Let's start in the book of Mark,
the second chapter. Mark, the second chapter. And we'll make our way back to
John chapter 8, the scripture that was read to us. Good to
see each of you here this evening. We do have several folks, as
our brother indicated, who are very sick, some, and people going
through great afflictions. And we're thankful that we can
go to the Lord boldly through our great Mediator. And we have every reason to believe
his word that he will listen to us when we beseech him for
grace and mercy to help us in time of need. Let me read a few
verses to you here from Mark, the second chapter, beginning
at verse number 15. Mark, the second chapter, verse
15. And it came to pass that as Jesus
sat at meat in his house, Many publicans and sinners sat also
together with Jesus and his disciples. For there were many, and they
followed him. And when the scribes and the
Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his
disciples, how is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans
and sinners? When Jesus heard what they said. He saith unto them, they that
are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Our Lord Jesus is himself the
Savior of those who are sinful. He didn't enter into this world
to save those that could save themselves. He didn't enter into
this world in order to lift up those who could lift up themselves. He is the one who came to rescue
those who were perishing, those who could do nothing for themselves
in a spiritual way. We read in 1 Timothy, this is
a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I'm chief. Our Lord said in Luke chapter
19, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which
was lost. Not those who could assist in
their recovery, But he came to seek and to save those who were
lost. Lost is a very sad word. And
lost very well sets forth our awful dilemma. We're lost and
don't know it. We're lost, don't know anything
about what it means to be lost. We're lost and have no ability. give ourselves any aid or assistance. In fact, all we do is just wander
further and further from the good shepherd of the sheep. In Romans chapter 5 we read,
for when we were yet sinners, without strength in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. We read also in Romans 5, but
God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if
when we were his enemies, enemies, We were reconciled to God by
the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be
saved by his life. Did you listen to those words
without strength? Ungodly, sinners, enemies. These are the folks that our
Lord came into the world to save. As you visit through Matthew
and Mark and Luke and John, as you go through the life of our
Savior in these gospel narratives, Over and over again, you see
him in the company of those who were deemed by the religious
leaders to be very sinful people. Most of them were very upset
with him because he chose to associate with sinners, to befriend
sinners, to spend any amount of time with sinners. to sit
down and speak with sinners. This greatly upset the religious
leaders. When the Lord Jesus spoke to
Zacchaeus and told him to come down from the tree because he
must abide at his house, those who were watching the religious
leaders, they observed this, all that was happening between
Jesus of Nazareth and Zacchaeus. who was the chief among the publicans,
and they said, well, he's gone to be the guest of a man that
is a sinner. And to that, our Lord Jesus said,
this day is salvation to this house, for as much as he also
is a son of Abraham. That's a fact we're all sinners.
Now, whether you recognize that or not, or whether you admit
that or not doesn't change the fact that you are a sinner and
so am I. It makes no difference who you're
speaking of throughout the world. It makes no difference what the
educational ability or achievements of a person might be. It makes
no difference whether rich or poor, whatever race you may be,
whatever language you speak. The fact of the matter is we're
all sinful people. There's no question about it.
And this is the good news that God speaks words of forgiveness
to those who are guilty through the Lord Jesus and his work of
redemption. This is good news for us. There's
no denying the fact that we're sinful. There's no denying our
guilt. In fact, we must admit our guilt. We must own up to our sinfulness. As you read through the New Testament,
as I said through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you'll often
read that our Lord had words of forgiveness for sinners. He
had words of salvation for sinners. To a dying thief, he said, today
thou shalt be with me in paradise. To a woman caught in adultery,
he said, neither do I condemn thee. to a man who was sick of
lameness, palsy, really. He said to him, thy sins are
forgiven thee. You're forgiven. We read of a
woman who was, the scripture says, a sinner who came to our
Lord Jesus when the Savior was eating in thy house, Simon the
Pharisee. And this woman who was a sinner,
she stood at the Master's feet weeping, She began to wash his
feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair, kissed his
feet and anointing his feet with ointment. The Savior said to
her, thy sins are forgiven thee. God help us to acknowledge our
sinfulness. You know, I tell you, we're so
arrogant and we're so filled up with self-righteousness that
rather than admit guilt, we'll just go ahead and perish. Rather
than say, whatever the Lord, whatever charges He lays against
me, it's all so. I am guilty as the law of God
finds me. And indeed, the law of God was
given to just shut our mouths. that all the world may become
guilty before God. But the natural man, rather than
admit his guilt, rather than just pursue mercy that must come
from God, he just says, I'm not that bad. I'm just not that bad. And so he will perish. God help
us to confess not just what we've done, but what we are. We're sinful people. In Mark
1 5, they went out unto him all the land of Judea and the land
of Jerusalem. They were all baptized of him,
that is John the Baptist, in the river of Jordan, confessing
their sinfulness. Psalm 32, 5, David said, I acknowledge
my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will
confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest
the iniquity of my sin. I confessed, I acknowledged,
and God forgave. I made no excuses. I didn't say,
well, it is the reason I'm the way I am is because of societal
issues. I'm the way I am because I was
born on the other side of the tracks. I didn't have good examples
in life. I didn't have a good education.
I didn't have this advantage, and I didn't have that advantage.
All of those things are just excuses. acknowledge what God
says about you is the truth. It's the truth. He said there's
none good. No, not one. There's none that
seek after God. There's none righteous, he said.
No, not one. Here's what Solomon says in Proverbs
28, 13, He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whosoever
confesseth and forsaketh them, they shall have mercy. You want
mercy? Acknowledge what you are. When
God tells you in his word what you really are in your innermost
being, you must heartedly say in honesty before God, Amen,
Lord, you are right. I agree with you. That's what
David was saying in Psalm 51 when he justified God in his
judgment. So I don't deserve, I don't think
anybody deserves to be separated from God forever. You're wrong.
We all deserve to be separated from God. Don't cover your sins. Don't excuse your sins. God will never receive an arrogant,
self-righteous, unhumbled soul into his kingdom. There must
be a confession of iniquity and transgressions before God. And we do go to God for forgiveness.
We don't go to men. We don't go to each other. If
I've wronged you, if I've wronged somebody here, I go to you and
say, please forgive me. But here's the fact of the matter
is, all of our sins are against God. They're against God. David
in that great Psalm of Confession, Psalm 51, he said, against thee,
thee only have I done this evil in thy sight. He didn't say,
I sinned against Bathsheba, I sinned against the kingdom of Israel,
I sinned against Bathsheba's husband, Uriah. He said, I sinned
against God. It's against God that sin is.
And God must strike out its sin wherever he finds it. And David
knew that. So David cast himself on the
mercy of God. And this is what we must do,
cast ourselves upon the mercy of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Bless his name. The good news is our Lord Jesus
died for sinful people like us. This is good news. He died to
pay somebody's debt. And if you've been made aware
by the Spirit of God, you're indebted to the justice of God
and you run by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is forgiveness
for you of all of your sins. And that's such good news. It
says the blood of the Lord Jesus, that's what cleanseth us from
all sins. The scripture says, The Lord
is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. He saveth such
as be of a contrite spirit. And our Lord spent, He spent
hours and hours with people of His day who were guilty He sat
down and ate with them. He would drink with them. He
would converse with them. He would fellowship with them.
He never condoned anybody's sin. You know better than that. But
I'll tell you, there's such a freedom in the Lord Jesus that those
who are sinful could go up to Him. They could walk up to Him
and know that this is a merciful man. This is the merciful God. This is the Savior of sinners. You say, I'm so embarrassed by
what I am. Well, I'm embarrassed as well,
but we must go to Him because there's no forgiveness to be
found anywhere else. Now, go to John chapter 8. While
these who were unrighteous, who were sinful, they went to the
Lord Jesus and believed Him. There's another group of people
that were dead set against Him. They read the scriptures, they
knew the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures, but they
rejected the scriptures that had to do with Messiah and those
that had to do with Jesus of Nazareth being the Messiah. And
as merciful as the Lord Jesus was to those who were fallen,
to those who were guilty, as full of forgiveness, and loving
kindness as he was toward those who were broken and needy. Whenever anybody came to him
full of themselves, thinking themselves to be righteous, thinking
that they're living by the law, he had hard words for them, very
hard words for them. He rebuked these sorts of people,
those who refused to acknowledge their guilt. He didn't have words
of mercy for them. You see, they needed no mediator. Here are the Pharisees. And once
again in John chapter 8, here's this ongoing confrontation. They
didn't need a man like Jesus of Nazareth. They didn't need
that forgiveness. They didn't need a mediator.
They had the law. They said, we have Moses. We
have Moses. We love the law of Moses. And
as our brother read to us, they said, Abraham's our father. But
you, we reject. And yet all of the Old Testament
scriptures are about this one that they rejected. And they
were so blind. These were men who were supposed
to be the experts on the Word of God. And yet their hatred
for Jesus of Nazareth blinded them to those things that are
so clearly written in the Old Testament about Him. He'd be
born in Bethlehem, Micah chapter 5 in verse 2. He'd be of the
tribe of Judah, Genesis 49 in verse 10. He would be taken into
Egypt as an infant, Hosea chapter 11 in verse 1. It'd be 490 years
from the days of Daniel until the time of Messiah. You would
think somebody would have got out a pen and paper and said,
whoa, look at all these things. Oh, here he is, born in Bethlehem. That's Jesus of Nazareth. Oh,
he's of the tribe of Judah. Check. He'd be taken into Egypt. Well, where did Joseph and Mary
take him when Herod was on the warpath against him? Well, they
took him into Egypt. You think, why wouldn't these
people investigate? They're so knowledgeable, they
say they know the Word of God, but when it came to their hatred
of Jesus of Nazareth, that hatred, that awful feeling of animosity
toward Him blinded them to His beauties and to the fulfillment
of the Old Testament Scriptures in Jesus of Nazareth. When he was arrested, when the
Pharisees saw to it that he was arrested, you would have thought
that they would have recognized the fulfillment of other prophecies.
Oh, his triumphant entry into Jerusalem! Zechariah chapter
9 and verse 9. That he would be betrayed by
a close friend. Psalm 41 9. that he would be
sold for 30 pieces of silver, Zechariah chapter 11 in verse
12. That the money for his betrayal
would be given back, that buy within a potter's field, Zechariah
chapter 11 in verse 13. You would have thought that having
known the scriptures, when they saw him hung up on a cross, nailed
to a cross, that they would remember the scriptures that says his
hands and his feet would be pierced. Psalm 22, 16. And that it was
written of the Messiah in Psalm 109 in verse 4, he would even
pray for his enemies. That as it says in Isaiah chapter
53, he'd be numbered with the transgressors. Psalm 22, 18,
the soldiers would cast lots for his coat. that he would be
buried with the rich, Isaiah 53 verse 9, and many, many other
scriptures, but here's the point. The Pharisees, they knew these
prophetic passages because they knew their Bibles. They knew
the letter. They knew the verses in the Bible,
but they didn't know the God of the Bible, and they didn't
know the message of the Bible, which is Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. And when the Word of God came
to them, here is God's Word incarnate. This is God standing in front
of them. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and there He
was right in front of them. Did they hear what He had to
say? Look here in John chapter 8 in verse 47. The Savior said, he that is of
God heareth God's words. But would they hear God's words? John 8, 47. No, ye therefore
hear them not because you're not of God. You're not of God. You're not of God's grace. You're
not of God's mercy. It says of God's people, who
of God, who of God, Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, but obviously
these were not of God. Because they wouldn't hear God's
words. Who is it that will hear God's words? I'll tell you who will hear God's
words. Those that are of God. Those that are of God. Those
who were chosen of God. Those who were redeemed of God.
Those who were regenerated by God. Those who were issued an
effectual call by God. These are of God. Those who are
of God will hear the words of God. Speak Lord, I'm listening. The scripture says the hearing
ear and the seeing eye, the Lord gives them both. We've been reading
and studying in the book of Revelation. And of course, we know the book
of Revelation was written to the seven churches of Asia Minor,
at least initially to begin with. And in each letter to each of
the seven churches, it says, he that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit said to the churches. And if God's given
you an ear, you will hear his words. But he's got to give you
the ear. Now that's just a fact. Because
here he is speaking to these people. They hear his words with
these ears. It wasn't that they didn't understand
what he was saying. They understood and they didn't
like what he was saying. They didn't like him denouncing
them, and denouncing their religion, and denouncing their idolatry,
and denouncing their law-keeping, and denouncing their hatred of
the Son of God, and denouncing their hatred of the Word of God.
They understood what he was saying and didn't believe him. They
wouldn't hear. Will you hear God's words? Back over in chapter 6, our Lord
had stated many things, and you know what most of the people
said? This is a hard saying. Who can? What was it? Who can
hear it? We're not going to hear this.
I'm not going to listen to you anymore. I don't believe that
way. I don't believe the way you interpret
the Bible. You ever read the scripture like
Romans chapter 9, read the scriptures to people? Back when I was working
UPS, driving for UPS, every Friday we'd have devotional. There's
a black preacher, and he'd speak one Friday, and I'd speak another
Friday before we began our runs in the package car to deliver
packages all day. And I spoke on Romans chapter
9, Sovereign Mercy. And I started off by reading
the Word of God. And he wasn't with three or four
of us there. And he said, I'll tell you, Brother
Jim, I don't believe what you're saying there. I don't think you're
right. And I said, I hadn't even commented on the scriptures yet.
I just read it. What's the issue? What's wrong?
They can't hear the word of God. And you won't hear, and I won't
hear, and nobody will ever hear unless he gives us the hearing
ear. That's why we're so dependent upon God. It's not about walking
the aisle. It's not about making a decision.
It's about God doing something for us in our hearts so we can
hear his voice. The Savior said, my sheep hear
my voice. They hear my words and they love
them. They believe me. They follow me. That's what the
Savior said. My sheep hear my voice. They
hear. But he says to these folks, you
can't hear. I tell you, go back and look
at verses 33 to 36. Let me just, I'll kind of briefly
cover this. First of all, they wouldn't hear
what God said about their servitude. That's verses 33 through 36. They wouldn't hear God's word
about their servitude or their slavery. They answered him. Now this is a different group
than in verse 32 or verse 31. those who believed on him. This
is a different group. These are the Pharisees. They
answered him. They said, we're Abraham's seed. We're never in
bondage to any man. How sayest thou, ye shall be
made free? They were Abraham's seed physically,
yes. Spiritually, no. No. They said, we're never in bondage
to any man. They have short memories, don't
they? I believe they were in bondage to the Egyptians, if
I remember correctly. I believe they were in bondage
to several heathen nations, if memory serves me correctly. And
I believe that even as they spoke these words, they're in bondage
to Rome, to Caesar. In fact, they're still looking
for a Messiah who'd deliver them from the bondage of Rome and
from the Roman soldiers. from Caesar himself. Verse 34, Jesus answered them
and said, verily, verily. Every word that came forth from
the lips of our Savior are powerful words, true words. We know that,
but whenever he uses these words, verily, verily, that's time to
really perk up. That's time to really pay attention
to what he's saying. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." In other words,
you fellows, you say you've never been in bondage to anybody. You're
in bondage to sin. And they didn't even know it.
And that's the way it is with all. We're in bondage to sin.
We're in bondage to Satan. We don't even know it. We've
been locked up and the key tossed aside. We don't even know it. We're the servants of ungodliness
and sin. He says, the servant abided not
in the house forever. You needn't think if you're the
servant of sin, you needn't think you're going to glory, that you're
going to God's house to abide with Him forever. No way. I'll
tell you who will abide in God's house, the Son of God, and all
who are in him. We shall abide in him forever.
Therefore, he says in verse 36, if the Son therefore shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed. How is a sinner made free? What
sort of freedom is this? Well, this is freedom from the
guilt of sin. It's freedom from Satan. It's
freedom from the law. It's freedom from the curse of
the law. It's freedom from religious bondage. And it's freedom from
the fear of death. They wouldn't hear his words
about servitude. They said, we're not in bondage
to anybody. Oh, you're blinded by Satan. You're in bondage to
sin. He said, if the Son shall make
you free, we've got to be made free. There's got to be divine exertion. divine power going to work within
us to make us free. He made us free by his substitutionary
death on the cross, and that happened outside of us. And the
Spirit of God comes to us in regenerating power through the
word of the gospel, and he makes us free inwardly. That is, he
brings us to enjoy the freedom that we have in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Here's the second thing, they
would not hear what God said about the true children of Abraham. Verses 37 through 40. Now certainly
they were the offspring of Abraham and Sarah, but they gave abundant
evidence they weren't the children of Abraham. Verse 37 he says,
I know that you're Abraham's seed. Don't you seek to kill
me because my word hath no place in you? Does the Word of God
have a place in you? Does the Word of God find a welcome
in you? Is the Word of God at home in
your heart? I tell you what, if God has spoken
to us, if He's given us ears to hear and it's at home, we
just say, Lord, we want Your Word. That's all we want. That's
all we want. I'm not reading from Reader's
Digest. I get Reader's Digest every once in a while. It's something
in there pretty interesting. But we don't bring Reader's Digest
to preach in front of the church. We don't have Sunday School quarterlies. What do we have? We have God's
Word. That's what we want. We want
God's Word. We want God to speak. Tell you, Abraham received God's
word. He loved the word of the Lord.
But these people, they showed they weren't the spiritual children
of Abraham. Because if they were, they had
to believe God. If they were really the children
of promise, if they were the children of God, if they were
Abraham's spiritual children, if they were the true Israel
of God, when our Lord Jesus said before them the word of God in
its clarity, He had such plainness of speech. He didn't use big,
long words. He spoke in language that people
could understand. If there was ever a man who could
have impressed others with his knowledge, it was the Son of
God. But he spoke in such a way that sinners could grasp what
he was saying, at least up here. God help us to speak simply to
people. We're not trying to impress anybody
with what pitiful little bit of knowledge we've got. Speak a simple language. Set
forth the Lord Jesus and Him crucified. In verses 38 and 39,
He said, I speak that which I've seen with my father. And you
do that which you have seen with your father. A little bit later,
He'll tell them who their father is. They answered and said unto
him, Abraham's our father. Jesus said unto them, if you
were Abraham's children, you'd do the works of Abraham. The
works of Abraham, what are the works of Abraham? What did Abraham
do? Upon the word of God, he left
Ur of the Chaldeans. That's all he had was the word
of God, just believe what God said. He left his idolatry. He left his false religion. He
left his family. He said, I'm leaving. They said,
why are you leaving? Because God told me to go out.
Well, where are you going? Don't rightly know. I'm just
believing that God's going to lead me. I'm looking for a city
that has foundations, who's builder and maker is God. I'm going to
obey God. That's the works of Abraham.
You do what God told you to do. He cherished the Lamb of God,
whom God would give to be the substitute for his people. He
was a very forgiving man. You talking about the works of
Abraham? He was a very forgiving man. Look at Lot. Lot, Abraham
was his uncle, and Lot and his whole tribe, they got so big
that they're fussing and squabbling. They couldn't get along with
Abraham and his servants. And Abraham said, this isn't
right, Lot. Listen, here's all this land.
Take what y'all want. Whatever's left over, that's
what we'll take. That's good working. That's not putting himself. That's not him saying, hey, I'm
the oldest. I got more clout than you. I
got more white hair than you lot, so I'll choose first. No,
he said, take what you want. I'll live with the rest. These people here, they're arrogant.
full of pride, full of self-righteousness. When Lot went into Sodom and
Gomorrah, the king, you know, several kings, several of them
went together and raided the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah,
killed them, killed a bunch of men, took women and children
hostage. took them captive, I should say,
took their good, raided the treasuries of the cities, and they also
took a lot. If it had been some of us, Abraham
said, well, you made your bed, now lie in it. But that's not
the way Abraham was. Abraham went to his servants
and said, we're going to war. We're going to get these. And
he did. He went out and he slaughtered
them. And you know, he not only rescued Lot, but he rescued those
who had been taken into captivity out of Sodom and Gomorrah, those
heathen, vile, corrupt, ungodly cities. Why, we'd have probably
said, let them die! But not Abraham. He's a merciful
man. And when God came to Lot and
said, I'm going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of
the plain, God said, Abraham, you're my friend. I'm telling
you what I'm going to do. And Abraham said, Lord, will
you destroy the righteous with the wicked? He didn't say, well, you know
Lot. Lord, Lot, he's been a rebel. And he hadn't done right. And
just go ahead and burn him up, too. Abraham wasn't like that. He wasn't hard-hearted. Our Lord
Jesus said, if you were Abraham's children, you'd do the works
of Abraham. You don't have any kindness. There he was, the Son of God,
who went about healing people. He was very kind and approachable
by children, and they were ready to kill him. They weren't doing
the works of Abraham. They didn't show any mercy. They
didn't show any kindness. No, they wouldn't hear the Word
of God. In fact, they couldn't hear His
words. Look at verse 42. Jesus said unto them, If God
were your Father, He loved me. I proceeded forth and came from
God. Neither came I myself. God sent
me. He had already told him that.
God sent me. I'm the bread from heaven. God
sent me. And he says in verse 43, why
do you not understand my speech, my language? And literally, it's
dialect. Why do you not understand my
dialect? He spoke a different language.
And I'll tell you this, we're in a religious world. You know
it and I know it. And we pray for people and we
ask God to teach them the gospel like he taught us the gospel.
I was in religion. I didn't know God. I don't get
mad at these people. Well, my goodness, what's wrong
with these people? They can't see. No, they can't see because
they're blind. They can't hear because they're
deaf. Don't get mad at them. Ask God to give them ears to
hear and eyes to see. Now I hate their doctrine, but
a bunch of us, all of us at one time was in false religion because
we was in natural, tied up in natural things. We didn't understand
God's speech. The language of grace. and substitution,
and blood, and righteousness, and sacrifice, and reconciliation. That's a different language from
the language of the religion that's all around us. We speak
a different dialect. Our Lord said, and here's the
reason, you can't hear. That's what he says, verse 43,
even because ye cannot hear my word. And doesn't that remind
you of what he said back in John chapter 6? No man can come to
me except the Father which has sent me to draw him, and I'll
raise him up at the last day. And then he really drops a bombshell
in verse 44. Year of your father the devil,
the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning and abode not in the truth. He was in the truth
to begin with, but he didn't stay in the truth because there
is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks
of his own, but he's a liar and he's the father of it. In what
way was the devil their father? Well, certainly not by birth,
but by imitation. They were so thoroughly under
his influence, under his dominion, under his power, so controlled
by his authority, so obedient to his instructions, so consenting
to his leadership, so willing to follow him that they could
rightfully be said to be the children of the devil. He was a murderer. He as good
as murdered a third of the angels when he led them in rebelling
against God. He as good as murdered Adam and
Eve and really murdered the whole human race because we died spiritually
in Adam. He's not a life giver. He's a
life taker. He's a life taker. Only God can
give life. And these people revealed they
were the children of the devil because they wanted to murder
the Son of God. What's the devil been doing all
these thousands of years? Murdering people, lying to people. What did these Jews do? These
Pharisees, they lied to people and they murdered, they murdered
God's preachers. And they gonna murder the Son
of God. Verse 45, he said, because I
tell you the truth, you believe me not. Boy, what an indictment. The
reason you don't believe me is because I told you the truth. I told you the truth. He says in verse 46, which of
you convinces me of sin? Do you have any evidence that
I've done wrong? Can you convince anybody that
I'm a sinful man? Well, if I say the truth, because
they couldn't produce any witnesses. Why, right there to the end,
they had to pay false witnesses, right? They had to pay false
witnesses to lie about him. He said, if I say the truth,
why don't you believe me? Why don't people believe him?
Oh, that's a good question. Why don't people believe Christ
Jesus? You're talking about an evidence
of depravity. Right there it is. That's the
only Savior. His blood washes from sin. His
righteousness makes us beautiful before God. People won't believe Him. But I'll tell you, he that is
of God, he'll hear God's words. You hear God's words tonight?
You say, I do. I bow to God. And I honestly
do. I bow to God's word, don't you?
I bow to His word. This is the truth. I believe
what God says. That's because He's given me
ears to hear. And if you don't believe, it's
because you can't hear. Some of us have been talking
about getting hearing aids and being hard of hearing. I'll tell
you what, a sinner dead and trespasses in sin, it isn't that he's hard
of hearing. He just is absolutely deaf. Absolutely
deaf. Ever try to talk to somebody
who's absolutely deaf? They say, well, they can read
my lips. Turn around backwards. They can't hear. They just can't
hear. And that's the way it is with
a natural man. That's the way it was with you. That's the way
it was with me. Until God gave us ears to hear. And ever since
then, we've been bragging on the Lord. We've been giving Him
the glory. Thank you, Lord, for speaking
to me. Thank you, Lord, for giving me eyes to see and ears to hear. I hear your words, and I believe
your words. Let's sing the closing song,
314.