All right, if you wish to follow
along turn to Romans chapter 3 Romans chapter 3 I Want to read
verses 9 through 18 Romans 3 9 through 18 Paul asks a couple questions
what then are we better than they? Know in no wise For we
have before proved, and he's actually before proved in this
letter. He's not talking about it some
other occasion, some other place, though that certainly may be
true, but he's talking about in this very letter, he's already
proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. As it is written, and his appeal,
remember, is to the scripture. as it is written. And let me
also say this, he is quoting from a man who wrote these words. But the words, the truth, came
from God Almighty. When he says it is written, this
is God speaking through the prophet. It is written, there is none
righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together, together become
unprofitable. That is, if we all got together
and put forth our best effort, it is still unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Weird statement, isn't it? Their
feet, not their hands. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. Their ways. That means all their
ways. And the way, see that, singular,
because there is not ways in this next verse. And the way
of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. Now if I were to be asked to
come to the, whether it be here in Beckley or down my way in
Princeton, if I were to be asked to come to the first such and
such church, you all know of places like that, right? First
Baptist Church or First Presbyterian Church or whatever it might be.
I would venture to say that if I were asked to come to one of
these places and I were to read these very verses, now you say
preacher, that'll never happen. I never thought I would preach
my papa, my grandfather on my father's side, I never thought
I would preach his funeral either. So let us never tell God what
will happen, never, never. If I were to read these verses
amongst the religious moral socialite, and you know what I'm talking
about, the religious moral socialite, I am sure that they would recall
at the wretched state of such people described in this verse.
Wouldn't they not? Remember, you see them on TV,
if you do watch it. I'm not encouraging you to watch
it, but they're there with their little white hats on, and the
men have their three-piece suits and their ties, and they're sitting
there with their hands folded, maybe their Bibles on their lap,
and they hear these verses read, and they would recall at the
state of such miserable wretches described here. They might even
get together and say, we need to start a soup kitchen for folks
like that. Don't you think? Well, the greatest
soup kitchen that ever was never saved one person. And that soup
kitchen was ordained and orchestrated by the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Because he took bread and fishes and fed thousands out of just
a few, just a handful. That's a soup kitchen, wouldn't
you say? And the people who were fed went to great lengths to
follow him. Why? Because they loved having
their bellies fed. But when he began to teach them
the truth of the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation, they got
up and walked away. But, If I were to read these verses
amongst the independent, fundamental, owl-walking, Jesus-accepting
crowd, I'm sure they would call for a soul-winning campaign to
be done in the neighborhood that we might help rescue such wretches
like that. Don't you figure they would?
I used to be in a group of people like that. Oh, they might say,
well, yes, some of us, some of us used to be like that. Yes,
maybe some of us used to be like that. You know, old so-and-so
back there in the back aisle. Old so-and-so over here, you
know. They used to be like that, but we're saved now. We're saved
now. Our Lord Jesus spoke about people
like that as well. He said, you will come past sea
and land to make one proselyte. and when you've made him, you
make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Paul
talked of winning some, but not winning their soul, because man
cannot win another man's soul savingly. You may win a man's
soul, but it won't be to Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ
is the one who wins men and women's souls. But, also, if I were to
read these verses, that is Romans three, nine through 18, if I
were to read them amongst the charismatic crowd, I'm sure there
would be some of them that would seek to impress such wretches
as this with their flesh-filled, outwardly religious signs, and
maybe just coax a few of them out of the dregs. And they could
do so. They could do so. But our Lord
Jesus Christ said these words, a wicked and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign. And if you need a sign other
than the one sign that Christ said was given, then you are
of that wicked and adulterous generation. And that sign was
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. But on the flip
side, on the flip side, There also are those, if I was to read
these verses, amongst the crowd of the lewid baser sort. Do you know what I'm talking
about? James mentions people like that. Acts 17 and verse
five. Men of the lewid baser sort. There I see you. You're redneck
trash, hmm? The people that love to gather
up their four wheelers on Sunday morning and go four wheeling
in the mud rather than going to worship God in the local assembly. If I were to read these verses
to them, they would scoff and excuse themselves because at
least I'm not a religious hypocrite. I'm not like them other three
religious hypocritical groups. I'm not trying to be anything
I'm not. You don't have to try to be this.
You are this. Whether you like it or not. whether
you're amongst the religious, moral, socialite crowd, or you're
amidst the independent, fundamental, owl-walking crowd, or whether
you're amidst the charismatic crowd, we all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. Let me read just a couple verses
here. Let me tell you something, we
preach that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners.
But being a sinner is not your hope. Being a sinner will damn
your soul forever apart from the free reigning grace of God
Almighty in Christ Jesus. And Jesus Christ didn't just
come to save sinners, he come to call sinners to repentance. That's what it means when he
saves sinners. That's what it means. Listen
to what is said. It's in the book of Job. And
I know the man that said it was applying it wrongly because he
was applying it to Job. He was trying to say, Job, you're
like this. But what he said's still true. And listen to what
it says. Remember, I'm not a hypocrite. I may go to hell, but I won't
go to hell with the hypocrites. No, if the hypocrite goes to
hell, you'll go to hell with the hypocrite. But you won't
even know him or her when you're there because you'll be by yourself
forever, forever. Listen to what it says. Let me
find my spot. Knowest thou not this of old,
since man was placed on earth? The triumphing of the wicked
is short. It'll come to an end. Wait a
minute. And the joy of the hypocrite,
but for a moment. So they're both short. You see,
God's not gonna save you because you're willing to call out the
hypocrite. God will save you based upon the person and work
of his son, Jesus Christ, or you will not be saved. Now hear
me now, don't turn your mind against what I'm saying here.
My text describes me right now today, standing behind this podium
with my Bible open in front of me and my notes here in front
of me. It describes me by nature. This is what I am and this describes
you. and this describes you, and this
describes you. There is none righteous. That
ought to be enough. But God says no, not one. No, not one. Now here is my title. I realize this is not a pleasant
subject. I realize it's not a pleasant
subject. I realize that if I preach this message publicly in front
of some of these people I just talked about earlier, they probably
at best would never have me come back again. They may even run
me out. I have experienced that personally. Here's my subject, our universal
wretched corruption. Now as I have tried to point
out often through this series, from this book, when we find
a passage that gives us a little trouble, when we find a passage
that seems to condemn us, then don't try to self-justify to
get away from the condemnation. You're only sticking your head
in the sand. in willing ignorance to the truth
of God. If this describes me, and it
does, then I need to know the remedy for such a state as this. Right? Sticking my head in the
sand will gain me no favor with God. Well, I just didn't know. Tell that to the police officer
the next time you're going 75 in a 25 school zone. and just
tell him, I just didn't know. If you tell him that, I hope
he socks you with a $300 bill because it's nothing but self-justification
before God. But we cannot justify ourselves
before God because of the wickedness of someone else. There are thousands of people
in this world that are better than me. when you compare me
to them. But this ain't what Paul's talking
about here. I have four thoughts on what
to give you. The first one is this, it's found in chapter three,
verse 10 and 11. All, all are under sin. Think of it, none righteous.
But folks, this is a specific righteousness that God is talking
about here. Even our Lord said the Pharisees
have a righteousness, because your righteousness must exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. So Mason,
he acknowledged they had a righteousness, but this is not the righteousness
the writer's talking about, whether it's Paul or the prophet he was
quoting from. This is God's righteousness. God does not require of us to
be better than some other group among us. He demands we must
be as righteous as himself. And there are preachers who deny
that in pulpits every Sunday, Sunday night, Wednesday, whatever
it is. There is none righteous. There's none that what? understand
it. Well, can't we figure out calculus? I mean, they do things now, what's
it called, quantum physics? I mean, it's like this to me.
I've actually got online and listened to people explain quantum
physics, and I'm more confused now than I was when I began.
Man understands a great deal, but he don't understand God. He don't understand God. That's the problem. And even
when he reads this book, he will say, well, that can't mean what
it says. Why? Because he don't understand.
There's none that what? And then he says it. Wait a minute. There is none that seeketh after
God. but I see thousands of people
walking the aisles. You could watch the old Billy
Graham crusades and Jack Madison, there'd be hundreds walking the
aisles, but they weren't seeking God. Because you will seek God
as God is, revealed in this book, or you are not seeking God at
all. You see, somebody says, well,
you're a literalist. Yes, I am a literalist. I am
a literalist. But I also know that words have
far more than just one little teeny tiny meaning. I indicated
one earlier, and we'll look at it a little bit, and I don't
have time to go into all these phrases and try to describe all
the nuance. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Now maybe some karate expert
has killed someone with his feet, but I don't know too many people
going around killing folk with their feet, do you? So just hang
on to that thought for a minute. Remember it as it is written. And whose word is this? This
is God's pronouncement about us, not how we see one another. I don't see this in other people
sometimes. I look at other people and I'm
far worse than they are. Don't you? And there are other
folks I look at and I think, I'm a little bit better than
that. And probably so when we compare one worm to another worm. But this is the holy, the thrice
holy God giving his sentence about how he sees us. And we are as God sees us, not
as we see ourselves. None righteous, there's none
that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God. This
is our active discontent with God himself, these three first
phrases. It's active discontent with God
himself. The fact that we don't, there's
none righteous, there's none that understandeth, there's none
that seeketh after God is because we hate God's perfections. We
hate God's holiness, we hate God's preeminence. We don't mind
to worship God if God'll let us have a little percentage of
the fun and the merit and the credit, now do we? Don't mind
it at all. It's like God gives me a little
percentage of this thing. But God says, my glory, I will
not share with another. He won't do it. He won't do it. You see, righteousness, I don't
care whether it's religious righteousness, there is some religious righteousness
out there. There is denominational righteousness
out there, is there not? There are some people that are
better than other people, but were non-righteous before God.
There's none that understands God as we are by nature. And the dilemma for us was we
was created in the image of God. but we are so depraved that that
cannot be seen now. Mason, I believe to a degree,
in some way, it's still true. James talks about that, and we
ought not be cursing men, you know? I mean, just damning everybody,
because everybody's bad. No, I'm not damning everybody.
I'm telling us what God says we really are. Somebody said,
but preacher, some of these people might be one of God's elect. No, some of them are one of God's
elect. But we're dealing with them like
they are in this, in God's sight. And we need to quit wondering,
well, they might be one of God's. That's not the point. This is
the point. This is what we are by nature. and we need to expose ourselves
and others to what we really are rather than patting them
on the back and placating them thinking they might be one of
God's elect. They may be a reprobate too. They may be a Judas Iscariot
waiting to sell you out for less than 30 pieces of silver. Let
us tell the truth to men and women about what they are in
God's sight. and not placate them. Why? Because there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none that
understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. But here's number two. See our
active, reckless abandon. Do you hear what I said? See
our active, reckless abandon. They are all gone out of the
way. Do you hear it? They're all gone
out of, now it's an amazing thing. Because one, in our daddy Adam,
we all at one time were in the way. We were okay. God said about us in our parents,
Adam and Eve, that we were good. Did he not? And yet in our daddy
Adam, what did we do? We went out of the way. But I'll tell you this, man also
still has a conscience. and that conscience lets us know
that some things are right and some things are wrong. We also,
most of us, have eyes to see the glory of God's universe,
and even creation testifies to the very Godhead of God Almighty. There are no true atheists. There are people who want to
be atheists. They want to believe that there
is no God. But their hearts and minds tell
them better. It tells them better because
even they, if you mess around with the atheist's wife, you
think he gonna love you? Well, we just all, we're here,
we're evolving, and whatever we evolve into, that's just what
we are. So if I evolve into someone to
take your wife away from you, what's wrong with that, Jack?
Huh? How many people you know wanna
live like that? Oh, wait a minute, except for maybe that redneck
trash. That's the way they live anyway,
isn't it? I ain't supposed to say stuff like that, am I? I'm
supposed to preach sovereign grace. Now, I'm talking about
what God says we are. And we're all the same. Because
God's looking down inside here. He's not looking out here. You
see our reckless abandon? They're all gone out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable. Unprofitable to who? To God. To God. God don't need us. If God saved one individual,
it wasn't because God needed them, it's because God was pleased
to manifest his grace and mercy in Christ. There together become
unprofitable, there are none that, now think about this. You
read this and you look out here in the world, I watch these commercials
for St. Jude's crippled, you know, the
crippled children of the cancer hospital and I tell my wife,
I couldn't work there. I couldn't watch those little
babies suffer. And I couldn't do it. But I thank
God there's some folks who can. Aren't you? I'm sure those parents
that get invited to come there and take their babies there are
glad there are men and women who do such good. But we're not
talking about that kind of good. We're talking about God good.
in the sense that when the rich young ruler came and was very
respectful, even bowed down before Jesus, ran to him and said, good
master, what good thing might I do to inherit eternal life?
And Christ didn't even acknowledge that to start with, did he? He
said, why callest thou me good? There is none good but God. You see, the rich young ruler
had missed it from the get-go. Christ was good because Christ
is God. But the rich young ruler, Mason,
he didn't know Christ was God. He was just trying to kiss up. He was just trying to kiss up.
And that's what some of your relatives, your blood kin are
doing. They're just kissing up. and God takes everything from
you and makes you a pauper, see how long they hang around. God puts you down and lets you
fall back into the dregs of what you still are by nature, see
how much they come around. Or just preach the truth of Christ
to them and preach the truth of what they are to them, they'll
quit coming around. unless God Almighty moves in
grace and sovereign mercy. We have reckless abandon. Their throat, and this ain't, I'm a literalist,
but this ain't talking about having bad breath. You understand
what I'm saying? Their throat is an open sepulcher.
Does that mean you got bad breath in that literal? I'm saying there's
more to these words than just the physical meaning or some
physical meaning. What comes out of us is rotten
death before God. You see it? Their throat is an
open sepulcher. With their tongues they have
used deceit. And I'm guilty of it and you're
guilty of it. God says so, whether we see it
or not. That's the whole point. It's not whether we see it. God
says we're like this. God says this is your condition.
You know what the glorious thing is, or aglorious thing is? Is
when God actually exposes that to you. When God actually lets
you see what you really are. Because until you begin to see
how bad you really are before him, you'll never really seek
him as he is. You'll pretend him in your mind
as you think he, just enough to get me where I need to go.
Won't you do that? That God can be as sovereign
as he wants, as long as it ain't over me. Yeah, yeah. Their throat is an
open sepulcher. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of asp is under their
lips. you can harm somebody irreparably
with fists. I mean, Don Fortner one time
had a guy come and say, something along the lines, it's not gonna
be verbatim. I didn't write it down, I didn't go back and listen
to the message, but Don said a fella come to him and we're
talking about when you hurt someone, when you say something to someone
and you hurt them. And he said, but I'm tough skin,
I can take it. I can forgive and forget. And
John said, I looked at him and told him, if you pour scalding
water in my face, you may forget tomorrow, but I won't forget
tomorrow. It ain't about how we think about
this, it's how God thinks about this. And no matter how wretched
we are, we are God's wretched creation. Mm-hmm. God made us what we are by judgment
when Adam failed. Now, do you hear what I just
said? Now, I didn't say God's the guilty part, but God said,
in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. He did,
and God is still conducting himself according to his divine order,
and everything brings forth after its own kind. So everything after
Adam is born just like Adam was after he failed. And God was
the one that determined it be that way. He pronounced the judgment. He's the one that killed man
when man rebelled against God in the garden. Throat is an open
sepulcher, with their tongues they've used to seek. The poison
of ass is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and
bitterness. This ain't talking about just swear words, though
I've got no reason to think that's not included in that, right?
I've told you this before. This person professes to believe
Christ, but still when a person cusses and swears, it shows their
intelligence. Hogwash! Hogwash! This person professes to believe
God. Maybe they do, because we can do and say some stupid things,
but that ain't so. Your swear words, And that don't
show your intelligence, it shows you what you are right here.
That's what it shows you what you are right here. But what
else? Cursing and bitter, we curse
God. We get bitter against God. Just let the check not show up
when we thought it's supposed to. Let the person that runs the
HR mess up on the payroll one time, you don't get your check
when you're supposed to. And you start, well, I'm not cursing
against God. Yes, you are, because God Almighty
ordained that. You remember David? Now, David
didn't always do this. Old shimmy out there throwing
rocks at him, huh? One of these men said, I'll remove
his head from his neck. David said, no. God bid him curse. And if God bid him curse, let
him curse. Maybe God will requite me good. for this evil he's doing
to me today. Do you see it? Oh, Jack, if I
could live like that every day, but I don't. Cursing and bitters,
their feet are swift to shed blood, quickly. Everywhere we
go, we are that far away, just that far away from actually murdering
someone if God don't restrain us. Now I'm not saying this illustration
I won't give applies to everybody, but I don't know how many people
I've murdered in my lifetime when they cut me off in traffic. And folks, people are literally
doing that today. It's called road rage, and people
are killing one another just because somebody beeps the horn
when somebody else thinks they shouldn't, or somebody cuts them
off. Have you ever made a mistake driving? You ever pulled out
in front of somebody? If you drive very long, you will. Do you want somebody to kill
you for it? But it's more than that. Our feet is swift to what? We will sacrifice to anything
and everything but God. Now that applies as well. Our
feet are swift. Well God, I'll do this for you
if you do that for me. That is calling Christ's sacrifice
of no avail. You see, that's how bad we really
are. Because I've never literally killed somebody. I mean, I told
you about the time I killed Elvis. Buried him in the leaves. But
thank God I woke up and I realized it was a dream. But I was in
a cold sweat because I thought everybody will hate me now because
I killed Elvis. But you know why I would dream
something like that? Because it's down in here. If it wasn't
down in here, it ain't gonna come up into here. Now I'm sure
all your dreams are perfect and holy and righteous, aren't they?
Aren't they? Let me move on. Look at this. This is our active reckless abandon. But whether it's base immorality
or religious heresy, it's all damnable. It's all damnable. You got some people that just
live in base immorality. You got other people who live
in religious heresy, but God condemns it all because it all
dishonors Him. And there are some people who
are very immoral in one or two things, but very moral in other
things. You've heard of the phrase, what is it called, honor among
thieves? Folks, I know what I'm talking
about a little bit here. I mean, there's one thing that
they all hate is the child molester. He's described in these verses,
but not me. Yeah, you. Yeah, me. Let me move on. Number three,
see our spiritual ignorance exposed. The way of peace, have they not
known? Does this mean that what God's
talking about here through the apostle, this means that all
denominations all get along? If that were so, we'd all call
ourselves by the same name, wouldn't we? Huh, now wouldn't we? Wouldn't have to have Baptists,
Methodists, Presbyterian, Church of God, whatever it is, Church
of Christ, wouldn't have to have that if we actually could get
along. But what is the problem? We don't all believe the same
thing about God. And two cannot, now they may
feign it, but two cannot walk together except they be agreed. And I heard Henry and I heard
Earl both say, somebody ain't agreed with God. And that's the
main problem. Somebody's not agreed with God.
And you can't walk with God unless you agree to what God says about
us and about himself. That's our spiritual ignorance
exposed. The way of peace, have they not
known? Christ is our peace. Christ came and made peace. He made peace between God and
man. He made peace between Jew and Gentile. He made it. He didn't make it possible, he
made it. And then he came and preached
that peace. And he's still preaching that peace today through men
he's ordained to preach that peace. But by nature, none of
us know that way. Now we might can understand the
doctrine of it, the ABCs of it, you know, Roman numeral one,
Roman numeral two, Roman numeral three, but you don't love God
for it. You see, the amazing thing is,
is that I have a little bit of reason, I have to say, a little
bit of reason to think that I actually love God Mason like God reveals
himself in this book. And all kinds of people around
me don't. I got kinfolk, they hate the
God I love. So how could we get along in
peace? The only way is for you or I to compromise the truth
of Jesus Christ. That's the only way. You just
don't say anything. Okay, don't say anything, but
don't turn against God's people and turn for these rebels. God's people are still sinners. You hear me? We have to be patient
and long-suffering with one another, let alone that unbelieving infidels
out here. Do you understand that? We got
to. I need your patience and long-suffering,
and you need mine as well. If not, we will bite and devour
one another, and then you'll be alone with that crowd out
there. Is that what you really want?
I don't, do you? The way of peace have they not
known? You wanna know if somebody loves
the gospel or not? Tell them to come listen to Walter
and Joe and Paul, and if you don't, you hate God. Tell them
that and see what happens. Well, I don't have to go listen
to them. Don't you tell God what you don't got to do. Like the
one fella said, he said, I wanna be saved, but I've been baptized
four or five times and I'm not gonna be baptized again. God'll
send you to hell for that. Because you don't dictate to
God what you'll do and what you won't do. Baptism don't justify
you before God, but it is the answer of a good conscience.
And you gotta have a good conscience before you go in the water or
you ain't never truly been baptized. If baptism's the answer of a
good conscience toward God, and that's what it's about. It ain't
about you feeling good toward us. It's a good conscience toward
God. That's got to be there first. How'd I get on baptism? Because
I thought about the church of Christ. I heard that one, he said, you
come into contact with the blood of Christ through the waters
of baptism. That is a heretical lie. Christ's blood was shed
one time, and one time only. And when he shed that blood,
Paul, you read it, he obtained eternal redemption for some folk.
Mason's salvation, as far as God Almighty is concerned, is
accomplished with all the legal hurdles out there. It's accomplished. Now he's just going along and
calling people out. Last one, number four. See our
morbid tranquility before a holy God. There is no fear of God
before their eyes. I was watching YouTube, and there's
this lady that had murdered, that she was actually found guilty.
They suspect that she had murdered a lot more. They think she's
probably a serial killer. And I sat there and listened
to her, and you can tell this woman is, she's out there. She said, I'm not afraid to die
and go to hell. She don't know what she's talking
about. She has no idea. That scares me. One of you started
talking like that in here, I'd say, y'all, you stay in here,
we're gonna go out there in the car and have service. I ain't
gonna stay in here. I do fear God. And I'm not talking
about superstition. Herod was a man, Jack Manes Herod,
God put Herod in a high position. He had all the food he ever wanted,
right, Mason? Clothes, had respect from people,
did he not? And all he had to do was just
give glory to God, right? And he didn't do it. And God
killed him and he went to hell. Oh, but even more, Judas Iscariot
sat and listened to the master himself. Judas Iscariot preached
the message of the master himself. and was so acquainted with Jesus
that when he came to betray Jesus, he had the nerve to kiss him
on the cheek. Right? On the cheek. Remember when John seen him on
Patmos? He wasn't looking for the cheek, was he? John fell
at his feet as one dead. There's your difference. You
got a people, they don't mind to kiss Jesus on the cheek, but
they ain't gonna bow down at his feet. You see, when God reveals
his son to a person, by his blessed Holy Spirit, through the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, by a wretched sinner preaching it.
Do you hear that? Do we really remember that? By
a wretched sinner preaching it, that person will wilt, will fade,
will wither. They'll be brought according
to the Psalm 107 verses 27 and 28, they'll be brought to their
wit's end. Have you ever been brought to
your wit's end? I didn't ask you, I believe what
Earl Cochran preached, so what? I believe what Walter Pendleton
preaches, so what? Has God ever brought you to your
wit's end and bowed you to the feet of his son? You see, when
God saves a sinner, he exposes the sinner as the sinner to the
sinner, and nobody else matters when that happens. You ain't gonna worry about the
highfalutin religious moral socialite. You ain't gonna worry about the
independent, fundamental, I'll walk in Jesus accepting crowd.
You ain't gonna worry about the charismatic crowd. You ain't
gonna worry about the immoral redneck crowd. It's all gonna
be between you and God. Between you and God. And God,
I need your mercy or I will perish just like everybody else. Self-justification
before men, if this ever happens, if God ever saves you, self-justification
before men will wilt. It'll wilt, now it'll still,
the dregs of it'll still lay there. I mean, you see a flower,
it wilts, it's still laying there, ain't it? But it's wilted. Our
self-justification, it's still right there with me, Mason. But
I think it's wilted some. And it'll wilt and you will cry
out for perpetuous mercy. You know, we talk about that,
remember that publican, the Pharisee? He thought he was righteous,
and he despised others. But let me tell you, you could
be a self-righteous publican, too. Well, I despise that old
Pharisee. God saved one of those folks.
Did he not? But you didn't placate that fella
before God saved him. He'd have had your head lopped
off. Hmm? See, when God saves a sinner,
self-justification wilts, and men will cry out, God, be merciful. And if you look at the meaning
of that word, that man knew a whole lot more than what most religious
folk. He said, God, propitiate me. Have a sacrifice offered
for me. Mason, how much he understood,
I don't know. But he knew, God's got to do
this work. and God's gonna do it through
a sacrifice. You're getting somewhere if God
ever teaches you that. You are the sinner and you need
to have God do something for you. That's a pretty good place
to be in, ain't it? Pretty good place to be. Somebody
said, well, I don't like the way you preach. Well, I don't like
the way you look. Not a lot of laughs there, is
it? What's the difference? The way you look may not look
good. but who I am preaching matters immensely. And you can despise my demeanor,
you can despise my way of doing it, I understand that, that's
okay, but you best not despise my Lord, because you will perish
if you do. Now you didn't think Joe sent
me a song, did you? We got it, and Penny said, you
want me to read that to you? I said, sure, I want you to read that to me.
And she read it to me, and I thought, I'm not gonna read that before.
I'm gonna read that as the conclusion of my message. This is by Isaac
Watts. Justification by faith, not by
works, Romans 3, 19, 20, and 21. Lord, we'll not be getting
there next week while Paul's gone. Vain are the hopes of the
sons of men. on their own works have built,
their hearts by nature all unclean and all their actions guilt. Let Jew and Gentile stop their
mouths without a murmuring word. and the whole race of Adam stand
guilty before the Lord. In vain we ask God's righteous
law to justify us now, since to convince and to condemn is
all the law can do. Jesus, how glorious is thy grace,
when in thy name we trust, our faith receives a righteousness
that makes the sinner just. You see, you don't believe to
get righteousness, you believe him who is righteous, and God
counts that to you for righteousness. That's the way it's supposed
to be put in it, Mason. You receive him who is the righteousness,
and God counts that to you as righteousness. Mason, would you
close us in prayer, please?