Thanks for watching! Turn with me to Matthew chapter
5. Matthew chapter 5. Now here in
Matthew chapter 5, we have another short parable, or similitude
as we've been referring to them. You may, at the first reading
of this, you may wonder why it's called a similitude, but I hope
by the end of this message you'll see why, that it is indeed an
earthly story which speaks of heavenly or spiritual things.
Now, this verse, let's go ahead and read these two verses. Matthew
5, verse 25. Matthew 5, verse 25. Our Lord says, Agree with thine
adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him, lest
at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge
deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Verily, truly, I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out
thence. till thou hast paid the uttermost
bargain." Now, this verse has always puzzled
me somewhat, because I've never really studied it very closely. But I have this time, and I believe
it is particularly applicable to us here, to some of us anyway,
in light of the persecution that some of us have been experiencing,
for Now, there's no doubt here from
this scripture that our Lord is speaking or giving practical
instruction here to us to pay our debts. That's certainly part
of the meaning here. He's given us instruction to
pay our debts so as not to be found lawless and suffer the
consequences. But this has a far deeper spiritual
sense. That is the very root of the
gospel itself, these two passages of Scripture. Now, the cry goes
up in this day for Christian unity, for peace, for reconciliation
among different denominations and among different professing
Christians. Now, every true believer—don't
get me wrong here, don't misconstrue what I'm saying—every true believer
is peaceable, is gentle, is loving, is compassionate, and so forth. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4 with
me. Here in Ephesians chapter 4,
the Apostle Paul exhorts us to these very things. beginning with verse 1, Ephesians
4 verse 1. Now the Apostle Paul is in prison
for preaching the gospel. So it's noteworthy what he's
saying here. He had compassion upon his enemies. He says here
in verse 1 of Ephesians 4, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, or
in the Lord, I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith you are called, that is, as a believer, a disciple
of Christ. With all lowliness, that is,
as Christ walked in lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering,
forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Paul exhorts believers
to unity and to peace. He does. And he says here, because
we are one body, verse 4, there is one body and one spirit, even
as you are called in one hope of your calling. Because we're
all members of Christ's body, we're the church, we're members
one of another. Let's treat each other with long-suffering
and forbearance, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit. In another place, he speaks of
the unity of the faith. Well, is everybody, though, everybody
that professes to be a Christian, is this speaking about everybody,
that we're to have peace with all men? Is it? Everyone who
professes to be a Christian? No. Christ said, many are doing
and saying many things in my name. Yet he said, I don't know
these people. They're not my sheep. He said
in another place that many people draw near to me with their lips.
This people draw near to me with their lips. They profess a good
profession, but their hearts are far from me. far from me."
Well, here's the distinction in verse 5. The distinction between
a true believer or of a true believer is, we have one Lord. One Lord. And he said, the reason
we have one Lord is because we've been called. This is the hope
of your calling, that you have one Lord. This is the proof of
your calling. You see that there's one Lord,
capital L, one Lord. Do all men believe this? Do they
really believe that Jesus Christ is capital L, capital O, capital
R, capital D, Lord? I mean not just in creation,
but in salvation, in all things. He has men's eternal souls in
his hand. Do all men that profess to be
Christians believe that? John, do they? No way. You know
it's not so. But Christ said, All thy children
shall be taught of God." All God's people are taught that
Christ is indeed Lord, and they bow to Him as such. But all men
and women do not, all that profess the name of Christ, or that is
profess that they are Christians, do not bow to the sovereign Lordship
of Jesus Christ. No, they do not. I'm just stating
a fact. I hope I state that with with sadness. One Lord. Look at this, verse five. One
faith. One faith. What is our faith? What is the faith? It's a person,
right? And this sums up our faith. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes it.
He was made sin for us, he who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. That's the gospel. Do
men believe that? Do all professing Christians
worship God in spirit, that is, they're not trying to worship
God with an outward shadow, but rather worshiping him in the
heart, and they're rejoicing in Christ and Christ alone, not
their works, and put no confidence in the flesh, not even their
own. Do they? That's the three marks of a true believer, isn't
it? Are men doing that? Are women doing this? No, no. Do all men and women that profess
to be Christians, do they account their righteousness as filthy
rags? Ask them. No, they do not. Paul said they're
going about to establish their own righteousness and have not
submitted to the righteousness of Christ. He said that with tears. He said,
I wish I could be a curse for my brethren, my kinsmen, according
to the flesh. I bear it in record to have a
zeal. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, he says. One baptism. Well, listen to this. The scripture
says in 1 Corinthians, we have received the Spirit. which is
of God, that we might know the things that are freely given
to us of God." And he goes on to say, we have the mind of Christ. John said in one place, we are
of God and the whole world life and wickedness. Try saying that
someday, publicly. But, he just said that we have
the mind of Christ. The Holy Spirit is, the Spirit
bears witness with our spirit. If you're a believer, you have
to be able to say that with some degree of certainty, that you
have the mind that He's revealed, that they that are spiritual
discern it or understand all things. The natural man receiveth
not the things of God. But some people in this day and
age are saying there's another baptism of the Spirit, aren't
they? Some people are saying the Holy Spirit is concerned
with you living the higher life, that He's concerned with you
being healthy, wealthy, talking in tongues. Spirit-filled. Not just being taken up with
the things of Christ. Not just taking the things of
Christ and showing them unto you. The Spirit's got more to
do. Is that the Holy Spirit that we know the Scripture speaks
of? No, it is not. And we know how that's sweeping
the world, don't we? Isn't it? It is. That movement is sweeping
the world. He says, verse 6, "...one God." And our God says, I will show
mercy to whom I will show mercy. Do all professing Christians
believe that? Oh, no, Stan. They have free
will. Not God's will. Their will, right? One Father. Christ fed to some
religious leaders. I mean, some outwardly moral,
religious, zealous folks back then, he said, you are of your
father the devil, didn't he? Did he say that? Man, that's
awful hard. Awful hard. Well, if God is the
father of those who profess to believe him, will they rebel
against his absolute parental authority? Oh no, that's the
first sign of adoption. They bow to their sovereign father,
the fear of their father. Is that not the first mark of
a true child of God? So I ask this, are we to endeavor
to have peace and unity with all men everywhere, no matter
what they believe? Is that what Paul's talking about? Bear with me. He said in another
place, as much as is possible, as much as is possible, live
peaceably with all men. That's what he said. We are not
to strive with men, we're not to argue, we're not to ridicule,
we're not to be contentious or look down upon people, but we
are to love them. Forgive them, show compassion
to them, and pray for them, even our enemies, even those that
despitefully use us, Christ said, didn't He? Yes, we are. We're
not to cut off anyone or be offensive, that is, in ourselves, to anyone.
There's no excuse for us being offensive to anyone. We're commanded
not to be so. We're warned not to be so. Christ said, You shall be hated
by all men for My name's sake. Didn't He? Didn't He? Huh? He said, Many shall be offended
in you. Didn't He? That's what He said.
Look over at John 15. Turn to John chapter 15. Well,
we say, you know, we go out and we speak to somebody. We tell
them the truth from God's Word. And they get mad at us, and we
see their hatred, and we say, why? What have I done? Why is he mad at me? I just read
the Word of God to him. Why is he mad at me? And they
may, what have I done? And they may say, well, we don't
want to stone you, or we're not getting mad at you because of
a good work. See if this sounds familiar. We're not mad at you
because of anything you've done. Oh, you're a decent enough fellow.
You're moral enough. We like the way you're a good
citizen and so forth, but because you are a man, you're no different
than I am, and you claim to know the mind of God, and I don't.
I won't have that. You claim your rights, and I'm
wrong. I won't have that. We won't let
you claim that God has revealed to you the truth and not me.
Who do you think you are, man? Look at John 15 here. Look at
verse 17. Christ said, These things I command
you, that you love one another. Don't forget that, first of all.
But verse 18, If the world hate you, you know that it hated me
before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love you. But because you're not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hates you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the
servant's not greater than his Lord. If they've persecuted me,
they'll also persecute you. If they've kept my spying and
heard me, they'll keep yours also, but they haven't, and they
won't. But all these things," he said,
Well, they do unto you for my name's sake, for my glory, because
of my glory. They're doing it against me.
It's not you they hate, because they know not Him that sent me. Verse 22, If I had not come and
spoken unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have no
cloak for their sin. I've exposed their self-righteousness
and their sin, and they don't like it. He that hateth me hateth
my Father also. If I had not done among them
the works which no other man did, they had not had seen. But
now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father and you."
Look at chapter 17. Our Lord is praying to the Father
here, speaking of his disciples. If you believe God, you're one
of his disciples. He's praying about you here.
Look at John 17, verse 8. He says, Father, I've given unto
them, that is, my people, those that you gave me, I've given
them the words which thou gavest me. And they have received them. They believe them, every one
of them. Bow to them. Love them. They received them.
And they know surely that I came out from thee. They know who
I am, that I'm Lord, I'm God. I'm their only hope. They know
that. And they believe that you sent me. I pray for them. There's the effectual fervor
prayer of a righteous man, and it availeth much. He said, I
pray not for the world, but for them which God has given
me, for they are thine. Look at verse
14. He says, Father, I've given them
thy word. And the world has hated them because they're not of the world,
even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world. Boy, sometimes we pray for that. Don't get me out of this. Can't
take it anymore. He says, I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that you keep them
from the evil one, from turning back. They are not of the world. even as I am not of the world."
Well, one more. Look over at 1 John, chapter
4. 1 John, chapter 4. I hope this message will give
you strength and courage and comfort. 1 John, chapter 4. And resolve.
1 John, chapter 4. Look at verse 5. John says, they, who's they? Antichrist. They are of the world. Therefore, speak they of the
world. They're talking about a worldly,
earthly kingdom. They're talking about things
concerning this world. They're not worshiping God in spirit,
rejoicing in Christ. No, they're talking about this
world, about what you can do, what I can do, what they have
done, this world. They are of the world, therefore
speak they of the world, and the world hears them gladly,
and they flock to hear them." Great throngs of people, don't
they? Verse 6, we are of God. Can you
say this? We are of God. He that knows
God hears us. If I'm worth my salt, Violet,
I've got to be able to say this. Don't we? Rick, if you're an
ambassador of Christ, if you're one of his people, you've got
to be able to say this. Not bragging about it, but believing
that he has revealed himself to you. He that knows God will
hear what I have said through his word. He that is not of God
heareth not us. Hereby we know the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. What's the spirit of truth? One
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, one Father. That's the
spirit of truth. What's the spirit of error? Universal
love of God, free will. All these things. That's the
spirit of error. Many ways to God. Everybody's going, that's
the spirit of error. Here, we know this. Know it.
Because we have the mind of Christ. He's revealed this thing to us.
Thank God. We're thanking Him. We're exalting
Him for doing this. And listen. Have your attention.
If you dare to believe out loud. If you dare to believe out loud. If you dare to boldly say there's
only one gospel and repeat with the Apostle Paul, if any man
preach any other gospel than that that we have preached, he's
going to hell. Oh, that's narrow and bigoted.
It's true. If you believe, if you can't
say this, perhaps you don't know the gospel. Right? One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God, one father, one gospel, one gospel. Paul said there's
many preaching another gospel, which is not the gospel. It's
a perversion of the gospel, isn't it? He said they'll come preaching
another Jesus, didn't he? Which is not the Jesus Christ
of the Bible. And if any man preach any other gospel than
that we have preached. Who? Me! Jim Burden, Scott Richardson,
Tim James, Keith Manley, Henry Mahan. The gospel, the very gospel
that we preach. If any man preaches anything
other than that, let him go to hell. We've got to be able to say that
if we believe what we say we believe, right? Got to. Got to. If you dare to take it
and mark it down, get ready. Get ready. If you dare to take
a stand for the truth like this, you're going to have some enemies.
You're going to have some adversaries. We're not going out trying to
pick a fight, but we're going out trying to glorify our God
first and foremost above all else. If I seek to please men,
I'm not the servant of Christ, right? Look at Matthew chapter
10 with me. Matthew chapter 10. Now, we read
those Old Testament scriptures. Does that not apply today, where
Moses said, get your swords on? Did he? First of all, he got up and gave
the call, didn't he? Invitation, if you want to call
it that. Who's on the Lord's side, he said. Who? And we say
the same thing. Who? And whoever lines up, that's
God's people. And whoever shakes their fist,
get your sword out. this and cut them asunder. They
were the enemy of God. Right? You know, after Moses
did that, Doug, he prayed to God that God wouldn't destroy
them all. He prayed to God, cut me off.
Wipe me out. If you're going to kill them,
kill them all. See, that's the spirit, to do this thing. Look at Matthew 10, verse 22. I said, You shall be hated of
all men for my name's sake. Mark it down. But he that endureth
to the end shall be saved. When they persecute you in this
city, what city? Rocky Mountains. Flee ye into
another. Verily I say unto you, you shall
not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man
be come. The disciple is not above his master nor the servant
above his Lord. It's enough for the disciple
that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord. If they've
called the master of the house, the pure and holy spotless Son
of God, called him a devil, what are they going to call you? What
are they going to think of you? How much more shall they call
him of his household? Fear not them, therefore. There's
nothing covered. Listen. There's nothing covered
that shall not be revealed. and hid that shall not be known. What I tell you in the darkness,
that speak ye in light. What you hear in the ear, preach
it on the housetops. And fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul." You know, we
don't even have to fear that. There's nothing they can do to
us physically. "...but are not able to kill the soul, but rather
fear Him." which is able to destroy both
soul and body in hell. Here it is. Here it is. Here's
the beginning of all understanding. What? Fear of the Lord. Right? That's the beginning of
all understanding. You people have this fear in
you. But what is the indictment against
the people back then and the people of this generation? There's
no fear of God before their eyes, right? And this is the beginning
of all error, isn't it? This is the very beginning of
all error, all spiritual heresy. a religious heresy, no fear of
God before their eyes. And this is getting back to you
saying, what in the world has this got to do with Matthew 5.25?
Well, the Scripture says there, fear God. Don't fear men, fear
God. Why? Well, men do not realize that
by nature our greatest adversaries is this holy, righteous, sovereign,
just God. God. Look back at the text here
in Matthew 5. God. He who is of two pure eyes
to look upon iniquity. He who is angry with the wicked
every day. He who hates all workers of iniquity. He who will by no means clear
the guilty. He who the scripture says is
a consuming fire. is our, by nature, our adversary.
And this is why we urgently and adamantly insist that men first
do what? Bow. Bow down. Not accept Jesus. Bow. See, they don't know Jesus if
they think He's up for acceptation. And do—are we become their enemy
because we tell them the truth? Because we insist that men repent
for the King. He's the King. The kingdom of
heaven is at hand. The King. His wrath hovers over
you. Are we men's enemies for telling
them that? You'd think so, wouldn't you? This is why we insist that
men submit to and believe the gospel. The gospel. The only
gospel. The word of truth. The only thing
that's able to save a man. to make a man holy and righteous
and accepted by God the Father. The only gospel. This other gospel
won't do it, which is another gospel. And we call it the gospel
of peace, but it ain't no peace we make with God, is it? And
that's what men think, isn't it? He's made his peace with
God. It ain't the peace we make with God, it's the peace God's
Son's made with God for us, isn't it? By the blood of his cross.
You see, Christ, it hasn't changed any. Christ is the high priest,
our great high priest. He's got to go in the Holy of
Holies with that blood, that Himself. Nobody else. The one
chosen, Nancy, from among the people. God's high priest. He's
got to go in Himself. We get near, we're gone. God's going to cut us off, right?
We try to approach God without our high priest, without the
blood. We're cut off, right? That's what men are doing. That's
what men and women are doing. But Christ has to come before
God himself with his own precious, holy, spotless blood and pour
it over the altar, cover our broken sins, pour it over the
mercy seat, the broken law. It's the gospel of peace, all
right, but it's the peace made by the blood of his cross. That's
the peace we're talking about, the gospel of peace. Christ said,
There ain't going to be peace on this earth. He says, as long
as you're on this earth, there's going to be wars and rumors of
war. They're going to hate you. You're going to have enemies,
adversaries, and so forth. The peace you need is with God. Right? That's the peace men need.
And it's called the gospel of reconciliation. Scott Richardson
said, stack your guns. That's what it means to reconcile
to God. Throw down your weapons and come out with your hands
up. That's what it is to believe God, come savingly by faith,
throw down your righteousness like blind Bartimaeus, and come
out clinging to Christ. That's what it is, this gospel
of reconciliation. Thank you. Here, weapons of rebellion, throw
down your self-righteousness, and our great mediator will reconcile
us to God. These aren't hard sayings, are
they? It's truth. You reckon, you know,
a man's house is on fire, and you're yelling, Get out of the
house! The house is on fire! Come on, man! Man, don't yell
so loud. Y'alls have a heart. You're being
awful hard on my ears. Man, you're dying. You see what
I'm saying? God is holy. Repent or perish. It's still the same today, isn't
it? The message is still the same. Well, men are condemned. Bow, repent, believe the Lord
Jesus Christ, and then thou shalt be saved. But no other way. Terry,
the message is the same, but if you dare to preach this and
tell me in this, you're going to be thought of as the most
old-fashioned, bigoted, hard-nosed, negative. Every negative adjective
you can use in a book, you're going to be called it. Judge
not. Christ said judge righteous judgment,
didn't He? Judge not. That's like That's
like my kid going down the street corner to some drug pusher. Got
some drugs and he gives them to her and I start blasting,
go down there and I grab a fellow by the throat and just beating
him to a pulp and somebody, some Christian comes on, I'm, Judge
Knott! Man, she's sending my daughter to, she's going to kill
her. What do you mean, Judge Knott? That doesn't even really bear
dealing with, does it? John called them snakes, vipers,
didn't he? Our Lord. Woe unto you, woe unto
you hypocrites. Matthew 23, didn't he, Rick?
All the way through it. And then he talked about the
Sadducees and the Pharisees. And then the lawyers came up
and said, well, if you're talking about them, you talk about us
too. And then he started in on them. Woe unto you lawyers too.
I'll get you too. If by God's grace men and women
do bow, and it will be only by God's grace, the goodness of
God will lead a man to accept Jesus as a person of faith? No,
to repentance. It's a gift of God to bow down
to realize who God is and bow in the dust. That's a gift of
God. They say, God wants you to live the higher life. No,
God wants you to live the lower life, doesn't He? In the dust,
contrite, broken. He said, this is the man I'll
dwell with. But him that's broken of a contrite heart and trembles
at my word, that's the life I want him to live. Looking to me, you
know, looking up to me. There's only one place to look
when you're all the way down is up. And if God, by God's grace,
men and women do this, then we can boldly say, goodness, If
men and women bow before God, then we can say with a smile
on our face, good news, God loves you, and Christ died for you. It is. You're in the dust as
a sinner before God, good news, God loves you, and Christ died
for you, but not before. They got it backwards, don't
they? They don't even have repentance
in the picture. They have it as some Roman road, you know,
repeat after me. Gracious sake, that's going near
with your lips, isn't it, when your heart's far from it. Repeat
after me. Okay, repeat after me. I, John, I, John, am a sinner,
am a sinner. Oh, my, where is the heart broken
over sin? I think if a man really believed
he was a sinner in the hands of an angry God like Jonathan
Edwards preached about, he couldn't get through that. for crying
out. And he'd say, that old soul,
get out of my way, man. Get out of my way. This thing,
back to Matthew 5. I'll get to the text. Matthew
5. This thing is too urgent, you
see, to play games. It's too urgent. It's too urgent. It's too serious to mince words,
isn't it? Like I say, like a man in a burning
building. There's no way you can politely
say that you're dying. And men would have us do that.
Don't use these terms such as election and, you know, from
the sole of our feet to the top of our head where no sound ascends,
nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefaction. Oh, don't say
things like that. Oh, so that's the offensive across,
isn't it there? There we apologize for God's
Word. It's the power of God. It's too urgent, it's too serious
to mince words to beat around the bush. The Word here says
in verse 25, agree with your adversary. Can two walk together
except they be agreed? Can a man claim to be a disciple
of Christ? Claim to be a child of God unless
he agrees with God Almighty? about what God says about Himself,
about what God says about themselves, and about what God says about
His Son, and you walk and—no, no way. Agree with your adversary. Look at it here, verse 25, quickly. See that? Quickly. Christ is
coming soon. We studied this last Sunday morning.
Are we living in the end times? Ain't no doubt about it. I don't
know how much longer it's going to go on. I don't know. But it's
obvious. He said you ought to know the
parable of the fig tree. You ought to be able to see these
things. You ought to be able to discern the time. He said
that over in Luke 14, I believe it is. You can look at it later.
But he said you ought to be able to understand these things. Luke
12. Last part of Luke 12, look it
up sometime. Christ is coming soon, sooner than we think. He said, at a time when you think
not, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, trump shall sound,
dead in Christ shall rise. And then He, whose countenance
is as the sun that shineth in all its strength, whose feet
burn like fine brass, whose voice is the sound of many waters,
is going to come. We better bow and believe now,
haven't we? We better bow and believe now. Quickly! Agree quickly! Now! Look at it. It says, "...while
thou art in the way with him." While it is called today, the
Scripture says, hear his voice. What's his voice? His voice has
been speaking all night tonight. While it is called today, hear
his voice." I must have quoted, we must have read 25 scriptures
so far this evening. Today is the day of salvation,
the scripture says. Look at it, he says, while you're
in the way with it, lest at any time, any time, any time, the
scripture says in Job 14, we have an appointed time. It says,
man's days and numbers are determined with God. God has appointed our
bounds, we cannot pass. Valid it may be, it may be October
26th, 9 a.m. You're gone. Better agree quickly. Right? Right now. Right now. Right now. Lest at any time This
is not fatalism, is it? It's just the Word of God, isn't
it? That's all it is. It's just solemn Bible warnings,
isn't it? Whereunto we do well to take heed. He that hath ears
to hear, let him hear. Let these sayings sink down in
your ears, Christ said. Lest at any time, it could be
real soon, and look at it. Lest at any time, verse twenty-five,
the adversary deliver you to the judge. Who's that? The Father hath committed all
judgment to whom? The Son. The Son. Christ has the keys of hell and
death at his side, doesn't he? And ain't that Jesus we're hearing
today, is it? The judge of the living and the dead? Huh? He
gives eternal life to as many as he pleases, to as many as
God delivers or gives to him, doesn't he? If God gives a man a spirit and
his mercy and grace gives him the spirit of repentance, of
reconciliation, of agreement, to agree with God on all counts,
that's faith. That's all faith is, isn't it,
Terry? Agreeing. Agreeing with God. Abraham's
called the father of the faithful. Why? He was the first one called
a faithful man. Why? He believed God. He agreed
with God. God said, I'm going to make of
your seed as the stars of the sky, and thy seed my people shall
be called. Okay, I agree. I don't know how
you're going to do it, but I agree. So be it. He agreed with God. That's what faith is. Well, if God gives you that spirit
of agreement, And salvation is yours eternally. Eternal salvation. Free from
condemnation. Free. But, if God delivers you
to Christ in that great day of judgment, and you've been in
disagreement, if somebody has been in disagreement with God,
I don't like this sovereign grace stuff. He says the judge then,
look at it, verse 25, will deliver you to the officer. Who's the
officer? That's the death angel. He'll
deliver you to the officer and the officer is going to cast
you into prison. Christ is going to give commandment
to the death angel someday to say, bind them hand and foot
and cast them into the lake of fire, isn't it? Now what he says,
everybody in disagreement with me. Who's on the Lord's side? Take the rest of them, bind them
hand and foot, cast them in the lake of fire. Right? Where the
worm dieth not, the Scripture says. Barnard called it God's
blood hound. He said it's the memory. The
memory. Son, remember. The rich man heard
that from Abraham. Oh, he does. Son, remember. Remember. Remember, and you know men, free
willers, that are in disagreement with God, are going to hear hauntingly,
echo through their head all the days of their life, sovereign
grace, sovereign grace. They're going to hear that all
the days of their life. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. They're going to hear that. Son,
remember, you heard it, rejected it, and now remember. Right? Well, verse 26, Verily
I say unto thee, Ye shall not come out. Thou shalt by no means
come out thence. till thou hast paid the uttermost
farthing." And that's never. Because we can't pay for our
sins, can we, Terry? Why? Because our sins are against
the infinite God. Can't satisfy. No. The stain's
too deep to wash out with our works. Only one thing will wash
that stain out. The blood reaches deeper, the
song says, deeper than the stain has gone. Only one thing will
wash out that stain. Not our blood. It's got to be
perfect, pure, spotless, the blood of God's Son Himself. Only
His blood. Only one thing will pay the debt
that we owe. It's too big. Barber's too great. We owe too
much. We ain't got the price. Only one thing will pay that
debt. Only one thing. And He has it. Christ has the
ransom price. It's the blood. It's the blood.
It's only His blood. Only His blood. Not His blood
and our blood. His blood is the only price that
will pay that. Well, I'm going to bow to Him.
I'm going to agree with Him by His grace now. Now. I'm going to bow to Him now.
I'm going to agree with Him now by His grace. We need to ask ourselves this.
Are we more concerned with the glory of God or saving face? It's a good question, isn't it?
It's a good question. Well, I read it over there. We've
read it so many times that we've grown, I think we've, well, I
know I have. I've grown kind of callous to
it or something, hardened to it. Christ said, you deny Me
before men, I'll deny you before the angels of heaven. Did He
say that? Who's on the Lord's side? Rick,
we need this desperately, don't we? Choose ye this day whom ye
will serve." If God be God-serving, if God is God-serving, act like
you believe Him. Are we more concerned with the
glory of God or saving face? Do we want to be the friend of
God or the friend of men? What does the Scripture say? Friend of the world, enemy of
God, doesn't it? And if it's God we fear, God
we believe, and God that we serve, And we need to be zealous for
His glory and His honor above all else. The cost of what it
might—count the cost. This is what Christ is talking
about in it. Count the cost. Lay down your life. Lay down
your reputation. Lay down your good standing. Is that what—am I telling the
truth according to God's Word? Yes, I am. We need to be concerned
for men's souls. Yes, we do. We need to be concerned
for the souls of men and women and compassionately tell them
the truth about God and about themselves and about Christ. But you might become their enemy
because you tell them the truth. Well, there's no might to it.
Many of you will. You will. But if you are, Christ
said, rejoice. That's what he said in his time. That's what he said. Even family. He said, rejoice. If they won't receive you, he
said, shake the dust off and go to somebody else. Shake the
dust off. You will at least have served
your Lord faithfully. And their blood won't be on your
hands. Their blood don't be on your hands. Well, I told you
it's a solemn message, but we need this desperately. Desperately. I need this desperately. We're
living in a day, my soul. My soul. I'm not being negative.
I'm just telling it like it is, aren't I, Rick? We're living
in a day. that men are just flat blaspheming
our God and the gospel, refuse to believe, like we've said so
many times, anything but the gospel. And if you believe the
and know the gospel as it is, you've got to see, you've got
to be able to distinguish, you've got to be able to discern the
false gospel from the real gospel, if you know the gospel. You will. You'll spot it. You've got your
ear tuned to the middle C, don't you? And you'll spot it a mile
away. You'll hear it. People say, well,
he said some good things. Big deal. Big deal. If he didn't say big good news,
the whole counsel of God, how that God purposed salvation Christ
had to purchase salvation, and the Holy Spirit has to apply
salvation. If he ain't preaching that, he ain't preaching big
gospel. That ain't big gospel. And let
him be accursed. And everybody that believes it's
going to be accursed. And we need to tell men so. Get
out of the building, it's burning. It's burning. God help us. God help us. and with you know dismisses in
prayer