I'm fully aware that most people will wake up in hell shocked,
literally shocked forever that that's their portion. Most people
in this world presume that everything's well between them and God. Most
people, I dare say many of you sitting here, and you're well
instructed, but most people, most people don't really believe
there's any such thing as judgment, hell, or eternity. Not really. Not really. Most folks are convinced
that whatever lies beyond the grave issues can be fine. I'm
all right with God. God wouldn't possibly look at
me and judge me. He wouldn't look at me and condemn
me. After all, I'm not so bad. In
fact, most people, according to this book, in religion, don't
know God. And many, even professing truth,
don't know God. Just don't. So, Pritchard, you're
awful pessimistic. If you call it what you want
to, I will be honest with your soul if I can. I will be honest
before God if I can. I will be honest with me if I
can. The scripture talks about the
day of judgment this way. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name have done many wonderful works." We
didn't do a little bit, we've done many wonderful works. And
I will profess to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye
that work iniquity. Now if you care for your soul,
Listen to this preacher for a few minutes and ask God to speak
to your heart. If I am born of God, if you're
born of God, there's some things that are true of us. There's
some things that just, they're true of all believers. All who
are born of God have been convinced of and repent of their sin, all
of them. I tell you nay," the Savior said,
except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. When God the Holy Spirit comes
in convicting power, he convinces you of your sin. If you are without faith in Christ,
if you haven't yet fallen down at the throne of mercy and sued
for God's grace on the basis of Christ's obedience There's
just one reason, how come? Because you don't really need
him yet. You hadn't been convinced of
your sin. If ever God Almighty deals with your soul and Holy
Spirit conviction, if ever God gives you life, if ever God brings
you to faith in Christ, you will confess your sin from the depths
of your soul, acknowledging that it's right for God to send you
to hell. And if he does it right now,
he's put off too long what you would have done long ago. It's
right for God to send you to hell. It's right. It's right
for God to damn me. It's right for God to damn my
family. It's right for God to damn sinners. We are sin! Nothing but sin. But you're not
convinced of that, so you'll go on your way until you wake
up in hell and say, Lord, what happened? And then you'll be
convinced. If I'm born of God, if you're
born of God, we trust Jesus Christ alone as our Savior. I mean Christ alone. Unless I am a liar who is deceived
by my own heart and deceived by Satan, this I acknowledge
to God And I acknowledge to you, and I hope you can get in on
it, I have no atonement for my sin to offer God but the blood
of Christ. Oscar, I don't trust anything
but his blood to make up for my sin. My faith won't do it,
my weeping won't do it, my repentance won't do it, my humbling myself
won't do it, nothing! can make up to God for what I
am and what I have done and what I am doing right now. Nothing. Nothing. Only the blood of Christ. God demands righteousness. God
demands it. God demands it. Bill Raleigh
and Don Fortner must either be perfectly righteous or forever
perish under the wrath of God. God won't accept a good effort
God won't accept good intentions. God won't accept the best you
can do. God won't accept the best effort you can bring. God
won't accept the best works of your hands. Your best works,
your best notions, your best righteousness, your best ideas
about righteousness, your best aspirations, your best dreams
of doing good are just filthy rags to God. Just filthy rags. Nothing. Nothing. Just a stench
before God. A stench. repugnant to God, obnoxious,
nauseating to God Almighty. Those things you pop your suspenders
and strut and say, boy now look at me, I've done something now.
God smells it and vomits. That's exactly right. Is that truth? That's exactly
right. Well how do you expect to stand
before God? Jesus Christ the Lord my righteousness." That's
all. He'd go back to the Father, but
not as a private man. He went back as a public man.
He's seated on the throne of God, not as a private man, but
a public man. He's seated there and accepted
in heaven, not as a private man, but a public man, the mediator
man. He's seated there as the representative
of his people for whom he has established righteousness. And
looking to him, I'm accepted of God because he put away my
sin and he'd given me perfect righteousness. More than that,
if we are born of God, if we believe on the Son of God. I
know everybody, everybody in Baptist churches for the last
hundred years got this thing sewed up when they were three
or four years old because somebody in some Sunday school class or
some Sunday school teacher went through some little religious
ritual and walked down in front of the church and said a little
prayer and everything was all right. They're like, Oh, I know I'm
saved. I was there when it happened. Everything's okay. I had an experience. I know I was saved. Let me tell
you something. If God saved you, do you hear
me? If God saved you, if you know
the Son of God, if you've been born of God, you have bowed and
continue to bow willingly to Jesus Christ the Lord. You bow
to Him. If Christ hadn't conquered your
heart, you don't know Christ. If the Son of God doesn't hold
dominion over you, you have no experience of His grace. If Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, is not himself your Lord by your willing
consent, so that you bow to him and take his yoke upon you. You take his yoke. You gladly slip under his yoke
and find rest for your souls. Otherwise you don't know him.
This is what the Master said. He said, if any man come to me
and hate not his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters,
yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. I wonder if you'd find a preacher.
I wonder just how, I wonder how many hours of radio, how many
hours of television, how many churches, how many denominations,
how many years you'd have to visit churches and preachers
in this country to find somebody who'd tell you that. I mean,
what? Nobody's going to tell you that?
Oh, no! Salvation! Oh, it's the easiest
thing in this world. Easy for God, but utterly impossible
with you. That's right. You won't bow to
Christ. It ain't going to happen. It
ain't going to happen. You won't do it. You'd rather
go to hell than bow to him. You're not going to submit to
the Son of God. Oh, but he may be pleased graciously to submit
you by conquering your will. And that's the only way you'll
ever be saved. Our Lord had these folks come to him and they said,
they said, we want to be your disciples. We want to go to heaven
with you. We want to walk in your way. We want, oh, we're
impressed with you. He said, bow. Bow down. Surrender. For what? Everything. Everything. So fully is the surrender, so
fully is the demand for surrender, that the Son of God says this,
You'll hate your family and your own life by comparison. Now,
buddy, this is what that means. I don't have any question this
is exactly what that means. If I know Jesus Christ, if I worship
him, if I follow him, I can't let my love for that lady interfere
with it. I can't let my love for my daughter,
my son-in-law, my granddaughter interfere with it. Well, what
if? Not going to interfere. It's not going to interfere. What they may or may not want
has absolutely nothing to do with it. What may or may not
be best for their physical welfare has absolutely nothing to do
with it. I'm going to follow him. I'm going to follow him.
Well, what if my family doesn't want to? I'm going to follow
him. And I've got news for you. I'm
head of my house. As for me and my house, we're going to follow
him together. That's the way it's going to be. We're going
to follow him. That's what the Master demands.
I'll tell you something else. If I'm born of God, if you're
born of God, we love with a genuine, heartfelt,
sincere love His people. Love each other. love each other. I'm not talking about, you know,
sugar-coated, syrupy, silly, sloppy, sentimental words. No,
no, no, no. I'm talking about we know we
pass from death unto life because we love the brethren. he that loveth not his brother
abideth in death." That's just the way it is, Gary.
Believers love each other. I'm not talking to you about
what they ought to do. Folks say, well, this is what believers
ought to do. No, no. I'm talking about what
they are. Believers love each other. They
just love each other. They care for each other. They
support each other, they defend each other, they forgive each
other, they overlook one another's idiosyncrasies and one another's
sins, and they are forbearing and long-suffering, not gossiping
and tail-bearing, they're forbearing and long-suffering. They love
each other. And if I'm born of God, if you're
born of God, Rex, there is a struggle in our
souls with sin. The believer, the child of God,
is a man, a woman, at war with himself, within himself. You say, Preacher, I don't know
anything about what you're talking about. I know. God pity you. I know. I know. You've got everything
fixed up. Everything's all right between
you and God. Me and Jesus got a good thing going. I've got
everything sewed up now. I've had my decision. I've made
my profession. Everything's okay. I'm headed
for heaven. I'll swing over hell on a grapevine. Everything's
all right. But God's people struggle. I get all kinds of mail and conversation
and talk to people. You know, they get involved in
a cause. I've got to try to do something to get folks to stay
acting religious. Brother Skip said to me the other
day, he said, he said, this church has folks to do less than any
church I've ever been in in my life. And he's exactly right. Because the philosophy of religion
is, Jews are going to lose them, and man, we don't want to lose
them. Let's use them, give them something to do, teach a Sunday
school class, do something, do something! They'll get more than
me. Believers are doing something. They're struggling in the depths of their soul with
sin. This is how one of them spoke,
a better man than Bobby Estes of down in Fortnum. He said,
as in my flesh dwelleth no good thing." He said, you will, as
it were, oh yeah. He said, I love the law of God
after the inward man. I would do good, I would do good,
always good, nothing but good, but when I would do good, evil
is present with man. So I cannot do the things I would. I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. Oh, wretched man
that I am! Today, religion says, Oh, wretched
man that I was. That man, that woman who knows
God, comes to know more and more every day, he lives the wretchedness
and corruption of his inmost being. Oh, wretched man that I am! The true believer is a person
in whom there is a continual, growing repentance, faith, and
conflict. So when the word of God comes
into a person's In the power of the Spirit, that man, that
woman, is made a new creature in Christ, transformed by the
grace of God. And yet, that transformation
is a continual, ongoing process. The Apostle said, Be not conformed
to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind.
We have been transformed by the grace of God, and we are being
transformed by his grace. When God the Holy Spirit comes
into a man's soul in saving power and grace, he brings forth The
fellow asked me a week or two ago, he said, if I'm a Christian,
isn't there some fruit I ought to be bearing? He said, isn't
there some fruit I ought to be producing? I said, no, no. No, that's religion talking.
That's religion talking. Religion tells you you've got
to start loving, you've got to start doing, you've got to start
giving, you've got to start this, you've got to start that. The
scripture tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, faith, temperance,
against such there is no law. The fruit's not something you
produce. Fruit's something, I guess there's some grapevines out there?
Many have got good promise of fruit. The fruit is bearing from
the vine, that's all. It's the water and the rain and
the sunshine that God sends that produces the fruit, and the fruit
of the Spirit. That which is produced in you
by God's grace, that's it. It's continually bearing, continually
bearing fruit. So I know some Christians who
don't. No, you don't. No, you don't. No, you don't.
No believers are men and women in whom God works. Now, the fruit
of the Spirit in this world is never made perfect. It's never
matured in this world. It's never grown to full ripeness
in this world. But it's there. Shelby and I
planted some corn the other day. A little old bitty carnage. A
little old bitty thing. But you know, everything, this
fall when we go get our stuff, start to shuck it, silk it, she
puts it in there and tastes it. Oh, that good corn. You know,
everything Everything that's going to be in that full stalk,
in the full ear, in the full harvest, is in the seed. Everything. It's already there. It just got
to grow. That's all. It just got to grow. And I'm
telling you, everything that's in Jesus Christ is in every believer
in seed form, if you're born of God. It's just growing. It's growing. When God the Holy
Spirit causes a man to come under the rule of Jesus Christ as his
voluntary servant, that man, that woman, is freed from the
dominion of sin and the penalty of it by the power of God's grace
and the precious blood of his Son. And yet, while we live in
this world, and this is something I, if you know God, Merle J., if
you know God, if I know God, I don't have to argue to convince
anybody about this. While we live in this world,
bowing to Jesus Christ, we are never freed from the being of
sin and the influence of sin in us, as long as we live in
this flesh. Folks, talk about the temptations
of the world, you know, and all the people want to keep the kids
and shelter them from the world. You know, you mamas and daddies
act like you've got good sense. Act like you've got good sense.
If you've got good sense, you don't turn your kids over to
a bunch of mad dogs. You just don't do that. Turn
them over to the world, turn them over to a bunch of mad dogs.
You just act like you've got some good sense. Raised, Shelby
and I driving home last night, got in here late, almost midnight,
Little old girl out playing in the street, couldn't be more
than three or four years old. Out playing in the street at midnight.
And the shepherd says, what a pity the way some kids are raised.
I said, what a pity the way they're not raised. You're responsible
to raise them, to train them, to discipline them. But you don't
even get the hint of a notion that somehow your kids are so
nice and so good and so godly and so upright, if I can just
keep them out of the world. And I said, I can just keep with
that boy over there next door. Our Lord said Satan came and
he said he found nothing in me. The reason Rex, the temptations
of the world find plenty to allure us is because everything out
there is in us. Everything out there. I told
you before, you know how mamas are, they'll Every mama's son,
she's got the one. Boy, he's not perfect, but he's
as near as they get. Brother Jack Shanks, he had one
of those religious schools. From the time he started it to
the time he got out of it, he said it was just a nightmare,
but he had to have it, so he got one started. One day this
gal called up, and she said, "'Reverend Shanks,' said my little
Johnny, He climbed up at your school today, and I want you
to be careful, be sure he doesn't get in the wrong crowd." And
Jack said, Ma'am, who did you say your son is? And she told
him, he said, Honey, your son is the wrong crowd. And I'm telling you, you're the
wrong crowd. I'm the wrong crowd. We're just
corruption, just corruption. And believers know it. While
we live in this world, we will never be free from this thing
called sin. Free from its dominion, free
from its penalty, but not from its being, not from its influence.
And yet, the believer, that man, that woman who is born of God,
is a person who continues steadfast in the faith to the end. All right, now let's look at
this text for just a minute. John chapter 8, verse 31. John chapter 8, verse 31. Back up to verse 30, if you will. As he spoke these words, as he
spoke these words, now try to get the context. Our Lord Jesus
is the preacher here. He's just performed a mighty,
mighty act of grace. The Pharisees and scribes, they
caught this woman in the act of adultery. And the scriptures
are very careful to say they caught her in the very act. Man,
they were good religious folks. I don't know who was present,
who was there, how they set her up, but somebody set this gal
up, and they caught her in the very act of adultery. And they
brought her to the mastery because they wanted an excuse to put
him to death. They wanted to embarrass him.
They wanted to prove his doctrine wrong. So they brought her out
there and they said, Now, Lord, Moses in the law says, Let's
kill her. What do you say? And the Lord acted like he didn't
hear them. I'm getting pretty good at that. He stooped down
on the ground as if he didn't hear them. He just scratched
her out in the ground. Now, I don't know what he wrote.
Nobody else does. Lots of guesses have been made,
but he wrote something. Then they spoke to him again, and
he stooped down. I can almost picture it. Then he raised his
head. Then he looked up. He said, Anybody here without
sin, go ahead and kill her. But him that is without sin among
you, cast the first stone. The scripture says they were
convicted in their own consciences. That's a terrible kind of conviction.
They've never saved your soul, it just condemns. They were convicted
in their own consciences. And they walked out, a white
fellow, and there was the Lord Jesus, alone, listen to this,
with the woman standing in the midst. Oh, what a blessed, blessed day,
when the Son of God calls out one of his sheep, and you're
shut up, alone with Christ, and nobody else. He's fixing to do
something for you. He looked up at her and said,
Woman, where are your accusers? And the woman looked around, And she says, well, there's nobody
here to accuse me. There's nobody left to accuse
me. Nobody left. The master silences the law for
his people, and there's nothing left to condemn. And he looks
up at her, and he says, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin
no more. Oh, what a word of grace. Well,
these folks heard this thing. They saw it. They witnessed what
was going on. And then the Lord spoke to him
and he said in verse 12, I'm the light of the world. I am,
I am the light of the world. Follow me and you'll not walk
in darkness. And then in verse 15, he said, you judge after
the flesh. I judge no man. Now that doesn't
mean he doesn't judge anything. The father committed all judgment
to the son. He said, I don't judge like you do. You judge
things civilly and politically. You judge things involved in
this issue and that. You're religious fools, so you've
got to have something to keep you active. You're religious
fools, so you've got to have something to cause. And you march
and protest, and you judge carnal, fleshly, worldly things in the
name of religion, and that's all you're concerned. He said,
I'm not even interested. He said, now in verse 22, I go
my way. I'm going my way. I'm going right where
I came here to go, and by the door of the cross, I'm going
up to my Father's house, and I'm going to return to glory.
And you can't come." That's what he said. You can't come. Verse
23, he said, The reason you can't come is because you're from beneath,
I'm from above. You're of the world, I'm not of this world. And then he says in verse 24,
because you believe not that I am he, you're going to die
in your sins. Because you don't trust me, you're
going to hell. Did you hear him? Because you
don't trust me, you're going to hell. And then in verses 28 and 29,
he says, he says, when my blood is dripping from your fingers,
when my blood is on your hands, when at last you've done what
you wanted to do, you're going to be convinced and you're going
to know that I've told you the truth. When you've lifted up
the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am he." You're going
to know. Listen to me. Listen to me. When God sends you to hell, you're
going to know and know forever. I mean know forever. You're going
to know forever that he is the Christ. and his blood's on your
hands, and you deserve to go to hell, and you're going to
cry out to the tormenting of your conscience forever. That's
right. That's right. And then in verse 30, as he spoke
these words, many believed on him. They said, oh, we'll follow
you. We're going to follow you. We're
going to walk with you. We're going to go your way. And
the Master said, Well, all right, everything is okay. Everything
is all right. You just come along now, bless
God you are saved, you are sanctified, everything is okay, nothing is
going to happen to you now. Don't let anybody tell you you
are not saved. Only a false prophet will talk like that, not the
Son of God. I heard Rothbard say one time,
All the time, they come to me and go, I don't have any assurance.
Most folks don't have any because they don't, they oughtn't have
any. They oughtn't have any. He said the only man that will
try to convince another man he's saved, the only man that will
try to convince a lost man he's saved is another lost man. Now,
I'm not going to try to convince you of anything. If God convinced
you, it's just another story. Our Master said to those who
believed on him, all right, you believe on me. Let's see. If
you continue in my word, then you're my disciples indeed. You
see, believers are many women who are kept by the grace of
God. But being kept by the grace of
God, they continue in his word. They begin in faith, and they
live in faith, and they die in faith. All of them. All of them. Sitting here, praying and asking
God to enable me to preach to you, I looked into every one
of your faces, and I said, Lord, who's going to be here tomorrow? Who's going to be here from now
on? Will I? Or will you? I'll tell you this. I'll tell
you this. I know mommas and daddies, and we get silly, silly notions
and attachments to sons and daughters, and we say, well, you know, little
Johnny, he's not really doing right, but I remember when God
saved him. I wish you'd forget when God saved anybody, or when
you think he did. I'm telling you the truth, I
wish you'd just forget it. Just forget it. I'm telling you what,
if Gary Baker belongs to God, he's going to continue in his
word. And, Gary, if you and I don't continue in his Word, we don't
belong to God. Just don't. Continue in his Word,
his doctrine, his truth, his worship, this rule we follow,
because we follow him. Amen. All right, Lindsey, you listen
to him.