Let me read a passage of scripture
found in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4. Now, I am speaking tonight on the
subject, the miracle, the miracle of regeneration,
or new birth. or new creation, new creature. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. God does not remodel the old
man. He creates a new man. Somebody says, give God your
heart. He has no use for it. Who wants a stone? He said, I'll take out of you
the stony heart and give you a heart of flesh. God's not waiting
for you to do something for Him. You ought to be waiting for God
to do something for you. Regeneration. The average preacher,
small percentage of preachers, understand regeneration. A small percentage of preachers
understand regeneration. They use the word. And most religion
uses the word the new birth. But there's not one out of a
hundred that know what the new birth is. In 2 Corinthians 4,
verse 3, but if our gospel be hid, the gospel, the gospel of
God, the gospel of his grace, the gospel of his glory. Did
you know the gospel is called the gospel of his glory? Where
it says the glorious gospel of our God is the gospel of God's
glory. It's the gospel of his grace.
It's the gospel concerning his son. The gospel is not an invitation. It's a proclamation. The gospel
is not a plan. The gospel is not a proposition. It's a proclamation
concerning the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
gospel is the gospel whether you believe it or not. Whether
I believe it or not, it's the gospel. It's concerning his son. And that gospel is hid. And it's
hid to them that are lost. Whether they're in the pulpit
or the few of the world, it's hid to them that are lost. They
don't know this gospel. In whom the God of this world,
small g, Satan, have blinded their minds. He blinds their
minds with religion. He blinds their minds with the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He doesn't
care what he blinds a man's eyes with, just so he doesn't see
the gospel. His own works and merit, he can blind them with
anything. He's a subtle, powerful adversary. And he has blinded
the mind. That's what is blanded, of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, who thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, who is the express, exact image of God, he that hath
seen me hath seen the Father, should shine unto them. But we
preach not ourselves. We're not preaching our denomination,
our brand of doctrine, our creed or catechism. We're not preaching
ourselves. We preach Christ Jesus the Lord.
We don't preach about him, we preach him. And we ourselves
are your servants, for his sake. For his sake, for it. Now watch
this, I'm going to ask you some questions in a moment. God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, what's this
referring to? The original creation. It says the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters and darkness was upon all of creation. Darkness. And God said, let there
be light. And there was light. And that's
the condition of our hearts, that's the condition of our nature,
that's the condition of me and without Christ, they're in darkness.
And they love darkness, and they're going to stay in darkness until
God speaks and says, let there be light. The light of what?
Christ said, I'm the light, the light of the Word incarnate and
written. But God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness in that original creation, has shined
in these hearts of ours. to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God, to give the light of the knowledge of
God. You see, everybody knows about God, everybody knows about
God, everybody doesn't know God. The fool has said in his heart,
no God for me. Everybody but a fool knows there's
a God, but he doesn't know God. And I, and he says here, He shines
in our heart to give the life of the knowledge of the glory
of God, and where is the glory of God seen? The glory of God's
redemption, the glory of God's grace, the glory of God's mercy
is seen in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where it's
beheld, that's where it's seen, nowhere else. Now I ask you tonight, have you truly, have you truly,
this light, this light of the knowledge of the glory of God,
this light of the knowledge of the gospel of God in the face
of Christ. Have you truly been made to see,
to come to some understanding of the sinfulness of our nature,
of human nature, in the sight of Almighty God? Have you been
made to see that? Our Lord said in Luke 16, he
said, Ye are they who justify yourselves. You justify yourself
before men. But God knows your hearts, and
that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to
God. Have you truly seen yourself
exceedingly sinful? Old George Whitefield said this
one time, a man has never repented, has never repented before God
until he has seen his S-I-N. S-I-N. What is that? That's our nature. You see, the average preacher
and the average church member doesn't understand what sin is.
Sin is not an act. Sin is an attitude. The results
of that attitude being a sinful act. But we do what we do because
of what we are. Sin is a principle that lives
within us, that produces all of this other stuff. If any man
say he hath no sin, he deceives himself. If any man says he has
no evil nature, he deceives himself. These outward acts and words
and deeds are the products of an evil nature. Have you seen
that evil nature? And secondly, Whitfield said,
a man is not repented until he's been made conscious of his sins.
If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar. And a man
has not repented before God until he's seen the sinfulness of even
his righteousness. That even our good works are
filthy rags in God's sight. Even our righteousnesses are
filthy rags in God's sight. Have you, like Isaiah of old,
seen the Lord in his holiness? And having seen God in his immaculate,
infinite holiness, you've been made to cry, woe is me. I'm a
man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. Have you seen God like Job of old, who said, I heard
of you by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee
in thy holiness? Have you seen the living God
in his immaculate, eternal, unchangeable holiness? God is holy, indescribably
holy, incomprehensibly holy. I wish I could get that across.
the holiness of God, dwelling in a light to which no man can
approach. I got a letter from a television
listener this past week, and I get letters often that disappoint
me and discourage me, asking questions that have nothing to
do with the gospel. But this particular person wrote
and asked two questions which dealt with the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And one of them was over in 1
Timothy 6, 16, this person asked, what does that mean? That God
dwells in a light to which no man can approach. And I got an
opportunity in writing back to tell them that God is holy, we're
sinful, God is truth, we're lies, God is light, we're darkness,
God is life, we're death, God is everything, we're not. And
God cannot be holy and have any dealings with us whatsoever except
through a Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you seen that? Have you
seen the Lord, the Living God, the Holy One, God Almighty, Have
you seen yourself as sinful as Job said when he saw the Lord?
He said, I've heard of you now, mine eye seeth thee, wherefore
I literally hate myself. Daniel said, I saw the Lord,
and my comeliness just drained out of me, just absolutely drained
out of me, and left me to where John said on the Isle of Patmos,
I fell off as a dead man. Just drained. Have you? Nobody can answer that
for you now. I can say I have. Not like I
want to see him in his holiness, but I have seen the Lord God
in his holiness and I've been left speechless. With only one
word to cry, guilty. Like Job, I put my hand on my
mouth. Not in your presence. Not in
your presence. Like Job of old, I'll defend
myself in your presence, because we're cut out of the same clay
and the same rock. But in his presence, I refuse
to speak. I offer no excuse and no alibi. God is justified when he condemns
me, and righteous and truthful when he judges me. Have you seen
that? Have you now, really? Have you now, really? the distance between a holy God
and a sinner. Thirdly, have you heard the good
news of Christ? If someone came to you tonight
and said, the Bible says in Isaiah 45, God said, I am a just God
and a Savior, do you know what that means? Could you tell them
what that means? I'm a just God, a holy God, and
a Savior. I can tell them what that means.
That God has in his infinite wisdom, in his divine sovereignty,
in the giving of his Son, devised a way that he can be just and
save folks like you and me. And that way is Christ Jesus.
That's what that means. If someone pins you down tonight
and turns to Romans 3, 25 and 26 and asks you, it says, God
set forth for ordained, sent him forth in a public manner,
exhibited him in a conspicuous way to be a propitiation, a propitiation
through faith in his blood. to declare God's righteousness,
that God may be just and justify. Could you tell them what that
means? Now, come on, that's the gospel. Could you tell them,
well, except to Jesus, that ain't what I ask you. I ask you, could you tell them
what God means when he says, I have set forth for a propitiation
my divine Son, in order that I might be just and justifier,
and declare my righteousness, even for the sins of Abraham,
Moses, and Isaiah that are passed." Well, you better learn it, because
that's the only basis on which God can save a wretch like you
and me. I just got through talking about, have you seen God in his incomprehensible holiness? God is not going to pay attention
to you and me, outside of Christ. God's not going to hear you outside
of Christ, neither. God's not going to hear any son
of Adam. God cannot speak to nor be spoken to by son of Adam
apart from the high priest and the atonement. He wouldn't speak
to Israel. God spake to our fathers by the
prophets. And he had spoken to us in these
last days by his son, who is our prophet, priest, and king.
Israel didn't run into the presence of God and slay an animal, the
priest brought the animal's blood into the presence of God. And
seeing we have a high priest over the house of God, let us
come boldly. If you don't have a high priest,
you don't come, boldly or any other way. Is that correct? If
somebody asks you, they'll turn over there to 1 Corinthians 10
and 4 and say, it says there that rock is Christ. That spiritual
rock that followed them in the wilderness, that rock was Christ.
Could you tell them what that means? That rock that was smitten,
that rock that gave forth the water, that rock that quenched
the thirst, that rock that followed them is Christ? Is the gospel precious? Is the
blood precious? Is the promise precious? Is the
word precious? Is the faith precious? Is it? Have you literally given
up your righteousness? Have you given up your religion?
Have you cast it into the garbage can, into the rubbish heap? Let's
go to the garbage dump. Have you been there? Saul of
Tarsus went there. Saul of Tarsus, I had a similar
background to his. In religion, he was born to religious
parents. He was nurtured and brought up
in the synagogue. He was trained in the traditions
of the Father. From a child, he was in the synagogue. He was taught the law. He was
taught right and wrong. He was taught the doctrines of
the Word. He studied the Old Testament
from Genesis to Malachi. When he got a little bigger,
he went over to the school of seminary of Gamaliel and sat
at the feet of the greatest teacher of his day, learning religious
facts, religious truth, learning the law, the Levitical law, the
moral law, all the commandments of God. the days to keep, the
ways to keep, the tithes to pay, the dedication, the consecration,
all these things. He learned them perfectly. He
said concerning that law, I was blameless. But he said, I counted all but
loss, all of it, for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ
my Lord. Yea, doubtless I counted but
dome. Rubbish I go to the garbage heap
and put it all in the garbage that I may win Christ and be
found In him have you been to the garbage dump? Not many people
have Because when you go to the garbage dump you go there not
to get something but to take something Your righteousness
He said, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law. I know something
about that. But that which is by the faith of Christ, that
I may know him and the power of his resurrection. Christ is
our righteousness. I have no holiness except his
holiness. I am thirsty, I cried. He said,
come to the water, and I came. I am hungry, I cried. Then eat
that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness,
he said. I am poor, though, and I have
nothing to pay for this wine and milk. Then come buy wine
and milk without money, without price, without merit, without
works, without a return. Just like that. But I'm weary
and head laden. Then come and I'll give you rest.
But I'm staggering under the burden, and cast your care upon
him, he careth for you. But I'm a sinner, though your
sins be a scarlet, I'll make them as white as snow. Though
they be red like crimson, I'll make them as wool. But I'm a
captive, if the sun'll set you free, you'll be free indeed.
But I'm dying in my Father's house for many mansions. It's
He, He, He. I won't say anything else. It's
Christ. who of God is made unto us wisdom,
there is no wisdom without the knowledge of Christ, who is made
unto us righteousness, there is no righteousness. Believe
me, there is not a good man on the earth that sinneth not. There
is none good, no, not one. There is none righteous. There
is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone astray. They are all sin and come short
of the glory of God. What the law saith, it saith
to every person on earth that every mouth may be stopped and
all the world become guilty, guilty, guilty before God. How long will you dwell on that
preacher till somebody says guilty? God cannot compromise with you. God cannot bargain with you.
God has set forth his unchangeable standard of perfection and it
will be met or will be damned. Well, I can't meet it. Well,
Christ can and do it. And I ask you fourthly, have
you been conquered? Have you been conquered? Have
you been broken like a wild ass is cold? Has Christ put a saddle
on you yet? Have you been conquered? Conquered
by Christ. Have you been broken? Have you been brought into his
fold? Christ in you, the hope of glory. Well, I think many
of you here will say with me tonight, Preacher, I'll tell
you, I have gotten sort of a pretty good glimpse of God's holiness. A pretty good glimpse of God's
holiness. I don't question it or argue it. God's God. God made
God and every man alive. Like old John said a while ago,
I'm glad he's holy. I'm glad he's holy. I wouldn't
have him any other way. I'm glad he's sovereign. I wouldn't
have him any other way. I haven't seen his holiness like
I want to or like I ought to or like I expect to, but I've
seen his holiness. And I've been filled with fear
and trembling before the awesome holy God. And I've seen my sin,
some of it. I've seen my nature. Oh, my nature
is to do evil. My nature is to sin. My nature,
it's so much easier to think wrong or say wrong or do wrong
than to think right. So much easier. But thank God
I've seen Christ. Thank God I've seen a mediator.
Thank God I've seen him given by the free grace of God. I've
seen him prepared, promised, prophesied, pictured, and presented. incarnate God. He's my rock. He's my Passover. He's my brazen
serpent lifted up. He's my high priest. He's my
atonement. He's my altar. He's my all in
all. I've seen him. I've seen him. And he conquered me. He has conquered me. I belong
to him. He bought me. I'm bought with
a price. I am not my own. I'm bought with a price. Nothing
I have or am or ever hope to be is anything to me that belongs
to him. I've been conquered. I belong
to Jesus Christ. Now I belong to Jesus. I belong
to him. And I've seen, I don't profess
any righteousness, I don't claim any goodness, I don't claim any
merit, I don't claim anything before God, but Christ Jesus
is my holiness. Not like I ought to, but he's
my all in all. If you can say yes, then you
can say, I know something of what you're preaching about tonight.
Because you know who did that for you? God did that. God did
that. It's a miracle that the world
doesn't see those things. The world's preachers don't see
those things because they don't preach them. You see, my friends,
now listen to me, this is true, you've got to admit this is true,
listen to me. There's no miracle in making a man religious. There's
no miracle there because all men of all races, of all generations
are religious by nature. Men have a religious nature.
Men and women, boys and girls, are superstitious. They're emotional
by nature. Paul said, I know them, they
have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge. They're
ignorant. They're ignorant of the holiness of God. They're
ignorant of the righteousness of God. They're ignorant of the
person and work of Christ, though they have a zeal for God. All
men and women are religious by nature. They believe in a happy
hunting ground. They believe in life after death.
They believe in a hereafter. And that's what these religious
con-men who call themselves preachers are appealing to. They're appealing
to man's religious nature, and they're telling him what he wants
to hear. And they're promising him life,
eternal life, on the basis of what he wants to give for it.
That's right. There's no miracle in making
a man religious. The miracle is in making a man
righteous before God. That's the miracle. The scripture said, he who knew
no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. I can make you religious. Only
Christ can make you righteous. That's right. Only Christ can
make you righteous. I can make you religious. I can
fix you up with some doctrine, with some rules, with some laws,
with some outward conformity, with a little training. I can
fix you up so that people who hear you and talk to you and
look at you will think you're an A number one Christian. But like the Pharisees of old,
that veneer will only cover dead men's bones. That's right. And that's what the Church is
full of, dead people with dead men's bones. The only one who
can make a man righteous before God is Christ. And listen to
this, now listen to this, there's no miracle in reforming a rebel
for a time. There's no miracle in reforming
a rebel for a time. Now listen to me, I wouldn't
offend, but did you know that the average person wants to be
helped out of his trouble? He wants to be. I watched a television program
the other night about an organization in California or Arizona, somewhere
out west, that took in these rebellious boys. And this is
a commendable work. Please, don't misunderstand.
It's a commendable work. They take in these boys in trouble
with the law, just out of prison, all these incorrigibles, you
know, they take them in and keep them for a year. Keep them for
a year. and then turn them loose. Well,
60 Minutes did a research on what happened to these boys.
The organization was appealing to Christians all over the nation
to support them. They said, give us a boy for
a year, we'll give you a man. Give us a troublemaker, a rebel
for a year, and we'll give you a reformed person. 60 Minutes
did a research on the first year's graduates. 91% were back in jail. And when the 60-minute official
stood and looked the director in the face, and he said, what's
your percentage? He said, we lose some. He said,
you lose 91% back in jail. The others they hadn't caught
yet. You can reform a rebel for a
time. The dope addict wants to be off
dope. The drunk would like to be sober.
The pregnant girl wants some help. Under God, she's got to
have it. But she'll have her back in two
years unless God gives her a new heart. That's what I'm saying. That's
all I'm saying. There's no problem. There's no
problem in social work in reforming rebels. But the miracle, the
problem, is creating a new heart and a new nature. We can't do
that with our organization. You can bring them in here and
you can dress them up and wash them up and lecture them, right?
You can take them to school and try to teach them, but God has
to give them a new heart. That's regeneration. That's regeneration. And that's
something we can't do. Why? You get them down the aisle,
they walk the aisle, they shake the hand, we baptize them, we
go back into the church, and a little while later they're
gone again. Somebody else gets them down their aisle and goes
through the same process. What we're doing is washing the
flesh. God said, I'll take the stony heart out and give you
a new heart. That's regeneration. See what
I'm saying? And then there's no miracle.
in memorizing scripture. I run into a lot of, especially
young people, say, well, how do you know I know something
about the Bible? Well, I'm sure you do. Anybody can read can
know something about the Bible. If you can read, you can know
something about the Bible. I turn on the television there
at these children's programs, and they have these games for
children, you know, have sides, and they ask children Bible questions. And they're experts on the Bible.
But you can know the facts of the Bible and not know the message
of the Bible. I'd whole lots rather, now listen
to me, I know it's good to teach children to memorize scripture
and teach them the facts you know about Noah built an ark
and Daniel purposed in his heart and Ruth chose to stay with Naomi
and David killed a giant and Samson killed a lion and all
these different, but I'm going to tell you something. When you
teach children these facts, you'd better teach them about whom
these facts are written. They're written about a Redeemer.
That ark is Christ. That ark's Christ. And that David
who slew Goliath is the Lord Jesus Christ in his slaying the
giant that is our enemy. Go on through the Scripture and
I'll tell you, And these kids, they blurt out all these facts,
but their mommas and daddies are just like them, they know
the facts, but they don't know the person. And the key is knowing
the person. Better not to know so many facts,
better to know the person. I'm telling you, it's like a
little sparrow sitting on a telephone wire. He's sitting on the wire,
he's supported by the wire, he's got confidence in the wire, but
he doesn't know what the message says as he goes through the wire.
And people are carrying this book around and they're reading
it and they're arguing it and they're saying, well, this is
what my Bible says. Well, this is what my Bible says. And they
argue back and forth. How do you know I know the Bible?
Do you know the author? You can stand on it, sit on it,
lay hold on it, brag about it, profess it, and not know the
message. The message is Christ. Now that's the miracle. That's
the miracle. When people stop arguing the
Bible and start believing it, that's the miracle. When people
stop talking about Jesus Christ as if he is some myth or historical
character and talk about him as if he lived in their hearts
and in their house, that's the miracle. And that's regeneration. And the miracle, listen to me,
I'll tell you this, I found this out, some of the cruelest I mean
cool. Most hypocritical people who
ever lived have been Orthodox Christians. That's exactly right. Orthodox theologians. They're
mean as the devil. They're Orthodox theologians.
Saul of Tarsus is a perfect example. He'll stone one of God's children. And I'll tell you this, there's
no miracle in forming a religious refuge. It's being done every
day. Turn to Isaiah, chapter 28. It's
being done every day. I know what I said this morning
wouldn't be understood most places, that I preach the gospel. I preach
the gospel. And I'm not going to come back
there and try to persuade you to make a decision. I preach
Christ. I'll preach this message, who
Christ is, what he did, why he did it, where he is now. I'll
preach his glorious gospel, and then I'll leave you in the hands
of the Holy Spirit to reveal it to your heart when he pleases."
I'm not going to pressure you. You say, I want to talk to you.
You don't need to talk to me, you need to talk to him. I said on television this morning,
everybody wants to be a religious counselor. I just makes me tremble
when I see those telethons and I see these people sitting there
with phones, about 15 or 20 of them, and these poor lost sinners
are calling these so-called counselors. And I thought, under God, what
a horrible thing for a man to do, in trouble, call one of those
fellas. David called on God. Out of the
depths, O Lord, have I called and cried unto thee. Lord, hear
my voice. He's the counselor. He's the
counselor. That your faith should not stand
in the persuasion of men. You believe this? Yeah. You believe
this? Yeah. Then you're a Christian. How do you know that man's a
Christian? I'll tell you who can speak peace to his heart.
My God can. And if God saves a man, he's
saved. But look at Isaiah 28. He says here in verse 14. Therefore
hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men that rule people,
rule this people which is in Jerusalem." These are their preachers,
their religious leaders. Because you said, we made a covenant
with death. With hell are we in agreement.
When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it will not
come unto us. It won't come unto us, this judgment
of God, this wrath of God, this condemnation of God. It won't
come unto us. Why won't it come unto us? We
have made lies our refuge, and under falsehoods we've hid ourselves.
It's not hard to get a man into a religious refuge. There are
all kinds of religious refuges. There are professions of faith,
that's a refuge. There's church membership, that's
a refuge. It's getting into the ministry. That's a refuge. They
won't hear. Somebody said, you can always
tell a preacher. You can't tell him much. Try it sometime. Try it. He's got a refuge. Ordain
a man a deacon. He's in a refuge now. You'll
never reach him if he's not reached. You come from sea and land to
make a proselyte to your religion, to your doctrine, to your position,
and after you've made him, he's two-fold more the child of hell
than you are. That's the soul-winning program
of today. I'm telling you now, they're
two-fold more the child of hell than the people that made them.
They've got a refuge, and they're setting that refuge like concrete,
and you can come with the arrows of the word and the sword of
the word, and it just bounces off. They've got their Bible
and their theology. They're satisfied. God's not,
but they are. There's no problem to establishing
acceptable refuge. The problem, the miracle, is
regeneration. The miracle is redemption. The
miracle is Christ formed in the heart. That's right. And Jeremiah, turn to Jeremiah
a minute and I'll let you go. Jeremiah chapter 7. Jeremiah
had preached to these people. He preached to them, but they
wouldn't hear him. They wouldn't hear him. This is the man God
sent. But they wouldn't hear him. It
says in Jeremiah 7, look at it, verse 25, "...since the day that
your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day,
I have even sent unto you all my servants, the prophets, daily,
rising up early, and sending them. Yet they hearken not to
me, nor inclined to the prophets, but their heart and their necks,
they did worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all
these words unto them, but they will not hearken to you, they
shall not Thou shalt also call unto them, and they won't answer
thee. But thou shalt say unto them,
This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their
God, nor receiveth correction. Truth is perished and cut off
from their mouth." And he wept over them. Turn to Jeremiah 9.
He wept over them. He prayed for them. He said in
Jeremiah 9, listen to this, Oh, that my head were waters, and
my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughters of my people. Oh, that I had
in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, that I might
leave my people and go from them, for they be all adulterers, an
assembly of treacherous men. They bend their tongues like
their bow for lies, but they're not valiant for the truth, the
earth they proceed from evil to evil they know not me saith
the Lord so Jeremiah came to this conclusion Jeremiah 13 turn
over that Jeremiah 13 he came to this conclusion he said can
the Ethiopian change his skin now he wasn't belittling the
Ethiopian Jeremiah had a dear friend who was a black man If
you want to take notes, you jot down Jeremiah 38, 7 through 13.
Tell you about his black friend that got him out of jail. Jeremiah
had a black friend that got him out of the dungeon, let down
a rope, and pulled him out. You remember? So he wasn't belittling
the black people. He's simply showing the impossibility
of us changing our nature. He said, can the Ethiopian change
his skin? No. Can the leper change his
spots? The day that that can take place, then may you also
do good, that are born to do evil. Why can't the Ethiopian
change his skin? It's his nature to be black.
Why can't we do good? It's our nature to do evil. It's
our nature. We're born that way. The Ethiopians
born an Ethiopian. Sin is our nature, just like
holiness is God's nature. I'll tell you another reason
why we can't do good. We don't want to. He said, you will not come to
me that you might have a lot. Our wills are perverted. Now,
I want to tell you something. I'll strike a blow at this. And
I see we rode by, Bill Clark and I rode by this Free Will
Baptist Church out here a few years ago. Europe. He was living in France, I think,
at that time. And we rode by there. It said
13th Street Free Will Baptist Church. And Bill looked in and
he said, I've never seen people advertise apostasy before. He
says, that's the name of that church? I says, that's the name
of it. Free? The will's not free. The will's
in bondage to the nature. God has a free will. God, he
said, I will do all my pleasure. You can't say that, because you
can't do all your pleasure. Your will's in bondage. And I'll
tell you, we not only can't do good because of our nature and
because of our captive will, but we love sin. Oh, yes, we
do. This is condemnation, light came
into this world, and men love what? Darkness. Yeah, they do. One shade or another. So yeah,
you do. The only way that you can love
God is for God to love you and shed abroad his love in your
heart. I'm telling you the truth now. I'm telling you the truth. It's a miracle. And I'll tell you another thing
that's a problem. Can the Ethiopian change your
skin? No. Can you do good, God good? No. Because of your nature,
because of your will, because of your love for sin, and because,
fourthly, we don't even know what good is. Our understanding is right darkened. There's none that understand
it. Now, come on. We don't know what
it is. Somebody said the other day to
one of our ladies, well, just trust the Lord and do the best
you can. You don't know what best is. You don't know what it is. Here's
a poem. Listen. Oh, endless misery. I labor still, but I labor in
vain. The stains of sin that I see
are double deep-dyed in the grain. There's not a spot will move
a jot for all that I can do. There's no quarter in Jordan's
water, though I add the sacraments too. How many plans have tried,
I've listened to preachers please, I raised my hand, I walked the
aisle, I fell upon my knees. I've washed and I've rubbed,
I've scraped and I've scrubbed, I've done all that a man can
do. And still my soul is black as coal, I can't make all things
new. Can no help be had? Oh, Mr. Jeremiah, I have a question for
you. Can the Ethiopian skin be changed? Yes, sir. God can change it by
changing his nature. And that's what my Lord said,
if a man's heart is operated on, the outside of the cup will
be cleaned too. That's right. Can no help be
had? Lord, thou art the sovereign
king. Though my heart is foul and bad,
you can make it clean. Speak, Lord, by your precious
word to a sinner so distressed I know you will, because your
blood was spilt, and so I, in your promise, rest." You know what I would do if I
were you and here tonight, and these things that I've tried
to preach and read from the Word of God are not a part of your
experience. You know what I would do? I'd
call upon the Lord. I wouldn't go, I wouldn't get
my Bible and run to a preacher and see if what I said was right,
because he's not God. He's not God. I'd be like the noble Thessalonians. I'd get me a Bible and go home
tonight and search and see if these things be so. And then I'll tell you what I'd
do, knowing what needs to be done for me. And like the woman
with the issue of blood, we've tried many physicians and are
no better. We've spent all we have and we're
no better. But knowing what needs to be done and knowing the only
one who can do it, I'd be like David of old. I'd cry, oh Lord,
create in me a clean heart. Renew within me a right spirit. I'm going to wait on you. I'm
going to wait on you. And like Jacob of old, I'm not
going to let you go till you bless me." Huh? What's wrong with that? He said,
you'll seek me and find me when you search for me with all your
heart. My soul is too precious to take my relationship with
God for granted. I'll tell you, death is too sure. And judgment is too certain.
And eternity is too long. And hell is too terrible for
me to treat lightly the warnings of God's Word.