I want you to turn to Galatians
3.22, the scripture, and here's where we need to go. And I wouldn't,
I want God's people need assurance and can have assurance and confidence,
but not in ourselves, and not in our experiences, and not in
our theology, and not in our doctrines, and not in our decisions,
but in Christ. He is our confidence. He is our
assurance. You say, preacher, don't you
have any assurance? What are you doing preaching?
I'm pointing men to Christ. And I'm pointing myself to Christ.
And I've got to have Him. If I miss Christ, I miss life.
We have all the religion that a man could possibly want. But
it doesn't satisfy. We must have Christ. And I point
men to Christ. I point myself to Christ. Like
Spurgeon used to say, sink or swim, I'm going to cling to Him.
And if I die and go to hell, I'll die and go to hell clinging
to the cross of the Son of God, trusting neither my works nor
the law, nor my religion. And that's what I want you to
do. And here in Galatians 3.22, it says, "...the Scriptures,
but the Scriptures hath concluded all unto sin." Now, I have nothing
to say to those who reject the Scriptures. We don't have anything
else of any lasting or permanent value but this book. To the word of God, to the law
and to the prophets, Isaiah said, if they speak not according to
the law and the prophets, there's no light in them. And I have
nothing for anyone who does not believe this book to be the verbally,
infallible, inspired word of the living God. the scriptures
have said, the scriptures have concluded. Our message, my message,
my message of hope and glad tidings is to those who believe that
this Word of God here, this infallible, inerrant, verbally inspired book
is, in fact, the Word of the living God. Actually, our faith
comes from the Word. He says faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. We are begotten again by the
Holy Spirit, not by corruptible seed, but by incorruptible seed,
the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Faith is
born of the book. If you want your faith to be
increased, increase your knowledge of God's word. That's so. And
then our hope is drawn from the word of God. David talked about
thy word in which you've caused me to hope. My hope is not in
anything but the Word of God, the promises of God. This was
Abraham's hope. God said it and he believed it.
He staggered not at the promises of God but was strong in faith. Our spiritual growth is by the
Word of God. Desire the sincere milk of the
Word that you may grow thereby. And God has given evangelists
and pastors and teachers and prophets and apostles to preach
the word that men might grow into a state of maturity. How much do you read this book?
How much do you study? I'm not scolding you, I'm simply
trying to encourage you. I believe the day will come when
our greatest regret will be that we didn't avail ourselves of
the opportunity to hear the word of God preached and to hear it
read. and to read it ourselves. I really
believe that. Our Lord said, My word will judge
you. And yet we know so little of the Word. And then our joy
comes from the Word of God. In 1 John 1, verse 4, listen
to what John writes here. Joy, our joy, comes from the
Word of God, like our faith and our growth and our hope, our
joy. He says, Verse 4 of 1 John 1,
"...and these things write we unto you, that your joy might
be full." Now, if I have any assurance, I'll get it from the
Word. That's the foundation of assurance
and confidence. If I have any joy and peace,
it'll come from the Word of God. Look on over at 1 John 5 verse
13, "...these things have I written unto you, that believe on the
name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal
life." You ask me, do I believe that
I'm a child of God? Yes, I do. On what basis? On what authority? That I feel
saved? No, sir. That I act like a saved
man? No, sir. That I think like a
saved man? No, sir. I believe God's promise. I believe his word. And that's
my foundation of assurance. He said, he that believeth on
the Son hath life. I believe that. He said Christ
died for sinners. I believe that. He said there's
no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. I believe that.
He says there's eternal joy and happiness and glory for those
who rest in Christ and trust in Christ and commit themselves
to Christ alone. I believe that. And that's my
assurance. And if I didn't have this Word,
I'd have no assurance. None whatsoever. If I had to
go back and look at an experience that took place when I was 10
or when I was 15 or 17 or 21 or 24, if I had to look back
at that experience, I'd wonder if the preacher told me the truth.
I'd wonder if it was the Holy Spirit or the spirit of error
or demon spirits. I'd wonder if I was going through
an emotional crisis or whether I really did rest in Christ,
if I had to look back to an experience. But when I look to the Word of
God, it's changeless. It's infallible. It cannot change. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not. My Word goeth forth from my mouth and it shall be done.
Nothing's going to change that. And so whether I'm on the mountaintop
of joy or whether I'm in the valley of despondence and despair,
this doesn't change. This doesn't go on the mountaintop
and down the valley. It's the same. His Word is the
same. And then, not only our assurance,
but our blessings come through the Word of God. Turn to 2 Timothy,
chapter 3. Let me read a scripture over
here. 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 15. 2 Timothy 3, verse 15. And
Paul says of Timothy, from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,
the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus, And all Scripture is given
by inspiration of God. It's God breathed. I know men
wrote the Word. But holy men spake as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit to write the Word. And the Word bears,
you say, well it bears the personalities of the writers. Of course it
does. God used human means. My message will bear the personality
of the messenger. I'll speak with my voice and
And with whatever intelligence I have, or natural wisdom, God
will use it. But the message is God's message,
and the words, I believe, are God's words. And the gospel is
God's gospel. And he says, all Scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God, that the believer, may be perfect, or
mature, or full-grown, an adult. of spiritual nature, truly, completely
furnished unto all good works, the cults and the Word. So the
first thing I see here in verse 22, it says the Scripture. And
you're not going to believe what I have to say tonight if you
don't believe the Scriptures. The Scriptures have concluded all
unto sin, that the promise of faith of Jesus Christ might be
given to them that believe. And here's the great Here's the
great matter of my concern. I'm concerned about our nation. Perhaps some think I'm not as
concerned as I ought to be, but I've lived through—I don't have
any presidents. I lived when Hoover was president.
But I don't see where it's made a great deal of difference who's
up there in the White House. I really don't. And I'm concerned
about the condition of our nation, and I'm not going to get lethargic
and not vote and not promote freedom and these things. And
much of my family has served in the armed forces, and some
of them died in the armed forces. And if it happened again, we'd
go again. I'm sure you would, too. But, my friends, I'm concerned
about my relationship with God. That's my primary concern. The
kingdom of heaven. Seek ye first the kingdom of
heaven, and these other things will be added. And my great concern,
the concern for myself and for you, is the eternal salvation
of our souls. I want to know Christ. I want
you to know Christ. This is the subject of Scripture.
Now, the Scripture, there's not a more accurately scientific
book than the Bible, but it's not a book of science. And there
are historical facts all the way through the Word of God,
but it's not a book of history. and the philosophy of the Word
of God. This fellow who wrote the book, How to Win Friends
and Influence People, this Carnegie, Dale Carnegie, well, his principles
are just the principles of the Word of God. As you would that
men should do to you, do ye even so unto them. Love begets love. He that would have friends must
show himself friendly, things like that. This Bible is also
a book of philosophy, but that's not why it's written. Turn to
John, chapter 20, verse 31. Here's why it was written. Here's
the message of the book. Here's the message of Scripture.
And we're not going to profit by the Scriptures until we get
this message in John 20, verse 31. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing You might
have life through his name. That's why it's written. And
we need to quit arguing the Word of God and start listening to
the Word of God. We need to stop reading the Bible as a scientific
book, or a book of history, or a book of philosophy, or an old
almanac, or old lettered sayings and things like that, and begin
to read God's Word, trying to find Christ. Now, when you preach
on knowing the art, that art is Christ. When you preach on
Moses and the serpent lifted up on the pole, that serpent
is Christ. When you preach on the sons of
Levi and Aaron and the priests of old, those priests are Christ.
When you preach on the Passover lamb, that lamb is Christ. And
that's what he said over in Luke 24, verse 44 through 46. He opened the Scriptures and
showed them in the Scriptures how that Moses and the Psalms
and the prophets all wrote of him. I want you to get interested
in Christ and your relationship with him, to know him, to love
him, to rest in him, to trust in him. All right, number one,
there are three points in my message tonight. The first one
is this. The trouble or mess we're in is revealed by the Scriptures.
It says in verse 22, but the scriptures hath concluded all
under sin. Brethren, there's one thing we
all have in common, everybody here. I see in our congregation
tonight men who are carpenters, men who are doctors, women, men
who are teachers, there's preachers, there's railroad men, there are
old people and young people. There are folks from Ohio and
Kentucky, West Virginia. There are ladies and there are
men. There are Methodists here, Nazarenes,
Baptists, Presbyterians. There's one thing we've got in
common. We're sinners, every single one of us. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. That's what it says here
in the Scriptures, the Word of God. This infallible book, this
record God had given, has concluded all unto sin. I don't care who
you are. You're a sinner. And your sins
are manifested in four ways. Number one, you're a sinner by
nature. You're born in sin. You have
the root of sin and the principle of sin in your heart. Men aren't
liars because they lie. They lie because they're liars
by birth. Men aren't thieves because they steal. A man doesn't
become a thief when he commits an act of theft. He commits that
act because he already is a thief in his heart. We're sinners by
nature. David said, I was born in sin. I was conceived in sin. I was
shaped in iniquity. I was brought forth speaking
lies. That's my nature. And that's
your nature. Now, this sin may be demonstrated
in various ways, but it's there. The root of it's there. The fountain's
polluted at the source, at the spring, and the whole river's
polluted. We're sinners by nature, and
we're sinners, our sin is one of nature, and our sin is one
of thought, or mind. The natural mind hates God. You
say, I don't hate God, I never have hated God. Men do not hate the God of their
imagination, they hate the God of Scripture. The old Pharisees of old, they
boasted, they said, we have Moses, we have Abraham. And our Lord
said, if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me. Abraham
saw my day and was glad. They said, we have the God of
Moses and the God of Abraham. Our Lord said, if you knew the
God of Moses, you'd know me. You don't know the living God.
They hated the true and living God and they loved and adored
and worshipped their conception of God. You see what I'm saying?
Their idea of God. We're sinners and the natural
mind is enmity against God. The natural man conceives an
idea of God, or a thought of God, or a conception of God,
and that's the God we worship. But when the true and living
God is revealed to us by his Word, we don't like that. We rebel against it. And when
we rebel against the Word, we're rebelling against him who is
the Word, who wrote the Word, who gave the Word, whose Word
it is. The natural mind is enmity against
God. My thoughts, God said, are not
your thoughts. And not only are we sinners by
nature and sinners in mind and thought, we're sinners in heart.
The heart is desperately wicked. The heart is deceitful above
all things. Now let me tell you something.
Let me get just right down where we live here. Like the Pharisees and religious
people of old, I don't believe. The average religionist today
really knows what sin is. I really don't. Now when we think
of sin, you know what we think of? We think of drinking, getting
drunk, we think of cursing, we think of adultery, we think of
cheating on school tests, or we think of stealing something
that belongs to somebody else, we think of vandalism, we think
of all these things. And these nice old ladies that
go to church every Sunday, and nice old gentlemen, the deacons
and preachers, And they're always in church and carry their Bible
Sunday morning, Sunday night, and they don't dance or curse
or drink or smoke or run around. They're not sinners. My friends,
this is the same thing that the Pharisee thought. You see, the
Pharisees of old thought if they followed the outward law, they
washed their hands before they ate, they kept a Sabbath day,
they didn't drink wine to excess, They weren't, Lord I thank you,
I'm not like other men, I'm not an adulterer, I'm not an extortioner,
a thief, I'm not unjust, I don't cheat on these bills and things
like that, unjust in my dealings with others. And they thought
if they went through that ritual and outward show, Christ said
you're like a grave, you appear beautiful on the outside. And
you appear beautiful to men, and your deeds look good, and
your life looks good. But he said, and Christ said,
but it's not that which goeth into the mouth that defiles a
man. He said it's that which comes
out of the heart. That's what defiles. He said for out of the
heart proceeds adulteries and evil thoughts and blasphemy and
envy and jealousy and hatred and bigotry and prejudice and
unkindness and all these things. This is born in the heart. And
that's what defiles a man. And those religious people got
real uptight about that. They got upset. And the disciples
came over to the Lord and they said, you've offended these dear
brethren. You've offended these Pharisees.
They're mad. Now wait a minute, listen. Now
listen to me. And let's take the same crowd
we're preaching to today. The average person today thinks,
now if I can get my husband to quit drinking and doing these
outward things and join the church, then he'll be righteous and he
won't sin anymore. He won't sin. Excessive television,
that sin, looking at television. I heard a fellow preach on that
the other night. If I can get him to quit doing that, he won't
sin anymore. But now let's say to him, Your trouble is not what
you're putting in your mouth, because that goes in your belly
and is digested and cast out into the draft. And it might
not help your health any, but it sure won't damn your soul.
That's not what's damning your soul. That's not the trouble
between you and God. The watermelon you stole is not
trouble between you and God. It's heart trouble. And our Lord,
when the disciples said, those fellows are offended, our Lord
said, now listen, leave them alone. They are blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind lead the blind, they'll both fall
in the ditch. Every plant, which my Heavenly Father didn't plant,
is going to be rooted up anyhow, sooner or later. So you just
leave them alone. And so these folks that are going
about establishing religion on the principles of do's and don'ts,
and laws, and Sabbath days, and touch not, taste not, handle
not, eat not meat, do not do these various things, Christ
said you just leave them alone. And let them perish in their
ignorance and self-righteousness. And see if you can find somewhere
a sinner who needs a savior. who knows his trouble is not
external but internal. Our trouble is the heart is deceitful. That's where the trouble is.
And you could this very night be stricken, blind and deaf and
dumb and unable to walk. And you could sit in your wheelchair
and sin against God to the extent that he'd turn you into hell.
In here, that's right. That's where it goes on. That's
where the idolatry is. That's where the covetousness
is. That's where the greed is. That's where the envy is. That's
where the bigotry is. That's where the hatred is. That's
where the absence of love is, in the heart. That's where we're sinners. We're
in a mess. I know that. Sinners by nature. Sinners by thought. Every imagination,
God said, of man's heart is evil continually. Only evil continually. Isn't that terrible? And I'm
saying the best man or woman in this congregation has that
problem. Evil. And not only in nature and mind
and heart, and that's not a pretty picture, is it? But the scripture,
I said when I started off, You have to believe this book, because
all of the ranting and raving of this day denies it. Everybody
today wants you to know you're somebody. Lift up your head,
throw out your chest, believe in yourself. Isn't that right? And the Bible says put no confidence
in yourself. That's what it says. You see,
God says your thoughts aren't my thoughts, and man's wisdom
is foolishness with God. That's right. You're somebody. What's the book?
I'm okay, you're okay. I'm not okay and I know it. I
need help. I'm okay as far as living on.
I've got good health so far by God's grace. I got a happy home
and got a friend and I'm okay in that respect. But brethren,
I'm not okay between me and God. There's a problem there that's
got to be dealt with. And that's why I'm not concerned
about this. This is all going to go anyway. But I'm concerned
about knowing Christ being justified. This is what Job looked at this
thing and he said, how can man be just with God? He says, how? This is Job, a man of whom God
said he's upright and righteous. You know what God said? And yet
this very man said, I hate myself, I abhor myself, I repent in sackcloth
and ashes. He says, how can man be clean? It's born by natural generation.
Behold the moon, it shineth not. The stars are not pure in God's
sight. Sin has visited the heavens. How much more abominable and
filthy is man who drinks iniquity like he drinks water. They call the Pope a holy man.
You take all the decoration off that imposter, get all that gold
and white linen and funny-looking hats and crowns and rings and
all that jewelry and stand him out there in his naked flesh,
he'd be nothing but a rotten, putrid son of Adam. That's all. Any man who falls down and kneels
to a human being, Even the apostles wouldn't allow people to kneel
to them. They said, get up! We're men like you. Even the
angels, even the angel on the Isle of Patmos would not let
John fall down in worship. He said, get up! I'm a fellow
creature. Isn't that what he's saying? There's only one his holiness
and he sits on the throne of heaven. There's only one who's
holy and reverent, and that's our God. I wish everybody could
see that. Sinners, sinners, unclean, in
the flesh dwelleth no good thing from the sole of our feet to
the top of our head. There's no soundness in us. We're
sinners by nature, mind, heart, deed. Listen to Paul. I guess
the greatest preacher who ever lived. The things I would do,
I do them not. I can identify with that. Can
you identify with that? The things I would not do? That's
what I do, he said. Oh, wretched man that I am! Bible believers didn't talk about
what great sinners they used to be. I get tired of hearing
these preachers and testimonies when they stand up and talk about
what a rounder I used to be. You still are. in God's sight. Now, you may justify yourself
in your sight and in the sight of others, but in God's sight,
you're still a son of Adam, a fallen son of Adam in whose flesh dwelleth
no good thing. Paul never talked about what
he used to be, he talked about what he is, wretched man that
I am. Wretched man. The Bible, the
Word of God has concluded all under sin, under sin, under the
bondage of sin. We are under the bondage of sin. We are under the control of sin.
That old man, that old nature controls us. You think it doesn't? You try to go ten minutes only
thinking just the holiest of thoughts. regarding the majesty
and glory of God only, and see how you come out. I tell you,
it's difficult to pray without your mind wandering. It's difficult
to spend an hour in church singing and praying and preaching and
reading the Word of God without being horribly aware that we're
not clean. All right, look at the second
thing, and this is my last point. The Scripture hath concluded
all under sin, and let me give you another translation of this
next line, so that the blessings of life, so that the promise
of life, which was promised through faith in Christ the Messiah,
may be given to all who believe. I read a story one time, I told
them about it up at up at Lookout West Virginia last night when
I preached. There was an artist in London
and he was walking down the streets of London one day and he had
a picture in his mind that he wanted to paint. He had it there
a long time but he just hadn't been able to find his subject.
And he was walking down the street and suddenly right in front of
him there was his subject. There was a bum, a beggar. a dirty, guttery, inhabiting
bum. Oh, he was perfect for the painting. He had the shabbiest old sweat-stained
hat with holes in it, old felt hat pulled down, and his hair
was shabby and sticking out, and he had a ragged beard, and
oh, he looked like he hadn't bathed in a year, and he had
an old shirt on that he picked up out of some garbage can, and
an old coat that was The mat was sticking out and too short
the sleeves were and he had shoes with holes in them and he was
sitting there on a bench and the artist walked up to him and
he said, my friend, and the old bum looked up and he said, I
want to paint your picture. And the boom said, well, that'll
be all right. The man said, I'll tell you what I'll do. He said,
I'm going to pay you in advance to make sure you'll be there.
But I want you to be at my studio in two hours. And he gave him
the address. He said, you know where that
is? The man said, I know where it is. Well, he said, be there. I'm going
to paint your picture. You're just what I need for my painting. Well, you will be there? He said,
I'll be there. So he gave him 10 pounds, quite a bit of money.
And so he went, he took care of his business, he went back
to his studio, and he's got his easel set up, and his paint's
everywhere, you know, and he's just so happy. He found just
exactly the subject. And so, a knock at the door,
and he went to the door and opened it, and there stood a fella that
looked pretty good. He didn't have on an old shabby
hat, he had his hair cut and combed back. And he'd shaved,
and he'd bathed, he'd bought him a new shirt. Beautiful purple
shirt, silk, down to the sleeves, fingernails were clean. I had
bought him a leather belt with a shiny buckle and a pair of
breeches and a new pair of white shoes. And he said, I'm here. And the artist said, well, who
are you? Well, he said, I'm that fellow you hired for the painting.
Oh, he said, you won't do. You won't. I wanted you like
you were. I can't use you. You see my point? Men who come
to Christ, the world's plan of salvation is fix yourself up
so God will have you. Fix yourself up so God will save
you. Clean up your life. Straighten
up your life. Join the church. Be somebody. But all the way through the Bible,
our Lord says, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy
laden. Oh everyone that thirsteth, though your sins be as scarlet,
I'll make them as white as snow. Just as I am, Charlotte Elliot
wrote, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me,
O Lamb of God, I come to thee just like I am. If you can fix
yourself up, you don't need Christ. Christ died for the ungodly.
Here are four words I want to give you about this way of salvation. The world's plan is doomed. God's
way of salvation is done. Christ has done it. He cleanses
the guilty. He makes whole that which is
broken. He sanctifies that which is impure
and unclean. He clothes that which is naked.
Old Adam had to lay aside his fig leaf apron before God had
clothed him in the skin of the animal. Here are four words. He says
here, the scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise
And in our amplified version, it says the blessing of life,
of life, the promise of life. My friends, salvation, redemption,
is not a ceremony. It's life. It's not a ritual. It's life. It's not a form. It's life. It's Christ in you. Christ in you. That's what salvation
is. It's the life of God in the soul. It's a new life. Any man being
Christ, he's a new creature. This is regrettably, but this
is today's theology. You want to go to heaven? Well,
yes. You don't want to go to hell?
No. Well, if you want to go to heaven, then believe on Jesus.
You mean that's what I do, just believe? Yes, and make a public
profession, and get baptized, and join the church, and straighten
up your life, and live, and serve God. And you'll go to heaven.
You see, it's kind of a bargain between God and men, and that's
what, to the average person, salvation consists of. But salvation
is not deeds and decisions and doing. It's life. It's new life. It's the life of God. If any
man be in Christ, he's a new person. He's a new creature.
There's the old man in the old life. There's the new man in
the new life, created in Christ Jesus. It's being born again. It's living a new life. You cut
into the mind of a believer, and you'll find thoughts of Christ.
Cut into his heart, you'll find love for Christ. Cut into his
very soul, and you'll find a concern for Christ. It's a life. And it's a life, it says, given,
given, given to them. It's the gift of God's eternal
life. It's not earned. It's not merited. It's given,
the gift of God's eternal life. We're not saved because we worked
for it or earned it or merited it. It's the gift of God. Like
the woman at the well, Christ said, you ask of me, I'd give
you living water. I'd give it to you. If you knew
the gift of God, you'd ask of me and I'd give you. The gift
of God's life. Well, preacher, where'd I get
it? You get it from the source. Who is the source? God Almighty.
That gift of life is through Christ. Ask him for it. I'd seek
the Lord. I tell you what I would do if
I were you, whoever you are, it doesn't matter if you're tired
of playing church, if you're tired of going through the motions,
if you have no sense of joy or peace or happiness or rest in
Christ, you don't feel the reality of life, it's a duty, it's a
responsibility, it's, well, I gotta go to church this Sunday, you
know, and gotta act like a Christian. If you're tired of that, Take
the Word of God, like that man told Spurgeon. He said, Mr. Spurgeon,
salvation is to be found in this book. And I'm going to read it
until I find it. And that's what I'd do if I were
you. I'd get the Word of God, and I'd sit down and read. And
I'd say, Lord, there's a whole lot more to knowing you than
knowing doctrine. There's a whole lot more to salvation
than just deciding I'm going to live right. There's a whole
lot more to redemption than just going to church and playing church
and acting religious on Sunday and trying to do the best I can.
And I get dissatisfied with myself and my wicked thoughts and hearts.
And I know, Lord, you're not looking on my outward deed. You're
looking on my heart and what you see you don't like. And you
can't live with and love that which is contrary to yourself
and to your nature. And I'm in trouble. I'm in a
mess. Now I need a mediator, and I need a high priest, and
I need a sacrifice, and I need somebody to justify me before
you, and I need a new life. I need a new life that loves
Christ, not that needs Him only, but loves Him. I need a life
that will lead me to rejoice in the Word, and rejoice in the
Gospel, and love people. I want love to be as spontaneous
as hate used to be. Forgiveness to be as spontaneous
as prejudice used to be. I won't lie. That's what these
people in the New Testament, they came to Christ and they
set out. Bartimaeus said, Lord, he said,
what do you want? I want to see. I want to see.
And he saw. And you can go on through and
find others. Lord, that I might walk. I want to walk and you
no one can help me to walk. And you need to do that. And
coming down here and shaking the preacher's hand and going
to revivals and making decisions and all these fellas trying to
set you on joining their church or supporting their program,
calling up some counselor to sit and talk to you with his
hand stuck up in there, that ain't going to do you any good.
You need to get all these people out from between you and the
Lord. Just get out of my way. fall on your face before the
living God and deal with Him. Christ is the only mediator.
All in the world these folks are doing is just giving people
false peace and false professions and false security and getting
them on their rolls and bragging on TV that they won 150,000 souls
to Jesus. They made proselytes to their
religion and they're two-fold more the child of hell than the
people that made them. The only one who can save a soul
is God Almighty. The only one who can speak peace
to a sinner's heart is Christ Jesus. And that's what's wrong
with our churches today. We've given peace when there
is no peace. We've given security when there
is no security. And we tell people, you're all
right, and they're not all right. And they know they're not all
right. But they're foolish enough to believe us. I'll tell you
who can tell you you're all right, and he'll tell you through the
word right here. And that's the living God. And you say, Lord,
I've got no hope. I've got no help. I'm without
hope. I'm without help. I'm without God. I'm without
Christ. I'm at my wit's end. Speak peace to my heart. And
it'll be right here in the book. And he'll give you that assurance.
It's given, given, given. It's a promise of life, life,
life. And it's given. Watch it. And
it's by faith. Look at verse 23. Verse 22, it's by faith, by faith
in Christ Jesus. is not by works. The law is our
schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, but salvation by faith is to
believe. It's to believe. Let's turn to
Romans 4. Let me give you this. Romans
chapter 4, all the way through the first few chapters of Romans,
it talked about Abraham believed God, Abraham believed God, was
counted to him for righteousness, Look at Romans chapter 4 verse
20, Abraham staggered not at the promise of God. Do you? What's God promised? Promised
me forgiveness of all my sins, all of them, brought them out,
remember them no more, cast them behind his back. He's promised
me life, promised me I'd be an heir of Christ, a joint heir
with Christ and an heir of God, promised me heaven. He's promised
me justification, sanctification. That's a big order. He promised
me resurrection someday. God promised Abraham all these
things. And Abraham didn't stagger at
the promises of God, but was strong in faith and gave glory
to God. Look at verse 21. And being fully persuaded that
what God had promised, he was able to perform. Now let me tell
you something. Find out what God's promised. Don't take the
word of some preacher. What God has promised, and I've
got to tell you this, God hadn't promised you good health all
the time. No, He hadn't. You won't find
that. God hasn't promised you wealth in this world. He said
in this world you'll have tribulation. But God's promised life in Christ. I believe that. What God has
promised, He'll perform. What God has promised, therefore,
and therefore, verse 22, it was counted, reckoned, imputed to
Abraham for righteousness. He believed God and he was declared
righteous before God. He wasn't a perfect man, not
in this earth, perfect in Christ. And look at verse 23, and now
it was written, it was not written for his sake alone that this
righteousness was imputed to him, but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him who raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead. Can you believe? Can you believe? Here's the fourth word, I'll
quit. The promise of life, not religion, life. life, given,
a free give, no charge, by faith, faith alone, in Christ, Christ
Jesus the Lord. Now listen to me. Christ didn't
come down here just to serve as an example. He came down here
as a representative, as a surety, as a substitute. You see, God
is holy. And God is just, God is love,
God is mercy, but God is holy and just. In order for God to
express his love, he has to do it in a way consistent with his
justice. He has to do it in a way consistent
with his holiness. And God said in his word he wouldn't
clear the guilty. He said in his word, the soul
that sinned it shall die. Now he's got to keep his word.
He's got to punish sin if he's going to be God. Well, how in
the world can he free me from my sin and yet charge me with
my sin? How can he bestow upon me his
mercy and love and at the same time make me pay for my transgressions? Well, there's just one way, and
that's somebody to take my place, be numbered with me. And now
watch this. The innocent can't die for the guilty and fulfill
the law. Can't do that. In other words,
if Cecil Roach kills somebody tomorrow, and I love him, and
I go down to the judge and I say, let Cecil go free and put me
in the electric chair, the judge says, that won't work. You didn't
do it. He did it. And how in the world
could the law be satisfied by killing you and letting the guilty
one go free? It came to Christ, so therefore, Christ actually,
listen to me, was numbered with the transgressors. He was identified
with us. He was one with us. He was guilty. That's the reason he didn't open
his mouth when they brought those charges against him. He was guilty.
He bore our sins in his body on the tree. Our sin was charged
to him, reckoned to him, and our sins, our actual sins were
punished in the person of our representative, our federal head,
our brother, our one who was identified with us in the transgression.
I can't explain that. I just know it's so. I'm saying
that Jesus Christ was the greatest sinner by imputation and identification,
not by actual commitment, whoever lived, because he bore all of
our sins, all the sins of the elect. That's right, he sure
did, and he was guilty, and therefore my sins have been punished. Now
then, if a man pays for his crimes, He can't pay for it twice, and
therefore we have that assurance and that confidence that the
debt has been paid. The debt has been paid. The Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not walk. I shall not walk for spiritual
food, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, the green
pastures of his Word. I shall not walk for peace, he
leadeth me beside the still waters. I shall not walk for salvation,
he restores my soul. I shall not walk for holiness,
he leads me in paths of righteousness. I shall not walk for confidence
and assurance, thou art with me. I may walk through a valley
of bale or the shadow of tears and darkness, but I don't fear
because thou art with me. I don't walk for comfort. Thy
rod and thy staff, they comfort me. I will not walk for victory
because he prepares a table before me. right in the presence of
my enemies. My cup runneth over, I shall
not want for anything, because surely, according to this book,
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Not
prosperity necessarily, and not necessarily perfect health and
these things, but goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life, and I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
But my friends, I say to you as solemnly and as strongly as
I can, get off the bandwagon of human works and human righteousness. Save yourselves, Peter said,
from this untoward, this perverse generation, this religious but
lost generation. Find out who's teaching and preaching
the Word and listen to them. Find out who knows and loves
the Word and walk with them. Find out who loves and knows
the Son of God and fellowship with Him. Life's too short to
do anything else. And I mean starting right now.
Because today's the day of salvation. Now's the accepted time. We're
stripping on by, aren't we? Time's getting, it's getting
later than you think. And the Bible talks about remembering
your Creator in the days of your youth. While the evil days come
not, nor the days draw nigh when you say I have no pleasure in
it. There's a time coming when you get up older and your faculties
won't be as good as they are now and your interest won't be
like it is now. And you're concerned, you get
dull, you get dull, you get sleepy, you get tired. You get weary
of it all. And some preacher comes along
to you when you're in a rest home or a hospital or they're
sick and he says, how are you? How's your soul? Well, I made
my peace with God. Now, you don't even know what
it's all about. But you do now. And that's when you ought to
deal with this thing, while you're still able to deal with it, while
you still have some consciousness and awareness and concern. Why is it? This is just another
sermon. Why is it that we give our youth
and our vigor and our time and our mental facilities and faculties
and power while we're young and middle-aged to buying a house
and raising a family and and buying good clothes and getting
an education and learning the things of this world that all
come to naught. And wait till we get old and
feeble and uninterested and dull of understanding and dull of
hearing and then start thinking about heaven. And then start
thinking about God. And then start thinking about
an immortal soul that will live always. Why is that? Because
we're fools, that's why. We're outright fools. Fools make
a mock of sin. Thy fool, Christ said, this day
shall thy soul be required of thee. And then whose are these
barns and buildings going to be that you've raised? You're
a fool. You're going to die tonight.
And you spent 50 years making a name for yourselves on the
world, on this earth, and 10 months after you're gone, they'll
say, who'd you say? Oh, you remember old what's-his-name?
I don't know, but yeah, I believe he did live down the street.
You wonder where he is? In hell. Isn't that terrible? 50 years. And he didn't have time to find
out who God is. Oh, I wish people would. I don't
know. We plan our trips on Sunday and
our visits on Sunday and our family reunions on Sunday and
our celebrations and vacations on Sunday. Boy, we give them
six days to making a living so we can die and leave it to our
kids to fight over. Isn't that awful? Oh, this is
the most important day of the week. God just might speak to
me. I'm going to ski-daddle down
there and see if he's got something to say, but I sure need it. Wake up, awake thou that sleepest. Oh, a little more sleep, a little
more folding of the hands, and then somebody will say, someday
awake, and you won't hear them. You're tired. Our Father, how dull of hearing,
is the General. The title of this message tonight