This is a little bit like heaven. A lot of praise going on up there
right now. How great is our God. And praise
ought to be going on in here too. Amen. Surely the Spirit
of God is in this place already. Thank you women of grace. A lot
of questions in the book of Job. Most of you know we're beginning
a series which may take several months on the doctrines of grace
on what we call the five points of grace or what we might simply
say is the gospel itself after the five points are preached
and delivered what you end up with is the gospel what you end
up with is simply this amazing grace how sweet the sound. Now, you may know something about
grace, but saving grace is amazing grace. And until you're at that
point where you can say, amazing grace that saved a wretch, that's
what makes it amazing. God didn't save good people.
He saved wretched, wretched folks like us. somewhat wrestling and I think
caught up in the wonder of God's amazing grace and in answering
his friends who were so critical of what had happened to him.
His friends who knew nothing about grace because they were
constantly saying, Job, you must have done something wrong. That's
why all of this mess happened to you. And the truth is Job
had done something wrong and so had his friends. You know,
if God gave us what we deserve, we'd all go to hell. You don't
want what you deserve, do you? You want the mercy and grace
of God. But Job knew his Redeemer. He
said, I know my Redeemer liveth and though the skin worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God for myself and not another.
But he also contemplated the wonder of salvation. Do you? I hope you do. What the doctrines
of grace do? They're not ugly. They're very
sweet. When you see them in the context of Scripture, they become
very sweet. They're not something to argue
about. They're not something to fight about. Actually, they
will cause a hallelujah to roll in your soul as you surrender
and lay the shotgun down and take no credit at all for your
salvation. You'll find both your hands in
the air saying, praise God from whom all blessings flow. There
will be a hallelujah, a deep down hallelujah in your soul.
thinking about God and man in the seventh chapter of the book
of Job, he asked this question, what is man that thou art mindful
of him? What is man, really and truly,
what is man that God would even think about? He's fallen, he's
wretched, he's blind, he's decrepit. And in his natural state, he
hates God. If you haven't been born again, it's true. You're
dead to God. You're inactive toward God. You
don't like God. You got a shotgun pointed at
God. And you're trying to rule the roost yourself, doing your
own thing. But Job had been converted and
Job knew something about the total depravity of man. Really
how sinful man is. Wow. And so, it brought this
question, why would you even think about us? Now, just to
make you very, very comfortable, I want you to think about the
thoughts that you have since you got up this morning. The
wickedness that you have run through your mind today. The
things you would have done if everybody were blind and deaf
and could not see. And I think if you're a Christian,
you will ask this too. What is man? Why would you even
think about me? And think about me in such a
positive and wonderful and determinate way. Isn't it amazing that you're
a Christian? Let me ask that one more time.
There was only three or four of you that are amazed that you're
being a Christian. Isn't it amazing that you're
a Christian? Let's just think about it. Job
said things like this, too. Seeing man as wicked and God's
thinking about him, but if a man die, will he live again? He asked
another question like this. The sun, the moon, and the stars
are not pure in God's sight. Man that is born of woman has
all these problems as the sparks fly upward. How can a man be
justified before God? What a great question that is.
How can a person be just before a holy and a righteous God? And
the gospel is the answer to that question. Listen now. God is just and justifier of
the ungodly. That's what Romans says. You
mean, Christian, you don't understand this? That you are just before
God because of God. Were it not for God, you would
not be just before God. I mean, you are completely justified
before God because of God. That's the doctrine of grace.
That's what the five points teach. That it is God who puts you in
the way, leads you along the way, and takes you all the way.
We know that all things work together for good to them that
love the Lord. to them who are the called according to His purpose.
For whom He did before love, He also did predestinate. And
whom He predestinated, them He also called. And whom He called,
them He also justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. Who shall be able to separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? First call. I got on my answering machine
this morning. was that one of our members had
gotten drunk and into pornography and there was a whole lot of
mess going on. How's a person like that going
to go to heaven? Anybody else in here been drunk since you've
been saved? Anybody in here committed adultery since you've been a
Christian? Looks like Yeshua messed up. Anybody get saved
and use crack after they got saved? Anybody a glutton? Anybody overeat since you've
been saved? What a mess we are. It must be,
if we make it to heaven, God's going to have to take us. That's
called grace. It takes just as much grace to
save you as it does to keep you. You know you're a wild thing.
And we got a lot of wild things in here. Now, what is the goal? Why pick up the five points?
Why, after 33 years of pastoring this church, am I going to take
the doctrines of grace again? Only it's going to be longer
this time. Maybe seven, eight months. Why,
after 33 years of constantly hammering this, would I take
it up again? Because it's true. And because
the bottom line is, it's the gospel itself. How do you explain
things like this? Before I formed you in your mother's
belly, I already loved you. Your name was written in the
Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the world. Yea,
I have loved you with an everlasting love and in tender kindness have
I drawn you to myself. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, according as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us." Oh, that's not an ugly word. You can say amen. Having predestinated
us. And we're bound to give thanks
to God for you We're going to thank God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God from the beginning has chosen
you to salvation. I don't like that. Oh, I love
that. Because if He hadn't chosen me,
I would have never chosen Him. I know my sheep, and I give unto
them eternal life. My sheep hear my voice. and I
know them, and I give unto them eternal life, and they, my sheep,
shall never perish. They follow me. So I hammer these
things. Well, first of all, if you're
a Christian, your first concern is very simply this, giving Him
glory. Let me make this really plain.
You may have never heard the doctrine of election or predestination,
but I guarantee you this, if God has saved you, Your desire
is to give Him glory. Whether you understand these
doctrines of grace or not, if God has put His Spirit in you
and made you a new creature, and you have the nature of God,
the new nature, which is without sin in you, your desire is to
give Him praise. And whether you eat or drink
or whatsoever you do, it's praise God. The central theme of the
Christian, the central theme of our life, is to worship God. It's to attribute worth and value
to God. We rejoice in God. Our chief
aim here at Grace Gospel Fellowship, and I'm going to tell you, I
guard this. I labor with this. And as an
elder and a shepherd, I'm ready to defend this. Our chief aim
here at Grace Gospel Fellowship is to teach men to worship God. Our chief aim is not to make
you feel better. Mankind, you are not the center
of the message here. The center of the message here
is not crack addiction and how to get over it. The center of
the message is the answer to addiction. It's Jesus Christ
the Lord. And let me tell you, the five
points, and some of you may not know what they are, total depravity,
unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace,
and perseverance of the saints, they totally shut the sinner
down. They totally take all the boast, all the brag, all the
pride, all the strut away from you. And we say it is God who
formed new lives. It is God who predestinated us. It is God who called us. It is
God who justified us. And it is God who will surely
glorify us. Since we're all addicts, let
me say that again. Since we're all addicts, and
we are, we make a big deal out the crack addict, but the crack
addict is no different than the suburbanite addict. No different
than the eat all the food in the refrigerator addict. Since
we're all addicts, listen, you ought to write this down. Addictions
are ultimately a disorder of worship. It's a disorder of worship. If you're an addict, you have
this disorder. It's the disorder of worship.
And the five points will set us straight with regard to worship.
In the five points, we will say, and you will hear, we are not
to worship crack, cocaine, or alcohol, or food, or workaholics. or whatever we're addicted to,
right? In the five points you will hear this, worship God.
Just praise God. You see, my friends, you and
I do not need disease treatment. I hear a lot about disease treatment.
You have a disease, all right, it's called S-I-N. The cause
of addiction does not lie in the body but in the soul. It
lies in the soul. The root goes deeper than our
genetic makeup. I hear this all the time. Well,
you know, it's just natural. He'd be an alcoholic. You know, his
dad was and his grandpa was, so he is. His granddaddy was
a sinner. That was his problem. Amen. And his granddaddy was sedating
the pain of life, whatever that pain was. And then Junior came
along and Junior got in a mess and he had to sedate. And then
Sissy came along and Sissy had to sedate. And it just goes on
and on and on. That's why you must be born again.
You're always going to be an addict unless God does something
for you. Not disease treatment. And so we return, first of all,
to the five points because theology does make a difference. I wonder
how many converted addicts in here now. I mean, you actually
came to the place where you saw you were power. How many of you
saw you were power? I mean, Really, your addiction
just kicked your butt. Excuse me for being plain. No,
don't excuse me. I want to be plain. It was just
kicking you around. And there was no hope of you
assisting you. You needed help from above. And
that is the miracle of the grace of God. When I would not and
could not come to him, hey, he came to me. He came to my hog pen. He came
to my loady bar. It's the inner fracture of our
lives. If we build it poorly, the building
will eventually collapse and ruin. You're headed for ruin. Your theology's off base. You're
worshiping yourself. Isn't that what drugs is all
about? Aren't addicts the most self-centered people in the world?
Life evolves all around you. You steal, you cheat, you sell
your kids, you fornicate. There is nothing that you will
not do because it's all about you. Doctrine or theology makes
a difference, it really does. I'll tell you, it makes this
much difference that the Apostle Paul said this, who makes you
to differ from another? How come you're different? How
come you're saved? How come you've been born again?
How come you're in the house of God? How come you're living
drug-free to a great degree now? Was it you? Was it something
you did? Was it AA meetings? Who maketh thee to differ from
another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if
thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou didst not
receive it? For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. My friend, if you're trusting
Christ, it's because God gave you faith. You can't boast in
your faith. It was the gift of God. Our liberation
comes through a person, not a system. Our liberation, our deliverance
comes from a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, not a system of
ideas and principles. You've got it all wrong if you
think that Grace Centers of Hope has this system set up over there
that's going to deliver you from drugs. It's Jesus Christ alone. And I've often said this, the
addict's great need is not more AA meetings, but a meeting up
with the SLJC. Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. Let's have an SLJC meeting. And I know, I was just on Facebook
not too long ago. Pastor Clark drives his Hummer
and puts down AA meetings. One thing I'm up on. It's Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior. And I'm not ashamed of that.
The psychotherapeutic revolution of the 1960s has just about ruined
us. Experts, they call themselves,
in mental health. You look at the state of this
nation. We are an insane country. Sixteen trillion dollars in debt. Shannon and Dave were just showing
me a picture that was in the principal's office in Adams High
School. about the freedom and the liberties in Adams High School
of the gay, lesbian kids in that high school. You want to know
what's wrong in this country? We've told God, get out of our
schools. Haven't we? Get out of our schools. Get out of our lives. The only
answer, the only answer for America is the gospel of God's grace.
We need a miracle in this country. The second reason we return to
the teaching of the five points, the first reason is to give God
glory and to worship Him, is that when we are finished with
the five points of grace, there's nothing left but the Gospel.
What you will see is just what I told you, that it is God who
saved the sinner. That from A to Z, salvation is
of the Lord. He's the Alpha and the Omega. He's the beginning and the end
of our salvation and everything in between. Don't break it up. You know, God has done all He
can and then He leaves it up to us. I don't want that. I just want to be very plain
with you. There is enough hypocrisy in this building this morning
among us Christians to send us all to hell. Were it not for
the grace of God. We've all messed up enough already
before we ever come to church. You've had the craziest thoughts
run through your head. Oh, you're not going to talk
about it. We go to church and act like things don't exist.
Your testimony is not much different from mine. We're not for grace
every single day. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Don't get your nose stuck up in the air. If it rains, you'll
drown. Remember this. You are what you are by the grace
of God because in your flesh dwells no good thing. There's
nothing good in your flesh. Am I right about it? Some of
you can shake your head and some of you are going, oh no, he knows.
He's been reading my mail. You know how I know? Because
I know me. And you're no different from me. You can't fool me with
all that religious mumbo-jumbo. Praise the Lord. We need to love each other, care
for one another, because we're all fragile vessels. Isn't that
right? I need your encouragement, not your criticism. Look, I'm
messed up. I need somebody to comfort me.
I need to hear the message of grace. I need to hear it. The gospel of grace does not
set forth man as the only one who moves and comes to Christ,
but actually Christ is moving and coming to man. And this is
so important that we see this. Because in 98% of the churches,
you will find the pastor pleading with the man to do something
for God. But the truth is, unless, while
I'm preaching, the Lord Jesus Christ walks the aisles of this
church building and comes where you are and does for you what
you cannot do for yourself, you will go your own way and do your
own thing. Wouldn't it be wonderful today
if Jesus walked the aisles today and came to someone here? Oh,
and when He comes, you'll never be the same again. And we won't
have to sing 29 stanzas just as I am to get people up front. You'll pop up out of, He saved
me. Wouldn't that be good? That we
didn't have to talk people into something. that they didn't have
to parrot a prayer, but the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit would
come right where they are and warn them again, and they would
confess Christ. We're a bunch of little panty-waist
Christians running around here trying to do warfare with demons. We need the power of God here.
Only the power of God can transform. The five points eliminates the
idea that Christ redeeming work was nothing more than making
it possible for us to save ourselves. Let me tell you, my friend, as
we go through the doctrines of grace, you're going to hear me
say over and over that Christ, when He died on the cross, He
actually accomplished something. He didn't just make it possible
for you to make up your mind. He redeemed somebody. The Word
redeemed. He said, It's finished. It's
accomplished. It's done. Jesus paid it off. All the debt I owe, that's good
news, isn't it? Because, listen, if he didn't
pay the debt way back then, and you're bankrupt, you don't have
anything to pay, then who's going to redeem you? And if he paid
it, there is no hell for you. Is that right? Well, somebody
said, Pastor, you know, I see what you're doing. You're trying
to shut me up. I can't do that. One or two things are going to
happen with you today as you hear the doctrines of grace.
You're either going to get mad or glad. You're either going
to say, I'm glad it's by grace, or you're going to say, wait
a minute, He left me out of the picture. I'm deliberately leaving you
out of the picture. You don't want to be in this
picture. God took out His big telescope, looked down through
time in Psalm 14, and He was looking for a good person. And
you know what? He couldn't find a one. He said, there is none
good in Psalm 14 and Romans 3. There is none good, no, not one.
Yeah, but God did everything at Calvary in Christ except this
one thing. Our faith. He took care of that
too. I've already quoted it. For by
grace are you saved through faith. Faith cometh. Faith cometh. Faith
cometh by hearing. Hearing what? Hearing the gospel.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Holy Spirit today granted somebody
faith? Because you're not going to believe
this. You see, what I preach is this. that a virgin conceived
without a man. That doesn't sound scientifically
possible. And that that baby was God, Emmanuel
in human flesh. It even gets more doubtful. He
grew up and never did commit sin, that he was the sinless
Lamb of God. That He went on the cross and
died as a substitute in the sinner's room, stead and place. And that
all of the elect sins were put on Christ. He said it's finished
and done. He went down into the grave and
got up on the third day. Isn't that ridiculous? It is
to the natural mind. You're not going to believe that.
It's against Everything that you are by nature. He ascended
back into heaven. He sits there making intercession.
Do you know every Christian has a lawyer? And my friends, every
Christian needs a lawyer. And not just any lawyer, because
you got things you can't defend. Because you are guilty of the
very things the accuser accuses you of. Satan says, oh, I was
there with her. I was there with him. We both
went in the crack house. We both sinned. I was there supporting
Him. You guilty. But then God Himself
came down here to deliver you. Not to spy out your sins, but
to deliver you from your sins. God did that. You wonder why
we jump and shout in here when we hear the grace of God? It's
because we think about this. Why am I that you should even
consider me? Any southern people here? Anybody
from the south? All of you know what tumble bugs
are? Tumble bugs are bugs that get in manure piles and they
make a round ball and they roll them all day long. That's all
they do. That's what we are, folks. Tumble
bugs down here. Separate and apart from the grace
of God. Anything good comes out of you, God put it in you. You
don't have anything to strut about, anything to boast about,
anything to glory about. That's what the five points say.
That's what the Bible says. The five points eliminates the
idea that Christ's redeeming work was nothing more than making
it possible. He didn't write you a prescription
for you to fill. He filled the prescription. He
paid him. And he said, it's finished. And
on the third day, God said, it is finished. Come up hither.
So I make your enemies your footstool. And one day, every knee shall
bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. I'm
going to tell you something else too. The gospel of grace. shames
this new gospel that speaks of God's love as if it were no more
than a general willingness to receive any who will turn and
trust Him. Kind of a general granddaddy, Santa Claus kind
of love. You know, I said this in the
first service, I'll explain it this way. If I go up and I hold
Ms. Pan's hands and I go, I want
to tell you something wonderful. It is so marvelous. You're really
going to like this. I love all women. I love all women just like I
love you. I know what she's going to do.
First of all, she's going to slap my face. You need to know God loves you. I don't know why God loves you. I mean, I'm trying to figure
it out. That's what grace will cause you to do. It will cause
you to get in a state of wonder. See, some church folks believe
they've got to have an answer to everything. Sometimes Chris
on morning radio will ask me a question and I go, I don't
know. I don't know all the answers.
And one of them is, I don't know why God loved me, except He does.
And I haven't got over it. I just can't get over it. In
fact, I was thinking about it this morning while I was having
all of those other thoughts that I shouldn't have been having
about, why would you even look my way? I'm going to go, I'm
the preacher. Come on now, don't leave me out
here by myself. Don't act like you didn't have
some thoughts this morning. Don't act like I'm all, no, you're
not going there. I already know about you. We're
all in the same boat here. And by the way, if you wasn't
a mess, you wouldn't be here this morning in this shirt. Oh,
yeah. The very fact you're here, you're
in trouble. You are one messed up person
because you attend Grace Gospel Fellowship. Only messed up people
come here. Those that aren't messed up,
they only come once and then they never come back. You know, the doctrines of grace
says this, the death of Christ, the redemptive
work of Christ on the cross was a sure work. It was a sure thing. Do you, anywhere in your brain
cells, can imagine that God would leave the work of redemption
in finality up to your decision? Do you think God trusts you? Do you think God would count
on you? I'm asking you, do you think God
would count on you? Do you think that somewhere here
today, in the depravity of man, there's somebody who has a little
flicker of goodness? And if pastor will just puff
enough, That that person is going to
make a decision for Christ. No. The only time you decide
for Christ is because He's already decided for you. Give Him glory! I know some probably are sitting
in here and thinking, you know, it does kind of cause my soul
to rejoice as you're preaching, Pastor, but What about my kids? Will God be right? My dad, when he prayed for me,
and we were both down on our knees and he was praying for
me, and he prayed for me three or four times, but the last thing
he said was this. He would ask me every time he
prayed, did you trust Christ, son? I said, Dad, I'm trying. I was crying. He said, Dad, I'm
trying. He'd say, quit crying and trust.
Because if you try and succeed, then you get the praise. You
quit trying and you trust. You believe God. You don't believe
in God, you believe God. God said, trust me. Will God
do right? Can you trust your children's
salvation with God? Quite honestly, I'll tell you
how I pray. And many times, I can remember
a few times, I remember one time especially in praying for Shannon
and Amber. Miss Pam and I were both so burdened
for them. I remember flinging ourselves,
you know, on the floor and just crying and asking God. And the peace came in this, Lord,
I'm going to keep asking you, but I know you'll do right. And
you know, my two girls didn't deserve to go to heaven because
they came out Pam and I. And you know what we are? Sinners.
So Shannon and Amber were born sinners. Is that right? Did they
deserve to go to hell? Absolutely. Well, how come they're
Christians today? Because God saved them. God didn't have to save them
because I'm, you know, working for a rescue mission. God didn't
owe me. Well, I don't know about that
now Pastor. You're getting it too tight now.
You're getting it too tight now. Where I want to get it is this.
This God of the Bible is such a good God. You ever thought
about this? He could have damned the whole
shooting match. Jacob have I loved and Esau have
I hated. Wait a minute now! That's not
my God. Well, you're going to have to
talk with the Apostle Paul when you get to heaven because Paul
wrote that under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. God doesn't
hate. God doesn't. I'll tell you one
thing, God hates his sin. I'll tell you how much he hates
sin. He put his son on the cross. Took out his black snake whip
of justice and punished his son in the elect's dead room and
place. And by his stripes were healed.
That's how much God hates sin. God dealt with his own son. You know one of the most marvelous
things about the five points is the last one, which is perseverance
of the saints. Most of us in here who are Christians
are like the guy who quit smoking. You ever had people smoke a cigarette
like that? I quit six times. Well, what's
the matter? Have you quit? How many times
have you quit as a Christian? I can't tell you how many times
church people have hurt me and I, that's it. Give me one good reason why I
should go to church today, I'll say to Miss Bambi. Because you're
the pastor. You ever get your feelings hurt?
I quit. I don't know whether there's
anything to it or not. Or somebody relapses. It's like this. Oh,
it doesn't work. It doesn't work. You could get messed up around
here a lot. What if it were up to you to
keep yourself steady? Why, you were going to lose five
pounds by February 4th. Instead, you gained five. You can't even keep a New Year's
resolution. How many of you said, I'll never
do it again? And the same day. All of us addicts ought to be
glad that it's God who keeps us. Listen, let me tell you this.
Some of you won't know this term. But we're all chippers. We all realize it. It won't hurt
me just a little bit. Just a little bit won't hurt
me. Somebody told me this week, you know, I'm an alcoholic. I
think I can handle two beers. I said, you're a fool. You can't handle nothing. Am
I right? Who is it that keeps you? Oh,
it's God's grace. It takes as much grace to keep
you as it did to save you. Did you know that? Maybe sometimes
I think it takes more power. Aren't you glad we got a generator
in us? The Holy Spirit of God who keeps us keeping on. I'll
tell you this, if you're around people very long, somebody's
going to hurt you. There's a lot of hurt goes on
in the church. Did you know that? And if you're
looking to be stroked, they're going to stroke you all right.
You're going to get stroked. Aren't you glad God sees though?
I'm so glad God works in us both to will and to do. And I'm going to tell you this,
the older I get, the more I see it has to be a grace. I'm looking
now, I have a lot of thoughts about the past. You know, a lot
of my brain cells are, you know, moving backwards. I mean, they're
thinking about, all my mess-ups, all my silliness, all my craziness. And I have to say it's grace
that's brought me safe thus far. And it's grace that will take
me home. I have to rely on that. I rely on that. I'm probably
more alert and fearful of me than I've ever been in my life.
I look back now and I say, you know what? That was childish.
That was so childish. That was just absolutely crazy. I look at raising Shannon and
Amber. I look at my love to Miss Pam. I just look at my love for
the three churches I've pastored. I see so much, just so much mess. It has to be by grace. I look
at where we are now. I'll tell you, I've never been
more fearful in a reverential way. In the sense of, you know,
This thing is big. This thing is big. What's going
on here? It's big, big. What if God took his hand off me and
I ran off with someone? Oakland Press. Y'all better pray for me. I said, well, pastor, what are
you saying? I'm saying I'm a wild thing. Separate and apart from
the grace of God. I'm saying I'm in the same boat
you're in. I'm saying the church is filled
with hypocrisy and not dealing with a lot of issues. Some real religious person said
to me about Fornone. You know, that Fornone book,
you know, said this to another person who they knew would tell
me. That Pornom book he wrote, you know that girl couldn't go
to heaven. She had abortions. She was cheating on her husband.
She was fornicating. She was committing adultery.
You know somebody like that. I wonder if we have anybody in
this congregation who's had an abortion. Don't raise your hand. I wonder
if there's anybody here, maybe had several abortions. I could really kill you. And
I'll tell you what, if we can't talk about abortion here and
how God will forgive that, a lot of the ladies here have had abortion.
A lot of you guys supported it, paid for it. You were the problem. Anybody here commit adultery?
Don't raise your hand. Anybody have any pornography
problems here? You're a Christian, but you have
pornography problems? Every man in here! But the church acts like I'm
saved and sanctified. Until I get on my own personal
computer. Oh yeah. See, religion's one thing. Christianity's
something else. And the grace of God, let me
tell you this. The grace of God will not make you haughty. The
grace of God will cause you to be gracious. You know, there's
somebody in here hurting today. A lot of us who've been saved
by grace ought to be able to put our arms around them and
say, God did it for me, he'll do it for you. He's a bigger
savior than you are a sinner. What I want for this church is,
I want the adulterous woman. I want the woman here who has
had several abortions to be able to say, praise God from whom
all blessings flow. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. I want that man who's totally lost his manhood and
his life out there in this world to be able to sing amazing grace,
how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I want this
place to be a place of glory. I'm going to let you go with
this. What is man? that thou art mindful of him."
Real quick, he's a massive depravity. Man is enmity against God. You
know, that's an interesting verse. Man is enmity against God. It
doesn't say man is an enemy of God. It says man is enmity itself,
totally and completely enmity. That means man In his basic nature,
hates God. Has the shotgun pointed at God
and say, you will not rule over me. Oh, he'll get religion. He'll
get baptized. He'll come to the front. He'll
make the decision. He'll step over the line as long
as you give him something to do. But you say it's all of grace? In my flesh dwells no good thing.
Some of you tried to reform your flesh. You might as well quit.
Your flesh no good. You got to kill it. It needs
dying. Crucifying. We're wandering sheep,
the Bible says. And that's what we're going to
talk about next Sunday, about depravity. Man is a dead dog, the Scripture
says. Man is an abominable thing, a
filthy thing, the Bible says. The Bible says man is a loathsome
thing. The Bible says man is like a
bloody baby in an open field whose navel has not been cut.
He's a dry, parched bone in the valley of disconnect, the Bible
says. Disconnected. Anybody have any
problem with relationships? Now we're getting nervous here. Walking down sin's pathway, taking
the worldly course. The poison of snakes is under
our lips. We're warmongers. The way of
peace we don't know. The way of peace we don't know. Most people are troublemakers. We shouldn't be troublemakers.
We Christians are supposed to edify and build one another up
and help people. Is that right? Because we know
God's been gracious to us. He's shown us mercy, so we're
merciful. You're a Christian, you're not
judging somebody else. You're telling them the old story
of the goodness of God and the grace of God. You're giving Him
glory and praise. You're pointing men to Jesus
Christ. I may have confused you to some degree, but I want you
to listen to me for just a second. Say, well, Pastor, you know,
I don't know anything about five points, or one point, or two
points. But I know a lot of stuff you
said about our being sinners. And you know, I don't think I've
ever heard a preacher identify himself with his own congregation. I'm a crack addict. I'm a heroin
addict. I'm filled with lust and mess and... I mean, God... God could think
about me?" You know, the very fact that
you are asking those questions is proof that God is thinking
about you. Because you would never think
that way were not God doing something with you. You say, well, Father,
I want to be saved. You think He would help me? He wants it more than you want it.
Because He put the want in you to want conversion. That's right. Do you think the
Lord would come to me, you know, Esther? Do you think He'd go
out of His way? Well, I know in the Bible there
was a woman who was living in adultery. And He said to His
disciples, I must need to go through Samaria. I've got to
go through Samaria because I have an appointment there with a woman
at the well. She's living with a man now who's
not her husband. She's living in adultery. She's
the town whore. And here she comes to the well.
Jesus says to her, can you give me some water? She said, you
asking a person like me? You being a Jew? You would ask
me, a Samaritan? Wow! What is this? And then Jesus
goes like this. I got some water I'll give you.
You'll never thirst again. Wow. Wow. Are you the Samaritan woman?
There's another woman in the Bible nipping at the Lord's heels
like this. Have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Thou Son of David, have mercy
on me. And the disciples said to Jesus,
Send her away. She's worrying us to death. She's
getting on our self-righteous nerves. Jesus turned to her and he goes
like this. You asking me to give bread to a dead dog like you? That's what he called her. You
know what she said? But the puppies get the crumbs
that fall from the master's table. Just give me a crumb. Jesus said, I've never seen such
faith. When I tell you you're a sinner
and you say, yes, I'm just asking for a crumb. The Lord will never
turn you down on that. If I could just find a sinner
this morning, somebody who needs grace, somebody who's unworthy,
somebody who's lost, I got some good news for you. Christ died
for you. Christ died for sinners. You
good people, you'll have to go on to hell. Christ died for sinners. Right where you are, trust Him.