I want, as I announced either
Sunday or Tuesday evening, I want to talk specifically to our sons
and daughters. I realize that both by nature
and through a perverse system of education, you all face challenges
to what you've been taught at home and from this pulpit. I'm
aware of that. I realize that we live in an
age when you are subject to scoffing, ridicule, and the faith that
we hold dear is held up for scorn everywhere you go. Some suggest that we ought to
hide you away in religious schools or in Something similar to convents
and monasteries, but that's foolish. That's foolish. The problem you
see that you deal with, the problems that those boys there faced growing
up, are only compounded by society. The real things to be dealt with
are inside. And sooner or later you're going
to have to learn to deal with things that are out there. And
it's a whole heap better a whole heap wiser to learn to deal with
them a little at a time than learn to deal with them all when
you're twenty years old. So I recognize that you're in a mess as far
as society is concerned. And I can say honestly with regard
to every one of you here, without question, exactly what Paul said
to Timothy in our text. He said in verse 14 of 2nd Timothy
3 continue thou in the things Thou hast learned and hast been
assured of You've learned them and you've been assured of them
knowing of whom Thou hast learned them of whom Now remember who
Timothy learned these things from He learned them from his
mother and from his grandmother Godly women Women who taught
him own he owned their me the truth of God is now you remember
who you learn them from When you're challenged you remember
who taught you these things Somebody comes along and challenges your
faith. He says Timothy somebody comes along and challenges this
word and Challenges the gospel you believe you remember Folks
who care for you more than anybody cares for you are the ones who
taught you these things. That infidel down there, he didn't
teach you these things. That infidel down there, he doesn't
care for you, your mama does. Now you remember who taught you
these things. You remember that I taught you these things. You
remember that. I've proved to you my honesty,
my loyalty, my faithfulness to God and you. Now you remember
I taught you these things. That fella down there at the
school, that fella over there at the newspaper, that fella
down there in the science lab, He has no regard for those things.
And his life demonstrates that he has no honesty, no principle,
no integrity. You remember, folks, who taught
you these things. You remember Christ by His Spirit taught you
these things. Remember of whom thou hast learned
these things. Now read on. And that from a
child thou hast known the holy scriptures. which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Jesus
Christ. The Holy Scriptures. Right here. The Holy Scriptures. The sanctified
writings. That's what that means. The sanctified
writings. The Holy Scriptures. These words
of this book are able by the blessing of God the Holy Spirit
upon them to make you wise unto everlasting salvation now that ought to get your attention
that ought to get your attention nothing else in the world is
able to do that but these sacred sanctified writings by the blessing
of God are able to make thee wise unto salvation. Now this
morning I want to address some questions. Questions that are
common. Questions by which Satan and
skeptics seek to undermine our faith. And these are questions,
all of them, are questions that I have been asked by others,
and most of them questions that I have asked myself. You see,
true saving faith, now listen carefully, true saving faith
does not remove all doubt. It just doesn't. It just doesn't. I try my best to be honest with
folks. I try my best to be honest with folks. True saving faith
won't keep you from at times questioning whether or not this
really is the book of God. It just won't. Because the flesh
still is with us. And true saving faith won't keep
you from questioning whether or not God really is what we
say he is, what he says he is in this book. It won't keep you
from questioning those things. Questions and doubts do arise
even among true believers. I'll give you an example. When
God first saved me, I was 16 years old, almost 17. And I started
reading the scriptures. I had been sitting in Sunday
school class listening to Leroy Pack teach the gospel of God's
grace. And he taught it clearly and
distinctly for a few months. And God gave me faith in Christ.
I recognized my guilt, my depravity. I understood something of what
Leroy had declared about God's sovereignty and about Christ's
redemptive work. And I trusted Christ alone as
my Savior. He alone is the Lord my righteousness.
And I thought, well, I'm going to start studying the book. And
like most folks, I had the foolish notion that I could study on
my own. And after all, if somebody else understands this thing,
I can understand this thing. And I looked up the Ark. I was going
to study the Ark. And I got to studying the scriptures
relating to the Ark. And as I studied that Ark, I
was so confounded. I mean terribly distraught. Because the Ark I was studying
about was only a little bit smaller than that table there. And I
couldn't figure out how on this earth Noah could possibly get
himself, much less all those animals, in a little old box
about the size of that table there. And Shelby helped me out. She said, you got the wrong ark. You're studying the wrong ark,
Don. Now, I say that to let you understand that as I looked at
the book, I had some serious questions about the reality of
this book. I had some serious questions
about the reality of what was said. But I said to myself, And
I said before God as I prayed with the simplicity of a child
speaking to God, Father, I know the confusions with me. It's
not with you. Do you understand that? The confusion, when you read
this book, the confusion is with my puny brain. It's not with
the infinite God or with his word. And that's true with regard
to everything in this book. Now, the questions I want to
answer this morning are questions that not only you are challenged
by. But there are questions by which
I suspect mom and dad are challenged as well. We don't repeat them
to one another. We don't talk about them. But
we have questions. Somebody said to me one time,
I don't receive anything, don't believe anything that I can't
understand. Well, that's not so. That's not so. You don't
know how a brown cow can eat green grass, give white milk,
and give yellow butter, but she eats the butter and drinks the
milk. And we do receive a number of things that we don't really
understand. But yet, when all that's said and done, I want
to demonstrate this morning that our faith, that is the faith
of Holy Scripture, the faith that is in the Lord Jesus Christ
and adherence to His doctrine, is a most reasonable thing. Now,
I do not have any intention of answering the questions and the
cavils of infidels. I'm not interested in that. I
don't have any intention of trying to set aside all of the things
that men who are unbelievers, unregenerate, reprobate men,
I don't have any intention of trying to straighten all that
out. I'll leave that to theologians and others who want to spend
their time doing that. But I do want you to see the
reasonableness of the gospel. And I recognize that your faith
and mine must stand in the word of God. Thus saith the Lord. Many times, Brother Maurice Montgomery
had an excellent article a few months ago in his bulletin. I
think I put it in hours. I think I did. I'm not sure.
But anyway, he said, folks say, show me and I'll believe. You
got it backwards. You believe and God will show
you. You cannot receive the things of God by your puny brain. You cannot receive the things
of God on the basis of human intelligence. You cannot receive
the things of God based upon scientific or logical investigation. You must receive the things of
God as the revelation of God Almighty. And if you will not
bow to God's truth, you'll perish in your sins. Now I'm telling
you, you must bow to God's truth. The only way men and women ever
come to Jesus Christ is by submitting themselves in the entirety of
their being to the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. That
means you submit your mind and you submit your life and you
submit your thoughts to the rule of Jesus Christ. You say, well
preacher, I'm not going to do that. You're going to hell then.
You're going to hell and that's all there is to it. Now, let
me try to answer these questions. And I want to begin back in Genesis
chapter 1. You talk about elementary and
basic. I'm elementary and basic today.
We're going to Genesis 1 verse 1. Here's a question. How can I know that there is
a God at all? How can I know that? How can I know there's a God
at all? When first I began to seriously consider the things
of God, Satan kept driving that question through my mind. How
do you know there is a God? Why you can't see Him? How do
you know there's a God? Everybody has his God. How do
you know yours is the right God? Well, not one time in all of
the Bible Did anyone ever attempt to prove God's existence? You
ever notice that? Nobody ever attempted to prove
God's existence. You see, it would be far easier
to prove the existence of an Adam to a barbarian who had never
learned letters than it would be to prove the existence of
God. How are you going to prove God's being to an unregenerate,
reprobate man? The fact is, a God whose existence
can be proved is no God at all. The Bible simply begins with
the assumption of a fact. And that fact is that God is. And all men know that God is. Book of Genesis 1-1. In the beginning,
God. What a majestic statement. In
the beginning, God. Now I don't really understand
all that is involved in what's said in the next two verses.
I really don't. I'm honest with you. I don't
understand all that's involved when it says in the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth. But I know whatever creation
involves, God did it. You understand that? Whatever
creation involves, God did it. In the beginning God. Now you
may question it. But you know that God is. All
men do. No one but a fool would deny
it. The fact of God's existence cannot be proved, yet that does
not nullify it. The infinite cannot be proved
by the finite. Beauty can be shown. You can
show somebody beauty, but you can't prove it. And I can demonstrate
that God is, but I can't prove that God is. won't make any effort
to prove that God is. Now there are certain clear evidences
of it. Turn to Romans chapter 1. Romans
the first chapter. Certain clear evidences of God's
being that nobody can gainsay. Do they prove that God is? No.
No. They don't prove it. You can't prove to an unbeliever
something he won't believe. But they certainly give some
evidence you're going to have a hard time dealing with. Some evidence you're
going to have a hard time dealing with. Number one, The universal
consciousness of man concerning God's being. Universal consciousness
of man, wherever you find men. In all of history, no matter
how barbaric they are, no matter how ignorant or how unlearned
they are, all men have a God consciousness. They may think
that God is a twig, or they may think God's in the sky, but they
have a God consciousness by which their lives are governed in fear
and in dread. So all men recognize something
about God more than that. God in the design of creation
has made himself known. Look in Romans 1 verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven. Not the righteousness of God.
No. No. That's revealed at the cross.
Not the truth of God. No. That's revealed at the cross.
But the wrath of God. is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." Now look at the next
word, "...who hold the truth." They hold it. That word, Walter,
it means to hold down, to suppress. They've got the truth and they
say, No! No! No! They hold down the truth.
They cry out, No! No God! No God! But they're trying
to silence the witness of God that they can't silence. They
hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God, look at it now, is manifest in them. For God has showed it
to them, for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even His power and His Godhead. So that they're
without excuse. You go down to Mexico, take your
family, young man, they've been there 29 years. Go down there,
why? Well those folks have got religion,
sure they do. Sure they do. They've got the
religion of their ancestors, which is just sheer paganism.
And they've got the religion of papacy, which is sheer paganism. And they've got the religion
of Armenian missionaries, which is sheer paganism. Why are you
going down there? Because they don't know God.
They have a God consciousness, and they're afraid of God, and
they know certain things about God, but they can never know
God apart from the revelation of God in Christ by the gospel. Look at what it says in chapter
2, verse 14. For when the Gentiles, that's
you and me, that's the barbarian, get right over that heathen if
you want to. The unlearned, the unlettered, the heathen. when
the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things
contained in the law." Wait a minute. What on earth are you saying,
Paul? You go down to Africa and go with Brother Ken Wymer back
into the jungles in the most remote area of Africa you can
find. And you'll find that folks in
the most dark, dark places of the earth Even prior to this
enlightened age in which we live, if you want to call it that,
even back yonder, if a fellow steals another man's wife, they'll
kill him for it. That's right. If a fellow steals another man's
goods, they'll kill him for it. If a fellow is caught killing
another man, taking his life, they'll kill him for it. Why?
Because even in the remote, dark corners of the earth where men
never heard God's name, they know that it's wrong to do some
things. God wrote it on their heart.
God wrote it on their heart. It's written right here by nature. But there's something else, a
whole lot louder testimony than that. of man's universal consciousness
of God. Your own conscience declares
everything I'm saying so. That's right. Try to escape it if you want
to, you can't. Somebody says, well that's just tradition. Call
it that if you want to, you wake up in hell, but I'm telling you,
you ain't going to escape it. Well, that's just, that's cause your
mom and daddy taught you that way. Call it that if you want
to, but I'm telling you, you're not going to escape it. Your
conscience gives echo to everything I'm saying to you. God is. And
yet I know this, the only way anyone will ever know God is
if God is pleased to reveal himself to you and in you by the gospel. You read it in 2 Corinthians
4 just a little bit ago. The knowledge of God comes by the
revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
God declaring Himself to be God in the justifying of guilty sinners
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. And that comes
only by the gospel being preached to your soul and preached to
your heart by the Spirit of God Himself. Canst thou by searching
find out God? No. The only way you'll ever
know God is as you see Him revealed to you and in you through faith
in Jesus Christ the Lord. It's the only way you'll know
Him. The only way you'll know Him. Secondly, somebody asked
me one time, how can you be certain that the Word of God or that
the Bible is the Word of God? After all, it was written by
men, wasn't it? Be sure you understand me now.
I know folks think, well, you're not real smart. You're all hemmed
up by religious tradition and religious custom, and you have
your mind made up, and you're not open to argument. You're
right, I'm not. I readily concede that. I'm not
open to argument. I have found the truth of God,
and my mind is set in concrete in these things. I mean set in
concrete. And we recognize that this book
is indeed the Word of God in its entirety. In its entirety. Every word given in this book
is a word that is a word from God himself to us. It was written
by men, yes sir. But those holy men of God wrote
as they were moved by the Spirit of God. And I know there are
lots of theories of inspiration. I know that. And the doctrine of inspiration
as it's taught in this book, as I'm declaring it to you, is
as outdated as the rest of my theology is as far as this world
is concerned. But I'm going to tell you something.
While God sovereignly used the character of men, and sovereignly
used the words of men that they deliberately chose, Every man
who wrote this book under inspiration of God the Holy Spirit wrote
as his hand was directed in every character written by the Spirit
of God. Every word. Now many books claim
to be the Word of God. The Quran, the Book of Mormon,
the Apocrypha, all of it. The charismatics of our day claim
that they continually are receiving a word from God. Got a revelation
from God. Strange thing, it always had
to do with your money, doesn't it? Got a word from God today. Got
a special word from God. How can we be certain that the
Bible truly is the word of God? How can we be sure that the word
of God is complete? Let's consider that. How can
you be certain that this book... I'm talking to you now particularly
who do believe. You say, Pastor, I believe God. I trust Christ. How can I be
certain this is the word of God? How can I be certain? Let me
see if I can give you some reasons. I'm not saying this book contains
the word. I'm not saying that this is a
word from God. I'm saying the Bible is the inspired,
inerrant word of the living God. And I make that statement without
apology. How can you say so? Number one,
it claims to be. We just read it, all scripture. is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of
God may be complete, thoroughly furnished to serve his God. The
whole word is inspired of God. Now, either this book is the
word of God or it's a piece of trash you need to throw in your
trash can. That's right. So well, it has some good things
to say. Not if it's founded on a lie, it doesn't. If it claims
to be the Word of God and it is not the Word of God, it's
a fabrication. Throw it away. Find the truth. Don't pretend to honor the book
while you undermine the authority of the book. You don't honor
it. More than that, the writing of the book demonstrates its
divine authority, a divine origin. You try to comprehend this. This
book was written by more than 40 men. 40 men over a period covering somewhere
between 1,500 and 2,000 years. Most of those men had never seen
each other, had no means of communicating with one another. They lived
miles and miles and miles apart, separated by countries, by seas,
by race, by languages, and by time. And yet, everything they
wrote is an exact consistence with what all the others wrote.
Boy, isn't that a marvelous coincidence? Isn't that an uncanny thing?
You find me anything else in the world that compares to it.
Anything else. Say, well, you fellas, y'all
just don't have any basis for your faith. Oh, find me something
that's got a stronger basis than that. Find me something. More
than that, the unity of the book. It was written by these men.
in full agreement and they all agree in the message. The message
revealed in the book is the message of redemption by Christ the Lord.
Everything in the book describes Jesus Christ and His redemptive
glory. Everything in the book refers
to man as a ruined, fallen creature, a man in need of redemption which
only can be accomplished by the God-man and has been accomplished
by Him and regeneration by the power of God the Holy Spirit.
All the book fully agrees. All of it. Say, well I see discrepancies
in the scriptures. I did too, I told you about them.
I sure did. Because our brains are puny.
And our brains naturally are unbelieving. And we read the
scriptures, oh! There's a discrepancy! Take the
time, take the time, anytime you find one, to see if there's
not someone who has studied that thing out and can give you a
reasonable answer for the discrepancy. You'd do it with any other book,
wouldn't you? You teach school, don't you? Don't you teach school,
Brother Campbell? You don't teach school. Which
one of them teaches school? Diane does, I know. You teach school. And you study something out and
you got a textbook and you think, well, that just doesn't make
sense. There's a discrepancy there. What they said here doesn't
match up with what they said over there. Chances are pretty
good, if the same person wrote the book, There's some explanation
for the apparent discrepancy. And it's the job of the teacher
to find out what people does. So you can tell them what discrepancy
is and have to explain. And if you will take the time
to read this book, it was written by God the Holy Spirit. I don't
care whether you're reading in Genesis 1 or Revelation 22, it
was written by one person, the Spirit of God. And chances are
pretty good he didn't make a mistake, you did. Chances are just pretty
good of that. More than that, the prophecies
of the book given with intricate detail with intricate detail
everyone has been exactly fulfilled according to the Word 300 years
before Cyrus was ever born now you talk about detail God called
Cyrus by name 300 years before he was born And said, I'm going
to raise up this king to deliver my people out of Babylon before
they ever went into Babylon. 300 years beforehand. Say, well,
that was just a coincidence. Well, if you want that, that's
all right. And it's honesty. Oh, it's honesty. I'll tell you what you do. You
go to the Koran. And you find an honest statement
that reveals something of the sinful character of Mohammed,
will you? Go find it. You're not going to find it because
it's not an honest book. It's not an honest book. But this
book talks about the father of the faith, Abraham. And Jim,
it shows Abraham's warts and all. That's right. It talks about Noah, that man
who in the building of an ark saved his family by the Word
of God. And then it speaks of Noah's
drunkenness. It talks about the Apostle Peter. Oh, what a man
of God he was. That man was indeed a man of
God. Folks can make all the fun they
want to a Peter. I'd like the heck the man Ron
Peter was. He was a man whose heart was
set for Christ. He said, I'll die with you and
die with him, he did. That's right. But when he cussed
and denied his master, it was written right here in the book.
Why? Because this book's honest. The
object of this book is not to get you to worship a man, it's
to get you to worship the God-man. And it deals in honesty with
all men, including him. And it's influence. Oh, when this, when this book
comes to a land, and people get hold of this book, it changes
every aspect of their lives for the better, even, now listen,
even when the men who bring it pervert it. You live in a country
where that's demonstrated. Papists brought this book to
the Mayans and carried this word to them, and even though the
influence of papacy is itself darkness and paganism, The influence
of this word changed their lives for the better. That's right. Just the influence of the word.
And I'm telling you, wherever in history men have been influenced
by this word, life has come up to a higher standard than just
sheer barbarianism. How can you be sure this book,
the Word of God, is complete? Because the prophets are all
dead. The man who spoke to you before me and the one who's speaking
now and the one who's going to speak when I get done Tuesday
night, they're no prophets. We're not prophets. We're preachers. And we're not apostles. All the
apostles are dead. And the apostles and prophets
are the one who wrote the book and the book itself claims finality
because Christ is the finality of the book. He's the final,
complete, absolute revelation of God. Now if anybody adds to
it, says, I got a word from God. You've turned your ears, follow
me. Don't you pay any attention. He said, those who add to it,
they shall be added to damnation. Damnation shall be added to them.
And those who take from it, if their parts should be taken out
of the book of life. Well, Don, how do you explain creation in
the light of modern science? First and foremost, I readily
repudiate and unhesitatingly denounce as false and foolish
any opinion, any statistic, or any scientific theory that contradicts
this book. I just renounce it. So that's
not very scientific. I didn't pretend to be a scientist.
I'm a preacher. I just flat renounce it. I repudiate it. I laugh at
it. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. I have an acquaintance by correspondence. Professor Edgar Andrews lives
in London, England. in creation there's some fellows
who've got pretty good gray matter between their ears who can give
you clear evidence concerning matters of creation showing the
folly of evolution but the fact is this world out here soon the
leaves are going to be falling from the trees they're going
to turn those beautiful glorious colors and they'll fall from
the trees And the wind will get a little bite in it. And the
snow will fall. And then next spring, see the
little green blades popping up out of the ground? Those chonkles
be coming up early in the spring. Signs of rejuvenated life. And
then we'll be out here cutting grass again, sowing the gardens,
planting things. And next summer, go through the
same kind of heat. and the same rains, and the same
sunshine, and next fall, the same beautiful decaying of nature
again. All of it. Been going on like
that for six thousand years. Isn't that a marvelous, marvelous
coincidence of evolution? If you can believe that, you
ain't got since God give a billy goat. I'm just telling you the
truth. I'm just telling you the truth.
I've told you several times about that scientist, Mr. Sagan. He and his wife are now
writing about our connection with the apes. And he said, he
was on Phil Donahue one morning, I was getting dressed for something,
I was a little late, put my necktie on, and I had Donahue on. One
of those days, when I want to get fuming, I either listen to
Donahue or read Armenian theology. And I was listening to Donahue.
And boy, he'd get me fired up. He asked Sagan, and we know that
all life on the earth came from the sea, but how is it that animals
began to move about the earth? Now if I'm lying, Jim, I'm dying.
This is what he said. This is Carl Sagan, Cornell University,
great evolutionary scientist. He said, well, as the waters
on the earth began to dry up, over a period of millions and
millions of years, nobody knows, The fishes in the sea began to
flop from one pond to the other. That's the illustration of the
game. Just like that. And they flopped for a couple of million
years until they grew legs and started walking. Boy, that's
science. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, anything
beats believing that God said, let there be life and there was
life. Anything beats that. I drive a 1989 Chrysler New Yorker,
right pretty car. I get in that car and stick my
key in, turn the switch, and things start to happen. That
engine starts up when it's running right. It starts up and I push
that button that says number one, and it sets that seat just
exactly where I want it set. Every time. I push that button
number two when I get out, if I want Shelby to drive it next,
it sets it right where she sets. Isn't that a marvelous thing? Obviously. Somebody obviously
put that thing together according to a detailed plan. Well, how
can you say that? Because it sure acts like it.
It just acts like it. Somebody had some kind of plan
when they started out. That thing didn't just evolve
from a pile of junk. Somebody made it. And made it
with some skill and some ingenuity. And I'm telling you, when you
look at the heaven, The handiwork of God. Somebody made it. We sang it, Lindsay. This is
my father's world. Oh, Lord, my God, how great thou
art. Infinitely greater than you and
me. Somebody made this thing. Well, you don't really believe
that Adam and Eve stuff, do you? Did you ever notice how that
men and women, when they question what we believe always cast their
questions to make us look foolish. They always go out of their way
to make it appear as though we're just out of the step with brilliant
peers and just we're really ignorant of the issues. I remember the
first time, the very first time a man asked me that question.
You don't really believe that Adam and Eve myth, do you? He was
my high school English teacher. right after God saved me I was
sitting in class and I feel what I said to him pretty close to
this I can't remember it exactly I said it seems to me that the
Bible record of Adam and Eve beats the daylights out of believing
that we came from monkeys or crawled out of the ocean it seems
to beat the daylights out of that to me yes I do believe that
Adam and Eve stuff God created Adam one man And created him
in the image of God, upright. And created him with the knowledge
of God. And created him in communion
with God. And created him in perfect holiness
to walk before God. But he made that one man, Adam,
a representative man. So that Adam represented before
God and His law all the race of men. I don't like that, preacher.
That doesn't change anything. Who are you to decide what God
can do and can't do? And I happen to like it. We fell
by a representative, Walter. That means maybe we can be saved
by a representative. We sinned and died in a representative. Maybe, just maybe, God has in
mind of raising us up by a second Adam, even the Lord Jesus Christ. And Adam did sin. And we did
sin in him. He did die, and we did die in
him. That's called original sin. The
total depravity of man. For as in Adam all died, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. In sin my mother conceived
me. I was brought forth, shapen and
brought forth in iniquity. For by one man's sin entered
into the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all
men, so all of sin. So preacher, that doesn't make
good sense to me. Let me see if this does. Can
you find me any other reasonable explanation for the universal
condition, character, and conduct of our race? Find me another explanation.
Why is it that everywhere you go, folks commit the same kind
of crimes? Why is it everywhere you go, folks are involved in
the same kind of adultery, the same kind of fornication, the
same kind of lasciviousness, the same kind of blasphemy, the
same kind of filthiness, all over the world. Same murder,
the same rape, the same incest, all of it is always the same.
Why? Because we all have got the same problem. It's called
our hearts. It's called the nature of man.
Why is it, why is it, if all are not sinners, that babies get sick. That little baby of yours, Ruth
and Sammy, that precious little baby is going to get sick one
of these days. Going to get cold, going to get
diarrhea. They're going to take it to the
hospital. Why? Because that little baby is a
sinner, just like Mama and Daddy. Just like Mama and Daddy. The
only difference is he hasn't chosen to do it yet. But it's
in him, and the curse is upon him. That's the nature of man. Nothing else can explain that.
Why is it that everybody dies if everybody's not guilty? The
fact is we are all guilty. More than that, my own conscience
gives full agreement with the testimony of Holy Scripture. My God says out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, murders, blasphemies,
drunkenness, lasciviousness, covetousness, envy, idolatry. And before God I've got to say
that's so. Because those things are in me
and they're in you. To preach, I ain't like that,
you're lying to yourself. I'll top it all off, you're a
liar too. That's right. But Don, how do you know that
Jesus Christ of Nazareth is indeed the Christ, the Messiah, the
one promised in the Old Testament? I'll give you this quickly, you
can look it up later. First the scripture said he was
gonna be born of a virgin, Isaiah 7.14. And he came, and the scriptures
tell us he was born of a virgin. Second, the scripture tells us
he was going to be born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem, Judah, Micah 5, verse
2. And he was born in Bethlehem,
Judah. And you know how he got to be born in Bethlehem, Judah?
A pagan, godless Caesar, a pagan ruler, a man who had no regard
for God, made a law for the only time such a law was ever made
in history. He said everybody must go back
to the place where he was born to register and pay taxes. That's
nonsense. That's like saying, now come
tax time, April 15, 1994, Don Fortner's got to go down to Bladen
County in North Carolina and register to pay his taxes. Well,
that's nonsense. Let's just pay them here. If
they're where you are, that makes a whole lot more sense. Nowhere
in history had anyone ever suggested such a thing before, but Caesar
had to. Because time was come, Lindsay,
for our Redeemer to be born at Bethlehem, Judah. And He's going
to be born at Bethlehem, Judah. If God turns the world upside
down, that's alright. He's going to fulfill His Word. Our Lord Jesus claimed to be
divine. The Scripture said His name shall
be called the Mighty God, and He proved Himself to be the Mighty
God. He said to the sick of palsy, take up your bed and walk. But
wait a minute. Wait a minute, I want to tell you something
else. Your sins are all forgiven you. Now I want to prove that
I can forgive your sins. Get up and walk. You know what
he did? He got up and walked home. All the prophets were fulfilled
concerning our Redeemer. All of them. The Old Testament
gave prophecies in such intricate detail That if you read the gospel
narratives and read what happened when Christ was crucified, it
almost looks like those folks who were killing him, let's see
what we're supposed to do next. Oh! He said he's going to be
pierced. Let's pierce him. He said he's going to wear a crown
of thorns. Let's put thorns on his head. He said we're supposed
to spit in his face. Let's spit in his face. He says
there's supposed to become the song of a drunkard. Let's get
some drunkards to join us as we sing around the cross. It
says back here they were supposed to cast lots over his vesture.
Let's cast lots over his vesture. Why they did exactly what the
scriptures said would be done and Luke picked up on it. He
said in Acts chapter 4 when they had fulfilled all that was written
in the scriptures concerning him, they took him off the cross. Oh what coincidences. It's coincidental you can walk
across the street and not get killed if you think like that. It's coincidental. But this is
not a coincidence. God did this thing. Well, how can the death of a
man 2,000 years ago give me salvation and acceptance with God forever?
I'll tell you how. Because that man who died is
God. And what he did has infinite
merit. That's how. That God-man who died, died as
the sinner substitutes the second Adam under the wrath of God Almighty
bearing the sins of all who believe on him. And for them he obtained
eternal redemption by the shedding of his blood. That man made satisfaction to
God. And making satisfaction to God
for our sins, secured for us everlasting salvation. God hath
made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. Now then, here's another question
a little more hairy. What makes you think your religion
is the only right religion? You folks are a bunch of bigots.
You think you're the ones who are right and everybody else
is wrong. Well, that's so. That's just
so. I do openly declare, without
reservation, there are only two religions in this world. There
are only two. Just two. Man's way and God's way Free
will and free grace Self-salvation and substitutionary salvation
the religion of Babylon and the religion of Zion the religion
of Antichrist and the religion of Christ, but just to Well,
what about all the denominations? well There are a whole lot of
different men with different names, but they're all just men.
And all the various churches and religions and denominations
and names are just so many names for free will works religion. And I'm telling you that any
religion that makes salvation to be determined or dependent
upon the will of man, the work of man, and the worth of man
is anti-Christ, it is anti-God, and it is of the devil, it is
hellish, and it is damning to your soul. Absolutely. We believe and preach the message
of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ
alone. Salvation without condition.
Salvation without works on the part of man. Salvation by the
purpose of God, the purchase of God, and the power of God.
We know that this is the truth of God. And that all free will
works religion is false religion for four reasons. Let me give
them to you. Absolutely. This is the only message that
gives God all the glory. That's what you say a little
bit ago in the water is the only message gives God all the glory
all of it God alone Has the glory of his electing love God alone
has the glory of his redeeming work God alone has the glory
of the spirits call and preservation That's the only message the message
of grace Is the doctrine of this book? I defy anybody to find
anywhere in this book where God ever suggests or implies that
somehow salvation depends on you. Thirdly, this is the only hope
for hopeless, helpless, dead, doomed, damned sinners who cannot
lift so much as their eyes toward heaven and cannot leave in so
much as will to come to God. Is there any hope for such a
sinner? Oh yes. There is hope for dead sinners
who cannot do one thing to help themselves if salvation is altogether
by grace. And if it's not altogether by
grace, there's no hope for you. No hope for you. More than that, This is what all who are saved
have experienced. You who have experienced the
grace of God, will you not say amen to this? By the grace of
God I am what I am. Will you not say amen to this?
By grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Will you not say amen to this?
Salvation is of the Lord. Again, somebody asked me one time, you
don't believe in heaven, hell, and eternity, do you? You're
not one of those hell, fire, and damnation people, are you?
Yes, sir, I am. Sure am. And you are, too, or
you wouldn't be here. You see, I've been to hell. I've been in hell with a guilty conscience tormenting
my soul before a holy God and saying you deserve it. I've been in hell with the fire
of God burning in my soul. So that were it not for just
the sheer fact that I was afraid of meeting God in judgment, I
would have committed suicide when I was just a teenage boy.
I've been in hell. Yes, sir. You can joke about
it if you want to. You can deny it if you want to.
I've been there. And bless God, I've been delivered
from hell. The Lord Jesus Christ sent His
Spirit in sovereign, omnipotent power and said to me, hitherto
shalt thou go and no further, and snatched me from the very
jaws of death. What did you have to do with
it, Don? Nothing. Nothing. I was running from God as fast
as I could run from Him, just like some of you are. My very
soul was on fire of hell, but I would not seek Him. I would
not come to Him. I would not turn to Him. But
Bobby, He stepped in and turned me to Him. Oh may He do that
for you. And now I live in the hope of
eternal glory. One of these days, Good as things
are now, and they're good now. One of these days, Benji, they're
going to get a heapsight better. We're going to meet Jesus Christ
face to face and hear Him say. I'm telling you now, I'm going
to hear God my Savior declare this to me. He's going to say
it to me, Ron. Well done. Thou good and faithful
servant. He's going to! You mean you've
served God that well? Oh no, but he did. And his serving
is my serving. His doing is my doing. He's my
Savior. I ask you, where will you spend
eternity? You do have an immortal soul.
And you are going to meet God in judgment. How are you going
to stand before Him? How are you going to stand before
a holy God? You've got two choices. Better
we can stand before God on the basis of what we are and what
we've done and perish in our self-righteousness. Or we can
take refuge in the Son of God, our substitute. I take refuge
in Him. How about you? I take refuge
in Him. Now here's one last question.
I've often been asked, not by so many people, but by a few.
Every now and then I meet up with somebody who gives me a
call, or writes to me, or comes to me somewhere after I've been
preaching. And they say, Don, can you tell me how to deal with
temptation and sin? How to deal with peer pressure
in society? Not just teenagers, not just
kids. I'm talking about adults. Can you tell me how to live in
this world? Yes sir, I'll give you three
answers to that question. If you would live, I mean live. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean if you'd live. Trust the
Son of God. Bow to the rule of Christ. Quit fighting God. Just throw
up the white flag of surrender and give up. He's going to win.
Bow to Him now. If you would live right, seek
to do the will of God in all things. Make this Word your rule by which
you govern your life. Well, Don, why don't you write
us out something in a little condensed form. No, I believe
I'll leave it like it is. Make this word your rule. And make the glory of God the
object of your life. So that whatever you do, seek
to do it for the glory of God. For the glory of God. And I'll give you one other word.
Do not ever, under any circumstances, violate the law of God. Don't
do it. Don't do it. Say, Don, you tell
us we break the law all the time. I know you do. I do too. But
don't you willfully violate God's law. Don't you do it. I know this
society says fornication is alright. We live in one fouled up society. We live in a society that raises
sand with folks about raising tobacco, so that's immoral, and
then passes out condoms to teenagers on the school parking lot. That's
nuts. It's just nuts. Don't violate
God's law. Don't do it. God's going to judge
you by His law. Boy, you are outdated, aren't
you? I'd rather be in step with God
than be in step with you any day. And if you would avoid temptations
in life, if you would avoid the pressure of peer pressure, continually
consecrate yourself to Christ, you're going to have to be faced
with it every day. Jim and you and I last Sunday
evening, you're faced with those temptations and pressures every
day in business. Every day. I'm either going to
compromise or I'm going to do what's right. Lord, I'm going
to follow you. I'm going to follow you. And
you've got to make the choice every day. Every day. Surround yourself with believers.
You young people, I can't I hope mamas and daddies will listen
in, but you young people, I can't stress this enough. Surround
yourself in your life and in the affairs of your life, not
with infidels, not with folks who have no regard for God. Not
with folks who are going to do everything they possibly can
in the name of freedom and in the name of pleasure to lead
your soul to destruction. Surround yourself with men and
women who are doing something in some way trying to seek to
serve the living God. Do it. Meditate upon this Word. Make it to be a lamp unto your
feet. and a light into your pathway.
And pray. Ask God to direct your life. For you, men and women and children,
young people in this congregation, I call your names before God
and ask Him to do for you what you will not and cannot do for
yourself. I ask Him continually to direct the affairs of your
lives day by day for your eternal good and the glory of his son. It means that's what I seek for
my child and that's what I seek for yours. Honestly, I do. Trust God's grace to keep you. And for you who are believers,
when you fall, don't quit. When you fall, don't quit. The
righteous man falls seven times in a day, maybe 70 times in a
day, but the Lord raises him up. Follow Christ. That's what I'm
saying. Follow Christ. God helped you to follow Christ. Test everything. by this book
right here. To the law and the prophets,
if they speak not according to the word of this book, it's because
there's no light in them. Not a little dab, none. Live by this book. Be people of the book. And I promise you, you'll live
well. Amen. Lindsay, you leave us in
the hymn, please. In your hymn book number 37.