If I understand today's religion, and I have not been confined
to this small building here, I have preached in most of the
states of the United States. I have visited and preached in
Mexico. I have preached two or three
meetings in Canada. I have preached in England, Ireland,
France and Spain. I have visited Japan and the
Philippines and Hawaii, many, many countries. I listen to today's
preachers on television. I listen in my car to them on
the radio. I have some friends who will
not read the newspaper. They only read what's published
by the ultra-conservative right. I read the newspaper and listen. I believe I'm aware of some things
that are characteristic of today's religion. I'll give you five
of them. This is a summary. what I believe
is the condition of today's religion. And this is a most religious
day. You must agree to that. This is a religious day. We know
that men are depraved, but they're also religious. Men are not only
ruined by the fall, but part of the ruin is a distorted religion,
a false idea of God. And there are five things, I
believe, that characterize our religious day. The first is this. This is a day of doubt. Doubt. You know, Pharaoh said to Moses,
when Moses came and demanded that he let the people go, Pharaoh
said to him, Moses said, the Lord God said, let my people
go. And Pharaoh said, well, now who
is this Lord God? Who is this Lord God that I should
obey him? Just tell me who he is. And that
was casting a doubt on the deity and glory of God. And today everything's
under attack. This book's under attack. This
is not, they say, the Word of God. This just contains the Word
of God. It's not verbally inspired. It's
divinely inspired. It's not, you can't say of the
Bible, it's infallible, inerrant, verbally inspired, unbroken.
You must say, we've got so many translations that who knows what's
right, you see? Doubt, day of doubt. Creation
stories doubted. In our own local newspaper a
few years ago, this statement was made in an editorial. Nobody
of any intelligence believes in the creation. Nothing but
a few radical, fanatical, fundamentalists still hold to creation by the
Word of God. Everybody with any intelligence
believes in evolution. That's casting a doubt on the
Word of God. The scripture says in the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. Today, you're called a
fool to believe in creation. I believe a man's a fool to believe
in evolution. And then marriage is under attack. The marriage relationship is
under attack. The home is under attack. The
authority, not only of the scriptures, but of the Father, today women. It's unfortunate. And I know
we're to, I believe in the rights of an individual, the constitutional
rights, I believe in spiritual rights, I believe that that people
should have rights, a person shouldn't be brought into any
type of slavery, forced labor and forced possession or anything
like that. But God gave some order to this
universe. God gave order to the home and
God gave order to the church and God gave order to the armed
forces and to the schools. There's a chain of command, there's
got to be, there's got to be a voice of authority, there's
got to be leadership and there's got to be submission. When everybody
does his own thing, it's chaos, it's hell. That's the result.
Children have got to obey their parents. Women have got to be
submissive to their husbands. The husbands have got to be submissive
to Christ. We've got to have that. But see,
that's another day of doubt. It's a question mark. I was in
a Sunday school class in a Baptist church not long ago where I was
preaching in a meeting. The Sunday school teacher got
up And he said, we hear all this about a husband ruling over his
wife and so forth. He said, nowhere in the word
of God is the word rule used in reference to a husband's relationship
with his wife. I was a guest in there, you know,
and I didn't dare say, well, that's the first thing God said. You shall be in subjection to
your husband, your desire to be unto him, and he shall have
the rule over thee. That's what it says. And then, not only that, but
the deity of Christ is questioned. Morality. Decency. I talked in my Sunday school
class this morning to the young people about homosexuality. It's
being acceptable, accepted today. It's acceptable in some circles,
even religious circles. I don't care who you are, or
what generation you live in, or what day you live in, it's
always been an abomination to God Almighty, and those who take
part in it are reprobates in the sight of God. That's what
Scripture says. It said that back in the book of Leviticus.
It says that in the book of Romans. There's no way you can make it
right in any shape, form, or fashion. There's no way you can
make it approved in any way. Women with women, or men with
men, working that which is unseemly. God said he turned them over
to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient
and excusive, even in the name of religion. This is a day of
doubt. The question Mark put on the
Word. And I'll tell you this, when you put a question mark
anywhere on God's sovereign, infallible, inerrant, unbroken
Word, verbally inspired Word, your whole foundation is gone.
The foundation of faith is the Word of God. I know Christ is
the object of faith. His blood is the object of faith.
His sacrifice, all that he did, is the object of faith. We look
to Christ. But how do I know to look to Christ, the Word?
How do I know I need Christ? The Word. How do I know that
God sent Christ? The Word. How do I know that
God will show mercy? The Word. How do I know that
God ordained Christ to be the Savior? The Word. The Word is
the foundation of our faith. A man cannot know God in any
shape, form, or fashion apart from this Word right here. He
can't know God. He can be aware that there's
a God. The heavens declare the glory of God. The heavens, the
universe, the creation reveals there's a God. But he can't know
God. Except as God reveals himself through the Word. What man knoweth
the things of a man save the spirit of that man within him?
He's got to reveal what he's thinking by his words. So the
Word of God. So this is a day of doubt. But
may this be our testimony here at 13th Street Baptist Church.
We believe the Word of God. We don't understand it all. We
don't claim to understand it all. We know in part. We prophesy
in part. We see through a glass dimly.
The secret things belong to God, they reveal things to us, but
I believe God's word. And we preach God's word, just
exactly as it's written. And when the word of God says
he elected a people, we preach he elected a people. When the
word of God says that a woman is to be in subjection to her
husband, we preach he's to be in subjection. When it says a
woman is to keep silence in the church, we preach he's to keep
silence in the church. When the Word of God declares
that Jesus Christ died effectually to redeem a people, we preach
he died effectually to redeem a people. When it says the Holy
Spirit convicts the world of sin, of righteousness and judgment,
we preach that and not explain it away. Declare it with authority
because God said it. Even those things which we do
not understand and those things which we cannot, which we cannot
explain. Those things which we cannot
reconcile, we preach it because God says it. And then this is
the day, secondly, of Church failure. You know it and I know
it. Our Lord came in the Temple. There they were. They had their
money exchange places, they had their places where they sold
doves, and their places where they sold sheep. They were carrying
on all these social events and everything. He came into that
place, into that temple, and planted a whip and drove out
the money changers and the sellers of doves and sheep. And he cried,
My house shall be called a house of prayer. You've made it a den
of thieves. I was in Crossville, Tennessee
last week, week four last. I was staying in a Holiday Inn
across the street from a Baptist church. The buses were parked
out front, and every bus was painted a brilliant yellow, purple,
orange, red, all these different colors. And across the top of
every bus was fun and games, clowns, puppet shows, prizes
for every boy and girl, all the way down each side of the bus. The Church today is anything
but a house of prayer. When we say house of prayer,
we're including praise, we're including preaching, we're including
worship, we're including fellowship, we're including that which is
spiritual. We're not including puppet shows. We're not including
three-ring circuses. We're not including recognizing
the flesh and socializing. The Church today is a school.
It's a gymnasium, it's a cafeteria, it's a social club, it's a music
center, it's an entertainment center, it is anything under
heaven but a place of prayer and preaching and worship. And
you know it, and I know it. Fun and games describe today's
church. Today's church has left her first
love, who is Jesus Christ the Lord, and therefore leaving her
first love She has left her reason to exist. We don't have any use for a church
that is not doing what God called her to do. Now, that's just so. If this is not a house of prayer,
if this is not where people can come and worship and hear the
word of God read and pray and praise the Lord, and fellowship
with those of like mind, and feel the presence and power of
the Lord Jesus Christ, where they can come with broken hearts
and contrite hearts and broken spirits, where they can come
with their needs, where they can come with hungry hearts,
where they can come and be fed and be filled and be inspired
and edified. Let's close it up. Let the YMCA
be the gymnasium. Let the children's parents build
them basketball courts and ping-pong tables and pool tables. Let them
play their games somewhere. This is God's house of prayer. It's not a bowling alley, it's
a house of prayer. You say, you're an old fuddy-duddy.
Well, that's all right. That's all right. I'll go on
being an old fuddy-duddy. But I'll tell you this, I know
what this book says about the house of God. And I know we've
turned it into a shambles, we've turned it into an entertainment
center, and it's the preacher's fault. If he had any courage
and backbone, he'd do what his Lord did, he'd go in there Monday
morning and drive every one of them out. Drive every one of
them out. And light a fire to the gymnasium
and flood the bowling alley. And stand up next Sunday and
tell them, who save sinners by his grace. The mission of the
Church is to bring people to know God, not know one another. If they know God, they'll love
one another. The mission of the Church is to bring men to praise
God, not praise each other. The mission of the Church is
to get young people into the kingdom of God, not into social
clothes for entertainment. My task as a minister of the
gospel is not to entertain your children. It's to warn them of
the wrath to come. J's mission as a minister of
the gospel is not to entertain your children and give them something
to do on Friday and Saturday night and keep them off the streets.
His mission is to tell them about Christ and keep their souls out
of hell. That's his mission. They don't even have any reason
to exist. Not a reason in this world. This is a day of utter,
complete Church failure, because they've left their mission, they've
left their first love. Our Lord said, I must be about
my Father's business. This is my Father's business.
This is your Father's business. And then thirdly, you say, well,
somebody brings this objection, well, young people have got to
be young people. I know that. Be young people. Young people
have got to play games, sure they have. They've got to play
ball, sure they have. They've got to be on the ball
field, sure they have. That's not the Church's task.
It's our task to minister to them spiritually. Thirdly, this is a day of spectator
religion. You know this is true. Spectator
religion. I'm not talking about here, I'm
talking about in most places. Most Church members are not committed
to Christ. They're not involved in a vital
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. They have no personal relationship
with him, personal prayer life, personal time of devotion and
meditation, personal family discussions. They're spectators. They're watching
from the pews while professional religionists entertain them with
religious matters. That's exactly right. They come
and sit and they watch the show go on. And then they get up and
leave, and that's the last confrontation or communion or connection they
have with God until the next time they come. That's right,
Jay. They pay a man to pray for them.
I wonder, when Jay stood here a moment ago, we sang that. We want you to be involved in
worship. That's the reason you sing. Why do you sing that ancient
hymn? Because I want you to read those words from your heart and
sing them and worship God. Not watch Jay stand up here and
sing, but watch a choir sing. Why don't you have a choir? We're
not here to entertain you, we're here to worship together. You
sing, you praise God, not listen to somebody else praise God. You praise God. And when the
minister bows to pray, you pray. When we're reading the scripture,
you read the scripture. Participation. And go forth from
this place with that scripture burning in your heart, with a
desire to know that word, to study that word, to know more
about Christ. Actually, the only part of the
service where we want you to sit and just listen and take
in what's being said is the message. That's a teaching part of the
service. But the rest of it is our worshiping together. Together. We praise God, we pray, we read
his word, we bring our offerings. But it's spectator religion there.
We're paying a fellow to study for us, and paying a fellow to
pray for us, and paying a fellow somehow to get us into heaven
if he can. I'm dependent on you, Preacher.
I hope you can get me in. Well, I can't get myself in.
And then fourthly, this is the day. And I want you to turn to
the book of Amos, the little book of Amos. Chapter 8, Amos
8. This is a day, I believe, my
friends, of divine desertion. I really do. God gave them up.
God gave them up. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ
said of the Pharisees, the disciples said, they were offended by what
you said. He said, leave them alone. Leave them alone. When
Samson was lying with his head in the lap of Delilah and they
had cut his head off, and they said, the Philistine is upon
you, the Philistine is upon you, and he rose and went out to do
battle, just like he always had, unaware that the Spirit of God
had left him. He went right on through the
same motions, he had the same objective, God wasn't with him.
This scares me. Brother Barnard used to say,
learn to preach, but learn to preach in the Spirit. Learn to
sing, but learn to sing in the Spirit. Learn to pray, but learn
to pray in the Spirit. And we can go through. You say,
well, boy, they've got crowds and they've got this, that and
the other. I know. You can have those things without having God.
You can go through the motions without God. And that's what's
happening today. The Lord has deserted us, I'm
afraid. I'm not speaking of here. I believe God's here. I believe
there's somebody speaking for God. I believe God's not left
himself without a witness. I believe that if that man dares
to tell the truth about God, God will honor him. I believe
if a man dares to honor Christ, God will honor him. I believe
that. But I believe if a man compromises the gospel, God will
leave him. And I also believe he can go right on doing what
he's doing without God. Satan will give him a hand. And
he's just liable to do a whole lot more. He's just liable to
be prospered in his rebellion because Satan himself transforms
himself into an angel of light and his ministers into ministers
of righteousness. But read Amos 8, verse 11. Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord God, and I'll send a famine in
the land, not a famine of bread, nor thirst for water, but of
hearing the words of the Lord. hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea
to sea, and from north even to east, they shall run to and fro
to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. I wish you could read some of
the letters I received from television. People living in this town, in
that town, in the other town, who write to me and say, I've
been to every church in my town. I've listened to every preacher
in my town. They know their program, they
are good entertainers, they are good jokesters, they are good
religionists, but I haven't heard the word of God preached by any
of them. You read some of the letters,
Jay, you read them. Where do I go to hear the word
of God? Where do I go to hear a man open
the Bible and not project himself or his denomination or how many
he's going to have in Sunday school or recognizing people
everywhere and taking 30 minutes to name their butts in the hospital
and sick at home and all these other places, but reads the Word,
preaches the Word? They're not out there! And you
don't believe me, you go try it. We're in a day of desertion,
divine desertion. In the day of doubt, or in the
day of compromise, or in the day of divine desertion, where
can I go to hear the word of God? I wrote a dear lady up in
Ohio, Ewington, Ohio, and she said she had been saved, been
born again, been listening to our television program. Do you think I ought to be in
church or can I just stay and listen to you on Sunday morning?
I wrote her and I said, you need to be in church. You need to
be in the house of God. I said, you need to be, if you've
been saved, you need to be in God's house. Find a place where
the gospel is preached. Find a place where you can hear
God's word. Find a place where they're worshiping the Lord God.
And go there and take your family. Well, you read the letter. She's
been to all of them. She said, you're the only one,
and listen to me, I'm not saying the only preacher around here,
I'm not saying that at all, don't misunderstand. The only one she's
heard, she says, it didn't leave her in confusion and full of
questions. What's going on? And she says, I'm just going
to stay and listen to you, or else you can send me your tapes
and I'll go over there on Sunday morning and listen to you on
Monday morning. This is pitiful, it's so all over the United States.
They'll go, they'll wander from sea to sea, north, even to the
east. They'll run to and fro seeking
the word of God and shall not find it. Seeking not church,
seeking not religious entertainment, seeking not tradition, seeking
the word of God. You people who have been to Florida,
go down there and spend the winter. You can't find a place to go
to church, you know that, you've tried dozens of them. You go
in and sit and listen, you're not hired to please. You just
want to hear Christ magnified and exalted. I know what this
day is. Perhaps the fifth thing, perhaps
we're in the last days. I don't know, maybe we are. Turn
to 1 Timothy. Let's see a description. Maybe
we're in the last days. Maybe we're in the last days.
Maybe Christ is coming soon. I'm not going to stand here and
say he's coming next year or in the year of 1981 or in this millennium? I don't
know. Maybe so. Maybe these are the
marks of the last days. Look at 1 Timothy 4. Now, the
Spirit speaking expressly that in the latter times, in the last
days, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy,
having their conscience seared with a hot iron. forbidding to
marry, commanding to abstain from meat which God had created
to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know
the truth." Turn to 2 Timothy 3. Let's read something here. 2 Timothy 3, verse 1, "...this
know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. Men
shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, proud, boasters,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural
affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce,
despisers of those that are good, verse 5, having a form of godliness,
a form of religion, but denying the power thereof from such turn
away. But whatever it is, whatever
it is that we're in, it has certainly not brought me into God. It has
certainly not been a spiritual blessing, whatever we're in.
Now, here's where I think we are. back to 2 Kings, you can
turn over there if you want to, but back to 2 Kings 22. This
is a picture, I read to you a moment ago, I believe this is a picture
of our day. I believe it is. I remember when,
I remember when 30 years ago, I'd been brought up in the church
and religion, and been to I've been up here as youth director
in the program we used to have, and gone back to school for three
years to study to be a preacher and pastor of the church. I walked
into a service up here when I came back in April 1950, and they
had a man in the pulpit that dared to tell the truth, a man
who wasn't courting men's favor or finances, who wasn't trying
to build anything on this earth, and he dared to read the scripture
to me. All things work together for
good to them that love God, who are called according to his purpose."
Purpose. That's the key to the Book of
Romans. Everything God does, he does on purpose. There are
no accidents with God. I've never heard that before.
Nobody ever told me that God was on the throne, or sovereign,
or Lord, or King. I found out a lot of things I'm
going to talk to you this morning about. I found out who God is.
I found out what sin is. I found out what the gospel is.
It's been there all the time, but nobody read it to me. Now, this bunch of Israelites
had left the word of God, they'd left the temple. And this young
king said, we're going to rebuild the temple, we're going back
to worshiping God. So the priest, the high priest, was messing
around in the temple, and he found a Bible. He found what
was written up to that time. He found the book of the law.
He blew it off, you know, and brushed it off, and sat down
and started reading it, and he never read it. He never read it. I had a preacher friend down
in Tennessee who was a hoop-de-doo. bench-walking, wall-climbing,
song-book-throwing, Pentecostal preacher. And he's out in the
backyard, and that's where he really was, all those things.
You ought to have heard him. You ought to hear him now, he's
almost still one. But anyway, he said he's out
in the backyard reading the Bible one day. And he went over there,
and Timothy, just sitting there reading about it, and he read
this, "...who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, But according to his own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began.
He said he never saw that before. Didn't know anything about purpose
and grace. Didn't know anything about before
the world began. Didn't know anything about in
Christ Jesus. Didn't know anything about given us. Was depending
on my works. Then the very thing I was depending
on, God destroyed it with one verse of scripture. He said,
not according to our works. Not according to our works. He
found the Bible. Old Hill Cow found the Bible.
He brushed it off and gave it to the scribe. The scribe is
the fellow that didn't have printing presses then, he scribed, he
translated and so forth. So he took it to the king, and
he read that Bible to the king. He didn't read it quarterly,
that's what they'd been reading. He didn't read his old Puritans,
that's what they'd been reading. He didn't read something else.
He read the raw, naked, plain Word of God to him. And when
King Josiah, that 26-year-old man that was trying to do the
right thing, seeking the Lord, when he heard the Word of God,
he tore his clothes. And he said, you better go pray.
Somebody better go pray. We're in a mess. I don't have
any hope for us. Go, he said, and inquire of the
Lord. Every one of you. He said, every
last one of you. He sent the scribe and the high
priest and all those fellows. He said, go in and pray. Pray. Seek the Lord. Maybe there's
mercy for us. Our fathers have not told us
the truth. I know that shocks some of us.
Our Father's pastors didn't tell them the truth, either. We'll
take the blame up here in the pulpit where it belongs. This
is where it belongs. The pews are a reflection of
the pulpit. Faith is a product of the preaching you hear. The
mess you're in is a result of the preaching that you've been
fed. That's right, J. That's exactly right. I don't
care who's responsible, me or J., or who else is responsible. But we're a product of the preaching
we've heard. We just mimic some preacher. We just parrot what
we've heard. We're not able to quote the scripture.
And he said, you go see if there's any hope for us. You go inquire
of the Lord. Our fathers have not hearkened
to the words of this book. And I want to give you five things
that I believe our fathers have failed to tell us. I believe
our fathers, those in the past, have failed to instruct us in
these most basic, most basic truth. The first of which is
this, who is the Lord God? You know, the heathen, he knows
where his God is, Confucius is in the grave, where they put
him, Mohammed, Buddha, or their little ten gods are in the shrines
or altars, wherever they have them. They're where they let
them be, they do what they let them do. I hear people say, well,
God will if you let him. Now, that's your God. That's
not the God of the Bible. You don't let God do anything.
He does. David, they said, David, where's
your God? Psalms 115, Psalms 135, where's your God? Our God's
in the heavens, he said. He does what he pleases. The
God of the Bible says, who can stay in my hand and say unto
me, what doest thou? The God of the Bible, Paul says,
works everything according to the good pleasure of his own
will. The God of the Bible declares the end from the beginning, and
from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, I'll do all my pleasure, not your
pleasure, my pleasure. The God of the Bible is one that
says he raised up even the wicked to accomplish his purpose. He
said, Pharaoh, I raised you up that I might show my power in
you. Judas was a son of perdition from the beginning. The death
of Christ was no accident, it was according to the determinate
counsel of God. Wicked men did what God determined
before to be done. That's what the scripture says,
that's not what your reverend said. I'm tired of hearing what
the reverend said. I'm tired of hearing what Tillich
said and somebody else said. I'm sick of hearing what they
said. I want to hear what God says. The Lord God is the Lord
of creation. He said in the beginning, God
created the heaven and the earth. That's what he said. Now you
can go rumble around and find you an old German theologian
that says man came from a monkey. God says he came from God's own
breath. That's what God says. He's the
Lord God of creation. He's the Lord God of holiness.
Isaiah saw him. And he said, holy, holy, holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. He's the Lord God of sovereignty. He said, I create light and darkness,
good and evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
He is the Lord God of justice and judgment. He said, I will
in no wise clear the guilty. The soul that sinneth it shall
surely die, but thank God he is the Lord of mercy. I will
show mercy. I will be gracious. He's the
Lord God omniscient, the Lord God omnipotent, the Lord God
omnipresent. Bow down, O ye sons of men, bow
down and worship!" We're too familiar with the Lord
God today. I'm telling you, I have met not many, but I have
met Even some sons of men, my father, demanded my respect. I respected him. I said yes sir
and no sir. I never called him by his first
name. I always called him my father. I have met other men
who demanded respect. In their presence, I kept quiet. But let me tell you something.
We brought God down here to a buddy-buddy situation, and that scares me. We don't even call the Son of
God Jesus. Everybody calls him Jesus. Nobody
calls him Lord. I listen to preachers and I say,
come on now, call him Lord. Quit calling him Jesus. Call
him Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody call him Master. Somebody
reverence his name. They don't do it. They use the Lord God's name
in such a flippant manner. I just don't know whether this
generation of religionists have any conception of the holiness,
the majesty, the awesome, eternal glory of God Almighty. I just
don't believe we do. And it scares me to death. Where
is the worship? Where they do what they know.
All right, here's the second question. Who is the Lord God?
Secondly, what is sin? What is sin? Ask for a definition of sin and
you get as many different answers as there are people. I want you
to listen to this. I read about an old Scottish
Presbyterian preacher back in the 19th century. You know, the
old Scottish Presbyterians didn't believe in using pianos and organs. They didn't believe in instruments
in a church. They sang. I don't know how they brought
that little peace pipe in there, that little pitch pipe, you know.
Some fellow whistled on it and then they all sang. That's an
instrument. They cheated is what they did. But they wouldn't have
an organ, and somebody put an organ in the church down the
road. And the pastor stood up on Sunday morning, and these
are his words exactly, quote, he was so alarmed by that organ
being put in that Scottish Presbyterian church, he said, Will nothing,
will nothing stem this avalanche of will-worship Will nothing
stem this avalanche of gross sin that plagues our day? Oh, my, my, my. All right, here's
your definition of sin. There was a dear lady, 72 years
old, named Goldie Brady. I read this in the paper yesterday.
Anybody else see it? Nobody else saw it? Goldie had
a car accident. She was trapped in her car. She
was there for five days. And Goldie says she spent a lot
of time talking to the Lord. And Goldie says, I'm alive because
the Lord watched over me. His hand was upon me. That sounds
good, doesn't it? Religious, real religious. Now,
don't you listen to Goldie's prayer. This is what she said
she prayed. Dear Lord, all I do bad is play
a little bingo. That's all. This ain't no sinner.
All I've ever done bad is play a little bingo. Lord, I don't
drink, and Lord, I don't smoke, and I don't take pills, and all
I ever chew is food." She's a slight bit higher than the Pharisee.
He said he wasn't an adulterer, an extortioner, unjust. She don't
even chew anything but food. And you know her luck held out
in both cases. She got saved in the car and
won $30 in the bingo game. That's our religion today. That's
her right there. We don't know what sin is. Sin,
my friend, is to be understood. Don't get mad at me. I'm telling
you the truth. Paul said, am I your enemy because
I tell you the truth? You getting mad at me because
I tell you the truth? God's going to deal with you in truth. And
our Lord said this book's going to judge you. You reckon if you
knew you were going to have to take your final exams out of
this book, you might crack it open once in a while? Sin is to be understood by three
things. It's to be understood by its origin, by its nature,
and by its extent or results. The origin of sin is what happened
in the garden. I preached on that last Sunday
night. I'm not going to preach on it again this morning. But
when Adam fell, death and judgment and condemnation passed upon
all men. In Adam we died. In Adam we died
spiritually, lost the nature of God, the truth of God, the
life of God, the knowledge of God. Man thinks, but he doesn't
think on God. He loves, but he doesn't love
God. He walks, but he walks in his own ways. The mind is corrupted. The heart is deceitful. From
the sole of our feet to the top of our head, there's no soundness
in us. We're without God, without hope, without help, without Christ. That's by nature, origin. That's
imputed and imparted guilt. And we can stomp up and down
all we want to. You say, well, there's some good people in this
world. Compared with people, there's some good people. Compared
with snakes, there's some non-poisonous snakes, but they're all snakes.
There's some little rattlesnakes and big rattlesnakes. There's
some mean rattlesnakes and some not so mean, but they're still
snakes. And there are worms that are prettier than other worms,
but they're still worms. And there are some of the sons
of Adam that are better than some of the other sons of Adam,
but they're none of them good as God. And that's the comparison,
that's the measurement. Sin is understood by its origin,
seconded by its nature. It's a heart disease. This dear
lady here is trying to make it something on the outside. I don't
sin, that's what she's saying, I don't drink, I don't smoke,
I don't chew. Our Lord said to the Pharisees,
it's not that which goes in your mouth that defiles you, it's
that which comes out of your heart. Keep thy heart out of
any of the issues of life. The heart is the seed of affections.
The heart is the fountain of evil. The heart is the source
of sin. That's where my trouble is. I've
got an evil heart. I've got to have a new heart.
Salvation is not reformation, it's regeneration. And sin is
understood by its effect. Because of the origin of sin,
because of the nature of sin, being within, being of the heart,
God looked down from heaven and saw that they're all together
become unprofitable. None that doeth good, no not
good. They've all gone out of the way. You will not come to
me that you might have light. Men love darkness rather than
light because their deeds are evil. My friend, we don't today
understand what sin is. Sin is a nature. Sin is a law. Sin is a principle. Sin is within. It's in the heart. Men do outwardly
those things that are evil because inwardly men are evil. And you
can stop him from doing these certain things by putting certain
restrictions on him. Outward restrictions. But he's
still evil in his heart. I never will. Like I say, I was
raised in a in a religious atmosphere. My dad made a profession of faith
in 1936. I was 10 years old. And he started
taking us to church. And I was raised in a religious
atmosphere. And I didn't hear this kind of preaching. I was
just raised in a regular, ordinary Baptist church and didn't hear
this type of preaching, didn't know anything about it. And you know when I learned what
seeing was and what people are? I'll tell you when I learned
what people really are. When I was 17 years old, I joined
the Navy. I joined the Navy. And they put
me on a ship and sent me out in the Pacific. And when we got
out there, all them nice fellas, all them religious, we all went
to church here. In the States, they all went
to church, you know. Oh, my goodness, a lot. Everybody went to church,
you know. They was all good boys, and their wives came down to
the boat to see them and all this thing. But, boy, when we
crossed that old ocean, And we got over here where all of the
restraint was gone. There wasn't any wife. There
wasn't any mama. There wasn't any preacher. There
wasn't any church. Huh? There was no restraints. There was nobody to know. There
was nobody who knew them. Let me tell you something, boy.
The lid came off. And the real man came out. That's
right, Cecil. You were in there. You were,
John. All you folks, Jim. Huh? I'm telling the truth, aren't
I? A lion's a good lion as long as he's in the cage. But buddy,
you let him out of that cage and get him over there where
nobody knows him, nobody's going to report, there's no restraints,
no restrictions, there's no barriers, the real man comes out. And I'm
telling you this, the real man's sitting right out there and the
real woman, and those restraints on you lead you to believe you're
a pretty good fella. That's right, you've been deceived.
The thing that you've got barriers all around you, quit bragging
about how good you are. God never let you out of that
cage. You see what I'm saying? What is sin? Well, someday, somebody
just might find out what sin is, and when he does, he's going
to fall on his knees and say, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.
When he does, he's going to sue for mercy. When he does, he's
going to cry out for grace. That's right, when he does. All right, what is the gospel?
I'm preaching too long, but I need to finish this. It
needs to be said. What is the gospel? I'll try
to be brief. I know you're weary, but what
is the gospel? Well, there's only one. It's
not a gospel or some, there's just one gospel. Paul said there's
a perversion of the gospel, but there's only one gospel. There's
only one gospel. It's not a plan. The plan of
God led to the gospel being given. The plan of God led to the gospel
being given. You see, the plan of God has
to do with his law and his justice and his righteousness and has
to do with his sheep. The gospel is not a plan put
in your hands to fulfill. Christ fulfilled the plan of
salvation. God made him the surety, made
his blood the blood of the covenant, and sent him down here made of
wool to fulfill the law and to satisfy his justice. Christ fulfilled
the plan of salvation. That's God's plan, not something
you do. And then the gospel is not a
proposition. I'm sorry, it's not. The gospel is not, if you
do this, God will do the other. That's not the gospel. If you
do certain things, then God will do certain things. No, sir, that's
not the gospel. And then the gospel is not a
reformation of life. A man can reform his life for
various reasons and not know the gospel. And preacher, what
is the gospel? Quickly. It's the gospel of God. Paul
said, I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. I'm separated to the
gospel of God. The word gospel is good news,
glad tidings, a proclamation of a work done. good news of
a work done. It's the gospel of God. Secondly,
it's the gospel of his free, unmerited grace. It's not of
works, it's all of grace. Christ is the gift of God. Salvation
is a gift of God. It's the gospel of his glory.
Paul said in Timothy that I preach the gospel of God's glory. It
brings him all the glory. God had chosen this one, that
one, the other one, that no flesh had glory in his presence. And
the gospel is concerning a person. Not my work, his work. It's concerning
a person, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The gospel is concerning
a person. Paul said he was crucified, buried,
rose again according to the scriptures. It's concerning what he has done
for me, not what I have done for him. To the guilty, it's
pardon. To the blind, it's sight. To
the lame, its strength, to the poor, God's riches, to the dead,
life, to the captive, freedom, to the thirsty, water, to the
hungry, bread, to the weary, rest, to the troubled, peace.
He has worked toward the Father on behalf of the sinner. It's
the good news that Jesus Christ loved us and gave himself for
us. You see, his active obedience led to my righteousness and his
passive obedience brought about my justification. His work for
me. All right, what is salvation?
Here's the fourth thing. What is salvation? What is it
to be saved? I hear people say, I was saved,
I was saved, I was saved. So-and-so got saved. What exactly do you mean by that?
Well, I know there, salvation is not just getting religion.
A lot of people, Barney used to say, who got religion and
didn't know they had it and lost it and never did miss it. That's
not what salvation is. It's not just cleaning up your
act. It's not just becoming orthodox, having the right theology. Salvation
is not just a heaven, hell proposition. Well, I'm saved, I'm not going
to hell now. Salvation is to be regenerated
by God's Spirit, to be regenerated by God's Spirit, to receive life
from the dead, to receive the life of God and be able in your
soul and heart and mind to behold, to see and to love the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Satan believes there's
a God. Satan believes that Jesus Christ
died on the cross. Now listen to me. I wouldn't
want to upset anybody, but now you listen. See, this is not
true. James used this. He said, you believe in one God?
The devil believes and he trembles. And somebody says, well, all
this salvation, you just have to believe Jesus Christ died on the cross,
buried in a rose again. Well, now, there isn't a demon
in hell that doesn't believe that. Not one. But they can't see any glory
to it. They don't love it. They haven't consciously and
willingly embraced it as their death and burial and resurrection.
I heard a preacher say on television last night, he said, Jesus Christ
ought to be the most important part of your life. What's wrong
with that? He is your life. You say, but isn't Christ the
most important part of your life? No, sir, he's not. No, sir, he's
not. He is my life. He is my life. I don't have any life out of
him. I'm a dead, rotten, doomed, damned,
depraved sinner without Christ Jesus. He is my life. There's a difference. This is
what I'm saying. Folks don't know what salvation is. They
talk people into professions of faith which everybody believes. They come down the aisle and
say, you believe Christ died on the cross? Yes. Well, everybody
believes that. Josephus told that in his history
book. Everybody in heaven, earth, and
hell believes that. Well, would you accept him as
your savior? Who wouldn't? If he said he'd take me to heaven
when I die, sure, I'll accept that. I'll sure accept that,
but I ain't going to receive him. I'll accept his work. I'll accept the benefits of his
work. I'll accept the blessings of his work, but I'm not going
to bow to him. I'm not going to receive him.
I'm not going to become his bond slave. That salvation is to be
made one with Christ. He said, I'm the vine, you're
the branches. We're one. I'm the head, you're the body.
We're one. And the last question is this
that I think needs to be asked in this day. What think ye of
Christ? What think ye of Christ? To some people, Christ is nothing.
To some people, Christ is something, very something, but not much. To some people Christ is much,
much, but not all. To those who are redeemed, he's
my life, my joy, my all. He's my surety, my refuge, my
hope, my strength. Listen to what the songwriter
said. Dearest of all names above, my Jesus and my God, who can
resist his heavenly love or trifle with his blood? "'Tis by the
merits of his blood the Father smiles again. "'Tis by his interceding
breath the Spirit dwells in men. "'Til God in human flesh I see,
my thoughts no comfort find. "'The holy, just, and sacred
three are terrors to my mind. "'But if Emmanuel's face appear,
my hope, my joy begins. "'His name erases all my fear. "'His grace removes all my sin.'" I challenge you, I challenge
myself. We need to find the answers from
God's Word to these questions. Who is God? Who is the Lord God? Salvation eternalized to know
the living God. Not to know a God, but the living
God. And Jesus Christ whom he has sent. What is sin? Am I like
this dear lady here, am I bound up with things that I'm going
to find out someday were just as total insignificant as anything
in the world? And I missed the heart of the
whole matter. What is sin? What is the gospel? Have I really heard the gospel?
Man's not going to be saved unless he hears the gospel. What is
salvation? I say I'm saved. What is salvation? And what do I really think of
Jesus Christ? What think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he?