I would like for you to open
your Bibles to the book of Isaiah, and let me read from the third
chapter two verses of Scripture to serve as a text for this message. Isaiah chapter three. I'm going
to read the tenth and eleventh verse. Isaiah chapter three,
verse ten and eleven. Say ye to the righteous that
it shall be well with him, it shall be well with him, for they
shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked,
or say ye to the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward
of his hand shall be given him. What does the prophet say? Say
ye to the righteous, it'll be well. It's going to be all right. Everything will be all right.
But you say to the wicked, to the unbeliever, it'll be ill
with you. Now God's preacher is a voice
in the wilderness. They asked John, are you the
Christ? Are you he that should come? No. Well, who are you?
I'm a voice. I'm a voice, a voice in the wilderness.
God's preacher is no parrot. God's preacher is no puppet on
the strings of men. God's preacher is no promoter.
He doesn't claim to be. He's promoting nothing. And God's
preacher is no politician. He's neither afraid of the powers
in the state or in the church. He's not seeking their favor
or their disfavor. He's not seeking promotion. God's
preacher is not seeking promotion. He's not seeking the praise of
men. The Apostle Paul said, if I please men, I can be sure of
this, I am not the servant of Christ. He does not seek promotion,
he does not seek praise, nor does he seek men's possessions.
It's not yours, but you that we covet. God's preacher dares
to say what others will not say, or cannot say, or at least do
not say. God's preacher loves his master.
You cut into his heart, you'll find love for his master. He
loves his master's message. You cut into his mind, you'll
find thoughts of his master's message. God's preacher loves
those to whom his master sends him. When God sends one of his
servants to a people to minister to them, be they believers or
unbelievers, he has a deep, sincere compassion for them. He loves
his master, his master's message, and those to whom his master
sends him. And then God's preacher has had a revelation. Turn to
Isaiah 6. God's preacher has had a revelation. In Isaiah 6, this prophet saw
something. First of all, he saw God in His
holiness. Isaiah 6, verse 1. In the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. I saw the Lord. Sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up, his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With
two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, with
two he did fly. One cried unto another and said,
Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is
full of his glory. God's messenger, God's prophet,
has had a revelation of the holiness of God. He's not on familiar
terms with God. In Christ he's a child of God
and a son of God, but to him the Lord is high and mighty,
holy and lifted up. And he falls on his face at the
Lord's feet. He worships at the Lord's feet.
He does not want to lead the people to believe that he's on
any special familiar terms with God any more than they in Christ.
God is holy. God is in his holy temple that
all the earth keeps silent. When you come to the house of
God, remember you're on earth and God is in heaven. Let your
words be few. I have no special backdoor to
God's private chambers, neither does any other preacher. I have
no special channel or special hotline or red telephone by which
he speaks to me anymore than he speaks to you. Every prophet
of God, every preacher of God is nothing but a humble, broken,
believing sinner at the feet of Christ. who loves and looks
to Christ alone for salvation. The preacher that intimates or
insinuates that more than the people he has some special line
to God, and God says this to him, says that to him, is misleading
the people. Christ loves all his children.
The first shall be last, Jay, and the last shall be first.
I've known preachers to give the impression, as they stand
before the people, If you could just enjoy the private communications
that I have with God Almighty. He's a fool and a liar. His only
contact and communication with God is through Christ, just like
the least believer. Paul said, I'm less than the
least of all the saints. Less than the least. I'm the
chief of sinners. I'm not worthy to be called an
apostle. He said, though I be not one
whip behind the chief apostle, I'm nothing. I'm nothing. If any man would be If any man
would be great among you, let him be what? A serpent. God's greatest gifts are not
on the higher shelves, they're on the lower shelves. And they're
given to those who are willing to be abased and to be humble. For God giveth grace to the humble,
and God resisteth the proud, especially the proud in grace. But this man's seen God in his
holiness. He's seen God in his holiness.
And this man's seen his own guilt. Read on, chapter 6, verse 5. He said, Then said I, having
beheld God in His holiness, in His glory, in His power, in His
greatness, then said I, Woe, woe is me, woe, woe is me, I
am undone. I am undone, because I am a man
of unclean lips. And he's saying something else.
He's seen not only God in his holiness and himself in his guilt
and vanity and inability, but he's seen all men in their sin
and depravity. And he said, I dwell in the midst
of a people who are just like I am. Who are just like I am. They're people of unclean lips.
For mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Education
doesn't change it. Environment doesn't change it.
Excellence of outward character doesn't change it, nor does it
alter his message. He stands pointing to the people
and also to himself, and he says, except you repent, you'll perish.
With boldness and courage, he stands and points to the people
and to himself and says, except you be converted, you'll in no
wise enter the kingdom of God. He stands and says to the people,
except you're born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.
And God's preacher is not influenced by trends. Whether he preaches
in 1980, or whether he preaches in 1480, or whether he preaches
in the year 1080, he's not influenced by trends. Today we're looking
for scholars and socializers and showmen, you know that. This
is the trend today. The trend today is scholarship,
or the ability to socialize and win friends, or the ability to
put on a show. But God's preacher is nothing
but a preacher. And if he tries to be anything
else, he's an embarrassment to himself and everybody else. He's
a preacher. He's content to be a preacher.
He's happy to be a preacher. Churches today have discarded
preaching. They're trying to accomplish
by pep and promotion and programs what God did with preaching.
But God's preacher still holds forth the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's satisfied to rejoice in
it, he's satisfied to proclaim it, he's satisfied to preach
it, and he's satisfied to be known for no other reason than
a preacher of the gospel. And today's measure of success,
what is today's measure of success? Two words. How many? How many? Today's measure of success is
results, numbers, great crowds. But God's preacher has one rule
of success. Have I glorified my Lord? That's his one rule. Whether
he preaches to ten or ten thousand, the question is, have I preached
the gospel? Have I preached the gospel earnestly
and sincerely? Have I glorified God? Have I
lifted up the Lord Jesus Christ? Have the people heard ruin, redemption,
and regeneration? That's his only concern. I mean
he never enters his mouth. But whether men hear him or not,
and most of the time they don't, history has proven that most
men have not heard God's prophet. Most men will not hear God's
prophets. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, Let another come in his
own name, and him you will receive. I have come in my Father's name,
and you receive me not. But whether men hear him or not,
God said, One day, one day they shall know. One day they shall
know. It's a sad day and a solemn day,
but one day they shall know. They shall know that a prophet
has been in their midst. One day, God says, they will
not hear Him, but one day, they will not heed what He has said,
but one day, one day, they're going to wake up and find out
that God Almighty in His purpose and providence was pleased to
put in their presence a prophet. Those who would not hear John
the Baptist one day will say, he did speak for God. Those who
would not hear the apostles will one day say, they did speak for
God. And then in the next place, God
speaks. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. God speaks. Now listen to this.
This is so important. God speaks through His prophet,
not only to believers, but He speaks to the unbeliever. The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians
chapter 2, in other words, we're not only responsible for what
we did hear, but for what we didn't hear. Not only for what
we did hear, but what we could have heard. God speaks through
his prophet both to the saved and to the unsaved, to the believer
and to the unbeliever, both to the righteous and to the wicked.
We've already seen that from our text. Say to the righteous,
Isaiah, say to the wicked. Now watch this, 2 Corinthians
2, verse 14. Now thanks be unto God. Thanks
be unto God, 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14, which always, always
causes us to triumph in Christ. Always. Christ cannot fail, and
those whom he sins cannot fail. He always causes us to triumph
in Christ. He maketh manifest the savor.
What is the word savor? That's not Savior now. That's
not S-A-V-I-O-U-R, that's S-A-V-O-U-R. That's not Savior, that's savor. What is savor? It's an odor. It's a smell. It's a sweet smell. He maketh us the odor or the
smell of his knowledge by us in every place. It permeates
the whole room. It permeates the whole room.
It's not just the recitation of a doctrine. It's not just
the recitation of a system or a theology. But God, God Almighty,
fills the whole room with that odor, with that smell, with that
fragrance. You see what I'm talking about?
Gardenias. The perfume manufacturers have
never been able to copy it. They've never been able to duplicate
it. But you can come in a room where there's a bouquet of gardenias,
just two or three over there in a vase. You hit the air in
the room. The seat in the recesses of the
corners, the ceiling, the floor, everywhere, that odor. That odor. Pine has the same, when you open
a closet, where it's lined with cedar, and that fragrance is
everywhere. This is what he's saying. I'm
not talking about everybody standing in the pulpit today, I'm not
talking about everybody that's got his mouth open in religion
today, but I'm talking about where God's prophet is. where
God's preacher is, where God's message is, the fragrance, the
odor fills the whole place. The whole place. It's everywhere. Christ, the glory of Christ,
the beauty of Christ, the redemptive work of Christ, the blood of
Christ, the mediatorial work of Christ, the honor of Christ,
the glory of God, the holiness of God, man's depravity, this
message. fills every corner of the place. You smell it? Everybody, saved
and unsaved, smell it. They hear it, they can't be neutral.
Read on, the next verse. For we are unto God a sweet savor
of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. To the
one, those that perish, we're the smell of death unto death.
death unto death. They're already dead. But when
they hear this blessed message and their hearts are hardened
and their necks are stiffened and their wills are unbending,
that's death upon death, Charlie. That's death added to death.
That's condemnation on top of condemnation. That's what it
is. The smell is terrible. because they have resisted. You
see, they're already dead, but it's death upon death. They're
already condemned, but it's added to their condemnation. It's already
a terrible sin, a terrible, terrible, frigid, frightening odor. But when they hear the word and
they resist it and rebel against it and refuse to bow and refuse
to open their hearts to Christ, It's worse, it's more, more,
more condemnation, but read on. And to the other, we're the savior
of life under life. When we preach, and a man knows
Christ, comfort is brought upon comfort, joy is brought upon
joy, happiness is brought upon happiness. It's a sweet morsel
that he can hold under his tongue. And it rejoices, his heart's
already rejoicing, but it rejoices more. His soul is already glad,
but it's made gladder. His foundation is already secure,
but it's made even more secure. You see, the sweet, the rolling
sweet odor, one right after the other, just increases and increases. So delightful. Strength is added to strength,
and comfort to comfort, and joy to joy, and faith to faith. And
that faith groweth. And Paul adds, and who's sufficient
for these things? Oh, I tell you, it's a powerful
weapon that falls from the lips of a preacher, God's preacher.
It's a powerful responsibility. Who's sufficient for these things?
And it's certainly not himself. He has no power in himself. He
has no strength in himself. He has no keys to heaven's doors
or keys to hell's dungeon. But that message does. It's that
message. It's that fearful, frightful
message. It's that grand and glorious
message. It's that message that adds to
men's condemnation or that message that adds to men's comfort. It's
that message. You can't hear it indifferently.
You can't hear it neutrally. Not if it's God speaking. Not
if it's God's message. What a time. What a time. What a fearful time. What an
awful time. What a frightful time. But what
a happy time. Our message, he says, we got
something for everybody. We always triumph. God causes
us always to triumph. He may make it manifest the smell,
the odor, the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For
we are unto God the savor, the smell of Christ, both to them
that are saved and to them that are damned. For one, death upon
death, death upon death. You walk in with responsibility,
you walk out with more. You walk in with the hardening
process already begun in your heart, and you go out a little
harder, like Pharaoh of old. He hardened his heart. He heard
Moses again, and he hardened it again. He heard him again,
it hardened more. He heard him again, it hardened
more. He heard him again, and it hardened more until finally
the cup was full. And the indignation and wrath
of God ran over, and God destroyed him and his nation. He that being
often reproved and hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed,
and that without remedy." I know that in this day it means
little to hear, to some people, to hear preaching. To them a
sermon is a sermon, and a preacher is a preacher, and a church service
is a church service. How'd I do? You did fine. Thank
you. But it just so happens every
once in a while you just might run into one of God's preachers.
And I'll tell you this, it's no ordinary service. It's no
ordinary sermon. It just might be that God will
bring you here and there into a direct confrontation with His
Word, with His Gospel, with His Son. And boy, I'll tell you how
you react to that is a mighty important time. Because that
time is a time of God Almighty doing what he purposed to do.
Either breaking the heart or hardening the heart. Either bringing
the heart into submission or giving strong delusions that
men believe a lie. We always try up. Who's sufficient
for these things? Nobody is. But he goes on down
and says that our sufficiency is Christ. Our sufficiency. Look at verse 5 of chapter 3,
2nd Corinthians. Not that we're sufficient of
ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency
is God, is of God who also hath made us ministers of the New
Testament. Not of the letter, not of the dry dead letter of
the law, the letter killeth, but we're ministers of the Spirit,
the Spirit giveth life. All right, back to Isaiah, if
you will, chapter 3. This messenger then, this prophet,
what does he say? What does he say? It's a two-fold
message. What does he say? Well, he says
over here in chapter 3, verse 10 of Isaiah, Say ye to the righteous,
say ye to the righteous, to the righteous, this must be a word
for nobody. This must be a word for nobody.
Because the scripture says there's none righteous, no, not one.
Isn't that what it says? None righteous, none that doeth
good. Doesn't Isaiah say himself in Isaiah 64, 6, our righteousness
is our filthy rag. So to whom is he speaking here?
Say ye to the righteous. Say to the righteous. It'll be
well with you. Well, I'll tell you who he's
talking to. He's talking to people who have found a righteousness
in Christ. That's who he's talking to. He's
talking to people of people who are righteous. Doesn't the scripture
say in 2 Corinthians 5.21, He was made sin for us who knew
no sin that we might be made what? The righteousness of God
in Him. Doesn't the scripture say in
Romans 5.19, by one man's disobedience we were made sinners by the Now
one man's disobedience made sense by the obedience of one. We were
made what? Righteous. Righteous. With his
spotless garments on, I'm as righteous as his son. I'm as
righteous as his son. Did not the Apostle Paul said,
O that I may win Christ and be found in him not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness of
God, which is by the faith of Christ Jesus. So say to the righteous
here. He's not talking to folks who
are righteous in themselves. I tell you, the more we know
about God and the more we see ourselves, the less righteous
we find ourselves to be. But the more we look to Christ,
the more confident we are of having His righteousness, His
perfect holiness. All right, you say to them. You
say to those, you say to every one of them, those who have been
brought to conviction of sin, those who have been brought to
acknowledgement of guilt, those who have been brought to faith
in Christ, those who have been brought to love Him, to trust
Him, to believe on Him, to look to Him, and to continue to look
to Him, you say to them, you say to every one of them, it's
all right, it's all right. It will be well with you. It
will be well with you. How will it be well with me,
Preacher? Well, there are five critical areas of life. Five
critical areas. Number one, I would say, and
the most critical area, is my sins. My sins. Oh, my sins. David mourned over
his sins. He said, my sins are ever before
me. My sins. My sins. You ever grieve over your sins?
You ever think about your sins? I know you do. Every believer
does. He trembles and grieves and mourns and weeps over his
sins. But it's all right. It's all
right. It's all right. You say to the righteous, it's
all right. It'll be well. Why? If any man sins, we have
an advocate. We have an advocate. We're not
alone. Went out before the wrath. He said, Though your sins be
as scarlet, I'll make them white as snow. Though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool. He said, He hath appeared to
put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. He says, Their sins
I'll remember no more. No more. That's God talking. Their sins will I remember no
more. No more. No more. Romans 4 verse 7. Blessed, happy, happy is the
man to whom God will not charge sin. No more charge sin. My sins, oh, the bliss of that
glorious thought. Think of it. My sins, not in
part, that's what some would tell me. Not in part, but the
whole. All of them. Past, present, and
future nailed to the cross. I bear them no more. I bear them
no more. Praise the Lord. It's well. It is well. Say to the righteous,
it is well with my soul. Huh? That's good news. That's what makes the gospel
good news. Glad tidings. I bring you good
news. Glad tidings. Thy sins are forgiven
thee. Thy sins are forgiven thee. And then here's the second area
of life, sin. And this is something with which
we deal every day. Every day. Let me tell you this, you'll
never be free from sin. Now I know we're free from the
penalty, and we're free from the power, and we're free from
the condemnation. But brethren, let's face it.
We're not free from the indwelling presence of sin. We're not free
from it. We're not free. My sins are ever
before me. But in Christ, before God, legally,
positionally, in a redemption, our sins are put away. They're
forgiven. There are no more. God forgives
them. They're pardoned, they're put away. All right, secondly,
there's the area of trial, T-R-I-A-L, trial. My life is one trial after
another. I don't know why we expect it
to be otherwise. When God has said over and over
again, in the world you'll have tribulation. In the world you'll
have tribulation. I don't know why we expect everything
to go like we want it to go. I don't know why, but we do.
We get fretful. Actually, he said, if you be
without chastening, you're not children. He said, he that will
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. He said,
can it not strange if fiery trials come upon you? In the world you
shall have trial and tribulation. This is expected. We're going
to have it. This is called the valley of
the shadow of death. That's what it is. But you say
to the righteous, his trials will work together for his good.
That's what he said, Romans 8, 28. All things work together
for good to them who love God. All things. All things, whether
it be sickness, or whether it be loneliness, or whether it
be poverty, or whatever it might be. All things work together
for good to them who love God. We come at the end of the day,
what kind of day have you had? It's been a tough one. Well,
it's been a normal one then, hasn't it? Normal for the flesh,
normal for this world, normal for this natural body. Normal
because righteousness does not reign here. It's been a difficult
time, expect a difficult time. Might as well because we're going
to have those difficult times. Joseph, you know, finally Joseph
got to the throne, but he came by way of the pit, by way of
slavery, by way of prison, and his brothers were responsible
for it. They're the ones that caused it. And when he sat on
that throne and looked down at them, he said, you meant it for
evil. You meant everything you did to me for evil. You meant
it for evil. God meant it for good. God meant
it for good. And I challenge you. I challenge
myself. It'll be well. It's all right.
It's all right. Your children are going to break
their legs and their arms. They're going to get sick. They're
going to have difficulty. You're going to have failure.
It's going to rain when you want the sun to shine. The sun is
going to shine when you want it to rain. And it's going to
be dark. It's going to be troublesome.
It's going to be dismal. It's going to be depressing.
It's going to be all these things as long as we're in this place.
I challenge you to get hold of ourselves and rejoice in affliction. and rejoice in it, and expect
it. But knowing this, that it'll
work together for your good and God's glory, eventually. Maybe not today or tomorrow,
but one of these days you'll look back and say, this person
meant that for evil. This person meant that for my
discouragement. This person meant that for my
hurt. God meant it for my good. And God just you. Somebody told
me he went to a rug factory one time, where they make rugs, make
these beautiful floral patterns and everything. And he said that
he watched as they were running the thread into the machine,
into the rollers, there was black thread and red thread and yellow
thread and orange thread and purple thread and white thread.
And he said it all went in there and it looked like a mess when
it went in, just looked like a mess, all these different colors
just conglomeration of colors, but he went on the other side,
and as the rug rolled out, he saw that beautiful pattern. That
machine had taken all these different colors and all these different
threads and different coarse thread and fine thread and put
it together and made a beautiful picture. And that's what God
does in the lives of his people. He takes the black of sorrow
and the red of suffering and the white of whatever it is,
and all the different colors, and brings out the image of Christ
in his own. And then here's the third area,
say to the righteous, it'll be well, death, death. Now Betty
died this morning, and that's a shock to many of us, and yet
we expected it, And we're rejoicing that God didn't let her suffer
any longer, but we're sorry that he was pleased to take her. Absent,
she'd be absent from here, been here 25 years. But one day, you're
going to get the word that I've died, Cecil's died, John's died,
Charlie's died. Someday the silver cord will
break. It will. It's going to break. And I know
more is now shall say. appointed unto me and wants to
die after this judgment, but say to the righteous, it'll be
well. It's all right, child. It's all
right. It's all right. For me to live
is Christ, to die is gain. Paul said, I have a desire to
depart and be with Christ, which is far better. It's going to
be all right. It'll be all right. You say to the widow, it'll be
all right. You say to the husband who's left behind, it'll be all
right. To the righteous, if he knows God, if he's in Christ,
it'll be all right. Say to the orphan, it'll be all
right. God Almighty is not asleep, and
he's not on a vacation, and God Almighty is vitally concerned
with every part of my life. He numbers the hairs of my head.
You tell the righteous, it'll be all right. And then judgment. Do you ever think of judgment?
We shall all appear before the judgment, it says. I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before the judgment. In the judgment,
nothing hid that shall not be revealed. Boy, that would cause
us to tremble, wouldn't it? Well, you say to the righteous,
it'll be all right. It'll be well. God will never
bring his children into judgment. Never. I don't care what anybody
says. They talk about their judgments of the lost and judgments of
the nations and judgments of the redeemed and judgments of
everything else, and I still bring them one verse of Scripture.
There's no judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus. No judgment. My judgment's already taken place
at Calvary's cross. I was judged, found guilty, and
executed! And there isn't any judgment
left for any reason, purpose, or cause. No judgment to those
who are in Christ. Now I tremble for those out of
Christ. But those in Christ, say to them, it's all right.
Eternity. What about eternity? I've got
an eternity to spend. Well, you say to the righteous,
it'll be well. It'll be well. But now, I've
got to come to this point here. I don't want to, but I have to.
Say to the wicked, woe unto the wicked, it's not well with you
in these areas. What about your sins? Christ
said, if you die in your sins, you can't come where I am. A
chaplain was making his rounds through the hospital and went
into a certain room, and there lay a young boy dying. And the
young man and the chaplain said to him, said, well son, is there
anything I can do? And he looked at him and he said,
no sir, but I wonder if you could undo some things. Now that's
a problem, isn't it? There's nothing you can do. But
I wonder if you could undo some things. Well, I'll tell you who
can. I'll tell you who can. The Lord Jesus Christ. But now
you do not know Christ, so I have to say to you as far as your
sins are concerned, it's not well. It will be ill with you.
What about your trials? I hear people all the time quote,
well, remember Romans 8.28. You watch till you quote Romans
8.28 too. Romans 8.28 applies only to those
who call according to His purpose and those who love the Lord.
Now that's what it doesn't say. Romans 8.28 does not say all
things work together for good. I see that on walls sometimes,
going home. All things work together for
good. That is not so. All things work together for
good to them who love God, who are called according to His purpose,
and that's the only one. Everything in your life, if you
know not Christ, everything in your life, in your nature, in
your place, is working together for your condemnation and your
destruction. That's right, Jay. All things
do not work together for good. They work together for good to
them who love the Lord. Now that's what the Scripture
says. What about death? Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord. You can't write blessed where God writes cursed.
And I know preachers are supposed to, they're supposed to be sweet,
they're supposed to be kind, and they're supposed to cheer
up everybody, But I tell you, it's time preachers stood in
the pulpit and told unsaved men to die without Christ is to die
under the wrath of God, no matter who it is. I read the story some
years ago of an Englishman who was an atheist. Oh, he hated
preachers, and he hated churches, and he hated God. And he taught
his children to be atheists. He taught his son and daughter
to be atheists, and they followed the footsteps of the old man.
Something happened, Spurgeon told about this, said the son,
the young man, got desperately ill, desperately ill. And his
father loved him very much, hated God, but he loved his son. And
he was sitting there by the bedside, and his son began to weep, and
he said, I'm afraid! I'm afraid!" And his daddy said,
Well, hold on, son, hold on. He said, Daddy, there's nothing
to hold to. There's nothing to hold to. I say that to every unbeliever
here this morning. It's not going to be well. Every
believer in the area of sin and trial and death, it will be well.
God will give you dying grace if you're a believer. But I say
to every unbeliever, when you walk that lonesome valley, you're
going to really walk it by yourself. And there's nothing to hold you.
What about the judgment? What about the judgment? I dreamed,
the songwriter says, that the great judgment morning had dawned,
and the trumpet had blown. I dreamed that the nations had
gathered to judgment before God's great throne. From the throne
came a bright shining angel and he stood on the land and the
sea and he swore with his hand raised to heaven that time was
no longer to be. And oh, what a weeping and wailing.
As the lost were told of their fate, they cried for the rocks
and the mountains, they prayed, but their prayers were too late.
The moral man came to the judgment, but his self-righteous rags would
not do. For the men who had crucified
Jesus claimed to be moral men, too. The rich man was there,
but his riches had all melted and vanished away. A pauper he
stood at the judgment, his debts just too heavy to pay. And oh,
what a weeping, what a wailing, as the lost were told of their
fate. They cried. They cried for the rocks and
the mountains. They prayed. But their prayers were too lame. What about eternity? Oh, how long is eternity? How
long is eternity? Well, you've got good news, prophet
of God. You can say to the righteous,
those in Christ, who have no hope of any righteousness in
themselves, it's okay. It's all right. It'll be well
with you. And I don't care what valley
you're going through or what mountain you're climbing. I care
not what darkness through which you're walking. It's going to
be all right. It's going to be all right. There's
no condemnation to them who are in Christ. There's no judgment.
There's no charge. There's no sin. Who can lay anything
to our charge? No one can separate us from the
love of Christ. Thy faith hath made thee whole,
in him you are complete. But I say to the unrighteous
and to the wicked, those who have not Christ, nothing is going
to be right for you. Everything that's done, even
the good things, add to your condemnation. Did you know that?
That which you brag about, that in which you rejoice, right now,
even the happy times, do you know why? The rich man in hell
cried, Father Abraham, Sin lies with that he may dip his finger
in water and touch my tongue, I'm tormented in this flame."
And Abraham said, Son, what'd he say? Remember. Remember. What? Remember that in thy life,
what'd he say? Good things. Remember the good
things. It's not just your sins that
are going to torment you and separate you from God, it's the
good things. Remember! Remember, Son! Remember! In life
you had the good things. Hell is memory. Memory. Say to the wicked, it'll be ill. Even that in which he rejoiced
will one day bring him sorrow. But the righteous, even the things
in which he sorrowed will one day bring him joy. That's right. Even, say to the wicked, it'll
be ill with him, it'll be ill. Not only the illness and the
sorrow, but even those things in which he took pride and rejoiced
will one day bring him sorrow. But say to that righteous man,
son, even your most sorrowful day, even the
day in which your heart was the most broken, the day in which
you were the lowest, your Heavenly Father was working it out for
your good and his glory. And you're going to rejoice.
You're going to take joy in every tear that you shed. Now remember
that. Our Father used the message this
morning for the glory of Christ. I have tried, and thou knowest
the heart of every man, I've tried to be true to thy word,
and to these whom I love, and whom you love more than anything
you love. And I've said to those who believe,
not righteous in ourselves, we don't claim any righteousness,
we don't claim any perfection, we've not laid hold yet upon
that for which we've been laid hold of by Christ. But our righteousness
is him, the Son of God, your Son, our Lord and Savior. And
it will be well. In Christ there is no sin. Christ works everything out for
our good and his glory. But I have to say to those who
do not know the Savior, those who rest in themselves and their
own