Many times through the years, people have come to this church,
having moved to this community or else having heard our television
or radio program, and they have sat and listened
to the gospel of Christ. And some of them have been professing,
quote, Christians, unquote, for a long time. But having listened to the gospel
of Christ, not tradition or custom or ceremony, but the gospel of
Christ, the gospel of redeeming grace, they come and say, the Lord has
revealed himself to me in saving grace. and I want to confess
Christ in believer's baptism. This has happened a number of
times. It'll happen a number more times. When I was pastor
at the Pollard Baptist Church, I remember in particular a man
moved here from Independence, Kentucky. He was an insurance
salesman, and he was hired to work in an insurance office downtown. Being a Baptist deacon, His wife
was the pianist at the church where they attended down in Independence,
Kentucky. He inquired about the churches,
the Baptist churches, the southern Baptist churches in this town.
And a man told him, well, there are several here. Go to any of
them except Pollard Baptist Church. You wouldn't want to go there. So the man told me later, he
said, when he told me to go anywhere but there, I had to go there.
to see what you were saying. And he came. His name was Paul
Ruby, and his wife, son, and daughter. And Paul came back. He liked what he heard. It was
the gospel. It was God's Word. And Paul Ruby
came to the knowledge of Christ, and so did his wife. They were
religious. They were brought up like I was,
and many of you were. talked into a profession of faith
when we were children or teenagers, pressured into church membership,
forced into baptism. And God revealed Christ to his
heart. There are a number of you in this congregation who've
had the same experience. And there are some who've listened
to me preach for years and have had that experience. They've
listened to the gospel, gospel, gospel. They've had a head knowledge
of professing profession of faith and then as they've gotten older
and understood the gospel, understood God's greatness and power and
majesty and their own guilt and sin, they've come to know Christ. We're going to baptize three
ladies tonight. We baptized one last Sunday and
a man the Sunday before and a man the Sunday before that. I hope
God will keep disturbing the waters because this is the way
you confess Christ. The New Testament way of confessing
Christ is not coming down to the front of the church and shaking
hands with people, it's baptism. You'll find that in his word.
Go all the way through the New Testament. And the way to confess
Christ is to be baptized. Baptism does not save, it makes
no contribution to our salvation. But it is the way we publicly
confess Christ. People can be saved and know
Christ who've never been baptized. People can be saved and know
the Lord Jesus Christ who've never followed the Lord in baptism,
and I'm sure of it. The thief on the cross is a good
example of that. But I received two letters, and
without permission from either of the ladies, I'm going to share
them with you. And I'm sure if I have your permission, I'll
ask you from the pulpit. You know, Bill, I knew that I
did. You know, the ladies don't get to say much, because Paul
told them to keep silent. And anyway, I know this and I'm
afflicted with this. I think a lot of things and I
get up there and I can't say them. You ever experienced that
Bill? You do see, so I know all of you do. Ed, all of you. So
many things you want to say and then when you get in front of
somebody it just won't come out like you want. But it does on
paper. I want you to listen to these.
And this is what I'm saying, what they're saying. This is
from Belle. She says, I'm not very good at
writing letters, but I don't know any better way to say this
than just write what I feel. I want to confess Christ in believer's
baptism. A couple of months ago, I told
Ann and Pam that I had only come to a saving knowledge of Christ
about six months ago, and I felt that I needed to be baptized.
This desire to confess Christ before men is so great that I
can't wait any longer. When Brian Bush told about how
Christ was revealed to his heart, I felt as if he had read my heart
and my thoughts. I know that we are all brought
to Christ the same way, so really his experience is my experience.
I've been a professing, she puts that in quotes, Christian since
I was 13. And I think this is true of most
all of us. What's the first song our parents
teach us? Jesus loves me. We're taught
that he was born in Bethlehem, died on the cross, was buried
and rose again. But facts do not save, a living union with
Christ saves. That's the reason there's so
many church members whose lives bear no fruit and give no evidence
of salvation. That's the reason folks are running
up and down the country arguing about once saved, always saved.
It's because most people who claim to be saved give no evidence
of being saved. And they quit church, quit reading
the Bible, quit worshiping God. No, they're not saved. They never
were saved. John said they went out from us because they never
were of us. If they were of us, they'd have continued with us.
No doubt, he said. Not any doubt. Believers don't
quit. Professors do, but not believers.
They just don't do it. That's what the disciples said,
to whom shall we go? I have been a professing Christian
since I was 13, since the Lord has revealed himself to me. I
see how holy and sovereign he is. That's what you see. You
see his glory. Isaiah saw his glory one time.
And Isaiah had the same experience Bev did. She said, I saw his
glory. And I see what a sinner I am.
That's always true. Job said, I saw the Lord, I abhor
myself. Isaiah said, I saw the Lord,
woe is me. It's always true. John saw the
Lord and fell at his feet as a dead man. Daniel saw the Lord
and he said, McCombliness melted into corruption. Always. You
don't pick up a song book and throw it across the room and
holler whoopee when you see the Lord God. You fall at his feet.
That's right. He's holy. Immaculately, immutably,
infinitely, everlastingly holy. And when you see His glory, it
shows you what a wretch, what a sinner, what a vile creature
you are in thought and word and deed. And you go to looking for
some help and for some mercy. You go to crying to God for some
grace. Oh Lord, purge me, David said with hyssop, and I'll be
clean. Wash me and I'll be whiter than the snow. Now that my eyes
are open, I can see that I didn't know anything at all about the
Lord because I didn't know the Lord. I thank God for bringing
me to this church where Christ is faithfully preached. That's
a good testimony. Now, before I went to Birmingham
last week to preach in the conference, I came to the church Monday morning
to do a little work, and I found this note on my desk from my
daughter, Becky. This is a good letter. Dear Dad,
it seems like it's so hard for me to talk to you alone because
the kids are always around. Anybody know anything about that?
Anyway, I want to be baptized. I want to confess Christ. This
is not a hasty decision. It's been on my mind for a long
time. Every time I witness someone being baptized, I know that I
want to confess Christ, and my heart will not be settled until
I do. The message you preach on a confession or a profession
of Christ really showed me. I don't want to put too much
emphasis on baptism. I'm not doing it for salvation,
but because by his grace he has saved me. I can so identify with
your message on a head knowledge or a heart faith. I've been so
religious so long, I've had so much doctrine in my head, I never
knew a living Christ. I'm so grateful that God chose
to reveal Christ to my heart and to show me what I am and
who he is. You see, it goes right along
this same line. What I am. I didn't write these. You know, they came to our Lord
and they said, what are you preaching? He said, ask them that heard
me. They'll tell you what I'm preaching. And that's what I'm
preaching, what you are and who he is. And brother, I'm going
to tell you this. If you ever find out what you
are by birth and choice and practice and nature, and you ever see
who He is, you're going to seek Him in Christ. You're going to
seek His mercy. Because that's your only hope,
is mercy. For so long I was in a group of sinners. But God saw
fit to show me Himself, and then I saw myself a sinner. Not part of a group, but me,
a sinner. a wretched worm. As a teenager,
I had so much knowledge in my head, and I just thought that
I was a Christian. The Lord has seen fit to drop
my knowledge to my heart the last couple of years. I see Christ
in everything now. Songs that we've sung for so
long have become real, like the song at Calvary. And I see Christ
throughout His Word. I don't want any glory. I just
want to confess, not profess Christ. who loved me and gave
himself for me. Now that's what I'm preaching.
That's what I'm trying to say. Just what these dear ladies have
said. And there's nobody walking up and down the aisle pulling
people down to the front. There's no pressure being brought
to bear on anyone. If any of you feel any pressure
from this pulpit, ignore it. But if you feel pressure from
the Spirit of the living God, obey it. That's what I have to
say. And I still say that If we preach
the gospel, the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the spirit
of the living God will do his work in people's hearts. And
what he has done, nobody can change. Nobody can change. What the Lord doeth, it remaineth
forever. Brother Barnard said this years
ago. I jotted it down. I found it in his notes a long
time ago. He said the most humbling and
challenging thing I face The great concern of my heart is
that my generation experience a recovery of the gospel, a return
to the gospel of God's grace. My generation does not know the
gospel. My generation is plagued with
the gospel of works and is ignorant of the gospel of God's redemptive
grace in Christ Jesus. would like to see a return to
that message that God used in days gone by to awaken men to
their needs and to awaken them to the beauty and glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ and to bring them to real saving faith in
Christ Jesus. I know the two-fold message of
God's grace is this. Number one, all flesh is grass. And number two, behold your God.
That's what you said in your note. That is the message, and
that's what you've heard. All flesh is grass, and the glory
of man as the flower of the field. The flower withereth, and the
grass fadeth, because the Spirit of God bloweth upon it, but the
word of God endureth forever. This is the message that takes
away glory from men. and proclaims the redemptive
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the results of this message
will be a sense of the awesome fearful presence of God breaking
the hearts of sinners and bringing them trembling like the Philippian
jailer to the feet of Jesus Christ in true repentance and saving
faith. And if we preach this message
he continues Gone, gone, gone will be the voice of the proud
sinner who inwardly debates whether or not he'll accept Jesus. Gone
will be the voice of the proud sinner who debates whether or
not he'll let God save him. Gone will be the voice of the
proud sinner who declares, Christ is at my heart's door wanting
in. Shall I bid him enter or shall I turn him away? Instead,
we'll hear some lost men and women cry, depth of mercy, can
there be? Mercy still reserved for me.
Can my God his wrath forbear and me, the chief of sinners,
spare? You reckon God would be pleased
in his infinite mercy to save you and me? I'll tell you this,
if he does, we'll praise him forever. We'll sing with the
redeemed throng in glory whose roads were washed white in the
blood of the Lamb unto Him who loved us and washed us from our
sins in His own blood. And nobody will ever have to
beg you to pray. And nobody will ever have to beg you to worship
God again. And nobody will ever have to
beg you to read your Bible. And nobody will ever have to
beg you to be merciful and show grace to your neighbor. And nobody
will ever have to beg you again to love men because you'll love
them like Christ loved you. That's just so. And you can have
this ten-cent store religion of today. I want no part of it.
And you can have the Hollywood evangelism. I want no part of
it. Barnard said if we would serve
our generation, we must return to preaching, preaching, preaching,
preaching. And we must preach the glorious
gospel of redeeming grace. Now you'll find that in Romans
1, the scripture I read a moment ago. In the first verse of Romans
1, it starts, this is the great book, this is the great book,
this is the gospel of God. If you want to know the gospel,
turn to the book of Romans, turn to the book of Hebrews. This
is the great book of the gospel of God. It starts in a very humble
fashion. This man Paul, who wrote 13 of the books in the New Testament,
who suffered more than any man other than our Lord, who was
the greatest missionary who ever lived, who gave his life for
the glory of Christ, who ordained ministers in every city that
he visited. This man Paul calls himself just
that, Paul. Have you ever noticed in God's
Word that the true servants of Christ were never fond of titles?
Only the Pharisees. They were the people who used
the titles. They were the people who sought the uppermost seats
in the synagogue. They were the people that liked
to be called rabbi and master. The apostles always called themselves
Paul, Peter, James, and John. They never looked for titles
of respect and titles of honor. He just begins this epistle this
way, Paul. Paul. Let me show you what our
Lord says about that. Turn to Matthew 23. Matthew chapter 23, beginning
with verse 5. Our Lord describes these religious
Pharisees. He said, all their works they
do to be seen of men. That's why they work, that's
why they give, that's why they pray in public. They do it to
be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries,
they enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the uppermost
rooms at feasts, the chief seats in the synagogue, the greetings
in the marketplace. They love to be called of men,
Rabbi, Doctor, Reverend. They love those titles. But be
ye not called Rabbi, that is master, masters of theology. One is your master, even Christ,
and you're all, what are we, brethren? You're all brethren. No master here. except Christ,
if he's here. And call no man your father upon
the earth, for one is your father which is in heaven. Neither be
ye called masters, one is your master, even Christ. And he that
is greatest among you shall be your servant. John the Baptist
chose to be called a voice. They came to him and they said,
well, who are you? Well, you know what he could have said?
He could have said, I was miraculously conceived in my mother's old
age, just like Isaac. He could have said, I was miraculously
born. My father was dumb, struck dumb
for the last six months that I was in the womb. He said, Jesus
Christ himself said I was the greatest man born of woman. You
know what Christ said about John the Baptist? I'm the last of
the Old Testament prophets. I'm the one whom the Father commissioned
to prepare the way for the King. I'm the one who baptized Jesus
Christ. They said, who are you? You talk
about a brochure. If he lived in 1981, he'd put
one out. But all he answered was this,
I'm a voice in the wilderness crying, make straight a highway
for our God. That's who I am. Well, he does
identify himself in a threefold way. First of all, he says, I'm
called. Notice the two little words,
to be, are in italics. They're not in the original.
I'm called an apostle. I'm called an apostle. That is,
the Lord God made him an apostle. The Lord God made him an apostle.
But before he identifies himself as an apostle, before he mentions
his office, He says this, now watch this, I am a servant that
is a bond slave of Jesus Christ. You know where that word bond
slave comes from? It comes from over in the book
of Exodus. Now if a Jew, if a male Jew, got so deeply in debt that
he couldn't pay his bills, then he became a slave, literally
a slave. But he could only be kept in
slavery for six years. On the 7th year, he was to be
free. He was to be set free. This is
in Exodus 21, 1-7. He was to be set free. But, and
if a Jewish man was so poor that he couldn't make a living, couldn't
support his family, he could give himself in slavery. And
only for 6 years, then he was set free. But our Lord says in
Exodus 21, if there is a slave who has served his 6 years, And
it's time for him to be free. If he doesn't want to be free,
if he says, I love my master, I love my master's house, I love
his service, then he has to go to the judge. He has to go to
the judge, and this is in the scripture, just like he's to
plainly say, he is to distinctively declare it, without any doubt.
He's to declare it, Bill. Nobody's supposed to do it for
him. He's supposed to distinctly declare it. I do not want to
go free. I wish to remain a slave to my
master. I love him. I love his family.
I love his service. I'm staying here. It's a willing,
loving, voluntary situation. All right? The judge is to take
him to the master's door and to take an oar and bore his ear. against the master's door. In
other words, this is the place you stay, this is the place you
serve from now on. He shall serve him forever, it
says. Forever. Now that's a bond slave. That's what a bond slave is.
And that's what Paul calls himself. He says, I have plainly, distinctly
declared that Christ is my master. The only freedom that I want
is to serve him. The only liberty that I desire
is to serve the master, to take his yoke and be in his service. Now that's a bond slave. And
he calls himself that over and over and over again. He says,
I am not the servant of men, I didn't come to please men,
I'm the servant of Jesus Christ. Think how our pulpits today would
change if we had some bond slaves in the pulpits. They're not servants
of the deacon board, they're not servants of the missionary
society, they're not servants of society itself, they're servants
of Jesus Christ. And they declare what he's written
in his word. Called an apostle, a bond slave.
Now watch the third thing he says here in verse 1. I'm separated. There was a term that Paul was
separated to ceremony. proud of it. He was separated
to his denomination. He was a Jew. He said, I'm a
Hebrew of Hebrews. My mama was a Hebrew and my daddy
was a Hebrew. I was circumcised the eighth
day like other Hebrews. I'm a Pharisee of Pharisees.
I was bound to and married to the law and to the ceremony. That was my life. He was dedicated
to it. But he says, now what I thought
was gain, I count but loss. for the knowledge of Christ my
Lord. I'm not bound anymore and separated to ceremony and law
and ritualism. I am separated. I am set apart
to the gospel of God. Now brethren, let me tell you
something. He said on one occasion, I'm
determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. I'm determined. I preach Christ
and Him crucified. God didn't send me to baptize,
but to preach the gospel. And he said, my preaching was
not out of error or impure motive or fraud, but my preaching was
the gospel of Christ and I didn't confuse and frustrate and confound
it. I declared the true gospel. And
he warns us. Turn to Galatians 1. Paul warns
us about what's happening in our day. He warns us about another
gospel. This is no new thing. This another
gospel was preached in Paul's day. When he wrote the book of
Galatians, it was only 30 or 40 years after Christ had risen. It was only so many years after
Christ had gone back to glory. This church at Galatia was still
under the ministry of the apostles of Christ. And yet another gospel,
another gospel crept in, unawares. And Paul said in verse 6, I marvel,
I'm amazed. I'm amazed that you are so soon,
so soon. removed from him that called
you into the gospel of Christ, the grace of Christ, to another
gospel. And any gospel that's not the
grace of Christ is another gospel. If you just mix a little works
with the gospel of grace, you've confounded it, a little bit.
Our Lord said it's either all of grace or all of works. It
cannot be both. Salvation is all, totally, completely
a gift of God by the grace of God, by the mercy of God through
Christ, depending on the work of Christ, or it's by my works.
It's not a combination. It's all of grace or all of works. Paul said in verse 7, it's not
another gospel. There'll be some that trouble
you pervert the gospel of Christ. That's what it is. That's what
it is. They use the name Jesus, they use the Bible, they use
the word blood, they use heaven and hell and sins and righteousness
and all these things, and it's a perversion. It's not really
a new invention, it's just a twisting and a resting of the scriptures
and a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what
we are exposed to in this day, a perversion of Christ's gospel. Not his gospel at all. And then
verse 8, he said, Though we, if it be Paul himself, or even
an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we preached unto you, let him be accursed. And he said,
I'll say it again, what I've said before I repeat, if any
man If any preach any other gospel unto you than the gospel of God,
the gospel of His mercy, the gospel of His grace, the gospel
of His Son, the gospel of redemption by the blood, let him be under
God Almighty's curse. That's serious. Turn back to
2 Corinthians 11. I don't want to be in that crowd.
I'll tell you, that's fearful to think about. Here in 2 Corinthians
11, Paul said, I fear for you, I fear for you, verse 3 of 2
Corinthians 11, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve,
deceived her, deceived her through his subtlety, his craftiness. He's smart. He knows human nature. He knows more about human nature
than anybody but God. He's been deceiving men for 6,000
years. Why, you're no match for him.
I hear people talk about They said this to the devil and they
said that to the devil. You hadn't met the real devil
yet. Peter couldn't handle him. That's right. Michael wouldn't
handle him. He said the Lord rebuked thee.
Job was no match for him. And these little peanut preachers
running up and down the country talking about it, they told the
devil to go on back to hell where he belonged. They hadn't met
him yet. Because he don't move that fast. He's subtle. He turns himself
into an angel of light. The fellow you told to go back
might have been the Holy Spirit, and the devil is your sidekick.
Now you stop and think about that a little bit. It might have
been the Holy Spirit disturbing you on your false refuge. It
might have been the Holy Spirit troubling you in your false profession. It might have been the Holy Spirit
stripping you of your righteousness and trying to show you what a
sinner you were, and you told Him to leave and cuddled up beside
the one that said, peace, when there is no peace. That's Satan. He's tricky. He doesn't care
what you trust, just so it's not Christ. He doesn't care how
much religion or morality you have just so you don't know Christ.
He's subtle. And Paul said in his subtlety,
I'm afraid he's going to corrupt your minds from what? The simplicity
that's in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus. Now he'll preach Jesus, but it
won't be the creating, incarnate, crucified, risen, exalted, sovereign,
coming again Jesus Christ. It'll be another Jesus. It'll
be sweet little Jesus, boy, that you feel sorry for, who needs
a little help, who can't make it on his own, who can't do without
you. Or it'll be Jesus Christ Superstar,
who didn't know where he came from, why he came, what he was
doing here, or where he was going. But it'll be Jesus. It'll be
another Jesus that they preach, and he says it'll be another
spirit. Satan can't use the Holy Spirit, he uses demon spirits.
And they're ministers of righteousness. That's what he calls them over
here in the book of Corinthians. Ministers of righteousness. Not
God's righteousness. Not Christ's righteousness. Your
righteousness. He'll brag on you. Satan is the
biggest flatterer in the world. He's the biggest imposter and
he's a flatterer. He'll brag on you. He'll say
good things to you. He'll talk about your dignity
and your good works and your faithfulness. He'll call your
name. He'll take you to a place where
they'll appreciate you. It's another spirit which you
have not received, and he calls it another gospel. Another gospel
which you have not accepted. And if that happens, Paul said,
you might as well bear with me. That with him there is actually
with me. Now today's gospel, what does
it say? Today's gospel. Listen to it.
Is this not what it says? I know this is what it says.
I listened to it. Today's gospel calls on proud
men to stand up for Jesus. Isn't that what it says? Stand up. Raise your hand. Do
something for Jesus. Stand up for Jesus. The gospel
of God's Word commands men to bow down and worship. Bow down. Bow down. Bow down. Down, sinner. Down. God said,
He that exalted himself shall be abased. He that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. The sacrifices of God are a broken
heart, a broken and a contrite spirit God will not despise.
God save us such as be of a broken heart. It's not stand up and
be counted, it's bow down and worship. That's right. Today's
gospel gives men a title to heaven without a love for Christ. I
wish I had a quarter for everybody in my ministry, in my lifetime,
that told me, I'm saved, I'm saved, but they don't love the
gospel, they don't love each other. And the scripture plainly
says, he that loveth not knoweth not God. Knoweth not God. Our churches are battling grounds. Anybody that has any grace dreads
a church business meeting. Every preacher I know in my lifetime
have dreaded two things, deacons' meetings and business meetings.
Well, now, that ought not to be. If people love Christ and
love one another, you'd never dread ever to come together to
transact God's business. But our churches are filled with
people who have a title to heaven who do not love Christ. who do
not love His Word, who do not love His Gospel, and who do not
love one another. They despise one another. And
yet preachers today say, all you do is believe on Jesus, believe
He died on the cross, was buried and rose again, and you're saved,
and you go to heaven when you die in spite of hell. They are
lying to you. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. And if that person does not bear
to some extent the fruit of God's Spirit, he does not have God's
Spirit. If that person does not grow
to some extent in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, he does
not know Christ. If that person's life does not
show forth the praises of him who called him out of darkness
into his marvelous light, he never was called out of darkness.
That's so. Absolutely. Absolutely. Most of the churches in this
town have twice as many people on their rolls as they have in
Sunday morning service, and most of them have ten times as many
people on their rolls as they do in the Sunday evening service.
Isn't that right, Ed? That's so. Where are those people?
They don't give a hoot for God or his word or his gospel or
his church, but they go into heaven. Ask them. They have a
title, some preacher told them, they say. They shook hands with
them when they were little kids, or when the church had a revival,
or had an enlargement program, they came down at the end of
three points and a poem, while the choir sang softly, just as
I am, they talked about meeting mother in heaven, and they all
got a clear title deed to glory. And they said, goodbye God, we'll
see you in glory. Isn't that right? That's today's
gospel. It's not God's gospel. Our Lord
said, if you take not up your cross and follow me, you can't
enter the kingdom of heaven. If you're not born again, you'll
never enter the kingdom of heaven. If you do not repent, you'll
perish. You know what he said? If your righteousness does not
exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll never enter
the kingdom of heaven. We're like those back in the
days of Josiah the young king. He wept when he saw the word
of God. He'd never seen it. And he says, our fathers have
lied to us. They've lied to us. Cry out,
he said to the priest, unto God and see if it's possible that
he'll have mercy on us if we return to his word. You reckon
he will. Today's gospel emphasizes what
men should do for God, not what God in Christ does for the sinner. Now here's the reason we're in
the mess we're in. We've tried to save ourselves. We've tried
to save ourselves by making decisions, making professions, making vows
and resolutions. We've tried to make ourselves
Christians by doing on the outside what we hate on the inside. We
don't enjoy it. I asked a church member one time,
why don't you come to prayer meeting? I just don't enjoy it.
Why don't you come to the Sunday evening service? I just don't
enjoy it. Are you going to heaven? Yeah, well I said you won't enjoy
it. And that's right, you sure won't enjoy it. How in the world
are you going to worship God and glory if you don't enjoy
worshiping Him here? Well, I'll be changed. If you
hadn't been changed, you hadn't been saved. That's right. I'm not putting the emphasis
on church. Some of these churches I wouldn't go to either. But
I'd get me some folks at home, worship God. I wouldn't go listen
to these compromising, covetous preachers. I wouldn't go listen
to them. They're entertainers, they're
promoters, they're toastmasters. They're not saying anything.
That's the reason they can't stay at their churches very long.
They're not saying anything. They have to change every two
or three years. Today's gospel emphasizes what
men should do for God. This Bible talks about what God
in Christ did for me. He found me. He lifted me. He washed me. He converted me. He brought me to love Him. He
brought me home. He put a ring on my finger and
shoes on my feet and a robe on my back. He gave me wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. He gave it all. And I thank Him
for it. And like the old lady said to
John Newton, he'll never hear the last of it. I'm going to
praise him forever. I've seen the Lord. I've been to Calvary.
I've seen the glory of Christ. No, I'm not perfect. Paul said
he wasn't either. He said, I'm not perfect. I'm
not apprehended. I haven't laid hold upon that
yet for which I've been laid hold of by Christ, but I'm pressing
on. I'm forgetting those things which are behind, and I'm reaching
forth for the mark of the prize of the high calling of Christ
Jesus, my Lord. I'm a sinner just like everybody
else, but a sinner saved by grace. I'm a sinner resting in Christ.
I'm a sinner trusting the Redeemer. And I believe I'm a sinner that's
growing a little bit. I feel His presence and I've
experienced His grace and I believe I love Him more now than I ever
did. The repentance is keener. I believe the faith is stronger.
I believe love for Him and for His people. I don't love Him
like I ought to, like I want to, like I should, or like I'm
going to, but I love Him more than I used to. Don't you? And
the people of God mean more. God's made a difference. I wouldn't
be anywhere else tonight but with you. Or with somebody who
loves the gospel. And you wouldn't be anywhere
but with us, would you? Because you love his word. And
nobody has to give you a card for you to give to the kingdom
of God. You know it's needed to preach the gospel. You give
cheerfully and willingly. Nobody has to knock on your door
to try to get you to win souls. You witness. You want people
to know Christ, don't you? Today's gospel makes salvation
an offer. Isn't that right? It's an offer.
But the Bible says it's a gift. My Sunday school class this morning,
love them, bless their hearts. You know a lot of people teach
Sunday school classes and they dread it. I look forward to 9.30
on Sunday morning. I get to stand in front of the
finest looking bunch of people in the world and tell them about
Christ. And this morning, I got a birthday coming up, I'll be
either 45 or 55, I forget which. But this morning they gave me
three $100 bills. to buy me a new suit. They said,
you look kind of shabby. Get you a new suit, you know.
And you know what? Colin Witt came up and made the
speech. I didn't know what he was going to do. I got up to
speak, and he started up for the front. He said, I want to
say something before you speak. And Richard said, I got the awfulest
frown on my face wondering, what is he going to do, you know?
And he said, we're going to give you a gift. He didn't offer it
to me, did he? He didn't offer it to me. I didn't
give him anything for it. is a gift. My friend, salvation
is the gift of God in Christ Jesus. Our Lord is not sitting
by the side of the road with the water of life saying, anybody
want this? Because nobody does. Not by nature. Ain't nobody thirsty
in this world by nature. They're all satisfied, they're
drinking out of the world's cisterns. They're drinking out of the cesspools
of human nature and they're all Herman satisfied. But my Lord
is standing there saying, is anybody thirsty? And along comes
an old guy convicted and broken by the Holy Spirit and parched
and dry, and he says, I am. I am. Well, the Lord says, drink. There it is. It's a gift. It's a gift. The wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. He gives life. He prepares the ground, and He
sows the seed, and He's the Lord of the hearts. He prepares the
heart, he breaks it, and he heals it. He slays the sinner, and
he raises him. He strips the sinner, and he
clothes him. He shuts his mouth, and he opens
it and prays. That's right. He does it all. It's the gift of God. Today's
salvation, today's gospel. Today's gospel makes salvation
to rest on the human will. The human will. The Word of God. It says salvation rests on whose
will? The will of God. Man says it
rests on the will of man, the human will. The Bible says it's
the will of God. Now listen to it. It's not of
him that willeth, not of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. It says as he came unto his own,
and his own received him not, but as many as received him,
as many as believed him. To them gave he the privilege
to become sons of God, even to them that believed on his name,
which were born, not of blood, that is, not of family inheritance,
not of the will of man, not of the will of the flesh, but the
will of God. Scripture says he doeth according
to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of this earth. He giveth it to whomsoever he
will. That's what Scripture says. He
worketh His will, He worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will, and you and I are taught by Christ to pray,
Thy will be done. The human will does act, but
it acts in response to God's will. We do love Christ. Why? He first loved us. We do
choose Christ. He chose us. We do seek Christ. He sought us. We do believe Christ
because He, by His grace, has called us to believe. That's
right. Alright, in the sixth place, today's gospel substitutes
human reason for Holy Spirit conviction. You know what we're
doing? Instead of preaching the gospel and waiting on God to
convince men of sin, and convict them of sin, we try to talk them
into a profession of faith. We use, now, do you see this?
Do you see that? Do you see that? Yes, I see it.
Well, now, do you believe that? Yeah, I believe it. You're saved.
You know what it says? See, this is human reason and
human wisdom. We're trying to logic. We're
trying to say, now, this is thus and thus is that, and so therefore,
this is so. That's not the way to witness
to people. That's not the way to preach. And I'm tired of these
modern day altar calls when a preacher gets up and preaches and says,
everybody bow your head now. And close your eyes. Anybody
out there want to be saved, raise your hand. I pray for you. God
bless you, God bless you, God bless you. They all start raising
their hand. Now then, now he's got you now. You raised your
hand. He'll either make a Christian out of you or a liar. If you
ever raise your hand, one of those fellas, he's got you. You
know why? Because you know what he'll say next? Now if you really
meant that, If you really meant, did you really mean it? Come
down here. Now, if you stay back there, you're a liar, you didn't
mean it. Come down here. And when he gets you down here,
you're on the rolls. And he says, repeat after me,
God be merciful in the ascent. And you call that salvation?
If that's what you've got, brother, I'll tell you this, sincerely,
with all my heart, I'd sure get on my face before God tonight
and ask Him for mercy, if that's all you've got. Because salvation
is a personal, personal matter. It's when God Almighty comes
in His grace, and in His power, and whittles a man down, crushes
him, breaks him, convicts him, shows him his sin, and he's made
to cry out, not to a preacher, not to a priest, not to an evangelist,
but he's made to cry from his heart to God's throne, God, be
merciful to me, the sinner! Reveal thy sin to me. Purge me
with hyssop and I shall be clean. I confess my sins. I lay myself
at your feet. Lord, save me or I perish. When that goes on in a man's
heart and that goes on in a man's life, if God speaks peace to
his heart, he'll come tell you about it. You won't have to drag
him down to the front. I didn't tell these ladies to
come and tell me this. They just come and say this.
God's done something for me, these young men. God's done something
for me. They come and they say that. Human reason must not be substituted
for Holy Spirit conviction. If a man, listen to me, if a
man misses Holy Spirit conviction, I mean personal conviction of
sin, When God, when the whole world's mouth is stopped and
becomes guilty before God, man misses that. If he misses Holy
Spirit conviction, he'll miss repentance. Because you don't
repent until you've got something to repent for. And if he misses
repentance, he'll miss faith. No man can turn to God unless
he turns from his idols. And if he misses faith, he's
going to miss Christ. And it all goes back to Holy
Spirit conviction, child. If he misses that, he'll miss
Christ. If he misses Christ, he'll miss heaven. There's no
shortcut. You cannot go around it. God
saved sinners. Harlots at his feet. Publicans
up the tree. Thieves on crosses. Naked men
in the tombs. He saved sinners! You see that? If you're not a sinner, you've
never been saved. Some people too good to be saved. They'll
never be saved. They got religion because religion's natural to
a natural man. I've been all over this world,
been in dozens of countries, and everywhere I go people are
religious. Everybody's religious. Everybody's religious. Old boy
will curse the blue street and then he'll say, y'all remember
me in your prayers? Go over into heathen hot and
tauntin' Africa, they all got religion. Everybody's got religion. Today we've substituted a decision
for regeneration, and you know it. We've substituted a decision. Make your decision. Make your
decision. I'll tell you this, when God
Almighty tears up the fallow ground and breaks up the fallow
ground and strips you and lays you bare before His holy throne
and His holy law, you won't be making decisions. You'll be crying
for mercy. Make your decision. We substitute
that for regeneration. We don't want to see anybody
cry. We don't want to see anybody weep. We don't want any tears.
We want decisions. We don't want any broken hearts.
We want decisions. We don't want anybody struggling
with sin. We want decisions. We don't want anybody counting
the costs. We want decisions. We don't want anybody troubled
and broken hearted and contrite and saying, pray for me, I'm
lost. What? You're lost? I'll get you saved
right now. Leave him alone. Leave him alone. You didn't get
him lost and you can't get him saved. You didn't get him in
that shape and you can't get him out of it. The one who got
him in that shape is the only one who can speak peace to his
heart. And that's the Spirit of God. We've substituted church
membership for a vital union with Christ. Are you a Christian?
I'm a member of the 13th Street Baptist Church. That does not
mean you're a Christian. I'm a member of the body of Christ.
I'm a member of the family of God. I like what that old boy
told the chaplain. He was seriously wounded. He's
lying there in the hospital bed, and the chaplain came by, and
he said, son, he said, what's your denomination? He said, I'm
a believer. Well, he said, that's not what
I mean. I mean is, what's your persuasion? He said, I'm persuaded
that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities can
separate me from the love of God. That's my persuasion. I
believe that's my persuasion. And I'll tell you what else we've
done, we've substituted the security of the believer for the perseverance
of the saints. And I'll tell you this, if we
go to preaching the gospel of Christ, if we go to telling men
who saves, and how he saves, and why he saves, for his glory,
and the truth about salvation, people will quit arguing about
once in grace, always in grace. They'll quit arguing about the
security of the believer. Because what God does, it's forever! What man does, it lasts just
as long as that man lasts. If I can talk you into religion,
another man can talk you out of it. If I can talk you into
a profession of faith, a slicker talker can talk you into something
else. But if God did it, nothing can be added to it, nothing can
be taken from it. It's forever. It's forever. Today's gospel, listen to this,
is this not true? Today's gospel identifies a Christian
by what he doesn't do rather than by what he is. Huh? That's right. I'm a Christian. I don't drink, smoke, gamble,
play cards, dance or run around. You don't. Dead people don't
either. That's right. Mohammedans don't
either. Mohammed Ali don't either. A
Christian's not a dolt, he's a do. He is a person. You see,
he's got a character. He belongs to the Lord. We're
not Christians because of what we don't do. We're Christians
because of a living, vital union with a person. We're sons of
God. That's what a Christian is. Ask
them out on the street tomorrow. If you don't believe I'm telling
you the truth, ask them what is a Christian, and they'll tell
you what he doesn't do. A Christian doesn't do. A Christian
is not a Christian because of what he doesn't do or what he
does. He's a Christian because of who he is. He's in Christ. He's a child of God. His sins
have been washed in the blood. He's a new creature in Christ
Jesus. That's right. And then today's gospel, and
I quit, today's gospel tries to change men's ways without
changing men's hearts. Is that not so? Today's gospel
is busy trying to change men's ways. Clean them up. That's what the moral majority
is organized for, to clean up this country. That's like mopping
the floor and leaving the faucet running. That's exactly right. Our Lord said that to the Pharisees.
He said, you cleanse the outside of the cup and the inside is
full of extortion and excess. You're blind, he said. You're
getting a cart before the horse. You can't clean up a man's outward
life unless he has a new heart. And he can't have a new heart
unless he's in Christ. And somebody says, you just don't
preach enough practical godliness. All you preach is the gospel.
That's the most practical godliness there is. And that's the only
kind of godliness there is, is Christ. And that's the only hope
you'll ever have, any godliness, is Christ. Our Lord said these
Pharisees, these blind hypocrites, are like whited sepulchres. On
the outside they appear beautiful to men, but on the inside they're
full of dead men's bones. Cleanse first that which is within. Reach the heart with the gospel.
Preach Christ to the heart. And I just promise you, I know
this is so, if you ever meet Him, If you ever meet him, whom
to know is life eternal, you'll never be the same. You can't
go to Calvary's cross and sit there and watch him and know
that he loved you and gave himself for you and redeemed you by his
blood and come away from there still filled with the same bigotry
and prejudice and envy and hatred and jealousy and carnality and
ceremonialism. You'll stay there. And that's
where you'll learn Christ. You'll learn Christ. And oh,
when you see Him, His glory, His majesty, His power, His holiness,
see ourselves. We're never happy. David said,
I'll be satisfied. I'm not satisfied. I don't hope
to be satisfied ever on this earth. I'll be satisfied when
I wake with His likeness. And you will too. And I call
the discouraged and I call the doubter And I call the fearful,
and I call the trembling, and I call the wicked, and I call
the sinful, and I call the weak and the infirm, I call you to
Christ. I call the diseased, I call you to Christ. I say,
look to Him. He's able. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by Him. He's able to keep you from falling.
He's able to present you faultless before His throne with exceeding
glory, and He's able someday to raise your body and make it
like unto His glorious body. I'm not able. Church is not able.
You're not able, but He's able. And I found in Him a resting
place, even for the chief of sinners. And my day begins, Lord,
keep me from sin. And my day ends, Lord, forgive
my sin. Doesn't it hurt? And my day begins
trusting Him, and my day ends trusting Him. My hope is built
on nothing less, let's sing that, Bill, than Jesus' blood and His
righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame. I wholly lean on Jesus' name. It's not baptism or the
Baptist church or the Lord's table or the sacraments or the
communion or the law or good works or religion or a decision
or a profession of faith or an experience or the law or anything.
It's Christ that saves and Christ alone.