As I read a moment ago in Romans
chapter 9, something I believe the Spirit of God impressed upon
my mind, Romans the 9th chapter, look over there again if you
will. This business of preaching, a
lot of people have the wrong idea about preaching that I'm
up here tonight to try to persuade you to my way of thinking. I'm
up here tonight to try to convince you that Jesus Christ is Lord
and you ought to believe on him. I'm up here trying to get you
to stop the direction you're going and go another direction.
But let me assure you of this, everybody here tonight, everybody
here who's on the road to eternal condemnation, everybody here
tonight who does not know Christ, who has never been brought to
faith in Christ, love for Christ, and you're on the road to eternal
hell, you're going to stand at the judgment and hear God say,
depart ye cursed into everlasting fire. Everybody that's on that
road here tonight is going to stay on that road if you can. If it depends on you, if it depends
on me, if it depends on anybody here, you're going to stay on
that road to hell. I'm not going to turn you. You're
not going to turn. And nobody else is going to turn
you. I don't care who it is, Billy Graham, Rex Humbard, Ole
Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart, Hyman Appleman, name them all. The
Apostle Paul himself couldn't turn you. You're dead set and
determined to go to hell if you can, and that's exactly where
you're going. You only got one hope, that God Almighty in His
sovereign mercy will look down upon you and stop you on your
road to hell. That's the only hope you've got.
I can't do it. Ain't nobody else can do it.
You won't. You don't want to do it. That's the thing. That's
exactly right. That's what he's saying here
in verse 16 of Romans 9. Look at it again. So then it's
not of him that will it, nor of him that run it. It's of God
that showeth mercy. He said to Moses, verse 15, I'll
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Now that's just a fact. I don't
entertain any idea at all that I can change anybody's mind.
I can't do it. All the arguments, logic, illustration,
human reasoning, you can dig up the Dead Sea Scrolls and all
the other scrolls and you'll never convince men this is the
word of God unless the Holy Spirit opens their heart. God Almighty
could send somebody back from the dead and let him stand right
here and talk to you and you won't believe him. No one rose
from the dead if you won't believe the scripture. That's right.
Tell you something else. Every Pharisee here tonight,
every person here wrapped in the robe of self-righteousness
and human merit, everybody here who's trusting your own goodness
and your own works and your own righteousness to approve you,
before God Almighty, you're going to stay in that self-righteous
robe of rags, you're going to hold to it, you're going to cling
to it, you're going to stay in it if you can. And all the arguments
I might use, I just don't believe in arguing Scripture. It doesn't
do any good. I believe in preaching it and
proclaiming it. But a man who's going to hell is going to hell
if he can, unless God arrests him. A man who's a Pharisee,
Saul of Tarsus is an example. He was wrapped in clerisyism,
he was wrapped in self-righteousness, he was wrapped in the traditions
of religion, and he stayed there until God Almighty unhorsed him,
arrested him, and smote him, and revealed Christ to him miraculously. And everybody here tonight who
believes salvation by free will, you're going to keep believing
it. You're going to keep believing it. Everybody here who believes
salvation is an act of the human will, The salvation is by human
works. You're going to keep believing
that if you can. The only one who can open the eye is the one
who made it. The only one who can give hearing
to deaf ears is the one who made the ear. The only one who can
open a dead, darkened heart is the one who gave life to the
heart. That's it. That's what he's saying
in verse 29 if you look at it. Isaiah said this. Except the
Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed, if he hadn't left us a Jacob,
if he hadn't left us an Abraham, if he hadn't left us an Isaac,
if he hadn't left us a Simeon, if he hadn't left us a Saul of
Tarsus, we'd have been like Sodom and Gomorrah, not one living
soul out of that place was saved. That's just so, Charlie, that's
so. My purpose here tonight is just to declare the truth as
it is in God's Word and depend upon Him, depend upon His Spirit
to make it effectual where He will, when He will, with whom
He will. And if He passes you by, He's
still God. And you're still where He found
you. And you're still resting in where you were resting when
you came here. He's still God. And if God is
pleased tonight to do something for you, then we'll praise his
name, give him all the glory. Now, the creature, the thing
about the creature, and I'm talking about all creatures, the thing
about the creature is he's the same disobedient rebel under
any dispensation. Have you ever thought about this?
One of the greatest proofs of the depravity of flesh is that
men will not obey God no matter the circumstances or the environment.
Let's just, let's run through this a little bit. Go back and
consider the angels. Consider the state of the angels.
This was before the world was made, before Adam and Eve were
created. No one existed but God, and God
made the angels. And the angels served God, and
the angels enjoyed the presence of God. But even serving God,
enjoying the presence of God, even in that atmosphere of holiness
and perfection, Lucifer and those who followed him, their hearts
were lifted up with pride, and they said, we'll be like God. We'll exalt our throne above
the stars of God. We will ascend into the heights
of the clouds. We'll exalt ourselves above God. And God said, no you won't, and
they were cast down into hell. Christ said, I saw Lucifer, I
saw Satan fall as lightning from the heaven. But what I'm saying
is in that atmosphere of holiness, in that atmosphere of perfection,
in that atmosphere of heavenly, heavenly glory, still the creature's
heart was lifted up with pride. Let's take Adam and Eve. Here
God made a man and a woman. I believe what the Bible says
about creation. I hear people say all the time,
well, we've got to get evolution out of the school. I'm not disturbed
about evolution in the school. I'm saying that we teach creation
in the home and creation in the church and teach God in the home
and in the church and his people believe his word. I'm not disturbed
about that era any more than any other era. But I believe
creation. God created the heavens and the
earth and God created man. And he put a man and a woman.
And they were brilliant. They were beautiful, they were
perfectly healthy, not one spot or stain or taint of iniquity. They had the tree of life, they
had the presence of God, they had everything. God said to Adam,
he said, you have dominion, you have rule. Adam was a king, he
was a prince, you have rule over everything. Just one tree, just
leave that one tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil,
just leave it alone. That's a token of my sovereignty.
That's a token of your dependence. You're a king, but I'm still
the king of kings. You, Adam, are lord of the earth, but I'm
still lord of the heaven and the earth. You, Adam, you have
dominion, but I still have dominion over you. Just leave that trail
alone. Well, under those circumstances, this man's heart was lifted up
with pride. He said, I will not have God
to reign over me. I'm going to have that truth.
I'm going to have that truth. That's our nature. And then take
the miraculous deliverance of Noah. You know, we think, well,
here was a man named Noah, and he found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. God's anger and wrath was against this world. He said
God saw that every imagination of man's heart was evil continually. just evil from the sole of his
feet to the top of his head, just evil, evil continually. Wretched, pride, lust, envy,
jealousy, hatred, greed, all these things permeated the people. And God said, I'm going to wipe
this world out. I'm going to destroy this world that I've
made. And Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And God
instructed him to build an ark to the salvation now, the deliverance
of his family, Noah and his wife, his three sons, and their three
wives. Noah may have had other children, I don't know. Does
it say that he did or didn't? But anyway, he had those three
sons, and God had mercy on that family. And that family built
an art, and they were marvelously, miraculously delivered. Delivered
now from the judgment. They watched the whole world
wiped out. They watched everybody die. Everybody but them. Well,
you'd think now, this man, in this time he was in that art
and saw that utter destruction, that utter destruction of everything
and everybody, except him, by the grace of God, he was delivered.
But I'll tell you this, he was still in the flesh. He's still
a human being, and he still had a rebellion in him. And he came
off that ark, time passed, he planted a vineyard, he reaped
a crop of grapes, he made some wine, and got shot drunk. And
these very sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who had witnessed the
same thing of their father, I don't know what Ham's sin was, I've
got some ideas about it. But nevertheless, he sinned a
grievous sin so that God Almighty, here it was right after the flood,
here it's all starting all over again, just like Adam and Eve.
Starting all over again. But let me tell you, I don't
care what you start with, when you start with a man, you've got
troubles. That's just so, we might as well face it. I get
tickled that these people are going to have a perfect church.
They get them a preacher, and they get four or five people,
and they get them a constitution about that thick, and they're
going to keep it pure and perfect. Your first mistake was when you
got that preacher. He's imperfect. And your second
mistake is when you joined. You were imperfect. You'll never
have a perfect anything. Not with men. Perfect God, yes.
Perfect righteousness, yes. Perfect Savior, yes. Perfect
redemption, yes. But anything that man touches,
thinks about, deals with, it's rotten to the core. That's just
so. Oh, no one is so. Let's take
Israel. Here's a people, a nation of
Israel, sons of Abraham. There were 70, 76, 7 or 8 of
them when they went down into Egypt. Went down there for corn
when Joseph was head man, you know. And they went down into
Egypt for corn. And they stayed down there. And
another Pharaoh arose that didn't know Joseph. And he put the heel
on them. He put them in slavery. And they
stayed down there 400 years. Do you realize that this nation
is, what, 1776, 200 and, don't check my math, one time up there
I said, that's right, sure it's two and two is five. And so don't
check my math, but this nation is 200 and some odd years old.
But they had been in slavery longer than we'd been a nation,
twice as long nearly. And God sent Moses down there,
and miraculously now, They didn't have a gun or a knife or a sword
or a spear. All they had was God, and God
delivered them out of Egypt from the most powerful army of the
world, from the most powerful pharaoh, king in the world. They
walked out of that place with his permission. They walked out. And then God brought them to
the Red Sea, and they crossed that Red Sea when God divided
the water on dry land, on dry land. And then Pharaoh pursued
them, and God destroyed his whole army in the Red Sea. And God
fed them miraculously with bread from heaven. God smote a rock,
and they drank out of that pure, clear, crystal water that came
from the rock. Moses went up on a mountain to
get a love from God and stayed up there about four weeks. He'd
gone about four or five weeks. And he came back, and those same
people had taken their clothes off and made them a golden and
were acting like a bunch of pagan, heathen idolaters dancing around
that cave. And Moses just threw the log
down and broke it and smashed that calf and put it in water,
ground it to powder and made them drink the water. And he
turned to Aaron and he said, Aaron, why did you do this? Aaron
said, well, it really wasn't my fault. He said, what I did,
he said, I just took gold and put it in the fire and that calf
came out, you know. That's Aaron. That's the high priest. That's
the high priest. That's God's chosen high priest.
I tell you, it's astounding. Let's go to Solomon, perhaps
the most brilliant man that ever walked on this earth. Yet he
married so many wives, and he wanted to pacify them and make
them happy, so he just built them churches to worship in,
whatever they wanted to worship, whatever God they wanted to worship.
He built them called groves, same thing. And David, God just
gave that man the most miraculous power and glory. And then take
this, take the presence of Christ himself on the earth and the
disciples. He walked with those disciples,
three and a half years, Judas. Judas saw the master raise people
from the dead. Judas saw him turn five loaves
and two fishes into enough food for five, six thousand people.
I could just go on and on and on, but this man, this man denied
and sold the Lord for eighteen dollars, thirty pieces of silver.
I could just keep talking, and then turn to Galatians. And here's
how forceful Paul was about it in Galatians chapter 1. I want
you to look at this a minute. Galatians, the first chapter. So what I'm saying, I don't care
whether God speaks in law or love. I don't care whether God
speaks in grace or judgment. Man's the same disobedient creature
under any dispensation. There's no hope for him. He's
going to stay in sin. He's going to stay in rebellion.
He's going to stay in self-righteousness. He's going to stay in that condition
unless God miraculously, by the power of his Spirit, through
the blood of his Son, by the grace of his own power, delivers
that man. In this church at Galatia, Paul
had preached to them Paul himself, the apostle Paul himself had
gone down to this church and ministered to them himself. God had used him mightily, and
he just left for a little while. And then he wrote to him in verse
6 of Galatians 1, and he said, I'm just amazed. I'm just amazed. I'm not amazed that you're removed
from the gospel, but so soon. So soon. Just a matter of months. These creepers have crept in. These self-righteous fellows
have crept in. These fellows with their own
glory at heart have crept in. And so soon, I marvel, I'm amazed,
that you're removed from him that called you into the grace
of Christ to another gospel. I'm amazed. It's not another
gospel. But there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ, the pure gospel of
God, the gospel of His glory. But I'm telling you this," he
said, Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel unto you than that which we preached unto you, let him
be accursed." Paul is saying this, let him go to hell. Any
man that preaches any other gospel, let him go to hell. Now brethren,
men ought to believe God, but they won't. They won't. Turn
to John 6, and let me show you something. They ought to believe
God, but they won't. Every prophet has bemoaned this fact. Isaiah
said, Lord, who hath believed our report? To whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? Every prophet of God has bemoaned
the fact that men will not hear God. They'll hear somebody else,
but they won't hear God. In John 6, verse 37, listen to
this. Listen carefully. This is the
Master speaking. Our Lord said, All that my Father giveth me,
all of them shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I'll
in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven, not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which he sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I'll lose nothing, nothing, but I'm going to raise
it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, That's not a vision
or a dream or personal sight of a fleshly Jesus. That's seeing
him in his word, seeing him in his redemptive glory, seeing
him in his true character, seeing him in his sufficiency, seeing
him so as to discern. That's like you're showing your
little boy something. You say, you see, son, you fill
that glass so deep. Now, you see, that means you're
saying you understand. Yeah, he sees. There it is, you
know. But you're saying that you understand.
That's what Christ said, he that understandeth the Son, he that
discerneth the Son. And believeth on him may have
everlasting life, and I'll raise him up at the last day." Now
listen, and these Jews were men, they were men steeped in the
Scriptures. These were students of the Bible. These men were
rulers. These were leaders in the synagogue. And they were theologians and
orthodox. Then these Jews murmured and murmured. Because he said,
I'm the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, he's
not this Jesus. Is not this the son of Joseph?
Well, we know his mother and father. How is it he sayeth,
I came down from heaven? Now listen, Jesus answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves, no man can come to
me except my father which sent me drawing. No man. And I'll
raise him up again at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
they shall all be taught of God, every man that hath heard and
learned of the father cometh unto me. Now with that in mind,
men ought to believe God, but they won't. Men ought to believe
God, but they won't. They'll hear strange voices.
Christ said, I've come in my Father's name and you'll not
receive me. Let another come in his own name, him you will
receive. But we're going to one more time, I'm going to one more
time preach this gospel of God's redeeming grace for Romans 10.
I want you to turn over there, and I have four brief points.
And as I'm saying, I don't believe that I'm going to change any
man's mind, I'm going to alter any man's direction. I'm not
going to change any man's heart, but I'll tell you this, God is
able, and God is able to take the scriptures, his word, his
message, his gospel, the words of his messenger, and do what
he did for these folks right here, to turn the heart, to make
a man willing. Now, here's four points, let
me give it to you. First of all, I have the preacher's desire,
his desire. Secondly, I have the preacher's
discernment. And thirdly, I have the preacher's
message. And fourthly, I have the preacher's
conclusion. Now, there are four things I
want you to see from Romans 10. Now, let's start with the preacher's
great desire and prayer. He says in verse 1, brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. That's my desire. You wonder
why I read Romans 9. Let's go over there just a minute.
Now, my friends, God will not bless hypocrisy. God will not
bless insincerity. No man will ever be blessed to
speak to men for God who does not speak to God for men. Let
us examine our motives. The Apostle Paul's motive was
this, the glory of God and the salvation of sinners. That was
his motive. I wonder what our motive is.
Is it only to be heard Everyone wants a platform to express his
views. Is that why we're here? We want
to be heard. We want a platform to express our views. Is that
our motive? Is our motive to promote our
religious cause? Is our motive to convert men
to our theology? Or is this our motive? Look at
Romans 9. Now listen to this man. I say the truth in Christ,
Romans 9.1, I lie not, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy
Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continuous sorrow in my heart. I could wish that myself were
accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the
flesh. I can't convert them, but I want God to do it. I can't
save them, but I want God to do it. I cannot change them from rebels.
to believers, but I want God to do it. That's my cry. That's
my desire. Let me show you another man over
here in Exodus chapter 32. Look at this, Exodus 32. In Exodus
32, now, a moment ago I was telling you about the story about the
cave, when Moses came down from the mountain, and he saw the
people, he saw the people out there dancing around that cave,
and he broke the tablets of stone, the tables of stone. And he went
over there and he ground that calf into powder and put it in
water and made him drink the water. And then he bawled out
Ava and he bawled out the people. And he stood out there and said,
Who's on the Lord's side? Let him come to me and all this
sort of thing. You say Moses is angry. No, Moses
is truthful. But now listen to this. Here's
that same man in verse 30. It came to pass, and this is
the next day, on the next day, the morrow, that Moses said to
the people, You have sinned a great sin. And now I'm going to go
up unto the Lord, maybe, peradventure, I shall make an atonement for
your sin." And Moses returned to the Lord, and he said, now
listen to this prayer of intercession. All these people have sinned
a great sin. They made them gods of gold,
and now, Lord, if you will, if you will, forgive their sins. And notice there's a line there,
it's just as if Moses just paused. He's a prayer of intercession.
He said, Oh, Lord, I know they're rebels. I know they hate truth
and light and holiness. I know they do. I know they've
sinned a great sin. I know idolatry is the greatest
sin. I know that there's sin to get. But Lord, if you will, forgive
their sins. And then there's a pause. And
listen to me. If not, if not, Block me, I pray
thee, out of the book that you've written." Oh, what intercession. I wish I knew something about
this. That's what I'm talking about. What is our motive in
preaching? We come up here and everybody
wants a platform, everybody wants somewhere to say something, to
read the Bible and thunder away and beat the pulpit and say something,
but what I'm finding here, what I'm finding in Paul, he said,
My heart's desire and prayer to God is that people might be
saved, genuinely, eternally saved. I find him saying, before God,
I speak from my conscience. I lie not. The Holy Ghost is
my witness. I want the people of God saved
to such an extent that I'm willing, he said, I'm willing to die for
them. And here Moses is before God,
and he's told the truth about these people. He told the truth
about their rebellion and the truth about their idolatry and
the truth about their condition. He told them the truth about
God. And then here he is before God
saying, Lord, if you will, forgive their sins, but if not, then
Lord, just blot me out of the book you've written. And the Lord said, Moses, verse
33, Moses, whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out
of my book. Now, you go and lead the people
into the place in which I've spoken to them. I tell you, that's a very impressive
hour there. It just makes you want to stop
and stay there a little while, but I don't have time to stay
there. What I'm dealing with is Romans 10.1, the preacher's
motive, the preacher's great desire and prayer. We've got
no business preaching, we've got no business witnessing, we've
got no business teaching, we've got no business in this business
if this is not our business. But you said while ago, preacher,
that you can't change men. I know that. I know that. But
God can, and I want God to do it. But you can't convert people. I know that, and they can't convert
themselves. They're obstinate rebels. I know
that, but I wish God would change their mind. I wish God would. And I'll tell you this, our motive
will generally dictate our methods and our message. You've got the
right motive, you'll preach the right message. Secondly, the
preacher's discernment. First of all, his desire and
prayer, and then his discernment. He says in verse 2, I know these
people to whom I'm preaching. I know them. I know, first of
all, that they have a zeal of God. A zeal of God. This word is enthusiasm, this
word is tradition, this word is interest. They have a zeal.
But this is what it is. It's a zeal alone, it's not knowledge. They have a zeal for God, they
have an enthusiasm for God, but verse 2 says it's not according
to knowledge. Like Christ said to those religious
people in his day, you know a God, but you don't know the God. You
have a God, but you don't know the God. You neither know me
nor my Father. And this is our generation. Our
generation is religious and our generation has a God, but that
God is not the God of the Bible. They're ever learning and never
coming to a knowledge of the truth. Not according to knowledge. And here are several evidences.
Now watch this. Here are three or four evidences
that they do not know the God of the Bible. Here are some evidences. Now, this is what Paul is saying.
You get this. I want people genuinely by the
power of God saved. He said, I know them. I know
they have a zeal for God. I know they've got their temples
and cathedrals. I know they've got their laws.
I know they've got their traditions. I know they've got their Sabbath
days, which they keep. I know they've got their rituals
and ceremonies, which they're so strong. I know they won't
eat without washing their hands. I know they won't eat pork, and
they won't do all these things. They've got a zeal for God, but
they're ignorant. They're ignorant. They don't know the living God.
They have a God, but not the living. And here's some evidence
that they don't know God. Here's the first thing. Verse
3. Why? Why do you say this, Paul,
that these people are ignorant? They're ignorant of God's righteousness.
They're ignorant of God's holiness. God's essential and imputed holiness. They're ignorant. And people
today, it's like I said this morning, they're always talking
about God is love, God is a loving God. God is love. Now let me
tell you something. God is love. But my friend, God's
supreme and primary attribute is holiness. Holiness. And you don't know God at all
if the only God you know is a sentimental, emotional, gushy God of love. God is holy. He's holy. And they don't know anything
about his holiness, his essential holiness and his imputed holiness,
his imputed righteousness. They don't know anything about
the demands of his holy justice and his holy law. Here's the
second evidence. Not only do they not know anything
about God's essential holiness and God's imputed holiness, but
he says they're going about with much religious activity to establish
their own righteousness. Now, if you join the church,
And if you'll start tithing, and if you'll quit drinking and
smoking and gambling and dancing and playing cards, and if you
go to church on Sunday and read your Bible and stay out of the
honky-tonks and live a clean, moral life and pay your debts
and be nice to your wife and family, and be nice to your boss
on the job, and all these things, and God will take you to heaven
when you die. That's going about to establish
your own righteousness, and that righteousness itself is filthy
rags in God's sight, an abomination to a holy God. He said that's
evidence you don't know God. To think that in yourself, in
any shape, form, or fashion, that you have any holiness. You
see, in the first place, you don't know anything about his.
His holiness is so immaculately, infinitely, unchangeable, unapproachable,
above us, that we can't even conceive of it, let alone talk
about it. His holiness. His holiness. And the holiness of God, which
he requires, he doesn't require you to love God. He requires
you to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, He doesn't
require that you only love your neighbor. He says, well, I love
my neighbor, not like God. I tell you, man, at his best
state is vanity. And Christ said, Except your
righteousness exceed the righteousness of the best man who ever lived,
you won't enter the kingdom of God. We're ignorant of God's
holiness, his imputed righteousness, and we're going about to try
to win the favor of God Almighty by what we're doing. It cannot
be done. That shows you do not know God.
To think that a man would sit down and write a checkout for
a mission project. He'd write a check out for a
mission project and give it, and his kind of chest swells
a little bit and he thinks within now, I've done a good thing.
My friend, do you think that that could move God? After all,
he gave you what's left in the checkbook. It's all his. He didn't give him anything.
Sometimes we go through the day and we've kind of talked nice
all day and worked hard and we feel like we've We've been halfway
decent, you know, and lovable and gracious and kind and all
these things. At the end of the day, we get our Bibles out and
we sit down in our chair and we open the Bible and kind of
look up and wink at God. You watching, Lord? And we get
the Bible, we read a little bit, then we go to sleep, you know,
and pray a little prayer, and we get it. We felt we've been
so good. Oh, I tell you, does that move God? Let me say this,
and let me say it strongly. God Almighty, the best day you
ever lived, the best moment you ever spent, the best second you
ever spent in life, God would have to send you to hell for
it if you stood before him on the basis of that moment. Because
of who you are and what you are, your identification and association
and representation and all these things, there's none righteous,
none good, no, not one. I hope I'm making this plain.
I'm trying to. that God is so infinitely above us, he can't
even look with favor upon us no matter what we do, think or
say. And we're ignorant of God if
we think that he can. And look at the next evidence.
He said this, he said they have a zeal for God. They're playing
chariots, they're playing religion, they're playing God. And who's
the best man in here? Well, he's the deacon or elder,
he's the fellow that reads the Bible the most, studies the most,
teaches the classes and preaches for the preacher and all, he's
the finest man in here. Now, wait a minute. There's not a
person in here fine or good in himself. That man's goodness,
like the worst man in here, is Christ. Isn't that right, Cecil? That man, he has no goodness.
His goodness is Christ or he's damned. His righteousness is
Christ, or he's damned. That's just so. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, it says, has never loved a man greater than John the Baptist,
but I say unto you, the least man in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than he. Ignorant of God's righteousness,
going about to establish our own righteousness. And here's
the third evidence. They will not submit themselves
to the righteousness of God. What is that? Verse 4. Christ
is the end of the law. He's the goal of the law. He's
the consummation of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believes. Christ is my righteousness. Christ himself. Christ alone. He is my righteousness. We're
not under the law of God for righteousness because Christ
is our righteousness. And he's all we need. He's the
end of the law, that is, he's the consummation of it. The law
ended with Christ as far as any righteousness is concerned. The
law never could bring anything but condemnation to the sinner.
All right, notice the next thing, thirdly. What is the preacher's
message? Now, here's the preacher's desire
that men might be saved. Here's the preacher's discernment,
his knowledge. He knows that they have a zeal
for God, but they're ignorant. They don't know God. They don't
know anything about his righteousness. They're going about to establish
their own righteousness. They're trying to make themselves
acceptable to God. They will not submit to God's
righteousness, which is Christ. They won't do it. They just won't
do it. And then he gives us his message to them. His message
is twofold. Now watch this. Verse 5. His
message is twofold. It's what the law says and what
the gospel says. What does the law say? Verse
5, Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law. What is
it? That the man which doeth these things shall live by. Here's
what the law said. It's plain and simple. It says
keep the whole law. Keep it to the letter. Don't
offend in one point. If you offend in one point, you're
guilty of the whole law. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law." That's
what the law says. The law says perfection. The law says keep
it perfectly. The law says not offend in one
point or be damned. Cursed is everyone. I told you
about that man Spurgeon. I was reading Spurgeon, and Spurgeon
said he talked to a Jewish rabbi one time, and he said to him,
he said, what is your religion? And the rabbi said, God's law
is my religion. And Spurgeon says, well, does
not your law say, does not your law say in Galatians 3, or back
quoting from the Old Testament, does not your law say, curse
it is everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them? You know what it said? The man
said, it does. And Spurgeon said, well, have
you continued in all things to do them? He said, no, I haven't.
He said, then what are you going to do about the curse? And he
said, the rabbi paused a minute. And he said to him, I don't know. I just don't know. Well, I do
know. And that's the next message.
Now look at verse 6. Moses, verse 5, he describes
the righteousness of the Lord. You say, well, I believe in the
law. I do too. I do too. It's a summary of God's character.
It's a summary of God's holiness. It's a summary of God Almighty's
righteousness. I do believe in the law. Paul
said, I love thy law. David said, I love thy law. A
man can't hate God's law and know God. But I'm telling you
this, that law, if you're going to seek righteousness before
God on the basis of the law, do you not hear it? It requires
perfection. And that's not only in deed,
that's in thought, that's imagination, that's word, that's in all things.
even in birth. All right? Birth, verse 6, but
the righteousness which is of faith. Now, here's the message
here. Here's what the gospel said.
Here's what the gospel said. Now, in parenthesis, he said,
in other words, say not in your heart who shall ascend into heaven,
that is, to bring Christ down, or who shall ascend into the
deep, that is, to bring up Christ. In other words, this gospel is
not a message of a work for you to do. Well, what do we do? We got to go up to heaven and
bring a Messiah down, a Christ? No, he's already come. Well,
have we got to descend into the grave and bring out the Christ?
No, he's already risen. He's already risen. It's not,
the gospel does not, does not present anything for you, like
Barnard used to say, God doesn't require you to produce a righteousness,
he's already produced it. He requires you to receive it.
God Almighty does not require you to do anything to be saved
but to receive what Christ has done. Now, here's the next line,
verse 8, watch it. But what does it say, that is,
this message of faith, this message of salvation, what does it say?
The word is nigh thee, it's even in your mouth and in your heart.
What is it? The word of faith which we preach. Here it is,
that if you shall confess with your mouth Jesus to be Lord. Jesus Christ, Jesus who was born
of Mary in Bethlehem. Now this is that gospel. This
is that gospel. Man, God is holy, infinitely,
unapproachably holy. Man is a fallen, wretched creature,
depraved under any circumstances, condition, or environment. He
has no will to move, no desire to move, no power to move. Almighty
God cannot change. Almighty God desires the salvation
of a people. He gave his Son a people out
of that race, a remnant out of that condemned race. He sent
his Son down into this world, Jesus Christ, the God-man, was
made flesh and dwelt among us. In the flesh, he obeyed God's
law for perfect righteousness for all who believe. He went
to the cross and bore our sins, was buried and rose again. And
here's the message of salvation to those people in their sin.
If you will confess with your mouth that this Jesus of Nazareth,
who lived on this earth, who walked on this earth, who obeyed
the law of God perfectly, who went to the cross and died, if
you'll confess that he's Lord, absolute Lord, Lord of heaven
and earth, He's the Lord that God has sent, the Lord in Christ.
Read on. And you believe this in your heart, that God raised
him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. That's where
it's not do, it's not produce, it's not produce a righteousness,
it's believe Christ. It's believed Christ. Turn to
Romans chapter 4. Let me show you something. We
sit around, we talk. You know, Abraham was the father
of the faithful. The example of faith, the pattern
of faith. And you say, oh, if I could just
have the experience of Abraham. If I could just have the righteousness
of Abraham. If I could just have the faith
of Abraham. This is the faith that's same. Same faith. Now
listen to Abraham, Romans 4, verse 20, listen to it. Abraham,
I'll start with verse 20, make it shorter, staggered not at
the promise of God through unbelief, but he was strong in faith, he
gave glory to God. God said he'd have a son in his
old age, his wife was past the childbearing years, he was old,
100 years old, and he was fully persuaded that what God had promised,
God was able to perform. And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness, holiness, this righteousness of God. We're
talking about Romans 10, this holiness of God. It was charged
to him, it was reckoned to him, it was counted to him. What did
he do? He believed. He believed God. Abraham believed. Now then, what
Abraham did was evidence of his faith. When Abraham left his
father's house, he was showing he did believe God. When Abraham
gave Lot the choice selection of land, he was showing he did
believe God. When he refused the rich offer of the kings,
it was evidence he did believe God. When he took his son up
on the mountain as a slave, that's not the way he was saved, that's
evidence that he was saved. Now read on, don't stop. Now
then, why was this written? This was not written for Abraham's
sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed. What are we talking about, it? Righteousness, holiness. Holiness, righteousness, acceptance
with God. What are we talking about imputed?
Charged, reckoned to your account, as if it were your own. It was
written, not for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but,
verse 24, for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we do
what? If we believe on him who raised
up Jesus, our Lord, from the dead, who was delivered from
our offenses and raised for our justification. That picture,
I just can't see it, I know, but it's there anyway. Like a
blind man, I'd stand here and I'd talk about the beautiful
sunset. He'd say, I can't see it. I'd
say, if you could see it, you could see it. Or a deaf man,
I'd talk about that orchestra, that philharmonic orchestra and
the beautiful music that's floating over there. He'd say, I don't
hear anything. I know if you had ears, you would. And my friend,
I'm clearly declaring, loud and clear, and you can say that's
not the person I say, that person I say, that person, you're just
full of baloney. Salvation's by grace through
faith, and faith alone. It's by Christ and Christ alone.
You're the one that ain't saved. That's right. If you're judging
a person's salvation, if you're judging a person's salvation
by their orthodoxy and doctrine, you've missed it yourself. That
person's saved by Christ. If you're judging a person's
salvation by some incident in his or her life, you've proven
that you don't know Christ yourself. Salvation's in Christ. And I'll
tell you this, the so-called incidences in the person's life,
you don't know a man's heart. Our hearts are continually evil,
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Paul said,
I want people saved. That's my desire. I want them
saved. I know them. I know they've got
zeal. I know they've got enthusiasm. But I know they're ignorant.
Just as ignorant as they can possibly be. Just as ignorant
as a donkey. They're ignorant of God's holiness.
They're ignorant of God's imputed righteousness. They're going
about with full speed ahead, full steam. They're working out
a righteousness. They're doing these things to
gain God's favor. They're working their fingers
to the bone, trying to be religious and trying to give and go and
witness and pray and read and study and all these things, and
do all these things that God might look with faith that they
might be holy. But I'm telling you this," he said, I'll tell
you what the law said, I'll tell you what Moses said, that the
man that would gain righteousness by the law better do it all,
better do it all. You got work, you got an assignment,
do it all, do it all perfectly. But now, if you want to hear
the gospel, he said the gospel speaks on this way. Don't go
up to heaven and bring Christ down, he's already come. Don't
descend in the grave to bring him up, he's already risen. He's
already risen and seated at the right hand of God and enthroned.
He's already got the victory. He's already put Satan under.
He's already redeemed his people. Now, if you want to be a part
of it, do you believe that he's the Son of God? Do you believe
that he's the Lord and Christ? Do you believe that God raised
him from the dead? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that he was crucified for our sins and buried as our justifier
and risen again, buried as our scapegoat and risen as our justifier
and seated as our mediator? Do you believe it? You say it,
you say it, and that's the way you say it. Now watch, one word
and then I'll quit. Precious conclusion. He says
here three times, verse 8, and here's where we got problems.
He said, well, I've been taught that all my life. Now wait a
minute, he said, verse 8, look at it. What sayeth it? The word
is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thine heart, in thy heart. Now verse 9, confess with your
mouth the Lord Jesus and believe it where? In your heart. Verse
10, fall with the heart. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. We ain't talking
about head faith, we're talking about heart faith. Now heart,
this heart business is important. The Lord is known to them a broken
heart. The sacrifices of God are broken heart. Keep thy heart
out of the inner issues of life. My son, give me your heart. Your
heart. And here three times he says
the heart. You say, why does he keep insisting upon the heart? And you know when Peter said
to Simon Magus, he said, your heart's not right with God. Your
heart's not right with God. You got all the outward evidence,
there's no heart faith. Let me give you three things
and I'll quit. The word heart here, the word heart faith, indicates
sincerity as opposed to hypocrisy. indicates sincerity. Now, here's
what Christ said. He said to those people, he said,
these people call me Lord with their lips, but their hearts
are far from me. Their hearts are far from me.
Now, that's the first thing about this heart faith. It indicates
a depth of experience. It's believing in the inner man.
It's not just saying something with your But it's a sincerity
of heart. I do believe. I do believe. I believe. All right, watch this.
Now, secondly, heart faith distinguishes between traditional religion,
hand-me-down religion, and personal faith. Now, turn to John 18.
Let me show you something here. And notice he says, if you'll
confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. You follow that?
Your heart, your mouth. In John 18, verse 33, now listen
to this, Pilate entered into the judgment hall and called
Jesus and said, Are you the King of the Jews? And Jesus answered
him and said, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others
tell it thee of me? That's what I'm asking. And so
happened I was born in Alabama. Usually a boy or a girl, if they
have any respect for their father or mother, will more or less
do things and believe things which they're taught by their
parents. I was born and raised in Alabama. It's often said that
if a person born and raised in Alabama, if he's not a Democrat
and a Baptist, somebody's been tampering with him. Well, I was
a Baptist and a Republican. You believe that? My daddy voted
for Landon. Somebody here said, well, who's
he? Well, that's what I mean. My daddy voted for Wendell Wilkie.
My daddy was a Republican. He was a hard-headed Republican
in the middle of the South. He voted against the FDR every
time he ran. Every time he ran. You know what
I was? A Republican. I was the only
one in school. Only one in the whole school.
But I was that because my daddy was that. I respected him and
believed. I was a Baptist. I believed the
Bible. I was taught that. Now, here's
what I'm saying. What if I'd have been, what if my daddy had
been a Catholic? I'd have been a Catholic. If my daddy had been
a communist, I'd have been a communist sure as the world. And this is
what I'm saying to you now. Heart, faith. And this is very
simply put, but I believe it. This thing of salvation, a relationship
with God, is going to be your heart and your mouth. And that's
what I'm saying. Do you believe that? I'm saying
you take these things, you young people raised in the 13th Street
Baptist Church, raised on sovereign grace and raised on free grace,
I'm telling you this, don't you take it for granted. You buy
your Bible and you find it out for yourself. And your daddy
and mama might be the finest people on earth and have the
strongest faith and all these things, but it won't do you a
bit of good. Not a bit of good. And your parents may have missed
Christ, but don't you miss him. Don't you take up anybody's cause. at the expense of your salvation. I used to have a friend that
he wanted my friends to be his friends, his enemies to be my
enemies. Ain't so. No way. I'm not defending any man's cause
at the expense of my soul. You better listen to me. Better
listen. I don't care who, don't be following
any man only as he follows Christ. That's what I'm saying here.
If you shall confess with your mouth and believe with your heart. This is what we're saying. It's
a heart faith. Now heart faith indicates sincerity, real sincerity. You'll be saved if you believe
with your heart. And secondly, it's a personal thing. It's a
personal thing. You're not going to shake me.
If this whole outfit goes to hell, I'm going to trust Christ.
If everybody turns from Christ, I'm going to cling to it. If
everybody follows everybody over the mountain and plunges down
the precipice to their death, let them go. I'm going to follow
Christ, Charlie. And you better say that. It's
a personal thing. All right? Thirdly, heart faith distinguishes
between material covetousness and real affection for Christ.
Now, listen to John 6, and this is so important. Now, this is
so important. John chapter 6. the lake, you know, the big lake,
and John 6, verse 25, and these folks all came over there, you
know, they followed him, and in verse 25, they said, Rabbi?
They found him on the other side of the sea. They said, Rabbi,
when did you come over here? And he answered them, and he
said, let me tell you something. Surely, surely, I say to you,
verily, verily, I say to you, you seek me. And you're not like
the people that saw the miracles. He didn't reveal themselves to
them either. But you seek me because you ate of the loaves
and were filled. Now don't labor for the meat
which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth to everlasting
life. Now let me tell you something, friend. I know we want to be healthy.
And I know we want to have a job and pay our bills. And I know
we want to go to heaven when we die and live in the comforts
of heaven. And I know we want God to prosper
us in our business and all, but let me tell you something. This
thing of a relationship with God, don't get it based upon
these covetous, materialistic, physical, sensual things. I don't care if I'm the sickest
man in here, I want to know Christ. It doesn't matter if I lose,
ever die my God, if a whirlwind takes my house away, I just must
know Christ. It doesn't matter whether I'm
married or unmarried, whether I have children or don't have
children, whether I have a friend or don't have a friend, whether
I've got clothes to wear or don't have clothes. Let's don't base
our relationship with God on this television, covetous, materialistic
preaching that we're listening to today. This is saying right
here, this heart belief distinguishes from a material covetousness
as opposed to real affection for Christ. Let's take Job, for
example. Now, Job had everything. prosperous and rich and influential
friends and all these things. A fellow came in and said, Job,
all your cattle are dead, all your sheep are dead, all your
oxen are dead. Somebody came in and said, your children are all
dead. Well, it's time for Job to say, Lord, I've served you
in battle, I've given my life, and what do I get in return?
I've been the most righteous man in the community, what do
I get in return? No, he said, the Lord gave and the Lord has
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And finally he's sitting on the ash sheet, scraping his balls,
his wasted to nothing, you could see his bones, and his wife came
and said, why don't you just curse God and die? He said, though
he slayed me, I'll trust him. And here's what I'm saying, is
this, I'm not promising you a life without disease. The child of
God is susceptible to everything that everybody out there is susceptible
to. Your children are going to die just like anybody else's.
We're going to die just like anybody else's. Other people
are going to get sick, we're going to get sick. God's people have heart
attacks and lots of people have, because that's the flesh. I know
there are blessings that God gives to his people and prosperity
that he's pleased to give to his people, but God gives trials
to his people too. And this heart faith in Christ
is a genuine heart affection, and it's not based at all upon
what God does for me physically or materially at a given time. That's exactly right. And John, you're sitting there,
and you have your amigo, but Christ is your Lord, isn't He?
And it doesn't matter whether you sit or whether you get worse
or get better, He's still Lord. And this better be true of all
of us. And that's what I'm saying, that's just heart thing. If I'm
going to base it on what I have or don't have, I'm in trouble.
That is physically, it's spiritually. And I'll tell you, if you have
Christ, you can take these other things. Ted and I were talking
up the hospital yesterday, or the day before yesterday, in
Huntington. He's going through a little trial right now. And
I asked him, I said, how do people who don't have Christ, how do
they go through these trials, these sorrows and suffering and
sickness? I don't understand it. It's difficult
enough with Christ, isn't it? It's difficult enough. But I'll
tell you how God's people are sustained in their time of trouble.
They're sustained knowing this, it's the Lord, let him do what
he will. And everything that takes place in my life is for
my eternal good and his eternal glory. But this faith in Christ,
this faith in Christ is heart faith. And it's not based upon
any materialistic, covetous, physical gain or benefits. I'm interested in the benefactor
and not the benefits. I'm interested in the blesser
and not the blesses, the blessings. He can give me what he will.
And I'll tell you this, though. Sometimes the Lord allows his
people, whom he loves the most, to go through the deepest water. Because that's where we learn
more about him down there. Our Father, bless the Word, how
thankful we are for your Word. And the message tonight, our
ramblings tonight, Lord, bless them for your glory. Use them
to honor and glorify Christ Jesus. Oh, how we long to preach, and
preach with power, and preach with the unction of the Holy
Spirit, and preach and teach the truth to men. And how we
desire to see our brethren and our loved ones and our friends
come to a saving knowledge of Christ. How we long to see men
delivered from perverted religion, from a perverted gospel. of the
religion of self-righteousness and brought to the true faith
of Jesus Christ. Lord, you're the only one who
can trouble the heart and bring men to faith in Christ. May it
please you to take the word tonight and use it for your glory and
for our good, for eternal praise. Help us to forget those things
that are contrary to truth and help us to measure upon and consider
and contemplate those things that are honoring Christ. In
His name we pray.