I'm going to speak on the subject
saved by grace alone, and it's one of the most important
messages I shall ever bring to you, and I want you to give me
your undivided attention. I begin the message with a question, and that question is this. Do you know, do you know what
is the most difficult thing for a son of Adam, a human being,
to do? The most difficult thing, and
I'm not talking about something foolish in the material or physical
world, I'm talking about that which pertaineth to life. that
which pertaineth to God, that which pertaineth to the spiritual
life, that which is real life. I'm not talking about something
that pertains to the flesh. The most difficult thing for
any human being to do, that which an unbeliever cannot possibly
do, it is impossible. And that which a believer finds
most difficult, You know what it is? It is to
believe in and completely trust and look
only to Jesus Christ for justification. I guarantee you that's the hardest
thing you'll ever be called on to do. To believe in to trust
in and to look to, I didn't say look to Christ, believe in Christ,
I said only, only, only. where nothing else enters in
to the slightest degree. Nothing else affects your look,
your trust, or your confidence. Only to Christ, and Christ alone.
Not only for justification, but for sanctification, and for a
full acceptance with God. The Galatians couldn't do it.
The Colossians had trouble doing it. The Philippians were rebuked
for not doing it. Man by nature, you see, and this
is what I'm talking about, what we were just singing. Look, let
me just read it to you, don't pick up the hymn book. Other
refuge have I none, none. Hangs my, what, helpless soul
on thee. Helpless, helpless soul on thee. Leave, O leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me. All my trust on thee is stayed. We sing it. That's what I'm talking
about, all of it. All my help, most of it, all
of it, from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with
the shadow of thy wind. That's what I'm talking about. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the sick,
heal the sick, and lead the what? Blind, not the nearsighted, or
the dim-sighted, the blind. Just and holy is thy name, I
am all unrighteousness. Not I was, Charlie, I am. I am, that's what it is, I am. False and full of sin, I am. Thou art full of grace and truth. My friends, man by nature is
religious. If you're religious here tonight,
you're no more than a fallen son of Adam who's carrying out
your nature. Man by nature is religious, every
man's religious by nature to some extent. And man is married
to a covenant of works. He's married to it, enslaved
by it, to the law and to his own works. And the most difficult
thing in the world for him to do, the most difficult thing
in the world for a son of Adam to do is to pronounce that law
and his works totally dead. totally dead, once for all, and
become married only to Christ. That's the most difficult thing
that anybody ever tried to do, is to put that old mate, that
old law in the grave, bury it, consider it totally dead, totally
dead, with all relics, and all souvenirs, and all mementos,
and cover it up and live only in and for Christ Jesus. That is so very difficult. You
say, I have. The person who says, I have,
is the one least likely to have done it. Now, the scripture is
very plain on this. Let me read some scripture. First
of all, we go into the book of Galatians. Galatians. Now, my friends, I know what
I'm talking about. I know exactly what I'm preaching
tonight, and I've given it a lot of consideration and a lot of
thought, and I'm saying that which is impossible with an unbeliever
is also most difficult done for a believer. And that is to look
to, trust in, completely rest in, and believe on Jesus Christ
for justification, sanctification, wisdom, and redemption of which
God says he is made unto us. In Galatians 2 verse 20 and 21,
listen to this, Galatians 2 verse 20 and 21, I am crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, not I at all, but
Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in this flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me and gave himself for me. That's how I live. I live
in the faith of the Son of God, by the faith of the Son of God,
through the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me. Christ is my life. He is my life. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. If righteousness come by the
law, If sanctification comes by the law, if holiness comes
by the law, Jesus Christ died in vain. Jesus Christ actually
gave his blood in vain, if righteousness comes by law. Well, let's try
another one. That's clear. Look at Galatians
3, verse 11. Galatians 3, 11. But that no
man, no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. Our
Lord said, Ye, they which justify yourselves among yourselves,
comparing yourselves with yourselves. But in the sight of God, no man
is justified by the law. It's evident. The just shall
live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them, he'll live in them. But Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us, for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on
a tree. And why was Christ made a curse
for us? Verse 14, that the blessings
of Abraham What are the blessings of Abraham? Imputed righteousness. That's what the blessings of
Abraham are. Might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ.
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
That's the blessings of God. All right, turn, if you will,
to Galatians 3.23. Galatians 3.23. But before faith
came, we were kept under the law. Shut up! Under the faith
which should afterward be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith But
after that faith has come We're no longer Under the schoolmaster
for we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus
now Galatians 5 Galatians 5 verse 1 stand fast therefore in the
liberty of wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled
again with a yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you,
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." In
other words, if you're doing this for acceptance with God,
If you're doing this ritual or keeping this day or going through
these motions or having this special thing done to you in
order to gain favor with God, Christ is no effect to you at
all. For I testify again to every
man that does anything in order to gain God's favor that he's
a debtor to do the whole lot. And Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, you are
fallen from grace. All right, turn to Colossians
1 verse 19, Colossians 1 verse 19. For it pleased the Father. that
in him should all fullness dwell in Christ. That's where all fullness
is. That's where all fullness is. All of the fullness of God
is in Christ. It pleased God that in Christ
should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things to himself,
by him I say whether they be things in heaven or things in
the earth and you. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you, he did
it, he accomplished it, to present you in him, holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in the sight of his father, if you continue
in the faith. All right, look at Colossians
2. Verse 3, talking about Christ, in whom, for the mystery of God,
of the Father, and of Christ, in whom or wherein are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge? In Christ. In Colossians 2, 9. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete. There isn't a word you could
choose that would more ably describe the absolute sufficiency of the
person and work of Christ on behalf of a believer than that
word complete. I am complete in him. I am complete
all that God requires, all that the law commands, all that the
justice of God demands, all that God expects. I am absolutely
complete in Christ. complete in Christ. All right,
look at verse 13. Colossians 2, verse 20. Wherefore,
if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments or elements of
this world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject
to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which are to
perish with the using? Why are you subject to ordinances
after the commandments and doctrines of men? Lift that parenthesis
out. See, you're identifying the ordinances there. Which things
have indeed. These touch not, taste not, handle
not, observing days and rituals and all these things in the flesh.
They indeed have a show of wisdom. They have a show of spirituality.
They have a show, but I'll tell you what the shows will worship.
and a false humility and a neglecting of the body and all of these
things. And my friends, man was created in the image of God,
in the very image of God. If I can take you back, if your
imagination will work just a little bit, and I can take you back
to when God created Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden.
That was man. God created one man. And he made
the woman out of the man. But God made that man holy and
upright, perfect in the image of God. And that man loved God. That man loved holiness. He loved
righteousness and truth and beauty. And that man walked with God.
He walked with God in purity and perfection. He had to be
pure, holy and without sin or he couldn't have walked with
God. Or God could have had no communion with him. He was perfect
and without sin. And God provided the earth for
that man's habitation. And that man's comfort. That
man was a man like I am, like you are. That man ate. He ate food. He drank water,
juice, whatever was provided by God. He slept. He laughed, he talked, he had
a companion, he enjoyed all that God had made. He lived on the
same earth I'm living on today, apart from the paved sidewalks
and the streetcar, I mean the telephone lines and the airplanes
and all these things that man has brought forth from the earth,
but he lived on this earth. He had a mind and a heart and
hands and feet and flesh and thoughts and all these things
and was totally naked. And he was not ashamed, and he
knew no fear, and he knew no guilt, and he knew no depression,
and he knew no hate. And God said to this man and
to his companion, multiply and replenish the earth. Subdue the
earth. You have all power in this earth. You have authority over this
earth. You have authority over the birds, over the beast of
the field, and the fish of the sea, over everything upon the
earth. Here was a man who was a king, who was a prince. Here
was a man who was a genius. Here was a man with, it was a
man, truly a man, in flesh, blood, and bones, just like I am. Who
loved God, who knew God, who walked with God, who lived and
inhabited an earth which God had made and provided for his
comfort and his habitation. But one thing God said to that
man, he said, you're not God. You're not God. I'm God. That's what he said. I'm God.
You're not God. And there must never be any question
about who's God. That was the orders he gave that
man. One basic law of this universe,
God says, Don, is I'm God. That's what he said to Adam.
I'm God. That's what he was saying over here in Genesis 2, exactly
what he was saying. If you'll turn over there and
look at it, Genesis 2, verse 17. In Genesis 2, 16 and 17, the
Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you
may freely eat. That's pretty wide, that's pretty wide permission,
pretty wide, pretty lenient. Anything you want, every tree.
Take the whole garden. It's your command for your comfort,
your enjoyment. There it is. But he said, of
the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.
And the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. I don't
know what that tree was. Nobody else does. But I do know
what that tree said. When that tree stood untouched,
not eaten thereof, as Adam left it alone, he recognized one thing. That though God put everything
in his hands and gave everything at his disposal for his use,
he's recognizing that God's still boss. That God is God in this
universe. That's what Adam was recognizing.
I know a lot of people say it was an apple, and some people
say it was sex, some people say it was something else. They don't
know any more about it than you or I do. But I just know it was
a tree of some sort. God called it a tree. And that
tree was a token. It stood saying this, as long
as Adam never touched it or took of it, it was saying that though
Adam is high, God is higher. Though Adam is powerful, God
is more powerful. Though Adam has authority, God
has authority over him. Though man has powers, still
God is the head of every man. And God is God. That's what he's
saying. I am God. I am God. And that's the issue
with this whole world, who God is. That was the issue when Christ,
our Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed and accused before Pilate of
being a king. That's what they said. They said
he made himself king. Our Lord Jesus Christ was mocked
and ridiculed in the soldiers hall in the character of a king.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was nailed on the cross and put over his
head were the accusations and charges for which he was dying,
the king of the Jews. And our Lord Jesus Christ reigns
and will return as a king. Now he's Lord, that's all there
is to it, and that's the whole issue. They said, we'll not have
this man reign over us. They said, we have no king but
Caesar. And that's the issue between you and God right now
is who's God and who God is. And this whole Armenian free
will generation is not willing for God to be God. And they want
a road to heaven that bypasses God's Lordship and crown rights. That's exactly right. They will
not let him be Lord. He'll be your Savior, but not
your Lord. And God said, I am God, all right? Stay tuned there
to Genesis 2 for a moment, Genesis 3. Now, that's so. You can't deny anything I've
said so far. Now, a thing in the world, I've
said, there they were. No shame, no fear, no guilt, no hate, nothing. Walking in the flesh, flesh and
blood, bones, partaking of all the good things that God created,
all the good things God made. But man, like Satan, rejected
that principle. Adam never got drunk, he never
stole anybody's wife, he never killed anybody, he never did
any of these things that we talk about are so obnoxious, and they
are. But that which plunged man into
darkness and death was this principle, Genesis 3 verse 5, listen to
this. God does know in the day you
eat thereof your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God.
That's what we want. You'll be your own boss. You'll
be God. That's what condemned Satan,
turned if you will to Isaiah. That was the first sin of the
universe in Isaiah. It's chapter 14, Isaiah 14. That was the sin of Satan. That was the sin of the fallen
angel. In Isaiah 14, verse 12, he said, Thou art fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer. Son of the morning, art thou
cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nation. For thou
hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount
of the congregation on the sides of the north. I will ascend into
the heights of the cloud. I'll be like God. I'll be like
the Most High." Well, when man did that, And
the woman was deceived, but the man wasn't deceived. That's what
Scripture said. Adam partook of that forbidden
fruit, and the Scripture said he died spiritually. God said,
in the day ye eat thereof, you'll die. Man is now an alien. He's now an enemy. He is now
full of shame and fear and hate. and self-esteem, he is now blind,
he's not partially blind, he's totally blind spiritually, he's
deaf, he's dumb, he's dead, dead in trespasses, dead spiritually,
dead to God. In this world he's without hope,
he's without help, he's without God. And he is subject now to
all that sin brings. All that sin brings, God said,
your sins have separated you and your God. And hell is separation
from God. And man is now a subject of hell. He's under the wrath of God.
Men must bear the consequences of their rebellion. And not only
did that man bear the consequences of his rebellion, but the whole
creation bore it. For the whole creation was subject
to vanity because of the fall of Adam. And the whole creation
was plunged into darkness, disease, and the death of sin. And death
and evil and darkness reigns over all that we see and all
that we don't see. We don't know how dead we are
by nature. Totally dead, lifeless. The natural
mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. Now that's the condition. No
use going back and rehearsing it all. There's that man. Divine
favor, divine presence, divine communion. Intelligent, free
from any guilt, free from any fear, free from any disease,
anything that would taint or mar a scar, free. And he rejected
one point, one principle, which is the primary principle Almighty
God's universe. I'll be like God. I will not
bow. I will not bow. I will not bow. And when he took that fruit,
he died. Dead. And by one man's sin, death
passed upon all men. We're in the same shape Adam
was when he died. Same shape. Dead. dead, lifeless. In fact, there's no improvement,
there's no evolving concerning us. We've got a few more inventions
and a few more luxuries and comfort, and we're more adept at hiding
our meanness, but we're in the same shape Adam was in, an alien,
a foreigner, separated from God. Dead in trespasses say now grab
hold of your seat old LR Shelton you say you grab your seat We're
gonna jump a creek, but I'm gonna tell you the truth You can talk
all you want to all you want to All you want to of God's love
and God's favor being upon this world and its inhabitants You
can talk all you want to about that But you may as well talk
about God being in love with devils as to talk about God being
in love with the sons of Adam. He is not now, and since the
fall has never been. That's exactly right. He's not
in love with Satan and the fallen angels, and he's not in love
with Adam's fallen race who've committed the same sin. God is
angry with the wicked. That's what the Bible says. God
hateth all workers of iniquity. Sin is under God's wrath, and
all creatures and all creation is under the judgment of God.
That's right, Caesar, I'm telling you the truth, it's under the
wrath of God. And this generation and this world has latched on
to some kind of hope that false teachers and preachers gave them
in emotionalism and sentimentalism and traditional religion, like
the Jews of old who said, we be God's children. And they weren't
God's children. They weren't God's children.
God hateth all workers of iniquity. God, when Adam stood in holiness,
he was a subject of God's love. But God can't love sin. God can't
love sin. And I know we use this little
foolish adage and cliche, well God loves a sinner but hates
his sin. They're one and the same. We are sin. We are sin. There's no way that
God can love us. But you say the Bible says God
is love. Certainly God is love. Certainly
God is love. God loves holiness. God loves
pure, immaculate holiness. God loves righteousness. And
the only true holiness and true righteousness is in Himself.
That's the truth. It's in Himself, in His Son. God loves His Son. God loves
His beloved Son. He that believeth not on the
Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. wrath of God, the anger
of God. Christ is called the Son of His
love. And we're told in Romans that
nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ. Yes, sir, God is love. God is
love. But His love is a love of holiness. He cannot do anything contrary
to His holiness. He cannot do anything contrary
to his righteousness. There's nothing in me, about
me, upon me that can merit God's love or attract God's love or
claim God's love. That's right. God can only love
holiness. All right. Does he love the devil? Does he love the fallen devils?
Does he love the demons of hell? Well, we did the same thing they
did. We defied God. We challenged God. We dared to
try to replace God with ourselves on the throne. That's exactly
right. And the same as God's wrath fell upon those angels
that fell, it fell upon men that fell. But, but God, who is rich
in mercy. But God, who committed his love
toward us in the while we were yet sinners. Watch this. knowing, ordaining, and decreeing
all things according to his own will. The living God had with
himself made a covenant. He had made a covenant, a covenant
of grace, an everlasting covenant, an eternal covenant with the
Son of his love before the foundation of the world. in which he gave
Christ an eternal kingdom, in which he gave Christ a new heaven
and a new earth, in which he gave Christ a people from every
tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue unto heaven, in which he gave
unto the hands of Christ all things, telling you the truth.
Now, when Satan and the angels, as somebody said, a third of
the heavenly host, How many is in the heavenly host? When Satan
and the angels fell, they were immediately confined to darkness. You know what the Bible says?
Immediately reserved in chains of darkness under the day of
judgment. That is the pure hatred and wrath
of God. Just as soon as Satan fell. Hark, thou horn from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the Lord. I saw Satan, Christ said, fall
from heaven immediately. Why didn't God put up with him
for 6,000 years like he did man? Because there was no covenant
of grace for the angels. He took not on him the nature
of angels. There wasn't any surety, Ron.
There wasn't any provision. There wasn't any grace to hold
back the wrath, that's what I'm saying. But God's unparalleled
pure wrath. When Satan said, when he said,
I will, God said, you won't. And that's the end of it. When
Adam said, I will, nothing happened. Nothing happened. The earth didn't
open up and swallow him. Chains of darkness didn't wrap
around him. The fires of hell didn't breathe
on his back. He walked out of the garden. And he gave birth to a son. He
was a killer. Gave birth to another. Wife dead. And he had sons. Here we go.
We just kept right on going. Why? That covenant of grace. made before the foundation of
the world in Christ, held back the judgment of God, and holds
it back today. Now you can sashay down now,
shake the preacher's hand, give your tithe, and sing just as
I am, whatever you want to, that ain't holding back the wrath
of God. It's His promise and His love to Christ. That's what
held it back then, that's what's holding it back right now. It postponed God's judgment until
one day, Almighty God said, I'm going to burn this planet to
a crisp. That's exactly right. I'm going to burn it to a crisp.
And everything is held in check, even the final doom of Satan
by that covenant. Satan ain't burned yet. He's
not in hell yet. He's still running around like
a roaring lion, seeking whom he may divide, going to and fro
upon the earth, even appearing in the assembly of God's sons,
even coming into a disciple like Peter, nudging him. The devil's
in you when God lets him. I've seen the devil act up in
me, and I watch him in you sometimes, too. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Everything
is being used of God as it is. Everything is being used of God
as it is until he brings through the door that last sheep. Until he brings through the door
that last one of the elect for whom Christ died. Until his Holy
Spirit through the Word breaks the last rebel and brings him
to Christ to kiss the feet of the Son of God. Everything is
being held in check. Everything is being used of God
until all that the Father giveth him hath come to him, and seen
the Son, and embraced the Son. Even evil does what evil wills
on this earth. Yeah, it does. It does what it
will. You smell it, you see it, you hear it, you taste it, you're
exposed to it. Evil's everywhere. Men do what
they will on this earth. God has given them the will to
do evil, and they're going at it 100 percent. Rebels in heart
and mind. Satan goes about as a roaring
lion, not unchecked now, but checked by the restraining hand
of God. God Almighty restrains evil and
controls evil while letting men and devils do what they will,
and yet he controls it and sustains it and restrains it in such a
way that he's not the author of sin, and yet his will is done. I'll give you an example. God's man. And here's 11 brothers,
10 brothers. Benjamin wasn't around. But they're
rebels to the core. And God wants Joseph in Egypt.
He wants him on the throne. How's he going to get him there?
He's going to get him there using evil men. Evil men. And these fellas hated Joseph.
And they were going to kill him. And one of them had a little
bit of little bit of compassion in him, and he said, let's don't
kill him. Let's sell him to these folks
here, let him go down to Egypt and work as a slave. And they
did exactly what they planned, even you have the evil ones wanting
to kill him, and you have the more compassionate ones not wanting
to kill him, but to sell him, and you have another one, all
these plotting and planning, and yet God Almighty's eternal
will is done in everything they do. Everything they do. Everything they did. Our Lord
said, you delivered Christ to be crucified, you with wicked
hands crucified him, you did what God willed to be done from
the foundation of this world. The wrath of man will praise
the Lord. It's exactly right. Exactly right. And that's what
I'm saying. I'm saying that when man fell, it was a fall out of
favor. Out of favor. It was a fall out
of light into darkness, out of life into death, out of a heavenly
communion into a separation like hell. They are aliens, they are
unclean, they are flesh, they are under the judgment and wrath
of God, just like their predecessors, the devils. But God, in his eternal
for reasons known only to himself according to the good pleasure
of his own will, back yonder before this world began, before
he laid its foundation, before the morning stars sang together,
he purposed, provided a covenant on, and made it with Christ.
And he gave Christ to people. He loved them in Christ. Christ
is the first elect, we're in him, chosen in him. He is the
firstborn. We're regenerated in Him. He's
the firstborn from the dead. We have life in Him. God's love's
upon Him. All fullness of grace and love
and truth is in Christ. Ain't nothing anywhere else that's
not under the wrath of God. That's what John said. He that
believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him.
I'm telling you the truth. Go on out there and tell them
God loves them. You're lying, isn't you, T? And while you tell
them God loves them, tell them God loves the devil too. And
God loves the demons of hell, and God loves all the invisible
principalities and powers of hell. God doesn't love them.
God loves holiness. And that's because He loves Christ.
And that's where it is. It ain't in you. And God doesn't
love you apart from Christ. Never has and never will. That's
exactly right. He doesn't love anything you've
ever done, anything you've ever said, because it's all polluted
with our sinful nature. We're accepting the Beloved.
He never calls us anything but accepting the Beloved. That's
so. Now then, in the early days of
the earth, bear with me, after the fall, this earth, man, under
the judgment of God, under the wrath of God, the only thing
that held back, that held back God's wrath and God's absolute,
total judgment. was that covenant which he made
with Christ. That's what David said, God made
with me an everlasting covenant. But back yonder, after the fall,
certain men found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Abel found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. He knew God, and he proved it
when he offered that sacrifice. Abel knew God. It wasn't that
Abel was unfallen. like his brother. It wasn't Abel
was he more evil than his brother. Adam came out of the same daddy.
Abel came out of the same daddy as King. He found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. Enoch walked with God. He knew
God. And he proved it by his testimony
and God took him. Job found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. And he knew God. And he proved
it by his testimony and patience. found grace in the eyes of the
Lord. Abraham was called out of idolatry. He found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. God wasn't looking for volunteers
and Abraham raised his hand and said pray for me. God called
Abraham. God loved Abraham. God sought
Abraham. God Almighty gave the grace of
the living God to Abraham. And God promised Abraham that
he would raise up, of him and out of his loins, a nation of
people through whom he would send the Messiah. And that's
just so. And to that nation, they weren't
saved. There were only two of them that
entered the promised land, came out of Egypt, over 20 years of
age, Caleb and Joshua, and they were men of grace. who had found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. This nation wasn't saved. This
nation weren't believers. They were not believers. This
nation was a picture, a type of the church. Israel, spiritual
Israel, a type of spiritual Israel. And to that nation, God gave
His law through Moses. And He said in that law, this
is what men ought to do, but they won't. This is what men
ought to be, but they aren't. This is what God demands and
God must have, which no man can produce. And this nation of Israel
was a physical, materialistic, fleshly nation that was blessed
materially when they obeyed God and punished materially when
they didn't. Strictly a material thing. Keep my statutes and judgment
and I'll prosper you. Make your corn to grow and your
other things to grow. Disobey me and I'll send the
enemies down to whip you and take you into captivity. And to that nation God gave a
ceremonial law. And that nation came from the
lords of Abraham who was blessed of God. Your father Abraham,
you're not, they said we're sons of Abraham. He said if you were
sons of Abraham you'd believe me. Your father Abraham saw my
day and rejoiced to see it. He said you have your father
the devil. God doesn't love the father and
he doesn't love his sons either. You have your father the devil
and he doesn't love the daddy or the crown. That's exactly
right. To that nation, God gave his
ceremonial law, which pictured Christ and his redemptive work.
He gave them sacrifices, like the Passover, the atonement.
He gave them holy days, such as the Sabbath, the feast days,
the worship days. He gave them the time, which
was a tax, to support the temple. to support the ceremonial government,
to support the priesthood, to support the tribe of Levi. He
gave them circumcision as a mark of Israel, as a token. But none
of these things had any saving power. None of these things could
make a man holy. None of these things could make
a man acceptable to God. Some understood this, very few
of them. Most of them did not. Moses did. He wrote of Christ. And when
Christ came to this earth, that same nation held to their material
sacrifices, their material days, their worship, and they rejected
Him. Turn to John chapter 1. This
same nation. John chapter 1. Listen to this.
In verse 10, He was in the world, the world didn't know Him. Didn't
have eyes to see Him, or ears to hear Him, or hearts to understand
Him. He came unto his own, his own
nation. Israel, the people who for 4,000
years, 2,000 years had had these tithes and holy days and all
these things that were supposed to point them to the Messiah,
came unto his own and his own received him not. They said,
we got our play buddies, we don't need you. But as many as received
him, to them gave he the right. the privilege to become sons
of God, sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,
which were born, which was born, not proselyted, which were born, not persuaded,
which were born, not volunteered, which were born, not of blood,
that is, not of a fleshly genealogy, an inheritance, not of the will
of man, Not of the will of the flesh. They were born of God. They found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. They were born of God. They were begotten of God.
They were children of his love. Paul saw that. He saw Christ
as the end of the law for everyone that believeth. He said Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Also,
Christ is all we need. He said, in Him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in Him. He
of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. He said, I count all these things,
my heritage, ancestry, accomplishments, traditions, ceremonies, custom,
self-righteousness, I count it but done that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. Brethren, let me tell you something. I am as totally dependent on
Christ and His obedience and righteousness in blood and intercession
and mediatorial work right now. And God sees me in Him the same
as He did before the foundation of the world when He put me in
Christ in that country. I haven't added anything to that
covenant. I haven't added anything to God. I haven't, by my preaching
or by my faithfulness or by my diligence or dedication, I have
not acquired one ounce of favor with God that wasn't already
mine in Christ. And I haven't lost one ounce
of it by anything I've ever done. I told you it's the hardest thing
that a man ever had to do, to trust Christ. I hear them tell
me it's simple. Ain't nothing to it. Just walk
down the aisle and shake the preacher's hand and say, I'm
believing in Jesus. Believing in Jesus is impossible. It's a gift of God. Ain't nobody
in this world can believe in Christ apart from divine aid. You can say you trust him, but
it's a whole lot different saying it and doing it. You can say
I'm saved. It's another thing for God to
say you're saved. You can say I believe the Bible. It's another thing to believe
the Bible. I'm resting in Christ. It's another
thing to rest only in Christ. And God won't let you hold on
with your little family. Any man that can still reach
up and clutch the ledge with just his little finger, he's
not resting in Christ. The man who's resting in Christ
is rested. And he's ceased from his labors.
You say he doesn't labor anymore? That's silly. That's as silly
as the question is. You don't take nothing but a
fool to ask a stupid question. That's what they asked Paul.
They said, Well, shall we sin that grace may abound? He said,
God forbid. You ought to go back and serve
all your time. You ought to go back and serve your time. God's
children are not looking for a way to sin. They're looking
for a way to obey God by grace. Somebody said, if I believed
what you believed, I'd sin all I wanted to. I sin more than
I want to now, don't you? Here's the problem everybody's
confronted with, everybody here. And God's not going to honor
anything but Christ now. You're going to slip off the ledge of
self-righteousness into the arms of Christ or you're going to
perish. There's one song in heaven. It's not the Baptist song. It's
not the old Baptist hymn. It's not the Catholic song. It's
unto him who loved us and loosed us from our sins in his own precious
blood. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. to receive power and glory both
now and forevermore. He's always been the Son of God's
love, and He's the Son of God's love then. And the feast of the
marriage supper will be to honor the Son, not you. Not you. God's not going to honor you.
He's going to honor the Son. He's going to gather together all
things in Christ, which are in heaven and earth. He's going
to show the riches of His grace. He's not going to show the riches
of your faith. He's not going to call you up on the platform
and praise you and crown you and laud you. You're going to
be at His feet and we're all going to worship Him. That's
right. And boy, I tell you this, ain't
nobody there going to talk about God loving them outside of Christ.
Nobody. Because it's just not so. Here's
the problem we all face. We're confronted with it today,
we'll be confronted with it tomorrow. It's so difficult for us not
to somehow feel lifted up when we pray and depressed when we
don't. It's so hard for us not to feel spiritual when we're
obeying God and unspiritual when we're not. I get so amused at
these fellas who claim to be believers and then their life
gets all messed up and they keep their mouth shut and then they
get it straightened up and they pop off. They suddenly climbed on
higher ground, you know. Higher ground. Where were you
back there when you was on low ground? Huh? Either in Christ or you're not.
Our salvation is in Christ, through Christ, of Christ, and for His
glory. Our acceptance is in Christ,
through Christ, for His glory. Our sanctification is of Christ,
in Christ, through Christ, and for His glory. The believer's
not in bondage, he's a son. I don't care how weak he is,
how frail he is, he's a son. And sometimes the frail son gets
more attention than the strong son. He needs it more. He ought
to, God says. The believer's not forced to
obey anybody. He wills to obey. And any other
obedience ain't worth a snap of your finger. I wouldn't give
you two cents for a tithe. Don't bring one down here. Keep
it at home. Buy you a new car. God never
commanded the church to tithe. God's people quit tithing when
God saved them and started giving. The believer is not looking for
ways to sin, he's looking for grace to glorify God. The believer
is never at any time, under any circumstances, judged, accepted,
or loved because of what he is, what he does, or what he did.
It's only in Christ. That's the truth. That's the
truth, and it's so hard. And I know people right now say,
well, you know what's used to be given. See there, you're not
resting in Christ. I knew it to start with. Well,
you know, if that's the way it is, it's a free gift, let's all
line up and get all we can. You missed it. You missed Him. You see, when Christ comes in,
He gives a new nature. He says, I write my law, not
on a book, in the heart. So you love it. And I write it
on your mind, so you appreciate and think of it. That's what
you want to do, Don! Not what you ought to do, what
you want to do! And love from a new nature and
a new heart springs up just as spontaneously as hate did from
that old heart. People tell me, I heard a man
say, I don't love my wife. I said, you're not saved then. Saved man doesn't hate anybody,
he loves people. That's exactly right. He that
loveth not knoweth not God. Lost. How do you learn this? Well,
it's not easy. The law says, do this and live. The gospel
says, live and do this. I know I hear people say, I say
it, Scott says it, a lot of us, lay down your shotguns. Sometimes
that's a lot easier to lay down than lay down your palm branches,
too. That's right. Just lay down everything. Just come like a wiggling maggot.
You lay down your shotgun. We lay down our shotgun when
we start praising. You lay down your palm branches,
too. Sometimes it's easier to repent
of your sins than it is to repent of your righteousness. Oh, my sins are ever before me,
yeah, and my righteous filthy rags are too. Sometimes it's
a lot easier to say, oh, wretched man that I was than, oh, wretched
man that I am. Lord, save me from the devil.
That's easier to say than, Lord, save me from myself. I'm just about as great an enemy
to myself as the devil is. Do you know that? Most of my
meanness didn't come from him anyway. I'm the author of it,
just like you. Let me look only to Christ in
time of trouble. That ain't too hard to say. Where
else would you look? Let me look only to Christ in
time of blessing, because I'm just as much destitute when I'm
on the mountain as I am when I'm in the valley, just as destitute,
just as stripped, just as naked, just as empty. Yes, sir, I know
whereof I speak. The most difficult thing I've
ever had to do in all of life is to look to Christ, to lay hold upon Christ, and to rest in Christ. That's
so difficult. Because I tell you, I get depressed
with my flesh, and I think, oh, God doesn't love me. And then
I hit a high note and preach the sermon, and God saves somebody,
and I think, He loves me better than anybody. Oh, we're such
rascals, aren't we? Oh, my goodness. Just remember,
just remember, when you're at the highest point of your spiritual
experience and feel as near to God as you've ever been, there's
a good possibility you're farther away than you've ever been. And
when you feel so naked and ashamed and such an outcast, unworthy
of the least of And you feel like you're on the back row of
the whole congregation of the righteous, looking through the,
peeping through the bars, you know, just trying to get a little
glimpse of the hem of the garment. You just might be closer to God
than you ever have been before. He loves sinners. That's in Christ. Can you do it? Can you? I'll
tell you this. If you can praise Him here, like
He ought to be praised, you can praise Him there. If you can
rest in him here, you'll never be lost, I promise you. You find the right church and
find the right doctrine, find the right ceremony, find the
right mode and form of worship, find the right, all this, that,
and the other, and perish with all the other Pharisees. But
if you can come to his feet like the harlot, if you can come to
his feet standing afar off like the publican, if you can lay
hold upon the Lord like the thief on the cross, false and full
of sin I am, thou art all righteous." You're going to find favor with
the Lord, because He did that work on you. We did all the rest
of it. That's His work. Stripping sinners
is His work. Killing sinners is His work.
Bringing men into dust is His work. Exalting His Son is His
work. I can't do that. But if I ever
come to rest in Christ, I'm saved. Saved forever. Our Father, for
your glory, O for your glory, and that's all that shall be
served is your glory. And for the glory of your Son,
whom you have determined to glorify. Glorify me with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was, that the world might behold
my glory, this is what he said. For thou lovest me before the
foundation of the world. Thou lovest me before the foundation
of the world. And Father, we believe by your
grace, according to your good pleasure, that your love was
upon us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Bring us by your grace to trust
Christ, rest in Christ, to be honest with thee and with ourselves,
and know ourselves as we are, but to love Him as He is. For
Christ's sake I pray, amen.