Now I'm reading from 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3. I have such a weighty, important
subject to deal with today, and I earnestly covet your attention
your prayers and the power of the Holy Spirit, that the living
God, for his glory and our good, might make known unto us the subject that he's given me,
and that is, who's going to bring us to God?
1 Peter 3 verse 15, But sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asketh you, a reason of the hope that's in you, and do
it with humility, meekness, and reverence. having a good conscience,
that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they
may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will
of God be so, that you suffer for well-doing than that you
suffer for For Christ, now listen carefully,
for Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God. That he might bring us to God. That he might bring us to God. being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit. Christ hath once suffered for
sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Is that not what this is all
about? Is that not why this building
stands? Is this a social center? Is this
a place to have fellowship meetings and bring people together? Has this got something to do
with bringing us to God? Is that not why we're gathered
here today? Why are we here? Are we here for any other reason
than to find the way to God? To come before God? To commune
with God? Is that not why you have that
Bible open in your hand? Is that not why you bought it?
You bought that Bible. Why did you buy that Bible? Is
it a good luck charm? Did you buy it because everybody
else has one? Because it's un-American not
to have a Bible? Why do you have that Bible? Why
did you bring it with you this morning? Or you have an argument
with somebody that you want to find out something about it so
you can prove him wrong? Or do you hold that Bible open
before you because you're interested in knowing and fellowshipping
with God? Is that not why I stand here
to preach? I wonder. Is that not the primary
concern of your very being? To come to God. To lay hold on
God. Is that not the concern of your
heart and the question of your mind? To know God. That's what Paul
said. Oh, that I may know Him. That
I may win Christ and be found in Him. This is a, this is a weighty
subject. This is a, this is a heavy, important
subject. How can I, a sinner, how can I, a son of Adam, how
can I come to God? How can I come to the living
God? How can I I may be hauled before God by the nape of the
neck for judgment. I understand that. I may be brought
before God charged as a transgressor to hear my sentence and to be
hauled away to eternal hell. That's no problem for me to understand,
but how can I, a sinner, come to the living, holy, eternal
God and find a welcome? That's what I'm interested in,
and find communion find fellowship, find acceptance with God. Enoch walked with God. Enoch
walked with God. I found David to be a man after
my own heart, God said. The Lord God talked to Abraham
as with a friend. This is not the same as religion. This is not the same. It's not
the same. It's just different. It's not
the same as, well, I believe the right doctrine, have the
right orthodoxy, go to the right church. It doesn't matter where the dead
are buried, whether in the sea or the cemetery, they're still
dead. But what I'm interested in, how
can I live my life now? in the favor of God, in the good
favor of God, in the presence of God, and when I die, be received
up into his glory, to enjoy his glory forever. See, these are
questions that, these are questions that men of old who knew something
about God considered. This is not today's concern,
religious concern. This is, we're like the Jews
of old. We have Abraham. Moses is our
father. We're children of God. It's just
automatic. We're religious, therefore we
belong to God. But these men back here who knew
something about the character of God, who knew something of
the awesome holiness of God, they said things like this, God of glory, when I consider
the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the sun, the moon, the
stars, the things thou hast made, what is man? Thou art even mindful
of him." Now, that's what David talked about. When can I come before God? David said, who shall stand in
his presence? Well, we feel like we've got
a free pass, a season ticket into God's presence. But David
was concerned about that. How, Job said, can a man be just
with God? How can a man be clean that's
born of woman? David said, O Lord, if thou shouldest
mark iniquity, who could stand? I want you to turn to 1 Samuel
chapter 2. I'll show you a scripture here
that I think is very thought-provoking. A scripture in 1 Samuel 2, 25.
It says, if one man sin against
another, the judge shall judge him. In other words, if there's
a quarrel between me and you, we'll get a judge to settle the
matter at whose it falls. But, watch this, if a man sin
against the Who's going to entreat for him? That's a good question. A man sins against God. Here's
another one. Turn to Psalm 143. Listen to
this. In Psalm 143. This is interesting. David is writing here, and he
says this in Psalm 143. You know, people who are so anxious
to be brought into the presence of God, I don't know that they're
always aware of what they're considering in their present
state. It may be that you don't want
to come into God's presence. May be. In Psalm 143, listen,
Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications, in thy
faithfulness, answer me in thy righteousness, and enter not
into judgment with thy servant. For in thy sight shall no man
living be justified." I don't want to come into God's presence
on the basis of judgment and merit to be considered myself. Now hold your hand right there
and listen. Job explains this in Job 14. Enter not into judgment with
our servant. Enter not into judgment. Don't
bring me to give an account. I don't want to give an account
to you of myself. I don't want to come on that
basis. In Job 14, listen. Job 14, 1 through 3, listen. 1 through 4, man that is born
of a woman is a few days in full of trouble. He cometh forth like
a flower, and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shatter,
and continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes
upon such a one, and bringest me into judgment
with thee? Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean?" I don't belong in your presence. I don't belong in God's presence. It was a song years ago, we live
in two different worlds. You talk about two different
worlds, that's what David and Job were talking about here.
David said, enter not into judgment with our servant. Don't bring
me into your presence on the basis of inquiry or judgment
or searching or giving an account. I don't want to give an account.
I don't want to come on that basis. For no man in thy sight
shall no living man be justified." I don't want to come on that
basis. Don't want to come on that basis.
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? God's presence
is holy and immaculate, infinitely clean, and I'm unclean. How can
the two commune? Well, here's the second thing.
I can take the Scripture. I can take the Word of God. Now,
that's the question. Who can bring us to God? Who
can bring us to God? I'm not talking about hauling
us in there to give an account. I don't want to come that way.
I'm not talking about bringing us into the presence of God to
be judged. I'm talking about who can bring
me to God so that I can stay there. So that God can embrace
me, and God can love me, and God can accept me, and God can
speak to me, and I can speak to God, and we can be one fellowship. Now, how can that be accomplished?
Well, I can take you to the Scripture and eliminate the many ways that
seem right to us, and the many ways which are being preached
today, and which men think will bring them to God on that basis.
Are you with me? Who can bring us to God? God as He is, not as we imagine
Him to be, as He is. Who can bring us to God? Not
to be tried, but to be received. Well, number one, the love of
God. Now listen to me. The love of
God alone. The love of God will not bring
you to God. I'm sorry. The love of God alone
will not bring you to God. Now, God is love. God is love. But God's love alone will not
bring you to God. Cannot bring you into His presence.
Here people say, well, I don't think a God of love will send
a man to hell. I don't either. It's not God's love that sends
men to hell. It's God's judgment and wrath
and righteousness and holiness. But I'll tell you, I'm just going
to cast myself on the mercy of God. Well, I'm sorry, the mercy
of God alone will not bring you to God. Well, I'm just going to depend
on the grace of God. Well, I'm sorry, the grace of
God will not bring you to God alone. You see, the judge of the earth
is going to, always has, and will do right. He will do right. I want you to open your Bibles
to Exodus 34, and this is where most preachers today are missing
the whole gospel message. Missing the whole gospel message
in Exodus 34. Verse seven says, verse six,
let's read verse six, and the Lord passed by before Moses and
proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. That's what we're talking about.
Long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for
thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and
that will by no means clear the guilty. In other words, what
I'm saying is this. Almighty God is not only love,
but God is just. Almighty God is not only merciful,
but Almighty God is righteous. And His love alone will not bring
you into His presence, because His justice would prevent that. His righteousness cannot have
that. If you're brought to God, you've
got to be brought to God in such a way that not only His love
is exercised, but His righteousness is vindicated. If you're brought
into the presence of God so as to be embraced and received and
accepted, it's going to have to be on the basis not only of
His mercy, but also of His truth. His truth has got to be vindicated. Not only His mercy exercised,
but His truth. Crime's got to be punished. Sin
has got to be punished. And the love of God alone will
not bring you to God. All right, secondly, the law
of God will not bring you to God. The law was never given
to bring men to God. The law was never given to show
mercy. The law was never given to redeem
sinners. The law was given to reveal sin.
Turn to Romans 3. Romans chapter 3, we can go forth
into this world preaching the law, holding forth the law, holding
up the law, declaring the law, commanding men to live by the
law, and the law will not successfully bring one single sinner into
the presence of God, so as to be received. Now the law one
day is going to bring men into the presence of God to be good,
but the law will not bring a man into the presence of God to be
received. Romans 3.20, verse 19 first. Now we know that what things
the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that
every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before
God. That's what the law does. It
establishes guilt. It reveals guilt. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
his presence. his sight, for by the law is
the knowledge of sin." Do you hear the law? Turn to Galatians
2. Let me show you something here.
Galatians chapter 2. Galatians 2, verse 16. Knowing
that a man is not justified, accepted, received of God by
the works of the law, A man is not justified for the works of
the law. I know the law cannot bring me to God. Look at Galatians
3, 11. But no man is justified for the
law in the sight of God. That means Moses, the giver of
the law, was not justified for the law. All right, third thing. The church of God will not bring
you to God. The love of God will not bring
you to God. The law will not bring you to
God, the church of God will not bring you to God. Our Lord has
a church, no question about that. Ephesians 5 says, Husband, love
your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He has a church, a church universal,
a church invisible, a church in heaven and earth. A church
made up of those who love Him, who believe Him, who are redeemed,
who are washed in His blood, who are peculiar people. And
not only that, but our Lord has churches. He has a church and
He has churches. He has churches in all parts
of the world where His people meet. They meet in church buildings,
they meet in homes, they meet in other places, they meet in
store buildings, they meet in basements, they meet and worship
and fellowship. but your joining with them will
not bring you to God. They may come to God and you
not come to God. There may be people sitting right
here this morning who are accepted of God, loved of God, received
of God, walk with God, fellowship with God, commune with God, and
you've been a member of the church as long as they have, you've
given your gifts as they have, you've taught classes, you've
done all these things, and they're in God and you're out of God. Judas sat with the twelve, eleven
apostles. He held a high office, but he
was not in God. He didn't know God. He didn't
fellowship with God. Turn over the book of Philemon.
Listen to this. Philemon. Philemon, verse twenty-four.
There's only one chapter. Philemon twenty-four. You see that name there? It says
Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborers. Here's Paul
talking about his fellow laborers. He names them. John Mark, Marcus,
Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, the beloved physician, my fellow
laborers. All right, look at Colossians
4, verse 14. And it says, Luke, the beloved
physician, and Demas. I've got two men with me. I've
got two supporters. I've got two fellow helpers.
I've got two fellows that are with me, that are backing me,
that are supporting me, that are helping my ministry. And
one of them is Luke, and one of them is Demas. All right, turn to 2 Timothy
4. Something's happened. Something
tragic has happened. Luke 2 Timothy 4.10, Demas hath
forsaken me. What did he do that for? He loved
the present world, and he's gone to Thessalonica. So what I'm
saying is this. I'm saying that the church will
not bring you to God. It might bring you to a building. It may bring you to a doctrinal
position. It may bring you to a social
encounter. It may bring you to a close-knit
society. It may bring you to an orthodox
theological position. It won't bring you to God. Not to God. That won't do it. And you'll finally wind her up. Because you can't, you can just
play, people get tired of playing games. You remember, you know,
you get hobbies. I have a friend, years ago, and
he's always, he'd get into something, he'd get into it lock, stock
and barrel. If he bought a boat, he'd be
on the river seven days a week. If he made model airplanes, he'd
build one every night. If he took up bowling, he'd bowl
every day. If he played tennis, he'd pick
up tennis one time. That's all he did. But he soon
wearied of all these plate purters. And he quit, each one of them
in success. People do. They get religion.
They get excited about religion, church, and get all fired up.
like a shooting star, you know, and then they disappear. So the
church is just not going to bring you to God. It'll bring you to
a building, it'll bring you to a doctoral position, it'll bring
you to turn over a new leaf, to try a new way, but you'll
wind up one way or the other. And I'll tell you something else.
Let's throw this in. Even the ordinances of God won't
bring you to God. I'm talking about baptism. But
I've been baptized. There are a lot of forms of this
ceremony. I've seen quite elaborate, you
know. People will come, they have a
godfather and a godmother and an organ playing, and the preacher
dressed all in black with a robe and has his Bible, and the tassel
hanging way down, you know, the red thing wiggling, and he just
looks so holy and so sweet, and they got that baby all Wrapped
up in satin and linen, laying on, lying on a big ol' pillar,
cushion of satin, and they're all silent, and they walk in
there, and here they are, and the preacher says these words,
and he gets some water, and... That'll bring that baby to God.
Why we play games like that? It's just so solemn, it's so
religious, it's so unscriptural, it's so sentimental. And we do
it, these evangelists are going out, and they're preaching sermons,
and they come to the end of the sermon, and every head bowed
and every eye closed, and the organ starts, and the choir starts
singing softly, And there's a hand raised, and God bless you. Every
head bowed, every eye closed. God won't be afraid for you.
Now, while we stand quietly, no one looking around. Every
head bowed. Quietly. I don't know why you don't want to look.
People not ashamed of God or something? Now, if you want to
come down here and be saved, come down. It's all sentimental
and emotional, and I don't know, it looks real religious, but
it won't bring you to God. Now, you can forget it. It will not bring you to God. All right. Back here in the Bible, and this
is where we're going to have to go, back here in the Bible,
and you know this and I do too. In the Old Testament, from Genesis
to Malachi, there were three essentials to coming to God. One, two, three. Three undeniable,
irreplaceable essentials. Coming to God. I'm not talking
about playing church. I'm not talking about, you know
what I'm saying. I'm saying coming to God, being embraced and received
and forgiven and accepted and fellowship, entering into God's
bosom, forgiven justified coming together. What were these three
things? Number one, there was a tabernacle. There was a tabernacle. There was a tabernacle. In that
tabernacle was a holy of holies, and an ark and mercy seat over
which the very presence and Shekinah glory of Almighty God was present. Is that right, Charlie? It was
a tavern. That's where it was. It was a tavern, and that's where
God met men on the basis of acceptance. That's where God met men, and
that's where men met God. Right there. I don't care what you say, that's
where it was. It was a simple tabernacle, it was a badger skin
tent. On the outside it looked like
any other old common everyday tent, but on the inside it was
full of the glory of God. Such glory that one king went
into the holy place and they drug him out a leper. Such a holy place that God said,
don't let any person come in here ever, ever, ever except
one man. one time a year, not without
blood, or I'll send him to hell on the spot. That's how I hold
it. And now that's the presence of
God. That's coming to God. That place. You've got to have
the place. If you're going to come to God, you've got to come
where God is. Isn't that right? You've got to come where God
is. All right. Secondly, another
essential, undeniable essential, was a priest. There had to be
a priest. There had to be an intercessor.
There had to be a mediator. There had to be a priest. Oh,
I turned to Hebrews 5. Let me show you that. There had
to be a priest. These Jews didn't, every one
of them, run around picking out their little lamb and bringing
it down and running into the Holy of Holies and sacrificing
it. There was a priest. There was one man, one ordained
of God man. Look at Hebrews 5. Every priest
taken from among men, that's every priest in his generation,
one high priest at a time, from among men is ordained for men
in things pertaining to God, that he may offer gifts and sacrifices
for sin. One man who can have compassion
on the ignorant, on them that are out of the way, for that
he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason
hereof, he ought as for the people, so also for himself to offer
for sin. And no man takes this honor unto
himself, but he that is called of God, as was Abram." There
was one man, Abram. One person. Here's the tabernacle. Here's God's presence. Here's
God's shekinah glory. Here's God's mercy seat. Here's
the place of acceptance. Here comes one representative. One man representing all the
people. One man. And that one man is
invited, and not only invited, but welcomed into the presence
of God one time a year. One time. Third essential. Now this is coming to God. The
third essential is the blood sacrifice. Hebrews 9.22. Listen to this,
Hebrews 9.22, "...and almost all things are by the law purged
with blood." Back down under the law. Sprinkle the book, sprinkle
the tabernacle, sprinkle the people, sprinkle all things. And without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission, no acceptance, no forgiveness. He said, it's the life of the
flesh, and in the blood, I've given it to you upon the altar
to make an atonement for your sin. It's the blood that maketh
atonement. All right. Coming to God. Not to enter in with Him into
judgment. Don't want that. Don't want that. Don't want...
I don't want... We don't want to... We don't
want to lay siege to the tabernacle. Stay away. Back off. Back off. Back off from the mountain, back
off from the tabernacle. God dwells there. But if I come
to God, these three things are essential today. It's no different
today. Got to be a tabernacle. Got to
be a priest. And got to be a sacrifice. You
say, Brother Mahan, a tabernacle? Now here's what a lot of people
think. Let's run over to Jerusalem,
to the Holy Land, and rebuild the temple. No, sir. That'd be as heathen, as heathen,
as if you tried to kill a lamb that's born in sacrifice. That'd
be just as heathen. Where's God's tabernacle today?
Who is God's tabernacle? John chapter 1, verse 14. John
1, 14. John 1, 14. And the Word was made flesh,
and what? Tabernacle, didn't he say, Cecil?
And he tabernacled among us. God in Christ. The Word was made
flesh, John 1, 14, and tabernacled among us And we beheld His glory,
His shekinah glory, the very glory of God, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, grace and truth. That's it. That's the tabernacle. You'll come to God, you come
to Christ. You'll see the glory of God, see it in Christ, the
face of Christ Jesus. Turn to Hebrews 10. I'm telling
you, Hebrews 10. You know, let God speak for Himself. Let God be true, and everybody
a liar. But I'm desperately, desperately,
I am desperately concerned with coming to God, worshiping God,
being accepted, received, forgiven, communing with God. I've got to find where God is, where the revelation of God is.
Chapter 10 of Hebrews, listen, verse 4. It's not possible that
the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. That's
pictures and types. That's not the way God saved.
That's a picture of how God saved. But when he cometh into the world,
he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a tent,
a tabernacle, a body thou hast prepared me." A body. God. Moses built that
first tabernacle. God built this one. God made
this one. It's a body. "...in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
for seeing thou hast had no pleasure, Then said I, Lo, I come in the
volume of the book, the whole, the book of God, the book of
life, the Lamb's book, the book of the old covenant, in the volume
of the book. It's all written of me. I come
to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin, thy will
is not neither had pleasure therein which are offered by the law.
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first. that he may establish a second.
He taketh away the first Adam, this is the second Adam. He taketh
away the first covenant, this is the new covenant. He taketh
away the old tabernacle, this is the tabernacle, his body.
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Where does God meet men? In Christ. Where do men meet God? In Christ.
That's the tabernacle. This is not a church. This is
a building. The church is His body. His body. That's where God is revealed
in Christ. That's where men know God. The
tabernacle is Christ. All right? What about the priesthood?
Turn to Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9. Who is our priest?
We have a high priest. We have a high priest. We have
a mediator. I don't do business with God
personally, individually. I do business with God in Christ.
I am a priest, like all those other priests offer sacrifices. You're a priest. Every believer
is a priest. He hath made us kings and priests unto God. What
is our sacrifices? Prayer and praise and adoration
and gratitude and thanksgiving. Those are our sacrifices. But
we have a high priest. Now look at chapter 9 of Hebrews,
verse 11. But Christ being come, a high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but his own blood,
he entered once into the holy place, he did, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and
goats and heifers and ashes of a heifer, sprinkling and unclean,
sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? Oh, we have a priest. We have a priest, a great high priest, an intercessor.
A priest which cannot be, which can be touched with the feeding
of iron firmities, because he was tempted in all points as
we are yet without sin. Taken from among men. All right, what about the sacrifice?
All right, Hebrews 10, let's begin with verse 11. This is
to come to God. Hebrews 10, 11, and every priest
All those thousands and thousands of priests through the thousands
of years stood, standeth daily, ministering, offering all the
time the same sacrifices, morning, noon, and evening, which can
never take away sin. But this man, this great high
priest, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever,
stood no more, but he sat down. Why'd they stand? Their work
was never finished. Why'd he sit down? He said, it's
finished. And he sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering, one sin offering, one sacrifice, one blood offering,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now, verse
19, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter where? Into the holiest. Who dwells
there? God. By the blood of Jesus. By a new
and living way. Not the old tabernacle in the
wilderness. Not the rituals and ceremonies and Sabbath days.
Don't, don't try that foolishness. Don't think because you got up
this morning and didn't read the paper, and your wife didn't
cook any dinner, and you're just going to go so far today. Don't,
don't, don't be misled in thinking that's going to bring you to
God. Don't be misled into that. You do what you want to as far
as keeping the day, but I'm telling you, it won't bring you to God. And I go to church, and you wrote
your check this morning. Now, God ought to feel good about
that. That won't bring you to God. It's a new and living way. A
living way is a living person, which He hath consecrated for
us right through the veil, right into the Holy of Holies. And
watch verse 21. And having a high priest who
reigns, who bought the right, who has the crown rights over
the house of God, Draw near to God. There it is. Oh, I turn to my text again,
and I'll wind her up. And like I told you, this, brethren,
is it. This is it. This is the way to God. It's
not just some Baptist preacher arguing with a Methodist. It's not just some humanitarian
effort to keep the kids off the streets and keep them off drugs. What I'm dealing with this morning,
what we're having to do with, is coming to God. God. So by bringing us to God, eternally, once for all, to God,
I'm in God. What matters what happens? I'm
in God. What matters who comes and goes?
I'm in God. What matters whether I'm sick
or well? I'm in God. What matters if I'm wealthy or
poor? I'm in God. What matters if I'm in America
or Cuba? I'm in God. What matters if I'm
in prison or free? I'm in God. What matters? I'm
in God. I'm with God. God's accepted
me. God's forgiven me. God fellowships
with me. I walk with God. One day I'll
just walk right on into glory. That's what I'm talking about.
Boy, how does a fellow get that? 1 Peter 3, 18. For Christ, our
tabernacle, our great high priest, also hath once suffered for sins. He bore our sin in his body on
the tree. He justified God. He's the just,
the Holy One, who died for the unjust. He enabled God to be
just and justifier. He enabled God to be merciful
and truthful, holy and righteous, and love. That He might bring
us to God. And I'll tell you this, if He
brings you to God, nobody ever separates you from God. Neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things
present, nor things to come, if He brings you to God. Now
you come on, make another profession, and get baptized again, and buy
some more books, and learn some more doctrines, and listen to
some more of these crazy preachers on television, and send them
some money, and put your hand on the TV, and go through all
the motions, and that's not going to bring you to God. But oh,
if you can come to Him,