I'm going to speak to you tonight
from two or three sources. Of course, the first will be
I trust from God's Word, and then the second will be from
a letter that I received this morning, and the third will be
from a troubled heart. Here's a letter that I received
this morning. I'm not going to give the name.
The lady may be here tonight. I don't know. I hope she is.
She's been talking about coming. She lives 80 or 90 miles from
here, though. But this letter has had me distressed
and disturbed all day. I tried to find God's will about
a message for the night. Bruce came in about 12 days,
said, Are you working on your message? I said, I haven't got
around to it yet. I've just been so up in the air
about this letter, and finally I couldn't, at 2 o'clock I still
didn't have a message, and I thought, well, I'll just preach what's
on my heart. I'll just talk to the people about what's on my
mind. That's what It's the only place
you have any liberty anyway, so then I got a little liberty.
Quit trying to find a theological discussion, Bruce, and decided
I'd preach what God laid on my heart, and that was this letter.
I'm not going to read all of it, it's three pages long, but
it's a letter that distressed me and disturbed me, and I wondered
as I read it, how many people are listening to the gospel that
I'm trying to preach and not hearing it at all? They're not hearing at all. And that's evident from this
letter right here. She listens to me. She's written
for tape. She wrote for this particular
tape. But I want you to listen to this letter now. This is just
the last two paragraphs. I belong... In other words, she
tells me that she watches, her brother watches. She tells all
of her friends about the program. And I think I make the message
clear. I like to think that I do call
it. I believe that I make the message clear, and yet you listen
to it. I belong to so-and-so missionary Baptist church. Brother May and I grew up in
a primitive Baptist church, and I firmly believe in grace. I
don't get much where I go to church except going. I'd like
to know more about election. I know I love the Lord more than
anything, but I committed a sin in my early days and I want to
know if the Lord has forgiven me. I've always gone to church, I've
always been a good person, but I did something in my life that
I'd like to forget. It haunts me, And I want to know
if the Lord has forgiven me, because I know we reap what we
sow. Wouldn't that distress you? Instead of, and this is what
distresses me, instead of the gospel being good news to the
guilty, it enlarges the guilt and suppresses the good news.
There's no good news here, there's guilt, guilt, guilt. There's
no good news. And instead of my gospel that
I preached, Paul called it my gospel, that's what he called
it, he called it my gospel because he preached it and because it
saved him and because it was committed to his trust. And I
can call it my gospel. And the word gospel means good
news, but the gospel hasn't been good news to this dear lady.
What she has heard and what she has come to believe has brought
her to a state not of rejoicing in Christ, but of despair and
guilt. and fear. Instead of bringing
a person such as this to the cross for cleansing, she's going
back to Sinai. She's not at the cross at all.
She's not at the fountain filled with blood at all. She's at Sinai,
Bob, that's where she is. She's at the law trying to find
some hope. She's at that mountain of God's
wrath trying to find some peace, and she'll never find it. Instead of destroying human righteousness,
our gospel ought to destroy human righteousness. It ought to destroy
human works. It ought to just completely erase
this from our minds of being accepted before God by what we
do. But what has it done? It's plunged
her further and further into seeking acceptance before God
by her deeds, and by her righteousness, and not by Christ Jesus alone. Instead of men finding peace
and rest in the gospel we preach, they return to carry every failure
and every burden on their backs to the grave. Instead of laying
the burden, take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
No, we go to the Lord and pick up our burden and go away with
it. She's still carrying a burden she's been carrying for no telling
how many years. She's got grown children, so
how many years has she been carrying this burden? She didn't leave
it at Calvary. She didn't leave it at the cross.
There's no telling how many years that this dear lady's been carrying
that burden. And instead of magnifying the
mercy of God in Christ, she seriously questions the mercy of God. What
mean if these scriptures, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. What mean if these scriptures,
I know that my Redeemer live in. What meaneth these scriptures? Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. What meaneth these scriptures?
By his stripes we are healed. What meaneth these scriptures?
He, his own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sin might live unto God by him. What do those scriptures mean? But brother man, what do you
see in that letter that distresses you so much? Well, let me give
you four or five things, and I'm hopeful that this might be
helpful to some, if there's anybody here, and who knows, there may
be someone in that same condition. Someone in that same condition.
I hope not. But let me give you three or
four things that I find most distressing. Now here they are,
first of all, and believe me, I'm doing this because I feel
like that there's a good possibility that if this lady is in this
distress and despair, and she mechanically knows what she knows,
then there must be others. First of all, I see this. Now
listen to this sentence. I grew up in a primitive Baptist
church. I now belong to a missionary
Baptist church. Now here's a person who has,
Brother Jeff, heard the doctrines of grace. I know that. If she
grew up in a primitive Baptist church, she heard the doctrines
of grace. Now we can be sure of that. She heard the doctrine
of depravity. She heard the doctrine of sovereignty.
She heard the doctrine of election. She heard the atonement. She
heard perseverance. She heard the irresistible call
of the Holy Spirit. This woman, if she grew up in
a primitive Baptist church, it's like she said later on, I believe
in grace. I want to know more about the
election. She has been exposed to some of these doctrines, and
yet here's what is clear to me. Though she grew up listening
to these doctrines, and though she has some kind of mental understanding
of these doctrines, she's unable to relate them to redemption. She hasn't related these doctrines
to redemption. Now these things that we preach,
man's utter depravity, that's not just a doctrine, that's an
experience. We are fallen creatures in Adam. If the doctrine of depravity
is only a doctrine to you, if it hasn't become an experience,
then you haven't related it at all to this thing of redemption.
And the doctrine of election, God in mercy was pleased to redeem
a people. That doctrine is not just a doctrine
or a creed or Article 4 out of a catechism, it's an experience. God was pleased to purpose in
his eternal counsel to redeem a people from their sins, and
he gave them to Christ, and he purposed to save them. He would
not leave them in darkness. He would not leave them in sin.
He would not leave them in their corruption, but he was pleased
to save them by the blood of his Son. That's an experience.
That's a glorious truth that makes our hearts rejoice. Charles
Spurgeon once said, election is not the sinner's enemy, it's
the sinner's friend. If God had not chosen to save
me, I would never have been saved. If God Almighty had not elected
a people, no people would have ever come. If God Almighty had
not made us objects of His grace, we would never have sought out
Him. If He had not loved us first,
we would never have loved Him. Election is not a door that shuts
men out of the Kingdom of God, it's a door that permits men
to enter the Kingdom of God. It pleased God to make you His
people. Christ the Lord came to save.
Christ the Lord calls us by His Spirit to believe in Christ,
to rejoice in Christ. Orthodoxy is of no value unless
it's experienced in the heart. And I say that to anyone here
tonight, you people in this congregation have been, you young people have
cut your teeth on these doctrines. But I tell you, doctrine doesn't
save, Christ saves. And no person is redeemed by
trusting doctrine or believing doctrine or looking to doctrine.
Our Lord said, you look unto Me and be you're saved. Long time ago, I heard a fellow
say this, and it impressed me greatly. A person does not arrive
at Christ through doctrine. He arrives at doctrine through
Christ. And this dear lady grew up in
an orthodox environment. And she right now is in an orthodox
environment. But I'm fearful that this is
nothing in the world but doctrine and orthodoxy. It's theology. It's what we believe. But unless
it becomes not only what we believe, but what we have experienced,
it won't be any blessing at all to her heart. What's the next
thing I notice? I notice secondly, she's made
this statement, I don't get much out of going to my church, except
just going. Let me ask you a question, two
or three questions. How long will a man continue
to go to a well after the well is run dry? I'll tell you how long. Until
he gets thirsty and then he'll quit. And he'll find a well that's
got some water in it. In other words, a fellow may
say, well, my dad walked this path, and my mother walked this
path, and my brother and sister walked this path, and I just
got used to walking this path, and I just like the scenery on
this path, and this path belongs to us, and I worked hard to put
these cobblestones on this path. I know, but you'll quit going
to that dry well when you get thirsty. Let me ask you another
question. How long will a man continue
to sit down at a table on which there's no food? How long? I'll tell you how long. Until
he gets hungry. He may like the style, the way
they serve. He may like the atmosphere first.
He may like the soft music, but you can't eat music. He may like
the waiter. The waiter waited on his daddy
and waited on his uncle. And he's been waiting on him
for a long time. He may like the waiter. He may like the way
that the table is set. But I'll tell you this, he'll
quit going to that table when he gets hungry. That's exactly
right. How long will a man sit by a
hearth in which there's no fire? How long? When he gets cold. When he gets cold. What are you
saying, Preacher? I'm saying this. How long will men and women
continue to go to places called churches, listen to talks called
sermons, and take part in ceremonies when the fire has gone out a
long time ago, and when the well has run dry a long time ago,
and when no spiritual food has been put on the table in years
and years and years. I'll tell you when they'll quit,
when they get hungry, when they get hungry. And when
this dear lady right here, she's still going. She's still going.
I'll tell you why she's going. Her mother went there. And her
dad gave the land on which the church was built. That's exactly
why she's still going. And it's the old home church.
And she's still going there because that's where her children grew
up. And she can look around and there are all her friends there,
but the table has no food, and the well has no water, and the
fireplace has no fire. And when her soul starts hungering
and thirsting for the Word of God, she's going to find someplace
where it's preached. I get nothing out of going. You
know, our Lord said to the disciples one day, He said, will you also
go away? And they said, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of life. I'm going to hear the word
of life. Here's the next thing I noticed.
Now you listen carefully to this. This is what distressed me. This
other did too, but this particularly distressed me. I believe in grace. But we'll reap what we sow. Now
which do you believe? Huh? Which do you believe? Do you believe in grace or do
you believe we're going to reap what we sow? Brethren, if we'll
quit taking verses out of their context, do you know where the
scripture says we'll reap what we sow? Turn to the book of Galatians. Isn't that where it is, Cecil?
Galatians 5. Galatians chapter 6. Now here's where it is. Here's where it is, Galatians
chapter 6. Now I agree with, I believe in grace, free grace,
sovereign grace. I believe in God's infinite grace,
everlasting grace, eternal grace. But I don't believe I'm going
to reap what I sow. I believe Christ reaped it at Calvary.
and fully paid the debt. I don't believe your reap what
you sow has anything to do with the sins of a believer. I think
it has to do with his giving and stewardship in that respect.
Galatians chapter 5. All right, let's look at it.
Verse 6, let him that is taught, that's you and me, communicate
that him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that
teacheth in all good things. Here I am teaching you the word
of God. Now, you're going to have to
buy me a suit to wear because I can't get up here in mobile
halls. And you're going to have to fix me something to eat, you
know, so I can stay over here and study and get these Sunday
school lessons. You've got to communicate, see.
You're taught in the word and the fellow that's teaching you,
you've got to communicate with him. You've got to take care
of his needs. Be not deceived, God's not mocked,
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that
soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. He
that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap
if we faint not. As we therefore have opportunity,
let's do good unto all men, especially unto them who of the household
of faith. In other words, what he's saying here is you'll reap
what you sow in this respect. If you are a generous person,
and a gracious person, and a sharing person, and you communicate to
those who teach, and care for God's ministers, and messengers,
and preachers, and pastors, and care for one another, and care
for those in need, and you distribute graciously and kindly, you're
going to reap that. You're going to reap the same
thing. If spiritual things are your concern, if the Church of
Christ and the people of God and the preaching of the Word,
if that's your concern, then you're going to reap benefits
and blessings from that. But now, if you are greedy and
you're interested in just caring for yourself, and
maybe building a bigger home and driving a finer car and wearing
nicer clothes and you care only for yourself and you don't care
for others, you don't care for the missionaries, you don't care
for the preaching of the word, you don't care for the poor saints,
you're going to have the flesh reap corruption. That's what
he's talking about. That's exactly what he's saying. That's what
he's teaching. That's where that But here's
a dear lady, but she's reached somewhere and dug that out of
the scripture, and back there years ago, I don't know what
that sin was. I don't have any idea what it
was. But you know, I imagine David never forgot his affair
with Bathsheba or killing his best friend, but God forgot it.
God didn't remember it anymore. I don't imagine Peter ever forgot.
I imagine that was indelibly stamped on his mind when he sat
by that fire and that little girl came and said, you are one
of the disciples. And he said, I don't even know Jesus Christ.
I bet he never forgot that, but God did. I don't find the Lord
ever bringing that up again to you, darling. God said, I remember
your sins. No, I don't imagine the apostle
Paul ever forgot. When he stood and held the coat
of that man, some big old bully said, here Paul, Saul, Saul,
hold my coat, I'm going to stone that deacon. And he stoned Stephen
and dashed his brains out while Paul, I don't imagine Paul ever
forgot. I imagine that was indelibly plain. But the Lord did. The blood of Christ cleansed
us from all sin. And here this dear lady, bless
her heart, she's saying, I believe in grace. I'm going to reap what
I sow." Well, I don't believe David's going to reap that. I
don't believe Saul's going to reap that. I don't believe Peter's
going to reap that. I believe Christ died for those sins. I believe
he died for all sin. Now, we've got to divide, we've
got to separate grace and works, my friend. Salvation's either
all of grace or it's all of works. And let me say this to you, if
you can't trust Christ, and you can't rest in Christ, and if
you can't depend on Christ, then you've got one other alternative,
you've got to keep God's law perfectly. That's what I'm saying. Now you've got to get out of,
you've got to leave works for salvation completely, I mean
completely. You can't look back. You can't
depend upon anything you have done or are doing or will ever
do. You've got to totally, completely, absolutely look to Jesus Christ
and His blood to cleanse you or leave Christ and go back to
Sinai. And I fear for you if you do
that. You've fallen from grace. If righteousness come by the
law, then Jesus Christ died in vain. Jesus Christ died in vain. I believe in grace, but we'll
reap what we sow. Both those statements aren't
so. You can't believe both of them. You've got to either believe
in grace or believe in works. You can't believe both of them. Watch this. The dear one is totally
confused about grace and works. Are you? Are you? I am redeemed by Christ. The blood
of Christ cleanses me from all sin and puts away every sin if
I never raise my hand one more time for the glory of God. That's
so. Salvation is by grace. It's grace
completely. It's grace alone minus anything
that I do or think or say or give. It's Christ alone. We're justified by faith. All
right, notice, here's another thing she said that really upset
me. I love the Lord more than anything,
she said. I love the Lord more than anything. I want to read that to you exactly
like she said. I love the Lord more than anything. But I want to know if the Lord
has forgiven me of my sins. What's she saying, Preacher?
She's saying this. I love the Lord, but he doesn't love me.
Now, that's exactly what she's saying. I love him, but he doesn't
love me. Because if you don't forgive
a person, you don't love them. She says, I love the Lord, but
he doesn't love me enough to forgive me. She's confused about
the source of love. She's confused about who really
loves whom. Brethren, we don't love Christ
at all till he loves us. We love him because he loved
us. That's why she loves Christ,
because he loved her. Herein is love, not that we love
God, he loved us. Today's preaching has us doing
this, we love God, and then as a result of our reaching forth
in his direction, then he reaches down in our direction. But that's
not so. If I love God, And he doesn't love me, I'm greater
in mercy than God is. Herein is love, not that we love
God. He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for
our sins. And his love preceded ours by
centuries and millenniums. He loved us with an everlasting
love. Here's what she ought to be saying.
I love God because he has forgiven me. For Christ said, to whom
much is forgiven, he loved much. Isn't that what he said? I love
Christ because he has forgiven me. Listen to this. This bothered me a lot too. I've always gone to church. And
I've always been a good person, except for that one slip. I've
always been a good person. Now, brethren, this isn't the
first time that I've encountered this sort of thing. Turn with
me to the book of Romans. This isn't the first time. I
wonder how long we're going to continue to justify ourselves.
I wonder just how long we're going to continue to justify
ourselves. Our Lord said, ye of they which
justify yourselves before me. Romans chapter 3. Now is this
true or not true? Romans 3, verse 10. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth,
there's none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of
the way, they're together become unprofitable. There's none that
doeth good, no, not one. Verse 19. We know what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty
before God. We are not good persons. Old George Whitefield once said,
A man has never been brought to genuine repentance toward
God until he has been brought to understand the depths of his
S-I-N, the depth of his S-I-N, sin. That's the nature. That's
the root of sin. That's the body of sin that dwells
within me. Why does a person commit a sin?
Because he's a sinner, that's why. This dear lady didn't become
a sinner when she did whatever she did, she did what she did
because she was a sinner. We're not sinners because we
hate, we hate because we're sinners. We're not sinners because we
steal, we steal because we're sinners. We were born in sin,
conceived in sin, shaped in sin, brought forth from our mother's
womb with the nature to sin, with the evil in our... You don't
have to teach a child to lie. He's born knowing how to lie.
You don't have to teach a child to be covetous, to be greedy,
to be envious, to be jealous. That comes from within. And that's
when we begin to truly repent, when we begin to cry for mercy
because of not what we've done, only who we are. Not just what
we've done, but what we are. And then Whitefield says a man hasn't
truly repented until he's made conscious of his S-I-N and conscious
of his S-I-N-S. Now, I imagine this lady's problem
had something to do with some sort of adultery or fornication
in the past. Ninety-nine and forty-four, one
hundred percent of the time, that's it. Because people have
catalogued sin. She may have hated her sister
or neighbor, but that's not as bad as this, according to her. She may have been a very envious
person, she may have been a person of great covetousness, she may
have been a person of great greed, and all of these different things,
but we have seen catalog a certain sin that get on our minds and
they weigh us down while we neglect to see thousands of others. The
thought of foolishness is sin. Not to love God with all my heart
is sin. Not to love my neighbor as myself
is sin. Any transgression of the law
is sin. To fail to come up to the perfect
righteousness of Christ is sin. We are sin. We do sin. Not to pray is sin. One of the
old prophets said, God forbid that I should so sin against
God as not to pray for you. What we do though is enlarge
one sin above another, and we overlook the continual sin and
sinning of our hearts. And Christ told us, it's not
that which a man puts in his mouth that defiles him, it's
that which comes out of his heart. For out of the heart proceeds
evil thoughts, murders, adultery, fornication, blasphemy, all these
things come from the heart. There's one thing on her mind
that happened years ago, and I'm sure in the eyes of God Almighty, There are hundreds of greater
sins of which she's guilty. I'm just certain of it. Did you
know if you go back through the Old Testament, nearly everybody
whom the Lord's judgment fell upon, it fell upon them because
of sins in the act of worship, worship in the tabernacle, or
having to do with the altar, or touching the Ark of the Covenant, Sin, sins, and now watch this,
righteousness. Whitefield said, no man has been
brought to saving faith and genuine repentance who's not wept over
and grieved over and been brought to some understanding of the
sin of his own righteousness. In other words, let me tell you
this, and this is something you have to have revealed to you
by the Holy Spirit. But even our righteousnesses
are filthy rags in God's sight. We are such fleshly creatures,
and we're so short of the glory of God, and we're so far in ourselves
from God, not in Christ. Now, in Christ, positionally,
we're at the right hand of God. In Christ, judicially, we're
justified. In Christ, we're sanctified. In Christ, we're accepted and
the beloved. But, Bradman, we never have yet
prayed a prayer that's worthy of the glory of God. Too much
self in it. Now, we're not to quit praying.
We're to pray, but there's sin in our prayers. We've never yet. We've never yet. learn how to
give like Christ gave himself. Hadn't yet. And we must keep
giving and we must keep giving proportionately and as God lays
it on our hearts to give. But now don't you get proud of
your giving because there's too much sin in it. There's too much
self in it. There's too much pride in it.
And if it weren't for Christ, your gift last Sunday would damn
you. Because there's that much sin in it. Do you know that?
Mine too. I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about me. The
widow gave everything she had, and that's the only gift Christ
paid attention to. I hadn't preached a sermon yet
worthy of the glory of Christ. No. You say, I've studied and
worked and prepared, not like you ought to have. Well, I've
prayed not like you ought to have. And none of us here love
God like we ought to love Him. I love the Lord. When you do,
you'll quit bragging about it. And when you do, you won't have
to tell anybody, they'll know it. You can quit talking about
it when you start really loving it. But there's so much Bishop
Rutherford said, even our repentance needs to be repented of. There's
enough sin in my sorrow to damn me. I'll have to say I want to
go to heaven. Why? For the glory of God and
also to save my soul. That's why. I'd sure like to
go to heaven. Why? For the glory of God and
also I won't have to go to hell. That's right. Well, I want to be saved totally,
completely, for any... I want my children saved. Why
do you want your children saved? Because they're your children.
When you come to the place, Bob and I have talked about this,
when you come to the place where you want Colin's children saved
as bad as you want yours saved, you're praying then, but you
ain't praying until you do. That's right. That's right. Itself. We're so full of it,
And so let's just quit talking about us serving the Lord. You know, if it wasn't for Christ,
our service would be rejected. So if you want to grieve over
something, if you want something to grieve over, don't go back
and pick up something 20 years ago, pick up something that happened
tonight and grieve over it. You see what I'm saying? Pick up something tonight. And
say, Lord, not only have I didn't used to be what I ought to be,
I'm not now what I ought to be. If you want to grieve, grieve
now. Weep now. But no, you're trying to, you're
so, people today are so unconscious of what sin is, they have to
go back ten years to find one. Like that boy came to Brother
Scott Richardson and said, I think everybody around here ought to
confess their sins to each other. Brother Scott said, well, brother,
I don't. But he said, I do. He said, I think we ought to
confess our sins. He said, I think it'd give us
a spiritual uplift. He said, well, brother, I don't,
but now if you want to confess yours, I don't want to listen
to them, but if you insist, I will. Why don't you be number one?
You start and I'll listen. He sat there for a long time.
He said, well, I can't think of one right now, but if I think
of one, I'll come see you. Yeah, that's the way it is. I
know how it is. I've done something in my life.
When? Ten years ago, twenty years ago,
five years ago, five minutes ago. Five minutes. Oh, thank God for
Christ. He'd have to turn down the best
deed I've ever done, and the best gift I've ever given, and
the best sermon I've ever preached, and the best prayer I've ever
prayed. If it wasn't for Christ, there'd be enough sin in it to
damn my soul. And then, bless her heart, she
said this, And you say, why are you doing this? I'm doing it
because I think it's human nature. I think this letter was given
to me because it's born of people that hear words and don't hear
truth. They hear words and don't hear
the gospel. They say, I believe this, I believe
in grace. Well, reap what you sow. You
don't believe in grace. I love God with all my heart,
but He doesn't love me enough to forgive me. You don't love
God. And then this. I've done something
in my life I'd like to forget. I want to blot it out. You can't. You can't. But God can. You'll never blot it out. Turn
to Psalm 51. Psalm 51. I'll tell you when you get to
glory, listen to me, when you get to glory, it won't be blotted
out because it says we're going to praise Him for saving us from
our sin. That's what it says. Psalm 51,
David says, verse 3, Psalm 51, 3, I acknowledge my transgression,
my sins ever before me. She wants to forget it. Well, let me say this. God says,
I'll remember it no more. God says, I'll blot it out. God
says, I've cast it behind my back. God says, I'll separate
it from you as far as the east is from the west. But he's not
going to let you forget it. Because you're going to bear
it on your mind so that you'll bear in mind the mercy and grace
of God for forgiving you. and putting away your sins, you
see. He doesn't mean for you to carry that sin with a guilt
complex, but he means for you to carry the remembrance of that
sin that you might praise Christ, to whom much is forgiven, He'll
love much. And where sin did abound, grace
did much more abound. Oh, the more I see of my sins,
the more I praise Him for His grace. The more I see of my guilt,
the more I thank God for the blood of Christ. As I said, I
know that David never forgot what happened, but neither did
he accuse God of not having mercy on his soul. And here's another
thing, and I close with this. And I'm sure some of you saw
this. She said, I want to know that
God's forgiven me. You know what she's saying? I
want God to give me a sign. His word's not enough. That's
exactly what she's saying. I want a sign. The word. Brethren, turn with me, if you
will, to the book of Romans, chapter 4. Romans, chapter 4. Do you want to know that God's
forgiven you? Well, let's read his word. This
is his word. Is God's word not good enough
for us? His word's the only foundation we have. How do I know that God
that God is who He is because of His Word. How do I know that
I'm who I am in the condition I'm in? His Word. How do I know
that God sent Christ into the world to save my soul? I've never
seen Christ in a vision. His Word. How do I know that
Christ died on that cross and His blood cleanseth us from all
our sins? His Word. Then how do I know
that my sins are pardoned? His Word. That's how I know it. And His Word's sufficient. God's
never sent me a telegram. God's never given... And I'll
tell you this, I'd rather have His Word than a feeling. I'd
heap rather have His Word. Because you can't trust your
feelings. And I'll tell you something else, Satan can give you a feeling.
But now listen to this, Romans chapter 4 verse 7, saying, Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Look down here at verse 20 of
Romans 4, He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief,
but was strong in faith, giving glory to God And being fully
persuaded that what God had promised, God was able to perform, and
therefore it was imputed to Abraham for righteousness. Now, it was
not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but
for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. And brethren,
look across at Romans 5, the one Cecil read, verse 6. Verse 8, God committed his love
toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall
be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies we
were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Once again, I sound
forth the truth of the gospel to you. It can only be received
by faith. If you take these, like this
precious lady, and I may send her this tape. I was thinking
about that today, just carting up the tape and sending it to
her. I'll preach to you Wednesday night. But if we can come to this place
and quit saying things like this, I believe in grace, but we'll report with hope. Brethren,
I believe in grace. I believe in the grace of God
that saves a thief on the cross, that saves a harlot in Simon's
house that saves a wretched publican like Zacchaeus, who saves a publican
in the temple and erases and blots out and obliterates, eradicates
all sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin.