I'm going to begin this message
tonight over in the book of Genesis, the third chapter of Genesis.
I want you to look at three verses. Genesis chapter 3, beginning
with verse 17. And unto Adam God said, Because you have hearkened unto
the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of
which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed
is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all
the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistle shall
it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground. For out of it was thou taken For thus thou art, and unto thus
shalt thou return." Thus thou art. Thus thou art. Men are frail, weak, dying creatures. God says man at his best state
is altogether vanity, a puff of wind. He says in the book of Psalms,
God knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we're dust. And in the book of Psalms, the
psalmist says, thou takest away their breath, cause their breath to cease,
and they die and return to the dust. Now any time that you feel
strong, and sufficient, and wise, and able, and needed upon this
earth. Go back and read Genesis 3, 19.
Thus thou art, and unto thus thou shalt return. In us we have too much of that
which God hates above all things, and that's pride. He said six
things God hates, yea, seven are an abomination to Him, and
the first thing He names is a proud look. Pride goeth before destruction
and a haughty spirit before the fall. God resisteth the proud
and giveth grace to the humble. With dust There's nothing that you can
say about us except we're dust. And I want to show you a shocking
scripture over in Ecclesiastes 2, verse 15. Ecclesiastes 2, verse 15. Now, if I could do nothing tonight
but just impress this one truth upon our hearts, it may be that
the Spirit of God will would lead someone to seek the mercy
of God and the help of God and a revelation of God. Nothing
needs something. And nobody needs someone. And
that's us. Nothing. Nothing but us. And listen to what he says in
Ecclesiastes 2. Then said I, verse 15, then said I in my heart,
As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me. And
why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, it's
also vanity. For there's no remembrance of
the wise more than of the fool, or forever. Seeing that which
now is in the days to come shall be forgotten. That which now
is in the days to come will be forgotten. Right now, our names are known,
our work is done, our influence is strong. But God said that which now is,
in the days to come, is going to be forgotten. Forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? That's
the fool. They both die the same way. They
both die the same way. Breath stops. The heart quits,
and they die, and they dig a hole, put them both there, the fool
and the wise man. And life just goes on. And you forget the fool, you
say, you forget the wise man, too. They're both dead, they're
both dust. And in a few years, you can dig
them both up and they look just alike. And put them both in a
nickel paper bag. So that's what we are now. That's
just exactly what we are. God says you're dust, you came
from the dust, and you're going back to the dust. And the things which are now
shall be forgotten. And how doth the wise man? Just
like the fool. He's a man, and that's all he
is. All right? Also, this is true. Men are sinful
creatures, not only frail creatures, Not only so frail and weak and
dying in dust, but they're sinful creatures. They got a war going
with God. It's a losing cause, but you
can't tell them that. They got a war going on with
God. I will not. I will not. God saw the wickedness
of man was great upon the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart were only evil continually. Turn to
the book of Psalms. Listen to this scripture, Psalm
14. Psalm 14. Now this is just fact. This is
what we are. We can talk about you're okay,
I'm okay, but we're not okay. We're in trouble, and we're in
trouble with heaven. We're in trouble with the one
that counts. We're in trouble with the one with whom we have
to do. We're not okay. There's nothing okay about anything
we're involved in. Live and let live. If you want
peace, look within. If you really look within, you
won't have any peace from then on. You can't get any peace looking
without. You sure can't find any looking
within, because looking within, you won't find any trace of God.
The deeper you look, The more evil it becomes. And Psalm 14
says, the fool, the fool hath said in his heart, no God. No God. See, there is in italics,
and it really is saying this, the fool hath said, there's no
God for me. I won't acknowledge God. I won't
bow to God. He knows God exists, but he says,
no God for me. They're corrupt. They've done
abominable work. There's none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand and seek God. And they're all
gone aside. They're all together become filthy,
filthy. You know what the word is? You
have it in your center reference, stinking. There's none that doeth
good. No, not one. I quoted Mr. Spurgeon in this book of Hebrews
commentary. The least grain of sand is not
so small to the whole earth as man is to heaven. When I think
of the heavens, the sun, the moon, and the stars, oh God,
what is man? Man, in the pride of his heart,
sees no wonder in God being mindful of him. But a humble soul is
astonished. Will the Lord have respect to
such a vile worm as I? Will the Lord acquaint himself
with such a sinful wretch as I? Will the Lord be mindful of
me? Man is but a piece of clay that's
animated by heavenly breath. And when that breath now takes
away, He's clay again by death. Man is but a piece of clay that's
animated. That's a little tin soldier that
you wind up with no more than that. Animated by heavenly breath. And when that breath is taken
away, he's dust again by death. The good man is perished from
the earth, God said. Why callest thou me good? There's
none good but God. None good but God. All right, thirdly, these observations
are so. Man is frail dust. Just, there goes a million of them.
There goes a million of them. Breath of God, a million of them. He's a sinful creature. And thirdly,
he's an unhappy, dissatisfied creature. And he has a right
to be so. Oh, we find a little thrill here
and a little joy there and a little pleasure yonder. But all in all,
our existence on this earth is a trail of sorrows, a trail of tears. That's what
it is. This whole pilgrimage. Man is an unhappy, dissatisfied
creature. He has a right to be. Solomon
tells us why. Turn to Ecclesiastes again. Ecclesiastes. He said, Preacher, you're awful
morbid tonight. Just tell him the truth. Just
drawing the picture like it really is. In Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse
12, and this man, if you were to say there's some above others,
at least in knowledge, wisdom, power, riches, this man was number
one. And yet he said in Ecclesiastes
112, I, the preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And
I gave my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning
all things that are done under heaven. This sore travail hath
God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. And
I've seen all the works that are done under heaven, under
the sun. And behold, what's your conclusion? All is vanity and vexation of
spirit. That's all of it. How about verse
11 of chapter 2? Then I looked on all the works
of my hands, and I suppose a greater kingdom on earth under the leadership
of one man up to that time had not been erected. And he said,
I looked on all the works of my hands, that my hands had wrought,
and on the labor that I had labored to do, and behold, all I was
vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under
the sun. Dissatisfied, unhappy. Look at
verse 15, then I said in my heart, as it happened to the fool, so
it happened unto me. And why was I then more wise
than I said in my heart? This also is vanity. Verse 17. I read this other one. Look at
verse 17. Therefore I hated life. I hated life. Someone mentioned to me recently
about a certain young person that was so depressed hated life
so badly that they were threatening suicide. They said, can you understand
that? Oh yeah, can't you? Oh yeah. Solomon could understand. He
said, I hated life because the work that is wrought under the
sun is grievous unto me. All is vanity and vexation of
spirit. Man's in a world that he doesn't
understand. Oh, he tries to, all the philosophers
are working on it, but they all disagree. Man has a God that
he does not know. Even the religious people don't
know him. Man is driven by a will he can't
control. Why do you do what you do? Because
you're dominated by a perverted will, that's why you do what
you do. Why do you think what you think? Why do I say that?
I'll tell you why you set it, because you're controlled by
a will that you can't control yourself. Man has a thousand questions
he can't answer. Man is dying a death he cannot
stop. They're trying to, they're trying
to invent an artificial heart now. Keep these wretched creatures
kicking as long as you can. But as long as they kick, they
kick against God. Keep them breathing out there,
blast them as long as you can. Keep them cursing God as long
as you can. And that may be good for them,
because as soon as they die, they're going to hell. I'll tell you, if all you had
was here, I guess you'd want to stay here as long as you could.
But man's dying to death, he can't stop, and he's facing a
judgment. a suit. He's facing a trial. He can't win. Everything's stacked
against him. All the evidence is against him.
The judge is against him. He's got no mediator, no lawyer,
no advocate. He's facing a judgment he can't
win. I don't blame him for being blue, do you? I don't blame him
for wanting to blow his brains out. I don't blame him one bit
in this world. I don't blame him. Solomon said
it's all vanity. It's all vexation of spirit.
And he said, I've tried it all. Well, what's to be done? What's
to be done? I wish somebody would just settle
down, quit hollering, praise the Lord, and tell us what to
be done. I wish somebody would quit hollering hallelujah and
blessing all of us and just ask some questions. What's to be
done? How can man be just with God? How can he be clean that's
born of a woman? How can he? The heavens are not
clean in God's sight. How much less man that drinks
iniquity like water. Like Paul said in his message
at Lexington, cows eat grass, horses eat hay, fish eat other
fish. Man drinks iniquity like the
water. That's what he feeds on, that's his diet, that's his steady
diet, is sin, corruption. What are we going to do? It's
time some preachers stop carrying on and settle down and face some
issues. What's to be done? Well, the
world by wisdom knew not God. We're not going to find God in
these theological monasteries and seminaries and Bible schools.
If I say, I'm going to send my child to a Christian school so
he can find God, better send him somewhere else. God's not
there. God's not in that mess. The world by wisdom knew not
God. Job said, can you by searching
find out God? It's higher than the heaven,
deeper than hell. Paul said, his judgments and
ways are past finding out. They're past finding out. Well,
shall we give up? Shall we just give up? Shall
we go ahead and throw in the towel? Shall we, like the rich
man, say, well, eat, drink, and be married? Tomorrow you're going
to die. Shall we give up? In a sense, yes. That'd be the
best move you ever made, quit struggling. Quit looking for
God where he's not. Quit trying to please God with
what you can't. In a sense, give up. Brother
Barnard said one time years ago, he said, I'd like to take every
Baptist in America, tape his mouth, shut him up in a barn,
keep him there until God did something for him, and then turn
him loose. Yes, the first thing I would
say, give up. Give up any hope of ever pleasing
God, or knowing God, or serving God, or acquiring any mercy from
God by anything you do. First thing we can do is forsake
our thoughts. Quit trying to reason out God,
because your thoughts are not His thoughts. That's the first
thing to do. Old Naaman said, well, I thought.
Well, it's not like you thought it was. Quit trying to reason
out God. Your thoughts are not God's thoughts.
Then secondly, we can turn from our way, cease from our way.
We're traveling the broad way. There's a way that seemeth right
unto men. Stop! Don't go any further on
this way, because your way is not His way. And we can forget
our fleshly deeds, because in the flesh no man can please God.
You can quit it now if you're giving to support the church,
to please God, you can quit it now. If you're getting up 4 o'clock
in the morning and praying because you think God will bless you
more than if you pray at 8, quit it. If you're reading your daily
Bible readings to find acceptance with God, stop it. In the flesh,
no man can please God, stop that direction altogether. We can
look away from the law because of the deeds of the law, but
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. We can forget sentiment. Well,
I just believe a good God won't send men to hell. Yes, he will,
because he is good. Now, a bad God wouldn't send
a man to hell. He could cross up his judgment. He could compromise
his truth. He could fudge on his holiness.
But a good God can't. The judge of the earth must do
right. He ain't got a choice. God hasn't
got a choice. God's will is a holy will, a
perfect will, and he will, he said, by no means clear the guilty.
So you can forget that. You say, well, I believe I'll
stand a chance. No way. It's not by chance. No siree,
I'm sorry. That's one thing I know for sure,
that we're not going to stand a chance. Well, I just believe
God is precious. He is in Christ. Out of Christ,
He's a consuming fire. We just get so sentimental when
we get religious, you know. We roll our eyes and soften our
voice and do something with our hands, you know. We just get
real. Now, forget it. God's not sentimental. He's no respecter of persons.
He's a holy, just, and righteous, omnipotent God. who deals with
things just like they are. There's no compromise. And that's
where we're going to get what we deserve. You say, I just want
what's coming to me. That's exactly what we're going
to get. There won't be any hedging about it. We're going to get
a full measure. The cut's going to be full measure. Nobody's going to get shorted.
God's going to deal with men just like they are. We're going
to be judged out of the things which are written. Yes, sir. Well, what am I going
to do? Well, let's turn to Hebrews 1.
I'm going to read some Scripture, and I want you to follow along
while I read it. Here's where it is, in Hebrews chapter 1.
Here's where it is. God, and that's the way he starts
out his book. He doesn't explain himself, he
just declares himself. In the beginning, God. And here
in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1, Paul said, And that's all it is. Omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipotent God, who at sundry times and in diverse
manners spake in time past to our fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. If God speaks
and you hear God, it's going to be by Christ, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things. by whom also he made the world."
That's who we're talking about. "...who being the brightness
of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholdeth
all things by the word of his power, when he had himself, by
himself, purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of
the majesty on high." Being made so much better than the angels,
God hath given him a name above everything, as he hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of
the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have
I begotten thee? And again, to which of the angels
did he ever say, I'll be to him a father, he shall be to me a
son? And again, when he bringeth in the firstborn into the world,
he said, let all the angels of God worship him. That's who we're
talking about. And of the angels, he said, who
maketh his angels spirit and his ministers a flame of fire.
But to the Son, he said, thy throne, O God, is forever. If God speaks to us, do you know
by whom he'll speak? This one right here we're talking
about. That's the reason that the Transfiguration, God said,
this is my Son! Hear Him! Listen to Him. I'll tell you this, if He's not
who He claims to be, there's no need to hear Him. There's
no need to believe Him. There's no need to honor Him.
But if this person, Jesus Christ, Jesus, Son of Mary, Jesus, Carpenter
of Nazareth, Jesus who walked Galilee's shore. Jesus who stood
in Pilate's hall and suffered on Calvary's cross. Jesus of
Nazareth who was buried in a barred tomb and rose again. If Jesus
Christ is who He claimed to be and who the apostles said He
is, then I'm bound to hear Him. If I'm going to hear God. Richard,
I've got to hear Him. I've got to hear Him. And not only hear Him, but believe
Him. Believe him, and not only believe him, but fall down and
adore him, and worship him. Because he said, and God said,
he has all authority in heaven, earth, and under the earth to
do with me, and to me, and for me what he will, what he will,
the Son quickeneth whom he will. Now you can run around hollering
free will all you want to. And everybody else can holler
free will, but your will is not free. Your will is in bondage. It's in bondage to Satan and
sin and self, and it has been ever since you wiggled into this
world. And one clear evidence of that is the evidence I gave
to our Sunday school class this morning. The Scripture says He
was in this world. He, the Word, who was with God,
was God, and all things made by Him. He, perfect, immaculate
holiness. He was in this world. He actually
took human flesh and walked in this world. He stood before the
whole multitude. He was in this world. And it
wasn't done in a corner. It was noised abroad everywhere.
Jesus Christ was in this world. And the world knew him not. Now
you think about that. God told who he was. He said,
this is my son. You know that got noised about.
John the Baptist told who he was. He was the forerunner of
Christ, prophesied all the way through the Old Testament, and
born when his parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth, were old people.
It was a miracle birth. And he told who he was. He said,
this is the Lamb of God. This is the Christ. And that
was Noah's Debrah. And Jesus Christ himself raised
the dead. Now, you know they heard about
that. In fact, in his hometown of Nazareth, they said, do what
you did at Capernaum. We heard about what you did. And he healed the lame, and he
healed the sick, and he gave sight to the blind. One man said,
has it ever been heard that a blind man saw? And people asked the Pharisees,
they said, is not this the Christ? When the Christ comes, will he
do greater works than this man? And yet, here is the perversity
of the human will. Here is the fallen human will.
He was in this world, and not one person believed on him. Not
one. Not one. He died alone. Now, you can get a Jim Jones,
and thousands will follow him. See, that's man's will. See what
I'm talking about? He'll follow him there, but he
won't follow God. You can get a Mayor Baker Eddy. And she was
one of the most twisted people who ever lived, with all of her
flamboyance and foolishness. And people followed her. She
built a denomination. Joseph Smith, Brigham Young. They got a whole state. And these men had questionable
characters. Their revelations were questionable.
They had no proof whatsoever that God spoke through them.
They never healed one broken arm or one hanged nail. But men followed them in droves. He was in this world, and the
world knew him not. If you want a better picture
of the human will, I don't know where you're going to get it.
When he died on that cross, the graves opened, the earth quaked,
and the sun didn't shine. That's the most amazing. And he came unto his own, his
own temple, nation, people, sacrifices, priesthood, and they wouldn't
receive him. They wouldn't receive him. Let
another come in his own name, and him you will receive. Why?
Because we are sons of Adam, that's why. Because our wills
are blind, and our ears are deaf, and our hearts are stupid and
dumb. And we go a broad road and turn
our back on a direct revelation of God Almighty. It's shattering. It's shattering
to me. God says, listen as I read on
Hebrews 1. In verse 8, Thy throne, O God,
is forever. A scepter of righteousness is
a scepter of Thy kingdom. Now look at chapter 2, verse
1. Therefore, therefore, we ought
to give the more earnest heed to the things we've heard. Heard
from whom? Heard from Christ. The things
we've heard from Christ. He's the one through whom God
speaks. If this person is ever going
to, if the world is ever going to know God, If people are ever
going to know God, they're going to have to listen to God's messenger.
He's God's final messenger. If the people would be forgiven,
they're going to have to come to God's messenger. If they would
live, they're going to have to come to Christ, because the Father
hath put everything in the hands of Christ. He hath committed
all things to Christ. As the Father quickeneth whom
he will, so the Son quickeneth life in himself, and quickeneth
whom he will. Therefore, verse 1, chapter 2,
listen to it, therefore we ought, I know what we ought to do, give
the more earnest heed to the things which we've heard, lest
at any time we should let them slip. For the word spoken by
angels, and that's the angels that gave the word to the prophets,
and God spoke to Abraham through an angel, Moses by an angel,
an angel appeared and spoke. He spoke a lot by an angel. And
if the words spoken by angels were steadfast and sure, and
every transgression and disobedience received a just, recompensive
reward, how are we going to escape if we neglect so great salvation
which at the first began to be spoken by our Lord and was confirmed
unto us by them that heard it? And we are going to have to get
out of the hallelujah the hallelujah spirit, and the whoop-de-doo
spirit, and entertaining men on the road to hell, and talking
about all of these insignificant issues, and we're going to have
to get in here and find out what the Son said. What he said about
the Father. what he said about sin, what
he said about himself, what he said about his law. He's the
one who interprets the law. He said, you've heard it said
by them of old times, I shall not kill. I say unto you, I say unto you, I speak with
authority. The words that I speak are not
my words, but the words of him that sent me. What does the Son
say about prayer? What does the Son say about giving?
What does the Son say about fasting? What does the Son say about the
Lord? What does the Son say about himself? If you believe not that
I am he, you'll die in your sin. That's God's final messenger. What does the Son say? But we
really don't know. We haven't bothered to find out. We pay somebody to pray for us,
and pay somebody to study for us, and pay somebody to witness
for us, and pay somebody to preach for us, and we go and sit and
doze and nod, and go on home and say, good message. We're going to have to hear the
Son. We're going to have to hear Him who speaks from heaven. Him
who speaks through His Word. We're going to have to be personally,
individually, believe me, acquainted with what the Son has to say.
And we can quit walking up and down aisles, making professions,
making decisions, joining churches, turning over new leaves, rededicating,
giving ourselves full-time service, and we need to sit down and listen
to the Son, and when he gets through speaking, be about the
Father's business. That's right. Be about the Father's
business. And this is no partial commitment.
This is no partial commitment. It can't be. I hear people say,
well, there's two things you don't want to discuss, and that's
religion and politics. Well, I guess that's true of
today's religion. I wouldn't talk about it either.
I'm kind of ashamed of it. But I'll tell you, I want to
talk about him. The joy of my heart is to talk about him. Here's
somebody to talk about him. When someone begins to talk about
him, I want to pull my chair up a little closer and cut my
ear and see what they've got to say. This is no partial commitment,
it's all the way. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've
committed to him. This is no token recognition.
That's what we're doing now. We've accepted Jesus as personal
savior. What about the rest of his office? Huh? Come on now. They say, if
you'll accept Jesus as your personal Savior, you'll be saved. Oh no,
I beg your pardon. He'll never be your Savior who's
not your Lord. He'll never be your Savior. He'll
never be your Savior who's not your prophet. He'll never be
your Savior who's not your author and high priest of your profession.
He'll never be your Savior who's not your servant. He'll never
be your Savior who's not your only mediator. He'll never be your Savior who's
not your husband, wife, brother, sister, and great friend. You
accepted the wrong one. This is no token recognition. I recognize you, Lord. Now you
can go on back to heaven. And if I need you, I'll call
on you. I'll call. You be sure I will now, Lord.
You be sure I will. If I ever stand in need, if I've
ever done anything wrong, I want you to forgive me. This is no
part-time service. I want you to listen to something
here. And I'll try to wind it there. We've read this Scripture
a long time. Luke 14. Luke 14. And you know I'm discovering
new things all the time. I had a preacher friend one time
say, He'd been pastor of a church a long, long time, and I kind
of understand what he's talking about, but he said, those folks
have heard all I've got to say. You haven't heard all I've got
to say, because I'm learning new things every day. I looked here at Luke chapter
14 and found out where this came from for the first time in my
ministry. Luke 14, verse 25. I sat down
and read this the other day. Luke 14, 25. Do you have it there? Now, there was great multitudes,
there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said to
them, and this is the son, he said, Hear it! God has spoken
by his son. And the son turned and said,
If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother and
wife and children and brothers and sisters, yea, in his own
life also, he can't be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his
cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." I've had trouble
with that. I've tried to explain it, deal
with it. Because the Lord doesn't teach us to hate anyone from
the standpoint of hating them. But do you know what he's teaching
here? Our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything in the Old Testament
points to Christ. And you'll find in the preaching
of our Lord, in the ministry of our Lord and His disciples,
they reach back into the Old Testament. Practically everything
He says according to the Scripture is already written. Now just
hold that place right there and turn to Deuteronomy, the book
of Deuteronomy 13. I want you to listen to this.
Deuteronomy 13. And this is where this came from.
Deuteronomy chapter 13. And what I'm saying now is that
this is no No partial commitment. This gospel, this gospel of free
grace, this gospel of God's glory, this gospel of the substitutionary
work of Christ, this one gospel. Paul was so committed to it,
what did he say? If any man preach any other gospel, even if it's
an angel, let him be sent to hell, accursed. All right, look
at Deuteronomy over here, chapter 13, verse 6. If thy brother, this is in the
law of God, the son of thy mother, or thy own son, or thy own daughter,
or thy precious wife of your bosom, or your chief friend,
which is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, Let us
go and serve other gods, which you have not known, Thou know
thy Father." Now, isn't this what Paul's saying? Gospel which
we hadn't preached. Namely, of the gods of the people
which are round about you, the popular free will gospel. The popular gods that can't save. The gods of the people round
about you, you're different people. The gods of the people now unto
you are far off from you, from one end of the earth even to
the other end of the earth. Thou shalt not consent unto him or
her, nor hearken unto him, neither shalt thou not pity him, neither
shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him, but thou shalt
surely kill him. Thy hand shall be first upon
him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the
people. Thou shalt stone him with stone that he die, because
he hath sought to thrust be away from the Lord thy God." There it is. I tell you, this little door-to-door
stuff is pretty serious. And these little sessions you
have arguing about the gospel are pretty serious. They're pretty serious. And that's
where our Lord said, you said, well, you know a man loves his
mother and father and brother and sister. Sure he does. There's something wrong if he
didn't. If any man provide not for his own household, he's worse
than an infidel. That's what Scripture said. But
let me tell you something, when it comes to this thing of who
God is, the honor of God, the eternal honor and glory of God
Almighty, the character and attributes of Jesus Christ, the person and
work of the Son of God, the Lord God said, my love for Him, my
commitment to Him, my recognition of Him is so acute and so genuine
and so unforgettable and so undeniable that even that one on earth in
the flesh that's closest to me who tries to turn my heart away
from my God is treated with contempt. Now do what you want to with
it, but that's what the Lord Jesus is talking about. That's
what he's talking about. Matthew chapter 10, let's listen
to him again. And who is the Lord God? Well, he said, Thou thoughtest
I was altogether such a one as thyself. We, in our day, succeeded
in bringing God all the way down here to where folks have a royal
telephone and they see visions of Him, talk to Him. He tells
them things. The God of today is not the God
of yesterday, today, and forever. It's another God. Our Lord said
in Matthew 10, 32, Whosoever shall confess me before me, Him
will I confess before my Father which is in heaven, but whosoever
shall deny me." And here we're not talking about
denying the fact that a person named Jesus Christ died on a
cross with Mary and Rose again. That's not what we're talking
about. A lot of pagans today got up at 6 o'clock and went
to the sunrise service who do not believe who He is. this Jesus Christ and what He
did and why He did it and where He is now. That's denying Christ. You don't deny Christ by denying
a person called Jesus lived. That's just a fool that said
there's no God. You can pick up a calendar and
tell He lived. B.C. before Christ and A.D. and O.Dominion in the year of
our Lord. But to deny Christ is to deny His true character.
Who He is as revealed in the Word. And there are a lot of
preachers who are doing that tonight.