Now we're turning back to the
book of John, the sixth chapter. I don't regard myself as an old
preacher at all. I have been preaching a long
time, longer than most of the preachers who are here tonight. And I believe I've learned some
things about preaching. I believe that I've learned some
things about the scriptures. God has led me to write Sunday
school lessons for our Bible classes on Sunday morning. And
we have written and Brother Jay has printed. 19 of the 27 books in the New Testament,
verse by verse. That's verse by verse, commentary
on 19 books in the New Testament. So I don't believe that I could
be called a novice as far as the scriptures and preaching
is concerned. And then I believe I've learned
some things about pastoring a church, having pastored the same church
for 31 years. A young man was here visiting
from Fort Worth, Texas a few days ago, and he was asking some
questions about how this church is disciplined and how this church
is structured and how this church business is conducted. And I
said, well, I don't know, but whatever we're doing, somebody's
doing something right, because we have every evidence that God
is blessing. I couldn't exactly tell you what
it is, but whatever it is, 31 years is a long time. And I know a little bit about
what I'm going to talk about this evening. We had the privilege
of hearing back in 1954 at the first what we call Sovereign
Grace Conference, one of the great ones. He was then 64 years
old. Brother A.B. Mews, he died the
same year. He came and preached for us in
May, spent a week with us and then preached in the conference.
He died the following November. But Brother Mews used to say
this, listen carefully, it's really not amazing to me, he
declared, that the Church, talking about the Churches, the Church
of our Lord Jesus Christ, It's really not amazing to me that
the Church has prospered and continued in spite of persecution,
trial, and the hatred of the world. He said, the thing that
amazes me is that the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ has
survived such bad preaching. That's what's amazed me, he said,
that the church, not that we've survived the persecution and
trial and hatred of our enemies, but that the church has survived
such bad, bad preaching. He said it's not the enemies
of the church who've done the damage, but the so-called friends. You know, the church has survived
in spite of Calvinism and Arminianism, Fundamentalism and Dispensationalism,
Denominationalism and Intradenominationalism, Landmarkism and Extremism. We've
survived every one of them so far. The Lord's Church has survived
in spite of, not because of, but in spite of premillennialism,
postmillennialism, and all-millennialism. The Lord's Church has survived
in spite of legalism and antinomianism, ritualism, ceremonialism, and
intellectualism. The Lord's Church has survived,
not because of, but in spite of our constitutions and our bylaws and our confessions of faith.
and our rules and regulations and our discipline committees
and our monthly business meetings. It has survived, every one of
them. Not because of, but in spite of. If we had our way,
we'd pull up the tares, we'd exclude the sheep, we'd kill
all of our opponents, and we'd baptize everybody in spitting
distance, Roth said. But I'll tell you why the church
has survived. I'll tell you why it survived.
It survived because it's his church. That's the reason, J.B.,
it's his church. It survived because it's his
church. He said, on this rock I'll build
my church, and the gates of hell. And Satan is a subtle enemy.
He knows more about human nature than anybody but God. He's been
in the deceiving business for 6,000 years. He'll even use good
for bad. But our Lord said, The gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. It survived. The church has
survived because it's his church. And it has survived by his grace
and his power, not by our power and not by our strength. Jude
wrote, Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling. Now
unto him who is able to present you faultless before the presence
of his glory with exceeding joy. The church has survived because
he purchased it. It belongs to him. He purchased
it with his blood and because right now he ever lives to intercede
for his church. And this is what I'm coming to.
The church of the Lord Jesus Christ has survived. in every
age and generation, because in that age and generation the Lord
has always been pleased to raise up somebody, somewhere. He's been pleased to raise up
a voice, a man or a man who have the grace and the courage and
the love for Christ and the concern for his church to speak where
he speaks. and be silent where he's silent. The Lord's church has survived
in every age and generation because he's been pleased to raise up.
He will not leave himself without a witness. He may be a bunion
in prison. He may be a young man 17 or 18
years old down at Water Beach. He may be an old gray-haired
man sitting in his study named Gil. But whoever, God has been
pleased to raise up a voice, a man that's more concerned with
being consistent with the scriptures than being consistent with himself.
Old Mr. Spurgeon used to say this, if
I strive, somebody said to him, you're just not consistent, I
hear you say. God is sovereign, he elected
a people, he'll save whom he will, and I hear you turn around
and say, come unto Christ, believe on Christ, if you perish it'll
be your own fault. He said, the man said, you're
not consistent. You're just not consistent with
yourself. And Spurgeon replied, if I attempt to be consistent
with myself, in the end I will discover I've been consistent
with a fool. Blessed is the man who has the
courage and the grace and the love for Christ to make every
effort to be consistent, not with himself and not with his
friends, and not with his system of theology, but with God's blessed
book. The Lord's church has survived
because in every age he's raised up men. whose message, listen
to me now, you may not discover there is a difference, you may
not see any difference, but there is a difference. Whose message
is Christ. Men who preach Christ, not who
preach about Christ. Now some of you know exactly
what I'm talking about. You can preach about the gospel
and never really ever get down to preaching the gospel. Do you
know that? You can preach about Christ and you can preach about
the gospel and never preach Christ. Men who preach Christ do not
so much preach the cross of Christ as the Christ of the cross. Old
Brother Hillman Bernard, you remember him? He used to sing
a song and one of the verses went this way, let others who
will praise the cross of the Christ. And that's what we do so often.
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering
and shame. And you know how that goes. So
I'll cherish the old rugged cross till at last my trophies I lay
down. That whole song is praising the
cross. It has nothing to say about the
Christ of the cross. Let others who will praise the
cross of the Christ. The Christ of the cross is my
theme. While we must cherish the old
rugged cross, thank God for the cross, when Paul talked about
the cross and the preaching of the cross, he wasn't talking
about preaching a block of wood, he was talking about preaching
all that Christ accomplished, justification, redemption, sanctification,
ransom on that tree. While we must cherish the old
rugged cross, it's the cross of the cross that redeems. I don't trust the finished work
of Christ. I trust the Christ who finished
the work. There's a difference. Believe
me, Mike, there's a difference. I hear people say, well, I believe
in prayer. Well, I don't. Prayer can't do
one thing for me. But God can. And prayer is a
way I go to God. Prayer is a conduit, or prayer
is a pipeline, or prayer is putting a vehicle of thought, but prayer
has never done anything for anybody. You see what I'm saying? But
we're people who lay hold on visual aids, we're people who
lay hold on things, we're superstitious religious people. In some way, there's somebody
God has raised up to preach not so much the cross of Christ as
the Christ of the cross, to make not so much of the doctrines
of Christ as the person of Christ. I've said so often, I'm going
to keep saying it until somebody understands what I'm saying.
You don't arrive at Christ through doctrine. You can learn the doctrines
and never know Christ. You arrive at doctrine through
Christ. You don't arrive at Christ through
doctrine. Christ is not a doctrine, he's
a person. And these preachers preach, not
a doormat named Jesus, but a King of Kings and Lord of Lords. They're
not trying to get people to feel sorry for Christ. Our Lord said
as he went to the cross and those women followed him, weeping and
lamenting, and he was a pitiful sight. His visage was so marred
that he didn't even look like a man. Blood was streaming from
his back. You could see the bones, his
ribs through his lacerated back. They'd spit upon him, pulled
out his beard by the roots, beat him black and blue, a crown of
thorns in his In his forehead the wounds were festered and
infected and swollen, and he was stooped down, bowed down
beneath the weight of that cross, walking along there stripped
naked to his shame, and it just broke the heart even of those
people who followed him. And he turned in all of that
agony and humiliation and suffering and persecution, he turned to
them and said, weep not for me. Weep not for me, weep for yourselves
and for your children. And he took his cross and went
on. I'm not trying to get folks to feel sorry for sweet little
Jesus, boy. Don't waste your pity on the
remedy, you better waste your pity on the disease. Don't waste
your pity on the cure, waste your pity on the cause. And some preachers somewhere,
God raises them up in every generation, who do not preach a doormat named
Jesus, who do not preach a fire escape from hell named Jesus,
who preach a King and Lord with all authority over all flesh
in heaven and earth, who does as he will, when he will, with
whom he will. And if somebody starts preaching
that, sinners will quit standing around debating whether or not
they'll let God save them. And maybe somebody as Charlie
Quayle will fall on his face and cry, depth of mercy, can
there be mercy still reserved for me? We'll quit trying, we'll
quit having to send a wrecking crew out there to take some fella
by the arm and say, won't you accept Jesus tonight? Won't you
make a decision? Or are you going to go to hell
if you don't make a decision, if you don't accept Jesus? Maybe
if we preach the truth about Christ and the truth about sinners
and the truth about salvation, the truth about redemption, maybe
somebody will back there cry out, Men and brethren, what shall
we do? We don't preach sinner except
Jesus. We preach sinner, bow down and
kiss the sword. I never will forget the first
time I heard that in 1950. I heard a man stand and scream
out and say, SET UP! SUBMIT! BOW TO THE ROYAL CLAIMS
OF JESUS CHRIST! YOU WILL NOW OR YOU WILL IN HELL!
That'll do something for us. You will now or you will in hell.
I don't preach that salvation is possible for anybody. I preach
that salvation is dead certain for some. Just as sure as there's
a God in heaven. That's right, David, that's it.
Our Lord did make an effort. Our Lord accomplished a sure
thing. It's dead sure. And then God, every generation,
he's pleased to raise up somebody. Somebody who with the grace of
God and the power of his Spirit has survived the natural wisdom
of the flesh. That's our whole problem. It's
submitting this book to our natural wisdom instead of submitting
our so-called wisdom to this book. We're a bunch of intellectuals. I met a young man about twenty-some-odd
years old that had a Master of Theology degree. Now don't you
think about that. A Master of Theology. And that's what's wrong with
our churches right now. We've got a bunch of masters of theology.
We're not students and disciples and learners. We're masters. But there's somebody out there
that's seeking to acquire balance. Look at John 6.37. Let me show
you. Do you see this? I believe I
see this. In John 6.37, my Lord said, All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me It's not but him that cometh
out in no wise cast out, Jairus, and, and. I hear preachers doing this all
the time, setting God's glorious truth of sovereignty against
responsibility. I hear it all the time. And a
man that understands something of the grace of God will never
do that. I hear preachers saying, now we around here believe in
God's sovereignty, but We believe men are responsible. Uh-uh. The
word's not but, it's and. It's and. It's not but. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And! And! Not but, and! Somebody said, I believe God's
sovereign but men are responsible. No, if God wasn't sovereign,
we wouldn't have anybody to be responsible to. We're responsible
because God's sovereign. You see what I'm saying? God
is sovereign. God is king. And because he's king, and because
he's sovereign, and because he's worthy of our worship, and because
he's worthy of our praise, and because he's worthy of all of
our love, we worship and love him. We're responsible to do
that. We're responsible to do what
he commands. Because he's God. It's not, I believe in election,
but we must preach the gospel to all men. That's not it at
all. I hear people say that. Now, we believe in election,
but we believe in taking the gospel to sinners. We believe
in election, but we believe in going into all the world and
preaching the gospel. If God had not elected a people, it
would be useless for you to preach. Huh? What would be the use? If God had not elected a people,
if he had not in his divine purpose and in his divine plan and will
chosen out of mankind a people to redeem, what would be the
use of going anywhere and preaching? Dead men don't hear. And they certainly can't burn
themselves, they cannot give themselves life. You will not
come to me that you might have life. It is, I believe, an election,
and we endure all things for the
elect's sake." That's what Paul said. I heard a fellow say one
time, well, I believe the blood of Christ is sufficient to save.
I believe the blood of Christ is effectual, but you know the
gospel invites all to hear the good news. Well, let me tell
you something. If his blood is not sufficient, there ain't no
good news. As I said, if his blood's not
sufficient, there is no good news. If his blood's not effectual,
there is no good. There's no conflict here. The
conflict, I'll tell you where the conflict is, it's right here.
We can't get God in here. That's the whole conflict, Jim.
That's where it is. It's not with the Word, it's not with
God. It's not with redemption, it's not with the glory of Christ.
It's in these minds of ours that try to set up a systematic theology
and put everything in our understandable order. And the natural man receives
not the things of God. He can't even know them. They're
spiritually discerned. I want to give you just a few
things here that I believe God has revealed to me in this area.
First of all, I say this decidedly, positively, without apology. I say this clear as I can say
it. I believe in the absolute, immutable,
which means irreversible, unchangeable, infinite sovereignty of God in
all things. That's what the Word says. They
said to David, the heathens said to David, our gods are where
we put them. Our gods are in our temples and
shrines and altars and wherever. Where's your God, David? Where's
your God? Psalm 115, Psalm 135. David said, our God's in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven, in the earth, in the seas, and in all
deep places. Turn to Isaiah, if you will,
chapter 45. I want to show you something
here in Isaiah 45. This is what we're saying, that
our God is sovereign, listen to me, absolutely, immutably,
infinitely sovereign in creation. With whom did God take counsel
when he made the earth, when he made the stars, and the moon,
and the sun? With whom did God take counsel when he made the
seas, and the rivers, and the lakes, and the trees, and when
he made man? God is absolutely sovereign in
providence. Hannah said, The Lord killeth,
and the Lord maketh alive. The Lord maketh rich, and the
Lord maketh poor. The Lord bringeth down, and the
Lord lifteth up. And here in Isaiah chapter 45,
you see it, verse 5, Isaiah 45, I am the Lord, there's none else,
there's no God beside me, I go to thee though thou hast not
known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the west that there's none beside me, I'm the Lord, there's
none else, I form the light, I create darkness, I make peace,
I create evil, I the Lord do all these things. Turn to Isaiah
46 now. Listen to this. Remember the
former things of old for I am God and there's none else. I
am God and there's none like me. I declare the end from the
beginning. And from ancient times of things
that are not yet done, not yet done, saying my counsel shall
stand, I will do all my pleasure. Look at the last line of verse
11. I purposed it. I'll do it. Turn to Ephesians
with me a moment. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 11. Ephesians 1, 11. I'm saying and
setting forth as positively and clearly as I can that our God
is sovereign. He's accountable to no creature.
Our God is sovereign in creation, in providence, and my friends,
in salvation. Look at Ephesians 1. Verse 3,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in Christ before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he made us accepted in the Beloved. Now look, if you
will, at verse 11. In whom also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. That's true. That's true. There's no argument. There's
no debate. God's on the throne in creation, in providence, in
salvation. At the same time, not in opposition
to it, All that my Father giveth me shall come to me, Christ said,
and at the same time, we are accountable, responsible creatures. We're accountable for our sin,
we're accountable for our rebellion, we're accountable for our unbelief,
we're responsible to walk in the light God gives us, in the
light of conscience, in the light of nature, in the light of providence,
in the light of the law, in the light of God's word, to seek
God and obey his laws, and if we do not, then God will hold
us directly responsible for our sin. Now turn to Acts chapter
2. Acts 2. Now this is the apostle
talking about the death of Christ, our Lord. There's no one here
that has any doubt that his death, the death of our Lord, was purposed. He was the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. That his death was decreed, he
said, for this cause came out of this hour. It was purpose,
it was decree, it was in the good pleasure of the Father,
it pleased God to bruise him, you know what I said, it pleased
God to bruise him. It was unchangeable, unchangeable, and yet though
it was in the providence and purpose of God, and yet those
who nailed him to that cross. were charged with the guilt of
crucifying the Lord of Glory. They were responsible for what
they did. Now listen to it in Acts 2. This is what Peter said,
you men of Israel, listen to me, hear me! Hear me, he said,
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles
and wonders and signs, God told you who he was, God showed you
who he was. which God did by him in the midst
of you, as you yourselves know." Paul said to one of those old
weavers, these things weren't done in the corner. Well, he
said, you know about them. You know about them, and you
here tonight know about them. If you're here without Christ,
you know what this says. You've heard it. You've lived
it. And yet, you will not receive
him. You will not believe on him.
You crucify him afresh and put him to oath and shame? You, you
know it. Verse 23, Him being delivered,
turned over to you by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by wicked hands you've crucified and slain
the Lord. You did it. You did it. And you're fully responsible.
I'm saying that men who are raised in the image of Christ and taken
to glory shall ever praise him and adore him for his matchless
grace. And men who hear him say, Depart
from me, ye cursed into everlasting flames of fire, will spend eternity
not cursing Christ, but cursing themselves for their folly and
for their sin. That's so. There's not a person,
I'm saying this to all of us here tonight, there isn't a person
here tonight. If we died tonight, if you died tonight, if you dropped
dead tonight, and you heard God say, depart from me into everlasting
fire prepared for the devil and his angels, you wouldn't have
one justifiable excuse to offer. Now come on, would you? Is anybody
keeping you from Christ? Huh? You say, well, you elected
a people. That's got nothing to do with
you. Nothing to do with you. Has anybody told you you couldn't
come to Christ? Anybody told you you couldn't
sue for mercy? Has anybody turned you away from
the table of grace, huh? Has anybody ever stood with a
fountain of living water and said, you can't drink it? Oh,
Christ holds it up. Says, you thirsty? I'll tell
you a problem. You ain't never been thirsty.
You will be someday, but you're not now. Are you hungry? He said, Come
and dine! Jesus has a table spread where
the saints of God are fed, and he calleth every day, Come and
dine! Come on, Bob, eat! No, I ain't gonna come. Well, now, if you die of hunger,
who's to blame? The water of life flows freely.
It flows for all who are thirsty. It flows for all who are weary.
There's a rock in a weary land, inviting pilgrims, crossing the
burning stand. Oh, every sin-sick soul, come! Freely drink, and you'll be made
whole. Now, I'm not coming. I ain't going to say what Ralph
used to say, well, go to hell then. But that's what it is,
ain't it? You're to blame. Don't you blame
election, you silly thing. But you blame God sovereignly.
No, sir, you will not come. You could, you would, but you
won't. Your inability is because of
your unwillingness. That's where it is, Mike. Now
brethren, let me tell you something. I don't preach bread, I preach
hands. God is sovereign. God is righteous. God is almighty. And you're responsible to bow
down. And I'm responsible to kiss his
feet. Why, there's a bunch of nuts
over there kissing the Pope's feet, and kissing his ring. A man will kiss anybody's feet
but Christ. He'll try anything you tell him
but what God says. He's a rebel. He hates God. I'm a responsible creature, responsible
to use the means that God provides. Let me show you a verse in Proverbs
chapter 1. Now this is so, my dear friends,
this is just as so and sure as I'm standing here in front of
you. Listen to Proverbs chapter 1. We're responsible Christians.
Nobody's keeping you from the water of life. Election's not
the sinner's enemy, it's the sinner's friend. In Proverbs chapter 1, God said
24, verse 24, Proverbs 1, 24, Because I have called and you
refused. You've been called. I have stretched
out my hand and no man regarded." Would you come to Christ? You said it not my counsel, my
words have been preached to you, and you wouldn't have any of
my reports. I also will laugh at your calamity, and will mock
when your fear comes. When fear comes upon you as desolation,
and your destruction comes as a whirlwind, and distress and
anguish cometh upon you, the overflowing scourge of God's
wrath covers you and overflows you. Then you're going to call,
and I won't answer. There's going to be a prayer
meeting one day like there's never been before. It's not going to be believers
praying, it's going to be unbelievers. They're not going to pray to
God, they're going to pray to the rocks and mountains. They're
not going to pray for life, they're going to pray for death. And
one or one of their prayers be answered. Now you think about
that all. They'll cry for the rocks and mountains. Cover them
and hide them from the face of him that sitteth on the throne. Then, why don't you call now? Don't
lay the blame on God's sovereignty. Don't do that. That's foolish. Don't lay the blame on election.
That's not the reason you won't come to Christ. I'll tell you
why. You love yourself and you love the world. And you love
your own will. And you're a proud, arrogant,
haughty, rebellious son of Adam. And the only way you'll ever
come to Christ is for God Almighty to strip you and break you and
humble you and knock your foundations of flesh out from under you and
shut your mouth. That's so. That's where it is. Everybody God saves, he kills
them first. Everybody God clothes, he strips
them first. Everybody God Almighty puts the
Spirit of Christ in him, he takes the Spirit of self out of him.
He brings him low, male and female. Here's the second thing. God
did elect the people. There's no argument about that.
Turn to Romans chapter 8. I quit arguing that a long time
ago, in Romans chapter 8. There's no argument here. Scripture's
plain and clear as a nose on your face. In Romans 8, verse
28, we know, we know. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to his purpose, for whom he did foreknow. That word foreordained, you know
what it is. Election's not based on foreknowledge or foreseen
faith. It's based on the good pleasure
of God's will. That's so. Whom he foreknew,
he did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
But let me tell you something, and this is where we miss it
so many times. Election is not salvation. Elections
unto salvation. A man's not saved because he's
elected. He's saved because Christ done
it for him, and because the Holy Spirit regenerates him. And the
Holy Spirit of God brings him to faith in Christ and makes
him a new creature in Christ Jesus. Election is unto salvation. So the truth is plain. God has chosen a people. And
the invitation goes forth to every son of Adam and says, Come
unto me, and I'll give you rest. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come to the water. Turn ye, turn ye. Why will you
die? Our Lord Jesus Christ stood that
day. It says it was the last day of
the feast. And the people, Jews from everywhere, had been to
Jerusalem. They had gone through all the motions and rituals and
ceremonies and all of the sacrifices. And the last water had been poured
on the altar, and the steam was flying up in the air, and the
dust was settling, and everybody was packing their tents and finding
all the children, the Galatians, kissing their relatives goodbye.
And they had been to this big feast of the tabernacles or something
up there in Jerusalem, and two or three days of religious rigmarole
and the ritualism and all this sort of thing. And they were
all leaving just as ignorant as when they came. They were
leaving just as empty as when they came. They were leaving
with no questions answered. They were leaving with depressed
spirits. They were leaving with broken hearts. And they were
leaving that bunch of Pharisees and Sadducees and ecclesiastical
leaders and rulers. And they were going back home
empty. weary, and as our Lord stood there and watched them
leave, at last day of the feast, that great day, he lifted up
his voice and said, If any man thirsts, let him come to me. Let him come
to me. And out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water. This is what the scripture says,
this is what it says to you tonight. It's not the rituals of religion,
it's not the doctrines. It's come to Christ. And you
will come. Somebody said one time, David
wrote, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. He will
love you, and you will love him. He will seek you, and you will
seek him. He will call on you, but you
will call on him. Yes you will. He will teach you
and you will learn. He will not leave you and you'll
not leave him. He will confess your name and
you'll confess his name. It's a mutual love affair. Christ
and his people. Let me give you this quickly.
Our Lord will not lose one. whom the Father hath given to
him. Not one redeemed by his blood, not one called by his
Spirit, not a one shall perish. At the same time," and you may
not, I know some people will just get all confused here now,
at the same time, not a one of them will leave him. Brethren,
the scripture teaches The preservation of his people, and Baptists have
grown a seed on this, once saved, always saved. The scripture teaches preservation,
and the scripture teaches, at the same time, perseverance. It teaches that God chose a people,
and they chose him. It teaches that God elected a
people, and they elected to follow him. It teaches that God loved
the people and they love Him more than they love life. It says that God says, I will
not leave you. And Peter says, to whom shall
we go? Just as plain as anything in
the Word. If one sheep of Christ could
fall away, my poor soul would fall a thousand times a day.
I'm kept by the power of God through faith. Paul said, whose house you are
if you continue in the faith. He said over here in Colossians,
turn to chapter 1. Let me show you a scripture with
which we all ought to be familiar. In Colossians chapter 1, I believe
it's verse 20 and 21. Colossians 1, yes. Verse 21,
and you, you, you Gentiles who were one time alienated. enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in
the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, unblamable,
unapprovable in his sight, if you continue in the faith." God's people never quit. Oh, they struggle and they stumble
and they fumble and they fall, but they never quit. I tell you,
once you've seen the Son, there's nothing with him to compare. Once you've laid hold upon life
in Christ, there's nothing else that your soul could possibly
want. Your flesh has conflicts and desires, but your soul is
extremely satisfied. You've found the fountain of
life. Christ is my life. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. And that's the peace we covet.
You say, well, Preacher, I have such a struggle with my flesh.
He didn't say being justified by faith we have peace with our
flesh. He said we have peace with God. I'm going to have a
warfare with the flesh as long as I'm wearing it. But Preacher,
the people of this world, they give me such a hard time. I have
such conflict with the people. He doesn't say being justified
by faith we have peace with the world. He said we have peace
with God. But I tell you, I have such a
fight with Satan, he doesn't say you're going to have a peace
agreement with Satan. He wouldn't leave Peter alone,
who are you? He wouldn't leave Job alone,
who are you? It says we have peace with God! That's what I'm
talking about. And whether a man has tasted
peace with God, well, he's not going to leave that place. to
slop with the hogs, I guarantee you. That's the king's table.
No, sir. It's just as clear as anything
that's taught in the Word of God. God preserves his own, he
keeps his own, he loves his own with an everlasting, infinite
love, and he'll never forsake them. And they've been brought
to see him, to love him, and to believe on him, and they'll
never leave him. The believers hold existence
as a paradox. Let me give you this quickly.
He makes no boast of his love for Christ. I'm afraid of a man
that's talking about how much he loves the Lord. Well, I sure
love the Lord with all my heart. I wish I could say that. But
I can say this. The believer makes no boast of
his love for Christ, but at the same time he does say, Lord,
you know all things. You know I love you. The believer mourns over his
sins and infirmities all the time. He cries, O wretched man
that I am, and yet he knows he's a new creature in Christ. Like
old John Newton said, I'm not what I want to be, I'm not what
I ought to be, I'm not what I'm going to be, but I'm sure not
what I used to be. John said, we know we've passed
from death unto life. Job said, I know my Redeemer
liveth. David said, the Lord is my shepherd. The believer knows that he's
not under law, but under grace. A young fellow asked me recently,
what do you believe about the law? Well, let me tell you something. I love God's law. The Ten Commandments. I shall
have no other God before me. You don't want to change that,
do you? Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image. I have some special convictions
about idols, don't you? I'm not in the process of changing
that law. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain. My friends, I want more and more,
when I speak the name of God, I even think the name of God,
to do it in a manner glorifying to his name, don't you? Now,
remembering the Sabbath day, I have a little problem here.
Because every day is the Lord's day. The Lord is my Sabbath.
Christ is my Sabbath. Christ is my rest. There's no
problem there. Besides, Saturday is a Sabbath
day anyway. It ain't Sunday. We're not under the rituals of
the law. Honor your father and mother.
You don't have a problem with that, do you? Oh, if you love
Christ, you love your parents. You love them more and more,
don't you? You respect them and honor them. Thou shalt not kill. We don't have any trouble with
these laws. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Thou shalt not covet. I told this young man, I said,
my friend, I love God's law. But I'm not under a negative
law in this regard. Now listen carefully to me. I love and honor and respect,
and it's not a one of those commandments, it's a believer with any justification
can break. But we are under the law of Christ,
which is the law of love. It's not only thou shalt not
kill, but thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
mind, soul, and strength. And this is what our Master said.
On these two hang all those commandments. Love God with all your heart
and your neighbors yourself. And we don't need to put those
ten commandments over here on the wall and say this is our
rule of life. Christ is my rule of life. Christ is my rule of life.