It's a great privilege for us,
I'm sure, to have our dear brother Don Fortner with us, and Shelby,
his wife, being looked after, too, to have him with us often. It's quite a... How long is it
since you were last in England? Twenty years. Twenty years, that's
about the best. That's right. I know it's quite a long time,
but it's wonderful to us that you've been able to come again
on one of your rare visits. And we do give you a very warm
welcome in the name of the Lord Jesus, brother. Don has pastored
and faithfully declared the gospel of God's free grace in Christ
at the Grace Baptist Church of Danville in Kentucky. I think
it's for over 25 years, am I right? 27 years, yes. And he is widely
published as an author and conference speaker. I usually bring two
books to the fraternal at least two each month and recommend
them to the brothers here. And there are two books that
I would recommend to you today. I haven't brought them but we
can get them for you. The first one is Grace for Today
by our dear brother Don. Grace for Today is a series of
daily readings that for those who are not conversant with it,
who don't know, haven't come across it, It's a book of daily
readings and I've used this book since it was first published
by Evangelical Press in each of the churches I've pastored
since it was first published. And it's been to great benefit
to many in the churches. In my present little church at
Dorchester there are those who are now reading it every morning.
I trust. And because Don has been gifted
with the ability not only to bring a devotional aspect in
it but a very strong teaching aspect. Don won't mind me saying
that for me he's been one of the great stalwart men of our
day who stood for the doctrines of grace particularly. My connection
with Don is through the internet. He and I both set up a very early
website and we connected together with those websites over the
years, and occasionally we've corresponded with emails. But
the material that's flowed back and forward, and the number of
visitors that have come to those websites, we trust has had its
effect in terms of spreading the word throughout the Christian
world at least. I don't know how many hits that
Don has had on his website, but mine's just coming up to half
a million. this week. So a considerable number of being
able to access a gospel of grace there and see what's presented.
And Don's not only done that but he's also been used in conference
work, conference ministry and speaking. So one book, Grace for Today,
there's another book I would recommend to you and that's your
book on the church, I've forgotten its exact title. Church of God,
what it means to belong. That's right. Church of God,
what it means to belong. Again, there's such a lack of
understanding of what commitment in membership means in churches
today. I'm sure you agree with me about
this. And if you want a book to pass around, that's a good
one to pass around to. So those two books are the books
I bring to you this morning. There are other books of course,
Discovering Christ in Revelation, Discovering Christ in Genesis,
Discovering Christ in the Song of Solomon, Discovering Christ
in Ruth, and then of course Discovering Christ in all the Scriptures.
That's a fairly newish book isn't it? It wasn't all that. So Don,
that's a book too which will be well worth us getting. So
his prolific labours to comfort and feed the people of Christ
has resulted in a copious amount of unpublished material as well
now available on that website www.donfortner.com That's easy
to remember, isn't it? Well, it's a privilege then,
Don, to welcome you and I've invited him to speak on whatever
he wants to speak on. Well, unlike Brother Sergeant,
I don't know anything at all about computers, so I didn't
set the website up. I just provided the material. As soon as Brother Frederick
asked me to come and speak to you, I believe God has given
me something that will be profitable to you. Something very important
to my own heart and life and ministry. Let me begin by telling
you the most important thing I've ever learned. Absolutely
the most important thing I've ever learned. A little over 30
years ago, I went by to visit a man in Ashland, Kentucky by
the name of Henry Mahan. This is back in 1976. I had met Brother Mahan in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina when I was 19 years old. I was not attending
the church that he was preaching in, and I was working going to
college, so I only got to hear him twice that week. His son Robbie had just been
killed in Vietnam. His oldest son landed, and before
he got to camp, the truck he was in was hit by a bomb and
he was killed. and Brother Mayhem was in Act
177 preaching just a few weeks after that. Never will forget
the two messages that he preached on that occasion that I heard.
The first was preaching from the book of Hosea. Hosea and
Gomorrah, that beautiful, beautiful, blessed type of our Lord Jesus
Christ and his love for us. And then I went back again on
the next occasion, I believe it was on a Thursday night, and
it preached from the book of Ruth on Christ our Kingdom and
Redeemer, going through that delightful chapter. And I never
saw him again for all those years, from 69 to 76. But I was pastoring,
I started pastoring when I was just a little over 20 years old,
and look out West Virginia, and our paths would cross just names,
sort of like you and I. Now and then we'd hear one another,
But I'd heard all kinds of things. You fellows who've been around
for a while, you know how the rumor mill goes. Folks hear one
thing and then they repeat it and they repeat it until pretty
soon it's believed by everybody. And I'd heard lots of bad things
about that old man in Ashland. By now he's nearly 50 years old. Anyway, I was 26. I had the world
by the tail on a downhill pull and there was nothing I didn't
know. Not me, just nothing. All he had to do was ask me and
I'd take it. If he didn't ask, I'd take any of him. And so I
thought I'd go by and visit Brother Mayhem on my way to a Bible conference
in Lexington, Kentucky and see if I couldn't impart some wisdom
to him. When I walked into his study,
he was sitting at his desk preparing a message for that Monday night.
He was the preacher on television that night, fixing to go over
to the television station for taping. And we chatted and I
asked him questions. I asked him lots of questions.
questions about his views of the decrees of God, and questions
about his views of the millennial things, and questions about his
views of church discipline and church order, and you know, just
all the questions 26-year-old rambunctious fellows are filled
up. And he was very polite. Frankly, if I had been, if today
somebody walked in and was as rude as I was, I would literally
pick him up and throw him out of the office. But Henry was
nice. He was just as nice as he could be. And listen, and
didn't say much. And got time for him to leave.
He said, Brother Fortner, before you go on your way now, let me
show you something. And he turned his Bible around,
and he's open to Colossians chapter 3. He said, read this right here. This right here. And I started
to read verse 1. He said, no, no, read this right
here. And he pointed to verse 11. And I started reading, oh,
this right here, what does that underline? These three words,
Christ is all. And I thought, well, that's true,
that's nice. And didn't take too much attention
to it. Went on a Bible conference and spent four days listening
to preachers argue about millennialism and church dogma and church order
and church discipline. all those days that folks like
to argue about. Less than a month later, I was
laying in the hospital in Charleston, West Virginia. I had cancer in
stage four, and the doctors expected me to die within a few months. And I'd been pastoring for better
than six years, nearly seven years. And I had been preaching. I have never had a struggle with
Arminianism, never had a struggle with free will, works religion
of any kind. I have been, as folks will call
it, I don't like to use the name, identifying myself, but other
folks would, a thorough going, committed Calvinist from the
day I began preaching when I was 17 years old. And I believed
the doctrines of grace and preached the doctrines of grace relentlessly.
And my doctrine was precise. I can't think of anything in
a doctrinal expression that I said when I was 17, 18, 20 years old
that I wouldn't preach exactly the same thing today. Exactly
the same doctrine. Hopefully a little more clearly.
Hopefully a little more strongly. Hopefully a little more confidently.
But the doctrine hadn't changed. But I spent the next 21 days
in that hospital. rolling over those words in my
mind, Christ is all. And I realized that I had spent
seven years of my life spinning my wheels in sand, answering
questions nobody was asking, fighting issues nobody was concerned
about, doing absolutely nothing for the benefit of a man's soul
and the glory of God. Absolutely nothing. Just cold,
dread, dead, dry, empty Calvinism. Brother Rothbard used to say,
straight as a gun barrel, it's just as empty. And that's just
the way it was. And I have never made a vow to
God before or since. And I wasn't trying to make a
partner with God if he'd let me live, dying was alright. I
had come to grips with that. My wife was his, my daughter
was his, and dying would be alright. But I made this vow. Lord God,
if you're pleased to allow me to stand before eternity bound
men and women ever again, there will be no subject preached by
this man except Jesus Christ crucified. No subject. And I've kept the vow. And God
helping me, I'm going to keep the vow. If I could communicate
one thing to you, and for you who know it, if I could inspire
you with this one thing, it is preach Jesus Christ in all his
glory, in all his fullness, in all his accomplishments, all
the time, from all the scriptures. Preach Christ and Him alone. Nothing else is going to help
anyone. Nothing else. Sometime later,
Brother Mahan and I had gotten over chemotherapy, Cobalt treatments,
the year of that, and we were preaching together in a Bible
conference over in Appomattox, Virginia. I was sharing this
with Ian this morning. I was probably 27 years old now,
maybe a little older, maybe not quite that. And that wise fellow
came by the room and sat down and chatted. And when he wanted
to tell me something, we'd chat a little while about all kinds
of stuff. And then he'd just start to leave. And then he'd tell
me what he came for, make sure I heard it. And he said, Brother
Don, you're getting ready for tonight's message. He said, forget
about those preachers in there. Just forget them. Don't try to
teach them anything. You're not going to teach them
anything. They're not going to hear it
if you try to preach to them. Just don't do it. He says, find
you in your mind's eye somebody who looks like he's been digging
ditches all his life for a living. Who can barely read and write.
Who's got a heavy heart. Looks like he's lost his wife
or his only child. And preach to him. And if you
preach to him, the preachers and the smart folks will get
it, if they want to. But if you preach to them, he's
going to leave with nothing. Preach, in other words, with
simplicity to the hearts of men. Next time I was scheduled to
preach, he came by, same routine, and he said, Brother Don, find
something in that book that you need. now, that grips your heart
now. If it speaks to your heart, God
may use it to speak to somebody else's. But if it doesn't speak
to your heart, it's not going to speak to anybody else's. Our
Lord commands his servants, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. The word is, speak to the heart. of my people. We can't do that. You can't and I can't. That's
our responsibility. We must speak to the hearts of
people and the only way that can be done is if God the Holy
Spirit puts in our hearts a message to deliver to the hearts of his
people and gives us the power of his spirit and his grace to
deliver that message and deliver it Now, I want to show you, as simply
and clearly as I can, what I mean when I talk about preaching Christ.
You're familiar with the passages. I'm determined to know nothing
among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But is Christ
really the message of this book? Let's look at a couple of familiar
passages of Scripture. Luke 24. Our Lord's risen from the dead,
and He's walking along the road to Emmaus with His two disciples
on the Emmaus road. And He restrained them from seeing
Him. Their eyes were holding so that
they didn't know who He was. And they were talking to Him
about the things that were going on in Jerusalem that past three
days or so. And they were perplexed, concerned. They said, This is He whom we've
had believed we were going to redeem Israel. And now we're
in a mess. And then some of our own had
told us that they went to the tomb and he's risen from the
dead. And the Lord Jesus speaks in verse 25 and says, the scripture
reads, Then said he unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory,
and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto
them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." Look
down in verse 46. Now our Lord, well back at verse
44, I'm sorry, our Lord has appeared to his disciples One last time,
Luke seems to take just a giant step to the last of the 40 days
now, and he says in verse 44, he said unto them, These are
the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the
scriptures. And he said unto them, Thus it
is written, that thus it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise
from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission
of sin should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem. What does he mean when he tells
us that in Moses, in the Psalms, and in the Prophets, he expounded
to them all things concerning himself. He opened the Scriptures
and opened their understanding to understand that the message
of this book is Christ himself. The Word of God, this blessed,
blessed book, is not a book about history, not even Bible history. It is not a book about the supernatural. It is not a book about morality. It is not a book about church
government. It is not a book about prophecy.
It is a book about Jesus Christ, the God-man mediator, in whom
the glory of God is revealed to men in the accomplishment
of redemption and salvation for his people. Now, I want to be
crystal clear. To him, give all the prophets
with you. The scriptures speak never of
just law and moralism. If we use this book merely to
teach our children to live right, we have abused this book. If
we use this book merely to keep people in church in line, we
have abused this book. I'm not saying it's something
that once in a while we ought to preach Christ. Christ is the
message of the book, and if ever God the Holy Spirit takes the
person of our Redeemer and plants him in the hearts of men, everything
else will fall in line. But you can get everything else
in line and miss him altogether. It is Christ we must communicate. I remember growing up as a boy,
I didn't go to church much, but when I did we'd go and we'd hear
Bible stories. And I remember hearing fellows
read and tell Aesop's fables. They kind of remind me of the
same thing. They were stories about fantastic power. Would
be unbelievable if you didn't attach the name God to them.
And stories to teach moral lessons. That's wrong. That's absolutely
wrong. Every event in Old Testament
history with regard to the nation of Israel came to pass and by
the arrangement of our God for the purpose of illustrating the
redemption and deliverance of our souls by Christ. Every event. It's not that God just used those
things that happened to Israel to illustrate them as the scriptures
were written. These things came to pass by the arrangement of
our God to teach us these things. So that in the scriptures, when
you look at Noah and his ark, what a fantastic story. Oh man,
how could this be the only God to do this supernatural work?
Indeed it was, but it's a picture of redemption. Noah and his family
were brought into the ark by God. They were shut in the ark
by God and they passed through all the fury of God's holy wrath
In absolute fury, God poured out his judgment upon them so
that they suffered everything everybody else on the earth suffered
by which they were made to perish forever. But the wrath of God
never touched Noah. The ark bore everything. That's what Christ did for us
at Calvary. And Noah and his family walked out on the other
side. That's the whole story. is that rock that followed them
from which they drank. Christ is that bread that fell
from heaven. Christ was the light by night
and the shield by day. Christ continually guided and
protected and led his children through the wilderness and brought
them at last into heavenly Canaan. The same is true with regard
to all the miracles performed by our Redeemer in the New Testament
as he walked upon this earth. They weren't just miracles by
which he showed, confirmed, infallibly confirmed, infallibly demonstrated
his power as God. They did that. They demonstrated
the power of his grace and the operations of his grace. But,
Don, are you suggesting that everything in the book, everything
is about him? I'm not suggesting it. I'm declaring
it as forcefully. as absolutely as I can possibly
declare. Well, I don't see him here. Then
don't preach from that. Just don't do it. Don't speculate
about it. Don't form an opinion about it. Wait until God shows you how
this passage speaks of Christ. We ought never to handle this
book as you would handle any other book. It's horrendous. to make about getting up and
here I've just looked over to Psalm 66 and start reading this
and say well now I'm not really sure but I think maybe this is
what this says and Owen and Gil and Edwards they say this and
Wesley and others they say this and maybe this is what it says
that's horrible that's absolutely horrible we're God's messengers
and messengers are men with a message a message given freshly from
the throne of God every time he sends a messenger. Brother
Scott Richardson described preaching as well as I can imagine it being
described. He said, he said, preaching is a man getting a
message from God's heart to my heart, delivering it to your
heart. That's what preaching is. It
is delivering God's message in his word by His Spirit, and that
message is Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Everything in God's purpose,
everything in God's purpose is wrapped up with Christ. Let's
look at two passages. Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter
8. This very, very familiar, familiar,
blessed portion of Scripture. The Apostle Paul is speaking
to us in verse 28. about God's providence. I know
you can all quote it, read it with me. Romans 8, 28. And we know, we know, this is
not a matter of speculation with us, we know We know it from the
scriptures, we know it from the experience of God's grace day
by day. That all things, good and bad,
all things, from the beginning of time, all things, work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are he called according
to his purpose. And here is his purpose. For
whom he did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. God's whole purpose in the creation
of the universe, God's whole purpose in all the history of
the universe, God's whole purpose in the existence of every human
being, God's whole purpose in heaven, earth, and hell, in the
use of men and in the use of devils as well as in the use
of angels. God's whole purpose is the saving
of a people for the glory of his son that his son might shine
forth in brilliant dazzling glory in the eyes of the whole world
forever. That we be conformed to his image
to show forth his glory as the firstborn among many brethren.
Turn over to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. Fourteen times in this first
chapter of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul tells us by inspiration
that everything God does for sinners, everything God has for
sinners, Everything God gives to sinners is in Christ, as it
was done before the world was. Verse 3. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him. in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the delight." Now, let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Paul is writing to these believers
here at Corinth. And in verse 17, Paul says, Christ
sent me not to baptize. He's not suggesting the baptism
is insignificant. He's telling us that's not the
most important thing. But to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom
of words. Not with wisdom of words. Now
for me, simplicity is real easy. For some of you fellows, I'm
sure you're very smart academics, you're gifted in that regard.
That can be a curse to you. That can be a curse to you. God
doesn't communicate his word with academic wisdom. He does
not communicate his word with wisdom of words. so profound,
so deep. We have to say it back home.
Some fellas can't tell the difference between deep and muddy. Muddy
waters are just muddy waters. Deep waters are crystal clear.
And preaching is, I started to say it ought to be, preaching
is crystal clear. It is crystal clear. You sometimes
hear folks preaching you say uh you know i just i'm not sure
i understood that if you don't understand what i'm saying when
i get done preaching this morning if you don't understand it one
of two reasons either i don't understand it or i really don't
want you to understand it one of those two there's no other
excuse for it i'm not i'm not handy around the house and i
certainly am not handy in the kitchen i'm handy at eating on the other hand, is a great
cook. She makes the best ham cake you ever tasted in your
life. I mean outstanding. And I don't know one thing about
doing it. But I promise you, if she wants
me to do it, if she wanted me to do it, she could explain to
me exactly how to do it, and I could make one just as good
as her. And if we understand what we're preaching, and with simplicity, not with
the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made
of none effect. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish, that is the preaching of the accomplished
work of the Son of God at Calvary, is to them that perish foolishness. It always has been, and it always
will be, and you can't make it anything else. It is foolishness. to be saved by free grace through
the doing and dying of a substitute, to be saved by God's son assuming
our nature, taking on himself our sin, our guilt, our corruption,
our depravity, all that we deserve, suffering the wrath of God in
our stead, to be saved by him alone without us contributing
anything. without any contribution of any kind from us. That's just
foolishness. After all, it stands for reason.
It just makes sense. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness. Now, follow me. I don't keep
up with a great deal of what's going on over here. In the States,
preachers as a group who have for years confessed the things
of God with regard to the accomplished redemption of our Savior, are
running as fast as they can to some way to compromise the gospel
and make it palatable to unregenerate, unbelieving men, so that we must
tell them that. We've got to tell them there's
a sense in which God loves them. There's a sense in which Christ
died for them. There's a sense in which God
wants to save them. That's to tell them there's a
sense in which God is not God, a sense in which the love of
God is meaningless, a sense in which the death of Christ is
utterly useless. That will not do anything to
help the souls of men and everything to compromise the gospel. The
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.
But to us who are saved, it's the power of God. Now watch this. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For
after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not
God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. God ordained this and
only this. This and only this. When the
church in Danville called me as pastor, I had been trying
to pastor for nine years and look out West Virginia, Baptist
Church had been there for over a hundred years and we had business
meetings and this thing and that thing and all kinds of stuff
going on, fussing and fighting and squabbling for nine years.
And I've made up my mind. I finally came to this realization.
I was serving God. I was His servant when I was
selling shoes, when I was loading freight, just as really as I'm
serving Him right now. And I don't have to do this to
serve God. I just said I'm done. I'm done. You can have it. Now why? Because if I don't act like this
at home, I'm not going to God's house and act like it. I'll preach
to whoever wants to listen to me or not preach. That's alright.
I don't have to preach to serve God. Now hear me, my brethren. Being preachers does not make
you God's servants. If you weren't God's servants
before you became preachers, you're not His servants now.
And nothing will give you boldness and confidence like understanding
I am God's servant I will serve him as he has ordained regardless
of what who thinks about it and I'm going to be obedient to him
regardless of the consequences as that means I go back to selling
shoes pumping gas or whatever I do I'll still serve him and
so when the folks at Danville called me as pastor I went down
and told them I preached to them and I said now before you call
me as your pastor You find out everything you can about Don
Fortner from friends and foes. Because if I come down here,
we're getting married. And I don't believe in divorce. And this
is where we're going to do things. We're going to preach. And we're
going to worship God, sing his praise. Try to pray. And we're going to preach. And
we're going to worship God, sing his praise, and try to pray.
And we're not going to do anything else. All the nonsense that goes
on in religion, all the entertainment, all the programs, all the pageantry,
all the barnyard crap is just exactly what it is. It's out
the door. It's not going to happen while
I'm pastor here. And so far it's worked pretty
good. It's worked pretty good. And
I'm telling you, this is all that God uses in the saving of
his people. The preaching of the gospel.
Read on, verse 22. For the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified,
unto the Jews a stumbling block. Have you figured out a way to
make it into anything else? To the Jews? Christ crucified
the stumbling block. I don't care how you try to explain
it. I don't care how you try to define it. I don't care how
you try to defend it. Still a stumbling block. To the
Greeks, foolishness. Doesn't matter how you explain
it. Doesn't matter how reasonable and logical and precise you are.
But to them which are called, them which are the called of
God, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. We need not so much to be concerned
about trying to get men to understand and believe and be persuaded
of the things we're preaching as praying that God will give
us understanding and confidence and persuasion about the message
and make that message effectual to those who hear. And if he
does, they'll see Christ is the power of God. And Christ is the
wisdom of God. Here is the revelation of God
in his glory. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men. And the weakness of God is stronger
than men. For you see your calling, brethren.
Now that not many wise men enter the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. And principally, he's talking
about you and I. He's talking about preachers.
Sometimes God's pleased to call someone who is just so talented
and gifted and brilliant, uses them in the proclamation of the
gospel. But it ain't often. That just
doesn't often happen. What does he use? What does God
use for the preaching of the word? God has chosen the foolish
things of the world. I take my place there. The foolish
thing. I quit trying to match wits with
anybody a long time ago because I'm outwitted. He's chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base
things of the world and things which are despised as God's chosen
game and things which are not. That's a pretty good description
of you and me too. To bring to naught the things
that are. Why on earth would God use such
things as we are? Broken pieces of useless poverty. Broken clay pots. Empty, dirty,
vile pieces of human flesh like you and me. Why would God use
such that no flesh should glory in his presence? Paul wraps his
chapter up by telling us that the whole of the message, the
whole of the preaching, the whole of the business of the ministry,
the whole of salvation is Christ himself. But of him, of God,
by the operation of his grace, by eternal election, by the performance
of his grace in regeneration, of him are you in Christ Jesus,
Who of God is made unto us. Now watch this. Wisdom. Proverbs chapter 8. Christ stood
as our wisdom in the council chambers of eternity. Wisdom. Don't pay any attention to what
you're going to say. They call you before them. I'll tell you
what to say. Trust the Lord. He'll direct
your paths. Wisdom. And he's made of God
unto us. Righteousness. every ounce of
righteousness there is, He is for us. We are made the righteousness
of God in Him. How can I begin to declare that
plainly enough in such a way that God the Spirit
will make you who've been reading this and studying it for more
years than I have, rejoicing in it. He hath made him sin for us who
knew no sin. God Almighty took the spotless
Son of God our Savior and made him sin. Our Lord Jesus voluntarily
bear our sin in his own body on the tree. And when God saw
sin on his son, he justly executed his son. He poured out on him
all the fury of his infinite wrath, and he who alone could
exhaust the infinite wrath of God, exhausted God's wrath. He rewarded our substitute because
that's what he deserved with death when he was made sin for
us. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. To whatever extent it was, he
was made sin. To just that extent we've been
made the righteousness of God in him. to whatever extent it
was that he justly was rewarded with wrath and fury to that extent
we are rewarded with everlasting life and everything that's included
in it for perfect righteousness his obedience has been made our
obedience as you read in Romans chapter 5 just as our sin was
made his sin and sanctification Now, I suspect I'll raise some
of your eyebrows, but they need to be raised if that's the case.
Christ is our sanctification. I know that Reformed theologians
and Puritans have for years, particularly the Puritans and
since then others, now fundamentalists, Darminians, that teach essentially
a Wesleyan doctrine with regard to sanctification, and that what
happens in Justification is God declares us righteous and what
happens in sanctification is God makes us new in Christ and
we begin to make ourselves more and more
and more holy. Kind of stretch our spiritual
bootstraps until we, if we read our Bibles enough and pray enough
and go to church enough and give enough money and preach enough
and devote ourselves enough At last, we're right for heaven
and God takes us home. That's utter heresy. That's utter
heresy. Utter heresy. That's nothing
but work stuck right in the middle of the scheme of grace. And this
book never teaches it. Now, some of the old writers,
John Gill in particular, uses the words progressive sanctification,
and as he uses them, they're exactly right. Believers grow
in grace. Believers grow in faith. Believers
grow in love for Christ. Believers grow in the knowledge
of Christ. Believers grow in thanksgiving
and in appreciation. But believers do not grow in
holiness. We do not make ourselves progressively
more holy. We do not make ourselves progressively
more righteous before God. The only time in this book, how
often have you heard a fellow say, well, it's going to be Oh,
Brother Fred Sargent, he's such a holy man. As if somehow that's
a compliment. The only time that word holy
is used with reference to a man in this book in the sense of holy, holier, holiest. The only time it's used. The only time it's used in any
relative sense is stand by thyself, come not nigh me for I am holier
than thou. That's the only time it's used.
The words sanctify, sanctified, sanctification are never used
in the word of God to speak of us doing something, not one time
in this book. Well, in the Old Testament, men
were required to sanctify themselves. They were also required to have
told for themselves, because that's a picture of what God
has done for us. But as it's taught in the book,
throughout the New Testament, it's always spoken of as that
which God does for us and God does in us. He sanctified us
from eternity in his eternal decree. Jude 1 says so. That's not speculation. Christ
sanctified us when he redeemed us at Calvary. Hebrews 10 says
so. That's not speculation. And he
sanctifies us in the new birth when he puts Christ in us. The
new birth is not a renovation of the old man. It's not a renovation
of the old nature, the new birth is a new man created in you,
that holy thing which is created in you that cannot sin as is
described in 1 John 3.9. Alright, Christ then is made
unto us righteousness and he is altogether that which sanctifies
us, which makes us holy people, makes us his saints. As a matter
of fact, if you read Paul's letters to the churches, He writes to
people he's never seen. He's never seen them. And he
calls them saints. I'm looking at some saints. Do
you know that? Saints. There's Saint Fred, Saint
Ian, but saints. Well we don't use terms like
that. Why not? That's the way they're spoken
of in the New Testament. That's exactly how they're spoken of.
Because every believer is sanctified. fully sanctified, absolutely
sanctified in Jesus Christ. He is our sanctification, and
he made unto us redemption, deliverance, deliverance by blood, and deliverance
by power, and deliverance at last in resurrection glory. And
here's the reason, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." And
that's my message to you. I read somewhere a long time
ago, The preacher had been on a trip, kind of like I've been
on this last couple of weeks. He got on the airplane, sat down,
tired, sat down. The fellow decided he seemed
to want to talk. And the fellow was all excited.
He looked up at the preacher and introduced himself and he
said, uh, he's out in business with my father. And the preacher
said, me too, me too. He said, my father and I are
in the jewelry business. Preacher thought for a little
bit after listening to him talk. He said, my father and I are
in the same business. The fellow looked kind of puzzled
at him. He said, we only deal in the rarest of jewels. And the preacher looked at him
and smiled and said, we only deal in the rarest of jewels
too. Finally the fellow looked over at him and he said, I'm
on my way now to meet my father. And the preacher looked up at
him and he said, me too. The fellow is bleeding. He said, I sure do hope my dad
will be pleased with what I've done. The preacher with tears running down
his eyes said, me too, me too. Our father. Hear my prayer on behalf of these
men whom by your appointment in Providence you have placed
where they are, will you be pleased to burn afresh in my heart and
in theirs the beauty and the glory and the fullness of Jesus
Christ our Redeemer and cause our hearts to burn with your
word that we may proclaim your word boldly, with confidence,
and we ask that you will be pleased to use it for your glory. Use
these men where they are. Use them. Lord God, break from
them every temptation to lean on the flesh. Break from us every
inclination to serve ourselves. Break from us every fear of man. and give us of your spirit that
we may walk before you as Moses in utter meekness knowing that
we're your servants knowing of whom we are sent knowing
for what we have been sent that we may stand in the place where
you put us And we ask our God, when all
is done, your people be served. And our Savior glorified. Amen. Thank you for your attention.