Let me begin by telling you why
I am bringing this message to you this hour. I thought about these things
earlier this morning and they were driven home pretty good
while I sat and listened to Brother Lindsey's message in the previous
hour. I don't know when I've been more
personally challenged with regard to my responsibilities as God's
messenger to you watching over your souls. I bring you this
message first and foremost for the glory of God. I want to magnify the Lord our
God in everything. I want to honor Him in my home,
in my behavior, in my conduct. But above all, I want to honor
Him in preaching. The first and primary object
of preaching is the glory of God. That's the first primary
object. Be sure, as a congregation, you
understand nothing Nothing even rivals this. Nothing comes up
with this. Nothing. Nothing. If my object
as a preacher becomes something less than that, then I will compromise
God's glory and God's gospel to attain my ends. And if your
objects, our object as a congregation, become something less than the
glory of God, Then we will join all the rest of the churches
around going to hell with a hymn book in our hands singing, oh,
how I love Jesus, compromising God's glory, God's gospel, and
God's truth. Now, that's what's wrong in its
essence, in religion everywhere. Churches have forever forsaken
God's glory. And God's left them to play their
games. And he's written Ichabod over
the door. Second, I'm preaching this message because I want to
inspire in myself and in you. I pray that God, the Holy Spirit,
will use it to inspire our hearts, the hearts of you who are born
of God. who've been washed in the blood
of Christ. I want our hearts to be inspired with greater love
for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. I want my own
soul and my own heart, your heart and your soul, to erupt with
love and praise and gratitude and adoration for Christ. Oh, that our lives might be ruled
by love for Him. I recently had a number of conversations,
folks asking me questions about what do you tell folks to do
about this? How do you counsel folks about that? How do you
advise folks in this area? And when I'd tell them I don't,
they'd say, well, suppose this happened. I'd say, I don't anticipate
those things. I just don't anticipate them.
Well, how do you guide folks? Love Christ. Love it. Love it. Let that determine what
you do on Sunday morning. Love it. Let that determine whether
you'll be back here tonight. Love it. Or if you'd rather go
to ballgame, go to ballgame. It's all right. All this is determined by love
for Christ. Let that determine what comes
first. Love it. Love it. I'll guarantee you that lady
sitting beside you is tickled to death for you to be motivated,
governed, ruled by everything you do as her husband because
you love her. That's all. Love it. Love it. And third,
I want, by the Spirit of God, to entice and persuade you who
do not know our God. to trust his son. And I can't
think of a better way to do that than by the three things I want
to do in this message this morning. Number one, I want us to take an honest,
hard, hard, hard, honest look at ourselves. And I can't think of anything
more difficult for a man to do. Turn to 1 John chapter 1. Try to forget about what your
mama and daddy told you, how good and sweet and kind you were.
Try to forget about all that you have persuaded yourself all
your life. You are. How you stand out in
the crowd. How superior you are. How good
you are. Let's try to be honest. 1 John 1 verse 8. If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. Any
man, any woman, walking topside of God's earth, who says he is
without sin, personally, in himself, he's without sin. He does not
know God. And there is no truth in him. He is a liar at the core of his
being. Read on. If we confess our sins, Now that's not talking about
going to a confessional booth and talking to some priest about
your sins. That's easy. You're talking to a fellow just
like you. Well, he might not be much of a man, but he's just
like you. You're not talking about coming down in front of
a Baptist church and telling folks what horrible faults you
have and what horrible deeds you did last night. That's easy. You're talking to a group of
folks just like you. That's not what it's talking about. He's
not talking about sitting down and making out a list of your
sins. To you this may be just shocking,
but I actually get letters from folks and telephone calls, have
conversations with people who make out lists of their sins
to confess to God. And they tell me, I've written
down all my known sins, and my response is, you're a liar. You
ain't about to write down all your known sins. Somebody might
get hold of it. It's not so. It's not so. What's
this talking about? It's talking about something
Bob Duff goes on, between your heart and your God. If we make bare our hearts to
God, open up that dark, loathsome,
stinking, rotting grave to the light of His absolute holiness. Say, Lord, look here. See what
I am. And you ain't about to do it
unless God opens your heart. It just ain't gonna happen. But
listen, if we confess our sins, I love these next two words,
He is. Doesn't say He offers to be or
He might be or He wants to be or you can hope He will be. He
is. faithful and just to forgive
us our sins. Oh sinner, right where you sit,
right where you are, right now, confess your sins. And God Almighty in faithfulness
and justice declares that He forgives your sins. And He will cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. He'll take all that we are inside and make
us perfectly clean before Him. Perfectly clean. Through the
blood of His Son. Verse 10. If we say, that we
have not sinned. Now that's not talking about
a man or a woman who might be so religiously stupefied
with Babylon's wine that he says, I have never sinned. I haven't
met anyone quite that stupefied with the wine of Babylon's fornication.
Well, what's it talking about, preacher? It's talking about what you did
wherever you put the offering plates. Talking about what you
did when you gave your money to the cause of Christ. Talking
about what you did when you bowed your head and tried to pray.
It's talking about what you're doing at any time, any activity,
any thought. Anything going on inside you,
man says, I've done good now. I haven't sinned. What does it say? If we say we
have not sinned, we make God a liar. And we don't yet know
it. His Word is not in us. Now bear with me for a minute.
I'm going to tell you some things about myself, and I have no question
for some of you, they're going to be shocking. And they will
be shocking because you refuse to honestly face and acknowledge
what you are. For some of you, as I talk about
myself, you're going to hear your voice echoing in your soul
and say, that's the way it is. Because as I describe myself,
I'm going to be describing you. I want us to open the doors of
the dark chambers of our hearts. Enter into those secret chambers and declare what's there. In my heart of sinful flesh,
what I am, I'm not talking about this muscle that keeps blood
pumping through my body. That's not what the scripture
is talking about when you're talking about the heart. I'm talking about what I am by nature
at the core of my being. What I am that God helped me
that I can't do anything about. I mean, I can't do anything about
it. Try as I may, I can't do anything
about it. I can cover it up so you can't
see it. I can try to pretend it's not there. And I can impress
you with the way I walk and talk and act and dress and things
I do. But I can't do one thing about what I am. Not a thing. Now this is what I behold by
nature. in me. Every evil thing there is in
this world. No exceptions. No exceptions. Our Lord said, out of the heart
Out of the heart, and he uses the word deliberately, the heart,
because we all have one heart. Out of the heart, proceed. This is where they come from.
Evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies. That's what comes out of the
inside of us. That's what comes out of the inside of us. It's not something you learn
in school. Sin is not a social disease you pick up by associating
with other people. Sin is what we are. In my depraved
heart, I daily experience depravity itself. I believe the doctrine of total
depravity. But I don't talk about it real
easy because it's the most painful reality I know in my daily experience. I know something about the bitterness
of my depravity. And honestly, before God, I declare
that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I guess that's the most shocking
realization I've ever had in my life. Before God saved me
I was pretty confident that things were just going to be different. I was just pretty confident that
even though I had to continue to deal with sin, I'd be able
to with it. I'd be able to overcome it. I
hear folks saying, oh, victory in Jesus. And I think, boy, it's
going to be mine. I was pretty confident. that
even though it'd still be there, it'd have less influence inside. Rage with less power wouldn't
cause me so much trouble. And then one day, I woke up to behold inside me
That horrible monster Hale, but just as bad Ron as it ever was. Don Fortner just as corrupt as
he ever was. And everybody around me thought
I was better. Everybody around me thought I
was better. I'm trying to be honest with you because I want
you to be honest with yourself. Several years ago, Brother Maurice
Montgomery was preaching down in Ashland, Kentucky. He and
I were preaching together. And he raised these questions.
I wrote them down. I thought, what powerful, penetrating
words. He said, before God saved you,
did you ever imagine that a saved sinner could be so vile and base
as you know yourself to be. Did you ever imagine that you
could love Christ so little and love this world so much? Did you ever imagine that you
could trust the Son of God so little and fret so much? Before God saved you, did you
ever imagine the same sinner could have such a cold heart
of indifference to the things of God and such a lively spirit
toward the things of the world before God saved you? Did it
ever cross your mind that a sinner saved by God's grace could have
such a hard time praying as you do? Such a difficult time reading
the word of God as you do? Did you ever imagine that a believer
could be so impatient, so murmuring, so resentful to God's providence
as you are? I never imagined such things. But I'm aware of them now. In myself, honestly, I declare
there's nothing good. Nothing righteous, nothing holy. Yes, I pray, or I try to, but my prayers are full of selfishness. I've never prayed a prayer in
the secret cries of my inmost that would not send me straight
to hell on its own merit. I do read this book. I try to
learn what God teaches in His Word. But I find this astounding. I
can pick up a book on any subject, on any subject. And directly,
I would just shut things out and focus on it and read it.
I don't mean I can comprehend it, but I can read it. I have
a good friend out in California, brilliant fellow. He's a lawyer
and he's been commissioned by the UN and NASA to write several
books. And these are technical things. These are technical things. I
don't understand a frazzling thing in them. But he wrote the
books, he's my friend, so I decided I'd read the books. Just so I
could at least act like I knew what he was talking about when
we get together. And I read them. I mean, it's stuff that makes
your eyes glaze over. But get focused. Read it. And while I'm thinking about
all that space exploration, all that stuff, I don't think about
anything else. Doesn't cross my mind. This book
here. Pick it up and start to read
it. And it never fails. I'm not talking
about occasionally. It never fails. My mind will
immediately run in a thousand directions all over the world.
All over the world. I find it more difficult to focus
on what God says in His Word than on anything else I read.
Isn't that so with you? Oh, I do love Christ. We love
Him because He first loved us. But my love for Him is shameful.
I do trust Him. But my faith in Him is utterly,
utterly contemptible because of my unbelief. I do rest in Christ. Oh, my soul,
I'm so restless. What about you? What do you see
in yourself? What do you see in yourself,
really? I mean really. Come on. What
do you see in yourself? Be honest and you will know right
where you sit whether you're fixing to split hell wide open
whether you go into glory on the merits of a substitute. Be
honest. Old John Newton put it so well. He said, I am nothing. I have
nothing. I can do nothing. So if I come
to nothing, nothing will be lost. That's just about the way it
is. Alright, now secondly, I want us to take a real good look at
the Lord Jesus Christ as He's revealed in this book. Look in
chapter 3, verse 5. Chapter 3, verse 5. And ye know that He was manifested,
He was revealed. He came into this world to take
away our sins. And in Him is no sin. Now this is what John tells us.
The Lord Jesus Christ, God's darling Son, came down here in
human flesh on purpose to do something. He came down here
on purpose to take away our sin. He came down here, tells us in
verse 8, on purpose to destroy the works of the devil. The Son
of God took on Himself human flesh so that He might take away
forever our sins. And in Him is no sin. Now, this is talking about our
Lord Jesus as our substitute, obviously. It's not talking about
him and his absolute divinity. Not talking about him and his
absolute Godhead. It's talking about the God-man,
our mediator. He had no sin. He was born of a virgin. No earthly
father. That holy thing conceived in
the womb of the Virgin Mary was conceived in her by God the Holy
Ghost. So that when our Lord Jesus came
out of his mother's womb, he was not in any way tainted with
Adam's depraved nature. He did not derive any of Adam's
corrupt blood, but rather he was brought into this world without
a sinful nature. He had no sin. He had no Adamic
sin, no original sin, no actual sin. Though He is the only man
who ever lived, who truly knows what sin is, because this man
is God. You and I are so hardened to sin, we don't
have a clue how God looks at sin. We don't have a clue how
God looks at sin. He knew what sin was. He knew how obnoxious sin is
to God. But he knew no sin in himself. He was wholly, heartless, undefiled
and separate from sinners. This one ate with sinners, and
drank with sinners, and graciously received sinners. He came to
save sinners, but he's altogether separate from sinners. And that's
necessary, because he who would be our substitute, he who would
die in our room instead, he who would undertake to pay our debt,
He who would put away our sin must himself be perfect and without
sin. And remember what God said in
the law? It must be perfect to be accepted. All those Old Testament
sacrifices when they were brought up and sacrificed on God's altar
and the blood taken into the holiest place and sprinkled on
the mercy seat before anything could be done with that sacrifice.
He must be shut up and examined carefully from his nose to his
toes by the high priest and make certain that there's no fault
or blemish or mar of any kind in that sacrifice because the
sacrifice must be perfect to be accepted. But more than that,
the sacrifice must be of infinite worth. A sacrifice for our sins
could not be an angel. or a mere man, ever so perfect. The sacrifice for our sins could
not be a sacrifice of an animal, be it ever so perfect or be they
multiplied in ever so great numbers. The sacrifice must himself be
God. Jesus Christ, the God-man, came
into this world and was made sin. He, his own self, there are sin
in his body on the tree. And when he was made sin for
us. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
darling son, the Prince of Heaven, the adoration of angels, became totally responsible before
God for all that we are, and all that we have done, and all
that we are doing, and all that we shall hereafter do. He became
totally Absolutely responsible to God for all my sin. All my debt was laid on Him. All of it. And the law of God Almighty drew
forth its dreadful sword. And shoves it into His very heart. and pushed, and pushed, and pushed
until the sword itself is swallowed up in him. The fire of God's wrath fell
on this great sacrifice as it fell on the sacrifices of old
at the door of the tabernacle and there consumed the sacrifice
but here is a sacrifice that being consumed by the fire of
God's wrath consumes the fire of God's wrath and he with one
tremendous draft of love drank damnation dry so that he has
fully completely, absolutely, forever,
satisfied every demand of God's holy law and justice. And now,
there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Because He Took away our sins. Took them away. Took them away. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Your sins are pardoned and you're
free! They're all taken away. When I was a kid, when we'd go
to church, we'd learn a song. Some of you children may sing
it downstairs, I don't know. Gone, gone, gone, yes, my sins
are gone, buried in the deepest sea, and that's good enough for
me. G-O-N-E, gone, gone, gone. Did you hear me? Gone, Murrow. Gone from the sight of God Almighty. Gone. And now, He who took away our
sins is seated in heaven. Our great Advocate and Substitute. Look at Him now. See Him yonder
in the Holy of Holies. On the mercy seat. At the throne
of God, seated on the throne of God. Crowned by God Himself? Embraced by God Himself? Accepted
forever by God Himself? How come? Because He, who was
made to be sin, put away sin, and search out the empty tomb,
He's there! Because in Him is God. He doesn't have any. He doesn't
have any. He put it away. He was justified
in the Spirit when God raised Him from the dead. Now, let's
look at this 5th verse of chapter 3 again. And I hope you can see this. Let's look at ourselves in Christ. When John says, in Him is no
sin, he's talking about Christ as our mediator. And He's talking
about those who are in Him. Those whose sins He put away.
He's telling us that in Christ, we who are in Him have no sin. He was manifested to take away
our sins. And either He did it or He didn't. It's just that simple. He didn't
partially do it. He either did it or He didn't
do it. He did it! And in Him. is no sin, so that
the all-seeing eye of the omniscient God, the holy, just, and true
God, who can by no means clear the guilty, searches for sin,
searches for Lindsay Campbell sin, searches for Bob Duff sin,
searches for Don Fortner sin. And can't find any. Can't find
any. How come? He was manifested to
take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. But Pastor, you just got through
talking to us at great length about how vile and corrupt you
are. Yeah, in me, but not in Him. In my experience, but not before
God. In Him is no sin. This simply means that our sins
have been completely expunged forever from the record book
of heaven, from the courts of justice. And therefore, we can
sing with David, blessed is the man to whom the Lord God will
not impute. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. And
he declares, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. And he repeats
it over and over again. I will not remember their sins.
I will not remember their iniquities. I will not remember. I will not
remember. I will not remember. What's that
mean? I won't remember. When John says, in Him is no
sin, he is declaring that our great God has cast all our sins
into the infinite depths of the infinite sea of His own forgetfulness. By His sin-atoning sacrifice,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who was made to be sin for us,
put away our sins. And now, believing on Him, being
united to Him, being one with Him before God, we have no sin. Look at one text with me, 1 Peter
chapter 4. My sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole, is nailed to His cross. And I bear it no more. Praise
the Lord. It sure enough is well with my
soul. 1 Peter 4. For as much then as Christ hath
suffered for us in the flesh, since Christ died
for us, arm yourselves also with the same mind. That is, you have
the same mind about what he did as he has about it. For he that
hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. Oh, that's talking
about the Lord. Well, yeah. But it's talking
about you. My brother, look at verse two.
That he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh
to the lust of man, but to the will of God. Likewise, as God
reckons, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God. I've been carrying this around
for years. Some of you have seen it before. An old man used to
have difficulty breaking the ice. Conversation like to witness
to folks about what God done for him. And he'd sit down on
a train and he'd take this little book here. It wasn't just like
it. Oh, yeah. Oh, thank God. That'd get your
attention, wouldn't it? Thought I'd step aside and ask
him, what are you doing? He said, I'm reading this book.
There's nothing in it. He said, oh, yes, there is. He said, you see this
right here? That's what I am by nature. Blackness, darkness, and sin. See this page here? That's the
blood of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, shed at Calvary
as my substitute. Now, see this here? That's what
I am in Him, clean and white before God. Amen.