While you're turning to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15, let me say how very delighted Shelby and I are to
at last meet you face to face, to be with you. Our congregation
in Danville pray for you regularly and thank God for the association
he's given us together and our labor together in the cause of
our Redeemer. For you that I didn't see this afternoon over at the
Fishers, Clay and Melinda have asked me to give you their warmest
greetings. Warmest greetings from Clay and
Melinda. They so much enjoyed being with you this time last
year. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Let's begin with verse 1. And I will be working my way
down to my subject and text in verse 10. Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which
also ye have received, and wherein ye stand. Understand that when Paul speaks
about the gospel, he here uses a definite article letting us
know that there is but one gospel, the gospel. It is called by many
names in the scriptures, the gospel of Christ, the gospel
of the kingdom, the gospel of the kingdom of God, the gospel
of peace, the gospel of the grace of God. But the gospel is one. Not many, but one. Not the badness
gospel or the Presbyterian gospel or Catholic gospel. The gospel. The gospel of the grace of God
is that which I preach to you. I have nothing else to preach.
There is no preaching. in the biblical sense of the
word, except gospel preaching. The preaching of this book is
the preaching of the gospel. This is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. So that whenever you read the
scriptures, understand the book of God was not written to give
us information about history or science. It wasn't written
to give us information about prophetic dogma or church dogma. The book of God was written to
give us information about God and His grace, the revelation
of the gospel, so that in the preaching of the word of God,
There is no true faithful exposition of any portion of Holy Scripture
until from that Scripture you have expounded the gospel. I
preached unto you the gospel. Paul said to the saints of Ephesus,
I have not shunned and declared to you all the counsel of God. And it says to the Corinthians,
I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. And he was saying the same thing
in both places. He's saying I preach to you the
gospel as I declare to you the word of God. It is the gospel
that every saved sinner, you and me, and all who are our brethren
in Christ, it is the gospel that you have received, willingly,
gladly, by faith in Christ Jesus received. So that the believer
receives with the embrace of faith. With the glad acknowledgement
of his heart, he receives the gospel, the truth of God, as
it is sealed to his heart in the experience of God's grace.
And it is the gospel wherein we stand in the grace of God,
having access to God, redeemed, justified, sanctified, accepted,
and kept in Christ Jesus. Look at verse 2. By which also
ye are saved if you keep in memory, quite literally, if you hold
fast, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you
have believed in vain. Is it possible to believe in
vain? Is it possible for one to believe
the gospel in vain? Indeed it is. It is the gospel
by which we are saved. It is the power of God unto salvation,
so that we are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the Word of God which lives and abides forever. This Word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. It is the gospel that
God uses by which He gives life to dead sinners, the preaching
of the gospel. And we're saved in hearing this
gospel if and only if we continue in the gospel. If you don't continue
in the gospel, your faith is but a vain, empty, meaningless
profession. There are many who began and
professed faith in Christ, professed the faith of the gospel, Judas,
Demas, Deocrates, many in the scriptures who walked well for
a season, but turned back. And the fact is that those who
believe God continue believing. Faith in Christ never quits. Verse three, for I delivered
unto you first of all, first in order of business, and first
in matter of importance. I delivered unto you, first of
all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures. I hope you understand this. The
gospel is not a doctrine or a system of doctrines. The gospel is not
a confession or a creed. The gospel is a person. The gospel
is the message of God, the revelation of God concerning the person
and work of his son. Notice this little three-letter
word, H-O-W. H-O-W. I deliver to you the gospel
which you receive. How that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. So, Brother Don, the word is
in italics. That means it was added by our
translators. It does indeed. And whenever you see a word in
italics in the authorized version, it is because the translators
are telling you there is no precise word in the original text which
can be translated this way. They translate it this way for
one of two reasons. Either to make the sentence read
more clearly, or because there is no other way to properly translate
the sense of the text. And what do we have here? Though
the word how is not in the original text, there is no proper translation
of the sentence here except with this word how, and indeed the
key to understanding what Paul is saying here is this word h-o-w. how that Christ died for our
sins. Not just the fact that Christ
died, was buried, and rose again. Not just that. Not just the historic
facts concerning the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Not
even doctrinal truth concerning the death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ. But rather, How it was that Jesus Christ, God's
Son, died for our sins according to the Scriptures. How is it
that He died according to the Scriptures? That He died for
our sins. Christ died according to the
Old Testament Scriptures. That's what Paul is referring
to here. He died as a sin-atoning sacrifice. He died by divine
appointment. at the precise time, the precise
place, in the precise manner, under the precise circumstances,
ordained by God as set forth in the prophets and in the law,
in the ceremonies of the law. On the Day of Atonement, the
High Priest was ordered by God to take a specific animal to
a specific place, to sprinkle the blood upon a specific altar,
to sprinkle the blood upon a specific mercy seat at exactly the time
God prescribed. It could not be done any other
time. God Almighty ordained and controlled
and brought to pass everything connected with the sacrifice
of His Son. He died for the satisfaction
of divine justice, so that God might be a just God and a Savior,
so that God might in justice forgive our sins. There is no
other way whereby God can put away sin but the sacrifice of
His Son. And our Lord Jesus died according
to the Scriptures as a substitute. You remember from the Man brought
the high priest's goats for sacrifice. They brought two goats. One the
Lord's goat, one the scapegoat. And the high priest would lay
his hands upon the head of the Lord's goat and confess over
the Lord's goat the sins of the people. Thereby showing in tight
how that God would make his son to be sin for us who knew no
sin. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And he would slit the goat's
throat, catch the blood in a basin, burn the sacrifice, take the
blood into the Holy of Holies, sprinkle it upon the mercy seat,
and come back out and put on his gorgeous priestly garments
again. And he would confess over the
scapegoat the sins of the people. Doing the same thing all over
now with the scapegoat, because it took two to show the picture.
And the scapegoat is put in the hands of a fit man and is led
outside the camp. And on he goes, and on he goes. Just that man to go to just two
dots going over the horizon in a little while. Here comes one
man, just one dot, the goat's gone. And so the Lord Jesus,
God's darling Son, took our sins away. He put them away by the
sacrifice of Himself. And when He was buried with our
transgressions being made sin, He rose from the dead without
sin, freed from sin, and so has freed us from sin. Our Lord Jesus
died, according to the Scriptures, as an effectual sacrifice, giving
access to and acceptance with the Holy Lord God. And as that
sacrifice prophesied and typified in the Old Testament Scriptures,
so our Savior died. All the sacrifices. All the events
of the Old Testament, those things that came to pass in the history
of Israel, those things recorded in Scripture are designed, they
were brought to pass by God to be pictures of redemption. The
Lord God is portraying His Son in the sacrifice of Abel. When
Abel's sacrifice was accepted, he offered to God the first things
of the flock. God set judgment upon the earth. But before he
sent judgment upon the earth, he shut up a chosen family in
the ark. And Noah and his family brought into the ark by the hand
of God. And God shut the door and sealed them into the ark.
Pitch within and without and pitching. Then God poured out
His wrath upon the earth. All the fury of His holy justice
He poured out upon the earth. And Noah suffered all of it.
But not a drop of rain touched Noah. for he was in the ark and
in the ark Christ Jesus we who are God's people have suffered
the wrath of God in all his holy fury and justice until justice
is fully satisfied and Christ Jesus dying in our stead we suffered
the wrath of God in him and yet the wrath of God never touches
God's elect we are made free from sin by the sacrifice of
our Redeemer look at verse 4 And then he was buried and then he
rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Once he had
died for our sins according to the scriptures, the Lord Jesus
was buried. according to the prophets of
the Old Testament, and He rose again on the third day. The psalmist speaks plainly concerning
our Lord's resurrection. We're repeatedly told in the
Old Testament how He would rise on the third day and our dead
bodies would rise with Him, so that when Christ died, we died.
When He arose, we arose. When He sat down with the right
hand of the majesty on high, being in union with Him, we sat
down with Him in heavenly places. As Jonah was in the belly of
the earth three days and three nights, so our Lord Jesus was
in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. And he
who was buried as the transgressor comes forth without sin unto
salvation. And then he arose the third day.
He arose that third day, quickened in His mortal flesh, and we,
quickened in our mortal bodies, rise with Him in resurrection
glory, both in the new birth and in His glorious second advent. Let's turn to Romans chapter
5 for a moment. Romans the fifth chapter. Hosea said after two days will
he revive us and the third day he will rise, raise us up and
we shall live in his sight. Back up to verse 25 of chapter
4. Christ was delivered for our
offenses. Delivered to the hands of justice
because of our offenses made His. And was raised again for
our justification. Raised again because of our justification
accomplished by Him. Therefore being justified. By
faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not
only so, but with glory and tribulation also. Knowing that tribulation
worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.
And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Not only so,
but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have now received the atonement. We have received this great gift
and work of reconciliation. The atonement by which man and
God are brought together in perfect harmony. Man and God are one
again in Christ Jesus the Lord by the sacrifice of his Son.
And back here in 1 Corinthians 15. verses 5 through 9, the apostle
tells us that the resurrection of Christ is an indisputable
fact of history. When you read the scriptures,
the book of God, as I said a moment ago, is not a book about history. It is not a book about science.
But wherever the word of God speaks concerning history or
science, no matter what you may think you know otherwise, the
book of God is true. The book of God is true. And
the resurrection of our Lord Jesus is an indisputable fact
of history. It is more clearly evidenced
than any single fact in history itself. Read what Paul says here.
And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that,
he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the
greater part remain unto this present. but some have fallen
asleep. After that he was seen of James,
then of the apostles, or all the apostles, and at last he
was seen of me also, as one born out of due season, or due time.
For I am the least of the apostles, and I am not meet to be called
an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." Now look
at verse 10. Here's my subject, and here's
my text. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. Paul says, I'm not fit to be
called an apostle, much less to be one. I'm less than the
least of all the apostles. He said, I persecuted the church.
I had the blood of God's saints upon my hands. But I obtained
mercy. I obtain mercy. I deserve to
have God's wrath, but I obtain mercy, not because I chose to
have it, not because I've earned the right to have it, not because
I made a decision to let God give it to me. Oh, a thousand
times no, but rather by the grace of God, I am what I am. And what Paul here declares,
true of himself, is true of every saved sinner in this world. Both those who have lived before
us, those who live now, and those who shall live here after us.
We gladly, consistently, constantly acknowledge, by the grace of
God, I am what I am. The writers of this book, the
Apostle Paul particularly in our text, and the writers of
this book from beginning to end, know nothing of human merits. nothing of the worth of human
works, nothing of human goodness, nothing of the power of man's
imaginary free will, but rather the testimony of the book of
God from beginning to end by many women who know God is by
the grace of God I am what I am. For this saved sinner There is
no creed, no confession of faith more suitable to his own experience
than this. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. We have all learned, we who know
God, Learned by experience to know and rejoice in Newton's
great hymn, Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see." Now, let me make three statements
in this message, and I want you to get them. First, understand
that this is my doctrinal confession. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. Second, understand that this
is my constant daily experience. And third, this is my grateful
acknowledgement. Number one, people ask frequently,
what is your creed? What do you believe? I pin my
name to no man's creed. No confession of faith. I refuse
to acknowledge any. I pin my name to that which I've
read in this book that God sealed to my heart by the experience
of His grace. This one thing I know. By the
grace of God, I am what I am. And if you're saved, you don't
owe your salvation to something you've done. You don't owe your
salvation to some distinct quality about you. If you're saved, you
don't owe it to those things and you full well know it. God's
people understand. All God's people understand.
The least of them to the greatest of them. All God's people understand
that we're saved by God's free grace without our works in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ. For those of you who are not
yet converted, If ever God saves you by His grace, you will know
from the beginning. that that salvation is not owing
to your goodness, but rather is by His grace. This is not
something we pick up along the way. This is not something we
learn as we grow and mature in the things of God. The dead man
who's made to live understands when he has life that life was
given him. The source of God's goodness
to us lies altogether in His sovereign mercy. If any sinner
is lost and goes to hell, it'll be all his own fault. Now you
hear me. You hear me. If you perish in
your sins, you will have no one to blame in eternity but yourself.
And you will fully acknowledge that in eternity forever. tormented in the isolation of
the agonies of hell with unnamed multitudes of damned men and
women, you will acknowledge I'm here because I fully deserve
the wrath of God. But if God saves you by his grace,
you will acknowledge now and forever by the grace of God,
I am what I am. We have none to praise but God,
and we recognize that this salvation is His work alone. First then,
let me tell you what I am. Not what I am by nature, but
what I am in Christ by the grace of God. I am a saved sinner. I'm a sinner who believes God. By the gift of His grace, by
the continual operation of His grace, I am a sinner forgiven
of all sin. All my sins, past, present, and
future, forgiven by God, completely blotted out by the blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son. I'm a son of God. Behold what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should
be called the sons of God. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. Right now, God's sons, heirs
of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you something
else. Look here. Look up here. You
could rightly call me Saint Don, Saint God. Well, you can't do
that. You'll have a halo around your
head. None of the saints do. Saint God. I'm looking at Saint
Andrews. I'm a saint. Do you know what
that means? I'm a sanctified sinner. I am
a holy man. made righteous in Jesus Christ,
made holy by God's free grace, by virtue of my union with Christ,
by virtue of life in Christ, and by virtue of Christ in me,
sanctified. This is true concerning all God's
elect. Paul wrote to the Corinthians. The Corinthians. He had some tough things to say
about the Corinthians. And by the way, he called them saints.
Saints. Not people who were in the process
of becoming saints. Saints. Sanctified folks. God's people, every heaven-born
soul is sanctified. Yes, I'm a sinner by birth, by
nature, by habit, by practice, and yet the God of all grace,
what a name for our God, the God of all grace declares that
I'm a saint, righteous, sanctified, a holy man. In fact, if you read
the New Testament carefully, You'll find that our Lord, God
our Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, the apostles of
our Lord, never once refer to God's people as sinners. Not one time. Not calling them
sinners. Oh, identify them as sinners.
And we identify ourselves as sinners. But they address them
as saints. In fact, The two names most commonly
used by which God's people are identified in the scriptures
are elect and saints. They're chosen and they're sanctified. Sanctified by the blood of Christ,
sanctified by God's free grace, sanctified in Christ Jesus the
Lord. Now, I know and confess myself
a sinner, yet God reckons that I am perfectly righteous. Turn
to Romans chapter 6, just back a few pages. Romans chapter 6. And I reckon God's right. What
do you think? Romans 6 verse 11. Likewise,
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." God says, now
this is how I reckon things are. I reckon you're dead to sin.
I reckon you're alive unto God by Christ Jesus the Lord. You
learn to reckon that way. If God reckons me righteous,
I reckon He's right. I'm perfectly righteous. A holy
man in Christ Jesus, accepted in the beloved, blessed of God.
And that's by God's sovereign decree. Accepted in the beloved
from eternity. Accepted in the beloved from
eternity. Now, when we start to talk about
eternity, That's kind of like a flea trying to describe an
elephant. It's just beyond us. We live for now in time. We think in time. We can't grasp
the fact that God doesn't exist in time. Time exists in God. We can't grasp the fact that
God's works, all his works were finished from the foundation
of the world. But that's what the book says.
And the scriptures declare that we were blessed of God with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, before
the foundation of the world. according as He hath chosen us
in Him from the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame before Him. In love He predestinated
us and then He made us accepted in to be loved. accepted with Christ, because
of Christ, because of all that Christ had done as our surety
from eternity when in the purpose of God redemption was accomplished
by the Lamb slain from the foundations of the world. So there never
was a time, there never was a time when God's elect were the objects
of His anger and wrath and fury. Now we were born children of
wrath just like everybody else. Born with a sense of judgment
and condemnation against our guilty consciences. And we could
know nothing of divine favor until we came to experience divine
favor. But our experience of grace is
not in any way the cause of God's work. Rather it is just a part
of God's work flowing to us from eternity. Turn back to 2nd Timothy
chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. The Apostle Paul is writing his
last inspired letter. I'm fully confident he knew this
was the last thing he would write by inspiration of God. He's writing
to his young son in the faith, Timothy. This man who perhaps,
in tenderness of his heart, was closer to Paul than any other
man walking on the earth. His last words are important.
And he writes to him and says, Timothy, don't be ashamed of
me, God's prisoner. Or the testimony of the gospel
for which I'm in chains and about to suffer death. And then he
identifies the gospel for which he is suffering. Look at verse
9. God hath saved us and called us within holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus, when? Before the world began. His purpose,
His grace, His calling, given us this salvation, given to us
before the world began. But we didn't have any being
before the world began. I beg to differ. We stood with
Christ in Christ before the world was as our covenant surrogate
and our mediator. And in Him, God Almighty saved
us and called us His sons. Now watch this. but is now made
manifest. Made manifest. Oh, I've been
praying for weeks now that God might be pleased to bring some
of you here to hear the word of His grace and make manifest
in your hearts experience of His grace. What He did for you
in Christ before the world began. You mean salvation is done for
eternity? And when we're saved? Why, that looks like God's just
letting us know what He's already done. Does that mean? That's strange, but then I'm
going to give you a deep, deep, deep point of theology. You ought
to write this down. You can go through five years
of Bible college and three years of seminary and another four
years, another seminary, you'll never learn this. So you write
this down, I'll give it to you real quick. When you're reading
this book, as you read this book, you read something like we just
read in 2 Timothy 1, 9 and 10, and whatever it appears to you
to be, The first time you read it, that's just about exactly
what it means. That's just about exactly what
it means. Well, Brother Don, that's hard-shelled doctrine.
I don't care if it's Catholic doctrine. It's true, it's true.
Look what it said, "...but is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and brought
life and immortality to life by the gospel." One day, 44 years
ago, pushing 45 now, I was sitting like you are in a church building,
listening to a man preach the gospel of God's grace and God
turned the light on in my soul. giving me faith in
Christ, which is the evidence of things not seen. Faith in
Christ, which declares I'm God's elect, which declares I'm loved
of God, which declares I'm redeemed by Christ, which declares I've
been called by grace, because God, by His gospel, calls the
light to shine in my heart to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord. This
righteousness that's mine is by divine imputation. I'm made
righteous, a saint, a holy man, because that which Christ did
for me has been imputed to me. It is mine on record before God. How can that be? How can that
be? Does God declare something to
be true that's not true? Does God pretend that we're righteous
when we're really not righteous? Of course not. Of course not.
When the Lord Jesus was made sin for us, God Almighty slaughtered
his son in all the just fury of his holy anger because God
saw it. fully deserved to suffer the
hell of God's justice in our state. He was made sin. He was made sin. And the sin
could not be justly imputed had He not been made sin. And he
who fully received the reward, the just reward of our transgressions,
suffered all God's wrath until justice was fully satisfied.
And when God Almighty rewards us with everlasting salvation
in heaven's glory, it shall be because we fully deserve all
the glory of heaven itself. Fully deserve to pass on that
day when Christ, obeying God's law, shall be fortunate. Obeying
God's law. When He brought in everlasting
righteousness, we live in Him in perfect obedience to God.
And He, suffering the wrath of God, has put away Isaiah. His
righteousness is imputed to us, and we shall be rewarded accordingly.
Not only is this righteousness imputed to us by the sacrifice
of God's Son on our behalf, but this righteousness is given to
us in the new birth. You see, when a sinner is born
again, God gives him a new nature, a holy nature. There is that
new man, Ephesians 4.24, created in righteousness and in true
holiness. That new man called being made partakers of the divine
nature in 1 Peter 1, 2 Peter 1. That new man that's described
as a new creature in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Turn to John chapter
3, 1 John chapter 3. 1 John 3. In the new birth, God doesn't
change what we are by nature. This old man must die. This old man doesn't suddenly
become partly righteous and partly sinful. But God puts a new man
in us. Look here in 1 John 3, verse
1. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons
of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
We've been talking a good bit the last 24 hours, but the world,
they don't know us. The world can't understand. Your
own sons and daughters, your own husband and wife just can't
understand what motivates you, why you do the things you do.
The world doeth us not because it knew Him not. Now read on. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know
that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall
see Him as He is. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. That doesn't
mean he purifies himself by cleaning up his life. You're not any cleaner before
God when you're sober than you are when you're drunk. I meant to say that just the
way I did. You're not any more pure before God when you're sober
than you are when you're drunk. You can't purify yourself by
what you do. We purify ourselves by faith
in Christ, believing the testimony of God. We purify ourselves even
as He is pure. Read on, verse 4. Whosoever committeth
sin transgresseth also the law. For sin is the transgression
of the law. And you know that He was manifested to take away
our sins. Christ came in the flesh, the
Word was made flesh to take away our sins. Now watch this. And
in Him is no sin. Well, Brother Don, does that
mean in Him, as an individual person, there is no sin? Or does
that mean in Him, as our mediator, there is no sin? Yes, that's
what it means. In Him is no sin. In Him is no sin. In Him we are
f-r-e-e-d freed from sin. from sin, holy, holy, right before
God, pure before God, without sin before God. There's a little
religious cliche. I learned it when I was a boy
a long time ago. God saved me for a new thing,
all about the grace of God. I'd hear folks say justified.
That means just as if I'd never sinned. No, it doesn't. No, it
doesn't. It means I never sinned. That's what it means. Christ
took my sins away. He didn't pretend. He took them
away. And in Him is no sin. Read on. Verse 6. Whosoever abideth
in Him sinneth not. Now, that's in the present tense. Perhaps that's talking about
a habitual course of sin. But if you read it that way, That's
just not so. That's just not so. You who are
gods, bear me witness. Either bear me witness or sit
me down and I'll let you talk. When do you not sin? At what point? At what time? In your thoughts? Which of you
are not sinning now? But it says, whosoever abideth
in Him sinneth not. Let's read on and see if we can
find out what it's talking about. Our hands. are polluted. Our hearts are
polluted. Everything we think, everything
we do, everything we say is polluted with what we are by nature, sin. So there's no possibility that
there's some point at which we do not sin in ourselves. That
cannot be the case. What's he talking about? Whosoever
sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Verse 7, little children,
let no man deceive you, He that doeth righteousness is righteous,
even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Now watch this. Whosoever is
born of God doth not commit sin. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him.
And he cannot sin. He cannot sin. He's born of God. He's born of God. It's the same. It's saying exactly
what you experience every day. Exactly what you experience every
day. The believer is a man, a woman,
with two constantly warring natures. Not two philosophical principles. Two constantly warring natures. When a person is born again by
God's grace, Christ takes up residence in you. He doesn't
stand at your heart's door and knock and beg for you to let
him in. First time you know he's around, he knocked the door down,
bolted the bar, and he's sitting on the throne inside. And he
ruled! in His own, making us new in
Himself. And that new man created in you
can not sin. Paul said, when I sin, it's no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. And the life
which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son
of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. So that the believer
has this nature of flesh, of Adam, that is nothing but sin
and can do nothing but sin. In this new nature, Christ in
you the hope of glory. born of God, that holy seed that
cannot save because it's born of God, and the two are constantly
at war with one another. And bless God, this flesh soon
shall cease to be. And when this body is laid in
the dust of the earth, this flesh, this man that's in me by nature,
shall no longer be. But Christ, the new man, lives
on forever, and I live on forever by God's free grace. in Him,
with Him, and one with Him. Salvation, the new birth, causes
us to be blessed men and women, heirs of God, joint heirs with
Christ. I'm a man at rest. At rest. People talk about Sabbath
keeping, And some of you may, but you don't. You don't, no. Folks who talk about Sabbath
keeping, they're lying to themselves, lying to you. Nobody keeps a
Sabbath day. Nobody keeps a Sabbath day, except
the believer. And every believer does. We rest
in Christ. He's our Sabbath. What did God
do on the Sabbath day? On the first Sabbath day, do
you remember what He did? He rested. He wasn't tired, but
rested. He quit working. And thus portrayed
what the Sabbath is all about. To believe on the Son of God
is to quit working. It's to quit working. It's to
rest in Christ. Every man by nature has a religious
refuge and he runs to it and he clings to it and he'll hold
on to it till he goes to hell with it. But your refuge of lies
is compared to a bed that's too short and a man can't stretch
himself upon it. Every sleep on a bed that's too
small for you, you can look at me and guess I have often done
so. You don't get much sleep. You can't stretch out. You can't
be comfortable. On a cold night, did you ever
try to wrap up in some covers that just wouldn't cover your
body? You just can't rest. There's just no rest. That's
what religion does for most folks. You sort of have a little something
that gives you some ease of conscience for a little bit, but there's
no peace, no rest, no confidence before God, no assurance of acceptance
with God. No confidence of righteousness. No silence of guilt. No ease of conscience. No peace of heart. You can pretend
it and fake it in front of folks, but when you're alone, you and
God. And eternity, no rest. Listen
to it. I have no dread of God. But I guess I see the truth when
I'm lying to you. I see the truth of a false prophet,
won't I? No dread of God. I'm not terrified
of God. I'm not afraid of God. I'm not afraid of God. I used
to be. Oh, I used to be terrified of
the thought of meeting God, I suppose. Terrified! So terrified I couldn't
sleep, so terrified I nearly went insane with fear, until
God revealed Christ to me and the rest. Suddenly, suddenly
this man who dared not think of God, lift his heart to heaven
and cried, my father. Imagine that. You lift your eyes to heaven
from your soul and with confidence call God your father. My father. It's called faith
in Jesus Christ the Lord. That's my glad confession of
faith. And this is my constant abiding
daily experience. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. I know what I am by nature. I know what I was and where I
was when God stopped me in my mad rush to hell. And I acknowledge
by the grace of God I am what I am. When I deal with the struggles
in my soul, my flesh, corruptions, the lust
of my utterly depraved heart, I acknowledge by the grace of
God I am what I am. When the Lord God preserves me
in the midst of many temptations and trials, Temptations and trials
by which others have been destroyed. Others whom I esteemed strong,
mighty examples of faith. And God preserved me in the midst
of them. What's the difference? By the grace of God, I am what
I am. And when I fall, the wise man
said, the righteous falleth seven times. Falls seven times. What on earth is that man? The
righteous falls all the time. All the time. And the Lord raises
him up. And by the grace of God, I am
what I am. When I've been privileged to
experience a little bit of reviving in my soul, at the time of horrid declension,
I acknowledge by the grace of God I am what I am. Five years ago I had an experience
after heart surgery and some complications in the hospital. An experience I've never had
before. I hope never to have again. For
the first time in my life, I spent 10, 14 days, 15 days, when God
wouldn't speak to me and wouldn't let me speak to Him. What horrid, dark, dark days. Shelby would sit by my side. We'd do meds in the hospital.
You're familiar with the experience. We'd chat. But the heavens were brass and
nothing but darkness above me. And then one day she read to
me, I believe it was May the 15th, if I remember correctly,
Spurgeon's morning reading for that morning from John chapter
17 and verse 15, I think it is, where the Savior said, I will
not, that thou shouldest take them out of the world. and for
the first time in over two weeks heaven opened to my soul and
God spoke and let me speak to Him and in such times I acknowledge
by the grace of God I am what I am. You see when you can pray
it's because God teaches you to pray and when you can believe
God it's because God gives you faith to believe Him. When you
Have God's Word speak to you. It's because God by His Spirit
speaks. And unless God speaks to you,
you can't speak to Him. Unless God gives you faith, you
can't believe Him. Unless God puts prayer in your
heart, you can't pray to Him. And then when I'm made to rejoice
in the fullness of Christ's blessings and goodness, the bounteous grace
of God in Christ Jesus. I gladly confess by the grace
of God, I am what I am. And soon, I will meet Christ
in glory, and I will gladly acknowledge, as he says to me, And I fully expect to hear it.
I fully expect to hear God Almighty speak to me and say, well done,
thou good and faithful servant. Well done. Because Christ has
done all for me. And I have obeyed God entirely
in Him. And I will acknowledge by the
grace of God, I am what I am. And this is my grateful acknowledgement. For who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? And if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? You know what you were and what
you are, but now you're washed. You're justified, you're sanctified
by the Spirit of our God, by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by God's free grace in Him. Oh, how consecrated, how devoted,
how entirely Christ I ought to be in my soul. You're not your own. Hear God speak, Don Fortner,
you're not your own. You're bought with a price. So
glorify God in your body and in your spirit with your gods.
God do that for me and God do that for you for Christ's sake.
Our Father, oh God, our Father, thank you for your bounteous
free grace in Christ the Lord. Forgive us our sin, set our hearts
upon our Savior, and accept our praise through Christ I ask.