I want you to open your Bibles
now with me to the book of Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy. In the 29th chapter of Deuteronomy, the 29th chapter
and the 29th verse, we read these words, the secret
things. belong unto the Lord our God. The secret things belong unto
the Lord our God. But those things which are revealed
belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the
words of this law. Now, my subject is those things
that are revealed, the secret things, mysterious things belonging
to the Lord our God. They're His. His to know, His
to purpose, His to perform. But those things which are revealed
in the good pleasure of our God, in the purpose of our Lord, those
things which He has been pleased to reveal belong to us. They're ours. that God's gift
to us and to our children forever, that we may do the things that
are written in his law. Now here's, you hear this statement
frequently, the Bible is hard to understand. I just don't understand
the Bible. I don't read the Bible because
I don't understand it. Well, do you read it? Well, no,
I don't. I really, I have read it, but I just, the Bible's hard
to understand. Well, let's say this first of
all. The Bible, in its true spiritual meaning,
the mysteries of the gospel, is impossible to understand and
to approve of by the natural man without the Holy Spirit's
revelation. Now that's so. The Bible says
in 1 Corinthians 2.14, the natural man received as not the things
of God, a foolishness to him. And the foolishness of the wisdom
of God is foolishness to men. The preaching of the cross is
foolishness to them that perish. One day the disciples asked our
Lord, why do you preach to the people in parables? And he said,
because they have eyes and can't see and ears and can't hear and
they have hearts and cannot understand. Blessed are your eyes, they see,
and blessed are your ears, they hear. He said to Peter, flesh
and blood didn't reveal this to you, but my Father which is
in heaven. So if you're talking about, if
you're talking about the mysteries of the gospel, and the wisdom
of God in justification, and the wisdom of God in redemption,
and the wisdom of God in sanctification, and the glory and power of God
as it's revealed in the person of Christ in his work and office,
yes, the Bible is impossible. Impossible. for the natural man
to really comprehend or understand. And the very fact that it is
the Word of God limits my ability to understand. Turn to Romans
11. I want you to read this. I want
everyone with a Bible to turn to the 11th chapter of Romans,
and let's look at verse 33. Now understand what I'm saying.
This is where I'm starting. I hear people on every hand who
say the Bible is hard to understand. I see people laying it aside.
I see people, and I think this is one of the reasons for all
these different translations, is we're trying to find us a
translation that will give the Bible in words that the natural
man can comprehend. I think, I'm not against translations,
I think the Berkeley and the Amplified and And the different
ones are profitable to lay down beside your King James and read
it. But now, what we're trying to
do, what I'm afraid of, what I'm afraid is this, that we,
and this, the living Bible and all these different ones paraphrased
with pictures and paragraphs, Bill, what they're doing, I tell
you what they're doing. They're trying to get the Bible so that
the natural man, they're trying to naturalize the Bible. They're
trying to bring it down here. It's up here and they're trying
to bring it down here so the natural man can get in his thoughts
and his wisdom and his understanding the mysteries of the God. It
cannot be done. It cannot be done. Now Romans
11 verse 33 says, Oh the depths of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways
past finding out. Who hath known the mind of the
Lord, or who hath been his counselor? His ways of past finding out. I want to be understood perfectly
when I say this, that the true mysteries and spiritual meaning
and purpose of God and the attributes of God, the natural man cannot
understand or comprehend apart from the revelation of the Holy
Spirit. And even the redeemed, even those
with whom the Holy Spirit has performed a work of grace and
in whom the Holy Spirit has revealed the grace of God, even they only
know in part. Turn to 1 Corinthians 13. Let
me show you this. Even they only know in part. There's so much that we haven't
even thought about in reference to our God and his purpose and
his glory and his grace. 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12, now
we see through a glass darkly, dimly, but then face to face,
now we know in part. But then we shall know even as
I am known. We know in part. We prophesy
in part. That's what it says back here
in verse 9. We know in part. We prophesy or preach in part.
Someday we'll know. Someday we'll know as we have
been known. Now, get what I'm saying. This
is very important to what I'm going to say in a moment. I see
people take the Bible and cast it aside. I don't understand
the Bible. I don't understand it. I just don't understand it.
And then preachers come along and they say, well, we'll fix
it so you can understand it. We'll get it down here on your
level. We'll bring God down here. We'll bring all these things
down to modern language or modern terms. It's not the language. It's not the terms. It's the
art. You see, the natural man, the
things have got a foolishness to him. They've got to be revealed
by the Holy Spirit. Even when they're revealed, even
when God reveals to us the depths of sin, we don't see the full
depths of it. Even when the Holy Spirit is
pleased to reveal the heights of His glory and the riches of
His grace, we just see a part of it. A sufficient part. Thank God for that part. When
the Lord talks about His glory, do you think we see anything
comparatively of the glory of God? Of Christ and His wisdom,
of His righteousness, of His justification and redemption
and sanctification? Just a part of it. Well, let
me say this. I think this complaint's overworked.
I don't understand the Bible. The King James Bible is hard
to understand. I just don't understand the Bible,
and therefore, I think that flimsy hiding place will not do. To
be honest, man's difficulty is not the secret, hard-to-understand
passages of Scripture. You know what man's difficulty
is? You know what our problem is? Our problem is with those
scriptures we do understand and we don't like. That's what our
problem is. I don't think our problem is
with this at all. I don't think a man throws a
Bible aside and says, I don't understand it, therefore I'm
not going to read it. I think he understands a whole lot more
than he lets on like he understands. I believe he does. I believe
he does. Turn to Ezekiel 33. Let me show
you something over here. God said to Ezekiel chapter 33
beginning at verse 30. Ezekiel 33 verse 30. Do you think
the rich young ruler understood what Christ said when he told
him to sell what he had and give it to the poor? Do you think
he understood? I believe he did. I believe he understood exactly
what the Lord said. I believe he understood exactly what Christ
said. For the Scripture says that he turned away having great
riches. He understood. Let me ask you
this. Do you think that Herod understood what John the Baptist
said when he said it's not lawful for you to have your brother's
wife? Do you think he understood what he said? I believe he did.
I don't think old Herod had any trouble understanding what he
said. I don't think an international version would have helped him
at all. I believe he understood it. Let me ask you this, do you
think the Pharisees understood when they brought that woman
found in a dump and cast her at Christ's feet, and every one
of them had a big brick bat in his hand, and he was going to
stone her, and our Lord looked up at him and said, the one that's
without sin can cast the first stone. You think they understood
what he said? I kind of believe they did. They didn't like it,
but they understood it. Let me ask you this, that crowd
at Nazareth, those folks sitting around there, and they all said
they were God's people, they were Israelites, they were Jews,
Abraham was their father, Moses was their leader, they had the
law and the prophets, and they were sitting there, and our Lord
said there were many, there were many lepers that were Jews in
the days of the prophet, and God didn't heal any of them,
but he healed a Gentile. There were many widows that were
Jews in the days of the prophet, and God didn't feed any of them
but a Gentile. You think they understood what
he said? I don't think that an amplified version would have
helped them at all. I think it said just exactly what he said,
and they understood him. And that crowd, when the Lord
Jesus said, I and my Father are one, do you think they understood
what he said? I believe they did. So I really don't think
the problem... I know this, that the spiritual
revelations of God's infinite wisdom And God's will in Christ,
the will of redemption and the will of grace and the will of
purpose and the glory of God. I know the natural man doesn't
comprehend those things. He doesn't enter into those things.
Oh, the depths and the heights of the riches of God's glory.
No, that has to be revealed. And even those to whom it's revealed
just see it in part. We just see part of it. Someday
we'll see that. majesty of our God's glory revealed
in its full revelation, but it's part of it. But I think this
thing's overworked. I think men do understand a whole
lot more than they let on they understand. They don't like it.
They refuse to walk in it. They hear it and they refuse
to walk in it. That's what he says here in Ezekiel,
look at it, verse 30, chapter 33, verse 30. Son of man, also
thou son of man, the people, the children of thy people are
talking, the word is of thee, it's against thee, it's of thee,
about thee, by the walls and in the doors of the houses. They
speak one to another, every one to his brother, and they say,
come, I pray you, let's go hear what is the word that cometh
from the Lord today. Let's go to church. They're talking
about you, preacher. God says, Prophet of God, they're
talking about you. And they're aware of you. And
they're saying, let's go see what he's got to say today. Let's
go see what he's got to say. Let's go hear so-and-so tonight
or Wednesday or Sunday. Let's go hear so-and-so. And
he says, verse 31, and they come as the people cometh, and they
sit before thee as my people. They're professing religionists.
They sit before you, and they sing, oh, how I love Jesus. And
they sit out there. They're members of somebody's
church. They're professing Christians.
They sit there and they hear your word. They hear your word.
They're not deaf. They know what you're saying.
They hear exactly what you're saying. But they're not going
to do what you say. That's the trouble. They hear
them. They're not deaf. They're not
dumb. They know two and two is four.
And I've learned that since that message I preached that time.
I got up here and I said, two and two are three, you know,
and somebody called my attention to it afterwards. They hear your
words, they know it, but they're not going to do what you say.
With their mouths, now listen, with their mouths they show much
love, but their hearts are interested
in covetousness. They're interested in themselves,
they're interested in their gain and greed and glory. They're
not going to do what you say. I charge my generation with the
fact that they do understand. I believe they do understand.
Let me give you an example. Turn to Romans chapter 9. Romans
chapter 9. Let me give you an example. What
I'm saying is this. The translation is not our problem.
The old English is not our problem. The old man is our problem. The
old heart, that's our problem. We read it. We know what God's
saying and we don't like it. and we're not going to have it.
We know what the preacher is saying, the true preacher, but we're
not going to do it. We're pursuing other things.
We're interested in what we want to do and not what God wants
to do. And when I was pastor at the Pollard Baptist Church,
I learned a little about the grace of God. I learned a little
about the gospel in the early days when I first came there,
and I tried to preach it. And some of the people gave me a hard time. They just
gave me a real hard time. That's putting it mildly. And
so I taught the men's Bible class. And one Sunday morning, I went
over to the church for the men's Bible class, and different ones
were just giving me a lot of static and a lot of trouble over
God's sovereignty and God's grace and election and Christ's sufficient
atonement and these things. Some of you men remember it.
It wasn't easy, was it, Paul? And so I got up there that Sunday
morning, and I thought, I'd just do this, I'd just read the Bible.
Some of you men were there, you remember this, perhaps you will,
perhaps you won't. But I opened to Romans 9, and
I started reading at verse 10. This is all I did. We had, there
were 25, 30, or 35 men in that Bible class, or more, and I started
reading in Romans 9, 10. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even our father Isaac, for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of
works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but he so have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he said to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, that my
name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will harden
him." And a man stopped me right there. He said, Preacher, I laid
my Bible down, I said, Yes, sir. He said, You're teaching that
God chose people to salvation before they were born. before
the world. I said, no sir, I'm not. Well,
he said, I know you are. I said, no sir, I'm not. Well,
he said, I know you are. I said, I'm not teaching anything.
I'm reading God's word. You remember that? And he got
up and walked out. He understood. Brethren, we understand. It's not understanding. That's
not our problem. It's will. and rebellion and
sin and self-righteousness. That's how he understood exactly
what I was reading. And when it came to a conflict,
when it came to a clash between receiving the Word of God and
denying his tradition, he'd rather deny the Word of God and walk
in his tradition. I want to show you some things,
just a few scriptures. Turn, if you will, to John chapter
3. John 3 verse 27. And this is the reveal things
belong to us and our children that we might do the will of
God, that we might know them and that we might do them. I'm
going to read some scripture this morning and I'm going to
lay down four or five things that I believe that you here
and anybody else with any brains or understanding can understand
these things. Now the devil believes in God,
he doesn't love God, but he believes God. He doesn't approve of God
or love God or bow to God, but he understands. And the scripture
said he believes and trembles. And I say this, that the average
person that can put words together and phrases together and can
develop thoughts from these expressions and from these vehicles of thought
which are word, I believe he understands what we're saying.
I believe you can understand. Now whether or not you approve
of it, whether or not you bow to it, whether or not you love
it, and whether or not you submit to it, that's a different question.
The Holy Spirit has to do that, which you understand. Now watch
this, John 3, 27. Jesus answered and said, A man
can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. Can
you understand that? I know what he's saying. A man
can receive nothing, nothing, physically, spiritually, materially.
except it be given him from heaven. I understand that. I understand
what he's saying, that God is sovereign. God is absolutely
sovereign. And he giveth what he giveth
to whom he will, when he will. That's what he's saying. Turn
to John, if you will, chapter 19, and see this again. John
chapter 19. Our Lord Jesus Christ was standing
before Pilate, bound, beaten, abused, sentenced to death, he's
standing before Pilate, seemingly helpless, and Pilate said to
him, John 19, 10, speakest thou not to me? knowest thou not that
I have power to crucify thee, and power to release thee? Jesus
answered, thou couldest have no power at all against me, except
it were given thee from above. I don't intend to preach the
sovereignty of God and deny the responsibility of the creature.
Man is not a robot. Man is not a dead log. Man is
not a number, a statistic. He's a responsible, accountable
creature. He's responsible to repent, to
believe, to receive Christ. He's responsible for his sins,
his rebellion. He's responsible to receive the
word and act upon it. But brethren, when men begin
to talk about what God can't do, what they can do, when man
begins to boast of his power and God's weakness, it's time
to set the record straight. God's on the throne. God is sovereign. Our God is sovereign. They said,
David, where is your God? He said, Our God's in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever he pleased. Did you know your birth is by
his power? God said, Before I formed thee
in the belly, I knew thee. Who formed you? God did. You
read that while ago, thou takest me out of my mother's womb. Did
you know your material advantage is of God? The Lord maketh rich
and the Lord maketh poor. That's what Scripture says. Did
you know that your ability and talents are of God? Who maketh
thee to differ? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Did you know your trials are God-given? Paul talked
about God bringing upon us certain trials. There was given to me
a thorn in the flesh. Did you know your life and death
is in the hands of God? Man is born of woman, is a few
days and full of trouble. It says that his days are determined
and the number of his months are with the Lord. Did you know
that all things are God given, the Lord hath given and the Lord
hath taken away? Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord. Everything in creation, providence
and salvation is by his grace and by his mercy. God is sovereign. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above. Old Brother Mews came over here
and preached. Back 26 years ago, he was pastoring
Louisville, and he told this illustration about a friend of
his. It was an old preacher by the name of Josh Grabbit, who
pastored up in the Dakota somewhere. He pastored the same church 51
years. God raised up young preachers, God blessed his ministry, and
Brother Mews was upholding a meeting for him. Back years ago, he died
years, Josh Gravitt died a long time ago, but this was in the
20s, Brother Mews was upholding a meeting for him, and Josh Gravitt,
favorite expression, whatever, he'd say, God is sovereign, we'll
be thankful. God is sovereign, we'll be thankful.
God is sovereign, we'll be thankful. Whatever happens, God is sovereign,
we'll be thankful. And he said he and Brother Gravitt
were out one day driving an old Model A, Model T Ford, it was
a Model T Ford, one of those open cars, you know, and they
ran off the road and had a wreck and the car turned over and threw
them out. And Brother Mews wasn't hurt,
he got up and dusted himself off, but Josh was hurt. Found
out later he had a punctured lung, broken collarbone, a lot
of things like that. Brother Mews came over and Josh
couldn't get up off the ground. He was lying there on the ground.
Brother Mews got one of the car seats, Jared slipped it under
the old man's white hair, laid his head down on that car seat
and was wiping the dust off his face and got his handkerchief
out and kind of wiped him off a little bit. And he said, Josh,
are you hurt? And Josh looked up at him without
a blink and said, God is sovereign. We'll be thankful. We'll be thankful. Well, whether you like it or
not, it's so. And I'll tell you, I like it. I like it that way. If I had my choice who ran this
outfit, I believe I'd let the Lord do it. And that goes for
everything. That goes for everything. That
goes for life and death and success and failure and material advantage
or disadvantage of health or prosperity or wealth or Who goes
to heaven and who doesn't? If I'm going to put that in somebody's
hands, I'll put it in God's hands. I hear people talking about babies,
you know. What about babies? Well, I'll
tell you this. I'm going to put them in God's hands. And He'll
do right. I know He'll do right. I like
what Abraham said in that passage we read last Wednesday night.
Shall not the judge of the earth do right? I know who won't do
right. You and I, we won't do right.
We wouldn't do right. We wouldn't do that, but God'll
do right. God's no respecter of persons, that's what scripture
says. He'll do right. And he's sovereign. All right,
turn to John 6, 44. Here's another scripture. And folks, we understand
that. That's as clear as a bell. A
man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.
You understand that. You may not like it in all of
its aspects, but it's so. It's so. That's just it. And God is sovereign, and we'll
be thankful. That's a good, that's a good bye word. That'll soothe
your pains, and that'll comfort your heartaches, and that'll
lift your burdens, and that'll lighten your step, and that'll
put joy in your heart, and whatever comes or whatever goes, God is
sovereign, and we'll be thankful. I wish I could cultivate that
up here in my own heart. God is sovereign. We'll be thankful. John 6, 44, no man, No man can
come to me. What is it to come to Christ?
Let's pause right there, keep that open. Well, it's not a physical
coming, is it? That's certainly not what he's
talking about, because Nicodemus came by night, and different
ones came throughout his lifetime. It's not a physical coming. And
it's not a coming to those things that represent him. That's to
church, or to the ordinances, or to baptism, or to the table. It's certainly not just coming
to those things it represents, not coming to a doctrine. What
is coming? Coming to Christ. No man can
come to me. Coming to Christ is threefold. It's believing on Christ as he's
revealed in the Word, believing on him. See, coming to Christ
is coming to him as God's substitute, God's charity, God's sin offering,
God's sacrifice, God's priest, God's mediator. It's believing.
You'll never come to him in whom you haven't believed, and you'll
never believe in him of whom you haven't heard. Coming to
Christ is coming to him by believing on him as he's revealed in the
Word. And then coming to Christ is not only to believe on him,
it's to receive him. For as many as received him,
to them gave he the privilege to become children of God. It's
to receive Christ, consciously, willingly, intelligently, lovingly,
as he is to receive him as he's revealed in the Word. to receive
him. To receive him is my surety,
my sin offering, my sacrifice, my shepherd, my mediator, to
receive him, to do business with Christ. And then thirdly, to
come to Christ is to trust him. Paul said, I'm persuaded he's
able to keep that which I've committed to him. I've committed
to Christ. That's to trust him. Trust him
with all I have. I trust him. Or if you can trust
men, and some of you do. I know we put no confidence in
the flesh, but there are men and women in this congregation,
if you came to me and asked me to give you everything I have,
you need it badly, you return it later, I'd give it to you,
I'd trust you. I certainly would. Some of you girls trust babysitters
with your children, don't you? You trust them. You say, here,
keep my precious child. I'll be gone for three hours.
That's trust. That's putting your child into
the hands of this young lady. because you trust. Well, brethren,
this is what Paul is saying. I've committed it to Christ.
I trust him. I've given it to him. I've gone
off satisfied, content, conscious that it's all right. And I've
heard my daughter Becky say about some of you young girls here
in the church. They're so good with children.
I trust them. I can go away just completely satisfied that everything's
going to be all right. Happy, not worried a bit. Brother,
I'm happy. Everything's going to be all
right. I've committed it to Christ. That's to come to Christ. To
come to him is to believe on him. It's to receive him. It's
to commit ourselves to him. It's to put it in his hands.
Leave it there. Take it to Christ and leave it
there. To whom shall we go? Well, Christ is saying that a
man cannot come to me except my Father which sent me draw
him. You see that? No man can come to me except
my Father which sent me draw him, woo him, bring him. No man can arrive at this belief,
this reception of Christ, this committal to Christ, unless apart
from the divine work of God's Spirit. It can't be done. He gets all the glory. You say
you believe what God has said in his word? God revealed it
to you. You say you trust Christ? You
receive Christ? God gave you the power. Faith
is the gift of God. It's all of God. Now we know
that, we see that. Look at verse 45, as it's written
in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God, every man
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me.
Brethren, that's clear, there's no question about it. Let's look
at another verse, Matthew 5, 20, right quickly. Now I won't
keep you long, but what I'm laying before you and what I think some
of you see is that let's don't lay this precious word aside.
Let's don't excuse our embracing tradition and custom with the
Bible's hard to understand. I just don't understand this.
We understand it. We understand it. But our natural
flesh rebels against it. What we need to pray is, Lord,
I understand your word. Make me submissive to it. I understand
your glory. Help me to rejoice in it. See,
Satan understands, but he doesn't rejoice. Lord, I understand the
message. Help me to love it. Help me to
love. I believe you. Help me to love
you. See, that's the difference. I
think there are people, I believe there are people who are sincere,
honest religionists, who believe the facts about Jesus Christ.
They believe he was a man, that he lived, that he died on a cross,
that he was buried and rose again, and he ascended to heaven. But
I don't believe they love him. They love him. Committed to him. Devoted and dedicated to his
glory. That's the difference. Matthew
5, 20. I say unto you, accept your righteousness. Now, we know what righteousness
is. That's holiness. Matthew 5, 20. That's holiness.
That's conduct within and without. We're talking about righteousness.
We're talking about holiness. attitude, spirit. We're talking
about that which is the opposite of evil, goodness. Except your goodness, your holiness,
your attitude, your sanctification, your morality. We hear a lot
about the morals, you know, and so forth, the morals. Your morality. Now watch this, except your righteousness,
goodness, holiness, morality, shall exceed, be better than
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. You shall in no
case under any circumstances enter the kingdom of God. You
understand that? Yeah? Now anybody here could say, well,
he's saying that if we don't have a goodness, a morality,
a righteousness, a holiness that's better Then these men he named
here, we're not going to enter the kingdom of God. Well, that's
exactly what he's saying. Now, do you know who these men
were he named here? Yeah, I know who those men were.
Those men were the best men of their day. That's who they were,
Charlie, the best men. I'm talking about the best men.
Those were the best men you could find that day. Marlowe, they
were the best men of that day. That's right, the Pharisees were.
They were. One of them stood one day in
the temple and he said, I tithe, I fast twice a week, I pray,
I give alms to the poor. I've never committed adultery,
I've never extorted anyone, I'm not unjust. I thank you, I'm
not. These men wore, Jay, they wore
those phylacteries down there about that wide, blue, to let
everybody know that they were 100% for the law of God. 100%. They were men who never
stole, they never cheated, they never drank, They never got drunk. They read the law of God every
day. They had 365 laws, one for every day of the year. They kept
the seventh day precisely and perfectly. And they went around
spying on everybody else to make sure they did it. That's right. Now here's what he's saying.
You talk about your goodness, your morality, your righteousness.
I say unto you, if yours is not better than theirs, You're not
going to see the kingdom of God. They're not going to see the
kingdom of God, neither are you. Now you understand what, I understand
exactly what he said. Well where am I going to get
that kind of righteousness? I don't have it. I certainly
don't have it. Where am I going to get it? Now
their righteousness, let's look at this a little bit. First of
all, their righteousness was what Christ said. It was their
righteousness. They're righteous. It was the
righteousness of the scribes, and it was their goodness and
morality and righteousness and holiness. It was theirs. Paul
said in Romans 10, they have a zeal for God, but not according
to knowledge. They're going about to establish
their own righteousness. Their righteousness. Secondly,
their righteousness was outward. It was outward. We look at them
and say, he's a good man. How do you know? Well, I can
see. You can't see his heart. You can't see his thoughts. You
just see outwardly. And that's what theirs was. Our Lord said to them, you cleanse
the outside of the cup. It appears beautiful to men.
But God doesn't look on the outside, he looks on the heart. Their
righteousness was outward. Their righteousness, thirdly,
was to be seen of men. He said, you fast, and you pray,
and you give alms to be seen of men? That's what the Pharisees
do. Now, the righteousness we need,
first of all, is not ours, but somebody else's, the righteousness
of Christ. Now that's the only one God can
be pleased with. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ
came down here on the earth as a man in the flesh. 33 years
he lived on this earth, born of a woman, born under the law.
And my representative walked this earth. And when God, when
the holy word of God and the commandment of God says pray,
he really did pray. He didn't just say words, he
really prayed. When the holy word of God says love your neighbors
yourself, he really did. He didn't just say he did. He
didn't just act like he did. He really did. When the Holy
Word of God says, Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and
strength, he did. He really did. When the law of
God says not to look with lust, he never did. When the law of
God says not to hate or be bigoted or envious or prejudiced, he
never was. When the law of God says never
know jealousy or envy or hate, he never did. He knew no sin. And he lived a whole lifetime
that way. And you see, that's my righteousness. When I come
to him by believing, by receiving, by trusting, I receive his righteousness. And it's not just an outward
righteousness, it's an inward righteousness. One which the
Heavenly Father can be pleased with because he studies and looks
upon and considers the hearts, the thoughts, not just the deeds. And our Lord is able to present
me holy and unblamable in his presence, not in man's presence. And you look on the outward flesh
and you're disappointed, and I am too. But look at Christ
and you won't be disappointed. It's when you got a friend and
a brother or a sister and you become disappointed, don't be.
Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Christ is our
righteousness, Christ is our goodness, Christ is our morality,
Christ is our holiness. And that's how we can say here,
we have a righteousness, a holiness, a morality, a goodness in God's
sight that's better than any of the Pharisees ever had, ten
billion times better. It's because it's Christ. That
old black preacher in Richmond, Virginia by the name of John
Jasper preached to thousands of people. Back in Civil War
days in Richmond, I read somebody wrote his life story recently.
He was a slave and God saved him, made him a preacher, and
he said some good things. Somebody came to him one time
and said, John Jasper said, when you die and you go to heaven
and stand at the gate and ask for admission, suppose somebody
asks you, John Jasper, what right you got to be here? What right? What are you going
to say? He's going to say, I ain't got no right to be here. I ain't
got no right to be here. I'm not here on my rights. I'm
here on the righteousness of Jesus Christ. There's a difference. And I don't claim, as I stand
before you this morning, I don't claim to be right. I claim the
righteousness of our Lord. I don't claim before God. There's
no use in me coming to the Lord and saying, Lord, now I did this
and I did that. I'm not going to. What I did
was wrong. But Lord, what he did was right.
And that's our righteousness. And don't try to impress people
with your piety. It won't work. If that man really
knows God, it's going to react the opposite. Don't try to impress
anybody with how much you pray, and how much you give, and how
much you love God. Just lay off of it. Now, the
folks that appeals to, you don't want to impress. And the folks
you want to impress, that don't appeal to. They know better. They know better. You don't need
to come around with that kind of foolishness. How smart you
are in the scripture, and how much you pray, and how much you
love God. Be honest. Oh, wretched man that I am. That
impresses me. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? The things I would do, I do them
not. The things I would not do, I do. It's no more I that do
it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I am less than the least
of all the saints. I am the chief of sinners. Let's
get on that ground. Because our righteousness before
God is not ours, it's Christ's righteousness. You don't want
to come before God on the basis of what you've done. No way,
not even the good things. Matthew 18, I'll quit. Matthew
18, one more. Here's what I'm saying, here's
what I'm contending. We know what that says. That's all there is to it. We
do understand. And I tell you, if we'd walk
in the light God has given us, he'll give us more light. Our problem is we're booking
here and we're asking God to show us something else. Quit
booking and God will show you something else. Any teacher here
knows if a child's not going to learn the beginnings, no use
taking him into the end. You've got to break his will.
You've got to break his rebellion right here. He's got to become
the pupil and you the teacher. And when he becomes the pupil
and you the teacher, he's going to learn something. But not until. And we're going to have to, if
you're bucking God, he'll meet you at your point of rebellion.
And he's not going to take you one step further into more light
till you walk in the light you have. But I don't want to skip
that lesson. No, you're going to deal with
that lesson. And you're going to bow to God's sovereignty,
you're going to bow to Christ's sufficiency, you're going to
bow to the Holy Spirit's office and work, you're going to bow
to what God says about us and what he says about himself, you're
going to submit and bow and surrender, and when you do, he'll say, come
my child, let's go into greater pastures. Let me show you something
better. Let me show you something greater.
Matthew 18. And here's where we come to this. At the same
time came the disciples saying, who's the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? And Jesus called a little child
unto him and set him in the midst of them. And he said, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except you be converted and become as
little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of God. Now the true believer, and I'm
just going to read you a note I jotted down here in connection
with this portion of scripture. We know what that's saying. The
true believer surrenders every kind of distinction except one.
I'm in Christ. In Christ there's neither rich
nor poor, there's neither black nor white, there's neither male
nor female, there's neither old nor young, there's neither educated
or uneducated. A man who is converted is a man
who claims no personal merit in the sight of God or in the
sight of men. He's a man who sees no one beneath
him. I'm less than the least of all
the same. Children don't deal with those things. They don't try to impress each
other with what they're wearing and who they are and what they
know. A man who's converted is a man
who has no ambition to be thought superior to anyone else. He's
a man who reckons it enough to be a member of Christ's body.
That's sufficient recognition. And he desires only to have his
head exalted. You understand what he's saying?
I think we do. I think we understand it. It's
repulsive to the flesh. And it takes the power of God
to receive it and to love it, but I believe we know what he's
saying, except you be converted. Peter said, these guys may deny
you, but I won't. He said, Peter, when you're converted,
strengthen your breath. When you're brought down off
your high horse, when you see there's no distinction, I tell
you, sons of God, that's distinction enough. Child of the King, that's
honor enough. Adjourn here with Jesus Christ.
That's glory enough. I don't need to impress anybody. Don't need to. And actually,
I don't think anybody's impressed. I really don't. I really don't. Our Father, do what the flesh
cannot do.