While you're turning to my text,
Psalm 45, I have a confession to make before
this congregation. When I was growing up, one of
the most popular magazines, some of you may be old enough to remember,
was True Confessions. Whether you remember that or
not, but you who laugh do remember it. But I have a most solemn and
heartfelt, God is my witness, confession to make before this
congregation, before this Church, before the visitors, before my
family, before all men. And like Job of old, I wish that
these words could be recorded in a book. He said, I wish they
could be written with an iron pen and with lead on my tombstone
forever. I am in love with Jesus Christ. I believe I can say, after so
many years, that I have discovered that I am totally obsessed and
totally devoted in my heart to Jesus Christ. I borrowed the
words of the hymn writer who said, Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to thy bosom fly, While the nearer waters roll, While
the tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
Till the storm of life is past, Safe into thy haven guide, And
receive my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, Hangs
my helpless soul on thee. Ah, leave me not alone, still
support and comfort me, for thou, O Christ, art all I want, more
than all in thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and support the blind. I believe that I have
gone through with many of you several stages in this thing
of religion. Like many of you, I was born
to parents who were interested in religion. I was brought to
church when I was just a lad, a Baptist church, a fundamentalist
Baptist church, and taught what they called the fundamentals
of the faith. And I accepted them. I entered
into them quite quite strongly, wholeheartedly in fact, I walked
in the tradition of my father, just like the Jews of old, Bob.
I was brought up in a fundamentalist Baptist church, and those are
the things that I accepted and believed and defended and fought
for and tried to live by for several years. And then making
a profession of faith, which was expected of all children,
it's just when you get so old you make a profession of faith.
One church you're confirmed and catechized, in another church
you're sprinkled and admitted, in another church you come down
the aisle and shake the preacher's hand and make a profession and
then rededicate every year at the revival meeting that they
have. And I entered into service and then somebody thought because
I was a good public speaker there ought to be a preacher, you know,
and I was encouraged to be a preacher. I guess because I had the loudest
mouth in the crowd, you know, they figured I belonged in the
pulpit. And I was goaded and pressed. and urged and finally
went into the ministry and into the service of the Lord. I'm
not discrediting these things. I'm simply saying that this is
what I've experienced and what some of you have experienced.
I'm not discrediting it at all. By grace I've been brought safe
thus far. I see God's providence and God's
hand in it all. I'm glad I wasn't brought up
in Buddhism. I'm glad I was brought up in
Fundamentalism. I'm glad that I wasn't brought up in Mohammedism.
I'm glad I was brought up in Southern Baptist Fundamentalism.
I'm not discounting it. I don't believe that was the
time when God revealed the gospel to me, but I'm not discounting
it. I'm saying train up a child in the way he should go. Bring
him up under discipline. If you don't discipline your
child, you don't love him. That's what God said. If you don't use
the rod and correct the child and discipline, keep him in line,
inspect some things out of him, you don't love him. You don't
really love him, you love yourself. You're avoiding being hurt. You're avoiding traumatic trials
and so forth. So my parents disciplined. They
put me in the line. They said, you don't do these
things. You're in by a certain time.
You walk this way. This is what we believe and this
is what you're going to believe. And that's all right. That's
all right. That's better than turning them
loose on the mercies of the public. And I'd rather, like Barnard
said one time, he said, I'd rather a fellow be singing, Oh, How
I Love Jesus, than singing the beer-bottle polka, you know.
I mean, even if he doesn't love him, even if he doesn't know
him, that's better music anyway. And I was brought up into that
certain. Then one day I learned the doctrine. And that was providential. A preacher came along who taught
me the doctrine. He taught me that the Bible says
that God is sovereign. I never will forget a six-part
sermon I heard one time by that great evangelist and hitchhiking
missionary. God is either sovereign or he
isn't. Now, you settle that in your mind. Man's either lost
or he isn't. He's either dead or he isn't.
That's got to be settled. You can't meet that in the middle.
He's either dead or he's not dead. Dead is dead and living
is living. There's no middle ground. You say, well, he's almost
dead. That's still living. God either
elected a people or he didn't. Christ either redeemed us or
he didn't. The Holy Spirit either effectually and irresistibly
and invincibly brings men to Christ or he doesn't. God's people
will all persevere or none of them will. Now, that's issues
you're going to face. And so many of us believe them, and
they're true. And we walked in them and preached
them, and Paul, we fought for them and we bled for them and
we'll fight for them now. They're not any less true today
than they were then. You've got to have a foundation. The skeleton's
not pretty, but everybody better have one. Everybody, and the
joists and the studs and the rafters on the house aren't pretty.
When somebody comes to see you and you're building a house,
you don't go around and show them, now this is the rafters, you know, and
these are the studs and these are the joists, you know, but
watch it don't fall through. You've got to have them, though.
You'd rather wait till you get some meat on the bones, and the
smoother the meat, the prettier it is, you know. That's just
you need meat on the bones. But we needed that skeleton,
and God gave it to us, and it's hard. Skeleton's hard. It's bone.
It's truth. It's firm. It's doctrine. It's
unbending. It won't yield. If it bends,
it breaks. You don't bend these things. That's what some preachers
try and do. You can't bend them. Not one day, but during this
time, all this time, we've tried to preach and tried to present
the person Christ Jesus. And I believe I can say along
this line, now at 55 years of age and in the sunset years and
looking face to face with the latter part of life, thank God
for every step he's brought me. I thank God for every mile we've
walked. I thank God for foundations, I thank God for superstructure,
I thank God for all these things. But I believe he's put the topping
on the cake for some of us. I believe that I've been brought
to love and adore and be obsessed with Christ. He's becoming more
precious. I like that song that you sang
a moment ago. I thought, how appropriate. He
is so precious to me. Yes, his doctrine is precious,
but he's the precious one. Yes, his word is precious, but
he is precious because it's his word. I love it because it smells
of him. I love it because it tells of
him. I love it because it points to him. I become obsessed with
him. And this is what Paul is saying to the church at Galatia.
I travail till that living, loving, eternal person be formed in you. I'm a Baptist, that's one thing.
I'm a Calvinist, that's another thing. I'm a pre-millenarian,
that's another thing. But I'm a bondslave of Jesus
Christ, that's the main thing. I believe I can say that. And
I've known preachers to get weary of it. I get weary in body, I'm
weary now. Darcy said, Are you ready for
another trip? I said, We'll make an effort. But I'll tell you
this, I'm not weary of him. Preachers get weary of preparing
messages, they tell people, I'm tired out, I've preached out,
I've given out, I've this, that, and the other. I believe I can
say, I'm more, Jay, in love with Christ, I'm more enthusiastic,
I'm more zealous, I'm more determined at this age than I've ever been
in my life been. I want to preach Christ. I want
to see men come to know Christ, like you prayed this morning,
your message. Oh, to see men and women and young people fall
in love with Christ, not with my doctrine, but with my Lord.
Do you? Another hymn writer said, I'm
in love so deeply, in love with the lover of my soul. I will
sing praise to his name while the years of eternity roll, his
love is in my heart never to depart. His grace has made me
whole. I am in love with Jesus Christ. He is in love with my soul."
I think this is illustrated in the life of the Apostle Peter.
After all of the conflicts and the trauma And the denials and
the cursing and the bitterness and the fusses and the fights
and the drawing of the sword and the whacking off of the ears
and all these things, he just sat Peter down one day in the
loneliness and quietness of personal communion with the fireside.
And he leveled his, I believe he pointed at him, and he said,
Do you love me? If you love me, this is the solution
of all your problems. If you love me, this is all you
need. Do you love me? And I think a tear might have
come to old Peter's eyes. He remembered some things, you
know. He remembered his boasting and his bragging. He remembered
his impulsiveness. He remembered, I'm going fishing. And the other disciple said,
well, hang on, we'll go with you. He remembered all these
things and said, Lord, I love you. I love you. You know I love you. And he asked
him that three times, finally Peter came to the, I'm sure by
that time he remembered the three denials and the three accusations
and all these things, and he finally said, Lord, you know
all things, you know I love you. And brethren, it's not enough
to have tradition. That won't, that's not it. That
won't give you the support and the joy and the peace you need.
John, that won't, that won't help you live in a wheelchair,
just traditions, will it? It won't do it. It won't give
you the peace and the comfort. The service you can witness,
but I've studied my doctrine, I've got all the books and I've
written for all the pamphlets and I've studied and I've got
a pretty good working knowledge of theology, that won't do it.
It won't do to live by, let alone die by. It just won't do it. It won't give you the joy and
the excitement and the happiness and the peace, it just won't
do it. It won't meet the frustrations and depressions of life. It won't
do. The doctrine won't, but he will,
believe me. When the clouds are the heaviest,
and the rain is falling the heaviest, and the way is the darkest, and
the road is the roughest, and the enemies are in the majority,
he will. He will uphold you, he will sustain
you, he'll provide for you, he'll give joy in your heart that men
can't understand. They just can't understand. He'll
motivate you. That's what Paul said, the love
of Christ constraineth me and restraineth me. The love of Christ
motivates me. It's my motivation. Not just
His love for me, but my love for Him. I know, I know my love
is a reflection. I know He loved me first. I love
Him because He first loved me. But I believe, I believe I'm
more in love with Christ than I've ever been. And I'm not nearly
so much in love with him as I want to be, or even jolly as I'm going
to be. But I can say that Christ is
my life. Christ is my love. And that's
what I want for you. That's what I want for those
who hear me. I know it doesn't come overnight. It didn't come
in my life and heart overnight. These things did not occur from
Thursday to Friday. They are products of God's working. He works in us, both the will
and to do his good pleasure. It's God that worketh in you.
And with his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, look at Psalm
45. I want to get into this just
a moment. David, I want to borrow the words of David. He said,
my heart is bubbling over. My heart boileth up with a good
matter. I speak of the things that I
have made as touching the King. I want to talk about my relationship
with the King. And he said, my tongue on this
subject is a ready writer, is a ready writer. It's ready to
write. He's fairer than the children
of men. The hymn writer said, none can with him compare among
the sons of men, fairer is he than all the fair which fill
the heavenly I tell you, when you come to love Christ, everybody
else falls in their proper place. It's just automatic. When Christ
becomes first, I think a lot of times when we get religion,
or we accept doctrines, and we believe Christ died on the cross
and was buried and rose again, and we're fundamentally sound,
we have a hope of heaven. And Christ is our hope, and people
ask us, are you saved? Yes, I'm saved, I'm trusting
Christ. Do you love Christ? Yes, I love Christ. But do we really? Do we really? He talks about, if any man loved
mother or father, now mom and daddy are pretty important, but
if any man loved mother or father, husband or wife, they're pretty
important. Your wife's pretty important to you. son or daughter is on lap more than me. He's
not fit, not worthy of being my disciple. This is what I'm
talking about. When we think of Christ and of
his kingdom and our relationship with him first, absolutely first,
and ladies, I'm telling you, more than those sons and daughters. Our wives and mothers and grandmothers,
their children become pretty important. And some of them say,
well, I don't know what I'd do if something happened to my child. You'd better know what you'd
do. You'd better know what you'd do. If Christ is your first love
and has first claim on you, There's just one thing to do, and that's
praise his name. Like Job falling at his feet
and saying, well, he gave, he's taken away, blessed be the name
of the Lord. Witness a good confession. That's why he said, he's fairer
than the children of men. I know that Israel had a God
of gold, but lest us don't have gods of clay. That's what these
bodies are built of, clay. I appreciate your and Debbie's
attitude during this last crisis, you know. If God takes him, God
takes him. God gave him, God's got a right to take him. He belongs
to him, he doesn't belong to me. He's my Lord and my King
and Master and Sovereign, and grace is poured from his lips,
therefore God's blessed him forever. Look at verse 3. He is most mighty
with glory and majesty. This my Lord, this the object
of my love, he is most mighty with glory and majesty. The same
yesterday, today, and forever. Verse 4, it says, he rides in
the forefront. He rides at the head of the parade.
He rides in the forefront with truth and meekness and righteousness. Verse 5 says all his enemies
are going to fall before him. They're going to be made his
footstool. He's worthy to be praised. This, my king, will
conquer all his enemies. Verse 6 says he's thrown this
forever. He reigns with a sceptre of righteousness. Verse 7 says
he loves righteousness, he hates iniquity, and the Heavenly Father
hath exalted him and given him a name which is above every name,
that at the name of Christ every knee will bow, every tongue will
confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He has
a throne above every throne, above all. Verse 11 says that
he's Lord and he'll be worshipped by all. He'll be worshipped,
let all the angels of God worship him. Verse 14 says, his bride
shall be brought to him in holiness and purity and willingness and
submission. And verse 17 says, and all the
people shall praise him forever and forever. But there's one
phrase back here I want to leave with you in verse 2. I want to focus our attention
on one phrase and deal with it just a few minutes. This is the
one that my eyes fell upon. This is the one that caused my
heart Just like David said to bubble over, this is the phrase
that my soul laid hold upon, grace is poured from his lips. Grace is poured from his lips.
Now, I want to give seven things, and I'll try to be brief. I don't
want to wear you. But here are seven things. As
I sat in the motel room the other morning and worked on this message,
I thought about seven times on my behalf. And I select times
as a certain number for an uncertain number. but seven times in which,
on my behalf, grace is poured from the lips of him who loves
me and whom I confess before God that I love. First of all,
back in eternity. Now, let's go to Genesis, if
you will, chapter 43. Genesis 43. Now, no need for
me to spend any time talking about the eternality of Christ.
No need for me to talk about the fact that he is with God,
was God, and all things, you know these things. But back before
the Council, back before the foundation of the world, there
was a Council. It was called an everlasting covenant, in which
the Father gave the Son of people. The scripture tells us that God
purposed in his everlasting covenant to have a people like Christ.
that he chose them in Christ. This is before the world, this
is before the fall, this is before the world began, this is before
the morning stars sang together, according to the scripture, before
the foundation of the world. God loved them in Christ, he
gave them to Christ, he accepted them in Christ, he predestinated
them to be like Christ. But in order to satisfy his justice
and fulfill his In order that those whom he receives in Christ
might have a righteousness like Christ, he appointed Christ as
their surety. And he says something like this.
I hate to do this. I hate to paraphrase like this,
but something went on like this. I just do this because, I don't
know, but it might be effective. But Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
Now, our God is one, and yet one in three and three in one.
But the Father, he said, my son. I have purpose to redeem a people.
Eternal glory, eternal kingdom, eternal heavens will resound
with thy praise. You're going to be the firstborn
among many brethren. They're going to love what you
love. They're going to enjoy what you enjoy. They're going
to be like you. There are going to be heirs with you and joint
heirs with you. But there are going to be people
who were fallen, people who were sinners, people who were depraved. people who went through the mire
and muck of sin. I'm going to call them and save
them, redeem them. But you're going to have to be their surety.
You're going to have to be their representative, their federal
head. You're going to have to do for them what they can't do
for themselves. You're going to have to fulfill, go to the
earth in the flesh as a man and fulfill the law and obey the
law on their behalf. You'll have to go to the cross
and die a hateful, cruel and suffering death of agony under
my justice, under my judgment. And take the arrows of my wrath
into your very soul. Your soul will be made an offering
for sin. I will desert you, turn my back
upon you. You'll actually endure hell for
every one of these people. And you'll redeem them by your
blood." In that hour, whenever that hour is, and I hesitate
to even call it an hour, but something like this was in the
mind and purpose of God. But this took place because the
Father said he gave the Son of people. And the Son assumed the
responsibility of suretorship. And the Holy Spirit assumed the
responsibility to quicken and call them. The Father said, I'll
send my Spirit. Christ said, I'll pray to the
Father and he'll send you another comforter. And the Holy Spirit
will come into this world and he will convince the world of
sin, of righteousness and judgment. He will quicken and awaken dead
sinners. He will bring them to love Christ,
to love him whom they hate, to trust him whom they doubted.
to look to him from whom they turned away and despised and
found no beauty that they should desire him. But he ain't going
to look. Willingly, lovingly, truthfully, intelligently, eternally,
they're going to look to him. And fall down and worship him
whom once they declared that they wouldn't have him reign
over them. The Holy Spirit's going to break
them and humble them and woo them and give them spiritual
life. And in that hour, the Son assumed the responsibility of
our surety ship, our surety. And I'll tell you this, one writer
said this, when the son said, my father, I will assume their
nature, I will meet your law, I will satisfy your justice,
I will bear their sins, I will bring them home, you can require
them every one at my hand. All that you give me, I'll lose
nothing. I will perfect the righteousness, I will perfect the sanctification,
I will perfect the holiness by my obedience. I'll take into
myself every requirement and fulfill it, being tried in every
point, yet without sin." And when he said that, millions entered
Heaven on the ground of that promise. Now, I know Brother
Don Fortner referred to eternal justification, and I've heard
somebody got upset about it, but let me tell you this. A promise
of God. is as sure as a work of God."
Now, you can write that down. Abraham, that was Abraham's faith.
He believed that God would do what he said. That was Paul's
faith on that ship. He said, I believe God, it'll
be just like he says. And I'll tell you this, when
the Lord Jesus Christ assumed the place as our surety on the
ground of that promise, on the ground of that oath, Not one
drop of blood had been shed, not one agony had been suffered,
but no other confirmation was needed, for the surety had spoken,
and grace had poured from his lips, and my salvation was as
sure as if it was already accomplished." I know there is a preacher in
the United States that asks people to raise their hand if they were
to die tonight and they are sure for heaven as if they were already
there. Let me tell you something. The only assurance that I have
for heaven is his word. That's it. Not my profession,
not my faith, not my determination to hold out. But if he spoke
for me, if he prayed for me, if he died for me, I'm as sure
for heaven as I was when he first spoke. Turn to Genesis 43. Let me show you a picture here.
You remember when Joseph was down in Egypt. Let me make this
brief. Joseph was down in Egypt, and his ten brothers came down.
He knew who they were. They didn't know who he was.
Jacob, the father, was back home. They came to get corn, you know
that. Joseph recognized them. They didn't know who he was.
And he kind of abated them a little bit. He said, you thieves, you
thieves, you've come to steal. No, no, we're not. We're 11 brothers. We've got a brother who's dead.
His name was Joseph. And we've got a father named
Jacob. We've got a baby brother at home named Benjamin. And he
said, and they said, that's true, he said, and all your thieves,
I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do, I'm going to keep one of you, I'm going
to keep Simeon, that boy right there, I'm going to keep him.
You other nine go home and tell your daddy, if he wants to see
Simeon alive again, if he wants any more food, send that boy
Benjamin up there. Joseph wants to see his little brother. Send
Benjamin up. Well, they went home, the nine
of them, they went home, and old Jacob, old in years, and
they said that fellow down in Egypt, that king, kept Simeon. And he said, don't come back,
just don't come back unless you bring Benjamin, your little brother,
to prove you're not thieves. Now just tell the old man at
home that you don't get any more corn and you don't get Simeon
until you bring Benjamin up here. Jacob said, well, he's not going.
Joseph is not, Simeon is not, now you're going to take Benjamin?
One of the brothers stepped forth, his name was Judah. He's of the
tribe of Christ. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah till Shiloh comes. Judah stepped forward, Genesis
43, verse 8. And Judah said unto Israel his
father, Jacob, Send a lad with me, send Benjamin with me. We
will rise and go that we may live and not die, both we and
thou and our little ones. I will be surety for him, guarantor. Of my hand shall you require
Benjamin. If I bring him not back home
unto you, and do not set him before you, then you let me bear
the blame forever." That's surety. And let me tell you this. One
day back yonder, Jake, before the foundation of the world,
my Savior stood. And he says, I'll be surety for
old John. for him, for some of the rest
of you that believe on him, trust him, love him. And he says, I'll
bring him home, and I'll set him before you. I'll present
him holy, unblameable, unreprovable in your sight. I'll cleanse him,
atone for him, redeem him. I'll be his holiness. I'll cover
him. I'll bring him up here, Father, and set him right there.
And if I don't, I'll take the blame forever. And I guarantee
you this, he's not going to take any blame. That's grace. Secondly,
quickly, as our surety in eternity, grace poured from his lips, as
our prophet. Moses called him a prophet. He
is a priest, yes. He is a king, yes. But he's a
prophet. He's a prophet by whom we learn who God is. He said, No man knoweth the Father,
but the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal it. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is our preacher, he's our prophet. And they said of
him, never man spake like this man. Never man spake. I would like to have heard Moses.
Wouldn't you like to have heard Moses when he stood there on
the side of the Red Sea and the Egyptian army was coming and
the people were hollering and scared and about to riot? He said, stand still! And I'm sure his voice echoed
across those mountains, and see the salivation of the world.
Oh, I'd love to. I wish they had that on tape. That'd make
chills go up down your spine. Stand still. I'd love to have
been on Mount Carmel and thrilled at the words of Elijah. That
little 63-word prayer, after those prophets of Baal had cut
themselves and prostrated themselves and screamed and yelled and carried
on trying to get their God to send a little fire, and then
Elijah stepped forward. And he said, Lord, let it be
known this day in Israel that you're God, and that I'm your
servant, and that I've spoken these words at your command.
O God, show your God. And boy, the fire, I'd like to
have heard that. Oh, who would not have wanted to hear David
sing? We hear Aaron and Bill play their guitars and hear them
sing, and it's beautiful. But aren't you glad David ain't
on the program? Oh my, he could even calm the troubled soul of
old King Saul with that sweet music, playing his guitar. I'd
love to have heard Isaiah preach, wouldn't you? I'd love to have
heard the weeping prophet Jeremiah, but oh, let me tell you this.
Spurgeon said one time, it's a mercy, it's a mercy to all
of us, especially us preachers, that Christ is not preaching
on this earth today. If he were, we'd all have to
close our mouths. We'd all have to close our mouth,
and every cherubim would have to hush his song. And every angel would have to
bow his head, because when he speaks, grace flows from his
lips. He's our preacher, he's our prophet.
He said, come unto me, all ye that labor in heavy labor, I'll
give you rest. He said, O everyone that thirsteth,
come to me. Out of your belly shall flow
rivers of living water. He said, I say unto you, love
your enemies. No man ever spoke like that.
Bless them that curse you. Pray for them which despitefully
use you. As you would that men should do unto you, do ye even
so unto them, such is the law of the Father. We'll hear him
some day. But oh, that we might hear him
speak right now through his word. Don't those, he that heareth
my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life. Do you hear his word? He speaks through his word. He's
our prophet. And then thirdly, as our promiser,
grace is poured from his lips. I know my friends that, and I'm
dwelling on this a little more now because I need it and I feel
like you need it. Churches grow. Messages are different. If you'll note, the early messages
of Spurgeon were different from the later messages. The early
messages were that hammering and pounding and building of
foundation. They were stressing over and
over the doctrines, and we had to go back and rehearse them.
We had to go back for new people and for ministers and all these
things. But as the years passed by, the promises began to ring
a little louder. And I need the promises now more
than the warnings. I know the warnings are there.
And the note must be sounded. The warnings must be sounded.
He says, warn them for me. Son of man, warn them for me.
If you don't warn them, they'll die in their sins and I'll require
their blood at your hands. But my heart reaches out and
lays hold on his promises. Listen to them. Isaiah 54, 10. I'll just read this one to you.
The mountains shall depart, and the hills shall be removed. And
that's what they're talking about in this day. in the 80s, atomic
warfare. The mountains shall depart and
the hills be removed, but my kindness will not depart from
you, and neither shall the covenant of my peace be taken away. That's
a promise. Listen to Isaiah 43, 2. When
you pass through the waters, I'll be with you, and through
the rivers they'll not overflow you. When you walk through the
fire, you'll not be burned. and neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. I'll never leave you, I'll never
forsake you, I'm your God. Fear not, I am with thee, O be
not dismayed, I am thy God, I will still give thee aid, I'll strengthen
thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, upheld by my gracious,
omnipotent hand." I love his promises. All things work together
for good to them who love God. who are to call according to
his purpose. And then what's this fourthly? As our intercessor,
grace pours from his lips. Here's a fellow standing over
here, his name is Simon Peter. It's a time of crisis. Our Lord
has told him, Jay, that he's going to the cross and die. He
told him that he'd leave them. He told them it's expedient that
he goes away. He told them these things. Peter
had made some comments. Everybody else might deny you,
but I won't. All these different things. They had a conversation.
They were distressed and sad and all this. There he's standing.
He doesn't know it, but standing right next to him is a powerful
spirit by the name of Satan. Now Peter doesn't know this,
standing right beside him. And he has a large seal. You
ever seen a sieve? They used to call it a sieve.
It's a sifter. And where you take the grain
and you just keep throwing it up on that sifter, you know,
sifting it, sifting it. And he's standing there with
that thing. And here Peter doesn't know he's there. And Peter is
so boastful and arrogant and haughty and proud and boisterous,
you know. He's the leader of the pack.
Satan's standing there beside him. And our Lord said, Peter,
at the end of one of his sentences, you don't know it, but Satan
has desired you that he might sit you like a man sits wheat. If Peter had just been able to
in any shape, form or fashion visualize the conflict that was
going on over him right then, he would have fainted dead away.
He would have melted. If you and I could see the dangers
lurking about us, principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness,
if we could just see the pitfalls, if we could just see the darkness,
if we could just see the conflict of demons and powers, we'd faint. That's right. You talk about
losing all of the strength, you'd lose it. You'd melt like water
down to the floor. Peter was standing there and
Satan right beside him. Satan had desired you. One gracious
word was spoken, five words, but I prayed for you. Oh, boy,
I tell you, that's sufficient. I prayed for you. He can't have
you, Peter. He cannot have you. Those powers
can't have you. Those forces can't have you.
Even your own nature can't have you. I want you. You're mine. I prayed for you. I prayed for
you. hear him in the garden. I pray
for them, Father, that they may be one, even as thou art and
I art one, that they may be one in us. I pray for them. I pray
not for the world. I pray for them which thou hast
given me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me. And I've kept them, and I've given them your word,
and I pray for them. And he prays for me this moment.
He ever liveth to make intercession You talk about gracious words.
No more gracious words. Peter didn't realize the full
impact of it, the total extent of it. Satan had desired you,
and there's no greater force than Satan except God. The angel
Gabriel wouldn't do battle with him over the body of Moses. You read that. I hear these preachers
saying, Oh, devil, get back to hell where you, oh, if they just
knew who they were talking to. I tremble when I think, I just
tell all the demons to get out of here, you know, shoot little
demons, little demons nothing. If it weren't for Christ's protective
arm, and the covering of his hand, and of his righteousness,
and his will to save you, you'd be in the power of Satan. And
he'd snatch you like a pretzel. He'd crush you like a winter
storm crushes a fallen leaf. like I step on an ant or a grasshopper. It's stupid for us to even think
that we're any match. We're no match for one of his
messengers, let alone him. The only match is that one from
whose lips grace flows. I prayed for you. I prayed for
you. I prayed for you. And he taught
us to pray. In the Lord's prayer he said,
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from," you ever said this,
evil? You know what that is? The evil
one. That's what that is. Yeah, that's
the evil one. Protect me and deliver me. We're
not playing tiddlywink. This thing of religion may be
to you a game. This thing of religion may be
to you, they say, a simple gospel, a simple decision, a simple yes
to Jesus. And then we trip through life
with our silly-looking little moon or sun on our lapels, it's
fun being saved. But let me tell you this thing,
a salvation is a conflict between heaven and hell. It's a conflict
between Christ and the forces of evil. It's a mighty battle
and a mighty conflict that makes Armageddon look like child's
play. And the only one who can subdue the enemy and conquer
the forces of evil and satisfy the very justice and righteousness
of a holy God is the supreme, holy, majesty, almighty King
of heaven and earth, in whose hands are all power. He's glorious! If we ever get a hold of that,
we'll quit calling him somebody up there, we'll quit calling
him sweet little Jesus boy, we'll quit referring to him by some
of these familiar terms, and we'll start calling him my Lord
and my God. That's so. The greatness of Christ. I've prayed for you. That's all
I need. I remember one time over at Pollard,
1950, some of you may remember this, April 1950. I was a 24-year-old
boy. I'd never heard anything like
this in my life. But a preacher got up there in that pulpit,
a fellow named Ralph Barnard. I thought he was old and decrepit,
but he was just 47 years old. But he got up there and pointed
that old long bony finger out at us. And he said, I'll tell
you what's made this generation a bunch of cocky, smart-aleck,
God-hating religionists. What's given them their confidence
in rebellion and sin, what's kept them in their religious
assurance, the reason they have no fear of God before their eyes
is preachers have said to them, God loves you and Christ died
for you. And neither one of those statements
is true. Boy, I tell you, the pastor just slid right on down
in his seat. All you could see was the top of his head. You
don't remember that, do you, Marty? But let me tell you, just think
about this a moment. We've gone forth and told this world, God's
in love with them. We've gone forth and told this
world that Christ died, paid for his sin debt. And this world
then, if those two things are true, Charlie, if God loves me,
If I'm an object of his love, if I'm an object of his affection,
now I don't know a whole lot about love, but I love this little
girl down here on the front row, Becky, and I'll protect her,
I'll give my life for her. She can have anything I've got.
I love her. I don't love her anything like
God loves her, or me. You think for a moment he'd send
her to hell? I wouldn't. Do you think God would? See what
I'm saying? If he loves her, Let me tell
you something, and we're telling this where Christ died for you.
He suffered, and bled, and died, and paid the debt, and satisfied
Jester. He died for you. Well, if he
did, you ain't going to die. Now, they know that, and this
is what's made them so lethargic and indifferent. This is why
men don't seek God. This is why men don't fear God.
This is why men have no concern or interest in the gospel. This
is why they're not here listening to the gospel. God loves them.
They got nothing to worry about. Christ died for them. They got
nothing to fear. Why should they be seeking the
Lord? He loves them and Christ died for them. But if we'd go
out here and tell men the truth like Noah did, there's a flood
coming, boys. God's angry with the wicked.
God hates the workers of iniquity. God's going to wipe you out.
God's going to deal with you in judgment and justice and holiness. God's going to destroy this world.
God's going to put in hell every man that's ever been born in
Adam who does not have a perfect righteousness. But it may be
that God will save you because I've heard in the Word that Christ
died for somebody, that he paid somebody's debt, that there is
a way out. Now they'll come listen to you.
They'll start sitting. They'll get off of their indifferent
chairs and seats. And they'll get off of their
lethargic, callous, well, there's nothing to get alarmed about,
ways, and they'll start saying, and can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood? Depths of mercy, can there be
mercy still reserved for me? They'll quit saying, Jesus is
at my heart's door, maybe I'll let him in and maybe I won't,
I'll give it a little thought. If you want in here, you're welcome.
Take the door of the house and everything. Move in, it's yours.
That's so. I know it's not being said, but
it's so. And old Roth dared to say it. It cost him a lot of
friends. But he said it, and I'm going to say it the Lord
willing. If you're in Christ, God loves you. I'll tell you
this, if you're a believer, Christ died for you. But he that believeth
not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. And it's
something to be afraid of. But he prays for us. That's great.
All right, quickly. As I substitute on the cross,
grace poured from his lips. You didn't see that cross? Those
crosses, three million. One of them is cursing. Boy,
he's cursing his mama and daddy who gave him birth. He's cursing
the day he was born. He's cursing the people that
nailed him to that cross. He's cursing everybody standing
around that cross. He's cursing the sons that's
sapping his strength and drying his mouth. He's swearing at that
man on the cross next to him. But that fellow on the other
side, he's pleading for mercy. He's concerned with himself.
He doesn't want to die and go to hell. He's concerned and troubled
and he's asking the one on the center cross to remember him
when he comes in. But the one on the center cross,
what's he saying? What's coming from his mouth?
Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Pray
for me. The gracious words of our Lord. Father, forgive them. Father,
forgive them. Hear him cry one more time. It's
finished. It's finished. The covenant of
mercy is finished. The law is fulfilled. Justice
is satisfied. Redemption is complete. The debt
is paid. All that God purposed, all that
God planned, all that his people needed, all that heaven required,
finished! In what words? Finished. Now, I tell you what, if you
do this and that and the other, oh, hold it, it's finished. But
if you hold that, it's finished. But if you give your time and
talents and heart, it's finished. God doesn't require you to produce
a righteousness but to receive one. not to produce a redemption,
but to receive what? Finish! What gracious word! Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
in my place condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood,
hallelujah! What a Savior! In my place condemned
to die, it is finished was his cry, now in heaven exalted high,
hallelujah! What a Savior! This is the last
one I quit, six, I said seventy-six. The Bible calls him Wonderful
Counselor. As our Counselor, grace poured
from his lips. I know Counselor could mean many
things, the counsels of eternity, the counsel of God, but I want
to use it as an attorney, our Counselor as an attorney, as
our representative. Like old Tom DeJarnit said up
there in Lucasville Penitentiary, Christ is my lawyer. Well, imagine
we're in a courtroom, no ordinary courtroom, THE courtroom. It's
not Catlisburg Courthouse, it's not the State Court of Appeals,
it's not even the Supreme Court, it's the Court of Blowing. The
book's open. God's on the throne. The angels
are witnesses. All the universe is witness.
I'm standing before them. It's just imagination. The case
against me is a pretty bad one, a pretty bad one. And the witnesses are called,
and Satan stands up, the old accuser of the brethren. This
is imagination now. And he states it pretty good.
He's a pretty good prosecuting attorney. He said he was born
in sin. Every imagination of his heart
was evil. He was shaped in iniquity and brought forth from his mother's
womb a rebel. He sinned against you, God, he's broken every one
of your laws. There's not any sin I've ever committed any worse
than what he's done. He's equally guilty, guilty,
guilty, and ought to be damned and doomed and sent to hell.
Well, the men who know me, with whom I grew up. People who lived
in my neighborhood, the people I pastored, the people I preached
to, the people around the world, they all stand up, especially
those who don't know Christ, and they say, well, we know him,
he's no better than we were. He's no better than we were.
You mean we're going to hell and he's going to heaven? That's
not fair. Because he's no better than we
were. Same thing we did, he did. Same thing we said, he said.
Same thing we thought, he thought. He ought to be damned. My own
conscience. Job said, if I justify myself,
my own mouth would condemn me. My conscience, my heart, as I
listen to these accusers, as I listen to these witnesses,
my conscience says they're right. They're right. They're right. God's just if he damns you. If
you stand here and hear him say, find him hand and foot and cast
him into hell. You'll be getting just what you deserve. That's
what my conscience is saying. But then it's quiet in the courtroom.
The prosecuting attorneys and the witnesses and all have presented
their case, and I stand there as hopeless and as helpless and
as damned and as doomed as anybody out of hell. I don't have a word,
like speechless. That's what Scripture says. He
was speechless. When the King came in, he was
speechless. But our Lord Jesus Christ steps forth, and I'm wondering,
what's he going to say? He steps forth and he says, My
client pleads guilty to every charge. Oh, my soul. My soul. My client pleads guilty
to every charge. But I have here a full pardon,
signed by the Father's own hand. I have here a full pardon. I purchased it. I took his place
and paid his debt. And I presented that justification,
righteousness, and holiness before my Father. And my Father, when
he raised me from the tomb and seated me in his right hand,
accepted this man in me and accepted my righteousness for him. And
therefore I say to this court, Who can lay anything to the charge
of my elect? Who is he that condemneth? I
died. I was buried. I rose again. And he shows his
wounds. And he said, I plead these wounds.
And brethren, let me tell you something. The court of heaven,
whoever it will be, case dismissed. Set him free. Enter ye blessed
into the kingdom. Now this is what I'm preaching.
And this is what I'm saying. I'm saying I've been tried in
the highest court by all of the highest and strongest prosecuting
attorneys that the universe can present, even Satan himself.
But my Lord has stepped forth, Bob, with a full pardon, purchased
by his blood. And that's my title to glory.
When I can read my title clear to mansions in the sky, I bid
farewell to every fear and wipe my weeping eyes, there's just
one place I can read it, and that's in his blood. It's not
in these confessions, it's not in these traditions, it's not
in these customs or ceremonies or rituals, it's not in my holding
out and doing the best, that's the reason I'm in love with Jesus. I tell you, when he steps forth
and says, I have a full pardon, man, I tell you, I could lay
my arms about him forever and ever, and I will. But I tell
you this, I realize that more right now, I realize that that
pardon is purchased and secured by him, and therefore, who wouldn't
love him? Our Father, bless this word.
We are thankful for your promises. We are aware of your warnings.
Keep us in the palm of your hand. But we are thankful for your
promises. Complete, free, purchased pardon,
the grace that poured from his lips. I pray for you. I'll be his surety. These are
the things that make us glad. These are the things, even in
the depths of our failures and infirmities and weaknesses and
flesh, these are the things that form the foundation of our peace
and joy. I pray for them. We're grateful
for Christ our Lord, and we thank thee in his name. Amen.