You and I have come here in our
study in the epistle of Paul to the Galatians, and we spent
some time here in the fifth chapter. And I have two more messages
pertaining to verse 11 and verse 12 and 13. And I want to look at verse 11
and verse 12 again this morning. If I yet preach circumcision,
why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased. I would they were even cut off,
which trouble you." We learned something here about
the Apostle Paul. Before the Lord saved him, as
most of you know, his name was Saul. They called him Saul of
Tarsus. That's where he lived at. He
was raised there in Tarsus in southern Asia, Asia Minor. He
moved to Jerusalem, was educated in a seminar there under the
feet of this great theologian, Gamaliel. The Scripture tells
us that. And we find out something about
this Saul of Tarsus. When the Lord saved him, he changed
his name to Paul. He's the writer here, the great
apostle Paul. And we find out here in verse
11 something about him, that he was a preacher. He was a preacher. He tells us here that if I yet
preach circumcision, he preached. Before the Lord saved him, he
was a preacher, a lost preacher. Isn't that amazing? Saul of Tarsus,
the lost preacher. Now, it's a fearful thing to
be lost. It's a frightening thing to be
lost. You who have been lost know what
a frightening thing it is. But how much more so to be a
lost preacher? I was reading a story not too
long ago. It was a personal testimony.
I wish I could find it. I've looked for it. It was a
personal testimony of one of the popes of Rome. He was one of the most honest
ones that I've ever read after. And he had this testimony about
himself, and it was such a sad testimony. He said, when I was
a young teenager... Now, this is a pope. He was a
pope, and he wrote this concerning himself. He said, when I was
a young teenager, I entertained hope of being saved. I had some hope that the Lord
would save me. And he said, I became an altar
boy, and I served the priest there as an altar boy. Did what they asked me to do.
And he said, I yet entertained the hope that I would be saved.
And he said, then I joined the monastery and I was educated
and became a priest. He became a priest in one of
the local parishes. And he said, my hope dimmed of
being saved. And he said, then they chose
me to be a cardinal. They gave me my clothes and my
hat. and my commission and my authority,
and I became a cardinal. And he said, then my hope greatly
diminished that I could ever be saved. And then he made this statement.
He said, I was elected the Pope of Rome. I was given the authority. Men came and bowed down to me
and kissed my ring and worshipped as though I was God. And you
know what he said then? All hope that I could ever be
saved was taken away." Ain't that sad? Ain't that sad? And it goes to prove this. Preachers
sometimes, they have this reputation, you see. People look up to them. Sometimes their own congregation
puts them on a pedestal. People look up to him as being
good people. That's the preacher. That's the
pastor. And for that man to be lost, and for him to acknowledge that
he's lost, he has to come down from that high position and take
his place and say, no, I'm a lost preacher. I'm a lost sinner. And you know there's too much
pride to do it. He's got that reputation that
he has to uphold. He cannot humble himself and
say, no, no, I'm a sinner. I'm a lost sinner. That prodigal son that had left
his father's house came to himself, the Scripture tells us, and he
said, I perish. I'm in an awful state. I'm in
a perishing state. I know what I'll do, he said.
I'll go to my Father's house and I'll say, Father, I've sinned
against You. Have mercy upon me. And for a sinner, just a sinner
who sits in the pews or lives out in the world to come to himself
and say, I'm perishing, I'm lost, I'll flee to Christ for a refuge. That's amazing, ain't it? But
how much more amazing When a lost preacher does it. When he counts
everything that he had to be lost. And that's what Paul had
to do. Remember what he said about himself? I was a preacher. I was a preacher. But everything that was gained
to me, Everything I trusted in. The reputation that I had in
the community. All my fellow sinners looked
up to me and said, He's such a good man. I counted all that
loss. And I fled to Jesus Christ for
a refuge. Now, ain't that a miracle? Ain't
that a miracle? It took a miracle to hang those
stars in place. It took a miracle to hang this
world in space, but when He saved my soul, cleansed and made me
whole, it took a miracle of love and grace. And if just an average
poor lost sinner can say that, how much more a lost preacher? You know, it takes grace to save
any man. It's a miracle of grace to save
any man. But I'm telling you, it seems
like it takes more grace to take a lost preacher, to save a lost
preacher. And Paul never got over it. He
never got over it. Here's what he said about it.
I was before a blasphemer. But Paul, you was a preacher.
I was a blasphemous preacher. I was a lost preacher. But I
obtained mercy. And the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ was exceeding abundant. Not just abundant, not just grace,
but it was exceeding abundant with faith and love. And then
he made this wonderful statement. This is a faithful saying, he
said, and worthy of all acceptation. Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. I'm the chief of them.
I was the lost preacher. I was a lost preacher. And the
Lord saved me, and I've never got over it. I praise Him for
saving me, a lost preacher. What did He preach? Well, we're
told here in verse 11. I preached circumcision. You
and I have looked at that before. We know exactly what that means,
don't we? I preached works for religion. I preached the law
of Moses. If you keep the law of Moses,
you'll be saved. I preached morality. If you'll
be a good person, if you'll do what's right and you'll do good,
and you can do that, he said, you can do that. And if you'll
do good and you'll be good, then you can work out a righteousness
that God will accept. Just be good and just do good. Paul never knew that there was
none good. Paul never knew that one lost
sinner had never did anything good, neither can he do anything
good in all his life. He said, when I looked at myself,
I had such a high opinion of myself, I thought that what I
was doing pleased God. That's what he thought of himself.
Oh, he would lay awake of the night and he thought, Saul of
Tarshish, what a fine man you are. Look what good things you've
done today. Have you not fasted today? And
did you not pay tithes of all that you possess today? You went
to visit the widows, and look what a long prayer you prayed. God is so well pleased in you."
And oh, he got so pumped up. And he thought, if anybody makes
it all the way, surely I will. I am such a good man. God is
so pleased in me. And he went around preaching
this to everybody else. You just do good. Here's a list
of things that you can do. Here's some of the traditions
of the fathers. Just do good things because you
are a good person. And by doing these good things,
you can be saved. What did Paul preach? He preached
the merits of men. the good works of men, the law
of Moses, to be saved. And after the Lord had saved
him and revealed the truth to him, how did he feel about himself
then? What was his estimation of himself
when he was a lost sinner and he preached a false gospel? How
did he feel about that former life when the Lord saved him?
I used to preach circumcision, he said. I used to preach morality
for salvation, but I don't preach that anymore. Well, Paul, how
do you feel about that life now? When you look back upon your
time as a lost sinner, what's your estimation of yourself now? You listen to a preacher that
the Lord has saved? And he tells you, before the
Lord saved me, I was a lost preacher. And you know what he thinks of
himself. You know what he thinks of that gospel he used to preach.
You know what he thinks of that life he used to live, his religious
profession back then. He's ashamed of it. Oh, he hates
himself because of it. He regrets it. And he won't hesitate
for a minute to cast contempt upon himself. and tell you that
what he preached back then was a lie on God. The Apostle Paul was writing
to Timothy, and here's what he said. He said, I thank Jesus
Christ my Lord, who hath enabled me. Enabled me? He used to brag about having
power to do whatever he needed to do. He doesn't brag about
his power anymore. He doesn't brag about his free
will anymore. He comes to see himself in bondage
to the devil. And he says, you're now the Lord
hath enabled me. Paul enabled you to do what? To see where I was. to show me my danger, my perishing
condition. He has enabled me to turn from
my sin. He has enabled me to believe
Him. He has enabled me. And He entrusted me with the
gospel, and He says this, He counted me faithful, putting
me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer. Oh, that's what he thought about
himself. A blasphemer? Everybody looked up to you. Everybody
thought you was a fine preacher of morality. He said, I lied
on God. I misrepresented the Lord Jesus
Christ. I twisted the Scriptures just
to prove my own argument and my own opinion. I was a blasphemer. And not only that, he said before,
I was a persecutor. I wasn't content to speak evil
of Jesus Christ. I hated His people. I persecuted
them. When they put them in jail, I
was there in the courthouse to bear witness against them and
have them put to death. I was injurious, he said. I was
a blasphemer, I was a persecutor, and I was injurious. I hated
them. I hated them with a passion,
and I breathed out threatenings against them, and I falsely accused
them, and I testified against them to put them to death. I
hounded them, I tarnished their reputation, I falsely accused
them. What's he talking about? My life
is a lost preacher. My life is a lost man. He didn't
hide any of it. He didn't say, I did some good
things back there when I was lost. If a man says the Lord has saved
him, and he was a lost preacher before, and he will confess that
that was utterly wickedness, and he will take his place in
utter humiliation, and confess the shame and the sin of his
former life, then he may yet be lost. Paul's our example when
the Lord comes and saves a lost preacher. Oh, he hates what he
used to do. He hates it. I was a preacher,
Paul said, and I preached a lie. I was cruel and I was hateful. But now I confess it all. And
the Lord has saved me from it. And I'll never cease to praise
Him for it. My lips shall praise Him forever. You know, men and women will
deny how sinful they are. And they'll deny that their deeds
are evil until The Lord takes in hand to save them and teach
them. And then and only then will they
confess that everything I was and everything I did back then
is done. It's lost. It's nothing. Now, brothers and sisters, I
can speak from experience. Glenn, you can speak from experience. We were religious people until
the Lord saved us, weren't we? How do you feel about that life
now, Glenn? Aren't you ashamed of it? I'm ashamed of it. What things were gained to me. What was gained to you, Paul?
My preaching. My reputation that I had. My
gifts and my abilities, those were gained to me, but what was
gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. And I count everything loss for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them down that
I may know Him and be found in Him not having my own righteousness,
but His righteousness. I tell you, brothers and sisters,
there's no sin in this world. I don't care what it is. There's
no sin in this world worth hanging on to and being lost because
of. Do you know that? I don't care
if a man's a preacher. If that's what's keeping him
from Christ, he better let go of it. I don't care if it's some
heart lust that he's hanging on to. He better let go of it
and fall at the feet of the Savior to be saved. I don't care if
it's procrastination. I don't care if it's this attitude
of self-righteousness. I don't care if it's some open
and profane sin. There's no sin in this world
worth hanging on to and suffering the flames of hell because of
it. I was a preacher and I had to be saved. Come to Christ. Fall at His feet. And the sooner
the better. And I tell you when a man will
do it. I tell you when a man will do it. When God opens his
heart to show him he's wrong. I can't do that. I couldn't do
that to myself. And I can't do it for you. Only
God can do that, Clarence. You told us that this morning.
Open your heart and teach you that you're wrong. and that you
have been wrong, and show you something better. You know when
Paul gave up preaching circumcision? When he found something better.
You know when he gave up his sins? When he found somebody
better. Christ is better. He's better. Paul said, you've heard of my
conversation in time past. I've not hid it. I told you what
I was before the Lord saved me. I was a preacher, a lost preacher.
I persecuted the church. But when it pleased God who saved
me and called me by His grace to reveal Christ in me, all of
that was done. It's nothing. It's sin. Oh, let the Lord take in hand
to show a poor sinner that there's something better than sin. And
when He saves that sinner from sin, oh, that sinner will praise
Him forever. But God has to do it. Let me
tell you a story just for a minute before I go on to my next point
in my text here. It's a wonderful story about
the tribe of Ephraim. the tribe of Ephraim. Sometimes
these tribes of Israel, the twelve tribes, one of them or more than
one would fall into awful sin. Ephraim had fell into idolatry. The whole tribe had fell into
idolatry. And God sent prophets to them
to preach to them to flee from this idolatry. Flee to the Lord
for mercy. But they wouldn't flee. And the
preachers got so discouraged, they went to the Lord and they
said, Lord, the tribe of Ephraim won't hear us. And here's what
the Lord said, and listen to this story. Let me begin at the
beginning of it and take you through some verses. And listen
to what happened here. The Lord said to those preachers,
He said, Ephraim is joined unto idols. Leave him alone. Leave
him alone. But as soon as the Lord said
this, here's what he said in his heart. He reveals unto us
his heart. He said, Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my pleasant child? For
since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still. I can't get him off my heart.
I love him. He's idolatrous, but I love him.
my heart's trouble for him, I will surely have mercy upon him, saith
the Lord." I've told you preachers to leave him alone, but I can't
leave him alone. And you preachers can't help
him, but I can. And then the Lord says this, I'm going to convert Ephraim.
I'm going to save him. I'm going to save him from this
idol And here's what he said, I will be to Ephraim as a lion. I will tear and go away. I will take away. I will take
away. Take away what? The pleasure
he takes in his idols. His affection that he has for
those dumb idols of vanity. I'm going to take that away.
I'm going to make him sick of those idols. I'm going to make
Him willingly turn from them to me. I'm going to take away. And none shall rescue Him. None shall rescue Him. No. All
those refuges that He ran to before to strengthen Himself, All the sin that he took pleasure
in before to keep him thinking about the Lord and salvation,
none of those will rescue him. I'm going to take them all away.
And I'm going to return to my place until he acknowledges his
transgression and seeks my face. And in his affliction, he'll
seek me. He'll seek me. Now, what does Ephraim do? What
does Ephraim do now? The Lord has taken in hand to
do something. The Lord's going to save him,
which his preachers couldn't do. But the Lord has taken in
hand. Now the Lord has slowed him.
Now what does Ephraim do? Well, he says this. Here's what
the Lord said, I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself. Oh, he's changed his tune now.
before he was laughing, before he was jolly, before he took
pleasure in his sins, but now he's be mourning himself. And
here's what he's saying, Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised. And he describes it like this,
as an oxen unaccustomed to the yoke. What happens when you're
trying to break an old ox to plow? He don't like it. You put
a yoke on him, he tries to shake it off. And he'll shake and he'll
shake and shake until he's made his neck raw and his muscles
hurt. And he's worn himself out. And
here's what he says, Oh Lord, turn me. Never heard language like that
before from Ephraim. He's joined to his idols. You
can't help him, but when God takes in hand, God can help him.
And now he leaves Ephraim saying, Turn me, O Lord, and I shall
be turned, for Thou art the Lord my God. Surely, after I was turned,
I repented. And after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded. Then what does the Lord do? Well,
He listens while Ethan continues to pray. And here's what Ethan
continues to say. He turns to the Lord and he says,
O Lord, receive me graciously and take away all my iniquity. And here's what the Lord does.
The Lord says this, ìI will heal his backsliding, I will love
him freely, for mine anger is turned away from him.î And then
what does Ephraim say? ìEphraim shall say, ìWhat have
I to do any more with idols?î What is that? Thatís God doing
what preachers canít do. That's God coming to a man and
women who are joined to their sins, and you can't beat it out
of them. You can try to love them, you
can try to punish them, you can threaten them, but you can't
beat them out of their sins. But the Lord can. And when does
God do it? When it pleases Him. I was before
a preacher, a lost preacher, but when it pleased God, Paul
was on the Damascus road still preaching his morality for salvation. And the lion of the tribe of
Judah appeared to him and spoke to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? Who art thou, Lord? I'm Jesus
of Nazareth, and I've come to convert you. I've come to give
you life. And he goes over there to Ananias'
house. And he says, Ananias, there's
a man over there on the street called Straight, Saul of Tarsus.
You go lay hands on him. And you give him a message from
me. Oh Lord, I'm not going over there to that man. I know him.
He's a wicked man. And what did the Lord say about
him? He's mine. He's mine. He's yours. He's yours. He's a lost preacher. He's yours. He's mine. He's mine. And I'll show Him. I'll show
Him. And what does Paul say when the
Lord has shown him? I can all loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my God. You say, I'll never give
up my sins, not until you see the beauty of Christ you want.
I cannot come out of my sins, not until you experience the
power of Jesus Christ to save you. You can't. Where was Paul's heart from that
day until the day he died? I determined to know nothing
but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have one joy,
one joy, he said, and that's to finish my race and to preach
the gospel of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why was Paul
so adamantly opposed to false gospels? Why was he so adamantly
opposed? He saw such beauty in Jesus Christ. He sought such beauty in the
gospel of Christ's grace. That's what made him hate his
false preacher that he used to preach. Verse 12. Look in Galatians
chapter 5. I was a preacher. I used to preach.
A lost preacher. But the Lord saved me. Now verse
12. This sounds like a cruel statement,
doesn't it? It sounds like really a hateful
statement. A drastic statement. I would they were even cut off
Which trouble you? What does he mean by that? Well,
I like to think this. I like to think Paul means three
things by this statement. I would that they were even cut
off. I would that God would save them. Those preaching the false
gospel that I used to preach, I wish the Lord would do them
the same way He did me. He cut me off from that false
gospel. And He can do that for them if
He's pleased. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved, even those lost
preachers. I have continuous sorrow and
heaviness in my heart. I could even wish myself were
a curse if that would save them. I hope the Lord saves them. I
tell you, that would cut a man's sin in half, wouldn't it? If
the Lord saves him. And secondly, I like to think
that the apostle meant this. If the Lord doesn't cut them
off by saving them, then cut them off from the church. They've
got no business in the congregation causing trouble preaching this
false gospel. Excommunicate them. If they don't
leave, then drive them away. Well, now what Paul said about
that man in the Corinthian church. Put that wicked person away from
you. Put him away from you. Those which cause divisions and
offenses contrary to the doctrine which you've learned, mark them
and avoid them. Avoid them. Cut them off. Don't give them a place in your
congregation to teach and to preach. Glenn, if you start teaching
morality for salvation, you're not going to be teaching here.
And I hope if I start teaching man's goodness for salvation,
I won't have a place up here either. Cut them off. Cut them off. But if these two
things don't happen, I think Paul meant this, I wish they
were cut off by death. I wish God cut them off. I wish
He'd take their life from them. Kill them. That's drastic and
it sounds cruel, doesn't it? But you know the Lord does that
before? He's did that before. Pharaoh that troubled Israel,
remember what the Lord did to him? Drowned him in the Red Sea.
Herod that sought to kill Christ, God killed him. Herod that cut
James' head off and was ready to take Peter, worms ate him. Aaron's two sons that offered
strange fire to the Lord, what did the Lord do? He sent fire
out and consumed them. Eli's sons who took bribes and
brought a curse upon Israel, God killed them. You think about this with me
just for a minute. And I think when we think about
this just for a minute this way, verse 12 here won't seem like
such a drastic statement. There are degrees of suffering
in hell. Hell's hell, we know that. It's
going to be hell for everybody that goes there. But there's
different degrees of suffering and hell. A person's degree of
suffering will depend upon his degree and number of his sins. Now, I can prove that to you
by Scripture. The Lord Jesus said this in Luke 10. Woe unto
thee, Chorazion! That was a city there where the
Lord did miracles. Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For
if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in
Tyre and Sodom that are repented long ago. But it's going to be
more tolerable for Tyre and Sodom and the dead judgment than for
you." And then he made this statement about Capernaum. Capernaum is
where our Lord lived. He did His many miracles there
and He preached to them. And He said, Whoa, to you Capernaum,
you're exalted unto heaven. You've seen me face to face.
You've heard me preach. You've seen my miracles. You're
exalted to heaven. But you're going to be cast down
to hell. If I had done in Sodom and Gomorrah
what I've done in you, they'd have repented a long time ago.
But in the Day of Judgment, it's going to be more tolerable for
Sodom and Gomorrah than for you. What about those lost preachers
then? who have lied on God. And they've made merchandise
out of men's souls, and they've lived lives of pretense, and
they've troubled God's little church. What's going to happen
to them? You know what the Master said
about them? You're going to receive the greater damnation. If there's
a greater damnation, there's a lesser damnation. If there's
greater sufferings in hell, there's going to be less sufferings in
hell. Wouldn't it be better then for God to cut a man off when
he was 25 years old while he had his cup half full of iniquity? Wouldn't it be better to cut
him off then or let him live until he's 80 years old and he's
filled that cup up with iniquity and then cut him off? That's
what the Apostle Paul is saying here. If you go ask King Herod,
we know what happened to that great king. God killed him. He
cut James' head off. Holy James cut his head off with
a sword. If you could talk to King Herod
this morning, and you say, Herod, why in the world would you have
done such a wicked act? You know what he'd tell you?
I wish God would have cut me off. before I had the opportunity
to do it. I wouldn't have had that to suffer
in eternity. I wouldn't have had that man's
blood on my hands. I wouldn't have had those worms
gnawing at my conscience knowing I had committed such a wicked
act against one of God's little children. Oh God, I wish you'd
have cut me off before I did that. Herodotus' daughter went
up and danced before the king. And he said, I'll give you anything
you request, even half of my kingdom. And you remember what
she requested? Give me John the Baptist's head
on a platter. That's what I want. I want that
prophet's head. He makes me mad. He's hindering
my pleasure in sin. I want him killed. If you could
ask her this morning, why would you have requested such a wicked
thing? You know what she would tell
you? I wish God would cut me off before I did that. I'd have
been much better off here in hell. I wouldn't have had that
sin to grapple with upon my conscience. And what about these Pharisees
and scribes? The Lord Jesus said, you're standing
right in the door of the Kingdom of God, and you won't go in yourself,
and those who would go in, you hinder. And what did He say to them?
You'll receive the greater damnation. And you go to those Pharisees
and those scribes this morning in hell, and you say to them,
why would you do what you did? Why would you preach a lie on
God? Why did you lie to the souls of men? Why did you deceive people
like you did? And you know what they'd say
to you? Oh, I wish God had cut me off before I did that. I wish
God would have cut me off before I had an opportunity to say I
was called to preach, and preach 25 or 30 years, and preach a
lie and deceive people. I wish God would have cut me
off. You look at it that way, and this is not a drastic statement,
is it? It's not a cruel statement. I would that they were even cut
off. Which trouble you? And Paul said this about them,
their end will be according to their works. Which trouble you? Which trouble
you? Look at that with me just for
a minute. The last portion of verse 12. I would they were even
cut off, which trouble you? And up there in verse 10, "...he
that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whoever he be."
This world troubles the church, the little flock of the Lord,
and thinks nothing about it. But the Lord said, whoever troubles
my people, they're going to suffer their
judgment. It doesn't matter who they are. There's a good way to trouble
people. There's times when we want to
see people troubled. I want to see people troubled
like the Lord troubled Ephraim, don't you? If you're here this
morning and God would give me grace to speak to you about your
sin and your need of Christ, If you don't
come to Him and find yourself in Him, you're going to perish.
And if you got upset about that and you become troubled in your
conscience, that'd be wonderful. That'd be a good trouble. You
got so troubled about that, you say, I ain't got no rest. I'm
so heavy in my soul. And you know what I'd tell you?
I'd tell you what the Master told you. Come unto me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Rest for
your soul. That's a good trouble. That's
a good trouble. When a person is concerned about
their sins and eternity, and concerned about being saved,
that's a good trouble. But this is not a good trouble
here. I wish they would cut off which trouble here. Three ways
the world troubles this church. Let me give it to you right quick.
Just take a second. The Bible mentions these three ways. One
is by persecution. The world has always persecuted
the church. Paul said this, he said, we are
troubled on every side. Everywhere I go preaching the
gospel, we're troubled on every side. Remember what they did
to him? Him and Silas, he said, they
shamefully treated us there at Philippi. Beat them, put many
stripes upon them, throw them all the way into the back of
the jail. Five times, he said, five times received I forty stripes,
save one. Forty stripes, five times. Once
was I stoned. Remember when they stoned him,
left him for dead? Three times I've been beaten with rods. They laid weight to put him to
death. He said, I've suffered trouble as an evil doer. They
falsely accused him. He was a prisoner at Rome for
several years. We are troubled on every side.
Troubled. The world persecutes us. Dear
old John Bunyan, most of you read after him, Bunyan's Pilgrim
Progress. You know, he spent 12 years, 12 and a half years,
They drug him from his home, his wife and his children. He
had a little blind daughter. He said, when they took me from
my little blind daughter, it was like taking pincers and pulling
the muscle from my body. Twelve and a half years they
kept him away from his family. The world did that to holy John
Bunyan. We read in Fox's Book of Martyrs
that they stoned the Lord's people. They burned them to the stake.
They had these machines where they stretched them, pulled them
limb from limb, put them in boiling oil, threw them into the horns
of wild beasts, and they drowned them down in cellars. Hebrews chapter 11 tells us of
those who suffered trials of cruel mockings and imprisonments. They confiscated their goods.
They slew them with swords. They stoned them, left them to
wander. in sheep skins and goat skin.
They'd come into their home and throw them out into the elements.
They'd have to go naked and find a goat and skin him to make a
skin, just to wear it. They drove them up into the mountains
and they had to live in the caves and the dens of the earth. Why
did the world do this to the church? To God's little flock? Were they criminals? Was the
church criminals? Were there robbers? Were there
thieves or rapists? No, they were just a poor little
broken-hearted flock who believed the truth, Glenn. They were born
to the truth, and they spake the truth, and they lived out
the truth in their daily life, and the world hated them because
of it. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated
them, because they are not of this world. I am not of this
world, and neither are they. And therefore the world hates
them. First reason then is the world troubles the church by
persecuting the church. And secondly is this. Now listen
to this. How is the church troubled? By
the world persecuting it. And those who profess faith in
Jesus Christ and yet live in their sins. They trouble the
church. Those who profess faith in Jesus
Christ and live in their sin, they trouble the church. You
remember the story in Joshua 7 of Achan, a man by the name
of Achan, the son of Karma. The children of Israel had crossed
the Jordan River and they marched around Jericho. And the Lord
says, I'm going to tear those walls down and everything in
there is accursed. Don't you touch it. And Achan, he wasn't an Israelite. And he found a Babylonish garment,
a beautiful garment. And he found some silver and
a wedge of gold and he took it and he put it under his tent. He hid it. They left there and went up to
a little place called Ai. They sent a few men out to fight
against AI because they could take that place easy. But AI
came out against them and whipped them and killed a bunch of them. And Joshua fell on his face and
he said, Lord, what's the matter? Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble
thee this day. How had Achan troubled Israel? They loved the Lord. They were
fighting the Lord's battles. And here this man was, dabbling
in his sin, seeking what he could find to reward himself. The boy
hit trouble when they found out about it. David said, rivers
of water run down my face, because those who profess to love you,
they keep not thy law. They don't love you at all. One of the saddest things in
this world, and it's heartbreaking, when the poor little flock of
God, poor little flock, who hates
sin, And here they are from day to day struggling with it. Within
their own hearts and outwardly. They struggle against their sins.
They don't want to fall into sin. They don't want to bring
shame on the Lord's holy name. And they don't want to discourage
the flock. So they struggle day after day
against sin. And what have you got? You've
got somebody else up here in the congregation that just don't
care. They yield to sin, and they live in sin. And what does
that do? Oh, that troubles the Lord's
little people. That troubles His Father. I tell
you, brothers and sisters, this is my opinion, and I think you
can prove it from the Scripture. I'd rather be somewhere where
there wasn't a church. I'd rather be somewhere where
I couldn't sit with the dear saints of God and lift up my
voices in song with them. I'd rather be somewhere where
I couldn't come and hear somebody get up and read the Scriptures
and lead the congregation in prayer than to sit among God's holy
little flock and profess to know and love the Christ that they
know and they love and yet live in my sin to trouble them. I'd rather be born somewhere
in the dark jungles of Africa and never hear the name of Christ,
and never set foot in a church, has to be like that. He that
troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he be. And thirdly, the
church is troubled this way. The little flock is troubled
by those who pervert the gospel of Christ. I'll remind you of
chapter 1, verse 7. I marvel that you are so soon
removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ
and to another gospel, which is not another, but there be
some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ."
There's four things. I'll give them to you right quickly.
I'll say this and I'll close. I'll let you go. Four things
that will trouble you. If you're a child of God here
this morning, And somebody tries to take one of these things from
you, it troubles you. Seek this thing itself. Christ
alone. Christ alone. What if somebody
came to you this morning and said, Christ alone is not enough
for you. Christ's blood alone is not enough to wash you from
your sin. Christ's grace alone is not enough to save you from
your sin. Wouldn't that trouble your soul? Christ alone. There is none other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. I am the way, the truth,
and the life. Nobody comes to the Father but
by Me alone. Ye are accepted in the Beloved. Ye are complete in Him in whom
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of all
our sins. Israel shall be saved in the
Lord. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified. I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even of thine only." Ain't that the echo of your heart? When
I quote those scriptures, don't let this echo in your heart.
I'll make mention of His righteousness, not mine. Could my tears forever
flow? Could my zeal no longer? No.
These for sin cannot atone. Thou must save, thou must save,
and thou alone. Ain't that what your heart cries
this morning? It's Christ alone for you, or you're troubled. You're troubled. Secondly, it's
grace alone. It's grace alone. The free, unearned,
unmerited favor of God. Nothing you can do to merit it.
Nothing you can do to earn it. God must save us by His grace,
but it's free grace. It's in His hands to give it
or withhold it as He's pleased. It's grace. We believe that through
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. We have been saved. We are being
saved. We shall be saved. by the grace
of God in Christ. The Lord chose us by His grace.
He calls us by His grace. He keeps us by His grace. Through many dangers, toils and
snares, I have already come. It was grace that brought me
safe thus far. And grace will lead me home.
It's grace. Thirdly, It's faith alone. Faith alone. Not faith and works. Faith alone. You and I do not
hesitate this morning one bit to say, Thy faith has saved thee. You read it to us, didn't you
Glenn? You just read that verse to us. The Lord looked down at
that woman and He said, Woman, thy faith has saved thee. We
don't hesitate a minute to say, Thy faith has justified you,
if your faith is in Christ. Your faith has purified your
heart. Faith alone, without anything
else mixed with it. We conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law. Living by faith. That's our rule of life, isn't
it? Living by faith in Jesus above. Trusting, confiding in
His great love. From all our harms safe in His
sheltering arm. Living by faith. And I feel no
alarm. You can face this life. And you
can face death. And you can face the judgment
to come by faith. Living by faith. But it's faith
alone. And lastly, Scriptures alone. Scriptures alone. We've got to
have all four of these. You take one of these away and
you're in trouble. You're in trouble. Because these are the
things that make up what we call the Gospel. The Scriptures are
long. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word of God. They came to Isaiah in the days
of old and they said, there are some wizards over here, you need
to go talk with them. Those are pretty miraculous fellows. There are some witches over there.
And there are some doctors of theology over there. You need
to go talk to these fellows. They can really help you. And
you know what the Lord told Isaiah? He said, don't seek unto those
fellows. To the law and to the testimony, that's where you go.
Go to My Word. If they don't speak according
to this, there's no light in them. No light in them. We wouldn't
know about Christ if it wasn't for this Word. We'd have no faith
if it wasn't for this Word. Faith comes by hearing this Word.
I don't want people's opinions. Do you? Keep them to yourself. Bless your heart. And I'll keep
mine to myself, because both of them won't do us any good.
Preach the Word. Preach the Word. Desire the sensual
milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby. The Lord was preaching
to His disciples one day, and He said, the words that I speak
unto you, Their spirit. They get into your spirit. They
get into your heart. Their spirit and their life. And just about the time he said
that, a whole bunch of people said, we've heard all we've got.
We've got things to do. This don't make a bit of sense
to us. We're bored out of our minds. We're out of here. The Lord turned to His disciples,
His apostles. He said, you guys going away
too? Peter said, not after we heard words like that. You've
got the words of life. You've got the words of eternal
life. Oh, what's going to happen to us if God takes His Word from
us? We're in darkness, aren't we? Scriptures alone. Word alone. Christ alone. Grace
alone. Faith alone. The Scriptures alone.
And take away that, and you've perverted the Gospel.