Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. That's my
prayer for you that are not saved here, that you might be saved.
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law, for righteousness to everyone that believeth. For Moses describes
the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth
those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is
of faith, this is what it says, say not in thine heart who shall
ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down from above,
or who shall descend into the deep. That is to bring up Christ
again from the dead. But what does the righteousness
of faith say? The word of faith. The righteousness
of faith. The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ. See, that's the word that's in
your mouth and in your heart. and shall believe in thine heart,
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture
saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for
there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the
same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then
shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For Isaiah said, Lord, who hath
believed our report, who has heard our preaching? So then
faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Here in Romans
10, I want to look at this verse 13. It said, Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I want to talk about
calling on the name of the Lord. You know, the book of Romans
is probably the most ignored epistle in the scriptures, especially
Romans chapter 8, where it talks about God's predestinating purpose. In Romans 9, where it talks about
His election according to His purpose, hating Esau and loving
Jacob. that God shows His mercy to whom
He'll show mercy. A man can will all he wants,
and he can run all he wants. But he can't be saved by running,
and he can't be saved by willing. He can run to every altar, he
can run to every church, run to every preacher, run out in
the world and tell everybody about Jesus. But until God shows
him mercy, he'll never know anything about God. You never know anything
about Christ. And this Roman book, this Book
of Romans, probably the most abused and misinterpreted and
misapplied book in all the Word of God. I saw a little tract
of it, forgot about it, on the Romans Road. Some idiot, I'll
call him an anti-Christ, came up with what they called the
Romans Road years ago. And it's a very simple way to
get taught people into accepting Jesus. I don't know exactly how
it goes, but I think they'll take the book of Romans, they'll
knock on somebody's door, and they'll say, are you saved? No,
no, I'm not. Go to church anywhere? No. Well,
do you mind if we come in? No, come on in. You know, we're
in there trying to preach our way. Somebody witnessing through
Jesus. Well, listen. They'll get their
Bible down, they'll go to Romans 3, and they'll say, you see this?
He said, all that sin comes short of the glory of God. You believe
you sin? Yeah, yeah, oh yeah. You come
short of the glory of God? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it
says over here that whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. You know, when they turn to repentance,
they turn to a place about repentance. You say, well, do you repent
of that? Are you sorry for that? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, sit
here. If you call on the name of the
Lord, you'll be saved. Go call on Him right now. Hey, call on
Him. That's it. That's it. You're fixed up for eternity.
Do you reckon that's what this verse means? You reckon it does? Look here in verse 12. Excuse me. Go back down here
to verse 9. And look what it says here. And
I want you to understand this. Look how many times it talks
about believing here. Romans 9. That with thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ that shalt believe
in thine heart. God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
under righteousness. And the scripture said, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. And there's no difference,
and that's what they'll say. There's no difference. You're
no different than anybody else between the Jew and the Greek.
The same Lord's over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.
And whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. So what is the apostle talking about here when he talks
about calling on the Lord? And by that calling on the Lord,
be saved. What does he really mean? Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. What does
he mean by this calling? Now, I want to say this, and
that's what my message is going to be. There are some essential
things that a man has to know and has to believe, and the Spirit
of God must do a work in him before there will ever be a true
calling on the Lord, before ever a true calling on the Lord takes
place. Everybody talks about, I prayed
for this one and I prayed for that one and that one, but if
you ever call on the Lord for salvation, There are some essential
things that must happen, must take place, that God has set
forth in His Word. And you've got to learn these
things and the Spirit's got to work these things on you before
you'll ever call on the Lord and you'll ever be saved. Now
that's right. And you know what the first thing
is? That's essential. And that's why people going in
with their soul in an outfit is the most, that's criminal. That's criminal. But the first
thing is, is the Word of God. Look down here at verse 17. God
never works apart from His Word. So then faith. Man's got to believe
in his heart. Confess with his mouth. So then
faith. How in the world did he get this
faith to call on the Lord? Where did he get this faith that
makes you call on the Lord for salvation? So then faith coming
by hearing and hearing by what? The Word of God. God never works
apart from his work. This idea that a fellow can just
decide to accept Jesus and come into the church and just make
everything all right, and that's what, look back down here again
in verse 8, where the apostle says, what we preach is the word
of faith. What does the word of faith say?
The Word. The Word. It's not you. This is what we're preaching.
We're preaching Jesus Christ and him crucified. And it's even
in your mouth. What mouth? What's in your mouth
and in your heart? Just the word of faith which
we preach. We preach that man must come to faith in Christ. But how in the world can he come
to faith in Christ if he don't know nothing about Christ? And
that's what the Word of God's about. Paul said he pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And
you keep this Romans 10, and look with me over here in Psalm
138. You think God ain't serious about His Word, and God ain't
serious about me and hearing the Word? That's why we're not
in such a big hurry to, you know, we tell folks, come, sit still,
hear the Word of God. Hear the Word of God. And when
we preach the Word of faith, we preach Christ. God never works
apart from His Word. Psalm 138, verse 2, God, look
what the psalmist said. I will worship toward thy holy
temple, And praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy
truth. Now listen to this. For thou
hast magnified thy word above thy name. Now you think God ain't
serious about men paying attention to his word and listening to
his word? He magnified his word above his own name. And he swore
by his own name. So what does it mean to magnify
his word above his name? That means, beloved, that God
can make another world. He can make more people. His name will always be what
it is, but His Word will never change, and what it takes to
save a soul is the Word of God preached in the power of the
Holy Ghost. And if God said, I've magnified My Word, I've
made My Word to set before men's minds and hearts, wherewith shall
a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according
to Thy Word. Thy words are my head and my
heart, that I might not sin against thee." Forever, O Lord, thy word
is settled in heaven. And that's why our Lord Jesus
Christ, he said this, he said, the words, the words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And I tell you,
God won't call him over without the word. And I want you to look
over at John 12 with me just a minute. You know what our Lord
said while you're turning over at John 12, 47? Our Lord says this, I'll tell
you a wise man, who a wise man is. He talked about two men building
buildings, building them a house. He said it was a fool, it was
a fool that took his house and built it on sand. Storm coming,
after the storm, he said this, and that's him, I sometimes fall
into despair, and I don't understand, I don't know why. But I know
that the Lord always holds my hand and will see me safely there. But I'm telling you, he said
a fool builds his house on the stairs. But he said, I'll tell
you who a wise man is. He that hears these sayings of
mine, hears what I say, pays attention to my word, hears what
I've got to say, forgets his opinion, forgets his traditions,
and forgets his church going, forgets his Phariseeism. And
he, that wise man, hears these words of mine and does them. And what does he do? He starts
building on a rock. What's the rock? Christ said
he is that rock. Paul said Christ is that rock. God made him Zion for a foundation
of Christ, the solid rock. And if you're ever going to have
a house that'll stand the storms and times, test of times, and
whether you're real or not, you're going to have to listen to what
Christ said. And listen to what His Word said.
Listen to what He said in John 12, verse 47. Bless His name. He said, And if any man hear
My words and believe not, Now listen to him. Hear my words
and believe not, I judge him not. For what in the world, he
said, but I came not to judge the world, but to save. But now
listen to what he says. He that rejecteth me receiveth
not my words, and has one that judges him, what shall judge
him? The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the
last day. The words that I have spoken.
What I've said to you, that's what you'll be judged by. And
how you react to what He says. That's why He says, blessed is
that man who don't stumble over Me, who don't offended in Me. And I tell you, son, beloved,
that's what our Lord Jesus Christ is talking about. The words that
I speak, they're spirit and they're alive. The Holy Spirit uses the
Word of God. Back here in Romans 10, He uses
the Word of God. That's what he says there in
verse 14, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, well
then, how in the world shall them that shall call on him whom
they have not believed? And how are you going to believe
in him whom you have not heard? And that's why Paul said, I'm
determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. How in the world do you believe
on someone that you don't know nothing about? And I want you
to look at one more scripture before I move to my next point,
and that's over in 2 Timothy. I want you to look in 2 Timothy
with me just a moment, and look what happens over here. 2 Timothy,
chapter 3 and verse 14. You know, without faith, it's
impossible to please God. And look what he said here. 2
Timothy 3.14. Paul's talking to this son of
the faith, this man that's a preacher, young man, just starting his
ministry. And Paul says, Continue thou
the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing
of whom thou hast learned them. Well, who teaches him? The Holy
Spirit does. And that's from a child. thou
hast known the holy scriptures, which are able, the word of God,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith
which is in Jesus Christ." Now, what scriptures did he study
and learn from? If all he had was the Old Testament,
they didn't have the New Testament at this time. And all scripture,
he says, this will make you wise, know the scriptures, all scriptures
given by inspiration of God. profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, to instruct you in what real righteousness
is, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished. And
so you see, without the Word of God, you've got to have the
Word. You can't call on the Lord without hearing the gospel, without
hearing the Word. I'll tell you something else you've got to
have. There's something else you've got to have. You've got
to have a preacher. You've got to have a preacher. Ain't that
what he said here in verse 14 again? How shall they call of
him whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how in the world shall a preacher preach except
to be said? Now, I'll tell you something,
beloved. Our Lord was a preacher. They talk about Charles Spurgeon
being the principal preacher. And what a preacher John the
Baptist was, and he was. Oh, what a prophet he was. But
our Lord Jesus Christ was a preacher. He went about preaching. He said,
I must go and preach in this other place. And he started preaching
repentance. Our Lord was a preacher. And
so how in the world is a man going to hear without a preacher?
That's what Isaiah said. He said, they've not all believed.
Who has heard our report? Who has heard our preaching?
And I tell you what, who has believed our preaching? That's
what I said. They've not all heard our preaching. They've
not all believed our preaching. And how in the world is a man
going to preach unless God sends him? How in the world do you
know whether you preach the sin of God or not? There's lots and
lots of preachers out there, and there's lots of men, politicians. Just being able to speak and
put things in an order don't mean you're a preacher. Partitions. Man, I mean, they have just mesmerized
people. And then you take businessmen.
Businessmen can give great speeches. Celebrities go and they give
these great speeches at commencement services every year at college.
And all people just go on to, but how in the world do you know
somebody's sent to preach the gospel? First of all, you'll
know it because he does preach the gospel. He's not a yea and
nay preacher. What's a yea and nay preacher?
Well, I believe, you know, that yes, you're dead in sins, but
yet God also gave you a free will. Everything's dead about
you, but you will. I believe that God has to give
everybody a chance. And that Jesus would say, no,
no, we're not yea and nay preachers. That Jesus would do this, but
he won't do that. I mean, we're not yea and nay
preachers. We're preaching yea, yea, yea, all are in Christ. Yea and amen in Christ. We're not preaching Christ's
righteousness in that you've got a righteousness of your own
that you be able to make. And I'll tell you, and I don't
want to start a controversy here, but you know, God makes us new
creatures. He gives us new hearts. He gives
us new minds. He gives us new wills, new desire. He creates us a new creature
in Christ when we're regenerated and born again. But I tell you
what, I don't like to call it an imputed righteousness and
an imparted righteousness. That means that I've got a righteousness
that's in me. No, the only righteousness that
I've got is the righteousness that I have that Christ gave
me. He made me a new creature. He
made me a partaker of the divine nature. But I tell you what,
I've only got one righteousness. And I tell you what, you follow
me around and they talk about imparted righteousness. You follow
me around and you'll find out that sometimes I don't act very
righteous, even though I'm a new creature. You all ever knew that? Is there any time you don't act
very righteous? And that's what I heard a preacher
say one time. He said, you know, we've got to have this balance
in this righteousness. This is what I'm talking about
here today. He said, here you've got this, you're on this tightrope
and you've got this balance beam. And on one side you've got the
imputed righteousness of Christ, and on the other side you've
got this Righteousness of your own, and you've got to walk this
righteousness, and if you go too far this way, you'll fall
off the beam. If you go too far to the departed righteousness
of Christ, and if you go too far over here about your righteousness
and living a righteous life, you'll go off the beam there.
Now, that's A&M preaching. We're not walking a tightrope.
I'm not on a tightrope. I've got a balance beam. Either
Christ is our righteousness or we don't have one. Christ is
the end, this is the word of faith, Christ is the end of the
law. For righteousness, to whom? To
whom? The man that's trying to live
right? The man that's got his own righteousness? The man that's
trying his best to get right with God? No! The man that believes! The word
of righteousness don't say, well, I need to do something to get
Jesus to come down and save me. Ain't that what he said in Romans
7? What's the word of faith? Oh, listen, I'm going to tell
you what I've got to do. I've got to do something to get
Jesus to come down here and save me. I need to live this way and
that way, and then Jesus will come and save me. And then that
preacher know that now, you know, he's raised from the dead. Now,
since he's raised from the dead, I need to get him to do something
for, I need to do something to get his resurrection and his
life to do something for me. But no, no. That's not the word
of faith which we preach. No, no, no. And that's why, how
do you know a preacher's sin of God? He's got one message. He's got one righteousness. He's
got one way of salvation. I tell you what, we're mano,
mano, mano, mano, mano. We're not stereo. Paul was a mono-maniac. This
one thing I do. Christ said, I'm the way. Christ himself was a mono. He
said, it's me and me alone. One way. One hope. One righteousness. One faith.
One Father. One Lord Jesus Christ. One way
of salvation. You can't get mixed up on that.
You can't get confused on that. And that's why, you know, he
told Jeremiah, he said, Jeremiah, before you was ever formed in
your mother's belly, and you know, I believe he does this
for every preacher that he calls. Before you was ever formed in
your mother's belly, I knew you and I called you to be a prophet.
And you know, he was born, his mama, Sucked in his mother's
breast and he grew up. And then one day he started preaching. But when he was in his mother's
womb, he didn't know that's what he was going to be. And that's
what Paul said when he preached. Paul was a murderous, God-hating,
Christ-rejecting, rebel until God apprehended him on the Damascus
road. And then you know what he said?
When he pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace. He was as saint and as called
to preach the gospel as Jeremiah was, as Moses was. And I believe every God-called
preacher. You know, I believe that God
called them from their mother's womb. And how in the world can
you know that? Because they got one message.
And you know what? I'll tell you something else.
Just like a preacher and you, you've got to have your crap
paw passed across with the gospel. You find anybody in the Scriptures
that was saved apart from the Word of God. Find me one. A preacher, I don't have to go
hear the Word. I can be saved anywhere. No, you can't. No, you can't. You may get religion
anywhere, but you can't be saved without the Word of God. You
find nobody in the Scriptures was saved apart from the Word
of God. Abraham, God called him. Noah,
God called him. Enoch walked with God. How? Because
God called him. God spoke to Adam. And I tell you, Beloved of God,
he's preaching the Word, the truth of God. And who's sufficient
for these things? Who's sufficient for them? In
preaching, I tell you, God only knows how important and needful
it is. Our Lord Jesus Christ went through Samaria. Everywhere
He went, He used His Word. That's what that centurion said,
I'm a man under authority. I say, go here, go there, do
this, do that. He said, all you got to do is sing your Word.
Just send your word, just speak, and it'll be done. And ain't
that what happened in the Valley of Dry Bones? What did God do
to a Valley of Dry Bones? Why in the world would He send
a... He sent a preacher to preach to nothing but a Valley of Dry
Bones. And that preacher, you know,
he never questioned God. God said, you go down there,
and look down there, and he goes, and that guy says, what do you
see? Oh, a valley of very bad, very dry bones. He says, son
of man, Preach to him. All right! I'm going to tell
you a story. This is a true story. I can't,
right off my head, I can't remember who it was. But a fellow was
out walking around one day, going through his message and preaching,
and Henry does that. He'll get in a room and he'll
go over his message. He'll go over and over and over
and over. And this fella was out walking around, he was preaching
and preaching and going through his message. And there was this
fella off in the woods squirrel hunting. And he heard that fella
preaching. And he started listening to him.
And he started getting the service of God's Savior, you know. That's what I mean, but there's
going to be somebody preaching and somebody's going to hear
what he's got to say. Oh, my, that God sent an old
priest to him. And Don Fortner was down in Australia
preaching, and a fellow was jogging. Oh, running. Past the church,
and he heard that big booming voice, you know. You know, Don
is, he don't need like me, he don't need a microphone. The
old Don was preaching, and that guy running by, and he heard
that big booming voice out there, and he run back by, and he sat
down outside. And listen to him preach. And got ready and went back in
there, and God saved that man. Passed him by. And I tell you, that's what I'm
telling you, you've got to have the gospel. I can't tell you
that enough. We don't need promoters. We don't
need people that promote the flesh. We don't need politicians,
people that make folks, you know, we don't need religious cheerleaders
to get everybody to stand up for Jesus and start getting them
all pumped up. We don't need diplomats, people
that know how to get along with people, make people get along
with one another. We don't need great organization
builders. We don't need little kings over
kingdoms. We don't need healers. And we
don't need helpers. You know what you need? The gospel,
the word of God. And let me say this, and I mean
this, and you listen to what I've got to say right here. What
do you think and how you react to the messenger of God, the
preacher of the gospel, tells an incredible lot about you.
Now, how would you treat the President of the United States?
How would you treat his ambassador? And what you do, and how you
treat, and what you think, and how you react to the man's sin
of God says an awful lot about him. If you just take it, well,
he's just another man. I know he's the preacher, and
I say that myself. But yet, it's an office. It's a responsibility. It's something,
beloved, a man would be a fool to take it on himself. And I
mean, beloved, you know, and me, oh my, how I love preachers. I love preachers. Oh, I love
Henry, I love Scott, I love Don, I love Bruce, I love Paul Mahan,
I love Chris Cunningham, I love these preachers. I love them. Love to hear them preach hard. Great inquest. I love to hear
these men preach. I love them. I pay attention
to them. I respect them. I admire them. And I'll listen
with an ear, just like you listen with an ear. Oh my, I need to
hear what this man's got to say. It's like that little old boy,
his daddy told him, said, son, God's going to save you only
by hearing the gospel. He sat down on the first pew,
Mr. Spurgeon speaking, and he had his ear like this, and what
are you doing? He said, my daddy said, I'm going to be heard by
hearing. Said, by hearing, he said, I want to hear, make sure
I hear. Cover your ears. The Lord used to say, it'd be
hard to hear, and he'd turn like this and cover his ear. Put the hands behind both ears
so you hear. Let me tell you this. Let me
hurry up and move on. Oh my. Look what else it says
about him. You've got to have the Word and
you've got to have a preacher preaching that Word. And then
you've got to hear. Then you've got to hear. Ain't
that what he says down there in verse 17? So then faith cometh by hearing.
Hearing. How shall they Call on him in
whom they have not believed. How shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard? You've got to hear it. You've
got to hear it. What do you've got to hear? Look
back up here in verses 3 and 4 with me. You've got to hear
the truth. You've got to hear the truth. Paul said, Oh brethren,
my heart's desire for prayer to Israel is that they might
be saved. He said, I'm going to bear record to them. I'm going
to go on record right here, right now. That they have a zeal for
God, but they're absolutely ignorant of God. He said they're ignorant
of God. They're ignorant of God's way
of righteousness. How do you know they are, Paul?
They're going about to establish their own. Trying to be saved
by their self, by their doing, by their experience. And that's
another thing, too. Let me stop right here. If you
have to go back to an experience you had, somebody talked to you,
that's why preachers got to keep people pumped up. If you was
talked into being saved, if your faith comes by the power of man,
then your faith will stand in the power of that man. That man's
got to always be convincing you that you got saved back there.
I remember when I talked you into it. I remember when you
had this issue. I remember when you come, and
you know, and they keep telling you over and over again, About
that time and that place. If you got to go back to yesterday,
looking for an experience, instead of trusting Christ now, there's days that I go by, and
I'll tell you, there's days that I go by in my life that I don't
feel like I, that I feel the Spirit of God at all. I don't
feel His presence at all. Sometimes I go like that for
days. And am I going to trust that
experience? Does that mean that I'm not safe because I don't
feel the Spirit of God? Because I don't feel strong in
the faith? Because I come here sometimes and I'm as empty as
a fired shotgun? No. No. Why? Because I've heard the truth
and the truth tells me that Christ is my salvation, no matter how
I feel, just as I am without one spot. Just as I am, Lord,
You'll take me the way I am. And the Lord takes me when I
feel like I've got faith. He takes me when I'm full of
it. He takes me when I fall on my face. He takes me when He
blesses me. It don't make no difference what
I'm feeling like and going through. It's salvation of Christ. Bless His name. Trust Him. And oh, you hear the truth. And
I tell you what, that's what He talked about here. He said,
Listen, there's only one righteousness, and Christ has had righteousness.
And I want you to look over in Ephesians. If you keep Romans
10, look in Ephesians chapter 1. Let me tell you what I'm talking
about. You've got to hear the truth. It's not just hearing anything.
You've got to hear the truth. I'll never forget hearing the
truth. I'll never forget the first time I really, really heard
the truth. Then Mary Bow said, that's the
truth, if I've ever heard truth in my life. That's the truth, if I've ever
heard the truth in my life. Henry Mahan, preaching, covering
the gospel. Started listening to Barnard
and Brother Henry, and I'll tell you, I started hearing truth
that I'd never heard before in my life. I was religious. I was... Oh, my. That's what I'm telling
you, you know. You think these fellas, Isaiah
was a prophet, and then he saw the Lord, then he was a preacher. We all got a profession, and
then we see the Lord, and our profession goes out the window
in salvation times. You understand what I'm saying?
I know y'all know what I'm talking about. But look at the truth.
Look what he said here in Ephesians 1.12. hearing the truth, that we should
be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ,"
now listen to this, "...in whom ye also trusted after that ye
heard the word of truth. And when you hear the word of
truth, it becomes the gospel of your salvation." Has the gospel
ever become the gospel of your salvation? Have you heard the
truth and embraced it and said, it's the gospel? I've heard the
gospel of my salvation. And I'll tell you this, beloved,
God doesn't save a man with a lie. He doesn't save a man with a
half-truth. He don't save a man with 99%
truth and 1% error. He don't do that. And when did
you hear the truth? When did you hear the truth?
I know when you did, if you believed that truth, that's when you started
calling on the Lord, and you never called on the Lord until
you heard the truth. And you hear the truth about
salvation in Christ, hear the truth about your sin, and you
never start calling on the Lord until you really, really hear
the truth. I believe that. I believe that with all my heart.
This idea, you know, our kids, you know, they say, well, we're
praying for you. Young woman said the other day, we were praying
for him. You know, they don't pray. They
don't know what prayer is. Out of one mouth is bitterness
and cursing and blasphemy. And you know, on the other side,
I'm going to pray for you. You ain't nobody, nobody's going
to call on the Lord until they're brought to a knowledge of the
truth. Now, I know that. I'm going to show you that. Oh,
my. Listen. I'll turn the air conditioning
on if you want me to, but I want to deal with this. Look over
here in a second, Thessalonians 2, talking about the truth. You
know how serious this is? Hearing the righteousness of
God, hearing about the person of Christ, hearing the gospel,
hearing the gospel. Have you heard the gospel that
you say, well, that's the gospel, and I believe in it? And that's
when it becomes the gospel of your salvation. Oh my. Look what the apostle
said here. He says in verse seven, the mystery
of iniquity already works. The Holy Spirit keeps him out
of the way. And then he said in verse eight,
2 Thessalonians 2.8, And then shall that wicked be revealed,
Satan himself, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit
of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming,
even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all
power and signs and lying wonders." And what is he talking about?
He's talking about one of these people, these great, big, successful
ministries. You know, I'll give you an illustration.
You know, remember Oral Roberts? He was this great, great faith
healer. And then all of a sudden, he started raising money for
a... He saw a 900-foot Jesus. And he says, now I need to build
a hospital. He'd been healing all these people with his hands,
now he's going to the hospital. That's what this pie says. We've
got all these people getting saved. Thousands will come, but where
do they end up at? And then look what he says, And
they come, and with all deceivableness and unrighteousness, and them
that perish. Now listen, this is what I want you to see. Because
they received not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. They'd rather that preacher lie
to them, and brag on them, and heal them, and go to a mega church
where they got these 25 ministers, got to minister for everything
and have all this money and these great big buildings so they can
say, Oh, I go here and preach at Sonsos. Oh, I go to Sonsos
Church. Oh, he's such a great, great
man. And they receive him, but they
won't receive the love and the truth that God might say. And
look what God does to people like that. And for this cause
God shall send them the strong delusion." You want to believe
that lie from that preacher? Go ahead and believe it. That
they all might be damned. Now listen to this, "...who believed
not the truth, but had pleasure in their own unrighteousness."
Oh, but listen, beloved. But here's what he says about
you. But we're bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren. You know why? You're beloved
of the Lord. Well, how do you know? Because
He chose you to salvation from the very beginning. And how did
He do it? Through sanctification of the
Spirit. Listen to this. And belief of
the truth. Or unto He called you by our
gospel. When you see it, you see it.
You know it. All the pieces fit. And until you see it, none of
the pieces fit. But when you see it... And oh, beloved, believing the
truth. Believing the truth. Believing
is submitting to the truth. That's why I believe. You say,
well, what does believing mean? That you submit to this truth.
You submit to the truth. You just say, well, that's the
truth. I believe the truth. And you submit to that truth.
Ain't that what he says here? Oh, my. And that's why back over
here in our text, look what he says. Isaiah said in verse 16. But, oh, listen. These men may
have this beautiful feats and preach the gospel of peace, embrace
such glad tidings of good things. But they all have not obeyed
the gospel. They didn't obey this gospel.
Isaiah says, who's believed our preaching? Who's believed it?
Now let me tell you something, going back over in our Romans
10. I'll tell you, when these things are present, when the
Word of God's present, when a preacher's present, when the truth is present,
and believing the truth is present, and you have this faith, and
we preach this, the Word of faith is now you. Where's it at? It's
in your mouth. What's in your mouth? Jesus Christ
is my only salvation. Jesus Christ is my only hope.
And that's what he says with, you know, it's on your tongue.
What is on your tongue? Jesus Christ. What is this word
that with thou shalt confess? Believe in thine heart. Believe
the truth about Christ in your heart. You say, oh, I believe
he's my only hope. I believe he's my only righteousness.
I believe he's the only salvation I could ever possibly have. And
he's my only hope before facing God. And he said, well, I believe
that in my heart. You know what I'm going to do?
I'm going to tell that with my mouth. I'm going to say that
Jesus Christ is my only hope. Jesus Christ is my salvation.
Jesus Christ is my righteousness. I believe it in my heart. I believe
the truth. Now, I want to tell it. I want to tell it. That's
what he said. And then, that's what he says. That's what he
means. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord, what's going to happen to him? He shall
be saved. Now, let me talk about this being
saved. When these things are present and they all work together
in a person's heart, when this happens, then he should start,
you know, it's just natural for him to start calling on the Lord
as it is for him to breathe. If all these things are present,
he'll automatically start calling on the Lord. He may not, you
know, he may not make that public confession. There'll come a time
that they will, but I'll tell you what, when all these things
are present, you know what they'll do? In their closet, they'll
call on the Lord. In their heart, while a man's
preaching, they're calling on the Lord. Lord, I need you. Lord, I want
to be saved. Lord, I want this truth. And
the very fact that you won't call on the Lord without these
things. And I tell you what, when it says here, calling on
the name of the Lord, you know what this calling means? Continually
calling. Whosoever shall call. I don't
know anything about grammar. I don't know an adverb from a
verb. I never got it. And I tell you, it shows in my
language all the time. It really shows. But I tell you
what, this calling on the, you know, that's what Peter said,
Joel said, I'll pour my spirit upon all flesh. And they'll all
start, and he said, and then they'll start calling on the
name of the Lord. And this calling, whosoever shall call, That don't
mean whosoever shall, has called on the Lord, shall be called
continually. That's always in the present
tense. It's like, you know, you go through
here, he that believeth and believeth and believeth. That word believeth
means it's always in the present tense. If you have believed,
you do believe, and you always will believe. It's always out
there. And I tell you what, calling,
if you ever start calling, you'll continually call. When you started
calling on the Lord, if you ever stopped, If a man can stop calling
on the Lord, that proves that he never called on Him the first
time. Do you believe that? If I can walk away from the Gospel,
walk away from the Christ, and walk away from the truth, and
walk away where it's preached, and go back out into the world,
or go someplace where they're lying on God, it's a dead giveaway
that I never, ever called on the Lord. And then it says, call
on the name of the Lord. Not just anybody. Who is the
Lord? Oh, high and holy and lifted
up. There He is in His glory and
in His majesty. Oh, Lord, You're the Lord of
heaven and earth. I'm but dust and ashes. Lord,
I've got no call on You. I know there's nothing in me,
but I've got the call on You. And then look what it says. Shall
be saved. Now that's, that's there. As they say, period, that's a
done deal. And oh, beloved, and let me tell
you something, and I'll close. This is not a one-time experience.
This is not just a decision you make. This is something that
goes on and on and on and on and on in your life. You always go, how in the world
does God work in us in our calling? He calls us first and foremost
to the Son of God, to his own Son. This is my beloved Son here. And I tell you what, you must
be called before you'll ever start calling. And if God's called
you and does something in your heart, you know what you're doing
right now? You're calling on the Lord and you're rejoicing
in the Lord. You're calling on him either
for comfort or strength or thanksgiving or rejoicing or mercy for something,
but you're calling on him all the time. For what you need right
then and there, ain't you? I call on him for you, I call
on him for... Lord, I call on you right now to thank you for
this wonderful gospel that you've taught us. Call on you, Lord,
for these dear saints who sit and listen so graciously to the
gospel this morning. Lord, I call on you because you
hear us when we call on you and the people listen. And they love
the gospel and they've heard that gospel and they rejoice
in it. Call on him last night, please
let me relax enough just to go to sleep. Call on him this morning,
Lord, don't please let me preach the gospel this morning. Call only for Peggy. Oh, God,
thank you for Peggy. Bless her. Call only for Mary.
Oh, God, thank you for what you do in birth. How strong she is.
Call only for Dorothy that the Lord's, she's getting stronger
and stronger. And I call only for you that
don't know Christ. Call only for you. Call on the
name of the Lord in your heart. And if you ever do, Confess it. Huh? David said,
And you know, thou said, Seek my face. O Lord, thy face I saw. God says, Seek ye my face. You
know what you'll do? You'll seek his face. You'll
seek his face. Huh? Won't you do it?