From the second chapter of the
book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 20
or verses 19 and 20. Ephesians 2, 19 and 20. Now, therefore, you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God. and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. Jesus Christ himself. Those three simple words just
may be the richest, fullest text in all the volume of Holy Scripture.
Jesus Christ himself. Here's a treasure chest full
of the rarest of jewels. Here's a banqueting table spread
for our souls upon which we shall feast and feast forever in heavenly
glory. May God, the Holy Ghost, be pleased
tonight to reveal Jesus Christ himself afresh to our hearts
and give us grace and faith to love and worship him this hour. Oh Lord, give us Jesus Christ
himself and we have all and could want no more. Christ, not doctrine. Jesus Christ himself should be
prominent in the thoughts of our minds and the meditation
of our hearts. Our theology ought to be Jesus
Christ himself, so that in all our doctrine he is the center
and the head of all. For in him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. Far, far too many are consumed with doctrinal precision. They may indeed be very precise
and very orthodox, and we should be. But they're harsh, bitter,
and divisive in their orthodoxy. Let us love every word that fell
from the lips of our Redeemer, every word written in this book,
every word of doctrine taught by our God. Let us contend earnestly
for the faith once delivered to the saints by God's prophets
and God's apostles. But it is essential for us to
hold the doctrine in connection with the person and work and
accomplishments of Jesus Christ himself. This is worth remembering. Truth isolated from Jesus Christ
himself. is hard, cold, lifeless, and
heretical. Truth, isolated from Jesus Christ
himself, is hard, cold, lifeless, and heretical. I know a good
many folks who become very indignant with anyone who holds a view
of anything that's even slightly different from their own, even
though they at least with their lips, acknowledge the offending
brother is a brother in Christ. With them, everything is doctrine,
doctrine, doctrine. I hope that's not the case with
myself, and I hope it is not with you. With us, the one thing
that matters, the one thing that's essential, I trust, is Jesus
Christ himself. True doctrine to me, I think
you know and anyone who knows me knows is priceless. True doctrine
is a treasure, but it is just a priceless throne for my living
Lord. My chief delight is the King's
presence upon the throne. I want more than just the garments
that adorn my Redeemer. I prize every thread of his garments,
but I want Jesus Christ himself. I sometimes use language I don't
mean to use. I'll say I love this doctrine,
I love that doctrine. I'll say with regard to something,
I love this, I love that. My wife has some clothes that
I like to see her in. I like to see them. She's blonde
and she looks good in black. I like to see her in black. I
like to see her in a red dress. And I'll tell her, man, That
looks good on you, but that's not really what I mean. That's
not what I mean. I really mean you make that look
good. There's a big, big difference.
You make that look good. If you should see me go get one
of her dresses out of her closet and snuggle up to it and lay
down and go to bed, please check me into the funny farm. It's
not the dress that I'm attracted to. It's the woman wearing the
dress. And it is not just speculative
doctrine that attracts my heart. It is Christ himself. Do you
understand what I'm saying? Doctrine isolated from Christ
is lifeless, cold, meaningless, divisive, dead, heretical doctrine. All true doctrine is doctrine
connected with the person and work of our Redeemer. There are
others. who delight not so much in doctrine
but in what they call experimental preaching, experimental religion,
preaching which sets forth the inner life experiences that they
think they have, both in the rage of their depravity and in
the triumph of God's grace. In its proper portion, experimental
preaching is good, like doctrinal preaching is in connection with
Christ, but Jesus Christ himself should be proclaimed, not our
frames and feelings, not our doubts and fears, not our struggles
and victories. We study ourselves in vain. We study ourselves in vain. The more you see your own heart,
the more you will be filled with despondency, despair, and unbelief. Looking unto Jesus is far better,
indescribably better for our souls. Self-examination, yes,
it's needful. But the point of examination
is not what do I know, or what have I experienced, or what do
I feel. The point of examination is whether
you be in the faith. The matter is Jesus Christ himself. My faith is not my righteousness,
but Christ is my righteousness. My faith is not in myself or
in my faith or in my works, but in Christ's faith, in his righteousness,
in his work. My faith is not in my holiness,
but in Christ my sanctifier. Martin Luther, more than 500
years ago, made this statement. Although I am a sinner, yet I
despair not. For Christ, who is my Redeemer
and my righteousness, liveth. In Him I have no sin, no fear,
no sting of conscience, and no fear of judgment. What a statement. What a statement. In Him I have
no sin, no fear, no sting of conscience, and no fear of judgment.
For in Him there is no condemnation. I am indeed a sinner as touching
this present life. But I have a righteousness of
God, which is above this life, who is Christ my Lord. In him
I rejoice. And then he wrote this great
hymn. Feelings come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving.
My warrant is the word of God. Not else is worth believing,
though all my heart should feel condemned. For Walt of some sweet
token, there is one greater than my heart whose word cannot be
broken. I'll trust in God's unchanging
word till soul and body sever. For though all things shall pass
away, his word shall stand forever. Others who are of another sort,
like to think about law and the commandments of the gospel, and
all their preaching is about some legal precept. I spoke at
length to a gentleman yesterday, very concerned, and took place
to worship, don't hang around him, reform places where all
they preach is legal stuff, just legal stuff. And this is what
I always say to men who make this statement to me. He said,
they preach the gospel and God's sovereignty and God's grace,
but they're legal. They believe we're under the
law and preach legality. I said, now let me see if I can
state that more accurately. If you ask them, do they believe
in God's sovereignty, in predestination, in election, in limited atonement,
in irresistible grace, they'd say yes. If you ask them if they
believe the doctrine's grace, they'd say yes. But when you
go listen to them preach one, two, or three times a week, you
come away and all you heard was works. He said, well, you know,
that's right. That's right. Because all they
want is works and legality. They think that somehow or another,
Supreme happiness is to be found in legal precepts either that
they pretend to obey or like to hold over your head and make
you understand you don't obey them and therefore you're constantly
in despair. The design and purpose of God's
law is to point us to Christ. It is never intended to be a
rule of life for God's people. The law is not our God. Christ is. We're not under the
law, but under grace. Moses was a prophet to point
us to Christ, but he's not our Savior. Christ is our Savior.
Moses was a prophet to point us to our Lord, but Moses is
not my Lord. Christ is my Lord. Jesus Christ
himself is the preset we must follow, for he is the way. Jesus
Christ himself is the doctrine we believe in preach for he is
the truth and Jesus Christ himself is the experience we must have
for he is life Jesus Christ himself first last and all between Is
all my salvation and all my desire now having said that I want to
say this and say it clearly Let us never insult our Lord by despising
his doctrine. Never insult our Lord by trifling
with the truth he has revealed. To trifle with truth is to despise
Christ our prophet. Do not for a moment undervalue
any experience of spiritual life in Christ. That which we experience
in life in grace is the work of God the Holy Spirit in us,
the work of the Spirit of Christ. and dare not neglect the precepts
of Christ in the gospel, and so transgress against the authority
of our great King. We must treat everything connected
with our Savior with reverence for his sake. Everything. But at the foundation, in the
front, and above all, must be Jesus Christ himself. our personal,
living, loving Savior, the Son of God, Christ in us, the hope
of glory, Christ in heaven pleading for us and preparing our eternal
home, Jesus Christ himself, our captain, our armor, our strength,
and our victory. We inscribe his name upon the
batter under which we march and around which we are gathered.
I deliberately make no effort in preaching, especially preaching
on such a text as this, to be eloquent, oratorical, profound,
or brilliant as I preach the gospel to you. I endeavor to
decorate nothing at all with the ornaments of fair speech
and impressive words. That's not my intention. I want
to simply tell you and anyone who will hear my voice, plain,
simple, unmistakable things about Jesus Christ himself. Things
that God has taught me from this book and in the experience of
his grace. Things that God continually inscribes
upon my heart by the finger of his grace in great, great mercy
to my soul over these past 50 years. Jesus Christ himself is
all to the heaven-born soul. He is all to be believed, all
to be trusted, all to be experienced, all to be studied, all to be
expected. Let me give it to you in five
or six statements. Number one, Jesus Christ himself is the salvation
of sinful men. When Mary the mother of our Lord
Jesus in his flesh, the mother of our Lord's humanity, when
she was pregnant with our Savior, once he was conceived in her
womb and it was obvious to her husband that she was with child,
the angel of the Lord appeared to her husband Joseph and said,
she shall bring forth a son and thou shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. when Mary and
Joseph brought their baby boy, the Lord Jesus, into the temple,
according to the law of Moses, to have him circumcised, there
was an old man in the temple who had been waiting in expectation
and hope for Christ's coming, for the coming of the Redeemer,
the Messiah. And when he saw that child, the
Lord Jesus, he walked over and took the baby out of Mary's arms
and held him in his own hands. And he said, Now lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Oh God, let us never forget salvation
is a person. Salvation is a person. Not an experience, not a doctrine,
not a creed, not a church, not a work, a person. Salvation is
Jesus Christ Himself. Learn this. God graciously inscribed
this upon our hearts. The Lord Jesus Christ is Himself
the essence of all His work and all His accomplishments as our
Savior. He is salvation. Now let me be
as clear as I can be. What do we need? to stand before
God, accepted of Him at last in heavenly glory. Do we need
righteousness? Righteousness is not something
you do. Christ is our righteousness. Do we need atonement? Atonement
is Jesus Christ Himself. Do we need redemption? Christ
is our redemption. Do we need holiness? Christ is
our holiness. Do we need sanctification? Christ
is our sanctification. Must we be reconciled to God?
Christ is our reconciliation. Must we be justified before God? Christ is our justification.
Not just that he accomplishes these things. He is these things
and these things this salvation is ours in union with Jesus Christ
himself I'm a saved sinner Saved by the grace of God because he
loved me and gave himself for me the Lord Jesus Christ Gave
himself He gave himself in the totality
of his being. He gave himself for us. The Son of God loved me and gave
himself for me. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, how that though he was rich, yet for our sakes
he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich.
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He, his own self,
bear our sin in his body on the tree. So great is the sacrifice
of our Redeemer. So great were the sufferings
by which he redeemed our souls, by which he atoned for our sins,
by which he satisfied the justice of God, that there is no limit
to what he suffered. When you read in the book of
God about the sufferings of a man, Surely no man in history ever
suffered like the man Job. How that man suffered. What great
things he suffered. No martyr ever suffered more
greatly than Job suffered. But there was a limit to Job's
suffering. The Lord God ordered Satan, own
himself, lay not thy hand. Spare his life. There was a limit
to his sufferings. But when the Lord God sent his
son to suffer for sinners, no reserve was made. God gave his
son. He gave himself without reserve. It was written of him. It is
written of him. His mockers mocked and jeered. And they said he saved others.
Himself he cannot save. Never was gospel truth more clearly
spoken. He saved others. Himself he could
not save. Because he himself was the very
essence of the sacrifice. It is because he is who he is
that the Lord Jesus was able to redeem us. It is the dignity
of his blessed person that gives merit and efficacy to his work
of redemption. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Because he is God, He is able
to bear all the wrath and fury of an angry God and his infinite
justice until justice is fully satisfied and every ounce of
fury is removed from Jehovah. The Lord Jesus is a man like
ourselves, able to suffer more intensely and more acutely and
more sensibly than any man. for this man is the perfect man. When we think of our redemption,
let us always remember Jesus Christ himself is the essence
of it. It is for this reason that Jesus
Christ himself must be the only object of our faith. The triune
God directs sinners to Christ, the mediator, our covenant surety,
our sin atoning substitute, and him alone for salvation. Look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I
am God, and there is none else. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Oh, God. Look
to Christ. Look to Christ. Children of God,
look to Christ. He does not say, look to my life
or to my death. or to my cross, or to my ordinances,
or to my servants, or to my church. His command is, look unto me,
come unto me. This is the way of life, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. It's a very simple
thing to trust Christ alone. It's very simple. Mark was talking
about it back in the office, trying to witness to his friend.
Trust Christ alone. That's the simplest thing imaginable. That's the simplest thing imaginable.
Oh, but Brother Don, this is complex. No, we make it complex. We make it complicated with our
carnal reason and complex creeds. Faith in Christ is not complicated. Our Lord Jesus one day said,
bring me that child. And he set a child up on his
knee. And he said, except you receive
the kingdom of God like this little child, you can't be saved. How is that? How's that? Do you know how simply, unquestioningly a child Trust a mother or a father? A child, a child. Where'd that
come from? God made it. Okay. My daddy said so, it's okay.
Good reason to always tell them the truth. How does that bird fly? God taught
him how to fly. Oh, well, that makes sense. I'll
tell you what you do. You try to explain how that bird
flies some other way. That makes perfect sense to a
child. To a child. This is utterly simple. Utter simplicity. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now let me see
if I can state this as clearly as I know how. You may be puzzled
with many things about the atonement. but you can believe on Jesus
Christ himself. You might be staggered by many
mysteries of theology, but you can trust Christ. He who loved
me, lived for me, bled for me, gave himself for me, I cannot
distrust. Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Don Fortner, how can you say
How can you presume to say that you know God, that you're saved,
that you're a child of God with all your sin and coldness and
unbelief and hardness of heart and worldly care and indifference
to things that ought to cause your heart to burn all the time
and attachment to things you ought to despise and push aside
all the time? I had been all day and a good
part of yesterday preparing this message, excited with it. I mean,
excited with it. And I sat down when it got done. Suddenly, my heart so cold. I've been begging God ever since
I finished. Oh, God, stir my heart again
with this blessed, blessed thing. Jesus Christ himself. Himself. How can you be a believer? And
go through all those things, that horrible evil that's in
you. I believe God. And this is what God said. This is what God said. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. Sometimes, Lindsay, I feel like
I believe him, but not much of the time. But feeling like I
believe him and believing him is two different things. I believe
God. If you've been looking at your
faith, look away from your faith to Christ. If you've been looking
at the results of your faith and you find dissatisfaction,
you should look away from the results of your faith and look
to Christ. Perhaps you So I want more wisdom
and understanding. Quit looking to yourself and
look to Christ Jesus himself, that God, the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of him. Perhaps you look to your
experience and you. Well, I just know I can't be
a child of God. Look away from your experience.
Quit looking at your experience. Look to Christ. We were talking a little bit
ago about the infant baptism and papacy and their nonsense.
Protestants are just as bad as other folks are, and badness
is just as bad. Fundamentals are just as bad. We get folks
talked into making a profession of faith, and we give them the
one, two, three. Romans wrote of salvation. They
tell them they're saved, and they go to hell believing they're
saved. Quit looking at your experience. Quit looking at your experience.
Look away to Christ the Lord. Here's the second thing. Jesus
Christ himself is our gospel. He is the substance of the gospel
of God. He is the foundation of the apostles
and prophets. That is Jesus Christ himself. Thou art the Christ. The son
of the living God, that's the doctrine on which everything
is built. Our Lord Jesus said, on this
rock I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. There's nothing so wonderful
about the gospel as Jesus Christ himself. Christ is the embodiment
of the good news. The gospel is the wisdom of God.
Christ is the wisdom of God. The gospel is the word of God.
Christ is the incarnate word. The gospel is the revelation
of God. Christ is that one whom John saw when he saw the revelation
of Jesus Christ, the revelation of the eternal God. We need no
other proof of the gospel than Jesus Christ himself. He is God's
final word to man. God used to speak to men with
visions and dreams. But now He's spoken to us in
these last days, one time with finality by His Son, Jesus Christ
Himself. Hebrews chapter 1. He's spoken
in these last days, one time with finality by Jesus Christ
Himself. Jesus Christ Himself. Is God
manifest in the flesh? God walking on this earth in
the flesh. Never in human history was there
a man who walked on this earth like the God-man. So uniquely
did he live in this world that even his most ardent foes could
find no fault in him. Not a word. His works of mercy,
tenderness, power, and self-sacrifice attest to his truthfulness. His
resurrection from the dead forever sealed the fact that Jesus Christ
himself is God. He's not only the proof of the
gospel, he is himself the marrow and essence of the gospel, we
believe. When Paul said, I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and him crucified. He was saying, I have not shunned
to preach unto you, to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Jesus Christ himself is the power
of the gospel, not the eloquence of the preacher, not the devices
of the church, not the programs of the denomination, but Jesus
Christ himself. He pleads in heaven Therefore,
his kingdom expands upon the earth. In heaven, he rules all
things to advance his truth. Therefore, his kingdom progresses.
His hand directs the wheel of providence. Therefore, his church
prevails. By his power, the church militant
shall at last become the church triumphant. Christ is the gospel. So let's study him and study
to know him. I was on this earth, he taught
his disciples The object of his teaching was himself, that they
might know him. And they didn't learn very fast,
did they? He said to Philip, have I been so long a time with
you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He walked with the disciples
on Emmaus Road. He opened to them the scriptures,
beginning at Moses and in all the prophets, in the Psalms and
in all the prophets. He spoke to them. and opened
to them the scriptures and showed them things concerning himself
himself. Whatever else we may be ignorant
of, it's essential that we know him. God help us to know him. It's the work of God, the Holy
Spirit, to show us the things of Christ. It is the purpose
and end of the Bible that we should know him. I never get weary of studying
doctrine and the things of God as long as I study those things
in connection with my Redeemer, His grace, His glory, His work,
His accomplishments. When I start to study them as
isolated subjects, they get to be nothing but speculative, imaginary
points of speculative theology and my understanding of them
just makes you think you're really smart, doesn't it? And you want
to show somebody else how smart you are and what you've learned.
As your pastor, I have one absorbing object. I want you to know Jesus
Christ himself. I really don't care if anybody
ever knew the name of John Calvin. I really could care less if nobody
knew there was such a thing as a Baptist church. I really could
care less. I want you to know Jesus Christ
himself. Jesus Christ himself. I want
the men and women, boys and girls who hear my voice to know him
in preaching and in writing. I deliberately focus everything
upon the knowledge of Jesus Christ himself. Even in dealing with
issues that men think are controversial and men get upset with, my object
is not to settle the controversy. My object is not to quieten the
adversaries. Leave those fellows alone. Just
leave them alone. Ignore them. Ignore them. They're
not worth the bother. Don't answer their vain questions.
Don't bother with them. Ignore them. But even when the
men think we're dealing with things of a controversial nature,
the purpose is that you may know Jesus Christ himself. When I
write, I started, when we first started having our Bible classes,
writing all the Sunday school material. Why? because I haven't
yet found any anywhere that focuses attention on Jesus Christ himself. And my intention is that you
see Jesus Christ himself in this book and everywhere in this book.
And I urge you, my brothers and sisters, when you try to witness
to other people, when you try to witness to family and friends
and foes, don't argue with them about doctrine. Just don't do
it. Just don't do it. Teach them about Jesus Christ
Himself. If ever anybody comes to know
Him, they won't have any problem with any doctrine He taught.
They won't have any problem with any doctrine He taught. Teach
folks to trust Christ. Keep this one question ringing
in the ears of those who will hear you. until they could answer
it aright from the heart of faith. What think ye of Christ? Let me give you the shortest
answer I possibly can that expresses everything needful. Jesus Christ
is all my hope. Jesus Christ is all my hope. I have no confidence, no hope
except Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ himself. No subject so moves
the heart, so arouses the conscience, so
stirs the soul, so satisfies the desires, and so calms the
fears of men as Jesus Christ himself. God forbid that I should
preach any other subject. There is no fear of exhausting
this theme. His word is still true. I, if
I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. Let me give you
just one more thing and I'll quit. Jesus Christ himself is
the object of every heaven-born soul's love. 1 John chapter 4
verse 19. Here is the true confession of
every believer's heart. We love him because he first
loved us. We love him because he is the
embodiment of everything true and lovely and of a good report. I read this to you, I think,
Sunday evening, but let's read it again, Philippians chapter
4. Rejoice in the Lord always, verse
4. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known
unto all men, the Lord's at hand. Be careful for nothing. But in
everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request
be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, let me wrap
this up. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things
are pure, Whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are
of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise,
think on these things. Well, what are those things?
Things having to do with Jesus Christ himself. All Spirit of
God teach us to love Christ and love him superlatively. Let Jesus Christ himself be the
source of all our joy for time and for eternity, rejoicing in
all things, knowing the presence continually of Jesus Christ himself. God, give us grace to follow
the rule of Jesus Christ himself. He said he said to his disciples
when he washed their feet. He said, now you've seen what
I've done to you. He took a bowl of water and a towel and went
around to his disciples and washed their dirty feet. Washed their
dirty feet because they were dirty. Washed their dirty feet
because they were hot and tired. Washed their dirty feet because
it gave them comfort. He said, now you go and follow
my example and do what I've done to you. What? Wash one another's feet? He didn't
establish a new ordinance so that on high holy days you get
folks and they take a real good bath, put some good smelling
stuff on their feet so the feet don't stink, and then you get
down and pretend to wash their feet. Or you show folks how humble
you are. That's not it. That's not it.
But you do whatever you can do that your brother needs you to
do. You do whatever you can do to
comfort your sister. You do whatever you can do to
benefit God's people in this world. I've given you example. You go and do as I've done to
you. Copy his character and you will not err. And then at last,
we will find him, Jesus Christ himself, heaven to our souls. With Jesus Christ himself in
heaven, we will have all that we can possibly desire in perfection
and fullness. Within a week, maybe within an
hour, you just may meet Jesus Christ himself. Within a week,
within an hour, Maybe I will meet Jesus Christ himself. A long, long time ago, I read
about a poor girl laying in a hospital bed, and a doctor came in and
told her and her family that she would only live another hour.
And she waited patiently. And when 45 minutes had passed,
she exclaimed, 15 minutes more and then. And that's all she said. She
couldn't say anymore. And she left this world. 15 minutes more and then. I can't say any more about that.
Our Savior said, Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast
given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory,
the glory of Jesus Christ himself. Amen. Let's have a hymn, Lindsay.