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 fundamentalists 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.

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 will be alright. And it's okay. 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 Mary's. 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 things shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Now, I'll guarantee you, you came from down there, I guarantee you if he walked down First Baptist Church this morning, folks would have him in deacon's pool before the work day was over. I guarantee it. What? Oh, 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. Well, 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 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 him. 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 1 Peter 4 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. 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 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 Deography 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. Now 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. God's saints 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 spit. 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.

I won't. 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 the same thing. Before you confess Christ in baptism, you young ladies, listen to this picture. Listen to me. Sit down and count the cost. It's what our Lord said. He didn't say believe in Jesus and everything's all right. 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 it. 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 start asking them why he had to die. Ask them. I'll give you a dollar for everyone you find who knows answers. Ask them. Ask them.

I 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 And the only way you can do that is in the person of his Holy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the center 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 sitting here, my only son-in-law, I'd give him anything on this earth, I'd give him 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. 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.

Now I've got news for you. You're so far off from God you can't possibly get back unless God comes and takes you here. 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. And there's not a thing on earth mom or dad or I or you can do about it. The only person who can change that is 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, 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, pass yours by. I'd give life to folks who attend the meeting 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 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.

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 boats. 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. 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. 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 Burl, 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.

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? Then you start to count the cost. And this is what it is. You take up your cross and you follow me. 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, a missionary to the Indians, he'd been preaching for a long time. 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. The missionary looked at him. He said, chief, Jesus doesn't want your moccasins. Got no use for them. He went out and hugged. A little while later, he came back in. He said missionary man, chief give him a tomahawk to Jesus. Missionary looked at the tomahawk, looked at the chief, picked it up and handed it back to him. He said chief, Jesus has no use for your tomahawk. He went out to hunt.

Preachers these days, oh that's so good. Boy you've done something good for Jesus now. But that man's honest with his soul. After a while that 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. The 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 headdress. He went out and gone a long time. After a while, he came back, missionary 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 the devil. And if it's possible, they'll get you. If it's possible. Unless Jesus Christ himself, Oscar Bailey, hold your heart steadfast to Thee, 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.

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's 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 stay?

If the righteous are saved only with difficulty, then 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. Boy, 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 are you saved through faith, that not of yourself. It's the gift of God, not of works of any man. 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 to talk to this preacher. I'm glad to talk to you, but I can't give you life. 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.

Well, 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't 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.