It has been my privilege to have
God to call from our assembly a few men who preach the gospel
of his grace. One of them, Brother Larry Crius.
And I was, I guess I'm still his pastor, sort of. I've been
his pastor now for 37 years. And dear friend, and I've seen
Larry at different places like I would other men to preach the
gospel. And I never sent Larry to preach
anywhere, but what folks didn't want to have him back right soon.
And I know why. He runs as quickly as he can
to the cross of our Redeemer and pitches tent camps there.
And I appreciate that more than I can tell you about any preacher,
and especially these men whom God's raised up from this assembly.
Whether Larry Chris is pastor of Fairmont Grace Church in Sylacauga,
Alabama, and he'll bring the message to us after David Coleman
sings. David, I hadn't heard that one before. Very good, very
good. Would you turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 4? I want to join with Gene in thanking
all the folks here at Grace Baptist Church for all the work that
you put on During this time, the great food, I believe I can
smell it. Hope that won't be too much of
a distraction, but thank you so very much for all your hard
work. And thank you, yes, he's still my pastor. He's still my
pastor. And I thank God for him. I've
told you before, I think Don and I were both in our 20s, late
20s perhaps, when we first met. And he's been a dear friend of
mine, he and Shelby, for all these many years. And I appreciate
them both. And you men that have preached,
Gene, thank you so much for that message, Don last night and Frank,
and you men that will continue to preach, I pray that God will
be pleased to bless you. Our conference in Sylacauga,
Alabama, Fairmont Grace Church, is the last weekend in this month. You're all invited. You're all
invited. I hope that you can come. Brother
Don will be preaching as well as Darwin Pruitt and Donny Bell. So every one of you, you have
my personal invitation to come join us in those services. Here
in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, I'd like to read just the first question
here in verse 7. For who maketh thee to differ? Who maketh thee to differ? Who
distinguished you? Who did that? If I were to ask
you to circle the most important word in this first question,
what would it be? What would it be? Who? Who? That is, our great God and
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The title of my message is, Who's
Responsible? Who's responsible? Who's made
us to differ? We'll consider mainly that, who. And then the second word, made. Who made? And then last, you. Who made you? to differ. Who? Paul in verse 6 tells them,
these believers at the church of Corinth, he tells them, you're
puffed up. You're puffed up for one against
another. You've got the big head, he said. Puffed up. Puffed up. They were
strutting about. like peacocks. And one was saying,
I like Paul. I won't listen to anybody but
Paul. Nah, who's Paul? I like Apollos. Oh, what an orator,
Apollos. Nah, I'll go here see if Peter's
not going to be there, I'm not going. Paul says, you're puffed
up for one, for one man against another. And he says, why? Why? You have no reason to be. Now, you've all heard the expression.
There's pride of race and pride of place and pride of faith. Someone said they couldn't wait
till tomorrow because they got better looking every day. But there's no greater absurdity
than to be proud of grace. God's grace is freely, more freely
than we can now comprehend. But God's grace is freely bestowed. There's nothing, there's nothing
you've ever done Child of God, nothing you ever did or ever
will do, before you were saved and since you've been saved,
there's nothing you've ever done to attract God's grace. Nothing. Nothing. Everything
necessary, everything that's required in the salvation of
a sinner, everything is the product, the work of God's free grace. Paul asked, what do you have
that you didn't receive? The hymn writer put it this way,
it's grace that taught my heart to pray and made my eyes overflow. It's grace that's kept me to
this day, right up to this very moment. It's grace that's kept
me to this day and it's that grace. that will not let me go. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that? Do you really believe that? Paul
asked then, why do you glory? Why do you glory? Look back to
the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember when you were children,
you'd blow up a balloon, but you wouldn't tie it off in a
knot, just blow it up and hold it. with all that air in it,
then you'd let it go and down it would fly. That's what Paul
said. You're puffed up. You're puffed
up. You need to be brought down. Remember who you were and where
you were when God found you. As David said, not unto us, O
Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy. and for thy truth's sake. That's
why I so much enjoy times like this. Because in this religious
world, everywhere you look, tomorrow, tomorrow, in most churches, men
will stand and strut like peacocks. Folks will stand up and say,
look at me, look at me. I've got a gift that you don't
have. I've had another work that you haven't yet experienced.
Look at me, as Brother Henry would say, just worms, worms
bragging on other worms. That's all that it is. There's
a lady in Sylacauga where I live, cuts my hair. I was there a few
weeks ago, and after she cut my hair, she wanted to show me
a video on her phone. And she said, Larry, look at
this. She said, this man is reaching. He's a preacher. He's reaching
to young people. And you know what he was doing?
He was jumping rope. He's jumping rope. And I said,
lady, if I wanted to watch a clown, I'd go to a circus. I'd go to
this. I might should find somebody
else to cut my hair next time. How refreshing. how refreshing
and how blessed it is to gather here for these three days and
hear these men who are determined, determined to preach nothing
but Jesus Christ alone. Thank God for that. As John the
Baptist said, one time there was some religious fellows came
to John and they said, Master Rabbi, You know Jesus of Nazareth, that
you were here before He came? And you baptized Him? Now all
men are coming to Him. Master, that just doesn't seem
right. That just doesn't seem fair.
And John said, I told you once, and I'll tell you again, I'm
not to Christ. I'm not to Christ. I'm not to
bridegroom. He is. He is. He must increase. Oh, John! I think they thought
they would make John jealous. And John said, you couldn't have
told me anything more that would give me greater joy than what
you just did. Oh, but Master Rabbi, what about
you? What about you, John? He said,
Me? I must decrease. But He must
increase, the Lord of Glory. What about Don Fortner? He must
decrease. What about Frank Hall and Larry
Criss and Gene Harmony and Bruce and Todd and Eric and Clay? They must decrease. Oh, but the King of Glory, the
Lamb of God, Oh, may God give us grace. Each man who follows
the other, may he attempt to hold him even higher and higher
and tell perishing sinners, behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb
of God. He must increase and we must
decrease. We must do nothing. Nothing to
obscure the vision, the view of any needy sinner of Him. The Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world, as Paul asked them, who is Paul? Was he crucified for you? Who
is Apollos? Who is Cephas? They're just messengers. Oh, but Jesus Christ, He's the
message. He's the message. It's all about
Him. We live in it's-about-me generation,
don't we? It's all about me. All about
me. No, it's not. May God in His
grace stick a pin in your puffed up balloon head and make you
come down because it's not about Him. It's not about you. It's
not about me. But it's about Him. He must increase. I take some medication. Not for this. Is that why you
laughed? Maybe I should. But I take medications
and I take them all at the same time. But one bottle, it says,
take this with food. The other one says, take with
a meal. I don't like that. I want to
take them all at once. Just get it out of the way. And
that's what I do. I don't like to hear that I can
take Christ for my justification, His imputed righteousness, but
then I've got to run back to the law. for sanctification. I don't like that. Do you, Marvin? I just don't like that. It doesn't
sit well. It doesn't taste well. And furthermore,
it's not according to God's Word. It tells me if I have Christ,
I've got it all. I've got everything. I'm complete
in Him. Look here in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians. Chapter 3. Look at the last three
verses. Therefore, verse 21, let no man
glory in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos,
or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come. All are yours, and you are Christ,
and Christ is God's. Brother Scott Richardson used
to say, God put all of his eggs in one basket. the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then He put His people in
the basket with Him. And we're complete in Christ. I don't come to Christ for justification,
then run to the law to try to work out some sort of holiness. Oh no, I'm complete in Him. Not long after God had saved
me, there was a lady who knew my grandmother. And she went
and told my grandmother, Mrs. Rhodes was my grandmother. She
said, Mrs. Rhodes, I'm sorry to have to
tell you this, but your grandson Larry, he's not sanctified. He's not sanctified. And you
know why? You know the reason she told
my grandmother that her grandson, though he was saved, could not
be sanctified? Because she saw me. You remember
in the summertime, these carnivals, these little carnivals would
come to town. Remember, Bobby, and they would set up at a mall.
They were usually just small things. Well, this lady came
by and she saw me at one of those with my children. And she said,
he's of the world. He can't be sanctified. You see,
because her religion was taste not, and touch not, and wear
not, and go not, and smile not, and don't be happy. No, she always
looked like she was in pain. And I suppose she was like her
shoes were too tight or something. And she said, Larry is of the
world. I often wonder, how did she see
me in that crowd anyway? Lindsay, I suspect she's on the
ferris wheel looking down her self-righteous nose at all us
worldly sinners. Christ's righteousness is not
a supplement to my own. Oh, no. Christ is all. And this sinner is complete in
Him. Look here in verse 30 of chapter
1. You know this so well. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, that is, of God, are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. My, that sounds pretty complete
to me. It sounds like if I have Christ,
I have all that I need. Who, Paul asks, who made you
to differ? Christ alone. That's the issue,
isn't it? That's the issue. The one issue. The only issue. Again, John the
Baptist said, he that came down from heaven, he's above all. He's preferred before me. That
is, he ranks higher than I. God has put all things into his
hand, not mine, John said. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And the Son says to every sinner,
look unto Me. Oh, even as I say those words,
I'm sending up a prayer to God now that He might open the eyes
of some blind sinner here today, that you might be made to see
The Lord Jesus Christ who says, look unto me and be ye saved. Not look unto me and you might
be saved. Oh, no, no, no. We're talking
about the great God and Savior. We are talking about that One
who's able to save to the very uttermost as much as you need
saving. He says, look unto me and be
ye saved. Young Mr. Spurgeon. He said,
after that wintery morning, leaving that primitive Methodist chapel
where God Almighty had removed the scales from his eyes, and
he saw Jesus Christ, his glorious substitute, bearing all of his
sins away, he said, I could have looked my eyes out. I never saw
such a sight. And he said, when I left that
chapel that morning, trudging back home through the snow, he
said, I wanted to sing to every snowflake falling from the sky
what God had done for my soul, beholding the Lamb of God. What do you think of Christ?
That's the issue. Jesus himself said, I am the
way. I'm the way. No man cometh to
the Father but by me. No man. Come unto me, he said,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Oh, Merle, is there anything? No, there's not. There's nothing
as sweet, as comfortable, as for a sinner to find rest. Oh, sweet rest. in the arms of
Jesus Christ himself. Religion tells sinners, do, do,
do. Work, work, work. Go, go, go. Go to the altar. Go to the priest. Go to the confirmation. Go to the catechism. Go, go,
go. And never find rest. Paul said,
that's how my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, y'all.
They're going about to establish their own righteousness because
they're ignorant of God's righteousness. And they're going about trying
to build a foundation by their own works, a foundation of acceptance
before the Holy Lord God. It's a futile work. It'll never
be done. They'll never find rest. And Paul said in the next verse,
Oh, but Christ, but Christ, He's the end. He's the end of the
law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Come unto
me, he said. Come unto me and find sweet rest
for your souls. A lot of you, I'm sure, as well
as I, have driven a good bit in the last day or so to be here. I left Alabama, and I went by
way of West Virginia. It's over 500 miles to spend
a few days with my mother, who still lives there. And then from
there, I drove another almost 300 down here. Driving on the
interstates, boring. It's just boring. They all look
alike. You drive along, man, that seat
gets hard. It just gets hard. And you're
thinking, man, there's a sign. Rest stop. Rest stop. Whip it in. A rest stop. Listen. Any thirsty sinners? Any needy
sinners here this morning? Anybody laboring under a sense
of their sin and unworthiness and absolute sinfulness, listen,
Jesus Christ says, rest up, rest up, come unto me all ye that
labor, and I will give you rest. For he that is entered into his
rest, doesn't that feel good? Isn't it wonderful just to rest,
just to fall down and rest on the finished Redemption of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The second word here in our text
is maketh. Who maketh thee that differ from
another? Notice it doesn't say who offered
to, or who attempted to, and certainly not who failed to.
No, no. Who maketh. maketh. God made Jesus Christ to be sin
for us. He who knew no sin, that we might
be what? Made the righteousness of God
in Him. Christ, as Brother Gene mentioned
a few moments ago, Christ makes sinners willing in the day of
His power. Really? He makes sinners willing. If He doesn't, listen, if He
doesn't, they'll never come. If left alone, people say, oh,
that's terrible. You mean God makes sinners come? He causes them to approach unto
Him? He makes them willing in the
day of His power? God does that? Oh, we say, that's
terrible, that's terrible. What about my free will? There
ain't no such critter. No such thing as your free will.
Oh, may God make you see. If He leads you to your will,
you'll perish. You'll perish. Oh, thank God
that He made His people willing in the day of His power. And
thank God that it's not of Him that will us. or of him that
runneth, but it's of God that showeth mercy." Thank God that
that's true. This is the Lord's doing and
it's marvelous in our eyes. Are you a self-made man? Who made you to differ? Who made you to differ? In Luke
18, that very familiar parable, our Lord spoke to certain who
trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. There stood that Pharisee. He's
a self-made man. Listen to him. He did all himself. Who made you to differ, Mr. Pharisee? I did. I did. I'm so thankful
that I'm not like other men. I'm not like him. I've made myself
to differ. He was a self-made man, a self-trusting
man, a self-righteous man. And he left that temple that
day just exactly like he was when he came in, trusting his
own self-righteousness. Very religious and very lost. But there was another there.
Oh, he's different. He's different. He's been made. made so by God's grace. Ooh,
I'd love to meet one. I'd love to meet one. Find me
someone like that publican. Oh, if I could find a debtor
that has nothing to pay, a dead, dog, bankrupt sinner, oh, I've
got good news for them. Someone who from the depths of
their heart is crying, God, be merciful to me. I'm the sinner. There's not another one like
me in this world. I'm the worst sinner there ever
was. Be merciful to me. They're hard
to find. God must make them so. Because
everybody today just about that you meet has made a decision
for Jesus. I think Brother Frank mentioned
this last night in his message. Preachers have been telling sinners
for generations salvation is easy. It's easy. It's all up to you. Churches
have been producing converts like Ford Motor Company spits
cars off an assembly line. And what have they got? What
has it produced? Multitudes. multitudes of professed
believers whose so-called conversion has produced no wonder, no marvel,
no bowing down in true worship, no adoration, like we sang a
moment ago, when I think that God His Son, not sparing, sent
Him to die, I scarce can take it in. No, no, because making
a decision doesn't produce that. Oh, but if God Almighty, if God
Almighty in sovereign mercy and grace comes to you and gets you
lost, gets you lost, I don't mean Saying, well, OK,
OK, I'll give you this much. I'm not as bad as everybody,
but I'm not everything I ought to be. No, no, no. I mean get
you lost. Bring you down. Down. Have you ever been? If you've
never been lost, you have never been saved. If you've never been
stripped, you've never been clothed. Oh, but if God does that gracious
work, as old Newton said, It was grace that taught my heart
to fear. Are you kidding me, David? That
was grace? That was grace? Grace made me fear to lie down
at night and dread to face another day in the morning? Grace did
that? Grace made me aware that I'm
the sinner? You're telling me God's being
gracious to me? Oh, yes. Yes. He's bringing me
down. And as old Newt went on to write,
oh, that amazing grace, that same grace that taught my heart
to fear relieved my fears, relieved my fears. The disciples asked
the Lord one time, who then can be saved? Religion says, well,
that's easy. That's easy. But Jesus Christ
said, no, it's not. It's not easy. It's impossible. It's impossible. Lazarus is dead. Lazarus is dead, he said. If
you're here without Christ this morning, so are you. You're dead. You're dead. And the only possibility
that you'll ever live is if He who is the resurrection and the
life comes to where you are, comes to where you are and speaks
life, spiritual everlasting eternal life into your soul. He spoke these words. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall what? Live. Live. Every time, Fred, every time,
the Lord Jesus Christ said, yes, Lazarus is dead, but I'm going
to awaken. I'm going to awaken. And that's
what he does. when he calls sinners to life
in faith in himself. He stands before the tomb of
Lazarus. And Martha said, Lord, he's been
in there four days. He stinks. The Lord said, roll
away the stuff. Martha, I told you if you'd believe,
you'd see the glory of God. You know what? I imagine that
Martha never thought about the resurrection the same way after
this, didn't she? Your brother's going to rise
again, Martha. Well, yeah, I know he will in the far off distant
resurrection. Martha, I am the resurrection.
And when she saw what he meant by that, when he said, Father,
I thank thee that thou hearest me, and I know that you hear
me always. But because of the people which stand by, I said
it, that they may believe that you've sent me. And when he had
thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. What's that? What's that? There
comes that dead Lazarus, but he's not dead
anymore. Here he comes shimmying out of
the tomb. What happened? Jesus Christ,
Jesus Christ who is the resurrection and the life, said to him, live,
live. He made Lazarus to differ. And you had he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. God, or rather Christ, makes
dead sinners live. He causes them to approach Him. He makes them to differ. And
they'll never be undone. He makes them righteous. He makes
them children of the living God. And you know what else? They
don't mind. They don't mind. They don't have
a problem with it. They gladly sing unto Him who
has loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. To
Him be glory forever and ever. Amen. Last of all. Will you be among that multitude
that sing that sweet song of praise, the Lamb of God? Who made you to differ? Who made you to differ? You're
not the product of your own doing, are you? You're not like that
Pharisee saying, I think you like that I'm not like other
men. I did all this. I've weaved this robe of righteousness. Who made you to differ? Are you
the work of God's grace or self-made? May God grant you grace alone,
through faith alone, in Christ alone, and He'll make you to
differ. The date of this conference usually
comes closer either on a date that I suppose linger in my mind Until that
day, God wipes away every tear and pain from this sinner. But 46 years ago, on September
the 4th, there was a young man I knew
very well. He looked up to me. I was a year
or two older than him, but he looked up to me. He followed
me around. And I taught him everything I
knew. Every ungodly thing I knew, Fred, I taught him. And on September
the 6th, 1969, he died in the back seat of an demolished car
right behind me, drunk on beer that I'd bought him. And now, here this sinner stands,
preaching the gospel of that blessed God that I once hated. Who made me that different? Who
made me that different? Who made that difference? The
God of all grace. If you're trusting something
you've done for yourself instead of what Christ has done, may
God give you grace this very moment to trust His Son. Turn, if you will, to 1 Corinthians
chapter 6 and we'll we'll come to a close. When I was a young boy back in
the mountains of West Virginia during the summer, one of my
friends would hear about a swimming hole that we didn't know about.
And we'd say, well, let's go find it. And we usually would
like to find a place where you would have to jump off rocks
to get down to the water off a cliff, you know. And we would
find this new hole, and not being familiar with it, somebody would
make their way down and get into the water and dive down. Then they'd come up and say,
it's safe. It's deep enough. I didn't touch
the bottom. Jump. Jump. John said, he showed me a river
of life, of pure water, of river of life flowing from the throne
of God and of the Lamb's tenor. Jump. Jump. Jump into this river,
this fountain of God's mercy and grace in Christ. You won't
touch the bottom. You won't touch the bottom. Listen. Here in verse 9 of 1 Corinthians
6, Know ye not that their unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God, be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor adopters, nor
adulterers, nor infeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. There they stand. What a filthy mess of sin and
corruption. That's all they are. That's all
they are. But they come to that fountain, that fountain filled with blood,
drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and they plunge in. And look
what happens. Such were some of you, but you
plunged in, and you're washed. and you're sanctified and you're
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God. Sinners, sinners without Christ,
jump in. Jump in. You won't touch the
bottom. You'll never touch the bottom.
His grace is more than sufficient. Fearful days, I remember Judy
singing this about me. Fearful days, I remember when
I first saw my sin. Saw the law I'd broken, saw my
judgment so grim. Oh, but then I cried out to Jesus,
and his word came to me. Child, my grace is sufficient,
sufficient for thee. I was lost, but he found me,
wandering far from my home, clothed in garments so filthy. And yet He gave me His own. You're looking at a sinner that is clothed in the perfect
righteousness of Jesus Christ. God Almighty accepts me just
as He accepts His Son. clothed in garments so filthy,
yet he gave me his own. And through eternity's ages,
this my glad song shall be. Yes, his grace is sufficient,
sufficient for me." God bless you.