Good morning, everyone. Let's
open this morning's service with hymn number 62, Crown Hymn with
Many Crowns, and let's stand together. Crown him with many crowns, the
Lamb upon his throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem
drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul. of Him who died for thee, and
hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity. Crown him the Lord of love, behold
his hands and side. Rich wounds yet visible above,
in beauty glorified. No angel in the sky can fully
bear that sight, but downward bends his wandering eye at mysteries
so bright. Crown him the Lord of life, who
triumphed o'er the grave, who rose victorious to the strife
for those he came to save. His glory now we sing. who died and rose on high, who
died eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die. Crown him the Lord of heaven,
one with the Father, One with the Spirit through Him given
from yonder glorious throne. To Thee be endless praise, for
Thou for us hast died. Be Thou, O Lord, through endless
days adored and magnified. Please be seated. For our call to worship this morning,
turn with me to Psalm 27. We looked at the first portion
of this last night, and I wanna read the rest of it now. Psalm 27. We'll begin in verse seven. Here,
O Lord, when I cry with my voice, have mercy also upon me and answer
me. When thou saidst, seek ye my
face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek. Hide not thy face far from me,
put not thy servant away in anger, Thou hast been my help, leave
me not. Neither forsake me, O Lord, of
my salvation. When my father and my mother
forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. Teach me thy way,
O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies.
Deliver me not over and to the will of mine enemies, for false
witnesses are risen up against me. And such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted. Unless I had believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait
on the Lord. Be of good courage. And he shall
strengthen that heart. Wait, I say on the Lord. Let's
pray. Father, we have gathered in this
place once again. Desiring for you to say unto
us, seek you my face. For in you saying that, you have
enabled us to seek, and you have revealed yourself unto us. Lord,
as you command us here to have courage, we know that our courage
comes through and by Christ alone, resting in him, resting in his
finished work. Lord, cause us to believe right
now. Cause us to see your face. We pray that you would send your
spirit and power for our dear brothers about to bring the gospel
message. We pray that you would clear their mind. We pray that
you would clear all of our minds and cause us to focus on Christ.
We would see Jesus Lord this hour, we pray. And it is in his
name we pray, amen. Let's turn to number 235. Number
235, pass me not. And let's stand together again.
Do you hear the rain? Do you hear
the rain? Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Let me at a throne of mercy find
a sweet relief. Kneeling there in deep contrition,
Help my unbelief. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by. ? Trusting only in thy merit
? ? Would I seek thy face ? ? Heal my wounded, broken spirit ? ?
Save me by thy grace ? ? Savior, Savior ? hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Thou, the spring of all my comfort,
more than life to me, Whom have I on earth beside Thee? Whom in heaven but Thee? Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry. While on others Thou art calling,
? Do not pass me by ? Please be seated. Our first speaker
is Brother Greg Elmquist, and I still call him my pastor, and
I'll always call him my pastor. I'm very thankful to have him
and Donny and their families here with us, so pray for them,
and pray for us. Lord, give us ears to hear. Give
them the words to say. I pray that we were praying the
congregation, Lord, prepare our hearts, plow up the stony hearts
that we may be able to receive. Make it good ground, make it
good ground. You come preach to us, brother.
If you'd like to open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter five,
Mark chapter five. When the Lord saves a sinner,
he gives faith. And that faith trusts Christ
alone for all their salvation. And yet that sinner is still
left with his old man. And so every believer cries,
Lord, I do believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Help
thou mine unbelief. We're gonna be looking tonight
at a miracle that our Lord performs for the purpose of encouraging
us in that very prayer. Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. Hebrews chapter 12, the Lord
tells us to lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily
beset us. And I'm certain that each of
us have different temptations and different things that we
deal with and struggle with, but there's one sin. It says the sin that doth so
easily beset us. There's one sin that besets all
of us. And it is the root cause of all those other problems.
and it is the sin of unbelief, the sin of unbelief. And so all
of God's people are in need of what the disciples saw their
need for when they said, Lord, increase our faith. Lord, help
me to trust you, to believe you, help me to seek first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, The Lord tells us in his word
the reason why he performed the miracles that he performed. In
John chapter 20, John says, many other signs, and that's a very
important word in that verse, many other signs did Jesus that
are not recorded in this book. But these have been recorded
in order that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
son of the living God, and that believing you might have life
through his name. So the word tells us very clearly
the purpose that he had in performing miracles. He calls these miracles
a sign. People then, just like people
today, are enamored with the signs. They're enamored with
the physical miracles and they miss the spiritual meaning of
the miracles, the spiritual purpose of the miracles. It'd be like
going on a journey and every time you come to a road sign,
stopping and inspecting that sign and doing that so much that
you never get to your destination. But that's what a sign is. A
sign points to something else. And the Lord said, a wicked and
perverse generation seeketh after a sign. We refer to the miracles
of healing, the miracles of tongues, and all those things that were
extraordinary in the early days of the New Testament church as
sign gifts. That's what they were. They were
gifts that God had given to the church in order to point to Christ. You say, well, why don't we need
those sign gifts anymore? Because we have the complete
record of God's word. That's the reason. We test everything
now by scripture. We don't look for physical signs. We look in God's word for Christ and for our faith in him. You remember when those men brought
their friend who was crippled, and lowered him down through
the tiles of the roof. And the Lord saw him and said,
your sins are forgiven thee. And the Pharisee said, who is
this that forgives sins? And our Lord said, what is easier
to say, thy sins are forgiven thee, or stand up and walk? But
that you may know that the Son of Man hath power to forgive
sins, I say unto thee. So he performed that miracle
in order to confirm the truth of who he is and his
forgiving of sins. So when we read these miracles,
let us not lose sight of what the real miracle here is. The real miracle is spiritual. And that which is of the spirit
is spirit. that which is of the flesh is flesh, the flesh profiteth
nothing." And if the Lord's pleased to show us the spiritual meaning
of these miracles, we will find ourselves in the same place that Jairus
was, in need of faith, in need of faith. The real miracle that's
being performed here is giving faith to Jairus, not the raising
of his daughter from the dead. As wonderful as that was, that girl grew up and died again. And so whatever physical blessings
we receive from God are always temporal. They quickly fade away. But the
spiritual blessings are eternal. They're eternal. And that's what
we're in need of. We're in need of God to do a
work of grace in our hearts. and do something that will last
forever. You have your Bibles open to
Mark chapter 5. We'll begin reading at verse
21. And when Jesus was passed over
again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto
him, and he was nigh unto the sea. And behold, there cometh
one of the rulers of the synagogue. This is a man that served God
in the synagogue, obviously very familiar with scriptures. I think
of Nicodemus when I think of Jairus. a ruler of the Jews. And the Lord saying to Nicodemus,
Nicodemus, you can't even see the kingdom of God except to
be born from above. You need a spiritual blessing. And that's where Jairus was.
As religious as he was, as much as he would have known about
the scriptures, he was paralyzed by his unbelief. And when he saw him, when Jairus
saw the Lord, he fell at his feet and besought him greatly,
saying, my little daughter lieth at the point of death, and I
pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed,
and she may live. And Jesus went with him, and
much people followed him." Now, verse 25, down to the verse 34,
the Lord causes another woman, to come to the Lord, a woman
with an issue of blood, and you know the story. And I'm not going
to read those verses, but I want us to think for a moment about
the way Jairus must have been feeling while the Lord is being,
in his mind, interrupted by this other woman, rather than
going with him to his house. His anxiety was growing by the
moment because Matthew tells us in this story that she was
nigh unto death, that she was, Jairus came to the Lord, his
daughter was on her deathbed. We see that in this story, in
this record of the story. In verse 35, and when he spake,
there came from the rulers of the synagogue's house certain
which said, thy daughter is dead, why troublest thou the master
any further? And as soon as Jesus heard the
word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue,
be not afraid. Only belief. Jairus, that's your need, to
believe. If I could believe as I ought,
I'd never be afraid. Jairus' problem was not that
his daughter had died, as grievous as that would be, Jairus' problem
is that he didn't trust God. He needed faith. And the Lord
went right to the heart of the issue. The scriptures tell us that perfect
love, God's love, casteth out fear. David put it like this. What
time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. You see, believing God
is the only solution to our fears. Isaiah said it like this, thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.
You see, again, what we need is Christ. And if we have him,
we have everything. David in another place said,
trust ye the Lord, for he is thy everlasting strength. We are weak, we're prone to fear,
we're full of sin and unbelief. But it's not our circumstances
that we have a problem with, it is our sin. It is our sin. If we were able to believe God
as we ought, we could be asleep in the back of the boat in the
midst of a raging storm. You say, well, that was the Lord.
Yeah, well, what distinguishes Christ from us? He had perfect
faith. He had perfect faith. We don't. We're always in need
of more. And that faith comes in Christ. The apostles were beaten to the
edge of their lives and chained to a Roman dungeon. and singing
praises to God when the earthquake came and the doors opened. You see, it's really not our
circumstances. We could be cast into the fiery
furnace, and if one like unto the Son of God was in there with
us, then then the fire would not touch
us. Those Hebrew children came out
of that fiery furnace without the smell of smoke on their clothes,
and not a hair was singed. They were protected. and kept by the presence of the
Lord Jesus. Daniel was in the lion's den,
and it was the Lord that kept him in that horrible place. You and I are in need to be kept.
We are in need of, you know, so often we think, well, if the
Lord could just change my circumstances, everything would be all right.
No. Lord, change me. Change me. Truth is that the
way of the Lord, the scripture says, is through the seas. And
God stirs up troubles in the lives of his children in order
to reveal to them what their real need is. And beauty of heaven,
the scripture says that there is no more sea, no more trouble,
no more tears, no more sorrow, no more sin, no more unbelief. No more unbelief, we see him
in the fullness of his glory and we become like him and are
satisfied. When Samuel told Eli the judgment
of God against his family, what did Eli say? It's the Lord. It's the Lord, let him do whatever
he seems fit. Whatever he wills, it'll be right. God does it, it'll be right. That thief on the cross, could
circumstances get any worse than his? Tortured in crucifixion. Yet he heard the master say,
this day thou shalt be with me in paradise. That's what we need. We need to see his face. You
just read it, Caleb. The Lord calls thy face to shine
upon us. Yes, the sin that doth so easily
beset us is the sin of unbelief. Those disciples, when the Lord
was wakened from his sleep, The Lord said to the disciples, why
are you afraid? Another place where the Lord
asked a probing question. Why are you afraid? Oh, ye of
little faith. So he answers the question that
he asked. There's why you're afraid, because you have such
little faith. You don't trust me. And, uh, Peter got out of that boat and
walked on the water. Lord bid me to come unto thee,
and know what he said? The Lord said, come. Peter got out. Only man other
than the Lord Jesus ever walked on water. As long as he had his
eyes fixed on Christ, he was fine. But what happened? He took
his eyes off the Lord. He looked at the wind and the
waves and began to sink. See, every time we take our eyes
off of Christ, isn't that what happens? The Lord lets us sink
in our circumstances until we are brought as Peter was to say,
Lord, save me. And immediately he reached out
his hand. The real, the real reason for unbelief
is sin. And it's not our circumstances. It's our sin. And that can only
be met by the Lord saying to us, be not afraid, only believe. Only believe. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
43. Verse one. But now, but now,
thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed
thee, O Israel. You see, Jacob's that supplanter. He's that unbeliever. He's that
old man. He's that man that tries to take
things under his own control. And Israel,
he's the prince of God. There we are. And God, just as
he created us in our natural state, he also created us in
our spiritual state. And so he's saying, don't be
afraid because I created you, I made you. For I have redeemed thee. He
said, oh, Israel, fear not. How many times we read in God's
word, fear not, don't be afraid. Why would the Lord say that so
oftentimes? Yeah, yeah. You see, only a fool would say,
well, you know, I'm not. We're sinners. God's holy. And we have circumstances that
we don't have any power over. And so we have reason to be afraid. The man who says, I'm not afraid,
is a fool. He's not brave. He's ignorant, he doesn't understand
what's at stake. We're always in need of the Lord
to say, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. Not only did I
make you, I bought you. I purchased you, you belong to
me. You've been bought with a price. The precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ has been shed to make you my own. And I have called
thee. I've called thee by thy name,
and thou art mine. You belong to me. When thou passeth
through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior,
thy Savior. What a precious promise, what
a glorious God. When we were yet without strength,
without strength, here's what we are, Christ in due time. He died for the ungodly. Lord,
I don't have strength. I don't have strength. You know,
the word ungodly in the Bible, We look at our own hearts and
we see a lot of ungodliness. But if you look up the word ungodly
in the Bible, it's the word worship with the Greek alpha in front
of it. And just like in English, when
you put an A in front of a word, it reverses the meaning of that
word. And so in the original text,
when God says that we are ungodly, What he's saying is we're not
capable of worshiping God. We can't come into the very presence
of God. We can't approach a holy God. We don't have the ability but
by his grace. We can only come before the throne
of grace if the Lord gives us grace. And our acceptance before
God is only in the beloved. So, the Lord said, don't be afraid. I
created thee, I redeemed thee, I bought thee, I gave you your
name, you're mine. When you go through these trials
and these troubles, as Jairus was with a daughter that now
has died, the Lord says, don't be afraid. Only believe. Jairus's need was to believe
God. And that's your need and that's
my need. And it's constant. I want you to notice the exclusivity
of saving faith. He said, do not be afraid. That's
your problem. Your problem is fear. Your problem
is unbelief. And that's the root cause of
everything else that you think is the problem. And then he says, only, only
believe. To believe God is to rest in
Christ. It's to is to have all of our
hope in him. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that. I'm
trusting Christ alone. It's not Christ plus anything
else. I can't add anything to what
he's accomplished and to who he is. Christ is all my hope. And if God ever leads us to ourselves,
We'll diversify our hope in lots of other things. A simple illustration. Where
we live, we have pretty bad storms sometimes and we lose our electricity
sometimes for long periods of time. And I'm a pretty slow learner. But for years, we had flashlights
in every room of our house. And whenever we needed a flashlight,
I couldn't find one. I couldn't find one. And a couple
of years ago, I gathered up all the flashlights, put them in
one basket in one place, and they haven't moved in two years.
Anytime I need a flashlight, I know exactly where it's at. And it worked. Well, that was
pretty simple. We've got 10 flashlights in one
basket. You have your hope in anything
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't have all your flashlights
in one basket, all your eggs in one, if you don't have all
your hope on Christ and Christ alone, you're not gonna be able
to find help when you need it. When it gets dark, you're not
gonna be able to find a flashlight. We don't add our works, we don't
add our knowledge, we don't add our experience, we don't add
our feelings. We look to Christ. When that Philippian jailer asked
Paul, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Paul didn't say, well,
you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and then you have
to apologize for what you've done to us, and take care of
our wounds, and prove yourself to be a, no. He said, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved in all thine
house. Now he did those other things, but that wasn't a prerequisite
for salvation. When the Ethiopian eunuch Ask
Philip, what doth hinder me to be baptized? Philip didn't say,
well, if you believe with all of your heart, and then by the
way, you got to go back with me to Jerusalem because there's
nobody in Ethiopia that knows the gospel and you're such a
brand new, you know, we've got to disciple you. We got to take
you through our discipleship training classes and make sure
that you've got a good understanding before you go home and start
preaching the gospel. That Ethiopian eunuch, as far
as we have the book of Isaiah, I don't know what else he might
have had. Immediately when he came out of that water, Philip
was caught away by the spirit. The Ethiopian went rejoicing
down to, the eunuch went rejoicing down to Ethiopia. If thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. All right, you say, well, you've
been saying, preacher, that we have unbelief in our hearts,
and we do. And so how can you believe with
all of your heart? Are you talking about just not having any unbelief?
No, I'm talking about what Philip was saying. And that Ethiopian
answered the question when he said, I believe, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe that that one, he had
asked him, Does the prophet speak of himself or does he speak of
another from Isaiah chapter 53? And Philip beginning there in
that passage preached unto him Jesus. And the Ethiopian said,
I believe what you just preached. I believe that that is the Christ,
the anointed one, the Messiah, the only hope that I have to
be saved and to stand in the presence of a holy God. And I
had all my flashlights in one basket. This faith that we are in such
desperate need of can only come from God. For by grace are you
saved through faith and that not of yourself. Faith is not
a decision. Faith is not a choice. Faith
is not our contribution to salvation. We have a, got a call just this
morning. We have a lady in our church
that's three weeks early, but they're breaking her water and
she's in labor right now at the hospital in Orlando, Daytona
actually. And what's the baby's name? Jack. Jack. Lord willing, Jack
will be born today. And when he comes out of the
womb, he won't be breathing for a second or two until he's
born. If he's born alive, he will breathe. And the only reason a baby doesn't
breathe when they're born is that they're stillborn. And my point is that breathing's
like faith. We believe because we've been
made alive. Faith is the result of our salvation,
not the cause of it. That's such an important distinction
because everybody in the world makes faith the cause of salvation. God's done his part, now I have
to do my part in order to make what he did work for me. And
so I have to believe in order to be saved. The gospel of work says if you
believe, then God will save you. The gospel of grace says I have
saved you and you will believe. You're going to be birthed. Nicodemus, except you be born
of the Spirit, you cannot see the kingdom of God. And the Spirit's like the wind. The
Spirit of God births us and then we breathe. Faith is the evidence
of things hoped for. It's not the cause of it. God gives faith. Faith is what
we do when we're made, when we're birthed into the kingdom of God
by the spirit of God. When we're made alive, we just
breathe. You say, well, doesn't the Bible
say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes, and everything that
God commands us to do, God must provide. That's why he commands
it. He commands it in order for those
who he's made sensible to their need to say, Lord, what you've
commanded, you're gonna have to give me. A man can receive nothing except
to be given to him from heaven. Turn us again, O Lord. Turn us again. I love that. Turn
us again. I think there's five times in
that Psalm that David says that. Turn us again, O Lord, and cause
thy face to shine upon us, and we shall be saved. You see, we're
always in need of the Lord turning us. We're always in need of the
Lord giving us faith. Peter put it like this. In religion,
men talk about, you know, when they got saved. You don't hear
believers talk like that. Peter put it like this, to whom
coming? Always coming to Christ. Always
in need of faith. Always crying, Lord, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. Jairus, don't be afraid. As difficult as your circumstances
are, your need is to only believe. That's your real need. And that's
the real miracle. The real miracle that you and
I need is not for God to change our circumstances. The real need
that we have is for God to change our hearts. give us faith, reveal
Christ to us, and that we will only, only have him. David said
it like this in Psalm 143, cause me to hear thy loving kindness
in the morning. Cause me, cause me to know the
way in which I should walk. Where are you going to have to
cause it? Draw me, And I will run after
the Solomon said in the song of Solomon. Draw me and I will
run after the. Say, well, let the Bible say
that God commands all men everywhere to believe, yes. And the Bible
also says. That many are called. A few are
chosen. Children of Israel, when Moses
came down off the mountain with the law, first thing they said
was, we're going to do it. That's what God wants, that's
what we're going to do. Moses said, you can't keep God's law,
and he made a blood sacrifice right there. You see, that's
man's pride to think, well, God said do it, I'm going to do it.
God said do it, Lord, you're going to have to enable me to
do it. You don't have to cause me to believe. Here's my need. And my last point is the object of our faith. The object of our faith is not
faith. Men look in faith to their faith. They say, well, if you could
just believe harder, just believe more, just have more faith, That's
not what the Lord said. The Lord said if you had faith
as a mustard seed, you should say unto this mountain, be ye
cast into the sea. Faith is not in faith. And faith
is not in doctrine. We don't believe in the sovereignty
of God. We believe in a God who is sovereign. It makes a big difference. Faith
has to be in a person. And the Lord's looking at Jairus
in his eyes. Jairus, don't be afraid. You just heard that your daughter
is dead. Trouble the master no longer. Don't be afraid. Only believe. Only believe. Believe what? Believe me. Believe
me, trust me. It's not one's faith in Christ
that saves, it's Christ that saves. It's not one's hope in Christ
that saves, it's Christ who is our hope. It's not one's joy in Christ
that saves, it's Christ who is our rejoicing. He is the glorious
person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the third person of the triune
Godhead. He's the sovereign, omnipotent
Son of God, the uncreated, eternal, self-existent, Immutable. He's the same. He said, I am the Lord and I
change not. And that's the only reason why
you sons of Jacob are not consumed. The reason we're not consumed
by our circumstances and by our unbelief is because the Lord
refuses to change. He cannot change. He cannot change. That's why he said to Peter,
Peter, Satan has asked to sift thee. And before the night's
out, you're gonna deny me three times. What a horrible sin and
circumstances Peter found himself in. Here's what the last thing
the Lord said to Peter, be of good cheer. I have prayed for
thee. And the only difference between
Peter and Judas that night is that the Lord prayed for Peter.
He left Judas to himself. They both did the same thing. And when thou hast been converted,
you know, when, when, when, when did that happen? Well, it happened
at least twice when the Lord looked at him and Peter wept
bitterly. And then three days later on the seashore of the
sea of Galilee, when when the Lord came to Peter. I know it's
a love of when the Lord rose from the dead and told Mary,
go and tell Peter and the disciples that I'm alive. Go and tell Peter,
I have prayed for him and I'm gonna minister grace to him.
I'm gonna keep him. He's the uncreated creator and
sustainer of all of life. This is who we, this is the object
of our faith. The one who said, let there be
light and who is himself that light. The one who holds all
things together by the power of his word. You know, let the
men of this world try to figure out, you know, how's all this
thing, oh, our God holds it together. The brightest minds in the world
are, what are they looking for? They're looking for dark matter
out there in the universe. They call it the God particle.
They're never gonna find it. Never gonna, you can't put God
under a microscope. You can't see him in a telescope.
Only by the eyes of faith can God be seen and those have to
be given to us by God. It is our God that holds all
things together. And he's seated. He's seated
right now at the right hand of God. And he is worthy of all
praise and all glory and all power and all honor. Oh, what
a glorious savior he is. And our faith is not only in
him as a person, but our faith is in him for his accomplished
work. And he was able to do what he
did because he is who he is. As the all-powerful, immutable
sovereign Savior, he was successful, successful in what he came to
do. He came to save his people and he accomplished his purpose. Isaiah put it like, Daniel, I'm
sorry, Daniel chapter nine put it like this. Well, the Lord
put it like this in Daniel nine when he said, when he comes,
he's going to be the one who will make an end of sin, who
will finish the transgression, he will make reconciliation for
the iniquity of his people, and he will bring in an everlasting
righteousness. And that's what he did. That's
what he did. Believing in a Jesus who died
2,000 years ago in Jerusalem and offered man salvation, To be completed by something
that we do is not saving faith. It's not saving faith. He actually destroyed the works
of the devil. Remember when Samson took the
gates of Gaza? And Gaza means strength. And Samson, the strong man, a
picture of the Lord Jesus, took the gates of Gaza and put them
on his shoulder and carried them away. And the children of Israel
would go able to go in and destroy that city because of what Samson
had done. What a glorious picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said, he said, the gates of
hell shall not be able to prevail against me. And I'm going to
go into the very pit of hell and I'm going to lead captivity
captive. Those who are captive to their
sin, those who are unable to worship God, those who cannot
believe, those who are blind and dead, I'm going to bring
them out. And that's what he did. He brought
every one of them out, every one of them. And he took every
one of them with him back into glory. And we're just waiting now for
the Spirit of God to call the last one, the last one for whom
the Lord Jesus died, the last of God's elect. When they're
brought, like Jairus, to believe on Christ, This whole thing's over. It's over. There's no reason
for this world to exist one minute past that moment of time when
the last of God's elect is called to Christ. It's the reason for everything.
Men are trying to figure out, well, what's the purpose of life?
There it is right there. God's saving His people. He paid the full price of the
redemption of his people. There was not anything else to
be paid. I had a man in our home recently from India. And it's
the first time I ever actually met somebody that was living
in an arranged marriage. And I had a chance to talk to
him about it at length. I mean, he was in his 50s and
been married, got grown kids. And so, yeah, in India, our parents
put us together long before we met. And it worked well, working
good for them. I think sometimes some of the
choices that young people make for a spouse, I think you probably
should have let your parents make that decision for you. And in India, a dowry has to
be paid. And the dowry is always paid
by the bride to the bridegroom's family. Well, the two times the dowry
is mentioned in the Bible, it's the bridegroom that pays it to
the father of the bride. And the two times that it's mentioned,
once when Saul told David before he became king, for you to have
my daughter, Michael, you got to pay me a dowry. And what it's
going to be is 104 skins of the Philistines. David said, no trouble. He went out and got 200 and brought
them back. The other time was when Jacob's
sons deceived the men that had taken Dinah, I think it was,
the daughter of Jacob, and slept with her. And the man that had
slept with Jacob's daughter wanted her to wife, and he said, tell
me whatever the dowry is. He was willing to pay to the
wife's Father, a dowry. And the sons of Jacob said, you've
got to be circumcised and your foreskins will be the dowry.
So what's the significance of that? Well, in the cultures of
the world where the wife pays the dowry to the husband, it's
backwards. The husband always pays the dowry
for the wife in the Bible. And the dowry paid was circumcision,
was foreskins. What's the picture there? The
Lord Jesus Christ was cut off from the land of the living,
and that's what circumcision translated means. It means to
be cut off. And his flesh was cut off when he died on Calvary's
cross. What was he doing? He was paying
to the father of his bride a dowry to redeem her to himself. And
the father said, I'm satisfied. Price has been paid. He bought to himself his bride
and he says to her, be not afraid. The troubles, I sent them. When you go through the waters,
I'll be with you. Through the fire, I'll be with you. Be not
afraid. Only, only believe. Okay. When David had sinned with Bathsheba,
murdered Uriah the Hittite. About a year had passed and Nathan
came to him. And after Nathan told him kind
of a parable, David said, well, you tell me who it is, we'll
kill the man that killed that new lamb. Nathan said, you are
the man. And David confessed. David confessed,
I have sinned against the Lord. You know what Nathan told him? He said, fear not. Fear not,
the Lord hath put away thy sin. That's the best news that a sinner
could ever hear. Fear not, the Lord hath put away
thy sin. We're gonna sing a couple of
songs just as we did last night. If you need to use the restroom,
now's the time to do it. Let's go ahead and turn to number
227, The Cleansing Wave, and let's stand together. On the chorus, it says, we're
going to change the words to the cleansing stream. I see,
I see, I plunge and oh, he cleanseth me. Oh, praise the Lord. He cleanseth
me. Christ cleanseth me. Yes, cleanseth
me. Oh, now I see the cleansing wave,
the fountain deep and wide. Jesus, my Lord, mighty to save,
points to his wounded side. The cleansing stream, I see,
I see, I plunge and oh, he cleanseth me. O praise the Lord, he cleanseth
me. Christ cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth
me. I rise to walk in heaven's own
light, above the world and sin, with heart made pure and garments
white, and Christ enthroned within. The cleansing stream I see, I
see. I plunge in, oh, He cleanseth
me. Oh, praise the Lord, He cleanseth
me. Christ cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth
me. Amazing grace, tis heaven below,
to feel the blood applied. And Jesus only, Jesus, no, my
Jesus crucified. The cleansing stream I see, I
see. I plunge in, oh, he cleanseth
me. Oh, praise the Lord, he cleanseth
me. Christ cleanseth me. Yes, cleanseth
me. Please be seated. Number 112,
Blessed Redeemer. ? Up Calvary's mountain one dreadful
morn ? ? Walk Christ my Savior weary and worn ? ? Facing for
sinners death on the cross ? ? That He might save them from endless
loss ? ? Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer ? Seems now I see him
on Calvary's tree Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading
Blind and unheeding, dying for me Father forgive them, thus
did he pray. Meanwhile his lifeblood flowed
fast away. Praying for sinners, While in
such woe No one but Jesus Ever loved so Blessed Redeemer Precious
Redeemer Seems now I see Him On Calvary's tree bleeding, for sinners pleading,
blind and unheeding. dying for me. Oh, how I love Him, Savior and
friend. How can my praises ever find
end? Through years unnumbered on heaven's
shore, my tongue shall praise Him forevermore. Blessed Redeemer, Precious Redeemer,
Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree, Wounded and bleeding, Poor
sinners pleading, blind and unheeding, dying for me. Lacey's going to bring special
music now. attendeth my way. When sorrows like sea billows
roll, whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well,
it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well With my
soul, with my soul It is well, it is well With my soul Though Satan should buffet Though
trial should come Let this blessed assurance control, That Christ
hath regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed his own blood for
my soul. With my soul, it is well, it
is well with my soul. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious
thought, ? My sin not in part but the whole ? Is nailed to
the cross and I bear it no more ? Praise the Lord, praise the
Lord all my soul ? It is well, it is well with my soul my soul
it is well it is well with my soul and lord haste the day when my
faith shall be sight the clouds be rolled back as a scroll The
troth shall resound, and the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. Okay, Brother Donnie, you can preach to us. Well, I learned some things today.
Really did. Boy, that dowry. Oh, my. Oh, actually, when the Lord takes
the scriptures and unlocks them through preachers, oh, boy. It's a miracle that
God speaks to us anyway, but didn't take something, show you
something you never seen before, never heard before. I'll not forget that one. Two
other things you said. You can't see God through a microscope
or telescope. Only see him by faith. I'm gonna
forget those things. I'll forget those. Turn with
me to John chapter eight. That just goes to show you, you
never get too old to learn and you never preach too much to
learn. I can remember specific messages
and specific things that were said that stuck in my mind and
they've never left. And I may get old one of these
days and have what they call old age disease where I can't
remember anything, don't know nothing. But one thing I do know
is that God knows me, Christ knows me, and that's all that
matters. That's all that matters. John chapter eight, let me read
these first 11 verses. Jesus went unto the Mount of
Olives early in the morning. He came again into the temple,
and all the people came unto him, and I like this here, he
sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in adultery, and when they had
set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman
was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law
commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him
that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and
with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them
not. So when they continued asking
him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without
sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again,
he stooped down and wrote on the ground, And they which heard
it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one
by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. And Jesus
was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. And when
Jesus had lifted up himself, saw none but the woman, and said
unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned
thee? She said, no man, Lord. And Jesus
said unto her, neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. My subject this morning is law
and grace, what a difference. Law and grace, what a difference.
You can always tell somebody who is self-righteous, always
tell because they always Seeking to point somebody else's sin
out and never their own and they always seek to justify theirselves
That's what our Lord says those who seem to be righteous in their
own eyes despised others and That's what they do. They're
easily spotted because they find the sin in others, but seek to
justify themselves and here in this story our Lord Jesus Christ
as a woman taken in adultery and And what you have is you
have an awful, awful, bad, bad person confronted with an awful
lot of good people, self-righteous people, people who thought they
were better than anybody else. Instead of having any understanding,
having any pity, having any feelings for this poor woman, Self-righteous
people, they delight in putting people on the spot, making them
look bad. And they think by making them
look bad that they'll make themselves look better. And really, they
make themselves look so very, very small. And they, by pointing
out the doctors and others, think that they cause their light to
shine just a little bit brighter. But our master said, there's
only one light in this world, and I'm him. Only one light. And the Lord here is sitting
down, it says there in verse two, he went out of the Mount
of Olives, and early in the morning, he came into the temple. And
sat down, people came unto him and sat down. And I tell you,
what he's teaching, it said in verse three, the scribes and
Pharisees brought unto him a woman, taken in adultery, and set him
in the midst. They rudely interrupted our Lord
Jesus Christ. They come up with this woman
taking an adultery and they interrupted his teaching. And they re-interrupted
the Lord Jesus Christ and said, we've taken this woman. See this
woman here? And they take her and set her
right in front of everybody. It'd be like somebody coming
up here. There's this woman taking adultery. Look at her. What a mess she is. What an awful
person she is. And oh my, and this is what they
said. Oh, they rudely interrupt the
Lord Jesus Christ. And it says that they set this
woman right in the midst of everybody, everybody. And look what they
said. And they said, master, this woman
was taken in adultery. Now, it's bad enough to be taken
into adultery, but they caught her in the very act. Now, how
come they took and got her in the act? I'll tell you what,
some self-righteous man, because they didn't bring the man, that
man said, I know a woman, and I believe I'll go over, and then
you, and I'll tell you where we'll be, and I'll tell you what
we'll be doing. You come over there, and we'll catch Christ
in a mess, and we'll teach that fella that you gotta pay the
law of Moses or not something else. So that's what they did. And they present this problem
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And they said this in verse five.
Now, Moses in the law, Moses in the law, said that such should
be stoned. And then they said, what do you
say about it? What are you gonna do about this? What are you gonna
do about this? And it said, and the reason they
did this, look in verse six, the reason they did this, tempting
him, that they might have to accuse him. Wanted to find something
fought with him, wanted to find something wrong with him. And
our Lord ignored them and stooped down to write. And this is the
problem they put to the master, the scribes and the Pharisees
did. They swore to tempt him, they want to accuse the Lord
Jesus Christ. And they said, the law of Moses,
in fact, they told when our Lord healed that blind man born from
his mother's womb blind, they said, we have Moses, Moses is
our master, it's for this fellow, we don't know where he come from.
And these men knew, they knew the gentleness, they knew the
graciousness, they knew the, tenderness of our Lord Jesus
Christ, his compassion. They knew that the scripture
said he shall not cry. He shall not cause his voice
to be heard. He didn't do like these fellas
did. They loved to pray standing on the street corner so everybody
could see them. You know, it's like people going to a restaurant.
It's all hold hands now. We gotta let everybody know we're
Christians. I gotta put clergy on the back
of my car so everybody know I'm a preacher. Got to put a cross
in my lapel, got to put a cross, you know, they got to do something
to let you know they're religious. And that's the way these men
are. They got to let somebody know that they got some religion.
And they knew the gentleness of Christ, but Christ is not
the way they was. When they fasted, they screwed
up their face, oh, I'm suffering so bad for Jesus. And oh, they
done all that rigamarole, and I tell you what, but our Lord
Jesus was not like them. He didn't run around, look at
me, look at me, look at me. He didn't run around hollering,
I'm doing this, I'm doing this, and I'm doing something else.
That's what they did. And that's all religion can do. Look at me, look at me. Not look
to Christ, look at me. And oh, they thought. They thought
they could compel him to condemn himself by opposing the law of
Moses. He said, Moses said, Moses' law
said, stoner. What do you say about it? What
are you going to say about Moses' law? How are you going to deal
with this woman that the law says she's got to die, got to
be stoned? And they thought they could compel
him to condemn them by opposing the law of Moses. God help us
to learn something. Oh, may the Holy Spirit show
us something. We see the claims of the law
and the workings of the grace of God in Christ. What a great
difference. First of all, we see a sinner
under the law. Oh, it says up there in the Scribes
and Pharisees in verse three, brought unto him a woman taken
in adultery. Sitter in the midst, she's taken
the very act. Now she's a sinner. She's a sinner under the law.
Can't deny that. They can't deny that. Christ
didn't deny it. Oh, not only was she an adulterer
taken in the very act, and the law, this is all the law can
do. All the law does is condemn her,
pick up some stones. And when they talk about stones,
they're not talking about rock. I got a slingshot, and I use
it to shoot geese with. We got geese at the house, and
they just get in our yard, and they make an awful mess. I get
out my slingshot. Got little round rocks. But when they talk about stoning
people, they're talking about picking up big rocks. Big rocks. Hit them in the head with them,
knock them down, and pick up another big rock, smash it in
their face. I mean, they're not taking little,
not a whole bunch of folks picking up big rocks and start throwing
them at them. They take big rocks and kill people with them. Oh my. They make sure that there's
plenty of rocks around. And oh, they got this woman,
you know, The stoner to death? That's a terrible fact that cannot
be denied. As far as the law was concerned,
she was without any hope whatsoever. And that's what the apostle said.
He said, we know, we know that whosoever under the law, the
law speaks and it said it condemns everybody that ever bite guilty
before God and ever mouth be stopped. These fellas' mouth
was stopped. Every mouth be stopped. And no
flesh shall be justified in the sight of God by the law. By the
law. And so she was without hope.
She was under the curse of the law. Now let me say something. Where there is guilt, where there
is guilt, whether you feel it or not, the law can't do nothing
but condemn you. You know, most of us, if we get
a ticket when we're out rolling, the law gets us and catches us.
You know what most of us do? Just exactly like the law does
until God saves you. It makes you mad. It makes you
mad. And that's what the law does.
I'll give you an illustration of the law. You fellas go home
and lay down the law to your wife and see how well that goes. Now that's all the law does.
You go home and lay down the law to your wife. I want you
up at 7 o'clock and I want bacon and eggs for breakfast. And when
I come in at lunch, I tell you what, I want barbecue, coleslaw,
and supper I want on the table by 5 o'clock. Fellows, you've
had to leave the house. Now, that's what the law does.
It'll start a fight in your house. It'll start a fight. Men start
fighting with God. That's why it says that every
mouth may be stopped. When you find out what God says
about you, what the law says about you, how the law condemns
you, you'll quit looking to the law. You'll quit looking to justify
yourself. You'll shut your mouth, and that's
what Preachers, anybody else, when God starts teaching them
about sin, God starts teaching them about how holy and how righteous
he is, they shut their mouth. They quit talking about, I went
to church, and I've been this, and I've been that, and I've
done here, and I went that, I've done that. I've been praying
all my life. One fellow told me one time,
I believed the Bible all my life. You know what I told him? I said,
you've been believing too long. I had a Bible, I didn't believe
a thing in the world about it. Years and years ago, I was just
a young man. Oh, I was a kid and I was a mess,
I was a mess. I'll tell you what, I was an
awful, awful mess. And just got out of the hospital
and my poor mind and body was just in an awful, awful shape.
And so I said, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna
go buy me a Bible and I'm gonna start living right. So I went
out. We lived in Dayton, Ohio. And
I went out on North Dixie Highway. And I bought me a Bible. It's
a little old world Bible. And I took that Bible home. And
I said, I'm going to read it. And you know where I started?
Sermon on the Mount. I read about two chapters of
that. And I closed the Bible. And I said, well, that ain't
going to work. That's the first thing I said.
I said, there's no way I can live like that. You know what
happened? Shut my mouth. I thought, boy,
I'm going to live right. And I found out right then and
there, I still can't live right. The only hope I have of being
right is Christ himself, Christ being my righteousness. But oh
my, this woman was without any hope. And I tell you, the accusers
were clamoring for her death. But where in the world is the
man? It says you know they both shall be stoned. It said in Leviticus
and Deuteronomy you bring both of them. Not just one, both of
them. Where in the world is the man?
I'll tell you where he was. He has more of the deacons in
their synagogue. That's what his problem was.
Where's the man? According to the law, they both
must be stoned. And that's the danger. That's
the danger of people setting in judgment on somebody else.
They'll condemn one and let somebody else go. We don't have the ability
to judge righteously. We don't have the ability to
judge right. And why were they so anxious to condemn her? Because
man, he's so prejudiced, so willfully ignorant that they, all of us
are completely unfit. Not only from keeping God's law,
but we're unable to administer justice to any fallen man with
any right motive. We just can't do it. And that's
one thing I love about the, you know, we was talking about grace
people use a language that nobody else uses. We do. We call our church grace churches.
We call our preacher grace preachers. Huh? We do. We call our hymns,
we sing hymns that have something to do, glorify Christ. But what
I'm saying is, and this is what I love about the gospel. The
gospel, it's not left to us to judge men. The gospel does it. The gospel finds people wrong.
And that's why we probably preach the gospel. But oh, what terrible,
terrible lot the accusers under the law are. Oh, my, people come
under the law. I tell you, their accusers come
in all the world, the flesh, the devil, and the self-righteous
Pharisee. There was a man called me one time, and on a Saturday night,
he was in You know, we got some resorts around where we live,
and he'd come there to spend the weekend at some resort. And
he called me on a Saturday night and asked me what time the services
was the next morning. And I told him, and he says,
first thing he asked me was this. He said, how do you discipline
your church? How do you discipline your church?
I said, what do you mean? He said, well, how do you deal
with people that commit adultery and lie and steal and that? How
do you deal with those kind of people? I knew right then and
there he is reformed. I knew right then and there he
is a legalist. You know what I told him? I said, when I was
a lost man, when I was lost, when I went and bought that Bible,
I knew that lying was wrong. I knew that stealing was wrong.
I knew adultery was wrong. I said, when I was unconverted,
I knew everything that you're telling me to do, I knew every
bit of that was wrong. Every bit of that was wrong. So, you know, to me, I've been,
like I said, I've been pastor of the same church 45 years.
Never, ever has anybody ever been disciplined in our congregation.
If it can't be done from here, forget about it. Ain't no hope
for them. Ain't that right? Never have,
never have. I've had some folks come and
talk to me and all that, you know, and I'd have to tell them
the truth, but I've never, ever, by God's grace, ever brought
Never even called anybody apart and said, now listen, you've
done this and you've done that and you've done something else.
I've never done it. And I'm not never gonna do that. By God's grace, I'm never gonna
do that. Oh my, if you'd done that, I'd be the first one out
the door. Huh? I'd be the first one out
the door. But oh, look what now, look,
there's a sinner under the law. Now let's look at a sinner under
grace. A sinner unto grace. You know, the scriptures tells
us that the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came
by Jesus Christ. The law says, look what it says
there in verse five. Now the law, Moses and the law
commands us that such should be stoned. But what do you say? What do you say? Oh my. The law commands. They didn't
say, you know, no. What sayeth you? And this is
the situation they put to. They said, are you gonna obey
Moses' law? You're gonna obey the law, or
you're gonna let her go against the law, and you're not gonna
stone her. You see, one of the things they
found wrong with Christ, that he's a friend of publicans and
sinners. And that's what this woman is,
a sinner. And they don't like people being around sinners. They rub off on them. But oh
my, and what a contrast. The law says stone her. And they
said, what do you say? What do you say? Now you preached
it last night, the law is holy. God is holy, the law is holy. The law is just, the law is good. It says condemn, but what do
you say? Can you say live when the law
says die? And how our Lord handles this
question is a vital, vital, vital interest to us. First of all,
in some measure, it reveals our Lord's own character. Secondly,
it shows us his attitude toward the law. Thirdly, how he deals
with these accusers. And fourthly, how he deals with
this miserable, guilty, sinner woman taken in the act of adultery. Can you imagine how embarrassing
it was for her? Can you imagine how embarrassed
it was for her? I don't know about you all. I
can't speak for nobody but myself. But there are times that I loathe
myself, utterly, absolutely loathe myself. I feel like that my sin
is so great sometimes that I actually stink to myself. You know, when Paul says, Oh,
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of
death? What happened was, is that that means that he had a
dead body strapped to himself. And that dead body strapped to
himself, and you know when a body dies, it immediately starts corrupting. After a while, it starts stinking,
stinking very, very much. And that's what he's talking
about, this old dead body. And sometimes this old dead body
that we have, this old fallen nature that we have, sometimes
you don't have to leave the house, don't have to get off the couch,
don't have to get out of your chair, but oh my, oh my, that,
that corruption that's in you, that, oh God, that, that, you
just, oh, I stink to myself. Oh, and that's the way this poor
woman was. She was embarrassed. She was ashamed. She stood there. I'm almost positive that she
was scared to death that they're going to kill me here just any
time. They're going to kill me. I'm going to die right here.
They're going to stone me to death. They're going to kill
me. And oh, look how, look at the
mystery. Look how our Lord answered that. And they said, what sayest
thou? And this said in verse six, this
tempting him that they might have to accuse him. Watch what
our Lord done. He just stooped down, took his
fan and started writing. He just stooped down, started
writing. Wonder what he wrote. Don't tell us what he wrote.
But he stooped down to write. And these fellas are so cruel,
so hard-hearted, so wicked, and so mean, look what it says here.
In verse seven, they continued asking him. He's stooping down
and they want an answer. They're not gonna stop till they
get an answer from him. He's, I don't wanna hear what
you, Christ is stooping down as if he didn't hear a word they
said. Now let me tell you something about that stupid. Our Lord,
when he left glory, you're talking about the greatest humiliation,
in my opinion, I'm gonna quit preaching and tell you what I
think. I think that when our Lord Jesus came into this world
through the womb of a virgin, and grew up in this world, I
think that was the greatest humiliation that our Lord had to endure.
He left the splendor of glory, left the presence of his Holy
Father, left the worship of the angels and the seraphims and
the cherubims, and he came down here, left all that glory and
took a body like ours without sin. Oh my, what humiliation. And oh, he answered, he stooped
down. I believe that was when he's first come. I believe when
he left glory, he had to stoop so low. We sing that song, he
reached down. When the Savior reached down
for me, oh, he reached way, way down. And that's what I think
he's talking about here. Oh, what says thou? He said nothing,
but he did something. And oh, you know the first, there's
two places where God wrote with his fingers, two places. He wrote
the law on tablets of stone. That shows you how hard they
are. And second time that he wrote, thou weighed in the balances
and found warmth. Now, I don't know what he wrote.
I personally think that he wrote, love God with all your heart,
mind, body, and soul. I think that's the first thing
he wrote. First thing he wrote. And then look what happens now.
And they continued asking him. He lifted up his self. And now,
oh my goodness, what a revelation. What a revelation here. And then
he turned around and looked at them. He said, whichever one
of you all, among all of you, is without sin, pick up a rock. Pick up a rock. If you're without
sin, get your rock and go ahead and throw it. Oh, they thought, boy, he's ignoring
us. He's ignoring us. We've got him. How's he going
to deal with this business of law and this woman taking an
adultery? How's he going to deal with it? And then the scripture
said he lifted up himself. Lifted up himself. And oh, my,
and he said, he that was out sin. What he did, he said, you
talk to me about the law. I was the one that wrote the
law. I know the law. I obey the law. And look what
he said here. And oh, he lifted him up, and
he that is without sin, he turned the white light of God's law
unto him. They had no right to condemn
this woman, no right to bring this woman. They were sinners
themselves. There was one person in that crowd, one person that
could have picked up a stone and stoned her and done it justly.
The Lord Jesus Christ. He could have done it. But now
watch what happens now. Oh, they saw the ugly, ugly moat
of uncleanness in this woman's eyes, but not the beam of hypocrisy
in their own eyes, not the envy, not the pride, not the malice,
not the self-righteousness. It's easy to see somebody else's
sin. Oh, but our Lord said, if you're
without it, go ahead. Oh my, oh our Lord. I remember years ago, I was preaching,
and there was a fellow sitting in the back, and he'd come in
several times, and I got to preaching about being sinners. He jumped
up and stomped his foot and said, rest of y'all may be sinners,
but I'm not, and he walked out. He stomped his foot. He had to let everybody know.
I'll tell you another one, one time. You know, we have a lot
of experiences going through life, especially as preachers. I was preaching up in Kentucky
one time. And I preached up there about
five or six nights. And finally, this woman got up. This woman got up, and she turned
around and looked at everybody. And she said, do you know what
this man's saying about all you folks? He's calling you all sinners. He says, cause you wicked people.
Cause you depraved people. She said, listen, I know all
of you. You're not that bad. I know all
of you. You're not all that bad. And
she said that. And the preacher told me that
night, he said, I went home and said, now how's he going to deal
with that tomorrow when he gets up to preach? Never dealt with
it. I didn't care. She exposed herself. Right then and there, she was
a Pharisee. She was a scribe. Oh, you're
all not that bad. I'm the best one because I'm
going to stand up for you. Oh my, but our Lord Jesus Christ. It's just so easy, easy to see
somebody else in and deal with her, but what about our own?
And I asked this question the last time I preached this message.
I asked this question, and this is the question I asked. Whose
sin was greater, hers or theirs? And a fellow hollered out, hers! I don't think so. I don't think
so. No, no. Theirs was the greatest. What is more worse than self-righteousness? What greater sin is there than
self-righteousness? Nobody wants to You know, if you think about
a man being self-righteous before God, before Christ, before anybody
else, it's like a fella jumping off into a cesspool, into a septic
tank and climbing back out of it and said, boy, don't I look
great? Don't I smell good? Ain't I the finest looking thing
you've ever seen? And that's what self-righteousness
is in the sight of God. It stinks, it's rotten, it's
corrupt. And I tell you what, you can
spot it a mile off if God teaches you grace. Oh, if he teaches
you grace. And our Lord came to, here's
what our Lord came to do. He came to deal with sin. And
what kind of sin? Sin of the heart. That's where
the problem's at, right here in the heart. That's what that
old publican did. He beat on his heart and said,
God, this is where my problem's at. Oh, Lord, be merciful to
me, the sinner. And bowed his heart. That's where
his problem was. And I'll tell you, that's where
the problem's at, sins of the heart. It's the nature. And God
sees everything, but him, actions are weighed. You see? It's not so much what a person
does, but it's why he does it. Why did these men bring this?
Why is this woman in adultery? It's not so much why, but why
you do it. And when the why is dealt with, he deals with the what and everything
changes. Oh, He deals with the what, why
you do what you do. He deals with why we are we are.
He deals with the heart. And our hearts need change, and
grace and truth came by Christ. And our Lord Jesus Christ, bless
His holy name, like you said this morning, I want to be saved
every day, all day. I want to be saved, I want to
be saved. Of all the things, I could miss
a lot of things in this world, I miss my mind most of the time,
but I mean I could miss a lot of things in this world. But
one thing I don't want to miss, I don't want to miss Christ.
I know how deceitful the heart is. I know how self-righteousness
is born and bred in us. But oh my, please don't let me
miss Christ. I don't want, Lord, I want to
know Christ. I need Christ. I've got to have Him. I can't
imagine life being without him. God is so, everything that you
can touch, taste, and handle is temporary. But boy, bless
his holy name. He's eternal, and he gives us
everything. He gives us spirituals, eternal
things. But look what happens now. And
he lifted up and said, he that's without sin, let him first cast
a stone at her, said in verse seven, and he stooped down again.
And he wrote on the ground, wrote on the ground again, stooped
down again. And look what I said in verse
nine, oh, look at the conviction now. And they which heard it,
being convicted by their own conscience, Oh, not Holy Ghost
conviction. When Holy Ghost conviction comes,
He convinces you first of all of sin. That's the first thing
He'll convince you of. Second, He'll convince you of
righteousness. You ain't got one. So you're the only one they
are. And of judgment. That either you'll be judged
or Christ will be judged. But here's, look what He goes
on to say. And they were convicted, and
here's by their own conscience. Own conscience. People say, let
your conscience be your guide. You better not. You better not. And they went out. And listen,
this is what I like about it. I said, well, this fellow, I'm
going to sneak out of here, you know. And here it goes. It started
at the oldest one. Age will teach you a little thing
or two. The older, that old fellow starts
sneaking out of there, you know. He was slipping away. I believe
I'll go this way, and next thing you know, the youngest one in
the bunch was the last one to go. The last one to go. And oh my, they went out one
by one, even to the eldest and to the last. And oh my, where
was the courage now? Where's those accusers? Our Lord,
where are those unaccusers? They went out one by one. Where
was their courage now? Where was their boldness now?
They could face their sins, her sins, but they couldn't face
their own sins. They wanted to deal with her
sins, now they can't even deal with their own. They came to
make a fool out of Christ and left being made fools of. And
oh, look what happens now. Oh, look what happens. And when
Jesus lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto
her, woman, who are those thine accusers? Ah, hath no man condemned
thee? And this is what I love, you
know, listen, everybody else was gone. Nobody but her and
Christ. That's what has to happen. You
and Christ by yourself. Christ got her by herself, left
alone with her and her alone. Christ deals with us, every one
of us individually. He dealt with her, her sin was, and I, but the Lord The law can
show you your sin, but only being alone with Christ can they be
dealt with. Oh, and here's the real purpose
of the law. It brought her to Christ. That
condemnation and that guilt and all the law did was end up bringing
her to Christ. And they thought, well, they
got her. But they brought her to Christ. What a wonderful,
blessed, and position to be left in to be alone with the Lord
Jesus Christ. How many places have we found
that in the scriptures? Was he alone with Christ? Alone
with Christ. And look what she said now. She
said, woman, we're your accusers. She says, no man condemn thee.
And oh my. And that's who you're dealing
with now. She's dealing with the Lord. She said, there ain't
nobody here, Lord. There's not a man left. Nobody. Not a man left. How can this
be? How can this be? Oh, my. Yet our Lord has to deal with
her. Truly, the Lord Jesus is the friend of sinners. And look
what our Lord said. Neither do I condemn thee. I
don't either. I don't either. I don't either. And go and sin no more. Now this,
when it lifted himself up the second time, I believe that when
he stooped the second time, I believe that was like him going to the
cross and going to his grave, and he's wrote down, it is finished,
it's done, it's accomplished. And when he raised himself back
up, he's on resurrection ground. And that's why he could say,
neither do I condemn, the atonement's been made. That's why I condemn
thee not. And he lifted himself up, standing
on the resurrection ground. Atonement's been made. The law's
been honored, satisfaction. Sin no more. What does he mean? Now, don't go out and never sin
again? No, of course that's not what he means. What he means
is, live to my glory. I've made you a new creature
in Christ. Sin won't be your master anymore. Sin shall not
have dominion over you anymore, because you're not under law
anymore. You're under grace. And oh my. And where sin abounded,
you know what happened? Grace abounded more. Oh my. If it was not going to sin no
more, and I won't condemn you to your sin again, that's not
what he said. No, you know what the scriptures
tells us? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Why? It's Christ that died. That's why. Not only did he die,
but he's risen again. And who is he that justifies?
Who is he that God justifies? And I tell you what, I've got enough sin just in me
without having to go out in the world and do something. You know,
I don't know how to say it. Everybody here knows and understands
what I'm saying. But that's the very reason why
we need Christ. How many times, how many times
have you in this building, this morning, listening on Christ,
how many times have you said, Lord, save me? How many times
have you said, Lord, have mercy on me? How many times have you
went and said, Lord, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I acted that way. I'm
sorry I said that. I'm sorry I treated that person
that way. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was so
hateful. I'm sorry I was so mean. I'm
sorry I'm so impatient. I'm sorry, Lord. Please forgive
me. How many times have you done
that in your life as a believer? That's why we need Christ. That's
why that Lord said, woman, I don't condemn you either. I don't condemn
you either. Our hearts are, well, I gotta
shut up. But I'll tell you, oh, what a
wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. What a wonderful Savior
to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock. Amen. Donnie was saying, how many times
have you said you're sorry unto the Lord? It's good news to know
that the scripture says, if you confess your sins, he's faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I love the passage there that says, Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness, to everyone that believes. The Lord calls
us to believe. Well, I can try to find that song, Donny, you
were singing there. It's 256, I believe. 256. It is well with
my soul. What was the? 258. 258, he hearteth
my soul. Let's sing that, 258. Let's all stand together. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock, where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love, and covers me there with His hand. and covers me there with his
hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord. He taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up and I shall
not be moved. He giveth me strength as my day. He hideth my hope in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love. and covers me there with His
hand, and covers me there with His hand. With numberless blessings
each moment He crowns, and filled with His fullness divine. I sing in my rapture, O glory
to God, for such a Redeemer is mine. He hideth my soul in the
cleft of the rock, that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me
there with His hand. With clothed in His brightness
transported, I rise to meet Him in clouds of the sky. His perfect salvation, His wonderful
love, I'll shout with the millions on high. He hideth my soul in
the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love and covers me there with His hand. and covers be there with his
hand. We are going to have a picnic
at the Earl Township Park. There's some bulletins printed
out there. If there's not anymore, you need one, you let me know.
That has the address on it. Plug that into your GPS. We're
at Pavilion B. We have it rented all day. So
if you want to head there now, you can. The idea is we're going
to try to eat at 4. So you'll see some of us showing
up at 2.30, starting to cook, things like that. If you brought
clothes to change, you could change here. They have bathrooms
there, nice facilities you could change there. Hopefully a good afternoon of
fellowship. Thankful for the weather was
given us beautiful weather. Very, very thankful. Thank you
men for those messages. The Lord blessed him. I believe
the Lord's met with us the last two days and continue to pray. Lord be merciful. Be merciful
for tomorrow and bless our time together at the park. Rob, will
you will you dismiss us in prayer? We're thankful for the manner
that you provided. We pray, Lord, you keep us safe
today. And it is to gather together in love, the love that you give
to your people, that we would give to one another in fellowship
and honor for all that we say and do. We're so thankful, Lord,
for this day. We pray for us tomorrow to gather
again. And we ask that we worship you
in truth and in spirit. captain of our salvation. We
ask all this in your son's name. You're dismissed.