Now, let's read our text again,
if you will, from Matthew 7. Now, remembering while I read
this, that this is not some radical,
narrow-minded, sectarian preacher talking. This is the Lord of
glory. This is the one who knows men's
hearts and their professions. This is our Lord and Savior.
This is the one of whom the Father said, this is my beloved son,
hear him, hear him. In Matthew 7, 21, the Master
said, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, he's saying
not everyone that professes to be a Christian, not everyone
that professes to be saved shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.
But he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
What is the will of God? This is the will of God that
you believe on him whom God has sent. They said to Christ one
day, what shall we do to work the works of God? He said, these
are the works of God that you believe on him whom God has sent. And he said in verse 22, many,
and there's the word that sends cold chills up and down my spine,
many, many. A moment ago, he just said, the
way of life is narrow and straight and few there be that find it.
Again, he said, many are called, but few are chosen. And here
he uses the word many, a vast number. Many will say to me,
in that day, in that great day, in the day of judgment, many
will say to me, Lord, Lord, have we not preached, prophesied,
taught in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils? And in thy name done many wonderful
religious works? And then will I profess unto
them, then will I, the final voice, the only voice, the judge
of all the universe, for the Father judges no man, but hath
committed all judgment to the Son. Then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Now this
passage of Scripture is to me one of the most solemn, sobering,
frightening scriptures in all the Word of God. I see here the
picture that our Lord has drawn. It's in that last day. It's the
day of judgment. The sea has given up the dead
which were in it. Death and hell have delivered
up the dead in them. All men, small and great, rich
and poor, nations stand before God. And these people make one
last appeal, one last stand, and they begin to talk about
all that they did on earth in the name of Christ, all that
they gave and all that they did and all that they served. And
then at the end of that plea, our Lord just looks upon the
many and says to them, I never knew you. And we're not talking
here about rabble and profane and harlots and drunkards and
the people of the gutter. This is not the people he's talking
about here. The people assembled here are
not the warmongers and the greedy. The people he's talking about
here are preachers and elders and deacons and church members
and choir members and soul winners and missionaries and community
leaders. That's exactly what he said.
These are people who professed to know Christ. These are people
who professed salvation. They said, Lord, we preach in
your name. We did many wonderful works in
your name, and we cast out devils in your name. These are so-called
good, moral, Bible readers. who hear the Lord of Glory say
to them, I never knew you. I never knew you. The church
knew you. The church knew you and recognized
you and put your name on their books. And the world knew you
and recognized you and called you reverend, or doctor, or rabbi,
or bishop, or missionary. The people of the neighborhood
knew you and all proclaimed your name. But I never knew you. I never knew you. He didn't say,
I once knew you, but I don't own you now. He said, I never
knew you. I never knew you. Back yonder
in the council halls of eternity when I chose my people. And the
scripture says, God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Paul writing to the church at
Thessalonica, he said, brethren, beloved of the Lord, I thank
God for you. because God set his love upon
you from eternity. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. And Christ said back here, when I made up my jewels, when
I made up my flock, when I made up my sheep and my people, I
never knew you. I never knew you. And when I
walked on this earth incarnate in human flesh, when I came down
here as a representative of my people, In Adam all died, in
Christ we're made alive. By one man's sin and death entered
this world and judgment. By one man's disobedience we
were made sinners, by one man's obedience we were made righteous.
When I walked this earth in the flesh and was tried and tempted
in all points yet without sin, Working out a perfect righteousness,
fulfilling all righteousness, imputing to my people a holiness
so that they might stand before the Father in me. I never knew
you. I never knew you. And when I
went to Gethsemane's garden and prayed that high priestly prayer,
Father, I pray for them. I pray for them. Keep through
thine own name those whom thou hast given to me. that they may
be one, even as we are one. I have given them thy word, and
they have received thy word, those that thou gavest me. I
pray not for the world, I pray for them which thou hast given
me. When I uttered that prayer, that high priestly prayer in
the garden of Gethsemane, I never knew you. And when I went to
the cross of Calvary, and there was wounded for somebody's transgressions,
and was bruised for somebody's iniquities, and the chastisement
of somebody's peace was laid upon me, and through my stripes
they shall be healed, I never knew you. And when I ascended
to glory and took the precious blood and put it on the mercy
seat of glory, that glorious atonement, and I bore in my breastplate
and on my hands the names of my people, I never knew you.
Never knew you. And when I sat down on the right
hand of God as the forerunner entering into glory and possessing
it for his own, and interceded for my own, and was an advocate
and a mediator for my own, I never knew." That's what he said. He's
not saying, I once knew you. We once had some fellowship.
We once had a relationship. He's saying to these religious
people, these preachers and missionaries and deacons and choir leaders
and singers and all these folk, I never, I never knew you. I never knew you. Depart from me. Oh, how final are these words.
But Lord, we preached, and Lord, we did many wonderful works,
and Lord, we were numbered among the people, and Lord, we cast
out devils, and Lord, we tithed, and Lord, we attended services,
and we made professions of faith. I never knew you. Never. Depart from me. Depart from me. What a terrible sentence. Depart
from me. What a terrible separation. Depart
from me. The only light. Depart into everlasting
darkness. The only source of love into
everlasting hate. Depart from me. The only way
into eternal glory. Depart from me. The only physician. Depart from me into eternal pain. The only joy. Depart from me.
From my friendship, from my grace, from my fellowship, from my paradise,
from my presence, from my heaven, depart from me. I tell you, if
the thought of that is so terrible, and I sat and looked at that
scripture, I've been looking at it for days, asking God to
give me a message. If the thought of it is so terrible,
if just the thought of it, I never knew you. I never knew. In that day, the last day, the
day of judgment, I never knew you. I never knew you. Depart
from me. If the thought of it is so terrible,
my friend, what will it be like to experience it? What will it
be like to pastor a church and come into the pulpit every Sunday
and open the Bible and lead the singing? And then to die and
the people say all those nice things about you and they put
flowers all over your casket and give you a good send-off,
you know, and then to stand there at the great day of judgment
and hear the master say, the world knew you, and the church
knew you, and the advertisement page in the Daily Independent
knew you, and people around the world knew you, but I never knew
you. I never knew you. What would
it be like to play these instruments every Sunday? Or to stand here,
Mike, and lead the singing? Or to sing these specials as
a quartet and a trio? Or back there, Cecil, teach a
class? And you're so highly esteemed, and well thought of, and held
in the utmost highest character and reputation. And people say,
oh, I like to hear them teach. I like to hear them read the
Bible. I like to hear them sing. And then you die, and everybody
says good things about you, and put your name on the pew, and
your name in the bulletin, and all these things. Send telegrams
from everywhere, and then come and stand before Christ. Say,
Lord, I taught Sunday school class, and I sang and preached.
I never knew you. I never knew you. By the way,
I gave offerings. You know, I tithed and I helped
support the church. I helped support the preacher.
Kept him out. I never knew you. That's what we're talking about
here. Depart from me forever, forever. You won't sing anymore. You won't teach anymore. You
won't read anymore scripture. You won't argue doctrine anymore.
You won't sing anymore songs. No more sermons. No more services. No more opportunities. Just leave
here. Leave here. Leave here. I never knew you. I never knew
you. I read a story this week. I was
reading that, I told you this morning, that book talking about
why hymns were written. I don't remember the name of
this one. I was reading through a lot of them. Told about two
young men. Their names were John and Charles,
and they went west before the turn of the century, back in
1880 or 1890, somewhere way back there with a railroad crew. One
of these rough and ready and profane and wicked and careless
railroad crews. They put the railroad through
the west, John and Charles, and they was out there working. They
were wicked, careless sinners. And one day they're out on the
job, and a piece of heavy equipment fell on Charles, and it just
mashed him. It just, oh, from his chest down,
it just mashed the life out of him. But he was still living,
and they got the thing off of him and got him up somehow in
an old homemade stretcher and took him in one of the tents
over here and laid him down. And somewhere they found a doctor
or a corpsman or somebody who knew something about medicine,
and he came in and pulled a blanket down, looked at him, and he said,
I can't do anything for you, son. You're just not going to
make it. The life's been mashed clear
out of you. And I can't help you. And he's lying there in
pain and lying there in agony, lying there dying. And he called
his buddy and he said to him, John. And John came over there
and stood by him. And he took John by the hand.
He said, John, pray for me. Pray for me. And John looked
down. He said, Charles, I never prayed
in my life. I don't know how to pray. I never
said a prayer in my life. I don't know how to pray. Well,
he said, John, he said, sing a religious song, John. Just
sing a, I need to hear something. Just sing a religious song. And
John said, Charlie, the songs I know I couldn't sing now. I
don't know any religious songs. Charlie, I don't know any religious
songs. Well, he said, John, get a Bible and read some Bible. Just get a Bible, read some scripture.
And they began to scurry around. They went, the writer said, in
every tent in that camp. And they looked everywhere, and
they couldn't turn up a Bible or a Testament anywhere. And
John came back, and he said, Charles, he said, we ain't got
no Bible. And nobody here knows any Bible.
And the writer said, that young man turned his face to the wall,
and he cried. And he cried, and he sighed,
oh, my poor lost soul, my poor lost soul, I'm going out to meet
God without a prayer, without a song, without a verse of Scripture. And he died. And that's what
we're talking about here. Our Lord says to these people
in that great day, depart from me where there are no prayers,
where there are no songs. and where there is no scripture,
depart from me." I tell you what an awful, awful thing to think
about. Let's turn to Isaiah 28. We've
got a similar experience right here in Isaiah 28. If you don't
mind looking over there a minute. And what I'm saying is this,
and I want to impress this upon you. I believe the greatest mission
field in the world today is our churches. I think through our
Hollywood high-pressure evangelism, that we have filled our church
rolls and our church pews with people who've made professions
of religion, and they're trying to live the Christian life without
Christ, they're trying to serve God not knowing God, and they're
resting on a profession that they made 20, 30, 40 years ago
to get them to heaven. The reality of Christ is not
in their heart, and the reality of Christ is not in their soul,
and the presence of Christ is not with them. They do not know
Him. They know about Him, and they know a few verses of scripture,
and they made a profession of religion, but the life of Christ
and the life of joy and the life of peace and the life of the
Son of God, they do not know. I stood there and listened to
that pastor's wife last Thursday night in Fayetteville, North
Carolina, tell the people that all her life she had lived a
false religious profession and just now come to know Christ.
And I called her this afternoon to talk with her and the pastor,
and she said to me over the phone, she said, how glorious it is
to know Christ. How glorious it is to be delivered
from the bondage of a religious profession into the glorious
liberty of the Son of God. And she said, I was sitting in
church this morning, and a lady was sitting beside me, a friend
of mine. And the friend told her last Thursday, she said,
I'm lost too. I've been in church all my life,
and I don't know Christ. And her friend turned to her
this morning while the pastor was preaching, and her friend
said, this is the first time I've ever heard the gospel. And what she said, Doc? First
time I ever heard. She said, my ears have heard
words, and I've heard many preachers. But she said to her, Betty, for
the first time in my life, I'm hearing something. I'm hearing
something. I'm hearing something. Have you ever heard? Our Lord
said they've got eyes, but they don't see. They don't see the
glory of Christ, the power and wisdom of God in Christ. They
don't see the atonement in Christ. They don't see Christ as the
effectual sufficient sin offering. They don't see that. He said
they've got eyes, but they don't see. They can see the ceremony.
They can see the candles burning. They can see the stained glass
windows. They can see all the impressive religious relics. They can see the processional,
they can see the preacher in his silly looking uniforms of
religion, they can see all these things, they can see everybody,
the choir in their uniforms, and see the little cherubs in
their little white blouses, you know, they can see all these
pretty religious things, but they can't see substitution.
They can't see the blood redemption. They can't see deliverance by
crucified Christ. They've never seen it! And they
can hear. What do they hear? They hear
words. They hear words, but they don't hear Christ. They hear
the choir singing, they hear the quartet. Say, that's a pretty
good quartet. Did you hear the words of the
song? No, I didn't hear the words of the song, but I heard the
voices. And I can hear the organ playing, and I can hear the preacher's
pleasant voice, and I can hear, but I've never heard him speak
who speaks through his word. He's never spoken to me. They've
got hearts, he said, but they don't understand. And look at
Isaiah 28, just a moment. I won't keep you long here, but
listen to it. It says in verse 14, Isaiah 28. Wherefore, hear
the word of the Lord, hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful
men, you rebellious men that rule the people in Jerusalem. You know who that is? That's
the religious leaders. That's the high ecclesiastical
leaders. That's the people that spoke
for God. They rule the people in Jerusalem. Jerusalem's the
holy city, the capital of religion, the center of ceremonialism.
These people were rulers in the feast days and the ceremonies
and the rituals and the laws and the transcription of the
word of God. They were rulers. Because you
said, we've made a covenant with death. I wish I had a dollar
for every time I've heard somebody say, well, I'm not afraid to
die. I'm not afraid to die. That's what these people say.
We're not afraid to die. And with hell, are we at agreement?
Yes, we're agreed there's a heaven, we're agreed there's a hell,
but we're not going there. How many times I've heard people
say, it's all right with me. I'm not worried. I'm as confident
of heaven as if I was already there. And they said, when the
overflowing scourge, this is the flood of God's judgment,
just passes through and sweeps away everything in its path,
it won't come nigh me. I made my profession when I was
10 years old. I joined the church. I've been
a faithful member. I've been a deacon. I've been
an officer. I've done all these things. I'm
not afraid to die. I'm not worried about hell, and
I'm not worried about the judgment. And that's the very people that
stood before Christ and said, we did this, we did that, we
did the other. And he said, I never knew you.
I never knew you. We got a refuge. God says it's
a refuge of lies. We got a hiding place. We're
well here. We got a storm shelter. I tell
you what, it'll protect you from suspicion by men. but it will
not protect you from a full revelation by God. Full exposure. He said it's a refuge of lies
and it's falsehood. You say, well what are we going
to do? Look at verse 16. He tells you. He said, therefore
thus saith the Lord God. Now here's what you've said.
You've said we're not afraid to die. You've said we're not
afraid of hell. You've said when judgment comes
it won't touch us. That's what you've said. That's
what you've said. We've got a refuge. We've got
a profession. We've got an experience. We've
got a feeling. We've got assurance by our pastor.
That's what you said. And now God speaks. He said,
this is what I say. Behold, I lay in Zion. Zion is
the church. Zion is the heavenly kingdom.
I lay in Zion for a foundation. Here's where you better build.
A stone. That's a rock. That rock is Christ. That rock is Christ. I lay a
foundation and that's a rock. It's a rock. It's a stone. It's
Christ and a stone for its ageless existence. Eternal stone. A stone for durability. A stone
for strength. I lay a stone and it's a tried
stone. He was tried by God, yet without
sin. He was tried by the devil, took
him up on a mountain, said, make these stones bread, cast yourself
off, fall down and worship me. Tried by Satan under the worst
circumstances. Tried by men. It's a tried stone. Tried by the Old Testament saints.
Tried by people of God. Tried by martyrs. A tried stone. And he's a precious cornerstone.
He's precious to the Father. He's precious to the believer,
he's precious to the angels, he's the precious cornerstone,
and he is a sure foundation, a sure foundation, a certain
foundation, a foundation that will not crumble. That's Christ.
He that believeth shall not make haste. He that believeth shall
not be ashamed. My friends, go back to the text,
Matthew 7. Let us look at everything in
this light. I wish tonight that all of us,
this preacher, you, everybody here, that we would look at everything
in life considering how it will appear in this hour. Many will
say unto me, in that day, in that, that's the day. Really
this day is not, not really important. How will everything appear in
the day of death, in the day of judgment, in the day of resurrection? The material thing. It doesn't
matter whether I'm rich or poor. It doesn't really matter in this
life, does it? It matters whether I know Christ.
It really doesn't matter. We put a lot of stock in education. And I think a fellow ought to
get all of it he can. Learn something. Don't be dumb
if you can help it. But education or lack of it,
what difference does it make? I'd rather be dumb and go to
heaven than smart and go to hell, I'll tell you that. What difference
does it make, health or sickness? Everybody wants good health.
Everybody wants good health. Everybody's going to take their
vitamins, you know, and eat right and sleep right, and out there
jogging and running around, trying to think you're going to live
forever. You're going to live about 70 years, and then you're
going to die. And I'll guarantee you, you're going to get old
just like everybody else. You're going to get sick just like everybody
else, and they're going to dig a hole and put you in it just
like everybody else. You'll be a healthy corpse or
a sick corpse. It doesn't make any difference.
You're going to be a corpse. What difference does it make? Somebody
says, well, I've been successful. I'd rather be a failure and stand
in God's presence with Christ than successful and perish with
the damned. Well, I've got friends. You've
got no friends. Well, I've got one friend. He's
stickier, closer than a brother. And he's the friend I want in
that day. I don't need to court the high-muckety-mucks of this
world and the rich of this world, the influential of this world.
Somebody says, well, I can name among my friends so-and-so. Can
you name him among your friends? That's the name that's above
every name. That's the name that matters. Does he know your name?
That's the difference. You just weigh that family ties. It don't matter whether you're
married or single. Doesn't matter whether you got children or don't
have children. Doesn't matter whether you got
relatives. Why, it's got no family. You got the biggest family in
the universe, if you know Christ. That's the family. That's God's
family. You got family everywhere. With
my friends, especially my religious profession. Most everybody here
has some kind of religious profession, some kind of belief, some kind
of hope. Now let me just, let's examine that profession in the
light of that day. Of that day. What is your profession? Look at these people just a moment.
Let's see something about their profession. See what they had
to say. Now, they said here, verse 22,
"...will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not Preached
in your name, in your name cast out devils, in your name done
many wonderful works. Then will I profess unto them
I never knew. Now look, these people had a religious profession.
Number one, they made an open profession. They said Lord, Lord.
They made an open profession. They even preached in the name
of Christ. Secondly, they undertook Christian
service. They did many, many, it says
many, many wonderful works. Wonderful works. They had some
success. He said we did cast out devil.
We did do many wonderful works. We did preach. They had some
success. They did these things. And they
were evidently recognized by other people because they said
they were wonderful works. People bragged on them. People
gave us a credit for what we did. And we were quite orthodox,
too. We did it, you notice, three times they said, in thy name. You see that? Lord, we did this
in your name, in your name, in your name. Three times these
orthodox people said they did what they did in Christ's name.
All right, here's the next thing I notice about them. They had
a religious profession. They did. Secondly, they kept
it up a long time. They were not silenced by men.
Nobody detected that they didn't know Christ. Nobody detected
it. Even they didn't detect it. They were not openly disowned
by the Lord in this life. It was a judgment when he said,
I never knew you. It wasn't in this life. They
never did get any message from heaven in this life that Christ
didn't know them at the judgments when he said, I never knew. They
were not openly disowned. They were not left without results. They had results. And they, listen,
they expected to enter heaven. Yes, sir, they did. They held
on to their profession. They held on to their experience.
They held on to their works. They held on to their assurance,
even to the judgment. And he said, even in that day,
they'll say it to me. They'll say it to me. Lord, we
did this. We did this. They kept their
profession and their claim to religion clear to the judgment.
But notice this, thirdly, they were fatally mistaken and they
found it out in a terrible way. What a way. You know, wouldn't
it be marvelous, wouldn't it be glorious, wouldn't it be a
blessing from heaven itself? If God would be pleased, you
know a lot of times we go to hear a preacher, and he preaches
along this line, examine yourself whether you be in the faith.
Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. When you come
to the Lord's table, examine yourself whether you discern
the broken body and shed blood of Christ. Examine your heart.
Do you know Christ? Do you love Christ? Are you resting
on Christ? Are you in Christ? And we get
all upset and say, I tell you, that fellow just acts like we're
all lost. He doesn't, I just don't like
to hear him preach. He's too personal. He just examines
people all the time. Talk about examining himself. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you
found out before the judgment that you didn't know Christ?
Huh? Now wouldn't that be wonderful?
What if you found it out tonight? What if after all these years,
you said, boy, I'd hate to admit it before my friends that I've
been wrong, I've had a false profession, I'd sure hate to
admit. I'd a whole heap rather admit it before them than have
God tell me that in a judgment. Why be too embarrassed? Why put
you to come down in front of that church and say, folks, I've
just had a false claim to glory. I've had a false profession.
I just haven't really known Christ all these years, and I need Christ.
Pray for me. I just couldn't do it. I'd be
embarrassed. Oh, he that believeth on him
shall not be ashamed. These people found it out too
late. Too late. They stood there in front of
the master, and they began to talk. Now, Lord, we did these
things, but I never knew you. I never knew you. Now, here's
the last thing. Let me give you this. You see,
they attended to works. They attended to marvels, but
they forgot essentials. Here's the key to this whole
thing. They said, Lord, we preached. And we cast out devils, and we
did many wonderful works, and we did this, that, and the other.
They never one time said, Lord, you died for me. You bore my
sins on Calvary. You are my confidence, and my
hope, and my trust. Not one time. They kept saying
what they had done, what they had given, and what they had
accomplished for Him. They never said anything about
what He did for them. Turn to Philippians chapter 3.
Now this was the experience the Apostle Paul had. In Philippians
the third chapter. Turn over there just a moment.
Philippians 3. And I tell you friends, this
is just, it's rare. for a person to grow up to adulthood
without making some kind of religious profession. Unfortunately, that's
so. I remember one time when a man
came down the aisle here and said the Lord had saved him.
And he was about, oh, 20 some odd, eight or nine, somewhere
in there. And I said, well, are you a church member? He said,
oh, no. I said, you've never been a church member? No. I said,
have you ever made a profession of faith? No. You never did make
a profession of faith? No. I said, how'd you miss it?
How'd you grow up through all these soul winners and professional
preachers and all these dragnet folks and miss making some kind
of religious profession? He said, I don't know, but I
just never have made one. Everybody here nearly has made one. I made
one at nine years old. Nine years old. Didn't know the
gospel from a hole in the ground. Learned it in 1950, after I'd
gone to school and pastored a church three years. Learned the gospel.
I'm glad I learned it. Glad I learned it. And that's
the experience the Apostle Paul had. Saul of Tarsus, listen to
him. He said in verse four, though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any of you think you have whereof you might trust
in the flesh, I more, more than you. You got something to trust?
I joined the church, I'm a Baptist, my brother's a preacher, all
this sort of thing, you know, we've built great... You got
something to boast about? Listen to this, verse 5. I was
circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel. I came from
Abraham. I came from the tribe of Benjamin,
the beloved tribe. He said my mama was a Hebrew
and my daddy was a Hebrew. I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews. He said
it's touching the law. I climbed as high as you can
climb. I was a Pharisee. The only thing over him was the
high priest. Is that about right? He was a Pharisee. If Paul had
lived today, he'd been president of somebody's convention. If
he'd been a Catholic, he'd have been the Pope. It's exactly right. He climbed as high as you could
climb. Concerning zeal, Well, he said, I fought for what I
believed. I persecuted the church. You're a good, strong Baptist
that fights for your doctrine, or a Methodist that fights for
your doctrine, or a Catholic that fights for your doctrine.
Paul killed for what he believed. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, bring me the Ten Commandments, he said. I'll show
you I've kept every one of them. That's what he felt, wasn't it,
Joe? Bring this. Look at verse 7. But what things
were gained to me, and they were to him at one time, his religious
denomination, his heritage, his ancestry, his religious accomplishments. He didn't miss a day in Sunday
school for 20 years. He had a string of pens all the
way down to his waist. He read his daily Bible readings.
He did all these things that are prescribed. He dedicated
and rededicated and all these things. But what things were
gained, I counted loss, total loss, a wipeout. for Christ. Yea, doubtless I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord for whom I've suffered the loss of all these things
and I count them but dumb, rubbish, garbage that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. That's where God will bring you
if He saves you. He'll bring you the place you'll take all
your ancestry, all of your heritage, all of your little doings and
professions, all of your giving and going, all of these things,
and he'll let you pile it up in one big pile and put it in
the garbage can. There's so much garbage that
you might win Christ and be found in him. Not having my own experience,
not having my own profession, not having my own righteousness,
not having my own religion, but having the righteousness of Christ,
the righteousness of God by faith. Oh, that I may know Him. That's
what I'm talking about. These folks over here stand in
the judgment. And I hear people giving the
same answer today. Are you saved? Yes, sir. I was
converted back when I was 12. I made a profession of faith.
Oh, I hadn't always been true to the word, but I've got my
profession. A lady wrote me the other day
from the television audience. She said, all my children have
been saved a long time ago. Only one out of the six are living
for God, but they're all saved. They're all saved. I never knew you. I don't know
how to read it with the solemnity and the profound reverence that
it ought to carry. But I'll tell you, I tremble,
I tremble to think that we'll go through these motions and
all these things that we do, and then someday stand before
him, too late. And hear him say, in response
to our pleas, in response to our defense, we set up the best
defense we can. I did this and that and the other.
Orthodox. I never knew you. I never knew
you, Department. He said, can a man know Christ?
I believe he can. I believe he can. I believe a
man can know Christ, and you won't find him down here. Salvation
is not down here. It's not in a bench. It's not
in my hand. My hands have no nail prints. I can't shake your
hand and send you to glory. But I'll tell you, life is in
Christ. And if you can go home tonight, and you can fall on
your face, get alone. I tell people that. Don't go
talk to anybody. Don't come talk to me or anybody
else. I've told you all I know. Salvation's in Christ. Salvation's
for sinners. God loves to show mercy. He delights
to show mercy. Nobody ever, all the way through
the New Testament, people who were weak and weary and laboring
and heavy laden and thirsty and hungry and hopeless and helpless,
cried for mercy and He saved them. But all the way through
the New Testament, He turned His back on the religious, the
self-righteous, the religious leaders. He turned His back on
them. He said, leave them alone. But these sinners, He saved them. So if you can go home and you
can, before God, get alone in your den or closet or somewhere
or bedroom and open the Word of God and say, Lord, I don't
want to miss salvation. I don't want to miss Christ.
I'm not so proud I'll defend the religious tradition all the
way to judgment. I'm not so proud I'll defend
the religious profession all the way to the judgment. I'm
not so proud that I'm going to defend my good works all the
way to the judgment. I don't want to miss Christ.
Now, I'm calling on you. Be merciful to me, a sinner.
I'm looking to Christ. I'm trusting His blood and His
blood. I want to be saved. I want some
assurance that I'm saved. I want to be in Christ, whatever
it costs. Whatever it costs. I want to
be in Christ. I want to know Christ. Reveal
Him to my heart. Give me saving faith in the Son
of God. Give me a love for the Word.
Lord, give me a love for You. Give me a love for Your people.
Do for me what I've never been able to do for myself, what the
church can't do for me or the preacher or anybody else. Save
me! Give me grace. Can you do that? You have not
because you ask not. I read it a while ago, ask and
it shall be given. Seek and you shall find, knock
and it shall be opened. But don't knock on my door, knock
on his door. That old thief, he couldn't work. He nailed their cross. He couldn't
wash, couldn't be baptized. Nailed their cross. He couldn't
work, he couldn't wash, he couldn't witness, and he couldn't wait.
And he called on Christ. And our Lord said, today you'll
be with me in paradise. I challenge you. I know most
of us are going to go right on down the same road we've been
going down. Baptist, Baptist is my belief, and I'll just tell
you why Mama and Daddy were Baptist, and I'll be a Baptist till I
die. Yeah, and you'll die too. And you'll stand before God and
hear him say, I never knew you. But Christian, Christian is my
name. That's what I want to be, Christ,
don't you? And I'm not too proud to call on him. And I hope you're
not. I hope you don't ignore what
I've tried to say tonight. Because God's saving sinners,
God's calling on sinners, God's blessing sinners. And anybody
here will take your place as a sinner and call on Christ. He'll save you. Now, what you've
got to do, I just know, I know where you are, I've been there.
You're just proud, you know, well, that's your opinion. No,
that's his opinion. It ain't my opinion. I just know
that you've got a life to live and a death to die and a God
to face and eternity to spend. And according to this Bible,
there's one way of salvation, that's Jesus Christ. There's
one way of cleansing, that's the blood. There's one way to
the glory of God, and that's by faith. And you miss that,
you'll perish. That's all I know to tell you. Religion won't do it. There's
going to be people from every religious denomination in this
world perishing someday. And no need to. No need to. Our gracious, merciful Lord,
because you're merciful and because you're gracious, you died for
us on the cross and you gave your life that we may live. You
bore our hell that we might have heaven. You bore our sins that
we might have holiness. You bore our guilt that we might
be cleansed. That's my hope. That's my hope. Not in the preaching we've done
or the singing or the giving. There's nothing about us that's
good. Even our righteousness is a filthy rag. We all do fate
as a leaf. We're all an unclean thing. In
our flesh dwelleth no good thing. In the flesh we don't even hope
to please you. But living God, Christ pleased
you, and Christ satisfied your law, and Christ satisfied your
justice, and honored and exalted every attribute of the living
God. This is my hope and this is my plea. When Christ died
on that cross, he died for me. I know no other ransom, I know
no other foundation, I know no other name on which to call,
and no other name that I can plead. May it please thee to
reveal Christ to every heart. Lord, don't let us perish under
the very gospel that can save us. Don't let us in our pride
and prejudice and bigotry and sectarianism go to hell defending
a false profession when we could very easily call on thy name.
I call on thee, and I call on you for those that won't call
on you. Like Job of old, I sacrifice before you for children that
won't, and I ask you, Lord, to forgive them. and reveal Yusuf
to their hearts. For the glory of Jesus Christ
we pray. Amen.