If you'd like to, you can open
your Bibles back to Isaiah chapter 1. I have one thought in mind this
morning. I want to speak to all of us.
I want God to speak to me through his word, and I want him to speak
to you. And I want to speak to us plainly,
as plainly as I can. I want to speak as simply as
I can, simplicity, the simplicity of Christ. Paul said he was concerned
that the church depart from the simplicity of Christ. It concerned
him greatly. that Satan in his subtlety, he
doesn't care which way we go just so we don't go to the cross.
And that in his subtlety he would divert the minds of the people
and take them away from the simplicity of Christ. Then I want to speak
scripturally concerning our relationship with the Lord God. I'm just not
willing for us to go the route of of religion or just go the
route of church membership or denominationalism. This is not,
I trust, the branch of some denomination. I appreciate the past and I appreciate
what men have done and what they've been. I appreciate battles they've
fought, but the battles that they fought are over. We're in
our battle now. And we just cannot build on them. We build on the foundation Christ,
the chief cornerstone. We profit by these men and we
rejoice in what they did and what they said, what they wrote.
But we've got to go back beyond them to the one foundation, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and build there. And I want to speak to
us concerning our relationship to God. Now, I know this. Let
me lay this foundation by way of introducing this message.
First of all, I know this, and you know I know this. And I believe
you know it, that the gospel must be revealed. It must be
revealed. The natural man receiveth not
the things of God. They're spiritually understood.
We've got to have the gospel revealed. If our gospel be hid,
it's hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
hath blinded their minds. But God hath revealed these things
to us. The Lord asked the disciples,
whom do you say that I am? And Peter said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. And our Lord said to Peter
that flesh and blood didn't teach him that, but the Father revealed
it to him. Now that, I know the gospel must
be revealed. You know I know that. I hath
not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered the heart
of men, the things that God has prepared for them that love him,
but he hath revealed them unto us by Spirit. There's no man,
whatever education he has, or wisdom, or ability, or gifts,
can understand the Scripture apart from the Holy Spirit. It's
a mystery. Now, I know that, and you know
that. But still, the gospel to be revealed must be understood. must be understood. Now when
Philip, when the Lord took Philip into the desert to speak to the
eunuch, the eunuch was there in the chariot reading Isaiah.
And Philip asked him this question, he said, do you understand what
you're reading? Do you understand it? Philip
didn't just say to him, just believe that now friend, just
believe the word. God bless you, believe the word, hallelujah,
trust the Lord. He said, do you understand what you're reading? And the man said, how can I?
How can I? Except some man showed me. Now
brethren, don't settle your eternal relationship with God in five
minutes. It might be well for you to do
a little searching of the Scriptures. It might be well for you to sit
down and count the cost. Some of you, I was challenged
this morning by a 17-year-old boy. And I told him to shut his
mouth and open his ears and listen to the Word of God. That may
be a little harsh to you, but that's the best advice I can
give anybody. Sit down. That's too early for a man to
make up his mind on all the Bible. That's a little early. He's just
a few years out of rompers. And that's just a little early
to make up your mind about the Scriptures. I'm trying to tell
you that the Scriptures must be understood. I know. I believe
in instantaneous conversion. I believe in instantaneous salvation.
But my friend, the Scriptures must be understood. You don't
understand the Scriptures just because you've memorized John
3, 16. Now this is a profound message. This is a deep message. How high, how unsearchable the
wisdom of God, how pastime you have. Job, with all of his so-called
outward obedience and righteousness, said, I'm going to put my hand
on my mouth. I've spoken once, yeah, twice, but I'm not going
to speak anymore. The Scriptures in Romans 3 says,
let every mouth be stopped. That's one of the first things
God does for man when he does a work of grace in his heart,
is shut his mouth. Isn't that right, Charles? That's
the first thing he does. And opens his ear. So I know that
the gospel must be revealed, but it must be understood. So
that's what I want to do this morning. I want to preach it
so plainly, so clearly, so simply. So scripturally, that everybody
in here will at least understand. Now I'm concerned that men and
women and boys and girls who do not speak this language of
religion, I hope we have many here who don't. There's the liberal
intellectual language of religion. You're supposed to be able to
pronounce the shibboleth and so forth, you know. You're supposed
to be able to pronounce all of these words, you know, all of
the intellectual, liberalistic terms of religion. Maybe you
don't speak that language. Thank God if you don't. Or maybe
you don't speak the fundamental language of religion. You get
around these preachers and pious, overly religious people and you
don't talk their language nor understand it. Maybe, oh thank
God, you don't talk that language either. I want to speak to some
people who are hungry to know the truth of redemption. I want
to speak the language of people. The language of people. Paul
said when he preached, some believed and some didn't believe. But
I'm telling you this, when that man preached, those who believed,
Jay understood what they believed. And those who didn't believe
understood what they didn't believe. You see what I'm saying? I like
what that little Spurgeon tells about the little boy. His mother
passed this along to Mr. Spurgeon. Saturday night, they
were having prayers. The father had read some scripture
and the children and the father and mother were having prayers.
And the mother turned to one of the young boys in the household,
about the size of your age, your oldest boy, Clarence, and she
said, son, would you like to pray? And he said, yes, and I
would. And this is what he prayed. He
said, Lord, help Mr. Spurgeon to say something tomorrow
that I can understand. Help him to say something that
I can understand. What if an 80-year-old man wandered
in here this morning and sat down? Maybe he's been religious,
maybe he hasn't. But he doesn't know God. He's
in the sunset years. Life's sun is setting. He's going
to meet God pretty soon. Judgment is upon him. Eternity
is before him. You reckon in our religious jargon
and in all of our ramblings and rumblings that he'd hear anything
that would do him any good? Well, I'm going to see to it
that he does this morning. I'm going to say to it, if you
go out here believing, you're going to know what you believe.
I know whom I have believed, Paul said. And if you go out
here unbelieving, you're going to know what you don't believe.
You're going to know what you've rejected, you're going to know
what you've despised, you're going to know what you've turned
your back on. And I start with this. Point number one. According to the Word of God,
our sinful condition before God. Our sinful condition before God
is extreme. Now remember those three phrases,
our sinful condition. I'm talking about yours and mine.
Individually, personally. I don't care how good your mama
says you are, I'm telling you what God says about you. I don't
care how fine your wife thinks you are, I'm telling you what
God thinks of you. It doesn't matter to me how holy
you think you are. I'm telling you what God, our
sinful condition before God. Now human nature, compared with
human nature, comes up looking pretty good. And that's what
we've been doing. We've been saying, I thank you I'm not like
other men. We've been comparing ourselves
with others. That's what we've been doing.
We've been saying, I was raised in a Christian home as opposed
to a heathen home. I've been going to church all
my life, as opposed to not going. I never did drink, I never got
drunk, I never committed adultery, as opposed to doing, or people
who do those things. Human nature, compared with human
nature, comes off pretty good. But human nature, you listening? Human nature, compared with the
holy, righteous nature of God, comes up pretty wicked. Extremely
so. That's what I'm talking about.
Our nature, our sinful nature before God, before God is extremely,
Paul said, exceeding sinful. Human nature compared with divine
holiness is too evil and corrupt to put in words. You better listen
to me this morning. I'm not preaching this message
so I can go back and hear it myself on tape later. I'm preaching
it to you and I want every eye this way. Human nature compared with the
holy divine nature of God, do you hear this? Is exceeding sinful. Now let's look at some of these
things. Listen to verse 2. God Almighty says, listen to
verse 2, I have nourished and brought up children. They've
rebelled against me. Against me. This is the issue,
this is the charge against me, God said. You've rebelled against
me. Doesn't matter if you sassed your mama, that's not the issue.
You've rebelled against God. God Almighty is angry with you
and with me. God's angry. Our sin's against
God. They've rebelled against me.
Look at verse 3. They're worse than beasts. The
ox knows his owner. The ass knows his master's crib.
That ox, every evening, comes back to the barn where his master
is. That ass knows his master's crib. He eats from the crib that
the master put there, and he licks the master's hand. Not this generation. Not me. He says, my people, Ishmael.
Even my people, Ishmael, does not consider. We don't kiss God's
hand. We don't give thanks to God. He says in verse 5, verse 4,
ah sinful nation, a people heavy with sin, heavy with sin, bowed
down with sin, they've forsaken God, they've angered God, they've
provoked God to anger, they've gone away backward. Look at verse
5, there's no use, there's no use providentially coming down
hard upon you. In Amos he said, I withheld the
rain from you when your crops were just getting ready to come
out of the ground. But you didn't return. He said,
I've come down upon you and slain your young men in battles and
wars, and you didn't turn to me. He said, I've judged you
with disease and blessings and mildew, but you didn't return
unto me. No use judging you anymore. You
just rebel more and more. There's no use judging you. There's
no use providentially chastising you. It'll just make you harder
and harder in your sin. He says, your whole head. Look
at verse 5. Your whole head. What is that?
That's the mind. The thought is sick. Sick. And your whole heart. What's
that? Your affections. Perverted thing. Why, He says,
from the sole of your feet. Look at verse 6. This is God
speaking. And we're talking about human
nature compared with holy nature. Yes, you are a better woman than
your neighbor. Yes, you're a finer man than
the man down the street. Yes, you've been an honest, humanly
speaking, just person in your dealings
with others through your life. But before the awesome, perfect
love of God, before the awesome, perfect holiness of God, before
the unsearchable, infinite holiness of God, well, you're a great
sinner. From the sole of your feet to
the top of your head. Look at this. From the sole of
your feet to the top of your head. There's no soundness. There's
no truth. There's no depth. There's no
holiness. Nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores
that have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with
harmony. Do you see that picture here
as a disease? Say a leper. With just the skin
broken open from the sole of his feet to the top of his head,
the disease is from within to without. Within, he's corrupted. Without, he's corrupted. You
can't find a place in him or on him, any place about him that
is not corrupted, putrid. Hasn't been doctored. He says in verse 9, if God had
not left us a very small remnant, we'd be like Sodom and Gomorrah. Do you know the story of those
hated cities of the plains? Abraham started out with 50.
He said, Lord, if you find 50 righteous people, will you spare
that city? He said, I'll spare it. What about 40, 30, 20? Lord,
10. Just 10 people. What was the
population of Sodom and Gomorrah? Hundreds of thousands? And Abraham said, Lord, if you
can find just ten people, the Lord said, I'll spare. He couldn't
find ten. He couldn't find anyone to leave
it, even Lot had to be driven out. And if God had not left
us a very small remnant, we'd be in just such shape, Sodom
and Gomorrah. Oh, we've got religion, he says.
I know you've got religion. Verse 11, To what purpose, though,
is the multitude of your sacrifices? Almighty God says, your sacrifices,
your holy days, your Sabbath days, your assemblies, your feasts,
even your efforts at worship and prayer, God says, I'm weary
of them. Most of us have labored under
the impression that if we get up on Sunday morning and dress
up and get in our car and go to the church and sit there and
sing the hymns and listen to the preacher and read the scripture
and bow our heads at the proper time and say the proper words
and give our offerings and we can go back home and we serve
God and we've done our duty. God says, I'm weary of that. Your assemblies, your holy days,
your Sabbath days, your feasts and everything about you, even
that's an abomination. You know what we need? Verse
16, need to be washed. Washed! Washed! We need to be
washed! That leprosy-infested, polluted
creature from the sole of his feet to the top of his head puts
on the uniforms of religion and goes through the motions. Brother,
what he needs is washed. Washed. Need to be made clean. Need to be made clean in God's
sight. Oh, you know, did your mom ever
wash out your mouth with soap? I wish that had never been invented.
I think that's the awfulest thing. I think it's a bad example. I've
had my mouth washed out with soap when I was a little boy.
You learn a bad word. Jay told me he had the same experience.
Some of you have, too. They don't do that much anymore.
You don't do that now, do you? I hope not. But what good did
it do to wash the boy's mouth out with soap? That word didn't
just come out of his mouth, it came from his heart. That's where
it came from. The little rascal needs his heart
washed. That's what he needs. He needs
his heart washed. And religious people, we need
our hearts washed. We need our souls washed. God
does not look on the outward countenance. God looks on the
heart. That's where our problems and troubles and corruption,
that's where it is. It's in the heart. Turn to Psalm
51 a minute and listen to David here. Here's the cry of conviction. Psalm 51. The cry of conviction. And this is the first thing to
be established. If you're not today. And it doesn't matter
whether you're in the pulpit or the pew. It doesn't matter
whether you were raised in a Christian home or a pagan home. It doesn't
matter whether you've never tasted a drop of liquor or been a drunk.
It doesn't matter whether you've never been sexually promiscuous
or whether you have been. It doesn't matter to me. Before
God, every one of us, all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. All we like sheep have gone astray.
There's none that do us good. There's none that's profitable.
There's none that seeketh God. They're all in need of washing.
purging, cleansing. I get weary of hearing people
talk about how awful they used to be. I think someone's doing
a little bragging personally. The fellow here, like in the
church, there's two people One of them's been a drug addict,
one's been a drunkard, one's been promiscuous, lascivious,
you know, and all this. And this other guy over here,
he just ain't been nothing but a sinner, you know. He's got
nothing to brag about. He's just been a sinner. And
who are we going to hear from? If the preacher wants a testimony,
they're going to put his name in the paper. Former drug addict's
going to preach. Former drunk's going to preach.
Former harlot's going to witness. Teach the Sunday school. You
know which one's the most wicked in God's sight? Huh? You couldn't turn your hand over
any one of them. That's exactly right. That's what Scripture
says. Just as guilty. Just as guilty. If you offend
in one point of the law, you'll be guilty of the whole law. That's
what I'm trying to say. Psalm 51, David says, have mercy
on me, O God. According to thy lovingkindness,
according to the multitude of thy tender mercy, blot out my
transgressions. Wash me, wash me throughly, for
mine iniquity cleansed me from my sin. I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is ever before me against
thee, and thee only have I sinned. Done this evil in thy sight.
that thou mightest be justified when you speak, and clear when
you judge. I was shapen in iniquity, in sin my mother conceived me. O God, purge me, wash me." That's
where we start. That's where we start. And I
can try and talk and preach and read and do all these things,
but until you oppress me, individually, bowed down under the load of
sin, I don't know about the language of fundamentalism, but the language
of the Spirit is, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I don't know about the language
of intellectualism. I don't know about the language
of liberalism, any of the rest of this religious jargon. But
I know the language of the Spirit is, Lord, remember me when you
come into your kingdom. I need help. I'm a sinner. Old Richard Baxter said, I speak,
I preach, as one who may never preach again. And your hearing
is one who may never hear again, too. I preach as a dying man
to dying men. And we go around bragging about
how righteous and good and holy we are. But Almighty God in chapter
1 of Isaiah shows us what we are by nature, by birth, and
by practice. And He says, I'm weary. I'm weary. From the sole of your feet to
the top of your heads, singing. You lift your hands in prayers
and go through the motions of weary. It's an abomination to
me. Wash. Wash. And then here's good
news. Look at verse 18. He says, Come
now. Come now. Come now. Just don't
put it off any longer. Come now. Today is the day of
salvation. Now is the accepted time. Come
down and let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
I'll make them white as snow. Here's the second point. The
Lord urges a conference. The Lord God urges a conference. Now brethren, that's good news.
God proposes a conference with sinners. You know the king, the
king doesn't usually invite traitors to a conference. that this king
does. He says, come now, let us! Let
us! This proposal comes from him,
it always does, it must. Man in his darkness never seeks
God. Saul of Tarsus wasn't seeking the Lord when God met him on
the road to Damascus, but God was seeking him. God arrested
him. If God meant to destroy us, he
would never have invited us to a conference. Come now, let us. Come now, let us. These people
right here, they've just been talking to this corrupt, vile,
sinful mass of humanity, with all of their phony religion,
perishing in darkness and death and depravity, and he says, come
now, let us. Let us. Let us what? Let us reason. Let me tell you
something. I found this to be true. A true
religion requires thought. Thought. Now I'm telling you
the truth. Men today want a religion that
does not require any thought. They want one that requires no
time and no thought and no consideration. Did you know that? You give a
man a ceremony and he'll do it without any thought. He wants
something he can do without thought. Give Him a custom, give Him a
ritual, give Him a tradition, give Him something to do with
His hands or with His feet or with His eyes or with His knees,
bowing, jumping up and down, acting like a monkey on a string,
just give Him something to do. But I'll tell you, He doesn't
want to think. And God says to these people, He tells us what
our condition is before Him in its darkness and deadness. and depravity, and he says, now
let's do some reasoning. Let's do some thinking. Let's
do some thinking. And you can go through this little
thing. If you believe in God and believe in Jesus and accept
Him, you're saved. Let's do some thinking. He said,
what man among you, if he's going to build a house, does not sit
down first and count the cost? You got enough finishing? There's
not a man here that started building without first of all drawing
the blueprint, without looking them over, without going over
them again and again, without checking with his banker, without
checking to see what he has, without checking to see if he
can get some help, without checking the weather, without checking
the time of year he starts. about material things, we give
the utmost thought. You young people are going away
to college. You've gone down to the school, you've investigated,
you've read the brochures, you've read the books put out for the
school, you've planned, you've gone to your counselors, you've
planned all these things, and when it comes to your salvation,
you pay no attention whatsoever to it. Isn't that right? It's unreasonable, unreasonable
to leave eternity to chance. It's unreasonable to ignore a
summons from God! Come, let's reason! I'd rather build a house without
a blueprint than to go through life without some knowledge of
the Word of God. It's unreasonable. I don't understand
it. I just don't understand it. Our immortal, eternal souls that
are going to live forever in hell or heaven, We just trust
it to some ritual, some ceremony, something that doesn't take...
Alright, good night. Spend two hours a week in church.
You're going to spend longer than that one day somewhere.
Longer than that. Come, let's reason. Let's reason,
God said. Come now, let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Alright, here's the third thing.
What are we going to reason about? What's this conference all about?
What are we going to look into? What are we going to discuss?
What are we going to reason about? He tells us, though your sins
be as scarlet. That's what we're going to talk
about. Now, he says we're not going to meet to determine if
you're a sinner. That's not what we're going to
meet to determine. That's already been established. He says, come
let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet. He didn't say, if your sins be
a scar. We often pray, and I wish we'd
quit, Lord, if there's someone here, if there's a sinner here
tonight, there's about 390 sinners right here, right now. There's
no if about it. Lord, if there's somebody here
that doesn't know you, they're here. Christ said, I got 12,
and one of them's a devil. That's 10%. No if about it. Where you find people, you find
sin. Where you find people, you find need. Where you find people,
you find a person that needs justification. That's right.
God says, we're not meeting to determine whether or not you've
got sin or how bad they are. Don't your sins be as scarlet. Yours and mine. Yours and mine. We're not meeting to determine
the extent of them. He says they're like scarlet.
Scarlet. Red like crimson, old Spurgeon
said they're double dying. Double dying. You know, God's not like a man. God's too holy and just. Now
you and I can excuse sin because we're sinners. See what I'm talking
about? And we should do that. If another
person fails or falls, He said, you restore such a one considering
yourself, lest you be tried or tempted. But God's holy. You see what I'm saying? God
can't look upon sin. God can't excuse sin. God's love,
yes, and righteous, yes. Truth and holiness, and He cannot.
Now you and I can overlook a sin because sin's in us. God can't
overlook a sin. There's no sin in Him. God demands
perfection, Joe. He can be satisfied with no less.
He can demand no more. Perfection! And God Almighty
must have a sacrifice. Now, here's the question. What
are we going to do about our sins? That's what this is all
about. Well, I can't do anything about them. Turn to Jeremiah
13. I can't do anything about my sins. And you can't do anything
about yours. And what I'm doing here this
morning is saying to that 80 or 75 year old man that wandered
in, that has no knowledge of God or grace, I'm saying, my
friend, you can't do anything about your sin. And this bird
up here that's been in religion all his life, he can't do anything
about his either. And the fallen woman who is here
this morning with the guilt of sin upon your heart from what
you did last week and you are sitting there bowed down and
guilt ridden because of something you did or said. Let me tell
you something else. Everybody here is guilt ridden
by what they thought or said or they don't know God. See what I am saying? Yes, my
sins are ever before me. And yours are ever before you.
Now, what are we going to do about it? This is what's questioning.
What are we going to do about it? Well, I can't do anything
about it myself. He says, verse 23 of Jeremiah
13, Can the Ethiopian change his skin? Here sits a black man.
Can he change his skin? Black's his nature. Black's his
race. Black's the way he was born.
Can he change it? No, sir. Here comes a leopard,
a spotted leopard. There's a zebra striped, the
leopard's spotted. Can the leopard change his spot?
He's born a leopard. That's his nature. That's his
species. He's a leopard. Can he change
it? No, sir. Watch the next line. Neither can you do good that
are born in sin. Huh? Neither can you. That black man, he can bow, he
can promise, he can make decisions, he can sign cards, he can reform,
he can make resolutions, he'll still be black a thousand years
from now if he lives. And that leopard, he can jump
in the creek and wash, he can eat certain vegetables and so
forth, but he's going to stay spotted until he dies. And I'll
tell you, we who are born in sin, with the principle and nature
of sin within us, conceived and shaped in iniquity, we're going
to be sinners as long as we live. And you can come down and join
the church, and you can get in the pool up here, and you can
make all kinds of decisions and resolutions, but you can walk
out of this building. And somebody, some car pulls
out in front of you out there, and you start through the light,
and you say, what's the matter with that knothead? Can't he
see? Uh-oh, temper. Thought you were sanctified,
didn't you? You go home, your wife doesn't have what you want
for dinner, maybe the biscuits are burned. Looks like to me
you can cook these without burning them. Or you say, you hear what old
so-and-so did? Guy on the job down there. He
did so-and-so, uh-oh, gossip, all these things, you know. And
you know what I'm talking about. Boy, and strive and try as hard
as you can try and strive and make resolution, that old nature
just hangs on, just hangs on, just hangs on, doesn't it? Oh,
my soul. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing. In the flesh no man can please God. All right, what can
I do? God can't lower His standard.
God said you're going to be justified by deeds? Have perfect deeds. You're going to be justified
by the law? Keep the whole law. Well, I can't do it. God can't
lower His standard and I can't improve my lot. Now, we're at
an impasse. You talk about a Mexican standoff,
Jay. You got one here. God's not moving. He can't not
be God. You say, I'm doing the best I
can. Not good enough, boy. God's holy and righteous, infinitely
holy, immutably holy. His scales only weigh one way,
perfect or not perfect. That's the only way. Full glory. or no glory, no middle ground.
And no man ever reached full glory but one. What are we going
to do? Can anything be done? Romans
3. Let's see if anything can be done. He says, though your
sins be as scarlet, there be as white as snow. How? Well,
look at Romans 3, verse 19. Now we know. Now we know that
what things the law said, the holy law of God, It saith to
them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped. God
shut my mouth. Shut my mouth about what? My
righteousness, my deeds, my merit, my goodness. God shut my mouth. Every mouth stopped. And all
the world, Jew and Gentile, white and black, old and young, rich
and poor, learned and ignorant, Baptist and Methodist. Every
mouth stopped. All the world guilty. Where? Before God. Not before, Bob,
not before our counsels, before God. Not before our opinions
or our church standards. He's such a good woman. Yeah,
not before God. She's a sinner. Therefore, therefore,
because every mouth is stopping the whole world's guilty before
God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall be no
flesh. No flesh. No flesh. Be justified. No flesh. Be justified. Here it is again. In His sight.
Now He's the judge. It's not how you appear before
the courts of men or the opinions, court of human opinion. In His
sight. In His sight. For by the law
is the knowledge of sin. Not the cleansing of sin. Not
the putting away of sin. The knowledge of sin. The law
reveals our sin. Thou shalt not covet. You know what covetousness is?
It's to be discontent, that's all. It's to be unhappy with
what you have, that's all. It's to want anything more than
you are, that's all. That's covetousness. Be content
with what you have, he said, having food and raiment, be content
and avoid covetousness, which is idolatry. Idolatry. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Tell the truth, the whole truth, Nothing but the truth, all the
time. No exaggeration. Don't you add
an inch to the length of that fish you caught last week. Don't
you add one drop of rain to that rain. You don't hear much about
drowning through a rainstorm. Worst rainstorm in the history
of the world. Worst rain I've ever been in my life. Talk about
deep water, you know. It's up to here. No, it wasn't
either. It's down here around your ankle. It just sounds better
that way, you know. And the more times you tell it,
the bigger it gets. For I tell you, the law says
thou shalt not bear false witness. Shall not. Just go on through
the law. Alright, now, but now, verse
21, but now the righteousness of God, the holiness of God.
We're not talking about His personal holiness, His personal righteousness
though He is. But the righteousness which He
has perfected and purposed and promised and purchased for us. His righteousness, that righteousness
without the law is revealed. Without the law, without the
law, without us obeying the law. The law is going to be obeyed,
Vince, but not by me. I'm going to have a righteousness
that's perfect before the law, but I didn't do it. It's without
the law as far as I'm concerned. Christ obeyed it. You see what
I'm saying? Christ obeyed it. I'm going to
have a righteousness without the law. I can't have one by
the law, Bob, there's no way. The law can't do anything but
reveal my sin, condemn me, and judge me. So if I get a righteousness,
it'll have to be without me doing anything where the law is concerned,
without me doing one thing. But now if God's gonna look on
a righteousness that's perfect, it can't be without somebody
obeying the law, because the law must be honored. So Christ
did it for me. And it's witnessed by the law
and the prophets. It's all the way through the Bible, that righteousness.
What is it? Verse 22. Even the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Christ Jesus unto all and upon all that
believe. Jew and Gentile, rich and poor,
it doesn't matter. There's no difference. There's
no difference. all if sin comes short of God's
glory. I need righteousness. I can't produce it. God demands
a perfect righteousness. There's no difference. You can't
produce it either. Nobody here. But God has revealed
one, and it's without us producing it, and without us perfecting
it, without us performing it. It's by faith in Christ who did
perfect it, who did perform it, who did fulfill it. By faith
alone, for there is no difference. Look at verse 24. Being justified. You know what justified means?
Well, I'll tell you some good news here. To be justified doesn't
mean just to be pardoned. Now, you can pardon a man, pardon
a criminal, but he's still guilty. You're still saying he's guilty.
You can forgive him, but he still did it. You can parole him, but
do you know if you justify in what you're saying? Not guilty. You justify it. You justify it. You justify it. Before God, I'm
not just pardoned the way I am or forgiven the way I am. But
before God, I am justified as if I had fulfilled and obeyed
perfectly God's holy law and had never sinned in my life.
Just as if I had never sinned. Now that's in Christ. And you
see, that's the only way that God can really receive us and
accept us is justified. Being justified freely. There's no payment. There's no
return. Freely. By His grace. Through Christ Jesus. You see
it there? Through the redemption. What do you do when you redeem
something? You buy it back. It's got a price on it. Price
on it! And you pay the price, and you
pay for it, and it's yours! You've redeemed it, you bought
it! It's no longer got a price on it. I've no longer got a price
on my head. The law has no claim on me. Justice has no claim on
me. Judge Irons, if there's anybody
who doesn't understand the gospel, it's a legal mind. He ought to
understand it. You were a judge for all those years, and people
stood before you guilty. And being a just judge, you had
to fulfill the law. You had to make them pay for
their crime. But if a man stands before you
not guilty, you set him free. Now I'm guilty by birth and by
nature, but in Christ I'm not guilty. In Christ I'm justified. In Christ I'm free of blame.
And the law of God says set him free. We got no claim on him. that just to hear He comes before
the court, you say, well, believers come before the judgment? Only
why not? I know us to come before there
and be pronounced free because we are not guilty of anything.
Justified. You know what it says? Being
justified by faith, we have peace. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. The law has no claim on me. There are men sitting up here
in the county jail. The law of the state has a claim
on them. They're going to be brought to trial next month.
I'm not going to be brought to trial. The law has no claim on
me. This law has no claim on me here. I'm not afraid. I'm not troubled. And I say this, I've sinned against God. I've
broken His holy law. Guilty. But Christ came and took
my place before the law. Took my place before God's justice
and the law extracted from Him every claim it had on me. The
justice of God, the wrath of God was poured out on Him. He
took my death. He was hanged in the place of
the criminal, this criminal. And now the law has no claim
on me. And justice has no claim. I'm free. I'm justified in Christ. Now that's what we do. Come now,
let us reason together. And brethren, let me tell you
something. We be able to give an answer to every man that asks
you a reason for your hope. If somebody comes in, how do
you know you're saved? You say, well, just believe on
Jesus. Well, tell me who He is and what He did and why He did
it and where He is now. How do you know? I don't know. They just told me to believe
on Jesus. I know who He is and I know what
He did. And you can't believe what you
don't know. You can't find any rest or joy or comfort. Turn
to Hebrews 9 just a minute. I'll let you go in a minute.
Turn to Hebrews 9. Let me show you something. Hebrews chapter
9. It says here, and I tell you,
if churches today, and I say we're going to do this here,
if churches today will put away their little silly programs and
promotions and puppets, and put away all their announcements
and all of these numbers and all of this contest and competition
and stand up here and read and preach this Word, I believe people
will come and hear. I believe they'll come here.
And I know this, those that hear will be saved. They'll come to
know Christ. I don't want to go to the judgment
with a bunch of programs and puppets and promotions on my
mind. I want to go to the judgment with Christ on my mind. It says
here in Hebrews 9, 26, the last part, he said, Now once in the
end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. That's the way sin is put away.
Now go back to our text a minute and let's read something here.
The Lord says, He tells us the extreme, the sinful nature, the
condition of man before God. Are you convinced of that? I
have a need, a desperate need. I have a desperate need. I feel,
now in your, around you, I feel like that in the company of,
Danny, in the company of other people, I can hold my own pretty
good. Compared to one worm, compared to another worm, I'm not, I'm
not too embarrassed about the life I live. Not too embarrassed. Like I asked a man one time,
he used to live right straight here. I said, how are you today?
He said, good as you are. I said, well, that's okay too,
you know. But oh, my friend, I feel unclean
before God. And I'm not saying that because
it's religious to say it either. I feel unworthy to pray. I feel
unworthy to call His name. I know a little bit about His
matchless holiness. And talking about going to heaven,
Going up there and living in the presence of God, where angels
cover their faces? Huh? Where the cherubims and
seraphims who've never sinned cover their mouths? And me going
up there and singing away, you know. That just makes me shiver
and tremble. You know what I've got to have
to get in there? A perfect holiness. I'm going to have to have a perfect
righteousness. And I don't have it. And God
says, come, let's reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
though you're in that shade, they'll be as white as snow.
I can't do it, and you can't do it, and this pool up here
can't do it. They put you in there a thousand
times, you'll still be the same inside. And you eat the crackers
and the wine and it won't do it. And you can walk up and down
this aisle and join them all. Go to all these places, join,
pray through, do all these things. It won't help you. You still
don't have that righteousness. But in Christ you have it. Now
look at verse 19. He says, if you be willing, if
you be willing, let me give you this, if you be willing to own
your sins and confess them, if you be willing to disown your
personal merit, I know that's hard. Well, you know what dies
last? I. You know what dies the hardest? Pride. Man, I tell you, that
dies hard. But Paul said, all that I have
been, all that I have known, I count but dumb. Rubbish. Are you willing to call on the
name of the Lord? Call on the name of the Lord, the perfect
righteousness, the perfect substitute, the Redeemer, the only mediator
between God and men. Not one of many, but only one. Only one. Are you willing to
confess Him as your Lord and Master? My Lord and my God, all
to Christ, I commit. I've committed it to Him. Are
you willing to follow Him? Are you willing to walk in His
footsteps? Are you willing to submit to
His yoke? He said, take my yoke on you. My yoke is easy and my
burden is light. Are you willing? He says, if
you're willing, you'll live. What's that next line say though?
It said, but if you rebel, And if you refuse, you'll be devoured
with the sword. And here's what clinches the
whole thing. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.
The mouth of the Lord. Our Father, in your own power
and purpose, use the message this morning
for your glory and for our good. We acknowledge our sins, they're
ever before us. We acknowledge our inability.
Lord, we're overwhelmed with just some knowledge of your holiness,
of your righteousness, which is demanded and required. And
we learn from your word where it's to be found. It's to be
found in your son. Christ didn't come here just
as an example or a reformer or a messenger. He came here as
a substitute. He came representing all who
believe, bearing in his body our sins on the tree. And because
he loved us and gave himself for us, and because he perfectly
obeyed your law, we stand before your judgment Justified. Who is he that condemneth? Who
can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? There's not one
witness against us, not even your holy law, not even your
holy righteousness, not even your justice. We've been cleared
because our debt's been paid. I use the message for your glory
to bring men and women to the knowledge of Christ. In his precious
name we pray, amen. I do pray that this message,
as I said when I started, I had one thought and one aim and one
end and goal, is that I might clearly state, plainly, how God
saved sinners. And my friends, as best I know
how, as best I'm able to present, that's the way God saved sinners.
And there's nothing, as you say, what do you want me to do now?
I want you to look to Christ. I want you just to put empty
hands before His throne, Lord, I believe. Be gracious to me. Show mercy to a sinner. Here's
a sinner. Here's a needy creature. Let thy blood be propitiation
for me on the mercy seat. Trust Christ. Believe on Christ.
Rest in Christ. I'd go home from this service.
I'd go home and use this day to consider these things. It's
a good day to do it. It's a good day. He said, come
now and let's reason it. There's no better day to do it.
No better day than to seek the Lord. It may be you'll be hid
from His wrath. You're not too old. You're not
too old if you understand. You're not too old. You're not
too young if you understand what we're dealing with here. We're
dealing with man's extreme guilt, God's extreme infinite holiness,
and how this can be brought to that. There's only one way. It's for Him to come down here
and take my place. and provide for me what He demands
and what He requires, and put His loving everlasting arms under
me, and take me to Himself, and present me before His presence,
holy and without blame." How can you do that? How can one
that's by birth, nature, and choice unholy be presented holy?
Because he actually did it. He actually obeyed the law in
the flesh as a man. He actually met the justice of
God and it fell on him, and he paid the price. He died. The
infinite Son of God died. You say, how can one man die
for a million men? Because of who He is. That's
how it comes, because of who He is. Infinite wrath can only
be satisfied by an infinite payment. And that infinite payment can
only be made by an infinite Christ who has infinite sufficiency
and infinite holiness. His obedience to the holy law
of God can apply to me and also to you Bill, and also to you
Pam, and also to you Beverly, and also to you Cecil, and Cindy,
and Paul, and Joe. His infinite holiness can reach
out infinitely to all who believe. No price for me to pay. What
does God want with my money? The silver and gold here, the
cattle on a thousand hills. He said if I was hungry, I wouldn't
ask you. What can my little ritualism use? I come with my candles,
you know, you silly looking thing, snuff them out. That's all I
got to say. My little silly... What does
it make whether I'm standing up here in a t-shirt or a black
suit to God Almighty who made the roses bloom in their beauty
and yellow and red and purple? But we put on black, we think
it impresses God. We look religious. See all those
singers at Nashville, when they sing these doolally songs, they
go through all the mo- when they sing hymns, they all look up.
You know, their eyes roll around like some dying cow. That's religious,
you know. We're so religious. And God spews
that out of his mouth. That's right, that's just plain,
but that's so ignorant. I need Christ. And I'm shut up
to Christ. I'm going to trust Him. If I
go to hell, I'm going to hell clinging to the cross with no
other plea. No other plea. But Christ died
for me. Now, you play church all you
want to, but here, as for me and this house over which God
made me the pastor, we're going to look to Christ. I'm going
to keep presenting Him and preaching Him until somebody looks, until
everybody looks. And we're all going to be sinners
saved by His grace.