Let's turn to 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy. I want to read the first twelve
verses of 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, the first
twelve verses. Paul, an apostle, that's one
who has seen the Lord, and one who has received his gospel by
direct revelation from the Lord. There were twelve of these men,
we believe. Paul was the twelfth apostle. That's beside Judas, an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God. according to the promise
of life which is in Christ Jesus. The promise of life is in Christ
Jesus. Paul is writing to Timothy, my
dearly beloved son, not his son naturally, but his son in grace
in the ministry. Grace, mercy, and peace from
God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I
serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without
ceasing I have remembrance of Thee in my prayers night and
day, greatly desiring to see Thee, being mindful of Thy tears,
that I may be filled with joy. When I call to remembrance the
unfeigned, without hypocrisy, genuine faith that is in thee,
which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and in your mother Eunice,
what it says here, Eunice, I think is the way it's pronounced now,
and I'm persuaded in you too, you also. Wherefore I put thee
in remembrance, that thou stir up make use of the gift of God
which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath
not given us the spirit of fear. We don't fear men or fear the
future. The future is in his hands. We don't have the spirit of fear,
but the spirit of power and of love and of a sound And be not
thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, that is,
the gospel, the gospel of our God." Don't be ashamed of the
gospel. You know, he said in Romans 1,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of
God unto salvation. Let's don't get so dignified
and so modern, so intellectual. that we're ashamed of the gospel,
the gospel of his blood, the gospel of his grace, the gospel
of his sovereign mercies. Let's don't try to appeal to
men or appease men when it comes to the gospel. Somebody said,
you've got a first century message. Oh, it goes back further than
that. It goes back to the foundations of the world. when Christ was
the Lamb slain. It's the only message. It's the
message of grace to sinners. And God had chosen the foolish
things of this world, and the things which are weak, and the
things which are despised, and the things which are not. Our
God has shown His contempt for man's glory and strength and
power and dignity and everything else. He's shown his utter contempt
for those things. He sent his son to the earth,
and he was born not in a castle, but in a manger. He was born
not to the elite, but to the poor. He chose his disciples
not from among the influential, but from among fishermen. He's
just shown contempt for all, and even our righteousnesses,
for he saves harlots and publicans and sinners, passes by the self-righteous. Don't be ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord. Don't be ashamed of it. Don't
apologize. Anybody who apologizes, let it
be the fellow it ought to, who doesn't believe it. And don't
be ashamed of me, his prisoner. You know, something I note here,
when the Apostle Paul was in jail, he never called himself
the prisoner of Rome. He never said, I'm the prisoner
of the Roman government. He never said, I'm a prisoner
of Caesar. Every time he wrote of his imprisonment,
he said, I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I'm here by his will. I'm where I am by the will of
God. I'm what I am by the grace of God. Don't be ashamed of me,
his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel.
according to the power of God. And don't let any man tell you
that there are not afflictions which are identified with the
gospel, believing it and preaching it. There are afflictions. This world does not love grace.
This world is not the friend of grace. This world loves religion. This world is the friend of works.
But this world does not love Christ. And it does not love
his gospel, and it's not the friend of grace. So these preachers
that are talking about half of America's born again, they do
not know what it means to be born again. The world is still at war with
God and with his word and his grace. And he said, you be a
partaker. All that would live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution and woe unto you when all men
speak well of you. You've got a double woe. You're
not preaching the gospel and men speak well of you. If I please men, I'm not the
servant of Christ. We don't go out of our way to
displease men. We don't go out of our way to
agitate and aggravate. But just tell them who God is
and that'll displease them. Tell them what they are. That'll
displace them. Tell them who Christ is. Tell
them of his effectual grace. You don't have to start a fight.
Just preach the gospel. That's all you have to do. Just
preach the gospel. And you'll have your hands full.
Afflictions. Verse 9, He hath saved us and
called us with a holy calling. Not according to our works, and
this is what I'm trying to emphasize today. And I'll tell you, this
thing of works, it's so subtle. I ran into it so much the last
week. It's just works are so subtle.
They're so subtle. The human heart is so deceitful.
The most difficult thing that any man ever had to do, and it's
impossible apart from the grace of God. is trust in, lean upon,
rest in Christ alone for salvation. That's the most difficult thing
you ever had to do. Because we just naturally going
to bring some of our flesh in it somewhere. We just are compelled
to. The flesh, we're so proud. We're so proud. Is anybody totally
lost? Is anybody totally dead? Is anybody
totally helpless? Totally unable? That's hard to come by. That's
a difficult position to reach. But when you come to that place,
you can rest in Christ alone. But even after you rest in Him
initially, then we learn a little truth, do a deed or two, you're
puffed up. I tell you pride, you have to
keep stamping it out. You've got to keep pushing it
down. You've got to keep suppressing
it. You see, like one fellow said, there's not only pride
of face and pride of race and pride of place, but the worst
pride of all is the pride of grace. And I see it and I feel
it. And we feel like we know something,
we feel like we have something, we feel like we do something.
Even when you know the truth, you're kind of proud you know
the truth. And you can get pretty ugly with people who don't. And
that's pride, and that's flesh, and that's works. It's so hard
to stamp it out. But He hadn't called us according
to our works before we're saved or after. That's the reason a
lot of people I've said in the message this morning, nothing
I have done or will do can separate me from Christ. And people like
that nothing I have done, but they kind of shudder when you
say nothing I will do. But now I'm resting in Christ. Any free will Armenian in the
world will agree with you that Christ died for our past sins. It's the sins of now and the
future that they won't have the death of Christ to cover. Now
you're responsible. It's by the Spirit you've brought
here, but from now on you're on your own. Not according to our works. But according to his own purpose,
the reason for your salvation is found in God, not in you.
It's found in God, not in you. I mean, every, every iota, every
atom of your salvation and the reason thereof is found in God,
and only in God. He can't find any reason now
to save you. And there's no reason in you
now for God to love you, or me either. There's no reason in
us for God to love you now. It's according to His own purpose
and grace, and it was given to us in Jesus Christ before this
world ever spun out into space. That's when it was given to you.
That's when God elected you. Don't be afraid of that word.
That's when He chose you. That's when He predestinated
you to be like Christ. That's when He sanctified you
and set you apart and said, that bird's mine. That's what He said. And you've always been His, you're
His now, and you always will be. And if you weren't His then,
you're not His now. His is an infinite, everlasting
love with which He has drawn us. That's just so. It was given us, given us. It
wasn't bought by us, it wasn't earned or merited by us. given
us in Jesus Christ, that's where he put it, before this world
began. Everything else and everyone
else is under God's judgment, wrath, and condemnation. Everything
else, no matter how religious. That's when it was given to us,
but verse 10 said, it is now made manifest, this purpose and
this grace and this salvation. is made manifest, revealed by
the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished
death, all death, spiritual death, eternal death, and for His people,
natural death. He's abolished it. He's abolished
it. And He has brought life and immortality,
life and immortality to life through His gospel. He brought
it in. He manifested it. He revealed
it. He purchased it. It's in Him. He is the source
of it, spring and well of eternal life. It's found in Him, Richard,
all in Him. All in Him, that's where it is. And He's brought it to life.
It's old as the foundations of the world. But two thousand years
ago, God having prophesied it and pictured it and foretold
it, he revealed it when Jesus Christ walked this earth and
died on that cross and was buried and rose again. God said, there's
eternal life, there's the mercy of God, there's life, there's
immortality, there it is. And verse 11 says, whereunto,
that is this gospel, through the gospel is whereunto I'm appointed
a preacher. Who appoints preachers? God does. He's the only one who can. I'm
appointed a preacher, and I'm appointed an apostle, and I'm
appointed a teacher of the Gentiles. I've got divine credentials.
I hear these young men, they're going to go to seminary or get
some schoolwork, get credentials to open doors. Well, I know a
man needs to know something. He needs to know how to study
and discipline his mind and and various other things, but a man
who's been divinely called, all the credentials he needs are
divine credentials. God sent him. Go to school of
the Holy Spirit. Men will ruin you. They'll give
you fleshly credentials, human credentials. It'll open doors,
but not God's doors. And Paul said, I've got divine
credentials. I've been appointed. Verse 12,
for the which cause I also suffer these things. What cause? That
testimony of God, that gospel, that eternal salvation, that
effectual work of Christ, that gospel, the fact I've been appointed
a preacher of it, a teacher of it. That's why I suffer these
things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed.
I know whom. I have believed, and I'm persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I've committed to Him against
that day. That's assurance, and that's
confidence. I'm persuaded. I am persuaded He's able. I'm
not able, but He is. Four fundamentals of faith. Now
let's look at the text. for the which cause I also suffer
these things. Nevertheless, nevertheless, I
am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded,
I am confident, that he is able, he is able." And that's what
he said about Abraham. He believed God was able. He
is able to keep That which I've committed to him, what is that?
His sins, his soul, his salvation, his redemption, his hope. Everything
to Christ, just put it in his hand. Against that day. Now,
true saving faith. True saving faith in Jesus Christ
may be known. A person can have assurance. I'm afraid of presumption. and
cockiness, and you are too. But a person who knows Christ
can be confident and assured that he does know Christ. Now,
he certainly can't. It's not true. It is just not
true that a person has to wait till he dies to find out whether
he's saved or not. It's just not true that a person
has to wait till he's dead and standing before the judgment
to find out whether he's going to heaven or hell. That's not
so. And I give you several reasons for that. Number one, our Lord
commanded us in his word to settle this matter of faith in our hearts.
He commands us. He says this, when you come to
the Lord's table, let a man examine himself, whether he discerns
the Lord's body. And if he does, eat. Then he
said in 2 Corinthians 13, 5, examine yourselves, whether you
be in the faith. Know ye not your own selves,
how that Christ dwelleth in you, lest ye reprobate? You can know
whether or not you believe on Christ. Everybody sitting here
tonight, now you know. Do you believe Jesus Christ is
the Son of God? Do you believe He's the Messiah?
Do you believe He's the Redeemer? Do you believe He's the only
hope of sinners? Do you believe He is the Lord our righteousness?
Do you know whether or not you believe that? Are you resting
in Him, trusting in Him, committed to Him? Do you say I'm a sinner
saved by the grace of God? I have nothing in me or about
me and nothing I've done or said or given that could merit the
love of God? Don't you know whether or not
you believe that? I believe it. I can say with Paul, I know whom
I have believed. I'm not saying I know what I
believe or when I believe it. I know whom I believe. And then
he said in 2 Peter 1.10, Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. If you do this, you won't
pay. So our saving interest in Christ
can be known. And here's the second reason.
Men in the Old Testament and New Testament, who were our examples,
they were sure of their saving interest. David, without any
hesitation, said, The Lord's my shepherd. I shall not walk. The Lord is my shepherd. I don't
know who your shepherd is," he said, but I know who my shepherd
is. He's the Lord. Jeremiah said, He's the Lord,
our righteousness. When he comes in that day, Judah
will be saved. I read it to you. He's the Lord,
our righteousness. Job declared it as plain as it
can be declared. He said, I know my Redeemer lives,
and He's going to stand on this earth. And though after my skin,
worms destroy this body, I'm going to see the Lord. That's
what he said, I know my Redeemer lives. And then John said this,
I know I've passed from death unto life. We know that we've
passed from death unto life. That's one of the favorite words
of the Apostle John in his first epistle, isn't that? We know we're born of God by
his Spirit that he's given to us. And then thirdly, now watch
this. A true saving faith in Christ
can be known and should be known. If you trust in an experience
you had twenty years ago, you know that. And this is what I
hear people tell. They tell about what they did.
They tell about what profession they made. They tell about some
religious deed. Or they say, well, yeah, I'm
saved. I've lived a good life. But the
Apostle Paul didn't name any of those things. He just said,
I know whom I have believed. Our Lord commands us to settle
this matter, our examples throughout the scriptures, and then thirdly,
to deny that a man or woman can know his saving interest in Christ
is to deny the Word of God. Because, you see, this confidence
of our interest in Christ is what led men like Paul to suffer
these things. Paul wasn't going forth preaching
something he thought was so. He was preaching something he
knew was so. He wasn't going to jail and to the robs and the
stonings and the persecution over some whim. He knew his Redeemer. He knew the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want you to turn to these scriptures in Matthew 13. This is what I'm
talking about. It's a confidence that leads
men to a committal. It's a confidence that leads
men to leave all they have and follow Christ. It's, Lord, it's
yours. And the only way a man can do
that is to know that he is in Christ. Give his life, give everything. In Matthew 13, 44, our Lord said,
the kingdom of heaven, again, the kingdom of heaven, is like
unto a treasure hid in a field, that which, when a man hath found
it, he hide it. And for joy thereof, he goes
and sells all he has, and buys that field. Now that's pretty
confident, isn't it? He sells all he has and buys
that field. And again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant
man seeking goodly pearls, who, when he hath found one pearl
of great price, that's Christ, he sold all he had and bought
it. Here's my life, here's my home, here's my family, here's
my health, here's my friends, here's my ambitions, here's everything,
Christ. Now you've got to have some confidence
to do that. And I think the reason many people
are playing religion and playing church is they're just not quite
certain yet who their Savior and Lord is. They're just not
quite certain, but one who is certain, one who is confident. Christ is my life, Christ is
my love, Christ is my hope, Christ is my refuge, Christ is my God,
Christ is my foundation, Christ is my life, and Christ has everything
I am and have. That's it. You see, uncertainty leads to
indifference. Uncertainty leads to carelessness. Uncertainty leads to timidity. and reservation on this thing,
but assurance leads to committal. Here it is. Sink or swim, I go
to Him. Leads to total commitment. And
really, to me, that's the only kind of saving faith there is,
is total commitment. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
and I'm confident on all other grounds, sink or swim. You say
you speak with such confidence about this, If I didn't have
that confidence, I wouldn't speak. In Mark 10, listen to this, it'd
be foolish to speak. This is not a theory. This is
the only gospel here. Paul was so confident, he said,
if anybody else preaching any other gospel, let God damn him.
Let him be accursed. That's our confidence. I don't
care if it's an angel from heaven. I said, if anybody preaches any
other gospel than the gospel I preach, let him be a curse
to them. I said, now Paul is some pretty nice fellas preaching
another gospel. He said, I don't care if it's
an angel. Let him be a curse. I mean, no, he's a smart man.
I don't care if it's an angel from heaven, he said. Mark 10, listen to this. The
disciples said in verse 28, Peter began to say, Lord, we've left
all and followed thee. And they had. Jesus answered
and said, Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left
house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,
or children, or lands for my sake in the gospel, but he'll
receive a hundredfold right now in this time. He'll receive a
hundredfold houses. I got a lot of houses. I can
go to John's house, and it's just like my house. Richard,
Jim, You ladies, that's right. Yours is my house, isn't it? Can't throw me out in the cold.
You got a lot of places to go. That's what he's talking about.
And brethren, my natural brother may quit me, but I got a brother
sitting right here. A brother sitting right there and a brother
sitting right there. There's my brethren. And that's your
brethren, isn't it? You say, my family won't speak
to me. Mine will. Here they are. They speak to
God for me, too. That's what Christ is saying
here. No man has lost, He said, no man has lost house, brethren,
sister, father, mother, wife, or children. I've got children. There's my children sitting down
here. Oh, my soul, that's right. And sisters and mothers. Say,
is your mother dead? One of them is. There's some
more of them right out there. I believe that. That's so, and
children, and lands, and with persecution. It's not going to
be without persecution. And in the world, and in the
world to come, eternal life. You see, that's the certainty
that makes a man abandoned. Abandoned, with total abandonment. The things that folks hold on
to in this world. They hold on to them because
they're unsure and uncertain of that interest in Christ. But
once that interest is established, that saving interest. Acts 21, 13. Listen to Paul here.
He's about to leave these brethren. They were clinging to him and
holding on to him, and in Acts 21, verse 13, he said, What mean
ye to weep and break my heart? Verse 13 of Acts 21. Paul answered,
What mean ye to weep and break my heart? I am ready not to be
bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Death doesn't frighten me, scare
me. He said, I'm ready to die, because
I belong to Christ. He said, one thing about it,
will just usher me into the presence of my Lord. Me to live is Christ,
to die is gain. Now don't misunderstand. I'm
amazed that the God of glory should condescend to even take
notice of us, the God you preached Sunday night a week ago, or whenever
it was. I tell you, I'm amazed that God
should condescend to take notice of me, and I'm amazed that He
should be even condescend to be aware of us, let alone to
love us or to save us or to send his Son to die for us. David
said, When I consider the heavens the work of thy hands, what is
man that thou art mindful of him? That he should condescend
to pay any attention to me is a marvelous miracle of his grace. I know that. Turn to 2 Samuel. Listen to David. David was amazed, too. 2 Samuel
7. Verse 18, David said here, he said, Lord, who am I? In verse 18 of 2 Samuel 7, David
went in and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord? O Lord God, what is my house that
you brought me to this place? He could have justly passed me
by, and you too, could have justly left you sitting back yonder,
Ron, where you sat so long. He could have justly left you
in Methodism, or you in Nazarene-ism, you in Catholicism, you in Southern
Baptist, and there's not a nickel's worth of difference in all of
it. He could have, but he, oh my,
that thou hast brought me hither to And this was yet a small thing
in thy sight, O Lord God, that thou hast spoken of thy
servant's house for a great while to come, an eternity. Is this the manner
of man, O Lord God? I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me or A sinner
is condemned unclean. Let me ask you this. Do you ever
cease to marvel at the love of God? Do you ever come to the
place where there's a danger of taking that grace for granted?
Are you still amazed? You and I sat and talked about
this after lunch today, David. I hope you never lose that amazement
at His grace. I hope you never. I hope when
you're 80 years old, that you still talk just like you did
today. Why did He choose me? Why did He love me? Why did He
save me? Why did God have anything to
do with me? I hope that's still an amazing thing to you when
you get so old I have to lead you by the hand. I'm amazed that God could ever
love me so full of sin, so covered over with shame, make me to walk
with Him who is above me, and cleanse me by the power of his
redeeming name, I'm amazed. I'm amazed, but God said I will
be merciful. God said I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. God said he's plenteous in mercy. God said he delights to show
mercy, and he calls his throne a throne of grace. That's what
he calls it, grace. And he tells us to come boldly
before that throne that we may find grace and mercy to help
us in our need. Now let me give you four fundamentals
of this saving faith, which you can know. And it's amazing, it's
amazing that God would receive us, accept us, and love us, and
save us, and keep us, and put up with us. His long-suffering
and patience is It's beyond expression. But this is it. Now, here's the
first one. I'll give them to you just quickly, and you write
them down if you'd like to. The first one is need. Saving
faith is born of need. When I started this message,
started to preach it, I just had three fundamentals, and I
went back and found out I left one out, and I believe it's the
first one. Need. Turn to Matthew 9. Matthew 9. It's need. Matthew 9. Are you a sinner? I don't mean
that you used to be one. Are you a sinner now? Are you
a sinner? You know a sinner is a sacred
thing? You know a true, bona fide, genuine
sinner is as hard to find as diamonds? That's right. Oh, preacher. Everybody's a sinner. Ask them. You find one. I couldn't find one last week
up in that meeting. I hunted for one. I never found
one. I don't know many sinners. You'd
amaze you how much people use this term. He's a good man. She's such a fine woman. I just hadn't You know, like
the man who introduced another fellow to me the other night,
he said, this is one of the best men in this community. I want
you to meet this man. He's a good man. I just wondered what that
fellow would do if the preacher walked up and said, hey, brother
man, I want you to meet one of the worst sinners in Mingo County. Boy, that would have been a shocker,
wouldn't it? Good man. Everybody I meet is
good. But I'll tell you, if I ever
meet, if I ever come eyeball to eyeball with a genuine sinner,
born in sin, shaped in iniquity, brought forth speaking lies,
from the sole of his feet to the top of his head, having no
soundness in him anywhere, corrupt in thought, corrupt in imagination,
corrupt in spirit, corrupt in words, corrupt in principle,
just a wicked old sinner deserving of eternal hell like Rahab, like
Mary Magdalene or the thief on the cross. I'm going to say,
Christ died for you, bud. I'm going to say, I've been looking
for you. I've got something to tell you. I've got the greatest
gift in the world to give you, the mercy of God. That's what
it says here in Matthew 9, verse 11. Verse 10, it came to pass,
as Jesus said it, meet in the house, behold, many publicans
and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. These
were publicans and sinners. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said to his disciples, why do you mass treat with these
kind of people? And when Jesus heard that, he said, they that
behold need not a position, but they that are sick. You can learn
what that means. I will have mercy, mercy, mercy. We are objects of mercy. When
a man stands before the judge and casts himself on the mercy
of the court, that means he's guilty. That means he's asking
for something he doesn't deserve. That means he's asking for something
that's in the hands of somebody else. I've not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. I'm going to tell you something.
And this is where Gary Shepherd told me this, and I've been thinking
about it ever since he said it. If you're in a room, and there's
one door, and it's locked, and the room's on fire, and you got
the key in your pocket, you're not too anxious, or not too disturbed. Got the key. But if you're in
a room, and the room's on fire, and one door is locked, and Tom's
got the key, you can get awfully interested in him. awful interested. You just might
beg him to open the door. You see what I'm getting at? We're sinners. We're surrounded
within and without with a fire of eternal wrath and condemnation. And you don't have the key. God's
got the key. Christ's got the key. Now, I'll tell you, when
you're in bad shape, you can get awful interested in the one
that has the power and the keys of life and death. And that's
the reason I'm so interested in Jesus Christ. Without Him,
I'm damned. Tom, you've got the key. I've
got to have you. I can't let you go. I can't let you get away.
I want you as my friend. I want us to do something about
the door. See what I'm saying? And if a man ever becomes a good
thing, there's nobody. We've all got the key. We've
all got the key. It's either our works, or labor,
or profession, or religion, or good mom and daddy, or something.
We've got the key. But we find out We're powerless, hopeless,
helpless, unable. And she's coming down on our
heads, and God's got the key. And you're going to do some running,
and some pleading and some praying, and some calling and some seeking.
All right, here's the second thing, foundation of faith. Saving
faith arises out of need. Secondly, saving faith must rest
upon, build upon, arise from the Word of God. Now, building
any hope for eternity, for pardon, forgiveness, for eternal life
upon experience, I don't care how unusual it was. And I know
some people here can tell some delightful experiences, and I've
run into people that could tell some delightful experiences.
I ran into a fellow this week who told me a very unusual experience. But if you rest on that experience,
then you're going to miss salvation, or feelings. or morality, or
works, or profession, or religion, to rest, to build on those things
is sheer folly, I tell you. It's sheer folly. What we've
got to do is go to the Word of God. You see, our thoughts are
not His thoughts, and our ways are not His ways. Job said, Can
you by searching find God? The Apostle Paul in Romans said,
Oh, the unsearchable, unsearchable riches of His grace. But if we
would know God, hear God, see God, we're going to have to see
what this book says. Now, we're just going to have
to do it. That's the reason, and I don't know of a lot of
churches that do it or have done it. That's the reason we make
so much here of the Word of God, reading it, reading it, reading
it, teaching it verse by verse. This is the foundation of faith.
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. We've
got to find out what God said. He said, if they speak not according
to the Word of God, it's because there's no light in them. Like
one lady told Scott Richardson, said something, he said, well,
that's not in the Bible. She said, well, it ought to be. These things are written that
you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and believing,
you might have life in His name. Some people think it doesn't
matter what a man believes, just so he's sincere. Some people
think it doesn't matter what a man believes, just so he's
moral or upright. The average person thinks all
religions are right. Well, Paul didn't believe this.
Turn to 2 John. John didn't believe it in the
2nd epistle of John. Listen to John here, and he's
so emphatic. He said in 2 John 9, Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath
not God. He doesn't have God. If a man
transgresseth and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ, he
hath not God. And he that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath the Father and the Son. Let's find out what
the doctrine of Christ is. Look at the next verse. And if
anybody comes to you preaching or teaching on the radio or television
or in a printed and bring not this doctrine of Christ, don't
receive him into your house, and don't bid him Godspeed, and
don't give him a quarter, because he that biddeth him Godspeed
is a partaker of his wicked deeds." That's how John felt about it. All religions can't be right
when we contradict each other. One man says God is sovereign,
another says He's not sovereign in salvation, that you are. One
says God elected a people, another said He didn't elect anybody,
it's up to you. One says a man's dead in sin, another says he's
not. One says that Christ's blood is effectual and particular and
sufficient to save all His people, another said He didn't save anybody,
He died as much for people in heaven as folks in hell, and
it's all up to you to make His blood effectual. Somebody's wrong.
Somebody's wrong. And it becomes us to search the
scriptures and find out what God says, see what God says.
A doctrine is true not because I believe it, not because I think
it, not because somebody said it. It's true if God said it.
And it's the only reason it's true if God said it. And I'm not afraid to submit
what I preach to you on God's absolute sovereignty. I'm not
afraid to submit that to this book. God, I am that I am. He is on the throne, King of
kings and Lord of lords. None can stay in his hand or
say unto him, What doest thou? I got that out of here. That's
the God of the Bible. And my belief in man's total
fall, I'm not afraid to submit that to the book. Man's total,
complete, depraved condition. You will not come to me that
you might have life. Yes, man has a will, but it's
enslaved to his nature. Sure, I'm not denying man has
a will. He has a fallen will. If he didn't
have a will, he wouldn't be a person. A person has a will. But that
will has been contaminated and permeated by sin so that that
will dictates everything he does. And everything he does is wrong.
That's right. I'm not afraid to submit my belief
in God's eternal election to the book. It's in God's Word,
isn't it? It's in there dozens and dozens
and dozens of times. I'm not afraid to submit my belief
in the righteousness of Christ. He is our righteousness. Jehovah-Sidkenu
is my righteousness. The Lord's my righteousness.
I'll submit that to this Word. And there's no holiness in us
or about us. It's none good, no, not one.
in the flesh, well, it's no good thing. Man at his best state
is altogether vanity. You can't be vanity and holiness
at the same time, can you? How can you be vanity and holiness
at the same time? You're vanity in yourself, you're
holiness in Christ. How can the wrath of God and
the love of God abide on the same man? It can't be. If we're
in Christ, we're in God's love. If we're out of Christ, we're
under God's wrath. He that believeth not on the Son, the wrath of
God abideth on him. I got that out of here. The denominational
secretary or superintendent didn't tell me to preach that. God said
it. My belief in the Holy Spirit's
regeneration, I'm not afraid to submit that to the book. My
belief in justification by the blood, we're justified by His
cross, by His blood. By one offering, He has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. His blood cleanseth us from all
sin. That's what this book says. That's
my confidence and my hope. I don't have any confidence in
the flesh, but in Christ. My belief in the Holy Spirit's
regeneration, I'm not afraid to submit that to the book. My
belief in justification by the blood, we're justified by His
cross, by His blood. By one offering, He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. His blood cleanseth us from all
sin. That's what this book says. That's
my confidence and my hope. I don't have any confidence in
the flesh, but in Christ. Now, I don't ask you if you agree
with me, but I do ask you this. Have you searched the scriptures?
Have you searched the scriptures? Have you submitted your thoughts
and ways and will to the word of God? I dare not advance one
step beyond this word. True faith is built only upon
this book. Now here's the third thing. Saving
faith, if it is saving faith, stands alone. What do you mean,
saving faith stands alone? I mean this. I'm either saved
all of faith, completely by faith in Christ, plus nothing, minus
nothing, or I'm saved by works. It can't be a mixture. You cannot
mix. And I don't care who it is. You
can't mix works or deeds or law or any contribution in the flesh
to what Christ has done. It's got to stand wholly and
completely. That faith has got to rest in
Him alone. That's what I've tried to preach
this morning. It can't be Christ and circumcision. It can't be
Christ and Sabbath days. It cannot be Christ and work. It can't be Christ and anything
else. It's just Christ. God doesn't
require you to understand His gospel, but to believe it. God
doesn't require you to produce a righteousness, you can. He
requires you to receive one. God doesn't require you to earn
life, but to receive it. Freely, in my hands, no price
I bring. And if I, you know, if I preach
the, I've preached almost 39, 30, well, the gospel 36 years, But if I break all the records
and preach a hundred and thirty-six years, it won't add one thing
to my salvation. Not one thing. Nor take anything
away. And I appreciate the way you
give to support this television minister and tape minister and
missionaries. This church has to give every
Sunday between five and six thousand dollars to keep the television.
That costs eleven hundred dollars a week. Missionaries cost $1,100
or $1,200 a week and all the other things, and you give so
generously and you support this, and let me tell you, if you gave your body to be burned
and didn't have Christ to profit you nothing. If you sold everything
you had tomorrow and brought it in here and laid it on my
desk and said to feed the poor, I'm going to live in a cave.
That may be detrimental rather than be helpful to you, because
you might rest in it. You might find some hope in it.
And there's no hope in that. It's in Christ. That's right. I'm saying that faith, saving
faith, stands totally, completely alone. If I sit down and ever
preach another sermon, I'm saved by Christ. If I preach 10,000
sermons, I'm no more saved than I was if I didn't. If I give
a nickel in the offer and I give $10,000, I'm not saved or my
salvation not diminished in either way. I'm saved by Christ. If I witness and give out tapes
and Ronnie would send them all over the country, it ain't worth
nothing to us. Not a sequel or a diamond. I'm
saved by Christ alone. Now see, this is what the average
preacher can't lay hold of. If you don't threaten people,
or reward people, or badger people, then they won't do anything.
That's what I know. People won't, but God's people
will. In fact, actually, if you badger God's people, they'll
back up. Because they know better. If
you start promising the people of the Lord, the sheep of Christ,
rewards in heaven, you'll lose them. Because they know better
than that. You see, they know God. This is the thing that I
say, a man who knows God will recognize a huckster when he
watches him on television. He'll recognize he knows God,
because he says, that fellow's not talking about my God. He's
giving me the wrong motivation. Christ is my salvation. Oh, here's
the last one. This thing of salvation has to
do with a person. If faith stands alone, but that
faith stands alone in Christ. That's what I'm saying. Only
Christ, the sole object of saving faith, is the Lord Jesus. Whom
do you say that I am? I am to Christ. Will you go away
to whom? To whom? Christ is that prophet,
Christ is that priest, and Christ is that king. Here, here's the
way it is. And I'll quit with this. Nothing,
either great or small, remains for me to do. Jesus died and
paid it all. all the debt I owe. When he from
his lofty throne stooped down to do and die, everything I needed
was fully done. It's finished." That's his cry.
Till to Jesus alone you cling, only by heart failure. Your doing
is a deadly thing. Your doing lends in death. Cast
your works and your doings down. Cast them down at Jesus' feet. Trust in Him, in Him alone, for
in Him you're all glorious and complete. That's it. Now then, I get a
lot of comfort from that, and I believe some of you will. A
lot of comfort. My salvation's in another. And
I ask God to look to him, don't look at me, look to him. Don't
you look to me, look to him.