I want you to turn back to the
scripture that Brother Roach read a moment ago, Matthew 11.
I do not know how the weight of
preaching can become any greater, and this preacher survived But
more and more, I realize that we preach, we who preach, preach
as those who actually may never preach again. I may never preach
another message from this pulpit to you from any place for that
matter. I may never preach again. There
has to be a last sermon. There has to be a last meeting.
There has to be a last worship service. And I preach as a dying
man to dying men. And you may be hearing for the
last time. It may be that this is the last
message you'll ever listen to. So it's dawning on me more and
more the weight and the burden of the hour, the importance of
the hour. And I believe that this message
that I have for you tonight was given to me by God. I believe
this message that I have for you tonight comes from my heart
to your heart by way of the scriptures. And I pray that God will give
you ears to hear and give me a heart to speak forth on this
subject, true conviction leads to rest. In Matthew chapter 11,
this is my text, verse 28, our master said, come unto me. Come
unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I'll give
you rest." One preacher of the past often said, if a person
misses Holy Spirit conviction, and that's what we're talking
about here, he said, ye that labor. We're talking about laboring
under the load and burden of sin, of its guilt. under its
burden, heavy laden with the guilt of sin in conscience, in
heart, in spirit, if a person misses this awareness, this experience,
Holy Spirit conviction, he's going to miss repentance. And
if he misses repentance, he's going to miss faith. And if he
misses faith, he's going to miss Christ. And if he misses Christ,
he's going to perish under the wrath of Almighty God. So when
we come to face the issue that I'm dealing with tonight, true
Holy Spirit conviction, true Holy Spirit revelation of our
sin and inability and our guilt, sin's nature and guilt, is as
necessary to salvation as seeing Christ crucified as our Redeemer. It's as necessary as seeing Christ. Seeing sin is as necessary as
seeing Christ. Because until a man sees his
sin, he'll never turn to Christ. Until a man is made aware of
his guilt. Now, it's not everyone that experiences this. In fact,
one old hymn writer said, a sinner, a true sinner is a sacred thing,
is an unusual thing. A sinner is a sacred thing the
Holy Ghost hath made him so. Not many people experience Holy
Spirit conviction. Not many people actually understand
what it means to be convicted of sin by the Spirit of God.
The Scripture says in Proverbs 14, fools make a mock of sin. Again in Proverbs 10, it says,
fools make a sport of sin. The rich young ruler had no sense
of sin. When the master said to him,
keep the commandments, he said, I've kept them. I've kept He
had absolutely no sense of sin. He had no feeling of guilt before
God. He had no awareness that he was
a sinner. He said, I've kept them. Saul
of Tarsus had no awareness of sin, none whatsoever. He said, before the law, I was
blameless. Actually, he said, till the law
came, I lived. But the law revealed to me my
sin. I would never, he said, have
known sin. I would never have been convicted
of sin had not the law said to me, thou shalt not covet. The Pharisee in the temple had
no awareness of sin. He stood and prayed thus with
himself, Lord, I thank you I am not like other men. I'm not an
extortioner. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not
unjust. I tithe. I fast. I pray. I give of. These men were absolutely
not aware of sin. Now I want you to turn back to
Matthew 11, the verses above, verse 28. This is something that
I saw in looking at this scripture this week in preparing this message
that I had never seen before. Our Lord says back here in verse
20. Now, before we read it, let me
tell you this. If you are one of those who feel
the weight of sin. If you're one of those who have
been brought under a burden of guilt by the Holy Spirit, you
have been made aware of your sins before God, and feel them
deep in your soul, and grieve over them, and mourn over them,
and repent of them, and you can be brought to rest in Christ
as your Redeemer and Lord and Savior. You are standing where
mercy is falling because everybody doesn't experience that. Now
look back here at Matthew 11, verse 20. Our Lord began to upbraid
the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done. In other
words, where He preached the gospel, where He healed the sick,
where He made the lame to walk, where He gave sight to the blind.
He rebuked these cities in which He preached because they didn't
repent. He said, Warned to thee, Chorazin, warned to thee, Bethsaida,
if the mighty works which are done in you, the message had
been preached, if the message preached to you, had been done
and preached in Tyre and Sidon," and he goes on down later and
says, "...Sodom, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes."
This is what he said, that Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre and Sidon,
had an awareness of sin. They knew they were sinners. I don't doubt that at all. Sodom,
Tyre and Sidon, these cities, these bloody cities, these perverted
cities, these wretched, wicked cities, they knew they were sinners.
They knew they were wicked. They delighted in wickedness.
They took pleasure in wickedness. They delighted. But there was
no mercy. There was no revelation of grace.
All right, Capernaum and Bethsaida had a revelation of grace. They
had a revelation of mercy. They had the Son of God himself
preach God's mercy to them. But they had no awareness of
sin. You see what I'm saying? Now some men who have an awareness
of sin, they know they're murderers and thieves and robbers and perverts
and all, they have an awareness of sin. But there's no revelation
of mercy. And then there's some men who
are blessed with a revelation of mercy in God's common grace,
like Capernaum, Bethsaida, these other cities, but they have no
awareness of sin. Therefore, the preached word
profits them nothing. Blessed is the man, blessed is
the son of Adam who has both, who has both an awareness of
sin, a conviction of sin, and a revelation of God's mercy in
Jesus Christ. To know that you're a sinner
and to know that Jesus Christ is the sinner's savior is the
greatest blessing that God can confer upon you. Because every
invitation in the Word of God which invites men to Christ,
every invitation which calls men to Christ, presupposes a
condition of guilt and a need of Christ. Listen to these verses.
Don't turn to them. Let me just quote them to you.
Isaiah 118. What I'm saying is this. Every
invitation in the Bible for men to come to Christ, for men to
to lay hold upon Christ. Every one of them, every invitation,
presupposes a need of Christ, an inability and a guilt and
a feeling of that guilt, an awareness. Now listen to this, Isaiah 118,
Come now and let us reason together, though your sins be escarped. Come. Come to me. Let's have
a conference. The conference is not to determine
if you have sinned. The conference is because you
have sin you can do nothing about. Sin that you cannot put away.
Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins
be as scarlet, though they be red like crimson, I'll make them
as wool. Though they be as scarlet, they'll
be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall
be as wool, as snow, as wool. Isaiah 55, listen to this. Ho,
everyone that thirsteth, Come to me. Everyone that thirsteth,
come to me. Come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come buy. Come buy wine
and milk without money and without price. This is calling bankrupt
people to come to Christ. People who have nothing to pay,
nothing to give. Listen to John 7, 37. In that
last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried,
saying, If any man thirst, that's the condition. If you're thirsty,
if you're in need, if you're hungry, come to me. If any man
thirsts, let him come to me. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow living water. Every invitation in the Bible
which invites me into Christ presupposes a need and an awareness
of that need. Then listen to this. Every scripture
which describes the redeeming work of Jesus Christ identifies
Him as the Savior of sinners. Every scripture. Listen to Matthew
1.20. Let's turn to Matthew 1.21. Let me read several of these
passages here in Matthew 1.21. Now, I'm saying every scripture
which describes the redeeming work of Jesus Christ Identifies
him as the Savior of sinners Matthew 1 21 and She shall bring
forth a son and thou shall call his name Jesus Why why would
he called be called Jesus? Joshua God my Savior for his
purpose his work his task Shall be to save his people from their
sins. That's why it came Turn to Luke
19 10 Every scripture which describes the ministry of Christ Jesus,
the mission of Christ Jesus, the redeeming work of Christ,
denotes Him and describes Him as the Savior of sinners in Luke
19.10. Listen to this. For the Son of
Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Turn with me to 1 Timothy 1.15.
Here's one that everybody in here can quote. I've used it
so many times in messages. 1 Timothy 1.15. This is a faithful
saying. This is a faithful saying and
it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into this
world. He came into this world. Why?
To save sinners. To save sinners. That's why he
came. To save sinners. Matthew 9, 11 through 13, our
Lord said, The well do not need a physician, but they that are
sick, I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The hymn writer has written these
beautiful words, And can it be that I should gain an interest
in the Savior's blood? Died He for me who shed His blood,
for me who Him to death pursued? Amazing love, how can it be that
Thou, my God, Just die for me. Depths of mercy, can there be?
Mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrath forbear,
and me, the chief of sinners, spare? I'm saying that if we
feel in our souls and in our hearts the great burden of sin,
if we can be identified with these whom our Lord invites,
He says, come unto me ye that labor and are heavy laden. If we can identify with them,
if we can see Christ as the means of redemption, As the haven of
rest, we are standing where God's mercy is falling and where God's
grace is revealed. Now, here are three questions
that I want to ask and answer, and I hope that I'm helpful in
this message this evening. Here's the first question. What
is conviction of sin? We talk about being heavy laden
and burdened with guilt and conscious of our sinfulness before God.
What does it mean to be convicted of sin? That's the first question.
Secondly, why does the Lord put such a burden? Why does He require
this? Why does the Lord put His people
through such a time of turmoil and struggle and depression?
Why does He bring these burdens upon our hearts and keep them
there in a sense and to a degree? And then thirdly, what is it
to come to Christ for rest? Now let's take the first one.
What is it to be convicted of sin? Turn to Job 13. What is
it to be convicted of sin? John Flavel, this is found in
Job 13, now I'm going to read it. John Flavel preached a message
one time entitled, God's Method of Grace. I think it's one of
the most beautiful sermons ever preached in which he said, when
a man is convicted of sin and brought to true repentance, there
are three things he's made aware of. Number one, he's made aware
of his SIN. His nature, His nature, that
sin is not just an act, but sin is an attitude. That sin is not
just a deed of the hand or the foot, but it is a thought of
the heart. He's made aware of His nature,
the principle of evil that lives within Him, that lives with Him
all the time. That He's born of Adam, that
He's the Son of Adam, that it's not only what He does that brings
the judgment of God, it's what He is. And what he does is because
of what he is. And then he said conviction,
secondly, is to be convicted of the sinfulness of our righteousness,
that even our works of righteousness are filthy rags in God's sight.
But here's one thing he said that most of us feel in this
thing of conviction. This is usually where it starts.
It doesn't start with my nature. That comes later. It doesn't
start with the evil of my righteousness. That comes later. But here's
where a man is first convicted, and that is of his S-I-N-S. Listen
to Job in Job 13, verse 26. He said, For thou writest bitter
things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities
of my youth. In other words, conviction acknowledges
S-I-N-S. We have sins. All sins of omission,
sins of commission, sins of words, sins of thought, sins of deeds. We have so many sins. Turn to
Psalm 51 and listen to David. Here is the psalm of conviction
and the psalm of repentance. My friend, this is where God
works on a man first. I just know this. I know we're
brought to see our SIN, the principle of sin. the nature of sin. I
know we're brought later to see the sin of our righteousness,
and even our good deeds, reaped with selfishness and self-righteousness. But here is where we live, and
here is where God deals with us first. It's our S-I-N-S. Our sins. Listen to David in
Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to Thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of Thy tender
mercies. Blot out my transgressions. My transgressions. Not just my
nature, not just the principle of sin, not just the body of
sin, not just the nature of sin, but my transgressions. Wash me. Wash me throughly, completely,
all the way from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. Look
at verse 3. For I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. Now that's where conviction starts.
It starts with the actual fact that we sinned against God. We
have sinned against God. Constantly, daily, sin is in
our lives, it's in our thoughts, in our words, in our actions.
Turn to Romans 7 and listen to Paul. The first part of conviction,
conviction acknowledges sin. It doesn't justify it. It doesn't
excuse it. Somebody said one time, if you
preach pure grace, you'll encourage men to sin. My friends, men don't
need encouragement to sin. They don't need it. I've never
found that I need to be encouraged to sin. And believers do not
look for encouragement. They want to be like Christ.
If you preach free grace and grace alone, you'll encourage
sin. We don't need encouragement. And believers are not looking
for encouragement. They're looking for a reason
to lay down sin. Look at Romans 7. Listen to Paul.
Verse 15. That which I do, why, I allow
not. And what I would, that do I not. What I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent to the law, it is good. Now then, it's no more
I that do it, but it's sin that dwells in me. I know in me that
is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. So that's where conviction
starts. It starts with the acknowledgement
of the existence of sin in me. Not just in the world. Not just
in everybody else. But the sin that dwells in me. Now turn back to Psalm 51. This
is so important. I want you to listen very carefully
right here. The second thing about Holy Spirit
conviction. It not only acknowledges my sin
and my sins, but it acknowledges that my sin is against God. Now,
brother, that's who we're dealing with. We're dealing with God.
In verse 4 of Psalm 51, back in verse 3, he said, My sins
are ever before me. I acknowledge my transgression.
Now look at verse 4. Against thee have I sinned, thee
only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. Now listen
to me, you'll learn something here if you hadn't already learned
it. If we're not careful, if we're not very careful, we'll
look upon sin as only against people, and offending people,
and hurting people. And when they're not offended,
and when they're not hurt, and when they're satisfied, then
we're satisfied. And this is the reason many people
make restitutions. I had a fellow say to me one
time he had divorced his wife and left his children and married
somebody else and the Lord saved him. And he said to me, now what
should I do? He said, should I leave this wife and go back
to my first wife and take up my children and make restitution?
I said, my friend, that won't do a bit of good in this world.
That'll just cause more problems for more people. You see, what
he was looking for was a way to make restitution and give
himself peace of conscience. But our sin is not just against
people. Our sins are against God Almighty.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 7. Let me see if I can illustrate
that over here from the writings of Paul. And so often we feel
in 2 Corinthians 7, so often we feel if we have a flare-up
of temper and hurt somebody and we go to them and apologize and
they say, well, it's all all right, then we go off thinking
it is all all right. Well, in a sense it is. God's
mercy is gracious and His blood is sufficient and Christ's death
puts away sin. But we're apologizing in the
wrong direction. Sin is against God. That's what
David said. You see what he's saying? He
said, my sin is before me and before the people. But he said,
it's against God that I've sinned. That's where my transgression
lies. That's where my confession lies. That's where my apology
lies. That's where my restitution lies
with God. I had a friend, many of you know
him, Fred Simmons. He made more fortune and lost
more fortunes than anybody I've ever known. But Brother Fred,
back during World War II, owned a big lumber company in Oakland,
California. And this was before he met Christ,
before he came to know the gospel and before God saved him. It
was back in the early days of World War II, and he was doing
some work for the government. some kind of war contract and
like so many people he took advantage of the government and and He
made some money shouldn't have made in some of these deals in
making things for the war effort And then he went to a Bible conference
in 1949 Brother Barnard was preaching and the Lord revealed the gospel
to it And he sat down and figured out how much money he'd stolen
from the government back during World War II. He went through
all of his records. It took a while. And he figured out how much that
he had gypped them out of. And he had his secretary type
the most beautiful letter about how he'd gotten saved and how
the Lord had done something for him and how that he'd cheated
the government, he wanted to make matters right, and here
was a check. Well, well, sir. Some time passed, and he got
a letter back from this particular office, this bureau. You see,
the man that was there had left, and all the people had left,
and the government spent more money hiring a committee and
finding out where this money was taken from and where it ought
to go, and they wrote him a letter. This is a true story. And they
said, Dear Mr. Simmons, we appreciate your letter,
but next time you get saved, just leave us out of it, will
you? And I think sometimes that in
some of these situations we ought to leave us out of it and bring
into it him who belongs in it. Somebody said to Brother Richardson
one time, a man came up to his study, and he said, Brother Richardson,
he said, I just feel like that we got something missing in our
church. And Brother Richardson said, what do you think it is?
He said, well, I think we ought to confess our sins to one another.
I think we ought to get together. in prayer meeting and other places
and confess our sins." And Brother Richardson said, well, I've just
never felt that way. He said, I believe we should
confess our faults one to another, confess our potential to sin
and our temptations to sin and our weaknesses, but I've never
felt we ought to actually confess sins to one another. But he said,
I'll tell you what. He said, since you feel that
way, if you want to, I'll listen to you, go right ahead. And he
said it was a long silence. After a while, the fellow said,
Well, I can't think of one right now, but when I do, I'll come
back and confess it to you. Look at 2 Corinthians 7. Listen to Paul here. He had written
to this church in verse 8. He said, I made you sorry. I
wrote you a letter. I wrote you a letter and I made
you sorry. I made you mourn and grieve. I broke your heart. Now,
I do not repent, though I did repent, for I perceive that the
same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
I broke your heart. You went through a great burden.
Now, I rejoice, not that you were made sorry. I don't like
to see people cry, I say. I don't like to see people brokenhearted.
I don't like to see you go through this trouble and distress. But
here's what I thank God for. You sorrowed to repentance. You
laid down your weapons of warfare. You put up your sword. laid down
your shotgun, you were made sorry, listen, verse 9 there, after
a godly manner. What does that say in the center
reference there, in your Bible? According to God. You were made
sorry according to God. That's where it is. According to God. After a godly
manner. Verse 10, look at verse 10. You
see what I'm saying? For a godless sower worketh repentance
to salvation. Not to be repented of, but the
sorrow of the world. Work at death. If this is the
only reason we're sorry for sin, because we've offended or hurt
or brought about some problem, then we're not sorry at all.
It's got to be like this, against thee and thee only have I sinned.
Now that's conviction of sin. First of all, it acknowledges
sin. Secondly, it acknowledges that
my sin is against God. That's where it is. It acknowledges
the genuine curse of the law. Turn back to Psalm 51. I brought
this out last week, so I'm not going to stay on it long. In
verse 4, David acknowledges that what he has done has brought
God's judgment, and God's judgment is just. You know the scripture
says, Cursed is everyone that continues not in the deeds of
the law to do them. And in Romans 3, 19, what the
law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty. And
David said in Psalm 51, 4, against thee, and thee only have I sinned,
and done this evil in thy sight. And when you judge me, when you
judge me, Lord, you're justified. When you judge me, you're clear. So conviction acknowledges that
the curse of the law is well deserved. It is well deserved. Turn back to Romans 3, and let
me read that to you. I tried to quote it, but it acknowledges
that the judgment and curse of the law being upon me is deserved. It is deserved. In Romans 3,
19, now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law, that every mouth they bestop,
no alibi, no excuse, and all the world become guilty. What
is conviction of sin? It acknowledges sin, it acknowledges
our sins against God, it acknowledges that the curse of the law as
a result of our sins is justified, and it brings about a fear of
eternal wrath. Turn to Psalm 130. I don't imagine
there's anybody here that has not at one time in your life
or even probably recently felt a fear and trembling. as you
face eternity and know that God Almighty is going to judge sin.
In Psalm 130, listen to David. Verse 1, Out of the depths have
I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine
ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. Watch this.
If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall
stand? who shall stand. Now that, to
me, is conviction of sin. It acknowledges sin, sins, and
the sin of righteousness. It acknowledges that our sins
are against God. It acknowledges that the curse
of the law is justified and clear. And it stands in fear of eternal
condemnation. Now here's the second question.
Why does the Lord put such a burden upon the hearts of His beloved? And in one sense of the word,
keep it there. Turn to Romans 7 again. I'm saying
this, that if God is bringing a man to Christ, he puts him
under a deep conviction of sin. He puts him under Holy Spirit,
an onslaught of the Spirit of God using the law and the Word
of God and the holiness of God and the righteousness of God
and brings him down to such a terrible state of depression and fear. and trouble. God does that to
everybody He brings to Christ. But not only that, I'm saying
that He puts His people through this often. We go through this
same thing. Listen to Paul in Romans 7. There's
a sense in which this burden, this conviction, this awareness
never leaves us. In Romans 7, verse 22, Paul said,
I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see I see
all the time another law in my members warring against the law
of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which
is in my members. Oh, wretched man that I am! Oh, wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me? Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Oh, wretched man that I am! So
I'm saying that this conviction of sin is not only experienced
by those coming to Christ, but this same awareness and mourning
is experienced by those who have come to Christ. And I'll tell
you, be thankful if you're never really free from it because of
several reasons. Now here's the first one. Why
does God put a man through this? Why does God even bring his people
to this place. First of all, to make Christ
precious. To make Christ precious. Christ
does not become sweet to us, really sweet to us and precious
to us, until sin becomes most bitter. The well, he said, don't
need a physician. You know, if a person's in the
hospital, I've been there, once or twice, many of you have been
there several times, sick of body. Your body is so feeble
and so frail and so sick, and you're lying there on the bed
in the hospital. You know you can be comforted
when friends come in and sit and talk with you. It's a comfort
when your family comes to see you. When someone sends you a
card, someone calls you on the phone, someone sends you flowers.
All of these human means and these material things will comfort. But let me tell you this. If
a man is ever truly convicted of sin, made aware in his heart
of his sin against God, and brought down low because of his sin and
his sins and his evil, there is no earthly enjoyment that
can bring him pleasure. There is nothing in this world,
there is absolutely no creature enjoyments that can give him
rest. He cannot find rest in his family. He cannot find rest
in his children, he cannot find rest even in his good food, he
cannot find rest in anything. There's only one place he can
find rest. The body can find comfort by
a smile, but a smile won't do a sinner any good. The body can
find comfort by an encouraging word, but pity won't ease the
troubled soul. That's right. A person with all
kind of troubles, earthly troubles, can be comforted in all sorts
of ways, but I guarantee you this, there's only one refuge
for a troubled soul, and that's Christ. That's the reason God
brings us through this. Over in our text, our Lord said,
you come to me and I'll give you rest. I know people trying
other things, they go to the baptismal pool and it may be
soothes them for a while and smooths their feathers, they
come to the sacraments, they come to the front, they rededicate,
they go through all the motions, they join the church and all,
and they can find some temporary relief, but permanent rest and
relief for the troubled soul is found nowhere but in Christ. That's the first reason why God
brings us down like this. why He strips us and why He humbles
us and why He breaks us to make Christ and Christ only precious. To you that believe, He's precious. Have you ever needed Christ?
Have you ever really needed Him? I love that scripture back there
in Matthew 9 where our Lord was eating with the publicans and
sinners and the Pharisees, the religious men. They didn't need
Christ. They weren't sinners, and they looked over there and
they said, well, to the disciples, why does your master, why does
he commune with people like that? Why does he find himself with
people like that? And our Lord said, well, people
don't need a doctor. The physician's only precious
to those that are sick. And I'm not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. Oh, secondly, I can stay on that
so long, here's the second thing. Why does the Lord put this burden
upon? Why does He make us hurt and
agonize and grieve because of our pride and covetousness and
jealousy and hatred and lust and all these things we say and
do? Secondly, to honor and glorify His grace. Turn with me to Ephesians
2. To honor and glorify His grace. That's why He does it. Now this
is the grand design of God in redemption is to glorify His
grace, His name. He saved them for his name's
sake. In Ephesians 1, I want you to
look at that first. I've shown you this before, but
it fits in right here. Why does God put us through this
experience? I say to make Christ precious.
And secondly, to glorify his grace. In chapter 1 of Ephesians,
the first five verses, he talks about the Father's purpose in
redemption. And he says in verse 6, it is
all to the praise of the glory of his grace. And then he talks
about the work of Christ in the next four or five verses, the
work of Jesus Christ, the substitute, and then in verse 12 he said
that we should be to the praise of his glory. And then he talks
about the work of the Holy Spirit in verse 13, and the last line
in verse 14 he says, unto the praise of his glory. And then in chapter 2, he tells
about our wickedness and our sins. In verse 4, he says, But
God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, whereas he loved
us even when we were dead, quicken us together with Christ by grace,
or you say, verse 7, that in the ages to come he might show
the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. Grace never appears to be grace
until sin appears in its true colors. Now that's right, grace
never appears to be grace. That is free grace. I know we
can talk about religion, we can talk about forgiveness, we can
talk about mercy, we can talk about grace, but grace, grace,
grace, free grace. Grace to the guilty, mercy to
the miserable never appears in its glory, in its beauty, until
sin appears in its true colors. And that's when grace is honored.
That's when it's glorified. Why does God put our hearts through
this experience thirdly? He does it to divorce our hearts
from sin. To divorce our hearts from sin.
Now listen to me. All of the arguments in the world
will not divorce a person's heart from sin. No, sir. All of the
logic, all of the threats, all of the laws, and all the promises
of reward will not divorce the heart from sin. There's just
one time that the heart will be divorced from sin, and that's
when he comes to despise it. That's right. When we come to
hate our sins, to loathe the presence of that sin in our hearts,
When we come to dread it and despise it, that's when that
sin will be divorced from our hearts. I'm not saying just to
see it. I'm not saying just to see it in its true colors. I'm
saying to see it and to despise it. And then fourthly, why does
God put men through this? He does it, first of all, to
make Christ precious. to reveal Christ as the only
refuge, the only foundation, the only hiding place, the only
position of the soul, the only source of rest and peace. To
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of life.
The woman with the issue of blood had tried everybody, tried everything,
she'd spent all she had, she was no better. She said, if I
can get to Him, I'll be made whole. To make Christ precious,
to glorify His grace, to divorce our hearts from sin, and then
fourthly, to make us have genuine pity and compassion upon those
who are like us. Just providential, I got this
letter in the mail after I prepared this message, but I want to share
this with you. Two things that have been said
this week that have meant so much to me personally and to
my ministry and given me some some confidence that I am called
of God to preach the gospel. One, when I left Ball, Louisiana
last Thursday, closed the service on Thursday night, there's a
gentleman there for whom I have a great deal of respect and regard.
He's about 77 or 78 years of age, Carol Robertson. I've known
him, I met him in Gordo, Alabama maybe 20 years ago and he's written
and he's contributed to this church and he's gotten tapes
We've become very close friends through the years and when I
finished preaching on last Thursday, it was when I finished the message
or before, he came up to me and he walked with a cane and he's
kind of bent over with arthritis and rheumatism and he looked
up at me and there were tears glistening in his eyes and he
said, And Brother Mahan, he said, we may never see each other again
on this earth. May never. But I want you to
know that this week you have preached redemption story the
clearest I've ever heard it in all my life. Now that was a blessing. That nothing he could have said,
nothing he could have given me would have meant more, would
have made a greater impact. I preached the gospel of redemption
clearer than a 78-year-old man that ever heard it who's heard
a lot of preaching. Now, that's accomplishing what
I've set out to accomplish. But I want you to listen to this
loud. Now, that's from a man who sits every Lord's Day in
a church and hears preaching, has for 50 years. This is from
a prisoner who's in the penitentiary. I want you to listen to what
he said. This is from Tom DeJarnit, the prisoner who was saved, brought
to Christ, listening to the sermons for supper time, Gerald, that
you supported years ago. He was brought to the knowledge
of Christ. He's steadfast, he's faithful, he loves... I want
you to listen to what he said, but I'm coming to a sentence that
meant so much. I sent him a picture of Doris
and I, and he said he appreciated the picture. I'll always cherish
this portrait. He started out, my beloved pastor,
my relationship with you has been one of the many precious
memories. No matter if you were at home or on the road, you found
time to communicate with me and so forth. I've grown since I've
come to this place. I've been able to share with
others who are seeking the living God, the gospel of Christ. Although
there are many who are ignorantly worshiping an unknown God, as
they did on Mars Hill, I rejoice to hear that I made known to
your congregation in our friendship. My calling has not been an easy
task. Not that I speak with regret,
but it behooves me that God saw fit to put me through all this,
that I might be among those who labor in his grace and love his
Son. I've been able to help a lot
of men here in various ways. I who destroyed life and now
laboring, trying to lead men to real life. I know that God
must be the increase if men are to be saved. No matter how vigorously
one may preach, only God can increase whom He will." Now here's,
I'll get to this. "'I have never given up in my
pursuit to win my body freedom.'" He's trying to get out of the
penitentiary. "'I hope it's finally in God's
decree to help my cause. They have docketed my case in
the high court, and they have hindered and denied me in this
state for many years. But now the Attorney General
of Ohio will hear my complaint. Now listen, I want to come visit
your church before I depart from this life. It's been one of my
goals to give my testimony. of how God spoke to me from a
wall radio in a cold prison cell, and how I once thought as I listened
to you preach that you must have been in prison from the way your
sermons helped convince me of sin." Did you hear what he said?
I listened to you preach, I heard you preach, and he said, I once
thought that you evidently had been in prison from the way you
preached." You see what he's saying? I preached in a way that
identified with him, that we might see the glory of his grace,
that our hearts might come to hate sin and despise it and be
weaned from it. But he brings us down that we
might pity and sympathize and have compassion. on those who
are like us. Now thirdly, and I'll close this
message, what is it to come to Christ for rest? He said, come
unto me. Turn to John 6.35. John 6.35. We can't stop this message without
referring to this. John 6.35. Coming to Christ and
believing on Christ, I believe the same thing. In John 6.35
it says this, Jesus said, I am the bread of life. He that cometh
to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Well, preacher, can you sum up
just briefly in two or three words what you mean by coming
to Christ? Well, number one is to discern
the reality of Christ and His mercy. He said in Hebrews 11.6,
turn to that just a moment, Hebrews 11.6. He says here in Hebrews
11.6, without faith, It's impossible to please him. For he that cometh,
he that cometh to God must believe that he is the reality of Christ. Now watch, that's not all. And
that he is the rewarder of them that seek him. Our Lord is, and
our Lord is merciful. See what I'm saying? He is. The
devil, you believe there's one God, the devil believes that
and trembles. We not only believe in his reality, but we believe
in his redemption. Does that make sense? We not only believe in his existence,
but we believe in his grace, that he is the reward of them
that diligently seek him. Secondly, coming to Christ, it's
to despair of salvation any other way. The apostle kept saying,
other foundation can no man lack. There's none other name unto
heaven given among men. Christ said, I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. Now
thirdly, what is it to come to Christ? Now listen to this. Brother
Pruitt gave me this, I think it's one of the best statements
I've ever heard. To come to Christ is to cast all my care on Him
and rest. The hardest thing for a believer
to do in respect to mercy is what? Do nothing. That's the hardest thing man
ever had to do. We want to try in some way to help God out. We want to try in some way to
assist God in this thing of righteousness. That's right. We want to try
in some way to add something to what He did. Now listen to
it again. The hardest thing for a believer
to do in respect to mercy is to do nothing. Our Lord said
to the Israelites, Slay the lamb, eat the flesh, put the blood
on the door, and then do what? Go in the house and sit down.
And when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Can you rest in
Christ? This is why God shows us, this
is why God brings us to this place. It's to close every other
door, to shut up every other avenue, to turn our faces to
Christ. to admit, to acknowledge His
reality, His redemptive work, and then to rest and trust in
Him. I prepared a message from John
chapter one.