If you will, open your Bibles
again to the book of Galatians. Galatians 6. Galatians 6. Verse 14 will serve
us for a text tonight. Galatians 6. Paul says, But God forbid. God forbid is a phrase often
used by the Apostle Paul. In fact, while it's used in the
Old Testament several times, Paul is one of the only ones
who used it in the New Testament. And when he used this phrase,
God forbid, He used it to especially emphasize a particular point. Now let me show you some examples
of that. Turn to the book of Romans, chapter
3. God forbid. In Romans, the third
chapter, verse 3, the last line, he's talking about Israel and
he said, shall their unbelief make the faith of God without
effect? God forbid. The unbelief of Israel is not
going to frustrate the purpose of God. It's not going to make
void the purpose of God. God forbid that anybody should
even think such a thing. You see what he's doing? Especially
emphasizing the fact that this is not true. All right, look,
if you will, at verse 6. The last line of verse 5, he
says, is God unrighteous who takes vengeance? God forbid. God is righteous whatever He
does. If God judges a man, punishes
sin, deals injustice with an individual or with a nation,
God is just and God is righteous. And the very fact to charge God
with unrighteousness is blasphemy. God forbid that we should do
such a thing. And then in verse 31, verse 31,
do we make void the law through faith? Does faith do away with
the law? Is the law repealed because salvation
is by faith? God forbid. Why would anybody
think such a thing? We established the law. Christ
said, I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to fulfill it.
Joe prayed in the study tonight, slay sinners with thy law and
heal them with thy gospel. The law is effectual in the hands
of the Holy Spirit, not to save sinners, but to strip sinners.
to slay sinners. Do we make void the law through
faith? God forbid. You see how he uses
this term? God forbid. Look at Romans 6,
if you will. Here's another one, Romans 6,
verse 1. And we know our Lord gets glory from saving sinners,
lifting the blackest sinner and washing him white as snow. The
most profane. Paul said, I obtained mercy though
I was a blasphemer, I was injurious, I was a persecutor, and yet where
sin did abound, grace did much more abound. And the diamond
of God's mercy is more beautiful against the blackness of our
sin. And it's revealed more beautifully. And to whom much is forgiven,
he'll love much. And God gets glory from lifting
the most fallen sinner. And so he asked this question,
what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? If where sin overflowed,
grace did much more overflow, then let's give him some real
sins to forgive. Shall we do that? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer in sin? God forbid. So you see how he
establishes this thing? How ridiculous. How ridiculous.
He emphasizes a particular point. Now, in Galatians 6.14, God forbids
that this frail human being should glory in anything except the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's just as ridiculous for this
mass of flesh up here to glory in anything other than the cross
of Christ. It's just as ridiculous as saying
that the unbelief of this nation Israel makes void the faith and
purpose of God. It's just as ridiculous. It's
just as ridiculous for a human being to glory in anything except
the cross of Christ as it is to say we make void the law through
faith or shall we continue in sin that grace may abound. Now,
if anybody could have glory in anything, other than the cross,
it would have been Paul if anybody could have. In other words, he
might have gloried in his pedigree. Some people do. Some people are
mighty proud of their family tree. Well, the Apostle Paul
was high-born. He was high-born religiously.
He said, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. I was born of the tribe of Benjamin. This man could trace, literally
trace, his heritage back to Abraham. So if anybody could glory in
his pedigree, it would be the Apostle Paul. But he said, God
forbid that I should glory in my pedigree. Well, he might have
gloried in his morality. He said, concerning the law,
I was blameless. He was outwardly a clean, moral
man. He kept the religious rules,
he observed the religious rituals and ceremonies. He might have
gloried in his morality, some people do. Some people are mighty
proud that they are not like other folks. The Pharisee in
the temple said, I'm not like other men. I'm not unjust. I'm
not an extortioner. I'm not an adulterer. I do these
things. A lot of people glory in their
morality, but Paul said, God forbid that I should glory in
my morality. My glory is education. I run
into a lot of folks who put a lot of stock in letters after their
names. They put a lot of stock in in
being scholars and intellectuals and having more education than
somebody else, but Paul didn't glory in this. Paul was one of
the most educated men of his day. He was trained in the school
of Gamaliel. There were two outstanding schools
of that day, and he was the top student in one of them. And then
he might have gloried in his office. He might have gloried
in his apostleship. He was no less, he said, than
the chief among the apostles. He knew his office. He knew the authority that Christ
had vested in him. He was so certain of that that
he withstood the Apostle Peter one day to his face and corrected
him on an error of judgment and an error of conduct. But he didn't
glory in his apostleship. He might have gloried in his
revelations. This man here who says, God forbid,
horrors, horror of horrors, God forbid that I should glory in
anything other than the cross of Christ. This was a man who
had actually been to the third heaven. I hear the TV and radio
evangelists bragging about the countries they preached in and
bragging about singing or preaching before the President or singing
or preaching before the Queen of England or holding meetings
in vast auditoriums and preaching to vast crowds The Apostle Paul
had been taken, the Scripture said, into the third heaven.
And he saw things it wasn't lawful to utter. And as far as I know,
Jay, he mentioned that one time. One time. Brother, I tell you,
if that was in 1980, and we were advertised, a fella would have
that on his brochure. If he were an evangelist in this
day, there's one thing for sure. When you saw his picture and
his name, the article right under it would be, he went to the third
heaven. He went to the third heaven.
But Paul didn't glory in this, he didn't glory in his gifts.
He said, I speak with tongues more than you all. There are
men who are making a living on professing to have certain gifts,
the gifts of healing, the gifts of tongues, the gifts of prophecy
and things of that nature. Most of them are phony. I know
they're phony, and they know they're phony, and most people
that support them know they're phony. But Paul said, I speak
with tongues more than you all. I'm a fool to even mention this,
he said. He might have gloried in his
gifts. He might have gloried in his sufferings. As far as
I know, one time he mentioned the fact that he'd been scourged
three times. He'd been shipwrecked. He'd been
stoned. He'd been beaten with rods. He'd
been in prison a number of times. I tell you, and I don't mean
to, if I'd been in a Russian prison camp, I'd probably advertise
it too, but it wouldn't make it right. If I had scars on my
back tonight and I'd been beaten for preaching the gospel in Africa
or Spain or somewhere else, I'd probably take my shirt off and
show off too, but it wouldn't make it right. And I'm weary,
weary of these books that are playing on the sympathy of people
today tortured for Christ. I'm weary of it. I'll tell you
what we need to preach is Christ was tortured for us, not us tortured
for Christ. And if they murdered me tonight
standing in this pulpit preaching, I want folks to put on my tombstone
he preached the gospel, not he was murdered for Jesus. It's
ridiculous. But people fall for this stuff.
It's a subtle satanic conspiracy to take men away from preaching
Christ. And I know I'll get a lot of static out of that, but Paul
didn't glory in his sufferings. And he suffered more than any
man. He didn't glory in his sufferings. He didn't glory in his gifts.
He didn't glory... I don't want to hear about your scars. I want
to hear about the scars in his hands and his feet. And whatever
we get, we deserve anyway. Paul didn't glory in his writings.
He wrote 13 books in the New Testament. But I don't hear him
glorying in that. He said, God forbid! Horrors
of horrors that I should glory in anything. It's not I but Christ
that liveth in me. Who maketh thee to differ? What
do you have that you did not receive? What do you know that
God didn't teach you? We're so high and lifted up and
so proud of our vain, empty accomplishments. Spurgeon said, it's just one
worm bragging on another worm. We're all in the dust. Paul might
have glowed in his travels. I pick up things advertising
preachers and he's traveled here and traveled there and traveled
yonder and traveled somewhere else, you know, with a sweep
of his hand. The Apostle Paul includes his
pedigree, his heritage, his accomplishments, his morality, his gifts, his
sufferings, his talents, his writings, his travels with one
sweep of the hand. He just brushes them all aside
and says, God forbid! God forbid! With as much emphasis
as he placed when he said, shall we continue in sin that grace
may abound. God forbid! God forbid! that I should glory in anything,
in anything except the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is my strong desire. This
is my soul's ambition. This is what I hope for this
congregation and for this pulpit and for this church to be able,
from a subdued heart, from a conquered spirit, to stand with the Apostle
Paul and say, that we should seek any glory, or any acclaim,
or any recognition, or any fame, or any of man's praises, let
us glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let men go
away from this place saying, what a Savior, not what a preacher,
what a Savior, not what a congregation, what a Savior, not what great
music, what a Savior. Not what a big crowd. Oh, what
a Savior. Well, three questions tonight.
The first question is, what is the cross in which Paul gloried?
The second question is, why did he glory in the cross? The third
question, there were three crosses mentioned. All right, the first
question is this, what is the cross in which Paul gloried?
Well, I've already started in this direction tonight, Brother
Jay, I might as well keep going. Might as well just put all the
wash on the line. My friends, you know without my telling you,
I hope that the Apostle Paul set no store in a material cross. No store in a material cross. If you walk around the grounds
of this church, you won't see a cross anywhere. And there's
a reason for that. That was by design, not by accident. I hope as you walk through this
congregation, the ladies who have been attending here for
a number of years, we may see one on a visit. But I hope you
never see one on a member of this church, a cross hanging
around somebody's neck. Now I'm serious about this, dead
serious, and I'll tell you this. The Apostle Paul is not talking
here about a material cross on a necklace or on the steeple
of a church, and he's not talking about a cross that some fella
makes across his chest. And I say this as emphatically
as I can, this is nothing but rank superstition. It's just
as much superstition and ignorance as a belief in witches, broken
mirrors, Horseshoes are rabbit's foot. Now that's so. And that may be
harsh to you, but it's true. I wish today's religion would
totally abandon the superstitious use of crosses and begin to preach
the cross. You see in these vampire movies
when we were growing up as children, some vampire came out of the
grave and some fella would run a cross up in his face. That's
superstition. But that's the same thing we've
done out on top of our churches. Put a cross out there, drive
away the evil spirit. A cross, an emblem, a symbol.
Somebody told me that we'd ingrained this in our young people so strongly
that, I don't know who it was telling this, but he said he
was walking with two of his children and one of the neighborhood pranksters
one night, they were coming back from somewhere, and some of the
neighborhood children dressed up in a sheet or something and
jumped out behind a bush. And one of the little boys with
him grabbed two sticks and crossed them like that and stuck it in
his face like that. Well, I'd just as soon wear a
rabbit's foot. When the Apostle Paul says, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross. Now, Mike sang, let others who
will praise the cross of the Christ. The Christ of the cross
is my thing. And certainly while we cherish
his sacrifice on that old rugged cross, it's not the cross that
saves, it's the Christ who redeems. We don't glory in the sign of
a cross, we glory in the person who died on the cross. In the word cross, turn to 1
Corinthians 1. And my friends, this is superstition. That's what it is. And don't
complain about the Cuban baseball player who puts a cross across
his chest. Don't laugh at him if you've
got one around your neck. And don't make fun of him when
he makes the sign of the cross if you've got one on the steeple
of your chair. And don't make fun of him if you've got one
on the front of your pulpit. Because it's the same thing,
Jay, it's the same thing. It's superstition. All right? What does Paul mean?
Look at him in 1 Corinthians 1, 17. For Christ sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words,
lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. By the
preaching of the cross. It's to them that are perishing
foolishness, but unto us which are being saved, it's the power
of God." In a word, what is Paul saying when he says we preach
the cross? He is saying this. He is saying
that we preach the great atonement accomplished by Christ on Mount
Calvary. That's what we preach, the atonement.
He bore our sins in His body on the tree. Christ was hanging
on that tree in our place and in our stead. The cross is a
short term for substitution. The cross is a short term for
suffering, substitutionary suffering and vicarious suffering. He was
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was laid on Him, and by His stripes
we are healed. The claims of divine justice
were satisfied in the death of our Redeemer. Jesus Christ paid
it all, all the debt I owe. Sin left a crimson stain, He
washed it white as snow. Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious
blood shall never lose its power. Will all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to sin no more? So in a word, when Paul says
we preach the cross and the preaching of the cross and God forbid that
I should glory in the cross, he's not talking about that block
of wood. He's not talking about that symbol
or sign. He's talking about the atonement
that was accomplished on that cross on Mount Calvary. And then
he's talking about the glorious gospel that springs from the
cross. The glorious gospel of Christ.
The preaching of the cross is the preaching of God incarnate.
In order for Christ to die on that cross, he had to have a
body. The preaching of the cross is the preaching of grace for
the guilty. He had no sins for which to be punished. He had
no sins for which to die. He died for our sins. The preaching
of the cross is the preaching of an effectual ransom. If Christ
died on the cross, He shall not fail. Over there in Romans 8,
the apostle says, who can lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It's God that justifies. Who is He that condemns? It's
Christ that died. If Christ died, we have an effectual
ransom. If Christ died on that cross,
we have a sufficient sacrifice. The preaching of the cross is
the preaching of a certain salvation for all who believe. As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him, everyone
who looked to that serpent on the pole, everyone, was healed. And all who look to Christ shall
be effectually healed. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stains. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, what
was there in the cross that caused the Apostle Paul to glory? What
is there in that death on the cross that deserves such acclaim? For a man to say, as far as my
pedigree, my heritage, my guilt, my talents, my writings, my sufferings,
everything, I count it but dumb, but rubbish, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. What is there about that death
on the cross that would cause Paul to make a statement like
that? God forbid that I should glory in anything but that cross. Well, first of all, there's glory
in the fact of it. There's glory in the fact of
it. Turn to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians the 5th chapter. Or rather, turn to 1 Timothy.
1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy 3. You know, heathen
religionists have invented many strange and unusual things to
impress people with their religion. We were watching a television
program recently, it was talking about a little girl that had
looked at a statue and seen tears come down the cheeks of that
statue. And they made a lot of hullabaloo
over that. Well, it would be unusual for
tears to to come out of stone. That would be most unusual. And
then I see people passing around a picture. Somebody said he turned
the camera up in there and said, if there's a God up there, I'll
take his picture. And sure enough, there it is. You know, have you
seen that picture? The clouds form the image of what they say
is Jesus Christ. Well, that would be unusual if
they took a picture of God. That would be unusual. That would
be strange. That would be an unusual thing.
And you could go on and on, the inventions. that heathen religionists
have brought forth to impress people with their religion. Let
me tell you something. There's nothing in all the universe
that ever has happened or ever will happen, or nothing that's
ever been concocted by the imagination of man that can in any way compare
with the mystery of godliness God was manifest in human flesh. In 1 Timothy 3.16, and without
debate, Without controversy, without
argument, great, unusual, magnificent, is the mystery of godliness.
God came to earth. God was manifested in human flesh. God Almighty visited this earth. in the body of a man, and died
on a cross. He who thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, ifted himself, made himself of no reputation,
took on him the form of a servant, and was subject to death, even
the death of the cross. You'll never, you'll never encounter
anything, even in heaven, as great as that. God dying for
sinners. That's the reason Paul gloryed
in it. Oh, peanut stuff. You know, we talk about our accomplishments
and our heredity and our pedigree and our intelligence and our
guilt. That's peanut stuff. Better than
just think what we could be talking about. We talk about our accomplishments. We built a two million dollar
building. God became a man. Boy, that puts everything in
the shade. That's the reason Paul said, God forbid, I'm not
a fool, I've got some sense, God forbid that I should glory
in anything except that which is worthy of glory, that which
deserves glory, that which is of the greatest glory, the very
fact that God Almighty should take my place and die on a cross. That's enough reason. I'll just
stop right there. But my friend, Paul gloried in it, not only
because of the fact of it, but Paul gloried in it because of
the suitability of it. It meets my need. It meets my
need. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life. It doesn't matter whether he's
a Jew or a Gentile. It doesn't matter whether he's rich or poor.
It doesn't matter whether he's a black man or a white man. It
doesn't matter whether he's an old man or a young man. It doesn't
matter whether he's a lame man or a strong man. It doesn't matter
whether he's an intelligent man or an ignorant man. Christ is
able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him.
His blood is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. His
death is suitable. Oh, everyone that thirsts it
comes to the water. He that hath no money coming
by. Coming to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll
give you rest. I'll give you rest. Oh the glory
of the sufficiency. Why did Paul glory in the cross?
Greatest thing that ever happened. Why you could sum up every other
thing that has happened, it wouldn't be as great as that happening.
You could take all of the accomplishments of all the sons of Adam, whoever
lived in all generations, and you couldn't glow in that besides
the fact that God became a man and died on a cross. And oh,
he glowed in the sufficiency of it, the suitability of it.
I'm going to hold to this till God takes me home. My Lord didn't
fail on that cross. And let others do what they will.
They can preach a A half atonement, they can preach a three-quarter
atonement. As far as I'm concerned, it is finished. The debt is paid. If Christ bore my sins, I don't
bear them. His death is sufficient. You
can satisfy the debates of the religionists. You can compromise
if you like. But my Lord on that cross, redeemed
all for whom he suffered. He paid the debt. He accomplished
a sufficient, suitable, efficient, effectual redemption. I don't know who for whom he
suffered, but I know for whom he suffered, their suffering
is over. I know that. I'm sure of that.
There's nobody in hell for whom Christ died, and everybody in
heaven's there because he did, for no other reason. God could
search through your past, present, and future and not find one reason
to take you to glory except Christ died for you. Not one reason.
And He can accumulate your faith and your gifts and your accomplishments
and your zeal and your enthusiasm and put them all together and
He couldn't find one tittle or jot to take you to glory except
Christ died for you. That's the only reason. And then
He gloried not only in the fact of it and the sufficiency and
suitability of it, but he gloried in the results of it. The results
of that cross. They tell me this is not true.
Not a word of truth in this. Not a word of truth in it. Not
a word of truth in it. But it illustrates my point.
They say that Princess Helena, back a long time ago, was determined
to find the cross of Jesus Christ. So they went to the ruins of
Jerusalem, and they found Golgotha's Hill, and they found Mount Calvary,
and they began to excavate, and they found three crosses. This
is the site, they said. Now, not a word of truth in this.
Whoever woke up and I started telling that, there's not a word
of truth in this. I don't want to catch you on
down the line there. I want you to wake up and say,
boy, he told a while on Sunday. But they found three crosses.
And so she said, how are we going to know which one is the cross
of Christ? And the fellow said, well, I know how. They went out
and dug up a dead man. He'd been dead for several days.
They brought him over there, and they stretched him out on
one of the crosses, and he just laid there. So they picked him
up and brought him over here and stretched him out on the
other cross, and he just laid there. And they stretched him
out on that other cross, the third one, and the minute he
lay on that cross, he lived. He stood up and walked. He says,
that's not so. I know that's not so. But I'll
tell you this, if we'll preach the cross, it'll make men live. And I don't mean by rubbing that
thing that you wear around your neck or dangle on your Bible
or put on the steeple of your church. I'm talking about the
preaching of the gospel. Christ, if I be lifted up, He
said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw men unto me. He'll make
men live. Christ given in life, if they come in contact, not
with that cross, but with the preaching of the cross, and the
Christ of the cross, they'll live. They'll come out of the
grave, they'll live to God, this my son was dead, he's alive.
They'll live in peace, my peace I give unto you. They'll live
unto others, and they'll live forever, to die is gain. Yes
sir, Paul gloried in the cross. Not in the block of wood. I'm
sure he wouldn't have it around. It was a hated object. It was
a hated object. Would you cherish a hangman's
noose from which one of your loved ones was hanged? Would
you cherish an electric chair on which one of your loved ones
died? Then you certainly don't want that cross in your home
on which your loving Savior gave his life. I don't want it. But
I want him in my heart. That's what we've got to pray.
And I'll tell you, if we're going to follow superstitions, if we're
going to burn candles and have processionals and wear robes
and hold crosses and carry them on our shoulder, let's go all
the way and just be pagan throughout. But if we're going to preach
Christ, let's throw all that stuff away. Just like the Jews were
told to do away with all the ceremonies and circumcision and
all the sacrifices and all the tithes, do away with all of it
and rest in Christ. and Christ alone. Alright, there
were three crosses on that hill. I've got something to say here
in closing, and I hope I'm able to say it in an effectual manner. There were three crosses on that
hill. Read Galatians 6.14 again, but God forbid that I should
glory. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's in His atonement.
That's in His sacrifice. That's in his sufficient, in
his sufficient vicarious suffering. That's what we glory in, in Christ
and his suffering. Alright, watch it. By whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. And I unto
the world. Somebody said three crosses on
that hill. On one cross a man died for our sin. Christ died for our
sin. On one, a rebellious thief died
in sin. He died condemned. He died under
the wrath and the judgment of God. He perished. When he perished,
his soul went to hell. He died in sin. He died cursing
God. He died hating God. On the other,
a man died to sin. He died to sin. He submitted
to the Lordship of Christ. He embraced the Redeemer. He
took his place as a sinner before Christ. He said, I'm guilty.
I'm getting what I deserve. Lord, you're coming into a kingdom.
You're not going to stay dead. Remember me. And Christ said,
today shalt thou be with me in paradise. In other words, his
past was forgiven and forgotten. His sins were erased. His sins
were cast into the depths of the sea. His sins were separated
from him as far as the east is from the west. At that moment,
he became a new person, a new creature. He became a son of
God. He died to sin. To sin's judgment, to sin's curse,
to sin's penalty, to sin's punishment, to sin's prison. He died right
there. Alright, Paul says here, when
Christ died on that cross, I glory in the cross of my Lord Jesus
Christ because He died for my sins. I glory in His death. I
rejoice, I praise God because He died for me. But somebody
else died on that hill when Christ died. The world died. I see that the world right then
was under the judgment and condemnation of us. This world is no friend
of God. Just like that rebellious thief
died cursing God, this world is going to hell cursing God.
It's under the wrath of God. It's under the judgment of God.
The prince of this world, Satan, is still operating, but he's
already been cast out. He's already been defeated. He's
already been cast out by Christ. So the world, right there on
that cross, the world was crucified, as far as I'm concerned. The
world got what it deserved. The world, under the judgment
and wrath and condemnation of God, is condemned. It's condemned. All right, watch this. And I
died to the world, just like that man who confessed Christ.
On that cross, he became a new creature. He became a new person. He bowed to a new Lord. He came
under new management. He came under a new rule. He
submitted to the King. He said, Lord, remember me when
you come in your kingdom. And when Christ died, I died
to this world, if I'm a believer. What I mean by that, I mean this,
I'm dead to the world's criticism, I'm dead to the world's approval,
I'm dead to the world's pursuits, I'm dead to the world's fame,
I'm dead to the world's care. I care what God says, not what
the world says. I care what God gives, not what
the world gives. I care for recognition by Him,
my Heavenly Father, not the recognition of this world. Now, brethren, if a man is crucified
with Christ, he has the same opinion of this world that his
Lord had, the same opinion. As far as he's concerned, he's
dead to this world. There was a young man who asked
his pastor one day, he had an elderly pastor, and he came into
his study and he said, what does this verse mean here? The world
is crucified unto me and I unto the world. What does that mean?
And the pastor said, well, son, he said, you know, our brother
Philip died last year. Yes, sir. And he's buried out
there in the churchyard. Yes, sir. Well, I want you to
go out there and stand by Philip's grave And I want you to tell
Philip how no good he is. Just tell him how rotten and
no good he is, and we're better off without him. We're glad he
died." Oh, he said, Pastor, I couldn't do that. He said, do what I told
you. So the young man left the study and went outside, and that's
what he did. He stood by his brother Philip's
grave, and he said, Philip, you're no good, and we're better off
without you, and we're glad you died. And he came back in and
walked in, and the pastor said, did you do what I told you? He
said, yes, sir. He said, what did Philip say? Well, he said
he didn't say anything. Pastor Phillips did. He didn't
say anything. Not a word. Well, he said, son,
tell you what you do now. You go out there and stand by
Phillips' grave again, and you tell Phillips how good he is,
and how we miss him, and how we just can't make it without
him, and we wish he was back here with us. Would you do that?
Well, he said, all right. So he went out there. In a few
moments he came back and said, did you do what I sent? The boy
said, I did. He said, I told him we sure did
miss him and can't do without him and how good he is. He said,
what did he say, son? He said, he didn't say anything,
Pastor Phillips did. He said, that's what that scripture
means, son. The old world comes your way and says, here's the
glitter and the gold. You don't say nothing. You're
dead. The old world comes and says,
you're no good. You're no good. You're a phony. You're a hypocrite.
You don't say nothing. You're dead. You don't care.
You see what I'm saying? You could care less. Because
you're living to a new king, you're under new management,
you're not courting their approval, you're not courting their fame.
Our Lord said this, He said, you seek honor that comes from
men and not honor that comes from God. You ever see that scripture?
Turn to John. And this is a treacherous, terrible
place to be in, in John chapter 5. In John chapter 5, I want
you to listen to this. John chapter 5 verse 44, our
Lord said, how can you believe? How can you believe? How can
you be separated to Christ? How can you have a saving active
interest in Christ? How can you believe? You receive
honor one of another. And you don't seek the honor
that comes from God only. You say you've got to be crucified
to the world. I have too. We've got this old
world. This old world, God's condemned it. Heaven and earth
is going to pass away. Let me tell you something. The
gold, they talk about gold being $700 an ounce. They'll come a
day when you're walking the streets of this condemned world and if
gold was alongside of you like sand on the seashore, you wouldn't
stop and pick it up. It's that worthless. It's one
thing you could be concerned about. Do I know him? There'll
come a day when you talk about thousand dollar bills, and you
talk about, oh, if I just had a million dollars. There'll come
a day when it's blowing down the street like waste paper.
In just large, fabulous light, you wouldn't stop picking up
one thing. Mountains and rocks fall on me
and cover me and hide me from the face of him that sitteth
on the throne. My brethren, if that's what's going to be, why
isn't that what is now? If that's going to be our lot,
these things are nothing. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
on this earth where moss and rust rusteth corrupt and thieves
break through and steal. Lay it up for yourselves treasures
in heaven. All of these credentials and recognitions and fame and
acclaim and popularity and money and houses and lands are nothing. or that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. And we're all, we're all with,
if I could just impress upon all of us here, and it's just
something that's so difficult to impress upon people, how many
more years do we have? When I'm 54, 20 years, I've been
here 29 years as pastor. Another 15, another 20 years,
I'll be 75 years old. Now what's all this stuff going
to matter when I'm there in the rest home fitting in my rocker,
you know? Give me that clip in where my
name was in the paper. It is funny, isn't it? It won't
be funny then. No, sir, it won't. Well, I knew
the governor. He's been dead 20 years. And
everybody that knew him's been dead, and they couldn't care
less whether you knew him. You can't even name who's governor
20 years ago. Most of us can't name who the president was 20
years ago. Oh, I tell you, I do know this. I know who Christ
is by God's grace. And he's reigned ever since the
world was made. Oh, that I might know him. That
my name might be written on the palm of his hand. Not in the
paper, but on the palm of his hand. Oh, that I might know that. You see what I'm saying? To know
Christ and be found in him. to love his people, to be in
fellowship with his own. This is my life. It must be,
or it'll be my ruin. If Christ is not my life, I'll
tell you this, there'll come a day when it'll be my ruin.
I'll curse the day I was born, and I'll curse the one that gave
me birth, if I don't know Christ. And all that I possessed and
owned and had, will come back to haunt me. Remember Abraham
said to the rich man in hell, remember on the earth you had
good things. Where are they now? Where are
they now? So take thine ease, eat, drink,
and be merry. Tear down your barns and build
bigger ones. And God says, you're going to die tonight, and whose
are these things going to be you laid up and accumulated?
I died to the world. That's what he said. On that
cross, the world died Christ died, the world died, and I died
to the world. Something happened. And that's
what we're going to see tonight in baptism. That's supposed to
be what it means, that I'm dead and buried, dead and buried. You see, that's the reason we
don't sprinkle here, is because you don't sprinkle folks and
lay them out on top of the ground and say they're buried. You put
them in a tomb. You dig a hole and you put them
out of sight and you bury them. You bury dead people. And that's
what baptism says. It says, I'm dead. I died with
Christ. I'm buried out of sight. I'm
buried. As far as the world's concerned,
I'm dead. And I'm coming out of that grave,
though, to walk in newness of life. I'm under new management. I belong to the King. He's my
Lord. My one pursuit in life is to
know Him. To know Him. Our Father, make
this an experience not only a doctrine. We know these things are so. Teach us to number our days that
we may apply our hearts to wisdom. We know these things are so and
everybody in here says amen to the frailty of the flesh and
vanity, everything's vanity. All the wisdom of this world
and the accomplishments and the glory and the fame and the materialism
and possession, we know it's vanity in our heads. Teach it
to us in our hearts. May we be dead to the world,
crucified with Christ. May we have a new direction,
a new objective to know Christ, to win Christ, to be found in
Him. Are we going to die? It's appointed unto me and wants
to die. But if we know Christ, we'll never die. To die is gain. To die is to leave this world
of sorrow and sin and darkness and evil and to walk with our
King forever. Lord, remember me.