Romans chapter 3. You never want to skip the first
lesson. You're in trouble the rest of
the way in your training, whatever effort you're pursuing, if you miss lesson
number one. And lesson number one to be learned
by anyone who's seeking God. Lesson number one. You miss this,
you're in trouble the rest of the way if you live to be 99. Lesson number one to be learned
by anyone who's seeking God, the living God, not a God, the
living God. Not the Baptist God or the Catholic
God or the modern God or even the ancient God, but the living
God. David said, My heart, my soul, panteth for thee, the living
God. When shall I come and appear
before him? When can I find him? Where can
I find him? In a dry and thirsty land. I
long to know God. For anyone here who has an interest
in the mercies of God, in the free grace of God, in the pardon
of sin, In these blessed things we call redemption, reconciliation,
regeneration. Anyone here who has a desire
for life eternal, lesson number one, don't miss it. Don't miss
it. It's found in verse 3. Underscore
it, at least in your minds. God forbid. Verse 4 it is. God forbid. Yeah. Romans 3, 4. Let God be true. But every man a liar. That's it. That's lesson number
one. The voice of man, whoever the man, the voice of man is
as changeable as the wind and twice as fickle. That's so. That's a rule established, laid
down. You can't believe what men say.
because they're liars by birth and nature and practice. But
you can believe God. The Word of God is as firm as
a rock, endureth forever. Now that's lesson number one.
And if you miss that lesson, then you're in trouble, because
it applies all the way, whatever you're dealing with, whatever
subject. Let God be truth. Let the Word of God be truth.
Let it be your foundation, let it be your guideline, let it
be your rule, both of faith and practice. God's word is true.
Man's a liar. Every man's a liar. The multitude marched with the
King of Kings. He came into Jerusalem riding
a donkey. It said they, some of them cut
down trees and palm branches and scattered the road with flowers
and green leaves and palm branches, and they cried, Hosanna! Hallelujah! Blessed be the one who comes
in the name of the Lord. This is the Lord Jesus Christ,
riding on a donkey, coming into Jerusalem. Listen to the people,
thousands of them. Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! Hallelujah! Praise God! Blessed be the son of David.
Blessed be the one who comes in the name of the Lord. While
their voices had scarcely died in the West, till that same crowd
were crying, Crucified! Away with it! Give us more of
us! Where's the hallelujah? I don't
hear it. Where's the hosanna? I don't
hear it. Where's the blessed? I don't
hear it. I hear the voice of men crying, Crucify Him! We have
no king but Caesar. We'll not have this man reign
over us. That ought to tell us something.
Tells me something. The world will hail a man as
king today and drive him off the streets tomorrow. Because
man's voice is fickle. Man's voice is as changeable
as the wind. Man by nature and birth is a
liar. Some old prophet said a long
time ago, my son, heed not the world's frowns. and court not
its smiles. Heed not the world's frowns and
court not its smiles. All men are liars. And this is
lesson number one. Let God be true. His word is
true. And you know about the only time,
about the only time, and I've looked at this sentence since
I wrote it a lot of times, I started to say 750 times, but that proved
me to be a liar, wouldn't it? You know about the only time
that a man's word can be fully received and relied upon and
believed is when he's quoting this book. And I've looked at
that again and again. And I'm just persuaded I'm telling
you the truth. Doesn't matter who the man is.
It doesn't matter what his profession. About the only time he's really
telling the truth, the absolute truth, the pure truth, is when
he's quoting this book. And you better watch him, he
might quote it wrong. And apply it to his own prejudices. And use it to prove his tradition. Because he's a liar! Our Lord
said to that gang of religionists, he said, ye are of your father
the devil! He was a liar from the beginning!
a treacherous, subtle, crafty, liar. But this word is truth. And I've taken as my subject
this morning from Romans chapter 3, beginning with verse 19, guilty
before God. Guilty before God. And I want
you to look at five tremendous themes. Now if you can learn
these five tremendous themes from the word. It'll be the most beneficial
hour you've ever spent. The most beneficial hour you've
ever spent, if you can learn these things from God's Word.
Number one is verse 19. Look at it. Now we know, now
we know, that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law, that's every human being, that every
mouth may be stopped. That's step number one, if God
can just shut a man's mouth and open his ears. But as long as
the mouth's open, the ears are generally closed. Every mouth
may be stopped and all the world may become three words. Look
at it. Guilty before God. Guilty before God. Preacher,
guilty before God. Elder, guilty before God. Mama and Daddy, guilty before
God. Young people, every mouth stopped
in all the world, every son of Adam, every human being, guilty
before God. The preacher, I'm a Christian,
guilty before God. But I always try to do right,
guilty before God. All the world may become guilty
before God. Better learn that. I'll tell
you, I've heard And I know you have. Let's say we've heard till
we're weary of hearing, and we've read till we're weary of reading
all sorts of praise and honor heaped upon men. Oh, what a grand
and noble creature is man. Oh, what a great and noble creature
is man. Oh, what a splendid intellect.
What a dignified creature is man. We hear that all the time. Let some fella die and we just
glorify and praise him. What a splendid, wonderful, humanitarian,
all of these things. How great, how marvelous, how
glorious. But you know, my friend, the
more I read about this so-called dignity of man and the splendor
of man and the powerful intellect, and the works of men. I look
within, and I look without, and I look around, and I fail to
see that individual they're talking about. I can't find him. Where
is this grand and glorious creature called man? He's not up here,
and he's not out there. I can't find him. I look everywhere
in vain. I cannot find him. But when I
turn to the Word of God, I find just the opposite. What the Word
of God says about man is most uncomplimentary. What man says
about himself and what his preachers say about him, in order to gain
his praise, or his possessions, or his popularity, or something
else, is quite the opposite. The preachers say one thing about
man, God says something else. God says that man is a creature
of the dust. And the dunghill, that's the
kind of words God uses. He says, dust thou art, dust
thou art. He knoweth our frame, he remembereth
that we're dust. That's what he says, dust. Dust
under the feet. Dunghill, he said he lifted the
beggar from the dunghill. God's Word rolls us in the dust. God's Word ranks us with the
worms. Jacob, whom God called Israel,
God also called what, Cecil? A worm. Jacob, whom God called Israel,
for whom God named a nation, He called that same Jacob a worm. And you know what the word worm
is? A maggot. Isn't that horrible? But God
and man is not saying the same thing. And Paul said man's a
liar and God's truth. And man's talking about how great,
you listen to him, I stand and listen to him as I talk about
how great this person is, how good this person is, and how
righteous this person is, how noble this one is, how sharp
and intelligent this one is. God says dust, dunghill, worm,
maggot. God's true. Man's a liar. The word of God says man is less
than nothing. The word of God says the fit
place for flesh is hell. Isn't that what it says? The wicked shall be turned into
hell. Into hell. Listen to some scriptures. Turn to Genesis 6 verse 5. Let's
see what God says. I know what man is saying about
man. Man's paying his preachers to say that about him. You'd be surprised how many volunteers
are lined up to accept the, accept the, the blood money. Tell us how good we are, praise
Jesus. Stand up there and tell us how righteous we are and how
God can't get along without us and God has no eyes but our eyes,
no feet but our feet, no hands but our hands. We like that,
you know. and makes us feel so good. God tells the truth. Man's a liar. God's truth. He
says in Genesis 6, 5, God saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth and every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart. That's where God looks. He looks
on the heart. And he says every imagination
of the thoughts of man's heart is evil in a continuous fashion. The line's never broken. It's
not one evil after another, it's just evil continually. Turn to
Isaiah 1 and listen to God speak again. This is God's view of
man. And this is a much better view
than the one we have. We're looking on the outside
and God looks on the inside. And he says in Isaiah 1 verse
6, from the sole of the foot, even unto the head, No soundness,
nothing but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores that have
not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
That's man's condition. Turn to Psalm 14. Here's a shocking
scripture in the 14th Psalm, beginning with verse 1. Listen
to what God says. Psalm chapter 14, verse 1, the
fool. has said in his heart, this is
where it goes on, keep your heart out of the issues of life, the
fool has said in his heart, no God for me, no God for me, that's
what man's been saying ever since he's been on this earth, goodbye
God, no God for me. Oh, he'll worship his idols,
he'll worship his the figment of his imagination. He'll worship
something that he thinks is God, but the true and the living God,
goodbye God! They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. There is none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand, any that did seek God. They're
all gone aside. They're all together become You
know what that word filthy is? Now let's just be honest. Let's
just be honest. That word filthy, what is it
in the margin of your Bible? Say it. Stinking. That's exactly
what it is, Bob. That's what God says about you
and me. Stinking. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. I know that's not complimentary,
and I know you don't get crowds that way, and I know you don't
get folks to pay you, uh, uh, uh, pay you support and these
things that way. You just, you get a small minority
to listen to you, but I tell you who'll listen to you, God's
sheep will listen to you, because they won't hear another voice. They won't listen to the fickle
voice, the changing voice of men, the compromising, hypocritical
voice of men. I want to know what God says
about me, because God is true and everybody else is a liar. Isaiah 64, 6, don't turn, let
me just quote it. He says this, we all do fade
as a leaf. Our sins and iniquities have
taken us away. Our righteousnesses are filthy
rags. Filthy rags. That old rag down
in the garage that you've been cleaning the car engine with
all these years, that you walk under your feet and scrub your
feet on. Filthy rag. That's what your righteousness
is. That's the best you've got. We're not talking, Jay, about
our good days. the best I've got, the best I've ever done. Every tear that's ever trickled
down my cheek and every sob that's ever come from my throat and
every good deed I've ever extended in the name of religion without
Christ is filthy rags. You know what the Bible says
about man? It says he doesn't know God. Turn to 1 Corinthians
2. He thinks he does. In 1 Corinthians
2, David said, writing this, quoting the Lord God, he said,
you thought I was altogether such a one as yourself. Men think
they know God, but they don't know God. They don't know God. In 1 Corinthians 2, verse 7,
we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. even the hidden wisdom
which God's ordained before the world under our glory, which
none of the princes, the smartest men, the leaders, the governors
of this world, which none of them knew. Had they known it,
they never would have crucified the Lord of Glory. It shows man
doesn't know God. You needn't know me, Christ said,
nor my Father. These Jews, these religious men,
these moral men, these law-abiding men, these holy-day-keeping men,
these righteous men said, God is our Father, and Christ said,
you don't know God. They'd have never nailed God
in human form to the cross if they'd known God. Men today do
not know God. They profess to, they claim to,
they brag that they do, but they don't know God. And you know,
man not only doesn't know God by nature, but he hates holiness. He hates holiness in its pure
form. Now, he doesn't hate outward
morality. I'd be a fool if I said that.
The average person has some regard for outward decency. There's
nobody here this morning that wants to see somebody stand up
in front of this crowd and kill a fella. You'd be horrified.
We shot him down in cold blood. Horrible. But in our hearts,
we've shot some folks down in cold blood and thought nothing
about it. You see, nobody wants to see
some type of orgy down here in front of the chair. That's horrible
to think about. But oh, the lust that lives in
our hearts. Men hate holiness in its pure
form. They don't hate outward morality.
They don't hate outward decency. They want to protect their homes,
their children, their loved ones, their nation. I see these fellows
running around with waving flags, hollering, God, mother, and country.
They hate holiness in their hearts as much as any human being. They
talk about an outward conformity to some set rules laid down by
our founding forefathers. but holiness is a lot greater
than that. One man said one time, one preacher
waxed eloquent one time, and this is what he said, Oh holiness,
oh virtue, fair and lovely object to behold. Isn't that beautiful?
But I'm not through. Let's go on. Don't leave me now.
Don't say the preacher's cracked up. I'm quoting another. I'm
quoting an eloquent preacher. Oh virtue, oh holiness, Thou
fair and lovely object to look upon, couldst thou but descend
among men, couldst thou but appear in all thy perfection on this
earth, all men would prostrate themselves before thee, O holiness,
O virtue, and you would be beloved of all mankind. Brother, holiness and perfection
was here in all of its truth and honesty and righteousness
and virtue in the person of Jesus Christ. Did they fall down prostrate?
Did they worship him? They hounded him even unto the
death of the cross. Men hate holiness in its true
pure form. They still do. They always have. And they always will. The only
man who loves holiness in its pure form is a man that has the
pure holiness of God in the person of Christ living in his heart.
And even he has a nature that gives that other nature fits
sometimes. Men not only hate God, do not
know God, they hate holiness in its pure form. But I've charged
men with the crime of all crimes. We not only tried to dethrone
God in our father Adam, but when he in love and grace and mercy
came to dwell among us, we subjected him to the most cruel death that
man could devise. Death on a cross. The most shameful,
ignominious death that man could devise. We cried, we have no
king but Caesar! Let Jesus Christ be crucified! Oh, guilty, guilty before God. And that word guilty means this,
we're subject to the judgment of God because of our guilt. That's the first thing he said.
Secondly, and I'll move on quickly. The knowledge, look at verse
20, Romans 3, 20, guilty before God. Secondly, therefore, by
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Underscore
those three words, the knowledge of sin. Now I'm going to make
this brief and to the point. There are two subjects that natural
men know the least about. There are two subjects that men
know less about than anything else. Two subjects. I've already
dealt with the first one, God. They do not know God. And secondly,
they do not know or understand sin. Well, preacher, everybody
knows what sin is. Most people do not know what
sin is. And I'll tell you why. The reason
we know so little about sin, you know the reason we know so
little about sin, is we know so little about God. Now this
is the reason. We know so little about God,
therefore we know nothing about sin. A man's knowledge, listen
to this, a man's knowledge of sin is in direct proportion to
his knowledge of God, Charlie. That's exactly right. Your understanding
of sin is determined by your understanding of God. That's just, you're God. Because
sin is against God. Sin is not against man. You can
do a person wrong. You can harm or hurt a person.
But sin, its very definition, Jay, is a transgression of God's
law. God's love. Repentance is for
God, because sin is against God. And David said, God, O Lord,
against thee and thee only have I sinned. And the reason this world is
so fouled up on what sin is, is because they're fouled up
on who God is. And the man out in a certain
state, whom I knew personally, could refrain from reading the
Sunday paper, he could refrain from watching television, he
never had one in his home, he could make his wife not wear
slacks. And he could be in every service
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Sunday school,
and all the rest of them. And at the same time, steal money
out of the church treasure. Because that was his God, Richard.
You see, his sin is determined by his God. And here an individual can be
so religious, he can be a preacher, or a deacon, and so moral, and
so righteous, and look down on everybody who drinks, and look
down on everybody who gambles, and look down on everybody who
does this, that dances, or plays cards. And at the same time,
have hatred in their heart against somebody in the family or somebody
in the church and not speak to them. That's their God, Jay. Their idea of sin is determined
by their idea of God. Their God puts up with junk like
that. Their God is on a material throne. Their God is a God who deals
in healing bodies and giving dollar bills. That's their God. Your understanding of sin, what
sin is, in its spirit, in its attitude, in its principle, in
its root, in its source, is determined by your knowledge of God. And
the greater your knowledge of God, the greater your understanding
of what is this thing called sin. I'm telling you the truth. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. Whose law? God's law. God's law. Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart and thy neighbors thyself. That's
God's law. When did Isaiah discover what
sin was? When he saw the Lord. Isaiah
said, I saw the Lord! And I cried, woe is me. I'm a
man of unclean lips. When did Job discover what seeing
was? When he saw the Lord, he said,
mine eyes have seen thee. Oh, I've heard about you, Lord,
but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I hate myself. I repent. And brethren, this is one of
the most outwardly moral men that challenged everybody to
find one thing wrong with him. But when he saw the Lord, he
said, I am bound. I'll put my hand on my mouth!" I repent in sackcloth and ashes. He saw God, and when he saw God,
he saw sin. And most religious standards
that we're weighted down with in this day were created by small
men with smaller gods. That's where they came from. We regimented, regulated, restricted,
and blame God for it. And we've pointed at everybody
in this world and their sins and haven't pointed to our own
hearts. And we've been pruning the branches while the root gets
fat and filled with sap of sin. And we need to get our proverbial
axes and lay some blows to the root of this thing. And we're
not going to do it until we find out where the root is. And the
only way we'll find that out is to get a glimpse of God Almighty. And then the third thing quickly,
and I'll move along, verse 21. But now, oh, for those men guilty
before God, for those folks who are weighted down with a knowledge
of sin, and I'll tell you this, a knowledge of sin will take
all the strength out of you. It'll take all of the pride and
self-confidence out of you. All this psychology says, believe
in yourself. The Word of God says, lean not
to thine own understanding. Believe in God. Don't believe
in the flesh. Put no confidence in the flesh.
In yours, mine, or anybody else's. Believe in God. Cast thy care
upon Him. It's the opposite. Me and the
liars, though. You listen to a liar, he'll lead you in the
ditch. God Almighty says this. He says, but now, The righteousness
of God without the law is revealed, both in the word and by the prophets. Oh, I tell you, my friend, if you're not bodily interested
in what I'm talking about here, you better get interested. The
righteousness of God, being guilty before God, having an understanding
of my evil, my inability, my unrighteousness, that the very
best that I can bring up, the very best spot that I can find,
the very best foundation in the flesh that I can look and discover
is filthy rags in God's sight. And I've got to have a holiness,
I've got to have a righteousness, because without holiness no man
will see the Lord. And that's bifocal, talking about
both, both imparted and puted. Who shall stand in his presence,
he that hath clean hands and a pure heart? Mine aren't clean,
nor are yours. But God says now, there is a
righteousness. And it's not the righteousness
of religion, nor the righteousness of the law, nor the righteousness
of man. It's the very righteousness of God. And God's pleased with
his own righteousness. And we're not talking about the
essential holiness of God himself, but we're talking about the righteousness
which Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, and his obedience, provides
for his people. That's the righteousness. And
it says it's without the law. What does that mean, without
the law? Without your obedience to the law, that's what it means.
Not without his obedience. Because he, verily, in perfect
fashion, in every jot and tittle, fulfilled the law and gave to
us that righteousness of God. By nature, guilty before God.
So guilty, subject to the judgment of God. And my knowledge of sin
keeps me from justifying myself. My knowledge of sin, if I would
justify myself, my own mouth would condemn me. My own mouth
would cast me into the dust. So I cry, O God, be merciful
to me, a sinner, and God in grace comes and brings and provides
himself a perfect holiness in the person of his Son. Christ
came down here made of a woman, made under the law, and being
tempted and tried in all points, he fulfilled the law. And for
all who believe on him, he imputes to them and before his Father
legally, positionally, in every way, of perfect holiness. That's it, the righteousness
of God. Look at the next verse. Even
the righteousness of God, even the righteousness of God, which
is by faith of Jesus Christ upon all and unto all that believe,
underscore this, the faith of Jesus Christ. The faith of Jesus
Christ. Preacher, how can this righteousness,
this holy standing, this perfect standing, this acceptance before
God, how can it be mine? I want it. I'm guilty before
God. I have somewhat of an understanding,
a knowledge of sin. and my inability. And I see there
is a righteousness provided. God will be merciful. God will
be gracious. God's going to save somebody.
God's going to have a people. He's ordained that a people shall
be, shall populate heaven. All of them just like Christ.
I want to be one of them! All right? It's not by works. It's not by mechanical religious
deeds. It's not by giving mental assent
to some facts. But it's by our heart, faith
in Christ. Now you say, Brother May, and
that says, this righteousness becomes ours by the faith of
Christ. I'll take both translations,
because both are true. This righteousness is mine by
the faithfulness of Christ Jesus. He was faithful to God's purpose.
He was faithful to God's law, he was faithful to his people,
he was faithful to God's covenant, he was faithful in all things
and did by his obedience in death provide us with a right standing.
It is mine by the faithfulness of Christ, but it's also mine
by faith in Christ. Now he that believeth on the
Son hath life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life.
I've got to believe on Christ. I've got to personally receive
Him, because without faith it's impossible to please God. There's water in this glass.
I'm thirsty. It'll quench my thirst. But it's
not going to quench my thirst sitting there, Brother Jay. It's
water. You know men died in California
during the gold rush? They died paupers? And do you know I could stand
right here if I was rebellious enough and evil enough and die
of thirst looking right at that water? You'd say you'd be a fool. Well,
you're a fool to die standing by the river of living water,
too. And you're a fool dying standing by the table that God
spread with the bread of life and the water of life freely
put upon it, too. Don't call me a fool. There's only one way for me to
satisfy my thirst, and that's drink it. My hand doesn't satisfy
my thirst. My hand doesn't give me life. My hand doesn't nourish my body.
The water does. But the hand brings it to my
mouth. And that's what I'm saying here about faith. Faith doesn't
save, Christ does. Faith doesn't provide me with
the perfect righteousness, Christ does. Faith doesn't justify my
sins before God by the shedding of its blood, Christ does. But
faith receives Christ. Faith lays hold upon Christ. Faith commits myself to Christ. You see that? I believe. The serpent in the wilderness
was lifted up, and all who did what? All who look live. You reckon somebody died of a
snake bite because he's just too stubborn to look? Imagine
so. Some fella didn't like Moses,
he refused to look. Some fella was out of sorts with
Moses, he refused. Folks, you know the funniest
thing in the world? Folks get out of sorts with a preacher and
they won't worship God. Isn't that amazing? Go on, you stubborn
rascal. Moses said, look, I ain't a penaltician
to Moses. One fellow didn't come to church
that day and he died. He missed it because he was out
of sorts with Moses. Look! That's where the healing
is. Look! Salvation is in Christ. Believe. Believe. Look to Christ. Oh, look to Christ. By the faith of Christ. Last
of all, verse 22, one other One other thing I want you to underscore,
four words, there's no difference. There's no difference. Now brethren, let's tell the
truth on ourselves. We got a lot of pride and a lot
of self-righteousness and a lot of religious traditions. And
they have led us to classify people, did you know that? Go
on, tell the truth, be honest. Most people by nature classify
folks as good people and good, better, and best. Good, better,
and best. And then there's not so good
and evil and very wicked. We got folks all thick classified,
you know. But do you know, God wraps every
one of us and rolls, as Barnard used to say, the whole shooting
match into one ball. He says this, All at sin, there
is no difference. There is no difference in Jew
or Gentile, male or female, bond or free, whether in the pulpit
or the penitentiary, there is no difference. Whether male or
female, there is no difference. Whether old or young, well, they
didn't do things like that in my generation. There is no difference. I say the young people today
are worse than they've ever been. No, they're not. No, they're
not. I beg your pardon. There is no
difference. All is sin and comes short of
the glory of God. We're all like the particle sun. We're away from God. We're in
the pigpen. We're bankrupt and broke. And
unless God moves some hearts to seek Him, we're going to die
on the pigpen rail. We're going to die. And there
we're going to be buried. But I'll tell you this, there's
better things in my Father's house. There's better things. And I'm going to say to myself,
Father, I've sinned. I'm going to go home. I'm going
to say, Father, I've sinned. I'm not fit to be called your
son. But I'd rather be a servant in the house of the Lord than
to dwell in the hog beds and tents of the wicked. Why don't
you seek the Lord? But you'll seek him on this foundation
right here, that all men are liars, and God's true. And God
says we're guilty, and God tells us the exceeding sinfulness of
sin, and God presents to us in Christ his righteousness. He
can be satisfied with no less. And God lays out before you faith
in Christ, and there's no difference. You'll not come any other way,
whoever you are. Oh, Grandma, listen to me now.
They brainwashed you into thinking that all grandmas are good, but
they're not. They're guilty before God. And daddies, they're going
to honor you. This is Father's Day, and your
head's going to be about this big by 6 o'clock tonight when
they brag on how great and good you are. But don't you believe
them. They're liars. God says you're a sinner, and you're going
to hell. That's what he says. You better
believe God. Don't you believe anybody else.
You need Christ. Now, in Christ you can be good.
In Christ you can be righteous. In Christ. But outside of Christ,
you rebel, God's going to deal with you. It may be tomorrow,
I don't know. But if I was you, I'd seek his
righteousness in Christ. I'd lay hold on Christ. Sink
or swim, I'd go to him. There's no other way, for there's
no difference. There's no difference between
Jew and Gentile. All is sin and comes short of
the glory of God. There's no other way but Christ. We shut
up the faith in Christ. The disciple said, to whom shall
we go? He has the words of life. There's no other place to go.
And don't you listen to the preacher who tells you there is. Don't
go to the front of his church. Salvation is not down in the
front of the church. It's not in the preacher's hand. It's
not in the bread and wine. It's not in baptism. It's not
in the law. It's not in turning over a new leaf. It's in Christ!
By believing on him. Believe him. Our Father, may it please thee,
to reveal unto us thy truth. Christ is the truth. Only in Christ does the truth
dwell. It's not in us. It's not in all
of our religious ceremonies and all of our theologies. Not there,
it's in Christ. And the way, Christ is the way.
He says, I am the way, no man cometh to the Father but by me,
and Christ is life, and he that hath the Son of God hath life.
I can't show people that. Only your Holy Spirit can reveal
it. But we've read your word, and
your word is true. And we can't force men to receive
your word. They still let another come in
his own name, and they receive him. And Christ comes in your
name, Father, and they won't receive him. because men love
darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil, because
Satan is such a powerful adversary, because he blinded the minds
of those who believe not. Lord, open our eyes, reveal thyself
unto us. Bring men and women, young people,
to a knowledge of Christ. Enable us to rejoice with them.
In his name we pray, amen.