who was before a blasphemer and
a persecutor and injurious, that I obtained mercy because I did
it ignorantly and unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying. I
mean, this is faithful. You can tell anybody this. And
it's worthy that everybody accept this, believe this, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Now this is the
only person in the world that came into this world to save
sinners. Nobody else came to save sinners. All the rest of
these so-called saviors came to tell men how to live, and how to be accepted of God
by things they do, but this man came. Not to give anybody directions
on how to live, but to save them and give them His life. Give
them His life. Of whom I am chief, howbeit for
this cause, because He came to save sinners, howbeit for this
cause I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show
forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter
believe on Him, to life everlasting. I want to ask a question this
morning and try to answer it. Am I a child of God? Am I a child
of God? How can I know I'm a child of
God? How can I know that I've been saved by the grace of God? How can I know I've been saved
by the grace of God? Paul said here that Christ came
to save sinners, and because of this, I obtained mercy. I
was a blasphemer, I was a persecutor, I was injurious. You know, John
Newton asked himself this question. Tis a point I long to know, oft
it gives me anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I His or am I not? So am I a child of God? Have
I been saved by grace? How can I know? Well, I'll tell
you who you don't ask. I'll tell you who I don't ask. You know, if I ask myself this
question, I know who I won't ask. I won't ask you. I won't ask any other man whether
I'm a child of God or not. I won't do it. I won't ask a
preacher. Because they don't know. And I don't want nobody asking
me, because I don't know. I couldn't tell you. I can't
give you assurance. I don't know your heart. I don't know what
God has done for you. I ain't going to ask another
man. And I'm not going to ask, and
I don't want you to ask, how much knowledge I have of God,
how much knowledge I have of His Word. When Paul said, Oh,
the death, of the richest, both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God. How unsearchable are His judgments
and His ways past finding out. And I found out that the folks
who seem to, in my opinion, know the most, they'll end up saying,
well, I know so little. Know so little. And I'll tell
you something else you won't ever ask, and you won't ever
give you the right answer about this, am I a child of God, have
I been saved by grace? Don't question your feelings.
Don't go by your feelings, whether you're a child of God, whether
you've been saved by the grace of God. You know, you hear people
say all the time, I feel saved. I feel saved. Oh my, there have
been many, many a day in my life I didn't feel it. I could tell
you right now, if I go by my feelings, if I go by my feelings
right this minute, I don't feel spiritual. I don't feel like I'm ready to
fly away. I don't feel any goose bumps. I'm just here. Time by the grace of God to tell
the truth. And I don't go back on my experience
or experiences. And I'll tell you why I don't
do that. I've had lots of... For every good experience I've
had, I've had a bad one. For every religious experience
I've had, I've had an experience of the flesh. For every good
thing I've said, I've said something bad. For every right thing I've
done, I've done something wrong. So if we're going to go to experiences
or feelings, you've got to accept the bad along with the good.
Now, if you ask Simon Peter, after he denied the Lord three
times, Peter, do you feel saved? And he looked back to his feelings
and he experienced, he said, there's no way in the world I
can know the Lord. But the Lord Jesus told Mary, He says, you
go, tell my brethren and Peter that I go before. So if you want
to go by experiences, Peter not only had his experience with
the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, but he also
had that horrible experience when he denied the Lord three
times. He not only said, I know that thou art the Son of God,
but he also said, far be it from you to go to the cross. So if
you don't have one good one, you've got to take your bad with
it. You've got to take all the good things you said with all
the bad things you said. So you see, where are we going
to go? How in the world am I going to know that I'm a child of God,
that I've been saved by Jesus? Oh my! How can I do it? Am I a child of God? How am I going to know? Who can
tell me? Who can tell me? Who can give
me some assurance? Who can speak to my heart, speak
to my soul, and make me to know that I am one of His own? The Lord knoweth them that are
His. How can I know that I'm one of
His? He said He knows them. Who can give me assurance? Well,
I'll tell you there's only one place, one place we can find
out. Only one place. I'm going to believe God, for
I believe myself. I'm going to believe God, for
I believe my experience. I'm going to believe God, for
I believe what I do. I'm going to believe God, before I believe
what anybody else says about me. I'm going to believe God. Let me show you what I mean by
that. You see, it's my history. Look with me over in 1 Peter
1. You know, God said, James 1.18 says, By his own will begat
he us with the word of truth. With the word of truth. It's
the word of God that begats us again. It's the word of God that
gives us life, that quickens us from the dead. And it's the
word that bears witness to our own hearts whether we are children
of God or not. Look here in 1 Peter 1.22. Now watch this. Seeing you have
purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit. If we ever obey the truth, it
will be the Spirit of God that brings the truth to us. And it
brings us to an unfeigned and unhypocritical, a true love of
the brethren. And seeing that you love one
another with a pure heart fervently. Now watch it, being born again.
Not a corruptible seed, but incorruptible. There's two seeds here. There's
the seed that we're born with. There's our flesh. There's our
corruptible self. There's the man that my father
and mother begat 1950 on February the 9th. That man grew up. That's
the man standing here before you today. That's the corruptible
seed that I got from my father. There's two seeds here. And oh,
being born again, not a corruptible seed. But of incorruptible seed. What's the incorruptible seed?
That's the Word of God. That's God's Word. Our Lord Jesus
said, and you know, a sower went forth and sowed seed. And he
sowed seed. Four different types of ground. And he said, and he sowed, he
said, tell us his family. He said, It's the Word of God
is the seed. And when it's sown, it falls
on hard ground, thorny ground, stony ground, and good ground.
But the Word of God is the seed that's planted in the heart.
And just like seed that brings forth life from a woman's womb,
it's just the same thing. The Spirit of God takes the Word,
the seed of God, and puts it in our heart, and it brings forth
life. Brings forth life. Now watch this. For all flesh
is his grass, and the glory of man is the flower of grass. You know, we watch these flowers
come out and these beautiful fountains, and tonight it's going
to maybe freeze, and it's just going to be blighted. That's man, he
comes up in all this beauty and glory and all this is beautiful,
and then all of a sudden a blast comes, and it's gone! That's
the way we are. But the Word of the Lord, watch
this, endureth forever. And this is the Word which by
the Gospel is preached unto you. So from God's Word, I'm going
to ask two questions. Two questions. I'm going to ask,
am I a child of God? How can I know I've been saved
by grace? Well, the only place we can find
the answer to that and the only place we can get assurance is
from God's Word itself. But I'm going to ask the Scriptures
two questions. Ask myself two questions. First, am I a sinner? Am I a sinner? Am I a sinner? And do I believe with all my
heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Isn't that what Paul
said over here in 1 Timothy? He says this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. That's why I ask that. Because
God's Word says He comes into this world to save sinners. And I want to be saved. I don't
want to be lost. I don't want to be deceived.
I don't want a false prophecy. I don't want the devil to give
me a counterfeit. I want to be saved. That's why
he says this is a faithful sin. How did for this cause I obtain
mercy? Why? Because I'm a sinner. Well,
can I answer that question according to the Word of God? I can. Yes,
I am a sinner. How do I know? First of all,
God said I was. Now you reckon God would lie
on me or any other member of the human race? God says I'm
a sinner. He says that there's none righteous,
no not one, that there's none good, no not one, that there's
none that seek of God, there's none that understand it. Everyone's
going out of the way. We're all together become unprofitable. That's what God said about me. And I'll tell you something else,
not all God's Word says I am. But my own conscience tells me
that I am. My own conscience tells me that
I am. You don't have to tell me when
I sin. My conscience convicts me. My conscience tells me when
I've said something, done something I shouldn't do. My conscience
lets me know. My conscience tells me that I'm
a sinner. My experience says that I'm a
sinner. How many times have I sinned in my life? How many words have
come out of my mouth that's been ungodly and unwretched? It's
unthankful and unholy. How many words have went through
my mind? How many curse words? How many
leanings? How many murders have I committed?
How many lies have I told? How many times have I been angry
without a cause? How many times have I been unjust?
How many times have I dishonored and shamed my master in this
world? My experience says I am. It says
I'm undone and I'm unclean. And my actions say that I am.
The things I do says that I am. I've never ever done anything
unselfishly in my life or for the glory of God in my life.
Not the first time ever. And the Holy Spirit says I'm
a sinner. The Holy Spirit when He's come, what does He say?
He says He'll convince you of your sin. And I've been convinced I've been convinced that, oh,
I throw a phone call and say, yes, Lord, I'm a sinner. That's
what Paul said. He had been a righteous man.
He had been after the Lord. He had been righteous. He was
without blame. And then he come to say, oh,
now I'm the chief of sinners. This is why God had mercy on
me, because I was a sinner. Not because I had any where,
because I was a sinner. Then the death of Christ tells
me that I'm a sinner. Why would Christ die if He wasn't
dying for sinners? If I had any righteousness, if
I had any merit, if I had any strength, if God could save me
any other way, why would Jesus Christ die on a cross? What was
the purpose of the death? The death of Christ says, yes,
He's a sinner because Christ bore sin on His own body on the
tree. God made Him to be sinned. Oh, that every time I think of
Christ on the cross and tells me I'm a sinner! Huh? I'll tell you something else.
My wife will tell you. She can bear witness to it that
I'm a sinner. My children will bear witness
that I'm a sinner. My friends and loved ones will
tell me, yes, he's a sinner. I'm a sinner when I feel it,
and I'm a sinner when I don't. I'm a sinner when I love myself,
and I'm a sinner when I feel good about myself. I'm a sinner
from the top of my head to the sole of my foot. And that's why
the scripture says this, and the paper says this, and that's
God who says it, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. And I own up to it. Will you
own up to it? Oh, I can't help but own up to
it because it's true. I'm ashamed of it. I'm not glorying
in it. Oh, I don't want glory in it.
I'm embarrassed by it. I'm embarrassed by it. It's kept
me awake at night. It's made me walking, me walking
down the road, me and Scott Richardson, one time we were in Cherokee.
We're sitting talking and he says, you know I'll be out walking
sometimes and something I've said or done will come across
my mind and I'll just feel shame. Starts to dump my head and go
all the way down my body. I just feel shame. The shame
of what I've said. The shame of what I've done.
I'm embarrassed by it. I'm ashamed of it. And I'd love to cease from it. And I'm afraid even to tell God
that there's things that I won't do again because I'm afraid.
I know me. You ever done something you say,
oh Lord, I sure would like to tell you I wouldn't do that again,
but I'm scared to death, but tell you I won't, I'll do it
again and I'll make myself to be the liar that I am. Huh? And listen, it's an awful burden.
To know that there's something in you that's so against God
and true righteousness and true holiness that you want to go
ahead and establish your own. There's something so intrinsically
evil that in me is I'd undone God if I could. I know that. I'm a sinner. Unlike that woman,
the Lord says, oh, it's not fit to take the children's bread
and feed it to dogs. Yes, I'm the dog, Lord. I'm like
Lefebvre Schatz when Lefebvre Schatz brought in to David's
presence and said, oh, why was thou looking for such a dead
dog as I am? Not just a dog, a dead dog. I'm a hypocrite. Talk about being a sinner, a
hypocrite. I say one thing and do another. And I expect from others what
I'm not willing to give myself. I have to make demands on other
people's lives that I myself don't make on myself. You know
what you call that? Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. You call that self-righteousness? Paul said, I know this, that
when I would do good, evil is present with me. What I would
do, that that I would do, I don't. That that I hate, I do. So I see this law, this war in
my members. This awful fight that goes on
within me. Oh, how to perform. Oh, I'm willing. I'm willing to be holy. I'm willing
to be perfect. I'm willing to be submissive
to God. I'm willing to be in credit.
I'm willing to be without sin, but how to perform. I'm willing
not to be a hypocrite and self-righteous, but how to perform. I just don't
know how. And I don't want to use, listen
to me now, I don't want to use my depravity as an excuse for
my sin. I don't want to use my old fallen
nature as an excuse for my sin. I don't want to use the grace
of God as an excuse to sin. I'll tell you before God right
now, I bear the blame for every sin I've ever committed. I ain't
fixing to charge God with what I do wrong. I'm not going to
charge Him. I'll take the blame for every
sin I've ever committed. I'll take the blame and I'm the
one that does it. It's me that does it. Nobody makes me sin. No one twists
my arm. No one gives me that shove. They
don't have to. Yes, I'm a sinner. And if God
don't save me, there'd be no hope for me whatsoever. If Christ didn't come to save
sinners, what's going to happen to me, James? What's going to
happen to you? Oh, this is a faithful saying.
Our Lord Jesus said, I came called, not the righteous, but sinners,
to repent. Oh, my second question. Do I believe with all my heart
and soul, with all that's within me, that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God and I've trusted Him with my soul? Ain't that what
Paul said here in verse 16? How be it for this cause I obtain
mercy? That in me, Jesus Christ, Jesus
Christ, back up in verse 12, he said, I thank Christ Jesus,
I, Lord, who hath enabled me. You know, the Word of God said,
this is what God said, I want you to look with me now, you
keep that and look over with me in John chapter 9, just a
moment. John chapter 9. I often think this, you know,
and I've often felt this, and I hope you haven't. I hope you
haven't experienced this. But I'll say or do something,
and I'll say, boy, I hope somebody, I hope the Lord's people never
see me do that. I hope the Lord's people never
hear me say that. But God does. Still, I wouldn't
want you to know it. Still, I don't want you to see
it. Still don't want you to hear it, do you? Look what John said
here in John 9.35 You know this is the man that
is born blind, but Lord Jesus opened his eyes And this starts back up here
in verse 29 This is the Pharisees talking,
the religious people talking, the self-righteous talking. We
know that God spake unto Moses, as for this fellow, that's what
they said about Christ, this fellow, we know not from whence
he is. The man asked and said unto them,
why herein is a marvelous thing, but you know not from whence
he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes? You don't know where
this man come from? You don't know anything about
his power and his glory? Now we know that God heareth
not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth
his will, that's the man God heareth. And since the world
began, it was not heard that any man opened the eyes of one
that was born blind. If this man were not of God,
he couldn't do a thing. That's what this man said about
Christ. If he was not of God, what could
he do? And that's what I say about anybody
that God didn't send. What can they do? What can Mohammed
do? What can Buddha do? What can
the Pope do? What can I do? What can you do? And they, what's
what they said to him? They answered, said unto him,
you is all together born in sins and you gonna teach us? Oh, you ain't gonna teach us
nothing. We went to the seminary. We graduated,
we got our doctor's degrees. And I don't care what you say,
we know what's right about for us. But oh, listen. And they
cast him out. Our Lord heard that they had
cast him out. You know why they cast him out? Because he was
born in sins. We're not sinners. You're a sinner. We don't have nothing to do with
you. You can't be in our blood. You can't be in our midst, you
can't come here, don't come among us, you sinner. When they cast
him out for being born in sins, Jesus heard that they cast him
out. And when he found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe
on the Son of God? Dost thou believe on that? He
answered and said, Lord, who is he? That I might believe on
him. And our Lord said unto him, Thou
hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And
he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him. And he worshipped
Him. Oh my! You know, that Ethiopian eunuch, he was
on his way back from being up in Jerusalem. He had been up
there and worshipped. He had been up there and seen the sacrifices
offered. He had been up there to Passover.
Had all these wonderful times up there and he was reading scriptures
on his way back home, sitting in his chariot. Philip got up
in the chariot with him and oh, listen. He's sitting there reading,
he'd been to worship, he'd been up there among all that religion.
He was as empty when he went, empty when he left. Didn't know
no more when he left than he did when he got there. Philip
opened the scriptures to him and began in Isaiah 53 and began
to preach unto him Jesus Christ. And they came to some water.
And that eunuch says, so here's water. What doeth hinder me from
being baptized? What hinders me from confessing
my faith right here? And I wouldn't know by that but
two people. What does hinder me? And old Philip says, do you
believe with all your heart that Jesus Christ, the one I just
preached to you, was the Son of God, God in the flesh, one
sin of God to save sinners, the one sin of God to put away sin.
Gustavo, he's that Lamb of God, that One who bars sins in His
own body, who was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for
our iniquities. God saw the travail of his soul
and was satisfied, numbered with the transgressions. He said, do you believe that?
He said, I do. I do. And boy, he was baptized
right there. That's why Simon Peter said,
you know, they can't bring in the law. He said, oh, you can't
be saved except you circumcise. You can't be saved except you
keep the law. You can't be saved except you do this, that, and
the other. And Simon Peter stood up, and all of them said, we
believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we
shall be saved. And beloved, let me show you
one last thing. Look over in Acts chapter 13
with me just a minute. Let me show you this. That's what I say now. See, I've
got assurance. While I've been preaching, the
Word itself has started giving me assurance that I'm a follower
of God. It started speaking to my heart. It started, you know,
when I started talking about it. Oh, I'm so ashamed of my
sin, but oh, look. Start talking about believing
on Christ. Start believing on Him. Him being
the Son of God. Him being the Lamb of God. Him
being the Passover. Look at Acts 13 with me. Yeah, Acts 13, 38. Look at this
with me just a minute. Oh, I believe. Do you believe
with all your heart? You know that woman at the well?
She came down and the Lord Jesus came up to her. She's standing
there getting her water. The Lord Jesus says, Give me
the drink. She said, Sir, you're a Jew. And I'm a Samaritan. And you know Jews and Samaritans
don't have anything to do more than that. And our Lord Jesus said, Oh,
if you'd have knew the gift of God. If you'd have knew God's
gift. Gift. Given. You would have asked of
Him. Not of this well. You would have
asked of Him. And He would have given you a drink of living water
that you would never taste again. And you can't go off from this
well. He said, you won't come here to get it. He said, you'll
never come back to this well to get that living water. Because
this is not where it's at. And she said, sirs, There's a prophet coming from
God, and they said that he'll be the Messiah, that he'll be
the Christ. He said, I'll just speak unto
thee, I'm He. I'm He. I'm He. She believed
that. She threw away her water pot,
forgot all about getting water. She runs back into town and says,
Sir, come see a man that told me everything he has done and
I have a vision. He exposed me to myself and exposed
my heart to himself and that's the Christ to you. I believe
him. And then the scripture says that
many more believed on him, not for her testimony, because they
saw and heard him themselves. Look here in Acts 13.38. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins, bless his holy name, the forgiveness
of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all
things. Oh, Lord, you don't know all
this. Oh, yeah, I know every sin you've committed. I know
everything you've ever done. You mean I've ever sinned, I've
ever committed? Everything I've ever done, every
dark secret of my heart, every filthy, abominable, ungodly thing
I've ever done, I can be justified from all those things? Yes. For which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Don't understand all the gospel.
Don't understand the good news. And let me tell you, you know,
do I? But the Word of God said that through faith in Him, I
could, I could and would be saved. Not by doing, but by believing. So the question is not how much
I know, but who I know. David don't know anything when
he's first born. All they can do is cry, and be
fed, and be nourished, and be cared for. And that's why it's
so imperative for folks to come hear the gospel. This is where
we grow. This is where we learn. You see, the question is not
how much I know, but who I know. It's not my knowledge of Him
that's going to save me, but His knowledge of me. That's where
I find more comfort. He knows me. He knows me. And have I come to Him? Have
I come to Him? Have I really come to Him? Have
I come to Christ? Have I come to Him? You know,
1 Peter 2.4 says, To whom coming? To whom coming? You see, the
Christian profession, the Christian life, the Christian experience,
is never more than coming to Christ. I come. I'm coming. And I'm coming. And I'm coming. I'm coming. And I'm coming. We just keep
coming to Christ. That's what it is. It's just
coming. When you feel safe, I come. When I don't feel safe, I come.
When I'm sick, I come. When I got joy, I come. When
I have peace, I come. When I have sorrow, I come. When
I have disappointment, I come. They said to the disciples, you're
going to turn and walk away too. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. In your heart right now, some
of you are coming to Him. Oh, have I committed myself to
Him? Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, there's no one else I can go to. Paul
said, I know whom I have believed. Whom I have believed. Just look
at it. Right over in 2 Timothy chapter
1. Just look at that. We're there
in 1 Timothy. Just turn over to 2 Timothy chapter
1. Look what it says here. Oh, there's no one else to go
to. Who else can save me? Who else can comfort me? Who
else can assure us? Look what it says in verse 12.
For the rich palter also suffered these things. Nevertheless, I
am not ashamed. Watch it now. For I know whom
I have believed. And I'm persuaded. And that word
believe means trusted. Trusted. And I'm persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. Unto whom I've trusted. Unto
whom I've believed. Unto whom I've committed myself
to. We trust people. You trust banks
with your money. You trust your secrets with people. You trust your lies in certain
situations. Can you not trust the Lord Jesus
Christ with your soul? Trust Him. You know, we put things
in trust for our children. It ain't like that to say, well,
Bill, do you live in trust? Well, listen, Christ is our living
trust. How do you know? I trust Him. I just, you know, we commit something
to a trust. Now listen, I commit my life
to His trust. I trust Him. I trust Him. Trust Him. Do you trust Him?
Oh beloved, how I need the Lord Jesus Christ. I need Him to be
my Savior. I need Him to be my Redeemer.
I can't save myself. I'm hopeless without Him. Have
I turned from myself and turned to Him? Have I turned from my
righteousness to His? Have I ceased from my works and
trusted His work? Have I quit my obedience and
trusted His obedience? Have I left off my goodness and
looked solely to Him and His grace? Did I come to where I don't trust
my prayers? Did I trust His power? Do I just look to my faith or
do I look to His faithfulness? Do I look how steep my repentance
is or do I look to Him who redeemed me? Oh, to be done with self. Just be done with self to write
d-e-a-t-h on me. Death. Put the sentence of death. Write it right here. Sentence
of death. God himself. Sentence of death. Death. Write
death on him. He is dead. Just be done with
myself and throw the living part of me on Christ. For all time
and eternity. To be as Paul who said, I count
everything but done, but lost, that I might win Christ, that
I might be found in Christ, having His righteousness, not mine. To press forward the mark for
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ. You see, He's
the starting mark and He's the finishing mark. He's the prize
in the race. He's the crown for the fight. I remember Brother Albert Blaylock.
He's been gone now since 2001. But I remember, I hadn't been
preaching for you folks very long, maybe just a few months.
And I didn't know much at the time, still don't know very little.
And he had that hog house up there. He had all them hogs in
it. He called me up there one day and asked me to come talk
to him. We went in there and we sat down on some old white
buckets. And he said, Brother Donnie,
he says, you know, I don't know how in the world God can have
anything to do with a man like me. He said, I'm the worst sinner
that I, you can't believe how bad a sinner I am. You can't
believe. I said, I'm worse than garbage. I stink. I said, you
know how bad garbage stinks? He said, that's why I feel like
garbage. I can't tell you just how awful
it is. He was looking for some assurance
and I couldn't get any. My heart was rejoicing. That's
the kind of people Christ gave me. He died such a blessed hope.
Oh my. Oh my. I want to be saved. I really do. I want to be saved
by Him. I want to be saved His way. I want His will, not mine. I want Him to be Lord, not me.
I want Him to be the ruler. I want Him to choose everything
for my life every day. I want my life mapped out by
Him. I want Him to choose what's going
to be best for me tomorrow, the rest of this day, the rest of
my life. Because I know it will be just
exactly what it should be. It will be just what it should
be. I want Him to choose my family. I want Him to choose my friends.
I want Him to choose where I live. I want Him to choose when I'll
die. I want Him to choose what happens to my body when I don't. I want him to choose what I experience
and what I shouldn't. I need him. I want him. Augustine said, Lord,
command what you will and give what you command. John Donne
said, as the first atom of sweat surrounds my face, may the last
atom of blood My soul in praise. O Jack the Hustler, or by members
O Jack, I told you about him. Heard some women talking about
Christ saving sinners. And he got going around singing,
I'm the poor sinner, nothing at all, Jesus Christ is my all
in all. Heard some women talking about
this, singing that little ditty. He began to sing and after a
while he began to believe. I'm a poor sinner and that's
it all. He decided, well, I'm going to go. You know, he started
going to the meeting house and started attending the services
and wanted to join the church. They had to examine him. They
said, well, Jack, tell us about your profession. Tell us what
happened. He said, well, I'm a poor sinner. Well, that's good. And nothing
at all. Jesus Christ is my all in all.
Well, Jack, didn't you go through this dark, dark pit? I'm a poor
sinner. I can't be any more. I can't
be any less. I can't be any more of a sinner.
I don't know what more you want me to say about myself. Do I have to go here? Do I have
to go... What more can I... I'm a poor sinner. Well, Jack,
don't you ever feel good about yourself? How can I feel good
about myself? I'm nothing at all. It's like Scott said, you know
what a hole in a donut is? Scott said, I'm a hole in a donut. That's what we are. Without Christ,
we're a hole in a donut. Zero, zip, nada. And that's what I want. Oh, poor
sinner, nothing at all. Jesus Christ my all in all. And
I'll say this to you in trying to close. I know this much about
being a believer. And like I say, I brought myself
some assurance this morning here. Some hope for myself. Some comfort
for myself. Some assurance for myself. I've
got to get to the same place you do. Got to go to the same
well. Got to have the same bread, the same water, the same light.
Got to have it all. Just like that. And this is for God won't
let us move from this. No matter what we attain in this
life, He keeps bringing us back to this one place. I'm a poor
sinner, and nothing at all. And Jesus Christ is my all in
all. Won't let us move from that.
That's the whole purpose of the gospel, and the Word, and the
preaching, and the Holy Spirit. to make us be done with ourselves
and trust Christ and Christ alone. And ain't that what Paul said
here back over in our faith? Oh, the gospel is to make men
see themselves as sinners and Christ to be all in all. And
that's why Paul says this is a faithful saint and worthy of
all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
Paul said, I'm the chief, and the Holy Ghost said that's what
he said about it. But you know, because I'm a sinner, that's the reason God gave me
mercy. That's the reason God gave me mercy. I was ignorant
about my sin. I was ignorant about it one time.
I was ignorant of Christ. And so he said, I was ignorant.
Ignorant. I was in unbelief. Everything
I did, I did it ignorant of God, ignorant of myself. But howbeit
for this cause I obtained mercy. That how Christ saved me is a
pattern of how God saves every sinner. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, if this isn't enough, Christ came to save sinners,
and do I believe that Jesus Christ is Son of God? If this isn't
enough, then I'm not a child of God. If that ain't enough. If being a sinner and trusting
Christ is not enough, I'm a governor. But oh my, don't tell me anything. Oh listen, I'm an absolute sinner,
so I must have an absolute Savior. I got to have one that can save
me all over, for all time, for all eternity, for all my life. And you know God makes the gospel
simple enough that men who can't read can understand it. That the deaf can hear it, blessed
by the Holy Spirit. That the blind can see it when
they hear it. And the dumb who cannot speak
can call on Him. He makes it such a glorious gospel
that the bedfast and the cripple can arise and go to Him. More about Jesus would I know.
More of His grace to others show. More of His saving fullness see. More of His love who dies for
me. The more of him I learn, the
more I see how desperately I need him. And I want him, don't you? I hope, I hope and pray that you've
seen today, whether you're a child of God or not, whether you know
the Lord Jesus or not, I certainly hope you do.