One of the evidences I believe that a person knows
Christ and is a true believer, one of the evidences is that we rejoice in the gospel. We rejoice to hear it preached.
We rejoice to hear it sung. We rejoice to hear it expressed
from the lips of our friends who believe it. We rejoice in
the fellowship of the gospel. We never weary of it. We never
tire of it. Spurgeon one time visited a nearby
church during the week. They were having special services,
and he just dropped in. They didn't know he was coming.
And he dropped in and sat on the back row, and a young man
got up and preached, and he preached one of Spurgeon's own sermons. Mr. Spurgeon said almost word
for word. And he said, I sat there and
wept as the gospel that I had preached to others was a blessing
to me. And he said, when I left the
congregation, I was singing in my heart because God had given
me another sign or evidence that I belong to him. I love to hear
his gospel, never get tired of it. And that's a good evidence.
I'm turning now to the passage of scripture that Cecil read,
and that owe him amazing grace. How many times have you heard
it? And yet, once again, it's brand new. Amazing grace. There's not many songs that you
can hear over and over and over and over again and never tire
of them, but a song that gives Christ the glory, you can. In Romans 10 verse 1, here is
my title this morning, the title of the message, A Sermon for
Seeking Sinners. A Sermon for Seeking Sinners.
May God speak to us, especially to the seeking sinners. Brethren,
my heart's desire My prayer to God for Israel is that they might
be saved. What a blessing it would be to
have the concern and compassion that Paul had for the unsaved.
Some of us can get pretty excited about our husband or wife wanting
them to know Christ. We can get pretty interested
in our sons and daughters. But you reckon we could say with
Paul, my heart's desire and prayer to God for those people, many
of whom I've never even met, that they might be saved? Look
over at Romans 9, verse 3, right across the page. Verse 2, he
said, I have heaviness, great heaviness, sorrow, continual
sorrow in my heart. I could wish that myself were
accursed or separated from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen,
according to the flesh. Now that's a burden, isn't it?
That's a concern. We want people to be saved, to
come to know Christ. Not that we might have a larger
congregation than somebody else. Not that we might boast of what
we've done for God or how many souls we've led to Jesus. But
we want that individual personally to know the Lord. to know the
Lord. That's what Paul's talking about.
And then verse 2, these people that he was praying for and concerned
about and anxious for their salvation, they weren't atheists. They weren't
atheists. He said, I bear them record.
They have a zeal of God. They weren't atheists. They had
religious enthusiasm. They had a zeal for God, but
they were ignorant. The natural man is ignorant.
He may be extremely religious, He may be extremely devout and
still be ignorant. Paul said they have a zeal of
God, but not according to knowledge. They did not know the living
God. Christ said to the Pharisees,
you don't know me nor my Father. They were ignorant. They were
ignorant of God's purpose in grace. They were ignorant of
what the consequences were of the fall. They were ignorant
of Christ's redemptive work. They were ignorant. They were
ignorant of the meaning of the cross, the holiness of the law,
the righteousness of God's justice. They were ignorant. They were
worshiping in form and ceremony of God, but they were ignorant
of the living God. In verse 3, they were ignorant
of God's righteousness. They were ignorant of how a sinner
can be accepted of God. That's what they were ignorant
of. They were totally ignorant of the way of salvation. And
here's how Paul knew they were ignorant of the way of salvation,
the true way of life, the true way that sinners are accepted
by God. He says they're going about to
establish their own righteousness. He said these people for whom
I pray and for whom I'm so concerned and burdened that they be saved
are religious people, enthusiastically religious, devoutly religious,
but they're ignorant. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. They're ignorant of the way that
a sinner, a son of Adam, can approach a living God. They're
ignorant of the way that a living God can show mercy to a guilty
sinner. And being ignorant of the way
to God and the way that God comes to men and shows mercy to men,
they're going about to establish their own way. In other words,
he's saying they're trying to merit acceptance with God by
their works, by their religious duties, and by their good deeds.
Are you trying to do that? Maybe not in doctrine, but in
practice. Maybe not in doctrine, but in principle. Are you trying
to make yourself acceptable to God by cleaning up your life,
by adopting some religious ceremony or some religious ritual or some
religious organization or some religious creed. God Almighty does not require
you to produce righteousness. God Almighty commands you to
accept it, to receive it. That's right. He doesn't command
me to produce a righteousness. He commands me to receive one
already produced. God doesn't command me to produce
life, but to receive life. Paul said, I'm burdened for my
friends. I'm concerned. I want them saved. They're not atheists, but they
are ignorant. And the thing they're ignorant
of is the most important thing in the world. And that's how
God saves sinners. How sinners can come to God.
How God can show mercy to sinners. And evidence of that ignorance
is the fact that they're trying to make themselves, here I am
God, here I am in my good works, and in my religion, and in my
theology, and in my morality, and I'm not as bad as so-and-so,
and I'm better than someone else, and not as good as I could be,
but Lord accept me as I am. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. Now watch this next verse. For
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. What does that mean? Christ is
the end of the law. It means two or three things.
Number one, it means this. Christ, as Cecil said, is the
goal of the law, G-O-A-L. He is the end of the law. He
is the goal of the law, for the law leads us to Christ. That's the purpose for which
it was given, to lead men to Christ. Let me show you that.
Turn to the book of Galatians, chapter 3. Galatians, the third
chapter, let's begin reading with verse 23. Galatians, chapter
3, verse 23. Before faith came, we were kept
under the law, shut up to the faith that should afterward be
revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
After that faith is come, we're no longer under a schoolmaster. The law, its purpose is to bring
us to Christ. The law convicts us of sin and
convinces us of our inability. The law convinces us of our depravity
and our corruption, even the corruption of our so-called good
deeds, and shuts our mouths. What the law says, it says to
them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and
all the world become guilty before God. While I was down in Franklin,
Tennessee, I talked to a lady in her mid-30s who had been saved. She'd come to the knowledge of
Christ. I believe she's really saved. I believe she's, as Barnard
said, well saved. But back about 7 or 8 or 9 or
10 years ago, she was Catholic and she had, it's about 7 years
ago, she had a religious experience. And she said the Lord saved her.
But from the time she made that profession of faith till the
time she departed from it, she never closed her mouth. She was
running up and down the countryside showing people the gospel, and
showing people what the Bible said, and teaching people the
doctrines of Christ, and rebuking folks for their failures, and
rebuking them because they hadn't grown as fast as she had. And
she was talking about God's revelations to her and all these things,
and finally she just departed, departed from the church and
from the gospel and from the faith, and just went as far as
she could that way that she was this way. And then a few months
ago, the Lord saved her. He brought her back to hear the
gospel. And she's one of the meekest, quietest girls you've
ever seen. And she came up to me and she
said, I'm so glad the Lord was pleased to give me another chance,
she said. Bring me to know him. I said,
well, it's pretty clear to me that God's done something for
you this time. I never did He believe He did anything for you
before. She said, why? I said, you never shut your mouth.
I said, when God saves a sinner, the first thing He does, Charlie,
is shut his mouth. When God redeems a sinner, He
shuts his mouth. That sinner doesn't feel qualified
to speak. He doesn't feel able to speak.
He doesn't have an opinion to express, except, woe is me, or,
oh, wretched man that I am. He doesn't become a teacher of
the Scriptures. There's something wrong when
a man is saved one day and starts popping off the next. He's an
infant. He's a baby. My little granddaughter's
a year old and hasn't said a word yet. I expect her to someday.
But she hasn't yet. And I'm just convinced most true
believers who really come to know Christ won't say much for
the first year or two either. Because they've got nothing to
say. They're too low. They're too unclean. That's about
all they feel. They feel the depths of their
sin and depravity. That's what the law was given
to do, to shut these mouths of ours. And I'll tell you this,
real Holy Spirit conviction will do that too. It'll humble you,
it'll break you, it'll convict you, it'll bring you low, it'll
close you out. That's what the law was given.
Alright, secondly, turn to Galatians 3.13. Galatians 3.13. Christ
is the end of the law. That is, the law was given to
lead us to Christ. Now, Galatians 3, verse 13, Christ
is the end of the law as a curse. It's over. The curse is over.
In Galatians 3, verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Christ Jesus came down here and
obeyed the law. giving to us a perfect righteousness. He met the law in every jot and
tittle and obeyed it perfectly as a man. He was a man. God became
a man. He was numbered with the transgressors.
He was subject to the law of the home, the law of the nation,
the moral law of God, the ceremonial law of God. He perfectly fulfilled
the law. And then he went to the cross
and God laid on him all of our iniquities, all the chastisement
of our peace was laid on him. And Christ Jesus, the Lord, died
under the curse of God's law, under the judgment of God's law.
God must punish sin. Sin cannot go unpunished. The
Lord can't just erase sin or blot it out or omit it or obliterate
it or forget it. It's got to be dealt with. Sin's
on the books and it's got to be dealt with. And Christ did
just that. He came down here and met the
law for us and gave us a perfect righteousness, went to the cross,
and there God dealt with our sins in the body of His Son.
He bore our sins in His body on the tree. And the curse of
the law was laid in its fullest upon Christ. Now, because Christ
died for me, I'm no longer under the curse of the law. Don't hold
the law over my head. I'm not afraid of the law. Who
can condemn me? Christ died. Who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. The
law is over as far as its curse is concerned. That's all there
is to it. That's what he's saying here,
Romans 10, verse 4. Look at it. He said, brethren,
I'm concerned about my, for Israel, my people, that they might be
saved. They're not atheists. They're
just ignorant. Ignorant. And I'm concerned about Ashland
and Arrington and Huntington and this area. They're not atheists.
They're ignorant. They have a zeal for God. Everybody
this morning is doing something for God. They're either running
buses for God or giving away orchids this morning for God
or recognizing the oldest and youngest mother for God or cutting
each other's towel for God or something for God. They're doing
something for God. They're not atheists. They've
got zeal and enthusiasm. They're ignorant. And what are
they ignorant of? They're ignorant of the key thing,
the most important thing in the world, how a sinner can be justified
with God, how sin can be put away, how God can accept such
worthless, depraved, corrupt, vile, wicked sons of Adam into
His bosom and love them and receive them. How can it be done? Well,
they think they do it by their good works. They serve God and
the good works. Way more than the bad works,
you know, and therefore they're received into heaven because
they're a little better than somebody else, or they've joined
the church. Paul said that's not it. Christ
is the goal of the law. The law was given to bring you
to Christ. That's why God gave it, to shut
your mouth, strip you, that you might be clothed, that you might
be given life, to bring you to Christ, to look to Him. Because
he's the end of the law as a curse, and I'll tell you something else,
thirdly, he's the end of the law as a means of justification. He's the end of the law as a
means, a way of life. God said, Adam, do this and live.
Want to know what he said? Do this and live. Well, that's
not so now. Not anymore. Not anymore. Do this and live? It can't be.
It's got to be Christ has done it. Christ, that's the only way,
because the law shuts our mouth. The law reveals our guilt. And I'll tell you something else.
Christ is the end of the law for sanctification too. We're
not only redeemed by Christ, we're sanctified by Christ. Alright,
verse 5, Romans 10. Let's look at this some more.
Now, if you still, after what Paul says here, If you still
seek acceptance with God through your works, if you still persist
in it, if you still persist in seeking acceptance with God by
your righteousness, Moses describes what you've got to do. Look at
verse 5. He describes the requirements.
Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law. Now this
is the way you're coming. There's just two ways. Either come by
Christ or come by your own righteousness. Either come to God through Christ,
plus nothing, minus nothing, passively, as far as obedience
and righteousness and acceptance is concerned. In my hands no
price I bring, not a nickel or a dime, no price. Simply the
cross of Christ I claim. You can come that way or you
come by work. It's either all of grace or all
of work. There's no mixture. Now, if you're
going to come, if you're going to reject Christ and refuse Christ
and refuse the way of grace, then this is the way you've got
to come. Absolute perfection. Moses describes the righteousness
which is of the law, that the man which doeth these things
shall live by them. Paul in Galatians says, you that
would be under the law. Don't you hear the law? Don't
you hear God's law? God's law requires not only a
perfect act, but a perfect attitude. God's law not only requires perfect
manners, it requires a perfect motive. And we may, you know,
this is where we're whipped down by the law of God. We may even
do something that in the eyes of men is a good deed. and would
be considered by most to be a good deed. But why did we do it? Was it to gain recognition? Was
it because it just seems that we ought to be doing this because
others are doing it? Or was it supremely and solely
motivated by one thing, God's glory? And if not, it's sin. Christ said sin is not only in
a deed, it's in a thought. He said, you've heard it said
by them of old times, thou shalt not kill. Hold on, he said. I
say unto you, to call your brother a fool is to be guilty already
of murder. That's what he's saying. Anybody,
any of you ever been angry enough here to call somebody a fool
or just grit your teeth, you know, oh, I'd like to get my
hand around his neck or something like that, you know. You just
killed him. He may live another 50 years,
but you killed him. in God's sight. Christ said,
you've heard it said, thou shalt not commit adultery. Wait a minute
now, he said. I say unto you, a look, a look
that is motivated by a passion of desire is already guilty. He said, you've heard it said
by them of old times, thou shalt not swear by God or the temple,
anything more than yes or no is guilty. You ever say, it's so, so help
me it's so. You just sinned. You just added
too much. Oh, you'd have to say it's so.
That's right. That's the law. You say that's
too strict. That's God's law. Because God's holy. God's infinitely
holy. God Almighty is infinite. God
is love. God is mercy. God is righteous. God is truth. Not a shade of
truth or mostly truth. Just truth. And I'll tell you, this is what
Moses says, he says, the righteousness which the law requires is not
to love them that love you, it's to love them that hate you. It's
not to give to them from whom you hope to receive something
in return, it's to give expecting nothing. And that's the way, if you take
that way, if that's the way you want to take to get to God, Moses
describes that perfect way. It's a strict and holy and perfect
and sinless and spotless way. But to begin with, my friend,
you can't even get on the trail because you fell in Adam. You're
already marked for destruction because you fell in. There's
just one way open to a true sinner, and here's verse 6. But the righteousness
given in Christ does not require my doing anything. It requires
my believing. Verse 6, But the righteousness
which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Don't say in your
heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down
from above. Now listen to me a minute. I'll
explain that to you. Divine justification and divine
acceptance with God. does not depend upon anything
to be done by the creature. Christ paid it all. All the debt
I owed. Sin left a crimson stain. He
washed it white as snow. There's no need to say, who's
going up to heaven and bring the Christ down, to bring the
Messiah down? He's already come. He's already
suffered. He's already died. I don't care
whether it's in the year 200 A.D. or the year of 1900 A.D. or the
1979 A.D. We don't have to say, well, who's
going to go up and get the Messiah and bring him down? He's already
come. He's already paid the debt. He's
already suffered. He's already died the death.
He's already offered the sacrifice. He's already accomplished all
that needs to be done to satisfy a holy God. Verse 7. Say not in your heart, who shall
descend into the deep, that is, to bring up Christ again from
the dead? There's no need to say. Who shall descend into the
deep to bring up Christ from the grave? He's risen. He's risen
for our justification. He's risen and exalted at the
right hand of God, and He intercedes for us. In other words, Paul
is saying, it's done. The gospel does not bid you inquire
how it's done, but believe it's done. The gospel does not require that
it be done again. It's finished, Christ said. The
debt's paid. The sin offering's been made.
The law is satisfied. The justice of God is honored.
Verse 8, but what does it say? The word is nigh thee, it's even
in thy mouth, that if thou The word of faith in thy heart, that
is the word of faith which we preach. The righteousness is
not of the law, but it's a faith in Christ Jesus, the gospel which
we preach. Turn to John 5. John chapter
5. Let me show you something here.
The word of life is right there in your mouth. I tell, in our ladies' class,
I have them read the scriptures. And one reason is this, the Word
of Life is coming out of their mouth when they read it. When I read this script, John
5, let's all read it together. John 5, 24. Every voice in here
now, everyone's got a Bible. Let's read John 5, 24. You ready? Alright, let's start. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." You just said
the way of life. That is the way of life. You don't have to go up to heaven
and bring the Messiah down. He's already come. You don't
have to send him to the grave and bring him up. He's already
risen. It's done. It's finished. Salvation is in
Christ. The good news of the gospel is
that Jesus Christ died for our sins. The good news of the gospel
is that Christ has accomplished my righteousness. He has accomplished
my redemption. He has accomplished all that
God requires. And all in the world that I have
to do to receive this gift of grace is believe. You just read
it. Now Paul said, If you want to
be accepted of God by what you do, Moses described that for
you. Do it perfectly, without flaw. God Almighty demands perfection. If you're going to serve God
for salvation, you better serve Him with an unblemished record
and with an absolute holy attitude, spirit, and motive. If you're
going to work for your salvation, your works had better match those
of the Son of God. If you're going to get to heaven
by your moral attainments, even the devils must not be able to
find any fault with you. Even the magistrates as Pilate
must say, I find no fault with him. And even the heavenly Father
must look upon your soul, heart, mind, and spirit and say, this
is my son in whom I'm well pleased. That's what it requires. You're
not coming that way, and please don't try it. A man's a fool
to try to be saved by works. A man's a fool to try to be saved
by his own righteousness. But here's the way. Christ is
the way. What is this? Is it complicated
this way? Is this way confusing? Is this
way a profound way? Is this way a way that can't
be discovered? Paul says right there in your
mouth, When you just said, Jesus Christ, you said the way of life. That's right. That's where it's,
right there in your mouth, in the mouth of your preacher. It's
in the mouth of your teacher. What is it? Verse 9, There, if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, or Jesus to be
Lord, and believe in thine heart God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. to believe that God raised Him
from the dead. Now look at that a moment. The
way to be saved is just to believe God raised Christ from the dead?
Well, let me tell you what you're believing when you believe God
raised Him from the dead. What am I believing when I say,
yes, in my heart I believe God raised Christ from the dead?
What am I saying? Well, I'm saying, first of all, I believe He came.
I believe He came to this earth. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. He came. Secondly,
I believe that He died. He didn't swoon, He died. He
died on the cross for my sins, I believe that. And thirdly,
I believe that the atonement was sufficient and accepted or
God wouldn't have raised Him from the dead. Who raised him
from the dead? God raised him. He didn't raise
himself. God raised him. And when God raised Christ from
the dead, he set the prisoner free. He said the debt is paid. In other words, when the warden
comes down, here's the man in prison, and the warden comes
down and puts the key in the lock and turns it and opens the
gate and says to the convicted man who has served his sentence,
you're free to go. You're free to go. He is saying
that society is satisfied, justice is satisfied, the law is satisfied,
you are free to go. When Christ, when our sins were
laid on Him, and He died on that cross and was buried, He was
buried as a sin offering, the body, carcass was taken down
from the tree and put in the tomb. It looked like under the
judgment of God, under the wrath of God, under the penalty of
sin, He's put in prison, in the prison of the tomb, in the bondage
of the tomb, and a rock put on the door. And God Almighty Himself
came down and rolled away the stone and set him free, and set
him free. And let me tell you something.
You see, when Christ came down here, there's two Adams. There's
only two men, the first Adam and the second Adam. This is
so. God didn't create but one man. He didn't create you, Charlie
Payne. You were born from that first Adam. You weren't created,
you were born by natural generation. God created Adam, and from Adam
he made Eve. Eve even came out of Adam. But
God created Adam from the dust of the ground, and everybody
else came out of his loins or out of his body, even Eve. And
coming out of his loins and his body, we received his sin. As
in Adam, all died. Everybody died in Adam. Sin and
death and judgment passed upon all men because we came out of
Adam. That's the reason Christ was
virgin born, so he wouldn't come out of Adam. If Jesus Christ
had been conceived by Joseph, he'd have been a fallen son of
Adam, not the living Son of God. But He is the Son of God. And
the angel said, Mary, that holy thing conceived in you is conceived
of the Holy Ghost. He is the Son of God, not the
son of Adam. But Adam represented us, and
when he died, we died. The whole human race was plunged
into sin. permeated, contaminated, depraved,
corrupted. All flesh is grass. Even the
glory of man is the flower of the field, it withers and fadeth.
But Christ, the second Adam, that's what Scripture says, the
first Adam is of the earth, earthy. The second Adam is the Lord from
heaven. The word Adam means man. It's the Hebrew word man. That's
all. Adam is a man. The second man is the Lord from
heaven and he came down here in the flesh, real flesh, real
needs, real temptations, real concern, real anger. You see
that? A human being, bone of our bone,
flesh of our flesh, tempted in all points as we are, yet without
sin. He was me. Adam represented me
and Christ represented me. Adam represented everybody that
came out of his loins. Christ represented everybody
God the Father gave Him. Every child of His, every sheep
of His, every son of His. And He walked this earth as a
man. And when He walked it, I walked it. And when He obeyed the law,
I obeyed it. Just like when Adam sinned, I
sinned. And when Adam fell, I fell. And when Adam died, I died. And
when the wrath of God came on Adam, it came on me. And when
Christ walked this earth, I walked this earth. And when He died
on that cross, I died on that cross. When He was put in that
tomb, I went into that tomb. And when God the Father came
down, satisfied with His sacrifice, pleased with His offering, satisfied
with His obedience, His justice honored, His debt paid, He said,
You're free! And He told me I was free. I
walked out of that tomb when Christ walked out. That's the
reason Christ said, He that believeth on me will never die. Death's
over. The sting of death's gone. The
sting of death is sin. There's no reason to fear death
for the believer. There's no reason at all for
the believer. Yes, the unbeliever should fear death. It's a penalty.
But death for the believer is a promotion. It's not a penalty.
It's to leave this rotten sense pool and go to be with the Lord. It's to lay aside this body of
sin and have that body of life. And when we believe God raised
Him from the dead, that's what we're believing. It's not just
to believe in the resurrection. Everybody runs around on Easter
Sunday morning about 6 o'clock. They'd all rather be home in
bed asleep, but they've got to run down to some big open-air
service and say they believe in the resurrection. Well, that's not salvation. It's
to believe God raised Him from the dead. It's a lot different. God being satisfied and His law
being honored and His justice being satisfied, God raised Him
and me and you and every believer from the dead, took us out of
the dungeon and out of bondage and out of death and out of darkness
into His marvelous light and whatever happens to me is nothing
in the world but God's purpose to bring me home. That's all. and confess with our mouth. What
is it to confess Christ? It's to make a hearty confession
before men. And you don't twist my thumb
to get me to do it either. You don't promise me a lot of
baloney to get me to do it either. If I ever see what I am by nature,
if I ever see the judgment and wrath of God on my sins, if I
ever see who Christ is and what he did for me, I'll tell the
world about it. And I'll keep telling them about
it. And I'll live for His glory, and I'll walk with Him." In verse
10, he describes the nature of faith. He said, this faith, it's
a heart faith, "...with the heart that man believeth unto righteousness."
That's where it all takes place. The Apostle Paul says that faith
is not a bare mental assent of a few doctrines. It's not a doctrinal
position or a sectarian position. It's a heart work. It's receiving
Christ and believing Christ with the affections, with the will,
with the understanding. He becomes my Lord. Prophet,
priest, and king. Not to become a religious smart
aleck, running around asking everybody if they're born again.
That's not what it is. Salvation is more than a decision,
it's a dedication of life to a living person. Salvation is
more than accepting Jesus, it's feeding on Christ. Salvation
is more than a reformation of morals, it's a regeneration of
soul. That's different. Salvation is
more than getting a pardon, it's being made a new creature in
Christ Jesus. You don't become a radical, you
don't become a fanatic, you don't become a reformer, you become
a son of God. And sons of God are pleasant.
Sons of God are kind. Sons of God are merciful. Sons
of God are honest. Sons of God are pleasant. That's
right. Son of God. And those who truly believe on
Christ receive Him as their Lord and Redeemer. Look at verse 11.
Scripture says, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.
They'll not be put to shame. They'll never be put to shame.
Don't worry, he'll never put you to shame. You're covered
by his holiness. He'll never put you to shame.
He said, I'll never leave you. I'll never abandon you. You may
be abandoned by your friends. You know what David said? Though
my mother and my father, now there's nobody closer than that,
are there? Though my mother and my father forsaken me, David
said. The Lord will take me up. He loves me. He understands me. He knows me. You see that? The Lord will take me up. Christ
said he'll never be put to shame. And I'll tell you this. Whosoever
believeth on him shall not only never be put to shame, but he'll
never be ashamed. He'll never be ashamed of Christ.
He'll never be ashamed of his love for Christ. He'll never
be ashamed of his position in Christ. And then the verse I
want to read in close. Verse 12 says there's no difference
between the Jew and the Greek. There's no difference in the
white or the black. There's no difference in the
rich and the poor. There's no difference. All is sin comes
short of God's glory. There's no difference in the
preacher or the parishioner. There's no difference in the
lawyer or the beggar. No difference. Same Lord over
all that is rich and to all that call on Him, for whosoever, that's
a wide word, shall call. And we call out of a need, we
call out of a broken heart, we call out of inability, shall
call, call. Watch this, whosoever shall call,
I've got to give you this, on the name of the Lord. What is His name? That is my
name, He says. Whom shall I say sent me?" Moses
said. It's a good question. Pharaoh
said, Who is the Lord? This Lord you're talking about.
Now we know this Lord and this one. Who is this Lord you're
talking about? His name. What is His name? I'm going to
put this in the bulletin next week. I don't have time to cover
it, but His name is sevenfold. Perfect number. He says, I'm
Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide. The Lord will provide. Himself a lamb, that's what he
said. Abraham, call that place Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will
provide. Secondly, Jehovah-Rapha, I am
the Lord that healeth thee. Or we use doctors and medicines
and drugs and means, but it's God that heals. Only God. Heals all our diseases. Jehovah
Nisa, I'm the Lord, your banner. That's what it means, the Lord
our banner. His banner reigns over us, waves over us. We swear
allegiance only to Him. Jehovah Shalem, the Lord's my
peace. Jehovah Rea, the Lord's my shepherd. Jehovah Sidkenu, Jeremiah 23,
6, the Lord's my righteousness. And Jehovah Shema, the Lord is
present. That's the name on which we call,
the name of the Lord. Better get the right one. Better
get the right one. You know, the preacher says,
if you call on the name of Jesus, he'll save you. That's true,
but you better get the right one. The one whose name is the
Lord will provide. The Lord that healeth, the Lord
our banner, the Lord our peace, the Lord our shepherd, the Lord
our righteousness, the Lord is present. Whosoever shall call,
shall call, not work for the name, not serve the name, shall
call, shall be saved. Israel, look and be saved. Give me something to do, preacher. Christ has already done it. You
couldn't add anything to what He's done. You couldn't add anything
to it. You can receive it.