I'm speaking to you this morning
from the Book of Romans. I'd be very happy if you'd open
your Bible to the Book of Romans. I'll be reading, first of all,
from chapter 5, and then I'm going to read a verse of Scripture
from the 10th chapter. And my subject today is the road
to peace. The road to peace. In Romans
5.1, the Scripture says, Being justified by faith, we have peace
with God. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. And then Romans 10, verse 15,
talking about those who preach the gospel. You know, Paul said,
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
But how shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?
And how are they going to believe in him of whom they've not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach, except they be sent? As it is written," now listen
to this, Romans 10, 15, as it is written in the Old Testament
Scriptures, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace, the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings
of good things or good news from a far country. Now my friend,
I want you to listen carefully to what I'm about to say. What
I'm going to say may offend some people, but I believe when we
preach the truth, we're going to offend the religionists. We're going to offend the hypocrite. We're going to offend the Pharisees.
One day our Lord was preaching and his disciples came to him
and said, don't you know that the Pharisees were offended by
what you said? They were offended. They were
angry. Now, what I'm going to say this morning may offend some
of you, but will you hear me out? Will you listen to the Word
of God? God can send a people. no greater blessing than to give
them faithful, sincere, and truthful ministers of the gospel. That's
one of the greatest gifts and greatest blessings that God can
bestow upon a nation, a city, a church, or a home, is to send
them a faithful, God-called, obedient, truthful minister of
the gospel. Even so, the greatest judgment
that God can bring upon a people or send upon a nation is to turn
them over to blind, unregenerate, covetous preachers. Now, in all
ages there have been false prophets and false teachers and self-seeking
religionists. They've always been with us.
False teachers and false preachers and false apostles and religious
leaders who do not know God have been with us since the beginning.
Our Lord warned us about them in Matthew 7 in the famous Sermon
on the Mount. He said in verse 15 and 16, beware
of false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You'll know them by their
fruit, by their works, by their converts, by the results of their
ministry. these false prophets and then
Peter warning the early church this is just shortly after our
Lord went back to glory this is during the lifetime of the
Apostle Peter and Paul and James and John and Peter warns the
early church he said as they were false prophets also among
Israel even so there shall be false teachers among you and
here's the sad thing many shall follow and their pernicious ways. No one spoke out more strongly
against false preachers and false teachers and ministers than Jeremiah
the weeping prophet. No one spoke out more strongly
against him. I want you to listen to some
scripture that I'm about to read from the book of Jeremiah. It's
as current as this morning's newspaper. It's as current and
applicable to this day as this telecast coming your way right
now. Sounds like we wrote it just
a few minutes ago. First of all, Jeremiah says of
these false preachers and false teachers, he said they're covetous. They're greedy people. They're
interested in houses and land. They're interested in money.
They're interested in jewelry. They're interested in all of
these possessions and material things. He says in Jeremiah 6,
13, from the least of them, even to the greatest of them, from
those who have just the little following to those who have the
multitudes following them, they're all given, he said, to covetousness. You turn on your television and
you sit and listen in the hope of hearing some of the word of
God preached or the gospel, but you hear this offer, That offer
and another offer you hear how that the money's got to come
in or we're going off the air Listen, my friend if any work
is a work of faith, it won't be mentioned to the public It'll
be mentioned only to God It is not a work of faith if we mention
it to any human being or or try to get him to support it or tell
him that we're not going to continue unless he does support it. That's
not faith. That's nothing but cash and carry.
That's all in the world that is. Demand and supply. Economics
operates on those two principles. He says they're given to covetousness
from the prophet even to the priest. Everyone dealeth falsely
with my people for they are greedy. Greedy, covetous men. They measure
the success of their ministry by the cash on hand. And then
he says this about them. He says they give people a false
peace, false assurance, and a false hope. In Jeremiah 6, verse 14,
he says they cry, peace, peace, when there is no peace. They
design their ways of salvation. They design their recipes for
redemption. And they give men assurance and
peace when there is no peace and when God is angry. One preacher
said just recently one of the most famous Internationally known
evangelist said this to a crowd of people four or five thousand
people attending a revival meeting. He said 50% 50% of the church members of this
day could die and be buried and It takes six months for the church
to discover that they were dead. Let me tell you something That
man is as much as admitting that 50% of the convert under his
ministry are unsaved people. And yet he tells them they have
peace. He tells them they're saved.
They come down the aisle in droves. They come down the aisle in multitudes.
And they raise their hand and shake some preacher's hand and
get a little booklet on how to live happily ever after. And
they say, you're saved. Send us your money now. Support
our program. And these people just disappear.
Peace, they say. There is no peace. There is no
peace. Salvation is not an act that
man performs for God. It's a work of grace that God
performs for a man in his heart by the power of God through the
Holy Ghost. It's an eternal work. He says
this about them in Jeremiah 14. He says they deny God's judgment.
In Jeremiah 14, 13, he says the false prophets say unto the people,
you'll not see the sword. You'll not perish. No famine
will come near your dwelling. God says, these prophets prophesy
lies in my name. I didn't send them, he said.
Deceit is in their heart, saith the Lord God. And in Jeremiah
chapter 23, listen to this. He says, these false prophets
and false preachers, they do not teach the word of God. They
teach their thoughts and their dreams. Listen, this sounds like
this morning's message. Jeremiah 23, 16. They speak a
vision of their own hearts, not the Word of God. So few ministers
actually preach the Word. They preach their visions, they
preach their thoughts, they preach their speculation, they preach
their denominational doctrines, but they do not preach what the
Lord says in His Word. Listen to Jeremiah 23, 25. They
prophesy lies, and they say, I have dreamed, I have dreamed,
They tell people their dreams. Well, your dreams don't mean
a thing. He says, let the prophet that hath a dream tell his dream.
And let the people follow that prophet who tells his dream and
perish. But let the prophet that hath
my word speak my word faithfully. The Apostle Paul said to young
Timothy, preach the word. He didn't say preach your vision
and preach your dream. Preach your speculation and preach
your denomination. He said preach the Word of God
the instant in season and out of season Now that's sad. That's
sad. Jeremiah says of these false
prophets their covetous mean They give a false peace to people
who are not saved They give assurance to people who know not God He
says they deny the judgment of God against sin. I He says they
tell their thoughts and their dreams and they do not preach
the Word of God. They preach speculation instead
of scripture. And here's the sad thing. Here's
the thing that wraps it all up and makes it so sad and heart-rending
and heartbreaking. He says because of the deceitfulness
of the human heart, my people lack for their prophets to preach
error. Isn't that sad? My people love
to have it so. You say, priest, is that what
that says? Listen to Jeremiah 531. You want to turn to it? Jeremiah 531. Find it. Jeremiah
531. The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule by their own means, their own power, their
own hands. And my people love to have it
so. That's what they want. They're
being deceived, and they like it. They're being robbed, and
they like it. They're being used, and they
like it. They're being deceived, and they like it. They're being
tricked, and they like it. They're being taken, taken to
the cleaners, and they like it. They're being stolen from in
the name of God and in the name of religion, and they like it.
Isn't that sad? But John 3, 19 says, this is
condemnation. Light has come into this world,
but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
are evil. The remarkable thing is, and
I know this is true, I can stand here Sunday after Sunday and
preach to you faithfully from God's Word and tell you who made
this world and who made man. I can read it in the Scripture.
And I can stand here faithfully Sunday after Sunday and tell
you what happened in the garden, what happened in the fall, and
read it from God's Word. man's death and depravity and
sin and evil and condemnation, and how that God in his grace
and mercy was pleased to redeem a people. He sent his Son into
this world to die for sinners, to pay the debt, to redeem them,
to atone for their sins, to give them life everlasting, and preach
to you how the Holy Spirit quickens and awakens and calls, applying
the Word of God, and how the atonement of Christ is effectual
and sufficient to save all who believe. and how that we persevere
and we are preserved by the grace of God and how that there's an
eternal kingdom for those who believe and eternal condemnation
for those who don't, preaching the word. And I won't get a handful
of letters or a handful of help, but I can come down here next
Sunday and bring a quartet or some musicians and a brass band
and a bunch of drums and flash some lights around here and put
on a show and a shindig Offer you a record for $25 that cost
me $1.98 to make I Can offer you a book that cost me 25 cents
to print and send it to you for $5 I can tell you my dreams and
my visions and I can put my hands on somebody and say I heal them
of cancer Or I call some lame man to walk and the money will
roll in here by the thousands and the millions and that scares
me It scares me for those who are doing it and those who are
supporting it It's evil. Men will not support God's Word
and God's truth, but they'll support a lie, they'll support
error, and they'll support darkness. But no nation on earth will do
that but the United States of America. All a crook has to do in this
day is get a religious following and he can become a millionaire.
My people like to have it so. Light is coming to this world
and men love darkness. They hate light. John 5.43 said,
Our Lord said this, I have come in my Father's name, and you
receive me not. Let another come in his own name,
and him you will receive. What condemnation, what bitter
condemnation upon this fallen race that rejects the Son of
God himself and follows an imposter. But I say unto you, there's not
a criminal out of the penitentiary today that is more treacherous
and wicked than a preacher who deceives men and gives them a
false refuge and a hope of eternal life, contrary to the word of
God, in order to gain their support and gain their following. That's
the most wicked traitor there is this side of hell. They cry,
peace, peace, when there is no peace. Now, my friend, I want
peace with God. I want this peace I'm reading
about. I want this peace that passes understanding. I want
you to have it. I want you to know that, not me, I want you
to know the living God. I don't want you especially to
know my name, but I wish you knew the name of Christ. I don't
care if you never remember my name, but please, by God's grace,
remember his name. For his name is the name which
is above every name, the name at which every knee will bow
and every tongue shall confess that he's Lord. There's none
other name given on the heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved but the name of Jesus Christ the Lord May you know
his name? But no we name our universities
after ourselves. We name our colleges after ourselves
We name our programs after ourselves we name our church buildings
after ourselves and everything else because we're looking for
the glory of men and Rejecting the honor that comes from God
truth. I Want peace that peace? that's of God's giving, not a
peace that comes from men, not a feeling or religious experience.
Listen to the word of God. To be spiritually minded is life
and peace. The kingdom of God is righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. There is a peace. Grace be unto
you and peace from God our Savior. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, and peace. Christ is our peace. My peace
I give unto you. He hath made peace through the
blood of his cross. And then listen to this verse.
Now the God of peace himself give you peace. Oh, I tell you,
let me give you what I believe is the road to peace. I'm not
selling this. I'm not even offering it to the
highest or lowest bidder. This is the gift of God. It's
the free grace of God. Let me give you the road to peace.
But now, first of all, remember this. Remember this, and I take
for granted you know this, that salvation is an inward work.
It's an inward work. It's a work wrought in the heart
by the Holy Spirit. I'm not asking you to send me
a card or send me your name or Or walk down an aisle or put
your hand on the television. Salvation is not an acceptance
of facts, mental agreement with facts. It's not walking an aisle.
It's not kneeling at a bench. It's not going to the baptismal
pool. It's an inward work of grace.
It's that work of grace that's performed in the heart by the
power of God. It's a work that God does in
you. It's not an outward walk. It's
not an outward act. It's not an outward ritual or
ceremony. He is not a Christian, Paul said,
who is one outwardly, but he is a Christian who is one inwardly. That's where the work's done.
It's in the heart. They were pricked in their heart.
My son, God says, give me your heart. Keep thy heart out of
the issues of life. That's what our Lord said. I
take it for granted that you know this work's an inward work.
And then secondly, I take it for granted that you know that
all men do not have the same degree of conviction. nor the
same degree of faith, nor the same degree of assurance. God
give it to every man as he will, but all of his sheep do come
to Christ. Now here is the road to peace.
First of all, before a man can speak peace, I'm talking about
this peace of God, peace that passes understanding. Before
he can speak peace to his heart, he must be made to feel and to
see and to know that he's a sinner and he has sinned against God
Almighty. Now the first step that a man takes toward peace
is when he admits that he needs God's mercy. The first step that
a man takes toward peace with God and salvation is when he
faces the fact, owns up to it, and admits to God and himself
that he's a sinner. Now, if we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves. And no deceived man has peace.
And the truth's not in us, and no liar has peace. Proverbs 28,
13 says, He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso
confesseth and forsaketh his sins, you'll find mercy." Our
Lord said, I didn't come to call the righteous but sinners to
repentance. The scripture says Christ died for the ungodly.
Paul said Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom
I'm chief. He's called a friend of sinners. The difference between
the Pharisee and the publican in the temple, one went home
justified, the other went home damned. The difference in those
two men was not that one was a sinner and one was not. They
were both sinners. But one admitted it and the other
one did not. That's the difference. The difference
between those two thieves crucified with Christ. One died in his
sin and one died to sin. What was the difference? One
was a sinner and one wasn't? No sin. One admitted it. You
see what I'm saying? I'm telling you the truth. God
saved sinners. That's the only kind of people
God saved. Christ died for sinners, the only kind of people he died
for. The Holy Spirit awakens, quickens, regenerates, and converts
sinners, the only kind of people he regenerates and converts.
So that's the first step on the road to peace, is to recognize
you're a sinner. What would you say everybody's
saying? I'm not talking about in that general, indifferent,
complacent way. I'm talking about what David
said when he wept before God and cried, my sin. ever before
me. Against thee have I sinned and
done this evil in thy sight, that you might be just when you
condemn me. Like the publican, God be merciful
to me, thee sinner. Like Paul, Christ died, came
into the world to save sinners of whom I'm cheap. That's the
kind of admittance I'm talking about. That's the first step
on the road to peace. The second step, Before man can
speak peace to his heart, he must be convinced of the fountain
of sin, the true source of sin, the nature of sin. Where did
it come from? The heart. Sin's not an outward
deed. Our outward deeds are products
of sin, results of sin. Sin is an inward nature. It's
an inward thought. Now, this is what our Lord taught.
He said, you've heard it said by the law preachers of old times,
thou shalt not kill. I say unto you, to hate in your
heart is to be guilty already of murder. You see, when a man
pulls the trigger and kills another man, he's just doing what his
heart has already planned to do, already purposed to do, already
wanted to do. So the scene, this is the results
of it. The starting, the fountain of
it is his heart. Our outward deeds and actions
are but the results. Seeing sin is an inward nature. That's the reason our Lord said
it's not that which you put in your mouth that defiles you I
know most preachers that go out of business. They'd learn what
this verse means mostly sin fighters and Most of the Reformers would
go out of business. They wouldn't have anything to
preach next Sunday if they understood what the Lord is saying here
It's not what you put in your mouth sin is not in a material
substance Sin is a principle. It's a nature. It's an attitude.
It's a spirit. And it's not what a man puts
in his mouth that defiles him. What he eats and drinks just
goes into his belly and is digested and cast out into the draft.
But what defiles a man, Christ said, is what comes out of his
heart. Out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, adultery, blasphemy,
malice, hatred, envy, jealousy. That's where sin starts. That's
the fountain of sin. I know a lot of people that quit
this and quit that and quit something else and they're still mean as
the devil in their heart. That's what the Pharisees did.
Our Lord said you clean up the outside and you appear beautiful
to men. You appear acceptable, but on
the inside you're full of dead men's bones. You're like a whited
sepulcher. Cleanse first that which is within.
That's the road to peace. When a man realizes he has sinned,
And he realizes where it came from. It came from his heart.
It came from his nature. It came from within. And even
though he was held in check by some outward principle, even
though he was stopped from doing what he wanted to do before God,
he was guilty, for God looks on the heart and not the outward
countenance. And men may think you're the
best little boy in the community, but God knows your heart, fella.
And he knows what you're thinking and dreaming and imagining and
desiring. And he knows the only reason
you don't is you're held in check by some of the restraining things
he put upon you. That's why we're in need of a
new heart, a new nature, a new spirit. That's why we need a
new birth. A new birth is not prancing down
somebody's aisle and shaking a preacher's hand. It's being
born from above and receiving a new nature. Before a man can
speak peace to his heart, he's going to be soundly convinced
not only of his sins, not only of his sinful nature and the
fountain of his sins, but he's going to be convinced of the
sin and evil found in his best deeds. This may be offensive,
but the scripture says, even our righteousnesses are filthy
rags. Oh, we may love more than other
men, but we don't love like God. So then our love's imperfect,
and our love's filthy rags. Anything imperfect, God can't
accept. Oh, we may walk better than other men, but we don't
walk like God yet. We may have more patience than
other men, but we're not as patient, long-suffering as God yet. We
may have faith more than other men, but we don't believe like
Christ. We don't submit like Christ. We don't give like Christ. So there's a weakness and failure
in all we do. We may pray better than somebody
else, but you haven't prayed yet like Christ. So there's evil,
even in our prayers, because they're imperfect. And God cannot
be pleased with that which is imperfect. Paul said, in the
flesh, nobody can please God. But there's one that did. The
Heavenly Father said, this is my Son in whom I'm well pleased. And my friends, that brings me
to the fourth point of this message, the road to peace. This leads
me to one place. I've got to have a substitute,
I've got to have a mediator, I've got to have a high priest,
I've got to have someone do for me what I can't do. And that
one is Christ. And a man will never lay hold
of peace until he lays hold of Christ, who is our peace. He's
our righteousness before the Father. He is our sanctification
before the Father. He is our love, our faith, our
hope, our prayers, our wisdom, our redemption. He's our representative. I'm in Him. Crucified with Christ,
buried with Christ, risen with Christ, seated at the right hand
of God in Christ. And I'm complete in Him. And
because He is my representative, He's my advocate and intercessor
and my mediator, then in the sight of God, I have a perfect
holiness. Well, you say, why do you preach
and why do you give and why do you worship? Because I love Him.
I love His company. I love His fellowship. I love
to please Him. I love His Word. You do too if you're born again.
How can Christ do all this for me? Because of who He is, Son
of God. Because of where He is at the
right hand of God. Because of what He did. He bore
our sins in His body on the tree. He obeyed the law perfectly.
Why did He do it? That God may be just and justify.
I'm going to preach to you the gospel. I pray by God's grace
you'll believe it. Because the Word of God is our
only hope. Our only road to peace is to
walk the road of inspiration.