Well, I have a burden on my heart
this morning. I have been, in recent weeks,
greatly disturbed by the evident departure of some men from the
path of doctrinal truth, faith in Christ, and faithfulness
to the cause of Christ. it would be of no benefit to
you at this time for me to call their names or even to describe
their actions. Suffice it to say that they do not necessarily
verbally deny the gospel, but by their actions and by their
additions to the gospel they have completely forsaken the
gospel. In time, they'll make themselves
known, and by their fruits you shall know them. Now, the things
I had to say this morning caused me great pain, but they must
be said. I'm speaking of men about whom
I have esteemed as gracious, faithful men, friends and companions
in the gospel of Christ, that they have willfully compromised
the truth of God, the glory of God, and the good of men's souls for
their own gain. And they've sought and are seeking
to lead others away by their cunning, their craftiness, and
their deceit. Now, in order to preserve you
from their apostasy, I'm going to set before you 10
issues about which there can be no compromise. I hope you
have a pencil and paper handy. I want you to jot them down.
These are things I've said before, perhaps never exactly as I'm
going to say them now, but I want you to understand what I'm saying,
and if I should die when I finish preaching this sermon, you mark
it down. These things are so. I'm going
to show you from the Word of God they're so. Some I'll labor
a bit more than others, but here are ten issues. about which there
can be no compromise. It's my purpose to draw a crystal
clear line of distinction between truth and heresy, between the
saving gospel of God and the damning doctrines of men. I want
to draw a crystal clear line. Those who hear this message over
television in a few weeks. I want them to hear and see a
crystal clear line of distinction. These things are not debatable
issues. These things are not issues that
are going to be subjected to man's opinion. These are facts.
These are facts. It's my desire in preaching this
message both to instruct you and to prepare you for the battles
which sooner or later you must face, and therefore I must be
perfectly clear. For if the trumpet give an uncertain
sound, who shall prepare himself to
battle? Martin Luther once said, if I profess with the loudest
voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the truth of
God, except precisely that point, which the world and the devil
are at that moment attacking, that I am not confessing Christ,
however boldly I may be professing him. Where the battle rages,
there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady in
all the battlefront besides is merely flight and disgrace, if
he flinches at that point where the battle rages." Now, here
are ten points. where the battle rages in this
day for the glory of God and the souls of men. Here are ten
issues about which there can be no compromise. Number one,
either this book, this one right here, either this book, which
I hold in my hand, is in its entirety the word of the living
God or it is not. That's simple enough, isn't it? Either this book is or it is
not the Word of God. There's no in-between ground.
I know the Southern Baptists have been fighting for years
and they want to debate and discuss and argue and prove and defend. There's not any grounds for compromise. Either this book is the Word
of God or it is not the Word of God. Either it is the Word
of God in its entirety, or it is nothing but the fabrications
of men. Now, the Scripture declares that
all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. That is, it is God-breathed. were directed by the power and
sovereign, immutable, infallible direction of God the Holy Spirit
as they penned the words of Holy Scripture. It is God-breathed
and it's profitable. It's profitable for all doctrine,
for all biblical reproof, for all biblical correction, for
all spiritual instruction in righteousness, that the man of
God, that's the preacher and the people, may be perfect, complete,
mature, settled, truly furnished unto all good works. We know
that holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. That's how this book came into
being. That's how it came into being. Now, there are many things
by which we could prove it. The fact is, we who believe have
proved it time and again in our experience. I don't need any
other proof, Darwin, that's sufficient. Let the critics say what they'll
say. Let the scientists, the theologians, the archaeologists,
the debaters, the philosophers, the intellectuals, let them all
say everything they want to say. You can go to hell if you want
to and deny this book to be the word of God or you can worship
God, one of the two. But you can't have both. You
can't have both. Believers don't debate over the
book. They obey the book. They believe the book. That's
all. That's all. So preachers, are you saying
that all these folks who question the inspiration of the Bible
are lost? My soul, yes, I'm saying that. Yes, I'm saying that. I don't
care whether it's your mama or mine. I don't care whether it's
your pastor or mine. A man who questions the word
of God does not know the living God. That's plain enough, isn't
it? That's plain enough. I remember last year when I was
having these debates in the convention. I found it comical and pathetic
to read in the paper all the preachers in town, you know.
We've taken a survey and one of them said, well, we don't
believe the Bible is all together inspired, it kind of contains
the Word of God. And another one says, well, the
Bible has a word from God. And then this fundamentalist
nut down the road, he said, well, I just believe we ought to all
get together and win souls for Jesus, whoopee! Win souls for
Jesus with what? What kind of Jesus? What's the
foundation of your faith? Either this is the word of God
or it's not the word of God. If it is, you'll believe it or
you'll perish. One of the two. One of the two.
If this book, as it claims to be, is the verbally inspired
word of the living God, then it is to those who believe authoritative
in all things to take from it or add to it according to Revelation
22 verses 18 and 19 is damning. A man takes from this book, God
says, I'll take him out of the book of life. A man adds to this
book, God says, I'll add to him to the plagues of this book.
If this book is the word of God, it is to be believed and obeyed
in its entirety. This book is our creed. What
do you believe? Here it is. This is our creed. If we have another creed, Lindsay,
our creed is false. This is our book of church order,
practice, and discipline. If we have another book of church
order, our church order is disorder. Amen, Brother Don. That's so.
Let's see. Let's see. Where do you find
any place in this book? for most of what's going on in
Baptist churches in Danville, Kentucky today. Huh? Oh, but these are matters of
our liberty. You're at liberty to add to the
Word of God or to take from the Word of God. Since when? Where
do you find in this book any suggestion of the doctrine that's
being preached? the free will, emotional sensationalism,
just the mamby-pamby, man-centered religion of this day. Where do
you find it in this book? Where do you find it? Huh? Now I'm telling you, if we believe
the book, we act accordingly. We act, we preach accordingly
and we teach accordingly. No, there's not any place in
here for churches to have their entertainment sessions. Not any
place in here for ball games and not any place in here for
social clubs. Not any place in here for this
movement and this organization and that movement and that organization.
There's just not any place for most of what goes on in the name
of God in our Baptist churches. Say, preacher, you're being too
narrow. Just as narrow as this book. Just as narrow. You find
me where it's written in the book. We'll start practicing.
until you do, don't you even suggest it." No, sir. No, sir. This blessed book is
the word of life which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Now, to preach the whole counsel of God, according to 1 Peter
1.25, to preach the whole counsel of God is to preach the gospel
and by the Gospel to interpret and to declare the whole revelation
of God. We have been in our Bible classes
studying the types and pictures of Christ in the Old Testament.
Now, there is no preaching of those types until you have preached
the Gospel. Otherwise, you have simply recited
historic facts. If we're to preach the Word of
God, wherever we go in the Word, we preach the Gospel of Christ
and Him crucified. There is no salvation apart from
the preaching of the Word of God. And there is no preaching
of the Word of God apart from the preaching of the gospel of
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Pastor, what's the point you're
making? I had some friends who visited
a church down south a while back. And that pastor was in the midst
of a series of sermons. He had 22 of them on the subject
of infant salvation. I wish I could find just his
first text. Just his first text. Said, Preacher, don't you believe
in infant salvation? Well, I believe God's elect are
going to be saved, infants or otherwise. But I'm telling you
that to simply sit down and deal with that emotional, tender,
tear-jerking issue is to do nothing but entertain the souls of men
on their way to hell, and it does them no good. The same pastor
preached a series of sermons on John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Don't you like Pilgrim's Progress?
I wish everybody would read it. I wish everybody here would read
it annually. It's worth reading. But we are
not sent to preach pilgrim's progress or Gil's body of divinity. To do so is to entertain men
on the road to hell and do them no good. Am I making myself clear? Pastor sent out a series of tapes
on Christian biblical economics. Boy, that sounds good. That's
impressive. We're going to study Christian biblical economics. Did it for six months. Sunday
morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. For six months. I can
handle that subject in three words. Pay your bills. I'm done. I'm done. Now I could stand up here and
say it for six months, but all it does is entertain men on the
road to hell. It does them no good. we're sent
to declare the gospel of Christ, and only to declare the gospel
of Christ. Secondly, either the God of the
Bible, the one true and living God of heaven and earth, is totally
sovereign, as he claims to be, or he is not. Okay, what do you say? What does
God say? He says, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. That's what God says. Our God
is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he pleased.
That's what God says. He says, I am the Lord declaring
the end from the beginning. He said, there's none like me.
Nobody to be compared to me. He said, I call a ravenous bird
to feed my prophet when my prophet's hungry. is I do exactly what
I will. I accomplish my purpose. It'll
stand. None can stay in my hand or say
unto me, what doest thou? That's what God says. That's
what God says. What's the alternative? What's
the alternative to a totally, absolutely sovereign God? I know
preachers in this age, they talk about God, say, well, he's sovereign
in making the sun shine. Oh, look at God's sovereign power
in the heavens. I'm telling you, God's sovereign
in the way you comb your hair, think in your mind, think in
your heart, or bat your eyes. I'm telling you that God Almighty
has total dominion over you, and over Satan, and over the
demons of hell, over heaven, earth, and hell, and nothing
moves or wiggles without His decree and His power. He does what he will, when he
will, where he will, with whom he will, in the way he will,
and he doesn't answer anybody for it. What's the alternative? The alternative to a sovereign
God is no God at all, no faith at all, and no salvation at all. Preacher, are you saying that
folks who deny God's sovereignty are lost? Of course I'm saying
that. Of course I am. Well, I don't know whether you
go that far or not. They're sincere. Look here. See that blue book? We're going to set it up there.
And we're going to call it God. We're going to call it Triune
God. We're going to call it Jesus Christ our Lord. Now you think
I'm being silly. I'm not being silly. I'm making
a point. Now we're going to be sincere.
Sincerely believe it. Pay our tithes to it. Go to church
and sing its praises. Does that make that book God?
Huh? Is it going to help anybody to
worship that book? Is it going to help anybody to
trust that book? Is it going to help anybody to
praise that book? Say, preacher, that's ridiculous.
I'm telling you, it is no more ridiculous than for men to speak
to, sing praises to, pay tithes to, or worship in the house of
a God who is something less than totally sovereign. The alternative
to sovereignty is no faith and no salvation and no God. Either God predestinated all
things or He didn't predestinate anything. So I like the latter. Do you now? I don't like to think
about predestination. Well, think about the alternative.
If God didn't predestinate all things, then everything is left
to chance. Everything is left to luck. Everything
is left to fate. Everything is left to the free
will of man or to the works of Satan. Now you tell me, what
do you prefer? What do you prefer? And if that's
the case, If God didn't predestinate everything, I'm talking about
everything. If God didn't predestinate everything
that ever comes to pass and doesn't have absolute control over everything
that comes to pass, then there's no promise of God that you can
believe with certainty. Does that make sense, Lindsay?
No promise you can believe with certainty. Well, God made a promise,
but he don't know what's happening out there. He can't control it. The devil might come up and bump
his promise off the throne. Man might come up by his free
will and say, oh, no, you can't do that. Or some preacher might
come along and say, no, it's not right for God to do that.
The promise can't be believed. If God doesn't predestinate everything
and rule everything totally, totally, no prophecy of this
book can be believed. No prophecy. From the one end
of the earth, even unto the other end of the earth. Thou shalt
not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him. Neither shall thine
eye pity him. But preacher, my daddy's in that
church. Neither shall thine eye pity
him. But preacher, my mama supports that. Neither shall thine eye
pity him. But preacher, My son and his
family, they go to one of those places where folks worship another
god. Neither shall thine eye pity
him. But preacher, things are this straight, and that means
my grandma and granddaddy's in hell. Neither shall thine eye
pity him. Do you see what this book says?
Neither shalt thou spare him. Neither shalt thou conceal him. but thou shalt surely kill him. Thine hand shall be first upon
him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the
people. And thou shalt stone him with
stones that he die, because he hath sought to thrust thee away
from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land
of Egypt and from the house of bondage." What do you say? Mark him as
a dead man. That's what I'm saying. Mark
him as a dead man. Boy, that's rough. No, there's
a reason for it. There's a reason for it. Look
at verse 11. And all Israel shall hear and
fear and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among
you. God make us Oh, Lord God, make
us, for Christ's sake, faithful men and women, faithful to the gospel of your
grace, and oh, make us faithful to seek the honor of your name
above everything. Bob, we're not here to promote Grace Baptist Church.
or to promote Don Fortner, or all the people of Grace Baptist
Church. We're here to promote the glory of God in Christ. That's
all. And that's all that matters.
That's all that matters. Amen.