Let's turn to Romans 7. Romans 7. Let me read about three verses
that I want to use for a text. Romans 7, beginning with verse
9. Paul said, For I was alive without
the law once. without an understanding of God's
holiness. And when we use the word law,
we talk about the word or the Levitical law or the moral law
or perhaps a summary of the whole thing, the holiness of God, without
an understanding of the holiness of God, the righteous, the true
righteousness of God. I was alive without that understanding. But when the commandment, when
a revelation of God's law and God's holiness and what true
righteousness really is, what the law required, inwardly and
outwardly. When it came, sin revived. In other words, sin appeared
to be what it is. It was there already. It's just
like you go in a dark room and you're standing in that room
in perfect peace. Not knowing there's a rattlesnake
lying right over in the corner. It's dark, you see. Not knowing
that there's a hole that leads, drops into a well just one foot
from where you're standing. But now somebody turns on the
light. The hole didn't suddenly appear. You saw it. The snake
didn't suddenly appear. He was revealed to you. The black
wood of spider hanging over your head didn't, it didn't come in
there. The light didn't bring it. See
what I'm saying? The light didn't bring it. The
light lets you see it. It is there all the time. You
were in danger if you didn't know about it. You were perfectly
peaceful, happy, joyful. You probably would have laid
down on the floor and went to sleep unless somebody turned on the
light. But when they did, you got out of there as quick as
you could. That's what Paul is saying. I was alive without the
law in the darkness of my own understanding. But when the commandment
came, when God turned the light on, sin revived or it appeared. And I died. In the commandment
which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. I was alive
and I died. All right, turn over to verse
24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from this body of death? It says the body of this death.
It's this body of death. I thank God. through Jesus Christ
our Lord. That's the way. So here's what
I'm preaching about this morning. Alive, dead. Alive again forevermore. Now the Apostle Paul, as I read
to you in Hebrews 3, the Apostle Paul feared, as much as anything
else, false professions of religion. I believe he wrote about it so
often, continually. continually warned the members
of the early churches, continually warned, and warns us in his writings
about the very real, the very real possibility of false faith. Let me just show you a few. Turn
to 2 Corinthians 13, 5. In 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5,
Paul says this. Examine yourselves. Now this
is written to the church. Examine yourselves, whether you
be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know you're
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
you be a reprobate. That's clear language. And it's
written to the church, it's written to the preachers, and the deacons,
and the elders, and the Sunday school teachers, and all who
go about religious duties. Let me say this, and don't let
me offend you. I'm talking to myself and to
Jay, too. But one of the easiest places to miss Christ, Joe, is
right here. Right here. You can become so,
and I mean standing before a Sunday school class or in a church office,
you can become so involved in religion and preaching to others
and teaching what you call the Word of God. So involved and
surrounded by the walls or the restraints of religion. that
you can flat miss Christ involved in your works and deeds and theology
and doctrines and understanding of religious matters. The Pharisees
did, the Sadducees did, the scribes. Who were the scribes? They were
men who with pen and ink translated the scriptures from language
to language. And Christ said they missed him,
the scribes and Pharisees. These men translated scripture. They made me keeper of the vineyard. My own vineyard I didn't keep.
Whose house is usually pretty run down? The best carpenter
in town. But he's working on everybody
else's house. Whose car usually rattles? With apologies to Brother
Coon. The mechanic's car. Whose plumbing
in his house has no water pressure? The plumber. But he can sure
fix yours up. And who's spiritual life a lot
of times is the lowest. The fellas telling everybody
else how to live. I'm telling you the truth. Now turn to Hebrews chapter 6
verse 4. And these are warnings Paul gives.
He said, I keep my body and bring it into subjection lest when
preaching to others I become a castaway. That's exactly what
he said. So when I say examine yourselves,
I mean let's examine ourselves. In Hebrews 6, 4, he said it's
impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted
the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and
tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come,
if they should fall away, impossible to renew them again unto repentance,
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put
him to open shame. Walked for a while in the light
of revelation, in the light of common grace, in the light of
gospel revelation, and turned back to the beggarly elements,
God said there remained no more sacrifice for sin. Hebrews 10,
let's read one more warning and then we'll go on. I don't want
to spend too long on this, but what I'm pointing out is this.
Paul had a genuine fear of a false profession of religion. And he
continually warned us, he warned the churches, he warns preachers
and teachers and leaders in churches, he warns us. Now you be careful,
you make sure that you know Christ. Look at Hebrews 10. Now the just,
verse 38, the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw
back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. We're not of them that
draw back unto perdition. but of them that believe to the
saving, to the saving of the soul. Continually believe. Keep
on believing. I read a while ago in Hebrews
3, Christ is the son over his house whose house we are if we
continue in the faith. If we hold fast to the beginning
of our confidence, steadfast to the end. Salvation is past,
present, and future. We're being saved. Now, no one
knew more about the reality of such an experience than Paul.
I don't believe anybody in the Scripture knew more about a false
profession than he did, because he was there. Turn to Philippians
3, and I'll give you a little picture of his profession. In
Philippians 3, you know what he was. You know he was wrapped
in a false hope. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees.
He was holding to a refuge of lies. He was satisfied with his
tradition and morality and his laws, his custom and ceremony. He was going through the motions.
He was an avid, zealous person for the traditions of his fathers.
He believed in God. He believed in election. He believed
in sovereignty. He believed in the Jewish tradition.
He believed in the law. He believed in the ceremony.
He was clean as a hound's tooth. He'd have fought you in a minute
over what he believed. You talk about zealous. In fact, when that fellow Stephen
rose up and preached Jesus Christ, Paul consented with those that
stoned him to death and held their coats while they murdered
this man Stephen. Because this man Stephen walked
contrary to what Paul believed. Why, he said, verse 5 of Philippians
3, I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel. I
was of the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. As
touching the law, I was a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, I persecuted
the Church. Touching the righteousness, which
is in the law, I was blameless. But these things that were gained
to me, important to me, my very life, so important, so valuable,
I count them but loss, that I may win Christ. I count all things
but loss, he said, for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. And I
do count these things but rubbish." Now, Paul was not only a pattern
of true conversion, but he was a pattern of religion without
hope. He had religion, much religion, a busy religion, a zealous religion,
but a religion without hope. He sums up this experience in
verse 9 of Romans 7. I want us to look at it for a
few minutes. He said, I was alive. I was alive. Four things. Let's underscore. I was alive. I died. And the weapon that slew him.
I want to look at that a few minutes. I want to look at what
he meant when he said, I was alive. What he meant when he
said, I died. And I want to look at the weapon
that slew him. And then I want to look at the results. But let's
see what he said when he said, I was alive once. I was alive. I was cheerful. I was full of
joy, happy all the time. Everybody happy, say amen. Happy
all the time. Something wrong with fellas happy
all the time. Something wrong with the fellas happy all the
time. I know those little old courses are cute, but there's
something wrong. happy all, I was confident, I was at peace, I
thought, with God. I was full of vain hope, presumptuous
assurance, like the Jews of old who looked right into the face
of the Son of God and said, we'd be in bondage to nobody. That's
how confident they were. They looked right at the Son
of God and they said, God's our Father, who's your Father? That's
what they said. They said the Bible is our book,
God is our Father, we have Abraham and Moses, and Heaven's our home. That was Saul of Tarsus. Turn
to Isaiah 28. I want to show you just how far
this confidence will go. Actually, this assurance, assurance
is not very important, to be perfectly honest with you. Christ
is important. I hear people talk about their
assurance. Well, I know I'm saved. Well, that's not near as important
as knowing that you know Christ. Assurance is not all that important.
It's not all that important. Sometimes it leads to presumption.
In fact, you know how far assurance can go? All the way to the judgment. Because there's some folks stood
at the judgment and said to Christ, we prophesied in your name. They
expected to be cleared on the basis of what they'd done because
they wouldn't have recited these things if they didn't expect
to be cleared, wouldn't they? Why, they were shocked. They said,
we preached and cast out devils and did many wonderful works
in your name. And he said, I never knew you. Bind him hand and foot. Nobody's willingly going to hell.
Bind him hand and foot and cast him into outer darkness. Isaiah
28, I want you to listen to him. The Lord said in verse 14, now
listen, hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, here's
a key word, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a religious town.
It's the Vatican of Judaism. And these were the men who ruled.
You see that? Because you said we've made a
covenant with death, we're not afraid to die. With hell are
we at agreement. We agree there ought to be a
hell. People ought to go to hell, but not us. When the overflowing
scourge, that's the judgment of God, shall pass through, it
shall not come unto us. We have a refuge. It's a refuge
of lies. We have a hiding place under
falsehood if we hid ourselves. They didn't know it was lies.
They thought the lie was the truth, and the truth was a lie.
Now what maintains false hope? I want to give you five or six
things I picked up from one of the old writers. who continues
in a false religious hope has to have a reason to continue.
If I have a false religious hope, there's a reason why I continue
in it and don't get out of it and don't shuck it and cast it
off. There's a reason, and I can give
you six. The first one is ignorance of
the way of life. Just flat ignore the gospel.
A man doesn't know what he's never heard. He can't call upon him in whom
he hasn't believed, and he can't believe in him of whom he hasn't
heard, and he can't hear without a preacher. Ignorance. Turn to
1 Corinthians. Let me show you something. 1
Corinthians chapter 2. Just ignorant. Now, really and
truly, there are just three ways to quiet a man's heart. Three ways to quiet a man's heart.
I mean a man's heart who is troubled over eternity, judgment, death,
hell, heaven, Relationship, just three ways to quiet a man's heart.
One, bring him to Christ. If we enter into his rest, we
cease my labors. That'll quiet a man's heart.
If he ever comes to Christ, he'll have a peace of passive understanding.
That heart will settle down like the troubled sea. But there's
another way to quiet a heart, and quiet a conscience, and quiet
a troubled soul. Give him a religious profession.
You can come down now, shake your hand, and tell him he's
all right, and make him a deacon, or give him a Sunday school class
teacher, give him a job, or ordain him to preach. That'll quiet
his conscience. He says, well, I'm not a church
member. Well, you say, well, yeah, I
belong to the First Baptist Church. Take him in. Or thirdly, and
Satan does this, blind his eyes. Blind desire. Do it any way you
want to. Blind it with anything you want to. But blind desire.
Now look at 1 Corinthians 2. Verse 7 says, We speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained
before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of
this world knew. They didn't know the mystery of God, the
wisdom of God, the grace of God. Had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. Do you think for a moment that those soldiers would have
spit in his face if they'd known who he was. Do you think for
a moment that that Roman centurion would have driven those nails
into his wrist or hands if he'd have known who he was? Ignorant,
blind. And we go forth with the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ today, the gospel of mercy, the gospel
of grace, and men despise it and hate it and spit at us, cast
our names off as evil. You think they'd do that if they
thought that was the message? No, they wouldn't. They're blind.
Keep them in darkness. Keep them in darkness. Pharaoh
said, who's the Lord God that I should obey him? Secondly,
there's something else that maintains this false profession, false
hope, not only ignorance, but church privileges. The church
has opened its doors to the unregenerate. Now I know no matter how careful
you are, turn to John chapter 8, no matter how careful you
are, John the 8th chapter, no matter how careful you are about baptizing
people and bringing people into the membership of the church,
still there's going to be false professions. I know that. Our
Lord had 12. And one of them was a devil,
I know that. And the disciples baptized people, and once in
a while they baptized a Simon Magus, or Demas, or Alexander
the Coppersmith, or Dostrophes, or Ananias and Sapphira, once
in a while. But rather than I tell you this,
in this generation today, we've just opened the doors of the
Church. We're bringing people in at three years old, four years
old, five, six years old, and giving them a false hope and
a false profession. We're trying to sell Jesus, and
if they won't buy him for a dollar, we'll let them have him for a
dime. We just keep lowering the standard and lowering the requirements
and lowering the terms. Just, just, just, you know, just
open the doors and the church needs you. And we beg people
to join and beg them to make professions and beg them to do
this. We won't leave the Spirit of God to do the work of conversion.
Just preach the Word. And it gives a man a false hope. Look at John 8, verse 38. Our Lord said, I speak that which
I've seen with my father, and you do that which you've seen
with your father. And they answered him and said, Abraham's our father.
We're Jews. We're Baptists. We're Methodists.
We're Presbyterians. Church members all our lives.
That little girl told Barnard, said, I've been a Christian all
my life. He said, that's too long. That's too long. He said, well, if you're Abraham's
children, you do the works of Abraham. Boy, listen to verse
41. He said, you do the deeds of
your father. They said, we've been up born of fornication.
We have one father, even God. I tell you, these church privileges
these fellows had, gave them that confidence. They were in
the church, in the synagogue or whatever you want to call
it, temple or something. But anyway, they were in a religious
organization. They were accredited members. And that maintains that false
hope. You mean I'm lost? I'm not saved? Well, I've been
in the church all my life. They've been in the church all
of Abraham's life. These Jews were Jews by birth. That's how long they'd been in
there. They weren't in his church. I'll tell you another thing.
Turn to Romans 3.17. Here's another thing that maintains
a false profession, and that's a false evidence of God's love
and blessing. Let me warn you about something.
Don't mistake physical or material blessings for spiritual blessings.
Now, Israel was a national people. a natural national nation. And as they obeyed ceremonies
and sacrifices and written laws, God blessed them materially,
Joe, as they were a material nation, they were a natural nation. We are a spiritual people. We
are a holy nation, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. And material
blessings are no evidence whatsoever of spiritual Now, material and
physical blessing may come in God's good providence, but there's
no evidence that you're saved. I've heard people say, God's
been so good to me. Don't mistake physical strength
and health and blessings for God's mercies. Now, I'm warning
you. Turn to Romans, Revelation 3,
17. Let me show you that. You say, because you say, I'm
rich, I'm increased with goods, I have need of nothing. Knowest
not that thou art wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." These
people had mistaken material things for God's presence. That's
no indication of God's presence. You want to find God's presence?
Go to Bedford Prison and sit down on the bunk beside John
Bunyan. Don't mistake Don't ever be guilty
of this. Now, I'm saying every good gift
and perfect gift comes from God. When we sit down at our table
at noon today, now don't mistake, please don't misunderstand what
I'm saying. We'll sit down at our table today and there'll
be, God has always fixed a lovely meal for us and the children
and grandchildren and Bob's mother is here. We're going to have
a delightful, we're going to thank God if everything is on that table.
It is from Him. But Bradley, just because there's
some food on that table doesn't mean there's food in this heart.
Now don't mistake that, because that crooked businessman downtown
is going to have a bigger meal than we are. That's right, he's going to have
a bigger meal. He ain't going to thank God for nothing. It rains on the just and the
unjust. God's sun shines on the wicked
and the redeemed. common grace. If you read Psalm
73, you'll find actually those who know not Christ are blessed
a lot of times a whole lot more than those that do, physically
and materially. So this is what I'm saying. Sometimes if we're
not careful, and here I am sitting up here in a new suit that my
Sunday school class gave me and not a care in this world amount
to anything talking about, but I know they come from God, blessings
do, but don't mistake them for spiritual blessings. I might
be better off with patches on my britches. That's exactly right. I don't
want to mistake it. I don't want to run around saying,
well, God's been good to me. The devil might have been good
to you. Keep you from God. In fact, the wise man said, Lord,
keep me from riches, lest I forget Thee, and from poverty, lest
I curse Thee and steal. You've got to use some wisdom
on this thing. Don't mistake. that keeps people in a false
profession is their morality, external reformation. Listen
to the rich young man. Our Lord said to him one thing.
He said, go and obey the law. You know the law? He said, I
know it. He said, go and obey. He said, I've kept that all my
life. That was his hope. He's a good man. Paid his bills,
didn't kill anybody, never did curse, never did get drunk, never
committed adultery. Never did lie. And that Pharisee
stood in the temple and he said, Lord, I'm not an adulterer, I'm
not an extortioner, I'm not unjust. I tithe and fast and I give alms
to the poor. Surely God wouldn't overlook
these efforts. People die and somebody says, well, I know he's
in heaven. How do you know? Well, he's such a good man. Such
a good man. There's none good. None good. No, not one. There's none righteous.
Yes, there are preachers. There are some people in this
world that are better than others. Oh, I agree with you. But they're
not any good as God. And that's the measuring. That's the way we measure goodness
is in the light of God's goodness. Isn't that what Scripture says?
We sin and come short of man's glory? No, sir, God's glory.
God looked down from heaven to see if there was any that do
good, any that understood. He said they're all unprofitable,
they've all gone out of the way. Every imagination of man's heart
is evil. How many laws do you have to
break to be guilty? How many crimes do you have to
commit to be a criminal? To offend in one point is to
be guilty of the whole law of God. How many here love God with
all your heart, mind, soul, and strength? Nobody. How many would
like to? Some of us would, wouldn't we?
So how many are going to? Someday we will. But if you don't
love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, you've
broken the whole first part of the table of the law. You love
your neighbors as yourself. How many love their neighbors
as themselves? Nobody. Then we've violated the second
table. And consequently, we're not good. We're good compared
to others, but we're not good in the light of God's holiness.
But this false profession of religion, we find comfort in
our morality. That brings me to the fifth thing.
Turn to Matthew 7. I just can't believe that God
would judge anybody and cast them off with the murderers. Let me give you one verse of
scripture. I want you to listen to it. Our Lord stood one day
before some of the most outstanding religious leaders of his day,
men who were Pharisees, Sadducees, men who were churchmen, theologians,
doctrinalists, fundamentalists, orthodox. Men who were suspected, men who
read the scriptures on the street corner and prayed long prayers,
and men who fasted twice a week, men who tithed one-tenth of everything
they had, meant Anderson Cuman. And you know what he said? The
publicans and the harlots enter heaven before you. My soul, don't you know that
made them? I know I love goodness and holiness
and righteousness. I love his goodness, his holiness,
and his righteousness, and I long for it. But I'm telling you this,
if you don't ever see yourself a sinner, you're going to miss
salvation. Because our Lord looks out over
this congregation this morning and says to us, every one of
us who are so righteous in our own eyes, he said, you are they
that justify yourselves. before men, but he said that
which is highly esteemed among men. What is highly esteemed
among men? You know what it is. It is an
abomination to God. That scares the life out of me. I've tried to preach through
the years this gospel of grace for sinners, and thank God I've
found a few. But what scares me to death is
anyone trusting in, resting in, looking to, hoping in any kind
of acceptance by God because of what they've done, of what
they are. Look at Matthew 7. Self-love.
This is the fifth thing that blinds our eyes. We love ourselves.
Verse 3, Matthew 7. Why do you behold the mote that's
in your brother's eye, that little splinter that's in your brother's
eye, and you consider it's not that 12 by 12 20 foot long beam
that's in your eye? How would you say to your brother,
let me get that little speck out of your eye? And you behold
not that big piece of timber you've been carrying around all
these years. You see, here's the false religionist. He's picking. And he's missed his problem.
He's picking. He can't see. He's straining
in a net and swallowing a whole herd of Self-love. But somebody said self-love makes
us overlook our sins and busy ourselves with the sins of others.
Self-love takes away the sight of my sin. It's too near my eye. I can't see it. Only by God's
grace. Here's the last thing. What maintains a false security
and a false hope? This is one of the keys. A wrong
idea of the love of God and the justice of God and the righteousness
of God. Now let me tell you something.
The Bible says God will in no wise clear the guilty. A wrong
idea of the justice and righteousness of God. God will punish all sin. Some people have the idea of
salvation is that God looks upon a fellow and the fellow feels
sorry about his sins and he grieves over and repents and asks forgiveness
and God forgives him. God erases him. God puts them
away. Well, that's a misconception.
And please understand, will you listen carefully? God never puts
any sin away unless it's paid for. He can't. That's the reason Job asked this
question over and over. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? How can God blot out sin? How can God Erase sin. How can God forgive sin? God
is just and righteous and holy. He must punish sin. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Well, preacher, then it says
if we confess our sins, God will forgive them. Exactly. How does
God forgive them? Because Christ died for them. That's how God forgives. God
forgives sins because Christ paid for sin. And when we believe
on Christ and confess Christ, it shows that we are resting
in Christ and depending upon Him for the remission of sin.
Turn to Ephesians 1, let me show you that. Yes, Ephesians chapter
1 tells us how God puts away sin. God's just and holy. He
must punish sin. It wouldn't be right for God
to punish the sin of Sodom and allow your sins to go unpunished.
It wouldn't be right for God to condemn the sins of the Philistines
and then let your sins go unpunished. It says in verse 7 of Ephesians
1, "...in whom we have redemption through his blood." The forgiveness
of sin is through his blood. I've got to hurry back to Romans
7. Those are some of the things that maintain false profession. Paul said, I was alive. in a
false profession. Then he said, I died. The religionist
died. The confident died. The man at
peace died. Now the death here he's talking
about is opposed to that life that he just mentioned. He was
alive. He had hope. Now he's dead. No
hope. He had joy. No joy. He had confidence. No confidence. He had peace.
No peace. He thought he knew God. He didn't
know God. Not that Paul just now died,
but he just now realized he was dead. See that? I died. I died. I did not know God. I
did not have a refuge. I did not have peace. There are
three powerful things that dawn upon a man who is routed out
of a false refuge, a religious profession without Christ. There
are three things that really the Holy Spirit makes real to
him. These three things right here. Number one, he's convinced
of his S-I-N. S-I-N. Singular. That's his nature. That's the
principle of evil. That's the fountain from which
all evil acts belch forth and proceed. In Adam we died. It's the nature of sin, the body
of sin, the principle of sin. It's why we do what we do. A
fella's not a thief when he steals his first car. He stole that
first car because he was a thief in here. That's right. A man is not a liar who tells
his first lie. He told that first lie because
of an S-I-N principle in him. He was born liars. He's born
liars. See what I'm saying? He inherited
it from his daddy Adam. We don't teach our children to
hate, but they know how, somehow they know how. We don't teach
them to be selfish, but somehow they come into this world knowing
how already. Can you explain that? No, I can't
explain that. Well, you better learn something about it. See,
God's not only angry with me for what I've done, but what
I am. He's not only angry with this human race for its deeds,
but God's angry with the human race because of its attitude,
spirit, nature. And then the second thing that
powerful truth that dawns upon this man that's slain by the
Holy Spirit is his S-I-N-S. You see, that's the fruit or
produce or product of this nature, this tree of evil. You go out
here and see a tree, you say, what kind of tree is that? I
don't know, got no leaves or anything else on it. Well, it's
an apple tree. And you go out there in the summer
and the apples are hanging everywhere. You say, oh, that became an apple
tree. No, it didn't. It was already an apple tree.
But when the season for the fruit rolled around, it bore its fruit.
And that's what I'm saying about these boys and girls. You hold
that little tiny baby in your arm. John Dillinger was held
in some mama's arm one day. And you know what she said? Same thing you did. My sweet
little innocent son. Jesse James, his mama, his daddy
was a Baptist preacher. founded William Jewell College
in Joplin, Missouri. Jesse James's daddy was a great
man. His name's on the cornerstone
over there. Came from Lexington, Kentucky. And when little Jesse
was born, his mama and daddy held him and said, that's the
sweetest little thing. But boy, I tell you, when the
season rolled around for fruit to be produced, he fired it with
a six gun. His daddy didn't make him that
way. He born that way. I'm telling you the truth. S-I-N-S.
grieve over what we are and what we've done. And I'll tell you
a third thing, and this is what a lot of people in this world,
preachers included, have not seen. And that is, and Saul of
Tarsus saw it, God shoots us down and breaks us and humbles
us and shuts our mouths and slays us over the evil of our righteousness. The best thing I've got in God's
sight is what? Filthy rags. That's right. We all do fate as the leaf. Man
at his best state is altogether vanity. And that's the last thing
a sinner will give up. He'll talk about his S-I-N. He'll
talk about his S-I-N-S. But he will not say before God,
the best deed I have ever done is full of self and sin and evil. The best gift I've ever given,
I didn't give it with a pure motive. I didn't give it with
a pure love. I gave it as human beings give
things. I did it as human beings do things.
But the plowing of the wicked is sinful in God's sight. That's
right. I know that's hard to take. Not
only hard to take, it's impossible to swallow apart from God's revelation.
You can forget it. I know some folks are going to
hear this tape and say, he's a liar, and I am to you, but
I ain't to the Word. I'm telling the truth. Isaiah
64, 6 says, Our righteousnesses are filthy rags. That's so, Paul. That's so. And that's when a man dies. That's
when he plumb dies. That's when he totally dies.
And he's alive, he's got this religious profession, this dear
sweet lady, this dear sweet man, this kind individual, this personable
character, this preacher, deacon, or fine man, And God comes along
and just with the chilling cold wind of that awesome, awful,
exact, precise law, shoots him out of the saddle and he lies
dead in the dust on the Damascus road. I'm dead. Dead. I've got S-I-N and S-I-N-S and
I've got no righteousness. I'm without God and without hope
in this world. What slew it? What weapon did
God shoot him down with? Notice the next line. when the
commandment came, when the law of God. Let me show you something,
verse 10. The commandment that was ordained
to life I found to be unto death. My friends, nothing wrong with
God's law, it's holy. God gave it to sustain life.
He said to Adam, do this and live. The commandment was ordained
to life. The commandment wasn't ordained
to evil, it was ordained to life, not to death. When God made man,
put him in the Garden of Eden, he said, obey me and live. Simple. It wasn't a hard commandment,
it wasn't an unreasonable commandment. It's what you say to your children
every morning, now you'll be a good boy, I won't whip you. What's
unreasonable about that? Well, you know he's going to
get one before the day is over, and he does too. Because we can't
handle it. That's all there is to it. But
there's nothing wrong with a mother saying to a little boy in the
morning, now son, be good, and you won't get any whippings today.
There's nothing wrong with it. God said the commandment was
ordained to lie. But Paul said, that which was
ordained to lie, kill me. Kill me. Verse 11, For sin, taken
occasion by the commandment, it deceived me. It deceived me. Now here's twofold. I want you
preachers to watch this, see if I got a hold of this. Sin
used the same weapon to deceive him into thinking he was alright.
The same weapon God used to show him he's all wrong. Same weapon. And this is what
men will do. The religionist will take the
law and build him a foundation of righteousness. And the believer will take the
law and show you how he became a sinner. Same thing. The law, Paul said, it deceived
me and then it slew me. Now let's go to this last thing
and I'll close. Verse 24 and 25, is there any
hope? Is there any way out? And maybe
somebody here this morning was asking this very thing, is there
any way out? What did Paul say, all right? Verse 24, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this
body of death? Is there any deliverance? Yeah,
I thank God. God will deliver me through Jesus Christ the Lord. What's in Christ? Why should
I covet Christ? Why did this man Paul say, oh,
that I may win Christ? I count everything but loss and
dumb, my religion, my righteousness, my goodness, that I may win Christ. Let me give you quickly. God's
in Christ. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. The righteousness of God's in
Christ. The love of God's in Christ. Forgiveness is in Christ,
in whom we have forgiveness. Salvation is in Christ. Neither
is there salvation in any other. I was alive. I know a lot of
you can say that right now. I was alive. I've had such peace
and joy and confidence. And the preacher said, if you're
as sure for heaven as if you're already there, raise your hand.
My hand is always the first one up. Oh, I was confident and cocky
and full of vain hope and vain And then one day I met head on
the weapon, the very weapon, the very mean by which I found
my confidence and self-righteousness God used to kill me, the very
weapon, his holy law, his holiness, the law of God. And he shut my
mouth and whittled me down and stripped me and crippled me and
slew me at the feet of Christ. And I cried, Lord, be merciful
to me a sinner. Reveal Christ to my heart. Bring
me to trust, not in a profession of faith, not in a baptism, or
not in an ordinance or a sacrament, or not in a denomination, not
in morality or self-righteousness. Bring me to look to and to rest
in and to lay hold upon and trust in God's sacrifice for sin, God's
sin offering. Yes, God will forgive sin. God
will have mercy upon sinners. But he'll forgive sin only in
Christ, and he'll have mercy only in Christ. That's the hope.
That's the hope. That's the hope. There's only
two religions. I don't care what they call themselves. I don't
care by what name they go. There are only two religions. That's salvation by pure grace
or by man's works. Now, you can call it anything
you want to, and I believe there are people who know God You come
out of the Catholic Church. I really do. Frederick Faber
wrote Faith of Our Fathers. He was a Catholic. And I'm sure
there are others. I believe there are people who
come out of the Baptist Church who know Christ. I believe there
are folks in it who don't. in all the denominations. But
there's no denominations. Actually, they talk about all
the different sects and cults and denominations and all this.
It's just a lot of nothing, that's all. A lot of nothing. There's
just two ways, and that's the way of Christ or the way of the
flesh, the way of grace or the way of works. That's resting
in Christ and Christ alone, or resting in what I'm doing and
what I'm giving and what I'm saying and what I'm professing.