Your pastor has bragged so much
on me. You are very, very dear to Shelby, myself, to our folks
in Danville, folks in Dingus. We've been very much a part of
one another's lives for a long, long time. I thank God for you. Brother Gary Vance, Brother Tom
Harding, two of the most faithful men I've ever known in my life.
Dear friends, faithful, gifted pastors, faithful servants of
our God, you are greatly blessed of God to have this man for your
pastor. I said this to him at supper
because I wanted to say it to him and I say it to you because
I won't say it to you. There are very few men who will
labor doing something that has nothing to do with their name.
and labor hard at it. John Gill, brilliant and famous
as he was in his own day 300 years ago, took a great deal of time before
the days of electronic media like we have now and got a copy
of Tobias Crisp's work called Christ Alone Exalted and made
some editorial notes in it giving some explanation of things that
would not commonly be understood in his day because the book had
been written many, many, many years before his day and had
that book republished just because of the worth of the book. And
Brother Tom and Bridget have taken the time, as you know,
maintaining Brother Mahan's tape ministry along with Anthony Moody
down in Kingsport. But Tom and Bridget have taken
the time to gather Brother Mahan's bulletin articles. and putting
those things out both digitally, electronically and in books.
I sent him all that we had but all I did was just gather them
up and send them to him. He had to go through them and
Bridget re-typed them, make corrections and so forth. And it's a, Shelby
mentioned to him, to them during supper tonight, somebody has
one of Brother Mahan's articles in the bulletin. I have no idea
how many come across my desk. I read every one that does, but
at least half a dozen every week come across my desk with quotations
that You've provided for folks, and God continues to use them.
I commend faithful men, and I commend you, your faithfulness in the
gospel of God's grace, steadfastness in the cause of our Redeemer.
With that in mind, I want you to turn with me to 1 John chapter
3. And while you're turning, I'll tell you why I'm bringing
this message, why I believe God would have me to bring this message.
First and foremost, as always, for the glory of God. Let me say no more than is true.
I want more than anything in this world, God's glory in everything. In my life, in
my labor, in my family, in my home, in this world, God's glory. And in preaching, every message
ought to be prepared with the earnest desire that God in his
person and in his work be glorified, exalted, magnified. These days,
church houses are commonly built for the honor of men, and church
services commonly function to promote the honor of man. This
is indeed the day of Antichrist, as Paul describes it in 2 Thessalonians
2, when man is set in the house of God and demands that men worship
him as though he were God. Now you can go up and down the
river here, go up and down the hollows along here, go through
the county, go through the state, and about everywhere you go where
there's a church building of any kind, doesn't matter whether
it's Baptist or Campbellite or Methodist or Papist, wherever
it is, nothing goes on except the honor of man. Attributing
to man, power that belongs only to God. Attributing to man, honor
that belongs only to God. Attributing to man's will, that
which belongs only to God. Or to man's work, that which
belongs only to God. Let us in everything we do, especially
in the house of God, seek God's glory. Every message prepared
for that purpose. In preaching this message, it
is my prayer that God, the Holy Ghost, will inspire your hearts, the hearts of you who know God,
you who are washed in the blood of Christ, you who are born of
his spirit, you who are loved of God with everlasting love.
Oh, may he inspire in your heart and mine worship and praise and
devotion and consecration to him. I had a pretty good professor
of homiletics and pastoral theology when I was in school. He used
to make this statement at least once every couple of weeks in
the class. He'd say to us, men, where there's no summons, there's
no sermon. Where there's no summons, there's
no sermon. A man hasn't done his job preaching,
bringing a message from God, if he doesn't call for something
from you. I'm calling for something from you. And from you. And from you. And from me. Oh, that our hearts may erupt
in devotion to Christ. or that he might by his word
draw each of you afresh to himself in utter devotion, in utter commitment,
in the utter consecration of your lives as he was and is completely
consecrated to us. Isn't that amazing? God the Son
is completely consecrated to us. Completely devoted to us. Completely devoted to our well-being. Completely devoted to our salvation. Completely devoted to our eternal
honor with Him in heavenly glory. So, Spirit of God, devote us
to Him. And I bring you this message
thirdly because I want you who yet know not our Savior, to know
Him. And I want, by the grace of God,
by His Word, by His Spirit, to entice you, to allure you, to
persuade you, to believe on the Son of God, to trust the Lord
Jesus Christ, to give yourself in the totality of your life
to Jesus Christ the Lord. Now with those things in mind,
let's begin in 1 John chapter 1 and verse 8. I want us to do three things.
First, I want us to take a good, honest look at ourselves. And then we will take a look
at our Lord Jesus as he's revealed in this book. And then we'll
take a look at ourselves in him. as it is revealed in this book.
First, let's take an honest look at ourselves as we read verses
8, 9, and 10 together. First John chapter 1, verse 8. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Anybody who
says he's without sin is deceiving himself. He'd been lied to and
he's a liar. He deceives himself and attempts
to deceive you. If we confess our sin, if we
confess our sin, that's not talking about going to a papist, one
of those fellows dressed like a woman and going to a confessional
booth and confessing that you've done some bad things to a man.
And that's not talking about coming down to the front of a
Baptist church at an altar and confessing that you got drunk
on Saturday night. That's not what it's talking
about. Confessing your sin to me won't do you any good. I don't
need to hear about it and don't wanna hear about it. Confessing
your sin to the church won't do anybody any good. They don't
need to hear about it and you don't need to talk about it,
except to God. Now that's difficult. If we confess
our sin, open our hearts to God and acknowledge what we are. Open your heart to God and acknowledge
before God what you wouldn't dare say to any human being,
what you are. Can you do that? If we confess
our sins, He is faithful Faithful to his word, faithful to his
covenant, faithful to his son, faithful to himself, faithful
to his people, faithful and just. Just. The only way Roland Barney
and God can forgive your sins is justly. He can't do it otherwise. I hear folks say, I don't want
justice, I just want grace. You can't get grace without justice. He's faithful and just, just
through the blood of his son, just because justice has been
satisfied by the sacrifice of his son, just because his son
has paid the full debt for our sins. If we confess our sins,
he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. He not only forgives, but sprinkling
the blood on our own hearts, he cleanses us of a guilty conscience
from all unrighteousness. Do you remember what the book
of God tells us about a fellow named Enoch? Enoch walked with
God. And before he was translated,
he had this testimony that he pleased God. Now, I know what
religious folks make of that. I want to have a good testimony.
I want folks to think good of me. Now, I want you to think
good of me. I really do. I work hard at it. I want my wife, my daughter,
my son-in-law, my grandchildren, my neighbors, the folks I preach
to, my family, I want them to be proud to be identified with
me. I don't want to cause shame or embarrassment to folks who
are identified with me. But that's not what it is to have the kind
of testimony Enoch had. That ain't what it is. He had
this testimony that he pleased God. Not, other folks looked
at him and said, boy, if anybody gets to heaven in Enoch, sure
will, he's a good man. They don't know anything about
pleasing God. Your neighbors don't know anything
about pleasing God. What's he talking about? God said to Enoch,
you please me. Will you listen to me? I have
a good testimony. God says to me by his word, by
the sprinkling of the blood on my heart, giving me faith in
Christ, you're free from sin, righteous and pleasing in my
sight. A good testimony that it pleased
God. He's faithful and just to forgive
us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Verse
10, if we say that we have not sinned, Now, I've been preaching
now for about, what, 10 minutes? Well, that was good. I hadn't
done any sin there. We make him a liar. You read your Bible,
you pray, you go to church, you give, you sacrifice, you devote
your life to the cause of Christ. That's a good man. He hadn't
sinned. You make God a liar. Because
everything you touch is sin. Everything you do is sin. Everything
you handle is defiled. If we say that we have not sinned
in anything like the harlot who says, I'm as good as you, I've
not sinned. You make God a liar. You make
God a liar and his word is not in us. I'm speaking as honestly
as I can to you about you and to you about myself because I
want you to do something that practically nobody will do. I
want you to be honest with God. Honest with God. What is there
in you, in me by nature? Just see it. That's all. That's all. Before God saved
me, I never really thought that somehow or another, sin would
be eradicated from me. I just wasn't, I wasn't brought
up in that kind of nonsense, but I wouldn't, the kind of nonsense
I was brought up in wasn't religious, but I wasn't brought up to believe
anything like that, and I didn't have any thoughts like that.
But I did really think, David, it would get better. I really
did. I thought, now, once the Lord's
saved me, things are gonna change. And things do change, but sin
doesn't get any better. One day, shortly after God saved
me, I woke up and realized that monster rages in me now, just
like it always did. There's nothing inside me by
nature that's any different, nothing. When God saves a man,
he does not change his heart. He gives him a new heart, but
he doesn't change that old one. He doesn't change his nature.
He gives him a new nature, but he doesn't change that old nature.
And that old man Adam, flesh, carnality, unbelief, unrighteousness,
the serpent is still in him as much as ever. Before God saved
you, did you ever imagine that a saved man could love Christ
so little as you do? That a saved woman could be so
much attached to this world and so little attached to the Son
of God as you are? Did you ever imagine that you
could find reading God's Word difficult? I had more difficulty reading
this book than anything I read. I mean it. I can focus and concentrate
on newspaper ads about stuff I'm not even interested in. I
mean, just word ads. Wonder what's for sale today.
I can focus on it and have absolutely no interest in anything I'm reading.
And I picked this book up. As soon as you started to read
that blessed 103rd Psalm, as soon as you started to read Psalm
31, I'm reading, oh, what a passage. I mean, as soon as you start
reading, my mind runs a thousand directions. In a thousand directions. How can that be? Did you ever
imagine that a saved man, a saved woman, could find it so difficult
to pray? I'm not talking about saying
prayers and repeating prayers, I'm talking about praying. I never dreamed it could be so,
but that's the way it is. I never dreamed the lust, the
blasphemies, the adulteries, the fornications, the murders,
the thefts, the false witnesses, which our Lord says proceed out
of the heart. would really proceed out of our
hearts, but they do. No matter how young you are as
a believer or how old. Those things are just fact. Several
years ago, I was invited to preach up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Word got out, of course my name's
pretty well known among some folks, and friends like me and
folks who don't like me don't, and they talk, and a whole bunch
of reformed folks came to the services and they wanted to have
dinner the next day. And I didn't want to go because
I knew they wanted to have roast don and I don't like the taste of
it, but arrangements were made and we went. There were probably
15 or 20 preachers sitting at the table, and they were all
asking all kinds of questions. In fact, I had just preached
the night before from the latter part of this third chapter of
1 John. And they had real difficulties with it. And one of the young
men who had been converted for about 10 years, I think he's
selling cars or liquor or something now and not preaching anymore,
but he was pastoring. He was a chief spokesman of the
folks, and he was talking to me about this idea of progressive
sanctification. Now, this is what he means by
that, that once a fellow is saved, he gets more and more righteous.
He gets more and more holy until at last he's ripe for heaven.
And he's talking that nonsense with me, and I listened and listened.
I wanted to eat. I was hungry. And I had something
in my... I said to him, I called him by
name, I said, you seem to be, she spoke when you said you were
saved 10 years ago and you talk about getting more and more holy.
I want to ask you a question. And I said, tell me, are you
more holy now than you were 10 years ago? That restaurant was
packed. I believe you could hurt a fellow,
tear a piece of lettuce. I mean, everybody wanted to hear
the answer. And I looked at him real firm like, and he looked
at me real sharp like, and everybody else looked like, what's he going
to say now? And he said, well, honestly, I'd have to say I am. And I said, well, honestly, I
have to tell you either you or I, one, don't know God. One of
us just don't know God. That's all there is to it. One
of us just do not know God. If we say we have no sin, we
make God a liar and his word is not in us. All right, that's
what we are by nature. Now, look at chapter three, 1
John chapter three. Let's take a brief but very careful
look at our Lord Jesus as he's revealed in scripture. 1 John
chapter three, verse five. Now read the scripture, and I
know this sounds redundant, but it's not. When you read the scripture,
read it like it is. Don't read it like you've been
taught to read it. Don't read it like you think it's supposed
to read. Read it like it is. Now hear what John says. He's
writing by divine inspiration. God the Holy Ghost gave him the
words. So this is what God says, and you know If you know God,
you know this. You know. If you know your Bible,
you know this. You know. If you've been taught
of God, you know this. You know. If you've been born
again, you know this. He, that is the Lord Jesus Christ,
was manifested. He was brought out to light. In the incarnation, in his life
of obedience, unto death. He was manifested to take away
our sins. He was manifested to take away
our sins. And in him is no sin. Now let's look at that text for
just a minute. He who was made sin for us, when
he hanged upon the cursed tree under the wrath of God, Jesus
Christ, God's darling son, knew no sin. He had no sin. He did no sin. He was without
sin, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Though
he is the only man who ever lived who truly knows what sin is,
for he is God, yet he knew no sin. He ate and drank with sinners. He graciously received sinners,
but he was himself infinitely separate from sinners. I find
this amazing. I'd like to know more about it. There was never a human being
who ever walked on this earth around whom sinners were more
comfortable than the sinless one. That ought to tell you something
about your pretended self-righteous goodness, shouldn't it? Oh, what
a horrible thing that I should make sinners feel guilty around
me because they're sinners. What a horrible thing. He who knew no sin constantly
was found in the company of harlots and publicans and sinners. And
they were perfectly comfortable in his presence. Our Lord Jesus, however, was
a real man. In order to redeem us from sin,
In order to bear the wrath of God in our stead. In order to
suffer the wrath of God. In order to die for man. He must
become a man. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. He became him in bringing many
sons to glory to be made like unto his brethren. He could not
bring us to glory without becoming one of us. The law of God had
to be honored. Justice had to be satisfied.
And only a man who had sinned could suffer for man and suffer
the wrath of God. But this man, this one who must
be a man, must also be a man of infinite worth. He must be
God. God in the flesh. God became
a man. God became a man. I keep saying
that because I've been, I read a good bit of theology, and I've
been taught pretty good by some men, but folks have the idea
that without not ever saying God became a man, he assumed
our nature. That's not what the book of God
teaches. The word was made flesh. God became one of us. He never
ceased to be God but he became one of us permanently. Right
now yonder in glory is seated a man in whom resides forever
bodily all the fullness of the all that God is resides in him,
the infinite incomprehensible God in Jesus Christ, the man. This man being God is of infinite
worth so that he is able at one time in one day by one sacrifice
to put away to put away sin. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. He was manifested to take away
our sins. Either he did it or he didn't.
The scripture does not say he was manifested to make it possible
for our sins to be taken away. The scripture does not say he
was manifested so that he could provide for our sins to be taken
away. The scripture does not say he was manifested so that
our sins might be taken away. He was manifested to take away
our sins. And your pastor read it, as far
as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions
from us. As far as the east is from the
west. Brother Moose Parks, years ago,
made this statement. He said, I'm so glad that the
psalmist said as far as the east is from the west, not as far
as the north is from the south. You see, I know where the South
Pole is, and I know where the North Pole is. And if you could
find the North Pole or the South Pole, if that's what it said,
you might find my sin. Anybody ever heard of the East
Pole or the West Pole? Until you can find the East Pole
or the West Pole, you can't find our sin, not if you're God's. He took away our sins. He purged
them away. He blotted them out. So thoroughly
so, that the Lord God declares, I will not remember thy transgressions. If God doesn't remember them,
they're gone. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Your
sins are pardoned and you are free. They're all taken away. The Lord Jesus Christ, as our
surety, as our substitute, as our mediator, before the world
began, became totally responsible for his people. Totally responsible
for our debt. Totally responsible for our sins. Totally responsible for righteousness
God demanded from us. Totally responsible for the satisfaction
of justice. And God Almighty never looks
to you for any of that. Only to Christ. only to Christ. And he, with one tremendous draft
of love, drank damnation dry. He was manifested to take away
our sins. And he took away our sins. You see, redemption means forgiveness. Read the Word of God again. There
is no such thing as forgiveness without redemption. And there's
no such thing as redemption without forgiveness. In Christ, we have
redemption through his blood. What does that mean, Paul? The
forgiveness of sins. That's what it means. If Christ
died for you, your sins are forgiven. If Christ redeemed you, your
sins are forgiven. If Christ shed his blood for
you, your sins are forgiven. There's no possibility that any
sinner for whom Christ died should wind up suffering the wrath of
God for his sins, not in hell, and not in sickness, and not
in poverty, and not in heartache. God Almighty will never deal
with Don Fortner on the basis of his sin. Never, never, never. He dealt with my sins in his
son with finality. He deals with me only in grace
through blood atonement as a son forgiven. So that God looks on
our sins not as offenses to be punished, but as diseases to
be healed. as sicknesses to be nurtured, as diseases to be taken from
us. Never offenses to be punished. The Lord God, our Savior, took
away our sins like that scapegoat, let go, outshining no man's life,
bearing the sins of the people. Gone forever. Gone forever. All right now, let's look at
ourselves as we are in Christ. You know that he was manifested
to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Are you in him? Brother Gary, are you in Christ?
Do you trust Him? Do you believe Him? But not like
I should, that's not what I said. Have strong faith, that's not
what I... Do you believe on the Son of God? If you do, you're
in Christ. And in Him is no sin. In Him is no sin. The Lord Jesus, our mediator,
made our sins His own. and he put away our sins and
now in him we have no sin. Now, Brother Don, surely you
don't mean for us to understand that the believer never sins.
No, I don't. You know that. Anybody have any
question about that? No, no, no. I don't mean that
at all. Sins mix everything we do. That's all we are by nature. Well, surely that doesn't mean
that God's not aware of our sins. No, he's aware of our sins. To
say he's not would be to deny his omniscience. Surely then
that doesn't mean that God's not displeased with our sins.
He is. He most certainly is. To say he wasn't would be to
deny his righteousness. We read about a man named David
and something he did to a man named Uriah. Boy, God sure got upset with
David there, didn't he? No. Oh no, he didn't. Oh no, he didn't. Sure looks
like it to me. Things are never the way they
look like to you. They never are. But God caused his boy to
die. Sure did. The scripture says
the thing that David did displeased the Lord. Never does it say that
David displeased the Lord. There's a huge difference. Never
does it say that David was displeasing to the Lord. The thing David
did displeased the Lord. And God chastened him for it.
And God broke him for it. God broke him for it. And God
knows how to break. Read Psalm 32. Read Psalm 51. God broke him. David offered
no excuse. God broke him. God killed his
boy. God showed David and Bathsheba
and all of Israel, this is horrible, this is evil. I'm God who delights
in mercy. And they gave the boy a name,
said call him Solomon. And God sent his prophet back,
said call him beloved of the Lord. beloved of the Lord. Go tell
David. Everything's all right. Everything's
all right. One of my favorite texts in scripture
is Mark 16 verse 7. After the resurrection, The angel
of the Lord appears to those two women, and they run to, he
said, go tell his disciples that he's risen like he said he was.
And they started to wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait. I got one more thing to say. Be sure to tell Peter.
Tell Peter I'll meet him at Galilee just like I said I would. Go
tell my servant Peter everything's all right. The last word Peter
heard from him was before the sun rises tomorrow, Peter, You're
going to deny me three times. You believe in God, believe also
in me. That's exactly what it said.
That's exactly what it said. You believe in God, believe also
in me. You see, faith believes God in
the teeth of fact. See it? Sin. That's what you are. Sin. That's what we do. Sin. And God
says, reckon yourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive to
God. Reckon yourselves free from sin,
but alive to God. Reckon yourselves righteous alive
to God, reckon yourselves holy, alive. How can you do that? Reckon
yourselves the way God reckons you. The way God reckons you. Come
to me, trusting my son, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners. Come to me, one with my Son,
righteous, pure, holy, sanctified, perfect. Come to me! Believe
me, trust me. How would you like to live? Free of guilt. I'm talking free of guilt. Free of guilt. I can't do that
in any human relationship. Because every human relationship
I had, there's something about it of
which I'm guilty. Every one. Every one. Dears, that lady loves me, and
we have a great life together. But she could find some things
real easy. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. Before God, I'm not guilty. I'm not as though I weren't guilty.
I'm not guilty. I'm not guilty. I've made a new
creature in Christ. Old things have passed away.
Behold, all things are become near. Believe on the Son of God
and go home forever not guilty. Amen.