That last one. That's what you're
looking for, that last one. I'm telling you, the preaching
yesterday, it just doesn't get any better than that. I saw the
Lord last night. I saw Him high. I saw Him high
and I saw Him lifted up. When God blesses your heart to
worship where you can actually see him and your heart rejoices
and you find you know when you find your most assurance of being
saved is right when you're hearing the gospel right while you're
hearing it you say oh that's me that's me that's me that's
me all right first corinthians chapter one thank you all very
much for oh my your love is just abounds towards us, Shirley and
I. When I'm at Todd and Lynn's,
I'm at home, I really am. Nobody's better to me and never
has been than them two. And I love all you all too, I
do. God knits people's hearts together
and he has us and I appreciate it very much. Two verses of scripture. 23 and 24, 1 Corinthians 1. Let me turn this over. We preach Christ crucified under
the Jews, stumbling block. Under the Greeks or the Gentiles
like ourselves, foolishness. but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. When a man hears Christ crucified
preached, and when we talk about Christ, you got to deal with
who it was that was crucified. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ
had such merit, was so glorious in His person, so glorious in
His being, so wondrous as a man, sinless, holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, that this blessed Son of God, born of a
virgin that came into this world and grew up, and when He became
of age, hated and despised and rejected, but there were some
that believed on Him, but why he was, it was who it was that
was crucified and our Lord had such glory and such merit and
such worth. That's why, that's why he could
satisfy God for so many because of the worth of his blessed person.
His worth is more than all the world put together. When you
got a whole bunch of people that's worthless, It takes someone of
infinite worth to make them worth anything at all. If I give you three zeros, what
have you got? If I give you six zeros, what have
you got? I give you nine zeros, what have
you got? But you put Christ in front of
those zeros. That zero becomes worth something. Christ is the only one that puts
a value to anything. Anything in this world and especially
in the world to come. But we preach Christ and then
we preach him crucified. The necessity of his death It
was necessary, if I'm going to be accepted of God, that someone,
because of my unrighteousness, because of my sinfulness, because
of my unworthiness, because of my inability, I needed someone
to face God for me, and make me acceptable to God, make me
able to speak to God, and for God to speak to me. And the Lord
Jesus Christ, He did that in His death. God said, I saw the
travail of His soul and I'm satisfied. But here I read the verse of
Scripture. It says, We preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness.
And when we preach Christ crucified, there's just one of two attitudes
that a man can take towards the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. On one of two attitudes, either
it's foolishness, it's nonsense, I don't understand it, I don't
care about it, it has no power, it has no affection for me, it
doesn't intrigue me in any way, it doesn't interest me in any
way. It's nonsense. Or else it's either the power
by which God does what He does, and it's the wisdom to show us
how God could do that and bring glory to Himself in doing it.
But I tell you what, I'm going to tell you some things. I know
why the preaching of the cross, the preaching of Christ crucified,
that cross of satisfaction, that cross that where Christ satisfied
God, God Himself looked at His Son, and when He had satisfied
Him, and our Lord Jesus Christ cried out on the cross, it is
finished! It's finished! God said He smelled a sweet savor,
and God said when our Lord Jesus took His own blood and entered
into that holy place and come back out with eternal redemption,
God said I'm satisfied. And all this, and then that cross
that we preach where he's the substitute. And substitution,
oh my soul, substitution, how necessary is substitution? Oh, we need a substitute. I need
somebody to take me like I am. and make me acceptable to God
like His own Son is, like those folks sang a minute ago. And
that cross were of sacrifice and substitution and sin offering
and satisfaction. I know this, when we preach it,
it's foolishness to them that perish. Ain't that what it says
back up there in verse 18? For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish Foolishness. Foolishness. But all listen.
But unto us, us and them are the same people. Us and them. Unto us which are saved. It's
the power of God. But I tell you why I know the
preaching of the cross is foolishness and nonsense to so many. Because
it deals with a subject in which they have no interest. And you
know what that is? Salvation from sin. Men are not
interested in being saved from sin. I wasn't interested in being
saved from sin because I spent most of my life until God made
me a sinner without sin. You know our Lord Jesus Christ,
when He opened that blind man's eyes in John 9, and that man
began to tell him about what Christ had done for him, you
know what they said? Who in the world are you? Talk to us like
that. We'd be not sinners. And that's
why the cross has no effect on some people. They're not sinners.
They're not interested in salvation from sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ
said, I know the truth and the truth will set you free. Well,
what are you talking about being free? We've never been in bondage
to any man. We've been not born of fornication.
You know, man will be saved from bad habits. But he won't be saved
from sin. He'll be saved from bad health,
wear out doctors and spend every dime he's got to try to save
himself from bad health. But he's not interested in soul
health. That's why the preaching of the cross is foolishness to
him. And the cross is foolishness to those who's not interested
in because it does not recognize human merit. It doesn't recognize
Boy Scouts, Eagle Scouts, it's got all these merit badges. It
doesn't care about them. It's not interested in them.
Man thinks he's worth something. I've known folks that went into
eternity with peace, who never heard the gospel, never cared
about the gospel, and wasn't interested in the gospel. Because
they thought that they was good enough to face God by themselves. He said, if God doesn't take
me like I am, I won't get there. I don't know what I've ever done
wrong. But oh listen, if righteousness,
if righteousness, and God is infinitely, infinitely, infinitely
righteous, if righteousness come by the law, by works, by
deeds, by merit, by any other reason, then Christ is dead in
vain. And I tell you about what the
gospel does, the cross does, it drags, it drags people who
think they're worth something, it drags people who think they
got some merit, it drags their old human merit right out into
the light of God's holiness and God's righteousness, and when
you sit in that light, You start looking for some place to hide. You start looking for some place,
oh, where can I go? You start looking for some place
to hide. And he said last night, the safest
place to hide from God, no, John did it. The safest place to hide
from God's in God. But oh, it drags it, it drags
a man, it brings him before God. And when we talk about the law,
when you read those scriptures this morning, we know that whatsoever
the law saith, it saith unto the law that every mouth may
be stopped, and every man become guilty.
And those verses that's before that, every one of them come
out of the psalm. Is that not right? The four nines, all of
them come out of the Psalms. So when we're talking about the
law, we're talking about all of God's word. We're talking
about all, we're not just talking about the Ten Commandments. I
get so weary of people in their Ten Commandments. That fella
running in Alabama, he got famous because he stood for keeping
the Ten Commandments in front of a courthouse. And he ain't
never kept one of them or anybody else in Alabama's kept them. Roll Tide. Oh, but it brings it out there
and makes you guilty. Guilty. Oh, my. We're talking about the whole
law. We're talking about all of God's Word. Huh? Listen, those who acknowledge
a need for the cross take sides with God against human merit.
They take sides with God and say, I ain't got nothing. I don't have nothing. I don't
know nothing. I can't do nothing. And if you don't do it, it won't
be done. If you don't teach me, I won't
do it. If you don't give it to me, I won't have it. And you know what? The first
time you say that, you say that the rest of your life. You never
stop saying that. It don't get any better, does
it, Chris? It don't get any better. Oh my, but the cross is foolishness
because it has to do with the righteousness of God. God is
righteous. And it has to do with the justice
of God. And oh, listen, let me ask you
a question. How can God be just, holy, and
righteous, and justify somebody like myself? Well, just take
me. somebody who never did anything
right in his whole life. And if I ever did it, I gloried
in it, which automatically made it worth nothing. So how can God look at me, and
my sinfulness, and my rebellion, and my enmity, and my evil imagination,
and the depths of the sin of my heart, how can God look at
me and the way I am, and then all of a sudden say, well I justify
Him. And justification has more to
do with just being innocent. It's God Himself looking at you
and saying, I justify Him from everything He's ever done. He's
not done anything wrong in my sight. He's got to kill me. He's got to slay me. Because
the soulless sinner, he has to die. So how can He kill me and
slay me and give me life at the same time? How can He do that? That's why we preach Christ crucified. Cause under us it knows only
about it. It's the power and the wisdom of God. Look over
here with me in Job for a minute. Job chapter 25. Job 25. Job 25. Look what he says here in verse
4. And here's a good question. And
I'll ask this question before we read these verses, Job 25,
4. What is God's justification for
accepting you or me? What's God's justification? What's
God's justification, Satan? Come on, come into my presence.
What's God's justification in accepting you? How then can man be justified
with God? What a question. God who inhabits
eternity, measures the waters in the hollow of his hand, counts
the nations as a drop in the bucket and dust on the balance. For how can he be clean that's
born of a woman? Sinners can only produce sinners. That's all they can do. And look, He says, look at the
moon. Supermoon. And it doesn't shine
in His presence. In light of His glory, in light
of His light, in light of His holy, it don't even shine. Yea,
the stars that He calls them by name are not pure in His sight. How much less man, now listen
to it. You think we're something. This
is what God has said about us. How much less is man that is
what? A worm. A worm. Oh, my. And the Son of Man, which is
a worm. I never will forget the first
time I heard this question. I heard Henry Mahan say years
ago, he says that, you know, when people start bragging and
all that, it's just one worm bragging on another one. You know what you do with worms
if you go fishing? And you know if you ever get
a worm on you, first thing you do, go wash that thing off. It's
awful. And God, that's what He does.
Instead of stepping on us, He saves us. He takes worms, man, that's like
a worm, a maggot, not worse than anything, slimy, out of the dust,
out of the dirt. Would you hug a worm? Christ did. You know what he
said? This is what he said about himself. I wouldn't dare say it if he
hadn't said it about himself. When he was on the cross, he
said, I'm a worm and no man. That's how he identified with
us. I am a worm and no man. this, if a man can't see the
exceeding sinfulness of sin, if a man can't see the infinite
holiness of God, then he'll never, ever see his need of that cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, my. But, but look what it
says there in verse 24, but, I love him, but, great big door,
swing on a little bitty hinges, but, unto them which are called,
oh my, for whom he did foreknow, them he also called. Them he
called, he justified. And whom he justified, he also
glorified. What shall we say then to these
things, if God be for us? Who can be against us? It's God
that justifies. It's Christ that died. I tell
you, beloved, and you know everything about our salvation when you
read it, it's in the past tense. We just find out about it when
somebody tells us. It's already done. We're just
somebody comes along and tells us. But the old timers used to
talk about a general call and an effectual call. That's why
Paul said, when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me, called me by His grace. And oh, to be called
of God. The old timers used to talk about
a general call and an effectual call. And general call is us
preachers getting up here and every time we preach, a general
call goes out. We call on people to trust Christ.
We call on people to come to Christ. We call on people to
bow to Christ. We call on people to embrace Christ. We call on
people to bow to Christ. And the general call goes to
many, but that effectual call, we don't know who that's going
to, and we don't know when it's going. Well, we know who it's
going to, we just don't know when it's going. I know who it's
going to. It's going to go to the sheep. You know, many are called, but
few are chosen. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, my
sheep, And he don't take goats and turn
them into sheep. Goat will eat anything. Sheep
don't eat anything. My sheep hear my voice. And you know what they do? They
do like old Bartimaeus did, followed him in the way. We followed him
in the way. We really do. You know, my father-in-law,
he passed away last September, 23 1/2 years old, 93 1/2 years
old. 23 1/2, 93 1/2. But he used to sit on the second pew, and I think
I've told you this before, he was 75 years old. And I preached one Sunday morning
on the hour is coming, John 5, 24, the hour is coming and now
is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they
that hear shall live. I was stepping down out of the
pulpit about right here and he said, Donnie, Donnie. He said, I heard his voice today. 75 years old, and he heard the voice
of Christ. And he had heard every preacher
that was known in those days for years. But he said, I heard
his voice today. I heard his voice today. I don't
know. I hear his voice when I hear
you preachers preach. I hear his voice. Oh, but the
preaching of the cross to God's sheep It's called the very power
of God. Because with that call comes
a knowledge of sin. When God calls a man, He calls
him and gives him a knowledge of sin. He finds out that in
his flesh dwells no good thing. He finds out when he was preaching
about Job last night. Gird up your loins, Job, and
be answer me like a man. When God got through with him
and Job stood there, you know what he said? He said, I heard
about you in the hearing of the air, and now my eye sees you,
I've heard myself, and I'm going to put my hand over my mouth
and get down in the dust. Oh, my. I've never had a problem
with sin until God saved me. And now I have a problem with
it. Oh, what a problem I have with
sin now. I never had one until I got converted. And oh my, and
with that call comes the knowledge of God's holiness. We find out
that God really is who he says he is. He is actually holy and
he demands holiness. And oh, the call of God knows
that there are sinners, and God is holy, and that the judge of
all the earth, he must do right. And here's what happens. When
God calls us, righteousness stands up, and we hear Him speak. And
righteousness says with these scales, and God's got scales. They talk about this blindfolded
woman with the scales of justice. She's not blindfolded to most
people in this country. You know that as well as I do,
but listen. He said, with these scales of holiness, and these
scales of truth, I take man and I weigh him. I take him and I
weigh him. And you know what I find out
is, with this righteousness and truth that man is lighter than
vanity himself. I not only found him vain and
lighter than vanity, I found him not only destitute of all
that God requires, but I found him in full rebellion and enmity
against righteousness and holiness in God. And holiness and righteousness
and truth in them scales says, righteousness says I say that
a man cannot be justified by me setting aside my law, setting
aside my holiness, setting aside my righteousness. And just because
I love them, I'm going to say, no, no, no. God's righteousness must be kept
and it must be honored. And those who called know this.
You see, law without penalty is just good advice. Just good
advice. But oh, thank God, thank God. Love and mercy stand up. Love and mercy. Oh, my. They stand up. And they say,
Oh, Lord, oh, Lord. Thou art plenteous in mercy.
Oh, Lord, you are love. Is there not a way? Is there
not a way? Can a ransom be found? May not an atonement be found
for these that went away in these scales and found wanting? Can
one be found who would be a mediator? That somebody can go between
me and you? Can one be found who is without
sin? Can one be found who is such
that he can bear the wrath of God and honor you and satisfy
your holiness? Is there not one who could be
identified with you and be identified with me? Is
there one? Is there one among men who can
put away sin that's of such worth and such value that he can put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself and yet live to plead
his wounds On behalf of sinners? Is there one? If we find him, if we find him,
God makes him known. Surely, surely his name is called
Wonderful. Surely his name is called Wonderful.
Surely it is. Oh, his name is called Wonderful. It is, isn't it? Oh, what a wonderful,
wonderful name. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in our believer's ears, soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
drives away his fears. Wonderful in his person. Wonderful in his life. wonderful to the heavens, wonderful
to the Father, wonderful to the angels, wonderful to save sinners,
wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Oh my, is there anyone who can
help us, who can give the sinner peace when his heart is burdened
down with pain and woe, who can speak a word of pardon that affords
us sweet release, and whose blood can wash and make us white as
snow. Yes, yes, yes, there's only one, the blessed, blessed
Jesus, our Lord, he's the one. When afflictions press us home,
and waves of trouble roll, and you need a friend to help you,
he's the one. Job, go down to the pit, God
said, wait, wait, wait. I found a ransom. Delivery, delivery,
I found a ransom. Just in time for me, for me and
my experience, just in time. I was right at the verge of the
pit, right at the verge of the pit. Trying to figure out a way
that I could do away with myself and make it look like an accident.
That's how low I was. And right on time, right on time,
going down to that pit, and God said, I found a ransom. Delivery. Bless his holy name. Bless his
blessed glorious name. To us the preaching of the cross
is the very power and wisdom of God. The power of God to remove
all sin and the wisdom of God to honor his law magnified and
to satisfy justice. And if there's one word that
I could use to tell you the most powerful word in the gospel to
me is when God said, I saw the travail of his soul and satisfied. You know, we're going to all,
we all face life every day. We face, we face life and sometimes
it's tough. I mean, it's tough. God, when
He says, I think of my strange concern in the fire trial, you
know why He calls it fire? Fire burns. It hurts. It's painful. Trials are painful. Burdens are
painful. Life is painful. Lots of troubles. Lots of troubles. But oh, to know that God is satisfied
no matter how we feel, what we're going through, How we react to
it or not react to it has nothing to do with it. And one of these
days, I've done this before, right here, right here is where
I find, when I understand that God's satisfied, then my conscience
quietens down and goes to rest and finds such peace. And when
God takes somebody you love, you can say, I'm satisfied with
what you did, Lord. And when you get ready to lay
down your head, and this is what I do every night when I go to
bed, I think, if I don't wake up in the morning, God's satisfied. And you lay your head down on
God's blessed word, on his precious word, the word that's so powerful,
the word that's so pure, the word that you could rest your
soul on. and go out into eternity without
any anxiety because you don't have to face God by yourself. God and Christ satisfied
him. Christ satisfied him. You see,
we know who died on the cross and we know why he died on that
cross. We know why. Let me give you four things and
I'll be done. I'm just going to mention them. Preaching too
long. He died, he was crucified that
the scriptures might be fulfilled. Don preached it so well yesterday
morning. According to the scriptures,
according to the scriptures, according to the scriptures.
Our Lord Jesus Christ just said in John 19, 28, it says, you
know, I thirst and they gave him vinegar to drink and he said
he did this that the scriptures might be fulfilled. That's the
only reason he said it. And oh, beloved, that trail of blood
that started in the garden, from Abel's sacrifice all the way
to the cross, is a trail of blood. That scarlet thread out the window
of Rahab's house. And here's the second reason
he died, that he might redeem us from all sin. All sin. having forgiven you all trespasses. David said, blessed is the man
unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. There is a fountain. There is a fountain. And that
fountain is filled with blood. And sinners, sinners, plunge
beneath its flood. lose all their guilty stains. You know, I'm going to tell you
something. You all think I'm, you think I'm self-righteous
and I hope, well I am. But I don't want to be. I really don't want to be. But
you know, Christ I believe Him, and I trust Him, and I take His
gospel the way it is, and He has done that. I can't tell you how long it's
been since I have felt guilty. I ain't got nothing to be guilty
for. You say, well, ain't you done this? Ain't you done that?
Yeah, oh yeah. But that was took care of forever,
didn't it? And I don't do it because it's taken care of. Don't
misunderstand me. That's not what I'm saying. But my last sin is as much paid
for as the one I was born with. So why have I got to feel guilty
about it? I ain't got no sin. Not only don't I have any sin, but I have righteousness. and
I'm holy. You know holiness, and I know
Todd's told you this, holiness is not something we attain. Holiness
is a state of being. Either you're holy or you're
not. And if you're holy, the only
place you can be holy at is in Christ. Is that not right? Can God be more holy at any one
time than He can at another? Well, can Christ be any holier
more in time than he can another? Well, we can't either. That's
what we got to feel guilty about. I believe the gospel, John. I really do. I do. I do. I do. Oh, if sin's not charged to us,
where are they? And if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquity, who could stand? Well, they've been marked. Christ
took them all. And now we can stand. And I'll tell you the third reason
he died, not only that he might redeem us from all our sin, all
of them, every one of them, they're all gone. And he died that he
might be Lord. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ
bought the world. When we say this, you know, over
in Peter, it says that they even deny the Lord that bought them.
Here's what our Lord Jesus Christ did. He bought the earth as the
field, and He bought the whole field. He bought everything in
this world to do with it what He wants to. You made that plain
last night, does with it what He wants to. But He bought the
whole field just to get that treasure. So go ahead and deny the Lord
that bought you. That ain't gonna change anything.
That ain't gonna change Him. That ain't gonna change His redemption.
And He bought men and women to do with them as He pleases. But
He bought the whole world and everybody in it to get us, Chris. Do you feel
like you're a treasure? But you know what the Lord said
about us? He said we was His peculiar treasure. Oh my. Well, and now look at,
let me close out with Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 7. Chapter
2 and verse 7. I want you to see this. You got
to experience this with me. You know, I don't just enjoy
preaching, I experience it. I know this, if it blesses me,
it'll bless you. If it don't bless me, it won't
bless you. But look what it says here in Ephesians 2.7. I'm in Galatians, good grief. Here we go. That in the ages to come, He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. He died that He might show the
riches of His grace. The riches of His grace. This
is the end of God permitting men to fall that He might show
the riches, exceeding riches of His grace. This is the end of God permitting
the world to continue in sin and rebellion that He might show
the exceeding riches of His grace. This is why Christ came into
the world in the flesh that He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace. This is the end of the cross
and redemption that He might show the exceeding riches of
His grace. And you know, When we get to glory, it says
there going to be silence in heaven for 30 minutes. Now, I
don't know if it's going to be an actual 30 minutes by the clock.
I don't know what's going to be, but it's going to be silence
for 30 minutes. And I'm going to quit preaching
and tell you what I think. This is what I think. And if
I'm wrong, it ain't gonna make a bit of difference, but if I'm
right, it's gonna be good. You know why they're silent? When Christ, that last trump
sounds, and the dead in Christ rise,
and we which are alive and remain, when we're caught up in the air
to meet the Lord, and go to be with Him. And we enter into that
place, glorious place, where Christ is sitting on His throne.
And He brings all the saints of God home at one time. From
Abel to the last saint. He brings all of us in at one
time. And He brings us there and He sets us down in glory.
And all of us there at the same time. The angels. The angels. The legions and legions
of angels are going to stand over on the side and they're
going to say, this is what he went to the earth for? This is
what he became a man for, the heathens? And he's going to say, this is
the exceeding riches. All these are the exceeding riches
of my grace. Look at them. They all got white robes on. And now you know what I'm going
to do? I'm going to sit down. And I'm going to set the table. And we're going to have a marriage
supper. And we're going to rejoice. And he's going to do that for
ages. And you know how long it'll take
us to understand the riches of His grace? As long as we're there. As long as we're there. Lord
bless you. I'd love you to appreciate you.