In his day, J.C. Ryle was without
question the best of the Anglican preachers, excelled by very few
in the Anglican Church. I know of none today of whom
I can speak highly, but Ryle was a man whose work was commendable. He made this observation many,
many years ago. There are two ways a man may
lose his own soul. He may lose his soul by living
and dying without any religion at all. He may live and die like a beast,
prayerless, godless, graceless, and faithless. This is a sure
way to go to hell. Second, he wrote, he may lose
his soul by taking up some useless kind of religion. He may live
and die contenting himself with a false Christianity, resting
on a baseless hope. This is the most common way to
hell that there is. I want, if God will enable me,
to talk plainly to you tonight about useless religion. You may
think, Pastor, what is useless religion? Surely any religion
is better than no religion. Not so. Not so. Not so. Useless religion is far
worse than no religion. because useless religion convinces
unregenerate men and women that all is well with their souls
when nothing is well with their souls. Paul describes it as eating
and drinking damnation to themselves. Useless religion. Men and women
who practice religion without knowing God. Many women who go
through the motions of religion and don't know Christ. Many women,
boys and girls, who observe the ordinances of religion with no
knowledge of God in Christ, with every act of religious devotion,
eat and drink damnation to themselves. Oh, my God, teach us this. Teach
us this. There are some, I'm certain none
of you, but there are some who wonder why I don't chase ambulances
and try to get folks to make professions of faith, why we
don't psychologically manipulate people's minds with stories and
invitations and get them to come join the church and make a profession
of faith, why we don't sprinkle babies and call it baptizing
babies and get them into the church early. I'll tell you why. I'm more concerned for your soul
than I am for your name on the church roll. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Useless religion is damning. It is damning. It's not indifference,
it's damning. It's damning. The scriptures
are so plain, and so full of warning. All false religion is useless
religion. And all useless religion is idolatry. Open your Bibles again to Habakkuk
chapter 2. Habakkuk chapter 2. Paul says that men and women
in the practice of religion, in the use of a form of godliness,
eat and drink damnation to themselves, not discerning the Lord's body,
specifically identifying the problem, not discerning the Lord's
body, not understanding who Christ is, why he came into this world,
what he did while he was here. what he accomplished by his obedience
unto death and the sacrifice of himself. Not understanding
how that righteousness comes to sinners only by the substitutionary
accomplishments of Christ. Not discerning how it is that
God saves sinners by his grace through the sacrifice of his
son. Look here in Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 18. Here God's prophet Habakkuk, writing
by divine inspiration, denounced the useless religion of Babylon
as soul-damning idolatry. Habakkuk 2.18. What profiteth
the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it? The molten
image and the teacher of lies that the maker of his work trusteth
therein to make dumb idols. Woe unto him that saith to the
wood, awake, to the dumb stone, arise, it shall teach. Behold, it's overlaid or laid
over with gold and silver. And in case you haven't noticed,
there's no breath at all in the midst of it. Arise! Oh God awake! And they beat, and they cut themselves,
and they leap and dance on the altar, and they cry and they
roll. But didn't you notice it's just
a stump? It's overlaid with gold, but
it can't breathe, let alone work. It can't breathe, let alone arise. It can't breathe, let alone perform
a work. Come back to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 45. Now let me
be crystal clear. I want no one to misstate me.
I want no one to misunderstand me. I want no one to fail to
hear and hear clearly what I'm saying. Useless religion is any
religion in which the Lord Jesus Christ is not the solitary object
of faith. The only object of faith. What
do you trust? Who do you trust? Your experience
or his expiation? Your performance or his performance? Your merits or his merits? Your
work or his work? Your deeds or his dying? What do you trust? Well, brother
Don, I trust Christ, but that's just where most folks are. I
trust Christ and that's just where most folks are. Useless
religion. Useless religion is any religion
that does not have Christ alone as the object of its faith. Useless
religion. Is any religion that denies the
merit and efficacy of Christ's precious sin-atoning blood. Limited atonement, in case anybody
misunderstands. Jesus Christ did not die for
all men. If he did, his blood's not worth
spits. And to declare that he died for
all men and then declare that somebody goes to hell is to declare
that Jesus Christ is not God. And that's useless religion.
Oh, Brother Todd, you can't say that. I don't know why people
have such a problem with that. Well, I really do know why. because
they're clinging to useless religion. I really do know why. If I were
to stand here and tell you, if I stood in this pulpit and tried
to convince you that a fellow who writes that Jesus really
was not virgin born, he was really the bastard son of a German soldier
stationed in Palestine about the time of his birth, and a
fellow Nels F.S. Ferre actually wrote that, actually
wrote that. He lectured back in the 40s at
Louisville Seminary. He actually put those words on
paper. But you know, he's a good man. He's got a good heart. I remember
he used to be a drunk. He's sober now. Boy, he used
to smoke three packs a day. He's down to one now. He's a
good man. He's good to his neighbor. Oh,
he's done such good works. He prays and he reads his Bible
and he serves the Lord so faithfully. Now, he's got, he's mixed up
on some things, but he's a dear brother. If you've got good sense,
you would never hear me preach again. If you care for your soul
and the souls of your children, you would never allow them to
hear this man preach again where I make such a statement. And
yet people stand and tell folks all the time that Christ tried
to redeem, but failed, tries to save, but fails. And yet those
fellows, you know, they're all now they're mixed up a little
bit, but they got good hearts. They're right at heart. If you
care for your soul, you won't hear that trash. You won't hear that trash. Useless
religion is any religion that teaches sinners to produce righteousness. You go out and do righteousness. That'd be all right if you could
do it, but you can't. All religion except one puts men to work weaving
a robe of righteousness for themselves. The gospel of Christ presents
men with a garment of salvation ready to wear the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Useless religion is any religion
that offers salvation to men by robbing God of his perfect
holiness and offering men forgiveness by compromising God's inflexible
justice. The advocates of useful religion
really have no clue as to the necessity of Christ's death at
Calvary. They have no idea how God can
be just and justify the ungodly, how God can both fully punish
sin without the least bending of his only character and fully
forgive sin freely, unconditionally through the blood of his son.
How can that be? In Christ, the Lord God Almighty
fully punished the sins of His people. Fully punished them. So that justice buried its angry
sword in the very soul of God's Son. And now, fury is not in
Him for anyone for whom Christ died. Useless religion. speaks much about the love of
God, but really makes the love of God insignificant, useless
and meaningless. For they tell us that God loves
everyone. God loves everyone. That sounds
so sweet, doesn't it? God loves everyone. Oh, the Lord
loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Why don't
you put that bumper sticker on the back of Noah's Ark? If God loves everybody, he's
got a strange way of showing it. To tell that God loves everybody
and some folks go to hell anyway is to declare that God's love
really doesn't matter. God's love really is insignificant.
God's love, the fact that God loves you doesn't do anything
for you. It's what you do with God's love
that makes the difference. Useless religion. His religion
that makes the blood of Christ. That of great conversation and
words and song, but really makes the blood of Christ of none effect,
for he declares that Christ shed his blood for all being without
exception, even for those who perish under the wrath of God.
If that's the case, then the shedding of Christ's blood does
nothing for anybody. Nothing for anybody. I've told
you many times back a long time ago. Been a long time ago. When
we first had an office out here, a local preacher came by and
wanted to sell me insurance. I wouldn't buy it. And finally,
he said, well, Brother Don, what's the difference between your church
and my church? What's the difference between
what you believe And what I believe, what you preach, what I preach.
I said, if you got a little while, I'll be glad to tell you. And
I spent the next several hours. He didn't utter a word except
just to nod yes or no. And I got to the crux of it.
I said, now you correct me if I'm wrong. You correct me if
I'm wrong. If I understand you correctly, you believe that Jesus
Christ died shed his blood, made atonement for and provided redemption
for all men without exception. That's right. That's right. And
that he really did not redeem anyone. justify anyone or secure
anyone's salvation, but rather that man, by his faith, makes
the blood of Christ effectual to himself for his salvation,
redemption and justification. Well, yes, that's what I believe.
I said that's damning heresy. That's damning heresy. For you've
denied that Jesus Christ is God. and you've made salvation your
work and not God's work. You might as well believe in
salvation by climbing stairs and kissing the Pope's toe. You
might as well believe that men are saved by drinking holy water
or getting baptized. No. Useless religion says much
about the work of God, the Holy Spirit, but makes the work of
the Holy Spirit an influence. A tugging at the heart. Oh, I
believe God's drawing him. If he does, he'll get it. It's exactly right. It's exactly
right. The work of the Holy Spirit's not an influence on your heart.
The drawing of the Spirit, no man can come to me except my
Father which hath sent me, draw him. That's not God the Holy
Spirit begging you, pretty please come to Jesus. That's God the
Holy Spirit bringing you to Christ. Essentially with omnipotent,
irresistible grace so that you find yourself by the irresistible
power and grace of the Spirit believing God. Is that not what you experienced?
Is that or is it not what you experienced? When I was 16 years old, I was
terrified, Bob, of God. I spent months tormented in my
soul with guilt, trying to believe, trying to believe. I wanted to
believe. At least I convinced myself I
wanted to believe. And one day, I was sitting right
where you're sitting, listening to somebody declare just what
I'm declaring to you. And by a strange, compelling
force that I had no will or wish to resist, I found myself trusting
Christ. That's called the gift of faith. Those who suggest that the Holy
Spirit's work is an attempt to get you to believe is useless
religion. For it makes salvation ultimately
your work and your work alone. Useless religion makes the triune
God a pathetic failure. Now, I don't appreciate folks
putting words in my mouth. And I want to avoid putting words
in the mouths of men, even when I detest everything they preach. Let me read you exactly, exactly
what was written by my very first theology professor, Noah Smith. He taught theology at Baptist
Bible College, Springfield, Missouri for nearly a hundred years. He
was, I say that cause he was nearly a hundred years old when
I had him. I guess he was probably 83, 84 years old. Listen to this. What is hell? It is an infinite negation. And it is more than that. I tell
you, I say it with profound reverence, hell is a ghastly monument to
the failure of the triune God to save the multitudes who were
there. I can hardly read that without
trembling. Without trembling. He continues, I say it reverently.
I say it with every nerve in my body tense. Sinners go to
hell because God Almighty Himself could not save them. He did all He could He failed. PJ, that's blasphemy and that's
useless religion. Useless religion rests on the
footing of man's works, not the footing of Christ's works. Useless
religion is any religion which suggests or implies that the
Lord our God is unable to fulfill his will unless man gives him
permission. Useless religion puts the creature
in the place of the creator, making the will of the creator
subject to the will of the creature, making the power of God subject
to the power of man, making the purpose of God subject to the
permission of man. making the will of God subject
to the will of man. Useless religion is any religion
that makes salvation dependent upon man, his will, his work,
or his worth. Useless religion is any religion
that makes the sinner feel good about himself, makes the sinner Oh, I'm so humbled. I'm so, oh Lord, I'm so humbled. I'm so thankful for your grace. So, so thankful for your mercy
by which you enabled me to do. By which you enabled me to distinguish
myself. By which you enabled me to perform
my will. God, I thank thee. I'm not his
other man. I'm not like that publican. Now,
I'm a sinner, but not that bad. Now, I've done some wrong things,
but I pray three times a day, and I fast twice a week, and
I give tithes of everything I have. I've been a good fellow. Useless
religion. Useless religion. Useless religion. Is any religion established upon
the traditions of men, the creeds of men, and the inventions of
men? I had a rather lengthy letter
yesterday from a good friend who's a Palo Baptist, one of
those fellows who sloshed water on a baby's face and called it
baptism. He was upset with the study in Luke. I sent out, whenever
I sent it out, Saturday, I don't remember, on infants in the kingdom
of God. Of course, I expected them to
be. And he offered lots of arguments and lots of traditions and creeds
and history and this writer and that writer. And I wrote back
and I said, I don't give a flip what the creeds say or the confessions
say. or Tertullian says, or Calvin
says, or Augustine says. I don't care what any denomination
says. I don't care whether Baptists
agree or disagree. I don't care whether Papists
agree or disagree. And I don't care whether you
agree or disagree. The frown of foes and the flattery
of friends means nothing when it comes to God's truth. Nothing. Nothing. that which I've written
stands as written, there will be no rephrasing. None at all. And no need to write to me anymore.
There's no need to write to me anymore about this. My feet are
planted in cement, my mind's made up, and I don't even consider
something else. Wow, how could you say that?
Well, I found it. Why should I consider something
else? What's him do? You mean you're that dogmatic? Let me tell you something. Some of the times you men and
women too will ask me questions, speculative things about this
book. And I tend not to answer them. Merrill, I'm not going
to stand up here and preach to you what I think is right. I'm
not going to do it. I leave my speculation back there
in the study. I only declare that which I am
thoroughly convinced God the Holy Spirit has taught me in
his word and I can show you plainly where it is. That's all. Well,
boy, that sure limits you, doesn't it? Blessed limitation. Blessed
limitation. Useless religion. Is any religion
that is not built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, Christ crucified
the foundation of his church. Useless religion may look good
in the eyes of men. It may feel good to those who
practice it, but religion without Christ will do the deceived no
good in the day of death and judgment. Useless religion will never result
in the salvation of any soul. Never. God doesn't use truth
or God doesn't use a lie to teach folks the truth. He uses truth
to teach truth. Useless religion will never meet
the approval of the thrice holy God who makes this one demand
of everything he accepts. You remember what it is? One
demand. I've got a prayer I'd like to
offer God. I've got a gift I'd like to make to God. I've got
a sacrifice I'd like to offer on God's altar. I'd like to lay
down my life on the altar for Jesus. I'd like to serve the
Lord. Well, great. Great. Cody learned
this, buddy. Listen to me now, learn this.
Learn it. Matt, learn this. Learn it. This
is the one thing God requires of everything and everybody He
accepts. It must be perfect to be accepted. Is that what the book says? Is
that what the book says? It must be perfect to be accepted. Perfect. Perfect. Well, that shuts my prayers out.
That shuts my Bible reading out. That shuts my preaching out.
That shuts out my labor among the barbarians in New Guinea
or the barbarians in Danville. That shuts that out. It does
If all I've got to offer is what I bring to God. And that's what
I bring to God is His own Son. And that's all I bring to God. That's all. That's all. The blood and the righteousness
of His Son. Oh God, bathe my tears. in his
precious blood. Bathe my repentance in his atoning
blood. Bathe my most righteous deeds
in the precious blood of your darling son, by which all that
I am is made before God, accepted in the beloved from everlasting
to everlasting. It must be perfect to be accepted. If ever the God of glory is pleased
to reveal his son in you, if ever the Lord God is pleased
to save you, if he gives you life and faith in Christ, if
God the Holy Spirit comes to you in mercy and sprinkles your
heart with the precious blood of Christ, if King Jesus ever
invades your heart and throws Satan out and establishes his
throne and his kingdom in you, your useless religion, your refuge
of lies, he will destroy. Look here at Isaiah chapter 1,
or chapter 45. Isaiah 45. I'll wrap this up. Throughout this chapter, God
Almighty is describing himself as God. Throughout the whole
chapter. Throughout this chapter, The
Lord God distinguishes himself from all the imaginary gods of
men. Now, I know that, well, so far
as I know, I'm not certain it is so. As far as I know, nobody here and nobody you or
I know in this town worships a stump or is likely to go out
in the woods cut down an oak tree and overlay it with gold
and silver and paint some eyes on it and make it smile or frown
and give it some horns and set it up and bow down and say, that's
God. I know you're not much inclined
to do that, not much inclined to do that. But most of the people you know
and most of the people I know, neighbors all around us, family
and friends, Churches all around us, Baptist and Presbyterian
and Catholic and Pentecostal and Methodist and Mormon and
Campbellite, whatever other group there is, most all of them, most
everybody I know does go to a dark, dark, dark forest and finds an
old, old petrified tree. and makes of it a God, and calls
it Jehovah, Jesus, Holy Spirit, God, Elohim, the Almighty. And the forest from which they
get their wood, from which they carve their God, is the forest
of their own dark, depraved minds. And our Lord warns us. Say, here's Christ, don't believe
Him. There is Christ, don't follow him. Don't do it. I hear folks and their nonsense
religion. I want to scream like the folks
on the television program years ago. Will the real Jesus please
stand up? Because what I hear and what
I read by preachers and theologians and religious people these days
doesn't even come close to looking like God. No more resembles God
than an ant resembles an angel. Here God distinguishes himself.
Now watch how he does it. Verse 20. Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, ye that are
escaped to the nations. Now watch this. Watch this. You've
made a refuge for yourselves. You've escaped the nations. You're
religious. As religious as all get out, they have no knowledge. No knowledge. Well, but he's
got some good ideas. No knowledge. He's a deeply learned man. No
knowledge. He's a, he's a profound theologian,
no knowledge, no spiritual understanding, no spiritual light, no spiritual
knowledge, unless he's taught of God and taught of God to worship
at the footstool of King Jesus alone. They have no knowledge. Watch this. That set up the word
of their graven image. Now, what does he mean by that?
Read the next line. One of the most profound things
you will ever learn about studying scripture. I'm telling you, you
really don't have to have a strong concordance. You really don't.
You really don't have to have a word study book. Just read
the next line. Just read the next line. What
does that mean? They bow to the word of their
graven image and pray unto a God that tries to save but can't
unless you let him. Wants to save but can't without
your permission? Wills to save all the Lord wants
to save you. Won't you let him be the Lord
of your life? Won't you let Jesus come into
your heart? If I can do that, what do I want
him for? They pray to a God that cannot
say. Dan, that's idolatry. That's not Christianity. That's
paganism. That's not Christianity. Oh,
but these are my brethren. This is my grandma you're talking
about. I don't care if it's talking about me or you. To pray to a
God who cannot say is idolatry and paganism. It's not salvation. It's not Christianity. Read on. Tell ye and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? What's this? There is no God
beside me. No God sitting up here on the
throne with me. No God who's a rival to me. No God other than
me. No God except that God who declares
the end from the beginning and does it. No other God. No God except that God who rules
the world absolutely by his sovereign purpose ordered from eternity
and revealed plainly in this book. So plainly you can't miss
it. Unless you read the book like
this. It's exactly right. It's exactly
right. Who is God then? The sovereign of the universe
who found a way to deliver sinners from going down to the pit saying,
oh, I found a ransom. Now, Don Fortner, that hell bit,
hell-deserving, God-hating, worthless wretch. Now I can take him to
my bosom forever by punishing his sins in the
person of my darling son until justice says, enough. And justice now demands that
every soul for whom Christ died be with him in glory for God
is a just God and a Savior. Did you hear me? Did you hear
me? Justice equally with mercy. Justice equally with grace. Justice as fervently as the love
of God demands. that God Almighty receive us
forever for whom Christ shed his blood. A just God and Savior. Now, he says, look unto me. Look unto
me and be ye saved. All ye ends of the earth. I'm
God and beside me there's none else. Look unto me. Look unto
me. To look to Him is the gift of
His grace, for He gives us eyes to see and ears to hear and heart
to believe. Looking to Him who saves us alone
by His grace. And yet our Lord says to that
woman who anointed Him and kissed His feet, Thy faith hath saved
thee. He said to the blind Bartimaeus,
Thy faith hath saved them. And here he calls for us to do
something. He calls for sinners to do something. Look. Look. Well, Brother Doug, you know
a dead sinner can't do anything. I know, but you got to look. You got to believe. You got to
trust Christ. You got to. You won't be saved
unless you do. thy faith hath saved thee. Look
unto me, and be ye saved. Why, they can't both be so. Yes,
they can. I read a book to you out of this book, didn't I? They
most certainly can. How can a dead man look? If God gives him life, he'll
look. If God reveals Christ in you,
you'll look. If the Lord Jesus knocks down
your heart's door and enters in with His omnipotent grace
and makes Himself known in you, you'll look to Him. You'll look. You realize that your faith in
Him now declares to your conscience
that you're just with God, just through the sacrifice of Christ,
just by his righteousness accepted in the beloved. Oh, God, thank
you for that gift of faith that looks out of self to the Savior. Now, children of God, I repeat
to you one more time what I've said to you so many times. As
ye therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
him. Joe, how was it first you received
him? You looked out of yourself to
him. Oh, where do I get it? Oh, brother
Don, I'm having trouble with insurance. Quit looking in here. Quit looking in here. Quit looking
down here. Look out of yourself to the substitute. Yonder seated in glory is a man
with whom I am one and who is one with me and God Almighty
accepts me in him. One with Christ my Savior. God
give you such grace I ask for Christ's sake. Amen.