Romans chapter 10. I have no
question, no doubt, as Paul said in the book of Timothy, 1 Timothy,
without controversy, without argument or debate. Great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
I have no doubt concerning the accuracy, the infallibility the
inspiration of this book I hold in my hands. I have no doubt
about that at all. I believe that the Scriptures,
the Bible, is the inspired, infallible, unbroken Word of God. And four times in this Bible
it is said that just shall live by faith. Habakkuk, Romans, Galatians,
where's the other? The just shall live by faith.
And then three times in the Word of God. First of all, here in
Romans 10, let's look at it. This is the one we're most familiar
with. Romans 10, start with verse 11. Verse 11. For the Scripture saith,
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is
no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord
over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Now turn
back to Acts 2. That's the Apostle Paul writing
to the church at Rome, and he says, "...whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall without question, absolutely,
be saved." Now, when Peter spoke at Pentecost, he said in Acts
chapter 2, listen to this, Acts chapter 2, verse 16, Acts 2,
16, "...but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel,
and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will
pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and
on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit,
and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven
above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor
of smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable
day of the Lord come, and it shall come to pass. And whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved, shall be
saved." All right, now the book of Joel. In the book of Joel,
and this is the passage in the Old Testament that Peter's quoting,
and the passage that Paul is quoting. And here in the Old
Testament, there's never been but one gospel. It's the gospel
God taught Adam and Eve in the garden when he clothed them with
the skin of animals. It's the gospel God taught Abel
when he brought the blood sacrifice. It's the gospel that Abraham
saw and believed. It's the gospel of which Moses
wrote. It's the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Moses
left Egypt, he counted the reproaches of Christ more to be desired
than the riches of Egypt. The repulchres of whom? Christ. Christ. Christ is that rock. Christ is our Passover. And here
in the book of Joel, it says in verse 32, and it shall come
to pass, it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be delivered For in Mount Zion and
in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in
the remnant whom the Lord shall call." Now then, let's go back
to Romans 10. So this is firmly established
throughout the Scriptures, Old Testament, New Testament. Old
Testament, Pentecost, and the epistle to the churches, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now the
faithful minister of the word needs to tarry almost on each
word in this text. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. The word whosoever, what a wide
word. What a wide word. Jew and Gentile. Male and female. Old and young. Black and white. All over the
world. Whosoever. The Lord is rich unto
all that call upon him. The Spirit and the bride say
come, let him that hear it say come, let him that is a thirst
come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life. That's
a wide word. That includes me. That includes
you. That includes you, Ethel. That
includes you, Jim. That includes you, Bill. That
includes you, Gerald. That includes every son of Adam.
That whosoever, whosoever, whosoever, all over the world, whosoever,
Our Lord Jesus Christ said, all you that labor and are heavy
laden, come to me. He didn't say all you Jews that are laboring,
all you men who are laboring, or all you old folks that are
laboring. He said, if you're laboring and
heavy laden, come to me. Oh, everyone that thirsted, everyone
that thirsted, whosoever. Not a denominational gospel,
not a Catholic gospel, or a Baptist gospel, or a Methodist gospel.
or Jewish gospel, it's the gospel for whosoever, whosoever. All
right, the next word says this, whosoever shall call, shall call. Now listen to me. It does not
say whosoever shall keep the law. It does not say whosoever
shall be baptized. It does not say whosoever shall
walk down the aisle and make a profession. It does not say
whosoever shall serve the Lord all the days of his life. It
says whosoever shall call. My friends, there is no work
or labor involved here at all. There's absolutely no law to
be fulfilled and no righteousness to produce, not here. There's
no denominational requirement for my youth up to be sprinkled
as a baby and confirmed when I'm twelve and catechized when
I'm something else and remain in my denomination faithful throughout
my days. The Word is called. Help! That's the Word. A friend of mine from California
came down to Chattanooga. He's a friend now. I just met
him last week. But he came down to Chattanooga.
He's been listening to our tapes in the past. But he came to Chattanooga
to attend the meeting last week. Brother Ed Lawson has been witnessing
to this man for almost a year. Their friendship goes back 25
years. They were together in the space
program at Cape Canaveral, Redstone Arsenal, several places. And
he was raised a Catholic, been a Catholic all his life, raised
his children Catholic and so forth and so on. But about a
year ago, his world collapsed, just completely collapsed. And
he and Ed have been talking since then. Ed's given him some books
to read, Pink's Attributes of God, and given him some of our
tapes and so forth. And he came to Chattanooga to
attend the services to hear the gospel. Bill Talbert's his name.
One night we were sitting out on the porch talking after the
service, and I was greatly impressed with him. One night we were sitting
out on the porch talking, and he said, Ed's been talking to
me about this gospel a long time, about God. He said, I've learned
who God is, and I've learned who I am. And he said, I have
a friend in California. Before I left there, he said,
I visited this friend in a nursing home, a man by the name of Oscar
something. He said, Oscar has emphysema,
and Oscar's dying. He's an old man. He's dying with
emphysema. And he said, I visited him frequently,
regularly. He said, I was one of the only
ones that visited him. His family doesn't come to see
him. He has no friends. And preachers come to see him.
They come to try to win him to the Lord, get a profession of
faith, and he runs them off. They come and witness to him.
He just runs them off. He don't want anything to do
with them. Well, he said, the last time
I visited Oscar before I drove over here to Chattanooga and
other places I've been, Said, we were sitting talking and I
told him, I said, Oscar, I'm leaving. I'm going to be gone
for maybe a year. But said, when I come back, I'll
come to see you. And Oscar said, Bill, he said,
I don't think I'm going to be here when you come back. I don't
think I'll live that long. And Bill said, well, Oscar, he
said, are you ready to die? You prepared to die? And Oscar
said, No, sir. And he said, Bill, I don't know
how to get ready to die. I don't even know. And Bill said, Well, Oscar, he
said, I don't know a great deal about it. But he said, I have
been studying and have been talking to a friend about it. And he
said, been listening to some tapes. And he said, I know two
things. I know two things. He said, I know, number one,
that God is on the throne. I know God is absolutely sovereign
in all things. I know that. He said, I know
God reigns and rules in the universe. He does what he will, when he
will, with whom he will. He said, I've learned that. I
learned who God is. And he said, I've learned, secondly,
that God's going to save somebody. He said, I know that. He said,
I know God Almighty is going to save some people. I know that. And he said, Oscar, if I was
you, I'd just beg Him to let me be one of them, to save me. He said, that's what I'd do.
I'd just beg God to let me be one of them. And he said that
old man hit the table with his fist, and he said, Bill, I can
understand that kind of God. That's what, I can understand
that kind of God. Now he said, Bill, I used to
work people, and they did what I told them to do. He said, I
ran my business. I ran, and I believe if there's
a God, he runnin' his business. He said, I can understand that
kind of God. And he wanted to do business with that kind of
God. And Bill said, well, I'll tell you what I'll do. He said,
I've got some tapes at home. He told me they were 13th Street
Baptist tapes. And he said, before I leave here
tomorrow, I'll bring them up to you, let you listen to them
while I'm gone. And Oscar said, now, don't forget. Bring me the
tapes. Bill said, I'll bring them. Next
morning, that old man called him. And he said, I got me a
tape player. Now, don't you forget my tapes.
And Bill said, before I left, I skedaddled down there to the
hospital and took those tapes and left them with him. He said,
I hadn't heard from him since. But I like that. I like that
I can understand that kind of God. The modern God, I can't
understand. A God that wants to and can't.
He can do everything else, but he can't save sinners. He can
do everything else, but he can't have his will in the hearts.
He can have his will over the heathen. He can have his will
over Jericho. He can have his will over Sodom
and Gomorrah, but he can't crack your stubborn will. You mean
to tell me that? You believe that? I don't believe that. I
believe God's able. I believe God's able. And that
old man... You know the centurion said that to Christ. His daughter was sick. Why didn't
his daughter was sick? And he wanted Christ to come
down there and heal her. And he said, I'll go with you. And
the man said, well, you don't need to go to my house. You don't
need to go to my house. He said, just say the word and
she'll be healed. He said, I have men under me
and I say go and they go and come and they come. And he said,
you have power over diseases and life and death, you don't
have to go to my house, just say the word, she'll be healed.
And Christ marveled at his faith. And I'm telling you this, that's
the God of the Bible. And he says, whosoever shall
call, call on the... And this is what troubles me
now. I know that whosoever Jew, Gentile, male or female shall
call is no work involved. It's to look like Israel looked
to the brazen serpent. It's to call on the name of the
Lord like the publican in the temple. It's to believe on Christ
like the thief on the cross, to call unto Him out of my helplessness,
to call upon Him out of my inability, to call upon Him out of my sinfulness,
and to call upon Him with a continual call. No, it's not to pick up the phone,
dial the number, let it ring once and hang up. It's to keep
on calling. You know that word, ask and you
shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened?
You know what that really says? Keep on asking. Keep on knocking. Keep on seeking. Isn't that right,
Walter? That's what it says. That's exactly
what it says. Keep on asking. To whom coming? To whom coming? Old Barnard used
to say all the time, let me tell you now, repentance is not an
isolated act. The man that says, I have repented,
never has repented. The man that says, I am repenting,
and by God's grace I will repent, knows something about repentance.
The man who says, I decided for Christ, I made my profession,
doesn't know what he's talking about. Because faith is not an
isolated act. Faith, we have believed, we are
believing, we shall believe by the grace of God. That's right.
It's a state of being. I am believing. I am believing
God. Now here's the thing that troubles
me, though we get to the next word. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord. Brethren, over here in 2 Corinthians
chapter 11, and this is what troubles me. If I have any fears
or any doubt, it is not this. I do not doubt the book. I do not doubt God's purpose
to save. I do not doubt God's power to
save. I do not doubt God's ability
and will to save. No, sir. I do not doubt the fact
that He will, has, He has and He will save sinners. I do not
doubt the fact that He will save me if I call on Him. I don't doubt that at all. But
here's what troubles me and troubles me about my generation. I think
most of them have called on the wrong God. That's what troubles
me. He didn't say, Whosoever shall
call on any God shall be saved. Whosoever shall call on a God
named Jesus shall be saved. Because you can call anybody
Jesus. That's a common name. Joshua in the Old Testament is
Jesus. That's exactly right. Joshua
is Jesus. And Paul says here in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 4,
he that cometh preacheth another Jesus. Now this is what troubles
me. I have called, and I have called out of earnestness and
sincerity, but have I called on the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now better think about it. Better
think about it. You better think, have I called
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? Turn with me to Exodus
3. And this is something I want
us to settle tonight. Let us settle it tonight. In
Exodus chapter 3, you know the story. Moses, 80 years old, he
was born in Egypt, grew up in Pharaoh's house for 40 years.
And then God took him out of Egypt and put him on the backside
of a desert. till he was 80 years old, 80
years old. And then one day he was up on
a mountain and he saw a bush burning, but it was not consumed
and he was curious and he started over toward it and the voice
said, Moses, take off your shoes, you're on holy ground. This was
the voice of God, not a God, the living God, no question about
it. So he told Moses he wanted him to deliver the people out
of Israel, and Moses said in verse 13 of Exodus 3, he said
unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel,
and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent
me unto you. When I say that to them, and
they say to me, What's his name? What's his name? What's his name? I preach unto you that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." You say,
what's his name? What's his name? I say unto you
that God by his name will redeem a people. You say, what's his
name? What's his name? What shall I say unto them? And
God said, Moses, I am that I am. I am. I am what? All right, I want you to jot
these down now, if you will. I want to show you seven, seven
instances in Scripture in which the name of the Lord is revealed. The name of the Lord. The name
of the Lord upon whom we must call. The name of the Lord upon
whom we must call. You can't just call on any God
and be saved. You've got to call on the name
of the Lord. And Moses says, what is your
name? And I'm going to give you, in
the Scripture, there's a seven-fold name of Jehovah. It might be
a good idea if you write these down in the back of your Bible,
or if you jot them down wherever you want to, but this is vital. He has seven names in the Scripture,
in the Old Testament. First of all, in Genesis 22,
verse 13 and 14, listen, And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and
looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by
his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah, Jehovah
the Lord." That's the Lord in His redemptive name, in His redemptive
character, right? Jehovah, Jehovah. Jehovah-Jireh,
Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said, to this day in
the mount of the Lord it shall be seen." What is Jairus? The
Lord what? Will provide. The Lord will provide. What's that talking about? Well,
Abraham took his son Isaac and put him on the altar to offer
him to God as a burnt offering and raised the knife and God
spoke to him and said, touch not the lad. And he reached over,
looked over behind him, and I think it was a ram, and the ram actually
took the place of Isaac on the altar and died in his stead.
But prior to that, when Abraham and the boy started up the mountain,
and the boy turned to his father and said, here's wood and here's
fire, where's the lamb? And Abraham said, Jehovah-Jireh,
Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. The Lord will provide. And that's the name of the Lord
upon whom we call. He will provide. He will provide. He will provide himself for a
sacrifice. He will provide himself a sacrifice. He will provide the grace to
look to that sacrifice. He will provide the repentance,
for the goodness of God leads us to repentance. He will provide
the faith, for faith is the gift of God. He will provide the supplies
for the whole journey. He will provide. It's all from
the hands of our God. That's the God upon whom we call.
We provide nothing. We supply nothing. Let me show
you another verse that says this over in Philippians chapter 4,
verse 19. Listen to this. Philippians 4,
19. Philippians 4, 19. Philippians 4, 19. Paul says,
but my God shall supply. He's the provider. He shall supply
all your need. All your need spiritually, all
your need physically, all your need materially. He didn't say
all your wants. Your needs, everyone. My God
shall supply. My God. According to His riches
in glory by Jesus Christ. Oh, that turned to Exodus 15.
That's the name of the Lord. The Lord Jehovah, Jireh, the
Lord will provide. Now, Exodus 15. Let's look at
verse 26. Exodus 15, 26, here's the second
name of our saving God, upon whom we call, the name upon whom
we call. He said in verse 26 of Exodus
15, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy
God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt
give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I
will put none of these diseases upon thee which I brought upon
the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, that healeth thee." That's the
second thing. I am the Lord that healeth thee.
Psalm 103, which Paul read a moment ago, listen to that. Bless the
Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy
name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases." Now we're speaking here of sicknesses
and diseases, of spiritual sicknesses and diseases. Our God also heals
physically. But our Lord doesn't always heal
us physically. Sometimes we die. But I'll guarantee
you, through Christ spiritually, He heals all our diseases, all
our sicknesses. He borne all our griefs and sorrows,
all our transgressions, all our... He said, I'm the Lord that healeth
thee. That's the name upon whom I call. I call on Him who provides. I call on Him who heals. Now
look at Exodus 17. I like this, Exodus 17. In verse 8 of Exodus 17, Then
came Amalek, and fought with Israel. You have it, Exodus 17,
8, And fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto
Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out and fight with Amalek.
And tomorrow I'll stand on the top of the hill with the rod
of God in my hand." So Joshua did as Moses had said to him
and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Abraham, and her went
up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass while Moses
held up his hands that Israel prevailed. When he let down his
hands, Amalek prevailed. You get the picture? Hold up
his hand, Israel will win the battle. Put him down, Israel
will start losing. But Moses' hands were heavy,
tired. So they took a stone and put
it under him, and he sat on that stone. And Ava on one side and
her on the other held up his hand, one on one side and one
on the other. And his hands were steady because they were holding
them up unto the going down of the sun. Now you do what you
want to with that. That's a good sermon right there. And Joshua discomfited Amalek,
defeated him and his people with the edge of the sword. And the
Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial and a book, and
rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. For I will utterly put out the
remembrance of Amalek from heaven. And Moses built an altar there,
and called the name of it Jehovah." God in His redemptive character,
Jehovah, Jehovah Nisa, the Lord our banner, our banner, our banner. The Lord is our banner over us.
I left home this morning going to the post office, and flags,
first thing, well, my flags out in the front yard all the time,
but pull up my hill, my neighbor had a flag out, and then I drove
downtown flags up and down the street. July the 4th, those flags
representing our country, that's our banner. The stars and bars,
our banner, our ensign. our flag representing this nation
with its freedom and its constitution. Does the kingdom of Christ have
a banner? Does the kingdom of Christ have
a flag? Does the kingdom of Christ have
an ensign? Yes, sir, Christ is our banner.
Christ is our banner. We go forth in the name of the
Lord. That's right. You know, men go
out to fight in the name of the flag. They wrap themselves around,
the flag around them. They hold the flag out. We go
forth in the name of Christ, Charlie. He's our banner. He's
our banner over us. You know, when they came to the
man who was lying at the gate, beautiful, he said, in the name
of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. Rise up and walk. In the name of Christ, Paul cast
the demons out. And in the name of Christ, we
go forth to pray and to preach. And that's the name upon whom
we call the one who is our banner, the one who is our king, the
one who reigns over us, the one whose kingdom it is. He's a sovereign
king of kings and Lord of lords. That's the name on which we call.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is not a way, he's the way. He's the
way. He is the life. He is the truth. He is all things. Christ is all
and in all. All in and of. He's our banner.
He's our ensign. A lot of churches have a Christian
flag over there and an American flag over here. There's not one
here. And there's a reason why there's not one here. Because
there ain't no such animal. I pledge allegiance to the Christian
flag and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands. No, it don't
stand. He's my banner. And that's an idol. You say you're
splitting hair. You wait until the judgment and
find out. Christ, I'm telling you, He's
all. He will not divide. He will not divide His glory.
We don't have anything to represent the Kingdom of God but Christ.
That's exactly right. Not crosses, no crosses on this
building. Christ is our banner now. I'm
telling you, this is serious. You fool around and you'll find
yourself with an idol. You find yourself playing church
with it. Christ, He will not divide His glory. And you call
on that name, that name, the only name, the name above every
name, the name with preeminence. That's the name of Christ. He's
our banner. He's our victory. He's our victory. Moses held
up his hand. They prevailed. And I'll tell
you, as Christ reigns, we prevail over sin, Over death, over hell,
it's Christ. He's our victory. All right,
here's the fourth one, quickly, Judges. In the book of Judges,
chapter 6. Now this, I tell you, I've got
a hold of something here now. I don't know whether anybody's
with me or not. I hope so. I see Tom smiling
an awful lot around here. I believe he's with me, and Mike
and some of you. I hope you're with me. We're
shelling corn now. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved." And Moses said, well, who is
he? And he's telling us who he is.
He said, I am the Lord that healeth thee. I am the Lord, thy banner. I am the Lord who will provide. That's the one I'm calling on.
And I shall be saved if I can call on Him. Shall be. Not a
doubt about it. Watch this in Judges 6, verse
22. When Gideon perceived that he
was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God, for because
I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. Oh, help me. Help
me. I've seen an angel. He's scared
to death. Oh, alas, alas, O Lord God, I've seen an angel. And the Lord said, Peace be with
thee. Fear not. You're not going to
die. You're not going to die. And Gideon built an altar there
unto the Lord, unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah, you've
seen this word before, Shalem. I was riding down the street
the other day, I got a personalized tag because I forget my tag number. I go in, they say, what's your
tag number? Well, I don't know. Well, I do now because it's my initials.
I forget my name, I won't know my tag number. Somebody asked
me if I had an identity problem. No, I'd just like to know my
tag number. But this fellow had Shalem on the back of his tag.
On his back, he's calling an attack. Peace. Jehovah, our peace. He's my peace. Christ is my peace. That's what Gideon said here. He was frightened that the Lord
had revealed himself to him. The Lord had spoken to him. He'd
seen an angel face to face, and it shook him up. Now, this generation,
we've got that unholy familiarity with God. I hear these television
preachers say, God spoke to me last night. I don't believe a
word of it. I think he'd still be shaking
if God spoke to him. I think he'd still be shaking.
I think his hair would be white as snow. I think his face would
be lined. Because here Gideon said he saw
an angel of the Lord and he thought he was going to die. And God
said, fear not, I'm your peace. I'm your peace. Let me show you
something there. We have peace with God. through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Turn to Romans 5.1. You know this by heart. We call
on the name of Him who is our peace, Jehovah Shalem, the Lord,
our peace. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Peace with God who's angry with
the wicked. Peace with God who will by no
means clear the guilty. Peace with God who said, vengeance
is mine, I will repay. Peace with God who is a consuming
fire. Peace with God who sent death
to Adam and fire to Sodom and Gomorrah and a flood to the world.
I have peace with that God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm at
peace. I can go out there and go to
sleep tonight, because it's all right. And I have peace in my
heart. He said in Philippians 4, 7,
let's peace with my conscience. That's right. Philippians 4,
7 says, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. And I have
peace with others because of Christ. He's my peace. Let the
peace of God rule in your hearts and be, let me see what that, Colossians
3, 13. Let the peace of God rule in your heart and, and he says, verse 15, to which you call in
one body and be ye thankful. And it goes back in verse 13,
says, forgive one another and forbear one another. If any man
hath a quarrel, even as Christ forgave you, forgive them. And
you do that through whom? Through Christ. It's the only
way. Christ is our peace. All right, quickly, turn to Psalm
23. Here's the fifth name given to our redeeming Lord. The fifth
name, and David gave it. He said in Psalm 23, the Lord
is my shepherd. That's one upon whom I call.
You know, sheep, I could go into this tonight, don't know a whole
lot about it, but sheep are, they tell me, are nearsighted,
they are blundering, they are wandering, they are all these
things, you know, but they have a shepherd. They have a shepherd,
and that's Christ. And the Lord is my shepherd,
and because He's my shepherd, He cares for me. I shall not
want. He makes me lie down in green
pastures, He leads me beside Stillwaters, he restores my soul,
and so forth, you see, because he's my shepherd. That's the
name upon whom I call. The Lord's my shepherd. My denomination's
not my shepherd. My doctrine's not my shepherd.
The Lord's my shepherd. And then the sixth title, her
name is Jeremiah. I'll move along. Jeremiah 23.
Jeremiah 23, verse 6. Jeremiah 23, verse 6. It says here, In his days Judah
shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his
name whereby he shall be called, the Lord Sidkenoot, the Lord
our righteousness, the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah Sidkenoot. And my friends, I know that believers,
children of God, they love God. They're not going to bow down
to idols or worship idols or take God's name in vain. They
love God, they love his word, they love his kingdom, they love
his gospel, they love his name. They love everything identified
with the Lord God. They love his doctrine. And then
they love one another. And they love his laws, his commandments.
They honor and respect their father and mother. They're not
going to steal, kill, commit adultery, covet, and lie. That's
not their tenor of life. That's not the bent of their
will. Somebody said one time, Walter quoted this in my Sunday
School class Sunday morning. He said, somebody said, well,
if I believe grace like you fellows preach it, I just send all I
want to. Walter said, I send more than I want to now. The
child of God doesn't want to sin. He wants to be like Christ. God's changed his want to. And
we are pursuing a godly life and a godly testimony and a godly
witness, and we want to avoid every appearance of evil. In
fact, actually, the child of God, the true believer, will
abstain from something that's all right for him just to keep
offending somebody else. Did you know that? That's absolutely
right. I'll give you an example. I'll
probably offend somebody here, but I've offended people at least
once before. But I don't see anything wrong
with going to a movie. You've got them in your home,
they're on television. But I don't, if I'm out of town,
Darcy and I are on vacation or something and there's a movie
worth seeing, we'll go and see it. But I don't go to movies
here in town. I just don't go to one here in town. And I'll
tell you why. Because if somebody will see
me going and say, he's a preacher. Well, there ain't a thing in
the world wrong with me going to that movie. But I don't want
to offend them. They might come out here and
hear me preaching. I see nothing wrong with a glass of wine. When
I'm over in Spain or France, they serve it at every meal.
Every meal. I see nothing wrong with things
temperately taken. A fellow came up to me one time
and he said, I don't go to this church anymore. I said, why not?
He said, a preacher said, that that wine that Jesus made was
fermented. I said, he did. He said, yes,
that's what he said. I said, well, there ain't no
other kind. There ain't no other kind. All
wine is fermented. I said, he called Christ a grape
juice bibber. No. He called him a wine bibber. He wasn't a Kool-Aid bibber.
You see how stupid we are, how silly we get to defend something. We're bound up by our religious
traditions and customs. But I wouldn't dare go down here
and order a glass of wine. Wouldn't dare. Wouldn't dare. Too many people would be offended.
So I'm simply saying that the believer is pursuing a life of
godliness and holiness. He wants to have a good testimony,
a good witness within and without the church. That's right. Be
careful of your conversation. Things that may be right for
you, I don't see anything wrong if I want to go out on Sunday
afternoon, if I'd like to go out and do whatever I want to
do. Sunday, every day is the Lord's day for me. But I'm not
going to do it because it may offend my brother, my neighbor.
He may be bound to a day. The weak brother, the Scripture
says, Cecil is bound to a day. That's the weak boy. But I'm
telling you this, that's not my righteousness. Even pursuing righteousness and
pursuing holiness and avoiding every appearance of evil, there's
enough sin in every one of us to make another devil. You pick
out the best man or woman in this congregation here tonight,
and he's fit, he's fit fodder for hail. That's exactly right. He's fit tender for the fires
of hail. There's enough evil Richard and
you and me and John and Gerald and all the rest of us to make
another devil if God left us alone. My righteousness is Christ. Every single bit of it, from
first to last, from beginning to end, is Christ. That's exactly
right. He is the Lord, and that's who
I'm calling on. The Lord, my righteousness. He
is my righteousness. I'm not holy. I don't claim to
be holy in myself. If you could split my heart open,
look at it, it'd scare you like it scares me. And even I don't
know it. Who can know it? But I'm telling
you this, thank God He doesn't look on my heart in looking for
righteousness, He looks on Christ and He finds it right there.
All I need and all He requires is in Christ. He's the Lord,
my righteousness, and that's who I'm calling on. And last
of all, in Ezekiel 48, listen to this, Ezekiel 48, verse 35,
Ezekiel 48, 35. Ezekiel 48, 35. Listen to this. Oh, this is the Lord. We call
on. It was round about 18,000 measures. I'm not going to tell all about
the city and everything. I want to get to one thing. In the name
of the city, from that day shall be, the Lord is there. That is, the Lord Jehovah Shema,
S-H-A-M-M-A-H, the Lord is present. That's it. He's present. He's
present. What did Debbie, what did Sarah
say? He's outside, he's inside too,
isn't he? Sarah, he's inside, he's present. He's omnipresent. Lo, I'm with
you always, even to the end of the earth. I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. He's present. Where two or three
are met in my name, I'm with them. That's the one I'm calling
on. He hadn't gone off somewhere
and left this world to do the best it can. He is present. So that's your seven names, Jehovah,
Jehovah will provide, Jehovah that healeth, Jehovah our banner,
Jehovah Shalem our peace, Jehovah our shepherd, Jehovah our righteousness,
and Jehovah omnipresent, always I preached a lot longer than
I meant to. I'm always apologizing for preaching too long. I tell
you, this is so rich, but Walter's going to show us some slides.
I think you'll enjoy these. Walter's going to preach Sunday,
both services, and I asked him if he would tonight to show us
some slides. So would you get ready now, Walter?