The Inevitable Alternative

Now, Ronnie likes for me to tell
him the title of these messages so he can get it down for the
tape. These tapes go to other places.
And you'll not understand what this message is about by the
title. And I'm going to give you the
title and the text, but I'm not going to read the text until
the end of the message. The title of the message is the
inevitable Alternative. You'll see what I'm talking about
when I finish. The inevitable alternative. 1 John 5.11. 1 John 5.11. But I want you to
open your Bibles to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. I'm going to move into this 1
John later. But in our Bible class lesson
this morning, we were looking at John chapter 3. And we read
verse 26 and dealt with a vital issue. John 3, 26. Now these
religious Pharisees, verse 26 says, came to John, John the
Baptist. And they said unto him, Rabbi,
Master, He that was with thee beyond Jordan. They're talking
about Jesus of Nazareth. To whom you bear witness, you
said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world. They were talking to John the Baptist, and they were talking
about Jesus Christ. They said, Now, the one that
was with you, to whom you bear witness, behold the same person
baptizes. Now, Christ didn't do any baptizing. His disciples did. But I showed
my class this morning that what a disciple or a servant of God
does in the name of Christ, by the authority of Christ, for
the glory of Christ, according to the Word of God, is as if
Christ himself did it. That's what Paul said in 2 Corinthians. He said, we are ambassadors of
Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, be you reconciled to God. And Christ said of His disciples,
he that heareth you, heareth me. He that despiseth you, despiseth
me. So I'm careful now. Not every
religious huckster televangelist and preacher all over this country,
you don't have to be afraid of them. Most of them don't speak
according to the Word. But if a man is sent of God,
preaches by the authority of the Spirit of God, according
to the will of God, for the glory of God, according to the Word
of God, it is as if Christ Himself is talking to you. He didn't baptize, His disciples
did. So it says He baptizes. Now listen, all men come to Him. Now here's the other thing. Why'd
they say this to John? They said, Hey John, that person
that was with you beyond Jordan, to whom you bear witness, he's
got a bigger crown than you have. He's baptizing people, and folks
of all the whole world's coming to Him. Why'd they do that? I'll tell you why. They were
seeking to drive a wedge between John and his master. They were
seeking to divide John and his master. They were trying to make
John envious and jealous. That's what they were attempting
to do. That's Satan's tactics to divide believers. If you'll
turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, you'll see that this was done
in the church at Chora. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, they
were divided. Divided over their preachers.
Divided over their preachers. In 1 Corinthians 1 verse 11,
Paul said to that church, it has been declared unto me of
you by brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that
there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one
of you say, well I like Paul, he's my preacher. And I like
Apollos, he's my preacher. And I like Cephas, that is Peter,
he's my preacher. And others say, well we don't
care for any of them, we are of Christ. I told my class, that's
real power, isn't it? You know, I follow Christ. You
fellas follow Peter and Paul and others. But Paul says, is
Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were
you baptized in the name of Paul? This is what I'm saying, that
Satan's tactics. And there are a lot of preachers
all over this country preaching the grace of God, the gospel
of God's grace all over the world. But like Brother McMurray said
this morning, they're divided over minor issues. They're troubled
over things that have nothing to do with the gospel. And that's
satanic. They're acting like carnal men,
acting like natural men, dividing over these little insignificant
issues that have nothing to do with the person and work of Christ.
And this is what these fellows are doing, coming to John. He's
baptizing, and people are coming to him. They're going to quit
you. They're going to go to him. Now listen to John's answer. Oh,
I tell you how beautifully John answered them. And John answered
and said, A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. If he has gifts, if he has a
hearing, if he has a following, the Father gave it to him. What
gifts I have, He gave me. What gifts you have, He gave
you. What gifts you have, He gave you. Whatever God, whoever
you are and whatever you are in the kingdom of God, it's by
the grace of God. He gives men different gifts.
And everything we have is from God. A man can receive nothing
spiritually except from God. All according to His purpose.
All according to His will. Who maketh you to differ? You
know, we just passed the plate, and some of you gave, this morning
you gave to support the ministry. The ability to give is of God. To have a job is of God. To have
a family is of God. To be... Mike just sang beautifully. I said, you did that well. You
did. By the grace of God. I'm standing here preaching and
I've got some understanding of this book. God gave me an understanding. But God gave it to me. John,
He'll give you a message this week, won't He? And whatever
you do and whatever you say is going to be by His grace. A man
can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. And
when we realize that, we'll lift our eyes more to heaven in thanksgiving
and praise. And we'll hold lightly to these
things. God who gave the gifts can just as quickly take them
away. And God who gave me the breath to say that can just as
quickly take it away. I know that. And I'm glad it's
that way. I'm so glad. Alright, and then
he goes on. Now he said, verse 28, you yourselves
bear me witness. I said, I'm not the Christ. I can't save you. I can't redeem
you. I can't make you accepted before
God. I'm not the Christ. I'm sent
before Him. I'm a voice, a voice in the wilderness. That's what He told Him. I'm
not the Christ. I'm not worthy to tie His shoes. He was before me. And I'm just
a voice, and a voice is to be heard and not seen. And a voice
speaks. Fades into the distance. He lives
on. He lives on. Look to Him. Rest in Him. Don't put any confidence
in your flesh or mine or anybody else's. Heard a fellow say one
time, well, I lost all confidence in preachers. That's good. Put
it in Christ. Put your confidence and faith
in Him, not in anybody. No confidence in this flesh. Yeah, alright, let's read on.
Now he says this in verse 29. He that hath the bride is the
bridegroom. The bride is the church. The
bride is sheep, his elect. The bridegroom is Christ. And
he that hath the bride is the bridegroom. The church is his. It's not mine, they're not my
people. They're his people. They're not my sheep, they're
his sheep. They were given Him by the Father before the foundation
of the world. They were redeemed by His blood.
He said, I love my sheep. I lay down my life for them.
My sheep. They were brought to Him by the
Holy Spirit. They were wooed and brought to
love Him and want Him and willing to be His bride by the Spirit
of God. He that hath the bride is the
bridegroom. Christ, the church is His. There
he is. The sooner we can wean them from
any dependence upon us, the better off they are. Look to him. Now
watch what he says. But the friend of the bridegroom,
and that's me. John said, I love him. I'm his
friend. Thank God I'm his friend. By
God's grace I'm his friend. He's my friend. That's why I'm
his friend. I love him. I love him, but the
friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him, hears the
bridegroom, he rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.
Here stands the beautiful bride, so beautiful, at her prettiest
time in her whole life, right here. There stands the bridegroom. Here's the best man over here.
He's his brother. He's his close friend. And this
bridegroom's just beaming when that girl comes down the aisle.
And I look over here at the best man he's beaming to. You know
why he's beaming? Not because she's his, but because
she's his, his buddy. He's so happy. He's so happy
for his buddy. He's so glad. And when his buddy
is going to be married to this beautiful girl, it just thrills
him and the happiness of his friend is his happiness. And
that's what John said. My Lord has a bride. My Lord
has a people. And when He's happy, I'm happy.
When He's joyful, I'm joyful. And His joy and glory is my joy
and glory. That's my greatest joy and my
greatest glory, is to magnify and exalt His precious name.
Look at that. He said in the last line, This
my joy, therefore, is fulfilled when I see the happiness of the
bridegroom. Now these fellas thought they
was going to do something good. They thought they was going to
rile old John up, get him jealous and envious. And they said, got
more people than you have. Everybody's following Him. He
said, that's good. That's my joy. I wish you'd follow
Him. That's what the Father said.
I wish you was all like me except for these chains. Because He
said, that's my greatest joy. And then He says this. Now here's
where I want you to get. Here's the key. He must increase.
He must, must, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, them I must bring.
Everything Christ did was ordained of the Father. Everything that
He accomplished was ordained. I must, and this says He must
increase. You know why? Because the Father
willed it. The Father willed it. That in
all things He might have the preeminence. John 5, turn over two pages,
John 5, 23. There's two pages. Listen. That all men should honor
the Son. He must be glorified. He must be honored. That all
men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. And
he that honors not the Son honors not the Father of the sinner.
He must increase. He must be glorified. Every knee
is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that He's
Lord. That must be, that will be, that shall be. Must! And I must decrease. Just must, that's just it. I've
got to go the way of all flesh. Men die and they're... Their thoughts and accomplishments
die with them. That's right. I build a house
and I rot and it rots too. I must decrease. I must. This
has got to go. It's got to go and he's going
to increase. You set your affections on him.
You put your confidence in him. He must increase. You look to
him. I must decrease, John said. I'm
just here for a short time. But this is not only the will
of the Father, but let me tell you something, this is the will
of His servants, His people. And listen to me, when the preeminence
and glory of Christ is paramount, it will crush all this jealousy
and envy and party spirit and backbiting, ambition, self-glory,
it just will fade away. And I'll tell you a little homely
illustration. You here who have sons and daughters,
grandsons and granddaughters, there's no greater thrill to
you than to see them blessed. No greater thrill to you than
to see them honored, and see them blessed, and see them in
health, and see them successful, and see them accomplish great
things. No, is there? It's one of my
greatest joys. to see my children and your children. And I'm not jealous of one of
them. I'd give my life for them, wouldn't you? If I had a choice
standing here between this young man being happy and healthy and
me dying tomorrow, there wouldn't even be any discussion. There
wouldn't even be any five-minute, second thought about it. Let's
get out of here quickly. Isn't that right? Well, that's
the way it is about Christ when He becomes the preeminent one
in here, and we start seeking His glory, He'll crush this jealousy
and envy and party spirit, ambition, and self-glory. He'll destroy
it. Pity, jealousies, not when Christ
has the preeminence. We're willing to be a footstool
for Him to walk on. And the more we're occupied with
Him, the less we're concerned about ourself in this old world.
I want to show you an example of that over here in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. I'm going to run through here,
and I want you to look as I go. And this is what's revealed here
in the first epistle of Corinthians, the first ten verses. Paul is
just occupied with Christ. He's like John the Baptist. John
the Baptist says, he's got the bride. The bridegroom's got the
bride, and I'm the friend, and I'm happy. And the more you exalt
him, and the more you praise him, and the more you lift him
up, the happier I am. My joy is fulfilled. And this
is what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 1 through 10. In ten verses, he mentions Christ's
name ten times. Ten times. Boy, you talk about
his beloved, that's his beloved, isn't it? He can't say enough
about him. He says in verse one, I'm called
to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul called to be an apostle
of Jesus Christ through the will of God. And if we wanted to be
intellectual, we could talk a while about his call to the ministry.
We could talk a while about the will of God not being a work
chosen by the man himself, but chosen by God. But the key thing
here is Paul said, I'm an apostle of Christ. He's my message. We preach Christ and Him crucified. I'm determined to know nothing
among you but Christ. We preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord. That's the key here. Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. As soon as my faith the Lord
can see, suffering on a cross for me,
quickly my idols all depart. The Lord has, owns, and fills
my heart. None among the sons of men, none
among the heavenly trained, can with my Lord and Savior compare. There's none so great and none
so fair. And let me tell you something,
and I'll tell this to my brethren preaching in other places. And the pastor said something
this morning, the pastor from Australia, about different preachers and the results
of their messages. And I know the key. I know the
key to blessing a man's heart is to preach Christ. I know,
I got the key. I got the key to the treasure.
I got the key to the alabaster box. I've got the key to God
Almighty's treasure. And that key is one word, Christ. That'll bless a man. And I'll
give him the key. It's not to preach about Christ,
it's to preach Him. Paul said, I'm an apostle of
Christ. It's like, who was it that said, somebody made some
artificial flowers, some artist, oh, extremely gifted artist made
some silk or artificial flowers, and everybody would look at them
and say, are they real? Are they real? But he brought
them to an old wise man, And said to the old wise man, he
held his flowers in one hand and the garden flowers in the other.
And he said to the wise man, now without touching these or
getting close to them, tell me which is real and which is the
ones I made. Which the one God made and which
flowers did I make? And the old man said, let's take
them out on the porch. and let the bees at them. And
the bees will tell you which one God made. The one God made
has nourishment and life, and the bees will flock to it. Preachers,
wherever you are, preach Christ. And these sinner
bees will buzz in on your message. They can't get enough of it.
They can get enough of you real quick, but they never get enough
of Him. Tell me of the story of Jesus. Write on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious,
sweetest, sweetest that ever was heard. I'm an apostle of
Christ. Look at verse 2. I'm writing
to the church, he said, at Corinth, which is sanctified in Jesus
Christ. Now here we go. Here's our intellectualism. We can go this route. We can
say, well, we're sanctified by God the Father from all eternity,
and we are. and explain how that He chose
to make us holy and chose to make us righteous, as He chose
the first day of the week and the firstborn and the firstborn
of the cattle and the vessels in the temple and spend all our
time there, or we can talk about how the Holy Spirit regenerates
and calls us and we're sanctified and then we study the Word and
we grow in grace and all these things, but here's the key, we're
sanctified in Christ. He's my holiness. He's my sanctification. He's my righteousness. He of
God is made unto me righteousness. And oh, I got on the back of
the bulletin some wisdom from that preacher up in McDowell,
Kentucky, Milford Hall. I read a book by him this week,
so good. Listen, here's some of those
poems. He said, No more, my soul. attempt to draw your life and
comfort from the law, I quit the duties I have done to trust
the merits of His Son. The best obedience of my hands
dare not appear before God's throne, but faith can answer
God's demand by pleading what my Lord hath done." That's the
key. We sang this morning, Upon a
life I did not live, upon a death I did not die, another's death,
another's life, I rest my soul eternally. For in my surety I
am free, His precious blood was shed for me, and with His spotless
garments on, I am as holy as God's Son. Now you know I love
and believe in eternal covenant mercies that chose us and set
us apart from the foundation of the world. And I love and
believe that we must be born again, begotten, quickened, regenerated
by the Holy Spirit. And I preach it with my major
emphasis as this, I'm righteous in Christ. He obeyed God's law. In every jot and tittle, He imputed
to me a perfect righteousness, and He is my righteousness right
now. I'm accepted in the Beloved. And you know and I know, But this old flesh doesn't improve
much, does it? Oh no. Old brother Herringdean
told me one time, he said, you know brother Henry, he's the
one that printed all of Pink's works. Remember, I see Herringdean,
been dead for years, died at 95, he's been gone a long time.
I met him back when he was 70 some odd years old. He said, you know, Brother Henry,
I was up at his house in Swingle, Pennsylvania. He said, when I
was 40, he said, I thought when I got to be 50, I'd have these
problems of life whipped. And he said, when I got 50, I
didn't have them conquered. So I thought, well, when I get
60, I'll just be on top of this thing, you know. I'll be sanctified. and in good shape. He said it
didn't work at 60, and then he said, when I get to be 70, surely,
surely I'll have more grace than I do flesh in me. He said, well,
I'm pushing 80, but I ain't got there yet. And he died that way,
and you will too. But let me tell you, he's my
righteousness. I didn't look in here when I
started, and I'm not looking in here now. I wasn't saved by
the law, and I'm not sanctified by the law. I wasn't redeemed
by the law, and I'm not made perfect by the law. Isn't that
right? It's Christ. He's my sanctification. Well,
let's go on. In verse 2, the last line, he
said, We're sanctified in Christ, called to be saints with all
in every place that call on the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
both theirs and ours. You know what a believer does?
When he's saved, he calls on the name of Christ. The next
day he calls on the name of Christ. And the next day he calls on
the name of Christ. And he just keeps calling on the name of
Christ. And he's still calling, isn't that right? Still calling. Our Lord said, come unto me and
I'll give you rest. And we did, and he did. Now he
said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me and you'll find rest.
You mean there's a rest after rest? Oh yeah. There's His rest. We cease from our labors and
enter into His rest. Confident. We're saved. But let
me tell you something. The more you learn of Him, the
more you call on His name, the more rest you'll find. More peace. More peace. I tell you, this
flesh doesn't get any better, but that rest gets sweeter. Confidence. That's right. Assurance. Peace.
I have a peace at this age I never had at 50. A confidence that
I didn't have. It's because of Him. You understand
what I'm saying? It's peace. He gives us rest. Take my yoke upon you and the
more you learn of me, you'll find rest. More rest. More rest. That's right. I tell
you, believers, they come to Christ, but they don't stop coming
to Christ. They look to Christ, but they don't stop looking to
Christ. Alright, look here. Verse 4. May grace be unto you
and peace from God our Father. That's what I'm talking about.
From the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God always on your behalf
for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus.
Now watch. That you in everything are enriched
by Him. In everything. Everything. There's
not any area of my life, not my walk, my relationships, my
knowledge, my gifts, or whatever, my past, present, or future,
that's not under the care and the purpose and the providence
of my Lord in everything. You know that? Everything. I
want to show you a scripture, Matthew chapter 10. Turn over
here. Matthew chapter 10. What we're
talking about here, he says, In everything, you are enriched
by Christ. In utterance and knowledge. Matthew
10. Look at this. Matthew chapter 10, verse 28. Let's look at verse
28. Now, fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear
him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are
not two sparrows sold for Fathering a small amount of money. And
one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. That's in everything. In everything. You're enriched
by Him. Every area of your life. In Him. Let me just sum up the rest of
this first few verses. I want to bring something to
your attention. Verse 6, as the testimony of Christ was confirmed
in you. That testimony of Christ is the
gospel. So that you come behind in no
gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The believers
are expecting Him to come back. I want to show you something
over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. When we had the first Sovereign
Grace Bible conference, at Pollard Baptist Church in 1954, 40 years
ago last month, Brother A.D. Mews from Louisville, Kentucky
preached a message from 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. And he talked about
four things. He read verse 4 of 1 Thessalonians
1, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. And he
said, we are an elect people. and elect people. And then in
verse 7, he read, so you were examples to all that believe. We're an exemplary people in
our walk and talk and conversation. We're examples to our children,
to others. That's right. Then he read verse
8, and he said, ìFar from you sounded out the word of the Lord,
not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your
faith to God were to spread abroad.î You are an evangelizing church. Youíre elect, youíre an example,
and youíre evangelizing. Youíre missionary. And then he
said, ìIs he closed?î And youíre an expectant church. Youíre waiting. You're waiting for someone's
coming. We've got a young lady sitting in the congregation that's
got a happier look on her face tonight. She's waiting for someone.
About eight, seven, eight months from now, he or she's coming.
She's so excited. So excited, aren't you? So excited. Let me tell you something. I'm
waiting for someone too. He's coming. He's coming. I'm going to be so happy when
he comes. He's cuffing. And you know, a lot of folks
spend a lot of time talking about how he's going to come and when
he's going to come and what's going to happen when he's coming.
I don't care. I just want him to come. That's all. I went away
to war 40 years, 50 years ago. And I came home. And my mama was looking for her
baby to come home. She didn't care whether I rode
a bus or a train or a plane. She didn't care if I had a bed.
She didn't care if I came at morning, noon, or night. She
just wanted me to come home. Is that right? Just come home. And I'm looking for Him. Now
don't you get taken up with all these other things. They're waiting
for His Son from Heaven. Waiting for a person. Alright,
read on. I won't quit. Who shall, verse
8, 1 Corinthians 1, confirm you unto the end that you may be
blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, God is faithful
by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord. Fellowship is in Him. Now then,
I beseech you, brethren, verse 10, my last verse. I beseech
you, brethren. God will give you a reward if
you'll do certain things. No. I beseech you, brethren. God will punish you if you don't.
No. He said, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is our motive. By the name
of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, that you all
speak the same thing. I beseech you by the name of
Christ that there be no divisions among you, but you be perfectly
joined together in the same mind, the same judgment, for Christ's
sake." Isn't that it? There's our motive, for Christ's
sake. Everything we do for His sake.
Paul, I'm an apostle of Christ. We're sanctified in Christ. We
call on the name of Christ. Grace comes and peace from Christ
in everything. You're enriched by Christ. The
gospel is a testimony of Christ. We're waiting for Christ from
heaven. And God's going to judge the world in the day of Christ.
And God is faithful. You're called into the fellowship
of Christ. And I beseech you, do these certain
things for the glory of Christ. And that's my inevitable alternative,
1 John 5, I'll read my text now. I'll read my text. 1 John 5,
11 and 12, and this is the record that God has given to us eternal
life, and this life's in His Son. And here's the inevitable
alternative, he that hath the Son of God hath life. And he
that hath not the Son of God hath not life. That's it. Now every human tie may perish. Friend to friend unfaithful prove. Mothers cease their own to cherish. Heaven and earth at last remove.
But no changes can ever affect my Savior's love. And in the
furnace God may prove me, thence to bring me forth more bright.
But He'll never cease to love me, because I'm precious in His
sight. And Christ is with me. He's my
everlasting light. Christ my Lord in nothing alters. Though all of us may and do. But his is a love that never
falters, always to his beloved true. Happy beloved, crowned
with mercies ever new.

The Inevitable Alternative

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