Turn with me to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 29. I'm going
to read verses 13 and 14 of Jeremiah 29. And ye shall seek me and
find me. when you search for me with all
your heart. And I will be found of you, saith
the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather
you from all nations, and from all the places where I have driven
you, saith the Lord, and I will bring you again into the place
whence I caused you to be carried away captive. Now, although this
was addressed to Israel, and there's no doubt that it is,
Brother Barnard used to say the Scripture is bifocal. It has
a primary aim, a primary purpose and direction, someone in particular
to whom God's speaking. But it also has other applications. As long as we do not do violence
to the rest of the scripture, then we may certainly use those
illustrations. And without doing any violence
to the truth, I say that what God says here to Israel, he says
to every son of Adam. Read verse 13 again. And you
shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your
heart. That can't apply only to Israel. He said, I'll call
her beloved who was not beloved. In Christ is Israel and the seed
of God. Now let me make a statement here,
and you weigh it carefully. This is absolutely true. Any
promise in the Bible, any promise in God's Word, any invitation
in the Scripture applies to those, first of all, who have that particular
need, and secondly, to those who will meet the condition of
that promise. Now, that's so. Any promise in the Scripture,
any invitation, any benefit or blessing belongs to the man who
needs it and to the man who meets the condition laid down in that
particular promise. Let me give you some examples
of that. First of all, he says, Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Now, are you laboring
under the burden of sin, self, sin, guilt? iniquity, transgression? Are you laboring, burdened under
the load of guilt? Do you feel your inability and
your sin and your guilt, do you?" Then Christ said, come to me.
And if you come to him, if you meet the conditions of that promise,
he said, I'll give you rest. Now that's addressed to anybody.
He said, he didn't say, come unto me the Gentiles who are
laboring and heavy laden, or the Jews who are laboring and
heavy laden, but he said, come unto me all ye that labor. and
are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take this one. Now
here are the two things we're looking at. The man who has the
need and the man or woman who will meet the conditions laid
down in that promise. Listen to this one. Ho, everyone. That's universal. That speaks
to every son of Adam. Ho, everyone that thirsteth. Come to the waters. Come without
money or price. There are the conditions. come
to the waters, come without money or price, and drink." Now, are
you thirsty? As David said, in a dry and thirsty
land. Are you thirsty for knowledge
of the living God? As David said, as the deer panteth
for the water brook, so panteth my soul for thee, the true and
living God. Do you pant after a knowledge
of God? communion with God, fellowship with God, forgiveness of sin.
Well, he said, come. But here's the way he said, come,
empty-handed. Come without money or price.
Don't bring your self-righteous rags. Don't bring your works. Don't bring your religious garb.
Don't bring your traditions and customs and ceremonies. Come
without money or without price. Come and drink. Come and drink. The hymn writer said, in my hands
no price I bring, simply to the cross of Christ I cling. Really,
could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal know respite? No,
these for sin could not atone. Christ must save and Christ alone.
Let's look at this one. One of the men preached on this
last night in the praise service Saturday evening. Come, let us
reason together. To whom is he speaking? Saith
the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, Anybody here got
that need? Your sins are as scarlet, past,
present, and unfortunately, the future. Though your sins be as
scarlet, I'll make them, he said, as white as the snow. And though
they be red like crimson, I'll make them like wool. Now here's
the need. Do you have sins that are double-dyed,
red like scarlet? Scarlet and red like wool that's
been dipped in the bath and double-dyed clear down to the deepest core.
Are your sins great? Are there many? Are there double
died? He said, will you come? Will you come and let's reason
together? I'll make them as white as snow.
Here's another. Our Lord stood here. One of the other men spoke
on this Friday night, Brother Kent Clark. He said, our Lord
stood on the last day of the feast, the Feast of the Tabernacles.
All the Jews, once a year, they went to Jerusalem and celebrated
the Feast of the Tabernacles. They came from all over the world,
they came from all nations, all walks of life. The people came
to Jerusalem and there for two or three days they went through
the ceremonies, they went through the sacrifices, they attended
the temple, they lived in tents pitched around everywhere. And
then on the last day of the feast, when all of the Sadducees and
Pharisees had said all they were going to say, and they closed
the books, and then they poured the water on the altar, put out
the fire. And the people had packed all
of their belongings and taken down their tents and gathered
their children to them, and they were all leaving Jerusalem. And
they'd been there these days, they'd heard nothing, they'd
received nothing. They were going away empty, they
were going away broken-hearted, they were going away without
a knowledge of God. They were going away weary and hungry and
thirsty. Their need had not been met.
They were going away sad and in despair and downcast. And
our Lord stood. on that last day of the feast,
on that great day, and as the people departed, he cried, If
any man thirst, if any man thirst, let him come to me, and out of
his belly or out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living
water. Now here's the condition, come
to me, here's the need, thirst. And I say, do you thirst for
true knowledge of God? Will you come to Christ? then
you'll know the fulfillment of that promise. Go through the
Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I hear preachers saying, this
is written to the Jew, and that's written to the Gentile, and this
is written to the Hebrews, and that's written to the millennial
age, and so forth. It may be. But I'm saying it's
also, if I have that need, and if I'll meet that condition laid
down in God's Word, it's written to me too. Isn't it strange that
with a book so plain, and a message so clear that there's so many
people in our world in a dense fog about the way of life. Christ
is salvation. Listen to these scriptures. Other
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, Christ the
Lord. That can't be misinterpreted. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, Christ the Lord. Listen to this. There's
none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. How can we miss that? He said,
they said, show us the Father. He said, he that has seen me
has seen the Father. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. Listen to this. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him. And in that
scripture I read a moment ago, if a man believes not God, he's
made God a liar because he believes not the record that God has given
concerning his son. And I read this real slow. This
is the record. And this is the record. What
is this record I'm to believe? What is this record I'm to receive?
This is the record that God has given us eternal life. And that
life is in his soul. He that hath the Son of God hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. I don't
see how it can be plainer. I don't see how it can be clearer.
And yet, our whole religious world is in a dense fog about
this thing of the way of life, the way of salvation. Take our
text. Let's look back at the text here,
Jeremiah 29, 13. He said, You shall seek me and
find me. This is the Lord speaking, Jehovah,
God my Savior. You shall seek me and find me,
find me to the fulfillment of every prophecy and need and desire
when you search for me with all your heart. Now that's saying
just this, if I can understand words at all. This is what it
says, that if any sinner, man or woman, boy or girl, old or
young, white or black, Jew or Gentile, if any sinner seeks
Christ in his way, in the way laid down here, and we're going
to talk about it in a moment, Any sinner who seeks Christ in God's
way will find mercy. If any man really wants his grace
and wants his mercy and wants his pardon and wants his presence
and seeks it as God tells him to seek it, he'll have it. Isn't
that what that says? And any man born of woman who
is a sinner and who will come to God in Christ He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by him. God will save him. Now, Naaman
came with his leprosy. Here's Naaman, the prince of
Syria. And he's covered with leprosy.
And the little maid in his household told him about the prophet of
God down in Israel. And he came to the prophet of
God to ask him to heal him. And he stood outside the door
of the prophet of God and the prophet of God sent his servant
out to him and said to him, Naaman, the prophet of God said for you
to go down here and dip seven times in the River Jordan and
you'll be clean. Now that's plain and that's clear.
That's God's direction. You go dip seven times in the
River Jordan and you'll be clean. Naaman understood what he was
saying. Naaman understood what he told him to do. But the Scripture
says that Naaman turned away in a rage. In a rage. And he said, these were the two
words he used, I thought. I thought. I heard your way. And I understood it. There's
no question there, because he said, are not the rivers in Damascus,
Abana and Pharphra, aren't they better than the rivers of Jordan?
I heard what you said. I understood your directions.
But I thought. Now brethren, what I'm saying
is this, is men hear what we say and they understand the direction. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath life. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Our Lord said
to his disciples, you go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. They understand that. We're redeemed not with corruptible
things such as silver and gold from our vain conversation, but
with the precious blood of Jesus Christ as a Lamb without spot
or blemish. You understand that? That's clear as a bell. But here's
what we say. I know that, but I thought. I
thought. And my friends, our thoughts
have invented popes, cardinals, priests, bishops, confessional
booths, masses, and all manner of tradition. Our thoughts have
created those things. Our thoughts. You see, Naaman
brought along with him several changes of raiment, much gold
and silver, and many beasts of burden he was going to exchange
for healing. And you can buy most anything
on this earth, but you can't buy God's grace. You can buy
most anything on this earth, but you can't buy mercy. It's
free. It's freely given. The scripture says our Lord gave
an illustration of two men who were in debt, and when they had
nothing to pay, he frankly, freely forgave them both. And Naaman
stood there with all of his riches and all of his jewels and gold
and silver to exchange for healing, and the prophet of God gave him
some simple direction. Go down and dip seven times in
a muddy river, and you'll be clean. He said, I know what you're
saying. I know the directions, but I
don't like them, because they do not coincide with what I think. And our thoughts have invented
altars. It does not say, come to the
mourner's bench. It says, come to Christ. But
we put a bench down here in front and brought people to that bench. It does not say, come to the
sacraments. It says, come to Christ. Our thoughts have invented
the sacraments. Our thoughts have invented church
covenants, creeds, and catechisms. Our thoughts have invented decisions,
handshaking. It does not say, come to the
preacher, come to the front, shake his hand, and you'll be
saved. It says, come to Christ. That's what it says. But I thought.
I thought. Nehemian said, I thought. This
is what I thought. I know, but your thoughts, God
said, are not my thoughts. And your ways are not my ways.
Our thoughts have invented all forms of duties. Now, you'll
be saved if you believe on Christ. That's the only if connected
with it. You'll be saved if you come to Christ. You'll be saved
if you trust in Christ. You'll be saved if you fall at
His feet, Christ's feet. That's where salvation is. Our
thoughts have invented the ceremonies and the sprinklings. I know it's
a beautiful service for you dear mothers to bring your babies
down and have the preacher all clothed in white, you know, that
beautiful robe and the pretty trinkets around the bottom and
he's delicate, you know, and got his collar all fixed up and
the choir's in robes and everything's so impressive and everything
is so religious and the atmosphere is so holy and the candles are
burning and you've got the godmother and the godfather, what an awful
name to call somebody, a godmother. But our thoughts have invented
these things, and we've invented these ceremonies, and we stand
there while that baby screams, and they sprinkle water in his
face, and say, I christened thee, this, that, and the other. I
know that's pretty, but who invented that? Our thoughts invented it. We're just a bunch of nailmen,
that's what we are. Our God has stood and declared,
come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give
you rest. You'll seek me and find me when you search for me
with all your heart. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. Redemption's in the
blood, but we've invented these ceremonies, these sprinkling,
and a little fella gets 12 years old, we're going to confirm him.
The Holy Spirit hadn't convicted him, and God hadn't converted
him, but we're going to confirm him. We've invented those things. Rededications. We get them down
the aisle. I'll tell you what a rededication
is. It's a lost person. trying to
find a little more comfort and assurance. That's exactly what
it is. Because you don't rededicate
what's been dedicated. But our thoughts have been. So
I aim in my message tonight to present it as simply as I can.
I aim at nothing but one thing. I want to clear the way to the
city of refuge so there'll be no boulders and stumbling blocks
and tree limbs, and all these traditions and inventions of
men between you and that city of refuge. You see, back in the
Old Testament, when the manslayer had accidentally killed someone,
that person's relative could kill him if he caught him. But
there were seven cities of refuge. When it's seven of them, Charlie,
seven cities of refuge. And this manslayer could run
to any of those cities of refuge. Now, he may not know the location
of the nearest one, but there were signposts along the way,
pointing the way to the city of refuge. And that's all we
preachers are. We're signposts pointing to the city of refuge.
We're not the city of refuge, nor is our church, nor are our
altars, nor are our baptisms and our sacraments. They're not
cities of refuge. We are but signs pointing to
the city of refuge. Now, every once in a while, those
signs would get blown over with ivy. or grown over with some
kind of leaves and stuff. Every once in a while those signs
would be broken and be falling down. Every once in a while there'd
be a storm and sand would blow across the road or there'd be
boulders in the road. The priest's job was to go out there and clear
the way. Clear the way. Make sure that
the sign was right, make sure it was pointing in the right
direction, make sure that there was no obstructions in the way
of that manslayer, nothing to slow him down or impede his journey
so that he might get to the city of refuge. I tell you what preachers
today have done, they've put stumbling blocks out there. They've
turned the sign the other way and pointed to their denomination
or pointed to their sacraments or pointed to their ceremonies
or pointed to themselves. Instead of just clearing the
way and clearing the sign so that they can see where the city
is, we've done everything in our power to confuse them. My
purpose tonight is to speak as plainly as God Almighty will
enable me to clear the way to the city of refuge that men might
see the fountain of life and run to it, that men might see
the serpent lifted up and look. And there are four things that
I want to show you from this text. Here they are, four things.
First of all, very briefly, I'm going to explain this promise
of God. He says it to me. If you feel
the need and if you meet the conditions, it applies to you. I don't care who you are. I'm
reminded of that story Brother Barnard used to love to tell.
He said he was up in the northern part of the country, I think
it was Canada, somewhere, holding meat. And the pastor was a very
pious gentleman. They had a local first-something
church, out of first-something. And Barnard was preaching and
getting nothing done because he couldn't find any sinners.
That is tough when you're preaching and you can't find any center.
And so he and the pastor went out to visit one day, and they
visited about everybody in the little community. And on the
way back to the pastorium where Barnard was staying with the
pastor, they passed a little white house, and around that
little white house was a picket fence. And Brother Barnard said
he'd been in every house in the community, so he just reached
open the gate to go in, and the The pastor caught him by the
arm and he said, I wouldn't go in there if I was you. Barnard
said, you just don't tell Brother Barnard not to do anything. Even
if I was you, if you had that. Barnard said, I've been in every
other house, why shouldn't I go in this one? He didn't like the
visit too much. And the pastor said, well, I
just wouldn't go. I just wouldn't go to that house. Let's go on
home. Well, Barnard had to go to that house. And so he walked
up the walk. This is a true story. And he
knocked on the door. The pastor stayed out there by
the fence. And he stood there a minute, and a lady opened the
door. And she looked at Rob. She said,
what do you want, big boy? Well, he said, I'm holding a
meeting down here at this church, down the road here. He said,
I'm an evangelist. She said, you wouldn't kid me. He said,
no, I wouldn't kid you, I'm an evangelist. That's the pastor
out there by the gate. He wouldn't come in with me. And he said,
I've come to invite you to church. She said, you're serious? He
said, I'm just serious as I've ever been. I wish you'd come
to church. Well, she said, I just might
do it. And so he went on, went and joined the pastor, and they
went home, had their supper, got ready for church. Barney
got up to preach that night, and there she sat. And God gave him some power to
preach the gospel to sinners. You see, this is the sinner's
gospel. If you're not a sinner, nothing I say tonight will do
you any good. I know you'll talk religious, because everybody's
religious. We've got the Moslems and the
Confucius, and all of them are confused. And the Mohammedans,
and the Seventh-day Adventists, and the Christian scientists,
and the Catholics, Protestants, and Jews. Everybody's got religion.
There's nobody without religion. Everybody's got religion. There's
two classes of people in this world. That's those that are
lost and know it, and those that are lost and don't know it. But
she was there that night. He preached the gospel to sinners.
Christ died for sinners. Christ died for the ungodly.
And he stood to sing. At the end of the service, he
said, everybody stand, and we're going to sing an old hymn. And
if anybody here, God's done something for you, and you want to tell
us about it, we'd be happy to rejoice with you. And so they
started singing. And down the aisle she came,
just weeping. He said, like her heart was breaking,
just sobbing, sobbing. Came up there and just fell on
Brother Barnard's shoulder and wept and wept. Said, I'm lost. I need Christ. Will you pray
for me? They had prayer together, and
it seemed like she had an interest in Christ, and so he stood in
front of that. The congregation had just about
stopped singing. They were so shocked. Everybody
knew her, like the woman at the well. like Mary Magdalene. And they'd all about stopped
singing, and when Barnard spoke, they all did stop singing, and
he said, uh, this dear lady has come to confess the Lord. You
see, she's the only one who had that weight. Nobody else needed
it. He said, what are we going to do about it? And he said,
nobody said anything. The pastor didn't say anything,
nobody in Carriage said anything. They just stood there. And he
stood there, and she stood there beside him. And finally said
there was a dear old lady that had been in that church all her
life. They called her the old Mother Israel of the church.
Said he spotted her and she stepped out of her pew where she was
standing and started down that aisle and she pushed her glasses
up here on her hair and took out a handkerchief and wiped
her eyes as she came down the aisle. First time they'd seen
anybody saved in that church ever, I spoke. First time they'd
had a sinner there, I guess, since they'd been founded. And
she came down the aisle, Barnard said, wiping the tears, and she
walked right up to that girl and put her arms around her,
and a loud, clear voice heard by every ear. She said, Welcome,
my sister. Isn't that beautiful? Welcome, my sister. I want to
give you four things tonight. First, I'm going to explain this
promise. If there's a sinner here, you're
going to rejoice. I'm going to give some simple
directions, very simple, very simple. And then thirdly, I'm
going to answer some objections. There are always objections to
anything you preach. And then fourthly, very briefly,
I'm going to lay the responsibility for your condition, whatever
it is, where it belongs. I'm going to lay the responsibility
for your condition. If you're on your way to glory,
I'm going to lay the responsibility where it belongs. If you're on
your way to hell, I'm going to lay the responsibility where
it belongs. Now, here's the first thing. First, explain this promise.
Ye shall ye, and that's not anybody but you, you, you, you, right
here, you. You shall seek me, Jehovah God,
and you'll find me. You'll find me merciful and gracious. You'll find me forgiving when
you search for me with all your heart." There you have it. It
explains itself. But in the event that it didn't explain itself
to you, let me say three or four things. First of all, we have,
by our fall into sin, lost our God. Now, he that hath the Son
hath life, and hath life he hath God. He that hath not the Son
of God hath not God. Now, men who are unsaved do not
have God. They are without God. They're
without Christ. They're without help and without
hope. You can't say that a man has God who's not redeemed. If
he's redeemed, he has God. If he has God, he's redeemed.
If he's not saved, he's not a believer, he doesn't have God. He that
believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him.
Sammy prayed it a while ago. We were children of wrath. I
know we like to say God loves everybody, and there's nobody
here tonight who believes more in God's love than I do. Bless
your heart, God is love. There is no love except in God.
He that loveth not his brother knoweth not God, for God is love.
And God loves the unlovely, and God loves the ungracious, and
God loves the unmerciful. God loves sinners because He
loves me. But I tell you, God's love's in Christ. Now, you're
just foolish if you put it anywhere else. It says it plainly in Romans
8, 39, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is
in Jesus Christ our Lord. God's love was in the ark. God's
judgment was outside, Bob. Noah couldn't stand on the deck
of that ship and look over a podium out upon the drowning multitude
and preach the love of God to them. They were under God's judgment. They were under God's right.
God's love was not in Sodom. It was upon Lot in Christ. By our fall into sin, we've lost
God. Brethren, the sinner is in a
terrible plight. It's not funny. It's nothing
to joke about. It's pitiful. Men without Christ
are without God. And that's just so. They have
no God. Their God is their belly. That's what the Scripture said.
Their God is their belly. All right, God in mercy gave
Christ to be the Redeemer of some people in this world. He
said He sent His Son into the world. God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. In the
fullness of time, God sent His Son to be the propitiation of
our sin. Christ was born of a woman, made
under the law to redeem us who were under the law. God gave
His Son, He gave His Son to be our representative, He gave His
Son to be our righteousness, He gave His Son to be our substitute,
and salvation is in His Son, that's where it is. It's not
anywhere else but in the Son. And the sum and substance of
this promise is this, any guilty sinner who has lost God, who
has lost his way, who has lost his soul, who desires pardon,
who desires to be reunited with God, restored, his soul restored,
who desires to come to the living God, may come to him in Christ. And if he comes to God in Christ,
God will receive him. I don't care how sinful he is,
how wicked he is, how vile he is, how unable he is, if he comes
to God, because God is able to save to the uttermost all that
come to God by him. Let me tell you something. There
is not now and never will be a soul in hell who can say, I
desired mercy, I knew my inability, I longed for the living God.
And I cast myself on Christ, and he didn't have the strength
nor the power nor the will to save me. I don't believe that's
so. Any man who has not found peace has not sought it in the
right place. Any woman who has not found pardon
has not sought it in the right place. Any person who has not
found forgiveness has not sought forgiveness. Any person who has
found no grace has sought no grace." Now that's just so. God
says, when you seek me, you'll find me. The only question, the only question
associated with this promise lies with you and me. He says,
if you seek me, you'll find me. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. You know what it says? It doesn't
say he might be, perhaps he could be. He says he shall be. You can't call on God out of
a sincere heart and a willing heart and not have him. You can't
do it. He hears. He hears all who call
on him. The only if is with you. It's
not with God. It's with you. Will you call?
Will you call? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever will, let him take. the water of life, it's there
for you. Now that's what that scripture says. You shall seek
me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. That's
so, that's what it's saying. He's saying any sinner, any guilty
sinner, who desires mercy, who desires pardon, and will come
to the living God by faith in Christ, he'll be saved. Now go
into all the world and say that. If I can find me a helpless sinner,
if I can find me an unadulterated, helpless, totally lost man who
has no hope and no righteousness and nothing to recommend him
and no merit, and he says, oh, I'd love to be saved, I'd love
to know God, I say, well, come on, friend. The table is spread,
the water flows freely, you're invited, come on in. Now, here's
the second thing. Here's some simple direction.
What is it, then, to seek the Lord? Well, first of all, I say
it's to seek him in Christ. Now, brethren, it's to seek him
in Christ. The disciple said, show us the Father. Christ said,
he that has seen me has seen the Father. It's not to seek
God in religion, in the things that represent God. There are
a lot of things that represent God. I love the house of God.
He said, my house shall be called a house of prayer. But you won't
find God in a house. Not in saving mercy. You'll find
Him in His Son. It's not to seek God in a law.
God gave the law. It's God's law. But God is not
in the law revealing and showing mercy. Mercy is in Christ. There's
no mercy in the law. It's not in works. It's not in
religion. It's in Christ. Let me give a
story for the children here tonight. A little boy over in North Carolina
said to his pastor, he said, I'd like to hear Brother Mahan
preach. And the pastor, Brother Luther Hook, said, well, why
do you like to hear him preach? He said, well, I like to hear
him preach because he preaches a while, and then he'll tell
you something. And then he'll preach a while, and then he'll
tell you something. He liked those stories. There was a little boy who came
in from play, I don't know, seven, eight, nine years old, 10 years
old. And his mother said to him, she said, son, the man down at
the store, local community market, Had some pretty bases down there,
three or four bases. And while I was down there today,
I bought and paid for one. And I want you to go get it.
I couldn't bring it home with me. I had other things to bring.
I had to stop. But it's down there. It's paid
for. All you got to do is pick it up and bring it home. Now,
son, don't stop along the way, and don't play any games, and
don't go to any of your friends' house. You go down, get the vase,
and come straight home. Yes, ma'am." So he walked out
the door. and down the street, and walked
into the store, and he said, my mama sent me to pick up the
vase she bought. And the fella gave him the vase.
And he took it in his arms, and he started home. And on the way
home, he met little Joey. And Joey had a basketball bouncing.
And Joey said, Billy, let's bounce a basketball and shoot a few
shots. He said, no, mama told me to
get this vase and bring it home and not to stop. Well, it ain't
going to hurt to stop for a few minutes. That makes sense, doesn't
it? Just for a few minutes. Mama didn't mean that she couldn't
stop at all. Yes, she said, come on home. I know, but it's going
to rain after a while. Let's set that base over there.
Nothing's going to happen to it. That's reasonable. Why, you
can put a base over there and nobody's going to bother it.
Just put it over there. So he set it over there. And
they started playing basketball. And it wasn't long before that
ball went right over there and hit that base and broke it into smithereens. And when little Joey saw that,
he skedaddled out of there. and left little Billy by himself
with his broken vase. And he went over and picked up
the vase and he tried to put it back together. He put a piece
here and he held a piece there and when he reached for another,
that would fall. He'd get another piece and put it over here and
reach for another and that would fall. And finally, with those pieces
of glass at his feet, he sat down on the curb and did what
any sinner does, he'd just start crying. He'd broken the vase
and couldn't put it back together. He'd been trusted with a vase
and he hadn't kept the faith. He'd broken it. He just sat there
and cried. And finally he sensed someone's
presence behind him. And he looked up and there stood
his dad on the way home from work. And I tell you, the tears
had creased down through the dirt, you know, on his face.
He was in a sorry shape. His dad said, son, what on earth's
wrong with you? Well, he told him the story.
And his dad said, well, tell you what we'll do. We'll go down
and I'll buy another base and you take it home to mama." And
so the little boy jumped up full of joy and happiness, the mercy
of his father. His father didn't put that in
back together. He didn't take the broken pieces, he gave him
an all new one and gave it to him and he took it home. Now
God gave me a life. a soul, and I broke it. I messed it up. He said, come
straight home. I didn't make it. John stopped
on the way. And it's all messed up. It's broken to pieces. I
tried to put it back. I tried all kinds of things the
preacher said to do. Do this and do that and do the
other, but it wouldn't work. I tried the glue of human works
and the glue of the law to hold together my righteousness, and
it looked worse than it did when it was all broken. And my Heavenly
Father came along in His mercy and grace and said, what's wrong?
Well, I'm broken, I'm sinful, and I'm wicked, and I have no
hope. I have nothing to buy another
one with. I'm bankrupt. And he said, I'll
buy you one and give it to you, and you take it home. And I broke
God's righteousness and God's law, but he gave me another righteousness
in his Son. You see, that's it. He didn't
take part of this one and mix it with another one. He gave
me an all-new heart and an all-new nature. The old broken base is
still there. It's still in the gutter, and
that's where it's going to stay. It'll never rise out of the gutter.
But God gave me a new one. And that new righteousness is
the one in which he'll receive me. So to seek God is to seek
him in Christ. Secondly, is to seek him using
his word for your God. Using his word for the God. Now,
brethren, I thought won't do. And what anybody else thinks
is what God says. This is what I'm trying to do
here at 13th Street Baptist Church, believe me, on the television
or wherever we pray. I'm trying to tell people what
God says. Thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord. Open your
heart to the Word of God. Pray that the Spirit of God will
take the Word and make it effectual to your heart. God says, My Word
will not return unto me void. It shall accomplish that whereunto
I have sent it. It's by the Word that men are made whole. I know
we'll bring our reasoning in and our logic and what we always
heard somebody say, but God's Word is the only foundation of
faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. You're not supposed to depend
on your feelings, but on His Word. On His Word. The rich man in hell said, Father
Abraham, I'll tell you how to get people saved on earth. I'll
tell you how. You send Lazarus back. You raise
Lazarus from the dead and send him back to preach to my five
brothers." They'll hear a man that has risen from the grave.
And you know what God said through Abraham? He said, they won't
believe though one rose from the dead. They have Moses and
the prophets. In other words, they have the
Word of God. Let them hear the Word of God. Will you hear God's Word? If
you want to seek God, seek him in Christ. That's where he's
to be found. Seek him using the Word as your
mouth. as your directory, as your guide.
And thirdly, seek him, my friends, for the right thing, mercy. Now, we're fools to seek his
benefits and his blessings only. We're fools to come to God for
health and wealth. God bless me, bless me. No, that's
not our prayer. God save me, save me. What did
the publican cry who was heard? Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner. What did the fiend cry who was hurt? Lord, remember
me. It's not prosper me. I know what the preachers are
saying. They're telling you that God wants you to be rich. God
wants you to be prosperous. God wants you to be healthy.
God wants you to be this, that, and the other. My friends, it's
my son, give me your heart. That's the thing. Let us come
boldly before the throne of grace that we may find what? Mercy. Mercy. If I have mercy, I have
all the health and wealth my soul needs. If I have Christ,
if I have his mercy, if I have his forgiveness. If I don't have
Christ, I may stand here tonight, the wealthiest, healthiest, friendliest,
most popular, famous man in this world, and have a soul that's
on the road to eternal judgment and condemnation. I'm nothing. I don't have anything. I'm the
poorest, most poverty-stricken, urchin alive. But if I stand
here tonight and I can scarcely speak for fumbling in my self-consciousness,
and I don't have a dime in my pocket, not a dime, And I don't
have any fame or recognition, and I don't own any property,
and I don't have good health. I'm wheezing and coughing and
bent over and broken down and one foot in the grave and another
on a banana peeling, as the fellow said. But if I have Christ, I
have all things." Now, that's something. That's so. A man's life does
not consist in the things he possesses. It's in the person
he knows. That's right. When you put my
body in a coffin, it won't matter then how many houses and land,
how much land I had, or how famous I was, or who knew my name, or
who didn't, or how many monuments I left behind. It will be, did
he know Christ? Were his sins pardoned? Did he
know the Son of God? All right, some questions answered.
Somebody said one time, the Lord said, come. He said, well, I've
married a wife, you know, and I can't come right now. Another
one said, well, I'd like to come, but I bought some land, and I've
got to go see it. Another said, well, I must take
care of my sick father. I've got to go bury my father.
There are hundreds of excuses. There's an excuse for every person.
And if we answer these hundred, there are a hundred more. So
what I'm going to do tonight, I'm not going to deal with foolish
excuses like that, but I'm going to deal with, I believe, three
or four excuses that I think may be sincere. The man that
says, I can't come, I married a wife. Now, he's not sincere.
He could bring her along. The fellow says, I bought some
land. He's not sincere. But now, somebody here tonight,
somebody here tonight may say, I'd like to come to Christ. I'd
like to know God. I'd like to be saved. But preacher,
I'm about the worst fellow there is in this church. I'm too sinful. I've heard people say, you just
don't, you don't, I know, you just don't know. And here I do.
Here I do. Most of us do, don't we? I do. In all, you don't know. You don't
know. I'm just, there's just nothing I hadn't done. But that's
true of everybody here, because to break one law is to be guilty
of all. There ain't nothing you hadn't done. Well, there's no
law I hadn't broken. That's true of everybody here.
Some know it and some don't. You can't be any more lost than
lost. You may be 50 miles in the woods. The other guy may
be 10 miles in the woods. You're both lost. You may be
an old sinner or a new sinner, but a sinner is a sinner. A man in hell is a man in hell,
as you know, it doesn't matter how deep you are. You see what
I'm saying? Now, if your complaint were that
you felt too good and didn't need mercy, I wouldn't encourage
you at all to come to Christ. Anybody here tonight that can't
say, I'm a great sinner, I wouldn't urge you to come because he's
not going to receive you. He said he died for sinners. He
said, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.
L-O-S-T, lost. I didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Well, people don't need doctors.
It's sick people. Pam, if you weren't sick, you
wouldn't go up there Monday, wouldn't you? No, I wouldn't
go back either. That's right. It's sick people. But now, if
you get bad enough, you'll go. And I'll tell you, if you get
bad enough, you'll come to Christ. Isn't that right? Sure, that's
right. So that's a bunch of foolishness. Our Lord came to save sinners.
There's no sinner. Actually, actually, the diamond
of grace shines the brightest against the background that's
the blackest. That's right. He said to whom most much is
forgiven, that's the guy that's going to love me like he ought
to love me. hipsqueak of a preacher who thinks
he's so righteous and holy and good. He'll never love Christ.
He doesn't need Christ. But that old boy that's lost
and undone and crippled and blind and half and maimed, if God gives
him a new heart and a new nature, God will never hear the last
of it. He'll praise him as long as eternity will let him. That's
right. So that did away with that one,
didn't it? Somebody else said, well, I'm
too ignorant. I don't know enough about the Bible. I need to learn
more about the Bible. No, no, it's not the Bible that saves
you, it's Christ. You're not saved by theology, you're saved
by the Son of God. That's right. I'd rather you
be ignorant than be too smart. That's right. When you get too
smart, that gets in your way. You get to be a theologian and
you miss Christ. You get to be orthodox and you
miss the Savior. Let me ask you two or three questions.
You say you don't know the Bible, that's all right. Do you know
your sinner? Oh yeah, there's no doubt about that. Well, do
you know you can't save yourself? Why, I know that, sure I know
that. That's clear as a bell. Do you know Christ died for sinners?
Yeah, I'm persuaded of that. Will you trust him? That's right. How much theology
did the thief on the cross know? Reckon what he knew about original
sin. He just knew about sin. He didn't
know where it originated. I bet he didn't even know. He
just knew it all. That's the only thing original about him,
Brother James says, was his sin. But he knew he was lost and needed
Christ. So that does away with that. Your ignorance of the Bible
does not stand in your way of Christ. And don't use that as
an excuse. All right, thirdly, somebody
says, well, I'm a nobody. I'm nobody. I'm an insignificant
nobody. Those are the people God called.
He said, 1 Corinthians 1 26, God had chosen the what? The
foolish things of this world. God had chosen the despised.
God had chosen the base. God had chosen the things which
are not to bring to naught the things of us. Let not that stand
in your way. But wait a minute, preacher.
I got one more excuse. And I'm sincere. I'm sincere. Preacher, I'm weak. And I'm just
afraid. I'd come to Christ, I'd receive
him, I'd believe him. But I tell you, Preacher, I'm
afraid I'll sin again. Paul says, who is weak that I'm
not weak? Who has anything that he didn't
receive from above? Lay hold upon Christ. He will
preserve you and protect you and keep you. And yes, you will
sin. tonight and again tomorrow. But he said, my little children,
these things I write unto you, that you sin not. God couldn't
command us to sin. He commands us not to sin. But
if any man sins, we have an advocate with Christ, with God, which
is Christ the Lord. Paul said, I'm not perfect. This
is the preacher of God's grace to the Gentile. I'm not perfect.
I haven't laid hold upon that for which Christ has laid hold
of me. But I forget the things which are behind. And I press
forward toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of
Christ my Lord. Rather than we not only will
sin, we are sin. I know that aggravates people
to say that, and I know it just makes what we call the Pentecostal
or Holy Roller or whatever just cringe when you say that every
man sins, but it's so whether we like it or not. The problem
is that people don't know what sin is. Sin is any shortcomings
of the perfect glory of God. Sin is to know to do good and
do it not. Sin is not to love God with all
my heart. My neighbor is myself. There's
sins of omission, commission, secret, false. There's sins I
don't even know about. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. The things I would do, I do them not. The things I would
not do, I do. I'm not without sin and nobody
else is in ourselves, but in Christ we're without sin. There's no reason not to come
to Christ. I say the only reason not to come to Christ is if you
don't need him. Now don't come. But brother,
I tell you this, if you're empty, come, he'll fill you. If you're
sinful, come, he'll save you. If you're guilty, come, he'll
forgive you. If you're dirty, come, and he'll wash you. If
you want him, come, he'll give himself to you. That's just so. There is no reason. The only
reason lies with you. Now here's the last thing, and
I close. Let me lay the responsibility for our condition, whatever it
is. Now my condition tonight, I'll say this quite frankly to
you. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and his
righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly
lean on Jesus' name. Christ is my hope, my life, my
refuge, my rock. Is that what you say? Is he your
rock? My rock. You're a season. That's
my hope. All right? If you're saved, as I believe
I am, I lay the responsibility at his feet. He saved me. He
gave me what I have. He made me what I am. He redeemed
me by his grace. He washed me in his blood. He
wrote my name in his book. He made me his son. All that
I am and all that I have, I owe, not as Abraham Lincoln said,
to my beloved mother, to but my gracious God. All that I am
and all that I have, I owe to my God, all that I'll ever be. But now, if you're here tonight
and you're not a Christian, you're not a believer, you're not saved,
you're not redeemed, you've got to take all the blame. The responsibility's
got to lay at your feet, not at God's. If I'm redeemed, he
redeems. If I'm lost, it's because I will
not come to Him that I might have a life. Now, he's invited. He's invited as clearly. He said,
you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all
your heart. Well, what is it to seek preachers? It's to seek
Him in Christ, following His Word, following His Word. It's to seek Him with all your
heart. Now, it's not a hobby. I'm not saying come down here
and accept the Lord and get fixed up and go about your business.
But Christ is our life. I know we've got a business to
go about. But I go about that business in Christ. Somebody
says, well, you've got a business and you've got your religion.
Don't mix them. Well, that's too foolish to talk
about, isn't it? Christ is my business. I'm about
my Father's business. You do what we do to make a living
and pay our bills and meet expenses. But my life is Him. And yours
is too, if you know it. Christ is my life. Seek Him with
all your heart. Our Father, for thy gospel, good
news of Christ, for sinners, sinners like me, I give thanks. We're not left to ourselves.
We're not left to produce a righteousness, but to receive his. We're not
left to make ourselves whole, but to come to him who by his
blood can make us whole. And we do bow, and we do trust,
and we do worship, and we do receive thy son, our Lord Jesus
Christ. And most willingly and lovingly
confess him publicly before the congregation of the righteous,
He's my Lord and my Savior. Move in the heart of every person
here to accomplish thy purpose and thy glory. For Christ's sake,
I pray. Amen.