I titled the message this morning,
A Message from God. I hope I know how easy it is
for a man to be overcome by his old nature and
sometimes his mind be blinded to those things that he really
wants. But I hope it's so in my heart
this morning that I don't want anything else for you except
a message from God. If it's not, it's not going to be of any lasting
value to you or to me. If it's not, it may be that God
is totally ignoring you, as we so often do Him. If it's not, if it's not God's
message, then my study and my presence here and my sermon are
just a waste of time. We're just gathered in here for
nothing. But I believe it is from God
and it is to everyone who's here today. And I hope as I speak
this morning that you will understand that I'm speaking to you. Somebody
told me one time that, Preacher, you're just preaching to me this
morning. Well, I hope so. I hope so. I hope I'm preaching to everybody
seated in this place today. And my hope this morning, God
willing, is to speak to your heart. I'm wary of speaking to
men's heads. But it's necessary because the
head is the door to the heart. And I'll reach his heart until
you reach his head. That's the way in. That's the
way in. But I don't want to preach to
heads only. Paul did that at Mars Hill. He
did that at Mars Hill. Those people, it said, gathered
to do nothing except to hear or to say some new thing. That's
what they wanted. Their whole reason for gathering
in that place was to either tell or hear some new thing. And they said, let's let Paul
speak and see what that babbler has to say. And Paul got up and
brought them a message from God. And when they heard it, they
said, we might hear you again. We'll call you. Don't call us.
We'll call you. We'll hear you again. I bet some
of them heard. Some of them heard. Paul preached to those Athenians
and strangers, men who had no heart for the gospel. And men who had no heart for
the gospel sometimes get an appetite for the unexplainable facts. Boy, they get into these things,
and I wonder sometimes when I'm talking to somebody on the phone
and they're asking me all these questions, if they even know
anything at all about the subject they're asking me about. But what I want to do here this
morning by the power of God's Spirit is to enter at the mind
but to be able to pass on through to the heart. That these truths
would go past your ears and sink into the heart. And then secondly,
I want to bring things to you that are necessary truths. I
don't want to spend my time talking about things that when it's all
said and done, they didn't matter anyway. Let somebody else do that. I want to talk about the vital,
vital points, necessary points of the gospel. I'll leave all
the fine points to the theologians. But I want to talk about these
fundamental truths of the gospel. And these things, I believe,
are the gospel seed that Peter talked about over in 1 Peter
1, 23 through 25. These are the gospel seed which,
when sowed in the power of God's Spirit, produce new creatures
in Christ. So what does a man preach when
he brings to men a message from God? What does he say? What does he say? Well, as God's
ambassador, I feel compelled to preach three things in every
message that I'm permitted to preach. I may have a different
subject at the beginning or a different title, or I may be trying to
emphasize one certain thing, but I don't want to ever preach
and not bring these three things before my hearing. Three things
of which my generation is totally ignorant of and refuse to believe
even when you read it to them out of the Holy Scriptures. They'll
say, oh, that's that old King James Bible. Well, you mean nobody
was saved until the 1800s? What about all these great reformers?
We love to put their names on our church, Lutheran, We want
to put their names out here on the church. We want to honor
those dead prophets. But if we lived in their day,
we would have despised them. My generation totally ignores
these things. And even when you point it out
to them in the holy scriptures, they'll find some reason to not
believe it. So what are these fundamental
truths? Well, I believe they're all stated right here. Paul is
writing, he said, as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach
to you that aren't wrong. He said for the preaching, this
is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believe it,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And now he begins
here in Romans chapter 3 to really bring the gospel out to the Romans. He's laid the foundation for
it. talked about the ungodly nations and the nation of Israel,
and he set preference for it, and now he begins to lay things
down for the gospel. So what are these fundamental
truths? Well, the first thing is this, that mankind is in big
trouble being under the judgment of God. This is what they're
talking about, well, you know, you've got your gods and we've
got our gods, and you've got your nation, and we've got ours,
and you've got your belief, and we've got ours, and you've got
your interpretation, and we've got ours. Isn't that what you
hear today when you talk to people? That's your interpretation. We
don't believe like that. When Paul begins his message
to the Romans in Romans 3 verse 9, telling them that both Jews
and Gentiles are all under sin. We're in trouble. We're in trouble. We woke up this morning. Is that
the first thing that comes to your mind this morning? We're
in trouble? No. No. First thing on our mind is
what we're going to put in our mouth. What are we going to eat?
What's for breakfast? Probably the last thing was church,
worship, prayer. We're in trouble. Mankind's in
trouble. I'm talking about everybody.
I'm not talking about the old folks who done lived out their
life and sold all their wild oats and all that kind of stuff.
I'm talking about everybody. I'm talking about children. I'm
talking about adults. This is where the gospel begins
with this statement, man's in trouble. Big trouble. He's in big trouble. Paul said,
I have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, they're all under
sin. Now if you're under sin, you're
under the judgment of God. He don't tolerate sin. The soul
that sinneth shall surely die. And being a Jew carried a great
advantage because under them are committed the oracles of
God, the word of God, the prophets, the apostles. But even having
a great advantage did not make them any better, for they were
all under sin. You young girls, some of you
in here, and young boys that are here this morning, your parents
have brought you here since you were little. They brought you
here since you was little. And you got a great advantage
over some of your classmates and friends. They've been bringing
you here and you've been listening to the gospel of God's free grace
in Christ. But like the Jews, you know better. You know better because you're
all under sin. Something has to happen for a man to be reconciled to
God. He has to hear, not just with
these ears, but he has to hear in his heart. God has to quicken him. He's
dead in trespasses and sins. What does that mean? It means he's in trouble. It
means, first of all, that because of the fall of Adam in the garden,
we're all born with a sinful nature. Our nature, our very
nature is sin. If you didn't have a sinful nature,
now listen to me, I'm gonna give you some plain facts. You'd never
be angry, would you? Huh? You'd never get upset. Boy,
how much does it take to get you upset? Not much, does it? Somebody says something a little
off color, a little out of the way, boy, I'm ready, come on.
Come on, let's go. You'd never get angry if you
didn't have a sinful nature. You tell a lie. Well, you say
it's just a little lie. It wasn't a hurtful one. You'd
never lie at all, except you've got a sinful nature. You see, we don't sin, but we're kind of in this vacuum
of goodness, but every now and then we're tempted to do this
and to do that. No, that's not how it is. You're
born in sin. That's your nature. Take some
little kids. These little kids don't know
anything about right and wrong. They're little kids. And you
take them back here, and you put them in a room all together,
and it's full of toys. And you say, just go in there
and get anything you want. But now listen. Listen. Everybody
listen. Don't go in that door right there. Don't go. Now stand
back and watch and see where everybody goes to the door. Why
is that? Because we're sinners. David said, we come forth from
the womb. Now listen, speaking lies. When
does a man go astray? When he reaches the age of 13,
14, 15, whatever that age that religion says is the age of accountability. Is that? No. We go astray, David
said, the psalmist, as soon as we be born. We have a sinful nature. And
I want you to see this here in the Word of God, beginning here
in Romans 3, verse 10. Paul said, as it is written,
written many hundreds of years ago. Who wrote it? Isaiah. As it is written, there's none
righteous, no, not one. None righteous. Not in Mexico, not in Canada, not in the islands,
not in England, not in the United States, not in all the earth.
There's none by his own power and ability that's ever reached
a place where God considered him to be righteous by something
he said or done. And then he goes on, verse 11,
here's some more of that sinful nature. He said, there's none
that understandeth. He reads, but he don't understand. There's
none that seeketh after God. If he understood, he'd seek after
God, but there's none that understandeth. Men read the Bible, and some
even teach the Bible, but there's none that understandeth. Paul
said they desire to be teachers of the law, understanding neither
what they say or whereof they affirm. There's no understanding. They're ever learning, never
able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And what do they seek? They're
seeking something. What do they seek? Well, they
seek a reputation. That's what they really want
is a reputation. They love the greetings in the
marketplace. Rabbi. Reverend. They seek the chief seats in
the synagogue. They want the ushers to come
back and get them and say, you got a seat reserved for you right
up here. Deacon's row. They seek self-glory. But there's none, are you listening,
that seeketh after God. There's none. They're not interested
in God's purpose, God's sheep, God's ministry, God's counsel,
or God's gospel. There's none that seeketh after
God. Now listen to this. Verse 12,
Romans chapter three, verse 12. We're talking about the nature
of sin. This is how we're all born with the nature of sin and
this is describing that nature. They're all gone out of the way.
Now I've never met even a drunk in
the bar. I've never met a man who didn't
have a way. This is how I think it is and
he'll start telling you. They're all gone out of the way.
The way of Christ, the way of grace, the way of the word of
God, the way of peace, the way of the gospel, the way of grace,
they're all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There's no profit in them. This whole religious world and
irreligious as far as that's concerned, believes that all
men have some kind of intrinsic value to them before God. Do you know in the Old Testament
that God said he looked down on men and they were nothing
but grasshoppers? Isn't that what he said? All
inhabited, these islands, they had nothing before him, nothing. And all the inhabitants of the
world are as grasshoppers before we. Anybody trip and hurt themself
trying to keep stepping on a grasshopper? No. They together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. Boy, if ever there was a good
woman, there wasn't. If ever there was a good man,
it was him. No, there wasn't any good man.
There's none good. That rich young ruler came up
to our Lord and he said, good master. All religions have their
little sayings, don't they? Good brother. How many times
do you have? He said, good master. He said, well, why are you calling
me good? There's none good but God. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
If you were able, if you were able, if you had the spiritual
vision, you could look through that open mouth and it'd be like
a casket with the door up. That's what he's saying here.
It's an open grave. An open grave. Nothing in there
but dead men's bones, full of corruption. With their tongues,
he said, they've used deceit. The poison of asp. An old world
poisonous viper is what that is. The poison of asp is under
their lips. Verse 14, his mouth is full of
cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in
their way. You know what you have to do,
what God has to do in order to send a man to hell? Leave him
alone. You'll self-destruct. Is that
right? Because destruction and misery are in his ways. You don't
have to do anything to him. Just turn him loose. Isn't that
what he told his disciples concerning those men? Leave them alone. Leave them alone. They'd be blind
leaders of the blind. If the blind lead the blind,
they're both going to fall into debt. He don't have to do anything
to them. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, the way of peace they've not known. And perhaps the worst of all
is this, there is no fear of God before their eyes. You know, the believer is compelling
a man, an unbeliever, and he's sitting down, maybe it's his
aunt or his uncle or grandpa or father, son, or wherever it
is, and it might just be a neighbor, and he's sitting there and he's
talking to this man about the things of God, and on his behalf,
he understands who God is, he's God. Fear not man that can destroy
the body. God can destroy both soul and
body in hell for eternity. And on your part, there's a fear
of God. You know what's coming for this man if he doesn't believe. You know what's coming. But on his part, there's no fear
of God. you talk about hailed as far
as you can talk about anything you want to talk about that no
fear of god before their act this is the nature of every son
of adam born into this world our lord said this is the condemnation
now listen to this you say well I don't feel condemned of God.
I don't believe I'm condemned of God. I don't believe I was
born with a sinful nature. Listen to this. Our Lord said,
this is the condemnation. Light came into the world and
men love darkness rather than light. You say, Preacher, I don't believe
you. I don't blame you. If you're just looking at me
and you want to research me and say, well, you know, he's not
a, I guess, what you call an educated man. He doesn't have
this and he doesn't have that. You've got good reason. But there
wasn't any reason for not believing Christ. And there was nobody. Nobody. This is the condemnation. Light
came into the world. Men love darkness rather than
light. Everything he said was perfectly in sync with this book.
Everything he did was perfectly in sync with the nature of God.
He didn't know, which of you convinces me of sin? Isn't that
what he told him? You can't convince me of sin,
I never sinned. And that's what it is. A person
comes in and they listen to you and you're preaching the gospel
to them and the Holy Spirit, he's empowering that gospel and
there you sit and you're hearing these things, but here's the
condemnation. Light came to you and you love
darkness rather than light. You'll go back to your religion.
You'll go back to your false profession. You'll go back to
that old experience. You'll go back to your darkness
because that's where you're comfortable. Man has a fallen nature. He's
in trouble. He's not going to stumble on
to the truth. Only way he's going to hear the
truth is for God to send it to him. And then when he sends it
to him, he's going to have to enable him to hear it. Isn't
that something? Man's in trouble. It's foolishness. So depraved is a natural man
that he will not receive the things of the Spirit of God,
believing them to be foolishness. Dancing around the room, speaking
some kind of unknown gibberish, not foolishness to him. All Israel, Moses went up on
the mountain to meet with God and bring down his holy law,
and when Moses came down, the people were dancing naked before
a golden calf. And they didn't think it was
foolish. There wasn't one of them out there that thought it
was foolish. They thought they were doing right. Playing mental games with the
Word of God, it's not foolishness to them, but salvation by grace
is. Resting his soul on some superstitious
experience is not foolishness to him, but resting his soul
on the sovereign Christ is. Go figure. To them that are perishing,
the gospel is foolishness. His mind is hostility. It's enmity against God. I'm
telling you, man's in trouble. He has a fallen nature, and that
fallen nature's left him with a mind that's hostile toward
God. It's left him in ignorance and
weakness and inability. He's totally depraved. All he
wants to do is sin. That's all he wants to do. And he not only has a nature,
fallen and depraved, but he also has a debt he can't pay. What if the Holy Spirit came
this morning? Let's just leave the sacrifice
of Christ out of the whole thing. I'm just talking to you. What
if the Holy Spirit came this morning and gave you a new nature
and you'd never sin again before God? He'd still send you to hell,
because your past sins have to be paid for. That's what I'm
talking about. I'm talking about a debt that
you can't pay. You owe a debt that you can't
pay. You've been sinning since you
crawled out of the womb. I can't even fathom what that
debt is. And there's only one payment
acceptable to God for sin, and that is the suffering and death
of his son. Eternal damnation will not pay
one iota for any sin. If he could, it wouldn't be eternal
hell, would it? There'd be some point in there
where your sins were paid for, and that's what the Catholics
believe. They believe you pay your way, you go into purgatory
and you work your way out, or somebody pays your way out. Eternity in hell will not pay
your debt to God. That's why hell's everlasting,
and that's why the torment of the sinner is forever and ever.
God demands infinite satisfaction, and the God-man's death on the
cross is the only thing that ever satisfied God for sin. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying it's not difficult for a sinner to be saved, it's
impossible. It's impossible. But with God,
all things are possible. Man's in trouble by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. In Adam,
all die. Well, he's gone to get his reward.
He sure has. He sure has. If he died without
Christ, he's going to get it. Man has a nature of sin, he has
a debt he cannot pay, and then he lives in a world dominated
by the prince of the power of the air, filled with nothing
but antichrist religion. There's a church on every corner
telling you this is the way, this is the way. Peace, peace,
where there is no peace. He and his demon spirits are
called in the scriptures the power of darkness. Paul said in Ephesians 6, 12,
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities
and against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. You get a chance to tell somebody
the gospel. Before the week's up, they'll
hear a hundred false gospels. Satan deceives men and women
through Antichrist religion. And any religion that does not
begin and end with the grace of God is Antichrist. Write it
down, it's Antichrist. I don't care what they do or
what they say. Any religion that does not wholly
depend on the person and work of Christ is Antichrist. Through this man, Paul said,
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him, all that
believe are justified from all things from which you could not
be justified by the law of Moses. And any religion that does not
plainly declare the representative righteousness of Christ as a
saint's only righteousness is antichrist. Well, you mean we can't walk
and be righteous? That's exactly what I'm telling
you. You can't do it. We walk by faith. By faith in Christ who is our
righteousness. And this anti-Christ religion
is a great beast, unseen, unaccounted for by natural man who's deceived
and given a false hope and a refuge of lies. And there he hides in
that refuge. You can't dig him out. It takes the power of God to
tear down his refuge and expose his hiding place. I'm saying that men and women
are in trouble. They're among men, children of
wrath, even as others. Preacher tells you the truth,
you go home, mom puts her arm around you and says, you'll be
alright, honey. No, you ain't gonna be alright.
You're not gonna be alright until God intervenes in your life through
the gospel and saves your soul. And I must at all costs sound
a warning to all who will hear me, man is under the judgment
of God. He's not waiting for the judgment,
he's under the judgment right now. And I'm gonna tell you this,
religion is contrary to Christ, is an abomination to God. And
one day it'll be laid to their charge. And though this world looks at
me sometimes like I'm a madman, I must send a warning to all
who are hearing me. You're in trouble. Big trouble. Soul-destroying trouble. And
then the second thing. That's the first thing. I got
to tell them, men, they're in trouble. I know you don't want
to hear that. That's the last thing in the
world I want to hear. But I'm glad I heard it. Until you do,
you'll never see God. Long as you think there's something
out there you can do, something coming down the road, some opportunity,
some decision, some free will something, long as you think
there's something out there for you, you're not gonna do anything. I like what the old evangelist
used to say, he said, until God brings you to the end of yourself.
That's right, that's where you gotta go. and then secondly i must tell
them the truth about god is he turned out god has no beginning
where god come from had no beginning god's immutability god never
changes never had not uh... or ever will he never changed
he's not going to change god is immutable god is sovereign
What's that mean? That means he does anything he
wants to do, and there's nothing you can do about it. He's sovereign. God is God, and as God, his word
is not to be questioned. Listen to this. Paul quoted the
word of God to these men, and he said, but you're gonna say
unto me, if God does everything he wants to, why does he yet
find fault? Here's how Paul answered that
accusation. Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replies against God? Huh? You're just a pot on the wheel.
He's the potter. Shall the thing made say unto
him that made him, why do you make me this way? His word not to be questioned,
his word not to be bandied about as though it were shrouded in
some mysterious fog. I'm tired of men saying, I just
don't understand election. Yeah, you do. Three-year-old kid can understand
election. God chose out of all of mankind,
God chose a number to save for the glory of his name. That's
not hard to understand. What makes it difficult to understand
when you try to mix free will in it and a universal sacrifice
into it and universal love into the mix, then none of it makes
any sense. God is the original force and
the moving force behind all that is. Of God our Savior, it says
this in the book of Colossians. It said, for by him were all
things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers. All things were created by him,
now listen, and for him. And he is before all things,
and by him all things have a continuance, all things consist. He God and therefore exercises
his right to hold men and women accountable for their actions.
He God and is accountable to none but himself. The most foolish thing in the
world is for a man to stick his finger in the face of God and
try to call him out on carpet. Huh? God cannot act contrary to his
nature, and this may be the biggest deception of Satan over men and
women today, causing them to believe that God is willing to
compromise his nature to accomplish his redemptive will. It's just
not so. If God were willing to compromise
his nature to save anybody, he would not have sacrificed his
son. Does that make sense? If God could or would be willing
to compromise his justice or righteousness or holiness to
save sinners, there'd have been no need for Christ to live under
the law, die on a cross, be raised from the dead, or sin and seat
at the right hand of God. And Paul tells us plainly in
Romans 3, 24 and 25 that Christ accomplished God's redemptive
will. He accomplished God's redemption
that God might declare His righteousness for the remission of sins in
both Old and New Testament saints. And I'll tell you something else,
this whole religious world believes that God is somehow obligated
to save everybody. Find that and show it to me in
the Word of God, anywhere in the Word of God, you can't find
it. and they believe that because
they say he loves everybody and wills everybody salvation but
will not violate man's free will. What is that? That's a bottle
of snake oil. That's what that is. You people
that watch westerns know what I'm talking about. That's a con
man's cure-all. Whatever it is that God loves
can never be separated from that love. Read Romans chapter eight. If God loves everybody, if he
does, then nobody's going to hell because nobody can ever
be separated from his love. But we already know because he
stated clearly in the scriptures that some will be thrown into
hell. That tells me God don't love
everybody. And can you imagine a priest,
Christ is our priest, can you imagine a great high priest refusing
to pray for them that he loves? And our Lord in his high priestly
prayer in John 17 says, plain as words can be, I pray not for
the world, I pray for them which thou hast given me. He tells us in Romans 8, 35 through
39, we're told that nothing can separate us from the love of
God that's in Christ Jesus. Nothing. And every man that God
chose in Christ, he chose in him that he might be holy, that
he might be without blame, and that he might be set before him
being loved. Is that why he chose you in Christ?
He couldn't love you outside of Christ, but he loves you in
Christ. He loves you in Christ. You sit
before Him being loved. And I'm going to tell you this.
God loves nobody outside of Christ. None. He said without are dogs, and
sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters,
and liars. But He said Christ loved His
church and gave Himself for it. Listen to this. Paul said that
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you, being rooted
and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the
saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height,
and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that
you might be filled with all the fullness of God. I must, as best I can, tell men
and women the truth about God. Our Lord said to the unbelieving
Jews, he said, you neither know me nor my father, but you are of your father, the
devil. And they said, the devil's not our father. He said, if God
was your father, you'd love me, for I proceeded forth and came
from God. And then the third thing I feel
compelled to tell anyone who'll give me a hearing is that salvation
is altogether in the person of Jesus Christ. Huh? There's life in the look at the
crucified one. To him give all the prophets
witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sin. And I don't care what you've
done or who you are, Jesus Christ came into this world to save
sinners. To save sinners. Problem is,
there's no sinners. I can't find a sinner. If I could
find one, I got good news for them, but I can't find one. Well, I ain't always done the
right thing. You never have done the right
thing, ever. He came to call sinners to repentance. Listen to this. Here's a man
who wrote half the New Testament. Oh, he said, oh, wretched man
that I am. Huh? That's what Paul said. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this dead? And I've got nothing. I can't
find anything in the scriptures for the self-righteous but a
warning Just a warning. All but the sinners, I've got
good news. Christ came into the flesh, came
into this fallen world, came by the eternal purpose of God
and the will of God to save sinners. Helpless, helpless wretches like
me. Helpless, can't do anything for
yourself. Hopeless sinners like me, victims of the fall, practicing
sinners, ignorant, deceived sinners, penniless beggars. That's what
we are. Always wanting to make a deal with God. Listen to this hymn writer. We
sang these hymns when I was in religion, but we never listened
to the Word. In my hand, no price I bring. Simply to the cross
I cling. Oh, to grace, how great a debtor.
Huh? The best deeds we ever did, just
filthy rags. Enemies in our minds by wicked
works. And I can't take a phone book
and go through and check off the names of God's elect because
I don't know who they are. But I can tell you this, Christ
died for sinners. And he's gonna save every sinner
who knows he's a sinner. Paul called himself, by the inspiration
of God, the chief of sinners. The bottom of the barrel, the
dregs of the most wicked. Deceived and practicing anti-Christ
religion, making merchandise of men's souls, making proselytes
who when they were made were two-fold more their child of
hell than others. Nothing lower than a self-righteous
legalist, a works preacher. Yet God saved him. And Paul said
in 1 Timothy 1 verse 16, he said, for this cause I obtained mercy. that in me first, Jesus Christ
might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. He started out at
the bottom of the barrel to show you that no matter where you
are in the barrel, he gonna save you. If you're a sinner, just
come confessing your sins. Come to him. You're the sinner.
He's the Savior. And I guarantee you today that
you're not as far gone as Paul was. Not yet. Not yet. And you can take heart that if
Christ saw fit to save the chief of sinners, he can save anybody
in between. Oh, may God the Spirit this very
moment overcome whatever holds you back and turn you loose to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Convince you of your sins. Oh,
I hope you go out here today and go home and can't sleep a
wink. I hope it finds you shaking in your shoes, thinking about
Christ may come back at any moment, and he could. He could. Come back in here as a trembling
sinner. I got good news for you. Christ died for sinners. He died
for sinners. May the Lord add his blessing
to the preaching of his gospel.