I fully realize that there are
four serious facts true concerning every one of us. From the smallest child to the
oldest man, these four things are true of you, and true of
me, and true of your wife and mine, your husband, your sons,
your daughters, as mine, these four facts ought to be soberly,
seriously realized. The first one may seem so simple
to you because it is so commonplace among religious people to hear
it, and that fact is we all are sinners. I wish there were some
way that I could make that name, sinner, as hideous as it ought
to be in our eyes. If I stood before you and called
you a liar, you'd be angry. If I called you a murderer, you'd
be upset. You'd be offended, greatly offended. You'd immediately begin to defend
yourself. took one of you ladies and called you a harlot or one
of you men and called you a no-count drunken bum, you'd be upset. But when I say you're a sinner,
you almost feel complimented. We take it so lightly. All have
sinned come short of the glory of God. By one man, Adam, we all transgressed
God's law and became sinners. are dead in sin. And we are all,
ourselves, by birth, by nature, by choice, and by practice, willfully,
deliberately, sin. That's all there is to it. I
know some of you are very moral. You've never committed fornication
or adultery. Some of you have never tasted
any strong drink. Some of you have never stolen
anything in your lives, you wouldn't think about becoming a propagate,
you wouldn't think about behaving as certain other people behave,
but just the same, in exactly the same measure, perhaps more
so, we are sinners. We are sinners. You sit and hear
the gospel preached to you week after week, month after month,
year after year, with your arms folded, and you give no heed
to the message. You harden your heart against
the gospel. You despise God's Son. You despise God's grace. You despise the privileges God's
given you. It would be better for you. It
would be better for you never to have heard the way of life.
It'd be better for you never to have heard a preacher's voice,
never to have seen a Bible, never to have heard the word of God,
to live in the most vile, propagate society the world can know. It'd
be better for you to live and die a drunken, harlot, whoremonger,
thief, murderer without any knowledge of truth than having heard the
gospel to perish in unbelief. When I say we are sinners, I
mean sinners. Sinners. Sinners of the worst
kind. Of the worst kind. There is not
a man in this prison out here at North Point Training Center
so vile as you and I. Not one. Not one. Not one who's committed the crimes
you and I have committed against God. Preacher, I don't know what
on earth you're talking about. I hope before you leave today,
you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. You are sin. Sin. We are sinners in everything
we do. Man at his best estate is altogether
vanity. How abominable and filthy is
man that drinketh iniquity like water. And yet we always talk
about sin as though it's something we do. We talk about sin as though
it's something outside ourselves. Oh God, make us to see what I
am is sin. The very fiber of your inmost
being hates the fact that God is God. The very fiber of the
inmost being despises the rule of God Almighty. That's what
sin's all about. In the garden, Adam shoved his
fist in the face of God and he said, get off the throne, I'm
taking over. And that's what man's been doing ever since.
Man says to God Almighty, I'll decide what I'll do. I'll go
where I want to go, I'll say what I want to say, I'll live
how I want to live, and I don't want God telling me what to do.
That's man's sin. Because we are all sinners, depraved,
willingly transgressors of God's holy law, we are all of us by
nature justly the objects of God's wrath. And my friend, If you or I, if your children
or mine, perish under the wrath of God, we get what we deserve. We get what we deserve. You deserve
the hottest place in hell. So I don't much care for that.
I don't much care for having to tell you that. It's so. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. We're criminals against the throne
of the Most High God. We have broken God's law in every
point, and we continually do so day by day. Go back and read
the 20th chapter of Exodus. A lot of controversy going on
now about hanging the Ten Commandments on the walls of our school buildings
and in public places. Just open it up and read it sometime,
will you? Who is not guilty of idolatry? Who is not guilty of profaning
the name of God? Who is not guilty of adultery? Who is not guilty of murder? Who is not guilty of stealing? Who is not guilty of lying? Every one of us have continually,
from our youths up, Bob, we've broken God's law. And we keep
on doing it. We keep on doing it. We keep
on, day after day after day after day, breaking God's law. Oh,
I know that not anybody in here who cusses like a sailor, but
about every one of us here take God's name in vain. I'll take
that back, Merle. Every one of us take God's name
in vain. Every last one of us take God's name in vain when
you even speak His name in prayer without the intention of honoring
Him, without the intention of glorifying Him. And in common
everyday language, speak the name of God as though it were
some kind of a byword, some kind of a slogan to be spoken. We
blaspheme God with our tongues, and we blaspheme God with our
lives. Not only have we broken God's
law on every point, but you and I. Now this we're guilty of. Highest crime ever been created
or ever been committed by man. You and I took God's Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and nailed Him to a tree. But preacher,
I wasn't guilty of that. Some of you are right now still
doing it. Look in Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 28. He that despised Moses'
law died without mercy. under two or three witnesses.
Now this is what Paul said. Fellas in Moses' day who were
rebellious sons were put to death by the voice, by the witness
of mom and dad. Fellas in Moses' day who were
guilty of stealing were put to death. They were put to death
by the voice of two or three witnesses. Those in Moses' day
who committed this law, this transgression of that were put
to death because of their transgressions. Now look at this. of how much
sorer punishment. Suppose you shall he be thought
worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace." I heard the
gospel. I heard of redeeming love. I
heard of substitutionary redemption. And I walked on it like dirt
under my feet. Some of you have heard and heard
and heard and heard. You've heard the gospel preached
plainly and clearly. You've heard the gospel preached
year after year and year after year. Today, unless God intervenes,
you're going to do just like you've done every other day.
You're going to trample the blood of the Son of God under your
feet. And by your unbelief, by your rebellion to Christ, you're
saying, let him be crucified. He deserves to hang on that tree.
He deserves to hang on that tree. We've all sinned against the
goodness and the mercy of God revealed in the gospel. You read
the 11th chapter of Matthew. Our Lord began to abrade the
cities where he did his mighty works. And he said, if Sodom
and Gomorrah had heard and seen the things you've heard and seen,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. And
in the day of judgment, in the day of judgment, those lesbians
and homosexuals in Sodom whom you look down your nose upon
with great disdain, and rightfully so. But those lesbians and homosexuals
in Sodom are going to stand up at the throne of God and speak
to your condemnation. For if they had heard what you
heard, they would have bowed to God. If they had seen what
you've seen, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth
and ashes. Our rebellion, our sin against
God, the God of heaven, is a willful, deliberate, voluntary, malicious
rebellion against him. Turn to Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs,
the first chapter. Now listen to me carefully. Listen
to me carefully. I believe I can say with absolute
honesty, you're hearing a man right now who loves your very
soul. I don't want you to perish. I
don't want you to perish. I do not want you to die in rebellion
to God. But listen carefully. I don't
care who you are. I don't care what you may be
in the eyes of men. I don't care what your relationship
is to me or another man. If you die in unbelief, you go
to hell. and you eat the fruit of your
own ways. Did you hear me? If you die in unbelief, you're
going to hell, and you will eat the fruit of your own ways. You're
going to get exactly what you've been asking for. You're going
to get exactly what you deserve. The wages of sin, what is it? Huh? Death. The wages, what you've
earned. What you've earned is death.
Look here in Proverbs 1, verse 23. God Almighty says, turn you at
my reproof. Behold, if you turn, if you turn. Can you imagine God reasoning
with men, persuading men to turn to him for grace? But he does. He says, if you turn, if you
turn, I'll pour my spirit unto you. I will make known my words
unto you. Now then, because I have called,
and you refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded.
I have stretched out the hand of mercy. I have stretched out
the hand of grace. I have stretched out the hand
of pardon. I have stretched out the hand
of life. I have stretched out the hand of help, and you didn't
give a flip for it. You didn't give a flip for it.
Look here now in verse 31. Verse 30, rather. They would
none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the
fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. Hell is what we deserve. Hell
is what we justly, justly deserve. Hell is what justice demands.
And until we acknowledge that we justly deserve God's wrath,
we'll never seek His mercy. David said, against thee, thee
only have I sinned, done this great evil in thy sight. And
the reason he made that acknowledgement He said that thou mayest be clear
when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest. God Almighty,
God Almighty will be just to send you to hell. And until you
acknowledge that it'd be right for him to do so, you'll never
seek his mercy. Never. Not only are we sinners, justly
condemned sinners by nature, but we have no ability whatsoever
to change our natural condition. Oh, poor soul, you're as helpless as you are
depraved. Helpless. Unless God intervenes, unless
God Almighty steps in your way, and blocks your path and refuses
to let you perish, you're plunging headlong into hell. Now, unless
God does something for you, you're going to hell. That's all there
is to it. Unless God gives you life, unless God gives you faith,
unless God brings you to Christ, unless God takes you by the nap
of the neck and says, no, you'll not perish, you're going to perish. There's not one thing you can
do to change your sinful nature. There's not one thing you can
do to win God's favor. There's not one thing you can
do to escape God's wrath. There's not one thing you can
do to satisfy God's offended justice. There's not any way
you can perform righteousness acceptable to God. There's not
anything you can do to change your heart's nature, your sinful
nature. You're dead entirely without
spiritual life, entirely without ability. We have no capacity
for change unless God himself creates the change. We have no
ability to change our condition. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Can the leopard change his spots? If so, then you who
are accustomed to doing evil may do good, but it'll never
happen. It'll never happen. And fourthly,
I know that the only way you and I can ever be saved from
our sins, saved from the wrath of God, saved from eternal damnation,
is by the grace of God, through the righteousness and blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner substituted. My friend, you've
heard me preach it and you've heard others. I don't know whether
we've got the message across yet or not. I know for some of
you, we've not gotten it across because you're not believing. You can not be saved but by Christ. It's just not possible. It's
just not possible. For there is none other name
given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved, save
the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the only way of
life. He is the door. He is the way. No man comes to the Father but
by Him. God's way of salvation is Christ
alone. No, it will do you no good insofar
as God Almighty accepting you is concerned. Insofar as your
eternal salvation is concerned, it won't do you one bit of good
to be moral, to be good, to be religious, to be devotedly religious. It'll not amount to a hill of
beans. It's of no value. Your righteousness, your righteousness,
your righteousness, the best thing you've got to offer God
is as a speaking rag at His side. It's not fit for anyone. It's
not fit for anyone. Christ alone is salvation. He
that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. The only way we can obtain salvation
in Christ is by faith. Paul says over here in Romans
10, turn there if you will, Romans the 10th chapter, the apostle
says, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and
shalt believe in thine heart. Now, if you believe in your heart,
if you believe in your heart, in your heart, in your heart,
in your heart, If there's faith in your heart toward God, if
you believe in your heart that God has raised Christ from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. There's only one way to obtain
mercy, only one way to obtain grace, only one way to obtain
salvation. You've got to believe. You've
got to believe. You've got to believe. Look unto
me, he said. And be ye saved all the ends
of the earth, for I am God, and beside me there is none else.
What he's saying is, believe me, believe me, for I am God
and there's none else. Believe me, for I am able to
save and there's none else. Believe me, for I have grace,
nobody else does. Believe me, for I am merciful,
nobody else is. Believe me, that's the way of
life, that's the way of life. My goal in preaching this message
this morning is just this. I want you to be saved now. I want you who hear me right
now to believe Christ for the glory of Christ. I want you to
be saved. I don't want you to walk out
those doors under the condemnation of God's holy law. I don't want
you to perish under the wrath of God. Tuesday night, Buddy Darty walked
in the office back here. He'd been to the funeral home,
the fellow he works with was killed, your next door neighbor.
I don't want you to perish like that. I don't want you to perish
like that. A few weeks ago, those astronauts
went up. Little did they know, they went
up to meet God. I don't want you to perish in unbelief. I
don't want you to perish without life. I don't want you to perish
without Christ. My object, my goal, my purpose
in preaching to you right now is that you may this day believe
Christ and have life everlasting in you. Now I have five words
of plain instruction for perishing sinners. If you're not in too
big a hurry to go to hell, give me your attention. If you're
not too anxious to meet God in judgment, give me your attention.
If you're not too anxious to perish, your immortal soul suffer
the wrath of God throughout the endlessness of eternity, give
me your attention. This is my first word to you.
In order to be saved, you must call upon the name of the Lord. Look here in verse 13, Romans
10 verse 13. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. The way of salvation set before
us in such plain, easy terms. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now what Paul is telling us is
this. A personal acknowledgement of God. And trust in the living
God as he's revealed in Christ. is the way to obtain salvation.
Look at these words. Here is a very broad word. Whosoever. Whosoever. I understand, I don't
know, but I understand that if I were making a will, and it
was my intention and desire to leave my entire estate, regardless
of the amount of the estate or the size of the estate, if I
wanted to leave my entire estate to my wife, then the best way
for me to do that without leading to any difficulties is to simply
say, I leave my entire estate to Shelby Jean Fortman. Leave everything to Shelby Jean
Fortman. If I were to begin to list things,
and I were to say I leave my car to my wife, the white one,
the brown one, and the red one, and I leave my house to my wife,
and I leave my furniture to my wife, and I began to list all
the things that I leave, then I might leave something out.
And if I left anything out, then she couldn't claim it if I began
to list it. But, if I simply say everything I have goes to
my wife, then everything I have goes to her. You see what I'm
saying? This is what God Almighty does when He comes to pronounce
the bounty of Heaven's grace. He says, whosoever. Whosoever. Now my friend, That includes
you, and that includes me. The grace of God is not restricted
to any race, to any nationality, or to any social class. Anyone
of any age, any condition, any character, in the whole wide
world, who calls on the name of the Lord, shall be saved.
Even you. Even you. Anybody. At word, whosoever. And when
I read that, I think to myself, well, I like that better than
if I had read, if Donald Stuart Fortner calls on the name of
the Lord, he shall be saved. Now, there was a time when it
might have been all right. But, you know, I moved to Danville,
Kentucky. One of the first fellows I met was Don Fortner. And I
would have not known whether the passage meant this Don Fortner
or that Don Fortner. But here Paul says, whosoever. Doesn't matter if there are 20,000
Don Fortner's or 20,000 Merle Hart's. Anybody, anybody in all
the world who calls on Christ will be saved. Do you see that?
It's a broad word. This word is like God Almighty
taking His finger and making a circle around the globe and
He says, anybody in there who calls on me will have life. Anybody in there. Here's a very
simple word, call. Whosoever shall call. Now the
smallest child in this building knows what that means. The other night, we were down
at Oscar Nancy's house, Wes and Shirley Roseboom and I, and Wes had taken one of his smallest
boy back to give him a little lecture, one of those lectures
that little boys don't like, you know. I didn't know what
was going on. So, I looked up and here stood this little fella.
He was crying like this. You know what he was saying?
He was saying, Preacher Don, I'm hurting. Help me. That's
what he was saying. That's a call. That's a call.
Whosoever in all the world turns to God Almighty And it, with
his heart, may not be able to form words right with his lips,
but with his heart, he can say, Oh God, I'm a sinner. That's life. That's life. That's life. A little boy falls
down and bruises his knees and scratches his hands. With tearful
eyes, he simply looks to his daddy. That look is a mighty
call to the boy's father. He's saying, Daddy, help me,
I hurt, and I know you can help me. Daddy, help me. Sometimes
the call is vocal, sometimes it's silent. The disciples, when
they were in the storm, they said, Lord, save us, we perish.
Peter, when he began to sink, he said, Lord, save me. The publican
went to great extremes with great emotion and vehemence. He beat
upon his breast and he said, he said, God, be merciful to
me, the sinner. But then that woman, she with quietness sneaked up
behind the Savior in the midst of the crowd, apparently crawling
on her knees as best she could. And as he walked by, she touched
him. She touched him. And immediately
she was made whole. Immediately. She called upon
him. Here is a sure word. Shall. Shall. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. There are no ifs, there
are no conditions, there are no qualifications. I hear people
putting qualifications on these passages of this kind and they
try to make sinners prepare themselves in some way, qualify themselves
in some way to come to God for mercy. I'm here to tell you that
God Almighty says in His Word right here that anybody in all
the world, in any condition, who calls shall live. Anybody,
anybody who calls on Him shall be saved. The word is as sure
as the throne of the eternal God. Now here's a precious word. Saved. Saved. Saved. Oh, what a word. I call And I'm saved. Know what that
means? That means I am acquitted of
all charges. That means I am justified from
all crimes. That means I'm forgiven of all
sins. That means I'm accepted in the
beloved. That means I'm righteous before
God. That means God favors me. That
means that I have been made the very Son of God. That means I'm
an heir of eternal glory. That means I cannot perish. I
cannot perish. If you call on the name of the
Lord, you shall be saved immediately, eternally saved. But hear me,
you've got to do the calling. You've got to do the calling. Pastor, you know that nobody
can call unless God gives them grace to call. I know that. You
know nobody can come to Christ unless God brings them. I'm fully
aware of that. I'm fully aware of this too. You're going to
have to call. And you're going to have to come. You're going
to have to call yourself on the name of the Lord. You're going
to have to come yourself to the living God. You must call. I
can't call only for you. I won't begin to try to tell
you what to say when you call. There's not any need to say anything.
I won't begin to try to tell you how to behave when you call.
There's not any need to behave any way. I'm simply saying this.
You must call! The call's got to arise from
your heart to God's heart. Somehow you've got to call to
God Himself yourself. Or you're going to perish. My
second word of instruction is this. In order to call upon the name
of the Lord, you must believe. Paul says, how then shall they
call on him in whom they have not believed? That fallen child
looks up to his dad and he calls for his father to help him. You
know why he does that? Because he believes he will and
he believes he can. The very fact that that child
laying down there on the gravels with his knees bruised and his
hands scratched and tears in his eyes looks up to his dead
because he believes his dead's got power and the will to help
him. Therefore he looks to him. And
the very fact that a sinner looks to Christ proves that he believes
him. Proves that he believes him. Have some, some measure of faith
some measure of confidence in Him. Without question, you must
call on the name of the Lord. We must seek Him by prayer and
supplication. But before we can call on Christ,
before we can believe on Christ, in order to pray, really to pray
for mercy, in order to seek God's grace, we must believe. Faith
comes first. Faith comes first. I'll not send
you home this morning and tell you to go home and pray. I'm
not going to send you home and tell you to go home and seek
the Lord. I'm not going to send you home and tell you to go home
and do this or do that. I'm going to send you home, just
as I began saying, believe. Believe. If you believe, you'll
seek Him. If you believe, you'll call on
Him. If you believe, you'll worship
Him. You must believe. That's where
it begins. He that cometh to God must believe that He is,
and that He's the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
I stand here before you today, a sinner, a sinner, calling upon God for mercy in
Christ. Now, the very fact that I call
upon the Lord God for mercy proves that I do, at least in some measure,
have faith. The fact that I am calling upon
the Lord for salvation implies four things. I'm calling upon
God for mercy, first of all, because I know I need mercy. I need mercy. This is the result
of Holy Spirit conviction. When He, the Spirit of Truth,
has come, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on Me. Of righteousness, because I have
come. Of judgment, because I have cast out the God of this world.
Sin is not believing on Him. That's the essence of it. Righteousness
is the righteousness He performed. Judgment is the judgment of sin
in His cross. The judgment of all evil in Him. I recognized something of my
need because God the Holy Spirit had made me to know my sin. You know, I used to worry a great
deal. I used to fret a lot about all
the ungodly, vile things I did as a young man. growing up in the society in
which I grew up. And those things are things I
would, oh, you young men and women, God help you, God help
you. The path of rebellion, is a painful, painful path. It's
a painful path. But those evil deeds, as many
and as vile as they were, caused me nowhere near so much problem,
Bob, as the evil here. Do you see what I'm saying? I know a man like I am needs
mercy. You see, you can clean up the
outward life. You can quit the evil deeds.
A drunk can go to Alcoholics Anonymous and he can quit drinking.
Or he can come down an aisle in church and get a little religion
and he can quit drinking. Or his wife can threaten to leave
him and he can quit drinking. You can clean up the outward
life. You can quit the outward deeds. I'm talking about what
you are. I'm talking about what you cannot
escape. I'm talking about what you are when you lay on your
bed in the middle of the night and you're in most thoughts,
you're in most being. I'm talking about what you are
when you're driving down the road by yourself in the car and
nobody else is around except you. I'm talking about what you
are when you're entirely yourself, altogether alone. That's what
sin is. That's what sin is. I'm talking
about what you are that you're tickled to death your wife doesn't
know. And you're tickled to death your husband doesn't know. You're
tickled to death your sons and daughters don't know. You're
glad mom and dad don't know what you are. That's what I'm talking
about. Now I've been made to see something of what I am before
a holy God. And I need mercy. Because, yep,
I need mercy. And you need mercy. You need
him first. You've got to have mercy or you're
going to hell. Well, no sinner will a man see what he is until
he begins to seek mercy, mercy in Christ. And yet no sinner
will ever seek that mercy until he's brought to realize his need
of Christ. That prodigal went out, wasted his substance with
righteous living. And then the scripture says,
when he had spent all, he went and said, well, I've
got one more shot at this thing. He went and joined himself to
a legalistic, self-righteous, pharisaic preacher. And that
fellow said, well, I've got some hogs over here. Tell you what,
if you'll If you'll get over there in the hog pen and slot
my hogs and save your money and work hard, you can make your
way back up. You can get things straightened out. You don't have
to have any help. I'll just give you a good boost and you get
started right. Save your money and put things aside. You'll
be okay. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husk
that the swine did eat. But nobody even fed him. Nobody
gave him a thing. And the scripture says, when
it came, to himself, when he came to himself, when he came
to himself. He said, here I am, a man living
with horrors, a man whose father is wealth, a man whose father
is better to his hired servants than anyone else is to me, and
here I am perishing with hunger. He said, I'll arise and I'll
go to my father's house. Oh, if ever God brings you to
the end of yourself, utterly to the end of yourself, you'll
turn to Him, but not until then. I'm calling upon God to save
me, because I believe God has provided a way of salvation for
sinners, and that way is plainly revealed. He, God Almighty, has
made Christ His dear Son to be sin for us. who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. God Almighty gave
His Son to make an atonement and a propitiation for sinners.
God's provided a way whereby He can be just and yet justify
sinners, and that way is substitution. For God has taken His Son, and
He has bent in His wrath, the fullness of His wrath upon His
Son, and His Son has appeased. He's turned it away. He's satisfied
it. He's the propitiation for our
sins. Not for ours only, but to everybody
who believes. He's the propitiation for our
sins. I'm calling upon the name of the Lord because I believe
there is a Savior who delights in mercy. His name He saves His people from their
sin. He's able to say it. He's able
to say it. He has power. All power. Not only that, He's willing to
say it. When I first began to have some
knowledge My sin, God's grace, God first revealed things to
me. I knew, finally, that Christ
was a Savior entirely able, able to save any sinner. But I just could not believe
that He was willing to save. But my friend, anxious as you
are to sin, as willing as you are to transgress God's law,
as willing as you are to have your own way, as willing as you
are to run the path of your own lust, as unwilling as you are
to seek mercy, Christ Jesus is willing to save. He's willing
to save. He says today. If you'll hear
his voice, harden not your hearts. He says, come now, let us reason
together. He says, let the unrighteous
forsake his way and turn unto me, and I will abundantly pardon. He says, if anybody's thirsty,
let it come. He says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Lindsay Kimball, Jesus Christ
is willing, oh, he's willing to save sinners. Just think about that for a while. If I were him, I wouldn't be
willing to save you. I'm sorry that's so, but it's
so. And I got news for you, if your daddy were him, he wouldn't
be willing to save you. Not if you treated your daddy
the way you treated him. But I'm telling you that he is willing,
as willing as he is able to say so. I call on him. I think I may add the fact that
I'm calling upon Christ, seeking mercy, grace, and salvation by
Christ, implies that in some measure, I trust him. I trust him. There I was, hanging over hills, deep, dark, torturous pit, hanging with all my might onto the limb of my works, onto
the limb of some feelings. hanging with all my might onto
the limb of some experience. And Christ stepped in. He stretched
out the mighty arm of his grace. He said, trust me. And with trembling soul, fearful
heart, I let go. And faith. right into His mighty arms. How
about you? Would you trust Him? Let go of
your works, let go of your feelings, and let go of your religion,
and let go of your morality, and let go of your goodness,
and just flat fall in the arms of His almighty grace. Trust
Him. Thirdly, Paul says that in order
to believe on Christ He must hear the gospel of the
grace of God in Christ. Look at verse 14. How shall they
call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? It's impossible for
sinners to believe in Christ until they've heard the gospel
of the grace of God in Christ. The word heard here is used in
a very loose way, in a very wide sense. It's not merely listening
with the ear, but you must by some means or other come to a
knowledge of the truth. You cannot believe what you don't
know, you cannot know what you do not hear or read or by some
means learn. You must come to know the gospel,
otherwise you'll never believe. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And my friends, there
is but one gospel. There is but one gospel. It is
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the grace of God in Christ.
Now, the gospel of God's grace teaches many things plainly.
It teaches many things plainly, but there are three vital points.
There are three vital points to the gospel. The first one
is salvation by grace alone. Now that means simply that salvation
is something God does for you. It's not something you do for
God. It's not something God offers you. It's something God gives
you. It's not something God sits down before you and says, now
you do this, now I'll do that. It's something God does, flat,
period. That's all. Anybody who mixes
works with grace in any measure whatsoever does not preach grace. Any mixture of grace and works
is not salvation but damnation. By grace are you saved. And that's
all there is to it. Folks wonder why I don't have
anything to do with religious folks here, there, other places. It's because they don't preach
the gospel. That's all. You find me another man in this
town who preaches salvation by grace, I'll call him tomorrow,
we'll get together. I'll call him today, we'll get
together. There's not anybody else around here preaching it,
and I'm just telling you like it is. Salvation is by grace. Any mixture of anything other
than grace is eternal damnation to the souls of those who believe
it. Salvation, secondly, has been accomplished by Christ alone.
It's by Christ alone. He is all our righteousness.
He is all our redemption. He is all our sanctification. He is all our justification. He is all our merit before God. He is all our standing before
God. Christ is everything. Now you add anything to Christ
and you miss Christ. That's what Paul said. If you
be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. And salvation
is received by faith alone. by faith alone. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now there are a lot
of ways in which men and women may hear the gospel. Every believer ought to be a
preacher, witness to folks. You men and women, you ought
to bear faithful witness to people. Well, I don't know how. I don't
think the problem is we don't know how. I think the problem
is we either don't love Christ enough or we don't love them
enough, or both. We don't love people enough,
care enough for their souls to minister to them. But you ought
to witness, folks. You ought to testify to men and
women of what God's done for you. Now, you can do that. Sure
you can. If you've experienced grace,
you can tell folks what grace is. If you've been forgiven, you
can tell people what forgiveness is. If you've seen Christ, you
can tell people who Christ is, and we ought to. You can do so
in a lot of ways. You can distribute tracts. You
can take tapes, literature, write a letter, stick a tract or a
bulletin article, something in the letter, and communicate to
folks. Somehow we've got to minister to folks. We're here as His witnesses. We ought to do that. said that he learned the gospel
of God's sovereign grace, which he had never departed from, as
a young boy listening to a lady who was a cook in the school
he attended. Alberta, she was his cook. That's where Mr. Spurgeon
learned the gospel. Later on in life, he heard a
man preaching who said, look and believe, look and live, and
he looked and he lived. But he learned the gospel as
a boy in school from a cook. And in school, she just, she
taught him the gospel. And he never forgot it. He never
forgot it. I learned the gospel from a mailman.
Sunday school teacher, teaching a class of kids just like the
one you're teaching, Bob Foster. He taught me the gospel. I never
have forgotten it. I've never departed from it.
He taught me the gospel of God's grace. The primary means employed
by God in the Salvation Center is the public ministry of the
Word. And so I urge you, I urge you, I urge you to bring sinners
to hear the Word. You men and women, listen to
me. I know you have a lot of temptations,
a lot of a lot of other cares and concerns
in this world for your children. And I'm speaking to you folks
who believe the gospel, to you who know Christ, to you who are
seeking life in Christ. Don't let anything keep you from
hearing, and don't let anything keep your children from hearing
the gospel. Just don't do it. Just don't
do it. and make up your mind. Well,
but they've got this. They've got that. They're doing
this. Doesn't matter what they're doing. Doesn't matter what comes
up. It doesn't matter. They need
to hear the word. They need to be under the sound
of the word. The more often the better. I
do not know. I do not know whether or not
God will save your sons and your daughters or mine. I don't know.
I don't know whether it'll ever happen or not, but I do know
this, Lindsay, He won't save them apart from the Word. He
won't do it. He won't do it. If you're interested in your
immortal soul, and interested in the souls of others, hear
the gospel. Bring them to hear. You see those
birds out in the feeders in the wintertime, you take and put
some seed in that little feeder box, Little old bird will come,
get a little feed. First thing you know, that box
will be covered up. Because he'll go back and tell his buddies,
I found a place where we can get something to eat. Well, you ought
to be like that little bird going out and telling your buddies,
there's a place where you can hear from God. Come and go with
me, I'll show you where it is. We ought to bring folks to hear
the word, to hear the gospel. And if you're interested in your
immortal soul, you who believe not, I admonish you to hear the
gospel. Be sure that what you hear is
the gospel. The more often you hear it, the better. And as you
sit in your pew, listen with interest. I hear folks, they go out of
the building, I hear them say it. Well, now, I have heard a
few folks say it to me, but usually the folks that say it to me,
I hear them say it about other fellas. I just don't get anything out of that
fellow when he preaches. And this is how they sit in church,
if they happen to bring a Bible. Well, I didn't get anything out
of that. I didn't get nothing out of that. Maybe you're not
interested in what's being said. I guarantee you, if I were standing
here before you, and you had a filthy rich uncle who died,
And I told you, you had been named in the will. Bobby, I bet
you'd listen sitting on the edge of your seat, listening for every... Wait, he mentioned my name. He's
describing me now. He's talking about me now. Listening
to see what might be left to you. You ought to listen to the
gospel that way, for I'm reading to you the will and testament
of Almighty God. I'm reading to you His covenant.
Maybe there's something in it for you. Maybe there's something
in it for you. I would suggest that you take
the time. Spend two or three dollars and go down to the dime
store and buy your Bible. And bring it. And learn where
the books are. And I'd follow along. There might
be something in it for you. There just might be. I believe
I'd look up the references and I'd follow along. Maybe there's
something. Maybe, maybe there's something
here for me. I believe I'd take a few notes.
I'd jot down some things. Let me look that thing over.
Maybe there's something here for me now. I'm going to take
that home and think about it. Meditate on it. I want to dwell
on it. I'm going to ask God to make it mine. Listen with interest. Listen with interest. Now I've already touched on this,
but I'll I want you to get this fourth point. In order to hear
the gospel, someone must preach the gospel to you. Paul says
here in verse 14, how shall they hear without a preacher? God will never reveal the gospel
to any man by supernatural agency. Someone must take the gospel. and make the truth known to you
in order for you to believe, in order for you to be saved.
You cannot learn without being taught. So I'm saying to you
who are believers, let us carry the gospel. Oh, carry the word
of grace to perish. Publish the word of God. Don't try. Don't try to get results. Don't try to get people to do
something. Just tell them where life is,
it's in Christ. Tell them they're perishing and
they must have pardon, and pardon's in Christ. Bring them to hear
the gospel. Publish the word. And leave it
to God. Leave it to God. When you have
told the perishing sinner how life can be obtained, You fulfilled
all your responsibilities. We carry on the various works
of the ministry here. Well, it's a debt we have. It's
a debt we have. We are rich men. Rich men. Oh, what blessing. What blessing.
Bob, God's given you. the riches of His grace. Now,
poor sinners who have nothing, the very fact that you possess
it makes you a debtor. You owe it to them. You owe it
to them. Show them the way of life. Show
them the way of life. Keep on, keep on, keep on telling
men where life can be found. Telling men how mercy is to be
had in Christ. And God in His good providence
and by His grace according to his own purpose, will take the
word and he'll bring the sentence to life in Christ. He'll do it. He'll do it. I know he'll do
it, because he said he'd do it. Oh, it's a shameful pity that
any man should live and die without hearing the gospel. that anybody should live and
die without hearing the gospel. Some of you men and you ladies,
you have sons and daughters and you talk to them about their
health, and you talk to them about their social behavior,
and you talk to them about their cleanliness, and you talk to
them about their education, and you talk to them about how to
win friends and influence people, and never say a word to them.
about their perishing souls. I believe I'd get my priorities
straightened out. I believe I'd do something to
communicate the gospel to my family. I believe I would. I
believe I'd do something to see to it they did. You live side-by-side,
elbow-to-elbow, with neighbors and friends and relatives, and
never say a word to them about their souls. There's something
wrong with that. Desperately wrong with that.
If men are to be saved, David Coleman, we've got to tell him.
We've got to tell him. It's our responsibility to tell
him. Now, time has gone, or I would
have tried to show you something about this last man. In order
to be saved, you must call on the Lord. In order to call, you
must believe. In order to believe, you must
hear. In order to hear, someone's got to preach the gospel to you.
And then, fifthly, in order to preach the gospel, a man must
be sin of God. Paul says, how shall they preach
except they be sinned? No man can truly preach the gospel
and the power of God's Spirit who's not sin of God. Now, let
me tell you four things just real quickly. I'll just give
you four statements because I want you to properly value and esteem
the ministry of the word and I want you to pray for your pastor
that I may with the power of God's spirit preach the gospel. Don't come in here Merle ever
again without praying that God speak through me. Will you do
that? Bob, just ask God to speak through your pastor. I'm going
to tell you four things about every man who preaches the gospel.
Number one, he has the message. He has the message. He's got
a message from God. I believe I came through those
doors to speak to you a message from God today. Not only does
he have a message from God for you, but he will, he must deliver
that message. It's the burden of the Lord.
He carries it in his heart. It's like fire in his bones.
There's an impulse within. He's got to say it. He's got
to say it. And he will deliver that message
with the authority, the power, and the boldness of heaven's
eternal throne. The man preaches the gospel.
He has a message. He's going to deliver it, and
he'll deliver it with power. He'll do it. And he will report
back to his master. He's going to report back to
his master. I'm fixing to sit down and ask you to lead us in
a hand. When I sit down there, I want to start reporting back
to my master. I want to carry your soul to
Him. Pray, O God, take these words as arrows from the throne of
God to pierce the hearts of these who make the word flesh. For the day is coming. But I'm
going to report back to my master when you stand before him in
judgment. And if you believe not, in perfect consistency with your
character and God's character, I will say with the angels of
God, with the law of God, with the justice of God, let them
be damned. They heard and they would not
believe. They would not believe. They
would not believe. God help you. Oh, may God force you by His
sovereign grace. to believe. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Amen.