I try in preparing to preach
and in preaching always to bear in mind that soon I'm going to
meet you face to face before the bar of God. I try to bear
in mind the fact that you and I soon will leave this world
and we will meet God in judgment. Therefore, I endeavor never to
drivel about nonsense when I stand before you. In expounding the
scriptures, my purpose is more than just telling you facts and
figures about doctrine and history. I want you to know God. I want you to know God. And I never presume that you
do. Our Father said we ought to preach
right often as if everybody we're preaching to is going to hell
right now. And I suspect he's right. Richard Baxter said, I
preach as a dying man to dying men as if I may never preach
again. And that's the way the gospel
ought to always be preached, with intensity, with fervency,
with care, with the burden, the burden of the glory of God and
the truth of God and your immortal souls. Now, I recognize that
there are facts about God revealed to all men from which no man
can escape. If I were preaching to 5,000
people right now, gathered from every realm of life and every
walk of life, these things every man knows. Everyone who hears
my voice now or shall hear it in any other form know these
things. God in creation has so plainly
made known his wisdom and power that no one can deny it. No one. If our ears are opened by the
grace of God, we can hear the voice of the Almighty in the
rippling of every creek, in the roll of every clap of thunder,
in the brightness of every bolt of lightning, in the twinkling
of every star, in the shape of every snowflake, in the budding
of every flower. The hymn writer put it well.
When through the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the
birds sing sweetly in the trees, when I look down from lofty mountain
grandeur and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze, then
sings my soul, my Savior, God to thee, how great thou art. You can't look in God's creation
and not be confronted with the fact that he who is himself infinite
wisdom has by divine wisdom made this world. This is not some
freak of evolution. This is a well-ordered, well-oiled
piece of machinery in creation and providence, and God did it.
God did it. There's just no explaining, no
explaining the existence of this universe and all the various
intricacies of this universe apart from creation. As the universe
around us reflects the wisdom of God, His undeniable skill,
so the universe around us reflects His power. Whoever it is that
holds the sun in place and feeds its gases and causes it to burn
and keeps it from burning us up, he's almighty. He is almighty. Indeed, as David said concerning
himself, we might say concerning all God's creation, this is fearfully
and wonderfully made. But God speaks in other ways
to men that simply can't be denied. Every man by nature, has the
voice of God in his soul, sometimes screaming, sometimes more silent,
but always there, and it can't be silenced altogether. And that
thing we call the voice of God in a man's soul is conscience.
Every man in his conscience has the law of God inscribed on his
heart by the finger of God. Every man. Men can scream. Paul
says indeed in Romans chapter 1, the unbelieving hold the truth
in unrighteousness. That doesn't mean they hold the
truth like we do by faith. No. It means they suppress it.
They push it down. As David said, the heathen say,
no God. That is, no God for me or no
to God. They hold down the truth. But
it's there, and they can't deny it. They can't deny it. Someone
said, I haven't read it factually for myself, but it's been repeated
many times when Voltaire's son, that great agnostic, great's
the wrong word, that horrible agnostic, when he was holding
his son's hand as he died, he said to his son, he said, hold
on. And his boy, believing the things his daddy had taught him,
said, Daddy, there's nothing to hold to. The fact is, when
men are in the clutches, when men are brought face to face
with judgment, every man, every man has in his conscience that
voice that declares, you're going to meet God. And this God who
made the world, and he's holy, and he's going to judge you.
Every man does. There are no exceptions. Conscience
declares that God is, that God is holy, that God is just, that
he must and will punish sin, that somehow sin must be atoned
for, justice must be satisfied. That's the reason throughout
history, even in the most barbaric of times and places, men have
always in some way attempted by some means or other to appease
their idea of God, as men still do in our modern society. And still, men don't know God. Creation will never cause a man
to know God. Conscience will never cause a
sinner to know God. live and die with nothing but
the light of nature, with nothing but the light of creation, live
and die without God. They are rebels, they walk deliberately
contrary to, violating the light of nature, the light of conscience,
but the light that's given to them is not the light by which
men and women are born of God. Even in providence, God speaks
to men. I try to listen. Sometimes things
are more glaring than at other times, but we ought to listen
for God to speak. All the events of providence
declare things to us that ought to be inscribed upon our hearts. The righteous understand the
judgments of the Lord, the wise man said. The righteous understand
what God's doing. You may wonder what's happened
to our society. Don't be so foolish. Judgment
has happened to our society. That's what's happened. How on
earth could a good God cause those terrible famines and earthquakes
and floods and tidal waves that sweep away Children and men and
women in sudden destruction. How could a good God bring such
suffering in the world? Because He's good, He will punish
sin. And He gives us warning after
warning that He will. Hang on. The flood is a declaration
that God is just. Pharaoh's carcass in the Red
Sea and the Egyptians with him is a declaration that judgment
stands firm. Every judgment of God in providence
is a warning and a foretaste of judgment to come. God warns
us of the frailty and mortality of these bodies in our lives
every day. Every day. And we stick our fingers
in our ears and say, we won't hear. Get a little headache and you take the BC powder and try to
forget about it. I do too. But I ought to be reminded, that's
just a warning. Death is coming. The headache
is the forerunner of death. Merle's problem with his eyes,
forerunner of death. Sickness, forerunner of death.
Every sniffle, every cold, that cough you did, forerunner of
death. That's what it's all about. God is telling us we're soon
going to die. We're soon going to die. We're
going to leave this world and meet God Almighty face to face. Oh, God teach me to live like
that and preach like that. But these things tell us nothing
about how to meet Him, do they? We'll be going down to Mexico
again, some of the fellows who haven't been before, see those Mayan
ruins and be astonished. Just be astonished to see how
those pagans attempted by offering human sacrifices upon altars
symbolizing human genitals, which pictured their power, the power
of God to them, by this means to put away their sin. I'm not
joking, that's exactly right. But they thought that somehow
we've got to appease this God. They know God is. They know they
must meet Him. They know justice must be satisfied.
But they don't know how. You see, salvation. Salvation. The knowledge of God, which is
salvation, is found nowhere except right here in this book. Nowhere
else. That's the reason we spend a
good bit of time and effort and money, trying to proclaim the
gospel of God's grace revealed in this book everywhere we can
in this generation around the world. Without it, men are perishing. They're going to hell. The only
source of information concerning God's mercy, God's love, God's
grace, God's justice, and God's truth is in the Word of God.
The Word of God alone shows us how that a holy God can be indeed
both just and the justifier of the ungodly. Salvation revealed
in the Scriptures is that which is the primary message of Holy
Scripture. The primary doctrine of Holy
Scripture, the doctrine of the Word of God, is not merely Bible
history. The older I get, The more I think
how utterly silly it is, how deceiving to men's souls to take
little boys and girls and take them by the hand from the cradle
roll right on through church and teach them facts and figures
about Bible history and never teach them what those things
speak of. Men get the idea because they've
got facts memorized they know God. The Bible was not written
to instruct us in philosophy, religious or otherwise, but rather
to instruct us in truth, divine truth. The Word of God was not
written just to teach men and women morality. Morality for
morality's sake is nothing on this earth but self-righteousness.
It's not written for that purpose. It's written to show us the way
of salvation and life in Christ. The singular purpose of Holy
Scripture is to reveal Jesus Christ the Son of God and the
grace and glory of God in him. Therefore I insist there is no
room in the pulpit There's no room, not tonight, not Sunday
morning when you're up here teaching, not Sunday morning when I'm preaching,
not Sunday night when somebody else is preaching. There's no
room in the pulpit for anything except the preaching of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. No room for philosophy. No room
for lectures on economics. No room for lectures on politics.
No room for lectures on morality. No room for lectures on fighting
abortion or fighting pornography. There's no room! The business
of the pulpit is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And to use it for something else is to mock the souls of men,
abuse Holy Scripture, and bring dishonor to God Almighty. Mr. Spurgeon properly stated, he
who does not always preach the gospel ought not be counted a
minister of God. God's servants preach God's gospel
all the time. God's servants preach God's gospel
all the time. Now with that in mind, I want
you to turn tonight to Hebrews chapter 7. My subject tonight is, as it
always shall be, God helping me, the gospel of Christ. Nothing but the gospel. And if it is ever anything else,
I urge you as you care for your soul and the souls of your family,
don't you ever hear me again. That's how serious this is. The
preaching of the word of God is the preaching of the gospel.
I've got nothing new to discuss or declare, but pure gospel truth. I had a letter today, actually
I had two from a fellow, every now and then write to me, read
something he wants to debate and wants to argue. He wrote
back to me, he says, here you are again, so narrow, so dogmatic. I try to discuss things with
you and you won't discuss them. Why? I said, I've got more important
things to do. Something more important to do
than discuss things that you don't understand and I don't
either. Something more important to do than sit around and debate
with men about nonsense. Nonsense in the name of religion.
Here in Hebrews chapter 7 verse 24. The Holy Spirit speaks to
us concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and God's salvation in
Him. He tells us in verse 24 that
unlike all who came before him, our Lord Jesus Christ is a priest
who is unchangeable and immutable in everything. Unchangeable, immutable, he doesn't
change, he can't be changed, and he cannot change in anything. He stands forever at the right
hand of God Almighty, the same yesterday, today, and forever. His purpose is the same. His
work is indestructible and immutable. The object of his grace and the
object of his intercession is unchangeable. His value, his
efficacy is unchangeable. Now read what he says. This man,
because he continues effort, A man who continues ever. Because he continues ever. Unlike
those priests who died and were replaced generation after generation.
This man, because he continues ever, has an unchangeable, an
inalterable, an irrevocable priesthood. Look at verse 25. Here the Holy
Spirit tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ is not only a priest
who continues ever with an irrevocable, immutable priesthood, but he
is a mighty, saving high priest. Wherefore. Now, when you see
that, you ought to wonder, what's it there for? And the word wherefore
refers not only to what has gone before, but to what follows.
In this passage, the Holy Spirit is showing us the great indescribable
superiority of our Lord Jesus Christ over all the priests in
the Old Testament economy, even over that one who symbolized
him, Melchizedek. Wherefore, he is able. Also, not only is he able to
live, not only is he able to ascend up into heaven, not only
is he able to be accepted of God, he's able also to save them
to the uttermost that come to God by him. seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them. He comes right back to the same
thing. See him yonder, sitting on the throne of glory. That
declares that this irrevocable priest with an irrevocable priesthood,
he's able to save your soul. Cause he lives. All around is
death. In us is nothing but death. Everything
that we touch and see and feel is death. But he's life. And
he lives forever. He ever liveth to make intercession
for them. For who? For those who come to
God by Him. He prays not for all men, but
for those who come to God by Him. Not for all men, but for
those chosen of God and given to Him. Not for all men, but
for those redeemed by Him. He said, I pray not for the world,
but for them. He's able to say to the animals
then that come to God by Him because He makes intercession
for them. All right, look at verse 26. This man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, our great high priest, is a priest in heaven
itself, perfectly holy. Perfectly holy. He is a priest worthy of God's
acceptance, and the priest whom God has, with finality, accepted. He's in heaven. For such a high
priest became us. That word became, Rex, means
this is the kind of priest we needed. This is just exactly
the kind of priest we stood in need of. He became us. What kind
of high priest? One who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. And the law was given to Moses. And God told Moses, what sacrifices
to bring to him, when to bring them and how to bring them. He
said concerning the sacrifice, it must be perfect to be accepted. Now that's the reason man's conscience
can never be silenced by religion, religious works, no matter what
they are, or religious sacrifices, no matter how costly they are,
by religious ceremonies, no matter how beautifully adorned they
are. Man's conscience can't be satisfied because man's conscience,
Lindsay, demands holy perfection. God is holy. God won't look at
you in favor. God won't touch you in mercy.
God won't come to you in grace. God won't receive you or anything
from you, except it be perfectly holy. Holy. This is the kind
of priest we need. He's holy and harmless. I've looked at that word. Every
time I've read this passage for, what is it now, 33 years, I wonder,
why on earth is that there? Harmless. Harmless. It's there because every other
priest in all the Old Testament scriptures, not to mention those
fake fellows who call themselves priests today, every other priest
had something about him that harmed the folks around him.
Had something about him. If he passed on nothing else,
he passed on sin and death to his sons and daughters. He's holy and He brings nothing
but good to all who are in Him. He's harmless, undefiled. Nothing has defiled Him. He's
holy in Himself. He's harmless to men. He's undefiled
even though He was in this world and made to be sin at one time.
He's separate from sinners. He's made higher than the heavens. The psalmist said, Thou hast
exalted Thy word above all Thy name. And I'm pretty well convinced
that's talking about him who is the living word, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 27. Here we're
told that our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, is an
effectual, sin-atoning high priest. This is a priest who needeth
not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first
for his own sins and then for the people's. You remember the
high priest, both in his daily sacrifices and particularly on
the Day of Atonement, before he could go make sacrifices for
the people, he had to make sacrifices for himself. But here's a priest
who has no reason to offer up anything because he has once
and for all put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Look at
it. For this he did one time when he offered up himself. The
Lord Jesus came here to put away sin, and He did it. He has by
Himself purged our sins, and now He sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high. Alright, look at verse 28. This man, this man, thank God
he's a man. Shelby and I were talking about
it the other day. Brother Darrell McClug, we went to visit him. He used to often say, Thank God
for that man in glory. Oh, thank God there's a man in
glory. But that would be meaningless,
Wes, if that man were not God. This man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
our great sin-atoning high priest, is himself God the Son, a priest
consecrated forever. For the law makes men high priests
which have infirmity, makes men high priests who are going to
die. But the word of the oath, the oath of God's decree, whereby
God swore and will not repeat, which was since the law, makes
the son who is consecrated forevermore. All right, now, let's look at
verse 25. I'll wrap this up by showing
you three things. May God, the Holy Spirit, speak
through these lips in His word to your heart. Number one, in order to be saved, we must come to God by Christ. Now that's as simple as it can
be, and just about as profound as anything gets. Saving faith
is described in Holy Scripture by numerous metaphors. Faith
is described as looking to Christ. Faith is described as leaning
on Christ. Faith is embracing Christ. Faith
is laying hold of Christ. But here faith is described as
coming to Christ, coming to God by Christ. What is this coming? In this day of high-pressure
evangelism, altar call salvation, decisional regeneration. I can't
stress this enough. Coming to God has nothing to
do with anything physical. Nothing. Nobody, not you or me,
mama or daddy, grandma or grandpa, nobody has ever been saved by
walking from back yonder to up here. Nobody. Nobody. How can you say that? If I told
you nobody had ever been saved by walking down here and kissing
a flower petal, would you believe that? Well, of course preachers,
that's ridiculous. So is the other. It is absolutely
absurd idolatry to imagine that a sinner gets to God by stepping
out of a pew, walking down an aisle and kneeling at a morning's
bench or an altar somewhere and saying something somebody tells
him to say. You might as well go to a confessional booth and
talk to a priest about your sins and rub your rosary beads and
hope that'll be enough to get you to glory. Nobody's ever been
saved by such nonsense. You don't get saved by coming
to church, but by coming to God. You don't get saved by coming
down an aisle, but by coming to God. You don't get salvation
by coming to an altar, but by coming to the altar, Christ Jesus
the Lord, and coming to God by Him. You don't get saved by saying
a prayer, but by coming to God. You don't get saved by asking
Jesus into your heart, but by coming to God. You understand
what I'm saying? Salvation's a spiritual act.
It's coming to God with your heart. And you don't say a word,
don't move a muscle, you just come to him. You just come to
him. So a preacher, I don't understand
that. If you ever come to him, you will. If you ever come to
him, you will. And if you don't, you can't. That's exactly right. You'll
still be confusing things. People still have the notion
that somehow salvation is obtained by coming to waters of baptism,
or coming to the Lord's Supper, or coming to the preacher, or
coming up here and saying something to the church, or confessing
some evil that you thought was hid long ago. Oh no, coming to
God is a spiritual act of the heart. It's coming to Him now,
and coming to Him forever. That's what salvation is, Lindsay,
it's coming to God. It's coming to God. Turn to Hebrews
11.6. Let me show you. It's coming to Him continually,
sincerely, deliberately, wholeheartedly. This deliberate, willful, wholehearted
coming to God is described in this book as faith. Hebrews 11.6. Without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. For he that cometh, do you see
the word? That doesn't mean, Baba, you
came yesterday or you came 8 or 10 years ago. That means you're
coming. There was a time when you started coming, but there's
never a time when you quit coming. He that cometh. Faith is not
an event in life. Faith is not an act of life. Faith is a way of life. It's
coming to God. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is and that he's the rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. The Apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 2 and says, To whom
coming as to a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but
chosen of God and precious, you also are lively stones and you're
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Coming to God
means you've got to leave something. So we've got to leave your sins.
Try it. Try it. So a preacher, what do
you say? I'm saying try it. Which of you's
left your sins? Say no to sin, yes. Deny it,
yes. Leave it. Not while you're in
this world. What do you leave? Your righteousness. The world. Everything. Is that what the Master said?
He said you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.
He said you take your mother, and your father, and your brother,
and your sister, and your husband, and your wife, and your own life
also. Go out yonder to the cemetery,
dig a hole, and bury them. Everyone. Everyone. To come to God implies that you
meet Him. Folks ask me all the time, why
do you reckon they don't believe Christ? Why? How can folks sit
and listen to the gospel and not believe, not come to Christ?
Real simple. You just don't need it. When will you come to Him? I
tell you when you'll come to Him. When you can't live without
Him. Until then, you'll be satisfied
with a little dose of religion. You'll be satisfied with going
through rituals. You'll be satisfied with saying prayers and reading
scripture, memorizing verses and singing songs. Oh, but if
ever you need Him, you'll come to Him. I quit begging folks to come
to church years ago. I said, well, why don't you go
chase folks down? What's wrong? I don't know. Well,
I do know. I do know. When folks are hungry,
they sit down at the table. And if they ain't hungry, no
point in sticking the table in front of them. They're not going to
eat. But folks who are hungry, come to the table. Folks who
need the Savior, come to Him. Just that simple. Coming to Christ
implies a reconciliation of the heart to Him. Men don't come to Him because
their hearts are enmity against Him. You see, man by nature is not
passive toward God. Oh no, oh no. Man by nature hates
God. Oscar, that means you and me,
mama and daddy, brother and sister, son and daughter, everybody hates
God. The problem with little Johnny
is not because he had a bad influence growing up. The problem with
little Johnny is he had a bad daddy to start with. And he came
into the world and started living just like his daddy. And he does
so generation after generation after generation, hating God. The man who comes to God has
laid down his shotgun and is tickled, plumbed to death for
God to be who he is. He wants him that way. I've often
told you over in Appomattox, Virginia, I don't go there very
often. That's where Mr. Lee was compelled
to sign those terms of surrender. You've got a picture of the Confederate
soldiers. They are standing in a row down
the road leading to Appomattox Courthouse on both sides. They
didn't have much to stack, but they stacked their arms, their
guns, their powder horns, their bayonets, their knives, stacked
them in front of them. And they're standing there saluted. As Mr. Grant and the Union troops
ride by, they've stacked arms and surrender. That's what it
is to come to God. The difference is they didn't
have any choice. They had to. Now, when a sinner
comes to God, he comes to God being reconciled to God's revelation
of himself in his heart, and he comes Gladly, but he has no
choice. He comes because he's got to
have Christ. Coming to God is believing in
Him. Well, how do you come to God? By Christ. By Christ. He's the way. Brother Lindsay asked me to get
him directions to go down to Bethel Baptist Church down Spring
Lake where Brother Rupert is next week, or week after next.
So I sent him directions. Another way to put it is, this
is the way you go. The only problem with that is
there's lots of ways you can go. And I have been every one
of them and can't figure out which one to go without asking
yet. But when it comes to this business of salvation, Christ
is the way. You can't get to God any other
way. He's the door, not a door, the door. And the only way you
can get to God is to go through the door, Christ Jesus the Lord.
He is the mediator, the only one there is between God and
man. That excludes me and every other man. Christ is the mediator. It's another sermon that preaches
these days. I think man actually wants it,
but preachers are taught by society, taught by seminary, taught by
preceding generations of preachers. Somehow, really, in order for
you to deal with God, you've got to deal with me. We are not priests. You can't
get to God coming to me. You've got to get to God through
Christ. You understand the difference?
Now that doesn't mean I don't care, don't want to help. If Sammy Walt and his family
need me, you call me any hour, day or night. If I can do something,
I'll be there for anything. But if you've got business to
do with God, won't do you any good to talk to me, talk to him. I'm not a psychiatrist and I'm
not a priest. Go to God, you won't need either. Go to Christ,
you won't need them. God will never accept any who
come any other way. Abel comes to God and brings
an offering, an offering of blood. Cain comes and says I bring God
the best I've got and he's in hell. Abraham comes to God, brings
his son Isaac up, goes yonder to worship God, and brings with
him a ram for a burnt offering that was caught in the thicket.
Moses approaches God only upon the mercy seat. Ammon comes to
God only by blood atonement. God Almighty won't accept sinners
except through the mediation of this great, perfect High Priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, let me move on. Here's
the second thing. The Lord Jesus Christ is able
to save to the uttermost. Oh, my soul, how I love it. All who come to God by Him. Let me tell you what I've experienced. I have been in the pit of such horrid guilt that no words could describe
it, in utter despair. Deservedly so. I know what it
is to sit around and contemplate Suicide because of
the utter despair. The utter despair of life. I know what it is to have such
an utter, utter hatred of life. Hatred of life because of what
you made of it. Hatred of life because of the
misery you caused. That you simply want to walk
out of it. I would have committed suicide
when I was a young teenager, except for the terror of going
to hell. The only thing that kept me from
it. The only thing that kept me from it. And I'm going to
tell you something. When I looked to him for the
first time, I was relieved of guilt and despair, and I've never
had reason to look back. Never. Never. So that my conscience, my conscience
looks on Christ and sees everything God requires. Holiness. Perfect holiness. Satisfaction. Absolute satisfaction for me. Infinite merit. Infinite worth.
And I fully expect I fully expect, when I had closed
these eyes for the last time, and breathed from these nostrils
for the last time, David, I fully expect, because of Christ, to
be saved from the uttermost depths of my depravity, to the uttermost
extent of my highest ambitions and desires. I fully expect to awaken his
likeness with complete satisfaction, being forever perfectly conformed
to him, in perfect communion with him, eternally consecrated
to him. How can that be? Look at the
next thing. He ever lives to make intercession for them. The implication is, since he
ever lives, he once died. And that's the basis of all.
He died for me and rose again. That means none can lay anything
to my charge. He ever lives to make intercession
for me. Can you picture it? Under he
sits, upon the throne of glory, God in human flesh, And he spreads his pierced hands,
and he says, as he looks on this sinner, forgive him. Oh, forgive, they cry. Don't
let that ransom sinner die. And this sinner shall not die,
because he ever lives to make intercession for me. You see,
we have an advocate with the Father. His name is Jesus Christ
the Righteous, and He is the propitiation, the justice, satisfying
sacrifice for our sins. God help you now to come to Him. Amen.