statement that may shock some,
but a statement that you need to hear and understand, a statement
that I'm sure will offend some, but a statement that must be
understood. I am thoroughly convinced, I'm thoroughly convinced that
the vast majority of religious people and conservative fundamentalist,
Baptist churches. We'll narrow it down that far,
and you can narrow it much further if you want to. The vast majority
of religious people, and what are commonly looked at as the
most orthodox churches, much less others, the vast majority
of people who are fully convinced they stand accepted before God
and are saved, are utterly deceived. lost and under the wrath of God. And I'm quite sure that applies
to some of you here this morning. Most people seem to think that
it's a very, very easy thing to be saved. That faith in Christ
is so very, very simple because preachers have told them all
their lives that's the way it is. Traveling up and down this
country, back and forth from coast to coast for the past 30
years, I've met a lot of people, most of them very religious and
most of them quite sincere. But most of the people I preach
to are just absolutely sure they are saved and they never bother
to question that issue because they think that's some kind of
a terrible thing to do. They were told whenever they
made their little profession of faith, now don't let anybody
ever talk you out of this. You're saved now and it's all
taken care of. They made a little profession. Somebody told them
to say the sinner's prayer, and they said it. Somebody told them
to come to the front of the church, and they came to the front. Somebody
told them how to pray and what to say, and they did what they
were supposed to. Somebody led them down Roman's
Road and said, Do you believe you're a sinner? Yes. I told
a lie a time or two. Do you want to go to hell? Well,
no, I don't think so. Do you want to go to heaven?
Yes, I do. Well, believe on Jesus, and it'll be all right. And they
said, OK. Now then, you're saved. You're saved. Listen to me now. Nobody has ever been saved by
that nonsense. Nobody. Nobody. Oh but preacher
I was. No you weren't. You were just
deceived by it. You were just deceived by it.
Nobody. You're no more saved by walking down an aisle in a
Baptist church to an altar in a Baptist church. saying a sinner's
prayer before a Baptist preacher than you are by going to a confessional
booth in a Catholic church or saying a thousand Hail Marys.
Nobody has ever been saved by such foolishness. Nobody. Nobody. But my mama, my daddy, I don't
care. I'm sorry. I'm here to tell you the truth.
I'm concerned for your soul. I want you to know the Son of
God. Now, I want you to understand
that faith in Christ is the most difficult thing in this world.
most difficult thing in this world. In fact, our Lord said
it's impossible with men. It's impossible. You cannot and
you will not trust Jesus Christ alone as your Lord and Savior
until God Almighty by a wondrous work of grace opens your dead
heart and gives you life and drops faith in. You will not
otherwise believe Him. It won't happen. with men, it's
impossible. Salvation is more than saying
I believe in Jesus. Salvation is more than saying
I want to go to heaven when I die. Salvation is more than a little
religious experience that men have. I know in this day of mass
evangelism and so-called easy-believe-ism, This day when men think they're
saved by making a decision. This day when everybody thinks
they've got God in their hip pocket and God will do whatever
you want him to do, whenever you want him to do it. Most people
think this is utterly absurd to hear such preaching. But hear
it, you must. It is not an easy thing to do,
sir. It's not. It's not. Now let's see if the
word of God will back me up in that. Have you ever read in the
scriptures about a rich young ruler who came to the Lord Jesus?
A rich young ruler who was a, he was a religious man. I mean
he, he was, he was one of those fellows you'd look at him and
say now, now if there's anybody good enough to go to heaven,
that's the man. That's the man. But he said, he said good master,
what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Now,
I'll guarantee you, you came from down there, I'll guarantee
you if he walked down First Baptist Church this morning, folks would
have him in a deacon's pool before the work day was over. I'll guarantee
it. What a candidate, we got somebody
now. What good things shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
And the Lord Jesus said, why did you call me good? Don't you know no man's good
but God? Man, that took him back a step or two. I ain't. Lord said, all right,
go keep the commandments. Honor your father and your mother.
Love God with all your heart. He said, I've done that since
I was a boy. I've never done anything bad. I've never done
anything wrong. Man, I'm not a, I'm not drunk.
I'm not an adulterer. I'm not a thief. I'm not a murderer.
Who do you think you're talking to? The Lord said, oh, you have
had it. You've loved God with all your
heart. You've loved your neighbor as yourself. Then go sell everything
you've got, give it to the poor and come follow me. Oh. And he went on his way to hell
because he would not submit to the claims of Christ the Lord.
And I'm telling you, if you go to hell, it'll be because you
will not submit to the claims of Christ as Lord. Our Lord said,
turn over there, hold your hands here in first Peter four and
turn over to Luke 13. Listen to what our Lord said. It'd be
a good thing if you could quit listening to what preachers have
said, and what soul winners have said, and what religious fools
have said to you all your life, and open the Word of God, find
out what God says about this business of salvation. Luke chapter 13, verse 24. The Lord Jesus says, strive,
strive. That's the word you would use
if you were on the edge of a cliff, climbing the cliff, hanging upside
down, and you got a 500 foot drop into a ravine below you,
and you've got to get to the top. That's the word. Strive. Agonize to enter into
the straight gate. The straight gate. Everybody
goes into the wide, broad gate. Everybody walks in the wide,
broad way. Everybody does. Everybody does.
But strive to enter into this gate, Christ Jesus the Lord,
his blood and his righteousness. For many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter in and shall not be able. If salvation, if faith in Christ,
saving faith, is nothing but just saying a little prayer,
making a little decision, walking down a church aisle, saying I
believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, then
why do you reckon Judas perished? Why do you reckon Simon Magnus
is in hell today? Why do you suppose it is that
Demas lost his soul? Why do you suppose it is that
Theopathy suffers the wrath of God right now? True saving faith
in Christ is such a rare thing, that our Lord himself said, when
the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith in the earth? You
see, the way of truth and holiness is so plain. that wayfaring men,
though fools, shall not err therein. And yet, because of the sin and
hardness of our hearts, it is no easy thing for us to enter
into the way of life everlasting. The way of faith in Christ is
no easy thing for us to continue in that way until we reach our
everlasting home in glory. Now let's look at our text this
morning in 1 Peter chapter 4 in verse 18. if the righteous scarcely be
saved. That's my subject. If the righteous scarcely be
saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? The word
scarcely here is really a very poor translation. Peter is not
suggesting somehow that God's elect are going to get into heaven
by the skin of their teeth, or barely enter in with fear and
trembling and hesitancy. That's not the teaching of Scripture.
The God Saint shall enter into heaven, ushered in in a blaze
of glory, triumphant and victorious in Christ by his grace. The word
scarcely would better be translated, with difficulty. With difficulty. Peter's meaning is this. If the
righteous are saved with great difficulty, What shall become
of the ungodly and the unbelieving? Now let's look at this statement
and this question. First, God's elects are saved
only with great difficulty. If you're saved, you're saved
with difficulty. Now the difficulty in salvation
does not arise from any deficiency in the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Savior. Bless God, there's no lack of efficacy in His blood
or in His intercession. Thank God there's no difficulty
there. Jesus Christ is an all-sufficient Savior. Yes, we do believe the
doctrine of limited atonement. That is the doctrine plainly
taught in Holy Scripture. Jesus Christ died for, shed his
blood for, and redeemed his elect and only his elect. He laid down
his life for his sheep and only his sheep, and they are actually
redeemed by it. But when the scripture speaks
of the limit of Christ's atonement, it is not talking about a limit
in the power, efficacy, and merit of Christ's atonement. Oh, no,
no, no, no, no. No, no, His blood is of infinite
power, and we sing with joy, dear dying Lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more. It is only the scope the design,
the intention, the purpose of the atonement that is limited.
It is limited for the salvation of a specific people. It is designed
for God's elect. It is designed to put away the
sins of God's people, and it does so with infinite merit,
power, and efficacy. The Arminian, the free willer,
most religious people who even talk about the death of Christ
really limit the power and efficacy of the atonement. Everybody limits
it one way or the other. Either you must say that Christ
died for a specific people and effectually redeemed them, or
you've got to say his blood's not worth spit. One of the two. The Arminian says his blood's
not worth spit. The Arminian says Christ died
for folks who go to hell anyhow. The Arminian says Christ died
for folks who still perish under the wrath of God. The Arminian
says he redeemed them with his blood and yet they're lost. In
other words, they say his blood's not worth spilling. It's worthless. They trample underfoot the blood
of the Son of God. Oh no, we don't limit the power
of the atonement. Not the merit, the efficacy of
it, but the Word of God does limit the purpose of it, the
intent of it, the scope of it. There's no lack of power in the
Holy Spirit to save his people. And there's no lack of faithfulness
in our gracious God or in the precious blood of his son. And
I want, I pray that God will be pleased to grant you faith
in Christ. I want you to know him. I want you not to be deceived. And so I want to be honest with
you. I want to tell you plainly, it is difficult. It is difficult
for a sinner to be saved. Our Lord said this, and I say
it to you. I talked to Amy yesterday morning. She wanted to confess Christ
this morning, said God saved her by his grace. We rejoice. Amanda told me last week saved
that. Before you confess Christ in
baptism, you young ladies, listen to this picture. Listen to me.
Sit down and count the cost. That's what our Lord said. He
didn't say believe in Jesus and everything's alright. He said
count the cost. This is what's going to cost
you to follow Him. Everything. Everything. Locked, stocked and
barreled. You'll give yourself to Him or
you won't have Him. That's what He said. Read it
for yourself in Luke chapter 14. Now here are the difficulties
in the saving of a sinner. The first difficulty is in the
justice of God. You see, God cannot save a sinner
apart from the satisfaction of justice. God won't throw his
law out the door to save you. Before God can do anything for
you and me, he's got to do something for himself. And that something
he did for himself was sacrifice his darling son for the satisfaction
of his justice. So that he is just and the justifier
of all who believe in him. I've told you before the stories,
some years ago a friend of mine She was at one of these ladies'
parties, and on Monday morning they had a little tea, and one
of the ladies came in and said to her, you know, my six-year-old
boy asked me a question at the church yesterday, and I couldn't
answer. She said, well, what did he ask
you? He said, Mama, can I ask you something? She said, sure,
son, what is it? He said, why did Jesus have to die? She said, well, he died because
he loved us. He said, mama, don't you love me? Well, of course
I do. But you didn't have to die to
love me. Why did Jesus have to die? Well, so he could take us
to heaven. But mama, why'd he have to die
to take us to heaven? And she said, you know, I've
been in church all my life. And I don't have any idea what
the answer to that question is. And I'm going to tell you something.
I'm going to tell you something. I'll give you a challenge. Start
calling preachers around town. Just ask them why he had to die.
Ask them. I'll give you a dollar for every
one you find who knows the answer. Ask them. Ask them. They don't
have any idea. I'll tell you why Jesus Christ
had to die. Because there's no way on this
earth God can take you to glory without punishing your sin to
the full satisfaction of his justice. No other way. The only way a holy God can forgive
sin is to punish it until there's no wrath left against it. And
the only way he can do that is in the person of his Holy Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner's substitute. That's the first
thing that had to be taken care of. Mercy and truth are met together
in the Son of God. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other so that by mercy and by truth, iniquity
is purged. But there's another difficulty. It lies in the depravity of our
hearts. My only daughter is sitting here,
my only son-in-law. I'd give him anything on this
earth I could give him. Anything. Anything. Nothing.
Including my life. Nothing. Nothing I wouldn't give
him. But I gave her one thing that
every father has given his child, a depraved heart. And I can't do anything about
it. I'm going to tell you something else. Neither can she. You see, the natural man His
heart is wicked above all things. He can't know it neither does
anybody else. The natural man is dead in trespasses and in
sins. The natural man, while he is
full of iniquity and sin, presumes himself to be righteous and goes
about to establish a righteousness of his own and imagines in his
vain mind that somehow he can, if he does enough, sacrifices
enough, suffers enough, finally make himself acceptable to God. I got news for you. You're so
far off from God you can't possibly get back unless God comes and
fetches you. You don't see your need of Christ,
you won't believe on him. You don't see any need for his
death, so you won't trust him. You don't have any value of his
atonement, so you don't trust him. You're dead. There's not a thing on earth
mom or dad or I or you can do about it. The only person who
changed, that's God himself. And I tell you what, I'm thankful
it's that way. I'm thankful it's that way. Because I'm sublimate
and selfish, I'd give life to folks I like and not to the folks
I didn't. And you're the same way. I'd
give life to my daughter and pass yours by. I'd give life
to my grandchild and pass yours by. I'd give life to folks who
came to me and pass you right by. But God Almighty has mercy
on whom he will. He gives life to whom he will.
And I'm telling you, unless God steps in your way, unless God
puts himself in your path, unless God opens your heart, unless
God speaks directly to you from heaven itself, you'll perish
in your sin. I don't care how much religion
you get. I don't care how many professions of faith you make.
I don't care how much you get in church and preachers start
treating you like puppets on a string so you can dance around
and act like you've got life when you don't have any and they
can convince you you've got it when you don't have any. I'm telling
you, the only way you'll ever get life is if God gives it to
you. There's no other way. A preacher? That means we're shut up to God. Oh, I hope you heard that. Oh,
I hope you heard that. When you get shut up to God,
there's some hope for you. When you get shut up to God,
shut up to grace, shut up to Christ, shut up to God doing
something for you, then maybe, just maybe, God's done something
for you. The Lord brought Ezekiel out
to the valley to overlook the valley of dry bones. And he said,
son of man, can these bones live? And he looked over those bones
and he said, if it's up to them, they can't. And if it's up to
me, they can't. Oh, Lord, you know. He said,
Son of man, prophesy to these folks. That's what I'm doing
this morning. I'm preaching to a valley full of dead, parched,
bleached, dry bones, left in this valley of fallen humanity
by a warfare which Satan himself has brought into this world.
And I'm prophesying. And before I prophesy, and as
I prophesy, when I get done prophesying, I call on God, O come, Spirit
of God, from the four winds. and breathe upon these slaves
that they may live. And some of them are going to
live. Some of them are going to live. Not only that, there's
another problem that has to be overcome. And that's the demands
of Christ as Lord. I want you to write something
down. I want you to write it down and I want you to remember
it. I hope every one of you will.
If you care for your soul, you better get this. Either you will be a servant
under the dominion of Jesus Christ, your King, voluntarily giving
up everything to him as your Lord. That's a big statement. But bro, that's true. Either
he'll be my Lord and King with me voluntarily giving everything
to him. Do with it what you will, or
I'll go to hell, and you too. That's what our Lord said. Multitudes came, followed him.
He turned and looked at them and said, you want to be my disciples? You're fixing to join a warfare.
You're fixing to enlist in an army in hostile enemy territory. You want to be my disciples?
You stop and count the cost. And this is what it is. You take
up your cross and you follow me every day. Every day. Man, I never heard
it preached like that before. It's because you never heard
it preached. I'm just telling you the truth. You take up your
cross and follow Him. Discipleship is nothing less
than bowing to Christ the King. Faith in Christ is nothing less
than bowing to him. An old Indian missionary, missionary
to the Indians, he'd been preaching for a long time and he kept pressing
the issue of Christ's claims upon a man. One night he was
sitting in his tent and the chief came in. He walked in, pulled
off his moccasins. He said, missionary man, chief,
give him moccasins to Jesus. Missionary looked at him. He
said chief Jesus doesn't want your moccasins got no use for He went out and hug Well while
later he came back in He's a missionary man chief give him tomahawk to
Jesus Later down there They started looking tomahawk. Look chief
picked it up and handed it back to him. He said chief Jesus has
no use for your tomahawk He went out and hugged. Preachers
these days, oh that's so good. Boy you've done something good
for Jesus now. But that man is honest with his
soul. After a while that chief came in and he brought his headdress
with him. And he pulled off that gorgeous
headdress, the symbol of his authority and power and position. And laid it down there before
that missionary. He said, missionary man, chief give him headdress
to Jesus. Missionary looked up at him just
as serious as he could. Picked it up and handed it back
to him. He said, Chief, Jesus doesn't want your head for that. He went out and gone a long time.
After a while, he came back. Missionary's still sitting there,
sitting there waiting on him. He said, Missionary man, Chief
give himself to Jesus. That's it. That's it. What does he demand of you? All
of you. All of you. The man come after
me and hate not his brother, his sister, his mother, his father,
yea, and his own life also. What on earth does that mean?
That means you give no consideration to anything or anybody down to
your own life when it comes to following you. That's what it
means. If you don't, you can't be my disciple. And then when those things are
overcome, we have our trials and temptations. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eye, the pride of life, the world, the flesh, And if it's possible, they'll
get you. If it's possible. Unless Jesus Christ himself,
Oscar Bailey, holds your heart steadfast to the end, one of
those ain't gonna get you sooner or later. Unless God Almighty
keeps me by his grace, one of those ain't gonna get me sooner
or later. I've seen it happen to many. I thought you believed once saved,
always saved. I do, if you're saved. If you're saved. If indeed God saved you by his
grace, he'll keep you. But all you've got is a little
religion. It won't last long, and it sure
won't last in the judgment. But what does this teach us?
If the righteous scarcely are saved, where shall the ungodly
in the center appear? If God's own elects meet with
such trials upon the earth, what woeful judgment awaits the reprobate? If the righteous attain eternal
bliss and glory only with great difficulty, then the unbelieving
shall never attain it. If it's difficult for a believer
to be saved, where shall you who have no mediator, no substitute,
no advocate, no intercessor, no high priest, no savior, where
shall you stand? If the righteous are saved only
with difficulty, I want to tell you something. If you're saved
without difficulty, you're not saved. People talk about repentance. You say, boy, I don't know anything
about that. conviction or I don't know anything about that. Struggling
with the flesh. I don't know anything about that.
If you've got no difficulty going on inside you, Ron, you don't
know God. That's all there is to it. Believers struggle with
sin. Believers have a warfare going
on in them. If the righteous are saved only with difficulty,
then salvation must be a work of God's grace alone. By grace, All you save is through
faith, that not of yourself. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And this is what I'm saying to
you. Salvation is to be found only in Jesus Christ's blood
and righteousness. Nowhere else. And if you're going
to get it, you're going to have to do business with Him. Won't do you any good, talk to
this preacher. I'm glad to talk to you, but I can't give you
life. It won't do you any good to call
some soul winner up and ask him to give you some help. And it
sure won't do you good to go to some Christian counselor and
ask him to deceive you more. For a preacher, what am I to
do? Right where you sit, right where you are, without saying
a word, without moving a muscle, call on Christ. Believe on the
Son of God. And buddy-duddy, If right now
you can believe on him, then God made you righteous and he
saved you by his grace. Oh, thank God for his grace to
overcome his justice, my rebellion, my difficulties. Amen. Ron, you come listen to him if
you will, please.