Now let's turn again to the book
of 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. The Apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 20, says, Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. Of whom does the Apostle speak? We are ambassadors for Christ. Well, he's certainly speaking
of himself, and he's speaking of the other Apostles. But I
believe the Apostle is also speaking of every true minister of Christ,
every true minister of Christ. And there's a sense in which
he's speaking of every believer. Brother Barnard used to say every
believer is a preacher. He's a preacher of the gospel.
He's a preacher in his home. He's certainly going to preach
to his wife and children the glorious gospel of Christ. He's
a preacher in his neighborhood. He preaches not only by his words,
but he preaches by his life, his example. He's a preacher
on the job where he works, in the factory, school, where he
teaches. He's a preacher. He's going to
make Christ known. If he loves Christ, if he knows
Christ, he's going to tell others about Christ. But it may be that
the Apostle here is especially speaking of ministers of the
gospel. We are ambassadors for Christ. We come in his name.
We come in his name. And we do not come, we're not
sent to draw up terms of peace. I haven't come to reason with
you between yourself and me, to draw up any terms of peace.
And I'm not sent to argue terms of peace, but we are sent as
ambassadors of Christ to deliver his message of peace. We are
sent to publish and proclaim the peace which is already accomplished
by Jesus Christ. We are ambassadors of Christ. sent by Christ. There was a man
sent from God whose name was John. God sent him. God ordained
him. God commissioned him. But he sent him for Christ. He
was to bear witness of Christ. John said, I'm not that light.
I'm not worthy to unloose his shoe latchet. I'm just a voice
in the wilderness. I've come for Christ, in the
name of Christ, to present Christ. I'm an ambassador. And then notice
he goes on and says, as though God did beseech you by us. Now, brethren, those who are
the true ministers of the gospel, now you listen carefully to me.
This may be a little offensive, but nevertheless it's true. And
most truth is offensive to the natural man. That's regrettable,
but it's so. It's so. The natural man receiveth
not the things of God. They're foolish, they're sheer
nonsense to him. The natural mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to God's law,
neither indeed can it be, and this may be offensive. But he
says here, as though God did beseech you by us. Now, if we can find out who he's
talking about in that first line, we, now then we, somebody, and
it's not an angel here. Paul was no angel. We are ambassadors
for Christ. Whoever that is, whoever that
is, he says in the next line that that person, whoever that
person is who is the ambassador for Christ, God is beseeching
you through him and by him, as though God did beseech you by
us. God speaks to you by us. Now, we are in a serious position
right here. We're dealing with something
mighty important. The true ambassador of Christ
can say this, I come to you with full powers and credentials from
God, for God. I'm not lifted up by my task.
I'm not lifted up by my credentials. I'm not lifted up by my duties.
But I'm aware of them. I'm aware. Paul was. of his ordination,
Paul was aware of his commission. Man, be a fool if he wasn't.
God doesn't accidentally send anybody. If God sends a man,
God knows he sent him, and he knows God sent him. If God sends
a man, he knows God sent him, and he knows the message God
gave him to deliver. And he'll deliver it. He's aware
of his credentials, he's aware of his power, he's aware of his
duties, he's aware of his task. He's not lifted up by it. I made
this statement in the bulletin not long ago, that if God sent
two angels down here to earth, one of them to govern a nation,
and the other to sweep the streets. Two angels. God sent them down
here for his glory. One of them to govern the nation,
and the other to sweep the streets. They wouldn't care who did what. One of them just to see Jag sweep
the streets and govern the nation, because whatever they were doing,
they were doing for God's glory. So you can mark this down about
the true servant of Christ. He's not seeking his own glory
or preeminence. Paul said, I didn't come to please
men. If I please men, I'm not the child of God, I'm not the
servant of God. The true servant of God is not trying to impress
you. He's not trying to gain your
recognition or applause. In fact, he's a little bit shy
and backward about it. He's a little bit humble about
recognition. But he's here to preach Christ,
and he knows it. He knows who sent him. He knows
why he was sent. And God himself, and this is
what I'm saying, preaches everywhere. Well, Peter said, there were
false prophets among the children of Israel, and there are many
seducers and deceivers among you. There are a lot of folks
back in the days of Israel who came, not in the name of God,
but in their own name, sent by Satan to confuse and distort
and seduce men, and there are many in the days even of the
apostles, deceivers and antichrists were many. And Christ said, our
Lord said, in the last days they shall be so crafty and subtle
in the power of Satan, they will deceive, if it were possible,
the very elect of God. They come to you, he said, in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravening wolves. Paul
said they'll come as the apostles of Christ, as the ministers of
God, and they'll come even as Satan does, as an angel of light.
And you're going to have to be very careful and try the spirits,
whether they be of God. But men preach the gospel. We
have this treasure in earthen vessels. Somebody somewhere is
speaking for God. Because God hath not left himself
without a witness. Young people, mothers and dads,
grandmas and granddaddies. Let me tell you something. Somebody
somewhere on this earth, God sent. Somebody is saying what
God ordained him to say. Somebody is an ambassador for
Christ, and God is beseeching men through him, whoever that
is. I want to hear him. I must hear
him. I must hear him. I know the treasure
will be in an earthen vessel. I'm not to follow him, I'm to
follow Christ. I'm not to be taken up with the
vessel, I'm to be taken up with the treasure. And I'll tell you,
if he's preaching the true treasure, you won't even see the vessel.
You'll be so taken up with the treasure. And I'll tell you,
if the true water of life is in that glass and you taste the
sweetness of it and the satisfying power of it, as our Lord said,
you drink it and you'll never thirst again, you won't pay any
attention to the vessel. It's according to how good that
liquid is, whether or not when you go away you brag about the
container or the liquid. I've heard some preachers, when
you go away, you brag on their sermon, because that's all you
heard. You didn't hear anything but a sermon. Or their delivery,
or their performance, or something like that. But when you hear
Christ preached in power with the Holy Spirit, I don't care
who preaches him, you'll go away talking about Christ, because
he's so sweet to your taste. He met your need, he reached
your heart, he gave you rest and peace. And you didn't care
what the envelope looked like, the letter was so precious. You
didn't care what the vessel looked like, the contents were so precious. You didn't care what the box
looked like, that treasure, that gem of his grace was so beautiful. I tell you really, when your
husband or boyfriend or a dear friend gives you a present, now
my grandchildren usually lay the present down and play with
the box. Because they're like their mother, they ain't real
smart. And we just let them play with
the box. But now, when you get a gift, you take the box and
throw it away. Huh? Just throw it away. But
you take the treasure and you hold it, right? But now, if you're
a little kid, you'll play with the box, or the paper, or the
ribbon. Look at my ribbon. And a lot of people are taken
up with preachers. They get taken up with preachers,
they get taken up with denominations in churches, they get taken up
with doctrines. That's just a container. But the jewel is Christ. And
when you see him, you'll throw away the box. That's right, it's
just not important. And so he said, God beseeches
you by us. Now watch this next line. We
pray you. in Christ's stead, we pray you
in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God. Now look back there at
verse 19. God was in Christ reconciling
the world to himself. Now, watch this. Watch this. God reconciled us to himself
through Christ. He reconciled us In other words,
there was a warfare. Because of man's sin and fault,
there was a warfare between heaven and earth, between God and men.
God's angry. My friends, the preacher who
tells you indiscriminately that God loves you. Now, watch it,
don't get offended at me. But the preacher who indiscriminately
and carelessly, without any reservations or conditions, tells you God's
in love with you, He doesn't know you or God either one. Does he, J? He doesn't know you
or God either one. Because all the way through the
Bible it says, God hated the workers of iniquity. God's angry
with the wicked. God loved Jacob and hated Esau.
That's true in the scripture. And he that believeth not on
the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. God's wrath. So God's
angry judgment and wrath and condemnation because of sin.
Even, listen to me, when his son was hanging on the cross
bearing our sins, God's wrath was upon him, the Father turned
his back. He turned his back. Now, that's
not a gesture of love to turn you back. Here's a person in
trouble, suffering. Here's a person in agony. Love does not turn its back on
him. Like Martin Luther said, God
forsaking God, I don't understand that, no man can understand that,
but I know that's what it says in the scripture. Because Christ
was made sin, he bore our sins. And the Heavenly Father turned
his back. Now listen, if he spared not
his Son, if he turned his back on his Son, if his wrath and
judgment was upon his Son, Think of his wrath and judgment
and condemnation upon men who are not sinners by imputation,
but by performance and by deed and by generation, natural generation. So here Christ came down here
that God may be reconciled. Christ came to this earth. Why
did he hang on that cross? Why did he suffer? Why did he
become a man? Why did he obey the law? God was in Christ reconciling
the world to himself. And when Christ removed our sins,
he removed the cause of God's wrath. See what I'm saying? Now God can love. God's justice
satisfied permits God's love to be manifested. God's righteousness
honored, God's law honored permits God's mercy to be revealed and
manifested. God can look upon us with love
because we are in Christ. And being in Christ, we are free
from guilt and shame and sin. You see that? So the Heavenly
Father cannot, in his righteousness and holiness and truth, look
with favor and love upon any creature that conjures to himself. He can't do it. God is love,
but God is just. God is merciful, but God is righteous. God is gracious, but God is truth. God is truth. And any preacher
who comes to you and says indiscriminately, universally, God's favor and
mercy and love and grace is upon the whole human race, well, he
just doesn't know God, doesn't know the human race. Now, if
there is common grace upon all men, it reigns on the just and
the unjust. There's common mercy upon all
men. Anything this side of hell is mercy. Isn't that right, John? The fact that you're not in hell
today is mercy. That's mercy. But that's not
the mercy that I want. I've got to have that, too. But
I want discriminating mercy. I want peculiar mercy. I want
particular mercy. I want God saving mercy in Christ
the favor of God upon his own Son. That's what I'm interested
in. And that's only in Christ. That's
only in Christ. So God reconciled us to himself,
his elect. He didn't reconcile the whole
world in the sense that he reconciled every son of Adam. Certainly
he didn't reconcile the angels who had fallen. They were reserved
in everlasting darkness. He certainly didn't reconcile
Pharaoh, who was a vessel of his wrath, he said. He didn't
reconcile Judas Iscariot, who was the son of perdition from
the beginning. He didn't reconcile Esau, who sought repentance with
tears and found it not. He didn't reconcile those who
were foreordained to this condemnation. And Christ said, I pray not for
the world, I pray for them which thou hast given me. But he reconciled
men of every tribe, nation, tongue, and kindred unto heaven. Because
God has a people out of every nation. He reconciled all believers,
he reconciled his elect, he reconciled those chosen in Christ, he reconciled
all for whom Christ died. God's mercy and grace and peace
is upon all who believe. Watch it, he that believeth on
the Son hath life. He that believeth not the Son,
the wrath of God abideth on him. So God is not reconciled to those
who are still under his wrath, who are unbelievers. They are
children of wrath, even as others. That's what it says, children
of wrath, not children of love, not children of mercy, children
of wrath, even as others. But God is reconciled. Now, we
come to you with this message. We come to you with the ministry
of reconciliation. We come to you with a ministry
of reconciliation declaring that God is reconciled, that God's
not angry, that God's wrath has been satisfied, that God's holiness
and justice and righteousness is satisfied, honored in Christ. God is not angry anymore. He sent these angels down here
In Luke chapter 1 or 2, he sent these angels down here and told
them to tell the shepherds, we bring you good tidings of great
joy, and to you is born a Savior. And they started singing, peace
on earth, goodwill toward men. Now listen to me. I'm going to
tell you the truth. These angels weren't saying that
there's going to be peace on this earth between men. Because
the scripture says over and over again there will always be wars
and rumors of war. I hear our presidents sometimes
getting on the radio or television saying they're dedicated to bringing
a lasting peace to this world. And I think, now you're smart
enough to know better than that. You know this world 6,000 years
old has never enjoyed one year of peace since it's been whirling
out into space. And God says there's going to
be wars and rumors of wars, pestilence, famines, earthquakes. Now who's
going to be right, God or the President? But I know what they're
saying. I know what they're saying. It's not true, but they're trying
to drum up votes and support. They're going to bring peace
to the world. These angels weren't saying that
there's peace now and goodwill among men, between men. There's
not much goodwill between men. We've got a goodwill industry,
and that's about as close as we come to goodwill between men.
About as close. But here's what he's saying.
In Christ, there's peace from God to this earth. There's peace. There's goodwill from God to
men, because God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.
Now, our message is this. Listen to me. Be ye reconciled
to God. You see the difference? But you
say, you already told me that I'm reconciled to Christ. No,
I said God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. Reconciling
us to God was Christ's work. That was Christ's work. He made
peace. He made peace. I go down to,
I'm down to jail, and I've got a fine there. I've done wrong. And the judge has found me guilty
and he's fined me $2,000. He's fined me. And I ain't even
got a dime. Now I'm just flat broke. Not
one nickel do I have to my name. And he said, well if you don't
pay your fine, you're going to have to go to jail. And in walks one
of you. And you pay my fine. And I walk
out the door. I walk out that door, not because
I didn't commit the crime, I did. I walk out that door not because
I was sorry that I committed the crime, though I am. I walk
out that door for one reason, you paid my fine. And that's
the bottom line. That's the bottom line. And I'm
walking this day before God, as Mike sang, accepted in the
beloved. Not because I didn't commit the
sin. Not because I was sorry I committed it. Not even because
I believe that Christ Jesus wants to save me and wills to save
me. I walk in the presence of God because he did. He paid the
fine. That's the whole reason. That's
the sum and substance, that's the essence of it. God was in
Christ reconciling the world to himself. Now, we come with
the message of Christ and we pray you in Christ's spirit lay
down your arms of rebellion against God. See what I'm saying? You're still mad at God. Look,
let me show you a picture of that. Saul of Tarsus. He was
religious, like we are. He went to the synagogue every
Sabbath day with all the little Jewish boys. I bet he had a string
of pens, Jay, longer than yours. I know Jay won some pens in the
Southern Baptist. I did. We was playing in church
for years, some of you were too, don't laugh, you was a superman
in Sunday school when I was going, some of you were. You was my
teacher, you was reading me in my folly. But I got all these
little pens, you know, and Saul of Tarsus, he went to the synagogue
and he memorized his daily Bible and did all these things, you
know, and he was such a good little boy and so self-righteous
and he hated God. Now you say, no he didn't hate
God, he hated the God of the Bible. He loved his conception
of God. I'm telling you the truth. Saul
of Tarsus did not love God. He didn't even know God. Saul
of Tarsus loved his idea of God, his conception of God. He hated
Jesus Christ. He hated the sovereign Lord.
He hated the living Lord. He hated the reigning Lord. He
hated the holy Lord, because he thought he was as good as
God. Self-righteous fools, what he was. He hated God. So you see, but now wait a minute.
Did Christ die for Saul of Tarsus? Well, we find out later he didn't.
You wouldn't have known it then. Did God love Saul of Tarsus?
He sure did. He said, he's a chosen vessel
unto me. Saul himself said, God separated
me from my mother's womb. From my mother's womb. But on
that road to Damascus, while God loved him, and God held him
in high esteem and favor, and God regarded Saul of Tarsus in
Christ, and God made him an object of his love and salvation and
grace, Saul hated God. So God had to deal with him.
He had to break him. He had to break him. He had to
smite him. And the Lord has to do that to you and me too. He
has to break us. He has to smite us. He has to
strip us. God's not going to clothe anybody
until he gets those rags off of them. He's just not going
to do it. You run around with those old
fig leaf aprons of self-righteousness, he's not going to put his beautiful
white spotless robe of righteousness over that corruption. Before
God Almighty saves you, he'll humble you. Before he gives you
life, he'll slay you. Before he clothes you, he'll
strip you. Before he puts a song in your heart, he'll take the
praise of this world out of your mouth. That's right. Down, center,
down, center, down. Old Naaman had to go into muddy
Jordan. There wasn't any other way. There
wasn't any other way. That was the most humbling experience
That was the most abasing experience, but it had to be. It had to be. Saul who thought he saw everything
had to be blinded. He had to be, him who thought,
Saul who thought he was the leader of all men had to be led by the
hand. He couldn't find his own way.
Blind. Right. That's right. And he, you see, God, he says,
He had to, God says, you've got to be reconciled to me. And it's
a genuine reconciliation. You're going to get in a good
humor with God. You're going to say like Saul of Tarsus, Lord,
what will you have me do? God doesn't save men who continue
to be rebels. He saves men who were rebels,
but he makes them bond slaves. They submit, submit, submit,
submit. Now, we pray you be reconciled
to God, be reconciled to God. And this is what some of our
fatalistic, hyper-Calvinistic, hard-shelled, primitive Baptist
brethren miss, with all consideration to them. I admire them standing
for truth and standing for doctrine. I love it. You do too. But let
me tell you something, without faith, no man can please God.
We are justified by faith, by grace who is saved through faith.
He that believeth not shall be damned. I don't care what he
knows. If he doesn't believe on Christ,
he's going to hell. With a heart man believeth unto righteousness,
with a mouth confession is made unto salvation. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So we have some friends here
from Michigan with us today. I used to preach years ago up
in Grand Rapids to some of the Dutch Reformed people, and they
were a whole lot like the primitive Baptist people in that they were
strong believers in covenant theology, strong believers in
household salvation. They sprinkled water on children's
heads when they were born, and that made them in the covenant,
you know, and they learned their catechisms and creeds and doctrines
and get in the church and never have an experience of grace.
I preached in one of those churches up there for years and never
saw anybody saved. Nobody ever went through any
conviction of the Holy Spirit. Nobody ever went through any
genuine repentance. Nobody ever came to believe, yes, I believe
on Christ. Yes, I receive him as my Lord
and Savior. Yes, I want to confess him publicly
as my Redeemer. No, everybody grew up saved.
And that's not the way people are saved. People don't grow
up into the kingdom of God, they're born into the kingdom of God.
People aren't educated into salvation, they're regenerated into salvation.
There was a time when you didn't believe. Now don't tell me that
you've always believed on Christ, you're lying. I don't know when
that time was especially. I'm not telling you to take me
to a day or hour or a crack in the floor or a mourner's bench
or a baptismal pool and say, that's when I was saved. I was
saved when Christ died on that cross. But there was a time when
I received him. There was a time when I believed
on him. I did it. Mama didn't do it for me. Daddy
didn't do it for me. John Calvin didn't do it for
me. Martin Luther didn't do it for me. I believed on him. I
know whom I have believed, Richard. And I'll say to every primitive
Baptist and every covenant theologian, every pragmatist and every Dutch
Reformer on the face of God's earth, if you have not in your
heart, consciously, willingly, lovingly, in an understanding
fashion, come to a confrontation with and in contact with the
Lord Jesus Christ in a personal saving experience, you've missed
salvation. That's so. And you Baptists,
the same thing, two of you. You're going to believe on Christ
yourself, Mike, or you're going to miss salvation. You may have
the dearest mama and daddy in this world. You may have some
of the greatest preachers in the universe in your family chain.
It's all dead. It's all dead. But there will come a time when
this will all be done! Even your heritage and ancestry
and your doctrines and your morality and your law-abiding ways will
be done that you may win Christ and be found in him as the chief
of sinners. Huh? If thou shalt confess with
thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, have you ever done it? No, I've just
always been in the church. They've always figured I say.
Well, God don't figure like they do. God doesn't figure like they
do. They are the biggest liars in the world. They say, Jeffrey
Musk, well they say, well I'll tell you what they say. I don't
care what they say. God says, If thou shalt confess
with thou mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. I'm warning you. I'm warning
you. proxy religion is damnable. The only person who can represent
you is Christ, not your family, not your friends, and not what
you always thought. My friend, I urge you personally,
individually, to fall on your face, wherever it be, in this
auditorium, in your bedroom, in your living room, wherever
before the Lord Jesus Christ, and like the publican in the
temple, seek mercy. Seek mercy. Lord, be merciful
to me, the sinner. No, we're standing down there
with that Pharisee, Lord, I've always been in the Church and
paid my tithes and fasted and studied my catechism. Jay, you've
always been in the Church. Mama took me to the Church when
I was a baby, been there ever since. Boy, I hope I got more
than that. I hope I got a place where I
met the Savior. Not the place now. Don't come
around here dangling the place in front of me where I met the
Savior. The place doesn't matter. But
I hope there was a time. Don't talk about the time, but
there was one when I met Christ. Huh? There better be. There better be. For he said
in verse 21, here's that verse, for he hath made him to be sin
to us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Here's the foundation of Christianity,
here's the rock on which our hope is built, here is the hope
of a sinner, here is the greatest transaction that earth's ever
witnessed, here is the greatest miracle that heaven ever executed,
here is the greatest sight that hell ever beheld. He made him
to be sin for us. He who knew no sin was made sin
for me, that I might be made the righteousness of God in him. Who is the He? That's the Heavenly
Father. And I see in this verse God's
justice. Somebody said one time, where
would you rather adore the justice of God, at Calvary or in hell?
Boy, that's something about him. But we are going to praise his
justice. We're going to adore his justice. We're going to be
taken up with his justice, either at Calvary or in hell. I adore
the justice of God, the wisdom of God, the grace of God. Somebody
said, I see him at Calvary pour out his wrath as though he were
not loved. I see him show his love as though
he were not righteous. I see him punish sin as though
he were not the tender father. I see him pass over sin as though
he were not the judge of all the earth that does right. I
said, Preacher, I don't understand those words. Those are only understood
in grace. Everybody here who knows grace
understood those words. That's right. Grace to the guilty,
mercy for the miserable. You see, Christ enables him to
be merciful. Christ enables him to be just
and justify. Christ enables him to be righteous
and yet to be loved. I see his sovereignty at Calvary. He! He, because he wanted to. He, because he's just. He, because
he's love. He, because he's mercy. He made
him! Him. The word him is Christ. Turn to Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1. Who is him? He made him. Well, look at verse 2 of Hebrews
1. His son. That's what it says,
hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son. That's who
this hymn is here, it's his Son. Watch it, read on. The heir of
all things. That's who he is. By whom he
made the world. That's who he is. Who is the
brightness of his glory. Who is the exact image of his
person by whom he upholds all things. He's the one himself
who purged our sins. and sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high." The word him reminds me of his person. The word him reminds me of his
character. Him, who knew no sin. God in
justice and righteousness and truth and wisdom and love and
mercy made him, him, who knew no sin. He never, he doesn't
say he did no sin, though he didn't, but he didn't know sin.
He wasn't acquainted with it. He wasn't even acquainted with
it. He knew no sin. Now, the word him also reminds
me of the difficulty of this imputation. He made him who knew
no sin, who was not acquainted with sin, who entertained not
one thought of sin, he made him to be sin. You understand that? You say, no, I really don't.
I don't either. I don't either. I believe it, but I sure don't
understand it. made him to be seen. Like for
example, see that old leper? See that old leper? Did you ever
see a leper? I saw one. Didn't we see one
in Mexico? A lady with leprosy. But I saw
some movies back 35 years ago of lepers in Africa. We had a
missionary over there, Reedhead, Parris Reedhead. But these lepers
were a horrible looking sight, and see that old leper, and I've
seen them in movies that look like this, the whole face, just
one ulcer, one open, running ulcer covered with flies. Just
slits for eyes, for a mouth. So skinny that every bone stuck
out, covered with those sores of leprosy and fingers already
eaten off. This is a horrible picture, but
let me tell you something. Leprosy is a type of sin, and
this is what God sees when he sees us. We see one another,
you're charming, you're just lovely people, lovely people. But see, I look on the outward
countenance, God looks on the heart, and God sees all the envy
here this morning, and the jealousy, and whew, oh, I'm glad I don't
have to see all that stuff in here, let alone out there. But
he sees all that old junk, all that old hillish stuff. He sees
all that lust and pride. Whew! God sees it. God looks
at it. It looks like a dunghill. You
talk about a chicken house that needs cleaning out. That's our
hearts. That's what God sees. It smells. I remember when I
was a boy, we used to have to clean out Mr. Starr's chicken
house every Saturday morning so we'd go to the show Saturday
afternoon, you know. What were those fellows' names
back then? I've forgotten their names. But oh, what an awful
job to clean out a chicken house. And you know, God sees all this. God sees that cesspool of iniquity,
all of it out here. He sees leprosy. Well, you see
that old leper sitting there? He's such a horrible sight. And
here, suppose, I've got pretty good health and some of you even
better, but suppose we could come and stand in front of him.
Reach out and take one hand and that hand, that nub of a hand,
and that nub over here, and lift him up. And here you stand in
health and pink cheeks and strength, and there he is. You just have
to hold him up. He can't stand alone. He's wobbling. And you
just break him and bring him out of pit and put that mass
of putrid corruption against your face. and let all your help
flow into him and all his rottenness flow into you. Take his place. That's what Christ did for me. He took all of my sickness and
gave me his health. He took all of my corruption
and gave me his life. He took all of my death and darkness
and hell and gave me holiness and righteousness. God made him
to be sin for us. That's it. That's it. It's not a doctrine that I worship,
it's a person who did that for me. Somebody says, I believe
in depravity. I've experienced it. There's
a difference. Some of you, I warn you, you
don't believe in your sinful condition yet, I can hear you
I hear you talking, it scares me to death when I hear some
folks talk. But you hear them talk, they're pretty good folks
and their kids are pretty good kids, you know, and all that
junk. They don't talk like sinners, they don't talk, it's all, oh,
wretched man that I am. I haven't heard that in years.
I hear these fellas stand up and give their testimony about,
you know, how good they are and getting better every day. I don't
hear anybody stand up in a congregation and say, give your testimony,
oh, wretched man that I am. Huh? Who's trying to deliver
me from this body of death? The things that I would do, I
don't do, and the things I would not do, I do. And folks start
leaving. Boy, they won't be around that
sinner. Oh, hey, what's he doing? That's exactly what they start,
what's he doing? We're not sinners. We don't know
any sinners. If I ever find me one, I'm going
to tell him the best news he ever heard. I'm looking for lepers. Wealth folks don't need physicians.
I'm looking for sick folks. I haven't found many. Some got
a little headache, but they're not plum lost yet. Looking for
me a sinner. He made him to be seeing this! You're too easy to offend. I
know you're not a sinner. You can't offend a sinner. That
old harlot down there, you can't offend her. That drunk Waller
in there on the steps, flip him a quarter. You won't offend him.
He'll reach out and grab it. You better not flip me a quarter.
It'll offend me. Huh? I ain't no charity case. You ever heard that? I don't
want your charity. No, you don't get it either.
You gonna get justice, boy. God's gonna give you, God's gonna
deal with you justly. He don't give you charity. I
want some charity. I want some mercy. I'm just a
feeble-minded, lost, weak, sinful, wretched, depraved, hell-deserving,
ill-deserving wretch that God kept out of hell for a few years
so he could give Christ a little glory in saving him. I take all
the back-door sandwiches I can get. I'm a charity case. Don't want no justice here. Not
even the smell of it. He made him to be sin for us. Us. He didn't know any sin. What's this next line? That we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. I got me a new
suit. And the Lord Jesus Christ was the tailor. And I'll tell
you, it's got blood spots on it where he pricked his feet
and his hand making that suit. That suit cost my Lord his life.
He cost, what did you pay for it? Nothing, not a cent. He gave
it to me. But it cost him his life. The
most expensive robe that's ever been made was the one woven by
our Lord Jesus Christ for his elect. He gave himself. And he gave it to me. And with
his spotless righteousness on, I'm as holy as his own son. That's
right. That's the gospel as best I know
it. That's the gospel that will save. When God finds a sinner,
God finds a sinner, a self-confessed, unadulterated sinner who needs,
needs, needs mercy, there's mercy, there's mercy. Would you look
to him? Let's stand together. I want
us to stand together and just sing Martha, you go to Oregon,
and let's sing it without the books. You don't need the books.
Pass me not, O gentle Savior, Hear my humble cry, While on
others thou art calling, Do not pass me by.