All right. Now, this morning,
my subject is free grace. Free grace. And we're turning
to the Gospel of John, chapter 1. John, chapter 1. Now, tonight, I want you to hear
the message tonight. And I'm sure the ones God wants
to hear will hear it, too. I'm confident of that. Everybody
I want to hear it won't hear it, but once he wants to hear
it, he'll hear it. Tonight, I'm going to preach on the people
called Christians. The people called Christians.
And if you want to read the scripture I'll be using, I'll be speaking
from Acts 3 and 4, Acts chapter 3 and 4. Now, John 1, let's begin
reading with verse 10. He was in the world. He was in
the world, and the world was made by Him. The Lord Jesus Christ
was in this world, in the flesh, in a body as thou prepared me. And the world was made by Him,
and the world did not know Him. They did not know Him. He came
into His own. He came to His own city, the
city of David. He was the son of David. The
city of Jerusalem, the city of the temple. of the sacrifices
of the prophets to his own nation, Israel, and
his own received him not. They didn't receive him. They
didn't welcome him. They didn't want him. We'll not have this
man reign over us. They didn't want him. The world
didn't know him, and his own people, the Jews, didn't receive
him. But as many as received Him,
welcomed Him, to them, to those people who received Him, then
and now, to those people, He gave. It's His to give. Son quickeneth whom He will.
He gave power, authority, the right, the privilege, use the
word you want, the right. He gave the privilege, the right.
power to become sons of God, sons of God, children of God,
children of God. We're not children of God by
natural heritage. We're not children of God because
we're children of certain religious men, but those that received
Him and believed Him, to those people He gave this glorious
privilege and right to become sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name. Now, according to this scripture,
and according to many other scriptures, and I could spend the time reading
hundreds of scriptures, the most important and principal matter
in the salvation of my soul is faith, is to believe Christ,
is to receive Christ. Is that right? The most important
matter, the most important principle in this matter of relationship
with God is believing God. He was in the world, the world
didn't know Him. He came in His own, they didn't receive Him,
didn't believe. But as many as believed Him, actually believed
Christ, received Christ, they have received from Him the gift,
the power to become sons of God. Abraham believed God. That's
all it says about Abraham. He believed God, and it was counted
to him for righteousness. He believed. Our Lord said to
the man with the sick son, He said, If you can believe, can
you believe? All things are possible to them that believe. We want to work, but he didn't
say anything about working. He said, Believe. He said, He
that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. That's
what it said. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. He that believeth not, shall
not see light. You see, faith is the simplest
act in the world. There's no work, there's no preparation
involved, there's no conditioning. I believe God. Faith is just an empty cup held
up to a flowing stream. There's nothing in the cup. There's
no powder to mix with the water. It's just an empty cup held up
to a flowing stream. Is anybody that doesn't have
an empty cup? Is anybody that can't hold an
empty cup under a stream? That's all it is. You don't bring
anything. In my hands, no price I bring. What is faith? It's a penniless hand. The hand
may be dirty and the fingernails unkept and gnarled and scarred
and calloused, But it's not the condition of the hand. The strength
of the hand is just empty. It's the empty hand held out
for the heavenly gift. I can do that. Is that not right? That's what faith is. Now, we come all dressed up.
I've got my Bible, Lord. I'm doing the best I can. Now,
will you save me? Just a beggar with an empty hand.
I read a story one time about a famous artist over in Europe.
Famous artist, and he wanted to paint. He wanted to paint,
he wanted to put on canvas a real, real beggar. A real beggar. A real poverty-stricken, deserted,
lonely, solitary beggar. He wanted to put on canvas somebody
that represented the poverty of the world with nothing. So
he started looking for a subject. And he went around all over the
streets and finally he came up on a fella. And he was a beggar. He was lonely, deserted, tattered,
worn, dirty, unshaven, unkempt. He was hungry, sick. He was a beggar. He said, friend,
will you sit for me? The man said, beg your pardon?
Will you sit for me? I don't know what you mean. Will
you let me paint your picture? Well, yeah, I reckon. But I'll
tell you what. He said, I'll pay you. I'll pay
you well. Just to show you, I'll pay you. I'm going to give you
some money now. And I'll give you this address, and you come
to my house, and we'll paint you a picture. Certain times. He'd be there
late this afternoon. So the artist got his easel ready
and his paints. He got them all. He was just
thrilled in there. He had what he wanted. Get his
paints out. brushes, everything, got all
ready, heard the knock on the door, ran to the door, opened
the door, there stood a fella, clean shaven, hair comb, new
shirt, hands manicured, and the artist said, what can I do for
you? He said, I'm here to sit for you. He said, I beg your
pardon? He said, I'm here to sit for
you. You told me you wanted to paint my picture. Oh, the artist
said, not like you are, like you were, like you were. I can't use you. I think that's what a lot of
us are going to hear when we try to come to God the way we're
coming. I can't use you. The Lord Jesus is glorified in
the salvation of sinners. Our Lord's praise and glory is
in the salvation of sinners. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners. You see what I'm saying? And
if we can't pose for his painting of a trophy of his grace like
we are, he can't use us. See, faith is an empty cup. Empty
cup. Not a prepared cup, an empty
cup. Faith is a penniless hand. You know what faith is? It's a weary, tired, heavy-laden,
sinful, helpless, hopeless soul falling into the arms of Christ.
That's what it is. Just falling into the arms of
Christ to be loved, to be kept, to be provided for, to be protected,
to be saved. Turn to Romans 4. Listen to this.
I wish I could get this across. I'm going to try. I'm going to
try my dead-level best this morning to kill every human effort, every
human work, to shut us up to this one thing, believe on Him.
For if you can believe on Him, you'll be safe. To them that
believe on His name, He gives them the right to be sons of
God. Romans 4, look at verse 3. What say the Scriptures? What does the Word of God say?
I know what it means. You've got to straighten up. You've got to come down the aisle.
You've got to make a profession. You've got to be baptized. You've
got to join a church. You've got to tithe. You've got to be a
Baptist. You've got to be this, that. You've got to do this. I know
what the world says. But what does the Scripture say?
What says the Scripture? Abraham believed God. Three words. Abraham believed God. That's
all it says. And it was counted, it was imputed,
it was reckoned, and the word imputed and counted and reckoned
is used in this chapter nine times. Did you know that? Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for what? Righteousness, beauty, purity,
holiness, acceptance with God. It was counted, it was imputed,
it was reckoned, it was given to him. Now to him that worketh,
Describe it, labor it, give it, go it, win it, knock it, teach
it, preach it, sing it. To him that worketh is the reward
not reckoned of grace, it's a debt. That's what you said he in part,
to earn salvation, and that's what you better, you better be
perfect then if you're going to get it that way. It's a debt,
and if God's going to pay a debt, you're going to earn it. Now
you'll pay it if you earn it, but you're going to earn it.
but to him that worketh not in any shape, form, or fashion."
I'm talking about the salvation of the soul. Now, I know faith
produces holiness and produces obedience. I'm not talking about
what faith produces. I'm talking about what God giveth
right now, salvation. "...but to him that worketh not
in any way, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly."
The what? The ungodly. Can you come in
there? The ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. I tell you, I'm saved, accepted,
redeemed before God exactly the same way that that old worthless
thief on the cross found mercy. The same way. Not one iota of
difference. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. There may I, just as vile as
he, just as Helpless as he, just as worthless as he, there may
I, though vile as he, wash my sins away. That's the way you're
coming, or you're not coming. Let others define faith. Let
others explain faith. Let others protect faith. My
business is to preach faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith. Scripture says, our Lord quoted
this, He said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth,
believeth on him, believeth on him, should not perish, but have
everlasting life. And these Israelites were bitten
by the fiery serpents. God sent a plague of fiery serpents
among the people. They were everywhere. They were
in their homes. They were under the cushions.
They were on the floor. They were in the cabinets. They
were out in the sand, in the dirt. They were climbing up the
walls of the tents. They were on the inside of the
tents. They were fiery serpents, little old biting serpents everywhere. And the people were bitten. And
that's where sin is. Sin is upon us. It's in us. It's
about us. It's under us. It's over us.
It's not any place we look or turn or speak or hear that's
not something contrary to God. The serpents of sin. And if fitness
and the poison is in us and about us, now what are we going to
do? That's what they said to Moses. What are we going to do?
What are we going to do about this? We're dying. The people
are bitten. There's no way to fight them off. You kill one,
there's two. You kill two, there's three. You kill three, there's
ten. You know, everywhere. They're in our clothes. They're
all over us. What are we going to do? Moses
went to God, and the Lord said, Make a brazen serpent in the
likeness of those serpents. lifted up on a pole. And Jesus
Christ, God's Son, came down to this earth, made in the likeness
of our whole problem, sinful flesh. That's our whole problem, sinful
flesh. Moses made a serpent, likened to the problem. God made
a body, made His Son, in the likeness of the whole problem,
and lifted Him up on a pole. lifting him up on a cross, lifting
him up on an ignominious tree. And Moses said to the people,
you're not going to legislate the removal of the serpents.
You're not going to call Congress or the Supreme Court together
and get rid of the serpents. The serpents are on you and in
you and about you and under you and over you and everywhere.
There's just one solution. Look. Look and live. Look! Not work. Look! Not wait. Look! Not serve. Look! That's what those did that
day. Look. Lifted up. And I say unto you,
you're not going to legislate this problem. You're not going
to reform this old world. You're not going to put away
this serpent of sin. God has provided the remedy.
The sun lifted on a cross. And I say, whoever you are, look. You can look. All that's sin
can come short of the glory of God. Look! And that look is a
look of faith. It's a look to Him. It's a look
out of myself. I look believing. A blind man
can look to Christ. You don't even have to see Him
to look. In fact, nobody here has ever seen Him. Whoever you are, you can look.
That's all you can do. Nothing else you can do pleases
God. Nothing else you do is accepted
of God. Nothing else you do will find
favor with God. In the flesh, no man can please
God. That's all you can do is look. Looking, you can please
Him. And whatever you are, you can look. You may be the dirtiest
one in the camp. You may be the sickest one in
the camp. Moses didn't say all of you are able to do it on your
own. He says, look. It doesn't matter
who you are. Look. It doesn't matter what you are.
Look. you a gentile, male or female, it doesn't matter how
old you are, you can look. Or how young you are. If you
know your bit, you can look. Wherever you are, you can look.
Wherever you are, in the tent, out of the tent, on the hill,
in the palace, in the jail, you can look. A man can look through
the bars. That's right. And a man can pull
back his satin drapes and look, doesn't he? But he better look. Look unto me, and be ye saved.
All the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there's none
else. Look at Christ. That's how men are saved. It's not by putting on the proper
dress. It's not making sure my hair
is the proper length, or all these other things. being with
the right assembly or in the right church. It's just a helpless,
hopeless sinner, bitten by sin under the judgment and wrath
of a holy God. Knowing that in himself there's
no cure, in himself there's no hope. No one else can help him. And he says, God, I look to Christ. Here's my empty hand. Fill it. Here's my weary soul. Give it
rest. Here's my guilty, shameful spirit,
clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Here I am, in my hands,
no price I break, sent for the cross of Christ I claim. Could
my tears forever flow? Could my zeal, no respite? No,
these for sin could never atone. It's Christ that saves. That's right. But I don't know enough about
the Bible. You know enough about yourself,
don't you? But pastor, if you preach salvation
by grace alone, by God's grace alone, through faith alone, nothing
else, there's no other requirement but believing on Him, so free,
so simple, so totally void of works, so totally void of any
kind of effort, Just the free, unspeakable gift of God. People
are going to misunderstand you. They are going to accuse you
of antinomianism. They are going to accuse you
of not preaching godly living. They are going to accuse you
of not preaching the law. They are going to accuse you
of not preaching obedience. Let them. That's what I say,
let them. How does God save sinners? By
grace through faith. Isn't that right? That's what
the Word says. I refuse to compromise the truth. I refuse to confuse the grace
of God because carnal religious minds can't understand it. I'm
not going to compromise. The Apostle Paul said, if righteousness
comes by works, any kind of works, Christ died in vain. Now what
does that mean? You know, they accuse Paul of
the same thing. Turn to Romans 3 and listen to
this. Romans chapter 3, verse 8. Listen. They accuse Paul of the same
thing. They say, preaching what you preach, that salvation is
free, that it's a gift of God, that it's not by works, that
it's by faith alone. You're going to make people live
lascivious lives. Listen to verse 8 of Romans 3. And not rather, as we be slanderously
reported, And as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that
good may come." That's what they said about Paul. They said, well,
you're preaching that man do evil and good will come out of
it. A man in sin and God saves him, you're saying that God blesses
a man because of his evil. Paul said, that's slanderous,
and your damnation is just when you say that. Look at Romans
6. They said it again. Romans 6,
1. Listen to this. Romans 6, what shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid!
Paul said, God's grace and mercy is to the chief of sinners, then
I'll be the chief of sinners. God's grace and mercy is to the
ungodly, then I'll give him somebody ungodly. He said, God forbid.
What's wrong with you? Look at verse 15, he said again,
what then? Shall we sin because we're not
under the law? Come along and say, the law can't
save, the law can't promote holiness. It can't. There's no way that
law can promote holiness. Law can require a thing, but
it can't give the ability. It can't even give the motivation. Did you know that? Well, shall
we sin that because we're not under the law
but under grace? God forbid. Men may abuse the free grace
of God. They may confuse it. They may
even misuse it. But I'm saying to you here this
morning, there's good news. Salvation is by free grace through
faith, and that not of yourself, it's the gift of God. My message is, come ye sinners,
poor and needy. Come just like you are, weak
and wounded, sick and sober. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, love, and power. Is that not true? Come ye sinners
heavy laden, bruised and mangled by the fall, if you tarry till
you're better, you'll never come at all. Let not conscience make
you linger, nor fitness fondly dream. All the fitness he requires
is to what? Feel your need of him. Romans 3 again, verse 24. Romans 3, 24. Being justified. What is justified? Totally acquitted, without sin,
legally, judicially, in the sight of God, having no guilt. Is that not what justified means?
Being justified freely. No return, no payment. Freely,
freely, I freely forgive, without cause, without remuneration,
being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. That's my message. That's the message I declare,
and will to declare, and want to declare, and shall declare,
God willing, that salvation, redemption, is by the free grace
of God. to all who believe. Let me give you an illustration.
I want you to listen very carefully to this. Suppose we live in a dry, parched,
thirsty land. There's not a creek or river.
There's not a lake. There's only one good well. one
good well of clear, cool, refreshing water. One well. It's the well
of life. It's the well of refreshment.
And God, my Master, put me in charge of that well. He gave
me the privilege, the responsibility
of Standing at that well, giving water to all who are thirsty.
That's what my master told me. It's his well, and he put me
in charge of one well. Now, what am I to do? What am
I to do? Shall I close down the well because
people abuse it? Because people misuse it? Shall
I shut her down? Oh, no. Suppose some people come
to the well, and they pretend to get the water. They tell me
they want the water. They want the water to drink.
They want the water for their babies. They pretend that they
want the water to quench their thirst. So I give them the water,
and they go off down the road and get some barley and hops
and other things and make beer and get drunk. Shall I close the well? They've
misused it. They've abused it. They've turned
it into lasciviousness. They've done what my Master disapproves
of. Am I going to shut down the well?
I'm not going to shut down the well. Because here comes a young
man that's thirsty, and he wants the water. And I give him the
water just like I gave it to them. They misused it, he took
it and drank it. All right, somebody else comes
to the well, and he pretends to get the water to drink. I
give him the water freely. But what does he do? He makes
a business out of it. He bottles the water and sells
it on television. and makes himself rich. He's
misused the water. Shall I close the well? Oh, no. Here comes a dear lady who's
really thirsty. And my master said, Oh, everyone
that's thirsty, come to the water. And I'm going to give it to her
just like I gave it to them. They misused it and bottled it
and made a business out of God's water and made themselves prosperous. Here comes some fellas in a committee,
they want to put a fence around the well. They said, you're getting
too many folks from everywhere around here drinking this water
freely, and we need to put a fence around this well, and only let
our particular kind come to the well. You see, this is Baptist
water, or Catholic water, or Nazarene
water, or Church of Christ water, or Jehovah Witness water, or
Mormon water. And what we need to do is we
need to put a fence around this well and keep this rabble out.
Another one comes along and says, you're just supposed to open
the well on the Sabbath day. This one day out of seven that
we're to keep holy and close the well the rest of the day.
Another comes along and says, I think that everybody that drinks
ought to wear black. I think everybody that drinks
ought to tithe. What am I going to do, close the well? I'm not
going to close the well because these fellows abuse the water.
Somebody else comes along and says, I'll tell you what we need
to do. We need to build an impressive temple over this well. We need
to put a big temple and put some stained glass windows and put
a steeple pointing to heaven so everybody will know that the
well is here. We need to hire some entertainers
and some stars to draw people. We want people. Let's build a
temple and let's hire some entertainers and some stars and we'll get
some folks to come to the well. Yeah, they'll come to the well,
but not to the water. The well's not important, it's
the water that's important. Well, let's put the well down
at the front of the church and make everybody that drinks come
down and shake hands with you before we drink. Shall I close
the well? This is my master's well. This
water's free. And this water's not in a temple.
It's not down at the front. It's very near all of you. In
fact, I'm in charge of the well, but you don't even have to come
to me. All you have to do is just drink. Right where you are. Isn't that right, Sid? The well
is right there where you are. I preach. I work with some rough
folks. There's a well out there, too. I travel to the well where
you, whither shall I flee from his presence? If I ascend into
heaven right there, if I make my bed in hell right there, if
I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts
of the sea right there, I can drink. Right? And there are some who refuse
to drink of the well, and they turn to the poison wells
of the world. I went over to Indiana this week
to preach. This hadn't happened to me in
a long time, but the pastor over there, I'd never met him. I didn't
know the pastor. I'd never been in the church,
didn't know the pastor. I accepted the invitation on the strength
of a friend who attends that church. He said, come over and
preach to us four nights. Well, the pastor let me preach
two nights, and then he closed the meeting. He said, even if you're preaching
the truth, you can't preach it here. Salvation is not grace. Salvation is a gift of God. And
you may run me out, but I ain't shutting down my well. I'm keeping
it open. Because I'm already into somebody
who wants a drink. And that somebody ain't going
to have nothing to pay. He's not going to deserve the
water, but he's going to drink because I'm going to keep the
well open. Yes, sir. And if the pastor over there
says, you can't serve that water here, that's all right. They
got their bottle of water of religion. It's poison, it's contaminated,
it's stagnated. They made it. But there's a well in a desert
plain. And its waters call with increasing
strain, O every thirsty, sin-sick soul, come freely drink, and
thou shalt be whole." Why will you die? Why do you turn to the
waters of the world? Why do you spend money for that
which is not meat and not drink? And that's what this religious
world's doing. They're giving, they're building,
they're enlarging, they're promoting, they're entertaining, and it's
not drink, it's not peace, it's not rest. Rest is only found
in Christ. I know that. Well, some are going to drink.
They're going to drink freely. They're going to give to their
children to drink. They're going to tell their son. They're going
to say, son, here's the water. It's free. Christ said to that
woman, if you knew the gift of God, it's the gift of God. If you knew the gift of God,
it's the gift of God. And who it is that says to you,
give me a drink? You'd ask of Him and He'd give
you living water. He'd give it to you. He is not
going to sell it to you. He's not going to exchange it
for your cooperation. He's not going to do it. He's
going to give it. Give it to the thirsty, to the
needy, to the weary, to the hungry, to the heavy laden. And I'll
tell you this, that man that comes to that well with nothing
to buy, no gimmick, just comes with a parched throat and a thirsty
soul, and he drinks of that water. You know what he's going to do?
He's going to come back again. And again and again. He's going to
move his family closer to the well. He said, we're not going to live
over here in the well. We're going to the well. We're
going to build us a place right by the well. And we're going
to sit there and worship Him who gave the water and adore
Him who is the water, Christ the water of life. That's where
I'm going to camp. That's where I'm going to camp.
They'll come often. And I can just hear them as they walk away,
praise God from whom all blessings flow. Those kind of people don't need
a bunch of rules and regulations. Now, you come every Sunday to
church, because God requires it. You come when he gets thirsty.
Isn't that right? You come when he gets thirsty. Because he knows where the water
is. Salvation's a gift of God. I
want you to look one more time to John 1. One more time, and
I'll wind her down. What I'm saying, and I want you
clearly to understand, salvation has nothing to do with my character.
It has to do with His character. Is that right? I know salvation
produces a godly character. Salvation produces. Salvation
produces godliness. Don't tell me it doesn't. If
any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. He's a new creature. He may come
to the well with a lot of doubts and questions about the character
of God, but once he drinks of the water, he'll never doubt
again. He'll never question him. He'll praise him. That's right.
What you drink. What you drink. For that water
shall be in him a well of living water, springing up. But you
can't remodel and renovate someone who's never
tasted Christ. Christ is the renovation. He
is the revival. He is the life. He is the truth. He is holiness. And He's got
to be received. And when He's received, then
the fruit of His Spirit who dwells within will be obvious and evident.
Does that make sense? But the salvation itself does
not have anything to do with my work. It's by His work His
stripes are healed. Salvation doesn't have anything
to do with my holiness. It's His holiness in which I'm
accepted. Salvation has nothing to do with
who I am. It has to do with who He is.
You see that? It's not who I am and what I've
done and why I've done it and where I am now. It's who He is,
what He did, why He did it, and where He is now. That's what
it is. Oh, but look at the text again. I'll close. Verse 12, As many
as received Him, to them, every one of them, gave He the right
to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.
Believe on his name. Can I find his name in these
verses somewhere? All right, let's look at verse
1. His name in the beginning was the Word. That's his name.
He's the Word. Why is he called the Word of
God? Well, if I want to communicate with you, you teachers here,
several, Susan, Terry, Becca, Ron, all you teachers here, Sandy,
you've got new classes that have come sitting before you this
week. How are you going to get across to them what you've got
in here? You don't have but one way, right Ronnie? Words. You may write them, you may speak
them, but you're going to get some words. There ain't no way
in this world that they can know what you know unless you use
words. No way you can know God except through the Word of God.
Christ is the Word. He's the communication. See what
I'm saying? Christ is that prophet. Christ
is that Word of God. He has spoken to us through His
Son. Christ said, look at me, and
you're looking at the Father. Hear me, and you're hearing the
Father. That's right. You want to know God? Christ
Jesus. And he that hath not the Son
of God, hath not God. He that honoureth not the Son,
honoureth not the Father. He that despiseth the Son, despiseth
the Father. That is the word. All right,
let's find another word, verse 4. In him was life, L-I-F-E. Life. In Adam we died, in Christ
we live. If my spirit leaves this body,
this body is going You can crumble and fall on the floor. You can
shake it. You can burn it. You can cut
it. You can scream at it. You can do what you want to.
It's dead. Dead. Dead to you and dead to everything
else. Leave it lying here. It will never move. It's dead.
The spirit's gone. When Adam fell in the Garden of Eden, he
died. He died. The nature of God, the
life of God left him. There's just one way that body
will get up if I fall over here dead. And that's for that spirit
to come back. That's right. If I come back,
someday I will. God's going to raise our bodies.
Someday I'm going to come down here and get my body. It's going
to be all right. There's just one way for this
dead sinner to live, and that's for Christ, who is the life,
to come and dwell within. He's the life. You can run down
this aisle, you can rededicate, you can go in this pool, you
can memorize scripture, you can give your money, you can strive,
you can keep the law, and you're still dead. unless Him who is
the life comes in by regeneration. Christ is our life. Christ is
our life. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, then shall we, you can go out here, take your Bible,
knock on the door, and sit down and talk to people and say, you
believe you're a sinner, yeah, you believe God is on the throne,
you believe this word of God, then you're saved. Now, there
ain't a dead. I'll tell you another word it
uses here. He said, I'm the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
on me, though he were dead, yet still he liveth. Christ is life.
Oh, living God, come to me. And then in verse four, and he
is the light of men. You know something? I sat and
thought about this yesterday. It is utterly, absolutely, totally
impossible No matter if I got good eyes, to see anything without
what? Light. That's right. It may be there, I may be here,
but there is no way to see anything without light. We've never been
ever totally without light. It's just one time I've ever
seen darkness you could cut. I was in Chattanooga and I went
down into Ruby, see Ruby Falls. Way down below the ground. Anybody
ever been to Ruby Falls? It's down there in a cave. Hundreds
of feet underground. And they shut off the lights.
It wasn't a thing. It wasn't an object. There wasn't
anything. Just total, complete darkness
you could cut. And even so, I'll tell you this.
There's a God. There's God. Not a God. There
is God. And there is truth. And there
is heaven, there is hell, there is sin, and there is salvation.
There is all these things. But you are not going to see
any of it, understanding that without L-I-G-H-T. And Christ
is that light. I'll tell you, these preachers,
and in this darkness of religion, and you can cut it with a knife.
You can cut it and turn your television on. They're not saying anything
because they don't have any light. They don't know anything. They
don't have any light. Everything is understood in the light of
Jesus Christ. Let me show you that. Turn to
2 Corinthians. Let me just show you that. 2
Corinthians, chapter 4. Now, I want to tell you something. I saw this with my own eyes yesterday
on television. This fellow, Pat Robertson, who's
running for President of the United States, Here at Termitivo, there he is
on the screen, he and his son. And he's standing in front, over
in Jerusalem, in front of a cave, a kind of a rock grave. And he's standing there with
his Bible. He said, this is the tomb of Christ. This is where
the Lord Jesus lay. Well, now, there's hundreds of
people who disagree with that. In fact, I've been told none
of those shrines are authentic, none of them. But he's persuaded
this is where he lay. Well, OK, suppose it is. Suppose
it is or it isn't. What difference does it make?
He's not there now. He said this is the holy grave. Ain't nothing
holy about that grave. And then he said, I'm going to
take my Bible and these prayer requests, the names of people,
into this tomb of Jesus. And so we went in with a television
camera, had lights in there, fixed up for the night. Got some
bars so people can't steal things. And here this man, now this is
supposed to be an intelligent man who's supposed to know something
about this Bible, who's supposed to be a preacher running for
president. Highest office in the world this man's going to
hold, if he gets it. He said that this is where the
Lord lays. And he said, this is the most
holy place on earth. And he said, I'm going to kneel
right here with my Bible, and he had on a trench coat, you
know, and the television cameras and the like, and I'm going to
pray for you, and there's going to come a special blessing to
you because of where I am. Now, I'm telling you, I'm telling
you, you say, well, he's, you know, he's an intelligent preacher. He's got a Bible. Why can't he
see that's idolatry? There's no Catholicism or cross-counting
or bead-counting or anything more idolatrous than that. What? He doesn't have Christ.
That's why he can't see it. He's worshiping a dead Christ.
He's worshiping shrines. That's why I'm telling you the
truth. If you do it, you're an idolater. And if I do it, you
write me off right now. Can you imagine me doing something
like that? Why don't we do it? We've got
some light. Christ is the light. Listen to
2 Corinthians 4, verse 3. If our gospel be hid in darkness,
it's hid, it can't be seen. Something that can't be seen
is hid. It's hid to them that are lost within the pulpit of
the few, in whom the God of this world has blinded their minds
of them that believe not. And he blinds it with religion,
he blinds it with doctrine, he blinds it with law, he blinds
it with morality, he blinds it with sin, he blinds it with anything.
He's no respecter of persons or means. Lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine
unto them. We preach not ourselves, but
Jesus Christ the Lord, ourselves your servants, but Jesus, say,
God, who commanded the light to shine out of this world. Even
religious darkness has shined in our hearts to give us the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ
Jesus. You can't see God except in the
light of Christ.