Turn back with me now to Romans
chapter 10. I titled my message this morning,
My Heart's Desire. This is what the Apostle said
to these Gentile people here in Rome, talking about his kinsmen. Here is Paul, a Jew, A very famous
Jew, one who was known for his persecution of those who professed
to know Christ. Saul of Tarsus. Everybody knew
who he was. And now he writes to these Gentile
believers and he speaks of his kinsmen. speaks of that religion
out of which God saved him and gave him the light of the gospel.
And he begins his address on this subject with this, My heart's
desire. My heart's desire. And prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now, nothing
more frustrates and angers the sinner than to hear a preacher
condemn his righteousness. Nothing more angers and frustrates
this man. For the preacher to talk about
the religion of his father, and the religion of his mother, the
religion of those he loves, and those who love him. And I know
this is so for two reasons. I know it's so because I read
it in the Word of God. And I know it's so by my own
experience preaching the gospel to men and women. I can talk
about anything. I can talk about the end times.
I can talk about eschatological views. I can talk about a pre-trib
rapture, a post-trib rapture, a mid-trib rapture, and I can
talk about all kinds of prophecies and all kinds of things, and
they'll sit there with interest and listen. But when you begin
to condemn their righteousness, when you begin to lay hold on
that which their hope is built, then they get angry and they
get upset. But in this passage, this is
exactly what Paul does. Paul here expresses his desire
for his kinsmen according to the flesh to be saved. Now, I want you to listen to
me. This world has had an alternative religion. It's had one in it
since the days of the garden. Since the days of the garden,
God said to the man, that he created. He took him and he put
him in his garden, the garden that he planted. It makes that
perfectly clear back there in Genesis. That he took man and
put him in the garden in which he planted. He's the husband
man of this garden. Nothing in this garden but what
he planted. And he put man in it. And he
told that man, he said, ìOf every tree in this garden thou mayest
freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die.î But the serpent was also in the garden. He was there too. And he said
to the woman, ìYou shall not surely die.î God said, you're
going to die. The serpent said, no, you're
not going to die. You're not going to die. That's not true.
But your eyes will be opened, and you'll be like God's, knowing
good from evil. Adam had two sons, Cain and Abel. He taught them both the gospel.
He taught them both how to worship God. Taught them both about the
coming Redeemer. Abel came as he was instructed
to of his father, but can come up with an alternative way. You
see what I'm saying? From the very foundation of this
thing, from the Garden of Eden, there has always been another
religion. Call it what you want to. Call
it the old serpent. Call it the devil. Call it man's
idea. Call it man's free will. Call
it whatever you want to call it, but it's been a religion.
Always has been. There's always been a false religion
in the world. The Jews back in John chapter
8 said to the Lord, they said, we have Abraham to our father. We have one father, even God. To which the Lord answered, ye
are of your father the devil. And the lust of your father you
will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and he abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he
is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the
truth, you believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of
sin? Which of you convinceth me of
sin? This is what our Lord told. And
if I say the truth, why don't you believe me? Why don't you believe me? Ain't
that what you said your religion was all about? You're anti-sin? You're holiness? You're godly?
Ain't that the basis of your hope? We keep the law? We're
righteous before God? Ain't that your hope? Then why
don't you believe me, who does no sin? He that is of God heareth
God's words. You therefore hear them not,
because you are not of God. You are of your father, the devil.
He goes all the way back to the garden, and he says, here is
what your religion is all about right here. That's what it's
all about. In the days of Paul, there were
not very many sects of people who professed to be children
of God. Generally speaking, there was
just the Jews. Just the Jews. At the time when
he penned this letter to the Roman church, the Jews were the
only other religion on earth, other than true believers. The
Jews were the only other religion on earth who professed to be
children of God. In our day there's all kinds
of divisions, many denominations, sects and so-called Christians.
But I believe and I teach that natural Israel in its day In
this day, right here in Romans chapter 10, typifies all false
religion that professes to be believers in Christ, but who
do not. Can I make that good? Well, listen
to how he puts it over here in Revelation chapter 2. Writing
unto the church of Smyrna, Christ said, I know thy works, and tribulation,
and poverty, And I know the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews
and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. He repeats it again
in chapter 3, verse 9. He repeats the same thing. The
same thing. Now Paul said the Jews had a
zeal of God. What is zeal? That's very important
to understanding what it is I'm going to preach this morning.
What is this zeal? What in the world is he talking
about? Zeal is a diligent pursuit of a cause or an idea. It's a
diligent pursuit of it. It's when a man says, I'm going
to do this. I'm going to take you serious
now. He's not playing games. He's diligent. I'm going to do
this. It means fervent adherence or
service. And it means enthusiastic desire. These Jews were not robots without
emotion or intellect. They were not slaves in the sense
that they were forced to believe. They were zealous of God. They were diligent. They were
diligent. This is the Sabbath day. We do
no work. This is the feast days. We're
going to Jerusalem. They were diligent. They adhered
to the things that they said. Today's religion talks about
the law, but they couldn't hold a candle to these guys. Couldn't
hold a candle to them. They had a zeal of God. They
read His Word. They taught His commandments.
They kept His ceremonies. They maintained the priesthood.
They observed all the feasts. They assembled together on their
designated day. They prayed. They gave tithes.
They fasted. They made sacrifices. They had
a zeal of God. You see what Paul says? Yet for
all they did, they were not saved. They were not saved. What was
the problem? What was the problem? Listen
to what Paul says. They being ignorant. Ignorant of what? Ignorant of
God's righteousness. They had a zeal, he said, without
knowledge. They were fervent. They were
devoted. I'm going to do this. You've
got to work that way sometimes, don't you? I bid this thing so
much money. I've got to cut so much timber.
I've got to get so many loads out. I'm going to do it. I'm going
to do it. Any businessman understands that. And zeal is a commendable
thing if it's not born out of ignorance. Christ gave Himself
for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify
unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous, zealous of good work,
determined to do them, have a desire to do them, a want to do them. Paul said to the Galatians, it's
good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, if it's
a good thing. But zeal without knowledge is
a death sentence. It's a death sentence. Pursuit
of a cause is good when the cause is good. Diligence and fervor
is a good thing when the principles that you observe are good. Enthusiasm
is a good thing if what I'm enthused about is a good thing. But they
had a zeal without knowledge. They had the prophets and the
law and the priesthood. They had rabbis and doctors of
the law. Paul himself said he was taught
by the most famous teacher of all, Gamaliel. He sat at his
feet and learned. Well, where did this ignorance
come from? What was this ignorance all about if they were taught?
If they had thousands of years of teaching, If they had in their
possession, as the only people on earth did, the Bible, the
canon of Scripture, the prophets, if they had all these things,
where did the ignorance come from? What was this ignorance
all about? They were ignorant of the righteousness
of God. This ignorance of righteousness
was in several things. They were ignorant, first of
all, of God's essential righteousness. I sat at the hospital with Winston
and he had some folks down there that came to visit his brother. His brother had emergency heart
surgery, had a triple bypass. And we were sitting there in
the room and several people were in there and they were religious.
I think they were Methodists. But anyway, they came in and
they were talking and they were saying this and saying that and
talking and they had a zeal of God. You couldn't deny it, could
you? They prayed at least three times while I was there. One of the ministers, one of
the pastors from the church came over and visited with them and
talked with them. And we talked with some of them. But there's an ignorance in what
I heard of the righteousness of God. It's not that they didn't
pray. It's not that they weren't sincere.
These people obviously had part in that church the way they were
treated. It's very clear. They weren't just playing games
down there. They were solid members, supporters
of that church. And the church reacted to that.
The church was there and talked to them. But they were ignorant
of the righteousness of God, and the ignorance that I first
noticed was this, their ignorance of that essential righteousness
of God. Everything God does is righteous
because He is righteous. If God does a thing, it's righteous.
You don't justify the thing and then justify God. God is righteous. He doesn't do anything that's
not righteous. If He loves you, it must be a righteous love.
If He has mercy on you, it must be a righteous mercy. If He calls
you, it has to be a holy calling. It has to be righteous because
He is righteous. Everything God does stems from
His character, from His nature, and from His name. Everything
that He does. But all of these things that
make up the character of God are in harmony. He does not love
and then neglect his righteousness. He can't be righteous and neglect
his love. Everything he does must be in
harmony with his whole person who he is. They were ignorant
of God's essential righteousness. No man would talk about keeping
the law. No man would talk about justifying
himself before God if he knew something about the essential
righteousness of God. He wouldn't do it. Infinitely, eternally, everlastingly,
continually righteous. Righteous in all things. And then secondly, they were
ignorant of the righteousness purposed of God and accomplished
in the life and death of His own Son. Turn with me to Romans
chapter 3. Just be patient with me. I'm
building here. I'm coming to something. Throughout the book of Romans,
the Holy Ghost emphasizes two things. You just keep running
into them. Now, there's a lot of things
here, and I'm often stumped by the old English language. I am.
I have to go look it up, see what it means. Or I have to take
these phrases, and somebody has to teach me what these phrases
are about. I wasn't raised in the Jewish
religion. I don't understand some of these
phrases. And so I had to go look at them. But throughout the book
of Romans, the Holy Ghost emphasizes two things, sin and righteousness. You won't find any other book
in the New Testament that emphasizes these two things. If you want
to know, and these are critical things, critical things. Sin and righteousness. This is where that ignorance
comes from. If a man is lest in his sins,
he's ignorant of God's righteousness. And he'll take that righteousness
and compromise it. He'll take that righteousness
and try to sell it as something that it's not. He'll try to follow
after something that cannot be. It's a danger to him. It's poison
to him. But you find this throughout
the book of Romans. We're sinners. God is righteous. And there are two main areas
of man's ignorance, in this sin and in this righteousness. And
here in Romans 3, verse 9, Paul uses the Jew as a symbol, typifying
worldly religion, a religion that says, I have an interest
in Christ, I have an interest in the Word of God, I'm saved,
I'm a Christian. He uses the Jews In contrast
with the Gentile, to show us what's going on. Now watch what
he says here. Talking about the Jews and the
Gentiles. He said, what then? Verse 9. Are we better than they? Himself being a Jew. Now if you
read the first few verses, you'll see what the Jew had. He had a great advantage. He
had the oracles of God. God spoke to our fathers through
the prophets. That's how the book of Hebrews
begins. They had the word of God, the
law of God. But, like the Gentiles, they
didn't have a nature to benefit from it. The old Gentile heathen,
that old witch doctor over there in Africa with a bone in his
nose, or that man wherever he is out here in the middle of
nowhere who's never seen the Word of God or heard the Word
of God, or even knows there's such a thing as the Word of God,
he has the light of creation and conscience. But he don't
have a nature for it. And he suppresses it, and he
goes and builds him a god like unto himself. Or birds, or four-footed
beasts, or creeping things. And he pushes away that light
of God, shoves it away from himself because he don't have a nature
to receive it. If he acted on that light by
the Word of God, God would give him more light, I guarantee it.
But he don't. He pushes that light aside. And God turns him over to himself.
But the Jew, he said, you do the same thing. He said, you
got more light. But you do the same thing. You
do the same thing. And so now he gets over here
and he said, here you are. You've got the priesthood, you've
got the law, you've got the prophets, you've got the promises, you've
got the covenants, you've got all these things. Christ, when
He come, He was born a Jew. You've got all of these things.
But what did they benefit you? Are you any better than the bone-in-the-nose
wit doctor? Not one wit. That's what Paul
says. Not one whip. It's not for lack of light. The
light was there. It's not for lack of means. The
means were there. It's not for lack of willingness.
Our Lord stood and looked at natural Israel. And He said,
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and
stonest them which are sent unto thee, How often would I have
gathered thy children together like a hen gather her chicks,
but you would not. It wasn't an unwillingness on
God's part, it was an unwillingness on their part. It wasn't for
a lack of light, there was light. It wasn't for lack of means,
there was means. There was means. I go somewhere, I'm a rough and rowdy man out
in the world, just got out of the service, unmarried, sowing
my wild oats, get convicted by my family, get
convicted by my upbringing. So I go somewhere and I join
a church and I quit running around and I quit drinking and I get
me a job and I go to work every day and I get married and I take
care of my family. And the church I joined tells
me how to live and what to do and what not to do. Tells me
what to wear. Tells me how to comb my hair
and what to do. I changed my habits and I changed
my friends and I changed my dress. And I reformed my life and I
changed my speech. Paul said, does that make me
any better than the witch doctor? Huh? You see what he's asking
here? He said, no. He didn't stagger around, he
didn't stammer around, he didn't tiptoe through the tulip. He
said, No! And no whys. Ain't that what
he said? And no whys. Does that kind of religion benefit
me and make me a better person before God? Are we better than
they? No, and no whys. For we have
before proved both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin. We didn't
make a few mistakes and become sinners. We're under sin. Under sin. We didn't live a few
years and come down to the crossroads of life and follow the wrong
path. We went astray, David said, as soon as we'd be born speaking
lies. We're under sin. Under sin. We're all under sin. And righteousness
cannot tolerate, overlook, and wink at sin. Here's the problem. What stands before me and God
is this righteousness. It's like a giant partition.
It's like a giant wall. It's like a great... The rich
man in hell, he looked up there to Lazarus and he said, if you
could just bring just a drop of water and lay it on my tongue.
He said, there's a great golf pitch. I can't come to you and
you can't come to me. What is that gulf? That's righteousness. You can't do it. The only way
you can span that gulf is by the righteousness of God. That
righteousness must be maintained. We're all under sin. The righteousness
of God will not tolerate sin. Every sin, He said, must receive
a due recompense of reward. And religion and religious principles,
law, holiness, godliness, right things have no effect on us because
we're on to sin. We don't have a nature for it. A nature for it. Now watch this,
Romans 3, verse 10. As it is written, they're non-righteous. How many? None. In case you didn't get it, he
repeats it. No, not one. Somebody said, well, Grandma.
No, Paul said, not one. Not one. There's none that understand
it. There's none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable. You businessmen in here, you
understand what Winston quit cutting logs here a few weeks
ago because there wasn't no profit in it. He understands that. He
understands that. It's not worth fooling with.
That's what he's saying here. Not worth fooling with. There's none that do us good.
No, not one. His body's like a covering of
a grave, filled with corruption. His nature is that of a venomous
snake. He'll bite at anything that's
close to him. You don't have to step on him.
Just walk down the path. He'll bite you when you go by.
That's man. His mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Verse 16, destruction and misery
are in his ways. The way of peace he's not known.
There's no fear of God before his eyes. Why on earth would
any man tell people this? Why would Paul stand up and tell
these people to whom he's trying to minister, to whom he's trying
to reconcile, why in the world would he stand up and tell them
this? Why must every true preacher of God sound a clear note on
the sins of natural man's righteousness? Paul wasn't talking here to a
bunch of heathens, he's talking to his kinsmen. He's talking
here about Israel not being any better off than those Gentiles. And he's telling Israel, look
in it, there's none righteous. Isaiah bore witness to it. He
said, all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. They said, we're righteous. Paul
said, you're not. They said, we're justified. Paul
said, you're guilty. Why would he say that? Why must
a preacher make such an issue out of these things? Well, here's
why, verse 19. Now we know that what thing soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Did you hear what the law said? The law speaks to every man who
seeks by his obedience to find favor with God by his obedience
to it. It says to him, shut up. Shut
up. It shuts his mouth. It condemns
his righteousness. It judges his best deeds and
proves them to be filthy rags. It stops his boasting. It shuts
his mouth. Whose mouth? Every mouth. Ain't
that what this is? My mouth. Your mouth. Shuts his
mouth. that all the world may become
guilty before God. I wonder when I read this, is
any of this sinking in? Is he getting through this thick
skull down into this heart what he's saying here? The whole world
guilty before God. Religion is of no benefit to
me if it does not know something about God's righteousness. If
all it does is tell me what to do and tell me to keep this and
obey that and pay this and wear this, look like this, read this. If all it does is tell me stories
and lift up my spirit and create in me an ignorant zeal, it's
of no benefit to my soul because I'm guilty. Somebody tell me
what to do about the guilt, about the sin. Somebody tell me how a man who
drinks iniquity like water can be justified before God. That's
what I need to hear. It leaves me. Religion, natural
religion. I hope you're listening to them.
It leaves me to my nature. It leaves me under sin. That's
what Paul said. You're under sin. Can't you understand that? You
put on your little Jewish hat, and you go up there, and you
go through the motions, and you go through the peace days, and
you tithe, and you do all these things, and you offer your little
sacrifice, and you go through your little chants like they
do. It didn't profit you anything because it left you in your nature.
And you don't have a nature for it. You don't have a nature for
it. Oh, it leaves me alone to do
for myself what I cannot do. Therefore, he says in verse 20,
By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight. For by the law, it's the only
thing you'll ever get out of it, is the knowledge of sin. I run to it, and so do you. And when you do, what does it
tell you? Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. But now, he said, verse 21, the
righteousness of God without the laws manifested, being witnessed
by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God
which is by the faith of, or by the faithfulness of, Jesus
Christ unto all. And upon all them that believe,
for there is no difference." We're all sinners. You see what
Paul said? There's no difference. There's
no difference. We're all under sin. The Jew
could not understand how God could have an interest in the
Gentiles because they saw themselves righteous. And the Gentile is a sinner.
But when you see yourself as a sinner, You know, the Gentile
ain't any worse than I am. He may be better. He may be better. There's no difference. We're
all sinners in need of righteousness. We're all guilty in need of justification. Verse 23, For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Those under the light of
conscience and creation, and those under the light of the
Word of God. Those who love the law, and base their hope on their
obedience to it, and those who do not. All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. None of us have what God demands.
None knows what God requires. They not only don't have the
answer, they don't even have the question. They don't know the question,
let alone the answer. And they're looking for this
little four or five word explanation for why I can't give it to you
in four words. The Bible don't give it to you
in four words. There's a reason why he gathered
a complete canon of Scripture. They want this little definition,
just whatever it is. What do you all believe? We believe
in tithing. That pretty much sums it up. I don't have one of them. You
might listen to me for a while. Where then is the sinner's hope?
Verse 24. Being justified freely by His
grace, Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Where
is it? In Christ Jesus. Now this is
all important. It's the very heart of what I'm
trying to tell you and what Paul is preaching here in Romans 10.
This is what the Jews were totally ignorant of and blinded to. This
Christ, this promised Redeemer, this seed of woman, Abraham's
seed, this Christ in whom this redemption is accomplished, in
whom this justification is accomplished. Verse 25, God has set forth. You see that? He didn't just
say, He didn't stop there and say, with his first statement. He
didn't just stop there. But he goes on. And he tells
you something about this Christ. Something about this Jesus. Something
about the Lord Jesus Christ. They're going to tell you who
He is. Who He is. Justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. But he don't
stop there. Now watch this. Whom God has
set forth. to be a propitiation, a full,
free restoration through faith in His blood, tells us, sets
forth the necessity of it, the sufficiency of it, the satisfaction
that it obtained, to declare His righteousness, His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. That is these Old Testament beliefs. Verse 26, "...to declare, I say
at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus." Now what I'm saying to you this
morning is this is what defines the Christ we preach right here. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul didn't just say he preached
Christ, he preached Christ and Him crucified. He preached Him
as God set Him forth. That's how He must be preached. Any church that does not set
Christ forth as God has set Him forth as an Antichrist. Any church
who does not set Him forth as a propitiation for our sins as
God has set Him forth is Antichrist. They deny the Christ when they
do that. They don't deny their concept
of Christ. They deny the Christ of Scripture. And Paul said it and John said
it. Let them be accursed. Don't bid
them Godspeed. Don't say, well, the Lord bless
you. Don't say that to them. Don't say that to them. To believe on Jesus as a person
apart from an understanding of this will not benefit you at
all. That's what Paul is telling these
people. His prayer to God, his desire of heart is that God will
take those people and make them to understand the difference
between religion and salvation. They had religion. Paul's desire
was that they be saved. Most people that come in here
are religious. I know that. I was. Most of you
were. What made the difference? God
showed you the difference in that Jesus that you believed
in and the Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ and who is
Lord as God sent Him forth. And what I'm saying here about
this applies also to His Lordship. This little Jesus boy that's
wringing his hands and walking back and forth across the banisters
of heaven and nobody let him do what he wants to do and he's
frustrated. That's not the Christ of God
either. What I'm telling you is that
God has set him forth in a certain way. In a certain way. And you'll never find that way
if God leaves you to your own wisdom. You're not going to do
it. You're not going to do it. You're just going to be frustrated,
angry about everything. Everything going to be a stumbling
block to you. Everything going to seem foolish
to you. Watch this foolishness. Everybody that's perishing, that's
what it is to them, foolishness. Now listen to this, Romans 10
verse 4, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. What does that mean? That means
He is the goal of the law. He alone climbed to its summit.
He kept it. He loved it. He embraced it. He accomplished it. He did everything
that that law demanded, and He did it as a man, with a man's
nature. He did it. He alone climbed to
the summit and accomplished what it commanded and honored the
law giver. And then secondly, He is the
consummation of the law to everyone that believeth because they have
in Christ already done what the law commanded them to do. The law demands perfect, spiritual,
unbroken perfection of obedience. Christ did it. He did it. Why did He do it? He's the one
who gave the law. He did it as my representative
that I might have a righteousness. And then He went to the cross
because the law demanded death to the sinner. He went to the
cross and died. So I'm dead to the law. Christ is the consummation of
the law to the believer. He doesn't look to the law anymore.
The law satisfied him. The law takes a man out and hangs
him. It's done with him. They ain't going to hang him
again. He's already dead. He paid the price. They ain't
going to take him back to the prison and bury him. They're
going to take him out here to a regular cemetery and bury him.
He's okay now. He paid the price. We're dead
to the law. Dead to the law. Satisfied the
law. Honored all of its precepts.
Veiled all of its glory. And it says, He was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. He's my
hope. He's my hope. I want you to hear
me. My hope ain't in justification.
My hope's in Him who justified me. My hope is not in a righteousness,
my hope is in the Christ who is righteous. You see the difference? There is a difference. In Romans 10, verses 5 through
7, it describes, now I want you to hear this, it describes the
righteousness of faith. Here it is. It does not dream
of ascending up into heaven to merit Christ's coming down. That's
what that's talking about. It doesn't have dreams of that.
It doesn't sit around contemplating that. It doesn't sit around and
contemplate your marriage. I turned myself around. I turned
over a new leaf and so Christ came to me. No. No, that ain't
what happened. That's not the righteousness
of faith. Nor does it contemplate a power
to raise him up from the dead. What in the world is he talking
about there? He's talking about Christ dying for our sins according
to the Scripture, but having no sufficiency apart from you
doing something. That's what he's talking about.
You want to add your decisions, and add this, and add that, and
add something else to it. Otherwise, it doesn't mean anything.
And that's why folks are in hell, because his death wasn't sufficient. His death's sufficient. It's
sufficient. It doesn't contemplate something
in you to make what he did sufficient and allow God to raise him from
the dead. He accomplished the whole thing,
and God raised him from the dead to declare it. Faith is in the work, this righteousness
of faith, is in the Word preached. See it there in verse 8? Now stay with me. What he's talking
about? He's talking about the salvation of these Jews. It wasn't
in their doing. It wasn't in their living and
in their obedience. It was all accomplished in Christ.
And He's the end of the law for those things. And you're going
to see Him and His work enabling God. You're going to see the
righteousness of God in that person and work of Jesus Christ.
and Him crucified. And you're going to justify God.
God's just in His justification of sinners because He paid for
their sins and gave them the righteousness. He didn't wink
at sin. And it doesn't talk about those
things anymore. It doesn't talk about bringing
Christ down or raising Christ up. It's in the Word preached. It is the word of faith, see
it there, which we preach. Ain't that what that says? That's
where you're going to find that righteousness. That righteousness
of faith. Declaring the name and character
of God and the glory of that name demonstrated in the person
and work of Christ. Call on that name and you'll
be saved. Whosoever. Whosoever. Calls on that name. You're going
to be saved. That's what it says, ain't it? But you won't call on Him in
whom you have not believed, and you won't believe on Him in whom
you have not heard, and you won't hear without a preacher. So then, why don't I arrange
my life around that? Why don't I give attendance to
that? Why don't I advantage myself
of that? Let that become the priority
of my life. Let me dedicate myself and my
energy to this. Let this be the focal point of
this church. Preaching the gospel. Hearing
the gospel. Ain't that how he said it's going
to be accomplished? When that truth set forth, whosoever, I
don't care if he's a Baptist or a Catholic or what he is,
whosoever calls on that name, he's going to be saved. That's
what the Lord says. You got a problem with it, take it up with Him.