For the last several times that
Brother Todd has invited me to preach here, I have felt led to go back and
pick up some voices from the past to illustrate what I believe
that the people of God need to have made clear. And this is
one of the things that I'm going to give you tonight, a voice
from the past. And it's a lot of voices from
the past. The glorious reformation in the
days of Luther and Calvin and Zwingli and Huss and those great
old men, 600 years ago, These gallant men and women gave
their lives for the gospel. They died martyrs' deaths for
what they believed. And I read something years ago
that was mighty powerful about this Reformation. It says these
people had as their watchword and their standard, four things. Four things. And J.C. Ryle preached a message on these
four things in later years. But these are the four things
that these people believed and that God blessed them so powerfully
to get across to their generation and to ours. Number one, salvation. by Christ alone. Christ alone. We're not redeemed with corruptible
things such as silver and gold from our vain conversation received
by tradition from our fathers, but with the precious blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ crucified, sacrificed as a lamb without
spot or blemish. Christ alone. Christ alone. Watch word, is grace alone. For by grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. We're saved by free grace alone. And thirdly, the Scriptures alone. Thus saith the Lord. Our only
rule, and practice is the Scriptures. If they speak not according to
the Scriptures, to the Word of God, there's no light in them.
There's no truth in them. Christ alone, grace alone, the
Scriptures alone. And a lot of men have these watchwords
on their bulletin boards, and a lot of people stress them frequently.
But there's a fourth one. There's a fourth one. And it's
this, the right of private judgment, Christ alone, grace alone, the
scriptures alone, and the glorious, wonderful, personal privilege
and right of private judgment. In other words, here's what they
were saying. A word preached and a creed set
forth. and a statement of doctrine and
a statement of what we believe is not true simply because those
in office agree this is true and those in authority say this
is true. This was the great era of Catholicism. This is the very era that these
men fought against. It's true because the church
says it. It's true because the Pope says it. It's true because
the cardinal says it, or the priest says it. That's not necessarily
so. It's true because God says it,
and it's true because you have received in your heart, and you
believe it, the right of private judgment. Every one of us, every
believer, has that right to receive Christ alone, to rest in grace
alone, to follow the Scriptures alone, but what he believes as
God has revealed to him in his heart, the right of private judgment. And that's what all of us have
tonight, that very right. When I stand here and preach,
this is not so because of what the man says. It's so because
God says it. And it's so because God revealed
it to you in your heart by Christ. Let me show you the scriptures
for that. In Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah chapter
31, Jeremiah 31, verse 31. Here it is, Jeremiah 31. Now
watch this. The right of private judgment.
The right to make up my mind as God gives me the ability and
the grace. Listen. Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel, with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant
which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the
hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant
they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But
this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel after those days, saith the Lord." I will put my law
in their inward parts, not just on tablets of stone, not just
on creeds and catechism. I'll put it in their hearts.
I'll write my law in their inward parts, write it in their hearts.
They'll be my God, and I will be their God, and they shall
be my people. And watch this, and they shall
teach no more. Every man, his neighbor saying,
now know the Lord, brother. Know the Lord. You've got to
listen to me. You've got to know the Lord.
No. All of them shall know the Lord. They shall all know me.
Every believer will rest in Christ, trust in Christ, believe on Christ,
and love me. From the least to the greatest
of them. From the youngest to the oldest
elder. To the person that's just come
to the knowledge of Christ. to the one that's been in Christ
for many, if they shall all know me. They shall all know me. From the least to the greatest
of them, saith the Lord, and I will forgive their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more." That's the right private
judgment. You can sit and study the Word,
read the Word, and God will teach you. Turn to John chapter 6. See if this is not what our Lord
is saying here in John chapter 6. John 6, beginning with verse
43. Well, let's go back and read
37. John 6, 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
have no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. This is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son, everyone, personally,
individually, everyone that seeth the Son and believeth on him,
may have everlasting life. And I raised him up at the last
day. And the Jews murmured at him because he said, I'm the
bread which came down from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it
then that he said, I came down from heaven? And our Lord answered,
therefore answered and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves.
No man can come to me. except my Father which sent me
draw him." No man can come to me except my Father which sent
me draw him. Arthur Pink was preaching and
pastoring in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and he wrote to I.C. Herringdean, whether Herringdean
in Swingville, Pennsylvania, or rather then he was in Cleveland,
Ohio, and he had a publishing company, the Bible Truth Depot. And Brother Herringdean was an
Arminian. He was a Schofield follower. He was a fellow that
was dealing a whole lot in prophecy. And Arthur Pink wrote to him.
I received a letter from Mr. Herringdean himself telling me
about this experience. Arthur Pink wrote to him and
said, would you publish a book called The Sovereignty of God
if I sent you the manuscript? And Brother Herringdean said,
I wrote back to him And I said in my letter, what do you mean
with the sovereignty of God? And Arthur King wrote him, wrote
him back, and this is the verse he quoted. In John 6, 44, no
man. And Mr. Harrington even said,
Arthur King underscored three times, no man can, can, can,
can come to me. He can't come, no man, regardless
of his personal knowledge and his personal gifts and his personal
talents. No man can come to me except
my Father which sent me. Draw him, and I'll raise him
up at the last day. And Herod Dean said, he was a
young man then. I knew him for years, and he
died at ninety-some odd years of age. Herod Dean said it was
like God had opened a light to me. And I saw the scripture for
the first time, salvationism of the Lord. No man, no man can
come to me except my Father who sent me, draw him. Read on now.
And I'll raise him up at the last day. It's written in the
prophets. They shall be all taught of God. Not just the Pope, not just the
priest, not just the cardinal, not just the pastor, not just
the... They shall all be taught of God. That's what we are taught of
God. That's the reason when John the Baptist had these disciples
in John 129. And he walked along with these
two disciples The Lord Jesus Christ walked in. And John the Baptist said, Behold,
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And you
know what those two fellows did? They left John and followed the
Lord. They left him and followed the
Lord. And that's what every one of you, when you hear Christ,
we preachers come and preach to you and preach to you and
pray for you and witness to you on television, whatever, and
you hear it. And then we turn to somebody
else. Are you all right? You came to the Lord. Oh, we'll
pastor and teach you, but this is written in the prophets. They
shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father, if he's heard and learned
of the Father, he's got to be learned of the Father. That's
what I'm talking about, the right of private judgment. One other
scripture, Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54, verse 13. Isaiah 54, verse 13. This is such a great treasure. This is such a great gift. This
is such a great blessing God has given us to have the right
of private judgment, to see the scriptures and learn the scriptures
and ourselves be witnesses of Christ. Look at Isaiah 54, verse
13. Verse 13. And all thy children
shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace
of thy children. All right, that's a Boston of
passion. Now, here's one from the press. I'm going to open the Bible now
to 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles. Chapter 9. I preached this message in 1976,
and I've been going through, since I've been coming down here
preaching to you, I've been going through messages that I felt
like that God has given me and used in the past, and I'm going
to bring them on to you. And this is the one In 2 Chronicles
chapter 9, turn there to verse 1 through 8. And the queen of
Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon. She came to prove Solomon with
hard questions at Jerusalem. Hard questions. With a very great
company and camels that bear spices and gold and abundance
and precious stones When she was come to Solomon, she communed
with him all that was in her heart. She had a lot of things
to ask. A lot of things. Well, what was
his response? All right. Verse 2, And Solomon
told her all her questions. And there was nothing hid from
Solomon which he told her not. That's like the Apostle Paul
said, I kept back nothing properly from you. I've not shunned or
declared to you all the counsel of God. I've warned you from
house to house. I've preached to you repentance
toward God and faith in Jesus Christ." And that's what he said
here. Solomon kept back nothing. He hid nothing from her, which
he told her. And when the Queen of Sheba had
seen the wisdom of Solomon and the house he'd built, and the
meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance
of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers also, and
their apparel, and his assent by which he went up into the
house of the Lord. And there was no spirit, no more
spirit in her. She was just overwhelmed, overcome
at the wisdom of that man, and the truth, and the things he'd
seen to happen had never been told. And she said to the king,
it was a true report which I heard in my own land of thine acts
and of thy wisdom. How be it? I believe not their words. Isn't
that so often the case? They just don't believe. They
just don't believe. That's what our Lord said in
John 6. He said, you believe not because you're not of my
sheep. My sheep, they're my boys, and they followed me. And she
said, I didn't believe their words until I came. And my eyes
had seen it. I saw the glory of this man.
And that's we, that's our experience. We say, I didn't know all this.
And then when the Lord opened the door to me, I saw it. Like Brother Harrington said,
when I got that letter, It's just like you pull the drapes
and open the curtains for me to see the greatness of God.
And behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not
told me, but thou exceedest the fame that I heard. And here's
her true response. Number one, happy are thy men,
happy are these thy servants. They are. You're happy. we're
happy in Christ. Oh, a merry heart doeth good
like a medicine, happy in Christ. Happy are your people, happy
are your men, happy are those thy servants which stand continually
before thee, and hear your wisdom. And here's the second, the second response, conclusion. And blessed
be the Lord thy God, which delighteth in thee, which delighteth in
thee, to set thee on his throne. That's what we're kings and priests
unto God. Kings and priests unto God, to
be a king for the Lord thy God. Now, here's my question. She
came with a lot of questions, and I've got some questions.
I've got five questions, and then I'm going to give you five words of counsel. Now, here's
my question. What would it mean to you personally,
individually, to know without a doubt that every sin, every
sin in your past, in your present, in your future is totally, completely
eradicated, obliterated, and forgiven. What would that mean
to you? What would it mean to you that
all of your sins were blotted out and remembered no more? Every
sin of mine David said, my sins are always before me, but not
before God. There'll be before you and there'll
be before me, but every sin of mind, heart, tongue, hand, soul
is forgiven. I'm not about open sin, secret
sins. The books of God are canceled
as far as you're concerned. There is not one mark against
you according to the Word of God. Now that's the blessing and the
birthright and the heritage of every believer. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from every sin. There is therefore now no condemnation,
no judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus. I was a young preacher in Chattanooga,
Tennessee, going to school. 1947 through 1950. And Doris and I had moved to
Chattanooga and I bought a car. I bought a 1935 straight 8 Packard. One of those with the seats in
the middle, you know, the big long. This paid $600 for it.
A 35 straight 8 Packard with 35,000 miles on it. It was a jewel. I mean, that
was a, it was like a tank. It was a big, long car. I had
that woman on the front, you know, like this, you know. And
I had those big, big fenders and a spare tire on the side
of it. And Dr. Robinson sent me and some of
the students out to a meeting one night. in outside Chattanooga. He sent me to lead the singing
and one of the other fellas to preach. And I was hauling a bunch
of young people with me and coming home it was pouring down rain.
Just pouring down rain. So hard to see anything, you
know. And we were coming back in the dark, been to the service
and coming back to school. Got in the dark and I missed
a stop sign. I did not see that stop sign.
And I plowed into a 1929 or 30 Model A Ford. And when that Packard
hit that Model A Ford, it just turned it upside down. Had two
or three people in it. I remember a girl got cut pretty
bad and they took her to the hospital. Police came and got
out that pad and wrote my ticket and I thought he was writing
my My final notice, you know. I was really troubled. I was
troubled. They said you'd be in court a
certain day, you know. So I called my dad and I told
him, I said, I've got a court date. I've got to go to court.
I'm in real trouble. And I ran a stop sign and hurt
some people. you're going to have to come
up and stand with me. I was just 22 years old. And
so I said, oh, by the way, bring your checkbook because I think
we're in trouble. I think we're in real trouble.
So he came up and he and I went to court. And that's the toughest
week I ever spent. That's just absolutely tough. You talk about embarrassed, you
talk about I was pastor of a little church out in the country, and
they'd just kill me. And I sat down in that courtroom,
my father on this side of him, me sitting here, and all those
criminals, those other criminals, were in the court. And then the
judge was up there, and he scared me to death. And they started
bringing people up. finding them this way and that
way and sending them to jail and all that. And I just kept
sitting there. And my dad. And that's why I
didn't want anybody in the courtroom but the judge and the policeman
and that recording secretary. And there we sat. And the judge
said, what can I do for you? I said, well, I had an accident
and some people got hurt and I was supposed to come to the
court today and hear my sentence. And the judge said, well, you
have any record of that? And he looked at what he was
looking at. He said, no, sir. He said, weren't
you fellas writing tickets that night? I remember this so vividly. He said, I guess we were, but
he doesn't have one. And the judge looked at me and
said, well, you're free to go. There's no charge against you.
Man, can I tell you? That's been 50-some-odd years
ago, and I remember it vividly like yesterday. Free! No charge
against you. That's exactly what I'm saying
right here. Free, free, free. I don't care what the offense
is. I don't care what the sin is. There is no sin recorded in glory
against any believer. You turn to Hebrews 9. Now, that's
a fact. That's a fact. Hebrews chapter
9. Let me show you this. Hebrews
chapter 9, verse 10, I'm sorry, chapter 10, verse 12. Hebrews
10, 12. This man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us, for after that he hath said before, This is
the covenant I make with them after those days, saith the Lord.
I'll put my law in their hearts and in their minds when I write
them, and their sins, all Their iniquities, all of it, will I
remember no more. My sins are gone. They're under
the blood of Christ. There is no judgment, no condemnation
to anyone who loves the Savior. What will that mean to me? The
most glorious thing in the world. Here's a second question. I've
got to move on. Listen. What would it mean to
you to know that the eternal, holy, just God is totally reconciled
to you. Totally reconciled to you. And on God's part, there's no
wrath. There's no enmity. There's not
even a frown reserved for you. Not even a frown. You are accepted
in the Beloved. You're accepted in Christ in
love, joy, and peace. That's what Paul said in Romans
5.1. being justified by faith, we
have peace with God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand
and we rejoice in the hope and the glory of God Almighty. One of my favorite songs is a
song written by a former black slave. His name is Charles Albert
Tindley, T-I-N-D-L-E-Y. I only know two songs that he
wrote. Both of them he wrote the words and the music. He was
born in 1851, born a slave. And when he was in 1865, when
the slaves were set free, he moved up north to Philadelphia. No education, Didn't know how
to read or write. And he got a job, and he went
to night school, and he learned how to read and how to write,
especially how to read the scriptures. And he learned. So, he's so brilliant. So brilliant. God gave him great
gifts. And he was a janitor of the church,
a big black Baptist church in, up in Pennsylvania, New York,
somewhere up north. He was the janitor, the custodian.
And the pastor died. And they called Charles Albert
Tindley to be pastor of that church. And he began writing
hymns. And he wrote these two. The first
one is, if the world from you withhold of its silver and its
gold, and you have to get along with meager fire, Just remember
in His Word how He feeds the little bird, take your burden
to the Lord and leave it there. Leave it there. But here's the
sacrament. He wrote this hymn. Words and
music. Nothing between my soul and my
Savior. Nothing. Nothing between my soul
and my Savior so that His blessed face I can see. Nothing preventing the least
of His favors, because Jesus is mine and there's nothing between
Him. No sin, no guilt, no offense,
nothing. Isn't that so? Isn't that so? Here's my third question. What
would it mean to you to have a new heart? A new heart. A heart that honestly Honestly,
sincerely love God. Well, that's what He gives us
in the new birth, a new heart. And honestly, sincerely love
God. You know, our Lord said to Peter,
Peter, you love me. Yea, Lord, thou knowest I love
thee. Well, feed my lambs. He asked
him a second time, Peter, do you love me? Lord, I love you,
but feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me? And Peter
was grieved because the Lord asked him that the third time.
And he said, Lord, you know everything. You know I love you. I believe
I can say that. He knows everything. I love Christ
Jesus. If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. But we do. We love Christ. God
has given us a heart to love Him. We love Him. We love His
Word. We love His blood. We love the
hope we have in Him. God has given us a heart to love
Him. Secondly, what would it mean
to have not only a new heart, but a new spirit? A new spirit inclined inclined
to others more than to ourselves. That we love them more than we
love ourselves. That's what a husband and wife
have when they love each other. They love each other more than
they love themselves. That's what makes a good marriage.
You love the other one more than you love yourself. And I saw
a powerful demonstration of this a few years ago. Right here in
this church, Chuck Moore, brother to Lee Ann,
needed an operation. He needed a kidney transplant. A kidney transplant. Now, it's
either that or die. And there's a man in our church
that loved Chuck more than he loved himself. Cared more for
Chuck. He cared for himself. He cared
more for the welfare and good well-being of Chuck and his family. He cared for himself. And he
went down to the hospital in Cincinnati and got on the table
with Chuck on the other table and him and the other. And he
said, take this kidney out of me and put it in him. Now brethren,
that's the Spirit of Christ. That is the Spirit of Christ.
That has just blessed me like I don't know than I've been blessed
any more than that experience. What an experience. What would it mean to you to
have the heart to love Christ and to love one another with
this kind of love? Inclined to others more than
to ourselves. And what would it mean to you
and to me to have an attitude, an attitude that reaches out
to others and a desire to see them saved like we ourselves
were saved. And I see this in Romans 9. Let me read this. The apostle
Paul said this in Romans 9. Romans 9, verses 1 through 3.
Paul says, I say the truth in Christ. I lie not. My conscience bear
me witness in the Holy Ghost. I have great heaviness and continuous
sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ, but my brethren, my kinsmen, according
to the flesh." Let's pray for one another. Let's witness to
one another. Let's preach to one another. Let's send missionaries
to reach people, to desire the salvation of others. Salvation
of others. Is this not the nature and experience
of the people of God? To want to see others come to
know Christ. I was in a Bible conference one
time years ago, and this meant a great deal to me.
I was sitting, it's been years ago, and I was sitting and the
preachers were preaching, They were taking up a special offering
for missionaries. Some fellow was going, I don't
remember who it was, he was going to the farm field, he was going
to take the gospel to reach people with the gospel of Christ. And
they were taking up an offering, and I was sitting by Brother
Barnard and by a friend of his, Brother Fred Simmons. There were
three of us sitting there, we were close friends, and they
started passing the plates. And they passed the plate to
me, and I dropped something in, and Brother Barnard, I didn't
know, but somebody had given him a new Elgin watch, a beautiful
new Elgin watch. Now, back now it's Rolexes. Then it was Elgin, an Elgin watch. Somebody had given him an Elgin
watch, a beautiful thing. And I saw him reach and take
that thing off his off his arm. He said, I got nothing to give,
I'll just give him my Elgin watch. And he dropped that thing and
it off and flung. Now that's, to me, is love. That's
experience. That's the spirit of Christ.
That's looking on the things of others more than on the things
of ourselves. And he thought nothing about it. I got nothing
to give, I'll just give him my Elgin watch. All right, what
would it mean to you to know that every success and every
failure and every joy and every sorrow and every good day and
every difficult day is ordained of God, is purposed by God, is
ordered by your heavenly Father, and even every step of a believer
is ordained of God And everything that takes place that day and
every day in the future will work together for your good,
for my good, and for His glory. This is the birthright and the
heritage of every believer. All things, all things work together
for good. Boy, that's a difficult one,
but it's so. I'm not talking about the present
good, I'm talking about the eternal good of every believer. 1986, Brother Bill Sasser gave
me a plaque to put on my office wall. And this is what it says. I need constantly to remind myself
that all things are of God. Let me not preach sovereignty
and then complain of my lot in life. Let me not talk of divine
purpose and then spend my days murmuring about my trials and
troubles. This is totally inconsistent
with faith in a sovereign Christ to question his good providence.
For as Paul said, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith
to be content. And with submission comes peace. And that's so. With submission. My last question, I close. What
would it mean, what would it mean to you and to me to know
assuredly that growing old and dying is the most wonderful and best
blessed thing and best thing that could happen to me and to
you. To grow old and to die is the
most wonderful and precious and blessed thing that can happen
to you and me. That's true of all of God's elect.
That's the best thing that can happen to you and me. It's going to be with the Lord.
Let me show you that Philippians. Philippians chapter 1 verse 20. Philippians 1 verse 20 through
24. This is the Apostle Paul speaking. Philippians 1 verse 20. According to my earnest expectation
and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that
with all boldness as always, So now also Christ shall be magnified
in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ,
and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this
is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose I want
not, because I am in a strain betwixt the two. I have a desire. to depart and be with Christ,
which is far better. Let me read one other verse and
I'll close. 2 Timothy 4, verses 6-8. 2 Timothy 4, verse 6. For I am now ready to be offered. The time of my departure is at
hand. I've fought a good fight. I've
finished my course. I've kept the faith. Henceforth
there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness. The righteous
judge shall give me that day, and thank God, not to me only,
but unto all them that love his appearing. Our Father, we thank you.