I gave up a long, long time ago the business of trying to prove
and disprove things standing in this place. I'm not interested in working
out fine points of theology in an academic way. I am very, very
interested in your immortal soul. and the glory of God. Ralph Barnard
used to say, we ought to preach at least every now and then as
if everybody we're talking to is going to hell right now, and
I won't do that. Baxter used to say, the old Puritan,
he said, I preach as if never sure to preach again as a dying
man to dying men. With that in mind, I want you
to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. We'll begin now. Paul wrote to the Corinthians
in the second epistle and said, I fear lest by any means as the
serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. He said, I'm
jealous over you, jealous over your souls. I want you to know
Christ. I want to present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. And so he was determined to preach
to men in the utter simplicity of plain speech. and to proclaim
the simplicity, the singleness of Jesus Christ. The fact is
there is no substitute for simplicity, sincerity, especially in this
business of preaching. If I had the ability, I don't
pretend to have it, but if I had the ability, I would not strive
for eloquence, flowery oratory, moving illustrations, or impressive
words of wisdom and education. I recall several years ago, a
long time ago, a preacher friend of mine, an acquaintance, spoke
so glowingly of a young preacher he knew fresh out of seminary,
he said, He said, you know, he never preaches. But what, I have
to go home, get a dictionary out and look up some word he
used? And I said, you call that a compliment? Ought never to
be done. Never. I want to preach the gospel
in plain language, with no masked meanings to my words. with such
plain language that it's impossible for anyone who hears me to misunderstand
what I say. This is what Paul said in 1 Corinthians
2, verse 2. I determined, I determined, and
it must be a matter of determination because our flesh recoils away
from it. Our flesh just naturally likes
to dive into mysteries we don't understand and debate issues
we know nothing about and get involved in controversies of
no value and no profit to men's souls. Paul said, I determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What on earth is he saying? He said, when I speak to you
as God's servant, I'm determined not to know anything but Christ. Folks ask, what about this? What
about that? I don't know. I don't know. I
do know Christ. And I do know the message God
sent me to preach. But what about this fellow? I
don't know. I don't really care. I don't really care. I do know
Christ and the message of His grace. Verse 3, and I was with
you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. Now Paul is
not suggesting here, when I stood to preach to you I was Afraid
of what you were going to say or how you were going to respond.
I was afraid of what might happen. That wasn't the case at all.
Paul is saying, when I stood before you, I stood before you
as a man to speak for God, knowing that I'm utterly incapable of
doing so. Trembling lest I misrepresent
him or misspeak a word. in weakness, in fear, and in
much trembling. These days folks have the idea
that somehow humility is a lack of backbone. Humility is a lack
of decisiveness. Humility is a lack of manliness. That's not the case at all. I
don't know of any man I read of in scripture more manly than
Moses. But he had a little backbone.
Some fellow wrote to me a while back, a preacher, reprimanding
me for something I'd said. He said, you need more meekness,
more humility. You ought not be so dogmatic.
And he wrote a pretty nice letter, but I understood he didn't have
any idea what he's talking about. And I wrote to him, and I said,
I pray that God will give me more meekness. I pray for it
all the time. That kind of meekness Moses had when he stood before
Pharaoh in Pharaoh's own court, trembling before God, not before
men. He says, verse 4, in my speech,
the way I preach to you, my preaching, was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom. I didn't come to you as a rhetorician.
I didn't come to you with great argument and buttressing facts. But rather, I just came to you
and spoke to you in demonstration of the spirit of God and power. Oh, God, let me do that. Would to God He might speak through
me to your soul. Would to God He might take His
Word, as I proclaim it to you now, and with such convincing
power of grace, make it demonstrably to you, the very Word of God. Verse 5, here's my reason. Now, Paul said, I didn't come
with enticing words of man's wisdom. I didn't come to you
as a polished orator. I didn't come to impress you.
I didn't try to entrap you and I didn't try to speak to you
with ambiguous terms that you might put any construction of
meaning on that you want to. And here's the reason, that your
faith should not stand in the wisdom of man. If you believe
something because I out-argued you, if you believe something
because I gave you facts that you just couldn't resist, if
you believe something because it just appeared to be so convincing
to me that you just couldn't resist it, then somebody else
will come along and they can take your faith away real quick.
I don't want your faith to stand in what you learn because of
my learning or because of what you believe because of my persuasiveness,
but rather that your faith should stand in the power of God. When God inscribes truth on your
heart, all hell can erase it. When our Lord Jesus preached,
he spoke much the same way. He spoke in language that men
understood. Nobody ever had to go look up
a word and find out what he was talking about. He had no hidden
meaning to his words, but everyone who heard him, I mean everyone,
everyone who heard him understood exactly what he said. They may
not have believed him, most didn't, but they understood it. He crossed
their traditions. He offended their pride. He showed
utter contempt for their customs and for their religion, but they
understood it. Perhaps they were unwilling to
bow to his claims as Lord. Most were. But they understood
him. Listen to this. Our Lord was
preaching and the Pharisees were offended after they heard his
doctrine. This is what he says. This is
what we believe, what our church believes, what our fathers have
believed, what we've been taught, what we've always taught. And
if what he says is so, then we got to give all this up and we're
not going to do it. They were offended at his doctrine.
When they heard these things, the scripture says they were
filled with wrath. Religious folks, mad as all get
out because he proclaimed himself the sovereign savior. In John
chapter 10, those Pharisees understood his doctrine far better than
most folks do today. Our Lord Jesus said, I and my
Father are one. And the Jews picked up a handful
of rocks and started to kill him. And they said, the reason
is because you being a man make yourself God. They understood. Fellas, look here, look here. You're looking God Almighty square
in the face. They understood. That's exactly
what he was saying. Now, it is essential for those who preach
the gospel to do so with such plainness of speech. Paul said,
if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself
to battle? He wrote, I do not frustrate
the grace of God. I don't confuse it. I don't complicate
it. I don't distort it. I don't make
it void. I don't nullify it by what I
say. But rather, I sound a clear,
unmistakable message concerning the gospel of God's free grace. I can't force anyone to turn
from their idols. I can't, by my abilities, compel
sinners to bow to Christ as Lord. I can't make anyone believe the
gospel. But it is my responsibility,
as Lindsay stands here and preaches to you here, teaching the Word
every Sunday morning, and Ron and Larry, these fellows come
and preach to you, Brother Parks will be here in a week or so
and he'll be preaching to you. As they come and preach to you,
it is our responsibility to make the word of God so plain and
so clear that that which is spoken cannot be misunderstood. So the
folks who hear us understand what we're saying. You may or
may not believe my message this evening, but I'm determined you're
going to understand me. There's absolutely no reason
for confusion. All the confusion there is in
the religious world today lies at the doorstep and is the responsibility
of those men who ought to be telling folks the truth. When
preachers get up and talk and folks say, well, boy, he's so
deep. I couldn't understand him. That
ain't the case. That ain't the case. He didn't want you to understand
him. He didn't want you to. If a man gets up and talks to
you for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour, and you don't understand
what he's talking about, one or two things or so, either he
doesn't know what he's talking about or he doesn't want you
to understand what he's talking about. Give you an example. I'm not
a cook. Don't pretend to. Don't intend
to take up the habit. But my wife's a pretty good cook. She's a pretty good cook. She
makes a pound cake that is out of this world. I mean out of
this world. It'll put pounds on you. And
she understands how to make it. She understands what those jumbo
egg yolks do to it. She understands what real butter
does rather than that fake stuff. She understands what whole milk
does rather than skim milk. And if she wants me to fix it,
she could give me directions and tell me exactly how to fix
that pancake. And she'd tell me exactly how
she does it. I could fix one just as good as her. Just as
good as her. Because she understands it. And
the language is plain. And I don't understand anything
about it. Why? Because she intended for
me to understand. You ladies give out recipes. It's kind of a habit to leave
a little something out. How come? Because you don't want
anybody to make it as good as you do. what preachers do. Leave a little
something out, put a little something in so you can't understand. Brother Scott Richardson said,
it's time for preachers to stand up on their hind legs and tell
the truth. And if folks would, God might just use us. You see,
the word of God is crystal clear. There's no question about what
happened in the garden. All the details, all the various nuances of truth, when
you bring it right down to it, this is what happened in the
garden. Adam sinned. Adam rebelled. Adam died, and
he did it as a representative. We sinned. We rebelled. We died. Because Adam was our
representative, and when he sinned, we sinned. When he lifted up
his fist in God's face, we lifted up our fist in God's face. When
he went astray, speaking lies, we went astray, speaking lies.
And we're born with his nature. That's what the book says. Anybody
have any question what that means? Well, preacher, I don't like
that. I can't do a thing on earth about that, but you understood
what I said. Adam was your representative. God fixed it that way. And you
died in Adam. No question about what happened
to Calvary, not according to this book. Our Lord speaks plainly. When our Lord Jesus suffered
and died in our room instead, he was made a curse for us and
he removed the curse from us. He died as the second Adam, the
last Adam. He too was a representative man.
And all who were represented by him, just like with our father
Adam, as he walked on this earth and lived in righteousness, they
walked on the earth and lived in righteousness. As He went
up to Mount Calvary and suffered the wrath of God, having their
sins imputed to Him, charged to Him, made to be His responsibility,
we who are His went up to Mount Calvary, bearing all the judgment
and terror and hell of God's holy wrath, and when He said
it's finished, it was finished, and when He died, sin was put
away. It's gone. It's gone. Somebody
was redeemed. And there's no question about
what happens when God saves a sinner. Oh, I pray that God will give
you grace and life and faith in Christ. And I'll tell you
what will happen when He does. The only way it will ever happen. The only way it will ever happen. God Almighty is going to have
to raise you from the dead. raise you from the dead. You
see, men by nature are spiritually dead. Dead. Dead. Without spiritual thought,
without spiritual perception, without spiritual knowledge,
without spiritual feeling, without spiritual understanding, without
spiritual life, dead. Dead. You go down yonder to the
cemetery. If you want to, go inside the,
what do they call this thing, mausoleum out there where you
get a little warmer, get out of the wind, and say anything
you want to to anybody in those tombs. Anything you want to. You can call their mama or their
daddy. Anything you want to. They don't care. You can make
all the offers you want to make. They're unmoved. You can terrorize
all you want to terrorize. They're unaffected. How come?
They're dead. They're dead. Wouldn't it be a foolish thing
to go down there and make offers and terrorize and threaten? Yeah.
Except if God said, go down there and speak. And I'll send my wind, and He'll
blow upon those dead bones, and I'll cause them to live." We've
got to go down there to the tombs. Men must be born of God, raised
from the dead, given life, and that's done by the Word of God.
The gospel is a profound mystery. There's no question about that.
So great, so deep, so wondrous that no man can comprehend it. I spend a lot of time, I'm not
bragging or anything, I spent my life studying the gospel of
God's grace. And when I was 20 years old,
I knew everything there was to know about it. I did. I knew
everything there was to know. But I had read the best theology
books. I had read the best commentaries.
I had sat in the good preaching. And I had it all down pat. Now, I know the gospel, but I don't
know much about it. It's mystery just keeps getting
bigger and bigger, more wondrous, more glorious every time I look
at it. But it is a mystery revealed
and preached with utter simplicity. Such simplicity. Now listen to
me. Listen to me. This is the end
of my preaching to you right now. I may never see your face
again this side of judgment, but it is a mystery revealed
and preached with such simplicity that any sinner who will, any sinner who will, can believe
it and receive it. Any of them. The preacher just
told us we were dead. I had no idea. But you're still
responsible to believe God. And if you believe Him, you can. If you receive it, you can. Now
if you'll give me your attention, I want to say some things just
as plain as I possibly can. Let's go to Luke chapter 13,
verse 1. Luke chapter 13, verse 1. Pick up here right where we left
off this morning with this thing of repentance. I don't know. If you'll ever
repent, I don't know if you'll ever experience repentance, but
I do know this, except you repent, you shall perish. This is what
our Lord says here. There were present at that season,
our Lord was preaching, you know the context. He spoke specifically
to the people. And there were present at that
season some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate
had mingled with their sacrifices." Now, I've read lots of conjecture
by lots of men. But we have absolutely no idea
what that was. I don't know. I don't know. The
Lord doesn't tell us. There's not anything factually
recorded in history. And so the best thing I expect
for us to do is just leave it alone. When God doesn't speak,
we don't need to speculate. I don't know what Pilate did,
don't know who the Galileans were, don't know why he did what
he did. He killed some Galileans at the time of the sacrifices.
Verse 2. And Jesus answered and said to
them, suppose you, do you think that these Galileans were sinners
above all the Galileans because they suffered these things? It's
obvious that these fellows came to the Lord and what they said
they must have said with a sneer of self-righteousness. saying,
have you heard what Pilate did to those Galileans who came up
here? And he mingled their blood with their sacrifice? Have you
heard what Pilate did to these fellows? It must have been because
there was something wicked in those fellows nobody else perceived.
Must have been the judgment of God. God killed them because
they deserved it. How quick we are to judge God's
providence by what we see. and how quick we are to sit in
judgment of others, how quick we are to think upon the errors
of others, how quick we are to think about the death of others,
how quick we are to think about the condemnation of others. And
our Lord says, now listen, I tell you no. These fellows weren't
any worse than you. They weren't any different than
you. They weren't one speck more wicked
than you. I tell you, nay, but except you
repent, you shall all likewise perish. Verse 4. Are those 18
upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them, think ye
that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
Do you think those fellows were more wicked? I don't know what
kind of fellows they were. Must have been notoriously wicked.
Must have been notoriously evil men. But our Lord says, I tell
you, no, no. Oh, but those, you know what
those fellows did? You know what they did? They
deserved it. Our Lord said, you think they
were more wicked than you? More wicked than your mama and
daddy? More wicked than your husband or wife? More wicked
than your sons or daughters? No. I tell you, nay, but except
you repent, you shall all likewise perish. And let me give you the
long and short of what our Savior here tells us. And let me speak it to you. You are just exactly like the
multitudes of the damned in hell, just exactly like the And I'm not going to make that
any less painful than it is, Bobby. You're just exactly like
him. And the fellow talking to you
is too. Just exactly like him. You see, we are not what we appear
to be. We are what we are. We're pretty good at covering
up ugly when we want to. We're pretty good at covering
up offensive things when we want to. A fellow's got a scar on
his left cheek and he doesn't want you to see it, he speaks
to you and turns his right cheek to you. A man's got a problem,
he knows he's got onions or garlic on his breath and he doesn't
want you to smell it, he won't talk to you face to face, turn away from
you. Cover it up. And we are pretty good at covering
up what we are inside. But what you read in the newspaper,
And what you see on the television, and what you've read in history,
Earl Hart, that's what you are, and me too. Judas, I'm looking in the faces of a
whole bunch, and you're looking in the face of one. This is what we are. This is
what we are. You and I are just like the multitudes
of those damned sinners who are presently under the wrath of
God, and except you repent, you're going to be just like them in
hell. You shall all likewise perish. Oh, God, help you to
hear me. You who believe not, condemnation is not something
awaiting you. The wrath of God abides on you. The wrath of God abides on you. The very same holy, just wrath
of God Almighty that fuels the fires of hell and torments the
damned right now abides on you. It's what our Lord said, he that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the
Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him. God Almighty has drawn the glittering
sword of his justice. He has honed it sharply and is
ready to slay you. The wrath of God abides on him. Now, I'm here to persuade you to repent. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
5, verse 10. I want you right now to believe
on the Son of God. I want you right now to call
on Him. I want you right now to settle
this issue in your heart between you and God Almighty of your
enmity against Him. How come, preacher? Why are you
so urgent? For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
that every one may receive the things done in his body according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. God Almighty
is going to judge us soon according to the terms of strict justice,
according to the record of heaven, and if he finds on you one speck
of sin. If he finds on me one particle
of iniquity, if he finds on us, in us, or about us one iota of
transgression, hell will be our portion forever. Knowing, therefore,
the terror of the Lord, we persuade man. Preacher, you just got through
telling us you can't do it. I know I can't, but I got to.
You just got through telling us you can't make anybody believe.
I know I can't, but I've got to make you believe. You just
got through telling us you can't make anybody repent. I know I
can't, but I've got to make you repent. This is what Paul's saying. Knowing that God Almighty is
going to meet you in judgment and you're going to meet Him
in judgment, I've got to twist your arm and push you to Jesus
Christ. We persuade men. Persuade men
how? Let me persuade you now by telling
you how God saves sinners and of God's wondrous grace. Look
at this. Paul says, we persuade men that
we are made manifest unto God, and I trust are made manifest
to your consciences. Folks would come around, told
these Corinthians, said, Paul's not true. He's a fake. He's a
charlatan. He's a false prophet. He's a
false apostle. And he doesn't have your best
interest at heart. And Paul said, it's a small thing to me what
you think or don't. But I hope I may manifest to
your conscience, James. I know I may manifest to God.
Now, look at verse 14. For the love of Christ constrains
us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're
all dead. Now let me give you a better reading of that. If
Christ died for all, then all who were in Him died. He's talking
about the love of Christ. He's talking about the revelation
of his love. He says, this we know, the love of Christ constrains
us because we understand that when Christ died, everybody for
whom he died, died in him. He redeemed them every what?
Read on. He did it that they which live
should not henceforth live unto themselves. He died for us that we should
no longer live to ourselves. We spent our whole lives living
to ourselves, didn't we? He died for us that we should
no longer live to ourselves, but unto Him which died for them
and rose again. Wherefore, henceforth, know we
no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now, henceforth, know we him no more. In other
words, Paul says, We don't know Christ by carnal means. We used
to. We used to know about him historically. We used to know about him because
he lived on the same street we did. We used to know about him
because we ate at the same table he did. We used to know about
him because we knew his mama and his daddy and his history
and all those things. We used to know him after the flesh. I know A.W. Pink. Know him pretty
good. I know folks who sat under his
ministry. I know folks who heard him preach.
I've read every biography written about him that I'm aware of,
every biographical sketch. I've read most of his works.
But you know what? And I've seen pictures of him.
I've seen pictures of him. I've even seen pictures of his
wife. But I don't know the man. I just know a And salvation is
not knowing about the Son of God. Salvation is knowing Him. And we don't know Him by carnal
means, but rather by spiritual means. Look at this, verse 17,
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things
are passed away, and behold, all things are become new. This ought to persuade you. This
ought to persuade you. How would you like to start all over before God
Almighty right now with no sin and no possibility of any? No sin laid to your count. No possibility of any sin ever
being laid to your count. If any man be in Christ, old
things are passed away. All my sins are gone. 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. And all righteousness is made
to be yours. God so accounts it. And it will
never change, no matter what. Read on. Oh, preacher, how can that happen? All things
are of God. He did it. This is his work. No man can. who hath reconciled us to himself,
not who is reconciling, but hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ. and hath given to us the ministry."
Now that word ministry, it really would be better translated, the
word of reconciliation. God has given me, this reconciled
sinner, the word, the gospel, the message of reconciliation.
To wit, here it is. That's what that word to wit
means. Here it is. This is it. That God was in Christ. Reconciling the world to himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
to us the word of reconciliation. When Jesus Christ walked on this
earth, when he came in here and began to breathe on this earth
as a man, All the while he lived here in obedience to the Father,
while he suffered all the horror of God's holy wrath, God was
in Christ, reconciling the world of his elect to him, not imputing
our transgressions to us, to him. Not punishing us, but him. Now look at it, verse 19, or
verse 20. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us. What a word. What a word. I don't care whether it fits
anybody's theology or not. As though God Almighty Himself
did stoop down here in the form of this man and beg you, beg
you, beg you to be reconciled to God. You mean, pastor, God's anxious
to save sinners? Yes, sir. You mean He delights
in mercy? Oh, yeah. Judgment's a strange
word. He delights in mercy. As though
God Himself did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's name,
be you reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Come back to Isaiah, Isaiah 55. and hear this word from God. Verse 6, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. I know how Satan works and I
know how our proud flesh works. You look at that and say, Must
be the time now for me, he can't be found." I reckon why we automatically
jump to that rather than seek him. He said, when you seek me with
all your heart, you'll find me. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon Him while He's near. Bow down and worship Him. Here
He is. Let the wicked forsake His way. That doesn't mean that God will
save you if you'll turn over a new leaf and start doing good.
Forsake your way. Give up to the dominion and rule
of Jesus Christ the Lord. Surrender to Him. Bow to Him. And the unrighteous man, his
thoughts. I try my best as I read this
book. to forsake all my natural thoughts
about the way things ought to be and see what God says. Forsake your thoughts and you
might learn from God. Forsake your thoughts. Give them
up. Give them up. Everything you think naturally
about the things of God is wrong. Everything. Forsake them. And let him return unto the Lord. Turn now, turn now, turn to the
Lord. Look on me, be you saved, he
says, turn to the Lord. Now listen to what he says. Wonder if he'd had me. Wonder
if he'd had me. You don't have to wonder. Return
to Him, and this is what He says, He will. Is that good, Lindsay? He will. He will. He will. He will have mercy upon
Him. And to our God, And He will abundantly pardon. Except you repent. You'll perish. A preacher, I believe, I'll repent.
Repent then. Turn to God. Wondered if He'd
had me? He said He would. He said He
would. I can but perish if I go. I am resolved to try, for if
I stay away, I know I must forever die. There's no possibility of it
happening, but I believe, knowing what I
know now. If I knew I was going to hell,
I'd go to hell kissing the throne of God's sovereign mercy, kissing
the sword of His justice, snuggled up close to Him as I could, seeking
Him with all my heart. And you know what? If you knew
you were going to hell, you would kill. Amen.