When I was just a young man,
Ralph Barnard made a statement in a sermon that I heard, and
it was a bit surprising to me. He said, the greatest and most
needful field of evangelism today is in the Baptist church. I repeat what Barnard said more
than 50 years ago. The greatest, most needed field
of evangelism today is in Baptist churches and other churches that
are called Christian churches. Paganism in Africa or in New
Guinea or in any other remote place in the world, the paganism
of India or of China is none greater. than the paganism of
modern Christianity. I make no effort, I urge you
to make no effort to try to decide whether this person or that is
saved. That's not your business and
it's not my business. We must not sit in judgment and
presume that we can determine what's in the hearts of other
people. We must not do so. It is not possible for you or
for me to know who is a believer and who is not a believer except
by what he professes or she professes with her mouth. Believers often
behave horribly. Believers often believe horrible
things. Often they do. There are many
who believe horrible things. Peter, you'll recall on one occasion,
was so errant in his doctrine by the implication of his behavior
that Paul said, you're teaching salvation by works. He didn't
believe that, he didn't teach that, but by implication of his
actions, separating himself from the Gentile believers when Jewish
brethren came, Peter implied such. Believers can often act
horribly and believe horrible things, utterly inconsistent
with the gospel of God's grace. But believers are many women
who know, trust, worship, love, and adore the Lord Jesus Christ,
that one who is the Christ of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. That plain, that simple, that
clear. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, whosoever believeth that Jesus of Nazareth, that
one you're saying so well about. our King, our Savior, whosoever
believeth that Jesus, the man of Nazareth, is the Christ spoken
of in Old Testament Scripture, spoken of in all the law and
prophets. He's born of God. Salvation is
yours if you trust the Lord Jesus. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. To believe him is to trust his
obedience alone as all your righteousness. To trust him alone as the Lord
your righteousness. To believe on Jesus Christ is
to trust his blood, his sufferings, his death, His accomplishments
at Calvary by the sacrifice of Himself as your only atonement
for sin. To believe on Christ is to trust
His grace, His grace alone, His bestowment of mercy, love, and
grace on you and working in you. Trusting Him alone is to believe
on the Lord Jesus. This is eternal life, he said,
that they might know thee, the only true God. And without the
knowledge of the true God, there's no eternal life. And Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent, do you know him? Do you trust the Christ
of God? Who is it? Is he the Christ you
trust? Is he the Christ that's described
in this book? Is that one you trust real or
is it an imposter? Do you trust Christ or antichrist? And there are many of them. Let's
read what Christ Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24, and ask God
the Holy Ghost to make him known to us and give us faith in him. Matthew 24, we'll begin reading
at verse four. Now, before we read the passage,
let me remind you, this passage is not to be isolated in your
understanding as applying only to the destruction of Jerusalem
in 70 AD. If that's all it's talking about,
you can just forget it, cut it up, leave it alone. It has nothing
to say to you. It's just historic. That's all
it is. And history won't be of any benefit
to yourself. This is not just a historic passage
about what happened in Jerusalem in 70 AD, but rather it is a
declaration by our Lord of that which is brought to pass in every
age of time as long as this world exists until Christ comes again. So that every word here is just
as applicable to you and me as it was to believers in that horrid
day when the Roman army swept through Jerusalem and destroyed
Jerusalem and the city and the temple of Jerusalem. Matthew
24, verse four. Jesus answered and said unto
them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my
name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. Those are
horrible, horrible, horrible, evil men. There have been many
throughout the age of the Christian church and some prior to that
who claimed to be the Christ. But if you read about them, You
think, man, those fellows were all crackpots. Some of them women.
They popped a cork. It takes somebody just as foolish
as them to follow them, but they had to follow it. They had to
follow it. Then our Lord speaks of others, verse six. And you
shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. You hear about them
all the time. Folks have throughout history.
Somebody says it's going to be in the days when Christ comes
as it was in the days of Noah, as it was in Lot's day, people
marrying and giving and marrying, eating and drinking, marrying
and giving in marriage. Well, he wasn't saying this is
going to be unique to this day. That's the way men live. That's
the way men have always behaved. They live as if there's no God
and there's war everywhere all the time. See that you be not
troubled. Don't let these things shake
you. For all these things must come to pass. But the end is
not yet. For nation shall rise against
nation and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be famines and
pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are
the beginning of sorrows. There are greater sorrows than
these. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall
kill you. And you shall be hated of all
nations for my name's sake. Oh, what a terrible day. We've
got our society passing laws, promoting sodomy and outlawing
godliness. Our nation and every nation in
the Western world. And then shall many be offended
and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. And
many false prophets shall arise. and deceive many. And because
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Wherever
iniquity abounds, love decreases. Men shout about it, talk about
it, and have parades about it, and have protests about it, burn
flags about it. But wherever iniquity abounds, love diminishes. And because iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto
the end, the same shall be said. True believers, true believers,
they just keep on believing. They just keep on believing.
What's that? I don't know what's going on. What's going on? I don't know.
How do you explain that? I gave up that a long time ago.
What do you do? You just keep believing Christ. True believers
just keep looking to Christ. Verse 14. and this gospel of
the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations. Then shall the end come. There's
clearly a reference here to the outpouring of the Holy Ghost
on the day of Pentecost, the inaugural act of our Lord Jesus,
when the gospel was preached to all nations, went from the
Jews to the Gentile world. But the passage certainly refers
to more than that. It refers to the fact that God
has determined to make the gospel known in the four corners of
the earth to call out his elect out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue. When you therefore shall see
the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
when you see the abomination of desolation, stand in the holy
place. Whoso readeth, let him understand. Whoso readeth, let him understand. What's this talking about? Oh,
that's when they came into the Temple of Jerusalem and offered
swine's blood on the altar before destroying their place. Well,
yeah, sort of, but there's something a lot worse than that. The Apostle
Paul, by the Spirit of God, describes the abomination of desolation
in 2 Thessalonians 2, when men, as he spoke of in Romans 1, worshiped
the creature more than the Creator. And man, the man of sin, Antichrist,
stands in the house of God demanding that he be worshipped as though
he were God. I'm here to lay this charge at
the door of religion in our day, at the door of every form of
Arminian freewill works religion. Men today, all over Danville,
Kentucky, throughout this county, throughout this state, throughout
this nation, throughout this world, men today set man up in
the house of God and attribute to man the will and power of
God and say that God must do what man demands. They worship
man as though he were God. That's the abomination of desolation. Better to slaughter a hog and
offer it on the altar in Jerusalem. That's the abomination of desolation.
Read on. Then let them which be in Judea
flee unto the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop
not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let
him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. and
woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in
those days. But pray ye that your flight
be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day, for then
shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning
of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Perhaps the
tribulation speaks of a time of great physical suffering. I'm more inclined to think it's
talking about a time of great spiritual trial. We live in a
day of tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning
of the world. A day of spiritual trial, such
as has not been since the beginning of the world. And except those
days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but
for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Then if any
man shall say to you, lo, here is Christ, or there, believe
it not. For there shall arise false Christs
and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders,
insomuch that if it were possible, They shall deceive the very elect. They'll show signs and wonders.
Oh, Brother Don, did you hear about this fellow? He's able
to heal folks. He's able to heal folks. He can
heal people who got a crooked back, make them feel straight.
He can see inside folks and see that they've got a sickness in
their stomach, make them feel better. He can see folks who've
got headaches. You know, you never see anything
like that in any of the miracles recorded in scripture. Nothing
like that. The folks who perform wonders,
God's prophets, God's apostles and our Lord Jesus, they cause
folks who had never walked to walk. They caused people who
were absolutely stone cold deaf to hear better than I can. I've
got hearing aids now, I hear pretty good. Those folks took
men who were absolutely blind, blind from birth. They had never
seen the light of day and gave them sight. They didn't have
speculative miracles. The folks think they're going
to have, oh, these are wonder-working miracle men. They must be of
God. Don't pay them any attention. Don't pay them any attention.
I say without hesitancy that every man, every woman who claims
in this day to have apostolic gifts to heal, to speak in tongues,
to see visions and prophecies by which they have revelation
from God is anti-Christ. They're fake as a $3 bill and
you're a fool if you follow. I don't care what crowds follow
them. I don't care how many crowds follow them. You're a fool if
you follow them. Read on, read on. Verse 25. Behold, I have
told you before, wherefore if they shall say unto you, behold,
he's in the desert, go not forth. Behold, he's in the secret chambers. We don't public worship anymore.
We meet in houses and here and there. Believe it not. For as
the lightning cometh out of the East and shineth even unto the
West, so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Christ
will appear with sudden power and great glory. Unexpected,
for wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered
together. Now that may seem like a strange,
strange expression to you, and it does to me. Let me tell you
exactly what our Savior is saying. Wherever the crucified Christ
is, there those people whom God teaches to fly like eagles gather
together. They come and feed upon the crucified
Christ and him alone. Verse 29, immediately after the
tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened and the moon
shall not give her light. And the stars shall fall from
heaven and the power of the heavens shall be shaken. As God took
all the light that was given to the Jews in all the years
of the Old Testament and turned it into darkness so that the
Jews to this day read Moses and the law, there's a veil over
his face and they can't see. God's calls the sun to be darkened
and the moon and the stars to give no light. Everywhere in
the world today, men take this book, the light of divine revelation,
and words they pick out of this book, and God has put a veil
over their face, and they can't see. So that that which is light
to our feet, a lamp to our feet, and a light to our pathway, is
to them but darkness, and they grope about in darkness. Read
on. Verse 30, and then shall appear
the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn. There are going to be people
all over the world, some here, some there, a few here, a few
there, but all over the world, mourning. And they shall see
the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power,
power and great glory. And he shall send his angels
with a sound, with a great sound of a trumpet. He's going to send
messengers from heaven. With the jubilee sound of liberty
and freedom in the gospel of God's free grace. And they shall
gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of
heaven to the other. The Lord Jesus here warns us
plainly and repeatedly that in the last days the days in which
we now live, many false Christ would appear. That many would
claim to be Christ who are imposters, false Christ, deceivers, and
that many false prophets would arise, pointing us to these false
Christ, saying, lo, here is Christ, or there is Christ. As you care
for your soul, As you care for the souls of your family, as
you care for the souls of perishing men and women, as you care for
the truth of God and the glory of God, I urge you to hear the
words of the son of God and heed his words with earnest care. I want to talk to you today about
false Christ and the true. False Christ and the true. The
fact is, there are many false Christs, many antichrists by
whom the souls of men are deceived and damned forever. I want to
be as charitable, as kind, as gracious as I can. But charity,
kindness, and grace will not allow me to be silent while immortal
souls are deceived and God's glory is trampled underfoot and
the blood of Christ and the spirit of grace despised. Now hear me,
hear me. If you trust a false Christ,
any false Christ, you cannot be saved any more than you can
be saved by trusting a tadpole. If you trust a false Christ,
I don't care how sincere you are. If you trust a false Christ,
you cannot be saved any more than you can be saved by trusting
a tadpole or worshiping a stump or a totem pole. We're here called
of God to trust, love, follow, and obey the Christ of God and
him only. Salvation is promised to sinners
who trust the Christ. Therefore, we're warned, take
heed that no man deceive you. We must take heed to the teaching
of Holy Scripture. Not to what men think. Not to
what you think. Not to emotions and feelings
and experience. But to Holy Scripture. Take heed to God's Word. Take heed to the teaching of
God the Holy Ghost. lest we be deceived with some
false Christ. Now, there are many antichrists. We know about the Christ of the
liberals. He gets more and more unlike
Christ every day. The Christ of the liberals, they
tell us he was a good man, but not God. He came into the world,
but his resurrection, his death, he died like any other man, died
by crucifixion, but like any other man. And his resurrection,
that's just a theory. That's just, he appeared to rise
again. Some folks thought that he rose
from the dead. You know nobody really arises from the dead.
He's a good man, but not terribly good. I didn't go see it. I hope
you didn't. If you did, I hope you've forgotten
it. They had that movie Jesus Christ
Superstar a while back. And folks have been promoting
the idea that the Lord Jesus, this good man, he was actually
shacking up with Mary Magdalene. That's the liberal Christ. If
that's the Christ you believe, you're a fool. And nobody but
a fool is deceived by him. We also know about the Christ
of the cults. These days, it's shocking to me, it's shocking
to me, folks talk about Mormonism as though they're Christian.
And Mormons have worked hard to be accepted as Christian.
We had a fellow run for president who wore those strange underwear
Mormons wear. I don't know what they are, I've
never had a pair on. But we got folks in Congress and in the
Senate who are accepted as fine Christian folks who are Mormons.
Mormons believe that Jesus Christ is a creature of God, not God. That's paganism. That's idolatry. Jehovah Witnesses, Russellites,
same thing. The Christ of the cults is some
sort of lesser God. Maybe a great spirit, maybe a
divine idea, maybe the greatest creation of God, but still a
creature of one who is God above him. Well, Brother Don, are you
saying that all Mormons are lost too? Well, I wouldn't say that. God did. How much plainer can Scripture
be? How much plainer? If you believe that Jesus Christ
is nothing but a creature, you don't believe anything. You're
as lost as a goose in a snowstorm. And we hear about the papist
Christ as well. He's getting more and more popular
all the time. The Christ of Roman Catholicism. The papists profess
that Jesus Christ is God. They profess that he came into
the world as a man. They tell us that he suffered
and died at Calvary as a substitute in the place of sinners. They
tell us that he was buried and rose again the third day and
ascended back into heaven and that he's coming again. Patrists
all believe that. Roman Catholics all believe that.
Some of you were raised in that nonsense. But the Christ of Romanism
is not a complete savior. The Christ of Rome can't save
sinners without their good works, without the intercessions of
the priest, without the sacraments of the church. The Christ of
Rome is not the Christ of this book. We're not deceived by it,
though many are damned in the darkness of Roman Catholic idolatry. That's not a danger that's particularly
concerning to me, concerning you, your family, and those in
your influence. The Christ of the Papists we
know is a false Christ, but there's another Christ, another false
Christ, much more dangerous, much more deceiving than the
Antichrist of the liberals, the cults, and the Papists. There
is a false Christ by whom the souls of men have been deceived
for years, by whom millions are being deceived today, this very
hour. In fact, I'm compelled to say
this. I'm compelled to say this. The
vast majority of those who profess faith in Christ are followers
of antichrist, followers of a false Christ who will ultimately lead
them to eternal ruin. And I say that with a heart more
heavy than you can imagine. Because almost everybody I love
outside my immediate family, and this family here, almost
everybody dearest to me, almost everybody, is deceived by Antichrist. Been in church most of their
lives. Met a profession of faith when they were small children.
It didn't affect their lives any, but they made a profession
of faith. Go to church, have spasms of religion. Every time
things get bad, they have another spasm of religion, but it doesn't
last long. They have little fits of religion, and some of them
very devoted in their religion, but they don't know God from
a billy goat. They don't know God from a billy
goat. This Christ, this Antichrist, It's such a dangerous, deceptive
Christ that our Lord tells us that Antichrist would deceive
the very elect, were it not impossible for God's elect to be deceived.
Antichrist must be identified. The Christ I speak of is the
Christ of Arminian freewill works religion, the Christ of any religion. Now listen carefully. I'm talking
about Antichrist. Antichrist is the Christ of any
religion that makes salvation in any way to be determined by
you or dependent on you. That's Antichrist. That's Antichrist. Now if I realize that folks think
I'm just a crabby old man and mean and heartless and all that
stuff, Few think that I'm uncharitable when I denounce the false cults
of liberals and papists and others as antichrists and warn men that
following the Christ of the liberal, the papist, or the cults will
lead you to hell. I've had a few folks get upset
with me over that, not many. But whenever I boldly assert,
as I do everywhere I go, Some of you listen to what I preach
on my way and you get the messages other places, you will bear me
witness. I tell folks wherever I go, wherever I go, if I go
just one time, they're sure going to hear this. I tell them wherever
I go that the Christ of our many and free will works religion
is anti-Christ and you'll be damned forever if you follow
him. And people say, that's mean,
that's harsh, that's judgmental. How come? How come? I'll tell
you how come. Because it gets close to home. It gets real close to home. That's
exactly how come. Be that as it may, I'm here to
warn all who will hear my voice of the danger of Antichrist. The Christ of Arminian freewill
works religion is extremely dangerous. because in many ways, at first
appearance, he appears to be like the truth. Take heed that
no man deceive you. Let me give you four or five
comparisons very briefly, and you will see clearly that the
Christ of the religion, up the road that way, across the road
that way, back across the field this way, down the road that
way, go to any of the churches you want to. Any of them. Any of them. I don't recommend
that you do, but if you want to prove what I'm saying, go
down there tonight, across there Wednesday night, down there next
Sunday morning, back there next Sunday night. Just listen to
them. Or turn them on radio or television. Or listen to what they put on
the internet. Just listen. If you want to prove
what I'm saying about them is so, all you got to do is listen.
Now you will see clearly. that the Christ being preached
in this age is not the Christ in this book. Number one, the
false Christ of modern freewill works religion loves everybody
in the universe and wants to save everybody. Jesus loves you
and has a wonderful plan for your life. Won't you let him
save you? What absurdity. We're told that
Christ loves all men alike, desires the salvation of all alike, is
gracious to all alike, and that language makes the love, the
will, and the grace of Christ utterly useless. If he loves
everybody alike, some folks go to hell anyway, what good's his
love? If he wills the salvation of
all the like, and some folks go to hell anyway, what benefit
is his will? If he is gracious to all people
alike, gives everybody the same opportunities, and does the same
thing for everybody, what difference does his grace make? Arminian
free will works religion makes the love of God, the grace of
God, and the will of God utterly insignificant. You may well talk
about the love and will and grace of this book. But they're sincere. Sincerity has nothing to do with
it. They're not sincere. They're deceived and deceivers.
The true Christ, the Christ of the Bible, the saving Christ,
loves his people. He prays for the salvation of
his people. He's gracious to his people.
the people he unconditionally chose to salvation before the
world began. He is gracious too. He loves,
he wills the salvation of the people for whom he gave his life
at Calvary, all of them and none but them. I'll give you one text
of scripture. I have dozens written out in
my notes here. I'll give you just one. I use
it all the time, but I like to use it because it's, It's a hard
nut for the Arminian to untie. It's a hard nut for the wheel
worshiper to crack. This is what God says. Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. Now you find me a way to leave
that statement in scripture and still at the same time assert
that God loves everybody and I'll eat my Bible and spit it
at you. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. The Son of God prayed that the
Lord God would be gracious to his people, and refused to pray
for the rest. He said, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for
they are thine. All right, number two. The Christ
of modern freewill works religion tries to save everyone. Oh, the Lord's trying to save
you. When I was a 19-year-old college
boy, I was preaching here and there, and I was sitting on the
hearth of Brother Harry Graham's house in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina. Shelby was over learning something
from his wife, Nola. Nola taught her to put up frozen
corn and taught her to make pot roast. She still puts up corn
and makes pot roast. Nola's white. And Harry taught
me a ton. I said, Brother Harry, the Lord's
trying to teach me something. He said, hold on, Don. God doesn't
try. God doesn't try. Let me tell
you something. Mark Medley, God never tried
to do anything. I try. God never tried to do
anything. God does. There's a huge difference. The Christ of the Bible doesn't
merely offer salvation, He performs it. Grace is not an offer of
God, which God offers to men. Grace is the operation of God
in you. There's a huge difference. The
Son of God effectually calls to Himself all His elect, all
whom He's redeemed, His sheep, and sovereignly works salvation
in them by the irresistible power and grace of His Spirit. Not
one will be lost. That is exactly the doctrine
of scripture. He said, my sheep, hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. That's what he said. That's what
he said. He said, other sheep I have, which are not of this
fold, them also I must bring. There shall be one fold and one
shepherd. There are some people in this world, sons and daughters
of Adam, scattered this way and that way, this way and that way,
in every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, young and old, rich
and poor, male and female, black and white, educated and barbarian,
men and women everywhere who are Christ's sheep. given to
Him as His sheep before the world was, He came to redeem them and
save them. Come here, let me tell you something.
He's gonna do it. He's gonna do it. Every one of
them. Thou shalt call His name Jesus.
Will you help me? For He shall save His people
from their sins. Now try to. not offer to, not
make it possible. He shall save his people from
their sins. Any other Jesus is Antichrist. He's Antichrist. All right, let
me show you a third thing. The scriptures are crystal clear
in these matters. They're not speculative. The false Christ
of Arminianism, of will-worship religion, cannot regenerate and
cannot save anyone who doesn't first choose to let Him. He can't save anyone. He can't
give anyone life who doesn't first choose to be saved by Him. We're told God gave man a free
will. And with the same breath, we're
told that the will of God, the will of Christ is bound by man's
free will. Now, nobody uses this kind of
language. I haven't heard anybody yet. But I have heard folks say
that man's will binds the will of God. In other words, man's
got God in a hammerlock. His hands are tied. And he can't
do anything until man consents and lets God save him. Isn't
that wonderful? Wipe it off your boots. It stinks. That's nothing but a bunch of
Arminian manure. If I could use baser language,
I would. It's idolatry. Nothing but idolatry. The true Christ, blessed be his
name, violates man's will. Aren't you thankful? He wouldn't
take no for an answer from you. There are some people in this
world from whom God won't take no for an answer. He won't do
it. He won't do it. Blessed is the
man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee. But preacher,
the way you're talking, God saves men against their will. Yeah,
that's the way I'm talking. He saves them against their will
by giving them a new will. He saves them against their will
by making them willing in the day of His power, so that the
Lord Jesus comes by His Spirit and makes Himself known to sinners.
And if He reveals Himself to you, you can't resist Him. You
can't resist Him. You've got to have Him. I didn't
want Him. Did you? Merle Hart, I wouldn't
have him. I blasphemed him. I cussed him. I wouldn't have him. I wouldn't
have him. Get out of my way! I wouldn't
have him. I wouldn't have him. Until one
day, I had to have him. I had to have him. Give me Christ
or else I die. How come? Because he stepped
in my way and made himself known. We're told that Jesus stands
outside your heart's door and he's knocking. And there's no
handle on the outside. The only way you can get in is
if you let him in. If Christ comes in to you, he'll knock
the door down, bolt and bar, and you won't even know he's
around until he's sitting on the throne and you're glad to
have him. Man is saved not by his will, but by God's will.
So then it is not of him that willeth. We believe in salvation
by man's free will. Well, take your pocket knife
and cut Romans 9 out of your Bible. It is not of him that
willeth or of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Number four. The false Christ
of modern Arminian will worship religion, this man-centered religion
of this day, that antichrist that's proclaimed everywhere
today, died on the cross for everyone in the world to make
it possible for everyone in the world to be saved, but actually
did not secure anyone's salvation. We're told that Christ made it
possible for you to be justified. He made it possible for your
sins to be put away. He made it possible for your
sins to be purged away. He made it possible for you to
be made righteous. He made it possible for you to
be saved. He made it possible for you to
enter into heaven. No, he didn't. No, he didn't. He did it. With his own blood,
he purged our sins. By the sacrifice of himself,
he put our sins away. With his own blood, he entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. And he sat down as a forerunner
in heaven at the right hand of the majesty on high. Now hang
on! And when he did, we sat down
with him. Read Ephesians chapter two. He
took us back to glory with Him. Well, I'm not in heaven yet.
Well, I'm not physically there, but I'm there. Ask the Savior. Asked the Savior, he said, where
I am there you shall be also. And there we are, seated with
him in heavenly places at the right hand of the majesty on
high, just as accepted of God, just as permanently accepted
of God, just as favored of God, just as holy before God, just
as righteous with God as Jesus Christ himself. The Lord Jesus
Christ, is not a frustrated failure. He did not die in vain for the
multitudes who perish at last in hell. And if you believe on
a Christ who died in vain for some, you believe on a Christ
whose blood is worthless, useless, meaningless, insignificant, makes
no difference, makes no difference. If Christ died for everybody,
and some folks go to hell anyway, his blood doesn't make any difference.
His sacrifice doesn't make any difference. His intercession
doesn't make any difference. His life doesn't make any difference.
He just as well not come. He didn't die in vain for anyone. One last thing. The false Christ
of Arminian will-worship religion loses many who've been saved
by him. I got a couple of emails this
week, I answered the first one and ignored the rest. A fellow
that had been writing to me for years, I suppose once in a while
listens to things, going to some hoopy Armenian church out in
California, and he wrote to me, he said, he said, Mr. Donald, I'm an atheist again,
I'm no longer a believer. And I wrote to him, I said to
him, you never were. How could you say that? If you
ain't, you never were. I know folks who've been saved
two or three times. No, you know folks who've gotten
spasms of religion two or three times. Most everybody I know
in this county has been saved two or three times. Most of them
have been saved two or three times a year. They get it almost
every time they have a revival meeting. If ever the Christ of
God saves you, he says you shall never perish. Because you see,
God's people are kept in life, not by what they will, or by
what they think, or by what they do, or by what they feel. We're
kept by the power of God through faith under salvation that is
yet to be revealed. Kept by God's power. Father, put them right here in
my hands. Trust them to me and I'll bring
them to you. If I bring them not back, let
me bear the shame forever. And no man's able to pluck them
out of my hands. No man's able to pluck them out
of my father's hands who gave them to me. I give them eternal
life and they shall never perish. Can't stretch that too far, Brother
John. No, you can't. So just stretch and stretch and
stretch, no matter what. No matter what. If in a sudden
rage, you murder a man, or like David, plot to murder him. You mean salvation doesn't have
an effect on man's life? You never heard me say that.
But I am here to tell you that you're just as capable today
of any evil as you were when you came out of your mother's
womb. No, that's not true. More capable. Me too. Me too. There's nothing you or
I won't do if God doesn't keep us from doing it. just for him
to leave us to ourselves for a minute. Nothing, nothing, nothing! How can you save me and save
them? He that hath the Son hath life. And our righteousness with
God doesn't depend on us. Well, you just opened the floodgates
to sin, only if that's what you want. And if that's what you
want, go ahead, have at it. Have at it. I won't try to restrain
you. You mean, Brother Dodd? God will never leave me to myself,
no matter what. He won't forsake us because he
forsook his son. Oh my God, give me grace then.
to give myself wholly to him who loved me and gave himself
for me. Amen. All right, let's.