other sunshine than
the sunshine of His face. Consider to let The world go
by to no, no gain nor loss. My sinful self, my only shame,
my glory of the cross. You're dismissed. I'm going to go ahead and get
started. I'm going to go ahead and get
started. You're welcome.