Now suppose that you're a preacher,
pastor, and you're in a town in Ivory
Coast, Africa. Had dinner, had lunch, and the
afternoon has been reserved to prepare to preach that night. And I take my Bible, my notebook,
concordance, and sit down at the table. Spread it out before
me. And this is going through my
mind. What do I preach? You take into
consideration that you're preaching to a native church. They're not
educated people. They're not theologians. They're
not even well-versed in the scriptures. They're religious. There'll be a crowd of them there,
young people, middle-aged people, old people. They'll be their
leaders, their religious leaders. They'll go through their singing.
They'll all pray in unison. And they'll be listening to you
preach. It'll be unusual for them. They'll give you their
attention because you're white, they're black, you're speaking
in English, the translator's speaking in French, and they're
hearing in French. And so you'll have their attention.
Now what do you say? What do you say? What do you
preach? It's not easy. You men who preach,
it's not easy. So I came up with this message
and I thought I'd bring it to you tonight to let you know just
exactly what I preach when I go to a place like that. This was
in G-A-G-N-O-A, Ivory Coast, Gognoi. And I stood before them and Bill
over here translating and I began this way. This is a worship service. Now the most important part of
a worship service is the preaching of the gospel. It's what I am
now doing. This is the most important part.
Now, a worship service is made up of several parts. There is
the praise of the Lord, which we praise our God in song. And the hymns ought to be the
same message that we preach in the preaching. We don't sing
one thing and preach another. We don't sing of works and preach
of gropes. Our music and the words of our
songs ought to glorify our Lord as much as the message. We ought
to carefully select what we sing and sing it as unto the Lord
in genuine praise of our God. Another part of the worship service
is the reading of the Word. We ought never meet together
without reading God's Word. God speaks through His Word.
Make much of the Word of God. Make much of the Word of God.
God speaks through the Word to the hearts of men. Another part
of the worship service is prayer. Prayer. When we're led in prayer
by someone. And it's not a prayer of confusion
where everybody prays at the same time. It's when one person
leads us to the throne of grace and we're able to understand
as he prays in the Spirit and in the understanding. As unto
the Lord, we are able to say amen to what he's praying. But
the most important part of the worship service is the preaching
of the word. It's when the man whom God has
called and gifted and sent and given the message stands before
the people and preaches the gospel. And do you know why it's the
most important part of the service? First of all, because sinners
are saved through the preaching of the word of God. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Paul
said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, it's the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. Not only are men saved through
the preaching of the gospel, but faith comes by hearing the
word of God. Faith doesn't come by sight,
by visions and dreams, it comes by hearing. Faith doesn't enter
the eye door, it enters the ear door. You see what I'm saying? Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. How shall they hear without a
preacher? And not only are men saved by the preaching of the
Word of God, and not only does true faith in God come through
the preaching of the Word, but any spiritual growth and understanding
of the grace of God and the person of Christ comes through preaching.
The scripture says this, desire the sincere milk of the word
that you may grow thereby. You want more faith? Look to
the word of God. You want assurance? Look to the
word of God. You want understanding? Look
to the word of God. You want comfort? Look to the
word of God. These things are written that
you might believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why they're
written. These things are written that
you might know that you have life, that you might rest in
Christ. And then secondly, what a blessing
it is to hear the Word of God preached. Oh, how beautiful are
the feet of them that preach the gospel. Paul wrote in Romans
10, how shall they call on him in whom they've not believed,
And how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? Now here's a preacher of the
gospel before you tonight. Here's one who says that God
has sent him, who stands before you with an open Bible to preach
unto you the word of the Lord. Now I confess, there's much about
this word I do not know. There's much about the kingdom
of God that I do not know. There's a great deal about the
eternal purposes of God that I do not know. Paul said, we
know in part. We prophesy or preach in part. We see through a glass dimly. When that which is perfect is
come, then we shall know. I'll know as I have been known.
But now, at this time, the secret things belong to God. There are
multitudes of questions I cannot answer. I confess that. But I'll tell you there's some
things I do know. There's some things I know beyond a shadow
of a doubt. There's some things that God
has revealed to me and to the sons of men through His Word.
And I'm going to give you tonight some of those things I know.
I know these things. I know them beyond a shadow of
a doubt. I know them because God has declared them. I know
them because they're so. What do you know, preacher? First,
I know this. I know that the Lord God liveth.
This Bible begins with God. This Bible begins with, in the
beginning, God. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. The scripture says the earth
is the Lord's and the fullness of the world and all they that
dwell therein. God lives and God reigns and
God is, God was, and God evermore shall be. Turn with me to Isaiah
chapter 45. Listen to this, Isaiah chapter
45, and let's read beginning with verse 20. Isaiah 45 verse
20. I know the Lord God living. I don't try to prove the existence
of God. I don't try to prove to any man
there's a God. The fool says in his heart there
is no God. Any man who says there's a God
and there's no God is a fool. But the Scripture begins with
God, and it says here in Isaiah 45, 20, Assemble yourselves and
come, draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations.
They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their grave and
image, and pray to a God that can't save. Tell ye, bring them
near, yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this
from ancient times? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? There's no God else beside me. I am a just God and a Savior. There's none beside me. So look
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I
am God, and there's none else. There's one God. The Lord our
God is one God. There's an eternal God, and I
know that the Lord God liveth. The second thing I know is this.
I know this beyond a shadow of a doubt. I know that the attributes
of God are many. God is love. Almighty God is
just. Almighty God is truth. Almighty
God is life. But the chief attribute of that
living God is this. God is holy. God is holy. When Isaiah, the prophet of old,
saw the Lord, he said, in the year that King Uzziah died, I
saw the Lord. I saw the Lord. He had a revelation
of the living God. He had a revelation of God the
Creator. He had a revelation of God the
Eternal One. He had a revelation of God who
is immortal and invisible. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord. I can't describe that revelation,
no way. But he said, I saw the Lord.
And this is the way he saw the Lord. He said, I saw the Lord
high and lifted up. And His train, His glory filled
the temple. And the seraphim with six wings,
two that covered their faces, two that covered their feet,
but two they didn't fly. And they cried. This is what
they said. Not God is love. They said God
is holy. That's what they said. Isaiah
said they said, holy, holy, holy. That's what they said. And he
said, I fell down and I cried, I'm cut off, I'm undone, I'm
a man of unclean lips, for I've seen the holiness of God. His angels are called Holy Angel. His Word is called His Holy Word. His presence is called the Holy
of Holies. His name is Holy and Reverend. David said, Who shall stand in
His presence? If thou, Lord, shouldst mark
iniquity, who would stand? And when Moses, one of his chief
servants of all servants, came into his presence, he said, Moses,
take off your shoes. You're on holy, holy, holy ground. I know a lot of things I don't
know. I don't profess to know everything
at all or very little about it, but I know God lives. When I
consider the heavens, the things I have made, what is man if I
am mindful of him? How wonderfully I am made, God
lives. Never, never, I doubt a lot of
things, I doubt me, I doubt a lot of things, but never doubt the
existence of God. Every fallen leaf, every rising
of the sun, every twinkling star, every soft summer breeze, every
rippling brook, every blade of grass, every baby born says,
God, God, God, doesn't it? Every breath I take says, God
is gracious. Everything I see and hear, word
I speak and movement I make, Says God, bite I take, step I
take. And everything says God is holy. Immaculately, incomprehensibly,
infinitely, eternally holy! He will not compromise that holiness. Not even for Moses. But I know the third thing. I
know this. I don't have any doubt about
it, that all flesh is Christ, and all the goodliness and the
glory of man is as the grass of the field that withereth and
is fit to be burned. Man at his best state is banished. I know that all men, from the
day they come from their mother's womb, are wretched miserable,
naked, and corrupt. Now I don't care whether that's
a white man or a black man, an old man or a young man, a talented
man or an ignorant man, they're all men and they're sinners.
There's none good, no, not one. There's none righteous, no, not
one. There's none that understandeth,
no, not one. There's none that seeketh after
God. The Lord God looked down from
heaven to see if there's any that did understand, that any
did understand or comprehend. He said, they're all gone out
of the way. They're all together become guilty
speaking. He said, every imagination of
man's heart is evil, evil continually. If God Almighty lifted the reins,
if God Almighty opened the floodgate, we'd all rush madly headlong
into the deepest, darkest, hottest hell. Did you know that? Voluntarily. The inner sinners in their Father
Adam, By one man's sin entered the world, and death by sin,
so that death passed on all men." The whole world is upset about
this AIDS business. It's a hateful, distasteful,
fearful, terrible disease in the blood that destroys. Every
one of us have got S-I-N-S. That's worse than AIDS. You know that? It's in our blood.
It's going to kill us. Not only kill us, but send us to hell.
And we need somebody to do something about it. Awful bad. Awful bad. We're sinners in Adam. We're sinners by birth. We're
sinners by nature. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? I say to you, you black people, can you change your skin?
Why can't you? You're born black. And you can
scrub, and you wish, and you can bow, and you do what you
want to, and you stay black. And that leopard, can he change
his spots? Nothing you can do. You can cut
off his hair, but he's spotted under the hair. Because he's
spotted in the blood. And neither can you do good that
are accustomed to doing evil. You're spotted in the blood.
And it just shows in the hair. Did you know that? I know that. From the sole of
your feet to the top of your head with a microscope of God
Almighty's omniscient eye, he can't see any good. Your mama
can. She thinks you're a good boy,
my. Funny how mamas can be fooled, isn't it? Brother Barnard, you say that
no daddy ever had a bad girl, no mama ever had a bad boy. But God knows our hearts. He
knows what mama doesn't know. I know fourthly, here's what
I know the fourth thing, I know, I know that in order for this
sinful man to know that holy God, for this sinful man to have
any communion with that holy God, For this sinful man to walk
with that holy God, for this sinful man to live forever with
that holy God, something's got to happen on behalf of and inside
of that sinful man. Something miraculous, something
supernatural, something outside of himself, something beyond
himself. For the Lord Jesus said, except
you repent your sins. a man born again, you'll never
see the kingdom of God. Except you be converted, becomes
a little child, you'll never enter the kingdom of God. Except
your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scots and
Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom of God, except. And there's no exception to that
except. We must be saved. We must be delivered. We must
be redeemed from the curse. What curse? The curse of God's
law. Cursed. Cursed, the Bible says,
is everyone. Cursed is everyone. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the law to do it. Not to love
it, not to approve of it, but to do it. We've got to be saved from the
justice of God. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sins, it shall, God said, surely die. It shall surely
die. God will by no means clear the
guilty. We've got to be saved from the
power and practice of sin. We've got to be made in the image
of Christ, new creatures. Can the pastor do that for you?
No, sir. Can your parents do it for you?
No sir. Can you do it for yourself? No
sir. Who can do it? I'll tell you
who can do it. And that brings me to the fourth
thing I know beyond a shadow of a doubt. That this salvation,
this new creation, this new birth, this redemption is of the Lord. It is of the Lord. The disciples
asked our Lord when our Lord talked about the difficulty of
salvation. They said, well, who then can
be saved? He said, with me and it's impossible. Forget it. Not by your striving, not by
your doing, not by your work, not by your deeds, not by your
decision, not by your religion. Forget it! With me and it's impossible! With God, all things are possible.
God can do it. God, I can't save myself, but
you can. God, I can't give myself a new
nature, but you can. God, I can't put away my transgressions,
but you can. God, I can't reconcile myself
to you, but you can. I don't know what condition he
was in when he was swept into the mouth of that fish prepared
by God, swept down into the darkness of that belly of the fish. Do
you think how dark it was in there? And he said, the seaweeds
covered my head and the iron bars of death closed in upon
me. And there was no hope. And he
said, I'll look again. I'll look again." That does away
with this thing of having to see something to worship God,
doesn't it? Here's a man in total darkness,
in a whale's belly, without any help or strength or anything
religious about him, and here he is looking to the temple.
I'll look again towards your holy temple. Do you know what
those men meant when they said they'd look for the Holy Temple?
They didn't turn in the direction where the Temple was, like the
old folks do in Mecca. We were walking down the streets
in Abidjan, Africa, and there was a lot of Muslims there, a
lot of them. And one of them, it was a certain time, and he
was down on his face, on his knees and his face on the ground,
and Bill knows a lot about that part of the country. He said,
poor fellow, I said, what's he doing? He said, he's praying
to Muhammad or whatever they pray to. He's supposed to face
Mecca. He doesn't know it, but he's
got his rear end towards Mecca. I said, why don't you stop and
tell him? I mean, that could damage his
soul. But when Jonah said, I'll look
again towards the holy temple, he was talking about the sacrifice
of the temple, the blood on the mercy seat. That's what went
on in the temple. I read you about it. That's the
heart and soul of their worship was the Day of Atonement. And
Jonah said, I'll look again for the sacrifice. Salvation is of
the Lord. And that's when the whales spit
him out on dry land. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of the Lord in its planning. God planned salvation. God thought
it. Christ bought it. The Holy Spirit
wrote it, the Word told it, and I got it. It's of the Lord in His purpose.
It's of the Lord in His execution. It's of the Lord in His application.
We're born of God. It's of the Lord in His sustaining
power. We're kept by His power. It's of the Lord in His ultimate
perfection. A missionary was preaching to
a group of natives one time. And then after the service, one
of the navies came up to him and said, what do you mean by
salvation is of the Lord? Well, the missionary thought
a moment, and without saying anything, he took some leaves
and he started just putting them on the ground in a circle, getting
these dry, dead leaves, and he put them, he made a pretty good
sized circle there, high, dry leaves. And then he took a worm. He reached over and found a worm.
He put it right in the middle of that circle of leaves, right
here on the ground, encircled by the leaves. And then he took
a match and he set all the leaves on fire. And that fire was roaring
all around that worm. And the worm started this way,
and he backed up. And he started this way, and
he backed up in the flames. He started that way, and he backed
up. And finally he just cringed in
the middle The missionaries picked him up and put him over here
on the cool, wet earth. He said, Salvation of the Lord.
Salvation of the Lord. You turn any way you want to,
and you meet nothing but the wrath of God. Turn to this pool. Turn to the mourner's bench.
Turn to the sacrament. Turn to the preacher. Turn to
the priest. Turn to the mass. Turn to the decision. Turn to
the big evangelist. Turn where you will. But he's
got to pick you up. and lift you out of danger and
out of certain death and put your feet on the rock. Salvation
is of the Lord. That's what it is. That's what
I'm saying. Now here's the fourth thing.
The next thing I know. Turn to Hebrews 7, 25. I know
this. I don't even question it. It's
not a doubt in my mind. I declare it with all the authority
of heaven. with all the dogmatism and fanaticism
that you want to talk about. I know who will be saved. I know
myself who will be saved. Did you know? I know who will
be saved. I can tell you right now who will be saved. I can
tell you whether or not you'll be saved. Look at Hebrews 7,
verse 25. It says this, Hebrews 7, verse
25, "...Wherefore, he, Christ, is able to save to the uttermost,
who? Them that come to God by Him. That's who's going to be saved.
It's not them who come to the church. A lot of people come
to the church. People go to church for a lot
of reasons. But the church is not the Savior. It's not them
that come to the priest. You can come to the priest on
your feet or on your knees. You can come to the priest at
six in the morning or six in the evening. You can come to
the priest in a confessional booth, or you can come to him
at the sacrament. You can come to him any way,
any time you want to, but he can't save you. And he can't
help you get saved. And He can't recommend you to
God. You can come to the preacher and He can't say, you can come
to the doctrine, you can come to the confession of faith, you
can come to the altar, you can come anywhere. But I'll tell
you when you'll be saved, when you come to God, the living God,
when you come to God, you say, well, how do I come to God? You
come to God, you don't move a muscle. Don't you even raise your hand.
Don't you do it now. You come to God. Don't you walk
down this aisle. Don't you come to the front. You come to God,
sitting right where you are, and don't you move a muscle.
Because coming to God, John, is not a physical move. It's
a faith. Do you see what I'm saying? Come
on. Come on, right now. Come on.
Come on to Christ. Come on to Christ, but don't
move. Don't move. Stay right where you are. That's when this heart of mine
looks to Him. That's when these ears of the
heart tune to His voice. That's when this heart of mine
bends its knee and falls at His feet. That's when this soul of
mine worships the Lord God. And that's when this soul of
mine comes to rest in Christ. And I just quit. Out of my bondage, sovereign
knight, Jesus, I confess you." Well, I've got to do something.
No, he did it all. But I've got to move, I've got
to say something. No, he said it. He said, don't you say it,
don't you say nothing. You can't promise anything. He's
the promiser, he's the giver, and he's the gift. And you just
sit right where you are and come to Christ. Well, I'm looking
for a feeling. Look for Christ. Don't look for
a feeling. But I want an experience. I don't. I want the Lord Jesus
Christ. The devil can give you an experience. He can give you
a feeling. He can give you a lot of things. Except Christ. Only
God can give you Christ. You come to Christ. Don't you
make a lie out of my Lord. He said He's able to save to
the... How far can He save them? To the uttermost! Oh, you don't
know what I've done. I know what he did. I don't care
what you've done. He's able to cleanse us from
all sin. I'll tell you this, he died for sinners. He died
for the ungodly. You're the kind of folks for
whom he died. Our Lord's not a peanut Savior. He's a great
Savior. He saves great sinners. He's
able to save to the uttermost extent of sin, to the uttermost
extent of time, to the uttermost extent of holiness, to the uttermost
extent of death. He's able. He's able because
of who He is. He's able because of what He
did. He's able because God's justice is satisfied. And watch
this. He's able to save evermore them
that come to God by him, because he ever lives. He ever lives. He always has lived. He lived
on this earth. He was crucified, buried, and
he lives again. He ever lives. For what purpose? To make intercession for them
who come to God by him. My Lord Jesus Christ constantly,
every moment, every day, is my great high priest, and he has
some what to offer. He has some what to offer. Oh,
if the priest comes to God, he must have some what to offer. Old Aaron comes with his basin
of blood, which can never put away sin. But my Lord, on behalf
of those whom he represents, carrying their names on his breastplate
with holiness to the Lord on his miter, and a sacrifice in
his hand, brings his own precious blood, the blood of God. and appears in the presence of
the Father on behalf of those who come to God through him.
And I'll tell you, that blood's effectual. That blood is sufficient. And that blood, like Bob preached
a few weeks ago, not only is necessary, but it will satisfy. It'll satisfy, and it's the only
thing that will satisfy the very righteousness, justice, and holiness
of God Almighty. Do you believe it? I believe
it. And my friends, whatever I don't
know, Those things I know. And like that old lady told me
out there in Rush, Kentucky 35 years ago when I preached the
sermon on the blood of Christ, she said, Sonny, that'll stand
when the world's on fire. And that's what I believe. Sonny,
I'm telling you, that'll stand when the world's on fire. And
what I'm saying is this, you better have something that'll
stand when the world's on fire. These little silly sentimental
religious decisions won't stand. But the blood of God is the gold
of heaven. It'll endure any flame. Can you
trust Him? Can you? And not move a muscle. Out of my bondage. Let's sing
that, Mike. What's that number? 242? Jesus, I come. Now remember, don't move. You
come to Christ, but don't move. We're not heard for our much
speaking or our much moving or our much vows and promises. We're
heard for the sincerity of a heart cry, God be merciful to me, the
sinner. God be merciful to me. I do believe,
I now believe that Jesus died for me. I come to Christ. Leaving
all behind, I come to Christ.