Now, if you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to the book of James. I believe I can say without hypocrisy and before God and to this assembly that I am
convinced, personally, I am convinced that God has sent me to this
place to preach the gospel to you. I can say that without hypocrisy,
without doubt. I have no doubt that God has
sent me here, and He sent me here to preach to you. I believe I can say to you what
Paul said to the church at Corinth, that he had renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the
word of God deceitfully." Now let me tell you something, Paul
was not a man, when he says that he had renounced the hidden things
of dishonesty, Paul was not a dishonest man, he was a Pharisee. He said,
as touching the law, he said, I was blameless. This is not
what he's talking about here. He's not talking about at one
time he was dishonest in his affairs, dishonest in his life,
and dishonest in the things that he did. What he's talking about
is that pretense, that hidden treachery of Satan whereby he
walked in times past in that old Judaism, in that old religion
of the Jews, being a Pharisee. And he handled the Word of God.
He opened the Word of God. Churches in this land, all across
this land this morning, opened that Bible up and read from it
and preach to you, same as I am. But if they don't preach this
Gospel, they're handling the Word of God deceitfully. They'll
take passages like over there in Peter that I read to you the
other night when we were talking about Noah. And they'll say, Here it is,
and I'll read this little portion out of it, that it's not God's
will that any should perish, but that all should come to everlasting
life. Not His will for you to perish.
That's not what that verse of Scripture says. That verse of
Scripture says He knows how to preserve those that He loves. And He is longsuffering to us-ward. not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. And he knows how to save his
people out of a perishing world. And he gives the example of Noah
and his house. God knows. Well, that's handling
the Word of God deceitfully, and that's what Paul had done
at one time. That's what I've done at one
time in ignorance. And it's dishonesty. I recognize
the dishonesty of it now. I recognize the craftiness. He
said, I'm coming to you. And he said, I'm not coming to
you as one who used to practice these things. I've denounced
these things. I see in these things what they truly are. I
don't walk in craftiness and I don't handle the Word of God
deceitfully. God arrested him. exposed the
evil of what he was doing, exposed his hypocrisy and self-righteousness
and brought him to Christ. And he didn't try to deny it
and he didn't try to cover up, but he said, I've renounced those
things. And he said here in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 2, he said, by manifestation
of the truth, here's what he's writing to these folks, and he
said, by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to
every man's conscience in the sight of God. Now, I live right over here in Taylor,
Arkansas. When I first moved down, I called
it Taylor, Louisiana. Taylor, Arkansas. I live less
than five miles from this church. I've got neighbors on three sides
of me. Taylor is a town of 600 and some
population. Everybody in Taylor knows what
everybody else does. I guarantee you. I've got neighbors on three sides
of me. I pay my bills over there. I
do my best to keep up my house. And I come here twice a week
and I preach to whoever comes through the door. My life is
an open book is what I'm telling you. That's what Paul is telling
these Corinthians. I stand before you and my life
in your community You don't have to call Brother Don and say,
I don't know what kind of a man he is. Well, I live here. If
you don't know what kind of a man I am, you're blind. I live right
here with you, right here in your community, right here in
this place. And I come over here every week
and I preach to you. And my life is an open book.
My message is plain and to the point. You may go out here mad,
but you won't go out here and not understand what I'm saying.
I say it as plain as I can. I come to the point. I preach
to you and I try my best to live before you honest and truthful
as I know how to do. And I leave both myself and my
message to your own conscience in the sight of God to determine
what it's all about. I don't get done with my message
and sing 39 verses or just as I am and try to get you to come
down here and make some kind of a commitment or decision.
When I finish preaching to you, I leave what I said in the hands
of God and to your own conscience. And if God's pleased to sprinkle
that conscience, And purge that conscience, you'll serve Him
and love Him and embrace Him. And if He don't, you'll go on
your way just as you were. Just as you were. This thing
is the work of God. And this is embarrassing for
me to say to you, but I feel that it's necessary for you to
know. It cost me everything I had to
be here. Everything. It cost me my job. I had a good job. They furnished
me with a vehicle, an expense account. It cost me everything. It cost me my job. It cost me
my home. It cost me my retirement. It cost me the presence of my
daughter and my grandchildren, just lived a few miles away.
It cost me everything to be here. And I said that to say this,
you can't find in me another reason for me to be here except
to do you good. I don't covet your silver and
gold. I wouldn't preach the way I preached
if I did. I'm here for your good and I'm
here for God's glory. And I believe that's His will.
I'm convinced of it. I'm convinced of it. I willingly
gave these things up because I believe this is where I ought
to be and because I believe that God has joined our hearts together
in true love for Christ. And I preach to you and I preach
to your children, having before me an open Bible. And I do as
best I can do to verify every statement I make. We're limited
in time. I can't stand up here and preach
to you for 4 or 5 hours. I may come over to your home
if you invite me and sit over there for 4 or 5 hours and talk,
but I can't get up here and do it. Up here I've got about 45
minutes talks to give you what I believe God has given me. And
as much as in me is, I stand here each day, each time we meet,
and deliver to you what Paul delivered to these Corinthians.
And here's what he told them. He said, I deliver to you. And
this is how you're going to be saved. That's what he told them.
You'll be saved if you keep in memory what I preached to you,
otherwise it was all in vain. Now listen to what he said. How
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture. You'll
find that in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Right off the bat. Verses 1, 2, and 3. how that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that He
was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. You won't find anybody hardly
that believes that Christ didn't die and that He wasn't raised
from the dead. You won't find anybody that believes
that. But try to find somebody who believes that He did these
things according to the Scriptures. That is for the reasons God said
He did them. And I don't have altar calls.
I don't have all that foolishness. I leave what I say to you to
your own conscience and wait on the Lord to do what He will. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm
not here to cause division. I'm not here to... I'm here to
preach the gospel of peace. Peace. The world is already condemned. The world is already in unrest.
The world is already at each other's throat. There are going
to be wars and rumors of wars and fighting and backbiting and
all these things. It has been from the beginning
and it is going to keep on going. The first two men who ever come
to worship God, one killed the other. These things are going
to go on. They are going to go on. But
I am not here to promote those things. I have no interest in
those things. My interest is peace. God says,
peace I give unto you. The angels, when Christ was born
into this world, said, peace on earth, good will toward men. There is peace in Him. False prophets cry, peace, peace,
where there is no peace. But there is peace in Christ.
And that's why I'm here. That's why I preach. That's what
I preach. I try to point you to Christ.
There's peace in Him. Peace in Him. And I'm here because like Paul,
God arrested me. Stopped me dead in my tracks.
Showed me what I was. Gave me a revelation of who He
is. And I haven't shut my mouth since. And I don't intend to. I'm here to give you comfort
if comfort can be given. I don't know, you may not want
it. You may not need it. God's people need it. I'm here
to give you joy and rejoicing if joy can be given. I'm here
to give you assurance and confidence if it can be given. Now turn
with me over to the book of James here in chapter 3. In this third
chapter of James, the apostle is talking a lot about the tongue. And actually what he is talking
about is his messenger bringing to you this gospel. And he is
telling you, be not many masters over there in the beginning of
it. Don't seek these things. Don't try to be censors and critics
and all that. You know, the Lord said when
we enter into the house of worship, He said, don't offer the sacrifice
of fools. They don't consider that what
they do is evil. He said, but shut your mouth
and listen. Be quiet. Don't be quick to speak.
Don't be quick to criticize. Don't be quick to fold your arms
and say, well, I don't believe that. Why don't you just listen
and consider it for a little while? You can always say that.
Just listen to it. Weigh it in the Word of God. Go home where you're by yourself
and nobody else is around. Enter into your closet. Open
this book and say, Lord, is this so? Are these things so? Show
me. I'm not afraid to commit what
I say to you, to you alone, between you and God. I'm not afraid to
commit that. Not at all. But he talks about
this tongue, this tongue that wants to just yammer all the
time, the tongue. He said it's a tiny little member.
But he said these great ships you see going to sea out here,
he said they just got a little old helm, ain't much bigger than
this pulpit. That man does this and that big
ship turns. This tongue, this tongue, somebody
in an assembly, they get upset, they get mad, and they say something.
That tongue can turn an entire church. That little tiny tongue. Like, here's a bit. You ever
seen a bit that goes in a horse's mouth? It's about this big. It's
all the bigger it is. Man don't stand there and yank
it. You don't have to be a Charles Atlas to turn a horse. All you
have to do is just pull on the rein. That horse will go that
direction. He'll go this way. You see what he's saying about
that tongue? It can turn this powerful animal. It can turn
him with just a little, with just a tug. Just a tug. That's the way that tongue is.
It's tiny, but it can turn. And I'll tell you this, I also
believe what he's saying in this chapter is this tongue, when
it's controlled by God, when he puts his blessing on it, it
can do the same thing. It can turn that congregation. Because that's what he's purposed
to do. His tongue. This tongue, I tell you, we've
got to watch this tongue. This tongue, unrestrained, spouts
out. James said, salt water and fresh
water both come out of it. Bitter and sweet. Everything comes out of it. He
said, it's set on fire of hell. It can kindle a great flame when
it's not under restraint. But when it is, when it is, it
has by the purpose and power of God the same effect. It can
stir our hearts. It can turn an entire congregation
and it can kindle a fire in your heart. It can. That's Amen. Now watch this. James, look with
me here in James chapter 3 verse 13. He said, who is a wise man? and endued with knowledge among
you. Let him show of a good conversation,"
that word, every time you read that in the New Testament, just
substitute behavior, that's what it means. Let him show out of
a good behavior his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you
have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and
lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from
above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish. For where envying
and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. Now, primarily,
I believe this chapter is teaching that unruly and envious men in
the assemblies can do great harm. And while they pretend to do
God a service, they are in fact just tools in the hands of Satan
to disrupt and divide and confuse. What they do and what they say
and how they say it is sensual and devilish. Ain't that what
he says? Devilish. And it winds up in confusion.
But this also has to do with an inward action and rebellion
against the truth. This also describes what takes
place when a person hears the truth, but hears another voice. He hears another voice. Having
given his credentials and called their attention to his reputation
and motives, Paul then said to those people at Corinth, if our
gospel be hid, it's hid to the lost. It's hid to the lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them." It is the intention of the God of this world, the
Prince of the power of the air, the Spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, to turn you from Christ. That's
His intention, that's His desire, that's what He wants to do. He
don't care if you drink alcohol or never touch it as long as
you live. He could care less. You know, we make such a big
fuss over alcohol. Let me tell you something. There's
a lot of countries that serve alcohol and no water. That's
all they do is drink wine. Wine is as common for them as
this glass of water. And they're not drunks. They're
not alcoholics. Satan don't care. He don't care
if you drink alcohol or you don't drink it. Fact is, he'd rather
that you didn't. He'd rather that you be a moral
man. He'd rather that you be spotless like Paul. That way
you won't even look for hope. That way you won't even consider
mercy. That way you won't even seek the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll
just be satisfied. He said, the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. How does He
blind them? He speaks to them. He speaks
to them. Not verbally, but He speaks to
them. How does He speak to them? Well, let me tell you something. I ain't hear a basketball game
for four hours. My wife and I sit, Watched the
cooking shows for a couple of hours and sat there and watched
this show about one of the cooks. But let the truth enter your
ears. And there was no opposition to it. I had nothing. I never
had thought about it. Good, bad, or indifferent. I
just sat and enjoyed the show. Got hungry. There was no opposition. But
let the truth, let the truth enter the ear. Now listen to
the voices. Can you hear it? That can't be
so. That can't be so. That don't
seem right. That don't seem right. That don't
sound just right to me. Why the voices? Where are these
voices coming from? What are they trying to tell
you? Let the truth enter his ears and a thousand voices begin
to speak. Reason and logic and philosophy
and tradition and I think and I feel and it seems to be in
my church and my family and my Bible. This wisdom, Paul said,
descendeth not from above. It is earthly. It comes from
your flesh. It comes from the God of this
world. It comes from the Prince of the power of the air. It comes
from that spirit of disobedience who don't want you to hear. He don't want you to hear. And it
causes in your heart envy and confusion and ever evil work. Trace it back. Here's where it's
at. Here's where it's at. I tell
you this morning, as honest as I can be before you, that there
is nothing in the gospel to cause you hurt or division. James 3, verse 17. Here's where I'm going with this
message this morning. But the wisdom that is from above,
ain't that what we're looking for? Ain't that what you desire? I don't want anybody else's opinion.
I want to hear from God. Huh? Don't you? I know that this
book is the book of God. I want to understand it. And
James said, this wisdom that is from above is first, now listen
to me, pure. You get what he said? Well, let's just pause on that
for a little while. Pure. It's not mixed. It's uncut. It's uncompromised. It's pure. It's pure. It don't have to go
around. It don't have to take the broad
road. It don't have to go way out here to go around to say
something. It just says it. You notice in the Bible when
God says something, He don't explain Himself, He just says
it? How can He do it? Because it's pure. There's no reason to explain
it. There's no reason to defend it. There's no reason why I have
to take 30 minutes to tell you something and then tell you.
He just tells you. Why? Because it's pure. He said
this wisdom is pure. Everything about it is pure.
The author of it is pure. The one who gives wisdom is pure.
Wisdom actually is a person. Did you know that? It said God
hath made him to be unto us what? Wisdom. Wisdom. You read over there in the book
of Proverbs about wisdom. You want to know wisdom? It's
in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's wisdom. How do I know that? Because He's pure. He's pure. We sit around and bicker about
what walking with the Lord is and how a man ought to walk.
All you have to do is study Christ. I can look at His walk and duplicate
it because it's pure. I don't even have to doubt it.
If He does something, I ought to desire to do it just that
way because He's pure. He's pure. This wisdom that's
from above is pure. And He's wisdom. He's the wisdom
that descended from above and He's pure. He's pure love and
pure mercy and pure grace and pure truth. And there's no corruption
in Him and no ignorance in Him and no darkness in Him. He's
the Word made flesh and He's God with us, Emmanuel. And John
said, this is the message which we've heard of Him and declare
unto you, over there in 1 John 1, that God is light and in Him
is no darkness at all. He's pure light. Pure light. This wisdom is pure. Uncompromised. And to see Him is to see the
Father. To hear Him is to hear the Father. And to know Him is to know the
Father. And this knowledge is called
in Scripture eternal life. Eternal life. The difference
between the voices of this world and the voice of God's servant
is that God's witness gives you the pure wisdom of God. He tells
you the truth about yourself. You're born in sin. That's where
you're at. Your denial of it doesn't change
it. You're born in sin. That's where
you're at. Born under the law. You can't
get out from under the law. You're under the law. The law
must be kept. It must be satisfied. The only
way you can get out from under that law is to die. Paul said,
now, he said, in Christ we're dead to the law. Now you're out
from under it. Otherwise, you're not. You can
deny it and say, well, that don't seem right and all that. That
doesn't change what God said. This pure gospel tells you the
truth. It tells you where you are and
who you are. You're born with a mind that's
enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can it be. You can't make that mind subject
to the law of God. You can put it on a billboard
out here in the yard and you can write it on a plaque and
put it on the wall, but it doesn't change the fact. Your mind is
enmity against God and it will not bow to His commands. It won't do it. It won't do it. The Gospel doesn't hide anything. The truth is pure. Let me ask
you something. If man was not totally depraved,
there would be no need for the God-man to be born, would there? If there is some hope in humanity,
some hope to reform him, some hope to pull him back, some hope
to turn him from his end, then there would be no need for the
God-man to be born. There would be no need. If man is savable, then why do
we need a Savior? There is no need to have a Savior
if man is savable. Just leave the Savior up there.
To save man, there has to be a Savior, and He has to come
and He has to save. Man is not savable. If man is
reformable, then why does God impute a righteousness? If you
can produce one, why does God impute one? Just a waste of time,
isn't it? Just something to aggravate you. If man can make his peace with
God, then why does he call his Son the Lord our peace? If you're
here this morning and you're contending for your own will
and ability and wisdom, why aren't you at peace with God? Huh? I can be saved if I want to,
then why aren't you? I can do good if I want to, then
why don't you? Because you can't. You can't. And if God ever convinces you
that, He'll convince you of sin. You can't. I remember a story Brother Barnard
told one time. He was down in these oil boom
towns years ago, There was a dance hall girl down there, her name
was Dixie. And boy, she was a mess, old Dixie. But she liked Brother Barnard
because Brother Barnard wasn't a hypocrite. He stood up and
told them the truth. And she respected him for that.
And one day there was a big brawl going on down at the saloon and
gunfire and old Dixie got shot. And she was laying in the old
muddy street dying out in front of the saloon and sent for Brother
Barnard. And Brother Barnard came down
to her and knelt down beside her. She said, Brother Barnard, I
know what I am and I don't want to go to hell. And she said,
what must I do? He said, you've got to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. You must believe in Him. Believe
on Him. And she said, Oh God, I can't. I can't. And it's too late. I can't. That's where the Holy
Spirit of God convinces of sin. When He takes you to that place,
wherever it is, and convinces you that you can't. You can't
love Him enough. You can't serve Him enough. You
can't pray. You can't believe. You can't.
You ever been there? To be a candidate for mercy,
you've got to receive this gospel, and this gospel is pure. It tells
you the truth. It doesn't go around the bin. It doesn't hide facts. It tells you the truth. This
gospel doesn't hide anything. Its truth is pure. It's pure. is not the fact that you can't
and you won't, the very evidence of what I'm telling you. That's the very evidence. That's
the evidence. I'll tell you, when God got me down, broke me
down, He said, let me show you what your faithfulness is. It's,
I can't. That's what it is. It's, I won't.
That's where it is. You come there, you'll understand
how to pray. You'll learn right then how to
pray. You'll learn right then how to call on God. You'll learn
right there how to seek God. We're sinners. Sinners. I know what we want. Old Naaman
wanted that. He went over there. He was a
leper. He heard there's a fellow over there in Israel that could
cure leprosy and he went over there and the old prophet wouldn't
even come out of the tent. Damn, it's a king. Man, he's got this
big entourage and chariots and people all around and servants
opening doors and stuff. And there he sets out in his
big royal chariot. And, oh, Elijah wouldn't even come out of the
tent. Sent his servant out there to tell him. Said, go tell him
to go down there and Jordan dip seven times. And he only told
him that to save the king. You tell him to go down there
and dip seven times, he'd be killed. Naaman was enraged. I drove all this way and this
man, he said, I thought he'd come out and say some words over
me. That's what we want, ain't it? We want that preacher to say
some words, don't we? We want to get that bottle of
oil out and drip it on you a little bit. Take that water, take that
holy water and sprinkle it on you a little bit and say some
words. Ain't that what you want? That's exactly what you want.
You want Him to tell you how good you are, how much potential
you have. You're nothing! That's where God's got to bring
you. He's got to bring you down. Down, dead in trespasses and
sin, already judged, waiting for the wrath of God. You're
on death's road, you know that? You're just waiting on the punishment
to take place. You're just waiting on the day
to come. You're on death row. There's no life in this world. There's no life in this place.
It's all in Christ. You want life, go to Him. You
want mercy, go to Him. You want love, go to Him. It's
not in you. It's in Him. I'm not trying to put you down,
but you'll never be reconciled to God until you take your place
as a sinner before the holy and just God. A sinner by birth,
by choice and practice. This gospel is pure. It's pure
as testimony of the character of God and the character of man.
If there's any other way to reconcile chosen sinners to himself, do
you really believe God would have subjected His Son to such
sorrow, such humiliation? God the Father, in the perfections
of His character, looking on, His men took a crown of thorns
and shoved it down on His head and smacked His face and said,
prophesy, who slapped you? Laughed at Him while He hung
on the cross and died. You really think God would subject
His Son to that if there was any other way to save your soul? There is no other way, my friend.
This Gospel is pure. It tells us something about the
purity of God. The purity of God. If there were any other way for
us to acquire righteousness standing before God, do you think He would
send His Son as a servant to obey that law on your behalf? To obey that law on your behalf,
it wasn't just the fact that He came here and as a person
all by himself had to obey that law. He had to obey that law
being tempted as you are. He had to obey that law with
people spitting back reproach in his face. He had to obey that
law with a whip on his back. He had to obey that law with
men, when they stoned people, they didn't pick up gravels,
they picked up rocks about that big around and was ready to stone
him. spit in his face. If there was any other way for
you to acquire a righteousness that he requires, do you really
think he would subject his son to that? I tell you, God requires a perfect
and eternal satisfaction for sin, and only Christ can satisfy
that demand. This wisdom that is from above
is first pure. Pure. And if you're ever brought
to see Him in His purity, in His perfection, then, look at
that verse there in James 3, verse 17. It's first pure. Then, see it? It ought to jump
off the page at you. Then, it's peaceable. It ain't
peaceable to them. I tell you, when the gospel comes
on you as a sinner, it rips a hide off your back. It spits on your
righteousness. It spits on your good works.
It spits on your good intentions. It rips the hide off. But if
you receive it and take your place where God put you in the
dirt as a sinner, in need of salvation, unclean, if you can
take your place there, then it's peaceable. It's peaceable. Oh, he said, how beautiful are
the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. They're
not beautiful to you down there, when you're down there. Oh, you
drove, what, three states to hear a man. Huh? Oh, it's peaceable then. Turn
with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. There cannot be any peace in
your life And in your heart, until you come to know, without
any doubt, until you come to know that God is at peace with
you, there's not going to be no peace. And God's not going
to change. He's holy. He's holy. God's not going to change. Any
change that's going to be done, it's going to be you. It ain't
going to be Him. He's not going to change. And there's not going
to be any peace until you see this God, this holy God is at
peace with you. Now watch this. 2 Corinthians
5.18, And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation." God hath. It's a work already
accomplished, a work purposed in eternity and promised from
the beginning and accomplished at Calvary and preached to dying
sinners. It's already done. God has reconciled
us to Himself, to His purity, to His perfections of character,
to His standards of justice and holiness and righteousness. And
this is the only grounds of reconciliation there is. There's not going to
be any peace on any other ground except this. Now listen to this, verse 19.
Here's that ministry. Here's that reconciliation that
I'm to stand before you and preach, to wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them. Huh. Think that's something? He reconciled a people and He
didn't charge them with sin. But He's holy. And the soul that
sinneth shall surely die. Somebody has to be charged with
this sin. If I'm not charged with it, then
who's charged with it? I committed them, but He didn't
charge them to me. Ain't that what He's saying here?
Let me read it again. to wit that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, not charging, not imputing their
trespasses unto thee, and hath committed unto us that word of
reconciliation." My friend, the gospel is substitution. The gospel
is representation. The gospel is that God appointed
one in our stead and in our place. He appointed another to take
our place before God, to be accountable and responsible to Him. And as
all that we did was charged to Him, so all that He did was charged
to us. As God saw all that we are in
Him, He sees also in us all that Christ is. Now then, verse 20, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, be ye reconciled
to God. For, or because, or by this reasoning,
that God hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." That's substitution. That's my hope. That's all my
hope. That's all my message. I don't
have another message. That's it. That's it. It's all in Christ. It's all
in Christ. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. Romans chapter 4 verse 23, Now,
he said, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed
to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Now watch
this. Who was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification? God punished him
in our stead. God killed His Son because He
saw us in Him. Put Him to death. And being satisfied, He raised
Him from the dead. And when He raised Him, He declares
our justification. That's where it's at. That's
where it's at. He was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. Now look here
in chapter 5, verse 1 of Romans. Therefore, based on this premise,
based on this accomplished work, being justified, that is, seeing
this justification, seeing this resurrection as my justification,
seeing His death as that satisfaction to God. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peaceful God. That's how you'll find peace.
You'll find peace when you find God at peace. That's where you'll
find peace. He's not going to change in His
character. You're going to have to see the true and living God satisfied. Satisfied. And then, here's what
else you're going to do. When you see that, this gospel
is going to be peaceable. Peaceable. And it's going to
be easily entreated. Ain't that what James said? Easily entreated. That wisdom
from above is first pure, then it's peaceable, then it's gentle.
It's gentle. You know God is more willing
to save than you are to be saved. That's gentle. You find yourself
down there in tears, hell deserving, ill deserving. You done got on
God's side now and justified God in your condemnation, and
there you sit. There you sit, worthy of death,
and knowing that you're worthy, and can't pray any other prayer
before God. And He comes and gently tells
you the truth, don't He? Gently tells you the truth. It's
gentle, not harsh. It's gentle. It's gentle. And listen to this, it's easy
to be entreated. Boy, I tell you, when you need
mercy, it's easy to listen. What makes it hard when you don't
need it? Boy, when He gives you an appetite, you're ready to
hear. You're ready to hear. Listen to this, full of mercy.
I'm telling you, when you need mercy, He super abounds in it. He pours it out. He just empties
heaven of it. He pours it out. And it's full
of good fruits. The fruit of righteousness and
holiness and justice. All those fruits in there. And
you can eat them and rejoice in them. They taste good, don't
they? Boy, I love to hear a man talk about justification. That's
the kind of fruit I like to eat. I can eat that. Talk about imputed
righteousness, that standing before God, and He looks on you
unblameable, unreprovable in His sight. I can eat that kind
of fruit. That's the kind of fruit in this gospel when a man
learns what he is. It comes to him and it's peaceable
and it's gentle. Oh, he looks at this thing and
it's easy to be entreated and it's full of mercy and good fruit.
Now listen, it's without partiality. It's without partiality. You
can't possibly picture yourself a child of God, can you? But
he did. He did. It's without partiality. And I'll tell you this, it's
without hypocrisy. When God does that work in your
heart, you won't be a hypocrite anymore. Hypocrisy goes out the door.
You pour your heart out to God. You tell Him the truth and He'll
tell you the truth. Hypocrisy. It's not in this message. Oh, I tell you, may God be pleased
to reconcile us to His reconciliation in Christ. and give us the spirit
and attitude to receive it and preach it and rejoice in it.
I see so little rejoicing. I tell you, we've got nothing
in the way. If God has saved you and called
you by His grace to Christ and made you a son, boy, you've got
to murmur about it. Huh? You know when He told His
disciples, I'm going to give you this in closing, when He
told His disciples, He said, in my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, he said, I
would have told you. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. Do you know what that word mansion
is? It means staying place. Now these old lords and kings
and princes over in England and over in Europe years ago, they
built these big castles. I mean, they were extravagant.
They'd cover acres of ground. and just pour money and gold
into these things and all these things. Why? Because they knew
this house was going to serve them and their children and their
children's children and their children's children, and those
castles are still standing over there. Those are mansions. It's
a staying place. It's where you go and you stay.
You stay. He said, I go to prepare a mansion
for you, a staying place. And I'll never leave you. And
I'll never forsake you. And we're going to stay right
there. That's where we're going to stay, with Him. I tell you,
that's my hope before God. By the grace of God, I hope He'll
make it sure.