If you wish to follow along,
I want to read one verse from the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter three. Genesis chapter three. Joe and
I spoke some yesterday, and there's some things I wasn't going to
mention, but I believe I will mention them after all, just
to try to show a point But before I go into that, let's read the
one verse. Genesis chapter three and verse one. Now the serpent
was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God
had made. And he said unto the woman, yea,
hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden,
Satan's beguiling deception Is still in full operation today Not through the serpent of the
garden now it was through the serpent of the garden And this is what is amazing The
scripture says that Satan's great lie was this Yea, hath God said. That's the title of my message,
Satan's Lie. Yea, hath God said. And there are men and women today
that still want to debate what did Satan mean? What was Satan
getting at? Let me try to put it as simply
stated as I can. Anything that does not directly
Declare exactly what God has said is the lie of Satan It's
that simple no matter what it is There are those who when they
read especially these first chapters of the book of Genesis they want
to delve into well man and all of natural creation was vegetarian
and And they were. And they were. But it's the one,
then they go on to say, we need to get back to that spot. We
cannot. The fall occurred and we cannot
erase it. Others want to delve into, well,
evidently Eve could talk to the beast of the field. Yeah, she
spoke with this serpent. Did she not? But I also read
that another beast spoke called Balaam's ass. The point is not who is speaking,
the point is what is being said. What is being said. I can't explain
this. Was this serpent? Legged snake,
whatever it was, Joe, it doesn't matter. Was it infiltrated by
Satan himself? Paul makes it clear that, in
the New Testament, that this serpent was Satan. It was Satan. Satan personally,
Satan individually, but that's not the point. The point is his
murderous, beguiling words. And they always begin with this,
yea, hath God said? And it is not yea, God hath said. It is always yea, hath God said? So I say that Satan's beguiling
deception still operates today. Here's another one. Men want
to deal with where did Cain get his wife from? You know what
I mean? This is what they want to deal
with. And I usually tell them, he met her at Walmart. And they look at you a little
skewy eyed and usually they drop it right there and let it go.
Satan's, that's not the point. And our human minds, in its fallen
nature, wants to somehow get away from the truth of God and
deal with something else that doesn't matter. And it's all
a part of, yea, hath God said? As I said, this beguiling deception
now is not through the serpent of the garden. No, it's coming
through many a preacher. standing behind a podium or a
pulpit, just like I'm doing this morning. The subtlety is evident in that
many still say, yea, hath God said. You have probably heard
it. You can quote scripture to someone
and they'll say, I don't believe that. That's the lie of Satan having
infiltrated their hearts and minds and thoughts. The enemies
of God always put the question mark on the veracity of the plainly
stated words of God. That's the lie of the devil.
We could say Satan was trying to insinuate to Eve, God's not
being fair with you and Adam. He's holding back something from
you. When God had said, all of this
is yours, but one thing. And God was saying, it's mine.
Don't touch it. Don't touch it. Think of it. Eve was evidently standing here
gazing at the tree. When she could have and should
have been by the commandment of God, enjoying her husband's
body and bringing forth children. So all disobedience to God is
not immorality. Do you hear what I just said?
He said to them, be fruitful and multiply. I'm gonna say this
as tactfully as I can. He's saying to them, go at it.
Enjoy one another. Make babies. Right? And what was she doing? Standing
there. gazing at the tree, talking to
the serpent. That is not immorality, but it
is sin against God. Here's the amazing thing though,
even though that is true, man did not fall by her act. Man
only fell when his federal head, Adam, acted. And I'm not here
to deal with the ramifications of all that. But I'll tell you
what, though that is a, that was a massive, complete,
utter fall. I thank God for it. Do you remember
what Paul said in Romans chapter eight? But God be thanked. This
is the way he puts it. But God be thanked that ye were
the servants of sin. Now he did not say, ye were the
servants of sin, but God bethanked that. He said, but God bethanked. We would have never known the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ had we not fell in our
father Adam in the garden. It says the angels long to know,
to see, what we know and see. Why is that? They've never fallen.
The angels who did fall have no hope. So again I say the enemies
of God always put the question mark on the veracity of the plainly
stated words of God. We read the scripture and by
nature we say well what's that really mean? Don't we? Don't we? It can't mean exactly
what it says. Yes, it means exactly what it
says. Satan's tactics. Now listen to
me. Satan's tactics are not seen. I didn't say they're not mostly
seen. I said they're not seen in the bars, in the brothels. Yet that is what most of so-called
Christianity is teaching today. Satan's out there at work in
the bars and the brothels. No, the bars and the brothels
are you and I at work. We don't need the devil to have
us do those things. We drink up those things like
a thirsty man drinks up water. Go back and read what our Lord
said. Matthew recorded in Matthew 15, verses 16 through 20. He
says, out of the heart, And he's talking about the heart of man,
not the heart of the devil. Out of the heart comes evil thoughts,
and murders, and adulteries, and fornications, and drunkenness,
and revilings, and all of those such things. The bars and the
brothels are not Satan at work. That's us at work by nature. Satan at work stands in places
just like this. There are no doubt thousands
upon thousands of them this morning standing in places just like
I'm standing, and they are saying to men and women in not the very
words, but in the doctrine they teach, yea, as God said. Satan's ongoing tactics deal
with righteousness and light, not the atheistic movement. Satan's too smart to be an atheist. You hear what I'm saying? Satan
never ever has denied the existence of God. No sir, he always denies
the veracity of God's plainly written truth. As a matter of
fact, Satan will even partially quote scripture. Or he may even
fully quote scripture, but yet twist it to his own means. Go
back and look. Satan even acknowledges the absolute
sovereignty of God. And I don't mean just mentally. And I don't know if that's the
best way to say it about an angel. I don't know. I don't understand.
I don't know how to state it the best way. Because God said
to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? And basically
he said, sure I have, but you won't let me touch him. That's
exactly right. Amen. You put a hedge about him,
and I can't touch him. And God said, I ain't touch him,
but here's your boundaries. and you can go no further. No,
Satan's not in the atheistic movement. That's just the pride
of rebellious men. If you truly believe something
is a myth, you don't have to fight against it. Are you out
there, and I said this one time, and I know some people got mad
at me, but are you out there having to fight against Santa Claus?
Or the Easter bunny? Do you have to prove to people
they're not real? Do you have to spend thousands
of dollars and have billboards? The atheistic movement is not
Satan at work. Satan is at work in many Baptist
churches and Presbyterian churches and Church of Christ churches
and Church of God churches and right on down the line. That's
where Satan's doing his work. Listen to what the Apostle Paul
said. And by God's grace we'll take his word over any other
man's word. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 13, for such are false
apostles. You see, Satan's emissaries don't
deny apostleship, they just fake apostleship. You see? Satan's emissaries are not in
the bars in the brothels, they're behind the pulpits of our day.
And they were in Paul's day. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, trying to get you to take a drink of liquor.
That's not what it's talking about, is it? No. For such are
false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ. and no marvel. No marvel, for
Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. He's not trying to promote darkness. He is promoting a light that's
not the light of God's truth. And even our Lord warned about
this. He said if the light that's in you be darkness, what a statement. What a statement. If the light
that be in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into the angel of light. Therefore, it is no
great thing. You see, what I just said about
Satan's not in the bars and the brothels, there are people that,
if they hear me say that, they will be aghast. But Paul says
this is no marvel. It's no great thing. Therefore
it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of what? Immorality? No. Not even unrighteousness? No. Righteousness! But I can tell you one thing,
one kind of righteousness it's not. That's the righteousness
of God in Christ. They are preaching human righteousness. Man's righteousness. And I'm
not suggesting you do this, but you turn on the radio, you turn
on the TV, you go online, you listen to most of the so-called
gospel messages that are being preached, they are touting the
righteousness of fallen men and women. And they are not touting
the righteousness of God in Christ. Therefore it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their works. Oh God, help
my end not to be according to my works. And if you're hearing me this
morning, you're hearing me whatever time you are hearing me, If you
want your end to be according to your works, you have no idea
what you asked for. Well, I just hope that my good
deeds outweigh my bad deeds. They won't. Because even our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags in God's sight. Therefore,
usually the things we think that are really bad, God says, well,
that's the way they normally are. And that's what they are
by nature. The problem is we present these
so-called good things to God and they are a stench in God's
nostrils. So much so that the Lord of glory
himself, when he came down here in enfleshment, he said, that
which is highly esteemed among men. This is a big statement. That which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination in God's sight. And go look at the context.
Go look at the context of what he talks about next. No, Satan's
not at work in the bars and the brothels and the atheistic movement.
He's at work in so-called Christian churches today. He was, Joe,
he was there in the garden of God. Right there, and his only thing
was to say, yea, have God said? That's the way he begins everything
he begins with. throwing a question mark on the
truthfulness, the veracity of God's clearly stated words. Bars, brothels, and false brotherhood,
it all condemns. Don't you misunderstand me? It
all condemns, but it don't deceive. False brotherhood deceives. False
gospels deceive. There's no deception in the bar
and the brothel. Now is there? Come on now. If
you're deceived by the bar and the brothel, you're in really
bad shape. You need a good dose of God's
grace. But even more than that, you also need a good dose of
intelligence. because you got none. No. Hear our master about some people.
You, this is in John 8, verses 43 through 45, you are of your
father, the devil. He was a murderer from the beginning. Beginning, when was that? In
the beginning, God. So we know right then, that's
where he's still at, that's where he already was. He's the father
of lies. And he said, you do the deeds
of your father. And what's the one deed they
won't do? What's the one deed they won't
do? Love Jesus Christ as Jesus Christ is. Those Jews did not
reject the coming of the Messiah. They rejected the Messiah when
he came. Do you hear what I said? Those
Jews did not reject the coming of the Messiah. They looked for
it, believed it, would die for it, many of them, if necessary.
Their problem was they were so depraved, just like we are, that
we don't believe the Messiah who has come. You are of your
father the devil. So in the remainder of my time,
consider just a few present day subtleties. And I want to try
to deal with some that are just straightforward, not some great
theological debates. That's not what I'm talking about. The first one, you'll find it
in Romans chapter 10. So if you want to follow along, be turning
to Romans chapter 10. Now you thought I was going to
Romans chapter 9, didn't you? But I don't. But I got to mention
Romans 9. Here are our master's words.
Remember, you're of your father the devil. Some people have the
devil as their daddy. That's exactly right. That's
what it says. It's just the way it is. Now, he knew who they were individually. Yes, sir. Mason, he could look
at a man or a woman, he knew who was of their father the devil,
and he knew who was of God. That's right. I can't just look
at a man or a woman and know that. but there are some manifestations
of it. The fact is, though, even when
these things may be manifested in some people, that's what we
all are by nature. The children of wrath toward
God, and that's what Paul's talking about, even as everybody else.
By nature, we love to hear, yea, hath God said? Because we all, by nature, love
to walk after our own way. This preacher included, standing
in front of you right now this moment, if God Almighty did not
restrain me, I'd walk according to all the lust of my flesh. There are times when God will
lift his restraint even off of one of his blood-bought, regenerated,
converted children just a little. and we will start in a downward
spiral from which we cannot deliver ourselves except God himself
step back in and deliver us. Look at King David. Look at Jonah. Look at yourself. Look at yourself. So here, let's just consider
a few, mainly three subtleties. the subtleties of the ministers
of Satan. Remember, the ministers of Satan
are the ministers of righteousness and light, right? They're not
out here trying to promote immorality and unrighteousness in that sense. They're promoting righteousness
and light, but it's not the righteousness of God. It's not the light of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. Just three short thoughts, and
we will see. Satan's lie, yea, hath God said,
According to this book, God demands belief and confession of Jesus
Christ as Lord. Does he not? Now let's read it,
Romans chapter 10, and this is a very familiar passage with
most everybody that is acquainted with so-called Christianity in
our day, is it not? You will find it on many a Bible
tract. You will see people holding it
up on placards. Listen to part of it. Here's
what he says. Romans chapter 10, verse eight. But what saith
it? The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart, and he's talking to believers. That
is the word of faith which we preach. That if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart men believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. So what is Paul saying? God demands, and by his grace
it comes to pass that there are some people who do what? They
confess with their mouth what? The Lord Jesus. Now I know sometimes
we think about this now. Some of us who've been converted
for many a year and we think, well, that's so in the past. It's not in the past for the
countless millions of people still around us today. Satan's
lie is this, here's his lie, here's his lie, yea hath God
said, they say, accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior. Now let me tell you something,
Jesus Christ is a personal savior. And he saves everyone who is
ever saved, individually, personally, one by one. And when he does,
they will confess with their mouths that he is what? Not their
personal savior. But their Lord. Lord. You see, if God Almighty has
never brought you down by the preaching of the gospel, empowered
by his spirit, to cause you to confess in reality, from your
heart, Jesus Christ is Lord, you don't know him as savior
at all. And yet there are some today
that preach. They actually teach men and women
this, and thousands of people are caught up in this light that
is darkness. Jesus is my Savior, although
he's not my Lord today. I ought to make him my Lord,
but at least he's my Savior. That's a lie of the devil. And I'm not saying that to be
mean. I'm saying that to warn every one of us. I'm saying that
because I care about men's souls more than I care about getting
along with the religious of this world. That if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and do what? Believe that God
raised him from the dead. That's not just about a historical
fact. His raising him from the dead is the clear manifestation
that God accepted what he did on a people's behalf. The God who raised him from the
dead didn't leave him here on this earth. Did he? He exalted
him and took him up and he sat down on the right hand of the
majesty on high. He's Lord. And if he's not your
Lord, he is not your savior. Now look what it goes on to say.
Now here's where The minions of Satan want to concentrate,
for the scripture says, whosoever, and they want to stick right
there and fight about that over and over. But they don't even
deal with the Lordship of Christ to start with. Because they know,
because these minions, they're of Satan. Satan knows the truth,
he just wants to distort it, lie about it. These minions know
they will not deal with the Lordship of Christ, they want to deal
with whosoever. Exactly. That's it. I tell you what, if
you're not willing to deal with the lordship of Jesus Christ
first, whosoever will matter nothing to you, because there
are whosoever believeth not. That's right. Look, for the scripture saith
whosoever, but here's the qualifier, and there's several a qualifier
here. Now you hear what I'm saying?
Yes, it says, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus,
you believe in your heart, God raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. For the heart man believeth unto
righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made into 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. Four. You see it? Look. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's not a lucky rabbit's
foot you use when you use Jesus of Nazareth. His name describes
who he is. Jesus, the man. Christ, the anointed
Messiah, the Lord. Absolute sovereign of all. That's
what it's talking about. And somebody said, you believe
somebody's gotta believe in the sovereignty of God to be saved?
No, they're gonna confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus. And
when they do, they're gonna begin to understand he's Lord. Let
me tell you something. God's gonna begin to teach you
when he saves you everything about who he is that's pertinent
to you knowing that's in this book. You won't learn it all
like that, but you'll begin to learn it. But look at what it
says. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not
believed? There are many people that walk
an aisle and pray a prayer during a calling, but it's not this
kind of calling. You gotta believe before you
walk that aisle if you walk an aisle. You hear what I'm saying? If you walk an aisle to call
on the name, if you do that, you better believe first. You
see what it says? How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? You got to believe first. And
believe what? That he's Lord. And that God
raised him from the dead. 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? Well I ain't never heard about
that kind of Jesus. Then you've never been saved. Now you see what he's saying
here? We're talking about the Lord Jesus, not just a personal
Savior Jesus, but the Lord Jesus. Joe, I want to confess him as
Lord even if I have to die and go to hell. He deserves to be confessed as
Lord even if I have to perish without him as Savior. Yes or no? Yes or no? Yes. As Job said, though he slay
me, Yet will I trust him. And if I go to hell, I'll go
to hell confessing Jesus Christ as Lord. But you know what? If you do that by the grace of
God, you will not go to hell. But isn't that another amazing
part of the lie? I seen a billboard. It's basically this. Jesus is
the only way to heaven. How about Jesus is the only way
to righteousness? Everybody's worried about heaven
or hell. What about righteousness before
God or unrighteousness before God? They're not worried about
that because they think they got that wrapped up. They just
need heaven or hell, preferably heaven, right? It's still the
subtlety of Satan. Yea, hath God said. You don't
have to deal with that righteousness thing. Just give your heart to
Jesus. He don't want your heart. It's
wicked above all things, desperately wicked above all things, and
you don't even know it, and neither do I. We don't know how bad we
really are, and some of us here know more about how man really
is than most folks in this world do, but we still don't get it
like it ought to be got, do we? Look, how then shall they call
on him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe
in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear
without a preacher? and every preacher that's ever
been sent of God. And he goes on to say, the guy
to be sent is just a sinner just like you are. But yet there are
people today, so I won't listen to him. I'm not gonna listen
to that man. Do they not? And we, even us
today, I find myself picking and choosing. On that stick I
got, Joe, with all them messages, I find myself picking and choosing
the ones I wanna listen to. And I think to myself, wait a
minute, if this one guy I'm not listening to is preaching the
same gospel the other guy's preaching, then what's the problem? It can't
be them, it's got to be where? It got to be right in here. You
see what I'm saying? Well, I like that one better,
it does more for me. You think it does. If the truth
don't do something for you, no matter what the clay pot is that's
bringing the truth to you, then you're really not getting much
of anything, even though you think you are. As I said before,
I used to pray, oh God, give Joe something to say to us this
morning. And I still pray that. But I know the most pertinent
thing for me is, oh God, open my heart and mind afresh to hear
what you gave Joe to say to me. Do you hear what I'm saying to
you? It's putting the onus on somebody else. I'm here. I'm a vessel ready to receive.
Lord, enable them to give me what I need. No, the problem
lies right in here. Right in here. And how shall
they preach except they be what? Sent. Sent. I don't care if it's
a Jonah, a Peter, a Paul, or whether it be a lady at the temple
who says, here's the Messiah. Here's the Messiah. Whether it's
a Priscilla and Aquila. Or whether it's an Apollos. You
see, the vessel doesn't matter. It's the message that's coming
from the vessel. And if that vessel is sent of
God, you will get the right message. God demands belief and confession
of Jesus Christ as Lord. And that's where it starts when
it comes to conversion. Convert is public. He is Lord. It's not walking an aisle and
praying a prayer. It's God Almighty conquering your heart by Jesus
Christ. You fall in love with him as
he is revealed in this book. Here's another one. God in flesh
exposed self-justification as damning and mercy-seeking as
paramount. I'm not gonna read it, but you
go back and look at Luke 18, nine through 14. Most of you
know the account, the Pharisee and the publican. Now that's
the account that our Lord Jesus Christ was talking about when
he talked about men who justify themselves before God. That's
when he said that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination
of God's sight. He said two men went up to the
temple to pray. I'm gonna shorten this. One bragged about himself,
how good he was. The other one didn't brag at
all. He said, God, this is all he said. Didn't even lift up
his eyes. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And our Lord himself said about
that nasty, wicked publican, this man went down to his house
justified rather than. Now hear me. rather than the
other. You exalt yourself, God will
damn you. Humble yourself, God will exalt
you. And I'm not gonna sit here and
try to explain that and give all, that's what our Lord said, did he not?
You brag about yourself to God, God will reject you. You beg
for God's mercy cause you know you really need it, he'll give
it to you. He'd delight us. in mercy. Do you hear me? And yet, most
of the preaching that's thought of as Christianity today is like
Earl said about people when they come to church. You know what
most so-called church is today? It's people coming together to
congratulate one another on how good they are. And they may do that with one
another. We may do that with one another, but it will not
stick before God. As again, I say God in flesh
exposed self-justification as damning. It said the Pharisee
prayed thus with himself, thus his God was who? Himself. Himself. That old publican stood
afar off, wouldn't even lift up his high eyes to heaven and
smote on what? His problem. Smote on his breast,
well, his heart. Smote on the problem, it's me.
I'm the problem. God, propitiate. God, propitiate
me. That's the actual Greek word.
God, you need to appease your own justice for me. I can't do
it. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And he went down to his house,
justified. Isn't that glorious? And yet,
men say, yea, hath God said? Don't they? How many of them
on TV and radio have you heard that's preaching that? It's really
preaching that. Here's a third one. God in flesh
wrote a life of association with sinners in order to preach the
gospel to them. Now you hear what I said, turn
to Acts chapter 15, or Luke, I'm sorry, chapter 15. Now let
me say it again. The third simple thing. This
is things that Satan's ministers question, throw a question mark
on today. One of them is confession that
Jesus Christ is, they want you to do anything other than confess
that Christ is Lord. They throw a question mark on
that. They want you to brag about how good you are. And be so good
that you're proud of how good you are. You're proud of your
pride. Proud of your pride. Or, let me give you another.
God in flesh wrought a life of association with sinners to preach
the gospel to them. Luke 15, verse one. Then came
near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. Now, that's the kind of publicans
and sinners we're talking about now. You see what I'm saying? I'm sure, Mason, there were some
publicans and sinners that were still pretty proud about themselves,
were probably just as Pharisaical, if not more so than some of the
old Pharisees, because they probably prayed to themselves, saying,
God, I thank you, I'm not like the Pharisee. And that's not
what the publican prayed when he got mercy. It's God be merciful
to me. He didn't worry about the Pharisee,
was he? And there's a lot of people,
they're pretty proud about their pride. I've used the state proud
of face, proud of race, proud of place, there's also pride
of grace. There's some people's proud that
they've earned the grace of God. And that's the highest height
of pride that there is, to think you can earn the grace of God.
Think about it. Then drew near unto him all the
publicans and sinners. Why? For to hear him. Do you find yourself like Mary?
Now I know there are times we find ourselves like Martha, cumbered
about with much work. Yes we do. And then we even get
mad when others are not. Like she did to her sister Mary.
Remember where Mary was? Martha's in there busy about
getting food ready. And that's understanding, it's
not a bad thing. But she turned on her sister
and said, Lord, I'm busy. Tell Mary to come help me. He
said, I will not. He said, she's chosen that good
thing and it will not be taken away from her. You know what
that good thing was? She was sitting at Jesus' feet listening
to him. And what happened? the Pharisees
and scribes got ticked off. And the Pharisees and scribes
murmured saying, now look at what they actually said, this
man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. They were just totally,
they were totally avoiding the fact he was preaching the gospel
to them. Many today respond today with
the same incredulous attitude. You always address sinners as
the objects of divine hope. What about good people? Jesus
Christ didn't come to save good people. And you know what he
said? He said, the whole need not a
physician, but those that are sick. And as long as a man or
a woman, a boy or a girl thinks they're whole, they will never,
ever, ever, ever, ever have any need of Jesus Christ. But once
the Spirit of God convinces you of your sickness, you will have
nowhere else to go but to the great physician. And you will
want to sit at his feet and hear him as a sinner. What did Paul say in Romans five?
Look at what he said, now think about it. Somebody said, preacher,
this is so simple. Isn't that where we always begin?
is the most primer things. God doesn't start you off on
what kind of millennialism is right. If that's where you started,
you missed everything. He starts you off with who is
Jesus Christ and who am I? Paul put it this way in Romans
chapter five, and he says these words, Romans chapter five, let
me find it. Verse six, for when we were yet
without strength in due time, Christ died for thee, what? Ungodly. Christ did not die for good people. He did not die for godly people.
He did not die for well people. Now I know there are none technically
that are like that, but there are many who think they are.
And as long as you think yourself well, you will never have need
of Christ. But there are some folks that the Spirit of God
convinces, and what's the first thing he convinces you of? Sin. Sin. For scarcely for righteous
men will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us in while that
we were yet what? Sinners. Christ died for us. Are you a sinner? I mean a real
bona fide sinner. If you don't know much else in
this world, you know this, I'm a sinner. Now I'm telling you
Jesus Christ died for you. I'm telling you that. Now somebody
said, what if you say that to somebody, they're deceiving themselves.
Well it doesn't matter, they're deceiving themselves. I'm not
gonna make their state any worse. What, telling somebody that if
you're a sinner, Christ died for you, it's gonna be bad for
them? Now you see what I'm saying? Be careful about trying to be
too Calvinistic in your teaching. I gotta have all my ducks, I
gotta make sure nobody misunderstands me. They gonna misunderstand
you no matter what you say. But I'm telling you, if you're
a real, true, bona fide, listen, God made sinner, and you understand
what I mean by that. God convicted sinner. Not that
God made you to be a sinner. Adam made you to be a sinner.
But God Almighty's convinced you of seeing righteousness and
judgment. I'm telling you Jesus Christ died for you. Believe
him. Trust him. Confess him. Depend
on him. Love him. All of the things that
go. Serve him. Old sinner. Any sinners hearing me right
now? Any sinners hearing me right now? I don't care how long you've
been a believer, are you still a sinner right now? I'm telling
you Christ died for you. You hear what I'm saying? I'm
telling you, because it says he died for sinners, Joe. Right? It says he died for the ungodly.
Can you take your place there? And, or, and slash, or will you
take your place there? I'm a sinner. Any sinners hear
me? There's hope for you. I don't
care if you believed 80 years. Your only hope is Jesus Christ
came into this world to save sinners. You know what I mean?
You know what I mean? I don't care, you can believe
for 50 years, that doesn't atone for not one of your sins. Not
a one of your sins. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. He did that by his blood on that
tree. My summary is this, O God, deliver
us from, yea, hath God said? Period. Period. Father, O God, help us. Because we are so subject to
the subtlety of Satan. So subject to it. We're not above
it. We're not above it. O God, help us in Christ's name.
Amen. Let's stand and sing number five,
I believe, wasn't it, Joe? Number five, we'll close with
singing this.