Now, I've been preaching in a
lot of Bible conferences lately. I've been, it seems like, on
the road in conferences for almost a month, and I have another month
to go. I'll be speaking in a conference
next week and the next week. And I prepared a message for
the conference in Fairmont, West Virginia, and brought the message
Friday night And I want to give it to you this morning, and the
title of the message is this. A conference you need to avoid. A conference to be avoided. I'm
going to talk this morning about a conference that you don't want
to attend. Under any circumstances, you
don't want to go, you don't want to be associated with it, you
don't want to attend this conference. You say, will I be invited? Oh,
yeah. Yeah, you'll be invited. You'll not only be invited, you
have been invited, and you'll be invited many more times. Even
if I turn them down, yeah, you'll still be invited even if you
turn it down. They'll keep wanting you to come to this conference.
The temptation will arise over and over and over again, but
your answer must always be, no, I will not come. I will not come. I will not take part. in that
conference at all. Do I have your attention? Somebody says, whose conference
he don't matter. Well, I'm going to put you on
hold for a minute right there. Not this conference you don't
want to attend and you don't want to take part in. And let
me point out the fact that there are some good conferences. There
are some conferences that are good and some conferences which
we ought to attend and take part in with our whole hearts. The
first one is found in Isaiah 1, Isaiah 1, Isaiah 1, verse
18. Now, this is an interesting conference,
and the invitation is extended, the command actually is extended
by the Lord God. And this is a conference that
you do well to attend. In Isaiah 118, the Lord says,
Come now and let us reason together. Let's meet together. I tell you,
God proposes this conference. God proposes this conference.
God says, You come. We're going to talk. We're going
to talk. We're going to confer. You come.
We're going to confer. This is God. And I tell you this,
it's awful gracious of Him to propose such a conference to
folks like me and you. We certainly got no right to
encroach upon his presence and his fellowship, but he proposes,
Gerald of Compton, he says, you come and let's reason together. Well, what's this conference
about? Well, this conference is not to determine the shape
we're in, but what is to be done about the shape we're in. This
conference is not, the subject of this conference is our sins
and what's to be done about them. Not to determine if we have them.
We do have them. with sinners by birth, by choice,
by nature, by practice, and by pleasure. And God said, you come. Now listen, though your sins,
though your sins, though they be many, though they be double-dived,
though they be like scarlet, red, dripping red, your sins
are red. Red is scarlet and your sins
are red as crimson?" He said, this is what this conference
is all about. I'm going to make them as white as snow. I tell you, now anybody sitting
here that ought not be vitally concerned about that conference,
because we got some sins on our hands and on our hearts and on
our consciences. We got some sins. I tell you,
we go back to our daddy Adam and find that In him, we tried
to throw God off His throne. This human race is charged with
two sins, trying to throw God off His throne and killing His
Son. Our hands are dripping with the
blood of God's Son. And that's not to mention the
sins of rebellion that we've continued through our lives,
our ways, our will, our thoughts. And God says, your sins are as
scarlet And they're red like crimson, but he said, let's come,
let's come together, and I'll make them as white as snow and
as white as wool, if you'd be willing. Now, if you're willing
to enter into this conference with me and into this discussion,
and if you're willing to hear me and listen to me, you'll eat
the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel,
It's going to be devoured with a sword, for the mouth of the
Lord God has spoken." Well, this sinner is coming to the conference
class. I'm going to sit at his feet, Richard. How about you,
Joe? I'm coming to the conference.
He says, come. And I'm a fit subject for such
a conference. I'm going to come sit at his
feet. I'm going to say, Lord God, you furnish the Savior and I'll
furnish the sinner. I'll bring an empty cup if you
will fill it. I'll bring a guilty sinner if you'll wash him. Here
I am. I'm coming. I'm coming. I'm coming
to the feet of Christ. Coming to the feet of Christ.
All right, let me show you another. And let me tell you this. You
talk about sins are hard to put away. Did you know that? Doris,
oh, we like peaches. In the summertime, we eat a lot
of peaches. And I'll be eating a peach, and I'll get up in my
handkerchief to wipe my hands off. She said, don't do that.
I said, why? She said, it's a stain, and Pete's
stain just won't come out. Let me give you a bounty. You like to wipe your hand with
a bounty, you know. I like a handkerchief, you know. But it's a stain. But
let me tell you this. Sin's a stain that no way under
heaven and this side of hell did anybody put away but the
blood of Christ. He appeared to put away sin, and it's stain,
and it's guilt, and it's curse. by the sacrifice of himself.
That water won't do it. It won't do it, Charlie. I don't
care how many of you are baptized. Like Brother Griswold, you say
you can be baptized to the frog, know you by your middle name.
It won't put away sin. And your giving these offerings
won't help you at all. And you're going to church and
getting converted unto Mr. Graham, that won't work either.
It's being brought to Christ and the blood of Christ. He puts
away sin with the sacrifice of it. Those Jewish sacrifices wouldn't
put it away. And I'll tell you this, hell
won't put sin away, because he that's filthy, let him be filthy
still. He that's unholy, let him be unholy still. All right,
here's another conference that if I was you, I'd take part in,
Psalm 4. That's a good conference. God
said, come, let us reason together. Now, watch this. There's not going to be a whole
lot of folks at this conference. Psalm 4, verse 4, verse 3, listen. No, Psalm 4, 3, you got, but
know that the Lord hath set apart him that's godly for himself.
That's godly in Christ, no question about that. The Lord will hear
when I call upon him, stand in awe and sin not. Now here it
is. Commune, confer with your own
heart upon your being. Now, my friends, today's religion
is a religion of crowds. It's a religion of commercialism,
too. Today's religion is a religion of emotionalism. There's a whole
crowd that went to Easter sunrise services this morning. Every
church today is crowded. Crowded. I usually leave home
at 9, 10 or 9 on a Sunday morning. There's nobody on the streets,
you know. This morning, there's a lot of folks on the streets
going to church. going to church. This is a day
of crowds and emotionalism and entertainment and mass attack
on God. Like Barney used to say, this
generation's got the idea they're going to gang up on God, and
because there's so many of them, that God's going to pay attention
to them. It's not so. It's not so. I'll tell you where the wise
man finds his way to God is by way of the closet, personally
and privately. And I'm telling you this, now
listen to me. God said, come now, let us reason together.
He invites you to a conference. He commands you to come. But
you know how you better come? Come alone. Come alone. And I'm talking about, I love
my wife and my children, my grandchildren love you. I love this church.
I was glad when they said to me, let's go to the house a little.
I look forward to it. greeting you every Sunday morning, worshiping
with you, leading this worship again. I'm looking forward to
the night and the services. But I'll tell you where, and
we need to meet together, forsake not the assembling of yourselves
together. We need to worship God. But I'll tell you where
I met God this morning. And it was by myself in my study. And that's where we had some
communion. And you're going to have to have it. And you're going
to have to leave your wife outside I'm telling the truth. And everybody
else. Commune. Watch it. Commune with
your own heart on your bed. There comes a time when those
that have wives, it's as though they had none. As those that
laugh, it's as though they laughed not. As those that wept, it's
as though they wept not. And you wives are going to have to
leave him outside. You're going to have to get along with God now.
You're going to be saved or damned individually, not as a group.
You're not going to gang up on God. Me and my wife and my son
John, his wife and us four, you're not going to gang up on God.
Well, let's shoot for 500 next Sunday and gang up on God. Oh,
no, no, no, no, no. I hope we have 500 to praise
His name. But I'll tell you, he's going
to hear the single voice of the needy sinner crying for mercy. Bartimaeus, the woman with the
issue, the thief on the cross. Let me show you something. Psalm 33. And I know all these
preachers. Today, the big cry in religion
is, how many and how much? Southern Baptist is bound to
be the greatest denomination in the world. There's 14 million
of them. You talk about the Pope standing out there, and one million
people came to see him. Now, you listen to Psalm 33,
verse 16. There's no king saved by the
multitude of a host. A mighty man is not delivered
by much strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety,
neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Behold,
the hour of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy
to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waiteth upon the Lord. He is our help and our shield.
Our hearts shall rejoice in him because we trust in his holy
name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us. according as we hope
indeed. I call you to a conference privately,
individually, in the closet, alone with God. And I tell you, you have not
because you ask not. And it's too many of us have
deserted the closet, and we've got swept up in this us deal,
you know, and we're going to gang up on God. We're going to
meet together and And with a great surge of our strength and numbers
and gifts and offerings and all, oh no. Christ said, when you
pray, go into your closet and shut the door, and your Father
is in secret. May He bless you. I'm telling
you the truth. Here's another conference. Turn
to Acts 24, and I've got to move along. I want us to learn something. I believe we've got a hold of
something here in Acts 24. Acts 24, verse 25. Here's a man called Felix. He's
a power. He's an influence. He's somebody
in the community. He's the governor. Old Felix. And he says in Acts 24, verse
24, And at the certain days when Felix came with his wife, Drusilla,
which was a Jewish, she was a Jewish girl, he sent for Paul and heard
him concerning the faith in Christ. Acts 24, verse 24, he said, he
sent for Paul. He sent for God's preacher. God
has a preacher, did you know that? He doesn't have a whole
lot of them, but he has some. God's got some men speaking for
him. God never left himself without a witness. In no generation has
God left himself without a witness. He's got a preacher. He's got
a prophet. He's got somebody speaking for
God. He's not the servant of the denomination. He's not a
servant of the church. He's not a servant of the people.
He's a servant of God, and he's speaking for God, according to
the Word of God. And old Felix was privileged
to hear that man. He was privileged to hear Paul,
God's prophet and servant, preach. And what did Paul preach? The
things concerning Christ Jesus. That's what Paul preached. And
he didn't do it just on Easter either. He did it all the time.
The things concerning Christ. And as Paul reasoned, this is
a conference, he reasoned, of righteousness. Whose righteousness
do you reckon he reasoned of? Christ's righteousness. Why sure,
read Romans 10. He reasoned of godliness, temperance,
and he reasoned of judgment to come. God will bring every work
into judgment. Every man will stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. And he reasoned those things
in the light of Christ. He spoke the things concerning
Christ. And as he reasoned, Felix trembled. This man listened to Paul, and
it affected him, and he trembled, and he said, Paul, go your way
for this time. We'll take care of this later.
When I have a convenient season, I'm going to call you back for
another conference, and we're going to look into this matter.
Well, needless to say, two years passed, and he relinquished his
throne to another man and left town and never attended that
conference. He never kept it. Old Felix heard
God's preacher one time, and he said, I'm going to hear him
again. I believe he's telling the truth. I'm going to hear
him again. And he made in his mind an appointment to hear him
again, but he never kept it. He never kept it. I just imagine
in hell today that Pilate's still down there trying to wash the
blood of Christ off his hands, don't you? You remember when
he stood before that crowd, dipped his hands in that water and said,
I'm free from the blood of this man. I washed my hands of the
blood of Christ." Well, he didn't. He was still trying to get that
blood off his hands in hell. And I believe Judas Iscariot
is still throwing down thirty pieces of silver. I believe he's
still throwing down that money that he, whatever he, whatever
he sold out for. He sold out for nineteen dollars,
thirty pieces of silver. He got it now. But he's trying
to throw it down, like he did that day in the temple, but you...
And I just imagine old Felix sits in hell today, thinking,
what if I'd have heard him again? What if I'd have kept that appointment
and heard him again? Well, I tell you, if you have
opportunity to hear God's preacher, Ed, I'd say hear him, wouldn't
you? I'd say here, if you have an opportunity to hear it. Now
most of these preachers, pardon the grammar, but they ain't got
nothing to say. They're promoters, they're whatever
you want to call them, but they're not preaching Christ. But if
you've got an opportunity, I tell you, Bob, this place ought to
be packed this morning. Got a message from God. Ought
to be. Well, turn to Hebrews 10. Let
me show you another conference that would be good for us to
attend, attend regularly. Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. To hear about Christ, to hear
about His blood, to hear about His mercy, to hear about His
grace, to hear about His sacrifice, to hear about His love to sinners.
In Hebrews 10, verse 24, and let's consider one another. To
provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling
of yourselves together. Why? As the manner of some is. Why? But exhort one another.
We need to exhort one another, encourage one another, strengthen
one another, and help one another. That's what it's for. Worship
services. There are several parts of worship
services. There's praise, there's prayer,
there's the reading of the Word, There's the preaching of the
gospel, but there's also the encouragement and fellowship
with one another. We need that. We need to exhort
one another. We need to encourage one another
in psalms, in spiritual songs, making melody in your heart to
the Lord. We need to embrace one another
and encourage people in faith. I need it. You need it. And that's
what he's talking about here. Conferences, worship services
like these, prayer and praise ought to have top priority for
those that love Christ. I tell you, I drive a long ways
to be in a service like this service this morning. To hear
a man sing like Mike sang, to hear the word read, to hear somebody
preach Christ, I drive a long ways. And that's a conference
he encourages. You see, there are four that
I've mentioned that are well and good and essential, but Paul
over here, turn back to Galatians 1. I read it a while ago, and
I'm sure there's somebody in here picked up on it, Galatians
1, when I read it. There is a conference to be avoided,
Galatians 1. There's a conference to be avoided.
And this is going to edify us now. Listen, I'm going to go
back to verse 13, Galatians 1, 13. You heard of my conversation
in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted
the Church of God and wasted it, and I profited in the Jews'
religion above many of my equals, my own nation being more exceedingly
zealous of the traditions of my father." Now, you and I, most
people right here, can identify with this man, Paul. I can, and
many of you can. I was raised in religion. It
doesn't matter whether you're Southern Baptist, or Methodist,
or Pentecostal, or Nazarene, or Catholic, or Church of Christ,
Church of God, Assembly of God, Pentecostal, Catholic, Protestant,
whatever. Most of us had a religious heritage. A religious heritage. Your parents
may not have gone to church, but you had a religious heritage
through your grandfather. America has a religious heritage.
The South has a religious heritage. We teach our children when they're
two years old, saying, Jesus loves me. Don't we? They go to
Bible school, Easter, religious holidays. Look at religious holidays
in America. Everybody's talking about resurrection.
Very few believe it, but everybody's talking about it. Christmas is
big business. Thanksgiving. Most of our holidays
are related to religion. We're born and raised in religion. We've got religious heritage.
That's what Saul was. He had a religious heritage.
He was a Jew. He said, my mama was a Hebrew.
My daddy was a Hebrew. He said, I was raised in religion.
I sat at the feet of Gamaliel. I went to the university. I went
to the seminary. I was a religious man. And he
said, I profited in religion. And I was zealous in religion.
I fought. Everybody disagreed with me.
We did, too. We used to have fights over closed
communion, alien immersion. Baptist, Methodist, fights over
tongues, Charismatics, fusses over prophecy, whether they're
pre-millennial or post-millennial. You can get a fight started where
it can't get as wild. You can get a fight started over
religion anywhere, anywhere, with anybody, at any time. We're
all religious. And like Paul, we all hate the
truth, the grace of God, and the true body of Christ, and
the true church of Christ. That's right. Every generation
has hated and despised the true name of Jesus Christ. That's
right. All right, look at verse 15.
But, but, now watch this, when it pleased God. Now Paul was
about 40 years old, Bob, about 40, over 40 years of age. God
left him in his tradition. God left him in his denomination.
God left him in his baptisms and washings. God left him in
all of his rituals. God left him in his holy days
and Sabbaths. God left him in his morality.
He was a moral man. Paul didn't drink, smoke, curse,
or cheat. Paul didn't violate the Sabbath.
Paul didn't go to a movie. Paul didn't dance. Paul didn't
do any of these things. Paul was a holy, moral, righteous,
separated, sanctified religion. That's right. He said, concerning
the law, I was blameless, just like some of you. Clean as a
hound's tooth, straight as a gun barrel, just as empty. Forty
years old in all this religious zeal and enthusiasm and sincerity
and separation and devotion to his doctrine. Paul believed in
the sovereignty of God. Paul believed in election. He
believed the Jews were elected and the Gentiles weren't. Isn't
that right? Paul believed in the Sabbath day, kept it. He
wouldn't take so many steps on the Sabbath day. He wouldn't
cook on the Sabbath day. He wouldn't do anything like
that. But! One day, when he was 40 years
old, Christ, whom he never knew and never met, God, Christ is
God, isn't He? This man was a man devoted to
a God, an unknown God, the true God he didn't know. The Lord
revealed Himself to him. I was 24 years old when I met
Christ. I'd been in religion all my life.
I'd been to preacher school. I'd pastored a church three years.
And was quite successful. I came up here and I was 20 years
old, almost 21, and led the youth people over at Potter's Baptist
Church, and we had the best youth program in this city. Playing
games. That's right, weren't we, Mark?
You were in it. Russell, he was in it. There's
some more around here that was in that. Ronnie. We used to have
as many as 80 or 90 young people in a Sunday evening fireside
service after church. Sing these songs, play these
games, you know. Everybody have to say amen. This
little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. Don't let Satan
get out. Oh, God help us. And a fella came along one time
in 1950 and told me who God is, and what happened in the garden,
and who Christ is. The sovereign effectual revealer. And God revealed Christ to my
heart. And some of you had this. You've had, God's done this for
you. Some of you haven't met Him yet. You're still playing
games. But some of you have met the living God, haven't you? Met the living God. You were
a colon, you was a religious... whatever you want to add, you
know. My daughter Becky, my children
all made professions of faith until about 1911 or 12, but after
they reached 20 years of age and began to listen to the gospel,
God saved them. Right, Mindy? Ed, you know, you
was a high-muckety-muck in the Christian church and didn't know
the gospel. I tell you this, the less you know of Christ,
the higher you can go in religion. Because you've got no conscience.
That's exactly right. The less you know of the gospel,
the bigger splash you can make in religion. Because it's not
God, it's us and our righteousness. You know, you're the priest in
the Mormon church, Tom. Didn't know God. You think about
a priest that didn't know God. Think about it now. It's sad. But God, now watch it, verse
15, when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb, and it's no new thing. God chose me from the foundation
of the world. I belonged to Him even when I was in Mormonism,
didn't I, Tom? I belonged to God even when I was in that Camelot
church, didn't you? I belonged to God even when I
was in that Southern Baptist church playing games. I belonged
to Him. He chose me. I didn't choose Him. He chose
me. He set His love on me and would not let me go. Saul of
Tarsus on the road to Damascus. That's the first time he met
God, wasn't it? Yes. That's the first time God met him? Oh, no. Oh, no. God met him in Christ,
Gerald, before the foundation of the world. Chose him. Set
His love on him. But God will call you when He
pleases God. Not when He pleases you. And
what did He do? Verse 16, He revealed His Son. He revealed His Son. Where? In
me. There's where the religionists
are missing it. Not to me. Not some information about Him
to my intellect. He revealed His Son in all of
His glory and love and grace in my heart. Christ came in and made me a new Christian.
Christ dwelleth in me. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I, but the Son of God that loved me and gave
Himself for me. He lives in me. In me. I hear people say, well, he's
a Christian that prays. All Christians pray. A man doesn't
pray, he's not a believer, he's not a disciple. Expect a man
physically to live without breathing, as a believer to live without
praying. It's impossible. Somebody says, well, he's a Christian
that loves people, there ain't no other kind. He that loveth
not knoweth not God. Now these so-called Christians
that don't love people are people to whom Christ has revealed to
them, not in them. But when Christ is revealed in
a man, he makes him a new creature. He sheds abroad his love in his
heart, and his grace in his heart, and his mercy in his heart. It's
impossible for a man to know Christ in him and be greedy and
selfish. He can't do it, Clarence. There's
no way. Christ is generous. Christ is gracious. Christ is
forgiving. Christ is merciful. Christ is
love. And this whole cotton-picking
religious world has come down to the front and accepted Jesus
as their personal Savior, and they're two-fold more the child
of hell than they were before they came down here. I'm telling
the truth. Salvation is an encounter with
a living God, not an encounter with a preacher in front of the
church. Salvation is a communion with a living God, not whispering
in some soul winners either. Salvation is a regeneration and
an awakening in which God comes in and dwells in a man's heart
and gives him a new heart. He doesn't hold grudges. He doesn't hate people. He's
generous. You don't have to preach tithing
to Him. He'll give you all He's got if you need it, because Christ
gave Himself, right? My generation is going to hell
swearing on a stack of Bibles they're going to hell because
they made a profession under some silly evangelist himself
who didn't know God. That's true. Paul said he revealed
his Son in me, in me, in me, in me, in me. And he said, what did I do? He revealed unto me to preach
him immediately. I conferred not. with flesh and
blood. That's one conference I didn't
attend. I didn't confer with flesh and blood. What does he
mean by that? Well, he means just simply this.
He didn't seek a conference with the other preachers and the other
believers to verify his call. He had met the Lord and he knew
it. He didn't need to come to me
and ask me if I thought he saved. You see what I'm saying? He didn't
seek out the other believers and other preachers to try to
duplicate their experience. He'd met Christ, and Christ had
met him. He didn't confer with his former
religious friends, either to set them straight or
to argue with them or to seek their goodwill. He never went
back to the synagogue and met with the Pharisees. Now, I'm
telling you, you can't play on two ball teams. You can't do
it. I've heard people say, well,
I know the Lord, I believe His grace, but, you know, I'm going
to stay a member down at this certain church. I know they don't
preach grace, but I'm going to stay down there. You can't play
on two ball teams now. If you can still listen to a
man slander your Lord, then you don't know him. If you can listen
to a man butcher the gospel and not be aggravated and grieved,
you don't know the gospel. Paul left that outfit and never
went back. Never went back. He didn't confer
with them. And I'll tell you something else.
He said, when the Lord revealed His Son in me, I didn't go check
with somebody to see if it was real. I didn't go check with
anybody to see if my experience matched theirs. I didn't go back
and seek the goodwill of the old religion and traditionists
that I had left, traditionalists. And neither did he confer with
his relatives. I'm going to tell you this. If
you ever meet Christ, I'm talking about the living God, the eternal
surety of the covenant, the sovereign Christ, the Christ with the crown
rites, the Christ of Scripture, the Christ of righteousness,
the Christ of the shed blood, the Christ of the victorious
open tomb, the Christ who reigns as our only mediator, the Christ
who is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
You never meet Him. If you ever get delivered from
religious bondage, and the prisoners loose, and you come into the
liberty, the glorious liberty of Christ, And don't call on
your relatives, because they're your worst critics, and they're
your worst enemies. Where do you get that preacher?
My Lord said that. He said, I didn't come to send
peace, but a sword. And a man's enemy shall be on
household. But he that loveth his father
and mother more than thee, that I the same now, cannot be my
disciple. I know how to talk. Here's a
fellow come to learn the gospel. He goes down to his mother's
house and daddy and there they sit. They'd been religious all
their life. They don't go to church anywhere. They kind of
got out of the habit. But they're saved. So he goes
in and tells them about grace. And they say, now son, our old
preacher didn't preach that. And he's in heaven. Don't you
believe he's in heaven? And your granddad didn't believe
that. And your mom doesn't believe it, son. Has she been a good
mom? Has she always raised you right and took you to church
on Easter and Christmas? God's your eggs for you? Don't you think your mom's saved?
You think you're the only one saved? That preacher think he's
the only preacher God's got? Oh, they mean. They mean. And I'll tell you what it is.
They're not seeking the glory of Christ. They don't get them
a Bible and sit down with you and say, well, show me what you
see, son. And let's see if God says, oh, the Bible stays closed. That'll mess you up. But if you
start arguing the tradition. And I'll tell you this, they're
not seeking God's glory, you're good. They recommend caution
to preserve the family harmony and reputation. That's what they're
concerned about. They know that your newfound
faith is going to come between you and them. And it ain't worth it. It is
to you, but it's not to them. You can compromise, they say.
We've done that all our lives. That's what got us in the mess
we're in now, is compromising with error. Some woman stands up and prays,
ah, that's all right, she's sincere, not according to the Word. Starts
sprinkling babies, well, that's all right, you know, not according
to the Word. We start giving away flowers to get people to
come to church, well, you know, they're sincere. Anything worthwhile
to give, that's not in the Word. We start saying, well, God's
sovereignty never encroaches on man's free will. Oh, yes,
it does. He makes us women. And we've
been compromising now, and they turn to you and say, you're going
to have to compromise. Flesh and blood. I conferred
not with flesh and blood. And I'm telling you, if you're
here this morning and you've heard who Christ is for the first
time, and who you are, and what a mess you're in, and the grace
of God through the Son of God, don't you go to your brother,
who's been a deacon in the church 20 years, and ask him what he
thinks. Naaman said, I thought. But he
thought wrong. It's not like you think. It's
like God said. It's not like your brother thinks.
It's like God said. I conferred not with flesh and
blood. The minute you do, you're in trouble. But here's the next
thing. He didn't confer with his own
interest. His flesh and blood. Immediately I conferred not with
your flesh and blood, but I tell you, Paul had to sit down down
there on the street called Straight before Ananias came and conferred
with his own interest. He'd have phoned this great gospel
out the window right then. Because Paul, I tell you this,
you're in for some trouble. You're going to lose your family,
lose your friends, lose your home, lose your influence, lose
your power, lose your position, everything. You're going to be
hounded from city to city, you're going to be stoned, you're going
to be mocked, you're going to be beaten with rods, you're going
to be shipwrecked, you're going to be fallen upon by false brethren. If he'd have conferred with his
flesh and blood, he'd have quit this business a long time ago. But he said, let me close it
with this, he said, would it please God, and that's when it'll
happen, who separated me from my mother's womb, He called me, I didn't call Vice
Grace, immediately. I didn't look up somebody to
talk it over with. But I didn't go up to Jerusalem to those that
were apostles before me. I went into Arabia. Reckon who
he went into Arabia to deal with? God. I tell you, as I go through the
Word, faith needs no foundation but God's Word. Noah being warned
of God, built an ark. the life and stock of his world.
Abel, he didn't seek, if he'd sought the counsel of his brother,
he'd have went to hell with him. Right? His brother was religious. He built an altar, didn't he?
Built a church, built a shrine, offered a sacrifice, but it wasn't
Christ. Abraham acted solely on the word
of God. He had to leave his father's
house, his kindred, Moses, walked into Pharaoh's palace. I tell
you, that's a bold fellow, isn't it? What are you doing here?
God sent me. And he said, let my people go. Old King David went out to meet
Goliath with a shepherd's sling and five stones, crying, is there
not a cause? God told me to do this. John
the Baptist was the only voice in his day. But he dared. What if he had conferred with
fleshy blood? Spurgeon said one time, when
God calls a man by spirit, reveals the gospel to his heart, reveals
Christ in his soul, and makes the Word of God to be his rule
of life and foundation of his faith, God will teach him, protect
him, hedge him about, sustain him, and carry him to glory.
And he said, I'd undertake to govern a half a dozen worlds
if God told me to, but if He didn't call me to do it, I wouldn't
try to lead a half a dozen sheep. I like what Mary said to the
Mother of Christ, said to the servants there in Cana of Galilee
at the wedding, when He was going to make the water and the wine.
She said to His servants, whatsoever He says to you, do it. That's what I'm saying. He said
that. And that's the reason in my prayer
a moment ago, I tell you, everybody's trying to look different or be
different or act different. Everybody's got an apple to polish
or an axe to grind. Conformity, tradition, religion. I don't want to miss Christ.
I'm not going to play this game of religion. I want to know Christ. I want to meet Him. Like Saul
of Tarsus met him. And I'll tell you, that'll be
the difference. That he's ever revealed in you. It doesn't matter
a whole lot what folks do or what they think. Some of you
are in business, and you've got to play the game to get along
in your business. I wouldn't do it if I was you.
I wouldn't do it. It's not worth it. You sell your
soul for a mess of pottage. Some of you are dating a young
man or a young woman. They don't love Christ. I wouldn't
do it. Walk away right now. Walk away while you can. Walk
away before God sends you to hell. Not worth it. I'll try it. And you can apply
this to any other situation you want to. Anything you want to. But salvation is Christ. It's
knowing Him, loving Him, and Christ revealed in your heart.
walk away. There's a conference that I wouldn't
attend. I wouldn't attend. Flesh and
blood. And I said a while ago, they'll keep inviting you back.
They will, won't they, fellas? Some of you a little old, got
a little white in your hair. Still, you want to sit down. Well, now,
I don't know. I don't know. The preacher, the preacher's
pretty fanatical, radical. Stay with me. I'm telling the
truth. I just don't confer with flesh and blood. Yep, they're
doing it different down there. They always have. They always have. Don't confer with flesh and blood. Well, if what you're saying is
so, then some of my kinfolks missed it. There you go. Flesh and blood again. Flesh and blood. I conferred not with flesh and
blood. I conferred with God's Word, and He cannot fail. I want us
to sing number 272. My hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and His righteousness. I dare
not trust the sweetest frame. I wholly lean on Jesus' name.