You'll take your Bibles now and
turn back with me to 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. Paul speaks in this
chapter, following what he said in chapter 4, about that glorious
light which God commanded to shine out of darkness. He said,
He shined in our hearts. the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ our Lord. He's made us to see that glory. He's shined that in our hearts,
and we believe it, and we walk in it, and we embrace Him, and
we look forward to all those benefits. We have a house. If this house be dissolved, we
have a house in the heavens, not made with hands. And then
he goes down here to verse 11, and he speaks of judgment. He
speaks of death, this body being dissolved. It's appointed unto
man once to die, and after that, the judgment. And he speaks of
this judgment. Now listen to what this man says.
He says in verse 11, he said, knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord. Now, I can tell you this. I can
tell you by the reactions of men that not all men know the
terror of the Lord. You can see a difference. There
is a physical difference in a person who knows something about the
terror of the Lord. He's not the same. He used to
be real flippant. Huh? He used to sing them songs,
me and Jesus got a good thing going. He could go clap his hands
and sing and be real flippant about this thing. But he's not
flippant anymore. He knows something about the
terror of the Lord. And Paul said, he didn't say
he used terror to persuade men, but he said, I know that terror,
therefore I persuade men. I persuade men." Who did he persuade? He persuaded those who didn't
know it. That's who he persuaded. What is this terror of the Lord
that Paul knew that caused him to suffer the wise man's insults
as he did here in Corinth? The Apostle Paul, he said of
himself one time, he said, I'm not one whit behind the cheapest
of the apostles. God used this man to write half
the New Testament. I don't care. The wisest of men
could have come up to him. He could have chewed them up
and spit them out. No problem. No problem. But he didn't. Why? Because he knew something
about this terror. And that's what caused him to
suffer the wise man's insults, as he did here in Corinth, and
the religious man's wicked persecution as he did from the Jews, and
the worldly man's vile actions as he did from some that he calls
those of the baser sort. Paul withstood all these things,
all these persecutions. He withstood and continued on
to persuade men. Why? Because he knew their final
end. You know, you remember over in
the Psalms, David said he got upset. He got upset when he looked
at the wicked and how they were prospered in life, and they didn't
want for anything. They all got four cars and two
homes, one in the south, one in the north, and they just,
anything and everything a man could ever want, they got. They
don't have trials. Here, his children, he had trial
after trial after trial. These men didn't have any trials,
and they go up to die, and there's no bands in their death. And
he was angry about this. Angry about this. until he went
into the house of God, and God showed him their end. Then he knew something about
the terror of the Lord. Why would this man whom the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself lifted him up and taught him
in the third heaven, and who possessed the gifts and calling
of the Holy Ghost, tolerate such things and continue on as best
he could to persuade men of the truth. I'll give you two reasons. First of all, he knew that through
preaching was the only way any man ever going to hear. That's
why he didn't quit. Boy, I tell you sometimes, I
won't take my hat I wore a hat for years. I didn't go anywhere
without a hat on. I had a little carpenter's hat and a pencil
by my ear. Makes me want to take my hat
off, throw it down, and just say, I quit. I quit. What's the
use? There is no quitting. Nobody's going to hear without
a preacher. Now, it ain't going to happen.
I'm just telling you the truth. I just came back from the center
of this country, and you talk about a vacuum. There's nobody
up there anywhere preaching the gospel of God's sovereign grace.
Nobody. It's a giant vacuum. I got a
thing on my email a couple of days ago from a fellow up in
Missouri. He said, do you know anybody
anywhere near me preaching the gospel? Well, no, not within
150 miles. No, I don't. I don't. There's
a giant vacuum right down through the center of this country. And
that's the way it is all over the world. That's the way it
is. And I'm telling you this, if
God don't send them a preacher, they ain't going to hear. That's
just the way it is. They ain't going to hear. He knew that this was the only
way God had revealed to him that any man could be turned from
his sins. He said, God separated me unto
the gospel. God did. He said, we have received
grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations
for his name. We received that of God. He said,
I understand that. He knew this. It wasn't an option. It wasn't one of many options.
But God separated him to this. And not only did he separate
him to the gospel, but he separated him to a ministry to the Gentiles,
who didn't know anything. They were just plumb heathen. That's all they were. Of course,
so were the Jews. They just didn't know it. He said, God sent me to preach
the gospel, and the gospel I preach to them who are perishing, he
said, is foolishness. But unto us which are being saved,
it is the power of God. And Paul and Peter and these
other men believed in the necessity of the preaching of the gospel,
and so they suffered all manner of persecution that this gospel
be preached. Now, I'm telling you, if there's
any other way, every one of them was martyred but one. And he
died in exile. You think about it. In one place
in the book of Acts, it calls baptism being baptized for the
dead. John, they'd take them out to
the creek and they'd baptize them out there. And as sure as
they baptized them, here's the enemies of Christ watching them
to put them to death. They knew that when they went
under that water, they'd mark themselves out for martyrdom,
but they went under there anyway. Baptized for the dead. We say
here, Scrappy, I don't know if I want to be baptized. Huh? How ignorant we are. How ignorant. They suffered all manner of persecution
in order for as many as possible to hear the gospel. And then
secondly, Paul knew the terror of the Lord. What is this terror? I believe this terror consists
of four things. First of all, Paul knew something
of the holy, just, and righteous character of God. Now, I've heard
God since I was old enough to walk. I've heard the name God. I've been in church services
in all kinds of different religions. I've been in Baptist, Catholic,
Lutheran, Pentecostal, you name it, I've been in there. I've
heard what these men had to say. And I've heard them stand up
and talk about God and who God is and all this kind of stuff.
And I didn't know God. And they don't either. And you
can't tell what you don't know. None of those things ever bothered
me. None of those things ever caused
me to fear or tremble. None of those things ever broke
me. None of those things ever caused me to seek the Lord. I'll
tell you what will cause you to seek the Lord when you find
out God's holy. He's holy. He's more holy than
you can even imagine. He's more righteous. He won't
spare His Son. That's how righteous God is. Here's a people and He's determined
to save them, but He ain't going to save them until He punishes
their sin. Until he's exacted from them
to the uttermost everything that his holy nature demands. He don't save any of them. Not
until he does that. And he did that in Christ. But
my friend, if you're outside of Christ, you still got it to
pass. He knew something. God's holy
character buried this world in a sea of water. He didn't spare
any. Eight people, by the grace of
God, he put on an ark. Everybody else died. Everybody
else. Buried this world in a sea of
water. We sit around talking about old gray-haired grandma
and all that. God buried every one of them.
He grounded every one of them. Every one of them. Jude tells
us that he cast out the angels that sinned. They kept not their
first estate. Well, we didn't either. We didn't
either. But he didn't make provision
for those angels. There was no atonement for the
angels. There was no mercy. There was
no grace. There was nothing. All that's
in Christ. You think that's just a general thing, just a universal
thing. God tells you just so you don't
think that, that the angels that sinned, there was no mercy for
them. They kept not their first estate, and God bound them in
chains of darkness, and they're reserved unto everlasting fire. That's God's holiness. And then
above and beyond all that, He demonstrated beyond all doubt
His holy, just, and righteous character. by pouring out his
wrath and vengeance on his beloved son. I hope this lodges deep
into your mind and heart. He spared not his own son. Now, some of you hoping to be
spared in that day based on whatever outside of Christ. And I'm telling
you, if he spared not his own son, he ain't going to spare
you. He said, I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. I will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. But he said, Moses, you know
this. I will by no means clear the guilty. That ain't going
to happen. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. And there's just no such thing
as a believer who don't know and fear God. If you don't fear
God, you don't know God. The only ones of which this statement
is made in the Scripture is of those that he said are yet in
their sin, they're under sin. He said there is no fear of God
before their eyes. None. None. Job said the moon. And it shineth
not, yea, the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man
that is no more than a wiggling maggot. And then the second thing
that constitutes this terror of the Lord is an understanding
that nothing can be hidden from his eyes. You can hide things
from me, and you can hide things from your husband, and you can
hide things from your kids. But you can't hide things from
God. God sees everything. He sees
what you can't see. Those Jews said, we'd be not
sinners, we'd be not born in fornication. That ain't what
God said. They couldn't see it, but He
did. He did. You couldn't have paid them enough
money to confess that Satan was their father. But God saw it. Huh? I'm telling you, the Holy Spirit
of God who inspired the Word of God has so incorporated God's
character within its pages that in Hebrews 4, verse 12, He says
it has the ability to discern. This book has the ability to
discern the thoughts and intents of your heart. It reveals them,
and I preach them to you, but men don't believe it. But it
discerns them anyway, whether you own up to it or not. And
he assures us in verse 13 that there is no creature that's not
manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open under
the eyes of him with whom we have to do. And then the third
thing that constitutes this terror is the knowledge of a fixed and
final judgment. There's no appeal from this court. Now, he likened this in one of
the gospel account, he likens this unto somebody who came and
made some charges, and you're on your way to the judge, and
he said, you better settle before you get there. You better settle
this thing, because I'm telling you there's a judgment, a fixed
and final judgment, from which there is no appeal. Oh, you think you're going to
come down to judgment and daddy's going to be standing there and
mama's going to be standing there that used to pat you on the head?
Heaven and earth are going to flee from Him that sits on the
throne. There ain't nobody going to be there but you and Him.
And this world and their majorities and multitudes that stood there
patting you on the back saying, if this wasn't so, we all wouldn't
believe it. They ain't going to be there
either. It's just going to be you and Him that sits on the
throne. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
20. Folks who don't read the Word
of God, they often speculate and debate about the judgment,
but it's mentioned far too often in the Word of God for the reader
not to see it. Look at this here in Revelation
chapter 20, verse 11. This is John, the Apostle John,
and he's speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. And
he said, I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it,
from whose face earth and heaven fled away. And there was found
no place for them. No place for them. No place for
their sympathetic looks and their input and their ideas and concepts. No place for their interjections
and opinions. Well, I just think, no, I ain't
there no more. That's all gone when you leave
this world. Just Christ alone whose scepter
is the scepter of righteousness. And old Satan ain't there anymore
either, whispering his false peace in your ear. And Daddy
and Mommy ain't there teaching you their vain traditions. And
the world ain't there now to comfort you with its multitudes
and majority of sanctions. It's just you and Christ. Just you and Christ. It's just
you and the all-discerning eyes of God. Now watch this, verse 12, And
I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books
were opened. And another book was opened,
which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out
of those things which are written in the books according to their
works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. I'm telling you, judgment's coming.
It's coming. You can deny it. You can explain
it away. You can do all the things that
natural men do. But it's coming. It's coming. There was a day when God was
laying the foundation in type and figure of the coming Messiah
and His works. And He was using types and symbols
and figures and a priesthood and a people and all kinds of
natural things. And in that day, God went there. He tolerated. He put up with. all the long-suffering of God.
He put up with all that idolatrous mess, both in Israel, who didn't
understand the types, and in this world, who mimicked them.
He tolerated it. But in Acts chapter 17, Paul
said, now since Christ has come, God no longer winks at those
things. And He commands all men everywhere
to repent. Not from their sins. That's not
what that repentance is about there in Acts chapter 17, although
sin is inclusive in it. But he's talking about those
old images and figures and ideas and concepts of religion. Repent. Turn away from it. Because God
hath appointed a day in which He'll judge this world in righteousness
by that man whom He hath ordained. And then fourthly, the last thing
that constitutes the terror of the Lord is the knowledge that
all this unbelieving world and Satan and his angels and those
deceived by him will be cast into everlasting hell. I've met lots of folks who say
they don't believe in a literal hell, but I never met a believer
who'd say that. I can go out here and find some
agnostics that won't sit out here in the corner and stand
out and hope and shake their fist. If there be a God, strike
me down with lightning. He will. He will. God doesn't settle His accounts
in October. That's right. He'll settle His
accounts. You'll feel the fire soon enough.
Soon enough. I'm telling you there is a hell.
There is a hell. Jude describes hell as a blackness
of darkness forever. I can't even imagine that. That's
beyond my imagination. In Revelation, it's described
as a bottomless pit, an eternal falling. You're just going to
keep falling. You're never going to hit bottom. You're just going
to contend. Our whole lifetime, we're falling. We fell in Adam.
But our nature, we're falling. Evil men and seducers wax worse
and worse. We're just falling. It's a constant
falling from God. In hell, all the restraints are
gone. And you fall forever. A bottomless
pit. He also calls it a lake of fire. I don't know what that means. He calls it a fire that shall
not be quenched. And in Matthew 25, verse 46,
He calls it a place of everlasting punishment. Have you ever been
punished? Wasn't any fun, was it? Huh? What was it, a switch or something? What about hell? Everlasting
punishment by an all-knowing God who knows how to punish them. Don't fear man. All he can do
is destroy your body. You better fear God. He can destroy
both soul and body in hell. And all those cast into hell
will hear the voice of the only ransom I hope you can hear what
I'm saying. They're going to hear the voice
of the only ransom ever given to escape that place. Say to
them, depart from me. I never knew you. That's right. Eternal separation
from God. Eternal separation from all hope. No hope. You talk about long
face. I've been in a hospital several
times when a doctor came out with the bad news. And he comes
out generally with his head down and doing this. Hell is eternal. And there's
no hope. No hope. And then Ralph Barnard
brought a message one time and the title of it is God's Butthole.
And this he likened to the witness of God in their consciences that
will chase them through all eternity. They'll remember every time they
were warned. They'll remember every time they
were pointed to Christ. They'll remember. And that conscience
will chase them through eternity. You think that rich man in hell
who lifted up his eyes at Lazarus didn't remember? And just in case he didn't, he
said, son, remember. Ain't that what he told him?
Oh yeah, you'll remember. You'll remember. When the Apostle Paul said, knowing
the terror of the Lord, he knew that one day soon, here's what
terrorized him, he knew that one day soon he'd see their faces
again in judgment. That's right. You look up here
at me this morning. I want you to look at me. I'm
going to see your faces again at the judgment. I hope we both see one another
there smiling. I do. I hope that. But either
way, either way, we're going to see one another. And I'm going to give an account
for what I said to you, and you're going to give an account for
what you heard. I'm telling you. Our Lord said, every man shall
give an account for every idle word he's spoken and every word
he hears. And I tell you from my heart,
I don't want to see your face in hell at judgment and know
that I withheld something from you. Vital to you for the sake
of some temporary peace in this world. If what I say makes you
jumping up and down mad, I didn't say it to make you mad. I said
it because it's vital to your soul. And you better hear it.
You better hear it. Paul said, for we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ. And he says in verse 12, So then
every one of us shall give an account. Romans 14, 11. He said,
As I live, saith the Lord, every knee is going to bow to me, and
every tongue is going to confess to God. So then every one of
us shall give an account of himself to God. And in the light of these
things, there's five things that I want to... I must. I must. It ain't just that I
want to do it. I must do these things. to be
faithful to declare to you before you go to judgment that will clear my conscience
in that day. And I can look at you and say
from my heart, I did everything I knew to do. I said everything
I know to say. There's five things. that I must be faithful to declare
that will give me a clear conscience, both now and also in that day.
That's what Paul told them there at that church when he left them.
He said, you're not going to see my face anymore, but my conscience
is clear from the blood of all men, because I had not shunned
to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. I didn't hold
anything back. I let her fly. The first thing
that I must declare to all who are brought to hear my voice
is that all of Adam's race is already condemned of God. It's not waiting to be condemned. They're already condemned. Christ
said, I came not to judge. I come to save. Because you're
already condemned. I didn't have to come to condemn.
God condemned this world and Adam. By one man sinning at the
end of the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
us. It's already happened. They are right now. Ephesians
2, verse 3. Paul talks about those believers
that God had quickened. And he told them that they were
as others children of wrath. That's what he said when God
passed. Man fell in the garden of God
some 6,011 years ago, and in all that time, not one righteous
son or daughter has ever been produced by his seed. Now, I
want you to listen. This is a man that God said is
a man after my own heart, David. You can question me, but you
can't question him. David said, I was shapen in iniquity
when I was formed in the womb. There he is in the womb, that
little seed, and it's being shaped. Ain't no better to hold it in
your hand, that little old seed being shaped. It's shaping in
iniquity. And in sin did my mother conceive
me. In Psalm 58.3, he said, the wicked
are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they
be born, speaking lies. And in Job 15, 14, he said, what
is man that he should be clean, and he which is born of a woman,
that he should be righteous? Behold, God putteth no trust
in his saints. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in his sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man that drinks iniquity like water? We're already condemned
of God. Now, you can come brag to me
and compare yourself to me, and you'd probably come out shining.
But that's not what judgment's about. God's going to judge you
according to that man, that righteousness. And perhaps the most descriptive
definition of man in all the Scriptures given by Isaiah the
prophet in the 64th chapter of his prophecy, he said, we are
all, every one of us, as an unclean thing. Like a dead, stinking
corpse. Like a leprous man. Those are
things unclean. And all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. Oh, preacher, we know we're sinners,
do you? Do you? Sinners don't justify their sins. Read Psalm 51, David said he
confessed exactly what he was, both his sin and his sin, and
he justified God. He justified God. He can justify
himself. That's a self-righteous man who
justifies himself. Paul embarrassed the life out
of Peter. Peter was Now I'm telling you,
read the Bible. Peter was considered to be the
cheapest of all the apostles. They all respected him. They
gave him that. He was a big man, intimidating
man, and he was impulsive, but he was true, and he didn't care.
He'd go out and meet the... He's the only one in the whole
outfit to jerk the sword out when they come to get crying.
They respected Peter. But Paul withstood him to the
face. You know what Peter did? He never opened his mouth. Huh? He didn't try to justify himself,
did he? John Mark wrote the book of Mark. That's who penned the
scriptures. Paul sent him away. John Mark never opened his mouth.
And none of the rest of them did either. I'm telling you, when God convicts
you of sin, if He ever does, convinces you of sin, you quit
justifying yourself. They can't pile enough terms
up to cause you to be angry and fly up and say, well, I wouldn't
do that. No, you just bow your head. That's all you do. Hold
your hand up. That's me. That's me. You'll never find yourself at
the back of the line looking up at the old man up there in
the front who's got his head down and crying before God. saying,
have mercy upon me, the sinner. You'll never find yourself in
the back of the building looking at him saying, boy, I'm sure
thankful I ain't like him. No, you'll be worse than him.
Worse than him. We know we're sinners, do you? Sinners are not proud men demanding
their rights. They're not arrogant men justifying
their deeds. Sinners are not wise men speaking
to gain attention to themselves. Sinners are beggars. They sit
like old blind Bartimaeus on a filthy blanket, and they sit
there and beg until God comes and shows them mercy. And when
he does, they know where God found them. You think Mephibosheth,
when he come in expecting death, and David said, no, I'm not going
to kill you, There was a covenant made on your behalf, and you're
as one of my sons, and you're going to sit at my table. You
think Mephibosheth ever forgot where he come from? Huh? Sinners. Sinners are ignorant
men. Shut up to be taught of God.
They're not teachers. They don't come teaching. Nicodemus
came to teach Christ. He was going to teach Christ.
He was going to criticize Christ. And God shut him up. And when
he did, he didn't have no more questions. He didn't have any
more questions. That whole mob of professing
Christians walked away from Christ when he started talking about
eating his flesh and drinking his blood. The whole outfit walked
away. And the Lord watched them go. And he turned around to twelve
and he said, you going to go too? What did they tell him? We ain't got anywhere to go.
You got the words of life, huh? That's a sinner. That's a sinner. He's ignorant. He knows. He ain't
got the words. He waits on the Word. If God
pleased to give it to him, He will. If He ain't, He'll pass
it by. He knows that. He knows that. Those under sin take their place
with those God defines as non-righteous. None that understandeth, none
that seeketh after God, none good. And I'll tell you this,
the sinner don't sit at the table, he's the dog under the table
waiting for the scraps. You go back and read how God
defined the faith of that woman. He said, it's not me to give
the children's bread to dogs. She took her place as the dog,
didn't she? He said, I ain't found faith like this in all
Israel. In order for me to have a clear
conscience in the day of judgment, I must tell you the truth about
yourself. There is no potential, no hidden
talent, no spark of goodness, no Christian virtue. This flesh,
at its best state, is altogether vanity. And this flesh is going
to stand before God and give an account for itself, and it
can't produce what that judgment demands. Now you better hear
what I'm telling you. There's only one way you're going
to survive that judgment, by the grace of God. That's it.
Period. End of story. To be true to your souls and
to myself and free myself from all responsibility toward you,
I must tell you that the only way you're going to survive this
thing is by the free, eternal, sovereign grace of God. If he's
not pleased to show you mercy, you ain't going to find none.
All you're going to find is a false refuge. All you're going to find
is peace, peace where there is no peace. My nephew asked me
one time, he said, well, if all these things you're telling me
is true, he said, how can I determine who's preaching the truth and
who ain't? I said, you never will but by the sovereign grace
of God. You won't. You just find what
appeals to you. And that's where you'll go. The source and foundation of
all grace is God the Father. The mediatorial channel of all
grace is God the Son. And the bestower of the grace
of God is the Holy Spirit. And the means of that grace is
the preaching of the gospel. The gospel addresses every descendant
of Adam as a fallen, polluted, hell-bent sinner who is utterly
incapable of changing his condition. and yet headed headlong unto
judgment. He's a sinner from the inside
out, not from the outside in. And he's a sinner by choice,
and he's a sinner by practice. And nothing short of an intervention
of God can alter his destiny. A preacher, what if he decides
to turn over a new leaf, that leaf just like the one he's got? Same leaf. What if he quits all of his bad
habits and joins the church and teaches Sunday school and supports
the work and lives out all his days as a faithful member of
the church? He's going to come up before
God in judgment, and he's going to say, have not I done many
wonderful works in thy name? Have not I preached in your name
and taught in your name? Have not I cast out devils in
your name? And he that sits on the throne of judgment is going
to look him in the eye and say, depart from me, you worker of
iniquity. I never knew you. Now, that's
Bible language. You'll hear his judge in that
day. Salvation is by the free unmerited
grace of God. By grace are ye saved. Now, you better let that sink
in. and quit running from it. That grace is not your enemy.
That grace is the only hope you've got. People want to fight it
like it's an enemy. They want to shoot at it like
it's an opposing army. Grace is your friend. There's
nothing outside of grace but hell and judgment. And it's not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And I'm telling you this, God's
not coerced, forced, or enticed in any way to show His favor.
He tells it according to the good pleasure of His will and
according to the glory of His grace. And then thirdly, the
mediatory channel of God's sovereign grace is the person and work
of His Son. There's nothing for the sinner
outside of Christ. Nothing. Paul said, in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in
Him. In Him is the motives. In Him is the answers. In Him,
He's the vine. He's the altar. We have an altar,
Paul said, which they're not worthy to eat who serve that
old altar. We have an altar. He said, I'm the vine. Life comes from Me. God grafts
you into Me and you have life. I'm the vine. I'm the truth.
I'm the life. I'm the wisdom. God hath made
Him to be unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Believers embrace Him and walk in Him and rejoice in Him and
persevere in Him and He's all they need. They find everything
their convicted heart longs for in Christ and they embrace Him
and love Him and wait around and expect to be made like Him.
That's that house. And he that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life. The fourth
thing that I'm compelled to say to those that I preach to is
that the preaching of the gospel is the means whereby faith is
created in the heart. And I've preached on that enough.
I'm just going to get off that point and go to the last. The
fifth thing that will clear me of all responsibility of your
blood is to tell you that the results of God's intervention
of grace is a continual work of faith in your heart so long
as you live in this world. You're being saved. I gave on
how many scriptures on the back of the bulletin today to prove
that. You are being saved. I'm telling you, if you think
your salvation tied up somewhere back yonder in some kind of decision,
or how you walked, or theology you adopted, or anything else.
If you don't believe today, you never believed. If you don't
believe when you wake up tomorrow, you didn't believe today. Faith
is not an isolated act. It's a living, vital principle
of the heart. It's life. Life. Faith. Life comes to you. The
character of God has put in you that image of Christ, Christ
in you, the hope of glory. How did it get to faith? And I know that salvation is
not by man's works. It's not of works lest any man
should boast. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. But you better hear what I've
got to say about this now. That faith that lays hold on
Christ is not a faith that leaves the sinner under the rule of
sin. If sin still dominates your life
and rules your life, and that old false religion still reigns,
you don't know God. You never have believed. You
don't have faith. Faith is not a failure. Faith
is a victory. This is the victory, even your
faith. Ain't that what he said? We're his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in. Well, preacher, I don't have
any good works. You must not have been ordained of God then. You reckon God ordained something
that don't come to pass? That's foolishness. James said, I love the book of
James. James said, what does it profit, my brethren, though
a man say he hath faith and hath not works? Can that kind of faith
save him? Can a workless faith save him? James said it can't. It can't. If that faith you have does not
produce a change in your life, you don't have the faith of God's
elect. It brings about a turn. That
man, it turns him. He's not standing there scratching
his head. It turns him. It moves him. And it brings him
to Christ. I ain't talking about works like
this world talks about works. I'm talking about these kind
of works. All believers worship God. Some believers don't. They don't know God. That's a
work only faith can produce. We worship God. That carnal mind
is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither it hates God. It won't have any part of God.
Not a believer he worships. Paul said, after the way they
call heresy, that's how I worship God. All believers love one another. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. All believers submit themselves to God. That's submissive. You
ever had an old mule that just wouldn't, he wouldn't, he would
not listen. He ain't worth a spit, is he?
Huh? I don't want one that listens.
I built a house for a man and his grandpa had two old mules.
And he could just talk to them mules. They'd go left or right.
They'd slow down or speed up. Huh? They submissive. Submissive. All believers submit themselves
to God. All believers desire to be like
Christ. All believers keep on believing
all the way to the grave. And all believers repent of their
sins. And I'm telling you this. He
said in Revelation chapter 20 that the books were open and
another book. So all the books. All the names
in both books. were judged according to their
works." Actually, it says, their own works. What's he talking about? He's
saying that that believer's faith is going to be justified in that
day by the works that God performs through him. He justifies that
faith. And James teaches you that. You
read carefully the book of James, and he'll tell you that. He said,
you see there how you're justified by faith? And justified by works? Huh? Not a justification before
God, but it justifies the kind of faith that you have. The Lord taught this in plain
language. He said, if not, everybody says, Lord, the Lord's going
to enter in. He that doeth the will of my Father. Huh? I take you to record this day,
I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of
God. And in that day, I believe in
my own heart that I'll be clear from your blood, clear from that
guilt. We'll see each other in judgment.