And you will not come to me that you
might have life." Our Lord gives a full and free
invitation to every guilty sinner. It is a full invitation. It's
lacking nothing. The table is spread, coming down. You don't need to bring anything.
The fountain of living water flows full and free. It'll meet
any and every need. He says, though your sins be
a scarlet, none need delay because of the guilt of sin or the blackness
of sin. or the terrible load of sin,
or a past record of sin, or future fears of sin. Let not conscience
make you linger, nor fitness fondly dream. All the fitness
he requires is to feel your need of him. It's a full and free
invitation. When they had nothing to pay,
he freely, frankly, and fully forgave them both. Our Lord invites
every weary sinner to come to Him and find total and complete
rest. He says, Coming to me all ye,
Jew, Gentile, male, female, old and young, bond and free, learned
and ignorant. Coming to me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, heavy laden, weary of sin, tired of Tired
of finding no answers. Tired of finding no peace. Tired
of finding no rest. Come to me and I'll give you
rest. I'll give you rest." And then to every lost sinner, he
said, the Son of Man is here on a mission. The Son of Man
has been commissioned, ordained, anointed, and sent by the Heavenly
Father on a mission, a mission that shall not fail. He has come
into this world to seek, to seek them, to find them, and to save
them that are lost. He's going to do just that. God
Almighty ordained it, God Almighty anointed him, God Almighty sent
him, God Almighty empowered him, and God Almighty raised And he's
going to do just exactly what God Almighty, the Heavenly Father,
sent his beloved son to do. He's going to save the lost. But, he says, you will not come. I fully and frankly and freely
invite every guilty man, woman, boy and girl, to come to me.
But you won't come. I fully and freely invite every
weary, heavy laden sinner to come to me. but you will not
come. I fully and freely invite every
lost person, every wandering lost person, every fallen son
of guilty Adam to come to me, but you will not come. And they'll
come to a system of religion. They'll come to a system of religion,
a program of religion. They'll come to that. They'll
even come to a system of morals. You can lay down a system of
morals, and they'll join you. Give them certain things they
can do and they cannot do. They're permitted to do and not
permitted to do, and they'll come to that. And they'll come
to a profession of faith. You tell them there's a hell
to shun, there's a heaven to gain. If they want that, to raise
their hands, and they'll raise them by the multitude. They'll
even walk down to the front of a church. They'll take a preacher's
hand, they'll sign a card. They'll agree to anything. you
present, they'll agree to anything that you promise. Men will come
to a system of doctrine. You can systematize Arminianism
or Pelagianism or Calvinism or any other kind of ism, and it's
logical to a natural mind and they'll come to it. Yes, lost
men can understand Arminianism, freewillism, and lost men can
also understand and accept Calvinism. They'll agree with you that man
is totally depraved. They'll agree with you that God
elected a people. They'll agree with you that Jesus
Christ is the only Savior. They'll agree with you that the
Holy Spirit is an effectual, invincible power to bring men
to what God wants them to do. They'll agree with you that there's
security in this system, but they will not come to Christ.
And they'll offer many excuses. One says to him, I'll come to
you, but suffer me first." And any time a man says that to Christ,
his intentions are not to come. I'll come to you, but. I'll come
to you, but suffer me first, to go and bury my father. I've
got obligations to my family, I've got obligations to my father,
I've got obligations here and obligations there. A weary, guilty,
lost sinner has one obligation, and that's to come to Christ,
and no other Our Lord turned to this man and said, let the
dead bury the dead. Let the dead bury their dead.
You come and take up your cross and follow me. Another one says,
well, I've married a wife. I have the responsibility of
a wife and a home, and I can't come. Another said, I've invested
a lot in a piece of land. I've got a business, Lord, and
that business requires my attention. The only thing that requires
your attention is an immortal, hell-bound soul. And you better
give it your attention. That's what Christ said. But
I bought a field, and I've got to go and look at it. I bought
some oxen. I've got to go and prove it.
Alibis, excuses, reasons. We continue to give them. And
the preacher may accept them, and the congregation may accept
them, and you've already accepted them because they were concocted
in your deceived heart. But God Almighty never has accepted
an excuse from any man for not taking up his cross and following
Christ. You will not come to me. Look at verse 43 that Jay
read a moment ago. Christ said, I'm come. First
in verse 40 he said, you won't come to me. You won't come to
me. Life is in Christ. In him are
hid all the treasures of the Godhead. That's where it all
is. You'll miss them if you don't
get to Christ. You won't find them in the Bible. You won't
find them in the church. You won't find them in the ordinances.
You won't find them in the doctrines. They're hidden in Christ. And
you won't participate or partake of or possess any part of God's
mercy or blessings if you don't get to Christ. You will not come
to me. You'll come to everything else,
but you won't come to me. You'll offer every alibi and
excuse known to man, and you'll find comfort in that false refuge. But you won't come to me. But
you might have life. This is not life. This is existence. Anything that's dying is not
life. This isn't life. Life is eternal. Life is spiritual. Life is divine. This is not life.
I'm not living in the flesh. I don't have life till I have
Christ. This is not riches. Your riches
are nothing but rags. Riches is in Christ. You don't
find any riches in this world. There's no rich man in this world
but the man who has Christ. The man who has a tremendous
home and all these lands and possessions, he's not rich. The
man is rich who has Christ, an unlimited source of grace. A
joint heir with Jesus Christ, an heir of God, life eternal.
He's rich. There's no man who has treasures
on this earth who's rich. He's poor. They'll be gone tomorrow. God said, then who shall these
things be, you fool? The man is rich who has laid
up treasures in heaven. He's wealthy. He's rich. His
God supplies all his needs according to his riches in glory through
Jesus Christ. You will not come to me that
you might have life, that you might have true life, true riches. No man has rest outside of Christ. It's pleasure in sin for a season. There's a false peace and a false
rest and a false comfort and a false confidence and a false
assurance, but in Christ there's total rest. There's life. There's life. There's strength for my weakness,
fullness for my emptiness, light for my darkness, life for my
death, clothing for my nakedness, mercy for my sins in Christ. I've got to get to Christ. And I've got to lay down everything
else that's displeasing to Him. I can't bring my traditions and
come to Christ. I can't bring my alibis and come
to Christ. I can't bring my family and come
to Christ. Can't do it. They'll have to
come by themselves. You will not come to me. I receive
not honor from men. I know you. I know you. You don't
know yourself. I've heard people say, if I know
my heart, that's one thing you don't know. I know you. I know you. I'm the
only one who does know you. Your friends don't know you.
You don't know yourself. Your pastor doesn't know you,
I know you, and I know you don't have the love of God in you.
You have the love of self and you have the love of pleasure
and you have the love of this world, but you don't have the
love of God in you. I know you, he said. You've got
the knowledge of religion, you've got the knowledge of doctrine,
but you don't have the love of God in you. I'm come in my Father's name.
commissioned by him and sent by him, and you receive me not. Let another come in his own name,
with his own system, with his own denomination, with his own
doctrine, with his own pleasing word, with his own enticing word.
Let him come in his own name. Let him come with all the promises
of the future, and even the presence of this earthly life. you will receive. Him, you will receive. In Him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. It's all in Him. And there's
no other refuge. There's no other hiding place.
God will deal with men on the basis of their relationship with
Jesus Christ, and on no other basis. And God's not going to
deal with me on the basis of my doctrine. He's not going to
do it. There are a lot of people who
can't stomach an Armenian sermon, but the same people do not love
Christ with all their hearts and do not know Christ. As Brother
Johnson said one time, there's nothing hard to understand about
Calvinism. The human mind can comprehend
a system of doctrine of that nature, there's nothing hard
to understand about Arminianism. One's works, one's a free gift. What men can't understand and
can't enter into by nature is the mysteries of grace, a vital
living union with Jesus Christ, a turning from my idols to the
living God, a life of faith, a heart of faith, a mind of faith,
a spirit of faith. A confidence in Christ, a union
with Christ that cuts off all other relations, all other natural
ties, all other responsibilities where Christ is involved. That's
what our Lord's talking about when he said, you come to me
and hate your mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife,
and your own life also. If you don't, you can't be my
disciple. He's talking about the mysteries
of a life of faith. A life of faith that offers no
excuse and no alibi. Christ is King and the person
is not ashamed of it. Christ is Lord. If he's got time
for anything else, alright, but Christ is first. Barnard offended
so many people in this area when he came preaching that message.
Christ will be Lord of all or he won't be Lord at all. He won't
be Lord at all. I'm not preaching some strange
doctrine. I'm not preaching something that's
not in God's Word. I'm declaring unto you that which
Christ said. Let a man put his hand to the
plow and look back. He's not fit for the kingdom
of God. He that cometh to me must deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me. He turned to Peter and said,
You love me more than these? Pointed to his boats, pointed
to his nets, pointed to the sea, pointed to the world, pointed
to everything else. If you do, you feed my sheep.
And if you don't, you go your way. That's all that he says. Men will not come to Christ.
They will not. Let me tell you what I'm saying
and sum it up. God does not keep you from coming
to Christ. Christ offers a full and free invitation to anyone
who wants to come, anyone in this You come on if you want
to come on. Come on. But let me tell you
this. You come completely, you come unreservedly, you come lovingly,
you come burning your bridges behind you, you come taking up
your cross, you come surrendering unconditionally, or you don't
come at all. Or you don't come at all. Our
Lord doesn't have any halfway sons. They are completely committed. Our Lord doesn't have any part-time
daughters, they're completely committed. Our Lord does not
have a part-time bride, they're totally committed. Committed
at the expense of everything and everybody. Now in Him are
hid all the treasures, that's where they are. It's amazing
to me that men would leave home, hearth and comfort and go west
to hunt gold. But that's what our Lord said.
They'll do anything for this body, for the lust of the eye,
the mind, and the heart. They'll leave the comforts of
home. They'll brave the cold plains of the West. They'll brave
the hot sun of the desert. They'll brave the long hours
of labor and toil to find a piece of gold, but not to find Christ. Our Lord
is the great pearl. He's worth all you've got. He's
the treasure hid in the field and he's worth all you've got.
And if he's not worth all you have and all you are and all
you ever expected to be, you haven't seen the treasures in
him yet. Or you want him as a sideline, who doesn't? You want him as
a fire escape, who doesn't? You'll make a contribution to
have an insurance policy, who won't? You'll hope that when
the smoke clears away and the dust dies down, you'll be on
the right side, who wouldn't? But God doesn't save those kind
of people. He saves sons. He saves bond slaves. He saves
committed servants. Totally committed. Not a halfway
committal, but a total commitment. Now, what hinders men from coming
to Christ? What hinders them from coming
to Christ? Somebody says they just don't want to come. That's
true, in a sense, but that's not all of it. That's not all
of it. You say they could come if they
wanted to, you're dead right. But there's a lot more that enters
into it than that. There's a combination of things that keeps men from
coming to Christ. There's a combination of things
that hinders sinners from coming to the Savior, and I'll give
you five of them tonight. First of all, our Lord said in
verse 40, and you will not come. The will, that's the problem.
The will. the will. It's not of him that
willeth. It's not of him that willeth.
It's not of the will of the flesh. It's not of the will of man.
Men will not come. If they would, they could. Turn
to Revelation 22. This scripture is in the Word
of God. This scripture is true. Revelation
22, verse 17. And the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. And the bride, Some say that
is the New Jerusalem, the Holy City, some say it's the church,
whatever. They say, come, come on, come
to the fountain, come to the living water, come to the table,
come to the rest, come to Christ. They say, come, come, let him
that heareth, let every believer, you witnesses of Christ, let
him say, come on, come on, sinner, come on, come on to Christ. And
let him that is a thirst come, every thirsty soul. And listen,
whosoever will, will, will you? Will you? Whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely, all he needs. Take it! Like the
little robin Spurgeon fed, who went out and got his buddy, and
he came and ate the crumbs provided for the robin, but he wanted
them, and he took them, and they were his for the taking. And
Christ is yours for the asking and yours for the taking. Will
you? Will you? No. Not on the conditions you
lay down. Not on the conditions that you've
read tonight. Not on the conditions that you've
read from that Bible. I won't come that way. I'll come
on my terms and on my condition and I'll find a preacher that
will satisfy my thoughts about it and I'll come that way. But
I won't come this way. That's what Naaman said. The
servant of God sent his servant out to see old Naaman. There's
a man standing there with leprosy. There's a man standing there
dying, and knows he's dying. And the servant of God said to
him, go and dip in the River Jordan. He said, I will not.
I will not. This is the only way you'll be
made whole. Well, I will not. I just will not do it. And that's
the reason men don't come. They will not come. You will
not come. That's the basis of the whole
thing. You will not come. Somebody offers you an easier
way, you'll take it. Somebody offers you another way,
you'll take it. Somebody offers you even a way under suspicion,
you'll still give that a try. But not to Christ. I will not. There's another reason why men
don't come back two pages in John 3, 19. What hinders men from coming
to Christ? Their wills, their foul and natural wills, their
depraved wills. A man can only do what he will
do. And he will not do what his nature resents. His nature resents
it. Our human nature resents lordship.
Our human nature resents begging. Our human nature resents authority.
And human nature resents the scepter, the rule of Christ. We will not come. And then secondly,
we love our sins. And this is condemnation that
light has come into this world, but men love darkness. Men love
darkness. Now the Word of God says, powerfully
and plainly, that where sin did abound, sin does not keep a man
No matter how dark and how deep and how wicked a man's sins are,
his sins won't keep Christ from saving him, but his sins will
keep him from coming to Christ. Our Lord is able to save to the
uttermost them that come to God by him. He delights to show mercy
where sin did abound. I don't care how sinful you are.
I don't care how wicked you are. You come on to Christ. For where
sin did abound, grace did much more abound. But we have no right
to claim a salvation that does not give us a deliverance from
our sins and a love for sin and a determination to continue in
having our own will and our own way. That's what keeps men from
Christ, a love for this world, a love for sin, a love for darkness,
a love for our own way. And then the third thing, what
keeps a man from Christ? What hinders a man from coming
to Christ? In a total unconditional commitment and surrender, the
traditions of religion, how strong they are, how binding they are,
how blinding they are, how invisible they are. The Pharisees of old
were hindered from coming to Christ by the traditions of their
religion. They didn't need a Sabbath day,
they had a Sabbath day. They didn't need a righteousness,
they had a righteousness. They didn't need a church, they
had a church. They were married to these traditions.
They said, you can't pick corn on the Sabbath day. You can't
heal on the Sabbath day. You can't carry your bed on the
Sabbath day. The uncircumcised cannot come
into the church. We've got our discipline. We've
got our doctrines. We've got our traditions. We've
got to hold to these things and defend them at any cost, and
even God can't interrupt them. I know men today who lose the
joy of the table of the Lord by debating about who ought to
take of it. I know men who lose the picture. and the message
of baptism by arguing about by whose authority it ought to be
administered. The sprinkling of an infant.
There are those who hold to that. It's not in the Word of God.
It's not taught in the Word of God. It's not commanded in the
Word of God. It's not illustrated in the Word of God. But we dare
not do it lest our child perish. I just must follow the custom.
I must follow the tradition. I must follow the way that it's
been done. I dare not give it up. It could
be of importance. It could have some significance.
My dear friend, we cannot bring our traditions and come to Christ.
We cannot hold to these idols and come to Christ. The Apostle
Paul summed it up in Philippians 3. Listen to him, Philippians
3. He talks about his traditions,
he talks about his heritage, he talks about his religious
customs, and he says here in Philippians 3, verse 5, I was
circumcised, commanded the eighth day of the stock of Israel. I
was of the tribe of Benjamin, the promises to Israel. The Hebrew of Hebrews, touching
the law, the law was commanded. I was a Pharisee concerning zeal. I persecuted the church, touching
the righteousness which is in the law, thou shalt not, thou
shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt do. I was blameless. But
what things at one time were gained to me, I counted total
loss. Can you lay them down? For some
people, the name Baptist has a peculiar and particular and
powerful ring. There's some significance, but
brethren, Christ doesn't save Baptists, he saves sinners. I would defend baptism by immersion
as strongly as I could, but God doesn't save immersed people
in water, he saves people who are immersed in Christ. I would defend the elements of
the table. I would stand for the wine and the unleavened bread. But you can eat all the unleavened
bread this world ever produced and drink all the wine this world
ever produced and go to hell. It's Christ that saves. And men
are hindered from coming to Christ because of their traditions and
their rituals and their customs, and they hold to them, they divide
over them, they split over them, they argue over them, they debate
them, they cling to them, and they become like the table of
the Jew, a snare and a stumbling block that keeps them from Christ. Oh, Paul said, I count, verse
8, I count all things but loss. All things religiously, earthly,
materially, physically, in every way I count them but loss for the excellence of the knowledge
of Jesus Christ my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all
things. Huh? The loss of all things,
everybody, everything. And I count these things but
dung, rubbish, material for the garbage dump. or that I may win
Christ and be found in Him." Have we ever gotten serious about
this? This man's serious. This man's serious. This man
lived for those things. This man fought for those things.
This man bled for those things. This man killed for those things.
And this man had Scripture for them, Jay, Scripture for them.
They were the traditional, dispensational, way of Moses, but when Christ,
the light, the Son of Heaven, out shone the moon of ceremony,
Paul wouldn't turn loose of the moon. But one day he did. Stars, moon, earth, and all the
planets, he let them go, that I might reach out and have Christ.
Your right arm offends you, he says, cut it off. Your relatives keep you from
Christ, cut them off. Your right eye offends you, pluck
it out. Your job keeps you from Christ, quit it. It'd be better
to go through life having no job, having no eye, than to have
two to burn in hell. You know what he said? You think
that's literally to cut off your right arm, you're dead wrong.
Our Lord never taught mutilation of the body. But he says it's worth everything
to get to Christ. whatever keeps you from Christ.
Christ is all. When a man comes to Christ, he'll
take a trip to Calvary, where he'll see the glory of Christ,
the glory of his law, the glory of his justice, the glory of
his love, the glory of his righteousness. He'll take a trip to Calvary,
and then he'll take a trip to the cemetery, and he'll bury
everything he's got and everybody he knows, and then he'll follow
his Lord. And then he'll follow his Lord.
But that's what keeps men from Christ, the traditions of religion.
His will, first of all. But when even the will's broken,
when even the will is broken, there rises up a love for the
world, a love for its luxuries, a love for its comforts, a love
for these things. And these things have got to
be crucified. I'm crucified with Christ. God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ by which
the world is crucified unto me. A love for sin, a love for the
world, keeps me in from Christ. And then, traditions. Oh, traditions. The traditions
of religion. They wrap themselves around us
before we know it. And the first thing we know,
we're bogged and bound down by these traditions. traditions. Everybody's got a denominational
preference because everybody's got a tradition. Even those who claim to be undenominational
have the tradition of undenominationalism. And then the fourth refuge, the
fourth thing that hinders a man from coming to Christ is a false
refuge. There is nothing that Satan had
rather do and bring you to a place of contentment without Christ,
of security without Christ, a refuge, a refuge. I know I'm saved. I
wish I had a hundred dollars for every time anybody said that
to me. I wish I had a hundred dollars for every time anybody
said that to me, that I doubted very seriously if they ever met
the Lord. But I know I'm saved. I know I'm saved because I made
a profession of faith. Brother, I'll tell you, he's
in that old country church. Brother so-and-so was preaching
and I was moved in my heart. And I walked down that aisle
and I accepted Jesus. And that happened 25 years ago
and I've never doubted it since. I'd be afraid of any kind of
profession of faith, I never doubt it. I don't doubt Christ, I don't
doubt his ability, his power. But I doubt any experience. I
have a right to put a question mark on any experience. I know
I'm saved. I'm saved because God's answered
my prayer. I know I'm saved. I've tithed
for years. I've served the Lord all my life. I'm a member of the church. I've
been baptized. I've done this, that, and the
other. I know I'm saved. I wouldn't dare give it up. I
wouldn't dare even question it. I'll tell you this, any smart
businessman takes an inventory every year. And any intelligent
preacher will take an inventory of his message every day. And
any smart individual that's been enlightened by the Holy Spirit
will take an inventory of his relationship with Christ every
day too. Old John Newton talked about
it. Tis a point I long to know. I
long to know. I'm not satisfied with an experience. I long to know. I'm not satisfied
with a decision. I long to know. Tis a point I
long to know. Oft it gives me anxious thought. Anxious thought. Do I love the
Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? But Lord,
we prophesied in Your name and cast out devils and did many
wonderful works. I never knew You. Too late then
to start taking inventory. Are you resting in your experience
of Christ? Are you resting in your works
of Christ? Are you resting in your church membership, your
baptism, or Christ? There are men who have been saved,
sanctified, and called to preach who've never met the Savior according
to their own testimonies. I know I'm saved. They can walk
their way, live their life, go their direction, they're still
saved. And Baptists are the world's greatest sinners in this respect.
Churches can have 1,200 members and 15 in prayer meeting, but
they're all saved. Don't tell them they're not.
You'll have a fight on your hands. I don't question a man's salvation.
I'm saved! I'm saved. Well, I'll tell you
this. Men who are saved are being saved. And anybody that's not being
saved ain't never been saved. And men who are being saved have
a salvation that's nearer now than when they believed. And
anybody that's not being saved, anybody that doesn't have the
expectations and the prospects and the anticipation of a salvation
to come, has never been saved. Salvation is life. Not a decision,
not a profession, it's not a dedication, it's not a sight line, it's life! 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. But too many in this day do not
come to Christ because they've already come to something else. They've already got it signed,
sealed, and delivered. They've already got it all fixed
up and put the wax on it and the stamp on it and shoved it
in the saint and shut the door and waiting to get it out in
glory. But that's not salvation. Salvation is a principle. It's
a nature. It's a life. It's an artesian
well springing up within you into everlasting life. It's a
life that grows. It's a life that seeps. It's
a life that yearns. It's a life that reaches out.
It's a life that's motivated by supreme love for a supreme
person. And it never gets old. I worry about folks to whom the
gospel gets old. Breathing never got old to me
yet, Jay. Breathing never gets old. Eating
never gets old. Folks prepare, you're already
preparing for what you're going to eat tomorrow, where you're
going to dine tomorrow. It never gets old, that's the
flesh. But I'll tell you this, a man who's come to know Christ,
nothing about him ever gets old. It's new every day. It's a living,
living experience. That's right. That's the truth. It never gets old. And then the
fifth thing that hinders a man from coming to Christ, and this
is offensive, I know it's going to be offensive, I know it's
offensive, but Paul said our gospel is offensive. I used to
sit down there in Chattanooga 30 years ago when I pastored
that little church before God was pleased to teach me something
about his grace and gospel. Religious like Paul. Separated
from my mother's womb, yes. Called to be a preacher of the
gospel, yes. Walking in the zeal and ignorance
of religion. I used to sit down there in that
little study and wonder. And be concerned about two things.
Number one, why all those folks walking the aisle for Jesus weren't
living and panting after and loving and worshiping the Jesus
they claim to believe in. They used to bother me in no
uncertain terms. I'd sit and look at the church
row. We had 440 or 450 members. Auditorium wouldn't seat half
that. Wasn't no use having an auditorium seat in your membership.
They ain't coming anyhow. I'd sit and go over the road.
He made a profession. Where is he? Why doesn't he love
Christ? Why doesn't he pray? Why doesn't he witness? Why doesn't
he give? Why doesn't he have some participation? Why? Why? Oh, they want the preacher to
come around and visit them, but they don't visit the preacher.
Somebody said to me one time, I hadn't seen you in six weeks.
I said, I'm up there every Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday
night. You're welcome to come. I want you to come to the house.
I ain't coming to your house if you don't come to God's house.
I'm not a social worker. I'm a pastor. I'm not a doctor. I can't heal
people, but I can sure preach to their souls if they'll come
listen to me. Your doctor's not going to do
you any good if you don't go see him or take his medicine. And pretty soon he'll tell you
he'll find you another one. And that's what I say with all
the zeal of my soul. If you're not going to listen
to me, go find you somebody else. I will not pastor people who
won't worship God. Old Jonathan Edwards got kicked
out of his church because he demanded a regenerated church
membership. That's what it was all about. That's all he wanted.
He just said, the folks that have their name on the roll ought
to be regenerated. And they said, that's not fair.
We just do without you now. You can leave. He said, all right,
goodbye. God bless you. But I demand a regenerated church
membership. And I used to sit and wonder
about the second thing. Number one, why? Why? People who claim
to know Christ didn't worship Christ, didn't love Christ. I
couldn't understand it. I couldn't wait for the Lord's
day. They couldn't either because they was going fishing. And the other thing that bothered
me was this. Why wasn't my message offensive? Didn't that trouble
you? Paul said his message was offensive.
Everywhere he went, somebody shot at him. Nobody shot at me.
Everywhere he went, people hated him. Nobody hated me. Everywhere
he went, the Apostle Paul was either put in prison or put in
the best room in the house. But they wanted no middle ground. They either loved him or despised
him. But nobody cared whether I came
or went. They wasn't interested. But I'll
tell you this, I got a hold of this gospel one day and I found
out something about that. I found out the love of people
who love Christ. I found out how close you can
get to people who love Christ. You cut one arm and the other
one bleeds. That's right. You cut one arm and the other
one bleeds. But I found out something about that other crowd, too.
They hate you, and they hate your God, and they hate what
you preach. It's offensive. And I'm going
to be offensive now, and I'm going to tell you the truth.
The truth. You know the truth, and the truth
will make you free. Nothing else can set you free,
but Christ can. If you can get to him, if you
will come. If you will come. Now, this is perhaps the most
humbling and offensive charge you can bring against this generation,
but it's true. Our Lord brought it. First of
all, you can tell men that they will not come, and you won't
offend them too much. You won't offend them too much.
Most of them will say, well, you did it right. I could if
I wanted to, but I won't. And you can tell them they love
the world. And they'll say, well, you're right, I do. I love the
world. If I have to make my choice, like old Dixie said, if I get
well preaching, I'm going right back to the kind of life I'm
living. No use me lying to you or God or anybody. That won't
offend them too much, and you can tell them they're bound by
tradition, and they might get mad for a while, but they'll
say, you got your opinion. And you might talk about their
false refuges, and they'll get mad for a little while, but they'll
get over it. But let me tell you this, you know why men don't
come to Christ? They're ignorant. Ignorant. That's right, ignorant. Now that'll
offend, and they'll stay mad at that. But that's what our
Lord said. Paul said, they have a zeal for
God, but not according to knowledge. They're ignorant! Ignorant! Of God's righteousness. My friends,
this generation does not know God. That's what Christ said,
you neither know me nor my Father. They don't come to Christ because
they don't know Christ. They don't know Him. You can't
trust an unrevealed Christ. You cannot call upon Him in whom
you've not believed. You can't believe in Him of whom
you've not heard. They've been hearing another
Jesus. They've never heard the call of the crucified conquering
one. They've never heard the demands
of the enthroned King. They've never heard the Lordship
of Him who's the living God. They've been hearing about He
wants to save you and you won't let Him. Jesus is sitting up
there in heaven wringing his hands because men won't let him
have his way. That's who they've heard about.
But they don't know the living God. You don't know me, he said.
You don't know me. It was a long time before the
disciples came to know him. It sure was. It was a long time
before they came to know him. And I tell you, those who know
him don't know him like they're going to know him. Don't know
him like they want to know him. and don't know him like they
intend to know him, they're still learning of Christ. They're still
coming to Christ. To whom coming? To whom coming? As a living, sovereign Lord in
stone. To whom coming? If you call him
Father past the time of your sojourning in fear. Fear of whom? Fear of him who is your Father.
They're still coming. You don't know me. Christ said
this. You don't know me or my Father. Eternal life is to know
God. To know Him. And I'll tell you
something else they don't know. This generation doesn't know
sin. Oh, I hear the preachers preaching. They talk about drinking.
They talk about smoking. They talk about dancing. They
talk about card playing. They talk about all these things.
And brethren, these are recent things. These are things of the
last hundreds of years. Sin is a thing that goes back
to the garden. Sin is a principle, a nature,
a spirit. Sin is a principle. These things that are outward
are nothing but the consequences of sin. They're the results of
sin. They're the products of sin.
They're the outgrowth of sin. And you can cut them all off
and be the world's greatest sinner. That's what our Lord told these
Pharisees. He said, it's not that which
goes in your mouth that defiles you. It's that which comes out
of your heart, out of the heart. That's the seed of sin. That's the very source of sin.
That's the big spring from which it all comes. That's the throne
of sin. Sin has been enthroned by Adam's
fall. It's a principle. And Paul said,
I didn't know sin. The most educated, religious,
accomplished, experienced, religious man of his day didn't know sin. He didn't know sin. Do you? Do you know what sin is? I tell
you this, when you learn what sin is, you'll quit pruning branches
and start cutting at roots. You'll start praying differently.
You'll start praying differently and you'll grieve over different
things. You'll start grieving over a principle, a nature. You'll
start repenting not for what you've done, but what you are.
You'll start crying for mercy not because of what you've done,
but what you are. You'll cease to be depressed
over little outward things and become depressed over a nature.
And you won't be satisfied until you're delivered by the righteousness
of Christ and cleansed by the blood of Christ. Somebody said
confession is good for the soul. Confession never saved anybody.
It's blood that cleanses from sin. Confession won't reach to
the depths of sin. The decisions won't reach to
the depths of sin. A little water won't reach to
the depths of sin. It takes the blood of Christ
that's able to reach to the deepest, darkest corner and recess of
my evil heart. And that's when, brother, I tell
you, when you come to know the blood maketh atonement, the blood
cleanseth, the blood purifies, whoo, it gives you a happy heart.
It gives you a joyful spirit, but people don't know sin. Otherwise
they wouldn't make such stupid statements as, I've never touched
a drop of liquor. That's the most asinine thing
I ever heard anybody say. You might have been better off
if you'd have bathed in it. Then you know you're lost. But our gospel is hid. Men are
ignorant. Ignorant. The ignorant of God,
the ignorant of sin, and the ignorant of the gospel. I listened to two preachers before
I came to church. Maybe that's what fired me up.
But I've never been so depressed in my life. He talked about sending
money to help us preach the gospel, and he ain't preached any gospel
yet. Not one word of gospel. I charge that 99% of the preachers
in this nation never heard of the gospel. They've never been
exposed to the gospel. The gospel is concerning a person,
and that person's office, and that person's deity, and that
person's incarnation. and that person's power, and
that person's work, and that person's death, and that person's
blood, and that person's righteousness, and that person's resurrection,
and that person's intercession, and that person's coming. A young
man came by my study one day, sat down and talked to me. He
said he decided to preach. He wasn't a member of this congregation.
He was a member somewhere else. He said God called him to preach.
about 21 years old. And I just calmly said to him,
well, I said, son, what's the gospel? He began talking, and
he talked, and he talked, and he talked. And he talked about
10 minutes. And I said, you through? He said,
yes, sir. I said, you hadn't identified
or defined the gospel yet. I said, you hadn't mentioned
the suretyship of Christ. You haven't mentioned the imputed
righteousness of the Son of God. You haven't mentioned the effectual
work of Christ on that cross. You haven't mentioned His intercession,
His mediatorial work at God's right hand. You haven't mentioned
any of those things. Oh, he said, I believe that.
I said, you didn't say anything about it. And you'll ask preachers. They'll get up and preach and
abort all these things, Jay, and then you'll come to them
and say, you didn't preach this, that. Oh, I believe that. Brethren,
that's the gospel. Preaching about the gospel is
not preaching the gospel. A lot of people are interested
in the return of Christ who are not interested in the Christ
who is coming. And a lot of people talk about Calvary and what happened
at Calvary, and they are not interested in who died at Calvary. That is a lot of difference. People preach the cross of the
Christ who have never yet one time preached the Christ of the
cross. There is a thin line here. And it's the line between despair
and glory. There's a thin line here, and
it's the line between heaven and hell. There's a thin line
here, and it's the line between being saved and lost, knowing
the gospel. Paul said it's the gospel concerning
his son. And old Philip walked alongside
that chariot, and that man was sitting there reading the Bible,
and Philip said, Do you understand what you're reading? Do you? Oh, anybody can understand the
Bible. This fellow is smarter than that. He said, I can't understand
it. Somebody is going to have to
show me. I wish I could find somebody somewhere who didn't
have all the answers. I wish I could find somebody
somewhere who didn't know everything. Somebody somewhere who will look
at this book and say, I don't understand it. I wish somebody
would show me. And boy, what a joy it would
be to get up beside him and open the word and say, Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm the chief. That's
good news. But it's only good news to a
hungry man. That's the truth. It's only good
news to a weary man. It's only good news to a captive.
It's only good news to a fellow that's gone out of business with
this world. and seeing that everything here is fading, its fashion fadeth,
and its foolishness, and it passeth away. Oh, that I might know Christ
and the power of his resurrection and be found in him. But it's
death, it's crucifixion. It's not something that a man
can do alone. It's not something he can sustain alone. He's got
to have the power of God. Our Father in heaven, For this
grand and glorious good news, we give thee thanks. For revelation
of thy mercy in Christ Jesus, we give thee thanks. Lord, we
know it in our heads, and we have to say this is true. There
are no part-time believers. A man can't die part-time. He's
either dead or he's alive. A man can't go to a cross part-time. He can't go to a cross one day
a week. He can't go to a cross any spare time. When a man goes
to a cross, he dies. And you said in your word, except
you take up your cross and follow me, you cannot enter the kingdom
of God. Deliver us from the horrible
deception of the devil and the deception of this religious world.
deceiving, if it were possible, the very elect. And let us see
that Christ is King and Lord, and He's worthy. He's worthy.
He's worthy. I'm not giving Him anything.
I'm receiving everything from Him. The Lord giveth and the
Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
It's not a sacrifice on my part. It's a sacrifice on His part
to make me His child. The Lord opened these blind eyes.
We who call bitter sweet and sweet bitter, oh, what fools. Men who walk in darkness and
say, we see, we see. Men who live in refuges of lies
and saying we're safe, we're safe. Don't leave us to ourselves,
we'll perish. Do something for us in a very
special way. For Christ's sake we pray.