And you know what I mean, I've
used that for a long time. For the living sinner to accept
is the fact that God loved and loves us in spite of what we
are. That's one of the most difficult
things to happen. Think about it. Many of God's children live in
perpetual fear and misery because of what they've done
and what happens in regular life. To be ashamed, yes, we ought
to be that. We ought to be that. But to condemn yourself when
God does not condemn you, is the height of folly. And yet,
I had that conversation with a woman on the telephone yesterday. And she said, well, but it's
hard. Yeah, I said, it's hard to believe.
It's hard to believe. The question basically is this,
and I know this is oversimplification. Question is do you? Have you
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ in a scriptural fashion? That's
the question Have you believed the record and by that John means
the scriptures As he says in first John 5 10
I He that believeth on the Son
hath the witness within himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the
record that God gave of His Son. Where is the record? Here. Here. You see, most of our misery And
I can well say most of my misery, because I'm including myself
with you, comes from unbelief. That's the fountain of it. But I want to talk to you this
morning about the forgiveness of sins. Because many of God's children
are living just like they're grasping at straws. with no reality to their hope
in Jesus Christ. They're like children whistling in a graveyard
of defeat and misery and despair. Now, it's not presumption. to believe what God has said. That's not presumption. Nor is
it humility to doubt what God has said. People walk around
and this happens right one-on-one. Oh, I'd never presume to say
that I'm righteous. Wouldn't you? when god says that we are made
the righteousness of god in jesus christ i believe that yes sir i believe
that that doesn't mean that i've never doubted it see you get
these paradoxes now if you go and you know i
don't want to turn here now right now but uh... i want to refer
you to look twenty four verses 46 and 47. Thus it behooved Christ. I might
have the wrong reference there, it doesn't matter. It behooved
Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and
that repentance, I'm talking Acts now, that repentance And
remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations
beginning at Jerusalem. Amen. Alright. What's to be preached? Repentance and what? Remission
of sins. Amen. Remission of sins. Look
now. In whom we have redemption through
his blood the forgiveness of sins. according to the riches
of his grace and Then you go over to Colossians
the first step that was Ephesians, but 1 4 1 14 something like that
You go over to Colossians 1 14 in whom we have redemption through
his blood Even the forgiveness of sins in all three of those
passages remission and forgiveness of the same word Same thing These
early apostles and these early disciples were proclaiming something. And they were proclaiming something
entirely new. Because that's what preaching
is, it's a proclamation. It doesn't concern us except
as sinners. It's a proclamation of what God
has done. And that's what we do. They were proclaiming something
that had never been heard before. And this new proclamation was
sent to the Ephesians and the Colossians, to both Jew and Gentile,
and it said to them, there is no longer, in God's purpose,
and in God's electing grace, there is no longer a middle wall
or partition. There is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek. God hath broken down the middle
wall or partition between us, and have made of the twain one
new man. They'd never heard that before
in their lives. Now you understand that God hath made of the twain,
God hath made of the twain one new creation. Now God created
a biological miracle when he made Israel. He took an old moon
worshiper out of Iraq whose name was Abram. He called him out
of the Ur of the Chaldees and brought him into a land that
God said, I will show thee. Yes, sir. Well, but you say they
ended up in Egypt. Uh-huh. But they also went to
a land which God did show them. Right. Yes, sir. Those that believed this word
that the Apostle Paul took to Ephesus and to Colossae, those
that believed this word came into personal possession of the
forgiveness of sins. Because they believed the message. Now this is a far cry from the
dead, formal legalism that we hear in the religion of this
world. Jay thought he got me when he asked me this morning
if I saw the church that had put in a coffee machine. It's more than
a coffee machine. It's one of those fuzzers, you
know, gag, gag, and that kind of thing. They put the whole
nine yards. And they said, we didn't do it
to make money. Ha, ha, ha. But a coffee machine. Now they
had everything else. They did the hand waving, you
know, and all of this. They had everything else. It
wasn't quite enough, so we put in a coffee machine. And then
preach a salvation that is by works. Now, you say, well, Earl, you're
always hard on these kind of folks. Yeah, because I say that
the truth is a far cry from this formal, this dead, formal, ritualistic
legalism that you see out all around us. Sure, these Ephesians and these
Colossians had been dead in trespasses and sins. Sure they had. They were children of wrath.
They were aliens and foreigners from the Commonwealth of Israel.
They were enemies by wicked works because they had bowed the knee
to idols. They'd lived in all kind of lewd,
immoral wickedness. and gross idolatry, they bowed
the knee to Diana, goddess of the Ephesians. But then they heard something. They heard a man preaching the
forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ. And what did
they say of these men? Paul and Barnabas at the time,
I think. They said, these men that have turned the world upside
down have now come unto us. Well, they hadn't turned the
world upside down, God had. They were preaching the forgiveness
of sins in the name of Christ. Was this preaching true or wasn't
it? I ask you that question. Those who are in this constant
mode of self-condemnation and self-doubt, was their preaching
true or wasn't it? Was it for these Jews and Gentiles
who lived in Ephesus and Colossae? Was it for them or wasn't it?
Does it mean anything? or does it mean nothing? In other words, is there nothing
sure? Is there nothing solid? Is there nothing certain? And
I say to you this morning, let God be true in every man a liar,
including myself. Now, I recently heard these words.
Well, I can't believe what you say because of what I see in
myself. I believe it because of what I see in the purpose
of God and the person of Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, these are
plain questions, and they deserve some plain answers. I'm getting
an email, quote, ministry, unquote, that is just about to bring me
to my knees with because it's taking far
too much time and far too much effort. I'm not talking about an eternal
salvation that has no place in time. You'll hear that preached. That you can be a child of God,
you can know that you're born again, but then there's this
other group who have eternal salvation through election and
predestination but they never know whether or not they're a
child of god at all till they get to heaven that's a poor place
to find out that's exactly right that's exactly right because
you're not going to make it they're preaching this but i'm
not talking about taking something for granted either yes sir now
try to concentrate on this, because it might seem of little importance.
But I'm not talking about just taking something for granted.
I'm talking about that which God has done through the person
and work of Jesus Christ, and has nothing at all to do with
your works or my works. I don't, and I never will. preach an inclusive or an eternal
salvation. Somebody gets the idea. Well,
I agree with Earl, therefore I'm a Christian. Humbug! I'm not talking about somebody
giving mental assent to something that I say. Right, exactly. I want it to be, and Walter said
it, it's got to enter the head before it can enter the heart.
I wanted something, though, to, oh, what was his name? Uncle Bud Robinson, who was a
free will holiness preacher, and he was tongue tied, he had
a lisp, and I'm not making fun of his lisp now at all, but he
said, when the train of salvation came in here, it didn't even
stop. It stopped here. That's a true
statement. That's a true statement. So I
don't preach an inclusive or a universal salvation, but I
do definitely, and Walter does also, preach a redemption, a
salvation that is eternal in its scope, but it's marked in
time. It's marked in time. Like I say,
just stay with me just a little bit. In so far as God is concerned,
There is neither a beginning or an end of anything. Because He dwells in eternity. So there's never, in God's eyes,
to the salvation of the elect, there's never a beginning or
never an end. They were chosen in Christ before the world was.
before there was anything, when the Holy Trinity dwelt alone.
Now don't go there because your mind won't take it. But this is true so far as our redemption
is concerned. But in so far as we are concerned,
from our viewpoint as creatures of the earth, as creatures of
dust that shall ultimately go back to dust, so far as we're
concerned, redemption, forgiveness is marked by a beginning in time,
but the redemption itself has no end. Now, I know you understand
what I'm saying, but somebody might say, well, what in the
world are you talking about? I'm talking about a time in my life
and in yours when there must come a day, there must come a
time, I'm using time expressions now, when there must come a time,
when there must come That hour in which we see Jesus
Christ as the Son of God, as God incarnate in the flesh, and
as our payment price for sin. I'm saying that's got to happen. That's got to happen. There is a time, and I said a time, when each
and every living child of God will say, my Jesus, as thou wilt. Oh, may my will be thine. Into
thy hand of love I would my all resign. Through sorrows or through
joy, conduct me as thine own. and help me still to say, my
Lord, thy will be done. That hour's got to come. Now you say, well, where do you
get that in the Bible? I get it from the experience and the
record and the example of untold thousands of others through the
ages that are past. They all testify to this truth.
And I can't dwell here very long. There was a time when the disciples
were called to Christ. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Peter, were down there mending
nets. And Christ came by. What did
he say? He said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
What does the book say? Straightway, they left their
nets and followed him. Had they been chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world? Yes. Yes, sir. Sure. Was there a place in time in
which Christ said, follow me, and they followed him? Yes. Yes,
sir. That's right. Yes. That's it. There was a time when an old
wicked Pharisee by the name of Saul of Tarsus stood and looked
upon the stoning of Stephen while he cried, I see Jesus standing
by the right hand of God. There was a time when that persecutor
fell under the hand of God on the road to Damascus and cried,
Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do? Was he chosen in Christ? Yes. Did he break in time? Yes. I'm saying there's a time
when this is going to happen. And if it doesn't happen, I with Paul to the Galatians stand
in doubt. There was a woman that sold purple
down along a riverbank, whose heart the Lord opened. There was an Ethiopian eunuch
riding in a chariot, who said to Philip, I believe and straightway
was baptized. I'm not talking about myths and
fairy tales. But of a happening in the lives
of every one of God's people. And let me tell you this, and
I'm not being aggressive in this, but I will tell you this. It
makes a change. Yes, it does. Yes, sir. Yes,
sir, it does. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. That's right. He'll never be
happy with the old one. Right. Not ever. Not ever. I
don't care where he finds himself. Right. I stood down on the corner
at the old National Bank, First National Bank in Beckley. Most
of you remember where it was. Bank of Raleigh, National Bank.
and the Raleigh County Bank, three corners, courthouse over
here. I stood in front of the National Bank one time and talked
to a fellow that was standing there. You know how we used to
do in West Virginia, we're gaining habits from these outlanders
that come in here now, but we used to stand up at the bank
corner with our foot against the concrete block wall, you
know, just stand there one-legged. That's what you see people doing
that all the time. I went around the corner and there was a man
I hadn't seen in church for weeks. I stopped and called him by name
and said, where have you been? He was beat up all over his face
and his eyes, scarred and bloody. I said, preacher, you know me.
I'm just an old drunk. Well, he had got on a high lonesome
and they found him in an alley down at Huntington. I buried that man. a few years later. And I was
at Mabscot, and maybe I've told you this story. And the ladies
were all there with their little hats pinned on top of their head,
you know, and their long-sleeved gloves up to their elbows. The
Rebecca's and the Order of the Eastern Star and all of the rest
were there, and they I know exactly why they were there. They were
there simply to wonder what this old preacher is going to say
about this dog. And to tell you the truth, I
didn't know. So I stood up. I don't mean this I business. This is not for my credit. This
is for God's glory. I stood up and I said, I know
why you're here. You're here to find out what
I'm going to say about so-and-so. So I'm going to start out saying
this, that the only difference between this man here in this
coffin and me is that you saw his sin and you can't see mine. And I talked to him about the
grace of God in salvation, that Jesus Christ saves sinners. So I'm saying there's a time
There's a time. We can't always, well I can get
in trouble here, we can't always control absolutely what we are. Now the Holy Spirit can, and
does, but I'm saying that the forgiveness of sins is a reality.
whether they're past sins, whether they're present sins, or whether
they're future sins, if you're in Christ and trusting Him, leaning
upon Him, claiming His promise, having Him act as your surety
before God, you're home. You're home. And rest in that. I said I wasn't talking about
myths and fairytales, but of a happening. It may have been
gradual. It may have been instantaneous. So far as you're concerned, but
it happened in time. What am I saying? I'm saying it may have taken
quite a while. With at least some of you here
this morning, I know that it did. Others I know that they can mark
the time. But what I'm saying is, it happened. You didn't know everything. Nor
you don't have many, if any, answers. May not still have any,
or many. But you knew something had taken
place. Well then, someone says, you're
preaching a crisis experience. Listen to me. Life and death
are always crisis experiences, and that's what I'm talking about.
Whether we're alive with Christ or dead in trespasses and sins. I'm talking to you about the
forgiveness of sins. To some of you, there is a time
of beginning. And of course, I'd like to see
everybody begin. Every journey has a beginning.
So let me ask you, have you heard the message of the forgiveness
of sins? I'm not done yet. The word of
God teaches that uncounted thousands and millions, subject to like
passions, like infirmities, like weaknesses, like failures like
ours, and sins such as mine or yours, were brought to know and
to experience and to rejoice in the full and complete forgiveness
of sins. Now, of course, if you don't
think you're a sinner, forget it. I'm not talking to you anyhow. You
don't have any idea of what I'm saying. For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God. And it was counted to him for
righteousness. Then Paul goes on to say in this
passage from Romans 4, Now to him that worketh is the reward
not reckoned of grace, but of debt. Let me tell you something,
our debt is too large. For in that when we were yet
enemies, Christ died for us, in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. But to him that worketh not,
emphasize it, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness, and that faith itself is the
gift of God. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man What man? Jesus Christ. That through this
man, I can almost hear Peter say it. That through this man
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that
believe are justified from all things. From which ye could not
be justified by the law of Moses or anybody else's law. or by
a church covenant, or by a formal religion, or by some priest sprinkling
water on your head when you were too young to know anything about
it and protested at the time, and that showed logic, but it
can't be. Could not be justified by any
other means. Then in Acts 10, 43, to him give
all the prophets witness, every one of them. that through his
name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission,
forgiveness of sins. Now, there is a false theology
that tells me that I can never know. And it's preached in Raleigh
County. That I can never be sure where
God's word tells me that it can. Read 1 John. These things are
written that ye may know that ye have eternal life. Read it. The Word of God tells me that
I can. Now who am I going to believe? If I can never be sure of full
forgiveness of the sins that are still present, That fills me with all kind of
gloom and misery and fear. But if I believe God's Word,
that gives me certainty that God Himself has spoken. False
theology put it all up to my works. They're all around us. Up to my works and me. The truth
of God gives me the firm foundation of the finished work of Christ. When Christ bowed his head on
the cross and said, it is finished, he was not talking about his
life. He was not even talking about his suffering. He was talking
about the redemption of all of God's people down through all
ages. It's finished. If I must stand before God today,
And if my dependence is based one scintilla on what I am or
what I have done, I'm lost. All hear it. I'm lost. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. I hold to that. Whether somebody
talks to me about Buddha, I don't care how long he's been chiseled
in that cliff over there. And so far as I'm concerned,
they can shell it out of existence anytime they want to. It's a
wretched, heathen idol. And I don't care how many people
go down into a river, a filthy river, to drink it and to bathe
in it and call their sins washed. I care nothing about that. I
care nothing about it. I don't care whether it's Buddha,
Shiva, Mohammed, Confucius, or any other. There is nothing that
will avail in any of these names. They're all dead. And my Christ
is alive. And they saw him go to heaven. And I saw the other night, I
click it off, I saw the other night a festival somewhere where
they were poking skewers through their jaws and through their
lips and around, hooking hooks in their flesh and pulling big
wagons of stone. All for freedom from sin. And let me tell you, the only
freedom from sin is in the person of Christ. Not through your suffering. Not through your self-denial. Right now, people will deny themselves
a candy bar, a bottle of beer, a drink of whiskey, because it's
Lent. Well, I grew up and the only
Lent I knew about was under the bed. Anyway. Anyway, you can't gain redemption
from the hand of God because you deny yourself a snicker bar.
Anybody on a diet does that. And this is what people are doing.
And there are a lot of people that will walk in before an altar,
or have, I'm sorry, have walked in. And some priest sticks his
thumb in some ashes and then he makes a mark on their forehead,
Ash Wednesday. And you got women and men walking
around with ashes scrubbed in their forehead. I get that when
I fix the fire. Exactly. It's nonsense. Well, you say,
Earl, you can't talk that way. Oh, yes, I can. Right, sir. Right. Because I'm going to tell the
truth about God and his word. And you say, well, nobody really
trusts that or believes that. Well, if they don't, why do they
do it? Yeah. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. Why do
they do it? standing water up to your hips
and with dead cows floating by, my stars, and calling it forgiveness
of sins. It's time to speak out. And when you've got practically
international mourning over a race car driver, don't you people
get mad at me now, who was killed doing what he wanted to do. It's
nonsense. It's nonsense. And I don't know how many letters
I got from religious people concerning what was his first name? Earnhardt. Yeah, I've gotten
letters saying how we ought to have a day of mourning in our
church. You see, We're engaged in idol
worship in this country. I'm as serious as God can make
me And it's in football. It's in basketball. It's on the
dance floor. It's in bistros. It's in nightclubs
It's the good time Charlie's all over and we face eternal
death Every moment of every day and God help us We see babies here and they've
got their lives to live. And this old man won't be here
when they grow up, if the Lord tarries. But I trust that God
will grant that they have a solid foundation for their feet. None of these things are God.
nor are any of them his Christ, nor in any way are they equal
to him. Hear what God says, God hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus, hear it, this is what God says,
given him a name which is above every name. He's above Buddha,
Mohammed, Shiva, Confucius, name any of the others. He's above any idle worship of
our minds today. That at the name of Jesus, every
knee should bow. Of things in heaven, and things
in earth, and things under the earth. And that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. Neither is there salvation in
any other. No salvation in any other. For
there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. None. Well, Earl, do you think
all of these people are going to hell? I make no eternal judgments,
but I'm telling you this, they're lost to God if they're not in
Christ. That's exactly right. That's it. The 70 million are
lost. The countless thousands that
I see in these idol festivals are lost because there's no salvation
in any other name. None. I said that Christ's finished
work has obtained forgiveness for us. To doubt that is to doubt
Him. It would be my joy and my happiness
to see all of you walk out of here this morning with a firm
conviction that it is possible for you to have a full and satisfying
peace with God right now in time. You're never satisfied with yourself.
You may never be satisfied with your circumstances. And I've
known a couple of people that never complain, but I'm not one
of them. I mean, I complain about my back. And somebody said, well,
you're supposed to be content in all circumstances. I don't
know what scripture says. No, it doesn't. No. No, it doesn't. I don't know how a man can be
content with a toothache. Exactly. But it's right now,
if any sinner has peace, why not you? Because we're all sinners.
Is Christ's work finished or isn't it? Is God's work true? Is God's word true? Then I'll
just simply trust his word as it's revealed. I'm pardoned,
justified, and accepted in the person of Jesus Christ, the beloved. And this is the glad tidings
of the gospel. Three statements. Paul in the
eighth chapter of Romans is talking about all things work together
for good. to them that love God and to
them that are called according to His purpose. Then he goes
on, for whom He foreknew, He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son. I don't care what you look like
now. You're going to be conformed to the image of Christ, if you
believe Him. And he goes on, moreover whom
he did predestinate them he also called. Then he asked some questions. I'll just call, just mention
them. What shall we then say to these
things, all these things that God has done? Right, yes sir. You see, it's not our doing.
Exactly. It's his doing. What shall we say then to these
things? All right, here's an answer. If God be for us, who
can be against us? Amen. That's it. Then he says, well, he goes on
to explain that. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Amen. Then he asks another question. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God to justify. Right, sir. Who's going to come along and
say, hey, you, I saw what you did. You're not a Christian. I heard what you said. Well,
maybe you hadn't ought to said it. Maybe you hadn't ought to did
it. But you did. And I'm telling you, it's under the
blood. It's gone. It's gone. Well, yes, if I confess, let
me tell you something, it's gone before you ever confess. It's
gone. It is God that justifieth. How does he do it? In Christ.
He hung on a tree. That's my surety. I mean, he
paid the bill. He took my note of everything
that I owed to God. Now, who is he that condemneth? You? You sorry thing. You're a condemned article in
itself. to the extent you're called corruptible. For Paul
said, Walter, I'm going to steal something. Paul said, when this
corruptible, he's talking about my body, my mind, my voice, my
doings, my not, he said, when this corruptible shall have put
on incorruption, then shall be brought to pass the saying that
death is swallowed up in victory. The only way you can win is to
die. That's right. Yeah. And you know something? I'm already dead. I've been crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live, I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. I trust the words of Jesus Christ, who said, He that
believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me," get the two words, live comes before belief. Whoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Now one of these days
you all here are going to put some ashes in the ground somewhere,
I don't know where, but make up your mind that it's not true. This corruptible has put on incorruption
and this mortal Hath put on immortality then is brought to pass the saying
are you interested in this? Do you have any concerns about
it at all? Then there should be a happening
right there should be a happening Well, what in the world do I
do? well The scripture says you believe on Christ The scripture
says you receive him The scripture says all of this. It says you
follow him. It says you love him. Why? We love him because he first
loved us in our unlovable state. And you know something else?
Of all of Walter and my talking about the Romans Road, and you know there's a tenor
in which we presented it, as these fundagelicals do, but let
me tell you something. You will confess with your mouth
the Lord Jesus Christ. You will believe in your heart
that God has raised him from the dead. And the scripture says
if a man does that, he's going to be saved. And you will do
it. You will do it. You'll not be
ashamed of it. Our Father, we're grateful this
morning for your blessing and for the ability to stand here
for these moments and try to glorify God in the person of
Jesus Christ through the proclamation of the gospel. May it take root
in our hearts, and may we each one be engaged in following you. For we pray it in Christ's name,
amen.