I'm going to speak briefly and
candidly regarding some things this morning
and begin with two stories which are true. There was a man and a woman married
for a number of years both in their late forties or fifties. And she was brought up like most
of us in religion. He wasn't. She had made her profession,
joined the church, and remained reasonably active and loyal and
faithful to her traditions and her religion, her Baptist background. Went to church on Sunday, paid
her dues, read her daily Bible readings and lived as best she
could with this man who had no interest in the gospel. He had no interest at least in
the religion as he heard it. He had no interest in the religion
as she portrayed it and talked it and lived it. That he wasn't interested in. Well, some years ago, he turned
the television on while she was at church, and he heard me talking
about the grace of God, the free and sovereign grace of God, and
talking about who God is in His majesty and glory, and what happened in the garden,
what happened to man in this This Paul, this sinful condition,
and he identified with that. It's like the old man in California
said, now that kind of God I can respect. That kind of God I listen
to. And he found out, listening to
that program, what happened in the garden. And I talked to him
about the Lord Jesus Christ, and he got interested in what
I had to say. He wasn't interested in religion, but he was interested
in that gospel, that good news, that mercy, that grace of a person. Well, I went to where they lived
to hold a meeting. And you know, the fellow that
never would go to church came to hear me. And his wife came,
and she is all smiles. She told me, said, he whispered
this to me, said, he's never I've been to hear a preacher
before. He doesn't like preachers. He likes you, but he doesn't
like preachers. I said, it's not me. It's my
gospel I think he likes. But he doesn't know me. He may
not like me, and he gets to know me. Probably won't. But she is all smiles. And they
came. They came every Sunday. And that old boy sat there and
listened. It's a man's gospel. It's a sinner's gospel. It's
the gospel that meets a need. It's not play pretty gospel,
or tiddlywink gospel, or Sunday morning religion gospel, or Easter
gospel. Like the lady said, came here
one Easter, and I preached and didn't mention Easter. She said
to the person with her, don't he know it's Easter? The young
lady with her said, I think he does. He may not, but I think he does.
But this fellow was hearing hearing something. But you know the amazing
thing, you know who got glad and who got mad in that meeting?
He got glad, and she got mad. That wasn't what she believed. I wasn't playing the game she
was playing. No, no. And he came out one night all
smiles. He said, God's opened my eyes.
I see what you see. Wasn't a smile on her face. Not a smile. I destroyed her refuge. But I'm
going to tell you something. I'm going to tell you something.
And you think this over before you make up your mind. I'd rather
have no refuge than a false refuge. That's right. No refuge. Somebody said this one time,
said, well, I'm sending my child to a certain church. I don't
believe what they're teaching. But it's better to have something
than nothing. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not
if that's something's error. Tell you another story. The fellow
was invited to hear this gospel I'm preaching. And I'm not talking,
I'm just saying that the gospel I'm preaching is the gospel of
Moses. Moses wrote of Christ. It's the
gospel Abraham rejoiced to see. It's the gospel of God's hand
in redeeming sinners. His hand's not short that it
can't save. His ear's not heavy that it can't
hear. Our God is able to do all things that He purposes and pleases
to accomplish in Christ. See, our Lord has an elect people.
And He said, I must bring them. I will bring them. And he redeemed. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep and they'll come. They'll come. And that's the
gospel that our Lord Jesus preached. That's the gospel of the Apostle
Paul, who said, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift,
not offered gift. And I thank God for you, beloved,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. This
is Paul's gospel, and I preach Augustine's gospel, and Luther's
gospel, and Calvin's gospel, and Spurgeon's gospel, and Owen's
gospel, and Latimer, and Ridley, and Rutherford, and all these
men. Judson, Carey, this is their
gospel. No new gospel. I'm not saying
I'm preaching anything new. I'm not preaching anything new.
I'm preaching the gospel. But a fellow came to hear me
preach this gospel. And he told us the other night,
he said, I was an assistant pastor of a church. He said, I've been holding services
in the jails. He said, I've been having something
to say about everything. He said, I had an answer for
everything. I thought I knew everything. And he said, for
the last month since I began to hear this message of God's
grace, he said, I hadn't said three words, my mouth's been
stopped. He said, brother man, is that
good news when you put a man out of the business of witnessing? If he's saying the wrong things,
it is. If he's teaching the wrong gospel, it is. Sit him down and
let him listen and learn, and hear of Christ, and then turn
him loose. A man ought not talk until he's
got something to say. Don't you remember the story
of Cushi? What was that other fellow's name anyway? Absalom. You see David's son Absalom?
Oh, he loved that boy. The boy was a rebel. Oh, he was
a rebel. David loved him. He tried to
take the kingdom away from his father. and led the armies against
his father, stirred the hearts of the people against him, and
he's out there and he got killed. And Joab, the general, sent one
of the young men, he said, come here, come here. He said, now
David's up there in the camp, and he's waiting for word about
Absalom. He's worried about Absalom. Go up there and tell him what
you saw. This boy saw him killed. He knew he was dead. He saw what
happened. Well, another young man ran up and said, let me go.
Let me run. And Joab said, you don't have
anything to say. He said, let me run. He said,
you didn't see anything. Let me run. Well, he said, run.
And he just took off. And he passed Old Cushite. He
just outran him. He got to David first. He said,
I bring tidings. David said, what about the young
man Absalom? Well, he said, I don't know exactly
what happened, but he said something happened. David said, step aside. And the other man came running
up. He said, what about the young man? Absolutely. He said, well,
he's dead. I saw what happened. May all the enemies of the king
be like that young man. You see, a man can run and he
can pop off, but he's got to have something to say. And this
is what I'm saying this morning about This wise old man I read
about, he said there are really three parts to this business
of truth. There's the search for it. The
search for it. Seek ye the Lord. The Bereans
searched the Scriptures. They searched the Scriptures
to seek these things. And so they heard Paul. They
heard Paul preach. A man with authority, and a man
with credentials, and a man with a convincing way about him. An educated man, they heard him.
But they went home and searched the scriptures to see if that
fellow's telling them the truth. They searched the scriptures.
I recommend that. I recommend that. And our Lord
said, You'll seek me, seek me, and find me when you search with
all your heart. That's the first part of true
searching. Secondly, then there's a knowledge of truth, the encounter,
a revelation. or a meeting with the truth.
Eternal life is to know the living God, not just to seek Him, but
to know Him. It's not just to be aware of
Him, but to know Him. You shall know the truth, Christ
said. You shall know the truth, and
the truth will make you free. There's the knowledge of the
truth. There's the revelation of the truth. There's an encounter
with truth. There's coming face to face with
it. Like that couple I told you about. That man and that woman,
neither one had heard anything. And they encountered the truth.
But they went the opposite way. And that brings me to the third
part, and that's the embracing of it. The receiving of it. Turn to John 20, verse 31. Listen to this. There's the embracing
of the truth. These things are written. All
this is written that you may believe. that Jesus is the Christ. That's the information. That's
the knowledge. The Son of God, and that believing,
you might have life through his name. He that believeth on the
Son hath life. He that believeth not the Son
will never see life. Our Lord said, You go into all
the world and preach the gospel. He that believeth and acts on
it and is baptized, he embraces it. I've got some friends who, I
know some folks who have come to knowledge of what we call
the doctrines of grace. But coming to the knowledge of
them and laying hold on Him who is grace is two different things.
So you see, this thing of truth, the old man had it right. He
said there's the interest, there's the concern which leads a man
to seek. Which leads a man to search,
as our God said, with all his heart. He searches, he listens. He gets in the car and he goes.
And he inquires, and he sits and listens. Listens and seeks
the truth. And our God said, if you will
to know His will, you'll know it. And then there's this discovery. There's an encounter with truth. There's a discovery of truth.
And then you've got a decision to make. And that is to receive it, to
bow to it, or to turn away. A good possibility you turn away,
you won't hear it again. God will give them, all right,
let me go over here to 1 Thessalonians. And over here, it's in 1-2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians. Now, here's
the danger that a man faces when he encounters truth. Is your
truth dangerous? What I'm saying, now stay with
me. Here's a fellow that has some interest, some interest
in truth. And he's going to get in here
and find out what that preacher's talking about. He's tired of
just playing church and religion. He's going to find out. And he
runs into it. He slap-runs into the grace of
God. He meets it head on. He might just be there with a
friend, but he meets it head on. Now then, you got to love
it or leave it. Religion, you can dabble with
it, but truth, you got to love it or leave it. Religion, you can play games,
and the preacher will be satisfied. But truth, you've got to love
it, embrace it, submit to it, or leave it. Listen to this in 2 Thessalonians
2. It talks about, verse 10, Satan, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth. They encountered it, they met
it, They were exposed to it, but they didn't love it, that
they might be saved. And for this cause, God's not
going to leave them there to play with it. He's not going to leave them
there for all their years to play games. God will send them
strong delusions, and they'll believe a lie. And they'll believe a lie. They'll
justify themselves in departing from the truth. They'll justify
themselves in their anger against those who preach the truth. They'll
justify themselves for the way that they behave and conduct
themselves. They'll justify themselves by
finding fault with somebody else who believes what the truth is
supposed to be. Some fault, some faith. And God
will let them do that. And give them just strong delusions. They'll be comfortable. And they'll believe a lie. Their
lie, their own lie, the devil's lie. Verse 12, that they might
be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. What happened to these folks?
They were exposed to the truth and they received not the love
of it, the love of it. And God sends them strong delusions
every day. Now, here, let me ask three questions.
What hinders, we say, the search for truth, the knowledge of the
truth, and embracing it? Or, what hinders this search
for truth? What hinders a person in searching
for truth? I say three things. Number one,
ignorance of the Word of God. This is the plague. Turn to Matthew
22. This is a sad commentary on our day, The majority of people
in our day are ignorant of the Scriptures. Did you know that?
They're ignorant of the two things. Our Lord, that bunch of Sadducees
that asked Him about the resurrection, they didn't read the resurrection,
and they asked Him about the resurrection, what's going to
happen in the resurrection, and He said in verse 29 of Matthew
22, Jesus answered and said, You do error, you do error, you
fail, you go the wrong way. Why? Two reasons. You don't know
the Scriptures. And you don't know the power
of God. Those two things you don't know. You're not acquainted
with the Word, the unity of the Word, the message of the Word,
the gospel of the Word, the truth of the Word, the person of the
Word, the purpose of the Word. You're not acquainted with the
Word. You haven't fed on it and feasted on it and approached
it with an open heart. You haven't listened. Your preachers
haven't preached. You don't know the Word, and
you don't know the power of God, the might of God, the sovereignty
of God. He'll do what He will. You've
got a weak God. You've got a powerless God. You've got a defeated God. You've got a God who wants to
and can't, who wills to and is not able. You don't know the
power of God. That's your whole problem. Ignorance of the two
greatest things, the Word of God and the power of God. That's
sad. That'll hinder a man's search
for truth. That'll hinder him. What's another thing? Tradition.
We already have our religion. We have our religious traditions.
They've been established and handed down from parent to child,
from parent to child. We've already got a... And we'll
take something if it fits into that pattern. You'd be surprised how We're
brainwashed, we are. We're like the Jews. That's when
the Lord Jesus Christ, John the Baptist Christ, the apostles
came preaching to them, what they preached didn't fit the
pattern. And they wouldn't have it. The
tradition. Tradition. He picked corn on
the Sabbath day, and they said, you can't do that. That's against
the religion. Against the tradition. He said,
I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. Man wasn't made for the Sabbath.
The Sabbath was made for man. You got this thing backwards.
Your tradition. Another thing is this, pride. We just don't like to admit that
we don't know. We don't like to be... Everybody
wants to be a teacher. Nobody wants to be a student.
In most areas, men and women are willing to some extent to
be taught, but not in the Scriptures. I'll tell you what I think. You
see, that's what we get. We've replaced preaching, and
now we have sharing. And we're sharing poison. We're sharing poison. The Scripture
says, let every mountain be stomped, and all the world become guilty
before God. Let's hear from God. We've heard
from man. Let's hear from God. Now, that's
what hinders a man's search, interest in truth, is ignorance,
religious tradition. If a fellow could just throw
away his tradition and say, just scoop it all up like Paul, you
know, and shovel it and get it out, and say, I can't all of
it but doom, you know, that I may win Christ, and I'm just a child,
teach me. Here, I don't know anything.
Here, I bring an empty vessel, fit it. Tell me something. Teach me something. I got no
arguments. But you can get in a religious
argument anytime, anywhere, with anybody. That's the reason folks in gatherings
can't bring up religion, because it starts a fuss. Because everybody's
got an opinion, and they're too proud and cocky to listen to
anybody. Well, suppose we can get rid
of that. What hinders a man's knowledge of the truth? What
hinders this thing of knowledge? Even when men and women are confronted
with the truth in Christ, they refuse it. What hinders a man's
knowledge of the truth? I'll tell you three things there.
Number one, spiritual blindness. God has to give sight. Turn,
if you will, to Matthew 13. I know most folks don't believe
this, but it's so. In Matthew 13, verse 10. Turn
over here. Do you know that the natural
man is blind to anything spiritual? He may be the most brilliant
man in science, medicine. He may be the most brilliant
man in education, the most brilliant man in mechanics. But he's blind spiritually. He's
deaf and dumb and dead. In Matthew 13, verse 10, the
disciples said, Why do you speak to these people in parables?
He said, Because it is given to you to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven. To them it is not given. Whosoever
hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have an abundance.
But whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away what
he hath. He is even going to someday lose his ability in natural
things. Therefore I speak to them in
parables, because they seeing do not see. And hearing, they
don't hear and they don't understand. They have natural eyes and natural
wisdom and natural understanding and hearing, but they don't see
spiritually. Man's blind. Truth must be revealed. It's a mystery revealed by the
Holy Spirit. We're shut up to the Spirit of
God opening the heart, opening the eye, opening the ear, raising
the dead. The second thing that hinders
knowledge of the truth is prejudice. In John chapter 4, our Lord encountered
that woman, spoke to her of the living water, presented the problem
of her sin, and you know what she did? She said, our fathers
worshipped in this mountain. You say that Jerusalem is a place
to worship, but we worship in this mountain. I've got something. My father's. That's what I'm
leaning on. The Pharisees looked at him and
said, Do you teach us? You're not qualified to teach
us. You didn't go to any of the recognized schools. How can you
teach us? And then there's spiritual indifference.
You know how the Gadarenes, the people of the Gadarenes, how
they treated Christ when He came there and healed a man that was
insane and naked and living in the tombs, they came to Christ
and said, now, we don't want any more of this disturbance,
so why don't you just leave? Just leave. Blindness, prejudice, and indifference. Well, suppose a man does meet
with the truth then. Suppose he He gets his Bible,
he gets in earnest about this thing, you know, real, he gets
in earnest. He said, I'm going to find out,
if that preacher's telling the truth, I'm going to find out
something about God, something about man, I'm going to find
out something about redemption, I'm going to find out something
about how man gets to glory, how sin's forgiven. And he gets
into the Word, and he finds out something. He finds out that
the Bible says, I am the Lord, there's none beside me. I kill
and I make alive. I create light and darkness.
How the Lord do all these things? I purpose it. I'll bring it to
pass. None can stay in my hand. Cannot
I do with my own what I will? The Lord is sovereign in all
things. He found out that man is a sinner, warped, depraved,
corrupted, dead. alienated from God, without God,
without hope, without help in this world, that God's unapproachable,
incomprehensible, that God has to come down and do something
for him in sovereign grace and pre-grace and lift him by the
power of Christ that he sent his Son to be the representative
and righteousness and Savior and justifier and sanctifier
and risen justifier and seated mediator and reigning king. It's
all in Christ. He meets that head on. What keeps
him from believing it? What keeps him from believing
it? Well, turn to John 3, 19. He runs into some problems. He
runs into some problems. What keeps him from embracing
it and believing it and laying hold upon it? I've had people
say to me, I believe what you preach. I know it's logical,
it's real. What you say is so. That's what
the Bible teaches. I know that. But I want to say
to that person, well, why don't you give evidence of having loved
it and entered into it and identify with it? Why hasn't it affected
you? Why hasn't it brought out of
you a commitment? Why hasn't it brought out of
you An identification. Why hasn't it possessed you?
And then I find out he's possessed by something else. John chapter 3, verse 19 says,
this is condemnation. Light is coming to the world.
That light's Christ. That light is Christ. That love
is Christ. That truth is Christ. He's coming
to the world. But men love darkness rather
than light. They love the world. Here's a fellow, got his hand
on power, political, or some kind of personal power, or some
kind of influence and recognition, and he meets this hated gospel,
this grace, this different gospel, this gospel of the glory of God. He looks at it and, I know that's
so, I know it's got to be... Can't turn it loose. I just can't turn it loose. Here's
a fellow that's got prestige and money and riches and friends
and he moves in a circle, you know, I don't believe that gentleman.
They don't talk that way, they don't live that way, they don't
love that way, they don't look that way, they don't act that
way, they don't... And he's moving among them, and
he sees that grace, that gospel of grace, and you don't believe
that. Well, there's something to it. You know, Nicodemus, he kept
defending Christ, but he never left his crowd. That always got
bothered me a little bit. He's sitting around with that
bunch of Pharisees, you know, some of them hated Christ, and
hated grace, and hated his gospel, and he's sitting among them,
and they got to working Christ over. He said, now brethren,
we don't condemn a man before we hear him. Let's hear both
sides, but he's still right there with them. I tell you, if they're shooting
at Christ, they're shooting at you. If they're not, you're one
of them, not one with Him. Is that correct? If they're shooting at Christ,
they're shooting at you if you know Christ, if you've identified
with Him. You see, folks know who you identify
with. And that's what it says here. They caught light, came
into the world, but... Man can't serve two masters.
Turn to John 12. Listen to this. John 12. John
chapter 12. And I know I've run into this.
Here a fella, he goes and hears a little gospel, and he said,
well, you know, that's so, but the wife and I, we just believe
we'd better go on back down there, you know. You didn't say that,
she did. Well, you know, the wife and
I, she's got her class down there, and she does this, that, and
the other. I'd be ashamed. I'm glad our high priest don't
act like your priest in your home. Our high priest met the
devil and whipped him. John chapter 12, listen to this,
42. Nevertheless, among the chief rulers, oh, so many believed
on him. They weren't dummies. But because
of the Pharisees, they didn't confess him lest they get put
out of the synagogue. Yes, sir, I know folks that this
religious system is big, it's powerful, fundamentalism, religion
today is big, it's monumental, it's impressive. And if I identify
with this sovereignty of God, this gospel of grace, this Jesus
Christ, this redemption, this particularity of this grace of
God, this weight on God, this Holy Spirit reveals the gospel
and saves the sinner, I'm just not going to have any friends
left. I'm just not going to have any friends. It put me out of the synagogue.
Look at verse 43. They love the praise of men more than the praise
of God. Turn to John 5. Here our Lord
deals with it again. I know what I'm talking about
now because I've run into it so much. And a fellow gets some kind of
interest, some kind of persuasion, some kind of where he looks into
this thing. Paul, you went through this one
time, when you had decided where that gospel was the gospel. Got
your Bible, sat back there and listened. And then you met it. Met it head on, bleeped it. Then
there was some deciding to do. Some of you did the same thing? There's some battles to be fought.
There's some friends to lose. There's some There's some family
ties to be, uh, I mean, they're head on, boy. Man's enemies will
be those of his own household. I'm telling the truth now. I'm
digging right where we live. And that's where the fella had,
there's some, there's some identification. Where are you standing? I'm standing
with that bunch right there. You mean that despised, hated,
boy, I'm standing right there with them. But we just have to
hate you with them. Look at John 5, verse 40. You will not come to me that
you might have life. I receive not honor from men,
but I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. I
am come in my Father's name, you receive me not. If another
come in his own name, him you will receive. But how can you
believe which receive honor one of another, and seek not to honor
that comes from God? You see, truth is contrary to
man's thoughts and man's religion. What hinders our belief of the
truth, our love for the world, our fear of men, our fear of being isolated, separated,
persecuted. Walter Gruber told me this, he
said, down in Mexico, see that's Catholic, that's just Ninety-nine,
forty-four hundred, one hundred percent Catholic. And he's got
these little churches in these villages. Around in Taikal and
Tayo and Taya and different places, you know, Thachibishen, Yobain. And they have pretty good attendance.
A lot of people come out of the villages. They come and they
sit and listen. And nobody cares if they come. Nobody cares if they sit and
listen. Nobody cares if they smile and are friendly. But that
day that they walk into that water and are baptized and say,
I'm taking my stand with this gospel of death, burial, resurrection,
redemption in Christ, that's when they're cut off. That's
when the boss calls them in and says, you don't work here anymore.
And they're right, Eddie. You've heard Walter tell you.
That's when the family tells them, you don't live here anymore.
That's when their brothers and sisters tell them, we don't come
see you no more. What did I do? I identified. I identified. So that's the, the
old man was right wasn't he? There's three parts to this business.
There's seeking it, and there's meeting it, and looking her over. and examining it. I don't know
whether in common grace or special grace. I just don't know. But
this man's dead, not dead as this pulpit. This pulpit can't
hear me. You can. But there's heritage. There's
exposure to it. And then, my brother, when the
truth sets a man free, free from the fear of men, free from the
riches and honors of this world, free from the bondage and of
the flesh and free from those shackles that bind you and enslave
you to tradition and custom and religion and a false refuge. Free is when he identifies, when
he says, That's my God. That's my God. That's my Savior. That's my gospel. That's my people. They came in when our Lord was
preaching one day and said, your mama and your brothers and sisters
out there. He said, who is my mama? Who are my brothers and sisters?
There's my brother. There's my sister. These who
do the will of God. I don't have any mother, brothers,
or sisters who don't do the will of God. I've got some acquaintances,
but no brothers. Uh-uh, I beg your pardon, no
brothers. You got any sisters, brother
of mine? I got a world full of them. They all do the will of
God. I don't have a sister that doesn't
do the will of God. You see, my Heavenly Father is
my Father. And His children are my family.
Is that right? I got some obligations, responsibilities
to some folks that wear my name. But I ain't going to wear this
name too much longer. I got a new name. Christ. And that's my brother and my
mother, my sisters. That's the way I feel. I'm identified. You can have the rest of it.
If you want to hold to it, go ahead. But I tell you this, God
will send you some strong delusions if you receive not the love of
the truth. The love of it. That's identification. That's submission. That's, I
cast my lot with the king. And David said, your enemies
are my enemies. And your people are my people.
That's what Ruth said to Naomi. I'll go where you go. And your
God's my God. And your people are my people.
And I'll live where you live, and I'll die where you die. And
that's where I'll be buried. And I'm awake when you're awake
and glowing. I believe there's something there.
You think it over. Search for truth. Revelation
or knowledge of truth. Meet in it. And you can't come
here if you've got any sense at all. Listen and not see the
difference. But then there's that love for the truth. I cast
my lot. I want to be identified. That's
for me and my house. We serve the Lord. I speak for
that one over there and what we got left. How about you? That old Joshua
did it. God blessed him with it. He stood
up there and he said, I don't know about you fellas, but I
can speak for one household. This household is going to serve
the Lord. God bless him. God bless him. God love him.
I appreciate a man that You've got the courage to stand for
Christ. It's not popular. I appreciate
preachers who do it. We've got some young men here.
Boy, I tell you, I love them. They love Christ, don't they?
Our Father, without a revelation of your
gospel by your Spirit, we'd be ignorant. bound in tradition. But you didn't leave us alone.
You didn't leave us in our darkness. You revealed the light of Christ
to our hearts. You made known the Redeemer in
His effectual redemption, in His effectual grace. You gave
us a love for Him. You shed abroad your love in
our hearts. We're nothing. Our strength is your strength.
Our holiness is your holiness. Our life is your life. Our hope
is Christ. And we thank you and praise you.
Who maketh thee to differ? What do we have we didn't receive?
And we rejoice and praise thy name. Do a work of grace throughout
this congregation, wherever this message is heard. For the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.